Speaker 1: The following. He's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Are you ready for
Speaker 1: 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. Hello, guys,
Speaker 1: welcome back to the Break. I remember Garcia. I joined
Speaker 1: by Nickiman, David Hellman and Derek could not join us today,
Speaker 1: but we do have Buddy Brookes here with us. He
Speaker 1: he's a former scow. He's an analyst for the NFL
Speaker 1: for the Dallas Cowboys. He's been writing scouting reports for
Speaker 1: us for a while now. And you know, welcome to
Speaker 1: the show. How are you doing, Thanks for having me,
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. How's everything? You know? And also
Speaker 1: Bucky played for the Green Bay Packers and played when
Speaker 1: Brian brought Us was there. Brought Us was a scout.
Speaker 1: There isn't that to connected you guys? Have you you
Speaker 1: were there at the same time. Yeah, we were there
Speaker 1: at the same time. So Brian brought Us was working
Speaker 1: in the pro department when I was scouting, so I
Speaker 1: was there from ninety five to ninety seven, parts of
Speaker 1: three seasons, and so I've pass initially cross then and
Speaker 1: then we always maintain some kind of relationship there after.
Speaker 1: Real that's awesome. We are gonna get to some of
Speaker 1: your scouting report, because you've been scouting all of these
Speaker 1: guys that are coming into the teams, the new guys,
Speaker 1: the free agents that are coming on. So I do
Speaker 1: want to get into that in a bit. But before
Speaker 1: we get into cowboys stuff, I mean, there is something
Speaker 1: that we cannot just be blindsided by everything that's been
Speaker 1: happening around the world currently and in the United States,
Speaker 1: and it's a very very tough situation, and I just
Speaker 1: wanted to bring it up here a little bit, just
Speaker 1: so we don't act like nothing is happening in the world.
Speaker 1: It's a very tough situation with everything, and from my stand,
Speaker 1: I know that everyone has different opinions, and from my end,
Speaker 1: you know, being part of a minority group, I see
Speaker 1: what is happening. I feel what it's happening, and I
Speaker 1: just want to say from me, I am doing everything
Speaker 1: that I can to support to sit back, listen and
Speaker 1: then take action and educate myself. I don't know, if
Speaker 1: you guys want to speak on your own, behalf. But
Speaker 1: so right now, I think it's a it's a moment
Speaker 1: to really come together and be one. Yeah, that's well said.
Speaker 1: You know. I think that you know, in life, everybody
Speaker 1: has different agenda and and you know you can tell
Speaker 1: that they people want certain things for certain reasons. And
Speaker 1: in this case, in my opinion, I think we all
Speaker 1: should have the same agend on this one. This is uh,
Speaker 1: you know, this isn't just one person's problem. This isn't
Speaker 1: just one person's fight. It's it's it's all of our issues,
Speaker 1: all of our fights. And and I know that, you know,
Speaker 1: I had to come full circle with that as well,
Speaker 1: and I had to. I've had some discussions with people
Speaker 1: and it kind of helped open my eyes a little
Speaker 1: bit about how much voice, uh that everybody has, uh,
Speaker 1: including you know myself, Dave and people of the majority,
Speaker 1: because those are the people, in my opinion, again, those
Speaker 1: are the people that are really going to help UH
Speaker 1: make a change. So um, you know, and again I
Speaker 1: know that we're here to talk football, but but like
Speaker 1: she said, this is bigger than football. Well now, I
Speaker 1: mean it's bigger than football, but it's obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: football around just like everything else in this country. I
Speaker 1: don't know if y'all saw this. Literally, maybe ten minutes
Speaker 1: before our show went on the air, Dak Brethcott made
Speaker 1: a public statement about your avoid about racial injustice in America.
Speaker 1: He's pledging a million dollars to police training and in
Speaker 1: fighting cinematic racism. So, I mean, whether whether you want
Speaker 1: to hear it or not, football is part of this, uh,
Speaker 1: And I mean Dak is one of countless figures in
Speaker 1: football that have spoken out about this, and there's no
Speaker 1: way to avoid it. Nobody should be trying to avoid it.
Speaker 1: You know. If that's not something you want to hear,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry about it. But but that's that is the
Speaker 1: fever pitch that this issue has reached in our country,
Speaker 1: and it's irresponsible to avoid it at this point. I
Speaker 1: think what you're seeing in locker rooms across the country,
Speaker 1: you're seeing guys who kind of are shed lightning their experiences,
Speaker 1: and many of them have shared experiences because unfortunately, sometimes
Speaker 1: being young, rich, famous, um, it doesn't protect you from
Speaker 1: some of the things that you may encounter out in
Speaker 1: the world. And I think because of the platforms that
Speaker 1: athletes have they are the ones who can kind of
Speaker 1: drive and enact change. And Nick and I had a
Speaker 1: conversation offline where we were talking about like part of
Speaker 1: the reason why we're seeing so many of these things,
Speaker 1: and like the pandemic and everyone being home and videos
Speaker 1: and seeing those things, Like we're being exposed to a
Speaker 1: lot of things that we probably would pass by in
Speaker 1: our normal circumstance, but because sports has halted and everything
Speaker 1: else has kind of hit the pause budding, we're being
Speaker 1: exposed to more of these things. I think the good
Speaker 1: thing out of all of it, We're seeing that the
Speaker 1: huddle responds in kind. We're seeing players of all races
Speaker 1: and ethnicities come out and talk about those things. And
Speaker 1: so even though something negative has happened, I believe something positive,
Speaker 1: a greater good is going to happen out of all
Speaker 1: of it. And I think sports has wanted to be
Speaker 1: the driver force of that change. You know, and I
Speaker 1: know that, and Bucket is the first time you joined
Speaker 1: our show. But if you know David Helmett at all,
Speaker 1: you know he's a huge LSU, huge LSU fan, and
Speaker 1: a huge fan of Joe Burrow. I think Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: got a lot more people that aren't just Bengals or
Speaker 1: LSU fans over the last few days, because it is
Speaker 1: going to be people like him to to speak up
Speaker 1: like he did, um just just the other day, and
Speaker 1: so you know, I was proud of him for doing that.
Speaker 1: You know, he could say, I'm just a rookie trying
Speaker 1: to figure myself out. This is about that, This is
Speaker 1: about you know, this is about humanity, and he you know,
Speaker 1: I have applaud him for that. I'm a fan of
Speaker 1: his even more now, Um, just just for for doing
Speaker 1: that and taking that platform that he has. And to
Speaker 1: those listening right now, I just encourage everyone to just
Speaker 1: educate yourself, listen, put yourself in other people's shoes, and
Speaker 1: just just be patient, patient and willing to have these
Speaker 1: kind of of conversations. And while I know this is
Speaker 1: a lot bigger than football, I also know that a
Speaker 1: lot of people are very stressed. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: bad things happening right now, and you guys do want
Speaker 1: to take a little break from that and just kind
Speaker 1: of vent and get away from from all this craziness.
Speaker 1: So we are going to talk about the Cowboys and
Speaker 1: football right now. One of the recent news that came
Speaker 1: out this week was that the NFL is having teams
Speaker 1: hold their training camps at home. So the Cowboys most
Speaker 1: likely I don't know how official this has been, but
Speaker 1: these are the reports. The Cowboys most likely will not
Speaker 1: be able to go to auction our California. I know
Speaker 1: there have been there have been changes at the facility.
Speaker 1: You know, there is a field that was taken away
Speaker 1: with some constructions in Frisco. I just wanted to talk
Speaker 1: with you guys and just kind of get your thoughts
Speaker 1: on how this whole thing might affect how the Cowboys
Speaker 1: have been doing their training camp for the past few years. Well,
Speaker 1: for starters, uh, you know, they like to be outdoors.
Speaker 1: They like to you know, get some get some work
Speaker 1: done out there, and so you can't really do that
Speaker 1: in Texas in late July in August. I mean you can,
Speaker 1: uh you know that you did that in which Stoffball.
Speaker 1: That's why I have a job, is because they decided
Speaker 1: to do that in which stop fall. But I don't
Speaker 1: think they'll do that very often. Um, you just want
Speaker 1: more space, more field, and so being out and out
Speaker 1: started gives them the sunshine, gives them the great weather.
Speaker 1: But more importantly It gives them two grass fields that
Speaker 1: they can practice on, and I think that's that's one
Speaker 1: thing that they're certainly not going to have. Um, you
Speaker 1: know here is being able to be outdoors as much. Yes,
Speaker 1: you have an indoor facility, but it's one field and
Speaker 1: it's it's harder to get a lot of work done. Um. Yes,
Speaker 1: they do it during the season, but they don't have
Speaker 1: ninety players during the season. Yeah. I think most football coaches,
Speaker 1: and you played football at a high level, you can
Speaker 1: speak to this. I would imagine you don't want to
Speaker 1: practice on an artificial field for a month. I don't.
Speaker 1: It doesn't you know, people talk about it being bad
Speaker 1: for your legs. I'm not. I'm not convinced they would
Speaker 1: want to do that. But it does propose a challenge
Speaker 1: of if you're going to practice doors on natural grass,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to do it early in the morning
Speaker 1: or in the evening, because I don't see that happening
Speaker 1: in the middle of the day, that's for sure. It's
Speaker 1: it's it's going to be a different challenge, for sure,
Speaker 1: and I do wonder how they'll work through it. I
Speaker 1: was in Kansas City when Mike McCarthy was the quarterback
Speaker 1: coach there. He's taken on some of the things that
Speaker 1: Marty Schottenheimer's done in terms of like physicality, toughness being
Speaker 1: a big part of the program. However, with the limited
Speaker 1: space and some of the issues that you're fighting against,
Speaker 1: like your guys not being in the off season program,
Speaker 1: your guys haven't been around, so you really don't know
Speaker 1: what level of shape and conditioning they're going to report,
Speaker 1: and I think it will be different. I think what
Speaker 1: you see is a mix of OTAs and some of
Speaker 1: those offseason workout practices and normal training camp practices. It
Speaker 1: also came down that teams won't be able to have
Speaker 1: joint practices, So I think the teams that work smarter,
Speaker 1: not necessarily harder, will be the teams that benefit from this.
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy has already said that he has he had
Speaker 1: contingency plans if they didn't go to Oxnard, they had
Speaker 1: a schedule, and so I think that will work out.
Speaker 1: One thing that Dave you alluded to was they may
Speaker 1: need to go early. I would expect that if they're
Speaker 1: going outside, you may see different. You may see them
Speaker 1: go out at six am so they can get to
Speaker 1: work in early before the heat of the day and
Speaker 1: then come back and follow that up with meetings. And
Speaker 1: they're like, they have to get outside, they have to
Speaker 1: get accommitted to the conditions. They want to utilize the
Speaker 1: field space, but they're gonna have to do it in
Speaker 1: a different way, but be open to the media six am.
Speaker 1: And if so, Dave, my first thought, I'm like that
Speaker 1: not better not be happening, you know, I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't you know, we don't have to talk about the
Speaker 1: logistics of doing our jobs here. I'm sure people don't
Speaker 1: want to hear that. But I mean, if if the
Speaker 1: Cowboys want to help me get a hotel room at
Speaker 1: the hotel at the Star, I'll cover a six am practice.
Speaker 1: I don't really want to. I don't want to commute
Speaker 1: all the way across town, but you know, maybe if
Speaker 1: I can, if I can sell, if I can set
Speaker 1: up shop upstairs from the field, that would be great.
Speaker 1: You know, you know what one thing to consider. We
Speaker 1: we look at the situation like we've, like, you know,
Speaker 1: from from our own we know where they practice, and
Speaker 1: but not every I wouldn't say not every team. I
Speaker 1: don't think any other team has a high school stadium. Actually,
Speaker 1: as their indoor facility. What's that many fans? So what? Basically,
Speaker 1: by telling all the teams that you're going to be
Speaker 1: practicing or having training camp at home without saying it,
Speaker 1: you're saying that there will absolutely be no fans, or
Speaker 1: at least for those teams that can't do it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think that that was probably already in place, but
Speaker 1: I think just by that state, Malone means there's no
Speaker 1: way that they're they're gonna allow that to happen because
Speaker 1: most teams don't have the ability there. It'll be interesting
Speaker 1: every time we do that last part of training camp
Speaker 1: back in Frisco. I always think, I'm like, how is
Speaker 1: this possible? When we're backing ox and our two fields
Speaker 1: and and they're all spread. I mean, there are so
Speaker 1: many guys and it just takes over the whole place.
Speaker 1: So it's gonna be interesting for sure to see how
Speaker 1: McCarthy handles everything. Maybe split the teams, you know, have
Speaker 1: the defense be outside for a while offense inside. I
Speaker 1: don't know, We'll see how they work that out. Were
Speaker 1: you gonna say something, I'm sorry, I was just gonna
Speaker 1: say I can tell you one one person or a
Speaker 1: group of people that you know this is going to
Speaker 1: really benefit in a negative way is the rehab guys.
Speaker 1: The guys that that will be out there. You know,
Speaker 1: they always take goal on a side field and working
Speaker 1: on you know kneeds and and and ankle rehabs, Britt
Speaker 1: Brown and that team. And you know, by in this case,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be outside. They're gonna be doing that probably
Speaker 1: on the graphs in a hundred degree weather or whatever.
Speaker 1: So you know, unless they are at six am or whatever.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's just it's just a space issue.
Speaker 1: We saw it when we were in San Antonio over
Speaker 1: the you know, forty years and you couldn't go outside
Speaker 1: out there, and they really didn't have field to do that,
Speaker 1: and you know, they made it work, but you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's difficult for sure. Space the space issue
Speaker 1: will be something that you have to consider. Also, Like
Speaker 1: what's different than I guess when they were in San Antonio,
Speaker 1: Like now they have really tight time restraints, Like I
Speaker 1: think you have maybe four or four and a half
Speaker 1: hours from the time that you step onto the field
Speaker 1: for that initial walkthrough. Um, that's all the time that
Speaker 1: you have. And so I just wonder how creative they
Speaker 1: can get with their practices, particularly with all the young
Speaker 1: guys who haven't been exposed to the system. Will we
Speaker 1: see separate walkthroughs for the rookies and the fringe players
Speaker 1: where you have walkthrough with the red the guys, maybe
Speaker 1: a practice with the team, and then after all that's done,
Speaker 1: almost like a small section practice for the young guys
Speaker 1: to get them up to speed, because the young guys
Speaker 1: haven't had the benefit of rocky minicamp otias and they'll
Speaker 1: like and so you have to find a way to
Speaker 1: kind of rush those reps so you can count on
Speaker 1: some of those young guys, Digs and Robinson, and those
Speaker 1: guys are being counted on to play, and so some way,
Speaker 1: shape or form, you have to get them ready. They
Speaker 1: don't have to figure out a way to get it done.
Speaker 1: It's a really interesting point because I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: it kind of gets lost in the shuffle. But even
Speaker 1: during OTA's and during the time of year when you're
Speaker 1: doing teaching sessions, like the rookies typically stay later than everybody,
Speaker 1: like they go through afternoon walk throughs, they have extra
Speaker 1: meetings obviously because the vets don't need it as much.
Speaker 1: It seems likely that the rookies aren't going to have
Speaker 1: a chance to do any of that until training camp
Speaker 1: starts whenever. That is, so, yeah, that's that's gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot of getting up to speed that they have
Speaker 1: to help those guys with. I've had go ahead, Nick,
Speaker 1: I just said, we had some mail bag questions about
Speaker 1: veteran versus rookies and who's going to have an advantage,
Speaker 1: you know, making rosters, and it just doesn't seem like, like,
Speaker 1: you know, it's even close right now. I mean, I
Speaker 1: you know, there will be veterans that have that upper
Speaker 1: hand because they understand terminology, they understand schemes and concepts
Speaker 1: way more than than rookies. Didn't mean, if you're a
Speaker 1: high draft pick, obviously you're gonna bank the team. But
Speaker 1: you know, I think it is going to be a
Speaker 1: challenge for an undrafted rookie to really make a splash
Speaker 1: because they they're gonna have to do all their work
Speaker 1: at training camp and they haven't had this offseason to
Speaker 1: really start turning aheads. I mean, I think of Luke Gifford.
Speaker 1: Luke Gifford, by the time we got the training camp,
Speaker 1: he was a guy we already kind of like to
Speaker 1: see what he's done. At this point, these rooks, undrafted
Speaker 1: rookies haven't really done anything, and it'd be interesting, Nick,
Speaker 1: you bring rookies and guys trying to get contributions. I
Speaker 1: think this year, more than any of the other year,
Speaker 1: you have to pay close attention to the practice squad.
Speaker 1: The practice squad has to be a true developmental squad
Speaker 1: in a vehicle that teams used to get better during
Speaker 1: the season. So the practice squad guys may not be
Speaker 1: impactful the first half of the year, but I think
Speaker 1: what you may see guys stashed on the practice squad
Speaker 1: that are getting extra reps during the regular season on
Speaker 1: the side, after practices are done week eight, week nine,
Speaker 1: week ten, you will then begin to see those guys
Speaker 1: kind of sprinkled into the lineup because now they're ready
Speaker 1: to understand the offense and defensive scheme and they're ready
Speaker 1: to make contributions. I wanted to ask you since you
Speaker 1: guys have been talking about these rookies and younger guys, Bucky,
Speaker 1: you've been doing scounting reports on a lot of these guys,
Speaker 1: and I'll just wanted to ask you, after watching so
Speaker 1: much film of each one of them, guys, who would
Speaker 1: be a guy. Do you have somebody that's what do
Speaker 1: you guys call it? Pet? Yeah? Hey, guy who would be?
Speaker 1: Who would be a guy for you that has to
Speaker 1: toot out for you know, while you've been watching all
Speaker 1: this film, any is the guy rather they Adni is
Speaker 1: the guy that people need to pay attention to rather
Speaker 1: or not for whatever reason, um fail down the charts.
Speaker 1: But like, he's a fifth round pick who has big
Speaker 1: time talent and Dallas has traditionally hit on guys like
Speaker 1: in those stages. To think about Bradley and I that
Speaker 1: makes him a guy that could pop. He plays with
Speaker 1: a tremendous motor uh. He has natural rush skills. He
Speaker 1: has a violent temperament on the field and that kind
Speaker 1: of plays really well. Also with Mike Nolan coming over
Speaker 1: and the hybrid scheme that they're going to use, he
Speaker 1: is a perfect fit to kind of feel one of
Speaker 1: those boys as a stand up player that plays off
Speaker 1: the edge. And if you know anything, and I don't
Speaker 1: know how many Utah players have been on Cowboys rosters
Speaker 1: in the past, but typically when you get a Utah player,
Speaker 1: you get except one that's physical, is someone that's tough
Speaker 1: and kind of gets it because they practice and play
Speaker 1: in a manner this pro life. I think he's gonna
Speaker 1: be a guy there from day one. He's going to
Speaker 1: flash right away in Utah. Anything close to Boysie States program,
Speaker 1: I know it's close in geography, because if so, we
Speaker 1: do have a good idea about Boysie State players, like
Speaker 1: like like those schools Boise State, Utah, Fresno State. For
Speaker 1: the longest time, like they just had guys that just
Speaker 1: kind of made it when you step as a scout
Speaker 1: on the practice feeling and watched them go like it
Speaker 1: was all business um at Firstno State in particular, they
Speaker 1: used to talk about anytime anywhere, they did not care,
Speaker 1: like if you want to strap it on, they were
Speaker 1: ready to go. Utah operates in a similar manner. You've
Speaker 1: seen a bunch of Utah guys had success in the pros.
Speaker 1: Radley and I like gets and when we watched him
Speaker 1: at the Ceni Bowl, he was unblockable coming off the
Speaker 1: edge against high level players. I think in this scheme,
Speaker 1: in this system, I think he's going to be a
Speaker 1: guy that is really really, really good play. Now I'm
Speaker 1: racking my brain. I don't I don't think the Cowboys
Speaker 1: have had a Utah guy at least not a you know,
Speaker 1: a notable name in the time that I've covered the team,
Speaker 1: But I mean you talk, yeah, going all the way
Speaker 1: through the draft process back to last summer, that Utah
Speaker 1: defense was so impressive. You know, five or six guys
Speaker 1: off that Unich got drafted. They're so physical, nasty, fun
Speaker 1: to watch. Uh yeah, I'm I'm really excited about about
Speaker 1: Bradley and I winn in here some physical toughness, especially
Speaker 1: after last draft, winning some guys that can come in
Speaker 1: here with you. You hate this defense so much, like
Speaker 1: it's it's just going over Yeah, no, no, no, I
Speaker 1: don't hate it all These guys gotta be tougher, gotta
Speaker 1: hit it, hit it, you know. And like I said,
Speaker 1: especially after what we saw from last draft, I think
Speaker 1: that a lot of people might probably will you agree
Speaker 1: with me. You need guys that are able to come
Speaker 1: in and actually be bringing something to the table, and
Speaker 1: not some people that you completely forget about last year.
Speaker 1: The only person I kept reminded myself that I could
Speaker 1: remember their name was Tony Poller. Other than that, I
Speaker 1: would have to be like, who did with draft again?
Speaker 1: So don't mistake me. Everybody agrees with you. Like after
Speaker 1: every show, everybody's in my mentions talking about how you
Speaker 1: speak for the fans. So you're act like you're a
Speaker 1: hundred percent right. Started sweating. I already started sweating. I
Speaker 1: get so emotional. I know we're Here's the thing that
Speaker 1: is different, And like Mike McCarthy talked about it in
Speaker 1: the opening for us, and when you talked about players
Speaker 1: over system, when you let the system lead, sometimes what
Speaker 1: you do is you boca is good players to get
Speaker 1: guys to kind of fit the system and it can work,
Speaker 1: but you really got to hit on those things. When
Speaker 1: you go with players and then you tailor the system
Speaker 1: around what the players do, you have a better chance
Speaker 1: of getting it to work. Also, the way they're changing
Speaker 1: the defense from being kind of like what i'll call
Speaker 1: a simple system where we're single high safety. They lined
Speaker 1: up and we're gonna do what we do. It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter what you do. We're just gonna be better than you.
Speaker 1: Like that's great when you have superior talent, and for
Speaker 1: whatever reason, it didn't work last year for the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: This year, Mike Nolan has talked about being multiple, being
Speaker 1: complex given the quarterback different looks and when you look
Speaker 1: at the acquisitions the guys that they've acquired, not only
Speaker 1: in the draft but in free agency, you have more
Speaker 1: guys that can do multiple things and play multiple roles.
Speaker 1: The challenge will be, can Mike Nolan make it simple
Speaker 1: enough that guys can grasp it quickly so they can
Speaker 1: put it into play on the field. That would be
Speaker 1: the only thing that I'd be worried about it. I'll
Speaker 1: be paying attention to looking at training again. Well, let's
Speaker 1: let's go to a quick break right now. When we
Speaker 1: come back, well a little different into that because I
Speaker 1: know a lot of people are still asking about the
Speaker 1: four three four, which one is it? So I wanted
Speaker 1: to get y'all input in that once again. And then
Speaker 1: we have a lot of questions from the fence to
Speaker 1: answer on here when we come back. Your new apartment's big,
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Speaker 1: the break, Welcome back, guys. We have Bucky Bruks joining
Speaker 1: us in today's show. Hopefully he can answer this big
Speaker 1: question that a lot of fense want to know. What
Speaker 1: is this defense gonna be at three four four three?
Speaker 1: Which one is it? I don't know why people care
Speaker 1: so much, honestly, but just go ahead. I'm gonna let
Speaker 1: you go ahead and speak about it too, hopefully and
Speaker 1: bring some reason into this whole mess. Michelan said it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a hybrid, but given Mike Nolan's history, he
Speaker 1: excused heavily towards a three four defense, and the only
Speaker 1: change really they need a big They needed more size
Speaker 1: upfront to be able to do a three four because ideally,
Speaker 1: what you want in a three four your best players
Speaker 1: are your lie back, So whoever they doesn't as the linebackers.
Speaker 1: So if they dubbed DeMarcus Lawrence as an edge player
Speaker 1: and a linebacker, Alden Smith, Randy Gregory, whoever plays on
Speaker 1: the other side, they'll be a linebacker. The two inside linebackers,
Speaker 1: Jaylen Smith and Lady vander Esh those guys. The region
Speaker 1: need bigger guys inside, Gerald McCoy and Port Pope because
Speaker 1: you want them to clog up blockers so they can
Speaker 1: run and chase. You want a free lv and Jaylen
Speaker 1: Smith to be able to just run and chase and go. Really,
Speaker 1: Seaball get ball on the edges. What you're trying to
Speaker 1: do and the reason it's beneficial to being at a
Speaker 1: three four, You're trying to get your best pass rusher
Speaker 1: on a running back or a tied end, and to
Speaker 1: think about the three four is you can move and
Speaker 1: stunt and create some five man fronts where the offense
Speaker 1: has to leave one of those guys on one of
Speaker 1: your better rushers. Mike Nolan has played this defense in
Speaker 1: the past with Terrell Sugs in Baltimore and created opportunities
Speaker 1: for them to get a gang of sacks. The Marcus
Speaker 1: Lawrence will get a number of one on one opportunities.
Speaker 1: Now only gets tackles, but they can configure the defense
Speaker 1: to give him a chance to get one on ones
Speaker 1: with running backs. If a pass for rushers one on
Speaker 1: one with a back equals a sack. And so I
Speaker 1: think what you'll see is more blitzing, more chaos, more
Speaker 1: disruption up front. They should need more turnables. I agree
Speaker 1: with that. And I really think that, you know, we've
Speaker 1: said this Bucky before, the Jalen Smith. Figuring out how
Speaker 1: to use Jalen Smith in the right way is a
Speaker 1: very high priority, or should be a high priority for um,
Speaker 1: you know, Mike Nolan and this defense. And I think
Speaker 1: a three fourth scheme putting him in Layton kind of
Speaker 1: right in the middle, there's not a lot of coverage
Speaker 1: to be asked for those guys, you know, I think
Speaker 1: that's exactly where Jalen needs to be. Yeah. With Jalen,
Speaker 1: like if you go all the way back to when
Speaker 1: he was playing at Notre Dame, he was so much
Speaker 1: more than just a side on the sideline line. They
Speaker 1: would blitz him. They would incorporate him as part of
Speaker 1: the pass rush well in the three or four defense.
Speaker 1: One of the benefits of being in the three or
Speaker 1: four you have three down linement, but you have four
Speaker 1: stand up players, and any of those stand up players
Speaker 1: can go on a given down to create either a
Speaker 1: four man pressure which is called a simulated pressure, or
Speaker 1: you bring two. You now have a blitz. So in theory,
Speaker 1: you could bring the Marcus Lawrence and Jayalen Smith from
Speaker 1: the same side. You can bring all the Smith from
Speaker 1: one side, Jailen from the other side. It just gives
Speaker 1: you a lot of flexibility. And even when they go
Speaker 1: into their nickel package, which may have a four man front,
Speaker 1: there's just so many creative things that you can do
Speaker 1: when you add in the blitz pressures. But a lot
Speaker 1: of that will be dependent upon how will can they
Speaker 1: cover in the end, Because if you can cover well
Speaker 1: in the back end, then you can do more stuff,
Speaker 1: more aggressive stuff in the front end. That's that's where
Speaker 1: I keep landing, which is why I like I agree
Speaker 1: with Amber's It's funny to me that people are clamoring
Speaker 1: for clarity so much because that's exactly what everybody was
Speaker 1: so sick of under the last coaching staff. Liked Marinelli
Speaker 1: is going to play a four three front. They're gonna
Speaker 1: do this, the pass rushers are gonna get up a field.
Speaker 1: It's the same thing all the time, and people were
Speaker 1: sick of it. I love the fact that we don't
Speaker 1: one hundred percent know what this is going to look like. Like,
Speaker 1: I hope Alton Smith and to Marcus Lawrence do stand
Speaker 1: up from time to time. I hope they put their
Speaker 1: hands down in a four to three front. I hope
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith rushes off the edge in addition to playing linebacker.
Speaker 1: Like I hope all that stuff is true. That's why
Speaker 1: like hybrid. The word hybrid really excites me. I hope
Speaker 1: that they're as versatile as I think they can be
Speaker 1: because they have so many crazy athletes. I mean, you're
Speaker 1: both of your defensive facules can play in both types
Speaker 1: of fronts. Layton vander esh and John Smith are two
Speaker 1: of the most athletic linebackers in the entire league. They
Speaker 1: can do a number of different things. Obviously have very
Speaker 1: versatile pass rushers. We've talked about how you know Tyrone
Speaker 1: Crawford can do everything from four to three end to
Speaker 1: four three tackle to three to four end. There's so
Speaker 1: much versatility, Like, if you're not doing a little bit
Speaker 1: of everything, then I'm not sure you're capitalizing on your talent.
Speaker 1: So I'm really excited. We don't know for sure what
Speaker 1: it's going to look like, because it could look like
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff, maybe a bunch of stuff up front,
Speaker 1: Like the versatility did they have because and studying the
Speaker 1: roster and studying the lineup, You're right, Tyron Crawford is
Speaker 1: the wild card. Because Tyron Crawford started at end, but
Speaker 1: he can kick down the side of be a three,
Speaker 1: four or five. He plays over the shoulder of the tackle.
Speaker 1: You have Poe and McCoy that can bleed the zero
Speaker 1: and the three technique, the nose tackle and the jump tackle,
Speaker 1: and then you got to stand up players. But where
Speaker 1: it really can become funky for teams facing them. The
Speaker 1: creativity that they now have with the safeties, how Clinton
Speaker 1: Dix maybe with being able to play what we call
Speaker 1: split safety coverage. If you go back and the classic
Speaker 1: yes to you when everybody loved the Cowboys in the
Speaker 1: mid nineties, they played a lot of quarters, meaning that
Speaker 1: if you basically just divvy up the field and quarters
Speaker 1: the corners at the outside quarters of the field, the
Speaker 1: safety plays the inside quarters. Well. Now with how high
Speaker 1: Clinton Dix and was being able to kind of rock
Speaker 1: and roll and play some man coverage and do some
Speaker 1: of those things, you now can have the nine man
Speaker 1: fronts against the run, but you can play quarters coverage
Speaker 1: in the back end. And the other part of that,
Speaker 1: you can play quarter quarter half, which means that when
Speaker 1: they're facing the teams in the NFC East, and if
Speaker 1: there's a stud wide receiver, they can now roll up
Speaker 1: and basically double team that side and the other corner
Speaker 1: can play man to man. It is almost the old
Speaker 1: Dion Sanders defense. If they have a corner that stands out,
Speaker 1: you leave him locked up on the outside by himself.
Speaker 1: You roll the other way, and you dare the quarterback
Speaker 1: to find the third option. If the Cowboys can evolve
Speaker 1: to that kind of defense while bringing pressure man, you're
Speaker 1: able to suffocate opponents with the different schemes that might
Speaker 1: go that wants to bring and I know that smirk. Okay,
Speaker 1: so I can get exactly no if you have and
Speaker 1: let's just say it at the same time because we're
Speaker 1: both we're both asking the question, which cornerback do you
Speaker 1: trust to lockdown inside of the field, Who's Deon Sanders?
Speaker 1: And this equation that that sounds great. That's like I
Speaker 1: keep hearing a lot of people say with the last dance,
Speaker 1: you know, who's who's the Scottie Pippen of the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: I'm like, who's the Michael Jordans, Like who's the Phil Jackson? Like,
Speaker 1: you know, who's the Deon Sanders of this? Okay, So
Speaker 1: think of it this way because a lot of times
Speaker 1: when we think about the Dion Sanders theory, we think
Speaker 1: about Dion taking on the number one receiver. Would flip
Speaker 1: your mom, put the corner on the number two guy,
Speaker 1: double team number one, and forced them to throw the
Speaker 1: number three. So, whoever emerges as your top corner, don't
Speaker 1: put them on the other team's best guy. Put them
Speaker 1: on the worst guy, double team the best guy, and
Speaker 1: dare the third guy on offense to be the guy
Speaker 1: that has to beat you. That's how you play the defence.
Speaker 1: Nineteen nine Befour NFC Championship Game, That's exactly what the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers did. That's what they did, They double
Speaker 1: team to Michael. Michael had a huge get day and
Speaker 1: Dion just shut down Harper and then they Kevin Williams
Speaker 1: had to try to be the other guy and it
Speaker 1: didn't work. That's exactly the theory there. So yeah, it'll
Speaker 1: be interesting to see, you know, but it's it's kind
Speaker 1: of funny how it's all connected. How the tackles need
Speaker 1: to help the linebackers, and how the safeties can play
Speaker 1: this and the corners. It takes everyone, you know, they
Speaker 1: say that all the time to take to all eleven
Speaker 1: and it really doesn't that defense. To go back to
Speaker 1: the point about versatility, and I'm not trying to convince
Speaker 1: anybody that they're the legion of Boom. We have no
Speaker 1: idea how good or bad this secondary could be, but
Speaker 1: I am really intrigued by how versatile it is, just
Speaker 1: in terms of the skill sets. I mean, we know
Speaker 1: Anthony Brown and Jordin Lewis can both play inside and outside.
Speaker 1: You know, we're we speculated plenty about you know, they
Speaker 1: might want to move Cheeto to safety or Reggie Robinson
Speaker 1: has some safety flex. People forget exact Woods slot corner
Speaker 1: as a rookie, and how high. Clinton Dix has also
Speaker 1: played a number of different spots. You know, I don't
Speaker 1: believe he's played a ton of corner, but he's handled
Speaker 1: multiple responsibilities as a safety. So yeah, a lot of
Speaker 1: guys that can do a lot of stuff. Yea, Worley's
Speaker 1: played safety and corner as well, for sure. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: now the beauty of that the coverage and what we're
Speaker 1: talking about, so whether it's quarter, quarter, half, but whether
Speaker 1: it's just true quarters. So the thing that you saw
Speaker 1: in the offseason, the guys that they brought over Digs
Speaker 1: and Robinson's long versatile in terms of being able to
Speaker 1: play press, bill and off they get their hands on
Speaker 1: the ball. Then in Worly the same thing. So in
Speaker 1: theory Mike Nolan has talked about, Look, we want to
Speaker 1: put the guys in a situation where they do when
Speaker 1: they do really well. But the thing about quarters, you
Speaker 1: can play quarters pressed like they used to way back
Speaker 1: when jim Base was to decorded. I mean, Jimmy Johnson
Speaker 1: and all those guys were there. They locked up and
Speaker 1: they did things. But you also can walk those guys
Speaker 1: out and let them vision on the quarterback and if
Speaker 1: the pass rush is really good, they get their interceptions
Speaker 1: off tips and overthrows. So depending on how much pressure
Speaker 1: they can create at the line of scrimmage, that can
Speaker 1: dictate the number of interceptions. To get more interceptions, you
Speaker 1: have to play more zone because your cornerbacks have to
Speaker 1: have their vision on the quarterback and see the ball
Speaker 1: come out when you play man to man like Byron
Speaker 1: Jones did. The reason why he didn't get a lot
Speaker 1: of interceptions, his back is always to the quarterback. Those
Speaker 1: guys get breakups, not interceptions. Mike Nolan has talked about
Speaker 1: we need interceptions, we need picks, We got to have turnovers.
Speaker 1: We have to have those things. He is going to
Speaker 1: play so they can see the ball come out. A
Speaker 1: little more zone, a little more stuff that gives his
Speaker 1: guys an opportunity to get those takeaways. Startling how rarely
Speaker 1: Cowboys defensive backs played the ball, you know, in the
Speaker 1: last couple of years of Rod mary Elly's tenure. I
Speaker 1: think it's it's probably one of the top five complaints
Speaker 1: from fans and media about the way the Cowboys played
Speaker 1: over the last few years. So yeah, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: exciting to think that they might unleash these guys a
Speaker 1: little bit well, and another thing is I remember last
Speaker 1: year when we were about to face the Patriots, and
Speaker 1: I remember asking you guys, I'm like, okay, what makes
Speaker 1: the Patriots so good? And one of the things that
Speaker 1: you guys talked about was the fact that they change
Speaker 1: things up every week based on their opponent. So to me,
Speaker 1: when you talked about, okay, what are you? What kind
Speaker 1: of defense are you? Why do you need to be
Speaker 1: defined by something? Why can't you just change it? I mean,
Speaker 1: as in football. I've never played football, but how hard
Speaker 1: is it to change it every week depending who your
Speaker 1: opponent is? And hopefully you can comment on that as
Speaker 1: a former player, because I haven't been on the field plane,
Speaker 1: but really, how hard is it to switch it up? Hey?
Speaker 1: So hey, Kate, I'm sorry. I don't want to Jeff
Speaker 1: Bucky because you're gonna have a better answer than me.
Speaker 1: But I'll say this that Bill Belichick didn't just do
Speaker 1: this overnight. When he is looking at players, he's not
Speaker 1: just looking at forty times and all that. He's looking
Speaker 1: at guys that are smart, that can understand concepts, understand
Speaker 1: a lot of teams. Just say give me, oh he
Speaker 1: ran a four to eight. I got him where this
Speaker 1: guy ran a four to four. But he's a very
Speaker 1: intelligent player. He's very versatile. He understands teams and so
Speaker 1: he can he can make a change on a Tuesday
Speaker 1: and Wednesday in the middle of the week. As we've
Speaker 1: had players on this team. I don't want to name
Speaker 1: names pit players on this team for eight or nine
Speaker 1: years that could never, never really play a different position,
Speaker 1: and so that stuff matters, and you have to have
Speaker 1: the players that can adapt. That's that's a great point,
Speaker 1: nick Um. With the Patriots, they always if you look
Speaker 1: at him, they always skew towards veterans players. Why because
Speaker 1: veteran players aren't experienced, they played in dolt systems. It's
Speaker 1: easier for them to get adjustments on the fly because
Speaker 1: they've been exposed to a lot. When you have young players,
Speaker 1: sometimes it's hard to overload them with a bunch of
Speaker 1: different changes and adjustments because as they're thinking, they can't
Speaker 1: really play with the Cowboys. And Mike Nolan said this,
Speaker 1: He's like, if you want to create takeaways, you have
Speaker 1: to get guys that have a history of taking the
Speaker 1: ball away. So you gotta look in the background. As
Speaker 1: college players, did they get their hands on the ball,
Speaker 1: on the ball, and as collegiance, Brian Jones didn't get
Speaker 1: his hands on the ball a lot when he played
Speaker 1: at Yukon. So to expect him to be a high
Speaker 1: turnover guy, that's an unreasonable expectation because he's not going
Speaker 1: to play like that. When you look at Raggy Robinson,
Speaker 1: he has seven picks. He saw digs. He has seven
Speaker 1: or eight picks in his career. You've seen those guys
Speaker 1: come down with interception. So you understand, Oh, these guys
Speaker 1: can catch the ball. Maybe they played wide receiver, they
Speaker 1: understand it. The thing that is the challenge in trying
Speaker 1: to do a lot of different stuff, what can your
Speaker 1: players handle? And so Mike Nolan, without the benefit of
Speaker 1: an off season, he's going to have to experiment. The
Speaker 1: first quarter of the season may look ugly on defense
Speaker 1: while he's trying to figure out what guys can handle
Speaker 1: and process and do. And then as he narrows their
Speaker 1: focus and says, Okay, we can play this handful of
Speaker 1: coverage and stuff. We're just gonna major in that. That
Speaker 1: is the trick. Mary Nelly and Christophe Shart, they tried
Speaker 1: to say, hey, we're only gonna do this so you're
Speaker 1: gonna do it over and over and get good at it.
Speaker 1: It can work. It didn't work last year. But for
Speaker 1: Nolan to be able to pull this off, he's gonna
Speaker 1: have to have a clear understanding the words guys can
Speaker 1: handle from a middle standpoint. All right, So what I
Speaker 1: got from that is just get smarter and more experienced players.
Speaker 1: What I got from that whole thing. But but you've
Speaker 1: seen that though you saw them, they got a worldly
Speaker 1: they got makes sense, makes sense. They brought Kennedy over
Speaker 1: Tray Digs played in the system that was multiple at Alabama.
Speaker 1: You can say the same for what Robinson playing in Tulsa.
Speaker 1: They're used to playing in systems that require them to
Speaker 1: do a lot of thinking, a lot of changing and adjusting. Well,
Speaker 1: we are about to go to break here in a
Speaker 1: couple of minutes, but real quick, before we go to break,
Speaker 1: I did want to ask you about the free agent guys. Well,
Speaker 1: you talked about the rookies and the guys that you've
Speaker 1: done all these count and reports on, But what would
Speaker 1: be a free agent veteran guy that has caught your eye.
Speaker 1: It's important free agent that they sign. Maybe Cameron Irving
Speaker 1: and the reason why is he's a jack of all trades.
Speaker 1: He can play all five positions along the offensive line.
Speaker 1: In the case of an injury, he could be the
Speaker 1: swing player that has to go up and play. And
Speaker 1: because he can play anywhere from left tackle, guard, center, guard, outside,
Speaker 1: he is a very valuable player. And it's one of
Speaker 1: those signings that everyone will kind of shrug their shoulders
Speaker 1: in the off season, but when you get to the
Speaker 1: mix down the stretch week ten eleven, when you have injuries,
Speaker 1: having a player that can do a bunch of different
Speaker 1: things could be a huge asset. He is a very
Speaker 1: very valuable piece that they brought off. That's not the
Speaker 1: guy I was expecting you to say, And so that's interesting.
Speaker 1: And you're right though, Joe Looney was that guy. He
Speaker 1: was that backup to two or three spots, and if
Speaker 1: he has to start now, tamer and Irving is a
Speaker 1: guy you want your backup lineman. Even though they've changed
Speaker 1: the rules that you have to have eight guys active,
Speaker 1: you still would like to have a guy that can
Speaker 1: do multiple things like that. I think that's that's a
Speaker 1: great point. I was expecting. I was trying to figure
Speaker 1: out which defensive guy you were going to throw out
Speaker 1: I thought, I thought you might say Kennedy. Honestly, I
Speaker 1: think he's an unforgotten player because he is going to
Speaker 1: be a key core member to the special teams. Murray's cannedy.
Speaker 1: He absolutely he has to be. They have to be
Speaker 1: better in special teams. And here's the thing. Without OTAs
Speaker 1: and all the things, you cannot put young guys on
Speaker 1: special teams because early in the year you'll see a
Speaker 1: block punt, you see a punt return, you see a
Speaker 1: kickover return, something that ultimately decides the game. You need
Speaker 1: to have veteran players that really want to be special
Speaker 1: teamers on your special teams. He is a core player.
Speaker 1: I think he should ultimately emerge as a special team's captain.
Speaker 1: His ability to make plays in the kicking game could
Speaker 1: deside a game or two. And so keep your eye
Speaker 1: on him and figure out which other guys that are
Speaker 1: backup players can emerge and really make solid contributions to
Speaker 1: the kicking game. Which you know, that's it's ironic, like
Speaker 1: I'll eat some robe as a as a as a writer,
Speaker 1: like you go back a few years, we used to
Speaker 1: kind of dog the Cowboys when when Richstacchio was the
Speaker 1: special teams coordinator like he had like seven guys who
Speaker 1: you know, the core special teamers like didn't do anything else.
Speaker 1: And you're like, you know, whether it was Kyle Wilber,
Speaker 1: James Hannah, Jeff Heath before he got the nod to
Speaker 1: be a starter, We're like, how many with Andrew gash
Speaker 1: Cars another one? Absolutely are like, how many of these
Speaker 1: guys that don't play offense or defense do you need? Well,
Speaker 1: they all left and joined rich in Oakland and the
Speaker 1: Cowboys special teams got really that so maybe the answer
Speaker 1: is you do need a handful of those fantasies. And
Speaker 1: I'll say, well, say that it's about about last year's
Speaker 1: staff and our last year's special teams as they were
Speaker 1: not good. We know that it's been documented, but one
Speaker 1: of the problems they had was they had a little
Speaker 1: bit of an issue at the coaching staff of coaches
Speaker 1: that wanted their players to be focused on a position
Speaker 1: and not special teams. It wasn't an all in, buy
Speaker 1: in situation. There was too many players that were not
Speaker 1: starting that were like, I don't want to play special teams.
Speaker 1: That's a problem. Darren Woodson played special teams for about
Speaker 1: ten years and he was a starter for every one
Speaker 1: of his seasons except for the first one. So it's
Speaker 1: a mindset that's got to be you know, it's got
Speaker 1: to be changed too. And that starts at the top.
Speaker 1: That starts at the top. You talk about Darren Woodson,
Speaker 1: all those the other with Jimmy Johnson, they put their starters.
Speaker 1: Every starter has to play on at least one special
Speaker 1: team as a starter. So your defensive starters tend to
Speaker 1: be played on put team because they got to go
Speaker 1: down and cover in tackling. This very important, not to
Speaker 1: flip the field. You have defensive starters own kickoff and
Speaker 1: in return, like it has to be a very important
Speaker 1: part and to make the roster, it has to be
Speaker 1: one of those things that early in training camp your
Speaker 1: head coach has to stand up there and say like, look,
Speaker 1: we may have twenty two starters, but the rest of
Speaker 1: you guys for you to make it, you have to
Speaker 1: be able to make special teams contributions and eventually work
Speaker 1: your way as a backup. Special teams buys you time
Speaker 1: to earn the right to be a rotational player as
Speaker 1: an offensive or defensive player. But special teams has to matter,
Speaker 1: and because you have arguably the best special teams coach
Speaker 1: in football coming over. You can best believe that the
Speaker 1: Cowboys special teams are going to be good with bones
Speaker 1: falls so taken over. Thank you so much, Bunky. I
Speaker 1: know you gotta get moving and go do some other things,
Speaker 1: and we do need to take a break, so thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining us today and bringing in
Speaker 1: some of your wisdom, because Derek doesn't bring wisdom so
Speaker 1: all of the time. So thank you. Hi, guys, Let's
Speaker 1: take a break and then we'll keep that we keep
Speaker 1: going with the shows. We do have some questions that
Speaker 1: you guys have been sending it and we'll get to
Speaker 1: them right after the break. I want to use what
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Speaker 1: Course Chamber twenty nineteen. Back to the Break, Come back
Speaker 1: to the break. Now it's time to answer some Twitter
Speaker 1: questions that you guys have been sent. And this first
Speaker 1: question is kind of long, so just better with me.
Speaker 1: With the possibility of an even higher octane offense this
Speaker 1: next season, how do you see the Boys using Tony
Speaker 1: Polar will McCarthy using in more creative packages? Is he
Speaker 1: a bigger receiving threat out of the backfield than Zeke? Okay,
Speaker 1: answer that last part. Yes, I think so. I mean
Speaker 1: I think he's more dynamic in space and with the
Speaker 1: ball in his hands. I think he's got better home
Speaker 1: run speed. So yeah, absolutely, And it kind of goes
Speaker 1: back to the whole question about you know, the defense
Speaker 1: is like, I mean, I haven't seen anything. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but I really hope so. And I trust Mike McCarthy's
Speaker 1: track record because what they did with Tony last year
Speaker 1: just wasn't good enough for a guy that's that talented.
Speaker 1: And and I mean, look, I know Zeke's going to
Speaker 1: be the lead dog, and he should be. He's great,
Speaker 1: but uh, you gotta find a way to get a
Speaker 1: guy like Tony Pollard at least half a dozen touches
Speaker 1: a game. Um, whether you know he can he can
Speaker 1: move out into the slot, he can catch out of
Speaker 1: the backfield. He's very He's a damn good traditional running
Speaker 1: back kick returner. I keep saying, I think it doesn't
Speaker 1: seem like it should be that hard to teach the
Speaker 1: guy how to return punts. I don't think he ever
Speaker 1: did it in college, but it does. I mean, I
Speaker 1: feel like you could learn if you spent some time
Speaker 1: with a jugs machine and a special teams coach. Um. So,
Speaker 1: in fact, I would have sorry, go ahead, I'm rambling.
Speaker 1: I just said I would agree with you on the
Speaker 1: on the punt return if they didn't draft ceedee Lamb.
Speaker 1: I think he is a perfect guy that could sit
Speaker 1: in there. But but you're right, I mean, he can
Speaker 1: jump in there. My thing about Tony Pollard is it's
Speaker 1: just like you said, he's a better receiver, and yet
Speaker 1: he is a better receiver, but he won't get as
Speaker 1: many catches as Zeke because Zeke will be on the
Speaker 1: field more and it'll create those mismatches. I think the
Speaker 1: better that Pollard is as a traditional runner, stronger, he
Speaker 1: gets better vision. He's a guy that can put in
Speaker 1: to run the ball. Then he can open up and
Speaker 1: do so many other things. If he's just a gadget player,
Speaker 1: you kind of know what to expect. But Kamara was
Speaker 1: so good because Kamara could run the ball right between
Speaker 1: the tackles. It wasn't just Ingraham and then Cammar did
Speaker 1: other things. If Pollard can do other I mean he
Speaker 1: can do everything, then I think he can do a
Speaker 1: bunch of other things as well. Well. They can create
Speaker 1: on that and that's where McCarthy steps in because I mean,
Speaker 1: we saw what Kellen Moore did last year, so you
Speaker 1: still have Kellen Moore in charge there of the offense.
Speaker 1: So hopefully watching from last year and having McCarthy's voice
Speaker 1: it brings up new creative plays for them to use
Speaker 1: with Pauler. Now, I do have this other question, what
Speaker 1: is a new wrinkle that you would like to see
Speaker 1: the offense do that they can look at this Sorry,
Speaker 1: this question was kind of worried differently, but basically, what
Speaker 1: is something that you see from other teams offense that
Speaker 1: the Cowboys could maybe bring on their own offense and
Speaker 1: do themselves. I think, um, you've got well, one thing
Speaker 1: that you can do is you can put a big
Speaker 1: defensive tackle on there and he can catch the ball
Speaker 1: and a wildcat formation information to throw it. I mean,
Speaker 1: we've seen Dontari Poe do that. You know, We've seen
Speaker 1: Blake Bell do that at college. I don't think, you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's too early to talk about wrinkles and
Speaker 1: all that stuff, but I would say that you're tied
Speaker 1: end can be can do more things because you got
Speaker 1: You've got better athletes at the tight end position than
Speaker 1: you did it in the path. So I could see
Speaker 1: different things down the seal using eleven personnel at times.
Speaker 1: But also I don't know if you go thirteen, but
Speaker 1: I do think that you'll see multiple tight ends out
Speaker 1: there and going down the field more than they have.
Speaker 1: I got, all right, this isn't even this isn't even innovative.
Speaker 1: It's it's like pretty basic. But I would love to
Speaker 1: see the Cowboys do it because they refused to under
Speaker 1: James Garrett, I'm stealing this from my buddy like White
Speaker 1: on Twitter. Um, they ran upward of sixty percent on
Speaker 1: first down in the vast majority of their games last year.
Speaker 1: It was even as much as eighty percent in a
Speaker 1: few of their games. If you remember, they just refused
Speaker 1: to do anything but charge Zeke Elliott into the line
Speaker 1: on first and ten against Minnesota all night long. It
Speaker 1: was the only thing they did. If they could just
Speaker 1: bring that percentage down, throw on first down, play action
Speaker 1: on first down, I think that would help Dak Prescott tremendously.
Speaker 1: I think it would make the offense more dynamic. Not
Speaker 1: to say Zeke won't be a part of it, but
Speaker 1: just be a little less predictable, and I think it
Speaker 1: would be a long way. William just texted me. William
Speaker 1: Boykins is part of our staff. He's listening to this
Speaker 1: show and he's like, here's one thing. Run the quarterback.
Speaker 1: Run Dak Prescott. Hell yeah, well that too. And I
Speaker 1: know you make him susceptible to injury if you do
Speaker 1: it too much, but he has game changing ability as
Speaker 1: a runner. The dude's got twenty one rushing touchdowns. How
Speaker 1: much easier does that mean, especially in the bed zone,
Speaker 1: you know where you know, three yards is the difference
Speaker 1: between kicking a field goal or scoring a touchdown. It's
Speaker 1: just way too valuable to ignore that. It seems to
Speaker 1: me I've seen him plenty of times be a little
Speaker 1: more successful when making those passes on the move. I
Speaker 1: mean he can throw while on the move. Saying well,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, if I know William at all,
Speaker 1: he's probably trying to get the weather Wayne to join
Speaker 1: us and replace Bucky. But um no, I think Dak's
Speaker 1: best throw ever and Dave, I think we'll agree, was
Speaker 1: the one that he threw to to Cole Beasley in
Speaker 1: the the end of the Giants game and the end
Speaker 1: of twenty eighteen, rolling left, throwing to his right thirty
Speaker 1: five yards down the field, uh to win the game
Speaker 1: or to save the game and then win it with
Speaker 1: a two point conversion. You're right, he's strong enough where
Speaker 1: his body doesn't always have to be set perfectly to
Speaker 1: make that good throw. People are still wondering about what
Speaker 1: the Cowboys are you gonna keep doing in free agency?
Speaker 1: We know that free agency technically isn't over. You know,
Speaker 1: there's player acquisition all throughout the year. As we hear
Speaker 1: from Steven Jones all the time. So are you guys
Speaker 1: hearing anything or do you expect any of the Cowboys
Speaker 1: to bring in another player during the free agency that
Speaker 1: could come in and help out a certain position. Let
Speaker 1: me guess, Let me get one guess of who they want,
Speaker 1: because he's still out there ahead, Dave. I mean, you're
Speaker 1: you're thinking Clowney, but don't forget about everything Griffin either.
Speaker 1: They're both there. Yeah, well green Clowney asking for I
Speaker 1: mean forty million a year, Like, what's he asking for that?
Speaker 1: Nobody's won a team. I think I think he's probably
Speaker 1: made peace with the fact that he's not going to
Speaker 1: get what he wanted when this all started. And at
Speaker 1: this point, I don't know exactly what he's waiting for,
Speaker 1: but I assume he's got a handful of offers. And
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's not like he's really missing
Speaker 1: anything by not signing you. Um, I, like I said,
Speaker 1: I couldn't tell you what he's waiting for, but I'm
Speaker 1: sure he's got a few choices to pick from him.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to be the Cowboys. That's
Speaker 1: you know, people people have been asking since March. You
Speaker 1: know well, Oh, I mean, if we cut Tyrone Crawford,
Speaker 1: can we go after Clowney. I'm like you, they could
Speaker 1: go after Clowney right now if they wanted to, they
Speaker 1: could do it. Yeah. Our producer, our producer, Chris Being
Speaker 1: pointed out too that I ever seen Griffin played for
Speaker 1: George Edwards with the vice. Honestly, I thought it made
Speaker 1: a lot of sense because of George Edwards. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: he's a veteran player. His price probably isn't gonna be
Speaker 1: as crazy as as some of you know, as some
Speaker 1: guys could be when they the open market. I would
Speaker 1: be in support of it for whatever it's worth. And
Speaker 1: the longer this goes, maybe it would be a discount
Speaker 1: of enough price that it's possible. But I think it's
Speaker 1: highly highly unlike and I don't think that, you know,
Speaker 1: thinking about what Zimmer used to play, I don't think
Speaker 1: it would be the same type of scheme. Now again,
Speaker 1: if you've said all along, just get the guy in
Speaker 1: here and let's see what he can do, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know exactly what ever seen griffin
Speaker 1: body type is, but I'm sure they can find a
Speaker 1: place for a good football player, whether between money. I
Speaker 1: mean honest, mainly money, because like Jadeveon Clowney can do
Speaker 1: whatever you want. I mean, he can play, he's he's
Speaker 1: a scheme proof player, I think. But I just you know,
Speaker 1: I don't see it happening mainly because of the amount
Speaker 1: of money that you'd have to commit when I mean
Speaker 1: we're still having the DAK contract just hanging over our
Speaker 1: heads and just kind of waiting what happens there with
Speaker 1: that on a waiting status? Does that kind of stop
Speaker 1: you from trying to sign anybody else through free agent?
Speaker 1: See at the moment, well, you wait to see how
Speaker 1: how much money goes in there. I don't really, like
Speaker 1: I said, I mean, they could they sign those guys
Speaker 1: right now if they wanted to. Like, you can always
Speaker 1: find a way to finagle the cap in your favor
Speaker 1: if you really want to do it. Dak's negotiation isn't
Speaker 1: stopping them. They just feel fine with what they have,
Speaker 1: Like clear, I mean they think the world Caldon Smith,
Speaker 1: They're very excited about that potential, and he is costing
Speaker 1: like a fraction of a fraction of what they would
Speaker 1: have to pay to Deaveon Clowney. Um, I don't think
Speaker 1: it has anything to do with DAK. I think they
Speaker 1: just feel fine with what they have and what they're
Speaker 1: paying for we have. Sorry, Nick, I was going to
Speaker 1: change the subject, So if you want to go ahead,
Speaker 1: go ahead. All right. So the last question, since that's
Speaker 1: the time we have left, other than the obvious, who
Speaker 1: are the starting secondary? If you had to choose to
Speaker 1: if you're playing tomorrow and I you're playing tomorrow and
Speaker 1: I start the game. No, this is like when we
Speaker 1: had to rank the cornerbacks for one of our slide
Speaker 1: shows that we did like a week or two ago,
Speaker 1: and it was the worst. I mean I I mean, okay,
Speaker 1: if they're playing tomorrow. If they are playing tomorrow, which
Speaker 1: is obviously absurd, but that's the rule, then I'm gonna say, uh,
Speaker 1: cheeto and ab on the outside with Jordan in the lot,
Speaker 1: and then ha and Xavier Woods and safety probably. I mean,
Speaker 1: how can I how can I lean on a rookie
Speaker 1: and Trayvon Diggs who's never even practiced in the NFL
Speaker 1: to play a game. I agree with you there. I
Speaker 1: think that's the easiest way for us to do this.
Speaker 1: But I have been told that Daryl Worley is great
Speaker 1: it out. Uh better than than a lot of the
Speaker 1: cornerbacks on the team. So, uh, you know, new coaches,
Speaker 1: new new scheme. Maybe Worley comes in and you know
Speaker 1: they're not really playing favorites. Maybe he comes in and
Speaker 1: has a chance to to, you know, play over maybe
Speaker 1: a Cheeto or or Anthony Brown. But but you're right,
Speaker 1: I think it's it's that combination there, and then we'll
Speaker 1: see what does and how quickly that he jumps into
Speaker 1: the situation. But safety wise, I don't I don't really
Speaker 1: see anybody else moving in there. I mean darry and Thompson.
Speaker 1: Maybe I always try to get there in Thompson, and
Speaker 1: I like him. I think he's a good player, But
Speaker 1: I always forget about it. I mean, who would you
Speaker 1: out of the group, who would you say has the
Speaker 1: better hands? Just based on what you've seen in the NFL,
Speaker 1: that we've seen from previous veterans and based on these
Speaker 1: guys that have played in college, just kind of laying
Speaker 1: all those out, who would you see how who would
Speaker 1: you say has better hands to kind of get the
Speaker 1: ball and create some turnovers right now? Yeah, Jordan, Jordan's
Speaker 1: got great hands. I know he doesn't have a lot
Speaker 1: of picks he also that hasn't played a lot of
Speaker 1: staffs intercepting. He had the turf I mean against the
Speaker 1: Bears last year. I mean that looked like a wide receiver.
Speaker 1: I mean, he is him, he's got good hands. W
Speaker 1: Worley might have a few, and I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, I didn't I mean I didn't
Speaker 1: realize this, honestly. Uh, Clinton Dix has had three different
Speaker 1: seasons where he had three or more picks. Uh, he
Speaker 1: had three twenty eighteen, he had three and twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: and he had five when he was a pro bowler
Speaker 1: for Green Bay in twenty sixteen. So that's really encouraging
Speaker 1: because last year, last year, he yet last year he
Speaker 1: had two. Yet two last year. It's fine, not amazing,
Speaker 1: but it's fine. It's two more of them, somewhat better
Speaker 1: than the two. More than a lot of people that
Speaker 1: have played for the Cowboys, that's for sure. There's been
Speaker 1: years where two has had led the team or at
Speaker 1: least time. So I'm looking at Worly Worley, it's never
Speaker 1: had more than two. Actually, he's only got five career interceptions,
Speaker 1: So not as good as I thought. Last question time
Speaker 1: is ending, But and this one is just for the
Speaker 1: fun of it, I guess because there's no really telling.
Speaker 1: But with the new coaching staff, well they finally select
Speaker 1: or choose to be for every single time when they
Speaker 1: win the coin flip. You know what's you know what's
Speaker 1: you know what's funny is uh In twenty sixteen, they
Speaker 1: took the ball a lot and they scored an opening
Speaker 1: touchdown a lot, and it really worked in their favor. Like,
Speaker 1: you know, the team was so controlled by the offensive
Speaker 1: line and zeke, you get an early lead and you
Speaker 1: get to dictate the game and that I mean, they
Speaker 1: won a lot of games comfortably by having a you know,
Speaker 1: two possession, three possession lead at halftime and they just
Speaker 1: grind people down. So it's not always a terrible idea,
Speaker 1: but it's usually a terrible idea. So like Glad dere's
Speaker 1: not in here. If you wanted you all day on
Speaker 1: this one, I'm not. No. I mean, you should defer
Speaker 1: ninety nine point nine percent of the time, But if
Speaker 1: you believe in your offense and you want to set
Speaker 1: the tone for a game, sometimes I can see the
Speaker 1: logic behind you. Remember when McCarthy was hired like nine
Speaker 1: years ago over here whenever it feels like the long ago.
Speaker 1: But the big term was analytics. Cowboys are gonna do analytics,
Speaker 1: you know, and so that's that's my answer, is what
Speaker 1: does the analytics say. You know, they're gonna they're gonna
Speaker 1: cross the numbers and money ball this thing and whatever
Speaker 1: it comes out, that's that's what they'll probably do. I agree.
Speaker 1: I like kicking off and setting the tone on defense,
Speaker 1: you know, but you know, especially at home because that's
Speaker 1: when the crowds in their seats and ready to go.
Speaker 1: But then again, this year, who knows what the situation
Speaker 1: will be. I think the analytics probably say you should
Speaker 1: always differ. If I had to puss palytics also say
Speaker 1: you should you should go for it on fourth down
Speaker 1: all the time. But I tend to a if you
Speaker 1: want to, if you want to hop into that conversation,
Speaker 1: like I basically think you should go for it anytime
Speaker 1: you're if you're at midfield or closer, you should go
Speaker 1: for it. That's just my opinion. It's like I'm unless
Speaker 1: it's like eight yards or further, like if it's fourth
Speaker 1: and thirteen, you should probably punt, but eight yards an end,
Speaker 1: you should probably go for it. Just my opinion anyway. Sorry,
Speaker 1: all right, you should get on the headsets on game days.
Speaker 1: I've been trying. You don't tell these guys how to
Speaker 1: deal and they'll ask for my opinion, but that maybe
Speaker 1: they should. Okay, guys, thank you so much for tuning
Speaker 1: in today. I know times are tough right now, but
Speaker 1: hopefully we were able to bring you some little space
Speaker 1: away from everything that has been happening currently. So thank
Speaker 1: you so much for tuning in with us. Thank you Dave, Nick,
Speaker 1: Chris Beam for helping us, and Bucky Brooks for joining
Speaker 1: in today's show. This has been Cowboys Break on Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.