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Michael Irvin on the coaching quality he wished Mike McCarthy had, Jimmy Johnson’s Pro Football Hall of Fame nod and more

He also discussed Jimmy Johnson, Jason Witten, Dak Prescott and Kobe Bryant.

With Super Bowl LIV fast approaching, Pro Football Hall of Famer and NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin is making the rounds with media outlets to discuss all things football — including the Dallas Cowboys.

Irvin answered questions about Mike McCarthy, Jimmy Johnson’s Pro Football Hall of Fame call, Jason Witten’s future and Dak Prescott’s contract. He also talked at length about the death of Kobe Bryant, which can be read here, as well as below.

Here’s what Irvin had to say about each subject:

Mike McCarthy

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In appearance with 105.3 [KRLD-FM] The Fan’s “K&C Masterpiece” on Tuesday, Irvin was asked how much he thought a resetting of the coaching staff would affect the players.

While he did say he thinks there will be a “newfound focus and re-invigoration” for the players, he said he wished Dallas had hired a head coach with one particular coaching quality.

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“I wanted somebody that had some fear on them that [could] place some fear in these guys,” Irvin said. “And I don’t think Mike McCarthy is that guy.”

"But Mike McCarthy can gain a reverence from these guys because he can say, ‘Listen, I’ve been there. I’ve gone. I can take you there [a Super Bowl].’ I know you want to go. No matter what you hear, everybody wants to get here to a Super Bowl. Everybody wants to win a Super Bowl. And if you can tell these guys how to get here, I guarantee they’ll give you some attention and pay attention to you.”

Irvin, on Jan. 10, told The Fan that he thought the McCarthy hiring was “solid” for Dallas. In the same interview, Irvin was asked if the Cowboys have good enough players that McCarthy can step in and get the team back into playoff contention next season, to which he said:

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"They have enough good players, but it’s not just to have physical skill set, shoulders down, physical talent. You’ve got to have a way that you play the game shoulders up, a way that you see the game, how smart of football that you play and you’ve got to have — right in the center mass — you got to have heart for it. You’ve got to want it. You’ve got to want it badly.

“Now can Mike McCarthy help them find that thing, that reaches down in them and makes them want it badly enough that they play better and play harder all the time would be another thing. I thought the Cowboys needed a motivator.”

Related reading: Who is Mike McCarthy? In Green Bay, he’s known as more than just a Super Bowl-winning football coach

Jimmy Johnson

The former Cowboys head coach, who won Super Bowls with the team in 1992 and 1993, found out on live TV in mid-January that he will be the 328th person to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

When asked on The Dan Patrick Show Monday, Irvin said he was “so happy” for his former head coach. Johnson was Irvin’s coach with the Cowboys from 1989-93 and at the University of Miami from 1985-88.

“I saw him so emotional. You guys saw him," Irvin said. “He was just so happy and emotional, man. … That’s what I was saying. ‘Where is this fellow from? Who is this emotional fella that has emotions and feelings?’ I didn’t even know he had these things in him. I’ve known him since I was 17 years old. I’ve never seen these kinds of emotions.”

When asked by Patrick if he had any funny Johnson stories, Irvin said the following:

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“[Johnson] knew he had come and got a lot of us from the ghettos of Miami and Fort Lauderdale; the very ghettos. When we did not have good practices he would always bring us up and say, ‘I know you guys and everybody in your family think, ‘We made it out. We got it.’ You got a four-year scholarship.’

"He said, ‘But I’m gonna tell you something. You didn’t read the fine print. Those scholarships are one-year renewable. And if we don’t get better practices I’m sending you all back to where you came from.’ And you’re talking about some practices, man, right up in Miami. We get three square meals over here a day. You’re on scholarship so you got a training table. Back in the ghetto there was no training table. You better get these practices right, man, so we don’t have to go back to that.

“But, yeah, I was just so happy for him because, really, he deserves it. He earned it. I always thought about Coach Johnson because I love him to death. I told Coach Johnson, because coach [Howard] Schnellenberger recruited me, I said, ‘I came to Miami and you followed me. Then I went to Dallas and you followed me. I mean, you’re just following me everywhere. And I went to the Hall and he followed me. I love him, man. I’m just so happy for him.”

Related reading: Tim Cowlishaw says it’s time for Jerry Jones to put his friction with Jimmy Johnson aside, induct him into the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor

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Dak Prescott and Jason Witten

In appearance with The Rich Eisen Show on Monday, Irvin touched on a couple of topics Cowboys fans might be eager about this offseason: the futures of quarterback Dak Prescott and Jason Witten.

Irvin told Eisen that he wants Dallas to give Prescott a contract rather than use the franchise tag (which would cost $26.8 million).

“I hope Dak makes a statement because, you know, Dak’s a fourth-rounder,” Irvin said. "Those agents, they want to be able to say they got the biggest contract. I’m gonna have to go to that agent and say, ‘Listen, dude. I’m going to let you do that the next time. Go and get me this here. Let me put this $100 [million] in the bank and then we can play this game with you next time. But right now, I don’t have $100 [million] in the bank. Once I get that in, on the second $100 [million] you can work that game. You work it.’”

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Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said on 1310 The Ticket earlier this month that the organization was close to a deal with quarterback Prescott last summer. Since a deal was not struck, Prescott enters the offseason as an unrestricted free agent. The Cowboys have two avenues at their disposal: sign Prescott to a long-term deal or franchise him.

Prescott’s contract — which Jones called the team’s “No. 1 priority” for the offseason — is scheduled to expire March 18, but the Cowboys won’t allow him to reach free agency, The Dallas Morning News’ Calvin Watkins recently wrote. Dallas intends to sign him to an extension or, as a last resort, place the franchise tag on him before the league’s March 10 deadline.

Witten hasn’t publicly expressed if he wants to play a 17th season as of yet. Watkins on Jan. 16 reported that Witten wanted to discuss with his family before determining his NFL future. Irvin, on the Rich Eisen Show, said he thinks it is time for Witten to retire — for good this time.

“I think Witten, probably, joins the coaching staff because his comfort, which was coach [Jason] Garrett and all of those guys, are no longer there," Irvin said. "I don’t know if he wants to subject himself coming back trying to prove something to coach Mike McCarthy and that whole group again. Hopefully he gets into something that he loves doing as much as he loves playing the game because it’s probably time.”

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Kobe Bryant

NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others were killed Sunday when their helicopter plunged into a steep hillside in dense morning fog in Southern California, his sudden death at age 41 touching off an outpouring of grief for a star whose celebrity transcended basketball.

The chopper went down in Calabasas, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Authorities said nine people were aboard and presumed dead. Bryant, an all-time basketball great who spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, was among the victims.

Irvin spoke at length about Bryant with The Dan Patrick Show. You can read their back-and-forth below.

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Michael Irvin [7:59 mark]: “It has been hard just seeing everybody. It felt unreal, too. When I first heard the news I was like, ‘Ah, nah.’ You thought, you hoped actually, this was one of those social media things that you’ll find out [where] they fooled everybody. But it is [real]. It’s so sad. One of the things I thought about: I know life goes on and everybody keeps moving, but this is so different. I woke up and I was like, ‘Man, this is the one time everything should stop just for a moment here.’ Kobe, he was so incredible, man. I did meet him once [but] didn’t get a chance to have deep conversations with him. He was such an incredible person. All that he’s accomplished, and honestly, let me just say this for African-Americans: we say we don’t have enough people like Kobe that we can point to for some younger brothers to say, ‘Hey man, go be him.’ Because Kobe did things the right way, man. And it’s just sad.”

Dan Patrick: “And he had a second act. Because you have this basketball career and a lot of athletes get to that point when you’re 35 or 40 and you go, ‘Oh my God. It will never get better than it once was.’ And he had that second career where a lot of athletes will get there and panic and go, ‘What is my second career?’”

Michael Irvin [9:27 mark]: “You could tell that he would be one of those guys that could go and reinvent himself. He was so monomaniacal about being great about what he [put] his focus into that whatever he put his focus in, if he puts in that same fervor, you knew he’d be just as successful. And he was on his way to doing that. It’s just, it’s a life taken way too early.”

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Dan Patrick: “Can you play football with that mentality? I know basketball can be a one-on-one sport and football can’t be, but did you play against anybody that just sort of wanted to embarrass you and play with that singular focus that Kobe had?”

Michael Irvin [10:12 mark]: “Oh, yeah. You play with guys like that. There were a lot of guys that you got a chance to [play against]. And they may express it differently, but do things that bring the best out of them. Football’s different because it’s a more emotional sport. One thing, when I think about Kobe, I think about when Matt Barnes faked the ball. Dude. Do you know the nerves it takes not to flinch a bit? If somebody put their hands quickly [toward] your eye, you couldn’t even stop your eyes from blinking even if you wanted to. It’s called a natural body defense. His natural body defense didn’t even move. That’s amazing. [It shows] you the kind of courage, the steel courage, he has to sit there like that and not even flinch. That was amazing to me every time I see it.”

Related reading: Dirk, Luka Doncic, Michael Irvin and more react to news of Kobe Bryant’s death