Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This is Mick Shot
Speaker 1: screaming live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the official
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys at now Here are Bill Jones, Everson Walls,
Speaker 1: and Nicky Spagnola. And here it is. It's already Thursday,
Speaker 1: as we get you set for Cowboys and Steelers on
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon at at and T Stadium. These these weeks
Speaker 1: just go by so quickly, and we let's see, we
Speaker 1: don't know who the next president is. And we still
Speaker 1: don't know who the next starting quarterback of the Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys is. Er at one thirty on Thursday, Everson Walls
Speaker 1: and Mickey Spagnola, how are you doing in your risk
Speaker 1: spect of s WBC Mortgage Studios. I'm great, I am
Speaker 1: doing just great. Yes, thank you Staggs for the show.
Speaker 1: Check it out. Yeah, look at there, got stripes right side, right,
Speaker 1: right size, very nice. So Mickey, how are you doing?
Speaker 1: I'm good. I was betting on we'd find out the
Speaker 1: president before the quarterback. Yep, I was thinking that same thing.
Speaker 1: We probably still will because I'm running out of time though. Well, however,
Speaker 1: and we won't get into president talk obviously, but I
Speaker 1: would imagine. I would imagine even when even when the
Speaker 1: network say we have a president, it's good to still
Speaker 1: be a long battle before Well, it'll be inauguration day
Speaker 1: probably before we know who the president is whoever shows up.
Speaker 1: So so the Cowboys will have a starting quarterback by
Speaker 1: three twenty five on Sunday, and it might be right
Speaker 1: before kickoff before we find out who who. Okay, let
Speaker 1: me ask you this right at the top, whoever is
Speaker 1: the starting quarterback? Did they win the battle this week?
Speaker 1: Or did they lose the battle this week meeting? They're
Speaker 1: going up against the Steelers defense. Oh very cute. It
Speaker 1: depends on if they win. What if they play, well,
Speaker 1: then yeah, you won the battle. I mean, we can't.
Speaker 1: The monster has to show me his teeth before I'm
Speaker 1: going to be afraid of him teeth first. Well, you
Speaker 1: know what I think? What do we look at it
Speaker 1: this way? Are we sure that one of the two
Speaker 1: is going to be the backup quarterback? I mean, it's
Speaker 1: not the way it's going to work out. Who'd ever
Speaker 1: is not named the starter? The other guys the backup?
Speaker 1: I would think so because they McCarthy is saying, which one. Yeah, No, No,
Speaker 1: I think what he's saying. I think what Mickey is
Speaker 1: saying is, all right, we've got a battle between Garrett
Speaker 1: Gilbert and Cooper Rush to be the starter. And Mickey,
Speaker 1: you're asking, is it guaranteed that whoever Garrett Gilbert or
Speaker 1: Cooper Rush, he's whoever's not the starter is going to
Speaker 1: be the backup? Or has been Denucci going to be
Speaker 1: the backup? Yeah? I mean, if you're good enough to start,
Speaker 1: are you good enough to back up? I was just asking,
Speaker 1: but if you hey, but if you're gonna go with
Speaker 1: the backup, you gotta go with the backup with the
Speaker 1: most game experience. And I'm right back to where right, Well,
Speaker 1: you know what did you did you catch? Did you
Speaker 1: catch McCarthy's answer about the holder? Yes? I knew that's
Speaker 1: where you were going because he said you were he
Speaker 1: didn't he didn't like commit. And then he said, well yeah,
Speaker 1: and Denucci has been in that, and it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: you would you keep all three quarterbacks active so one
Speaker 1: could hold because the other guys obviously if they're practicing,
Speaker 1: they ain't getting much practice holding. So we got to
Speaker 1: see if uh, nice Wander is a holder too, And
Speaker 1: I did look up, I didn't up the pronunciation of
Speaker 1: his name, and the Big ten network called him nice Wander,
Speaker 1: Nice Wander, and I s w A N D E
Speaker 1: R and it's nice Wander. Yeah. So if they're if
Speaker 1: they're accurate, so so so a third of our team
Speaker 1: is going to be full of backup punters and best
Speaker 1: and tackles and offensive just keeps on go and and
Speaker 1: back up defensive tackles and guys that hadn't played in years. Uh.
Speaker 1: It's it's quite a uh combination of things this year
Speaker 1: twenty tw money. That's all I gotta say. We have
Speaker 1: a thirty We have a thirty year old quarterback that
Speaker 1: is considered the most experienced on our squad, with two
Speaker 1: completions in his entire career in the NFL. But one
Speaker 1: thing we didn't mention yesterday. You guys talked about it
Speaker 1: off the air. Gilbert does have some experience in professional football.
Speaker 1: That's right, right. I think that I think it needs
Speaker 1: to be brought up because it may sway me just
Speaker 1: a bit. It would have swayed me if I would
Speaker 1: have heard that yesterday before I went on my rent
Speaker 1: and Hunter the punters got some professional experience too with
Speaker 1: the DC defenders. M is that XFL or AAFL. It
Speaker 1: was XFL XFL okay average a couple of years ago
Speaker 1: forty four point six. You know, when you punt, it's
Speaker 1: like it's like track. A punt is a punt. It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what school you come from or what level
Speaker 1: it's on. If you can punt, you can punt, right.
Speaker 1: If you can run, you can run. If you can punt,
Speaker 1: you can punt. So I'm gonna give him some love
Speaker 1: and regards to that. He'll get the benefit of the
Speaker 1: doubt from me. Anyway. However, at Northwestern they don't deal
Speaker 1: with an overhanging scoreboard he's got to work around. At
Speaker 1: eighteen years only only Ohio State could probably afford that.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's right. I think we have to worry
Speaker 1: about that. And what Everson is alluding to, and we
Speaker 1: brought it up late in the show yesterday, is that
Speaker 1: Garrett Gilbert was on track perhaps to be the most
Speaker 1: valuable player of the Alliance of American Football last year
Speaker 1: when he played for the Orlando Apollos and was leading
Speaker 1: them led them to something like a seven and one record.
Speaker 1: Before that league folded. Uh, you know, and I just
Speaker 1: something holded because that's a horrible name. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: the Orlando What what do they follows? I guess it's God,
Speaker 1: that was a stretch. I mean, what are they trying
Speaker 1: to represent? Space? Is that for for NASA or was
Speaker 1: it something? Now? I think I was NASA? Uh Um.
Speaker 1: I think when I'm just reading between the lines with
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy, I think a lot of people are thinking
Speaker 1: it's going to be Cooper Rush. I just have a
Speaker 1: feeling it seems like he goes to Gilbert first every
Speaker 1: time he talks about that. You know what, Bill, I
Speaker 1: pointed that out today. I noticed it the last two
Speaker 1: days that when he says the two guys names, he
Speaker 1: says Garrett Gilbert before Cooper Rushed each time. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: that's my that's my sleuth work. And it makes sense
Speaker 1: from the standpoint aside from what ever since pointing out
Speaker 1: about what he did do in a spring league uh,
Speaker 1: and the fact that he's thirty years older around that. Uh.
Speaker 1: But but more to the point, he has actually been
Speaker 1: at practice a little bit longer than Cooper Rush. Hass right,
Speaker 1: I think I think two weeks more. They signed him
Speaker 1: on October. He's got two October thirteenth, and then he
Speaker 1: had to pass his six days, so he got into
Speaker 1: practice that that following Monday. Uh yeah, so he's he's
Speaker 1: had this. This would be his third week with the team, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: So so he's been here longer, just like Danucci was
Speaker 1: here longer than Gilbert was here. And so if we
Speaker 1: go down, Okay, so we had dakas the starter to
Speaker 1: start the year, then Andy Dalton okay, to Uci was
Speaker 1: next in line because he was here longer than Gilbert.
Speaker 1: So Gilbert is the fourth, and then after this week,
Speaker 1: it'll be Cooper Rush the following after a bye week.
Speaker 1: All right, well, it would get us to five quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: Hit the breaking news sounder. We figured it out. There
Speaker 1: you go. Breaking News mix shots announces that Garrett Gilbert
Speaker 1: might be the starting quarterback. Might be we're here to
Speaker 1: right now that he might be. Yes, that's okay. Let's
Speaker 1: let's put it this way. Are you giving Pittsburgh? Are
Speaker 1: you giving Pennsylvania to Garrett Gilbert? Real funny? Does the
Speaker 1: Mick the Mick News Network, do you award Pennsylvania to
Speaker 1: h Garrett Gilbert? All all the votes are not in
Speaker 1: yet and they what. We're waiting on the absentee ballance
Speaker 1: to be added up, just just like Nevada. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be in November ninth. Will know what's the deal with Nevada.
Speaker 1: They can't count They can count cards there, but they
Speaker 1: can't count votes. What's the deal? Only fifty thousand at
Speaker 1: a time? Okay, come on, give him a break, man, Yea,
Speaker 1: all right? So what news do you got today? They're
Speaker 1: Mickey from Mike McCarthy's press conference today, and we're moving
Speaker 1: forward with this week. And there was a lighter workout
Speaker 1: yesterday because of the Sunday night game, and so their
Speaker 1: their biggest work of the week is coming or came
Speaker 1: today today. The pads were on today. Ezekiel Elliott will
Speaker 1: still be limited. It looks like, as as Mike said
Speaker 1: in his press conference, they're gonna give him some work,
Speaker 1: but kind of a lighter load. He feels like though
Speaker 1: with the hamstring, they're just trying to get him to
Speaker 1: Sunday the best they can, as healthy as they can.
Speaker 1: Same thing with Alden Smith. So those were the two
Speaker 1: guys that they were somewhat concerned with. And then Chitube Awoozier.
Speaker 1: I think today was supposed to be his day, Like
Speaker 1: how much does he do today? And that would determine, um,
Speaker 1: if he's get if he gets uh activated off injured reserve.
Speaker 1: But he's starting to run out of time, right, he
Speaker 1: would only have one more week after you got twenty
Speaker 1: one days, right, Bill, And I think this was the
Speaker 1: second week, so next week. If if you don't activate
Speaker 1: him next week, then he's on IR for the remainder
Speaker 1: of the season. I believe, Well, he's for sure going
Speaker 1: to get activated unless you had some some really bad setbackers.
Speaker 1: What happened to be this week or injury reserve, it
Speaker 1: happened to be next week? Next week would be injured
Speaker 1: next they can even though it's the bye week, but
Speaker 1: they would have to make that move I guess within
Speaker 1: the twenty one day window, which would be next week.
Speaker 1: Don't have a game. Yeah, yeah, that's right, Okay and
Speaker 1: so and so. Um, it'll be interesting to see what
Speaker 1: decision they make. And today's a big day as far
Speaker 1: as determining that, and I'm sure beyond that when he
Speaker 1: gets asked about it tomorrow, Uh, it will be Well,
Speaker 1: tomorrow is a big day because they have to see
Speaker 1: how he recovers from today, right, and then we'll see
Speaker 1: what he can do on Saturday, because you can draw
Speaker 1: this thing out till Saturday, that's right, And then they'll
Speaker 1: say that, well if we don't, if he doesn't play
Speaker 1: this week, then he gets the extra week because of
Speaker 1: the bye week, and he would really be ready to
Speaker 1: go in Minnesota a couple of weeks from now. Well
Speaker 1: you get act. We got that to figure it out,
Speaker 1: and he doesn't play. I mean you can also always
Speaker 1: do that kind of like what they did with Sean Lee. Right,
Speaker 1: It's kind of like what they did with Shaun Lee
Speaker 1: and the previous week with Randy Gregory. So, but use
Speaker 1: up that spot for somebody it might be valuable to
Speaker 1: the to the team that might act I don't play.
Speaker 1: Is there anyone invaluable to the team? Uh? Well, remember
Speaker 1: you can you can only at the most, you can
Speaker 1: only have forty eight actives, so you would have to
Speaker 1: uh put down least five guys, So you can always
Speaker 1: make him inactive on game date just to protect their
Speaker 1: rights for the rest of the season. Hey can can
Speaker 1: the woozier? Can the woozier? Can he kick? Can he kick? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Can you hold? Just remember this? We want to make
Speaker 1: our nice winder can do both. He can kick and
Speaker 1: he can punt. We'll find out if he can hold
Speaker 1: there you go. I also heard but one of the
Speaker 1: things he has the ability, uh he punts right footed.
Speaker 1: I hear. I'm trying to remember if I heard this right,
Speaker 1: that he actually kicks left footed. No, no way, there's
Speaker 1: no way, no no, hey, Bill, that happens. I have
Speaker 1: a nephew, both of my nephews. He eats right handed.
Speaker 1: He kicks left handed. That's different. He bats left handed.
Speaker 1: I understand handed. It's stupid, man, you know, I understand that.
Speaker 1: It's great. Their brains all mixed up off in there.
Speaker 1: So he probably can't do all of that. But you can't.
Speaker 1: You can't punt right footed and kick left footed? Why not?
Speaker 1: Why not? I mean you can, but what would be
Speaker 1: the now there would be an advantage. Bill Parcel has
Speaker 1: always talked about the how difficult it is when you
Speaker 1: go up against a left footed punter, and so, okay,
Speaker 1: I can understand being a right footed place kicker and
Speaker 1: a left footed punter because it's so so difficult to
Speaker 1: field a punt off the foot of a lefty. Have
Speaker 1: you ever seen uh an ambidextrous quarterback drawing right. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it happens. There's there's a major league pitcher who's who
Speaker 1: does it? Yeah, that's right? Would that it's surely possible?
Speaker 1: Just think how that would mess up an on site kick?
Speaker 1: Do you have to declare? Like in baseball the pitcher
Speaker 1: has to declare whether he's gonna pitch right handed or
Speaker 1: left handed? Does the putter or the kicker have to
Speaker 1: declare ahead of time that he's doing it right or
Speaker 1: left handed? Does that mean? So? Then the coach comes
Speaker 1: out and he taps his left eye right for the
Speaker 1: left hand to kicker. Is that how? That's right? After
Speaker 1: after the failed third down, the coach goes out to
Speaker 1: the middle of the field, off the off the bench.
Speaker 1: All right, well, well we're rolling along here there to go.
Speaker 1: So no concern about Zeke or Alden Smith being able
Speaker 1: to play on Sunday, not yet. But you know, I
Speaker 1: mean they're certainly not going to tell us anything that
Speaker 1: they uh, they don't want Pittsburgh to know about. Right,
Speaker 1: So um, we'll see where We'll see where the thing
Speaker 1: goes with Zeke? How how how how are you I
Speaker 1: know you don't get a chance to see the players
Speaker 1: much more spags. You know, there were time when they
Speaker 1: would hold a press conference and you guys could be
Speaker 1: right there. Yeah, we don't around them, check the body
Speaker 1: language and things of that nature. Well, just from maybe
Speaker 1: the virtual interviews. Uh, how is Zeke? How's his body language?
Speaker 1: I mean right now the cowboys are looking for They're
Speaker 1: looking for somebody to step up, you know, offensively is
Speaker 1: what we're having the major issues in regards to continuity
Speaker 1: as far as personnel, and Zeke is one of the
Speaker 1: few that has been the mainstay. Now you're talking about
Speaker 1: the hamstring, and of course everyone's concerned about his uh attitude,
Speaker 1: his leadership qualities. What do you have? You had a
Speaker 1: chance to look at him and see what his body
Speaker 1: language might be at this point because with no Zach
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, with no that, with no type, no on
Speaker 1: my guy, you can just pick all the linemen that
Speaker 1: are not there for him. Uh, there's no show. I'm sorry, no, uh,
Speaker 1: no type. You got one tight end missing? Yeah, load Collins.
Speaker 1: What what what is his attitude? What is he? What
Speaker 1: is he looking like? What's his body langue? You know,
Speaker 1: I think it's been good, Actually, I think it's been
Speaker 1: better than when you saw them in person. His nature
Speaker 1: on the on those conference calls seems to be, if it,
Speaker 1: very upbeat, very positive. Uh and uh maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit even more forthcoming than than he had been. So
Speaker 1: from that standpoint, um, you know, I think he's been
Speaker 1: I think he's been really good. Uh. And it's gotten better,
Speaker 1: believe it or not, as the season's gone along, you know,
Speaker 1: because as you as you look at a leader like Dak,
Speaker 1: you know, you expect him, no matter what, to roll
Speaker 1: out the uh. And I don't want to call him
Speaker 1: canned because you know, we know from Dak's uh attitude
Speaker 1: and his past that those words he says, he believes them.
Speaker 1: But there is a script that a leader like Dak
Speaker 1: sticks to. And there's always that other guy who would
Speaker 1: be Zeke, who would, as you say, be a little
Speaker 1: bit more forthcoming, a little bit more earthy and organic
Speaker 1: in his responses. Just kind of wondering, Uh, has he
Speaker 1: revealed anything to you about how he's feeling now without
Speaker 1: Dak and and just how tough it's been for him
Speaker 1: to to to catch his stride, you know, and he hasn't.
Speaker 1: He hasn't used any excuses, and he hasn't blamed anybody,
Speaker 1: and he owned up to the fumbles and uh and
Speaker 1: he continues to say, yeah, I just need to do better,
Speaker 1: we need to do better as an offense. So he
Speaker 1: hasn't sat there kind of with a pouty face going well,
Speaker 1: yeah and got nobody to run behind and uh so yeah,
Speaker 1: and he's been good and Mickey, he's never he's never
Speaker 1: been like that, you know. Yeah, he hasn't struck you
Speaker 1: as being a guy that kind of talks out of
Speaker 1: turn at all. Now, Yeah, no, he's he's no, you
Speaker 1: know I it was Emma would do that occasionally, Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, immediately the same thing, same thing you're talking
Speaker 1: about Everson with DA you know, Troy, and he purposely,
Speaker 1: as being the quarterback of the team, would give the
Speaker 1: canned answers. I mean he would off the record saying,
Speaker 1: you know, off to the side to the media, well
Speaker 1: that is what I gotta say, you know, and uh,
Speaker 1: being the quarterback of the team, but you could get
Speaker 1: you know, Emmett would would show up his once or
Speaker 1: once a week or so in the middle of that
Speaker 1: locker room, and sometimes he would he would voice his
Speaker 1: opinion on sub shoot. We saw him him att voice
Speaker 1: his opinion big time on it. The one preseason game
Speaker 1: he did last year. Well, I'll tell you what I know,
Speaker 1: and I know we got he was holding that hand
Speaker 1: for a long time. I know we gotta go a break.
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you this one thing about him at
Speaker 1: from his rookie year when they weren't running the ball
Speaker 1: very much. Uh, in nineteen ninety David Shewlett. For some reason,
Speaker 1: I forgot that they had him at Smith and we
Speaker 1: were about, oh, it was getting close to November, and
Speaker 1: he was getting peppered about you know, well you haven't
Speaker 1: had a hundred yard game or data da And he
Speaker 1: finally looked at him and said, you know what, it's
Speaker 1: really hard to gain a hundred yards with seven carries.
Speaker 1: But you never hear you never hear Zeke say anything
Speaker 1: like that. You no, no, No, he's no speak more distant.
Speaker 1: I think he has. He has the propension to be
Speaker 1: more distant as opposed to yes, and he has. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he hasn't been. He he was sort of that
Speaker 1: way when we started these these uh, these conference calls.
Speaker 1: But once the season started he kind of got with it,
Speaker 1: you know, and and uh a little bit more. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know what I can't understand what you're asking. Could
Speaker 1: you repeat that? And much more personable than than he
Speaker 1: had been before them. Well, and then we can discuss
Speaker 1: it further if we want to when we come back.
Speaker 1: But as a rule, across the board, not only in
Speaker 1: football but in sports, it's totally different than what it
Speaker 1: was in the nineties or in the eighties or seventies.
Speaker 1: And it has a lot to do with the pushback
Speaker 1: that you get if you say something on social media.
Speaker 1: And so guys, guys don't talk like they did back
Speaker 1: twenty thirty years ago. All right, we continue with more
Speaker 1: mix shots in just a moment. Hey there, cowboys fans.
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Speaker 1: be the bill. You are going to be there, all right,
Speaker 1: will Yes, sir, that's gonna be something. All right, Let's
Speaker 1: talk about the heavyweight that is coming into at and
Speaker 1: T Stadium on Sunday after and that would be Big
Speaker 1: Ben Rothless Burger and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mickey, what do
Speaker 1: you when you study the Steelers? What stands out to you? Well, obviously,
Speaker 1: their defense stands out to me. The fact that they
Speaker 1: ranked fifth in average yards they're giving up uh, and
Speaker 1: then the fact that they've they're leading the league with
Speaker 1: thirty quarterback sacks and that doesn't even account for all
Speaker 1: the pressures they put on so at with with one
Speaker 1: game to go at the half at the they're only
Speaker 1: seven and oh so they only had their buy Uh.
Speaker 1: So they're on pace for like sixty five sacks at
Speaker 1: this rate. So to me, uh, it's a it's a
Speaker 1: bad uh meeting, right, this struggling Cowboys offense with a
Speaker 1: quarterback that was going to start that hadn't been with
Speaker 1: the team more than a month against the defense that's
Speaker 1: pretty rabid. And I see where uh they have five
Speaker 1: they have a couple of touchdowns touchdown returns uh. And
Speaker 1: it looks like their defensive return too. So they're not
Speaker 1: only get takeaways, which they're second in the league, but
Speaker 1: they take them to the house too. So this is
Speaker 1: a Murphy's law scenario, spags. But what can go wrong
Speaker 1: may go wrong, or what can be worse still get worse.
Speaker 1: But the street talking about playing against the Steeler, I'm
Speaker 1: surprised about the offensive but lack of output. You talk
Speaker 1: about big band coming back and and you're talking about
Speaker 1: the team that's really known for being able to run
Speaker 1: the ball, harden those football and I'm sure they have
Speaker 1: all of that, but you know, when you look at
Speaker 1: those stats, to me, that gives me an opening. You know,
Speaker 1: if I'm a coach, that's the opening as a Cowboy
Speaker 1: coach that I'm looking for. So that kind of gives me.
Speaker 1: It piques my interests us a little bit, just to
Speaker 1: hear you say that. And really, when you think about
Speaker 1: the culture, when you think about the Steelers, it's the culture. Really.
Speaker 1: To me, it's all about the culture. It's always been
Speaker 1: about toughness, no matter what coach you've had, and they've
Speaker 1: only had a few, you know, they were like the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: or the Cowboys were like the Steelers in regards to
Speaker 1: just having a very few coaches come through here, and
Speaker 1: they were coaches of quality, not quantity, and the Cowboys
Speaker 1: was keeping pace with that, of course, and still until
Speaker 1: around you know, two thousand when Jimmy left, and of
Speaker 1: course after Tom Landrid. So, man, that's the kind of
Speaker 1: culture that I was hoping we could have created here
Speaker 1: in Dallas or maintained in Dallas. But it's something that
Speaker 1: has clearly maintained from Fort Pittsburgh going all the way
Speaker 1: back to the seventies. And let's look back and you
Speaker 1: mentioned you mentioned the seventies. Okay, this Pittsburgh team is
Speaker 1: seven and oh for the first time since nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 1: So are they really of that same ilk the Steel
Speaker 1: Curtain Steelers of the seventies or not? Now, Having said that,
Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin in his fourteenth year as the head coach,
Speaker 1: they have not had a losing season in his entire
Speaker 1: time as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, And in fact,
Speaker 1: with a couple more wins, they will ensure that I
Speaker 1: believe it's their ninth winning season or well, three more wins,
Speaker 1: they'll have their ninth season of ten or more wins
Speaker 1: in his fourteen years there with Pittsburgh. So that says
Speaker 1: a lot right there. And of course last year they
Speaker 1: win eight and eight because they didn't have Roethlisberger. Every
Speaker 1: other year they've had Roethlisberger for almost the entire year.
Speaker 1: All right, But let's look at exactly what they've done
Speaker 1: this year. They started the year with a twenty six
Speaker 1: sixteen win at the Giants. Okay, Cowboys could have done
Speaker 1: that Week one, right, right, They could have done that
Speaker 1: that hall against Denver, they won twenty six to twenty one. Okay,
Speaker 1: Cowboys could have done that at that point in the season.
Speaker 1: Ye third game at home against Houston, which of course
Speaker 1: Houston got off to the owen. Of course, Houston had
Speaker 1: had a very difficult schedule to start the year, but
Speaker 1: that was the twenty eight twenty one win. Okay, so
Speaker 1: they didn't wouldn't like they were blowing out these teams.
Speaker 1: They had a bye week, then they played Philadelphia at
Speaker 1: home another home. Wow, they had four straight home games.
Speaker 1: They did all right. Philadelphia at home they won thirty
Speaker 1: eight to twenty nine. Cleveland at home they blew them
Speaker 1: out thirty eight to seven. Not a lot off it
Speaker 1: only two hundred and seventy seven total yards, but anyway,
Speaker 1: they beat Cleveland thirty eight to seven. And then the
Speaker 1: last two weeks they have played against really quality opposition
Speaker 1: and won close games at Tennessee and at Baltimore twenty
Speaker 1: seven twenty four and twenty eight twenty four. So that's
Speaker 1: what they've done so far. And the key there is
Speaker 1: they won the close games. And and and if you
Speaker 1: look at what the Cowboys have done, they had a
Speaker 1: couple of close games that they were in that they
Speaker 1: could have won that they didn't. And when you don't
Speaker 1: win those games down the road. Yes, uh, you pay
Speaker 1: for it, because this team right now could very well
Speaker 1: uh be three and five, four and four had had
Speaker 1: they won a couple of those close games. The first
Speaker 1: game was was winnable right against the Rams, they were
Speaker 1: coming back. Um what was the second game? Was? Uh?
Speaker 1: Was it? They wasn't Seattle, Seattle, Atlanta, Atlanta, Atlanta, Atlanta,
Speaker 1: And so they which right they did and that the
Speaker 1: people will people are shouting at the podcast you Vicky
Speaker 1: saying that they could have just as easily lost that one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but we can't go by that. I'm not gonna go
Speaker 1: by well you could have lost it. Well, yeah, we
Speaker 1: won it. Well, there's a lot of games you could
Speaker 1: have lost. You know. Atlantic killed me with that. Atlanta
Speaker 1: gave up forty points. They deserve to win. I don't
Speaker 1: understand that they gave up forty. Oh yeah, they should
Speaker 1: have won. They shouldn't have won that game, right right, right?
Speaker 1: And they're too dumb to pick up an on side kick.
Speaker 1: And you're telling me they should have won. I'm not
Speaker 1: going for that. I'm not going for that. They didn't
Speaker 1: deserve to win. But you talk about you talk about
Speaker 1: the winning close games and losing close games. You know
Speaker 1: that affects your psyche. Guys, there's no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: When you lose a close game and you keep losing
Speaker 1: close games, then there's more and more pressure you put
Speaker 1: on yourself to win those close games. As that scenario
Speaker 1: starts to pop back up again, then here you are
Speaker 1: doubting yourself. Well, the Steelers were winning those close games,
Speaker 1: so therefore when they reached that scenario again in the future,
Speaker 1: they don't doubt themselves. They say, Okay, we'll look back
Speaker 1: on how we did against in these same situations and
Speaker 1: it's gonna be something positive. As opposed to the Cowboys
Speaker 1: they're thinking, oh lord, here we go again. We're in
Speaker 1: the same position. So there's a difference between your outlook
Speaker 1: on approaching that same scenario. What outlook are you going
Speaker 1: to be looking forward to being successful or as the
Speaker 1: pressure gonna be on you to win and you don't win.
Speaker 1: So it's an approach that can creep into your into
Speaker 1: your psyche as you go through that scenario. All right,
Speaker 1: and then look at what the what the Steelers are
Speaker 1: facing the next three weeks. They got Dallas at two
Speaker 1: and six, Cincinnati at two, five and one, and then
Speaker 1: at Jacksonville Jacksonville or they don't have a good record.
Speaker 1: I can't remember off the top of my head what
Speaker 1: their record is is not a winning record. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: they're sitting there going, we got these three games, we're
Speaker 1: ten and oh before you know it. Look as soon
Speaker 1: as that, as soon as you start thinking like that, Mickey,
Speaker 1: that's when you start losing. Right. Go ask the nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety one Washington Redskins, and they were the Redskins at
Speaker 1: ninety one, I can call them that. Uh yes, look
Speaker 1: here here's here is what has basically colored the entire
Speaker 1: Cowboys season. Was that just gosh awful loss to Washington
Speaker 1: twenty five to three. Right, because the other games that
Speaker 1: they've lost, they they've been in am I right, They've
Speaker 1: been almost one possession They all been one possession games.
Speaker 1: And it was a one possession game against Philadelphia until
Speaker 1: the officials missed two calls on one play. It was
Speaker 1: a one possession game against Seattle, Right, And what was
Speaker 1: the what was the other loss? What am I forgetting
Speaker 1: rams the Seahawks a touchdown? Oh and the Browns I
Speaker 1: kind of left that one out, but they ended up
Speaker 1: which was game, right, Yeah, and they they got beat
Speaker 1: that game. Those the Cleveland game and the Washington game
Speaker 1: have kind of I would not. I would not Arizona
Speaker 1: game in the Yeah, Arizona game, the Washington game, those compared,
Speaker 1: those two compared. I wouldn't say the Browns because at
Speaker 1: least we had as much as we were horrible against
Speaker 1: the run, we did have success on the other side
Speaker 1: of the ball. That's the only reason I wouldn't. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't luck that way. Again, I was going with we actually,
Speaker 1: well we were, we were. We were in position to
Speaker 1: win that game in Cleveland until we gave up the
Speaker 1: reverse to to obj right. And the other thing about
Speaker 1: Arizona is, uh, it was an atypical game for Zeke
Speaker 1: coughing up the football a couple of times, right and exactly.
Speaker 1: And in the first game without your starting quarterback. You know,
Speaker 1: if you were sitting here four and four right now,
Speaker 1: you'd be sitting there going okay, oh, all right, we
Speaker 1: got a lot of season to go here. Or the
Speaker 1: difference between four and four and two and six is huge,
Speaker 1: right mmmmmm. Now, Now, Bill, you first started this off
Speaker 1: talking about comparing the Yeah, and let's do that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's do that when we come back here. We got
Speaker 1: to take a break, and so when we come back,
Speaker 1: just how good is this Steelers tead? We started our conversation,
Speaker 1: all right, are they as that would be a mouthful
Speaker 1: to say they're as good as they are they? But
Speaker 1: are they even coming close to that level? That's what
Speaker 1: I was going to tell you, But that when we
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Speaker 1: All right, we're exploring these Pittsburgh Steelers, and really you
Speaker 1: look at every position group, every level of this team,
Speaker 1: both offense and defense. You can throw in special teams
Speaker 1: as well, and you can understand why they are seven
Speaker 1: and zero on the season. When I asked Mike McCarthy
Speaker 1: about them the other night, the first thing he pointed
Speaker 1: to was their offensive line. He thinks their offensive line
Speaker 1: might be right up there at the best in football.
Speaker 1: And of course they're led by a future Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer at center and Marquise Poundcy who's an eight time
Speaker 1: Pro Bowler, and David DeCastro at right guard, who, by
Speaker 1: the way, they had lost for a couple of games
Speaker 1: and they got him back for the Tennessee game, so
Speaker 1: he's played the last two weeks. So they're very solid upfront,
Speaker 1: and that's a huge difference between them and the Cowboys
Speaker 1: as far as and a lot of other teams in
Speaker 1: this league is they've been able to stay relatively healthy
Speaker 1: on their offensive line and the quarterback has been healthy.
Speaker 1: And let's start on offense with them, because what Big
Speaker 1: Ben has at the receiving corps is really that it's
Speaker 1: something that has taken them to another level. Even though
Speaker 1: it hasn't been reflected in their total yards, which is
Speaker 1: only twenty fifth in the league, they are up there
Speaker 1: amongst the top scoring teams in the league, helped along
Speaker 1: by an opportunistic defense as well. But you know, with
Speaker 1: their receivers with Juju Smith Schuster as well as the
Speaker 1: rookie Chase Claypool who's added a whole new dimension to
Speaker 1: this offense, and Deonte Johnson James Washington at tied end,
Speaker 1: the addition of Eric Ebron. Yet, that's pretty salty offense
Speaker 1: to go up against. Yeah, and if you look at
Speaker 1: you know, their their their positions and their starts. They've
Speaker 1: been pretty uh consistent offensively on on who they've been
Speaker 1: able to send out there. Uh yeah, and so that
Speaker 1: certainly makes it and look, you you can cover up
Speaker 1: some of your smudges, you can't cover up your offensive line.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, you can't fake that. Uh. And and you're right, Bill,
Speaker 1: when you can do what they've done with the consistency
Speaker 1: on their offensive line. Uh. And then look at where
Speaker 1: the Cowboys were, uh prior to the draft, which you
Speaker 1: thought they were going to be on the offensive line.
Speaker 1: Would even Travis Frederick being there? Uh? Yeah, this whole
Speaker 1: thing got turned upside down. So it's one thing to
Speaker 1: have to start a backup quarterback or the backup to
Speaker 1: the backup quarterback. But when you've got to put piecemeal
Speaker 1: your offensive line together, And as Mike McCarthy pointed out,
Speaker 1: I think it was today, this will be only the
Speaker 1: second week in a row they start the same five
Speaker 1: on the offensive line. That's you can't fake that. You
Speaker 1: cannot fake that. I think the great Larry Lacewell once
Speaker 1: told me, you know, I can put together a defense,
Speaker 1: and I can do some things to compensate for a
Speaker 1: lack of talent, but the one thing you can't compensate
Speaker 1: for is offense. And for sure you can't compensate for
Speaker 1: not having a quarterback. And I think he must have
Speaker 1: told me that probably in the two thousand and one season, availability. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: availability is the greatest ability for a player to have,
Speaker 1: and when really both on offense and defense. When you
Speaker 1: look at the Steelers, they have got to be one
Speaker 1: of the healthiest teams in the league. They lost Devin Bush,
Speaker 1: who's a great inside linebacker, and here's what they were
Speaker 1: able to do. They picked up in a trade Avery
Speaker 1: Williamson from the Jets last week. When you've got one hole,
Speaker 1: one major injury to fill, you can go out and
Speaker 1: at the trade deadline go get a guy who can
Speaker 1: fill that need for you. But I mean you look
Speaker 1: in their secondary, you look at the rest of their defense,
Speaker 1: and they outside of the debn Bush injury, they're as
Speaker 1: healthy as you could could expect to be seven games
Speaker 1: into the season. And then on offense, it's the same way.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a great reason why they are where
Speaker 1: they are right now at seven And oh, they've got
Speaker 1: to have the shortest injury list right in the NFL
Speaker 1: right now, especially among teams that are successful in the league.
Speaker 1: In that division, you don't really hear about all the
Speaker 1: issues that everyone else is having. And like you said, Spact,
Speaker 1: if you can keep your quarterback, that's one thing, But
Speaker 1: if you can keep your quarterback and your offensive line. Man,
Speaker 1: you got a chance to go far in this league.
Speaker 1: And one year. Absolutely, So that would be the biggest
Speaker 1: difference between the Cowboys and the Steelers, Right there's a
Speaker 1: Cowboy is not having their quarterback and not having their
Speaker 1: offensive And here's another big difference, okay, is takeaways. On defense.
Speaker 1: The Steelers are second in the league in takeaways and
Speaker 1: that and of course the thirty sacks contribute to that.
Speaker 1: They've got ten interceptions, Everson. Nine different players have interceptions
Speaker 1: for the Steelers. And this is also a Steelers team
Speaker 1: when they lost their starting quarterback last year and they
Speaker 1: wound up eight and eight, they were number one in
Speaker 1: the league in takeaways with thirty eight on the season,
Speaker 1: and a huge part of that has been the acquisition
Speaker 1: of Mica Fitzpatrick a year ago from the Dolphins. Hey
Speaker 1: does that sound familiar? Hi? Remember Thermos thieves? Come on, man,
Speaker 1: here you go, Come on man. We had that. We
Speaker 1: had that. I don't think we got thirty eight. That's
Speaker 1: a lot of interceptions. If I were to go through
Speaker 1: an account where we had my rookie year, we had
Speaker 1: a bunch. I think it may have come to around
Speaker 1: thirty five you had thirteen yearself or eleven in the
Speaker 1: regular eleven Yeah, Michael Downs, Dennis Thurman, Charlie. I mean
Speaker 1: with a bunch of guys with a lot of picks.
Speaker 1: You know. The strange thing about their their interceptions. Nine
Speaker 1: guys with interceptions. Only one guy has two, everybody else's
Speaker 1: got one. How does that happen? I mean, come on,
Speaker 1: hate guys with me. That is a culture. That is
Speaker 1: a culture that you don't There's no one person that
Speaker 1: that leadser he doesn't stand outs, just a part of
Speaker 1: the great package that they have. And then you start
Speaker 1: talking about this team versus the seventies team, Bill, I
Speaker 1: was writing down a hall of famous from the nineteen
Speaker 1: seventies Pittsburgh Steelers, just the ones that I am aware of.
Speaker 1: I have eight mean, Joe Green, Lyn Swan Stalworth, Jack Lambert,
Speaker 1: Terry Bradshaw, Donnie Shell who was just inducted right yep,
Speaker 1: Mike Webster, Meil Blunt, Mike Webster and Meyl Blunt. That
Speaker 1: that's the eighth. That's the only eighth that I know of.
Speaker 1: So you can't we start talking about compassions between this
Speaker 1: team and and the seventies. I think you add if
Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken. Four Super Bowls, okay, and that stay Everson, Everson,
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta throw this in at nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: one Cowboys. Nineteen eighty one, Cowboys, you're a rookie year
Speaker 1: second in the league. And takeaways. Guess how many takeaways
Speaker 1: the Cowboys? We were only second, second in the league. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm so disappointed. Huh. And guess how guess how many
Speaker 1: takeaways the Dallas defense had Thurman's thieves in nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 1: How many? Keep in mind, Pittsburgh last year led the
Speaker 1: league with thirty eight. Dallas in nineteen eighty one had
Speaker 1: fifty three takeaway and we were second thirty seven, thirty
Speaker 1: seven interceptions. How about that? Wow? And they didn't go
Speaker 1: to the Super That's what you called doomsday. That's doomsday
Speaker 1: right there, buddy, that's doomsday. Wow. And so we can
Speaker 1: get into this whole thing about Steeve the Hall of
Speaker 1: Famers versus Cowboys Hall of Famers. Come on, man, you
Speaker 1: know you can tell it's even going back to the seventies.
Speaker 1: There's a clear discrepancy, clear discrepancy. And by the way,
Speaker 1: on the interceptions, ever since you had eleven interceptions and
Speaker 1: Thurman had nine interceptions and Michael Downs had seven, So
Speaker 1: your two rookies had eighteen interceptions combined. Hey Bill, I'm
Speaker 1: tired of talking about this. Man. I'm depressing now. I
Speaker 1: think we're out of time. Let's go, let's go on
Speaker 1: to something else. Man, this is making me mad. Now.
Speaker 1: All right, well we wasted all of that good times.
Speaker 1: We're wasting those good times. Your your homework comorrow? Where
Speaker 1: have they gone? Your homework for tomorrow is to count
Speaker 1: up the Cowboys Hall of famers from the seventies. There
Speaker 1: you go, I got you. And my homework also to
Speaker 1: the Star and just take a look. My homework for
Speaker 1: tomorrow is is to try to figure out which team
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty one had more takeaways than the good
Speaker 1: question three? I think, I know, I think, I know.
Speaker 1: What do you think I'm thinking? Ninus? Okay, all right,
Speaker 1: well I'll have that answer for you tomorrow here on
Speaker 1: mix Shots. All right, all right, there we go. Well
Speaker 1: it'll be a fabulous Football Friday edition of mix Shots
Speaker 1: at one thirty tomorrow. We'll see you then. FF. This
Speaker 1: has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.