WEBVTT - Cowboys Break: Big Three? 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:05.160 The following Here's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:15.480 and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club Cowboys let go. Are 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:18.400 you ready for a break? Yes? Are you ready for 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:23.520 a break? Absolutely? Ready for a break? Yeah, And so 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:27.400 much for that. It's time for The Break on Dallas 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:33.479 Cowboys dot Com with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:39.680 Garcia and Derek Eagleton. It is Wednesday, June first, twenty 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:42.600 twenty two, Season eighteen, episode number eleven. Welcome to the 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:44.360 latest edition of The Break. We are live for the 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.159 s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star and we've got 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:50.400 an hour of Cowboys talk with you guys a day today. 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:54.360 We're gonna actually zero in on three guys I would say, 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:56.720 I guess we probably would all agree. They're probably the 0:00:56.720 --> 0:01:00.040 three most high profile players, definitely on the office and 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.600 it's maybe on the whole team. We're gonna talk about Dak, 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:04.479 We're gonna talk about Zeke, and we're gonna talk about 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:07.319 Ceedee Lamb and kind of dive in a little bit 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:09.760 on those three players and where they were last year 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:12.440 going into this year, and what the expectation should be 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:15.080 for them this year. Right now, the Cowboys are in 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:17.920 their second week of OTAs. They have another week next week, 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.160 and then they'll have their mini camp before they send 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:23.520 everybody away for a little bit of break and relaxation 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:26.160 before training. Sounds good, but I mean training camp is 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.600 now next month. I know it's coming. It's coming. I 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.240 just submitted our list the other day. You all are 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:36.680 on it. Did we get rejected? Well, you know, not yet, 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:39.120 no one else, not yet. But we'll see if anybody 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.000 comes back and says anything about it. But you're all 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:44.319 on the list. So get ready start packing amber. You're 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:46.840 heading the training camp. I'm packing for two or three 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:50.360 vacations before that, are you Yes, you want to say 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:54.120 where you're going. You don't want to tell people out there. 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:56.160 You're not gonna tell us either, like nobody's gonna know. 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:58.960 Just gonna hang like a gone fishing sign at my cube. 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:03.240 Starting on June seventeenth, we're we're vacation in the same time. 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:05.560 That's when I'm talking about vacation. I always like it 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:07.200 when I take vacation to other people are out too. 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.080 Let's talk about that. Let's talk about it. I did 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:13.880 another three or four vacations. I got two, so you 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:16.560 might want to plan a few, Nick, Yeah, right, can 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:20.320 you got a right? Can? If Dave's taken three and 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.880 some of them are weekends, whatever, Yeah, it works, all right, 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:25.920 let's jump in. I want to talk a lot. I 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:29.240 want to start this conversation first with Dak. Last week 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:31.720 he met with the media for a little bit of time, 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:33.360 and one of the things that jumped out to me 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.800 he was talking about being focused on his footwork and consistency, 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:39.080 saying he's fully healthy, as it was not the case 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:43.359 last year. And I want to start the conversation there. Um, 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:45.959 just in a general sense, if you look at how 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:49.760 Dak performed last season, what do you think is the 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:52.799 area where you most want to see him improve going 0:02:52.840 --> 0:03:01.160 into twenty twenty two. Uh, let's start start off better. 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:05.360 I mean, we had too many slow starts in games. 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:09.440 In games, Um, sometimes they were able to come back 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:13.679 from that and rally and take care of business. Sometimes 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:17.160 they weren't, and they find themselves digging a hole there. 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.400 I mean, I think that whether that's Kellen Moore and him, 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.440 you know, whatever that is, but I think that that 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:26.239 he needs to figure out ways to kind of come 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:30.720 out hot be better early, and that would help Zeke 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.480 be better and then that'll help the running game and 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:35.560 all that if you can kind of establish that. But 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:38.400 that would be one area that may not be a 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:42.040 specific But I just think starting off early on games 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:45.560 is something they can improve on. I laughed because, like, 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.160 I don't have a great answer for that. In a vacuum, 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.800 I don't think Dak Prescott needs to improve very much. 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:56.560 He was in the short list of MVP consideration. Like 0:03:57.440 --> 0:03:59.400 I say this all like I feel like a crazy 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.240 person way that, like that has just been swept to 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:04.440 the side, and I get it. He fell off. The 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:07.080 whole team fell off, And that's why it's a hard 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:11.040 thing to answer, because I'm like, well, I want I 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:13.680 want the offensive line in the Running Game to produce better, 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.039 and that'll probably make Dack's life a whole lot easier. 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.560 Like I've seen the peak of the way Dak Prescott 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:23.960 can play, and I think you're nitpicking if you're sitting 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.560 there saying that there's just a ton of improvement he 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:29.640 can do. I mean, sure, like his deep ball accuracy 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:32.520 could be a little bit better. I suppose his anticipation 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.360 could be better. That's true for probably every cornerback in 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:39.080 the world, except maybe Patrick Mahomes. That's what makes last 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:43.640 season so mystifying is they just they had it and 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:45.839 they lost it, And I don't I don't think there's 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:47.880 a tidy answer to that, and it's certainly not all 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:50.040 on Dax. So I'll challenge a little bit farther. Do 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:52.000 you said he thought the whole team fell off? He 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:54.640 said he fell off a little bit in the second half. 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:57.400 That being said, what were those areas where you felt 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.960 like he fell off? Like, where did you think or 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:01.800 was it just a situation where you think the team 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:05.719 fell off that wasn't necessarily about dat well for starters, 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:11.040 I mean, you know, for starters. Yeah, Like what was 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:13.560 he completely healthy? He says he was. I don't know 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:17.320 if I buy that, And that's just you know, that's 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:19.720 that's his thing, you know, Like I can't sit here 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.479 and speculate based on how his calf and his shoulder felt. 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:24.320 If he says he was healthy and he was very 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:26.640 adamant throughout the second half of the season that he was. 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:28.840 So that's how I'm going to choose to judge him. 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.760 But I think that was part of it. The other 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:36.400 thing too, again, like it sounds like a bad thing 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:38.080 to say, like oh, you need a good running game 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.680 to be good, Like, no, that's just football, really, And 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.800 I think they lost the ability to impose their will 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.960 in the run game. And I think defense has played 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:52.200 them in such a manner where they knew they didn't 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.600 need to fear that and they challenged Dak. I think 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:57.880 a big way Dak Prescott could probably improve his game 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:03.400 is learning to be a little bit more patient. Yeah, 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.400 he struggled with that at times. He's like, screw this, 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:08.279 Like how much longer am I going to have to 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:09.960 take the check down? I want to go for the 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:12.240 gust though, and it bit him a lot last year. 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:17.400 So yeah, that's that's probably that's something he could probably 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:23.880 stand to work on. Camber Well, the one thing that 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:27.440 I can think of is just like his whole game, 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:31.880 basically his whole game, because I think that he's gonna 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:34.760 be asked to do so much more this year. I 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:37.400 don't think that the offense is better than what they 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:40.039 wear last year. Talent wise, on the field, there's a 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.160 lot of question marks, a lot of doubts. There are 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:44.280 a lot of things that we need to wait and 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.960 see how it actually looks rather than me expect how 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:51.200 it's gonna look right now. Right now, I feel that, 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.520 you know, whether that's tight end, wide receiver, the running game, 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:58.800 the O line specifically, there's a little a lot of 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:01.400 work and improvement that needs to be overall. And I 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:03.840 think that based on what I've seen from Dak in 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:06.360 his whole career, he's the type of player and you 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:10.680 always say this, They've like, well, that's every quarterback basically 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.640 that they do need help around them, and that is true. 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:17.000 But at the same time, Dak, I don't know. I 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:21.160 think he needs a little more help than normal than average, 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:23.880 just he needs a lot of components to be working 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.360 the right way for him to succeed or be the 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:30.400 most successful he can be in the game. And although 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.720 he's improved in the passing game, some of those deep throws, 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:36.800 he's gonna have to put it all together, the accuracy, 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:41.240 thinking quickly on his feet. I would like to see 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:43.960 more footwork this year. Last year, I feel that he 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:47.320 kind of took a step back, obviously given the whole 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:50.440 injury thing. But I think that he's going to have 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:52.800 to put it all in this year for sure, because 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:55.960 the team is just gonna need it overall, and they're 0:07:56.000 --> 0:08:00.040 gonna require more of him speak good. I wanted to 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.720 to actually say Dave's point. I disagree one hundred percent 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:05.320 with what Dave said. I think it needs to be 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.800 less patient. I think he was too patient last year 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:11.200 because I think that's what teams want him to do. 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.080 They want him to say, I'm going to throw it 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:15.800 to the open guy. The open guys shults six yards 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.679 down the field, he gets eight, Like that's what they want. 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.560 He's got to. I think he's got to actually. I 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.760 mean that's why he doesn't have a lot of interceptions, 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:25.920 because I don't think he takes as many chances as 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:27.920 he probably should. If you want to get a Marie 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:30.200 Cooper the ball, or now you want to get Ceedee 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:32.120 lad the ball, I mean they were trying to make 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:35.199 sure that they didn't get the ball. Now everyone says, well, 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.520 Aaron Rodgers gets his guy to the ball, Stafford gets 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:39.120 his guy at the ball. Because they got the arm 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:41.200 to do it, They're gonna do it. They're gonna throw 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:43.360 it in their tight window that may not be as 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:45.920 open as Dak wants it to be. So they'll throw 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:48.920 it over here to Jarwin or Schultz or dump it off. 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:51.559 These guys have forty fifty catches, but it's hollow. Are 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:53.440 we sure that that's not a function more of the 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:56.280 offensive coordinator though, because if the offensive coordinator is setting 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:58.080 up the offense in a way. Yeah, I'm just saying 0:08:58.559 --> 0:08:59.920 I want to point out because I think that they're 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.600 could be a situation where the offensive coordinator is setting 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:04.760 it up such that the quarterback gets the ball to 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:07.440 the open guy, and that means that the open guy, 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:09.640 if he's six yards down the field, now the offensive 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:11.280 coordinator's gonna have to do a little bit more work 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:13.520 and figure out how to scheme open the guy you 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.000 want to be open, rather than just saying whatever they 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.240 give us is what we'll take exactly. And you're right 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:20.800 that if that's Kellen, then that's on Kellen. But but 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:24.640 I just think that that they kind of play into 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:27.319 the defensive hands a little bit. They're like, all right, 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:29.719 well we'll give you Cedric Wilson, We'll give you these 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.080 guys and then we'll tackle them and and we'll get 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:35.000 off the field. Yeah, and there's a balance there. I mean, 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:37.160 you don't want you don't want this renegade guy throwing 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:40.400 and getting picks all the time. So that's that's the 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:42.600 thing of it. I mean, this is his seventh year, 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:45.720 and I mean even Romo set it back. Romo said 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:48.720 he figured things out in twenty thirteen. That's when he 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:51.400 really figured things out. It's like his six or seventh 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:55.360 year and literally right there towards the end, you know. 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:57.960 And so quarterbacks are always figuring things out, and maybe 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:00.520 that's what Dad can do better, you know, year too. 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:02.720 How much do you guys think his injury from twenty 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:05.960 twenty was still an issue for him last year? And 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:08.400 maybe not maybe not even justin how he played, but 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:11.520 also in what he was what he would try or 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.120 what the team would even allow him to try. Coming 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:18.120 off of that injury, he didn't seem like he ran 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.600 as much. So I but they said that going in 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:23.320 that he was gonna he said, he was gonna be 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:26.640 smarter about it. If maybe that's being smarter about it. 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:28.800 I think I went yesterday and I looked at the numbers. 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:33.120 It was roughly about about one less run per game 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:37.440 on average. About now. Of course, in two twenty you 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:39.840 only had a sample size of five and a half games, 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:42.079 right right, So or four and a half games will 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:44.160 be four and a half games. So so it was. 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:46.320 It was a very small sample size that season, but 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.880 on average it was about one less run per game. Yeah, 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.000 I mean in terms of raw numbers, I don't think 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:53.920 it made much of a difference. He ran forty eight 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:59.280 times last year. The big thing for me is, I've 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:01.000 said this more time and I can count. I just 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:03.280 think you gotta you gotta show a willingness to be 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:05.920 creative with the way that you use a quarterback with 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:08.719 that skill set, particularly in the red zone. My man 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.400 rushed for eighteen touchdowns his first three years in the league. 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:15.080 He's got seven cents um and and and to be 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.200 I mean he got he got fed a couple times 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:21.160 last year, Like he scored two or three touchdowns that 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:25.400 they didn't give him. And now I'm not even saying like, 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:28.520 ohments so controversial. No, he got screwed. Yeah, like they 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:32.920 took two touchdowns away from him. Patriots and Eagles. I 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:35.600 think so different if he scores right there, Yeah, that 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.200 game is completely different. I agree, because you got Mac 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.000 Jones the whole game now trying to like come back. 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:43.920 He's gonna keep throwing picks. There are those some picks 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:47.400 like that. That was a really big momentum but they 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.080 still overcame in. But I still think I think there's 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:52.240 there's more that can be done there. And it's easy 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:56.240 to say like read option, but bootlegs um, you know, 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.280 just just moving the pocket allowing him to like extend 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.480 the play towards the sideline, and which I was going 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:04.560 to bring this up too. I believe his one rushing 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:07.480 touchdown last year was against Atlanta and he even said 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:09.480 like he grown manned the guy at the goal line, 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:11.880 and he was like I kind of had to remind 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:13.960 people that I'm big, like I can do that. And 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:18.320 then meanwhile, like everybody's you know, Jerry and everybody else 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:20.280 is like wringing their hands about it, like don't do 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.079 that anymore. It's like, no, we're we're playing football here, 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:25.280 playing football here at the end of the day. Like yeah, 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:27.400 I mean, you don't have to scheme up ten carries 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:29.120 a game for this guy, but that needs to be 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:31.200 an element of what he does and it always has been. 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.480 I think a lot of that too, was it was 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:35.959 maybe thirty five to seven or thirty. Yeah, they did 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:37.760 have a big lead. They did have a big lead, 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:39.839 like maybe be a little more judicial, but and then 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.120 again at the same time. It's like, I mean, you 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.839 can't take the training wheels off these guys all the time, 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:46.840 and not only like that's the and I get like 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:48.960 the older you get, the more you have to be 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:52.240 conscientious of it. But like Dak Prescott carried the ball 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:55.720 a thousand times in the SEC with little to no mishap. 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.280 You know, I'm not I'm not going to reinvent the 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:00.960 way I think about him as a player because of 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:03.480 a freak injury. Yeah, because it was a very fluke injury. 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:05.440 Let's let's be honest. It wasn't like, you know, one 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:07.120 of the things where he lowered his shoulder and took 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:09.160 on a guy and broke a collar bone. It wasn't that. 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:11.720 It was a situation where literally somebody just kind of 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:14.000 he felt awkward, somebody feel the wrong way and it 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:17.360 breaks his ankle. I that's not something that you necessarily 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:20.920 replicate on us on the next run. Right. There's an 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:23.280 element of being smart about it, and then there's an 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:26.079 element of like scared money, don't make money, and this 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:28.720 is the NFL. You know, I'm trying to remember and 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:31.440 I can't remember, Like, what did it looked like in 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:33.880 the first half of the season. Versus the second half 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:39.480 when they started kind of losing their power. Was there 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:44.360 a difference between him like carrying the ball or something, 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:47.400 or like the way he specifically was playing, Well, they 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:51.120 stopped the run. The running game went down well, and 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:53.240 you know, it's even crazy, I'm sorry, that was it. 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:54.840 That was that was a big part and that that 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:58.199 affected everybody. But the running game numbers were really yeah, 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:01.439 and I don't expect Michaelack to be running the volt 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.800 when the actual running back. But there were one dimensional team, yeah, 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:08.200 towards the end of the year. But I think part 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:10.000 of that if you go back and look at the numbers, 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.680 really the big change is that teams, looking at the 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:16.920 Denver game and on, teams blitzed a lot less than 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:19.920 they were doing earlier in the season. And and if 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:21.480 you even look at the second half of the season, 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.280 when teams did blitz typically it was the division teams 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:27.040 and the Cowboys handled it really well, right, they handled 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.280 There was only one game where it was a game 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:31.320 where they got blitzed, like it was one of the 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:32.920 top five games. I want to say that they got 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:36.200 blitz where they lost, and that was the Arizona game. Like, really, 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:39.160 after Denver teams just realized the same thing that Denver did. 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:42.160 I think Denver blitz like eight to ten times. Teams 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:45.480 just started realizing, keep everybody back blitz every once in 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:47.720 a while, you're gonna force this team to have to 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.760 basically beat you with them, but will let you run. 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:52.600 You got to beat us with the past. And that's 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:54.840 where the Cowboys just couldn't figure it out and to 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:57.320 go back to And I mean, I do think he 0:14:57.360 --> 0:15:01.160 needs to be more patient because that like this is 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:03.120 this is the long game, and you're seeing this all 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.240 over the NFL. Mahomes struggled with it. Last year. Teams 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.400 played justin Herbert this way. Those two guys have cannons. 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.200 That can mean Dak just doesn't have that arm strength. 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.040 He just doesn't. I'm very few people on Earth due. 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:19.800 But you see these teams drop back and playing too 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:23.760 high all the time and daring you to get impatient. 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:26.920 And so you're trying to force things into windows against 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:31.480 six and seven man coverage. And the Cowboys great equalizer 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:34.520 is that when things are going well, they can just 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.200 maul you with the run. And if you don't get 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.200 out of that look and contribute more guys to the box, 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:42.160 then you're screwed and they're going to run for one 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:44.200 hundred and ninety yards and there's nothing you can do 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:47.320 about it. And they lost that ability in the second 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:50.320 half of the season. The line fell apart. Guys got hurt. 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.440 Zeke fell apart. It is easy to forget. And I'm 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:55.280 not trying to let him off the hook completely. He 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:57.120 makes a ton of money and hasn't lived up to 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:00.560 the contract. But like Zeke was rolling through the six 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.040 weeks at the season. When did that injury. I think 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:06.880 he hurt the PCL against Carolina, if I believe, if 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.440 I remember correctly, four or five. Yeah, but I mean 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:12.400 they were averaging like one hundred and ninety yards per game. 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:14.840 Looked good, Like just watching in the eyes he looked 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.280 by the way that was. You know, that's a very 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:19.720 small sample size. And one of those games was against 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:21.480 Tampa when they gave up on the run in the 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.000 second quarter. So that's how dominant they were. And I 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.800 get it. Some of those defenses were bad. Philly's defensive 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:30.280 front is not bad, you know. Hargrave, Cox, cran and Graham, 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:34.280 those guys like they mauled those guys. Um. I mean, 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:38.960 welcome to the party pal so U. But yeah, so 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:40.880 I mean, like I said, I think you run the 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:44.480 risk of oversimplifying it. But I think for them to 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:46.440 be at their best, they need to be able to 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.520 run the ball more consistently than and I think that 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.120 it all builds off of that, because it's easy to 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:55.040 play too high when you're not worried about them at 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:57.080 rushing for more than you know, three and a half 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.240 yards per carry. Yeah, back to the point of what 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.520 you were saying, asking about what happened differently in the 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:04.880 second half. This was interesting to me. I was looking 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:07.000 at some numbers from last year. Did you guys know 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.960 in the first six games of the season, Cowboys receivers 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.240 had four drops across six games, average of about bless 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:16.240 thing up a drop a game second. I mean, in 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:18.600 the final ten games of the season they had twenty 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.760 four drops, an average of about two point four drops 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:25.840 per game. Makes me start wondering if in a lot 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.320 of ways we gave Dak a hard time, we gave 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:30.600 the running game a hard time, and if more attention 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:32.960 should have been paid to the fact that your receivers 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:36.280 were failing you in situations where they were just dropping 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.560 the ball. Are we sure that's not an average. That's 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.080 not the way it is around the whole league. I 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:42.879 don't know. I'm just saying, you look at there's a 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:45.160 stark difference between when they were rolling in the first 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:49.440 part and when they took the downturns. Another difference in 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:52.159 every football season from the start of the season to 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:54.679 the end. And that's what the weather it looks like. 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:56.760 And I just wonder if that is a normal thing. 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:58.440 Did they have any poor weather games last year? I 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:02.399 was just any I mean Kansas City, I mean, you know, 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:04.480 I mean New York. I mean, you're just playing in 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:07.160 conditions that I know. New York was a tough one. 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:09.520 New York was was tough to throw the ball around. 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.160 I just think that might be a normal stat of 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:13.960 like you don't you don't see that happen a lot, 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:16.280 and then as the year goes on, it's harder to catch, 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.159 you know. And who's also, what's a drop? You know 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:21.160 what I mean, We've we've found that out with when 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:24.359 to was here, you know, it hit t O's pinky 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:26.280 behind him, and then that was a drop because people, 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:28.560 you know, categorize that as a drop. I'm just saying, 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:30.800 I think that might be a normal thing of a 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:32.960 little bit more drops later in the season than early. 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:35.480 I don't know, just as a general thought, I think, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.480 I mean, for the hype that was placed on them, 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.600 the receiver cord did not live up to its billing 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:47.320 even a little bit. Yeah, which, and yeah, I'm sitting 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:49.560 here saying, like, oh, I'm it's kind of nitpicky to 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:52.520 try to say Dak needs to improve in this, that 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:56.280 and the other way. It's gonna be harder for him 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:59.320 like that. I mean, I think, ag, you and I 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:02.840 differ on quote unquote what it means when you say 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:05.320 a quarterback needs help. I think all of them need help. 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.760 And I hear what you're saying. But like again, I 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:12.040 bring up Mahomes all the time for good reasons because 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:15.320 for most of his career he's been surrounded by elite 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:18.200 level talent. And I'm not even just talking about Kelsey 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:21.000 and Tyreek Hill. I mean, their offensive lines have been 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.720 wonderful for most of them, they weren't and we saw well, 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:27.160 I mean the Super Bowl is a great example. But yeah, 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:30.000 I mean, but even you know, the year he won 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:32.600 the MVP, he's got like Mitchell Schwartz at right tackle. 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:35.640