Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Are you ready for
Speaker 1: a break? Yes? Are you ready for a break? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Ready for a break? Yeah? And so much for that.
Speaker 1: It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: wall with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia and
Speaker 1: Derek Eagleton. It's Tuesday, October third, twenty seventeen, Season thirteen,
Speaker 1: episode number forty nine. Welcome to another edition of The Break,
Speaker 1: live from the s WBC Mortgage Studios. We've got a
Speaker 1: lot to talk about on Tuesday. We'll take a big
Speaker 1: picture look. It's a quarter of the way through the season,
Speaker 1: and so I'm going to ask these guys a couple
Speaker 1: of questions on a couple actually, a lot of questions
Speaker 1: about their bigger picture thoughts on this team after four
Speaker 1: games and what that, if anything, what that means going
Speaker 1: down there entering the second quarter of the season with
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. So how's everybody doing this morning? Man? I'm good,
Speaker 1: You're good. Yep good, Dave good, I am well, Derek awesome.
Speaker 1: And Amber will not be with us. At the beginning
Speaker 1: of the show. She made jo on us at some
Speaker 1: point the show, but she has some other things going
Speaker 1: on this morning, so hopefully at some point she joins us.
Speaker 1: If not, she'll be back tomorrow. All right, So let's
Speaker 1: jump right in, and before we get into the questions
Speaker 1: that I was telling you I wanted to ask, I
Speaker 1: want to first start and talk about David Irving. It
Speaker 1: looks like, I mean, we know he will be returning
Speaker 1: to the team, I presume today today. That being said,
Speaker 1: what do you guys think as far as who's going
Speaker 1: to have to go? Because somebody's got to go in
Speaker 1: order for him to make room I mean in order
Speaker 1: for them to make room for him to come in. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, before we get into that, I'll let
Speaker 1: Dave talk about who's gonna go. But it was kind
Speaker 1: of funny. Thanks, Well, I don't have to think about
Speaker 1: have to fire something, think about it. You got about
Speaker 1: three minutes. Let you do that. I thought it was
Speaker 1: interesting though, because we were talking to Garrett yesterday after
Speaker 1: the after his press conference, and you know, he's just
Speaker 1: the question was about Irving about you know, what, when
Speaker 1: do you have to bring a guy back? And or
Speaker 1: when when Canny come back? And who has to be cut?
Speaker 1: And do you have a roster exemption, and he didn't
Speaker 1: even seem interested in all those rules. Kind of like
Speaker 1: Dave doesn't seem interested in this story there and it's tired, tired. Tuesday,
Speaker 1: he was like, Yeah, I don't know all about all that.
Speaker 1: He's gonna practice and he's gonna play. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: you don't necessarily have to put him on the you know,
Speaker 1: on the back of the active roster. You can keep
Speaker 1: him till he's just he's please playing, you know. He
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, that sounds good. But and all it
Speaker 1: definitely sounds like that David Irving's practicing this week, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna play. Don't know what kind of shape he's in,
Speaker 1: what he looks like, I'm gonna say. Garrett said that
Speaker 1: yesterday if and unlike Demontrey Moore, they have not seen
Speaker 1: David Irving and they have not been allowed to be
Speaker 1: in contact with him since the season started. So it's
Speaker 1: possible he could show up here and just not be
Speaker 1: ready to play in a game, and maybe they use
Speaker 1: that roster exemption, which they do have. But I also
Speaker 1: got the impression from talking to Jason Garrett that I
Speaker 1: expect him to be on them. You know that I'm
Speaker 1: going to Sunday. Okay, you're right, they haven't seen him.
Speaker 1: But if there's a team that knows how to get
Speaker 1: guys like ready to come back, like hey, do this,
Speaker 1: this and this and come back. I mean, this isn't
Speaker 1: the first time we've had a guy suspended and it
Speaker 1: needs to come back and be ready for a week,
Speaker 1: four week, four, week five whatever. I mean, it's happened
Speaker 1: too many times with Hardy, DeMarcus, Lawrence was, I mean,
Speaker 1: Scandrick was in the same boat. I know I'm missing someone,
Speaker 1: Randy Gregory. Yeah, but he's still suspended. Yeah, that guy.
Speaker 1: Um So, I just think it would surprise me if
Speaker 1: he's not ready to play. I mean, I think that
Speaker 1: they know what's coming, they know how to get him ready,
Speaker 1: and they probably told him this is what you need
Speaker 1: to do and this is where you need to go.
Speaker 1: You know. I'm sure they have guys out there that
Speaker 1: can help. Yeah. The thing about it, though, is I
Speaker 1: don't know that any of those guys you just mentioned
Speaker 1: came back and really like we're really really like one
Speaker 1: like lit it up. You know. One of them was
Speaker 1: of him, was hard he was, Well, that's true. He
Speaker 1: had two sacks in his first game. Yeah, that's true here,
Speaker 1: you know, but I mean, I guess my point is
Speaker 1: like I don't know, Like, yes, you can go and
Speaker 1: work out and all that, but if you're not playing football,
Speaker 1: I just don't know that you're ready to play great
Speaker 1: football as soon as you come back from not play,
Speaker 1: I need you to be better than Taco. You do that, well,
Speaker 1: Taco's probably not going to be active now. Okay, so
Speaker 1: now get to my other question, who's not going to
Speaker 1: be on this team? Logic Taco definitely, that's definitely not
Speaker 1: the right answer. Coach. Logic points toward Bene bin Wickery. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because you know, we've talked about it before that Cowboys
Speaker 1: only have to give up their draft pick if he's
Speaker 1: on the forty six for X amount of weeks. It's
Speaker 1: either three or four. He's only been on the forty
Speaker 1: six for two, so as it stands right now, they
Speaker 1: get that pick back if he's not on the team.
Speaker 1: It's also a reasonable guest that should have been a
Speaker 1: Woozier and Nolan Carroll are able to play this week.
Speaker 1: You've got Jordan Lewis is seemingly he completely recovered from
Speaker 1: his injury, so secondary looks about as good as it
Speaker 1: has since the season started. Would you possibly want to
Speaker 1: consider even if he's ready to come back, maybe, would
Speaker 1: you possibly want to consider still keeping Cheeto out because
Speaker 1: essentially get really like three weeks, because he wouldn't play
Speaker 1: a game again until you got this week. You've got
Speaker 1: next week for the blind, and you've got another week
Speaker 1: where you play. Not only that, but also somebody probably
Speaker 1: needs to be inactive, just even one of those healthy
Speaker 1: you know what I mean that they've been going the
Speaker 1: last few weeks with four cornerbacks, so now you're probably
Speaker 1: now you've got five. Let's just say that they do
Speaker 1: release been Wickery and if Nolan, if Nolan can come
Speaker 1: back from his concussion this week, then you could still
Speaker 1: sit Cheeto and cut Ben Wickery and you'd still be
Speaker 1: okay the four corners. Maybe you do want five corners
Speaker 1: for this game? You know, maybe you might? Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be interesting. I mean, I I woke
Speaker 1: up this morning thinking about the inactives, like what if
Speaker 1: Hitchens and Lee are ready to go? Like are you
Speaker 1: in the shower or just just kind of laying there?
Speaker 1: Probably should have got up a little bit before that.
Speaker 1: Before thinking about all the least linebackers. Is it like cool?
Speaker 1: Like good, bad, sad that that's what we do, because
Speaker 1: like I do the same stuff, Like that's what I
Speaker 1: start thinking, go to bit thinking about it, wake up
Speaker 1: thinking about it. I wake up like, now, if if
Speaker 1: Hitchens can do this on Wednesday, what does that mean?
Speaker 1: And then I stopped and I'm like, you can wait,
Speaker 1: Like you can wait till you get to work, at
Speaker 1: least brush my teeth first, right, Yeah, I had a
Speaker 1: dream last night that I left this job and accepted
Speaker 1: a job covering the MAVs. And when I woke I
Speaker 1: woke up, I woke up in a cold sweat, like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I made whatever mistake? Why why would
Speaker 1: I want to cover the MAVs? Basketball is terrible and
Speaker 1: the MAVs are awful? Why would I want to do that? No?
Speaker 1: I was just like, I gotta call Derek right now
Speaker 1: and beg for my job back. And then I realized
Speaker 1: I had been dreaming. I was just taken more from
Speaker 1: the standpoint the number of games you gotta cover. Everything
Speaker 1: that is a ton different than everything about covering basketball
Speaker 1: sounds terrible, interviews, zero fund, all of it all right, too?
Speaker 1: Let's jump in. Let's talk a little bit about these
Speaker 1: questions that I have for you guys. There's a I
Speaker 1: got a whole list of questions and they'll be on
Speaker 1: all different topics around this team. So some of them
Speaker 1: true false, some of them are just I'll give you
Speaker 1: answers and we'll just see how it goes, all right,
Speaker 1: First question, based on expectations, who's been the biggest Which
Speaker 1: unit has been the biggest disappointment through four games? The
Speaker 1: offensive line or the wide receivers. I'll say the wide
Speaker 1: receivers because I somebody pointed this out to me on
Speaker 1: Twitter yesterday. I had the foresight to be worried about
Speaker 1: the offensive line and training camps. So no, you weren't backup,
Speaker 1: back up, backup back. He was back up. You were
Speaker 1: worried about the offensive line as of the Denver game.
Speaker 1: That's when you were worried about the offensive Remember that,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna sit here and say I thought they
Speaker 1: were gonna suck, but they still don't suck. You can
Speaker 1: go back and find the tape where I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's not smart to assume that
Speaker 1: they're just gonna pick off and pick up and it's
Speaker 1: gonna be business as usual like last year regards. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can go find it. It's there. The wide receivers,
Speaker 1: I really thought. And they haven't been bad. No, nobody's
Speaker 1: been like atrocious. Like it's not like their own fills
Speaker 1: are off this thing yet. Yeah. But you know, you
Speaker 1: talk about getting all of your receivers back, you know,
Speaker 1: all five of your guys are back from last year.
Speaker 1: I just thought there'd be more continuity. I thought there'd
Speaker 1: be fewer drop passes and fewer bad throws, and you
Speaker 1: just it wouldn't. I keep using the term herky jerky,
Speaker 1: and that's what it looks like. Yeah, that's a good
Speaker 1: word for it. It really is. Um, So I'll go
Speaker 1: I'll go with them, all right, Nick. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I think the offensive line is actually the No. I
Speaker 1: think the wide receivers are the reason why the offensive
Speaker 1: line is in question right now. Really yeah. I think
Speaker 1: when you when you really break it down, I think
Speaker 1: when teams are looking at this team and defenses look
Speaker 1: at it, how to stop him, and they say, you
Speaker 1: know what, like, let's just keep putting that eighth guy
Speaker 1: down there. Let's just make these guys we're not gonna
Speaker 1: get run over by them. We're not worried about these receivers.
Speaker 1: We're not worried about them, none of them. We are
Speaker 1: really worried about um that's gonna beat us deep, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna just take our chances. And I think it's
Speaker 1: a product of the fact that the wide receivers. Now
Speaker 1: which one is surprising us the most, maybe offensive line
Speaker 1: because we didn't expect a ton from the receivers anyways.
Speaker 1: But I think it all stems from the passing game,
Speaker 1: whether it's Dak and the receivers. I just think teams
Speaker 1: are saying, I'm gonna take my chances. You know. It's
Speaker 1: kind of like it's kind of like in baseball when
Speaker 1: you got a guy on third and and and he's
Speaker 1: tagging up, and you're like, Okay, I'm gonna take my
Speaker 1: chances that he's gonna make this clean through, you know, catch, throw,
Speaker 1: the guy's gonna get it tagged. All these things have
Speaker 1: to happen. My guy just has run from here to here.
Speaker 1: I think they think of like that with the defense,
Speaker 1: just say all right, I'm gonna take my chances that
Speaker 1: Dak's not gonna get the ball to him, and our
Speaker 1: guy's not gonna get beat, and you know, I just
Speaker 1: think that's what's happening. How's that different from last year? Well,
Speaker 1: I just think I think teams are figuring it out
Speaker 1: because I think the difference is is that it's from
Speaker 1: two years ago, you know, when when you or whenever,
Speaker 1: when you had Tony there. I think Tony is would
Speaker 1: get the ball to them a little bit more down
Speaker 1: the field in different routes better than than Dak does.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to sit here and say this is
Speaker 1: Dak versus Tony, because Tony's gone, But I'm just saying
Speaker 1: that I think that teams are figuring out that from
Speaker 1: the passing game, if he's gonna sit in the pocket,
Speaker 1: we'll take our chances with them getting beat like that. Well,
Speaker 1: I think, and you know, I always I don't I
Speaker 1: always I don't want to oversimplify these things because they're
Speaker 1: definitely not simple. But you go back, and you know
Speaker 1: the great thing about as the season goes along, like
Speaker 1: the gifts start to come out. You know you can
Speaker 1: find it on Twitter. People break these plays down and
Speaker 1: you can get game pass and go watch the All
Speaker 1: twenty two yourself. I think defenses, and you know it's
Speaker 1: honestly a little surprising to me. It just doesn't sound logical.
Speaker 1: But they're doubling Cole Beasley and in situation, yeah, they're
Speaker 1: doubling the easy throws and that's where Dak feasted last year.
Speaker 1: They're taking they're like, we think, if you have to
Speaker 1: make more difficult throws, this will be again do it,
Speaker 1: you won't be able to do it successfully, at least
Speaker 1: not on a consistent basis. To this point, that's proven
Speaker 1: to be pretty true. Do you think part of the
Speaker 1: reason that that is is because that means you're going
Speaker 1: to be throwing the ball more to Dez Bryant, And
Speaker 1: as we know, a lot of times he's running these
Speaker 1: fifty fifty routes and just by the nature of them,
Speaker 1: they are not He's not a guy that separates a lot.
Speaker 1: So just by the nature of that kind of route,
Speaker 1: that kind of passed a kind of throw, you're only
Speaker 1: going to complete half of them at best, Like you're
Speaker 1: not going to regularly complete that pass, So you're you're
Speaker 1: your completion percentage is automatically going to go down when
Speaker 1: you're throwing that ball versus passes to Cole or passes
Speaker 1: to Jason and it's not just it's not just Dez.
Speaker 1: I mean Terrence too. But if you're throwing the ball
Speaker 1: ten to twenty yards downfield as opposed to four to six,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's just that's just statistics. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: harder to complete and I just like I said, it's
Speaker 1: it's not that easy. But I think that is part
Speaker 1: of what you're seeing play out. Can you fix that
Speaker 1: with different kinds of routes for Dez? I know during
Speaker 1: training camp, one route that I saw them run will
Speaker 1: a lot of seeming like a lot of success was
Speaker 1: that dig route and I haven't really seen a lot
Speaker 1: of that in the first four games. But using routes
Speaker 1: that that are not that maybe a little bit of
Speaker 1: an easier throw for Dak and at the same time,
Speaker 1: maybe a higher higher completion percentage type route and throw
Speaker 1: for Dak and Dez. You think there's a way to
Speaker 1: do that that maybe improves their ability to throw when
Speaker 1: they're taking away some of those easier throws. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I'm sure that they're gonna they're gonna tweak
Speaker 1: all of that stuff. Yes, that there's ways to get
Speaker 1: the ball to DEAs that aren't as that are with
Speaker 1: a higher percentage, and I think that that's one of them.
Speaker 1: But I also think you can sit here and make
Speaker 1: the case. Now go back and make call the offensive line.
Speaker 1: It's the problem because you know, if the Cowboys were
Speaker 1: running the ball better on first and second down, especially
Speaker 1: on first down, then it sets up more third and three,
Speaker 1: third and fourth, third and five, where Beasley and Witton
Speaker 1: can kind of get more involved, where those passes make
Speaker 1: more sense. When it's third nine, third and ten, you
Speaker 1: don't expect those guys to really get the first downs
Speaker 1: as much. So it all goes hand in hand. You know,
Speaker 1: the running game's not great, but it might be a
Speaker 1: product of them not worried about the passing game. Passing
Speaker 1: game hadn't been great because the running game is not
Speaker 1: kind of backing them off. So play better. You guys
Speaker 1: have been talking about first downs a lot. I actually
Speaker 1: did some research last night and I went back to
Speaker 1: look at what the Cowboys did on first downs running
Speaker 1: the ball last year versus this year. Last year, on
Speaker 1: first downs when they ran the ball, they average five
Speaker 1: point nine three yards per attempt five point nine three.
Speaker 1: It's almost six yards per tempt this year year four
Speaker 1: point one, almost two yard difference between last year and
Speaker 1: this year. When they're running the ball and first downs,
Speaker 1: it is a huge difference. End. By the way, don't
Speaker 1: forget this in the game against the Rams that that
Speaker 1: percentage went up significantly because they ended the game with
Speaker 1: a six point three average. But that was also because
Speaker 1: that seventy yard run came on first down. I know,
Speaker 1: I don't like to take runs out, but if just
Speaker 1: to look at kind of what they did the rest
Speaker 1: of the game, if you take the seventy yard or out,
Speaker 1: their average, actually it was two point three yards per
Speaker 1: attempt on first down when they ran the ball, So
Speaker 1: all things being considered, they that's your biggest problem is
Speaker 1: on first down. They're running the ball on first down
Speaker 1: quite a bit, and when they do, they're not getting
Speaker 1: a lot of yards and that's setting up bad situations
Speaker 1: for them down the road and they're not being able
Speaker 1: to sustain drives like they did last year. Another issue
Speaker 1: I think is the tight ends is either they're not
Speaker 1: getting the ball to them as much, because when you're
Speaker 1: gonna play that kind of personnel twelve thirteen personnel, those
Speaker 1: guys are on the field a lie, you know, showing
Speaker 1: that they could run the ball. Hey, two tight ends,
Speaker 1: three tight ends. Obviously they're gonna run, but they've got
Speaker 1: to be able to utilize that that type of package
Speaker 1: on defense and say all right, now we're gonna play. Actually,
Speaker 1: we're gonna spread out. We saw Hannah get open. We
Speaker 1: need to see Witton and Swam Swam. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's caught a ball all year, has he? No? So
Speaker 1: I mean the utilize that part and say all right,
Speaker 1: you're gonna jumbo and match this. We'll watch this. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna put Swam out and put Hannah out, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna throw the ball a little bit more. So we
Speaker 1: need to see more wrinkles from the passing game too.
Speaker 1: They did do that on one play last week. They
Speaker 1: had thirteen personnel out there and they passed out of it,
Speaker 1: which I was kind of surprised because you're right, they
Speaker 1: hadn't done that much this season. But they are gonna
Speaker 1: have to start doing those kinds of things. And also
Speaker 1: I think and Dak. We saw the touchdown and against Arizona,
Speaker 1: but Dak has to keep that ball more on that
Speaker 1: read option or whatever that they're calling it. They need
Speaker 1: he needs to keep that ball more because you don't
Speaker 1: want to see him get hurt or you know, and
Speaker 1: take a lot of shots. He needs to learn how
Speaker 1: to slide a little bit better than what we saw
Speaker 1: last week. But still I think that will spread things out.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of different things that I think the
Speaker 1: Cowboys can do. That's from someone that's never called any plays,
Speaker 1: So I would like, you know, I think other than
Speaker 1: I'm Madden, of course, right, not really, you know, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't play Madden. Used to. I've played
Speaker 1: it a little bit, used to play Tech. I was horrible. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I say, good Genesis Mad. Let's take our first break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, we're going to continue with our questions.
Speaker 1: The next question I'm gonna have up for you guys,
Speaker 1: for you think about is which has been more concerning
Speaker 1: the left guard with Jazz Green and Jonathan Cooper or
Speaker 1: the safety position with Jeff Heath and Byron Jones. We'll
Speaker 1: ask that question when we come right back. This is
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Speaker 1: in ways that make a re difference. Copyrank, twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: Bank of America Corporation. It's bowling night with brands and
Speaker 1: you're hanging down together. He bit us better, but you're
Speaker 1: craving something better. But they supposed defenside you don't know
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Speaker 1: crave a doctor Pepper, nothing else will do. Pick up
Speaker 1: an nice cold twenty ounce bottle today, doctor Pepper, want
Speaker 1: you crave. I hear all this talk about what it
Speaker 1: takes to be a cowboy. Everyone's got their ideas, but
Speaker 1: I just say to myself, it's what's up top that matters. Sure,
Speaker 1: you need men with the muscle and heart to get
Speaker 1: her done. But if your scouts and coaches are listening
Speaker 1: out there a word of advice. Pick the man with
Speaker 1: the most well worn stetson, that's the one most cut
Speaker 1: out to be a cowboy. Stetson hats are handmade right
Speaker 1: here in Texas and have been on Cowboys heads for
Speaker 1: over one hundred fifty years. The rest of you can
Speaker 1: visit stetson dot com slash cowboy to find a retailer
Speaker 1: nearest you. Back to the Break, Welcome back. It's the
Speaker 1: second segment of The Break, live from the SWBC Mortgage
Speaker 1: studios at the Star. We're asking some questions about this
Speaker 1: team after the quarter of the season is done. We've
Speaker 1: got four games in the books, We've got another twelve
Speaker 1: left to go. Let's go to question number two, which
Speaker 1: has been more concerning the left guard position with Chaz
Speaker 1: Green and Jonathan Cooper or the safety position with Jeff
Speaker 1: Heath and Byron Jones Day. We'll start with you safety.
Speaker 1: Why because they haven't done anything I mean at least
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it speaks to how good the
Speaker 1: running game was last year that we're complaining about it.
Speaker 1: But they have gone over one hundred yards in every
Speaker 1: game of this season. Have they not as a team
Speaker 1: as a team as a team, yes, you're right. I'm
Speaker 1: sorry they have forty. I forgot the worst one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they had forty against Denver. I miss something. They had
Speaker 1: the worst rushing day. Everybody calmed the hell down. I
Speaker 1: forgot about Denver. Forgot that that happened. But they went
Speaker 1: for one twenty nine against New York, one hundred against Arizona,
Speaker 1: and one eighty nine against the Rams. They're they're doing
Speaker 1: all right. I mean, you know, and it's not great.
Speaker 1: It's not last year, but they're doing it, and it's
Speaker 1: it's a quarterway through the season. I don't have a
Speaker 1: ton of problems with the way the left guards have played,
Speaker 1: specifically Chaz Green and honestly, Jonathan Cooper was going against
Speaker 1: two of the best defensive tackles in football. The safeties
Speaker 1: by Byron Jones has had some moments in coverage, good
Speaker 1: or bad moments both. But I mean, like, but I'm
Speaker 1: he's had some good moments. He he broke up a
Speaker 1: third down play in the red zone against the Rams
Speaker 1: the other day. He's he's had some past defenses. Um,
Speaker 1: I know, I was super impressed by the read that
Speaker 1: Jeff Heath made on that no play in Arizona where
Speaker 1: he went up and almost picked that ball off. But
Speaker 1: it just it, it hasn't been there for him, you know,
Speaker 1: Todd Todd Gurley's fifty three yard touchdown. I mean you
Speaker 1: have to consider that a busted play, and like, it
Speaker 1: hasn't been terrible, but it just hasn't been there, and
Speaker 1: especially you basically you let Bury Church walk in free agency,
Speaker 1: and the talking point all offseason is well, we have
Speaker 1: a lot of confidence in the guys that we have,
Speaker 1: and it hasn't It hasn't been there as of yet.
Speaker 1: I've been really encouraged by Xavier Woods. But again, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of like Jeff Heath before he got the starting role,
Speaker 1: is would he look that good if he was out
Speaker 1: there seventy plays and you know, teams were scheming to
Speaker 1: beat his deficiencies. I don't know. Um, So it's not awful,
Speaker 1: but it certainly hasn't been great. It hasn't been what
Speaker 1: the team tried to sell it as what they thought
Speaker 1: it could be. Okay, Nick, I think it is ironic
Speaker 1: or it's probably actually probably not a coincidence that the
Speaker 1: two positions that that you know, left and free agency
Speaker 1: that we were kind of worried about were Bury Bury
Speaker 1: Church and Ron Leary, And you're sitting here talking about
Speaker 1: these two guys now in these two positions that they've
Speaker 1: they've left a void. I would say the answer would
Speaker 1: be probably safety. You know, I agree with with Dave.
Speaker 1: I think that because you know, safety is gonna gonna
Speaker 1: cause more problems, you know, because you're supposed to be
Speaker 1: the last line of defense. So when Jeff Heath misses
Speaker 1: Todd Gurley in the open field, it's a touchdown. And
Speaker 1: and you know, if they if they get the wrong
Speaker 1: read and they let a guy go over the top
Speaker 1: like Arizona or whatever, it's a touchdown. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that even though they're playing okay, okay, we'll still
Speaker 1: give up touchdowns and this team can't do that, and
Speaker 1: they can't. They for the most part, they do. But Ben,
Speaker 1: but you cannot break. And I will see in some breaks,
Speaker 1: I will say this, I mean, it looks similar to
Speaker 1: last year with Ben but not break. But last year's defense,
Speaker 1: with the exception of Odell Beckham's touchdown in the second
Speaker 1: Giants game, they did not give up thirty forty or
Speaker 1: more yard plays, especially ones that ended in touchdowns. You
Speaker 1: saw it happened with Todd Gurley on Sunday. You saw
Speaker 1: Larry Fitzgerald do it two or three times in that
Speaker 1: Cardinals game. Those have been things that they did not
Speaker 1: allow last year that you have seen happen in I
Speaker 1: would say three out of the four games this year,
Speaker 1: you've seen those types of backbreaking games, and that's indicative
Speaker 1: of your safety play. All right, next question, what's been
Speaker 1: tough for the first quarter of the season where you
Speaker 1: played New York at Denver, at Arizona and versus the Rams,
Speaker 1: or the second quarter of the season where you will
Speaker 1: face Green Bay at San Francisco at Washington in Kansas City.
Speaker 1: I was posting about that last night, right before I
Speaker 1: went to bed. I broke down the next four for
Speaker 1: everybody in the NFC East, the Cowboys have the toughest
Speaker 1: draw out of everybody. Maybe Washington's got a pretty tough
Speaker 1: draw to but this and it looks tough. I mean
Speaker 1: Green Bay. I don't need to say anything about them.
Speaker 1: San Francisco. I know, I know that they're seen as
Speaker 1: a bottom feeder, but they've been playing teams tough though
Speaker 1: they've been, they've been in most of the games they've played.
Speaker 1: It seems like this year Um and then Kansas City
Speaker 1: is the only undefeated team in the league, and Washington
Speaker 1: has looked pretty darn good. They gave why, they gave
Speaker 1: Casey all they wanted. Last gave Casey all they wanted.
Speaker 1: Beat the crap out of an Oakland team that a
Speaker 1: lot of people are high on, and beat this Rams
Speaker 1: team that just beat the Cowboys on the road on
Speaker 1: the West Coast. And if you bet on games, how
Speaker 1: about that? Why did I why did I think of
Speaker 1: you at the end of the day game. I don't
Speaker 1: bet on games. I know you don't. I know you
Speaker 1: follow those lines. I do enjoy that far Sports Center
Speaker 1: with a bad beats, like that's like the all timer.
Speaker 1: That is the number one bad beat of all times.
Speaker 1: I didn't stay up late enough to see Van Peltz second,
Speaker 1: but it's I mean, that's unbelievable. Like you, if you
Speaker 1: bet on that game, you got to be feeling pretty
Speaker 1: good about yourself. With four seconds left, you may have
Speaker 1: turned off the TV, may have gone to bid right
Speaker 1: because it was like a touchdown. I think I think
Speaker 1: the Redskins were getting a touchdown. So when they even
Speaker 1: when they were driving to kick it to go to
Speaker 1: overtime with like a minute to go, you're thinking, all right,
Speaker 1: even if this game goes overtime and the chief score,
Speaker 1: I've got this. Yeah. The only way would be if
Speaker 1: if the Chiefs go down real quick, it's kick a
Speaker 1: field goal and then I have enough time and I
Speaker 1: try to do cal Stanford laterals. But by nobody, yeah,
Speaker 1: say by nobody, and nobody thought that picks up and
Speaker 1: toward touchdown, and that leads that leads to my favorite
Speaker 1: call in sports, which doesn't matter who the announcer is.
Speaker 1: Brent Musburger was really famous for doing it, but the
Speaker 1: announcer is always like that is not insignificant to a
Speaker 1: lot of people watching that, you know, right, just a
Speaker 1: little not to those out there. But I uh, I
Speaker 1: went and I went and looked at this after the
Speaker 1: game last night. So yeah, I mean Green Bay, San Francisco,
Speaker 1: Washington can't say tough. Honestly, Philly, who's leading division right now,
Speaker 1: seems like they have the easiest of all the next quarter,
Speaker 1: which is home against Arizona at Carolina, home against Washington,
Speaker 1: home against San Francisco. I mean not nothing's easy in
Speaker 1: the NFL, but that's pretty manageable. Redskins are dealing with
Speaker 1: home against San Francisco, at Philly, Dallas and at Seattle. Well,
Speaker 1: they've got two division games, so that that does crank
Speaker 1: it up a little bit for them. Here if there's
Speaker 1: a silver lining and I know what, like three teams
Speaker 1: in the modern history of the NFL have made the
Speaker 1: playoffs after an owen four start. But if you're still
Speaker 1: worried about the Giants for whatever reason, they're going Chargers
Speaker 1: at Broncos, Seahawks Rams. Yeah, they'll put them to bid.
Speaker 1: I'm just sitting here thinking, by the time Halloween rolls around,
Speaker 1: I mean, unless something crazy happens, I feel like the
Speaker 1: Giants are going to be out of this conversation. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And to be honestly, I'm not as worried about them
Speaker 1: anymore from standpoint of fighting for playoff spots, but they
Speaker 1: still are a team that they're like a it's like
Speaker 1: a zombie. Like you gotta finish them off. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: don't want them. You want them demoralized and out of
Speaker 1: the conversation to where they're not even where, like Nick
Speaker 1: always says, you want them to the point where they
Speaker 1: may show up on Sundays, but whatever they're doing on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Speaker 1: it's not enough to beat you, right, and that's how
Speaker 1: you got to get him really demoralized at that point. Right.
Speaker 1: I don't know though, because like you've already beaten them
Speaker 1: at home, so you still have to go face them
Speaker 1: on the road. And you want them to be for
Speaker 1: the team, be competitive when the Redskins come to town
Speaker 1: or so, you know, I don't want them to be
Speaker 1: finished off completely. I mean until the Cowboys play him
Speaker 1: in December. Yeah, yeah, they want them to kind of
Speaker 1: be ready to trail off. Dallas is gonna play two
Speaker 1: teams that I think are almost guaranteed to host a
Speaker 1: playoff game this year make Kansas City yep. And at home? Yeah,
Speaker 1: at home sure? And I mean I think this this
Speaker 1: Washington team is sneaky good. I feel like, are people
Speaker 1: write them off because you know, Cousins has that kind
Speaker 1: of he puts up stats but never delivers, like that's
Speaker 1: kind of his reputation. But he looked he has looked
Speaker 1: really good for most of this season. Their offensive line
Speaker 1: is solid. The defense I think is a story for
Speaker 1: that team, the one I will I want to check
Speaker 1: in on them because Josh Norman is now out for
Speaker 1: a few weeks and a couple of their injury. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a couple of their other defensive backs got hurt like
Speaker 1: they were I mean they were throwing whoever they had
Speaker 1: left out there, like everybody. It wasn't just defensive backs.
Speaker 1: It seemed like every play it seemed like a defensive
Speaker 1: guy was going down. So, but their pass rush I
Speaker 1: think is improved this year over what it was last year.
Speaker 1: They say, sorry, they have drafted incredibly well over the
Speaker 1: last two or three years. They say Norman could miss
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks. Cowboys don't face them for what
Speaker 1: three or I mean weeks two weeks from now, well, no,
Speaker 1: three weeks now from now because of the bye. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it'll be back. He'll be back. They have been
Speaker 1: fortunate they've played without They played the Giants without Beckham,
Speaker 1: they played the Cardinals without David Johnson. I saw Time
Speaker 1: Montgomery with broken ribs, but they're thinking he might play
Speaker 1: this game against with broken ribs at the running back position.
Speaker 1: They might fluck with that. But and then their backup
Speaker 1: running back got hurt too, and they Yeah, they had
Speaker 1: that rookie, that sixth round pick I think is the
Speaker 1: guy that I don't know who the Aaron Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: is the guy. Jamal Williams is another one to watch.
Speaker 1: Um got hurt. I don't think Dorsey's coming back. I
Speaker 1: think he's done. I think he's done. All right, let's
Speaker 1: go on to the next question. Um, Running Game will
Speaker 1: hit it's stride and return to what we saw in
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen. True or false? True? Like I said, for
Speaker 1: all the doom and gloom, the Running Game has not
Speaker 1: been bad. It was atrocious one weekend in Denver. I'm
Speaker 1: willing to chalk that up because they've been good in
Speaker 1: every other game they eat. Like I said, even if
Speaker 1: you want to play that stupid game and take the
Speaker 1: Morris run out of the equation, they still ran for
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty yards, which is very good. Um,
Speaker 1: so it's it's going and uh, it sounds like Chaz
Speaker 1: Green's injury isn't long term for the time being. What ever,
Speaker 1: roll your eyes if you want to. I didn't roll you.
Speaker 1: Rolled your eyes. I expect him. I feel confident that
Speaker 1: he should be in there for green Bay. I guess
Speaker 1: we'll see how the things develop as the week goes along.
Speaker 1: But yeah, and then you know, I don't think every
Speaker 1: team on the schedule is going to have a defense
Speaker 1: like these first four either, I mean that's really four
Speaker 1: in a row where they're you're talking about a lot
Speaker 1: of talent on your defense. I mean you remember, I know,
Speaker 1: you know from year to year it changes, but this
Speaker 1: Green Bay team couldn't stop them from doing anything on
Speaker 1: the ground last year and really either of those playoff games,
Speaker 1: and so we'll see. I feel good that they'll get
Speaker 1: it on track. Yeah, I think they'll get it on track.
Speaker 1: But you said, like like last seen, no, because they're
Speaker 1: not gonna lead the league and he's not gonna lead
Speaker 1: the league in rushing. Zeke isn't. I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: know what he ranks right now, but it's not down there.
Speaker 1: It's Yeah, that one game killed him. I mean that
Speaker 1: one game. Yeah, nine yards, that's a killer right there.
Speaker 1: Yeah he ain't. Kareem Hunt. Kareem Hunt's doing the Zeke
Speaker 1: thing this year. Yeah, we'll see if that continues all season.
Speaker 1: But yeah, he's definitely off to a great start. He
Speaker 1: had one hundred and one yards last night, rookie, right,
Speaker 1: and he had an off night kind of you know,
Speaker 1: it was it wasn't There were tough yards he got
Speaker 1: last night. Yeah. I respected the way he played last night.
Speaker 1: He was the leading rusher going into the game. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean that's saying something right there that after three
Speaker 1: games he's already the leading rusher and everyone else has
Speaker 1: played four. All right, next question, DeMarcus Lawrence. Lee's the
Speaker 1: NFL with seven and a half sacks. He will end
Speaker 1: with fifteen sacks? Over or under? I like over over fifteen? Yeah,
Speaker 1: because I still think he's got another blow up game
Speaker 1: in him. I mean, just the way he plays, the
Speaker 1: way he rushes. Now that they got some help coming, um,
Speaker 1: I think he's got another game of of you know,
Speaker 1: three or so. Mister Dallas Cowboys Encyclopedia, when's the last
Speaker 1: time a gay went over fifteen? Where? Huh? Where? Where? What?
Speaker 1: Where's he? Now? I don't know, DeMarcus where? Oh? Wh what?
Speaker 1: What year? What year was it? Do you remember what
Speaker 1: year the last time the Cowboys had a pass rusher
Speaker 1: that got over fifteen sacks? And in two thousand and
Speaker 1: eight I believe he had That was the year he
Speaker 1: had twenty. So I think we're talking about oh nine.
Speaker 1: Maybe he came back after that with fifteen. I don't
Speaker 1: really have this. I don't have them media gat in
Speaker 1: front of me. I mean he was around that time.
Speaker 1: I would say anywhere from like two thousand and seven
Speaker 1: to two thousand and eleven he was in that boat
Speaker 1: of like ten, you know, anywhere from fit fourteen fifteen
Speaker 1: he got a couple where he was over twenty, yeah, nineteen,
Speaker 1: in twenty eleven, nineteen point five, that was the last time. Yes,
Speaker 1: when did you have twenty? Was it? It was two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight? Yep. Okay, so two thousand and eleven,
Speaker 1: so the last time, ken, are you looking at the
Speaker 1: Cowboys year by year or just looking career? Okay? Well,
Speaker 1: and I don't nobody else had I mean, I can't
Speaker 1: think of another pass rusher that would have gotten that
Speaker 1: high Hatcher even at Yeah, no, they have not had
Speaker 1: anybody come like. Hatcher's the closest since I've been here.
Speaker 1: The double digits. Yeah, Um, I'm gonna say he hits
Speaker 1: it because at this point he's halfway there after a course,
Speaker 1: he hits fifteen or he's over fifteen. I think he
Speaker 1: hits it. I don't know by how much, but I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be tough for him because he's gonna
Speaker 1: start to be a point of emphasis for these teams,
Speaker 1: and I don't think his supporting cast is good enough
Speaker 1: to take that pressure off of him. I think he's
Speaker 1: gonna be good. He's gonna maybe he opens the door
Speaker 1: for other people to get sacks um, but I think
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna get tough for him with the way
Speaker 1: he started. But I think twelve games, I mean, what
Speaker 1: he he only has to he he doesn't even have
Speaker 1: to average a sack a game the rest of the
Speaker 1: way to get there. So I think he'll get there,
Speaker 1: but I think it's gonna get a lot tougher. I
Speaker 1: think the reason why that I think he is going
Speaker 1: to get there is because he even if though teams
Speaker 1: have great left tackles, he doesn't face them. He doesn't
Speaker 1: really he can go up on both sides of the line,
Speaker 1: but for the most part he's rushing from the left end.
Speaker 1: But they're gonna they're gonna start giving more attension. That's fine.
Speaker 1: I didn't help, that's fine. Odd Gurley was knocking the
Speaker 1: crap out of him. No, but that but that's okay
Speaker 1: because that that's that's to be expected. A lot of
Speaker 1: teams are gonna play on the right side. They're gonna
Speaker 1: play that tight end or running back whatever. It's not like, though,
Speaker 1: he's gonna go up against this awesome Pro Bowl left
Speaker 1: tackle that can shut him down. I mean, he's not
Speaker 1: gonna face that unless they want to switch their whole
Speaker 1: offense around, which I doubt that they will. So what
Speaker 1: I'm saying is is that he's either gonna face a
Speaker 1: matchup that he should be able to win, or he's
Speaker 1: gonna force teams to do things like that. And that's
Speaker 1: when you hope that Malik. And by the way, did
Speaker 1: he play the other day, Malik, he did for him
Speaker 1: other than kicking the ball at the end of the
Speaker 1: game at the end of the half, you know, to
Speaker 1: like a lot of people on Twitter asking me why
Speaker 1: that wasn't one of the five players to remember, I
Speaker 1: still thought the Rams were gonna get the ball and
Speaker 1: spike it. I didn't think they were running out of time,
Speaker 1: did you know. I thought they were going to spike
Speaker 1: the ball and that that kid would have made a
Speaker 1: field goal from sixty five yards, so what's five morning yards? Yeah? Anyways,
Speaker 1: I think that I think he will get it. I
Speaker 1: think he'll get up there because I think he's really
Speaker 1: really rushing the well well right now, all right, let's
Speaker 1: take our final break. When we come back, I have
Speaker 1: two more questions for you guys. The question that we'll
Speaker 1: hit when we come back is is this defense better,
Speaker 1: worse or the same as last year. We'll do that
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Speaker 1: Back to the break final segment of the break Life
Speaker 1: in the s WBC Borget Studios, Nick take it Away
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Speaker 1: I got a pair of Tommy John underwear for running
Speaker 1: that it comes with a little pouch that is that
Speaker 1: the ones to run anywhere I don't know, or go anywhere.
Speaker 1: I don't know what they're called. But it has a
Speaker 1: little pouch that I can put my keys in or
Speaker 1: like if we're on the road. It's perfect for like
Speaker 1: a hotel room key or whatever. It's great. Yeah, awesome,
Speaker 1: So like it's your keys in your underwear. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: like there's a little pocket and you just put it
Speaker 1: in there and there's they're safe. And I used to
Speaker 1: have to tie my keys or in on my shoe
Speaker 1: when I went for a run, hotel key or or
Speaker 1: back in the day before I had this underwear. If
Speaker 1: I was running at home, I would tie my house
Speaker 1: key to my shoe, or if I was in a hotel,
Speaker 1: I would put my hotel key in my um inside
Speaker 1: my shoe. We gotta talk after this. What else are
Speaker 1: you supposed to do? Thank, we're talking now, I mean, well,
Speaker 1: what else are you We're gonna have a running talking
Speaker 1: what else? What else are you supposed to do with
Speaker 1: I'll tell you after Yeah, I'll tell you if this
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Speaker 1: getting close, you know, Yeah, all right, let's let's get
Speaker 1: back in. We got a couple more questions here. We
Speaker 1: want to hit and we also will take questions from
Speaker 1: you guys. You guys call us two one four eighty
Speaker 1: seven to twenty one h two and we'll take your questions.
Speaker 1: By the way, during this segment, Tommy John though de
Speaker 1: Marcus Lawrence did continue his sack streak. Awesome. I'm sure
Speaker 1: Amber will be very happy to just pointed out last week.
Speaker 1: Very very good. All right, next question, the defense has
Speaker 1: been better, worse or the same as last year? Nick? Mmm?
Speaker 1: I think the defense has been worse because they've lost.
Speaker 1: I mean they've lost two games and through the first
Speaker 1: four they only lost two games last year, like through
Speaker 1: the whole season up until the very very end. And
Speaker 1: you put that on the defense. I put some of
Speaker 1: it on the defense. I also will say this, you
Speaker 1: face Eli Manning, Carson Palmer, Trevor Simeon, and Jared Goff.
Speaker 1: It's gonna get worse than that. It's gonna get worse
Speaker 1: than that, starting starting Sunday. It gets worse than that.
Speaker 1: And so you're to go too and two and to
Speaker 1: lose games against Trevor Simeon and Jared Goff. I know
Speaker 1: that that they are better than most people expected, but
Speaker 1: you know, and Goff is up there when it comes
Speaker 1: to the yards and points, their offense is up. They're
Speaker 1: at the top of the league. Yeah, they're not. Again,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that by the end of the season,
Speaker 1: he's got a game like the Falcons for two years ago.
Speaker 1: To me, where you've dominated the first half, you're running
Speaker 1: all over the place. What a great It's true, you're right,
Speaker 1: and the next thing you know, you're like he lost
Speaker 1: of the Falcons and then they're than the NFC Championship game.
Speaker 1: They're not bad. I'm not saying the Rams were ready
Speaker 1: to take that step right now, but you know that
Speaker 1: that game was very similar to that one. First time
Speaker 1: since Week three twenty fifteen against Atlanta that the Cowboys
Speaker 1: have held a double digit lead and not won the game. Really, yep, um,
Speaker 1: how how can you argue that it's not worse. It's
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think they've been terrible, but it's worse.
Speaker 1: I mean week last year, for through the first four weeks,
Speaker 1: they gave up twenty to New York, twenty three to Washington,
Speaker 1: seventeen to Chicago. And what was Week four was that
Speaker 1: San Francisco so fourteen points? What was the score of
Speaker 1: that game? Twenty eight to fourteen. I think something like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you've given up the forty nine ers. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't remember, but before seventeen, maybe they didn't give up
Speaker 1: more than and then they gave up sixteen to Green Bay.
Speaker 1: They didn't give up more than twenty three points. Through
Speaker 1: the first like two months of last season, they've given
Speaker 1: up thirty five to the Rams. And I mean, even
Speaker 1: if you don't count the pick six, they gave up
Speaker 1: thirty five to Denver. So yeah, I mean they've been worse.
Speaker 1: They've given up more big plays. They've had problems stopping
Speaker 1: the run two of the four weeks. And like we
Speaker 1: said in the previous segment, they've caught some breaks too.
Speaker 1: I mean, they gave up three points to the Giants.
Speaker 1: But we know that Odell Beckham changes what they do.
Speaker 1: We know David Johnson changes what Arizona does. So they've
Speaker 1: caught a couple of breaks there, and those are the
Speaker 1: two games that they've won. So they need catch some
Speaker 1: more breaks. I guess I will say this. Through the
Speaker 1: first month of last season, I would guess they were healthier.
Speaker 1: You'll have Sean Lee back soon. You'll have Anthony Hitchins
Speaker 1: back soon. Cheeto can hopefully at some points start contributing
Speaker 1: to this defense soon, so there's reason to opt for there.
Speaker 1: And David irvings back now, so you've got all of
Speaker 1: your suspended players back in the fold, Um, there's reason
Speaker 1: to feel optimistic that they can improve. I love it
Speaker 1: when you talk optimism, being optimistic in the Cowboys this week. No,
Speaker 1: being optimistic is being optimistic is fine as long as
Speaker 1: it's based on something more than that's just a gut field,
Speaker 1: just what you want. Yeah, I guess all right. This
Speaker 1: final question, actually you led into it pretty well. Which
Speaker 1: returning player will have the biggest impact, Anthony Hitchins or
Speaker 1: David Irving. Man, it's good. I'm gonna say David Irving.
Speaker 1: And I really like Hitchens, and I think Hitchens. You're
Speaker 1: gonna talk yourself out. I am gonna talking myself out
Speaker 1: of it, you know why, Because I'm gonna talk myself
Speaker 1: out of them. I think Irving will would be good,
Speaker 1: but I think Hitchens gives you two better players. Irving
Speaker 1: gives you a better player. Hitchens gives you two better players.
Speaker 1: You got Hitchens and you got a better Jalen Smith.
Speaker 1: Because I think less will be more for Jay Smith.
Speaker 1: Not to have to play all the time. So really good.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say that, But I like what Irving does.
Speaker 1: I think that's a big upgrade. But I think Hitchens
Speaker 1: can give you a better linebacker, Corp. You know, I
Speaker 1: thought you were gonna say when you say he gives
Speaker 1: you two better plays. I thought you were going to
Speaker 1: say he's been better. He'll be better as a run defender.
Speaker 1: He'll also be better as a nickel guy. Because that
Speaker 1: game that you just played with that running back was
Speaker 1: kind of running all around the field. I think Hitchens
Speaker 1: would have done a better job against him than what
Speaker 1: you saw did his answer. Then I got another point here.
Speaker 1: But I've been driving the Anthony Hitchins bandwagon since probably May,
Speaker 1: so I mean, I'm not gonna jump off now that
Speaker 1: he's actually getting ready to play. I think. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's He's not Bobby Wagner. I'm you know so. But
Speaker 1: he is a solid all around linebacker. He tackles well.
Speaker 1: He is better in coverage than Jalen Smith has been
Speaker 1: through the first month of the season. And not only
Speaker 1: what you said about giving Jalen a lighter workload, which
Speaker 1: should be good for him. He partners well with Shaun Lee.
Speaker 1: I think that'll be good. I like David Irving. I
Speaker 1: said this yesterday and actually ironically he had like the
Speaker 1: best game of his career against the Packers, So maybe
Speaker 1: he does it again. But I gotta see more consistency
Speaker 1: from him than just you know, basically two amazing performances
Speaker 1: and then a bunch of kind of stop and start,
Speaker 1: good bad, mixed bag. So the hope is that you
Speaker 1: put in with DeMarcus Lawrence and now, you know, think
Speaker 1: about the if you got those four in there with
Speaker 1: him and with Malie Collins and you have him at tackle,
Speaker 1: can you with Crawford at in? I think that's a
Speaker 1: really good front four in a Nickel situation. You guarantee me, like,
Speaker 1: can you accurately predict where Irving is going to get
Speaker 1: most of his snaps? Because I can't. I can't. I
Speaker 1: have no idea I can tell you where I prefer it.
Speaker 1: I like him better as a defensive tackle me too, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so. I think I would prefer And that's
Speaker 1: not so much that I think he's better at defensive tackle.
Speaker 1: I think it's more from the standpoint personally for me
Speaker 1: that if I'm looking at how this defensive line is
Speaker 1: made up, and I'm trying to get my best guys
Speaker 1: on the field and pass rush to situations, I think
Speaker 1: he's best at defensive tackle. With those other three guys
Speaker 1: I just mentioned, I think you have your best four
Speaker 1: pass rushers. Maybe you could sub about Mayoa for Crawford
Speaker 1: if you feel a little better about that in certain situations,
Speaker 1: but I think you got your best four on the
Speaker 1: field at that point. I think you need to figure
Speaker 1: out where Crawford's going to play, too, Like, where do
Speaker 1: you want him to play the most? They need more
Speaker 1: out of him. There's just no doubt about it that
Speaker 1: they've needed more out of him before. And you know,
Speaker 1: you getting to a point where, well, yeah, he's got
Speaker 1: a bad contracting to live up to that. Okay, forget
Speaker 1: that you need to play he needs to just play
Speaker 1: better as a captain, as a guy that they need
Speaker 1: more from. He needs to do some some things and
Speaker 1: I don't know if his better spot is an end
Speaker 1: or tackle and they need him to do something. He's
Speaker 1: not helping much and they're relying on him. So wherever
Speaker 1: you're gonna play Crawford to to, you know, utilize him
Speaker 1: the best, then I would kind of say you put
Speaker 1: Irving in at that other spot. Um, I was gonna
Speaker 1: say this about Jalen Smith, bless you, Jalen Smith and Hitchens,
Speaker 1: you know, you see, it would seem like Jalen Smith
Speaker 1: needs to play less plays, and the smart thing to
Speaker 1: do would just say put him on nickel, because you
Speaker 1: Hitchens go first and second down and then you put
Speaker 1: him on nickel. But Nicholas where receivers come flying across
Speaker 1: the field where he might have to carry them. So
Speaker 1: I think you actually need to start Jalen Smith with
Speaker 1: Sean Lee and Hitchens is your nickel guy. Yeah, probably
Speaker 1: if you're trying to ease him in. Ease him in
Speaker 1: and let him play, you know. And I like the
Speaker 1: thought of Jayalen beyond the field on rundowns far more
Speaker 1: than passing down. I agree with that too, So that's
Speaker 1: probably what they you know. So Hitchens, I would think,
Speaker 1: would come in and help you on the on the nickel,
Speaker 1: and they'll have different packages that they both of them
Speaker 1: can play and maybe rotate Shaun Lee sum as well.
Speaker 1: He's coming off a hamstring injury. If he's ready to
Speaker 1: play this week. Let's get to some calls that you
Speaker 1: can call us at two one four eighty seven two
Speaker 1: twenty one O two. Again it's two one four eight
Speaker 1: seven two twenty one O two, or you can hit
Speaker 1: us on Twitter at Cowboys Break will start with a
Speaker 1: call from Rob in Las Vegas. Rob, What up? Hey? Everybody? Hey,
Speaker 1: you know we talk about the defense. Which one's better
Speaker 1: this year last year? I think I think they're about
Speaker 1: the same. I just think at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it's the running game that drives this team. Right now,
Speaker 1: they're losing the time of possession by over three minutes.
Speaker 1: For this year, they're averaging about twenty eight and the
Speaker 1: other teams are urging thirty one and a half. Last year,
Speaker 1: they almost every single game they own time of possession.
Speaker 1: Kept the defense off the field, and let's face it,
Speaker 1: it was a good thing because we saw when that
Speaker 1: defense has to be on the field a lot. We're
Speaker 1: in trouble the team at Jason Whitman and Cole Beasley,
Speaker 1: they're built to get first downs five yards, six yards,
Speaker 1: and like Nick was saying, third and eight thirty nine,
Speaker 1: they're they're out of the play. So I think we
Speaker 1: could talk about safeties, and we could talk about the
Speaker 1: pass rush, but If this running game does not start
Speaker 1: producing on first down four or five six yards like
Speaker 1: they delet, this team's gonna struggle all year because we
Speaker 1: knew going in this defense can't put up. And I
Speaker 1: noticed that if there's a big time running team coming in.
Speaker 1: If you notice the teams we beat, the Giants no
Speaker 1: running game at all, Arizona, no running game at all.
Speaker 1: Denver pounded us, and the Rams pounded us this week.
Speaker 1: I don't even know if if Green Bay doesn't have
Speaker 1: a running game, I like our chances. But this offense
Speaker 1: and this running game is what drives this team and
Speaker 1: that's what's going to make this team successful. All right,
Speaker 1: thanks for the call. I think it's pretty astute point.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it all starts there. And he
Speaker 1: was talking about time of possession. Last year, the Cowboys
Speaker 1: their average possession, their average drive two minutes and fifty
Speaker 1: seven seconds. This year two minutes and thirty five seconds, again,
Speaker 1: almost thirty seconds less per drive that they have the ball.
Speaker 1: This team is just not and I think it goes
Speaker 1: back to him not being able to run and specifically
Speaker 1: not running well on first downs. They're not sustaining drives
Speaker 1: like they once did, and that helps you keep that
Speaker 1: defense off feel a little bit more. I think that's
Speaker 1: the difference, way more than there are a difference really
Speaker 1: in the way they're playing on defense, that number would
Speaker 1: be a lot different than thirty seconds. Yeah, but you
Speaker 1: gotta think about you gotta think about like when you
Speaker 1: look across the league, the difference between the top team
Speaker 1: and the bottom team is very very small. When you're
Speaker 1: talking about average time of possession. If you think there's
Speaker 1: some drives that are forty seconds because you get a
Speaker 1: deep pass or something like that, so go ahead. I'm sorry, No,
Speaker 1: it's just I mean it's funny because like I said
Speaker 1: earlier in the show, I mean, statistically, they're running the
Speaker 1: ball pretty well. But I think the element that you're
Speaker 1: missing is and you know, people, and rightly so, people
Speaker 1: I think have been criticizing the offense for being predictable.
Speaker 1: And I think last year they just they could run
Speaker 1: at will and if and we're gonna do it and
Speaker 1: we know, you know that it's coming and it doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: and I don't. I don't think they can do that
Speaker 1: this year. And whether you want to blame, whether you
Speaker 1: want to blame, like I said, whether it's the left guard,
Speaker 1: whether it's the right tackle, whether the all pros aren't
Speaker 1: playing up to their snuff, whether Ezekiel Elliott's missing his reads,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to blame it on, it is not dominant.
Speaker 1: And therefore it used to not matter that you were predictable,
Speaker 1: and it does right now. But you know something, and
Speaker 1: I'll let you get to that real quick. But I
Speaker 1: want to make this point. I don't have the numbers
Speaker 1: right in front of me, but I think there is
Speaker 1: a perception and you watch the games and you almost
Speaker 1: think that they're running the ball on first downs more
Speaker 1: than they're passing. They're really not. I mean, they're passing
Speaker 1: the ball on first down quite a bit. So it's
Speaker 1: not that they're just so predictable where every down, every
Speaker 1: time on first down, here we go to run and
Speaker 1: they can't get anything. They're mixing it up. They're probably
Speaker 1: fifty percent, but it's just when they run it on
Speaker 1: first down. And this goes back to what defenses are
Speaker 1: saying is basically, we're not going to let you run
Speaker 1: on first down. Yeah, you might throw it on us,
Speaker 1: we're not going to let you run on first downs.
Speaker 1: And so far they have not been able to impose
Speaker 1: it will even when defenses last year, right, That's my
Speaker 1: point is that defenses did that all last year and
Speaker 1: they were just like, Okay, we're going we're gonna do
Speaker 1: it anyway, we're gonna get four yards. Sorry. And I
Speaker 1: think where you're seeing is, you know, look at look
Speaker 1: at two years ago when this team was four and twelve,
Speaker 1: they still had like the fourth leading rusher in the NFL, right, McFadden.
Speaker 1: I mean, they were running the ball pretty well, even
Speaker 1: though they were down in some games. They weren't winning,
Speaker 1: they weren't very good, but they were one of the
Speaker 1: worst teams, if not the worst team, in short yardage situations.
Speaker 1: They couldn't run on third and one. They had trouble
Speaker 1: in the red zone and around the goal line. And
Speaker 1: I think that's what you're seeing a little bit with
Speaker 1: this team is that they've had some issues in the
Speaker 1: red zone when it gets down close. They're having a
Speaker 1: hard time moving people off the ball when they really
Speaker 1: need to. So, yeah, as Dave your point, the stats
Speaker 1: look pretty good. They are running the ball fairly well.
Speaker 1: But we even saw after that run by Morris, I
Speaker 1: mean he got down there, it was kind of hard.
Speaker 1: You had to throw row the ball to try to
Speaker 1: get it get it in. So that's where I think
Speaker 1: the issue is still is it's short yardage downward gets
Speaker 1: tight in the red zone, being able to just say
Speaker 1: we are knocking you back off the ball, and we
Speaker 1: haven't really seen that yet, So I think that's kind
Speaker 1: of where the issue is. You think that also we
Speaker 1: were just kind of seeing a little bit of what
Speaker 1: we saw last year. It just happens that this was compacted.
Speaker 1: It's the first four games because last year when they
Speaker 1: faced good defenses, they struggled the Giants, the Vikings. There
Speaker 1: were some games that they played really good defenses and
Speaker 1: they just they couldn't get anything going. Maybe it just
Speaker 1: so happens that this year you played the Rams, who
Speaker 1: their front is as good as any defense they played
Speaker 1: last year, and they played the Denver Broncos, who obviously
Speaker 1: their defense is right up there, and you had those
Speaker 1: in the first four games. Versus being spaced out through
Speaker 1: the season. It's entirely possible. And these next two games.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is gonna be a tall task with
Speaker 1: the Packers just because of Aaron Rodgers, but you should
Speaker 1: be able to run on this team. I'd like to
Speaker 1: think you can run on San Francisco, which I know
Speaker 1: that they've got a lot of draft picks in their
Speaker 1: front seven, but that is still a talent depleted team.
Speaker 1: So we'll see, We'll see what this looks like. Because
Speaker 1: if if the struggles continue against these next two defenses,
Speaker 1: then I don't think that excuse holds as much water
Speaker 1: as it does. Right now, You're saying, who has a
Speaker 1: lot of draft picks at Francis Scan Francisco Orrus Buckner,
Speaker 1: Solomon Thomas, Ruben Foster's in there. Now, you know at
Speaker 1: some point that I think that that needs to be
Speaker 1: addressed as well for the Cowboys. Um, you're seeing these teams,
Speaker 1: especially last week with the Rams. Rod Marinelli as good
Speaker 1: as he is and coaches up these guys, and he
Speaker 1: coaches up a lot of no names. They need some names,
Speaker 1: like they need some players to they need to start drafting,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, try to get some guys that are
Speaker 1: in the elite pass freshers or elite defensive tackles. You know,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, go ahead, Yeah, I'm just saying
Speaker 1: that it's catching up to them of you for you
Speaker 1: can just keep trying to find diamonds in the rough.
Speaker 1: Over and over, but at some point you do need
Speaker 1: to surround them with some really awesome, great players. And
Speaker 1: I feel like the defensive line has been now at
Speaker 1: end they've tried it end a little bit more with
Speaker 1: the Marcus Lawrence a Taco. That's the question is when
Speaker 1: could they do that? I mean they they've had They've
Speaker 1: had two first round picks on this defense. They were later,
Speaker 1: but that's that's just the factor of where you draft,
Speaker 1: based upon where you finish, Like when were they really
Speaker 1: supposed to get these really much higher level players well
Speaker 1: in the draft? You know, it's a mindset from Marinelli.
Speaker 1: I mean, we don't sit there and say it. He
Speaker 1: likes to get these guys because it makes him look
Speaker 1: like a better coach. If you can get Nick Hayden
Speaker 1: to play well when nobody wants Nick Hayden, and you
Speaker 1: can get David Irving and all these guys and Tyrone
Speaker 1: Crawford and make them you know, now, he was a
Speaker 1: third round pick and so was Malite Collins and all that.
Speaker 1: But I'm just saying it worked out. But you he
Speaker 1: didn't want Shary Floyd and he could. You know, most
Speaker 1: guys at defensive line are gonna want a first round pick,
Speaker 1: and he doesn't really want them. He doesn't want those
Speaker 1: type of players as much. So I don't buy that
Speaker 1: narrative as much as I used to. And I've talked
Speaker 1: about that before that. Okay, let's go through it. Taco
Speaker 1: was pick twenty eight, DeMarcus was pick thirty four, Tyrone
Speaker 1: Crawford was pick eighty one, Malie Collins was pick sixty seven.
Speaker 1: Mife Jones, Well, I'm thinking purely on the defense. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's bait. Oh and Randy Gregory was pick sixty. I mean,
Speaker 1: clearly did not work out. But you tried. The resources
Speaker 1: have been spent, and for whatever reason, it has not
Speaker 1: worked out. I'll do it better, though. What I'm saying
Speaker 1: is is that's fine, do it better, like do offensively,
Speaker 1: you know, take the offensive line approach. You know that
Speaker 1: they were doing the same thing, was second and third
Speaker 1: round picks for years, and then they finally said, you
Speaker 1: know what, we need to do a little bit better.
Speaker 1: That's the question, Like you can only do one of them,
Speaker 1: Like you only got that one first round pick. So
Speaker 1: are you saying that you would have preferred instead of
Speaker 1: going as heavy as they do with the offensive line,
Speaker 1: that maybe they should have done on defensive line. Here's
Speaker 1: another thing that maybe I'm maybe I'm changing the argument
Speaker 1: to this, Get me some bigger guys up front, Get
Speaker 1: me more size upfront, guys that can play like this undersize.
Speaker 1: How many guys do you need that are undersized? I
Speaker 1: mean the guys that are that are quick and off
Speaker 1: the ball. I mean, at some point you can't get
Speaker 1: moved off the ball. And Tyrone Crawford's playing in sometimes,
Speaker 1: so that means he's not the biggest tackle. Stephen Pie
Speaker 1: is not a huge tackle at all. He's undersized. Malie
Speaker 1: Collins is a is pretty good, but he's a little
Speaker 1: bit quicker than he is big. They need some big
Speaker 1: guys up front, and preferably big talented guys. So I
Speaker 1: think that that's kind of the issue for me, is
Speaker 1: that they're getting moved off the ball because they don't
Speaker 1: really have that size. When everybody's undersized, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I mean, I just don't. I don't think that it
Speaker 1: works all the time. Not everybody's Jay Rayliffe that can
Speaker 1: play undersize. Yeah, they can do that and play for
Speaker 1: four years like that. I don't And I mean I
Speaker 1: hear what you're saying, and sure, they've been picking at
Speaker 1: the back end of the drafts, they've been finding guys
Speaker 1: in the middle rounds. But I don't think you can
Speaker 1: look at the resources they've spent on the defensive line
Speaker 1: since about twenty fourteen when they trade it up for
Speaker 1: Lawrence and say we don't have we don't have the talent.
Speaker 1: I mean, you've spent a lot of resources to put
Speaker 1: these guys in place. I'm talking about tackles, and I
Speaker 1: we're talking about the line anymore. I'm talking about tackles.
Speaker 1: I think upfront, they need bigger guys up front, and
Speaker 1: even if it's not a first round pick, but I
Speaker 1: think that they need more size up there. I think
Speaker 1: that they're too small, too undersized. All Right, we appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys. Join us. We'll be back tomorrow. We'll start
Speaker 1: talking a little bit more about Cowboys versus Packers, which
Speaker 1: be coming up this Sunday three thirty at at and
Speaker 1: T Stadium, Tilted for Nick Even and David Hellman. I'm
Speaker 1: Derek Eatleton. This has been The Break live on Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys dot Com and Dallas Cowboys Football club