'Undefeated Dallas Cowboys,' Predicts 'Crazy' Michael Irvin ... 'If!'

“If the Dallas Cowboys clean up these penalties, they will be chasing the (undefeated) 1972 Miami Dolphins.'' - Michael Irvin.

FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys started their preseason in Denver on Saturday, and somehow, our favorite Cowboys-lovin' booster president saw something different from the rest of us.

“If the Dallas Cowboys clean up these penalties, they will be chasing the (undefeated) 1972 Miami Dolphins,'' Michael Irvin said Monday on @FirstTake. "When you got the No. 1 offense, clean up these penalties, they will be chasing the 1972 Dolphins.''

The 1972 Dolphins, of course, went undefeated and won the Super Bowl.

The 2022 Dallas Cowboys?

"I think we all recognize that this isn't the regular season," Dallas coach Mike McCarthy said after a 17-7 loss marred by 17 Cowboys penalties.

McCarthy's point was to try to separate last year's penalty-marred season from this preseason outing.

"I understand your question, (but) last year was last year,'' he said. (See "Flag Football''). "I think last year as far as trying to establish a play style and an identity, it took us a while to get that and once we did, we won a number of games. This is really the starting point that you go through every year.

But ... does it have to start with 17 flags for 129 yards?

Said McCarthy: "This is preseason. I don't think this has anything to do with last year. But I didn't like the number of penalties. I made it clear. I talked about it at halftime and I talked about it briefly in there (the locker room). We'll take a long look at it."

Irvin, the Hall of Famer and colorful analyst, obviously agrees that "this is just preseason.'' And maybe he's right about the Cowboys, led by the likes of Dak Prescott and Micah Parsons - who joined the other starters in Denver by watching from the sideline - will end up producing "the No. 1 offense'' and all sorts of other magical numbers.

But matching the '72 Dolphins by going undefeated?

What, Irvin wondered after his bold statement. "Did I say something crazy?”

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