The Dallas Cowboys haven’t lifted a Lombardi Trophy since January 1996, a 30-year gap that only seems to be increasing with each year, and nobody has built a bigger platform off that drought than Stephen A. Smith. His running back-and-forth with Hall of Fame Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin over when, or if, the Cowboys can ever get back to a Super Bowl resurfaces every time the Cowboys show even a bit of promise.

That dynamic boiled over again this week on Stephen A. Smith’s podcast, when the two got into it over the Cowboys’ performance this season and whether they would win. Irvin pushed back hard, arguing that his former team will indeed win, and Smith fired back by accusing Irvin of recycling the same line he used on Smith years ago.

“They going to be doing it in LA. Everybody think the Rams are going to be doing it. So you ask me, man, I’m doing fine,” Irvin said.

“I would like to remind you that’s exactly what you said to me, to my face, when I was in Miami on the sideline with you before the national championship game against Indiana,” Smith pushed back Irvin’s prediction.

“Those were your words to me. You didn’t even have the decency to find new words to give me, to validate your declarations. This is unbelievable. You’re actually saying the same thing to me that you said the night Miami lost the national championship game to Indiana.”

The exchange is the latest in a rivalry cum friendship that’s less about actual football analysis and more about two of sports media’s biggest personalities refusing to let the other have the last word.

It all started back in the early 2000s when Irvin and Smith first appeared together on Fox’s Best Damn Sports Show Period. That early connection eventually grew into something closer to family, with Smith fighting ESPN executives in 2021 to bring Irvin on as his regular sparring partner on “First Take,” turning an informal friendship into a weekly television institution.

The three-time Super Bowl winner, Michael Irvin, takes the bait every time and keeps rooting for the Cowboys. But this time, the Cowboys enter the 2026 season having made some real changes.

Jerry Jones and Co. traded a 2027 fourth-round pick to Green Bay to acquire Rashan Gary, signed safety Jalen Thompson to a three-year deal worth up to $33 million, added cornerback Cobie Durant on a one-year contract, and signed quarterback Sam Howell to a one-year deal, among other changes.

Whether those moves add up to a legitimate contender or another disappointing finish will be interesting to see in the months ahead.

The Dallas Cowboys enter this season still searching for the formula that’s eluded them since the Troy Aikman era. Until the America’s team actually wins a playoff game that matters, let alone reaches a Super Bowl, Smith is unlikely to run out of material, and Irvin is unlikely to stop taking the bait.