Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Are you ready for
Speaker 1: 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: Wait Well with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia
Speaker 1: and Derek Eagleton. It is Monday, December seventeenth, twenty eighteen,
Speaker 1: Season fourteen, episode number ninety seven. Welcome to a new
Speaker 1: edition of The Break, live from the SWBC Morgan Studios
Speaker 1: at the Star. And it's a different Wednesday than we've
Speaker 1: experienced in the last six weeks. Been a little different.
Speaker 1: Cowboys go out yesterday and lay an egg literally lose
Speaker 1: to the Indianapolis Colts in Indianapolis. They lose twenty three
Speaker 1: to zero, a game that I guess, by all accounts
Speaker 1: just wasn't The Cowboys just were not playing well on
Speaker 1: either facet of the game. As as to Laurence said
Speaker 1: after the game, they got beat offensively, defensively, and in
Speaker 1: special teams. It just was not a good day for them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it was the worst game, worst game they've
Speaker 1: played all year, worst game I could remember them playing
Speaker 1: in a while, and you know, I think we need
Speaker 1: to see exactly what this team really is. I think,
Speaker 1: I mean, expectations are different now to Marley, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think they are. For me, I mean making the playoffs.
Speaker 1: They still have a decent they still have just so
Speaker 1: much of a chance as they did before. But my
Speaker 1: expectations of this team are different. If you're gonna play
Speaker 1: like that, then yeah, I mean about what you type
Speaker 1: of team you can be. You're not going anywhere in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. This team isn't. I don't know. I don't
Speaker 1: get that impression that that doesn't mean that for me.
Speaker 1: For me, I look at it and I say that
Speaker 1: they had a horrible game yesterday. I don't know if
Speaker 1: that means much for the future. Maybe it does, maybe
Speaker 1: it doesn't. We'll find out how they respond against Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay and we'll see what they how they finished the season,
Speaker 1: and then what they do in the playoffs. But you know,
Speaker 1: this happens in the NFL. There were a lot of
Speaker 1: teams yesterday that lost that weren't supposed to lose. Now,
Speaker 1: a lot of them didn't get but yeah, a lot
Speaker 1: of them didn't get blanked. And that's a big difference.
Speaker 1: But again, I don't know that. I don't know that.
Speaker 1: I take that. I go all the way there off
Speaker 1: off of one game. I really hate the words that
Speaker 1: are about to come out of my mouth because I
Speaker 1: despise the notion that I'm a homer. I hate it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, no, I lean way more toward Derek's side
Speaker 1: of things than anything else. What I was trying to
Speaker 1: say about me, You're a homer, But I mean, that
Speaker 1: wasn't directed at you. That's just direct. You are a homer,
Speaker 1: but that's just not a that's direct realism that's directed
Speaker 1: at you. Don't we don't need to go free Amber
Speaker 1: agrees with it. I do agree with whatever, regardless it
Speaker 1: it's it. It wasn't intended as a shot at you,
Speaker 1: just in general. You know, I'm I work for the team,
Speaker 1: and I'm sensitive to the thought that somebody would think
Speaker 1: I'm a homer. But um I this was so bad
Speaker 1: that I view it as more of an outlier than
Speaker 1: anything else. Like that's how bad it was. To Nick's point,
Speaker 1: this was worse than the performances they put up in
Speaker 1: Seattle and Carolina at the start of the season. This was, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, one hundred and seventy eight rushing yards allowed
Speaker 1: on the ground. That's that's where it starts for me. Like,
Speaker 1: we've seen this offense struggle. We've seen them bogged down
Speaker 1: in the red zone. We've seen the play calling go
Speaker 1: out the window. You know, we've seen special teams problems.
Speaker 1: What else have we seen? We've seen in the offensive
Speaker 1: line be completely unable to play a clean game and
Speaker 1: protect Dak Prescott. Like all of that stuff is new
Speaker 1: to see this defense just get absolutely mauled. Is not
Speaker 1: that that's very new? U? I think, you know, I
Speaker 1: looked it up that this is easily one of the
Speaker 1: biggest rushing totals. It is the biggest rushing total they've
Speaker 1: allowed this year. I think it's the biggest one they've
Speaker 1: allowed since twenty fourteen. And in twenty thirteen they allowed
Speaker 1: this regularly when they were the worst defense in football.
Speaker 1: It was astonishingly bad. Especially you know, I sat here
Speaker 1: on this show and talked about how Marlon Mack wasn't
Speaker 1: going to be a problem for these guys. Way wrong
Speaker 1: on that. He annihilated them. But anyway, so it was
Speaker 1: so bad that it just strikes me as being uncharacteristic.
Speaker 1: Maybe you feel a little too full of yourselves. You don't,
Speaker 1: regardless of your backs against the wall mantra. You didn't
Speaker 1: need this game as badly as the Colts did. And
Speaker 1: they're a talented football team, especially on the lines. They
Speaker 1: I mean, god, they all played both lines, and so
Speaker 1: it was horrendous. But I feel a small amount of
Speaker 1: confidence that it's just more about being one of those
Speaker 1: days than some crazy trend about how bad this team is.
Speaker 1: Amber you know, that was one of my fears. What
Speaker 1: happens when the defense gets shut down? What I mean
Speaker 1: right now, the defense has been playing for both of them.
Speaker 1: And yes, that's not fully fair to say, because yes
Speaker 1: they put up some things, you know, as far as
Speaker 1: moving the ball with Zeke and all that, But in general,
Speaker 1: I would say defense has been playing for both sides,
Speaker 1: defense and offense. They've been making the game happen. And yesterday,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's scary. It's scary the thing, and that's
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know what they're going to
Speaker 1: be able to do if that happens again, if the
Speaker 1: defense is not able to help, And that was absolutely surprising,
Speaker 1: especially with everything that we've been talking about. And I
Speaker 1: don't know if Nick made this comment or not at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the show, but a lot of the
Speaker 1: comments I've been seeing on Twitter, it's like, oh, you
Speaker 1: focus on buying hats or like making hats, making shirts
Speaker 1: or the hot boys. This is the hot boys that
Speaker 1: gotten there yet? Oh sorry, but feel free. I mean,
Speaker 1: and you get pumped, you get pumped and all that,
Speaker 1: but then when something like this happens and you start wondering.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying because yes, you can do things
Speaker 1: off the field, and that's fine, it's not really going
Speaker 1: to affect your game. But clearly you don't want to
Speaker 1: see them walking getting off the boss with hard hats,
Speaker 1: saying hot boys, and then they get they give this
Speaker 1: kind of performance. You know. Marinelli said that they asked
Speaker 1: him about what do you think about the hot boys stuff,
Speaker 1: and it was about two or three weeks ago, and
Speaker 1: he said, well, yeah, if it's if they back it up, Yeah,
Speaker 1: if they back it up, then I'm fine with it.
Speaker 1: If if you're gonna, you know, do that stuff and
Speaker 1: call yourself that as long as you go out there
Speaker 1: and you put it on the field, and you know,
Speaker 1: for the most part, I mean, this defense has carried
Speaker 1: them all year long, and so that that's the thing.
Speaker 1: I mean, when when the defense doesn't carry you anymore,
Speaker 1: then you get that. All I'm saying is my point
Speaker 1: from the start was my expectations of this team have changed.
Speaker 1: I think I'm sure y'all's expectations about what they can be. Like,
Speaker 1: they're gonna probably make it to the playoffs still, but
Speaker 1: probably probably what were your expectations about what they can
Speaker 1: But maybe that's maybe that's the part that's a little yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe overinflated that a little bit. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's like, I think I still think they're gonna make
Speaker 1: the playoffs, but I just feel like if you go
Speaker 1: out and put a performance like that on tape, then
Speaker 1: you're not the type of team that's gonna go win
Speaker 1: three games. You're okay, So do you see do you
Speaker 1: think a similar thing? I know it wasn't as bad,
Speaker 1: but do you think a similar thing of the Rams
Speaker 1: today when they were at home and they got beat
Speaker 1: down like that by the by the Eagles because their
Speaker 1: starting quarterback in there, right, they got the guy that
Speaker 1: they should have had in there all along, right, But
Speaker 1: but I think I think that's kind of the thing
Speaker 1: when you look at this and that's why to me,
Speaker 1: it's it's just I look at the entire season. Yea,
Speaker 1: And what I know about this team through the entire
Speaker 1: season except for yesterday, is this defense is really good.
Speaker 1: They didn't play like that yesterday. Now if they go
Speaker 1: back next week and Tampa Bay just runs up and
Speaker 1: down the field scoring points on them, they have no
Speaker 1: answer for it. Now I'm like, okay, so maybe what
Speaker 1: I thought of this defense really isn't true. But I
Speaker 1: know in the NFL there are times when you just
Speaker 1: a team hits. You know, the Saints offense is not
Speaker 1: bad because the Cowboys shut them down. They had a
Speaker 1: bad week. Now let's see if they get back on it.
Speaker 1: And seems like by all counts that they did. So
Speaker 1: I'm just saying I don't put so much stock in
Speaker 1: that one game. I do think it's a little bit
Speaker 1: troubling though, and it certainly brings up your radar because
Speaker 1: now you're like, well, you see one team do it.
Speaker 1: Did they expose something that maybe has been there all
Speaker 1: along that other teams happened out yet Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1: We'll find out when we see other teams that may
Speaker 1: face them and see if other teams can run on
Speaker 1: them in the same way that they ran on them yesterday.
Speaker 1: The way I see it, it's more of the Dolphins
Speaker 1: just didn't do enough. And yes it was a bad
Speaker 1: game by the defense, but the offense is just not
Speaker 1: helping out. And it's like, but the Dolphins do anything
Speaker 1: different yesterday than they've done most of the years. They have,
Speaker 1: but that's the problem. I get that, But they had
Speaker 1: They've had a lot of games last They've had a
Speaker 1: lot of games this season where they've done the exact
Speaker 1: same thing. They move the ball down the field, they
Speaker 1: get to the red zone, and they stall out. We've
Speaker 1: seen that many times. We know there's a problem in
Speaker 1: the red zone for this team. We know that that
Speaker 1: was not different yesterday. The defense was the difference because
Speaker 1: usually the defense keeps them in games and allows at
Speaker 1: least until they can get to a point where maybe
Speaker 1: they get something going and can actually get some points
Speaker 1: on the board. The defense keeps them in the game.
Speaker 1: They didn't yesterday. Yeah, I want I want to give
Speaker 1: credit to Bob Sturnam for this. He does a lot
Speaker 1: of great work for the athletic I don't want to
Speaker 1: just cherry pick his stats. But made a fantastic point
Speaker 1: in his right up today. And the offense was obviously terrible.
Speaker 1: I'm not making excuses for that, but the offense was
Speaker 1: moving the ball in the beginning of the game. You know,
Speaker 1: I actually thought Scott Lenahan was doing a great job
Speaker 1: of play calling while the game was still you know,
Speaker 1: zero zero seven, nothing, etc. Etc. The Colts scored on
Speaker 1: their first, third, fourth, and fifth possessions of the game,
Speaker 1: I believe if I remember that correctly. And yeah, so
Speaker 1: the offense clearly didn't hold up there under the bargain.
Speaker 1: They didn't score any points. But that's been the way
Speaker 1: this team has played all years, that the defense keeps
Speaker 1: this thing close while the offense gets its act together.
Speaker 1: And that just wasn't happening yesterday. Again. I mean, I
Speaker 1: for all of the different takeaways you can get out
Speaker 1: of here, the fact that Marlon Mack averaged what was
Speaker 1: it like five and a half yards per carry and
Speaker 1: at one point during the game five point one yards
Speaker 1: per carry, and at one point during the game it
Speaker 1: was as high as seven eight nine. They just got gashed.
Speaker 1: And I think it's a testament to the Colt's offensive line.
Speaker 1: I mean, we knew quin Quinton Nelson. You know he's
Speaker 1: people said he's the best guard prospect to come into
Speaker 1: the NFL draft in recent memory. They'd get their starting
Speaker 1: center back. Braden Smith handled DeMarcus Lawrence all day. I
Speaker 1: think those guys were good enough to wash these linebackers
Speaker 1: out of the game, and nobody has done that to
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith and Layton vander esh during the last month,
Speaker 1: month and a half, and it clearly made a difference yesterday. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think that was one of the biggest things.
Speaker 1: You look at the linebackers just today. That was not
Speaker 1: a typical performance for them, and there were so many
Speaker 1: times when either they couldn't get off blocks or they
Speaker 1: were just completely out of position and couldn't make tackles him.
Speaker 1: So you saw these huge holes in the middle of
Speaker 1: the line and nobody there to fill the gap. It's
Speaker 1: bad when you have a quarterback like Andrew Luck who
Speaker 1: has carried and can carry a team the way he
Speaker 1: can when he finishes with one ninety two that he
Speaker 1: didn't He could have thrown for four hundred if they
Speaker 1: needed him to. He just didn't need I mean, he
Speaker 1: was playing Dak Prescott ball like whoop here you go,
Speaker 1: here's five yards, here's eighteen yards. Break that tackle, all right,
Speaker 1: and then I'll hit the third and four when I
Speaker 1: need to like it. I mean that's that when you
Speaker 1: have balanced like that, that's how the Cowboys win games.
Speaker 1: And it was striking yesterday. Yeah, everything was better. I
Speaker 1: mean we thought it was about fifty fifty, you know
Speaker 1: in the fans, and I would definitely a lot of Cowboys.
Speaker 1: I would imagine maybe they were a little ouder. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know about that, but everything else,
Speaker 1: the coaches did a better job. I mean Matt Eberflus,
Speaker 1: I mean, of course, this was a huge game for
Speaker 1: him and he goes out there and shut something. That's
Speaker 1: a defensive coordinator for the Colts. Kidding me, I mean, well,
Speaker 1: I know that they can't they couldn't score. They let
Speaker 1: him have, let him be the what player of the week.
Speaker 1: He was the player of the week for Sunday Night Football.
Speaker 1: Let me ask, did you think do you buy into
Speaker 1: the idea that sometimes a guy that's been there and
Speaker 1: he's seen he certainly knows whatever things can can stop
Speaker 1: this offense with Dak and Zeke. He probably knows the
Speaker 1: things that have given them problems in the past when
Speaker 1: he was here, and so maybe that gives him an
Speaker 1: opportunity to be able to go into a game saying,
Speaker 1: here are the things I know we're gonna do that
Speaker 1: we'll shut down that office. Yeah, that's why you watch
Speaker 1: the opponent. You watch games, and you have people that
Speaker 1: that's their job, and so I don't think that gives Yes,
Speaker 1: it helps him out, but I don't think that gives
Speaker 1: you a great amount of advantage. Season White beat New
Speaker 1: England Patriots earlier this season, their head coach was a
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator in New England. I think it does help
Speaker 1: a little bit more than just saying it it doesn't know,
Speaker 1: maybe helps a little bit. I think we've seen examples
Speaker 1: where it certainly things that are not normal happen when
Speaker 1: you have a guy that has so intimately involved in
Speaker 1: one team and then the next year he's the head
Speaker 1: coach or a coordinator of the polit team. I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what also helps. And you know you want to
Speaker 1: call it an excuse or whatever, but when Everflus was
Speaker 1: the defensive coordinator, here, hen't facing Adam Redman and Connor
Speaker 1: Williams at guard, and you know you can say it
Speaker 1: all you want to about, well, the next man up,
Speaker 1: but that's not the case here. I mean, the next
Speaker 1: man up is never as good, or you wouldn't be
Speaker 1: the next man And they can't just keep taking hits
Speaker 1: to this guard position. And that's what happened again. Who
Speaker 1: a Field goes down with an eye injury? You know
Speaker 1: it just you've already got Zach Martin out of the
Speaker 1: game and it was bad. I mean, Redman did not
Speaker 1: look like he held up well at all. Okay, so
Speaker 1: let's let's let's go down that path a little bit.
Speaker 1: I want each person to tell me, do you think
Speaker 1: that now maybe the Cowboys have hit a hit a
Speaker 1: sit point in the season where what's happening on the
Speaker 1: offensive line has really caught up to him and there
Speaker 1: is no answer for it because you can't just go
Speaker 1: out and get better players at this point. Injuries have
Speaker 1: caught up to them and that's going to be a
Speaker 1: problem for them going forward. Well, yes, they have caught
Speaker 1: up to him, and this whole rusting. You know, Zach Martin,
Speaker 1: if he can play, he needs to play. This is
Speaker 1: the most winnable game you've got on the schedule right here.
Speaker 1: If you don't win this game and you're not in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. You know, you've got to win. This is it.
Speaker 1: This is your your game right here. So he needs
Speaker 1: to play if he can play, I mean, if if
Speaker 1: that's the issue, he needs to come back and this
Speaker 1: is no rusting period anymore. It gets time to play. No,
Speaker 1: But that's I mean, and you know, and that's things
Speaker 1: changed so much in the aftermath of these games, and
Speaker 1: it was ugly, don't get me wrong. But I don't
Speaker 1: know this for sure, but I feel like Zach Martin
Speaker 1: probably could have gutted through that yesterday if he wanted to.
Speaker 1: Not not that if he wanted to, but if they
Speaker 1: had to, you know, if they had to have that,
Speaker 1: if they were you know, five hundred and it's winner,
Speaker 1: don't make the playoffs. I feel like maybe he could
Speaker 1: have got it through that, but they didn't have to
Speaker 1: do that. He gets an extra week, and I feel
Speaker 1: much more confident that he'll be able to play against
Speaker 1: the Bucks because of that Suafilo, for you know, from
Speaker 1: all the reports is gross, nasty eye injury. It sounded
Speaker 1: like it really really hurt. But the report's coming out
Speaker 1: this morning or that he should be all right. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously they've dealt with a ton of injuries
Speaker 1: on this thing. I think they can get themselves geared
Speaker 1: up for this game, and that's part of the nice
Speaker 1: thing about having this cushion is you know they can
Speaker 1: hopefully get Martin back for this game. I think I
Speaker 1: don't think Suaphilo will have to miss it, so they
Speaker 1: can weather this. And as much as you want to
Speaker 1: overreact to an ugly loss, it doesn't change that they
Speaker 1: should be in a better spot playing the Bucks. You
Speaker 1: know what sucks is that going to training camp and
Speaker 1: heading into training camp, I really thought this offensive line
Speaker 1: was looking pretty good. I thought they had done their
Speaker 1: homework and brought in some guys to help in case
Speaker 1: Tyren Smith went out or whatever. So I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: I'm excited. I'm excited for this, and I'm glad they
Speaker 1: finally were able to take you know, prevent things, or
Speaker 1: you know, get backed themselves up with something. And now
Speaker 1: look at this, like everybody on the old line basically
Speaker 1: has suffered something except for Joe Looney. He's the only one.
Speaker 1: And then I'll still play he hasn't, but he didn't.
Speaker 1: He have something that he dealt with, like nothing major,
Speaker 1: but he up, but okay, Lyle penalties. Yeah, he hasn't played.
Speaker 1: He hasn't played, Yeah, right, yeah. So it's like a
Speaker 1: mix of different things that just have happened, and they've
Speaker 1: been hanging onto that. And you know, I think there's
Speaker 1: a rap song that says, if it ain't one thing,
Speaker 1: it's another left another. I think that's too good thing,
Speaker 1: go ahead, compound word. It's a kind of fantastic example
Speaker 1: of life in the NFL. I mean, what you know, this,
Speaker 1: this Dallas line was the talk of the league for
Speaker 1: so many years. They were so good, it was so effortless.
Speaker 1: What's Travis Frederick's long term future? Do you need to
Speaker 1: spend draft capital or free agent capital at tackle? Like
Speaker 1: it's the I wonder about that. You know, I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to end Tyron Smith or Lyle Collins's career. I
Speaker 1: think they're both good players, but it's certainly something you
Speaker 1: should have your mind on. And then you look across
Speaker 1: the line at Indie. Andrew Luck got murdered for most
Speaker 1: of his first four years in the league. And now
Speaker 1: you're like, oh my god, these guys are great and
Speaker 1: they're young, and they're gonna Having watched that game, and
Speaker 1: knowing what I know about their roster, I expect them
Speaker 1: to be an AFC contender for years to come based
Speaker 1: on that line though what you just started. And they know,
Speaker 1: of course that doesn't of course that doesn't mean anything,
Speaker 1: but did you get two years frown? They've got the
Speaker 1: foundation to have a really great team. But well, and meanwhile,
Speaker 1: like you're sitting here with the Cowboys like you had
Speaker 1: the foundation two sixteen, and and it's it's not Jackguards
Speaker 1: at the Foundation last year. It ain't it ain't get on,
Speaker 1: but it certainly doesn't look great. And it's yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a it is it not for long league, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: All right, let's take our first break. Let's come back,
Speaker 1: and we're going to dive a little deeper into some
Speaker 1: of the parts of this game that were troublesome. We'll
Speaker 1: also get some calls. Give us a call eight eight
Speaker 1: eight eight five five two two nine seven. We want
Speaker 1: to hear from you guys throughout the show. Again, the
Speaker 1: numbers eight eight eight, five five two two nine to
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Speaker 1: football Back to the Break Welcome back. It is the
Speaker 1: second segment of The Break Life from the SWBC Mortgage
Speaker 1: studios at the Star. We'll be taking questions throughout the show.
Speaker 1: Eight eight eight eight five five two two nine seven
Speaker 1: is the number. Will jump real quick to a phone
Speaker 1: call that we have from Ricardo in California. Ricardo, what up? Ricardo?
Speaker 1: Are you there? Are you there? All right? Tell you, oh, Ricardo.
Speaker 1: We'll give him a second to get Ricardo back on
Speaker 1: the line and sorry, Ricardo, Ricardo, Okay, calm down, all right.
Speaker 1: So in the meantime, though, let's talk a little bit
Speaker 1: more about this game, a little more in depth about
Speaker 1: this game. Um, when you look at the way that
Speaker 1: the Cowboys offense, really offense and defense played yesterday, they
Speaker 1: get behind and I don't know. You guys can tell
Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong. I don't think by the time
Speaker 1: they got to seventeen nothing that was the biggest deficit
Speaker 1: that they've played from this season, not quite okay, was
Speaker 1: they were down eighteen in Seattle? Okay, got it? It
Speaker 1: seems to me, Well, it doesn't just seem to me,
Speaker 1: it's very apparent that this is not a team that
Speaker 1: has what it takes to play from behind because of
Speaker 1: the way it's constituted. Constitute on playing good defense, running
Speaker 1: the ball. The passing game is probably the weakest of
Speaker 1: those three things. Is that a concern for you guys
Speaker 1: as you go into the playoffs when you think about
Speaker 1: this team and how they would perform against some of
Speaker 1: those better teams in the NFL, that playing from behind
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be a strength for them. That's a
Speaker 1: that's a concern. You look at the five game winning streak,
Speaker 1: there was three games in that that they didn't They
Speaker 1: weren't trailing at all. One of them Washington, they were
Speaker 1: just trailing just for like one drive and then they
Speaker 1: took the lead. So yeah, this this winning streak was
Speaker 1: built on the fact that they had a lead early
Speaker 1: and they play they play well to that when they're
Speaker 1: down like they were in Carolina and Seattle and where else. Washington,
Speaker 1: you know, they didn't really Houston. They didn't really Houston.
Speaker 1: They did kind of come back for him, but Washington,
Speaker 1: they didn't those three games out there. Yeah, they just
Speaker 1: don't have an explosive offense like that, and we've seen
Speaker 1: We've seen a little bit of that against the Redskins
Speaker 1: and Eagles at home, but for the most part, there's
Speaker 1: not a quick strike offense. That probably goes back to
Speaker 1: the conversation about expectation, which is probably why this game
Speaker 1: doesn't do a lot to change my opinion, because this
Speaker 1: is more than likely a playoff team. They're a good team,
Speaker 1: a team that has improved, but the deficiencies that this
Speaker 1: team has, I don't think I ever talked myself into
Speaker 1: thinking this team could win three or four in a
Speaker 1: row against playoff caliber teams. I just their offense is
Speaker 1: too inconsistent. Their defense is good but doesn't generate like
Speaker 1: the type of takeaway as it takes to win those
Speaker 1: types of games. And so yeah, it's certainly trouble. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, somebody somebody on Twitter this morning said to me,
Speaker 1: He's like, Wowoa, y'all been telling us for a month
Speaker 1: that the offense is fixed. Clearly not. I was like,
Speaker 1: who's did that? Yeah, Like, who have you been listening to?
Speaker 1: Because this offense wasn't it was better and and Amari
Speaker 1: Cooper deserves a ton of credit for that. Zeke has
Speaker 1: been balling out. But like, they don't score enough points.
Speaker 1: I mean they were averaging what like twenty two points
Speaker 1: per game during the win streak. I think bogged out
Speaker 1: in the red zone. It's been a trend all year,
Speaker 1: and we have seen that this team can beat anybody
Speaker 1: on their day. The Saints game comes to mind, but
Speaker 1: I just don't know that they're consistent enough to do
Speaker 1: that regularly against good teams. I've changed my tune a
Speaker 1: little bit on what I think about the Lenahan Dak situation,
Speaker 1: and a lot of fans all they care about was
Speaker 1: the Cowboys, and they care about and they need a
Speaker 1: new offensive coordinator. I think Lenahan needs a new quarterback.
Speaker 1: And I don't mean with the Cowboys. I think Lenahan
Speaker 1: and the Dak I don't think is a great pairing anymore.
Speaker 1: And I just noticed that a few times in the
Speaker 1: game he's calling plays that that should be there. But
Speaker 1: Dak's strength is not just putting the ball anywhere he wants,
Speaker 1: you know that, Like that play where they on third
Speaker 1: and one, where Jarwin is streaking down the field, That
Speaker 1: that's a perfectly schemed play, just like Ola Wally, just
Speaker 1: like Cole Beasley, just like the Noah Brown play around
Speaker 1: the goal line. He's calling plays that are schemed well,
Speaker 1: but you need a better quarterback and more accurate quarterback
Speaker 1: to make that throw. And that's not what Dak's strength really.
Speaker 1: But all those that you just pointed out, I don't
Speaker 1: think all of those were on Dak. Those were also
Speaker 1: some of the people that should have caught the ball.
Speaker 1: I mean the old Wally play that was kissed the ball,
Speaker 1: the balls there. Yeah, I just I don't know. It
Speaker 1: was a bad throw by Dak. To me, it wasn't.
Speaker 1: I completely agree with that. It wasn't. It wasn't a
Speaker 1: good throw. But I've seen the replay enough times like
Speaker 1: it was in between his hands and then he bobbled
Speaker 1: it before the defender even got there. Right, that's not
Speaker 1: a great throw, which I agree. I think I heard
Speaker 1: you say that in the press box yesterday. Is like
Speaker 1: Lenahan seems like he's calling plays for a Breeze or
Speaker 1: a Stafford more often than not, like guys who just
Speaker 1: have a different skill set than Deck does. And I
Speaker 1: think in a different set he could be I get that.
Speaker 1: I guess my point still is, though, I think that
Speaker 1: some of those plays you did you point out, I
Speaker 1: think maybe it's the caliber of the receivers that he's
Speaker 1: throwing to, Like that that throw to Jarlin, Yeah it
Speaker 1: wasn't a perfect throw, but if you had a higher
Speaker 1: quality tight end, yeah, he probably makes that catch, right,
Speaker 1: And so that's my point, Like, I just think that
Speaker 1: what they've given him outside of a mark is a
Speaker 1: bunch of is a bunch of very average guys that
Speaker 1: may not be able to make some of those more
Speaker 1: difficult catches. I don't I agree with you, But again,
Speaker 1: I mean you could still perhaps all a better play
Speaker 1: for that quarterback in that situation. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: Jamizola walle jamaez excuse me, jamaezo. While I should he
Speaker 1: should have caught that. But are we overthinking it maybe
Speaker 1: a little bit here. You don't even throw to him
Speaker 1: exactly because maybe he's a blocker not a kid. Uh,
Speaker 1: and and the same thing. Should Blake jar Wind have
Speaker 1: caught it? Yes? Was he open? Yes? I can't fault
Speaker 1: the play call, But did it have to be? Did
Speaker 1: that have to be the call? Wasn't it was third
Speaker 1: and short, wasn't it? Yeah? It was one? It was
Speaker 1: third and one. So again I don't I mean, I
Speaker 1: get it again. Well, we can talk about this until
Speaker 1: we all are blue in the face, but it's the
Speaker 1: age old like, well, they know we're gonna run, and
Speaker 1: so we shouldn't run. And maybe they shouldn't have because
Speaker 1: Zach Martin wasn't in there. I don't know, but some
Speaker 1: of these calls seem a little over complicated. But let
Speaker 1: me ask you this because because thinking of the kind
Speaker 1: of things we've talked about on this show where we're like,
Speaker 1: all right, you know, and Nick, this is one of
Speaker 1: your big things. If you get down a certain situation
Speaker 1: and you know it's two downs, didn't that should affect
Speaker 1: your play call? If in this instance they felt like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we know we're gonna go for it on fourth. We
Speaker 1: feel fairly certain that our running back in our offensive
Speaker 1: line can pick up a yard if it gets to
Speaker 1: fourth and one. Let's try something a little different, something
Speaker 1: a little bit creative, and the play actually gave you
Speaker 1: a chance. You guys just couldn't catch the ball. Then
Speaker 1: is it hard to Is it hard to fault? Yes,
Speaker 1: the play call. It's the same exact thing with the
Speaker 1: Atlanta game. Like I can't sit here and murder Scott
Speaker 1: Linehan for Cole Beasley not catching an open touchdown and
Speaker 1: same thing no no or Dak not getting which for
Speaker 1: all the Dak haters, I said this yesterday and people
Speaker 1: thought I was hating on Dak or the offensive line.
Speaker 1: Andrew Luck did the same thing. They schemed t Y
Speaker 1: Hilton across the end zone and it was it was
Speaker 1: such an easy catch and Luck missed the throw because
Speaker 1: there was a guy in his face. Same thing that
Speaker 1: happened to Dak with Noah Brown. Pressure affects quarterbacks. That's
Speaker 1: why you pay those guys. Where was I going with that?
Speaker 1: I don't know, But I can't kill these play calls.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, maybe this is the Madden
Speaker 1: player in me and grew up playing video games. If
Speaker 1: it's third and one and you're right, like, am I
Speaker 1: crazy to think that you could just sneak it twice
Speaker 1: in a row? Sneak didn't work. Great, We're gonna do
Speaker 1: it again because our quarterback is six two two third.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe that's just too simplistic and I'm dummy, who's
Speaker 1: just a third and long one? I think I've just
Speaker 1: created this. It's Zeke to sneak, That's what it is.
Speaker 1: You give it third and one, you give it a Zeke,
Speaker 1: So on fourth and inches you can sneak it and
Speaker 1: that's not going to be stopped. Now they did on
Speaker 1: fourth and one try Zeke went negative yard worth than
Speaker 1: one fourth and one. But but my point, my point
Speaker 1: is that was a situation where we all say, give
Speaker 1: Zeke the ball, run the ball. They did it, and
Speaker 1: it was negative yardage and a fumble. They take way
Speaker 1: too much time with some of these runs where we're
Speaker 1: you know, the guy's pulling here and Zeke has to run,
Speaker 1: And I mean, just do you think that in there?
Speaker 1: Do you think that part of because and let me
Speaker 1: let me preface this saying, I know, earlier in the
Speaker 1: season this has been an ongoing trend, and earlier in
Speaker 1: the season you didn't have the same level of concerns
Speaker 1: you may have now with the offensive line. But do
Speaker 1: you think that as this season goes on the offensive line.
Speaker 1: You're sustaining injuries, your guys aren't playing great. You think
Speaker 1: maybe that's affecting why they're making the decisions that they're
Speaker 1: making in these short yardist situations to maybe not run
Speaker 1: the ball on goal line versus trying to throw the
Speaker 1: ball because they just don't necessarily trust the offensive line.
Speaker 1: It's gonna it's gonna not allow the defensive front to
Speaker 1: get penetrated. You know, it's never really been a great
Speaker 1: third and one offensive line, even when you had Frederick
Speaker 1: Martin and tiring back in twenty fifteen. I believe they
Speaker 1: were the worst in the league. I know you always
Speaker 1: said Leary was the one that made that better, and
Speaker 1: then getting rid of him, you weren't. Yeah, Sophilo has
Speaker 1: helped with that. Connor you know, I mean Connor Williams
Speaker 1: and Redman. Yeah, that was not a good That was
Speaker 1: not a good line to be now, to be fair,
Speaker 1: I think that was the play a field poked in
Speaker 1: the eye. Maybe that was the problem he couldn't see,
Speaker 1: you didn't see it was. I mean, which I think
Speaker 1: call hands to the face right there, because believe me,
Speaker 1: that crew was calling everything else. I have never seen
Speaker 1: any life. Here's two calls I've never seen this year ever,
Speaker 1: both on the LP Lattice or number one snapping fraction
Speaker 1: does that happen? Fraction? And Washington holding on the snapper.
Speaker 1: He's not trying to hold. What could he be holding?
Speaker 1: And he runs, Yeah, he's not holding. Nobody can hit
Speaker 1: the snapper. Just fills out there that don't know the ruld.
Speaker 1: You can't hit the snapper. So it's not like he's
Speaker 1: trying like somebody is coming at him and he's trying
Speaker 1: to keep them from getting to his kicker, Like he
Speaker 1: how does he hold he's going down to make a tackle.
Speaker 1: How does he hold? Nicky didn't think he helped. I
Speaker 1: just don't get Mickey doesn't. I don't get cowboys have
Speaker 1: ever committed a penalty in his life. Maybe that's I
Speaker 1: don't think I've ever seen a long snapper get a holding.
Speaker 1: You know, Dave might might ever, like you might occasionally say,
Speaker 1: oh that was a bad call, it was a hold,
Speaker 1: but you never say it up in the press box
Speaker 1: because number one, Mickey won't allow it. Me and Derek
Speaker 1: probably don't allow it either. And man, but I mean
Speaker 1: the officiating yesterday was terrible, and I'll give you two
Speaker 1: from the The cult should be mad about it as well.
Speaker 1: I mean, t Y Hilton taunting, are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: And they had a block in the back, which just
Speaker 1: because Byron Jones turned around doesn't mean it's a block
Speaker 1: in the back. It's really bad calls in that game.
Speaker 1: This is this is this is a weekly refrain now
Speaker 1: that every week you watch games and you say what
Speaker 1: was wrong with the officiator Smith. It's at a point
Speaker 1: where they figured out on both sides. Smith got to
Speaker 1: figure out how to block because what he's been doing
Speaker 1: for years grabbing a guy like this and throwing him
Speaker 1: to the ground, like that's not working anymore, I guess
Speaker 1: because that is now called a hold. I'll say this
Speaker 1: is not a shot at Mickey, and it's not a
Speaker 1: shot at either of y'all, because it's happened in every
Speaker 1: NFL press box I've ever gone into. But like when
Speaker 1: I was coming up in college and high school, like
Speaker 1: getting my start, it was drilled into me by like
Speaker 1: my professors and my advisors, is like you shut the
Speaker 1: hell up in the press box, like it is a professional.
Speaker 1: They've never been the working It was drilled into me
Speaker 1: my whole college careers, Like you don't say s like
Speaker 1: you are there to cover a game, you are not
Speaker 1: there to blah blah blah blah blah. So I yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't talk in press boxes, at least not at
Speaker 1: allowed volume. And so I take this job, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is the big leagues, this is you really got
Speaker 1: to be professional. My god, every press spot it's washed everywhere.
Speaker 1: It's all of them, and it's our people and it's
Speaker 1: the opposing like it's a free for all and it's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: But anyway, sometimes I actually wait, I'm waiting to see
Speaker 1: is there're gonna actually be some back and forth talk,
Speaker 1: because it gets going and then before you know, people
Speaker 1: are saying stuff to each other like Philly is the
Speaker 1: worst is yeah, Philly's And like you know, Nickel offers
Speaker 1: some commentary back, and so Nick loves to just kind
Speaker 1: of throw something out there just so everybody around can
Speaker 1: hear that I'm talking to you, but I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: see it directly to you. The implier I never I
Speaker 1: never would have dreamed as a young WI Maybe yes,
Speaker 1: facts I'm trying to remember. I can't think of a
Speaker 1: specific example, but like Nike will just loudly be like, hey,
Speaker 1: everybody get that at their issues, Derek. If anybody, if
Speaker 1: anybody is doing anything annoying in the press box, you
Speaker 1: hate it. Like if someone's phone rings or something, or
Speaker 1: someone says a stupid joke yesterday, but it looks like
Speaker 1: a mack truck out there, You're like, yeah, that's funny. No,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't say anything. I just kind of
Speaker 1: look like that. Seriously, I could have never dreamed as
Speaker 1: a young, like teenage sportswriter that, like, NFL press boxes
Speaker 1: are some of the least professional environments I've ever been
Speaker 1: in in my life. You got that right, anyway. Uh,
Speaker 1: the refs suck. The ref's always suck, and I just
Speaker 1: don't have time to care. I really don't like I
Speaker 1: not this again, not a shot at y'all. I hate
Speaker 1: even talking about it. It happens in every game. It
Speaker 1: happens to both teams. If you think there's some type
Speaker 1: of bias, I don't know what to tell you in
Speaker 1: fact that it's not gonna change, Like, yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: the faster and the fact these guys get. The harder
Speaker 1: it is to call an NFL game and to be it,
Speaker 1: and we get the benefit of seeing it up high,
Speaker 1: we get the benefit of seeing slow motion replay. When
Speaker 1: you're watching it in real motion in real time, you
Speaker 1: gotta make a split second decision. I don't want to
Speaker 1: kill the guys like that and be like, oh wow,
Speaker 1: they're horrible, but it's just officiating as hard and you're
Speaker 1: not gonna get them all right, And we're seeing the
Speaker 1: result of that. And also, you know, one of the
Speaker 1: things that I do in every game, and I've done
Speaker 1: for like the last ten years. As I write that
Speaker 1: article about five plays, don't don't forget about these five plays.
Speaker 1: And a lot of the times those plays are some
Speaker 1: kind of penalty. It's a penalty that changed things. And
Speaker 1: one of an example of them in the game and
Speaker 1: the right before the halftime, they have a three third
Speaker 1: down the culture it's seven to nothing and the Cowboys
Speaker 1: make a stop. They finally make a stop and the
Speaker 1: punt team is about is going onto the field and
Speaker 1: right as they're doing that, that's when the official throws
Speaker 1: the flag on Anthony Brown yea for holding on a
Speaker 1: play that happened before the past. They talked about it
Speaker 1: because the past was deflected. So we can't call pass interference,
Speaker 1: so it was holding before the throw. So if it
Speaker 1: was holding before the throw, then the throw was made
Speaker 1: and then it's incomplete and the whistle blows and then
Speaker 1: you throw the flag. Then that's clearly a sideline call
Speaker 1: that was called from the cold sideline. And actually it
Speaker 1: was the cowboy sideline and the guy through it from
Speaker 1: the cowboy sideline. So I don't know, like that changed everything.
Speaker 1: They got the first down, they drove down to get
Speaker 1: a field goal, and that changed the momentum of the half.
Speaker 1: And so you just look at calls like that and
Speaker 1: go wow. I mean, they really do affect the games.
Speaker 1: I mean, so these officials, and I don't call them
Speaker 1: crooks like other people do, but I mean they do.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt they affect the game. That's of course
Speaker 1: they do, and they affect it for both teams. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's really My point is that I get that at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, it's a wash. There's no
Speaker 1: point really arguing it. But when you're creating calls off
Speaker 1: things off that you think that you see on LP
Speaker 1: holding on it when that's not his job as to hold.
Speaker 1: He doesn't want to hold. It's why calling that I
Speaker 1: was big two because that put it from the six
Speaker 1: yard line to the sixteen. You can be a little
Speaker 1: bit more aggressive at the sixteen than you are going
Speaker 1: to be at the six. Still, of course, the way
Speaker 1: they were running the ball, they would have got it.
Speaker 1: You put them on the one. I mean, it doesn't
Speaker 1: really matter. The kicker was better than the Cowboys kicker.
Speaker 1: Best kicker ever. Yeah, first ballot Hall of Famer. No, Well,
Speaker 1: has there ever been a kicker has been for No,
Speaker 1: he should be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Definitely
Speaker 1: done it in a long time and with some real consistence.
Speaker 1: That's one of my hot, hottest NFL takes. Adam Vantary,
Speaker 1: first ballot Hall of Famer. Yeah, all right, let's take
Speaker 1: our final break. Let's co back, let's get some questions.
Speaker 1: I know we got Joe on the line. We'll get
Speaker 1: to him when we come right back. You guys can
Speaker 1: also call us eight eight eight eight five five two
Speaker 1: two nine seven. We'll get some calls. This is Dallas
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Speaker 1: to the Break Welcome Back. It is the final segment
Speaker 1: of The Break Live and the SWBC Mortgage Studios at Star.
Speaker 1: Nick tell us about guys, it's that time. It's that
Speaker 1: time too. You should probably start thinking about Christmas shopping
Speaker 1: if you haven't gotten there already so late. If you haven't, yeah,
Speaker 1: go ahead. So basically, if you want to buy something
Speaker 1: for your lady, you can, Tommy Johnny Well, okay, Tommy
Speaker 1: John we have late listeners out there that I know,
Speaker 1: And I said, guys, hold on, I said, guys, So
Speaker 1: if you want to, you can buy underwear for dudes too.
Speaker 1: That's true. That happens at training camp anyways. Doesn't matter
Speaker 1: who you are, who you're buying it for, or what
Speaker 1: you like and all that stuff. Tommy john dot com
Speaker 1: is the place for you because everybody needs underwear. So
Speaker 1: if you need a gift or to buy if you
Speaker 1: need someone says, oh what can I get you? Tommy
Speaker 1: John dot com go do some shopping? All right, great?
Speaker 1: Thank you. Nick. We've got a very special moment that's
Speaker 1: going to be coming up here in a second Amber
Speaker 1: has event. But before we get to that, Joe's been
Speaker 1: holding for Let's get to Joe from New York and
Speaker 1: then we'll come back and let Amber vin a little bit.
Speaker 1: What you got Joe? Hey, what's going on? Fellas? Um?
Speaker 1: I appreciate you taking my call, ladies and gentlemen, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you. I appreciate you guys taking my call. Listen,
Speaker 1: I have a couple of things and I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get him in. Nick, that was some very um I say,
Speaker 1: observing UM thoughts for you to actually say that Lenahan
Speaker 1: needs a different quarterback. Um, that's that's pretty astute of you.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say this, though, I believe that Lenahan needs
Speaker 1: to go. Regardless of what's happened, regardless of what the
Speaker 1: turnaround is, he shows he shows a lack of inconsistency
Speaker 1: within play calling, not just the cowboys, you know, necessarily
Speaker 1: going through in in and finishing plays and actually putting
Speaker 1: things in completing completing, um, you know your your twenty,
Speaker 1: your inside to twenty, your red zone plays. All of
Speaker 1: these things seem to they compile, and they and they
Speaker 1: build up and they build up, but they all come
Speaker 1: back to Lenahan and the inconsistencies. For me, they all
Speaker 1: come back to the inconsistencies. He goes from one game
Speaker 1: to the next looking looking totally different as a play caller.
Speaker 1: I mean, we didn't run one screen yesterday, not one.
Speaker 1: I don't even know that one was given to the
Speaker 1: wide receivers. Another thing was the idea that I that
Speaker 1: we should play with the line a little bit. And
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of Fleming moving to the right, I'm thinking
Speaker 1: of Lyal moving back to guard, and I'm thinking of
Speaker 1: sure Philo moving inside to where to where Zach is?
Speaker 1: I'm ok, you know, well, I mean is that it?
Speaker 1: I appreciate, we appreciate it. Thanks. You know. There's a
Speaker 1: couple of things about that this is the tough balance
Speaker 1: as an offensive coordinator. And I agree with you. I
Speaker 1: don't think Lennahan, I don't think this is a good
Speaker 1: good to fit anymore for him. For Dak, I don't
Speaker 1: think this is the case. He remember he was here
Speaker 1: for Tony and it worked pretty pretty well. Inconsistent, he said,
Speaker 1: I think you said his lack he lacks inconsistency, which
Speaker 1: I think you meant to say lacks consistency. But as
Speaker 1: a play caller, you kind of want to be inconsistent.
Speaker 1: That's you don't have a bread and butter play. This
Speaker 1: isn't Denzel Washington with remember the Titans saying I got
Speaker 1: six plays, Okay, This isn't like that. They don't have
Speaker 1: something where they just run over people. They have to
Speaker 1: trick it up because they're not as good as some
Speaker 1: of the defenses they play, especially when they have an
Speaker 1: offensive line like that. So I think you do want
Speaker 1: to balance being doing things that that you're good at
Speaker 1: also tricking it up a little bit. Obviously it did
Speaker 1: not work yesterday. Yeah, I mean I think I said
Speaker 1: that a couple a week or two ago. Is like,
Speaker 1: you know, unless this team wins the super Bowl or
Speaker 1: gets damned close, I really can't imagine that no changes
Speaker 1: are going to take place. But that's there's always changes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But I mean, Lenahan absolutely like that job is up
Speaker 1: for consideration as far as I'm concerned. If this team
Speaker 1: and unless some crazy happens. Basically. I mean if they
Speaker 1: lose in the first or second round of the playoffs
Speaker 1: and they scored nineteen points in doing so, that's absolutely
Speaker 1: something that I would think would happen. Um. But again
Speaker 1: like and and moving the offensive line, like it's not
Speaker 1: time for that, Like we know what this team's deficiencies are,
Speaker 1: and now is not the time to try to make
Speaker 1: sweeping changes, you know, like the the bye week is
Speaker 1: one thing eight freaking weeks ago, and it you your
Speaker 1: two games away from a potential playoff push, and that's
Speaker 1: it's just not something that I concerned myself with at
Speaker 1: this moment in time. That doesn't mean I don't want
Speaker 1: to talk about it. It's just we are what we are,
Speaker 1: you know, Like the k is ninety five percent baked
Speaker 1: at this point. Like what are you gonna drastically change? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know. The one thing I will say, Nick though,
Speaker 1: about the inconsistency m I actually I get his point
Speaker 1: because there are and what he was was I thought
Speaker 1: what I was. What I thought he was referring to
Speaker 1: is when you see something that they do successfully one
Speaker 1: week that you say, hey, maybe i'd incorporate that more
Speaker 1: into your offense. In future weeks, and we've seen that
Speaker 1: throughout this year screen work. They didn't go back to it,
Speaker 1: like you said, this last game, you get they did
Speaker 1: ran a few scraps. They definitely did, but I guess
Speaker 1: that would gain My point was you can look at
Speaker 1: earlier this season when they'd have a game when they
Speaker 1: would get Tavan involved and then the next game nothing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there would be games earlier this season where Dak would
Speaker 1: run the ball well and then the next game nothing.
Speaker 1: It's like it's that kind of thing where you see something,
Speaker 1: but that's what I'm saying. You see some things that
Speaker 1: are working well, and then all of a sudden, the
Speaker 1: next week, it's like, no, we can't do that because
Speaker 1: maybe they're expecting it, maybe they decide not to do it,
Speaker 1: maybe forgets. I don't know. Dak running the ball on
Speaker 1: purpose in the last like month, not really, Yeah, not really.
Speaker 1: There's a little bit. They'll do it, probably once or
Speaker 1: twice a game, and usually they save it for those
Speaker 1: critical moments of the game. You have a touchdown on
Speaker 1: one and so which game I'm sorry, I'm this is
Speaker 1: the one where he ran up the middle and Dell
Speaker 1: for the ends Atlanta. I don't remember it was Atlanta
Speaker 1: right in front of us Atlanta. But but my point,
Speaker 1: I think that's what he was more getting to is
Speaker 1: just that inconsistency of not sticking with things that actually
Speaker 1: things that actually work, you just kind of forget to
Speaker 1: use them in the next game. No, I agree, I
Speaker 1: agree with most of what the callers saying. I just
Speaker 1: like you are trying to be somewhat inconsistent. If you
Speaker 1: had things, I think that he thought they could just
Speaker 1: run all the time, but I don't know if they
Speaker 1: really have that is are we getting close to the
Speaker 1: rant here? This is a well it's coming about this?
Speaker 1: You do that, it's a cliche. This this team doesn't
Speaker 1: have an identity. I mean on offense, they don't have
Speaker 1: an offensive identity. They do not they have they have
Speaker 1: they do well, no, they haven't. They know what they
Speaker 1: want to do, they just can't do it. And the
Speaker 1: thing is even the thing that they that they want
Speaker 1: to do, the thing that you would think is their
Speaker 1: identity running the ball in so many moments when you think, okay,
Speaker 1: this is when you should run the ball, they're like, man,
Speaker 1: they don't trust that's not really your identity. Then they
Speaker 1: don't trust them and I guarantee you. You know, we'll
Speaker 1: ask somebody will ask got let a hand about it
Speaker 1: on Thursday and he'll he'll he'll slyly say something like, well,
Speaker 1: I mean, you saw what happened when we ran on
Speaker 1: fourth and one, didn't you. That'll be his back maybe
Speaker 1: shut up, which hey whatever before before you do that. Real,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be nice. This is just this is something
Speaker 1: I've had on my mind, and I just I want
Speaker 1: to be nice and say I really appreciate Jason Garrett.
Speaker 1: I thought it was cool. I want to know the
Speaker 1: exact situation. I'm sorry, fourth quarter, fourth and twelve from
Speaker 1: the Indie twenty six. You're down twenty three to nothing
Speaker 1: with four minutes to play, and he went for it.
Speaker 1: And I appreciate that because ninety eight percent of people
Speaker 1: would have kicked the field goal to keep the goose
Speaker 1: egg off their resume. And I'm with you on that.
Speaker 1: I try to win the game. I would have kicked it.
Speaker 1: I would have kicked it, and if I would, I
Speaker 1: would have sit there and I would kicked the field goal.
Speaker 1: And if I made it, or even if I missed it,
Speaker 1: I want someone to ask me, why did you kick
Speaker 1: the field goal, and I said, because I have a
Speaker 1: kicker that I wanted to see if he could make
Speaker 1: a forty yard field goal, that's what I wanted to
Speaker 1: see and nobody, nobody would have cared. No would have
Speaker 1: been like, oh, it's actually pretty good, that's a decent rebuttal,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what I want to see, if Brett
Speaker 1: Maher can make a field But I mean because the
Speaker 1: last time he kicked it right into someone's armpit. If
Speaker 1: he misses that or you're gonna cut him maybe like
Speaker 1: a gal again. If Maher misses a forty yard field
Speaker 1: goal against the Colts, I don't think they would have
Speaker 1: to bring who. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know exactly.
Speaker 1: I know we already had that conversation, and I just
Speaker 1: I don't trust that the guy that's sitting on his
Speaker 1: couch in mid December is better than Brett Maher. If
Speaker 1: you could say that. You could say that if you want,
Speaker 1: but I think everybody in that room, including yourself, if
Speaker 1: you were the media sitting on the other side, would
Speaker 1: have been like ry buying that. They would have been
Speaker 1: like you were trying to keep from getting blanks, and
Speaker 1: so be it. If that's what you're doing. But who cares?
Speaker 1: What if he said I don't want to get shut out,
Speaker 1: that's fine, But I think it would have been disingenuous
Speaker 1: him to say I'm trying to see if my kicker
Speaker 1: can make a forty yard field goal. I think it's
Speaker 1: more he didn't want to get blanked, And for me personally,
Speaker 1: I kind of agree with Dave. The only thing you
Speaker 1: can come back with that is say you was probably
Speaker 1: gonna still need a field goal as well, right, you
Speaker 1: were gonna need probably two touchdowns with a two point
Speaker 1: conversion and then in a field goal in order to
Speaker 1: Did you see the celebration, I mean yeah, yeah, right,
Speaker 1: I mean like that that that's a big deal. To that,
Speaker 1: it's a big deal. Yea. They were in the they
Speaker 1: were in their locker room like, oh yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: huge deal to kill shut out. So why why not
Speaker 1: make a field goal then? Because it's it's weak and
Speaker 1: you know you're gonna lose. Like I took LSU to
Speaker 1: task the same thing. They kicked a field goal down
Speaker 1: twenty nine to nothing against Alabama, and it was I
Speaker 1: thought it was weak. I think it's it's well, at
Speaker 1: least we didn't get shut out if you're saying it's
Speaker 1: a huge thing for the Colts defense, but yet you
Speaker 1: you want you want them to have that make a
Speaker 1: field goal. I try to win the game, well, and
Speaker 1: kicking a field goal is not trying to win the
Speaker 1: game in that situation in my opinion, and so much
Speaker 1: of and again like literally that's it's it's it's self
Speaker 1: preservation and it's ego padding, like, well, at least we
Speaker 1: didn't get shut out. You you also didn't win the game.
Speaker 1: And so many decisions that coaches make is about that.
Speaker 1: It's about like what can I easily defend or what
Speaker 1: makes my ego feel better at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: And Jason Garrett passed it up, and I'll give him
Speaker 1: credit for that. I liked the decision to do that.
Speaker 1: In a hopeless situation, I would kick field goal because,
Speaker 1: like you just said, it's hopeless. Anyways, you're not winning
Speaker 1: the game with a touchdown and all that stuff. Anyways,
Speaker 1: I would have kicked the field goal. And then if
Speaker 1: you're not, why were you calling timeouts for the last
Speaker 1: three minutes anyways? Well, I did not like that. I
Speaker 1: would not have done so just get your team off
Speaker 1: the field. But I do think you have an issue
Speaker 1: with with your your kicker though. I mean, and and
Speaker 1: this this whole thing about for who, that's not the point.
Speaker 1: The point isn't who's going to come in. The point
Speaker 1: is that it's not about who's better. Okay, it's not
Speaker 1: that who's better. It's about to use your kicker. Have
Speaker 1: enough confidence? Is he is he gonna make a kick?
Speaker 1: Is he confident to make a kick? Yeah? You can
Speaker 1: make a sixty two yard or all day and no pressure.
Speaker 1: There's an absolutely no pressure on you for sixty two yarder.
Speaker 1: And I said this in pre game when he was kicking.
Speaker 1: I was like, I want to see if you can
Speaker 1: make this one right here, forty seven yards? Make this one?
Speaker 1: And what was the what was the field goal attempt
Speaker 1: that was blocked? Forty five something like that. So I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's the type of kick. And when it looks
Speaker 1: like he kicked it low, yeah, So I think it's
Speaker 1: important to see what kind of in it because if
Speaker 1: he if he misses that kick, I think that you're
Speaker 1: you're stuck with him. You're stuck with him, there's no change,
Speaker 1: And I think you have bigger problems seven yard right now,
Speaker 1: that's actually not true. That's just not true. For kickers.
Speaker 1: There's there's fifteen that are out there that have kicked
Speaker 1: it more than him, and you could sign one. You're
Speaker 1: not stuck with him because he doesn't need to learn
Speaker 1: the offense. Okay, but what guarantees you those other guys
Speaker 1: are going to give you something better? Exactly then guarantees
Speaker 1: me nothing. I'm just saying you need to get a
Speaker 1: guy with some you know. We started the show and
Speaker 1: as I sit here, I think, and the more I think,
Speaker 1: that's not always a good thing, because the more I
Speaker 1: think over here, the more of set I get. And
Speaker 1: I was calm this morning. I was calm, and now
Speaker 1: I'm not last week, and it's taking a lot throughout
Speaker 1: the whole season. Beginning of the season, I've been like
Speaker 1: when one leg out of hanging out of the train
Speaker 1: and the other one in just waiting, and am I
Speaker 1: jumping out? Am I sticking with them? Last week, after
Speaker 1: five wins, I've decided to put my leg back in
Speaker 1: and said, you know what I'm writing, I'm writing alone
Speaker 1: the whole way. When you start getting comfortable, you get
Speaker 1: slapped in the face. And that's what happened last night.
Speaker 1: And the more I look at this offense and the
Speaker 1: things that they've done, there's no way they're gonna be
Speaker 1: able to fix this problem by the end of the season.
Speaker 1: Even if they make it to the playoffs, I don't
Speaker 1: think they're gonna get I mean, everything's possible, but as
Speaker 1: of right now and then consistency of the whole thing,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be very, very hard to even make it
Speaker 1: past one playoff game. And when you look at it,
Speaker 1: you talk about calling him the play calling, and you
Speaker 1: talk about him not being necessarily a good fit with Dak,
Speaker 1: and it's true. There's so many different different aspects of
Speaker 1: this whole thing that plays together, the play calling, him
Speaker 1: not being able to position his players at the best
Speaker 1: position as possible, not calling the right things that kind
Speaker 1: of fits into Dak's abilities. That that's a problem. There
Speaker 1: another thing freak Dak. You talk about the wide receivers
Speaker 1: not being able to catch some of those passes, and
Speaker 1: it's true, But how much more do you need to
Speaker 1: change in order to make it DA friendly or like
Speaker 1: cater to Dak. You know, you got a Zekiel Elia
Speaker 1: basically carrying the whole team and it and it really
Speaker 1: upsets me when you look at the possible things and
Speaker 1: that you have as far as the defense, he as
Speaker 1: they play horrible last night, but in general what you
Speaker 1: got going on the whole defense Zeke and Mary Cooper
Speaker 1: and just seeing time again being wasted, because it hurts
Speaker 1: me when I see like freaking Tony Romeo, Jason Witten
Speaker 1: gone des Brian and you play and you lose players
Speaker 1: like that without really make laden, you know, making something
Speaker 1: out of it. You know what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 1: I guess, but you have nothing to show for it
Speaker 1: is what you're saying. I'm saying it's like just wasting
Speaker 1: the the player or the time, the time, the career. Yes, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so you you have you have something here. And it's
Speaker 1: a combination of the whole play call and dad not
Speaker 1: and I love I really like Dak and I really
Speaker 1: want him to succeed because I think he has all
Speaker 1: many great qualities about him and we've seen some throws
Speaker 1: that he can make, so you know, it's there, it
Speaker 1: just needs to be developed. And Kellen Moore is not
Speaker 1: really helping out Scotland, and Han is not helping out
Speaker 1: with the whole the whole play calling because as a
Speaker 1: great coach. I really believe you have the ability to
Speaker 1: look at what you got and I'm like, okay, how
Speaker 1: can I make it work for you? That doesn't mean
Speaker 1: changing every single guy in the offense. You're not gonna
Speaker 1: bring a bunch of elite players in the whole offense.
Speaker 1: You can't. There's no way you can do that. You
Speaker 1: got see, he's freaking elite. He can do so many things. Now,
Speaker 1: you got Amory Cooper who has shown what he can do.
Speaker 1: You got talent in Michael Gallup who is still struggling
Speaker 1: a little bit, but you see a lot of potential there.
Speaker 1: And then you got the guys in the old line
Speaker 1: who you have a bunch of old pro guys in there.
Speaker 1: But you did, yeah, yeah, you did. You did in
Speaker 1: a way. But I still think you're capable of doing
Speaker 1: certain things. Even with the hit that you've received in
Speaker 1: the old line. You can still move the ball. And
Speaker 1: we've seen it in the past weeks, those five winning games,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't pretty yet. But what do they need
Speaker 1: to do? I mean, I hear that you're you're rant,
Speaker 1: you know, like venting here and you can't do anything
Speaker 1: on this point. So okay, But here's the thing about here.
Speaker 1: There's two things you can do. Because you said this
Speaker 1: hurts me, it gets me so upset, you can, right,
Speaker 1: because that's one thing you can do. You shouldn't let
Speaker 1: the Cowboys hurt you or get you upset because that's
Speaker 1: what they do. That's what this team does. And I
Speaker 1: know I understand what you're saying is what fans are
Speaker 1: feeling right now. They're upset, they're hurt, and that's that's
Speaker 1: what happens. And that's what's so frustrating about this team
Speaker 1: is this minute you think they're one thing, they're really not.
Speaker 1: But let's also be clear, like all that stuff you
Speaker 1: just talked about offensively, that ain't different that game that
Speaker 1: they want against the playoff team that they actually beat,
Speaker 1: which is the New Orleans Saints, the offense was pretty
Speaker 1: bad in that game too. Yeah, they scored more points,
Speaker 1: but they were bad and again played a great game
Speaker 1: that game. If this team is going to do anything
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, it's gonna be because they have an
Speaker 1: amazing defensive run. That's what we know. Okay, it's right,
Speaker 1: but you cannot rely on your defense every single time,
Speaker 1: and it happened last weeks, not true, not true. That's
Speaker 1: my point. In the playoffs. In the playoffs, there are
Speaker 1: teams we have seen that model work and take a
Speaker 1: team to the super Bowl. We've seen an amazing defensive
Speaker 1: run where an offense kind of made plays where they
Speaker 1: needed to here and there, but it was all about
Speaker 1: the defense. We've seen that with the offense scoring what
Speaker 1: scoring something at least maybe who knows, I know one thing.
Speaker 1: The year of Baltimore Ravens won. That offense did nothing.
Speaker 1: They did absolutely not. The defense was scoring. Same thing
Speaker 1: with that Tampa Bay team. The defense was scoring, it
Speaker 1: wasn't the offense. So my point is we've seen that
Speaker 1: model work. That's not That's not the point. I think
Speaker 1: what we saw yesterday and the reason why it's troublesome
Speaker 1: for everybody is because the defense which we are relying on,
Speaker 1: that has been consistent all season, all of a sudden
Speaker 1: fell off and fell off in a mighty way. They
Speaker 1: were getting as from the beginning of the game all
Speaker 1: the way to the end. That's the part that's troublesome.
Speaker 1: If they can get that fixed, and if that was
Speaker 1: just a one game anomaly, great, they still have an
Speaker 1: opportunity with everything in front of them if they can
Speaker 1: have a great defensive run to be able to put
Speaker 1: themselves in position. But that's a mighty tall order to
Speaker 1: ask because the offense ain't gonna give them a whole
Speaker 1: lot of support. And that's what we've seen all season,
Speaker 1: and that I mean again, I'll bring it all full circle.
Speaker 1: Like I feel like a Homer for saying this, Like
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't feel that much different about this
Speaker 1: team than I did yesterday before kickoff. I picked them
Speaker 1: to win. I was wrong, but I certainly did not
Speaker 1: feel good about that game, and anybody that did is
Speaker 1: delusional in my opinion. I mean, with what they had
Speaker 1: at stake and what they brought to the table, it
Speaker 1: was never going to be an easy game. It is
Speaker 1: disconcerting the way the defense just gave up chunks, but
Speaker 1: at the same time, they were within their median for
Speaker 1: scoring twenty three points. Twenty three points should win you
Speaker 1: play your games in the NFL. But you're right, I mean,
Speaker 1: this offense as it is is not impressive, and if
Speaker 1: the defense isn't carrying, they're into the load, right, They're
Speaker 1: not going far in the playoffs at all. That's exactly right. Um,
Speaker 1: But I'm probably, but we knew that probably. But there's
Speaker 1: a ton of problems with this team, Like the kicker
Speaker 1: is unreliable, the red zone offense sucks, the defense doesn't
Speaker 1: get enough takeaways. They're not changed. I guess, I guess
Speaker 1: the way that I feel now. You just gotta make
Speaker 1: the best you may do the best you can two
Speaker 1: more games, get into the playoffs, and hope that you
Speaker 1: can catch that strong run of form like you did
Speaker 1: these last six weeks. You get on your knees and
Speaker 1: you pray at night, God let the right Like that's
Speaker 1: really what you got. You catch transform a season at
Speaker 1: the midpoint, we saw it. I mean you, but but
Speaker 1: it's Christmas. Like, you're not drastically just gonna You're not
Speaker 1: gonna be this drastically different team from now until when
Speaker 1: your season's over. You're just not. I just don't like.
Speaker 1: And again, the way I see it is just you
Speaker 1: hope that when one, let's say, your right hand side
Speaker 1: is struggling, you're left man is gonna be able to
Speaker 1: help you out. Meanwhile, your right hand gets better. But
Speaker 1: seeing that this year yet, I don't know that there's
Speaker 1: been a game where I feel like the offense carried
Speaker 1: more of a load than the defense, like the defensive struggles.
Speaker 1: That's what Okay, exactly the defense has been carrying this
Speaker 1: whole team. But that's what I'm saying. Example last night,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that's gonna repeat itself because obviously that's
Speaker 1: very rare to happen where you get zero points. But
Speaker 1: in cases like that, that's when you hope you can
Speaker 1: at least rely a little bit like freaking score something
Speaker 1: at least as far as your offense, even if you
Speaker 1: get nice Well, yeah, so far it didn't happen yesterday. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, we appreciate you, guys, Jonas. We're back tomorrow.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get a big picture look around the NFL.
Speaker 1: What's happening around the NFL, where the Cowboys sitting in
Speaker 1: the NFC East, and where the playoffs, how the playoffs
Speaker 1: are shaking out. We'll talk about all that tomorrow for
Speaker 1: Nick Eatman, Dave him and Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Eagleton.
Speaker 1: This has been The Break Live on Dallas Cowboys dot
Speaker 1: Com Radio Award. This has been a production of Dallas
Speaker 1: Boys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.