Speaker 1: The following Here's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Let's go. Are you
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Speaker 1: Ready for a break? Yeah, and so much for that.
Speaker 1: It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia and Derek Eagleton.
Speaker 1: It is Friday, November twenty at twenty twenty, season sixteen,
Speaker 1: episode number sixty eight. Welcome to the latest edition of
Speaker 1: The Break, live from the s WBC Mortgage studios at
Speaker 1: the Star. I got Nick back in the studio with me.
Speaker 1: I traded out, Dave's now at home, Amber's at home,
Speaker 1: and I'm ready to getting to this thing. We got
Speaker 1: a lot to talk about today. We're definitely gonna talk
Speaker 1: about uh, some injury updates, will get in to some
Speaker 1: conversation about the Cowboys versus the Minnesota Vikings. We got
Speaker 1: a little topic we're going to hit around contracts and
Speaker 1: who do you think is the best player on this team.
Speaker 1: We got so many topics hit today, and by the
Speaker 1: end of the show, we're also going to do our
Speaker 1: picks for this upcoming game. Cowboys versus Vikings. Let's start
Speaker 1: first with an update, Dave, tell me what we what
Speaker 1: we know at this point about Randy Gregory and DeMarcus Lawrence,
Speaker 1: who were both out yesterday due to an illness. From
Speaker 1: the sounds of it, it's kind of what we thought,
Speaker 1: which is more of a you know, a bug maybe
Speaker 1: twenty four or forty eight hour situation. Randy's back at
Speaker 1: the facility today, DeMarcus is not. But Mike McCarthy came
Speaker 1: right out and was like everything points toward him being available.
Speaker 1: So it sounds, you know, it sounds like a situation
Speaker 1: where you take a day or two to flush it out,
Speaker 1: and it sounds like both of those guys will be
Speaker 1: available on Sunday, which is a good thing for the
Speaker 1: Cowboys because they will need all hands on dake on
Speaker 1: deck to be able to handle that Minnesota, particularly that
Speaker 1: Minnesota running game. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: that Cowboys versus Vikings matchup. First question I have for
Speaker 1: you guys is Minnesota. They are are notorious for running
Speaker 1: the ball. They'll keep running the ball no matter how
Speaker 1: successful or not they are. We saw that last week
Speaker 1: in their game Ken the Dallas defense hold up for
Speaker 1: sixty minutes. Nick, let's start with you. Oh, I don't
Speaker 1: know if they can hold up for sixty minutes. If
Speaker 1: the thing about it is is that their offense is
Speaker 1: going to have to help them here. I mean, the
Speaker 1: offense is going to have to score some points. They
Speaker 1: can't get down. They really need to strike first on
Speaker 1: this one, because you know, if you can maybe force
Speaker 1: Minnesota from getting out of the way they want to
Speaker 1: play now that they'll still run the ball even when
Speaker 1: they're down. I don't see the Cowboys jumping out to
Speaker 1: a big lead or anything like that. But but I
Speaker 1: do believe that it's gonna the offense is gonna have
Speaker 1: to be their best defense here. They're gonna have to
Speaker 1: score some points. And because if if Minnesota just continues
Speaker 1: to lean on them the entire way, I don't know
Speaker 1: if Dallas hasn't shown that they can hold up. So
Speaker 1: here they are with defensive ends that aren't practicing this week,
Speaker 1: and so it hasn't been a great week for that.
Speaker 1: But I mean they're gonna have to They're gonna have
Speaker 1: to prove that they can hold up. And I just
Speaker 1: I haven't seen it. Amber. I don't know about holding
Speaker 1: up but if they are looking to find some kind
Speaker 1: of success, they're gonna have to be able to do something,
Speaker 1: make something happen right at the beginning, because a lot
Speaker 1: of times we see that when the running game starts,
Speaker 1: you know, playing well, and they get all those yards
Speaker 1: and blah blah blah, the defense, the Cowboys defense can
Speaker 1: never really come back and fix it. So if they're
Speaker 1: gonna try to make it work somehow or try to
Speaker 1: balance it out, they have to hopefully find some kind
Speaker 1: of success right at the beginning, because if it gets
Speaker 1: away from them, I just don't see any possible way
Speaker 1: of them turning around that game. Dave, prove it, prove it. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's my answer because I mean, you know, we've talked
Speaker 1: about it a lot. They deserve a lot of credit
Speaker 1: for the way they played against Pittsburgh, But to your point,
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh quit trying to run the ball. That was a
Speaker 1: big part of why that why they were as successful
Speaker 1: as they were. I don't think Minnesota is going to
Speaker 1: do that. I was. I think Minnesota's just better at it.
Speaker 1: And I mean Nick's absolutely right. There's there's not a
Speaker 1: lot of evidence that suggests that they can hold up.
Speaker 1: So I'm not saying they can't, but I just need
Speaker 1: to see them do it. Dave, You're you're either coaching
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl, you're at the Malley Classic, or you're
Speaker 1: you're doing an aspinter costume party, or you're just no, Actually,
Speaker 1: Dave hellars just David Helmet on a Friday. Dave Helmet.
Speaker 1: It's actually, uh, it's a New Orleans Jazz Fest shirt.
Speaker 1: And you know it's it's a little dreary, it's really
Speaker 1: gray outside. I was feeling a little homesick, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm gonna throw this thing on. So that's
Speaker 1: what I did. There you go. But yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's it's it's ridiculous, but so am I. So it's fine.
Speaker 1: You brought you brought the party today. It's a Friday.
Speaker 1: We needed the party. All right. Let's I try to
Speaker 1: bring the party every day. You do? You do? You well?
Speaker 1: You try, try not success, I'm better, all right. Next question,
Speaker 1: half of you guys, how well does do the Dallas
Speaker 1: Corners match up against Jefferson and feeling if they opt
Speaker 1: to load the box? Because I do think that the
Speaker 1: only success that you can possibly have against this running
Speaker 1: game is getting that extra guy down which means your
Speaker 1: corners are now susceptible. How well do they match up?
Speaker 1: Let's start first with you Amber. It's it's always gonna
Speaker 1: be tough because we haven't seen this cornerback room find
Speaker 1: much success against not just like oh, good wide receivers.
Speaker 1: This is just like it doesn't take a really good
Speaker 1: wide receiver for these corners to be exposed. So it's
Speaker 1: I think it's not gonna be as bad as we
Speaker 1: may think, but at the same time, it's not gonna
Speaker 1: be fifty fifty type of stuff. They're gonna have some
Speaker 1: trouble and if they don't find the way to kind
Speaker 1: of keep close and not allow so much separation, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a nightmare all around. Dave, watching that game,
Speaker 1: you know, the Vikings played the Bears on Monday, what
Speaker 1: really stood out to me is how obsessed the Vikings
Speaker 1: are with getting the ball to Adam dealing in the
Speaker 1: red zone. You know, I mean, he didn't have he
Speaker 1: didn't have a big night statistically, but he had two
Speaker 1: touchdowns and they were both short yardage. Cousins loves to
Speaker 1: look for him on you know, back shoulder balls, timing routes,
Speaker 1: stuff where he can kind of use his size to
Speaker 1: box out the dB, and that definitely concerns me Against
Speaker 1: these cornerbacks. I mean, you know, Cheetoh's got decent size,
Speaker 1: but you know the rest of them, especially with Digs
Speaker 1: not playing, the rest of them give up some size
Speaker 1: to a guy like that, and then Jefferson's such an
Speaker 1: incredible route runner. Yeah, it should absolutely worry you. I'm
Speaker 1: you know, to go back to my point about how
Speaker 1: well they played against Pittsburgh. You know, I think they
Speaker 1: really only gave up like two or three explosive passes
Speaker 1: in that game. Um, but if Kirk Cousins has time
Speaker 1: to throw, I'm gonna guess it'll be more in this matchup. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean the cornerback position. You know, they faced better
Speaker 1: receivers I don't know, you know, probably maybe even better
Speaker 1: duos than this, but they haven't fared that well, you know.
Speaker 1: And it's just this from the start to finish. I mean,
Speaker 1: the what did Snoop say? I mean, you know, if
Speaker 1: it ain't one thing, it's it's another. I think he
Speaker 1: you know, here some words in there with the other words.
Speaker 1: But if it ain't one thing, it's another, and it
Speaker 1: has been I mean, I mean finally get Cheeto back,
Speaker 1: finally the hamstring from hell is back, and then Diggs
Speaker 1: gets hurt. It's like, oh my god, it's and it
Speaker 1: started all the way back at training camp as well.
Speaker 1: So it's been it's been a messing. I mean, this
Speaker 1: was going to be a tough position, even if they
Speaker 1: were all healthy and playing their best. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: gonna be tough. And they haven't been playing their best
Speaker 1: and they haven't been healthy for sure, and so it's
Speaker 1: just been up and down, up and down, and it's
Speaker 1: it's been the one position I think that has hurt
Speaker 1: not the one position. It's been on one on defense
Speaker 1: has probably hurt hurt them the most. Do you guys
Speaker 1: think that, Um, if they're gonna bring that safety down,
Speaker 1: maybe in it some instances have two safety's down and
Speaker 1: leave their corners on an island to be able to cover.
Speaker 1: Do you think that you're more concerned in that scenario
Speaker 1: about the Minnesota running game or the Minnesota passing game. Nick,
Speaker 1: I'll take my chances on that. I'll take my chances.
Speaker 1: You know, I've said it before. I've never been a
Speaker 1: huge Kirk Cousins fan. I think he's just okay. Um,
Speaker 1: he can beat you. If he's healthy and he's got
Speaker 1: some time and he give him that scenario, you know
Speaker 1: he'll be better. But I have to just take my
Speaker 1: chances there because I think if he's just man on
Speaker 1: a man with a run, you're gonna get beat. So
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to load in there and hope your
Speaker 1: corners can make plays and hope that cover Cousins is
Speaker 1: off because he can be that. That's to me, the
Speaker 1: best recipe because if they run downhill with Cook, you're
Speaker 1: you're consistently, I think they're gonna lose. Dave Cousins has
Speaker 1: played some really nice games against Dallas going back to
Speaker 1: when he was in Washington, so he is capable of
Speaker 1: beating you. But I agree, I mean your best bet
Speaker 1: is still to try to make him do it. Because
Speaker 1: I'm with Nick, I don't. I don't think he's that good.
Speaker 1: I mean, I have to point out he's not that
Speaker 1: he's not consistent. At least he have to point out
Speaker 1: he's two and six against Dallas. Now, you're right, one
Speaker 1: of them was a twenty fifteen I think four hundred
Speaker 1: yards and I mean they he hid' Kellen Moore were
Speaker 1: going at it that day. But which also don't don't discount.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think twenty sixteen comes twelve, twenty sixteen
Speaker 1: comes to mind. He lost both of those games, but
Speaker 1: he bombed away. I mean he in the Thanksgiving game
Speaker 1: when Washington came here in twenty sixteen, he threw for
Speaker 1: like four to thirty and Dak was just Dak was
Speaker 1: up to the challenge. Yeah, I think Dallas won that
Speaker 1: game by seven. But I mean so, I mean, not
Speaker 1: always winning efforts, but he has played some really good
Speaker 1: games against the Cowboys. So but I still think I
Speaker 1: would rather force him to play a great game than
Speaker 1: just let Dalvin Cook do his thing. Amber No, I
Speaker 1: agree with everything that said. I mean, that's the kind
Speaker 1: of risk you're gonna have to take because the other
Speaker 1: option is way worse. And we've seen Dallas how much
Speaker 1: they've struggle trying to stop the run, and look at
Speaker 1: this team, how much success they're having with their running games.
Speaker 1: So you're gonna have to have all hands on deck
Speaker 1: because otherwise it's either pick pick which kind of death
Speaker 1: do you want? Do you want a slow death or
Speaker 1: do you want a fast death? So I think I
Speaker 1: would go for maybe the slow death. And although trying
Speaker 1: to give my pick already for the game. But it's
Speaker 1: just gonna slow death. Maybe gives you a chance to
Speaker 1: to patch up your wounds and come back to life.
Speaker 1: So yeah, all hands on deck on trying to stop
Speaker 1: the running game. Just pick your poison, you know, and
Speaker 1: then you just kind of figure it out from there.
Speaker 1: But I mean, really get into the death talk and
Speaker 1: patching your holes on all that line. That was a
Speaker 1: really morbid answer. We're really we're all right. So let's
Speaker 1: flip to the other side of the ball. Um, do
Speaker 1: you guys expect this offense to be better than they
Speaker 1: were with Gilbert versus Pittsburgh? Now that was a better
Speaker 1: defense by far, Like, this defense is not special. This
Speaker 1: Minnesota defense is not special. We heard Bucky say earlier
Speaker 1: this week. It's probably the worst that Mike Zimmer's hat
Speaker 1: since he's been there. But do you expect them to
Speaker 1: be better than they were against Pittsburgh? Because I thought
Speaker 1: the offense for the first time since Dak has been out,
Speaker 1: actually looked decent. Look okay, they looked like an offense
Speaker 1: that could possibly win a game or two. Let's start
Speaker 1: first with you, Amber. I hope, so, I hope, so
Speaker 1: I think that having Joe Looney and there Sack Martin
Speaker 1: clearly helped a lot with the O line. And hopefully, hopefully,
Speaker 1: even though I'm I'm part of the group of people
Speaker 1: that kept bowing for Garret Gilbert and wanting to see
Speaker 1: him play this upcoming game again, but hopefully Andy Dalton
Speaker 1: is back on his feet all well and he makes
Speaker 1: this offense click a little bit better than what we
Speaker 1: saw last week with Gary Gilbert. So I would imagine
Speaker 1: that they are able to play it better than what
Speaker 1: they did last week. Dave, this might be like this,
Speaker 1: This will be what I eat crow about the most
Speaker 1: in the coming weeks, because I just, for some reason,
Speaker 1: I just feel this confidence that Andy Dalton's gonna look
Speaker 1: a lot better in this go around. He's gonna have
Speaker 1: Zack Martin in front of him, He'll have Joe Louis there,
Speaker 1: so he's got two veterans hopefully keep in the pocket
Speaker 1: a little bit cleaner. Minnesota doesn't have the pass rushers
Speaker 1: that Washington had that flustered him so much, So you know,
Speaker 1: I'm sure Terrence Steele will have you know, it's always
Speaker 1: an adventure, but there's not a guy over there that
Speaker 1: should be able to abuse him like we've seen a
Speaker 1: couple of times this season. And I really I think
Speaker 1: I think this offense is gonna look pretty good. Like
Speaker 1: not you know, I'm not saying it's gonna look like
Speaker 1: when Dak was here, but I think Dalton should have time.
Speaker 1: I think he'll be able to you know, he'll be
Speaker 1: able to find all three of his receivers. He's not
Speaker 1: going to be zero and in on a guy. I
Speaker 1: think I think this is going to be the best
Speaker 1: that the offense has looked since Dak got hurt. That's
Speaker 1: what I think. And more than touch them, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: like they will look and I don't know if they'll win,
Speaker 1: but I just think that they will look like a
Speaker 1: competent NFL offense. And yeah, so I'm I'm eager to
Speaker 1: see how smart or stupid I look, because I I
Speaker 1: really think Dalton's gonna play well. I don't really know why.
Speaker 1: I just do. Nick, I don't see them playing well
Speaker 1: so much, but um, you don't see the offense playing
Speaker 1: well well. All the team's saying offense, I can kind
Speaker 1: I can kind of see what what what Dave's saying
Speaker 1: a little bit, but I mean it's just like like
Speaker 1: he just yelled at earlier about prove it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm just kind of at that point with the offense, like,
Speaker 1: you know, they're gonna have to prove it. But but
Speaker 1: it's it's good to think that way. I mean, I
Speaker 1: do think that he'll be better than Gilbert. I still
Speaker 1: believe that, um, But but the one thing that he's
Speaker 1: gonna have to show that he's better than Gilbrandon. And
Speaker 1: when Garret Gilbert really surprised me with his mobility, with
Speaker 1: his awareness and figuring out where the blitz was coming
Speaker 1: from and even about to go down and finding Zeke
Speaker 1: and thought that play was amazing. You know, Zeke could
Speaker 1: have spun out of that, that that would have been a
Speaker 1: huge play. But you know, I just think I think
Speaker 1: that's what Dalton's got to be good at. I think
Speaker 1: he's gonna see things. I think he's gonna be able
Speaker 1: to throw it probably better, but he's gonna have to
Speaker 1: show that mobility. I just I think they'll be a
Speaker 1: little bit better, but I'm not I'm not saying more
Speaker 1: than two touchdowns. And they might get two touchdowns, but
Speaker 1: I'm not saying more than two. So the bar is
Speaker 1: so low that yeah, you can, you can be better.
Speaker 1: I mean they're missing they're still obviously missing their two tackles,
Speaker 1: and that means a lot. But you look at the
Speaker 1: interior of the offensive line, it's back to the guys
Speaker 1: that they thought coming into the season would be their starters.
Speaker 1: So you would expect that you should be able to
Speaker 1: get better play from the interior part of your offensive line.
Speaker 1: You're not playing the game this week against a team
Speaker 1: that has what you would think our premier defensive end
Speaker 1: pass rusher types, so you would hope, you would hope
Speaker 1: that the Cowboys offensive line will look better this week
Speaker 1: and that will give Andy some opportunities to be able
Speaker 1: to show what he can do. As Jerry says, he
Speaker 1: is a starting caliber quarterback in the NFL. We'll see
Speaker 1: if they can get that kind of production out of
Speaker 1: him this week. Are we're gonna take our first break
Speaker 1: when we come back. We got lots of other questions.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get to a lot of these other questions.
Speaker 1: Are gonna be bigger picture. We'll do that when we
Speaker 1: come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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Speaker 1: caboy gear and gifts. Welcome back. It is the second
Speaker 1: segment of The Brake Clive from the s WBC Mortgage
Speaker 1: studios at the Star. Let's keep going, next question for
Speaker 1: you guys listening to the players talk this week and
Speaker 1: I heard Tank talk about I heard Cheeto talk about it,
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton talked about a little bit Zeke did, and
Speaker 1: even this morning Mike McCarthy talked a little about it.
Speaker 1: They seem convinced that there they have a good football team.
Speaker 1: Despite the record, despite the other things, they seem convinced
Speaker 1: that they have a good football team. What areas down
Speaker 1: the stretch? Could you see them being better than they've
Speaker 1: been so far to get better results. Let's start first
Speaker 1: with you, Nick, I think that you know, they don't
Speaker 1: turn the ball over, you know, I mean, that's the
Speaker 1: one thing about the defense that that's been so so
Speaker 1: challenging for them is that, I mean, they're they're not
Speaker 1: really that good anyways, but then when when you turn
Speaker 1: the ball over in your own end like that, it's
Speaker 1: only magnifying what's what's happening. Um So I just think
Speaker 1: that it's it's it's a situation that they need to play.
Speaker 1: They need to play better, don't turn the ball over.
Speaker 1: And then I think that if you give teams, you know, longer,
Speaker 1: longer fields to go score, I think that they can
Speaker 1: be in these games a little bit more. And you
Speaker 1: think that's an area they can be better, like you,
Speaker 1: you expect that they will be better down the stretch
Speaker 1: in that area, Yeah, yeah, right, yeah, I don't think
Speaker 1: the turnovers will be as bad as they've been, Okay, Amber,
Speaker 1: I think there are a lot of areas that need
Speaker 1: improvement clearly, but one that I think that they can
Speaker 1: possibly get better at its just being able to score period,
Speaker 1: other than just having to get to field goal range
Speaker 1: and having to kick it. I think that they can
Speaker 1: get to a point where they can finally start moving
Speaker 1: the ball and getting to the end zone. Dave for starters,
Speaker 1: I just want to say, like, I hope that they
Speaker 1: think they're good. Like if they don't even think they're good,
Speaker 1: what are the rest of us even doing here? I
Speaker 1: mean that's I would hope the guys in there, you know,
Speaker 1: are capable of digging down and finding that confidence even
Speaker 1: in these circumstances. I mean, I at least have some
Speaker 1: optimism that the defense can keep this trend going. You know,
Speaker 1: we said it so many times in September and October
Speaker 1: that like it is an anomaly for an NFL defense
Speaker 1: to look this awful, you know, just as hapless as
Speaker 1: they looked in in the Cleveland game and the Seattle game,
Speaker 1: obviously the Washington game. That's that's not normal. Like even
Speaker 1: bad NFL defenses look better than that. So I'm absolutely
Speaker 1: optimistic that they will look more like a professional football
Speaker 1: defense in the last seven games. Okay, So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: ask this question. I want to go back around the
Speaker 1: table and say, Okay, so based upon what you said
Speaker 1: was there you thought that could get better. What have
Speaker 1: you seen that gives you evidence, at least in your
Speaker 1: mind that convinces you there's a possibility they can be
Speaker 1: better in that area? Nick, Well, I don't think. I
Speaker 1: just don't think that history shows that you're going to
Speaker 1: turn the ball over as much as that. I mean,
Speaker 1: they come in bunches, right, which means they don't come
Speaker 1: in bunches as well on the flip side, So I
Speaker 1: just they mean they might be coming in bunches for
Speaker 1: them too, so actually get some turn off they did,
Speaker 1: didn't they get like four in a game? Its like, yeah,
Speaker 1: is that our bunch? Yeah? Okay, you know, I just
Speaker 1: think of something else. Um Um, I think that. I
Speaker 1: just I don't think they're gonna play I don't think
Speaker 1: they're gonna turning the ball over that bad. And I
Speaker 1: think that that I think the offensive because they all
Speaker 1: think the offensive line will get better and that's where
Speaker 1: a lot of the turnover problems came from. And so therefore,
Speaker 1: I just think if you continue to keep punting the
Speaker 1: ball and you have, you know, maybe a better punter
Speaker 1: than you've had, and you know you can keep doing
Speaker 1: that and given teams longer fields, I think the game
Speaker 1: can be way more competitive. And then when it's competitive,
Speaker 1: then it's close, and if it's close, it comes down
Speaker 1: to field goals. If it comes down to the field goals,
Speaker 1: I think their line can make them. So I think
Speaker 1: you win more games. It's just domino effecta turnovers. So, Amber,
Speaker 1: what have you seen or what do you see in
Speaker 1: this team that makes you think they'll be able to
Speaker 1: score more down the stretch red zone? Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: based on what I saw in the game against the Steelers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they only were able to score once one touchdown, but
Speaker 1: at the same time, you were able to see some
Speaker 1: more movement, some more energy there on the offense, some
Speaker 1: more connection. And I know it was a different quarterback,
Speaker 1: but I still think that whether it's Andy or maybe
Speaker 1: Gary Gilbert, we'll see down the line what happens there
Speaker 1: at quarterback. But if you keep Joe Booney in there,
Speaker 1: it's like Martin. Just having them both back in there
Speaker 1: clearly helped. Seeing some of the things that Cedric Wilson
Speaker 1: was doing. I think it's it's heading towards the right
Speaker 1: direction as well as the running game, some of the
Speaker 1: things that Tony Poller was able to do. And I
Speaker 1: think that if the Cowboys keep trying to find the
Speaker 1: right combination between how many snaps to give each guy,
Speaker 1: Zeke and Tony, if they find a good combination there,
Speaker 1: I think that the offense can finally get the ball
Speaker 1: moving a lot more and get there to the end zone.
Speaker 1: So there are just little positive things that I think
Speaker 1: we all were able to see in that Steeler's games
Speaker 1: that gives me the hope that they are just able
Speaker 1: to play better overall in the next few months, here,
Speaker 1: next few games. What's your proof, Dave for starters is,
Speaker 1: you know, two back to back really nice defensive performances,
Speaker 1: you know, and they gave up seventeen points to Philly
Speaker 1: because one of those touchdowns was defensive. I know, Philly's terrible,
Speaker 1: but that's still better than what we were looking at.
Speaker 1: And then again, Pittsburgh's offense isn't a juggernaut, but that's
Speaker 1: a talented offense with a very good widely quarterback that
Speaker 1: they were able to keep in check for the most part.
Speaker 1: And on top of that, let's just be honest, they
Speaker 1: don't play very many good teams the rest of the way.
Speaker 1: You know, they got three games against the division. They
Speaker 1: got a banged up forty nine Ers team that might
Speaker 1: not have Jimmy Garoppolo and he I mean, Baltimore is
Speaker 1: a much better team than Dallas. But like their offense
Speaker 1: hasn't looked as amazing as it did last year. So
Speaker 1: these aren't These aren't juggernauts that you have to keep
Speaker 1: in check down the stretch. I really, I've said this
Speaker 1: a few times this week. I think this game will
Speaker 1: be a really good litmus test because this is one
Speaker 1: of the best offenses left on the schedule. Probably even
Speaker 1: with a losing record, the Vikings are one of the
Speaker 1: two best teams left on the schedule, so I don't
Speaker 1: even need him to win. But if they just play
Speaker 1: a competent, close game, that gives me a lot of
Speaker 1: faith that they can win some games and be competitive
Speaker 1: with what's left on the schedule. Ye. All right, let's
Speaker 1: move on to the next question I have for you guys.
Speaker 1: This question might take a little bit of time, so
Speaker 1: let's let's dive in which of the current players. And
Speaker 1: I tied this up yesterday when we were talking about
Speaker 1: the contracts of some of these guys. Which are the
Speaker 1: current players or contracts or a future contract is worse
Speaker 1: for Dallas? And I'll give you guys some of the
Speaker 1: list of what we have. Zeke Elliott He's on a
Speaker 1: six year, ninety million dollar deal, fifty million guaranteed. He
Speaker 1: is the number two highest paid running back in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith is a six year deal sixty eight million
Speaker 1: dollars thirty five million guaranteed. He is the number sixth
Speaker 1: highest paid inside linebacker in the NFL. DeMarcus Lawrence a
Speaker 1: five year, one hundred and five million dollars deal sixty
Speaker 1: five million guaranteed. He's the number five highest paid defensive end. However,
Speaker 1: there's one interesting note to that, he's number sixteenth in
Speaker 1: cap hit among defensive ends, which actually favors the Cowboys
Speaker 1: a little bit there. And then you've got Dak Prescott
Speaker 1: and we don't know the terms of its new deal,
Speaker 1: but the expectation is he's projected to be somewhere if
Speaker 1: the Cowboys get a deal done, projected to be somewhere
Speaker 1: at least above thirty five million, possibly forty plus million annually,
Speaker 1: which is the worst deal for the Cowboys based on
Speaker 1: what we know right now. Let's start with you, Dave.
Speaker 1: I would have to say, I think it's jal and
Speaker 1: I don't know that it's particularly close. To be honest
Speaker 1: with you, I know you know, and I think we're
Speaker 1: gonna get into Zeke. A lot of people are hating
Speaker 1: on Zeke. A lot of people are talking about how
Speaker 1: much the Cowboys regret that contract, and I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't necessarily disagree, like I don't think that contract is
Speaker 1: a great thing right now, but I was trying to
Speaker 1: think of an analogy for this. I look at I
Speaker 1: look at Zeke. Zeke's contract. You know, we love to
Speaker 1: use cars in these football analogies, Like if the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are a car, then Zeke's contract is like these big, gaudy,
Speaker 1: badass tires and they're like not inflated properly, you know,
Speaker 1: like you don't have the right PSI, you're not getting
Speaker 1: good gas mileage, the car's not driving as fast as
Speaker 1: smoothly as it's supposed to, but you can still get
Speaker 1: from point A to point B, Like you can still
Speaker 1: win football games and be a good football team with Zeke.
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith is more like you're driving a car with
Speaker 1: a faulty transmission. Like he's just he's he's he is
Speaker 1: for what you are paying him. He is a liability
Speaker 1: and he's supposed to be a foundational piece of your defense,
Speaker 1: and that's just not what's happening. Like if everything's great
Speaker 1: with the offense and everybody's out there, even if you
Speaker 1: feel like you're overpaying Zeke, like he can still contribute
Speaker 1: to a successful offense. Jalen Smith, he's not playing, He's
Speaker 1: not even playing at that level. And it makes you wonder,
Speaker 1: like can you feel the successful defense if this guy
Speaker 1: is the center of it, and if you can't, then
Speaker 1: how do you get out from under the size of
Speaker 1: that contract? Like that, more than anything else is that's
Speaker 1: the number one thing that I have circled for the
Speaker 1: Cowboys is like, what are we going to do about
Speaker 1: Jayleen Smith? Which is the worst contract. I was gonna
Speaker 1: say Jalen as well, And I mean just how they
Speaker 1: structured everything. It just it was a bad It was
Speaker 1: a bad deal. I wouldn't have done it to begin
Speaker 1: with because I was never convinced with Jayalen. But now
Speaker 1: it's to the point where I was talking about it
Speaker 1: with Nick, and you know, I always have issues with
Speaker 1: all these contracts and trying to understand them and money
Speaker 1: and cap and blah blah blah, and apparently you lose
Speaker 1: all that money anyway. So it's like either you just
Speaker 1: lose all the money or just decide to keep him.
Speaker 1: If you keep him, then at that point, like me, personally,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't keep him as a starter. I'm like, go
Speaker 1: sit down and be a backup. But when you look
Speaker 1: at the rest of the guys on this list, like Zeke,
Speaker 1: DeMarcus and Dad, all of those guys, I still have
Speaker 1: hope and I believe one hundred percent that they can
Speaker 1: play better and that it's just a matter of whatever
Speaker 1: is happening in this twenty twenty season. But I don't
Speaker 1: have any hope. I feel like this is Jalen and
Speaker 1: I feel like he's not gonna get any better than
Speaker 1: what we've seen. So to me, he has to be
Speaker 1: absolutely the worst one on the list because as far
Speaker 1: as money, yes, the other guys are taking up a
Speaker 1: lot of money as well, but I still feel kind
Speaker 1: of okay with their future and thinking that they will
Speaker 1: be better next year or even in this second half
Speaker 1: of the season. Nick Um, I think it's DeMarcus Lawrence
Speaker 1: is the asia as the worst contract of the group.
Speaker 1: But I mean just because it's like, yuys, we're talking
Speaker 1: about how how do you get out from under it?
Speaker 1: I mean it's not I mean he's not producing to
Speaker 1: that to that level if you really look at the deal,
Speaker 1: I mean the way they structured it's it's average. It's
Speaker 1: an average of twenty one million. But like the last
Speaker 1: year is he's only making three so that's a that's
Speaker 1: a year that doesn't really it's a wash. I mean
Speaker 1: these three years in the middle here, this bulk is
Speaker 1: it's really twenty seven million a year. Twenty seven million
Speaker 1: a year is what he's what his cap count is
Speaker 1: for these three years. And so by doing that, I
Speaker 1: mean you just look at defensive ends around the league
Speaker 1: that you could making twelve, thirteen, fourteen million or whatever.
Speaker 1: Even Clowney's at thirteen million. I mean, just think about
Speaker 1: what production you could get then get another safety or
Speaker 1: get a linebacker or something else. I mean, I like him,
Speaker 1: I think he's he's playing better, but I mean there's
Speaker 1: no way that he can he can play at that level.
Speaker 1: I just I don't even I don't care what Pro
Speaker 1: Football Focus says about all this win rate and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, Like, I don't think he's making that much
Speaker 1: of a difference for that price, and I think it's
Speaker 1: handicapped in the whole defense. I look at this list
Speaker 1: and I think I agree with the premise of what
Speaker 1: Amber and Dave are saying, because I think Jalen Smith
Speaker 1: is the worst of these players, and so for him
Speaker 1: to be making a significant amount of money against your cap,
Speaker 1: that's a bit of a problem. But if I'm looking
Speaker 1: at this, to be honest with you, I think the
Speaker 1: worst deal here is Zeke And the reason why I
Speaker 1: say I think he's that's the worst deal is not
Speaker 1: so much even Zeke's fault. It's more a situation of
Speaker 1: what are you getting for what you're paying for. It
Speaker 1: kind of goes to what you're you're premise Nick, and
Speaker 1: I think it's worse with Zeke. I think the replacement
Speaker 1: value of a guy like Zeke, a really good NFL
Speaker 1: running back, can be a significant amount less than this.
Speaker 1: What you would have to invest in order to get
Speaker 1: a comparable running back would be significantly less. Right now,
Speaker 1: I say that he's a number two paid, highest paid
Speaker 1: running back in the NFL. Right now, he is fifteenth
Speaker 1: in yards this season in the NFL. He's only averaging
Speaker 1: was at sixty three point six yards a game. So
Speaker 1: when you look at what you're getting for the money,
Speaker 1: and you look at replacement value for a comparable quarterback,
Speaker 1: and you start looking at some of these names, these
Speaker 1: guys are a lot of these guys are on first contracts, which,
Speaker 1: again that goes back to the idea of in today's NFL,
Speaker 1: you're better off just always drafting one and keeping one ready,
Speaker 1: a young guy that you just kind of keep rolling
Speaker 1: with because the amount of money you have to pay
Speaker 1: for him is significantly less, but you can get a
Speaker 1: huge amount of value. Like you can't do that with
Speaker 1: a lot of other positions, like quarterback, you can't. You
Speaker 1: don't expect the guy to come in and immediately be
Speaker 1: great running back. That's one of the positions in the
Speaker 1: NFL where guys are great right off the street. Immediately
Speaker 1: when they come in the door, they can be great.
Speaker 1: And so you might as well take advantage of the
Speaker 1: lesser money that you have to pay for those guys.
Speaker 1: And again that's not Zeke's vault. That's more just a
Speaker 1: situation of just how the NFL plays out and how
Speaker 1: players play out from the standpoint of value relative to
Speaker 1: what they can bring to the team. All Right, here's
Speaker 1: what we're gonna do. We're gonna take okay, but but
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I just I think these are very different conversations,
Speaker 1: and I think you need to you gotta you kind
Speaker 1: of have to differentiate because I agree with everything you
Speaker 1: just said. The problem is is it productive to say, oh,
Speaker 1: maybe they shouldn't assigned Zeke, maybe they shouldn't assigned DeMarcus,
Speaker 1: they shouldn't have done that. It's done, Like the money
Speaker 1: has been spent the cap has been affected. And that's
Speaker 1: what brings me back to Jaylen Smith is because I
Speaker 1: look at it and I say, Zeke is not giving
Speaker 1: me my bang for my buck. But I can win
Speaker 1: with Zeke DeMarcus Lawrence. I'd love him to get more sacks.
Speaker 1: I can win with DeMarcus Lawrence. Jaalen Smith, I say,
Speaker 1: I don't know how I feel a very very good
Speaker 1: defense if Jalen Smith is one of the foundational pieces
Speaker 1: of it. And that is why. So, like I said,
Speaker 1: like you go into the offseason, I'm not worried about
Speaker 1: Like I don't. I don't feel like they need to
Speaker 1: cut or restructure Zeke or DeMarcus. I really don't. It
Speaker 1: would be great if they could, but that's not the
Speaker 1: way it works well where Jalen Smith I'm like, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And but Jalen Smith situation is the point where I'm like,
Speaker 1: if you want this team to be better, you got
Speaker 1: to figure out a way to fix that. Like whether
Speaker 1: whether it's a restructure or whether it's you cut him,
Speaker 1: whether YadA, YadA, YadA, I don't know. DeMarcus and Zeke
Speaker 1: can be very good, very productive members of a playoff
Speaker 1: team that the Jalen Smith. Situation is different in my opinion,
Speaker 1: and that's why I answered that way. No, I agree
Speaker 1: with what you're saying, and I guess I think you're right.
Speaker 1: It's probably two different conversations. Who's the better player and
Speaker 1: we're going to get into that, or who's the worst player,
Speaker 1: I guess in this instance. But there's also the contract,
Speaker 1: and I know you can't go back and change the
Speaker 1: contracts at this point. And the question is not so
Speaker 1: much from the standpoint of going forward, it's more a
Speaker 1: situation of in retrospect, where did you make the biggest mistake?
Speaker 1: And again, I personally believe that the biggest mistake was
Speaker 1: made in signing a second contract with a guy that's
Speaker 1: going to cost you ninety million dollars at the running
Speaker 1: back position. And that is not about Zeke again, that
Speaker 1: is about I don't know if there is a running
Speaker 1: back you got to go to the tr like the
Speaker 1: the the all time transcendent running backs for you to
Speaker 1: say it is worth going into a second deal with them.
Speaker 1: In today's NFL, because there are just so many guys
Speaker 1: that are coming into the league that are capable and
Speaker 1: ready to be able to produce at a high level
Speaker 1: coming in. Yeah, and that's why I think it's it's
Speaker 1: d law just because of the money. That the same thing.
Speaker 1: I just don't think he's going to he's not going
Speaker 1: to be that kind of player, and he hasn't. He
Speaker 1: hasn't been in the last two years. And so I mean,
Speaker 1: he's been a good defensive end, but he hasn't been
Speaker 1: to that level twenty one million or even twenty seven
Speaker 1: million if you count these these last three years. But
Speaker 1: that's just how they structured it. He's twenty one million
Speaker 1: a year. Yeah, And I will say this that that
Speaker 1: was one of the points I made earlier about his
Speaker 1: cap hit, the fact that he is the fifth highest
Speaker 1: paid defensive end, but his cap hit is ranked sixteenth.
Speaker 1: That tells you that they kind of worked it to
Speaker 1: where it's not really killing them from a cap standpoint,
Speaker 1: even though he's getting a ton of money. Or is
Speaker 1: he rank in sacks it's the sixteenth, I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I have a question, yeah about his contract
Speaker 1: that when I was looking at some of these may
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, yeah, um, maybe I should know this, but
Speaker 1: I don't. Um. I understand the whole signing bonus thing,
Speaker 1: but I don't get why was he signing bonus so high?
Speaker 1: It looked it was twenty five million dollars And when
Speaker 1: you look at other guys, I mean, I didn't see
Speaker 1: any other like signing bonus that high. Why do you
Speaker 1: have to give that amount of money right off the bat?
Speaker 1: Well for those players, you know, at this point in
Speaker 1: the game, when when you're talking about guys that are
Speaker 1: wanting in the negoti the number one money or a
Speaker 1: figure that they're looking at is guaranteed money. Like that's
Speaker 1: that's what they want, is guaranteed. What is the guaranteed
Speaker 1: because the contracts aren't guaranteed, But what is the money
Speaker 1: that's guaranteed? And so obviously assigning bonus hits their pocket, right,
Speaker 1: then that's guaranteed. And then sometimes they have guaranteed seasons
Speaker 1: and guaranteed bonuses that that go you know, throughout the
Speaker 1: year or so. So for him when they were doing
Speaker 1: the negotiation, yeah, twenty one twenty one million was a
Speaker 1: big deal for him. But also what is the what
Speaker 1: is the overall guaranteed money? And so that's the way
Speaker 1: to do that is to you know, give them a
Speaker 1: guaranteed money and then and then divide it out and
Speaker 1: that's that's the sticking point I think. I think it's
Speaker 1: a sticking point with with that right now. Obviously with
Speaker 1: the four and five years, but it comes down to
Speaker 1: cowboys want five years because they want to give him
Speaker 1: enough bonus money and spread it out, which doesn't take
Speaker 1: more of a hit. Yeah, that goes to that. That
Speaker 1: him being sixteenth in cap, it is because they can
Speaker 1: take a lot of that money and what the cowboys
Speaker 1: are They a lot of that money that was guaranteed
Speaker 1: and they put it into a signing bonus and then
Speaker 1: they could spread it out, which means it has hit
Speaker 1: on the cap every single year is much less than
Speaker 1: it would be if you didn't do that. So it's
Speaker 1: just the way to kind of manage your cap, I
Speaker 1: think from the standpoint of ultimately, you know, getting the
Speaker 1: guy the money he wants, to guaranteed money he wants,
Speaker 1: but doing it in a way that gives you some
Speaker 1: relief on your cap. Are we gonna take our final
Speaker 1: break when we come back. I want to talk about
Speaker 1: a comment that Jerry made earlier this morning on the
Speaker 1: radio where he called Ezequiel Elly at the best player
Speaker 1: on this team. I'm gonna ask these guys if they
Speaker 1: agree with that, and if not, who they think the
Speaker 1: best player on this team is. We'll do that when
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Speaker 1: Welcome back. At the final segment of the Brake Clive
Speaker 1: at the SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star we're heading
Speaker 1: up toward the end of the show and we're going
Speaker 1: to get to our picks here in just a moment.
Speaker 1: But I did want to address a question stop it, Dave.
Speaker 1: I did want to address a question that Jerry, Jerry
Speaker 1: asked this one oh answered this morning on the radio
Speaker 1: on our sister station one oh five dot three the Fan.
Speaker 1: He was asked about, you know, Zeke, and he said, Jerry,
Speaker 1: he called Zeke the best player on the team. Now,
Speaker 1: assuming all players are healthy. Let's assume that you know
Speaker 1: everybody's healthy and can play. You guys agree with that statement,
Speaker 1: and if not, who do you think is the best
Speaker 1: player on this team. Let's start with you Amber. I
Speaker 1: would say he's the best player of the team. I
Speaker 1: don't he's not playing like the best player of the
Speaker 1: team this year, but in general, I would say I
Speaker 1: would say so if you're looking at this season, per se,
Speaker 1: I would have to give a shout out to LP
Speaker 1: this year because I think he's only made like one
Speaker 1: mistake this year in the game against Philly. Other than that, Um,
Speaker 1: that's basically it. I think this is the first time
Speaker 1: I ever even mentioned LP. So yeah, he would be
Speaker 1: maybe the best player for me this year, but overall,
Speaker 1: I would still stick to Zeke made about statement. No, no,
Speaker 1: you made the strongest statement you've made all season just
Speaker 1: then by saying Yelpi was the best player. Because it's
Speaker 1: not about the fact that Alpie's the best player. It's
Speaker 1: about the fact of all the other guys that are
Speaker 1: not better than LP. That is the statement, right that
Speaker 1: tells you just how bad of a season it's really been. Me.
Speaker 1: I want you to get her to pronounce his last name.
Speaker 1: It's what I want to do kid now, sir, Yeah,
Speaker 1: there you go. Good job. You know actually you know
Speaker 1: that's how we say it last sir, but actually in
Speaker 1: the pronunciation guy, but we don't. No one says that sold,
Speaker 1: all right, So yeah, just I kind of just popped
Speaker 1: up because I wasn't expecting that answer. I would have
Speaker 1: thought you would have said zero line because he's actually
Speaker 1: won the two games. But well, he has missed, has
Speaker 1: missed a couple. Yeah, you know, all of his misses
Speaker 1: are fifty yards or more, so he's had that's consistent
Speaker 1: as well. He didn't miss a extra point gout that
Speaker 1: but best best player overall, I mean it's kind of
Speaker 1: a cop out, but I mean he is the best player.
Speaker 1: Is Zach Martin is your best player? I think I
Speaker 1: think he's. I think he's the best at his position.
Speaker 1: I think you could see even from the guard position,
Speaker 1: you saw that things were, you know, that went terribly
Speaker 1: wrong without him, um in Washington, So um, I think
Speaker 1: he is their their best player. I think he's now
Speaker 1: become better and more consistent than Tyrant Smith when it
Speaker 1: comes to the line. And you know, but but that's
Speaker 1: kind of a problem. That's what she said. That's what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, you're not winning with with. That's what They're
Speaker 1: not drafting guards, number one, They're not drafting deep, they're
Speaker 1: not drafting snappers at all. So the problem is is
Speaker 1: your most consistent best players at their position aren't the
Speaker 1: ones that are considered the premier positions there. Ye, Dave,
Speaker 1: it's Zach for sure. I mean just it's you just
Speaker 1: look at it and say, who on this team is
Speaker 1: the best in the league at what he does? And
Speaker 1: it's Zack Martin. Who on this team has a real
Speaker 1: case to go to the Hall of Fame one day,
Speaker 1: Zach Martin. Nobody else does Zeke. I think more highly
Speaker 1: of Zeke than a lot of people do, but he's
Speaker 1: averaging fewer than four yards per carry. He leads the
Speaker 1: league in fumbles among running backs or among non quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: I should say he does like he doesn't have any
Speaker 1: explosive runs like go look at go look at the
Speaker 1: season long For all of the top rushers in the league,
Speaker 1: Zeke has one of the worst of anybody that's in
Speaker 1: the top twenty. And I, you know, I get it.
Speaker 1: He's not playing with his quarterback, he's not playing with
Speaker 1: his preferred offensive line. But to be a fifteen million
Speaker 1: dollar running back, you're supposed to be able to make
Speaker 1: it work in those circumstances. I don't. I don't know
Speaker 1: that i'd have Zeke in my top four or five.
Speaker 1: And I mean, yeah, if you extend it to guys
Speaker 1: that are on IR I think Tyrn, Dak, and DeMarcus,
Speaker 1: I would put all of them above Zeke right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can't argue with that too much. I actually was
Speaker 1: thinking that I might go the route of saying Dak,
Speaker 1: But I think the point that Dave just made is
Speaker 1: really the point there's only one player on this team that,
Speaker 1: based on what we've seen so far. Now, maybe maybe
Speaker 1: Dak somehow can become that later. But based on what
Speaker 1: we've seen so far, there's only one player on this well,
Speaker 1: I should say two two players on this team that
Speaker 1: I think have a legitimate shot to be in the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame one day, Zach Martin and Tyron Smith.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's even close. I think those are
Speaker 1: the only two right now that I think have a
Speaker 1: legitimate shot, based on what we've seen so far, that
Speaker 1: have a legitimate shot of maybe getting into it. And
Speaker 1: you gotta be qualified that too. Because of the Arizona Cardinals,
Speaker 1: the best guy they've got to go to the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame as lare Fitzgerald, and he's not their best
Speaker 1: player on their team, so you got to be. And
Speaker 1: that's my point, Like I think Zach is still playing
Speaker 1: at that level. I don't know that Tyron is still
Speaker 1: playing at that level I think. But that's goes back
Speaker 1: to what Dave was saying about the Hall of Fame light.
Speaker 1: That's why if you're gonna say the best player on
Speaker 1: this team, Zach is still playing at the level where
Speaker 1: he is among the very best at the art position
Speaker 1: in the NFL this year. Yeah, that all being said,
Speaker 1: and based upon his career, he to me, is is
Speaker 1: clearly your best player. I do think though, I see
Speaker 1: Dak making that push to where he will be your
Speaker 1: best player in my opinion, within the next year or two.
Speaker 1: I truly believe that because of what I've seen from
Speaker 1: him so far. Dave Jess, I'm you one throwing I
Speaker 1: just if he I know, you know, he can roll
Speaker 1: your eyes. He hasn't been he hasn't been reliably healthy
Speaker 1: in a long time. But if Tyron Smith's healthy, He's
Speaker 1: still there. He's still one of the best three or
Speaker 1: four tackles in football right now. And I maybe it's
Speaker 1: just because I know the guy, I've been around him.
Speaker 1: I just think I think he'll be right back where
Speaker 1: he's supposed to be next year, if if his recovery
Speaker 1: and everything goes well, and that's the big key, if
Speaker 1: the recovery goes well and he's back to himself. Right
Speaker 1: look at the Cleveland game. Look at the Cleveland game.
Speaker 1: He missed the week before he comes back for that game.
Speaker 1: Actually he missed the two weeks before he comes back
Speaker 1: for that game, and he plays and he played pretty
Speaker 1: well in that game. There was no issues on that
Speaker 1: side of the line. And then he had season ending surgery.
Speaker 1: It's not like he felt better and he got hurt
Speaker 1: on the last players. By the way, that's been his career.
Speaker 1: Like he's the guy that battles through things. Right. So
Speaker 1: the point that I'm making that I think Dave's making,
Speaker 1: and you know, we all can see that if that's
Speaker 1: the standard when you you're on the verge of having
Speaker 1: season ending surgery on your neck and you can finally
Speaker 1: get healthy, then yeah, he's gonna be right back to it.
Speaker 1: And I still think he's got four or five good
Speaker 1: years if he can, if this surgery really helps. It's
Speaker 1: all about health, yea, it is absolutely all about health,
Speaker 1: all right, real quick, before me in the show, let's
Speaker 1: goad and get some picks for this weekend's game, Cowboys
Speaker 1: versus Vikings. Dave e'rerope first. What happens this weekend? I think,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think they're gonna look better. I really
Speaker 1: think they've turned a corner and you know, we've put
Speaker 1: that spell of just awfulness behind us. But I still
Speaker 1: think this is a flawed football team. Obviously, how could
Speaker 1: they not be with all of these injuries, I mean
Speaker 1: across the board. I just think the Vikings basically have
Speaker 1: every advantage. I don't think the world of Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 1: but at this juncture, I think he's better than Andy Dalton.
Speaker 1: I think Dalvin Cook speaks for himself. The Vikings are
Speaker 1: at home, so I think it'll be a much more
Speaker 1: competitive game. But I'll still take the Vikings to win.
Speaker 1: Like twenty seven to twenty one sounds fair, okay, Amber,
Speaker 1: I'll try to be quick. I think that a win
Speaker 1: is coming for the Cowboys at some point. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be this game, though, maybe Thanksgiving. I
Speaker 1: think that the offense does played better, but at the
Speaker 1: same time, I don't trust the Cowboys defense to be
Speaker 1: able to stop this kind of running game. So I
Speaker 1: think the Vikings win, and I would say something like
Speaker 1: twenty eight seventeen around there. I agree with everybody. You know,
Speaker 1: the Vikings don't really scare you, but you know the
Speaker 1: Cowboys are the Cowboys. Do you know they scare you
Speaker 1: just by the way that they can play. I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna play better, but I don't see him winning this.
Speaker 1: I agree that a victory is on you know, it's
Speaker 1: got to happen at some point, but I don't think
Speaker 1: it's this week. I think the Vikings are actually playing
Speaker 1: better too, so that that doesn't help the Cowboys much.
Speaker 1: I think twenty three twenty was the score that I'm
Speaker 1: going with, and that means it's gonna come down to
Speaker 1: probably field goals. We'll see if Dan Bailey makes fun
Speaker 1: for them. But I go twenty three twenty all right.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be a really close game. I
Speaker 1: actually think Dallas is going to continue on the trajectory
Speaker 1: they've been on these last two games, where they've played
Speaker 1: better offensively and defensively. I do think there'll be some
Speaker 1: big runs for Dalvin Cook because you don't get away
Speaker 1: from games mainly unless you got a great defense. You're
Speaker 1: not going to get into a game with the Minnesota
Speaker 1: Vikings and not have Dalvin Cook hit you for a
Speaker 1: couple of big plays. However, I think on the whole,
Speaker 1: I actually think it's gonna be a little upset. I
Speaker 1: think the Cowboys get to win this week. I think
Speaker 1: they win twenty four twenty three, a very very close game.
Speaker 1: I think they played better, and that's the key. I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna be playing better than they've been playing,
Speaker 1: and I think it's going to continue with what we've
Speaker 1: seen these last two weeks. I don't think that's an aberration.
Speaker 1: I think this team is actually getting better, and I
Speaker 1: think this will be the moment when we start to say, Okay,
Speaker 1: now maybe they're turning a corner. Now, let's see what
Speaker 1: happens down the stretching. If they can get on a
Speaker 1: bit of a run, regardless of what happens with the playoffs,
Speaker 1: Can they get on a bit of a run so
Speaker 1: that you can restore a little bit of faith in
Speaker 1: the fact that they hired this whole coaching staff and
Speaker 1: you were expecting better, expecting different. All Right, we appreciate you, guys, Jonas.
Speaker 1: We'll be back on Monday. We'll tell you what went
Speaker 1: right and what went wrong for the Cowboys. So then,
Speaker 1: for Nick Eatman, Dave helm and Amber Garcia, I'm Derek Eagleson.
Speaker 1: This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot
Speaker 1: Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys
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