Dallas Cowboys legend Michael Irvin ripped into his former team after the dreadful loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 5 and Caleb Downs has shared his thoughts on one of Irvin's comments in particular.
While appearing on ESPN's "First Take" last week, Irvin went in on the Cowboys, saying things look "hopeless" in Dallas after the Cowboys fell victim to a classic trap game.
I was sitting there saying, this is, this is ugly. And it looks hopeless. They played poorly,” Irvin said.
Most, if not all Cowboys fans would agree with Irvin's sentiment about feeling hopeless after losing to an 0-4 team that was starting an undrafted rookie quarterback.
Caleb Downs responds to Michael Irvin
On the latest episode of his "Downs 2 Business" podcast, Downs was asked about Irvin's comments admitted he tries to ignore the negativity surrounding the team, whether it's from Irvin or anyone else on the outside.
"I try not to look at stuff like that as much as I can," Downs said. "It's not going to be very helpful."
That's probably a winning strategy. After all, soaking up a bunch of negativity isn't going to fix an NFL defense.
In regard to what the Cowboys need to do to improve on that side of the ball, Downs mentioned playing with more energy.
"We know we need to play with more energy, more passion about what we're doing and then go ahead and do what we need to do," Downs added. "You have to find ways to get yourself energized to do whatever it is, whether you're working at CVS or playing in the National Football League. Whatever it is, you gotta find a way to have energy and we gotta do that at a high level."
The Cowboys already have coaching and talent issues on defense. I guess we can include an energy problem, also.
Talk about a terrible trio of problems to have.
More strong words from Michael Irvin
That wasn't all Irvin had to say about the Cowboys after last week's loss.
He ripped Dak Prescott for his reaction to the heckler who drew the ire of the Cowboys quarterback and said Dallas should have shown that much fight against the Bucs.
"When that guy yelled 'embarrassing,' he was talking about you got everybody hoping and waiting that this is going to be different and it came out the same damn way it has always been over the last 30 years," Irvin said. "I had no issues with that man yelling 'embarrassing' because it was embarrassing."
"And I always say, you can have fight in you, make sure you know who and when to fight," he added. "And fighting (the embarrassing guy) was not the damn fight. Fighting them boys on the football field was the fight. And you ran from that fight."
Changes afoot
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer promised changes after last week's loss and we have already seen one: Dallas hired veteran defensive coach Mike Pettine as a senior defensive assistant.
Another change we're likely, Schottenheimer said, is more snaps for rookie Malachi Lawrence.
We'd also like to see Downs back in the slot, where we believe he'd make a bigger impact. Downs has been playing safety lately thanks to injuries at the position.
The most important change the Cowboys need to make is the benching of DaRon Bland, who has one of the very worst cornerbacks in the NFL this season.
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