Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football clubs. 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: with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia and Derek Eagleton.
Speaker 1: It is Monday, October fifth, twenty twenty, Season sixteen, episode
Speaker 1: number thirty seven. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break.
Speaker 1: We've got forty five minutes here to talk to you
Speaker 1: guys and try to make sense of what happened yesterday.
Speaker 1: Cowboys lose forty nine thirty eight in a game that
Speaker 1: was very similar to many games that we've seen them
Speaker 1: play this season. They fall in a deep hole, they
Speaker 1: managed to come back, they make it very interesting, and
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, they end up with
Speaker 1: a loss. We're gonna start first with what we do
Speaker 1: every Monday, where we're just gonna go around the table
Speaker 1: and talk about what we think is the biggest storyline
Speaker 1: coming out of this game. Nick, I see that somber
Speaker 1: look on your face. I'm going I'm gonna start with
Speaker 1: you and let you kind of have a little moment
Speaker 1: time honestly trying to figure out something to say that that,
Speaker 1: you know, the other two wouldn't say. The defense was terrible,
Speaker 1: is terrible, has been terrible, was terrible, terrible or in
Speaker 1: that game, and it's that's the problem. Can't stop the run.
Speaker 1: I got a lot of friends that are that are coaches, college,
Speaker 1: high school, probably pee wee, I don't know, yeah, and
Speaker 1: they're all gonna tell you if you can't stop the run,
Speaker 1: you're gonna lose. So Amber, you didn't have as much
Speaker 1: much trepidation going to this game as many others did.
Speaker 1: How do you feel today? You know a lot of
Speaker 1: people for some reason are expecting me just to go
Speaker 1: completely off and be mad and all that. But to
Speaker 1: be honest, after watching the game again, I am not
Speaker 1: mad at all. Like watching the game, it was just
Speaker 1: I felt complete secondhand embarrassment. It was sad. I felt
Speaker 1: so bad just watching the way that the defense was playing.
Speaker 1: It was embarrassing. They just looked like a lost heard
Speaker 1: that just was in pure confusion, not knowing what to do.
Speaker 1: The he looked like high school players playing against NFL players.
Speaker 1: It was like the level was completely unmatched. There's absolutely
Speaker 1: zero positive that the defense did nothing positive aside from
Speaker 1: Aldon Smith put him aside, nobody else did absolutely anything.
Speaker 1: And I just don't get how week by week you
Speaker 1: just keep getting worse rather than improving. Day I was
Speaker 1: gonna be so disappointed if Amber didn't know me to
Speaker 1: actually ramp it up there, Like I was like, are
Speaker 1: you kidding? After this game of all games, you're not mad? Okay? Um,
Speaker 1: I just I'm gonna I'm gonna bounce off of what
Speaker 1: I said Friday, which is that they're probably not a
Speaker 1: very good team if they can't win this game, and
Speaker 1: it changes my expectations of what they are. I came
Speaker 1: into the season thinking this offense is gonna cook, This
Speaker 1: offense is gonna score mid thirties and flirt with the
Speaker 1: forties on a regular basis, and it's gonna give them
Speaker 1: a chance, and all they need is for their defense
Speaker 1: to be mediocre and they'll be a pretty good team.
Speaker 1: If the Dallas Cowboys had the eighteenth best defense in
Speaker 1: the league or the twentieth best defense in the league,
Speaker 1: they'd have a winning record right now. But they're the
Speaker 1: absolute worst like they are, and maybe I don't know,
Speaker 1: I'm sure. I haven't looked at the statistics. I don't
Speaker 1: know if they're updated yet. Even if they're not thirty second,
Speaker 1: they should be. They're awful. That was that was so bad,
Speaker 1: and it's going to hinder their ability to be competitive.
Speaker 1: Like you know this, Like I said, if the defense
Speaker 1: was even below average, you're talking about a team that
Speaker 1: can flirt with double digit wins. But they're awful, and
Speaker 1: so now you're talking about a team that's probably gonna
Speaker 1: win between six and nine games depending on a few
Speaker 1: bounces of the ball. So I got three storylines I'm
Speaker 1: gonna run by you guys, and we have a couple
Speaker 1: of questions on each one of them. The first one
Speaker 1: is obviously the run defense, and you guys all started
Speaker 1: there with the defense. But the run defense, particularly yesterday,
Speaker 1: was really really awful. I mean, they gave up three
Speaker 1: hundred and seven yards on the ground on forty Russians.
Speaker 1: That's the seven point seven average. I don't know that
Speaker 1: I've seen too many NFL games where you're giving up
Speaker 1: seven point seven yards per carry. And that's with what
Speaker 1: was the league's leading rusher in Nick Chubb going out
Speaker 1: in the first quarter and not returning to the game
Speaker 1: after being injured. That all being said, what was the problem, Nicholas,
Speaker 1: start with you, what was the problem with the run
Speaker 1: defense yesterday? Well, they the Browns had you know, it
Speaker 1: didn't matter if Nick Chubb was the running running back
Speaker 1: at all. That just kind of tells you what kind
Speaker 1: of system they're running. And also that the Cowboys weren't
Speaker 1: going to be able to stop it really anybody, Um,
Speaker 1: you know that they just plugged in whoever. But I
Speaker 1: thought Cleveland did a really nice job of misdirection, getting
Speaker 1: people to go one way, kind of suck of the
Speaker 1: defense there and then and then cutting back, Um, the
Speaker 1: Cowboys aren't getting off blocks and you know there and
Speaker 1: I didn't I don't know if was there a lot
Speaker 1: of miss tackles. I can't There were some there, I'm
Speaker 1: sure there was somebody didn't seem like a ton of
Speaker 1: mis tackles. It just was like they're they're just gashing them.
Speaker 1: So I'd have to go back and kind of watch
Speaker 1: more of it. But man, that it was. It was
Speaker 1: just demoralizing an you know, Dave said it and I
Speaker 1: kind of agreed with him when he said, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I'd play the safeties back because I don't see a
Speaker 1: team just running him to death. And I when he
Speaker 1: said it, I actually agreed with that, you know, but
Speaker 1: they did, they actually did. They actually ran over them.
Speaker 1: I didn't think that could happen, and that happened. Amber.
Speaker 1: What do you think is the biggest problem with run defense?
Speaker 1: They just look completely lost. Everyone just looks lost, honestly.
Speaker 1: And essentially, there are what three levels to the defense.
Speaker 1: Let's say the defensive line, then you got your linebackers,
Speaker 1: and then the secondary bank. Then neither level is doing
Speaker 1: a good enough job to do like their neither level
Speaker 1: is doing anything, honestly. So to go back and to
Speaker 1: think that that you got a whole new coaching staff,
Speaker 1: you got to see tape from at least last year.
Speaker 1: You knew going into this new job that you were
Speaker 1: having issues already with the run defense, and you still
Speaker 1: haven't managed to figure out a way to solve it.
Speaker 1: I just I don't know what to tell you. There
Speaker 1: needs to be a big change happening this week. Yeah, Dave,
Speaker 1: I think it is. It is ironic. I thought they
Speaker 1: could get away with let the Browns run between the twenties.
Speaker 1: I mean, there were plenty of explosive plays too. I mean,
Speaker 1: the anytime you can give up an uncontested forty yard
Speaker 1: touchdown pass from a wide receiver, I mean, it just
Speaker 1: it's just signals the type of day that you're going
Speaker 1: to have. I don't think that they have a player
Speaker 1: who's above replacement level in the middle of their defense, like,
Speaker 1: not a one. You know, we can hate on him
Speaker 1: for his contract all we want. DeMarcus Lawrence is still
Speaker 1: a pretty good player, even if he's not getting sacks.
Speaker 1: Alvin Smith has been a revelation. That's cool. What about
Speaker 1: the middle of the defense, Like the defensive tackles can't
Speaker 1: get off blocks, they get pushed around. The linebackers certainly
Speaker 1: can't get off blocks. The best linebacker on the team
Speaker 1: is Joe Thomas, who I you know, all things considered,
Speaker 1: I thought had a pretty decent day. It seemed like
Speaker 1: the effort was there, he was tackling. He should have
Speaker 1: had an interception on a terrible call. But you know,
Speaker 1: I brought it up Jalen Smith needed to have a
Speaker 1: great game. He had a terrible day. And then you know,
Speaker 1: we know all about the safeties. We know that that's
Speaker 1: a problem. So in the middle of the field, I
Speaker 1: don't know that there's a single player on this roster
Speaker 1: that another NFL team. Damn, I wish we had that guy.
Speaker 1: He's better than what we have. I just don't think
Speaker 1: that's the case. And it shows when you go against
Speaker 1: a great offensive line and a good stable running backs.
Speaker 1: You know, Dave, I kind of agree with you. I
Speaker 1: definitely agree with you on the linebackers. I think the
Speaker 1: linebackers played horribly yesterday, and even Joe Thomas. Joe Thomas
Speaker 1: I thought had some splash plays and I even tweeted
Speaker 1: about it earlier in the game. I think during the
Speaker 1: first quarter he had like this, you know, this stat
Speaker 1: line where he was actually making some plays. But as
Speaker 1: you watch that game, they're linebackers just and I've said
Speaker 1: this before, I said this in earlier weeks. It was
Speaker 1: on display yesterday. You got linebackers right now that are
Speaker 1: not diagnosing what's happening quickly enough. And then once they
Speaker 1: do figure out what's going on, they start trying to
Speaker 1: run to the play and they're not fast enough to
Speaker 1: get there. They can't get off blocks when an offensive
Speaker 1: lineman engages them, and in a lot of instance that
Speaker 1: means either they get washed out of plays or they
Speaker 1: end up just being blocked and can't get to the play,
Speaker 1: and so they're not filling gaps. And so I look
Speaker 1: at this and I'm actually thinking that yesterday a lot
Speaker 1: of the runs were right off tackle, which in this instance,
Speaker 1: when you're playing a three man front, you want your
Speaker 1: outside linebacker to maintain to make sure they don't get outside.
Speaker 1: They did that pretty well. The problem is when you
Speaker 1: do that and the defensive end is not closing that
Speaker 1: gap by flowing out, he's getting blocked, and then you
Speaker 1: don't have linebackers that are able to get over there
Speaker 1: and fill the gap because they're getting blocked. Then you
Speaker 1: create this lane. And that lane was there all day,
Speaker 1: all day for the Cleveland Brown. So I'm looking at
Speaker 1: the defensive ends in a three man front, I'm looking
Speaker 1: at the linebackers, and I'm saying that's where I think
Speaker 1: the Cowboys are having we're having problems yesterday. That doesn't mean, Dave,
Speaker 1: I disagree with you about the defensive tackles, because I
Speaker 1: think they've had some problems throughout the season, But I
Speaker 1: think yesterday and particularly the defensive ends in a three
Speaker 1: man front and the linebackers were the main culprits with
Speaker 1: the running game. Well, anytime you play a three four defense,
Speaker 1: anytime you know three four defense, Yeah, they're supposed to
Speaker 1: be able to get up the field and get get pressure.
Speaker 1: And what you sacrifice is that, Yeah, you have smaller
Speaker 1: guys and you could you could, you know, not get
Speaker 1: off your blocks and get pushed around. But you offset
Speaker 1: that because you've got speedy, quick pass rushers that will
Speaker 1: get to the quarterback. Well that's not happening. So they're
Speaker 1: just getting gashed. Yeah, So let me ask you this question,
Speaker 1: and I'll throw this out there to day. Oh once
Speaker 1: you answer this for me. How much blame? I think
Speaker 1: we all agree this defense is bad. How much blame
Speaker 1: do you give Mike Nolan? I saw stat this morning.
Speaker 1: If you go back to the last time he was
Speaker 1: a defensive coordinator twenty twelve through twenty fourteen, he was
Speaker 1: the coordinator defensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons. His defense
Speaker 1: was twenty fourth, twenty seventh, and thirty second in those
Speaker 1: three years. Dave, how much blame do you give Mike Nolan?
Speaker 1: I think I said this last week about the players
Speaker 1: and it can apply to coaches too. Is like I
Speaker 1: love it when they make it easy for me because
Speaker 1: they've given up the sixth highest point total through four
Speaker 1: games in the history the entire league. So a lot
Speaker 1: of blame because and I get it, like, I know
Speaker 1: that they have a lot of injuries. I know Layton
Speaker 1: vander esh isn't out there. I know that you lost
Speaker 1: Gerald McCoy. You still had a whole training camp to
Speaker 1: evaluate what you had and adjust what you wanted to
Speaker 1: do based on that, not to mention the offseason that
Speaker 1: you had where you know, you got to sit down
Speaker 1: and watch the tape of what these guys could do
Speaker 1: in the last scheme and figure out what suits them
Speaker 1: the best. And it doesn't look like that plan is
Speaker 1: awesome right now. Again, sixth highest point total in the
Speaker 1: history of professional football. So yeah, plenty, because I mean,
Speaker 1: and a big part of being a coach is adapting
Speaker 1: on the fly. It either doesn't look like they're doing
Speaker 1: that or it looks like the adapting that they're trying
Speaker 1: to do is even worse than the original plan. All right,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and move on to the next area
Speaker 1: where I thought that it was a big storyline for
Speaker 1: this team, and it is a storyline that's continued throughout
Speaker 1: the year is fact that they are giving the ball
Speaker 1: away and they're not getting turnover, so their turnover margin
Speaker 1: is out of control. You look at it, yesterday, they
Speaker 1: had they gave away three turnovers. They didn't get a
Speaker 1: single turnover. Zeke gets his second fumble loss of the seasons,
Speaker 1: the third time he's fumbled. He recovered one of them.
Speaker 1: But that all being said, is this something that the
Speaker 1: coaches can actually fix or do you think this is
Speaker 1: a situation where players just have to be more aware
Speaker 1: and have to just take more time to protect the ball.
Speaker 1: And let's start with you Amber, Well, I think it's
Speaker 1: definitely a combination of both. Certain players. There are certain
Speaker 1: things that you couldn't you should not be able to do,
Speaker 1: Like there are certain mistakes that you shouldn't be doing
Speaker 1: at this level, especially when you're speaking about vettering guys.
Speaker 1: That's one thing. But I get it. Errors happens, things
Speaker 1: happen in the game whatever, Okay, But when you as
Speaker 1: a coach you are putting a guy like Terence Steele
Speaker 1: out there on the offensive line and you know that
Speaker 1: there's a guy called Miles Scarrett in their playing as well,
Speaker 1: you gotta be aware of the kind of situations that
Speaker 1: you're putting your offense in and what those things can create.
Speaker 1: I mean, one of those were created by you making
Speaker 1: the decision to have Still in there rather than put Night,
Speaker 1: and that's a guy we I think all the Greed
Speaker 1: that has played a little bit better than Still. So
Speaker 1: those kinds of decisions that you should already know prior
Speaker 1: to going in the game to kind of just prevent
Speaker 1: certain situations from happening. Both but at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, I mean it also goes to the players.
Speaker 1: So it's just a combination of both putting your players
Speaker 1: in the best situation as possible, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: you as a player trying to play better football, and
Speaker 1: the biggest thing in football is securing the ball and
Speaker 1: being able to just not let it loose. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: mentioned steal there. One of the unique things A note
Speaker 1: about that is earlier in the game he'd already given
Speaker 1: up one sack and there was another play where he
Speaker 1: allowed a quarterback pressure because he basically just got thrown
Speaker 1: to the ground. So this was not I mean, they
Speaker 1: already had seen this was looking bad, and they decided
Speaker 1: that they were going to stick with it, and it
Speaker 1: ended up costing them. Nick, what do you think do
Speaker 1: you think the coaches at this point can make a
Speaker 1: change with regard to this or this is or turnovers
Speaker 1: in this instance more function of the of the players.
Speaker 1: I think. I think a fumble is a function of
Speaker 1: the player, you know, I mean, I think it happens.
Speaker 1: I mean, but but I I mean, they they they
Speaker 1: stress that, they stress protecting the football and all those things.
Speaker 1: But you know, I just think when it comes down
Speaker 1: to I think she's right. I think that that you know,
Speaker 1: don't get surprised that that Terrence Steele's giving up sacks,
Speaker 1: and especially when you're not giving him help. The thing
Speaker 1: about Steel is that he's an athletic tackle. If that's
Speaker 1: the case, you know, he's his quick feet whatever, agile.
Speaker 1: But Miles Garrett's is more athletic than you, and he's
Speaker 1: got experience and he's got power, and so that's that's
Speaker 1: not a good matchup there at all. And so don't
Speaker 1: be surprised. I mean, I don't really blame that on Dak.
Speaker 1: I mean, Dak's trying to throw football and the guy
Speaker 1: knocks it out. I do blame it on the fact
Speaker 1: that he's not getting much help and expecting that Terrence
Speaker 1: Steals all of a sudden Gon gonna be able to
Speaker 1: stop Myles Garrett. But but but on the Zeke fumble, I
Speaker 1: think it's on Zeke. All right, let's move on. Let's
Speaker 1: take this next area that was a story of the game.
Speaker 1: Can I throw I know, I know we only have
Speaker 1: forty five minutes, but I mean three that's three sacks
Speaker 1: in three games where Dak has coughed the ball up
Speaker 1: getting sacked. And I know that that's it's hard. I
Speaker 1: understand that. And it sounds like you're not gonna have
Speaker 1: Lyle Collins this year, so it's probably gonna be a theme.
Speaker 1: But there's got to be a way you can protect
Speaker 1: that a little bit better. And the same goes for Zeke.
Speaker 1: You know. I remember we talked about this with DeMarco Murray.
Speaker 1: The way that he carried the ball seemed like he
Speaker 1: opened himself up to fumbles. I don't think Zeke's technique
Speaker 1: is as bad as DeMarco's was, but when you've had
Speaker 1: this many fumbles through this few games, it's probably something
Speaker 1: you should revisit for both of them, because not every
Speaker 1: quarterback in the league gets strip sacked every week. Well, Dave,
Speaker 1: there's got to be a way you can clean that up.
Speaker 1: I will say this with regard to Dak, I don't
Speaker 1: think every sack of a quarterback or a fumble created
Speaker 1: by a quarterback is necessarily equal, because it's one thing.
Speaker 1: If he's standing in the pocket and the guy comes
Speaker 1: and swipes the ball and knocks it out of his hands,
Speaker 1: that's one thing, and that's on the quarterback. It's a
Speaker 1: whole different thing if the quarterback is actually in the
Speaker 1: motion of throwing and the defender gets to him and
Speaker 1: knocks the ball away. To me, I put that on
Speaker 1: the offensive lineman. And by the way that I've heard
Speaker 1: this narrative that people are trying to throw out there,
Speaker 1: he was holding on the ball too long. That's bs
Speaker 1: that ball. If you watch that play he took me
Speaker 1: he didn't have to take a drop back because he
Speaker 1: was already in shotgun, but literally within a matter of
Speaker 1: two seconds, he was about to throw the ball. So
Speaker 1: this was not a situation where he held the ball
Speaker 1: too long. This was not a situation where he wasn't
Speaker 1: protecting the ball. He was in the motion of throwing.
Speaker 1: His offensive lineman has to do a better job of
Speaker 1: protecting him from allowing that defender to get to him
Speaker 1: to be able to knock the ball away as he's throwing.
Speaker 1: Very fair point, which raises the question of why everyone
Speaker 1: in the world knew that Brandon Knight should be playing
Speaker 1: right now exact Steff the coaching staff, And it's right
Speaker 1: back to that, because that's what we've been talking about
Speaker 1: here for the last couple of weeks, is that was
Speaker 1: a better scenario, especially a game like this where you're
Speaker 1: coming in against a guy like Miles Garrett. And it
Speaker 1: seemed like, for whatever reason, this coaching staff has been
Speaker 1: sold since the season began, they have been sold on
Speaker 1: the fact that Terrence Steele is their guy, and yesterday
Speaker 1: I think they had to recan on that a little
Speaker 1: bit because they had obviously took him out of the
Speaker 1: game and a movement at night in there. Yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: real quick, let's get to this final area that I
Speaker 1: thought was a storyline of the game. Once again, the
Speaker 1: Cowboys in it end up in a situation where they
Speaker 1: create this huge hole for themselves. They were down forty
Speaker 1: one to fourteen at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: I think we all thought this game's over. There's no
Speaker 1: way and Nick as the look I gave you at
Speaker 1: the point when they when they pulled close and when
Speaker 1: werein three. I think we all agree this offense had
Speaker 1: that That shows you the power of this offense. Question
Speaker 1: I for you guys, though, is do you think in
Speaker 1: any way what we're seeing from this offense is a
Speaker 1: function of the fact that they're really great when defense
Speaker 1: is kind of loosen up and maybe they're maybe they're good,
Speaker 1: they're not as great as maybe their numbers are because
Speaker 1: they're getting a lot of that in situations where defenses
Speaker 1: are loosening up and just not trying not to give
Speaker 1: up the big play, even though they're seeming to give
Speaker 1: up the big play those situations. What do you think
Speaker 1: one percent that they're not this offense isn't as explosive
Speaker 1: dynamic as as as those yards are showing, especially in
Speaker 1: the first half, they're not. They're not coming out and
Speaker 1: and being you know, getting a lead. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: you put it on the defense, but it's also the
Speaker 1: offense isn't scoring the points um in the first half
Speaker 1: like like they are in the second. And I think
Speaker 1: it is the case. You know, prevent defenses work. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know I've heard for years people say, well, prevent
Speaker 1: defenses only prevent you from winning. That's stupid. That's a
Speaker 1: stupid phrase to try to be catchy and all that
Speaker 1: prevent defenses get make you score and and it takes
Speaker 1: time off the clock to do that. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: they go and they score points and they're coming back
Speaker 1: in the game. But it hasn't been enough except for Atlanta,
Speaker 1: and it needed a miracle kick. The one thing I
Speaker 1: will say about that is, I think yesterday, for the
Speaker 1: first time, we did actually see the offense get somewhat
Speaker 1: of a fast start. The problem was a defense couldn't
Speaker 1: get a stop, and on top of that, the offense
Speaker 1: started turning the ball over and then it killed all
Speaker 1: their momentum to points. They got going, but they had
Speaker 1: turnovers there, Dave, what do you think? I think y'all
Speaker 1: are insane. With all due respect, I say that respectfully,
Speaker 1: but I mean what. I got the stats right here.
Speaker 1: Dak was thirteen to sixteen for two hundred yards and
Speaker 1: two touchdowns. At halftime. He was absolutely annihilating them. The
Speaker 1: baffling thing to me, I've never seen a game, and
Speaker 1: I like, you got to hang onto the ball. I
Speaker 1: get that. I've never seen a game where a pair
Speaker 1: of fumbles completely swung things like. The Cowboys looked like
Speaker 1: they were in position to dictate this game. They had
Speaker 1: a fourteen seven lead, They're moving the ball at will,
Speaker 1: and they cough up the ball twice and it's thirty one,
Speaker 1: fourteen before you can even blink, and now the whole
Speaker 1: thing's flipped. And again you have to hold onto the ball.
Speaker 1: But if the defense holds, like if they could even
Speaker 1: just do something like hold one of those drives to
Speaker 1: a field goal, it's a different game. Coming out a half,
Speaker 1: I thought the offense was rocking and rolling Zeke. I
Speaker 1: mean the ze Zeke's carry that led to a fumble
Speaker 1: was for like twenty one yards. I was getting ready
Speaker 1: to tweet, Oh, I guess, I guess Zeke finally had
Speaker 1: his fifteen yard run. I was about to tweet that
Speaker 1: when I realized he fumbled it like they were kicking ass.
Speaker 1: They kicked ass in Seattle when they were down by
Speaker 1: what fifteen points? When Dak led him on drives of
Speaker 1: like ninety one and eighty nine in as fan of
Speaker 1: like six minutes. I hope Seattle's not dumb enough to
Speaker 1: play prevent with a fifteen point lead. So no, I
Speaker 1: don't think that at all. I thought the offense was
Speaker 1: kicking ass until they forgot how to hold onto the football,
Speaker 1: and the defense didn't do him any favors. How do
Speaker 1: you explain it, then, how do you explain the fact
Speaker 1: that they Falcons Hawks and the Browns are stopping them
Speaker 1: in the first half, and all of a sudden, now
Speaker 1: in the second half, they're just getting all these yards.
Speaker 1: They're just clicking because they're minus like six and turnovers
Speaker 1: in that span. They fumbled the ball five times in
Speaker 1: the first quarter against Atlanta. Okay, well, then the offense
Speaker 1: is choking in the first half, and that's fair to
Speaker 1: say out of the Browns. I don't think that happened
Speaker 1: in the Brown game. They're turning the ball over, they're
Speaker 1: shifting themselves in the foot in the first half, and
Speaker 1: then in the second half they're playing free. And I
Speaker 1: don't know I do there, but let's get very clear,
Speaker 1: they need to hold onto the ball. Their ball security
Speaker 1: is awful. I ran. Then I looked at the numbers
Speaker 1: last night. They have nine turnovers through four games, and
Speaker 1: obviously we know their defense isn't gonna meet that like,
Speaker 1: they have to play cleaner football if they're gonna have
Speaker 1: a chance. But they're not doing this because or at
Speaker 1: least strictly because they're playing prevent defenses. That's that just
Speaker 1: can't be the case based on what we've seen. They
Speaker 1: got to play cleaner football. But this is an awesome
Speaker 1: offense and it has shown that potential in all four
Speaker 1: quarters of all four games. What do you think, Amber,
Speaker 1: I just think it's more of a factor of the
Speaker 1: Cowboys limiting their mistakes, because I mean, when you look
Speaker 1: at all the games, you can't tell me that there
Speaker 1: is a huge drop in the way that the defense
Speaker 1: is playing in the second half of the game, Like
Speaker 1: you're the defense is not just all of a sudden
Speaker 1: gonna just drop from playing at this level to this
Speaker 1: level that quickly. And I get it they get tired
Speaker 1: or whatever, but I just don't think it's bigger enough,
Speaker 1: big enough of a drop, rather than the Cowboys actually
Speaker 1: just trying to limit their mistakes and making it happen
Speaker 1: because we've seen it, and they get on the roll,
Speaker 1: but then the problem is once again they just hit
Speaker 1: themselves on the foot and then it goes to crap,
Speaker 1: all right, we're gonna take our first break. When we
Speaker 1: come back from this break, we're gonna get into the
Speaker 1: moments that mattered. Everybody has a moment from that game
Speaker 1: that they want to point out as the moment that
Speaker 1: could have been one of the pivotal moments of this game.
Speaker 1: We'll do that when we come right back. This is
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. We're back in the tasty
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Speaker 1: It's funny as we travel places, often we find the
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Speaker 1: They're people, their grandparents, moms, old friends, and new nephews.
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Speaker 1: we fly back to the break. The Cowboys are back
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Speaker 1: are available to get yours now at Dallas cowboys dot
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Speaker 1: a fast start. Gets Jason Garrett and the New York Giants.
Speaker 1: Boy this NFC East. We'll talk about that tomorrow, but anyway,
Speaker 1: now we're at the moments that matter. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the second segment of the breakelock in nest WBC Mortgage Studios.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go around the room and everybody's gonna give
Speaker 1: us a moment that mattered in this game. Nicholas start
Speaker 1: first with you, Okay, I think I'm going In the
Speaker 1: late of the first quarter, the Cowboys have a fourteen
Speaker 1: seven lead. It's the largest lead they've had in the
Speaker 1: entire season at that point, and the Browns have got
Speaker 1: the ball on first and twenty and because of holding penalties,
Speaker 1: first and twentieth of their own thirty eight five yard
Speaker 1: passed and the flat Austin Hooper and he's tackled like
Speaker 1: he's going down, you know. Don Wilson has him and
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith decides he wants to jump in on the
Speaker 1: pile and face mask, and so that obviously first down
Speaker 1: for Cleveland instead of second and fifteen, which is so
Speaker 1: important because you know, then it prevents them from really
Speaker 1: having to run much. Put it on Baker Mayfield's hand,
Speaker 1: get him uncomfortable. We saw when he's uncomfortable, he doesn't
Speaker 1: really make great decisions. You get the ball back up seven,
Speaker 1: you can go score, and now you're playing the way
Speaker 1: you want to play and Cleveland can't play the way
Speaker 1: they obviously played. But that penalty changed everything. Cleaving Gainst
Speaker 1: the ball drives down ties the game, and then the
Speaker 1: floodgates were open after that. But I thought that was
Speaker 1: a huge turning point. You got him backed up at
Speaker 1: first and twenty and there's no need, there's no reason
Speaker 1: to mask, there's no reason for you to even touch him.
Speaker 1: He didn't even have to tackle him because the guy
Speaker 1: was already gonna go down. Yeah, that was a huge
Speaker 1: moment that mattered for me. Yeah, it's as I go
Speaker 1: back and look at this game, one of the people
Speaker 1: that stands out the most to me, as I guess
Speaker 1: you can call him culprits is Jalen Smith. I just
Speaker 1: think he is not playing good football, and it really
Speaker 1: does make me wonder about his future here with the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: because he just does There's a lot of things he's
Speaker 1: got to correct in his game, and I'm not sure
Speaker 1: he can. Be quite honest with you, all right, let's
Speaker 1: go to you Amber. What was the moment of the
Speaker 1: moment that mattered for you? Oh? Well, we basically already
Speaker 1: talked about it a little bit. It was the sack
Speaker 1: that the sack slash fumble that Myles Garrett was able
Speaker 1: to create because of just the tacking tern Still, but
Speaker 1: to get to that point, I think that was the
Speaker 1: critical point of the game where everything just kind of
Speaker 1: started changing because you had the Cowboys offense scoring points.
Speaker 1: They were tied in the game fourteen fourteen at that moment,
Speaker 1: but you know, regardless of being tight, that was the
Speaker 1: first time that or not the first time, but at
Speaker 1: least the Cowboys starting off with some kind of tempo
Speaker 1: and being able to keep up with the opponent. Now,
Speaker 1: at that point, they get the sack, they recovered the ball,
Speaker 1: Cleveland goes back and scores a touchdown, and then what
Speaker 1: happens the Cowboys offense after that was not able to
Speaker 1: score anything else until the fourth quarter of the game.
Speaker 1: For some reason, that just completely threw their game away
Speaker 1: and they just could not get it moving again, could
Speaker 1: not figure it out until the fourth quarter. So that
Speaker 1: was a huge moment for me where I just saw
Speaker 1: just a whole turning point of the offense. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: interesting to me that I think we all agreed that
Speaker 1: we thought Night was the better of between he and Steel,
Speaker 1: and from the moment they put Night in the game,
Speaker 1: he wasn't perfect, but it did seem like a lot
Speaker 1: of things settled down with regards to the pressure that
Speaker 1: was coming at that Prescott. Is that what you guys thow?
Speaker 1: Do you think this was a game where once a
Speaker 1: Night got in, Night played substantially better there at the
Speaker 1: right tackle position day What do you think? That's how
Speaker 1: I've felt about Brandon Knight every time he's had to
Speaker 1: go in, going back to last year, Like I feel
Speaker 1: like people forget this because last year was so disappointing,
Speaker 1: but like we had to do this song and dance
Speaker 1: for two or three weeks last season and Brandon Knight
Speaker 1: held up just fine. Yeah, definitely not perfect, but fine,
Speaker 1: And that's what it was. And again, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: very crazy to me how everybody was calling for Brandon
Speaker 1: Knight and everybody wanted to see somebody besides Darry and Thompson,
Speaker 1: and those guys were basically playing on the shortest leashes,
Speaker 1: like they made one or two mistakes and they're gone,
Speaker 1: which leads you to believe that the coaching staff agreed
Speaker 1: with us about that. But they put him out there anyway,
Speaker 1: which is mystifying to me, Like if their leash was
Speaker 1: that short, maybe you should just try the guy behind him.
Speaker 1: I don't understand the logic there at all, And there's
Speaker 1: more to it than that, because Beyondish was saying that
Speaker 1: that he got some snaps in practice and that was
Speaker 1: going to happen with him. I bet you Luney didn't
Speaker 1: have a short leash either. I mean he did have
Speaker 1: shortly yeah, and then um but but and then the
Speaker 1: same with Night and Steel, which means if they're both
Speaker 1: getting practice reps, then I mean make a decision because
Speaker 1: they need the practice. Steel is only gonna get fifty
Speaker 1: percent of the reps, and you know Night's getting fifty
Speaker 1: percent of the reps. Somebody should get one hundred percent
Speaker 1: of the reps at this point, I mean, figure it
Speaker 1: out and go with it. If it's beyond go with
Speaker 1: it because he needs all of the reps he can
Speaker 1: get during the practice Weekum, and we'll talk about Beardish later,
Speaker 1: but but it's the same type of thing, like they're
Speaker 1: so unsure what they want to do. And Donovan Wilson
Speaker 1: got a lot of reps as well, So it's like,
Speaker 1: make a make a decision here because whoever's practice needs
Speaker 1: to practice one hundred percent of the time. All right,
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna move on to my moment that mattered,
Speaker 1: And to me, this is one of the players that
Speaker 1: has got forgotten in this game. But I think it
Speaker 1: was a huge play. I think it actually could have
Speaker 1: changed the outcome of this game to some degree. You
Speaker 1: had four or two left in the third quarter, Cleveland's
Speaker 1: up thirty eight to fourteen. Cleveland has the ball. It's
Speaker 1: third and four at the Cleveland forty. Mayfield throws a
Speaker 1: pass to Hilliard for two yards, which would have made
Speaker 1: it fourth in two at the Cleveland What would that
Speaker 1: have been the Cleveland forty two. Joe Thomas puts a
Speaker 1: big hit on him and he's called for unnecessary roughness.
Speaker 1: But I actually think the call that got missed there
Speaker 1: is actually it should have been an interception. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: I think if you watch that play, he grabs the
Speaker 1: ball when they both are on the ground and touching,
Speaker 1: which would signal to play is over. He actually had
Speaker 1: possession of the ball, and I don't think that it
Speaker 1: was a situation that he was that he necessarily had
Speaker 1: unnecessary roughness because the ball kept him from having helmet
Speaker 1: to helme in contact. So all that being considered, I
Speaker 1: think the miss call here was it should not have
Speaker 1: been an unnecessary roughness. It should would not have been
Speaker 1: or should have been an interception. And right there, if
Speaker 1: Dallas gets the ball right there, that saves him a
Speaker 1: bunch of time. Cleveland actually goes down and get to
Speaker 1: field goal there. So Cowboys would have maybe been in
Speaker 1: a situation where they were tying at thirty eight thirty eight.
Speaker 1: Maybe then they don't decide to do whatever that was
Speaker 1: with the kick that. I don't really know what you
Speaker 1: call that, but I think it changes so much about
Speaker 1: what happened in the latter parts of the games, and
Speaker 1: I don't think it's being talked about nearly enough. From
Speaker 1: the standpoint of that was a pivotal moment and a
Speaker 1: great play by Joe Thomas that basically got negated by
Speaker 1: what I thought was somewhat of a phantom call. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree with that. And I asked them after the
Speaker 1: game and he said it was a bang bang play
Speaker 1: is what it is. You know, it's unfortunate, and then
Speaker 1: he was like it was a terrible call. I was like, okay, good,
Speaker 1: glad we all agree that. I actually said, like the
Speaker 1: last thing I said last night before I went to
Speaker 1: bed was like, it's funny. And here's why. What my
Speaker 1: answer to your question, Derek would be people aren't talking
Speaker 1: about it because it's hard to get riled up about
Speaker 1: that injustice when the defense played that poorly, like and
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right, like bad call should have been a pick.
Speaker 1: It's one of my least favorite things in football. I
Speaker 1: really think the game moves so fast that referees just
Speaker 1: use like benchmarks to make calls. Like literally, I think
Speaker 1: the ref was like, whoa, that sounded like a hard hit.
Speaker 1: That's probably a flag and it's such trash, it's garbage,
Speaker 1: Like there was no he didn't use his crown, there
Speaker 1: was no like intent to harm. He didn't like spear him.
Speaker 1: He just made a really great play and wound up
Speaker 1: with the ball and got penalized for it. It's utter trash.
Speaker 1: At the same time, you give up three hundred and
Speaker 1: seven rushing yards and forty nine points. It's I just
Speaker 1: it's hard for me to get too worked up about it. Well,
Speaker 1: and also, I would imagine seventy five percent of those
Speaker 1: calls that happened like that are getting thrown from the sideline,
Speaker 1: with every person on that sideline saying helmet, the helmet,
Speaker 1: legal hit, all that kind of stuff, and and and
Speaker 1: then I think that the guy has to throw it,
Speaker 1: you know, he feels like he has to throw it.
Speaker 1: But it's like, why do they have helmets on if
Speaker 1: they don't they bump heads. I mean, it happens. I
Speaker 1: mean football players, they run into each other. That's why
Speaker 1: they wear helmets. And I don't I just don't think
Speaker 1: that that is should be called every single time. Um,
Speaker 1: it's just not a fifteen yard penalty. I mean that
Speaker 1: these guys are moving so fast and then they go
Speaker 1: and then they replay it and they slow it down
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh my god, look look look what
Speaker 1: this guy did. When it happens so quick, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think Dave was right on the indicator part. Like, I
Speaker 1: think the referee sees the guy's head jerked back and
Speaker 1: they assume that that Joe Thomas's helmet hit the receiver's
Speaker 1: helmet and that's what causes head to go back. In
Speaker 1: this instance, the ball was between them. Yeah, so it
Speaker 1: was actually the ball that probably jarred his hit. And
Speaker 1: there was obviously force coming from Joe Thomas, but it
Speaker 1: was not a helmet to helmet hit. And that's where
Speaker 1: I look at this and I'm like, I think when
Speaker 1: you use the indicators, you're gonna come up in situations
Speaker 1: where it's not going to be right in it. Once again,
Speaker 1: I think that's where the college team. The college team
Speaker 1: has it a little bit better to do because they
Speaker 1: will review those kinds of things and they will be
Speaker 1: able to reverse them if they feel like it wasn't
Speaker 1: targeting or if scoring players are reviewable. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: personal foul fifteen yard penalties should be reviewable too, because
Speaker 1: what if he didn't grab his face mask? You know,
Speaker 1: like you think he did, but what if he didn't. No,
Speaker 1: I mean just play no, No, I'm just saying, what
Speaker 1: if one of those things happened, though, I mean that
Speaker 1: that that changes everything day. So what was your moment
Speaker 1: that mattered. It's funny because like I feel weird saying
Speaker 1: that it. I mean it did, but it's it's after
Speaker 1: all of this has happened. Like really, the game obviously
Speaker 1: got away from him in the second quarter in my opinion,
Speaker 1: with the way the defense is playing. But I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, Beam Beckham's play to ice the game was
Speaker 1: just so it was such a fitting encapsulation of how
Speaker 1: terrible this all was. You know, it's forty one thirty eight,
Speaker 1: they're cooking three forty two to play. You got one
Speaker 1: time out. You don't even have to be perfect to
Speaker 1: get the ball back, Like you can give up a
Speaker 1: first down and still get the ball back. You can
Speaker 1: give up a field goal and still give your offense
Speaker 1: the ball down six with you know, a minute and
Speaker 1: some change to play. That's what everybody was thinking, right,
Speaker 1: and then literally one play, one play end around Odell Beckham.
Speaker 1: Alden Smith is the only member of the front seven
Speaker 1: who properly diagnoses what's going on. I'm not gonna hate
Speaker 1: on Alden Smith for not being able to tackle Odell
Speaker 1: Beckham in the open field like, that's a mismatch. But
Speaker 1: then you get up field. Odell picks up the first down,
Speaker 1: Big deal, he's on the sideline. You push him out
Speaker 1: of bounds. You live to fight another down. It's not
Speaker 1: over yet. Oops. Never mind. The entire back seven overruns
Speaker 1: the play. Diggs, Joe Thomas, Joe Thomas takes out you
Speaker 1: can go look at it. Joe Thomas takes out the blocker,
Speaker 1: which probably not great, but at least he's getting somebody
Speaker 1: out of the way. Like two other guys overrun the play,
Speaker 1: Trayvon Diggs. I think it is. Somebody runs out of
Speaker 1: bounds thinking the play is over, and then Jerk's head
Speaker 1: back around like, oh crap, wait the guy with the
Speaker 1: ball still going, you know, Jalen Smith is laid getting there,
Speaker 1: and now Adell's in the end zone on a fifty
Speaker 1: yard touchdown. And it was just symptomatic of how awful
Speaker 1: they were all day, and it was just it was
Speaker 1: a very fitting way to take Hope out of the game.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was breathtaking. You think about that, Dave,
Speaker 1: and you think about playing defense in NFL. You actually
Speaker 1: have an extra defender. It's called the sideline, and so
Speaker 1: you should always defender. When a guy's running towards the sideline,
Speaker 1: you should be using the sideline to your advantage so
Speaker 1: you don't overrun the play going out of bounds. You
Speaker 1: stay inbounds and force him to have to run out
Speaker 1: of bounds because the sideline is your friend. They all,
Speaker 1: like three or four guys completely overrun the play and
Speaker 1: end up out of bounds, and it was just baffling
Speaker 1: to me. And the guy that should have overrun the
Speaker 1: play is Alden Smith, you know, because because he actually
Speaker 1: tries to make the tackle, if he actually overruns the play,
Speaker 1: I can promise you you know. I'm not saying Odell's
Speaker 1: like Dion Sanders business decision, but he doesn't want to
Speaker 1: run the ball between the tackles. So if you forced
Speaker 1: him to cut, because he could have done that and
Speaker 1: he to have to cut back through the middle and
Speaker 1: then he's probably gonna dive and get get out of that,
Speaker 1: he doesn't want any part of that, which I would.
Speaker 1: I don't blame him, but that's unfortunately. I don't blame
Speaker 1: Alden Smith for that. But if he could have taken
Speaker 1: a different angle and forced him back inside, then that
Speaker 1: would have kind of blown the whole play up. But
Speaker 1: you know, the one thing I will say, I think
Speaker 1: in that instance, all them did what he should have done,
Speaker 1: which is if you notice like he forced Beckham to
Speaker 1: take a track that was going backwards, like he went
Speaker 1: backwards to come from Odell can do that. That's my point.
Speaker 1: He didn't. But my point is this defense, any defense,
Speaker 1: when you've got a guy who gets the ball on
Speaker 1: an end of round, which is a slow developing play,
Speaker 1: you made him go backwards and then come forward. The
Speaker 1: fact that none of them could get in position to
Speaker 1: then be able to tackle him, that just even more
Speaker 1: shows you just how bad they were on that be
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this then, if if it's first
Speaker 1: and ten at the fifty, the Browns still run a
Speaker 1: reverse on first and ten at the twenty five, well,
Speaker 1: that's a good question because that brings up the whole
Speaker 1: idea of what the Cowboys did there after they got
Speaker 1: to that forty one thirty eight point. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if you call it an on side kick. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you call it a squip kick. Whatever
Speaker 1: they did gave the Cleveland Browns the ball in the fifty,
Speaker 1: and so that is a fair question. Do you think
Speaker 1: that if the Cowboys would have kicked it off traditionally
Speaker 1: and Cleveland's taking the ball at their own twenty five,
Speaker 1: if they're a bit more conservative in their play calling,
Speaker 1: knowing that they got to go seventy five yards, and
Speaker 1: they may be thinking, let's take time off the clock,
Speaker 1: let's let's do things that are that are a little
Speaker 1: bit more conservative. What do you think amber there? I mean,
Speaker 1: at this point, I'm just listening to you guys, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, yeah, a lot of things could have
Speaker 1: gone differently, and maybe one single play could have changed
Speaker 1: the game, but there were there were so so many
Speaker 1: different things that happen all throughout the game that I
Speaker 1: don't know if something like that would have made a
Speaker 1: big difference, or at least enough of a difference to
Speaker 1: get the Cowboys with a win. At this point, I'm
Speaker 1: kind of over the whole game and I'm just looking, Okay,
Speaker 1: what do the Cowboys need to do this week? Moving forward?
Speaker 1: I get that they're about to play the Giants and
Speaker 1: they're a lot terrible right now, but they need to
Speaker 1: figure out and my biggest question right now is what
Speaker 1: is the biggest change that needs to happen? And I
Speaker 1: get it, and I keep seeing that fans keep asking
Speaker 1: about Earl Thomas, and I don't. I guess people expect
Speaker 1: that you get Earl Thomas and then the whole defense
Speaker 1: is just gonna magically change and be fixed. I don't
Speaker 1: know exactly what all needs to happen. Do you guys
Speaker 1: have an answer? As far's just the defense overall, forget
Speaker 1: those specific moments, just defense overall. What do you do
Speaker 1: to fix it in the next two weeks at least? Well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hold you on that because that's a topic
Speaker 1: that we're gonna hit tomorrow. Can we have a lot
Speaker 1: more time to dive into it and uh and really
Speaker 1: diagnose what we think of the things that they can
Speaker 1: actually change? Dave you as I'm you're about to say,
Speaker 1: I was just gonna say, play bad teams, which they will.
Speaker 1: They will play bada. That will help for next week.
Speaker 1: But we do I do think it's a valid question, No, Amber,
Speaker 1: And I think it takes a lot more than the
Speaker 1: four minutes we got left, because I think that's a
Speaker 1: that's a much bigger question. We start talking about what
Speaker 1: can fix this defense? Because they are historically bad right now?
Speaker 1: Are we're gonna take our final break really quick when
Speaker 1: we come back. I do want to see if we
Speaker 1: can squeeze in a fan question here, What'll do that
Speaker 1: when we come right back? This is Dallas Cowboys dot
Speaker 1: Com Radio. Sam's eighteen sixty five Stetson Hats are American
Speaker 1: made with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is
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Speaker 1: Stetson hats the official crown of all self respecting Cowboys
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Speaker 1: I'm Jay Novachek, former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys.
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Speaker 1: the break. Are you coming to the Cowboys game this weekend?
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Speaker 1: to the final segment of I mean not everyone needs
Speaker 1: to keep distance, but it's really for fans s w
Speaker 1: c BC, I'm sorry, that's WBC Mortgage Studios. At the start,
Speaker 1: we only got about a minute left, so I figure,
Speaker 1: let's try to get a question squeezed in here, Amber,
Speaker 1: What do you have from fans? They're happy? There's actually
Speaker 1: I've seen a couple of these questions, and Derek, you
Speaker 1: and I were talking about this yesterday. But here's the
Speaker 1: question that I guess we're trying to understand is why
Speaker 1: we've seen so many of these defenders play better than
Speaker 1: this in the past and then right now they're just
Speaker 1: worse than we've seen before. So we know that there
Speaker 1: is talent there, but why a guy like the Marcus Lawrence,
Speaker 1: for example, Jalen Smith, who hasn't been necessarily great, but
Speaker 1: he's played better better. Why guys like that just not
Speaker 1: playing the part this year. You know, I think it's
Speaker 1: a fair question, and I want to hear what Nick
Speaker 1: and Dave have to say, but I think it's a
Speaker 1: fair question because when you look at it like they're playing,
Speaker 1: like like I said before the break, historically bad, and
Speaker 1: for me, it makes me at least look and say
Speaker 1: there is something going on from a scheme and or
Speaker 1: just I don't get this, like I'm making mental My
Speaker 1: mental awareness is not there. There's something going on that
Speaker 1: goes beyond just how you play with regards to how
Speaker 1: this defense is playing as a unit. You agree with that,
Speaker 1: disagree with that, Dave, I'm sorry, Nick, start with you.
Speaker 1: I agree. I think that there's something missing, and I
Speaker 1: think what was missing is probably the installation period that
Speaker 1: they had having to do this on the run. Now.
Speaker 1: I'm not giving them excuses for being historically bad, but
Speaker 1: a lot of things are going against them, and it
Speaker 1: just it's not helping. Number One, their injuries at very
Speaker 1: key positions and multiple injuries at those positions. Number two,
Speaker 1: the lack of the installation I think really helped. But three,
Speaker 1: and most importantly, these players are aren't aren't as good.
Speaker 1: I mean the like they're just not as good, and
Speaker 1: I guess if you could say four, the Mike Nolan's
Speaker 1: track record hasn't been that great as a defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: So you add all of those things together and you're
Speaker 1: getting you're getting record setting defenses, not in the good way, Dave.
Speaker 1: I agree with everything Nick just said. I do. I
Speaker 1: particularly in the case of Jalen Smith. Like I mean,
Speaker 1: I still think I think DeMarcus is still a pretty
Speaker 1: good player. He's not. He's not justifying the salary right now,
Speaker 1: but I'm not I'm not watching him like damn, where
Speaker 1: where is the guy from two years ago? That's how
Speaker 1: I feel watching Jalen Smith. To be very honest with you,
Speaker 1: you know, I can't help but think of the play
Speaker 1: he made in Houston in twenty eighteen. I think was
Speaker 1: week five or week six, fourth down, or maybe it
Speaker 1: was third down, but Deshaun Watson is sprinting for the
Speaker 1: sticks to try to pick it up, and Jalen just
Speaker 1: fetched him and smashed him on the sideline to stop it.
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith's not making that play in twenty twenty. I
Speaker 1: don't think he could have made it last year either,
Speaker 1: and it it's painfully obvious when you watch and I
Speaker 1: don't have an answer. I don't know what happened. I
Speaker 1: don't know why he doesn't seem to have that burst.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, his instincts, they haven't always been bad,
Speaker 1: but that's always been the part of his game that
Speaker 1: he needed to develop. And it seemed in twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: like his athleticism was going to allow him to compensate
Speaker 1: for that. And we're just not seeing it. And we
Speaker 1: didn't see it last year, and it doesn't seem different
Speaker 1: this year. And you know, we can go back to
Speaker 1: the summer. Nick said every week that Mike Nolan's got
Speaker 1: to figure out a way to make Jalen Smith better.
Speaker 1: You got to figure out a different way to use
Speaker 1: him or a way to employ him that that makes
Speaker 1: him better. And it's not happening through the first month
Speaker 1: of the season. And it's it's really weird to watch
Speaker 1: because I do I think he was a really good
Speaker 1: linebacker in twenty eighteen. Maybe that's because he had Layton
Speaker 1: playing next to him at an all pro level. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's because he had more burst in that knee. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but he's not the same player, and I
Speaker 1: think it's it's probably the biggest problem facing this defense
Speaker 1: right now in terms of production, but also the way
Speaker 1: that you manage your cap and the dollars and all
Speaker 1: of that stuff. It's a problem on a lot of
Speaker 1: different levels in my opinion. Yeah, to be honest with you,
Speaker 1: once they get Layton and once they get Sean Lee
Speaker 1: back from injury, I would not be shocked at all
Speaker 1: if those are your two linebackers the majority of the
Speaker 1: game when you're playing Nickel, I think right now, the
Speaker 1: way the way Jalen Smith is playing right now suggests
Speaker 1: that that he just is He is a He's a
Speaker 1: much bigger part of the problem than he is a
Speaker 1: part of the solution. And I'll be interested to see
Speaker 1: what happens when those other guys are back and available.
Speaker 1: And I'm wondering right now, I told you this, Nick
Speaker 1: this morning after I went back and watched a lot
Speaker 1: of the play plays back on television. I'm wondering at
Speaker 1: this point if you though some of those younger linebackers
Speaker 1: can give you more than what you're getting right now
Speaker 1: with Jalen. That's how poorly I think he's playing. And again,
Speaker 1: you might have somebody who's a coach that who's more
Speaker 1: in depth has more knowledge of this than I do.
Speaker 1: Who may say, hey, it's not really him all the
Speaker 1: time that you think it's him, But all I know
Speaker 1: is what i'm seeing just suggested he's leaving a light
Speaker 1: out there. And I'll challenge you to do this if
Speaker 1: you want to know kind of you want to be
Speaker 1: able to look at the difference, watch a Cowboys game,
Speaker 1: watch that game yesterday, and then go watch a Seahawks
Speaker 1: game and look at those linebackers in both games. Just
Speaker 1: watch the linebacker play. You will see the difference of
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about in how he plays linebacker and
Speaker 1: how those linebackers, and those are some of the better
Speaker 1: linebackers in the league. I'm just saying you will see
Speaker 1: the delta between the two. But you know, they drafted
Speaker 1: a linebacker in the first round, they drafted a first
Speaker 1: round linebacker in the second round, and Jalen Smith hoping
Speaker 1: that he would come back. So they've invested linebackers to
Speaker 1: be really good. So I don't know if that's really
Speaker 1: an unfair comparison to say, well, Seattle's got great linebackers.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys invested enough to have great line actress as well,
Speaker 1: and therefore it hasn't happened. I'm not ready to just
Speaker 1: jump on this jail and thing like everyone else is
Speaker 1: and say he's that bad. I don't know yet. I
Speaker 1: don't need to watch. Let's ask Bucky on Wednesday, because
Speaker 1: he says that he was playing as good as anyway.
Speaker 1: I bet he changes his answer. I guess he's not
Speaker 1: gonna say that. And when we get around having that
Speaker 1: conversation Wednesday. All right, we appreciate you guys, Jonas. We'll
Speaker 1: be back tomorrow. As Amber told you, we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about how we solve this thing. Of course,
Speaker 1: we're not gonna be any of the meetings, but we're
Speaker 1: gonna give you some Bring some answers. Please bring some answers.
Speaker 1: So let's figure it out between two day and all right,
Speaker 1: Bernick Gabon, Dave Hellman, Ambergarci, I've Derek Eckelton. This has
Speaker 1: been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
Speaker 1: This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.