Did Michael Irvin cost the Cowboys a Super Bowl?

[WPBCowboysFan]

I'm convinced that the Erik Williams car wreck cost the Cowboys the 1994 Super Bowl. Again, that probably wouldn't have happened if Jimmy was still around. Those guys felt some limits to their debauchery when Jimmy was around but had no limits with the likes of Switzer.

Switzer prob was proud of those guys and would have liked to been have been one of the boys as well.

 

[Gameover]

No. The Cowboys were not as good as the Packers

 

[Gameover]

It would have been very hard to beat GB at Lambeau in January. We got man handled there the following season 45-17 or something.

We wouldn't have beaten GB but the game in 97 means nothing.

 

[Fritsch_the_cat]

It's possible that Irvin' birthday party cost a SB, then cost Barry Switzer his Job the next year .

Then it was worth it.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

We didn't lose because of the 1st 5 games IMO. We lost because Irvin sustained injury and couldn't play in that playoff game. The result was a passing game that didn't work. Instead of Irvin, we had Kevin Williams and Kelvin Martin as our WRs and the Carolina D was too good to beat them with those WRs. With Irvin, I think we had a good chance to beat Carolina but without him, that allowed Carolina to really focus on stopping the run and that spelled the end for us.

Heck, the fact that we were stuck with those two options at WR, once Michael went down tells you a lot about what the real problems were with the 1996 team.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

Michael Irvin was at the grassy knoll.
Also, it is my belief that as a member of the TriLateral Commission, he funneled funds to the Illuminati, which we all knows has conspired to end our American Way of Strife.
And half you ever seen Michael Irvin wiff a flag? I thought so. What's his problem with Old Gory?

I would really like to knows.

 

[links18]

If we win 2 of the first 5 games with Irvin playing we're in position to be 13-3 by beating the Commanders in the last game of the season forcing Carolina and GB to beat the Cowboys at home in the playoffs. They were both very good teams that year but home field would have been huge especially for the game against the Packers who the Cowboys had already beat once that year.

I suppose you're right, but which two games would we have won? Bears, Bills?

 

[links18]

Very possible and maybe even likely, but if we were serious contenders we should have beaten Carolina no matter where that game was played IMO.

Didn't both Irvin and Deion go down in that game leaving Troy to try to throw to Billy Davis?

 

[links18]

No. The Cowboys were not as good as the Packers

But yet we beat them that year w/o scoring a TD.

 

[the_h0wey]

Who's Micheal Irvin?

I've never heard of Micheal Irvin either, but apparently the guy is a real jerk and cost us another Super Bowl. I'll go on record as being against him.

 

[Szczepanik]

No he did not, Patrick Crayton did with his drop against the Giants that year though..

 

[the_h0wey]

But yet we beat them that year w/o scoring a TD.

That was the 7 field goal game at Texas Stadium right?!

 

[links18]

That was the 7 field goal game at Texas Stadium right?!

Yes, Chris Boniol set a record with an unnecessary FG as the game wound down, causing Reggie White to fly off the handle and go after Switzer post-game.

Come to think of it, we beat both Super Bowl teams that year w/o scoring a TD. We beat the Patriots 12-6 late in the year.

 

[OhSnap]

Very possible and maybe even likely, but if we were serious contenders we should have beaten Carolina no matter where that game was played IMO.

That was a proud team hosting a playoff game in it's second year. I live in NC and in the minds of the fans that game was the SB, all 4 of their reg. season losses and the playoff loss was on the road.

 

[Gameover]

But yet we beat them that year w/o scoring a TD.

But yet they played that game w/o both starting receivers.

 

[windward]

I suppose you're right, but which two games would we have won? Bears, Bills?

We lost to the Bills by 3 and to the Colts by 1. And yeah that bear game might have played out differently too.

 

[the_h0wey]

Yes, Chris Boniol set a record with an unnecessary FG as the game wound down, causing Reggie White to fly off the handle and go after Switzer post-game.

Come to think of it, we beat both Super Bowl teams that year w/o scoring a TD. We beat the Patriots 12-6 late in the year.

That win felt really good. At the time there was a night time radio host, Arnie Spanier that was Anti-Cowboys. He ate some crow for a few weeks after that one.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

It certainly hurt them in the early going of 1996. They likely wouldn't have started 2-3 if Irvin hadn't been suspended.

There are a lot of factors there that have nothing to do with Irvin however. I mean if Irvin didn't get in trouble does that mean Lett wouldn't have been suspended later that year? Doubtful. Leon probably still would have been and that would have still hurt the defense in a bad way.

If Irvin had been there those first 5 games would Kevin Smith have magically not been a shell of his former self? Doubtful. That achilles injury destroyed him and Irvin playing, or not playing, had absolutely nothing to do with that fact.

Now lets say he doesn't get hurt against Carolina and we do win that game and go to Greenbay. We would NOT have gone to Greenbay and beaten that Packers team in Greenbay to make it to the Superbowl.

People can hope and wish for that all they want but if we had to go to Greenbay for the NFC Championship game in 1996 the Cowboys defense would have been destroyed. They couldn't stop the run without Lett, so Greenbay would have pounded the ball nicely on them, and Kevin Smith would have been torched by a wide array of WR's.

Now if we could have had a better start to the year and got them in Dallas I'd say we'd have had a chance, despite those factors, simply because Favre sucked so bad in games in Texas Stadium. That's the only reason we'd have had a shot. But the thing is I don't know if we got to the Superbowl that we'd have even been able to win. Glenn would have eaten Smith alive and the Patriots certainly would have run the ball all day long on use without Lett. So that's just way to much speculation as to what they might have done there.


Now lets move beyond 1996. There is only 1 area that I will absolutely agree that would have changed for sure. If Irvin didn't get arrested in 1996, and everything else stayed pretty much the same, Dallas absolutely would have drafted Randy Moss. Of this I have no doubt. It's pretty obvious they decided not to draft Moss soley on the fact that they already had one WR with off the field issues.

But here is something else that I am 100% certain about if we did draft Moss. The Dallas Cowboys WOULD NOT have gotten the Randy Moss that we all saw dominate the league. There are two HUGE reasons for this.

#1) Moss wouldn't have been playing with the extremely large chip on his shoulder for being passed over by so many teams, especially the Cowboys, as we all know he did. He wouldn't have had that motivation that drove him like it did.

Couple that with....

#2) He wouldn't have had Cris Carter to mentor him and keep him out of trouble off the field at a time when Moss sorely needed that guidence. In Dallas he'd have had Irvin partying it up with him and doing stupid things off the field and Moss would have landed in trouble and would have been a mess.

The best thing that ever happened to Randy Moss was Michael Irvin screwing up so bad in 1996 that Jerry Jones refused to draft him.

 

[windward]

It certainly hurt them in the early going of 1996. They likely wouldn't have started 2-3 if Irvin hadn't been suspended.

There are a lot of factors there that have nothing to do with Irvin however. I mean if Irvin didn't get in trouble does that mean Lett wouldn't have been suspended later that year? Doubtful. Leon probably still would have been and that would have still hurt the defense in a bad way.

If Irvin had been there those first 5 games would Kevin Smith have magically not been a shell of his former self? Doubtful. That achilles injury destroyed him and Irvin playing, or not playing, had absolutely nothing to do with that fact.

Now lets say he doesn't get hurt against Carolina and we do win that game and go to Greenbay. We would NOT have gone to Greenbay and beaten that Packers team in Greenbay to make it to the Superbowl.

People can hope and wish for that all they want but if we had to go to Greenbay for the NFC Championship game in 1996 the Cowboys defense would have been destroyed. They couldn't stop the run without Lett, so Greenbay would have pounded the ball nicely on them, and Kevin Smith would have been torched by a wide array of WR's.

Now if we could have had a better start to the year and got them in Dallas I'd say we'd have had a chance, despite those factors, simply because Favre sucked so bad in games in Texas Stadium. That's the only reason we'd have had a shot. But the thing is I don't know if we got to the Superbowl that we'd have even been able to win. Glenn would have eaten Smith alive and the Patriots certainly would have run the ball all day long on use without Lett. So that's just way to much speculation as to what they might have done there.

It's no guarantee we would have beat the Pats, yes. But we did beat them 12-6 in Week 16 fwiw.

 

[perrykemp]

We wouldn't have beaten GB but the game in 97 means nothing.

The 1996 Packers - Cowboys game was about as ugly of a game as I've ever seen. Cowboys won it with 7 field goals I believe.