Speaker 1: The following. He's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Are you ready for
Speaker 1: 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: Wall with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, A bar Garcia, and
Speaker 1: Derek Eagleton. It is Thursday, December tenth, twenty twenty, Season sixteen,
Speaker 1: episode number seventy seven. Welcome to the latest edition of
Speaker 1: The Break pretended by Geico, Live from the s WBC
Speaker 1: Mortgage Studios at the Star. When I say live from
Speaker 1: the s WBC Mortgage studio at the Star, I mean me,
Speaker 1: Nick and Amber are live from the s WBC Mortgage
Speaker 1: studios at the Star. It is good to have everybody
Speaker 1: back in. Dave's not here, but that's beside the point.
Speaker 1: We won't worry about that right now is Dave, and
Speaker 1: I think we just lost him on web backs on
Speaker 1: top of that, but I do think that that we do.
Speaker 1: I do know that we got the three of us
Speaker 1: here together, and it feels good to be all back in.
Speaker 1: I'm worrying my mask, but that's okay. I talk too
Speaker 1: loud anyway, Hey, baby steps here, baby steps, you gotta
Speaker 1: get comfortable with the idea. You're in the same room
Speaker 1: with me and Nick. That's a problem, but you know, well,
Speaker 1: we'll work that out and we'll see how that goes
Speaker 1: over time, and maybe in another two or three months,
Speaker 1: maybe after we all get vaccines, we can take the
Speaker 1: masks off. Who knows, how's everybody doing today? What I'm
Speaker 1: rolling up my sleeve. Let's go. I won't be ready
Speaker 1: for it. I'll give me first in line, obviously, but whenever,
Speaker 1: whenever it is my turn, I'm whenever it's available. And
Speaker 1: I'm a person that absolutely hates needles and not hate needles. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like I mean like literally, when I know I have
Speaker 1: to get a shot or give blood for like days before,
Speaker 1: I have a knot in my stomach, Like that's how
Speaker 1: much I hate needles. But when this thing's available to me,
Speaker 1: I'm like, just like you, come on, what you got,
Speaker 1: give it to me. I'm ready. Let's go. All right,
Speaker 1: let's jump in. We got a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1: Today's a light stuffering in here. I don't know what
Speaker 1: makes amber. Amber brings the sunshine here. And by the way,
Speaker 1: we didn't get a chance to say happy birthday to Amber.
Speaker 1: She had a birthday earlier this week. I think that
Speaker 1: was the day that we weren't on the air, was
Speaker 1: the game day, But happy birthday here. Yeah, yeah, go Cowboys. Yea,
Speaker 1: it was a great birthday. Yeah. Okay, So we're gonna
Speaker 1: jump in real quick before we have Bucky joined us
Speaker 1: with It's our normal hit with Bucky Brooks today where
Speaker 1: we'll talk a little bit about the Cincinnati offense. Before
Speaker 1: we do that, though, I do want to get some
Speaker 1: updates on some injuries. We got Anthony Brown, we got
Speaker 1: Donovan Wilson, who all missed the game last week, and
Speaker 1: also Tyler Battish who has who has not played for
Speaker 1: several weeks, but Mike McCarthy did have a little update
Speaker 1: on him yesterday. Let's let's see what's going on with
Speaker 1: Anthony Brown first, Nick, what do we know about Anthony
Speaker 1: Brown at this point? Well, I mean, he's got obviously
Speaker 1: dealing with the ribs injury, and that's an injury that
Speaker 1: kept him out I guess three games later this season,
Speaker 1: so that's kind of I wouldn't know if it's a
Speaker 1: lingering problem, but you know, anytime you had that twice
Speaker 1: in one year. I'm sure that's probably related. So I
Speaker 1: think he's going to be limited this week. I don't
Speaker 1: I don't remember. I honestly don't remember what McCarthy said
Speaker 1: about him yesterday. So I would imagine, though, at this
Speaker 1: point in this season though, they're gonna air on the
Speaker 1: side of caution for everything, um and I can go
Speaker 1: look at it. Maybe maybe they've heard that. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what if Anthony Brown's status, but
Speaker 1: I would imagine he's going to just work his way
Speaker 1: back in. I would be surprised if he plays, really, okay,
Speaker 1: I would be yeah, after being out and then after
Speaker 1: mid yeh, especially on such a yeah the hey day
Speaker 1: you there, yeah, Hey, can y'all hear me? Yeah we can? Yeah,
Speaker 1: y'all hear me? Yeah, okay, okay, I'm sorry, yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean on such a short week. I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: if they didn't practice yesterday, it was an estimation, but
Speaker 1: ay B might be able to go against the Ravens,
Speaker 1: and he obviously didn't working on right now. That would
Speaker 1: kind of surprise me play this late in the season.
Speaker 1: So we'll see. We'll see what it looks like when
Speaker 1: they get on the field. But I'm not super optimistic,
Speaker 1: and Tyler, be honest is technically he's still on IR.
Speaker 1: I believe, like the thing Martin said about him is
Speaker 1: that he's got a good shot to start practicing, but
Speaker 1: not gonna play on Sunday. What about Donor Wilson, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll see on him question. I think the fact that
Speaker 1: they didn't put him on IR last week, which means
Speaker 1: that could have been one game. This is two games,
Speaker 1: so that gives me a that gives me thought that
Speaker 1: maybe he can play this week. Again, it was all
Speaker 1: an estimation of what they said, but I would imagine
Speaker 1: that the Donovan Wilson would have a shot to play
Speaker 1: in this game. And he's one of those young guys
Speaker 1: that you know, I think that he needs to keep
Speaker 1: playing as much as you can. I'm not saying Russian
Speaker 1: back from injury, but he would be a guy that
Speaker 1: you'd like to see more of. And obviously this week
Speaker 1: you're probably not. I don't know, maybe you are a
Speaker 1: little bit concerned with the team that they're facing. It's
Speaker 1: probably not a team that you would think has a
Speaker 1: juggernaut of an offense, but they do have some receiving
Speaker 1: threats that you probably want to be a little bit
Speaker 1: cautious of. And with that, we will bring in our guy,
Speaker 1: Bucky Brooks of NFL Network presented by Texico with tech Ron. Bucky,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. We're gonna okay, well tell you what.
Speaker 1: Let's I think they're getting him queued up, and we'll
Speaker 1: jump right into that read. I know I was just
Speaker 1: gonna go straight to him, but I should have told
Speaker 1: our producer that. But we'll get to that in just
Speaker 1: a second. As I was mentioning, and I'll actually ask
Speaker 1: you this question, Nick. You look at this game, and
Speaker 1: you look at the fact that they got some pretty
Speaker 1: good receivers. Tyler Boyd last week has a seventy two
Speaker 1: yard touchdown and you got t Higgins like, they got
Speaker 1: guys at the receiver position, their quarterbacks out. So they
Speaker 1: may not have the trigger man that you would want,
Speaker 1: but they still could be dangerous against a defense that
Speaker 1: is by all accounts, just not hitting on all cylinders
Speaker 1: when it comes up giving up big place. Yeah, that's fair,
Speaker 1: not good. Not on all cylinders. Yeah, I mean, it
Speaker 1: doesn't take much to to make big plays on this team.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've seen it all year. Long. I mean
Speaker 1: guys quarterbacks and receivers and running backs that you don't
Speaker 1: think are that good turning into really good, good, you know,
Speaker 1: good performances against the Cowboys. That's just the sign of
Speaker 1: a bad defense. And that's kind of where they are. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: they don't have Burrow. I don't think they have Mixing. Yeah, non't.
Speaker 1: He's on ir There'll be someone's time to shine, you know,
Speaker 1: on somebody one of the one other side of the ball.
Speaker 1: You know, maybe the Cowboys can make some plays. I
Speaker 1: may maybe this is their get right game. But I'm
Speaker 1: at the point where, again I don't care who the
Speaker 1: opponent is because we see the same results regardless, basically.
Speaker 1: But I'm at the point where, Okay, from now on,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at every game to evaluate every single player individually,
Speaker 1: looking into next year. And I know they're still trying
Speaker 1: to compete in trying to hopefully make it to the
Speaker 1: playoffs and all, but if we're being realistic here, that's
Speaker 1: probably very unlikely. So if they're not going to sit
Speaker 1: out some of the veteran guys, some of the starters,
Speaker 1: and let some of the younger guys play, then this
Speaker 1: is the time to really start figuring out who you're
Speaker 1: gonna keep next year. So now we're joined by Bucky
Speaker 1: Brooks of NFL Network presented by Texico with techron Bucky,
Speaker 1: let's start where we normally start. This is not a
Speaker 1: team that the Cowboys play very often. So so happy,
Speaker 1: Why are you so happy right now? Where are you
Speaker 1: smiling so much? Well, Okay, here's what we're gonna do. Bucky,
Speaker 1: tell us what the greatest weakness and the greatest strength
Speaker 1: of the Cincinnati offense. Knowing that those two guys that
Speaker 1: we talked about, Burrow and Mixing are both out at
Speaker 1: this point, Yeah, I mean Burrow Mixing ouse a the
Speaker 1: dynamic a little bit, but it's still a very, very
Speaker 1: talented group of playmakers. On the outside. Tyler Boyd is
Speaker 1: a monster. He's a guy that can control and he
Speaker 1: has really stepped into that number one wide receiver role
Speaker 1: in spite of AJ Green's presence. T Higgins has been
Speaker 1: a revelation for them. Taking in the second round. He
Speaker 1: has played lights out for them, and AJ Green is
Speaker 1: still on the perimeter, but he's nowhere near the player
Speaker 1: that he once was. But they have some dangerous weapons
Speaker 1: and now their quarterback Brandon Allen has done a decent
Speaker 1: job of getting the ball out. But it's a different
Speaker 1: team because if Joe Burrow and the Bengals come, if
Speaker 1: it's Joe Burrn the Bengals, it's a different expectation. But
Speaker 1: this team is still dangerous because we've seen other teams
Speaker 1: that I've set up here and said, hey, they're not
Speaker 1: danger don't have any playmakers, and then lord behold the
Speaker 1: Washington football team in the New York Giants find ways
Speaker 1: to move the ball. And so I think this is
Speaker 1: a game where the Cowboys should try and keep it
Speaker 1: simple on defense and just allow their talent to overwhelm
Speaker 1: the Bengals. I know that every game, I mean, both
Speaker 1: teams go out to compete and try to win a
Speaker 1: football game, regardless of the scenarios. But looking at what's
Speaker 1: currently happening and where the Bengals are currently standing and
Speaker 1: the Cowboys where they're at right now, I mean, what
Speaker 1: are your expectations as far as what to expect from
Speaker 1: both teams in a game like this. Well, in the
Speaker 1: game like this, you know, front officers may be interested
Speaker 1: in seeing what you have, but I think both coaching
Speaker 1: staffs want to win. Zach Taylor has not won a
Speaker 1: lot of games in Cincinnati. He doesn't want to continue
Speaker 1: to take these l and stack them up on his resume.
Speaker 1: He may be fighting for his coach in life, so
Speaker 1: he's gonna have his team ready to play. I think
Speaker 1: in Dallas, with coach McCarthy and this group, like you
Speaker 1: have to figure out a way to just get this
Speaker 1: group going offensively, defensively, special teams have been a lot
Speaker 1: of errors, and so you just want to see if
Speaker 1: you can accomplish having a clean football game. And so
Speaker 1: there's still a lot to play for. I know with
Speaker 1: Dallas things look bleak in terms of the playoff picture,
Speaker 1: but you just never know. I think you have to
Speaker 1: ain't a w on the board and just kind of
Speaker 1: see how it plays out. But this has to be
Speaker 1: a game where they played with a level of urgency.
Speaker 1: Then maybe we haven't seen to this point, and I
Speaker 1: wonder if we will ever see from this group. Hey, Bucky, you,
Speaker 1: I mean you made If there's something to feel good
Speaker 1: about the Babel's offense, it's probably their receiver. You know,
Speaker 1: Higgins seems like a good pick obviously, Boyd, but like
Speaker 1: Brandon Allen, I mean, it seems like he's going to
Speaker 1: be the guy. Is he capable of getting them the ball?
Speaker 1: Has he been doing that during his opportunities? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean they've been a feisty and competitive team. Like it
Speaker 1: hasn't been like they've been absolutely embarrassed on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: I give Zach Taylor credit for that. He's gotten the
Speaker 1: group to play are. They kind of buy into his
Speaker 1: methods and the playmakers on the outside have taken advantage
Speaker 1: of it. Now. The difference was when Joe Burrow was
Speaker 1: in there. It was more empty formation, more dink and
Speaker 1: dunk at the ball into the pans of the playmakers
Speaker 1: and let them work. Brandon Allen certainly isn't on Burrows level,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't have the biggest armor, so he does
Speaker 1: rely him to short pass the game to allow te
Speaker 1: Higgins and Tyler Board and some of the other playmakers
Speaker 1: to have their way on the perimeter. Dave, you were
Speaker 1: supposed to ask about the LSU quarterback and when he
Speaker 1: was out and then Arkansas quarterbacks in there. I get
Speaker 1: to ask the question because really the question I was
Speaker 1: gonna asks, how was this guy there? I mean, I
Speaker 1: see in the league. I didn't like him when he
Speaker 1: was Arkansas and starting, Like, I can't believe this guy's starting.
Speaker 1: You know, nobody from Arkansas has ever started a game
Speaker 1: against the Cowboys in like the last forty years, well
Speaker 1: a quarterback, and so I just don't understand how bread.
Speaker 1: So I was gonna, I mean, I was gonna ask
Speaker 1: about him, like can he hurt this team at all?
Speaker 1: But you kind of already asked all that. But what
Speaker 1: about the running back about I mean, go ahead, I
Speaker 1: mean Jeff Jef Vonning Bernard has a change of pace back.
Speaker 1: He's not ideally suited to be in the lead role,
Speaker 1: but he is dangerous, and he's dangerous in the way
Speaker 1: that they've utilized him coming out of the backfield. When
Speaker 1: we think about the linebackers Jalen Smith and Lady Van
Speaker 1: Desh and even Sean Lee, you don't necessarily want to
Speaker 1: put those guys in one on one matchups in space.
Speaker 1: We've seen how that has turned out, and so I
Speaker 1: would say that Giovanni is as dangerous as some of
Speaker 1: the guys that we've seen have success. DeVante Freeman had
Speaker 1: a little level of success with the Giants. We saw
Speaker 1: Antonio Gibson and those guys from the Washington football team
Speaker 1: have success and so I think you certainly have to
Speaker 1: put your eyes on them and make sure that you
Speaker 1: know where it is. But man, I think anytime you
Speaker 1: get gutted for two hundred and ninety four yards on
Speaker 1: the ground, any and everybody believes that they have a
Speaker 1: hundred yard day on the horizon. And so this is
Speaker 1: gonna be a tough team because when the Cincinnati Bengals
Speaker 1: look at the film and they looked at the way
Speaker 1: they've been able to run the ball, teams have been
Speaker 1: able to run the ball, they feel like, just like Cowboys, Hey,
Speaker 1: this is a get right game. The Bengals are chalking
Speaker 1: this up as hey, this is a get right game
Speaker 1: for offense. We have an opportunity to do some stuff.
Speaker 1: So this is going to be a much tougher game
Speaker 1: than we may think about it as it looks on
Speaker 1: the surface. There have been a lot of conversations Bucky
Speaker 1: over the last day or so after following the game
Speaker 1: against the Ravens where people who have been asking the question,
Speaker 1: is the problem with the Dallas defense a player problem?
Speaker 1: Is it a scheme problem? Is it a coaching problem?
Speaker 1: We saw a lot of things in that game, and
Speaker 1: I'll give you one We were talking yesterday about on
Speaker 1: the big thirty seven yard touchdown run, how basically Dallas
Speaker 1: goes zero coverage. They've got a safety down in the
Speaker 1: box playing linebacker or at the linebacker spot there in
Speaker 1: the middle, and they've got all guys manned up on
Speaker 1: the outside, which just screams. So I'm sure, Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: I'm running the ball because the secondary is not going
Speaker 1: to be much of a help here. Those kinds of
Speaker 1: schematic things certainly point out that there's issues maybe with scheme,
Speaker 1: but back McCarthy says, at this point, we're too far
Speaker 1: down the road. I think this is a scheme problem.
Speaker 1: Where do you see it? Is this a scheme? Is
Speaker 1: a problem? Is this a player problem or just a
Speaker 1: coaching problem? It's all of the above, is everything, And
Speaker 1: I feel bad because I feel like I got duped.
Speaker 1: I feel like when I looked at some of the
Speaker 1: players that were brought in over the summer and I
Speaker 1: was like, man, this guy's gonna be a good player.
Speaker 1: I can see him fitting Understanding Mike Nolan, having talked
Speaker 1: to him and knowing what he wanted to play, I
Speaker 1: thought that he would have a scheme that would really
Speaker 1: fit the vision of how they wanted to play, and
Speaker 1: then just the coaching. I thought there would be a
Speaker 1: level of development that we saw from the young players,
Speaker 1: even though in the pandemic or whatever, that this team
Speaker 1: would gradually get better, and I was wrong, wrong, wrong,
Speaker 1: on all aspects. I think what you have is you
Speaker 1: have a coach who look is married to his scheme
Speaker 1: and he wants to play a certain way, but right
Speaker 1: now the talent doesn't fit his vision of the team.
Speaker 1: You have players who don't really trust in the scheme,
Speaker 1: and for whatever reason, in a two year period, I've
Speaker 1: seen guys regretted in the level that I've never really
Speaker 1: seen before. Guys don't understand how to read blockers, Guys
Speaker 1: are overrunning plays, they're not stand in their gaps. To
Speaker 1: effort has been inconsistent, and so it's just been disappointing
Speaker 1: in all areas. And I think it's highlighted and magnified
Speaker 1: by the fact that you look at the division rivals,
Speaker 1: the Washington Football team, New York Jazz Football team that
Speaker 1: we would like to say are lesser talents but are
Speaker 1: playing better and are legitimately trending up where they're beating
Speaker 1: teams that we would say they shouldn't knock off just
Speaker 1: because they play hard and they do exactly what it's
Speaker 1: expected of them. I think this is indictment on every aspect,
Speaker 1: and I think this has to be one where you
Speaker 1: have serious conversations in the offseason about how you go forward. Well,
Speaker 1: we've kind of lost hope. Most of us have lost
Speaker 1: hope on the Cowboys defense, and we know for sure
Speaker 1: that they cannot be trusted. So I want to ask
Speaker 1: you about the Cowboys offense and looking at the matchup
Speaker 1: there against the defense from the Bengals, is this a
Speaker 1: game where whether it's through the running game or the
Speaker 1: passing game, is this a game where we will be
Speaker 1: able to see the Cowboys finally get to the end
Speaker 1: zone more than they've done so far. You know, I
Speaker 1: felt like the game plan that they utilized against the
Speaker 1: Ravens was a pretty solid one. They were only a
Speaker 1: handful of occasions that I thought Kelly Moore kind of
Speaker 1: forgot whose coach. In terms of like the way they
Speaker 1: need to play, I think it has to continue to
Speaker 1: be a mix of Zeke and Tony Poll running the football.
Speaker 1: I think the quick ery than passing game that they
Speaker 1: utilize against the Ravens will be effective against Cincinnati because
Speaker 1: Cincinnati likes to dollar the pressure. You'll see some cover
Speaker 1: zero looks which will give Ceedee Lamb and a Maury
Speaker 1: Cooper and Michael Gallup opportunities to make plays. I think
Speaker 1: the same game game plan could work. I think the
Speaker 1: big thing is when you play the style that Dallas
Speaker 1: has had to play of late, which is a little
Speaker 1: more conservative, a little more complimentary. You got to get
Speaker 1: contributions from the special teams. You got the big return
Speaker 1: from Tony Poll, but man Zerolin has to knock down
Speaker 1: the field goals when they get into scoring range, because
Speaker 1: when you don't, the margin for error is so thin
Speaker 1: that it's deflating when those things aren't converted into points.
Speaker 1: I hate to put the big picture. When you were
Speaker 1: answering their questions, that's what I want to talk about.
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk about this. You mentioned, like
Speaker 1: what you you mentioned having hard conversations in the offseason.
Speaker 1: You know you're on the spot too much. I mean,
Speaker 1: how hard of a fix is it? A new coordinator
Speaker 1: or there? I mean, can one draft class of decent
Speaker 1: defending players and some free agents fix this? I mean,
Speaker 1: how deep of a hole? Do you think this is
Speaker 1: I think this is a huge hole now that we've
Speaker 1: seen it play out. It's a huge hole because you
Speaker 1: have to look at your team in comparison to the
Speaker 1: teams in the division, and you have to build your
Speaker 1: team to beat your division rivals. The Giants and the
Speaker 1: Washington football team. The two things that stand out. They're
Speaker 1: big and physical in the trenches on both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball, and they're playing a physical style that will
Speaker 1: really exploit you if you don't embrace that. So now,
Speaker 1: if you're the Cowboys, you have to make a decision,
Speaker 1: and the first lynchpin is obviously what do you decide
Speaker 1: to do with Dak Prescott? Because you can decide to
Speaker 1: go all in on Dak Prescott, build up the offense,
Speaker 1: meaning draft an offensive tackle, adding another offensive lineman, go
Speaker 1: with this offense and say that we're gonna put thirty
Speaker 1: on everybody coming out the gate, be young on defense,
Speaker 1: and play a simple scheme that allows you to play
Speaker 1: that way. If you stay with Mike Nolan, I don't
Speaker 1: think that is possible because his scheme doesn't necessarily allow
Speaker 1: young players to come in and play fast right away.
Speaker 1: Then it's about what key playmakers can you bring in
Speaker 1: to help this? Because when I look at this team,
Speaker 1: and most teams have to have three defensive playmakers that
Speaker 1: are dominant to play at a high level. Well, who
Speaker 1: are the three defensive playmakers in Dallas? We can say
Speaker 1: to Marcus Larrence, We'll give you that. But who else
Speaker 1: is a guy that we could say as a blue
Speaker 1: player right now? Jayleen Smith hasn't played that way, Lady
Speaker 1: benn and S hasn't played their way. There's no one
Speaker 1: in the second here that we could count on that
Speaker 1: we could say that Traylon Diggs is maybe an emerging player.
Speaker 1: But without playmakers, it's hard to succeed in this league
Speaker 1: unless you play a simple scheme one that was utilized
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago when you have Rod Mary
Speaker 1: Nelline Christph short that allowed young guys to run around
Speaker 1: and play fast. And so if you don't do that,
Speaker 1: it has to be the talent. And I don't know
Speaker 1: if you can acquire enough talent in one offseason to
Speaker 1: get them up to snuff. Bucky, this is kind of
Speaker 1: a this could be a tough question to answer. So,
Speaker 1: but you don't have to name like names or anything,
Speaker 1: but have you has it ever been your experience that
Speaker 1: you get this late in the season, and you said,
Speaker 1: the Bengals, this could be a get right game, the
Speaker 1: Cowboys get right game. There's some fan bases out there
Speaker 1: that don't necessarily want them to get right. Maybe do
Speaker 1: you have you ever experienced even in the organization, the
Speaker 1: scouting department, it's like, this is a big game when
Speaker 1: it turn in terms of the draft pick. Have you
Speaker 1: ever noticed that with like scouts may want one thing,
Speaker 1: coaches may want another. Have you ever experienced that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: then they're the outlier in this. From a Cowboys manage
Speaker 1: point is there's still hope that you can win the division.
Speaker 1: You're two games out, you have four games to go,
Speaker 1: but two of those games against division rivals, and so
Speaker 1: looking at the other schedules, those teams can lose and
Speaker 1: give you a chance to maybe back door into the postseason.
Speaker 1: So from an optimistic standpoint, you're like, well, man, let's
Speaker 1: win out and let's just kind of see where it is.
Speaker 1: But if you don't have that hanging in the balance, absolutely,
Speaker 1: when you're assessing your needs and what you want, you
Speaker 1: don't want to fall out of play. And so for
Speaker 1: the Bengals, I mean Zach Taylor may want to play hard,
Speaker 1: but Duke Tobin, those guys are like, hey, if we
Speaker 1: finished with the top three pick, it gives us options
Speaker 1: because we not only maybe get a chance to get
Speaker 1: a blue chip player, but we can trade it off.
Speaker 1: If your Dallas sitting at four right now, if the
Speaker 1: division goes away, you don't want to fall too far
Speaker 1: out where you miss out on a pick that can
Speaker 1: immediately help the team. So, whether that is an offensive tackle,
Speaker 1: whether that is the quarterback, if you say that that
Speaker 1: you're gonna go that route, you don't want to fall
Speaker 1: back where now you're out of the hot cock and
Speaker 1: you can't get any player. If I'm gonna go through
Speaker 1: all of the struggles of not being good, I want
Speaker 1: something at the end of the rainbow that is going
Speaker 1: to reward us, to give us an opportunity to be
Speaker 1: a dominant team going forward. So yeah, I can see that.
Speaker 1: It's hard to say I'm a root against my squad,
Speaker 1: but I can see where you would want your team
Speaker 1: to lose to give yourself the best opportunity to upgrade
Speaker 1: the team in the future. Yeah. And the interesting thing
Speaker 1: here is if you look at the Cowboys, have they
Speaker 1: don't have a single game left on the schedule. I
Speaker 1: don't think against the team with a winning record now,
Speaker 1: they are bad, and so it's it's hard to assume
Speaker 1: that they're gonna win for in a row, even against
Speaker 1: bad teams. But that's the part that certainly makes people
Speaker 1: who are kind of thinking like should they be playing
Speaker 1: for something, like, yeah, they have to keep playing it
Speaker 1: out because that's what's on their schedule, and those other
Speaker 1: teams that are two games ahead of them right now
Speaker 1: don't have that kind of benefit. They have teams that
Speaker 1: are actually pretty good on their schedule that are left.
Speaker 1: Did you guys, it's funny, Derek, Like, I mean, no
Speaker 1: one expected Washington in New York to win last weekend,
Speaker 1: right because that changes the equation because if they lose,
Speaker 1: then you're sitting here, Hey, we're one game back. All
Speaker 1: we have to do is win. And you probably didn't
Speaker 1: chalk up the Baltimore Ravens game as a win, but
Speaker 1: because they won, it changes the way that you look
Speaker 1: at it. But you do have to say, these are
Speaker 1: four winnable games on the schather because they're all losing teams.
Speaker 1: If we can find our way and find our identity
Speaker 1: and somehow find a way to get hot, which is hard.
Speaker 1: After twelve games, there's still a possibility that you can
Speaker 1: get a T shirt and a hat at the end
Speaker 1: of it, So you still have to sell that hope
Speaker 1: to your team and to your fan base because we've
Speaker 1: seen crazier things happen in this league. It's just hard
Speaker 1: to be optimistic when you visually saw the Baltimore gut
Speaker 1: the Cowboys for two hundred and ninety four yards and
Speaker 1: you're saying that they probably could have run for four
Speaker 1: hundred if Greg Roman didn't decide to pass at all. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: It's just one of those really, really really weird situations
Speaker 1: where you're looking at the NFC East and looking at
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. Hey, Bucky, appreciate you joinius. We'll have you
Speaker 1: back tomorrow. We'll get into the Cincinnati offense versus the
Speaker 1: Cowboys defense. I was Bucky Brooks of NFL Networks, presented
Speaker 1: by Texico with tech Ron. We'll take our first break
Speaker 1: when we come back. We've talked about the Cowboys defense,
Speaker 1: and they're on pace to give up more yards than
Speaker 1: any Cowboys defense in the history of the franchise. If
Speaker 1: you had to rank the levels of the defense from
Speaker 1: best to worse? How would you rank them? And we'll
Speaker 1: be the toughest part to repair. That's what I'm going
Speaker 1: to ask these guys when we come back. This is
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Break, presented by Geico Life from
Speaker 1: the SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star I have some
Speaker 1: questions for you guys. We're gonna talk about the Cowboys
Speaker 1: defense and the Cowboys special teams. We didn't get a
Speaker 1: chance to talk about special teams earlier this week after
Speaker 1: the game, so I do will have a question for
Speaker 1: you guys on that. But let's start first with the defense.
Speaker 1: I teased up before we went to break, the idea
Speaker 1: that obviously we know this defense is bad. But if
Speaker 1: right now you had to rank the different levels of
Speaker 1: the defense defensive line, linebacker, and secondary, how would you
Speaker 1: rank them as relatively speaking best to worst. Let's start
Speaker 1: with you, Dave, best to worst linebackers, defensive line, and secondary.
Speaker 1: So I think this is the classic case. You know,
Speaker 1: Nick and I argue a lot about whether or not
Speaker 1: you great on a curve or not, because just in
Speaker 1: terms of like the talent level and what they've done
Speaker 1: is probably the secondary. You know, going all the way
Speaker 1: back to the offseason, you know, they don't have any
Speaker 1: playmakers back there. Trayvon Diggs is like and maybe Donovan
Speaker 1: Wilson are the only guys that you really even maybe
Speaker 1: want to be on this team moving forward, and they've
Speaker 1: given up a lot of plays. Having said that, it's
Speaker 1: the linebackers. The line blackers are the absolute worst thing
Speaker 1: about this defense because they were supposed to be a strength.
Speaker 1: They were you know, it was a year ago that
Speaker 1: we were talking about them maybe being the best unit
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Layton Jalen Sean Lee as like the
Speaker 1: best third linebacker in the NFL. Jalen's on a seventy
Speaker 1: million dollar contract, Layton's a first round pick. And they're bad.
Speaker 1: They're very bad. The run defense is terrible, and so
Speaker 1: I mean, not only are they not good, but it's
Speaker 1: extra disappointing on top of that because they were supposed
Speaker 1: to be a strength and they're not. So I would
Speaker 1: say linebackers first, definitely easily. So you're saying that the worst, yes, Okay,
Speaker 1: so the way, they're the worst thing about this the
Speaker 1: way I interpret that, you're saying defensive line best, then
Speaker 1: secondary then linebackers. Yeah, I think so that's probably fair,
Speaker 1: all right, And to be clear, that doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: I think the defensive line is good. Yes, you're asking
Speaker 1: me to rank three bad things. It's all really all right, Amber, Yeah,
Speaker 1: where do you go? Okay, I'm I'm on the same
Speaker 1: page as Dave with the whole thing. Like to me,
Speaker 1: I think the linebackers are currently the worst because these
Speaker 1: are starter guys. These are guys that you expect them. Again,
Speaker 1: same as Dave's point, and the differences or not the difference,
Speaker 1: but every time I look at place, I cannot help myself.
Speaker 1: And I'm not trying to bash on Jalen Smith, but
Speaker 1: it's inevitable for you to not notice him. But in
Speaker 1: a bad way, like he is really really bad. He
Speaker 1: is so slow I cannot tell. I mean, some of
Speaker 1: the defensive linemen, you see them running faster than Jayleen
Speaker 1: Smith right now. And the difference with Leyton, Yes he's
Speaker 1: not making plays, but at the same time he still
Speaker 1: has the athleticism, he still has some energy to him
Speaker 1: and the ability to run and run fast. But I
Speaker 1: would say linebackers and then the secondary. I would want
Speaker 1: to say the defensive line because of the talent there,
Speaker 1: but I can't help talk about the secondary and how
Speaker 1: bad they've been a just allowing receivers to make so
Speaker 1: many plays and just you notice all the separation between
Speaker 1: the secondary players and the receivers. It's it's so bad.
Speaker 1: So uh yeah, same page on that as Dave. I
Speaker 1: would say, all right, Nick, I mean it's there, it's
Speaker 1: this is hard. I mean, because they're all they're all
Speaker 1: bad right now, they're all bad. I would probably say
Speaker 1: the worst. Well, had you asked the question, what's the best, best,
Speaker 1: the worst, best, the worst between the three units or
Speaker 1: three levels, just just like the ball goes D line
Speaker 1: linebacker dB, maybe DBS worse. Yeah, definitely the worst. I
Speaker 1: almost said linebacker is the best. But it's they're the same.
Speaker 1: I mean, who's making a play? Yeah, who nobody makes
Speaker 1: a play. You could say that about the linebackers, like,
Speaker 1: because they have guys that you expected to make plays,
Speaker 1: But we expect the defensive lineman to make plays to
Speaker 1: expect do you a lot to have more than three
Speaker 1: and a half sacks? I think he's had three sacks
Speaker 1: in a game before, so he expected him to play
Speaker 1: better than that. And it's just across the board. But
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a secondary at the back because they
Speaker 1: haven't done anything. But you know, I will say this,
Speaker 1: I mean, if you on a bad unit, an overall
Speaker 1: bad unit, and three levels that are all bad. I
Speaker 1: started looking at, well, which ones have at least given
Speaker 1: me some moments, given me some flash plays. Linebackers probably
Speaker 1: the only unit that I'm like, I can't really recall
Speaker 1: a lot of plays that they've made. You look at
Speaker 1: some of the stuff that you've gotten from Donald Wilson,
Speaker 1: you look at some of the plays you've gotten from
Speaker 1: from gigs. Secondaries given you a couple of plays. They've
Speaker 1: been bad, Don't get me wrong, all of them have
Speaker 1: been bad, but they've given you a couple of plays.
Speaker 1: Tank Lawns has given you some plays this season. You've
Speaker 1: had some moments with Gallimore where you're like, oh okay,
Speaker 1: I seal some Trinston Hill the same thing. Linebackers. Once again,
Speaker 1: I don't recall a lot of plays being made by
Speaker 1: the linebackers. So that's where it puts me back to like,
Speaker 1: I think the linebackers have just performed the worst because
Speaker 1: they have they're not making enough plays. The ironic part is, though,
Speaker 1: the one play that they made, one of the plays
Speaker 1: they both the two starting linebackers both didn't make a
Speaker 1: play on that that same play, it was an interception
Speaker 1: by Jayalen against Washington and then it took about four
Speaker 1: days to get down to the end zone. If if
Speaker 1: Layton would have turned around and watched event team, they
Speaker 1: didn't make a play on the play. They even make
Speaker 1: a play on the play. Now, that's what end did
Speaker 1: hit Carson Wentz and force a fumble there and pretty
Speaker 1: nice pay. Yeah that was a nice play. Ye, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was gonna bring that one else. Okay, that's it.
Speaker 1: I can't think of another one that's a good one.
Speaker 1: And how many games where yeah, it's it's been a minute.
Speaker 1: They've had opportunities and Yon's Layton's been back since what Philly, Well,
Speaker 1: I mean Layton missed like five games. He's been back
Speaker 1: for a while though. Okay, so here's I'll change the
Speaker 1: question a little bit based upon what you just said.
Speaker 1: Which is the easiest and which is the hardest to fix.
Speaker 1: Let's start first with you Nick. Yeah, um, he is
Speaker 1: just fix coaching because basically one person you start over,
Speaker 1: you're good, that's the person that's gonna Yeah, those people
Speaker 1: are gonna try to fix it. Of course that's how
Speaker 1: you start. But from a personnel standpoint, UM, I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know if you could really answer that on
Speaker 1: because and I've said this before, whenever they they're drafted
Speaker 1: in the first round, like I've got asked this yesterday,
Speaker 1: which position do they take? And I said, they take
Speaker 1: BA That's what they take. They take the best of all, No, no,
Speaker 1: not best available, the badass. Yeah, and if he's a
Speaker 1: middle linebacker, okay, if he's a deep passworder, if he's
Speaker 1: a deepensive tackle safety, I don't care. Whoever the badass
Speaker 1: is that sitting right there in defense for them, that's
Speaker 1: what they take. And so that is how you fix
Speaker 1: that position. And then I don't know, I don't know
Speaker 1: how to answer that, what's the best? I just think
Speaker 1: you gotta take the best badass defensive player you can take,
Speaker 1: and then then you gotta see where you can go
Speaker 1: from there. I don't know. Do you know which one
Speaker 1: you would think is the hardest to fix? Um? Secondary,
Speaker 1: because those guys don't typically just jump right in and
Speaker 1: start playing immediately. The best you know, I would, I
Speaker 1: would say secondary. I don't know. You got me on
Speaker 1: these two questions. I don't I'm not answering them. Well.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm back in high school again. I
Speaker 1: because I don't know. Well, you know, Derek does send
Speaker 1: the rundown before the show, so he gives you some
Speaker 1: time to look at it and think about it a
Speaker 1: little bit. It's a good point. I ain't got the
Speaker 1: page two, three four, all right? What you got? Easiest
Speaker 1: and hardest to fix? Easiest? Um? I would say the
Speaker 1: easiest would be the D line because of the talent there. Yes,
Speaker 1: they are not at the level we all expected them
Speaker 1: to be, but I still believe that there is talent there.
Speaker 1: And with just I don't know what the easy fixes
Speaker 1: will be, but if you get it right, I do
Speaker 1: believe that they can perform at a way better level
Speaker 1: than what we've seen so far. The hardest would probably
Speaker 1: be the secondary because you don't really what was the
Speaker 1: name that you guys use in English player by committee
Speaker 1: type is that it's like that whole same mentality that
Speaker 1: we have last year or one? Was it with the
Speaker 1: receivers that we were just let's see, let's try out everyone.
Speaker 1: That's how I feel that the secondary is right now.
Speaker 1: There's no one except for Trevon Diggs that you know,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be a guy that's gonna turn into a
Speaker 1: starter and be a great player for the Cowboys, or
Speaker 1: at least that's the expectation. Other than that, looking at
Speaker 1: the guys that are veterans that are going to become
Speaker 1: free agents and all that, you don't really have the
Speaker 1: talent right there. So I think that that's gonna be
Speaker 1: the hardest because you need to find so many different
Speaker 1: bodies to replace what you don't have right now, even
Speaker 1: though you have bodies, but you don't have the talent.
Speaker 1: Dave easiest and hardest to replace or fix. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: let's let's get hardest out of the way, because that's
Speaker 1: the easy one, and it's linebacker because you're you're saddled
Speaker 1: with a huge contract that you can't get away from
Speaker 1: very easily. And I mean you just you have to
Speaker 1: find a way to fix Jalen Smith. I mean, whatever
Speaker 1: that's that's somebody's problem, make him a viable player, or
Speaker 1: find a way away from that contract. For that matter.
Speaker 1: You know, Yon Layton has been he's had ups and downs,
Speaker 1: he's been fine. But again that's I mean, that's a
Speaker 1: sizable I know, you know, rookie contracts aren't huge, but
Speaker 1: that's a sizeable contract for a guy that isn't playing amazing.
Speaker 1: So that's that's the big problem. And then I would
Speaker 1: say easiest after that, people are gonna laugh. It's probably
Speaker 1: the second Dara in my opinion, because you have a
Speaker 1: starting cornerback and Trayvon Diggs that you feel pretty good about.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have a high draft pick that you could
Speaker 1: theoretically use on a defensive back maybe. And I you know,
Speaker 1: people are gonna laugh because like me and Amber have
Speaker 1: been whining for years, they don't draft safety. But this
Speaker 1: team has fielded good defenses without elite secondaries before, like
Speaker 1: they haven't had that, and they've still managed to piece
Speaker 1: together some decent defenses. So you draft a few guys,
Speaker 1: you sign a free agent like you can piece together
Speaker 1: a competent secondary. The thing that worries me is Dallas
Speaker 1: like good at evaluating defensive linemen, drafting them, developing them
Speaker 1: because with the exception of DeMarcus Lawrence, their track record
Speaker 1: says No, in the time that I've been here, you know,
Speaker 1: I got here right after like DeMarcus Ware and Anthony
Speaker 1: Spencer were pretty damn formidable. In the time that I've
Speaker 1: been here, they haven't really had like this terrifying pass rush.
Speaker 1: They've tried to piece it together. You know, they've had
Speaker 1: some minor hits in free agency, like Jeremy Menzi and
Speaker 1: Terrell McClain. Robert Quinn was great for a year, but
Speaker 1: like too was a disaster. Malie Collins never really worked
Speaker 1: out the way that you wanted it to. We'll see
Speaker 1: about Tristan Hill and Neville Gallimore. But like in the
Speaker 1: time that I've been here, this team has not fielded
Speaker 1: a great front and they've put a lot of resources
Speaker 1: into it. So that kind of concerns me that I
Speaker 1: don't want to say they don't know what they're doing,
Speaker 1: but that's a spot where their track run is. It's
Speaker 1: not inspiring when you think about the fact that they've
Speaker 1: got to add some talent to that group. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know if I agree with that all the way.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously Tackle was a disaster. We know that
Speaker 1: they didn't get out of that what they expected. But
Speaker 1: you look back and again the interesting part, you've got
Speaker 1: to look at the history even a little bit longer
Speaker 1: than maybe the time you've been here, Dave, because it's
Speaker 1: been the same people making those calls. You know, McLay
Speaker 1: has been around for a long time. Although Suskowski was
Speaker 1: the head guy for a minute, basically it still came
Speaker 1: back to Jerry and Stephen and and you look at
Speaker 1: just the last I don't know, fifteen twenty years. They've
Speaker 1: had a lot of hits on the defensive line, I think,
Speaker 1: and I think Taco obviously was the the outlier there.
Speaker 1: I don't think Malie Collins was a bust. I don't
Speaker 1: think maybe you got exactly what you wanted out of him,
Speaker 1: but don't think he was a bust. I think he
Speaker 1: was a decent player, decent to average, solid player that
Speaker 1: ended up getting a better dealing free agency. So I
Speaker 1: don't think he was a bust. It was not a
Speaker 1: Taco situation, I would say. So. I don't know if
Speaker 1: they necessarily have shown that they aren't good at that.
Speaker 1: And I'll put it to you like this, there are
Speaker 1: some positions where I feel like there it's more warranted
Speaker 1: to say they're not really good at evaluating those positions.
Speaker 1: Safety is one of them, obviously, But I just I
Speaker 1: don't know if I agree with that on defensive line,
Speaker 1: see okay, but do they are not good at evaluating
Speaker 1: safeties or do they just not try? Like they don't
Speaker 1: draft him and they certainly don't sign him in free agency.
Speaker 1: Whereas on the defense, like, like I'm thinking about it
Speaker 1: in even more detail now that we're talking about it
Speaker 1: the real Like, let's think about the resources that they've
Speaker 1: put in, like going all the way back, even free agency.
Speaker 1: Henry Melton was supposed to be Rod Marinelli's three technique
Speaker 1: that replaced Jason Hatcher didn't really work out? What about
Speaker 1: Hardy another god off? What about Quinn? Like, if you're
Speaker 1: giving me those things like Hyder was a good player
Speaker 1: for them, don't don't say he wasn't Hyder was a
Speaker 1: good player. You throw Hider out like I mean Hyder
Speaker 1: as a fact that that's your first name as a
Speaker 1: guy that was brought in, the fact that that's your
Speaker 1: first name kind of proves my point. A guy that
Speaker 1: was brought in for the role that he was brought
Speaker 1: in for. I think he did an adequate job for
Speaker 1: what they were bringing him into do like again, when
Speaker 1: you're bringing in those kind of guys, those are guys
Speaker 1: that make you not have to reach in the draft.
Speaker 1: They're guys that can be steady, guys that can give
Speaker 1: you good reps. And I think Kerry Hyder did that.
Speaker 1: Did Randy Gregory. We're all rooting for him. But did
Speaker 1: he live up to the billing of what they hoped
Speaker 1: he could be? Again, maybe he wasn't a bust. But
Speaker 1: did MALIEK. Collins live up to what they were hoping
Speaker 1: he could be? Probably not. If you don't get a
Speaker 1: second contract with your team as a top seventy pick,
Speaker 1: I think that's disappointing. I just the track records not
Speaker 1: great in my opinion. We can disagree about it, but sorry, Yeah, ever,
Speaker 1: go ahead and have a question for you. You're a
Speaker 1: draft guy, you know, you do the Draft show and
Speaker 1: all that, and you look at all these talents and
Speaker 1: I feel like with a lot of these defensive linemen,
Speaker 1: we always talk about them pretty good, and the way
Speaker 1: I see it is just like maybe they're not being
Speaker 1: coached well. So when you look at these names that
Speaker 1: you have listed, how do you remember seeing them as
Speaker 1: before getting into a game. Here with the Cowboys. Man,
Speaker 1: that's a that's a fantastic question, and it honestly gets
Speaker 1: hard to do the longer you do it, because I mean, shoot,
Speaker 1: I guess my first my first draft would have been
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen. So I mean the guys that got drafted
Speaker 1: back then. I mean, they've been in the league for
Speaker 1: seven years at this point and for the most part,
Speaker 1: you know, like I don't, I don't fault them for
Speaker 1: any of those picks that they made. Um So, And
Speaker 1: for that matter, I mean Rod Marinelli was the guy
Speaker 1: coaching them for most of that time, and I don't
Speaker 1: know say what you will about Rod, but I trust
Speaker 1: his ability to coach defensive lineman. So I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't know that I specifically put it on coaching maybe
Speaker 1: um And like again like I don't, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think the world of Will McClay and his guys, Like,
Speaker 1: I think for the most part, they've done a very,
Speaker 1: very very good job. But with the exception of DeMarcus Lawrence, Like,
Speaker 1: there's just not a lot that you feel amazing about
Speaker 1: in terms of like developing this pass for rush. I mean,
Speaker 1: am I crazy for thinking that? No? I mean I
Speaker 1: think the results are the results, And quite frankly, you
Speaker 1: could say that about pretty much every part of this
Speaker 1: defense right now, Like this talent is not performing to
Speaker 1: the level that it's supposed to perform. So from that standpoint,
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right. I just don't know that I see
Speaker 1: this glaring difference between defensive line picks and how they've
Speaker 1: performed versus linebackers who we've been talking about, or secondary
Speaker 1: guys we've been talking about, or you know, you can
Speaker 1: go down the list on the different positions, like there's
Speaker 1: a lot of positions on this team just aren't performing
Speaker 1: to the pedigree of what you thought they should have
Speaker 1: when they've selected them. So again, and you know as
Speaker 1: well as anybody else, Dave, the draft is a it
Speaker 1: is a you know, you're rolling the dice, like you
Speaker 1: hit on forty percent of your draft and you feel
Speaker 1: great about it, right if you can get that first
Speaker 1: pick right, which you better get the first pick right.
Speaker 1: Everything else you're really betty, and you're hoping the percentages
Speaker 1: go down the farther you get down the draft. So
Speaker 1: it's a crapshoot and you just kind of got to
Speaker 1: see where you go from there, and you hope that
Speaker 1: you can get some hits, and you specially hope you
Speaker 1: can get some hits with guys as you get farther
Speaker 1: down the draft that are just kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: a Dak Prescott that you get in the fourth round
Speaker 1: to actually turn into a really really great player. Right yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, we're gonna take our final break. When we
Speaker 1: come back. I do need to get the question in
Speaker 1: on special teams. We're gonna gonna have a couple of
Speaker 1: minutes to do that, so we gotta get a quick break.
Speaker 1: We'll come back lass our line. We'll let you guys go.
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Speaker 1: Welcome Back to the Break, presented by Geico Real Quick
Speaker 1: here before we finished the show, I didn't need to
Speaker 1: talk about Greg zerline this last game. He missed three
Speaker 1: of four field goals. He missed a forty yard or
Speaker 1: fifty two yard or fifty three yarder. Fifty two and
Speaker 1: fifty three didn't worry me as much as the forty
Speaker 1: yarder did. My question for you, guys is how concerned
Speaker 1: are you about the kicker at this point? And I'm
Speaker 1: more speaking of it long term. Obviously this season probably
Speaker 1: doesn't matter a ton, but going forward, has he shown
Speaker 1: you enough to where you think you may have a
Speaker 1: kicker or do you think you got to go back
Speaker 1: to the well and find a kicker. Let's start first
Speaker 1: with you, Nick. Um, I don't. I don't necessarily think
Speaker 1: I've got to go find one. I'm not concerned really
Speaker 1: at all about what he did. I'm looking trying to
Speaker 1: find his stats here for this year. I mean, I
Speaker 1: just he missed. He missed a forty yarder. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's about. He missed the forty yard kick. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, I was down there. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's I had a feeling it was gonna be a
Speaker 1: problem just with the wind, and it's one of the
Speaker 1: toughest places to kick. And you can look at Justin Tucker.
Speaker 1: He is exceptional. He is definitely an exceptional kicker. He's
Speaker 1: better on the road than he is at home. And
Speaker 1: he really yeah, he missed a kick that day as well. Um,
Speaker 1: the two fifty yarders. I mean, I'd like for him
Speaker 1: to make one, but I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: judge him by that, you know, I don't. I don't like.
Speaker 1: I don't think you can judge kickers based on what
Speaker 1: they do. Strictly on what I do is I judge
Speaker 1: the coaching staff and the play caller for for what
Speaker 1: they did. If we had more time. I mean, I
Speaker 1: I was just perplexed with some of the things that
Speaker 1: they did and preparing for those field goals. But now
Speaker 1: I don't have a problem with the zerline at this point. Amber,
Speaker 1: I'll make it quick. No, I don't either. I think
Speaker 1: he just had a bad game that day. But just
Speaker 1: in general, I still want the Cowboys to bring in
Speaker 1: several guys and see a little competition like they never
Speaker 1: bringing competition. And we've talked about the kicker position for
Speaker 1: a few years now, and for some reason they just
Speaker 1: simply don't like doing that in the recent years. I
Speaker 1: don't know why, But regardless of the situation, every offseason,
Speaker 1: I do want to see several kickers out here at
Speaker 1: training camp kicking it and just going at it. Dave,
Speaker 1: it's December, what tenth and this is the first time
Speaker 1: we've ever had to talk about Greg zirline. I think
Speaker 1: that pretty much sums it up cold Wendy Night. Two
Speaker 1: of the misses are for long range. Greg didn't blame
Speaker 1: it on the coach, but they screwed him by taking
Speaker 1: a delay of game penalty on the forty yard or
Speaker 1: and Justin Tucker missed from the same distance in the
Speaker 1: same stadium, so he was hitting I think he was
Speaker 1: hitting ninety percent before Tuesday night, and I mean it
Speaker 1: wasn't a good night. That's not great. If it happens again,
Speaker 1: that's problematic. But I'm not worried about it at all.
Speaker 1: Right now, I did look at his fifty yards that
Speaker 1: he's one of six. No, he's not great for it.
Speaker 1: But by the way, I mean, but looking at his career,
Speaker 1: he's last few years five and seven, four six, six
Speaker 1: of seven to a four three of nine, five of seven,
Speaker 1: I mean he's isn't that Also I'm sorry Nick to
Speaker 1: cut you off, but like that's the conversation we had
Speaker 1: for years is like, awesome, Brett Maher, I'm so happy
Speaker 1: you can make it from fifty five. Can I get
Speaker 1: a guy that can reliably make it from inside of fifty?
Speaker 1: And by the way, Greg's or line has been doing that.
Speaker 1: We were having this exact same conversation in training camp,
Speaker 1: because if you remember back in training camp, he was
Speaker 1: hit hitting everything below fifty and got past fifty and
Speaker 1: it was just like, you know, he's just all all
Speaker 1: over the place. Maybe he gets it, maybe he doesn't.
Speaker 1: But that was where it was like is he's not
Speaker 1: great to beyond fifty, but less than fifty he's gonna
Speaker 1: be money. And I personally, I am a believer that
Speaker 1: if I can rely on my kicker under fifty yards
Speaker 1: and I get whatever I get beyond that, to me,
Speaker 1: I'll take that in today's inn. And I'm adding extra
Speaker 1: points because they're all about the same type of kick.
Speaker 1: He's got forty five kicks this year inside of forty yards.
Speaker 1: Forty five kicks, he's forty one of forty five. Two
Speaker 1: of those are been blocked. I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: low kicks or just bad blocking, but so really, missus,
Speaker 1: it's you know, forty one of forty three. One extra
Speaker 1: point and then that miss. That's not bad. I'm okay
Speaker 1: with that. So we just get the Cowboys to convert
Speaker 1: on third down Town and I don't know, maybe make
Speaker 1: it to the end zone, get in the red zone
Speaker 1: for once in a while. And quite frankly, if you're
Speaker 1: kicking a fifty plus yard field goal, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: in those kind of instances, I think you're at the
Speaker 1: part of the field where you should be able to.
Speaker 1: Now their defense is bad, so that that changes the
Speaker 1: complexion of the conversation. But you should be in the
Speaker 1: part of the field where you feel good about going
Speaker 1: word on fourth down in those instances and converting a
Speaker 1: good percentage of those. So I just think all all
Speaker 1: all things considered, I think he's been fine. I don't
Speaker 1: I don't get worried too much about this last game.
Speaker 1: All Right, we appreciate you, guys, John Us. We'll be
Speaker 1: back on tomorrow. We'll talk about the Cincinnati defense versus
Speaker 1: the Cowboys offense. Tilling for Nick Even, Dave Helm and
Speaker 1: Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Eagleton. This has been The Break
Speaker 1: live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been
Speaker 1: a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys Football Club.