Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Clubs. Are you ready for
Speaker 1: a Break? Yes? Are you ready for a break? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Ready for a break? Yeah? And so much for that.
Speaker 1: It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia and Derek Eagleton.
Speaker 1: It is Tuesday, November third, two, twenty, season sixteen, episode
Speaker 1: number fifty seven. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break.
Speaker 1: We're life from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star.
Speaker 1: Got Nick here, got Amber here, got Dave here, and
Speaker 1: we got a forty five minutes show to be able
Speaker 1: to talk to you guys about the Cowboys. We're gonna
Speaker 1: do some big picture um analysis of this team. It's
Speaker 1: the midway point. Cowboys are two and six. The midway point.
Speaker 1: I don't think any of us expected that going into
Speaker 1: this season, but I'll have some questions for these guys
Speaker 1: to kind of recap what's happened in the first half
Speaker 1: of the season and to look forward not only at
Speaker 1: the rest of the season, but going beyond that, and
Speaker 1: how the Cowboys should be looking at their team at
Speaker 1: this point. The deadline. Trade deadline happens today at three
Speaker 1: pm around the NFL, but the Cowboys have already made
Speaker 1: a trade for one Eli Ankou with Houston Dave. What
Speaker 1: did they give up for him and what's the scouting
Speaker 1: report on him? They gave up a seventh round pick
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two, so it's not even this coming draft,
Speaker 1: it's the next draft. You know, basically nothing. I mean,
Speaker 1: who knows what they might get in compics in that
Speaker 1: time frame. And it's also a seventh round pick. It's
Speaker 1: not very valuable. So they they wanted a run stuffing
Speaker 1: one technique, they don't really have one, and this allows
Speaker 1: them to get it. Eli has been He's been on
Speaker 1: and off of teams. He was just with the Texans,
Speaker 1: but he was with the Colts at the start of
Speaker 1: the season. I believe he spent training camp with the Browns.
Speaker 1: He's kind of kicked around six three three thirty. Mike
Speaker 1: McCarthy said it himself last night, like this is a
Speaker 1: guy who can sit down an anchor. I think they
Speaker 1: got him with an idea and trying to improve their
Speaker 1: run defense. That's what he's here to do. Is he
Speaker 1: a guy that immediately steps in Nick as the starter
Speaker 1: or that looks like they got one of these, so probably,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if he's ready to play,
Speaker 1: you know, this game against Pittsburgh, but I would think
Speaker 1: that after a bye week he would be. You know,
Speaker 1: as Dave said, I mean that they need to somebody
Speaker 1: to stop the run. There's guys are just getting you know,
Speaker 1: blown off the ball, and they don't really have that guy.
Speaker 1: They were hoping that, obviously Don Tarpeo would would be
Speaker 1: there for them, and that didn't work out obviously. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that he comes right in. I don't know
Speaker 1: if he's got all the terminology and ready to play
Speaker 1: almost every but and again those one techniques don't play
Speaker 1: every snap, but I think he probably will step in
Speaker 1: and contribute immediately. According to Stephen Jones, it doesn't look
Speaker 1: like the Cowboys are going to be looking to do
Speaker 1: much here before the trade deadline. Beyond that, his quote was,
Speaker 1: I think we're basically in a mode that if something
Speaker 1: came to us and made a lot of sense, then
Speaker 1: we'd certainly look at it. I don't know that we're
Speaker 1: aggressively out here right now, either trying to get somebody
Speaker 1: or move somebody. What we want. What we want to
Speaker 1: do right now is play some of these young guys
Speaker 1: that we have, give them the reps that they need,
Speaker 1: see what we have as we move through the rest
Speaker 1: of the season. And but does it sound like to
Speaker 1: you that they are basically, I guess relacable, way better
Speaker 1: way to put it, that they're conceiving the rest of
Speaker 1: the season and really looking forward to twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: And if so, is at the right approach. I think
Speaker 1: it might sound like that given what we've seen from
Speaker 1: the season. But usually when you look at what the
Speaker 1: Cowboys normally do, they don't tend to make these kind
Speaker 1: of traits. So it's just part of who they are,
Speaker 1: and they usually like to stick to the guys that
Speaker 1: they already have. Now this is a season that this
Speaker 1: is the first time I would say that I actually
Speaker 1: agree with that mentality, just given the fact that there's
Speaker 1: just so many issues this year that I don't think
Speaker 1: that a simple trade will change anything. So I do
Speaker 1: think that this is the time to give this younger
Speaker 1: guys some good game reps. And when you know, I've
Speaker 1: been seeing on Twitter all these possible trades, you know,
Speaker 1: you start talking about Michael Gallup Amari Cooper, even as
Speaker 1: Ze Gil Elliott. And I'm not on board of making
Speaker 1: any of those kinds of traits or trading any of
Speaker 1: those guys. So as of right now, I am for
Speaker 1: the whole idea of let these young guys play. You agree, Nick, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think that they're going to go and
Speaker 1: try to win games. I kind of think this is
Speaker 1: this is going to be like a preseason mentality where
Speaker 1: you try to win games, you're just not using all
Speaker 1: of the resources that you have available. Um and and
Speaker 1: that's probably not fair either. The healthy guys are gonna
Speaker 1: are going to play, but I think when it's close,
Speaker 1: you kind of defer to a younger guy here. But
Speaker 1: you know they're gonna they're gonna still try to win.
Speaker 1: I think there's value in winning games. I really do.
Speaker 1: And so I think that, um, you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna be mad if they win a game. Now, the
Speaker 1: fans will be, but to me, that's stupid. But if
Speaker 1: if they think that it's you know, clearly better to have,
Speaker 1: you know, the sixth pick over the ninth pick, I'd
Speaker 1: rather win games. Personally, it doesn't sound like I mean,
Speaker 1: it sounds like they aren't necessarily like winning games. It's important,
Speaker 1: and I think Jerry said even on his call this
Speaker 1: morning that with one or five out three, the fan
Speaker 1: I think he was he was making talking about it
Speaker 1: more from the standpoint of, Yeah, this doesn't have anything
Speaker 1: to do with the players that are on the field,
Speaker 1: the expectations. They're going to play hard, and we expect
Speaker 1: them to play hard, and they will play hard. But
Speaker 1: when you start thinking about it from the standpoint of
Speaker 1: who's getting the playing time, you kind of opt more
Speaker 1: toward letting the guys who you want to see from
Speaker 1: a contract standpoint, guys you want to see because you
Speaker 1: think they're young and they need their reps. That's not
Speaker 1: necessarily leading toward, you know, giving your best opportunity to
Speaker 1: win all the time. Are you saying that you would
Speaker 1: opt for doing like keeping the best guy on the
Speaker 1: field at the best moment at all moments to make
Speaker 1: sure that you win, as opposed to maybe looking at
Speaker 1: some younger talent. Yeah, yes, trying to win. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to win games, that's what. Yeah, I would do that, Dave.
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever been more frustrated by a
Speaker 1: trade deadline than I am this year, and that's saying
Speaker 1: a lot, because every year it gets frustrating, you know,
Speaker 1: talking about this type of stuff, even though the trade
Speaker 1: deadline just historically is not this crazy day and it
Speaker 1: never really has been. I mean, there's more activity in
Speaker 1: the last five years than before that, but it's still
Speaker 1: it's not baseball. And what makes it frustrating for me
Speaker 1: is like people people expect these grand movements when it's
Speaker 1: really not. It's not necessary, Like the Cowboys don't need
Speaker 1: to trade anybody away. They don't need to come out
Speaker 1: and say we're tanking, we're not winning any more games,
Speaker 1: Like who who on earth does that in the first place?
Speaker 1: In the NFL, Like nobody says that. But you also,
Speaker 1: like you don't need to deal anybody away to know
Speaker 1: that this team probably isn't gonna win a boatload more games,
Speaker 1: Like you can just evaluate the guys that you have,
Speaker 1: get some young players from playing time, play the good
Speaker 1: players that you still do have, And I mean, what
Speaker 1: do we think is the realistic ceiling for the number
Speaker 1: of games they're probably gonna win the rest of the way,
Speaker 1: Like six and ten seems like it would be a
Speaker 1: fantastic effort in the second half. Guess what. That's what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like six and ten is probably a best
Speaker 1: case scenario, the more realistic, So they don't need to
Speaker 1: do anything to tank. They're already compromised to the point
Speaker 1: where it's not going to matter and you're up. You know.
Speaker 1: Then on the other side of the coin, there's people
Speaker 1: that are like, well, if you're not conceding the season,
Speaker 1: go do something about it, Go get somebody like you
Speaker 1: did with Amari Cooper. Why on earth would they want
Speaker 1: to do that. They're not gonna go far even if
Speaker 1: they make the playoffs. They don't have Dak, they don't
Speaker 1: have an offensive line, their defense is historically bad. There
Speaker 1: is not a trade that they could do to significantly
Speaker 1: improve their fortunes, unless, you know, Kansas City for some
Speaker 1: reason wanted to deal Pat Mahomes. It's not happening. So
Speaker 1: I don't understand what people want them to do, like
Speaker 1: they don't they as it is right now, this team
Speaker 1: doesn't need to acquire anybody because they're not going to
Speaker 1: accomplish their goal of winning the Super Bowl. They also
Speaker 1: don't need to have a fire sale because it doesn't
Speaker 1: make any sense to do so, So just shut up, Honestly,
Speaker 1: like it's it's gonna be fine. The team, they're gonna
Speaker 1: they're gonna fight hard, they're gonna win a few more games,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have a nice draft pick. But like all
Speaker 1: this handwringing about the trade deadline is so tiresome. Well,
Speaker 1: let me ask you this, David, If that's where I'm at,
Speaker 1: I get your point on that, But there are there
Speaker 1: could be trades out there that maybe are not necessarily
Speaker 1: about this year, right, I mean, that's the one. I
Speaker 1: think it's it's kind of like we put him in
Speaker 1: these two categories of it's all or nothing. Either you're
Speaker 1: trading because you think you got a shot at the
Speaker 1: super Bowl, or you're not trading because you don't. And
Speaker 1: I think there's an in between. There could be players
Speaker 1: out there that you look at and you say, if
Speaker 1: an opportunity becomes available, this is a player that is
Speaker 1: not just good for us for right now, which would
Speaker 1: be a marginal change because it's probably not going to
Speaker 1: change your fortunes this year, but he could be a
Speaker 1: really nice piece for you in coming years. If you
Speaker 1: trade for him now, you are not wrong. But like,
Speaker 1: how many of those guys exist? Like how many? How
Speaker 1: many players that can be building blocks for several years
Speaker 1: that the team actually wants to get rid of them, Like,
Speaker 1: it can't be more than three or four. Like a
Speaker 1: perfect example is the Chargers put Desmond King on the
Speaker 1: trade block yesterday. Tennessee only had to give up a
Speaker 1: sixth round pick to get him, and people are like,
Speaker 1: why can't the Cowboys do that? Well, he's only under
Speaker 1: contract for eight more games, so you get eight games
Speaker 1: out of him in a lost season before now you've
Speaker 1: got to worry about paying him a longer term deal.
Speaker 1: It makes sense for the Tennessee Titans because they're gearing
Speaker 1: up to make a playoff push. This team's not. And
Speaker 1: so yeah, I'm only I would only be interested in
Speaker 1: doing a trade if it was for a guy that
Speaker 1: had several years left on his deal. If the purported
Speaker 1: Quinnin Williams trade was really a reality, sign me up.
Speaker 1: But I never like that. That was never gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Guys like that don't get traded. Doesn't even I don't
Speaker 1: disagree with you, I just don't think those those players
Speaker 1: are They're very few, and Fron doesn't make sense for
Speaker 1: the Chargers because they're going to get a better compensatory
Speaker 1: pick if he goes and signed somewhere else instead of
Speaker 1: trading him, trading him for a sixth round pick. I'd
Speaker 1: like to think you get a better compensatory if he
Speaker 1: goes somewhere and plays well. Yeah. So, now so the
Speaker 1: Titans give a sixth maybe they sign them, maybe they don't.
Speaker 1: They probably get a better deal out of it, and
Speaker 1: and and help and have a better player down the
Speaker 1: stretch because they're making a playoff run. Yeah, so there's
Speaker 1: Dave's right, there's there's not a lot of situations that
Speaker 1: are that, you know, like the Raiders said, all right,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get rid of Amari Cooper, you know, because
Speaker 1: they were trying to get rid of some good players
Speaker 1: and try to stockpile some picks and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: But Cowboys wouldn't dare apart with a high pick this year.
Speaker 1: You don't know how good it's gonna be. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna take our first break a little early.
Speaker 1: When we come back, we're gonna get into our midyear reviews.
Speaker 1: I got some questions for these guys. Will give you
Speaker 1: a good recap, an overview of what's happened the first
Speaker 1: half of the year, how the Cowboys need to look
Speaker 1: at the second half, and how they need to look
Speaker 1: at their team going forward. We'll do all that when
Speaker 1: we come back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio.
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Speaker 1: we fly back to the break Welcome back. It is
Speaker 1: the final set, I mean, in second segment of the
Speaker 1: Break life from the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star
Speaker 1: and we're going to do a little midyear reviewing here
Speaker 1: of this Cowboys team. They are two and six at
Speaker 1: the halfway point. Again, as I said at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the show. I don't think any of us, and
Speaker 1: I certainly will speak for myself. I had no There
Speaker 1: was no way anybody would have convinced me when the
Speaker 1: season was beginning that would get to the midway point
Speaker 1: and the Cowboys would be two and six. But that's
Speaker 1: where they are, and they are what they are at
Speaker 1: this point. They are a bad team, and there's not
Speaker 1: really a lot that you can salvage from that from
Speaker 1: the standpoint of wins. There are some things though, that
Speaker 1: they can look at down the stretching ways to maybe
Speaker 1: get this culture changed and maybe get more familiar with
Speaker 1: the coach and the coach trying to figure out what
Speaker 1: he can do with this team to get him back
Speaker 1: on a winning path heading into next year. So here's
Speaker 1: we're gonna do. I have a list of questions here.
Speaker 1: I'm going to run through the questions, and you guys
Speaker 1: are going to give answers. Everybody will give an answer
Speaker 1: for each question. Question Number One, position most in need
Speaker 1: of a postseason makeover, and this is top to bottom,
Speaker 1: the whole position, Like, there may be a guy you
Speaker 1: want to keep, but what position has the biggest need
Speaker 1: for multiple parts? Does that make sense, here are the
Speaker 1: ones I'll give you, cornerback, offensive line, line back, or
Speaker 1: defensive tackle. Let's start first with you, Dave. I think
Speaker 1: the easy answer is cornerback, and I mean that's just
Speaker 1: the reality of the situation is you're gonna turn the
Speaker 1: vast majority of that over. You know, Ab and Trayvon
Speaker 1: Diggs are the only guys with long term futures here.
Speaker 1: But I don't want to cop out because I think
Speaker 1: the more important answers linebackers. That's the biggest problem to
Speaker 1: sort out. You know, I don't want to hate too
Speaker 1: much on Layton vander esh I thought he played pretty
Speaker 1: well the other night. He's still coming back from injury.
Speaker 1: But as it stands right now, they got to figure
Speaker 1: out what they want to do with Jalen Smith. They
Speaker 1: either got to figure out how to make him a
Speaker 1: more viable player or figure out how to get out
Speaker 1: from under that contract. Obviously, you assume Sean Lee and
Speaker 1: Joe Thomas aren't going to play forever, so they got
Speaker 1: a lot of big decisions to make their for sure, Amber,
Speaker 1: this is a tough one because I mean, you can
Speaker 1: are you every single one of those positions, But I
Speaker 1: think I would go with this secondary, either cornerback or safety,
Speaker 1: I mean those positions. Last game, yes, there were some
Speaker 1: good plays here and there, but just in general overall
Speaker 1: looking at the season so far, that position has just
Speaker 1: been constantly terrible. There has been so many bad coverage,
Speaker 1: bad huge separation between the corners and the receivers that
Speaker 1: it's just absolutely unacceptable. And then this is an area
Speaker 1: where we have talked about all off season and clearly
Speaker 1: just didn't work out with the Cowboys giving these bringing
Speaker 1: and sticking with the younger guys and all that. So
Speaker 1: this is a position that just absolutely needs help, whether
Speaker 1: it's coaching or the player, the talent itself. It just
Speaker 1: needs an absolutely shaken up and brings some help there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I like the safety position. You didn't mention that, but
Speaker 1: I think safety is one that you know, I don't see.
Speaker 1: I don't really see Xavier Woods coming back maybe, but
Speaker 1: I just you gotta get somebody better there. It like
Speaker 1: Donovan Wilson are like how he's playing, Um, you don't
Speaker 1: really see a lot of You don't really see a
Speaker 1: lot of him on tape for negative things. He's making
Speaker 1: some some some nice plays, but you don't really see
Speaker 1: a whole lot of others. So I like that there.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think I think the secondaries the issue
Speaker 1: to me because I Layton's going to be there at linebacker.
Speaker 1: I think Jalen will be there at linebacker, now I do.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know he might. Don't think the money
Speaker 1: makes sense. I'm not going to get rid of him
Speaker 1: for nothing. I don't know. I just I wouldn't do that,
Speaker 1: not this year, now the next, I mean after this season,
Speaker 1: but the next season. Maybe I don't know what a
Speaker 1: wash really does for your team, but I look at
Speaker 1: it like this Nick on the linebacker. The money make
Speaker 1: may make me make the decision as to who's on
Speaker 1: my team, it doesn't make me make the decision on
Speaker 1: who's playing. Okay, And for that reason, I think if
Speaker 1: I'm the Cowboys, there's no way possible I'm going into
Speaker 1: next season with Jalen penciled in as a starter linebacker
Speaker 1: for me. Now, he might be a guy that comes
Speaker 1: in and plays if somebody gets hurt, which having Layton,
Speaker 1: that's a real possibility, right. But I do think that
Speaker 1: when you look at at what Jalen Smith has done,
Speaker 1: what he used to put on film the last few years,
Speaker 1: Like I just don't think that would be prudent for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys to go into the season expecting him to
Speaker 1: be their starter. He is just not playing at the
Speaker 1: level that you need a starting linebacker in the NFL
Speaker 1: to play. And I guess to go back to your
Speaker 1: point about the safety position, I agree with you. I
Speaker 1: think Donovan Wilson, I think he might actually have some
Speaker 1: whereas well. I could see him staying a little bit long.
Speaker 1: I could see him being a starting safety here next year.
Speaker 1: I agree with you on Woods though, And so that's
Speaker 1: why I didn't really go that one out is because
Speaker 1: I'm thinking that's not really a makeover. I think there's
Speaker 1: one position there it's up for grab. I think Donovan
Speaker 1: Wilson will be a starting safety for your team next year.
Speaker 1: You agree with that on Donald Wilson, Yes, And then
Speaker 1: I'll take that point to linebacker and say, I think
Speaker 1: one of the linebacker spots is going to be there
Speaker 1: with Layton vander esh So, you know, I look at
Speaker 1: it like you know, Jalen, I think be there too.
Speaker 1: He's just gonna have to draft a guy and hope
Speaker 1: he's good. You have to draft the guy in the
Speaker 1: third or fourth round maybe, and hope that he's good
Speaker 1: like Anthony Hitchins and say maybe he's he's better, But
Speaker 1: I personally think if you've got two defensive tackles that
Speaker 1: were actually good and couldn't get moved off the ball,
Speaker 1: I think Jalen Smith would be a much better player.
Speaker 1: I really do. There's a reason he made the Pro Bowl.
Speaker 1: It's not just because he plays for the Cowboys. He
Speaker 1: made the Pro Bowl because he can make some plays.
Speaker 1: I just think he needs a little bit better help
Speaker 1: in front of him, and I think that that some
Speaker 1: of that is true. I think the part I have
Speaker 1: a problem with, though, is he just doesn't run in
Speaker 1: the way that I need my linebacker to run, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, there are situations where he has an opportunity
Speaker 1: to get to the ball character there's no defender in
Speaker 1: his way, and he just doesn't have the speed to
Speaker 1: get there. And that's where I look at at Jalen
Speaker 1: certain I'm just like, I don't know if it's his
Speaker 1: ankle or not. All I know is he's not He's
Speaker 1: not capable from what I've seen consistently, of doing the
Speaker 1: job that you need your linebackers to be able to do.
Speaker 1: And that makes me a little bit, you know, sour
Speaker 1: on having him be a starter next year. Let's move
Speaker 1: want to next question. Didn't he go ahead? Didn't he
Speaker 1: make the Didn't he make the Pro Bowl as a backup?
Speaker 1: I mean it's still the Pro Bowl? Yeah, but not
Speaker 1: as a backup. But he was like the fifth alternative
Speaker 1: or whatever, like, yeah, one of the alternatives. He was
Speaker 1: way down. They it took them a while to call him.
Speaker 1: Let's put it that way. So I'm just saying, I'm
Speaker 1: just saying it was I'm not gonna take that away.
Speaker 1: But you know, let me ask you this, how many
Speaker 1: calls is it going to have to make a few
Speaker 1: guys off first? But I'm just saying, how many guys
Speaker 1: is it? How many? How many phone calls is it
Speaker 1: gonna take to get a defensive player in the Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl this year? Like, yeah, nobody on this team makes
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl offense or defense. That's true. Yeah, who's
Speaker 1: making the Pro Bowl? No? True? Yeah, Zach Martin. That's
Speaker 1: gonna be Zack Zach. Yeah, Zach will make it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's missed one. Zach will make it. And they didn't
Speaker 1: know about that. Honestly, I think no, he will just
Speaker 1: because offensive line is all about reputation, and you know,
Speaker 1: I think you know, people know who he is. His
Speaker 1: tape is still good. By the time the season's over,
Speaker 1: maybe he'll play some more tackle we can get to that.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I think Zach will make it.
Speaker 1: Um the interesting, Jalen's gonna be interesting. Jalen's gonna be
Speaker 1: interesting because he leads the league in tackles right now.
Speaker 1: He leads the league in tackles, which means absolutely nothing.
Speaker 1: It means absolutely nothing. But the Pro Bowl is very stupid,
Speaker 1: Like the way that people decide on who gets into
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl is ridiculous. So I will be uh,
Speaker 1: I will be intrigued to see, like stats first tape,
Speaker 1: you know what works in Jalen Smith's favor or not
Speaker 1: because they're not playing lead the league in tackles some
Speaker 1: well yeah, that's true to but you know that's gonna matters,
Speaker 1: but they're not playing the game yeah this year? Yeah,
Speaker 1: which good. Let's go out to the next question. Um,
Speaker 1: if you had to trade one wide if you had
Speaker 1: to trade one wide receiver to get draft capital to
Speaker 1: fix another area of the team, who would it be
Speaker 1: and why? Obviously your your choices, and I don't want
Speaker 1: to go to the depth. Guys. I'm thinking about your
Speaker 1: top three Amari, Cooper, Ceedee Lamb, and Michael Gallup. Let's
Speaker 1: start first with Unick Michael Gallup. I'll trade him. I mean,
Speaker 1: because I keep my two best guys. I still think
Speaker 1: I can get some value there. Um, you didn't mention
Speaker 1: anything about money, so you're just talking about I mean
Speaker 1: this contract. Yeah, it's money money in fact. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean if you can, if you can get rid of
Speaker 1: the contract. I mean, I don't know this next year,
Speaker 1: it might be kind of hard to get out from
Speaker 1: the the Amari deal. But um, you know, I think
Speaker 1: Gallups is a good player that needs some some good
Speaker 1: guys around him. Um, I don't see Michael Gallup being
Speaker 1: a real number one type guy. But um, you could
Speaker 1: get by with Lamb and Gallop. But I think I
Speaker 1: think the best the best guys you've got is Cooper
Speaker 1: and Lamb, So I would probably trade him. See what
Speaker 1: I could get for him Amber if if I was
Speaker 1: doing that. I don't need to do that, though. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm saying you have to. I'm saying if you wanted to,
Speaker 1: if you wanted to look at this team and say Okay,
Speaker 1: we got a lot of areas we gotta fix. What's
Speaker 1: an area where we felt we have a lot of
Speaker 1: extra where we can maybe leverage some of that to
Speaker 1: get some some picks. Yeah, great, amble Um. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have to take out the money part in the equation
Speaker 1: because that's not my area of expertise when he comes
Speaker 1: to contract and money. So just based on merely the
Speaker 1: what they've done so far, I would say, Mr Cooper,
Speaker 1: I mean, I love the guy. He's a very talented player,
Speaker 1: and he can definitely make some place. But this year
Speaker 1: and including last year, I mean, you know, we always
Speaker 1: talked about the games that he was good and then
Speaker 1: the away games where he just didn't bring it. But
Speaker 1: this year, I honestly have not seen much from him,
Speaker 1: and it's like every game we just see less and
Speaker 1: less And it's not his fault or anything, but at
Speaker 1: the same time, I just feel like I'm not getting
Speaker 1: much out of it. And yes, good player, talented player, bud,
Speaker 1: if it's not producing, if it's not producing on the field,
Speaker 1: then I'm gonna have to say bye and just take
Speaker 1: advantage of these younger guys that have shown talent as well.
Speaker 1: In the ability to make plays. Dave, I refuse. You
Speaker 1: can't make me. You cannot make me answer this question
Speaker 1: because I think it's terrible. And this kind of goes
Speaker 1: back to my point. No, I see your face and
Speaker 1: I don't care. This goes back to my point about
Speaker 1: people overreacting to the trade deadline like this is such
Speaker 1: a knee jerk reaction. The Cowboys don't have their quarterback,
Speaker 1: and the quarterbacks that are left don't have an offensive line.
Speaker 1: Of course, the offense is going to look terrible, that
Speaker 1: is a given. But think about where this team is headed.
Speaker 1: They're probably gonna pick in the top ten, so they're
Speaker 1: gonna have four picks inside the top one hundred. They're
Speaker 1: gonna get a comp three for Byron Jones, They're gonna
Speaker 1: get a cop four for Robert Quinn. They're gonna pick
Speaker 1: six times in the first one hundred and thirty hundred
Speaker 1: and forty picks. That's all the ammunition you need to
Speaker 1: improve your team via the draft. So why am I
Speaker 1: dealing away Michael Galloper or Marii Cooper when my Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl quarterback will be back next year to throw them
Speaker 1: the ball. And my offense, by the way, is still
Speaker 1: going to be my best bet at being successful. It's
Speaker 1: a knee jerk reaction to think you need to take
Speaker 1: talent off of this team because they're struggling right now.
Speaker 1: There's no chance in hell I would deal any of
Speaker 1: the three of them. Sorry, if I'm not playing along,
Speaker 1: that's me leaning his way, Derek. Sorry, I agree. Okay, yeah, okay, No,
Speaker 1: I mean like, I get it, I get it. We're
Speaker 1: doing to share on Tuesday on a bad football team.
Speaker 1: I get it, we're trying to play on I understand that.
Speaker 1: But but makes good points. Don't you think it's important
Speaker 1: to flesh out the other side of that? Like again,
Speaker 1: like the team's bad and we got to talk about it,
Speaker 1: and we got eight more weeks to get through it.
Speaker 1: But don't blow up the good things about your team,
Speaker 1: because this season's not going the way that you want
Speaker 1: to know. But here's the point. Here's the point. Here's
Speaker 1: the point that's not blowing up the team that is. Wait,
Speaker 1: I'll put it to you like this, The most memorable
Speaker 1: trade the Cowboys have ever had in the history of
Speaker 1: their franchise was this kind of move. You say, I
Speaker 1: have a bad team, I have what is the area
Speaker 1: where I have a really good player an area where
Speaker 1: I can take that really good player and I can
Speaker 1: leverage that into more that can help my team get
Speaker 1: better faster. And that's the question. The question is, and
Speaker 1: I'm not assuming that you guys are making this. I'm
Speaker 1: saying if the people that are making decision in the
Speaker 1: building decided, hey, this is an opportunity for us to
Speaker 1: take an area that we think of as a real
Speaker 1: strength where we have extra parts and turn that into
Speaker 1: value that we can use in other areas, which, by
Speaker 1: the way, we could probably list right now. We could
Speaker 1: probably list five or six different positions where the Cowboys
Speaker 1: need I'm talking absolutely need to upgrade this offseason. And
Speaker 1: if they say, if that can give us value to
Speaker 1: be able to do that, to be able to make
Speaker 1: our ascension faster, then who would be that guy that
Speaker 1: you would want to trade? You know, I think it
Speaker 1: all comes down to one player, and that's Cedric Wilson.
Speaker 1: If Cedric Wilson has shown this team that he is
Speaker 1: capable of being a third receiver, which he has done,
Speaker 1: He's shown some flashes of that before. He's more of
Speaker 1: a receiver than he is a passer, I think, and
Speaker 1: a reverse guy and all that kind of stuff, I
Speaker 1: think if I think that actually shows, Okay, now we
Speaker 1: have four receivers that we really like, and maybe we
Speaker 1: could trade somebody away. From that standpoint, I still, to
Speaker 1: me would be Gallup if I had to do that.
Speaker 1: But I agree with Dave. I like what I've got
Speaker 1: on offense there, and I just have to think that
Speaker 1: I'll get better on defense to free agency in the draft,
Speaker 1: mainly to the drafts real quick. The other another thing
Speaker 1: I think you need to point out is, and it
Speaker 1: gets talked about a lot, is you know, choosing between
Speaker 1: Gallup and Cooper. Stop trying to create problems for yourself
Speaker 1: ahead of time because you know everybody's like, well, you
Speaker 1: can't pay them all. You can't pay them all. That's fine.
Speaker 1: Gallup has a season and a half left on his
Speaker 1: Cooper's guid teaser done at the end of the twenty
Speaker 1: any one season, you don't have to make that choice
Speaker 1: ahead of time. You could get you can get away
Speaker 1: from the Amar contract in the same year that Gallup
Speaker 1: needs a new deal. You don't have to make that
Speaker 1: choice right now. And if there's anything I've learned this season,
Speaker 1: it's you really can't afford to look more than like
Speaker 1: a few months ahead of time in the NFL, because
Speaker 1: two years from now, who on earth knows. Yeah, But
Speaker 1: what you also just said a little bit earlier. What
Speaker 1: you said a little bit earlier is you, as a
Speaker 1: person that would be talking about trade options, would not
Speaker 1: be looking at trade for somebody in the final year
Speaker 1: of their deal. So the value if you were going
Speaker 1: to continue consider maybe getting value out of one of
Speaker 1: those two guys, would be right now. It wouldn't be
Speaker 1: next year. Oh yeah, no, no, absolutely, I'm not ever.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna deal either one of them. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: play them for the I'm gonna play them for the
Speaker 1: next year and a half. And in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, do I let Michael Gallup walk in
Speaker 1: free agency and get a COMPIIC for him, or do
Speaker 1: I cut Amari Cooper and signed Michael Gallup? Like that's
Speaker 1: what I would do. All Right, We're gonna take our
Speaker 1: final break. When we come back, we got more questions.
Speaker 1: We're gonna roll through here. We'll right back. This is
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio since eighteen sixty five. Stetson
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Speaker 1: dot com or SeatGeek dot Com. Welcome back. It is
Speaker 1: the final segment of The Break live from the s
Speaker 1: WBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We're doing our media
Speaker 1: review on the Cowboys. Next question I have for you guys,
Speaker 1: compare to expectations for Blake Jarwin Dalton Schultz has been good,
Speaker 1: I mean as good, better or worse. Let's start with
Speaker 1: you Amber. Definitely better, I mean better than what you
Speaker 1: thought of. No, no, no, let me make sure I
Speaker 1: got you got the question right. You're saying he's better
Speaker 1: than what you thought Blake Jarwin would be. Oh no, okay,
Speaker 1: that's why I'm asking. I'm saying, based upon the expectations
Speaker 1: for Blake Jarwin, Dalton has been better than that, the
Speaker 1: same as that, or worse, I would say worse, worse.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say worse because Blake Jarwin is a guy
Speaker 1: that I absolutely expected him to have a killer season.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately it didn't work out. I think he only got
Speaker 1: to play a couple of plays or one and then
Speaker 1: got injured. But everything that I saw from him at
Speaker 1: training camp, what I was seeing from him last year
Speaker 1: when he was given the opportunity to be on the field,
Speaker 1: it just everything pointed upwards, and I was really excited
Speaker 1: to what he could possibly do. As far as Dalton Sholes.
Speaker 1: He was a guy that I was ready to say
Speaker 1: bye to cut him straight away, but definitely impressed me.
Speaker 1: And he has been able to make it and make
Speaker 1: it work on the field and do a lot better
Speaker 1: than I personally expected. Now to say he's been better
Speaker 1: than my expectations for Blake Jarwin, absolutely not, but I
Speaker 1: think he's been able to at least handle the job
Speaker 1: and make some really good plays for the Cowboys at
Speaker 1: a time that they really needed a tight end to
Speaker 1: make plays. Dave. If you look at the production, I
Speaker 1: would say it's pretty similar. You know. I'm sorry. Schultz
Speaker 1: is on pace for like seven hundred yards and four
Speaker 1: or five touchdowns, which when you think about all the
Speaker 1: other elements of this offense, that's probably what I thought
Speaker 1: for Jarwin. But I think my expectations were for Jarwin.
Speaker 1: We're higher because I just I see him as a
Speaker 1: guy that can stretch the field. You think about the
Speaker 1: plays he's made down the seams with Dak, I saw
Speaker 1: a lot of that, so I you know, I saw
Speaker 1: him being more of a big play guy. So I
Speaker 1: think Jarwin. My expectations are still higher, but I'm so
Speaker 1: impressed by what I've seen from Schultz, which I said
Speaker 1: this the other night, like that is, you know, if
Speaker 1: you're looking for something to be happy about for this season,
Speaker 1: that's definitely one of them. Like, you know, we're sitting
Speaker 1: here talking about next season and all this stuff they
Speaker 1: gotta fix. I don't think they need to draft a
Speaker 1: tight end, at least not super high. I'm sky high
Speaker 1: on Jarwin even still. And Schultz looks like a badass.
Speaker 1: So you give me those two guys and you know,
Speaker 1: throw in a third guy. You don't even have to
Speaker 1: draft one, Like I feel pretty solid about that position.
Speaker 1: To be honest with you, nick Um, this is about
Speaker 1: the same because when they look at what I expected
Speaker 1: at a Jarwin, I would have if you would have
Speaker 1: said sixty two catches, I would have been like, that's
Speaker 1: that's probably pretty good there for all the other receivers
Speaker 1: and Zeke getting the ball. Sixty two catches, so he's
Speaker 1: at thirty one right now. That's that's about what I thought. Now,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe a higher average down the field a little
Speaker 1: bit more because he you know, he can stretch to
Speaker 1: feel more than than Schultz. I think the one thing
Speaker 1: that I'm forgetting I think people forget about, though, is
Speaker 1: is that you know, you just don't have that complete
Speaker 1: tight end, that guy that is on the line that
Speaker 1: can help you as a blocker and also can go
Speaker 1: down the field and make those catches. You know, he's
Speaker 1: still I still think blocking is an issue for all
Speaker 1: the time, and so UM I would maybe draft one
Speaker 1: if there was a you know, he had a good situation.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's been good. I mean, he's been
Speaker 1: better than I thought. Schultz has been better than I
Speaker 1: thought he would be. But but I but I think
Speaker 1: this this production is about what I thought the starting
Speaker 1: tight end would get give. You do you think that
Speaker 1: the blocking would have been better with Um with Jarwin
Speaker 1: than with Schultz and Blake Bell? Uh? I think? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think Jarwin and Blake Bell are better blockers than
Speaker 1: Schultz and Blake Bell. Yeah. I don't think Schultz is
Speaker 1: a good blocker. I don't either, But ultimately I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know that I think that Blake is a
Speaker 1: great block No, I no, I don't, And I agree
Speaker 1: with you. I think I think they don't have a
Speaker 1: good block. They haven't had a good blocking tight end
Speaker 1: really for I mean, I mean maybe the first five
Speaker 1: or six years of Jason Witten's squere he was he
Speaker 1: was okay at it, but then he kind of I
Speaker 1: mean he struggled there a little bit. He knew how
Speaker 1: to get in the way, and that's what a good
Speaker 1: tight end, you know. I think he's taught those guys
Speaker 1: how to do it, but they get you know, you
Speaker 1: can't just match them up with a defensive end sometime.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're gonna get through around. Yeah. They played
Speaker 1: twelve personnel quite a bit of the game last week,
Speaker 1: probably more than I've seen them playing since McCarty's been here.
Speaker 1: Um and and even with them playing twelve personnel, they
Speaker 1: were still not being able to slow down that that
Speaker 1: front all the time, even when they had those extra
Speaker 1: tight ends staying back to blocks. So yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know if they got a good blocking tight
Speaker 1: end right now. And for that reason, I do think
Speaker 1: there's still a lot left to be gained. I do
Speaker 1: think Schultz is well ahead of what I thought he
Speaker 1: would be when when I when when we first heard
Speaker 1: that Blake Jarwin was going down. That's one of the
Speaker 1: next question with all that's happened. You know what. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, I know, training camp it's very difficult to
Speaker 1: fully judge because it's training camp. But I kept my
Speaker 1: eyes on Blake jar when this training camp, and he
Speaker 1: did make some really impressive blocks during practices. And yes,
Speaker 1: it wasn't a real game or anything, but it was
Speaker 1: impressive enough for me to at least be excited as
Speaker 1: to thinking or expecting a tight end position to have
Speaker 1: a better blocker this year. He clearly didn't work out,
Speaker 1: but I felt like I saw some type of improvement
Speaker 1: at least during training camp compared to what we've seen
Speaker 1: from Blake Jarwin in previous years. So maybe that's an
Speaker 1: area that he was improving. Maybe, and I guess we
Speaker 1: won't have a chance to find it out till we
Speaker 1: get to next year. But maybe he's blocking guys on
Speaker 1: a defense that can't get off blocks. Good point. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know all we could go off. All we could
Speaker 1: go off is trading camp. But I'm just saying, boy,
Speaker 1: I sat there with all you guys like, man, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a party at the quarterback all Smith over here,
Speaker 1: Dal all over here. Yeah, it wasn't quite because Terrence
Speaker 1: Steele I mean, yeah, it wasn't just Steel, I mean
Speaker 1: it was there was some everybody. I mean, you didn't
Speaker 1: have your two I mean, well you didn't have Yeah,
Speaker 1: you didn't have those guys that you would that you
Speaker 1: were expecting you were going to have once the season
Speaker 1: got here, and it just it showed. I think the
Speaker 1: biggest theme of the whole year is that other than
Speaker 1: maybe tight end, everybody else every key injury they've had,
Speaker 1: they've had multiple at that position. It's not just Cheeto.
Speaker 1: It was Cheeto and Anthony Brown. It's not just you know,
Speaker 1: the one left tackle, it's the right tackle and the
Speaker 1: backup tackle. And now it's not just the quarterback, it's
Speaker 1: the backup quarterback. Everybody that's been hurt. That's significant. In
Speaker 1: the linebackers too, Shaun Lee and Layton Vanderish. It's just
Speaker 1: been one tight end. But I mean, you know, I
Speaker 1: think for the most part, the injuries have hit positions
Speaker 1: multiple times. And now you can't even say the same
Speaker 1: thing about defensive tackle. I mean, you lost before the
Speaker 1: season even got it, and then you lost christ Riston Hill, right,
Speaker 1: all right, let's go out. I mean I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: like you lost the guy you thought you were fiding.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. All right, let's on to the
Speaker 1: next question. U. With all that's happened this season while
Speaker 1: Dak played and since his injury, the price you'd be
Speaker 1: willing to pay him has increased, decreased, or stayed the same.
Speaker 1: Let's start with you, Dave. I mean, I can't. I
Speaker 1: can't completely to that question until we know more about
Speaker 1: his recovery. And I it seems like it's going fine.
Speaker 1: I don't have any reason to suspect that's not. But
Speaker 1: I would like to know more about how he's looking
Speaker 1: and what his prognosis is. But if we are to
Speaker 1: assume that he will be just fine, I'll say it
Speaker 1: stays the same. But that's because I was always willing
Speaker 1: to pay him more in the first place, you know,
Speaker 1: like I was already comfortable with the idea of paying
Speaker 1: him forty million in a year anyway. So if he's
Speaker 1: healthy and ready to go, I feel the same way. Nick. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you have to sign him. You can't sign
Speaker 1: him to the franchise tag. I mean, that's just impossible.
Speaker 1: I don't think I don't think you can do that.
Speaker 1: You might, you might tag him, but you certainly can't.
Speaker 1: He can't go off a tag like that. If the
Speaker 1: tag is not number, is not going to go down.
Speaker 1: But the salary cap is, which I don't understand that.
Speaker 1: But if that's the way it is, then he's got
Speaker 1: You gotta get a deal done with him. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think you see his value. You're seeing
Speaker 1: his value even more with him not being here. Um,
Speaker 1: but you know it's it's gonna be hard for the
Speaker 1: Cowboys to pay him more than Russell Wilson. But that's
Speaker 1: that's more of a Seattle problem than anything I think it.
Speaker 1: You know, he's gonna get paid like Deshaun Watson, and
Speaker 1: you know that's scary because the Shaun Watsons is hoping,
Speaker 1: I mean, Houston is hoping Deshaun Watson carries that team
Speaker 1: and you can't do it. You can't do it when
Speaker 1: when you you know, so it's gonna I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be tough. But also, where are the Cowboys picking?
Speaker 1: Because I think if the Cowboys are picking on the
Speaker 1: top five, you gotta open this. Gary and Stephen aren't
Speaker 1: doing their job if they don't open up that discussion
Speaker 1: and be like, well, what are we gonna have to
Speaker 1: to discussion at least, Yeah, you have to. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think it stays the same. But the big difference for
Speaker 1: me personally is that now when I'm giving him his contract,
Speaker 1: I have a big smile on my face and I
Speaker 1: feel better about it instead of being like, oh man,
Speaker 1: here you go, just sign it. Just go ahead and
Speaker 1: sign it. Now we're we're all buddies and now we're
Speaker 1: we're happy around here and we can celebrate. So I
Speaker 1: think money wise, it just makes me feel better thinking
Speaker 1: and expecting that he's gonna fully recover from this injury.
Speaker 1: And based on what we did get to see from
Speaker 1: him this year, I think he made a huge step
Speaker 1: from last year and we saw how. And my biggest
Speaker 1: thing with Dak Prescott has always been the whole thing
Speaker 1: about can he carry the team without him needing so
Speaker 1: many key guys around him, And given the injuries in
Speaker 1: the old line and the struggles that they had, I
Speaker 1: think that I feel that Dak proved that he can
Speaker 1: be that guy and he can't carry the team and
Speaker 1: just give that extra push that you needed. Sometimes it
Speaker 1: didn't work out with them getting a win, but we
Speaker 1: saw the change and the and the the ability of
Speaker 1: him to make really important place under pressure. So yes,
Speaker 1: now I just give it to him with a big
Speaker 1: camber just made in my opinion, the best point of
Speaker 1: the day. And because I think going into this year
Speaker 1: and really going into the contract negotiations, think the vast
Speaker 1: majority of Cowboys fans and observers felt like Dak was
Speaker 1: not the main thing that they did. They felt like
Speaker 1: the running game was the main thing they did. They
Speaker 1: felt like what the offensive line was the best thing
Speaker 1: that they had, and Dak was just a complimentary piece,
Speaker 1: a pretty good complimentary piece, but he was a complimentary piece.
Speaker 1: And I think we found out at the beginning of
Speaker 1: this season is even without his two tackles, even with
Speaker 1: a running game that I think we all agree hasn't
Speaker 1: been up to par and what we expected, Dak was
Speaker 1: able to have this offense running at a rate that
Speaker 1: was really, really somewhat historic, Like they were putting up
Speaker 1: tons of yards and tons of points. You can call
Speaker 1: it whatever you want to call it about you know,
Speaker 1: you know, garbage time, but I'll tell you this that
Speaker 1: garbage time, those garbage time points and yards aren't happening now.
Speaker 1: And so I think we all come away from this
Speaker 1: with a different perspective of Dak Prescott. That's not about
Speaker 1: the fact that he's a guy. That's a complimentary Right,
Speaker 1: we come away with the understanding that Dak is the
Speaker 1: straw that stirs the drink. At this point, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's even close. He is the reason
Speaker 1: why this team will have success if they're going to
Speaker 1: move forward with him. All right, let's go on to
Speaker 1: the final question that we have before we end the show.
Speaker 1: Who has been a bigger problem slash disappointment this season?
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith, Chris Jones or Xavier Woods. Let's start with
Speaker 1: Nick Um on of those three. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: have another one you'd like to write in, Phil Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're talking about today or tonight or yeah. I don't
Speaker 1: know what you're referring to now. I think that I
Speaker 1: think Jayalen. I mean it's probably Jalen. I mean, because
Speaker 1: the punter doesn't make that much of a difference. I mean,
Speaker 1: does he well he not really. No, he's been a disappointment.
Speaker 1: He's been a disappointment, but it's hard to say that
Speaker 1: the center of your defense versus the punter relatively. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not as hard on Jalen as you
Speaker 1: guys are. But I no, I'm not. I don't think
Speaker 1: he's I don't think he's the true problem. I guarantee
Speaker 1: you if he didn't dress and swipe and do all
Speaker 1: the stuff like that, I guarantee people wouldn't hate him
Speaker 1: as much. No, that has nothing whatsoever to do with it.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, it does not for me. It doesn't
Speaker 1: for me. It's about just watching him play. I just
Speaker 1: I can't see where someone watches him play and they
Speaker 1: don't think that he is a big part of the
Speaker 1: problem with this step the answer, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: the answer zeke huh okay, I think that's the answer
Speaker 1: on the most disappointing. And it's not all his fault
Speaker 1: because he's he thought he'd have a different supporting cast.
Speaker 1: But I mean, to not have one hundred yard game
Speaker 1: after eight games, I mean, that's surprising, you knowsappointing him. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Where do you think he ranks though? In the NFL?
Speaker 1: Do you know this? I know this. I'm guessing he's
Speaker 1: five hundred and fourteen yards, guessing he's probably around twelfth, thirteen, seventh, seventh.
Speaker 1: I would have guessed the same wow, but still he's
Speaker 1: been most of this point. I'm gonna say, Zeke, if
Speaker 1: I could do a write in ballot, vote for them, Zeke,
Speaker 1: all right, Amber Europe Anya, That's exactly what I was
Speaker 1: gonna say. I was gonna see. I was gonna say
Speaker 1: a Zequel because Jamen Smith he's never been a guy
Speaker 1: that has been impressive enough to me in my eyes.
Speaker 1: He started changing my opinion during training camp. And again
Speaker 1: it was training camp, but we were all blah, you know,
Speaker 1: didn't work out to be what we saw at training camp.
Speaker 1: So there's that. So my expectations weren't very high for
Speaker 1: Jalen to begin with based on previously or not this
Speaker 1: training camp. Anyways, point is it would be Ezekiel Elia
Speaker 1: because he just like I talked about Dark Prescott, he
Speaker 1: was the guy that I've always seemed to be the
Speaker 1: person to be able to carry the offense. He was
Speaker 1: the guy that I always saw the Cowboys being able
Speaker 1: to run lean on, lean on with the running game
Speaker 1: and him being able well to create plays where it
Speaker 1: was just really messy and you didn't think he could
Speaker 1: get much and then there he goes pushing for those
Speaker 1: extra two four yards and this year it just unfortunately
Speaker 1: hasn't been that. He hasn't been able to not just
Speaker 1: make the explosive place that we've used to see, but
Speaker 1: just protect the ball. You know, he's given the ball
Speaker 1: away and that that has cost the Cowboys touchdowns and
Speaker 1: losing games. And that's very important and something that you
Speaker 1: don't expect a veteran guy like him to do, not
Speaker 1: just once multiple times. So it would just have to
Speaker 1: be Ezekiel Elliott I would say, definitely the disappointment this year, Dave,
Speaker 1: it's jail and I don't think it's particularly close. Then.
Speaker 1: Zeke's been disappointing for sure, Like he's not living up
Speaker 1: to that contracts. He's not having a great season by
Speaker 1: his standards, but running backs are a product of their environment.
Speaker 1: If he ad Dak and a healthier offensive line, I
Speaker 1: think he'd be just fine. And that is a fair
Speaker 1: conversation about whether or not it's worth to pay a
Speaker 1: running back that much money, But that's neither here nor there. Like,
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about Zeke being good next season if
Speaker 1: the offense is healthier. I am worried about Jalen Smith
Speaker 1: ever being good again based on what we've seen and yeah, Nick,
Speaker 1: I get your point. Like the way that he carries
Speaker 1: himself rubs a lot of people the wrong way. But
Speaker 1: I'm with Derek, Like his instincts seem bad. He gets
Speaker 1: fooled a lot, he's out of position a lot. He
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to have the burst that he had in
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. Whenever he's asked to move in space, it
Speaker 1: usually looks really, really rough. And the Cowboys are paying
Speaker 1: him to be this centerpiece of their defense. He doesn't.
Speaker 1: More often than not, he looks like an average to
Speaker 1: below average linebacker and they're paying him to be at
Speaker 1: the top of the position. And not only is it
Speaker 1: it's obviously bad for the team right now, but there's
Speaker 1: big financial ramifications about that. You know, if he can't
Speaker 1: get it done. That's why I said, like, they got
Speaker 1: to figure out a way to make him a better player,
Speaker 1: or figure out how they can cope with carry and
Speaker 1: that contract on the books like that. It's one of
Speaker 1: the biggest problems facing them for twenty twenty one in
Speaker 1: my opinion. And it's just not where I thought they
Speaker 1: would be when they agreed to that deal a year ago.
Speaker 1: All Right, that's a rap. We appreciate you guys, you guys,
Speaker 1: we'll be back tomorrow. Wouldn't start getting ready for Cowboys
Speaker 1: versus Steelers? What Bucky Brooks? You join us. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about the Steeler offense tomorrow versus the Cowboys defense. Till then.
Speaker 1: For Nick Eatman, Dave Helm and Amber Garcia, I'm Derek Eagleton.
Speaker 1: This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot
Speaker 1: Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.