Speaker 1: The following. He's 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: Were with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia and
Speaker 1: Derek Eagleton. Two thousand twenty, Season sixteen, episode number ten.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Break to Your Life
Speaker 1: from the virtual s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star.
Speaker 1: And as you can hear, Dave Hellman's typing away and
Speaker 1: he's so excited to be joining this show and very
Speaker 1: happy you guys could take some time with us to
Speaker 1: talk a little Cowboys football here on the Break. Lots
Speaker 1: of things, well I should say lots of things, but
Speaker 1: some things are actually moving in the NFL. We'll start
Speaker 1: today talking a little bit about Jerry returning to the Star.
Speaker 1: A little later, we got a new segment that we'll
Speaker 1: be starting up probably about five minutes from now. We
Speaker 1: call it story Time on the Break, and our storyteller
Speaker 1: to day is none other than Darren Woodson. He's got
Speaker 1: a few stories for us. We'll try to do that
Speaker 1: every week, have a special guest stand to tell us
Speaker 1: some interesting stories from behind the curtains at the Star
Speaker 1: with the Cowboys. In addition that, we'll also get into
Speaker 1: some of the conversations around the owners meetings and then
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about Keto A. Woozier in the
Speaker 1: final segment, how's everybody doing today? I just wanted to
Speaker 1: I was promoting the show on Twitter, so you know,
Speaker 1: I was regarding that you were doing something very important.
Speaker 1: It sounded like you were doing something very important, So
Speaker 1: I appreciate that's good. Let's stop great. Jerry returned to
Speaker 1: the Star yesterday, Nick, and you had an opportunity to
Speaker 1: write an article about that. First of all, I got
Speaker 1: tell me right now, I guess tell me from the
Speaker 1: fans out there who don't know what are teams allowed
Speaker 1: to do at this point? What does the NFL said
Speaker 1: as far as what teams are allowed to do as
Speaker 1: of today, as of yesterday? Really, but the big thing
Speaker 1: is that no coaches or players are allowed in the
Speaker 1: building for a competitive reasons, and that's because you have
Speaker 1: to have the guidelines of the state of your own
Speaker 1: state to be able to return to work. Obviously, Texas.
Speaker 1: It's been very public. Texas is reopened, so that works
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys. So they can have no more than
Speaker 1: seventy five people in the building or fifty percent, just
Speaker 1: depends on how big your organization is. The Cowboys obviously
Speaker 1: have way more than one hundred and fifty employees, so
Speaker 1: seventy five is the max. And if somebody's going to
Speaker 1: lead it off on Tuesday, might as well be Jerry
Speaker 1: Jones and the Jones family. So you know, Jerry had
Speaker 1: a virtual owners meeting call that he wanted to to
Speaker 1: take and he wanted to make sure and do it
Speaker 1: in the office. He's kind of leading the chart as
Speaker 1: the Cowboys are working their way like other teams working
Speaker 1: their way back. And just to be clear, healthy players
Speaker 1: and coaches are not allowed in the facility as of
Speaker 1: right now based upon the NFL rules because the NFL
Speaker 1: wants to ensure that all teams have a fair footing,
Speaker 1: so and so all teams have access to be able
Speaker 1: to get back into their buildings, no healthy players or
Speaker 1: coaches will be allowed in the building. Nicole ask you
Speaker 1: to what's significance of Jerry being at the Star yesterday.
Speaker 1: Was there significance in that I think the significance of,
Speaker 1: you know, people are working again. I mean I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, they did an NFL draft virtually,
Speaker 1: and we all know where he was for the draft,
Speaker 1: so he didn't have to be in the building to
Speaker 1: take that call. We know that. But what it symbolizes
Speaker 1: is that this is the first step back, and you know,
Speaker 1: I think some of his other vice presidents and her
Speaker 1: office personnel, we're able to go up there. There weren't
Speaker 1: a lot of people there, but you know, just the
Speaker 1: first step and hopefully mini steps that we all can
Speaker 1: can get back from there. Yeah, all right, let's say
Speaker 1: we're gonna we should be having Darren Woodson joining us
Speaker 1: here in just a moment. We'll get into a lot
Speaker 1: of different topics with him. Until we do that, though,
Speaker 1: I wanted to start a little conversation. I saw something
Speaker 1: really interesting on NFL dot com yesterday. Cynthia Freeland, NFL
Speaker 1: dot com writer, she had she was talking about all
Speaker 1: the different teams and she identified one player on all
Speaker 1: thirty two teams that she said was underappreciated based upon
Speaker 1: how people viewed them. And it's interesting that the player
Speaker 1: that she pointed out for the Cowboys. Now I'll read
Speaker 1: you this quote. She's talking about Taba Woozier. She said
Speaker 1: he's been far less talked about despite forcing eighteen in
Speaker 1: completions in twenty nineteen, that being the third most in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Pretty impressive stuff. I'm gonna leave you with that,
Speaker 1: and we'll think about that and get right long. Being
Speaker 1: joined by a guy that that I just think the
Speaker 1: world of. As a former player of the Cowboys, he
Speaker 1: was a nineteen ninety two All Rookie Team Remember he
Speaker 1: was a five time Pro Bowl or, three time first
Speaker 1: team All Pro, three time Super Bowl champion. Mister Darren Woodson.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show, Darren Well. I appreciate it. Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me about time. Y'all got me back on
Speaker 1: this day. You know this on Derek, I'm not putting
Speaker 1: it on you. I'm putting it on a bit anyway.
Speaker 1: Hold on coming, Hold on real quick, Woodson. Um when
Speaker 1: says how much he loves you and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: Have you seen his office, He's got some random picture
Speaker 1: behind there. Have you seen our office? I mean our office?
Speaker 1: Had I think you're well represented in our office. So
Speaker 1: I don't know why you're gonna put that on me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't throwing on Amber get nick quick
Speaker 1: train to look good and sound good. Right now, that
Speaker 1: the picture was put there, Okay, it was not by
Speaker 1: your choice. It was not your choice, absolutely false, right,
Speaker 1: because Shannon and I had a thousand pictures we could
Speaker 1: pick from, and we chose that one. We put it
Speaker 1: there and actually wasn't high enough or it wasn't low
Speaker 1: enough or whatever. It was a big or deal. And
Speaker 1: then Darren came and signed it. So yeah, definitely was
Speaker 1: our choice. Hey, Shannon, who do you want to put
Speaker 1: in here? Darren? What's it? Sounds good? Everybody? It wasn't
Speaker 1: man to get you going, though, tell us a lot
Speaker 1: about how you and your family are doing, how y'all
Speaker 1: are dealing with I guess what everybody's dealing with the
Speaker 1: restrictions and and and staying at home and all those
Speaker 1: kinds of things. Well, first of all, my my heart
Speaker 1: goes out to those that are suffering through COVID, because
Speaker 1: there's you know, some of us are impacted more than others.
Speaker 1: I've had some friends, Charlie Williams, a good teammate of
Speaker 1: ours behind in the nineties. He lost his brother, So
Speaker 1: I mean it's you know, for some of us that
Speaker 1: hasn't been that that big of an impact outside of
Speaker 1: just you know, logistically being being such. But you know,
Speaker 1: for a lot of us, you know, health wise, as
Speaker 1: it has. And you know, my heart goes out to
Speaker 1: those families. For myself, Uh, it's been a different being home.
Speaker 1: And as you guys well know, I travel a lot,
Speaker 1: whether it be through business or uh and mostly through business,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I'm home now. The family is
Speaker 1: probably about ready for me to get the heck out
Speaker 1: of the house. I'm back in my office. As you
Speaker 1: can probably see today, I'm right here in the you know,
Speaker 1: the atrium of the Cowboys headquarters. So I'm back in
Speaker 1: the office right now. We're coming back. They're trying to
Speaker 1: get back slowly, get back in im. I'm in the
Speaker 1: office twice a week, so you know, things are on
Speaker 1: the uptick, man, so hopefully we can make this turn.
Speaker 1: It's good stuff. Hey, do you have a question? I
Speaker 1: actually do, Darren. I know it's been a while since
Speaker 1: you've been on the break. I feel like we haven't
Speaker 1: had you in a long enough time that I'm not
Speaker 1: sure you know that me and me and Amber are
Speaker 1: kind of like the safety whisperers of the Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: media and so having the best safety and Cowboys history.
Speaker 1: I feel like I just have to get your stance
Speaker 1: because I'm not sure I've heard it just about where
Speaker 1: things have stood with that position on this team for
Speaker 1: so long, because every year it seems like we're saying, well,
Speaker 1: they're not gonna find their Darren Winson in the draft
Speaker 1: this year. And ask the guy who played the position
Speaker 1: poor the Cowboys. You know, I looked this up when
Speaker 1: I heard you were going to be on the show.
Speaker 1: The only safety they have drafted as highly as they
Speaker 1: drafted you since you was Roy Williams. Yeah, just they
Speaker 1: really have not prioritized it. And as somebody who appreciates
Speaker 1: the position, how do you feel about that? Well, I
Speaker 1: mean I'd love for them to go out and get
Speaker 1: a draft to safety early. Of course we all do, uh,
Speaker 1: but you listen, I trust me. The role of being
Speaker 1: a gem across the league, not just the Cowboys, it's
Speaker 1: a tough deal. I mean, it's a tough situation, especially
Speaker 1: when there's there's players that are falling to years similar
Speaker 1: to this year when Ceedee Lamb fell to them at
Speaker 1: that spot. I mean, how do you have how do
Speaker 1: you bypass that and reach for a safety? So for
Speaker 1: any gems, that's a hard job to have. But you know,
Speaker 1: if we keep going back to that topic of well,
Speaker 1: we haven't had a safety sense. And in my opinion,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, Roy Williams was an awesome pick
Speaker 1: when we got him. Uh you know, I think it
Speaker 1: was a setting but number eight or so when he
Speaker 1: was drafted, and his production was unbelievable. I don't know
Speaker 1: if there was anybody who had a five year span
Speaker 1: that that played at that level. You know, Roy was awesome.
Speaker 1: And and I look at teams, you know, as time
Speaker 1: has gone on, you see the cities they get drafted early.
Speaker 1: Some safeties that get drafted earlier. Those guys that like
Speaker 1: the Troy Polamal that got drafted early, the Ed Reids
Speaker 1: to get drafted early. If you want a legitimate safety,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to take a chance and get that
Speaker 1: guy early. But the Cowboys have been in the situations
Speaker 1: where it's been you know, you know, no, you know,
Speaker 1: no offense to heat. But Heath was a special teamers
Speaker 1: who was converted to be in a safety And if
Speaker 1: you're gonna play it that way, if you're gonna have
Speaker 1: a guy who plays who's not picked early as a safety,
Speaker 1: didn't have a huge college career as being a guy
Speaker 1: who turned the ball over to the position. But now
Speaker 1: you expect them, you expect a special teamer to come
Speaker 1: in and fit that role. You're not gonna You're not
Speaker 1: gonna have a guy that's gonna play at that high
Speaker 1: level at that position. So yeah, I'm with you, guys.
Speaker 1: You know, if you want a guy or if you
Speaker 1: want to go trade for Jamal Adams, yea, I'd love
Speaker 1: to have Adams, but if you know there's going to
Speaker 1: be some issues when you do so, you gotta give
Speaker 1: up a lot best days, guys. A former LSU guy,
Speaker 1: he's been he's been on that bandwagon for a while now. Absolutely, yeah,
Speaker 1: something for there. I mean, looking at what they have
Speaker 1: done right now. Obviously we know that they didn't draft
Speaker 1: the safety and you talked about that, but looking at
Speaker 1: the like haha, Clinton Dix that they got during free
Speaker 1: agency and the four guys that they currently have, and
Speaker 1: the thought of maybe moving some of these cornerbacks into
Speaker 1: the safety position, how do you currently feel with the
Speaker 1: safety position and looking at the guys that the always
Speaker 1: currently have for this year. I thought it was good,
Speaker 1: you know, when they brought in how Clinton Dix, I
Speaker 1: felt like, you know, that was a good pickup for
Speaker 1: them based on there is familiarity as far as haha
Speaker 1: understanding this and every time I say that name, it
Speaker 1: just killed me. But he's familiar with this defense, She'll
Speaker 1: understand what exactly they need to get done, and he
Speaker 1: can always teach the guys who aren't familiar with this defense.
Speaker 1: So I thought that was a good pickup, knowing that
Speaker 1: that there's gonna be some at least some immediate leadership
Speaker 1: in the knowledge. As far as the knowledge aspect, I
Speaker 1: think this team is doing what they can right now
Speaker 1: at that position. I don't have a problem. I'm not
Speaker 1: big on moving guys from the satan from the cornerback
Speaker 1: position into the safety position just because you have to,
Speaker 1: just because of need. I think you still there's some
Speaker 1: still some safeties out there, some vetteran safeties out there
Speaker 1: that you can probably take a look at. But the
Speaker 1: guys that are playing corner right now, I mean, look,
Speaker 1: I think they should stay where they are right now. Look,
Speaker 1: I know that we had a down season last year.
Speaker 1: Byron Jones is no longer here. What was his name? Cheeto?
Speaker 1: Cheeto didn't have a great season last year, But I
Speaker 1: don't know if you force him into another position. Let's
Speaker 1: see what he does this year. Let's let's go go
Speaker 1: through training camp, see how he's feeling about the position,
Speaker 1: because he may not want to make that change. He
Speaker 1: may feel like that. No, I'm gonna say, I'm a corner.
Speaker 1: This is what I do. So you know, let's fill
Speaker 1: them out. You know, with COVID you can't really get
Speaker 1: a good look because we can't get out there on
Speaker 1: the football field right now. And it's going to be
Speaker 1: a process going through training camp. But I think they're
Speaker 1: looking at it now. Is they're they're bringing in these
Speaker 1: he says at the safety position. I'm not so sure
Speaker 1: that you move a guy like Cheeto into into that
Speaker 1: position because yet let's play it out and corners don't
Speaker 1: want to hit, so uh, having that mentality, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be more. That's that's more of a change
Speaker 1: than your thing. In that case, when I was just
Speaker 1: gonna say so, when you look at the secondary overall,
Speaker 1: corner and safety position, how do you feel just overall?
Speaker 1: I thought, even though Byron didn't turn the ball over uh,
Speaker 1: and didn't make dynamic plays on the ball. He was
Speaker 1: a very good corner on the outside. He was a
Speaker 1: very good, very good defensive player and and and did
Speaker 1: some good things on the outside. Replacing that production is
Speaker 1: gonna be hard. Now again, you know, people are always
Speaker 1: taking shots and the fact that he didn't have the
Speaker 1: air interceptions but he played extremely well that I just
Speaker 1: think he was a veteran guy, athletic and you didn't
Speaker 1: have to worry about Byron. And Byron played through a
Speaker 1: lot of injuries as well. He was available, and that
Speaker 1: says a lot to me when you have that kind
Speaker 1: of guy who's going to be available to play week
Speaker 1: in and week out. Without that, Um, I'm a little
Speaker 1: nervous going into the season because I thought he was
Speaker 1: a tremendous athlete. Uh, and God, that was available, So
Speaker 1: I'm concerned about that role being out there. Well, I
Speaker 1: was hoping you would make me feel better, but you
Speaker 1: are not making me feel better, right You're up? Uh
Speaker 1: are we going? We're gonna have him tell some stories.
Speaker 1: I know you said that there were a couple of
Speaker 1: stories you Yeah, if you thought Yeh would be the
Speaker 1: perfect person to tell. So let's get into a little
Speaker 1: story time you're on the break. Yeah, you know, Danren,
Speaker 1: we've we've had a lot of interviews over the over
Speaker 1: the years, and uh, you told some great stories and
Speaker 1: a couple that come to mind where I think both
Speaker 1: from the same season you were a veteran. In two
Speaker 1: thousand and three, Bill Parcels comes in. He was looking
Speaker 1: to you to scorch the earth, as you said before,
Speaker 1: but talking about a couple of rookies from that team,
Speaker 1: and it kind of caught your eye or caught your ear,
Speaker 1: um and just maybe even called you out. Actually, uh,
Speaker 1: well what year was that? Was that two thousand or
Speaker 1: two thousand three? Two thousand Bill Parcels took over. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so immediately the one story I do do have that,
Speaker 1: uh that I can remember is when when Romo came
Speaker 1: in and you know, at the time, I think we
Speaker 1: had Quincy Carter U, Chad Hutchinson, and Drew Hinson were
Speaker 1: old quarterbacks. Um, if I name those right, I think
Speaker 1: I think those were our top three guys. With Drew
Speaker 1: Hinson here star start I was here was Dad Hunsinson
Speaker 1: not here? He was three? Yeah he was, but not
Speaker 1: not Drew yet, but yeah, uh, I instantly felt like
Speaker 1: Romo was the guy, Like instantly it was the ball
Speaker 1: came off his hands differently than all the other quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: especially uh Quincy Carter, because you never knew what you're
Speaker 1: getting with what Quincy um. And Quincy was considered the
Speaker 1: starter at the time. Romo came in and we he
Speaker 1: was just running scout team, and I just felt like
Speaker 1: there was something about him. And Sean Payton was taking
Speaker 1: his time with Romo on off the side and trying
Speaker 1: to get him, and I kept looking at this guy
Speaker 1: like the dudes out here killing us on scout team
Speaker 1: and even to the point where you know, Romo would
Speaker 1: hold the ball and he scramble around, and I was
Speaker 1: the guy on defense like that's never gonna happen in
Speaker 1: the game. You're not gonna be gonna move around and
Speaker 1: scramble like that. And by time receivers, you know, this
Speaker 1: doesn't work that way in the NFL. Son, you know,
Speaker 1: I was that the old man saying all this so
Speaker 1: passed forward. It was exactly who that was. It starts
Speaker 1: buying time in the pocket. But he was just showing
Speaker 1: out man and in practice, and you know, made us
Speaker 1: look silly at times. And I was with camp. I
Speaker 1: was with Bill Parcels, and Bill used to sit way
Speaker 1: in the back and watch practice. And he would sit
Speaker 1: and he would, you know, behind the defensive back. So
Speaker 1: basically the drills going on, you seven on seven or
Speaker 1: the team drills going on, he'd be way behind the
Speaker 1: defense on the field and he'd just be watching. So
Speaker 1: he calls me out there on the field and he says, hey,
Speaker 1: you know which one of these guys do you like?
Speaker 1: And I'm looking at us. I said, what do you
Speaker 1: mean which guy? He says, you know which one of
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks do you like? And I said, well the
Speaker 1: kid over here, the first year kid right here, the
Speaker 1: one the free agent. And he's like, yeah, wrong on
Speaker 1: I said, he's the one. And he looks at me
Speaker 1: and he says, you know, I can't say it on
Speaker 1: the air. He says, g d uh, I can't play
Speaker 1: him right now. Yeah, but I can't. I said, when
Speaker 1: you asked, I said, he's better than all these guys.
Speaker 1: He says, yeah, I know, but he can't play right now.
Speaker 1: What about the other guys? And I'm like, uh wow,
Speaker 1: conversation is dead. So about a week later that we're
Speaker 1: this isn't mini camp. We come back in after one
Speaker 1: of the practices and Romo it was very inquisitive, I
Speaker 1: mean extremely inquisitive. And he would ask questions. You know,
Speaker 1: he didn't care. Man. He walked up to a guy
Speaker 1: like me, a veteran player. He would ask me questions
Speaker 1: about defense and blah blah blahlah blah. And he was
Speaker 1: asking me about cover three at the time, you know,
Speaker 1: why we did this and why we did that as
Speaker 1: a secondary and you know when they motioned across, why
Speaker 1: we inverted so. And they were very good, really good questions.
Speaker 1: And I told him we were having this conversation, I say, man,
Speaker 1: by the way, I said, man, look you know, I
Speaker 1: don't know what you feel about yourself and your talents.
Speaker 1: And He's like, well, you know, I feel pretty good.
Speaker 1: I'm getting comfortable. I said, no, no, no, man, I said, look,
Speaker 1: you are by far the best quarterback we have out
Speaker 1: there right far. It ain't even close. And he just
Speaker 1: looked at me. When I I almost in that, you
Speaker 1: know that Romo looked too that like that head to
Speaker 1: the side. Look. I almost knew that he knew that,
Speaker 1: but but it completely for me. At the same time,
Speaker 1: but you know, he was just that he was built
Speaker 1: differently mentally, mentally why, I mean, you always know Romo's
Speaker 1: being dumpy. Of course, he wasn't like the most physical
Speaker 1: looking guy, but he just had this confidence about his
Speaker 1: approach to the game that I just stood out to me. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think it probably was like, see, there's
Speaker 1: another one that thinks so. You know, Wilson thinks so too.
Speaker 1: So I was probably the person I said it to him.
Speaker 1: I guarantell him. I know Parcels didn't say it to him.
Speaker 1: I know that. In fact. Yeah, the interesting was that
Speaker 1: Nick and I used to host a show the night
Speaker 1: before games on the road. It's called the Road Show,
Speaker 1: and we had Tony on one game before while he
Speaker 1: was a rookie. I think Nick and when I know
Speaker 1: it was before he was the starter. He wasn't playing.
Speaker 1: I don't remember what you but but he told us
Speaker 1: at the end of the show, I will be the
Speaker 1: starting quarterback for this team at some point, and we
Speaker 1: all everybody got silent for a second and it was
Speaker 1: kind of like, all right, thanks for joining us, for
Speaker 1: reading right. But I mean, he always at that confidence.
Speaker 1: He always felt like he was going to be the
Speaker 1: guy at some point, and obviously it all came true
Speaker 1: for him, so he was. I saw it right away
Speaker 1: when he joined our flag football team, and we couldn't
Speaker 1: call him Tony. We called him t but nobody in
Speaker 1: town knew what his face looked like, so he could
Speaker 1: play with him. He was really good in the regular season.
Speaker 1: I can tell you that playoffs not so good, but
Speaker 1: there it was. I mean, he threw five interceptions in
Speaker 1: a playoff game in flag football, so I was thinking,
Speaker 1: that's probably never gonna happen. So when he was telling there,
Speaker 1: I think I flashed back to that, like, yeah, that
Speaker 1: didn't work work out, so well, we'll see about that, tea.
Speaker 1: But by far the best athlete on the field offense, defense.
Speaker 1: I mean, a bunch of scrubs like us, but I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, you can see he was a great athlete
Speaker 1: and a very great you know, mind of the game
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. Yeah you can. You can definitely
Speaker 1: tell that right away. Do we have time for one
Speaker 1: more story? Yeah, well that same class, man, I'll tell
Speaker 1: you another one. That same class was with Jason Witten.
Speaker 1: What came in uh that year And at the time
Speaker 1: I remember someone saying like he was the youngest guy
Speaker 1: on the team. He was like twenty years old when
Speaker 1: he came in or whatnot. And I was like, man,
Speaker 1: you're looking to I mean, what was Whit was good now?
Speaker 1: But he looked really good when he first came in.
Speaker 1: I mean he and much more athletic and much faster
Speaker 1: u he than he is uh and there at the
Speaker 1: end of his career. But he came in and I
Speaker 1: was all the defensive backs, you know, the safeties. I
Speaker 1: used to cover the slot receivers, so I would never
Speaker 1: go out and do one on ones against the tight ends.
Speaker 1: That just that was like a slap in the face.
Speaker 1: And Zimmer would be like, you want to go cover
Speaker 1: the tight ends. I'm like that, please cover the tight
Speaker 1: end really blind folding, right, So we're on two separate fields.
Speaker 1: I'm covering the I'm covering the wide receivers on one field.
Speaker 1: The linebackers and and some of the safeties are over
Speaker 1: covering the tight ends and the running backs on the
Speaker 1: other field. And you can hear the chatter go back
Speaker 1: and forth. There's always this trash talking when you're doing
Speaker 1: one on ones and I'm over there covering the wide
Speaker 1: receivers and then I can hear this young dude eighty
Speaker 1: two over on the other on the sideline as a rookie.
Speaker 1: He's barking, right, I'm killing these dudes over here, blah
Speaker 1: blah blah, and he's calling my name out on the
Speaker 1: other side of the field. What's it, Come over here
Speaker 1: and get you something. And I was like, this little
Speaker 1: pump rookie, right, So Zimmer goes back. Of course they're
Speaker 1: standing next to him. He's laughing, zimp and Zimm knows
Speaker 1: how good this kid is over there. I haven't. I
Speaker 1: ain't seen what Actually, I didn't know who he was.
Speaker 1: I mean I saw him in practice here and now
Speaker 1: I thought, I he's talented, but I had never faced
Speaker 1: him in a one on one situation. So Zimmer says, hey, man,
Speaker 1: you need to go get you some of that. I said,
Speaker 1: cover a tight end. Really, he said, you need to
Speaker 1: go see this kid, this kid and flat out get it.
Speaker 1: He can play. So I said, I'm gonna go give
Speaker 1: him some. I'm gonna give him. And I always called
Speaker 1: myself the Claw back then I was like, yeah, the
Speaker 1: claw is gonna go give him. You know, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: kill this kid. So I'll walk I'll go on over there.
Speaker 1: And I run over there, and he's like, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: about time. And I'm like, man, I can't believe. First
Speaker 1: of all, I can't believe you're talking to me. It's crazy. What.
Speaker 1: So I said, get your hands up there, you know,
Speaker 1: excuse my lang. I'm sorry. So I'm like, okay, I
Speaker 1: have a flashback. I'm sorry, So get on up there.
Speaker 1: So he gets thing up there. Man, he runs a
Speaker 1: little like crossing rounde and I'm like, man, you know, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: And then romo and it gets romo or someone throws
Speaker 1: in the ball and I say, it's a crossing round
Speaker 1: said he can't run crossing routes in one on one.
Speaker 1: So he gets back up there. He runs a quick
Speaker 1: route I get, I get my hand on the ball,
Speaker 1: bob knock it down, and I'm talking, I'm whooping and
Speaker 1: I'm killing you. You don't run, you know. You know
Speaker 1: a little little baby over here calling me out. Why
Speaker 1: am I wasting my time? That's me, I'm wasting my
Speaker 1: time over here. So I'm about to run back everything. No, no,
Speaker 1: come back and get you. Get you. So so I'll
Speaker 1: run back over and I line up against him and
Speaker 1: he kills me too, straight round like double moves does he?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, this is a little This kid can
Speaker 1: run a route. And it was impressive because it just,
Speaker 1: you know, every time it got to a point to
Speaker 1: where every time that I knew he was on the
Speaker 1: other side, I said, I gotta go get me some
Speaker 1: of that, Like like that was the competitive natures we
Speaker 1: had in the nineties where Jay Noble checks out there
Speaker 1: and you know, we were going back and forth and
Speaker 1: the trash talking was you know, exponentially And that's what
Speaker 1: I missed in that break until Winton got there, is
Speaker 1: that you had the guy the tight end position that
Speaker 1: could really play and knew he could play and wanted
Speaker 1: to get better. He wanted to go up against the
Speaker 1: best every single time. And I thought that was that
Speaker 1: and that's why he's he's a Hall of Famer man.
Speaker 1: He just extremely competitive and wants it, wants it more
Speaker 1: than most really great stories. Darren. And before we let
Speaker 1: you go, I know you got to get out of here,
Speaker 1: but real quick, I want to give you the opportunity
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about your podcast. I know
Speaker 1: that's something that's near and dear to you, and so
Speaker 1: just tell the people a little bit about the concept
Speaker 1: of the podcast and then told where they can find
Speaker 1: it so they can listen in. So it's the podcast
Speaker 1: of the Darren Witches Show. It's myself, Tyler Klutz, who
Speaker 1: played for a short time the Cowboys. I always joke
Speaker 1: and Tyler, I said, man, you played on damn there
Speaker 1: every continent, on every football team in the history CFL, NFL, everywhere.
Speaker 1: He played seven years in the league. And another guy
Speaker 1: named Ben Gibbs, who played tight end at ACU and
Speaker 1: toward the great athlete towards me up. But we all
Speaker 1: worked together in the same office at ESRP, the commercial
Speaker 1: real estate firm here at the Cowboys headquarters, and for
Speaker 1: the longest time we've always had these conversations. You know,
Speaker 1: Tyler and Ben were always talking about, Hey, man, you
Speaker 1: love to hear these stories, not just football stories, but
Speaker 1: stories about CEOs and doctors. He said, we should start
Speaker 1: a podcast. Ben Gibbs personally said we should start a
Speaker 1: podcast and just hear interesting stories. And I had just
Speaker 1: retired from from ESPN, so I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm done with the media stuff. I just didn't want
Speaker 1: to go through that process again. And they finally convinced
Speaker 1: me we finally have our first show. Matt and I
Speaker 1: fell in love. It was like, this is not an
Speaker 1: ESPN show where we're scripted, we only have two minutes
Speaker 1: to get our point across. This is a podcast where
Speaker 1: we go, we get all the way deep down, extremely transparent.
Speaker 1: We want to hear the stories. We want to hear
Speaker 1: the ups and downs. Just yesterday we had Troy Aikman
Speaker 1: on the show, and the show wasn't about so much
Speaker 1: about the football side, but it was about his life stories.
Speaker 1: And if you hear Troy stories, there's so many times
Speaker 1: where he was at the bottom, breaking his ankle at
Speaker 1: Oklahoma and losing his job to Mel Holloway, and the
Speaker 1: mindset that he had to overcome the fact that he
Speaker 1: had to transfer out the fact that he wanted to
Speaker 1: play baseball really didn't care too much about football man.
Speaker 1: It was it was just it's interesting to hear these
Speaker 1: stories because we always see the final product. We don't
Speaker 1: hear about the ups and downs they had to get
Speaker 1: to the challenges they had to overcome to get to
Speaker 1: that goal. So that's what the Darren Shows all about.
Speaker 1: Interesting stories. All verticals, not just sports, but all verticals.
Speaker 1: Where can we find it? You can find it on Instagram,
Speaker 1: you can find it on YouTube, you can find it
Speaker 1: all on social media, on Apple. We're on all those
Speaker 1: uh those social channels. Perfect. Hey man, we really do
Speaker 1: appreciate you coming to join us. And don't be a
Speaker 1: stranger man. You know you could. You gotta bang it
Speaker 1: on the show. We're gonna gonna take that first break.
Speaker 1: We come back. We're gonna talk a little bit more
Speaker 1: about the owners meetings with the NFL. Well, we'll come
Speaker 1: back back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. Your
Speaker 1: new apartment's big, Such a great deal, that's okay, just okay.
Speaker 1: What's not right about the subway? Well, I bet you
Speaker 1: don't even notice it after that's my neighbor. A deal
Speaker 1: that's just okay, it's not okay. Get a great deal
Speaker 1: with America's best network. Come into an AT and T
Speaker 1: store to find out how to get one of our
Speaker 1: popular smartphones for zero dollars down based on GWS one score.
Speaker 1: September twenty nineteen. Do you want the most interesting, up
Speaker 1: to the minute Dallas Cowboys news straight from the Star
Speaker 1: in Frisco. How about exclusive and on command? That's right,
Speaker 1: News and nuggets you can't find anywhere else. With our
Speaker 1: exclusive Cowboys content on Alexa, you can have all the answers, secrets,
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Speaker 1: Whether you're into being a part of this or more
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Speaker 1: that time again for tailgating with the outer Box boys. Outterbucks,
Speaker 1: the company that builds wildly overproductive phone cases. The one
Speaker 1: and only what happened in the locker room? What are
Speaker 1: people saying? Was did he talped in? Telling y'all like
Speaker 1: that could be good stuff? You know? Yeah, back to
Speaker 1: the break. We're live here at the Virtual SWBC mortgage
Speaker 1: studios from our homes and we're talking Cowboys football with
Speaker 1: you guys here for the next twenty thirty minutes. We'll
Speaker 1: see how it goes. Let's jump into a little bit
Speaker 1: of the owners meetings. Jerry, as we mentioned earlier in
Speaker 1: the show, was back at the Stock. He was there
Speaker 1: in order to do the owners meetings virtually from his
Speaker 1: office at the Star. And really, I guess the most
Speaker 1: important thing that came out of those meetings, or at
Speaker 1: least the things that were released to the public at
Speaker 1: the public got word of they came out of those meetings,
Speaker 1: really revolved around diversity and inclusion. There were a couple
Speaker 1: of rules changes that were enacted yesterday or resolutions that
Speaker 1: were passed that were that were really made in hopes
Speaker 1: of being able to create more diversity among head coaches,
Speaker 1: among coordinators, among front office personnel in the NFL. Right now,
Speaker 1: there are four minority head coaches in the NFL. Mike Tomlin,
Speaker 1: Anthony Glenn, Ron Rivera, and Brian Flores. Are also two
Speaker 1: minority gms, Chris Greyer and Andrew Berry. But now, what
Speaker 1: teams will be forced to reckon with with regard to
Speaker 1: this is they must interview two minority head coaches that
Speaker 1: are external to the organizations, so it can't be pro
Speaker 1: coaches that are currently on their staff. They also have
Speaker 1: to interview at least one external minority candidate for all
Speaker 1: dc OC, Senior football and GM positions, and then they're
Speaker 1: no longer allowed to block assistant coaches who are from
Speaker 1: interviewing for those coordinator positions. Some of the things that
Speaker 1: have been talked about is, uh, some of these coaches
Speaker 1: have a hard time right now because they're being they're
Speaker 1: they're blocked by their teams from being allowed to pursue
Speaker 1: head coaching I'm sorry, coordinator positions while they're still under
Speaker 1: a contract with a particular team. So I'll ask you
Speaker 1: guys the questions, how do you how do you think
Speaker 1: this affects teams? How do you think these changes affect
Speaker 1: the teams with regards to their hiring practices. Well, first
Speaker 1: of all, I love the last thing you just said.
Speaker 1: I love that rule better than any of them, um,
Speaker 1: and that helps all coaches. If you're a running backs
Speaker 1: coach and you want to be an offensive coordinator, but
Speaker 1: you still have two years left on your deal and
Speaker 1: you need that security to have that contract I think
Speaker 1: it is very to be able to not be blocked
Speaker 1: that way. I've seen the Cowboys blocked a couple of
Speaker 1: coaches in that regard, and that just gives them one
Speaker 1: step further because you rarely see a head coach hired
Speaker 1: from anything other than a coordinator spot. So that just
Speaker 1: puts them and that one, you know, one step closer
Speaker 1: to uh you know, of all the things that you said,
Speaker 1: I love that one the most because I do think
Speaker 1: that helps every coach in the business, regardless of what
Speaker 1: they look like. I think that does help them. I
Speaker 1: do love that rule. Um. I like the other ones too,
Speaker 1: but I think that one is going to be very
Speaker 1: beneficial for a lot of reasons. Yeah, I think it
Speaker 1: feels like a step in the right direction. I don't
Speaker 1: think anybody has like a perfect answer to the solution.
Speaker 1: I definitely I'm glad the NFL is trying to be
Speaker 1: proactive about it. I mean, you're talking about a league
Speaker 1: that's seventy percent African American with I mean, I mean,
Speaker 1: what did you say to two GMS and coaches and
Speaker 1: two GMS? Yeah, I mean, do the do the math
Speaker 1: on that seventy percent African American league with like a
Speaker 1: twelve percent representation in the upper echelon. Obviously, it's something
Speaker 1: that should be addressed. I hope it helps. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I can't sit here and say that at one hundred
Speaker 1: percent will though, because at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: just like every other business, it's really more about who
Speaker 1: you know than what you know. In my opinion, I
Speaker 1: had a conversation with somebody relatively important one time that
Speaker 1: I think kind of got to the crux of this
Speaker 1: whole issue, and he was like, well, do you really
Speaker 1: you really think an NL team wouldn't hire a guy
Speaker 1: because he's black in this day and age, Like you
Speaker 1: really believe that? And I was like, no, I don't.
Speaker 1: That's not the point at all. I think it's that
Speaker 1: if you don't get face to face with people and
Speaker 1: meet new people, then you're just going to continue this
Speaker 1: this perpetuation. And you know, it's kind of like, you know,
Speaker 1: people get mad when when a coach's son gets hired,
Speaker 1: not necessarily that the guy's not qualified, it's just that
Speaker 1: you looked across the hall and you're like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know him, and you're just ignoring a whole host
Speaker 1: of other people. Hopefully, I really like the idea that
Speaker 1: you've got to interview somebody from outside the organization because
Speaker 1: it makes it at least a little bit harder to
Speaker 1: just check the box and move on. Maybe you give
Speaker 1: somebody from the outside a chance to come in and
Speaker 1: really blow you away. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it's not going to stop people from hiring someone they're
Speaker 1: comfortable with. And in a league where seventy five percent
Speaker 1: of the power structure is white, more often than not,
Speaker 1: a person they're comfortable with is probably also going to
Speaker 1: be white. So I don't know that this guarantees to
Speaker 1: fix anything. I think it's a step in the right direction,
Speaker 1: but I guess we'll see. Yeah, I think that like
Speaker 1: me personally, given like my own personal experiences since I
Speaker 1: moved to the United States and just kind of being
Speaker 1: involved in a new culture and everything, I would not
Speaker 1: be where I'm at. Hell, I I'll be given a
Speaker 1: chance to do anything. You know, So you don't know
Speaker 1: how much, like they said, you don't know how much
Speaker 1: it will actually change. But the fact of bringing some
Speaker 1: other people from the outside, being face to face and
Speaker 1: just at least presenting the chance for that person to
Speaker 1: enchant you, you know, to make you like them, to
Speaker 1: let them voice their opinion, their thoughts, their visions. I
Speaker 1: think that hopefully that's definitely a great start, you know,
Speaker 1: to keep moving towards the right direction, and by those chances,
Speaker 1: you know, if someone is giving a chance and then
Speaker 1: they take it and it works out, then it'll hopefully
Speaker 1: open up more eyes and open things up better and
Speaker 1: think like, Okay, well, you know, maybe going outside of
Speaker 1: our comfort zone isn't that bad. You know, maybe we
Speaker 1: can't try that and it will just work out fine.
Speaker 1: So I like that. Who knows how big of a
Speaker 1: change it will be, but it's definitely better than how
Speaker 1: it was before. Yeah, I think one of the big
Speaker 1: challenges here, and this is this is an NFL issue.
Speaker 1: This is an issue I think in general society when
Speaker 1: it comes to hiring practices, but there's a lot of
Speaker 1: gray area, and I think it's why you see in sports,
Speaker 1: particularly with athletes, you see there's probably a lot more
Speaker 1: minority minorities that that get opportunities. And I think it's
Speaker 1: because sports still remains one of the true areas where
Speaker 1: your abilities to be able to do the job are
Speaker 1: very easy to see. Right, you can sell a running
Speaker 1: backs really good because you can look at his production, right.
Speaker 1: It's it's a lot harder to be able to look
Speaker 1: at a position coach and say, yeah, he's a great coach,
Speaker 1: he'll be a great OC, he'll be a great DC,
Speaker 1: he'll be a great head coach, because a lot of
Speaker 1: his success is really dependent upon other people doing great jobs, right.
Speaker 1: And so there's all this gray area as to a
Speaker 1: great coach, and you usually don't see the great coach
Speaker 1: until he is the great coach, right, And so you
Speaker 1: have a lot of gray area to play with. And
Speaker 1: those are the areas where you tend to find a
Speaker 1: lot where you have to create these these artificial ways
Speaker 1: of making sure that people who otherwise wouldn't get opportunities
Speaker 1: can get opportunities because that gray area there isn't it
Speaker 1: isn't as clear cut as who are the great coaches
Speaker 1: from the guys that aren't the great coaches. You look
Speaker 1: at a guy like Jason Garrett, he checks a lot
Speaker 1: of the boxes, and you would think he's gonna be
Speaker 1: really successful. I thought he would be very successful with
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. I thought he was a good leader. I
Speaker 1: thought he knew how to communicate well. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of things that he checks the box on, but
Speaker 1: he never got beyond that certain point as a head
Speaker 1: coach that moved him into that upper echelon of coaches
Speaker 1: that are considered to be really really good head coaches. Right,
Speaker 1: and so there is that gray area, and I think
Speaker 1: that's really kind of what this is all meant to combat.
Speaker 1: To some degree. You have to be you have to
Speaker 1: be fortunate. I mean, Jason Garrett was a good coach.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can't do anything for nine years. He
Speaker 1: was a good coach, but Dallas kind always need better
Speaker 1: than good, and so you know, good wasn't enough he got.
Speaker 1: He had great seasons when he really needed to. He
Speaker 1: had some bad luck as well. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean some of those games against the Packers that
Speaker 1: was that wasn't you know, fortunate for him. But he
Speaker 1: also was fortunate in other ways. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: all about who who's around you. I mean, I know,
Speaker 1: Eric b Enemy gets a lot of talk about, you know,
Speaker 1: why he didn't get a head coaching job, and you
Speaker 1: know he probably will get a lot more chances too.
Speaker 1: But having Patrick Mahomes helps him. I mean that that
Speaker 1: helps him. Look at Jim Caldwell when he was coaching
Speaker 1: the Colts, I mean, Josh McDaniels. Those guys coach great players,
Speaker 1: and so it is kind of hard to figure out,
Speaker 1: you know how, what's your value is. It's it about
Speaker 1: the players, is about you, It's about the system. So
Speaker 1: whatever gives them an opportunity. You know, coaches say all
Speaker 1: the time, put me in the room, let me talk,
Speaker 1: and let me let me sell myself. And I think
Speaker 1: this is gonna give them. He's gonna give it a
Speaker 1: lot of coaches an opportunity to do that more. One
Speaker 1: of the world Docum Minute examples of the Rooney Rule
Speaker 1: and how it worked is Mike Tomlins. As the story goes,
Speaker 1: the Steelers were not necessarily thinking that he was going
Speaker 1: to be a really strong candidate, but they needed to
Speaker 1: get an African, give an African American coach an opportunity,
Speaker 1: and they gave an opportunity and he completely blew them
Speaker 1: away and it turned out being a good hire for them.
Speaker 1: They got a coach that won a Super Bowl for him.
Speaker 1: So I think, I think ultimately that's the whole point
Speaker 1: of the Rooney Rule, and even these changes to the
Speaker 1: Rooney Rule is get the guys opportunities to get in
Speaker 1: front of the right people and then make the decision right,
Speaker 1: But at least you had it out. You gave him
Speaker 1: the opportunity to be able to sell themselves as the
Speaker 1: best head coaching candidate, the best offensive coordinating candidate, even
Speaker 1: the best GM candidate, and then based on that you
Speaker 1: can make your decision because it now gave them access
Speaker 1: to the process. And I don't want to I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to discreditation get he's the wal credential coach. He's
Speaker 1: had a lot of success as a coach. But to
Speaker 1: go back to my point, don't you feel like his
Speaker 1: relationships around football helped him fast track his career? I
Speaker 1: mean he played for the Cowboys. He was already on
Speaker 1: Jerry Jones's radar well before he even got into coaching.
Speaker 1: Parlaid a decade plus worth of playing into getting a
Speaker 1: job with Nick Saban, very very early in his career.
Speaker 1: And again not to discredit the guy, but relationships helped
Speaker 1: him land with the Cowboys. His father, you know, worked
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys. Like again, who you know is very important.
Speaker 1: Not everybody's going to have such a wealth of connections,
Speaker 1: and so anything you can do to get new people
Speaker 1: in a room with decision makers, hopefully you will be
Speaker 1: a good thing. And also it's like like you guys said,
Speaker 1: it's about selling yourself that when you do get that chance,
Speaker 1: that you are able to sell yourself and make it
Speaker 1: convince him. Because for example, remember Chris Richard, like I
Speaker 1: was one of the ones, Oh yes, Chris rouchhard for
Speaker 1: a head coach, let's go, come on. But after that,
Speaker 1: once I started hearing some things of the way he
Speaker 1: interviewed with other teams that he wasn't necessarily a great interviewer,
Speaker 1: and from what I hear heard, he those interviews didn't
Speaker 1: really go well. And the thing is that sometimes these
Speaker 1: teams they also reach out to their prior team, you know,
Speaker 1: and other dms and other people just to kind of
Speaker 1: find out, Okay, how was this guy as a coach
Speaker 1: over there, you know, behind the scenes, because yes, you
Speaker 1: get to see what he does on the field and everything,
Speaker 1: but how it goes beyond the things that you do
Speaker 1: on the field. It's also about those kinds of relationships
Speaker 1: and how are you as a leader, you know, And
Speaker 1: that's one of the things that Garrett did have. But
Speaker 1: in general, it's just such a tricky position because so
Speaker 1: many things have to work in your favor that it's
Speaker 1: just really tough. But I do think this is a
Speaker 1: move in the right direction. I think hopefully it will
Speaker 1: help to get more opportunities that should get an opportunity,
Speaker 1: and we'll see if that ultimately ends up in them
Speaker 1: getting more jobs, because I do think at the end
Speaker 1: of the data results are just as important as the process.
Speaker 1: So hopefully this gets some more opportunities to get involved
Speaker 1: in that process. We're gonna take our final break when
Speaker 1: we come back. We've got some questions and we're lined
Speaker 1: up some questions from you the fans. We'll do that
Speaker 1: when we come back back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot
Speaker 1: com Radio. I want to use what the pros use.
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Speaker 1: a part of this more into something like this, Seek
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Speaker 1: the easiest way to find, buy and sell tickets. Plus,
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Speaker 1: time you're craving this, download the Sea Geek app and
Speaker 1: let's go see Geek. I'm Jay Novachik, former tight end
Speaker 1: for the Dallas Cowboys. Back in the day. I was
Speaker 1: the guy who always got the tough yards and that's
Speaker 1: why I run with John Deer today. In fact, I
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Speaker 1: course in Chamber twenty nineteen, back to the Break. We're
Speaker 1: in the final segment of the break. We're live from
Speaker 1: the virtual SWBC Morning studios. We're in our homes and
Speaker 1: we're talking a little Cowboys football. We're in the final segment.
Speaker 1: Amber has some questions lined up. Amber, but do yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, let's go um. Since we have been talking
Speaker 1: about coaching, you know, head coaching position and all that,
Speaker 1: I have a question about Mike McCarthy. I know that
Speaker 1: he's on a one year deal, but do you guys
Speaker 1: think that he gets a pass if the Cowboys end
Speaker 1: up with a loose Becker? I mean, does he have
Speaker 1: a shorter leash or it seems, you know, compared to
Speaker 1: how they were with Garrett as far as patient, you know,
Speaker 1: are you can that clarify real quick? Are you talking
Speaker 1: about what the organizations be patient with him? Or the
Speaker 1: fans or no organization? Jerry Jervis, all right, got it, Nick,
Speaker 1: you has up to say, I saw you raise your hand.
Speaker 1: Oh well, I'm maybe I'm a little confused that I
Speaker 1: don't think he's got a one year deal. That it
Speaker 1: was that I don't know if that was the question. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know how. I don't have the
Speaker 1: deal instructure. I think it was. It's longer been than
Speaker 1: a one year deal of year contract. Yeah, basically, it's
Speaker 1: like in this first year, in the first year, do
Speaker 1: you think that he gets like a shorter leash as
Speaker 1: far as patients WI like god? Or does he have
Speaker 1: to do a lot better than what Garrett gave you?
Speaker 1: Got you? Yeah? Okay, Um, because we've seen in coaches
Speaker 1: you can, Gary can do whatever he wants, you know,
Speaker 1: as far as they could be a one year deal
Speaker 1: in his mind or whatever. As far as as when
Speaker 1: when does the seat start getting warm? Basically I think
Speaker 1: it's you know, he'll have a little bit of leeway.
Speaker 1: But everybody who thinks lest year's roster was good and
Speaker 1: probably will think this year's roster is is really good
Speaker 1: as well. And you know, I think that if he
Speaker 1: you know, if they lose close games where it feels
Speaker 1: like the game was mismanaged or whatever. Then yeah, I
Speaker 1: think it'll it will It'll be this year when you
Speaker 1: start hearing, oh, I thought this guy was a little
Speaker 1: bit better. So I mean a little bit of a leash.
Speaker 1: But I think with the Dallas Cowboys head coaching position,
Speaker 1: the criticism will always be there, and it'll start from
Speaker 1: the you know, from the very beginning. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: the court of public opinion. People expect wins, and they
Speaker 1: expect them right away. Like if this season is even mediocre,
Speaker 1: people are going to be upset. That's just the nature
Speaker 1: of the beast. But like the Cowboys themselves, this season
Speaker 1: would have to be an unmitigated disaster for I mean,
Speaker 1: they'd have to win five or fewer games for me
Speaker 1: to think like Mike McCarthy was going to get fired
Speaker 1: after one season on the job like that, Just that
Speaker 1: doesn't even happen. You know, nobody does that very rarely.
Speaker 1: I guess the Browns did it with Ready Kitchens, but
Speaker 1: it was an unmitigated disaster. So it would have to
Speaker 1: be something really, really bad. And on top of that,
Speaker 1: you know, the Cowboys aren't they don't They're not having
Speaker 1: an offseason, not a traditional one at any rate, So
Speaker 1: you've already got that baked into the pie. You know,
Speaker 1: it would be really, really surprising to see the organization
Speaker 1: lose faith with him before, you know, at least two
Speaker 1: or three seasons. We'll say this though, I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's anybody in this organization and doesn't
Speaker 1: believe they have a quality team as far as the
Speaker 1: personnel is concerned. And I'm talking a playoff caliber team
Speaker 1: and who knows what beyond that. But so I do
Speaker 1: think there would be some raised eyebrows within the organization
Speaker 1: with people that matter if this team is not a
Speaker 1: playoff team. I think there will be some questions on
Speaker 1: that because I think they feel like they already had
Speaker 1: a good roster. I think they feel like they had
Speaker 1: a wonderful, outstanding draft, as everybody wants to say. So
Speaker 1: I think when you combine all those things, I think,
Speaker 1: and they're bringing in a coach who has the pedigree
Speaker 1: of Mike McCarthy, I think their expectations for Mike McCarthy
Speaker 1: is he's going to get this team in the playoffs
Speaker 1: and he's gonna take them a long way, and maybe
Speaker 1: that doesn't have to happen like then they don't have
Speaker 1: to go all the way this year. But I do
Speaker 1: expect that if this is a is not a playoff
Speaker 1: team this year, I think there will be a little
Speaker 1: bit of disappointment. I think there will be expectations that
Speaker 1: he should be better, that this team should be better
Speaker 1: than that for this year. Well, talking about the quarterback position,
Speaker 1: we know that Andy Dalton is gonna be here with
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. Going back to when Mark Stanchez was here,
Speaker 1: you know, we talked about how Mark Stanchez was able
Speaker 1: to help Dak with some of the things on the
Speaker 1: field and off the field and to kind of manage
Speaker 1: and find his way through what he was dealing with
Speaker 1: at the position. When you look at Andy Dalton, what
Speaker 1: are some of the things or qualities that he can
Speaker 1: show Dak or what can Dak learn from him? I think, Sorry, Dave,
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, if you want to get
Speaker 1: really detailed with it, he you know, he's a guy.
Speaker 1: When Dad comes off the field, you know, he could
Speaker 1: look over at Andy Dalton and he has seen it before.
Speaker 1: He's seen it several times. He knows exactly what that
Speaker 1: defense is like. And to be specific, there are four
Speaker 1: games on the schedule that against teams that you know,
Speaker 1: Dak hasn't played since his rookie year and Andy Dalton
Speaker 1: played him twice a year and including Cincinnati in practice.
Speaker 1: So he'll be able to kind of help from from
Speaker 1: that standpoint as well, just in those weeks on a
Speaker 1: team that's that's not going to be as familiar for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys in the offensive for Dak. So I just
Speaker 1: think a better instead of eyes and in his mind
Speaker 1: will be something that will lean on if he allows,
Speaker 1: you know, to do that, he allows himself to do that,
Speaker 1: which I think he will not. To steal up staff
Speaker 1: on Twitter, and I apologize, I can't find I can't
Speaker 1: find who tweeted it, so I'm sorry to that person,
Speaker 1: but I saw it blew my mind, do y'all? Like
Speaker 1: Dak already holds the Cowboys record by a considerable margin
Speaker 1: for consecutive start, more than Romo. You know, Romo obviously
Speaker 1: had a lengthy problem with injuries. Aikman had his injury
Speaker 1: issues as well, miss games and several seasons stop by,
Speaker 1: Dak is already way better than all of them. Like,
Speaker 1: I think he's got sixty four and behind him it's
Speaker 1: like thirty seven or forty something like, yeah, yeah, exactly so.
Speaker 1: And the reason I bring it up is I was
Speaker 1: never worried about the the backup quarterback position in the
Speaker 1: sense that he would have to play, because Dak has
Speaker 1: not really given a ton of indication that he would
Speaker 1: need to come off the field. But what's always bothering me,
Speaker 1: how backup quarterback is what do any of these guys
Speaker 1: know about quarterbacking that Dak Prescott doesn't? Like, Hey, Coop,
Speaker 1: what did you see out there? He's like, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I've only played in garbage time ever in my life.
Speaker 1: So and I mean, I'm not trying to dog Cooper rush,
Speaker 1: but you'd like to think the backup quarterback can help
Speaker 1: the starter sort of navigate his way through a game
Speaker 1: or a season or a game plan. And he started
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty three games, he's been in the
Speaker 1: playoffs more times than Dak. You know, I don't think
Speaker 1: he's a better quarterback than Dak right now, but he's
Speaker 1: got plenty of expertise to lend, and I think that
Speaker 1: makes him twice as valuable on top of the fact
Speaker 1: that he could step into the lineup if he needed to.
Speaker 1: There's not much to add to that. I think both
Speaker 1: those guys hit the nail on the head. It's experience,
Speaker 1: So if nothing else, he'll be able to add some
Speaker 1: experience to what Daks has and has not been able
Speaker 1: to see. Although he's been in the league now long
Speaker 1: enough to where he's probably seeing pretty much everything. It's
Speaker 1: just a matter of having another set of eyes that
Speaker 1: tells him what he's seeing as the games going on.
Speaker 1: And and and also there's a misperception out there about competition.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of times people think that if
Speaker 1: somebody's not a real threat to take your job, that
Speaker 1: they're not competing with you. But any any person that's competitive,
Speaker 1: any guy that's ever went out and played and saw
Speaker 1: if Andy Dalton takes the second team offense down and
Speaker 1: scores a touchdown in the first you know, practice of
Speaker 1: training camp, Dak's gonna see that. Dak knows that, and
Speaker 1: Dad's gonna make sure that you know that the offense
Speaker 1: doesn't struggle so kind about taking his job. It's just
Speaker 1: taking to another level. And I think Andy don't even
Speaker 1: do that better than anybody that's ever been around deck.
Speaker 1: That's a really great point. Niga's just setting that bar right.
Speaker 1: You see the bar, and I feel competitor. You go
Speaker 1: try to beat the bar. Right if if Rob Phillips
Speaker 1: writes a really good story two days in a row, Dave,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be I mean, you know, it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm right, I mean, hey, let's go. Yeah, that's what
Speaker 1: anybody I mean, you know, I mean we're I'm that
Speaker 1: way as well. So it's I just think that will help.
Speaker 1: He's got somebody next to him that that will push him.
Speaker 1: And I don't think they'll be done in a healthy way. Okay,
Speaker 1: I didn't check this tat, so I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's on accurate or not. But according to this tweet,
Speaker 1: Chris Jones was the twenty third ranked putner on twenty
Speaker 1: eighteen and thirty last year. Special teams have killed us
Speaker 1: over the last years. Any word on bringing in some
Speaker 1: competition of the punter position, you know, Mike was asked
Speaker 1: about that after the draft in one of the you know,
Speaker 1: in one of the various zoom calls that we did
Speaker 1: with them, somebody asked him about that, and he made
Speaker 1: it sound like thee they feel pretty good about what
Speaker 1: they have. I think John Fossil is comfortable or optimistic
Speaker 1: about Chris Jones. I don't. I don't argue the point,
Speaker 1: and I don't even need to look at the rest
Speaker 1: of the NFL. Compare Chris Jones to himself. Go look
Speaker 1: at his numbers from twenty sixteen and twenty seventeen compared
Speaker 1: to the last two seasons. It's very drasticum the net punning.
Speaker 1: You know how many yards you're giving up as well
Speaker 1: as your your field position. You know, in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen, like he was pinning teams inside there
Speaker 1: n twenty like half the time. And it just hasn't
Speaker 1: been the case. Um So I don't argue like he
Speaker 1: has not been up to snuff. But you bring in
Speaker 1: a new ordinator, one of the better special teams coordinators
Speaker 1: in the league, if he thinks he can work with Chris,
Speaker 1: I trust that. I'm not you know, I'm not panicking
Speaker 1: about it. You don't think they need a contingency plan.
Speaker 1: I think the contingency plan is whoever's out there when
Speaker 1: when you decide, I mean I think that you you
Speaker 1: would probably go get a veteran funner. I don't think
Speaker 1: you're gonna get a guy that's really gonna push them
Speaker 1: all all the time in practice. But I don't I'm
Speaker 1: saying that they should or should in him. I think
Speaker 1: that stats are weird when it comes to punting. You
Speaker 1: could be on the forty yard line, you could punt
Speaker 1: it to the ten. That's a good punt, but it
Speaker 1: looks like a thirty yard punt to the guy in
Speaker 1: New York and it doesn't look great. So the people
Speaker 1: that know are the ones that are right here, the
Speaker 1: ones that are in the press box, Dave Derek Amber
Speaker 1: that watch it and go, they need a really good
Speaker 1: punt here. And that wasn't the you know, like you
Speaker 1: could just tell from the eyes. And he struggled him
Speaker 1: last year. Now, he did have a pack injury that
Speaker 1: affected him all last year. Wasn't publicly known a lot.
Speaker 1: But I do think that if he's healthy, he can
Speaker 1: be better. But the watches on him because they have
Speaker 1: to be better than they want what they were. And
Speaker 1: the tough part for me is that it's been two
Speaker 1: years now. It was last year and the year before
Speaker 1: that he wasn't great. And so that's what makes me
Speaker 1: start to think, at this point, maybe you're seeing a decline.
Speaker 1: Maybe they can get more out of him. I certainly
Speaker 1: I am open to the idea if you bring in
Speaker 1: a new special teams coordinator and he's supposed to be
Speaker 1: one of the best in the league, and maybe he
Speaker 1: figures out some ways to be able to help him
Speaker 1: and to be able to get him back to what
Speaker 1: he was two years ago. But as of right now,
Speaker 1: I think they needed contingency planning. Again. Maybe the thought
Speaker 1: is the contingency plan means that you know whoever's out
Speaker 1: on the street right now, like he is going to
Speaker 1: be out on the street once you get the training
Speaker 1: camp and beyond. So if you need to make a move,
Speaker 1: you already have that short list to call those guys
Speaker 1: up and you make the move. But I just hope
Speaker 1: that they're thinking in that way because I don't trust
Speaker 1: necessarily right now that he's going to be He's gonna
Speaker 1: have it about face from what he's been the last
Speaker 1: two years. I think with him, let's not roll out
Speaker 1: how good is his arm or how good is his legs,
Speaker 1: because nobody runs more fake punts than John Fossil. He
Speaker 1: runs them all the time and would have seen a
Speaker 1: couple of fake punts out of Chris Jones. He's a
Speaker 1: good athlete, So that's gonna factor into this. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know we're joking around about it, but I mean
Speaker 1: they're gonna run some fake punts and I think he's
Speaker 1: pretty good, you know, guy to have in that regard. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you want to see how well he punted Doe of
Speaker 1: his job or I'd say seventy five. He is a
Speaker 1: holder as well, but you know, his athletic ability, the
Speaker 1: punter's applicability is important to a John Fossil special team.
Speaker 1: This probably applies to like any business, but my border,
Speaker 1: like my base side attitude toward any player that struggled
Speaker 1: is I'm like, it's you know, it's a brand new
Speaker 1: coaching staff, it's an all new past, and the schemes
Speaker 1: are gonna change. And for the most part, I'm just
Speaker 1: willing to give anybody the benefit of the doubt, um
Speaker 1: and let these let these coaches see what they can
Speaker 1: do with them, and you can reevaluate if that's not
Speaker 1: the case once you start playing football. But I feel
Speaker 1: planning optimistic that Jones can bounce that. I real quick, Ambert,
Speaker 1: before we end the show, I wanted to get back
Speaker 1: to that question I was about and to ask you
Speaker 1: guys in the first segment about Cheeto, I'll retee it out.
Speaker 1: But Sankya Pruland of NFL dot Com, she asked he
Speaker 1: was talking about. She made one player from every team
Speaker 1: that she thought was undervalued. She named Cheto Luzier, the
Speaker 1: guy for the Cowboys. She said he's been far us
Speaker 1: talked about despite forcing eighteen in completions in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: third most in the NFL, a stat I did not know.
Speaker 1: We also did some research looking into just pro football
Speaker 1: focuses coverage ratings. Richard Sherman was at the top of
Speaker 1: the list with ninety point five rating, Byron Jones was
Speaker 1: sixteenth at seventy four point eight rating, and Cheeto this
Speaker 1: was number twenty six at seventy point five rating, which,
Speaker 1: if you think about it, you got thirty two teams,
Speaker 1: and that means you got two cornerbacks at least on
Speaker 1: all those teams, not including the third cornerback, which you
Speaker 1: would make that number even higher. So twenty six is
Speaker 1: not a horrible place as far as a ranking in
Speaker 1: the NFL as far as cornerbacks. My question for you
Speaker 1: guys is have we undervalued what Cheetah bay Olusier has
Speaker 1: been for this team at quarterback? Quarterback. Let's start with you, Dave,
Speaker 1: and talk out both sides of my mouth a little bit,
Speaker 1: because one I do think Cheeto probably like the rap,
Speaker 1: is worse than the actual onfield product. It is hard
Speaker 1: to play cornerback. It's a thankless job. If you give
Speaker 1: up completions, that's what people remember. I think you can
Speaker 1: say the same thing about Anthony Brown. I think he
Speaker 1: is a better player than the public discourse gives him
Speaker 1: credit for having said that. I can't sit here and
Speaker 1: say that I think Cheeto is undervalued, Like you can
Speaker 1: go back and watch like the plays are there. His
Speaker 1: coverage is usually good, but at some point you have
Speaker 1: to admit that the imposing receiver makes the reception. You
Speaker 1: have to admit that he had problems finding the ball
Speaker 1: with how often he was targeted. You have to admit
Speaker 1: that he was taken out of a game by the
Speaker 1: coaching staff for coming late on an angle and giving
Speaker 1: up a big run play. I think it was against
Speaker 1: who was that against? It was like Buffalo, Maybe it
Speaker 1: was like in December. I don't know, but he was
Speaker 1: pulled out of the starting lineup by the coaching staff.
Speaker 1: So all that stuff is still true. Um, it's kind
Speaker 1: of like what I said about Chris Jones is like
Speaker 1: I'm I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt,
Speaker 1: had a change of coaches and a change of scenery
Speaker 1: to do him good. I do think he's a capable
Speaker 1: NFL starter, but I can't come as far as to
Speaker 1: say he's the most undervalued player on the roster. Definitely not.
Speaker 1: I think that. I think the premise behind that point
Speaker 1: is the fact that he's ranked one hundred and twelve
Speaker 1: in a league in cornerbacks average salary. He's making just
Speaker 1: over a million. I think he's fifth on the Cowboys roster,
Speaker 1: right ahead of C. J. Goodwin, who's not ever gonna
Speaker 1: play corner and Daryl Whorley, and Trevon Diggs who's never
Speaker 1: had a snap, and Anthony Brown, and I think there's
Speaker 1: a there's an and Maurice Kennedy. They're all ranked, you know,
Speaker 1: higher than him, and he could be your best cornerback.
Speaker 1: Keito could be um. So I think that's where where
Speaker 1: that comes in, and it comes into you know, anytime
Speaker 1: you get in the last year of your deal, you're
Speaker 1: going to be under about you because you're probably a
Speaker 1: good player that's starting, and your contracts still not there
Speaker 1: yet because he ever got a set a deal. So
Speaker 1: I think he's he's good. Like Dave said, I agree
Speaker 1: with everything Dave said. He had some problems last year.
Speaker 1: Your expectations were higher, but I think that you know,
Speaker 1: he's making a million dollars a year. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of corners making work, and a lot of them aren't
Speaker 1: even cornerbacks. In this league, there's special teams guys this before.
Speaker 1: I do see the talent in him. I think we've
Speaker 1: seen it before. We've seen the kind of like competitive
Speaker 1: nature that he has. He's a physical guy. He he
Speaker 1: can do it. He can do it. I had in
Speaker 1: my heart, I had high hopes for him last year.
Speaker 1: Obviously didn't go. I'm sure how he planned to go.
Speaker 1: But when you talk about a guy like him, I
Speaker 1: think that regardless of whatever people say, regardless of whatever
Speaker 1: stats this year, he's gonna have a lot to prove
Speaker 1: if he wants to even stay on the team. So
Speaker 1: at this point, whether he's undervalued or not, you just
Speaker 1: you gotta step it up and just find a place
Speaker 1: on the roster. And if you talk about undervalue, I
Speaker 1: mean I would be talking about a guy like Jordan
Speaker 1: Lewis instead, you know when you're looking at those stats.
Speaker 1: But but yeah, he hopefully can step it up this
Speaker 1: year and with the addition of these other younger guys
Speaker 1: that can bring out more competitiveness out of everyone and
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens there at the position. All Right,
Speaker 1: that's rap. We appreciate you guys joining us this week.
Speaker 1: We'll be back next week at our normal time Wednesday's
Speaker 1: at eleven am till then Nick eat mc, Dave helm
Speaker 1: and Amber Garcia. I am Derek Eagleton. This has been
Speaker 1: The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This
Speaker 1: has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.