If you speak on the Dallas Cowboys, expect to hear from Michael Irvin.

This holds true far more often than it doesn't, as several individuals have recently discovered.

The latest is wide receiver Cole Beasley, who took his talents to the Buffalo Bills after the expiration of his contract in Dallas, following a seven-year stretch with the Cowboys after they signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2012. Beasley felt devalued in North Texas toward the back end of his time here, and while there is a mountain of evidence to support that having been the case — including the fact the Cowboys didn't make him an offer in free agency until after the Bills did, and even then it wasn't on the same financial planet — the reality is Beasley has made comments following his exit that many can and have viewed as shots aimed toward his former team.

In his latest interview, he aims to clear it all up, but didn't exactly achieve his goal in the eyes of some.

"I don’t even want to bring up Dallas anymore, really," Beasley told Tim Graham of The Athletic Buffalo. "Every time I bring them up, it’s like I’m salty I’m not there."

He then proceeded, however, to talk about the team in great detail, including restating the obvious issues with the offense under Scott Linehan — noting how he feels the Cowboys "didn’t value the slot position like they do [in Buffalo]".

"I felt like it was easy for me to be taken away," he said. "Really, in that offense, all you had to do was bracket me because I went beyond five yards rarely. And when I did, it was from the same formation. I was in the same spot all the time."

He'd follow that up with a more poignant jab, or rather a full-on overhand right.

"I’m just glad to be here where it’s 100 percent about ball and not a show or a brand," he said. "It’s purer here. I’m proud to be part of something like that."

To be fair, of course the Cowboys are a show and exceedingly brand-focused.

After all, you don't evolve from a team that was once hemorrhaging over $1 million per month to one worth $5 billion — a number that makes them the most valuable sports franchise on the planet — without owner Jerry Jones understanding the importance and potency of brand marketing. That certainly isn't to say the Cowboys aren't about winning, because the three Super Bowls in the 1990s also played a key role in the ascension of said brand, but it'd be disingenuous to call Beasley a liar in that regard.

Although some are quick to do so, Irvin himself admits Beasley is correct, but is quick to remind him just why things are different between the Cowboys and the Bills.

"He’s right," Irvin said from minicamp practice, via Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "There is a show here. That’s just what is. Football in Buffalo is football for Buffalo.

"Football for the Dallas Cowboys is football for the world. He’s right in that sense."

And for his part, Irvin isn't attacking Beasley as much as he feels there's a genuine pain that exists from a player who so loved a team yet feels, in the end, that his affections weren't returned in the least.

"Obviously, if he’s still talking about it, it still hurts him that he’s not here,” Irvin said.

So while Beasley continues to discuss the Cowboys and many take up pitchforks because of it, Irvin isn't riled up by any of it. As a matter of fact, he has a very succinct way of explaining just why the football culture varies so greatly between the two teams.

"It’s a show [in Dallas] only because so many people are watching," he said. "It’s purer in Buffalo because they’re out there with their damn selves."

The bottom line is Beasley isn't lying, but neither is Irvin.

The Cowboys will face off with Beasley and the Bills on Thanksgiving, and you should expect no shortage of fireworks, especially considering the history between the organizations. After all, it was the Cowboys who used the Bills to help propel themselves into their last dynasty, defeating Buffalo in both Super Bowl 27 and Super Bowl 28 by a combined score of 82-30, landing two of the three aforementioned 1990s championships.

That said, if you're wondering why Buffalo is sopping up every word out of Beasley's mouth that pertains to Dallas, you have your answer.

Irvin believes Beasley is still reeling, and it's clear Bills fans on the whole may be as well — 25 years later.