‘Yeah, it hurts.’ Dallas Cowboys legends assess team at ‘an all-time low’ point.
Two Dallas Cowboys legends sounded off about their former team in radio interviews this week.
Michael Irvin called the Cowboys’ 2-5 start, including last week’s 25-3 loss to Washington an all-time low for the franchise. And he played on the 1-15 team in 1989.
“I believe, the Cowboys right now, may be the worst team in the National Football League,” Irvin told KGMZ/95.7 FM “The Game” in San Francisco on Tuesday. “I know the Jets haven’t won a game but would you take the Cowboys over the Jets right now? How can anybody pick the Cowboys at any time when you see what’s happening, especially when you see what’s going on with that defense.”
Troy Aikman defended the Cowboys’ offensive linemen during his weekly appearance on KTCK/96.7 FM and 1310 AM “The Ticket” after they were criticized by many in the media, including several former players, for not retaliating against Washington’s Jon Bostic for his illegal hit that knocked quarterback Andy Dalton out of the game with a concussion. Dalton has been in the NFLs concussion protocol this week and it’s uncertain whether he’ll be available when the Cowboys play the Eagles Sunday night in Philadelphia.
“What I know happens in our league is somebody makes a big deal about something and then every post-game show sees that and then jumps on it and they react to it,” Aikman said Tuesday morning. “I think it was an overreation to not much. I don’t question these offensive linemen and whether they want to protect their quarterback and do they have his back and all that. I think you just got to put it in context just who these guys were, and they’re fighting for their own lives. I think they were more concerned with his well being as opposed to retaliating.”
The Cowboys Hall of Famer doesn’t think Bostic’s hit was malicious and thinks Dalton’s teammates probably reacted the same way he did while watching the game from his couch. If head coach Mike McCarthy hadn’t reacted with such surprise at the lack of retaliation during his press conference, Aikman said, it would have blown over quicker.
“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I hope Andy’s OK,’” he said. “And I felt like that’s how the players reacted. I think that had Mike answered that question differently at the post-game press conference, I don’t think the national media would have jumped on that.”
Aikman might be right. Most of the Dalton’s teammates reacted with alarm and immediately went to his aid. But in the moment, the perception the entire scene gave as it played out on the broadcast made the team look passive.
The tough start to 2020 has Irvin, one of the Cowboys’ biggest cheerleaders, scratching his head.
“I don’t even know how to explain this. It’s just an all-time low for my Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, it hurts,” he said. “The Cowboys had people really thinking, including myself, that they were ready to be Super Bowl bound and they’ve been a super bust.”
