Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Are you ready for
Speaker 1: a break? Yes? Are you ready for a break? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Ready for a break? Yeah, and so much for that.
Speaker 1: It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: wall with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia and
Speaker 1: Derek Eagleton. It is Monday, October two, twenty seventeen, Season thirteen,
Speaker 1: episode number forty eight. Welcome to another edition of The Break,
Speaker 1: live from the s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star
Speaker 1: in Frisco, and today we're talking about the Cowboys loss.
Speaker 1: Cowboys lose to the Rams thirty five thirty in what
Speaker 1: I would call an unexpected loss. I think all of
Speaker 1: us picked the Cowboys to win. Um. I don't think
Speaker 1: anybody really expect to see you yesterday. But I will
Speaker 1: say this. It was twenty four to thirteen at in
Speaker 1: the second quarter with one fifty one fifty one left
Speaker 1: in the second quarter, and then for that yeah, and
Speaker 1: then the wheels fell off. So I'll answered, I'll ask
Speaker 1: you guys the question. We can go around the table.
Speaker 1: What happened? Just in your own brief synopsis and we'll
Speaker 1: get into the details, but in your own brief synopsis
Speaker 1: what happened from that point to the Cowboys final of
Speaker 1: thirty five thirty Well, I think, you know, I picked
Speaker 1: the Cowboys to win by three touchdowns, and and I
Speaker 1: definitely overestimated the Cowboys and more than anything, more than
Speaker 1: the Rams or anything, they overestimated this team of what
Speaker 1: they could do. They didn't make any adjustments either that
Speaker 1: they should have. They kind of got got, you know,
Speaker 1: set in their ways. The Rams did a nice job,
Speaker 1: but they dominated up front on Brilli on both sides
Speaker 1: of the ball. And you know, there's the Cowboys had
Speaker 1: no business losing this game, and they did, and that's
Speaker 1: this is gonna hamp them. This this loss will definitely
Speaker 1: hamp them. Amber Well, clearly, they like Nick just said,
Speaker 1: that didn't make any adjustments coming back after the first
Speaker 1: half of the game. And then I was listening to
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott and he answered that question. He basically said
Speaker 1: that the Rams didn't do anything differently. It was just
Speaker 1: on them that they weren't finishing plays and making the
Speaker 1: right moves, which not that is true. But the Rams
Speaker 1: did make some adjustment and they did come back stronger
Speaker 1: I don't know what the Cowboys did in halftime. I
Speaker 1: don't know. Dave, stop me if you've heard this before,
Speaker 1: because it's gonna sound really similar to every time we've
Speaker 1: ever talked about a loss in the five years i've
Speaker 1: been here. This is a defense that isn't equipped to
Speaker 1: carry a game if their offense isn't clicking. And that's
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what I put it on. Clearly, the
Speaker 1: offense looked great. Honestly, the first half of this game
Speaker 1: looked like twenty sixteen. They did all of the stuff
Speaker 1: that we got used to seeing last year on that
Speaker 1: eleven game win streak, and you know, honestly, defensively, at least,
Speaker 1: I was just watching the tape upstairs with Brian. The
Speaker 1: Rams defense didn't look like they changed a whole lot.
Speaker 1: It didn't look a lot different. But when you're not
Speaker 1: hitting open receivers, when you're not secure in blocks on run,
Speaker 1: not catching passes, and you're getting flagged on you know,
Speaker 1: crucial two point conversions, this type of stuff happens. And
Speaker 1: I don't I don't know if if you want to
Speaker 1: say they came out of the locker room flat because
Speaker 1: they thought they had everything under control. Or whatever. They
Speaker 1: just forgot how to execute. But this offense lost all
Speaker 1: semblance of competency coming out of the break, and when
Speaker 1: you put it on your defense to carry the game
Speaker 1: against an offense like that, it's probably not going to
Speaker 1: go very well. Yeah, we were upstairs before the show
Speaker 1: and we were watching some of the tape with with Brian,
Speaker 1: and that was what the one thing this did to me, Dave,
Speaker 1: was that they were they were all these little things.
Speaker 1: Like every play it seemed like we're as we were
Speaker 1: watching this, every play, it seemed like there was a
Speaker 1: little thing. Oh that got missed the block right there,
Speaker 1: Oh that guy, that guy's routes should have been Cooper
Speaker 1: had a rough day, but that guy should have gotten
Speaker 1: a little deep run his route, you know, Oh, Da
Speaker 1: should have made a better throw there. It was it
Speaker 1: was all these little and it happened play after play
Speaker 1: after play after play. So Amber, getting back to what
Speaker 1: you said, I do wonder to some degree if there
Speaker 1: was a situation where it wasn't that the Cowboys needed
Speaker 1: to do something different, they just weren't executing. They At
Speaker 1: one point they had two offensive linemen, one of them
Speaker 1: being they're all pro guard that were trying to block
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald and move him off the point and could
Speaker 1: not move him one step. I mean, it wasn't It
Speaker 1: was a situation where they just weren't executing. And where
Speaker 1: you gonna I was just gonna say, we know that
Speaker 1: the Cowboys strength is the running game. Based on what
Speaker 1: they did in the running game, they should have won
Speaker 1: this game. They did. They did pretty well. One hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty nine yards. That's not a whole bunch, but
Speaker 1: it's still good a lot. Oh it could have been higher.
Speaker 1: It could have been higher. But again, I'm just saying
Speaker 1: I remember you, Derek saying the Cowboys only win if
Speaker 1: they're good in the running game. We saw Why are
Speaker 1: you making that vague? I'm listening. We saw what the
Speaker 1: offensive line did, and which is consider or was consider
Speaker 1: one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. Now
Speaker 1: they're different. And I saw you pretty upset yesterday about
Speaker 1: why you saw this little line, de little line, but big,
Speaker 1: big line too. What what is your concern here based
Speaker 1: on what you saw last night? My issue with the
Speaker 1: offensive line is more about the fact that I felt
Speaker 1: like yesterday Dak was running for his life, specifically in
Speaker 1: the second half quite a bit. Now, I get it.
Speaker 1: You were playing a defensive front that had Brockers, that
Speaker 1: had Aaron Donald, which I'm convinced Aaron Donald's the best
Speaker 1: defensive lineman maybe in pro football. But all that being said,
Speaker 1: he was running for his life in the second half.
Speaker 1: And to me, there have been two times this year
Speaker 1: that this offensive line, who I thought was elite, played
Speaker 1: elite talent on the defensive front that they faced, and
Speaker 1: in both instances, I felt like they the other line
Speaker 1: won the battle and ultimately the war because they won
Speaker 1: both those games. So to me, it start I start
Speaker 1: to question whether this offensive line. I know they're good,
Speaker 1: I started to question whether I think they're elite because
Speaker 1: I think against elite talent, we haven't seen elite play. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: I mean that's what I wrote as well, they're not.
Speaker 1: This is an a dominating offensive line anymore, at least
Speaker 1: not right now. And I think there's a lot of
Speaker 1: reasons for that. I mean, I think that teams have
Speaker 1: looked at this and said, all right, we have to
Speaker 1: just stack the line and we're gonna We're gonna. Now
Speaker 1: some of the situations they just got beat, they got beat.
Speaker 1: Jonathan Cooper played horrible yesterday, And from what I saw
Speaker 1: that there was one play where Dak was running for
Speaker 1: his life at the end of the game where he
Speaker 1: was straight up with Aaron Donald and then and instead
Speaker 1: of Zeke having to help, it was just one on
Speaker 1: one because he got beat so badly right off the line.
Speaker 1: It was one one one between Zeke and Donald, and
Speaker 1: Zeke knocked him down to the ground. And so I
Speaker 1: was like, seriously, like who's the guard, Like who's the
Speaker 1: actually left guard in this play? Was unbelievable. But I
Speaker 1: just think that there's a lot of reasons for this,
Speaker 1: And I go back to these wide receivers, and they're
Speaker 1: not gonna beat anybody. They don't scare anybody. You don't
Speaker 1: go deep, you don't really you have to maybe go
Speaker 1: make a play in Arizona, but they're not gonna beat anybody.
Speaker 1: Just like catch the ball and then run away from them.
Speaker 1: So you can play this way because they don't have
Speaker 1: anybody at the passing game that's gonna scare you. So
Speaker 1: I think that's that's kind of there's more than one
Speaker 1: reason here. But it's like you got one dynamic player
Speaker 1: in Zeke and Dez is the is dynamic at times,
Speaker 1: but not in a speed aspect. So a lot of
Speaker 1: drop passes yesterday, Debt Terrence, Yeah, I was thinking, who yeah, Terrence,
Speaker 1: that was the one I remember third third and something
Speaker 1: third quarter, I think is their second possession. Dak mid range,
Speaker 1: probably fifteen eighteen yard throw on the left side, low ball,
Speaker 1: not the best throw ever, but went right through, right
Speaker 1: through Jez's hands, right right in between his arms and
Speaker 1: onto the ground. Yeah. Just and that's I came out
Speaker 1: of that. I came out of that game thinking Dak's
Speaker 1: just gotta be better, like he wasn't good enough. And
Speaker 1: I still believe that. But having gone back and watched
Speaker 1: the offense play over again, they all were bad. The
Speaker 1: offensive line had its miscues. Daz drops a big ball,
Speaker 1: Terrence had a couple drops, Dak had some probably three
Speaker 1: or four pretty poor throws, Jason Witten's missing blocks. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's the great thing about the tape is it doesn't lie,
Speaker 1: and it very clearly points you in the direction of
Speaker 1: you know, what all went wrong, And there's plenty of
Speaker 1: blame to go around, that's for sure. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: this morning, if you're looking at it, I know there
Speaker 1: were a lot of people a lot of articles I'm
Speaker 1: seeing online today where people are pointing the finger at Dak,
Speaker 1: and yes, Dak needs to take part of the blame
Speaker 1: for this, because it's the quarterback that's your responsibility. Even
Speaker 1: when things aren't going well and other guys around you
Speaker 1: aren't doing what they're supposed to, necessarily, quarterback still is
Speaker 1: the one that's going to fall to. He's got to
Speaker 1: make the play, and there was some plays yesterday that
Speaker 1: he left on the table. He even said it after
Speaker 1: the game, he said, there's some throws in the second
Speaker 1: half that I didn't make that I did make in
Speaker 1: the first half. But I gotta be better. I gotta
Speaker 1: be more consistent. But all that being said, this was
Speaker 1: a team loss, and we talked about that after the
Speaker 1: game yesterday. This is a team loss because around that offense,
Speaker 1: there are a number of guys that had their moments,
Speaker 1: and when you've got everybody having a moment at different times,
Speaker 1: and it platoons every play because on every play somebody
Speaker 1: screwing something up. It's amazing that we've gotten what twelve
Speaker 1: minutes into the show, and we haven't talked about Ryan
Speaker 1: Switzer's muff the punt. I mean that's was that the
Speaker 1: biggest If you had one play that you could take
Speaker 1: back in that game, is that the play you take back? Yes,
Speaker 1: because the Cowboys had just scored two times in a
Speaker 1: row on two touchdowns in a row, and they were
Speaker 1: starting to get it. They had the ball with about
Speaker 1: five or six minutes to go. I believe maybe it
Speaker 1: was about eight minutes to go in the second quarter,
Speaker 1: and you know that they had shown everything that they
Speaker 1: were going to go down there, marched down and drive
Speaker 1: again twenty to six, twenty four to six, and then
Speaker 1: that would change everything. Instead the Rams score touchdown. You
Speaker 1: realize the Rams never drove the field and scored a touchdown.
Speaker 1: They had a long pass to to Girly and then
Speaker 1: they had that short field. You know. So it's hard
Speaker 1: to put the whole thing on the defense because it's
Speaker 1: a bend but don't break defense, and they did a
Speaker 1: lot of bending and then they would they would buckle
Speaker 1: down and lead to field goals. So I mean they
Speaker 1: got off the field when it was time to kick
Speaker 1: field goals. The problem is there was just too many
Speaker 1: of them. They add up too. Yeah, you know, if
Speaker 1: I had one play to take back, though I'm not
Speaker 1: certain I wouldn't take back the two point conversion where
Speaker 1: Terence drops the ball, because at that point you tie
Speaker 1: that game up. If the Rams drive down the field
Speaker 1: as they did and kicked the field goal as they did.
Speaker 1: Now all you need is a field goal to tie.
Speaker 1: You'd rather have back the one where Terrence drops the
Speaker 1: tipped ball. Why wouldn't you just take back the one
Speaker 1: where Travis Frederick gets called for holding on them. Either way,
Speaker 1: you take either one of those, either one of those.
Speaker 1: But that's that's a little part of the game. That
Speaker 1: little part of the game to me was that that
Speaker 1: ultimately I think doomed the Cowboys. I think I do.
Speaker 1: I think it. I think it did. I didn't feel
Speaker 1: comfortable when they were when they were in a situation.
Speaker 1: We were down on the field and we were talking
Speaker 1: about and I asked, you know, different people like you
Speaker 1: think that if if they hold them a field goal here,
Speaker 1: Cowboys win. I didn't feel comfortable with the fact that
Speaker 1: they were going to drive the field and win at
Speaker 1: that point. I really didn't. I just I'm thinking, Okay,
Speaker 1: even if you get the two point conversion, it's tied
Speaker 1: to tide. I mean, the way it had been going
Speaker 1: I don't have a ton of confidence that the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are going to stop them from scoring points right there,
Speaker 1: and they took and they wouldn't have. They took four
Speaker 1: minutes off the claus That's what I'm saying, they wouldn't have.
Speaker 1: I still don't think they would have. I stid. I
Speaker 1: think the difference, though, is if you're driving to get
Speaker 1: into field goal range versus driving for a touchdown, I
Speaker 1: think it's different. And I do think the Cowboys could
Speaker 1: have gotten into field goal range field goal range to
Speaker 1: at least tie and then go to overtime. I said
Speaker 1: this after the game because people were people were in
Speaker 1: my Twitter mentions killing Ryan Switzer and saying, you know,
Speaker 1: that's the difference in the game. That's not the way
Speaker 1: football works because every action completely, you know, every game,
Speaker 1: every action is informed by the last play. So to
Speaker 1: just say, well, you take out that play, you win
Speaker 1: the game, that's not reasonable. But I would still if
Speaker 1: I could take back any play, that would be the
Speaker 1: one because if he doesn't Muffet, Cowboys get the ball
Speaker 1: on their eighteen with eight thirty to play, up seventeen
Speaker 1: to six. Best case scenario, they go down and make
Speaker 1: it an eighteen point game heading into halftime. Even worst
Speaker 1: case scenario, they run three plays and punt from their
Speaker 1: own thirty And I like their odds of keeping the
Speaker 1: Rams from scoring a tome down on a long field
Speaker 1: at least, so I think that changes the complexion of
Speaker 1: the first half. I still think that's probably the biggest
Speaker 1: play in the game. It's clearly not the only reason
Speaker 1: why they lost. That's lazy, but it was big yep,
Speaker 1: one of the five players that I had, but obviously
Speaker 1: there were some other ones too, And you know, after
Speaker 1: that two point conversion, and we were going to the
Speaker 1: elevator on this, so we didn't really maybe get a
Speaker 1: great look, but it seemed like Anthony Brown had a
Speaker 1: chance for an interception. On second down. They floated up
Speaker 1: a pass that when they do defensive back drills, that's
Speaker 1: what they do that. You know, Joe Baker throws the
Speaker 1: ball a high in the sky and you die and
Speaker 1: you jump up at you and like that. There couldn't
Speaker 1: have been an easier interception, wasn't to me. I looked
Speaker 1: at that. I thought he was fully outstretched and the
Speaker 1: ball went over his hand. Is that not what happened?
Speaker 1: Hit him right in the hands. I need to see
Speaker 1: it again. It was that happened while we were going
Speaker 1: down to the field, and I didn't get a good
Speaker 1: look at it. Yeah, me either, and it but that's
Speaker 1: what I saw. Maybe you're saying it had actually hit
Speaker 1: his hands and he just dropped it, dropped it. Okay,
Speaker 1: I look at it again either, I mean, whether or
Speaker 1: not that's the case. I mean, how about the force
Speaker 1: fumble by DeMarcus Lawrence that Tyrone Crawford you would think
Speaker 1: would have seen but clearly didn't. That's two games in
Speaker 1: a row without a takeaway. Yes, that's they didn't ever
Speaker 1: take away against, not against Arizona. Yeah, that's not what
Speaker 1: you want. It's not hard to getty hard to get
Speaker 1: to forty when you're chunking up donuts two weeks in
Speaker 1: a row, for sure. But you know, honestly, I don't
Speaker 1: think I saw anything different from this defense. It goes
Speaker 1: back to what you said in your first thing. I
Speaker 1: didn't see anything different from this defense than what we
Speaker 1: saw last year. And that's always been my contention about
Speaker 1: this defense. I don't think this defense is any worse.
Speaker 1: This is the kind of game they play last year,
Speaker 1: and actually this is what they're expecting from their defense.
Speaker 1: Hold to field goals. Hold, and guess what Roline made,
Speaker 1: every single one of them. I get in I get
Speaker 1: in fights with people all the time about this because
Speaker 1: you know, people are killing me in the game about
Speaker 1: how bad the defense is. This defense played well enough
Speaker 1: to win the game. I agree they did. They held
Speaker 1: him to seven field goals. They one of the two
Speaker 1: touchdowns they allowed was on a very short field, like
Speaker 1: the Rams started in the Dallas red zone. That's how
Speaker 1: short the field was. They weren't great by any stretch
Speaker 1: of the imagination. Jalen Smith has a long way to
Speaker 1: go to be I mean, he's a hard hitter, he
Speaker 1: is an instinctive player. His abilities in pass coverage have
Speaker 1: a long way to go. That that much we learned
Speaker 1: just from watching Todd Gurley in that second half. The
Speaker 1: secondary has its issues. The pass rush didn't show up
Speaker 1: for the first time this year. That looked more like
Speaker 1: the pass rush we thought we were going to see
Speaker 1: this year. They're not great, and nobody should have thought
Speaker 1: they would be, but they they played well enough to win.
Speaker 1: They forced him to field goals. They kept things manageable,
Speaker 1: especially in the first half. The Cowboys last year, last
Speaker 1: year too, last year. In this year, the Cowboys are
Speaker 1: as good as their offense will allow them to be.
Speaker 1: For them to be the team that they want to be,
Speaker 1: their offense has to click, and it really, for the
Speaker 1: vast majority of the first month of the season has
Speaker 1: not been, in my opinion. You know, nobody wants to
Speaker 1: hear this because they always everyone's afraid to throw out excuses.
Speaker 1: But you know, they're played without their best player on defense,
Speaker 1: and then that's a fact. They played without Sean Lee
Speaker 1: and it was very noticeable yesterday. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: Sean it would would have made a lot more plays
Speaker 1: in the open field. He would have probably stopped some
Speaker 1: of these runs from being a little bit um from
Speaker 1: from gashing them into the You know, I don't know
Speaker 1: if girl's gonna average five point three yards to carry.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's long with seventeen, so it's not like
Speaker 1: it was a big chunk play there for as far
Speaker 1: as runs go. So you know, I I don't know
Speaker 1: what you can say about the corners. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: that they're playing not playing with the with their best
Speaker 1: corners right now. They've got guys that hurt. But I
Speaker 1: don't know but see, I mean, okay, maybe Anthony Brown
Speaker 1: dropped the pick. We need to go back and watch that,
Speaker 1: But like, did the corners play back? No, No, I'm
Speaker 1: saying I'm not gonna say that Nolan Carroll and been
Speaker 1: been um Cheeto being out affects them. I'm not because
Speaker 1: I don't know who their best corners are when they're
Speaker 1: all healthy, and I don't know if Carroll's even in there,
Speaker 1: but I know Sean Lee's won't their best shutterbacker. And
Speaker 1: that's what I'm saying. I'm not going to try to
Speaker 1: pile on and say, hey, also, this guy was hurt too,
Speaker 1: and David Irving comes back about about I think it's well,
Speaker 1: it's incredibly noticeable too. And I guess the point I'm
Speaker 1: trying to make is Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods combined
Speaker 1: for thirty four yards. Cooper Cupp was their best receiver
Speaker 1: and he had six d and a touchdown, which, okay,
Speaker 1: that's fine, but somebody's gonna get yards. All of their
Speaker 1: damage came from Todd Gurley and the tight ends yep,
Speaker 1: what does that say? And mostly from Gurley it's and
Speaker 1: the vast majority of it from Gurley. A lot of
Speaker 1: that says says stuff about your lineback. Sean Lee's not there.
Speaker 1: If there's a silver lining here, I know, I know
Speaker 1: David Irving's coming back this week. I never bought into
Speaker 1: the hype that he's that guy, at least not yet. Um.
Speaker 1: If there's a silver lining that I'm looking for here
Speaker 1: as a Cowboys fan, it's that I don't expect Sean
Speaker 1: Lee to miss too much time more time, and I
Speaker 1: expect Anthony Hitchins to be back really soon. And I
Speaker 1: think those two guys healthy and playing together can make
Speaker 1: a significant amount of difference for the huge different defense,
Speaker 1: huge difference. I think what we got to do is
Speaker 1: we got to see Jalen Smith get out there. We
Speaker 1: got to see him run around. The hope is that
Speaker 1: by twenty eighteen he's better, But right now, those other
Speaker 1: two guys are clearly better linebackers than he is. Even
Speaker 1: in light of this game, which was easily his worst
Speaker 1: of the four, I'm still very encouraged about where he is.
Speaker 1: But he's not He's not that guy. He's not in
Speaker 1: the top ten pick yet, and I feel I still
Speaker 1: feel encouraged that he can be in time. But I
Speaker 1: think Anthony Hitchins is a much better all around linebacker
Speaker 1: than he is right now. All right, let's take our
Speaker 1: first break. When we come back, we do need to
Speaker 1: talk about the running back, Ezekiel Elliott and what he
Speaker 1: did and what's going on with him today or tomorrow,
Speaker 1: today or tomorrow here in court. And in addition to that,
Speaker 1: I want to ask you guys, if you think the
Speaker 1: Cowboys short week last week, combined with the Rams long
Speaker 1: week coming off a ten day layoff, affected the Cowboys
Speaker 1: in this game. We'll talk about that when we come
Speaker 1: right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. We
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Speaker 1: Back to the Break Welcome Back. It's the second segment
Speaker 1: of the Breaklock from the s WBC Mortgage Studios. At
Speaker 1: the start, we're talking about the Cowboys loss. They lose
Speaker 1: thirty five thirty at home against the Rams and a
Speaker 1: little bit unexpected. But that's how the NFL is. You
Speaker 1: just never know every single week. And that was as
Speaker 1: you said, Dave in the break, it is a good team.
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm certainly not saying the Rams are not
Speaker 1: a good team. They are a good team. I just
Speaker 1: don't think they're a playoff team. Let me, I'll fully
Speaker 1: elaborate that, which which you know Jason Garrett hates this,
Speaker 1: but he's not here. That's not his job. It's my job.
Speaker 1: The Rams are a good team, and I mean I
Speaker 1: picked the Cowboys to win, so I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: sit here and say I told you so. But I'm
Speaker 1: not going to go as far as to say that
Speaker 1: was unexpected. I did not. I was unexpected from a
Speaker 1: standpoint of our picks. We all picked exactly. But I'm
Speaker 1: not sitting here just like man, I can't believe they
Speaker 1: lost to that dog crap team like it's it's the NFL.
Speaker 1: But having said that, you look at the schedule and
Speaker 1: what's coming for the Cowboys over the next six weeks
Speaker 1: other than a road trip to San Francisco. This is
Speaker 1: the most manageable game on the schedule. And if you
Speaker 1: can't win this at Spells at home at Spells, trouble.
Speaker 1: And here's the other part. And when I said, and
Speaker 1: when I said in the break that I couldn't believe
Speaker 1: they lost his game, it was less about the Rams
Speaker 1: and way more about the fact that they were up
Speaker 1: twenty four to three with less than two thirteen, with
Speaker 1: less than two minutes left in the first half. Yes,
Speaker 1: that at home against again, a team that I don't
Speaker 1: think it's necessarily a playoff team. A good team, but
Speaker 1: I don't think they're a playoff tam. I don't think
Speaker 1: they're gonna win their division, and I don't think more
Speaker 1: than one team's gonna come out of the NFC West.
Speaker 1: So all that being said, I still can't believe the
Speaker 1: Cowboys were in that position at twenty four to thirteen
Speaker 1: right before the half and end up losing. If you
Speaker 1: at home, if you had told me on Friday they
Speaker 1: were gonna lose, I'd say, Okay, that's not ideal, but
Speaker 1: it's not the most surprising thing I've ever heard. But
Speaker 1: to have really full control of that game nearing halftime
Speaker 1: and to just completely not even it's not like they
Speaker 1: lose lost control, like the Rams just ripped it away
Speaker 1: from them. They were like, hey, up yours, We're taking
Speaker 1: this thing and right nothing you can do about it.
Speaker 1: That's the part that's kind of surprised. It's hard to
Speaker 1: that's hard to fathom when you, I mean, the way
Speaker 1: we've seen this team win games in the past. To
Speaker 1: have somebody just bossom around like that down the stretch
Speaker 1: was surprising and the best and I mean I thought
Speaker 1: the most interesting part when you look at that is
Speaker 1: that they actually ran the ball. Well, you look at
Speaker 1: the Cowboys in their running game, and we always say,
Speaker 1: we said it last week, the Cowboys team is going
Speaker 1: going to be successful if they can run the ball effectively.
Speaker 1: And yesterday they ran the ball effectively one hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty nine yards on the ground. That included a big
Speaker 1: run from a sect from the second running back in
Speaker 1: Alfred Morris. But Zeke had a pretty good day. He
Speaker 1: was averaging four yards per carry, so I mean they
Speaker 1: were running the ball effectively. Even in the second half.
Speaker 1: They were still when he touched the ball, they were
Speaker 1: getting good yardage. Out of it. They just weren't able
Speaker 1: to get enough out of the passing game to be
Speaker 1: able to make it all work. I never would have
Speaker 1: guessed that this. You know, in their current configuration, that
Speaker 1: they could run for almost two hundred yards, which is
Speaker 1: a lot in the NFL, by the way, Amber and
Speaker 1: lose the game. It's okay, lose. I mean that's crazy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's crazy. Where is Jason Witton? Where is Cole Beastley?
Speaker 1: I was telling you this, Derek yesterday. Where are they?
Speaker 1: Why are they not using them? I just feel like
Speaker 1: you don't need to keep throwing the ball as many
Speaker 1: times to des Bryan. Let's say Terrence Williams after I
Speaker 1: see him dropping a couple of plays again, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna keep throwing it that way. I'm gonna go for
Speaker 1: the secure, even if it's shorter. I feel secure like
Speaker 1: Cole Beasley can catch right there, even for a few yards.
Speaker 1: So can Jason Witten. And you can keep moving the
Speaker 1: ball just in a more secure way. Let me ask
Speaker 1: you this question, And because I don't know this, and
Speaker 1: maybe you guys saw it yesterday, was Cole open a
Speaker 1: lot that he was just being missed? Or was this
Speaker 1: a situation where they would just going to other people
Speaker 1: with the ball. Well, I mean that can happen. I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously Cole's gonna be open sometimes. I know, I'm just
Speaker 1: saying that you can miss him. Yeah, he's easily missed sometimes.
Speaker 1: But I think Dak's got to be looking for him
Speaker 1: a little bit more. I mean, six targets only three receptions.
Speaker 1: That's actually low for for him because he's usually you know,
Speaker 1: he's usually gonna catch most of the passes that are
Speaker 1: thrown his way. Some of them were too high. But
Speaker 1: I think that I agree with her. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think that Whitten and Beasley have got to be you
Speaker 1: have a ball controlled offense where you don't have to
Speaker 1: try to throw it down the field as much. You
Speaker 1: don't try to have to throw you know, these outpass
Speaker 1: passes to Dez and try to get him that involved.
Speaker 1: He'll get involved if you just if you just kind
Speaker 1: of if it goes to him. So I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know why Witten and Beasley are not being
Speaker 1: I mean, since Witten caught ten passes against Denver, he's
Speaker 1: only had one two catches for twelve yards, so that
Speaker 1: was gonna be and I think You're right, there isn't
Speaker 1: an explosive element to this offense, but there wasn't last
Speaker 1: year and they didn't need it. Like their whole m
Speaker 1: is methodical, like you run the ball, you complete the
Speaker 1: nine yard come back to witness and it works. It
Speaker 1: works when when everything's humming the right way. And it
Speaker 1: is kind of unbelievable to me to think that that
Speaker 1: these guys just weren't ever open over the course of
Speaker 1: a three hour game. And you look, you know, I
Speaker 1: defended the amount of targets des was getting through the
Speaker 1: first two weeks, but what I meant thirteen yesterday and
Speaker 1: I think nine in Arizona. So I mean he's been
Speaker 1: targeted fifty times in four games, which I just don't
Speaker 1: think that's the way this team's going to be successful.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, it goes back to what Dak
Speaker 1: was so good at last year, which is just making
Speaker 1: the easy throw to the guy that the defense isn't
Speaker 1: focusing on. And I'm that's so simplified. I know it's
Speaker 1: more complicated than that, but it just seems this whole
Speaker 1: offense seems like they're forcing it and it's not. It
Speaker 1: worked beautifully for thirty minutes yesterday, and that's probably as
Speaker 1: well as it's worked all season, and the rest of
Speaker 1: the time, it's just been very herky jerky. So not
Speaker 1: to make an excuse, because I don't believe that an
Speaker 1: excuse is warranted here other than the fact Cowboys didn't
Speaker 1: play well in the second half. But do you think
Speaker 1: there was at least something to the idea that the
Speaker 1: Cowboys had a short week? They played a Monday night game,
Speaker 1: then came back to play a Sunday at noon, and
Speaker 1: their opponent played the previous Thursday, which meant they had
Speaker 1: ten days to prepare for this game. Do you think
Speaker 1: that maybe part of what we saw in the second
Speaker 1: half yesterday could have been affected by Cowboys having less rest,
Speaker 1: much less rest than than the Rams did. Well, I
Speaker 1: don't know about the Rams, but let's just focus on
Speaker 1: on the Cowboys part of it. Yeah, I mean, having
Speaker 1: a short week, and even shorter because it's a noon game.
Speaker 1: You know, you do you think Sean Lee could have
Speaker 1: used one more day, one more day for a hamstring injury? Um? Perhaps,
Speaker 1: but you know that's just the way that it goes.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't. I don't sit there and worry
Speaker 1: about that. I mean the ram that they looked fresh,
Speaker 1: they had a little bit more juice in the second half.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can, you can make that case if
Speaker 1: you want to. I know the NBA is changing their
Speaker 1: rules all because of that, because they feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: short and you know, back to backs and all that matters.
Speaker 1: So maybe it does. But my favorite garotism that he
Speaker 1: repeats all the time that I actually like and don't
Speaker 1: roll my eyes at is when people ask questions like
Speaker 1: this and he says, nobody feels sorry for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: nobody cares. Sorry. I guess what if you don't like it,
Speaker 1: you got to do it again this week because the
Speaker 1: Packers have been off since Thursday, So I mean, what
Speaker 1: do you want me to do? And honestly, I think
Speaker 1: the defense getting tired out in the second half yesterday
Speaker 1: has a lot more to do with the offense putting
Speaker 1: up three plays, three plays, five plays, three plays for
Speaker 1: the first four possessions of the second half than what
Speaker 1: happened on Monday in Arizona. I don't it sucks. It's
Speaker 1: not an ideal scenario, but nobody feels sorry for you.
Speaker 1: I don't care. You have to do it again this week,
Speaker 1: so figure it out. Did they have an Arizona off
Speaker 1: a short week? I think they did the Cowboys Arizona
Speaker 1: played you're talking about when the Cowboys played Arizona. Was
Speaker 1: Arizona coming off a short week? I don't think so. Remember, No,
Speaker 1: Arizona played the Colts on a Sunday heading into that game.
Speaker 1: But I'm certain at this some point that year Cowboys
Speaker 1: will be the benefactor of you would like to come
Speaker 1: off short week? You would like I guess going back
Speaker 1: to what point, That's why I was pointing it out.
Speaker 1: It is because there will be Every team's gonna have
Speaker 1: to deal with that, and that's kind of why you
Speaker 1: hear Garrett talking about it. And I do agree with
Speaker 1: the idea like you just got to be prepared to play,
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. I mean, that's the nature of the NFL.
Speaker 1: You knew when the schedule came out that it was
Speaker 1: going to be like that. So it is what it is.
Speaker 1: You just gotta figure it out. Do I agree with
Speaker 1: the NFL's thought process that grown men slamming into each
Speaker 1: other two hundred times a game need to be playing
Speaker 1: Thursday games. No, but they do. So you just gotta
Speaker 1: make do. Yep, not really much. You can do about that.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get some phone calls and some questions.
Speaker 1: You guys can call us a numbers two one four
Speaker 1: eight seven two twenty one O two. Again it is
Speaker 1: two one four eight seven two twenty one O two.
Speaker 1: You can also hit us on Twitter at Cowboys Break.
Speaker 1: Let's go to Twitter first. Well, I'm just seeing a
Speaker 1: lot of questions, I mean a lot of comments, not
Speaker 1: necessarily questions in regards to Dak Prescott's performance, and it's
Speaker 1: kind of upsetting to me. I just think that's dumb, because, yes,
Speaker 1: Dad didn't really play his best. He made a lot
Speaker 1: of mistakes, but at the same time, he's good. He's
Speaker 1: gonna be as good as the offensive line is. And
Speaker 1: yesterday we could all see how much pressure he got
Speaker 1: and how how that affects him and his success in
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen came off what the offensive line did came
Speaker 1: off the running game. Yesterday we had the running game going,
Speaker 1: but again, the offensive line wasn't performing at their highest level.
Speaker 1: I'm going to disagree a little bit when you said
Speaker 1: that he's going to play as well as the offensive
Speaker 1: line will. I think he played better than that because
Speaker 1: the offensive he had to make plays in spite of
Speaker 1: the offensive line. There's one about one drive. There was
Speaker 1: three times on that one drive where he was spending in.
Speaker 1: I mean, it looked the whole thing looked like Romo,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, yeah, but you can't go a
Speaker 1: whole game being pressured like that. Oh, I know. And
Speaker 1: I know what I'm saying is is that he actually
Speaker 1: outperformed the offensive line. Yea, if it wasn't for his
Speaker 1: upper body strength and you know, throwing off Aaron Donald
Speaker 1: like that and then going and turning and spending and
Speaker 1: going back and throwing the ball to Dez Brian across
Speaker 1: the middle. I mean, he made some plays. He made
Speaker 1: some plays that most quarterbacks are not going to make
Speaker 1: because they don't have the body structure to do that.
Speaker 1: It's it's unfortunate for him that the third down throw
Speaker 1: to Dez where he literally shook off a blindside hit
Speaker 1: from Aaron Donald, which is amazing. And then on the
Speaker 1: same drive he does the same thing and finds Bryce
Speaker 1: Butler for a touchdown. I mean, those are like when
Speaker 1: Dak retires, those will go in the reel. You know.
Speaker 1: It's very reminiscent of the JJ Watt play that Romo made.
Speaker 1: In twenty fourteen, but they will be completely overshadowed by
Speaker 1: the fact that they lost this game. And honestly, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go out on a lemon say there's not a
Speaker 1: bigger Dak fan in here than me. I'm I'm very
Speaker 1: much hitched to the Dak Prescott bandwagon. Whatever. You can
Speaker 1: disagree if you want. That's life in the NFL. If
Speaker 1: you're a quarterback, Yeah, that's your job in the NFL's
Speaker 1: and your job in the NFL dictates that you're gonna
Speaker 1: take some heat if you make some bad plays in
Speaker 1: a loss. The offensive line was not great, it did
Speaker 1: not give him a lot of help. A lot of
Speaker 1: other guys around him made mistakes too, but you're the quarterback.
Speaker 1: You're the guy that has to go to the podium
Speaker 1: and account for that. So I mean, nobody feels sorry
Speaker 1: for you. Basically, that's the way. That's the way this
Speaker 1: league works. And what he's gonna be judged on even
Speaker 1: more than that is that final drive. You had one
Speaker 1: something left I think it is almost two minutes left,
Speaker 1: one fifty one, and you had your opportunity at that
Speaker 1: point to drive your team down to win the ball game,
Speaker 1: and no matter what the circumstances are. That's how quarterbacks
Speaker 1: are judged. Every time those situations come up, they say,
Speaker 1: this quarterback is won this number of games in a
Speaker 1: comeback situation, and that is a that is to me,
Speaker 1: that was what Tony Romo did so well. Is you
Speaker 1: got Tony. And I know Tony took a lot of
Speaker 1: flak from people about, you know, bombing out in in situations,
Speaker 1: but way more often than not, if you got into
Speaker 1: a situation where you got the ball back and you
Speaker 1: had two minutes and you just needed the offense to drive,
Speaker 1: drive down and score, Tony was usually going to deliver that.
Speaker 1: I thought, especially in a regular season game. You think
Speaker 1: it was weird. Did you listen to that? I heard
Speaker 1: some of the stuff I wasn't in there. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's pretty blunt after losses. And he said on the
Speaker 1: last play, he said, you know, I thought I could
Speaker 1: dump the ball off to Zeke. I thought he could
Speaker 1: maybe make one guy miss so we could get a
Speaker 1: first down. I mean, if you were for nitpicking here,
Speaker 1: and I'm not trying to, you know, make this a
Speaker 1: bigger issue, but it was. I thought it's kind of
Speaker 1: surprising that he would say that you know, because it
Speaker 1: did kind of sound like I thought Zeke would do it.
Speaker 1: You know, I gave it to him and he and
Speaker 1: if you go back and watch it, he did make
Speaker 1: that guy miss and he made another guy miss, and
Speaker 1: he was like kind of bulldozing his way. There's no
Speaker 1: he had no business getting nine and a half yards,
Speaker 1: but he did. I really he thought. I thought he
Speaker 1: was going to get to the sticks. I really did.
Speaker 1: And honestly, that's you know, I know he played well
Speaker 1: in some of those touchdowns. Yeah, yeah, he had a
Speaker 1: good day. He had a really good day, which is again,
Speaker 1: why so surprising they lost is Yeah, it's a very
Speaker 1: it's a perplexing loss. And actually, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: talking about going back and watching the tape, it pains
Speaker 1: me to say it. In that situation, Dak Dak probably
Speaker 1: had three, maybe four throws that he probably really wants back,
Speaker 1: and there might not be a worse one than the
Speaker 1: third down before that Zeke play. Yep, he had deaz
Speaker 1: on a on a seven out route to the sidelines.
Speaker 1: He has room whiffed it as bad as I've ever
Speaker 1: seen him with a throw like it just I mean,
Speaker 1: it's sailed on him and it's definitely a first down
Speaker 1: definitely gets Daz out of bounds and keeps the game
Speaker 1: alive if he gets it. Um, you get a hindsight
Speaker 1: here for sure. But I mean it's kind of I
Speaker 1: even said it to you on the field that it's
Speaker 1: kind of reminded me of the of the Packer game
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. But you get down there, and I
Speaker 1: know that they're moving fast, But in hindsight, do you
Speaker 1: stop the clock there? You got forty eight seconds? You're
Speaker 1: talking about the spike. Yeah, you spike the ball because
Speaker 1: you need every one of these plays, and if you
Speaker 1: can get to the twenty five yard line, now you
Speaker 1: have a legitimate shot. Even with like one second on
Speaker 1: the clock, you've got you've got a shot to throw
Speaker 1: it into the end zone and make a play. Because
Speaker 1: you have dead you're not gonna maybe do a hell Mary.
Speaker 1: But if you get in the twenty five twenty eight range,
Speaker 1: so I think everything counts, every snap counts to get
Speaker 1: everything you can to get down into that twenty yard line,
Speaker 1: and then even with one or two seconds, you can
Speaker 1: still make plays. And I think spiking it there. I
Speaker 1: know it's hindsight, but that to that point though, and
Speaker 1: you know, like Derek was talking about, you can put
Speaker 1: a little bit of this on everybody because on that
Speaker 1: same drive, if Terrence Williams catches that pass, he's got
Speaker 1: a good to get out of bounds. You probably stop
Speaker 1: the clock with something like one thirty one brought us
Speaker 1: and I did the math on this, you're probably talking
Speaker 1: one thirty one. Instead, he drops it. You run the
Speaker 1: ball with sak just to make sure you get a
Speaker 1: fresh set of downs, and then you're taking your next
Speaker 1: snap at like one oh eight, So you're talking twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five seconds off the clock that didn't need to
Speaker 1: come off the clock. Just a regrettable second half by
Speaker 1: basically everybody involved. And that's the thing. It's like a
Speaker 1: little thing here, a little thing there, a little thing there,
Speaker 1: a little thing there, and it one thing in isolation.
Speaker 1: If you have that one play, it doesn't kill the game,
Speaker 1: but you put them all together and it spells how
Speaker 1: you lose a game when you had, when you had
Speaker 1: a really good game going, how you can lose a
Speaker 1: game in that What do you think Terrence Williams's timeline
Speaker 1: looked like yesterday? I don't know because he blocked me right,
Speaker 1: but bet it wasn't good. Oh, I'm sure it wasn't good.
Speaker 1: But that's also that also comes with the territory. When
Speaker 1: you play well, then it's you know, it's Terence Williams.
Speaker 1: But when you have a rough game then' he did.
Speaker 1: He did. Let everybody know it was his bad. He
Speaker 1: didn't hate that, oh after the play like that's not me.
Speaker 1: Yeah he did die? Why like fifty times ninety thousand
Speaker 1: people in the building. Oh, you know, I think you
Speaker 1: didn't catch the ball. I hate twelve players do it too.
Speaker 1: You know I missed the last They tucking to his teammate.
Speaker 1: He's not talking to the risk his teammates. No, they know.
Speaker 1: Maybe they weren't looking busy blocking dack. That was my bad, man,
Speaker 1: I didn't catch that. Let's work my bad or the
Speaker 1: clap either way when you do them both like bad clap.
Speaker 1: All right, let's take our final break. We'll come back.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get some questions. Call us two one four
Speaker 1: eight seven to twenty one O two again it's two
Speaker 1: one four eight seven two twenty one O two or
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Speaker 1: Welcome back. It's the final segment of the Break Clap
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Speaker 1: you Nick, and thank you Tommy John. All right, let's
Speaker 1: get back to it. We're taking calls. Call us two
Speaker 1: one four eighty seven to twenty one oh two or
Speaker 1: hit us on Twitter at Cowboys Break. Let's start with
Speaker 1: a call. And before we go to this call, just
Speaker 1: want to say my thoughts and prayers it with all
Speaker 1: those folks out in Las Vegas. Rob is calling from
Speaker 1: Las Vegas. What you got robbing you? Luckily I came
Speaker 1: in for the game. I was at the game yesterday
Speaker 1: for my fifty birthday, Happy birthday, birthday. Thank you. So
Speaker 1: I woke up to what happened in Vegas and you
Speaker 1: still in doubt where you? Did you wake up in
Speaker 1: Dallas or did you head back home? Now? I'm still
Speaker 1: I'm still in Dallas. Okay, okay, okay, all night. I
Speaker 1: got a text for my daughter. She worked Amanda. Oh wow,
Speaker 1: and she was, you know, freaking out and shooting. I
Speaker 1: can imagine. I assume she's okay though, right everybody, I
Speaker 1: think I know them? Kay, yes, okay, all right, Well,
Speaker 1: our thoughts and prayers with you, guys, man. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: You know, being at the game first here in Texas,
Speaker 1: it was a it was a pretty cool scene. But
Speaker 1: I disagree a little bit. I don't think they ran
Speaker 1: the ball that good at all. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: take that seventy something, you'd run them what they have?
Speaker 1: What Zeke? You know? They didn't really they held them
Speaker 1: in check. And I think what's really hurting his team? Come,
Speaker 1: let's compare it to last year. This team lived second
Speaker 1: and five last year. I think first down is killing
Speaker 1: this team. It seemed yesterday a start off play action
Speaker 1: they throw to jump out the DEAs and everybody's like great.
Speaker 1: It took everybody, buddy by surprise, because you just assume
Speaker 1: it's going to be a run up the middle. And
Speaker 1: then they got away from that, and then it was
Speaker 1: it was second half. It was second and nine. It
Speaker 1: was second and eight. Last year they used to do
Speaker 1: those uh swing passes, he'd roll out. I think he
Speaker 1: throw to swing. I don't think swings could bowl the
Speaker 1: whole year. And I think number eighty four, I forget
Speaker 1: his name, and touchdown pass. I think that was his
Speaker 1: first catch all year. Yea, it's like they throw to
Speaker 1: only a handful of guys. Des Beasley Witten and Williams.
Speaker 1: That's it. And these defenses are squeezing back yesterday. If
Speaker 1: he doesn't make kind of Tony Romo plays, they're going
Speaker 1: to get blown off this field. And the difference to
Speaker 1: me in the game Golf was just too comfortable. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's not going to run. He's not a big guy.
Speaker 1: You hit him. I mean he was going to fly,
Speaker 1: but he was just too comfortable. And I tweeted Dave
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith. Everybody likes Jalen Smith. I mean, he's just
Speaker 1: a class guy. But you're asking a guy who cannot
Speaker 1: really run at one hundred percent play middle linebacker where
Speaker 1: you have to cover both sides of the field, and
Speaker 1: now you're going to try to have to cover their
Speaker 1: best offensive weapon. And that's the best to come up with.
Speaker 1: You couldn't put maybe another safety, but somebody he was.
Speaker 1: That was the difference. He was the difference for them.
Speaker 1: And I think the difference with us was Dak just
Speaker 1: wasn't comfortable. And I don't know what to deal with
Speaker 1: this offensive line. It's hard to watch an offensive line
Speaker 1: during the game, So I can't tell you who to
Speaker 1: breakdowns are. But what I'm noticing is Tyrren Smith's not
Speaker 1: the same guy, and maybe that's because next it is
Speaker 1: not doing what he supposed to do. And I gotta
Speaker 1: tell you the president there, the guard on the right side,
Speaker 1: who's probably regarded as the best, Zack Martin, he didn't.
Speaker 1: So I think I don't think they're gonna flip it
Speaker 1: during the season, but I think bytions now you're affecting everybody.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if they're gonna I don't know
Speaker 1: if they're gonna take a chance and try to put
Speaker 1: it back where Collins goes back to guard. But this
Speaker 1: offense needs to get back to little little passes. Get
Speaker 1: let's get comfortable second and five, and that's where I
Speaker 1: think Zeke could be more effective. But all right, right now,
Speaker 1: unfortunately I'm starting to see an eight and eighteen. All right,
Speaker 1: thanks for the call. The one thing I will disagree,
Speaker 1: and this is one of my pet peeves. I don't
Speaker 1: like when when fans say, hey, if you take this
Speaker 1: one runaway, well that's the point. You can't take that
Speaker 1: one runaway. Is that seventy yard run was a part
Speaker 1: of what they did yesterday. But if you if you
Speaker 1: don't talk about the two runs from Alfred Morris. I
Speaker 1: still think you look at Ezekiel Elliott and you say
Speaker 1: the guy was averaging four yards to carry. They ran
Speaker 1: the ball well, they ran the ball effectively yesterday. I
Speaker 1: just think personally, their passing game failed them in moments
Speaker 1: when they needed their passing game. I don't think there
Speaker 1: was anything wrong with the running game yesterday. I know
Speaker 1: that there are there still has been this this pension
Speaker 1: this season for these negative runs that we really didn't
Speaker 1: see last year, like on first down, and so yes,
Speaker 1: that can be a problem, but in a lot of
Speaker 1: instances yesterday and a lot of instances yesterday, the Cowboys
Speaker 1: overcame that and they were picking up first downs on
Speaker 1: second and eight. So I don't think that that was
Speaker 1: the biggest problem the Cowboys experience yesterday. I think I
Speaker 1: agreed with a lot of what the coller just said.
Speaker 1: Some of it not so much, but for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: and it's hard, it's hard to try to simplify it.
Speaker 1: But so offensive line is not as dominant as they
Speaker 1: were last year. I think everybody can agree with that.
Speaker 1: I think the number of negative zero and one yard
Speaker 1: games we've seen in the running game is shockingly larger
Speaker 1: than it was last year. I don't know that you
Speaker 1: can even argue that fact. I still think they ran
Speaker 1: the ball pretty well. I still think they found a
Speaker 1: way to get the job done more often than they didn't.
Speaker 1: Even if you want to play that game and take
Speaker 1: the Morris run out of it, they still ran for
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty yards, which is good by nil standards.
Speaker 1: It is more than four yards per carry. I can't
Speaker 1: really kill him too much for that. Um, Dave, add
Speaker 1: this up in your head. They're asking the wrong guy.
Speaker 1: That was like a wrong guy. He had five runs
Speaker 1: on first down in the second half, Okay, minus one zero,
Speaker 1: two zero, So we're at we're at one. What was
Speaker 1: the last one? Five? About six? He had six yards
Speaker 1: on first down and five and five attempts. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: that was all in a row, all in the second half.
Speaker 1: Those are your second half runs. Now, only one of
Speaker 1: those times did they get a first down in that series,
Speaker 1: and it's a Dak went for twelve yards on a
Speaker 1: run which probably was more of a scramble where he
Speaker 1: did his own there. My question would be how much
Speaker 1: did they do that in the first first in the
Speaker 1: first quarter, first and second quarter. I'll start talking about
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, now we gotta start. It's gonna take
Speaker 1: a while, which als I'll check out of I really again,
Speaker 1: it's it's hard to try to simplify this too much. Sorry,
Speaker 1: you're just gonna call him out four five, nine, three, twelve,
Speaker 1: one thirteen, three sixteen. It's first quarter right there. That's
Speaker 1: way better than the second sixteen on how many was
Speaker 1: it four or five carries? It sounded like four, so
Speaker 1: roughly four the first down. Here's the first down run
Speaker 1: for seventy. Here we go that one counts. That'll blow
Speaker 1: up your average, though. And then and then Zeke on
Speaker 1: first and goal and zero, so yeah uh. And then
Speaker 1: he get first and goal again from the from the
Speaker 1: two and scored um three. And that's whether whether you
Speaker 1: want to blame Green Cooper and Lyle Collins or get
Speaker 1: out of here maybe oh good, great, hey shan, Whether
Speaker 1: you want to blame the newcomers or whether Zach Martin,
Speaker 1: Travis Frederick and Tyrn Smith aren't playing up to their
Speaker 1: old level, whatever however you want to pinpoint this, I
Speaker 1: don't think that they're capable of just dominantly running the ball.
Speaker 1: We know we're doing it. You know we're doing it
Speaker 1: tough cookies. This is what's coming and we're gonna get
Speaker 1: five yards like I think they could do that last year.
Speaker 1: Doesn't look like they can do that this year. Is
Speaker 1: this all about though, the left guard and the right tackle,
Speaker 1: Like I said, the changes, and what I mean by
Speaker 1: that is you have different Those are only two pieces
Speaker 1: that are different. Is it all about them and whatever
Speaker 1: you're seeing as a result of their play and those
Speaker 1: other guys maybe trying to do more than they should
Speaker 1: do because they're trying to make up for them, or
Speaker 1: is it more just about sixty four? Like what what
Speaker 1: can it be? This is a cop out, But that's
Speaker 1: a question for broad us really, Like, I'm not the scout.
Speaker 1: I can't. I'm not going to try to tell you
Speaker 1: that this guy's not pulling the right way and this
Speaker 1: guy is too worried about his weak side. Help. I
Speaker 1: don't have those answers. I am going to go back
Speaker 1: and watch it again because I'm curious. Um, But I
Speaker 1: if I had to guess, it's a combination of everything.
Speaker 1: I think your left guard and your right tackle aren't
Speaker 1: as good as they were last year. I think your
Speaker 1: three all pros are probably overcompensating. Plus they've played some
Speaker 1: pretty dominant fronts. When you think about Aaron Donald, Michael
Speaker 1: Brocker's Damon Harrison Denver obviously, um, and then on top
Speaker 1: of the US, who sucks on defense? Can we get
Speaker 1: that's a valid that's about Guess what I mean this
Speaker 1: defense coming up is even though God is coming to town, like,
Speaker 1: I still think that that. Oh I'm like who she's
Speaker 1: talking about? Wow? Um, I pray he's one more One
Speaker 1: more thing that I wanted to point out is I
Speaker 1: throw some on Ezekiel Elliott as well, because we were
Speaker 1: talking about it this morning too. I mean, you can
Speaker 1: go back and find plays where there's a hole that
Speaker 1: he doesn't hit, or there's something that he doesn't happen
Speaker 1: a few times. Yeah, it's all as is usually the
Speaker 1: case in these situations, Like to successfully run the ball
Speaker 1: in the NFL, you have to seamlessly do about six
Speaker 1: things right on every play, and it's just it hasn't
Speaker 1: been there for him on a consistent basis this year.
Speaker 1: That's not to say I don't think they can get
Speaker 1: it right. And again that goes back to our point
Speaker 1: from last week. I think continuity is your best bet.
Speaker 1: It sucks for everybody that Chads Green couldn't start this game.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna dog the guy for getting hurt, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't like to do that, but he needs to
Speaker 1: be in there getting snaps. But the fact is, and
Speaker 1: I know you don't want to dog him, and I
Speaker 1: don't want to dog him either because of his injury.
Speaker 1: But the fact is is if you went into this
Speaker 1: season assuming that Chaz Green was going to play sixteen games,
Speaker 1: then you're probably the fool because his history does not
Speaker 1: suggest that that's going to be the case, and as
Speaker 1: we saw this weekend, wasn't. But here's what I'm a
Speaker 1: fool about. How are you getting hurt in practice? Or
Speaker 1: what's happening? What's happening where you have a hip in practice? Well?
Speaker 1: When was it in the game practice? I was just
Speaker 1: making an out, Okay, I was gonna say, I mean
Speaker 1: we're talking about yes, well what are they doing? Is
Speaker 1: this like the program? Like what what do they get
Speaker 1: around in the circle as bullrush? And I means I
Speaker 1: will say this other injury, I will say this. Okay,
Speaker 1: you're right, you're probably foolish if you were counting on
Speaker 1: Chatz to play sixteen games. Based on his prior history,
Speaker 1: but having just come out of this game, we all
Speaker 1: feel like Chaz Green has had the better outings at
Speaker 1: left guard this season. He's well, you want him starting
Speaker 1: if you have. The One thing I will say though,
Speaker 1: is no, I mean Chaz hasn't faced Darren Don Chazz
Speaker 1: would have, so yeah, I don't know if I know
Speaker 1: sixty four wasn't the answer against Iron. Donald was slapping
Speaker 1: Zack Martin around on a case. And that's my point.
Speaker 1: So I don't know the Chaz would have fared any
Speaker 1: better yesterday. Zekel throw him down on his ass. I'm serious,
Speaker 1: go back and watch that play that he couldn't believe
Speaker 1: that plays believe the guy could whiff that much that
Speaker 1: quick and then all of a sudden it was just
Speaker 1: it was just like one on one with and he
Speaker 1: kind of tossed him around so fast. Protector. He's gonna
Speaker 1: play left guard and Alfred Morris can run the ball
Speaker 1: since he's so great, right Alfred Morris? And does that
Speaker 1: mean we get to mark? I mean that that Darren
Speaker 1: McFadden is now active, maybe he could be active running
Speaker 1: back now. Yeah, it's uh anyway, keep tweeting me, keep
Speaker 1: tweeting me on that one like that, oh hide score.
Speaker 1: I mean that. I think that was my point though.
Speaker 1: My point all along was about juice, a guy that
Speaker 1: can bring you a little bit. I don't trusted Darren McFadden.
Speaker 1: I'll bet you fifty dollars. I don't trust you, Aaron Donald.
Speaker 1: Darren McFadden's not getting that ball to the end zone either. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't trust you no way. How are you gonna
Speaker 1: bet me fifty dollars? I can't, obviously I can, but
Speaker 1: I just prove it. Hey, the Packers are coming to town.
Speaker 1: I remember twenty fifteen, Darren McFadden had a hole the
Speaker 1: size of the Red Sea and couldn't get into the
Speaker 1: end zone. I mean, and he was running by himself
Speaker 1: for about twenty yards and got brought down. There aren't
Speaker 1: a lot of running backs that are scoring from there,
Speaker 1: Ezekiel Elliot. It's one of them, unfortunately, but unfortunately be
Speaker 1: because he didn't have able, he didn't have the ball
Speaker 1: in his hands. Yes, well, they end up scoring anyways,
Speaker 1: it's to go back. We kind of deviated from the call,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean there's some really very real concerns
Speaker 1: with the way the offense is playing and really their
Speaker 1: rhythm in their consistency more than anything else. Again, that
Speaker 1: was great. The first half was amazing. If they play
Speaker 1: like that all the time, they'll win thirteen games again.
Speaker 1: But they've only managed to reach that level of play
Speaker 1: for I don't know, eight of their seventy some odd
Speaker 1: possessions this season. Yeah, I mean, how many possessions this
Speaker 1: season have they looked like that? Probably four in the
Speaker 1: first half, one against the Giants, which resulted in a
Speaker 1: Jason Witten touchdown. None against Denver, and even against the Cardinals.
Speaker 1: Not really, because you're just chunking up fifty fifty balls
Speaker 1: to Bryce Butler and hoping for the best. It's it's
Speaker 1: been disjointed. That's the word that I would use to
Speaker 1: this point. I don't get Jason Witten back involved. Get
Speaker 1: him back involved, to move the sticks a little bit,
Speaker 1: because it's there. It's there, and like he can get
Speaker 1: eight to nine yards when you want to, So quit
Speaker 1: trying to be cute and try to go for all
Speaker 1: these great big plays and you can decondunc with him
Speaker 1: because he him and Beasley, these guys they can move
Speaker 1: the ball down the field. And I don't know why
Speaker 1: they don't use it as much because every single time
Speaker 1: when they need to, you see it in two minute
Speaker 1: drill and they like really need to move the ball.
Speaker 1: It's Jason Witten and there Jason Witten for ten, Jason
Speaker 1: went for twelve. And I know defense is played differently
Speaker 1: in a two minute but I promise you Jason Witten
Speaker 1: is available to move the sticks and get first down
Speaker 1: if they went that route. It's got another question from Twitter.
Speaker 1: We kind of talked about this already, but do you
Speaker 1: guys think that this would be a solution to pass
Speaker 1: more on the first down to give Seek a little
Speaker 1: more running room. I mean, honestly, I don't think that
Speaker 1: passing more is their answer. Like the amount of times
Speaker 1: that they've been passing this season win. Like, if this
Speaker 1: team's gonna win, their route success is going to be
Speaker 1: running the ball now again, they're gonna have to vary
Speaker 1: it up. I think they need to do some more.
Speaker 1: I was I was happy that they handed the ball
Speaker 1: to to Switzer on a play yesterday because I do
Speaker 1: think that they need to do something else in the
Speaker 1: running game. It can't just always be about giving Zeke
Speaker 1: the ball in first downs. Um, But I do think
Speaker 1: the running game is how this team's gonna gonna win.
Speaker 1: And so I don't think the answer is let's throw more.
Speaker 1: I just think they have to be more creative and
Speaker 1: find better ways to run the ball than than saying
Speaker 1: let's get away from running the ball. And I throw
Speaker 1: something out there that I hate myself for even saying
Speaker 1: out loud. I think these guys miss Lucky Whitehead at all.
Speaker 1: Well that role, Yeah, I think I'm talking about Yes,
Speaker 1: I don't care about his snap stories or or you know, uh,
Speaker 1: he won't mind the crap in the locker room. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about defenses for whatever reason, respected the hell out
Speaker 1: of him going in motion across that formation. But that's
Speaker 1: not about them all. He averaged ten yards, Yeah, but
Speaker 1: that wasn't I don't think that was as much about
Speaker 1: him as they haven't really done it this year like
Speaker 1: they have. They could try it with Switzer that yesterday
Speaker 1: was the first time they tried it he has, and
Speaker 1: they got what four yards on that play? They got
Speaker 1: three yards when they actually gave it to him, but
Speaker 1: he motioned a few more times other than that word.
Speaker 1: They didn't hand it him. No, But even still, it
Speaker 1: certainly seemed like teams respected it when Lucky did it,
Speaker 1: and I don't think they respect Switzer doing this. Yes,
Speaker 1: they respected it after If you go back to last season,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys were regularly running that every game for like
Speaker 1: the first how many games, Like they were consistently running
Speaker 1: that play every game, so teams had to respect it.
Speaker 1: They haven't run it enough for teams to respect it yet.
Speaker 1: He's come across, but they have only handed it to
Speaker 1: him one time in four games. So do you think
Speaker 1: if you were the defense, would you respect that much
Speaker 1: and say, yeah, we gotta make sure we watched that
Speaker 1: guy coming across. Well, he hasn't done it, so that
Speaker 1: doesn't make me respect it. So just I don't know
Speaker 1: that they respect that Ryan Switzer's gonna gash him for
Speaker 1: until he does it. Well, yeah, we'll see. Um it's
Speaker 1: a funny catch twenty two because I think just about
Speaker 1: everybody would agree that this offense looks fairly predictable right now.
Speaker 1: But you know, you can sit here and say, maybe
Speaker 1: you throw the ball on first down instead of handing
Speaker 1: it off to Zeke. But if you if you throw
Speaker 1: it in completion, then it's second and ten, then you're
Speaker 1: behind the eight ball. Where now you gotta pick up
Speaker 1: five yards on second down or you're in third and long.
Speaker 1: So I just knocked it up. Damned if you do.
Speaker 1: Damn it didn't. I didn't count it, but it looks
Speaker 1: like about almost fifty fifty pass on first down. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it might be a little bit more run, but that
Speaker 1: was because when they got down there at the five
Speaker 1: yard line. They got down there and they they should
Speaker 1: do it three times. So I don't. I think they're
Speaker 1: mixing it up pretty good there, run pass first up.
Speaker 1: I'd just like to see a little bit more creativity,
Speaker 1: try try the Switzer play a little bit more. I
Speaker 1: think there are other things you can do just to
Speaker 1: kind of um use your running game a little more effectively.
Speaker 1: We saw it yesterday. When you have Alfred Morrison. There
Speaker 1: sometimes defenses you bring in the second running back and
Speaker 1: they're not keying on him like they would the first
Speaker 1: running back, and so it does create some opportunities for you.
Speaker 1: I'd like to see some of those kinds of things happen.
Speaker 1: That's not saying take Zeke out a game a lot,
Speaker 1: but I want that second running back to be able
Speaker 1: to give me a little something like he did yesterday.
Speaker 1: What if you sorry, nick. What was the what was
Speaker 1: a two point conversion at the three yard line? It's
Speaker 1: pretty much yeah, No, it's at the three yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: so that's a three yard play. I mean, I'd like
Speaker 1: to see that more often. I think it just in
Speaker 1: the middle of the field, you know, spread out a
Speaker 1: little bit and and use dak in a situation like that. Um,
Speaker 1: I just think at holding call, I didn't. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't think he really was holding. I think he
Speaker 1: was more dominating the play. I don't think he was either.
Speaker 1: But he had his hand on That's that's the thing.
Speaker 1: And when you have your hand outside right and you
Speaker 1: hand outside in the other hand, it's just just handcaking
Speaker 1: the guy. Um. Because because when you hold a guy,
Speaker 1: you know, you're holding him up for something. Usually it's
Speaker 1: he's standing up and you're that's why he's not moving
Speaker 1: forward because you're holding him. But when you're smashing him
Speaker 1: to the ground, I don't really think that hand, that
Speaker 1: left hand is doing you know, but it's hard to
Speaker 1: You just see hand and you have to make the call.
Speaker 1: But it's a tough break. But I can't fault the
Speaker 1: ref for throw because of what he saw, you know,
Speaker 1: if Terrence catches that ball, he catches that ball and
Speaker 1: tie the game, they go win, you win it with
Speaker 1: a field goal. We're talking about Dak's strength. We're talking
Speaker 1: about a guy that's getting tackled, still pointing, tackling, fires
Speaker 1: it over there. That was a heck of a player.
Speaker 1: I really don't think Dak played poorly. He had some
Speaker 1: throws he could take back. But I think they were
Speaker 1: in this game because of Dak, not because they didn't
Speaker 1: lose because of him. I think they I think if
Speaker 1: it wasn't for him and his athletic ability, I don't
Speaker 1: think they're even as close as they were. I think
Speaker 1: that's fair. It is fair. All right, we appreciate you
Speaker 1: guys us. We're back tomorrow. We'll take a bigger picture
Speaker 1: look at what's going on around this CNFC East to
Speaker 1: Nichael Rochington Redskins play the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs, so
Speaker 1: we'll see how that plays out. We'll talk about all
Speaker 1: that tomorrow. So then for Nick even, Dave hellmant amber Garcia,
Speaker 1: I'm Derek Eaglem. This has been the Break live on
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production
Speaker 1: of Dallas Cowboys dot com and the Dallas Cowboys Football
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