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Speaker 2: Cowboys Let's go. Are you ready for a break?
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Speaker 1: It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: with Mbar Garcia, Brian brought Us, Patrick Walker, and Derek Eagleton.
Speaker 6: It is Wednesday, October eighteenth, twenty twenty three, Season nineteen,
Speaker 6: episode number fifty three. Welcome to the latest edition of
Speaker 6: The Break, and I have got a really special surprise
Speaker 6: for you guys out there listening. I actually, when I
Speaker 6: put together this mashup of hosts on the different shows,
Speaker 6: the one thing I wanted to do on this show,
Speaker 6: Cowboys Break, was I wanted to people I thought probably
Speaker 6: had some of the most diverse opinions of our entire
Speaker 6: staff and put them together and then just like toss
Speaker 6: the ball up in there and let y'all go just like.
Speaker 2: The That's exactly what I've done.
Speaker 6: We've got Danny McCrae from Players Lounge, We've got Nick
Speaker 6: Harris from Talking Cowboys, got John Michold also from Talking Cowboys,
Speaker 6: and it's time to step up. You guys are now
Speaker 6: in the big leagues and so we can get this
Speaker 6: thing rolling. I do want to start first with a
Speaker 6: big picture, really big picture question. After six weeks, six games,
Speaker 6: give me just your biggest storyline you think that's surrounding
Speaker 6: this team at this point of the season heading into
Speaker 6: the by after what McCarthy calls the first trimester.
Speaker 7: Starr with you, John, Probably I was gonna say a
Speaker 7: stale offense, but there was a little bit of a
Speaker 7: heartbeat in Los Angeles, so I'll say a somewhat stale offense.
Speaker 8: That's my thing.
Speaker 7: I mean, there's been up and downs with the defense,
Speaker 7: but it's it's the offense, like where Yeah, obviously it
Speaker 7: can't be what it is right now. When you play
Speaker 7: the Eagles multiple times and get to the playoffs, it
Speaker 7: has to get much better. So can they continue building
Speaker 7: on where they are right now? I would think that
Speaker 7: at the bare minimum, they have to get something going
Speaker 7: in the run game for that to happen. So that
Speaker 7: would be my overarching storyline because going into this season
Speaker 7: that was gonna be the big thing. Was you know,
Speaker 7: no Kellen Moore and Mike McCarthy's calling the plays, how's
Speaker 7: it gonna look. And the way the season started, you're like, well,
Speaker 7: this complimentary football thing, nobody else knows how to do.
Speaker 7: This seems like it's pretty easy here. But yeah, it's
Speaker 7: it's definitely getting that offense going and how's it gonna look.
Speaker 9: So for me, it's inconsistency. That's that's been the thing.
Speaker 9: You never know what team you're gonna get every Sunday
Speaker 9: each week. It's like a Jekyll and Hyde and you
Speaker 9: typically know about halfway through the first quarter. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 9: this is the team that they came with today, or
Speaker 9: it's oh, this is the team they came with today.
Speaker 9: So there's got to be a level of consistency, especially
Speaker 9: with the opponents that you mentioned that they got coming
Speaker 9: up out of the break. You know, you got Rams Eagles.
Speaker 9: You know, it doesn't get easier, and then later in
Speaker 9: the season Buffalo Miami. You have to have consistent team
Speaker 9: on both sides of the ball to play against those
Speaker 9: type of opponents. So for me, it's insist See why,
Speaker 9: there is a lot of negatives that you can draw
Speaker 9: out of these first six weeks. So you're still foreign
Speaker 9: two and I think that's probably a best case scenario,
Speaker 9: considering how they've played in some of these games.
Speaker 3: Yeah, mine is the lack of what I expected from
Speaker 3: being from bringing in Brandon Cooks, having Ceedee Lamb going
Speaker 3: into this year, hearing what I heard out of training camp,
Speaker 3: expecting Michael Gallup to then be healthy, saying all right,
Speaker 3: we have some explosive players this offense. Although we're gonna
Speaker 3: play to the strength of our defense, we're still gonna
Speaker 3: be able to take some shots and complete those passes.
Speaker 4: And we just haven't seen that. Right.
Speaker 3: So, when I'm looking at a guy like Brandon Cooks
Speaker 3: and you say, okay, take the top off right, bust
Speaker 3: some hamstrings as he's running down, the defenders should be
Speaker 3: scared of him. I haven't seen that, and that's what
Speaker 3: I expected. So to your point, yes, this offense and
Speaker 3: not being able to then stretch the field and put
Speaker 3: some fear and some defenses is it's kind of that
Speaker 3: thing where I'm like, we got to see it if
Speaker 3: we want to be successful of this season.
Speaker 6: You touch on some thing their expectations. I'll take you
Speaker 6: guys back to training camp in Oxnard and what you
Speaker 6: thought of this team at that time. How much has
Speaker 6: that changed? Good or bad from what you thought of
Speaker 6: them going into the season to where they are right now.
Speaker 3: Because I wasn't at training camp, but I was hearing
Speaker 3: man Brandon Cooks fast, looking explosive. I was hearing about
Speaker 3: the crazy catches that Ceedee Lamb was making. I was
Speaker 3: hearing Michael Gallup is looking a lot healthier than he
Speaker 3: was last year. So my expectation was, Okay, although we're
Speaker 3: playing to that strength of the defense, we're still gonna
Speaker 3: go out here in dak Prescott's going to look like
Speaker 3: the dark Prescott of old because he has the weapons
Speaker 3: now which we've been asking for, and then I haven't
Speaker 3: seen it. So my expectation hasn't been met. But can
Speaker 3: it still be yes, because the last game we did
Speaker 3: see some shots get taken. Michael Gallup drop dropped, you know,
Speaker 3: one or two or whatever. But we're still taking those shots,
Speaker 3: and I think as the season goes on, if you
Speaker 3: continue taking those, then you'll catch them.
Speaker 8: I would say, if we're just going record wise, they're
Speaker 8: right where I thought they would be.
Speaker 7: I mean, at that time we chalking training camp, I'm
Speaker 7: thinking Aaron Rodgers is going to be with the Jets,
Speaker 7: and I thought that they would lose the Niners. Now,
Speaker 7: I didn't think it wuld look that ugly, but I
Speaker 7: thought that they would probably be around four and two,
Speaker 7: So that part doesn't surprise me. But the blowouts they
Speaker 7: had to start the season, just how I wouldn't want
Speaker 7: to say lack of ever, but just how poorly they
Speaker 7: came out against Arizona. I never would have expected that.
Speaker 7: And then just the fact of just how they got
Speaker 7: blown out by the Niners. I never thought that that
Speaker 7: would happen. I just felt like this team is built
Speaker 7: to play the Niners tight to where it comes down
Speaker 7: to like a last possession or two, let's see who's
Speaker 7: going to win this game, And for them for to
Speaker 7: be that one sided, I never would have expected that.
Speaker 7: With the fact of I mean, I get that they
Speaker 7: didn't have overshown, I get that they didn't have digs,
Speaker 7: but relatively speaking, you all across the rest of the league,
Speaker 7: I mean, they're relatively healthy going into that game. Finally
Speaker 7: that you know, the first team offensive line together, So
Speaker 7: I didn't expect that part of it.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I remember telling people back home whenever I was
Speaker 9: at training, Cable was like, you know, this team is
Speaker 9: pretty goo, like they it looks like they can play
Speaker 9: complimentary football on both sides. Just by the way the
Speaker 9: offense is being constructed. You see the big shots that
Speaker 9: they're able to take with the speed, guys like Brandon Cooks,
Speaker 9: and it wasn't only him. Cavante Turpin was getting super
Speaker 9: involved in the offense. We saw a glimpse of that
Speaker 9: in San Francisco, but I expected maybe a bit a
Speaker 9: little bit more of that at this point. And then
Speaker 9: Jalen Tolbert. I expected him to be a little bit
Speaker 9: more ingrained in the offense as well. But I think
Speaker 9: you could say that for any of the pass catchers
Speaker 9: at this point. As far as defense, the defensive side,
Speaker 9: Treyvon Diggs. Obviously, that injury hurts and that affects expectations
Speaker 9: in the secondary, But overall, I don't feel like my
Speaker 9: overall expectations declined whenever he was, you know, put out
Speaker 9: of the picture. The pass rush, you know, it's been
Speaker 9: up and down at times. Again, it's been like a
Speaker 9: Jekyll and Hyde, it feels like, but whenever they're on
Speaker 9: it's it's one of the best defenses in football.
Speaker 3: What about the tight end room, Yeah, because like we
Speaker 3: talk about it on the players lounges of like, Okay,
Speaker 3: Dalton Schultz was should we pay him?
Speaker 4: Should we not? But quarterbacks, the good ones.
Speaker 3: They need those outlets, right, those guys who are the
Speaker 3: safety blankets. Romo had it with Whinden, You see Kelsey,
Speaker 3: You see all these teams Goddard with with Philly, they
Speaker 3: have those guys. And you expected with Dalton Schultz leaving
Speaker 3: us drafting a guy in the second round of school
Speaker 3: and then also having hinder shot in Ferguson saying, Okay,
Speaker 3: Dak Prescott's going to have his guy stressed and seem
Speaker 3: if not, he's still going to have that safety outlet,
Speaker 3: and we haven't seen it. And to me, I think
Speaker 3: that is a huge, a huge thing as far as
Speaker 3: what Dak Prescott has not been able to do in
Speaker 3: the offense.
Speaker 6: But as you say that, my thought is, I think, yes, schoonmaker, hindershot.
Speaker 6: I don't think they've played up to Pat. I don't
Speaker 6: think they've been where you would have expected them to be.
Speaker 6: I think Ferguson has been as good as you would
Speaker 6: want him to be at this point in his career.
Speaker 2: I think he's given you that.
Speaker 6: I actually don't know if Dak even uses him as
Speaker 6: much as he's available to him.
Speaker 2: I think there are plays when you see.
Speaker 6: Ferguson gets open and that goes somewhere else with the
Speaker 6: ball for whatever reason. Sometimes it's completion, sometimes it's not.
Speaker 6: I don't know that I look at Ferguson and say
Speaker 6: he can't give you. The only area where I think
Speaker 6: Ferguson is not giving you what you had previously is
Speaker 6: in the red zone, and that's part of the red
Speaker 6: zone problems. Maybe you're not getting that same level of
Speaker 6: production from your tight ends in the red zone. But
Speaker 6: other than that, I think you're getting what you wanted
Speaker 6: from fergus.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, so I think I don't think it's I
Speaker 3: don't think it's the players. I think it's the comfort, comfortable,
Speaker 3: comfortableability with the player, right, because that Schultz is Dak's guy, right,
Speaker 3: So you have to then work to be have that
Speaker 3: connection with that with that person.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: Whitten and Romo had that connection to where Witten could
Speaker 3: close it.
Speaker 4: I mean Romo could close his eyes.
Speaker 3: And he would know exactly where Witten was going to
Speaker 3: be or if Winden was going to run the opposite
Speaker 3: rout of what he was supposed to do. Romo knew
Speaker 3: exactly why he was going to run that and the
Speaker 3: ball would be there. That is just a connection thing
Speaker 3: versus the skill of of what we have in the
Speaker 3: tight end room. I just don't think we have that. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and I think you had that with Dalton Schultzen. It
Speaker 3: was growing and you could see that in the numbers
Speaker 3: that that was Dak Prescott's guy worth the money. No, no, no,
Speaker 3: no no, I'm not saying we should have got I'm saying,
Speaker 3: when you look at what we're missing on the offense,
Speaker 3: then you may be missing then that safety blanket connection
Speaker 3: that Dak Prescott says, no matter what, no matter what,
Speaker 3: I'm going to be able to look at this guy
Speaker 3: or throw the ball up and he's going to figure
Speaker 3: out figure out a way to come down to get
Speaker 3: it on one of those third downs that you need
Speaker 3: or in the red zone.
Speaker 9: I think, in my opinion, I think Jake Ferguson's right
Speaker 9: where he needs to be, coming into a year where
Speaker 9: he's the full time starting tight end. If you had
Speaker 9: asked me this time last year, hey, one of these
Speaker 9: tight ends that's in the building right now, he's going
Speaker 9: to be the comfortable tight end one I would have
Speaker 9: lost my mind. It would be like there's no way.
Speaker 9: But Ferguson he's taking that challenge. I think he's right
Speaker 9: where he needs to be. He's creating that chemistry with Dak.
Speaker 9: He texted him before they left Levi Stadium last week
Speaker 9: and said, I'm with you to the wheels fall off,
Speaker 9: and that was That was kind of huge towards not
Speaker 9: only their chemistry, but you know, him being able to
Speaker 9: build that, you know, on field dynamic as well. I
Speaker 9: think there's I think there's a lot to be taken
Speaker 9: away from that. So I like where Ferguson is at,
Speaker 9: but the rest of the titands combined. I think I
Speaker 9: looked at up yesterday two receptions for four yards, so
Speaker 9: there's there's gotta be there's got to be some sort
Speaker 9: of added added, you know, expertise there in that tight
Speaker 9: end room. Scoonmaker, I think, is the guy you look at,
Speaker 9: though you brought him in as a second round pick,
Speaker 9: first round pick, hasn't done a whole lot either. So
Speaker 9: there's there's even added pressure on to schoon Maker for
Speaker 9: that for that same instance, so I want to see
Speaker 9: him get a little bit more ingrained in the offense,
Speaker 9: get him some red zone opportunities. He's got that big,
Speaker 9: wide frame. I want to see them try to use
Speaker 9: that in one on one situations. I think there's a
Speaker 9: lot a lot of stuff to be played with there.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's interesting how Schultz was a fourth round pick.
Speaker 7: Ferguson's a fourth round pick, and Jake's definitely ahead of
Speaker 7: where Schultz was after well going into his second season.
Speaker 8: So because which.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, so with that being the same, you know,
Speaker 7: you kind of compare expectations there a little bit. But
Speaker 7: really since Witten, I don't know that they've had that
Speaker 7: you know, I guess they did to certain points last
Speaker 7: year with Schultz, but there really was a little bit
Speaker 7: of some growing pains where it was supposed to be
Speaker 7: Schultz and actually it wasn't supposed to be Sulz, supposed
Speaker 7: to be Jarwin and Jarwin gets hurt, and then ever
Speaker 7: since then, they've been trying to find that next guy.
Speaker 8: And there's just something about tight ends.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 7: It just it's so tough to project, like who's going
Speaker 7: to be good in terms of where they're drafted at.
Speaker 7: You know, you know, like you see a Kyle Pitts
Speaker 7: goes super high, You're thinking, oh, this guy's coming in.
Speaker 7: He's about to wreck this league right now, and maybe
Speaker 7: if he's in a different situation, he does. But tight
Speaker 7: ends are one of those positions that it's like, I
Speaker 7: guess you just keep taking swings at the bat and
Speaker 7: hope that you get the right guy. I think Ferguson's
Speaker 7: the right guy, But to your point, I don't know
Speaker 7: if maybe he's quite right now where Schultz was when
Speaker 7: he laughed.
Speaker 9: You know what really hurts here is the fact that
Speaker 9: you could use a receiving type tight end that really
Speaker 9: excels in that part of his game but also has
Speaker 9: a little bit of run block and John Stevens student,
Speaker 9: I feel like he would have just been perfect at
Speaker 9: this moment right now.
Speaker 2: But between him and Overshown, I'll toss that to you.
Speaker 6: Guys like both of them during training camp were where
Speaker 6: guys have really stood out and you could see a
Speaker 6: role for them developing. Which do you think was a
Speaker 6: bigger loss for this team?
Speaker 9: I would have to be Overshown, just because of the
Speaker 9: injuries that have happened since then in the in the
Speaker 9: second level, and they were already thin before Overshown even
Speaker 9: went down, and thenfore Layton Vander esh went down, I
Speaker 9: would have to say him just because there's there's probably
Speaker 9: more of a role for him than John Stevens, but
Speaker 9: both of them do hurt in their own respective ways.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think it's overshown for me because not only
Speaker 7: the way he was playing, but there was something about
Speaker 7: like kind of a swagger I thought he would have
Speaker 7: brought with his playmaking ability that I wonder a little
Speaker 7: bit if they lost some of that with Digs going
Speaker 7: down to you know in that Niners game, it's like
Speaker 7: you watch a Niners game, You're not like, oh, if
Speaker 7: they have Trayvon Diggs, then this game's totally different. Not
Speaker 7: from a playing standpoint, maybe that the game is totally different,
Speaker 7: but I do think that that was like a major
Speaker 7: blow to this team because he brings something that is
Speaker 7: a little bit of a swagger, a little bit of
Speaker 7: an energy that's a little bit different. And then Overshown
Speaker 7: I think would have done the same thing where you
Speaker 7: just have these ballhawks on different levels making these big
Speaker 7: time plays, and I think it's taken them a little
Speaker 7: bit to get over that.
Speaker 8: So it would be overshown for me.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Same here.
Speaker 3: I think when you see the impact that Overshwan was
Speaker 3: having in the preseason, you say, okay, if he can
Speaker 3: translate that then to the regular season, then you have
Speaker 3: a very strong linebacking corps. And then you look at
Speaker 3: the teams that have good defenses or great defenses, those
Speaker 3: linebackers are flying around. I just remember watching Tampa with
Speaker 3: with Devin White right on the sideline. The sideline you're
Speaker 3: watching Fred Warner now up there with San Francisco, Like,
Speaker 3: the lineback and position can change the game for you.
Speaker 3: And when you look at the guy like Overshowing, you're like,
Speaker 3: oh man, that's the expectation for this guy. Maybe a
Speaker 3: little should be a little bit higher than what we
Speaker 3: thought it should be. So with him going down, I
Speaker 3: think that was a huge especially with now Lve and
Speaker 3: then now you have the Mount Clark as a young
Speaker 3: guy and they're kind of kind of taking the reins.
Speaker 3: It's just hard to make up for a.
Speaker 4: Guy like that.
Speaker 6: Frankly, that was what overshown was that Texas was that
Speaker 6: kind of fly around got always around the ball, always
Speaker 6: making plays. So it wasn't really a shock to me
Speaker 6: to see it when he got here, but certainly it
Speaker 6: was a shock to see it happened that soon and
Speaker 6: him to start flashing that early and flashing as often
Speaker 6: as he did, so I really think that's a huge
Speaker 6: loss for them. We're gonna take our first break when
Speaker 6: we come back. I got a lot of questions for
Speaker 6: these guys.
Speaker 4: We're gonna roll through.
Speaker 6: Some of these talk about what we think has happened
Speaker 6: to this team over the first trimester.
Speaker 2: Well, then when we come back. Dallas Cowboys dot Com Rao.
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Speaker 14: Welcome back into Dear Doctor, the show where I answer
Speaker 14: life's questions with an nice cold can off doctor Pepper, Sheila,
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Speaker 8: Would you, Dear Doctor?
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Speaker 2: Back to the Break Welcome back.
Speaker 6: It is the second segment of The Break Life in
Speaker 6: the s WBC Mortgage studios at the start were presented
Speaker 6: by blockchain dot Com. All right, I got a list
Speaker 6: of questions here that we're going to go through. Uh
Speaker 6: that will kind of tell everyone your opinions on what's
Speaker 6: happened over the first six games of the season. My
Speaker 6: first question for you guys is I want you to
Speaker 6: rank these in order of most meaningful win. New York Giants,
Speaker 6: New York Jets, New England Patriots, Los Angeles Chargers top
Speaker 6: to bottom most meaningful win.
Speaker 4: Chargers.
Speaker 3: First looking at the Jets, now, I think the Jets
Speaker 3: was a was a was a good win because their
Speaker 3: defense is playing really well. Giants and then Patriots. I
Speaker 3: don't know what's going on with the Patriots by everybody,
Speaker 3: so all of a sudden, those type of those blue
Speaker 3: bows don't seem as as as significant as they did
Speaker 3: at the beginning of the season.
Speaker 4: So that's what I got.
Speaker 8: I agree with the first too.
Speaker 7: I got the Patriots just above the Giants only because
Speaker 7: when they played the Patriots, you know, they still had
Speaker 7: oh my god, it's blanking me Graham, Grand Valley State kid,
Speaker 7: Matthew Judon, and they still had Christian goan Zales, and
Speaker 7: so I think that was a little bit he that's true.
Speaker 2: That's true. Do you got the first or second quarter?
Speaker 8: It was early yeah, yeah, yeah. And then just to
Speaker 8: hand Belichick that worst loss. That's the only reason why.
Speaker 7: And also I just don't really think too much of
Speaker 7: the Giants, so that's why they're just last there.
Speaker 8: But now I agree with you on the Chargers.
Speaker 7: I I'm not saying that anybody should do this, but
Speaker 7: I often go into games going, Okay, who's got the
Speaker 7: better quarterback, and I thought the Cowboys had a really
Speaker 7: good chance to win that game, but I did not
Speaker 7: think that Justin Herbert would play that poorly. And so
Speaker 7: because of that, I was like, man, that's gonna be
Speaker 7: a impressive when you can get that, especially coming off
Speaker 7: the Niners the Niners loss, so I would have that there.
Speaker 7: And then also just because looking back on the Jets now,
Speaker 7: you're like, man, that's looks like a pretty good win.
Speaker 8: I guess that defense a lot better than a lot
Speaker 8: of people thought.
Speaker 9: So yeah, I had to take the Chargers win first
Speaker 9: as well to the same points as you guys made,
Speaker 9: you know, being able to bounce back off the Niners
Speaker 9: loss and going into the bye week, all those things.
Speaker 9: For me, Number two is the Patriots win because of
Speaker 9: the Trayvon Diggs injury and then being able to bounce
Speaker 9: back and show that the defense still can perform to
Speaker 9: a high level and Deron Blant still can fill in,
Speaker 9: you know, for for injured guys and play well. And
Speaker 9: those two interceptions were huge, and I think that gave
Speaker 9: confidence that entire defensive unit, even if they kind of
Speaker 9: lost a little bit up the next week. But the
Speaker 9: third third out of the Jets and then fourth Giant.
Speaker 3: I just because I want to just push back a
Speaker 3: little bit with this. Patriots did they? So we gave
Speaker 3: Bill bail to check his worst loss, and what happened
Speaker 3: the next week stink worse.
Speaker 2: It was worse.
Speaker 4: Its close.
Speaker 9: I think it's the worst than McCarthy are.
Speaker 3: Ok yeah, And I'm like, wait, so the Patriots again,
Speaker 3: And then I'm looking at it and I'm saying, Okay,
Speaker 3: as it's happened, You're like, oh, this is impressive.
Speaker 4: And then the next week they go get smoked and
Speaker 4: I'm like.
Speaker 3: I wanted to have some positive like take away from this,
Speaker 3: and now they wouldn't got smoked again.
Speaker 4: The same thing with the Giants. They wouldn't. You know,
Speaker 4: they playoff team last year.
Speaker 3: Then you go into the first game, you're like, okay,
Speaker 3: we just beat the playoff team like that, and they
Speaker 3: one got forty put on them again. Like a couple
Speaker 3: of weeks later, you're like, us, what does this mean
Speaker 3: about us?
Speaker 4: So yeah, I don't know. Patriots.
Speaker 6: Next question, which problem area do you think is most
Speaker 6: urgently in need of being fixed? The red zone offense penalties?
Speaker 6: Right now, they are thirty first in the NFL and
Speaker 6: penalties per game, or the offensive line.
Speaker 9: I'll start here and say penalties, just because it seems
Speaker 9: like every time I was looking up on Sunday night,
Speaker 9: yellow flags just all over the place. There's got to
Speaker 9: be some sort of discipline emphasis going into this bye week.
Speaker 9: They've been talking about it since the Arizona game. Mike
Speaker 9: McCarthy has he said one of the plays lights as
Speaker 9: the team penalties and we got to clean those up.
Speaker 9: And even in some of the wins, like the penalties
Speaker 9: have really put them behind in some certain areas. It
Speaker 9: almost cost them the game on Monday nights. So for me,
Speaker 9: it's got to be penalties. But I understand the case
Speaker 9: for either of the other two.
Speaker 7: Yeah, penalties for me, just because I don't even think
Speaker 7: it's just this year thing. It's been the last few years.
Speaker 7: I mean, that was a huge issue, and that lost
Speaker 7: to the Niners at AT and T Stadium. Remember when
Speaker 7: the fans were throwing stuff. I mean obviously there was
Speaker 7: some you know issues there. I just maybe I'm biased
Speaker 7: because of since I've covered the team, I've only covered
Speaker 7: two eage coaches. It's Jason Garrett and Mike McCarthy, and
Speaker 7: they're definitely on those Mondays after games when we go
Speaker 7: do the walk up with Jason Garrett, there was plenty
Speaker 7: of like complaints and stuff about the penalties and things
Speaker 7: like that. I just don't remember as many times where
Speaker 7: Wisconsin like, well, double digit penalties here, you know, and
Speaker 7: especially the pre snap stuff. I mean, and I know
Speaker 7: that that bothers Mike McCarthy the most. It's the lining
Speaker 7: up off sides, false starts and things like that. So
Speaker 7: that for me is clearly number one, because I mean,
Speaker 7: I think if the offense stays healthy, I do think
Speaker 7: that the red zone will figure itself out.
Speaker 8: The longer these guys play together.
Speaker 7: If you can keep that offensive line healthy, I do
Speaker 7: think that I'll figure itself out. The penalty thing, though,
Speaker 7: I can't sit here and such say today that I
Speaker 7: think it's gonna be any better five weeks from now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm going I would say offense because we did
Speaker 3: expect I did expect more. But then if you're gonna
Speaker 3: play this type of offense whereas conservative and you plan
Speaker 3: to the hands of your defense, then you can't afford
Speaker 3: to be behind the sticks. You can't afford to then
Speaker 3: extend drops on defense as well, because that is not
Speaker 3: what you're playing to. So I think it's more important
Speaker 3: and more impactful for you to take care of what
Speaker 3: you're doing in the penalty with your penalty numbers, because
Speaker 3: third and fifteen, first and fifteen are you make a
Speaker 3: big play and then all of a sudden you get
Speaker 3: a holding call that sets you back when you're not
Speaker 3: that explosive on offense. You need to make sure that
Speaker 3: you have that cleaned up, so, you know, because I
Speaker 3: don't know how much faith we have in converting a
Speaker 3: third and fifteen.
Speaker 9: Yeah, it'd be different if like some of these penalties
Speaker 9: were not you know, or if they were you know,
Speaker 9: part of the game. You know, physical pass interference as
Speaker 9: those happens to every team, Like I wouldn't be worried
Speaker 9: about that if it happened once or twice a game.
Speaker 9: But it's the lining up off sides, so twelve men
Speaker 9: on the field, having to burn a time out so
Speaker 9: you can get the right guys on the field. It's
Speaker 9: it's not it's lining up on the line of scrimmage
Speaker 9: when you shouldn't be. It's just it's the little things
Speaker 9: and that's just discipline at the end of the day.
Speaker 9: That that's something that got to work.
Speaker 3: I remember Kevin Joseph did that and we were like,
Speaker 3: oh goodness, grazy Kevin Joseph. Of course right because he
Speaker 3: would get a penalty on defense, penalty on specal seams.
Speaker 4: We thought it was over and I was like, wait,
Speaker 4: hold on, wait, not curse.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exact same side of the field playing man and
Speaker 3: man covers lined up outside. So I think it's a
Speaker 3: it's an attention to detailed thing and also then the
Speaker 3: lack of focus, but that is something I think you
Speaker 3: can get fixed, especially from a veteran guy.
Speaker 4: So hopefully you won't see any more.
Speaker 3: Of those, but if you do, yeah, I know it's
Speaker 3: a it's just like like you said, it's not just
Speaker 3: this year. This has been a couple of year thing
Speaker 3: of dealing with penalties with Mike McCarthy.
Speaker 7: Yeah, fourteen for fourteen penalties eight nine yards in that.
Speaker 7: I just looked it up for that nine game two
Speaker 7: years ago in the playoff. It was such a huge
Speaker 7: part of that game, and that's when I really kind
Speaker 7: of was like, maybe this is just the style that
Speaker 7: they want to play. There's always I've always had that belief,
Speaker 7: but like the Seattle, you know, back end of the defense, like, hey,
Speaker 7: we're gonna be physical, but I bet you don't call
Speaker 7: all these I bet you don't throw all these flags,
Speaker 7: and a lot of times they don't.
Speaker 8: And to be honest with you, I think the Niners
Speaker 8: kind of play that.
Speaker 7: Way a little bit too, where they get real grabby
Speaker 7: on the back end and they're just like, well, they're
Speaker 7: not gonna throw a flag in all this. That's one style.
Speaker 7: The other is all the pre snap stuff. You can't
Speaker 7: have that, you know.
Speaker 6: So yeah, yeah, I'm I'm actually kind of surprised that
Speaker 6: none of you guys took the red zone offense, just
Speaker 6: because it goes back to what you are arguing, Danny,
Speaker 6: when you're gonna play the style of game where you're
Speaker 6: gonna say, we're going to be a little we're not
Speaker 6: gonna be as explosive offensively, we're going to play into
Speaker 6: the hands of our defensive special teams, gonna get short fields,
Speaker 6: give our offense opportunity to get scores. To me, it
Speaker 6: becomes even more important when you get in red zone,
Speaker 6: especially when you get in goal to go situations. You
Speaker 6: gotta score. You gotta score touchdowns. You can't settle for
Speaker 6: field goals. And to me, I think that's a bigger
Speaker 6: problem when you start thinking about it, because how many
Speaker 6: games this year with the Cowboys have scored even more
Speaker 6: points than what they scored If the offense just could
Speaker 6: have taken advantage of the opportunities that were there before them,
Speaker 6: I think that really is the biggest issue.
Speaker 3: I'm the fool here because I love dan Quinn so
Speaker 3: much that I'm like, even when we get in it,
Speaker 3: like when the red zone problems are there and they
Speaker 3: were kicking field goals, I was saying, hey, man, in
Speaker 3: every drive with a kick in your team, if your
Speaker 3: defense plays how we expect them to play, has a
Speaker 3: shot in any game, right, So if you get down
Speaker 3: there instead of going forward on fourth and fourth and whatever,
Speaker 3: if you kick a field go and leave with three,
Speaker 3: I still think that you got a shot at winning
Speaker 3: the game. So I was okay with the field goals
Speaker 3: and not scoring the touchdowns. I thought when I thought
Speaker 3: that our defense was always going to be a that's.
Speaker 6: My question, like, do you guys still think that this
Speaker 6: defense is as special as we may have thought it
Speaker 6: was earlier in the season.
Speaker 2: I know after week two I was.
Speaker 6: Saying, hey, that we might be watching their ascension to
Speaker 6: being the best defense in the league and maybe one
Speaker 6: of those defenses that you talk about years down the road.
Speaker 6: I don't know that I believe that anymore. What do
Speaker 6: you guys fall with this defense?
Speaker 9: Yeah, definitely not. It's not the Legion of Doom or
Speaker 9: the eighty five Bears that they were trying we were
Speaker 9: all trying to compare them to. After Week two, it's
Speaker 9: not that, for sure. My expectations have changed. But I
Speaker 9: think a little bit goes into the complimentary football that
Speaker 9: the offense has been giving them. I mean, in that
Speaker 9: first half against the Niners, my goodness, like they were.
Speaker 9: I can't I can't fault them for any of their
Speaker 9: faults that they had. Even when they were backed up
Speaker 9: into the red zone off that Tony Pollard fumble, Jordan
Speaker 9: Lewis was able to force the McCaffrey fumble and get
Speaker 9: give the offense another opportunity and another three now. So
Speaker 9: there just needs to be a little bit better complimentary
Speaker 9: football from the offensive side. But that doesn't mean the
Speaker 9: defense is perfect. The run defense has been up and down.
Speaker 9: That they were able to limit Eckler, they were largely
Speaker 9: able to limit McCaffrey until you know later in the game,
Speaker 9: Jordan Mason came in and got some extra run and
Speaker 9: then in the Cardinals game that kind of speaks for itself.
Speaker 9: But if they can just have consistency in that run game,
Speaker 9: I think they'll be fine. I think they can still
Speaker 9: be a top five defense in this league. I'm confident
Speaker 9: than that. They just need to find a little bit
Speaker 9: of consistency.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I worry about us playing the upper echelon teams.
Speaker 3: As we said, the teams that they played at the
Speaker 3: beginning when we thought that they were going to be
Speaker 3: this generational defense and then we figure out that those
Speaker 3: teams are also playing that way against other teams. Is
Speaker 3: where I'm like, okay, well the confidence went down. Then
Speaker 3: then you lose Trayvon Di's and you're like, okay, all right,
Speaker 3: we'll see, we'll see what that is a huge loss
Speaker 3: because we know at any given time Trayvon dis can
Speaker 3: then get an interception or take that interception back for seven. Right,
Speaker 3: he's an eight entire like he could change the entire game.
Speaker 3: So I don't feel as confident playing against a team
Speaker 3: like Detroit. Like there I say, like, oh wait, we're
Speaker 3: talking about the Detroit Lions. Like when you get to
Speaker 3: playing those teams, the Eagles, maybe the Rams. I don't
Speaker 3: feel as comfortable as I felt before because I was like,
Speaker 3: we can shut anybody out after the first two games,
Speaker 3: but we can hold them to zero. And now I
Speaker 3: don't feel as confident and then. But the great thing
Speaker 3: about it is we won't be playing the forty nine
Speaker 3: ers again until possibly the playoffs. And I think that
Speaker 3: is a that's an offense that just gives you problems,
Speaker 3: especially when you have young guys out there playing and
Speaker 3: they have to figure out how to read pulling tackles
Speaker 3: and then not see the go sweep coming across. I
Speaker 3: think that was that was played a lot into why
Speaker 3: they were able to make some of the players that
Speaker 3: they did.
Speaker 9: I'll tell you this, every time I watched the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 9: I just dread Christmas Eve. I just that's gonna be
Speaker 9: tough because this defense that struggles with speed that they've
Speaker 9: proven it so far this season, and that is probably
Speaker 9: the fastest team in football history.
Speaker 6: And not only that, you think about what they've done
Speaker 6: over the first this defense has been solid in a
Speaker 6: lot of areas win area. I think that doesn't get
Speaker 6: talked about a lot. Is they lose receivers downfield regularly.
Speaker 2: Every game.
Speaker 6: It tends to happen at least once or twice. This
Speaker 6: last game they didn't get burned by, but Keenan Allen
Speaker 6: had two plays where he beat them downfield. Should have
Speaker 6: been a touchdown on at least one of them them
Speaker 6: in my opinion. And when you start playing teams that
Speaker 6: are but by the way you think about the quarterbacks
Speaker 6: and the wide receiver tandems that you've played so far,
Speaker 6: they're nothing compared to what you're gonna face as the
Speaker 6: season goes on, right with the Eagles, with the with
Speaker 6: the Bills, with the Chargers, like, there's gonna be some
Speaker 6: some teams that have real walk quarterback wide receiver duos
Speaker 6: that that can that are extremely dangerous. If the Cowboys
Speaker 6: don't get that part fixed on the back end, that's
Speaker 6: gonna be a problem and that will be exposed as defense.
Speaker 6: I think in a way that they haven't really been
Speaker 6: exposed at this point.
Speaker 3: Yeah, listen, Keenan Allen and and Justin Herbert before they
Speaker 3: got to that game on Monday, unreal. And I don't
Speaker 3: even watch the Chargers like that, but I do have
Speaker 3: Keenan Allen on my fantasy football.
Speaker 4: Team, So I know, I know he's having a hell
Speaker 4: of a season.
Speaker 3: And if Justin Herbert does hit that the one it
Speaker 3: was a double move on he fell down and if
Speaker 3: you hit that, if you hit that, then the game
Speaker 3: is different, right, So yeah, you are going to play
Speaker 3: against some teams.
Speaker 4: Where you're hit.
Speaker 3: They're here, they they're not missing that one. Justin Herbert
Speaker 3: had a very bad day. That was the problemly an anomaly,
Speaker 3: and thankfully he had it against us because it helped
Speaker 3: us going to the Bible with the win.
Speaker 4: But yes, you are, Yes, we saw it with Kittle.
Speaker 6: Kittle got open on that on the one play where
Speaker 6: it's like who's to be covering. Everybody was in man coverage,
Speaker 6: but it looked like he was in And it was
Speaker 6: just those situations where they lose receivers in the back
Speaker 6: end of the defense and then those things can turn
Speaker 6: to really big plays when you're playing really competent offense.
Speaker 7: And I don't think you can be a generational defense
Speaker 7: if to have that game against Arizona not in week three.
Speaker 7: You don't need wake up calls in week three of
Speaker 7: your generational defense. Like everybody says, defense travels, I mean
Speaker 7: you can have a bad game, but it it can't
Speaker 7: look like that. I'm sorry, not against Joshua Dobbs and
Speaker 7: that crew, and I mean no disrespect to them, but
Speaker 7: I mean, look what they've done since then.
Speaker 8: That can't happen, and not.
Speaker 7: If you're going to be on that you know, like
Speaker 7: the Ravens Bucks, those great you know Seahawks defenses.
Speaker 9: Yeah, and I wonder how much of it is initiated
Speaker 9: in the secondary, in the back end, by maybe them
Speaker 9: expecting the pass rush to get home a little bit
Speaker 9: quicker on other times, because you look at the games
Speaker 9: that they've won, it's the pass rush that's kind of
Speaker 9: started the momentum there, and then the secondary is able
Speaker 9: to play more physical, They're able to come up and
Speaker 9: you know, lose some guys downfield as a result. But
Speaker 9: justin Herbert, yeah he had a bad game on Monday night,
Speaker 9: But how much wasn't attributed to that pass rush getting home.
Speaker 9: I think they had seventeen pressures in total, and when
Speaker 9: they have more than fifteen pressures and stan Quinn's been here,
Speaker 9: they're seventeen and two. So whenever they get home, it
Speaker 9: allows that secondary to be a little bit more physical
Speaker 9: a little bit more aggressive, but it's going to burn them.
Speaker 9: And it burned them against Arizona and that Marco Wilson's
Speaker 9: sixty nine yard reception, and it's gonna burn them again.
Speaker 9: It's just it's kind of a nature of just having
Speaker 9: that type of defense. But you look at the Niners.
Speaker 9: They play the exact same way. They have an aggressive
Speaker 9: pass rush and their secondary plays aggressive too. They don't
Speaker 9: give up those big plays. So there's got to be
Speaker 9: something on the back end that gets fixed.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm glad you wrapped that Wilson play though, because
Speaker 7: that was a big backbreaker when that defense was really
Speaker 7: starting to get momentum playing well. They overcame what they
Speaker 7: did in the first half, and then you have that
Speaker 7: and you're just like.
Speaker 9: I think it was third down too, It's like all right.
Speaker 7: And the other thing is too, is that I always
Speaker 7: complain about this, like it's it's just tough to see
Speaker 7: some of the stuff when you're watching it, like on TV,
Speaker 7: when you're up in the press box and you're just
Speaker 7: seeing you just see some of the stuff before it happened,
Speaker 7: just like, oh, why is that guy? If anybody within
Speaker 7: twenty five yards, agad does anybody else see that. Anybody
Speaker 7: else see that? And then he throws you just like, oh,
Speaker 7: that's not gonna be great for them there. So yeah,
Speaker 7: just because the defense overcame things but then still had that.
Speaker 7: That's another reason why I just it's hired for me
Speaker 7: to say. I will say though, I thought that going
Speaker 7: into the season. Now going into next season, with what
Speaker 7: I think they'll be able to keep you get over
Speaker 7: shown back and digs, I do think it does have
Speaker 7: the pieces there in spots to be one of those
Speaker 7: type defenses.
Speaker 8: I just don't think it's there yet.
Speaker 2: All Right, we're gonna take our final break. We will
Speaker 2: come back.
Speaker 6: Next question I will have for these guys will be
Speaker 6: what has been the most important what will be the
Speaker 6: most impactful injury as we go down the rest of
Speaker 6: the season between Leydon, Van Dersh and Treyvon Diggs will
Speaker 6: be back.
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Speaker 2: Today, welcome back. We are in the final segment of
Speaker 2: the break Reel Lives from the s WBC studios.
Speaker 6: At the start, I got my special guest here today,
Speaker 6: Danny McCrae, Nick Harris, John Maschota, and they'll be with
Speaker 6: us today and then again on Monday. We're not gonna
Speaker 6: have shows on Thursday and Friday this week. I know
Speaker 6: the fans are gonna hit me up about that, but
Speaker 6: I think it's important to give our guys a little
Speaker 6: time to kind of regroup and uh and get their
Speaker 6: live together.
Speaker 9: What are you doing me?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm gonna sit on my couch.
Speaker 9: There we go and do.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, you're not going back to New York.
Speaker 15: No.
Speaker 4: Last night, half one. Last week.
Speaker 6: My daughter's in college. This I went go see her
Speaker 6: for parents weekend. I've been traveling between games and going
Speaker 6: to see her. Like I've been traveling a lot lately.
Speaker 6: I'm very happy to go just sit somewhere.
Speaker 2: And just sit.
Speaker 4: Okay, so here we go.
Speaker 6: Next question I have for you guys, what do you
Speaker 6: think is a more impactful injury and you can talk
Speaker 6: about it to this point, but also projecting down the
Speaker 6: line based on what you've seen between Leyton Vandersh and
Speaker 6: Trayvon Diggs.
Speaker 2: Not necessarily the best player.
Speaker 6: Between the two, but which one is going to be
Speaker 6: more impactful as far as they're the they're loss to
Speaker 6: the team.
Speaker 4: LV.
Speaker 3: To me, I think when you look back at this
Speaker 3: team over the last two years, the thing that you
Speaker 3: try to fix on defense has been the run game.
Speaker 3: You go out and draft Mosi Smith in the first
Speaker 3: round because you're like, hey, in order for us to
Speaker 3: compete and make it deeper in the playoffs and we
Speaker 3: play against these physical teams Philly and the forty nine ers,
Speaker 3: we need to be able to stop the run. Well, Lady,
Speaker 3: vanders is a huge piece of you stopping to run
Speaker 3: and your inability to do that. If that's what the
Speaker 3: effect of not having LV is, then that's used for
Speaker 3: you because you've on defense, you feel like that is
Speaker 3: what stopped you from being better and moving further in
Speaker 3: the playoffs.
Speaker 4: So I think it's LV.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think it's LV too, and it's just because
Speaker 7: of the I mean, you go back to the way
Speaker 7: the team look going into training camp, and at that
Speaker 7: time you were like, man, it looks kind of thin
Speaker 7: at linebacker, looks kind of thin at linebacker, and then overshown,
Speaker 7: captain proven, and you're like, Okay, they got some depth here.
Speaker 8: They're gonna be okay.
Speaker 7: Then you lose him and you're just like, who it
Speaker 7: looks pretty thin again. Now, I will say Mark east
Speaker 7: Bell has definitely exceeded my expectations, but I just still
Speaker 7: think that there is better death with and and it
Speaker 7: kind of factors in just the way Jeron Bland's played
Speaker 7: like he's just picked up right where he left off
Speaker 7: and he continues to exceed my expectations as well.
Speaker 8: So because of.
Speaker 7: That, I still think they can get the takeaways that
Speaker 7: they've been able to do so well the last couple
Speaker 7: of years, which I never thought I would say that
Speaker 7: if you told me that Digs is gone and you know,
Speaker 7: after a couple of games end of the season. But
Speaker 7: they do have enough of those playmakers on the back end.
Speaker 7: But I still have concerns about linebacker.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm there too, with Layton being the more impactful injury.
Speaker 9: I love what Marky's belt did against the Chargers like,
Speaker 9: do not get me wrong. I think he could make
Speaker 9: an argument he was the best player for the Cowboys
Speaker 9: on Monday Night. You know, he was filling running lanes,
Speaker 9: he was stepping back into coverage, he was reading things
Speaker 9: pre snap. He was doing everything you wanted him to do.
Speaker 9: But it's hard to expect that from him every single
Speaker 9: game out, especially whenever the speed ramps up when you
Speaker 9: played teams like Buffalo, Miami, Philadelphia, and when the scheme
Speaker 9: kind of ramps up with teams like Miami and Detroit
Speaker 9: and things like that. So I kind of worry about
Speaker 9: Marque's spelt long term going into the season at that
Speaker 9: linebacker position. And again, he's undersized, and you know that's
Speaker 9: that's gonna be tough whenever you're going up against those
Speaker 9: really physical runners that will probably plow through Bell a
Speaker 9: couple times and he's gonna get his bell wrong. But
Speaker 9: I think I think that's got to be the more
Speaker 9: impactful injury. And also again factoring in what Deron Blant
Speaker 9: has done so far, he's been he's been incredible. I
Speaker 9: think they got a young star there. It's crazy to
Speaker 9: think that easily the third best cornerback on this team
Speaker 9: is leading the NFL in interceptions since the startup last season.
Speaker 9: So no, I really like what Darron Blan's done.
Speaker 3: I do hate to imagine Deron blanet slot and Trayvon
Speaker 3: Digg still outside. Yeah, just just what with Stephan, Like
Speaker 3: the dreams that you have about like the turnover ability
Speaker 3: and ability to lack of players down with having all
Speaker 3: three of those on the field, I'm sure they'll be
Speaker 3: dreaming about it going in the next year, But like I,
Speaker 3: we're missing a lot with.
Speaker 9: I'll tell you this, this is something I've been kind
Speaker 9: of thinking about over the course the last couple of
Speaker 9: weeks as de Ron Bland is just ramped up and
Speaker 9: looked really good. Does he play so well this season
Speaker 9: that you let Gilmour walk after a year and just
Speaker 9: put him on the boundary or would you rather have
Speaker 9: Bland in the slot and bring back Gilmore and have
Speaker 9: all three of them together.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, it brings up an interesting question because
Speaker 6: I know on our show we were talking yesterday about
Speaker 6: Gilmore and Brian was making the point that he's starting
Speaker 6: to see some things that suggest to him that Gilmore
Speaker 6: may have some challenges as the season wears on.
Speaker 2: That being said, I think then.
Speaker 6: Your question becomes even more apparent if not only is
Speaker 6: Bland playing much better or playing showing you that he
Speaker 6: can play on the outside in a real great way
Speaker 6: for this team. In addition to that, maybe Gilmore isn't
Speaker 6: as great as maybe wanted him to be or thought
Speaker 6: he should be. How does that affect him.
Speaker 3: I gotta see Gilmore because I see those same things.
Speaker 3: But it's Gilmore, right. I have to see him then
Speaker 3: play for the rest of the season before I can
Speaker 3: say I'm not sure, because him losing a step is
Speaker 3: still probably going to be better than whoever you bring
Speaker 3: in here, especially if it's a young guy. If we
Speaker 3: can get Gilmore playing how he's playing now right, whereas
Speaker 3: they're not attacking him, he still can go out there
Speaker 3: and turn the ball over and you can get darn
Speaker 3: Bland inside because do you remember so Orlando Scandrick was here,
Speaker 3: how many they fought tooth and nail to make sure
Speaker 3: that he stayed here. Because the importance of having somebody
Speaker 3: who can really play that nickel position is huge for
Speaker 3: your defense. That allows you to do so many things.
Speaker 3: So if you can get a guy like Darron Bland
Speaker 3: and still have Gilmore, I think you try to do that.
Speaker 3: But that all is if Gilmore continues to play and
Speaker 3: he's serviceable. Right, if you get out there and for
Speaker 3: the next six weeks of the season and you're like,
Speaker 3: oh man, we're in trouble, then yeah, d ron Bland
Speaker 3: probably is going outside.
Speaker 6: Yeah, when you play those teams that we were talking
Speaker 6: about earlier that have those real speed guys out at
Speaker 6: wide receiver, that's when it gets real challenging. Because I
Speaker 6: think even when you had Digs, my concern was when
Speaker 6: you play faster receivers, Gilmore going to be able to
Speaker 6: keep up? If you're taking fast receivers and sending them
Speaker 6: cross field, is he going to be able to carry
Speaker 6: that guy? And I don't know what the answer is
Speaker 6: to that. I'm seeing things that suggested maybe that's going
Speaker 6: to be a.
Speaker 2: Challenge for him.
Speaker 9: I think the one thing you can look at from
Speaker 9: Gilmore so far that will give you a little bit
Speaker 9: of positivities the fact that he's not giving up anything downfield.
Speaker 9: Most of the most of the stuff that he's giving
Speaker 9: up in the routes and he's being beat on or comeback,
Speaker 9: so it's like quick ends across the middle of the field.
Speaker 9: It's the action in front of him. So as long
Speaker 9: as he can stay there, I'm cool. But once he
Speaker 9: starts giving up things downfield, I think does when you
Speaker 9: have that conversation.
Speaker 7: Man, I'm not saying it it was his fall on it,
Speaker 7: but I'm pretty sure he was the one on Garrett
Speaker 7: Wilson when he busted that big one across, when he
Speaker 7: came across the field and busted that big touchdown. So
Speaker 7: I think that if he was on a different team,
Speaker 7: I'd probably have a little bit more concern, But just
Speaker 7: because for me, this thing starts with the pass rush
Speaker 7: and if it's there, then he should be fine back there.
Speaker 7: But yeah, no, it's just funny thinking bast past this
Speaker 7: season because they're gonna have some tough decisions to make
Speaker 7: at several places.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna give givemore just a little positive those deep
Speaker 3: over routes, which I wish that we would see Brandon
Speaker 3: Cooks running a little bit. Now, Yeah, it's not many guys,
Speaker 3: depending on who the receiver is, who's gonna be able
Speaker 3: to run all the way to the opposite side of
Speaker 3: the field and then stay stepped the step With certain guys, absolutely,
Speaker 3: they line up in tiny end trips and then they
Speaker 3: run number three over and if you got a guy
Speaker 3: like Tyreek Hilder, the Chiefs did that repeatedly, just over
Speaker 3: and over again because you can't you can't cover.
Speaker 7: So okay, so this isn't the same thing, but so
Speaker 7: would it be somewhat similar though on the Cook's touchdown
Speaker 7: where he had to come all the way across, you know,
Speaker 7: and Dak threw it up and he had kind of
Speaker 7: a loft. It like its same deal as what you're saying,
Speaker 7: like they have to carry it. Now, you have to
Speaker 7: have a good protection from your offensive line even hold that.
Speaker 8: But to all THESS that.
Speaker 3: One kind of but they in the rezone like that,
Speaker 3: and you have to get through all the traffic. So
Speaker 3: that is that is the bigger part. When they're running
Speaker 3: and then then going vertical, that is that's a foot race.
Speaker 4: That's a real foot race.
Speaker 3: The traffic then helps those guys when they do those
Speaker 3: shallow crosses. Yeah, but like I said, when you see
Speaker 3: Tyreek Hill run that deep over, if you see if
Speaker 3: you give it to Ceede lambarv Brandon, because guys like that,
Speaker 3: then I think you'll see if somebody's in man that
Speaker 3: deep safety, he either has to jump that that number
Speaker 3: three going across or it's open every time.
Speaker 2: There's nothing you can do about it.
Speaker 6: All Right, one more question I wanted to get to
Speaker 6: before we end the show today. Right now, Dallas is
Speaker 6: ranked twenty first in rush yards per carry at three
Speaker 6: point nine yards. What do you think is the biggest
Speaker 6: factor that needs to improve to improve the rushing attack,
Speaker 6: the offensive line, the running backs, or.
Speaker 9: The play calling go ahead.
Speaker 7: I just think if the offensive line, if by some
Speaker 7: miraculous chance, since it doesn't happen, I'm saying it's miraculous
Speaker 7: if you could keep that starting five together that's finally
Speaker 7: been together now for these last two games, I think
Speaker 7: it will gradually get better. The issue is is that
Speaker 7: seems like it's hoping for a lot with the way
Speaker 7: they've had so many injuries over the last couple of
Speaker 7: years there, And so if that happens and it just well,
Speaker 7: you know, every week you don't know who's starting at
Speaker 7: right tackle or whatever, I think it's going to be
Speaker 7: tough to really get it going because it really hasn't
Speaker 7: been there. But I do think that those guys, those
Speaker 7: five are talented enough that if they can keep working together,
Speaker 7: eventually something will click. It's not going to be, you know,
Speaker 7: like it was with DeMarco Murray or Zeke at the
Speaker 7: beginning of Zeke's career where they were leading the league,
Speaker 7: but good enough that it helps the rest of the
Speaker 7: offense if you can keep that five healthy.
Speaker 9: For me, it's the play calm because whenever you look
Speaker 9: at when Kellen Moore and Zeke were here, it was
Speaker 9: Zeke was going to be that downhill physical guy here
Speaker 9: in the last couple of years, and then once Tony
Speaker 9: Pollard started to ascend, you were like, Okay, we can
Speaker 9: be creative in the run game. We can throw in
Speaker 9: some hitches into this offense that we haven't been able
Speaker 9: to do before. And that creativity has just been completely
Speaker 9: evaporated in this offense. And they're treating Pollard almost like Zeke,
Speaker 9: like he's not a downhill guy and he can get
Speaker 9: you yards if you need him to get you yards.
Speaker 9: But I want to see him on the outside. I
Speaker 9: want to see counters. I feel like we haven't run
Speaker 9: counter one time this year I think two draws by
Speaker 9: my account, So get him open in space and let
Speaker 9: him see some things at work. And I think it
Speaker 9: also factors in with the receiving game as well. I
Speaker 9: know this is talking about the running game specifically, but
Speaker 9: there's so many things that they could do in the
Speaker 9: receiving game with Poller that they haven't been able to do.
Speaker 9: I was I think I mentioned it on Talking Cowboys yesterday.
Speaker 9: After that sixty yard reception on Monday night, I was
Speaker 9: kind of sad because I was like, we're not going
Speaker 9: to see that because that was improvisation and it was
Speaker 9: just Dak finding a guy that was open across the
Speaker 9: middle of the field. There's opportunities to do that with Pollard.
Speaker 9: I just feel like they're not being explored.
Speaker 2: Yeah, real quick before you go, Danny, just to that point.
Speaker 6: I think it was back after Week three or week four,
Speaker 6: I found the stat that at that point in the season,
Speaker 6: the Cowboys that run Pollard between the tackles double the
Speaker 6: number of times they'd run him to the outside. Speaking
Speaker 6: of how they're using him, I think that's really kind
Speaker 6: of the key, is that they're using him as though
Speaker 6: he's Zeke, And it does make me wonder, Like we
Speaker 6: saw in that last game.
Speaker 2: He was in the open field.
Speaker 6: There was rarely a time I can remember in his
Speaker 6: career when he was even with the defensive guy and
Speaker 6: the guy caught him and that guy when got him
Speaker 6: on that play, and even talk about after games like
Speaker 6: I got to be back in the lab to figure
Speaker 6: how to turn that into a touchdown. But I do
Speaker 6: wonder if the way that they're playing him now is
Speaker 6: affected that to some degree and he's not as explosive
Speaker 6: maybe or not having to show that explosiveness as much,
Speaker 6: and maybe that's affecting his level of explosiveness.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean and effort not to repeat what y'all said,
Speaker 3: mine is those but then also think your lack of
Speaker 3: ability to stress the field on offense. So I don't
Speaker 3: know if I want to call it play calling or
Speaker 3: are inability to be able to connect on those deeper routes,
Speaker 3: because we all know if you go into a game
Speaker 3: and the defense knows that you can't stretch the field,
Speaker 3: they're just gonna sit there and tempt you to do it, right,
Speaker 3: and they'll be able to run cover two.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: If they can stop you while they're running cover two,
Speaker 3: then they're gonna run that all day, right, So you
Speaker 3: have to be able to then say, okay, they're in
Speaker 3: cover too, We're gonna stretch these guys out, make them
Speaker 3: get creative on defense, and then hopefully that opens up
Speaker 3: more lanes on the offensive line. But if not, if
Speaker 3: you're not able to then say, all right, that can
Speaker 3: beat us, then they're just gonna figure out a way
Speaker 3: to stop you with the whatever they have in the box.
Speaker 3: I think hopefully these gallup plays, Brandon Cooks, deep overs,
Speaker 3: maybe some longer shots, I think hopefully that will open
Speaker 3: it up a little bit. But I'm with y'all on
Speaker 3: creativity in the run game, especially with a guy like Pollard.
Speaker 3: Don't run him in there like Zeke, He's not that guy.
Speaker 3: He's easy create like you can run counters, some traps,
Speaker 3: some tosses outside to get them, get him an over field,
Speaker 3: and then fear put fear in those defenders.
Speaker 6: Yeah, they're buying large and not throwing to the deep
Speaker 6: middle of the field at all this year. There's only
Speaker 6: been a few times this year that they've done it,
Speaker 6: even tried it.
Speaker 2: And last year.
Speaker 6: If you remember in the offense that we're doing that
Speaker 6: a ton, so you're not challenging that part of defail
Speaker 6: to your point, then defenses at some point just start
Speaker 6: to say they're not gonna throw there. We don't have
Speaker 6: to worry about it, and you just cover the other
Speaker 6: parts of the field, which makes it even harder to
Speaker 6: do what you want to do in those parts.
Speaker 4: Of the same Fran ran cover too, they ran cover too,
Speaker 4: and we didn't and we did not. We did not.
Speaker 3: We did not take advantage of them running cover too,
Speaker 3: and they were stopping to run with cover too.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: So until you're able to figure that out, then yeah,
Speaker 3: you got an issue. But you should be able to
Speaker 3: complete some passes and cover too.
Speaker 2: All right, appreciate you join us. We'll be back on Monday.
Speaker 6: You got lots more questions I'm gonna throw at these
Speaker 6: guys till then. For Nick Carris, Johns Shoulder, Danny McCrae, IM,
Speaker 6: Derek Heilton. This has been The Break live on Dallas
Speaker 6: Cowboys dot Com Radio.
Speaker 1: This has been a production of Dallascowboys dot Com and
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.
Speaker 3: Eight