Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This is Mick Shot
Speaker 1: screening live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the official
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys apt Now here are Bill Jones, Everson Walls,
Speaker 1: and Nicky Spagnola, and it's time for another edition of
Speaker 1: Mick Shots on day sixty four. Now, it all started
Speaker 1: back on March eleventh, and here we are on May fourteenth,
Speaker 1: and much of this NFL season has passed us. By
Speaker 1: Mickey Spagnola and Everson Walls. This is day sixty four
Speaker 1: of the United States portion of the pandemic, and we
Speaker 1: are just over sixty four days away. In fact, I
Speaker 1: counted up to I think it's sixty eight days away
Speaker 1: from when the Cowboys will be departing for training camp.
Speaker 1: You say that, Bill with a lot of confidence that
Speaker 1: will be departing. Yeah, we might have to talk to
Speaker 1: that California governor in the meantime, but that's when the
Speaker 1: Cowboys should be departing for training camp. I think it's
Speaker 1: on like a Tuesday, July twenty first. And since they're
Speaker 1: gonna be playing in the Hall of Fame game, are
Speaker 1: we are? We could be departing for Frisco. That's exactly right.
Speaker 1: We could be departing down the Nikeies star Walk at
Speaker 1: the Star in Frisco to go. Well, they won't be
Speaker 1: practicing at that point, but hopefully we might be able
Speaker 1: to actually interview some Cowboys players one on one in
Speaker 1: person by July twenty first. But we get ahead of ourselves.
Speaker 1: There's still lots to talk about on this edition of
Speaker 1: mix Shots. So Bill, what have you been doing? Well,
Speaker 1: I've been working away here in my home office here.
Speaker 1: It's the CBS eleven Sports studios here and Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: Television Studios here. I need to paint my room blue.
Speaker 1: It's a red room. I need to paint it blue.
Speaker 1: Get started on that shortly. Well, my few everson. I
Speaker 1: have been watching Doctor Fauci. That's what I've been doing.
Speaker 1: I want to make sure. I don't know. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I weighed between Bill's optimism or doctor Fauci's
Speaker 1: facts of science. So I don't know. I'm trying to
Speaker 1: weigh that out. You know, you got a heavy you
Speaker 1: got a lot of weight on your end, Bill, But
Speaker 1: you know Fauci Fauci is, you know, he's kind of smart.
Speaker 1: So I'm trying to weigh it out and see which
Speaker 1: way I'm gonna go for this fall. We'll see. I
Speaker 1: don't want to be the guy. I'm gonna blame it
Speaker 1: on Fauci. How about that? Hell? Well, I think Funci
Speaker 1: doesn't want to be the guy and talk. So I
Speaker 1: try not listening to Doctor Fauci as much as I can.
Speaker 1: You don't. You just don't want to deal with reality. Right, Hey,
Speaker 1: we got us a schedule a week ago. My golly,
Speaker 1: we're gonna play that schedule. You know it? Yes? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: And you know what, you guys, When I find myself
Speaker 1: writing about it or talking about it, I always seem
Speaker 1: to be prefacing with, well, we hope. It's like we're
Speaker 1: talking about it like it's all gonna happen, and you
Speaker 1: know the season opener is gonna be on that day,
Speaker 1: and it's like, well, maybe you know September thirteenth. We
Speaker 1: hope we're gonna be in LA for a game. We
Speaker 1: hope they'll be sixty thousand people in the in the
Speaker 1: new stadium, But that part we don't know. And we're
Speaker 1: still what three four months away, so there's time. But
Speaker 1: you know, when you hear baseball talking about starting up
Speaker 1: with no fans or twenty five percent in the stadium.
Speaker 1: Same thing with the basketball and hockey you're sitting are going, well,
Speaker 1: they don't have time. The NFL has time, but again
Speaker 1: they haven't even opened up the facilities yet, and the
Speaker 1: Cowboys and all the other teams continue their offseason streaming lessons. Everson,
Speaker 1: could you imagine sitting at home and trying to learn
Speaker 1: the playbook talking as we are right now, Man, that
Speaker 1: would be so weird if you would call back in
Speaker 1: the day, we had computer papers, right, We didn't have
Speaker 1: iPads and all of that. We had the computer paper.
Speaker 1: We had the big book and it looked like it
Speaker 1: was about two inches thick of all types of formations.
Speaker 1: So you would have heard a bunch of page turning
Speaker 1: in regards to what we would trying to learn that
Speaker 1: particular day, what kind of formulation we had to deal with.
Speaker 1: Now the guys just have our passed. They can just
Speaker 1: swipe and do their thing. I think it's a lot
Speaker 1: more advantageous for them now. A matter of fact, I
Speaker 1: would I would love to be a guy learning from
Speaker 1: home right now if that was the only choice that
Speaker 1: I had. So you had those big wide sheets of
Speaker 1: perforated IDM paper and it was in a big green
Speaker 1: cardboard cover, so to speak. So the papers, yes, they
Speaker 1: were all part of that binder, that big, ugly green
Speaker 1: binder that we had. And guys, that was what you
Speaker 1: call innovative at that time because the Cowboys were ahead
Speaker 1: of the game as far as everyone was concerned. Our workouts,
Speaker 1: our schedules, everything was typed up on computer paper. So
Speaker 1: we're even talking what beta am I talking the beta age?
Speaker 1: We're going back that far. It might go back farther
Speaker 1: than that. But you know, when I did an interview
Speaker 1: with Cliff Harris, Uh, he took me into his huge
Speaker 1: closet and he's got all those stacks of game plans
Speaker 1: in his closet still, and it was sadly what you
Speaker 1: were talking about. And he even opened him up and
Speaker 1: he had his notes on each page when he was
Speaker 1: supposed to remember right. Uh. And then the other thing. Uh,
Speaker 1: I don't know how many of those uh Peyton places
Speaker 1: you guys have watched that aired during the season. Well,
Speaker 1: I just watched the one on the draft and uh
Speaker 1: and uh he was interviewing Gil Brandt and Gil was
Speaker 1: actually had video of the big old computers they were using.
Speaker 1: There were these big wall things. I mean they looked
Speaker 1: like a refrigerator and that's where they were charting, uh, everything, Peyton.
Speaker 1: I mean it was really interesting stuff. But yeah, you
Speaker 1: could just put all of that one. Yeah, it's amazing
Speaker 1: or I pad like Bill, right, Yeah, that's right. So Everson,
Speaker 1: if you were a player, now, let's say, let's go
Speaker 1: back and say you are twenty six year old Everson Walls.
Speaker 1: You're playing today, okay, and you've got what's going on
Speaker 1: right now? What would you be doing to get ready
Speaker 1: for the season? Here May fourteenth, still sixty eight days
Speaker 1: away from the plane departing for California, and the and
Speaker 1: the current circumstances we have. Well, let me see, if
Speaker 1: I'm twenty six years old and this in today's time,
Speaker 1: I would probably have about fifty seven of the septions
Speaker 1: already considering how must they throw the ball? Hold on?
Speaker 1: Let me let me get that. Wait, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get there. Okay, So I'm probably in my third contract,
Speaker 1: probably riches, I don't know what. I probably got a
Speaker 1: big old house looking like Troy Ekla's house or something
Speaker 1: like that, and I would probably be doing what I did,
Speaker 1: even back then, I hated working out at the campus.
Speaker 1: I just did. I never did like coming to the
Speaker 1: old or the new campus that was in Valley Lant
Speaker 1: at the time, new being in air quotes. He didn't
Speaker 1: like those outdoor weight rooms. Did not like any of that.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I recall my first offseason
Speaker 1: with the Cowboys, and I was had all this pressure
Speaker 1: on me. I was a free agent. I had twelve
Speaker 1: workouts out of a possible sixty four or some crap
Speaker 1: like that. So I was never much built for going
Speaker 1: to the facility anyway. But what I did used to do,
Speaker 1: I thought was very innovative on just for myself. What
Speaker 1: really helped me was I would do shadow coverage. Everything
Speaker 1: was about shadow coverage. I didn't need a wide receiver
Speaker 1: out there. I started a ten yard line and I
Speaker 1: would do back pedals and cover imaginary receivers and imaginary
Speaker 1: routes up and down the field until I was just
Speaker 1: bone tired. So everything about me was trying to get
Speaker 1: myself into rhythm or playing man to man defense. Zone.
Speaker 1: Of course, you don't have to study for zone, especially
Speaker 1: when you're a cornerback, but as a as a top
Speaker 1: notch cornerback at that time. Shadow coverage was something that
Speaker 1: was that I had always implemented into my workouts, and
Speaker 1: that will work perfectly for coronavirus. At this point, what
Speaker 1: do you think, so these those full team workouts, those
Speaker 1: oldtas that we normally have starting this time of the year,
Speaker 1: those are overrated? You think? Yeah, yeah, I think a
Speaker 1: little bit overrated, especially when you're just doing walkthroughs and
Speaker 1: things of that nature. To me, the most fun and
Speaker 1: the most important part of a cornerback's practice, which you
Speaker 1: can never do over and over again, is to play
Speaker 1: one on one coverage. To me, that gets a cornerback
Speaker 1: or defensive back ready for any type of challenge that
Speaker 1: he's going to have for his entire career. You can
Speaker 1: worry about lifting weights all you want. You can worry
Speaker 1: about running the four of your dash, you can worry
Speaker 1: about all of that, but when it comes down to it,
Speaker 1: you have to cover your man no matter how slow
Speaker 1: you are or how fast he is, and nothing's gonna
Speaker 1: get you ready for playing one on one that a
Speaker 1: whole bunch of one on one webs. That's just the
Speaker 1: way I've always taught it and the way I always played.
Speaker 1: It are shadow boxing, right, shadow boxing? That's all it is. Facts,
Speaker 1: that's a shadow coverage shadow boxing. You know what that
Speaker 1: sounds like my one man backyard whifferball. I would send, Hey,
Speaker 1: I might pattent that man. You patting the wolf of ball.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna patting my shadow coverage. We'll see who makes
Speaker 1: the bottom of the ninth series. I'm Mickey Mantle on math. Well,
Speaker 1: Mickey alluded to it. Think Cowboys had their virtual rookie
Speaker 1: mini camp last weekend. Ever, send, you're a guy who
Speaker 1: came into the league as a rookie and hit it
Speaker 1: off big right off the bat. What's the key for
Speaker 1: a rookie, especially in this environment where they aren't necessarily
Speaker 1: around the veterans at least in a formal way right now?
Speaker 1: What's the key for a rookie to be able to
Speaker 1: make an impact like, for instance, a CD Lamb or
Speaker 1: any of these draft picks this year, to make an
Speaker 1: immediate impact when they get on this team. But one
Speaker 1: thing you have to do is impressed them in the drills.
Speaker 1: You know, whether it's you're doing virtual drills, whether you're
Speaker 1: talking classroom work, things of that nature. If you're trying
Speaker 1: to learn the defense. If you catch on quickly, the
Speaker 1: coaches will notice that. And that's from a mental standpoint,
Speaker 1: and once you're out there physically, you've got to stand
Speaker 1: out in some way. I remember I stood out quickly
Speaker 1: my first drill for the Dallas Cowboys in training camp
Speaker 1: in Thousand Oaks, California. I got cursed out by Gene Stollis.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's that's one way to get on the
Speaker 1: coach's radar. Imagine that getting cursed out by Jame Stone
Speaker 1: first drill, you understand. So I was going for it, guys,
Speaker 1: I was really really going for it. And I think
Speaker 1: from there, whatever happens. If you don't get cut first date,
Speaker 1: which I almost did, then you have to make sure
Speaker 1: that they see what kind of progress you're making. So
Speaker 1: what I did I set the bar really low by
Speaker 1: getting cursed out first day, and then from there I
Speaker 1: just improved and improved and improved. And then that's how
Speaker 1: you make it. That's how you make a difference in
Speaker 1: the coaches room, because you want to make sure that
Speaker 1: they that they're talking about you in one way or another,
Speaker 1: and hopefully it's for being doing something good. You know,
Speaker 1: you mentioned they were showing the films of Cde Lamb.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys have caught this online,
Speaker 1: but I saw one of his high school punt returns.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, this was a man a bunch amongst
Speaker 1: junior high boys. I guarantee he was weaving, spinning, cutting, turning. Unbelievable. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so you know we keep talking about him being
Speaker 1: a a wide receiver in the slot. Well, I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what. I'm putting him back there to return punts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he returned punts at Oklahoma. And you know, he doesn't
Speaker 1: really look like your prototype punt returner, but his run
Speaker 1: after catchability as a as a receiver obviously is off
Speaker 1: the charts, and he flashed that a little bit as
Speaker 1: a punt returner as well. One of the things is
Speaker 1: a punt returner at ou where he really showed it
Speaker 1: to me. I think it was a game against Baylor,
Speaker 1: might have been TCU. He got lit up on a
Speaker 1: on a punt return where he should have been making
Speaker 1: a fair catch but he didn't, and a guy just
Speaker 1: lit him up and he went into concussion protocol for
Speaker 1: about two plays and he was back out on the field.
Speaker 1: He really showed how tough he is uh in that
Speaker 1: in one thing about CD that I'm impressed with, and
Speaker 1: it's really confounding when you look at it. What you
Speaker 1: saw spags in high school. Bill, what you were talking
Speaker 1: about in regards his returns and how depth he was
Speaker 1: at big returns in college. He really doesn't look like
Speaker 1: he's going that fast. Number one, he doesn't look like
Speaker 1: he can break the tackles that he breaks. Number two.
Speaker 1: That that to me is amazing, how many tackles that
Speaker 1: he slips. And I don't mean that he's shaking people down.
Speaker 1: I mean he's making contact with them first and he's
Speaker 1: breaking tackles. That's very impressive for our guy. That really
Speaker 1: looks a bit slight in his bill. And also what
Speaker 1: I like about him is always I always think about
Speaker 1: from a track standpoint. You look at Michael Johnson, the
Speaker 1: famous sprinter that for the United States from Skyline High School,
Speaker 1: and you see how he keeps his feet on the ground.
Speaker 1: He keeps his feet on the ground. There's no long strides,
Speaker 1: that doesn't take much into everything looks effortless, and his
Speaker 1: feet stay on the ground. You might see his feet
Speaker 1: hit the ground three times within five yards. That rarely
Speaker 1: happens with most runners that have that kind of explosiveness
Speaker 1: that he has. So I think his ability to keep
Speaker 1: his feet on the ground helps his balance as he
Speaker 1: runs the ball, and it also gives him the ability
Speaker 1: to make the moves going from side to side, you
Speaker 1: know when you go later these fags. You know, some
Speaker 1: people can't do that as well. And I think his
Speaker 1: ability to keep his feet on the ground really gives
Speaker 1: him the opportunity to make the moves and also to
Speaker 1: pick up speed when he needs it. Everybody was confounded
Speaker 1: about how Michael Johnson was just so fast. It was
Speaker 1: the amount of steps that he took that provided his power.
Speaker 1: That's the way sebe Lamb is well, if you watch
Speaker 1: these highlights were showing right now, his ability to see
Speaker 1: the field I think is incredible, where the angles are
Speaker 1: where look at that. That's unbelievable. When he turns the corner, Uh,
Speaker 1: it's almost like he's turning the corner like a defensive
Speaker 1: end coming coming off that tackle, trying to get to
Speaker 1: the quarterback. Because he explodes when he turns, he doesn't
Speaker 1: lose any speed. Uh. And that that's just that's God
Speaker 1: given right there, and it's just amazing. It's it's the
Speaker 1: balance that he maintains while all of this is going on.
Speaker 1: He has complete ballots, and it seems everyone else is
Speaker 1: just confounded on how he does it. Hey, Billy, you
Speaker 1: mentioned you mentioned the schedule. I was going to ask
Speaker 1: you to you guys, like, what what was the one
Speaker 1: thing that stood out to you on the Cowboys schedule?
Speaker 1: What do you think Everson? Oh, as far as I
Speaker 1: was concerned, uh, that the last stretch okay, the the
Speaker 1: entire Thanksgiving with three games in so many days, and
Speaker 1: then even though you get that a week off afterwards,
Speaker 1: I believe it's still that divisional stretch. You've got the Eagles,
Speaker 1: You've got the Giants at the end of your season,
Speaker 1: and then you throw in the San Francisco forty nine
Speaker 1: is while you at it. I think I think that
Speaker 1: stretch of the schedule is going to be very telly
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys, as it is every season. I mean,
Speaker 1: let's just what we're used to it by that. Well,
Speaker 1: and the thing that stood out to me and I
Speaker 1: was just looking at that this morning, was the late
Speaker 1: bye week, which is Week ten this year for the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: which is they get the bye week the week before
Speaker 1: that Sunday before they play back to back two games
Speaker 1: in five days Thanksgiving. It's November fifteenth, it is their
Speaker 1: bye week, and then they come back and it gets
Speaker 1: to that schedule, that the part of the schedule that
Speaker 1: you're talking about, where they play at Minnesota the Sunday
Speaker 1: before Thanksgiving on the twenty second. Then they come home
Speaker 1: to play Washington on Thanksgiving Day a week later on
Speaker 1: Thursday night Lamar Jackson in Baltimore. Then they're at Cincinnati
Speaker 1: and that's where they get the mini by after that
Speaker 1: Thursday game, and then that's on the thirteenth at Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Then they closed with San Francisco, Philly and at the Giants.
Speaker 1: That's what stood out. And even before the bye week
Speaker 1: they got Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. So the second half of
Speaker 1: the schedule, the second half of the season, I think
Speaker 1: is tough for this team. Well, Bill, the thing that
Speaker 1: stood out to me was what you just said. And
Speaker 1: I cannot believe the NFL has done this for the
Speaker 1: fourth season in a row, making the Cowboys play three
Speaker 1: games in twelve days around Thanksgiving. You know, we talk
Speaker 1: about players safety. How safe is that you usually played
Speaker 1: one three games in twenty one days? Yeah, the fourth
Speaker 1: year ago, they got to play Sunday Thursday and then
Speaker 1: again on Thursday. And the key thing here also is
Speaker 1: the fact that that Sunday game is almost always on
Speaker 1: the road. Now, at least this year, it's at Minnesota,
Speaker 1: and it's an afternoon game, so it's not a long
Speaker 1: flight back, right, You get back, you know, nine ten
Speaker 1: o'clock at night, not too bad. You can get in
Speaker 1: some sort of practice on Monday, and you're only going
Speaker 1: to have a kind of a walkthrough type thing Tuesday
Speaker 1: your practice, and you know, Wednesday, it's time to get
Speaker 1: ready for the game. But if you'll look at last
Speaker 1: year when this happened again, and this was a six
Speaker 1: and four team, they had to go and play as
Speaker 1: far away as possible and at New England, right, and
Speaker 1: it's a late afternoon game, it's cold, it's raining, it's windy.
Speaker 1: They lose thirteen to nine. By time the plane touched down,
Speaker 1: it was one thirty quarter to two in the morning,
Speaker 1: So by time anybody gets home, gets to bed at
Speaker 1: the earliest, it's three, probably four, and then you've wasted Monday.
Speaker 1: It's supposed to be your day off, it's not a
Speaker 1: day off. And you go out and that second half
Speaker 1: of that Buffalo game, it just looked like that they
Speaker 1: were tired, they had nothing left in the tank. And
Speaker 1: then on top of that, the next Thursday, you got
Speaker 1: to go to Chicago and play, if I remember correctly,
Speaker 1: a night game. And so it was almost like the
Speaker 1: NFL punishes them for hosting the Thanksgiving Day game. And again,
Speaker 1: this was a six and four team, and they wiped
Speaker 1: out the season those three twelve days because they lost
Speaker 1: all three games, and suddenly you go from six and
Speaker 1: four to six and seven. Now, I'm not saying these
Speaker 1: teams wouldn't have beat the Cowboys anyway, but still, why
Speaker 1: do they put them through that grueling gauntlet of games
Speaker 1: in a short period of time. Well, the reason they're
Speaker 1: doing it is because now all teams to play a
Speaker 1: Thursday game and in order, and so they feel like
Speaker 1: what they're doing is they for to for the Cowboys
Speaker 1: to play that Thursday that's not and the Thanksgiving Day
Speaker 1: is not counted in that group to play the Thursday
Speaker 1: night game. They put it back to back every year
Speaker 1: with their other Thursday game in the case this year,
Speaker 1: and I think it was this way last year too,
Speaker 1: and maybe maybe the previous years, Baltimore is also playing
Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving Day. They're playing at the Steelers on Thanksgiving night,
Speaker 1: so they're in the same boat with three games in
Speaker 1: twelve days themselves, so that they're trying to make to
Speaker 1: even about that way. But that's the that's the reason
Speaker 1: they're doing it now is because it four years ago
Speaker 1: is when they started playing on every Thursday, where every
Speaker 1: team is playing on Thursday nights during the season now, well,
Speaker 1: the other season that I was worried that Bob was
Speaker 1: the first party to see. The first three games to
Speaker 1: me are a little bit challenging. You know, you're looking
Speaker 1: at going on the road week one. That's gonna be tough.
Speaker 1: Of course, you know, playing against the Rams coming back.
Speaker 1: I worry about not necessarily these teams as much as
Speaker 1: I worry about the talent matchup. Now, you bring someone
Speaker 1: like the Falcons in after you've been on the road
Speaker 1: for the first game, you're playing at home, yes, but
Speaker 1: the Falcons an extremely talented team, especially offensively, I think
Speaker 1: that challenge is going to be big. And of course
Speaker 1: then follow that up with a game in Seattle, going
Speaker 1: against a well coached, well led team with Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: those first three games, I would not be surprised if
Speaker 1: they gave us some unexpected problems. Guys, I really, I
Speaker 1: really am worried about those three games. Having said that,
Speaker 1: as we don't know will there be fans in the
Speaker 1: stands or not, and so it doesn't look like there
Speaker 1: will be or there'll be a less number of fans
Speaker 1: in the stands. Can't predict the future. Running on all
Speaker 1: doctor Faus, you would say about that? Now? Quick are
Speaker 1: the what are the things about playing at Seattle? You
Speaker 1: take the fans out of the stands, and that's a
Speaker 1: different place to play. Interesting, William, that's very interesting concept. No, no,
Speaker 1: twelfth Man, right, that's right, all right, I think we
Speaker 1: need to take a break. We're gonna take a break
Speaker 1: and we're gonna come back with much more here on
Speaker 1: mixed shots here in just a moment. I'm Jay Novachik,
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Speaker 1: on GWS one s cour September twenty nineteen. Back back
Speaker 1: to Mixed Shots. Shots continues on a Thursday, May fourteenth.
Speaker 1: We're here each and every Thursday throughout the off season
Speaker 1: with the live show at eleven am Central Time and
Speaker 1: Bill Jones with Mickey Spagnola and the Everson Walls and
Speaker 1: you check out mix Shots on Dallas Cowboys dot com.
Speaker 1: He was breaking down the schedule a little bit. This
Speaker 1: weake Mickey and we were talking about it earlier. Some
Speaker 1: of the things that stood out for us. How about
Speaker 1: the Cowboys strength of schedule and what's being reported about
Speaker 1: that strength of schedule. Yeah, and it's ranked thirtieth right now,
Speaker 1: it sounds like whoa piece of cake? Right, And they
Speaker 1: do the strength of schedule off of last year's opponents record,
Speaker 1: and the Cowboys opponents ended up with a four fifty
Speaker 1: nine winning percentage, so it was the it was the
Speaker 1: lowest in the NFC. But you know, when you start
Speaker 1: looking at it and I understand how it goes. You know,
Speaker 1: they they played the same games with the exception of
Speaker 1: two as everybody else in the NFC East, including Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: They got to play the teams in the NFC West,
Speaker 1: AFC North, and then you play the team in the
Speaker 1: other NFC divisions that you're not playing, so that finished
Speaker 1: in the same place you did. So Philadelphia has to
Speaker 1: play the first place teams, so they get New Orleans
Speaker 1: in Green Bay. The Cowboys get the second place teams
Speaker 1: and they end up getting Minnesota in Atlanta. So there's
Speaker 1: the difference in the two schedules. But the Eagle schedules
Speaker 1: ranked twenty fifth. As a matter of fact, all four
Speaker 1: teams in the NFC East are ranked between twenty five
Speaker 1: and thirty and the reason because of that is because
Speaker 1: Washington and the Giants were so bad and you get
Speaker 1: to play them twice. They totaled only seven wins between them,
Speaker 1: and so that factors into the equation. And that's why
Speaker 1: the Cowboys strength of schedule is so low, because they're
Speaker 1: still playing from pretty tough teams, you know. And then
Speaker 1: also of course with the NFC East, I mean, that's
Speaker 1: always going to bring the winning percentages down because all
Speaker 1: teams were pretty average when it comes to the when
Speaker 1: he came to the final outcome of the season last year.
Speaker 1: But when you look at the AFC North, that division
Speaker 1: did not have their best year last year. Extremely competitive.
Speaker 1: Of course, Baltimore comes out with an amazing season, but
Speaker 1: there's no way you can just, you know, put aside
Speaker 1: the strength of Pittsburgh Steeler team, especially especially with Rockelsburg
Speaker 1: coming back. You know, when you're going on the role
Speaker 1: playing these teams, some of them are just set up
Speaker 1: games that you could easily lose. Everyone brings out their
Speaker 1: best for the Dallas Cowboys. So when you look at
Speaker 1: this schedule is I think the combined record for the
Speaker 1: opponents is one on one and one of six. Taking
Speaker 1: the NFC East out of that, I think you look
Speaker 1: at the combined record of the opponents, and I think
Speaker 1: it really goes up a notch. So you're talking about
Speaker 1: your divisional rivals, that's what they are, their rivals. As
Speaker 1: much as you might say, oh, we're gonna go in
Speaker 1: and beat these guys, anytime you have a rival game,
Speaker 1: sometimes you can just throw you can just throw the
Speaker 1: schedules out the window. So I think it's a little
Speaker 1: bit uh misleading when you just talking about the opponent's
Speaker 1: strength of schedule, you know, making him. One thing that
Speaker 1: I look at and you you wrote about it this week,
Speaker 1: is when when the schedule comes out, I look at
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks that the Cowboys are going to be facing.
Speaker 1: That's that's just amazing. And I started putting a list
Speaker 1: together and I'm going, Okay, you got Jared Goff, Matt Ryan, Russell, Wilson,
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz twice, by the way, Ben Roethlisberger is gonna
Speaker 1: be back this year, Kurt Cousins, Lamar Jackson, Jimmy Garoppolou
Speaker 1: and then throw in you know you're gonna get these
Speaker 1: these top picks in the draft over the couple of years,
Speaker 1: along with Kyler Murray, Joe Burrow, Daniel Jones, you know
Speaker 1: they you know, whatever Baker Mayfield is, so you got
Speaker 1: all these first round quarterbacks that you're gonna play also, so, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, don't go to sleep on that having to
Speaker 1: take on those quarter backs. And probably a good thing
Speaker 1: that they loaded up on their cornerbacks in this draft
Speaker 1: and in the off season. Very misleading strect of schedule, guys,
Speaker 1: very misleading. I think, yeah, I agree, And you know,
Speaker 1: we never know from year to year. I mean, what's
Speaker 1: the old thing in the NFL. The more you lose,
Speaker 1: the closer year to winning where you win, the closer
Speaker 1: year of losing. And you know, is like when Mickey
Speaker 1: cites the difference in the Cowboys schedule in the Eagles schedule,
Speaker 1: or the Saints and Packers both thirteen and three. Who
Speaker 1: says Atlanta in Minnesota might duplicate that this year? You
Speaker 1: never know, especially and we even we didn't even mention
Speaker 1: that the San Francisco forty nine ers, as far as
Speaker 1: that schedule is concerned. You're talking about the team that's,
Speaker 1: come on, they just won a couple of plays away
Speaker 1: from being Super Bowl champions. So that kind of thing
Speaker 1: kind of it gives me pause, guys, and I'm I'm
Speaker 1: really not comfortable with thinking, oh, well, thank god, we
Speaker 1: didn't have a big season last year. That's why we
Speaker 1: have this week strect of I am not I'm not
Speaker 1: falling for that, not at all. Well, let's put it
Speaker 1: this way. When we look at the quarterbacks, right, tell
Speaker 1: me the worst quarterback they're gonna play probably Daniel Jones. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he's got year him now, or the way Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield has played here, or Haskins it's Washington. Yeah. I mean,
Speaker 1: and we're talking sixteen games and you just name you know,
Speaker 1: two guys. The rest of them, my goodness, and who
Speaker 1: knows what Daniel Jones is If he has a better
Speaker 1: supporting came as a defensive line you are so that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's not a put down that he's the worst one
Speaker 1: that I could think of, because all of these guys,
Speaker 1: including Haskins, they've got the ability to get hot on
Speaker 1: you at any time. They may come in and have
Speaker 1: a great Dak Prescott year. You know, I know Dad
Speaker 1: came in as as rookie. You're doing it. But some
Speaker 1: of these guys could come and have that's that Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott year they could have in this the third years,
Speaker 1: and that would be bad timing for the Cowboys. Well,
Speaker 1: the good news for the Cowboys, Mickey and Everson is
Speaker 1: that the Cowboys will have a quarterback playing for them
Speaker 1: this season who will be the highest paid quarterback in
Speaker 1: the history of the game, or at least he certainly
Speaker 1: wants to be, right, you know, Bill, Bill's optimism is
Speaker 1: just thick, isn't it. It's thick, is honey man. I'll
Speaker 1: tell you, well, he'll be the highest paid one if
Speaker 1: he decides to sign a long term contract or it
Speaker 1: was just my way of transitioning to deck. I know,
Speaker 1: I know. And if you think about it, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: what if what if he gets paid? I mean, right now,
Speaker 1: the highest average is Russell Wilson, right, Uh. And if
Speaker 1: you look at his his just kind of total average,
Speaker 1: if you count the four year extension, it's thirty five
Speaker 1: million a year. But he had another year to go
Speaker 1: before the extension started for an eight million dollars based salary,
Speaker 1: So if you throw that into the quation and divide
Speaker 1: by five, he's not even averaging thirty million a year.
Speaker 1: And if you look at the guaranteed money of his
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty million dollars deal to the extension,
Speaker 1: the guarantees one hundred and seven. So divide that out
Speaker 1: by four and you get in like twenty seven million
Speaker 1: a year. So is that what Dak wants? Because I'll
Speaker 1: tell you the Cowboys are pretty close I think to
Speaker 1: matching that total he has. Now it comes down to
Speaker 1: how much signing bonus do you want? My guess is,
Speaker 1: and I guess it's easier to do it this way.
Speaker 1: From a math standpoint, it's going to be fifty million dollars.
Speaker 1: You know, he could put fifty million dollars in the
Speaker 1: bank tomorrow if he signs a long term deal, and
Speaker 1: then you average that over five years. It's ten million
Speaker 1: a year pro rated on the signing bonus, and they
Speaker 1: could cut his salary cap total almost in half for
Speaker 1: this first gear. So you know, to me in this
Speaker 1: day and age, I mean, what if you don't play
Speaker 1: seventeen games, you know, and you're still on the franchise tag,
Speaker 1: do you take a pay cut? Because I don't think
Speaker 1: they're gonna pay you for games that you don't get
Speaker 1: paid don't play if you're making one seventeenth a week,
Speaker 1: So to me, I would consider that, And especially now
Speaker 1: with the economy the way it is, boy, I'd hate
Speaker 1: to be going to June first, and I don't have
Speaker 1: a payday coming. Well, listen, Spags, here's what I see
Speaker 1: in you. I see you as the doctor Fauci of
Speaker 1: this entire situation. Everyone's asking questions to doctor Fauci about
Speaker 1: what are the real facts about what the heck is
Speaker 1: going on? Okay, give me the real facts on why
Speaker 1: this contract has not been signed? Has Is it because
Speaker 1: he won't accept it? Is it because it's not enough money?
Speaker 1: Is it because the cowboys a dragon f field? Come on,
Speaker 1: doctor Stags Tilly, what's going on? I think they've made
Speaker 1: him an offer. See, here's the thing we don't know
Speaker 1: ever since we haven't heard from their side what they're
Speaker 1: asking for. You know, they could be asking for forty
Speaker 1: five million a year. We don't know that, right and
Speaker 1: I'm exaggerating right now, But what what do they want?
Speaker 1: And again, when we're talking about that big of a
Speaker 1: signing bonus, dividing it by five and dividing by four
Speaker 1: as you pro rate the signing bonus is significant. And
Speaker 1: then here's another thing that it kind of occurred to
Speaker 1: me yesterday and I was kind of reading a whole
Speaker 1: bunch of stuff. It's like what if and here we
Speaker 1: go with BB and doctor Fauci, Right, what if they're
Speaker 1: playing these games in front of an empty stadium the
Speaker 1: first say, four weeks, and you're not bringing in revenue
Speaker 1: from ticket sales, Well, then your total revenue for the
Speaker 1: season's gonna go down. So instead of the salary cap
Speaker 1: going up next year to absorb these contracts that are
Speaker 1: structured for the salary to go up, what if it
Speaker 1: goes down. What if instead of two hundred ten million
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one, it goes down to one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy million all of a sudden, the way you
Speaker 1: structured contracts, there could be a lot of guys out there,
Speaker 1: you know, having to take either a pay cut or
Speaker 1: getting released because they're salaries. Those base salaries went up
Speaker 1: in a commensurate proportion to the salary cap going up,
Speaker 1: assuming well, what if it goes down? And so there's
Speaker 1: another factor the Cowboys have to, I think, at least
Speaker 1: at this point, factor into how the base salaries are
Speaker 1: structured going forward. So there's a lot of little nuances
Speaker 1: that you know, most people are doing well, just pay them,
Speaker 1: get it done. You know, I had a tweet today
Speaker 1: It's like you know who else has to franchise their quarterback. Well,
Speaker 1: unfortunately it was an easy answer because the Redskins did
Speaker 1: it twice. Towers, thank you, sas. But again, you don't
Speaker 1: know what the other side's asking for, and until you
Speaker 1: know that, it's hard to say, well, just pay them.
Speaker 1: It's not that easy, you know. It's interesting now this
Speaker 1: pandemic plays into the negotiations right now, he say, as
Speaker 1: we go forward. Obviously it's a critical stretch here over
Speaker 1: the next few weeks as far as baseball is concerned
Speaker 1: getting their season starting. As we go forward, it'll be
Speaker 1: the same for football. And that franchise tag deadline in
Speaker 1: mid July is of course the critical time as far
Speaker 1: as Dak's contract is concerned. Where are we then, and
Speaker 1: from both sides, from Dak's side and from the Cowboys perspective,
Speaker 1: does it behoove them to wait to then? Or and
Speaker 1: factoring in everything that doctor found she just said here
Speaker 1: on next Shots, Yeah, how does that all affect things?
Speaker 1: Very interesting how this is going to play out over
Speaker 1: the course of the next six weeks. We're gonna rename
Speaker 1: this show Doctor Mick, Doctor mix Shots. Now, as far
Speaker 1: as I'm concerned by two thousand twenty one. The beginning
Speaker 1: of two thousand and twenty one season, I think we
Speaker 1: will all be settled into a new norm. I can't
Speaker 1: say if the NFL will start making drastic decisions based
Speaker 1: on one season's unusual loss, meaning having to go through
Speaker 1: this whole COVID thing in an unusual way. I think
Speaker 1: by two thousand and twenty one things went back to normal.
Speaker 1: You will have some players are on the fringes, whether
Speaker 1: they're younger players who are out in the fence right
Speaker 1: now and not really doing that well, or maybe a
Speaker 1: veteran who was really looking to make a move last
Speaker 1: year meaning two twenty if I'm thinking about two twenty one,
Speaker 1: but two twenty made a good move, a big move
Speaker 1: last year, I didn't make a big enough move because
Speaker 1: of this whole thing. Now he's going to be on
Speaker 1: the chopping blocks before two twenty one season. So I
Speaker 1: don't see it affecting the superstars as much Spags as
Speaker 1: it will affect more of the lesser known players and
Speaker 1: the older players in the NFL. Yeah, And my point
Speaker 1: is though, that the salary cap is going to be
Speaker 1: factored on what the revenues from this season, so you know,
Speaker 1: what if some of these games, I mean, you don't
Speaker 1: play them, and I'm sure the TV's networks will want
Speaker 1: a refund, right, they're not going to pay that top dollar,
Speaker 1: and they got no games. The revenue is gonna go down.
Speaker 1: And if the revenue goes down, then the salary cap
Speaker 1: goes down. And the revenue has never gone down since
Speaker 1: they started this salary cap as far as I know,
Speaker 1: so it's always gone up. I think I read somewhere
Speaker 1: where it goes up six percent. So this year it's
Speaker 1: like one one night, I believe, the cap for each team,
Speaker 1: and next year the projection was two to nine to
Speaker 1: ten something like that. So yeah, but what if it
Speaker 1: goes down, then you don't have as much money to
Speaker 1: spread out, and you've got these base salaries that are
Speaker 1: already figured in because like this year that you know,
Speaker 1: if they signed Deck to a long term deal, they
Speaker 1: don't have to give him a base big base salary
Speaker 1: because he's gonna get that signing bonus so he'll make
Speaker 1: his money. But next year the base salary is going
Speaker 1: to go up. And forget about the forest. I'm just
Speaker 1: talking about the tree right here, Okay, not the not
Speaker 1: how it impacts the salary cap going forward or anything.
Speaker 1: But from Deck's standpoint, right now, does he want us
Speaker 1: go ahead and get the guaranteed money now, meaning signing
Speaker 1: bonus money right now, making sure he's getting money this
Speaker 1: year or if he plays in the franchise tag. We
Speaker 1: don't even know whether there's going to be a season
Speaker 1: or not. He doesn't even know if he's going to
Speaker 1: make any money this year. Yeah, no, exactly. And you know,
Speaker 1: and then if you just use and I don't know
Speaker 1: if they're using the Russell Wilson as the kind of model.
Speaker 1: But of his one hundred and forty million, I think
Speaker 1: I said this one hundred and seven of it was
Speaker 1: had guarantees in it, so gosh, if somebody was, I mean,
Speaker 1: I understand, it's a different story. But getting guaranteed one
Speaker 1: hundred and seven million today regardless of what takes place,
Speaker 1: oh my, well, you know the Cowboys are also looking
Speaker 1: at it the same way. I mean, if I'm a player,
Speaker 1: then of course I want to take advantage of the
Speaker 1: upfront money. But I'm if I'm a team then I
Speaker 1: know that you want to take advantage of the upfront money.
Speaker 1: So then I'm gonna be coming from another standpoint, so
Speaker 1: it's still gonna be a matter of how much they're
Speaker 1: gonna favor their quarterback versus how much the season is
Speaker 1: going to be affected by Corona. Yep. And from the
Speaker 1: team standpoint, maybe they want to wait and see where
Speaker 1: we are as far as the coronavirus on July fifteenth,
Speaker 1: when that franchise tag deadline hits, and they wait until then, decide,
Speaker 1: you know, to pull the trigger on it themselves. All right,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be another fly in the build. Another line
Speaker 1: went Yep, that's right, all right, more with doctor Fauci
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Speaker 1: needing to have a younger face when he said rent All,
Speaker 1: I thought he was talking about another part of the body.
Speaker 1: Good good eye pronounced it properly right, Yes, thank you,
Speaker 1: whether you. As we talked about earlier in the show,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys had their rookie virtual Rookie minicamp last weekend.
Speaker 1: Mickey mix shots this week he wrote about a rookie
Speaker 1: mini camp back in two thousand and three, some seventeen
Speaker 1: years ago, and there was a youngster in that camp
Speaker 1: that making thought it was fairly impressive. Vicky, would you
Speaker 1: like to relate that story to us? Yeah, I was
Speaker 1: doing some research on after that two thousand and three draft,
Speaker 1: and the Cowboys had that that rookie mini camp, and
Speaker 1: I ran across just a short I guess. I don't
Speaker 1: know if we were calling them mix shots back then,
Speaker 1: but I ran across the little note I had on
Speaker 1: Jason Witten, and I thought it was interesting they had
Speaker 1: just completed there, you know, nonpad practice. Uh, you're going
Speaker 1: up against a bunch of guys that probably didn't even
Speaker 1: get drafted or didn't play much to the year before.
Speaker 1: And so here was my synopsis of what I thought
Speaker 1: of Jason Witten back then. Now it's only now it's
Speaker 1: only a non pad'd work out and really against the
Speaker 1: majority of guys who weren't even drafted or haven't played much,
Speaker 1: if any in the NFL. But tight end Jason Witten
Speaker 1: sure showed an abilly this weekend to get down field,
Speaker 1: and he sure has some soft hands. And I'm thinking
Speaker 1: I might have missed a calling. I got this scounting
Speaker 1: stuff out, so we used that was places was that pass?
Speaker 1: As the head coach there, that was That was Parcel's
Speaker 1: first year. Wow. And I you know what else happened
Speaker 1: that that week? I believe it was that mini camp week. Uh,
Speaker 1: Whitton caught a pass over the middle and kind of
Speaker 1: kind of a slant, uh, kind of a down and
Speaker 1: end and he kind of ran away from everybody and
Speaker 1: and very sarcastic league Parcels barked and loud enough for
Speaker 1: everybody to hear it. By the way, he goes, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's my pass catching tight end. Because he saw visions
Speaker 1: of Bivaro in Jason Witten that he could be a
Speaker 1: complete tight end, and boy, he stayed at him to
Speaker 1: turn him into one too. And that was a tiny
Speaker 1: year old Jason Witten back in. He just turned he
Speaker 1: went to turn twenty one May sixth, that year. Right, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that was perfect timmy for Jason Witten. When
Speaker 1: you have a coach that's accustomed to a Mark Bivaro
Speaker 1: and accustomed to an offense that runs the ball and
Speaker 1: needs that not only pass catching tight end, but you
Speaker 1: have to have that blocking tight end. Bavaro was the
Speaker 1: ultimate to me, I think, really the first tight end
Speaker 1: for the New York Giants that really carried that team
Speaker 1: in regards to every position, every every part of the game.
Speaker 1: Bavaro was a threat. You didn't have that many tight
Speaker 1: ends that could do that kind of thing, or at
Speaker 1: least one utilized as well in that day and time.
Speaker 1: And I here you come. Here comes Jason Winton at
Speaker 1: that particular time, having having plus Sales as his head coach,
Speaker 1: having that emphasis on getting him the ball and trusting
Speaker 1: his blocking. I think that could have just really led
Speaker 1: to him being noticed and being utilized in the perfect way.
Speaker 1: All right, let me throw it out to both of you.
Speaker 1: All right, whether it's a rookie minicamp or just the
Speaker 1: first time you saw a player come into the league
Speaker 1: at at a practice, or the first time you saw him,
Speaker 1: what was the who was the number one guy that
Speaker 1: you said Wow, look at this guy. When you go
Speaker 1: back over time in an NFL rookie minicamp, or first
Speaker 1: first time you saw him in practice as the body
Speaker 1: come to mind, Toni has said, Tony Door said said
Speaker 1: the first time you saw him? Yeah, the first when
Speaker 1: I remember seeing it on video. We were watching the
Speaker 1: news at that time. I was very young, and I
Speaker 1: remember here. I don't I don't think I saw his
Speaker 1: feet hit the ground during the entire practice. That's what
Speaker 1: I knew was gonna be good. I think I would
Speaker 1: have to go with Troy Aikman. When I saw him
Speaker 1: throw the football, how tight the spiral was, how accurate
Speaker 1: he was, and the velocity on the ball. It was
Speaker 1: one of those oh my movement moments. You know, you
Speaker 1: can see that stuff on TV, but it just doesn't
Speaker 1: translate to when you're standing kind of almost on the
Speaker 1: sideline watching one of those mini camps, and when he
Speaker 1: was throwing the ball, it was like, this is a
Speaker 1: thing of beauty. You know, you don't even have to
Speaker 1: mess with this guy's mechanics. So I think that's probably
Speaker 1: the one that at least first stuck out to me
Speaker 1: over all these years. You know, one of them for
Speaker 1: me and I think it would have been training camp
Speaker 1: more so than a rookie mini camp was Leon Lett
Speaker 1: and it was more of a surprise then I was like,
Speaker 1: I was like, I went searching my roster, going, who
Speaker 1: is this guy? Remember how fast off? Well, you know
Speaker 1: how fast off the snap? He Wasn't wasn't just his quickness, Bill,
Speaker 1: it was the size that went along with that quickness.
Speaker 1: He was extremely polished for someone that came from such
Speaker 1: a small school. And I don't know, I don't know
Speaker 1: who taught him when he was in college, but when
Speaker 1: he came to the Cowboys, I wouldn't call him a
Speaker 1: finished product, but he was way He was well ahead
Speaker 1: of being a rookie in regards his talents. You know
Speaker 1: another guy that made an impression on me, and it
Speaker 1: wasn't so much just his talent, was his U gosh's
Speaker 1: mental capacity to know what was going on. Patrick Creighton,
Speaker 1: I believe, seventh round draft choice. And in his first
Speaker 1: practice or second can practice, uh, he he damaged his
Speaker 1: plantar fasciitis. And we know how painful that is. It's
Speaker 1: it's like somebody's sticking nails, uh in the bottom of
Speaker 1: your foot. And you could see he was limping, but
Speaker 1: he wouldn't take himself out. He just kept pushing through
Speaker 1: the drills, kept pushing through the drills. And I remember
Speaker 1: going up to him after the practice was over and
Speaker 1: I said, you hurt your ankle and he goes, nah,
Speaker 1: it's bottom of my foot. It's really painful. And I
Speaker 1: kind of knew what he was. You know, it had
Speaker 1: to be his plantar fasci and uh. I said, well,
Speaker 1: do you are You're gonna hurt it worse. And he goes, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm a seventh round draft pick. I'm from what was
Speaker 1: it bill Srthwestern? Yeah, double directional and state and probably
Speaker 1: an AIA at that time. I don't remember an Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: He goes, I've got Bill Parcels looking at me. He goes,
Speaker 1: I can't take myself out. I got to push through this.
Speaker 1: And I said, you know what, this kid's got something.
Speaker 1: He just might make it. Yeah. He had toughness and
Speaker 1: he had smarts both and uh yeah, and and that's
Speaker 1: a great example of a guy who came out of
Speaker 1: nowhere and immediately and had he not had the planter
Speaker 1: fasciitis early on in his rookie season, you know, I
Speaker 1: think it was halfway through he was he was making
Speaker 1: a contribution by mid season his rookie year as a
Speaker 1: seventh round draft pick, and he was so versatile. This
Speaker 1: is a guy that had played quarterback, he playing wide receiver.
Speaker 1: Uh they would you know, he was a due everything
Speaker 1: guy up there. Uh you know, hand him the ball
Speaker 1: return kicks. Uh and and you know, it proved out
Speaker 1: that he ended up being a very good sound football
Speaker 1: player for a seventh round pick. He really did. He
Speaker 1: really did. SPA I got another one more, one more,
Speaker 1: one more guy that I that I was impressed with.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't just his ability on the field. He
Speaker 1: was already doing well, but Michael Irvin when he came in,
Speaker 1: I don't think as much as he talks trash and
Speaker 1: as much as he's so you know, flamboyant and almost
Speaker 1: everything he does, Michael Irvin is one of the hardest
Speaker 1: workers I've ever seen. I have seen this guy just
Speaker 1: torture himself, especially coming into his second year after he
Speaker 1: had turn his ACL Most of the season his rookie year,
Speaker 1: I would come into locker room and see him in
Speaker 1: in the hot tub, and he was so sad from
Speaker 1: not being able to play. You could just see it.
Speaker 1: I would come and talk him because he looked depressed,
Speaker 1: so you could just see his love for the game
Speaker 1: was there. Whatever he does nowadays, and I know it's
Speaker 1: all flamboyant is a little bit over the top. That
Speaker 1: is real coming from Michael Irvin. When Jimmy Johnson came
Speaker 1: and that was his second year. When Jimmy Johnson came
Speaker 1: in in nineteen eighty nine, he even stepped it up
Speaker 1: a notch in regards to his his emotions and his
Speaker 1: dedication to being better. And initially, I must admit I
Speaker 1: thought it was a little bit over the top of myself.
Speaker 1: But as I looked at him progressed throughout his entire career,
Speaker 1: all of that was real and it was very impressive
Speaker 1: to me. His dedication forget to himself, his dedication to
Speaker 1: the team was always prevalent, and I really enjoyed that
Speaker 1: about it. You know. I remember Jimmy when he got
Speaker 1: there and he kind of looked at his wide receiver
Speaker 1: corps and he started shaking his head and we were
Speaker 1: starting talking about the wide receivers and he goes, man,
Speaker 1: he goes, I had more speed at Miami than I
Speaker 1: do on this professional team, and you know when he
Speaker 1: looked at him. Michael ever wasn't that And I think
Speaker 1: he was just Michael in that yeah, because Michael wasn't
Speaker 1: Burner right, No, you know along those lines. I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, back in those days, early nineties, the rules
Speaker 1: for the media at Valley Ranch, where there were no
Speaker 1: rules basically, I mean in the off season. I was
Speaker 1: working at Channel five during those days, and in the
Speaker 1: off season, if it was a slow sports day, we
Speaker 1: just went and we hung out at the locker room
Speaker 1: at Valley Ranch and we just waited for guys to
Speaker 1: come off the practice field. There wasn't any formalized workouts.
Speaker 1: These are just individual workouts, guys getting their off season
Speaker 1: workouts in and invariably you'd see Michael Irvin and Troy
Speaker 1: Aikman coming off that field in March, April whenever it was,
Speaker 1: and we'd interview them or whatever. But I had got
Speaker 1: to see firsthand the work ethic they're putting. They would
Speaker 1: put in on their own. It wasn't anything that the
Speaker 1: team was doing at that time. And I was thinking,
Speaker 1: throughout this coronavirus thing, the guys that the teams that
Speaker 1: are going to get ahead are the ones that are
Speaker 1: putting in the work right now. It's really it's it's
Speaker 1: really the dedication that in the sacrifice that those guys
Speaker 1: are putting in right now are going to play a
Speaker 1: big role going forward because they don't have any organized
Speaker 1: So so, Bill, Bill, did you remember Michael Irvin with
Speaker 1: the waves, Yeah, the way best on doing the standing
Speaker 1: broad jump for like fifty yards on the on the turf,
Speaker 1: you know, those kind of things that they just really
Speaker 1: really stood out in my mind because at that time
Speaker 1: he was completely healthy, but he was not going to
Speaker 1: get hurt again, and you could tell he was working
Speaker 1: towards that very well. I've got this other image of
Speaker 1: Michael Irvin after he tore his ACLU and he was
Speaker 1: starting his rehab that offseason, and I was living in
Speaker 1: Carrollton at that time. Michael lived in Carrollton, and I'm
Speaker 1: driving down Trinity Mills. I can see this year's day
Speaker 1: and there was kind of a median and I believe
Speaker 1: it was grassy, right, and I see this big guy
Speaker 1: on the tallest bicycle I've ever seen in my life, right,
Speaker 1: and he's riding right down the middle of the road
Speaker 1: and it's Michael Irvin. He's riding to the ranch and
Speaker 1: it was probably I don't know, ten miles or so
Speaker 1: something like that, but that was part of his rehab.
Speaker 1: It was just a spectacle. You've never seen anybody bigger
Speaker 1: on a bicycle in my entire life. Unfortunately, that was
Speaker 1: before cell phones and so you couldn't take your cell
Speaker 1: phone out and take it. Hey Bill, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1: Another guy that made an impression on me the first
Speaker 1: time I saw him, because I had no idea who
Speaker 1: he was, was Larry Allen. And he shows up and
Speaker 1: I see this big, massive, wide guy running the way
Speaker 1: he was running, and I'm sitting there going, oh my god,
Speaker 1: where did they find this guy? And I'll guarantee you
Speaker 1: those defensive linemen we're probably sitting there going, oh no,
Speaker 1: I don't want any part of this. There was a
Speaker 1: lot of in the in the NFL those years he
Speaker 1: was playing. There was a lot of Larry Allen flu
Speaker 1: going around. You know, you gotta feel bad. You have
Speaker 1: to feel good about the fact, especially coming from a
Speaker 1: small school like myself. You know, the cowboys have always
Speaker 1: been extremely good at going to find those diamonds in
Speaker 1: the room. If you're talking about the Patrick Cragon, myself
Speaker 1: and talking about Larry Allen. You know these one guys
Speaker 1: that were on everyone's radar. These guys had to be found,
Speaker 1: and the cowboys were always pretty good they finding them,
Speaker 1: so that that that tradition continues to this day. Hey,
Speaker 1: I got an idea for next week's show. Okay, this
Speaker 1: week we showed where we talked about the guys that were,
Speaker 1: oh my god, where they get this guy in a
Speaker 1: good way? Next week, I want to hear your oh
Speaker 1: my god, where they find this guy in a bad way?
Speaker 1: How did they draft this guy I could get I
Speaker 1: could get one of those guys right out of the
Speaker 1: way right now. I have one too, Bill, I gotta
Speaker 1: I have one. Also. You can do it now if
Speaker 1: you want. No, I'm saying, I'll give you mine, and
Speaker 1: this will this will tease for next week. Okay, um
Speaker 1: nineteen the same guy in nineteen eighty six, So then
Speaker 1: not gonna say guy was Kevin Brooks. Oh come on,
Speaker 1: come on, come on, No, you just took it away.
Speaker 1: That was it. Thanks, I told you we should have
Speaker 1: won the next week. Now I gotta be out how
Speaker 1: to come up with somebody else. That's all I know
Speaker 1: is he was a defensive lineman, I believe it was
Speaker 1: Michigan State and no Michigan. Okay, when they drafted him
Speaker 1: back then, you had to call the guy and tell him, okay,
Speaker 1: you know we drafted you. There was no live TV
Speaker 1: and they couldn't get ahold of them. They couldn't get
Speaker 1: ahold of them, and they found out he wasn't home.
Speaker 1: He was out roller skating. And I don't want my
Speaker 1: defensive linemen roller skating. He was out skates. His whole
Speaker 1: career is bag. There you go, And that's a good
Speaker 1: way to end this one, all right. You need to
Speaker 1: come up both of them. You need to come up
Speaker 1: with somebody else and out a guy too. All right,
Speaker 1: that doesn't for mick shots, and we'll talk at you
Speaker 1: again next week. This has been a production of Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.