Why Michael Irvin was so upset when Jimmy Johnson left the Cowboys: 'We could've won 5 or 6 Super Bowls'

Former Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin joined Joe Buck's Undeniable show on Audience Network to talk about Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer and more. Here are some of the highlights. 

On Jimmy Johnson

Joe Buck: Troy [Aikman] says, Emmitt [Smith] has said, there's no telling how many we could've won had Jimmy [Johnson] stayed there. How do you feel about that?

Michael Irvin: Exactly the same way and, you know, we talk about it all the time. We could've won five or six Super Bowls, we really believed that. I think that.

And it was hard for me because Jimmy was my guy. College and then here in the NFL and how do you send the car to the shop when it's the best driving car on the lot? What did we need to fix here? How did this happen?

So we were all stunned. All stunned.

Buck: So were you mad or disappointed at Jimmy?

Irvin: You know, I was probably more upset at Jerry [Jones] for allowing it to happen than Jimmy. You know, because I understood the business side of it. I remember even when the people would come in trying to get interviews, I mean, I was off the chain. I was throwing garbage cans at the people. They would come in, 'Get out of this locker room!' and throwing garbage cans and I was just so upset that Jimmy was not there. 

All along when this thing was brewing, I never thought it would get to this.

Buck: You never thought it could happen.

Irvin: I never--no way you're getting rid of the guy that comes off of winning back-to-back Super Bowls. Just, there's no way that's going to happen. And then it did.

Buck: Why do you think [Jimmy Johnson] left? Why do you think Jerry pushed?

Irvin: I don't know. I knew that it was stuff going on because Jimmy wanted to run such a tight ship. Jerry wanted to make football bigger than life, which is what he's basically done, you know what I mean.

Buck: You can't argue that.

Irvin: You cannot argue that. And he wanted to bring in princes and everything. Jimmy wanted that locker room door closed, especially if we lost. He was not in any mood to let Jerry bring all these people around and I think that was what started it. You know, Jerry couldn't play with his team, Jimmy wouldn't allow it. And Jerry I guess just got tired of it.

On Barry Switzer

Irvin: I like Barry. Barry believed that grown men didn't need to be monitored. Like, you know, these grown men 'you guys know what you have to do, get it done.' And it's a great thought, but it's not a reality.

Jimmy didn't leave anything to chance. Jimmy would ride everybody and make sure everybody's doing what they need to do. And Barry was a little more lenient in that way. And really, we were used to being ridden. And so I think that caused some issues.

On the 1994 team

Irvin: Well, we were a good team and we should've won it all then. We should've won in '94, you know, we get to the NFC Championship game of course...

We're in San Francisco, we're playing the 49ers and we came up short, but I will say to you this. That game, I think we showed as much heart as we've

in any game that we played and I think that turned for us. And we all made a commitment when we went into the locker room. We didn't speak a word.

Everybody was hurt after losing that game. We didn't speak a word, but there was a commitment made that this would not happen next year. And when we went to work, it was at a different level.

And it was no longer

issue with Barry. It was only about winning football games now, you know, or we stopped using that or allowing that to be an excuse.

It doesn't matter who's on the sideline, it doesn't matter who's coaching, it only matters who's on this football field and we have to make it happen on that football field.

Your voice matters.



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