Former NFL quarterback Troy Aikman is breaking his silence on a controversial remark he made during a game earlier this week.
According to The New York Post, Aikman reacted to the backlash he received for the remark during a radio appearance on 96.7 “The Ticket” Thursday.
During a matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders this week, Aikman commented on a roughing the passer call, as IJR reported.
“My hope is the competition committee looks at this in the next set of meetings and, you know, we take the dresses off,” Aikman said at the time.
In case you missed it:
Troy Aikman really needs to find a non-misogynistic way to critique the call besides “take the dresses off”.
— #StopCopCity (@ChuckModi1) October 11, 2022
And I say this as someone who heard this misogyny normalized by coaches as a kid & even participated myself. Way past time to end such sports talkpic.twitter.com/lHVhv6WdEv
He called the remark during the radio appearance “dumb,” adding, “Just shouldn’t have made them. Just dumb remarks on my part.”
Still, Aikman received significant criticism for the comment.
Yahoo! Sports writer Ryan Young wrote, “Aikman is far from alone in wanting the NFL to adjust the rules surrounding this type of play. Former head coaches Tony Dungy and Sean Payton called for it on Twitter almost immediately after the play Monday night.”
He continued, “Yet Aikman using a sexist trope to make a point was offensive, cringy and lazy. The Hall of Famer, after more than two decades in the broadcast booth, should know better by now.”
USA Today columnist Rex Huppke said Aikman has “decided the National Football League is doing too much to stop players from brain-damaging each other, saying during Monday night’s game that the league should ‘take the dresses off’ when it comes to roughing-the-passer penalties.”
This is not the first time Aikman has received criticism for a controversial comment.
In October 2020, announcer Joe Buck and Aikman were heard criticizing a flyover done before a football game, as USA Today reported.
He later tweeted an explanation for his criticism.
“I love a flyover but it was odd to see one over a mostly empty stadium,” Aikman wrote.
He continued, “But I am an unwavering patriot that loves this country, has always respected our flag, supported the men and women in the armed forces as well as those in uniform who serve and protect and for anyone to suggest otherwise doesn’t know me, my beliefs or what I have stood for my entire life.”