Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This is Nick Shot
Speaker 1: screaming live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the official
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys apt now Here are Bill Jones, Everson Wolves,
Speaker 1: and Nicky Spagnola. Are you ready for some football? We've
Speaker 1: got some football at the Star in Frisco. First practice
Speaker 1: of the Mike McCarthy era is in the books. And
Speaker 1: Mickey Spagnola was right by the field to watch it. Well,
Speaker 1: he was sort of. He had. In fact, Mickey had
Speaker 1: a bird's eye view of it, better view than anybody
Speaker 1: around Ford Center at the Star in Frisco. Bill Jones,
Speaker 1: Everson Walls, Mickey Spagnola and Mickey. It's supposed to be
Speaker 1: a high of one hundred five degrees today here in
Speaker 1: Dallas Fort Worth. I think it was around eighty two
Speaker 1: degrees when the Cowboys took the practice field at eight
Speaker 1: o'clock this morning. So, and it was outdoors at Ford
Speaker 1: Center at the Star in Frisco. But wouldn't it be
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen And it is the hottest day in at
Speaker 1: least two years in Dallas Fort Worth when the Cowboys
Speaker 1: have their first training camp practice. How about that? And
Speaker 1: Bill and Everson. That's a very good reason why Mike
Speaker 1: McCarthy started this practice at eight o'clock in the morning,
Speaker 1: because my thermometer here in Frisco said eighty three. I
Speaker 1: think when they finished it was about eighty five, and
Speaker 1: they had a two hour window, but they finished in
Speaker 1: an hour and a half, so it wasn't that bad.
Speaker 1: And one thing to remember, they've got four tents out here,
Speaker 1: and judging from these big piping things from behind them,
Speaker 1: they must be refrigerated, so there's some air conditioning in there.
Speaker 1: And when they took a break at nine o'clock, everybody
Speaker 1: went into the tents, so that's why I assume they
Speaker 1: were cooling off. So they're trying to combat the heat.
Speaker 1: And when you said I had a bird's eye view,
Speaker 1: bird's eye is right because we're one level up and
Speaker 1: I'm watching out the window from my desk because we
Speaker 1: can only have one person out on the field and
Speaker 1: Rob Phillips took that honor today, so the rest of
Speaker 1: us watched from high above. But you know it's a
Speaker 1: little different, and you guys are gonna laugh at this.
Speaker 1: I used to judge my eyesight during these ota practices
Speaker 1: where where you know, could be a hundred yards away
Speaker 1: from the other end of the field where guys are working,
Speaker 1: and I can see my eyes fading. So I said, okay,
Speaker 1: now I need glasses, right, well, now I need binoculars.
Speaker 1: So I got to alternate between my glasses and my
Speaker 1: binoculars just to watch practice. So a little bit challenging.
Speaker 1: But guess what, We're here at the start and there
Speaker 1: was football on the field, and this is your first
Speaker 1: time back at the Star, and I mean this week
Speaker 1: is the first time back since the pandemic began. Right, well,
Speaker 1: think about this. So I came back yesterday just to
Speaker 1: see the protocol of how to get in, what I
Speaker 1: had to do, get my temperature taken, answer a few questions,
Speaker 1: make sure my mask is on, and I went and
Speaker 1: sat at my desk, right and I kind of looked
Speaker 1: around Bill and Everson, and you know, there was a
Speaker 1: little clutter there and no one cleaned it up right
Speaker 1: all this time. And then I looked at the calendar
Speaker 1: and the calendar was still turned to March when time
Speaker 1: stood still, and I could see my TS bags and
Speaker 1: I saw the notes on my calendar, and the last
Speaker 1: one I had there was Wednesday. I think it was
Speaker 1: March twenty fourth, so that would have been the last
Speaker 1: day I was here. I counted it up and it
Speaker 1: was one hundred and forty days since I had been
Speaker 1: here at the start. So yeah, it's been a while. Well,
Speaker 1: I flew for the first time this past weekend and
Speaker 1: Brave Soul that was a herowing experience, I must say, uh,
Speaker 1: And it was a little bit crowded as well. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it's this is a different thing that we're dealing with, guys.
Speaker 1: And that's one I think A factor that we really
Speaker 1: didn't figure into. I don't think is you know when
Speaker 1: you look at the NBA and you look at how
Speaker 1: some teams are adjusting better to the new schedule, to
Speaker 1: the new venue than others, and then you've got the
Speaker 1: Phoenix songs and breaking out there undefeated, and you've got
Speaker 1: some tea that are just really not adapting well at all.
Speaker 1: You have Baseball having to deal with fragmented scheduling and
Speaker 1: things of that nature. I wonder, with the short practices,
Speaker 1: no preseason, if I'm not mistaken, just not getting into pads,
Speaker 1: how the team that adapts the best and the quickest
Speaker 1: it may surprise you on the ones that are able
Speaker 1: to do that, because when you look at this season
Speaker 1: and you know, I guess they're going for a full season,
Speaker 1: but the preparation for it, the time leading up to it,
Speaker 1: I think it's extremely fragmented as well. And i'd be
Speaker 1: interesting to see how many injuries you're gonna look at,
Speaker 1: how many people are gonna look like they're a little rusty,
Speaker 1: so I'm out of shape even so, I'd be very
Speaker 1: interested to see how that's going to work out. So
Speaker 1: it's pretty important guys to point out that while there
Speaker 1: was football practice, it was basically a mini camp practice. Helmets, shorts, jerseys,
Speaker 1: so uh, they don't put the pads on, or they
Speaker 1: can put the pads on on Monday. So whatever they
Speaker 1: did today and whatever they do Sunday, uh it'll be
Speaker 1: uh in as a mini camp ota type practice, so
Speaker 1: they won't be hitting and they don't have to put
Speaker 1: the pads on Monday. They get fourteen padded practices over
Speaker 1: uh twenty days once the Monday arrives, so uh, they're
Speaker 1: gonna try to ease into this, and they've been doing
Speaker 1: conditioning out on the field but not going up against
Speaker 1: anybody today was the first time. The different thing to
Speaker 1: try to get that timing down. You know, when you
Speaker 1: try to get that timing down, it's it's totally different.
Speaker 1: I don't care if you're a veteran of your rookie.
Speaker 1: You know, you gotta you gotta get some LIXI in first,
Speaker 1: and you gotta have to get a lot of them
Speaker 1: in and we probably need to and we probably need
Speaker 1: to qualify things because they were kind of going three
Speaker 1: quarters speed maybe and there was hardly any There wasn't
Speaker 1: really contact. It's like the offense and defensive lineman would
Speaker 1: come up and just kind of hit, but not anything physical.
Speaker 1: There wasn't really anything physical in the secondary of their linebackers.
Speaker 1: It was touching up. So you're going to hear different
Speaker 1: things about what took place and an interception that was thrown.
Speaker 1: But let's let's qualify this, Okay, Let's not get too excited.
Speaker 1: You know. I think the interesting thing about it from
Speaker 1: an injury standpoint, you know, we see a lot of
Speaker 1: injuries in normal years when training camp gets started, muscle pulls,
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. And with the way things worked
Speaker 1: out this offseason where they had no offseason except on
Speaker 1: their own working out and really the veterans. Now the
Speaker 1: rookies got in a week earlier than the veterans, but
Speaker 1: the veterans that have been there since August first, basically
Speaker 1: at the facility doing strength and conditioning and walk through
Speaker 1: and so forth. And the fact that they don't have
Speaker 1: preseason games that they have to prepare for initially, they
Speaker 1: can afford. Actually, even it sounds strange, they can afford
Speaker 1: to ease them in a little bit more. And they
Speaker 1: need to ease him in a little bit more just
Speaker 1: to make sure that the Bill doesn't have those injuries.
Speaker 1: A few connection problems right now. But yeah, and when
Speaker 1: you mentioned injuries and stuff, I guess I should probably
Speaker 1: give you guys an update. They did take Tyrone Crawford
Speaker 1: off of physically unable to perform, so he's off of
Speaker 1: POP and he was able to practice today. This was
Speaker 1: his first day. Don Terry Poe is still on it.
Speaker 1: He was working with Britt Brown on the resistant chords,
Speaker 1: so they're taking his a little bit slow. He had
Speaker 1: a I believe it was a hamstring injury to end
Speaker 1: the season, so they're bringing him back. So Brandon Knight
Speaker 1: was over there working with Britt along with Lale College,
Speaker 1: and so from an offensive line stamp point, it was
Speaker 1: basically what you would have thought, Uh, with the exception
Speaker 1: of Collins not being at right tackle. Uh it was
Speaker 1: Wyatt some guy I never some guy had never heard
Speaker 1: of before. Okay, it was Wyatt Miller. Wyatt Miller. See
Speaker 1: Miller working at right tack. Yes, yes, So from an
Speaker 1: injury standpoint, though they were in they were in pretty
Speaker 1: good shape because everybody else was out there. So I
Speaker 1: guess I since I brought up the offensive line Tyrone Crawford, uh,
Speaker 1: Connor Williams, Connor McGovern kind of rotating there, Joe Looney
Speaker 1: at center, uh Martin at right guard, and then Wyatt
Speaker 1: Miller at right tackle. Yea, all right, Uh, okay, let's
Speaker 1: talk about who's not there yet, because that was the
Speaker 1: breaking news on Wednesday night. We got so much of
Speaker 1: Mickey's observations about what he did see from his bird's
Speaker 1: eye perched there at board center. But let's talk about
Speaker 1: the name the guy that's named after Everson Everson Griffin.
Speaker 1: As of course, Jerry has his State of the Team
Speaker 1: address earlier in the day on Wednesday, and then on
Speaker 1: Wednesday night the breaking news the Cowboys sign the pass
Speaker 1: rusher that they needed to sign one year up to
Speaker 1: six million dollar deal, three million dollar base reportedly, and
Speaker 1: Everson Griffin is a Dallas Cowboy. Now he has to
Speaker 1: go through his COVID testing. I believe a couple of
Speaker 1: negative COVID tests and he could be out on the
Speaker 1: field as early as Tuesday, I believe. Is that right, Mickey, Yes, absolutely,
Speaker 1: He's got to have the basically probably tested today, will
Speaker 1: test tomorrow, and then test again on Monday, and then
Speaker 1: if he gets the three negatives, he's allowed to be
Speaker 1: back on the field on Tuesday. So you know what,
Speaker 1: And I'm going to cut right to the chase. They
Speaker 1: signed a bunch of guys this offseason that have been
Speaker 1: former Pro Bowlers. This guy was a Pro Bowler last year,
Speaker 1: and I think this might be their biggest offseason veteran
Speaker 1: pick up of everybody they signed. I know, Gerald McCoy,
Speaker 1: Don Terry po Haha, Clinton Dix, but this guy was productive,
Speaker 1: had eight sacks last year. And this is the key
Speaker 1: thing for me. And you guys know Mike Zimmer. Mike
Speaker 1: Zimmer doesn't mince words and he doesn't just say stuff
Speaker 1: to say stuff to be politically correct. So when he
Speaker 1: came out several weeks ago and said, we want Everson
Speaker 1: Griffin back on this team, we want him here, then
Speaker 1: to me, that kind of qualified that this guy still
Speaker 1: got something ten years in the league, thirty two years old,
Speaker 1: be really interested to see what he's able to do
Speaker 1: once he gets here. How did you find that out? Oh,
Speaker 1: apparently we lost Everson. Apparently we lost Everson. So just
Speaker 1: one that was important because I wanted to find out
Speaker 1: Jill how he how he knew he was named after
Speaker 1: Everson Walls. Now we'll get Everson back here, Shorty got
Speaker 1: you and h But I agree Mickey though that that
Speaker 1: Everson Griffin is the key signing of this offseason defensively.
Speaker 1: And you know, one of the things about the Vikings,
Speaker 1: uh my guy in the draft a few years ago.
Speaker 1: Daniel Hunter plays on the other side for the Vikings
Speaker 1: as about fifty sacks early in his career, and probably
Speaker 1: one of the big reasons that Daniel Hunter has as
Speaker 1: many sacks as he has is because Everson Griffin has
Speaker 1: been on the other side and he's averaged. Griffin has
Speaker 1: averaged ten sacks a season over the last six years.
Speaker 1: But Everson Walls back with us now, and you know
Speaker 1: he was Everson Griffin was a fourth round pick out
Speaker 1: of USC and has had some issues along the way.
Speaker 1: But as long as he is on board and and help,
Speaker 1: he sounds just like his namesakes. I had a few
Speaker 1: He sounds just like his namesake. I had a few
Speaker 1: issues along the way as well, So that was part
Speaker 1: of the course. But but I can't say that early on.
Speaker 1: You're right, Bill, he did have some issues. He had
Speaker 1: to grow up a little bit, had some issues off
Speaker 1: the field as well, and then all of a sudden
Speaker 1: he got it. And I really think that had a
Speaker 1: lot to do with Mike Zimmer. I think spacts you
Speaker 1: mentioned them earlier. I think that that defense, we saw it,
Speaker 1: how well they played against the Cowboys last year, how
Speaker 1: they they had these great athletes on the defensive line
Speaker 1: and they were a catalyst, uh for that success on
Speaker 1: that defense. One thing I like about him coming from Minneapolis,
Speaker 1: from Minnesota here to here is I like how uh
Speaker 1: with with the new defensive coordinator Nolan, that we're going
Speaker 1: to have I think the similar style, very unpredictable blitzes,
Speaker 1: which will allow things so open up for your defensive
Speaker 1: lineman as well. More aggressiveness. Of course, you know I
Speaker 1: was always complaining about the Cowboys defense previous years. I
Speaker 1: think we're going to get back to the aggressiveness that
Speaker 1: we need, and that's that really posed as well for Everson. So, Everson,
Speaker 1: two questions for you. One, how did you find out
Speaker 1: he was named after you? And two? How many other
Speaker 1: Eversons have you run into in your life? Well, my
Speaker 1: old agent, Steve Weinberg, you know, he was a pest
Speaker 1: to Gil Brand and his text ram for quite some time.
Speaker 1: As my representative, he was still out there, you know,
Speaker 1: trying to make make make his name, get his name
Speaker 1: out there and get some clients. And he was the
Speaker 1: one that approached Everson Griffin and asked him a question.
Speaker 1: And his parents just happened to be major Cowboy fans.
Speaker 1: And I don't know maybe the uniqueness of my name,
Speaker 1: but the parents themselves, they settled on calling him Everson
Speaker 1: a lot, being a Cowboys fan, but of course being
Speaker 1: an Everson Walls fan as well. So I knew about
Speaker 1: him as he was coming out of USC and it
Speaker 1: was pretty cool. So of course, you know me, I
Speaker 1: have to do a search on how many Eversons are
Speaker 1: out there, you know, so I looked it up a
Speaker 1: little bit and went on Facebook, of course, and there's
Speaker 1: a few. One guy, I know, it's one Everson. I
Speaker 1: had a picture sent to me back in nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: two and a young kid named Everson Eiders Marsh he was.
Speaker 1: It was mailed to my home and he was also
Speaker 1: named after me. And I've also been named as a
Speaker 1: one of two twins just recently was born right before
Speaker 1: this whole COVID thing with. So what's the story behind
Speaker 1: your parents naming you Everson? We lost Everson again? You know.
Speaker 1: One of the things, Uh, Mickey, you may recall this
Speaker 1: early in Everson's career, TV broadcasters oftentimes mistook his name
Speaker 1: and would call him Emerson Walls inside, Everson Walls. You
Speaker 1: remember Emerson Boozer. Yeah, Everson Boozer. That's exactly what I
Speaker 1: was thinking of. But Everson Griffin is a great pickup
Speaker 1: I think for this team, and really, Mickey, when you
Speaker 1: look at what this team has done, let's let's go
Speaker 1: this route on this. Think about Dak Prescott's contract and
Speaker 1: the thirty one point four million dollars because he is
Speaker 1: franchise tag, I think he give a lot of credit
Speaker 1: to the way Stephen Jones and think Will McClay the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: They have worked this roster this offseason where they even
Speaker 1: though they knew there was a possibility that Dak was
Speaker 1: going to count that much against the cap, they have
Speaker 1: managed this roster and the salaries on the roster to
Speaker 1: the point that here as training camp starts, they're able
Speaker 1: to bring on a big time veteran talent at a
Speaker 1: position of need and sign him and have that kind
Speaker 1: of money available because there's not a lot of teams
Speaker 1: that could that could do that. And when you're you know,
Speaker 1: you're thinking that, Okay, you might be able, you know
Speaker 1: this contract that you're trying to negotiate with your quarterback,
Speaker 1: you might be able to free up some space. But
Speaker 1: for them to have the foresight that, hey, if we
Speaker 1: don't get a deal done, we still need money to
Speaker 1: add to this team. I give them a lot of
Speaker 1: credit to be able to do that. Yeah, and we
Speaker 1: have to remember it's kind of a one year, proven deal,
Speaker 1: sort of what they did with Robert Quinn last year,
Speaker 1: and it's it's will count three million for sure, it's guaranteed,
Speaker 1: and then he has a per game bonus that can
Speaker 1: count another three million if he gets all the games.
Speaker 1: So basically, for potentially six million dollars, they got a
Speaker 1: replacement for at least a replacement that played last year
Speaker 1: in the league at a high level for Robert Quinn,
Speaker 1: who was counting a bill if I remember, it was
Speaker 1: like seven and a half million maybe last year or
Speaker 1: something like that. So yeah, it's it's kind of a
Speaker 1: sweetheart deal. And obviously, you know, he opted out of
Speaker 1: his contract that he had going in Minnesota to allow
Speaker 1: him to become a free agent, and he took that
Speaker 1: deal and played for less last year. So yeah, and
Speaker 1: look at it this way. Coming into today, that right
Speaker 1: defensive end spot had a big question mark up there, right,
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you how they lined up today. Over there,
Speaker 1: Alden Smith lined up with the first team at right
Speaker 1: defensive end. And he hadn't played any football since twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1: And by the way, he's wearing fifty eight and they've
Speaker 1: got him listed at two eighty. He doesn't look, from
Speaker 1: my bird's eye view more than two hundred sixty pounds.
Speaker 1: He looks just the way you're supposed to look at
Speaker 1: defensive end. And then, because I'm guessing them signing Everson
Speaker 1: Griffin and counting on Alden Smith. Tyrone Crawford, who I
Speaker 1: mentioned came off of PUP today. He was the other
Speaker 1: first team defensive tackle with Gerald McCoy since done. Terry
Speaker 1: Poe is still on PUP. So that shows you the
Speaker 1: versatility of Crawford, But what they think of Alden Smith
Speaker 1: and after that, then it's guys that you know, didn't
Speaker 1: do much at all last year. So to bring this
Speaker 1: guy in and have a proven talent and put a
Speaker 1: rotation there, I thought it was huge. You know, to
Speaker 1: hear what you say that he looks more like he's
Speaker 1: two sixty than two eighty, I think that is really encouraging,
Speaker 1: because you know, there were the reports after the Cowboys
Speaker 1: signed him that he was like two hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: five pounds or something. I said, if he's two hundred
Speaker 1: eighty five pounds, then he is he's more of a
Speaker 1: five technique than he is and edge rusher. And to
Speaker 1: hear but to hear that he looks like to Mickey's
Speaker 1: bird's eye view, closer to two sixty. And I haven't
Speaker 1: seen the official weight that he added at his physical,
Speaker 1: but I think that is really really great news to
Speaker 1: hear that he's in that kind of condition. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think not with him anyway, He's got that great
Speaker 1: athletic ability, so he could probably just make make two
Speaker 1: eighty five look like two sixty because he's just been
Speaker 1: that exceptional. But what I like about what the coach
Speaker 1: McCarthy's doing is he's bringing in the veterans. And the
Speaker 1: thing about bringing in veterans, you have guys you can trust,
Speaker 1: you understand. You want to make sure that you have
Speaker 1: guys that you can trust. And they may not always,
Speaker 1: you know, play consistently necessarily every game because some of
Speaker 1: them are a little bit older, uh in in in
Speaker 1: their careers, but what you can look at is they
Speaker 1: will know the gravity of the moment. And that's one
Speaker 1: thing that Parcells has always done, one thing that Belichick
Speaker 1: has always done. They brought in veterans who understand the
Speaker 1: gravity of the moment and you can trust them to
Speaker 1: be in position every time that you need a play done.
Speaker 1: And also these guys can bring along the young kids
Speaker 1: in there and make sure that they understand, you know,
Speaker 1: what it is to be a professional. So I think
Speaker 1: what coach McCarthy's doing, it's a great game plan. Working
Speaker 1: with Will, working with McLay and how he's bringing these
Speaker 1: these quality veterans in and able to fit them under
Speaker 1: the cap. This is this is looking pretty good, guys.
Speaker 1: When you when you look at the entire architectural piece
Speaker 1: of it's coming together very well. Okay, if if if
Speaker 1: these a thirty something guys can stay healthy. Did the
Speaker 1: math on it. There's fifteen Pro bowls on this defensive line. Now,
Speaker 1: the Marcus Lawrence with a couple, Gerald McCoy with six,
Speaker 1: Dantee Jerry Poe with a couple, Everson Griffin with four
Speaker 1: Pro bowls, Alden Smith one Pro Bowl in his career.
Speaker 1: I total it up, there are fifteen of Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: accolades on that defensive line. That's a lot of playmakers.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of playmate. Yes, now we'll see, we'll
Speaker 1: see if they'll play at that Pro Bowl level. As
Speaker 1: we get going here, all right, time to take a
Speaker 1: break here on Mick Shots. We come back with much
Speaker 1: more of Mickey's observations from his bird's eye view at
Speaker 1: Ford Center at the Star in Frisco. When we come back,
Speaker 1: I'm Jay Novachek, former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys
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Speaker 1: s course Intember twenty nineteen. Back back to mixed shots.
Speaker 1: What better time to go to Dallas Cowboys dot com
Speaker 1: slash Star to get your Star Magazine Training Camp preview.
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Speaker 1: and ninety nine cents. You can get scouting reports on
Speaker 1: almost every player out here, every position and of my
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Speaker 1: Cowboys dot com slash Star. All right, there is so
Speaker 1: much to get to. We're going to take you all
Speaker 1: the way up to noon. And all right, we talked
Speaker 1: a lot about the defensive line and the signing of
Speaker 1: Everson Griffin. How about we switched to the offensive side.
Speaker 1: And if you're following Cowboys Twitter, by the way, rules
Speaker 1: against for the media. There are rules against being able
Speaker 1: to a shoot video off their camera their phone during practice,
Speaker 1: and they can't tweet during practice. And so you can
Speaker 1: always tell when practice is over because the Todd Archers,
Speaker 1: Jade Slatter's, David Moore's of the Clarence Hills of the world,
Speaker 1: they're all immediately John Mutchiel, They're they're all tweeting as
Speaker 1: soon as so about ten twenty this morning, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, you start seeing all these tweets from practice.
Speaker 1: He's like they had these notes or they got the
Speaker 1: tweets looted, ready to go, and then they can release
Speaker 1: them right with practice is over. It was funny, but
Speaker 1: one of the number one things did Mickey, did you
Speaker 1: see ced Lamb with a one hitted catch on the sideline?
Speaker 1: All I know, Bill and I remember when they drafted
Speaker 1: Cede Lamb. My column right after that basically said, I
Speaker 1: can't wait to the first time the Cowboys line up
Speaker 1: on September thirteenth and Dak Prescott, you know whatever the
Speaker 1: call is at the line of scrimmage three eighty one,
Speaker 1: three eighty one, I said, I'm gonna see Michael Gallop
Speaker 1: to one side, a Marie Coop to the left side,
Speaker 1: and Cede Lamb in the slot. Well, when they first
Speaker 1: lined up for the first kind of skeleton drill, that's
Speaker 1: exactly how they lined up. They're not messing around. Number
Speaker 1: eighty eight was out on the field with the first
Speaker 1: team offense, and not only did he catch a one
Speaker 1: handed pass, but he was catching everything thrown his way.
Speaker 1: And you know the thing that impressed me most about it, guys,
Speaker 1: and you know, when you hear about a guy that
Speaker 1: has talent like that, you kind of think of a
Speaker 1: guy that's five eleven, one seventy. This guy's big, he's tall,
Speaker 1: he doesn't look like your average slot receiver, the little
Speaker 1: munchkin guy that can go in and out and real shifty.
Speaker 1: This guy's got some size to him. So yes, right
Speaker 1: away he was right there with the first team offense. Hey, Everson,
Speaker 1: I love it when Mickey starts talking about little munchkin guys.
Speaker 1: I would have been a slot receiver if I had
Speaker 1: some speed. You would have been a slot receiver. Maybe
Speaker 1: if you were born as another person. Yeah, that's probably
Speaker 1: what would happen now. But but one thing I can
Speaker 1: say about Ceedee Lamb. You talk about the style that
Speaker 1: he has, why he's so well fit for the slot.
Speaker 1: You know, when you think about a guy like Michael Johnson,
Speaker 1: the way he ran track and the way his stride
Speaker 1: was so unique. It allowed him to have an advantage
Speaker 1: because he kept his feet on the ground. When you
Speaker 1: look at Ceedee Lamb and you look at the score
Speaker 1: the plays that he made in college, one thing that
Speaker 1: you could see was he was deceptively elusive. It didn't
Speaker 1: look like he was running as fast as he was running,
Speaker 1: just like Michael Johnson. But when you keep your feet
Speaker 1: on the ground, you have more power with each stride.
Speaker 1: So that's why he was able to play so many
Speaker 1: tackles along with of course his size that you just
Speaker 1: spoke of. So you know, this guy's gonna just fit
Speaker 1: right in with the Cowboys offensive scheme. And once again,
Speaker 1: I don't know how many games the Cowboys are gonna win,
Speaker 1: but once again, they're gonna be excit offensively and it's
Speaker 1: going to be a lot of balls going up in
Speaker 1: the end. So you can expect that to increase with
Speaker 1: the kind of talent that we just attained. And let
Speaker 1: me add one more thing about CD Lamb. When they
Speaker 1: were doing special teams guests, who was back there catching
Speaker 1: tun puns? Yep, yeah, absolutely, and that's what he did
Speaker 1: at Oklahoma too, And me being an ou alum, I
Speaker 1: watched every one of his games in college. You know,
Speaker 1: when everyone's making a big deal about Marquise Hollywood Brown
Speaker 1: with the Ravens, who is a first round draft pick
Speaker 1: the year before, and what a terrific talent he is,
Speaker 1: and take nothing away from him, he is a terrific talent,
Speaker 1: especially as a deep threat. And Tony O'brown's cousin, I said, well,
Speaker 1: just wait until CD comes out because I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: CD the first time I saw him at OU as
Speaker 1: a true freshman. I went, Wow, who's that guy? And really,
Speaker 1: when you go back and look at what he did
Speaker 1: in high school at Houston in Houston, unbelievable, the numbers
Speaker 1: that he put up in high school. And so he
Speaker 1: just continued that, uh into college, and I expect him
Speaker 1: to continue that. Now there's only one football to go around.
Speaker 1: But I think, assuming that that he stays healthy, even
Speaker 1: without this offseason, I think he can be a guy
Speaker 1: who can make an immediate impact of first game when
Speaker 1: the Cowboys open the season in LA against the Rams
Speaker 1: now less than a month from now. Mickey, Well, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know he's going to be a guy
Speaker 1: that and and how about this, We've gone this far
Speaker 1: and I haven't said the quarterback's name yet, but I
Speaker 1: was gonna say Dak Prescott pointed out when he when
Speaker 1: he was asked during his UH conference call on Wednesday
Speaker 1: with Ceedee, Lamb and Gallup and Cooper and Zeke, uh
Speaker 1: do you have enough footballs to go around? That he said,
Speaker 1: I only need one football. And these guys, Uh, they're
Speaker 1: they're not greedy. Uh, they're not egotistical. They're team players.
Speaker 1: And that's the great thing about the group they have
Speaker 1: because the flexibility they're going to have on offense, uh
Speaker 1: is going to be something we haven't seen in quite
Speaker 1: some time. All right, do we have Everson back there?
Speaker 1: I think he's working on it, right, he's working on it.
Speaker 1: Ever he's off right now, all you, Micky. There's been
Speaker 1: a lot of talk about the chances that the Cowboys
Speaker 1: could have a trio of one thousand yard receivers um
Speaker 1: and actually they came very close to it last year,
Speaker 1: even with Randall Cobb. You know, if Randall Cobb, if
Speaker 1: he hadn't had those uh those big plays that were
Speaker 1: called back by penalty, the Cowboys would have had a
Speaker 1: trio of a thousand yard receivers last year. Right. That's
Speaker 1: why I I didn't understand why everybody was astounded, uh
Speaker 1: that that that was said by by Maury Cooper, because
Speaker 1: you're exactly right, the Onlie came up like one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy yards short of having three guys last year.
Speaker 1: And then the other point was, well, if you have
Speaker 1: three one thousand yard receivers, are you not giving the
Speaker 1: ball to Zeke? Well, Zeke gained thirteen almost fourteen hundred
Speaker 1: yards last year and they almost had three one thousand
Speaker 1: yard receivers. And you're right, Bill, he had so many
Speaker 1: passes called back by penalty that were not on him
Speaker 1: that I guarantee you it was at least one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy yards worth and probably a couple more touchdowns.
Speaker 1: So I think that, uh, you know, as Cooper said,
Speaker 1: you know, those are the expectations, and why not. You know.
Speaker 1: Another thing as far as the receiving corps goes, is
Speaker 1: Blake Jarwin. And I think I think if Jarwin stays healthy,
Speaker 1: he's for sure doubling his receptions from last year. When
Speaker 1: you when you factor in that Jason Witton always had
Speaker 1: at least sixty catches and jars was in the low
Speaker 1: thirties last year. He's going to double that. But how
Speaker 1: about this, mickey, when you look at the contracts being
Speaker 1: signed by tight ends, these receiving tight ends around the league.
Speaker 1: This week, George Kittle gets a se reset the market
Speaker 1: fifteen million dollars a year. Travis Kelsey on the heels
Speaker 1: of that, gets an extension. He's now averaging fourteen million
Speaker 1: a year. And one of the things the Cowboys did
Speaker 1: early this offseason before pre agency hit, of course, Blake
Speaker 1: Jarwin was a restricted free agent, they signed into a
Speaker 1: three year, twenty four million dollar deal, and that was
Speaker 1: a very shrewd move. Oh absolutely, you know. And if
Speaker 1: you think about the plays he made last year, and
Speaker 1: he wasn't the primary tight end target with Jason Witten
Speaker 1: taking the majority of the snaps. There their ability to
Speaker 1: stretch the field with the tight end. And again, you know,
Speaker 1: you go three wide and I'll guarantee you that's going
Speaker 1: to be their base offense for the majority of it.
Speaker 1: You got to take a linebacker off the field. So
Speaker 1: do you have a line backer that can cover Jarwin?
Speaker 1: Do you have a safety big enough to cover Jarwin?
Speaker 1: And oh, by the way, what happens if they hand
Speaker 1: the ball to Zeke and you got a linebacker out
Speaker 1: of there trying to cover the tight end and you
Speaker 1: got one linebacker trying to take care of the running game.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I just I'm expecting big things from this
Speaker 1: offense and I'd be disappointed if that didn't happen. That's
Speaker 1: why I think the key to this entire season, as
Speaker 1: I've been saying, is how well this defense place and
Speaker 1: if they can up their game and actually get some takeaways.
Speaker 1: And if you remember when Layton vander esh was talking about,
Speaker 1: you know, the defensive plays. He said, with this offense
Speaker 1: that we have, we've got to get the ball back
Speaker 1: to them, and imagine if they can get some takeaways
Speaker 1: and if they can get some interceptions, right, can say
Speaker 1: and I get a cornerback to get half as many
Speaker 1: as Everson Walls had his rookie season. Of course, I
Speaker 1: said that all last years, as great as that offense was,
Speaker 1: we still needed your Your offense is still gonna need
Speaker 1: a defense. I mean, Joe Montana still needed Ronnie Lott
Speaker 1: and and and Dean and Fred Dean. You know, he
Speaker 1: still needed a great defenses to set him up for
Speaker 1: the plays. Even Tom Brady there were times when he
Speaker 1: actually needed some help from his defense, especially last year.
Speaker 1: This offense. Even though our defense had great numbers for
Speaker 1: some reason we always rank highly, it was when we
Speaker 1: needed to make those plays. I think that's the difference.
Speaker 1: We have a defense now, I think is set up
Speaker 1: to help these guys win plays. And when you start
Speaker 1: talking about our tight end, and I've always liked him
Speaker 1: and how well he played, h I think when you
Speaker 1: compare him to those other tight ends, he still needs
Speaker 1: to have a little bit more a little bit more
Speaker 1: bulk because he needs to be a better If he
Speaker 1: becomes a better blocker, then you can put him up
Speaker 1: there in the category with those guys that just sign
Speaker 1: those big contracts, because Jarwin, to me, one of the
Speaker 1: more athletic, especially down the field tight ends that you
Speaker 1: ever want to see. So now you've got a chance
Speaker 1: to be a double threat like Jason Witten, like Kittle,
Speaker 1: like Gronkowski. Those are the kind of guys you want
Speaker 1: to live up to. So he's got to improve that
Speaker 1: part of them to be the complete player that I
Speaker 1: think he can be. That that's exactly right, and let
Speaker 1: me clarify my point assuming because there's risk involved in
Speaker 1: that end signing Jarwin to that contract, but they are
Speaker 1: betting on his potential. They see that he's got that
Speaker 1: potential and if they hit on him over the next
Speaker 1: three years, he's making a half the amount of money
Speaker 1: that the top tight ends in the league are making,
Speaker 1: and they're betting on him having that production. It's also
Speaker 1: going to be interesting, ever send to see how much
Speaker 1: McCarthy in this offense with Kelly Moore as the offensive coordinator,
Speaker 1: are going to use the two tight end formation twelve personnel.
Speaker 1: Of course, they without witting they signed Blake Bell, who
Speaker 1: was Travis Kelsey's back up at Kansas City, and they
Speaker 1: also have Dalton Schultz at tight end, so it's going
Speaker 1: to be interesting. Also a very decent athletic receiver as well.
Speaker 1: I like Sheeltz as well. Very good, Mickey. Any other
Speaker 1: observations that you saw, Yes, absolutely, Since we started talking
Speaker 1: about takeaways and interceptions, we're gonna go right off Everson
Speaker 1: Walls Alley here and talk about the cornerbacks and the secondary.
Speaker 1: How they lined up. So the first skeleton drill basically
Speaker 1: was the same as when they went somewhat eleven on eleven.
Speaker 1: Shitab E Woozier was the first cornerback on the left side.
Speaker 1: On the right side, the first cornerback up was Anthony
Speaker 1: Brown with Jordan Lewis in the slot. But as they
Speaker 1: moved along, Bo Whorley, the free agent corner the Cowboys
Speaker 1: signed who started for the Raiders last year, rotated in
Speaker 1: with the first team at cornerback on the left side,
Speaker 1: and then the rookie Trayvon Diggs rotated in with Anthony Brown.
Speaker 1: On the right side, it was Haja Clinton Dix along
Speaker 1: with Xavier Woods at safety, and then Thompson and Donovan
Speaker 1: Wilson came in with the second group, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: Donovan Wilson picked up where he left off in training
Speaker 1: camp last year and picked off a pass and I
Speaker 1: believe it was on dec if my bird's eye view
Speaker 1: was accurate. So that's kind of how they lined up
Speaker 1: at cornerback. And you know, Everson, I think that position
Speaker 1: there might be the most competitive position for playing time,
Speaker 1: for starting jobs that the Cowboys might have because Daryl
Speaker 1: Whorley is a good corner should have be a wooz.
Speaker 1: I keep hearing this about how they're going to move
Speaker 1: him to safety. Well, if they move them to safety,
Speaker 1: he's not starting. So you got a guy that can
Speaker 1: start at corner and you're gonna move them to another
Speaker 1: position and then the right side. You know, I love
Speaker 1: Digs When he had his first press conference and he
Speaker 1: comes out and says, when they ask him, what's your goal,
Speaker 1: he goes, my goal is to come here and compete
Speaker 1: and compete hard. He goes, I want a starting job.
Speaker 1: I love that in my corner. There you go, I
Speaker 1: want you to be rash, I don't want you to
Speaker 1: be me right, And then Anthony Brown. Remember they resigned
Speaker 1: him to a three year, fifteen million dollar deal, so
Speaker 1: they like him. And then everybody loves Jordan Lewis. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll see where he fits in. So I think there's
Speaker 1: five or six corners right now that are battling not
Speaker 1: only for starting jobs, but for playing time. You know,
Speaker 1: I like the thing I like about the Cowboys as
Speaker 1: much as I complain about the secondary. I always like
Speaker 1: the size that we had. You you had Vilan Jones,
Speaker 1: and now we still have a Woozier. You've got Diggs
Speaker 1: coming in, who's a very good sized cornerback. But when
Speaker 1: you start talking about making turnovers, it really, as far
Speaker 1: as the athletic ability is concerned, that's always going to
Speaker 1: be there. What you must have in the secondary is
Speaker 1: someone back there that can help you understand what's coming
Speaker 1: your way. The anticipation factor in the secondary has to
Speaker 1: be high. You have to expect certain routes to show
Speaker 1: at certain times of the game. Because you study, you
Speaker 1: have to expect that when your defense is dialed up
Speaker 1: and when that blitz is coming, that you can maybe
Speaker 1: jump arount. You understand what your limitations are, you understand
Speaker 1: what your strengths are. So when you talk about making turnovers,
Speaker 1: you can be as physical as you want, but you
Speaker 1: still have to know what the heck that wide receiver
Speaker 1: is trying to do. So in order to make your plays,
Speaker 1: you must study first of all, and you have to
Speaker 1: anticipate making a play. I think with Diggs the way
Speaker 1: I play him play at Alabama, he was able to
Speaker 1: decipher certain plays that the offense was bringing towards him,
Speaker 1: and he made the play. He saw what was coming,
Speaker 1: he sniffed it out, and he used his brain as
Speaker 1: much as he used his body. That's where we have
Speaker 1: to look at how how Clinton Dix same thing. A
Speaker 1: veteran that knows how to make plays. He could possibly
Speaker 1: help our strong safety. He could possibly help our cornerbacks
Speaker 1: understand the best way to play that particular wide receiver
Speaker 1: because he's gonna be where he needs to be in
Speaker 1: that secondary in order if they need help. So there
Speaker 1: has to be a cohesiveness in regards to getting interceptions.
Speaker 1: It has to become from an entire team standpoint, is
Speaker 1: not from an individual standpoint, a team standpoint. But I
Speaker 1: think the important thing to remember about Treyvon Diggs, He's
Speaker 1: got all this potential. He doesn't have much experience. He
Speaker 1: started for a full season last year at Alabama. He
Speaker 1: was the starter the year before Alabama, but suffered a
Speaker 1: broken foot and only was in six games the year
Speaker 1: before and without an offseason. I think I think the
Speaker 1: Cowboys this offseason by signing Whorley and getting another veteran
Speaker 1: guy in there, it buys some time for Digs. But
Speaker 1: if dig shows here, you tell me ever since over
Speaker 1: the course of the next month, even though he doesn't
Speaker 1: have games to play in, if he shows in practice
Speaker 1: that he can handle it, He's got the talent it
Speaker 1: looks like to be able to handle it. It's just
Speaker 1: from a mental standpoint, right, well, he's got to show
Speaker 1: him something special. I mean, once again, you've got the
Speaker 1: athletes out there. All of them are great athletes. Brown
Speaker 1: is one of the quickest guys I think I've ever
Speaker 1: seen at the cornerback position in a long time. But
Speaker 1: if he's able to show that he can make plays
Speaker 1: in a special way, in a unique way that the
Speaker 1: other guys can't do, yeah, throw him in there. Come on, man,
Speaker 1: it took me. I'm still mad. It took me five
Speaker 1: games to start back in nineteen eighty one. I was leading.
Speaker 1: I was leading the league interceptions. Before I was they
Speaker 1: was to start, I was still on the bench. Come on, man, ever,
Speaker 1: so what was your attitude? What was your attitude? You're
Speaker 1: an undrafted free agent out of Grambling, your rookie year,
Speaker 1: You're playing with your hometown team, trying to make the team.
Speaker 1: Did you have that same attitude that I'm gonna start
Speaker 1: my rookie year? You damn right, Bill, Okay, let's be
Speaker 1: real about it. I was upset. I led the nation
Speaker 1: and interceptions. I go for a free agent. I was
Speaker 1: out for blood. Okay. I want to make sure you
Speaker 1: embarrass any wide receiver I came up against. Now, when
Speaker 1: I go up against Drew and Tony Hill, I was
Speaker 1: the one that got embarrassed. But they also knew I
Speaker 1: was gonna be there. I was going. I knew that
Speaker 1: I could do something that the others could not do.
Speaker 1: They I saw I was second. All right, all right?
Speaker 1: We continue with more mix shots in just a moment,
Speaker 1: observations from Cowboys training camp, the first practice of the
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy era, Just a moment. Since eighteen sixty five,
Speaker 1: stetson hats are American maid with pride right here in
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Speaker 1: field at every home game. Stetson hats the official crown
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Speaker 1: Do More. Back back to mixed shots. It's the first
Speaker 1: day of Cowboys training camp officially, because the Cowboys were
Speaker 1: on the practice field at Ford Center eight am. According
Speaker 1: to the tweets that I saw from the Beat reporters
Speaker 1: that were there, Mike McCarthy first emerged on the practice
Speaker 1: field at precisely eight nineteen am. Is that what you
Speaker 1: had on your clock, Mickey. I don't know that I
Speaker 1: was clock and Mike McCarthy, but I do know that
Speaker 1: when they when they started the stretching team stretch and everything,
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks and the offense and I think most of
Speaker 1: the defensive linemen were still in side, so I'm assuming
Speaker 1: they were doing that in the Ford center and then
Speaker 1: he came out with that part the offensive lineman and
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks, who, by the way, Billy asked me for observations,
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks all had on red jerseys. Jerseys. Oh, that
Speaker 1: was another thing that was trending on Twitter. The Cowboys
Speaker 1: quarterbacks have red jerseys on at practice. What a novel
Speaker 1: concept that a football team has quarterbacks in red jerseys
Speaker 1: during practice? Would somebody asked me? I said, does the
Speaker 1: red jersey protect them from COVID nineteen two? Because that's
Speaker 1: going to be most important. So I had to I
Speaker 1: had to text Everson to find out because I can't
Speaker 1: you know, we did other than training camp. We didn't
Speaker 1: get to watch the Cowboys practice back in the eighties,
Speaker 1: as I remember, and so I needed to ask Everson
Speaker 1: if Tom put the quarterbacks in red jerseys, and Everson,
Speaker 1: you said, I said yes, but but as I recall,
Speaker 1: and I talked to Chris about this before you guys
Speaker 1: even came on, I recall maybe red vests. I don't
Speaker 1: know about red jerseys, but I think they had red vests. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you're right. I think there you go. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: because they didn't have a number on it, just had
Speaker 1: a vest, right, Yeah, they just put that. And I
Speaker 1: don't remember the last time the Cowboys did that. I
Speaker 1: can't remember. I don't recall Parcels doing it because he
Speaker 1: always wanted everybody to be tough, So I don't know
Speaker 1: that he did it. And I couldn't remember if Jimmy
Speaker 1: put him on there or not. You know, maybe when
Speaker 1: Troy came back in ninety three after his uh June
Speaker 1: surgery back surgery, I believe it was, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: they protected him and they basically and here here's how
Speaker 1: well Troy Aikman listened. So it's a preseason game and
Speaker 1: they basically said, you know, don't on data, DA, And
Speaker 1: it's a preseason game. And he takes out of the
Speaker 1: pocket around the ten yard line because he's gonna score
Speaker 1: a touchdown, by God in a preseason game, and he
Speaker 1: dives for the end zone. It was his last play
Speaker 1: of that preseason where you got here after that? Didn't
Speaker 1: he later in the season. Yeah? Absolutely, I think Start
Speaker 1: did the same thing. A Mickey wants some other observations
Speaker 1: you had out there? Well, here here what happened at
Speaker 1: practice today? Tell us here, here's what's Here's what's weird
Speaker 1: about watching practice from where we did at my desk
Speaker 1: inside the Start. There's no noise. It's quiet. Well that'll
Speaker 1: be just like the games this year then, right, it
Speaker 1: was just quiet the Red Jerseys. I also noticed, you know,
Speaker 1: normally they had one judge machine to throw passes to
Speaker 1: the receivers or the dbs. They had eight of them
Speaker 1: out there. Now I didn't know if that was a
Speaker 1: protection thing, so everybody wasn't touching the same footballs or what,
Speaker 1: But there were eight jug machines out there. And I
Speaker 1: mentioned Alden Smith. He's got some length, you guys, because
Speaker 1: he batted a pass at the line of scrimmage and
Speaker 1: he didn't really have to jump. He just got his
Speaker 1: hands up and knocked a pass down. So I did.
Speaker 1: I did notice that for sure. You know, I mentioned
Speaker 1: the cooling tents already, the fact that they took a
Speaker 1: break and they're kind of monitoring it, and there wasn't
Speaker 1: loud music. I don't think was playing at least I
Speaker 1: couldn't hear it so so that that was noticeable. And
Speaker 1: I heard the music at the break, but that was
Speaker 1: really it. So I give you how guys lined up
Speaker 1: the linebackers obviously Layton, vander Esh Jalen Smith. And when
Speaker 1: they're playing Nickel like that, it's kind of hard to
Speaker 1: tell who's in the middle and who's not. But Layton
Speaker 1: said he would be in the middle. Jalen was going
Speaker 1: to be on the on the weak side. And one
Speaker 1: of the things I noticed quite a bit with Alden Smith,
Speaker 1: so he's playing that right defensive end spot. A lot
Speaker 1: of times they just had him standing up. They didn't
Speaker 1: have his hand on the ground, So I don't know
Speaker 1: if that gives him a head start or what, but
Speaker 1: I thought that of a hybrid defense. If it was,
Speaker 1: then they were off centered because they had two defensive tackles.
Speaker 1: Uh and then DeMarcus Lawrence had his hand on the
Speaker 1: ground on the other side. I don't recall if Alden
Speaker 1: Smith was was you know, either did he favor either way?
Speaker 1: Standing up? I would call him always with his hands down. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys remember, but the the
Speaker 1: thing is when even even with three four teams, when
Speaker 1: they're in the nickel, they're in a four man front
Speaker 1: and Russian uh just like what you would see a
Speaker 1: fourth in a fourth three defense. So um so most
Speaker 1: of what we saw, Bill, they were in nickel defense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, So what do you make of Layton and
Speaker 1: the base defense moving to middle linebacker? I thought it
Speaker 1: was going to be a natural progression for him. His
Speaker 1: command of the scheme, his recognition, uh, and his ability
Speaker 1: if you want your middle linebacker dropping into coverage. I
Speaker 1: think was better than Jalen Smith. You know, I know
Speaker 1: Jalen ended up going to the Pro Bowl, but I
Speaker 1: don't think that was his best year. Uh So uh,
Speaker 1: you know what. I what I liked the fact that
Speaker 1: day one, Layton Vanderish was on the field. And remember
Speaker 1: we found that out when we interviewed as agent Ron Slaven. Gosh,
Speaker 1: that was a couple of months ago, wasn't it, Bill? Uh?
Speaker 1: He told and he told us that, uh that that
Speaker 1: Layton Vandersch was ready to go, and and yeah, there
Speaker 1: was no limitations for him out there, uh either, you know,
Speaker 1: the other guy that that that kind of showed up,
Speaker 1: and two other guys. Tristan Hill looked like he kind
Speaker 1: of reshaped his body a little bit in the offseason
Speaker 1: and he seemed a little bit more active. And the
Speaker 1: one corner that we haven't talked about. I was talking
Speaker 1: with Will McClay the other day. He said, don't go
Speaker 1: to sleep on Chris Westrey. Remember he was a rookie
Speaker 1: free agent last year, like six three sixty four, and
Speaker 1: they loved they still love his size even though he
Speaker 1: was on the practice squad. And then I think he
Speaker 1: did he ended up on ir I'm trying to remember,
Speaker 1: but they still like position quarterback at that size. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: oh interesting. So those were the things that probably, uh
Speaker 1: most stood out to me. But yeah, the quietness of
Speaker 1: watching practice was is a little different. You know. The
Speaker 1: other thing that people would be talking about on the
Speaker 1: offensive line, Connor Williams was out there with the first
Speaker 1: team at left guard right. Yeah, absolutely, And Mike McCarthy
Speaker 1: did say in the kickoff press conference that you know,
Speaker 1: it's Connor Williams, but we kind of got him ease
Speaker 1: him in there. We can't, you know, he's still not
Speaker 1: Gosh's he nine months removed from probably into nine or
Speaker 1: ten months, yeah, from the ACL surgery. So uh so
Speaker 1: that he took you know, he was out there first
Speaker 1: and then they rotated, Uh, Connor McGovern in there. I
Speaker 1: didn't see be a dish taking any first team snaps
Speaker 1: at center, But I'm going to keep an eye on
Speaker 1: that one because, as I keep saying, he's the only
Speaker 1: guy on this team that took considerable snaps at center
Speaker 1: last year on a football field, and that was at
Speaker 1: University of Wisconsin. I get it, but Joe Looney played
Speaker 1: guard last year. He really didn't get into the game
Speaker 1: much other than cleanup time at center. So he hadn't
Speaker 1: played center since twenty eighteen. Everybody keeps talking about Connor
Speaker 1: McGovern had played center in college. Well, he hadn't played
Speaker 1: center at Penn State since twenty seventeen. Sou and Adam Redman,
Speaker 1: who they thought was going to be the backup center
Speaker 1: last year or at least compete for it, ended up
Speaker 1: on injury reserve. He never played in a game, So
Speaker 1: to be interesting to see how quickly the rookie adapts
Speaker 1: at the center position. You know, when you one thing
Speaker 1: about this though, when you look at the injuries. Some
Speaker 1: that are completely healed, like tyl On Crawford coming off
Speaker 1: the pup list, which is man, God blessing. I feel
Speaker 1: so good for him. You look at Layton Vanderish who
Speaker 1: has completely healed with his NECKT surgery. I think the
Speaker 1: quick well really no preseason, but the quick training camp
Speaker 1: and early started the season. I think that would bold
Speaker 1: better for those two. They won't have to get bogged
Speaker 1: down with a lot of practice. They don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about getting, you know, having to recover too much
Speaker 1: from those injuries because they're going to be into the
Speaker 1: season so quickly. But when when you look at someone
Speaker 1: like like Connor, he's not completely healed yet, so it
Speaker 1: would be the opposite for him. It's gonna take him
Speaker 1: a while, I think, before he's able to get back
Speaker 1: into full strength. So it works both ways depending on
Speaker 1: where you are in your rehab. But vander Esh and Crawford,
Speaker 1: I think it worked better for them than it did
Speaker 1: for Connor. Another veteran guy the Cowboys signed this offseason,
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton. How strange was at seeing Andy Dalton in
Speaker 1: a Cowboys uniform. It was it was very nice to
Speaker 1: see him, and the thing that stood out to me
Speaker 1: about him is how accurate he is. He passes are
Speaker 1: right on the button. He does not miss guys, and
Speaker 1: and and he's splitting numbers, so he throws a very
Speaker 1: catchable ball. He's still moving well. Uh and and again,
Speaker 1: you know, we talked about the best free agent signings
Speaker 1: on defense. What what he brings to this offense? A
Speaker 1: veteran presence h and a guy that probably makes you
Speaker 1: sleep a lot better at night if you're the head coach,
Speaker 1: knowing and I've got a guy that's played in this
Speaker 1: league as my backup quarterback just in case. I think
Speaker 1: that was a huge uh get for the Cowboys, you know.
Speaker 1: And that's another one of those things, you guys that
Speaker 1: just kind of falls in their lap, right, you know,
Speaker 1: Everson Griffin who thought the Cowboys could sign him right,
Speaker 1: kind of falls in his lap after making the Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl the previous season. That's even better. And who thought
Speaker 1: that CD Lamb was gonna fall in their lap at
Speaker 1: seventeen or digs in the second round. And then Dalton
Speaker 1: because of his ties here living here and Cincinnati was
Speaker 1: ready to move on, he falls in their lap and
Speaker 1: he signs a one year prove it deal. How much
Speaker 1: more good fortune can you have. Yeah, when you're talking
Speaker 1: about when you're talking about veterans, they can take that
Speaker 1: one year and you expect them to do something with it.
Speaker 1: It's not like they need to well, let me get
Speaker 1: the system down or whatever. You're talking about guys that
Speaker 1: are used to making plays, big plays in playoff games
Speaker 1: and championship games, so now you expect them to do
Speaker 1: the same thing for you. You know, with the signing
Speaker 1: of a three time Pro Bowl backup quarterback in Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton with Everson Griffin, you can understand, and other signings
Speaker 1: from Gerald McCoy to done Terry Poe, all these veteran guys,
Speaker 1: you can understand where Stephen Jones is coming from when
Speaker 1: he said on Wednesday that he feels like this roster
Speaker 1: and in this situation they have right now is as
Speaker 1: good to contend as they've had in five or two
Speaker 1: in years here. Yeah. Absolutely, And I don't know if
Speaker 1: that caught everybody by surprise, but he's right. If you
Speaker 1: just look at the veteran presence they brought in along
Speaker 1: with the youth that they have and the guys they've
Speaker 1: been developing for the last three or four years. Uh. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a heck of a mix. And you know,
Speaker 1: I would have to go back and look player by
Speaker 1: player by player, But Dalton might be the best backup
Speaker 1: quarterback they've had. How far back you want to go?
Speaker 1: Since they had Dak Prescott as the backup coming in,
Speaker 1: that doesn't count, Okay, since Tony Romo, Since Tony Romo
Speaker 1: was the backup today we have did we have Burline?
Speaker 1: At one point was going to go back to Burline.
Speaker 1: That's where I was going. That's why Burl Romo when
Speaker 1: he was the backup, wasn't even proven right In the
Speaker 1: first year he was the backup, he never played, ye
Speaker 1: and he didn't really play until he took over the
Speaker 1: starting job in uh two thousand and six or yeah,
Speaker 1: two thousand and six. I was gonna say, I gotta
Speaker 1: go back to Burline or Rodney Pete or our guess,
Speaker 1: Wade Wilson, probably with experience that he had in the
Speaker 1: success he had a couple of years he was here
Speaker 1: as the backup quarterback. Don't forget you had Vinnie in
Speaker 1: there too, and you had bled so and I don't know,
Speaker 1: only I believe only Burline was the one that helped
Speaker 1: him keep that Super Bowl pace up as they went
Speaker 1: into the playoffs. I think they won the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: that year, correct, Well, yeah, he came, he came in
Speaker 1: and when that was the year, the year before ninety one,
Speaker 1: they won five in a row and then they lost
Speaker 1: to the Lions in the playoffs in the second round.
Speaker 1: They beat you and the wow it got round we
Speaker 1: could and was terrible. All right, we'll talk at you
Speaker 1: again next week. In the meantime, Thursday, Bill, I believe
Speaker 1: we're going to be back in our Thursday eleven am.
Speaker 1: All right, dame, we'll see you next week here on
Speaker 1: mix Shots. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys
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