Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This is He's Talking Cowboys,
Speaker 1: screaming live from the Dallas Cowboys World a course at
Speaker 1: the Star in Frisco to the sack Bow Scot Day heard.
Speaker 1: It's been seventy two days since we've been on air.
Speaker 1: The first seventy days there's not a whole lot that
Speaker 1: changed for the Dallas Cowboys, But the last seventy two hours,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, we've got a lot to talk about
Speaker 1: as the podcast make their triumphant return to Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: dot Com. Welcome back, everybody. If you're like we are,
Speaker 1: we are so pumped up to bring you Cowboys Talk
Speaker 1: here in training camp twenty twenty as the football season
Speaker 1: right now is happening and there's a lot going on
Speaker 1: leading up to that point. Welcome back in everybody. This
Speaker 1: is Talking Cowboys. Kyle Yeoman's alongside Heckma Harrison, Rob Phillips
Speaker 1: and former Dallas Cowboy Isaiah standbacking. Guys. It's so good
Speaker 1: to be back with you. I can't tell you how
Speaker 1: much I missed you over the last seventy two days.
Speaker 1: But it's also just compounded itself in the past couple
Speaker 1: hours because it's just it's so much excitement around not
Speaker 1: only training camp happening, But guys, the Cowboys got Everson Griffin.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you saw that news last night,
Speaker 1: but they that up. You didn't, Well, good thing. We're
Speaker 1: going to talk about it over the next hour. But
Speaker 1: Rob kind of break this move down. But the Cowboys
Speaker 1: go out and get one of the best pass rushers
Speaker 1: on the market. Yeah, this one came as a bit
Speaker 1: of a surprise, did I mean it's it's a reported
Speaker 1: one year deal for about six million bucks. And Griffin's
Speaker 1: been on the market for a while as a free
Speaker 1: agent to aid avoided his deal with the Vikings earlier
Speaker 1: this offseason, became a free agent, and then the pandemic hits,
Speaker 1: and because of Cota, calls around the league that you know,
Speaker 1: you can't have free agent visits, you can't have physicals,
Speaker 1: And he's been out there rumored to maybe go back
Speaker 1: to Minnesota, maybe Seattle. But this is a big stroke
Speaker 1: by the Cowboys in terms of getting some big time
Speaker 1: defensive line depth, a guy that can help fit right
Speaker 1: in at right defensive end seventy four and a half
Speaker 1: career sacks had eight sacks last year. Guys, this reminds
Speaker 1: me a lot of getting Robert Quinn last year, a
Speaker 1: guy in his early thirties on a contract that's not
Speaker 1: hamstringing the salary cap and all of a sudden he
Speaker 1: can really help you. Hey, mom, Hey, you guys are
Speaker 1: being way too cool about this. Okay, I'm a say
Speaker 1: you've been missing, you know in action. We're waiting to
Speaker 1: get back to talk football. But listen, I'm a good
Speaker 1: like everybody else is doing on all the other networks,
Speaker 1: and they have something to say. They say, listen first,
Speaker 1: all right, this is exactly what we needed. This is
Speaker 1: the piece. And it's not to say that Alda Smith
Speaker 1: isn't gonna give us any production. But guys, if you
Speaker 1: think about where Mike Nolan is right now and at
Speaker 1: the Star, he has got to be kicking himself with
Speaker 1: all of the guys that he can put in this rotation.
Speaker 1: I mean it, just pick somebody, you know, and ever
Speaker 1: Everson Griffin. Look, and they're gonna be the pundits that say, oh,
Speaker 1: we're getting a little older, and I know you're older
Speaker 1: as far as the lineup is concerned. When you look
Speaker 1: at McCoy PO and guys like that. They're in their thirties.
Speaker 1: But guys, this is a This is a group of
Speaker 1: guys that have all individually lit it up in the league,
Speaker 1: from Tank to PO, to McCoy and now to Everson Griffin. Hey,
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl of All Pro, all of those things we
Speaker 1: have on our front on our front line. Man, did
Speaker 1: we get thick or what? Okay? Champ, come on, man,
Speaker 1: you you come off? Hey, I know you got something.
Speaker 1: Sam Well, I know, man, look at here. All I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say is my no. One he right now, he
Speaker 1: is in a Lego factory and he's a master builder
Speaker 1: because he has all the pieces that he absolutely needs
Speaker 1: to put together a heck of a defense. These guys
Speaker 1: are going to be a probe, all right. Anybody who's
Speaker 1: on the opposite side of the ball does not want
Speaker 1: to deal with these guys. We talked about it prior
Speaker 1: to the break, but we're back now. These guys have
Speaker 1: even and they've improved even more. Right, these guys have somehow,
Speaker 1: some way went out and found another pro bowler to
Speaker 1: add onto this already ridiculous defense, this already amazing front seven.
Speaker 1: And we're gonna pair that up with the secondary that
Speaker 1: we have. Right that now we really said doesn't need
Speaker 1: to have a whole lot of coverage ability, but now
Speaker 1: we're just gonna improve it that much more, right by
Speaker 1: adding to this guy Griffin, who's a physical specimen six
Speaker 1: four two eighty pounds runs of four to six. He's
Speaker 1: the only person aside from Aaron, over the last sixty
Speaker 1: years it has fifty five plus sex and you've got
Speaker 1: to add this guy to this one. They're cheating. Think
Speaker 1: about this. Think about this. Three years ago, he signed
Speaker 1: an extension worth almost sixty million bucks. Okay, but he
Speaker 1: decided to avoid it because he hit certain incentives with
Speaker 1: the Vikings, and the Cowboys get him for six million bucks.
Speaker 1: I mean, look, that is front office gold right there.
Speaker 1: I mean, this guy can really come in and help them.
Speaker 1: And what Heckma said earlier about and Isaiah. Two guys
Speaker 1: that they've added that have been productive in the league
Speaker 1: five Pro Bowlers previously. For these guys that they've made
Speaker 1: Pro Bowls in the past, five of them. And Gerald
Speaker 1: McCoy's prob I think he's the highest paid that they've
Speaker 1: added at three years and eighteen million bucks. They're adding
Speaker 1: talent guys, yes, that are in their thirty some of them,
Speaker 1: but that don't Hamstringer cap and half. Familiarity with guys
Speaker 1: on the coaching staff, Jim Tomsula without his death, George Edwards,
Speaker 1: who's their new senior defensive assistant, Everson Griffin for six years.
Speaker 1: So when you're talking about stepping into a training camp
Speaker 1: where you don't have a lot of time to work
Speaker 1: on the field, at least there's familiarity with the guys.
Speaker 1: They know what they're getting and they know exactly what
Speaker 1: they're getting with Griffin. And the thing that makes it
Speaker 1: most exciting because of the signing, it's because it's the
Speaker 1: cherry on top. It's not the pie, it's not the
Speaker 1: whip cream. It's the nice little cherry that's placed on top.
Speaker 1: Because you made all the moves you did in the
Speaker 1: off season. You added Gerald McCoy, you added Dontari Poe,
Speaker 1: you added Alden Smith. Hopefully you get Randy Gregory back.
Speaker 1: But the big question going into this off season was
Speaker 1: how do you beef up the middle of the defensive
Speaker 1: line and how do you replace Robert Quinn. Well, you
Speaker 1: upgraded the defensive line in the middle of it right
Speaker 1: in that interior with Dontari Poe, with Gerald McCoy, and
Speaker 1: then Neville Gallimore in the draft. Then you turn around
Speaker 1: and you add a guy like Everson Griffin to replace
Speaker 1: Robert Quinn. And for those of you who may not
Speaker 1: think he's an upgrade, let's look at this. Last year,
Speaker 1: Griffin had seventy pressures. Quinn, who was arguably the best
Speaker 1: pass rusher on the Cowboys last year, had fifty seven,
Speaker 1: so thirteen more than Robert Quinn did. And when you
Speaker 1: talk about run defense, run defense wise, Griffin had a
Speaker 1: sixty three percent or not percent but grade at his
Speaker 1: run defense compared to Robert Quinn, who was at a
Speaker 1: fifty three, so ten points higher. So at least as
Speaker 1: of last year. And if you're watching the film and
Speaker 1: you get a little bit of twenty nineteen Everson Griffin,
Speaker 1: there's no reason not to be excited about this. But heckmon,
Speaker 1: whenever you talk about the size and the speed and
Speaker 1: his ability, what does he bring to this defense that
Speaker 1: they didn't already have previously? Well, well, first of all,
Speaker 1: all respect to Robert Quinn and what he did eleven
Speaker 1: sacks and even missing four games last year. I mean you,
Speaker 1: he had a monster season. But when you talk Everson
Speaker 1: Griffin and Robert Quinn, it's like talking about two world
Speaker 1: class fighters in different weight classes. It's just different, right.
Speaker 1: And the deal is is that Everson Griffin's catagorically way
Speaker 1: better against the run than Bobby Robert Quinn ever was okay,
Speaker 1: And so that's what you're getting the amount of moves
Speaker 1: that Everson Griffin has from the outside. Now, we gotta
Speaker 1: talk about technique because the word of twenty twenty is
Speaker 1: gonna be hybrid. And what you can do with Everson
Speaker 1: Griffin his ability to rush from the outside, but also
Speaker 1: because of this size, he can move in. You also
Speaker 1: have the personnel to move guys like let's say Bradley
Speaker 1: and I. He can also move inside. And let's not
Speaker 1: forget about Crawford and the tweeters and the guys that
Speaker 1: you have and certain and I'm just talking about the
Speaker 1: chess game of football and what they're gonna be able
Speaker 1: to do. And so Everson Griffin just gives this defense
Speaker 1: a plethora of different schemes that they can play. And guys,
Speaker 1: let's talk about the competition that's gonna be on this
Speaker 1: defensive line. When the Cowboys go ones versus ones, twos
Speaker 1: versus twos, My god, man, let's go gold line. When
Speaker 1: they go gold line two or days, you'll talk about
Speaker 1: nothing but pressure. The Cowboys are cooking with Chrisco or man, no,
Speaker 1: the cow wasn't with with Lord. All right, Lord, all right,
Speaker 1: that's what we are right now. And you gotta see it.
Speaker 1: You're not even a football person if you can't see that. Man,
Speaker 1: We've got legos in cooking and white classes. It's all
Speaker 1: over the place. But you mentioned kind of the battles
Speaker 1: of the offensive line versus the defensive line. They've had
Speaker 1: their battles in the past, and Everson Griffins will won
Speaker 1: a couple of those battles against Tyrant Smith. And just
Speaker 1: a reminder, those two were teammates at USC back in
Speaker 1: the day. Well, Everson Griffin got the best of Tyrant
Speaker 1: Smith this past season. Actually had a sack in that
Speaker 1: ball game, and he had two sacks against Also new
Speaker 1: teammate came Irving whenever they played the Chiefs last year
Speaker 1: as well. But I rewatched that Spinn move last night.
Speaker 1: I rewatched that Spinn move they made on Tyrant. That
Speaker 1: was nice. That was nice, And that's that's the thing.
Speaker 1: That Robert Quinn brings or not Robert Quinn, excuse me,
Speaker 1: Everson Griffin brings to the table. Is is he brings
Speaker 1: so many different moves and he brings that arsenal that
Speaker 1: you want from a pass rusher that maybe you wouldn't
Speaker 1: have had from maybe a Tyrone Crawford on the edge
Speaker 1: or whoever was going to be there. But you mentioned competition,
Speaker 1: heck bun and I think there's a lot of tough
Speaker 1: decisions that are about to be made on this defensive line.
Speaker 1: And Rob you can speak to this though, But if
Speaker 1: if Mike McCarthy goes to where he wanted to be
Speaker 1: with the six defensive ends and the four interior guys,
Speaker 1: you got Tank, Griffin, Smith, a Ni Armstrong, maybe Crawford
Speaker 1: on the edge, and then who do you put in
Speaker 1: the middle, Gerald McCoy, Poe, Gallimore, Hill there even and
Speaker 1: then if Gregory's in the mix, then you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to cut one of those names. Yeah, you're right, there's
Speaker 1: there's a lot of competition. I think they got to
Speaker 1: figure out somebody to back up Tank on the left
Speaker 1: spot because I think Alvin Smith and Griffin have played
Speaker 1: the right end spot. I think are probably more comfortable there.
Speaker 1: They need some depth there. Maybe an I can keep
Speaker 1: over to that side. But you mentioned the depth inside
Speaker 1: Poe and McCoy, and I'll flip around to what Heckma said.
Speaker 1: You could kill McCoy out outside too. He can play
Speaker 1: out in whatever you need. It's really good competition. Some
Speaker 1: of those younger defensive ends, it's gonna be harder on them.
Speaker 1: Just remember though, the NFL is allowing sixteen practice squad spots,
Speaker 1: so you know you can still keep rights for guys
Speaker 1: if they pass waivers if you're not able to keep them,
Speaker 1: and the way things are structured, let's just be honest.
Speaker 1: No in person work so far, it's gonna be harder
Speaker 1: for younger guys to stand out. And it makes the
Speaker 1: Griffin signing to me even better because there's a guy
Speaker 1: that has played for someone on the staff. They know
Speaker 1: what they're getting and from when I heard about him
Speaker 1: last night, his dates absolutely love him. He was a
Speaker 1: leader in Minnesota, and I think he's gonna fit right
Speaker 1: in as a guy, you know, a vocal presence and
Speaker 1: a guy that really has has the respect of his teammates. Isaiah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I totally agree with you. Man. And the
Speaker 1: thing here is you guys keep attesting to it, and
Speaker 1: you guys keep talking about the versatility. You guys keep
Speaker 1: talking about their ability to be able to change things
Speaker 1: up on that side of the ball. We already know
Speaker 1: of the defensive coordinator likes to mix things up, he
Speaker 1: likes to bring pressure. What this signing allows for, right,
Speaker 1: You guys gotta remember we have two guys that are
Speaker 1: on the pucklist right now, So there's gonna be an
Speaker 1: ability for guys to be able to get in there,
Speaker 1: get reps, get games underneath their belting for us to
Speaker 1: be able to use those first games as film study. Right,
Speaker 1: we get to use those as film said, to be
Speaker 1: able to get it to find out Ken Gallimar play right.
Speaker 1: You know, how are these guys that are feeling on
Speaker 1: the inside, how's that they're gonna do right? Being able
Speaker 1: to rush on the outside against some real competition. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna get a good look at these guys early
Speaker 1: on in the season, and then when everybody is healthy,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be able to mix and match. I really
Speaker 1: don't believe that they want guys playing one position. We
Speaker 1: have enough talent on this side of the ball now where.
Speaker 1: I think he wants guys coming from all over the place.
Speaker 1: I think every time the offense comes up to the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, I think he wants them trying to
Speaker 1: figure out, Okay, who's where. And when you're able to
Speaker 1: do that, you're able to take the offense's mind off
Speaker 1: of being able to execute and put their mind on
Speaker 1: trying to figure out exactly what you're doing. That's a
Speaker 1: great point, Isaiah, because every time Mike McCarthy has been
Speaker 1: asked about Cheeto or guys on the d line, or
Speaker 1: even on offense, he was asked about guys on the
Speaker 1: offensive line, he talks about position flex, posive flex, can
Speaker 1: you do more than one job? And that kind of
Speaker 1: speaks to the competition. They what how much can you
Speaker 1: do to contribute to our team? And heckmon was kind
Speaker 1: of talking about that whenever he went into the hybrids talk.
Speaker 1: And that's what Mike Nolan brings on the defensive side,
Speaker 1: and I think Mike McCarthy wants that to kind of
Speaker 1: transfer over to the offensive side. He's gonna you're gonna
Speaker 1: see that in the wide receiving corps. You're gonna see
Speaker 1: it with Maury Cooper and Michael Gallup and Ceedee Lamb,
Speaker 1: all three of those guys who are going to have
Speaker 1: a couple snaps in the slot or they may have
Speaker 1: significant time in the slot. But staying on the defensive sideheck, Moe,
Speaker 1: whenever you have a guy like Evers and Griffin who
Speaker 1: can play inside, outside, left or right, and then he
Speaker 1: could maybe even go back in coverage if you really
Speaker 1: needed him to because of the speed that he has.
Speaker 1: What kind of flexibility did that open up for not
Speaker 1: only the defensive line, but the front seven as a whole. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Like I said, it's it's all about the chess game
Speaker 1: of football, you know, not tipping your hand. That's the
Speaker 1: thing that you know if if a team can knows
Speaker 1: what you're going to, they're gonna pick you apart. Everson
Speaker 1: Griffith gives the Cowboys that confidence to be able to
Speaker 1: disguise things on the back end. Look at what this
Speaker 1: is gonna do for our secondary that's already you know, Look,
Speaker 1: we lost guys to free agency, guys that are now
Speaker 1: we're looking to repurpose and Cheeto Woozier and we're thinking
Speaker 1: about maybe he's a safety. All of those things are relative.
Speaker 1: When you shore up your front line. It makes everything
Speaker 1: that you do that much easier, and so also I
Speaker 1: mean not getting ahead of ourselves, but what it does
Speaker 1: for the linebackers, you know, just being able to have
Speaker 1: that girth up front, knowing that your linebackers can easily
Speaker 1: move to the ball, you know, having guys like Done
Speaker 1: Terry Poe, now Woods and also McCoy. Look, man, it's
Speaker 1: it's just you know, it's just gonna make us that
Speaker 1: much better as we go along as a team. Rob,
Speaker 1: I don't know how you guys feel about the chicken
Speaker 1: or the egg thing with how what's more important pressure
Speaker 1: or coverage on the back end. I've always been a
Speaker 1: front seven, get sacks, get pressure guy, and that, to
Speaker 1: Heckma's point, that helps your secondary. I truly believe if
Speaker 1: the Cowboys can get just in the top ten, top
Speaker 1: half of the takeaway market this year, they're gonna win
Speaker 1: so many football games. They have such an opportunity to
Speaker 1: do that because with the pressure up front, if they
Speaker 1: can if they can build some leads and also defensively
Speaker 1: give some extra possessions to an offense that has just
Speaker 1: a ridiculous amount of options, this team is going to
Speaker 1: be in really good shape, and I think adding a
Speaker 1: guy like Everson Griffin gives you more of an opportunity
Speaker 1: to do that because he is a pressure player and
Speaker 1: he can still do it even at thirty two years old. No, Rob,
Speaker 1: I like what you just said because I think when
Speaker 1: you talk about it in terms of, you know, what's important,
Speaker 1: the chicken out of the egg, that's a valid point.
Speaker 1: And I think that the NFL is starting to look
Speaker 1: at those things and how teams that are built struly
Speaker 1: from the outside and help your pass rush. When when
Speaker 1: Treyvon Diggs is giving a quarterback fits and having to
Speaker 1: look out there and say, okay, oh, I need to
Speaker 1: hold this ball because he's pressing, that gives Everson Griffin
Speaker 1: and our guys internally at the line more opportunity to
Speaker 1: get those sacks. So, I mean, all of those things
Speaker 1: are relative, and that's why you know, obviously football is
Speaker 1: the ultimate team sport. But you're right having those having
Speaker 1: that out on the outside be impactful to make a
Speaker 1: quarterback second guests. Man, I'm telling you, these are things
Speaker 1: that are all going to make the Cowboy's defense that
Speaker 1: much more formatable. And honestly, you know, teams always play
Speaker 1: a mix usually of man and zone and coverage, right,
Speaker 1: but they've added guys that can play that press man
Speaker 1: where you're up on the line of scrimmage. You've got
Speaker 1: to have pass pressure, pass ross pressure to be able
Speaker 1: to do that to not hang your corners out to dry.
Speaker 1: And that's that's again that's why this is another another
Speaker 1: reason why this is such a big move, an exciting move,
Speaker 1: because it really shoes up your your depth in your
Speaker 1: pass rush. I think it also frees up the secondary
Speaker 1: like Hekma was saying, but it also it just solidifies
Speaker 1: one of those other positions of need. And we were
Speaker 1: talking on the Training Camp kickoff show a couple days
Speaker 1: ago with Bucky Brooks and we asked him who's the
Speaker 1: biggest impact player, who's the under the radar guy that
Speaker 1: you're looking at, And he came out and he said,
Speaker 1: I don't have a specific guy. It's whoever starts at
Speaker 1: right defensive in it opens up tank Lawrence. And that's
Speaker 1: the specific side of the this edition that makes me
Speaker 1: so excited is because you can't necessarily double team both
Speaker 1: those guys. And then we're going to talk about the
Speaker 1: linebackers a little bit later on in the show. So
Speaker 1: I'll save the how it opens up the linebackers for
Speaker 1: the third segment. But it's just it's the perfect move
Speaker 1: for Mike Nolan to have so many guys who can
Speaker 1: do so many things, and then turn around and it
Speaker 1: opens up tank Lawrence. What kind of season is he
Speaker 1: going to have Isaiah that he hasn't had in the past,
Speaker 1: just because he has a guy on the other side. Yeah, freedom,
Speaker 1: Right when whenever I can tell you, as a former player,
Speaker 1: whenever you have guys around you that can make plays
Speaker 1: and the pressure is no longer on solely on you
Speaker 1: to be that guy to have to generate plays left
Speaker 1: or right all the times. Right when you have sixty
Speaker 1: snaps a game, if you have five great plays, that's
Speaker 1: a great day. Right Now, you're taking somebody who who
Speaker 1: doesn't have to have it on that pressure on him.
Speaker 1: He has other Pro bowlers around him, he has other
Speaker 1: guys that can make plays. It's gonna free him up.
Speaker 1: And you feel like you're a kid in a candy store.
Speaker 1: You feel like you're playing with your brothers, like you're
Speaker 1: just playing some street ball. These guys are gonna have
Speaker 1: a heck of a time out there together. And I
Speaker 1: guarantee you that you're probably gonna see Law have one
Speaker 1: of his best seasons, if not his best season he's
Speaker 1: ever had. Isaiah, and I want to add I want
Speaker 1: to add to that by the fact that you've been
Speaker 1: a former player, as you know, being fresh is the thing.
Speaker 1: So when you take Tank from let's say fifty eight
Speaker 1: snaps down to forty snaps, absolutely, I mean he is
Speaker 1: like Usain bolt out now because because he's that fresh
Speaker 1: coming off of the edge. The other thing too, is
Speaker 1: he's got now everybody's offseason has been a little different,
Speaker 1: but he didn't get to train like he wanted to
Speaker 1: last year coming off the shoulder surgery that he had
Speaker 1: in April, and I think it affected him early in
Speaker 1: the year at least in terms of RUSS technique, all
Speaker 1: those things. He doesn't have that issue this year and
Speaker 1: he should be better for that should be and I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna make a big enough impact. And one
Speaker 1: final thing before we end up, I guess going into
Speaker 1: this first break in this next segment, but the fact
Speaker 1: that the off season has been what it has been.
Speaker 1: Whenever you get a new head coach like Mike McCarthy,
Speaker 1: you're able to have the draft that this front office
Speaker 1: has had, and then you're able to have a free
Speaker 1: agency period where you add so much talent, the expectations
Speaker 1: are going to be high. But it doesn't always happen
Speaker 1: like this. It doesn't always happen as a Cowboys fan
Speaker 1: to where oh, this is our year. You hear that
Speaker 1: all the time year to year, and sometimes it's a
Speaker 1: little bit facetious. It may not be exactly what you're
Speaker 1: saying it's going to be. But this year's it just
Speaker 1: feels a little bit different because you're not always is
Speaker 1: going to be on the same page as a fan
Speaker 1: base and as a front office. And Jerry came out
Speaker 1: yesterday in the press conference, it said, it's about our fans.
Speaker 1: Oh it's it's most important thing is our fans. They're
Speaker 1: doing that right now. They're showing it that actions speak
Speaker 1: loud of their words, because the fans are calling for, hey,
Speaker 1: let's get a receiver at seventeen. If somebody falls, well,
Speaker 1: hey hello, here's ceedee lamb. You turn around in free agency,
Speaker 1: let's go get a pass rusher. They go and grab
Speaker 1: the best one on the market. So it's really exciting
Speaker 1: as a Cowboys fan to finally have at least a
Speaker 1: little bit of time where you're on the same page
Speaker 1: as your front office, because as a Cowboys fan growing up,
Speaker 1: it didn't happen. A whole lot happened. Man, the stars
Speaker 1: are aligning for us, man. I mean, I won't be
Speaker 1: sacrilegious to say God as a Cowboy fan, but I mean, look,
Speaker 1: ceedee Lamb falls to us as seventeen right, I mean
Speaker 1: just right, just falls right, and our lat then we
Speaker 1: get our cornerback with the second in the second round,
Speaker 1: and we've been juggling. Everybody has known and you've talked
Speaker 1: about it. Man, we knew that we needed a defensive
Speaker 1: end after Robert Quinn left for free agency. We had
Speaker 1: talked about in previous shows about Jadavian clowning Robert Quinn's um.
Speaker 1: Even Everson Griffin's name has come up. It just didn't
Speaker 1: seem logical that thinks that it would align for us
Speaker 1: to be able to get a guy like that. Man,
Speaker 1: for this to happen on the eve days between well
Speaker 1: forty eight hours before our first camp. Man, it's just
Speaker 1: I mean, at this point, if we don't win it,
Speaker 1: what's gonna be that What can't we say is the
Speaker 1: excuse now because we got everyth we needn't. I don't
Speaker 1: want to hear that. I was asking the questions that
Speaker 1: everybody's gonna ask anyway. Okay, that's right, Rob, you set
Speaker 1: the bar pretty high. Heck, it's high. It's hi, man.
Speaker 1: I mean, if I have a concern, and I've said
Speaker 1: this throughout the offseason, it is that this offseason prevented
Speaker 1: the Mike McCarthy from getting his program established, from Mike
Speaker 1: Nolan getting his scheme going, and I think that can
Speaker 1: be an issue. However, you can flip it around on
Speaker 1: the other side and say, with no preseason games, nobody's
Speaker 1: gonna get a look at the Cowboys new look defense
Speaker 1: or their offense and that could help him or at
Speaker 1: least early in the season. I think it helped the
Speaker 1: Cowboys early last season with Kellen Moore coming in with
Speaker 1: some changes they had. So it kind of goes both ways.
Speaker 1: And actually, right, I mean in terms of upgrading the
Speaker 1: roster and adding players that can make an impact on defense,
Speaker 1: because that was probably the main focus in the offseason.
Speaker 1: They've done that. They have set themselves up on paper
Speaker 1: to have success. There's no question about that. Rod. That
Speaker 1: was a great point, Man, in terms of these guys,
Speaker 1: you know, possibly coming back and not having anybody have
Speaker 1: eyes on them, right, and Mike Nolan being able to
Speaker 1: have all these dog on resources and nobody knows what
Speaker 1: he's gonna do, what his plans are with schemes he's
Speaker 1: coming up with. That's again another cheap code that he has, right.
Speaker 1: But then we also take a consideration something that Mike
Speaker 1: McCarthy said during the press conferences day. It was it
Speaker 1: was very interesting for him to say that he feels
Speaker 1: like they're ether ahead now than what they would have
Speaker 1: been had they been there the entire time. So that
Speaker 1: was very interesting when he when he mentioned that, you know,
Speaker 1: it was kind of curious to see from what point
Speaker 1: of view. So that lets me know the confidence lover
Speaker 1: that he has in the in the the fact that
Speaker 1: these guys are absorbing this information, these this new system,
Speaker 1: both on both sides of the ball, actually in all
Speaker 1: three phases of the game. So that's that's gonna be
Speaker 1: something to keep an eye on because these guys seemingly,
Speaker 1: based off that comment, they must be absorbing as information
Speaker 1: and they were ready to apply it. And that's that's true.
Speaker 1: And honestly, it's like when we're asked what the defense
Speaker 1: is gonna look like, it's hard to really give an
Speaker 1: answer because you don't you don't know. You know that
Speaker 1: they're gonna We've talked about the diversatility and how they're
Speaker 1: probably gonna try to disguise things more. But until we
Speaker 1: really see it four three three, four different alignments, we'll see.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what's exciting is is that we really
Speaker 1: don't have a clear picture of it and that can
Speaker 1: be an advantage. High. Yeah, that's Heckmon put it perfectly
Speaker 1: earlier when he said that's gonna be the keyword of
Speaker 1: Cony twenty that Cowboys fans are gonna have to learn.
Speaker 1: It's the word hybrid, and it's as simple as that,
Speaker 1: but it's so complex at the same time. So it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of fun this year. But you
Speaker 1: mentioned a lot of the great things the Cowboys did
Speaker 1: this offseason. One of those that they didn't necessarily get
Speaker 1: done was lock up a long term quarterback and was
Speaker 1: this offseason the beginning of the end of the relationship
Speaker 1: between Dak Prescott and the Cowboys. Will discuss what they
Speaker 1: talked about in the press conferences yesterday when week come
Speaker 1: back here I'm talking Cowboys. I'm Jay Novachik, former tight
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Speaker 1: September twenty nineteen to Talk in Cowboys back here with
Speaker 1: the second segment here of Talking Cowboys. Glad You're with us,
Speaker 1: Kyle Yeoman's Rob Phillips, heck my Harrison, Isaiah stand back,
Speaker 1: and I do want to encourage you guys. If this
Speaker 1: is your first time listening to Talking Cowboys, push that
Speaker 1: subscribe button or that follow button. If you're on Twitter
Speaker 1: or Periscope or Apple iTunes, it doesn't matter wherever you're
Speaker 1: listening to it, press subscribe because we're gonna have a
Speaker 1: ton of fun going into twenty twenty. This year, we've
Speaker 1: been together throughout the offseason. We're gonna continue education eating
Speaker 1: you guys on the Dallas Cowboys because if you're like me,
Speaker 1: whenever you start a podcast, you want to be smarter
Speaker 1: by the time you end that podcast. And that's exactly
Speaker 1: that's that's what we're trying to do. And we could
Speaker 1: talk Everson Griffin all day, and luckily I got permission
Speaker 1: from Derek. I don't know if he hasn't heard this
Speaker 1: joke yet, but I got permission from Derek. We're gonna
Speaker 1: just take the Breakes time slot and we're gonna go
Speaker 1: for three hours today and continue talking. He conte that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's see how that goes over. I don't think. I
Speaker 1: don't think that's gonna happen. I think I gotta ask
Speaker 1: you a question. Does your hat spen on your head
Speaker 1: anymore when you oh man, but h. But in all seriousness,
Speaker 1: it's a ton of fun being back with Cowboys Nation
Speaker 1: and talking about the excitement around the last couple of
Speaker 1: hours or the last couple of days rather with this
Speaker 1: Cowboys team. We heard from the Mount Rushmore of the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty Dallas Cowboys yesterday as the State of the Program,
Speaker 1: State of the Organization press conference to kick off training
Speaker 1: camp with Jerry Jones, Steven Jones, head coach Mike McCarthy,
Speaker 1: and then quarterback Dak Prescott. And we'll get to Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott here in a little bit, but I wanted to
Speaker 1: kind of start off by really what has been the
Speaker 1: theme of the off season, and that's challenges and that's
Speaker 1: exactly what are still on the table for the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: not only on the field, but off the field, battling
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen. There's a reason we're all still remote doing
Speaker 1: these podcasts. It's because we're still battling this as a world,
Speaker 1: as a society, as a country. And so they came
Speaker 1: out yesterday and said we're still planning to play all
Speaker 1: of our games in front of our fans, which is
Speaker 1: extremely encouraging for all football fans anywhere. On some of
Speaker 1: these days when you're seeing college football in some parts
Speaker 1: come to an end, you're seeing certain stadiums around the
Speaker 1: NFL even that are saying we're not going to play
Speaker 1: with fans. But Rob yesterday Jerry did come out and
Speaker 1: say we plan on playing in front of fans, and
Speaker 1: that's exciting to me absolutely. And Jerry is probably the
Speaker 1: most optimistic person I've ever been around. You know, He's
Speaker 1: just optimistic about every part of his life, and he
Speaker 1: truly believes that the NFL is going to complete a
Speaker 1: sixteen game season all the way to the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: and back to the A. T. T Stadium with fans.
Speaker 1: They're gonna adhere to any protocols that the Texas state government,
Speaker 1: you know, puts in place for that. But that is encouraging.
Speaker 1: It's exciting that that's looking like it's a possibility or
Speaker 1: it's going to happen. It just comes down to on
Speaker 1: a daily basis, with the protocols that the league is
Speaker 1: put into place, that everybody does their best and takes
Speaker 1: the responsibility of being safe and doing things outside of
Speaker 1: football that will lend itself to preventing any spread at
Speaker 1: the virus throughout the league. You know, there is no
Speaker 1: real bubble this year for the NFL. The NBA's has
Speaker 1: one right now and it seems to be working great,
Speaker 1: and but it just it just goes down to players, coaches, staff, us,
Speaker 1: you know, just taking responsibility and try and do the
Speaker 1: right things outside of football. So there's not a situation
Speaker 1: like we've seen in baseball where there's there's some outbreaks
Speaker 1: and then it threatens games being played. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: when it when it when I was watching that that interview,
Speaker 1: Like you said, Rob, it's it's Jerry's consummate optimism about
Speaker 1: the future of the organization always. And you know, we
Speaker 1: all know that COVID nineteen has it's unprecedented and everything
Speaker 1: that we've had to do from our personal lives to
Speaker 1: adjust to these times, you know, so you know this
Speaker 1: virus is going to dictate to us how we proceed
Speaker 1: and go forward. When you look at other leagues and
Speaker 1: how they've handled it handled it, I think the NBA
Speaker 1: has been the example, but they have isolated those guys
Speaker 1: in a bubble, and I don't think logistically because of
Speaker 1: the numbers for football, you can't do it. But you
Speaker 1: see the NFL and especially the Cowboys, taking every precaution. Man,
Speaker 1: you have got to get tested every time you come
Speaker 1: into the building. Media does not have access to players,
Speaker 1: So the Cowboys are doing everything. Jerry is not just
Speaker 1: giving you lip service. He is backing it up by
Speaker 1: making sure that his players are safe. Now you think
Speaker 1: you do the comparison between baseball and football. Think about baseball,
Speaker 1: those guys travel way more during the week to games,
Speaker 1: whereas in football it's just a one day turnaround thing,
Speaker 1: all right. And so look, we're just we're all all
Speaker 1: of us, everybody that's on this panel. We need football
Speaker 1: to happen, and we want football to happen. But the
Speaker 1: reality of the situation is is that, look, we want
Speaker 1: to be careful. We want to make sure that we
Speaker 1: protect these men, you know, these men and everybody that's
Speaker 1: in the organization because we're dealing with something that's dreadful. Yeah, heck,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think that anybody that's sitting here
Speaker 1: right now listening, or even us talking, expected mister Jerry
Speaker 1: Jones to sit up there and say anything more than
Speaker 1: anything less than we're playing football. I think I think,
Speaker 1: I think I think we all expected him to say
Speaker 1: that we all know that that's that's the man, that's
Speaker 1: the hand. He leads from the front, right. Um, And
Speaker 1: he's a he's a revolutionary, right, I mean Jerry, Jerry.
Speaker 1: He always sees things coming, he plans for them ahead,
Speaker 1: so he's never caught off guard. He's never reactive, he's
Speaker 1: always proactive. Um. He's created this amazing facility right out
Speaker 1: there at the Star. He has the hotel right there,
Speaker 1: the partnership with the army. Um. I wish, you know,
Speaker 1: hats off to him and the rest of the organization
Speaker 1: that have created this form of a bubble. Right as
Speaker 1: you guys mentioned. You guys mentioned you know, base or
Speaker 1: not baseball, but you guys mentioned basketball and even hockey
Speaker 1: right there. They've done it right, right, we have We've
Speaker 1: have two sports that have went out there. We have
Speaker 1: them as examples. They've done it right. So to try
Speaker 1: to do something, uh, regardless of how many people we
Speaker 1: have out there, to try to do something other than
Speaker 1: what we've already seen is the right way to do it.
Speaker 1: I think it's kind of absurd. I wish the NFL
Speaker 1: would mandate that every organization would do it. But without
Speaker 1: that mandated order, we have two organizations in the Saints
Speaker 1: and obviously here with the Dallas Cowboys that are taken
Speaker 1: it upon themselves to ensure the safety not only their players,
Speaker 1: but also their fans in the entire league. So hats
Speaker 1: off to the Cowboys for doing things the right way.
Speaker 1: I hope that everybody else follow suit. Da go ahead,
Speaker 1: go go away, rod Well. To Issaiah's point, Dak said yesterday,
Speaker 1: just to be quite honest, the healthiest team is gonna
Speaker 1: win a lot of games this year and have the
Speaker 1: best chance. I mean, that's just the reality of the situation,
Speaker 1: and you guys spoke to it. The Star is kind
Speaker 1: of I mean, it wasn't built for a situation like this,
Speaker 1: but it can handle a situation like this. The locker room,
Speaker 1: board center, you have an outside practice field. The Omni
Speaker 1: is big, I mean, you know, and that shows a
Speaker 1: lot of team unity for guys to decide with the option, Hey,
Speaker 1: we're gonna bubble up during training camp for three weeks
Speaker 1: and we may go longer than that. You know, it's
Speaker 1: a Dak said, it's possibility. Now that's a that's a
Speaker 1: heck of a commitment to do that throughout the season.
Speaker 1: If that, you know, five months as opposed to three weeks,
Speaker 1: but that's a possibility and that only can help your chances.
Speaker 1: And you are right. The work behind the scenes that
Speaker 1: the Cowboys have done to get this thing ready is
Speaker 1: it really is extraordinary and it hats off to the
Speaker 1: operation staff. And to your point, I just want everybody
Speaker 1: to be clear on this. Everybody keeps talking about how
Speaker 1: much of a sacrifice it is for guys to stay
Speaker 1: at the hotel and it's inconvenient, all right, Let's be clear.
Speaker 1: We all know that during this period of time they
Speaker 1: would have been at a hotel anyways, right, And as
Speaker 1: ciphrom this, if they had to go the entire season
Speaker 1: staying in a hotel, right and seeing their families every
Speaker 1: so often, Guess what, you have so many opportunities to
Speaker 1: make a run at a Super Bowl championship, right. I
Speaker 1: was blessed to play six years and walk away with
Speaker 1: a ring. There was guys that were way better than me.
Speaker 1: There was guys that played a lot longer than me
Speaker 1: that did not have that same opportunity. So when you
Speaker 1: look at especially organization like this, that it's really really
Speaker 1: is set up and teed up to go out there
Speaker 1: and have a real run at the Super Bowl. Forget sacrifice.
Speaker 1: This is your opportunity. So if it requires me sleeping
Speaker 1: at a hotel bed every day to go get that ring,
Speaker 1: guess what, when I look back twenty years from now
Speaker 1: and I still have those diamonds on my fingers, it
Speaker 1: was well worth it. Isaiah, I kind of want to
Speaker 1: turn that back around on you. And that's where we
Speaker 1: see the leadership from this Cowboys team is the fact
Speaker 1: that this was a player incentivized things, saying we want
Speaker 1: to go do a bubble. And by the way, we
Speaker 1: need a new name for the bubble. It's got to
Speaker 1: do something else. I get what it is, it's a bubble,
Speaker 1: but we've got to be more creative a Boys bubble.
Speaker 1: I don't know that's even weirder. But I think whenever
Speaker 1: you look at the leadership that it takes for some
Speaker 1: of the higher ups, or at least the more veteran
Speaker 1: guys on this Dallas Cowboys team of saying we want
Speaker 1: to be the healthiest team. We want to be in
Speaker 1: a position where we're gonna make a run for a
Speaker 1: super Bowl because we understand the expectation and the reality
Speaker 1: of where we are as an organization right now. What
Speaker 1: does that take as a player. How respected is that
Speaker 1: by other players in that locker room? Isaiah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's definitely you guys are gonna be looked at with
Speaker 1: high regard, right, guys are gonna be highly renowned, highly
Speaker 1: regarded guys. But I mean to my point, you know,
Speaker 1: when you're when everybody is as as coach him was
Speaker 1: saved back in the day, find focused on the same goals.
Speaker 1: It's no longer a sacrifice, right, You're not sacrifice or right.
Speaker 1: And this is this is our commitment. We commit to
Speaker 1: this organization. We commit to this organ to this team,
Speaker 1: to this city, to each other, to give this the
Speaker 1: best opportunity to come in in the best shape, to
Speaker 1: be mentally as precise as possible, and go out there
Speaker 1: and execute to the best of our abilities. And if
Speaker 1: I do anything that's contradictory to that, I am no
Speaker 1: longer upholding my commitment to everybody that that's relying on me.
Speaker 1: So kudos to those guys for stepping up to the
Speaker 1: play and saying this is what we want to do,
Speaker 1: because it shows you that these guys really want to
Speaker 1: go out there and get that ring. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that's a that's a great point, and Dak Prescott's been
Speaker 1: one of the forefront names as a part of really
Speaker 1: the group of players that wants to stay healthy and
Speaker 1: take care of their job and be responsible, even despite
Speaker 1: some of the questions surrounding his contract this past year.
Speaker 1: And I'm kind of transitioning into our hopefully franchise quarterback
Speaker 1: moving for That's what both sides said. Yesterday. Dak Prescott
Speaker 1: came out and his press conference and said, I want
Speaker 1: to be a Dallas Cowboy till I can't throw the
Speaker 1: football anymore. Massic charging you talk about what the front
Speaker 1: office said, Jerry Jones says, I think he's outstanding. He's
Speaker 1: our franchise quarterback moving forward. Stephen Jones echoed that Mike
Speaker 1: McCarthy is never straight away from that. But Rob is this.
Speaker 1: Is there any strain whatsoever in this relationship to the
Speaker 1: point of we could be worried Cowboys fans down the
Speaker 1: road that Dak Prescott isn't in the Cowboys uniform. Well,
Speaker 1: Dak said yesterday there's no frustration on his part. He's
Speaker 1: looking towards the season. I believe that. I'm sure there's
Speaker 1: some disappointment on both sides. They couldn't get it done.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've been talking about this for over a
Speaker 1: year now, and both sides want to get it done.
Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, there's been other factors. I don't
Speaker 1: think you could say one side or the other is
Speaker 1: the reason why. I think to some extent, Dak wanted
Speaker 1: to be on himself last year and it worked. I mean,
Speaker 1: he had a great season and he just set him
Speaker 1: up up. There is the length of the deal. I
Speaker 1: think that's a real thing, and and I think there
Speaker 1: is some credence to what the Jones has said yesterday
Speaker 1: about you know, sixteen guys were franchise tag this year
Speaker 1: and two I think two got long term deals. There
Speaker 1: is question about the economics going into twenty twenty one
Speaker 1: and what the CAP's gonna look like, because there's bound
Speaker 1: to be revenue loss in the NFL that will affect
Speaker 1: the salary cap level. All that being said, this is
Speaker 1: a deal that it needs to get done. It's got
Speaker 1: to get done because if the if the cap is
Speaker 1: lower or flat next year, you can't have Dak Prescott.
Speaker 1: I don't think on a thirty seven million dollars franchise tag,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's I don't think that's really feasible
Speaker 1: unless you really have to. You have to do a
Speaker 1: lot of maneuvering, creative with your with your contracts to
Speaker 1: get that done. If it's gonna be long term, they
Speaker 1: need to get it done long term next year for sure. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: you know, I loved seeing Dak yesterday and I just
Speaker 1: want to speak to the act of how poised Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott was. I mean, this was his first time being
Speaker 1: in front of the media answering these questions, and his
Speaker 1: ability to answer everything perfectly. I think it resonates to
Speaker 1: the kind of guy that he is, his leadership and
Speaker 1: just while he's an endorsement magnet, because he's going to
Speaker 1: protect the brand at all costs. Please know that the
Speaker 1: media were waiting for quotables, headliners, all of those things,
Speaker 1: and Dad gave them nothing. And maybe the one when
Speaker 1: they pressed him about the difference between coach McCarthy and
Speaker 1: Jason Garrett was the one thing that he kind of
Speaker 1: went out on the limb and said, Hey, the differences.
Speaker 1: We just didn't play smart football last year. But I
Speaker 1: don't think that that was necessarily a job, so to speak.
Speaker 1: I think he was just speaking honestly about you know,
Speaker 1: the football experience last year, but he was poised. He
Speaker 1: made sure that you know, there was no that he
Speaker 1: didn't speak to any contention between the front office and himself.
Speaker 1: He even said, I trust Steve and I trust Jerry
Speaker 1: and my and my agents to get this deal done.
Speaker 1: So to me, that was the best part about it.
Speaker 1: But I don't see how anyone can look at Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott and look at the way that he answers those
Speaker 1: questions and have a bad thing to say about this kid, because, man,
Speaker 1: to me, he handled the pressure, especially with you know,
Speaker 1: all of the networks using his name and this contract dispute,
Speaker 1: as you know, ratings, clickbait basically for the last five months,
Speaker 1: and he just and he handled all of it with class,
Speaker 1: and I loved it. Well. I think the best thing
Speaker 1: about it is that this is the end of that conversation,
Speaker 1: at least for now. I mean, the next thing is
Speaker 1: we're getting the football and we're going to see exactly
Speaker 1: what he does here in twenty twenty, and we're able
Speaker 1: to kind of close the book at least at the
Speaker 1: moment for Dak contract talk, because it's there's nothing else
Speaker 1: you can do about it except for maybe get a
Speaker 1: long term deal done next season. So with that even
Speaker 1: being said, I think I want to go back and
Speaker 1: talk about just real quickly. You mentioned that he brought
Speaker 1: up that we weren't playing smart football. I think that
Speaker 1: was not necessarily a jab of the coaching staff. I
Speaker 1: think that was more of a just a straight flat
Speaker 1: out statement on the players and exactly what the execution
Speaker 1: was like as a whole last year. It just wasn't
Speaker 1: necessarily what they expected it to be. I mean, you
Speaker 1: go into twenty nineteen with all these expectations, much like
Speaker 1: we are in twenty twenty. I think it's a little
Speaker 1: bit different than maybe last year. But you have to
Speaker 1: have a chance to execute now this season because you
Speaker 1: weren't able to do so a year ago. Isaiah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I don't think it was a jab either.
Speaker 1: I mean, you don't talk about previous coaches. That's a
Speaker 1: that's just a no no when you're when you're leader
Speaker 1: of the team. Obviously, I played quarterback in college a
Speaker 1: little bit of the league, and that's just something you
Speaker 1: just don't do. You don't go down that rabbit hole.
Speaker 1: So you gotta see him, you know, play a little
Speaker 1: dodgeball on that one and get around that question. But
Speaker 1: you know you focus on the future. You know you're
Speaker 1: focused on the future. I think it's always critical as
Speaker 1: the leader of the team, as a leader of the organization, UM,
Speaker 1: the most highly acclaimed organization in the world by just
Speaker 1: everybody's clear on that, to let everybody know that there
Speaker 1: has to be some form of accountability. Right. We weren't
Speaker 1: We weren't good last year. We didn't play good. We
Speaker 1: had pieces to be good, but we but because of
Speaker 1: our our faults, because of what we didn't do right,
Speaker 1: we did not succeed UM. So acknowledging that not only
Speaker 1: as an individual, be acknowledging that as a leader as
Speaker 1: a team is important so that it is said, it stated.
Speaker 1: Everybody's clear on that. Now it's our opportunity to go
Speaker 1: out there and show what we didn't do last year.
Speaker 1: We have opportunity to prove that this year with a
Speaker 1: much better team, and thank goodness because it's time to
Speaker 1: talk football again. But it's also time to prove some
Speaker 1: of these expectations right with a new coaching staff, a
Speaker 1: whole new realm of players. Guys, we got Everson Griffin.
Speaker 1: I don't know if we talked about it, we mentioned that,
Speaker 1: did we mentioned so? I think we did, But we
Speaker 1: got that last night too. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: can tell I mean excited about that. I'm pretty pumped
Speaker 1: up about it. But before we head to this next break,
Speaker 1: wanted to remind you that if you're looking for something
Speaker 1: different to change up your dinner routine, help support local
Speaker 1: Frisco businesses by choosing one of the Star District restaurants.
Speaker 1: For more information on delivery, takeout, curbside pickup, and dinan availability,
Speaker 1: visit the Star District dot Com. Lots of great options
Speaker 1: around there, so go try and check that out. Take out,
Speaker 1: be safe, be socially distant so we can have fans
Speaker 1: in the stands. This football season coming up here and
Speaker 1: just less than four weeks now. Are close to four
Speaker 1: weeks now, which is crazy to think about moving forward.
Speaker 1: But when we come back, we even with that Everson
Speaker 1: Griffin signing, Layton vander Esh is the missing key and
Speaker 1: the biggest edition a healthy Layton vander Esh for this
Speaker 1: defense moving into twenty twenty. We'll tell you why when
Speaker 1: we come back here on Dallas Cowboys or on Talking Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Sam's eighteen sixty five stetson hats are American maid with
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Speaker 1: Cowboys Training Camp is finally here in twenty twenty, and
Speaker 1: you can get your training camp coverage with the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty Dallas Cowboys Star Magazine Training Camp Preview. It's a
Speaker 1: long title, but it's a longer magazine with plenty to read.
Speaker 1: The preview includes an inside look on scouting reports, position battles,
Speaker 1: the final roster projections, and even more. Get your copy
Speaker 1: today at four ninety five only four ninety five on
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys dot Com slash Star. We all kind of
Speaker 1: contributed to that in different bits and pieces, So go
Speaker 1: check it out. It's a ton of fun to read
Speaker 1: through it. I've read through the digital version. I still
Speaker 1: haven't had the physical copy in hand, but it's definitely
Speaker 1: worth it to go check that out, especially because training
Speaker 1: camp starts. Full practices start tomorrow for the Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: at the Star in Frisco. Then they start eight am
Speaker 1: weekday practices Monday, and it's every day from here on out.
Speaker 1: You're talking to Mike McCarthy every morning. You're you're getting
Speaker 1: your cowboys in even before we really wake up in
Speaker 1: the morning for most people, I guess, but it's exciting
Speaker 1: that it's also here. But I will say, there's not
Speaker 1: gonna be Everson Griffin in that Training Camp preview magazine.
Speaker 1: Just tune to us to talk about Everson Griffin stuff
Speaker 1: because we're excited about it in general. But I wanted
Speaker 1: to talk about the front seven, and I mentioned and
Speaker 1: teased a little bit earlier in the show that Layton
Speaker 1: vander Esh and Jalen Smith maybe the two that benefit
Speaker 1: the most from the Griffin signing because of how much
Speaker 1: it frees them up, along with Tank Lawrence as well.
Speaker 1: We talked about that earlier. You should go check that out.
Speaker 1: But I think whenever it comes to this front seven, Rob,
Speaker 1: You're already making the switch between Layton Vanderesh going to
Speaker 1: the mic, linebacker Jalen Smith back to the will something
Speaker 1: that I think we all kind of anticipated and it's
Speaker 1: not necessarily a surprise, but the excitement for that is
Speaker 1: ramped up because of what Griffin brings to the table
Speaker 1: from a pass pass rush perspective. Yeah, you mentioned it.
Speaker 1: I mean freeing up the linebackers to run and chase
Speaker 1: and make plays, and we talked about it all off season.
Speaker 1: Really the addle of the defensive line too and done
Speaker 1: Terry Poe that can eat up space and occupy blockers
Speaker 1: and allow that to happen. I think it's all kind
Speaker 1: of goes together. You know. We talked to vander Esh
Speaker 1: last week and by the way, he says, his neck
Speaker 1: is great. He's gonna have a little more a little
Speaker 1: more padding for his neck role this year. But he's
Speaker 1: he's one hundred percent, which is great. Um, I'm curious Isaiah.
Speaker 1: You know, he kind of downplayed the shift to the
Speaker 1: mic because he said, you know, there's gonna be times
Speaker 1: where I'll be outside the box, Jay will play inside
Speaker 1: the box. It's it's not that big of a difference,
Speaker 1: but he is. If he is the mic, he's gonna
Speaker 1: be in charge of making the calls pre snap and
Speaker 1: that's more of a responsibility. But I think he's got
Speaker 1: a chance maybe to benefit both guys. Yeah, it should
Speaker 1: have benefit of both guys, and like we can you
Speaker 1: know obviously to Heckma's point, the hybrid thing, right, so
Speaker 1: guys are gonna be moving around. But to your point,
Speaker 1: vander Esh, you know the wolf he's going to be.
Speaker 1: He he's the captain of the defense. If you're if
Speaker 1: you're playing Mike Ladbecker, you are the captain of the defense.
Speaker 1: You are the quarterback on that side of the ball.
Speaker 1: So he's gonna be responsible for making sure that everybody's
Speaker 1: a line proper I mean everywhere from the linebackers being
Speaker 1: what they're supposed to be, communicating the calls of the secondary,
Speaker 1: you know, tapping into the interior d linement on the butt,
Speaker 1: getting them in the right gaps. That's his job, right.
Speaker 1: Obviously we're talking about these guys on the front flour.
Speaker 1: These guys are gonna be interchanging all the time. They're
Speaker 1: gonna be able to apply pressure and like you mentioned,
Speaker 1: these guys to be able to roam free on the
Speaker 1: second level. Right. But something else to be considering her
Speaker 1: and then to be thinking about is the fact that
Speaker 1: vendors Yea, even though he's adding a little bit more
Speaker 1: padding to that neck role as the mic linebacker, you
Speaker 1: were going to take the most contact out of any
Speaker 1: of those three guys, right. So though we're excited about
Speaker 1: him being able to be free up a little bit,
Speaker 1: if guys do get to that second level, guess who
Speaker 1: they're meeting. They're meeting there, You're meeting that wolf. That's
Speaker 1: a great point. Yeah, And I think whenever you look
Speaker 1: at split safety coverages and the way that they kind
Speaker 1: of read those RPOs, the mic linebackers, the guy, like
Speaker 1: you said, who's the captain of the defense one, but
Speaker 1: he's also the first read. He's the guy who's gonna
Speaker 1: have to either plug the run gap or work back
Speaker 1: in coverage, and I think either way, heckmuh, that's gonna
Speaker 1: benefit Laton Vanderesh and Jalen Smith. We've said it all offseason.
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith's better when he's running downhill and he's going
Speaker 1: and rushing, He's not necessarily the best when it comes
Speaker 1: to the change of the direction and reading on a dime.
Speaker 1: That's what vander esh is good at. So this is
Speaker 1: a kind of a no brainer for my No. One. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, well, Kyle, look at it like this. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think from a defensive standpoint, there's people are making
Speaker 1: a lot of this move of Layton Vanderes to Mike
Speaker 1: and Jaylen Smith to Will, but the position is almost
Speaker 1: the same. I mean, the reads are the same. The
Speaker 1: only difference is is the mic is calling the plays
Speaker 1: on defense and look for Jalen Smith. For both of
Speaker 1: these guys, you have to think and go back to
Speaker 1: last year, where the expectation was they were going to
Speaker 1: continue from where they were a twenty eighteen. They were
Speaker 1: the best, one of the best duos in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and this young duos and there are a ton of
Speaker 1: very very talented linebackers and look, last year wasn't their
Speaker 1: best output Layton vander Esche get hurt, gets hurt. But
Speaker 1: then he's saying, right now, look I feel good, guys,
Speaker 1: and having him at the mike, having him protected now
Speaker 1: by having guys in front of him. I mean, look, man,
Speaker 1: you got those big old butts in the middle. That
Speaker 1: doesn't sound right. You have those big old guys right,
Speaker 1: and you have these guys gobbling up those blocks and
Speaker 1: giving these guys the opportunity to run downhill. But also
Speaker 1: with Jalen Smith, you put him in an advantage of
Speaker 1: what his strength really is and that's actually coming after
Speaker 1: the quarterback, and so that week's side blitz now is
Speaker 1: going to increase. With Chandon Smith also, I mean there
Speaker 1: were the questions about him changing direction, but it's changing
Speaker 1: direction with a tackle ear holding you is the biggest issue.
Speaker 1: And so now he doesn't have to worry about that
Speaker 1: because he has that girth upfront with those guys that
Speaker 1: are protecting him. I'm gonna look, if you ask, you know,
Speaker 1: guys like Ray Lewis who protected you. Helodi Nada is
Speaker 1: a guy that he probably see it still says a
Speaker 1: Christmas card too. Terry Paul is going to be the
Speaker 1: guy for Lake vanders that he says that Christmas card too, Rob. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, with Jalen, there was games
Speaker 1: that stand out to me, like Chicago where he was
Speaker 1: in coverage a lot, you know, and that was something
Speaker 1: down the middle where they were looking for him in
Speaker 1: that situation. And maybe it's not going to be as
Speaker 1: as much as highlighted where you guys are right where
Speaker 1: he's able to rush and get after the quarterback. It's
Speaker 1: all about that versatility deal. And Vanderesh, by the way,
Speaker 1: it can do that too. Sean Lee can do that too.
Speaker 1: They've got linebackers that have a knack for blitzing and
Speaker 1: getting the quarterback. So you know, I think Vanderesh is
Speaker 1: willing to take on the challenge of being in that quarterback.
Speaker 1: As Isaiah said, he's very diligent as Jalen is about
Speaker 1: doing it. And you know, I think maybe he would have.
Speaker 1: You know, he didn't want to talk about his injury
Speaker 1: last week at all. He doesn't have a preseason to
Speaker 1: get a live you know, a tackling to get that
Speaker 1: first hit, you know, And I don't know how important.
Speaker 1: I don't know how important that is, but guys in
Speaker 1: the past have with the Cowboys have had that neck surgery,
Speaker 1: Darryl Johnston being one of them, and they've come back
Speaker 1: and being able to play. So it's obviously encouraging and
Speaker 1: they feel good about him doing it, but you know,
Speaker 1: he's there is no preseason to get that tested. And
Speaker 1: that's really a big thing for me, because, yeah, he
Speaker 1: was frustrating. He didn't want to talk about that during
Speaker 1: his press conference, But at the same time, it's a worry.
Speaker 1: It's and I we all know it's a worry for
Speaker 1: him specifically and for this coaching staff because having Layton
Speaker 1: Vanderesh in the middle of that defense as about as
Speaker 1: key of a cog as you potentially could have. You
Speaker 1: could have all the pass rush up front. The secondary,
Speaker 1: of course it still needs improvement from a Cowboys perspective,
Speaker 1: but if you have those linebackers to complement the defensive line,
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, the secondary doesn't bother you
Speaker 1: as much. But but behind Layton vander Esh, if that
Speaker 1: should happen, whether it's it's an injury, god forbid, what
Speaker 1: is the depth like at linebacker and Joe Thomas is
Speaker 1: back there, Luke Gifford potentially with a breakout year, hopefully
Speaker 1: he stays healthy and he has a little bit more
Speaker 1: playing time. But is there any worry about the linebacking
Speaker 1: depth as a hole in that corp? No, I'm not
Speaker 1: worried about the linebacking corps for it. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think Luke Gifford, like you said, if he's able to
Speaker 1: stay healthy, he's going to be a guy that's gonna
Speaker 1: be you know, a well, you know, invited addition to
Speaker 1: the linebacker corps. Also, Joe, I think Thomas is also
Speaker 1: that guy as well. But look, these guys have something
Speaker 1: to prove. And just to further the point, Laton vander
Speaker 1: Esh coverage wise, I think that the two he's definitely
Speaker 1: better in coverage. But also I don't want to roll
Speaker 1: over the fact that, man, how much the front seven
Speaker 1: is going to make their job easier for the linebackers.
Speaker 1: But let's talk about, you know, the second day high
Speaker 1: for Ha Ha Clinton Dix, how he's going to be
Speaker 1: able to play free now and gamble because the front
Speaker 1: seven and the linebacking corps is that much better better. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, every piece of this, it's just one thing
Speaker 1: helps another thing helps another thing. And again, you know
Speaker 1: you asked about the depth. I think that the depth
Speaker 1: is there, but also I just believe that the defensive
Speaker 1: line is going to make all of this look so
Speaker 1: much better on the back end, I totally agree. One
Speaker 1: thing I want everybody to also take into consideration is
Speaker 1: the fact that if we do run into some kind
Speaker 1: of depth issues, right, some injuries that may may present themselves. Right,
Speaker 1: we do have Thomas that can step in. We do
Speaker 1: have you know, Gilver that can step in as well.
Speaker 1: But what about the fact that we can switch up
Speaker 1: our defense and going to a three four and drop
Speaker 1: all the Smith onto the edge and drop a Na
Speaker 1: onto the edge, right, and they don't have to be
Speaker 1: true coverage linebackers in that sense. We have the versatility,
Speaker 1: we have the personnel to really mix things up, and
Speaker 1: there's this dude named Mike Nolan who just may know
Speaker 1: how to mix things up on that side of the ball.
Speaker 1: So that's not it's not it's not a big worry
Speaker 1: because we're not paying We're not going to be playing
Speaker 1: just simply a straight four three base defense. It's it's
Speaker 1: going to be all over the place, um, and we
Speaker 1: will be perfectly fine. I think that's a great point, Isaiah,
Speaker 1: because whenever we're looking at three four four three. There's
Speaker 1: going to be a blurred line there this year. It
Speaker 1: really will be, and we've mentioned that before, but now
Speaker 1: you're starting to see it. Now you're starting to see
Speaker 1: the personnel makeup that makes it a blurred line. And
Speaker 1: when Mike McCarthy said, Hey, there's gonna be six adge
Speaker 1: rushers only four interior guys on this roster, that's indicative
Speaker 1: of the fact that you're probably going to see a
Speaker 1: little bit more of a three four look because of
Speaker 1: the option to take one of those guys off the line.
Speaker 1: They've even mentioned taking Tank Lawrence and putting him into
Speaker 1: two points to answer, having him play standing up, which
Speaker 1: is something that he hasn't done a whole lot in
Speaker 1: his career. But Rob, this is something we've seen coming
Speaker 1: for a while, but now we're starting to see maybe
Speaker 1: the formula put together to actually see the experiment happen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've touched on it for sure. I mean, every guy
Speaker 1: in that front seven, I pose probably the exception. I
Speaker 1: think at three forty six you're a no tackle probably
Speaker 1: Joe Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't see him dropping. But
Speaker 1: but you know, I think Tank could do it. I
Speaker 1: think he's a he's a terrific athlete. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: Alan Smith's been in that role too in San Francisco
Speaker 1: early in his career. And that's another guy that we
Speaker 1: haven't really talked about him today, but you know, I
Speaker 1: think there's a lot of optimism about what physically where
Speaker 1: he's at, and he's in a better place in his
Speaker 1: personal life. And that's another guy that you know, I
Speaker 1: think people see the name Alvin Smith and they expect
Speaker 1: him to come in and be nineteen and a half
Speaker 1: sack guy, while you bring in Everson Griffin and you've
Speaker 1: got some other depth on on your defensive line and
Speaker 1: there's not that that pressure for him. Just try to
Speaker 1: They have a bunch of guys that can recreate Robert
Speaker 1: Quinn's production on that side together, and I think with
Speaker 1: Griffin in the fold, they've got more than enough guys
Speaker 1: that can do that. In addition to what you said, Kyle,
Speaker 1: guys that can play different spots. If they want to
Speaker 1: change things up in the course of a game and
Speaker 1: try to completely throw off the opposing quarterback, they got
Speaker 1: the versatility to try to do that. Yeah, Everson Griffin,
Speaker 1: For me, I think Everson Griffin is that guy that
Speaker 1: allows for Aldon Smith just to be a dude, right,
Speaker 1: he it allows him to play free. Look, he hasn't
Speaker 1: been in the league. He hadn't taken a snap in years,
Speaker 1: and so he's gonna be a little bit stiff, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna take him some time to get back
Speaker 1: in the rhythm of an NFL season. But again, it
Speaker 1: takes all the pressure. Now, Now what we start really
Speaker 1: talking about, do we see does Randy Gregory even coming
Speaker 1: to the fold of this conversation anymore because of the
Speaker 1: sounding of Everson Griffin. So, I mean, there's a lot
Speaker 1: more to discuss all that part of it, But I
Speaker 1: think all it does is shut of everything. It gives
Speaker 1: you confidence going forward that we got the right mix
Speaker 1: of guys. Yeah, this this defense is really starting to
Speaker 1: remind me of of my Super Bowl year with the Giants.
Speaker 1: It's a bad word, right, but we had a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys on that front. Seven were interchangeable, right. We
Speaker 1: were able to go four down linement, then we're able
Speaker 1: to switch it up and go to a three four.
Speaker 1: But but thyas you know, Kiwanuka on the stand up end,
Speaker 1: Jason Pierre Paul on the end, right, we had a
Speaker 1: core we had. We had, we had a core of
Speaker 1: guys that were right there in the middle of the
Speaker 1: of the defense that we're not going to move right.
Speaker 1: You can't move it on the inside, but we can
Speaker 1: apply a lot of pressure from the outside. Um, so
Speaker 1: there's the weapons are there to you guys point It's
Speaker 1: gonna be fun. I can't wait to see what no
Speaker 1: one puts together. Man, I know, I sorry I threw
Speaker 1: the giants out there, but hey, it was a long
Speaker 1: time ago, A long time ago. We're ending on that
Speaker 1: one boy, We're gone. That's it. That's talking Cowboys. I mean,
Speaker 1: Isaiah just threw it out there. We're throwing the expectations
Speaker 1: out the roof. It's it's over. Let's chalk it up,
Speaker 1: and we're back boys. And that's the thing is is
Speaker 1: there's so many exciting expectations around not only the Cowboys season,
Speaker 1: but specifically the signing of Everson Griffin. It takes the
Speaker 1: pressure off your linebackers, it takes the pressure off tank wrns,
Speaker 1: it takes the pressure off the deep tackles. Say same
Speaker 1: thing in the secondary off of really even having a scheme.
Speaker 1: As an in general, there's going to be excitement and
Speaker 1: there's going to be options, and that's exactly what you
Speaker 1: wanted going into this optseason, and you're gonna have options
Speaker 1: coming up as a Cowboys fan in terms of your
Speaker 1: media coverage as well. Coming up over the next couple
Speaker 1: of days, the podcast We're Back. We're back for good.
Speaker 1: We're back through the end of this season. We'll be
Speaker 1: back on Tuesday, so you don't even have to wait
Speaker 1: a full week to get more Talking Cowboys. We'll be
Speaker 1: back Tuesday at eleven AM, and then each of us
Speaker 1: will be spread out on different different programming throughout the
Speaker 1: week as well, so be sure to follow each of us.
Speaker 1: But for Isaiah, stand back for heck Ma Harrison, for
Speaker 1: Rob Phillips, and for Chris Beam running the show back
Speaker 1: in studio, I'm Kyle Yeoman saying so long this time
Speaker 1: for Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.