Games with Names - Dudes on Troy Aikman

Episode Date: May 30, 2026

We're covering legendary Quarterback, Troy Aikman! Gronk, Julian Edelman, and Rob Ninkovich discuss what makes Troy Aikman so great and some of their favorite stories.Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey guys, it's us The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen.

We don't care where you hear it. On Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends, we help make you funnier on this episode. My guest's Bob, Odin Kirk, and Kids in the Hall's Bruce McCullough, try and help the Kazoo Kid and Tayson Day be famous again. What if there's an alternate universe show where you guys are incredibly popular? Well, and they could travel up the land doing meet and greets. They're constantly needed at malls. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smygling Friends on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed.

And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place. I'm Akila Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 is about both of those things. As I was watching these statues come down, I was thinking about what it meant that I grew up in a majority of Black City, in which there were more homages to enslavers than there were to enslave people. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man.

Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So, Nico, this is how it works. Now we have a guess. Usually Julian and I break down two guys. Two guys or three guys we usually break down and talk about them for 10 minutes.

But since you're the guests, we're just going to do one guy that we're going to break down. You have one guy that you brought. Okay. Yeah. And before we get started, I read an AI summary about the guy just to give a little glimpse of who we're going to talk about. I'm not. I'm not. Here we go.

All right. And the reason why I read it is because Julian is reading. There we go. Can't read. There we go. Yeah, I remember. And I was, I knew Nanko was probably going to say that, so I just wanted to get ahead of the game. Can't read in front of people.

Yeah. I can't read. Can't. He can read a play ball. Hey. Standing at six foot four inches and weighing 220 pounds. This Hall of Fame quarterback was selected first overall in the 1989 draft the year that I was born and went on to lead his team to three Super Bowl championships.

Wow. He earned six Pro Bowl selections and was the MVP of Super Bowl. 27, cementing his status as a clutch performer in big moments. Raised in California and Oklahoma, he starred at UCLA. In high school, he was an all-state football player and also a standout shortstop. Since retiring, he's been a fixture in the broadcast booth and even launched his own beer in 2022. Let's get on.

Troy and Nenko. I love Troy. Why did you pick Troy Aikman for the dude. that you want to get all over on. So I picked Troy Aikman because, number one, when you're a kid, you're influenced by the best teams and the winners, right? So when I was a kid, I grew up in Chicago, the suburbs of Chicago, the bears sucked, right?

They had Cade McDown, and they were just terrible. Remember? Another UCLA guy. So for me, the Cowboys were the team. So I had like the bed spread and I had the cowboys like in the bedroom, like all the, you know, I had the border around my broom and Cowboys at Emmett Smith on the wall, Troy Aikman. Irving, Michael Irvin. So, you know, for me, I just.

Jimmy Johnson. Jimmy Johnson, yeah, I mean, I didn't have a poster of him, but he had great hair. Still does. Great hair. Still does. Looking fly. So, and he was just, like, Troy Aikman is just a tough, tough quarterback. Like, he was a guy that would just take a big lick and just keep going, right?

Just gritty. And, you know, I had a chance to talk to him a couple times that. beer company that he's got me. I do believe, like, he sent me a whole, like, beer and stuff. I was so pumped. I'm like, Troyman sent me a beer. What's, what type of beer is it? It's a light beer. How does it separate from other beers? Well, his beer is a light logger. It's very light. Because he's got light lager here. He's a health conscious guy. Like, if you watch his social media stuff, he's jacked for, you know, how old he is. 58. He's, like he looks great. He looks great. He does. And, you know, if, unfortunately, he had to leave the game

a little early because of the head stuff that he was taking. He doesn't sound like it when he talks. Yeah. Sounds great. He does a great job on television. And, you know, I think he's one hell of a dude. You ever meet him? I've never met him in person.

You never met Trey. No. Maybe one day. Maybe one day. You ever talk to him? Actually, I take that back. What would you do the pregame stuff? Yeah.

I met him at one of those. And I was like, Starstruck. I think we were in Cincinnati. I think we played in Cincinnati. That was the game that remember like we had that monsoon. It was literally like. 13. Yes, we had, we were coming back. It was the last drive. And we couldn't, it just started out of we had a, we had a fumble. We created a fumble right there. I think dev. Yeah. Created a fumble. We got

the ball back. We couldn't. We couldn't, we couldn't throw it. Couldn't throw the ball. Like, literally it was we got craziest rain. We had the craziest rain storm right when we got the ball. Yeah. I think Vonny Holliday had a strip sack on Tom. I was hurt. Now, if you ever met, if you ever met him, what would your first question be to him? Uh, probably just, uh, you know, how did you, how did you, how did you stay so successful for so many years when you guys were the team and like we were the team but that's like the team and that was in the 90s too and they were back to back super bowl champions so i think it was 92 93 and then that was the team that beat up they killed buffalo and i don't know if you've seen the documentary the four falls of buffalo yeah it's kind of depressing very sad

sad from buffalo then go i know yeah remember but i was so young i don't remember i know i don't of that. Like, I literally don't. Like, I don't remember any of that when that all happened. My last game was Atlanta, which is good, which is good, right? Do you ever think about the other side, like those guys, like how terrible that must feel for them? For Atlanta? Yeah.

Yeah, anytime I see one of the guys, they always fucking. I feel, I feel, because Matt Ryan, anytime he does anything, they ask him about that. And it's like, at a point, I would just be like, shut the fuck up. I know. He has, like, a hell of a career. He made so much money. I mean, threw for so many. touchdowns and all people bring up to them is, hey, like, what happened in that game versus

the Patriots in the Super Bowl? That sucks. When I watch those documentaries, like the Four Falls of Buffalo, and I see like some of the guys and now they're older and I don't know if you've seen some older NFL players, but it's pretty depressing. You know, it's like, holy shit. Like I, I wish they would have won a Super Bowl for those guys, right? Now, I'm happy that we were able to make that happen and win that football game, but I kind of sometimes have, you know, a little bit of empathy for those guys that didn't win a Super Bowl. Definitely. Because you lost a Super Bowl as well.

Yes. So we know what it feels like to lose a Super Bowl. It's probably one of the worst feelings that you can feel. The worst. And you almost would rather, now I say this, and I don't know if you feel the same. I almost rather not play that game, rather just like lose the FC championship game

and then say, oh shit, next year we'll get back there. Because when you get to the Super Bowl and we had it. And not only was it a shitty loss, it was in Indianapolis. That was the worst. Like who who thought like oh let's have a nice Indianapolis Super Bowl it's going to be freezing and there's only one cool steakhouse and there's really nothing to do here It's actually a great host city I heard though like for like conventions and shit for like the viewer and the fan if it wasn't freezing They have hotels. I've heard it's a really good like hosting city almost as bad as Minnesota that was freezing that was 11 under yeah was 11 degrees under so whoever makes those this like

that decision. Let's let's stay the warm climate. You gotta build the stadium up. It was a newer stadium. I mean, this, come on. I was just an indie. You know, like you said, they need some warm weather. Yeah. It's all right. You know, they do a decent job hosting that many people. I was at the $Den 500,000. So there was over

400,000 people in the city. And they had enough hotels, enough restaurants and all that. But it's kind of run down a little bit. And talking about that Super Bowl game as well, that's why I got so hammered after the game. Because I didn't want to remember anything that happened. I don't remember anything.

Exactly. I don't remember it either. They put a safety video out on like a good chip and the NFL put it out. And they showed the clip that I actually got concussed. So I'm coming off the tackle. And literally like the second I get off the tackle's shoulder, Brandon Jacobs is running to the flat and flippers me on my chin. I stop and I drop in coverage,

but I'm not supposed to be in coverage at all. And I get off of it. And Mattie's like, hey, what happened on that play? I'm like, what play? I don't remember like I got hit he's like yeah you got it I said dude I was I don't remember anything so I don't even remember playing in that game so you know how crazy dangerous this game was or is yeah and especially for a guy like Troy Aikman who took a lot of hits yeah what makes what makes he do better that makes everyone else what does he do better than anyone else I'm

Luke Wilson join me each week for film never lies since retiring from the NFL I've had a lot of my mind and now got my own show. So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies available on all TSN platforms in the IHeartRadio app. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created

our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But, this one's extra special. So how to How do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title. For the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. On Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends, we help make you funnier on this episode. My guest's Bob Oden Kirk and Kids in the Halls, Bruce McCullough,

try and help the Kazoo Kid and Tazan Day be famous again. What if there's an alternate universe show where you guys are incredibly popular? Well, and they could travel up the land. I'm doing meat and greets. They're constantly needed at malls. Listen to humor me with Robert Smygling Friends on the IHard Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

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podcast network on TikTok. What is his great thing? That makes him elite. Probably his consistency. Because if you watch, if you watch like just what he does now, it's how he prepares for television, and then how he takes care of his body.

So literally to get in shape or to be fit, it's just discipline and consistency. So like for him to be so good for so long and then transition into the booth and be so good for so long, he has to be consistent. And he has to be able to do that over and over and over again. And I think that's why he was so successful in his professional career. And then

when he went to television, he's been even probably more successful, right? He stuck around for so long. And he's still doing it at such a high level. It comes back to probably what he was so good at when he was a professional football player. You know, I really like that answer. And to all you young bucks out there, it's all about consistency. It's not about doing it once, having a one-handed catch, you know, that day are running so fast and blowing by the safeties and having a touchdown. But if you can't do it the next day, well, then you're not going to make the team. You're not going to make the cut. And what's so interesting is that we asked Slater, what made Brandon Schuller so great as a special teamer to make him an all pro last year? And he said the same thing because Matthew Slater

coached him. And he said, it's his consistency. He brought it every single day to practice and then it transferred into a game. And now we just talked to you and we asked, hey, what makes Troy Aikman so great? And you said, it's his consistency, just how he prepares, how he went out there to be great on a daily basis. So if you want to be great, it has to be at a consistent rate every single day. It's not like, hey, I'm going to be good today. I'm going to try hard today and I'm going to take off tomorrow. No, you have to be great every day and you have to bring your A game every day, just like Troy Aikman, like Nenko's saying. That's right. Makes a lot of sense. There's a beast. And talking about Troy, if you had a chance, if you were playing back in his era,

what do you think it would have been like to sack him? Would have been awesome. I'd have loved it. You know, you watch 90s, tape, 2000s, the game is definitely evolved. It's changed. It's a lot different. Now, I'm not going to be that old guy and is like, oh, these young kids today couldn't play back in the day. But I would say the receivers nowadays, the tight ends, the quarterbacks, like, and I think Tom's even talked about this, you back in the 90s and early 2000s, like you had a responsibility

to take care of your receiver. Like, hey, I'm not just going to throw this lead this, lead a receiver on. a slant and there's a guy sitting right there. It could take them out of the game. You could take them out for a week. Take them out. Take them out. Right?

So, you know, when I watch those guys back in the 90s and the 2000s, I think that it was probably the hardest and most physical, the football, like the game, the sport has ever been because the rules weren't adjusted. And it was the apex of where they had the more athleticism and they started training in the offseason and shit. So you had speed, you had strength. and you had subpar equipment. So, like, those guys were still wearing, like,

the cork bike helmets that they were wearing in the 80s. Yeah. In the 70s, they were wearing that shit all the way their whole career. But they were faster and bigger. Yeah. All hits were legal, too. The crackback was legal. Like, there are guys.

You can blindsize someone. You can just tee off with someone going up to scene. There are guys. I seen it. I've seen someone, I think, Howie Long, gouged someone's eyeball out one. The quarterback's just absolutely got derailed, too. There are guys that are in the Hall of Fame

that couldn't play in today's game. They just couldn't play because of the way that the physicality of how they hit people. Like a John Lynch. Like John Lynch right now couldn't just decapitate people over the middle. And that was his game. That was his game. Ronnie Lott.

Ronnie Lott. It doesn't fit in this era. So for me, it's like those guys, like I have all the risk. It's two-hand touch out now here. I have all the respect in the world for, like, that era of football. Because not only they weren't making the crazy money, they were building the game of. to where it is right now.

And like now the guys are getting paid crazy money. And we were talking about before the show. We were getting paid crazy money too compared to the guys before us. That's how it goes every generation. It's the evolution of the game. I mean, like a baseball player. Like they're probably like, oh my God,

you see what those guys are making $700 million. And they're going to make that when they're 50, 60 years old. Like the Otani contract who's going to make $30 million when he's 55 is nuts because they defer everything down the road. Yeah. So he can be in Texas when he did it so it doesn't get taxed on it. Exactly.

Back to who's the favorite. quarterback that you've ever sacked since we're talking about sack and Troy Aikman? What about you in your career? Brett Favre? I can't officially call it a sack for Brett Farrf because he intentionally grounded the ball so that takes away your sack, which sucks. You had Brett Farr? Yeah, yeah. I'd say probably Manning's. I got the Manning, bro. I got both of them. So that's good. Grounded sack. Yeah. So they don't consider it a sack. I'd probably say Peyton and Eli. Those are two good guys. Because Peyton, when I was at Purdue,

I went to the Monday, and it was a Thursday night opener at the RCA dome, and they were playing the Steelers. And I went there as a scene, I went there my senior year at Purdue, and they were playing after the game, he went to this bar, and the agent that was trying to recruit me,

like took me to the same bar. And I remember looking at like, that's Peyton Manning, right? And then fast forward like 12 years, and I'm like sack fumbling them and stuff. It's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah.

smear it giving them the business and what what's the moment that stands out the most to you in troy ackman's career probably you know the from the transition because a lot of guys when you're there's only three ways to leave the game so it's your way their way or injured so when you leave injured mentally it's kind of hard to just really take that right like it's hard to accept the fact that you are being pushed out of the game that you love. And when you're playing football, like, that's your everything. Like, you love it, right? You wouldn't, you, that's all you know, because you've been doing it your whole life. So I think probably the most impressive thing is his transition from leaving the game, not on his terms, and then going into the booth

and being really good at it. Yeah. So, yeah, his career is great. But I think the television aspect of it, because what he does is not easy, right? Like the game is a flow and you got to be on it. And yeah, you know, he's with, he's with Joe Buck and that guy's, you know, he's got the voice and he's like right on it. But to come in and to come out and be good and have chemistry, it takes time. And he's worked at it, obviously. It's called six Super Bowls in 20 years at Fox. Yeah. And he's been at ESPN since 2022. Yeah. Yeah. Good old ESPN. That's your spot, bubs. All right. Let's get into it. Yeah. What kind of dude is Troy Akeman? Is he a stud? an athleticism freak.

He's had the pedigree his whole life. The football IQs there. He's well-rounded. Is he a freak? Unparalleled physical ability. One of one. Instinct. You see him, you're like, that's not human.

Is he a dog? Relentless, motivated, physically, mentally tough. Is he a whiz? Intellect. Innovative. Clutch. Or is he a dude's dude? a positive attitude or negative attitude in the locker room

that makes a guy relatable and great for the locker room. And don't you worry, Niko. This one's tough. We're going to ask you a series of question later in this episode to figure out what type of dude you are too. So get ready. So think a little bit about this one. Okay, so this is tough because you can't just say like,

oh, he's a freak or he's a dog. It's tough because to be a quarterback, you have to have a lot of intellect. You've got to be very smart. So he's definitely got a little whiz to him. he's a stud because he's number one overall pick he's definitely a stud he's the Hall Famer he's a stud he looks like a stud his face looks like a stud like he's got that he got a stud he's everything about him so I'm gonna go I'm going combo on this okay I'm gonna say stud there's no such

thing as a combo there's no combos in this fuck it's one all right he's a stud high category that dominates I was gonna explain though and he sells beer right he's got his own beer so that's kind of like a dude's dude. So I'll stay with stud. I'm saying he's a stud. He's a fucking stud. He has a little bit of attributes in him as a dude dude as well. But mostly he's a stunt. Yeah, but he is a stud. He went to UCLA. The California kid became the fucking America's team's quarterback, one three Super Bowl. Like, he's a stuff.

Now an ace in the broadcasting booth. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. On Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends, we help make you funnier. On this episode, my guest's Bob Oden Kirk and Kids in the Hall's Bruce McCullough. try and help the Kazoo Kid and Tazan Day be famous again.

What if there's an alternate universe show where you guys are incredibly popular? Well, and they could travel up the land doing meet and greets. They're constantly needed at malls. Listen to humor me with Robert Smygling Friends on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Turn someday into right now with Buddy by Jake Radio, nonstop workout music and expert tips 24-7.

Hey, head over to iHart. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free right now. Awesome health and wellness tips, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Remember, stick to the fight. When your hardest hit, it's when things seem worst that you must not quit. Don't quit. Body by Jake Radio, where hope meets momentum. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free.

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