WEBVTT - Mick Shots: Nothing Can Stop Off-Season Chatter 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:10.719 The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:20.520 and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This is Mick Shot 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:24.760 screening live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the official 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:29.440 Dallas Cowboys apt Now here are Bill Jones, Everson Walls, 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:37.320 and Nicky Spagnola, and it's time for another edition of 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:42.559 Mick Shots on day sixty four. Now, it all started 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:47.440 back on March eleventh, and here we are on May fourteenth, 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:51.720 and much of this NFL season has passed us. By 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.880 Mickey Spagnola and Everson Walls. This is day sixty four 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:59.440 of the United States portion of the pandemic, and we 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.240 are just over sixty four days away. In fact, I 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:05.240 counted up to I think it's sixty eight days away 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:09.720 from when the Cowboys will be departing for training camp. 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:13.560 You say that, Bill with a lot of confidence that 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:17.520 will be departing. Yeah, we might have to talk to 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.840 that California governor in the meantime, but that's when the 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:25.360 Cowboys should be departing for training camp. I think it's 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:28.319 on like a Tuesday, July twenty first. And since they're 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:31.040 gonna be playing in the Hall of Fame game, are 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:34.880 we are? We could be departing for Frisco. That's exactly right. 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:38.440 We could be departing down the Nikeies star Walk at 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:42.360 the Star in Frisco to go. Well, they won't be 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:45.400 practicing at that point, but hopefully we might be able 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.800 to actually interview some Cowboys players one on one in 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:53.520 person by July twenty first. But we get ahead of ourselves. 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:56.080 There's still lots to talk about on this edition of 0:01:56.160 --> 0:02:01.400 mix Shots. So Bill, what have you been doing? Well, 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.800 I've been working away here in my home office here. 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:11.040 It's the CBS eleven Sports studios here and Dallas Cowboys 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:15.200 Television Studios here. I need to paint my room blue. 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:17.639 It's a red room. I need to paint it blue. 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:23.760 Get started on that shortly. Well, my few everson. I 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:27.919 have been watching Doctor Fauci. That's what I've been doing. 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.600 I want to make sure. I don't know. I don't 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:36.440 know if I weighed between Bill's optimism or doctor Fauci's 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:41.440 facts of science. So I don't know. I'm trying to 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.440 weigh that out. You know, you got a heavy you 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:46.720 got a lot of weight on your end, Bill, But 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.600 you know Fauci Fauci is, you know, he's kind of smart. 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:53.120 So I'm trying to weigh it out and see which 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:55.720 way I'm gonna go for this fall. We'll see. I 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:57.640 don't want to be the guy. I'm gonna blame it 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:00.840 on Fauci. How about that? Hell? Well, I think Funci 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:06.320 doesn't want to be the guy and talk. So I 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:09.799 try not listening to Doctor Fauci as much as I can. 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:16.839 You don't. You just don't want to deal with reality. Right, Hey, 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.680 we got us a schedule a week ago. My golly, 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.800 we're gonna play that schedule. You know it? Yes? Absolutely? 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:25.720 And you know what, you guys, When I find myself 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:28.840 writing about it or talking about it, I always seem 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:33.440 to be prefacing with, well, we hope. It's like we're 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.040 talking about it like it's all gonna happen, and you 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.800 know the season opener is gonna be on that day, 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:43.040 and it's like, well, maybe you know September thirteenth. We 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:47.400 hope we're gonna be in LA for a game. We 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:52.840 hope they'll be sixty thousand people in the in the 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:56.200 new stadium, But that part we don't know. And we're 0:03:56.280 --> 0:04:00.080 still what three four months away, so there's time. But 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.560 you know, when you hear baseball talking about starting up 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:07.360 with no fans or twenty five percent in the stadium. 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:12.200 Same thing with the basketball and hockey you're sitting are going, well, 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:16.040 they don't have time. The NFL has time, but again 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:18.960 they haven't even opened up the facilities yet, and the 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:27.440 Cowboys and all the other teams continue their offseason streaming lessons. Everson, 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:30.799 could you imagine sitting at home and trying to learn 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:36.040 the playbook talking as we are right now, Man, that 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.280 would be so weird if you would call back in 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:42.520 the day, we had computer papers, right, We didn't have 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:45.679 iPads and all of that. We had the computer paper. 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.359 We had the big book and it looked like it 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:52.120 was about two inches thick of all types of formations. 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:55.040 So you would have heard a bunch of page turning 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:57.880 in regards to what we would trying to learn that 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:01.080 particular day, what kind of formulation we had to deal with. 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:03.440 Now the guys just have our passed. They can just 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:06.880 swipe and do their thing. I think it's a lot 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.560 more advantageous for them now. A matter of fact, I 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.720 would I would love to be a guy learning from 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:15.440 home right now if that was the only choice that 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:18.520 I had. So you had those big wide sheets of 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:23.360 perforated IDM paper and it was in a big green 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:28.320 cardboard cover, so to speak. So the papers, yes, they 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:32.480 were all part of that binder, that big, ugly green 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:35.839 binder that we had. And guys, that was what you 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:40.000 call innovative at that time because the Cowboys were ahead 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.560 of the game as far as everyone was concerned. Our workouts, 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:49.240 our schedules, everything was typed up on computer paper. So 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:53.960 we're even talking what beta am I talking the beta age? 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:57.480 We're going back that far. It might go back farther 0:05:57.560 --> 0:05:59.799 than that. But you know, when I did an interview 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:03.159 with Cliff Harris, Uh, he took me into his huge 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:07.120 closet and he's got all those stacks of game plans 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:13.719 in his closet still, and it was sadly what you 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:16.880 were talking about. And he even opened him up and 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:19.640 he had his notes on each page when he was 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:24.280 supposed to remember right. Uh. And then the other thing. Uh, 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:27.520 I don't know how many of those uh Peyton places 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.960 you guys have watched that aired during the season. Well, 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.919 I just watched the one on the draft and uh 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:38.520 and uh he was interviewing Gil Brandt and Gil was 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:42.839 actually had video of the big old computers they were using. 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:45.719 There were these big wall things. I mean they looked 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:50.880 like a refrigerator and that's where they were charting, uh, everything, Peyton. 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.800 I mean it was really interesting stuff. But yeah, you 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:59.000 could just put all of that one. Yeah, it's amazing 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:04.240 or I pad like Bill, right, Yeah, that's right. So Everson, 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:06.960 if you were a player, now, let's say, let's go 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:10.920 back and say you are twenty six year old Everson Walls. 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:16.040 You're playing today, okay, and you've got what's going on 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:19.520 right now? What would you be doing to get ready 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:22.960 for the season? Here May fourteenth, still sixty eight days 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.240 away from the plane departing for California, and the and 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:30.280 the current circumstances we have. Well, let me see, if 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:34.000 I'm twenty six years old and this in today's time, 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:38.320 I would probably have about fifty seven of the septions 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:42.480 already considering how must they throw the ball? Hold on? 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:44.200 Let me let me get that. Wait, I'm trying to 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.760 get there. Okay, So I'm probably in my third contract, 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:53.200 probably riches, I don't know what. I probably got a 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:55.760 big old house looking like Troy Ekla's house or something 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.960 like that, and I would probably be doing what I did, 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:03.560 even back then, I hated working out at the campus. 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:06.160 I just did. I never did like coming to the 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:08.560 old or the new campus that was in Valley Lant 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:11.800 at the time, new being in air quotes. He didn't 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:15.200 like those outdoor weight rooms. Did not like any of that. 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:19.240 As a matter of fact, I recall my first offseason 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:21.480 with the Cowboys, and I was had all this pressure 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:24.280 on me. I was a free agent. I had twelve 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.200 workouts out of a possible sixty four or some crap 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.840 like that. So I was never much built for going 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.760 to the facility anyway. But what I did used to do, 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:37.280 I thought was very innovative on just for myself. What 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:41.959 really helped me was I would do shadow coverage. Everything 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.720 was about shadow coverage. I didn't need a wide receiver 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:48.280 out there. I started a ten yard line and I 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:53.520 would do back pedals and cover imaginary receivers and imaginary 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:56.360 routes up and down the field until I was just 0:08:56.600 --> 0:08:59.960 bone tired. So everything about me was trying to get 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:04.320 myself into rhythm or playing man to man defense. Zone. 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:07.000 Of course, you don't have to study for zone, especially 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.000 when you're a cornerback, but as a as a top 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:15.439 notch cornerback at that time. Shadow coverage was something that 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:19.600 was that I had always implemented into my workouts, and 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:23.920 that will work perfectly for coronavirus. At this point, what 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:28.560 do you think, so these those full team workouts, those 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.840 oldtas that we normally have starting this time of the year, 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.800 those are overrated? You think? Yeah, yeah, I think a 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.920 little bit overrated, especially when you're just doing walkthroughs and 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:41.720 things of that nature. To me, the most fun and 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:46.280 the most important part of a cornerback's practice, which you 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.679 can never do over and over again, is to play 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.400 one on one coverage. To me, that gets a cornerback 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:56.720 or defensive back ready for any type of challenge that 0:09:56.760 --> 0:10:00.600 he's going to have for his entire career. You can 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.280 worry about lifting weights all you want. You can worry 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:05.800 about running the four of your dash, you can worry 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:08.360 about all of that, but when it comes down to it, 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.720 you have to cover your man no matter how slow 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:15.560 you are or how fast he is, and nothing's gonna 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.280 get you ready for playing one on one that a 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:20.679 whole bunch of one on one webs. That's just the 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:23.559 way I've always taught it and the way I always played. 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:28.600 It are shadow boxing, right, shadow boxing? That's all it is. Facts, 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:32.080 that's a shadow coverage shadow boxing. You know what that 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:40.000 sounds like my one man backyard whifferball. I would send, Hey, 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:42.760 I might pattent that man. You patting the wolf of ball. 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:45.320 I'm gonna patting my shadow coverage. We'll see who makes 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:52.600 the bottom of the ninth series. I'm Mickey Mantle on math. Well, 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:56.240 Mickey alluded to it. Think Cowboys had their virtual rookie 0:10:56.400 --> 0:11:00.640 mini camp last weekend. Ever, send, you're a guy who 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:03.160 came into the league as a rookie and hit it 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:05.840 off big right off the bat. What's the key for 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:09.559 a rookie, especially in this environment where they aren't necessarily 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.760 around the veterans at least in a formal way right now? 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.320 What's the key for a rookie to be able to 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:18.040 make an impact like, for instance, a CD Lamb or 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:20.000 any of these draft picks this year, to make an 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:22.839 immediate impact when they get on this team. But one 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:25.360 thing you have to do is impressed them in the drills. 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.840 You know, whether it's you're doing virtual drills, whether you're 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.800 talking classroom work, things of that nature. If you're trying 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:36.120 to learn the defense. If you catch on quickly, the 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:39.559 coaches will notice that. And that's from a mental standpoint, 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:43.360 and once you're out there physically, you've got to stand 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:47.520 out in some way. I remember I stood out quickly 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:51.920 my first drill for the Dallas Cowboys in training camp 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:56.120 in Thousand Oaks, California. I got cursed out by Gene Stollis. 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:58.880 So yeah, that's that's one way to get on the 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:03.120 coach's radar. Imagine that getting cursed out by Jame Stone 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:08.840 first drill, you understand. So I was going for it, guys, 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.600 I was really really going for it. And I think 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:15.640 from there, whatever happens. If you don't get cut first date, 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.880 which I almost did, then you have to make sure 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:23.079 that they see what kind of progress you're making. So 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:26.080 what I did I set the bar really low by 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.160 getting cursed out first day, and then from there I 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.600 just improved and improved and improved. And then that's how 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:34.600 you make it. That's how you make a difference in 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:36.720 the coaches room, because you want to make sure that 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:40.680 they that they're talking about you in one way or another, 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:43.720 and hopefully it's for being doing something good. You know, 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:47.360 you mentioned they were showing the films of Cde Lamb. 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:49.440 I don't know if you guys have caught this online, 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:52.760 but I saw one of his high school punt returns. 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:57.720 Oh my goodness, this was a man a bunch amongst 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:05.839 junior high boys. I guarantee he was weaving, spinning, cutting, turning. Unbelievable. Uh. 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:08.840 And so you know we keep talking about him being 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:14.120 a a wide receiver in the slot. Well, I'll tell 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:18.240 you what. I'm putting him back there to return punts. Yeah, 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:23.840 he returned punts at Oklahoma. And you know, he doesn't 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:28.320 really look like your prototype punt returner, but his run 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:32.079 after catchability as a as a receiver obviously is off 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:35.240 the charts, and he flashed that a little bit as 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:37.319 a punt returner as well. One of the things is 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:40.280 a punt returner at ou where he really showed it 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:42.120 to me. I think it was a game against Baylor, 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:45.800 might have been TCU. He got lit up on a 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.280 on a punt return where he should have been making 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.480 a fair catch but he didn't, and a guy just 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:53.440 lit him up and he went into concussion protocol for 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:56.680 about two plays and he was back out on the field. 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:59.720 He really showed how tough he is uh in that 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:04.040 in one thing about CD that I'm impressed with, and 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:07.480 it's really confounding when you look at it. What you 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:11.320 saw spags in high school. Bill, what you were talking 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.360 about in regards his returns and how depth he was 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:18.960 at big returns in college. He really doesn't look like 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:21.760 he's going that fast. Number one, he doesn't look like 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.200 he can break the tackles that he breaks. Number two. 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.280 That that to me is amazing, how many tackles that 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:30.080 he slips. And I don't mean that he's shaking people down. 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.680 I mean he's making contact with them first and he's 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:37.160 breaking tackles. That's very impressive for our guy. That really 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.440 looks a bit slight in his bill. And also what 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:42.680 I like about him is always I always think about 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.240 from a track standpoint. You look at Michael Johnson, the 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:49.800 famous sprinter that for the United States from Skyline High School, 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:54.200 and you see how he keeps his feet on the ground. 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:57.960 He keeps his feet on the ground. There's no long strides, 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.000 that doesn't take much into everything looks effortless, and his 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.360 feet stay on the ground. You might see his feet 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.080 hit the ground three times within five yards. That rarely 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.440 happens with most runners that have that kind of explosiveness 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.800 that he has. So I think his ability to keep 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.800 his feet on the ground helps his balance as he 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:21.280 runs the ball, and it also gives him the ability 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:24.440 to make the moves going from side to side, you 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:26.760 know when you go later these fags. You know, some 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:29.560 people can't do that as well. And I think his 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.240 ability to keep his feet on the ground really gives 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:35.720 him the opportunity to make the moves and also to 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.800 pick up speed when he needs it. Everybody was confounded 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:41.720 about how Michael Johnson was just so fast. It was 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.160 the amount of steps that he took that provided his power. 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.600 That's the way sebe Lamb is well, if you watch 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:52.480 these highlights were showing right now, his ability to see 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:56.040 the field I think is incredible, where the angles are 0:15:56.160 --> 0:16:02.080 where look at that. That's unbelievable. When he turns the corner, Uh, 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:06.280 it's almost like he's turning the corner like a defensive 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:08.800 end coming coming off that tackle, trying to get to 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:12.400 the quarterback. Because he explodes when he turns, he doesn't 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:16.840 lose any speed. Uh. And that that's just that's God 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:20.120 given right there, and it's just amazing. It's it's the 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:24.080 balance that he maintains while all of this is going on. 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:26.880 He has complete ballots, and it seems everyone else is 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:29.160 just confounded on how he does it. Hey, Billy, you 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:33.160 mentioned you mentioned the schedule. I was going to ask 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:36.960 you to you guys, like, what what was the one 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:40.320 thing that stood out to you on the Cowboys schedule? 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:45.800 What do you think Everson? Oh, as far as I 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:52.040 was concerned, uh, that the last stretch okay, the the 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:58.280 entire Thanksgiving with three games in so many days, and 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.800 then even though you get that a week off afterwards, 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:09.000 I believe it's still that divisional stretch. You've got the Eagles, 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.360 You've got the Giants at the end of your season, 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:16.120 and then you throw in the San Francisco forty nine 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:18.879 is while you at it. I think I think that 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.560 stretch of the schedule is going to be very telly 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.119 for the Cowboys, as it is every season. I mean, 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.320 let's just what we're used to it by that. Well, 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:28.080 and the thing that stood out to me and I 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:30.960 was just looking at that this morning, was the late 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:35.040 bye week, which is Week ten this year for the Cowboys, 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.560 which is they get the bye week the week before 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:42.480 that Sunday before they play back to back two games 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.880 in five days Thanksgiving. It's November fifteenth, it is their 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:48.080 bye week, and then they come back and it gets 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:49.919 to that schedule, that the part of the schedule that 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:53.200 you're talking about, where they play at Minnesota the Sunday 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.200 before Thanksgiving on the twenty second. Then they come home 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:59.000 to play Washington on Thanksgiving Day a week later on 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:03.560 Thursday night Lamar Jackson in Baltimore. Then they're at Cincinnati 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:06.639 and that's where they get the mini by after that 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:10.680 Thursday game, and then that's on the thirteenth at Cincinnati. 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.520 Then they closed with San Francisco, Philly and at the Giants. 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.160 That's what stood out. And even before the bye week 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:19.240 they got Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. So the second half of 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:22.000 the schedule, the second half of the season, I think 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:25.720 is tough for this team. Well, Bill, the thing that 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.560 stood out to me was what you just said. And 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:32.199 I cannot believe the NFL has done this for the 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:36.160 fourth season in a row, making the Cowboys play three 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:39.960 games in twelve days around Thanksgiving. You know, we talk 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:43.639 about players safety. How safe is that you usually played 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:48.400 one three games in twenty one days? Yeah, the fourth 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:53.480 year ago, they got to play Sunday Thursday and then 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:59.000 again on Thursday. And the key thing here also is 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:03.680 the fact that that Sunday game is almost always on 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:07.360 the road. Now, at least this year, it's at Minnesota, 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.040 and it's an afternoon game, so it's not a long 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.920 flight back, right, You get back, you know, nine ten 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:17.080 o'clock at night, not too bad. You can get in 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:21.439 some sort of practice on Monday, and you're only going 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:24.600 to have a kind of a walkthrough type thing Tuesday 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:27.640 your practice, and you know, Wednesday, it's time to get 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.600 ready for the game. But if you'll look at last 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:34.560 year when this happened again, and this was a six 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:37.960 and four team, they had to go and play as 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:42.280 far away as possible and at New England, right, and 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:47.159 it's a late afternoon game, it's cold, it's raining, it's windy. 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:51.879 They lose thirteen to nine. By time the plane touched down, 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:54.919 it was one thirty quarter to two in the morning, 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:57.880 So by time anybody gets home, gets to bed at 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:02.960 the earliest, it's three, probably four, and then you've wasted Monday. 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:05.240 It's supposed to be your day off, it's not a 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:09.000 day off. And you go out and that second half 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:12.600 of that Buffalo game, it just looked like that they 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:17.040 were tired, they had nothing left in the tank. And 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:20.360 then on top of that, the next Thursday, you got 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:24.320 to go to Chicago and play, if I remember correctly, 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:28.639 a night game. And so it was almost like the 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:35.040 NFL punishes them for hosting the Thanksgiving Day game. And again, 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:38.600 this was a six and four team, and they wiped 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.960 out the season those three twelve days because they lost 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:44.560 all three games, and suddenly you go from six and 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:47.760 four to six and seven. Now, I'm not saying these 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:51.400 teams wouldn't have beat the Cowboys anyway, but still, why 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:54.800 do they put them through that grueling gauntlet of games 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:57.720 in a short period of time. Well, the reason they're 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:00.480 doing it is because now all teams to play a 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:03.760 Thursday game and in order, and so they feel like 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:07.760 what they're doing is they for to for the Cowboys 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:11.680 to play that Thursday that's not and the Thanksgiving Day 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:14.120 is not counted in that group to play the Thursday 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:17.280 night game. They put it back to back every year 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.359 with their other Thursday game in the case this year, 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:22.600 and I think it was this way last year too, 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:26.080 and maybe maybe the previous years, Baltimore is also playing 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:29.800 on Thanksgiving Day. They're playing at the Steelers on Thanksgiving night, 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:31.840 so they're in the same boat with three games in 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:34.920 twelve days themselves, so that they're trying to make to 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:38.439 even about that way. But that's the that's the reason 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:41.440 they're doing it now is because it four years ago 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:45.160 is when they started playing on every Thursday, where every 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:48.639 team is playing on Thursday nights during the season now, well, 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:52.000 the other season that I was worried that Bob was 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:55.080 the first party to see. The first three games to 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:58.920 me are a little bit challenging. You know, you're looking 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:02.880 at going on the road week one. That's gonna be tough. 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:06.919 Of course, you know, playing against the Rams coming back. 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:11.200 I worry about not necessarily these teams as much as 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:14.920 I worry about the talent matchup. Now, you bring someone 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:17.480 like the Falcons in after you've been on the road 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:21.880 for the first game, you're playing at home, yes, but 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:26.560 the Falcons an extremely talented team, especially offensively, I think 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:28.480 that challenge is going to be big. And of course 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:32.880 then follow that up with a game in Seattle, going 0:22:32.920 --> 0:22:37.200 against a well coached, well led team with Russell Wilson 0:22:37.760 --> 0:22:41.320 those first three games, I would not be surprised if 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:45.320 they gave us some unexpected problems. Guys, I really, I 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:48.520 really am worried about those three games. Having said that, 0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:50.960 as we don't know will there be fans in the 0:22:51.040 --> 0:22:54.520 stands or not, and so it doesn't look like there 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:57.280 will be or there'll be a less number of fans 0:22:57.280 --> 0:22:59.919 in the stands. Can't predict the future. Running on all 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:07.320 doctor Faus, you would say about that? Now? Quick are 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:09.879 the what are the things about playing at Seattle? You 0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:12.600 take the fans out of the stands, and that's a 0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:18.000 different place to play. Interesting, William, that's very interesting concept. No, no, 0:23:18.400 --> 0:23:23.159 twelfth Man, right, that's right, all right, I think we 0:23:23.200 --> 0:23:25.000 need to take a break. We're gonna take a break 0:23:25.000 --> 0:23:27.280 and we're gonna come back with much more here on 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:31.240 mixed shots here in just a moment. I'm Jay Novachik, 0:23:31.359 --> 0:23:34.440 former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys. Back in the day. 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:36.600 I was a guy who always got the tough yards, 0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:39.840 and that's why I run with John Deer today. In fact, 0:23:40.000 --> 0:23:42.159 I have a John Dear three zero twenty five E 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:45.080 tractor that can handle any yard work I need to do, 0:23:45.320 --> 0:23:47.919 even the tough yards. Way out back. So if you 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:50.639 have one acre or a thousand, John Deer has the 0:23:50.640 --> 0:23:53.480 equipment that's just right for you. Visit a John Dear 0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:56.560 dealer today and run with us. 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