Speaker 1: The following. He's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football clubs. Are you ready for
Speaker 1: a break? Yes? Are you ready for a break? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Ready for a break? Yeah, and so much for that.
Speaker 1: It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia and Derek Eagleton.
Speaker 1: It is Tuesday, December first, two, Thy twenty, season sixteen,
Speaker 1: episode number seventy two. Welcome to the latest edition of
Speaker 1: The Break, present by Geico. We appreciate you guys joining us.
Speaker 1: We've got forty five minutes here to talk some Cowboys football.
Speaker 1: We got a lot of different topics we're gonna try
Speaker 1: to hit today. Um and it's some point, at some
Speaker 1: point we'll try to get to some questions from you guys.
Speaker 1: Hopefully we can hit some questions towards the third segment
Speaker 1: of the show. So if you want to hit up
Speaker 1: Amber on Twitter, you can get those questions. And she
Speaker 1: already has some questions, but I'm sure she'll take some
Speaker 1: more if you have a really good one. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the show. Let's let's get started. Yesterday we find out
Speaker 1: the Cowboys game that was supposed to originally be played
Speaker 1: this Thursday against the Baltimore Ravens was moved again. It
Speaker 1: had been moved to Monday of next week. Now it's
Speaker 1: been moved to Tuesday. My question for our panel is
Speaker 1: how does this affect this team? Now getting a really
Speaker 1: long break between the last game and the game with
Speaker 1: the Ravens and then having another short week very very
Speaker 1: much like what you would typically have for a Thursday
Speaker 1: game heading then into the game with Cincinnati. Let's start
Speaker 1: with you, Nick, Well, I don't know everything that's that
Speaker 1: you know it's going and that's involved in these decisions,
Speaker 1: and I'll invade the NFL for having to do all that,
Speaker 1: but you know, I you know it'll it'll affect Cowboys
Speaker 1: probably more on the back end. I wish, I wish
Speaker 1: we could understand why they move the game from Tuesday
Speaker 1: to Wednesday. Um, I only can think of one reason,
Speaker 1: and I don't know if that's a good, you know,
Speaker 1: reason to do it. So I just I don't know.
Speaker 1: I you know, this is a team that lost their
Speaker 1: strength coach in the middle of a Thursday, Thanksgiving weeks,
Speaker 1: so they're having to deal with a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1: So how does it affect them. I mean, they'll they
Speaker 1: get a little bit more time to face a Baltimore
Speaker 1: team who you have no idea who's going to be
Speaker 1: out there. So I guess that's good, but I mean,
Speaker 1: what do you how can you really help with this
Speaker 1: extra time other than just use it as rest amber
Speaker 1: It just sucks when I mean, obviously no one wants
Speaker 1: this kind of situation to happen, but I know, I
Speaker 1: know it must suck when when your schedule is just
Speaker 1: thrown off. The fact that you have a weekly schedule,
Speaker 1: a weekly structure that you go by. You know, this
Speaker 1: week your practice, you know this week you look at
Speaker 1: film and all that, this day and all that. So
Speaker 1: it it sucks in that way because you can really
Speaker 1: fully utilize this time because you don't really know what's
Speaker 1: going on with Baltimore. It's not like, oh, you can
Speaker 1: fully prepare for them. So in my head, I'm hoping
Speaker 1: that maybe they use this week and divide it into
Speaker 1: sometime spending it for the preparation for the next opponent.
Speaker 1: Maybe because the next week it's going to be a
Speaker 1: short week for the Cowboys, so they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: balance out that kind of preparation and hopefully because of
Speaker 1: what's happening in Baltimore and the uncertainty there, maybe you
Speaker 1: use that time to look at the next opponent in
Speaker 1: there and prepare for the following week. Dave, it's a really,
Speaker 1: it's a great point. A g Just yeah. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's only so much you can do with this extra time,
Speaker 1: and teams advance scout anyway, so I would bet they
Speaker 1: will spend some time on Cincinnati as a result of that.
Speaker 1: My thing is, I just and I'm with Nick, like,
Speaker 1: I don't envy the people that have to decide this stuff,
Speaker 1: but I'm I'm just kind of at a loss for
Speaker 1: why the NFL seems so reluctant to extend the season,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean at a week eighteen, like you
Speaker 1: can build that into the playoffs and still get what
Speaker 1: you want to do done. It just seems like the
Speaker 1: links that they're going to play it on schedule is
Speaker 1: gonna I mean, it's it's it's kind of ridiculous. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, all of these late changes, asking teams to
Speaker 1: play games on four and five days rest. I just
Speaker 1: think it's bizarre, and I don't understand what the harm
Speaker 1: would be in just adding a week to the season,
Speaker 1: but the league seems bound and determined not to do that.
Speaker 1: And maybe maybe we're not going to see an outbreak
Speaker 1: on scale with what we're seeing in Baltimore right now.
Speaker 1: But like this, I just I have a feeling this
Speaker 1: is going to keep happening. I mean, it's December now,
Speaker 1: It's we're in the middle of the flu season. COVID
Speaker 1: cases are going getting worse and worse. Like I would
Speaker 1: just imagine this next month is going to be really dicey.
Speaker 1: So I don't envy the league for having to figure
Speaker 1: all this out, but I'm not convinced they're doing a
Speaker 1: great job. Yeah, it seems a little strange to me,
Speaker 1: just that there are there are some teams that are
Speaker 1: being forced to just deal with their circumstances. I look
Speaker 1: at Denver last weekend where they were essentially they were
Speaker 1: told basically played the game without a quarterback and that's
Speaker 1: what they had to do. And there seems to be
Speaker 1: this this decision from the standpoint of the Ravens, that
Speaker 1: they keep making allowances for them with their COVID cases
Speaker 1: rather than just saying everybody they can't play, just can't play.
Speaker 1: Figure it out and put a team on the field. Obviously,
Speaker 1: there's a lot more to it, and there's probably some
Speaker 1: things that are being discussed that are far beyond what
Speaker 1: we know, but it just seems like everything keeps getting
Speaker 1: pushed back for the Ravens and we'll see how much
Speaker 1: that affects the Steelers in their game coming up this Wednesday.
Speaker 1: That's been moved around quite a bit for them, and
Speaker 1: the Steelers have to be a little frustrated because they've
Speaker 1: this is the second time this year when they faced
Speaker 1: this kind of situation where the other team had issues
Speaker 1: and because of that, it was games had to be
Speaker 1: moved and adjusted on the Steeler schedule. But all things considered,
Speaker 1: we all knew going into this season there'd be lots
Speaker 1: of changes and they just have to deal with it.
Speaker 1: I think somebody would probably offer the rebuttal and say
Speaker 1: deadverse situation didn't involve an ongoing spread, at least not
Speaker 1: that we knew about. You know, they had their high
Speaker 1: risk contacts, they didn't have any positive tests, whereas I
Speaker 1: think Baltimore had nine straight days of positive tests, which
Speaker 1: is to say they don't even know if they've contained it,
Speaker 1: so they don't feel comfortable having guys travel or play.
Speaker 1: I guess I get that, but I do agree with you.
Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like there's a lot of consistency. I mean,
Speaker 1: this all happened with Tennessee back in October. It was
Speaker 1: very similar, and it is interesting. You know what constitutes
Speaker 1: getting the league to make all these accommodations verse saying oh, sorry,
Speaker 1: you're just gonna have to deal with it. Like I said,
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem very consistent, and I would guess we're
Speaker 1: going to have a few more situations like this before
Speaker 1: the regular season is over, and God help us if
Speaker 1: it happens in the playoffs. Yeah. I just wonder if
Speaker 1: at some point the league is forced to make teams,
Speaker 1: especially if they find proof that the teams weren't following
Speaker 1: the protocols as they should, if they will force teams
Speaker 1: to forfeit games, that'll be interesting to see. They haven't
Speaker 1: been willing to do that to this point, but that
Speaker 1: would definitely be interesting if they go that far with
Speaker 1: this whole thing. Let's change the subject. Let's flick a
Speaker 1: little bit more into internally at the Cowboys. Let's start
Speaker 1: first with the offensive line. We didn't get a chance
Speaker 1: to talk extensively about them. Yesterday, but obviously they lost
Speaker 1: both their tackles, both their second string tackles in the
Speaker 1: game against the Washington football team, and they were left
Speaker 1: with Brandon Knight and Terrence Steele. Again, my question for
Speaker 1: you guys is is there another option that they have
Speaker 1: at this point at the tackle position or are they
Speaker 1: forced Not that they haven't been willing to do it
Speaker 1: in the past, but are they forced at this point
Speaker 1: to just roll with Brian. I'm sorry with Brandon Knight
Speaker 1: and Terrence Steele. Let's start first with you Amber, not
Speaker 1: that I know of. I mean, these are the guys,
Speaker 1: you know what the worst part. I mean, obviously it
Speaker 1: sucks seeing sick Martin going down and all that, but
Speaker 1: then I'm like, oh my god, here comes still back again.
Speaker 1: Just when we got him out of the feel he
Speaker 1: comes back. And I feel terrible for saying that. I
Speaker 1: apologize because I know he's trying the best that he
Speaker 1: can do. But it just sucks. It sucks all these injuries.
Speaker 1: It sucks that you cannot find any kind of consistency
Speaker 1: there and as of right now, I mean, maybe Dave
Speaker 1: and Nick have a better answer here, but I don't know.
Speaker 1: No name comes to mind right now, someone who would
Speaker 1: be better at the tackle position at this moment, Dave,
Speaker 1: I mean there are other names on the roster. You
Speaker 1: got Eric Smith, who they claimed off of waivers back
Speaker 1: in September. You got Greg Snott who they poached from
Speaker 1: Cleveland's practice squad. And then Jordan Mills, who was the
Speaker 1: veteran guy that we've talked about before. You know, he
Speaker 1: started a few seasons for Buffalo in Chicago. But like
Speaker 1: I'm okay, I did, Like you know, I get we're
Speaker 1: doing we're doing our due diligence, but are we talking
Speaker 1: about improvements? I tend to doubt it. So maybe they
Speaker 1: want to trot one of those guys out, but I
Speaker 1: would guess not based on how firm they've been about
Speaker 1: Terrence Steele all season. I would be surprised to see
Speaker 1: that at this point. Nick, Yeah, I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: think that they have any intention of doing that. For
Speaker 1: some reason, they want to see this through with Steele.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know how many times I mean,
Speaker 1: he's you know, he's he's struggled for sure, and he struggled,
Speaker 1: you know, with giving up sacks, penalties, whatever. I mean,
Speaker 1: Brandon Knight, you I think I was telling you this
Speaker 1: other day, Derek. You know Brandon knyat uh it doesn't
Speaker 1: have one penalty against him this year. I was surprised
Speaker 1: by that. Um, uh, the steel leads the offense and penalties,
Speaker 1: don't lead the team. I think we know who leads
Speaker 1: the team and penalties, but he's the leads of the offense.
Speaker 1: He's got six and uh, you know, I just it's
Speaker 1: kind of weird for Brandon Knight, first time starter. Um,
Speaker 1: and he hasn't played a whole lot, you know, but
Speaker 1: but I think that you know, he's he's been a
Speaker 1: good option for them. But but yeah, I don't see
Speaker 1: any other option of the other than Steele and Night.
Speaker 1: Right now, would you guys consider and I know the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: I should say, I know I feel pretty certain that
Speaker 1: the Cowboys are not going to do this. Would you
Speaker 1: guys consider the possibility that when Tyler Beatis is healthy,
Speaker 1: that maybe you put him in at center, you put
Speaker 1: Luni in at guard, and maybe you get a look
Speaker 1: at at Connor Williams at tackle. I would because I
Speaker 1: think I look at next year and I don't and
Speaker 1: I think Connor McGovern is probably going to be a
Speaker 1: better guard than Connor Williams. So when I think about
Speaker 1: all that for next year, where does Connor Williams go,
Speaker 1: I probably would look a look at him as a
Speaker 1: being a swing tackle there, So yeah, I would do it. Dave, Okay,
Speaker 1: I like that. I like that idea. And if if
Speaker 1: Tyler Beatis comes back, I'm you know, Joe Looney is
Speaker 1: going to play center till he's healthy, but I'd like
Speaker 1: to think if he can come back this season that
Speaker 1: they would want to get him some reps and keep
Speaker 1: you know, getting him experience and having him playing games.
Speaker 1: So that's certainly an intriguing option to try at different
Speaker 1: best five. Yeah, I don't know if you do it
Speaker 1: right now while while Tyler's hurt, but I would definitely
Speaker 1: try to give that a try. If Tyler can come back.
Speaker 1: I don't think they will, but I would. Yeah, I'd
Speaker 1: be interested for sure. Amber absolutely. I mean, we've been
Speaker 1: talking about this for quite a while now, wanting to
Speaker 1: see Connor a tackle and giving him a try it.
Speaker 1: But I'm curious to know to really know what the
Speaker 1: coaching staff think is and how do they feel, because
Speaker 1: clearly we have not been on the same page as them.
Speaker 1: We see things differently than they do. So I would
Speaker 1: be really curious to see or no, just kind of
Speaker 1: their thoughts on that and if that's a move that
Speaker 1: they would want to make at some point, even if
Speaker 1: it's not this specific season, but at some point in
Speaker 1: the near future. You know. The interesting part about that,
Speaker 1: Amber is that we have been on a different page
Speaker 1: from them, but it seems like at some point throughout
Speaker 1: this year they always come around to our line of
Speaker 1: thinking happening. We saw it happen with Walley, we saw
Speaker 1: it happened with Poe, we saw it happened lately with
Speaker 1: the move of Zach Martin out to tackle again, putting
Speaker 1: still on the bench. So eventually they come around and
Speaker 1: thinking like we're thinking, so we must be onto something.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take our first break when we come back.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about this coaching staff, particularly about
Speaker 1: some of the decision making that's been happening. There's been
Speaker 1: a lot of criticism for Mike McCarthy, and I want
Speaker 1: to ask you guys about that decision making and also
Speaker 1: about what he's done so far as a head coaching,
Speaker 1: as a leader. We'll talk about that when we come
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Speaker 1: app under the Stadium tab. Welcome back to the second
Speaker 1: segment of the Break presented by Geico. We are talking Cowboys.
Speaker 1: We're talking a show where we're gonna talk about a
Speaker 1: lot of different topics. We're gonna talk about this coaching
Speaker 1: staff next, and we're gonna start with Mike McCarthy. There
Speaker 1: have been a number of times this decision this season
Speaker 1: when he's made some decisions that have raised eyebrows, and
Speaker 1: I'm wondering for myself, I'm wondering if a lot of
Speaker 1: that is because we've just been so used to the
Speaker 1: Jason Garrett style of coaching, which I don't think anybody
Speaker 1: would characterize as aggressive, and then flipping to another extreme
Speaker 1: where Mike McCarthy seems to be extremely aggressive. But I'll
Speaker 1: ask you, guys, are you concerned about the decision making
Speaker 1: of coach McCarthy. Let's start first with you, Nick. Yes,
Speaker 1: I am. Nothing He's done so far, um has shown
Speaker 1: what the things that they hired him for. And and
Speaker 1: when I say shown, I'm talking about what we've seen
Speaker 1: now behind closed doors maybe maybe it's better, but but
Speaker 1: you know, you you you've got a three and eight
Speaker 1: football team. Obviously there's been a lot of injuries, but
Speaker 1: but there, you know, you have a veteran staff. You're
Speaker 1: supposed to be able to figure out how to get
Speaker 1: guys in place and try to, you know, help with
Speaker 1: your depth a little bit. And maybe maybe it's just
Speaker 1: been too many injuries. Then then one team can can take.
Speaker 1: But you know, from the decision making that he's done
Speaker 1: within the game, the game management, it hasn't worked. You know,
Speaker 1: it didn't work even in the first game of the season.
Speaker 1: So um, he got lucky obviously with the second game,
Speaker 1: you know, with the with the on side kick, but
Speaker 1: you know, I think that was a questionable decision as well.
Speaker 1: But but nothing that he's done so far you can
Speaker 1: really say and go, wow, you know, that's that's that's
Speaker 1: really good. The only thing that's got going for him
Speaker 1: it is the pedigree in the history of that he
Speaker 1: has a Super Bowl Trophy. And Nick, I'm gonna challenge
Speaker 1: you a little bit here because everybody on this show
Speaker 1: and everybody who's listening out there knows that you're a
Speaker 1: fleeflicker guy like you like do it every game. I
Speaker 1: want to see them do a fleef flicker every single game.
Speaker 1: So tell me the difference. You're aggressive in that aspect,
Speaker 1: but you're concerned about his aggressiveness. Tell me that the difference, Well,
Speaker 1: his aggressiveness. I was really talking more about the fake punts.
Speaker 1: But but but his aggressiveness. Um, here's the difference. This
Speaker 1: team isn't good enough to be as aggressive as he
Speaker 1: wants to be. He wants to to to put it
Speaker 1: on the players. Well, the players aren't good enough right now.
Speaker 1: This team isn't good enough. So he's taking chances like
Speaker 1: he did and Thursday in the game when he shouldn't
Speaker 1: have to and and and that's not a calculated risk.
Speaker 1: So to try to throw the ball to a punter
Speaker 1: so that I feel like the flee flicker thing is
Speaker 1: I want those safeties thinking that Zeke might pitch it back.
Speaker 1: He might because they do it once again. Is this
Speaker 1: the play? No, it isn't. So go up there and
Speaker 1: make the tackle. But you were a little bit late
Speaker 1: and there was an eight yard run. I want you
Speaker 1: thinking that way. But I don't know the advantage of
Speaker 1: always thinking, well, this might be a punt, this might
Speaker 1: be a fake. So I mean that I think there's
Speaker 1: way too many fakes when you're talking about fake punts.
Speaker 1: But I just think he's he's too aggressive for a
Speaker 1: team that's not good enough to handle it. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: the point is you're saying you don't think that that
Speaker 1: a flea flickers aggressive. That's just that should be a
Speaker 1: part of your offense, just to make safeties have to
Speaker 1: account for the fact that this could be a run,
Speaker 1: this could be a pass. And the problem though is
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, all right, Dave, what do you think? Go ahead?
Speaker 1: But but but Nick no Um, what I was gonna
Speaker 1: say is is it stems back to when you can't
Speaker 1: run the football on that On that after Jalen's interception
Speaker 1: first and goal at the four, they get stuff for
Speaker 1: a two yard loss. Okay, they tried to run it.
Speaker 1: Then they tried this fake reverse pass to maybe Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton or whatever. But because they know that you don't,
Speaker 1: you don't have to worry about the run, they can
Speaker 1: look for all that kind of stuff. So and when
Speaker 1: the special team's coach runs a fake, I mean every
Speaker 1: other game, they're looking for that kind of stuff, so
Speaker 1: they'll give up just a you know, a non return
Speaker 1: and you fair catch it and it's a forty five
Speaker 1: yard punt no return. That's fine because they're looking for
Speaker 1: a fake punt. That's a little different than a safety
Speaker 1: that's always looking for a flea flicker. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: makes sense. Dave, are you concerned about coach McCarthy's aggresiveness.
Speaker 1: I really I don't have too much of a problem
Speaker 1: with what Mike McCarthy has done during games this season.
Speaker 1: Obviously we covered it. The fake punt the other day
Speaker 1: was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen that
Speaker 1: that is, that's a different category. I don't like that.
Speaker 1: But even you go back over the course of the season,
Speaker 1: the fake punt return, you know, the lateral back to
Speaker 1: c J. Goodwin against Pittsburgh, big part of why they
Speaker 1: were able to keep that game close. Great play. I
Speaker 1: think they did a fake against Atlanta where CJ just
Speaker 1: dropped the ball like again, probably would have worked. Like
Speaker 1: these are all decisions where you're like, uh, it could
Speaker 1: have worked, but it didn't, and that's football. You know,
Speaker 1: same thing going forward on fourth down against LA all
Speaker 1: the way back in Week one. Love it, I love
Speaker 1: that call, just didn't work. It has also worked a
Speaker 1: few times. They went forward on fourth down twice against Minnesota,
Speaker 1: got them both big part of why they won that game.
Speaker 1: So I love the in game stuff. I think you
Speaker 1: could probably dial back the special team's craziness a little bit,
Speaker 1: but I'm even okay with that. My problem with Mike
Speaker 1: McCarthy is really Monday to Saturday decision making to this point,
Speaker 1: which is kind of funny because I loved what Jason
Speaker 1: Garrett used to do Monday to Saturday, and I hated
Speaker 1: what he did on Sunday. I'm kind of the opposite
Speaker 1: with Mike. Can't have it all, Dave, you can't have
Speaker 1: it all. I mean, like the stuff that others me
Speaker 1: about Mike McCarthy is, why did it take your defense
Speaker 1: seven weeks to look like an NFL defense? Like? Why
Speaker 1: did it look like JV And we can talk about
Speaker 1: Dontari Poe and Everson Griffin and Darryl Worley all we want.
Speaker 1: I don't think I buy that that's the difference between
Speaker 1: giving up seventy yard rushing touchdowns and not like that
Speaker 1: that's just unacceptable at the NFL level of football. How
Speaker 1: about the fact that everybody in the world was like
Speaker 1: anyone but Terrence Steele and Mike McCarthy was like, that's
Speaker 1: fantasy football nonsense. And then like three weeks later he
Speaker 1: tries Zach Martin and it works. Like it's stuff like
Speaker 1: that that gives me pause. Where like you know, like,
Speaker 1: like you just said in the first segment, Derek, like
Speaker 1: us four dummies shouldn't be able to sit here and
Speaker 1: have better ideas than the coaching staff does. But it
Speaker 1: has felt like that at times this season. But as
Speaker 1: far as like the aggressiveness on game day, I leaned
Speaker 1: toward liking it for the most part. Like I'll I'll
Speaker 1: live and die on that hill. You know, even even
Speaker 1: you're not gonna win all those decisions, but I'll take
Speaker 1: it if you're aggressively trying to win games. Okay, So
Speaker 1: as a fun aside, David, if you had to choose
Speaker 1: between the coach that's great on Monday through Saturday or
Speaker 1: the coach just says great on game day, which one
Speaker 1: are you're taking? Yeah? I mean, look, we're one year
Speaker 1: into this thing with Mike and everything that can go
Speaker 1: wrong has gone wrong. So I'm not saying Mike McCarthy's
Speaker 1: gonna win the Super Bowl for this team, but like, i'll, i'll,
Speaker 1: I'm okay with trying this out and seeing where it
Speaker 1: goes as opposed to just going back to what didn't
Speaker 1: work for a decade. All right, So Amber, are you
Speaker 1: concerned with Mike McCarthy's decision making? I am. I have
Speaker 1: very mixed emotions about this whole situation. Obviously, we were
Speaker 1: wanting to see a change. We were wanting someone new
Speaker 1: and hear, someone with a new voice, someone who could
Speaker 1: be more fun out on the field, who could have
Speaker 1: more fun when he comes to play calling and have
Speaker 1: that kind of aggressiveness that we were lacking from Jason
Speaker 1: Garrett as far as playing conservative football. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, even though I have liked certain things that
Speaker 1: he's done, there has been a lot of questionable decisions
Speaker 1: throughout the season. And the thing with me, how I
Speaker 1: see it is you need to have self awareness. You
Speaker 1: need to know what your team is doing, know what
Speaker 1: you look like. No that, Okay, we're not really accomplishing
Speaker 1: this and unable to make this place happen. So maybe
Speaker 1: as for right now, just for right now, we kind
Speaker 1: of take it back a little bit, play and more conservative,
Speaker 1: more conservative. I can't even say the word, but you
Speaker 1: get my point, Just not be as aggressive, just so
Speaker 1: that you can start completing place and being more effective
Speaker 1: on the field. And it's hard to say because I
Speaker 1: do like it, because when you're aggressive, it makes football
Speaker 1: more fun. But at the same time, it sucks when
Speaker 1: you're losing games. It sucks when you see a fun play,
Speaker 1: you put it out on the field, but it wasn't effective.
Speaker 1: So therefore next week you're not scaring anybody because the
Speaker 1: opponent knows you can't make it happen. So it's just
Speaker 1: for me, it's just having a little more self awareness.
Speaker 1: And again, like these other guys said, we don't know
Speaker 1: what happens behind closed doors. We don't know how he
Speaker 1: is in team meetings and any or any of that,
Speaker 1: but we do know what we see on the field
Speaker 1: and what we see from players. And the reality is
Speaker 1: that it took a really long time for it to
Speaker 1: start translating to these players. And the fact that the
Speaker 1: whole first season, first half of the season, we were
Speaker 1: seeing that lack of emotion, that lack of what's the
Speaker 1: word I'm looking for, the just being competitive, We weren't
Speaker 1: seeing that were this team had no soul throughout the
Speaker 1: first half of the season, so that that's that's a
Speaker 1: problem because you need your leader to be able to
Speaker 1: have a voice and translate at the same time. And
Speaker 1: you cannot tell me that this is just oh lack
Speaker 1: of talent of players and blah blah blah, because at
Speaker 1: the same time you got a lot of guys. How
Speaker 1: many players are there on a football team. There is
Speaker 1: no possible way that everyone just simply sucks on the field. No,
Speaker 1: it has to come from the person who's trying to
Speaker 1: inspire you. So I'm sorry, but as of right now,
Speaker 1: it's just not quite working out. Now, I think that
Speaker 1: I think those are valid points. I'm personally not willing
Speaker 1: to completely crucify Mike McCarthy yet, as Dave mentioned, there's
Speaker 1: been pretty much everything that could go wrong has gone wrong,
Speaker 1: and a lot of that stuff is well beyond his control.
Speaker 1: I would have expected with an experienced coach like this
Speaker 1: that he could have made up that difference and they
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been as bad as they've been, particularly on
Speaker 1: defense throughout the year, even with all the challenges that
Speaker 1: they've had. But I'm not willing to completely crucify him
Speaker 1: on that. I think we give him a little bit
Speaker 1: of a mulligan because this was such a weird year
Speaker 1: and I want to see what happens in the future.
Speaker 1: What I do know, or at least what I think
Speaker 1: I know at this point, is he's not a coach
Speaker 1: that necessarily knows how to coach his team through adversity well,
Speaker 1: and that's something that we did always say about Jason Garrett.
Speaker 1: In adverse situations, it seemed like he had an ability
Speaker 1: to get his team to play above their heads. And
Speaker 1: the problem that we had with Coach Garrett was when
Speaker 1: then they were in the front, they seemed to play
Speaker 1: down sometimes. So, however, you want to ment that, I'm
Speaker 1: not willing to completely crucify him yet. I think we
Speaker 1: got to still figure out over the next couple of
Speaker 1: years really what we think of this coach and what
Speaker 1: he's able to do here. Let's move up to the
Speaker 1: special teams though, I want to talk about John Fossil
Speaker 1: and a lot of these decisions that have been made
Speaker 1: have revolved around the special teams. My first question for
Speaker 1: you guys is do you think he has the latitude
Speaker 1: to be able to just make decisions on what he
Speaker 1: wants to do on special teams without the head coach's
Speaker 1: input because we I know, we saw Nick I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think it was you that sent the clip of
Speaker 1: his last game with the Rams, and it was a
Speaker 1: play where they did they ran a fake on a
Speaker 1: special teams on a punt and the head coach, you
Speaker 1: could tell he was seemed very aggravated, as though he
Speaker 1: didn't know what was really going on, and the special
Speaker 1: teams coordinator just decided that's what he was gonna do.
Speaker 1: And it made me think Number one, was that the
Speaker 1: reason that maybe the Rams moved on from Fossil? And
Speaker 1: number two, does he have the same kind of latitude
Speaker 1: here where he's making decisions and they don't necessarily match
Speaker 1: up with what's going on in the game. Let's start
Speaker 1: first with you, Dave. I mean, I think there's there's
Speaker 1: no way to know the mechanism of that, like publicly basically,
Speaker 1: like that's I mean, that's the essence of coaches. You're like,
Speaker 1: you're going to protect that that process, and if it
Speaker 1: does come out, it probably means you're heading for like
Speaker 1: a mess divorce. Like those starts of details start to
Speaker 1: come out when you're looking for justification for firing a
Speaker 1: guy or moving on or whatever. So I don't know
Speaker 1: if he's got that latitude. It wouldn't surprise me based
Speaker 1: on his expertise and the amount of times they do it.
Speaker 1: But again, that's what I feel for a head coach
Speaker 1: in a situation like that. Maybe McCarthy thought that that
Speaker 1: was a great call, maybe he actually hated it, but
Speaker 1: he's got to go defend it because you're opening a
Speaker 1: can of worms. If you don't like it. It ain't
Speaker 1: worth it to throw your special teams coordinator under the
Speaker 1: bus like that, unless you're trying to move on from him.
Speaker 1: I will say, just with John Fossil, and it came
Speaker 1: into crystal clarity after this fiasco on Thursday, is it's
Speaker 1: great to be aggressive, but if you're so aggressive that
Speaker 1: teams change the way they play you because of your reputation,
Speaker 1: that's not great. Like I don't know if that's great
Speaker 1: for everybody to be like, well, we got John Fossil
Speaker 1: on the schedule, we better be on our p's and q's,
Speaker 1: Like Like how we don't talk about that with like
Speaker 1: ninety nine percent of teams, But I remember last year
Speaker 1: when they played the Rams in December, we talked about
Speaker 1: that leading up to the game. We were like, you
Speaker 1: gotta be careful with Fossil, Hecker and Zerline like they're
Speaker 1: gonna do something wild. I don't know if that's great
Speaker 1: when people know that right off the bat, Nick, what
Speaker 1: are your thoughts? What was the question again? I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: what are you asking? Specific? The question is do you
Speaker 1: think Fossil has the latitude to be able to make
Speaker 1: these calls in all? And if so, do you think
Speaker 1: that's the right decision? No, to give him that lattices. No.
Speaker 1: I think I think he does have that latitude. I
Speaker 1: think he's always I think I don't think he sleeps
Speaker 1: at nine. I think he thinks about fake double punt
Speaker 1: reverses and stuff like that, and I think he comes
Speaker 1: in the next morning about four am and about dreaming
Speaker 1: about them. He might. He might he bust into McCarthy's
Speaker 1: office and be like, what do you think about this?
Speaker 1: You know? And I think the whole game he's probably
Speaker 1: trying to use you his ear, trying to convince him
Speaker 1: to do that. That's what I really believe. I don't
Speaker 1: think like he he makes the call, but I think
Speaker 1: he's talking about it throughout the game and trying to
Speaker 1: do that. Um, you know, and I think it's just
Speaker 1: too much. I mean, like I said, If If and I,
Speaker 1: we've been told this punt returners, you know, like like
Speaker 1: you you have a different plan when you're playing against
Speaker 1: him because and what are you giving up? Okay, so
Speaker 1: we're not going to return it this game this time.
Speaker 1: Just tell CD faircatch it because we're not going to
Speaker 1: return this because we want to play the gunners a
Speaker 1: little bit differently. That's that's all you're giving up. Really,
Speaker 1: and just make sure you don't give up fake punts
Speaker 1: because you're always watching for it. So yeah, I do
Speaker 1: think that I think he has probably a little bit
Speaker 1: more leeway than than he should because I mean they've
Speaker 1: run two in one game before, they've run three this year.
Speaker 1: It hasn't worked. I mean I think he's run four
Speaker 1: trick plays maybe, um nah, you can you can say
Speaker 1: they probably run seven trick plays this year and they've
Speaker 1: gotten two of them. It was an on site kick
Speaker 1: counts a trick play, which too, they got the watermelon
Speaker 1: kick and then they got the Steelers and return throwback.
Speaker 1: The three fake ponts, they haven't gotten the drop kick
Speaker 1: against Philadelphia. I mean that almost worked, but it didn't.
Speaker 1: You know, I mean that almost worked, and that's all
Speaker 1: I can really think of Cleveland. They tried a couple
Speaker 1: of weird looking plays there, so um, you know, he
Speaker 1: did one where and they like snapped it to darry
Speaker 1: and Thompson too, didn't they? That was that was the
Speaker 1: It's basically yeah, it's basically been a weekly thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's yeah. I wish there would have been a
Speaker 1: camera on McCarthy's face so we would have seen a
Speaker 1: reaction and how he really felt about that decision. But
Speaker 1: you know, I feel bad for Fossil. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think he has great intentions and I think he really
Speaker 1: works hard. He really wants his whole Special Team's group
Speaker 1: to be able to make game changing plays. But the
Speaker 1: thing is, again I go back to the whole self
Speaker 1: awareness thing, like you need to know when you need
Speaker 1: to take a step back, And to me, I see him,
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to call him like a nerd or anything,
Speaker 1: but I see him as a nerdy guy who's like
Speaker 1: really invested on his playbook and just out there just
Speaker 1: trying to come up with creative plays and everything. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, you gotta make it happen on
Speaker 1: the field and I think he can get better at
Speaker 1: this next year. I expect special teams to be better
Speaker 1: than what we've seen so far with more time to
Speaker 1: prepare and all that. But that's that's an easy fix.
Speaker 1: I think when it comes to a play call, I mean,
Speaker 1: you make the decision and you just you just gotta
Speaker 1: be more aware of what's going on on the field
Speaker 1: and more aware of your players and knowing that. Okay,
Speaker 1: I love the guys, and I think they can get there,
Speaker 1: and I think they can make it happen, but I
Speaker 1: gotta be real and understand that this is maybe not
Speaker 1: the year where we tried those kinds of things. Unless
Speaker 1: you you're not trying to win the game and you
Speaker 1: want to risk it, then that's fine. Be playful and
Speaker 1: go for it. Let's also point out on that that
Speaker 1: play with Fossil against them, it was against the Cardinals
Speaker 1: last year with the Rams. That was his last game
Speaker 1: with the Rams. It was the last game of the
Speaker 1: season after they had lost to the Cowboys and they
Speaker 1: were out of the playoffs, so it was Week seventeen.
Speaker 1: There was just playing it to play, so you know,
Speaker 1: but still, I mean, the head coach didn't didn't appreciate
Speaker 1: it um When did he get so mad? Then? I
Speaker 1: mean because it was McVeigh gets so fourth and eight
Speaker 1: on their own twenty four. But but that that shows
Speaker 1: to me that familiar Yeah, but that shows to me
Speaker 1: that that he was making the call. I mean, I
Speaker 1: mean he just went ahead and ran it. Anyways, that's
Speaker 1: on that's on mcvaigh, just like it's on McCarthy if
Speaker 1: he didn't have control over it. Yeah. The way I
Speaker 1: look at this is there's good news and there's bad news.
Speaker 1: The good news is there really is a third phase
Speaker 1: to the game. There's the offense, there's a defense, and
Speaker 1: there's a special teams, and I think Fossil takes it
Speaker 1: very seriously to figure out ways that special teams can
Speaker 1: affect the outcome of the game. The bad news is
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like they always are all coordinated, the offense,
Speaker 1: working with the defense, working with the special teams in
Speaker 1: order to do what's best for the team. And that's
Speaker 1: where I have a problem here. And whether it's Fossil
Speaker 1: who's making decision or whether it's McCarthy who's making the decision.
Speaker 1: I think that last game and that decision to go
Speaker 1: for that fake punt in that situation on fourth down,
Speaker 1: when you're backed up and you're still in the ball game,
Speaker 1: to me, was a panic and it didn't work. It
Speaker 1: didn't coordinate with what you were doing on defense. Your
Speaker 1: defense was, in my opinion, playing above their heads. Why
Speaker 1: put them in a situation where they as they did
Speaker 1: on the very next play they give up a twenty
Speaker 1: three yard touchdown and then the game gets out of hand.
Speaker 1: So I just I like the idea of it being
Speaker 1: a really truly being a third phase of the game.
Speaker 1: What I don't like is that it doesn't seem like
Speaker 1: it's always well coordinated with the other parts or other
Speaker 1: phases of the game. Dave, what are the three Yeah, Dave,
Speaker 1: what are the three phases of the game? Offense, defense,
Speaker 1: and special Right? And I could say the same thing
Speaker 1: and everybody would say the exact same order. It's always offense, defense,
Speaker 1: special team. I don't know if the coach, ever, I
Speaker 1: don't know if Fossil actually he probably doesn't say that.
Speaker 1: He probably sad special teams, defense, offense. But there's a
Speaker 1: reason why that's the order, because that's always the priority.
Speaker 1: I don't know if if I mean because that's that's true,
Speaker 1: that's just the way that it is, and so you go,
Speaker 1: that's a great mentality, that's a great mentality. That's but
Speaker 1: that's the way that I know. But I don't think
Speaker 1: he Fossil thinks that way. He even said in his
Speaker 1: very first interview that we are a big part of
Speaker 1: the game. But you know, it's that's not the way
Speaker 1: head coaches feel. If they felt that way, they'd put
Speaker 1: their starters on there. They don't. It's a third phase.
Speaker 1: It can't mess up though, um and we've seen you know,
Speaker 1: we've seen them mess up. But I mean they've made
Speaker 1: some plays. They've made some plays. I mean Rico, you know,
Speaker 1: Daddle made a really nice play. I mean, they didn't
Speaker 1: lead to points, but it definitely could have if it's
Speaker 1: not their fault. I mean, they've made some plays this year.
Speaker 1: But for both teams. All we're gonna take our final break.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take our final break. When we come back,
Speaker 1: We're gonna get some fan questions. Amber has some lined up.
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Speaker 1: Appointments are available now to take your socially distanced holiday
Speaker 1: photo with Santa through December twenty fourth. Say five dollars
Speaker 1: when you book by December the fourth. Book now at
Speaker 1: the Star and Frisco dot com slash Santa. Any chance
Speaker 1: this is going to be the year when we go
Speaker 1: and actually do our show picture with Santa? No, I
Speaker 1: have socially distanced the global Yeah, socially distance Santa picture. Yeah?
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, you just we're looking forward to
Speaker 1: being on his lap you just want to wait till
Speaker 1: you can do that? Is that the idea? At the
Speaker 1: very least, wait until I don't have to wear a
Speaker 1: mask to do it? Yeah, I mean, okay, I don't know,
Speaker 1: all right, so we'll wait till next year. Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the final segment of the Break, presented by Geico.
Speaker 1: Is there gonna be Santa really gonna take pictures with
Speaker 1: a mask? That's gonna never mind? And yeah, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be as it's gonna be a socially distanced. I don't
Speaker 1: know how they're gonna do it. It's interesting. We'll see.
Speaker 1: I'm amber. Let us know how it goes when you
Speaker 1: get over there. I don't know. We'll figure it out anyway.
Speaker 1: You guys are the ones with kids. Nick has babies,
Speaker 1: and well you, Derek, you have grown ups kids Now.
Speaker 1: I don't have babies. I don't have babies anymore. So
Speaker 1: we're not doing Santa anymore. We're done. We're done with that.
Speaker 1: We're through with that, all right, Anne. Let's get to
Speaker 1: some questions. What you got over there? Well, when we
Speaker 1: came back from break, I was trying to ask you
Speaker 1: were we're going to talk about the defense. We haven't
Speaker 1: really talked about the defense. No, I had it on
Speaker 1: the rundown, but I decided that we're gonna go with
Speaker 1: questions because I promise we would go with questions. And
Speaker 1: we only have like six minutes left, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about defense tomorrow when we talk about the Baltimore
Speaker 1: offense versus the Cowboys defense, I'll save those questions. I
Speaker 1: stand corrected, then, got it. I guess it's not always
Speaker 1: offense defense special teams. On Derek's rundown, it was offense
Speaker 1: special teams defense. You're going defense when your defenses, when
Speaker 1: your defenses like the Cowboys right now, we'll spend a
Speaker 1: little less time on them. Well, okay, sorry to ruin
Speaker 1: your your little rundown um. Yesterday we talked about we
Speaker 1: talked about the online um, and I did receive some
Speaker 1: questions about how hard is it really gonna be for
Speaker 1: next year for the Cowboys to replace or you know better,
Speaker 1: the old line. We know that Lahell and Tyrn Smith
Speaker 1: are coming back and all that, but as far as
Speaker 1: depth and other positions of needs, how hard is it
Speaker 1: gonna be for the Cowboys to solidify the position group
Speaker 1: once again. They need a swing tackle, they need a
Speaker 1: competent maybe not even experience. They need a competent, talented
Speaker 1: swing tackle, whether that preferably a draft pick, because as
Speaker 1: we've said, offensive tackles are expensive. Like you're not going
Speaker 1: to sign a guy who's that good for cheap. It
Speaker 1: just doesn't happen. So I mean, I would I would
Speaker 1: say you need to spend a top one hundred draft
Speaker 1: pick on an offensive tackle, whether that's first, second, third round, whatever.
Speaker 1: But honestly, other than that, I'm not super worried about it.
Speaker 1: I don't like and I feel like I'm the offensive
Speaker 1: line apologist. But if we assume, and we got to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on it, we don't know that for sure.
Speaker 1: But if we assume Tyrn and Lyell can come back healthy,
Speaker 1: you've still got both of the Connors. You've still got
Speaker 1: Tyler Battish. Maybe you resigned Joe Looney. I think his
Speaker 1: deal is up, but that's not a terribly expensive contract.
Speaker 1: And then you've got all these young guys, like I
Speaker 1: feel really good about Brandon Knight as like a fourth
Speaker 1: tackle slash guard, you know, Like, I think there's a
Speaker 1: lot of intriguing depth pieces already here. The problem is
Speaker 1: that they're having to start right now, but hopefully next
Speaker 1: year that won't be the case. Hey, real quick, I
Speaker 1: want to I want to ask this question and anyone
Speaker 1: of you guys can jump in on it. Always certain
Speaker 1: that Brian I'm keep calling Brian Knight Brandon Knight. Always
Speaker 1: sure that Brandon Knight is not good enough to be
Speaker 1: a competent swing tackle. Remember, this is the first real
Speaker 1: action that he's getting consistently week after week, and quite frankly,
Speaker 1: I think he's had some bad games, but I also
Speaker 1: think there have been some games where he's been pretty
Speaker 1: good relatively speaking. Are we sure that he's not, with
Speaker 1: more experience, that he's not the guy you're looking for
Speaker 1: to be your swing tackle. Well, I mean, you make
Speaker 1: a good point because by the time next year he's
Speaker 1: going to be a third year pro with you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know, seven or eight starts and probably starts
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball. So yeah, he's got
Speaker 1: experience in both and he's shown the ability to go
Speaker 1: in there and be ready and which is what you
Speaker 1: need for a swing tackle. But you know, that just
Speaker 1: seems kind of reckless to me, with knowing that Lyell
Speaker 1: and Tyrn's injury, it just seems to say, well, we
Speaker 1: got we got Brandon Knight. I mean, I think fourth
Speaker 1: tackle for him would be good. I think he should
Speaker 1: be the fourth tackle. I think they need to draft someone.
Speaker 1: You know, they need to try again and draft a
Speaker 1: Chaz Green. I know that that's not I mean that's
Speaker 1: what they did. They tried a third round from you know,
Speaker 1: a big school. He's played tackle, he was a good
Speaker 1: college player. It didn't work, obviously, but they need to
Speaker 1: do something like that. A tackle who could maybe play
Speaker 1: guard right away, but could be a tackle for a while. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, just maybe one day replace one of these
Speaker 1: two tackles. All right, Okay, that's it. I completely I
Speaker 1: completely agree. I'll just say and I want to do
Speaker 1: another question. But Brandon Knight, I've been saying since June,
Speaker 1: Brandon Knight is who they want Terrence Steele to be.
Speaker 1: I think he's had He's had some bad moments, but
Speaker 1: for the most part, I think he's been very capable,
Speaker 1: very solid. I don't think it would be it would
Speaker 1: be reckless to go into next year with him as
Speaker 1: your only option behind the starting two. But I feel
Speaker 1: very good about him being a piece here for sure.
Speaker 1: I think for the most part, he has been impressive
Speaker 1: for an undrafted guy. I'd be happy to keep him
Speaker 1: around just but you know, I think they need to
Speaker 1: do more though. That's exactly why I say Dave that
Speaker 1: I would. I would. I think I might be okay
Speaker 1: with him being the swing tackle because I feel like
Speaker 1: there still would be a problem if you lose both
Speaker 1: tackles next year. But I feel like if you had Tyrn,
Speaker 1: or if you had Lyle and Brian and Brandon Knight
Speaker 1: had to be on the other side, I actually feel
Speaker 1: like he'd probably be okay. If the rest of your
Speaker 1: offensive line is intact, I feel like he'd probably be okay.
Speaker 1: And so that's where I'm like, and that's what you
Speaker 1: need from a swing tackle. You need him to be
Speaker 1: cheap and you need him to be okay. And I
Speaker 1: think that's kind of what Brandon Knight is. And let's
Speaker 1: not forget what you swing tackle might be. Zack Martin.
Speaker 1: That might be your swing tackle from what he did
Speaker 1: this year. I mean, so it didn't It just comes
Speaker 1: back to your five best lineman. You know, do you
Speaker 1: have better backups at guard or or do you have
Speaker 1: him at tackle? And I'm not sure that Brandon Knight
Speaker 1: and again Derek. We could talk to his parents about
Speaker 1: changing his name, but it is Brandon. If we could,
Speaker 1: we could. I think I'm going to call him, Okay,
Speaker 1: call him and see. But I think he could be
Speaker 1: a guard. I mean, he looks like like the body
Speaker 1: type for maybe a guard. But either way, I think
Speaker 1: he's a good young prospect. I just don't think you
Speaker 1: can give this offensive line the benefit of the doubt.
Speaker 1: Like if these were if these were freak occurrences, that
Speaker 1: would be one thing. But this is the fifth year
Speaker 1: in a row that Tyrant has dealt with injuries that
Speaker 1: have forced him to miss multiple games. It's actually people
Speaker 1: forget about it, and it's not fair because they're not
Speaker 1: the same. But this is the second time Lyell has
Speaker 1: basically missed the whole season. He was on IR for
Speaker 1: the most the entirety of twenty sixteen with a toe
Speaker 1: ligament problem. So and again that's not his fault. I'm
Speaker 1: not dogging him or calling him injury prone, but you
Speaker 1: you just can't assume that these guys are gonna be okay.
Speaker 1: You gotta do more. In my opinion, no, and I
Speaker 1: agree with that. I think the issue becomes you only
Speaker 1: got so much draft capital, and where does this fit
Speaker 1: in your in your list of priorities for this team
Speaker 1: when you get to the draft, where does a swing
Speaker 1: tackle fall in that? And I don't know that it
Speaker 1: falls high enough for you get somebody more capable than
Speaker 1: Brandon Knight. So we'll see. We'll have that conversation a
Speaker 1: little later. I think that's a conversation with having Well
Speaker 1: just just know this though, that one more thing. You know,
Speaker 1: they've gotten their ass kicked twice against Washington. Okay, Washington's
Speaker 1: not a good football team. They're not They're four and seven,
Speaker 1: they're not good at all. But their defense is strong
Speaker 1: and it plays right into the weakness of the Cowboys
Speaker 1: this year. They better fix that because those guys aren't
Speaker 1: going anywhere. And that's two matchups every single year. So
Speaker 1: you can say, yeah, defense needs to be better, but
Speaker 1: that offensive line was a problem, and they're gonna go
Speaker 1: up against Washington twice a year. You know, Philly's probably
Speaker 1: gonna have a better defensive line as well, and you know,
Speaker 1: we'll see about the Giants. So I think it's more
Speaker 1: of a priority than you think because they've lost two
Speaker 1: football games this year because of it. I think that's
Speaker 1: definitely a conversation worth having at a future time. All Right,
Speaker 1: we appreciate you guys, jon Us. We'll be back tomorrow.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get into the Baltimore offense versus the Cowboys defense.
Speaker 1: To then for Nick Eatman, Dave Hellman, Amber Garcia. I
Speaker 1: am Derek Eigelton. 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 Club.