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: training live from the Dallas Cowboys World headquarters at the
Speaker 1: Star in Frisco, Sack by Scot Taytot. Hello, everybody, welcome
Speaker 1: into a special edition of Talking Cowboys. Not your normal
Speaker 1: four group Talking Cowboys podcast. We've got some connections to
Speaker 1: talk to and today we are pleased to welcome in
Speaker 1: ESPN host of Golicking Wingo. You've seen him all over
Speaker 1: the NFL Draft NFL Live Sports Center in the past.
Speaker 1: Trey Wingo joins us here on Talking Cowboys and Trey,
Speaker 1: first off, thanks for joining us, and I kind of
Speaker 1: want to get into this quickly because you're a busy man.
Speaker 1: But first off, I've heard a little bit of a
Speaker 1: rumor that you grew up a Cowboys fan. Kind of
Speaker 1: is that? Is this true? And kind of tell us
Speaker 1: how that became to be after somebody who grew up
Speaker 1: in Connecticut. Yeah, Well, long story short. My whole family
Speaker 1: is originally from Texas. My mom's from Texarkana, my dad's
Speaker 1: from San Antonio. I have relatives all over the Dallas
Speaker 1: Fort Worth area. Cousins and aunts and uncle's, you name it.
Speaker 1: But we lived overseas for a while and we came
Speaker 1: back to the States in the seventies and the first
Speaker 1: football game I ever watched on television was a Cowboys
Speaker 1: game on Monday Night football, and I liked the star
Speaker 1: on the helmet and I I was a young kid,
Speaker 1: and my parents were like, yeah, we're from Texas, like okay,
Speaker 1: and that was a really good time to be a
Speaker 1: Cowboys fan. So really that's how it got started. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's all sort of happenstance, but yeah, I was very
Speaker 1: fortunate through the nineties. I took my dad to all
Speaker 1: three Super Bowls that the Cowboys won, and that was
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. And so yeah, that that's how
Speaker 1: that all got started. It was it was just sort
Speaker 1: of a weird connection, but it's been a lot of
Speaker 1: fun sense. So it was the uniform and then just
Speaker 1: geographical happenstance that kind of turned into you being that
Speaker 1: Cowboys fan and kind of growing into that. But what
Speaker 1: about your love for football, because it seems like you've
Speaker 1: always kind of had your your your foot in the
Speaker 1: door of pro professional football. Has it really kind of
Speaker 1: been that way from the get go. Absolutely. When I
Speaker 1: was a kid, I used to subscribe to this thing
Speaker 1: called Dallas Cowboys Weekly, and it was like, you know,
Speaker 1: like a thirty page in house magazine that the team
Speaker 1: would put out. But I, because I lived in Connecticut,
Speaker 1: I was getting a week late. So the game would
Speaker 1: be played Sunday, and Monday or Tuesday it would arrive
Speaker 1: in the mail from the previous games week and I would,
Speaker 1: you know, just pour over every page or that day.
Speaker 1: I used to collect, you know, football cards. I used
Speaker 1: to try and draw plays as ASA did, like Okay,
Speaker 1: what if this would work? And how would that would work?
Speaker 1: And it's like I've been a sports fan my entire life,
Speaker 1: and I enjoyed playing sports. But there's no doubt that
Speaker 1: football and specifically the NFL. And when I was a
Speaker 1: really young kid to Dallas Colbert ball. It was always
Speaker 1: my favorite sport, always my favorite team. And you know,
Speaker 1: I just I loved everything about I still did this day,
Speaker 1: love everything about it. I think it's the truest team
Speaker 1: sport there is. You know, in any other sport, you
Speaker 1: can have one or two guys. For example, let's say
Speaker 1: in the NBA you have a couple of guys that
Speaker 1: are a confessed of what they do, you're more than
Speaker 1: likely he's gonna win. In soccer or hockey, you can
Speaker 1: have a really good team, but if you have a
Speaker 1: hot goalie, that changes everything. Baseball is really a one
Speaker 1: on one confrontation between a pitcher and a batter, and
Speaker 1: then everything else happens based on that. You don't have
Speaker 1: eleven guys pulling on the same side of the ball
Speaker 1: at the right time on the right play. You don't
Speaker 1: have anything in football, and that's what I love about
Speaker 1: it more than anything. And of course, being up in Connecticut,
Speaker 1: you're still nearby the NFC East Country, you were near
Speaker 1: the Giants, you were near the Eagles, a little bit
Speaker 1: up there in the northeast. But kind of explain what
Speaker 1: it was like being a Cowboys fan in that region
Speaker 1: of the country even as a youngster. Well, those teams sucked,
Speaker 1: so it was awesome. H No, But you're right, it's weird,
Speaker 1: like a lot of people like, why are you a
Speaker 1: Cowboys being in financy because I grew up in a
Speaker 1: town called Greenwich, Connecticut, which is literally the first town
Speaker 1: over the water from the university. It's like a bedroom
Speaker 1: community for people that commute into New York City do
Speaker 1: go to work. I mean there were many of us,
Speaker 1: but the Giants were terrible, so it didn't matter. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It was weird, but I enjoyed it. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: it was a lot of fun. And you know back then,
Speaker 1: you know you were born in what ninety six? Ye funk?
Speaker 1: You know? We got we got two games on a
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon, and I would just live for the updates
Speaker 1: to see what would happen, you know, on the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: And it was my favorite thing that they used to
Speaker 1: do an old NFL film show called This Week in
Speaker 1: the FFL that would airline on Friday night on local
Speaker 1: stations about previous Sunday's games, and I would just I
Speaker 1: would wait to see the highlights of you know, Billy Joe, Dupree,
Speaker 1: Tony dors Said, Roger Starbuck, all those guys and the
Speaker 1: things that they were doing. It was just a lot
Speaker 1: of fun. Duke Piercing, Golden Richards, Robert Newhouse, Bob not
Speaker 1: Bob Lowly at that time, but you know, Randy White,
Speaker 1: Harvey Martin, who Tall Joes, how I could do, Ralph Neely,
Speaker 1: John Didzgrell, the entire offensive line from the Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: in earlier in the nineteen seventies. It was great. It
Speaker 1: was a lot of fun. Cliff Harris, Charlie Waters. You
Speaker 1: just loved being that antagonist even from an early age,
Speaker 1: just because of the success that the Cowboys were having. Overall,
Speaker 1: I love that. But you ultimately did end up coming
Speaker 1: back to Texas. You graduated from Baylor in the middle
Speaker 1: of the eighties. What brought you back to Baylor, by
Speaker 1: the way, just being a couple hours down the road
Speaker 1: from the Cowboys. Well, you know, everybody in my family
Speaker 1: went to Baylor, my mom, my dad, not I mean
Speaker 1: not everybody, but like almost everybody. Sister and I went
Speaker 1: down there, and you know I wanted to do I
Speaker 1: wanted to go someplace different for college, just to get away.
Speaker 1: And I applied to five school My first choice was
Speaker 1: University of North Carolina. I did not get in, and
Speaker 1: then I applied to Syracuse and University of Colorado and
Speaker 1: University of Missouri, and eventually I just I decided to
Speaker 1: out of those four, I wanted to go down and
Speaker 1: go go go down to Baylor. I wanted to go
Speaker 1: someplace warmer and have a good time and had a
Speaker 1: blast and and be closer to some relatives in place
Speaker 1: I needed to get away off campus. It was fun.
Speaker 1: I had a great time. To this day, I still
Speaker 1: have a bunch of friends that I we w on
Speaker 1: a golf trip every year that I want my buddies
Speaker 1: in college and still get together once a year. We
Speaker 1: had to cancel it this year for obvious reasons, but
Speaker 1: we've been doing that for about ten or twelve years now,
Speaker 1: so it was just it was a great experience. I
Speaker 1: had a great time, and we went up to Dallas
Speaker 1: all the time. We wore out I thirty five. Most
Speaker 1: weekends we were either head north to Dallas or south
Speaker 1: to Austin, and a few weekends we stayed in wake Tho.
Speaker 1: We managed to find ourselves a good time, but we
Speaker 1: went We went north ninety minutes in south ninety minutes
Speaker 1: on I thirty five quite a bit. As somebody who
Speaker 1: grew up in Waco, I can attest that I thirty
Speaker 1: five has had the burning rubber back and forth for
Speaker 1: youngsters throughout the course of history, I guess since Baylor's
Speaker 1: been there. But you then got your first job back
Speaker 1: in broadcasting up in the northeast. You went back up
Speaker 1: to New York and you were there kind of bouncing
Speaker 1: around a couple of different spots. But what was it
Speaker 1: like going from Connecticut to Baylor and then going to
Speaker 1: the big city of New York City and then kind
Speaker 1: of being around that area since then. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: my dad worked in the city for the community from
Speaker 1: Greenwich for thirty plus years, so there was a lot
Speaker 1: of like teacher and service days when I was in
Speaker 1: school where I take the train and going to my
Speaker 1: going to work with my dad. He was He was
Speaker 1: a reporter of Your Chief for Life magazine in the
Speaker 1: sixties and seventies, and then when Life Magazine folded, he
Speaker 1: and two other guys created their magazine called People Man
Speaker 1: ended up being the most successful magazine launch ever and
Speaker 1: probably retired that title because nobody's launching a magazine. So
Speaker 1: it was fun to go in and see him work
Speaker 1: and do that kind of stuff, and it was a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. So getting back into the city I
Speaker 1: enjoyed very much. I was a page at NBC at
Speaker 1: thirty Rock and like literally, if you've ever seen the
Speaker 1: TV show thirty Rock, you know the guy in the
Speaker 1: blue blazer, that's who we were. We gave guided tours
Speaker 1: of the Building or Saturday Night Live and a bunch
Speaker 1: of other shows that was fun. Then I made a
Speaker 1: demo tape and sent it up to a bunch of
Speaker 1: stations and got a job in Bingham to New York
Speaker 1: and there for two years. And I got a job
Speaker 1: in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where I got to do my first
Speaker 1: play by play as well as some local TV broadcasting
Speaker 1: for Lead High University football basketball. And I was there
Speaker 1: nine months and got a job in Saint Louis ruin
Speaker 1: Saint Louis for six years, and then moved back here
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety seven. Would have been here ever since. Now.
Speaker 1: You I believe you started your career with play by
Speaker 1: play at least up on air and kind of getting
Speaker 1: into that area, like you said, of Pennsylvania, and you
Speaker 1: started doing some play by play, and then you kind
Speaker 1: of peeked up into the ESPN realm of that what
Speaker 1: kind of led to show hosting because since then it
Speaker 1: seems like it's been less play by play more so
Speaker 1: the show hosting side. So it was my first My
Speaker 1: first few TV jobs were all were show hosting or poscaster.
Speaker 1: I just got a chance to do some uh, some
Speaker 1: play by play during that job at Allentown, but I've
Speaker 1: done you know, here at ESPN. I've done play by
Speaker 1: play for uh the Arena League for a while when
Speaker 1: we had that, But mostly my job is studio hosting.
Speaker 1: What do you like more? That's a great question. Um.
Speaker 1: For the longest time I really even think about it, it
Speaker 1: it was like, Okay, what can I do? What do
Speaker 1: I really look? For fifteen years I hosted NFL Live,
Speaker 1: and hosting the Draft has been just so great, so
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed it, Like, uh, you know, I've been
Speaker 1: very fortunate at ESPN. I covered UH the PGA Championship.
Speaker 1: I've covered US Open and Golf and British Open and golf,
Speaker 1: a US Open and tennis Wimbledon, been to the Olympics,
Speaker 1: I was our correspondent for the two thousand two Winner
Speaker 1: Games and saw Lake City. It's been unbelievable, but by
Speaker 1: far doing NFL I've and doing the Draft it's just
Speaker 1: been great. It's just been so much fun. And the
Speaker 1: Draft is the ultimate reality television show, right, you know,
Speaker 1: you can't script for it. You have no idea what's
Speaker 1: going to happen. And this year specifically it was nuts.
Speaker 1: But you just have sort of ride or TuS you
Speaker 1: bucked you off. I guess these a rodeo parlance, and
Speaker 1: it was fun. I mean, it's just you never know
Speaker 1: what's going to happen, and that's the best part of
Speaker 1: a plan. But as my friend Herm Edwards likes to say,
Speaker 1: any planned to camp be change is a bad plan.
Speaker 1: We've had to change plant a million different times during
Speaker 1: the draft, so that's been fun. Now you mentioned the draft.
Speaker 1: You mentioned this year and all the challenges around COVID
Speaker 1: nineteen and it being virtual. You were tabbed with the
Speaker 1: task of being the sole host for ESPN and the
Speaker 1: sole individual that had everything kind of ran through you.
Speaker 1: What was that challenge like and what were some of
Speaker 1: the toughest parts of that job. So I have to
Speaker 1: say I do appreciate what people say that, but to
Speaker 1: think that it was just me is just you know,
Speaker 1: there are so many good people behind the scenes that
Speaker 1: really had did the heavy lifting, especially this year. You know,
Speaker 1: our overall producer Step Marking, our producers Ramadanski and Brian Ryder,
Speaker 1: and all the tech people that put it together. Now,
Speaker 1: it was different. It was different, Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1: It was weird and it was unusual. First of all,
Speaker 1: normally we're on location with them. You know, we had
Speaker 1: last year in Nashville, close to seven hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: thousand people downtown Nashville for the three days of the draft.
Speaker 1: It was nuts, unbelievable. We were expecting close to a
Speaker 1: million people in Las Vegas this year and fifty three
Speaker 1: days before the draft, we pulled the plug on that,
Speaker 1: and somehow we were able to put together what was
Speaker 1: an incredible virtual experience with so many people working together.
Speaker 1: So like for me, the preparation of the draft didn't
Speaker 1: change at all. Like it didn't. It didn't change one iota.
Speaker 1: The only thing that changed for me was how we
Speaker 1: were going to present the information that we had prepared for.
Speaker 1: And the people behind the scenes did an amazing job.
Speaker 1: Like I was the only one in the studio. We
Speaker 1: had Hurt Warner and Michael Irvin and Daniel Jeremiah from
Speaker 1: the NFL network along with our people Lewis Ready, quotram
Speaker 1: acardem mel Kaper Jr. And they were all remote So
Speaker 1: I was in the studio and there were literally two
Speaker 1: other people with me in the studio and they were
Speaker 1: all set up remotely, and we had Commission. Goodell wired
Speaker 1: in obviously and had I think two hundred potential draftees
Speaker 1: or one hundred potential draftees wired up with remote units,
Speaker 1: plus every general manager, every owner, and every coach. And
Speaker 1: it went off without a hitch. And as we were
Speaker 1: getting ready to do this, we had some glitches before
Speaker 1: this began. The fact that we basically did that for
Speaker 1: three days with really minimal interruption was unbeliefing believable, and
Speaker 1: I was really proud of people that pulled that off
Speaker 1: together and Dad it a lot easier. And I've said
Speaker 1: it since we hosted our own virtual draft, everybody behind
Speaker 1: the scenes needs a substantial race throughout the course of
Speaker 1: this COVID nineteen pandemic because it makes those on air
Speaker 1: look a lot better than they actually are. Just be
Speaker 1: based off of the fact that the technical side has
Speaker 1: taken care of even more. But now you're going up
Speaker 1: a Cowboys fan. You have to stay neutral with your
Speaker 1: national television audience. But do you keep an eye on
Speaker 1: how the Cowboys did during the draft because there's a
Speaker 1: lot of excitement around those picks. Yes, I mean they
Speaker 1: kind of reverse engineered it on in my opinion, but
Speaker 1: they got it. I mean like they weren't expecting the
Speaker 1: CBO to be there, and if he was sixth on
Speaker 1: their board, I think he was sixth on their pre
Speaker 1: draft board. And you have him, what at seventeen, you
Speaker 1: gotta take him. So you know, obviously a lot of
Speaker 1: people thought that was a luxury item. But you now
Speaker 1: have Michael Gallup, Mary Cooper and CD Lamb, which is
Speaker 1: an unbelievable Creo wide receiver, and then to still have
Speaker 1: Digs on the board when you go in the second
Speaker 1: round get him was remarkable. Like in any scenario, would
Speaker 1: you have said to a Cowboy team, they're gonna get
Speaker 1: Gigs and you're gonna get CD Lamb in the first
Speaker 1: ture ends they'd be like, oh yeah, all right, so
Speaker 1: they get those two. And quite frankly, I like a
Speaker 1: lot of the other picks as well, especially the kid
Speaker 1: Neville Gallimore out of Oklahoma. I thought that was a
Speaker 1: steel where they got him. I thought the Cowboys sort
Speaker 1: of out of luck in happenstance. And also when the
Speaker 1: players were there to take the right players, I thought
Speaker 1: they hadn't that really did. Now with that kind of
Speaker 1: paired with some of the other offseason moves, that they've
Speaker 1: made Dontari Poe, Gerald McCoy haha, Clinton Dicks On the
Speaker 1: defensive side of the football, What are you kind of
Speaker 1: thinking going into twenty twenty and how is their season
Speaker 1: going to look assuming that it is a full season. Well,
Speaker 1: we just did a list this week on Golik and
Speaker 1: Wingo my top three ish teams that are super Bowl
Speaker 1: or bust this year, and the Cowboys were number one
Speaker 1: on my list. Because again, I want to be clear,
Speaker 1: it's not they're the number one team that I think
Speaker 1: to win the super Bowl. It's who are the teams
Speaker 1: that are all in on. If we don't get to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl, it won't be a successful season because
Speaker 1: I think they have everything that they need. Now. You
Speaker 1: could question whether or not they're going to get something
Speaker 1: out of Aldon Smith, who hasn't played since twenty twenty
Speaker 1: fifteen to twenty sixteen, from the pass rush, Tim that's
Speaker 1: gonna make up for the loss of Robert Quinn and others.
Speaker 1: But you know, they've sort of managed to make this work. Now,
Speaker 1: I would have signed a quarterback first before I signed
Speaker 1: everybody else. Jerry, I'm just saying, I mean, I like
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith. I like Yale Collins, I like all those players,
Speaker 1: I like Zekiel Eliven. Normally you take care of the
Speaker 1: durable quarterback first. Now they've got him, he's going to
Speaker 1: be there this year. But the reason why this, I
Speaker 1: think is so important is there's still a real divide
Speaker 1: over years on what Dac and the Cowboys are willing
Speaker 1: to agree to. They can't go into next year with
Speaker 1: him on the franchise tack it over thirty seven million
Speaker 1: dollars because at the best case scenario over the cap
Speaker 1: is gonna stay flat going into twenty twenty one and
Speaker 1: it might take a dick. You can't have a quarterback
Speaker 1: taking a thirty seven one million dollars or in cap space,
Speaker 1: especially if it's not going to go up into twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one. It's a big year for them and they
Speaker 1: need to make it work with all the pieces this year.
Speaker 1: So that's one of the reasons why I put them
Speaker 1: as the top of the teams that are super Bowler bust.
Speaker 1: And you talk about super Bowler bust, and I'll get
Speaker 1: your prediction or maybe not prediction, but your favorite. We'll
Speaker 1: say favorite coming up here in just a little bit.
Speaker 1: But talking about Dak Prescott, and staying on the topic
Speaker 1: of the what is the franchise quarterback right now? For
Speaker 1: the Cowboys? You go and add Andy Dalton. You have
Speaker 1: a little bit of an insurance policy with him backing
Speaker 1: up Dak Prescott. But what is your opinion of Prescott
Speaker 1: himself as a player, not necessarily the contract negotiation. I
Speaker 1: think he's the most underappreciated quarterback in the NFL because
Speaker 1: the first of all, look, I'm not a huge quarterback
Speaker 1: wins guy. I'm sure you've seen the teams win games
Speaker 1: quarterbacks helping them win games, and yes, they have maybe
Speaker 1: more of an influence, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: if you don't have everything else you can have a
Speaker 1: great quarterback doesn't matter. And we've certainly seen that throughout
Speaker 1: the cases in the history. It's a little more skewed now,
Speaker 1: but I'm not a huge quarterback wins guy. But he
Speaker 1: is a winning, durable quarterback in the NFL, and durability
Speaker 1: it may be the most important ability in the NFL.
Speaker 1: He hasn't missed a game in four years because of injury.
Speaker 1: He's a big, strong kid who came within one yard
Speaker 1: of Hie Tony Romo's franchise Rector for most passing yards
Speaker 1: in a single season. He has all the weapons at
Speaker 1: his disposal. You have a running game that I think
Speaker 1: is going to be fine, or offensive line isn't what
Speaker 1: it was when it was a rook year in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: but it's more than good enough. And you have a
Speaker 1: defense that I think is going to be okay. I
Speaker 1: don't understand the back, Kate, I don't understand me. Oh,
Speaker 1: he's just an average. He's not like if you really
Speaker 1: want to be honest about it and talk to people
Speaker 1: who know what they're talking about in terms of people
Speaker 1: who I mean, if you will put this way, if
Speaker 1: you really want to find that out, let him be
Speaker 1: a free agent. Watch what happened. Watch the twenty teams
Speaker 1: that would run to sign Dak Prescott, because that's exactly
Speaker 1: what would happen. So for all the people that consider
Speaker 1: him an average to above out a quarterback, I suggest
Speaker 1: you take up a hobby because football watching is not
Speaker 1: your strength. Hey, I like it. You're antagonizing even now
Speaker 1: talking about Dak Prescott and some of those that are
Speaker 1: out there that I just don't get it. I just
Speaker 1: don't get it. I mean, looks for example, I think
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz is a great quarter front I really do.
Speaker 1: He's not durable. That's a that's a thing. Now we
Speaker 1: can talk about maybe he's a better you know, you
Speaker 1: like some of the skill things he does better than Dak,
Speaker 1: But when you put the the ability with durability, I mean,
Speaker 1: one guy's there all the time, and that's kind of
Speaker 1: a big deal, you know, especially in this day and
Speaker 1: age whenever you have to have quarterbacks that have to
Speaker 1: do so many different things with the weapons that are
Speaker 1: around them. And now Dak Prescott has those weapons, he
Speaker 1: has the three receivers we mentioned earlier. He's got Ezekiel Elliott,
Speaker 1: Tony Pollard, Blake Jarr went on that offensive side. How
Speaker 1: much pressure do all these weapons actually put on Kellen
Speaker 1: Moore as the offensive coordinator to make sure that things
Speaker 1: are taken care of or even Mike McCarthy an offensive guru,
Speaker 1: taking care of the right way. Now, you know, Kellen
Speaker 1: had a very interesting year as the first year offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: Came out of the gate strong obviously those first three wins.
Speaker 1: But if you notice a pattern late in the season,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you guys talked about this. Let's take
Speaker 1: for example, a Thanksgiving Day game against the Bills. They
Speaker 1: went right down the field on that first drive March
Speaker 1: March March, Big doses Zeke Elliot in the running boom,
Speaker 1: They score a touchdown, and then you look at Zeke
Speaker 1: Elliot's carries per the rest of that game as opposed
Speaker 1: to the opening drive. Then there was a Thursday night
Speaker 1: game against the Bears in Chicago, right down the field, boom, boom, boom,
Speaker 1: great run past combination mix in there, they score a
Speaker 1: touchdown and then what happened in the rest of that
Speaker 1: game got away from the running game. Look, obviously, this
Speaker 1: is a passing league. That's the way it's going. It's
Speaker 1: way it's going to be. But for the Cowboys to
Speaker 1: be successful, especially the way the team was built in
Speaker 1: the position they paid first in Zeke Elliott, they're going
Speaker 1: to have to feature that running game. I felt at
Speaker 1: times last year, and Andy Reid has gone through in
Speaker 1: his Hall of Fame career, you forget about the running game.
Speaker 1: My god. Just go back a couple of years ago
Speaker 1: and Alex Smith was still the quarterback and they had
Speaker 1: a twenty one or eighteen point lead against the Titans
Speaker 1: at home, and then Kareem Hunt got hurt. No qureem
Speaker 1: hunting gator at Travis Kelsey got hurt, and they went
Speaker 1: away from kareem hunt. When you have a weapon, use
Speaker 1: it and mix it in. And I think that that
Speaker 1: last year Kelln at times during stretches forgot about the
Speaker 1: running game. And you know, you script those first plays
Speaker 1: of every series, for every game, and then sometimes I
Speaker 1: felt like they threw away the script for those are
Speaker 1: minor things that can be tweaked on, because there's one
Speaker 1: thing for you. There's two things, right, there's game preparation
Speaker 1: and there's game manager. I've always said Mike Marx when
Speaker 1: he was the offensive coordinator in that Coach of the
Speaker 1: Land for the best game errors I ever saw in
Speaker 1: the NFL. And then the game would start and he'd
Speaker 1: go crazy. You know, he just would he would throw
Speaker 1: away challenges and he would, you know, do things that
Speaker 1: just didn't make any sense. You have to manage the game.
Speaker 1: And you can go back to the Super Bowl. You know,
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan's got a ten point lead in that fourth
Speaker 1: quarter and then it's cut to a four point lead,
Speaker 1: and then the first thing they do is they run
Speaker 1: on first down and then they throw it on second
Speaker 1: and third down. Now you could say George Kittle was
Speaker 1: wide open and Chris Jones doesn't bat the ball down,
Speaker 1: that's a first down. Yeah, But you know he was
Speaker 1: there before with a lead twenty eighth to twelve and
Speaker 1: Super Bowl fifty one on third and one with eight
Speaker 1: minutes to play. Even if you don't get the first down,
Speaker 1: you probably run out enough clock where the Patriots can't
Speaker 1: have to come back. Stick to what got you there,
Speaker 1: And Kyle Shanahan made a living during the postseason out
Speaker 1: of making sure Jimmy Garoppolo didn't throw the football if
Speaker 1: you look at what they did during the playoffs. So
Speaker 1: you have to stick with the things that matter. And
Speaker 1: I felt like at times last year Kellen got away
Speaker 1: from the balance that made the Cowboys very successful. Now,
Speaker 1: the term putting the training wheels back on Kellen Moore's
Speaker 1: bike has kind of been loosely used throughout the facility
Speaker 1: since the hiring of Mike McCarthy. Do you think McCarthy
Speaker 1: can bring an added element of maybe some maturity and
Speaker 1: game management to Kellen Moore in his offense? He asked, Tom,
Speaker 1: you know, like I was mentioning the Mike Marts when
Speaker 1: Dick Formal is the head coach of the Rams. Every
Speaker 1: once in a while, like you know, he let Mike
Speaker 1: call the game, but every once in a a while he
Speaker 1: get on the headsets is like, give the ball to
Speaker 1: twenty eight and I would be Marshall Fark because you
Speaker 1: know Mike Marts, Gretti show on Term, you know Torry Holt,
Speaker 1: Isaac Bruce, Oza, Keen. They had everything you could possibly want.
Speaker 1: I also had the best player in football that was
Speaker 1: not a quarterback in Marshall Fark, and Mike Marts forgot
Speaker 1: and every once in a while Dick Formal get the ball.
Speaker 1: And I think at some point this year might have
Speaker 1: to have Mike McCarthy say to Kellen, we got a
Speaker 1: good running back. Let's just make sure we because even
Speaker 1: if it doesn't work, you have to make the other
Speaker 1: defense defend the run because if they're not, if they're
Speaker 1: just if you're not ever running and they're always just
Speaker 1: going after the quarterback, you're making it easier for them.
Speaker 1: So I get it. It's intricate, it's not as easy
Speaker 1: as as I'm stating it, but at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, you still have to make them think about
Speaker 1: the run as well as the pass. Now, what is
Speaker 1: your biggest concern going into twenty twenty Because you talk
Speaker 1: about the concern of the game management side, but is
Speaker 1: there anything on the defensive side or overall that you
Speaker 1: really are worried about? For the Cowboys, you know, Byron
Speaker 1: Jones was a very good player. Now he wasn't the
Speaker 1: player he was a couple of years ago for the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys, but he's still a very good player. I
Speaker 1: think they have a lot of young secondary players. But
Speaker 1: you know what makes a good secondary is a good
Speaker 1: pass rush. And you know every secondary is a lot
Speaker 1: better when that quarterbacks got to get rid of the
Speaker 1: ball faster. So the biggest thing for me is can
Speaker 1: they generate enough heat? I mean, Tank Lawrence had another
Speaker 1: good season last year. Thinking about that pank because people
Speaker 1: don't look at the sacks. He defends the run as well.
Speaker 1: Like he's a really good all around defensive flair and
Speaker 1: he's good at set in the edge. They're going to
Speaker 1: have to find a way to bring a little pressure.
Speaker 1: And you know, with a contract that they gave Alden Smith,
Speaker 1: that wasn't just they here's a minimum and let's see
Speaker 1: what happens. They gave him some money, which either means
Speaker 1: a there was competition for Aldon Smith or they really
Speaker 1: believe that he can contribute. That is something that is
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna need to see that, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: he hadn't played in a long long time. No, when
Speaker 1: he played, he was really good. That was a long
Speaker 1: time ago. So if you're asked if you're expecting like
Speaker 1: a massive amount of production from Alden Smith, that might
Speaker 1: be a little bit of a stretch. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: need to find a way to get to get to
Speaker 1: the quarterback that I think that's the biggest thing from
Speaker 1: the Cowboys on the defensive side that I'm going to
Speaker 1: need to see. You're echoing what both Isaiah stand Back
Speaker 1: and Rob Phillips have echoed on our show throughout the
Speaker 1: course of the off season is let's not rely too
Speaker 1: heavily on that right defensive in spot. Let's just stop
Speaker 1: the run, help our linebackers out, us helping out the secondary.
Speaker 1: Now i'd tease this a little bit earlier. Super Bowl
Speaker 1: favorite who right now not a prediction, but who is
Speaker 1: your favorite going into twenty twenty to win this year's
Speaker 1: Super Bowl? Well, look, it hasn't happened since Super Bowls
Speaker 1: thirty eight thirty nine, when the Patriots repeated, but try
Speaker 1: and tell me how you're gonna stop Patrick Mahomes. He's
Speaker 1: the best player in football. He's going to set the
Speaker 1: market whenever he signs that contract. He's the ultimate weapon,
Speaker 1: I mean, his super The best way I can describe Patricks,
Speaker 1: or as I refer to him Hall of Famer Patricks,
Speaker 1: is that that Super Bowl was the worst game of
Speaker 1: his career until he decided it wasn't going to be
Speaker 1: the worst career, you know. I mean, just look at
Speaker 1: their playoff run down twenty four to the Texas, no problem,
Speaker 1: down ten twice in the AFC Championship game to the Titans,
Speaker 1: not a thing, down ten points with seven plus minutes
Speaker 1: to play to the forty ninety third and fifteen. The
Speaker 1: audio clip of the year was Patrick Holmes on the
Speaker 1: sidelines during that review of the drop by Tyree Hill,
Speaker 1: looking Eric at the enemy, the offensive coordinator for the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: and said, do we have time to run Wasp? Oh
Speaker 1: my god, they run Wasp and he is so wide
Speaker 1: open by the way that throw on I think you
Speaker 1: dropped back eleven steps to get that ball to avoid
Speaker 1: the rush that throw was the longest air yard throw
Speaker 1: of the entire season for Patrick Malomes to Tyreek Hill,
Speaker 1: and that changed the entire game. That dude, is incredible.
Speaker 1: And it's not just the plays and the offense that
Speaker 1: the Andy re runs. When the machine breaks down, Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes can do things that no other quarterback can. Now
Speaker 1: you add that team coming back almost intact both offensively
Speaker 1: and defensively, and to get the perfect running back in
Speaker 1: the first round of the draft, Clyde Edwards Hilaire and
Speaker 1: the things he was able to do in college at LSU.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's like God came down and said, Andy,
Speaker 1: take this get and so to me, the Chiefs are
Speaker 1: by far the team that I think has the best
Speaker 1: chance to win the Super Bowl. Now it's interesting on
Speaker 1: the NFC side. Look, I think the Niners are a
Speaker 1: very good team, but it took the last play of
Speaker 1: the last game of the regular season for them to
Speaker 1: get home field advantage. And the NFC West didn't get easier,
Speaker 1: it got tougher. You could legitimately make a case for
Speaker 1: all four teams in the NFC West making the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Seattle is always going to be there. With Russell Wilson look,
Speaker 1: I know people think the Rams are done because they
Speaker 1: lost Todd Gurley in a bunch of other players, But
Speaker 1: even with Todd Gurley being a non factor last year,
Speaker 1: under the current playoff format we're going with this year,
Speaker 1: they would have been the seventh seed and Kyler Murray
Speaker 1: just got DeAndre Hopkins outside alongside Larry Fitzgerald. The NFC
Speaker 1: West is going to be a tough out this year,
Speaker 1: and I think it's going to be harder for them
Speaker 1: to make it back based on the division, even though
Speaker 1: they're a very good team than it is for anybody
Speaker 1: to upset or up end the Chiefs as the AFC representative. Now,
Speaker 1: final question before you before we letting you go. You
Speaker 1: mentioned the new playoff format. That's just one of many
Speaker 1: new changes coming to the NFL. And you've got the
Speaker 1: longer season coming up in a couple of seasons, you've
Speaker 1: got the new playoff format, the most notably this year,
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen and having to deal with that pandemic. What
Speaker 1: exactly do you feel like the protocols are going to
Speaker 1: look like and what is this you're going to look like?
Speaker 1: If you had to make an opinion today, when when
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert tests are positive for the first time, when
Speaker 1: the first NBA, first professional player that's positive, and then
Speaker 1: you know this teammate TESTI positive, and you about a
Speaker 1: few more going through it. I think the way we
Speaker 1: deal with it now is okay, like Malcolm Brodgit just
Speaker 1: tested positive, but I'll be fine. I made symptomatic. I'll
Speaker 1: be final to be joining our team. The question is
Speaker 1: going to become not what people have positive test that's
Speaker 1: going to count it. We're seeing that the universities and
Speaker 1: all the baseball players. The question is going to become
Speaker 1: a house serious does it affect those players that are
Speaker 1: tested positive? And how can you contain the spread? Like
Speaker 1: for baseball, for this restart, they basically have a thirty
Speaker 1: a sixty man taxi squad we're talking about that they
Speaker 1: can bring under the regular season. The NFL is gonna
Speaker 1: have to adopt that model. I mean, you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to wave whatever we think our normal roster exclusions or
Speaker 1: limitation because as Herm Edwards, my good friend says, if
Speaker 1: you're practicing social distancing, you are a terrible football player.
Speaker 1: There's no way around that. So we can have all
Speaker 1: these provisions about training camp and doing this and doing
Speaker 1: that better. Today, one offensive line is gonna have to
Speaker 1: run into another defensive line. All that's out the window.
Speaker 1: So when there are tests that show up and test positive,
Speaker 1: how can we effectively take those players out the test
Speaker 1: positive until they're okay and bring in someone else to
Speaker 1: build that position. Because the last thing we can have
Speaker 1: is a team that suddenly has ten players out of
Speaker 1: a forty six man roster that test positive. They're going
Speaker 1: to have to find a way to keep the fluidity
Speaker 1: of the roster going forward as long as they're playing football.
Speaker 1: I think that's the biggest challenge because those tests are coming.
Speaker 1: There's no way around there's no way around it. A
Speaker 1: question then becomes us, how do we keep the roster
Speaker 1: fluid so we don't have players or teams forfeiting games
Speaker 1: because we can't field enough players, And hopefully we stay
Speaker 1: safer than normal, but we also stay ready and willing
Speaker 1: to be able to adapt. It's kind of like what
Speaker 1: you were saying early on, you got to be able
Speaker 1: to adapt in broadcasting with this COVID nineteen, it's it's
Speaker 1: a whole big thing of being able to adjust. And
Speaker 1: hopefully that's better said or easier said, than done. Moving forward,
Speaker 1: But Trey one of the thank you again so much
Speaker 1: for joining us here on Talking Cowboys. If you ever
Speaker 1: make it back down or whenever you make it back
Speaker 1: down here to the lone Star State, you got a
Speaker 1: middle of the the lighting in a tour of the Star
Speaker 1: on us. Have you ever been to the Star as
Speaker 1: a Cowboys fan? I have not, you know if obvious
Speaker 1: have been the new stadium a bunch, I have a
Speaker 1: bunch of friends I've not. I have yet to see
Speaker 1: the facilities. I will absolutely take you up on it
Speaker 1: sounds good. We'll welcome you down here to Frisco. Of
Speaker 1: course wheneverything everything blows over, But until then stay say
Speaker 1: thank you again for joining us me I'll no problem
Speaker 1: to take care. So for Trey Wingo, I'm Kyle Yeoman's
Speaker 1: thanks so much for listening and watching here on Talking Cowboys.
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time.