Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Let's go. Are you
Speaker 1: ready for a break? Yes? Are you ready for a break? Absolutely?
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 Wednesday, September sixteenth, twenty twenty, Season sixteen, episode
Speaker 1: number twenty four. Welcome to another edition of The Break.
Speaker 1: We are live from the s WBC Board studios at
Speaker 1: the Star. We've got Dave Amber at the Star as
Speaker 1: well in different locations. Also have our special guests Bucky Brooks,
Speaker 1: who is joining us again this week. He'll be on
Speaker 1: with us every week on Wednesdays and Thursdays. He'll give
Speaker 1: us some analysis on the upcoming opponent. This week, obviously,
Speaker 1: we're talking about the Atlanta Falcons. A little later in
Speaker 1: the show, though, we'll have a few things we got
Speaker 1: to get into. We got some transactions that the Cowboys
Speaker 1: made yesterday, a little report that just came out that
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk a little bit about in the second
Speaker 1: segment as well. And then we'll have a little bit
Speaker 1: more conversation later in the show around the Cowboys defense
Speaker 1: and what we saw from them last week and how
Speaker 1: they prepare for next week. So no further Ado. Let's
Speaker 1: welcome in Bucky Brooks from NFL Network. Bucky, Welcome to
Speaker 1: the show, hey man, thanks for having me on. All right,
Speaker 1: let's let's jump right in. I had a couple of
Speaker 1: questions for you. I'm gonna start with kind of a big,
Speaker 1: big picture question for you. Just as you look at
Speaker 1: the Atlanta offense, talk to me about what you think
Speaker 1: is their greatest strength, and then what you think is
Speaker 1: their greatest weakness. Their best strength, the biggest strength, and
Speaker 1: their skill players. They are loaded at the perimeter positions,
Speaker 1: three ward receivers that can play Calvin Riley, Julio Jones,
Speaker 1: Russell Gage has emerged, Tid Gurley in the bad Feel
Speaker 1: when healthy is one of the best running backs that
Speaker 1: you're seeing. And then you have a former MVP and
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan, so their offense is loaded with a fireprower.
Speaker 1: I would say the biggest weakness is upfront. They have
Speaker 1: struggled in the past being able to dominate people at
Speaker 1: the point of attack in the trenches. They can be
Speaker 1: overwhelmed at times, and even though they fancy themselves as
Speaker 1: wanting to be a physical offense, they're a little more
Speaker 1: finesse in the way they're constructed at the line of scrimmage. Now,
Speaker 1: after week one of watching this first game of the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: obviously we notice many many struggles in the defense. What
Speaker 1: is something an area that the Cowboys can actually improve
Speaker 1: within just one week when they get ready to face
Speaker 1: the Falcons. I think the big thing Nanda mcnolan has
Speaker 1: trotted out the guys and he understands what he has
Speaker 1: from a defensive standpoint. They have to dominate each and
Speaker 1: every week up front at the line of scrimmage. The
Speaker 1: Marcus Lawrence has to be a five star player. He
Speaker 1: is expected to be the best passion should they need
Speaker 1: him to play at that level, because he is the
Speaker 1: guy that sets the table all this. Smith gave tremendous
Speaker 1: effort a week ago. He is heavy handed, he's solid
Speaker 1: against the run. Everything Griffin is still settling in. But
Speaker 1: the biggest area where the Cowboys have to improve, they
Speaker 1: have to dominate at the line of scrimmage because you
Speaker 1: don't expect the secondary to hold up each and every week.
Speaker 1: With the young guys did they have, So they have
Speaker 1: to be able to disrupt the timing and rhythm of
Speaker 1: the passing game by really controlling everything at the point
Speaker 1: of attack. Who's the best receiver from Alabama in the NFL?
Speaker 1: I mean, I think this is easy. I think Julio
Speaker 1: Jones is the prototypical number one receiver that everyone wants.
Speaker 1: He's big, he's fast, he's physical, he's an outstanding route runner.
Speaker 1: He's a playmaker with the ball in his hands. I
Speaker 1: think the only thing that you can knock who your
Speaker 1: Jones on is For whatever reason, in Atlanta, they haven't
Speaker 1: found a way to get him enough touchdowns. He hasn't
Speaker 1: been the dominant player in the red zone. Based on
Speaker 1: the skill level, you would think that he would be
Speaker 1: a touchdown waiting to happen. It just hasn't worked out
Speaker 1: for him in Atlanta. But look, man, there's the guy
Speaker 1: averages one hundred and seventeen yards per game. He is
Speaker 1: hard to deal with. When he gets it going, he's phenomenal.
Speaker 1: He's a phenomenal player. Who second, Bucky I was just
Speaker 1: gonna follow up, who's the second best from Alabama? Mary Cooper? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, like It's funny because the Mary Cooper would
Speaker 1: have to be there because he is more established and
Speaker 1: more consistent than I would say Calvin Really Calvin really
Speaker 1: kind of plays in the sidecar. But Mary Cooper. Mary
Speaker 1: Cooper is a fantastic player. I think the expectations are
Speaker 1: always very lofty for him because of where he is now.
Speaker 1: He's with the Dallas Cowboys, He's on the big stage.
Speaker 1: People expect Cowboy number one receivers to be exceptional players.
Speaker 1: But I think when you look at him and look
Speaker 1: at his body at work, it's hard to dispute that
Speaker 1: he's not a phenomenal player, that he's not a top
Speaker 1: ten wide receiver. Bucky, I want to go back to
Speaker 1: what you brought up about the Cowboys pass rush, which yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that is gonna be how the defense succeeds.
Speaker 1: I agree with you, but the Rams didn't really give
Speaker 1: him a chance. If you watch that game on Sunday,
Speaker 1: I mean, Jared Goff was getting rid of the ball
Speaker 1: very quickly. For the most part. When I think of Atlanta,
Speaker 1: I think of Matt Ryan taking deep shots down field,
Speaker 1: which you know, maybe that helps the Cowboys, but is
Speaker 1: that accurate or are we going to see this again
Speaker 1: where Atlanta doesn't even give the Cowboys pass for us
Speaker 1: a chance to get going. It's funny that you said that.
Speaker 1: When you studied the numbers from Matt Ryan's performance against
Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks, he really struggled on passes air yards
Speaker 1: fewer than ten yards, meaning a quick rhythm pass game.
Speaker 1: For whatever reason, the first half against the Seahawks, he
Speaker 1: was right about a fifty percent completion mark, didn't really
Speaker 1: have a lot of success. Now, when the Seahawks backed
Speaker 1: off at the end of the game in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter and kind of played that two minute defense, he
Speaker 1: was eleven for eleven. But the numbers are deceiving. But yes,
Speaker 1: the way the Rams attacked the Cowboys, the quick rhythm throws,
Speaker 1: the bubble screens, the quick els, the movement passes, where
Speaker 1: they neutralized the pass for us by really getting the
Speaker 1: ball out in under two and a half seconds. That
Speaker 1: is the way teams will approach to Dallas Cowboys. And
Speaker 1: so that puts the onus on the corners. As much
Speaker 1: as we talk about them, as much as we want
Speaker 1: to see them get more interceptions, they're going to have
Speaker 1: to walk up and put their hands on wide receivers
Speaker 1: to disrupt the timing, and so Mike Nolan may have
Speaker 1: to get out of his comfort zone. He may have
Speaker 1: to play a little more man to man, a little
Speaker 1: more pressure to try and disrupt the rhythm of the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Falcons passing him Bucky Against the Seahawks, the Falcons
Speaker 1: put up five hundred and twenty two yards of total offense,
Speaker 1: second in the NFL last week in Week one, Why
Speaker 1: did they end up losing? Like that's a lot of yards.
Speaker 1: Obviously they only scored twenty five points, But why did
Speaker 1: they end up losing after having such a what looks
Speaker 1: like such a productive offensive day Because they were basically
Speaker 1: eating potato chips, a lot of empty calories, a lot
Speaker 1: of empty calories. In the fourth quarter, they were chasing,
Speaker 1: they were chasing points in the fourth quarter. That's really
Speaker 1: when at Ryan got going. But early in the game,
Speaker 1: this was a very competitive game. And what happened They
Speaker 1: went for it on down, they were stopped. The swac
Speaker 1: yards came back and kind of stretched it out. But
Speaker 1: this game, in the third quart fourth quarter, it was
Speaker 1: twenty one twelve, it was pretty tight. The Seeyaks had
Speaker 1: a couple of things go They were and stretched out.
Speaker 1: Then in the fourth quarter it was previous defense Matt
Speaker 1: Ryan kind of throwing it down the yard. They were
Speaker 1: still throwing the ball with less than a minute left,
Speaker 1: and so that's where the yards come. I think the
Speaker 1: big thing when it comes to the Falcons, how are
Speaker 1: they going to play dirt cutter? Can't put the ball
Speaker 1: in Matt Ryan's hands and say fifty four times and
Speaker 1: think the DEA's a winning recipe. Todd Gurley has to
Speaker 1: be a bigger factor, and will they be committed to
Speaker 1: running the ball to kind of balance out this offense.
Speaker 1: The way the La Rams were able to win, they
Speaker 1: ran the ball, they were very patient and it was
Speaker 1: a ball control approach. They played with their offense to
Speaker 1: keep Dallas's offense on the sideline. And more teams are
Speaker 1: going to do that because when you really look at
Speaker 1: the Boys offense, it is really an unstoppable unit. They
Speaker 1: only can stop themselves, so you have to play a
Speaker 1: little keep away to keep them on the sidelines. The
Speaker 1: Atlanta Falcons will probably take some of that approach to
Speaker 1: try and take some of that out of the game. Now,
Speaker 1: something that a lot of fans keep bringing up is
Speaker 1: the Cowboys run defense and how unefficient they've been last
Speaker 1: year and even a little this year. In this first game,
Speaker 1: when you speak about the Falcons, do you see this
Speaker 1: being a problem with the running game that they got
Speaker 1: going on over there? Well, I mean, here's the thing
Speaker 1: about the National Football League. Once you put stuff on
Speaker 1: tape that you can't defend, you're going to have to
Speaker 1: defend it each and every week until you show that
Speaker 1: you can stop it. So the Rams are gonna take
Speaker 1: I mean, the Falcons are gonna take what the Rams
Speaker 1: did and they're gonna put some of those things into play.
Speaker 1: They're gonna run the outside zone. They're gonna continue to
Speaker 1: see if they can pound in it. If the Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys are disciplined enough to stop it early, If they
Speaker 1: stop it early in the game, you won't see it again.
Speaker 1: But if the Cowboys don't stop the run early in
Speaker 1: the game, the first quarter of Russian yards really matter.
Speaker 1: If they don't stop it, they're gonna get a heavy
Speaker 1: dose of the run game. You can't allow a team
Speaker 1: to have forty rushing attempts too many Russian attempts. You
Speaker 1: really got to cut it off, and you have to
Speaker 1: get the game where you're dictating part of the reason
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. I don't think they played a bad defensive game,
Speaker 1: but they never could control the game because they couldn't
Speaker 1: get the Rams and lawn yards third down situations, third
Speaker 1: and two, third and three, third and four. It's even Stephen,
Speaker 1: it's easy for the play caller to do it. So
Speaker 1: against the Rams, they have to win first and second
Speaker 1: down to force the ramp force the Falcons to throw
Speaker 1: in obvious passing downs. Buck yet did not see the
Speaker 1: Falcons game. I'm curious though they didn't go for it
Speaker 1: on fourth downs. Should they have kicked the field goal instead?
Speaker 1: And are they still talking about that in Atlanta all week? Well,
Speaker 1: so here's the thing where the Falcons. The Falcons were
Speaker 1: oh for four on fourth down attempts, and so they
Speaker 1: had a fake punt where they got the first down,
Speaker 1: but the guy fumbled it, gave it back to the
Speaker 1: Seahawks and read his own territory. They went for it
Speaker 1: on a fourth and six, didn't get it in the
Speaker 1: red zone, and then they had a couple of other failures,
Speaker 1: and so yeah, they're disappointed because they were trying to
Speaker 1: be aggressive. But the thing about being aggressive when it
Speaker 1: doesn't go your way, you have to answer for it.
Speaker 1: And so fourth down would be a huge game considering
Speaker 1: both teams tried to be aggressive and it didn't go
Speaker 1: their way. To be interesting to see how those situations
Speaker 1: play out on Sunday. But yeah, you kind of touched
Speaker 1: on this when you were answering Amber's question. But and this,
Speaker 1: it feels like it goes back to last season with
Speaker 1: the Cowboys defense too, in the sense that, like, if
Speaker 1: you watch the game, it felt like they got dominated.
Speaker 1: You know, they gave up one hundred and fifty three
Speaker 1: rushing yards and they obviously lost the game. They also
Speaker 1: only allowed twenty points and they actually only allowed three
Speaker 1: point eight yards per carry. And I feel like the
Speaker 1: narrative here, and I'm not saying it's wrong, but people
Speaker 1: are dogging on the run defense, dogging on Jalen Smith
Speaker 1: for the way that he played between the linebackers and
Speaker 1: the defensive tackles. What did you see from them? How
Speaker 1: poorly or maybe not as poorly as we think. Did
Speaker 1: you think they played? I think outside of the first drive,
Speaker 1: I felt like the defense was pretty solid. The first drive.
Speaker 1: A couple of things happened the tempo that the Rams
Speaker 1: were operating, with the misdirection game that they were using,
Speaker 1: meaning the fly sweep action, with the zone and the
Speaker 1: counters and those things coming behind it, it can put
Speaker 1: your defenders in quicksand because you just don't know where
Speaker 1: to go. And I would give Sean McVay credit. He
Speaker 1: had them operating at a fast clip. He threw a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff at him. But really as well as
Speaker 1: the Rams looked like they were playing. At halftime, it
Speaker 1: was a fourteen thirteen lead for the Cowboys, And when
Speaker 1: you go back and you really look at the game,
Speaker 1: if the Cowboys kicked the field goal early in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, it's a twenty twenty ball game. And what
Speaker 1: you do is you now put the pressure back on
Speaker 1: Jared Goff to have to make plays. And so I
Speaker 1: may understand the gamble, but I would say the way
Speaker 1: the game was, it was an unnecessary gamble because it
Speaker 1: was an even game and the Rams hadn't generated any
Speaker 1: big place and so at some point you have to
Speaker 1: think Jared Goff is going to give you another opportunity
Speaker 1: to get a turnover, and so they kind of let
Speaker 1: the Rams off the hook by going for it and
Speaker 1: not getting it. That's it's things to hear you say that.
Speaker 1: I can see the smirk on Derek's face. You knew
Speaker 1: although here smiling about it, you know I was over smiling.
Speaker 1: I had a few more questions for you, though, Buckiet.
Speaker 1: It's kind of shocking to me that we've gone through
Speaker 1: all these questions and nobody still asked about Todd Gurley.
Speaker 1: He's a guy that obviously coming in the league was
Speaker 1: very very highly towed. It had some years of really
Speaker 1: great production, and then over the last couple of years
Speaker 1: experienced a lot of injuries. Does he look like he's
Speaker 1: back to one hundred percent at this point or is
Speaker 1: he still battling some things that just are going to
Speaker 1: be a part of his game for the rest of
Speaker 1: the time he plays in the NFL. Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think the one thing that we don't know, we
Speaker 1: never would have a true sense of how he feels.
Speaker 1: On tape, he looked like the same guy that first drive,
Speaker 1: the first two drives that he had for the Falcons.
Speaker 1: He ripped off a couple of big runs at a
Speaker 1: team yard run where he looked at sprite as ever.
Speaker 1: The thing that Tyd Gurley has run up against he
Speaker 1: has play callers who prefer to pass the ball as
Speaker 1: opposed to run it. For whatever reason, he is a
Speaker 1: very talented back. But they get enamored with throwing the
Speaker 1: ball all over the yard and sometimes they forget about
Speaker 1: the running game. I do believe against the Cowboys the
Speaker 1: running game will be a big part of their recipe
Speaker 1: because they don't want to give the ball to Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott Ezekiel Elliott in that offense. So I would think
Speaker 1: that you would see Tyd Gurley touch it more. But
Speaker 1: I'll say this, When Todd Gurley gets it twenty times,
Speaker 1: his record, his team record is twenty twenty one. When
Speaker 1: he gets it twenty five times, he is undefeated. So
Speaker 1: to me, it's pretty simple. If this was a video game,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make sure that he gets it twenty or
Speaker 1: more times to see what happens. We'll see if Atlanta
Speaker 1: Falcons followed the script real quick. Before you let you go,
Speaker 1: one more question. Not many teams have had success defending
Speaker 1: Julio Jones over his career, But in the instances where
Speaker 1: he has been somewhat neutralized or at least kept in chet,
Speaker 1: what have those teams done? Man? You gotta commit to
Speaker 1: taking him away. You have to double team he's too
Speaker 1: good to play one on one, So you have to
Speaker 1: have a safety overtop. You have to play a little
Speaker 1: two man where the corner is trailing and playing underneath
Speaker 1: him and undercutting all the routes that he has. With
Speaker 1: a safety overtop, you have to make a concerted effort
Speaker 1: to take him away. The problem with the falcons, they're
Speaker 1: so good in other areas that they can work you with.
Speaker 1: Calvin Ridley, Russell Gage showed up and those things. But
Speaker 1: I think if you are a gamblerman, if you're Mike Nolan,
Speaker 1: you live with those other guys getting their yards. What
Speaker 1: you can't do is you can't let Julio Jones dominate
Speaker 1: this game. You have to figure out who do I
Speaker 1: want to take away. We've seen Julio Jones go for
Speaker 1: three hundred yards. He cannot be a factor. Make Calvin Ridley,
Speaker 1: make Russell Gage, make make hayten Hunter whatever you got,
Speaker 1: make those other Hayden Hurst, make those other guys do stuff.
Speaker 1: You can't let Julio Jones be the guy to beat you.
Speaker 1: All right, man, we appreciate you taking some time with
Speaker 1: us today. Another week of really great stuff. We'll have
Speaker 1: you back tomorrow talk a little bit about this Atlanta
Speaker 1: Falcons defense. We're gonna check our first break and we
Speaker 1: come back. We're gonna jump into some transactions. We're gonna
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about report out there on Sean
Speaker 1: Lee and maybe what his status is over the next
Speaker 1: few weeks. We'll talk about that when we come right back.
Speaker 1: This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. We're back in
Speaker 1: a tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's
Speaker 1: new Doctor Pepper and cream Soda. Let's take a listen,
Speaker 1: Doctor bad Cream Soda. Is he a newcombone that's music
Speaker 1: to my ears? Okay, doctor times, music to my ears
Speaker 1: and mouths New Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Delas, just
Speaker 1: do bay, I want to use what the pros use.
Speaker 1: How about the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys,
Speaker 1: Jack Black. Right now, you can get the Jack Black Starter,
Speaker 1: a curated collection of Cowboys locker room favorites, for just
Speaker 1: ten bucks with free shipping. The star includes four Jack
Speaker 1: Black skincare favorites, plus a full size and tents therapy
Speaker 1: lip bomb. Go to get Jack Black dot com, slash
Speaker 1: Cowboys and use the code word Team JB. That's get
Speaker 1: Jack Black dot com, slash Cowboys, the Jack Blackstarter ten
Speaker 1: Bucks free shipping since eighteen sixty five. Stetson Hats are
Speaker 1: American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson
Speaker 1: is proud to be on the field with America's team.
Speaker 1: Want to show your Texas and Team pride too, You
Speaker 1: can by purchasing your own Stetson. You can look just
Speaker 1: like how the flag guys do on field at every
Speaker 1: home game. Stetson hats the official crown of all self
Speaker 1: respecting Cowboys and your favorite football team. Get yours today
Speaker 1: at Shop dot Dallas Cowboys dot com or at Stetson
Speaker 1: dot com. It's funny as we travel places, often we
Speaker 1: find the places we want to travel aren't really places
Speaker 1: at all. They're people, their grandparents, moms, old friends, and
Speaker 1: new nephews. At American Airlines, we've been using enhanced cleaning
Speaker 1: measures so you can feel confident every step until you
Speaker 1: get to them. So as always, our people can't wait
Speaker 1: to take you to yours. American Airlines, you are why
Speaker 1: we fly back to the break. Elevate your work environment
Speaker 1: at Formation at the Star, offering a unique workspace amenities,
Speaker 1: with a variety of membership options including private offices, dedicated
Speaker 1: desks in open workspace, bookachure, and formation at the Star
Speaker 1: dot Com. Welcome back. It is the second segment of
Speaker 1: the Break. We are live from s WBC Morig Studios
Speaker 1: at the Star. Nick and Amber joining us as well
Speaker 1: from the Star in other offices we've got. We just
Speaker 1: finished up with Bucky Brooks, really good segment. If you
Speaker 1: didn't get a chance to check it out, make sure
Speaker 1: you go back and check it out. He had a
Speaker 1: lot of good nuggets about that Atlanta Falcon's offense. Tomorrow
Speaker 1: again we will have him on the show. He will
Speaker 1: probably be in the third segment tomorrow though, but he
Speaker 1: will be on the show talking about the Atlanta defense
Speaker 1: versus the Cowboys offense. Nick run me down some I
Speaker 1: know there were some transactions at the Cowboys did yesterday.
Speaker 1: They signed a couple of players and just once you
Speaker 1: kind of run down the players and maybe what you
Speaker 1: think this means relative to the players that they signed.
Speaker 1: Let me find the list here because I've lost it,
Speaker 1: just because there was a bunch. There's a bunch going on.
Speaker 1: I mean, they signed off the practice squad of the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: They signed a tackle, Alex Light. They signed a linebacker
Speaker 1: Rashad Smith, off the Bears practice squad. I think those
Speaker 1: are the two biggest things. They did activate a Brandon
Speaker 1: Carr again from the practice squad, still learning what those
Speaker 1: rules mean. I thought he was already on the team.
Speaker 1: I guess he gets to get moved back to the
Speaker 1: practice squad. For those two that they are allowed to
Speaker 1: bring up on Saturday, I get the biggest part. And
Speaker 1: then they signed some other guys to the practice squad,
Speaker 1: placed Cam Irving on i Art's return, same with Jarwin
Speaker 1: and Vanderesh. I think the biggest part is that they
Speaker 1: they signed a tackle and a linebacker that they are
Speaker 1: better than the guys they have so um France Bernard,
Speaker 1: I guess is not really in the equation for them
Speaker 1: to play. They just want them to develop. Rachard Smith,
Speaker 1: I guess is a better option. Alex Light tackle this also,
Speaker 1: you know guy that they feel like we're ready to play,
Speaker 1: but you've got they've got seventy two hours they've got
Speaker 1: to pass, you know, I think three tests or so
Speaker 1: just to just to get in the door. So they're
Speaker 1: not ready to play right now, but just ready to play.
Speaker 1: At some point. You guys know how those rules work.
Speaker 1: As far as obviously, when you sign again, you sign
Speaker 1: a gap for the practice squad of another team, you
Speaker 1: have to sign them to your active roster. You can't
Speaker 1: take them and move them to your practice squad. Once
Speaker 1: they are though established on your roster, can you then
Speaker 1: move them back to the practice squad. The rule used
Speaker 1: to be three weeks. They have to be on your Yeah,
Speaker 1: sorry they yeah, Nick? Is what Nick said. They have
Speaker 1: to be on the active roster for three weeks before
Speaker 1: you can do anything with them. I don't know. I mean, again,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of rules that have changed, so I'm
Speaker 1: not one hundred percent sure about that. I would imagine
Speaker 1: that is still the case. You can't just be moving.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine they would change that because then you
Speaker 1: can just willy nilly poach people however you want without
Speaker 1: any repercussions. They changed it, I have to imagine that's
Speaker 1: the same. If they changed that rule, it would be
Speaker 1: more weeks that you have to stay. I mean, because
Speaker 1: I mean, now you're moving over here and I've got
Speaker 1: a test over here. Nah, I bet you that's still
Speaker 1: the same, if not more, But um, you know, the
Speaker 1: cam irving to IR to return. You know, that's a
Speaker 1: new rule. You can put as many guys as you want,
Speaker 1: and they can and you can bring them back as
Speaker 1: many guys as you want to. And you know, we
Speaker 1: thought that was the case for Lyle. He still might
Speaker 1: be We thought that was the case for Sean Lee. Well,
Speaker 1: speaking of which still was a report. Thank you Nick
Speaker 1: for the setup. There was a report from Jane Slater
Speaker 1: that came out about twenty minutes ago where she said
Speaker 1: that a linebacker Sean Lee is expected to be out
Speaker 1: six weeks after undergoing hernia surgery last week in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: That means he wouldn't be back until mid October. M
Speaker 1: guys concerned not with what weeks from now, from today
Speaker 1: or six weeks from when he was initially placed on IR.
Speaker 1: It would probably be from the time he had the surgery,
Speaker 1: which is which is according to this report, it happened
Speaker 1: last week. Not sure on the timing of this, and
Speaker 1: again these are this is her report, not sure. The
Speaker 1: team has not made an official statement, so not sure
Speaker 1: if that's officially what happened or actually what happened, But
Speaker 1: just according to this report, six weeks, which would get
Speaker 1: him back about mid October. It doesn't matter where, like when,
Speaker 1: what the timeline is. If he's not ready to go
Speaker 1: two weeks from now, that's concerning, which that was always
Speaker 1: going to be a possibility. And if you think about
Speaker 1: the timelines, Mike McCarthy said today, probably four to six
Speaker 1: weeks for cam Irving and so now we're here in
Speaker 1: you know, maybe six weeks for Sean Lee. So it
Speaker 1: makes sense that they would go get Smith and Light.
Speaker 1: You know, they're not going to be able to help
Speaker 1: on Sunday, but they can help you account for that,
Speaker 1: you know, over the next month or so. But hell, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's concerning. Yeah, I mean, all of a sudden, these
Speaker 1: three positions you throw in the tight end with it
Speaker 1: history positions, I think are are really really problems with
Speaker 1: this team because I don't think they have number one,
Speaker 1: a person that could step into those roles that have
Speaker 1: now been been lost, and even their depth, I don't
Speaker 1: think they have much depth at those positions. And so
Speaker 1: I think all three of them I'm concerned about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just I mean I'm more concerned. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm concerned about that. With with Chun Lee, I'm just
Speaker 1: kind of frustrated by that, I mean, did that help
Speaker 1: the Rams? I mean, did that help you? I mean, like,
Speaker 1: just just say it. I mean, this is this is
Speaker 1: a prominent player who's been in the Pro Bowl twice,
Speaker 1: he's one of the team leaders. He's having surgery in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: I mean Terrence Newman had the same surgery surgery in
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, and it was reported right then.
Speaker 1: I mean, who cares? I mean, I just don't understand
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. Maybe during the week if you
Speaker 1: don't want to say that a player is playing so
Speaker 1: much and it's a different running back or a different quarterback,
Speaker 1: I get it. But you've got you know, you've got
Speaker 1: a a really good player and a good person that
Speaker 1: is working. You know, he's worked so hard to get
Speaker 1: through injuries. He's got another injury. Why don't I just
Speaker 1: say it? I'm not I'm missing that part. I don't
Speaker 1: get it. He's going to Philadelphia for surgery. That's not
Speaker 1: the end of the world to report that. I just
Speaker 1: don't know why they wouldn't do that. Yeah, am I
Speaker 1: missing something here? I mean what I mean, obviously there
Speaker 1: are there are things that helps Sean McVay, Like, oh man,
Speaker 1: we thought Sean Lee was going to be out there
Speaker 1: but Philly. But I do think that they would probably
Speaker 1: make the argument, right or wrong. I think they would
Speaker 1: probably make the argument that, you know, we don't necessarily
Speaker 1: need every team knowing that, because the longer we hold
Speaker 1: that information, there may be another team that's thinking of
Speaker 1: they're trying to look for I mean, sorry, linebackers on
Speaker 1: another practice squad that may if they know that we're
Speaker 1: looking for him, it kind of maybe accelerates that. Right,
Speaker 1: It's those kind of things we're Again what we all
Speaker 1: know from covering this team and covering the NFL is
Speaker 1: coaches live in a whole different world, like their mindset is,
Speaker 1: it's just the whole different world, and the things they
Speaker 1: worry about are things that a lot of points that
Speaker 1: would be you worry about something like you got much
Speaker 1: bigger things to worry about. It If you're thinking that
Speaker 1: far ahead, I mean, there's a problem there because your
Speaker 1: focus should be somewhere else. Well, I think it's it's
Speaker 1: all a part of it. And again, it may not
Speaker 1: be the same person. Maybe this is people who are
Speaker 1: more responsible for personnel who would prefer that not to
Speaker 1: be out there than maybe the head coach all I'm
Speaker 1: saying is we know from covering this team and covering
Speaker 1: the NFL, they aren't the only people that think like that.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of teams around the NFL that
Speaker 1: try very hard to keep everything behind closed doors because
Speaker 1: the point is they don't want to give anything away
Speaker 1: and possibly risk that they lose something that they want
Speaker 1: to be able to or some advantage that they would
Speaker 1: have in whatever decision that they want to make. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just part of It's part of how football coaches
Speaker 1: do it, you know. Yeah, the same coaches that still
Speaker 1: cover their mouth when they when they try to call
Speaker 1: play with a mask on and they're covering right Like,
Speaker 1: It's just that's how football coaches are. Football personnel people
Speaker 1: are part of ball coach though, Yeah, maybe it's not.
Speaker 1: But I'm not reflecting so right, Dave. I was just
Speaker 1: gonna be it's not reflecting in the standings through one week,
Speaker 1: so I'll see how it goes. That's going for you.
Speaker 1: Those those numberless numberless practice, numberless practice there that didn't
Speaker 1: really help out too much. But anyway, Nah, all right,
Speaker 1: here's what I want to do. Um, let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and take our final break. We're gonna take it a
Speaker 1: little early. When we come back, I want to dive
Speaker 1: into the Cowboys defense had some interesting numbers coming out
Speaker 1: of that first week of games, and I want to
Speaker 1: throw them at you guys and get some opinions on
Speaker 1: what you think that maybe these things mean in the
Speaker 1: grand scheme of things for the Cowboys defense. We'll come
Speaker 1: right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio Sam's
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five. Stetson Hats are American maid with pride
Speaker 1: right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be
Speaker 1: on the field with America's team. Want to show your
Speaker 1: Texas and team pride too? You can by purchasing your
Speaker 1: own Stetson. You can look just like how the flag
Speaker 1: guys do on field at every home game. Stetson Hats
Speaker 1: the official crown of all self respecting Cowboys and your
Speaker 1: favorite football team. Get yours today at shop dot Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys dot com or at Stetson dot Com. I'm Jay Novachek,
Speaker 1: former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys. Back in the day.
Speaker 1: I was the guy who always got the tough yards
Speaker 1: and that's why I run with John Deer today. In fact,
Speaker 1: I have a John Deer three zero twenty five E
Speaker 1: tractor that can handle any yardwork I need to do,
Speaker 1: even the tough yards way out back. So if you
Speaker 1: have one acre or a thousand, John Deer has the
Speaker 1: equipment that's just right for you. Visit a John Deer
Speaker 1: dealer today and run with us. We are the official
Speaker 1: tractor provider of your Dallas Cowboys. Want to use what
Speaker 1: the pros use? How about the official men's skincare brand
Speaker 1: of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black. Right now you can
Speaker 1: get the Jack Black Starter, a curated collection of cowboys
Speaker 1: locker room favorites, for just ten bucks with free shipping.
Speaker 1: The Starter includes four Jack Clack skincare favorites, plus a
Speaker 1: full sized and tense therapy lip bomb. Go to get
Speaker 1: Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys and use the code
Speaker 1: word team Jay. That's get Jack Black dot com slash
Speaker 1: Cowboys The Jack Black Starter ten bucks, free shipping. We're
Speaker 1: back in a tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds.
Speaker 1: It's new doctor pepper and cream Soda. Let's take a listen,
Speaker 1: Doctor cream Soda. Is he a new Combone's music to
Speaker 1: my ears? Okay, doctor times, music to my ears and mouths,
Speaker 1: New Doctor Pepper and cream Soda Delas just do Bad.
Speaker 1: Back to the Break, Welcome Back. It is the final
Speaker 1: segment of The Break live from the s WBC Mortgage
Speaker 1: studios at the Star. We got David Amber also here
Speaker 1: at the Star. We're talking Cowboys versus Falcons this segment.
Speaker 1: What I want to do is I have some some
Speaker 1: interesting little tidbits about this defense that I noticed from
Speaker 1: the game last week, and I want to throw those
Speaker 1: out at you, and then we're gonna talk about some
Speaker 1: of the things that they Oh what those things mean
Speaker 1: in your minds? Last week, Cowboys were twelve in scoring defense,
Speaker 1: only allowing twenty points. Buck You mentioned that in the
Speaker 1: segment we did with him about the fact that even
Speaker 1: though they gave up a lot of yards, didn't give
Speaker 1: up a lot of points. They were twenty eight though
Speaker 1: in the number of yards allowed at four hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty two. Did we mis evaluate how they played because
Speaker 1: it looked so bad at the start, knowing the fact
Speaker 1: that they did bend quite a bit as far as
Speaker 1: the number of yards it gave up, but did still
Speaker 1: hold this team to twenty points. Let's start first with you,
Speaker 1: Nick Well, I just they didn't make enough plays. I
Speaker 1: mean that's the same goes with the offense. I mean that, yeah,
Speaker 1: they had their moments that they got into turnover, but
Speaker 1: when they needed to make a stop with them pushed
Speaker 1: back like that, that's what that McCarthy was counting on.
Speaker 1: He was counting on that. He was like, you know,
Speaker 1: if we don't make it here, we at least we
Speaker 1: got him pushed back. But until they weren't pushed back anymore.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's not just Dak and the offense
Speaker 1: that didn't have them up with clutch moments. It was
Speaker 1: the It was the defense as well. So in a
Speaker 1: game like that, I mean, they needed to be better.
Speaker 1: It's not necessarily their fault. They thought maybe they thought
Speaker 1: the offense would scored more points, but they didn't. When
Speaker 1: they were really counted on to go make a play,
Speaker 1: they didn't. They didn't make it, at least not with
Speaker 1: enough time. The Rams got too far and flipped the
Speaker 1: field before they got the ball back. Hamber, dave you
Speaker 1: go ahead first, before I opened my mouth and started
Speaker 1: highly criticized. Yes, no, Derek, I'm freaking buying it. Derek Um.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, give some credit where it's due
Speaker 1: the Rams scored seven points in the second half. Like
Speaker 1: the defense did become a little bit more reliable as
Speaker 1: the game went along. But this isn't one of those
Speaker 1: circumstances where you can say, oh, if you cut out
Speaker 1: the one long run. They did this, like they allowed
Speaker 1: the Rams to run twenty five plays I think in
Speaker 1: the first like eight minutes of the game. Like the
Speaker 1: Rams just absolutely marched the field twice in a row completely,
Speaker 1: and that alters the flow of the entire game because
Speaker 1: it's gonna wear your defense out, it's gonna swing time
Speaker 1: and possession. It's obviously going to give the Rams two
Speaker 1: opportunities and scoring right off the bat. Like, you can't
Speaker 1: do that. You can't. You cannot just be that inept
Speaker 1: for that long to start a game. So yeah, they
Speaker 1: definitely got their act together. Um, but that doesn't that
Speaker 1: doesn't do enough to excuse how unprepared they were for
Speaker 1: the start of the game. Am I the only one
Speaker 1: who thinks that the Rams didn't play that well either? Like,
Speaker 1: that's how I see it right now, I see it that. Yes,
Speaker 1: obviously the Rams got the win and they made it happen.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, looking at the
Speaker 1: game as a whole. I didn't think the offense did
Speaker 1: that great of a job. So in my mind, I
Speaker 1: don't think that the Cowboys deep offense where trying to
Speaker 1: stop this amazing offense that's just eating up yards and
Speaker 1: scoring points. I think that it's just they could have
Speaker 1: done a lot better. They didn't. Obviously, the score doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily fully reflect all their faults there that they made.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I just don't think that
Speaker 1: we're playing against this great, amazing team. You know. I'll
Speaker 1: say this though, Amber, I kind of disagree with you
Speaker 1: a bit on that. I do think the Rams play
Speaker 1: well for the game plan that they had. I think
Speaker 1: their game plan coming in was, we want to control
Speaker 1: the clock, which means that we're gonna play this short,
Speaker 1: quick game, and that means that they're gonna be some
Speaker 1: drives that they're gonna stall out. They're gonna be some drives.
Speaker 1: We'll drive the field. We'll get a touchdown, there'll be
Speaker 1: someone we'll drive the field, we'll get a field goal.
Speaker 1: The point is, if we keep their offense off the
Speaker 1: field and we keep their defense on the field as
Speaker 1: the game wears on, we think we can come away
Speaker 1: with more points than they can because they are a
Speaker 1: volume offense. So I think they actually played perfectly within
Speaker 1: the context of what they have to do. Now, will
Speaker 1: that work against every team the team's got a good defense,
Speaker 1: probably not, But a team like this where the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are a little limited on defense, I think it was
Speaker 1: a perfect and especially having such a great offense, I
Speaker 1: think it was a really great game plan. I think
Speaker 1: they played it well. What do you guys think it
Speaker 1: worked for them? I just I just I feel like
Speaker 1: I saw mistakes that they made that had had their
Speaker 1: game being a lot more clean, they would have been
Speaker 1: a lot better. And I guess that can apply to
Speaker 1: everyone in the NFL, but I just feel that the
Speaker 1: Rams didn't give the best that they could. But regardless,
Speaker 1: it worked on their benefit and they made it work
Speaker 1: and won the game. But the way I saw it,
Speaker 1: I feel like they had the ability to play a
Speaker 1: lot better than they did. I gotcha, I think. I mean,
Speaker 1: if the Rams had played up to their potential, they
Speaker 1: should have had that game in hand with five minutes
Speaker 1: to play. You think about obviously, they missed an easy
Speaker 1: field goal and then Sean McVay made two or three
Speaker 1: really questionable decisions that I thought killed a couple of drives.
Speaker 1: I mean, credit to the Cowboys for stopping it, but
Speaker 1: I don't know why in the hell you run a
Speaker 1: toss dive on third and short, and I don't know
Speaker 1: why you don't go for it with the way that
Speaker 1: you were playing when you have fourth and short. I
Speaker 1: think the ball was pretty close to midfield. So I
Speaker 1: agree with you the Rams. They could have played better,
Speaker 1: but they played well enough to win. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: in Week one you probably saw that around the league
Speaker 1: that there are a lot of teams that probably could
Speaker 1: have played a little bit better without having preseason games.
Speaker 1: But again, I think they played played within the context
Speaker 1: of what their game plan was, and I think they
Speaker 1: executed it pretty well. Here's a question from standpoint of
Speaker 1: long term. Do you think that in most weeks, if
Speaker 1: the Cowboys defense can hold to twenty, the Cowboys will
Speaker 1: be a successful team overall? Nicholas start with you, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think so. I mean, I'd like to
Speaker 1: think the offense is going to get in gearing and
Speaker 1: get and get better. You'd like to say that, you know,
Speaker 1: the injuries will help getting you know, if you can
Speaker 1: get some of those guys back on the offensive line,
Speaker 1: get Layout Collins back. Obviously, you got to figure out
Speaker 1: what you're gonna do it tight end. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: think I think twenty is a pretty good number there.
Speaker 1: If you know, for this team, they can they can
Speaker 1: get I think the offense is shown that they would
Speaker 1: be able to get more than that. But you know
Speaker 1: the Rams to what they were saying about the Rams,
Speaker 1: you know they they live off their defense. I mean
Speaker 1: they have the best defensive player in the NFL, and
Speaker 1: so you know, I think, you know, going for it
Speaker 1: on fourth down or not going for it, it's like, well,
Speaker 1: we rely on our defense. And I think McCarthy's still
Speaker 1: trying to figure out his team. I think he was
Speaker 1: relying on that defense to stop him down there and
Speaker 1: it didn't happen. So he's gonna we hear it all
Speaker 1: the time. Brian brought Us says it once a week.
Speaker 1: You gotta coaches have to know their team, they have
Speaker 1: to trust their team. He's still trying to figure out
Speaker 1: what he's got on his team. Amber twenty points enough,
Speaker 1: I think so absolutely. I think that that just it's
Speaker 1: gonna depend on the offense and then doing their part
Speaker 1: scoring points. I think that seventeen points for this offense.
Speaker 1: Obviously it's not enough, but looking at the talent that
Speaker 1: they have, I still believe that they should be able
Speaker 1: to score a lot more than they did in this game.
Speaker 1: So at the end of the day, right now, I
Speaker 1: think that they'll be able to create the right balance
Speaker 1: there to get wins. But yeah, twenty points, if the
Speaker 1: defense can hold them to that, I think it'll be fine. Dave.
Speaker 1: If twenty points isn't enough, then what are we even
Speaker 1: doing here? Like? Why? Like, just if twenty points isn't
Speaker 1: enough on a regular basis, just let me know now
Speaker 1: and I'll take an early vacation. I'm so serious. Because
Speaker 1: the quarterback wants forty mill, the running backs make a
Speaker 1: ninety mill, the offensive line has been to a billion
Speaker 1: Pro Bowls. One of the receivers is up for is
Speaker 1: on one hundred mill and then a first round pick. Like,
Speaker 1: how is twenty points not enough? This team should be
Speaker 1: scoring at least three touchdowns on a reliable basis. They
Speaker 1: should be flirting with thirty more often than not. And
Speaker 1: you know this guy's not falling because that didn't happen
Speaker 1: Week one, And honestly, I'm encouraged that I mean they
Speaker 1: didn't they didn't translate it into points because they couldn't
Speaker 1: convert third downs, But all of the hallmarks of a
Speaker 1: good offense were still there. I mean, Zeke looked great,
Speaker 1: Dak looked great, the receiver, the big three combined for
Speaker 1: two hundred receiving yards and that was with shoddy protection.
Speaker 1: So I'm still optimistic that they'll get there. But if
Speaker 1: this team can't reliably score twenty one or more points,
Speaker 1: then just let me know now so I can do
Speaker 1: something else. And I agree with that. I think at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, the question will be was
Speaker 1: the twenty points that the defense gave up? Was that
Speaker 1: because at one point there wasn't really a lot for
Speaker 1: like the Rams. He'd fact, they had to start airing
Speaker 1: it out like we saw with Atlanta here in their
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. And if they were in that kind of situation,
Speaker 1: would they give up a ton more points to a
Speaker 1: better offense? Right, That's the part that that does concern
Speaker 1: me a bit. But I think twenty points should be
Speaker 1: enough on most weeks. If this offense is what we
Speaker 1: think it's what it is, it should be. The thing is,
Speaker 1: who on the Rams offense is gonna make the Pro Bowl.
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody makes the Pro Bowl on that team.
Speaker 1: They have some guys that have the probably Woods. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's just a matter of they could. They could,
Speaker 1: but they probably won't. I mean, you gotta be one
Speaker 1: of the top four receivers. I don't think they will.
Speaker 1: We've seen it, We've seen it happen. Last one is
Speaker 1: it'll get a lot tougher for that defense, And it
Speaker 1: gets tougher in about four days now. They don't. It
Speaker 1: won't be as hard on on defense, I mean for
Speaker 1: their offense because they don't have Aaron Donald on every week.
Speaker 1: But I'm just saying it gets tougher than Jared Goff
Speaker 1: to Robert Woods. With Cam Acres running the ball these
Speaker 1: next two weeks, it's going to be tougher. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: disagree slightly. I mean I do agree, like defending Atlanta
Speaker 1: and Seattle is probably going to be tougher than what
Speaker 1: they went up against. But that offense was a machine
Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen and dealt with a lot of injuries
Speaker 1: last year. And I'll say it for the tenth time,
Speaker 1: I don't think the world of Jared Goff, but that
Speaker 1: combination of the continuity that they have, plus Sean McVeigh,
Speaker 1: that offense is a well oiled machine, like there ain't
Speaker 1: any shame and giving up, you know, four hundred yards
Speaker 1: to those guys. I mean that was the offense They
Speaker 1: went down to Mexico City against Kansas City and combined
Speaker 1: for like one hundred and fifty points. Like, those guys
Speaker 1: aren't slouches at all, So it will it will get tougher,
Speaker 1: but that's still a really good offense. All right. Let's
Speaker 1: move on to the next topic. Cowboys were twenty fourth
Speaker 1: in passing yards allowed with two hundred and sixty nine.
Speaker 1: There were twenty seven the rushing yards allows on one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty three. Which do you think is a
Speaker 1: bigger problem for the Cowboys defense as you see it
Speaker 1: right now, the run defense or their pass defense. Let's
Speaker 1: start first with you, Dave pass because I mean, Jalen
Speaker 1: Smith deserves plenty of criticism, but one strength of his
Speaker 1: game is defending the run. DeMarcus Lawrence is good against
Speaker 1: the run. Everson Griffin and you know, like I brought
Speaker 1: up with Bucky, they gave up a lot of rushing yards,
Speaker 1: but the average was fine. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: that is a product of trailing for a lot of
Speaker 1: that game. So that doesn't concern me as much as
Speaker 1: a the pass rush didn't look great on Sunday night,
Speaker 1: and be you know, we knew going into this season
Speaker 1: that the secondary was going to be a problem or
Speaker 1: at least a week spot, and you know, I didn't
Speaker 1: see anything on Sunday that changed my mind about that.
Speaker 1: Amber That's a tough one for me. I mean, they're
Speaker 1: equally as important, but and I know we have it's
Speaker 1: a new season, and every new season you just never
Speaker 1: know how the team is going to fully change compared
Speaker 1: to last year. But I just can't forget those games
Speaker 1: from last year where they were killed by running backs
Speaker 1: who basically had no, like very little experience in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and yet they were able to just get them and
Speaker 1: kill them and score points and lose games because of that.
Speaker 1: So to me, I think that's an area that I'm
Speaker 1: still kind of focusing on and keeping my eye on,
Speaker 1: and I'm leaning more towards the rush defense. But uh,
Speaker 1: they're both, they're both the problem. Sorry, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: she's right about that. Yeah, they're both they're both problems.
Speaker 1: I would say I trust Mike Nolan to do a
Speaker 1: better job of getting them in position to stop the run.
Speaker 1: If your secondary is just not good and the guys
Speaker 1: just can't cover, then there's not much you could really do.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can try to get a past, you
Speaker 1: can blitz and all that stuff, But I mean, if
Speaker 1: they still can't cover that well, that you know they're
Speaker 1: only gonna get you know, the eighty ninety yard touchdowns
Speaker 1: thrown on them. So I think that I trust the
Speaker 1: run defense a little better than I trust the past
Speaker 1: defense at this point. All right, Atlanta was second in
Speaker 1: offense last week with five or twenty two yards. As
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier in the show, they were first in
Speaker 1: passing offense with four hundred and thirty four yards. They
Speaker 1: had three wide receivers catch this three wide receivers had
Speaker 1: nine catches and one hundred plus yards in their Week
Speaker 1: one game against the Seattle Seahawks. So we have a
Speaker 1: pretty good defense. That all being said, do you think
Speaker 1: the Cowboys have enough good defenders to match up against Julio, Ridley,
Speaker 1: Gauge and even Hurst who had a nice downfield catch
Speaker 1: last last week at the tight end position. They have
Speaker 1: enough defenders to defend those guys. Let's start with you day.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sorry, Nick, I mean I'm no offense
Speaker 1: to the game. But I think that I think the
Speaker 1: stats and where the rankings are just way way early,
Speaker 1: just because you know, it's just one game and it
Speaker 1: was they don't want that, like they don't want three
Speaker 1: catch three guys, but nine. They don't want to be
Speaker 1: second in passing yards because that means they got their
Speaker 1: ass kicked. And so we saw the last year with
Speaker 1: all the das numbers, it's because they were a lot
Speaker 1: of it was hollow. So um to answer the question, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think they do, but it's on the
Speaker 1: offensive side of the ball. It's the offense gonna score
Speaker 1: points to put them in position to be like that.
Speaker 1: I think. I think it all comes back to the offense.
Speaker 1: It's all about playing for your strength, and so I
Speaker 1: think if the offense does their job, yes, the defense
Speaker 1: I think can be good enough to stop that atlanted offense. Canberra.
Speaker 1: Can you repeat your question again? It was a little
Speaker 1: confusing to me. Do the Cowboys have enough defenders to
Speaker 1: stop the offensive weapons for the Falcons? And look, you
Speaker 1: know the stats what you name I'm like, I was thinking,
Speaker 1: I'm like, wait, shouldn't that have been the Cowboys. Shouldn't
Speaker 1: we have had those numbers here in the first week,
Speaker 1: but oh well, three thousand yard receivers were on a
Speaker 1: great path right now. But anyways, I think that it's
Speaker 1: just going back to your defensive line, Derek, that you
Speaker 1: keep talking about where it needs to start, where they
Speaker 1: need to create pressure, hoping because that's where I feel
Speaker 1: that the Cowboys currently have the most talent on defense,
Speaker 1: so I think that it absolutely needs to start there.
Speaker 1: Hopefully the Marcus Lawrence elevates his game this week with
Speaker 1: the help of Alden Smith, who thankfully at least had
Speaker 1: a nice game last week. But I'm just hoping to
Speaker 1: rely more this week on the pass rush and get
Speaker 1: those guys putting some pressure there in order to help
Speaker 1: those secondary players in the back and just trying to
Speaker 1: stop a guy like Julia Jones is gonna be tough.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be tough, so they're gonna definitely need to
Speaker 1: get help from every single guy on defense, Dave. I mean,
Speaker 1: if we're gonna criticize dak to no end for putting
Speaker 1: up garbage time stats, we gotta I mean, you gotta
Speaker 1: look at the context of this because Atlanta didn't start
Speaker 1: going off until they were down thirty one to twelve
Speaker 1: in that game. I think that's worth noting. But they
Speaker 1: still have all that talent, and yet no, I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't think the Dallas defense is equipped to hold
Speaker 1: them down. And that goes back to the point of,
Speaker 1: you know, ideally, if you tell me I can hold
Speaker 1: them to twenty four twenty eight against that offense. I
Speaker 1: would like to think the Cowboys offense can be better.
Speaker 1: You know, Atlanta's defense will you know, we'll get to
Speaker 1: them tomorrow, but they look terrible against Russell Wilson. So
Speaker 1: I'm I'm counting on the Dallas offense to be able
Speaker 1: to score thirty one thirty five points in this game.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's ambitious after watching them score seventeen, but I
Speaker 1: don't think you're winning this game unless you score in
Speaker 1: the high twenties. Yeah, I will say this. I don't
Speaker 1: work the thirties preferably. Yeah, I don't. I don't think
Speaker 1: the Cowboys cornerbacks really were challenged very much last week,
Speaker 1: and I certainly don't think they were the biggest part
Speaker 1: of the problem for the Dallas defense. I think I
Speaker 1: had a much bigger problem with their defensive tackles, much
Speaker 1: bigger problem with the linebackers in some degree, a much
Speaker 1: bigger problem with their safeties, particularly in run support, than
Speaker 1: I'd get with the cornerbacks last week. But again I
Speaker 1: don't think they were challenged nearly as much. And again
Speaker 1: I understand the numbers can can skew that way, and
Speaker 1: it's because it's just when we sample size. But I
Speaker 1: think any of us are disputing the fact that those
Speaker 1: particularly those two top wide receivers, are great talents and
Speaker 1: they're gonna be a handful for the secondary to be
Speaker 1: able to manage. All Right, we appreciate you guys joined us.
Speaker 1: We were back tomorrow normal time at eleven thirty am
Speaker 1: Central Time till then. For Nick Keatman, Dave Hellman, Amber Garcia,
Speaker 1: I am Derek Equleton. This has been The Break live
Speaker 1: on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a
Speaker 1: production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: Football Club.