Cowboys Legend Michal Irvin Goes Off on Jerry Jones for Not Hiring Sanders
Following the Dallas Cowboys' decision to promote offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to their next head coach on Friday, franchise legend Michael Irvin shared some heated thoughts about owner Jerry Jones overlooking Deion Sanders for the job.
"Here's my issue," Irvin said in a 20-minute YouTube video he posted on Saturday night. "We lost an opportunity here. I don't know what happened with Coach Schottenheimer and the Cowboys, but Jerry is a shrewd, shrewd businessman, and this opportunity, I'm shocked he did not see. I was pushing for Deion Sanders to be the next head coach, and I still stand ten toes down on that push."
After the Cowboys parted ways with former head coach Mike McCarthy, Sanders was a name that was linked to the role, but he was never formally interviewed. Schottenheimer, who along with Robert Saleh and Kellen Moore, was the only other name on the short list of candidates and he was offered an interview.
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Irvin, who played on the Cowboys with Sanders in Dallas from 1995-99, believes that the move was counterintuitive to the franchise's goal of reestablishing itself as a major player within the NFC. Both players won a Super Bowl together as Cowboys in 1996.
"We have two NFC East teams in the NFC Championship game being played (Sunday). All eyes on them," Irvin said. "The Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Commanders, our enemies on all fronts.
And they're in a position that we haven't held in 30 f------ years. We're losing ground in the NFC. That's 30 damn years. Forty years is a generation. It was time to bring somebody in here that could shake things up and grab this last leg of Cowboys Nation. A third of Cowboys Nation has never felt or lived the glory of a championship story."
Irvin's passion and displeasure stem from playing his entire 12-year career with the Cowboys, who drafted him No. 11 overall in the 1988 NFL Draft. He won three Super Bowl titles with Dallas and earned his first Pro Bowl selection in 1991 after recording 1,523 yards and eight touchdowns.
"How the hell can they pass something down when they don't even know about it? Worse yet, that generation has seen total domination from a team named the Kansas City Chiefs. So not only are you losing football games over here and opportunities over here and divisions over here, you're about to get our (America's Team) moniker snatched off our backs."
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