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Older NFL fans, was Michael Irvin viewed as a bust through his first 3 seasons? (alien.top)

submitted 1 year ago by Number333@alien.top to c/nfl@nfl.community

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Michael Irvin's football reference page: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/I/IrviMi00.htm

1988: 14 games, 32 catches, 654 yards, 5 TDs
1989: 6 games, 26 catches, 378 yards, 2 TDs
1990: 12 games, 20 catches, 413 yards, 5 TDs

He was a former #11 overall pick at the time and I feel like any 1st rounder putting up those numbers would get lambasted. Was this the sentiment back then before he became a HOFer?

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[–] whistlepig4life@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I have to be honest. It was different then. There was no fantasy football. There was no constant daily reports and analysis on player performance. We watched professional football on Sunday afternoons and Monday night and that was it. And you usually only could see 3 maybe 4 games a week. 3 were televised in your area between 1 and 4. And then the Monday night game.

Also. And I am being honest so young folks don’t be offended. We weren’t so damn hyper judgmental about players. We gave them time to develop. Rarely did a guy flash immediately even first rounders. No one called for anyone’s heads after one bad game or one bad season. The attention span and patience level of todays average fan is so short it’s ridiculous.

But everyone also knew the Boys were bad at the end of the 80’s. Landry was trying to rebuild. But Jones after he bought the team in 89 had limited patience and wanted to get it turned around fast. Bringing in Johnson who promptly dumped their best asset and fleecing Minne in the process then drafting Aikman and being patient with him turned out to be right.

And just as Diggs made Allen a much better QB. Back then Aikman made Irvin better back then. Same as it ever was.