I shut it down last night
to me a “breakout game” is an effort where someone clearly establishes a new level of play and breaks out from a prior. It’s like a stock. Hitting an all-time once doesn’t necessarily define a breakout unless it becomes a clearly established new level. If a stock shoots up from $85 to $100 on the back of an event only to soon fall right back soon to its previous then it didn’t “break out..”. But if it gets to $100 then gradually continues an established trend upward and establishing higher highs as well as higher lows then it’s “broken out.”
I think one should be able to clearly see that Irvin officially broke out starting with the Washington game. Honestly I think one has to be real stubborn to not see or acknowledge that. It was a HUGE effort in a game-changing win against a future HOFer CB. And it set the table for a huge close to both his and Dallas’ seasons. My educated guess is if you were in a room with Troy, Jimmy, Norv and Michael discussing the arc of Irvin’s career, the pretty will be talking about that Washington win MUCH more than the September Giants game as a “watershed” type game for Irvin. That doesn’t mean the Giants wasn’t “big” nor was his effort that game very good. It’s just not the same level.
Regarding Emmitt, he was consistently good his rookie season. He clearly established his level of excellence before Troy and Irvin despite being the last of the 3 drafted. I don’t really call a “breakout” game because, well, he was so damn consistent from the start. For me and probably just about every Cowboys fan, Emmitt’s most memorable game was the division clinching shoulder separation game in the Meadowlands in ‘93. Obviously though Emmitt was excellent well before then do it wouldn’t be a “break out” game. Hope those answer your questions. If not then okay. But it’s a new day and I’m moving on. Thank you