Speaker 1: The following Here's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football clubs. Let 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.
Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, December eighth, twenty twenty one, Season seventeen, episode
Speaker 1: number seventy four. Welcome to the latest edition of The
Speaker 1: Break Life from the s WBC Mortgage Studios. At the start,
Speaker 1: before I give Nick a chance to give us a
Speaker 1: seventy four, I gotta quickly give a very happy birthday
Speaker 1: shout out to the lovely Missing Cambray. Happy birthday, Amber.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Let's make it a good show now. Now,
Speaker 1: this is your birthday, so let's bring it. Let's bring
Speaker 1: the heat. You don't turn twenty two every day, okay Smith?
Speaker 1: Are you feeling old? Yes? Every time I look in
Speaker 1: the mirror, I feel I see myself. I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: I'm a woman. Like I'm a woman now, I'm not
Speaker 1: a I'm not a college kid. Yeah a minute, but
Speaker 1: I'm saying like a grown woman no longer in college
Speaker 1: woman responsibilities right, yeah, yeah, oh my god about it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I asked her what the real number was or like
Speaker 1: a couple of minutes ago, and she's just stared bullets through.
Speaker 1: Don't do that. We're not having that conversation. Is basically
Speaker 1: she don't do that at home. Yeah, I'm positive, and
Speaker 1: I'm still the youngest one. I'm here by a wide margin. Yeah,
Speaker 1: as we say it right before we on the show,
Speaker 1: we take shots around here. Yeah that was just a
Speaker 1: very slight It's gonna stay that way. That's an easy shot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's gonna stay that way. Um. But happy birthday, Ambering,
Speaker 1: Happy birthday. It's still us first them. Okay, like we're
Speaker 1: still younger. We're on the younger side. I need you
Speaker 1: to stop agreeing so much with Nick. I know you're right,
Speaker 1: we're right. Get back on track over here. I agree.
Speaker 1: If you're aging quickly, I know trust if anybody can
Speaker 1: catch us, it would be like man aging very quick
Speaker 1: hair going though man in a few days. Yeah, birthday
Speaker 1: got here in because we got Mickey coming up. Old
Speaker 1: Brian brought us he's got one coming up. So yeah,
Speaker 1: late month. But you know she said, oh boy, Nick,
Speaker 1: seventy four, give me seventy four. There's only one answer.
Speaker 1: There's not a Nick answer, there's not a right. It's
Speaker 1: just Bob Lily. He's he's the original seventy four. There's
Speaker 1: the only seventy four. Is there a reason they don't
Speaker 1: just retire his number? I mean, if they're gonna just
Speaker 1: like never yet anybody have it, why wouldn't they do?
Speaker 1: The reason because in the preseason they need to put it.
Speaker 1: You put it on. Maybe Dorance Armstrong got it. I
Speaker 1: know a guy like Jalen Jelks wore it, which I
Speaker 1: thought was gonna be great. He wasn't. There was an
Speaker 1: old player named Junior Fili Katonga. Yeah, I don't remember.
Speaker 1: That's why, because they put him in seventy four. Seventy
Speaker 1: four stands for in the NFL, not for long, like
Speaker 1: you're not for long. If you're seventy four in Dallas,
Speaker 1: then you're probably gonna get you're not gonna be here
Speaker 1: long and you're definitely not gonna wear it for very Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's not before the show or do you just remember
Speaker 1: well Bob Lily, well, yeah, but the other well those
Speaker 1: names aren't even in the media guide it is. It
Speaker 1: is one of my favorite running jokes, which they're not
Speaker 1: always cut. But every spring you find seventy four and
Speaker 1: you're like, Okay, he's either switching or he ain't gonna
Speaker 1: be here. Like, sorry, buddy, I'm not gonna highly of
Speaker 1: you to give you seventy four. I do think it's interesting,
Speaker 1: like Bob Lily, mister cowboy, I'm not I'm not talking
Speaker 1: down on that, but it's funny that they give that
Speaker 1: out with no problem at all. But they don't even
Speaker 1: give eight, twelve and twenty two to like, they don't
Speaker 1: give that. You cannot walk in the door and get that.
Speaker 1: You don't wear that even if you're a training body,
Speaker 1: you don't get those numbers. Yeah, so that is true.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's because I don't know. There are no rules
Speaker 1: about this. It's just it's this unwritten it's this unwritten
Speaker 1: book of rules. But like seventy four goes out to
Speaker 1: a scrub like every year, but the other ones never do.
Speaker 1: We did like this list of like the ten most
Speaker 1: sacred numbers in cowboys history, and that doesn't mean they're
Speaker 1: all like that, He's seventy four is number one because
Speaker 1: like nobody else has ever been in it, you know,
Speaker 1: and warned, but no one's gonna wear eight or twelve
Speaker 1: or eight or twelve or twenty two. See. That's also
Speaker 1: what I don't quite understand, because I look at it like,
Speaker 1: I actually like what they've done with the number eighty
Speaker 1: eight to where it is a privilege to be able
Speaker 1: to wear the number eighty eight. And I think it's
Speaker 1: more there's it's more value in doing that than saying, well,
Speaker 1: you can't touch this number. But they backed into that.
Speaker 1: I mean that they lucked into that because they weren't
Speaker 1: doing that for Drew Pearson. They were just Michael Irvin
Speaker 1: gets it, and Michael irvn was great. And because now
Speaker 1: you had two at the same position, then you give it.
Speaker 1: But they gave to some other. They give it to
Speaker 1: a tight end, They give it to ant Antonio Brand.
Speaker 1: Then they gave it to No he wasn't okay, he
Speaker 1: wasn't great, And then now it was going to be
Speaker 1: eighty eight Onday on Show eight. Now. But if if
Speaker 1: somebody had they drafted a guy right after Troy and
Speaker 1: he was number one pick in the draft or whatever,
Speaker 1: have you given a number eight? Maybe yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: but it's just tricky. Though. It's great when they live
Speaker 1: up to the billing, but so LSU makes a big
Speaker 1: deal out of number seven. They give that to the
Speaker 1: stud and they've given it to a few guys who
Speaker 1: sucked and it's kind of a bummer and you're like,
Speaker 1: what was he doing wearing seven? Like that's gross? And
Speaker 1: they try with fifty four, but it doesn't always work.
Speaker 1: Jalen didn't work, he didn't want it, and then Bobby Carpenter.
Speaker 1: They tried though with fifty four, but it just has
Speaker 1: been a hard one. Yeah, to get anybody to live
Speaker 1: up to that. All right, let's go ahead and get
Speaker 1: some quick get a quick COVID update. Where are we
Speaker 1: as far as COVID from from a standpoint of procedures
Speaker 1: as well as from the standpoint of coaches and players
Speaker 1: who've been out. The only two people who are still
Speaker 1: in the COVID protocol or Mike McCarthy and Nishan Wright.
Speaker 1: They're both expected to be back by the end of
Speaker 1: the week. McCarthy joked that he's going to come to
Speaker 1: work at twelve o one tonight because that's the first
Speaker 1: time allowed in the building. Will you Okay? So I'm
Speaker 1: just feeling it right now. All right, good for you.
Speaker 1: I will not So that's it. Everybody else's back. All
Speaker 1: the assistant coaches came back yesterday or Monday, and they
Speaker 1: activated all the other COVID players. That's literally the only
Speaker 1: two people right now. So knock on wood always. But
Speaker 1: they look like they're on the other side of it
Speaker 1: right now with regards to injuries they're getting. It looks
Speaker 1: like Gallimore and Randy Gregory back this week. Are they
Speaker 1: about at this point? They completely healthy? Like? Is that
Speaker 1: a thing? I had this thought this morning while I
Speaker 1: was getting ready for work, and I think we'll have
Speaker 1: to see. They haven't practiced yet, but I think when
Speaker 1: they take the field today they will have, like the
Speaker 1: whole projected starting twenty two from camp out there for
Speaker 1: the first time since whenever. And really, who am I
Speaker 1: forgetting win in camp early? Because well, I I was
Speaker 1: gonna say, And even if you want to go to
Speaker 1: guys that have significant roles, Blake is the only one
Speaker 1: that's left that would have even had a real role
Speaker 1: right that is now not with the team practicing, and
Speaker 1: you know he went to COVID list and now he's
Speaker 1: back up COVID. I don't even remember. I don't know
Speaker 1: that happened, but that he got COVID. Yeah, yeah, it happened.
Speaker 1: He got it. He got it before other people, he
Speaker 1: got it before his outbreak kind of started. He's still
Speaker 1: on there with a hip injury. He's got a hip injury.
Speaker 1: He Mike was asked today. I know people have been
Speaker 1: curious about Jarwin. Mike was asked today if he was
Speaker 1: done for the year, and he said, we don't think
Speaker 1: that COVID set him back because he can't be here
Speaker 1: rehabbing for a whole however long. That is so, Um,
Speaker 1: they're not ruling him out for the year. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that's tough. It doesn't I mean, he's been out for
Speaker 1: a month already and it doesn't sound like it's going
Speaker 1: to be immediately. Maybe maybe you get him back for
Speaker 1: the playoffs or something like that. Hey, if that's the
Speaker 1: worst you got to deal with on this team, this
Speaker 1: is that is a blessing. This is probably as good
Speaker 1: as it's gonna get. Yeah, the rest of the year,
Speaker 1: because more injuries will happen, hopefully not, but maybe more
Speaker 1: COVID stuff will happen. Um, But yeah, I mean it's
Speaker 1: good because twenty one and a half of your like
Speaker 1: twenty two. Well, this is the toughest game on the
Speaker 1: schedule that that remains on the schedule. I think, I
Speaker 1: think this one right here, I can't go there what
Speaker 1: I don't think so, I mean, I think this typical
Speaker 1: nick It isn't what Okay, So explain that to me
Speaker 1: real quick. I just think this is this game is
Speaker 1: gonna be a tougher game to go win. Arizona at
Speaker 1: Washington will be a tougher game to win. I mean
Speaker 1: I believe that. I mean Arizona, yeah, they're good, but
Speaker 1: everybody's getting beat by every Arizona is not like unbeat
Speaker 1: only lost twice. They got the best record in the
Speaker 1: NFLK but I mean they also got their ass kicked
Speaker 1: by the Panthers. I mean, like it happens, they get beat,
Speaker 1: they get beat. Well, yeah, everybody gets beat. I get that.
Speaker 1: But you won't be a tougher matchup than Washington. Won't
Speaker 1: win the East if they don't win this game. And
Speaker 1: I don't know what Arizona will be at and maybe
Speaker 1: they'll be fighting for the bye. It could be, but
Speaker 1: I just think at Washington in this game and the
Speaker 1: way it's gonna be. I think it's gonna be the
Speaker 1: toughest game for them to win. I couldn't get a
Speaker 1: yard last year on Washington. They couldn't. I understand everybody's different,
Speaker 1: but they've lost both their defensive ends. Cool doesn't slow
Speaker 1: them down. They've only gotten better. They actually have gotten better.
Speaker 1: You're right about that. All I'm saying is I believe
Speaker 1: that this is the toughest game that they have to play.
Speaker 1: Martin came out of that game too. I was looking
Speaker 1: out about last year for pictures. Yea. It was like
Speaker 1: three players being now for injury during that game. I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, hopefully it goes down differently this time around.
Speaker 1: Jack tyrant Lyell and Zack Martin for all but one
Speaker 1: series didn't play against Washington. I admire Nick's worldview. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying you're wrong, it's just it's just different. Honestly.
Speaker 1: The thing I like about the way Nick does it, No, no,
Speaker 1: the reason why I'm making fun of you, No, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't. This isn't like this is up for debate.
Speaker 1: I mean, right at Washington versus Arizona at home. I
Speaker 1: like the nuance of how you look at it. That's
Speaker 1: that's the point I was going to make, and no,
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not. My feelings are not. Yeah. Good,
Speaker 1: that is not a that's not a slight. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: like if you ask anybody, you would think the immediate
Speaker 1: ants will be that. But I think you made a
Speaker 1: good point like this is they are desperate, and in
Speaker 1: a league where you run into a desperate team, sometimes
Speaker 1: that can be even more challenging than a team that's
Speaker 1: playing really well, right, because desperation can bring that out
Speaker 1: of out of teams. So I think that's a good point.
Speaker 1: We'll get back to that. We certainly we'll talk about
Speaker 1: that Friday when we start talking what we think will
Speaker 1: happen in the game. I don't think Arizona will have
Speaker 1: anything locked up by then. Everybody's too close for them
Speaker 1: to just have it locked up with two games to play,
Speaker 1: so they'll be playing for something as well. And then
Speaker 1: you know Kyler Murray coming back to Dallas and the
Speaker 1: clip that he said they called the Cowboys ass like
Speaker 1: that will resurface and all that stuff, and that'll be
Speaker 1: that'll be fun. That'll be a fun game, and it
Speaker 1: won't be at noon. I don't think I don't think
Speaker 1: so they got to announce that soon. If they're gonna
Speaker 1: be about it, I'm guessing that's gonna be a little
Speaker 1: later than at least in an afternoon. Do play Washington
Speaker 1: the week before at night at night, so I don't
Speaker 1: know if NBCC and then you got the final game
Speaker 1: of the season at Philadelphia, another game that that might
Speaker 1: have some implications as well. All right, let's go and
Speaker 1: take our first break. When we come back, we got
Speaker 1: Buckey Brooks of NFL Network. He'll be joining us. He'll
Speaker 1: talk to us about this Washington team, particularly the Washington offense.
Speaker 1: Will do that when we come right back. This is
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Speaker 1: two day WrestleMania event. Welcome back, second segment of the
Speaker 1: Break Life in SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. We
Speaker 1: are joined right now by Bucky Brooks of NFL Network.
Speaker 1: As we do every week, we'll talk about the opponents
Speaker 1: of day. We will focus in on the Washington football
Speaker 1: team offense, Bucky, Let's start with what does this offense
Speaker 1: do well? Because it looks like on paper that really
Speaker 1: it's about the defense and the offense is just kind
Speaker 1: of taking up space. But tell me what do they
Speaker 1: do well? What is it if there was a situation
Speaker 1: where the Cowboys could run into a problem against this offense,
Speaker 1: what would that look like? I think, first and foremost,
Speaker 1: this isn't a game about like personnel and talent and
Speaker 1: the xes and oos. This is a game where the
Speaker 1: Washington football team has a feeling that they always can
Speaker 1: kind of punk the Cowboys. I think if you go
Speaker 1: back and you remember last year I played out where
Speaker 1: they had to issue where the quarterback got hit and
Speaker 1: no one kind of stood up and kind of fall back,
Speaker 1: I think that permeates kind of how like the Washington
Speaker 1: football team feels about them and they existed before Ron Rivera.
Speaker 1: So this has a game that little to do with
Speaker 1: about the talent on the field and more to do
Speaker 1: about are the Cowboys mature enough to hit the bully
Speaker 1: in the mouth. Because the only way the Washington football
Speaker 1: team should be able to beat the Cowboys if the
Speaker 1: Cowboys absolutely play bad, don't execute and do those things.
Speaker 1: I would say offensively, the Washing football team has one
Speaker 1: weapon that scares you. That might be Terry mclauren. But
Speaker 1: the rest of the guys are just I mean, they're okay.
Speaker 1: Antonio Gibson can get loose a little bit, but he's
Speaker 1: not what I would call a top ten running back.
Speaker 1: The quarterback runs around and make plays, particularly in the clutch,
Speaker 1: but he's not an elite playmaker at the position. The
Speaker 1: offensive line is okay, and so this is a team
Speaker 1: that is winning now because they feel like they can
Speaker 1: kind of grind it out and they're tougher than the opponent.
Speaker 1: And Ron River has done a really good job of
Speaker 1: convincing them of that fact. But from a talent standpoint,
Speaker 1: it is not a high end team, particularly on offense.
Speaker 1: Do you think Tyler Hennikey is a top tier quarterback
Speaker 1: or potential to be in that group. I mean, I
Speaker 1: know he's kind of come out of nowhere here, but
Speaker 1: where do you think his ceiling is? Man, he's a
Speaker 1: bottom third quarterback. Like, I don't know who would I
Speaker 1: like him to. I mean, he's a little bit like
Speaker 1: how Ryan Fitzpatrick is in terms of like he'll flash
Speaker 1: for a while, But then you wonder when is the
Speaker 1: magic carper Rode going to run out. Look, I'm not
Speaker 1: disparaging like he's good. I mean he's good at what
Speaker 1: they do for right now, But I wouldn't want to
Speaker 1: hitch my wagon to him as a long term investment.
Speaker 1: I think what you want to do is speed up
Speaker 1: his clock. You want to pressure and see if you
Speaker 1: can get him to make mistakes. But I mean that's
Speaker 1: kind of what he is. He runs around and makes plays.
Speaker 1: That's that's his game. So the big thing that I
Speaker 1: look at and they haven't been insane, I guess, But
Speaker 1: like for an offense we just kind of talked about,
Speaker 1: with not a lot of special stuff going on, Washington
Speaker 1: has been able to string together like a crazy amount
Speaker 1: of just the long sustained scoring drives like they have
Speaker 1: been keeping people off the field. I'm seeing you know,
Speaker 1: they famously they put the Bucks away with a nineteen
Speaker 1: play scoring drive. You're seeing fifteen play field goal drives,
Speaker 1: eleven play touchdown drives, like at least two or three
Speaker 1: times a game. You're talking about ten twelve, fifteen play drives.
Speaker 1: How are they doing that? Is it simply because Heineke
Speaker 1: can extend plays and pick up yards with his feet.
Speaker 1: I mean, what is leading to that sort of ability
Speaker 1: to stay on the field. I mean, it's a little
Speaker 1: bit of everything, right, It's a little bit of Telehenneke
Speaker 1: making plays. It's a little bit of sometimes getting the
Speaker 1: benefit of a ill time penalty that extends to drive
Speaker 1: is Antonio Gibson makes a remark play art Terry mclauren
Speaker 1: makes a remarkable play in a key moment. I would
Speaker 1: say it's probably not ideal to have these fifteen sixteen
Speaker 1: seventeen play drives because it's hard to live like that
Speaker 1: because when you have that many plays to move the
Speaker 1: ball down the field, it means that you don't really
Speaker 1: have explode some playmakers, and so typically you have to
Speaker 1: have explosive plays to score. They have been able to
Speaker 1: sustain some of those dribs, but when you look at
Speaker 1: the total amount of points that they're scoring get to
Speaker 1: end the games, it's hard for them to get well
Speaker 1: over twenty points, and so it's a matter of just
Speaker 1: kind of understanding and making them kick field goals and
Speaker 1: hopefully on the office you can score enough points against
Speaker 1: their defense. Bucky, there's a lot of hype around the
Speaker 1: return of some of these defensive players right now, and
Speaker 1: the defense has been pretty solid without them. But if
Speaker 1: you had to look at something that could be negative,
Speaker 1: or something not negative, but something that they might struggle
Speaker 1: with putting these guys back together out there on the field,
Speaker 1: what would that be trying to figure out a rotation,
Speaker 1: trying to figure out how you put the pieces in place.
Speaker 1: And the biggest piece of the poles is Michael Parsons.
Speaker 1: Michael Parsons is so good doing a few different things
Speaker 1: that if you just keep them an inside linebacker, you
Speaker 1: take away from his superpower as a pass Russian. So
Speaker 1: how do you incorporate Randy Gregory, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Michael
Speaker 1: Parsons in the pass rush while still keeping the Gazooa
Speaker 1: and everybody else in the mix? And so it will
Speaker 1: take dan Quinn trying to figure out how to reshuffle
Speaker 1: the deck to get the best players on the field
Speaker 1: enough to make the impact while keeping everybody else happy.
Speaker 1: And so this would be a test of the chemistry
Speaker 1: and continuity. Can people sacrifice some of the individual snaps
Speaker 1: for the betterment of the defense. That would be the
Speaker 1: biggest issue, because this is a team that I would
Speaker 1: expect the last five games, we should see the Cowboys
Speaker 1: play the best football of the season because now everybody
Speaker 1: is back, and with everybody being back, we're talking about
Speaker 1: a top five, top seven roster in the league. The
Speaker 1: excuses go out the door. They should be able to
Speaker 1: get on a role heading into the postseason. Bucky Ill
Speaker 1: was looking at the offensive line for the Washington football team.
Speaker 1: Eric Flowers is a name that you look at this
Speaker 1: guy years ago, like I thought he was going to
Speaker 1: be out of the league within two or three years,
Speaker 1: just the way he was playing where he's being talked about.
Speaker 1: Has moved around a few teams, but seems to be
Speaker 1: playing pretty solidly for the Washington football team. So looking
Speaker 1: at that entire offensive line, what do you think, what
Speaker 1: do you think is their weakest point with Dallas, As
Speaker 1: Amber was saying, with all those defensive linemen that are
Speaker 1: going to be coming back, what do you think is
Speaker 1: the weakest point on that offensive line for Washington that
Speaker 1: Dallas could be able to exploit? Well? One, pass protection
Speaker 1: would be the biggest weakness. They do a really good
Speaker 1: job of moving people off the ball, and the reason
Speaker 1: why you're seeing them have these long drives is because
Speaker 1: they're trying to make a concerted effort to stay on schedule.
Speaker 1: They're trying to keep Tyler Heineck and the passing game
Speaker 1: out of these long situations where the defense can tee off.
Speaker 1: And so I would say it's about trying to figure
Speaker 1: out if you can win early downs against the run
Speaker 1: game to forcement obvious passing situations, and then when you
Speaker 1: have those obvious passing situations, you have to rush with
Speaker 1: the plan. I believe you got to keep Taylor Heinekey
Speaker 1: and pocket and make him throw what they call from
Speaker 1: the whale. He is not a tall quarterback, so you
Speaker 1: want to make him throw over the trees, make him
Speaker 1: throw elevated over those guys so then you see tips
Speaker 1: and overthrows lead to interceptions. But don't allow him to
Speaker 1: run around. So rush to the depth, to the edge
Speaker 1: of the depth of his drop, but don't go beyond
Speaker 1: that to give him an escape patch. Make him throw
Speaker 1: from the center of the pocket around the big bodies
Speaker 1: and trees, because that's when you'll see the interceptions happen
Speaker 1: because the ball will float and flutter as he's having
Speaker 1: to throw it over bodies as opposed to running around
Speaker 1: and having clear passing runs a lot of times when
Speaker 1: you get a new player in here, like they have
Speaker 1: with Michael Parsons, he can overshadow others. Is Layton vander Esh,
Speaker 1: in your opinion, being overshadowed or is he just not
Speaker 1: playing well or both? I think what happens is Michael
Speaker 1: parsons star is so bright that it does overshadow Layton
Speaker 1: vander Esh because lay Vandesh has been solid. I won't
Speaker 1: say he's been spectacular, but when you're playing beside someone
Speaker 1: like Marco Parson's like, I mean, just look at how
Speaker 1: Michael Parsons runs around. I mean he's like a superhero,
Speaker 1: Like he's big, fast, becausical, he makes all the plays
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. He can run around and chase people down.
Speaker 1: Layden bennett As certainly can make plays and he's solid,
Speaker 1: but it's difference, and it's the level between being a
Speaker 1: star player and a role player. Right now, laden As
Speaker 1: is playing more like a role player as opposed to
Speaker 1: a star, which is why all the attention is going
Speaker 1: elsewhere as opposed to him. This feels like a perfect
Speaker 1: Cowboys question because this is the type of thing that
Speaker 1: happens to them. We know Terry McLaren's good. We know
Speaker 1: Antonio Gibson's good. I believe Logan Thomas just got sent
Speaker 1: back to IR. You look around the rest of this offense,
Speaker 1: there's not a whole lot in the way of guys
Speaker 1: that have done anything this year. Like Curtis Samuel's been hurt,
Speaker 1: the Ammi Brown, the draft pick, hasn't done a whole lot,
Speaker 1: cam sends Adam Humphrey's like. They are short on playmakers
Speaker 1: other than those two names that we know. So like,
Speaker 1: if a guy that we've never heard of is going
Speaker 1: to make them look bad on Sunday, who might that be?
Speaker 1: I think we might have lost Oh no, we lost
Speaker 1: buck Um. But actually that's a good question. You just imagining.
Speaker 1: I'm just imagining Cowboys Twitter, Like Antonio Gandy Golden's going
Speaker 1: off for a ninety five yards today? What the hell
Speaker 1: is going on? You know who? Did you know? He's
Speaker 1: actually a pretty good he I was. I liked him
Speaker 1: in the draft. I don't know what he's doing in Washington.
Speaker 1: You know what, what what would be the most Cowboys
Speaker 1: thing ever is if Curtis Samuel got off. Because we
Speaker 1: know Curtis Samuel, We've seen him having games in the
Speaker 1: NFL where he can do some damage, and he hadn't
Speaker 1: done anything. Like you said, he hadn't done much this season,
Speaker 1: but this would be the kind of game where you're like, man,
Speaker 1: I didn't even realize he was on Washington football team,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden he's having this amazing day.
Speaker 1: Gandy go, there we go, Gandy. Golden has one career
Speaker 1: catch for three yards so far. Buck, did you catch that?
Speaker 1: Because I am curious for your answer. No, So no,
Speaker 1: give me the That's part of the question I did
Speaker 1: the kids. Basically, everybody on this offense other than Terry
Speaker 1: McLaurin and Antonio Gibson is either hurt or bad. And
Speaker 1: so I'm just wondering if somebody's going to break out
Speaker 1: and embarrass the Cowboys on Sunday. Is there somebody that
Speaker 1: I should have in mind that I'm not thinking about
Speaker 1: who it's hard man? Maybe number one? Was it DeAndre Carter? Kid? Yeah,
Speaker 1: number one on DeAndre Carter? Maybe on Accas and can
Speaker 1: break out? Honestly, man, Like, this is one of the
Speaker 1: challenging games, and this is why I think it's a
Speaker 1: huge test for the Cowboys. I hurt Nick talking about
Speaker 1: he's more worried about this game than the Cardinals, because
Speaker 1: I do believe that in film session you can look
Speaker 1: at this team and get sleepy right, like you're trying
Speaker 1: to figure out, like who's the guy? Like how can
Speaker 1: they be this? And those other things. So I think
Speaker 1: the challenge will be Cowboys mature enough to knock off
Speaker 1: a team that they should be By all accounts, this
Speaker 1: is a team in a game that they should win.
Speaker 1: Are the Cowboys mature enough to run out and beat them?
Speaker 1: Coming off the heels of the Broncos game and the
Speaker 1: Raiders game and those things, there's some questions, but can
Speaker 1: they walk out and take care of business really quickly
Speaker 1: and early and not led the Washington football team hang around?
Speaker 1: Because if they do that, then I think we alway
Speaker 1: feel better about their chances of making a legitimate run,
Speaker 1: and so we can talk about them being talented enough
Speaker 1: it's continued to do it. I think this is a
Speaker 1: focus game. Can you focus enough to make sure that
Speaker 1: nobody's don't become somebody in this game? I guess, tying
Speaker 1: along that question, I would say that most of us
Speaker 1: right now feel pretty good about the Cowboys and them
Speaker 1: getting their group back together and everything kind of looking
Speaker 1: trending upwards for this week. But I'm curious to hear
Speaker 1: like how are people from the outside, like other analysts
Speaker 1: looking into the Cowboys, Like how are they talking about
Speaker 1: the Cowboys right now? It's a lot of wait and see,
Speaker 1: right because what happens is when you see them go
Speaker 1: out and they run off to like a six and
Speaker 1: one record, but then they drop one to the Broncos.
Speaker 1: Then on Thanksgiving Day when the world is watching, they
Speaker 1: don't look good against the Raiders. Then you're trying to
Speaker 1: figure out, like, well, which version of the Cowboys it's
Speaker 1: gonna show up? And I know you have injuries and
Speaker 1: those other things where you don't have your top receivers,
Speaker 1: but that impression makes people nonbelievers. And so I think
Speaker 1: what you want to see is the Cowboys coming wipe somebody.
Speaker 1: You kind of want to see him hammer somebody where
Speaker 1: you see the talent and you're like, okay, okay, now
Speaker 1: they're back. Because when you think about the reaction that
Speaker 1: team or people have had over the Patriots, right, the
Speaker 1: Patriots are winning games, but it's because of the history
Speaker 1: of Bill Belichick getting the team right that everyone is like, Okay,
Speaker 1: here comes the Patriots. They're winning, but they're not impressive
Speaker 1: in how they're winning. They're just winning. I think for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys you kind of need that knockout blow so
Speaker 1: everyone is like, Okay, they're not messing around anymore, like
Speaker 1: they got to go in there ready to get to
Speaker 1: get a going heading down the stretch. I think that's
Speaker 1: what we need to see. All right, Bucky Apprecid, you
Speaker 1: going joining us. We'll have you back tomorrow. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about the Washington defense versus the Cowboys offense. We're gonna
Speaker 1: take our final break, we'll come back. We'll answer some
Speaker 1: questions here about this Cowboys defense, particularly how the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are gonna look bringing back Lawrence Gregory and now adding
Speaker 1: that to what Parsons is doing. We'll do that when
Speaker 1: we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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Speaker 1: to the Break. Dak Prescott is the Cowboys nominee for
Speaker 1: the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, presented
Speaker 1: by Nationwide, recognizing NFL players for outstanding community service activities
Speaker 1: off the field and excellent on the field. Helped Dak
Speaker 1: earn a twenty five thousand donation. Twenty five thousand dollars
Speaker 1: donation to his faith Byte finished Foundation by voting on
Speaker 1: Twitter tweet hashtag wp m o HY challenge, followed by
Speaker 1: Prescott through January seventeenth, Vote Dak Welcome Back, final segment
Speaker 1: of the break glaf in s WBC Mortgage Studios at
Speaker 1: The Star. I think su vote for Dak is he's
Speaker 1: done some really really good work last year and I
Speaker 1: think it should be recognized. So make sure you take
Speaker 1: a chance to take some opportunity to take the time
Speaker 1: to go out and give Dak a vote. I think
Speaker 1: he could win this award, don't I know other thirty
Speaker 1: one people in the league. I mean, I'm sure, by
Speaker 1: the way, there are a lot of players out there
Speaker 1: doing great stuff. Of course they are certainly are. But man,
Speaker 1: a lot of the things that he's he's doing, and
Speaker 1: especially because you know, he's a little bit unique in
Speaker 1: the sense of some of the things that he his
Speaker 1: biggest stuff that he always is focused on, stuff he's
Speaker 1: dealing with himself. Yeah, you know that that's rare. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know a lot of times it's it's because it's
Speaker 1: something you know, like abuse or whatever, things that players
Speaker 1: have dealt with, but when you know within their family,
Speaker 1: but something he's dealing with and he's taken initiative. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a big deal, so he could
Speaker 1: speak to it personally. So I think that does matter,
Speaker 1: and certainly I will be giving him a vote. Hopefully
Speaker 1: you guys will go out there and give him a
Speaker 1: vote as well. All Right, real quick, we don't have
Speaker 1: a lot of time left in the show, um, but
Speaker 1: I did want to talk about this topic. This week.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys are expected to get Gregory back. They got
Speaker 1: Lawrence back last week. Parsons has been here all season.
Speaker 1: This is problem. I mean, well, this will be the
Speaker 1: first time all year that we get to see what
Speaker 1: we've really been wanting to see, which is all three
Speaker 1: of these guys on the field at the same time
Speaker 1: being able to get after the opposing offense. If you're
Speaker 1: an offensive coordinator for the Washington football team, which of
Speaker 1: those three guys do you think you pay most attention
Speaker 1: to Parsons? Because you don't, because I think he'll line
Speaker 1: up all over the place, and he is somebody that
Speaker 1: you have to recognize. Now, I think you did by
Speaker 1: week two, you know, I mean, Brady might have been
Speaker 1: looking at him too, but I think for the most part,
Speaker 1: you know, since week two, he's really been a guy
Speaker 1: you have to figure out. And also that is such
Speaker 1: a disadvantage to the offense because you because basically, you know,
Speaker 1: Jason Garrett would always say, we do what we do.
Speaker 1: We don't worry about the other team. The Cowboys defense.
Speaker 1: Right now, with Michael Parsons, you have to worry about him.
Speaker 1: You can't just do what you do. And so because
Speaker 1: he's gonna he's gonna be all over the place, and
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, great as they are,
Speaker 1: DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory are probably gonna predominantly spend
Speaker 1: most of their time lined up at left and right end,
Speaker 1: going against the left and right tackle. Maybe you move
Speaker 1: them inside. I mean, you can do stuff with him,
Speaker 1: but they fit into more conventional roles in football. Michael
Speaker 1: Parsons does not. I would say that this is a
Speaker 1: situation where Lawrence probably has not faced this kind of situation,
Speaker 1: maybe since he's been here and actually played as well
Speaker 1: as he's played most of his career. Like he's always
Speaker 1: been the guy if you're gonna chip somebody, he's the
Speaker 1: one you chip. If you're gonna have an extra blocker
Speaker 1: back to check on someone, that's who you can feel
Speaker 1: comfortable saying. Right, That's what I'm saying like this, if
Speaker 1: they really are going to be focused on Parsons, it
Speaker 1: seems like this is setting up very nicely. He's never
Speaker 1: had DeMarcus has never had this level of help in
Speaker 1: his entire career. Maybe I hate to even bring it up.
Speaker 1: Maybe when Greg Hardy was here for like a hot minute,
Speaker 1: but there haven't been. Man. I mean that he was
Speaker 1: younger too in his career. Yeah, and he wasn't who
Speaker 1: he is either. Yeah. I mean DeMarcus Lawrence wasn't the
Speaker 1: guy that you game plan around in twenty fifteen. So yeah, No,
Speaker 1: since he became an all Pro caliber edge rusher, he
Speaker 1: hasn't had this level of help on the pass rush.
Speaker 1: I think he might be the third best pass rusher,
Speaker 1: just straight me versus you. I gotta get by you,
Speaker 1: like like like in training camp where Lawrence you think?
Speaker 1: I think Lawrence is the third best pass rusher And
Speaker 1: I think he's really really good. What makes him so
Speaker 1: great and why he is because he's a He's a
Speaker 1: great defensive end, he can he can stop the run,
Speaker 1: He's versatile, he could do a lot of things. Great leader,
Speaker 1: all that good stuff. But I mean, I'm just talking
Speaker 1: about whipping his man with moves and athleticism. I think
Speaker 1: Parsons and I think Gregory are a little bit better,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean they're better players. Because there's a
Speaker 1: defensive end. He means you gotta do a lot of
Speaker 1: other things. Yeah, I don't think you have to qualify
Speaker 1: it this much like it sounds it's carring, but it's not.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like when you say, when you Paul
Speaker 1: threatening to know, when you throw Mica into the conversation
Speaker 1: with Garrett and Watt, like you feel stupid doing it,
Speaker 1: and then you look at the numbers and you're like,
Speaker 1: somebody put that, Garrett, Miles, Garrett, they've been thinking, have
Speaker 1: been innovating me with that since we talked about it. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's not like their records that it's not better at all. No,
Speaker 1: not better. I don't know what yesterday I lined up
Speaker 1: Mica next to Watt and Garrett. Watt's numbers are better
Speaker 1: into fewer games, but like not by not to a
Speaker 1: degree that it's silly to compare them, and and not
Speaker 1: to a degree where he's so far ahead that with
Speaker 1: a game or two that's really good for Mica. He's
Speaker 1: not right back ahead of him. And and another factor
Speaker 1: to this too is that TJ. Well. I mean, the
Speaker 1: Steelers were the defense last year because of what t J.
Speaker 1: Watt was doing, and now they're doing it again. Maybe
Speaker 1: not as well, but he's had good numbers. But Mica
Speaker 1: has single handedly come in and with Dan Quinn and
Speaker 1: help taking the worst defense in the NFL some standards,
Speaker 1: and we're one of the worst than the history of
Speaker 1: the Cowboys and now made it arguably the best things
Speaker 1: as you know, as y'all said, yes or earlier this week,
Speaker 1: the most reliable thing the Cowboys were doing. I love.
Speaker 1: I want to one more thing. I love that point.
Speaker 1: I hadn't really thought about it. We haven't seen these
Speaker 1: three guys play a whole lot together. But like Randy
Speaker 1: has always been a freak. He would have been a
Speaker 1: top five pick if football was the only reason you
Speaker 1: draft a guy. And Micah if he had stayed at
Speaker 1: Penn State and they had used him as an edge
Speaker 1: rusher or done more with him, he would have never
Speaker 1: fallen to where he did. Like they literally half the reason.
Speaker 1: And I'm I own this as often as I can,
Speaker 1: Like half the reason I wasn't thrilled about the ideas
Speaker 1: because all of that was a projection. We'd never seen
Speaker 1: him do it. He's incredible at it. If there had
Speaker 1: been tape of that, he would have been a top
Speaker 1: five pick. So you've got two of those types of
Speaker 1: freaks rushing the pass and yeah, and then oh, by
Speaker 1: the way, like one of the more well rounded defensive
Speaker 1: ends in the league. That's that's his game. He just
Speaker 1: he does everything well. But I don't know that he
Speaker 1: has that freaky gumby ability that those two guys have.
Speaker 1: Ye see, I see Lawrence as the Amori Cooper of
Speaker 1: the defense. I love that. He's the kind of guy
Speaker 1: that even you know, when he got the contract and
Speaker 1: then people were bashing on him, Oh, he's not getting
Speaker 1: enough sacks, he's not getting enough, Well why why is that?
Speaker 1: But then at the same time, that was creating so
Speaker 1: many opportunities for other guys and like Randy Gregory. So
Speaker 1: you add that into the mix and you guys already
Speaker 1: talked about it. But he's one of those sneaky players
Speaker 1: now that can't be amazing quietly not necessarily registering all
Speaker 1: the sacks that you want them. But then you're gonna
Speaker 1: have guys like Mica Randy getting after it. So it's
Speaker 1: freaking excited. That's awesome. That's a great point, and that's
Speaker 1: a great comparison. And another thing that those two guys
Speaker 1: have in common is they're both making just a little
Speaker 1: bit north of twenty million a year. And so as
Speaker 1: great as that is, and we're watching it just from
Speaker 1: that standpoint, the problem is is then that you got
Speaker 1: when Mary catches four passes for fifty one yards or
Speaker 1: not even that maybe and somebody else has a great day,
Speaker 1: but because of it, it's like, Okay, then the end
Speaker 1: of the day, you're looking is this worth the money?
Speaker 1: You know? And so but I think the people that
Speaker 1: make the decisions know what I hope. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: think they do. I think they know it's worth the money.
Speaker 1: But it will be interesting next year to see what
Speaker 1: all happens here. But let's don't worry about that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is a and I think it's exciting. I think
Speaker 1: the thing is getting lost in that conversation, particularly, is
Speaker 1: these TV contracts are coming up really really soon. I
Speaker 1: think whether the next year or two, where the salary
Speaker 1: cap is expected to kind of balloon a bit. So
Speaker 1: they just gotta make it work right for a little bit,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna get some opportunity to just you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of these contracts that people are worried about.
Speaker 1: Things are gonna change a little bit from the standpoint
Speaker 1: in the financial makeup of the NFL and the landscape
Speaker 1: of the NFL. One more point about Tank. We didn't
Speaker 1: talk about this after the game. There's so many things
Speaker 1: to talk about. We're talking about inches away from a
Speaker 1: different stat line for him, And to this day, I
Speaker 1: still don't understand that call on the field. I was
Speaker 1: when I was down on the field and Tank got
Speaker 1: there and pushed the ball back and they called it
Speaker 1: an incomplete pass. But I don't understand that because the
Speaker 1: ball never got out of his hand and it went backwards,
Speaker 1: so that should have been a sack force fumble. But
Speaker 1: I thought the rule is once the once the hand
Speaker 1: is coming, once the arms coming forward, the hands coming forward,
Speaker 1: once you're in that motion, it is now officially a pass.
Speaker 1: And so if it comes out at that point, once
Speaker 1: the hands coming forward, even if the ball's not out yet,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. If the hands coming forward, the rule
Speaker 1: is that makes it a pass. If it goes forward. No,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's a part of it. I've never
Speaker 1: read that as part of all IF. But I've always
Speaker 1: if the hands hitting your hand affects the trajectory of it.
Speaker 1: I didn't have a problem with that call. I thought
Speaker 1: it was an incomplete pass. And we talked about it
Speaker 1: during the during the during the game, and I know
Speaker 1: you were pretty adamant, like that's they was down. I
Speaker 1: wasn't down the field. That wasn't me because I was
Speaker 1: already that was down in the field. We're talking to
Speaker 1: somebody else there, Yeah, really, yeah, Rob, we're thinking about
Speaker 1: something else. There hasn't been a Nick here for twenty
Speaker 1: five years down the field talking some secret. Actually, I
Speaker 1: was talking to nobody because I was surprised that they
Speaker 1: let me on the field because because you usually don't
Speaker 1: have the right. Yeah, us too, we got down there.
Speaker 1: We just like, let's just walk up there and see
Speaker 1: what happened. I yeah, we Brian brought us that the
Speaker 1: whole time. The whole time, I was like, they're gonna
Speaker 1: stop us, They're gonna stop us. Keep walking were they
Speaker 1: just look they saw official and they say, hey, your
Speaker 1: official go nice jacket. I love that jacket. I get cool,
Speaker 1: and I just keep going. That's New Orleans. That is
Speaker 1: every other city we've been to. They're like, hey, hey, official,
Speaker 1: nothing back in the top. Not even every other city too.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's oh, happy Thanksgiving with me down in
Speaker 1: the tunnel, down with some lady. And I was like,
Speaker 1: this is how I'm watching overtime. I'm watching overtime with
Speaker 1: a two second delay like everyone else. Like I meant
Speaker 1: to go ask ten people about it, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't know what happened because I can't even see
Speaker 1: the field. I'm just glad you didn't do anything to
Speaker 1: get yourself fired. That's actually a good no. I'm pretty cool,
Speaker 1: calm and collected when it comes to stuff like that.
Speaker 1: And with that, we appreciate you guys joining us. We'll
Speaker 1: be back on tomorrow. We'll talk a little bit more
Speaker 1: about this Washington defense versus the Cowboys offense. Till then.
Speaker 1: For Nick Eatman, Dave Helm and Amber Garcia. I am
Speaker 1: Derek Heelton. This has been The Break live on Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.