Speaker 1: The following Here's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Let's go. Are you
Speaker 1: ready for 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. Monday,
Speaker 1: November two, twenty twenty, Season sixteen, episode number fifty six.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the latest edition of The Break. We're Alive
Speaker 1: from the s WBC Mortgage studios. At the start, Nick
Speaker 1: and Dave are joining me. Amber quit. She was like,
Speaker 1: I'm done with all of this now. She really didn't.
Speaker 1: She just out today she'll be back tomorrow, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure say you can't say that. I know, right, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure believe it. I'm sure tomorrow she's gonna have
Speaker 1: fire that will just kind of be spraying out. So
Speaker 1: make sure you're tune into Mart here whatever has to
Speaker 1: say about the game from yesterday. But Cowboys lose twenty
Speaker 1: three nine to the Philadelphia Eagles. It was a game that,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, was a positive, I know, as much
Speaker 1: as of a positive as you can get out of
Speaker 1: a loss. But they did play better than what I've
Speaker 1: seen over the last at least since since since Dak
Speaker 1: has been out. And so we're gonna break it all
Speaker 1: down for you. We're gonna start what we normally start
Speaker 1: on Monday's following games. I want to ask you, guys,
Speaker 1: what do you think it's the biggest storyline coming out
Speaker 1: of this game. We'll start first with you, Nick. I
Speaker 1: thought the quarterback was as I wrote my and my column,
Speaker 1: I thought the quarterback was was really bad. He missed
Speaker 1: a lot of throws. And then and then I talked
Speaker 1: about de Nucci and who also was bad and missed
Speaker 1: a lot of throws. It just came down the quarterback.
Speaker 1: And as I wrote yesterday, a decent quarterback performance wins
Speaker 1: the game a decent and they didn't have it, and
Speaker 1: he didn't expect it to be that great. But I mean,
Speaker 1: it just it. He wasn't ready. He wasn't ready. He tried,
Speaker 1: he fought, you know, he gave, he gave it as all,
Speaker 1: but he just he wasn't ready. And that's it was
Speaker 1: just unfortunate because that game was for the taking. If
Speaker 1: they had a better, better quarterback play, I think Andy
Speaker 1: Dold wins that game easily. If it's like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think easily, and I think Dak and then blow him out,
Speaker 1: that's how bad Philadelphia wasn't how bad they played. Yep, Dave,
Speaker 1: what's the biggest storyline for you? Well, I'll get to
Speaker 1: my storyline, but yeah, it reminded me of the first
Speaker 1: Philly game last year. You know, Dallas really needed to
Speaker 1: get right game and they got the takeaways they needed
Speaker 1: right off the bat. They had Dak and they did
Speaker 1: blow Philly out. So I mean, I agree if you
Speaker 1: get if you get that performance with a more competent quarterback,
Speaker 1: you probably do win going away. Which to that point,
Speaker 1: I guess my big takeaway is if the defense plays
Speaker 1: like that the majority of the way, the rest of
Speaker 1: the way, like they should be in every game that
Speaker 1: they played. I don't know if that means they're gonna
Speaker 1: win more than four or five games, but I mean,
Speaker 1: the effort was there, the takeaways were there, the limiting
Speaker 1: big plays was there. Um, I guess I'm stuck weighing, like,
Speaker 1: you know, how much of that is the defense turning
Speaker 1: the corner and how much of that is Philly being atrocious.
Speaker 1: I didn't realize this until after the game. Maybe I
Speaker 1: should have. I knew Carson Wentz turned the ball over
Speaker 1: a lot. He's got one hundred and two turnovers in
Speaker 1: less than five full seasons of play. I know you
Speaker 1: that's just uh, I know you've looked at Dacks that Sorry,
Speaker 1: go ahead, I'm just I'm just saying, I'm sure when
Speaker 1: you did that, you gotta look at dacks numbers. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I mean absolutely, and they I mean they're not even,
Speaker 1: They're not close. I can pull them up right now.
Speaker 1: Dakas and picks, yeah, fumbles and picks. Um, Yeah, dak
Speaker 1: is a Dack is a full thirty behind Das. Dacks
Speaker 1: at like sixty, Daks about sixty, and Carson Wentz is
Speaker 1: at one hundred and two, which the point is his
Speaker 1: career too. Yeah, yeah, good Dave. The guy, the guy
Speaker 1: just loves turning the ball over. And so I'm sitting
Speaker 1: here thinking, like, okay, okay, defense, like four takeaways, that's
Speaker 1: more than you had all season coming into this. If
Speaker 1: you give us that kind of effort, you know you
Speaker 1: can expect to be in most of the games You're
Speaker 1: gonna play the rest of the way. But is that
Speaker 1: realistic or is Philly just awful? That's kind of what
Speaker 1: I'm grappling with this morning. Yeah, I agree with you
Speaker 1: that Philly is awful, But I look back at two
Speaker 1: weeks ago when they played a Washington football team and
Speaker 1: Kyle Allen that were equally bad, and they made them
Speaker 1: look like a really, really good offense, and so I
Speaker 1: do think there was some improvement from the standpoint of
Speaker 1: the defense. And I don't think it necessarily had all
Speaker 1: to do with the fact that Philadelphia has a bad offense.
Speaker 1: I think some of it had to do with the
Speaker 1: fact that the Cowboys played better football than they've been playing.
Speaker 1: It started off kind of rough in the running game, particularly,
Speaker 1: and as the game war on, you started seeing Layton
Speaker 1: come around and play a little bit better. You saw
Speaker 1: a tank make some plays at different moments of the
Speaker 1: game in the run game as well as the past game.
Speaker 1: So I think all over, I look at this defense
Speaker 1: and that was the positive I came away with. And
Speaker 1: by the way, right now, and this might be wrong,
Speaker 1: I'm not really I don't really care as much about
Speaker 1: wins and losses, Like the wins and losses don't do
Speaker 1: a ton for me at this point with this team,
Speaker 1: what I want to see is I want to see
Speaker 1: do they have who are the pieces that need to
Speaker 1: stick around for next year. I want to see if
Speaker 1: this coach can get a team that is by all
Speaker 1: accounts done to still play as though they're not done,
Speaker 1: because that'll tell me a lot about him and his
Speaker 1: ability to coach. And yesterday I saw some of those
Speaker 1: things that made me have a positive feeling about this team. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's fair. All right, let's go ahead and move on.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about some of the moments that mattered. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna start off with the first win, and then we'll
Speaker 1: go around and we'll do a few that you guys
Speaker 1: saw as well. It was the first quarter. Dallas was
Speaker 1: up three to nothing at this point. It was the
Speaker 1: series following the forced fumble and recovery by Donovan Wilson, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, was a heck of a play by
Speaker 1: young man. I mean, just the ability to have the
Speaker 1: closing speed to get to the quarterback, hit him, knock
Speaker 1: the ball, lose and recover it. I thought it was
Speaker 1: all really really great play by him. And they got
Speaker 1: the possession the ball at the Philly twenty five, so
Speaker 1: it's second and goal at the Philly seven. At this point,
Speaker 1: still gets beat by Brandon Graham, gets a sack, forced
Speaker 1: fumble and recovery, no point points and at least to possession.
Speaker 1: They gave Philly its first touchdown. To me, that was
Speaker 1: the first moment that mattered in that game, because they
Speaker 1: were in position at that point to be able to
Speaker 1: take at least a sixth nothing lead, maybe getting the
Speaker 1: end zone. That was I think it was the closest
Speaker 1: they got all day to the end zone at the seven.
Speaker 1: And I'm sorry, First and goal at the four at
Speaker 1: the fourth, yes, and that to me, and I'll just
Speaker 1: say that one of my five players done to forget
Speaker 1: was the play before the fumble three yard loss by Zeke.
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, first and goal in the four. You
Speaker 1: can do so many things, but when you get a
Speaker 1: three yard loss, well now you have to throw it,
Speaker 1: and that kind of open that up. I thought the
Speaker 1: first down getting stuffed like that really changed the whole
Speaker 1: dynamic though, And I mean he got hit right in
Speaker 1: the hole there. Yeah, And I want to talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about Zeke. We'll talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: his performance yesterday. But to me, that was the first
Speaker 1: moment in this game that really really mattered, Dave, what
Speaker 1: can I just can I just say that was the
Speaker 1: only moment that mattered. I really believe that, really, like
Speaker 1: we can go through the hole. Yeah absolutely, I really.
Speaker 1: I don't want to sign hyperbolic, but when they didn't
Speaker 1: get a touchdown there, I was like, they probably won't
Speaker 1: win this game. Like because with the amount of things
Speaker 1: that are against you, playing Ben d Nucci, you get
Speaker 1: gifted an opportunity like that and a chance to go
Speaker 1: up two possessions right off the bat. I think it
Speaker 1: changes the entire dynamic of the game. Philly's playing catch
Speaker 1: up a little bit earlier. You can try to control
Speaker 1: the game with your run game, and you know to
Speaker 1: think that you're gonna trade points with a team that
Speaker 1: has its preferred starting quarterback. Even as bad as Carson
Speaker 1: Wentz was, and he was very bad, he made the
Speaker 1: plays down the stretch that mattered, And I wonder if
Speaker 1: if going up multiple possessions changes the dynamic of that.
Speaker 1: I just thought that possession was so important. I tweeted
Speaker 1: this out and I don't know what you guys think,
Speaker 1: but but when it was I might have been first
Speaker 1: and goal to four, or maybe the play before I
Speaker 1: was like, this is absolutely man, Dave, I said, absolutely,
Speaker 1: this is this is a fourdown territory. You know, this
Speaker 1: is you have to get a touchdown here because you
Speaker 1: just got a gift. Like he said, you got a
Speaker 1: gift and you gotta go score six. Nothing doesn't do
Speaker 1: anything for me. I mean, I guess it in hindsight
Speaker 1: would have been nice, but I mean just saying you
Speaker 1: gotta go get a touchdown, And so I wondered if
Speaker 1: they were thinking that way too. It didn't matter because
Speaker 1: of the fumble. Yeah, and to be honest with the
Speaker 1: end and you mentioned that play before where they got
Speaker 1: stuff for a three yard loss. It's hard to even
Speaker 1: look at that and say, well, should they have done
Speaker 1: something different? Nothing was really working offensively. I mean they
Speaker 1: didn't really have a lot of great options there. I
Speaker 1: mean you could have said, do you want to throw
Speaker 1: into the end zone? But then you know, you get
Speaker 1: sack fumbled the next play, right, So it's it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't really know that there was a better call.
Speaker 1: I think you're just working with such limited parts at
Speaker 1: this point that you just kind of have to deal
Speaker 1: with what you have to deal with, And especially with
Speaker 1: Ben Denucci, I just don't think he was ready for
Speaker 1: this kind of game at this point in his career. No,
Speaker 1: I agree, you have to help him, and you know,
Speaker 1: and they tried all those trick plays and things like that,
Speaker 1: which I love. I love that they weren't willing to
Speaker 1: just say next man up, and they actually tried some
Speaker 1: different things. So you know, the double reverse right off
Speaker 1: the bat that worked, and then maybe a fake reverse
Speaker 1: to Tony Pollard. Nothing else really, but you have to try. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: you have to try. I would have you know, I
Speaker 1: know you guys are gonna be surprised, but I would
Speaker 1: have tried to flee flicker. I would have How did
Speaker 1: I know that? Somehow you would have tried to flee flicker.
Speaker 1: I don't know whose moment is Big Day's back, but
Speaker 1: let's just go ahead and go with you, just to
Speaker 1: be sure. There is here. I hear Kelsey is Kelsey
Speaker 1: in there? No, yeah, Kelsey's here. She's working on something else,
Speaker 1: but here on the show. I know, right, No, I'm trying.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to not be mad at her, but I
Speaker 1: think she killed my I think there's too many people
Speaker 1: using the network here. But that's okay. We don't need
Speaker 1: to talk about it. Well, maybe both of yells should
Speaker 1: be on the same show, and then maybe we would
Speaker 1: have this problem. I'm just saying, but go ahead. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, and I think everybody on here tweeted about it.
Speaker 1: I saw a bunch, I saw Brian brought us tweet
Speaker 1: this play. So this is this is kind of an
Speaker 1: easy one. Um. But you know, they get an interception
Speaker 1: by Digs in the third quarter, up nine to seven,
Speaker 1: and you could tell they came out in the third
Speaker 1: quarter and they had a plan. Okay, we're good. Zeke
Speaker 1: for nine, Zeke for six, eight, Polo for seven, Poulot
Speaker 1: for two, Paulot for nine, Zeke for two. So it's
Speaker 1: second and eight to twenty six. Let's run a double
Speaker 1: reverse to Cedric Wilson to try to throw it. He
Speaker 1: gets a ten yard loss for ten yards by Fletcher
Speaker 1: Cox and that changed everything. They ended up kicking a
Speaker 1: field goal and missing fort two yards. Buy Zeroline missed it,
Speaker 1: you know, put it would have put them up twelve seven.
Speaker 1: That's a big deal. When you're down fifteen to twelve
Speaker 1: and you're driving at the end of the game, you know,
Speaker 1: a little different scenario there. So I just thought, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you could keep running it like that,
Speaker 1: but it was like it was cute, and it was
Speaker 1: it was too cute probably at that moment I said
Speaker 1: it last night though, would anybody have been mad if
Speaker 1: they had just kept running it? Like, even if it
Speaker 1: didn't work, just just run that thing until you either
Speaker 1: score points or you're forced to kick a field goal.
Speaker 1: And it would probably have been shorter than fifty two yards.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, right, And even if you take a negative play,
Speaker 1: your negative play is maybe a negative three, it's not
Speaker 1: a negative ten, right, so you at least are gonna
Speaker 1: get at this point, you feel like avoiding a fumble,
Speaker 1: you at least are gonna get three points out of it.
Speaker 1: And they end up with you know, nothing. And I
Speaker 1: think that was the part that was a little bit
Speaker 1: hard to swallow on that. Yeah, what would you would
Speaker 1: you guys have liked to see them just at that
Speaker 1: point just keep running it, I think so, I mean, yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean a little and and I think you know,
Speaker 1: some the fake reverses work a little bit too, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, because you just got your eyes move in
Speaker 1: different ways. I mean maybe maybe a Denucci roll out there, um,
Speaker 1: you know it would have been would have been good.
Speaker 1: I thought, man, what y'all think about that block by
Speaker 1: Schultz that was called for holding? You remember that anything
Speaker 1: you didn't see? Yeah, I didn't see. I didn't see
Speaker 1: old I didn't I didn't either, I didn't you know,
Speaker 1: And I was watching it. I was like, I wonder
Speaker 1: what Mickey is saying right now. Mickey was like, because
Speaker 1: you know they never hold it. But uh, I thought
Speaker 1: it was a good block by Schultz. I mean, I'm like,
Speaker 1: where are the hands, like where you know? Or is
Speaker 1: it on the outside. Sometimes I just thought he did
Speaker 1: everything you were supposed to do. What I think happened there,
Speaker 1: in my personal opinion is you saw there at the
Speaker 1: end the defender kind of jerked away, and I think
Speaker 1: when he jerked because of where the hand placement was
Speaker 1: when he jerked, I think the ref just was like, well,
Speaker 1: of course he's holding him for him to have to
Speaker 1: jerk away like that, And so I think that's actually
Speaker 1: what ended up happening, whether he was holding him or not.
Speaker 1: You know, refs look at things, they look at little keys,
Speaker 1: and based on those keys, they make calls, right, So
Speaker 1: I think that's what happened, especially when they're standing on
Speaker 1: the sideline of a team that's yelling. Hold, I mean
Speaker 1: that happened. Yeah, if you're on that sideline, you're definitely
Speaker 1: gonna get that call. Ye all right, I got a
Speaker 1: random question for y'all, Sorry, Eric, did Did did Tony
Speaker 1: Pollard take any Wildcats snaps last night? Because I kind
Speaker 1: of feel like he should have. Yeah, I do too,
Speaker 1: But no, I didn't see that. Like the guy's got juice.
Speaker 1: He looked like he had more juice than Zeke last
Speaker 1: night and Zeke well, okay, well we can get I'm
Speaker 1: just saying maybe that might have been a good idea.
Speaker 1: We'll say this. Why did it seem like every Wildcats
Speaker 1: snap took an hour and a half to get there
Speaker 1: and it was off to the to the side, Like
Speaker 1: it seemed like every time zenot the ball, it was
Speaker 1: kind of like, let me go get It wasn't like
Speaker 1: back to him, it was kind of I don't know.
Speaker 1: There have been people for weeks, there have been people
Speaker 1: on Twitter that are like, Beyondish's snaps take forever to
Speaker 1: get to the backfield like that. That has been a
Speaker 1: thing if you you know, if you're following on Twitter.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, maybe something for him to work on.
Speaker 1: Work on that. Joe Looney told me, I think I'll
Speaker 1: be back next week. Question is what position where? I
Speaker 1: don't know. Yeah, there's there's a lot of stuff to
Speaker 1: talk about on that offensive line too, and we'll get
Speaker 1: to some of that a little bit later as well.
Speaker 1: There's really not Derek. There's one thing to talk about.
Speaker 1: It's the right tackle position. But okay, well let's hold
Speaker 1: that thought because I actually have some thoughts on that
Speaker 1: particular position and it's not gonna be what you think,
Speaker 1: So let's talk a little bit about that. I keep
Speaker 1: point at you because I want you to know what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. God, it's well, it's it's my fault
Speaker 1: that my signal cut out. For the millionth time. I apologize.
Speaker 1: But even with everything else, like, I still think if
Speaker 1: they managed to score a touchdown on that possession on
Speaker 1: the Philly in the Philly red zone instead of fumbling
Speaker 1: it away, I just think you change the entire complexion
Speaker 1: of that game. Because I know, you know, Dallas took
Speaker 1: a lead at halftime, and they have a chance to
Speaker 1: go take a lead if if not for the Cedric
Speaker 1: Wilson play. But I just think you're in such a
Speaker 1: better position to win if you're up by two possessions
Speaker 1: and you can kind of dictate things as opposed to
Speaker 1: having to figure out ways to trade scores with Philly,
Speaker 1: which is what they wound up having to do. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, if I could have one thing back, it's that,
Speaker 1: and it's not even close. Yeah, ye, all right, we're
Speaker 1: gonna take our first break when we come back. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get Dave's moment that matter, and then we're gonna
Speaker 1: get into some performance reviews. There are lots of guys
Speaker 1: we need to talk about, including Zeke, including Amari Cooper,
Speaker 1: and we certainly will get to this offense in line.
Speaker 1: We'll do all that when we come right back. This
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Speaker 1: second segment of the Break Life from the s WBC
Speaker 1: Mortgage Studios at the Star. Dave told me in the
Speaker 1: break that he's already talked about his moment that mattered.
Speaker 1: I think we hit the two that I think most
Speaker 1: we all agree were the two biggest moments of that game.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna go ahead and move on to the
Speaker 1: performance reviews, and we'll start first with Ben Denucci. He
Speaker 1: was twenty one to forty fifty three percent completion rate,
Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty yards, zero touchdown, zero interceptions. Sixty
Speaker 1: four point six was his rating, and he rushed five
Speaker 1: times for twenty two yards. How surprised were you that
Speaker 1: they didn't run him more and they didn't throw down
Speaker 1: feel more? Knowing that going into the week, what we
Speaker 1: heard heard about him was that he has a big
Speaker 1: arm and he can run. Now, those were the two
Speaker 1: things that it seemed like the coaches were saying about
Speaker 1: him that others who have scouted him have said about him.
Speaker 1: Were surprised that they didn't do more of those two
Speaker 1: things with him, Nick, I don't know if they had
Speaker 1: a lot of time to throw the ball down the field, Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, they could have done a little bit more
Speaker 1: of that, Um, Tony, the wind was kind of an
Speaker 1: issue down there. It was. We saw that on the
Speaker 1: kick ye long Ki Yeah, I mean it was it
Speaker 1: was it was different. Um, you know, I remember one
Speaker 1: roll out with him that they they you know, the
Speaker 1: designed run. But I just think they were trying to
Speaker 1: protect them. Mean, I thought he was gonna be a
Speaker 1: little better than that, you know, I kind of he
Speaker 1: reminds me. He does remind me a lot of Romo
Speaker 1: at this point in his career. And you know, if
Speaker 1: Romo had played his first year, in his eighth week,
Speaker 1: it probably would have looked like that. Yeah. So uh,
Speaker 1: I just and I asked this to Dave and Rob earlier.
Speaker 1: Did he ever make one throw that was like that
Speaker 1: was a good throw? It's so funny. I asked the
Speaker 1: exact same question Amber last night after the game. I
Speaker 1: was like, can you point to one throw last night?
Speaker 1: I meant, one throw during that game that you look
Speaker 1: at you're like, huh okay, really good throw. I couldn't
Speaker 1: remember a single one. That doesn't mean it did to happen.
Speaker 1: I just couldn't remember a single one. Yeah, I don't either.
Speaker 1: I think Dave maybe had one. I'm I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna say they were good throws. I just he
Speaker 1: had two or three completions past the sticks to Michael Gallop, like,
Speaker 1: you know, twelve thirteen yards. That that's all I got.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that they were like amazing throws, but
Speaker 1: he tried, and I mean I had that was more
Speaker 1: or less. That was more or less exactly what I
Speaker 1: thought it would look like. Like. He carried the ball
Speaker 1: five times for twenty yards. I think he had another
Speaker 1: carry called back by a penalty. They tried to do
Speaker 1: some you know, read option keeper to keep the defense. Honest,
Speaker 1: I think he threw he threw at least two shots
Speaker 1: down field, and I think they were both to Gallop.
Speaker 1: One of them never had a chance, and then the
Speaker 1: other one was incomplete. And I mean, I just I
Speaker 1: think that's just kind of what you're supposed to expect
Speaker 1: when you when you're playing a seventh round rookie in
Speaker 1: his first game. And I think, you know, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of that. I think a lot of that
Speaker 1: not like making fun of him, but I think a
Speaker 1: lot of that was like gamesmanship, you know, like you know,
Speaker 1: Michael Gallop and Dalton Schultz are like, oh yeah, I like,
Speaker 1: this kid can sling it. I mean, because at that point,
Speaker 1: what do you have to lose? But if you were
Speaker 1: expecting bend Nucci to go in there and throw for
Speaker 1: three thirty, I just think your expectations were out of whack. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And to be honestly, I wasn't necessarily even expecting completions.
Speaker 1: I was expecting them to give it a shot, like
Speaker 1: take some opportunities to try to just get him down field.
Speaker 1: They did Max protect quite a bit last night, so
Speaker 1: I thought was at least once or twice during the
Speaker 1: game they would max protect and try to get the
Speaker 1: guys two guys maybe even running down feel maybe even three,
Speaker 1: maybe using Scholtz if you if you want to keep
Speaker 1: one tight end back and have Scholtz going up the seam.
Speaker 1: I just thought at some point would do something to
Speaker 1: try to really test and challenge the Philadelphia defense downfield.
Speaker 1: And it just didn't seem like they really did that.
Speaker 1: Maybe they didn't think they had time to do that
Speaker 1: without him getting killed, which that's a legitimate concern. We
Speaker 1: saw it happening on a few plays, but I wasn't
Speaker 1: a little surprised. Let's move on to Zeke Elliott. He
Speaker 1: had nineteen carries for sixty three yards, an average of
Speaker 1: three point three. My question for you guys, or are
Speaker 1: the Cowboys getting the most out of Ezechiel Elliott. They
Speaker 1: really didn't use much in the screen game. I think
Speaker 1: they may have had one screen that they tried the
Speaker 1: whole game. It doesn't seem like this season he's been
Speaker 1: a great receiving option out of the backfield. A number
Speaker 1: of balls have kind of hit his hands, but he
Speaker 1: hasn't made the catch. Doesn't make many guys miss or
Speaker 1: break a lot of tackles anymore. And I've noticed in
Speaker 1: the last couple of games, I've been kind of paying
Speaker 1: attention to it. I mean, in players where he manages
Speaker 1: to get to the safety, it's not a lot of
Speaker 1: times when he makes that safety miss where he breaks
Speaker 1: that safety tackle. So the question is, do you think
Speaker 1: the Cowboys getting the most out of Ezekiel? That's possible, Dave,
Speaker 1: not even close. You know, I like Zeke. I think
Speaker 1: he's a good player, but he's he's a very good
Speaker 1: running back who he is not in the mold of
Speaker 1: a running back who can do it all by himself.
Speaker 1: Like you don't. You don't hold your breath when he
Speaker 1: gets the ball, you know, you know, I doubt he.
Speaker 1: I mean, he definitely hasn't had a gain of more
Speaker 1: than sixteen seventeen yards this year, and I would guess
Speaker 1: he's probably only had about five of those in the
Speaker 1: last three years. You know, it's infamous at this point,
Speaker 1: but Stephen Jones maybe two years ago called him the
Speaker 1: straw that stirs the drink, and it's just not true.
Speaker 1: I'm not anymore. It might have been at one point,
Speaker 1: but you know, they've scored fewer points in the last
Speaker 1: three games than they did during the final quarter of
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott's time, you know, twenty four points against the
Speaker 1: Browns in the fourth quarter, I believe in twenty two
Speaker 1: since he got hurt. This is Dak Prescott's offense. And
Speaker 1: Ezekiel can still be really effective when everything is right
Speaker 1: around him, but he's he's not the guy that can
Speaker 1: do it all by himself, and that Hey, that sucks
Speaker 1: because he has to right now and be it sucks
Speaker 1: because of you know, the contract that he's playing on.
Speaker 1: But it is what it is. Nick, Yeah, I agreeing
Speaker 1: with everything him. He's not He's not stirring it right now.
Speaker 1: It's kind of watered down. He's not doing he's not
Speaker 1: doing that. And I think he's trying to do a lot.
Speaker 1: I mean he's trying to. He's the only guy that
Speaker 1: they really you know that they have it now. I
Speaker 1: mean they have Pollard and they can you know. I
Speaker 1: like what they kind of mixed it up a little bit.
Speaker 1: I mean, I didn't think Zeke played a bad game.
Speaker 1: I hope my expectations aren't lowering to the point where
Speaker 1: we were like, oh, that was okay. I mean I
Speaker 1: thought it was, you know, it was okay. You know,
Speaker 1: I look at his stats right now, he's on pace
Speaker 1: to barely get a thousand yards. But no, it's not
Speaker 1: that's not good anymore. Enough of the Moneys No. Five
Speaker 1: twenty one is his rushing yards. I look over at
Speaker 1: Philly Miles Sanders and he's at four thirty four did
Speaker 1: not play the last two games. Now, yeah, at least two,
Speaker 1: maybe three. He's got seventy one stories and uh and
Speaker 1: Zeke has one hundred and thirty two. I mean so,
Speaker 1: I mean, and I don't think Miles Sanders is a
Speaker 1: great dynamic back, but you know, I just think that
Speaker 1: Zeke he's It's just there's no balance anymore. There's no
Speaker 1: balance with with the offense. And when they had balanced, boy,
Speaker 1: he was he was as good as that, you know,
Speaker 1: as he could be. And I think he's gonna I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think he's done. I mean I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't think that at all. I just think this offense
Speaker 1: needs to get back, uh, get their players back, at
Speaker 1: their pieces back. I mean, I think he can have
Speaker 1: a really great year next year when they have when
Speaker 1: they have their guys back. But I think right now
Speaker 1: is this tough sledding. Well, what you're seeing right now?
Speaker 1: Do you put more? Glad Dave? No, I mean I
Speaker 1: want to, I don't. I don't think he's done either.
Speaker 1: I still think he's a good player, but he's he's
Speaker 1: not the guy who can still be productive with nothing
Speaker 1: else around him. You know, maybe obviously he's hurt right now,
Speaker 1: but you kind of saw se Quon bark do that
Speaker 1: when he was a rookie. You know, he's a guy
Speaker 1: that's capable of doing two thousand all purpose yards on
Speaker 1: a trash offense. And I just think, you know, I
Speaker 1: think Zeke needs good quarterback play and better offensive line
Speaker 1: play to be as successful as we're used to seeing.
Speaker 1: Which there's nothing wrong with that. That describes a lot
Speaker 1: of running backs. That describes most running backs. But it
Speaker 1: hurts that he's on this contract and isn't capable of
Speaker 1: manufacturing more on his own. Yeah, and those guys that
Speaker 1: did Barkley, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, bad teams good you know,
Speaker 1: great players. They can break long you know, long runs
Speaker 1: or long passes and whatever. You know, they get chunk yards,
Speaker 1: and you were not seeing that at a Zeke at all.
Speaker 1: Twenty four yards is as long as play this season.
Speaker 1: Do you put more blame on his abilities or on
Speaker 1: the fact that there are so many injuries on the
Speaker 1: offense right now? Dave, I mean, it sucks to say, because,
Speaker 1: like you would expect more from a guy who makes
Speaker 1: fifty million dollars a year. But I think it's more
Speaker 1: about what's not around him, Like he doesn't have a
Speaker 1: quarterback that scares defenses, or he didn't last night. At
Speaker 1: least maybe he can get that back to some degree
Speaker 1: with Dalton, But he also doesn't have an offensive line
Speaker 1: that can open that can open it up for him. Um,
Speaker 1: which for the tenth time, you know, you would think
Speaker 1: that a guy who commands that kind of salary can
Speaker 1: do a little bit more on his own, but it's
Speaker 1: just not the case based on what we've seen so
Speaker 1: far this year. I don't know. I mean, what was
Speaker 1: the actual question. Do you think this is more about
Speaker 1: his abilities about the injuries? Yeah, it is a combina.
Speaker 1: It's a combination of both. I mean, it is this
Speaker 1: because the injuries are affecting the passing game, which affects
Speaker 1: the running game. You know, it's like it's like it's
Speaker 1: a domino effect. But I think that, but he wasn't
Speaker 1: really lighting it up before Dak went down, and they
Speaker 1: were getting yards in the passing game, right they were.
Speaker 1: They were throwing the ball all around the yard, and
Speaker 1: he wasn't really lightening it up. He wasn't having the
Speaker 1: kind of games you're like, Okay, Zeke is a like
Speaker 1: he is the straw that ur starts to drink, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean I think, like I said,
Speaker 1: I think it's the balance of the offense. It's just
Speaker 1: it's just out of whack right now. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm just not at a point I maybe
Speaker 1: I'm delusing them, but I'm just not at a point
Speaker 1: where I just don't think that that he's got it anymore.
Speaker 1: I don't I think that that you know, you need
Speaker 1: because because you say, well, he wasn't really lighting Yeah,
Speaker 1: they were passing it, but I mean this team can
Speaker 1: pass block decently decently. Yeah, they give up some big plays,
Speaker 1: but like they're not I mean Lionel and tyring or
Speaker 1: malling people on the on the old line, they're pushing
Speaker 1: people back. They really affect the running game more than
Speaker 1: I think that they're they get credit for, all right,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go and take our final break. When we
Speaker 1: come back, we're gonna talk a little bit more about
Speaker 1: the offensive line and Mary Cooper, and then we'll get
Speaker 1: to a couple of the defensive players as well that
Speaker 1: when come back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio
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Speaker 1: dot com Slash United Welcome Back. Final segment of The
Speaker 1: Break Life in the s WBC Mortgage Studios. At the
Speaker 1: start with doing for performance reviews, let's talk about Amari Cooper.
Speaker 1: He had five targets, he had one reception, he had
Speaker 1: five yards. What's going on with Himri Nick? I don't know.
Speaker 1: He's been their only receiver that's been, you know, really
Speaker 1: productive this whole year. And he hasn't been dynamic. He
Speaker 1: just catches a lot of passes, and you know, he's
Speaker 1: been a true possession receiver this year. I can't answer this.
Speaker 1: I would have thought, you're a guy that's averaging ten
Speaker 1: yards a catch, almost eleven. He's your best route runner,
Speaker 1: he's got really good hands. I would have thought he
Speaker 1: would have been, you know, Denuci's best friend in this
Speaker 1: in a game like this, I can't tell you that
Speaker 1: I was. You know, from my view, I didn't have
Speaker 1: I didn't know where they rolling people over the top
Speaker 1: one him. I don't think so, because I know they
Speaker 1: were trying to stop the run. So I I just
Speaker 1: don't know. I can't give you a good answer there.
Speaker 1: I just thought they I mean, if five targets, so
Speaker 1: that's they're trying to just didn't. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't even remember the catch, honestly, one for five. I
Speaker 1: don't even remember it. So that's unfortunate. Ain't know. And
Speaker 1: CD as well, I mean, he didn't he didn't do
Speaker 1: anything either. That's two games in a row he's only
Speaker 1: had one. Or that's two games in a row where
Speaker 1: he's had a total of one catch yep, Dave, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I'd love to go back and watch it.
Speaker 1: Would I would love to say, like, well, yeah, the
Speaker 1: Eagles doubled him and took him away and made de
Speaker 1: Nucci look somewhere else. I have no idea if that's
Speaker 1: true with you know, to Nick's point, it seems unlikely. Um,
Speaker 1: part of me wonders, you know, maybe de Nucci just
Speaker 1: it's i mean, obviously he felt comfortable throwing to Michael Gallop.
Speaker 1: Is that because he felt more comfortable looking at that
Speaker 1: side of the field. Did he feel more comfortable with
Speaker 1: the routes? It's it's hard to say on Monday morning
Speaker 1: without having watched the game back. But that's one of
Speaker 1: those weird situations where I'm like, you need you need
Speaker 1: more than one catch for five yards on five targets
Speaker 1: from Amari Cooper. But it's also been to Nucci running
Speaker 1: the offense, so you know how how mad am I
Speaker 1: supposed to get. Although I will say, you know, they
Speaker 1: schemed up easy throws for Gallup. I think Gallup caught
Speaker 1: at least two bubble screens, you know, like the Nucci
Speaker 1: just turns and fires manufacture some easier touches for Amari Cooper. Again,
Speaker 1: you know, for the ten millionth time, where's the jet
Speaker 1: action in this offense? Like? Why do they hate it
Speaker 1: so much? Especially because now that training camps over, we
Speaker 1: can actually talk about it. They did that all the
Speaker 1: time in training camp. They had like every every damn
Speaker 1: receiver on the team got reps taken jet sweeps and
Speaker 1: you know, end a rounds moving across the formation. It
Speaker 1: seems like it never happened now, I know, you know
Speaker 1: CD's done it a couple times. I would do it
Speaker 1: with everybody, especially in a game where I don't trust
Speaker 1: my quarterback to throw down fields. So yeah, you want
Speaker 1: more from Amari Cooper. I would love for Kellen Moore
Speaker 1: to find more creative ways to get him the ball too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: especially when you really don't know if you can run
Speaker 1: the ball that well up the middle. I mean, it
Speaker 1: just kind of loosens you up a little bit. But
Speaker 1: I said something wrong. I apologize about ceedee lamb have
Speaker 1: one catch. He had four for twenty seven. I was
Speaker 1: going off a different stat there. Four for twenty seven
Speaker 1: in the game. Not great, but but certainly not better
Speaker 1: than one for It's certainly not one catch. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I mean the fact that you know, if you're going
Speaker 1: in and said, well, the guy that's leading the team
Speaker 1: and catches, he's on like a record pace. To Amari
Speaker 1: Cooper to think that he would have half as many
Speaker 1: catches as you know, Treyvon Diggs, as that's not what
Speaker 1: you expected. I saw something on Twitter. This is not me.
Speaker 1: Somebody on Twitter said, man, the connection that Wins and
Speaker 1: Treyvon Diggs have or is this really specialty? It was good.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the offensive line. They allowed for four sacks,
Speaker 1: two forced fumbles, seven quarterback kits, eight tackles for a loss.
Speaker 1: Do you guys blame a lot of this stuff that
Speaker 1: was happening, particularly in the passing game where the offensive
Speaker 1: line would be involved. Do you blame that more on
Speaker 1: the offensive line? And do you think Denucci was holding
Speaker 1: the ball too long and that was creating a lot
Speaker 1: of the pressure more so than guys just running free. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that that clock that he's used to it. James Madison
Speaker 1: is different the same. You know, this is not an
Speaker 1: excuse at all. Well, no, you know what, screw that.
Speaker 1: It is an excuse. The guys never played ever in
Speaker 1: the NFL. I mean preseason games. You can say they're
Speaker 1: boring and you don't like them and all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. They matter to Ben Denucci, they matter to
Speaker 1: Terrence Steele. They mattered to these guys that have never
Speaker 1: played before, and now all of a sudden they're playing
Speaker 1: on Sunday night football for the first time. I mean,
Speaker 1: you call an excuse if you want. It's reality. It is.
Speaker 1: The speed of the game is different. It's than it
Speaker 1: is from Alabama to the Cowboys. It's way different from
Speaker 1: James Madison to the Cowboys. So yeah, I think him
Speaker 1: holding onto the ball and maybe having a little bit
Speaker 1: more faith in his offensive line, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's a combination of everything. But the line
Speaker 1: isn't great Philly. You know, they're gonna get after him,
Speaker 1: and they did. Mark Cooper said after the game, He's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: they got after him. He's like, well, why would and
Speaker 1: why wouldn't you? Is what he said. It was like,
Speaker 1: I mean, you got a rookie. Yeah, they're gonna attack him.
Speaker 1: You know, so I put a little bit on the
Speaker 1: news cheap, but I mean it was it was the
Speaker 1: old line as well. I mean it was it was
Speaker 1: a there was a fight and that that was not
Speaker 1: an easy task for that that that group. Dad, what
Speaker 1: were your thoughts in his offensive line that game for them?
Speaker 1: I mean, we knew it was gonna be a challenge,
Speaker 1: Like we talked about it all week. You know, Fletcher
Speaker 1: Cox and Brandon Graham is a pretty terrifying combination. Low
Speaker 1: and Behold. That's exactly. You know. Vinny Curry was involved
Speaker 1: in a couple of those pressures, but like the you know,
Speaker 1: the right side of the Cowboys offensive line took the
Speaker 1: brunt of that. Which it's easy to hate on Terrence Steele.
Speaker 1: I think you know, he deserves criticism. The coaching staff
Speaker 1: deserves criticism. For you know, why they're so infatuated with
Speaker 1: starting him. I will acknowledge. You know, maybe it just
Speaker 1: looks like a different kind of train wreck if you
Speaker 1: kick Zach Martin out to tackle and let a backup
Speaker 1: deal with Fletcher Cox. I mean there's no there's no guarantee.
Speaker 1: I mean there's there's no guarantees that would have looked better.
Speaker 1: It might have just been a different it might have
Speaker 1: been a different sort of disaster. But you know, I uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus and I know that they're not the Gospel,
Speaker 1: but Pro Football Focus charted Terrence Steele with seven pressures
Speaker 1: allowed and three of four sacks allowed on the night.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was just that kind of night, and
Speaker 1: I think it's something you got to take a hard
Speaker 1: look at. With t J. Watt coming to town on Sunday,
Speaker 1: that's um, that's not exciting. Yeah, pretty good. We're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about that a little later this week. But I
Speaker 1: remember Nick that Saturday, I think of Saturday you and
Speaker 1: our text, and I was like, man, I'm sitting no
Speaker 1: such sitting there watching the Steelers play, and I was like, man,
Speaker 1: I hope the Cowboys quarterbacks, whoever that might be, I
Speaker 1: hope they got their life insurance paid up, because this
Speaker 1: is not going to be fun for the quarterback of
Speaker 1: the Cowboys come Sunday, because right I don't know what's
Speaker 1: going on to day. But even if the Cowboys had
Speaker 1: all of their offensive line intact, I still would be
Speaker 1: worried about the quarterback of the Cowboys going up against
Speaker 1: the Steelers. That's how good their front is. And by
Speaker 1: the way, they can they can get after you with
Speaker 1: their front and then they blitz other guys. So it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be this is gonna be interesting. We'll have
Speaker 1: a lot to talk about as that as that comes on.
Speaker 1: But let's move up to the defensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: because I do think there were some positive things that
Speaker 1: came out of this game from the defensive side. Let's
Speaker 1: first talk this big picture from the standpoint of the
Speaker 1: run defense that has been a big problem for the
Speaker 1: Cowboys over the last several weeks, so much so that
Speaker 1: that the Sunday Night Football Crew had to make an
Speaker 1: entire graphic about it and talk about just how bad
Speaker 1: the Cowboys run defense has been. That all being said,
Speaker 1: they only give up one hundred and nineteen yards four
Speaker 1: point six average do you think that was more about
Speaker 1: the fact that they were really doing a decent job
Speaker 1: stopping the run, or that maybe Philly just wasn't running
Speaker 1: it enough. Nick, You know, they ran twenty six twenty
Speaker 1: six rushes. I don't know, it felt like and I
Speaker 1: guess four point six yards. It felt like five yards.
Speaker 1: Every time they were getting the ball. It just it
Speaker 1: just seemed like the line just moved back. I mean,
Speaker 1: those guys, they don't have anybody up front, any defensive
Speaker 1: tackles or anybody that's just kind of like, you know,
Speaker 1: hard to move. You know, they just they move them,
Speaker 1: They get them out of the way. People were getting
Speaker 1: down Tarypoe out of the way, and then the Cowboys
Speaker 1: did too. But then but it was Woods and all
Speaker 1: those guys they stand there, they just get moved, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think I saw more recognition problems from the
Speaker 1: linebackers in this game. I mean, I thought Jalen it
Speaker 1: just it just doesn't seem like he recognizes it this
Speaker 1: quick is you've got to get there. I don't even
Speaker 1: know what to say about Jalan anymore. Like, I just
Speaker 1: I think the recognition is a problem. I think he
Speaker 1: can't get off blocks. I think once he does get
Speaker 1: off a block, he's slow to get there. Just I'm
Speaker 1: having a hard time finding any positive qualities about what
Speaker 1: he's doing in games right now. Every once in a
Speaker 1: while he'll flash on a play and make I know,
Speaker 1: there was one play yet last night where I think
Speaker 1: they got three yards on a pass route that he
Speaker 1: covered and he made the tackle in the open field,
Speaker 1: and I was like, all right, that's good, that's a
Speaker 1: that's a great job by Jalen. But it's those kind
Speaker 1: of moments and then it's like the next play he
Speaker 1: gets completely washed out because he doesn't know what's going
Speaker 1: on and he just can't figure it out. Dave, what
Speaker 1: did you think about? So can y'all indulge me on
Speaker 1: this really nerdy analogy. Sure, y'all have both. Y'all have
Speaker 1: both played like a Madden Dynasty or an NC double
Speaker 1: a franchise mode at some point in your lives. Right. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So you've undoubtedly, like you know, you've had this season
Speaker 1: where your quarterback is like in the Heisman race and
Speaker 1: you're just chasing those stats like you're gonna throw for
Speaker 1: like five touchdowns a week. That's just what you're gonna do.
Speaker 1: And every now and then, like you run into a roadblock,
Speaker 1: like maybe you throw an early picky. You know you're
Speaker 1: not having a good game, and you're just like, screw it,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna double down, Like I gotta get these numbers.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna win the damn Heisman Trophy regardless of how
Speaker 1: little it sens sense it makes to keep throwing the ball.
Speaker 1: That's what I thought Philly was doing last night, Like
Speaker 1: run the fricking ball. I'm sorry, no disrespect, no disrespect
Speaker 1: to the Cowboys defense, but like, I don't think they
Speaker 1: played that well. I mean, defending the run. They did
Speaker 1: a lot of great stuff. I don't think they played
Speaker 1: that well defending the run. I think Philly was just
Speaker 1: obsessed with trying to get Carson Wentz into a rhythm.
Speaker 1: They're like, this is our franchise guy. He's gonna go
Speaker 1: into the tank if we just make him hand off
Speaker 1: all night. We gotta get the passing game going. Like
Speaker 1: there were so many series where I was just like,
Speaker 1: Doug Peterson, what are you doing? Like why are you
Speaker 1: so insistent on putting this game in Carson Wentz's hands
Speaker 1: when you don't have to? So credit to the Cowboys
Speaker 1: for defending what was there. But I think if Philly
Speaker 1: had just been like, we're gonna run this thing down
Speaker 1: your throat, I'm not convinced Dallas would have been able
Speaker 1: to do anything about it. I love that analogy because
Speaker 1: it's so fair. Like I thought coming out of the game,
Speaker 1: the defense played pretty good, and then when you look
Speaker 1: at the stats and see what happened in the rushing game,
Speaker 1: you're like, maybe Philly should have run the ball a
Speaker 1: little bit more. And if they would have run the
Speaker 1: ball a little bit more, this would have been a
Speaker 1: much different Monday morning assessment of this defense because the
Speaker 1: big plays that were made most of the time were
Speaker 1: being made in the passing game you had. And we
Speaker 1: got to point these guys out. Donovan Wilson, as we
Speaker 1: talked about earlier, in his big play there early in
Speaker 1: the game, Trayvon digs two picks. I don't I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't even remember last time a cowboy had two
Speaker 1: picks in a game. I assume you know, Nick, because
Speaker 1: it's probably on the top of your head, but I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a guy that had given me that's what Actually,
Speaker 1: that's right, two thousand loves Well, that's the last time
Speaker 1: a rookie has done it right rookie, Yeah, but I
Speaker 1: don't Yeah, I don't know. But but Trayvon Diggs, he'd
Speaker 1: given He gave up some plays last night, no doubt about.
Speaker 1: He get up a touchdown. I think you have two touchdowns.
Speaker 1: Actually he had four pass defenses. But he is the
Speaker 1: kind of player that that what I'm starting to like
Speaker 1: about him is, Yeah, he's gonna have some struggles and
Speaker 1: and they're gonna be times he's gonna frustrate you. My
Speaker 1: hope is that over time those things will decrease a
Speaker 1: little bit, just because he'll be smarter about how he's playing.
Speaker 1: And then if he gets beat, he just gets beat,
Speaker 1: because you sometimes get beat. But then he'll give you
Speaker 1: the other plays on the other side. And that's what
Speaker 1: the Cowboys have not had at the cornerback position for
Speaker 1: a very very long time. He's Larry Brown. If you
Speaker 1: really want to take it back in nineties. What what's wrong?
Speaker 1: He's better than Larry Brown. He's better than Larry Brown.
Speaker 1: Nick Okay, I mean he's gonna be better, way better
Speaker 1: than Larry Brown. In my opinion. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know that, but I'm saying Larry Brown. I mean
Speaker 1: it was it was okay. Well, I mean there's sorry
Speaker 1: for the young folks are like, who's that? But like
Speaker 1: you no, he I'm just saying he everybody knows Larry Brown.
Speaker 1: Well he was okay. I mean like he had some moments.
Speaker 1: Those cornerbacks that take chances, I mean that's what they do.
Speaker 1: I mean, um, I compared him to jen Norris Jenkins.
Speaker 1: You know, he's kind of that type of guy where yeah,
Speaker 1: he'll get a pick six on you and he'll he'll
Speaker 1: get they'll be a pick six go on the other
Speaker 1: way too, because because he because he got burned. I mean, um,
Speaker 1: he's he takes chances. He's gonna give up some plays.
Speaker 1: He's young, he's aggressive, but he's got good ball skills.
Speaker 1: You know, he's played in the yard with an NFL
Speaker 1: wide receiver, you know, Stefon dig So. Um he can catch.
Speaker 1: I mean there's not many cornerbacks that that I think
Speaker 1: make that second in It tracked that really both interceptions. Now,
Speaker 1: he tracked that ball really well. And I don't know
Speaker 1: if I don't know if most people watching it realize
Speaker 1: the level of difficulty of a play like that when
Speaker 1: you're tracking the ball as a defender that's going that,
Speaker 1: that's going down. Feel a long deep pass like that's
Speaker 1: not an easy thing to do. No, No, he really
Speaker 1: made a nice play on that ball. And then of
Speaker 1: course the first interception was was outstanding, you know, with
Speaker 1: getting his knee in there like that. I'm surprised that
Speaker 1: they even review that. I mean, yeah, they well had
Speaker 1: a quick review like they were. They were look very
Speaker 1: briefly makes a score, so they have to write, they
Speaker 1: have to internal. Wish if all reviews could be like that.
Speaker 1: I just I love everything, Sorry, I love everything about
Speaker 1: that dude's demeanor. No, I love his demeanor so much,
Speaker 1: like because I've been worried about it all year, Like
Speaker 1: it would be easy to go in the tank with
Speaker 1: some of the setbacks that he's had, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: he hasn't had cheeto for most of the year. Ab
Speaker 1: was out, So as a rookie, you don't have the
Speaker 1: veterans there to help you pick up the slack, and
Speaker 1: you know you're gonna get targeted every week. And he's
Speaker 1: had some rough days and he just he bounces right back.
Speaker 1: He gets burned by DK Metcalf, he punches the ball
Speaker 1: out like he's got the wear with all to not
Speaker 1: give up on that play. He bounces right back and
Speaker 1: gets two interceptions, gave up two touchdowns. Like definitely not
Speaker 1: the prettiest night, but he never seems phased by the
Speaker 1: bad stuff that happens to him. And on top of that,
Speaker 1: Dallas has not employed a dB with ball skills like
Speaker 1: him in the time that I've covered the team, like
Speaker 1: no Chances. They have not employed a cornerback who can
Speaker 1: make those types of plays on the ball since I've
Speaker 1: been here. So you know, I'm not ready to say
Speaker 1: he's gonna be a pro bowler, but I'm very encouraged
Speaker 1: about his trajectory. And if he keeps this mindset where
Speaker 1: he doesn't let the setbacks get to him, I think
Speaker 1: he's got a real chance to be special, right because
Speaker 1: there are a lot of times this year when you
Speaker 1: see when you see him give up big plays, it's
Speaker 1: about him either not knowing what he's supposed to do
Speaker 1: or not relying on his technique the way he should.
Speaker 1: Those are correctable things, in my opinion. Those areas why
Speaker 1: I expect him to get better with more reps. And
Speaker 1: so I look at him and I say, if he
Speaker 1: gets that kind of stuff cleaned up. Then, Yeah, cornerbacks
Speaker 1: give up plays. It's going to happen. The best cornerbacks
Speaker 1: give up plays. But I think the number of plays
Speaker 1: that he'll give up will diminish, And I think he
Speaker 1: will diminish significantly once he knows what he's doing and
Speaker 1: once he really is trusting this technique the way that
Speaker 1: he needs to. And then on top of that, you're
Speaker 1: going to get the ball skills to be able to
Speaker 1: turn the ball over. So I love where he is
Speaker 1: right now. I just hope he doesn't let all the
Speaker 1: adversity get to him. And it doesn't seem like he is.
Speaker 1: It seems like he's a guy that kind of stays
Speaker 1: even killed no matter where. All Right, we appreciate you
Speaker 1: guys join us. We'll be back tomorrow. We'll do a
Speaker 1: big picture look around the Cowboys and where they stand
Speaker 1: in the NFC East, and then we'll start hopefully getting
Speaker 1: you guys ready for the upcoming game this next weekend
Speaker 1: against Steelers. We'll do that tomorrow for Nick even Dave
Speaker 1: him and I'm Derek Eagleton. This has been The Break
Speaker 1: live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been
Speaker 1: a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys Football Club two