WEBVTT - Talkin' Cowboys: Drawing The Line 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:07.320 The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:18.239 and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This he's Talking Cowboys 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:22.119 training live from the Dallas Cowboys World Headboars at the 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:31.680 Star in Frisco. Hellowing the sack and now your hosts, 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:37.280 Isaiah stand Back, heck Ma Harrison, Rob Phillips and Kyle Yeomans. 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:42.760 It's our first post Thanksgiving edition of Talking Cowboys here 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:46.440 on Dallas Cowboys dot Com and from the SWBC Mortgage 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:49.839 Studios at the Star in Frisco. Glad you're with us, 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:53.159 Kyle Yeoman's, Isaiah stand Back, heck Ma Harrison and the 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.840 great Rob Phillips as always and well boys, you know 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:59.880 this last couple of days, this past weekend, the thing 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:02.200 Giving holiday has taught me one thing, and that's to 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:06.600 appreciate what I have. And it's to appreciate and reflect 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:10.280 and rest up a little bit after the weekend, because, uh, 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.360 there was a bit of a beat down on Thursday 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:14.400 that we kind of have to get to in terms 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.760 of the Dallas Cowboys and one that I know that 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:19.800 a lot of us kind of wanted to forget about 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:22.680 as Cowboys fans. Ones that we one that we kind 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:24.600 of wanted to shove to the side. Well, we're not 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:26.560 gonna do that. We're gonna attack it straight at it. 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:29.119 We're gonna talk about the forty one to sixteen loss 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:31.880 to the Washington football team coming up here in just 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:33.920 a little bit. But first, let's let's start off on 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:36.440 a positive note. Let's keep things positive because it's been 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:43.760 a good weekend, Rob, how is your Thanksgiving? It was? 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:46.399 It was good. I didn't I didn't leave the house. 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:50.320 I got to catch up on dad duty for with 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.680 the nine month old who's soon to be ten months old. 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:55.280 So that was good. I was looking forward to that, 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:58.400 just just being a dad. Man. That was a lot 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:03.880 of fun. That's awesome, Rob, or excuse me, Isaiah, Mi 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:05.960 is good man. I got to sit down, you know, 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:08.040 aside from you know, I did a little bit of work, 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:09.560 but not too much, man, So it was it was. 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:11.400 It was good time, spending time with the kids much 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:13.640 in ea of time. And uh, the wife got a 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:17.560 new vehicle, man, So everybody's happy. It's a good weekend. Balling. 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:21.680 Isaiah always says it to us in a joking manner, 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:24.680 But you can't you can't hide money. Heck, mo, you 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:29.280 just can't you can't using a statement against him, but 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.600 you can't hide it. He was your thanks it's it's 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:36.720 it's good. But when it comes down to Isaiah, it's 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:41.959 rare air up there. That's because I'm taller than all, y'all. 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:47.960 That's all. That's I'm taller than kind of true. True indeed, man, 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:51.280 My my Thanksgiving was amazing. Man, it was good and 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:55.000 for me and my family, we were we're self quarantine 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.160 in ourselves. So it's the first time that we didn't 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.639 have Thanksgiving as you know, the big family gathering. My 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:04.840 wife had to prepare all of the food and she 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:09.200 did a wonderful job. So I'm sure wife Nicky cool 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:15.399 points point. You've done all the Christmas decorations though, so yeah, 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:18.079 he's already got the Christmas How about that. It's a 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:21.000 little Grinch tree, the Charlie Brown tree is what we 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:27.560 were calling you. Why are you gonna come? It's her 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:30.800 one footer. You gotta get at Chris. It's not something 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:34.160 to talk about. Okay, let's let me say this. Let 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:36.320 me say this though, can you say this? I gotta 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:40.240 thank I gotta thank Derek Eagleton for helping me with 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:45.040 my whole Yeah, Grinch then not wanting to decorate before Christmas, 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:47.960 before Thanksgiving, and so yeah, there was a little Twitter 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:50.720 back and forth with Derek and yeah, so I was 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.560 able to go up in the attic and obviously we 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.440 have the Christmas Wonderland already going. So yeah, well it's 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.160 after Thanksgiving, so it's okay at this point, it's fine 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.960 to do it now. Yeah, it's after Thanksgiving. But let's 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.840 let's talk about that Thanksgiving battle. Let's let's go back 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:07.920 into this. And Rob, you were at the game, I 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:09.520 want to kind of start with you on this one. 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:13.240 But forty one to sixteen, the Cowboys give up twenty 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.200 one unanswered points in the fourth quarter alone, and it 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:18.720 seemed like the Cowboys had a lot of momentum. The 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:22.200 last play of momentum swing was the Jalen Smith interception 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:24.040 and then after that it really kind of went down 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:26.479 the hill. But what did you see from that game 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:32.760 and how did the Cowboys let this one slip? Well? 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:36.880 I saw two different entire league games. I saw one 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:40.200 game before the fake punt, and I saw another team 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:43.520 after the fake punt. You know, I thought, and we 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:47.000 can get into those fourth down decisions. I'm sure we 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:52.039 will but I thought up until that point, given everything 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:54.760 that they have dealt with during the week, and I 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:57.640 think also I want to and I know we all 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.320 want to send our condolences to Marcus Paul family. Um. 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:03.440 You know, I know last time we were on the show, 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:05.000 we you know, we were hoping for good news and 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:09.120 just tragic that that the Cowboys strength and conditioning coordinator 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:11.719 Marcus Paul passed away. And I think it was really 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:15.120 hard for this team to get like emotionally ready for 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:20.920 the game. Just the circumstances around that what happened is 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.880 really difficult. I thought they battled up until that point, 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:28.280 and I thought after that decision, Dare just kind of 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:30.360 went out of the balloon for the Cowboys and trying 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:33.560 to to withstand everything they dealt with during the week. 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:35.600 And then you lose Zack Martin and Cam Irving on 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:39.200 the same opening drive an offensive line and your offensive 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:43.480 line just continues to be just a mess, really and 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:48.240 after after that play, you know that they they weren't 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:50.800 the same team, and Washington just kind of finished it off. 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:54.520 So now we're in December and it's gonna be really 0:05:54.560 --> 0:06:03.800 interesting to see how they respond. Heck, month, you know, 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:06.880 Rob said it, and I believe that when you say 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:10.160 not the same team, and I want to say it 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:13.600 this way, this is I've seen this happen twice, and 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:16.440 I've seen it happen versus the same opponent. And the 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:20.200 one was when Andy Dalton in DC took that dirty 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.720 head by the linebacker Bostick. You could tell that mentally 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.080 this team just packed up. They were already on the 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:29.600 bus and then the plane headed back to DFW. But 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:33.000 after the fake punt, after the fake punt, it was 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:37.040 like they packed up. This thing is it's a rap. 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.680 Whatever we were playing for, whatever we thought we were 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:44.120 in this four, let's go ahead mentally, and they checked out. 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:47.960 I didn't, man, I was our right about it. I 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.800 realized that there's a lot of analytics, probability and everything 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.920 a risk assessment that goes into decision making and I 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.400 may not be a prone to understanding a lot of that. 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.120 And no matter what you have going going to however 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.280 you practice it, it's never a good ideal on your 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.240 twenty four yard line and fourth and ten to do 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:10.600 a double reverse pass too. I guess you know. The 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.800 first read was the punter and then C J. Goodwin. 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.640 Either way, all of those names don't equate to ceedee 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:19.880 Lamb and sequel Elliott none, none of that. And so 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:22.880 I guess the whole trickeration or whatever we were trying 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.880 to go for right there, it didn't succeed. And man, 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:28.200 it just started to look like amateur hour after that. 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:34.080 So when you're a brand new coach and I'm not 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:35.600 when I say brand new, I mean like new to 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:39.000 the new two organization, Yeah, yeah, new to a team, 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:42.640 and especially coming off this all season that we had 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:44.320 where they haven't had the opportunity to be with their 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:48.480 coach every single day, build a relationship, build confidence, and 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:52.400 build a rapport. There's going to be there's gonna be 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:55.640 a couple of plays during during the season worth you're 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:58.120 gonna be tested as a coach, and there's gonna be 0:07:58.120 --> 0:07:59.960 a couple of opportunities, a couple of situations where you 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:04.280 have an opportunity to instill confidence in your players, to 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.200 instill that that rapport with your guys and say hey 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:11.320 I got you. Um, this was a missed opportunity. This 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:13.800 was what we're what we're all referring to right now, 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:16.160 what we're all talking about is exactly that moment. There 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:18.440 was that was that moment where you're down by four points, 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.440 your guys are battling. Your guys have shown you that 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:23.440 they're willing to battle you. They've shown you that they're 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:27.440 willing to overcome two guys. They're two starting offense alignment 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:29.760 out the game in the same series. They overcame that 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.200 in the first quarter, right, and these guys are now 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:34.520 in the second half. They overcame that, they overcome the 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.800 Zeke fumble. But then you show that you don't have 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.120 confidence in their ability to then go down and play 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:43.520 some defense. You have a new punter on this team 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:45.880 who's been kicking the crap out the ball, who's been 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.080 changing the field of possession like crazy, and you don't 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.280 trust him to change the field of possession. You don't 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:52.720 change You don't trust your team to go out there 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:56.160 and continue playing tough defense. Um, you don't trust Zeke, 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:58.680 your ninety million dollars running back to continue to top 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:00.599 the ball the way in which you know he's capable of. 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:04.760 After after seeing that he responded will following the fumble, right, 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:06.440 he came back. He was running hard, These guys were 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:08.439 blocking hard. And you go out there and you just 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:10.959 totally show a lack of confidence to your team, and 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:13.439 that's the response that you received from your team. Those 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:15.640 guys gave up on their coaches because their coaches gave 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:19.360 up on them, Rob, Do you think that's something that 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:23.240 is deeper stem to, like you talked about earlier, maybe 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.760 the energy level. I mean, I definitely didn't see the 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:28.640 same energy that was there in like the Pittsburgh game, 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.120 or even a little bit earlier in that Philadelphia game 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.040 and throughout in Minnesota as well. But you think it 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:37.000 was kind of the energy of what was a hard week, 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:40.800 an emotional week, but also just the fact that the 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:46.800 things just didn't go your way and things started the snowball. Yeah, 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.280 I mean it's really it's hard for me to judge 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:53.040 just kind of how the circumstances around the week because 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.880 we're not around the players this season. I do know that, 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:00.880 I do know that after the game, guy were definitely 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:05.079 emotional about Marcus Paul. I know it carried into to Friday, 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:09.480 even talking to coach McCarthy and the assistance and he said, look, 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:11.120 I didn't know how we were going to play, and 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:13.400 that's think about it. I mean, really, they didn't practice 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:17.079 until the day before the game, so um, just a 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:20.440 just a terrible week, an odd week in terms of scheduling, 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:24.240 I thought, and I know the team has gotten ripped 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:26.720 the last few days, and just in terms of I mean, 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.920 it was a twenty five point loss. That was a 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:33.400 misleading final score because I thought, given everything they were 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:37.319 dealing with in the game, you lose your your starting 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:41.839 tackles who were filling in for the starting tackles. You know, offensively, 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:43.800 they struggled, but they were still able to hang around. 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:46.320 I thought any Dalton played pretty well. And the thing 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:52.440 about the fake punt is defensively the previous two drives 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.200 you had the Jalen pick almost for a pick six 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:58.079 and then you got a three and out. So yes, 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:01.719 they're you know, defense, they leaked some play, you know, 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:05.319 once again, the rushing yardage, I get it. And a 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:07.920 lot of what they did is what teams have had 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:10.400 success against them, where they're testing your eyes and they're 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:13.199 doing a lot of misdirection and motion pre snap, and 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:16.839 so that was a problem. But man, with twelve minutes left, 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:20.360 you're basically saying we're going to decide the game right here. 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:24.400 And that's that's what made it so surprising that And 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.760 I thought John Fossil explained the rationale better than anybody. 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.120 He said, Friday, you know, we looked at the time 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:32.800 of possession. I think at the time it was like 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.760 ten minutes difference in time of possession. Maybe they felt 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:38.280 like the defense was just running out of gas and 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:41.400 offensively it was tough to sustain drives and we just 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:45.240 had to do something because we were just overmatched in 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:48.319 terms of the injuries at that point. So I get that, 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.640 but you you put, like Isaiah said, I mean, you 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:53.679 took it out of the player's hands, you know, with 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:57.079 one decision where a lot had to go right to 0:11:57.280 --> 0:11:59.800 get a fourth and ten. I mean almost when you're 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:01.720 thinking it out fourth and ten, it's almost like, could 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:03.400 you just put the hands of it, put in the 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:06.000 hands of Amari Cooper who really couldn't be covered for 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:11.880 most of that game. Isaiah didn't think go for it. 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:16.520 Heck no, I just p I appreciate what you said, man, 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:21.040 but that that absolutely made no sense. The the explanation 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:24.559 from coach Fossil, I didn't. I didn't appreciate it. I 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.720 felt like, you know, no matter how you time of possession, 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:31.800 even when they did like in the second quarter, I'm 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.319 trying to think specifically. They had a long drive. I 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:36.439 believe it was like a six minute drive. They it 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.199 still ended up in three points for the for the 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:42.800 football team, your defense showed up. Those guys were playing, 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.920 they were giving it everything. To that point, you were 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.839 still in the game. Even with some of the miscues 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:54.280 on defense, even with some of the bad plays on offense, 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:58.800 the team continued to respond, like Isaiah said, with fumbles, 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:02.199 no matter what it was, to try and to win 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:04.599 this game. I think that was the point that and 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:06.600 we're going to talk about other points in this game, 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:08.480 but I just felt like if you can go to 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:11.439 one thing and circle it where the bottom completely fell out, 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:14.040 that was it right there. Because the team after that 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:16.960 it was lifeless. There was nothing else that they could offer. 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:21.080 But also going forward on your side of the field 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:25.400 like that, you just kept giving the Washington football team 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:29.880 short field, the short field advantage. And again, like you said, 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:33.439 the final score is definitely misleading because they were in 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.760 it for three quarters. Well, in Heckman, you brought up 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:40.480 Fossil's rebuttal to the call, and you talked about what 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.040 he had to say, and then Mike McCarthy also came 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:44.599 out and said, we were trying to go for a 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:46.880 big play. It wasn't even like they were aiming for 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:48.800 the first down for the ten yards. They were trying 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:50.559 to go over the top and try and find a 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:54.120 big time, game changing, momentum shifting sort of play. That, 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:57.120 of course, was a high risk, high reward type of thing. 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:59.520 But Isaiah, do you give any credit to the coaching 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:01.920 staff or at least trying something there or is it 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:06.200 just all bad at that point because of the decision 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:10.440 that was made. Not it's terrible, it's terrible play column. 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.199 We've been seeing it all year. Um, Yeah, No, we've 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.360 gotten lucky a couple of times this year. In regards 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:17.840 to our special teams, I think we've we've talked extensively 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.800 about our our aggressiveness in this particular reason. I think 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.320 we've also talked about the lack of the lack of 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.840 element of surprise. Now with that unit. Once you once 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:31.480 you've displayed that on film, you're as a punt return team, 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:33.840 you're on high alert. You're you might have your part 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:36.480 return team out there. But believing me, everybody's thinking safe, 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.760 everybody's thinking it safe, nobody's coming. You won't see it 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:41.720 for the entire year, and you haven't seen all year 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.000 nobody coming for the punt. We're not. They're not. They're 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:46.720 not rushing to block the punt. They're playing safe defense 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:48.640 and they're playing hold up is what we called it. 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:50.320 We play hold up. You come off the ball, you 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:52.880 grab your guy and you start you start walling him 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:54.560 off in the direction that you're supposed to according to 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:56.840 the play. And your eyes are always on the punter 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:58.640 in the in the long snapper, I mean the punter, 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:01.640 and the up back, the personal protector, to ensure that 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:04.160 they're not running a fake. Nobody's being caught off by 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.360 not being caught off guard anymore, it's not something that happens. 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:10.360 And also when you make these decisions, okay, as a 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:12.120 head coach, when you make these decisions, you have to 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:14.400 make sure that if things go alway, if things go 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:16.680 all the way wrong like they did on that play, 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.200 what position am I putting my team in to still 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:21.440 be successful to come out with the victory in this 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.560 ball game. You're making yourself go into a two possession 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:26.960 game at that point in time with what a quarter, 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:30.160 not even a whole quarter left' that's you can't do it. 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:33.600 So worst case scenario, Okay, they get you know, maybe 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.160 they get three points. Maybe worst case scenario, you know, 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:38.080 and we're still in a one possession game. But no, 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:40.320 not when you're backed up like you are, you're making 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:42.000 you're giving them the game at that point in time. 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:45.360 So there's zero chance, zero reason why they should have 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.680 made that call. And again, as a player, as a 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:50.280 former player, when you see your coaches make decisions like that, 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:51.840 it's like, man, what the heck am I even doing? 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:56.920 Like for what? Yeah, And the thing about it is, 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:00.640 it's like, you know, John Fossil talked about they they 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:03.560 liked the look they got free snap and the actually 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.600 he said his only regret was was was not doing 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:08.960 it the first time. I think it was a quarter 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:12.920 before that because post snap it would have been a 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.680 touchdown based on the way Washington reacted. But to Isaiah's point, like, 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:21.080 it's not just this year, it's John Fossil's reputation, teams are, 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:23.680 teams are ready, they are on high, high alert, and 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:27.560 it's once you reach deep enough in the bag, eventually 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.960 a team's gonna be ready. And post snap, when they 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:33.320 did run it, Washington's I believe it was their line 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:37.920 one of their linebackers stayed home. On nice wander on CJ. 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:40.440 Goodwin down the field. And remember I mean CJ. Goodwin 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.240 did complete he and et Ceterric Wilson did complete that 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:46.600 pass a couple of weeks back against Pittsburgh. So no 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:50.840 teams are gonna be ready. I like respectfully, I speak 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:53.480 respectfully about it just because I'm not. I don't do 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:55.520 the hours of prep they do to try to pull 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.720 off something like that, but it just did. It was 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.240 the ultimate amnium. I don't come at the end of 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:05.760 the day. Rob, Rob Rob No, I love you, Rob. 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.119 Don't don't don't back. Don't you take your foot off 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:11.920 in the battle. My opinion of it, no question about it. 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:15.159 On coach Yeah, On Coach Fossil, listen up, let me 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:17.760 make this very clear. As a special team's coordinator, your 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:21.360 job is to make sure that you try everything, everything 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:23.639 that possibly could be successful, so that I don't I 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:26.400 don't have any issue with coach Fossil. I have zero. 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:28.920 I have zero issues with Coach Fossil. You're supposed to 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:31.280 throw stuff at me if your offensive coordinator, you're supposed 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:32.560 to say, I got this play right here. I think 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:34.639 it's a work you're supposed to pitch those things for me. 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.960 But as a head coach, that's why you're the head coach. 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:40.360 As a head coach, your job is to make sure 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:42.679 that your team is in the best position to be successful, 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:45.600 and everything comes through your Everything comes through your headset. 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:47.760 When a special team's coach wants to run a fake punt, 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:50.200 he has to come through you. He comes to the 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.320 head coach and he says, hey, this is what I'm thinking. 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:55.840 What do you think. Coach McCarthy said, yeah, let's do that. 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.200 That's terrible by coach McCarthy, not by coach Fossil. Coach 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:00.840 Fossil is doing he's supposed to do, which is be 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:03.080 creative and trying to find ways to spark, to spark 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:05.240 some energy and get some some positive plays. He's not 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:07.120 supposed to just be out there just just to block 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:09.120 and punt the ball. That's not his job. His job 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:12.600 is to create something. So that's not his fault. Coach McCarthy. 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:14.880 He needs to take ownership for this, and he won't 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:17.119 get these guys to ever buy into him unless he 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:21.920 comes out and says, you know what bad call? Yeah, 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:23.560 I mean, you know, And the other thing about it 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:27.639 too is it was fourth and ten, but by the time, 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.239 by the time Cedric Wilson was in position to try 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:33.440 to throw the ball, it was more like fourth and twenty. Yep. 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:37.840 I mean you're just so much yeah to pull that off, 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.320 and you're talking about a punter trying to catch the 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:43.720 ball and run with it or c J. Goodwin way 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:47.160 down the field. It just seemed high risk and very 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:50.200 low chance of a very high chance of something going 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:53.200 wrong in a situation like that. Uh, the fourth down 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:55.399 earlier in the game, I didn't. I had less problem 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.880 with it. I'm more conservative in situations like that, whether 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:00.840 you punt or whether you just handed off to Zeke. 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:03.680 And actually, Kellen Moore said Friday, Look, it's basically said, 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:05.879 it's fair to second guess what we did. Yeah, they 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:09.359 liked the matchup on the outside, that didn't work, But 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:11.800 we're talking about fourth and inches compared to fourth and ten. 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:16.240 That that just that'd be fuddled everybody, everybody, I think 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:20.359 across the country. And they both led the thing to 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.680 go for an Yeah, but I was gonna say, but 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:25.960 just to my point, those are all plays that community 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:28.679 you're communicating every time you make a play call as 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:32.280 a coach, you're communicating something nonverbally to your team, right, 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:34.879 You're every single time, every decision that you make, whenever 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.880 you're faced with these with these situational play calls, your 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:39.440 team is looking at you to say, let me see 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:41.440 what coach is gonna do? All right, let me see 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:43.000 what coach is gonna do fourth and inches. Is he 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:44.320 going to turn around and give it to Zeke and 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:46.320 show him that guess what we gave you ninety million 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:48.000 dollars because we believe in you. Or is he going 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:50.240 to try to throw the ball outside with his backup 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:52.879 quarterback to a receiver who has man on man in 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:55.360 press coverage. Which one? What is he gonna do? Right? 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:57.959 So again, you lost confidence there. You go out there, 0:19:57.960 --> 0:19:59.800 you run these fake punch You lost confidence of your 0:19:59.880 --> 0:20:03.040 d fans. Who's there to believe in you? Why? Why? Why? 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:05.440 Why should they believe in you if they're going out 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:07.720 there and they're busting their butt every single play, fighting 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:10.280 through at virsversity, fighting to overcome these hurdles within the 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:12.360 game that everybody else feel like they should have tanked 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:14.320 on but they didn't. And then you go out there 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:16.560 and you take their ability to win the game from 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:19.080 underneath them. That's what you did. You literally took the 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:21.399 ability for them to win from underneath them. They were 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:26.840 in a four point game, a one possession game. It's 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.840 us terrible, man. Yeah, it's not good. And believe it 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:31.639 or not, there were other parts of this game that 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:34.560 happened that led to the loss for the Dallas Cowboys. 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:36.680 So we are going to take a break. When we 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:39.159 come back, we're going to discuss was this the worst 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:43.440 game of Ezekiel Elliott's career. I think it was. I'll 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:45.800 tell you why when we return here on Talking Cowboys. 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:51.760