Troy Aikman finds himself in the middle of some drama involving Jared Goff and the Los Angeles Rams, and the Fox Sports analyst is quite unhappy about it.
The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback sounded off on NFL.com reporter Michael Silver, who spoke to Goff about his trade from the Rams to the Lions over the weekend and wrote about how the 26-year-old quarterback felt he was “blindsided” by what Silver described as a “disrespectful divorce strategy.”
Part of Silver’s story suggested that Goff felt head coach Sean McVay was using Aikman to publicly criticize the quarterback.
“Routinely trashed this season on FOX telecasts, specifically those with Troy Aikman as the lead analyst, Goff could reasonably assume that McVay’s words about his quarterback’s play in network production meetings were far from glowing,” Silver wrote.
Aikman was asked about this by Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina, and the analyst fired back at Silver.
“Unlike Michael Silver, I strive to be fair and balanced and do not have an agenda when doing my job,” he said. “The record will show that I have been a strong supporter of Jared Goff’s over the years. Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Rams and Jared Goff, he did not perform at his best in games that I broadcasted this season and I’m confident Jared would be the first to agree.”
Some tweets throughout the course of the season do seem to suggest Aikman was awfully critical of Goff, at one point saying in a Week 12 game that “Bill Belichick wants the game in Jared Goff’s hands.”
ESPN’s Jeff Darlington also noted that Aikman seemed uncomfortable in a moment where he had to give Goff credit for not missing a snap after popping his thumb back into place.
Of course, Aikman’s criticism does not necessarily mean he served as a mouthpiece for McVay.
The relationship between McVay and Goff did seem to have run its course, though, based on Silver’s reporting.
Goff said that he was looking forward to joining an organization that “appreciated” him and that neither McVay nor general manager Les Snead informed Goff that the team was planning to move on from him.
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