Speaker 1: The following Here's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Cowboys let go. Are
Speaker 1: you ready for a break? Yes? Are you ready for
Speaker 1: a break? Absolutely? Ready for a break? Yeah? And so
Speaker 1: much for that. It's time for The Break on Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys dot Com with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar
Speaker 1: Garcia and Derek Eagleton. It is Thursday October twenty eighth,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, season seventeen, episode number forty nine. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the latest edition of The Break. We're live from
Speaker 1: the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We got
Speaker 1: some injuries that we're gonna catch you guys up on
Speaker 1: today's show. We got a few things Coach McCarthy said
Speaker 1: that we want to talk about. We'll be joined by
Speaker 1: Bucky Brooks in the second segment. We will focus in
Speaker 1: today with him on the Minnesota defense versus the Cowboys offense.
Speaker 1: And then a little later in the show, I want
Speaker 1: to ask these guys a little bit about the office
Speaker 1: in line, and I want to zero in a little
Speaker 1: bit more on the red zone. The red zone has
Speaker 1: been a problem for them this year and talk to
Speaker 1: these guys about what they think or how they think
Speaker 1: the Cowboys can possibly fix that. Let's start first with
Speaker 1: some updates. Let's go through this list of the guys
Speaker 1: who were injured or returning and just get an update
Speaker 1: on where they are based upon yesterday's practice. Obviously, we
Speaker 1: start with the quarterback Dak Prescott calf injury. He was
Speaker 1: limited yesterday. What did coach McCarthy say about his practice?
Speaker 1: He said he did a lot of work and he
Speaker 1: looked good doing it, and the plan is to keep
Speaker 1: him on that regimen. Today he went through an extensive
Speaker 1: rehab at the start of practice. It was really funny.
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy and Will McClay both watched it from about
Speaker 1: five feet away, just to give you an idea of
Speaker 1: you know, he's a quarterback, he's important. And then when
Speaker 1: that was over, he mixed into individuals and then they
Speaker 1: kicked us out of practice. I don't think. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know how much he did in team and
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy doesn't want to say, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know if he did if he took team reps.
Speaker 1: But he did a lot of work in the first
Speaker 1: which the early part of practice is almost an hour long,
Speaker 1: so I mean he worked at it for a solid hour.
Speaker 1: He was throwing passes, he was working with the skill players,
Speaker 1: and he looked pretty good to me. And so the
Speaker 1: plan is for him to do that again today, and
Speaker 1: with any luck, he'll mixing team from the things that
Speaker 1: he did do yesterday. How much like footwork is involved
Speaker 1: as opposed to when he's doing team reps. I mean
Speaker 1: he was doing the quarterback stuff. He extensively worked with
Speaker 1: the running backs on your footwork, on the handoff pitching,
Speaker 1: making sure you're lining up right, all that type of
Speaker 1: stuff they work on. He was throwing routes on air
Speaker 1: with the receivers in the tight ends, and even even
Speaker 1: when he was working on his own, he was practicing
Speaker 1: his dropbacks. He was torking his hips and going through
Speaker 1: the throwing motion. So a lot I would add that
Speaker 1: he didn't look very gimpy to me, if you want
Speaker 1: me to be honest, I'm not a medical professional, so
Speaker 1: try not to read into that too much. But he
Speaker 1: was moving well in my opinion, and he was working
Speaker 1: on the chords at one point with the training staff,
Speaker 1: the medical training staff, and it didn't look like again
Speaker 1: we see chords, you know, basically, got a guy tethered
Speaker 1: to you and you're having to move. That would be
Speaker 1: when you would think it would look a little bit
Speaker 1: like Okay, I don't know if I can really get
Speaker 1: when I got weight that I'm pulling, can I really
Speaker 1: do this? He didn't look really any different from me. Now, again,
Speaker 1: I'm not a trained medical professional to know what different
Speaker 1: looks like, but it certainly didn't look a lot different
Speaker 1: to me. He looked like he was moving. Okay, I
Speaker 1: completely agree. Yeah, The question for me is how much
Speaker 1: Cooper Rush is getting. How many snaps is he getting,
Speaker 1: because if he's getting the exact same amount, I think
Speaker 1: that would be a miss here. I think he needs
Speaker 1: to get some more, I think, and it's is playing
Speaker 1: so well in his game right now with this offense
Speaker 1: that if he doesn't practice on Wednesday or Thursday or whatever,
Speaker 1: I think he would still be Okay. He's kind of
Speaker 1: mixing in and out. But this is an opportunity because
Speaker 1: because of the nature of this injury, it could grab
Speaker 1: you at any time, and it could happen in the game.
Speaker 1: I mean, whatever he's doing out there, he's not going
Speaker 1: to be doing Sunday at the game with a guy
Speaker 1: chasing him, tackling him, bringing him to the ground. So
Speaker 1: Cooper Rush could have to play. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: if they're not getting him a lot more reps than normal. Again,
Speaker 1: like I said, that would be a miss. That's actually
Speaker 1: really a good point because when you think about it,
Speaker 1: the way he got injured, like that was just a freak.
Speaker 1: He threw the ball, he came down a little awkwardly,
Speaker 1: and that's how the injury happened. What's happened. What's what's
Speaker 1: to say that you're not in the middle of a game,
Speaker 1: same thing, You make the throw, you come down a
Speaker 1: little awkwardly, and here we go. Right, So I think
Speaker 1: that's a good point. He's not going to do anything
Speaker 1: out here that he's going to be doing there. And
Speaker 1: you know they don't. They don't care about his red
Speaker 1: jersey in Minnesota. In fact, they want to hit him
Speaker 1: a lot harder. So I'm within the rules, of course, sure,
Speaker 1: within the rules. Okay, Everson Griffin and those guys over there.
Speaker 1: Everson he's over there. I know he's one of them
Speaker 1: and has four sex like, yeah, yeah, he's not playing poorly.
Speaker 1: He's back to being the good old ever since that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, let's let's move on. Talk to me about
Speaker 1: Dorn's armstrong. He returned to practice yesterday. How much did
Speaker 1: he work in He was Again, we don't see the
Speaker 1: interesting part of practice, but he was there. He was participating.
Speaker 1: He's limited. If you're limited on Wednesday, it's usually a
Speaker 1: good sign that you are going to progress as the
Speaker 1: week goes along. They wouldn't start you out doing stuff
Speaker 1: if you weren't ready for it. So he looked fine
Speaker 1: to me. I think this is injury high ankle high
Speaker 1: ankle ankly week two, so I mean it's been it's
Speaker 1: been six weeks. Um. I think that's that goes for
Speaker 1: like everybody that you're really concerned about for this game,
Speaker 1: Like Tyron Smith started with brit but he moved over
Speaker 1: to team as they want to. I don't remember Diggs
Speaker 1: was Diggs was just practicing. He didn't do it like that.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you know. I doubt he got every rep,
Speaker 1: but we don't see that he when you're looking for
Speaker 1: the tell tales of like, okay, he's with the rehab group,
Speaker 1: Diggs wasn't doing any of that. He was just out
Speaker 1: there right That injury report is I mean they do it,
Speaker 1: but they also do the bare minimum because and that's
Speaker 1: just that's just the game that has played. I mean,
Speaker 1: there are guys that are practicing in that twenty one
Speaker 1: day window, but I don't believe they're on their injury report, right,
Speaker 1: Michael Gallup? If there I R, If they're still in RR,
Speaker 1: they're not often removed from my R until the team actually,
Speaker 1: yeah Gallup and activates them right, Right, Michael Gallup and
Speaker 1: Kelvin Joseph don't even have to show up on this
Speaker 1: report because they're not technically on the roster and the
Speaker 1: team's the team's gonna take advantage of it. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't have we heard anything about how those guys looked
Speaker 1: yesterday and practice. Gaya slow? What Cede Lamb said, CDC
Speaker 1: looks slow? Yeah, he said, looked a little slow, but
Speaker 1: that you know. Then he said like because he's coming
Speaker 1: back into it, you can kind of tell. But you know,
Speaker 1: he said, he'll be back to his old self in
Speaker 1: no time. It wasn't it wasn't a dig, but he
Speaker 1: just it was I thought it was jo especially for
Speaker 1: a receiver to say another receiver he looked a bit slow,
Speaker 1: but you know, he was trying to just say that's yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: not his old self. But I'm pretty sure McCarthy today,
Speaker 1: which this shouldn't be shocking, but he I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 1: He said Calvin Joseph is going to be up for
Speaker 1: this game, which that is a surprising amount of transparency,
Speaker 1: but it's also just common sense. Maurice Kennedy's on IR
Speaker 1: with a concussion. Joseph is in his second week of practicing.
Speaker 1: He was doing special teams during practice yesterday. He's going
Speaker 1: to be up for this game. Not on the roster
Speaker 1: right now, but I don't necessarily think that that for
Speaker 1: for fans out there, he's gonna be out there jumping
Speaker 1: out and taking Anthony Brown's place, just means he'll be up.
Speaker 1: He'll play special might not spot, might might not play
Speaker 1: US app of defense unless something goes wrong, but I
Speaker 1: think he'll be in uniform. Do we hear anything about
Speaker 1: this real quick? This is might be just information for me.
Speaker 1: But by the time I was leaving to go on
Speaker 1: attorney to leave, I remember he wasn't really doing well
Speaker 1: and it was kind of like, wasn't that great out
Speaker 1: in camp out there, the mini camps that they had?
Speaker 1: How was he after all that? Like months. You guys
Speaker 1: got to camp and he was fine. That's a great
Speaker 1: way to put it, too fine. He was fine, Like
Speaker 1: he didn't he didn't look like he didn't belong. He
Speaker 1: wasn't out there making plays every day. I like his confidence.
Speaker 1: I like his athleticism, so he can do enough to
Speaker 1: contribute even though he's been out for it. Was he
Speaker 1: better than Nashan? Right? No, certainly wasn't better than Anthony Brown.
Speaker 1: Wasn't better than Nashan right. You know what I think
Speaker 1: was happening. I'm not going to call out names, but
Speaker 1: when you ask people that we interview at training camp, uh,
Speaker 1: the there was a lot more praise about him than
Speaker 1: what we ever saw in the field. So you're like, wow,
Speaker 1: don't want what's going on in tape and all that.
Speaker 1: But it's not like out here where where you know,
Speaker 1: we saw everything we saw from the start to finish,
Speaker 1: and nobody and everything gets videoed and charted and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. And so we would hear from certain people
Speaker 1: that would say, oh, boss man is looking great, and
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, if you say so, I don't seen that.
Speaker 1: You're like Jerry, you talk about Jerry right, right? He
Speaker 1: was one of them saying it, so yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: but no, I just kind of think it was you know,
Speaker 1: he's coming on too, he's looking pretty good too, and
Speaker 1: it's something that's more of a scouting. Let me be clear, though,
Speaker 1: are you saying you think that was more just kind
Speaker 1: of like, yeah, we want him to be better and
Speaker 1: they're kind of trying to manifest in the words, or
Speaker 1: do you think they really were seeing something They're like, man,
Speaker 1: this guy's playing. I'm not I'm not gonna say that
Speaker 1: I see everything we all saw, but but a lot
Speaker 1: of the media, a lot of eyes are on practice,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't coming from the media so much that
Speaker 1: he was playing. It was from kind of from the team,
Speaker 1: which makes you think that there's a little bit more
Speaker 1: you know, it's more of a political answer, and hey,
Speaker 1: let's get this guy going. He's looking pretty good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't care about that guy that got cut in wherever,
Speaker 1: or this free agent that you've heard of that's gonna
Speaker 1: go in the Hall of Fame. We're not worried about
Speaker 1: all that. We got this guy and we think he's
Speaker 1: doing well. And let's also be clear, when we're at
Speaker 1: training camp, it's a lot easier to notice when a
Speaker 1: guy gets a pick or gets a pass defense than
Speaker 1: it is when he gives up a play. Right, So
Speaker 1: they may have been looking at things with Calvin Joseph
Speaker 1: where they're like, you know, he's playing solid in coverage.
Speaker 1: He may not be getting interceptions, he may not be
Speaker 1: getting his hand on the ball, but he's he's playing
Speaker 1: solid in coverage to where they're got throwing at him
Speaker 1: because this guy's covered. That's the part that sometimes can
Speaker 1: get lost for the media. He's not gonna unseat either
Speaker 1: of the guys starting anytime soon unless somebody gets hurt.
Speaker 1: That's my opinion. Yeah, and he's the thing I did
Speaker 1: like about him. And I remember a play I guess
Speaker 1: it was Arizona game. It was, you know, it was
Speaker 1: a deep ball early in the game. I mean, he
Speaker 1: gave up the pass. But he's got enough athleticism and speed.
Speaker 1: He's there. He's not He's not getting like burned. It's
Speaker 1: just gonna take just a little bit of playing for him.
Speaker 1: I don't I think he's gonna be okay, I really do,
Speaker 1: but I just think he's not ready. He's not there yet.
Speaker 1: But as far as athleticism and all that, I mean,
Speaker 1: if you can remember Treyvon Diggs last year. He was
Speaker 1: getting beat a lot worse than that, you know, but
Speaker 1: they kept throwing him out there giving him those reps.
Speaker 1: So hopefully they can find a way to do that.
Speaker 1: I want to be clear, I agree with that totally.
Speaker 1: Like I'm I'm not worried about him as a player.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna be fine. He needs to practice.
Speaker 1: Maybe as as the season goes, opportunities will become available,
Speaker 1: whether that's because somebody got hurt or sub packages or whatever.
Speaker 1: But he's gonna play in this game, and I think
Speaker 1: it's largely going to be special team. It's more than anything.
Speaker 1: All Right, we're gonna go ahead and take our first break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, we're gonna be joined by Bucky
Speaker 1: Brooks of NFL Network. We'll talk about the Minnesota defense
Speaker 1: so that when we come right back. This is Dallas
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Speaker 1: Welcome back, second segment of the Break. Life in the
Speaker 1: s WBC Mortgage studios. At the start, We're being joined
Speaker 1: right now by Bucky Brooks of the NFL Network Buckey,
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk a little bit about the Minnesota defense
Speaker 1: versus the Cowboys offense. One of the things I noticed
Speaker 1: as I was starting to kind of figure out what
Speaker 1: this defense looked like, was that they have allowed less
Speaker 1: than two hundred passing yards in each of the last
Speaker 1: three games. They've also kept their opponents under three hundred
Speaker 1: yards passing in every game except for the game against Arizona.
Speaker 1: My question for you is is that about their passing
Speaker 1: defense being really good or is this about the quality
Speaker 1: of the offenses that they've played thus far. Well, I
Speaker 1: mean they're really good. They're gonna be really good because
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmer does a great job and he wants to
Speaker 1: re establish himself as a top defensive mind, and his
Speaker 1: defense played horribly a season ago. And so what they've
Speaker 1: done is they have their guys up front back Daniel
Speaker 1: Hunter's back Everson Griffin is playing well. Eric Kendricks is
Speaker 1: in the middle, and so that allows them to go
Speaker 1: and do some of the double A gap pressures and
Speaker 1: blitzes and disguise and changing coverage that they want to do.
Speaker 1: He also has added some veterans back there. He had
Speaker 1: Patrick Peterson early in the year playing. They have some
Speaker 1: other veterans kind of mixing in there, Harrison Smith notably
Speaker 1: being there. And so when you have an experienced group
Speaker 1: that allows you to dig a little deeper into toolbox
Speaker 1: to give your team the best stuff that they need
Speaker 1: to be able to play well. I always think of
Speaker 1: guys like Dion Branch and James Jones, these receivers that
Speaker 1: would leave come back to their quarterbacks in their system
Speaker 1: and they would be so much better. Is that a
Speaker 1: case of like Everson Griffin and those guys have kind
Speaker 1: of just playing better in Minnesota than they were at
Speaker 1: other places. Yes, a lot of it is that Everson Griffin,
Speaker 1: who I thought was an energy as a bunny throughout
Speaker 1: his career. For whatever reason, I don't know why I
Speaker 1: didn't work in Dallas, but I will say in Minnesota
Speaker 1: he's back to being the Everson Griffin that we've always sent.
Speaker 1: He has four sacks, he is still a guy with
Speaker 1: two moves. He's gonna go with an upfield Russian and
Speaker 1: he's gonna set you up and come with a spin underneath.
Speaker 1: And if you're not solid in patient as an age blocker,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have a tough time because he's gonna get sucks.
Speaker 1: And so they are very comfortable. And I think it's
Speaker 1: not only the familiar voices that are in the rooms,
Speaker 1: coaches knowing how to use those guys the best. Andre
Speaker 1: Patterson is an outstanding d line coach. I think that's
Speaker 1: why some of that stuff works, because they know how
Speaker 1: to use them and how to mask some of the
Speaker 1: deficiencies that they may have as an older player. So
Speaker 1: Bucky going kind of off what Derek asked. I mean,
Speaker 1: their front speaks for itself. But am I being a
Speaker 1: hater if I if I'm guessing that the front is
Speaker 1: the key to that, to their past defense, I guess
Speaker 1: because like I'm looking at their secondary and I just
Speaker 1: don't feel impressed or should I be? Like Patrick Peterson's
Speaker 1: on IR now, McKenzie, Alexander and Bashad Bryland, who we
Speaker 1: know from Washington. I mean, they're like, there are plenty
Speaker 1: of wins there for the Cowboys passing game if if
Speaker 1: the you know, obviously, if the offensive line holds up right,
Speaker 1: I mean, if it was a game of one on
Speaker 1: one and they were playing like all Man and all
Speaker 1: that other stuff without the front. Yes, theoretically, Ceedee Lamb
Speaker 1: and Amari Cooper should have their way with those guys
Speaker 1: in the back end. The problem is they do have
Speaker 1: the front and they will junk it up. They will
Speaker 1: show you. We call that double a gap pression. They're
Speaker 1: gonna test Dak and see canny tail when they're coming
Speaker 1: and when they're not. Can they mess with the clock
Speaker 1: in his head while also playing games with the offensive line?
Speaker 1: Can they pick up all the switches on the stunts
Speaker 1: and loops in games? And then in the back end
Speaker 1: because you have veterans you mentioned McKenzie, Alexander, Bishard, Brelan,
Speaker 1: But those guys have played a ton of NFL games.
Speaker 1: So now Zimmer can do more things when it comes
Speaker 1: to coverage because they understand it. His frustration and previous
Speaker 1: years was the team was too young and they didn't
Speaker 1: know how to do the things that he wanted to
Speaker 1: do in the back end. With all that being said,
Speaker 1: I mean, would this be a game where you tried
Speaker 1: to rely more on the running game? And if so,
Speaker 1: can the Cowboys be effective enough to win a game
Speaker 1: like this by just kind of leaning towards more using
Speaker 1: Zeke and Tony well, I think a couple of things
Speaker 1: that are in play with that. One the health of
Speaker 1: number four and Dak Prescott, how healthy is he. You
Speaker 1: might have to lean on the running game more because
Speaker 1: you may be limited in terms of how you have
Speaker 1: to throw the ball. Can you do movement passes? Can
Speaker 1: you do those things that Dak was doing early in
Speaker 1: the year when they were doing bootlegs and some of
Speaker 1: the other stuff where you can use his athleticism If
Speaker 1: he is a statue in the pocket now, you want
Speaker 1: to make sure that the running game is going because
Speaker 1: you don't want to kind of leave Dak out there
Speaker 1: unprotected against the Neil Hunter who has six acts and
Speaker 1: everything Griffin, who I told you has four. And so
Speaker 1: it's just really important that you can run the ball,
Speaker 1: slow down the pass for us, and when you do
Speaker 1: it like the past, you can use play action to
Speaker 1: kind of keep those guys off of number four when
Speaker 1: you're looking at this defense and the fact that they
Speaker 1: have those twenty one sacks. I was listening to coach
Speaker 1: MacArthur this morning. He was talking about how for him,
Speaker 1: what they're doing right now with the offensive line has
Speaker 1: a lot to do with continuity. Do you and just
Speaker 1: kind of your experience with NFL football, do you think
Speaker 1: that that's as big a deal when it comes to
Speaker 1: the continuity of the offensive line. How big a deal
Speaker 1: is that for you? And do you think that maybe
Speaker 1: that's the reason why Dallas may opt to keep still
Speaker 1: in there, especially going against an aggressive defense like what
Speaker 1: it sounds like they're gonna have to face this weekend. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you have to always evaluate the office line
Speaker 1: as a group is unlike any position in football. Those
Speaker 1: five guys have to be connected, and when they're connected,
Speaker 1: great things happen at the line of scrimmage. And so
Speaker 1: when you have Terrence Steele playing will, you have Zach
Speaker 1: Martin and Timin Smith playing will. You don't want to
Speaker 1: tinker with the chemistry by moving people around. Even though
Speaker 1: Layo Collins may be a better player and more talented
Speaker 1: than Steel, it's working right now. So then what you
Speaker 1: try to do is plug Leo Collins in a guard
Speaker 1: because he's an upgrade over Connor Williams. Maybe you can
Speaker 1: solidify that left side and give your team a dominant
Speaker 1: left side. When it comes to the running game, you
Speaker 1: have to be careful because chemistry really matters a lot
Speaker 1: at the offensive line. I think that's why you see
Speaker 1: in the reluctance and the hesitation when it comes to
Speaker 1: making significant lineup shifts, even though Lell Collins is back
Speaker 1: and ready to go. You think Dalton Schultz is playing
Speaker 1: at an elite level because any stats show that, or
Speaker 1: do you feel like he's just a byproduct of all
Speaker 1: these other weapons and you can't just have to just
Speaker 1: figure out how pick your poison and he's benefiting from that.
Speaker 1: I think he's a good player. I don't think he's
Speaker 1: a great player. I think he benefits from the things
Speaker 1: around him. Almari Cooper, Ceedee Lamb the running game. If
Speaker 1: you're having to choose, if we're going down the checklist,
Speaker 1: he's down on the checklist of guys that I'm gonna
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time and a lot of extra attention.
Speaker 1: So he's taken advantage of those opportunities, which is exactly
Speaker 1: what you want if you're the Cowboys. But I'm not
Speaker 1: ready to kind of put him in that Darren Waller,
Speaker 1: Travis Kelsey, George Kittle conversation in terms of being a
Speaker 1: guy that is special, special enough that you really got
Speaker 1: to put extra attention and extra bodies to him. Maybe
Speaker 1: the free agent signing last spring that I most would
Speaker 1: have liked to see the Cowboys get in on was
Speaker 1: Dalvin Tomlinson, who the Vikings did sign. We've seen those tackles.
Speaker 1: Give Tyler Beatas some problems here this season. How does
Speaker 1: Tomlinson compare to Vita, Javon Hargrave, whoever you want to
Speaker 1: throw out there? I mean, is that as problematic as
Speaker 1: it sounds on paper? Oh, it's problematic because Davin Thompson
Speaker 1: is a really good player. He not only is a
Speaker 1: player who is big and rugged, who has nice hand
Speaker 1: skills in a power game, he's a high motor player.
Speaker 1: And so for beatis that means you got to pack
Speaker 1: your lunch, get your heart head and your lunch bill,
Speaker 1: because it's gonna be a long day and he's gonna
Speaker 1: have to battle. Because the easiest way to disrupt what
Speaker 1: the office wants to do is to wear out the center.
Speaker 1: Because if you can disrupt what happens in the middle
Speaker 1: of the line, it changes how you do everything running game,
Speaker 1: pass protection and those things. So if we were having
Speaker 1: to pass out the big sumbrero for the guy who
Speaker 1: has to play, well, tyl about us, You're up he
Speaker 1: got the big sumbrero this week because he has to
Speaker 1: play well. If now it's gonna be a problem. Oh boy,
Speaker 1: oh buggy. Yesterday I asked you about them coming off
Speaker 1: the bye week, and I know it was just a
Speaker 1: Wednesday practice. They them come back, but the fact that
Speaker 1: that practice is being described as sloppy does that kind
Speaker 1: of raise an eyebrower. Is just like the nature of
Speaker 1: it being the first practice back from an off week.
Speaker 1: It's the nature. It's the nature of it. Like I know,
Speaker 1: we're talking about NFL athletes and pros, but they're just
Speaker 1: like little league players. If you give seven and eight
Speaker 1: year olds six days off and they come back, they're
Speaker 1: all looking at butterflies and picking dandelions and those things.
Speaker 1: So it takes them a while to refocus. And so
Speaker 1: it's the same thing that the coaches are telling you.
Speaker 1: They know that that first practice is gonna be a
Speaker 1: little rough. You now want to make sure that Thursday
Speaker 1: and Friday, though, are a little more buttoned up. Friday's
Speaker 1: practice in particularly is the most important. You want to
Speaker 1: make sure that mentally, everybody kind of understands what they're doing.
Speaker 1: We're all on the same page. We're operating efficiently and
Speaker 1: smoothly and everything is effective. So I wouldn't worry as
Speaker 1: much about the Wednesday, but yeah, the next two days
Speaker 1: they need to be solid. Yeah, thanks for that image.
Speaker 1: In my mind, I'm thinking of tiring and zac now
Speaker 1: over on the sideline, like looking for worms in the ground,
Speaker 1: and it's interesting. That's an interesting mental image. Yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: So so now we need a prediction, Bucky, what do
Speaker 1: you think it's gonna happen to Sunday Cowboys versus Vikings? Now, look, man,
Speaker 1: I think everyone understands the urgency that the Cowboys need
Speaker 1: to play with. Like it's one thing to go from
Speaker 1: good to great, it's another thing to go from great
Speaker 1: to really be in a title contender. I think we'll
Speaker 1: see a great effort. The only person I would worry
Speaker 1: about is Dak Prescott. What do you have to do
Speaker 1: to limit Dak Prescott to make sure he doesn't further
Speaker 1: injure himself. Does that mean more shotgun run because he
Speaker 1: doesn't have to move and take it back to Zeke
Speaker 1: and Tony Pollard. You'll see some things, but no, I
Speaker 1: expect the Cowboys to play well. I think the boy
Speaker 1: came at the right time. I would expect to see
Speaker 1: a very energetic effort. But this game is gonna be
Speaker 1: tough because the Minnesota Vikings up there. The winning game
Speaker 1: is gonna just muddy it up. But I think Cowboys
Speaker 1: winning by seven. All right, I appreciate you joining us.
Speaker 1: We'll be back next week to get you get ready
Speaker 1: for the next game against the Come on, you got bacos.
Speaker 1: There you go, there we go. All right, we're gonna
Speaker 1: take our final break. We're gonna come back. I got
Speaker 1: some questions for you guys about the Cowboys office whatever
Speaker 1: when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot
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Speaker 1: Welcome Back. Final segment of The Break Life from the
Speaker 1: SWBC Mortgage Studios. At the start, I got a few
Speaker 1: questions for you guys before we end the show. Let's
Speaker 1: focus in a little bit on this Cowboys offense. I
Speaker 1: was looking at some numbers around the offense. They are
Speaker 1: twenty fourth right now in the league, in red zone
Speaker 1: scoring percentage and as touchdowns only at fifty six percent
Speaker 1: against New England, they were really bad, only forty percent
Speaker 1: on red zone scoring. How much of a problem is
Speaker 1: this for them? Because they were an offense that scores
Speaker 1: a lot of points. They they're putting up points to
Speaker 1: getting a lot of yards. Uh, they're winning. How much
Speaker 1: of a problem is red zone scoring for them? Number
Speaker 1: one and number two? How can they get better? It's
Speaker 1: a big problem. It's been, it's it's it's the black
Speaker 1: mark on Kellen Moore's resume, honestly, because it's a trend.
Speaker 1: It goes back to like nineteen. They have not been
Speaker 1: as good as you would expect from a team with
Speaker 1: this much talent on offense. Um road games have they
Speaker 1: were good? They I think they were two or three
Speaker 1: against LA. They were good in LA, which you could
Speaker 1: argue wasn't a true road environment. They were awful against
Speaker 1: Tampa two, two or five there as well. So that's
Speaker 1: he's had about the quality of the opponent. Maybe, I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean at home though they were they played some
Speaker 1: pretty bad teams. Yeah, And well, I mean they're a
Speaker 1: better team than New England, Like they should have won
Speaker 1: that game by more than they did. Um but I
Speaker 1: four of ten in those two games, and then they
Speaker 1: were they were nine of eleven in the other four,
Speaker 1: which is pretty good. But again, and a lot of
Speaker 1: that's against bad teams. Um it is. I think it's
Speaker 1: the biggest problem facing this team other than just making
Speaker 1: sure you have good health. As far as fixing it.
Speaker 1: I think we talked about this with Lyell yesterday. Maybe
Speaker 1: if they plug him in at left guard, that gives
Speaker 1: you a little more power. Nick talks all the time
Speaker 1: about how they can't really enforce their will when they
Speaker 1: get down near the goal line. Maybe having a big
Speaker 1: guy like that can help you with that. Um Yeah.
Speaker 1: I Mean one of the things that surprises me too
Speaker 1: is that if we're going back into this Minnesota game
Speaker 1: where he made you know, CD made best sketch of
Speaker 1: his career, I think his young career, they haven't. We
Speaker 1: haven't seen that play have we? In the and during
Speaker 1: the season now a training camp. I thought we saw
Speaker 1: it every day, So you know, fade, you know fade
Speaker 1: he did. He caught a fade against New England. Get
Speaker 1: back of the end zone, back of the end zone. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess I'm thinking more of the jump ball doesn't
Speaker 1: matter either way. You can throw it up there. It's
Speaker 1: not a fifty fifty ball really with him, and it's
Speaker 1: really more of a you know, it's probably a seventy
Speaker 1: five play as far as catch or pi and so,
Speaker 1: which gives you a first down and at the one.
Speaker 1: So I think they should try that a little bit more.
Speaker 1: But yeah, they can't. I guarantee those three games that
Speaker 1: they've been the worst in the red zone, they're probably
Speaker 1: the worst running the ball, like you know, and that's
Speaker 1: what it comes down to. It just comes down to
Speaker 1: running the football because you can't you can't go deep,
Speaker 1: you know, so they kind of know what you're gonna do.
Speaker 1: It's just it's just man on man and they're not
Speaker 1: they're not strong enough, especially in the middle. There. The
Speaker 1: other thing too, and it's madden. You ask about how
Speaker 1: you can improve and it sounds like a cop out answer,
Speaker 1: but it execution is magnified down there, right, Like I
Speaker 1: always go back to, we would still be talking about
Speaker 1: how cool that option pitch was in Week one. If
Speaker 1: Blake Jarwin seals off a man in space, or obviously, yes,
Speaker 1: if Zeke beats this guy. Either way, if you execute better.
Speaker 1: That's a fantastic play. If Dak holds onto the ball
Speaker 1: on the goal line on the sneak, it's a touchdown.
Speaker 1: And even then you jump two to five to three
Speaker 1: to five is huge. That's an enormous percentage jump. And
Speaker 1: so yes, I think, I mean, you got a more
Speaker 1: power on the line, maybe just better blocking, better execution,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, just execution across
Speaker 1: the board as well. And I think again it gets magnified.
Speaker 1: Connor Williams and Tyler Biadash have had problems with that.
Speaker 1: Your tight ends are serviceable blockers. They're not mallers. They
Speaker 1: never will be, and that is which most tight ends are. Sure,
Speaker 1: that is not me, That is not a real criticism
Speaker 1: of either of them. But this this isn't nineteen ninety six. Like,
Speaker 1: these guys are mainly receivers, and you can take advantage
Speaker 1: of that a little bit better when the field gets condensed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, if if the ball, if I'm sitting here
Speaker 1: and the balls at the two yard line or three
Speaker 1: yard line, and the playcocks running down, and you've already
Speaker 1: called one time out, and I think I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: go take a delay a game I think they're a
Speaker 1: better football team from the seven or eight than they
Speaker 1: would be from the two or three. I agree that completely,
Speaker 1: And I just think because they're tied in everything, more
Speaker 1: room just to you know, give those receivers a little
Speaker 1: bit more, you know, and if you if you play
Speaker 1: too far off, Tony Pollard seven yards eight might be
Speaker 1: able to get it if you know, on the right call.
Speaker 1: So I just think with more room, I think they're
Speaker 1: a little bit better, which I think the caveat there
Speaker 1: is like if they actually plug Lyle in it left
Speaker 1: guard and he is this monster upgrade, maybe now you
Speaker 1: can bully people a little bit better, especially Connor McGovern
Speaker 1: jumbo tight end with Lyle Collins playing left guard. I
Speaker 1: would like to see that left side now gets really
Speaker 1: really strong. I would like to see that. But if
Speaker 1: you're not going to do that, or maybe Elsie's just
Speaker 1: not as dominant as we remember him being, I think
Speaker 1: I think there's some like not that he wasn't good,
Speaker 1: but I do think there's some revisionist history there, Like
Speaker 1: there's that one play where he just pancaked three guys
Speaker 1: against Seattle and that's all anybody sees, and they think
Speaker 1: he was doing that every week. I don't think that's
Speaker 1: one hundred percent accurate, but maybe not, but I do.
Speaker 1: I thought it was interesting you brought up yesterday on
Speaker 1: Media Match he wasn't alternate to the pro well that year.
Speaker 1: Like it wasn't like he was a bad player at all.
Speaker 1: He was. He played at that level as a right
Speaker 1: tackle as well. He's a very good offensive. He's just
Speaker 1: to get offensive. So if they do that and it works,
Speaker 1: I think that could change the way you play it
Speaker 1: down there. But I'm with Nick the way that we've
Speaker 1: seen it so far, I think more space is better.
Speaker 1: I think missdirection is your friend. You know the play
Speaker 1: that I was so giddy about, the fake toss throw
Speaker 1: to Zeke jet action, like every time you snap the
Speaker 1: ball down there, just anything to buy yourself an extra hesitation.
Speaker 1: I think they need to be doing because the way
Speaker 1: what we've seen so far is I just don't think
Speaker 1: they're powerful enough to just dictate the terms when it
Speaker 1: gets down there. Okay, Rob Phillips he put together an article.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys read it or not,
Speaker 1: but basically, if you take away some of those really
Speaker 1: really close calls, they would be ranking third in the league,
Speaker 1: and he listed in red zone defense, in red zone
Speaker 1: offense obviously, but he listed some of those and I'll
Speaker 1: read them to you guys. There would be touchdown pass
Speaker 1: to Cedric Wilson against the Patriots that got ripped out
Speaker 1: in the past. Second yea to Dak Prescott quarter quarterback
Speaker 1: sneaks against the Patriots and Eagles that appear to go
Speaker 1: past the goal line, but we're in rule touchdowns, and
Speaker 1: that's when we talk about the microchips and all that
Speaker 1: um die Prescott throw to Dalton Shoals against the Giants,
Speaker 1: a bounce off his hands. If you guys remember that,
Speaker 1: it was pretty tight coverage but it just kind of
Speaker 1: ended up kind of being a drop and then a
Speaker 1: fumble snap by Dak against the Giants. So according to those,
Speaker 1: if you take those away, that we're really really close calls.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know, but that goes to Day's point,
Speaker 1: right that it's about execution. But once again, when you're
Speaker 1: talking about red zone efficiency, most times it probably is
Speaker 1: about it about your ability to execute. But I think
Speaker 1: if you compare it to last year how they were,
Speaker 1: I think they've improved a lot. I mean, now they're
Speaker 1: just they just seem to be right there to really
Speaker 1: really getting better and benefiting from those and getting into
Speaker 1: the touchdown zone. But compared to last year, I mean,
Speaker 1: they're right there, right, they're really improving, becoming. It just
Speaker 1: makes me, it just makes me nervous though, because I mean,
Speaker 1: so five trips to the red zone, score on two,
Speaker 1: you don't score on three. So three trips to the
Speaker 1: red zone and you say you run two or three
Speaker 1: plays per possession, that's it's like eight snaps a game
Speaker 1: that make the difference between whether you score forty points
Speaker 1: or twenty four. And it's easy to just say, like, oh,
Speaker 1: they're so close, but like you gotta do it though,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the that's the tricky. The thing about
Speaker 1: this team different than last year is that you know
Speaker 1: you can get by with field goals a little bit
Speaker 1: more than you could have last year because they can
Speaker 1: score and their defense is going to take the ball
Speaker 1: away and not give up as many. So while you
Speaker 1: don't want to have you know, I don't want to
Speaker 1: settle for field goals whole game. They can't win that
Speaker 1: many games. But you just want to make sure you
Speaker 1: don't have any empty trips because yeah, you'd like to
Speaker 1: have seven there, but you've got three you got there.
Speaker 1: You know the Chargers game as an example of that.
Speaker 1: I got a couple of field goals there. But it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, they're they're going to do enough to stay
Speaker 1: in these games. And so as long as you prevent
Speaker 1: the turnovers, you think you got an offense that's going
Speaker 1: to get enough volume to get back there again, score again.
Speaker 1: Just don't do anything that that you know makes some mistakes.
Speaker 1: And that's why I thought when Dack threw that interception
Speaker 1: against the Patriots, you know, after that, it was a
Speaker 1: little bit more, Hey, everything's got to be the outside.
Speaker 1: We're not taking any more chances of turning it over.
Speaker 1: Of course they did with the fum pule them, but
Speaker 1: you know, I still think you got in on third down.
Speaker 1: If there was going to be one thing you would
Speaker 1: do that you'd focus on outside of execution, because I
Speaker 1: do think execution is the big thing. If there's one
Speaker 1: thing you were going to focus on as a coach
Speaker 1: of getting them better in the reds on, what would
Speaker 1: it be more jumbo sets on offense? Um, you find
Speaker 1: me a defensive tackle that can play fullback, find me
Speaker 1: something that can you don't like govern the fine too.
Speaker 1: I'm okay with two of those, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm all right, you want to do a wishbone. I've
Speaker 1: seen the Bears, the Bears with I think it was
Speaker 1: Matt Naggy. I think the Bears put four defensive linemen
Speaker 1: in a game one time. I just want to see Bohanna.
Speaker 1: I think he could do it. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: think it'd be fun, but but I think they need that.
Speaker 1: You know, if they're not going to play with a fullback,
Speaker 1: play with an un unconventional fullback, I go the other way.
Speaker 1: I say, wait, we'll just trick it up. And I don't.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying I want Cedric Wilson throwing, you know,
Speaker 1: throwing in the red zone. Although that's okay too, sure,
Speaker 1: as long as we're not doing it every time you
Speaker 1: go down there. I just mean again, motion Tony Pollard
Speaker 1: or a receiver across the line as you go, like
Speaker 1: something to make the defense hesitate. How about a fricking
Speaker 1: You can't call it a screen in the red zone?
Speaker 1: Can you boat like a like what Gronkowski did in
Speaker 1: Week one? Dalton Schultz fakes block and then just loops
Speaker 1: back around like stuff like that, trick it up, misdirect
Speaker 1: the defense, give them something to pause on because what
Speaker 1: we've seen to this point, and again it could change
Speaker 1: if they switch it up at guard. But I just
Speaker 1: don't think they are powerful enough to bully people, So
Speaker 1: don't try trick it up. Confuse them. Yeah, coming a meaning,
Speaker 1: what else can I add to that? You definitely need
Speaker 1: a combination of both and not be predictable. A lot
Speaker 1: of the times that they go in there and they're
Speaker 1: so close, you just see that they don't move. So
Speaker 1: it's having that extra power right there on the offensive
Speaker 1: line to push them off and create some little bit
Speaker 1: of space and gap for somebody if that's Dak or
Speaker 1: the running back, to be able to get in. But
Speaker 1: a lot of times it's like hitting a wall and
Speaker 1: doesn't get them anywhere. So combination of power, bulk it up,
Speaker 1: push it, and then trick it up with someplace. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I just like a concept that I feel like I
Speaker 1: don't see enough of in the red zone is mesh
Speaker 1: because this, Yeah, if you're unfamiliar, just two guys crossing
Speaker 1: each other in the middle of field. It's that easy.
Speaker 1: And if the field gets condensed, there's twenty two bodies
Speaker 1: in not a lot of yardage each other, You're more
Speaker 1: than likely going to pick somebody off just in the
Speaker 1: run of traffic. And I just that is a concept
Speaker 1: that I think would probably work more often than it wouldn't.
Speaker 1: But I'm not a coach. Yeah, and now I think
Speaker 1: they do it sometimes. I'd like to I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I'd like to see them do it more. I think
Speaker 1: that is something that works in a condensed space. All Right,
Speaker 1: we appreciate you, guys, Joan Us. We'll be back tomorrow.
Speaker 1: We'll give you guys a good picture look at what
Speaker 1: we think is going to happen this weekend, Cowboys versus
Speaker 1: Viking Still then for Nick Even, Dave Helming, and Amber Garcia.
Speaker 1: I am Derek Eagleton. This has been the Break live
Speaker 1: on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio