Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Lets 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 is Monday, October twentieth, twenty twenty, Season sixteen, episode
Speaker 1: number forty seven. Welcome to another edition of The Break.
Speaker 1: We are live. You're from the s WBC Morty Studios
Speaker 1: at the Star and if you can't tell them, I'm
Speaker 1: buy my voice. There is a lot of stuff that
Speaker 1: we got to talk about because it didn't look really
Speaker 1: good yesterday. Cowboys get a loss at home of the
Speaker 1: Arizona Cardinals. They lose thirty eight to ten, and uh
Speaker 1: and like I said, there's a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1: There's a lot to take in from that game. We're
Speaker 1: gonna go through some different things. What I basically did
Speaker 1: in order for us to kind of talk about this
Speaker 1: game is I'm going to run through some storylines and
Speaker 1: we'll dive into each of them and talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about each of them, and some of them are
Speaker 1: a little bigger picture. Some of them are just kind
Speaker 1: of what happened in the game. But I think the game,
Speaker 1: if you're going to dissect that game, I think you
Speaker 1: have to start with the offensive line because I think that,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, was one of the biggest areas where
Speaker 1: the Cowboys found deficiencies, and I think it affected a
Speaker 1: lot of other things. The first thing that happens to them, though,
Speaker 1: Zach Martin goes out. Nick. What do we know about
Speaker 1: Zach Martin's injury and the status of him going forward?
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know. I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Jerry got a chance to do an interview this morning,
Speaker 1: he wasn't asked about it, So don't we don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a concussion concussion protocol. Short week doesn't
Speaker 1: look good brushing him back like that, because you with
Speaker 1: thank on a short week like that. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: he's probably I don't know, I don't know if he'll
Speaker 1: be ready or not, but I would I would imagine
Speaker 1: probably not. Dave, the Cowboys had to play Connor mcgoverned
Speaker 1: when he went down in the place of Zack Martin.
Speaker 1: What did you see from Connor McGovern at just I
Speaker 1: guess throughout the game, how would you assess his play?
Speaker 1: I mean, I hate to throw out blanket statements from
Speaker 1: only watching it once. I obviously hadn't had a chance
Speaker 1: to look a look at it again or watch the tape.
Speaker 1: But I thought he played fine for a guy that
Speaker 1: that really got his first real NFL action last night
Speaker 1: on short notice when Zach went out. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't think he was the reason that the offensive
Speaker 1: line couldn't hold up. Let's put it that way, Um,
Speaker 1: Zach Zach status is. It's gonna be one of those
Speaker 1: day by day things. I think, no two concussions are
Speaker 1: the same. I've leaned towards like I agree with Nick.
Speaker 1: I leaned toward thinking he's probably not going to be
Speaker 1: available on a short week. But that's gonna be one
Speaker 1: of those things where you're gonna need to check in
Speaker 1: on that every day. And if Connor has to play again,
Speaker 1: welcome to the big leagues, buddy. Because that Washington front
Speaker 1: is full of first round picks, so he might have
Speaker 1: held up pretty well on Monday, but that isn't necessarily
Speaker 1: an indicator when the talent level rises when you play
Speaker 1: Washington and but this team yesterday, they had a hard
Speaker 1: time running the ball. Although there were some moments in
Speaker 1: the game where they had a couple good runs, they
Speaker 1: really had a hard time protecting. And at this point
Speaker 1: they're running with only one starter from last year, that
Speaker 1: being Connor Williams, who most people, probably everybody would say
Speaker 1: was the weakest link of that group last year. That
Speaker 1: all being considered, how would you assess the offensive lines
Speaker 1: play yesterday? Well, I went back and watched a couple
Speaker 1: a few plays. Honestly, it's just those two edges, those
Speaker 1: two tackle positions. It's either Brandon Knight or Steal. That's
Speaker 1: like his guy would always be a little a few
Speaker 1: seconds behind Brandon Knight's guys, so they're very very close
Speaker 1: to each other. I did watch a few of Connor McGovern,
Speaker 1: and honestly, most of the places where I saw the
Speaker 1: protection being pretty pretty bad was when either tackle was
Speaker 1: doing something bad. Like I didn't see something major from
Speaker 1: Connor McGovern Tyler Biadai. I think he's doing a good job.
Speaker 1: There are a couple of misses there, but that's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Connor is still hanging in there doing whatever he can.
Speaker 1: I did see a couple of plays where they did
Speaker 1: utilize Ezekiel Elliott to help protect, and when he did that,
Speaker 1: the pocket did look a lot better and he gave
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton somewhat a little bit more time. So in
Speaker 1: a scenario, even though you want Seek to be able
Speaker 1: to run the ball, in scenarios where you know he's
Speaker 1: not necessarily having a great game, instead of benching him,
Speaker 1: I think I would rather use him to protect and
Speaker 1: help give Andy Dalton I had better protection there. But
Speaker 1: it doesn't doesn't look good. It does not look good
Speaker 1: at all so far. Yeah, looking at it, Nick, And
Speaker 1: when you go down that whole offensive line, what was
Speaker 1: your assessment of the of the line as a unit?
Speaker 1: They're one of ten I mean to me, I mean, okay, sorry,
Speaker 1: I thought we're gonna have a general statement on this game.
Speaker 1: But as the offensive line, they were bad, and they
Speaker 1: were they tied with ten other position groups out there
Speaker 1: as well. I mean, you gotta give you gotta I mean,
Speaker 1: this is the second team offensive line with Connor Williams,
Speaker 1: who many people thought for the first game should go
Speaker 1: to the second team. So this is just a full
Speaker 1: line of backups with a backup quarterback and a backup
Speaker 1: tight end. I mean, it is what it is. You're
Speaker 1: not gonna win a lot of games on that, you know,
Speaker 1: doing playing that way. I mean, there's no excuses really
Speaker 1: to play that poorly, but you you have to expect
Speaker 1: that it's going to look really bad when you have
Speaker 1: all those backups. You know. That's an interesting point because
Speaker 1: I wonder and it didn't seem like to me last
Speaker 1: week as we were breaking down this game, and as
Speaker 1: we were getting ready for it, and as we were
Speaker 1: making our picks, it didn't feel to me like any
Speaker 1: of us were as concerned about the offensive line is
Speaker 1: maybe we should have been. And I go back to
Speaker 1: Bucky Brooks and what he said earlier in the week
Speaker 1: when we had him on, and he talked about the
Speaker 1: fact that Andy Dalton in his past has been really
Speaker 1: good when you can protect him. When you can't protect him,
Speaker 1: he's not very good. And yesterday it seemed like that's
Speaker 1: the way that it played out. But I don't think
Speaker 1: I didn't get the impression. I'll speak for myself. I
Speaker 1: didn't expect it to be that bad. Dave, did you
Speaker 1: expect it to be that bad? And did you expect
Speaker 1: that going into the game. I don't want to quibble,
Speaker 1: but I'm pretty sure I talked about being terrified about
Speaker 1: how much the Cardinals were gonna blitz, and I read
Speaker 1: this morning they blitzed on about forty percent of their snaps.
Speaker 1: Dalton was getting rocked by safeties linebackers. Obviously the front
Speaker 1: four got home as well. But I mean, yeah, I
Speaker 1: wasn't surprised by anything that I saw, and especially when
Speaker 1: Zach went out of the game, I was early confident
Speaker 1: that they were going to dial up ways to pressure
Speaker 1: him and like, like not to be a jerk, but
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure I said that at times last week
Speaker 1: as well. Well. That all being said, are you surprised
Speaker 1: at the Cowboys coaches didn't expect that and decided that
Speaker 1: in a lot of instances they opted to go with
Speaker 1: an empty backfield and they had to tight end split
Speaker 1: out wide. I mean, they were really giving no help
Speaker 1: to try to help these these tackles. Particularly. Can I
Speaker 1: be real, because you brought this up to me in
Speaker 1: the press box last night, and I think you have
Speaker 1: a point obviously. I mean, you know you want to
Speaker 1: give those guys as much help as possible, and I
Speaker 1: want to be careful because again I don't even think
Speaker 1: the all twenty two for this game is available yet.
Speaker 1: If it is, I certainly haven't watched it. I think
Speaker 1: I got four hours asleep last night. I thought a
Speaker 1: bigger problem than that was Andy Dalton just held onto
Speaker 1: the ball for far, far too long. Maybe that's because
Speaker 1: his throwing lanes were clogged by blitzers, Maybe that's because
Speaker 1: guys couldn't get open. But I counted what felt like
Speaker 1: half a dozen to ten snaps where he had three
Speaker 1: three and a half four seconds of protection and didn't
Speaker 1: know where to go with the ball. You know, I
Speaker 1: know you put you put in your rundown that he
Speaker 1: carried twice for four yards. I think those were both plays.
Speaker 1: They weren't designed runs. Those were plays where he stood
Speaker 1: there and had to pull it down and go somewhere.
Speaker 1: And we've seen it's been a hell of an impressive
Speaker 1: month for these Cowboys receivers, you know, when Dak was
Speaker 1: in the lineup. So I'm hesitant to say that they
Speaker 1: just couldn't get open against this defense. I just don't
Speaker 1: know how well Andy Dalton was seeing the field. But again,
Speaker 1: I want to go back and watch because I don't
Speaker 1: know that for sure, But that's what it looked like
Speaker 1: to me and Andy Dalton had He was thirty four
Speaker 1: fifty four with sixty three percent completion percentage, two hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty six yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Amber,
Speaker 1: how did you assess his play overall? Bad? Really bad?
Speaker 1: I And it sucks because I honestly had very good
Speaker 1: hopes about Indy Dolts. And yes, part of it has
Speaker 1: to deal with the offensive line, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: either he was holding onto the ball too long or
Speaker 1: in the place where he was getting rid of the
Speaker 1: ball quickly, it was like they didn't even look like passes.
Speaker 1: They looked like he would just quickly toss it and
Speaker 1: they wouldn't be any good. So it just looked like
Speaker 1: an inexperienced quarterback. And I know he has a ton
Speaker 1: of experience, and that's one of the main reasons we
Speaker 1: kept talking about him last week and the fact that
Speaker 1: this is probably the best backup quarterback that the Cowboys
Speaker 1: could have had. But at the same time, watching that game,
Speaker 1: to me, he did not look like an experienced quarterback.
Speaker 1: There were things that I expected him to do a
Speaker 1: lot better as far as instincts. Yes, he's not going
Speaker 1: to be necessarily the quarterback like that is as far
Speaker 1: as getting out of the pocket and running and making
Speaker 1: just having better instincts. You know, I don't know what
Speaker 1: to tell you. I really thought he would do better,
Speaker 1: and I'm a very disappointed and I'm not very excited
Speaker 1: as what is to come next, because at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the game, that was the main thing I was
Speaker 1: excited to see this game, was like, Okay, let's see
Speaker 1: what Andy Dalton can do. I'm ready for this too
Speaker 1: serious in I was so bored and I was ready
Speaker 1: to just call it a quits, but we kept hanging on,
Speaker 1: and I kept thinking, Okay, maybe the second half, but wait,
Speaker 1: we don't have Dank Prescott and I doubt it. And yeah,
Speaker 1: it did not work out, and he was not able
Speaker 1: to carry the team in the second half of the
Speaker 1: game like Dak did. Nick, how much do you attribute
Speaker 1: the poor offensive play to Dak not being there? Because
Speaker 1: there is this kind of competing thought process out there.
Speaker 1: Some say, well, Andy didn't have time, but you in
Speaker 1: a lot of instances, I mean, like I wouldn't you
Speaker 1: say a lot of instances, But in this instance particularly,
Speaker 1: there are most of those guys that were out there yesterday.
Speaker 1: Dak's been playing with most of those guys most of
Speaker 1: the season and has gotten the offense to at least
Speaker 1: be more productive. From the standpoint of points, how much
Speaker 1: do you put on Dak not being there? Yeah? I mean,
Speaker 1: do you think Dak's a bus driver quarterback? No? Do
Speaker 1: you think Andy Dalton is? Yes? Yeah, me too. And
Speaker 1: I think that's that's what it comes down to. Like Dak,
Speaker 1: it doesn't drive the bus. I mean, you know all
Speaker 1: the I mean, he drives a better car than that,
Speaker 1: and he'll drive a lot more if he can get
Speaker 1: this deal done. But if if Andy Dalton is a
Speaker 1: bus driver, and when the wheels aren't working and the
Speaker 1: you know, kids are messing, you know, yelling in the
Speaker 1: back and all that stuff, it's gonna be a hectic day.
Speaker 1: And it was you gotta help Andy Dalton. They didn't.
Speaker 1: His running back didn't help him at all. His running back.
Speaker 1: When I said, and I know I tweeted this, when
Speaker 1: I said he was going to ball out, I didn't
Speaker 1: mean that the bumble would come out. I thought he
Speaker 1: was gonna play inspired. He did not. He did not.
Speaker 1: That was the most disappointing part. The best part about
Speaker 1: Zeke's day was stepping up to the podium and admitting it.
Speaker 1: And you know, but that's all nice and good, you know,
Speaker 1: but my Michael Gallup's not catching a touchdown pass. I mean,
Speaker 1: he didn't get help. And Andy Daldon needs help. He's
Speaker 1: a he's a guy that has always needed help in
Speaker 1: an offensive line that can block for him and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. I don't think he was terrible. He I
Speaker 1: thought he would have played a little bit better than that.
Speaker 1: But I don't think he was terrible. I just think
Speaker 1: he's got it. It's got to be a perfect situation
Speaker 1: for him, and it certainly wasn't, you know. So, but yeah,
Speaker 1: they missed Dak. They missed Dak because Dak has the
Speaker 1: dog in him. And then and who else has it?
Speaker 1: It's not the defensive guys. They don't. They don't have it.
Speaker 1: So Zeke didn't have it. I thought he did. He would.
Speaker 1: I thought he would, and he didn't. So who has it?
Speaker 1: And the receivers don't really have, you know, play like that.
Speaker 1: They don't have that fire. Dad gives them that fire,
Speaker 1: and they missed it, you know, And I think Dad
Speaker 1: gives him even more than that. I think what Dak
Speaker 1: gives him is the threat that he can run the ball.
Speaker 1: And I saw a couple times yesterday, probably more than
Speaker 1: a couple of times situations where the Cowboys bab heasically
Speaker 1: blocked it up pretty decent. But there was this huge hole,
Speaker 1: that gaping hole that developed in the middle of the
Speaker 1: offensive line, and basically you had all the Cardinals defenders
Speaker 1: back playing man coverage. And in that situation most of
Speaker 1: the time, when you got a quarterback that can run,
Speaker 1: he says, I'm pulling the ball down and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: pick up ten yards, twelve yards, fifteen yards whatever. Did
Speaker 1: you see that last night by any quarterback? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: we did see that by one quarterback. But my point
Speaker 1: is like, teams don't have to worry about it. And
Speaker 1: that's what really I think worries me the most about
Speaker 1: the Cowboys going forward is their probably teams are looking
Speaker 1: at this and saying, we don't have to worry about
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton running. And if we don't have to worry
Speaker 1: about Andy Dalton running, we can cover these guys on
Speaker 1: the back end, and especially if we can get pass
Speaker 1: rushed with four guys, which again the Cardinals did a
Speaker 1: lot yesterday. Especially in the second half they were doing before. Guys,
Speaker 1: they weren't blizzing a lot in the second half. In
Speaker 1: my opinion, it looked like they were sending for a lot.
Speaker 1: And that being said, you look at this, the way
Speaker 1: that they played, and I look at it. I don't
Speaker 1: think that's gonna be a problem for the Cowboys. And
Speaker 1: it's not like you're gonna all of a sudden teach
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton how to become a runner. And so I
Speaker 1: don't know how the Cowboys get themselves out of that
Speaker 1: hole unless their offensive line plays better. Dave, I'll ask
Speaker 1: you this question. I think I know your answer. But
Speaker 1: there's a narrative out there that Dak got a lot
Speaker 1: of the yards and the points that he got this
Speaker 1: season in the second half when they were down big,
Speaker 1: because big, because teams played soft, and that's how he
Speaker 1: kind of racked all that up. Yesterday they had a
Speaker 1: similar scenario, but they weren't able to pick up those
Speaker 1: yards and points. Do you think it kills that narrative
Speaker 1: about Dak and make makes Dak look even more impressive
Speaker 1: with the things he was able to do in the
Speaker 1: first five games of this season. I mean, nothing Dak
Speaker 1: does is gonna convince a certain segment of people until
Speaker 1: he wins the Super Bowl. But yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: made a really snide comment about it. I mean, nobody,
Speaker 1: you know, somebody forgot to remind Andy Dalton that it's
Speaker 1: easy to play once you go down and buy a
Speaker 1: lot like, it's easy to do that. It's easy to
Speaker 1: throw your team out of hole because DAC does it
Speaker 1: all the time. That's just garbage time. But Cardinals were
Speaker 1: kicking their ass last night and nothing looked easy for them.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, I thought that narrative was stupid
Speaker 1: to begin with. I certainly think it's stupid. As we
Speaker 1: sit here today, all right, we're gonna take our first break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, I want to talk about Zeke
Speaker 1: and his fumbles. I want to talk about this defense
Speaker 1: and how they performed. And I want to ask you
Speaker 1: guys the question how much blame goes to this coaching
Speaker 1: staff because we're now through six games and what we're seeing,
Speaker 1: as the coach himself is said at this point, it
Speaker 1: is a It is a pattern. It is a pattern.
Speaker 1: What we're seeing is a pattern. So we'll talk about
Speaker 1: that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys
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Speaker 1: miss your chance to get tickets to see the Cowboys
Speaker 1: at AT and T Stadium this season. It will get
Speaker 1: better than that what we saw Monday night. I would
Speaker 1: imagine home match against the Steelers, Washington forty nine Ers
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Speaker 1: Get yours today at Dallas Cowboys dot com slash tickets. Yes,
Speaker 1: it will be better. They said it's gonna get better,
Speaker 1: and then he led that with the Pittsburgh Steelers. They
Speaker 1: ain't gonna be hi about twenty eight. I can promise, okay,
Speaker 1: I'll promise you maybe those other three teams. The Steelers
Speaker 1: look really GREATY know that they do, and they'll be
Speaker 1: at home really good because they'll be way more yellow
Speaker 1: towels than anything other Cowboys will throw. Their defense right
Speaker 1: now is just playing, is like really really playing well,
Speaker 1: So yeah, they're gonna beat him bout twenty eight. What
Speaker 1: I'm saying, it's thirty eight to ten. Okay, we'll see.
Speaker 1: I don't think so that's but maybe thirty five, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe two. I mean sure that that was just that
Speaker 1: was that was a really bad bad game against the
Speaker 1: you know, I mean maybe above average team, but probably
Speaker 1: average when they when they finished with their division, there'll
Speaker 1: be an average team, which makes it even worse. Exactly.
Speaker 1: That's what's the problem. Lead it into your coaching problem.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, I was gonna go to Zeke, but
Speaker 1: you're right. Let's let's jump to the coaching issue because there,
Speaker 1: let me, I'm trying to figure out how I even
Speaker 1: bring this. Like I look at this this team, and
Speaker 1: there are a number of players on this team that
Speaker 1: it seems like, to me, the coaching staff is just,
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, like just hell bent that these guys
Speaker 1: are gonna be players. And it takes like them seeing
Speaker 1: over and over and over and over again that they
Speaker 1: aren't very good before they will actually say, Okay, maybe
Speaker 1: we ought to back off a little bit. We saw
Speaker 1: it with darry and Thompson earlier this season. We saw
Speaker 1: it was still earlier this season. We saw it last
Speaker 1: night with with Daryl Worley and he's been bad for
Speaker 1: a while. And you got Anthony Brown sitting over there
Speaker 1: on the sideline. And again, I'm not signing trying to
Speaker 1: say in any way that Anthony Brown is like the
Speaker 1: answer to all of this. What I'm saying is, I
Speaker 1: think he's a better player than Darryl Worley and I
Speaker 1: and I'm sitting there and I'm wondering, like, why is
Speaker 1: it that they get themselves in these situations where they
Speaker 1: just so are so hell bent on the fact that
Speaker 1: they think one guy is so much better or should
Speaker 1: be out there when there are other guys that I
Speaker 1: think on the sideline that that are better than they are. Nick,
Speaker 1: what do you think I don't I don't necessarily agree
Speaker 1: with you there because I don't think that. I don't
Speaker 1: think the options are way better now the worldly over
Speaker 1: Anthony Brown. I don't understand really, because Anthony Brown seems
Speaker 1: like a better player. They're paying him to be a
Speaker 1: better player. He's made more plays for the Cowboys, so
Speaker 1: I just think that he I don't understand that one.
Speaker 1: But like Darian Thompson and for Diamond Wilson, and I
Speaker 1: think Godivin Wilson is playing better than Darry and Thompson
Speaker 1: was playing early in the season. I think it's clearly
Speaker 1: better in my opinion. Maybe it's not a huge difference.
Speaker 1: Maybe yeah overall from the defense standpoint, but I think
Speaker 1: he's playing better. I just think that there's just not
Speaker 1: a lot of options here. I mean, why are they
Speaker 1: playing Steel because they don't want to play Cam Irving
Speaker 1: or they don't want to play you know McGovern there
Speaker 1: and slide someone else out. I mean, they It's just
Speaker 1: I don't think there's a ton of other options. I
Speaker 1: think it's just you got you got a bunch of
Speaker 1: C players and it's C plus or C minus depending
Speaker 1: on the day in the matchup. Dave, what do you think,
Speaker 1: Dave Amber, what do you think? Hi everybody didn't I
Speaker 1: hear us, did you? Did you? I got booted off
Speaker 1: by WebEx I. I didn't hear anything after Derek Sis,
Speaker 1: Daryl Worley. Sorry, we were talking about the coaching stuff.
Speaker 1: And I'll actually go to Amber, but we were talking
Speaker 1: about the coaching stuff, and and my point was, I
Speaker 1: think there have been a number of instances this year
Speaker 1: where it looked like to me, they've gone with the
Speaker 1: lesser player. Now again, Nick, I agree with Nick's point
Speaker 1: to some degree that the lesser player may be going
Speaker 1: from a I'll give it a B minus to a
Speaker 1: C minus or a C plus to a dah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But but the point is, I think there were guys
Speaker 1: that were out of the game who were better players.
Speaker 1: And I pointed out the Worley and Anthony Brown sitting
Speaker 1: on the sideline last night, and I pointed out Darien
Speaker 1: Thompson and Donovan Wilson, and you know, I just think
Speaker 1: there have been situations where the Cowboys seem like they
Speaker 1: aren't necessarily always putting the best guy out there? Do
Speaker 1: you agree with that? You get? Okay, I'll go. Dave
Speaker 1: was getting ready for his answer. I was just gonna,
Speaker 1: I would say at this point WI see six, I'm
Speaker 1: ready to blame it all on the coaches, because yes,
Speaker 1: there are certain players that don't necessarily have the talent
Speaker 1: that you want them to have. So at this point,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at, Okay, what are some of those players
Speaker 1: that we know and we've seen play good football. You know,
Speaker 1: you can go back to lay In Banderidge that we
Speaker 1: finally saw him back on the field doing some things.
Speaker 1: We can go back to Jalen Smith and what he's
Speaker 1: been able to do in the past, DeMarcus Lawrence, I'll
Speaker 1: don Smith, which is, you know, the better guy in
Speaker 1: there out of the bunch. But still when you look
Speaker 1: at these players that you know have had a talented
Speaker 1: or a pretty good run in the past, but then
Speaker 1: are not necessarily performing at the level that you expect
Speaker 1: them or want them to be this year, then I
Speaker 1: go back to think, Okay, well, then it's on coaching
Speaker 1: because at this point you're not seeing any kind of changes.
Speaker 1: You're all every week it just keeps getting worse and
Speaker 1: worse and worse. I will give them credit though the
Speaker 1: beginning of the game this past week, this past game
Speaker 1: against the Cardinals, Yes, the defense played better, but I
Speaker 1: need to watch the game again, because I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know if it was just the Cardinals offense not
Speaker 1: playing as good or if it was really the Cowboys
Speaker 1: defense doing most of the job that they needed to do.
Speaker 1: So I'm kind of hesitant to give them too much
Speaker 1: credit in that aspect, But at this point, I'm ready
Speaker 1: to blame it on the coaching stuff. And I don't
Speaker 1: know in the middle of the season what kind of
Speaker 1: changes you actually are able to make at this point, Dave,
Speaker 1: how much of the blame do you put on the
Speaker 1: coaching staff? Well, to be blunt with you, like, the
Speaker 1: stats don't really bear out what you're saying. Derek Anthony
Speaker 1: Brown played eighty percent of this naps and Jordan Lewis
Speaker 1: and Treyvon Diggs played more than ninety like those were
Speaker 1: their three. Daryl Worley played I think twenty one snaps,
Speaker 1: which is just so why was Worley on the field
Speaker 1: at all? Like, what was the point in putting him
Speaker 1: on the field? Because get beat they number of times
Speaker 1: they do not have four dbs that can do the
Speaker 1: job adequately. That that would be my guest, and I
Speaker 1: blame the blame that I put on the coaches is
Speaker 1: that guides get beat in the NFL all the time,
Speaker 1: like it just is the nature of the league. And like,
Speaker 1: we've watched a lot of bad defense over the last
Speaker 1: decade here in Dallas, but the staggering number of busts
Speaker 1: that we have seen from this Cowboys defense is beyond appalling.
Speaker 1: I think they've given up seven touchdowns of thirty yards
Speaker 1: or more and it would be eight if not for
Speaker 1: Diggs's forced fumble on DK Metcalf. They've given up three
Speaker 1: of fifty yards or more in the last three games.
Speaker 1: And I don't care. Darryl Worley might be awful still
Speaker 1: an NFL player, and NFL players aren't supposed to be
Speaker 1: beaten that embarrassingly bad. And it says to me that
Speaker 1: like the scheme is either too complicated or somebody's doing
Speaker 1: a terrible job of teaching them how to execute it,
Speaker 1: because even executing poorly does not look that bad in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Like, I mean, they are tied for the
Speaker 1: fourth most points allowed through six weeks, and the three
Speaker 1: teams that are worse all played in the fifties. That
Speaker 1: is the level of ineptitude. So again, like it doesn't
Speaker 1: I don't even care that the guys aren't very good players,
Speaker 1: because even bad players don't get beaten that bad. So
Speaker 1: something is wrong with this scheme, whether getting the players
Speaker 1: to buy into it or teaching it to them correctly,
Speaker 1: something is way the hell off. And whatever they need
Speaker 1: to do, boil it down, pare it down to like
Speaker 1: three coverages that everybody can run. I don't care, but
Speaker 1: they got to make some type of adjustment, and that's
Speaker 1: what I care about more than like, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: Darryl Worley is not good, but listen, I promise you.
Speaker 1: Like I watched Reregie Robinson in training camp, I'm not
Speaker 1: convinced he could do it a whole lot better. I
Speaker 1: just don't think they have very good dbs. But even
Speaker 1: bad dbs shouldn't look like this. Will throw out a
Speaker 1: couple of things for you. First of all, I think
Speaker 1: what you're looking at when you look at those statistics
Speaker 1: and those numbers you throughout Daryl Worley, I think he
Speaker 1: played a lot less after he busted. He started the game,
Speaker 1: he was playing cornerback a lot before that, and then
Speaker 1: after he busted they pulled him. So I don't know
Speaker 1: that the percentages necessarily would have changed if he would
Speaker 1: have not had that bust. But even at that, I
Speaker 1: don't know if you've seen this video. There's a video
Speaker 1: out on Twitter right now. I think it's Darius Butler,
Speaker 1: the former defensive back used to play for the Patriots.
Speaker 1: He does this little thing and on that video he
Speaker 1: breaks down that that particular play, and this is not
Speaker 1: some kind of complex scheme. Basically, he had third. They
Speaker 1: were playing cover three on the back end. He had
Speaker 1: a deep third. He basically been on a route that
Speaker 1: he didn't need to bite on. He had a guy underneath,
Speaker 1: and he just basically stopped moving feet. I don't think
Speaker 1: that's on the coaches. I think that is just a
Speaker 1: player that just made a bone headed decision. He didn't
Speaker 1: play good technique. I mean, if you're if you're playing
Speaker 1: deep thirds, you don't let anybody get behind you. And
Speaker 1: by the way, there was already another guy in the
Speaker 1: middle of the field that was threatening, that was already
Speaker 1: behind him. So again, he just wasn't doing his job properly.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's on the coaches necessarily. I think
Speaker 1: that's about him not doing his job. And that's why
Speaker 1: I'm talking about Daryl Whorley specifically. I don't think he's
Speaker 1: played very well this season, but I was gonna say
Speaker 1: whether he's doing his job or not. You look at
Speaker 1: the secondary as a whole. These aren't players that the
Speaker 1: coaching staff chose. I mean these collectively. I know there
Speaker 1: are a lot of things that go into play when
Speaker 1: choosing players, but this is the group of players that
Speaker 1: they chose, that they chose to go with and stick
Speaker 1: with regardless of poor performance week after week. We haven't
Speaker 1: seen them being absolutely any kind of help, even if
Speaker 1: it's just to look at him we had, So that
Speaker 1: that's my biggest problem and why it's upsetting and why
Speaker 1: to me at this point, it just goes back to coaching.
Speaker 1: And again I understand that many different things going to play, money, contracts,
Speaker 1: all this stuff, but at the same time, the fact
Speaker 1: that we have not seen a single thing happened as
Speaker 1: far as okay, even the name that we started to
Speaker 1: hear okay, they're into no. No, Everything that we hear
Speaker 1: is oh no. We trust our players with trust that
Speaker 1: they can do the job, and they haven't. So I
Speaker 1: just that doesn't make any sense to me. No, I
Speaker 1: could agree with that. I can agree with the fact
Speaker 1: that I think that the Cowboys. I mean, we talked
Speaker 1: about Snax Harrison for a while around here, like the
Speaker 1: fact that they didn't think they needed help a defensive
Speaker 1: tackle and that maybe he couldn't provide it is kind
Speaker 1: of baffling to me. So yeah, I agree with that point.
Speaker 1: Were you about to say something name or Dave? Dare
Speaker 1: you about to say something? Well, I mean I'll just
Speaker 1: say that, yeah, Well go ahead, Dave, go ahead. And sorry.
Speaker 1: My only point is I mean, this is yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a terrible play by Darryl Worley. It's like the fourth
Speaker 1: game that we've seen this happening. And Warley has not
Speaker 1: had a good season, but he's not the only one.
Speaker 1: I mean, go look at the locket touchdown in Seattle.
Speaker 1: They're running quarters and the safety and cornerback just don't
Speaker 1: know to take the guy running the nine route. I mean,
Speaker 1: and and you're like, that's that's terrible cornerback play. But
Speaker 1: if it keeps happening again, like, are these guys really
Speaker 1: that awful that they can't pick up these concepts over
Speaker 1: the course of six weeks or is it being taught
Speaker 1: to them in a horrific manner? And I don't really
Speaker 1: know the answer. But it sure as hell seems like
Speaker 1: they don't know what they're doing. And if they don't
Speaker 1: know what they're doing, I think that's a pretty poor
Speaker 1: reflection of coaching. Yeah, and you go and you look
Speaker 1: at the Raiders are playing, well, you know, they're beating
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes with that defense. You know that, then that
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator that we thought, you know, was it was
Speaker 1: the over and we all thought that, you know, we
Speaker 1: thought Jeff Heath couldn't play safety or whatever. But um,
Speaker 1: you know, I just there's there's not options though. I mean,
Speaker 1: you say, Snacks Harrison, Okay, nobody wanted to sign him,
Speaker 1: Seattle did maybe still in the practice squad. I mean,
Speaker 1: he could have been better than what they have. I
Speaker 1: understand that. But like you know, defensive back, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, Jordan Lewis gets her, Anthony Brown gets her,
Speaker 1: Cheeto gets hurt. It's it's it's not it's not a
Speaker 1: great situation to have guys hurt, you know. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: they added the roster, added players to the roster, but
Speaker 1: you know it, these guys are still coming back. They
Speaker 1: didn't do anything all offseason. They go to training camp,
Speaker 1: Guys get hurt early in the season. We've seen it
Speaker 1: all across the league. It's just that this team, we
Speaker 1: thought this coaching staff could make up for it. Every
Speaker 1: coaching staff, every every team has injuries, lots of injuries.
Speaker 1: Now maybe not to to this different. It's it's big,
Speaker 1: it's an offensive. This is ridiculous on the injuries, but
Speaker 1: it's just even you know, even under in the secondary,
Speaker 1: they just don't have the options there. We knew going
Speaker 1: in that the guys weren't that great, and then they
Speaker 1: get hurt on top of it. So there's there's no
Speaker 1: excuses because we thought this coaching staff, with all this
Speaker 1: experience would be able to kind of fix the problem,
Speaker 1: and they have it at all. And another thing, I'll
Speaker 1: say that real quick, and you guys can allude to
Speaker 1: this too. They're just not prepared that they are getting
Speaker 1: their ass kicked in the first half. That is just embarrassing.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, the defense finally played well, but the
Speaker 1: offense couldn't do anything. It couldn't be a drop in
Speaker 1: the first quarter of the game. And they have it
Speaker 1: all year. That's preparation. Yeah, I mean maybe Kellen Moore
Speaker 1: needs that when we need to figure that out. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's this genius to figure out all these plays and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. They're not prepared. They don't do anything fun.
Speaker 1: I mean, why why don't we do fun stuff? Reverse
Speaker 1: fake reverses, I mean, and he has a bell is
Speaker 1: running all over the field. I don't even think he
Speaker 1: touched the ball, but he's all over the field. Do
Speaker 1: something different, but they don't, and they're getting there, getting
Speaker 1: down in every game. Well, but I think part of
Speaker 1: that has to be blamed on the turnovers as well.
Speaker 1: I mean, we talked about it last week. There's a
Speaker 1: big difference between the number of turnovers they have in
Speaker 1: the first half and the number they had in the
Speaker 1: second half. Yesterday. Those two fumbles by Zeke happening in
Speaker 1: the first half, and those are big, big, big momentum shifts.
Speaker 1: I think in both instances, either the Cowboys are already
Speaker 1: cross midfield or they were right around midfield and they're
Speaker 1: giving the ball away, and that sets up your defense
Speaker 1: to give up more points. Because obviously we know they're
Speaker 1: not great. You certainly don't want them to operating with
Speaker 1: half a field, right, and so all that mean, like
Speaker 1: I think, I think you got to focus on the turnovers,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna take our final break. When we come back,
Speaker 1: I do want to talk a little bit about that
Speaker 1: coach McCarthy's taking the hit for that one. I want
Speaker 1: to ask you guys, how much does coaching really matter
Speaker 1: in that instance? And how does how can a coach
Speaker 1: possibly change when it comes to getting guys not to fumble.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that when we come right back. This
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Speaker 1: of the Break Life from the s WBC Mortgage Studios.
Speaker 1: At the Star, we're talking about the Cowboys loss to
Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals thirty eight to ten. Cowboys moved two
Speaker 1: and four on the season, but they're still in first place,
Speaker 1: so I guess there is a silver lining to everything.
Speaker 1: Stop it, Dave. Let's talk a little bit about the
Speaker 1: fumbles Zeke Elliott. Yesterday, as we kind of alluded to
Speaker 1: earlier in the show, he had two more fumbles. They
Speaker 1: both led two points. And right now the Cowboys are
Speaker 1: negative twelve turnover ratio for the season and they've allowed
Speaker 1: eighty four points eighty four points through six games off turnovers.
Speaker 1: Zeke has five fumbles and has lost four for the season.
Speaker 1: My question for you guys is, what can the coaches
Speaker 1: do with a player like Zeke who is arguably your
Speaker 1: best offensive player but seems to have an issue with
Speaker 1: fumbles that isn't resolving itself. Nick, I mean, I guess
Speaker 1: technique in practice, I don't know. I mean, or tell
Speaker 1: him to run for a hundred yards a game, because
Speaker 1: when when DeMarco Murray did it and he fumbled every
Speaker 1: single week, but he was getting a hundred yards a
Speaker 1: game and went on to set a single season record,
Speaker 1: it was okay, it seemed like, you know, you'll take
Speaker 1: a fumble. We were killing him, but he was also
Speaker 1: getting a hundred and fifteen yards and so it's it's
Speaker 1: not so bad. But Zeke hasn't got a hundred yard
Speaker 1: game yet this year. It's got to be something in
Speaker 1: technique in practice, hold the ball differently. I don't know
Speaker 1: about the sleeve stuff. I heard us all that's going on.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think he was wearing that all
Speaker 1: the last five years of his career. I mean, focus
Speaker 1: and technique, I guess, because I mean, I don't think
Speaker 1: you're gonna bench him. I mean I said that on Twitter,
Speaker 1: and I was trying to people were trying to roast
Speaker 1: me for that. No, you're not because you got Tony Pollard,
Speaker 1: who I don't think can see very well. He doesn't
Speaker 1: have twenty twenty vision, and you want him to go
Speaker 1: out there and play, so there's not a lot of
Speaker 1: options there, you know, hold onto the ball. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know what to say. Amber. Would you have
Speaker 1: benched Zeke Elly? I mean, at that point of the game,
Speaker 1: what that did happen? It was like, okay, I did
Speaker 1: I had zero hope anymore, so whatever, But I'm moving forward,
Speaker 1: moving forward. I mean, like Nick said, who else is
Speaker 1: gonna like? Zeke is one of your best players, and
Speaker 1: it's hard to bench a guy like that. And it's
Speaker 1: not like this is a rookie. You know, he has experience,
Speaker 1: he knows how to hold onto the ball. He knows
Speaker 1: how to go against guys super super hard and still
Speaker 1: hold onto that ball. So I don't know what exactly
Speaker 1: the problem is. I'm sure Zeke is trying his best
Speaker 1: to eliminate that kind of problem. But I guess I
Speaker 1: would agree with Nick with the whole just practice, figure
Speaker 1: out a way to practice give him. I don't even
Speaker 1: know what kind of exercises you do, give the ball.
Speaker 1: Have twenty guys going up against him over and over
Speaker 1: to see if he can hold on to it. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but definitely, you just you don't have anyone
Speaker 1: that's really better, So just I guess, keep practicing and
Speaker 1: keep hoping he gets better. Dave, I'm gonna change the
Speaker 1: question a little bit on you tell me what you
Speaker 1: think of Zeke Elliott this year as a runner. He's
Speaker 1: been I think, kind of off and on. I think
Speaker 1: there's some moments he probably wishes he could have gotten back.
Speaker 1: One thing I have noticed is it doesn't seem like
Speaker 1: he breaks as mini tackles or makes that one guy
Speaker 1: miss that it made that he may have made miss
Speaker 1: in the past. How do you assess him overall as
Speaker 1: a runner this year? I mean the virtual reality is
Speaker 1: like making guys miss hasn't been his game for a while.
Speaker 1: I think I've been impressed when he is able to
Speaker 1: be a factor in games. I think he's physical. I
Speaker 1: think he's great at turning you know, two yard holes
Speaker 1: into four and five yard games. He's been good at
Speaker 1: carrying guys after contact. He hasn't been that explosive guy.
Speaker 1: I think he had, you know, one run over fifteen
Speaker 1: yards and he fumbled at the end of it. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you know it hurts. It hurts to see a guy
Speaker 1: like Derrick Henry, you know, house it from ninety four
Speaker 1: yards out. We haven't seen that from Zeke in years.
Speaker 1: But honestly, I'll I will take I will take what
Speaker 1: we have seen from Zeke if he can hang onto
Speaker 1: the ball. And the brutal again, the brutal truth of
Speaker 1: the matter is like, this is not necessarily a new problem.
Speaker 1: It hasn't always cropped up like this, but I'm looking
Speaker 1: at it right now. I think Zeke has fumbled twenty
Speaker 1: times in his career and he's lost half of them.
Speaker 1: That ain't I mean, that ain't good by any measure,
Speaker 1: let alone if you're supposedly one of the best three
Speaker 1: backs in the league. I don't know what to do
Speaker 1: about it. I actually asked Mike McCarthy like two weeks ago.
Speaker 1: I was like, I feel dumb asking you about how
Speaker 1: to coach guys to hold onto the ball because they're
Speaker 1: professional football players, Like they have been learning how to
Speaker 1: carry a football since they were eight and now they're
Speaker 1: in there late twenties. I mean, what else is there
Speaker 1: to teach them? I don't know. I mean, yeah, make
Speaker 1: him carry it around the facility or like working it
Speaker 1: in practice. But is that something that they've never done before.
Speaker 1: I highly doubt it. So it's very troubling because I
Speaker 1: don't have a great answer for how to make it better.
Speaker 1: But it's been a bigger problem for Zeke than I
Speaker 1: think people want to admit. And it's really rare, and
Speaker 1: it said this year, and I mean, you know, you
Speaker 1: can tell how exasperated he was last night. He just
Speaker 1: kept saying, I don't know, but I have to figure
Speaker 1: it out. And I agree with him, I don't know either,
Speaker 1: but he needs to figure it out or this offense
Speaker 1: doesn't stand a chance. Yeah. The fact the matter is
Speaker 1: in situations like this with offensive line is as decimated
Speaker 1: it is and you don't have your quarterback. This is
Speaker 1: why you paid Zeke the big bucks. Is he's got it.
Speaker 1: Not only did he have to figure out to hold
Speaker 1: on the ball, that's the least of his problems. He's
Speaker 1: got to figure out how to be better than he
Speaker 1: would be otherwise because this offense needs him to be
Speaker 1: that in order for them to be successful. And that's
Speaker 1: the hard part here is that you got to figure
Speaker 1: out the fumble thing. But even beyond that, I think
Speaker 1: he's going to have to figure out how to be
Speaker 1: a better version of himself in what for them to
Speaker 1: be succesful. And I bet you that did play a
Speaker 1: factor in the game. You know, I kind of thought
Speaker 1: he would go out and kind of will himself and
Speaker 1: the team. He probably was trying to do too much,
Speaker 1: trying to get extra yards. Think about it, you don't
Speaker 1: have the ball locked in, you caught a pass down,
Speaker 1: you're getting upfield, and you know they take the ball away.
Speaker 1: But you know, remember this about other running backs. You
Speaker 1: know you just want to replace your running back. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's that's fine, but um, you know they also block.
Speaker 1: They also have to pick up protections. They also have
Speaker 1: to see blitzers. We saw the Cowboys lose their whole
Speaker 1: season in twenty ten because you know, the baby Gronk,
Speaker 1: not not the one playing for the Patriots in the Bucks,
Speaker 1: but the little brother Gronkowski. He went the wrong way
Speaker 1: and Tony Romo's season was over because the blitzing linebacker.
Speaker 1: So you can't just say bring in Pollard and bring
Speaker 1: in the Rico Dowdle and all that. Yeah, every once
Speaker 1: in a while they might be able to run the ball.
Speaker 1: But you know they also they need to be able
Speaker 1: to pick up and play different different parts of the game.
Speaker 1: I will say this, I saw a couple of times
Speaker 1: yesterday when Tony Pollard did nice job picking up the blitz,
Speaker 1: and so I again, I think Tony Pollard plays well
Speaker 1: for his role like that's but that's the point for
Speaker 1: his role. Nobody's expecting him to come in here and
Speaker 1: be Zeke. And if you're then putting him in the
Speaker 1: role of being Zeke, I'm not sure what you're gonna
Speaker 1: get out of it. Maybe you get something good, maybe
Speaker 1: you don't. Everybody, you're already you're already paying Dak a
Speaker 1: ton of money. I'm sorry, not dare paying Zeke a
Speaker 1: ton of money. You got to figure out how to
Speaker 1: get him right, because they really need him to play
Speaker 1: to that level. UM, let's talk a little bit before
Speaker 1: were in the show about the defense yesterday, Embre you
Speaker 1: alluded to it. This defense played, I thought, really well
Speaker 1: in the first quarter, and then the will's fall off
Speaker 1: fell off and it just got just completely out of hand.
Speaker 1: How much do you blame of what happened with the
Speaker 1: defense yesterday? How much do you blame that on the
Speaker 1: turnovers and do you think and I know this is
Speaker 1: gonna sound crazy, but I want you to really think
Speaker 1: about this. Do you think the defense is actually getting
Speaker 1: better since based upon the number of weeks that they've played,
Speaker 1: are they better now than they were in week one
Speaker 1: and two? Let's start first with you Amber. Can I
Speaker 1: ask David question real quick? I don't know if you
Speaker 1: have the answer to this, Dave, but when you said
Speaker 1: about Zeke and the amount of time that he has
Speaker 1: fumbled the ball in previous years, out of those, do
Speaker 1: you know how many times opposing teams were able to score?
Speaker 1: I do not. I'm sorry I didn't run those numbers,
Speaker 1: but I can later. Well it made me it just
Speaker 1: out of curiosity and just wondering. I mean, we know
Speaker 1: how about how bad the defense has been, and it
Speaker 1: just makes me wonder if previous turnovers in previous years
Speaker 1: were not as bad because the defense in previous years
Speaker 1: were able to actually play better and make certain stops
Speaker 1: to where the opposing team is not scoring every single time.
Speaker 1: So to answer your question, Derek, I you know, again,
Speaker 1: I need to watch the game. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it was really the defense playing better at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the game, or if it was just the Cardinals
Speaker 1: offense not playing as well. I remember watching the game
Speaker 1: going back. I remember that I was seeing both offenses,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys and the Cardinals, and I'm like, man, this
Speaker 1: is really bad. They're both playing terrible. What's going on?
Speaker 1: So I just I don't know. I keep asking people
Speaker 1: around what is the problem overall? How do you get better?
Speaker 1: How do you fix what's going on with defense? And
Speaker 1: no one seems to have a good answer. There's not
Speaker 1: And it's just really really hard to figure out a
Speaker 1: way to get better. And I don't see them improving
Speaker 1: week by week. And yes there was that little bit
Speaker 1: of at the beginning of this game, but that just
Speaker 1: wasn't enough. So it's hard to imagine that this defense
Speaker 1: it's gonna get any better as the weeks go by.
Speaker 1: Layton Benderesh was in, he I thought he did a
Speaker 1: nice job, you know, based on what he could possibly do.
Speaker 1: At least he had energy. The defense is not playing
Speaker 1: with the kind of energy level that I want them
Speaker 1: to be at. So that's a huge problem to me
Speaker 1: and Randy Gregory coming in, I know we have good
Speaker 1: hopes and expectations there, but again, these guys are coming
Speaker 1: back into the game healthy. I just don't know if
Speaker 1: that's really going to be enough to actually make a
Speaker 1: drastic change at their performance in the in the game day,
Speaker 1: So dave any modicum of improvement from this defense? No, no, no,
Speaker 1: you don't get to know. You don't you know, I'm
Speaker 1: so serious. You don't get to even be complimented if
Speaker 1: you give up uncontested touchdowns from eighty and seventy yards
Speaker 1: away in the same game. Like the skill, the talent
Speaker 1: of NFL players and the skill of the scheme means
Speaker 1: to score from sixty yards away or further, you should
Speaker 1: be doing something bad ass, like just hitting all the
Speaker 1: right blocks, you know, Derrick Henry. Derrick Henry has to
Speaker 1: stiff arm four guys and juke three more to go
Speaker 1: ninety four yards. The Cardinals just ran in a straight line.
Speaker 1: That's all they did. And that's pathetic. That is what
Speaker 1: should happen in Clemson Georgia Tech. Travis etn is so
Speaker 1: much better than the eleven guys on Georgia Tech that
Speaker 1: he can do that. This is the NFL. So no,
Speaker 1: you don't get credit for having that happened twice in
Speaker 1: a game. I think it's I think this is all
Speaker 1: weirdly tied together, and I kind of feel like this
Speaker 1: whole team is in its own head, Whereas the defense
Speaker 1: comes out and plays four good series and now they're thinking,
Speaker 1: oh no, like we've we've been playing well and we
Speaker 1: don't have isn't gonna go yeah? Yeah, no. Seriously, They're like,
Speaker 1: we're at the end of our rope and we don't
Speaker 1: have a lead. Meanwhile, now the offense is saying, oh no,
Speaker 1: we turned the ball over and put them in a
Speaker 1: bad situation. Now we've got a press to do. Even
Speaker 1: more so, the defense maybe doesn't trust itself to play
Speaker 1: clean long enough to get a lead, and the offense
Speaker 1: doesn't trust the defense to overcome their mistakes, and now
Speaker 1: everybody's got the yips. Like that's honestly my opinion, because
Speaker 1: the defense looked pretty solid for three or four possessions,
Speaker 1: and as soon as the offense put them in a hole,
Speaker 1: they give up an eight yard touchdown. And then as
Speaker 1: soon as the offense realize that things are snowballing against them,
Speaker 1: you see Zeke fighting the ball, you see another fumble,
Speaker 1: you see Dalton making bad reads, and now everything's a mess.
Speaker 1: I just I don't know if these two units have
Speaker 1: confidence in each other to do their jobs correctly, and
Speaker 1: it plays out in what you see, Nick, can you
Speaker 1: give me any silver lining on this defense even a
Speaker 1: little bit. Brandy Gregory is coming back and Cheeto's coming back,
Speaker 1: and they're better than the average below average guys that
Speaker 1: are over there. I mean, Brandy Gregory will be better
Speaker 1: than Dorn's armstrong, I think, And then I think she
Speaker 1: will be better than Daryl will stop the run is
Speaker 1: the question. I don't. I don't. I mean this team problem.
Speaker 1: The fourth and one big play in the game, Dantari
Speaker 1: Poe's on the sideline. Justin Hamilton, who was on the
Speaker 1: practice squad in the morning and then got signed later
Speaker 1: that day, is out there on the field. So and
Speaker 1: to be honestly, I have no problem with that. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so you know, I know they can't move players around
Speaker 1: or whatever. I think the big thing is that they
Speaker 1: if it's a kickoff and the defense is huddling up
Speaker 1: and they go out on the field, I think they
Speaker 1: play okay. But if they're sitting there looking at the
Speaker 1: board talking about stuff and all of a sudden like
Speaker 1: oh sudden change, get your helmet oh, you're out on
Speaker 1: the field because we've fumbled again. That's when they really
Speaker 1: sucked because they can't. They do not stop you. You
Speaker 1: don't have to score. Just because the team gets a
Speaker 1: turnover doesn't mean well, I would better give up a score.
Speaker 1: They they're sudden change defense is atrocious. They don't just
Speaker 1: run on the field and go, oh man, we gotta
Speaker 1: get this thing stopped. They don't and even hold of
Speaker 1: the field goal. Now, that's kind of goes Amber's point.
Speaker 1: Like in the past, that's one thing you did. I
Speaker 1: think we did see, and I don't know the numbers,
Speaker 1: but I think we saw from past defenses, even when
Speaker 1: they weren't the greatest defenses, they could still at least
Speaker 1: hold to a field goal in some of those instances.
Speaker 1: This year, it seems like the Cowboys and they give
Speaker 1: that up, it's gonna be seven and there's not really
Speaker 1: much you can do to stop it. All right, we
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys joining us for back Tomorrow. We're gonna
Speaker 1: ahead and start getting ready for the Washington football team Cowboys.
Speaker 1: We'll travel to Washington this Sunday and play for a
Speaker 1: noon kickoff. We'll have Bucky join us tomorrow and on
Speaker 1: Thursday to talk about that Washington offense first and then
Speaker 1: the defense on Thursday. Well until then for Nick Eatman,
Speaker 1: Dave helm and Amber Garcia. I am Derek Eagleton. This
Speaker 1: has been In the Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot
Speaker 1: Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.