Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This He's Talking Cowboys,
Speaker 1: screaming live from the Dallas Cowboys World headquarters at the
Speaker 1: Star in friscol Say, and now your hosts Isaiah stand Back,
Speaker 1: heck Ma Harrison, Rob Phillips, and Kyle Yeomans. You know,
Speaker 1: it's really only been a week and a half. However,
Speaker 1: it seems like it's been forever because I haven't gotten
Speaker 1: to talk to my buddies here on Talking Cowboys, presented
Speaker 1: by Geico, heck Ma Harrison, Isaiah stand Back, Rob Phillips,
Speaker 1: I'm Kyle Yeoman's. We are back after a little bit
Speaker 1: of a break. It was a three day weekend, so
Speaker 1: we had our weekend and MLK Day and honored him
Speaker 1: and kind of got through the weekend and then got
Speaker 1: back into reality on Tuesday. And now it's Wednesday. It's
Speaker 1: a Wednesday edition here of Talking Cowboys this offseason. So
Speaker 1: glad you're with us year on Dallas Cowboys dot Com.
Speaker 1: And guys, it's like I said about how it feels
Speaker 1: like it's been forever. It's not only because I missed you, guys,
Speaker 1: but it's also because storylines have come out like crazy
Speaker 1: ever since we last recorded. Last time we recorded, we
Speaker 1: didn't even know for sure who our defensive coordinator was
Speaker 1: going to be. And now it is, of course, Dan Quinn.
Speaker 1: He has been hired as the defensive coordinator. We've got
Speaker 1: coaches interviewing with the Philadelphia Eagles, And I said coaches.
Speaker 1: Multiple coaches have interviewed with the Philadelphia Eagles, and we've
Speaker 1: got a ton of NFL. I mean, Drew Brees may
Speaker 1: not even be playing football. We know Philip Rivers not
Speaker 1: playing football anymore since the last time we chatted. But Rob,
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a ton of storylines to go through.
Speaker 1: But which one sticks out to you the most? Well,
Speaker 1: my favorite storyline is we had all this time off
Speaker 1: you squeeze in a vacation. Well, hey, Rob, did you
Speaker 1: get an invite? Did you get an invite? Rap? I
Speaker 1: did not? Did you? Isa? Heck heck did you? I
Speaker 1: definitely didn't. I wasn't in on that one. I'll give
Speaker 1: him this. He kept working, he did the draft show.
Speaker 1: But he also but he also had a subtle flex
Speaker 1: you know. He yes, Kyle, did you call ahead and
Speaker 1: say can I get a room with a mountain so
Speaker 1: I can so I can show that off on the
Speaker 1: Draft Show. No, it was funny though, because we walked
Speaker 1: right into that. It was a little casita. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was just like it was basically a clay building
Speaker 1: with clay floors in like the New Mexico tapestry all
Speaker 1: the way throughout it. And I walked in and I
Speaker 1: saw the really big window that faced toward the mountains.
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, that's gonna have to be my
Speaker 1: backdrop at some point, fell did you guys hear that twins?
Speaker 1: I heard that Twins of Jalen Smith, he said, Loui
Speaker 1: Wi was there. Yeah, and it was a it was
Speaker 1: a clay building, No, bro, it was the four Seasons.
Speaker 1: Don't lie us. It was not the four Seasons. I
Speaker 1: guaranteed that one. Uh yeah, no, it was a It
Speaker 1: was a ton of fun. But yeah, I did. I
Speaker 1: missed you guys there, And I was thinking about Heckma
Speaker 1: the whole time I was on the mountain ski. I
Speaker 1: was like, man, I miss heck My Harrison the whole time.
Speaker 1: I could just imagine Heckma trying to ski. I just
Speaker 1: want to I want that visual more than any I
Speaker 1: feel like Rob and Isaiah could get it done, but
Speaker 1: I know way I'm not messing with nature like that. Sorry, nope, yeah, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: well Rob other storylines up my propty vacation. I'm sorry
Speaker 1: to throw us off. I had to squeeze it once
Speaker 1: got we gotta start with dan Quinn, right, uh. We
Speaker 1: We strongly hinted at that last week, and it turned
Speaker 1: out that that that it ultimately was the hire for
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator. And you know, I think, based on the
Speaker 1: situation they're in right now, I think it makes sense
Speaker 1: on a couple fronts. You know, they want to go
Speaker 1: back to a scheme that they've got more familiarity with,
Speaker 1: and and you know, it's a bit of a one
Speaker 1: eighty because they talked last year about how they wanted
Speaker 1: a different scheme and they wanted to be more multiple. Well,
Speaker 1: I think there could be some multiplicity within this scheme,
Speaker 1: but I think it is largely a four three scheme
Speaker 1: that players have played in and been familiar with. And
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens this offseason with the offseason program.
Speaker 1: There's been there were rumblings from NFL Network yesterday that
Speaker 1: this might be another virtual offseason program. If that's the case,
Speaker 1: I think it makes sense to have a veteran hire
Speaker 1: at that position. You know, I was saying Marvin Lewis
Speaker 1: would have been another candidate on my list anyway, along
Speaker 1: with dan Quinn. A veteran hire that knows how to
Speaker 1: get his system really across, has been in this position
Speaker 1: for a few years, and so I think it makes
Speaker 1: sense for what the Cowboys need to do, and that's
Speaker 1: that's a quick fix along with upgrading their personnel. Heck
Speaker 1: ma well, I mean, look, we talked about it at
Speaker 1: length and about dan Quinn, and obviously now he's our
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator. I'm interested to see how all of this
Speaker 1: goes back to the scheme that we were playing playing
Speaker 1: two years ago. Personnel wise, we've made some changes. We've
Speaker 1: gone into the draft and we've drafted guys that were
Speaker 1: three four guys in our four three guys. You know,
Speaker 1: there's so much that's gonna go into it, but there
Speaker 1: are a lot of players that well, a lot of players.
Speaker 1: There are a few players that we have right now
Speaker 1: that are going to directly benefit from the hire of
Speaker 1: dan Quinn, and one being Tank Lawrence. Just going back
Speaker 1: to who he was, I thought that it was a
Speaker 1: mistake to have him in a bicycle position and all
Speaker 1: of that. I think it just changed his game and
Speaker 1: you saw him slowly coming into himself as the season progressed,
Speaker 1: you know, switching sides and doing different things that they
Speaker 1: had him doing within the defense. But again, to me,
Speaker 1: there's so many things to unpack with this dan quinn hiring,
Speaker 1: going back to a system that other guys would let
Speaker 1: go of. But again, he's he's our he's our defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: We're gonna play at four three, the cover three scheme
Speaker 1: that he sold uh famous for in Seattle, and hopefully again, guys,
Speaker 1: we have the personnel fit to get that done. Well,
Speaker 1: y'all know, y'all know, I'm excited about it. Uh. Coach
Speaker 1: quinna Is, he's a good dude. I know him. He's UM,
Speaker 1: he's awesome. I don't know him, know him, but I
Speaker 1: had him as a coach and he was he's he's
Speaker 1: a good dude. He's a good dude that I love
Speaker 1: his energy. I love the fact that he establishes a culture.
Speaker 1: He establishes a culture of energetic, young, hungry, determined players
Speaker 1: UM that play as a team. And I like that.
Speaker 1: That's one thing I like about him. That's one thing
Speaker 1: that's consistent about him. I know, we can go back
Speaker 1: to Atlanta and talk about, you know, the success or
Speaker 1: lack thereof, uh, you know, but the reality is they
Speaker 1: had success. They just didn't finish things. Um. And that's
Speaker 1: something that's something that's something I gotta fit. They gotta
Speaker 1: figure out. But look where he took Atlanta from, right,
Speaker 1: he took Atlanta and gave him an opportunity to win
Speaker 1: a dog on Super Bowl. So um, not just not
Speaker 1: to me coaches that they can say that, um, but
Speaker 1: I'm excited about him. I'm excited about the guys that
Speaker 1: we had that were inefficient this year on our current roster.
Speaker 1: I'm excited about their potential future. Guys like Jaylen Smith,
Speaker 1: the guy that I freaking was hard on this year.
Speaker 1: I think he flourishes in a dan Quinn system. You know,
Speaker 1: I think vander Esche flourish is in the dan Quinn system.
Speaker 1: You started thinking about guys that that quinns that had
Speaker 1: an opportunity to work with and the development that they've had. Um,
Speaker 1: guys like to play for him. So I'm also excited
Speaker 1: about some of the free agents that are gonna want
Speaker 1: to come here and play as well. So wait a minute,
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, let me ask this. So are you
Speaker 1: saying that, uh, Jaylen can mimic kJ Right? Don't don't
Speaker 1: do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. But but
Speaker 1: what I am gonna say is I'm gonna say this.
Speaker 1: They will, they have, they have an opportunity. And I
Speaker 1: don't want to start throwing a bunch of rumors and
Speaker 1: stuff out there because I don't have that kind of information.
Speaker 1: But if I'm the exactly, if I'm the GM, if
Speaker 1: I'm the GM right, which I'm not, but I would
Speaker 1: take a close look at I would take a close
Speaker 1: look at Jalen Smiths contract. I would take a close
Speaker 1: look at Jallen Smiths contract because if you know Vander
Speaker 1: esh is gonna be your middle linebacker, kJ Wright is
Speaker 1: a free agent. kJ Right is familiar with the system
Speaker 1: that Dan Quinn's gonna run. kJ Wright is not going
Speaker 1: to get the money that he wants out of Seattle.
Speaker 1: He's not, um, you know, it's really gonna come down.
Speaker 1: Does he want to stay there and be loyal? I'm
Speaker 1: playing with his playing with his dog Bobby, But he's
Speaker 1: earned a right to make some money. So if you
Speaker 1: can move some money around and get a guy who's
Speaker 1: proven and who understands the system that you're trying to
Speaker 1: get across, who's a proven leader in this league, then
Speaker 1: you know, obviously there there's options there. So I think
Speaker 1: that there's gonna be I say all that to say
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a good amount of guys who want
Speaker 1: to come play here in Dallas, not only because it's
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys, but also because of who's now in
Speaker 1: charge of the amount of defense. I like that. I
Speaker 1: think there is an added element to hiring a guy
Speaker 1: with the name of dan Quinn and with the resume
Speaker 1: of dan Quinn. If you went out and hired it
Speaker 1: maybe a younger defensive coordinator or somebody who hadn't been
Speaker 1: in that position prior, you might not have that kind
Speaker 1: of pedigree where you can say, I want to go
Speaker 1: get this guy because he's played for me, and he's
Speaker 1: done this, this, this, and I know he can do
Speaker 1: this still. And I know last week when you were
Speaker 1: you were pretty down on a guy like dan Quinn,
Speaker 1: you were not you were not in favor of having
Speaker 1: dan Quinn come in. Wanted you wanted the new you
Speaker 1: wanted that and I completely understand where you're coming from.
Speaker 1: And I have my skepticisms about dan Quinn and I
Speaker 1: still do. But ultimately, how does his scheme and how
Speaker 1: does his resume line up to allow you to be
Speaker 1: better instantly on defense? Because I feel like that's what
Speaker 1: this higher does, you know, I don't. Look, I'm very
Speaker 1: skeptical about it. I mean, because we had a defense.
Speaker 1: They gave up historic numbers, right, And so you have
Speaker 1: to ask ourselves, with all the built in excuses of
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen, had dan Quinn been hired are fired in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, and hired in twenty twenty by Mike McCarthy,
Speaker 1: would he have suffered the same state as Mike Nolan
Speaker 1: even with the familiarity with the old system. I know
Speaker 1: that people completely take this antiquated way of coaching, hiring
Speaker 1: coaches and going back and comparing players. But there's no
Speaker 1: way that you're going to sell me on the fact
Speaker 1: that Donovan Wilson is a cam Chancellor equivalent. And if
Speaker 1: you can convince me that you could possibly sell me
Speaker 1: oceanfront property in Nebraska, because I just I don't see it,
Speaker 1: you know, I just don't. And I think that you know,
Speaker 1: the one hard sale for me on this is that
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy sold the Jones family on this New Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys A twenty twenty and now we're going back to
Speaker 1: the twenty nineteen defense, and I just, you know, I
Speaker 1: have problems with that, but I want to give it
Speaker 1: time to work. Dan Quinn is all of his accomplishments,
Speaker 1: his resume, everything that's out there on him is proven, right,
Speaker 1: But there's also another side to this where you see
Speaker 1: his defail or his team against Atlanta giving up big
Speaker 1: leads in big time, in big games. There are other
Speaker 1: things as well, But again, but this defense, that what
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan said, the ceiling is the roof. You know,
Speaker 1: the sky's the limit, right, There's no there's no where
Speaker 1: to go but up for this defense. So I mean,
Speaker 1: as a Cowboy fan, obviously all of us are just
Speaker 1: you know, excited about you know, the possibility of having
Speaker 1: something better. Well, and you said we're going back to
Speaker 1: that twenty nineteen defense, and I feel like I have
Speaker 1: to throw this in there. This isn't exactly that twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen different defense. This isn't Rod Marinelli. I think it's
Speaker 1: a good in between rob right, whenever you look at
Speaker 1: the scheme, I mean, there's gonna be some multiple from
Speaker 1: Dan Quinn. It's just not gonna be what Mike Nolan
Speaker 1: brought to the table. It's not gonna be quite that hybrid,
Speaker 1: that that that nickel front that you're gonna see from
Speaker 1: a Mike Nolan more so than what you saw from
Speaker 1: Rod Marinelli. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm fascinated to see how
Speaker 1: it takes shape because it is. His history is largely
Speaker 1: four three cover three, you know, single high safety defense,
Speaker 1: and we've seen that here obviously with christihs Hard being
Speaker 1: a former Seattle assistant too when he was here. So
Speaker 1: there's there's variations of it. But to your point, he's
Speaker 1: worked in places where he was a D line coach
Speaker 1: with the Jets when they ran a three four. He
Speaker 1: worked for Nick Saban when they were a multiple defense
Speaker 1: in Miami. They were a three four hybrid scheme at
Speaker 1: Florida when he was there DC for a couple of
Speaker 1: years before he went to Seattle and they won Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: So he's been in different schemes and I think in
Speaker 1: today's NFL you have to be different. You can't play
Speaker 1: just so plain and say, hey, we're gonna beat you
Speaker 1: because we're so talented, And that kind of goes back
Speaker 1: to Heckma's point. It does come down to players, and
Speaker 1: so I think what they're trying to do is, you know,
Speaker 1: it's another uncertain offseason. I mentioned, you know, we'll see
Speaker 1: how virtual it is. Bring in some familiarity, get the
Speaker 1: communication right, get everybody on the same page. That was
Speaker 1: such a problem last year. Beyond the talent level, you know,
Speaker 1: just being assignment sound and maybe with a familiar scheme
Speaker 1: they can do that, but I think it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a couple of years before they probably get the personnel
Speaker 1: where they wanted to be. They just need to be
Speaker 1: okay on defense and hope your offense is healthy and
Speaker 1: really really good, and then that that's how you win
Speaker 1: games next year. That's how I see it anyway, Isaiah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I don't disagree with you on that, but
Speaker 1: you know, again, well we obviously have to see what
Speaker 1: the salary cap situation is going to be, um and
Speaker 1: I think that they have to they have a lot
Speaker 1: of self analysis, a lot of a lot of looking
Speaker 1: on the interior this year to figure out exactly who
Speaker 1: they want to retain. I think at the end that
Speaker 1: you have to figure that out. You have to figure
Speaker 1: out what type of hits, those those potential moves are
Speaker 1: going to have on your cap um. And you know,
Speaker 1: you go out there and you acquire some guys, like
Speaker 1: you said, Rob, that are familiar with the system. I hear,
Speaker 1: I hear, and I understand and I don't disagree with
Speaker 1: you heck on some of those formats. However, UM, I
Speaker 1: know on the inside that the culture aspect and that
Speaker 1: that's so important. It is so important. And regardless if
Speaker 1: you regardless off you're in person, regardless of your virtual
Speaker 1: it's contagious. The type of what what he what he does,
Speaker 1: what he brings is contagious. And I think that you
Speaker 1: you can tell that, UM, this this year was a
Speaker 1: great a great example of the lack of energy, the
Speaker 1: lack of continuity. UM. That this that this defense is
Speaker 1: particularly that this defense had UM And then I think
Speaker 1: you can look at some of the other defenses that
Speaker 1: coach Quinnance coach in the past, and you can at
Speaker 1: least see, even if the players aren't exceptional, right, look
Speaker 1: at the energy, look at the energy difference of his players, man,
Speaker 1: And I think that's something that that's that, that's we
Speaker 1: can we can really grasps onto. I mean I get it.
Speaker 1: And Isaiah, he's your guy and you have that, you
Speaker 1: have familiarity, you know him right, Um, just for for
Speaker 1: me when just especially looking at this ros roster and
Speaker 1: the depth that we had at certain positions, it wouldn't
Speaker 1: have mattered. Man if he came in last year and
Speaker 1: tried to implement this all had the same system, that
Speaker 1: the communication was the same. You just had guys that
Speaker 1: can't play, guys that can't cover. If you're talking about
Speaker 1: a cover four scheme that yet you even alluded to Isaiah,
Speaker 1: that's one of the easiest schemes to master. We couldn't
Speaker 1: do that, right, Let's communicate, let's talk, Let's stop anything
Speaker 1: from having the Antonio Gibson hov to the end zone.
Speaker 1: Those we were just getting gash in the running game.
Speaker 1: We were getting guys that were getting put on their
Speaker 1: name plate and there was I don't care about what
Speaker 1: kind of energy you have as a coach. If you
Speaker 1: have guys that can't play, that can't get it done,
Speaker 1: linebackers that can't share get to the ball, those things
Speaker 1: are going to rear their head again. And so regardless
Speaker 1: of him having energy or what have you, you still
Speaker 1: are in a position where you're gonna have to have
Speaker 1: guys that can play the way that you want to.
Speaker 1: Dan Quinn has a one gap scheme. Guys are gonna
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to blow and go. But you have
Speaker 1: guys up front right now that have played in a
Speaker 1: different scheme that they're gonna have to get used to
Speaker 1: playing in his I agree on a half of what
Speaker 1: you said. I agree on half what you said, and
Speaker 1: the reason why I agree either you have players or
Speaker 1: you don't have players at that I agree on. However,
Speaker 1: what your statement also is in digative of saying that
Speaker 1: somebody's coaching style, um is there. They're unable to get
Speaker 1: across the same information in a different form depending on
Speaker 1: their coaching style. And I disagree with you in that
Speaker 1: regard because I think Coach Quinn and other great coach
Speaker 1: and other coaches that you may be talent, you know
Speaker 1: talented as great are really good. They are able to
Speaker 1: get across information in a different way that's that's digestible
Speaker 1: by by those players. Right, So I could receive information
Speaker 1: from you differently that I could receive information from Rob
Speaker 1: or even Kyle. Right, you guys can try to get
Speaker 1: across the same message, but I can by by you
Speaker 1: teaching it to me. I receive it and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, oh, now I understand it and I can
Speaker 1: go out and apply it. Right the way which you
Speaker 1: teach me to communicate. Right, all communication is not the same. Right,
Speaker 1: you teach me to communicate a certain way. Now, all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, we've we have no different in baseball, right,
Speaker 1: you got all these dog on signals and everything else.
Speaker 1: Right when I was in when I was in New England,
Speaker 1: we had so many dog one hands signals. We didn't
Speaker 1: talk on the field. There was no talking. It was
Speaker 1: it was. It was. It was an eyewink, it was
Speaker 1: a hey, it not it was one of these. It
Speaker 1: was a all kinds of different stuff. It was a Celtic,
Speaker 1: it was all kinds of stuff. Is different, right, same players,
Speaker 1: but you convey the message differently, and guess what now
Speaker 1: you get different results on the field. So I agree
Speaker 1: with you that you need the players, but I disagree
Speaker 1: with you by saying that we don't have the players
Speaker 1: that could do it if we have the proper teacher
Speaker 1: in place. The one thing I would add to that is.
Speaker 1: You know, guys talked about in December when they started
Speaker 1: playing better defensively, guys would say, look, we're we kind
Speaker 1: of finally understand what we're supposed to do. I don't heck,
Speaker 1: I don't think under a Dance Quinn scheme that would
Speaker 1: have been kind of a continuation of the Rod Chris
Speaker 1: scheme to a certain extent. I don't know if if
Speaker 1: guys would have been talking like that that deep end
Speaker 1: of the season. But I agree with you too. Like
Speaker 1: Isaiah said, I agree with you that there's a lot
Speaker 1: of question marks. There's a lot of guys with expiring
Speaker 1: deals and and they've got some spots they got to
Speaker 1: look at. And I don't think you can do it
Speaker 1: all in one off season. So it's going to be
Speaker 1: very interesting to see how it takes shape well. And
Speaker 1: I also kind of want to look at some of
Speaker 1: the guys who are going to be back here that
Speaker 1: are going to benefit I mean, heck, when you mentioned
Speaker 1: it in your opening statement about de Marcus Lawrence, I
Speaker 1: think that's a guy who certainly will benefit from having
Speaker 1: Dan Quinn rather than maybe going out of a two
Speaker 1: point stance and having to play with Mike Nolan's scheme
Speaker 1: of defense. But then you look at guys like Jalen Smith,
Speaker 1: Like Isaiah said earlier, could Jalen Smith be better? He
Speaker 1: might be worse in this system. The defensive tackles, there's
Speaker 1: going to be a lot of pressure on them to
Speaker 1: create pressure upfront, and that's something that we saw from
Speaker 1: Mignolan's defense. It allowed them to really kind of take
Speaker 1: the forefront and they didn't do so very well. They
Speaker 1: also weren't necessarily healthy for throughout must of much of
Speaker 1: the season as well. But heck, if you look at
Speaker 1: these players, you look at some of these individual Jimmies
Speaker 1: and Joe's to go along with the x's and o's,
Speaker 1: is there anybody that sticks out that you can look
Speaker 1: at and say they are definitely going to be better
Speaker 1: in this system as opposed to maybe last Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean guys like Anthony Brown, Right, I think Anthony
Speaker 1: Brown will be He's gonna be for a guy with
Speaker 1: his athletic skill set to pick up. You know, Cover
Speaker 1: three is pretty simple. It's the third of the field
Speaker 1: from the numbers to the boundary. Um. You know, I
Speaker 1: think you know our Diggs is gonna benefit Grace. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Trayvon Diggs is going to benefit greatly as well in
Speaker 1: the cover three system. I mean, I think he could
Speaker 1: do it all. He's one of the one guys that
Speaker 1: you have that can do pretty much anything. But he's
Speaker 1: gonna have to get better as well. Uh linebacker wise,
Speaker 1: I mean Laton vander esh Now, he's just gonna be
Speaker 1: gap responsible and I think taking a lot of the
Speaker 1: other reading part out of it will simplify And these
Speaker 1: are worst that we're gonna start using in the off season.
Speaker 1: That it's going to be a simplified defense where guys
Speaker 1: are gonna have to think and read and react all
Speaker 1: at the same time. So maybe that's the Maybe that's
Speaker 1: the case. I think going back two years from twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: especially for Jalen Smith, you start seeing offense of linemen
Speaker 1: get to him at the second level and he not
Speaker 1: be effective. But Mike Nolan came in and the whole
Speaker 1: thing premise was that we're gonna put Jaylen Smith in
Speaker 1: a position to be a player. Right, he'll be able
Speaker 1: to run free and not have guys on him. But
Speaker 1: with un Terry Poe in his face, there's nothing he
Speaker 1: could do. He's still will still marginalized as a player,
Speaker 1: and so now we bring in a coach that it's
Speaker 1: going to make him better. But I still feel like
Speaker 1: you still have some of the same woes with Jaylen
Speaker 1: Smith in coverage versus tight ends. That's just that's just
Speaker 1: not his game. It doesn't exist there. So him, Reddy Gregory,
Speaker 1: I think he'll benefit greatly in this system. So there
Speaker 1: are a few guys that I just but but for
Speaker 1: the most part, Uh, Dan Quinn is gonna have to
Speaker 1: get his guys in. We know that he likes a
Speaker 1: certain style of player, and I'm sure Isaiah knows this
Speaker 1: with a more taller range, yer secondary guys. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna be a few changes, wholesale changes on
Speaker 1: our defense. Isaiah. Yeah, no, I agree. I agree. I
Speaker 1: mean there's gonna be there's gonna be changed. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: agree with me. Yeah, yeah, I mean we've been agreeing today.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be changed. I mean, but you know, the
Speaker 1: mortal story is, you know you got a new decordinator.
Speaker 1: You know you got to look at your your personnel,
Speaker 1: not only in your players, but also in your coaches,
Speaker 1: your assistant coaches. Do you have the right guys in place. Um,
Speaker 1: are there going to be any changes there? Um? And
Speaker 1: then obviously you got turned to the draft, you know,
Speaker 1: you got turned to the draft and say, hey, what
Speaker 1: the heck are we gonna do there? Um? Do we
Speaker 1: you know what position do we have the greatest need of? Um?
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's a lot, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: things that have to happen. But you know, overall, I'm
Speaker 1: pretty excited about about this guy. And I obviously I
Speaker 1: know him a lot more that I know some of
Speaker 1: the other candidates out there. But I think I think
Speaker 1: that he bowls well for this this cultureless team right now.
Speaker 1: One of the biggest worries that I have about his
Speaker 1: scheme and Jalen Smith is exactly what Heckma said earlier
Speaker 1: is covering tight ends and get going back in the coverage.
Speaker 1: Because if you look at a cover three scheme, the
Speaker 1: where's the weakness, It's on the hash mark. It's right
Speaker 1: up the hash mark. Yeah. But wait when kJ, when
Speaker 1: kJ came in, he kJ couldn't cover, couldn't cover with
Speaker 1: a blanket. I'll just tell you he couldn't. He couldn't
Speaker 1: put a blanket on a baby. No, for sure, Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. But you know, but but he ever to
Speaker 1: get better. Though he can get better. He could be coached.
Speaker 1: He could be coached rand get his current state. I agree,
Speaker 1: trust me, y'all know I agree. However, when you have
Speaker 1: athletic ability, which I don't think anybody discounts that Jalen does. Right,
Speaker 1: we realize that he's not as a guy as we
Speaker 1: thought he was change of direction or exactly. Okay, but
Speaker 1: I know that the strength conditioning coach, right who's now
Speaker 1: in place, Um, I know he focuses on that a
Speaker 1: lot because I had him in New England. So that
Speaker 1: will be that will be better than it was. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully they're in person for training. But also
Speaker 1: you know, obviously some better coaching. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of tips and tricks that are that are
Speaker 1: that are passed along from generation and generation in this league.
Speaker 1: And there's a lot of a lot of things that
Speaker 1: he can learn from. So maybe they bring in a
Speaker 1: veteran guy that can play alongside him, who knows, We'll see,
Speaker 1: no matter what we do, no matter what we do
Speaker 1: in the draft, our free agency, we have to get
Speaker 1: guys absolutely come off the porch ready to play like
Speaker 1: this is what you do no more project guys. We
Speaker 1: gotta get it. You can't, We cannot miss Will McClay
Speaker 1: and staff. They gotta have to get this right with
Speaker 1: guys that can implement, get in right now and play.
Speaker 1: And with everything that's happening with the draft and what
Speaker 1: came down from the letter from the NFL about the
Speaker 1: combine and all of that, it's gonna be a tougher
Speaker 1: job to you know, evaluate look at these guys. But
Speaker 1: what that's gonna force guys to do is go back
Speaker 1: to the old way of just you gotta you gotta
Speaker 1: put it on film. Film cannot you cannot go into
Speaker 1: the combine left two twenty five thirty five times like
Speaker 1: Isaiah did it get drafted? Oh Man and heck my
Speaker 1: alluded to it. There was news about the combine. There
Speaker 1: was also news that Philadelphia was going to interview Kellen
Speaker 1: Moore and John Fossil. We're gonna take a break when
Speaker 1: we come back, could be a couple more coaching changes.
Speaker 1: How could that affect this current roster? And then also
Speaker 1: how will combine affect the off season program for the
Speaker 1: Cowboys as opposed to what it did last year? When
Speaker 1: we come back, you're all Talking Cowboys presented by Geico.
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Speaker 1: To talk in Cowboys back, You're on Talking Cowboys presented
Speaker 1: by Geico. We're just continuing from the break, carrying over.
Speaker 1: HECKMA doesn't know what standby means at all. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's gotta you gotta learn what standby means anyways. But
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Speaker 1: about the bows, quiet comfort, earboads can But I feel
Speaker 1: like this wouldn't be a segment to do that when
Speaker 1: Heckma just doesn't listen. So I got that up here
Speaker 1: in a little shoe to that one in a second.
Speaker 1: He did allude to it a couple moments ago about
Speaker 1: the changes to the Combine and Rob, I mean, I
Speaker 1: know you, you talked about this yesterday in our group chat,
Speaker 1: but the Combine is not going to be the Combine
Speaker 1: this year. No meeting at Indianapolis, no in person workouts
Speaker 1: or at least for a centralized location. All the workouts
Speaker 1: are going to have to be done virtually or at
Speaker 1: the different college campuses, and then the meetings are all virtual,
Speaker 1: much like they were for the thirty day visits. Last year,
Speaker 1: and then all of the in person medical examinations are limited.
Speaker 1: So there's only a couple medical examinations in which will
Speaker 1: be limited. And yeah, Isaiah already knows that that's the
Speaker 1: most important part of the combine because that's why really
Speaker 1: you do it, to gather that information on these prospects.
Speaker 1: But Rob, how is this specifically going to affect the
Speaker 1: Cowboys and the way that they go out and look
Speaker 1: for personnel. I don't know that it affects the Cowboys
Speaker 1: any different than anybody else. There's part of me that
Speaker 1: feels like the whole draft process. I'm not overrating it,
Speaker 1: but I think that we put so much on the
Speaker 1: combine and being in person at those workouts, and I
Speaker 1: think it matters. I think, you know, if all of
Speaker 1: us have had job interviews, and I think it matters
Speaker 1: to have that in person element to it. But you know,
Speaker 1: they did some of those interviews, some of those top
Speaker 1: thirty visits virtually because we were starting the pandemic back
Speaker 1: then in the spring, so they have some familiarity with that.
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I think the medical checks are
Speaker 1: the biggest thing, and that's going to be restricted obviously,
Speaker 1: But I don't know how much the interviews really factored
Speaker 1: that much. I guess they're not going to be in
Speaker 1: person to see the workouts, so there's that. But to me,
Speaker 1: it's not just going forward, it's also the past few months,
Speaker 1: you know, I think the scouts have been affected on
Speaker 1: what they've been able to do in terms of getting
Speaker 1: out on the road and seeing guys. It's just all
Speaker 1: thirty two teams are dealing with it, and I think
Speaker 1: the Cowboys at least their stability in the front office
Speaker 1: with Will McClay and their scouting department, the personnel guys,
Speaker 1: they know what they're looking for, and even with Dan
Speaker 1: Quinn coming in a defensive coordinator, there's some scheme familiarity.
Speaker 1: Like we talked about, they know what they're looking for.
Speaker 1: I think that benefits them instead of a new front
Speaker 1: office coming in. So and there's a few teams that
Speaker 1: are like that. Yeah, there is a familiarity. And even
Speaker 1: last year, whenever there was kind of the turnover from
Speaker 1: a coaching staff, it was still a good enough draft
Speaker 1: to where you felt good about it afterwards, and even
Speaker 1: after their rookie season, you can say that guys like
Speaker 1: Ceedee Lamb, Tyler beatis Neville, Gallimoor, Treyvon Diggs. I mean,
Speaker 1: those are four guys by themselves that made significant impacts.
Speaker 1: But Isaiah, whenever you look at kind of the medical
Speaker 1: evaluations in the meetings, how much do those play a
Speaker 1: factor into maybe where you might end up via the draft? Huge? Huge.
Speaker 1: The in person meetings are awesome because you get to
Speaker 1: sit down and face to face with the coaches GMS. Um,
Speaker 1: that's awesome, right, They get that, they get a true
Speaker 1: understanding of who you are. I never forget my interview
Speaker 1: with with with Chucky and how who We just sit
Speaker 1: there and stared me down in an a quiet room
Speaker 1: with him and Doug Williams in there, and I blinked
Speaker 1: out on Doug William's name after he asked me that
Speaker 1: if I knew who the first black quarterback was the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, I know. But I was like, of course
Speaker 1: I know who it is. I was like, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I told you, I said, he's in the room.
Speaker 1: He said, yes he is. So that I mean that
Speaker 1: that interview is uh is fun. But like I said
Speaker 1: that that could be done virtually. The part that sucks
Speaker 1: for the for the teams the injuries. Obviously, I came
Speaker 1: out the draft with with with that, with my Liz
Speaker 1: Frank injury. UM. The same year, Adrian Peterson was coming
Speaker 1: out with the collar bone. So I remember spending hours
Speaker 1: upon hours and me and Adrian Peterson after everybody's on
Speaker 1: bus all the way back to the hotel. Him and
Speaker 1: I are sleeping back to back because we're spending six
Speaker 1: hours taking MRIs and X rays just because they wanted
Speaker 1: to see every little square inch of our body. They
Speaker 1: wanted to bring the prowd on us. They wanted to turn,
Speaker 1: twist and turn and put their hands on you. It's
Speaker 1: physically excruciating. I remember leaving one of those UM, one
Speaker 1: of those appointments with all the trainers and they sit
Speaker 1: you on a table. You literally sit at a training table,
Speaker 1: and there's all the teams are around you in this
Speaker 1: big old conference room, and they put you up there.
Speaker 1: They call your name out and all the teams who
Speaker 1: that are interested in you come out there. The doctors
Speaker 1: come out there and there's literally like five six doctors
Speaker 1: on you. They're all pulling on you, testing on whatever
Speaker 1: injuries you might have had. They have every track record
Speaker 1: from your college, every time you got a i V.
Speaker 1: Every time you gotta ask for and they have all
Speaker 1: that information and and and they're checking you out just
Speaker 1: because you are an investment to them. So the fact
Speaker 1: that they can't do that this year is huge because
Speaker 1: that gives them the understanding and the in the confidence
Speaker 1: that you're either going to be okay coming off of
Speaker 1: an injury that that may have bothered you and been
Speaker 1: lingering over past years um or you're just in perfect health.
Speaker 1: So I think that's that's gonna hurt some teams, but
Speaker 1: also it's gonna benefit some players for Canadas. Now, guys
Speaker 1: get some opportunities that they probably wouldn't have got had
Speaker 1: they had their hands on them. Do you feel like
Speaker 1: maybe with the current situation of this that the connections
Speaker 1: that are made by this front office are ultimately going
Speaker 1: to pay dividends because if they're not going to have
Speaker 1: these in person medical exams, you're gonna have to have connections, right,
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to have that networking and the friendships
Speaker 1: outside of your own organization and to these schools. We've
Speaker 1: known in the past that Will McClay and his entire
Speaker 1: staff really leans toward these bigger schools like the Alabamas
Speaker 1: and the Ohio States. For some of their players. Maybe
Speaker 1: those connections are gonna pay dividends for them. Heckma yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean the coaching fraternity is a very big fraternity,
Speaker 1: and these these scouts they talk amongst each other all
Speaker 1: the time, so they're not gonna miss on guys at all.
Speaker 1: I think the one thing that that what like Isaiah
Speaker 1: was saying, and I think that Indianapolis has is the
Speaker 1: hospital right there has state of the art equipment. UM,
Speaker 1: and maybe that's one of those things that's going to
Speaker 1: be missing. But I really think that guys are going
Speaker 1: to earn their keep this year. You're gonna find out
Speaker 1: the good scouting departments from the bad ones by the
Speaker 1: guys that's not being able to go and pick out
Speaker 1: cherry pick the players that are putting up those numbers.
Speaker 1: And so look, I think when I think about the Star,
Speaker 1: there's a there's a part of the Star where they
Speaker 1: show gil Brandt's notes on players. I mean these are
Speaker 1: handwritten notes and so it's been done before, you know what,
Speaker 1: guys that had all the technology and the laser timing
Speaker 1: and all of that. So I look, I look for
Speaker 1: the ones that are true too, and to actually earn
Speaker 1: the keeping. It's gonna be a lot of made of
Speaker 1: evaluation looking at tape and how about the guys that
Speaker 1: are that opted out that you have to go back
Speaker 1: two years to look at that tape. So there's a
Speaker 1: lot of things to be considered, and you know, how
Speaker 1: much weight is it going to be on playing this
Speaker 1: year versus last year? But also just making sure that
Speaker 1: all of your notes and communicating on guys and the
Speaker 1: one thing that this front office and coaching staff and
Speaker 1: scouting department that connected in that way, well, these guys
Speaker 1: are meeting with each other and finding out the type
Speaker 1: of players that they want to bring in. So we
Speaker 1: talk about culture, who are those guys? And I believe
Speaker 1: that that's the part that we really should lean heavily
Speaker 1: on because we're building that culture and coach Mike McCarthy
Speaker 1: knows the kind of guys that he wants here. I
Speaker 1: like that. I think that's a ton of the worries.
Speaker 1: I think that's a ton of what we need to
Speaker 1: look at for the Cowboys. And also, like we kind
Speaker 1: of talked about it in the first segment, continuity is
Speaker 1: going to play a big factor in the way that
Speaker 1: you're going to be successful here. But are we speaking
Speaker 1: too soon in terms of what that continuity may be.
Speaker 1: And I say that because we've had a couple of
Speaker 1: coaches this past week that have been rumored to have
Speaker 1: done interviews with the Philadelphia Eagles. We'll start with Kellen
Speaker 1: Moore here, Rob, I mean, what have you heard latest
Speaker 1: on Kellen Moore? I heard that he took the interview,
Speaker 1: but ultimately it was for the head coaching position. What
Speaker 1: else have you heard about our offensive coordinator who a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago we thought might have gone to
Speaker 1: the college ranks. Now he's getting a head coaching interview
Speaker 1: at the same division. Kellen Moore is hot. He's sibling
Speaker 1: right now? Man? Uh yeah, Boise State? Now now Philly.
Speaker 1: Who haven't they interviewed at this point? I think that's
Speaker 1: got an interview for their defensive coordinator job. Just saying
Speaker 1: I'm saying, uh yeah. Though it's a it's a wide net.
Speaker 1: As we've seen online, They've they've they've been linked to
Speaker 1: over a dozen names. Probably haven't heard anything other than
Speaker 1: the fact that yes, he was scheduled to interview yesterday
Speaker 1: for their opening and it honestly, it makes sense. It
Speaker 1: makes sense given not not knowing what you know not
Speaker 1: having ties to Philly's organization. It makes sense on the
Speaker 1: outside of Okay, if you've got to fix Carson Wentz,
Speaker 1: given the financial commitment you made to him, even if
Speaker 1: you're even if you're not going to commit to Carson Wentz,
Speaker 1: you've got Jalen Hurts, who's a young quarterback with a
Speaker 1: lot of talent um. Bringing in a top offensive mind,
Speaker 1: a young offensive mind, which Doug Peterson has been that
Speaker 1: as well, makes a lot of sense. And Kellen Moore
Speaker 1: is not the only offensive guy that's been linked to
Speaker 1: the job. But I would see why they would want
Speaker 1: to at least pick his brain and see where he's at.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's ultimately the direction they're gonna go.
Speaker 1: I'd kind of you know, there are other names that
Speaker 1: have been linked stronger to that job, but it's a
Speaker 1: it's a pattern in their interview process that makes a
Speaker 1: lot of sense. The other name is John Fossil. I
Speaker 1: don't know if he's actually taken the interview yet or
Speaker 1: even been offered an interview, but the report was from
Speaker 1: NBC Sports and they said interested in interviewing Cowboys special
Speaker 1: teams coordinator John Fossil. Isaiah, I know we actually kind
Speaker 1: of grew to really enjoy John Fossil throughout the latter
Speaker 1: parts of the season. At the beginning, it was definitely
Speaker 1: wishy washy. But the way the job that he did
Speaker 1: this year, I think couldn't be understated. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I like the fact he came in aggressive and you know,
Speaker 1: he is who he is, and I again, i'm energy guys,
Speaker 1: so he he brought that energy. I think that you know,
Speaker 1: as a special teams coordinator, your your job is a
Speaker 1: really pushed the envelope to make sure that you have
Speaker 1: the personnel, make sure that you guys understand the schemes,
Speaker 1: and then obviously push your coach to take risks. And
Speaker 1: I think he did that. Um, I just don't think
Speaker 1: that he expected a coach to say yes to as
Speaker 1: many things as he pushed on. But I mean, I mean,
Speaker 1: what you what you asked them, especial teams coordinator, I
Speaker 1: think he did. I really think he came in and
Speaker 1: did a good job. I just I just think that, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, coach, coach McCarthy definitely should have should have
Speaker 1: pushed puncher, pushed the brakes a couple of times on him.
Speaker 1: But the fact that and it's kind of interesting that
Speaker 1: he's being asked to He's being asked to go somewhere else.
Speaker 1: That's that's kind of that's kind of odd to me,
Speaker 1: really really odd. But I don't know who knows which
Speaker 1: one would be a bigger loss for the Cowboys, Kellen
Speaker 1: Moore or John Fossil tell them more, Yeah, I think so, okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: kell him more. Yeah. But you know, Kyle, I just
Speaker 1: wanted to say, nothing surprises me about the Eagles and
Speaker 1: them wanted to bring and Kelly Moore and this spying
Speaker 1: on us than doing uh. But you know, when you
Speaker 1: look around the NFL and the guys that have been hired,
Speaker 1: you see a league that is going younger. You see
Speaker 1: they everybody's trying to find that new boy, Jenius, the McVeigh,
Speaker 1: the Shanahans of the world, and they know that that's
Speaker 1: you know, that's where the league is going. They're getting
Speaker 1: rid of a lot of that old blood and the
Speaker 1: coaching coaching ranks. But you know, it wouldn't surprise me
Speaker 1: if in the next couple of years that Kelly Moore
Speaker 1: landed himself at a head coaching job based off of
Speaker 1: the numbers that he's putting up here. But when you
Speaker 1: talk about Bones, Fossil also a great coach hardball and
Speaker 1: Baltimore started off as a special teams coach. So there's
Speaker 1: history there of coaches special teams coaches being hired as
Speaker 1: head coaching as head coaches in this league. So you know,
Speaker 1: look for the Cowboys right now. You say, you talk
Speaker 1: about losing Kelly Moore and also you know the DAKH perspective,
Speaker 1: you know, that would be huge for us to find
Speaker 1: that replacement who can bring in those same verbiage. Then
Speaker 1: I think kept death familiarity in the offensive scheme intact
Speaker 1: this year with Kelln Moore. So it's interesting. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think Kellen has critics. I think everybody wants everybody
Speaker 1: says on their couch and said I would have called
Speaker 1: this play. You know, that's that's that's part of being
Speaker 1: a fan, you know, And so he has his critics,
Speaker 1: but I think a lot of it's hecks right. Like
Speaker 1: he's a young coach. I think he's on the uprise.
Speaker 1: He's gonna get better, kind of like we talked about Dak.
Speaker 1: You know, negotiations with Dak started a year and a
Speaker 1: half ago whatever, And you know you're you're gonna be
Speaker 1: paying Dak for what you think he can develop into.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what you know. It's the same
Speaker 1: deal with Kellen as a play caller and eventually he Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, I think he's gonna be a head coach.
Speaker 1: Don't forget Sean Payton. Before he came to the Cowboys
Speaker 1: in OH three, he was with the Giants and he
Speaker 1: had his play calling duty stripped with the Giants, you know,
Speaker 1: and so as a as a very young coach, and
Speaker 1: I think he's probably I think he's gonna head to
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame one day. So, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: coach coaches can get better too. And I think I
Speaker 1: think Kellen will got two things for you, Kyle. I
Speaker 1: think we have a new D line coach. I think
Speaker 1: that saw that come across. Yes, But also does I
Speaker 1: know we posed this question whenever it came up about
Speaker 1: Boise State, does Killamore leave? Can you turn down You
Speaker 1: can turn down a college job, but can you turn
Speaker 1: down the hay coaching job for Philly? No, there's there's
Speaker 1: only thirty two of those jobs. You gotta do what
Speaker 1: you gotta do, right Yep. I agree. I'll just making
Speaker 1: sure y'all. I mean you could. You could Jason Garrett.
Speaker 1: The rumors that Jason Garrett had an opportunity in Baltimore
Speaker 1: and when he was the OC here and and waited
Speaker 1: and stayed so but yeah, I agree, it's it's hard
Speaker 1: to turn down a very rare opportunity. Yeah, you just don't.
Speaker 1: Rob tell us about this new defensive line coach. His
Speaker 1: name is Aiden Dirt. I hope I'm pronouncing his last
Speaker 1: name right. He we talked about familiarity. Second assistant coach
Speaker 1: to join Dan Quinn on the defensive side of the
Speaker 1: ball from Atlanta. He's a young coach um. He worked
Speaker 1: with the line Packers I believe in Atlanta and former
Speaker 1: He's English, he's a former NFL Europe player, So he's
Speaker 1: a young coach taking over that position. Don't forget dan Quinn.
Speaker 1: He is schooled in coaching D line, so I would
Speaker 1: imagine he might be pretty hands on as well as
Speaker 1: being the DC to help with that position. But also
Speaker 1: Joe Witt, who interviewed for the DC job, is also
Speaker 1: expected to come aboard in an untitled role, probably to
Speaker 1: help in the secondary obviously. I think that's interesting because
Speaker 1: we talked about Joe Witt last week as one of
Speaker 1: the names that was potentially going to be the coordinator,
Speaker 1: and you not only get Dan Quinn, but you get
Speaker 1: Joe Witt to come along as well. I think that's
Speaker 1: kind of a win win from coach McCarthy, don't you think, Acma, No,
Speaker 1: I do. I mean he's bringing over a lot of
Speaker 1: his guys and you kind of expected and the rumors
Speaker 1: were that Wit and Quinn are kind of conjoined, that
Speaker 1: they hip as far as a hire. So it doesn't
Speaker 1: surprise me that these guys are coming on. Leet it
Speaker 1: be and you know, coordinators are you know, passing game,
Speaker 1: coordinate all of the those things that the guys are
Speaker 1: positions that consecating. But it's important that these guys figure
Speaker 1: out a way to get this defense playing again. Defensive
Speaker 1: line coach from NFL Europe, he has his work cut
Speaker 1: out for him because they're changing schemes and he's gonna
Speaker 1: have a bunch of guys that he's gonna have to
Speaker 1: coach up. And like you said, Rob Quinn is probably
Speaker 1: because of his roots as a defensive line coach, is
Speaker 1: going to be really hands on there. So interesting. Hire
Speaker 1: can't wait to talk to him. Yeah, this is gonna
Speaker 1: be fun to talk about over the next couple of weeks. Now,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go ahead and Sephiside for our second break,
Speaker 1: but when we come back, we're gonna talk about what
Speaker 1: the Cowboys can potentially learn from the four teams that
Speaker 1: are still left in the NFL playoffs. I think there's
Speaker 1: a ton of lessons to be learned from each one
Speaker 1: of those four organizations, and we're gonna see how the
Speaker 1: Cowboys can take some things from that when we come
Speaker 1: back on the other side of the break, you're listening
Speaker 1: to Talking Cowboys, presented by Geico. We're back in a
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Speaker 1: Soda A delicious Dowey. There's nothing as unique as our eyes,
Speaker 1: which is why Selor pioneers ways to make lenses as
Speaker 1: unique as you Varilux for super sharp vision, Essential Blue
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Speaker 1: find a perfect lens for you. See more, Do more,
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Speaker 1: To talk in Cowboys, back here for our final segment
Speaker 1: of Talking Cowboys here on this Wednesday morning. And whether
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Speaker 1: turned on this time, Thank goodness. Heck my Harrison's got
Speaker 1: those second. Oh, Rob Phillips, we've got Isaiah stand back,
Speaker 1: I'm cow final couple minutes here of Talking Cowboys. Got
Speaker 1: about a fifteen minutes. Wait, wait, we gotta hear heck
Speaker 1: say it's Oh what does it sound like? Heck, it's
Speaker 1: like a simphony in my head. Yeah, you had to
Speaker 1: get it all ready to go. I like it so good.
Speaker 1: Four teams left in the NFL playoffs. We've got the
Speaker 1: Kansas City Chiefs. To no surprise, we've got the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: Those are that's your AFC Championship game. In the NFC
Speaker 1: Championship game. It's still twenty fourteen, apparently because it's the
Speaker 1: Packers led by Aaron Rodgers, and it's Tom Brady h now,
Speaker 1: not with the Patriots and not in the AFC, but
Speaker 1: he's in the NFC with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And
Speaker 1: what surprise that has been. And really kudos to everybody
Speaker 1: around that that organization of putting a good roster together
Speaker 1: and allowing Tom Brady to be successful. The former teammate
Speaker 1: of Isaiah Stanback. That's probably gonna be on his Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame bust I think, Isaiah, you're right, former teammate
Speaker 1: of Isaiah Stanback. It definitely didn't make that list. Definitely
Speaker 1: didn't make that list. Now, whenever he comes to these
Speaker 1: four teams, I mean, it's it's really four different blueprints
Speaker 1: on how to win and how to get to where
Speaker 1: they are at this very moment now. I think probably
Speaker 1: the most similar blueprints are most likely the NFC or
Speaker 1: excuse me, the af Championship game with Buffalo and with
Speaker 1: Kansas City. They were built similarly, but in just that
Speaker 1: different time periods. But whenever you look at these four teams,
Speaker 1: what is something that the Cowboys can take from them?
Speaker 1: And how to learn how to get back to an
Speaker 1: NFC in a conference championship game. Well, I mean, man,
Speaker 1: this whole playoff series to me has been separating the
Speaker 1: guys with pea shooter arms from the guys that have
Speaker 1: bazooka arms. And the final four is all bazookas. And
Speaker 1: if you want to have any success in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and this NFL with spread out and has past all
Speaker 1: these passing yards that they're putting up, you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to have a guy with the arm that can facilitate
Speaker 1: all of that. And you see that with these top
Speaker 1: four teams and just the numbers that they've put up
Speaker 1: this year. I mean going back to the matchup with
Speaker 1: Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, Boy, that is a showcase
Speaker 1: of two of the mostly league quarterbacks to do it.
Speaker 1: And that's why I'm really excited about. But Josh Allen
Speaker 1: is doing a phenomenal job in Buffalo and they won
Speaker 1: that game against Baltimore, and it was just a hard
Speaker 1: game to watch, especially with Lamar Jackson not being able
Speaker 1: to stretch the field. And that's something that's a young
Speaker 1: quarterback and I'm pulling for him, but it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: if he can have the MVPs, all of those things, man,
Speaker 1: but if you cannot stretch the field, teams are just
Speaker 1: going to load up on you, especially in a winner
Speaker 1: take all kind of a situation. But talking about the
Speaker 1: Kansas City Chiefs, and I think it was their defense
Speaker 1: that really impressed me, and just the Honey Badger and
Speaker 1: his ability to turn that run back in right, and
Speaker 1: it just shows you what you can do when you
Speaker 1: have a safety that can play like that at the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage. And it was just masterful what Spagnola
Speaker 1: did and that those last couple of defensive play callings
Speaker 1: play calls was just a picasso. Man. They did a
Speaker 1: really good job. And so I'm looking forward to that
Speaker 1: game as well. So the Cowboys could learn by getting
Speaker 1: their a one quarterback and also getting a safety that
Speaker 1: can turn the run. Rob, Yeah, I'm totally with you. Heck,
Speaker 1: I've marked down defense and get yourself a franchise quarterback.
Speaker 1: And that's why the Cowboys are trying are trying to
Speaker 1: resign Dak Prescott long term, because that's what it takes.
Speaker 1: I went back and I looked at like the last
Speaker 1: ten seasons, Okay, the final four in the championship game.
Speaker 1: So that's forty slots according to my math, my terrible math,
Speaker 1: and twenty five of those spots over the last ten
Speaker 1: years have gone to just a handful of quarterbacks. It's Mahomes,
Speaker 1: it's Brady, it's Russ, It's been Roethlisberger, It's Rogers, Peyton Manning,
Speaker 1: Drew Brees, Eli Manning, and I threw Matt Ryan in
Speaker 1: there too, who's been been an MVP and been to
Speaker 1: a super Bowl. And mixed in there those other fifteen spots,
Speaker 1: you might have guys that sneak in a Folds or
Speaker 1: a Kirk Cousins or you know Tannehill last year, but
Speaker 1: like that's rare Garoppolo. It's not. If you want to
Speaker 1: get there, you're in, you're out. You better have a
Speaker 1: really good quarterback. And for those that say, oh, draft
Speaker 1: one in the top five, look at the NFC East,
Speaker 1: look at Daniel Jones. The jury is still out on
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones. It's Carson Wentz, Mitch Trubisky who lost in
Speaker 1: the in the first round this year, all really high
Speaker 1: draft picks. There is no guarantee. There's just no guarantee
Speaker 1: that it's gonna work out for you. So if you
Speaker 1: think you've got a really good one who's gonna be
Speaker 1: potentially a great one, Keep him, keep him around, figure
Speaker 1: it out. Yeah, yeah, Isaiah. Two things stick out to me.
Speaker 1: I think I think about the character of the coaches.
Speaker 1: I think about the character to coaches in and how
Speaker 1: the fact that they have not only on their team
Speaker 1: and their players, but also the second one is culture, right,
Speaker 1: And I use that word a lot, but it's important.
Speaker 1: It's important. I mean, you guys, think about green Bank.
Speaker 1: Green Bay use their first round pick on another quarterback.
Speaker 1: They use it on his freaking replacement. They didn't give
Speaker 1: him any additional help in their regard and look where
Speaker 1: they're still at. That's you're right, that's amazing. Yeah, look
Speaker 1: where they're still at. Right, So they could have easily
Speaker 1: gave him another you know, a CD Lamb or something
Speaker 1: like that, right to help him out, but they didn't.
Speaker 1: They didn't because they know that at the route they're
Speaker 1: still good. They know that the route. They have a
Speaker 1: great coach. They know at the route they have a
Speaker 1: great quarterback who is gonna lead this team. And the
Speaker 1: culture of their team is to go out there and
Speaker 1: take young players and veteran players, put them on the
Speaker 1: field together, and everybody's gonna do their job effectively to
Speaker 1: put them in a position to go after the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl every year. Right, you go to Kansas City, Andy Reid,
Speaker 1: Andy Reid is Andy Reid, Right, he is who he is.
Speaker 1: He's gonna If you're gonna play for Andy Reid, guess what,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be tough, Right, You're gonna be You're gonna
Speaker 1: be an energetic, You're gonna be a team player. Nobody
Speaker 1: cares about your personal accolades. We all care about what
Speaker 1: we can do for the team. What's your contribution to
Speaker 1: this team. That's his culture out there. You go to Buffalo, right,
Speaker 1: go out the Buffalo, new coach, right, new coach out there, right,
Speaker 1: and he's out there doing making things happen, making things happen.
Speaker 1: And you know they're they're building their culture out there.
Speaker 1: You could tell it's tough, it's gritty, is grind it
Speaker 1: out right. When people come through us, they're gonna they're
Speaker 1: gonna feel it no matter what happens. Right, young quarterback
Speaker 1: that's growing and developing. Right. And then and then obviously
Speaker 1: and then you look at Tampa Bay, Well, we know
Speaker 1: what that's about. Bruce arians is no nonsense, right, straight,
Speaker 1: no chaser, and this is what you get. We are
Speaker 1: a tough team. They have a solid defense that desn't
Speaker 1: gives them. Did get enough credit. They're about to get
Speaker 1: tougher with my boyfriend Vita Vea coming back you dub
Speaker 1: coming on a d line. So their their defense is tough.
Speaker 1: And then what they go out there and get the
Speaker 1: goat at quarterback who everybody wants to play with. Why
Speaker 1: because of the culture that he establishes on that side
Speaker 1: of the ball. They know. These teams know who they are.
Speaker 1: They have identities. They're not soul searching trying to figure
Speaker 1: out who they are. That's what this that's what the
Speaker 1: Cowboys need to pay attention to and try to try
Speaker 1: to pick up from these playoffs. Well, how far are
Speaker 1: they from that? Because I feel like it's light years.
Speaker 1: I mean at least after this season, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy can get to that point. We've seen that already.
Speaker 1: He can get to the point as a head coach
Speaker 1: to where he has that kind of control and that
Speaker 1: kind of swagger I guess underneath him. And you have
Speaker 1: a franchise quarterback in Dak Prescott that you have to
Speaker 1: lock up contract wise, but surely that's something that's a
Speaker 1: priority for this Cowboys team this offseason. But outside of that,
Speaker 1: there really hasn't been that identity. There hasn't been that swagger.
Speaker 1: There hasn't been the kind of mindset that by everyone's
Speaker 1: going to do their jobs. It's more of a this
Speaker 1: is going to be a harsh word, but it's coddling.
Speaker 1: It's it's what it feels like. It feels like you
Speaker 1: coddle a lot of these players until they finally show
Speaker 1: some things. Sadovan Wilson. Look at Donovan Wilson specifically. I mean,
Speaker 1: I love that word. But you caught on Donovan Wilson
Speaker 1: for a year and a half and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden he's the best player on your defense the
Speaker 1: final six games of the year. That's that's all I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's one example. There are plenty of those.
Speaker 1: But Isaiah, how do you get past that point to
Speaker 1: where it's now it's a it's it's expected to him
Speaker 1: in and do your job, whether you're yeah, your trade
Speaker 1: bar it's not expected yet here. But how do you
Speaker 1: get to that? You know what I wish we had
Speaker 1: behind the veil in terms of had a little bit
Speaker 1: closer look to the to their what their coaching staff
Speaker 1: does and practice and all those things. This year obviously
Speaker 1: COVID threw a curveball on that. However, um, from what
Speaker 1: we can see, From what we can see, I believe
Speaker 1: that coach McCarthy was a little bit too complacent. He
Speaker 1: did not establish, uh, establish his will, establish his culture here.
Speaker 1: I think he needs to be a lot more hands on.
Speaker 1: Does that mean him calling plays? I don't know. Right
Speaker 1: Maybe he'll get the opportunity because he might have Alvin's
Speaker 1: coordinator here. But I think that he needs to enforce
Speaker 1: his will more because those teams that we talked about,
Speaker 1: those coaches are in the background. You know they're they're
Speaker 1: not just in the background. You know they do their job.
Speaker 1: Bruce arians does his job right. He doesn't have to
Speaker 1: say he will. He's something. He does speak up a
Speaker 1: little bit too much sometime. But but that but you
Speaker 1: you feel that, you feel that that that energy that
Speaker 1: he puts off, right, that that vibe, that greediness you
Speaker 1: feel that with his team. Did you got to see
Speaker 1: his center? His center is a jerk. I love it, right, man,
Speaker 1: I feel like that's him reincardinated on the field, right,
Speaker 1: and then you look at you look at Buffalo their coach,
Speaker 1: gritty gritty, right, Andy Reid. Guess what he is calling
Speaker 1: those plays, no question about it, right, And you got
Speaker 1: a Green Bay. But La Fleur or whatever his name is,
Speaker 1: I don't know what I say. He's out there calling
Speaker 1: plays too. So I guess all those coaches have a
Speaker 1: direct impact on the results of what happens on the field.
Speaker 1: And I think that McCarthy came in and try to
Speaker 1: give his coaches too much power, and I think he
Speaker 1: needs to really step into a lot more prominent role
Speaker 1: this year. Rob. No, No, that's that's that's interesting. And
Speaker 1: I agree with you, you know, and I think you know,
Speaker 1: COVID was weird in terms of trying to I don't know,
Speaker 1: established culture, because you gotta stay apart, you gotta do
Speaker 1: all these things with a mask and all that. I think.
Speaker 1: I do think it was a weird year to try
Speaker 1: to do that. But I agree. I think you've got
Speaker 1: to put your stamp on what you want to do.
Speaker 1: And defensively, they've got to do that too. They got
Speaker 1: to they got to kind of start over and figure
Speaker 1: out how they want to approach that. So the other
Speaker 1: thing I would add to piggyback on what Heck said.
Speaker 1: I'm just looking at these scores in the divisional round,
Speaker 1: and this season was all about offense, right, Well, defense
Speaker 1: still matters a little bit. The teams that lost over
Speaker 1: the weekend. Baltimore had three points, Cleveland had forty eight
Speaker 1: in the first round seventeen against Kansas City, Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: beating New Orleans had twenty, and the Rams had eighteen.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you know, the Cowboys get healthy, they can
Speaker 1: put up a lot of points, but if they don't
Speaker 1: get their defense fixed, they could make the playoffs. But
Speaker 1: to keep playing into late January, your defense still matters. Yep.
Speaker 1: You could talk about coddling these guys, swaddling these guys,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to, but they're just the signs of
Speaker 1: why this season was a failure statistically and just in
Speaker 1: every way. You look at the injuries on the offensive line,
Speaker 1: there aren't any other teams that had was decimated to
Speaker 1: that our team was with, you know, retiring players, both
Speaker 1: of your tackles going down, losing your all pro right guard,
Speaker 1: all of those things that happened, and oh yeah, losing
Speaker 1: your stark quarterback and so I think we live in
Speaker 1: the world where we think that we could just plug
Speaker 1: and play guys and still get the same results, and
Speaker 1: that's not that way. I think, you know, the Cowboys
Speaker 1: defensive Dan Quinn could come in and do his job,
Speaker 1: and these guys can get some stops. You were in
Speaker 1: games that you could have won, or if you were
Speaker 1: able to get some type of turnover or a stop.
Speaker 1: That was the problem. Even when we turned the ball over.
Speaker 1: Teams were getting points off of our turnovers. And that's
Speaker 1: not a guarantee thing. It's just because our defense couldn't
Speaker 1: stop anyone. And once Dak went out and we had
Speaker 1: our offensive problems and Bend the Nucci was doing the
Speaker 1: Uncle Rico and all of that, man we had, it
Speaker 1: was just gonna be what it was gonna be. And
Speaker 1: so we shouldn't be surprised that we're here. But just
Speaker 1: going on the positive note, building this defense getting the
Speaker 1: kind of plays in the culture that Isaiah keeps going
Speaker 1: back too. I think it's important and what is that culture,
Speaker 1: dog culture, goon culture. Guys, it's gonna come in and Okay,
Speaker 1: football the way that it's supposed to be played, not
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of guys just want to be soft body.
Speaker 1: You know, let's just know what we're gonna do and
Speaker 1: so get to that championship level. If you're looking at
Speaker 1: the teams that are up there and you want to
Speaker 1: immolate and mimic what they do, look at the personnel
Speaker 1: that they play with. Hey, it's not Friday, but I
Speaker 1: feel you. Heck, say, what's your chest? It's the seasons season.
Speaker 1: We can still say it with our chest season. I
Speaker 1: love miss you guys, man, you know, and and heck,
Speaker 1: you made a great point in the fact that excuses
Speaker 1: are I mean, injuries are in excuses to a certain extent.
Speaker 1: I mean, but with the extent of what happened with
Speaker 1: the Cowboys this season, look at what happened in the
Speaker 1: AFC Divisional round with Kansas City. You lose your guy.
Speaker 1: I mean, we would all agree that Kansas City is
Speaker 1: built maybe three times better than the Dallas Cowboys on
Speaker 1: both sides of the football, even if you take Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes out of the equation. That's exactly what happened. They
Speaker 1: took Patrick Mahomes out of the equation and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, Cleveland goes on a run. And if they
Speaker 1: had one more possession, probably would have won that game.
Speaker 1: Ultimately they would they out of defense, Yeah, exactly, they
Speaker 1: ran out of time. Cleveland still would have won that
Speaker 1: game solely based on the fact that Patrick Mahomes was
Speaker 1: taken out of the equation, even though Cleveland was not
Speaker 1: nearly as good of a team as Kansas City. But
Speaker 1: that just shows the importance of having that leader, of
Speaker 1: having that franchise quarterback, and having somebody that you can
Speaker 1: rely on. And of course the Cowboys didn't have that
Speaker 1: for the final twelve weeks of the season because of
Speaker 1: what happened to Dak Prescott. So that's gonna happen. That's
Speaker 1: always going to change the outlook of your football program
Speaker 1: and your football team. But I mean, at the same time,
Speaker 1: you can't make those excuses every year. If the same
Speaker 1: thing happens in twenty twenty one, you have to be
Speaker 1: able to combat that. Right if you lose your left tackle,
Speaker 1: you're right tackle, your quarterback, you gotta be You've got
Speaker 1: to be better prepared, Like right now, Kansas City is
Speaker 1: not prepared to go into the Yeah, I was thinking
Speaker 1: that too. This is yeah, that happened, So you got
Speaker 1: people wanted to move the AMC Championship game the next
Speaker 1: Wednesday to give him a chance to play. So, I mean,
Speaker 1: the personnel is important. When you have those guys that
Speaker 1: get it done for you and have the entire season,
Speaker 1: we cannot underscore their importance to your squad. It's just
Speaker 1: it is what it is, man, yep, I mean, and
Speaker 1: it's something that the Cowboys are gonna have to figure
Speaker 1: out this offseason. It's something that that they've got to
Speaker 1: get done. I think Dak Prescott and when next week,
Speaker 1: when we're back on Monday at eleven thirty Central time,
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about Dak Prescott. What is the timeline
Speaker 1: for Dak? And how worried and when shouldn't you be
Speaker 1: worried this offseason? How does this negotiation go and some
Speaker 1: of the important dates along for the off season program
Speaker 1: for this Dallas Cowboys team. But that's gonna do it
Speaker 1: for us. You're all Talking Cowboys presented by Geico. For
Speaker 1: Chris Bean, back at the Star, for Isaiah stand Back,
Speaker 1: for Rob Phillips and for heck My Harrison. I'm oh,
Speaker 1: we're all we're all doing it this time. That's there
Speaker 1: for us here on Talking Cowboys. We'll see you on Monday.
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