Peter King sure is passing out a lot of love to the Dallas Cowboys lately. After picking them to win the Super Bowl in a MMQB column, he takes up their case again in this week's MMQB column about players/coaches who should be in the Hall of Fame.
3. Michael Irvin, WR, Dallas. Three knocks on Irvin I always hear. 1) He cheated: He held and pass-interfered when the officials couldn't see. 2) He was a mess off the field. 3) Dallas will have Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith (and maybe Larry Allen) in the Hall when this era's team is considered. That's enough. Poppycock. This man was the leader of the Cowboys, pure and simple. The leader. And he was a great player who simply refused to lose. I know it's a cliché, but ask anyone around that team -- Aikman, Jimmy Johnson, Jerry Jones. It's absurd he hasn't made it. And re: the off-the-field stuff, we are not allowed to bring those considerations into the meeting room. Only what happened between the lines should matter. Catching 750 balls for a three-time Super Bowl winner and being the key guy in the locker room on game days ... that should make him a gimme.
4. Bill Parcells, coach. I always say the same thing about this. When Marv Levy was actively trying to get back into coaching, even at his advanced age, he and Parcells came up for a vote. I must be blind, because I think it's no contest that a man who has led four different teams to the playoffs, three different teams to the conference title game, two different teams to the Super Bowl and won two world titles is more deserving by far than Levy.
Also over at SI.com, Roger Staubach is on the list of the greatest athletes to wear #12, and Keyshawn makes the list of players with unusual uniform numbers.
