Speaker 1: The following. Here's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Cowboys, Are you ready
Speaker 1: 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, January third, twenty twenty two, Season seventeen,
Speaker 1: Episode number eighty nine. Welcome to the latest edition of
Speaker 1: The Break Life from the s WBC Mortgage Studios at
Speaker 1: the Star. I got Dave Amber and Nick all here
Speaker 1: with me. We're gonna give you about forty five minutes
Speaker 1: of the best Cowboys content that you'll find anywhere around.
Speaker 1: We gotta talk about that game yesterday. There were so
Speaker 1: many moments, so many things that we got to talk about,
Speaker 1: so many opinions that I'm sure we have after watching
Speaker 1: what we watched yesterday. Cowboys lose twenty two to the
Speaker 1: Arizona Arizona Cardinals. Kyler Murray remains unbeaten at AT and
Speaker 1: T Stadium, through high school, college and the professional ranks.
Speaker 1: So let's jump right in and let's start first I'm
Speaker 1: going to go around the table. I want everybody to
Speaker 1: tell me what was your big pictures takeaway from that game.
Speaker 1: Let's start with you, Dave. Well, this one's really easy
Speaker 1: because all last week I in my mind I build
Speaker 1: this as a dress rehearsal for the playoffs. It's it's
Speaker 1: exactly what you're expecting to see in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: It's you're gonna get a home game against a good
Speaker 1: team and to see if you're going to carry any
Speaker 1: of this progress from the last five weeks over, and
Speaker 1: at least mainly for me offensively, they didn't. You knew
Speaker 1: it wasn't going to look as good as as what
Speaker 1: we certainly what we saw against Washington, but even some
Speaker 1: of these other wins against these overmatched teams. Like I said,
Speaker 1: it's just a perfect encapsulation. Kyler Murray is a much
Speaker 1: better quarterback than you're, Mike Glennon, your Taylor Heineke. It's
Speaker 1: going to be harder to get him on the ground.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be harder to force him into mistakes. So
Speaker 1: the defense isn't playing on this god mode level. I
Speaker 1: did think they played well enough to win this game.
Speaker 1: Weird as that might sound, but just nothing that we've
Speaker 1: hoped to see from this offense, and what we saw
Speaker 1: last week carried over. It looked like the exact same thing.
Speaker 1: And I don't blame anybody that's kind of discouraged today,
Speaker 1: because again, it might not be the Cardinals. It very
Speaker 1: likely will be. It might not be the Cardinals, but
Speaker 1: you are going to play a team like that in
Speaker 1: two weeks. Probably they are very likely going to be
Speaker 1: the four seeds. So you're talking about facing the best
Speaker 1: wild card possible and they got some work to do
Speaker 1: and not a lot of time to do it. Amber, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm really bummed out. I mean, you guys know how
Speaker 1: much I come on here and complain, specially on Mondays
Speaker 1: after a loss. And right now, just like that, Dave said,
Speaker 1: you saw this game kind of like a playoff game,
Speaker 1: and it's just like coming to the realization of how
Speaker 1: little time there's left to get into the playoffs. And
Speaker 1: then let's say fast forward two weeks into that game
Speaker 1: and you got a similar result as last night. It's like, damn,
Speaker 1: that's it. Like there's the season there, and the next
Speaker 1: thing we know, we're talking about free agency, we're talking
Speaker 1: about the draft, waiting a few months to get into
Speaker 1: training camp and then start all over again. And it's
Speaker 1: just like I just I really don't want it to
Speaker 1: end that quickly. And although I really believe, I still
Speaker 1: believe the Cowboys are very much capable to getting a
Speaker 1: lot further than one playoff game. They don't have much
Speaker 1: time left, like Dave said, they better figure out. And
Speaker 1: it just sucks because, especially after the win against Washington,
Speaker 1: you thought, Okay, this is great, great timing for them,
Speaker 1: and then you face a team like the Cardinals and
Speaker 1: then you play the way that you did and wait
Speaker 1: so long into the game on the offensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball to get moving. That's just it can't happen,
Speaker 1: and you can't win games like that, especially when the
Speaker 1: defense it's unable to keep up playing at the high
Speaker 1: level level that they have been playing for you and
Speaker 1: getting you the ball with turnovers. When that happens, then
Speaker 1: what do you do. That's the time that the offense
Speaker 1: needs to pick it up for the defense. Nick they're
Speaker 1: one dimensional, they can't run, and their quarterback isn't good
Speaker 1: enough to be to carry the team by himself. That's
Speaker 1: what it is. He's not He can't he can't come
Speaker 1: in this league to do that. He wasn't that quarterback.
Speaker 1: He's had some games where he's developed as a passer,
Speaker 1: and he certainly has developed as a passer, but this
Speaker 1: is a one dimensional team and they can't figure it
Speaker 1: out how to run the ball, and I think that's
Speaker 1: gonna even hurt him in the playoffs. Let's let's dive
Speaker 1: in a little bit more on that, because I think,
Speaker 1: really if you look at this team over the last
Speaker 1: even I mean outside of the Washington game, where obviously
Speaker 1: they had this huge explosion of points, even against some
Speaker 1: bad teams, this offense has struggled mightily. Here you go
Speaker 1: back to the middle of the season on this has
Speaker 1: been a struggle seemingly most weeks, and the offense, led
Speaker 1: by Dak Prescott just hasn't seemed to find its footing.
Speaker 1: They can't seem to find a rhythm. Dak yesterday was
Speaker 1: twenty four thirty eight sixty three percent completions, three touchdown,
Speaker 1: zero interceptions. This was the part I actually liked about
Speaker 1: his game yesterday. He had five carries for twenty yards,
Speaker 1: and those runs seemed like they were like he was decisive,
Speaker 1: he knew when the play and he didn't have anything
Speaker 1: and he needed to run and then he tried to
Speaker 1: get what he could get out of it. I liked
Speaker 1: that part of his game. But he did also have
Speaker 1: the critical fumble there that led to a field goal.
Speaker 1: That may have been the difference. There were lots of
Speaker 1: moments that you could mean that you could have talked
Speaker 1: with a difference. But talking about Dak's play specifically, how
Speaker 1: did Dak play in this game yesterday? Nick, Well, he didn't,
Speaker 1: you know, twenty yards rushing. He should not lead the
Speaker 1: team and rushing, I mean that's the problem. I mean
Speaker 1: he had to you know, that's good for him to
Speaker 1: do that, and of course not the fumble, But I
Speaker 1: thought he missed the lot of throws early in the game.
Speaker 1: I mean, he comes back like he normally you know does,
Speaker 1: and his stats look pretty good, but I thought they
Speaker 1: just left too many things out on the on the
Speaker 1: field early in the game. Um and only say this too,
Speaker 1: Like I said, he's not good enough to kind of
Speaker 1: lead it by himself. Who is I mean, there's one, right,
Speaker 1: I just gotta say something, somebody else, one guy in
Speaker 1: the NFL that can do it by himself. That's like
Speaker 1: when people used to just one. You know, they compare
Speaker 1: Garrett or any coach to Belichick. I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that one's different. But I mean, like the everyone needs
Speaker 1: a little bit of help, and he's always had that
Speaker 1: help it right now it's not happening, and it's putting
Speaker 1: it all on his shoulders. I just want you're saying Rogers, right, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: Well because you could be you could mean Mahomes. Here's
Speaker 1: the thing about Mahomes, Like you could say, maybe Mahomes
Speaker 1: can do it. He hasn't had to know. He's got
Speaker 1: the best tight end in football, one of the best
Speaker 1: sceivers in football. Yes, he's got just making sure he's
Speaker 1: got help, just making sure. No, I'm with Nick. I mean,
Speaker 1: he wasn't awful, but he wasn't good enough, and particularly
Speaker 1: early on in the game. The I think the play
Speaker 1: that burned into my brain is the third and nine
Speaker 1: on the missfield goal drive. I mean, he had him right,
Speaker 1: that's a throw that he should make more often than not.
Speaker 1: He had pressure. But so what you're Dak Prescott and
Speaker 1: that just that was a theme for the early part
Speaker 1: of the game. You could tell And another thing that
Speaker 1: this reminded me of and we know this, but we
Speaker 1: managed to forget it all the time. Anyway, A lot
Speaker 1: of really good coaches and players in this league like
Speaker 1: for Arizona to be as shorthanded as they are. Vance
Speaker 1: Joseph has been a head coach. He's a great defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: He's down on the boundary, like just doesn't have his
Speaker 1: preferred cornerbacks, not all of them, anyway, And it didn't
Speaker 1: seem to bother him whatsoever. And all I need to
Speaker 1: know to know that the Cardinals got to Dak is
Speaker 1: how many times they got their hands on his passes
Speaker 1: in this game. Like they were in his they were
Speaker 1: in his throwing lanes, they were reading his screens. He
Speaker 1: adjusted to it, but they and Buddha Baker said this
Speaker 1: after the games, like, you can't give him a static look.
Speaker 1: You gotta be changing, you gotta be coming at him
Speaker 1: from different angles. And he struggled to adjust to it
Speaker 1: early on. And I think that's a big part of
Speaker 1: the reason what they didn't score until the final two
Speaker 1: minutes of the first half, scored seven points in the
Speaker 1: first half. I mean, that's that's not good enough. When
Speaker 1: you're talking about the firepower that this offense has. The
Speaker 1: interesting part about that is they talked about this last week.
Speaker 1: They've talked about it other weeks. The Cowboys half that
Speaker 1: teams have basically figured out that they got a disguise
Speaker 1: looks and give them different looks and change those looks
Speaker 1: as they go. They knew this was coming, they still
Speaker 1: weren't ready for it, and that's the part where and
Speaker 1: they thought that their up tempo would help with that. Yesterday.
Speaker 1: They started off in the in the first series trying
Speaker 1: to do up tempo. But when you're not when you're
Speaker 1: not able to execute that, you can't keep going up tempo.
Speaker 1: And so they were their own enemy. They didn't have
Speaker 1: an answer for something they knew was coming. I think
Speaker 1: next right, and I'm i'm I'm. I'm such a big
Speaker 1: supporter of Dak and he has grown as a passer
Speaker 1: and in spurts he can carry this team when you're
Speaker 1: trying to rally and in these situations. He played a
Speaker 1: great fourth quarter minus the fumble, played any better fourth
Speaker 1: quarter against Vegas and still wasn't enough. And maybe it's oversimplified,
Speaker 1: but like without that run game giving you something that
Speaker 1: can shake defenses out of these if you're gonna drop
Speaker 1: seven or eight and clog and cover, which I mean
Speaker 1: I always I always get annoyed when people say, like, oh,
Speaker 1: the blueprints out, but the Cowboys haven't done a whole
Speaker 1: lot to shake people out of that idea. And I
Speaker 1: think a big part of it is that nobody's afraid
Speaker 1: of their ability to run the ball on them. I
Speaker 1: think that I think, I don't think it can be understated.
Speaker 1: I was going to mention the coaching, I mean put
Speaker 1: in the players aside on the Arizona side of the ball.
Speaker 1: I think many times that I was watching the game,
Speaker 1: usually when something when a play goes the opposite way
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys, I'm like, God, damn, I'll get upset.
Speaker 1: And then last night I'm like, oh, yesterday, I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: all right, that was pretty well. I'll give it to them.
Speaker 1: But then they got out coached by Arizona. The Cowboys.
Speaker 1: I don't think there were other than the play where
Speaker 1: Wilson threw the ball. Other than that play, I don't
Speaker 1: think there was anything else. I was like creative enough
Speaker 1: for me or anything that Kellen Moore did in order
Speaker 1: to help the offense to get moving. And that's what
Speaker 1: I'm honestly lacking. That's what I think has been lacking
Speaker 1: for a few weeks. Is Kellen Moore in his game
Speaker 1: and you talk about them. Okay, yes, you can do
Speaker 1: that at the beginning of the season because you're showing
Speaker 1: something new, but then teams do figure you out. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, how come other teams can still
Speaker 1: do it? I mean, you can watch tape from Arizona
Speaker 1: season long and you're not doing You're not able to
Speaker 1: do the same, So how come you're not doing it
Speaker 1: as well? You know? So, I don't think that's really
Speaker 1: an excuse. You are far past that you can be
Speaker 1: able to switch around plays and come up with something
Speaker 1: different to show the opposing team. But I don't know
Speaker 1: what's going on. I'm kind of very disappointed at what
Speaker 1: Kellen Moore has been doing the past few weeks. Let
Speaker 1: me ask you this, Do you think that because I
Speaker 1: didn't really see a ton of creativity from what the
Speaker 1: Cardinals did yesterday. I think sometimes we say if it's
Speaker 1: not working, you're not being creative enough. If it is working,
Speaker 1: you must be being creative, when really I think yesterday
Speaker 1: the Cardinals just executed better like they beat the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: Like there were plays where the Cowboys just didn't execute well,
Speaker 1: specifically on defense, when you had some of those big
Speaker 1: plays forty two yard or the forty three yarder, like
Speaker 1: they just got beat. I mean, they honestly just got beat.
Speaker 1: I don't think there was anything really creative about that.
Speaker 1: And so, you know, I still think you're right that
Speaker 1: ultimately Kevin Moore has to figure out how to get
Speaker 1: his offense going. But I don't know if it's an
Speaker 1: issue of creativity or is it an issue of execution.
Speaker 1: Are they just not executing well? You know, I would argue,
Speaker 1: and I'd have to go back and look. But like
Speaker 1: if you think about the big chunk plays that the
Speaker 1: Cardinals hit on offense, like three of them came on
Speaker 1: the first possession of the game, Like Greg Doorche has
Speaker 1: the end a round for twenty four right off the bat,
Speaker 1: Edmonds had another great run and they catch Trayvon Dicks
Speaker 1: on the stor go. I just listed off like a
Speaker 1: quarter of their four hundred yards on the first drive
Speaker 1: of the game. I thought, like I said, I thought,
Speaker 1: all things considered, the defense played a pretty good game.
Speaker 1: Like I wasn't wowed by anything the Cardinals did on offense.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe maybe that's not fair. I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: I'm too close to it. But most of what they
Speaker 1: did on offense after that first drive, to me, felt
Speaker 1: like Kyler being Kyler, like he's he's gonna get away
Speaker 1: from you, he's going to extend plays. But I mean,
Speaker 1: I'll take twenty five points from that offense at home
Speaker 1: and think like, well, yeah, like, if if that's all
Speaker 1: they did, then you should win that game. The offense
Speaker 1: should be better than that. This is really no different
Speaker 1: than what we've seen. It's just that they didn't get
Speaker 1: any turnovers, at least not ones that were called. I mean,
Speaker 1: we'll get to that, but but you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: like that's their offense hasn't been great against New Orleans
Speaker 1: and Washington both times. The second Washington game that the
Speaker 1: offense was rolling, but the Giants game, but they offset
Speaker 1: that with turnovers short fields and they didn't really give
Speaker 1: give them that. So I think that was kind of
Speaker 1: the difference. And I think it's safe to say that,
Speaker 1: I mean, you have to the good quarterbacks. There's enough
Speaker 1: sample size now they have not played as well against
Speaker 1: the good quarterbacks, and those are the ones that are
Speaker 1: going to be in the playoffs. Yeah. I mean, but
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, how many would your list of
Speaker 1: like good quarterbacks that they've well, I mean this year
Speaker 1: they faced four Pro Bowlers. I mean that's four out
Speaker 1: of six. I mean, they haven't faced Rogers, and they
Speaker 1: haven't faced uh maybe it was Lamar Jackson, I think,
Speaker 1: but they faced Herbert mahomes Um and homeless Andy Brady
Speaker 1: and Andy Kyler, you know, And I just think that's
Speaker 1: a difference than Glennon and Hind the Key and Taysom
Speaker 1: Hill and all that. I mean, they beat uh, you know,
Speaker 1: the Chargers, but it was it took a walk off,
Speaker 1: you know, So I don't know. I mean, but but
Speaker 1: those guys aren't running. I mean, but Kyler presents differ
Speaker 1: much different types of problems any of those other quarterbacks
Speaker 1: you just mentioned. I was just a different type of offense. Brady.
Speaker 1: I mean, Brady played outstanding against them. I mean they
Speaker 1: got what three three picks off of him. But even still,
Speaker 1: but like again, this performance I think is good enough
Speaker 1: to win. Like, what are the odds that you're just
Speaker 1: going to flummix Kyler Murray into this terrible game. It
Speaker 1: can happen, but he's a really good player. Nineteen points
Speaker 1: from Pat Mahomes. You take that every time, right, I
Speaker 1: think so? Yeah, so, especially at their place, right yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so yes. I mean the defense dropped off from what
Speaker 1: we've seen, but of course it was going to They
Speaker 1: were playing garbage teams. Mike Glennon, Taylor, Hanne, Heinekey, Taysom Hill,
Speaker 1: come on. But you know, no, it wasn't as pretty
Speaker 1: as it has been. But like these are, that's a
Speaker 1: winning performance in my opinion, from this defense. Here's the
Speaker 1: issue for the Cowboys right now. In my opinion to
Speaker 1: that point is I think they have a really good defense.
Speaker 1: If you have an offense that's performing like this offense
Speaker 1: right now, you need a great defense to be successful
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. They don't have great defense. They got
Speaker 1: a pretty good defense. They got a really good defense.
Speaker 1: It's not great like you gotta have an all world
Speaker 1: kind of defense if your offense is this, if they
Speaker 1: sputter as much as this, if they're playing well while
Speaker 1: they're playing good teams, and I think that's going to
Speaker 1: be their problem as a team. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: a fault of the defense. I just think that the
Speaker 1: offense isn't good enough to pull its weight right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree. I mean, which the narrative coming the narrative
Speaker 1: over the last month is that they were the best
Speaker 1: defense in the league. So that's an awfully quick about
Speaker 1: face to go from like, well they're not great, by
Speaker 1: the way, by the way, they can be the best
Speaker 1: defense in the league. I don't know that there's any
Speaker 1: defense this year. As you look like at across the
Speaker 1: league and you're like, they're a shutdown defense. There is
Speaker 1: no shutdown defense in the league this year. There have
Speaker 1: been some in historically in the NFL, they just don't
Speaker 1: have any in the NFL right now. Going back to
Speaker 1: they're much better than we thought they would be, but
Speaker 1: to unlock their terrifying potential, they need their offense to
Speaker 1: be doing more to dictate the game. And that's one
Speaker 1: of my biggest impressions from this Particularly in the first half,
Speaker 1: I felt like we didn't even see the offense. I
Speaker 1: know that's not true, but the Cardinals were just on
Speaker 1: the field consistently just dictating this game. And I'm sure
Speaker 1: that was part of their game plan, is like shrink
Speaker 1: the game, don't give Dak and them a chance to
Speaker 1: go off eight minute drive. At one point, and end
Speaker 1: up with a touchdown on that drive. And if the
Speaker 1: Cowboys offense isn't doing more to dictate the game, then
Speaker 1: I think it's going to hamstring the defense. Which again,
Speaker 1: oh sorry, but they're probably going to see these guys again,
Speaker 1: or if they don't, it will be a team of
Speaker 1: similar calibers. So, like I said, I don't blame you
Speaker 1: if you're a little bit deflated today. All right, we're
Speaker 1: gonna take our first break. When we come back, we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk more about this running game. Cowboys had all
Speaker 1: their pieces yesterday on the offensive line, so that was
Speaker 1: not an excuse that they didn't have the right guys.
Speaker 1: Question is are those guys enough? We'll talk about that
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Speaker 1: It is the second segment of The Break Life from
Speaker 1: the s WBC Mortgage Studios. At the start, we're talking
Speaker 1: about the Cowboys loss to the Arizona Cardinals twenty five
Speaker 1: twenty two. Cowboys now sit in the fourth seed in
Speaker 1: the playoffs at this point, probably pretty likely that's where
Speaker 1: they're going to be heading into the playoffs. There are
Speaker 1: some scenarios that they could possibly move back up, but
Speaker 1: we'll see how that all plays out. Let's dive into
Speaker 1: this game though a little bit more. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: the running game. We've already mentioned how bad it was yesterday.
Speaker 1: Zeke was nine carries for sixteen yards, Tony Pollard three
Speaker 1: carries for nine yards. Dak actually led the team four
Speaker 1: carry I mean five carries for twenty yards. Now, they
Speaker 1: did have their entire offensive lineback Tyren Smith played yesterday.
Speaker 1: At one point, every player on the offensive line is
Speaker 1: except for Zach Martin had a penalty, and overall, obviously
Speaker 1: the running game was not working. What was the problem
Speaker 1: and was the pro centered around the offensive line? I
Speaker 1: think that's that's the disheartening thing, is I mean, what
Speaker 1: is the answer there? Zeke is probably not going to
Speaker 1: be one hundred percent the rest of this season, but
Speaker 1: he's been trending in the right direction. We've seen that
Speaker 1: this is a good Arizona defense, but not like the
Speaker 1: most dominant unit in the league, and the offensive line
Speaker 1: was all back so and we also know you can
Speaker 1: tell by the looks like I mean, Arizona is not
Speaker 1: just like clogging the box and just making life miserable
Speaker 1: on the running game. They kept too safeties high quiet
Speaker 1: a bit yesterday, as has everybody else that's played the
Speaker 1: Cowboys since the bye week. I don't have a good
Speaker 1: answer for it. And again it's part of what gives
Speaker 1: you this disconcerting feeling of like, man, if you can't
Speaker 1: get this thing going now, are you gonna be able
Speaker 1: to get it going against anybody? When it matters to
Speaker 1: be blunt? I don't have a great answer. I don't either.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, And honestly, when I asked this question, that's
Speaker 1: that's one of the problems here. I asked this question
Speaker 1: knowing that none of us obviously know the answer to this,
Speaker 1: because if anybody knew the answer to they'd fix it.
Speaker 1: But there and by the way, they may know that
Speaker 1: there's an answer, they just may not be able to
Speaker 1: give that answer. Right. They may look at and say, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're not getting the production we need from our offensive line,
Speaker 1: but we ain't we can't change out this offensive line.
Speaker 1: So we are we are where we are right can
Speaker 1: can you can? I mean, what can you do right? Can?
Speaker 1: Is there anything you do right now that could change this?
Speaker 1: If the offensive line is the problem with the running game,
Speaker 1: I mean, if they if they are, you know, viewing
Speaker 1: that Terrence Steel is better than one of the other
Speaker 1: two tackles, then I mean that's one thing. I don't
Speaker 1: know that he's been good and the other guys have
Speaker 1: been okay, But I think a lot of that's going
Speaker 1: off of the expectations that we're in. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: looking at some of these penalties and it felt like
Speaker 1: there are a lot of penalties that wiped out some
Speaker 1: good runs or down getting penalized quite a bit, but
Speaker 1: I can't find a whole lot of them. There seven
Speaker 1: penalties on third down yesterday between the offense and the defense,
Speaker 1: and those are killing And there were there were three
Speaker 1: at least on the offense, and one of them wiped
Speaker 1: out a fifteen yard run. And that's I figured we
Speaker 1: would get into that at some point. I mean, to
Speaker 1: a man, I just I assume some envelopes are headed
Speaker 1: their way to the Star this week, just based I
Speaker 1: mean to a man that's as unshy as I've ever
Speaker 1: seen a team about being unhappy with the officiating. Explains ahead, fine,
Speaker 1: I would you get fined for criticizing the officiating publicly
Speaker 1: typically in this league, and maybe maybe about that you
Speaker 1: didn't know, Oh yeah, I didn't know. Yeah. And by
Speaker 1: the way, it goes all the way up to ownership.
Speaker 1: It goes all way up to ownership. If Jerry were
Speaker 1: to get on the radio and criticize officials, the commissioner
Speaker 1: could find Jerry for for that. He said, well, I know,
Speaker 1: but he walked you notice he walked it back quickly
Speaker 1: like that is something think that's been around for a
Speaker 1: while where the commissioner can levy finds against anybody who
Speaker 1: is on the football side of the building that has
Speaker 1: something to say publicly about officiating. Maybe you literally can
Speaker 1: do anything about it, so you just have to suck
Speaker 1: it up, play it, hopeing goes your way. Evengue not
Speaker 1: to be not to be like rude, but why do
Speaker 1: you think these guys are always so pissed off about it?
Speaker 1: Is like it sucks all the time and they can't
Speaker 1: say anything about it or they get hit. Let's make
Speaker 1: one correction there is something that can be done about it.
Speaker 1: It can't be done over there, That's what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: has to be done upstairs. That means when Stephen Jones
Speaker 1: is talking in owners meetings, in the Competition Committee, and
Speaker 1: when Jerry Jones is talking at league meetings like they
Speaker 1: have to be the ones to say to the league, hey,
Speaker 1: we need to find a better solution. Which I think
Speaker 1: the solution is right there for you. College football already
Speaker 1: does it and does it quite which, Okay, let's let's
Speaker 1: separate these two things. We can talk about the fumble,
Speaker 1: and that is that's an injustice that sucks. That's the
Speaker 1: only one I care about, to be honest. Well, but
Speaker 1: I mean, but again, the a lot of these guys
Speaker 1: were whining about the flags basically, and I yeah, the
Speaker 1: ref sucked and they took some of the fun out
Speaker 1: of the game, But it was happening on both sides.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was like a fourteen to ten split
Speaker 1: or something like that. In terms of flags. The Cowboys
Speaker 1: had a touchdown drive that was very much helped by
Speaker 1: the officials throwing flags. It was it was ten to seven.
Speaker 1: It was a ten to seven split. They did also
Speaker 1: know this though, going on and then they know that
Speaker 1: that aggravated me in the post game is like Mike
Speaker 1: McCarthy was probably the most diplomatic person of all saying, like,
Speaker 1: we knew this was a flag happy crew. We knew
Speaker 1: we needed to work our way around it, and they
Speaker 1: weren't able to do it. And so yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it was frustrating how many big plays got called back
Speaker 1: by flags. But adjust to the situation that you know
Speaker 1: you're going to be in, and it just doesn't seem
Speaker 1: like they did. That's very hard to adjust, though. I
Speaker 1: don't think the middle of the game. I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I think it's one of those things. If, by the way,
Speaker 1: if Mike McCarthy, if he was telling us the truth
Speaker 1: yesterday when he said we knew this coming in, we
Speaker 1: practiced with that in mind, then you should know going
Speaker 1: into the game, I have to be really really smart
Speaker 1: technically on how I do things. If I'm blocking, I
Speaker 1: know I cannot let my hands get outside because the
Speaker 1: moment I let my hands get outside, that ref's gonna
Speaker 1: throw a flag for holding. Like I know, I have
Speaker 1: to be more technically sound in that kind of game.
Speaker 1: So yes, I think there are things you can do
Speaker 1: when you know you're facing, as they were called yesterday,
Speaker 1: you're facing that second team, the officials who are going
Speaker 1: to be throwing all these flags. There are things you
Speaker 1: can do to minimize that. Now you can't take it
Speaker 1: all away, but you can minimize that if you're a
Speaker 1: little smarter and more technically sound. I'm gonna give them
Speaker 1: the benefit. I know, like you're and that's it's almost
Speaker 1: I mean, they make a lot of money, but like
Speaker 1: it's almost unfair that we put all these microphones in
Speaker 1: their faces within fifteen minutes of these devastated Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: And I think that they were just venting frustrations. But
Speaker 1: I was just like, come on, guys, this the flags
Speaker 1: are not why you lost the fumble. I get it.
Speaker 1: I very much get the fumble, the flags especially, And
Speaker 1: I think a couple guys were like, we've been dealing
Speaker 1: with this all year, and I'm like, I am a
Speaker 1: stubborn person. It is a character flaw of mine. Like
Speaker 1: I would rather go down with the ship doing it
Speaker 1: my way than adjust and I know that that's not
Speaker 1: the way to be. And so for them to be
Speaker 1: like this has been happening all year, it's like, well,
Speaker 1: it's week seventeen, maybe you should adjust to that by now.
Speaker 1: It's just it's kind of frustrating. Since we're on topic
Speaker 1: real quick, I do have this question. I know that
Speaker 1: a lot of people tend to say, oh, well, it's
Speaker 1: because it's the Cowboys and stuff, and even Dak Preston
Speaker 1: he mentioned, Okay, I know what it means. We're in
Speaker 1: the start, so and I don't watch enough of other
Speaker 1: teams games to get a full grasp of the thirty
Speaker 1: two teams. You know of how it happens in games,
Speaker 1: But I mean, is this really like it really there's
Speaker 1: a higher percentage against the Cowboys when it comes to that,
Speaker 1: or are there other teams that it's just kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, depending on the officiating. That's just kind of
Speaker 1: how they officiate in general. I don't know the percentage.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna guess the Saints have something to say about that,
Speaker 1: because for what was it, two or three years in
Speaker 1: a row, they got booted out of the playoffs because
Speaker 1: of just horrible calls or missed calls. So I think
Speaker 1: a lot of teams and a lot of fan bases
Speaker 1: are like, man, we got screwed by the refs. I
Speaker 1: get it, and by the way, a lot of times
Speaker 1: they're probably accurate, but that's the nature of the sport,
Speaker 1: Like that's a part of the sport, as much as
Speaker 1: we all hate it. Until they get to a point
Speaker 1: where they just say, we're gonna let you know, we're
Speaker 1: gonna let it all be officiated upstairs and the person
Speaker 1: that's gonna be officiating is seeing the exact same thing
Speaker 1: that we're all seeing on camera, then we're gonna have
Speaker 1: this because those are flawed humans who are making those calls.
Speaker 1: But I don't think it's any more for Cowboys anybody else.
Speaker 1: You got to see any difference there, No, I mean,
Speaker 1: I just think the NFL's officials are below par, and
Speaker 1: especially have been this year. I mean, and I think
Speaker 1: you look anywhere in the league landscaped. It's been a
Speaker 1: talking point all year. They're just they're not good. But no,
Speaker 1: I think if you broke it down down, it would
Speaker 1: average out. I mean, the Cowboys do bring a level
Speaker 1: of scrutiny that a lot of other teams don't have
Speaker 1: to deal with, but I don't think you would see
Speaker 1: it bear out in the terms of like the way
Speaker 1: games are officiated. They lead the league in interceptions right,
Speaker 1: and they're up there in sacks, they're in aggressive defense,
Speaker 1: and they're going to get penalties. I mean, that's going
Speaker 1: to happen. The issues that I have is that I
Speaker 1: don't I don't think McCarthy should be telling them about
Speaker 1: the officials before the game. I think that's the problem
Speaker 1: right there. I mean you're saying, hey, this crew does this,
Speaker 1: and they do that. They did that for the Raiders
Speaker 1: and it was even worse. I mean, like, I don't
Speaker 1: understand what what are you doing? You use your technique anyways,
Speaker 1: use your technique, right, I mean that should be every crew,
Speaker 1: every game. And I think you're putting it. You're planning
Speaker 1: the seed already. I don't know what was said. I
Speaker 1: just feel like i've I've heard coaches say I don't
Speaker 1: coach penalties. Sounds like McCarthy's trying to coach penalties and
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem to work. That's an interesting thought. I mean,
Speaker 1: I like, I like your thought process, but I also
Speaker 1: that kind of goes back to the old Like Jason Garrett,
Speaker 1: we do what we do, Like I kind of like
Speaker 1: the idea of preparing your team for the situation that
Speaker 1: you're going to be in, Like Hey, these guys call
Speaker 1: this a lot. Maybe keep an eye out for that.
Speaker 1: But you're not wrong that if you put that in
Speaker 1: a guy's head, maybe that's like a self fulfilling prophecy.
Speaker 1: I don't know the answer. Maybe the thing is it's
Speaker 1: about how you do it right. It's almost if you
Speaker 1: if you pound into your team's head, this referee crew
Speaker 1: will likes to throw a lot of flags. I think
Speaker 1: you also have to pound into their heads. That's not
Speaker 1: an excuse. Yeah, right, Because I felt like, and this
Speaker 1: kind of bugged me about after the game, all the
Speaker 1: guys talking about the rest. It to me rang of
Speaker 1: we're fine, the rests are the problem, right, and quite frankly,
Speaker 1: they're not fine. Like they are not fine. There was
Speaker 1: a lot that they could have done yesterday. It was
Speaker 1: ironic to me, the youngest player on this defense, I
Speaker 1: think he's the youngest. Michael Parsons had the best dancing
Speaker 1: when it came to reff yesterday. What he said was, yeah,
Speaker 1: we should have never left it in their hands. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's your answer, Like, it doesn't matter if you know
Speaker 1: the refs are are gonna throw the flags a lot, right,
Speaker 1: If you know that going in the game, and then
Speaker 1: they do exactly what you expected them to do. It
Speaker 1: had an excuse. You should have known that, right. Dak
Speaker 1: said something similar, but only after he kind of said
Speaker 1: some vaguely implied. He pulled a Nick Eatman. He kind
Speaker 1: of implied something, and then he pulled it back and
Speaker 1: was like, well, we can't put it in their control.
Speaker 1: But again, I'm gonna give them some benefit of the
Speaker 1: doubt and say, when you're pissed off in the moment,
Speaker 1: you're I mean, that's that's human nature. But I get it.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't want to hear that as a
Speaker 1: valid excuse for why they lost this game. Two things
Speaker 1: that I did have a problem with. It wouldn't just
Speaker 1: the penalties, but I mean, they're taught, especially late in
Speaker 1: the game. You know, call it as a fumble. You
Speaker 1: don't have to emphatically say he was down down, down down,
Speaker 1: because that's the call on the field, and if you're wrong,
Speaker 1: it does and get challenge, we'll get reviewed. Yeah. But
Speaker 1: the thing that that's really bothering me, and I know
Speaker 1: bothers you too, it's just that they've made these rules
Speaker 1: on the fly. There. They've changed this in the middle
Speaker 1: of the season. Where New York is now a big
Speaker 1: part of things, and all of a sudden it's like,
Speaker 1: after further discussion it was ruled. Is this it's like
Speaker 1: discussion with who somebody got in your ear from New York. Cool,
Speaker 1: if we're playing that game, that's better for everyone. But
Speaker 1: do it consistently right. Where was the guy in New
Speaker 1: York saying that, you know what, it was a fumble? Yeah, somebody,
Speaker 1: somebody should have been having that conversation saying, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: I think we need to look at this. This looks
Speaker 1: like a fumble and if you're gonna do it in
Speaker 1: some and by the way, I've seen it in other games,
Speaker 1: not just the Cowboys games. I've seen in other games
Speaker 1: this year where they have made a call on the
Speaker 1: field and then they reversed it themselves. They just did.
Speaker 1: There was no challenge or anything. They just said, hey,
Speaker 1: after further discussion, we just did this as the right answer.
Speaker 1: They did it to Jern Curson Kean O'Neil in New
Speaker 1: Yorleans one of the like coolest plays of the season.
Speaker 1: Curse punches it out Neil, you know, the acrobatic dives
Speaker 1: to the sideline, throws it back in and the Cowboys
Speaker 1: get it, and some somehow the refs were like, oh,
Speaker 1: we've we've talked about it and that's not right. And
Speaker 1: everybody was like, Okay, cool, I guess I guess the
Speaker 1: league can just buzz in in certain circumstances and they
Speaker 1: want to or Kansas City where they call a face
Speaker 1: mask and the guy basically was he for the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: was just spraying the whole bench there with a gun.
Speaker 1: Yeah he pulled out. They actually don't, but you do
Speaker 1: remember they were they were they almost getting into a fight.
Speaker 1: And then he was like because it was a face
Speaker 1: mask on gun gun sign likeline like I'm shooting you
Speaker 1: all and so yeah, for some reason that doesn't ring
Speaker 1: a bell with me. I'm sorry, but I was losing
Speaker 1: his mind, like why is he getting to shoot everybody?
Speaker 1: Like okay, like did you get to shoot everybody? It
Speaker 1: has that has happen. I mean the last boy scout
Speaker 1: remember last week with Zeke Remember the one yard he
Speaker 1: got He got spotted on the one yard line for
Speaker 1: his touchdown run. Oh yeah, and and they said one
Speaker 1: yard line next you know, it's like and McCarthy ran
Speaker 1: down there with a challenge flag before he threw the
Speaker 1: guy's like, oh no, we you know someone, Yeah it's
Speaker 1: a touchdown. Yeah, And that's the thing, like if you
Speaker 1: can do it, and I actually prefer that, but you
Speaker 1: can't just pick and choose when you're gonna do it.
Speaker 1: You gotta do it all the time. And if they're
Speaker 1: gonna tell me, and maybe they will, maybe they'll say, yeah,
Speaker 1: we had a guy up stairs, he looked at that.
Speaker 1: He didn't think it was a fumble. Okay, then you
Speaker 1: can't say anything at that point. Then it's a situation
Speaker 1: where well, maybe you had another time you could challenge it.
Speaker 1: But but I just it feels to me like this
Speaker 1: is pick and choose. This is not a consistent way
Speaker 1: of officiating games. It's if you know me at all,
Speaker 1: It's probably my biggest gripe with the NFL is that
Speaker 1: like these game swinging moments are left up to like
Speaker 1: coaching strategy. So Mike McCarthy's not prepared for the extra point.
Speaker 1: That's bad on him, But so it's his fault that
Speaker 1: they got this wrong and he loses the game because
Speaker 1: of it because he had a mental brain fart like
Speaker 1: two hours ago. Yeah, that's absolutely absurd. Getting it right
Speaker 1: is never getting it right should never be a matter
Speaker 1: of strata. How does college football have this so right?
Speaker 1: Like they just have two guys that sit up there
Speaker 1: and watch everything that's remotely close. And if you ever
Speaker 1: watch a college football game, anytime there's a remotely controversial play,
Speaker 1: you hear the announcers like, I don't know, we'll probably
Speaker 1: get a look at this, And sure enough, ninety percent
Speaker 1: of the time, before the team can get the next
Speaker 1: snap off, the refs wave it off and they're like,
Speaker 1: we got our people looking at this. We want to
Speaker 1: make sure we get it right. And my hottest take
Speaker 1: of all is that the NFL doesn't care because they
Speaker 1: don't want that, because they want these games ending in
Speaker 1: their appointed times. And you want to know the funny
Speaker 1: thing about that, I don't think a single fan would
Speaker 1: be mad if you add fifteen minutes to a game
Speaker 1: but their team felt like they didn't get screwed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and fun of them are going to be upset if
Speaker 1: they if their team got they dvard for three hours
Speaker 1: and don't do the thing you need to set the X.
Speaker 1: If you don't all right, that's you do? You remember
Speaker 1: the times when the Cowboys blocked the field goal? Um
Speaker 1: they've blocked the like, especially these short field goals. You
Speaker 1: remember that. No, yeah, no me either. So here's the
Speaker 1: problem that I have. And it was a field goal.
Speaker 1: Wasn't an extra point? Sorry, I thought it came after
Speaker 1: the touchdown. It was Curs dropped the ball in the
Speaker 1: end zone. That's right. So it's nineteen nineteen to seven
Speaker 1: and it's fourth and five, So they just decided to
Speaker 1: keep the offense out when the Cowboys just to shift
Speaker 1: and move back in the old craft and then they
Speaker 1: come back and then they call it time out. My
Speaker 1: thought is, why don't you just play defense? Stay you're
Speaker 1: not going to block the field goal anyways, most of
Speaker 1: the guys are probably out there anyways. You just say
Speaker 1: I'm gonna play defense, and then when Murray leaves and
Speaker 1: the prater comes on, they allow you the time to
Speaker 1: switch that. But force comes to worst. Just put the
Speaker 1: defense out there. You're not blocking it, you're not gonna rush.
Speaker 1: Just play defense, and if they want to kick it,
Speaker 1: they kick it. Yeah, because that's fine, which I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was that was a dumb sequence. It was. It
Speaker 1: was poor coaching. But again, the fact like it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: you screwed that up. An hour and a half ago
Speaker 1: and you're out of time out. It's because of it,
Speaker 1: and now you don't get to challenge that. Like I
Speaker 1: hate that. I've always hate did that. I would hate
Speaker 1: it if it benefited the Cowboys. It's not fair. And
Speaker 1: the crazy part about is this where the rules are
Speaker 1: just really stupid. If that play would happen ten seconds later,
Speaker 1: they would have reviewed it upstairs because you're within two minutes. Like,
Speaker 1: it's just it's so arbitrary. Everything is so arbitrary rather
Speaker 1: than just doing the right to go back to my
Speaker 1: sorry Nick, but they have all these rules that keep
Speaker 1: the clock running in pro football, and that is the
Speaker 1: primary Like people people who aren't in my like if
Speaker 1: you're a real college football fan, I've never heard a
Speaker 1: diehard college football fan whine about the length of these games,
Speaker 1: you know, like it's always just can never be too sure,
Speaker 1: I mean too long. Yeah, But anyway, it's the stop.
Speaker 1: It's the clock always stopping in college that extends these
Speaker 1: games into five hours. It's not the review. They do
Speaker 1: that stuff pretty quick, so you can't tell me that's why.
Speaker 1: I just it drives me bonkers. It's just it's in
Speaker 1: today's world where everybody's watching these games on television, and
Speaker 1: by the way, you got twenty cameras at every game
Speaker 1: or more, and you literally get to see everything in
Speaker 1: slow Why don't you give your officiating crews the same
Speaker 1: benefit to be able to see what everybody else is seeing,
Speaker 1: to be able to reverse a call based on that.
Speaker 1: That's my problem with the whole thing. It's like nobody
Speaker 1: has taken a step back and said, let's really think
Speaker 1: about officiating from a big picture scale. How do we
Speaker 1: do this the most efficient way. There's a way to
Speaker 1: do it. It's very easy to do and for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: the NFL is just not willing to do it. We
Speaker 1: always say, like every week we talk about how we're
Speaker 1: we are at a disadvantage from the viewers at home
Speaker 1: in terms of what we can see because we're looking
Speaker 1: up at the monitors and the press party. We'll only
Speaker 1: show us so much, right, and so if you're at
Speaker 1: a talk guy that does the big screen at the stadium,
Speaker 1: who does a wonderful but we're at a disadvantage from
Speaker 1: you at home, who's got all of these angles coming.
Speaker 1: And it's the same thing for the refs, and the
Speaker 1: league just doesn't care. Yeah, all right, we're gonna take
Speaker 1: our final break. When we come back, let's talk about
Speaker 1: this defense. We spend enough time on offense and penalties.
Speaker 1: Let's get to the defense and what's what's going on
Speaker 1: with them? How do they play yesterday? We'll talk about
Speaker 1: that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys
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Speaker 1: segment of the Break Life s WBC Mortgage Studios at
Speaker 1: the Star, Let's talk defense and then let's get a
Speaker 1: little special teams talk in here. The defense. Yesterday, they
Speaker 1: gave up a few big plays. They didn't get turnovers.
Speaker 1: The turnovers probably is the part that's most uncharacteristic for them,
Speaker 1: at least recently. That being said, how did you overall
Speaker 1: assess their play? Nick? I think you know, we said
Speaker 1: earlier they they have been thriving off turnovers and sacks,
Speaker 1: and you know, Murray was just a step ahead. I
Speaker 1: thought he did a nice job of getting the ball
Speaker 1: to his running backs and just you know, he's he's
Speaker 1: just a problem for them. You know, he's more of
Speaker 1: a problem for them than than other teams I think.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's had a Pro Bowl year, but he
Speaker 1: seems like he's more of a problem for the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: I don't buy the whole eighteenth he stadium thing. I
Speaker 1: think that's crap. But I think he's just really good
Speaker 1: at you know, especially with an aggressive defense like the
Speaker 1: Cowboys play. The disconcerting thing for me was probably he
Speaker 1: had a few plays where he got away with his
Speaker 1: speed and you know, he won the game because he
Speaker 1: got away from Randy Gregory, but he had a clean
Speaker 1: pocket a lot of the time. Rodney Hudson's a really
Speaker 1: good player at center for Arizona, and I you know,
Speaker 1: the a gap blitzes and stunts that Mike has been
Speaker 1: so successful at, they weren't there as effectively as they
Speaker 1: were yesterday. I think he was probably a big part
Speaker 1: of it. When I watched the game back, the pressure
Speaker 1: just wasn't as intense as I thought it would be.
Speaker 1: And that's probably why this was probably as rough of
Speaker 1: a game as the cornerbacks have played period. Treyvon did
Speaker 1: stutter go. We've defended him all year. Anthony Brown got
Speaker 1: hit a couple of times in this game. That is
Speaker 1: fair for his detractors to point out Jordan Lewis as well.
Speaker 1: I think he had more time to throw than they
Speaker 1: could afford, basically, and that's when they gave up those
Speaker 1: those places. Do you think part of the reason why
Speaker 1: maybe there wasn't as much pressure as because the Cowboys
Speaker 1: defense was trying to be very disciplined in their rush
Speaker 1: to not a lot because in the first half, Kyler
Speaker 1: didn't really kill him on the ground. He wasn't really
Speaker 1: running a lot. And I think part of that was
Speaker 1: if you noticed they had Mica at linebacker and he
Speaker 1: was basically lining up right across from Murray a lot
Speaker 1: of the time, and that told me he was spying.
Speaker 1: He was making sure that he wasn't taken off and
Speaker 1: if he was, he was going in some of the
Speaker 1: runs he had in the second half, they actually had
Speaker 1: Michael on the line rushing and there goes Kyler running
Speaker 1: right out of the pocket. So do you think that
Speaker 1: was at least part of the reason why maybe there
Speaker 1: was a less of a pass rush yesterday? Totally plausible.
Speaker 1: I'd have to. I mean, I would like to watch
Speaker 1: it again. But he just he had he had a
Speaker 1: clean pocket pretty frequently. It felt like, and maybe that's
Speaker 1: by design again, because if you rush and don't get
Speaker 1: there then we talked about that last week. You don't live.
Speaker 1: Thing you want to do is open up a half
Speaker 1: of the field because you were too aggressive. So, um,
Speaker 1: the deep ball to Diggs, you know that that was
Speaker 1: I remember they blitzed. Uh. I don't know. I would
Speaker 1: have say, like seven guys. None of them broke through.
Speaker 1: And that's when you're like, oh crap, Like, oh, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter who the corner is, you know, So as
Speaker 1: soon as you see that, you're like. Somebody on Twitter
Speaker 1: was like, why did Dave say that AJ Green wasn't
Speaker 1: worth the crap anymore? And I was like, I don't
Speaker 1: think Dave said that. I think it was Bucky that
Speaker 1: he's not I said, I said, I did not think
Speaker 1: Bucky did say that. I did say I didn't think
Speaker 1: they had a guy on the outside that could consistently
Speaker 1: beat them. They got him on the stutter go like
Speaker 1: they watched the tape. Good for them, It's it was
Speaker 1: such ironic timing. Because the dialogue on Twitter last week
Speaker 1: was ferocious about whether or not Diggs is too aggressive
Speaker 1: and whether or not he gives up all these yards
Speaker 1: and whatnot. They caught him. Um again, I'll say it
Speaker 1: one more time. I'll take that performance every time. I mean,
Speaker 1: it would be nice to get the takeaway whatever. But
Speaker 1: and again we've seen this all year, Like they improved
Speaker 1: as the game went on. Like seventy eight yard Fueld
Speaker 1: goal drive, ninety one yard touchdown drive, forty yard Fueld
Speaker 1: goal drive. That's all in the first half. They go
Speaker 1: touchdown at the start of that game, and then for
Speaker 1: the rest of the second half they bottled them up.
Speaker 1: Maybe Arizona's playing more conservative with the lead, but the
Speaker 1: defense was fantastic at getting the ball back in the
Speaker 1: second half. They I think they did their part. Twenty
Speaker 1: five points from Kyler Murray's offense should be enough to
Speaker 1: win you a game when you have all that talent
Speaker 1: on offense. That's it's as simple as that for me,
Speaker 1: Like you're not going to you're not gonna shut everybody down,
Speaker 1: like you're gonna give up a chunk play to aj Green.
Speaker 1: It's just are you going to surrender them? Consistently or
Speaker 1: are you going to find a way to battle back?
Speaker 1: And I thought that they did. Camber thoughts not a defense.
Speaker 1: I have different thoughts flowing through my mind. One, I
Speaker 1: think that they played well, it wasn't to the level
Speaker 1: because of what Nig mentioned, you know, getting takeaways. What
Speaker 1: you can't just expect them to get one or two
Speaker 1: takeaways every single game week after week. I mean, that
Speaker 1: was amazing what they've been doing. But I guess what's
Speaker 1: like flowing in my mind right now, it's how a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago, you know, everyone's saying how great this
Speaker 1: defense was is whatever, and then saying how and we
Speaker 1: talked about it on here, how defenses can win championships
Speaker 1: and win you games like that? So now I am
Speaker 1: I okay, So what are we saying now? Then? Like
Speaker 1: where are the Cowboys standing right now? With this kind
Speaker 1: of defense? Then it's not enough to win you those
Speaker 1: playoff games that you need to win. So I'm just
Speaker 1: very confused. Guys, we're trying to convince me of something else.
Speaker 1: A few weeks ago, and it was all alive. Exceptional
Speaker 1: defense wins championships. That's the point. Like, if you think
Speaker 1: about the defenses in the history of the NFL that
Speaker 1: have won championships because they didn't have a great offense.
Speaker 1: Those defenses are like all world defenses, Like we're talking
Speaker 1: about the Baltimore Ravens from two thousand and we're talking
Speaker 1: about eighty five Beers, Like this defense ain't that. Let's
Speaker 1: let's not confuse them with that. Those when you say
Speaker 1: defenseman's championships, those kind of defenses do in today's NFL.
Speaker 1: If you've got a good defense, like the Cowboys do,
Speaker 1: you gotta have some offense offset that. And they don't.
Speaker 1: Right now, I don't have offense. What were they missing
Speaker 1: on the defensive side of the ball to become those
Speaker 1: kind of defense? Those kind of defenses had shut down
Speaker 1: players at every level like they had. They had pass rushers,
Speaker 1: you could run against them, you couldn't throw against them
Speaker 1: like those were just and by the way, that Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay defense from two thousand and two, I want to
Speaker 1: say it was that defense, like they took the ball
Speaker 1: away at a crazy pace. I want to say that year,
Speaker 1: and I might be wrong on this. I want to
Speaker 1: say they out and there were some games, like in
Speaker 1: the playoffs or something like that, where they outscored the offense.
Speaker 1: It was crazy how good that defense was. But that's
Speaker 1: not the Cowboys right now. The Cowboys are a really
Speaker 1: good defense. They're not They're not all world like historic defense.
Speaker 1: They're just a really good defense. And by the way,
Speaker 1: a lot of that is because we are we are
Speaker 1: basing that off a curve of what they were last year,
Speaker 1: and we're saying, my gosh, there's so much better they
Speaker 1: breaks and things like that. So I don't I don't
Speaker 1: get what we're doing here, to be honest with you, Like,
Speaker 1: I like the defense looked a lot like what they
Speaker 1: have been, Like they played a much better team, and
Speaker 1: like I thought they were going to win this game.
Speaker 1: So I'm not trying to sit here and say I
Speaker 1: told you so. I'm surprised that they played as poorly
Speaker 1: as they did, not necessarily the defense, just the team.
Speaker 1: But I said this after the Giants game, I was like,
Speaker 1: this is all well and good, but it won't be
Speaker 1: Mike Glennon forever. And that's that's what happened. Like they
Speaker 1: played a better team. I thought they were solid defensively
Speaker 1: but not amazing. Right, if they get even a slightly
Speaker 1: better day from their offense, they win this game. That
Speaker 1: is the story. I'm not upset, disappointed, or disillusioned with
Speaker 1: anything that the defense did. The offense didn't pull and
Speaker 1: I agree one percent my point where I was getting
Speaker 1: that his side. With the defense that you have, I
Speaker 1: guess is definitely not gonna be enough for you unless
Speaker 1: the offense is doing something as well, more more likely
Speaker 1: than not. By the way, it's not that this offense
Speaker 1: has to be the best offense in the league. The
Speaker 1: offense has to just get back to a point where
Speaker 1: it's playing pretty good. Like right now, they're just getting
Speaker 1: off the slow starts. They got way too many pable
Speaker 1: I mean, way too many possessions where it's either three
Speaker 1: and out or they just self destruct. Like, the offense
Speaker 1: has to pull its weight, and this defense is more
Speaker 1: than capable, as Dave was saying in this game, this
Speaker 1: defense is more more than capable of winning this game
Speaker 1: for them. The offense has to pull their weight, and
Speaker 1: they're just not doing it right now. Seven points in
Speaker 1: the first half isn't good enough from this offense, Which
Speaker 1: is a great segue. We got to talk about the
Speaker 1: kicker before this is over, right, right, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's go, what do we do? I mean what do
Speaker 1: they do like he has been. He has been probably
Speaker 1: one of the most inconsistent players on this team this
Speaker 1: year when you look at his overall production all year.
Speaker 1: There's some games he plays really well. He's made some
Speaker 1: big kicks for them. He's also missed some kicks where
Speaker 1: you just like scratching your head, like, how do you
Speaker 1: miss that? What do you do with the kicker position?
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's I said, oh sorry, I don't
Speaker 1: do a damn thing. I don't do a damn thing.
Speaker 1: I just tell him do what you've done, keep kicking
Speaker 1: the ball. And why is that? Because I don't think
Speaker 1: there's any options out there. I just don't. Anybody that's
Speaker 1: out there has been cut, has been a radic, has
Speaker 1: been to the point where they said, you're not good enough.
Speaker 1: This guy's won an NFC Championship game with a fifty
Speaker 1: six yard or he's made kicks this year. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: he missed. He pulled a forty three, he missed a
Speaker 1: couple of extra points in the meadowlands. It's happening. But
Speaker 1: I think for the most part, I don't see anyone
Speaker 1: that's that's better. And I don't who's out there that
Speaker 1: you can get if I hear if I could hear
Speaker 1: a name, Oh, this guy's out there because he was
Speaker 1: hurt and the other kicker is good, but he's really good.
Speaker 1: Well now I'll listen to it. But I just I
Speaker 1: don't know, I mean, and I don't think he's been
Speaker 1: that inconsistent, I really, but I will answer some people
Speaker 1: the name. I think a lot of people would bring
Speaker 1: up his Kai for Bath. The Cowboys brought him here
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago in Jason Garrett's last year.
Speaker 1: He didn't miss a kick. I believe he was cut
Speaker 1: when the Cowboys signed Greg Zirline. They didn't have a competition,
Speaker 1: And I think that's my thing. Like Derek always gets
Speaker 1: mad at me because he wants me to say what
Speaker 1: I would do versus what I think the team's going
Speaker 1: to do. But again, what is my opinion matter? Like, sure,
Speaker 1: if you're angry with Greg Zerline and you want to
Speaker 1: cut him and bring Kai for Bath back, that's awesome
Speaker 1: if you make the decisions. But I think Greg Zerline
Speaker 1: has important sponsors on this team. I think Greg greg
Speaker 1: I think Mike McCarthy and John Fossil want him here.
Speaker 1: They trust him. I'm not necessarily saying that I agree
Speaker 1: with that, but I think that's how they feel. I
Speaker 1: think I would be very surprised if, this close to
Speaker 1: the postseason, which they're already assured to spot in, they
Speaker 1: decide to just start over with a new guy, not
Speaker 1: when Fossil has worked with Zerline for most of the
Speaker 1: last decade, and on and on and on, and who
Speaker 1: cares if I disagree, If that's what's going to happen,
Speaker 1: you know, But I've I said yesterday for some reason
Speaker 1: that the extra points don't bother me. They never have
Speaker 1: because I'm just like, ah, well, you know, you scored
Speaker 1: a touchdown anyway, you still got six points, and if
Speaker 1: the offense is doing their job, you'll score more points.
Speaker 1: But a forty three yard fuel goal in a dome
Speaker 1: should just not shouldn't be something that you feel iffy about. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's troubling. But I don't think they're going to
Speaker 1: do anything. Yeah, I don't think there's much you can
Speaker 1: do at this point of the season. The only thing
Speaker 1: that you can do is just have your offense play better.
Speaker 1: That's it. Play better. I yes, I love that take.
Speaker 1: I love that take a lot a g because that
Speaker 1: and that's It always bothers me when people are like, well,
Speaker 1: the kicker lost in the game. If they if they
Speaker 1: score that fuel goal, then it's twenty five twenty five.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you're not wrong, but you're wrong because if
Speaker 1: the offense plays a better game than they scored more
Speaker 1: points than that, they had so many. That was their
Speaker 1: first possession of the game. Was it not well? And
Speaker 1: so they had Sarzona is not going to go for two.
Speaker 1: You know at certain times based off the score, you
Speaker 1: just can't play that game. No, But I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: you missed the field goal in the three point game.
Speaker 1: It would have been nice to have. Obviously would have
Speaker 1: been nice to have, but you had nine other opportunities
Speaker 1: to not well settle for punts and then things don't
Speaker 1: get a penalty with your center, which I don't understand
Speaker 1: what the call was, but don't get that. I mean
Speaker 1: that was a third and four, it turned into a
Speaker 1: third and nine, and then he missed the kick. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to look up right now as field goal percentage.
Speaker 1: He is right now an eighty two point four field
Speaker 1: goal percentage. That's twenty fourth in the NFL. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's where I know you said you don't think he's
Speaker 1: been inconsistent. That's where I'm looking like relative to other kids.
Speaker 1: Look at tenth, Look at tenth in the league. Because
Speaker 1: somebody just pointed this out to Elliott. What's his number?
Speaker 1: What's the eleventh guy? The guys Harrison, Baker, Harrison, but CRuMs.
Speaker 1: But what's he at eighty eight point five? I was
Speaker 1: told bad infil I'm gonna say that's good point because
Speaker 1: I know no, no, because the guy on the radio
Speaker 1: this morning, and the guy said something about if he
Speaker 1: makes one more kicks, he's he's like tied for eleventh
Speaker 1: or something like that. Oh well maybe. So, by the way,
Speaker 1: these percentage differences, like that's eighty we were talking about
Speaker 1: eighty five percent, he's down at eighty. Yeah, what an
Speaker 1: eighty two point four percent? So it's not a big difference,
Speaker 1: but that's also part of it though you're talking about
Speaker 1: relative to the rest of the league. He is the
Speaker 1: twenty fourth best kicker from a field goal percentage in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Now that's that's that's kind of troubling. You
Speaker 1: know that that you need more production than that out
Speaker 1: of your kicker. And that's why I say he's inconsistent
Speaker 1: relative to other kickers. By the way, eighty two percent.
Speaker 1: If either of us go out there and kick at
Speaker 1: an eighty two percent, that's great. NFL, that's obviously not
Speaker 1: very good. You're twenty fourth in the NFL. What I'd
Speaker 1: like to know is, is there a guy sitting on
Speaker 1: the street right now? It's better with a career record
Speaker 1: that's better than that and not vander Jack. That's why
Speaker 1: I said, that's your That's the best point that I've heard.
Speaker 1: For everybody out there that wants a different kicker, the
Speaker 1: question becomes, who, what do you? What are you gonna
Speaker 1: what do you What is out there that's going that
Speaker 1: you're gonna feel better about. Whenever you decide you're gonna kick,
Speaker 1: you're gonna say, hey, sitting this guy out there, we
Speaker 1: feel good about this extra point, Like, I don't know
Speaker 1: that that guy exists on the street right now, because
Speaker 1: if he were that good, that reliable, he probably wouldn't
Speaker 1: be on the street. I there's no good answer to it,
Speaker 1: But like I said, I don't I don't see them
Speaker 1: making a change. And so I think, which to be
Speaker 1: fair to Greg like he's had, we have to be
Speaker 1: fair to Greg. I would like to try to be like,
Speaker 1: I don't like to be the screaming hot take fire
Speaker 1: everybody guy. Typically, when he's had a moment like this,
Speaker 1: he bounces back, so like he missed a kick on
Speaker 1: he missed a kick against Vegas on Thanksgiving, he nailed
Speaker 1: the next ten after that, Like, can we can we
Speaker 1: sit him this next game because I don't wan and
Speaker 1: have that bounceback game next week. I wanted to have
Speaker 1: that bounceback game in the play. We can get into
Speaker 1: him down, We can get into that because I'm sitting there.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that tomorrow. But um, I mean it
Speaker 1: blows up to you. What Nah, don't waste this segment. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, we'll talk about that tomorrow. When he has
Speaker 1: struggled again, he missed kicks against Tampa. He hits the
Speaker 1: game winner against the Charters. He's Typically when this happens,
Speaker 1: he comes back and hits his kicks. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that should make you feel better, but I guess it's
Speaker 1: worth mentioning. Yeah, all right, we appreciate you guys. Us.
Speaker 1: We'll be back tomorrow. We're gonna start getting into U
Speaker 1: Cowboys versus Eagles to end the season. A short week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we do have a short week because the game has
Speaker 1: now been moved. It is now a Saturday night game,
Speaker 1: which means that we won't be doing a show on
Speaker 1: Friday because these guys will be traveling on Friday to
Speaker 1: get to Philadelphia. Maybe, oh, is that happening? I thought
Speaker 1: we were doing this all at once. Maybe actually you
Speaker 1: know something, we might actually if you guys are leaving Saturday,
Speaker 1: we might still be able to our Friday show my
Speaker 1: fight until otherwise notified. I'm thought I was leaving at
Speaker 1: eight a m. Saturday. Yeah, so we might actually be
Speaker 1: able to do that. We'll see. Yeah, Saturday afternoon. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be like Saturday taking taking an uber like
Speaker 1: straight to the game. I've done that before, fun at
Speaker 1: that stadium Airport, Jim's Cheese Steaks game. Just do it
Speaker 1: all in a row, just get it all out of win.
Speaker 1: That sounds really good. All right, you don't have to
Speaker 1: do it all. I think your your flight didn't go
Speaker 1: back till Monday, so you might be a resident. You
Speaker 1: could wait and do it sometime in the day Sat
Speaker 1: and Sunday. You got time. I've still got a hotel, right,
Speaker 1: Like we're gonna talk. We're having these conversations live on
Speaker 1: the air. Yeah right. Apprecate you guys, Johns people back tomorrow,
Speaker 1: Nick Eaton, Dave helm and Afro Garcia. I am Derek Eielton.
Speaker 1: This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot
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