Speaker 1: The following Here's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Let's go. Are you
Speaker 1: ready for a break? Yes? Are you ready for a break? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Ready for a break? Yeah, And so much for that.
Speaker 1: It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia and Derek Eagleton.
Speaker 1: It estus the October sixth, twenty twenty, season sixteen, episode
Speaker 1: number thirty eight. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break.
Speaker 1: We're live from the s WBC Mortgage Studios. At the start,
Speaker 1: we got forty five minutes and we're gonna make the
Speaker 1: most of it. Today. We got a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of talk that we heard yesterday
Speaker 1: from the head coach and the coordinators that we're gonna
Speaker 1: get into. There was some interesting things that they said.
Speaker 1: And then, as promised by Amber yesterday, we're gonna fix
Speaker 1: this thing. We've got some I got some questions for
Speaker 1: these guys on how the Cowboys fix what's happening right
Speaker 1: now with their team sitting at one in three. And
Speaker 1: then we'll finish off the show. Maybe if we have
Speaker 1: enough time, we'll get into a little NFC East talk.
Speaker 1: Not a lot going on there, but we'll talk about
Speaker 1: it a little bit. What one sucks right now? I mean,
Speaker 1: like that's easy to segment done, so we don't have
Speaker 1: to learn about that one. No One, no one looks
Speaker 1: really good, but somebody has to win it. Well awesome,
Speaker 1: So by the end of the show, I'm gonna ask
Speaker 1: you guys, who's the best one in this NFC East
Speaker 1: Which is probably a hard, hard question to answer right now,
Speaker 1: but we'll do that towards the end of the show.
Speaker 1: All right, So let's first jump in Mike McCarthy. Yesterday,
Speaker 1: he has this press conference with the media, and the
Speaker 1: first thing that he said that that stuck out to
Speaker 1: me was regarding it was a question about the problems
Speaker 1: that they're experiencing right now, and his quote was, if
Speaker 1: I was going to rank them a number one our
Speaker 1: turnover race, show is our biggest negative? After four games
Speaker 1: currently they're sitting at negative seven turnover ratio. Is that
Speaker 1: their biggest problem? Nick, let's start with you. I think
Speaker 1: it is. I do. I mean, because that's what leads
Speaker 1: to more possessions, that's what takes the offense off the field,
Speaker 1: and you know, I mean, think about when you when
Speaker 1: you turn the ball over and the other team scores
Speaker 1: when you could have scored. That's a seven. That's a
Speaker 1: ten to fourteen point turnaround. In every game that they played,
Speaker 1: just one turnover a turnaround like that could could have
Speaker 1: affect the game. So yeah, without a dat, I think
Speaker 1: I think it is the biggest problem that they have. Um.
Speaker 1: I get Nick's point in logic and it makes perfect sense,
Speaker 1: but I would say that's not their biggest problem. I
Speaker 1: think that looking at the team overall, I would just
Speaker 1: lean towards the issues that the defense is struggling with
Speaker 1: currently because turnovers, to me, even though they keep struggling
Speaker 1: with it week after week, I feel like that's something
Speaker 1: that has a an easier or faster solution. That's something
Speaker 1: that you can fix faster, in my opinion, versus what's
Speaker 1: happening on the defense that I just I just see
Speaker 1: that such at a such a bigger scale, and it's
Speaker 1: depending on who they're gonna be facing later on through
Speaker 1: the year. I think that's gonna come down to what
Speaker 1: your defense it's unable to do. Dave. It's kind of
Speaker 1: like card problems, right, like your car's not running the
Speaker 1: way you want it to me, and like, it would
Speaker 1: be great if you could take the engine out and
Speaker 1: just do the whole thing over again, go in there
Speaker 1: and really revamp it. Or you can just like turn
Speaker 1: off the parking break and that's not gonna you know,
Speaker 1: it's not gonna fix everything, but you probably be a
Speaker 1: lot better off. My point is to say, the defense
Speaker 1: is just there's a lot of stuff that needs to
Speaker 1: be done there. It is the team's biggest problem. But
Speaker 1: you can help a lot by just holding onto the
Speaker 1: ball like it is. It is the problem that can
Speaker 1: be fixed the easiest and would go a long way
Speaker 1: toward making the defense or at least helping the defense.
Speaker 1: So I agree with Nick because I think fixing the
Speaker 1: turnover problem is something you can actually do. I just
Speaker 1: don't trust that there's a lot you can do to
Speaker 1: make this defense significantly better right now. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: challenge you, guys, how do you do it? Like that's
Speaker 1: the hard part. Yeah, we all know it's a big problem.
Speaker 1: We all know it needs to be fixed. What do
Speaker 1: you think is their best route to try to fix it?
Speaker 1: To get more turnovers or get more or I mean
Speaker 1: that could be a part of the solution. Hey, if
Speaker 1: you get more turnovers, then giving more turnovers maybe isn't
Speaker 1: as big of a problem, right, I mean the offense
Speaker 1: doesn't need to score. I mean they're scoring enough points.
Speaker 1: I mean generally, yes, now you know they're not to
Speaker 1: be one and three you need more points. But I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, we see we have enough football games to
Speaker 1: know you average thirty one and a half points a game,
Speaker 1: you should be winning and should be winning big. Um.
Speaker 1: So do they need to be as wide open? Do
Speaker 1: they need to help more with the offensive line? Do
Speaker 1: they need a little bit more max protect because they've
Speaker 1: got two or three receivers, three receivers that can get open.
Speaker 1: Maybe they need more of that. Maybe you need your
Speaker 1: your running backs to stay home, Maybe your tied ends
Speaker 1: need to stay home a little bit more, and you know,
Speaker 1: protect the quarterback more because that's typically where the turnovers
Speaker 1: are coming from. There is the pressure. And then on
Speaker 1: the flip side, maybe they need to add more pressure.
Speaker 1: You know, they don't really blitz a lot. Maybe they
Speaker 1: should start doing that a little bit more. I don't know,
Speaker 1: what do you think, Amber, How do they fix this
Speaker 1: problems with the turnovers? With the turnovers established the run
Speaker 1: when when you first of all figure out who your
Speaker 1: offensive linemen are going to be and make that be
Speaker 1: it for the rest of the of the year. Unless
Speaker 1: there is another injury, of course, then you have to
Speaker 1: readjust but going knowing, Okay, these are my start in
Speaker 1: five and this is what it is. Don't don't do
Speaker 1: the whole steel thing again. Okay, once that's settled, hopefully
Speaker 1: you're able to establish the run. I think that the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: yes they Dak is throwing the ball really good. The
Speaker 1: receivers are doing a good job once they're able to
Speaker 1: get the ball going and connecting and all that. But
Speaker 1: I think you need to establish the run first because
Speaker 1: that's gonna just help your defense. Just killed allowed the
Speaker 1: defense to be less on the field as much as
Speaker 1: you can. So just try to score points but using
Speaker 1: and utilize utilizing your running back Zeke that I know
Speaker 1: he has his own struggles, but we've seen him do it,
Speaker 1: so I do have confidence in what he can do
Speaker 1: in the running game. Still, Dave Hodd, you solve the
Speaker 1: turnover problem. Isn't the running game the primary culprit and
Speaker 1: the turnover problem right now? Big part? I mean Zeke
Speaker 1: has fumbled three times this season, and he's lost two
Speaker 1: of them. I mean, overall, I don't disagree with the
Speaker 1: point Amber took the words right out of my mouth. Honestly,
Speaker 1: is my primary hope for fixing the turnover issue is
Speaker 1: continuity on the offensive line. Tyrant is back in the lineup.
Speaker 1: Hopefully he stays there. Tyler Biadas has played one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty snaps through these last two games, and he's
Speaker 1: played well, so hopefully that can help the interior. And
Speaker 1: hopefully the coaches are what's the word I'm looking for,
Speaker 1: humble enough to admit that they were wrong about this
Speaker 1: right tackle thing. Hopefully the way Brandon Knight has played
Speaker 1: when he's gotten in there has proven to them that
Speaker 1: he should be the guy in my opinion, and hopefully
Speaker 1: they can go forward with these five and have that
Speaker 1: clean things up a little bit. To be clear, when
Speaker 1: I said fix the turnover issue, I simply meant on offense,
Speaker 1: like defense, prove it to me that you can get takeaways.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you fix that without getting better players, honestly,
Speaker 1: because this is a four year stretch where that's just
Speaker 1: been the case. So I can't bank on the defense
Speaker 1: getting men overs. I just have to I need the
Speaker 1: offense to clean it up. I think continuity on the
Speaker 1: offensive line would would go a long way toward helping.
Speaker 1: What do we think the offensive line looks like? I mean,
Speaker 1: Looney's out for two to four weeks, but I'm not sure,
Speaker 1: be honest, wouldn't be the starter anyways, But they don't
Speaker 1: have to make that call right now. What are we thinking, Tyrn, Connor,
Speaker 1: be honest, Zach Night. I think that's what they're gonna
Speaker 1: go with. I think that's definitely what they're gonna go with. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, unless unless they want to unless they feel
Speaker 1: like Connor McGovern or, somebody could play guard better than
Speaker 1: than Connor Williams. Then no, well that's true too, Yeah,
Speaker 1: better than Connor Williams. But I'm saying, maybe you know,
Speaker 1: they wanted Brandon Knight, I think, to be a guard anyways.
Speaker 1: Maybe he's a better guard than Zach Martin's a better
Speaker 1: right tackle. Yeah, I think that's what considering. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on to what other things you want to?
Speaker 1: Go ahead, go ahead, Dave, No, I just it's it's possible.
Speaker 1: I think I continue to think that they're going to
Speaker 1: do the thing that requires the least amount of movement, Like,
Speaker 1: I think they want as much continuity as possible and
Speaker 1: just plugging Night in that right tackle allows everybody else
Speaker 1: to stay where they are. Yeah, but sure it's possible.
Speaker 1: To Nick's point about, well, one thing good, Amber, I
Speaker 1: was gonna say, one thing that at least they've proven
Speaker 1: is that they're not afraid to just shuffle people around.
Speaker 1: So you can look that as a positive as to Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe they will be willing to just kind of shuffle
Speaker 1: people around and make some changes. Now, hopefully that's not
Speaker 1: something that just happens during the middle of the game,
Speaker 1: but rather something that you plan throughout the week and
Speaker 1: kind of go that route and stick to it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, that's an interesting point, Amber, because I don't
Speaker 1: think that's something we've been used to seeing around here,
Speaker 1: is in the middle of games then making a decision.
Speaker 1: And by the way, just as I'm giving them credit
Speaker 1: for that, I'm also going to say they probably should
Speaker 1: have made that distinction before the game. I think Dave
Speaker 1: made the point. Yes, if they were so willing to
Speaker 1: as soon as they made a mistake rip them out
Speaker 1: and put the other guy in, then they probably knew
Speaker 1: that was a problem going into the game. They probably
Speaker 1: should have gone in that way, is the way I
Speaker 1: look at it. Right. But you know, one of the
Speaker 1: complaints people always say, it's it's like the coach needs
Speaker 1: to hold them accountable. They didn't hold these guys accountable. Well,
Speaker 1: do what I mean, Benjam? Yeah, because that's what they do.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's no detention in the NFL. I mean,
Speaker 1: what do you what do you do to these guys?
Speaker 1: I mean, they're not running laps. Maybe they do, but
Speaker 1: I'm just saying maybe they should, Maybe maybe they should.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, how do you hold a guy accountable? Well, you,
Speaker 1: Benjam in front of everybody, and that's that's kind of
Speaker 1: what they've done. They're not afraid to do that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I will make this point real quick before we move
Speaker 1: on to the next topic. Nick, you mentioned the number
Speaker 1: of points that they're scoring should have them in the
Speaker 1: winner's column a lot more than they are. Think about this.
Speaker 1: I'm going to read for you the teams that are
Speaker 1: in the top ten right now and scoring in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and see if you see a pattern here. The Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers, number one, Seattle Seahawks, number two, Dallas is
Speaker 1: number three, Cleveland Brown's number four, Buffalo Bills, number five,
Speaker 1: New Orleans Sayings, number six, Baltimore Ravens, number seven, number
Speaker 1: eight is Tampa Bay Buccaneers, number nine Kansas City Chiefs,
Speaker 1: and number ten Las Vegas Raiders. The interesting part about
Speaker 1: that at the top ten, I think that's probably most
Speaker 1: of the best teams in the league. Those are the
Speaker 1: teams I would guess right now the Super Bowl winner
Speaker 1: is going to come out of that group. It's amazing
Speaker 1: that the Cowboys, I guess. The point is, it is
Speaker 1: amazing the Cowboys are scoring with those teams, yet their
Speaker 1: results are so much different. That tells you just how
Speaker 1: bad they're struggling on the defensive side of the ball
Speaker 1: right now. I think, all right, let's mother is the
Speaker 1: next topic. He was asked to Mike Nolan and speaking
Speaker 1: of that defense, and his quote was, and we're talking
Speaker 1: about Mike McCarthy's quote yesterday was yas very high confidence
Speaker 1: in Mike Nolan. We're going to stay the course. My
Speaker 1: question for you guys is do you agree that you
Speaker 1: need to stay the course here or should they be
Speaker 1: looking at other options? Are there other options that they
Speaker 1: could consider at this point? Let's start first with you,
Speaker 1: Dave H. I mean, you know, fans are gonna say
Speaker 1: stuff like that after a game like that. I it, No,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't feel like they need to make
Speaker 1: a move like that right now. The season hasn't gotten
Speaker 1: away from him. And again, this is a new coaching staff,
Speaker 1: a brand new slate coming in. You know, the Texans
Speaker 1: fired Bill O'Brien yesterday. That's first of all their winless
Speaker 1: I know one in three and O and four is
Speaker 1: not a huge difference, but also Bill O'Brien has a
Speaker 1: laundry list of things that he's done wrong that led
Speaker 1: to that decision for seven years, whereas well, yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: so this is this is a clean slate now. I
Speaker 1: don't think that's out of the realm of possibility. If
Speaker 1: things really go south and it looks like this team
Speaker 1: really won't be able to contend for a playoff spot,
Speaker 1: I think I don't remember who made the point, but
Speaker 1: George Edwards, a former longtime defensive coordinators already on this staff.
Speaker 1: So I don't want to say that it's impossible, especially
Speaker 1: if it really, like I said, if it really gets
Speaker 1: out of hand, but the division sucks, you're still in
Speaker 1: the mix, and this is a brand new staff, Like
Speaker 1: I never really thought that was a realistic thing to
Speaker 1: do after four games. Amber by saying to stay the course,
Speaker 1: that's strictly talking about coaching specifically. Yeah, he was saying it.
Speaker 1: He said it in regards to the question about Mike Nolan.
Speaker 1: So my assumption is he's talking about we're gonna stay
Speaker 1: the course with Mike Nolan, right specifically. Okay, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: didn't know if that was if that man like, we're
Speaker 1: just gonna stay with why we kind of have right now,
Speaker 1: including players. But okay, when you talk about coaching specifically,
Speaker 1: I think, yes, it's a little unfair to kind of
Speaker 1: rush that quickly after four game when it's a new
Speaker 1: coaching staff and you guy, guys just kind of trying
Speaker 1: to connect everything together and build off something new basically,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, there has to be some
Speaker 1: kind of shake up. So I don't know what that
Speaker 1: would mean behind doors. I don't know what you tell
Speaker 1: or how they they communicate certain things, but I would
Speaker 1: be saying someone explicit words in those meetings and being like, okay,
Speaker 1: you you you need to kind of step it up
Speaker 1: because even though we're new at this here in Dallas.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna wait until the end of the season.
Speaker 1: Like I think that there's a certain point where I
Speaker 1: don't know. Honestly, here's what I'm struggling with. I'm just
Speaker 1: tired of waiting year after year after year. So my
Speaker 1: patience right now is very low. So I just I'm
Speaker 1: at a point where, yes, I have to consider he's
Speaker 1: new here in Dallas, but at the same time, just
Speaker 1: in Dallas overall period, I'm just tired of excuses and waiting.
Speaker 1: So I don't know what to tell you. She just
Speaker 1: sums right now. Nick, I just I mean, I just
Speaker 1: it's frustrating because I'm sitting over here with with you,
Speaker 1: and like this is our twenty second year of doing
Speaker 1: this and I think I don't know, and five or
Speaker 1: six maybe six years She's s's yeah, and it's like
Speaker 1: we should get I don't know how you guys have this.
Speaker 1: We're so long honestly, two thousand and one, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: two thousand But anyways, um, I think she's right on
Speaker 1: that you better do something. I mean, stayed the course
Speaker 1: might have been the answer to the personnel move, and
Speaker 1: I I agree with that because you know this, this
Speaker 1: has been a different year. I think. I think, um,
Speaker 1: for everybody, they should have a little bit more patience
Speaker 1: with all coaches, all sports, all jobs. Really, I mean
Speaker 1: this is just different. You don't judge what you just
Speaker 1: see right here. Now, you gotta get this thing fixed quickly.
Speaker 1: So um, they talked about multiple schemes they could play.
Speaker 1: That's what we love about this thing. We can do
Speaker 1: different things. Well, maybe you shouldn't. Maybe you should you
Speaker 1: stick to one or two things that you really do well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this whole you know, wide open stuff. Nobody's you know,
Speaker 1: figuring it out. Maybe they're not a three fourth team
Speaker 1: you know at all. Maybe they're four three maybe whatever.
Speaker 1: Do whatever they need to do, just you know, hone
Speaker 1: in on a couple of things that they do well.
Speaker 1: And if that means simplifying it, oh, oh well, because
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty you know there where they averaging points
Speaker 1: against them thirty eight. I don't even know. It's it's
Speaker 1: it's ridiculous. It's a lot, it's a lot. All right,
Speaker 1: we're gonna take our first break when we come back.
Speaker 1: There's this word that kept coming up yesterday that I
Speaker 1: want to talk about. And this word is effort. And
Speaker 1: I want to see what you guys think about this
Speaker 1: word effort and how it relates to this team. We'll
Speaker 1: do that when we come right back. This is Dallas
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Speaker 1: dot com for details. Well, you could tell you could
Speaker 1: tell what happens on Sunday Boo the way our show goes.
Speaker 1: On Tuesday, Browns had a tour, ran all over the place. Geez,
Speaker 1: they just said run on the field. Well, it's gonna
Speaker 1: call Nick the impler. But then he just came out
Speaker 1: and gave the joke away, right, He was not implying there.
Speaker 1: It was very It was I gotta work to the
Speaker 1: point I work with Bucky Moore, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like like I try to joke with Bucky and it
Speaker 1: just doesn't He doesn't. He doesn't get it all the time.
Speaker 1: I don't want to do comes on. I want to
Speaker 1: tell him. I'm like, Bucky, can we get a bigger
Speaker 1: microphone for you? Have you seen that microphone? Got a microphone? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I was like, but whatever, Well, here's what we're doing.
Speaker 1: We're going through some of the comments that the coaches
Speaker 1: made yesterday they had their their time with media, and
Speaker 1: that was a comment and actually I'm going to get
Speaker 1: into two different things. There was first to comment from
Speaker 1: coach McCarthy that I want to talk about now, and
Speaker 1: then we'll get into a comment to coach Nolan made
Speaker 1: after that. But the basically when he was talking, he
Speaker 1: was asked about the effort of the team. Coach McCarthy
Speaker 1: was and he said that he doesn't really see effort
Speaker 1: as a problem and he would cause you others to
Speaker 1: be careful when questioning the effort of professional athletes from
Speaker 1: the outside. So my question for you guys is, and
Speaker 1: I assume most of you, you know, obviously we all
Speaker 1: watched the game live. I assume most of us have
Speaker 1: gone back and rewatched it. What is your thought with
Speaker 1: regards to the effort, particularly of the defense in that game.
Speaker 1: Do you think it's an issue of effort or do
Speaker 1: you do you think it's an issue of skill. Let's
Speaker 1: start first with you amber certain positions. Yeah, with certain
Speaker 1: players there there's a lack of skill and just being
Speaker 1: at that level that you would want them to be,
Speaker 1: and a lack of experience as well. But when you
Speaker 1: talk about the word effort, which has been going around
Speaker 1: all over the place on social media and many media
Speaker 1: outlets out there, I always tend to be really careful
Speaker 1: as well, because you don't know, you never know exactly
Speaker 1: what the person is physically dealing with to where maybe
Speaker 1: that is their maximum effort and it's just not being
Speaker 1: to the level that you personally want them to be at.
Speaker 1: But when you look at the defense overall and just
Speaker 1: watch the game, there's just there's just fire missing just overall.
Speaker 1: It's just unusual. Even when they miss a tackle, when
Speaker 1: they get up, it's like the whole like shoulders going
Speaker 1: like this, like I miss that. There's not like I'm
Speaker 1: lacking that that passion, that anger that like man, I'm
Speaker 1: pissed off right now, I'm gonna get back up. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go back and do this better. It's just so.
Speaker 1: I guess you could call that tighten with effort, but
Speaker 1: rather than effort, I would use a lack of a fire,
Speaker 1: lack of just that competitiveness that you usually see within
Speaker 1: football players. All Right, Dave, I'll very candidly, yeah, I've
Speaker 1: I've learned that lesson. The hard way of doing this
Speaker 1: job is it's easy to forget that the worst player
Speaker 1: in the NFL works really, really hard twelve months out
Speaker 1: of the year to be able to do this job.
Speaker 1: And on top of that, they're all playing with some
Speaker 1: sort of pain bothering them, and they all are playing
Speaker 1: with the knowledge that the next rep could end their
Speaker 1: career and significantly change their life, So I always try
Speaker 1: to be very careful not to say that that somebody's
Speaker 1: not trying, And for the most part, I think that's fair.
Speaker 1: Looking back at that tape, what it brings me back
Speaker 1: around to is Mike McCarthy and Jerry Jones have both
Speaker 1: said in the last twenty four hours that players have
Speaker 1: to trust the scheme and not revert back to the
Speaker 1: old way of doing things when things go wrong. And
Speaker 1: the reason I bring that up is in the sense that, like,
Speaker 1: there were eleven guys on the field running hard for
Speaker 1: most of that game. Sure, but it was completely uncoordinated
Speaker 1: and not working together the way that a successful defense does.
Speaker 1: So it's cool that you sprinted, but if you're not
Speaker 1: hitting your assignment and doing what you're supposed to do,
Speaker 1: it looks terrible. So individual effort is great, but it's
Speaker 1: got there's gotta be more of a concerted effort to
Speaker 1: work together, or we're going to see more of that
Speaker 1: as the season goes along. If I had to guess, Nick, yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think you know where I'm going with this.
Speaker 1: We talked about this a lot. You know I've made
Speaker 1: this point. I mean, effort is you can go to
Speaker 1: any YMCA at ten o'clock in the morning and watch
Speaker 1: a pickup game of old basketball men playing basketball and
Speaker 1: see that they get into it. They care, they want
Speaker 1: to you know that there's pride on the line there.
Speaker 1: So effort is always there on the field. I think
Speaker 1: I really believe effort is there ninety nine percent of
Speaker 1: the time. But his effort there. On Wednesday night, when
Speaker 1: you're going home and you have your iPad and you
Speaker 1: could watch the Browns a couple more plays of them,
Speaker 1: you could figure things out. You could see the tackle
Speaker 1: that you're facing in the tendencies and all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff, you know, like I think Sean Lee does that.
Speaker 1: I think he's probably the best that's ever done. It
Speaker 1: is the effort there to prepare, like Dave's talking about. That,
Speaker 1: is that effort there, because, yeah, Jalen Smith is gonna
Speaker 1: be running all the way down the field to try
Speaker 1: to tackle Odell Beckham. He can't get him, but he's
Speaker 1: gonna try his best. He's gonna They're all gonna do
Speaker 1: the effort. But are they really putting in the effort
Speaker 1: to prepare like you're supposed to, especially in this weird
Speaker 1: year of pandemic where you didn't have the same installation
Speaker 1: issues or installation time and OTAs and all that. You
Speaker 1: gotta be extra prepared. That's effort. And I don't know
Speaker 1: if I don't know if a lot of players in
Speaker 1: the league, not just boys. I'm just saying that's where
Speaker 1: I think teams can lose sometimes when they say we
Speaker 1: give up, they quit. They didn't quit when it comes
Speaker 1: to playing when the lights came on, they quit when
Speaker 1: the preparation time was Yeah, you know, I'll actually throw
Speaker 1: out a different word that I think applies here, and
Speaker 1: I think it's unsure. I think what you've seen people
Speaker 1: like Troy Aikman and our own Bucky Brooks, Emanuelato, they
Speaker 1: all have put out different statements saying, hey, effort is
Speaker 1: a problem with this team. These guys are not going
Speaker 1: all in. What I think I'm saying it is not
Speaker 1: necessarily them not going all in. I think what I'm
Speaker 1: seeing is that they're unsure. I don't think, and it
Speaker 1: goes back to scheme. It goes back to everybody understanding
Speaker 1: their role, everybody understanding their job, and everybody being willing
Speaker 1: to do their job. I think that's probably more what
Speaker 1: you're seeing. Because I agree with you, Nick I don't
Speaker 1: think professional athletes loaf. That's a way to get hurt
Speaker 1: in the NFL. But I do think that when you're unsure,
Speaker 1: you're probably a little more pensive. You're probably a little
Speaker 1: more like, I don't I don't know if I should
Speaker 1: go here, let me let me oh, maybe I should
Speaker 1: do so in a little different And that put you
Speaker 1: a step behind, and that makes you slow to react,
Speaker 1: and it makes you slow to get to the point,
Speaker 1: and so it looks like you're kind of just playing slow.
Speaker 1: But you're not playing slow because of lack of effort.
Speaker 1: You're playing slow because you're unsure. In my opinion, I
Speaker 1: think that's what's happening a lot with this defense. Ourselves
Speaker 1: had a sign in the locker room that said, exactly
Speaker 1: what you just said. Knowledge is confidence, and confidence lets
Speaker 1: you play fast, and that's probably what you're saying. They
Speaker 1: don't have that knowledge. It's not giving them confidence and
Speaker 1: therefore their unsure and what they're doing. Yep. And again,
Speaker 1: I think that's probably a bigger issue for this defense
Speaker 1: right now than just saying they don't have the effort
Speaker 1: that they need. But let's go on with that same topic.
Speaker 1: Mike Nolan, he was go ahead, Amber, I was just
Speaker 1: gonna ask, Okay, So let's say we assume that's the case.
Speaker 1: Then do you put them more on the players themselves
Speaker 1: just not taking the extra time going home and studying
Speaker 1: and doing what they need to do, or does that
Speaker 1: fall more onto again, the coaching staff and then maybe
Speaker 1: not necessarily teaching the things that they need to be
Speaker 1: teaching them. I think, if I had to guess, I
Speaker 1: would say it's probably a little bit of both. I
Speaker 1: think in one instance, as Nick said earlier, you got
Speaker 1: a very very unique set of circumstances this year. I
Speaker 1: think it's probably unrealistic for a coaching staff to come
Speaker 1: in and say, hey, guys, we're about to do all
Speaker 1: this new exotic stuff, but we're not going to have
Speaker 1: as much practice time. I think that maybe they need
Speaker 1: to step back a little bit. And by the way,
Speaker 1: we always talk about it like football's rocket science, it's
Speaker 1: really not like it's not really rocket science. But if
Speaker 1: you've got let's say, for example, in one instance, you've
Speaker 1: got one read and you react to that one read
Speaker 1: and do something, as opposed to another situation where maybe
Speaker 1: you've got three different things you need to key on
Speaker 1: and that's when you can make your move. It's gonna
Speaker 1: take you longer to process, and it's gonna take you
Speaker 1: time of doing that repeatedly to get the muscle memory
Speaker 1: to know bam, bam, bam. These three things happen. So
Speaker 1: I'm doing this right, And so I think that when
Speaker 1: you're when you're talking about them adjusting to this new
Speaker 1: scheme and the complexity of it. I don't know again
Speaker 1: what all those keys are that they're giving these guys.
Speaker 1: It does appear to me that they have a lot
Speaker 1: more to think about because I do think they're playing slow,
Speaker 1: and so I think that's partially on the coaches. They
Speaker 1: may need to simplify this thing a little bit, and
Speaker 1: I do think it's partially on the players. They're gonna
Speaker 1: have to pick it up a little faster. This is
Speaker 1: these are unique times, so it requires them to be
Speaker 1: better than they would have been otherwise. So they got
Speaker 1: to step up. They got to be even more intent
Speaker 1: on studying even harder and really being able to focus
Speaker 1: in because the muscle memory just doesn't there yet. They
Speaker 1: have not had enough reps for the muscle memory to
Speaker 1: be there yet. What do you guys think? I guess
Speaker 1: you all agree. I think it just left me wondering
Speaker 1: it just I was thinking of what other teams around
Speaker 1: the NFL are going through a similar situation where specifically
Speaker 1: is talking about the defense. Do they have a defensive court,
Speaker 1: a new defensive coordinator, and how are their defense as
Speaker 1: a performing given the circumstances that we've all had to
Speaker 1: live this year with no preseason games, you know, a
Speaker 1: shorter offseason, practices and things like that. So I don't
Speaker 1: I mean, you guys would know a lot better than
Speaker 1: me as far as two opposing teams and if they're
Speaker 1: facing similar struggles as the Cowboys are right now. I
Speaker 1: understand all of that. No, no, go ahead, Dave, But
Speaker 1: I just add, you know to I'm gonna steal Amber's line,
Speaker 1: like I'm tired of hearing about how they didn't have
Speaker 1: a preseason or any of that stuff, because nobody else
Speaker 1: did either. I think the Patriots had half of their
Speaker 1: defense opt out, and this isn't happening to them. So
Speaker 1: I get it. It's tough and it's adverse circumstances. I
Speaker 1: do agree. I just the reason I sort of blanked
Speaker 1: back there is because it's such a chicken or the
Speaker 1: egg I mean, it's it's hard to know that. But again,
Speaker 1: if members of the front office are saying they need
Speaker 1: the players to trust the scheme, then I assume that
Speaker 1: means the players aren't buying into what the coaches are selling,
Speaker 1: So the players either need to pick that up, or
Speaker 1: if this keeps up, the coaches need to be willing
Speaker 1: to say, all right, we're gonna pare this down because
Speaker 1: what we want y'all to do just isn't working and
Speaker 1: we need to adapt on the fly. It's got to
Speaker 1: be one of those two, like a better buy in
Speaker 1: by the players or the coaches being willing to say,
Speaker 1: let's put this on the shelf until we can actually
Speaker 1: have an offseason in a training camp. Yep, yep. And
Speaker 1: I agree with you, Dave, I don't. I don't think.
Speaker 1: And all that said was not for the purposes of
Speaker 1: giving excuses as much as it was to say, sometimes
Speaker 1: the coaches have to know my players are trying as
Speaker 1: hard as they can and for whatever reason, it's not working.
Speaker 1: So maybe I need to change my strategy, which means
Speaker 1: I may need to scale things back in order to
Speaker 1: give them the best opportunity to succeed. Right, all right,
Speaker 1: let's go on to the next topic, Mike Nolan. Actually,
Speaker 1: let's take our final break. When we come back, I
Speaker 1: do want to talk about Mike Nolan. He has some
Speaker 1: interesting things to say about Jalen Smith, and we talked
Speaker 1: about him yesterday on the show. I want to hear
Speaker 1: what coach Nolan had to say, and then we're gonna
Speaker 1: a little bit about that will when we come right back.
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Speaker 1: It is the final segment of the Break Life from
Speaker 1: the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We're talking
Speaker 1: about a lot of things that the coaches had to
Speaker 1: say yesterday. We've been talking about this word effort, and
Speaker 1: Coach Nolan was speaking about Jalen Smith yesterday and his
Speaker 1: quote was, I think he's doing all things were asking
Speaker 1: of him, or at least trying to do them, and
Speaker 1: said they and went on to say that he doesn't
Speaker 1: understand all of the criticism that Jalen seems to get.
Speaker 1: My personal opinion is part of this because a lot
Speaker 1: of that criticism comes from the contract as well. There
Speaker 1: are heightened expectations with that amount of money. But that
Speaker 1: all being said, He also went on to talk about
Speaker 1: how they great defenders, particularly in three categories. It's either
Speaker 1: a winning effort, a losing effort, or you just did
Speaker 1: your job. And he said that he doesn't think Jalen
Speaker 1: has had a losing effort in either of the four
Speaker 1: games he's he said, he's he's did his job or
Speaker 1: a little bit better every week. So understanding, and I
Speaker 1: understand the coaches will always or most often will defend
Speaker 1: their players publicly. But do you think that the quote
Speaker 1: that he said he's doing all the things we're asking
Speaker 1: him to do and here's the important part, or at
Speaker 1: least trying to do them, signals that he's happy with
Speaker 1: his effort and not necessarily the results. Nicholas Starr with you, Uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a lot to digest there. I mean, I still
Speaker 1: keep going back to the I don't like the grading system.
Speaker 1: That's just it just three grades. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: this isn't it's not. Football is a little bit more
Speaker 1: complex than that. I think that like you did your
Speaker 1: job or what is it winning effort, winning effort, losing
Speaker 1: effort or did your job? So basically, well, the way
Speaker 1: I look at that is, if you want to make
Speaker 1: it simple, it is you were really good, you just passed,
Speaker 1: or you were bad, Like those are the three options
Speaker 1: and basically he just passed or maybe a little bit better. Yeah, right.
Speaker 1: Week is the way I tell you, I'm not with
Speaker 1: you guys as much on the Jalen Smith like just
Speaker 1: saying he's awful, he's terrible, Like I don't. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying you guys are saying that if you
Speaker 1: can say it, if you want to, But I just
Speaker 1: I'm not as on that train as much as everyone else,
Speaker 1: mainly because I look behind him and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: don't see anybody better than that. But I don't think
Speaker 1: anybody on the defense has played well. And it starts
Speaker 1: in the middle. That's usually where you know, this whole
Speaker 1: thing starts. And he hasn't played great, and he hasn't
Speaker 1: been that dynamic player that we wanted him to be.
Speaker 1: We thought he was gonna be a couple of years
Speaker 1: ago and so, and he makes a lot of money
Speaker 1: and so therefore he's going to get the target just
Speaker 1: like the other guy that makes a lot of money
Speaker 1: that hasn't done anything. Amber. I get why Mike Nolan
Speaker 1: has to speak that way. I get it, but at
Speaker 1: the same time, I just it makes me wonder, like
Speaker 1: do they give these grades based on like comparison to
Speaker 1: everyone else on defense, or strictly and specifically to the
Speaker 1: player without trying to evaluate everyone else on defense. Because
Speaker 1: to me, yes, Jalen might be doing the better job
Speaker 1: as opposed to everyone else on defense, but the bar
Speaker 1: is just set so low right now, like he's not.
Speaker 1: To me, he has had better seasons, better years where
Speaker 1: he's played better, and maybe because I've seen certain games
Speaker 1: the level that he can play at. When I compare
Speaker 1: that to where he's at right now, it's just very different.
Speaker 1: So I just see it as like I don't like
Speaker 1: the grading system. I just think the expectation, the evaluation
Speaker 1: right now is just very low because of the way
Speaker 1: that the defense it's performing overall, Dave, I gained a
Speaker 1: lot of respect for Mike Nolan yesterday, if you want
Speaker 1: me to be honest with you, because I thought he
Speaker 1: showed that he's willing to jump on a grenade. Is
Speaker 1: basically what he did in my opinion, um, because I
Speaker 1: can't I can't bring myself to believe that he actually
Speaker 1: means most of that. Um And and it's it's not
Speaker 1: to dog on Jalen unnecessarily, but he's He's getting it
Speaker 1: from every angle he like, the media is on him,
Speaker 1: the fans are on him so bad, like don't search
Speaker 1: Jalen's name on Twitter, it's bad um and and so
Speaker 1: like the coach. The coach can't do that, Like, you know,
Speaker 1: he's he's a talented player. If the defense is going
Speaker 1: to be better, he's gonna need to be part of it.
Speaker 1: So if Mike Nolan comes out and jumps on top
Speaker 1: of him too, you run the risk of him checking
Speaker 1: out or him getting pissed off. So I admire that
Speaker 1: Mike Nolan was willing to do it, but some of
Speaker 1: the stuff that he said at face value, Again, I
Speaker 1: get why he said it, but I mean, come on,
Speaker 1: I mean, twelve million dollars a year, we give him
Speaker 1: a did his job or slightly better grade all four
Speaker 1: weeks and that's good enough. It's not. There's no way,
Speaker 1: And salary is a big part of it. Nobody's mad
Speaker 1: at Joe Thomas because Joe Thomas signed a one year,
Speaker 1: one million dollar deal to come in and be the
Speaker 1: fourth guy. He is playing up to the standard that
Speaker 1: you expected of him. Jaalen Smith is on a sixty
Speaker 1: eight million dollar extension and is not playing like it.
Speaker 1: If you are making that much money, you should be
Speaker 1: able to lift the lesser components of this defense, or
Speaker 1: at least in theory. So to say that did your
Speaker 1: job is good enough or well, he's not making the plays,
Speaker 1: but he's trying on all of them also not good enough.
Speaker 1: It's just not And like again, I don't say that
Speaker 1: to be a jerk to Jalen Smith. He's always been
Speaker 1: a very nice guy and he's got a great story,
Speaker 1: like everybody wants him to succeed. But you gotta call
Speaker 1: it what it is. A guy making that much money
Speaker 1: trying or doing his job like that's not good enough
Speaker 1: for the money that's involved. It just is what it is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when you look at it, I think the thing is
Speaker 1: on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: you need it. You got to have a lot of
Speaker 1: players that do their job right. But in order to
Speaker 1: be successful, you're gonna have to have a few guys
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball that can play above
Speaker 1: that right. And if you don't have, like if Dak
Speaker 1: doesn't play above that, this team has no shot. If
Speaker 1: Zeke or Maury don't play above that, this team has
Speaker 1: no shot. You can't just everybody can't just do their job,
Speaker 1: because in this NFL, playmakers are how you actually win games.
Speaker 1: You meet those guys that are extraordinary. You've never seen
Speaker 1: a team with no extraordinary players win anything, right, So
Speaker 1: you gotta have some guys that do it. And so
Speaker 1: when you pay him at twelve million dollars a year contract,
Speaker 1: the expectations you're paying that because you expect him to
Speaker 1: be one of those players. So this does not in
Speaker 1: any way mean that Jalen Smith is not doing his job.
Speaker 1: The question is is Jalen Smith doing the job he's
Speaker 1: being paid for, not the job that you're just saying, Well,
Speaker 1: this is this assignment. He's being paid to be one
Speaker 1: of those extraordinary guys, and right now he's just not
Speaker 1: giving that to this team. Yeah, I mean, because you're right,
Speaker 1: I guess. But Dave, sorry, so I didn't even listen
Speaker 1: to what y'all told him to do. I'm sorry. I
Speaker 1: was just going to make the point that if all
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott was doing through one month of the season
Speaker 1: was doing his job, it would be the only thing
Speaker 1: that all of the talking head shows would be talking
Speaker 1: about about whether or not he's trash. What the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are gonna do next? Is he worth that kind of money?
Speaker 1: But he's not. He's playing like a badass because that
Speaker 1: is what the franchise tag requires of him. And the
Speaker 1: same goes for a lot of the other guys that
Speaker 1: are on big contracts. Not all of them, but a
Speaker 1: lot of them. I mean, it is what it is
Speaker 1: like that goes with the territory of having a paycheck
Speaker 1: for eight hundred thousand dollars hit your bank account every Tuesday,
Speaker 1: is that you are held to a very high standard
Speaker 1: and the season's probably not going to be very fun
Speaker 1: for you if you don't live up to it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because I think that that Derek, you guys are both
Speaker 1: making the same point about you might be doing your job,
Speaker 1: but but you know what's what's asked of you, Like
Speaker 1: are you really are you really doing worth the contract?
Speaker 1: Is your contract? Should should you be having a different job?
Speaker 1: Think about Zach Martin. Is Zach Martin doing his job? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Is Is he he's meeting expectations? Is he above expectations?
Speaker 1: Not really, because our expectations of him or is to
Speaker 1: be an all pro? So I don't think his agent's
Speaker 1: gonna be calling the Cowboys saying I need to get
Speaker 1: a raise because he's you know, he's meeting his expectations.
Speaker 1: So I don't know. I don't know if that's necessarily
Speaker 1: a bad thing to say he's doing his job because
Speaker 1: his job is to be the best guard in football
Speaker 1: and he's doing it. But what's Jalen Smith's job is it?
Speaker 1: Is it to be the captain, the leader of this defense.
Speaker 1: I think that's his job and he's not doing that,
Speaker 1: So I don't I don't think he really is. I
Speaker 1: don't think that it's fair for them to say he's
Speaker 1: doing his job and really well. And I'll ask I'll
Speaker 1: ask David Amber this too, because they know the media
Speaker 1: people and are in Dallas and even national media. If
Speaker 1: Mike Nolan said, you know, Jaylen Smith is is like
Speaker 1: like anybody on this defense. He could play better. He
Speaker 1: knows it. We've talked about it. He knows he could
Speaker 1: play better. He told me he could play better. So
Speaker 1: we know that we got to get him in a
Speaker 1: situation where he can do better and do and you
Speaker 1: can say it that way, and therefore then no one's saying, well, man,
Speaker 1: he's really throwing him under the bus. He's if Jalen
Speaker 1: knows he can play better, and everyone knows that, then
Speaker 1: let's it's our job to get him to play better.
Speaker 1: So then the question becomes, can he really play better?
Speaker 1: Because one thing I heard from and Jerry was talking
Speaker 1: on the fan this morning talking about Jalen and the
Speaker 1: word that he used, I want to say it was
Speaker 1: heroic or it was more around the idea courageous. That's
Speaker 1: what it was. Courageous. That's how he defined his play.
Speaker 1: And again, all these words are painting the picture in
Speaker 1: my mind, effort, courageous. What they're saying to me as
Speaker 1: just a personal person that's just listening to this is
Speaker 1: Jalen is doing the very best he can with what's
Speaker 1: been presented to him and the condition that he's in.
Speaker 1: He's doing the very best. He's giving us everything he
Speaker 1: possibly As he leaves every game with nothing left to give,
Speaker 1: then the question becomes is that good enough enough? See?
Speaker 1: I don't think I don't think they believe that he's
Speaker 1: dogging it. I don't think they believe he's not playing
Speaker 1: up to his potential. I think they believe he's giving
Speaker 1: them everything he's got. And that's when I start to question, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: if that's everything he's got, is that good enough? Because
Speaker 1: right now I can't see an appreciable difference between him
Speaker 1: at twelve million and Joe Thomas at one million. So
Speaker 1: it you know, how do you how do you rectify
Speaker 1: that according to your salary cap at the end of
Speaker 1: the day. Yeah, I mean, I don't know who sings
Speaker 1: it old eighty song James Ingram, Maybe he's like, I
Speaker 1: did my best, but I guess my best. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know who things it might be Jane Okay, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: good Dave. I mean I've said it all offseason, Like
Speaker 1: I think Jalen Smith, like he needs to be blitzing
Speaker 1: more if you can try to use him as a rusher,
Speaker 1: like I think there is a role there he needs
Speaker 1: to be moving toward the quarterback or and again, this
Speaker 1: is not really something that you can fix right now,
Speaker 1: at least I don't think so is Like you need bigger,
Speaker 1: better defensive tackles that can keep blockers off of him,
Speaker 1: because shedding blocks, in my opinion, is his biggest problem.
Speaker 1: Like he cannot get a blocker off of him, and
Speaker 1: you wind up seeing him lunging at guys while a
Speaker 1: guard pushes him out of the way. If you can
Speaker 1: free him up to where all he's got to worry
Speaker 1: about is hitting the guy, I think he'd probably would
Speaker 1: be pretty good, but we just haven't seen that in
Speaker 1: a couple of years. And I think some of that
Speaker 1: is the play of the guys in front of him.
Speaker 1: But so, yeah, he's either got to get better at
Speaker 1: shedding blocks or they've got to get linemen who can
Speaker 1: keep those blockers from getting to him one or the other. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a great point, because I do also think that
Speaker 1: maybe some of that is about the fact that they
Speaker 1: expected Layton Vander should be playing the role of the
Speaker 1: middle linebacker and him to be playing week side linebacker,
Speaker 1: which may afread him up to do a little bit
Speaker 1: more of those things. And right now, again going back
Speaker 1: to that, you know, he's giving the best effort he
Speaker 1: possibly can and him saying he's playing courageously, maybe that's
Speaker 1: about the fact that he's making the best of what
Speaker 1: he wasn't really supposed to be doing, right, and they're
Speaker 1: giving him a little bit of difference knowing that that
Speaker 1: wasn't what his role was supposed to be in this defense.
Speaker 1: But he's doing the very best he can do. Under
Speaker 1: those circumstances, and I can get with that. I understand
Speaker 1: that there you get things thrown at you. You gotta adjust,
Speaker 1: you gotta do your best. That's not the best fit
Speaker 1: for him, but that's what he has to do right now.
Speaker 1: So I can kind of understand that. Did you have
Speaker 1: something you're gonna say? Amber? You know, I just see
Speaker 1: it as like the Cowboys are in this position. They
Speaker 1: knew this could happen. That's how I see it. You
Speaker 1: knew this could happen. You knew Sean Lee what he
Speaker 1: struggles with every year. You knew the possibility of him
Speaker 1: not being able to participate in one way or another
Speaker 1: this season. Then you get Shan the out. Okay, that happened.
Speaker 1: You knew Layton Vanderesh was dealing with the whole neck issue.
Speaker 1: That's always a possibility as well. Obviously it happened again
Speaker 1: his out. You knew Jayleen Smith. He I mean, last
Speaker 1: year he had great moments, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: to me, based on what I can remember right now,
Speaker 1: he wasn't necessarily being the best that I think he
Speaker 1: could be. There were things that he was still lacking
Speaker 1: in as far as his game and his ability on
Speaker 1: the field, and yet you decide to go ahead and
Speaker 1: extend his contract. So when you look at the group
Speaker 1: of linebackers, you you come down hoping that you can
Speaker 1: really rely everything on Jayalen Smith given the fact of
Speaker 1: all the other guys and their injuries and things like that.
Speaker 1: So you're in this situation and if that's the best
Speaker 1: that he can do, then you should have known that, Like,
Speaker 1: this should not be a surprise. You should have known better,
Speaker 1: and you should not have been in this situation to
Speaker 1: begin with because you had time to kind of prepare
Speaker 1: and be aware of certain things. Yeah, you brought in
Speaker 1: a few linebackers and it hasn't necessarily worked out the way.
Speaker 1: You can't expect every single position to have a great
Speaker 1: depth and talent. But at the same time, it's just
Speaker 1: like this should not be a full surprise to anyone.
Speaker 1: You know, they should have prepared better and know that
Speaker 1: this could have been a possibility of happening. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: will say this, like, going into the season, I thought
Speaker 1: this was going to be a position of strength for them,
Speaker 1: because if you got Joe Thomas as your fourth best linebacker,
Speaker 1: you feel really good about that. But you make some
Speaker 1: great points there, Amber because all those top three guys
Speaker 1: had question marks coming in, and although I think they
Speaker 1: all can be at their very best, really really good linebackers,
Speaker 1: I don't know that you could necessarily rely on either
Speaker 1: of the three of them. And we've seen that kind
Speaker 1: of play out here. It's very and I know, I
Speaker 1: know we gotta go, but you can take it back
Speaker 1: to the draft. It's it's funny because you know, they
Speaker 1: talk to Kenneth Murray from Oklahoma, they talk to Patrick
Speaker 1: Queen from LSU, who's leading the league in tackles among
Speaker 1: rookies right now, by the way, and the thought process,
Speaker 1: and I'll like, I'll own it, and I still feel
Speaker 1: fine about it. I said, I I understand that that
Speaker 1: is something you need to look at. But between the
Speaker 1: four that you have, you gotta hope that they can
Speaker 1: give you enough, or that the coaches can help them
Speaker 1: give you enough, because this team has too many other
Speaker 1: needs to be drafting a linebacker and lo and behold,
Speaker 1: it's basically a worst case scenario between not getting what
Speaker 1: you need from Jalen and not having Leyton or Seawan.
Speaker 1: And it makes you wonder what the future of that
Speaker 1: position looks like because I don't I don't think you
Speaker 1: can afford to ignore it in twenty twenty one, that's
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah, and it's interesting, Dave. I'll give you
Speaker 1: guys one more gut punch here before we end the show.
Speaker 1: You mentioned those young linebackers that they talked to right now,
Speaker 1: According to Pro Football Focus, which again we always put
Speaker 1: in context, but they are grading everybody on the same
Speaker 1: curve right now, Jalen is ranked somewhere in the fifties
Speaker 1: as far as linebackers in the NFL. Number one Miles
Speaker 1: Jack the guy that the Cowboys opted to go with
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith over Miles Jack. So take that for whatever
Speaker 1: you do, take that for whatever you want it to be.
Speaker 1: But but that's that's the other gut punch right now.
Speaker 1: I think for a lot of Cowboys fans is they're
Speaker 1: looking at that kind of stuff, and they're looking at
Speaker 1: really what they thought Jalen could become and really what
Speaker 1: he was in twenty eighteen, and I think people are
Speaker 1: just feeling like there's there's there's a lot missing from
Speaker 1: where they thought he was going after that twenty eighteen season.
Speaker 1: All Right, we appreciate you guys joining us. We were
Speaker 1: back tomorrow. We're gonna have Bucky Brooks join us. We're
Speaker 1: gonna start looking forward to the New York Giant. That
Speaker 1: should be an interesting week. Cowboys will take on the
Speaker 1: Giants this Sunday. Bucky will tell us about the Giants
Speaker 1: offense versus the Dallas defense. Till then for Nick even
Speaker 1: Dave Helmet, amber Garcia. I am Derek and this has
Speaker 1: been the Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
Speaker 1: This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.