Speaker 1: The following. Here's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This is an exclusive
Speaker 1: presentation of Dallas Cowboys Breaking News. What's up everyone, I
Speaker 1: don't know if this is breaking news. There's some stuff
Speaker 1: that maybe broke this week and this morning, and we're
Speaker 1: just here to talk about it. I'm Nick Eatman, Dave Hellman,
Speaker 1: Rob Phillips. You guys know us, and you know we're
Speaker 1: supposed to just do one podcast a week. But yeah,
Speaker 1: if stuff happens on Friday, you know it's January and
Speaker 1: your football season's not one hundred percent over until you
Speaker 1: get all this staff stuff settled. Head on a swivel
Speaker 1: all the time. And so this morning, Jerry Jones gotten
Speaker 1: on the radio and did some talking and he was
Speaker 1: in utter mood that he was last Friday. I think
Speaker 1: last Friday was probably the reason why we were We
Speaker 1: had all this to talk about this. This was not
Speaker 1: a scheduled appearance, was it? He called into the fan
Speaker 1: because he had some stuff to say. Yeah. He he
Speaker 1: didn't even just call it like he told them ahead
Speaker 1: of time. He was like, hey, I'm calling it ten.
Speaker 1: We got some stuff that we need to talk about.
Speaker 1: So and every reporter in town is so excited about that. Um,
Speaker 1: they obviously want their chance to interview Jerry. And and
Speaker 1: you know there's that's and that's been going on for
Speaker 1: the last couple of years with with COVID. I mean
Speaker 1: you usually Jerry has made a lot more appearances, uh,
Speaker 1: just after a game or a training camp or whatever.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's kind of been one oh five
Speaker 1: three the fan that's that's done. I would say the
Speaker 1: majority of Jerry talks so and you well with players
Speaker 1: post yeah, yeah, you've had I've had something, yeah, but
Speaker 1: but Jerry, but it comes to Jerry though, the guy
Speaker 1: that's saying stuff. Yeah, I mean it definitely. Um, you
Speaker 1: know it's resorting to the radio. So let let's get
Speaker 1: to that. Let's say, well, what do he talked about?
Speaker 1: What was and I'll start with you what was the
Speaker 1: number one thing that he said this morning that kind
Speaker 1: of caught your attention? Well, I mean dan Quinn. We're
Speaker 1: here for breaking news about dan Quinn that he's staying
Speaker 1: and that Jerry termed it as for some years to
Speaker 1: come as the defensive coordinator. We'll see what happens a
Speaker 1: year from now, depending on how the team goes, how
Speaker 1: the defense performs, maybe there's more opportunities for dan quinn
Speaker 1: going forward. But he put to rust any speculation about
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy's job for twenty twenty two, and that's what
Speaker 1: everybody's been wondering for the last week. And I think
Speaker 1: that was that you could qualify as breaking news in itself,
Speaker 1: even though he told not the guys on the fan
Speaker 1: who did a good job asking the questions like I
Speaker 1: didn't create this, you know, this is speculation about Mike's
Speaker 1: job and I never said that his job was in question. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's my big takeaways Just what just the
Speaker 1: quintessential Cowboys news cycle is what we just went through,
Speaker 1: not dull, but never dull, the way that it can
Speaker 1: just kind of materialize at a thin air. Because whether
Speaker 1: he did it on purpose or not, Jerry did start this.
Speaker 1: He might not have meant to, but his lack of
Speaker 1: commentary on Mike's job security and the question was specific
Speaker 1: question was is Mike you're coach in twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: and he just was like, I don't want to talk
Speaker 1: about anybody on our staff. I'm not doing that. All
Speaker 1: the guys I want under contractor under contract, which so
Speaker 1: he did sort of say it, but he didn't say, hell, yeah,
Speaker 1: Mike's our guy. And so then the biggest, most visible
Speaker 1: franchise in the league that everybody in media, for better
Speaker 1: or for worse, nos generates conversation and attention, kind of
Speaker 1: starts taking that and running with it. I also don't think,
Speaker 1: I do not think it would have become what it
Speaker 1: was if Sean Payton hadn't coincidentally retired on Tuesday, which
Speaker 1: had nothing to do with this. Although I'm you're going
Speaker 1: to get to that, I assume, well, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: well before we get to that, because you know, when
Speaker 1: Jerry talks about it, talks about Sean Payton and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. That's stuff that we report on. We don't,
Speaker 1: you know, typically talk about other teams players or coaches.
Speaker 1: He's not another coach right now for another team. I
Speaker 1: mean he is, He's out there. I guess, like it's
Speaker 1: kind of weird. He I mean, the Saints still hold.
Speaker 1: So I mean, I do think you're still at the
Speaker 1: end of the day talking about, yeah, somebody else's employee.
Speaker 1: Because for better and it's not just the Cowboys, like
Speaker 1: any team that wanted to acquire him would they would
Speaker 1: have to compensate the sense like you don't just call
Speaker 1: him and say, hey, come over here. Yeah, and Jerry
Speaker 1: Jerry was asked to direct questions about him and and
Speaker 1: there they're friends, they have a relationship going forward. I
Speaker 1: think that was he was complimentary of his career as
Speaker 1: a coach. It wasn't really in the perspective of speculation
Speaker 1: about next year and what Sean would do and all
Speaker 1: of that, which is a whole another layer to this
Speaker 1: McCarthy stuff that his job is safe and all of that.
Speaker 1: But again, I think I just think that through ga
Speaker 1: lean on the fire and obvious out regardless of whether
Speaker 1: he meant to do it or not, like Jerry Jones
Speaker 1: recognized that this is something he needs to kind of
Speaker 1: put the kabash on, because again he called unscheduled and
Speaker 1: was like, let's Mike is not twisting in the wind.
Speaker 1: Mike helped me get Dan back here all week and
Speaker 1: he actually so I wrote the story about this. He
Speaker 1: did make an interesting comment that slipped past me um
Speaker 1: when it was live. He was like, he's like Mike
Speaker 1: told y'all at his press conference that we had talked
Speaker 1: and he was good and just nobody listened to him
Speaker 1: like nobody cared that he said that that did happen? Well,
Speaker 1: I know, but did Mike say specifically, yes, I was,
Speaker 1: and I'm and I'm going full steam ahead and the
Speaker 1: way he put it, and so read into that how
Speaker 1: you want, Mike. But Mike Fisher also was like, so
Speaker 1: this it's a non issue for you, and Mike was
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy was like, yeah, I mean it's again. Maybe
Speaker 1: he wasn't just like, yeah, Jerry told me I'm the
Speaker 1: I for five more years, but semantics it was. It
Speaker 1: seemed pretty clear coming from McCarthy that he wasn't really
Speaker 1: concerned about it. Jerry strikes again though again here we
Speaker 1: are Friday before the conference championship games. Yeah, and it's
Speaker 1: what happens Dallas Cowboys's good for us. We got a
Speaker 1: website to fill. Dave said in late January, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be I'm a lot not playing anymore. I'm a lot
Speaker 1: less stressed, like do we have enough content to get
Speaker 1: us through the next you know, next week or not
Speaker 1: weekend or not playing anymore. But got a huge victory.
Speaker 1: He did say that quote huge victory. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: Dan a little bit more there that deserves to be
Speaker 1: the storyline, like more so than the stuff with Mike.
Speaker 1: Like it, it's pretty remarkable that they managed to keep him.
Speaker 1: I mean, when you think about all the jobs he
Speaker 1: was interviewing for and so then and then without Dan talking, now,
Speaker 1: it's just a lot of speculation. Maybe he didn't want
Speaker 1: a quarterback, Maybe he didn't like the quarterback situation in
Speaker 1: other places, Maybe he wants to coach here, whatever it is.
Speaker 1: I just I don't know if y'all got this feeling.
Speaker 1: I kind of got it about a week ago that
Speaker 1: just like, this is not and I said, was it's
Speaker 1: not a slam dunk, but he's gone. Didn't know for
Speaker 1: sure that he was going to stay. I just got
Speaker 1: this feeling that it was not just that I'm out
Speaker 1: the door. I'm getting a job somewhere. And and you know,
Speaker 1: I wonder how much Michael Parsons plays into this. You know,
Speaker 1: how much do you really want to coach this guy? Um?
Speaker 1: And you know, maybe he'll carry him, you know, they'll
Speaker 1: carry each other. Two greater things. I just I thought
Speaker 1: it was a slam dunk. I just I'm just doing
Speaker 1: the mental math, like, Okay, six of these eight openings
Speaker 1: have asked to talk to him, and he's a finalist
Speaker 1: for two of them, and Denver in Chicago. Those those
Speaker 1: on paper, I'm not intimately familiar with them, but those
Speaker 1: look like good situations to me. I mean, Denver's got
Speaker 1: some great players in the secondary that you can work
Speaker 1: with Simmons and Certanu obviously, I mean Cago working with
Speaker 1: Khalil Mack and Roquan Smith sounds fun to me. Plus
Speaker 1: the whatever you've got in justin field. So I thought
Speaker 1: he was gone. I definitely thought he was gone, and
Speaker 1: credit credit to Jerry that he's not. I guess I
Speaker 1: thought there was a chance that he could come back
Speaker 1: one because we kind of heard those rumblings in two.
Speaker 1: There's a couple of reasons. One Jerry. When Jerry wants
Speaker 1: to keep somebody, whether it's or sign somebody, whether it's
Speaker 1: a free agent, Jerry finds a way to get it done.
Speaker 1: It doesn't always work with coaches, but he referenced a
Speaker 1: couple of different situations in the last fifteen years, one
Speaker 1: of them being Sean Payton. After the fourth season, Sean
Speaker 1: was the assistant head coach quarterbacks coach, and the Raiders
Speaker 1: wanted him and they bumped his salary up pretty nice
Speaker 1: to stay with with Bill Parcels. And then it was
Speaker 1: Jason Garrett after the seven season when they won thirteen games,
Speaker 1: staying on as THEOC. So when Jerry wants something done
Speaker 1: like this, he can find a way to get it done.
Speaker 1: Whether he didn't he didn't. He didn't specifically talk about
Speaker 1: salary with Dan, but I think it's been reported there was.
Speaker 1: There was an extent there he did. And again something
Speaker 1: I missed, he did say the word extend, so like
Speaker 1: they extended Dan, he did say extend. He said, yeah,
Speaker 1: he did. The other side of it too, is you
Speaker 1: mentioned some of those good players on those other teams
Speaker 1: and justin fields like I believe, I think he's going
Speaker 1: to turn out to be a really good starter in
Speaker 1: the league. But in terms of like the job openings
Speaker 1: that were out there, how many like true franchise quarterbacks
Speaker 1: are there. And if there's one thing I took away
Speaker 1: from the playoff weekend last week, is you got to
Speaker 1: have one of those guys, and especially if you're going
Speaker 1: to coach in the AFC West moving forward. And I
Speaker 1: think that that Dan probably looked I don't know if
Speaker 1: he looked at it. That way. But he's got enough
Speaker 1: clout and enough accomplishments as opposed to a first year coordinator,
Speaker 1: a guy that's just starting out to say I could
Speaker 1: probably run this back and still have opportunities. The writing
Speaker 1: is absolutely on the wall that I mean, we'll be
Speaker 1: going through this again next year, just in terms of
Speaker 1: like Dan being a coordinator to know. As far as
Speaker 1: job openings, well, you know, if the Cowboys don't make
Speaker 1: it to the divisional round or to play out, you
Speaker 1: know whatever, I don't know if we're gonna be talking
Speaker 1: about it the same way. I mean I don't. It
Speaker 1: just depends on what it looks like, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: if the defense looks like it did this year and
Speaker 1: it is pretty clearly not the reason why they're at home, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think it'll change anything for him. Well, no,
Speaker 1: I don't think it'll change anything for him. I think
Speaker 1: it'll change something for Mike McCarthy. Yeah, that's what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: which would maybe change something for Dan Quinn. If it's
Speaker 1: the same type of situation where you know, the games
Speaker 1: that the Cowboys lost, you know they lost in the
Speaker 1: Kansas City, couldn't score touchdown, I think dan Quinn did
Speaker 1: a pretty good job with that defense against Mahomes. And
Speaker 1: then you know, like if it's losses like that where
Speaker 1: they're losing they scored seventeen points and didn't win, then
Speaker 1: then yeah, I think I think there's a way to
Speaker 1: do that. But I've always said this about assistance that
Speaker 1: might take over. It's like, as long as they're not
Speaker 1: the reason why the coach is getting fired, which I
Speaker 1: always thought was weird about Jason Garrett and Wade Phillips,
Speaker 1: like how's this going to happen? You know, So it's
Speaker 1: always tricky. It's it's always a risk too for a
Speaker 1: coach to he may never be this hot as an
Speaker 1: assistant coming off of this seat, like six teams plus
Speaker 1: wanting to talk to you. But like I said, the
Speaker 1: guys wanted Super Bowl as a DC. He really should
Speaker 1: have a Super Bowl as a head coach. The way
Speaker 1: that thing ended, I know he doesn't, but he had
Speaker 1: his team in position to do that biggest comeback in
Speaker 1: Super Bowl history. I mean, it's it's unfathomable what happened
Speaker 1: there against New England. But to your point about Mica, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sure he looks at it like I've got two
Speaker 1: of maybe the top five best young defensive players in
Speaker 1: the league. Now, all three levels of this defense could
Speaker 1: look different though, in terms of the free agents and
Speaker 1: the guys they got to try to keep and to
Speaker 1: draft and all that stuff. Defense. We talk about it
Speaker 1: all the time. We've talked about it on our show,
Speaker 1: like it's harder to sustain top tier success on defense
Speaker 1: than it is on offense, especially when you think about
Speaker 1: everything that could be in flux. I mean, two of
Speaker 1: the five best playmakers on this defense or headed for
Speaker 1: free agency right now. Yeah, so I mean, yeah, you
Speaker 1: got I'll keep all that stuff. Here's the thing about
Speaker 1: about having dan Quinn back that I think is so
Speaker 1: exciting is that now And we didn't see it last
Speaker 1: year because we didn't know what to expect. But I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna make up a random player. I don't even
Speaker 1: I don't even just making up a guy like on
Speaker 1: Madden Mode. Okay, there's a linebacker named Chris Robinson and
Speaker 1: he's a fourth year guy, and he played for the
Speaker 1: Colts and the Jets or whatever, and he's a special
Speaker 1: teams guy and he's had a lot of he started
Speaker 1: twelve games one year, but a mainly special teams guy,
Speaker 1: but he's really tall and long and whatever. And he
Speaker 1: signs here on a two year deal and you're like,
Speaker 1: who's this guy? Just like we said about who's jay
Speaker 1: Ron Curse. But the difference is is that dan Quinn
Speaker 1: has vision for these guys. He had one for Curse,
Speaker 1: he had one for for you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: those draft picks he brought in. So now when we
Speaker 1: now on free agency, when he signed some guy that
Speaker 1: just because you hadn't heard of, You're like, well, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna hold the whole judgment on this because Jalon Kurst
Speaker 1: should have been in the Pro Bowl and still might
Speaker 1: be depending on alternatives. Yeah, so the expectations on a
Speaker 1: million dollars signing in March are gonna be different this
Speaker 1: time around. I would get and be like, Okay, well
Speaker 1: you know he, oh he coached a MI in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, he coached Kazy in Atlanta two and
Speaker 1: he was pretty good, you know, not Cam O'Neil. Thing
Speaker 1: didn't really work out like I thought it would, And yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought he'd be better than that. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's funny you talked about vision though, because I think
Speaker 1: Mike is the best example of that, like Mica Micah Parsons. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like it is. Would previous regimes have been as creative
Speaker 1: or willing to jump him into situations like they did
Speaker 1: last year Week two. You lose Randy and DeMarcus for
Speaker 1: that Week two game against the Charge. Say no, he's
Speaker 1: a defensive end. He's a pass rusher for fifty snaps
Speaker 1: and he can do it. And to trust him to
Speaker 1: do that. I mean that the point about you made
Speaker 1: about putting guys in position, like, he's the best example
Speaker 1: of finding all It's like having a great trainer in boxing,
Speaker 1: Like that's what Quinn is to Michael Parsons and to me,
Speaker 1: having Quinn back to help mikea grow is as big
Speaker 1: as what you talk about having an OC and keep
Speaker 1: the structure in place for a quarterback. To me, that's
Speaker 1: the same type of thing on defense. Well, that makes sense.
Speaker 1: That's a great segue. We can get into keeping the
Speaker 1: same structure on offense with an offensive coordinator. I thought
Speaker 1: one of the most interesting things that Jerry said was
Speaker 1: as when it was being reported again that Kellen Moore
Speaker 1: is interviewing for the second time with the Dolphins, and
Speaker 1: Jerry said, yes, I might get the sense that he
Speaker 1: will be back, So I guess he's predicting how the
Speaker 1: interview will go, or maybe he's hearing what Miami's really
Speaker 1: looking for. Yeah, I don't know. I thought that was
Speaker 1: kind of interesting. Yeah, I got a guy for a
Speaker 1: second interview. I'm kind of like, who you know, who's
Speaker 1: got his locker, who's taking over his office? I mean,
Speaker 1: that's kind of what you're thinking. Absolutely, And I think
Speaker 1: Kellen's scheduled to go talk to them on like Monday
Speaker 1: or early next week was the report. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean Jerry made it sound like he's gonna be back,
Speaker 1: and honestly that I don't think that should be surprising,
Speaker 1: just with the way the season ended. The offense couldn't
Speaker 1: really find a groove for the second half of the season.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know people listening to this. I think
Speaker 1: I said this in the office yesterday. Like the attitude
Speaker 1: from the fan base right now is either like, if
Speaker 1: Kellen comes back, it's either yeah, I guess that's fine,
Speaker 1: or oh God, no, please God not Kellen Moore. Like
Speaker 1: nobody's like actively campaigning quite a shift, dude, October. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna remember this. I'm gonna remember this season for a
Speaker 1: long time, for a lot of reasons. But I just
Speaker 1: in October, like we were just buried in emails and
Speaker 1: questions and tweets about like what what are we going
Speaker 1: to have to do to Like I can't watch Kellen
Speaker 1: coaching the Dolphins next year. I just can't do it.
Speaker 1: What are we gonna do? Jerry do something, Jerry, Jerry Jerry,
Speaker 1: And now he's like public enemy number one. And I'm
Speaker 1: not like he deserves criticism, like the offense lost its mojo,
Speaker 1: but I still think it's funny how quickly things flipped
Speaker 1: for him. I'm glad you said that, though, because because
Speaker 1: I think there's fans that are still so pissed about
Speaker 1: this loss that you know, Jerry's calling this a huge
Speaker 1: victory getting Dan Quinn, and I think he's absolutely right
Speaker 1: because of what Dan. I think Dan contributed to, not
Speaker 1: just the defense, but I think he helped change culture
Speaker 1: around here too, just with his presence. But it doesn't
Speaker 1: change the fact that they didn't do what they needed
Speaker 1: to do or wanted to do, and there are still
Speaker 1: problems that have to be fixed going forward, and the
Speaker 1: offense is one of them. I mean, the offense is
Speaker 1: It's such a hard position to evaluate because number one,
Speaker 1: the stats, all those things, the rankings, but like the
Speaker 1: eye tests shows they weren't the same group down the stretch,
Speaker 1: especially against the better defenses that they faced, and that's
Speaker 1: something they've got to fix. Yeah, without a doubt. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, anyway you slice the numbers, he is just
Speaker 1: the number one offense. And I know that in yards
Speaker 1: that ranked that way. They're not ranked that way in
Speaker 1: other categories. And I think, and I think really, like
Speaker 1: you said, against against the better teams, a better competition,
Speaker 1: they didn't do that. And my biggest issue with Kellen
Speaker 1: Moore is just the slow starts. And I think that
Speaker 1: does start with preparation. It starts with the coordinator for
Speaker 1: whatever the reason. They seem to do a good job
Speaker 1: of adjusting figuring it out later, but it's too late.
Speaker 1: It's been. It was too late against Arizona. It was
Speaker 1: definitely too late against San Francisco. I mean, they go now.
Speaker 1: It wasn't too late against the Giants. Early in the
Speaker 1: year Carolina, there were some games where they kind of
Speaker 1: slowed had New England, they had some slow start to
Speaker 1: New Orleans, and they were able to figure it out.
Speaker 1: But against the better teams, you start like that, you
Speaker 1: get punched in the mouth. You're pretty much in the
Speaker 1: ropes and staggered. In retrospect, I think, and you can
Speaker 1: go back and find the quotes about stuff like this,
Speaker 1: like I think that early success and overcoming some of
Speaker 1: that early adversity gave him a false sense of confidence
Speaker 1: or they leaned, they leaned too much on it at
Speaker 1: any respect, and that it was so frustrating, like week
Speaker 1: after week it was like, we know we can do it,
Speaker 1: we've done it, we'll turn it on and it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: well but why just why why did you do it now?
Speaker 1: Why why don't you just do it now? A great
Speaker 1: example of that is the game that kind of turned
Speaker 1: everything it seemed like, is the Denver game, especially offensively,
Speaker 1: even though even though Denver's game plan wasn't the exact
Speaker 1: copycat thing that every team tried. And then the following
Speaker 1: week they put up forty three and probably that was
Speaker 1: the most dominant game that they played against Atlanta, and
Speaker 1: so even I know, I was like, oh blueprint, huh okay,
Speaker 1: yeah no, because we've seen for half a season what
Speaker 1: this offense can do, and so you weren't really worried
Speaker 1: about it. They weren't really worried about it. You know.
Speaker 1: It's what's funny about the Denver game is not funny,
Speaker 1: But like every other loss, the Arizona, San Francisco, the
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay game, Oh Oakland Sorry Raiders, and maybe not
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, but those four losses. If they Cowboys had
Speaker 1: like three more minutes on the clock, they probably would
Speaker 1: have won the sixty minute game. But you know, three
Speaker 1: four more minutes probably win that game. You could have
Speaker 1: had two more hours against Denver win in that game.
Speaker 1: I mean the league. Turner is not going to keep
Speaker 1: catching touchdowns, and that's one of those things like you
Speaker 1: have you ever been, I know you have, like you've
Speaker 1: been on the other side of a beat down and
Speaker 1: you get aggravated, you start playing prevent and you're like, we,
Speaker 1: like I wanted to win this game. Thirty to three,
Speaker 1: thirty to sixteen does not reflect what we did. That's
Speaker 1: how I feel about the Denver game. Like Dallas didn't
Speaker 1: even good for malage Turner for putting those stats up,
Speaker 1: but like Dallas didn't deserve to save face. Yeah in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, you know, like that's how badly they
Speaker 1: got destroyed in that game. Yeah, and kind of to
Speaker 1: that point, Jerry said after the game against the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers that the score wasn't necessarily reflective of the
Speaker 1: way that game went. And it was. I think it
Speaker 1: was twenty three seven at one point, and it just
Speaker 1: wasn't close until the very end. And I got a
Speaker 1: little frustrated. The day after we're talking about the last play,
Speaker 1: and look, you know it, that is frustrating. They didn't
Speaker 1: get that last heave to the end zone, but like
Speaker 1: enough wasn't done early to put you in position to
Speaker 1: probably win that football game. I don't I don't ever
Speaker 1: want to talk about the draw again. I mean, I
Speaker 1: know we're going to, but that's yeah, I agree. It's
Speaker 1: the drive with two forty one and all your timeouts
Speaker 1: that stands out in my mind more so than what
Speaker 1: they called in a borderline hopeless situation. All right, another segue,
Speaker 1: because the guy that didn't get it done that his
Speaker 1: name is Dak Prescott. He's the quarterback. And they didn't
Speaker 1: make some all the throws and they didn't get the
Speaker 1: snap off and all that good stuff. Well, Jerry, that's
Speaker 1: another thing that Jerry mentioned today. I mean, like that's
Speaker 1: to me when he pushes you know, all of the
Speaker 1: chips in because he already has literally pushed his chips
Speaker 1: in on deck with paying him, and he's going to
Speaker 1: continue to do that, which the only the only thing
Speaker 1: that I look at then, as I say, well, if
Speaker 1: he's willing to do that about Dak, you could have
Speaker 1: done that again with McCarthy last Friday, Like you could
Speaker 1: have done that because you do it with other things
Speaker 1: like you do it with Dak. He's like his excitement
Speaker 1: level for this year it starts with Dak. Yeah, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's his reason. He said. He was like, I didn't
Speaker 1: want to talk about any of our coaches because we
Speaker 1: were trying to negotiate to keep Dan here. And I
Speaker 1: was like, what is guaranteeing McCarthy's future have to do
Speaker 1: with whether or not you can keep Quinn? Like I don't,
Speaker 1: that doesn't really. Yeah, he just kind of threw it
Speaker 1: all in one umbrella. I'm not talking about the staff
Speaker 1: at all. Yeah, which, and I think knowing Jerry, we've
Speaker 1: all listened to him talk a lot, Like I guess
Speaker 1: I get it in the sense of like once he
Speaker 1: starts going, sometimes you don't know where it's going to end.
Speaker 1: So if he starts talking about McCarthy, maybe I guess
Speaker 1: I can see it. But interesting, Yeah, well, and at
Speaker 1: this point, you know, he says his excitement starts with Dakan,
Speaker 1: so does this payroll? I mean, like when you look
Speaker 1: at everything average per year, total condra, everything starts with Dak.
Speaker 1: So there's really can't be another answer, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: there can't be any other. I mean, the Giants are
Speaker 1: saying they're going to build around Daniel Jones. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's what you do, that's what you say, So yeah
Speaker 1: that I mean it has to be that way, but
Speaker 1: I do I do think that they'd be very naive
Speaker 1: to not think that. You know, if you want him
Speaker 1: to get back to twenty sixteen Dak and that guy,
Speaker 1: or at least that success, then the running game has
Speaker 1: to be there again, and the offensive line has to
Speaker 1: be better, and your center has to be I mean,
Speaker 1: he has to have to be at all pro but
Speaker 1: he certainly needs to be better than what they have.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just think there's a lot of issues
Speaker 1: around Dak that that's got to be fixed. It's hard
Speaker 1: to do. It's beating up forty million, it's the number
Speaker 1: one thing for me, the old line slash running game,
Speaker 1: in addition to Dak himself, and Dak has said I
Speaker 1: got I gotta be better. I think one reason why
Speaker 1: Jerry is so confident, Like you said, he's not going anywhere,
Speaker 1: he's paying forty million a year to him, but he
Speaker 1: knows how Dak works. I think we know how Dak works.
Speaker 1: I think we know Dak's gonna put himself in position
Speaker 1: to be better. I think a year removed from that
Speaker 1: injury will help him maybe be willing, more mobile than
Speaker 1: he was, and maybe he will see more of that
Speaker 1: aspect of Dak's game next year. But he's got to
Speaker 1: be better. He knows it, and I think I think
Speaker 1: the scheme has to be better. I think Mike McCarthy
Speaker 1: spoke to that after the season. We've got to tweak
Speaker 1: some things, even though it's going to be the same
Speaker 1: foundation of the scheme, whether Kellen's back or not, whether
Speaker 1: Kellen leaves for a job or not. And we can
Speaker 1: sit here and say it, but also when Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame quarterbacks say it, like Kurt Warner who watches tape
Speaker 1: third party wise or Troy Aikman says it, and why
Speaker 1: aren't the top receivers getting the ball. There are things
Speaker 1: they can do schematically to help Dak Prescott as well. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I think everything y' all just said is fair. But
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think it's it's easy to overreact
Speaker 1: to the negatives. I mean, talking about getting back to
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, I don't want that. I just need him
Speaker 1: to get back to September of twenty twenty one. I mean,
Speaker 1: they were doing all that stuff. They were averaging one
Speaker 1: sixty on the ground, like Dak was not a mirage
Speaker 1: that happened. Dak was in the MVP conversation at about
Speaker 1: week ten of the season and he had done it again.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, they beat up on some bad teams,
Speaker 1: but he had done it against some good teams. I mean,
Speaker 1: they set the NFL record for yards against the Belichick defense,
Speaker 1: and I mean a pretty damn good defense that wound
Speaker 1: up going to the playoffs. Played one of the I
Speaker 1: bring it up all the time they lost the game.
Speaker 1: I get that he played amazing against the reigning division
Speaker 1: or reigning Super Bowl champions. I mean that success was
Speaker 1: there as recently as October. So I don't think you
Speaker 1: have to reinvent the wheel to get back to it.
Speaker 1: The running games gotta get better. The offensive line has
Speaker 1: to get better. Think Kellen Moore could do a better
Speaker 1: job of highlighting his playmakers. The regularity with which different
Speaker 1: receivers disappear from the game plan is ridiculous and shouldn't happen.
Speaker 1: But I don't think it takes drastic changes to get
Speaker 1: back to being successful. Go back and look at his
Speaker 1: passer ratings. When they run the ball, Oh it is,
Speaker 1: it is when they play so much more efficient. They
Speaker 1: were playing on god mode from the first week until
Speaker 1: Dak got hurt. Maybe that's a coincidence, maybe it's not.
Speaker 1: But what I just but they were running the hell
Speaker 1: out of the ball, right, Well, I mean that is important.
Speaker 1: I don't want to get it twisted like I don't
Speaker 1: want Dak throwing fifty balls a game. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: then rank these things as as the reason for the
Speaker 1: drop off, because there there obviously was. You said god mode.
Speaker 1: It certainly didn't finish that way, So let's let's let's
Speaker 1: rank it because I think you can you want to
Speaker 1: add a fifth win in here, but I think the
Speaker 1: four things you can say of why did it turn
Speaker 1: um in no particular order the competition got better. Did
Speaker 1: they get figured out on defense? Like blueprint? Does Zeke's
Speaker 1: injury really help? And and how about a hurt? And
Speaker 1: how about Dak's injury? Yeah, of those four things, and
Speaker 1: it's a combination of all because sometimes when you're taking tests,
Speaker 1: I mean, all of the above is the answer. No
Speaker 1: one likes that, but it is the you know, what
Speaker 1: do you think though, is the biggest factor of those
Speaker 1: You mentioned a line earlier. I would throw in that,
Speaker 1: like Mike told us in the off season last year,
Speaker 1: that wins are it equates to wins when you've got
Speaker 1: the same five all year long. How many combinations have
Speaker 1: they had over the last two years? And like even
Speaker 1: even even the start to the season was good, but
Speaker 1: they could not seem to figure out the five they
Speaker 1: wanted until the irony. It was self inflicted. This year.
Speaker 1: They did it to themselves this year. They I mean
Speaker 1: try and look, they tried Connor McGovern. We're going up
Speaker 1: to Arrowhead, who had never started it, left guard before
Speaker 1: I could be able to hear. And you're going up
Speaker 1: against Chris Jones. We'll see how you do. They like
Speaker 1: they definitely benched Connor Williams, they Suedo benched Lyle Collins.
Speaker 1: I mean, whatever the hell that was? Tyron's in out
Speaker 1: of lineup again, and they just decided to play tackle
Speaker 1: by committee one week when Tyron wasn't invader, just like, yeah, like,
Speaker 1: you'll do this in passing situations, and you'll do this
Speaker 1: in running situations. We know no coach has ever said
Speaker 1: that that's a winning strategy, but we're just gonna give
Speaker 1: it a try. Ironically, I think they won that game.
Speaker 1: And what they didn't do was they didn't have any
Speaker 1: kind of veteran competition for Tyler Beotish. Ever, they never did.
Speaker 1: You've been saying that since summer Tony they could have
Speaker 1: paid Joe Looney in the offseason something, and it's almost
Speaker 1: like they didn't want him to be a progress stopper.
Speaker 1: But I just don't know how much progress they had.
Speaker 1: And I think the combination Tyler Beiottish would have been
Speaker 1: fine if you've got a you know, Zach Martin Ron
Speaker 1: Leary thing going on at guard or I think Connor
Speaker 1: Williams would have been fine with the Travis Frederick there
Speaker 1: at center. But the combination of both, I think it's easy.
Speaker 1: You know, we hear Bucky Brooks say all the time
Speaker 1: about where's Waldo and you're on defense and looking at
Speaker 1: what where you gonna attack, You're gonna go right there.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna miss. With Zach Martin, I'm gonna miss.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go right here and just try to figure
Speaker 1: something out. To your question, I think the injury to
Speaker 1: Zeke and whatever the hell happened with the offensive line,
Speaker 1: something something went awry there that wasn't good enough to
Speaker 1: just dominate on the ground to the degree to make
Speaker 1: life really easy on Dak And he insisted he was healthy.
Speaker 1: I guess I have to take him at his word,
Speaker 1: but he either wasn't fully healthy, or if he was,
Speaker 1: he just mentally wasn't in a trusting place where he's
Speaker 1: just gonna let it rip and not be worried about
Speaker 1: his injury. Something there prevented him from playing at a
Speaker 1: level where he could make up for that. And Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's that's pretty much it as far as
Speaker 1: I'm concerned. Yeah, that's to your point. When he came
Speaker 1: back from the injury, it was the Denver game, the
Speaker 1: famous Denver game, and he talked about how his footwork
Speaker 1: and his fundamentals weren't where they needed to be. It
Speaker 1: seemed like maybe that wasn't he never really got back
Speaker 1: in the rhythm that he that in that regard too,
Speaker 1: that he probably wanted to bust out those red, white
Speaker 1: and blue helmets again or yes, yes, yeah they look
Speaker 1: they look badass. I don't care that they played like crap.
Speaker 1: Wear them again. Yeah, just keep doing it until you win.
Speaker 1: You beat somebody with them. All right? Uh, real quick,
Speaker 1: what what are we looking at here? In the next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks? What's what's I You've Senior Bowl for you? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean Senior Bowl takes on a new significance now
Speaker 1: because we we pretty like we know the staff. I
Speaker 1: don't know if they're going, but I can get my
Speaker 1: eyes on some dan Quinn guys. You see a six
Speaker 1: three corner or somewhere or something, You're like, okay, I'm watching. No,
Speaker 1: there's a there's a six four corner on the roster,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna keep an eye on you. Um,
Speaker 1: what's going on? It's on your plate here changing diapers.
Speaker 1: And besides besides that, um, you know Mike McCarthy that
Speaker 1: you know they did the exit interviews with the players
Speaker 1: last week. This week, they're going through this process of
Speaker 1: evaluating what the coaching staff did this year. So we know,
Speaker 1: obviously we knew Mike was coming back regardless, Uh, Dan's back,
Speaker 1: Kellen very well, maybe back. Any other changes on the
Speaker 1: staff like that's still yet to be determined. And I
Speaker 1: think most most of the staff is under contract, but
Speaker 1: we'll see what may happen there. Way, it had some interviews, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think yeah, And there's like one coach that's out
Speaker 1: of contract. I think there's there's that, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: there's Pro Bowl and there's guys up for awards coming up.
Speaker 1: We'll see if Michael Parsons gets any hardware coming up.
Speaker 1: And by the way, I just wanted a little bit
Speaker 1: of extra breaking news. Pro Football Writers of America have
Speaker 1: put out their awards and stuff. Joe Burrow got Comeback
Speaker 1: Player of the Year, not Dak. But we'll see what
Speaker 1: the NFL award is here in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: I mean, same voters right, with lots and lots of
Speaker 1: due respect to Dak. I mean I think people at
Speaker 1: large are gonna it's it's not about how he starts,
Speaker 1: how you finish and Joe Burrow is one of the
Speaker 1: stories of the season right now. Maybe it's because we
Speaker 1: were there, but I just thought it was a no
Speaker 1: brainer that Dak would get that award because I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, we saw it. I completely agree. I said
Speaker 1: in October on our show that like, just give Dak
Speaker 1: comeback Player of the Year right now, just give it
Speaker 1: to him. I think I said it after they beat
Speaker 1: the Giants on the anniversary of his injury. It just
Speaker 1: looked like a more serious injury than Joe's. I'm convinced
Speaker 1: people could change their votes. I mean, if you can.
Speaker 1: If you can, you know, elect the president in one day,
Speaker 1: which you know sometimes we don't, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: you can. I think you can. You can do stuff
Speaker 1: like this in a week or two. So I do
Speaker 1: think some guy turns in Dak Prescott and then sees
Speaker 1: Burrow win in the playoffs and say, guys, I'm changing that.
Speaker 1: Change my vote please, even if it happens, I don't
Speaker 1: know if voting is still open in the playoffs, but
Speaker 1: even if it isn't like Burrow and I'm nobody's gonna
Speaker 1: Obviously people think I'm compromised because of what I think
Speaker 1: about Joe Burrow, but he tore like all the ligaments
Speaker 1: in his knee. Was back, and that happened in December,
Speaker 1: by the way, it happened like the last of the season.
Speaker 1: He was back healthy and ready for the opener, and
Speaker 1: the Bengals just caught fire like they I mean, they
Speaker 1: picked fifth overall in in April and one one of
Speaker 1: the toughest divisions in football, and are in the AFC
Speaker 1: title game. Like I said, I don't know when voting stops,
Speaker 1: but he's definitely worthy. I mean, he's definitely could easily
Speaker 1: win it. You could also say for what Dak did,
Speaker 1: Dak is incredibly deserved the contract to set cowboy records
Speaker 1: to win twelve games. Yeah, both of them. So, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: they both you know, and you know I have my point.
Speaker 1: I'll comeback play of the Year. I don't even think
Speaker 1: it should be one of those guys. I think it
Speaker 1: should be other guys. You know, I'd vote Randy Gregory
Speaker 1: over both of them personally, but um, that's it's a
Speaker 1: different type of comeback. And you know it. Narratives. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's all built on narratives. If you go back to fourteen,
Speaker 1: I mean, rom Romo played like the MVP of the
Speaker 1: league from Thanksgiving on or you know, right around there,
Speaker 1: like second half of the season. But by that point,
Speaker 1: all of that stuff's kind of been written and it's
Speaker 1: Rogers and it's Wad and it's like, we don't have
Speaker 1: time to consider a new guy in December, right, But man,
Speaker 1: he played like it for at least like seven weeks
Speaker 1: of that season. Yeah, and then I would imagine here
Speaker 1: in the next few days, you'll probably hear some more
Speaker 1: Cowboys going to the Pro Bowl, for sure, CD Lamb.
Speaker 1: I mean, we were pretty much know that that's going
Speaker 1: to happen. There's these two receivers on either team of
Speaker 1: the NFC gonna both go to the Super One is
Speaker 1: going to the Super Bowl. That's going to open up
Speaker 1: a spot. I'm pretty sure Cede Lamb will be one
Speaker 1: of them. Are you trying to say that it's never
Speaker 1: quiet around here? It's never quiet. That's fine though, because
Speaker 1: I'm hopefully people are listening, and well, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not saying we'll do this every Friday, but you know,
Speaker 1: you know, well, if if things pop up and Chris
Speaker 1: beam back there is you know, not on the golf course,
Speaker 1: then we'll Chris lives here. What are we talking. That's true.
Speaker 1: He's got a sleeping bag in there. Yeah. I do
Speaker 1: all right. Well for Chris being back there running, running
Speaker 1: the board and David Hellman, Rob Phillips, I'm Nick Eatman.
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time on the Breaking News Friday
Speaker 1: podcast whatever that happens, but definitely next week though with
Speaker 1: the with the shows, this has been a production of
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.