Speaker 1: Elliott gets it had the touchdown second in God's called
Speaker 1: touchdown Chicago, he keeps again one on one tackle miss
Speaker 1: touchdown true, chrisky. What a night for a number tack
Speaker 1: Mitchell Trabinsky, I remember that guy, the Chicago Bears quarterback
Speaker 1: with the twenty three yard touchdown and run that essentially
Speaker 1: ice the game for the Chicago Bears, who are alive
Speaker 1: suddenly in the NFC after a thirty one to win
Speaker 1: over the Cowboys, who you know what stink Here in
Speaker 1: the Throwback Podcast Garage contractually obligated to call it that
Speaker 1: with for the first time ever as he prepares for
Speaker 1: his first throwback pot ever, Greg Rosenthal, Welcome to the Garage, Buddy,
Speaker 1: big times, big change marks at the long form. I'm
Speaker 1: stepping in, I'm loving it. I'm wearing like a Bears
Speaker 1: jacket that we got in London. And uh, what a
Speaker 1: night to do with Mitchell Trabinsky. We were all wrong
Speaker 1: about you. But what a night for Mark to to
Speaker 1: not be on the show. Also because that for me,
Speaker 1: that's the big takeaway and we know how the NFL
Speaker 1: media sphere works. Again, the biggest story probably will be
Speaker 1: tomorrow morning. The Cowboys in a free fall, and that
Speaker 1: is that is a big story considering all the expectations
Speaker 1: and where they were back in September. But to me,
Speaker 1: the big story here is that Mitchell Trabinsky, with a
Speaker 1: yard three touchdown performance averages eight yards are per attempt
Speaker 1: running the ball again, runs for sixty three yards, including
Speaker 1: that touchdown that you heard. He might be playing himself
Speaker 1: back into the future plans of the Bears. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's crazy to suggest that that's now
Speaker 1: in play, which you would have never ever even considered
Speaker 1: three weeks ago, unless you still think that's not posible now.
Speaker 1: I think it's in play because you know he's under contract,
Speaker 1: and what are they gonna do. He's going to be
Speaker 1: part of the middle. I think that's I think that's
Speaker 1: a possibility depending on how the next three weeks ago,
Speaker 1: and they should be open to it. But good for
Speaker 1: him for playing better. We have talked about it a
Speaker 1: little bit on the podcast that he has been running
Speaker 1: a bit more. But this is the game where I
Speaker 1: think they looked at the matchup and they just thought
Speaker 1: this Cowboys team struggled with Jeff Driscoll running, they struggled
Speaker 1: with Josh Allen running Let's let Mitchell be Mitchell. That's
Speaker 1: that's what he does best. And the Cowboys didn't do
Speaker 1: anything on that. You could hear Troy Aikman being frustrated though,
Speaker 1: about the Cowboys defense more than anything, because the Cowboys
Speaker 1: so they look Troy looks so good too, with the
Speaker 1: jacket in the hoodie that was like the coolest Troy
Speaker 1: ever looked. And then the Cowboys what you got in
Speaker 1: your notes. I'm just slipping my notes around to Dan
Speaker 1: just so he can see. And the only thing in
Speaker 1: capitol letters Troy nice hoodie slash jacket slash sweater combo. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll throw it back to you. I just want to
Speaker 1: point out that the the the pro Graham starts with
Speaker 1: the greatest Cowboys quarterback ever, arguably looking cooler than he
Speaker 1: ever has, and then Dallas promptly goes on a seventeen play,
Speaker 1: seventy five yard touchdown drive that ends with that Zeke
Speaker 1: touchdown you heard off the top. That's the longest opening
Speaker 1: drive in yardage and time of the season and spanning
Speaker 1: nine minutes, and everything is going their way and then
Speaker 1: everything explodes and they get an interception on their first
Speaker 1: drive on defense. But that was still a bad sign
Speaker 1: because the Bears were moving the ball and what Troy
Speaker 1: was frustrated, but I think was the defense, which is
Speaker 1: coordinated by Rod Marinelli and Christouchard and there in their
Speaker 1: minds what they would call like an execution defense. You know,
Speaker 1: Richard comes from Seattle, where Okay, we're not gonna mix
Speaker 1: it up too much. We're gonna bend but don't break.
Speaker 1: But what we're gonna do is play fast and we're
Speaker 1: gonna execute, you know, and we're gonna be great at
Speaker 1: tackling and fundamentals, and we're gonna have you know, the
Speaker 1: ball in front of us so we can force big places.
Speaker 1: And like none of that is happening, like they're counting
Speaker 1: on them to fly around and make tackles. And Travisky
Speaker 1: had a great uh night numbers wise, and he ran
Speaker 1: the ball well, but he didn't have to make that
Speaker 1: many tough throws. I mean, I'm not trying to rain
Speaker 1: on the parade, but there was a lot of like
Speaker 1: third and fives where he just threw it to a
Speaker 1: guy that's wide open, and he had clearly defined reads
Speaker 1: and it reminded me a little bit of spots. He
Speaker 1: had a couple like low percentage. You know where he where.
Speaker 1: He snuck it in there. But for the most part,
Speaker 1: it reminded me of the Bears last year, where Matt
Speaker 1: Naggie created a big place for him. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: nothing wrong with that. I mean they went up, they dominated,
Speaker 1: so it's not I'm not like saying anything about them.
Speaker 1: But the Cowboys defense has been pretty trashy all year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's been a huge disappointment because we saw that
Speaker 1: as a position of strength. I think Layton Vanderesh being
Speaker 1: out with this neck injury plays a role, but it
Speaker 1: probably shouldn't explain why it's been this bad because they
Speaker 1: could not get a stop. I mean, even when they
Speaker 1: got back into the game, I thought, you know, I'll
Speaker 1: remember the game for Trabiskie's great play, but also just
Speaker 1: the Cowboys a team that just you know, obviously is
Speaker 1: in such a deep funk that when they finally get
Speaker 1: back into that game with the second Zeke touchdown, they
Speaker 1: go for it on fourth down and I think it
Speaker 1: pulled them within what was at ten points. They got
Speaker 1: it back down to ten points, and then what's Brett
Speaker 1: mar do. He kicks He kicks the damn ball out
Speaker 1: of bounds, setting up the Bears at the forty and
Speaker 1: then Trabisky leads him right down for another touchdown. This
Speaker 1: has been a team wide collapse for the Dallas Cowboys,
Speaker 1: and and you wonder again what happens with Jason Garrett
Speaker 1: and with Jerry Jones. The patients obviously has to be
Speaker 1: either out or running out. And I think Troy Aikman
Speaker 1: and and you know, we talked about the way he
Speaker 1: looks and all the stuff, but he's nobody's more plugged
Speaker 1: in than Troy when it comes to Cowboys business because
Speaker 1: he's a fan. He loves, he loves that team. And
Speaker 1: he makes the point as the game is kind of
Speaker 1: a time running out And this is a quote who
Speaker 1: on that staff has earned the right to be the
Speaker 1: interim coach? I can't think of one guy. And that's
Speaker 1: going about for his boy Garrett, but also, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, pointing out that there's there's really no magic
Speaker 1: fix no matter who you brought in. This team is
Speaker 1: a team that had so much hope and so much
Speaker 1: um anticipation that this would be a year and it's
Speaker 1: going down the drain. Well, it might also just be
Speaker 1: paraphrasing something he heard from Stephen Jones. You know what
Speaker 1: I mean, because because Jerry Jones. You know, there was
Speaker 1: a report by Adam Schefter last week which Adam you know,
Speaker 1: re up tonight that said, no matter what, the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are not gonna fire Garrett during the season, and maybe
Speaker 1: that's their reasoning, assuming they stick to that. I don't
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not gonna Mar has been a disaster.
Speaker 1: It wouldn't matter. At no point was this Cowboys stop. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the it was ten seven, and that was pretty late
Speaker 1: in the second quarter, and that's when Dak in the
Speaker 1: fullback om Oma Wally, we're not on the same page
Speaker 1: on a third down that should have been a layup,
Speaker 1: and then mar misses the kick and then the air's
Speaker 1: go right, go down the field and they have a
Speaker 1: first and fifteen at the twenty four yard line with
Speaker 1: thirty seconds left and a half. You do not expect
Speaker 1: to give up a touchdown in that situation, and so
Speaker 1: you give up a touchdown. Then you come out a
Speaker 1: halftime and the Cowboys give up US seven and a
Speaker 1: half minute touchdown drive where that that's the drive I'm
Speaker 1: thinking of where Trabisky didn't really have to do much
Speaker 1: in that drive where he was either running or getting
Speaker 1: layups on third downs and they're picking on Jalen Smith
Speaker 1: and he gets a touchdown to Allen Robinson with Jalen
Speaker 1: Smith on him. It was a rough, rough night for
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith. And it's just like they knew the matchups
Speaker 1: that this was a coaching game. And I think that's
Speaker 1: gonna be something in Jerry Jones's mind that Naggy kept
Speaker 1: identifying matchups and the side of the field and the play.
Speaker 1: Collin was doing a lot of the work for them.
Speaker 1: And we talked about it on the Thursday, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: Week fourteen preview episode. I was saying that, just talking
Speaker 1: about the Raiders and how they look like they're in
Speaker 1: the tank, but you never know. In the NFL, things
Speaker 1: happened changed so quickly, and when just when you're sure
Speaker 1: of something, what's the old Roddy Piper line, Just when
Speaker 1: I had all the answers, they changed up all the
Speaker 1: questions like that's that's the NFL, And like two weeks ago,
Speaker 1: he's the best. Two weeks ago, we're reading stories, maybe
Speaker 1: ten days ago about Matt Naggie's going to give up
Speaker 1: the play calling, and I think that was obviously ridiculous
Speaker 1: notion but also trabisky. To me, confidence is such a
Speaker 1: big part of this and it goes for like anything
Speaker 1: in life. But you could tell that he was playing
Speaker 1: without any confidence. And he's already not a gifted player
Speaker 1: physically like the best quarterbacks in the league, but you
Speaker 1: could see the way he's carrying himself on the field.
Speaker 1: It's with confidence. And that was a takeaway from me.
Speaker 1: And then back on the Cowboys side of it, I
Speaker 1: just want to you need a big performance from your
Speaker 1: big guys in a really important game. And Zeke Elliott
Speaker 1: he had that one big run, but he still finished
Speaker 1: with just eighty one yards. I know they got behind
Speaker 1: on the score, but he's five straight games under a
Speaker 1: hundred yards rushing. Um Prescott I thought miss throws and
Speaker 1: never really got into a groove. He had a garbage
Speaker 1: time touched down to him, Mark Cooper. Cooper, he hasn't
Speaker 1: had a big game in while Michael Gallup's the only
Speaker 1: guy that really flashed me on their offense today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Doc's timing was off. I think that's had a really
Speaker 1: good season. I had him in the m v P race,
Speaker 1: you know, two weeks ago. Um, but Kurt Warner pointed
Speaker 1: out a couple of times when when he's taking drops
Speaker 1: and the timing was just off on third and four.
Speaker 1: There were some situations where it's like Cooper was singled
Speaker 1: up on buster screen on third down one on one
Speaker 1: and Doc doesn't even look to him. It. Doc to
Speaker 1: me has been a very streaky quarterback in his career,
Speaker 1: and the last three weeks has been a rough streak
Speaker 1: against good defenses. And that's the thing with where I
Speaker 1: where I meant, you know, worry about. If you're a
Speaker 1: bearrass fan, it's like, yeah, Trabinski is playing better, but
Speaker 1: you have the Packers next, not maybe not the toughest
Speaker 1: matchup in the world. I think that that's a winnable game.
Speaker 1: But then you have the Chiefs. That's a tough one,
Speaker 1: and you have the Vikings to finish it out. And
Speaker 1: even if you want all three of those, that might
Speaker 1: not be enough. If you're a Bears friend, that you're
Speaker 1: happy you get to play the two teams in your
Speaker 1: division that are in front of you. That's actually what
Speaker 1: you want, because that's that's the only chance that they
Speaker 1: would have to come. The fact that we've been talking
Speaker 1: about them as like a playoff team playoff contention is
Speaker 1: ridiculous there now at seven seven and six uh four
Speaker 1: wins in five weeks, they're up to the eighth seed.
Speaker 1: They get the Rams and the Vikings ahead of them
Speaker 1: in the wild card. You know, crazier things have happened.
Speaker 1: It's still such a brutal schedule, like you're saying that.
Speaker 1: And they lost for Roquan Smith today. Although the guy
Speaker 1: who came in for pack injury too, would you never
Speaker 1: like to hear it. Probably usually that means you're not
Speaker 1: coming back, that it's a torn muscle, but you never know.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the guy who came in, Kevin Pierre Lewis,
Speaker 1: was awesome tonight. And they've got they've actually, at the
Speaker 1: very least if any talk which I didn't believe that
Speaker 1: Naggie and Ryan pace their GM we're gonna be in trouble,
Speaker 1: that's out the window that they're they're gonna be fine.
Speaker 1: Trabinsky maybe gets a little uh longer rope next year.
Speaker 1: But the crazy thing is that Cowboys are still in
Speaker 1: first place. I mean, it it's like as bad as
Speaker 1: it was. But I saw some you know, advanced metrics
Speaker 1: site that was it said that the Cowboys. You know,
Speaker 1: playoff odds went from sixty three to fifty seven per
Speaker 1: cent tonight, so it's like it barely even hurt them.
Speaker 1: They're sick. There's like they're they have a pretty good
Speaker 1: chance to host a home game in the playoffs. It's
Speaker 1: just gonna come down to that Eagles game. It's so bad.
Speaker 1: As you know, I've talked about it for years on
Speaker 1: the podcast. I love the NFC East. I grew up
Speaker 1: with my grandfather sitting on his brown couch drinking RUPI
Speaker 1: or watching the Giants and the Redskins and all those
Speaker 1: great rivalries in the eighties and the the NFC has
Speaker 1: never been one with an eight and eight record. And
Speaker 1: this is a tweet from Rich Eyes and actually for
Speaker 1: that street to continue, Dallas must finish three and oh
Speaker 1: and or Philly four and oh. Uh they both have
Speaker 1: won one in the last four games. And the Washington
Speaker 1: Redskins and the Giants and the other two teams in
Speaker 1: the division. I mean, it's just it's hard to believe
Speaker 1: that it's come to this in this division. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: kind of a bummer. Yeah. I mentioned on the previous
Speaker 1: show they're out of division. Record is potentially going to
Speaker 1: be the worst in NFL history for the NFC East.
Speaker 1: And this doesn't help it. I mean, so many teams
Speaker 1: have had their best win of the season against the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: I even every week, you know, the Jets, the Patriots.
Speaker 1: I as a Patriots fan, I kind of felt like
Speaker 1: that was their best win because at the time, I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys have a good offense. That's a legitimate team.
Speaker 1: The Patriots really haven't been beating many legitimate teams. That
Speaker 1: was Kirk Cousins is big primetime moment. They get there
Speaker 1: when against the Vikings, Who am I forgetting here? Last week?
Speaker 1: The Cowboys lose that game? Um, how to the bill
Speaker 1: and Thanksgiving that's their bigguse. So it's like every team
Speaker 1: and this was I know, the Bears beat the Vikings
Speaker 1: early in the year. It's like when Chase Daniel, but no,
Speaker 1: this was the Bears best win of the year. It's
Speaker 1: like the Cowboys are the feel good team. It's like
Speaker 1: you play them and you're like, hey, maybe we're we
Speaker 1: beat the Cowboys or maybe Now as a Patriots fan,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, oh gosh, maybe I don't mean much. I
Speaker 1: know they're they're kind of a tough team to figure out,
Speaker 1: and uh, it doesn't make any sense like the numbers
Speaker 1: we keep on putting on Garrett too. And I'm sure
Speaker 1: they could do better with a better head coach. But
Speaker 1: is there something more to this than we overrate the
Speaker 1: talent on the field. Certainly not the skill players on offense.
Speaker 1: We know how good they're Big Holy Trinity is. But
Speaker 1: maybe on the defensive side of the ball or the
Speaker 1: offensive line, like what Tyrann Smith and Travis Frederick. Uh,
Speaker 1: one of which is you know, maybe going to the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame and Smith or has a chance and
Speaker 1: Frederick who has been an All Pro. They're not as
Speaker 1: good as they used to be, so the line isn't
Speaker 1: as good, but it's still quite good. I think it's
Speaker 1: more of a culture thing we taught West and I
Speaker 1: thought about this in the off season. It's one of
Speaker 1: my tropes I keep going to because it always hits.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys always blow it the year after their good year,
Speaker 1: the year that they're expected to be good and they're
Speaker 1: feeling themselves. There's such big stars there, you know, Jane
Speaker 1: slay They got Jane Slayter shows they got it all.
Speaker 1: It's like they're like they're they're gods and they I
Speaker 1: don't know, there's something about them that they they read
Speaker 1: their own press clippings or something. Um, let me just
Speaker 1: throw out a couple more stats that jumped out to me.
Speaker 1: When they had that interception of Trabinsky, which was a
Speaker 1: beautiful the rare toe drag swag by a cornerback excellent.
Speaker 1: That was their first takeaway in two d and sixty
Speaker 1: three snaps spanning five games. So there's a problem as well.
Speaker 1: You got your defense has to make plays and and
Speaker 1: make game plays that set up your offense. It's all
Speaker 1: it all ties together and then the other big sets.
Speaker 1: So they went four for four on on third down
Speaker 1: on that seventeen play initial drive, they went over their
Speaker 1: next ten they they offense just went in the tank.
Speaker 1: In the tank as as Mitch Trobinsky went up and
Speaker 1: down the field in a game the Cowboys needed. What
Speaker 1: else needs to be said? Right? Uh Like, there was
Speaker 1: a key third down conversion by the Bears when Michael
Speaker 1: Bennett had his seven thousand uh encroachment penalty. Watching Michael
Speaker 1: Bennett fail, there was a lot of I mean, now
Speaker 1: that he's Patriot, I don't mind it. Uh Like, there
Speaker 1: was a lot of Michael Bennett getting up off the
Speaker 1: ground after looking dumbfounded, like in this game. I've got
Speaker 1: something for you though that I thought maybe you were
Speaker 1: going to other big time Roddy uh rowdy Roddy Piper quotes,
Speaker 1: you don't throw rocks at a man with a machine gun.
Speaker 1: I don't remember that, Well you don't. I'm so quick
Speaker 1: I could spit in the wind duck and let it
Speaker 1: hit the old lady behind me, poor lady. See, aren't
Speaker 1: you happy you got my wife? I passed right now.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm the reason hul Cogan lost his hair. Oh
Speaker 1: that's good. Really deliver it the same way. But Roddy was.
Speaker 1: He was a guy. Um alright, any anything else going now?
Speaker 1: I feel all good for you know, we know a
Speaker 1: lot of Bears fans sometimes in a totally miserable season,
Speaker 1: if they just give you at least a couple of
Speaker 1: little moments, at least at least this want or at
Speaker 1: least it didn't go to five and eleven total misery,
Speaker 1: they give you a little bit. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: With the Jets, so I really was hoping they would
Speaker 1: beat the Bengals last week. You know, relevant December football.
Speaker 1: You don't even have to get to the playoffs. Just
Speaker 1: give me something where they're not playing out the string.
Speaker 1: The Bears are not playing out the string. Did we
Speaker 1: watch a playoff team tonight? No? Not with their schedule. Oh,
Speaker 1: then I see what you're doing here. No, I've been
Speaker 1: keeping the Eagles off of the chopping block, and so
Speaker 1: I'm sticking with that that they kept thinking the Eagles
Speaker 1: will somehow figure it out, and the Cowboys keep allowing
Speaker 1: them time to do it. Well, we've forked the Eagles
Speaker 1: and the Bears. We didn't fork the Eagles. I kept
Speaker 1: them clean. That was yeah. I kept I kept fighting
Speaker 1: to keep them alive because I still thought they maybe
Speaker 1: they get in. All right, there we go, Greg, You're
Speaker 1: not going to stay in the garage. That's the big
Speaker 1: news tonight. Ye throwback pod. We're gonna tape Funeral, the
Speaker 1: debut album from Arcade Fire. That's one of the bands
Speaker 1: that in the event diagram both of us love a
Speaker 1: little a f One of the defining albums of the
Speaker 1: odds has to be Bob What I mean, the Door Squeaky.
Speaker 1: We're trying to do an NFL pocket. People actually listen
Speaker 1: to the show, Bob, Well he's not wrong, all right.
Speaker 1: Next time you hear from us it will be with
Speaker 1: the whole gang on Sunday night, wrapping up the rest
Speaker 1: of the week four teen action. But until then, this
Speaker 1: is Dan handis signing off four the old Boss Still Sunday,
Speaker 1: all right, m