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CHICAGO -- As a kid, Matthew Stafford would sometimes wear his replica Troy Aikman jersey while watching the Dallas Cowboys play. At the time, he was a massive Cowboys fan with NFL dreams, hoping to one day be on a field just like Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith. He never thought he might be able to equal the former Cowboys quarterback. Yet Sunday against the Chicago Bears, Stafford surpassed him. With a 6-yard pass to Golden Tate in the second quarter, Stafford moved into 36th place all-time in passing yards -- right past Aikman, the guy he grew up idolizing. “Absolutely,” Stafford said this week. “He was the guy in Dallas when I was growing up so I was always cheering for him.” Aikman threw for 32,942 yards from 1989 to 2000. Stafford now has 33,063 yards after a 27-24 win over the Bears on Sunday. Stafford also passed Ken Anderson, who had 32,838 career yards. Stafford and Aikman got to know each other before the 2009 draft, when Stafford became the No. 1 overall pick to the Lions -- 20 years after Aikman was the No. 1 overall pick by the Cowboys. Stafford said in a 2009 ESPN segment that Aikman wrote him a letter when he was at Highland Park High School in Dallas, which “meant a lot to me.” Aikman said in the segment that he took an interest in Stafford after he was asked about the high school quarterback while in a Highland Park Starbucks. The two ended up meeting in a restaurant and stayed in touch after that. “It’s rare that I’ve gotten to know someone like this,” Aikman said in the piece. “That I’ve taken such a vested interest in seeing doing well.” One of the parts of Aikman's game that Stafford wanted to emulate when he was a kid was how the Cowboys QB threw some of his routes. “For him, probably just his connection with [Michael] Irvin and [Jay] Novacek, those are the two that I remember the most,” Stafford said. “Just his timing and accuracy, that was probably what he was best known for, just cutting out routes loose super early and end up being in a great spot. Really good passer.” So what would it mean for Stafford to pass Aikman? He didn’t want to speculate when asked by ESPN this week but did admit it would be cool. And it’s something he just did. Next up for Stafford are two more Hall of Famers: Y.A. Tittle (33,070 yards) and Steve Young (33,124 yards).
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