Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This he's Talking Cowboys,
Speaker 1: screaming live from the Dallas Cowboys World Hours at the
Speaker 1: Star in Frisco. Here are Mickey Spagnola, Brian Broudis, Rob Phillips,
Speaker 1: and Phil Jones. And it is a good Wednesday here
Speaker 1: at the Star in Frisco inside the SWBC Mortgage studios.
Speaker 1: This is Talking Cowboys with a little revised schedule after
Speaker 1: the Monday night game as the Cowboys start preparations for
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings and another prime time appearance this week
Speaker 1: on Sunday Night Football. All and things get really interesting
Speaker 1: here in the month of November. Bill Jones with Mickey
Speaker 1: Spagnola and Rob Phillips. Brian brought us out today and
Speaker 1: on the practice field. There is nothing set up today,
Speaker 1: Mickey Spagnola, and you think they're going inside. I think
Speaker 1: maybe they're going inside. You know, I get a later practice,
Speaker 1: so maybe they plenty of time. You still have time
Speaker 1: to set things up, although we do have the threat
Speaker 1: of some rain in the forecast, so taking it inside anyway.
Speaker 1: It's kind of drizzly, hasn't it. It has we're not
Speaker 1: quite back on a normal excuse me schedule because it's
Speaker 1: like a Wednesday that's kind of feeling like a Tuesday.
Speaker 1: This is like a catchup day to day. They're catching
Speaker 1: up and then tomorrow they'll be back on schedule for
Speaker 1: the rest of the week. And I would think it's
Speaker 1: a lighter practice today after getting back so late on
Speaker 1: Monday morning or I guess early on Monday morning, Tuesday,
Speaker 1: Tuesday morning in my day. Yeah, say it's it's confusing, right,
Speaker 1: it is? Where you get it? What time did y'all
Speaker 1: get in yesterday? Five thirty in the morning. I know
Speaker 1: you said you got to bed it. That's when my pet,
Speaker 1: my dad get the pillow it. I got a good
Speaker 1: ninety minutes asleep. It was wonderful. Yeah, cat nap if
Speaker 1: you will, but you gotta you're well rested for today, right, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: so you would be able to hit the practice field
Speaker 1: right now. Absolutely. Up. Let's go. When I did I
Speaker 1: did my fan report, I guess I sounded energetic this morning,
Speaker 1: and they go, oh, you sound energetic. I said, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I got ten hours sleep and they said, oh, ten
Speaker 1: hour did you do that? I said, I passed out
Speaker 1: at nine o'clock. They go, what'd you take? I said,
Speaker 1: three hours sleep the night before or the morning before.
Speaker 1: I can't remember last time I got ten hours sleep
Speaker 1: one stretch, all right, I don't think it was consistent
Speaker 1: were we turned the page towards the Minnesota Ikens. But
Speaker 1: I would like to say one thing about the Giants game,
Speaker 1: because there was sort of a narrative yesterday that this team,
Speaker 1: and it's been obvious off season, basically the slow starts
Speaker 1: the team has got off to. But when you turn
Speaker 1: the football over, it's gonna appear that you're not ready
Speaker 1: to play or whatever. When you turn the ball over
Speaker 1: on the first play of the game, second drive of
Speaker 1: the game, you miss a field goal, that's like a turnover.
Speaker 1: You're giving the ball back to the team at the
Speaker 1: other team at the forty four yard line. And then
Speaker 1: the fourth drive of the game, you fumble the football away.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have a slow start when that happens. It's
Speaker 1: about execution, it's not about being ready to play a
Speaker 1: football game. Yeah, you know, I guess it is a
Speaker 1: slow start in terms of the scoreboard, and it's becoming
Speaker 1: a trend, especially on the road for this team. But
Speaker 1: you're right. I mean, you look at the way these
Speaker 1: drives ended for them. Okay, you throw a pick on
Speaker 1: the first play of the game. When's the last time
Speaker 1: that happened in a Cowboys football game. But the defense
Speaker 1: was ready to play, they stopped them. They were ready,
Speaker 1: they were ready to play. And by the way, that's
Speaker 1: a big blitz by Jeff Heath on that first drive
Speaker 1: to force a field goal and get off the field.
Speaker 1: But then the next five drives in the second in
Speaker 1: the first half, you're all in Giants territory. They're they're
Speaker 1: moving the football. And when you talk to guys after
Speaker 1: the game, Mick, it's yes, they say we got to
Speaker 1: clean things up. But I don't think they're discouraged by it,
Speaker 1: because I feel they feel like they can pretty much
Speaker 1: do what they want to do offensively to get in
Speaker 1: position to score. It's just a matter of finishing drives up.
Speaker 1: You know. It's like they're moving the ball. They're moving
Speaker 1: the ball, they just don't take care of it well.
Speaker 1: And I noticed when I was looking, and I was
Speaker 1: trying to find it real quick at the score. By quarters,
Speaker 1: the only quarter the Cowboys have been outscored is the
Speaker 1: first quarter and I think it was something like I
Speaker 1: got it here forty one to thirty seven. But every
Speaker 1: other quarter they've outscored the opponent. But the Bill's point,
Speaker 1: some of that's a product of the defense, because I
Speaker 1: think the Philly game was the first time they went
Speaker 1: down the field and scored a touchdown in the opening drive.
Speaker 1: They haven't. They haven't gotten off the get even in
Speaker 1: the three game winning streak to start the year. They
Speaker 1: weren't coming out like you know, gang bus No. That
Speaker 1: was my point and not the defense. It was the
Speaker 1: offense didn't score points. They were screwing up. And check
Speaker 1: this out. The other thing I noticed they've they've had
Speaker 1: They've got eleven giveaways. Eight of them are in the
Speaker 1: first half. Eight poor Randall Cobb. Yeah, that's got to
Speaker 1: be a record, right, that's the fourth I think touchdown
Speaker 1: called back a penalty? Yeah, how to fun does that happen?
Speaker 1: And it's not his penalty? Right? But yeah, and you
Speaker 1: go back to the Green Bay game. I mean, the
Speaker 1: reason they fell behind so much against the Packers in
Speaker 1: the first half of that game, if you break it
Speaker 1: all down, I mean, if you if you looked at
Speaker 1: one thing, it's the turnovers Okay, you turn the football over,
Speaker 1: and there's not that much difference even between a two
Speaker 1: and seven Giants team and a now five and three
Speaker 1: Cowboys team. If you're gonna turn it over three of
Speaker 1: your first four possessions, you're in for a dogfight all
Speaker 1: the way to the end of the game. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you encourage a team like the Giants, it's like, oh, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: or the Jets, I mean, the Jett's saying in here.
Speaker 1: When you go for it on fourth in the yard
Speaker 1: and a half or whatever it was at the seven
Speaker 1: yard line and you don't make it, it's like a turnover. Okay,
Speaker 1: and defense in that case gave up a ninety three
Speaker 1: yard touchdown and you don't have to do that either.
Speaker 1: So anyway, you know, and the other part of it
Speaker 1: is when halfway through the season, so it's easy to
Speaker 1: do the math. Okay. Dak Prescott has led this Cowboys
Speaker 1: offense number one offense in the league in terms of
Speaker 1: total yards. He's got the number one quarterback rating in
Speaker 1: the league at the halfway point. He's on a pace
Speaker 1: for a career high thirty touchdown passes. Most significantly, this
Speaker 1: team is on a pace to have twenty sacks is
Speaker 1: all only Dak has only been sacked ten times down
Speaker 1: from what was it last year, fifty six fifty six
Speaker 1: last year? How about that? And almost it was all
Speaker 1: like close to thirty or something in the last few
Speaker 1: games down the stretch of twenty seventeen as well. I mean,
Speaker 1: he wasn't protected as well as he could have been
Speaker 1: the last year and a half. And yeah, they've done
Speaker 1: a much better job. Speaks to Travis Frederick, speaks to
Speaker 1: Connor Williams playing better. I think watch him, he's playing better.
Speaker 1: The shoots. You know what. Else, it speaks to wide
Speaker 1: receivers getting open. He doesn't have to hold the ball
Speaker 1: as long as he's been holding it. Three guys getting
Speaker 1: open and that certainly helps out. And I think it
Speaker 1: speaks to Dak's development too, you know, and being able
Speaker 1: to read defenses and go through his progressions and so
Speaker 1: forth and find an open guy. So um. So it's
Speaker 1: very but it also here's the other thing it speaks
Speaker 1: to is the Cowboys schedule in the first half of
Speaker 1: the season, and that's where I think it really gets
Speaker 1: interesting now here in November, because you can't say when
Speaker 1: you're playing the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night. You can't say, well,
Speaker 1: it's just the Giants, or it's or they you know,
Speaker 1: it's just the Redskins, it's the Dolphins, whatever. Now you're
Speaker 1: getting into the meat of your schedule against teams that
Speaker 1: have visions of playing in January. But they showed themselves
Speaker 1: what they can do when they tore apart Philadelphia. No
Speaker 1: one's gonna sit here and say, well, it's just the Eagles,
Speaker 1: right right. You know that a lot of people were
Speaker 1: picking them to win the division. So that shows you
Speaker 1: how good this team can be if they're not turning
Speaker 1: the football over, if they're not beating themselves. I loved
Speaker 1: what Dak said after the game. He said, we are
Speaker 1: our biggest rivals, meaning we keep beating ourselves so much.
Speaker 1: And that's why I thought the win over the Giants
Speaker 1: was somewhat impressive because they overcame themselves along with the Giants,
Speaker 1: but that Philly game was it wasn't just the offense.
Speaker 1: That was a complete victory, the first one we've probably
Speaker 1: seen all year. And Jason Garrett spoke to it yesterday
Speaker 1: about defensively, we can be an elite defense if we
Speaker 1: turn the ball over. Defensively, and they did that against Philly,
Speaker 1: and they did that a couple of times, where they
Speaker 1: have three this past week. But what they were able
Speaker 1: to do against Philly and those short drives really make
Speaker 1: a difference. I mean you look defensively what they've done.
Speaker 1: They're only given up twenty eight percent conversions on third down,
Speaker 1: second in the league. I mean that that is the
Speaker 1: mark of a very good defense if they can continue
Speaker 1: doing what they're doing turning the ball over. And by
Speaker 1: the way, Xavier Woods is your NFC Defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Week. Now all of a sudden, your offense isn't
Speaker 1: having to go sixty seventy eighty yards every time. Well
Speaker 1: think about this. So over the first how many games
Speaker 1: they played. The first six games, they had five takeaways.
Speaker 1: Over the last two games, they've had eight takeaways. You
Speaker 1: think that helps, Yeah, absolutely, greater margin for error offensively,
Speaker 1: I mean in shields. I mean both of of Xavier
Speaker 1: Woods takeaways or the interception then the force fumble led
Speaker 1: to field goals. So that was like a cheap six
Speaker 1: points right there. And by the way, it's amazing that
Speaker 1: you can have an NFC Defensive Player of the Week
Speaker 1: that is yours. Free safety for less than fourteen million
Speaker 1: dollars a year. Uh, don't don't go there, mackey, don't.
Speaker 1: I tweeted the I tweeted that he was the NFC
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Week. I just retweeted it, and
Speaker 1: I said, Jamal who And I got pushed back that
Speaker 1: y'all should know better than that. He wouldn't Jamal Adams
Speaker 1: wouldn't be replacing it. Xavier woulds he'd be replacing Jeff
Speaker 1: heat No. I was, I was referring to Earl Thomas. Well,
Speaker 1: but but but what I'm talking about. I know Jamal
Speaker 1: Adams if he was here eventually, he would be that
Speaker 1: fourteen million dollars a year's safety. Yeah. And and unless
Speaker 1: he's picking a ball off playing sile safety high yeah,
Speaker 1: whether whether he's playing in the box or playing free,
Speaker 1: that would be the investment. And that was the point
Speaker 1: of my tweet was Okay, yeah, Xavier Woods can do
Speaker 1: the job. And because like the Amari Cooper trade, you're
Speaker 1: trading for a guy, you're extending him, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: pay him eventually at top dollar. You're not going to
Speaker 1: make that deal if he's not going to get paid,
Speaker 1: you know, high, high level money at some point. By
Speaker 1: the way, Nick looked this up. The last time a
Speaker 1: Cowboy safety won this award? When was the last time?
Speaker 1: Not Darren Woodson, it was Roy Williams George Teague in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six. I mean that shows you. You know,
Speaker 1: they've had good safeties here over the years, but they
Speaker 1: since Woody, they have not had, you know, a big
Speaker 1: time playmaker guy at safety and an Xavier. We saw
Speaker 1: it in training camp and these last two games he's
Speaker 1: been really productive for him in that regard. It's a
Speaker 1: pretty subjective decision by the NFL. Who wins those things too,
Speaker 1: by the way, So you're minimizing it, No, No, because
Speaker 1: Rob's talking about it, so let's minimize. No, that's not
Speaker 1: what us say. You didn't even disagreement. You definitely let
Speaker 1: me finish. What's wrong with I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1: How do you know? How do you know Woody didn't
Speaker 1: have a similar game like that and never won it. Well,
Speaker 1: here's the thing, Yes, I checked since Woody. I said
Speaker 1: Woody was a big time player, but he hadn't won
Speaker 1: it since ninety six and he played through two thousand
Speaker 1: and two. Pro Bowls and Super Bowls are probably more
Speaker 1: important weekly NFL awards, I get it. The best thing
Speaker 1: is a skillful stat listening is a skill, yeah, on
Speaker 1: any of those awards, though it's part of it is
Speaker 1: um it's luck because okay, it just so happens that
Speaker 1: let's say somebody had three picks in a game, okay,
Speaker 1: or had four sacks, Well they're going to get the
Speaker 1: NFC Defensive Player of the Week this way. It's so
Speaker 1: it's based also on what else happened around the league.
Speaker 1: So you can have a two interception game, but if
Speaker 1: someone if if back in the day stray Ann went
Speaker 1: off and you know, set the NFL record um with
Speaker 1: his what how many sacks did he have when gave
Speaker 1: him the SEC two or something, he gets it that week.
Speaker 1: So but but that's great for Xavier Woods. And you
Speaker 1: know that's one thing going forward where and we've seen
Speaker 1: it now in the last couple of weeks, the defensive
Speaker 1: players turning into playmakers and that's big. And I know
Speaker 1: y'all talked about Michael Bennett yesterday, but I think that
Speaker 1: that is a huge can be a huge factor on
Speaker 1: this defense going forward. Were you surprised at how many
Speaker 1: snaps he wasn't I wasn't surprised how many snaps because
Speaker 1: I knew that there was such a need for the
Speaker 1: Cowboys to do that, and I assumed he's in shape,
Speaker 1: so play him, you know. And I knew I figured
Speaker 1: Marinelli probably loved his whole demeanor, you know, getting after
Speaker 1: the quarterback. But but how about the need that the
Speaker 1: Cowboys had with someone who can push the pocket in
Speaker 1: the in the middle. But he was also coming off
Speaker 1: the edge too, and that you know, and I think, Mickey,
Speaker 1: you mentioned it yesterday. He's a better Tyrone Crawford as
Speaker 1: far as pressure in the quarterback tank, a little bit
Speaker 1: of a break, you know, and keeps him fresher throughout
Speaker 1: the course of a game. Yeah, because they didn't have
Speaker 1: to overuse tank. I think his snaps were at forty
Speaker 1: five and Bennett had forty three playing two different positions,
Speaker 1: So yeah, had helped out. And you know, the fact
Speaker 1: that he can do both like that and be equally effective,
Speaker 1: I think is going to be a huge benefit going forward.
Speaker 1: All right, Mickey, what is this phone number that we have?
Speaker 1: You want to entertain some phone calls to two two nine.
Speaker 1: Let's see how much shall we get because we are
Speaker 1: on an hour earlier than usual here, it's an unusual
Speaker 1: Wednesday as the schedule is pushed back. Today Jason Garrett
Speaker 1: his press conference comes up at eleven o'clock Central Time,
Speaker 1: so moments after talking cowboys and talking Cowboys continues in
Speaker 1: a moment, I'm Jay Novachek, former tight end for the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys. Back in the day. I was the guy
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Speaker 1: Back to Talking Cowboys. Talking Cowboys continues on a winds
Speaker 1: day here at the Star in Crisco and join us
Speaker 1: on Saturday on Tostito's Championship Plaza for the Salute to
Speaker 1: Service Plaza Party. Enjoy live entertainment military ceremonies, Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: alumni autographs, and more. After the event festivities, the Star
Speaker 1: will be hosting the top two Madden players as they
Speaker 1: face off in the EA Sports Madden NFL twenty Club
Speaker 1: Championship presented by Spier. Admission and parking are free. That's
Speaker 1: coming up on Saturday. Tostito's Championship Plaza will be a
Speaker 1: big weekend and a salute to service throughout the week
Speaker 1: end the weekend as the Cowboys play the Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 1: on Sunday nights. Is that why that big tent's being Oh,
Speaker 1: is there? I haven't seen the plaza Probably is, probably so, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought they were going to play that game outdoors,
Speaker 1: you know, like using the big screen. Yeah, yeah, well
Speaker 1: they could still use they could. That's right, just protecting
Speaker 1: and it's supposed to be well. I think by the
Speaker 1: weekend it's it's supposed to be rainy today and tomorrow,
Speaker 1: and then by the weekend it's supposed to be beautiful,
Speaker 1: very good. It's gonna be a great football weekend with
Speaker 1: those Purple People leaders coming to town. And they're playing
Speaker 1: pretty well overall this year. Yeah, four out of the
Speaker 1: last five they've won they lost at Kansas City twenty six,
Speaker 1: twenty three. Cousins has turned his season around the last
Speaker 1: few weeks. It helps when you have also have the
Speaker 1: league's leading rusher too, Dalvin Cook. Yes, we talked to
Speaker 1: him this morning, by the way, did yeah, he had
Speaker 1: a conference? Did he Okay? He finally loosened up at
Speaker 1: the end. They're at the beginning. He's been pretty tight
Speaker 1: here a lot of losers. Yeah, he's always kind of
Speaker 1: been like that, right, Yeah, we loosened him up talking
Speaker 1: about Sea. Oh yeah. And then a little bit on
Speaker 1: his time here too. As he pointed it out, he goes, gosh,
Speaker 1: that's like twenty years ago, with not quite twenty years
Speaker 1: What was the question he was asked about when Jason
Speaker 1: was a quarterback here and just Todd asked him, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like, what do you remember when Jason was like
Speaker 1: the scout team quarterback having to go against your guys
Speaker 1: and he was He didn't bite on it. He said, no,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I remember any stories. But then
Speaker 1: he talked later about Jason being a head coach and um,
Speaker 1: you know, their their careers. I mean, Jason's done it
Speaker 1: longer than Mike as a head coach, but their career
Speaker 1: is kind of similar, from being a coordinator to going
Speaker 1: on to be a head coach. I think Mike's done it,
Speaker 1: what six years, seven years. It's been there since twenty fourteen,
Speaker 1: so this is his year. It seems like he's been
Speaker 1: there longer than that. No, No, because he had been
Speaker 1: the defensive quarterordinator remember at Cincinnati for sure, quite a
Speaker 1: few times after well, he was he was a defensive
Speaker 1: coordinat defensive coordinator with the Bengals from eight through thirteen,
Speaker 1: so he actually with since twenty fourteen, he's been with
Speaker 1: the Vikings and so um the Falcons. He was one
Speaker 1: year in oh seven and that was of course after
Speaker 1: being with the Cowboys under Parcels finished up there, and
Speaker 1: so he was the defensive coordinate in Atlanta in oh
Speaker 1: seven when Jason became the offensive coordinator here with the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: So there their mirrors their coaching careers there. And that
Speaker 1: happened because Bill Parcels was dragging his feet if he
Speaker 1: was going to come back or not, and he got
Speaker 1: offered that job and he couldn't afford to say, wait,
Speaker 1: I'm going to stay here. And then they change head
Speaker 1: coaches and you never know what the new head coach
Speaker 1: was going to do, so he goes to Atlanta with
Speaker 1: the former head coach at Arkansas, Pato Patriot. I remember
Speaker 1: Patrino quit like three quarters of the way through the season,
Speaker 1: I think it was, and Zim the next year when
Speaker 1: they had to play Atlanta when he was in Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: he just went off on you remember. But it was
Speaker 1: twenty five years ago when Mike Zimmer was hired on
Speaker 1: the defensive staff here at the Cowboys in nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 1: Really a remarkable career because I mean, how many how
Speaker 1: many guys stay on a staff through four different head
Speaker 1: coaching ten years in one franchise, you know, I mean
Speaker 1: how common is that? And he became I think he
Speaker 1: became the DC what two thousand under Campo and then
Speaker 1: then he Parcels comes in and he changes you know, midstream,
Speaker 1: goes to a three four and they have success there
Speaker 1: at Getting de Marcus Ware obviously helps um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like when when he got the job in Minnesota,
Speaker 1: a lot of people thought it was a long time
Speaker 1: coming because he's just a highly respected guy. And I
Speaker 1: looked it up. I think every year, but his first
Speaker 1: year there, they've been a top five to top ten defense,
Speaker 1: including this year. They've done a really nice job. They
Speaker 1: just they're little uncharacteristic. Last week against Kansas City kind
Speaker 1: of like the Jets game, ninety one yard touchdown run allowed.
Speaker 1: I think I looked at as somebody said it wrote
Speaker 1: it was the longest touchdown run a Zemmer defense has
Speaker 1: ever given up. You know. But other than that, they've
Speaker 1: been they've been solid this year, you know. Speaking of
Speaker 1: how many years ago I first met Mike Zimmer forty
Speaker 1: one years ago at Missouri in nineteen seven, nineteen seventy,
Speaker 1: ninety years ago. Okay, he was a graduate assistant. We
Speaker 1: didn't know that. We were both trying to make our
Speaker 1: way in our respective businesses back then. And so here
Speaker 1: we are. Where were you meet up again? I was
Speaker 1: working at the Columbia Tribute in Missouri football, and he
Speaker 1: was a graduate assistant. Um. He was a quarterback in college.
Speaker 1: He got hurt and and that kind of ended his
Speaker 1: quarterback career. As I remember, it's from he grew up
Speaker 1: actually about fifteen miles from More I did, in the
Speaker 1: suburbs of Chicago, Lockport, Illinois, Yeah, where he went to
Speaker 1: high school, State Time High school coach too. All right,
Speaker 1: let's check in with Sean from Booie here on Talking Cowboys. Hello, Sean,
Speaker 1: how are you doing guys? Great? Ah love, Mike just
Speaker 1: really impressed with how Sean Lee's played lately. What do
Speaker 1: you think percentage wise snaps? If he's going to perform
Speaker 1: like that, maybe increasing the snap can a little bit. Well,
Speaker 1: he had sixty one snaps I think in this game,
Speaker 1: which is probably where you maxed out where you want
Speaker 1: him to be. It's going to be interesting against the Vikings.
Speaker 1: The personnel packages that the Vikings use. When you look
Speaker 1: at what they did last week against Kansas City, they
Speaker 1: used a lot of two tight end sets, and of
Speaker 1: course they lost theeeling seventh play of the game, and
Speaker 1: so probably it might have been a little bit of
Speaker 1: that by necessity. But they got two good tight ends
Speaker 1: and Rudolphin Smith and so the sam is on the
Speaker 1: field a lot this week. It'll be interesting to see though,
Speaker 1: if vander esh will be able to come back this week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he should have a chance, just because they
Speaker 1: were going to take last week right up the game
Speaker 1: time before they made the decision that he wasn't ready
Speaker 1: to go. So I would imagine he was close. I
Speaker 1: guess we'll see what happens this week in practice, but
Speaker 1: I think you're right. If vander Esch is back on
Speaker 1: the field, he's your weak side linebacker. Sean's playing strong side,
Speaker 1: and the strong side will be more important, just because
Speaker 1: of the formations that Minnesota uses. You know, those previous
Speaker 1: teams when they were all three healthy and ready to go,
Speaker 1: they were facing a lot of nickel offenses, three wide
Speaker 1: receiver sets, So that got Shawn off the field. But
Speaker 1: I do think he looked a lot more comfortable back
Speaker 1: at the week side than and the strong side linebackers
Speaker 1: not gonna stand out. You're almost like holding down to
Speaker 1: Ford over there. We're near. On the week side, you're charging,
Speaker 1: and I mean, obviously he hadn't lost his ability to
Speaker 1: do that when they're all this is our mail back
Speaker 1: question today, and I just you know, when everybody's healthy,
Speaker 1: I don't think they're gonna take vander esh off the
Speaker 1: field a whole bunch. I just think, you know, and
Speaker 1: I think he's played well this year. I think we've
Speaker 1: talked about it on the show. The Splash plays. Maybe
Speaker 1: there has been as many of those, and Sean has
Speaker 1: been really good these last two games. We talked about
Speaker 1: it with Barry, the open field tackles, you know, doing
Speaker 1: a lot of that stuff in space. But I think,
Speaker 1: you know, when everybody's healthy, this is probably gonna go
Speaker 1: back to the way it was. Although we've seen Sean
Speaker 1: a little bit in in Nickel, you know, and and
Speaker 1: they have showed in Tennessee at times, Jalen Smith has
Speaker 1: been taken off the field at times for a series here,
Speaker 1: a series there. Maybe they can figure out a little
Speaker 1: bit of rotation. But I don't think you're gonna see
Speaker 1: lat Medersh on the bench, you know. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be to that exit. I think you'll see
Speaker 1: him more on the nickel maybe, and you might see
Speaker 1: Vandersch and Lee out there, because when when they were
Speaker 1: pairing those two guys on the nickel, Jalen Smith was
Speaker 1: on the line of scrimmage as a pass rusher. Well,
Speaker 1: now that Michael Bennett's here, I think those days are over.
Speaker 1: And yeah, so maybe maybe he comes off the field
Speaker 1: and they play Lee more on the nickel, which he's
Speaker 1: pretty good at in coverage and by the way, usually
Speaker 1: diagnosing screenplays too, as he showed in that play. Now,
Speaker 1: the other one got away from him. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that was on his side of chasing, and he
Speaker 1: was chasing in and you're if you're chasing Squan Barkley,
Speaker 1: you're probably losing unless you're Tyreek killed Chase. How about
Speaker 1: that Cheeto though? What was I mean? Cheeto? He's got
Speaker 1: some pretty good weeks, you know? Was it twenty two
Speaker 1: miles an hour? In fact, Cheeto ran down Barkley in
Speaker 1: the in the season over right? That long ahead Rob.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry they clocked Tyreek at what twenty two miles
Speaker 1: an hour something like that? So if you go back
Speaker 1: and look at that play, I haven't seen it. Tyreek Hill,
Speaker 1: I mean he had stopped his route, he was That
Speaker 1: was from a standing start after Damien Williams broke three
Speaker 1: into the secondary and Damian Williams had like a twenty
Speaker 1: yard head start on him. Yeah, but he had the ball.
Speaker 1: He had to carry it. Yeah, okay, and he used to.
Speaker 1: Does the Madden game have that little power button you
Speaker 1: can give it there is there is a burst button
Speaker 1: button should play this weekend. They're gonna change the day
Speaker 1: of it. It's the Tyrek button. Yeah, seriously, seriously, that's amazing.
Speaker 1: And by the way, of course, that Damian Williams ninety
Speaker 1: one yard touchdown was not the longest touchdown run the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings have ever given up. That's right, you know,
Speaker 1: nine yards and a half and I half. It was
Speaker 1: as close to the goal line as you can attossibly
Speaker 1: be and with only ten guys on the field. There
Speaker 1: you go, the great Tony d All right, let's go too.
Speaker 1: We've got another caller here. Let's Brandon from North Carolina.
Speaker 1: Your next up here on talking Cowboys a little Brandons, great,
Speaker 1: good m My question is about the consistency part of
Speaker 1: the first half. Um Monday night, they had the Jets
Speaker 1: game written all over, but you saw the offense click game.
Speaker 1: When can we start seeing it? A good first half
Speaker 1: game from the bull and I hang up in this
Speaker 1: thanks first half inconsistencies. Better start seeing it at seven
Speaker 1: twenty Sunday night, no doubt, and then at noon the
Speaker 1: next Sunday, and at three twenty five the next Sunday,
Speaker 1: and then Thursday afternoon at three, and then the next
Speaker 1: Thursday night in Chicago. It'd better start. Now. That's that's
Speaker 1: stuff and that's kind of my point on Okay, now,
Speaker 1: these games, all right, these are and again it's there's
Speaker 1: not that much different, though I think there's more of
Speaker 1: a difference this year in the halves and the have
Speaker 1: nuts in the NFL, Well, you're playing the halves now,
Speaker 1: and even Detroit, even with the losing record, We've seen
Speaker 1: really good Cowboy teams in the past go up against
Speaker 1: what we thought were not so good Detroit teams and
Speaker 1: come away without a victory. And that's gonna be a
Speaker 1: tough game the following week. So, I mean, you're looking
Speaker 1: at a stretch here now where you've got the Vikings
Speaker 1: at the Lions, at the Patriots and the Bills to
Speaker 1: close out November and where right, But this is this
Speaker 1: is going to go a long way toward determining the
Speaker 1: fortunes of this team this year. Like figure out who
Speaker 1: you are and part of the inconsistencies and the turnovers
Speaker 1: that have happened on offense, When you're you have more
Speaker 1: of a vertical passing game, you're going to have there's
Speaker 1: more risk involved. There's just naturally more risk involved, and
Speaker 1: taking care of the football becomes even more of a priority,
Speaker 1: I think in that case, because and I'm talking about
Speaker 1: ball security, where you know, and I think some of
Speaker 1: it has to do with trying to do too much,
Speaker 1: you know, I think that might be it, because I
Speaker 1: don't really know how to explain it other than that
Speaker 1: it's not a lack of preparation. It's not a lack
Speaker 1: of effort because the defense is ready to play, the
Speaker 1: offense is ready enough to play to move the ball
Speaker 1: down the field. So and Garrett has talked about that,
Speaker 1: got just settled down and do your job and make
Speaker 1: the play, don't do anything special, and maybe that's it.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's been a little bit more consistent at home,
Speaker 1: so you think maybe you get back home and they
Speaker 1: can get some traction that way. But it has been
Speaker 1: real encouraging here in the last couple of weeks. Really
Speaker 1: it actually started, I think with the second half of
Speaker 1: the Jets game. Is the consistency on the offensive line,
Speaker 1: and then of course it got got the key guys
Speaker 1: back the following week against Philadelphia, and that when the
Speaker 1: offensive line is playing like it is right now, that
Speaker 1: lends itself to real consistency on offense. Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: look at the two turnovers this past Monday night. Kind
Speaker 1: of weird, right, all you're doing is throwing a slant pass.
Speaker 1: You know, I think Barry Church said it great yesterday,
Speaker 1: and the safety was just laying in the weeds there, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, and I bet he didn't even see him
Speaker 1: because he was so close to the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: And the fact that he was able to jump up
Speaker 1: on a slant and he was only like six or
Speaker 1: seven yards away from the quarterback is remarkable. And then
Speaker 1: they fumble. He catches it, it's a first down, but
Speaker 1: he kind of catches it blindly to where the defense
Speaker 1: is and he takes two steps and the guy hits
Speaker 1: him when he turns, and the helmet hits right on
Speaker 1: the ball. So they've had these weird turnovers that it's like, well,
Speaker 1: how do you explain that. It's not like you're running
Speaker 1: down field and you got the ball out on a
Speaker 1: chicken way. That happened so bang bang on Bob that
Speaker 1: he didn't even have time to consciously consider protecting the ball. Yeah,
Speaker 1: hadn't didn't have it fully tucked away, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: just just kind of weird stuff. I mean, think about
Speaker 1: the two of the three interceptions against Green Bay, you know,
Speaker 1: just kind of weird things happened in that game. So
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is. Um, you know they're
Speaker 1: not prepared. Well, how do you prepare? You know, you
Speaker 1: sit there all week deciding what your first play of
Speaker 1: the game is going to be and it ends up
Speaker 1: being an interception, you know, and then God blessed the
Speaker 1: defense that turned it into a field goal instead of
Speaker 1: a down. You know, we didn't mention the opening kickoff too.
Speaker 1: I mean, ball should have been at the forty yard line, right,
Speaker 1: and just a mistake by a rookie, and you know
Speaker 1: that puts him in that situation down there. So just
Speaker 1: little little things like that. Um, I don't know, I
Speaker 1: don't it's definitely a trend, but I don't know how
Speaker 1: you put your finger on one particular thing. I think
Speaker 1: it's more execution than anything. Fortunately, you were playing the
Speaker 1: Giants that day, yep, and they against a rookie quarterback
Speaker 1: that wasn't able to turn those into touchdowns. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you feel like if you hit him enough and pressure
Speaker 1: him enough, he's gonna make mistakes, and he did. I think.
Speaker 1: I think Barry mentioned on the show yesterday he's tied
Speaker 1: for the lead with lost fumbles this year. You know,
Speaker 1: he just he's still learning how to play the position
Speaker 1: at this level. All right, we continue with more talking
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Speaker 1: could talk to thank you. All right, let's check in
Speaker 1: with Ray in New Orleans. You're next up. I'm talking Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Hey guys, how y'all doing great. I don't know about
Speaker 1: the miscues. It's so like Mickey says, it's kind of
Speaker 1: weird and mysterious and strange. I mean, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you can coach turnovers. But the Cob fumble looks
Speaker 1: like Wenton's fumble against the Saints. Where I'm with Mickey,
Speaker 1: I can find you three points in that Saints games
Speaker 1: where you could be maybe six in two or six
Speaker 1: in three hours. It's just strange. And it's Prescott not
Speaker 1: good enough to catch the snap on the other drive
Speaker 1: that kind of stalled where he lost about seven yards there.
Speaker 1: So all those things I'm more concerned about. Maybe the
Speaker 1: holding call, not that we're gonna change Tyronne Smith out,
Speaker 1: but those are things that calls back a touchdown and
Speaker 1: the missfield goal. So all these things that take place,
Speaker 1: it is weird. So it is a trend because it's
Speaker 1: now six out of the eight games. You started off
Speaker 1: slow and we say it's gonna cost you against good teams,
Speaker 1: but it costed you against the Jets also, So how
Speaker 1: do you fix it? I don't know. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's one of those things you can't put your finger on.
Speaker 1: But hopefully we've seen what happens when it goes the
Speaker 1: other way and the Cowboys don't turn the boat over
Speaker 1: and get turnovers. We blew out the Philadelphih Eagles. So
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna that's why it's a sixteen game season.
Speaker 1: That's why I don't beat my chest at three and oh,
Speaker 1: because then we turned you know, we went on to
Speaker 1: lose three and then win two. So all these all
Speaker 1: these teams can beat each other. Even the Green Bay
Speaker 1: game where they physically beat us at the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 1: man we still had a chance to win that game.
Speaker 1: Maybe if you don't have three turnovers and a missfield goals,
Speaker 1: you give the Green Bay Packers two less opportunities to
Speaker 1: go down to score points. And even in shootouts, even
Speaker 1: though you your team and your defense gave up a
Speaker 1: lot of points to Aaron Rodgers and the running back,
Speaker 1: somebody's got to win that game. I watched Romo have
Speaker 1: a shootout with Manning. Somebody had to win the game.
Speaker 1: It ended up fifty one to forty eight. But even
Speaker 1: when your defense gives up that many points, you just
Speaker 1: have to stay there. You have to stay the course.
Speaker 1: You can't keep on give and turnover. So even in
Speaker 1: all the games that we lost, we got our buttswhipped
Speaker 1: against Green Bay, we still had a chance to win
Speaker 1: that game. And that's what I'm going to look forward
Speaker 1: to going forward. Maybe we just limit our mistakes. I
Speaker 1: don't know what the point of that, So thanks for
Speaker 1: taking the call. That's all I wanted to say, go Tigers,
Speaker 1: love you guys, appreciate it. You talk about turnover margin,
Speaker 1: the turnover ratio, and the Cowboys are plus one right
Speaker 1: now on the season. You see what the in the
Speaker 1: New England Patriots are. They're like plus seventeen plus seventeen.
Speaker 1: They've got what eighteen nine SEPs nineteen picks nineteen wow,
Speaker 1: nineteen picks. Yeah, that's amazing. But give the Ravens credit, man,
Speaker 1: and give Lamar Jackson. Maybe we need to look and
Speaker 1: see who what quarterbacks they were playing against? Uh there
Speaker 1: you go. Well Sam Darnold, who blew you up? Thank you? Kayden?
Speaker 1: Whose voice was that? I think that was the great
Speaker 1: like voice from a god above? All right? So yeah,
Speaker 1: that's my point on on Sam Darnold, Right, shame on them,
Speaker 1: all right? So New England they faced Pittsburgh to start
Speaker 1: the season. Pretty great quarterback was Watsonsburger already hurt? Or
Speaker 1: at Miami hu whose quarterback in them? Who was quarterbacking
Speaker 1: at that point? Jets? Yeah? Well and in fact they
Speaker 1: did Nut did not face wasn't Darnald? No, that's right?
Speaker 1: So that yeah, that was they didn't face him? Yeah
Speaker 1: the second time. Yeah, So they they faced a second
Speaker 1: and third string quest and they barely beat Buffalo sixteen
Speaker 1: to ten. Was that a young quarterback Alsodam who turned
Speaker 1: it over four times? Okay at Washington, Okay, the Giants
Speaker 1: that at the Jet they gaged already to Yeah, um, yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: let's not minimize this franchise, Cleveland, Cleveland. Look at this though.
Speaker 1: Four takeaways against Miami, four against Buffalo, four against the Giants,
Speaker 1: six against the Jets, three against Cleveland, and in the
Speaker 1: game that they lost against Baltimore, they were even in
Speaker 1: the turnover game. They gave two away, they came up
Speaker 1: with two. So there you have it. Let's give him
Speaker 1: some do Bill Belichick's done some pretty good things in
Speaker 1: this league last year, won a super Bowl change in
Speaker 1: their whole defense, now rising the Rams. As for this
Speaker 1: week's opponent, the Minnesota Vikings are plus four in turnovers,
Speaker 1: So that's you know, That's one thing I noted that
Speaker 1: jumps out about Cousins is they've played this team's played
Speaker 1: him a lot, and he has turned the ball over.
Speaker 1: But I think three picks sixteen to three turnover h
Speaker 1: that's rushio. Yep, not bad. He's having an and it's
Speaker 1: been here in the last four or five weeks. Is
Speaker 1: when this has all taken place? Yeah, no, I know
Speaker 1: he's on a different team. But the Cowboys have done
Speaker 1: pretty good against him when he was in Washington. I
Speaker 1: want to say they only lost to him one time.
Speaker 1: Now I heard a stat and I have not confirmed it.
Speaker 1: Where was I hearing the driving in? Hopefully it was
Speaker 1: a cousin, Kirk Cousins. If go check it'll check it
Speaker 1: in time for my next appearance here I'm talking Cowboys,
Speaker 1: which will be Friday. Who's going to be with y'all tomorrow, lindsay, Okay,
Speaker 1: very good? Yeah, all right? Cousins the Vikings with Cousins
Speaker 1: at quarterback? Oh nine and one against winning teams? Could
Speaker 1: that be right? What do you mean, like over the
Speaker 1: last two years? Two years? Oh oh nine and one
Speaker 1: against winning teams? Wow? Now again that's unconfirmed. I'm just
Speaker 1: throwing it out there. Somebody do the research on winning teams,
Speaker 1: like at when they play time, at the time they
Speaker 1: assume at the time they played them. I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: to do the research on it, but I'll throw that
Speaker 1: out there. Is a little task to Friday or Thursday
Speaker 1: every Friday already Wednesday, right, that's right. It is a
Speaker 1: confusing week, isn't it. What's the most concerning thing you
Speaker 1: have about the Vikings Delvin Cook? Yeah, just I think
Speaker 1: just their defense. It's a they're They're good at really
Speaker 1: every level of their defense, and that's what the slow
Speaker 1: start thing, that's why that ties in, because you can't
Speaker 1: afford to get off to a slow start against this group.
Speaker 1: They've got offensive weapons to make you pay for that.
Speaker 1: You know you aren't playing the Giants this week, so
Speaker 1: I go back to them matchup I'm looking forward to
Speaker 1: more than any is Lyle Collins versus Daniel Hunter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: my guy to Neil Hunter. He gets a sack every
Speaker 1: single He only had a half sack this last week.
Speaker 1: One of the most underrated players in the league. Eight
Speaker 1: and a half sacks this year, and if you look
Speaker 1: at his career, he's approaching fifty sacks now in his career.
Speaker 1: He's around forty eight or forty nine right now, and
Speaker 1: he's a late third round draft pick. Not only does
Speaker 1: Cook lead the league in rushing his nine rushing touchdowns too,
Speaker 1: and he's got like forty something catches too. Not bad,
Speaker 1: and we've seen them have problems with running back step
Speaker 1: running for touchdowns. Aaron Jones. Oh yeah, you know how
Speaker 1: many touchdowns he has right now? No? Pour eight Okay
Speaker 1: in one game? Half of them would be even more four. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, Well, that's gonna do it for this edition
Speaker 1: of Talking Cowboys again. We've got Jason Garrett coming up
Speaker 1: a little later today at eleven o'clock, just moments away
Speaker 1: the Jason Garrett press conference. Let's go, Mickey, Rob and Lindsay.
Speaker 1: We'll talk at you tomorrow here on Talking Cowboys. This
Speaker 1: has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.