Michael Irvin’s freak injury in 1999 set a new low in one of the NFL’s fiercest rivalries.
The Dallas Cowboys great collided with Philadelphia Eagles safety Tim Hauck in what would prove to be the last snap of a Hall of Fame career.
He was down on the field for 20 minutes as owner Jerry Jones looked on helplessly before being heckled by a large section of the packed Veterans Stadium as he was wheeled into an ambulance.
“I often joked before that, saying, ‘They’re going to have to drag me off the field. I ain’t leaving,'” Irvin later told teammate Darren Woodson. “And that’s exactly what they did. They carried me off the field.”
The Cowboys, who begin the 2025 season against the Super Bowl champion Eagles, came into the Week 5 clash 3-0 in 1999.
Late in the first quarter, quarterback Troy Aikman found Irvin, who made a small jump to make the catch and was hit by cornerback Bobby Taylor.
Hauck came in and went over the top as the wideout ducked his head to avoid contact.
John Madden announced an eight-yard gain, but Irvin did not get up, laying motionless on the turf.
He told Woodson’s podcast: “I remember I took the hit, and I rolled over, and they said something like ‘Move your legs, uncross your legs’ or something. They said, ‘Uncross your legs.’ My legs were crossed. And I said, ‘I did.’
“And the look on the person’s face is what scared me. I was like, ‘Whoa.’ You know what I mean? They didn’t hide that my legs did not uncross. And I was like, ‘Whoa.’ And then I just felt the fear of it all.”
Irvin had just moved into the top 10 all-time with a 750th reception, but thoughts quickly turned to his health.
“That’s the one thing every football player, deep down inside, is worried about. If you ask them, their deepest, darkest fear is always, ‘Ending up paralyzed on the football field.’ And to have had that really happen, that was a scary situation. I definitely thought that it was over,” he explained.
“And all I could think about at that time? Man, I remember that [previous] morning, [my son] little Michael, we were throwing the football, and he kept wanting to throw it. And I said I had to go, I had to go. I had to get on a plane the day before that. ‘I gotta go.’ And I said, ‘We’ll do it when I get back. We’ll do it when I get back.’ And I thought about that out there, that I won’t be able to do it when I get back.”
Philly fans have gained a reputation for being among the nastiest in sports and the ugly scenes 26 years ago backed up the image.
Loud cheers rang out when Irvin’s injury became apparent. There was some clapping when the stretcher came out but a huge roar then echoed around the arena.
The Cowboys conceded 13 points in the final 12 minutes to slump to defeat. Their thoughts were with their stricken colleague.
Testing at Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University Spine Trauma Center revealed he had swelling of the spinal cord after his head slammed into the hard turf at the wrong angle. Neither tackler was to blame for the horrific accident.
Later tests revealed that Irvin was suffering with cervical spinal stenosis — a genetic condition that results in a narrow spinal cord. The superstar had lived with it since birth, but was advised to retire to avoid significant risk of permanent damage.
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Irvin officially ended his career on July 11, 2000, with 20 Cowboys’ receiving records under his belt.
“Walking away from the game is hard, but walking away is a blessing,” he said.
The Cowboys haven’t reached the Super Bowl since 1996
Irvin’s injury marked the end of a glorious era for America’s Team, with Jones struggling to come close to adding to the three Super Bowl triumphs of the 90s, all of which came with the future Hall of Famer.
Cowboys fans have never forgiven the Eagles for the jeering — Irvin sees things differently.
“If you want to say I was disappointed with that reaction, you can say that,” Irvin said after Houston Texans celebrated an injury to quarterback Matt Schaub. “But calling those people classless, that’s way out of bounds.
“You don’t know what that man went through to get those tickets and the only way he has to respond to this situation is that. If you don’t know that, shut up. You don’t know what sacrifices he made.
“It was a compliment for Philly to cheer me. Philly wasn’t cheering my injury. They were cheering my departure: ‘Thank God he’s leaving the field; he’s been killing us. Thank God, maybe now we have a chance to win.’
“You’ve never heard me say one negative thing about the Philadelphia crowd.”
Michael Irvin’s Hall of Fame speech
In 2007, Irvin was enshrined in Canton.
Instead of bemoaning his misfortune, he chose to focus on the message he wanted to give to his sons Michael and Elijah.
“When I’m on that threshing floor, I pray. I say, ‘God, I have my struggles, he began while wiping tears from his face.
“And I made some bad decisions. But whatever you do, whatever you do, don’t let me mess this up.
“Please, help me raise them for some young lady so they can be a better husband than I … a better father than I.’ And I tell you guys to always do the right thing so that you can be a better role model than Dad.
“I was voiceless, but my heart cried out. ‘God, why must I go through so many peaks and valleys?’ … I wanted to stand in front of my boys and say, ‘Do it like your dad,’ like any proud dad would want to. Why must I go through so much? And at that moment, a voice came over me, and it said, ‘Look up, get up and don’t ever give up.'”
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