Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This He's Talking Cowboys,
Speaker 1: screening live from the Dallas Cowboys World Head Hours at
Speaker 1: the Star in Friscott. Now your hosts Mickey Spagnola, Rob Phillips,
Speaker 1: Everson Walls, and Bill Jones. And here we are on
Speaker 1: the morning after the Cowboys beat the Redskins on Sunday,
Speaker 1: and yet the Giants fall to the Eagles. And so
Speaker 1: now the new year comes a couple of days early
Speaker 1: for your Dallas Cowboys as we look ahead to twenty
Speaker 1: twenty and look back at what happened in an eight
Speaker 1: and eight season. This is Talking Cowboys, and we've got
Speaker 1: much to get to here in the SWBC Mortgage Studios
Speaker 1: got the full squads. Start on time, guys, the SEP
Speaker 1: time is killing me. What's going on? Man? I thought
Speaker 1: I was joining a profession sheeted out of five minute
Speaker 1: You ate Nate when you don't so slow starts it
Speaker 1: was the story was one story of the season. Were
Speaker 1: slow Start here on Talking Cowboys also, and so here
Speaker 1: we are and uh, let's I guess go around the
Speaker 1: table and just a quick take on where we are
Speaker 1: right now, Mickey, kind of where you think you would
Speaker 1: be when you have to rely on somebody else to
Speaker 1: do your dirty one. You had your opportunity against the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles the week before. You didn't cash in. And
Speaker 1: as I say over and over again, the NFL helps
Speaker 1: those who helped themselves, and the Cowboys didn't help themselves enough.
Speaker 1: The Giants teased them, uh, tease them almost seventeen goes
Speaker 1: sixteen nine yards two five left in the third and
Speaker 1: it's a tie game. Seventeen seventeen. You're sitting there going, okay,
Speaker 1: maybe chips, maybe everyone will like Jerry Jones at the game.
Speaker 1: Every one's had them. Yeah, split screen. You had one
Speaker 1: TV on the we had one TV in the press
Speaker 1: box down there on that game. And then Elliot hit
Speaker 1: the fifty yarder and then the FuMB boy was about
Speaker 1: the same time the Cowboys make a field goal to
Speaker 1: as it was very weird. Every time one very weird,
Speaker 1: the other one scored all to the realities or something. Yes,
Speaker 1: that was very good, but it did not turn out
Speaker 1: the wind. No super Bowl bill just you're gonna be there,
Speaker 1: all right. Whatever. If you would have won the hat Friday,
Speaker 1: then I think we were doing in better shapes. That's right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: wore wore. We don't get into the head was not
Speaker 1: getting I'm sorry, Billy, that way exactly how I thought
Speaker 1: it was. Although you know, although if there is any
Speaker 1: saving grace, at least they did what they needed to
Speaker 1: do and beat the Redskins forty seven sixteen. And I
Speaker 1: don't know if I've ever seen a victory over the
Speaker 1: Redskins so hollow in my life, right, because usually if
Speaker 1: you just beat the Redskins, even if they're bad, it's
Speaker 1: a great deal, right, And you beat them forty seven sixteen,
Speaker 1: And as Dak Prescott said after the game, he said,
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever been as disappointed after a win. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a quiet locker room. Not many guys talked.
Speaker 1: And I mean they had their chances, that they had
Speaker 1: their chance a week ago and they didn't capitalize in Philly.
Speaker 1: And when you look back at this season, I think
Speaker 1: we're gonna look back at a lot of things, but
Speaker 1: the close games in particular, they were one in six
Speaker 1: and games decided by one score, and last year I
Speaker 1: think they were something like nine and three, and you know,
Speaker 1: didn't make the plays in the fourth quarter. We mentioned
Speaker 1: the slow starts. Those were a thing all year long.
Speaker 1: And you know, when you go back and review this season,
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna look at some things that didn't
Speaker 1: go right that cost them in the playoffs last year.
Speaker 1: Are same things the games they lost. They didn't convert
Speaker 1: in the red zone, they didn't stop the run at times,
Speaker 1: and they didn't take the ball away, and those are
Speaker 1: Jason Garrett mentioned on the on the Fan this morning,
Speaker 1: they didn't make enough winning type plays consistently this season,
Speaker 1: and that's why they're eight and eight, and that's why
Speaker 1: they're home for the playoffs. Yeah, when you started thinking
Speaker 1: about it, you've got what the turnovers in the game,
Speaker 1: you know, we made the third downs. It was going
Speaker 1: back to what we were accustomed to. And as you
Speaker 1: looked at the game and as it was over, I'm
Speaker 1: sure if I was in that locker room and I
Speaker 1: was one of those players, I would have been contemplating
Speaker 1: so many things at that point, all the things that
Speaker 1: you pointed out, you know, our failties and and everything
Speaker 1: that we messed up, our inability to you know, keep
Speaker 1: things in our own hands, you know, to keep our
Speaker 1: fate in our own hands. I think that really is
Speaker 1: the most disappointing part of it. Um. We can talk
Speaker 1: about the different individual stats and failures, but when it
Speaker 1: all comes down to it, they were not a good team.
Speaker 1: We always talk about the superstars, We always talk about
Speaker 1: the salaries that we gave out. And I've said it
Speaker 1: over and over again. You don't need a team full
Speaker 1: of superstars to beat a team full of superstars. You
Speaker 1: just need a good team. And who who implifies that
Speaker 1: right now to me? The Philadelphia Eagles. Yea, everything that
Speaker 1: they got, they deserved everything that they have right now.
Speaker 1: And we deserve everything that we have right now because
Speaker 1: those guys did what we did last year with nothing,
Speaker 1: with less at least last year, Dak and the guys
Speaker 1: had Zeke and you had Cooper, had the offensive line.
Speaker 1: They were man. I think the guy said yesterday some
Speaker 1: of the guys had just met in the huddle. Let
Speaker 1: me think about, Hey, how you doing it right? I
Speaker 1: just signed up about it right before the game. And
Speaker 1: here you got practice player, former practice player got three
Speaker 1: touchdowns yesterday. Scott. Did I read that? Boston Scott? Boston
Speaker 1: Scott the running back and just think about that he
Speaker 1: was a practice player. Yeah, no excuses and almost. Let's
Speaker 1: we got a lot of elbows in the face. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he did play in high school basketball, yeah,
Speaker 1: or go pick up basketball. Yeah, yeah, I didn't grow
Speaker 1: any from high school. Yeah. All right, let's do this
Speaker 1: and we'll uh. Douglas Barricklough is doing the producing honors today,
Speaker 1: chores today, and he's got some cuts from Jason Garrett's
Speaker 1: appearance this morning on one oh five three the Fan.
Speaker 1: Let's start with this. Despite missing the playoffs, Garrett pleased
Speaker 1: with the way his team played yesterday. That was so
Speaker 1: inspired by how our team played yesterday. And ultimately, as
Speaker 1: a coach, you know that that's the stuff that becomes
Speaker 1: most important to you. And uh, you know, the look
Speaker 1: our guys had in the rye is and how they played,
Speaker 1: and the love they had for the game and for
Speaker 1: each other, and just how hard they played and how
Speaker 1: determined they played, and how tough they played and how
Speaker 1: willful they played. You those are the things as a
Speaker 1: coach that you just you value more than anything else.
Speaker 1: So you know, ultimately we didn't get it done. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: you know, we weren't a playoff team this year. That's
Speaker 1: disappointing for everybody. And no one more than us, the
Speaker 1: guys who were directly involved in it. But yesterday was
Speaker 1: a good day. We control we could control, and the
Speaker 1: guys played inspirational football. As a coach, that's that we
Speaker 1: value most. You know, the big takeaway I had from
Speaker 1: the whole post game scene yesterday was, you know, these guys,
Speaker 1: as disappointing as it is any team, especially at this level,
Speaker 1: you invest so much during the year, and Dak Prescott
Speaker 1: talks about the brotherhood that develops every year, and it's
Speaker 1: emotional regardless at the when you've even invested, like this
Speaker 1: team invested it, even though the results aren't what they
Speaker 1: everyone wanted it to be. It's's an emotional time at
Speaker 1: the end of the season when you're when it's the
Speaker 1: end of the road, well, you know, when you're spending
Speaker 1: your whole time with these guys, you know, you're you're
Speaker 1: with your teammates more than you're with your family. They
Speaker 1: might see you guys more than they I might see
Speaker 1: you guys more I might see my wife, you know,
Speaker 1: if I'm playing during the season, and you know, when
Speaker 1: you start getting real close to these guys and your
Speaker 1: your efforts come together and then you're you know, you're
Speaker 1: together when you lose, you're together when you win. You know,
Speaker 1: you go through these ups and downs like a family.
Speaker 1: You know they're gonna be some arguments, some disappointments, but
Speaker 1: then in the end is when you finally realize we
Speaker 1: did all of this together, good or bad. Well, we
Speaker 1: are all in this together, and it is I guess
Speaker 1: it does get pretty emotional, you know, especially when you're
Speaker 1: disappointing in the disappointing season. It's emotionally enough when the
Speaker 1: season's over. After Super Bowl win, it's really emotionally when
Speaker 1: you don't even get there and get to watch all
Speaker 1: of these guys and the accolades and things of that nature,
Speaker 1: knowing that you have really and if you're that player
Speaker 1: and you in this particular situation, you would look at
Speaker 1: yourself and say, I let my teammates down. No matter
Speaker 1: how well you played, if I would have done better,
Speaker 1: then we would have done better. That's the team concept.
Speaker 1: It's like Zeke said, after the game, it becomes like
Speaker 1: a family. And Jeff heat told me, you know, and
Speaker 1: he's sitting there talking to us with two bad shoulders
Speaker 1: and probably at least one probably needs to get fixed
Speaker 1: in the off season. Guys playing through stuff. He said.
Speaker 1: You know, we've we've been together basically every day since April.
Speaker 1: You know, when the when the off season program starts.
Speaker 1: And so you summed it up, great former player, you
Speaker 1: know exactly what it's like when or lose at the
Speaker 1: end of the season. Um, and and the reality sets
Speaker 1: in that this group will never be together again. I
Speaker 1: mean especially, I think that that is really the ultimate
Speaker 1: sadness about it. You know that something's gonna change and
Speaker 1: this this will never happen again. This will never happen,
Speaker 1: not this exact group. And uh, you know, go to
Speaker 1: on the list here, it's like twenty it is twenty
Speaker 1: six potential unrestricted free agents. Yeah, a lot of potential
Speaker 1: change on this team, you know. And I think the
Speaker 1: hardest thing is is you're going from start of training
Speaker 1: camp to you know, the last game of the season.
Speaker 1: You're going one hundred miles an hour, right, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, when you get in situations like this,
Speaker 1: say say you're six and six and nine or whatever,
Speaker 1: you know you're not going to the playoffs. You know
Speaker 1: the season's over. You go three and twelve, you get
Speaker 1: to the last game, you know the season's over. But
Speaker 1: this was almost like a playoff game where one hundred
Speaker 1: miles an hour then everything comes to a screeching halt.
Speaker 1: And I think that's so hard if if I was
Speaker 1: a player, Heck, it's hard for us, right, Yeah, We're
Speaker 1: going one hundred miles an hour and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, well it's over, And I think that would
Speaker 1: be the hardest thing to accept. The most sobering thing
Speaker 1: is here in a few minutes in the locker room
Speaker 1: supposed to open to the media, and those trash bags
Speaker 1: comes out. Guys are cleaning out their lockers after their
Speaker 1: final team meetings, like you get the box, you know,
Speaker 1: when you're in the office, you get the box. You know,
Speaker 1: the guys got the trash bag. Yeah, and guys start
Speaker 1: asking answering questions about their contract status coming up, whether
Speaker 1: they need surgery in the offseason. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: just a totally different vibe, and it's it's the reality
Speaker 1: sets in. This is it all right? Here's more from
Speaker 1: Jason Garrett from This Morning on one O five three
Speaker 1: The fan answering a big picture question, what did he
Speaker 1: think went wrong this season? I think the overarching explanation
Speaker 1: is we weren't consistent enough. We weren't consistent enough throughout
Speaker 1: the year, from game to game. We weren't consistent enough
Speaker 1: within games. We didn't do the things that winning football
Speaker 1: teams do. And you know, we have a we have
Speaker 1: a basic formula for winning that we talk a lot about.
Speaker 1: You have to win the ball, you have to win
Speaker 1: the big players, you have to win the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: And oftentimes when you when you pull back after a
Speaker 1: ball game to evaluate those three statistics, you know those
Speaker 1: will be the deciding factors in games. If you lose
Speaker 1: the turnover ratio, you're going to lose a lot of games.
Speaker 1: In the NFL. If one team is making many more
Speaker 1: big plays than the other team in the game, typically
Speaker 1: that correlates to points. You know, you make big plays
Speaker 1: typically score points. If you don't, it's hard to score points.
Speaker 1: And then obviously, so many of these games are decided
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. They're one score games. Two thirds
Speaker 1: of the games in the NFL decided by one score.
Speaker 1: And how you play in those games, you know, how
Speaker 1: you play in the fourth quarter is huge. If you
Speaker 1: make the players on offense or if you make the
Speaker 1: stops on defense, do what you need to do. In
Speaker 1: the kicking game. And you know, in the games that
Speaker 1: we lost, many of them were close games, one score games.
Speaker 1: That's the best thing we did with our team last year.
Speaker 1: You know, we won seven out of eight down the stretch,
Speaker 1: eight out of ten down the stretch last year, and
Speaker 1: they were close games. They were back and forth. You know,
Speaker 1: we're ahead, they're a head, scores tied, and we do
Speaker 1: we need to do at the end of the game.
Speaker 1: This year, in the games that we lost, we weren't
Speaker 1: able to get that done. And ultimately that's the difference.
Speaker 1: And that was the difference, right one in six and
Speaker 1: one score games. And I think in some of those
Speaker 1: one score games they became one score games because they
Speaker 1: had fallen behind right so much that they had to
Speaker 1: score so much just to make it a one. That's true.
Speaker 1: They weren't all yeah, but they have some opportunities in
Speaker 1: some of them, and they put in cash in late,
Speaker 1: you know. And there was never ever a better example
Speaker 1: of what he was saying than the Seattle Seahawks. They
Speaker 1: went into the game last night and they of their
Speaker 1: eleven wins, ten were one score games. And what happens
Speaker 1: last night, it's a one score game and they're right,
Speaker 1: and they get penalized and they can't get in the
Speaker 1: end zone and they lose twenty six twenty one when
Speaker 1: the tight end landed six inches from the goal line.
Speaker 1: Sometime they say that it catches up with you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know what, and I and that was kind
Speaker 1: of my what I wrote about from last year to
Speaker 1: this year, it caught up with them. They won eight
Speaker 1: games last year by one score. It's like, okay, now
Speaker 1: this year you're testing face of the attempting. If you're
Speaker 1: not knocking people out right dominating them, at some point,
Speaker 1: that stuff's gonna even out. You can't keep winning like that. Well,
Speaker 1: the pattern that they had was was not a good pattern,
Speaker 1: you know, having to win those close games and putting
Speaker 1: yourself in position to having to make that play. All
Speaker 1: of a sudden you can't make that play or that
Speaker 1: field goal or that field goal, and so here you
Speaker 1: got you can say, Okay, well it's coaching. We should
Speaker 1: have done this, We should have done that. No one
Speaker 1: questioned any of their you know, any of their approach.
Speaker 1: You know, last year, there was no questioning how they wanted,
Speaker 1: Oh this could have gone this way in that game
Speaker 1: or for those games we didn't. We didn't quantify how
Speaker 1: full of those games could have gone another way right
Speaker 1: now here we are talking about them. By the way,
Speaker 1: on that Seattle game, ironic was it that this Saints
Speaker 1: missed out on a chance at a first round by
Speaker 1: because the replay booth decided not to review and obvious pass?
Speaker 1: By the way, my NFL officiocule, how could they not
Speaker 1: even look at that? I mean, okay, say you say that,
Speaker 1: and you know what they were going to say. The
Speaker 1: call in the field stands. But look at it and
Speaker 1: and somebody said, I mean because they because they passed
Speaker 1: the rule right, so you might as well, and it
Speaker 1: was broadcast justified. He tried to justify it by saying,
Speaker 1: you don't want to come in and change a game
Speaker 1: with that call? Yeah, well that no call, That's what
Speaker 1: that That's why the rule was put in. That's what
Speaker 1: they said. That's why the rule. And then let me
Speaker 1: throw this out there. Can you imagine the criticism Jason
Speaker 1: Garrett would have gotten if his team got down on
Speaker 1: the one yard line and getting got a delay a
Speaker 1: game penalty? How do they look? That looked like us
Speaker 1: watching that game? How did they get a delayed? But
Speaker 1: it just they blew it. Asked Jason garb the same thing.
Speaker 1: How did something have They just blew it. They wouldn't
Speaker 1: even explain it. They tried to talk about it after
Speaker 1: the game. He just brushed over it. Pete Call said, oh,
Speaker 1: it was just what it was. And then they tried
Speaker 1: to try to explain the way, saying, oh, well, now
Speaker 1: they have more room to pass the ball we wanted
Speaker 1: from the six stop. Even the commentators were silly on
Speaker 1: that one. They gave it a pass. They gave them
Speaker 1: a pass. If that was Jason Garrett, that would be
Speaker 1: the talk of the entire game. Jason Garrett blew the
Speaker 1: whole season right there. I can't remember which game it was.
Speaker 1: It was somewhere in the in the nineties in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl seasons where the Cowboys were kind of in
Speaker 1: that same situation about the six yard line, and Troy
Speaker 1: threw a pass underneath against Eland right now, remember, and
Speaker 1: he ended up at the half yard line, And how
Speaker 1: could you throw the ball underneath? You got to throw
Speaker 1: it in the end zone. They had no timehouse left,
Speaker 1: and so the clock is run, the actual game clock
Speaker 1: is running, and they couldn't get another playoff. So yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, one more before we take a break. One
Speaker 1: more from Jason Garrett asked what his future holds. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know. We're gonna go in this morning,
Speaker 1: and uh, the guys have acted physicals, so we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk to our players. We're gonna have a team meeting
Speaker 1: at at twelve noon, and I'm scheduled a visit with
Speaker 1: the Joneses after that and we'll have a good visit
Speaker 1: and we'll see what's we'll see what's next. I thought
Speaker 1: the locker room was open at noon other team meetings.
Speaker 1: I just heard it's gonna be a little later, Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, Yeah, so the team meeting takes place right
Speaker 1: after talking counts everyone precedence, then us getting in the lock.
Speaker 1: When I woke up this morning, I was looking for
Speaker 1: esp in the load or something already. Yeah, we had
Speaker 1: two of them. Yeah kitchens. Last night Cleveland made that
Speaker 1: move quickly, Aqui quickly after they lost count and then
Speaker 1: this morning Pat Shermer let go, but Dave Gentleman is
Speaker 1: staying on as the gem of the New York Giants.
Speaker 1: So that's that's Jason Garrett's futurements. That's a lot of
Speaker 1: speculative lining up like that. It sounds like it. Well,
Speaker 1: it's unique because he's he's out of contract. So there's
Speaker 1: if they decide to go in a different direction, it's
Speaker 1: not of firing. Would it would be Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: don't even and I don't even know if if they do,
Speaker 1: if they do change direction, I don't even know if
Speaker 1: they would make an announcement or when they would make
Speaker 1: an announcement, because if you look at it, Mick like
Speaker 1: a player as a free agent. They don't announce that
Speaker 1: a player leaves. I don't know how we'll see how
Speaker 1: this unfort I think if there was, if there was
Speaker 1: an announcement, and I'm just speculat, I have no idea,
Speaker 1: but it would be a mutual parting of the ways.
Speaker 1: If that way was, I think it would describe describe
Speaker 1: that way as a mutual parting of the ways. Anyway,
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Speaker 1: one Jason, how about we here from another Jason? From
Speaker 1: the post game yesterday, Mister Witton reflects on yesterday's game,
Speaker 1: with both its playoff implications and the possibility it was
Speaker 1: the last of his career. I've never experienced anything like it,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, really, you showed up today and
Speaker 1: you just felt like, you know, it was gonna work out.
Speaker 1: You know. We had to take care of our business
Speaker 1: and felt like maybe in New York could beat him,
Speaker 1: and but look, we had opportunities in this season and
Speaker 1: we felt short. And it's a tough day across the
Speaker 1: board because I think this team was close, but we
Speaker 1: didn't play well at critical times this season. And I
Speaker 1: can go back at different points and recognize that, but
Speaker 1: just I wanted to share with those guys, you know,
Speaker 1: when I came back, it was a huge challenge. I'm
Speaker 1: proud of the way I played, but more importantly, I'm
Speaker 1: proud that I was able to kind of be there
Speaker 1: for those young players who I think have really bright
Speaker 1: futures that are cornerstone pieces in this organization and just
Speaker 1: show him how you do it. You know, And it's
Speaker 1: a tough game, and you got to be mentally tough.
Speaker 1: You got to go in there and approach it every
Speaker 1: day and say, you know, everybody's watching, they're watching what
Speaker 1: you do every single day. And for all the young
Speaker 1: kids out there they want to be here one day,
Speaker 1: just know that it takes a lot of hard work,
Speaker 1: it takes a lot of determination, and you know, but
Speaker 1: it's worth it. This game has been so good to me.
Speaker 1: I love this game, and it was a it was
Speaker 1: a heck of a year. Well you can hear the
Speaker 1: emotion in his voice, and I think that was probably
Speaker 1: the way he reacted after the game. Probably it he
Speaker 1: was going in and he turned around and he grabbed
Speaker 1: Sean Lee and he goes, hey, let's take a picture,
Speaker 1: and they posed for a picture side by side, and
Speaker 1: then he ran to the northeast corner towards the end
Speaker 1: zone and waved to the stand so I assume that's
Speaker 1: where his family was. And then when he came back,
Speaker 1: when he got behind the boys bench, he went he
Speaker 1: didn't go in through the club area. He went along
Speaker 1: the sideline and slapped hands with the fans that were
Speaker 1: sitting in those bunker suites before he went into the tunnel.
Speaker 1: So it was almost like he didn't want to do
Speaker 1: the last kind of harah that players do, but but
Speaker 1: prior to the game, he didn't want him And then yeah,
Speaker 1: and then afterwards he kind of made his last walk
Speaker 1: and he said, you know, he said he would take
Speaker 1: a few days to the side, but he heard the
Speaker 1: emotion in his voice. And if I'm not mistaken, he
Speaker 1: was on the sideline for much of that fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: It was it was Jarwin and Schultz. And then he
Speaker 1: came back in for victory formation. Yep, gave the guys
Speaker 1: a hug and uh, you know that seemed kind of symbolic. Well,
Speaker 1: the other part of that is on the on the television,
Speaker 1: they showed the shot he had and this is when
Speaker 1: the defense was on the field, all right. He had
Speaker 1: had shaking hands with teammates on the sideline and then
Speaker 1: he had his helmet on. I thought that was so cool.
Speaker 1: The defense is on the field and he it was
Speaker 1: like it was as if we take it off one
Speaker 1: last time. He's putting his helmet on the field. And
Speaker 1: he was also probably anticipation he is going back on
Speaker 1: the field for victory formation here because the defense was
Speaker 1: about to hold him. But I'll tell you what, he
Speaker 1: is blessed because only a few, a very small percentage
Speaker 1: of former players get a chance to go out like that.
Speaker 1: Most of us are just just acted and you're out.
Speaker 1: You know, we get the box, like you said, we
Speaker 1: get the sacking and then we're out of there. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm you know, he deserves. To me, every player deserves
Speaker 1: to go out like that. But it's good to see
Speaker 1: somebody get that opportunity who deserves it because to me,
Speaker 1: players that are put in a lot of work for
Speaker 1: I don't care if he's one team or many different
Speaker 1: teams were all emotional about it, you know, whether you
Speaker 1: see us cry or not. You know, we go through
Speaker 1: the same thing. And there's a lot of guys that
Speaker 1: deserve the accolades that Jason has gotten on the way
Speaker 1: that they have gone out, And I'm just glad to
Speaker 1: see somebody get a chance to go out like that
Speaker 1: because it's a tough game. NFL is a tough game
Speaker 1: when you get when you get put out. Did you
Speaker 1: know your last game was your last game? I did not. No,
Speaker 1: I did not, So yeah, it's myself. You can think
Speaker 1: of some great players that were never able to go
Speaker 1: out with the dignity that that was shown to Jason Witten.
Speaker 1: So it's good to see somebody to get that. But
Speaker 1: there was a lot of guys that have come through
Speaker 1: this cowboy through this this cowboy organization that deserved that
Speaker 1: same kind of love, and they did not get it.
Speaker 1: So kudos two. The Cowboys were given Jason winn't a
Speaker 1: chance to do that, and that one. Usually somebody tells you, yeah,
Speaker 1: last yeah, you don't realize they don't even when they
Speaker 1: don't give you the love. Did you finish the season?
Speaker 1: I did not. You did not. I did not know.
Speaker 1: So it happens to a lot of us, no doubt.
Speaker 1: One more from Witton talking about his teammates, the Cowboys organization,
Speaker 1: and a particularly notable moment in his career. Oh the start,
Speaker 1: you know, I think the beginning, you know, green as
Speaker 1: I could be just turned twenty one years old, playing
Speaker 1: for a legendary coach, Bill Parcels, who had a blueprint
Speaker 1: on what the tight end position looked like, you know,
Speaker 1: and walking into the Valley Ranch and meeting the Jones
Speaker 1: family and seeing the legendary figures that you know, my
Speaker 1: grandfather talked about of Tom Landry and Roger Shawback and
Speaker 1: Michael Irvin and saying that I'm gonna be one of
Speaker 1: those guys one day, and nobody in help probably thought
Speaker 1: that was going to happen, but you know, to be
Speaker 1: standing here, and really it's the relationships. I mean, guys
Speaker 1: like you, guys and certainly those teammates have just walked out.
Speaker 1: I mean it's a small family, you know, and you
Speaker 1: sacrifice a lot, but this ordanary organization surrounded with really
Speaker 1: good people, and I think the older you get, you
Speaker 1: appreciate going to work every day and being around people
Speaker 1: that are passionate, make others around them better and are unselfish,
Speaker 1: and that's something that I appreciate. So sixteen years, I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's going to be the end. I'll
Speaker 1: take a few days and figure it out, but I
Speaker 1: think it's decision will happen pretty quickly here in the
Speaker 1: next few weeks. Yeah, pretty quickly, Yeah, pretty quickly. Days awfully,
Speaker 1: awfully reflective. And I do think he kind of stopped
Speaker 1: and smelled the roses this year a little bit more
Speaker 1: than maybe he did in the past. I mean when
Speaker 1: he first came back in the spring, Mick he stopped
Speaker 1: us in the training table and shot the bowl with
Speaker 1: us for I don't know, thirty minutes, and I remember
Speaker 1: my sandwich just getting super cold. But he was so great.
Speaker 1: It was great and right, He was so excited to
Speaker 1: be back, and I think, yeah, great, but that that
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously, you know he made the decision to
Speaker 1: come back, but it also you know, TV didn't work
Speaker 1: out the way he probably planned. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: it's a hard decision to come back because you know,
Speaker 1: this is killing him to make the decision, put the
Speaker 1: work in, and nobody wants a title more than he
Speaker 1: than he does. It has to be kind of heart
Speaker 1: breaking for him as well, because he thought, as well
Speaker 1: as we all did, that this team was gonna be it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go out with a bang with these guys.
Speaker 1: You know, we've got it together, you know, with the
Speaker 1: previous year and all of a sudden we got this year.
Speaker 1: It's gonna build up to something great. And I'm sure
Speaker 1: he saw this thing ending a lot differently than how
Speaker 1: it did. But I mean, it's kind of hard to
Speaker 1: feel sorry for him because the guy had a great career.
Speaker 1: Of course, you know, we know how it is you
Speaker 1: gotta go, but man, you guys got to look back
Speaker 1: on all the good things that he did, man, and
Speaker 1: realize that they'll never forget him. He'll never be forgotten
Speaker 1: about him, So you know, He mentioned that Bill had
Speaker 1: a kind of an idea of what a tight end was. Parcels, Parcels,
Speaker 1: and I'll never forget this. It was one of his
Speaker 1: first offseason. Yeah, it was one of his first day
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was an OTA or a
Speaker 1: mini camp practice and went and kind of went over
Speaker 1: the middle and caught a pass and Parcels barks out, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's my past catching side. Because he saw Mark Bavarro
Speaker 1: of course him and you know Mark Bavaro Wright, and
Speaker 1: he wanted to make him a complete tight end, not
Speaker 1: just some guy that's gonna line up in the slot
Speaker 1: and catch pass. Let's just be real, guys, tight is right,
Speaker 1: are taking over the game, right, Let's just be real.
Speaker 1: And it really kind of started right there. You know,
Speaker 1: Bavaro was one of those guys. But then you know,
Speaker 1: winning those guys they were, they were that class that
Speaker 1: came up. You know that that was really great. It
Speaker 1: was a guy for the Falcon's big tight end. I
Speaker 1: mean the commentator, thank you, thank you. Gonzalez was with
Speaker 1: that group as well. I mean, these guys came up,
Speaker 1: former basketball players. Antonio Gates came all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: he got these former basketball players and they're taking over
Speaker 1: the league. And one thing which said he talked about
Speaker 1: how he's proud of the way he played. One thing
Speaker 1: he mentioned was he's proud of the way he blocked
Speaker 1: this year. He said, this is one of the best
Speaker 1: blocking seasons he's probably had the last few years. In
Speaker 1: a little bit of a different role. He still had
Speaker 1: major snaps and played started sixteen games, but he did
Speaker 1: some of the more little things that maybe you don't
Speaker 1: notice as much in the run. I think it was
Speaker 1: a big improvement from the year he left. Yes, because
Speaker 1: when he left, he was making some mistakes, you know,
Speaker 1: just unusual mistakes I'm characteristic for Jason. And then when
Speaker 1: he came back, I think he was a little bit
Speaker 1: more aware, you know. The other picture I wish I
Speaker 1: had in the locker room was Sean Lee when we
Speaker 1: were all getting ready to leave, still in his he
Speaker 1: had still had his game pants on, he had a
Speaker 1: kind of a T shirt. His knee is bleeding, the
Speaker 1: calfs of his legs were I don't know, they were
Speaker 1: just discolored. I don't know if it was from dirt intusions.
Speaker 1: And then and then he had blood all over his pants,
Speaker 1: right and I'm looking at this and I'm going that's
Speaker 1: Sean Lee right there, that that is the epitome. And
Speaker 1: and then he didn't want to do the interview, said no,
Speaker 1: I'll do it monday. He goes on, he goes, I
Speaker 1: got a shower. I don't want to picture of myself
Speaker 1: like this, and I'm thinking I want that That is
Speaker 1: Sean Lee to the right there. So looked like Rocky
Speaker 1: after a fifteen round. Yeah, no, seriously, So there were Yeah,
Speaker 1: there was pretty there was a lot of motion. The
Speaker 1: other thing, were you in the stadium still when Jason
Speaker 1: Garrett and his family and friends on the field, And
Speaker 1: big impression on me it was it was probably I
Speaker 1: don't know if it was ten. It was approach according
Speaker 1: to the media, that approaching. So, but he was out
Speaker 1: there for why And he does it after every he's
Speaker 1: done it, win or lose a lot. But they meet
Speaker 1: it wherever the family reception room. Yeah, it's not like
Speaker 1: he goes home right after the game and he always
Speaker 1: goes out there with family. Uh probably niece's, nephews, whatever,
Speaker 1: and he's the quarterback and he throws the ball around
Speaker 1: and he was pretty funny. Uh this morning when he
Speaker 1: talked about it because a lot of times they just
Speaker 1: go out there and they run forty yard dashes or whatever.
Speaker 1: Because we he said, believe it or not, we have
Speaker 1: a hard time finding a football that late after a game.
Speaker 1: But he says, we had a football. So he was
Speaker 1: the quarterback for both teams, and uh, you know what,
Speaker 1: and you know, when he and I know the deal,
Speaker 1: he it's probably a long cut that we don't have
Speaker 1: time for. But he talked about afterwards being a stand
Speaker 1: up guy and and and he was. You know, he
Speaker 1: didn't change. He standing tall. Yeah, he went out and
Speaker 1: did that. When he left the locker room for the
Speaker 1: last time and we were about done doing our TV stuff,
Speaker 1: he came out, he tapped me on the shoulders, shook hands.
Speaker 1: He tapped Dak, I mean Babe and Brad on the shoulders,
Speaker 1: shook hands with them and just kind of walked off.
Speaker 1: And but he did what he always does. You know,
Speaker 1: he didn't it didn't change. He stayed on that podium
Speaker 1: for ten minutes answer answering all the questions and then
Speaker 1: did them. You know, if it was me, I don't
Speaker 1: know if I would have done that morning radio show. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, and on that morning radio show. He said
Speaker 1: what he always says the cut earlier about it was
Speaker 1: a good day yesterday, and you know that's Jason Garrett
Speaker 1: because it wasn't. Yeah, I mean, if you look at
Speaker 1: the big picture and that's our job, is that. No,
Speaker 1: it wasn't a good day in terms of missing the
Speaker 1: playoffs and finishing eight and eight. You know, it's it's
Speaker 1: a it's a disappointing end to a season. But he's
Speaker 1: proud of his guys finished standing tall and finishing the
Speaker 1: season strong. That's that's a coach's mentality, and that's that's
Speaker 1: always been his message. Have a great day, and in
Speaker 1: his mind, you know, the way they finished out, at
Speaker 1: least they finished that way. So all the all the
Speaker 1: people out there that you know got into this deal
Speaker 1: about you know, his message got stale. He can't motivate
Speaker 1: the team. Just take your bs home, all right, because
Speaker 1: that that team didn't have to play the way they
Speaker 1: did yesterday, and they can't and they didn't start off
Speaker 1: very well either, right the way. Listen to how emotional
Speaker 1: Dak got talking about him after the game. Yeah, respect
Speaker 1: his message that the job didn't get done, but there's
Speaker 1: respect for the way he's he's for the way he
Speaker 1: stayed true to himself throughout all these years. You know,
Speaker 1: to me, it's the whole school. You can tell he
Speaker 1: was raised whole school. Yeah, you know, we can talk
Speaker 1: about motivation people. Ye, his dad was jogging until like
Speaker 1: the day died. He jogged like all around the track
Speaker 1: and yeah, but you can tell that's how he was raised.
Speaker 1: He was raised by a man that basically no nonsense.
Speaker 1: You know. It's we have coaches out there that are firing,
Speaker 1: firing brimstone. I was. I was taught by a bunch
Speaker 1: of them, but they're also like people like my father.
Speaker 1: All he wants is I asked you to do something,
Speaker 1: You do it. You know, I don't need to motivate
Speaker 1: you to do anything. This is what you do. And
Speaker 1: so I think that's what Jason's philosophy was. Guys, you
Speaker 1: know why we're here. I don't need to tell you
Speaker 1: why I've been here myself as a player. Now i'm
Speaker 1: your coach. I can tell you what's going on. I
Speaker 1: parted all this wisdom to you. Now let's go out
Speaker 1: and win some ball games. But they I think these
Speaker 1: players they need more than that. As as an old
Speaker 1: school guy. Myself, I would not have needed more than that.
Speaker 1: All I needed was my teammates to be there with me.
Speaker 1: That's all I needed. Coaches were they were instructors to me,
Speaker 1: and I thought that this team was going to handle
Speaker 1: that in the same way. But I think they need
Speaker 1: somebody to threaten them. I think they need a Jimmy
Speaker 1: Johnson out there because obviously, you know, they just didn't
Speaker 1: see motivated at the beginning of the tough games that
Speaker 1: they had. And let's be real, guys, if this game
Speaker 1: was in DC, we might have lost that game. That
Speaker 1: was a slow start. It was a slow, ugly although awkward,
Speaker 1: they're not drawing very many fans. Yeah, right, even if
Speaker 1: the Cowboys say this, let's just say this, the Cowboys
Speaker 1: came out for that game the same way they came
Speaker 1: out for Philidelphia. Came in Flip, You're right about That's
Speaker 1: what happened. And in the road games they didn't handle
Speaker 1: because the opponents are gonna be more fired up, They're
Speaker 1: gonna be more motivated now they're here in Dallas. The
Speaker 1: last game would not even at home, if they would
Speaker 1: have played in DC, may not have been may not
Speaker 1: still been a loss for the red Skins, but they
Speaker 1: were played better and they didn't want to win either,
Speaker 1: by the way. They wanted that. Yeah, let's say that.
Speaker 1: And you know, I mean, and it's always hard to
Speaker 1: play those types of teams because you know it's gonna
Speaker 1: be four downs, right. I don't even know why they
Speaker 1: kicked those field goals out. It kept going. It was
Speaker 1: like I didn't understand why he started off not Yeah,
Speaker 1: he went forward on fourth now the first time, and
Speaker 1: then he kicked the field goal the second time. He said, well,
Speaker 1: what's the difference? It was fourth and four or fourth
Speaker 1: and seven. I mean, why are you kicking it now? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's why. That's right, that's right. Um, all right, So
Speaker 1: so what happens the rest of this day? So it's
Speaker 1: left and we have to break getting ready to come
Speaker 1: in here. He mentioned that he's meeting with the Joneses
Speaker 1: after the team meeting, so we'll see what takes place there.
Speaker 1: And I would imagine, Um, I don't know. I just
Speaker 1: have this feeling we're going to hear something by the
Speaker 1: end of the day. Very well, could be yeah, and
Speaker 1: almost and almost in fair this to him, because if
Speaker 1: you're letting him go, there's opportunities out of course, right,
Speaker 1: and no sense letting those opportunities pass by. And while
Speaker 1: you're hanging on to him with the Giants, Jimmy, let
Speaker 1: me go as soon as the season was open, as
Speaker 1: opposed to being vindictive and holding on to me all
Speaker 1: off season when everyone's always filled up their rosters. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and they let me go by the way, But you
Speaker 1: gave him every opportunity, and you were fretnized with them
Speaker 1: and with the enemy, with the enemy, if you think
Speaker 1: about it, this was this was the same situation Troy
Speaker 1: was in after that twenty twenty season when he wanted
Speaker 1: to get released, so he thought norv would bring him
Speaker 1: in as the backup quarterback in San Diego, and Jerry
Speaker 1: wanted to wait to June one because he wanted to
Speaker 1: spread out his cap, his his his and Troy. Troy
Speaker 1: got mad at him, and they got mad at each other,
Speaker 1: and then he finally let him go. But by time
Speaker 1: they released him, uh, Sandy has signed Doug Flutie as
Speaker 1: their kind of veteran back up, and there really wasn't
Speaker 1: an opportunity. But Troy in his mind was I'm still
Speaker 1: playing right wow, And then he finally decided he's still
Speaker 1: then he decided, Okay, it's time to retire. I mean
Speaker 1: DeMarcus Ware kind of the same situation. All I guess
Speaker 1: he was going to be a free Remember, no, he
Speaker 1: was under contract. He was under the contract. But it
Speaker 1: was right at it was right at the opening day
Speaker 1: of free agency. They decided to Yeah, and I don't
Speaker 1: know him. There was because Troy had a roster bonus
Speaker 1: there too. He was going to cost him seven million
Speaker 1: dollars if they kept but they were willing to do
Speaker 1: that to spread out the pro ration of a of
Speaker 1: a signing bonus. But yeah, they were going to release
Speaker 1: them and say, okay, but not till June one. Okay,
Speaker 1: the break is up next keep it right here and
Speaker 1: now the Cowboys dot Com and we will we will
Speaker 1: be back here tomorrow for another edition of Talking to Cowboys,
Speaker 1: and there will be lots to talk about tomorrow. This
Speaker 1: is been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.