WEBVTT - Talkin' Cowboys: Roster Battles Take Shape 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:07.800 The following. He's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:18.720 and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This he's Talking Cowboys 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.599 Straining live from the Dallas Cowboys World headquarters at the 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:34.240 Star in Frisco. To the welcome into a Monday edition 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:37.800 of Talking Cowboys here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com live 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:41.480 from the Training camp grounds in Oxnard, California, of course, 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.919 presented by American Airlines. Is Training Camp twenty twenty one 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:48.560 rolls on here from the West Coast alongside Mickey's Bag Nola, 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.880 Rob Phillips, I'm Kyle Yeoman's where we are just thirty 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.760 one days away, gentlemen, one month pretty much exactly from 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.000 kickoff of the twenty twenty one season and that Week 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:02.760 one matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That's a Thursday 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:05.720 night football game. But we have Thursday night football and 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:09.280 a little Saturday afternoon football to talk about for the 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:11.800 first time here on Talking Cowboys, because the last time 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:14.640 we had a show, we were leading into the Hall 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:17.520 of Fame game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and then we 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:20.160 haven't had a chance to catch up since the Saturday 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.320 practice against the Rams, and like Mike McCarthy, said Rob. 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:27.160 It was a week one and a half really of 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:29.800 preseason football for this Cowboys team, and it was a 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:32.479 beneficial one at that. Yeah, I mean because of that 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:35.920 in part, you know, they're they're giving the guys basically 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:37.560 three days off. You know they're going to have a 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:42.080 walkthrough tomorrow, but mostly just kind of weight room work 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:44.880 and film work today to clean everything up because it's 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:46.920 I mean, that was a quick forty eight hours when 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:48.480 you think about what they had to do going up 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:52.200 against two teams, not live against the Rams, but but 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:54.280 some good work. You know, Mickey and I were at 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.360 the twenty fifteen joint practice out here against the Rams 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:00.320 and that was like a barroom brawl at time. This 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:02.200 one was like a pillow fight compared to that in 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:04.560 terms of some of the skirmishes. But I think you 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:06.520 said it before we went on, like it was just 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.320 the right amount of physicality. You know, there were a 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:11.360 couple of dust steps and all that, but it wasn't 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.679 anything where anybody I think was at risk of getting hurt. 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:17.160 And when you go up against the team that's been 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:20.440 to the super Bowl and the team has got some swagger, 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:23.080 like that's that's a good little test early in camp, 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:26.280 and I think we forget sometimes that we're early in camp. 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:31.440 They've had five six padded practices. That's it. One preseason game. Yeah, 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:34.160 they're wrapping things up here in Oxnard this week. But 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:36.720 there's still a long way to go. Yeah, Mike should 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:40.360 have get have named a movie. Right, forty eight hours. 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.239 He kept talking about forty eight hours. And it was 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.160 a good forty eight hours. Eddie Murphy. Yeah, and uh, 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:49.680 you know, and and I thought, I like what he said. 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:54.880 He said, this team improved a lot over the last 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:58.040 forty eight hours, and I'm really excited about that. And 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:00.480 I think, you know, it was a quick turnaround from 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:03.960 as Rob said, you play on Thursday night in Canton, Ohio. 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:06.560 You show up here Friday at five in the morning, 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.760 and then by Saturday at three o'clock you're practicing against 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.560 the Rams. So they content they put a lot of 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.840 stuff into a short period of time. And you know, 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.280 I thought it was good. I thought the guys responded. 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:24.079 I thought he regulated their snaps very well, didn't use 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:29.760 the first line offensive guys that much on Thursday. But 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:33.480 they played on Saturday. So Tyrn Smith's out there, Leale 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.520 Collins out there, Zach Martin's out there. You know, that 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:39.120 offensive line looked the way it was supposed to look. 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:42.720 I thought that was huge. It's huge for Garrett Gilbert 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:47.080 to get some protection and actually operate the offense. And 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:50.360 then defensively, I thought, you know, they kind of held 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:53.520 their own against the Rams. They played their pop quarterback 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:56.840 Matthew Stafford was out there slinging it around. We weren't 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.160 sure how much he was gonna do after he kind 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:03.320 of irritated his thumb that had been bothering him. But 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:05.320 he was out there and he was slinging it, and 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.640 you know, he completed some passes, but they broke up 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:12.200 some passes, uh, to the point that at one point, uh, 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:17.240 DeShawn Jackson got p owed uh because of um. I 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:19.559 think it was Jordan Lewis like broke up a pass 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.599 and and he came up and he swung at the 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:24.880 air and it's like, oh, okay, I guess he's pissed. 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:28.480 And then he plays later they connected on about a 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:31.800 forty yard touchdown plays, you know, and and he got 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:35.040 all fired up about it. But that's good. You gotta 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.560 go against guys like that. And I thought it was 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:42.320 really good work. Uh, and as Rob said, they were 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:47.000 off yesterday, but they're just basically doing meetings and weights 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.600 and stuff today and then the walk through tomorrow, uh 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:54.000 and and more meetings and so really just one more 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:58.120 practice here, right, they're supposed I think they're supposed to 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:02.240 do something maybe Thursday before they actually leave. Correct. I 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:03.960 think it's gonna be like a we won't be able 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:06.520 to we won't see it. Doubtful it's much of anything, 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:08.120 because they got a game the next it'll be a 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:10.599 meeting on the field. Yeah, and they've got a mock 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:12.760 game walk through tomorrow, which I think we get to 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:15.200 take a peek at, yes, which we have not done 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:19.840 so far in camp. So that's it's not excited about that. Yeah, 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.200 it's something what are we gonna do with ourselves for 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:25.320 three days? Right? The cards and the bonnuts will come out. 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:28.840 But yeah, I mean you said, oh boy, I guess 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:30.960 he's pissed. I said that about Aaron Donald about three 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:33.200 or four times in that practice on Saturday. So how 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:38.360 about Connor Williams, the People's champ. Yes, fans are loving this, like, 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:42.039 you know, not backing down from two time Defensive Player 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:45.240 of the Year winning some reps against him in order 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.080 to get him to kind of the edge of being 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:51.680 a bit frustrated. Yep. And I think Donald was trying 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:56.240 to say, hey, don't you know who I am? Well, 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:57.960 I mean, if you if you go back and watch 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.160 some of the times they've played the Rams, he he's 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:02.839 done some good things against him. And I know, you 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.520 know the knock people knock Connor Williams for maybe his 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:08.440 strength and sometimes he gets overmatched a little bit physically 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:10.560 at the guard position. But I thought that was a 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:13.680 good example of him holding his own in some of 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:18.120 those reps because you know, Jalen Ramsey, Aaron Donald, those 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:19.880 are two of the best players you're ever gonna go 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.680 against the season that their respective position. So, like Mickey said, 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:25.640 like that, that is good quality work against somebody beside 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.880 your own guys early in camp. And kind of to 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.080 add on to that, it wasn't even just the offense 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:34.840 that got great work against defensive players. I mean, outside 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:38.520 of Tom Brady and maybe Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford is 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:40.360 up there in terms of quarterbacks that can pick a 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:42.440 part of secondary no doubt, with the way that he 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:45.360 controls a game and he throws the football and his 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.479 talent level and his IQ of the game. And I 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:50.599 think that was a great task for guys going up 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:54.280 against Robert Woods, Cooper, cub Deshaun Jackson with Matthew Stafford 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:57.200 throwing then the football. I think the Cowboys secondary really 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:00.200 grew a little bit on Saturday, Mickey, because that's not 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:02.720 necessarily what they've seen with guys like Garrett Gilbert and 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.200 Ben di Nucci a quarterback. Maybe with Dak in the 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.680 middle of practices, but Matthew Stafford and those three guys 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.440 were a great new challenge, and I think the defense 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.760 grew from it. See, and that's one of the downsides 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:17.160 of Dak being out. You know, you look at all 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.560 he's not working with the offense, he's not working with 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:22.720 the receivers, while the defense is not getting to work 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:26.240 against the top notch quarterback. And you would like to 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:27.880 see that. And yeah, and I thought they got some 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:31.720 good work against him. They made some plays. He got 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:36.200 them a couple of times. You mentioned a cup, they 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:38.800 lost him, tracked of him a couple of plays, and 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:41.800 it's like, yeah, number ten, you bought it might pretty 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:46.680 good cover him, right, But but other than a few 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:50.920 times like that, I thought the secondary played well at times. 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:53.840 The defensive front got a little pressure on him, and 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:58.200 the Rams offensive lines pretty good. So it was good 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.320 work for Randy Gregory to go up against somebody else 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:05.040 door AND's armstrong. Uh So yeah, I just thought it 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:09.000 was a really good day of work for them. And 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:11.480 like Rob said, other than the little dust up with 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:15.920 Aaron Dontal and Connor Williams, Yeah, it was a yeah, 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:18.600 it was and it got competitive and that was good 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.680 because that's what you want to see because this team 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:26.600 needs to gain you can't be like swagger confidence. You 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:29.040 got to gain confidence that you can do this right. 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:31.960 And I think that helped. I think it helped playing 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.880 the game on Thursday, and and it helped again uh Saturday. So, 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.160 as Mike McCarthy said, good forty eight hours, it was. 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:41.480 We were laughing about the picture on Dallas Cowboys dot 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:43.920 Com of the of the dust up with Connor and 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:47.120 Aaron Donald and there's it's a wide shot and you 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:49.600 can see Dak like ten yards away in the end 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:51.320 zone just kind of watching kind of look at it 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:53.679 was like, oh, it's like yeah, just stay stay over there, 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:56.319 stay over there. You guys, don't go anywhere. Guys take 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:58.920 care of this. I'll just kind of go go stand 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.320 behind the porta patio over there by the fence, and 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:03.240 you know, everything will be okay. Actually, see the lamp 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:04.600 said the same thing. He's like, I just go the 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:06.480 other way. If it's two linemen going at it, what 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:09.800 am I gonna do? You know? So, yeah, that was good. Um, 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.400 but that Rams till I'm telling you you look at 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:17.640 this early projection of the NFC, and obviously Bucks Packers, 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:19.920 Aaron Rodgers back, the Rams are gonna be in the 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.240 conversation with no doubt about it because they've got you 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:25.680 had Matt stafford to that group and what they have defensively, 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:27.440 They're they're gonna be in the mix if they can 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:29.360 stay healthy, even though they're dealing with an injury at 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:31.679 running back themselves. And that was a good point about 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.120 Dak because if you look at the it wasn't a 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.480 dust up. It was a brawl amongst themselves, the giants. 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.439 Daniel Jones jumped in there, did he? Oh yeah, he 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:43.120 was one of the headlines, and and and and and 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:47.280 that was some of the backlash after It's like, okay, yeah, 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.760 I understand, I'm the quarterback. I'm not supposed to go 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.920 get involved in it. It's like, yeah, you think, it's like, 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.679 what are you gonna do? It was almost like what 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.720 we saw later in practice. There was another little scuffle. 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:00.720 It never got nearly to the point of the Aaron 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:04.599 Donald and Connor Williams dust up, but Tony Pollard, with 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.320 a carry to the near sideline, was kind of in 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:10.960 a tussle with Kenny Young, the young linebacker from LA 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:13.760 and Young. It looked like they got a little tangled 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:15.920 up on the sideline after the play, and Young actually 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:19.320 threw hands at the face mask of Tony Pollard, and 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:22.640 Pollard of course reacted accordingly. And Sean McVeigh was the 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:24.280 one that got in between and that one, and so 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:26.160 I thought that was kind of interesting as well. But 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:29.600 you know, and they they they roughed up Pollard a 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.280 couple of times early in the practice, and it was 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.480 uncalled for because they had already thudded up. And then 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:38.640 somebody came from his blind spot and just blasted him. 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:40.840 There were a couple of those ladies. See, I don't 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.920 think he decided, okay, that's enough. I was on set 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:47.040 with Kyle for most of the broadcast. When I got 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.400 out there a team. There were times when we were 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:51.720 watching kind of the red zone seven on seven stuff, 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:55.160 it didn't seem like it was just full competitive. It 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:57.960 was I'm not saying half speed, but it wasn't as 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:01.000 as live or close to live you might expect. And 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:03.880 then the team's drills though, were really good, really good, 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.920 and there were some times out there where there was 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:10.200 maybe a little more excess physicality from the Rams in 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:13.480 terms of the thud that Mike and they chose who 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:15.360 they were going to hit because they didn't do that 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:18.760 to Zeke. Yeah, right, but when they saw twenty and 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:21.760 thirty four and thirty seven, it was like it was 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:24.320 like open game, right, and it's like, okay, I know 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:27.000 what's going on. Defense had their fair share of licks 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.440 on guys like Darryl Henderson as well, and I think 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:33.160 they did a nice job of covering Robert Woods. But 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:35.040 I do want to stick with the offense here. Going 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:38.720 back to the offensive line, I thought the work from 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.080 the offensive line and what they showed against a good 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:45.040 Rams defensive front, especially with Aaron Donald in the fray, 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:47.800 for the most part, held their own with Aaron Donald 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:49.640 out there, and if Aaron Donald was out there or 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:52.240 was not out there. I felt like they were pretty good, 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:54.960 to say the least. It wasn't even just average or 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:57.640 holding their own. I thought even some of the second 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:02.040 and third string offensive lines really showed out on Saturday, 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:04.400 Rob What did you see from the offensive front and 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:06.199 the reps that you got to look at? Yeah, No, 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:08.680 I thought it was good. Um. Like you said, I thought, 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:11.520 once you get once you get them the group whole, 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:14.240 they can be very productive together as a group. And 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:16.840 and so they've they've kind of been missing that full 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.880 five at times. In practice. They've been holding Zach Allison reps. 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:23.280 They've been holding h Tyrn Smith at times. And Connor 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:25.720 Williams we mentioned him earlier. He got some center reps 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.520 with the first team, and that's that's gonna help him 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.640 get better at that position, even if he's not projected 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:33.640 as the starter there. I know that people are talking 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.120 about what does this mean. They're trying to find depth 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:38.600 at that position, They're trying to find a backup plan 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:41.800 with Tyler Biadis, you know, going into a second year 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:43.800 and Joe Looney not being here. I thought that was 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:48.320 good work for him. And so, you know, offensively, they 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:51.080 did a lot of good things Ceedee Lamb carried over 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:54.480 what he's been doing out here to this practice with 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:58.199 another team going at him out here in oxen Hard 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:00.400 and I thought it was Michael Gallup's best practice a 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:02.640 camp as well. I think, you know, if if if 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:06.000 people want to know what does that mean, all they 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:09.600 need to be asked is who's the backup center? Because 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:11.920 they won't have an answer. But you know what I mean, No, 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:13.680 I know what they're thinking. You know, I know what 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:17.240 they're thinking. See it in practice, be honest. Is really 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:20.679 good by the way, Yeah, and he's doing nothing wrong 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:24.720 to the point they need they need a backup center. 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.520 And if they can pull this off with Connor Williams, 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:31.319 then not only do you save money against the salary cap, 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:36.440 you save a roster spot on the game day roster 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:39.080 because you don't have to have one guy a backup 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:41.960 center and another guy the backup guard. But if you 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:45.160 can get somebody to do two things like they got 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:49.080 spoiled with with Joe Looney being backup center, backup guard, 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:53.280 and you only have to keep seven offensive linemen up. Uh, yeah, 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.719 it's it's beneficial. Now will it work? And they were 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:58.760 not going to find out if it works until they 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:02.400 give him some first team reps against a first team defense. 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.640 Uh and see if he can if he actually can 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:08.959 pull this off, because we saw in the in the 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.160 in the Hall of Fame game, he had a high 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:15.400 snap one time and it's screwed up to play, and 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:19.000 then another time he threw a knuckleball back there. I 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.400 didn't think that the snap was ever gonna get to 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:25.320 Garrett Gilbert. Right And and speaking of Connor Williams, he's 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:29.280 walking towards his room right now, conn And uh so, yeah, 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:31.920 he's gotta you know, he's got to get used to 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:35.560 keep yelling about those high snaps. Yeah right, yeah, come 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:39.640 and squash me right, Oh goodness. But yeah, so he's 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:41.480 got to get those reps and see if he can 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:45.800 do it, because if he can't, then who's the backup center? Well, 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.320 if Arni act doesn't at times look like he's ready 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:51.600 physically to do this, I think it's safe to say 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:55.080 he's not physically ready as a seventh round rookie. Would 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:57.400 you expect him to be? Now he was playing guard. 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.880 He played a little center at Nebraska, tiny bit, Yeah, 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.240 and they moved him over there, and we'll see if 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:04.960 you can do it and then Braylon Jones is an 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:08.960 undrafted rookie from Houston, right, I thought it would be 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:12.040 potentially Connor McGovern just based on how much he played. 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.600 He played center at Penn State way more than farni 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.120 Ac or Connor Williams had one year though, I know, 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:21.200 but he's done it. And that's why last year I thought, 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.440 you know, if Joe Looney's not resigned, he's the natural 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:27.520 fit to slide in as kind of that swing interior backup, 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:29.760 and they've just kept him at guard and let him 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:32.520 worry about that and try to progress there, because when 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:34.560 you think about it, for him, he's had this is 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:37.440 his first full offseason as an NFL player. True, maybe 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:39.480 part of it is just let him focus on getting 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:41.720 better at that position. I thought it was gonna be 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:44.160 Joe Looney. I still thought he would come back and 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:46.680 they would have to sign him to be the backup center. 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:49.360 And then he goes to the Giants and realize, I 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:51.920 don't like dude this anymore. I'm gonna retire, And it's like, oh, 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:55.400 any media retire gets your thirty Come on, gosh, So 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:58.280 Joe probably didn't like all the running Judge makes him. Yeah, 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.040 that's true. What do we do? He was like, you 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:04.600 know what, I'm good. It's like, JG, what are you doing? What? 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:06.920 I gotta run here? I thought I was just coming 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.440 to be the backup center. So, I mean, this has 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:13.120 been a conversation throughout the time in OXNARNT, throughout the 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:15.840 off season about the potential of Connor Williams making that 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:17.480 switch to center. But I don't know if I've ever 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:19.640 asked this question, and both of you can answer, but 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:23.160 I'll start with Mickey here. How tough of a transition 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.560 is that? From a guard who has played sole guard 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.760 the entirety of his career, college, high school doesn't matter. 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:32.880 Now he's in the NFL, he's gotta make a switch 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:35.080 from guard to center. That seems like it's a tougher 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:37.560 switch than a lot of people might look at and 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:40.360 see you on paper. Well, I think the tougher part 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:44.680 is is now you've got to control everything you know. 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:46.680 You gotta know what the defense is doing, and you 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:50.160 gotta make the line calls for everybody. So you really 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:52.320 got to have a good concept of what's going on. 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:55.480 And then you know they're gonna line somebody right up 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:57.360 on your head and hit you as soon as you 0:16:57.440 --> 0:16:59.880 snap the ball and you got to be ready to go. Now, 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.920 can it be done? Mark Stepnoski was a guard at 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:06.879 at pitt And and the Cowboys turned him into a 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:11.159 Pro Bowl center, so he was it can be done, 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:15.840 but I think it's not done overnight. Um. As a 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:19.600 matter of fact, you know step was a Pro Bowl center. Well, 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:24.720 his rookie year, he didn't start a game until they 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.880 were probably one in ten, and they put him in. 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:30.239 They put him in at center because they knew that 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:32.520 was kind of where they were going to go with him. 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:36.320 Well what a year. Yeah, thanks, it was. It was 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.760 eight and nine before they won that game on Sunday night, 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:42.639 and of course they would win the only game of 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:46.080 the year on Sunday night. Uh, when we were right 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.800 on deadline, right and in an old RFK with a 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:52.959 press box that was so crowded, we were sitting like 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.600 this right too, because so there wasn't enough room to 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.520 stretch out because my shoulders were so big. You've told 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:02.720 me many times you were for an O and sixteen. 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:06.040 I wanted history. I said, well, I'm gonna cover history 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:08.480 here the first year I have this team on my own. 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:10.800 And then they win a game and I'm going, now, 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:15.119 it's just a bad season. Rob. Would you think about 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:17.200 the switch? Mickey nailed it. I mean it comes down 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:20.840 to your the quarterback upfront, pre snap, you make all 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:24.080 the adjustments, you get everybody in the right checks. And 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:27.640 I don't think that's a difficult transition for him, because 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:30.480 Mike McCarthy spoke about it the other day. They train 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:32.919 the guards in the centers the same way, so and 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:35.000 he's been in this system for three years, so he 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.159 knows what's going on. It's not like he's coming in. 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:39.720 It's not like Matt Farniac's trying to do this. You're 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:42.000 one first camp. I don't worry about that so much. 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:44.320 I think what Mickey said, it's also it's it's the 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:46.560 added element of having to snap the ball and then 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:48.840 you've got somebody right in your face. I'm sure that's 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.120 an adjustment as well, but I don't I think from 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:54.800 a pre snap standpoint, I think it's something he can handle. 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:58.440 He's been around for a while. And think about from 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:05.199 a physical standpoint, there's a reason why, unlike snaps for kicks, 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.240 that they've changed the rule and you can't line head 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:10.359 up on the on the deep snapper. Yeah, you know 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:12.359 you got to beat to the side, and why are 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.240 they doing that for safety? Well, on defense, they can 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:17.719 put a four hundred pound guy on your head, right 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:19.720 right on top, and then it just pound the heck 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:21.640 out of you as you after you snap the ball. 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:23.920 So yeah, it's this and then you got to come 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.600 up and do this, and it's not easy. In terms 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:28.800 of the timing. I feel like it's a it's vastly 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:32.240 different compared to what it looks like on paper, because 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:34.760 I mean, whenever you're watching film and whenever you're actually 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.399 looking at the play, it looks like a guy just 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:39.480 doing the same thing, except you have to snap the ball. 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:41.960 Then you have to readjust yourself and then make a 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:45.320 block immediately with a one technique or a zerotique technique 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:48.960 right over the top of here. So you're you're concerned 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:53.360 about that position. And then once again it reared its 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:55.680 ugly head in the Hall of Fame game, you're concerned 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:59.000 about who's that swing tackle. I was just it's a 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:02.240 bigger question. Didn't come in. Can't play that left tackle 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:04.919 position or the right side. We have a fan question 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:07.040 about that. Okay, So we're gonna take a break and 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:09.359 on the way back, we're gonna answer the question I 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:11.520 was trying the question you were trying to get to 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:14.080 when we come back with more talking cowboys here on 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:18.240 Dallas Cowboys dot com. Honey, big News Gary, Are you okay? Oh? 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:21.720 I'm not Gary anymore. I'm Jackie Flash. What see? I 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:23.880 want the latest smartphone, but the best deals are only 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:25.920