Troy Aikman made his disdain of analytics known on ‘Monday Night Football’
· Yahoo Sports
Troy Aikman’s ESPN future is uncertain, but for this NFL season, Aikman is still in the Monday Night Football booth with Joe Buck, and he’s delivering commentary with the utmost certainty.
This Monday, during the San Francisco 49ers’ win over the Washington Commanders, Buck disclosed that 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has “talked about analytics a lot with us.”
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“He said it’s in the equation, but [he’s] been been calling plays for almost 20 years in this league, and there’s a lot of gut feel that he uses in spots like this,” Buck said, referencing San Francisco facing a fourth-and-3 in the first quarter.
“Yeah, I agree,” Aikman said, “and I think analytics is a good way to lose your job as a head coach. I think you’ve got to be smart about it. Kyle certainly is. The analytics, by the way, does say go for it, but as you mention, it’s not something that Kyle Shanahan always pays that much attention to. More gut than anything else.”
Aikman’s analytics take hit the radar of many Monday Night Football viewers, and they vented about it on Twitter.
“It’s not a Troy Aikman broadcast until he sh*ts on analytics,” JJ Zachariason wrote.
Troy Aikman:
“I think analytics is a good way to lose your job as a head coach.”
Find someone who loves you as much as Troy Aikman loves punting and kicking FGs on 4th and short. https://t.co/xAMEDLVMIq
— GetACLSports.com®–Sports Investor (@TheRealMrACL) October 20, 2026
“I think analytics is a good way to lose your job as a head coach.”
That’s what Aikman just said.
— Lindsay Rhodes (@lindsay_rhodes) October 20, 2026
Honestly wonder what great wrong analytics perpetrated on Troy Aikman for him to hate them with the intensity he does.
Such a bizarre reaction to just being better informed.
— Sam Monson (@SamMonsonNFL) October 20, 2026
That’s nice of Troy Aikman to worry about coaches losing during jobs by using analytics given that he’s-
— Tej Seth (@tejfbanalytics) October 20, 2026
Troy Aikman: “I think analytics is a good way to lose your (head coaching) job in the NFL.”
Come on, Troy.
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) October 20, 2026
“Analytics is a good way for a head coach to lose their job”
— Troy Aikman
Instead of ignoring the part of the game that the entire league is embracing over the past decade, maybe try to understand it and explain it to viewers.
— Austin Mock (@amock419) October 20, 2026
As noted above, Aikman dominated headlines well before opining on analytics.
In September, ESPN inked Buck to a lucrative longterm contract, but ESPN has not committed to Aikman beyond this NFL season.
Last week, Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reported “tension” between Buck and Aikman stemming from “their respective contract talks,” and that it caused “an argument” before the Monday Night Football broadcast on Oct. 12. Aikman didn’t exactly throw cold water on that report while appearing on KTCK The Ticket, and he doubled down in an exchange with Jimmy Traina.
“It just seems to be where they’re going — that they’re gonna go in a different direction because there’s been no talks, no contract negotiations,” Aikman said of ESPN. “We’re in a Super Bowl year. The Super Bowl is Feb. 14. My contract ends in March. It just doesn’t seem logical that if they were gonna keep me, something wouldn’t be in place before that.”
Aikman added, “The rest of the season will be fine. Excited about it. Looking forward to it. It’s awesome that we got the Super Bowl. Not a problem at all.”
John Ourand has reported that his “best sources” expect Greg Olsen (big analytics guy) to replace Aikman next season if ESPN decides to move on. Aikman and Buck have shared the booth since 2002 and became ESPN’s voices of Monday Night Football in 2022.
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