Michael Irvin's Signature Game?

[NorthTexan95]

I was thinking about the Triplets tonight. Everyone pretty much agrees that Emmitt's greatest game was the Giants OT game to win the division. Many believe Troy's signature game was the '94 NFC championship loss at SF. But what was Michael's great game? What is his signature game?

There's not one game which comes to my mind. The closest would be the first Super Bowl when he made those two touchdowns right before the half.

Maybe Michael doesn't have a signature game. Any ideas?

 

[Deacon Moss]

let me see...I'm gonna go with the '99 opener vs. skins,(champ baileys reg season debut, and not a very good one I might add), and the '97 opener vs steelers (37-0).

 

[jsond]

good question. I don't think he had a true signature game but if he did I would say it would be one of these:

Rookie year - 6 catches 149 yds 3 TD's in 24-17 win vs Washington. 1st 100 yd game of his career with many more to come.

1992 vs the cardinals - 8 catches 210 yds 3 TD's...best game yardage wise

Superbowl XXVII - 6 catches 114 yds and 2 TD's in 52-17 win over the Bills...those 2 TD's were in the 1st half and helped turn a close game into a blowout.

1994 in the Championship loss to the 49ers - 12 catches 192 yds 2 TD's...and if I remember right they singled up Deion on Harper and doubled Irvin most of that game. But to me, as has been mentioned, that was more Troy's signature game as he had what I consider his finest performance in that heartbreaking loss.

1996 - 12 catches 186yds in 29-10 win over Jimmy Johnson's Dolphins...I like that one because JJ had his corners showing much respect for Irvin by giving him so much cushion to avoid getting beaten deep. Seemed like he was wide open all game.

His best year statwise was 1995 so maybe a game from that year. But in the end I dont know that there is one game that really defined what an impressive career he had. It would have been nice to see him inducted into the HOF this weekend. But hopefully his time will come.

 

[trickblue]

I was thinking about the Triplets tonight. Everyone pretty much agrees that Emmitt's greatest game was the Giants OT game to win the division. Many believe Troy's signature game was the '94 NFC championship loss at SF. But what was Michael's great game? What is his signature game?

There's not one game which comes to my mind. The closest would be the first Super Bowl when he made those two touchdowns right before the half.

Maybe Michael doesn't have a signature game. Any ideas?

Pretty much any game he faced Darryl Green...

 

[JDSmith]

91, second game against the (11 - 0) Skins. They put Darrel Green on him all day and he ate DG alive. He ended up with 9 catches 130 receiving yards and 1 TD, but with 2 more catches that totalled at least 50 yards called back on penalties against our rookie right tackle - Erik Williams. He did it with both Aikman and Beurlein at QB because Troy got knocked out in the beginning of the third quarter. With the score 14 - 7, and the Skins having showed some signs of life by scoring on their previous drive Irvin made his best catch of the day on a pass thrown behind him. That catch can be seen here.

 

[Deacon Moss]

dude - nice clip...can ya get any from the '99 opener vs.skins???

 

[JDSmith]

dude - nice clip...can ya get any from the '99 opener vs.skins???

Nope. Don't have any vintage footage outside of that one game. Calico might though, he's got a lot more old footage than I do.

 

[Deacon Moss]

'preciate it anyway

 

[kmd24]

91, second game against the (11 - 0) Skins. They put Darrel Green on him all day and he ate DG alive. He ended up with 9 catches 130 receiving yards and 1 TD, but with 2 more catches that totalled at least 50 yards called back on penalties against our rookie right tackle - Erik Williams. He did it with both Aikman and Beurlein at QB because Troy got knocked out in the beginning of the third quarter. With the score 14 - 7, and the Skins having showed some signs of life by scoring on their previous drive Irvin made his best catch of the day on a pass thrown behind him. That catch can be seen here.

This is undoubtedly the game that sticks out in my mind. The Commanders were far and away better than the rest of the league, and Irvin seemed to load up the offense on his back and cement the win. He was definitely the star of the game, and it was the first time I realized just how special Irvin was.

 

[Deacon Moss]

kick-*** clips dude, but the one with Witten was just a song - Thx

 

[jsond]

kick-*** clips dude, but the one with Witten was just a song - Thx

Sounds like you don't have the proper codec and/or it is defaulting to opening that clip in winamp or something. If you don't already have it you might try this link for a divx player. I would just click on 'free download' to the right of 'DivX Play Bundle'. Hope this helps.

http://www.divx.com/divx/

 

[Deacon Moss]

i'm still at work so i'll have to try and download it when I get home - Thx

 

[JDSmith]

Sounds like you don't have the proper codec and/or it is defaulting to opening that clip in winamp or something. If you don't already have it you might try this link for a divx player. I would just click on 'free download' to the right of 'DivX Play Bundle'. Hope this helps.

http://www.divx.com/divx/

Actually none of them are divx anymore. I converted everything to wmv for convenience.

 

[dougonthebench]

I feel like any game Michael was in was a signature game.

 

[Hostile]

1992 versus the Cardinals. he was one on one with Aeneas Williams whom many at that time thought was a top 5 CB in the NFL.

He said Aeneas was talking smack before the game started about how he was going to shut him down. When it was over Ivin had 3 TDs and 210 yards receiving and made Williams look silly.

 

[joseephuss]

1992 versus the Cardinals. he was one on one with Aeneas Williams whom many at that time thought was a top 5 CB in the NFL.

He said Aeneas was talking smack before the game started about how he was going to shut him down. When it was over Ivin had 3 TDs and 210 yards receiving and made Williams look silly.

Williams told Irvin he was going to be with him all day. On the opening drive, Irvin scored on a 80+ yard pass play. Irvin said he ran by him and asked if he took that play off.

Irvin had some good strings of games. He had a good stretch during the last 5 games of the 91 season when Beurlein was the QB. He also had a good stretch during the 95 season. I believe he had set the then record of consecutive 100 yard games.

 

[JakeCamp12]

1994 in the Championship loss to the 49ers - 12 catches 192 yds 2 TD's...and if I remember right they singled up Deion on Harper and doubled Irvin most of that game. But to me, as has been mentioned, that was more Troy's signature game as he had what I consider his finest performance in that heartbreaking loss.

To me this game summed up Irvin's career. He was the true warrior of the team, never stop playing hard and fight until the end. Who can forget him caked in that tar they called a field in SF? Fighting till the very end, even getting Deion to interfere with him and not getting it called.

 

[Hostile]

Williams told Irvin he was going to be with him all day. On the opening drive, Irvin scored on a 80+ yard pass play. Irvin said he ran by him and asked if he took that play off.

Irvin had some good strings of games. He had a good stretch during the last 5 games of the 91 season when Beurlein was the QB. He also had a good stretch during the 95 season. I believe he had set the then record of consecutive 100 yard games.

I remember him saying he asked Aeneas that. Classic Irvin.

 

[NorthTexan95]

That's one ting I remember about Irvin. It didn't matter who was covering him. If the game plan was to go to him no one could stop him. He consistently rose to the challenge of whoever was covering him.

 

[31smackdown]

I'm with JD on this one, that 9 catch game against Washington and Darrell Green. It was like a nightmare game for Green, Irvin was dominant that day.