Speaker 1: But I've got to believe that Kellen Moore is keeping
Speaker 1: the ball in Herbert t Hayn. They picked the handoff
Speaker 1: Afrin wide up and touchdown la the rookie Brandon Aubrey.
Speaker 2: Is good.
Speaker 1: That kid has been sensational two for two tonight and
Speaker 1: that thirty nine yarder puts Dallas on top by three.
Speaker 1: And no sacks by the defense at all. They've handled him.
Speaker 1: No sacks at San Francisco.
Speaker 2: Either, And here it is right on que.
Speaker 1: Parsons his first the Cowboys first, and.
Speaker 2: What a time for it.
Speaker 1: Now third down and ten, first sack of the night.
Speaker 1: Herbert gets rid of Edney's pett intercepted by the Cowboys.
Speaker 2: The catch is good. That's the tale of what happened
Speaker 2: on Monday night, had so stadium as Dak Prescott and
Speaker 2: the Dallas Cowboys get a little bit of help from
Speaker 2: their defense when they needed it most hang on for
Speaker 2: a twenty to seventeen victory over the Los Angeles Chargers,
Speaker 2: a game that was fraught with errors on both sides,
Speaker 2: but the Cowboys score a much needed win coming off
Speaker 2: of that blowout loss last week to the San Francisco
Speaker 2: forty nine ers. I'm nick Schook here with the Monday
Speaker 2: Night recap along with pleasure to be joined by Jane
Speaker 2: Slater and Jane, I'll tell you what, it wasn't the
Speaker 2: prettiest game, but the Cowboys they held on. They were
Speaker 2: able to get the job done.
Speaker 3: Defense once again bailing them out here.
Speaker 4: Nick, you know, at some point we're going to talk
Speaker 4: about what happened with the Cowboys heading into the half.
Speaker 4: It didn't need to be this hard. That sort of
Speaker 4: been the story for the Cowboys this year. It's been
Speaker 4: easy for them to beat up on some of the
Speaker 4: lesser teams. Of course, they didn't catch the break with
Speaker 4: the forty nine ers last week, and then we now
Speaker 4: learned that the forty nine ers are chilling with the
Speaker 4: injuries some of their key players, Christian McCaffrey namely.
Speaker 3: One of them. But here the Cowboys coming to town.
Speaker 4: Facing Kellen wore in the Chargers, which, if anyone followed
Speaker 4: this saga last year, the biggest indictment of Kellen Moore
Speaker 4: was they wasn't running the ball enough that this was
Speaker 4: a guy that wanted to light up the scoreboard. Tonight,
Speaker 4: we didn't really see either team lighting up the scoreboard,
Speaker 4: did we, Nick? But what we did see was Cowboys,
Speaker 4: as you said, sort of got through this one, fraught
Speaker 4: with eras, fraught with penalties, some questionable coaching decisions. But
Speaker 4: for me, it was good to see them finally get
Speaker 4: the ball to Ceede Lamb after last week him expressing
Speaker 4: his frustration.
Speaker 3: We saw it on the sidelines.
Speaker 4: We heard about Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott talking to
Speaker 4: him about his body language, the need to lead, the
Speaker 4: understanding that they need to.
Speaker 3: Get him the ball.
Speaker 4: By the way, that paid off seven receptions for one
Speaker 4: hundred and seventeen yards. He was averaging sixteen point seven
Speaker 4: in this one. But also more important, Brendan Cooks. His
Speaker 4: name has been on a bit of a milk carton
Speaker 4: here lately, haven't really seen him involved. They finally got
Speaker 4: him here late involved in the game, and then of
Speaker 4: course the defense stepping up. They didn't have much of
Speaker 4: a pass rush all night, but Micah Parsons with the
Speaker 4: big one that helped seal this one off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it was funny. Earlier in that game
Speaker 2: it felt like Ceedee Lamb was the only guy on
Speaker 2: the field for the Cowboys, at least when it concerned
Speaker 2: Dak Prescott, where he was gonna throw the football. It
Speaker 2: was just all right, we're throwing to CD. Here, We're
Speaker 2: throwing to CD over the middle. He's on the sideline.
Speaker 2: Nobody else exists. Of course, Michael Gallup didn't really help
Speaker 2: him out at all with the lack of playmaking ability,
Speaker 2: you know, with contested catches or just not jumping for
Speaker 2: the ball when it was placed in a perfect spot.
Speaker 2: Whatever it was. They were able to rely on Cde
Speaker 2: Lamb until Brandon Cooks got involved with that goal line touchdown,
Speaker 2: a nice little mesh concept where he runs through the defense,
Speaker 2: gets some natural picks and catches his first touchdown pass
Speaker 2: as a cowboy. You know, this offense overall, though, you
Speaker 2: talked about the fact that Callen Moore didn't like to
Speaker 2: run the ball that much. Well, Tony Pollard didn't necessarily
Speaker 2: get going either. That when I talk about how ugly
Speaker 2: this game was, there wasn't exactly a ton of success
Speaker 2: on the ground for either team. But you want to
Speaker 2: go back to that revenge element. Dan Quinn as Kellen
Speaker 2: Moore's number right now. He had his number throughout the night.
Speaker 2: If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2: I mean, who's gonna know an offensive coordinator that you're
Speaker 2: facing the defensive coordinator that went against you in practice
Speaker 2: for years. That's who's gonna know. And he knew for sure.
Speaker 2: There was a play fourth and one, chargers deep in
Speaker 2: the Cowboys red zone where Kellen Moore dials up a
Speaker 2: rollout to the short side of the field to the right,
Speaker 2: gives him two options to throw to a shallow crosser
Speaker 2: and a little bit deeper of a crosser, and then
Speaker 2: Keenan Allen going across the field. That would have been
Speaker 2: a prayer based on how the Cowboys were getting after
Speaker 2: justin Herbert all night, that would have been a prayer
Speaker 2: for him to stop and make that throw. And of
Speaker 2: course Keenan Allen was double covered. Deron Bland, who's having
Speaker 2: a fantastic season, steps in to make that deflection and
Speaker 2: force the turnover on downs. But it is nice to
Speaker 2: see that Cowboys offense not just rely on CD Lamb,
Speaker 2: especially in the second half. You know what's not to
Speaker 2: me the most, though, Jane, was the fact that Dak Prescott,
Speaker 2: who I'm sure, as you know, makes one or two
Speaker 2: too many hero plays from time to time, trust himself
Speaker 2: a little bit too much to get out of some
Speaker 2: sticky situations that actually paid off for him in this
Speaker 2: game because he did find Tony Pollard with a nice
Speaker 2: little dump off over the middle under duress, a sixty
Speaker 2: yard gain that quickly flipped the script in favor of
Speaker 2: the Cowboys, set them up for that touchdown and really
Speaker 2: took a tie game and put the Cowboys in a
Speaker 2: bit of leverage in that fourth quarter.
Speaker 4: That was an incredible play and it was one that
Speaker 4: could have gone awry. You know, it was Dak Prescott
Speaker 4: trying to extend that play, extend that drive, and as
Speaker 4: you said, Pollard was able to. I don't know how
Speaker 4: he did it, but grab that ball and put that
Speaker 4: in the end zone or get it close to there
Speaker 4: with the sixty yards.
Speaker 3: So love seeing that from him.
Speaker 4: But again I think that there were a lot of
Speaker 4: other curious instances.
Speaker 3: I mean, we talked about that one connection.
Speaker 4: Was it a Tony Pollard when it was a little
Speaker 4: bit overthrown there? Where was that one? Yeah, Well you
Speaker 4: had the wide open Pollard who couldn't grab it. They
Speaker 4: ended up settling for the thirty nine yard filled goal.
Speaker 4: Looked like Dak just kind of overthrew that one. We
Speaker 4: saw that last week with DAK. Sometimes the ball placement
Speaker 4: from Dak has been interesting. Troy Aitman even weighing in
Speaker 4: on a little bit in the broadcast, talking about, you know,
Speaker 4: they've talked so much and I can attest to this
Speaker 4: covering that team this year so much about the timing
Speaker 4: with the receivers, but the timing has still felt like
Speaker 4: it's not exactly their nick.
Speaker 3: Are you seeing that when you're watching some of these games.
Speaker 2: I actually felt like some of his throwts tonight were
Speaker 2: pinpoint and they just you know, we talked about the
Speaker 2: Michael Gallup thing where he just wasn't making the play,
Speaker 2: But yeah, it is hit or miss with them. That
Speaker 2: throw specifically, you were mentioning outside shoulder to a place
Speaker 2: where only his guy can go get it. But his
Speaker 2: guy's got to be, you know, superhuman to make that catch.
Speaker 2: You're dealing with Tony Pollinch. He's not exactly a six
Speaker 2: foot four pass catcher over there that is going to
Speaker 2: make an acrobatic catch like that, especially a difficult one
Speaker 2: over the shoulder. So it was kind of a mixed
Speaker 2: bag from DAK. That's kind of how a season's been.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's been a couple of games where I've
Speaker 2: been like, hey, he's gone out and actually won them
Speaker 2: this game. There's been some other games where he's done
Speaker 2: enough to help them win. The defense has done a
Speaker 2: really good job in some of those contests, and tonight
Speaker 2: though he stepped up when he needed to. It wasn't
Speaker 2: perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I felt, well,
Speaker 2: you know better about it. It's a nice step in
Speaker 2: the right direction for the Cowboys. And concerning Dak and
Speaker 2: an offense that you know, they improved it receiver in
Speaker 2: the offseason, right because they knew that all they had
Speaker 2: last year was Sidi, and yet they also lost Ezekiel
Speaker 2: Elliott and the running game not as much of an elements,
Speaker 2: so they're still trying to figure it out. I think
Speaker 2: a little bit with Mike McCarthy now back in charge
Speaker 2: of calling the plays. But Gene, I got to go
Speaker 2: to the other side of the field here. I gotta
Speaker 2: go to the Chargers because look, as you can see
Speaker 2: if you're watching on YouTube, as you can see, I'm
Speaker 2: a bald man. I'm a bald man because my hairline
Speaker 2: betrayed me at a premature time in my early twenties.
Speaker 2: I am going to go progressively Balder if I have
Speaker 2: to watch the Chargers perform the way they did, starting
Speaker 2: with Justin Herbert, who was just not dialed in. You
Speaker 2: want to talk about you being a little bit off.
Speaker 2: That was Justin Herbert tonight, whether he was under pressure
Speaker 2: or whether he had time to throw, just routinely missing
Speaker 2: guys that are open. Keenan Allen wide open down the
Speaker 2: sideline and a must have situation misses him. He missed
Speaker 2: him three times I think in this game, and he
Speaker 2: wasn't the only guy that he missed. And of course,
Speaker 2: you know, he ends with the interception in which he
Speaker 2: was under pressure. But it probably one of Justin Herbert's
Speaker 2: worst performances of his career. And considering that Mike Williams
Speaker 2: is no longer with this team because of his ACL injury,
Speaker 2: it's pretty concerning when you look ahead because they have
Speaker 2: no run game to speak of. I mean, when Austin
Speaker 2: Eckler's on the field. In the past, their offense has
Speaker 2: been a little bit better. But tonight he was on
Speaker 2: the field and it didn't matter. And that's a credit
Speaker 2: to the Cowboys defense, but it's also highly concerning for
Speaker 2: a Chargers offense that's gonna have to go win them
Speaker 2: some football games, especially if you're going to overcome some
Speaker 2: of the aggressive decisions made by Brandon Staley, which we
Speaker 2: didn't get a ton of those tonight, but we've seen
Speaker 2: how that's put them in bad spots in the past.
Speaker 4: Well, and what's interesting is, you know this game started off,
Speaker 4: it was defense, they allowed.
Speaker 3: It's three and out, you know, Cowboys opening drive.
Speaker 4: Then you've got the first drive, you get the touchdown,
Speaker 4: set up the twenty six yard return, and you're thinking
Speaker 4: to yourself, man, the Chargers are coming out and establishing
Speaker 4: themselves early. But then it seemed like the Cowboys had
Speaker 4: an answer for them. They sort of started to settle in.
Speaker 4: But as much as you are concerned about, you know,
Speaker 4: Justin Herbert and his play, I'm sorry, I still am
Speaker 4: just not sold on this Cowboys team. I'm like, and
Speaker 4: I always feel like I feel like I'm kind of
Speaker 4: watching something different than some of the people that are
Speaker 4: obviously from hearing Cowboy fans, and when I talk to
Speaker 4: people that I surround myself with, but they still don't
Speaker 4: give me a lot of confidence. I mean, we're talking
Speaker 4: about this is probably one of Justin Herbert's worst games.
Speaker 4: They were able to overcome the fact that, I mean,
Speaker 4: the past rush you want to talk about may not
Speaker 4: have come alive for the Cowboys until when they needed.
Speaker 4: At the end of this game, you had a pass
Speaker 4: rush from the Chargers. They had five sacks in this one.
Speaker 4: I just I still have concerns about this Cowboys offensive line,
Speaker 4: about some of their untimely penalties, the fact that they
Speaker 4: keep forcing this ball to Michael Gallup, which we have seen.
Speaker 4: And I don't know what they're going to do with
Speaker 4: Michael Gallup.
Speaker 2: Nick.
Speaker 4: I'm a huge Michael Gallup van and on the record
Speaker 4: is saying that, but ever since he got injured and
Speaker 4: then he was dealing with some stuff off the field,
Speaker 4: from a personal standpoint, it just feels like, and we
Speaker 4: were told he was springing it can't it feels like
Speaker 4: he's lost his step a little bit. Yeah, And so again,
Speaker 4: like even though they won this game against the Chargers,
Speaker 4: it was hard fought. They know, it was three different ties,
Speaker 4: and you know they were able to overcome some bonehead
Speaker 4: decisions by their coach. I still just don't know what
Speaker 4: to make of this team, and I don't know what
Speaker 4: to make of this division, right because we just saw
Speaker 4: the Eagles get beat by the Jets yesterday, So I
Speaker 4: do think that's.
Speaker 3: What's going to be interesting.
Speaker 4: But I think more importantly for the Cowboys, whether this
Speaker 4: was an ugly game or not, it was a win
Speaker 4: and they needed that win after the loss of the
Speaker 4: forty nine ers last week ahead of this buy because
Speaker 4: when they come off the by Nick, they've got to
Speaker 4: go face the Eagles on the road.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it doesn't get any easier for them. That's kind
Speaker 2: of the NFL in a nutshell.
Speaker 4: Well that's after the Rams game. Let me walk you back.
Speaker 4: You've got Rams at home.
Speaker 2: Then, you know what, don't don't discount the Rams. Matthew
Speaker 2: Stafford's playing some really good football right now. And I
Speaker 2: know that they don't have as much talent of some
Speaker 2: of the other teams in the NFL, but they're a
Speaker 2: tough out on a weekly basis, at least to this point.
Speaker 2: But you know, that's where it's Week six. It was
Speaker 2: a weird week in the NFL. We get one or
Speaker 2: two of these weeks in the first half of every season,
Speaker 2: and it just decided to be Week six this year.
Speaker 2: Like I said, we were on the Around the NFL
Speaker 2: podcast last night, I was like, you know, we're pretty
Speaker 2: close to closing that parody circle, that graphic that comes
Speaker 2: out when every team's beating a team that's beating the
Speaker 2: team and goes all the way around the circle. Just
Speaker 2: because of games like this, there's no more undefeated teams.
Speaker 2: You know, there are randomly competitive teams like the Cardinals,
Speaker 2: and then there's teams like the Cowboys, who you think
Speaker 2: on paper should be better, and yet they have not
Speaker 2: established themselves, you know, at a level of consistency that
Speaker 2: you expect from a team that has to face the
Speaker 2: defending NFC champions in their own division, and that game
Speaker 2: coming up very quickly. As you just said, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure where are my concerns live with them, though.
Speaker 2: I think you make a great point about Michael Gallup
Speaker 2: and and the fact that you know, he does look
Speaker 2: like he lost a step. I mean, he does look
Speaker 2: like he's just not the same guy he was. And
Speaker 2: I was one of the biggest fans right there next
Speaker 2: to you of him in previous years and was really
Speaker 2: bummed when he did get injured and he just you know,
Speaker 2: sometimes those injuries just take toll. It takes a while
Speaker 2: for somebody to find their footing. Again, sometimes they never do,
Speaker 2: which would be a very big disappointment, you know, regarding
Speaker 2: the arc of his career. But I don't think that
Speaker 2: that is going to be something that necessarily sinks them.
Speaker 2: It's more about them playing you know, complimentary football. Some
Speaker 2: games it's been the defense, some games it's been the offense.
Speaker 2: That defense is talented. I mean, they got a ton
Speaker 2: of studs on that side of the ball. Even with
Speaker 2: the additions they made the off season. Stefon Gilmore comes
Speaker 2: up with the game ceiling interception tonight. It's just that,
Speaker 2: I guess we can sit back and say, well, it's
Speaker 2: only week six, and as long as you stack a
Speaker 2: win here and another one here, and maybe you take
Speaker 2: a tough loss here, you stay in the hunt. You
Speaker 2: at least afford yourself the time to start to figure
Speaker 2: it out. I feel like that's what a Cowboys, you know,
Speaker 2: team is going to be under Mike McCarthy, is one
Speaker 2: that hopefully peaks later rather than earlier. It's just a
Speaker 2: question of where does it come from, because right now
Speaker 2: it's it's hit or miss depending on the week. I
Speaker 2: will give them some credit, though, Jane, I know that
Speaker 2: it took them forever to get their first sack of
Speaker 2: the night. They did make a difference, you know, when
Speaker 2: it came to the pass rush, they were racking up pressures,
Speaker 2: they just getting home. And you know, some credit is
Speaker 2: due to Justin Herbert for being able to evade that
Speaker 2: or get the ball out when you know there's no
Speaker 2: other option but either to take a sack or throw
Speaker 2: the ball, you know, into the abyss. He's still able
Speaker 2: to get it out from time to time. So I
Speaker 2: you know, they they impacted the game. It just didn't
Speaker 2: show up from a statistical standpoint of course. You know, naturally,
Speaker 2: when everybody's focusing on how Micah Parsons has one tackle
Speaker 2: and hasn't done anything, he does get the sack. That's
Speaker 2: you know, that's just how the I think football goes sometimes.
Speaker 2: So I'm right there with you. I am concerned. I'm
Speaker 2: not sold. I think that's what I would like to
Speaker 2: pitch this ass is. I'm not sold on them yet.
Speaker 4: I just I'm still looking for a decisive win from them.
Speaker 4: Against it, I get an opponent that I consider is
Speaker 4: a legitimate postseason team, because in Dallas, it's not enough
Speaker 4: to have a twelve and five season. You need to
Speaker 4: go deep in the postseason, particularly because of the way
Speaker 4: the postseason has gone the last two years. And I
Speaker 4: think for a lot of people in Dallas, a lot
Speaker 4: of people are selling the Cowboys, not buying them, because
Speaker 4: in order to get to your ultimate goal, which is
Speaker 4: hoisting up the Lombardi, you're gonna have to get through
Speaker 4: the forty nine ers. Likely, and it felt like you
Speaker 4: were completely Their performance was so underwhelming that you found
Speaker 4: yourself wondering if some of these other games were outliers.
Speaker 3: But if you think about it, they faced the Jets
Speaker 3: right after.
Speaker 4: Aaron Rodgers' injury, so Zach Wilson likely seeing ghosts that week.
Speaker 3: That was.
Speaker 4: I think that was unexpected for Zach, and I think
Speaker 4: they were still filling themselves out in that one. I mean,
Speaker 4: I think we already know what level of play the
Speaker 4: Patriots are doing this year, the Giants.
Speaker 3: Who else have they played so far?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Giants, Jets, the Cardinals, which is a shocking loss,
Speaker 2: but it's because they got Gars on the ground.
Speaker 4: But the Cardinals I think are better than a lot
Speaker 4: of this gave them credit for this offseason. They're scrappy,
Speaker 4: that's for sure, and so again I think that the
Speaker 4: Rams is going to be very interesting because Jerry Jones
Speaker 4: was beside himself a couple of years ago when Jason
Speaker 4: Garrett lost on the road to the Rams in the postseason,
Speaker 4: and it was then I was told that Jerry Jones
Speaker 4: was ready to move on from Garrett.
Speaker 3: And they gave him one more year and then we
Speaker 3: know how that went.
Speaker 4: So I think if they were to lose by a
Speaker 4: large march into the Rams ahead of the Eagles, this
Speaker 4: would be very very interesting in Dallas. That's why they
Speaker 4: absolutely needed that win against the Chargers on the road
Speaker 4: tonight because you kind of find yourself going was Kellen
Speaker 4: Moore the one we let get away? He always had
Speaker 4: this offense in the top five, And I mean now
Speaker 4: you're looking at the middle of the pack offense, which
Speaker 4: is what essentially Mike McCarthy set the table for heading
Speaker 4: into this season. He wanted an above average defense and
Speaker 4: he wanted somewhere in the middle offense, and that's what
Speaker 4: you've gotten. It just hasn't felt like explosive games. It
Speaker 4: feels like everything is harder. And then the question I
Speaker 4: have for you, Nick, and this is why I was
Speaker 4: looking forward to doing the show with you after I
Speaker 4: think some of us are wondering. You say publicly you
Speaker 4: trust your quarterback. If you trust your quarterback and you're
Speaker 4: going into the half and you've got eight seconds left,
Speaker 4: they go ahead and they stop the clock, assuming that
Speaker 4: with your two timeouts, you're going to do something about it.
Speaker 4: Mike says, I don't want it, and then they settle
Speaker 4: for a field goal. Why would you do that when
Speaker 4: you've got a franchise quarterback who's been in Dallas for
Speaker 4: eight years.
Speaker 2: So we've had two instances of this happening in the
Speaker 2: last twenty four hours, the other one being Brian Dable
Speaker 2: letting the clock run down to thirty seconds last night
Speaker 2: calling a timeout when there was forty four seconds when
Speaker 2: he could have called a timeout. And then it cost
Speaker 2: them on the goal line when Tyrod Taylor checks to
Speaker 2: a run, they don't get it. They run out of time.
Speaker 2: But it's funny that you mentioned this because I had
Speaker 2: a notable former NFL quarterback slide into my DMS the
Speaker 2: other day. I still haven't replied to him.
Speaker 4: I'm prepared to if you left, did you leave him
Speaker 4: on red?
Speaker 2: I you know, unintentionally I left him on red? Yes,
Speaker 2: I actually went up. I crafted a serious response. I
Speaker 2: just did not have time to send it off over
Speaker 2: the weekend. But he made the argument it was related
Speaker 2: to Kirk Cousins because I had written something about Kirk
Speaker 2: Cousins and the potential of the Vikings trading him because
Speaker 2: they're just not that good of a football team. He's
Speaker 2: an expiring year all that, and he immediately jumped to
Speaker 2: the Deck comparison, and I was like, oh, I mean,
Speaker 2: I've heard this before. And basically what he said was,
Speaker 2: you know, Kirk and Dack are the same guy, which
Speaker 2: they're totally different quarterbacks, but it's the same ceiling, which
Speaker 2: is that they can win you games, but they're not
Speaker 2: going to win you important games. They're not gonna win
Speaker 2: you championships. They might help you win a division title
Speaker 2: if everything around them is good, but they're never going
Speaker 2: to elevate the team to that elite level. And I
Speaker 2: don't necessarily disagree. And I think that you may see
Speaker 2: a little bit of that with a decision like this tonight.
Speaker 2: And you know, I think about the money and everything else,
Speaker 2: and that's fine, and an extension that could be coming
Speaker 2: up maybe not. I'm not sold on Deck. I've really
Speaker 2: never been sold. I see the potential, and I don't
Speaker 2: think it's ever going to be reached for a number
Speaker 2: of different reasons. But in this instance tonight, what have
Speaker 2: we known that he's been prone to do from time
Speaker 2: to time take risks that end up, you know, producing turnovers,
Speaker 2: and in that instance, you want to make sure that
Speaker 2: you have an opportunity to get some points on the
Speaker 2: board instead of letting him take a risk. But my
Speaker 2: biggest issue when that sequence was the fact that they
Speaker 2: played it so conservatively. Then they even gave themselves a
Speaker 2: shot at the end zone, and then he lets the
Speaker 2: clock run down.
Speaker 4: But the even more concerning and conflicting of all of
Speaker 4: it was ahead of that. Remember they went for it
Speaker 4: on fourth, the one that's when they tried to do
Speaker 4: the little tush push and it didn't work for them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, everybody needs to stop being the Eagles.
Speaker 4: By the way, you're not exactly it's I think everyone's
Speaker 4: got that play in their playbook now you know it's
Speaker 4: going to happen.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I thought that was interesting. They go for
Speaker 3: it on fourth and one.
Speaker 4: They trust Dak there they don't trust him again right
Speaker 4: before you're heading in the half, and that's the second
Speaker 4: half didn't have to be so hard.
Speaker 3: And we were talking earlier that third quarter.
Speaker 4: The fact they got in only five plays and they
Speaker 4: had negative yards to finish it. I mean, the Chargers
Speaker 4: absolutely controlled the time of possession in the third quarter. Again,
Speaker 4: it just it sometimes this offense just feels so stagnant
Speaker 4: to me. It feels very conservative to me. That's why
Speaker 4: I love to see Dak. You don't want to see
Speaker 4: that putting his body on the line every time, but
Speaker 4: it was nice to see him rush there and get
Speaker 4: that what was an eighteen yard touchdown at one point.
Speaker 4: Seeing him use his legs that's what made him so
Speaker 4: great his rookie season. It's almost like they sort of
Speaker 4: started putting him in bubble wrap.
Speaker 3: And I get it.
Speaker 4: After the injury that he had against the Giants a
Speaker 4: couple of years ago, it was gruesome.
Speaker 3: It was awful to watch.
Speaker 4: I know it was a tough recovery, and then of
Speaker 4: course he had a couple of other injuries after that.
Speaker 4: But it was nice to see him sort of use
Speaker 4: his legs because I think that's what makes him special
Speaker 4: at times, because he is an athletic quarterback and I
Speaker 4: just feel like maybe they've handcuffed him a little bit
Speaker 4: this year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean first rushing touchdown since Week eight of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two. You know, Jane, here's a fun stat
Speaker 2: from NFL research to find folks over there. The Cowboys
Speaker 2: are now twenty one and four when Dak scores a
Speaker 2: rushing touchdown, which proves the point that you just made.
Speaker 2: I mean, and what it really I think speaks to
Speaker 2: is the way McCarthy has approached this team for I
Speaker 2: don't know, maybe the last two maybe three seasons, coaching
Speaker 2: not to lose instead of coaching to win. And it's
Speaker 2: very you know, you see often the flip side of
Speaker 2: that coin is Brandon Staley going for it in situations
Speaker 2: in which you're like, why are you going for it
Speaker 2: on fourth down on your own twenty five? And they're like, well,
Speaker 2: the analytics say it, and then you go to next
Speaker 2: gen stats and it's like, actually, next gen stats is
Speaker 2: that because of the how it could affect the game,
Speaker 2: it is a better decision to go for it because
Speaker 2: you can end it effectively right there, even if you
Speaker 2: know logic says otherwise, so has.
Speaker 4: An impressive fourth down and go for it number I
Speaker 4: think I saw during the broadcast. I don't have it
Speaker 4: at the top of my head, but I think he
Speaker 4: has missed a fourth down guy.
Speaker 2: Oh he is. He defines analytics driven fourth down decisions.
Speaker 2: That guy will go for it quicker than anybody else
Speaker 2: in the NFL, which may end up costing him his
Speaker 2: job if they don't turn things. I mean they're not.
Speaker 2: They're a losing team right now, but it's not looking
Speaker 2: too good. But back to your point about that, I
Speaker 2: just think that that's the way McCarthy kind of coaches.
Speaker 2: I even felt like he was like that in Green
Speaker 2: Bay for a stretch, which kind of led to his
Speaker 2: departure from there, And that's probably just what you're gonna get.
Speaker 2: You're gonna get him also burning timeouts at weird times
Speaker 2: and going into the fourth quarter of a tie game
Speaker 2: with one time out left, which he lucked out. That
Speaker 2: did not burn him to but you know, in some states,
Speaker 2: in some instances, it will. So I think that's something
Speaker 2: that you have to accept. But what's funny to me
Speaker 2: that came to mind earlier when you were talking about
Speaker 2: the feeling around this team. I'm in Cleveland, where everybody's
Speaker 2: you know, hopes and dreams rest on the Browns. I
Speaker 2: live within the city limits. My neighbor right behind me
Speaker 2: is a diehard Browns fan. Everybody wants to talk about
Speaker 2: the Browns at the gym anywhere, and it's all about
Speaker 2: the next game. And let me tell you, the lead
Speaker 2: up the last week's game was depressing, and when they won,
Speaker 2: everybody here is on cloud nine. It's funny to me
Speaker 2: that the whole feeling around an entire season and team
Speaker 2: that an area identifies so deeply with can rest on
Speaker 2: the most recent result and why this win was so important.
Speaker 2: Like you said, but it just makes me laugh that
Speaker 2: at the same time, there's more people selling than buying,
Speaker 2: there's more people that are skeptical than not. The expectations
Speaker 2: are different. I understand the drought of not getting past
Speaker 2: the divisional round of the playoffs, and look, that's got
Speaker 2: to be painful, But at the same time, it's just
Speaker 2: so I mean, people care about the NFL so much.
Speaker 2: It just makes me laugh to think, man, people really
Speaker 2: are uptight about a Cowboys team that just went and
Speaker 2: got a gritty win.
Speaker 4: Well in the morning after, no matter how ugly the
Speaker 4: win is, a w makes all the difference because if
Speaker 4: they had actually lost this game, I think our narrative
Speaker 4: about Dak would be a little different. Our narrative about
Speaker 4: the play calling will be a little bit different, But
Speaker 4: sort of like putting a little bit of a lipstick
Speaker 4: on a pig when they win the game, because I
Speaker 4: think we would be having a very different conversation Micah
Speaker 4: Parsons didn't have that sack and they blew their three
Speaker 4: point lead there at the end.
Speaker 3: I just, you know, going back to what you're saying
Speaker 3: about Dak.
Speaker 4: Sometimes I'm a huge Dak fan off the field, incredible guy,
Speaker 4: but when I'm beginning to look at his body of work,
Speaker 4: his body language last week against the forty nine ers,
Speaker 4: it just, for whatever reason, feels like things have been hard.
Speaker 4: And granted, he's been through so many different offensive corn
Speaker 4: I mean we're talking Scott Lenahan, Wade Wilson, John Kittna,
Speaker 4: Douga Smeyer, all of this, now, Schottenheimer, all these guys
Speaker 4: in his ear, Scott Tolzine in his ear. You know,
Speaker 4: he works in the offseason footwork. I know he's got
Speaker 4: a lot of messaging coming in. And when you're a
Speaker 4: player for the Dallas Cowboys, you also see it, read it.
Speaker 4: You tell everybody you don't pay attention to it. You campartmentalize.
Speaker 4: I don't believe that for a second, but it is
Speaker 4: interesting to me that if you looked at his career,
Speaker 4: getting his team to the postseason, the way that he has,
Speaker 4: the way that he typically does play, if he was
Speaker 4: playing for the Panthers, would dak be under the same
Speaker 4: level of scrutiny about who he is as a quarterback
Speaker 4: and as a player if he was playing for the Panthers.
Speaker 2: No, absolutely not. And I also think that his path
Speaker 2: to this position makes a difference because nobody when he
Speaker 2: came out of Mississippi State, Nobody was like, Yeah, Dakota
Speaker 2: Rayne Prescott, He's going to be the future of the Cowboys.
Speaker 2: And then he was. And then he got the money.
Speaker 2: Remember the conversation around his contract extension at the time
Speaker 2: forty million a year. You out of your mind, Well
Speaker 2: that's what he got. I mean, you had to take
Speaker 2: a franchise tag for it, but that's what he got.
Speaker 2: He's always been fighting against that, I think, and he
Speaker 2: would do himself a whole lot of good if he
Speaker 2: wouldn't want a Super Bowl, but he hasn't yet. And
Speaker 2: because he plays the Cowboys, he is constantly going to
Speaker 2: be under that microscope. That's what you get when you
Speaker 2: wear I mean, I don't have to tell you. You know this,
Speaker 2: when you wear the star in your helmet, that's what
Speaker 2: you get. It's unfortunate, but that's just the reality of
Speaker 2: the situation.
Speaker 3: Well, and I.
Speaker 4: Think a lot of people that are Dak fans Dak
Speaker 4: stands they are particularly sensitive to the comparisons between him
Speaker 4: and Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 3: And I get that, oh, I hit.
Speaker 2: A nerve, unintentionally hit a nerve.
Speaker 4: But if you look at he and Kirk Cousins, they
Speaker 4: are a little similar lately, you know, and even just
Speaker 4: their their willingness to bet on themselves. I mean, there
Speaker 4: is this sort of mentality that is very similar. They're
Speaker 4: also both very well liked in their locker room at nauseum.
Speaker 4: But it's their inability to win some of those big
Speaker 4: games and their inability to win and extend in the
Speaker 4: postseason that I do think sort of puts Dak in
Speaker 4: that Kirk Cousins too. And again I would argue that
Speaker 4: if he was playing for another team, just as I
Speaker 4: was saying, his career wouldn't be as scrutinized. I don't
Speaker 4: think that you would be comparing him. I don't know
Speaker 4: why the Kirk Cousins thing is such a knock. I mean,
Speaker 4: I think Kirk Cousins has actually done a pretty good
Speaker 4: job there in Minnesota and throughout his career. Yeah, but
Speaker 4: for whatever reasons, people love to bag on Kirk. But
Speaker 4: I do wonder that if Dak was playing somewhere like
Speaker 4: the Browns or the Panthers, and he had put up
Speaker 4: the same numbers and their resume, if there would be
Speaker 4: so much scrutiny about his play, good or.
Speaker 2: Bad from a national perspective.
Speaker 3: Visualize it putting his put a different jersey on him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, from a national perspective, especially with the Panthers. Now,
Speaker 2: I think locally, if he was with a team like
Speaker 2: the Browns or the Steelers, yeah, they'd be all over him,
Speaker 2: just like they're all over de Shaun Watson in this
Speaker 2: town right now. But from a national perspective, no, And
Speaker 2: that's just the price you pay for being the Cowboys.
Speaker 2: Because the Cowboys generate, you know, the most clicks, the
Speaker 2: most views, that's just who they are. They got a
Speaker 2: massive fan base that fills Sofi Stadium when the Chargers played,
Speaker 2: because they apparently have more Cowboys fans in the area,
Speaker 2: which does not surprise me. Then Chargers fans in the
Speaker 2: Los Angeles area. So you're right, and perhaps it's a
Speaker 2: bit unfair, but that's also kind of what his football
Speaker 2: fate has led him to. And because he had success early,
Speaker 2: that's just the path that's been set forth for him
Speaker 2: and he's just had to travel that. It's just that
Speaker 2: I don't know, and we're getting way ahead of it here,
Speaker 2: and I admit that, but I don't know what happens
Speaker 2: a year from now, two years from now, like it
Speaker 2: could look vastly different. The same pressure will be applied
Speaker 2: to the next quarterback that plays with the Cowboys about
Speaker 2: one thousand percent.
Speaker 4: And you know, sometimes you know, I find myself or
Speaker 4: Cowboy fans that say, you know, even like after the
Speaker 4: forty nine Ers game, a lot of people are ready
Speaker 4: to move on from Dak Prescott.
Speaker 3: My whole argument is what else are you going to
Speaker 3: go get? What do you want?
Speaker 4: And I don't know if Trey Lance is mature enough.
Speaker 4: I don't know him that well personally, but I don't
Speaker 4: know if he has the type of shoulders, you know,
Speaker 4: the broad shoulders that you have to have to wear
Speaker 4: the star on your home, in the scrutiny that.
Speaker 3: Comes with it.
Speaker 4: You know, Dak, even as he came in as sort
Speaker 4: of a bright eyed, bushy tailed rookie, he felt mature
Speaker 4: beyond his years. And he's talked about this, you know,
Speaker 4: as it relates to his mother and what he went
Speaker 4: through growing up. He just always felt like he was
Speaker 4: ready to step into that opportunity and he could handle it.
Speaker 3: I don't know if Trey is now.
Speaker 4: Granted, Trey took a lot of hits in San Francisco
Speaker 4: and the media scrutiny leading up to the draft, so
Speaker 4: there are elements to him that he has.
Speaker 3: He understands that.
Speaker 4: But think how much we were talking about a third
Speaker 4: string quarterback getting traded to Dallas like it's it's always
Speaker 4: a big deal and so, and then the argument of well,
Speaker 4: who would want Dak? I bet you Sean Payton pick
Speaker 4: up the phone. I bet Sean Payton would love a
Speaker 4: Dak Prescott right now. I mean, there's going to be
Speaker 4: a team that's going to be in the market for
Speaker 4: Dak Prescott. But just show me what other quarterback you
Speaker 4: want to bring to Dallas. And my argument is you
Speaker 4: can't cut him it's going to hit you too much
Speaker 4: in the book, Yes, but I just I'm like you,
Speaker 4: I've got questions marks about what it's going to look
Speaker 4: like moving forward, and I just hope that his career
Speaker 4: doesn't ultimately end the way that Tony Romos did, which
Speaker 4: was started to feel like he couldn't win the big games. Yeah,
Speaker 4: the reason why Dak was so energizing for the locker
Speaker 4: room is when Romo felt like he was more often
Speaker 4: losing games for you, Dak gave you the sense that
Speaker 4: he was going to win.
Speaker 3: More of those games free in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 4: But here lately, I don't know if those of us
Speaker 4: that cover this team fans have as much trust as
Speaker 4: we did in Dak early on his careers. And I
Speaker 4: don't know if that's Dak. I don't know if that's
Speaker 4: his receivers. I don't know if it's the coaching, quite frankly,
Speaker 4: and so I think that's the hard part, is like
Speaker 4: it's always.
Speaker 3: What is it?
Speaker 2: Last year? I would pin a lot of the blame
Speaker 2: on the personnel. I don't think he had enough options.
Speaker 2: Once they traded Amari Cooper for peanuts amounting in the
Speaker 2: form of fifth round picks, they he didn't really have
Speaker 2: anybody to go to. It was a glaring knee. I
Speaker 2: don't think that's necessarily the issue now, and I think
Speaker 2: it goes back to what we kind of discussed earlier,
Speaker 2: which is that since the injury and since everything else,
Speaker 2: you know, what energized him and the Cowboys when he
Speaker 2: first came in was his ability to do both to
Speaker 2: throw and to run. And he's not running that much.
Speaker 2: He scores a touchdown tonight, key touchdown for them early
Speaker 2: in this game, but are you going to see that
Speaker 2: from on a week to week basis? Probably not, And
Speaker 2: that goes back to the conservative coaching style, right, So,
Speaker 2: because you go to preserve your quarterback above all, you
Speaker 2: don't want to be in a position where you have
Speaker 2: to go to, you know, somebody like a Tree Lance
Speaker 2: in a big spot and or you know, like they
Speaker 2: were last year when they had to go to Cooper
Speaker 2: Rush for a little bit. You don't want to be
Speaker 2: in that situation. Nobody does. That's why you go pay
Speaker 2: a starting quarterback. So there's a little bit of both there,
Speaker 2: I think. But again I think we go back to
Speaker 2: the ceiling and it feels like a lot like when
Speaker 2: the Chargers fired Mar Schotheimer after they went fourteen to two.
Speaker 2: They were just like, well, you can't win the big one,
Speaker 2: and then they took a huge step back with north
Speaker 2: Turner over the course of that tenure's and the grass
Speaker 2: is always greener on the other side. But is it
Speaker 2: actually that green? Like is the next option that good?
Speaker 2: I don't know, And I think again, I think we're
Speaker 2: getting ahead of ourselves because there is so much left
Speaker 2: in this season to play. Okay, Like, they can rattle
Speaker 2: off a number of wins here, like if you look
Speaker 2: at their schedule.
Speaker 3: But if you look at their schedule, if you look
Speaker 3: at their scal I know it's tough.
Speaker 2: I see a soft spot. I see giants, giants, Panthers,
Speaker 2: and commanders will be tough because I think their defense
Speaker 2: will show up for that one and then it gets
Speaker 2: really tough throughout the rest of it. So you're gonna
Speaker 2: have to rattle off some wins. You're gonna have to
Speaker 2: get a win over the Eagles. And now I see
Speaker 2: you understand. I understand now while you're looking ahead and thinking,
Speaker 2: oh man, catastrophe could be setting in. I mean, if
Speaker 2: you take it in a week to week basis, I mean,
Speaker 2: look not to take it back to Cleveland, but the
Speaker 2: Browns did just beat the forty nine ERSIL with PJ Walker. Okay,
Speaker 2: crazy things, Nick, You.
Speaker 4: Can't you can't keep expecting your defense to bail you out.
Speaker 4: And I think that's my concern about Dallas is when
Speaker 4: they start playing some of these higher scoring offenses, you
Speaker 4: can't keep expecting your defense to bail you out. You've
Speaker 4: got to start putting more points on the board.
Speaker 3: That's to me.
Speaker 4: The one thing that's standing out about this this Dak
Speaker 4: team is you really don't know what you're getting week
Speaker 4: to week.
Speaker 2: You know what's funny is we spend this time talking
Speaker 2: about how DAK is being scrutinized so much and how
Speaker 2: so much of it revolves around him, and as the
Speaker 2: most important position in all of sports, it will naturally
Speaker 2: with one of the most watched teams in the world.
Speaker 2: But then you think about how Justin Herbert had a
Speaker 2: bad night tonight, and how the only people that are
Speaker 2: going to talk about that are like the Sea block
Speaker 2: of a morning show and the football heads on Twitter
Speaker 2: because it's the Chargers. Like, if you want to pick
Speaker 2: a pairing where this guy has room for air, it's
Speaker 2: the Chargers a team that can ever play a normal game,
Speaker 2: and this was not a normal game by any stretch
Speaker 2: of the imagination. And they're arguably in a worse situation
Speaker 2: if you can think about it in terms of talent
Speaker 2: and what they have on both sides of the field,
Speaker 2: and what their season looks like. But again, what's going
Speaker 2: to dominate the conversations the team that you know quite well,
Speaker 2: the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 4: Well, and Steven A. Smith of course was at the game.
Speaker 4: So I'm sure that there's going to be lots.
Speaker 2: Of talk about in his cowboy hat.
Speaker 4: And his cowboy hat, it's a bit people love to
Speaker 4: talk about it, But I don't know people are going
Speaker 4: to still feel I mean, how do you think that
Speaker 4: Dak is going to be talked about tomorrow after this game?
Speaker 2: Well, because media discussions so often are driven by hate.
Speaker 2: Just to put it plainly, there will be some worthwhile
Speaker 2: criticism of his play. But again, you don't go win
Speaker 2: this game without him. I mean some of the plays
Speaker 2: that he made in this game. Yeah he missed a
Speaker 2: couple of throws. Yeah, but yeah, he missed a couple
Speaker 2: of throws, but he also found some guys and he
Speaker 2: was on target on time a number of times, Like
Speaker 2: I'm doing QB Index this year, and I'm going to
Speaker 2: look at this game and think, I don't know if
Speaker 2: I want to move him up, but he's not going
Speaker 2: to move down, and whereas Justin Herbert's going to move
Speaker 2: down off of performance like this. So you have to
Speaker 2: be happy with those results, even if they're not spectatic.
Speaker 2: It's not going to be spectacular every week. He's not
Speaker 2: going to throw for three to fifty every week, but
Speaker 2: you're right, it will be talk like that.
Speaker 4: But I think what this game showed you is can
Speaker 4: you start getting Brandon Cooks more involved? I mean, I
Speaker 4: think a lot of us here in Dallas have been
Speaker 4: asking ourselves he runs a four three forty. You went
Speaker 4: out and got a vertical deep threat, and I think
Speaker 4: at one point in the game, and I don't know
Speaker 4: if this was still the case when the game ended,
Speaker 4: they only had one pass of over twenty yards. I mean, granted,
Speaker 4: the Chargers did a good job of isolating some of
Speaker 4: those big plays, but the Cowboys are afraid of the
Speaker 4: deep shots this year.
Speaker 2: Yes they are. They are.
Speaker 3: I mean they're taking some of them.
Speaker 4: But I just saw a recent report by Buddy Patrick
Speaker 4: Walker over Dallas Cowboys dot Com road.
Speaker 3: It was a fascinating article. Mike McCarthy. For the most part,
Speaker 3: it just avoided the middle of the field.
Speaker 4: Leading up to the forty nine Ers game, just completely
Speaker 4: ignored the middle of the field. And so I'm still
Speaker 4: I've reached out to somebody and I've asked them, is
Speaker 4: some of this play calling lately is it a concerted
Speaker 4: effort to eliminate some of the interceptions last year? They
Speaker 4: didn't want to comment on that. You know, it was
Speaker 4: sort of one of those no, that's not the case.
Speaker 3: Blah blah blah.
Speaker 4: But for all of us watching it, we can't help
Speaker 4: but ask that question.
Speaker 3: I think it's a fair question.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been a major talking point throughout the offseason
Speaker 2: and into the season, and it's affecting his play. I
Speaker 2: think that you're trying to protect your quarterback from making
Speaker 2: those mistakes again and trying to keep his confidence high.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, if you're actually going to
Speaker 2: maximize the potential of this offense, you do have to
Speaker 2: throw the ball down the field, especially when you have
Speaker 2: a guy like Brandon Cooks who has not made I mean,
Speaker 2: I looked at the stats to night, he tied his
Speaker 2: single game high this year for receptions with four, and
Speaker 2: he's set a new yardage mark at thirty four. That's
Speaker 2: not Brandon Cooks. No matter where he's been, he's made
Speaker 2: a difference. He's been on a number of teams and
Speaker 2: he's made a difference on all of them and he
Speaker 2: could do the same thing for this team. But they
Speaker 2: got to figure it out so.
Speaker 3: And he looked great in camp.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think for all of us that were
Speaker 4: watching Brandon and Dak in camp, that was the most
Speaker 4: solid connection on the field. And tonight was really the
Speaker 4: first night that we've started to see them utilize him,
Speaker 4: and he stepped up in a big way in the
Speaker 4: second half. For you you have two incredible threat like
Speaker 4: Ceedee Lamb. The fact that they weren't really going to
Speaker 4: him last week that was confusing, and then you finally
Speaker 4: get him the ball this week and you see.
Speaker 3: What he can do. It was a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 4: CD was frustrated then and he just said, we were
Speaker 4: talking about the red zone woes and he said, just
Speaker 4: get me the ball and I'm going to get it
Speaker 4: in and he did in that game. And after last
Speaker 4: week he said get me the ball. Good things are
Speaker 4: going to happen. They did that today, good things were
Speaker 4: beginning to happen. So I just feel like there was
Speaker 4: times when Mike McCarthy and again that's why keep going
Speaker 4: back to you, is this Dak checking out a certain
Speaker 4: place Because there are certain situations too, Nick, where if
Speaker 4: you're looking at the game, Dax had guys open, it's
Speaker 4: like he's not seeing them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I was going to go to, is
Speaker 2: that I think he is hesitant to take the shot.
Speaker 2: There was actually there was a play I was messaging
Speaker 2: our fellow writer Kevin Patrick and I during the game
Speaker 2: where it resulted in a sack and he had an option.
Speaker 2: It was a wheel route.
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 2: Jalen Tolbert. He was open and he saw him and
Speaker 2: he had a little hitch, little pump fake like I
Speaker 2: want to throw it, but I'm not sure I want
Speaker 2: to throw it because's Jalen Tolbert and I don't trust him,
Speaker 2: and now I'm sacked. I don't want to make take
Speaker 2: the risk. Not taking the risk will burn you. Eventually,
Speaker 2: Eventually he's gonna have to play in simple He's going.
Speaker 4: To have to the thing that I you know, because
Speaker 4: I hadn't really seen too much of Brock Purdy play
Speaker 4: this year. You know, when you're focused on one team,
Speaker 4: you're not watching some of these other teams as much.
Speaker 4: Brock just looks so confident, decisive and convicted under center.
Speaker 4: Watching him last week, Yeah, and then you watch Dak
Speaker 4: and it's like you're watching him process things in real time.
Speaker 3: Sometimes.
Speaker 4: That's why it's fascinating to me. The beginning of season,
Speaker 4: I think he was one of the quick. He had
Speaker 4: one of the quickest releases, getting the balls out like
Speaker 4: two point three seconds. It feels longer sometimes like watching
Speaker 4: Dak sometimes this year, it just feels like he's processing
Speaker 4: too much information.
Speaker 3: The only way I can like in this is do
Speaker 3: you play golf?
Speaker 4: Yes, Okay, I don't know about you, but if you
Speaker 4: got on the golf course. I've had golf coaches, I've
Speaker 4: I've had friends. You go out on the golf course
Speaker 4: and everyone's giving you a piece of information. Yeah, And
Speaker 4: so I find out typically when I go up, I
Speaker 4: go up and get a RDY tee up. I'm going
Speaker 4: through like a four to five point checklist, and it's
Speaker 4: almost like you overthink it too much. And that's what
Speaker 4: it feels like watching Dak play is I feel like
Speaker 4: he's received so much information and he's getting so much
Speaker 4: messaging that it's like we're watching and process it in
Speaker 4: real time. That's the only way I can describe it.
Speaker 4: Sometimes when I'm watching him play.
Speaker 2: I had that happen to me on a bachelor party
Speaker 2: last summer. I was hitting all my irons, just shanking right,
Speaker 2: shanking right, and I had like three people giving me
Speaker 2: different tips, and I would do that part and it
Speaker 2: would fix it, and then somebody else would say something
Speaker 2: and it would screw it up again. And I just
Speaker 2: was like, I'm just gonna be bad for the day.
Speaker 2: And maybe Dak just doesn't want to be bad for
Speaker 2: the day, like he just wants to boil it down,
Speaker 2: but he knows that he's dealing with so many different things.
Speaker 2: I do think it's a fear of making mistake. I mean,
Speaker 2: you hear it. He seemed like somebody who probably pays
Speaker 2: attention to the off season narrative more than maybe your
Speaker 2: average player. It's hard not to when you're for the Cowboys,
Speaker 2: and last offseason that the whole thing was about how
Speaker 2: he led the league interceptions, and that's not supposed to
Speaker 2: be what a franchise quarterback does. And he also probably
Speaker 2: you know, knows the future is not entirely certain and
Speaker 2: deals with the pressure of need to get to Cowboys
Speaker 2: to the next step. So all of that is probably
Speaker 2: in play. But again, the good thing is it's only
Speaker 2: week six. It's gonna get tough, but it is, and
Speaker 2: he got the bye week, you know, a little vacation,
Speaker 2: little R and R resett a little bit. You're coming
Speaker 2: off a win.
Speaker 3: And Nick, you escaped this game without nandrees.
Speaker 4: Yes, so that I think was the biggest thing for
Speaker 4: the Cowboys because the guys that.
Speaker 3: Have been on the mend.
Speaker 4: You took so many hits to your secondary last week,
Speaker 4: losing Layton Vanderesh I thought was going to be a
Speaker 4: big deal.
Speaker 3: I will say this, We've.
Speaker 4: Talked a lot about offense and Dak tonight when they
Speaker 4: lost Layton Van deersh last week.
Speaker 3: Who is your quarterback on defense? He's calling the place.
Speaker 4: I found myself deeply concerned about them this week, particularly
Speaker 4: going up against Austin Eckler, But I think they did
Speaker 4: a pretty good job to one and that's been an
Speaker 4: area that sort of bit them.
Speaker 3: Now. I still do have concerns about this.
Speaker 4: Secondary Chargers were really able to get things going with
Speaker 4: the Palmer and Keenan Allen, so I think Cowboys have
Speaker 4: got to be a little bit more mindful of that
Speaker 4: moving forward. We'll see if they even bring in some
Speaker 4: additional help there at corner. I don't know what else
Speaker 4: is out there at this point, but I was encouraged
Speaker 4: at least by the play of the linebackers tonight in
Speaker 4: the absence of Layton Vander Esh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they haven't had a practice squad promotion played pretty
Speaker 2: well in this game. My biggest concern for the Cowboys
Speaker 2: outside of Dak which I think he's just going to
Speaker 2: be up and down. That's who he is, and it's
Speaker 2: never going to be somebody who I think is deserving
Speaker 2: of a place beyond like ten in the QB Index,
Speaker 2: but could get up there sometimes and we'll sit Linger
Speaker 2: right beneath it. For most of it. Tyler Smith did
Speaker 2: not have a game that and I got to go
Speaker 2: back and watch it again on the actual tape and
Speaker 2: not on the broadcast, but there were a few moments
Speaker 2: where I'm like, what are you doing? This is a
Speaker 2: young guy, and I thought he played really well as
Speaker 2: a rookie for the most part, but you know, you
Speaker 2: go into the BI week, you might need to spend
Speaker 2: a little bit extra time looked at this tape and
Speaker 2: fixing some things.
Speaker 4: But yeah, basically, which is interesting because Tyler Tyler, who's
Speaker 4: in his second year, they've moved him from you.
Speaker 3: Know, left guard.
Speaker 2: He's been all over tackle.
Speaker 3: He's been all over the place.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Uh, I don't know if I watched the tape as
Speaker 4: as closely as you do on Tyler Smith. So I'm
Speaker 4: gonna have to go back and look at it because
Speaker 4: normally he's not the one we're talking about. You know,
Speaker 4: we see some of these ridiculous holding penalties sometimes with
Speaker 4: this offensive line and inopportune moments. But Tyler, I feel like,
Speaker 4: you know, that was such a heavily scrutinized draft pick
Speaker 4: for the Cowboys when they took him the first round
Speaker 4: two years ago, and not only did he start last year.
Speaker 4: I mean I remember right out of the gate, the
Speaker 4: Cowboys are getting ready to play the Bucks and Tyron
Speaker 4: Smith goes down and You're like, wow, now we've got
Speaker 4: to ask this rookie to fill in for our all
Speaker 4: Pro guy t Smith. And he did a great job,
Speaker 4: and then you got Terrence still back, and you didn't
Speaker 4: need Tyler Tyron Smith over there at right tackle. You're
Speaker 4: able to move Terrence back over there and move Tyron
Speaker 4: back over the left side, and it was the starting
Speaker 4: five that you've always been looking for. I got a
Speaker 4: little nervous for the Cowboys when Zach Morton was slow
Speaker 4: to get up this week.
Speaker 3: You know, he got a little banged up last week.
Speaker 4: It's like, come on, you don't need any more help
Speaker 4: any more guys getting hurt on the offensive line. So
Speaker 4: I thought the biggest thing for me taking away from
Speaker 4: this game was one, like I said, seeing Brandon Cooks
Speaker 4: get going, seeing Ceedee Lamb get his.
Speaker 3: Confidence back, get utilized, but also more importantly getting out
Speaker 3: of this one and not having the injuries.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you talk about Zach Martin. That's the one
Speaker 2: guy more than anybody that you can trust in the
Speaker 2: offensive line, so you definitely need him to be on
Speaker 2: the field. Yeah. Defensively, I don't feel too bad about them.
Speaker 2: I think that you know, you talk about some of
Speaker 2: the you know, personnel, the depth on the back end.
Speaker 2: I still feel good about this group. Save for that
Speaker 2: strange game against the Cardinals, when they couldn't stop a
Speaker 2: nosebleed on the ground. They've been pretty solid throughout the season,
Speaker 2: so I think that's still going to be their strength
Speaker 2: as they figure out offensively. Going back to the Charges
Speaker 2: real quick before we wrap this up. You talked about
Speaker 2: you were worried if they were going to run the ball. Well,
Speaker 2: team net rushing total fifty three yards, Austin Eckler averaging
Speaker 2: a incendiary one point nine yards per pop. Really, they
Speaker 2: have a lot to fix there, and I'm not sure
Speaker 2: you know. I watched Colts Titans or sorry, Colts Jags
Speaker 2: this week and the whole second half of the broadcast
Speaker 2: was I don't know how you can perform when you're
Speaker 2: so one dimensional offense because you have no running game.
Speaker 2: It felt like the same thing for the Chargers, you know,
Speaker 2: that last drive. I looked at Herbert and You're sitting
Speaker 2: here thinking, how's the defense gonna blow this? I'm sitting
Speaker 2: there thinking, how is he gonna cover seventy yards? Like
Speaker 2: he has no time to throw? So I think I'm
Speaker 2: pretty concerned about them at two and three, you know,
Speaker 2: taking a quick look ahead at their schedule, you know,
Speaker 2: w well, the Cowboys going to the bi week. The
Speaker 2: Chargers actually just came out of the bye week. It
Speaker 2: does not get easier for them. They get the Kansas
Speaker 2: City Chiefs at Arrowhead next week, so I'm not gonna
Speaker 2: say chalk that one up as an l but that's
Speaker 2: gonna be real tough. Then you get Chicago, which may
Speaker 2: or may not have justin field at that time, and
Speaker 2: then you faced the Jets, who are gonna be an
Speaker 2: even tougher challenge defensively than the Cowboys were tonight, and
Speaker 2: the Lions after that. So it's gonna be a tough
Speaker 2: month ahead. Yeah, you better hope that they pull out
Speaker 2: one or two wins there or Brandon stalely watch is
Speaker 2: going to ramp up real quick. But I think that's
Speaker 2: going to do it for us. Jane, it's been a
Speaker 2: pleasure to do this recap with you. I thought we
Speaker 2: did a pretty good job.
Speaker 3: Well, we got big shoes to fill with the boys, but.
Speaker 4: You know, they're flying back from London and so honored
Speaker 4: that Greg and the guys asked me to fill in,
Speaker 4: and sorry for the Raspee boys just getting back from
Speaker 4: acl It was a great music weekend.
Speaker 2: Oh what bands did you see?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 4: Nineteen seventy five Bob Moses Odesa, Maggie Rogers.
Speaker 3: It was a good one.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I'm sure you had a plan. Well, I
Speaker 2: think you're probably in line for some sleep now. It's
Speaker 2: pretty late here. We might as well wrap this thing
Speaker 2: up all right. Well, for Jane Slater, I'm Nick Shook.
Speaker 2: This has been your Monday Night recap. Thanks again to
Speaker 2: the boys as they travel back from London. They'll be
Speaker 2: back for the rest of the week. Until then, so long.