Speaker 1: The following Here's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Cowboys, Let's go. Are
Speaker 1: you ready for a break? Yes? Are you ready for
Speaker 1: a break? Absolutely? Ready for a break? Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: much for that. It's time for the Break on Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys dot Com with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar
Speaker 1: Garcia and Derek Eagleton. It is Wednesday, February second, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, Season seventeen, episode number one or two. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the latest edition of The Break Life in the
Speaker 1: SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star and we got another
Speaker 1: lovely show planned for you guys today, hopefully here in
Speaker 1: a moment. We'll be joined by Dave Helman. He's out
Speaker 1: the Senior Bowl. He'll give us some updates from out
Speaker 1: there and what's going on at the Senior Senior Bowl
Speaker 1: in Mobile, Alabama. Had an opportunity talk to Jerry and Will.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry Jerry, Steven Jones and Will McClay, so well
Speaker 1: here what he had to say, what those guys had
Speaker 1: to say, and what Dave's takes on it are. How's
Speaker 1: everybody doing today? Good? We're good? Yeah, I mean here
Speaker 1: on a holiday you know, we're doing some work here.
Speaker 1: We don't take grounddogs day off. We do not. We
Speaker 1: do not, not all of us, anyway, some of us do.
Speaker 1: Don't get me started. I'm sorry. We're talking about some
Speaker 1: in house bs. Yeah, it's it's all good. It's all good.
Speaker 1: We're gonna figure this thing out. Um, let's start with
Speaker 1: where last week I say we're gonna start each show,
Speaker 1: uh just kind of get loosening ourselves up. This is
Speaker 1: our warm up into the show. But we're gonna go
Speaker 1: around the table and get some thoughts from you guys
Speaker 1: on the most important or interesting uh sports nugget that
Speaker 1: you've heard in the last week, and then we'll talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about it. Let's start with you. Himber me, Well,
Speaker 1: we all know about Tom Brady and his retirement and
Speaker 1: everything and all the years of success that he's had,
Speaker 1: and me looking at social media, you know, there's always
Speaker 1: that vast majority of people that also like to criticize
Speaker 1: and talk and just haters. And I saw a lot
Speaker 1: of comments and then just people criticizing Tom Brady. So
Speaker 1: then that led me to do some investigation a little
Speaker 1: bit because I didn't know about certain things people talking
Speaker 1: about the whole. He's like, well, he's a cheater and
Speaker 1: this and that the whole. And then I learned about
Speaker 1: like spygate thing and play gate and all these things
Speaker 1: that happened that you know, by the time I started
Speaker 1: working here and in sports, I didn't know anything about that,
Speaker 1: and I wasn't aware of all that happening. So I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: but I mean then it let me. It took me
Speaker 1: down this rabbit hole where you started, Okay, what about
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick and how real is see? And then what
Speaker 1: is Bill Belichick without it? Tom Brady? Well, we saw that,
Speaker 1: and then I would just when that rabbit hole of
Speaker 1: just kind of learning the history a little bit of
Speaker 1: what happened between you know, Tom Brady, the Patriots, Bill
Speaker 1: Belichi's reputations. Phones tell phones, oh, you just centered out
Speaker 1: another rabbit hole. She's got to go figure all that out.
Speaker 1: There's something about the flate gate with Tom Brady and like,
Speaker 1: well he texted the ball boy before the game. It's like, Tom,
Speaker 1: let me see your phone. He's like, it got smashed. Sorry, sorry,
Speaker 1: My job is to hang on to the football and
Speaker 1: don't fumble it. But my cell phone got smashed. Sorry.
Speaker 1: It happens. It happens, you know. Oh yeah, when you
Speaker 1: saw tellphone, the thing that popped into my head was
Speaker 1: the whole text us were recently. That's another that's gonna
Speaker 1: be I'm sure one of us probably to say about that. Nick,
Speaker 1: what's been the big story for you this week? I
Speaker 1: mean the big story obviously the NFL stuff like that.
Speaker 1: I mean I don't shift though, really to NBA or
Speaker 1: anything to later. I mean, college basketball is always interesting
Speaker 1: to me. And you know, I'm sorry. I watched last
Speaker 1: night's game and I just it's funny to me. It's
Speaker 1: just funny because it's like if you have Texas tex
Speaker 1: Texas and Texas Tech and and and the head coach
Speaker 1: of Texas who's now who's at Texas, who was at
Speaker 1: Texas Tech built their program, built their program, and he
Speaker 1: left it better than what it was. Um obviously, but uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like he went to Texas. If you
Speaker 1: went to school, they went to school there. If you're
Speaker 1: gonna go back to your place, you can go to
Speaker 1: and And I'm sorry, I've been to love It twice
Speaker 1: and I haven't spent the night either time. It's there
Speaker 1: and back. Nobody stays there long, So I don't understand
Speaker 1: what the big problem is. But whatever, you know, they
Speaker 1: they won, They won the game. That's fine. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: they won good. I mean it was the super Bowl
Speaker 1: in love Jesus. But um, you know, but that's kind
Speaker 1: of their fan base. That's what it is. I mean,
Speaker 1: you got what else are you going to get excited about?
Speaker 1: But I just thought it was kind of petty. But
Speaker 1: at the love of folks, I've done it before. I've
Speaker 1: done it before, and they bring it back and whatever.
Speaker 1: But it's just that's that's if you would have one
Speaker 1: fan base to get pissed off like that and just great, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's fine, and they won the game. But I mean,
Speaker 1: I think he'll sleep fine. When I saw the coach
Speaker 1: walking out with a stream of police officers around him,
Speaker 1: I was like, Wow, isn't that serious, Like coaches have
Speaker 1: left places before. I didn't realize it was that serious.
Speaker 1: But hey, I knew going into that game it was
Speaker 1: an uphill battle. They're a good team on top of
Speaker 1: the fact that they just hate our coach. So it
Speaker 1: is what I wanted to talk about your college brestball
Speaker 1: team because my college basketball team. You know, you don't
Speaker 1: want to you don't want to mess with a with
Speaker 1: a winning stream. You don't even tell you. I don't
Speaker 1: even talk about it. Don't even talk about it. We
Speaker 1: don't know what that's like. But yeah, seven in a row.
Speaker 1: Oh oh yeah, they're good at basketball. We're not true,
Speaker 1: not true and good football team. I swept the floor.
Speaker 1: I swept the floor this year. We're not gonna teams
Speaker 1: and a rob team and Dave's team. Yeah I beat them.
Speaker 1: Yeah it was me, all me, Sarah for that. Hey,
Speaker 1: as soon as as soon as we make this transition
Speaker 1: to the SEC, there will be trust me, we'll do something.
Speaker 1: We'll have some fun. Yeah, yeah, we're gonna have some
Speaker 1: fun with that for sure. All right, what do you think, Derek,
Speaker 1: what's your sports story? It's the story everybody in the
Speaker 1: NFL is talking about. Is Brian Flores and what's happening
Speaker 1: with him in the NFL. And actually I wanted to
Speaker 1: read this quote from Brian Flores talking about the suit
Speaker 1: against the NFL. He said, God has gifted me with
Speaker 1: a special talent to coach the game of football, but
Speaker 1: the need for change is bigger than my personal goals.
Speaker 1: In making the decision file the class action complaint. Today,
Speaker 1: I understand that I may be risking coaching the game
Speaker 1: that I love and that has done so much for
Speaker 1: my family and me. My sincere hope is that by
Speaker 1: standing up against systemic racism in the NFL, others will
Speaker 1: join me to ensure that positive change is made for
Speaker 1: generations to come. The reason why I wanted to read
Speaker 1: that is because I just wanted to say. I really
Speaker 1: wanted to just lout Brian Flores, mainly because, and I'll
Speaker 1: tell you like this, this morning, I saw on television
Speaker 1: there were a number of television stations where they were
Speaker 1: talking about fair hiring practices. I was driving into work,
Speaker 1: I jumped around a couple different radio stations. Both were
Speaker 1: talking about hiring practices. And the interesting thing about this
Speaker 1: topic is this is not just an NFL issue. This
Speaker 1: is an NFL. This is an issue that affects our
Speaker 1: entire workforce in America. This is not just about the NFL.
Speaker 1: And so what I the way I look at this
Speaker 1: is regardless of what happens in the court case, all
Speaker 1: the merits of that, they'll figure all that out in court.
Speaker 1: What I love about this is Brian Flores has reignited
Speaker 1: the conversation around fair hiring practices and making sure that
Speaker 1: everybody gets fair opportunity, whether that be people of color,
Speaker 1: whether that be women, like everybody should have a fair
Speaker 1: shot in this job market, and not just in the
Speaker 1: ability to get jobs, but ability to get hire jobs,
Speaker 1: to get leadership type roles and leadership type position And
Speaker 1: so I just want I think there's no better way
Speaker 1: we could have started Black History Month than him doing
Speaker 1: something like this, because this is what Black History Month
Speaker 1: is all about. It's all those pioneers that continue to
Speaker 1: relentlessly and even put themselves in their own careers in jeopardy.
Speaker 1: They continue to fight the fight to say this is
Speaker 1: not just we need better hiring practices and we're willing
Speaker 1: to put their own careers on the line. And so
Speaker 1: I salute Brian Flores for doing that, and hopefully this
Speaker 1: conversation continues and hopefully we find some better solutions, because
Speaker 1: right now, I don't know what they have in place
Speaker 1: is necessarily working. Well said, I mean, you're right, and
Speaker 1: you know that situation. I talked to you about this yesterday.
Speaker 1: It kind of hits close to home and we don't
Speaker 1: have to go through the whole story. But if you know,
Speaker 1: just google a bar Rouse. A bar Rouse is somebody
Speaker 1: that I knew when I was in college. He was
Speaker 1: a basketball coach at Young GA at my college at
Speaker 1: Midwestern State, and he ended up going to Baylor and
Speaker 1: he ended up being the whistleblower for what happened with
Speaker 1: Dave Bliss and that whole situation there, and he never
Speaker 1: got a job again, and the coaches said that that
Speaker 1: would never happen, and he did the right thing. Abar Rouse.
Speaker 1: If you don't know him, you should google him and
Speaker 1: look him up in his story. He's probably I think
Speaker 1: he's like a pe teacher right now when he should
Speaker 1: have been coaching college basketball. But he did the right
Speaker 1: thing and hopefully it doesn't happen like that for you know,
Speaker 1: Brian Flores and other people that stand up and do
Speaker 1: what the right thing is. Well, we know of him,
Speaker 1: and what we know is Brian Flores is a good coach.
Speaker 1: What he did in Miami, I think that's a good
Speaker 1: coach being able to build that program to the point
Speaker 1: where they were. They didn't make the playoffs, but they
Speaker 1: were a very competitive team, extremely competitive team. I don't
Speaker 1: know what your thoughts on this, but I've said this earlier.
Speaker 1: If Hardball leaves Michigan, if I'm Michigan, I'm signing right
Speaker 1: now because you think about how many parents would say,
Speaker 1: I want my son to play for him because he's
Speaker 1: going to do the right thing. He's gonna take care
Speaker 1: of him, he's gonna stand up for people and not
Speaker 1: sound like Michigan's not a great job. Any job that's
Speaker 1: open like that, I think college is the way to
Speaker 1: go because people have the choice to go and play
Speaker 1: for you. Yep, I agree with that. All right. We
Speaker 1: are joined right now by mister Dave Hellman out there
Speaker 1: in Mobile, Alabama. Dave, what's up man? I'll tell you
Speaker 1: what's up man? This is he I mean, we love
Speaker 1: our jobs, right, I'm definitely not complaining, but yeah, side,
Speaker 1: this is the side of the gig that they don't glamorize.
Speaker 1: I am standing in the rain at Hancock Whitney Stadium
Speaker 1: and I'm I'm bird bird dogging the Jones's, the Cowboys
Speaker 1: front office, the Jones family. Actually, I mean Steve Stephen
Speaker 1: Jones is here. Obviously we had a chance to speak
Speaker 1: with him yesterday, but just to take you behind the
Speaker 1: scenes of what this job is like, you know, you
Speaker 1: get here, coordinate with the people you need to coordinate with, Like, hey,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be able to talk to Steven today. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get Will That would be great. We can, you know,
Speaker 1: set ourselves up for a nice week or two of content.
Speaker 1: We'll check in with them for the first time since
Speaker 1: the season ended. So you get all that done, go
Speaker 1: back and write your stories, and you're like, wow, that
Speaker 1: was a full and fulfilling and productive day. And now
Speaker 1: I'm kind of done and I can take a deep
Speaker 1: breath and like go to dinner. And then you get
Speaker 1: a text from a reporter friend that's like, Jerry Jones
Speaker 1: is holding court in the bar downtown. I should probably
Speaker 1: be here, and I'm like, oh my god, I didn't
Speaker 1: know Jerry was here too. So j Jerry's here, and
Speaker 1: so I'm I'm bird dog in the front office. We
Speaker 1: also we call it playing defense. I'm basically I'm just
Speaker 1: trying to make sure Jerry Jones isn't giving an interview
Speaker 1: that I'm not part of. Yeah. Yeah, So you know,
Speaker 1: you get you get to cover a lot of cool events,
Speaker 1: you get to meet a lot of people, but every
Speaker 1: now and then you have to stand in the rain
Speaker 1: and spy on people. Yeah. Great, Yeah, it's the hard
Speaker 1: part of the job. It's what you were meant for, Dave,
Speaker 1: You're good at it. Um, you know what I'm I'm
Speaker 1: I'm ready for it. I get some kind of sick
Speaker 1: thrill out of this. I have to be honest, all right.
Speaker 1: So so going back to your time with Stephen and
Speaker 1: will what will give me? Give me a couple of
Speaker 1: things that we're intriguing that you may have heard from
Speaker 1: them during the interview that you conducted earlier this week.
Speaker 1: You know, it's fun, it's interesting. I was talking to
Speaker 1: a reporter friend of mine who's down here about this
Speaker 1: last night. Is like, this is this is a I
Speaker 1: feel like it's a unique year where like they're there's
Speaker 1: less going on with the Cowboys than in a typical
Speaker 1: year in my opinion, Like there's just no looming question
Speaker 1: like a you know, a DAK contract extension or like
Speaker 1: a franchise tech stair down, Like we don't have that
Speaker 1: domineering storyline yet. But I actually wrote a story about
Speaker 1: this this morning. I don't know if it's on the
Speaker 1: site yet. Um yet. Okay, that's fine, I mean that's fine.
Speaker 1: But because it's going I think it's the gist I'm
Speaker 1: trying to get at is I think we're setting up
Speaker 1: for an interesting couple of months here because the Cowboys
Speaker 1: have some decisions to make that are that are gonna
Speaker 1: shake things up. And that's one thing Stephen touched on
Speaker 1: yesterday when I talk to him, is they're twenty million
Speaker 1: over the cap right now, and they obviously have a
Speaker 1: bunch of like key free agents that they would probably
Speaker 1: like to try to resign. So how do they get
Speaker 1: under the cap? How do they find money for those guys?
Speaker 1: Who do they try to find money for? Obviously you
Speaker 1: can restructure Dack's feel pretty easily, but other than that,
Speaker 1: you kind of got to make some interesting decisions when
Speaker 1: you look at like should we restructure a Zeke contract?
Speaker 1: Should we restructure an offensive Lineman's contract? A lot of
Speaker 1: talk about Amari Cooper. So I think my main takeaway
Speaker 1: right now is that it's like it's very quiet in
Speaker 1: Cowboy world right now. And I don't know, for some reason,
Speaker 1: I just feel like that feels ominous to me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it does. And I think Nick and I were ill mentioned.
Speaker 1: Nick and I were talking off the air about just
Speaker 1: looking at the salary cap and we're gonna get us
Speaker 1: that next week. Next week, a topic of our show
Speaker 1: is going to be around free agency and even talking
Speaker 1: a little bit about some of the guys that are
Speaker 1: under contract. But there are some significant contracts savings the
Speaker 1: Cowboys could make if they made some decisions to part
Speaker 1: with some veterans, which is gonna make some for a
Speaker 1: really interesting conversation for the Cowboys to try to figure
Speaker 1: out what's worth it. Do you keep the guy and
Speaker 1: continue to pay him the money or do you let
Speaker 1: him go? And you might have some dead money, but
Speaker 1: the amount of money that you save could be significant
Speaker 1: in being able to give you more cap relief. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean to be and again, like I haven't heard anything.
Speaker 1: This is really just more connecting tea leaves. But again,
Speaker 1: a guy like Mri Cooper, a guy like de Marcus Lawrence,
Speaker 1: Like you sit there and you look at it, and
Speaker 1: you're like, I'm not saying this is a good idea,
Speaker 1: but I can see how that winds up being a
Speaker 1: conversation that maybe you move on from those guys. So
Speaker 1: I just think, I don't know, I think we could
Speaker 1: be setting up for an eventful march one way or
Speaker 1: the other, whether the Cowboys restructure their current roster, or
Speaker 1: even if it's kind of boring, like you look at
Speaker 1: the guys on this team that don't have deals right now,
Speaker 1: like Randy Gregory, Dalton Schultz, Jeron Curse. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: gonna be some attrition there. So, um, yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it kind of dawned on me while I was talking
Speaker 1: to Stephen yesterday. I was like, Okay, it feels kind
Speaker 1: of boring right now, but I have a feeling it's
Speaker 1: gonna be kind of dramatic by February or March. Yeah, Dave,
Speaker 1: you know, we talked about Kellen Moore and he's still
Speaker 1: in them in the process right now of of everything
Speaker 1: he's with, the interviewing with the Dolphins, which I don't
Speaker 1: know the Dolphins man, of other things that they're they're
Speaker 1: worried about right now too. But that's kind of busy.
Speaker 1: But um, did you get the sense that Stephen was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean Kellen, we we love him to come back,
Speaker 1: but if he doesn't, we'll be all right. I mean
Speaker 1: that's what That's what it kind of sounded like when
Speaker 1: he was talking to Yeah. Absolutely, that's that's what it
Speaker 1: sounded like to me, And he actually there was like
Speaker 1: a Freudian moment where I asked him about I asked
Speaker 1: him about like the uncertainty with Kellen, and he basically
Speaker 1: was like, well, that's what's so big about Dan coming back,
Speaker 1: and then he kind of cut himself off and was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: like we really love Kellen, and I'm like, okay. He
Speaker 1: found like you were a lot more worried about one
Speaker 1: of these guys, right and then the other like again
Speaker 1: going behind the scenes, Like I had a I kind
Speaker 1: of kicked myself last night because I asked him about,
Speaker 1: you know, do you work on a contingency plan if
Speaker 1: Kellen leaves? Like how much are you stressed about that?
Speaker 1: And he basically, I mean he said, he was like,
Speaker 1: we're not worried about that because Mike McCarthy's background is
Speaker 1: all offense and he's got play calling history, And like
Speaker 1: in the moment, it didn't register that much with me.
Speaker 1: And then later I was like, I should have asked
Speaker 1: him if he was talking about Mike, and I mean,
Speaker 1: that's it seemed like that's what he was hinting at,
Speaker 1: but it didn't dawn on me to just ask the
Speaker 1: question directly, So you know, I apologize for that, but
Speaker 1: it don't worry about it. Don't worry about it, Dave,
Speaker 1: because like usually that is like ten people there and
Speaker 1: everyone trying to fighting to get a question in when
Speaker 1: you're the one that's asking all of them, Like you,
Speaker 1: you're trying to be a one shot ahead of it,
Speaker 1: and you're like okay, okay, And sometimes that happens when
Speaker 1: you're you're thinking of your next question and then they're
Speaker 1: like yeah, and then I you know, and then they
Speaker 1: said and then I might retire, and you're like, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: I mean, this is hey, Jerry Madelon, he was just joking.
Speaker 1: He doesn't really mean that, but I can remember. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, nick it. Jorry Epstein, our friend from USA Today,
Speaker 1: is the only other Cowboy reporter that's year. So her
Speaker 1: and I just went back and forth with Stephen for
Speaker 1: like twenty minutes, and I was like, I think I
Speaker 1: got everything, but I wouldn't mind it if there were
Speaker 1: like two or three other reporters here. He could maybe
Speaker 1: fill in some gaps that I forgot about. Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean there was definitely an implication like that that's
Speaker 1: where his brain win when he was asked about Kellen
Speaker 1: Moore not being here's like, well, Mike's got a background
Speaker 1: was bad. So it does make me wonder if Kellen
Speaker 1: is to leave. And I mean, Jerry said last week
Speaker 1: he's optimistic Kelln's not going anywhere, um, but if he does,
Speaker 1: as I don't know, I just sort of get the
Speaker 1: sense that their contingency plan might just be to handle
Speaker 1: it in the house. But you know, that's also the
Speaker 1: part that kind of worries me a little bit about
Speaker 1: that whole thing is, yeah, Mike has had experience, and
Speaker 1: so as the head coach, why didn't he have more
Speaker 1: of an imprint on or did he have an imprint
Speaker 1: and it just didn't work on helping this offense get
Speaker 1: out of the out of the trash can like they were.
Speaker 1: They were struggling in the second half of the year,
Speaker 1: and Kellen couldn't seem to figure it out. And I
Speaker 1: don't know if Mike was helping and they still couldn't
Speaker 1: get out, or if Mike really wasn't helping enough. Either way,
Speaker 1: that seems problematic for a guy that has all that
Speaker 1: experience as a play caller. Right. I don't remember if
Speaker 1: I said it on this show, but I spent a
Speaker 1: lot of the second half of the season, expecting for
Speaker 1: a story to break about Mike injecting himself into the
Speaker 1: play calling situation or just outright taking over play calling duties.
Speaker 1: Like I just I just had this like lingering feeling.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm gonna wake up one of these
Speaker 1: Sunday and more and there's gonna be a schefter report
Speaker 1: about Mike McCarthy taking over play calling duties. But it
Speaker 1: never happened. So yeah, I kind of agree with you,
Speaker 1: I think. I mean, given the struggles that we saw
Speaker 1: consistently for nine weeks, it seemed like there's more that
Speaker 1: Mike could have done. And I, yeah, I wonder if
Speaker 1: that's just the balancing act of what Kellen's accomplished here
Speaker 1: and how highly the front office thinks of him. I
Speaker 1: don't get the sense that there's any friction there, but
Speaker 1: I did think that was kind of curious. I agree
Speaker 1: with you. All right, Dave, We're gonna let you go. Man.
Speaker 1: You keep keep holding down the fourth there. I know
Speaker 1: it's raining. Hopefully you guys can get back before the
Speaker 1: snowmageddon here in Dallas, but if not, we will see
Speaker 1: you in a few days. When you get back and
Speaker 1: we'll be checking out all your work on Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: dot com. I appreciate that. Keep your keep your fingers
Speaker 1: crossed that my seven thirty flight doesn't get camp. Please.
Speaker 1: All right, let's see what we can do and be
Speaker 1: careful when you get into night, and it might already
Speaker 1: be coming down a little bit, so I need you
Speaker 1: guys to be really really careful. All right, we'll do
Speaker 1: thanks man sell at them. We're gonna take our first
Speaker 1: breaking we come back. We got the break Awards. This
Speaker 1: is gonna be our shot at giving accolades to players
Speaker 1: that should deserve it and some that maybe shouldn't have
Speaker 1: that don't want these awards, but we're gonna give them
Speaker 1: out anyway. So wondow when we come right back. This
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Speaker 1: Seymour do more Esseler. Welcome back, second segment of the
Speaker 1: Break off SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star, and welcome
Speaker 1: to the two thousand twenty one season Break Awards. We
Speaker 1: are now going to go through a list of players
Speaker 1: and moments that we want to highlight, And we're gonna
Speaker 1: start first with what do you guys think is the
Speaker 1: was the best win twenty twenty one season for the Cowboys. Well,
Speaker 1: for me, I will say Week two against the Charters,
Speaker 1: I think that was the best win. I think that's
Speaker 1: where we saw a lot of things kind of happened.
Speaker 1: We saw them figure out that what Michael Parsons can
Speaker 1: really do, and I think that changed the whole defense.
Speaker 1: I think it was. It was a great win. It
Speaker 1: was the last second victory. It was a fun atmosphere
Speaker 1: with Cowboy fans there. Tony Pollard had a great day
Speaker 1: doing some things. We saw the aggressiveness of the punt.
Speaker 1: It was funny about the punt block that they almost
Speaker 1: blocked it and they called a penalty and what's bones doing,
Speaker 1: He's draw it And then they ended up blocking four
Speaker 1: punts that year, you know, And so it was just
Speaker 1: kind of an interesting day. But when you look back
Speaker 1: and see how things especially with Michael Parsons, and I
Speaker 1: think it was that was their their best win because
Speaker 1: you can't go oh into to start the season, and
Speaker 1: they made sure that they didn't. That's the same one
Speaker 1: I had. But then another one that I was thinking
Speaker 1: about was that at the time, And we know the
Speaker 1: Patriots didn't have good season, but at the time, we
Speaker 1: were here sitting here, Oh, what are they gonna do
Speaker 1: against Bill Belichick, this and that? How can they do that?
Speaker 1: And the fact that they win out there and won
Speaker 1: that game. I think it was a big win for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys at the time. And I know Dave we
Speaker 1: ranked all twelve of our wins and I know Dave's
Speaker 1: answer to that as the Patriots as well. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: actually that's what I was going to say as well.
Speaker 1: Just I look at the quality of that team. I
Speaker 1: know they weren't as good as we expect the Patriots
Speaker 1: to be the years that they've been at the top
Speaker 1: of the league, but they were a good team this
Speaker 1: year and they were doing that with a quarterback that
Speaker 1: just you know, he wasn't the leader of what they did,
Speaker 1: but he fit in the system. It reminded me so
Speaker 1: much of what Tom Brady was his first year as well,
Speaker 1: Like he'd make a throw it to a game, but
Speaker 1: really it was relying on the defense, was relying on
Speaker 1: the running game, and the Cowboys had to cut out
Speaker 1: that win. They had to figure it out there and
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, how was the last time
Speaker 1: we saw this Cowboys offense in that form? Like after
Speaker 1: that game? Yeah, they did it against some poor teams,
Speaker 1: but we didn't really see that Cowboys team after that game.
Speaker 1: But that game I thought they played. They played a
Speaker 1: game where they didn't even play the best football, but
Speaker 1: they figured out a way to win against a really
Speaker 1: good team. And that was really the last time we
Speaker 1: saw them do that this season. So for me, that
Speaker 1: was the win that that was the best one for
Speaker 1: the season. Vikings would have been as close to the
Speaker 1: Vikings going up there and winning in that in that
Speaker 1: atmosphere without Dak coming back the way they did that
Speaker 1: was another good one. All right, Let's move on MVP
Speaker 1: of the team. Who was the most valuable player for
Speaker 1: this team? Mica? I mean, is there another answer to that?
Speaker 1: I think not so, Michael Parsons. I don't think there's
Speaker 1: anything else needed to be said or explained for that guy. Well, um,
Speaker 1: let me tell you it's um Michael Parsons. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's he's He's changed the whole defense. And that's why
Speaker 1: I think that that Chargers game was the one, because
Speaker 1: that's the one we found out. Oh he can rest
Speaker 1: the past or two, you know, and you know he's
Speaker 1: he's outstanding and just he just brings so much at too.
Speaker 1: And I said it to you one point, I thought
Speaker 1: they could win. I thought they could win it all.
Speaker 1: I really did. And I thought, if Michael Parsons is healthy, Um,
Speaker 1: this team has a chance. And they did have a chance.
Speaker 1: I mean they lost to a team that you know,
Speaker 1: played better that day. I don't know if they are better,
Speaker 1: they played better, and um, but but I think Michael
Speaker 1: Parsons is the reason that the defense was able to
Speaker 1: play the way they did. When you look at Michael
Speaker 1: Parsons and um, I mean in his rookie year, he
Speaker 1: was being touted as a possible defensive player year. Maybe
Speaker 1: still gets it, I don't know, but possible defensive player
Speaker 1: of the year across the entire league. Veterans included, Um,
Speaker 1: when is the last time you remember Dallas having a
Speaker 1: player that good? I mean when you when you stack
Speaker 1: him up against other guys around the league, he's right
Speaker 1: up there at the top and he's that caliber player. Like,
Speaker 1: when is the last time we had that kind of
Speaker 1: player on this team? You're like, you're looking at me,
Speaker 1: like not since I've been I mean you, I mean,
Speaker 1: you can make the argument for offensive line like Zach Martin.
Speaker 1: I guess I want to get difference. Yeah, I want to.
Speaker 1: I want to get to that guy that that changes games.
Speaker 1: When was the last time I had that kind of guy?
Speaker 1: I think the last time they've had that kind of
Speaker 1: guy is DeMarcus Ware And you can make the case
Speaker 1: that that what Parsons did is I mean, Parsons had
Speaker 1: a better rookie year, you know that, and so um
Speaker 1: and and one of the things about DeMarcus that always
Speaker 1: kind of, you know, we always talked about was that
Speaker 1: some of his sacks weren't always at the time where
Speaker 1: you know that really changed the games to go win
Speaker 1: the game and stuff like that. Um, but you know,
Speaker 1: he still had more than any bloody that's ever played
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys. So matters, it does, And he was great.
Speaker 1: He was that kind of player and lived lived at
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl every year, and so I think he's
Speaker 1: the closest thing. And then that's before you know, anything
Speaker 1: before that. I not since I was here, but you know,
Speaker 1: I could say even back in the nineties, I don't
Speaker 1: think there was a defensive player other than than Dion, Yeah,
Speaker 1: because Dion definitely changed it um, but you know, the
Speaker 1: team was kind of going downhill at that point. And
Speaker 1: that's so special. I think the reason why I ask
Speaker 1: that questions because that's that is a special thing to
Speaker 1: have that caliber of player, because if you use them
Speaker 1: the right way, there's so many other things you can
Speaker 1: do based off that player and how much attention other
Speaker 1: teams will have to pay pay to that player, and
Speaker 1: it just requires someone who's creative enough to know how
Speaker 1: to use them. Yeah. Yeah, for a player like that
Speaker 1: real quick, you know, and since I've been here, you
Speaker 1: start seeing every year how the team looks different and
Speaker 1: this and that, and then you talk about player what's
Speaker 1: the name for like whear and tear or how do
Speaker 1: you say that? Foray and tear? So for a player
Speaker 1: like that, I know that was his first year and everything,
Speaker 1: but given as much as he's done and as aggressive
Speaker 1: on a player of a player that he is and
Speaker 1: all that for that position and what he's doing, what
Speaker 1: would be like the player life spam for someone like
Speaker 1: him where you want to be able to at least
Speaker 1: get further than the first playoff game within his time
Speaker 1: here that we basically that we don't go through another
Speaker 1: team restructuring the team and then now you lost another
Speaker 1: amazing player. And I know he's super young, but I
Speaker 1: mean I don't know that there is a standard like
Speaker 1: you know, because that's the thing about the NFL. It
Speaker 1: takes one injury to change everything for any player. Right.
Speaker 1: I would guess right now, the Cowboys probably look at
Speaker 1: this guy and say, we could have him if he
Speaker 1: keeps playing like this, we could have him playing here
Speaker 1: ten twelve years, right, Yeah, maybe more, but ten twelve years.
Speaker 1: I would think they probably feel pretty good about something
Speaker 1: like that. If he continues to produce and doesn't have
Speaker 1: any major injuries. Ten twelve years years seems about what
Speaker 1: I would think. At least that's the way I look
Speaker 1: at it. He's a ten to twelve year kind of
Speaker 1: guy that'll be here and be really effective during that time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's about right. I Mean, it's hard, it's hard
Speaker 1: to sit predicting it other than that, and you don't
Speaker 1: even like to do that to go that far. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's him. Get him better than what
Speaker 1: has shown you because I feel like he's I mean,
Speaker 1: he's shown you so much, so you know, or whatever,
Speaker 1: but you feel like there's a big chunk of how
Speaker 1: much more he can do? I do. I believe go ahead, yeah,
Speaker 1: I believe it too. And the weird thing about Micah
Speaker 1: is is that the reason why the Cowboys were able
Speaker 1: to get him at twelve and that nobody really knew
Speaker 1: he was a pass rusher is because he didn't play
Speaker 1: football the year before at Penn State. The weird thing
Speaker 1: to me is that, knowing a little bit that that
Speaker 1: we know of Micah, I am shocked to hell that
Speaker 1: he that he didn't play that season because he loves football,
Speaker 1: yeah so much that it's just surprising that he opted
Speaker 1: out of that season. Now, part of that, at least
Speaker 1: what I've understood about that situation was he opted out
Speaker 1: at the time when or he decided he wasn't going
Speaker 1: to play, at a time when they were thinking the
Speaker 1: big twelve, big ten was not going to play, and
Speaker 1: and at that point I think there may have been
Speaker 1: some kind of some gray area there of you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not playing, and then the big TUN's gonna play,
Speaker 1: and so he decided not to come back. That's what
Speaker 1: I've heard. I don't know that as a fact, but
Speaker 1: I've heard some some of that. It wasn't just a
Speaker 1: simple I'm not gonna play football. My team's playing, but
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna play. I think there was some of
Speaker 1: that involved there. Yeah, But to answer your question, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he I think he can get better because
Speaker 1: I think he's going to keep studying, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I just got it with Sean Lee. I
Speaker 1: wish they could have played like one year together, you know,
Speaker 1: just one year, just because I think Sean you know,
Speaker 1: if if a guy that with an athletic ability that
Speaker 1: like that can get the work ethic and leadership and
Speaker 1: and hunger for the game like Sean Lee had. But
Speaker 1: but what I've heard of him is that he's he's
Speaker 1: doing that. So I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't
Speaker 1: or will plan to sit down with Sean Lee at
Speaker 1: some point talk to him. He did it with DeMarcus Ware,
Speaker 1: he did it with Tank Like he's he's seeking out
Speaker 1: people he comes here. Yeah, yeah, he's seeking out people. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's seeking out people to get advice from and to
Speaker 1: learn more about what he's doing. That was that that
Speaker 1: report that we before he was playing the San Diego
Speaker 1: game where he went and sat with DeMarcus Square and
Speaker 1: just started trying to pick his brain playing defensive man,
Speaker 1: what do I need to know? I mean, what are
Speaker 1: things you would tell me? Right? So I think he's
Speaker 1: that kind of player, Like you said, he loves football,
Speaker 1: and so for me, I look at it and say, yeah,
Speaker 1: he was great this year. But he certainly can grow
Speaker 1: because anybody you take your first time you do it,
Speaker 1: I don't care how good you are at it. There's
Speaker 1: so much you learn and if you apply all the
Speaker 1: things you learn, that just tells you that's his floor
Speaker 1: right now. His ceiling can be wherever. Like, we don't
Speaker 1: know how much better this guy can be, but I
Speaker 1: suspect it's going to be better because you can really
Speaker 1: even begin to process what that can look like. After
Speaker 1: seeing what we saw from him this year, I'm just like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, what else one more can he do?
Speaker 1: He's just amazing. All Right, We're gonna move on. Let's
Speaker 1: get something. I would say, but my next guy on
Speaker 1: most valuable Player, And I don't want to go down
Speaker 1: a rabbit hole here, but I would throw Zeke into
Speaker 1: the conversation a little bit really because of the term
Speaker 1: most valuable player when he is playing at his high level.
Speaker 1: This team was way better when he suffered the injury
Speaker 1: and couldn't do the same things that the offense didn't
Speaker 1: do as well. And I think the value of a
Speaker 1: running back, a healthy, top tier running back, is valuable
Speaker 1: for this team, and I don't think they had it
Speaker 1: on the second part of the season. Here's the question
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people out there listening right
Speaker 1: now would probably have which is well, is that also
Speaker 1: a reflection of the fact in the second half they
Speaker 1: didn't use Tony Pollard more and if they would have,
Speaker 1: they would have still seen similar type of production. Maybe
Speaker 1: and and so then it becomes a situation of it
Speaker 1: may have not been necessarily Zeke as much as they
Speaker 1: needed to put the best running back in the moment
Speaker 1: in at the beginning season, maybe that was Zeke. Towards
Speaker 1: the second of the half of the year, when Zeke
Speaker 1: was injured, maybe that was Pollard and they should have
Speaker 1: done more with Remember, probably got hurt for a few games. True,
Speaker 1: he did a pretty tough injury. So but for those
Speaker 1: last two games to get six carries in else to
Speaker 1: get like that's that's not I think I think a
Speaker 1: running back that that can play at the top level.
Speaker 1: And I'm not sure that that's Zeke anymore. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but that they missed that and they need that and
Speaker 1: Dak needs it. Yeah. Absolutely, all right, let's let's jump
Speaker 1: into the offensive player of the year? Whose offensive player
Speaker 1: of Year for this team? I guess, are you saying Zeke? No?
Speaker 1: I mean, like no, because that's he didn't he didn't
Speaker 1: do it the second half of the year. But MVP
Speaker 1: and player of the Year are different, you know, um,
Speaker 1: Player of the year, best player, Offensive player of the year.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna go with the cop out. I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna go with the cop out. Well, it's the right answer, then,
Speaker 1: Zach No, that wasn't gonna be Zach Martin the answer.
Speaker 1: I went with the first team All Pro. I don't
Speaker 1: know what you've got, but I went with the first
Speaker 1: team All Pro. What's your answer? You're probably right if
Speaker 1: he just you know, I was gonna say Dak just
Speaker 1: because again, here's the thing about Dak undefeated when he
Speaker 1: didn't play, And here's the thing about Dak. Dak, he
Speaker 1: had his moments when things weren't going well. And by
Speaker 1: the way, that was this whole offense that just they
Speaker 1: fell off, but even with all of that, they still
Speaker 1: were right up there at the top of the league
Speaker 1: when it came to most of the offensive statistics. And
Speaker 1: I know statistics are still statistic statistics, but they do matter.
Speaker 1: Like they are, they have their place in this whole conversation.
Speaker 1: And so if you're looking at this offense and you're
Speaker 1: trying to identify one player that you think had an
Speaker 1: outstanding you, you're right, it's always probably Zack Martin because
Speaker 1: Zach Martin is just so great at what he does.
Speaker 1: But the problem is, when Dak Martin has a great game,
Speaker 1: it really doesn't matter through all the other four guys
Speaker 1: on the offensive line don't so his impact on the
Speaker 1: game is kind of minimized a bit just because of
Speaker 1: the nature of the position he plays. Dak, on the
Speaker 1: other hand, every ward, every problem is going to be
Speaker 1: magnified because he touches the ball almost every single play.
Speaker 1: I have a small sample size on that, but Dack
Speaker 1: miss the game against Minnesota. They figured it out late
Speaker 1: and they were able to beat an average team, you know,
Speaker 1: on an average team average, which, by the way, this
Speaker 1: year they were beating average teams, and they were being
Speaker 1: average teams is pretty good most of um. Zach missed
Speaker 1: the game against Tampa Bay, and whether it's just that
Speaker 1: or other reasons, they chose not to even run the
Speaker 1: ball at the middle of the field, and I think
Speaker 1: it hurt him when they got down in the red
Speaker 1: zone too. But they played a better game right overall?
Speaker 1: Would you say they played a better game against Tampa
Speaker 1: or a a better game against Minnesota? Minnesota? Because they won,
Speaker 1: they won, you know where I'm going. Come on, let's
Speaker 1: be honest. But they won. And the thing is that
Speaker 1: they were handicapped in the middle of the field and
Speaker 1: because and I think that was also because of the
Speaker 1: matchup though, right well, like you're playing with Connor Williams
Speaker 1: and Connor McGovern, I mean with Zach Martin, I'm not
Speaker 1: afraid of anybody. Yeah, no, that's my point. I guess
Speaker 1: we're making the same point. Vita Va was not playing
Speaker 1: for the Minnesota Vikings, right the TI I'm going with Zach.
Speaker 1: He went with Dak. I knew you're not gonna pick no. No,
Speaker 1: I mean the initial when when you mentioned this, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, the initial was Sach Martin. And I kept
Speaker 1: going back, I'm like, okay, who else? Who else? But
Speaker 1: there's really like nobody else that I would feel like
Speaker 1: picking because he's he and you can say, okay, the
Speaker 1: position minimist or whatever. But at the same time, out
Speaker 1: of the whole offense, he's the only player that was
Speaker 1: the most consistent throughout the whole year without I mean,
Speaker 1: he had his moments, he had his moments, but overall
Speaker 1: his mistakes were very, very minimal. And you cannot say
Speaker 1: that about any other player on the roster. Yeah, that's true,
Speaker 1: that's true. Tell you Zach Martin. Sorry, all right, let's
Speaker 1: fly through this next one here. All right, Well, defensive
Speaker 1: player to you, and I'm gonna change it, defensive player.
Speaker 1: You cannot be the same as your MVP. But it
Speaker 1: was Mike, you said, Micah, that was a VP. No,
Speaker 1: what was the Micah? You said MVP? You said Michael,
Speaker 1: You said who else? Could it be? An offensive Player
Speaker 1: of the Year? Yeah, so you said Micah too? Yeah? Yeah, both,
Speaker 1: y'all say Mica for defensive Player of the Year. I
Speaker 1: mean for MVP. I'm sorry, and an offensive I think
Speaker 1: we all agree with that. Now, defensive player of the year.
Speaker 1: If if you can't be, if you can't be your MVP,
Speaker 1: So who is your defensive player of the year. Digs.
Speaker 1: He broke records, he was, he was outstanding. I don't
Speaker 1: care what those other websites say. He took the ball away,
Speaker 1: he was, He was a weapon because he neutralized or
Speaker 1: took away the other team's Well, do you think that
Speaker 1: was also part of the problem for this team in
Speaker 1: the second half of the year, where those started to
Speaker 1: slow a bit. They weren't getting the same number of
Speaker 1: turnovers they got earlier. Yeah, as much as we give
Speaker 1: the offense a lot of you know, the offense obviously
Speaker 1: wasn't playing at its best, but the defense also wasn't
Speaker 1: turning it over as much in the second half as
Speaker 1: they were in the first half. Right, Yeah, they got
Speaker 1: one in the playoffs. I mean Anthony Brown got a pick.
Speaker 1: I mean they got one, and if they would have
Speaker 1: had two, which they almost did with that weird play
Speaker 1: with Kittle, it might have won the game. So, I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean, they one turnovers is not enough, you know,
Speaker 1: especially the offensive struggling. But I think Diggs was the
Speaker 1: was the best player of the micah. Yeah, but other
Speaker 1: than Diggs, another guy would be Randy Gregory. And I
Speaker 1: think that, I mean, I absolutely don't believe that the
Speaker 1: defense would have been as successful and not even Diggs
Speaker 1: or Micah with now Randy Gregory in the mix, and
Speaker 1: especially during the time that the Marcus Lawrence was out,
Speaker 1: I mean it was all Randy. I feel like, so, yes,
Speaker 1: Micah Parsons can pressure and all that, but at the
Speaker 1: same time, he needs other players around him that can
Speaker 1: help him. And I think that Randy Gregory also had
Speaker 1: his fair share of mistakes and little anger rageous here
Speaker 1: and there, but overall, I think he was a great
Speaker 1: player and he contributed a lot more than what you
Speaker 1: think he did. All Right, we're gonna go and take
Speaker 1: our first break. When we come in our final break,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. When we come back, we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: the newcomer of the year that it is not a
Speaker 1: rookie and also our unsung hero. We'll deitly come right back.
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Speaker 1: do deserve that, Doctor Pepper zero sugar, the zero you
Speaker 1: deserve is finally here. Back to the break. April second,
Speaker 1: April third or two day event is WrestleMania, the superstars
Speaker 1: of Wrestle of w w E come to at and
Speaker 1: T Stadium. So in twenty twenty two, coming up here
Speaker 1: April second, April third, two days, you going, I might?
Speaker 1: I might. I'm trying to see if I can work
Speaker 1: out a deal to get Roman Reins to come by
Speaker 1: and hang out. And if I can do that, then
Speaker 1: I'll try to get a suite and we will invite
Speaker 1: everybody from our group except for Amber. All right, well,
Speaker 1: if you can't do that, if you're not boozing, if
Speaker 1: you're not boost, you have to get a suite, go
Speaker 1: to seat geek, get your ticket that you got. What uh,
Speaker 1: Bad Bunny, Oh you already switched by. It's okay. I
Speaker 1: can meet both of them and interview them whatever. We're
Speaker 1: trying to work that out. I want to get you
Speaker 1: connected with Bad Bunny so you can get that interview,
Speaker 1: like that's that's your interview, like you know, all media
Speaker 1: people got that interview they really want. I think, yes,
Speaker 1: I don't know how it would react. It wasn't Bad
Speaker 1: Bunny in a royal Road. He was. Yeah, he's wrestling.
Speaker 1: He's been very involved in WrestleMania. So he yeah, so
Speaker 1: maybe we'll get that interview, so you'll talk to him
Speaker 1: and the rest of everybody else to talk to Roman Reigns. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and Bad Bunny's doing a concert, right and remember all right,
Speaker 1: so yeah, what's gonna happen. He's gonna like run out
Speaker 1: and he's gonna have a match or something's gonna happen
Speaker 1: at WrestleMania, and it's gonna be real exciting and all that,
Speaker 1: and then in between the matches, it just gonna say
Speaker 1: up at the big board, bad Bunny comes to town
Speaker 1: September nine, Get your jackets out. Yeah, we'll come out
Speaker 1: bad Bunny babe. That's his thing. I don't know what
Speaker 1: I didn't hit. Huh, that's what he does. Okay, Okay,
Speaker 1: I feel old, But okay, I got to I need
Speaker 1: to update you. You do you need to get me?
Speaker 1: Get me right? All right, let's jump back into this.
Speaker 1: We're doing the break Awards. We've already talked about the
Speaker 1: best Win, the MVP, the Offensive Player of the Year,
Speaker 1: the defensive player. Your next question or the next category
Speaker 1: is Newcomer of the Year. That is a non rookie
Speaker 1: Newcomer of the Year. That'd be a free agent. Uh,
Speaker 1: can't be a draft pick. M m n. Okay, Daryn
Speaker 1: cursores safe. I mean yeah, and he's a lot bigger
Speaker 1: because and Dave's not here too jump on this. But
Speaker 1: you know, we've been complaining about safety forever and you know,
Speaker 1: Dave and I have been very upset about it for years,
Speaker 1: and they didn't draft the safe. Wait, trying to think
Speaker 1: who were the draft class? Yeah, nobody. Yeah, So the
Speaker 1: fact that they were able to do it with a
Speaker 1: free agent guy that wasn't anyone with a big name
Speaker 1: that they had. They didn't have to break the bank
Speaker 1: or anything. It was one of the guys that initially
Speaker 1: is like, here we go again. Okay, let's hope he
Speaker 1: can hold up or whatever, do enough. And he came
Speaker 1: in here and maybe it was because of dan Quinn
Speaker 1: and his magic to develop players and all that, but
Speaker 1: the fact that he was as effective as he was.
Speaker 1: And the thing is he was one of those quiet guys.
Speaker 1: You know that he watched the game and he's not
Speaker 1: really someone that stands out and you're putting out a
Speaker 1: graphic like Jaron Carr as well. No, he's like silently
Speaker 1: done his job and really really well. So he definitely
Speaker 1: impressed me. Yeah, led the team in tackles. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'd like to say somebody else, you know, like maybe
Speaker 1: the punter. I thought Brian Anger was outstanding. But to
Speaker 1: come in like like you know, in a position of
Speaker 1: need and then to do it in a way of
Speaker 1: this was kind of unique. They put him in different
Speaker 1: spots and he learned it, and you know, he came
Speaker 1: in here with trusting dan Quinn, Dan Quinn trusted him,
Speaker 1: and whether or not Curses here next year, I think
Speaker 1: that that that type of player is going to maybe
Speaker 1: help a little bit in free agency when when they
Speaker 1: signed some guys that you haven't heard of and you're like, wow,
Speaker 1: I don't know who much about them, But I didn't
Speaker 1: know much about Curse either, and you know, so I
Speaker 1: think jay Ron's the answer. Let me ask you this.
Speaker 1: I know there was a lot made about the other
Speaker 1: safeties as well. You had Hooker and you had um
Speaker 1: jay Ron. Kay. I mean, I'm sorry, Casey, looking at
Speaker 1: those two guys, what were your thoughts on how they played? Obviously,
Speaker 1: jay Ron Curse is the one I think that really
Speaker 1: really popped, But the other two I thought contributed different
Speaker 1: good things at moments throughout the season. What are your
Speaker 1: thoughts with those two safeties? Both pretty good? I think
Speaker 1: I think that when you come back from an achilles injury,
Speaker 1: and Barry Church will be the you know, a guy
Speaker 1: that can tell tell you that too, is that you're
Speaker 1: coming back and you're you're getting yourself back going again,
Speaker 1: and you're doing most of the things you can do.
Speaker 1: But I think the second year they'll be even better.
Speaker 1: And I think the ceiling is higher for Mali Cooker
Speaker 1: than Casey. But you know, I don't know if you
Speaker 1: signed both of them, but I think either one that
Speaker 1: you signed would probably be pretty good. I'd like to
Speaker 1: keep Curse. I just don't see it though. Yeah, for
Speaker 1: the two other guys, and I might be completely wrong
Speaker 1: about this, but I just have a feeling that had
Speaker 1: the defense everybody else on defense not being as good,
Speaker 1: those two players would have struggled a lot more and
Speaker 1: it would have shown to the point where we would
Speaker 1: be criticizing them a lot more and talking about the
Speaker 1: safety position as opposed to Curse. That to me, he's
Speaker 1: a player that what I saw from him, he can
Speaker 1: stand on his own and he can kind of do
Speaker 1: his thing. He's not gonna be going to the Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl type of player, but he's gonna do enough for
Speaker 1: you that I would feel like, oh yeah, I definitely
Speaker 1: want him back because you need those players. That is
Speaker 1: not a superstar. But for those two other guys, they
Speaker 1: did good. They did a good enough job, but had
Speaker 1: the defense not been as good, I just don't don't
Speaker 1: know if they would have been okay. For the cos
Speaker 1: you mentioned Barry Church, I think he is a good
Speaker 1: comparable player when you talk about what Jay Run curses like,
Speaker 1: Like you said, he's not a guy that necessarily going
Speaker 1: to be at the top of the league. Everybody's gonna
Speaker 1: be talking about him. He's going to Pro Bowls every year.
Speaker 1: But he certainly gather you ask the people in the building,
Speaker 1: They're like, that's a guy we really want and really
Speaker 1: neat like he adds something to this defense. He has
Speaker 1: a good role for this defense. And I'm hopeful Nick
Speaker 1: that they will figure out a way to be able
Speaker 1: to keep him. I don't know what that looks like.
Speaker 1: I hope Dan Quinn can help help in that because
Speaker 1: he's had a career before this name wasn't nearly as
Speaker 1: good as what it was with Quinn, And so I
Speaker 1: think sometimes players are willing to say, hey, I think
Speaker 1: I can do more with this guy if you can
Speaker 1: get him a fair offer. It might not be the
Speaker 1: best offer, but if it's a fair offer, I think
Speaker 1: sometimes guys are willing to do that, and we'll see
Speaker 1: where it all pans out. All right, let's go on
Speaker 1: toys like signing their own people. So yeah, they do, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they do at least, And I actually like that, you know,
Speaker 1: what you got. I'd rather take a guy, especially a
Speaker 1: guy that I think is pretty good. I'd rather keep
Speaker 1: him than go back to the well. And you don't
Speaker 1: really know how a guy's gonna fit, You don't really
Speaker 1: know what his personalities like, all those other things that
Speaker 1: you know about the guy that's already and you're building.
Speaker 1: All right, let's let's go to unsung hero. Who would
Speaker 1: be the unsung hero for this team. I struggle with that. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you want to give you mine? Yeah yeah, tarn still
Speaker 1: was mine. I think he's a guy that that came
Speaker 1: in and going into the season. I'll speak for myself.
Speaker 1: I didn't think he was a very good player and
Speaker 1: was forced back into action after having to play so
Speaker 1: much last year and played I thought much better than
Speaker 1: he played last year. It doesn't mean he was perfect.
Speaker 1: That means he played much better. And he was the
Speaker 1: most interesting part. When Lyole Collins came back and became
Speaker 1: the right tackle again. I didn't really see a difference.
Speaker 1: Like for me, Terrence Steele, for the amount of money
Speaker 1: he's making, was every bit as good as Lyle Collins.
Speaker 1: And maybe there were things that coaches saw that that
Speaker 1: would dispute that, but from what I saw, they looked
Speaker 1: like comparable players. To me, that means Terrence Steele in
Speaker 1: his second year, he's getting better and and so that's
Speaker 1: a guy for me, that's an unsung hero that everybody
Speaker 1: doesn't give as much credit as I think they should.
Speaker 1: I had him as my biggest surprise because he definitely
Speaker 1: surprised me. Yeah, yeah, that's we might not get to it,
Speaker 1: but yeah, that's on there. Yeah, But to me, he
Speaker 1: was the biggest surprise just because we critics signed him
Speaker 1: so much last and rightfully, so, yeah, he didn't play
Speaker 1: well last year, yes, and I was one of the words.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, who is this guy? And they
Speaker 1: need to get him out of there or whatever, And yeah,
Speaker 1: this year he came in and the fact that they
Speaker 1: did not struggle on that side or it was to
Speaker 1: the point where we weren't commenting on it. And as
Speaker 1: soon as they made the change and moved Lyle Collins
Speaker 1: back into the mix and all that you saw that
Speaker 1: was kind of the downfall for the whole offensive line
Speaker 1: and when things kind of started changing a whole lot.
Speaker 1: For for the struggles that they have had last year,
Speaker 1: but for onsong re hero, I keep going. I can't
Speaker 1: think of a guy that was like all throughout the year,
Speaker 1: like fully done something like. There are guys here and
Speaker 1: there like I want to think of, okay, a player
Speaker 1: like Dalton Scholtz. But then at the same time, there
Speaker 1: are areas that he very much lacked in and he
Speaker 1: wasn't always great. So I do you have your on
Speaker 1: some here probably you know, I was thinking Chults. I
Speaker 1: was thinking Anger. That's where Anger would probably would go
Speaker 1: in there for me. Um Dooran's Armstrong is another one too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know I wanted Anger as the as the
Speaker 1: best free agent, but I thought it was a curse.
Speaker 1: I'll give you guys. Another one I think is Cedric Wilson.
Speaker 1: Because Cedric Wilson showed up and had some games for
Speaker 1: you that you really needed him to have. That doesn't
Speaker 1: mean he's perfect. Like again, he is not a number
Speaker 1: one receiver, maybe not even a number two receiver, but
Speaker 1: there were moments when he had to step in and
Speaker 1: play the number three receiver role and he did a
Speaker 1: pretty good job with it and sometimes ended up being
Speaker 1: the receiver that made most of the players in the
Speaker 1: game that you needed. And so again I just think
Speaker 1: based upon what he was and the role they were
Speaker 1: asking him to play. I thought he was. He was
Speaker 1: here roic for this team at times of season, so
Speaker 1: I would put him in that category as well. Yes,
Speaker 1: all right, um biggest disappointment. What was the biggest disappointment
Speaker 1: of this season outside of the fact that they got
Speaker 1: to the playoffs and lost in the first round. My
Speaker 1: answer this yesterday on a story we put on there.
Speaker 1: And you know, I get it that he's in the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl, but um, I was disappointed in the way
Speaker 1: that CD. I thought CD was going to take even
Speaker 1: a bigger jump um than he did. His numbers were
Speaker 1: pretty good, but after training camp, I thought, man, he
Speaker 1: was about to just take off. I mean, he was
Speaker 1: making a highlight catch every single day and I don't
Speaker 1: think he made hardly anything like that in during the season.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't like he was going to against someone bad.
Speaker 1: He's going up against Trayvon Diggs, you know. But um,
Speaker 1: I just thought he was going to take off to
Speaker 1: a level that that it was about ready to take
Speaker 1: over the league. Um. He had a good year and
Speaker 1: good enough to make it as a Pro Bowl alternate,
Speaker 1: but I was disappointed, especially at the end of the year.
Speaker 1: One catch and all that, I think and maybe disappointed
Speaker 1: not just with him but how they used him. Yep,
Speaker 1: I would say the Running Game. I would say Ezekiel
Speaker 1: Elliott in the combination with Tony Pollard, because you know
Speaker 1: what you got with Dak you know what or you
Speaker 1: think you know what kind of player he is at
Speaker 1: this point of his career. And then the old line,
Speaker 1: you know what you got there too, when the struggles
Speaker 1: at you know, oh here Tyrn Smith out again, and
Speaker 1: now you gotta plug in another guy, so you kind
Speaker 1: of know the deal with that area. But then the
Speaker 1: Running Game, and I know they struggle even in past
Speaker 1: years and all that, but I expected a lot more.
Speaker 1: And I know Zeke was dealing with an injury injury,
Speaker 1: and I mean, I salute him for always being there
Speaker 1: and going at it, but at the same time, I
Speaker 1: just I really expected a lot more from the Running
Speaker 1: Game and the Cowboys trying to utilize even Tony Pollard
Speaker 1: throwing him into the mix at times that maybe Zeke
Speaker 1: needed a little bit more rest, even if you had
Speaker 1: him playing a whole game. All that, But anyways, Running
Speaker 1: Game that was the biggest mine actually goes along with
Speaker 1: your Zamber. But I'm going to say the offensive line.
Speaker 1: I think the biggest problem with the running game was
Speaker 1: the offensive line. I think those running backs were capable enough.
Speaker 1: I think that what we saw a lot this year
Speaker 1: is before as soon as they were getting the ball,
Speaker 1: before they could even get to the line of screamers,
Speaker 1: they were getting hit. There weren't holes being made. Dak
Speaker 1: was running for his life quite a bit this year,
Speaker 1: especially in the second half of the season, and it's
Speaker 1: really disappointing because for a long time here in Dallas
Speaker 1: we have had the luxury of not really worrying about
Speaker 1: this offensive line other than injuries. When you're healthy, you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: everything's gonna be fine once they're healthy. This year, by
Speaker 1: the time you got to the point where you had
Speaker 1: Zach Batt, I'm sorry you had a tiring back. Lyell
Speaker 1: was in there, you had Zack Martin in there, I
Speaker 1: don't care what else you had at Garden Center. Typically,
Speaker 1: when you got your line up in there, when you
Speaker 1: got your starters. In Dallas, we've been used to for
Speaker 1: the last I don't know how many years we've been
Speaker 1: used to, once you get your guys, you should be okay.
Speaker 1: And that was not the case in that playoff game,
Speaker 1: they got beat up on the offensive line got beat
Speaker 1: up in that game. And that's when I was kind
Speaker 1: of I came to the realization that I really think,
Speaker 1: for me, the biggest challenge they have this offseason and
Speaker 1: figuring out how they can remake this offensive line, because
Speaker 1: without the offensive line playing got a good clip, like
Speaker 1: playing really well, everything else will fall apart. And and
Speaker 1: so I think that's their biggest problem. So for me,
Speaker 1: that was the biggest disappointment for this year. All right,
Speaker 1: before we end the show, let's quickly get to the
Speaker 1: last question. What was the biggest surprise of the season
Speaker 1: for me? Diggs? I mean, I thought he was going
Speaker 1: to be a good player. I didn't think he was
Speaker 1: gonna be like that anythink I was. I was surprised
Speaker 1: about the way he was able to play just at
Speaker 1: at an elite level like that, and to be to
Speaker 1: be a ball hawk and take the ball away at
Speaker 1: that clip, and it was amazing to me. It was
Speaker 1: dan Quinn. And I'm not trying to be a pessimist
Speaker 1: or anything. I remember our conversation about this. I mean,
Speaker 1: after my years of working here, I'm more I've gotten
Speaker 1: to become more of like, I'll believe it when I
Speaker 1: see a type of person, and when he comes to yeah,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. But the fact that dan Quinn came in
Speaker 1: here and I had read about his resume and I
Speaker 1: heard everybody talking about him and how great he is
Speaker 1: with players and everything. So to me, that was the
Speaker 1: biggest surprise in the fact that he made he did
Speaker 1: he did what it was said he could do, and
Speaker 1: he did it well. Yeah, for me, it was jay
Speaker 1: Ron Curse. We talked about him earlier, but I think
Speaker 1: last year. I remember at OTA's they were talking about
Speaker 1: he was getting a lot of looks and I was like,
Speaker 1: why is it just everybody's hurt? Like what, why is
Speaker 1: he out there? And because I was like I never
Speaker 1: really heard of this guy. And then we went to
Speaker 1: training camp and he was still getting a lot of opportunities,
Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, Okay, they must think a lot of
Speaker 1: this guy. And it wasn't until we got to the
Speaker 1: regular season and started singing play that you started seeing
Speaker 1: the vision of what dan Quinn had for him and
Speaker 1: how well he fit that role. And I think that
Speaker 1: to me was a huge surprise. I just that came
Speaker 1: out of nowhere from me. I had no idea at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the year that he would be, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, one of the top three four defensive players
Speaker 1: on this team for the season, and that's what he was,
Speaker 1: I think, so I think that was the biggest surprise
Speaker 1: for me. All Right, appreciate you guys join us. We're
Speaker 1: gonna be back next Wednesday. We'll talk a little about
Speaker 1: a free agency. Were gonna talk about free agency some
Speaker 1: of the guys that were up. We're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: some contracts out there at the Cowboys probably we'll be
Speaker 1: looking at decide whether they want to change those contracts
Speaker 1: or whether they want to maybe get rid of those players.
Speaker 1: To talk about that stuff next week. Till then for
Speaker 1: Nick even Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Hilton. This has been
Speaker 1: The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This
Speaker 1: has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.