WEBVTT - Cowboys Break: Boys to Minn 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:08.479 The following Here's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:18.840 and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Cowboys let go. Are 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:21.720 you ready for a break? Yes? Are you ready for 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:26.840 a break? Absolutely? Ready for a break? Yeah? And so 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:30.720 much for that. It's time for The Break on Dallas 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:36.839 Cowboys dot Com with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:42.280 Garcia and Derek Eagleton. It is Thursday October twenty eighth, 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:47.159 twenty twenty one, season seventeen, episode number forty nine. Welcome 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:49.360 to the latest edition of The Break. We're live from 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.360 the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We got 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.560 some injuries that we're gonna catch you guys up on 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:56.840 today's show. We got a few things Coach McCarthy said 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:58.840 that we want to talk about. We'll be joined by 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:01.680 Bucky Brooks in the second segment. We will focus in 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:05.520 today with him on the Minnesota defense versus the Cowboys offense. 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.080 And then a little later in the show, I want 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.639 to ask these guys a little bit about the office 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:12.640 in line, and I want to zero in a little 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:14.640 bit more on the red zone. The red zone has 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:16.240 been a problem for them this year and talk to 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:18.800 these guys about what they think or how they think 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:22.080 the Cowboys can possibly fix that. Let's start first with 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.200 some updates. Let's go through this list of the guys 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:29.040 who were injured or returning and just get an update 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:32.039 on where they are based upon yesterday's practice. Obviously, we 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:35.080 start with the quarterback Dak Prescott calf injury. He was 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:37.840 limited yesterday. What did coach McCarthy say about his practice? 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:39.600 He said he did a lot of work and he 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:42.080 looked good doing it, and the plan is to keep 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:45.240 him on that regimen. Today he went through an extensive 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:48.279 rehab at the start of practice. It was really funny. 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:51.320 Mike McCarthy and Will McClay both watched it from about 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:54.000 five feet away, just to give you an idea of 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.880 you know, he's a quarterback, he's important. And then when 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:00.360 that was over, he mixed into individuals and then they 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:05.440 kicked us out of practice. I don't think. I don't know, 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:07.040 I don't know how much he did in team and 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:11.880 Mike McCarthy doesn't want to say, I don't know. I 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:13.880 don't know if he did if he took team reps. 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.200 But he did a lot of work in the first 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.000 which the early part of practice is almost an hour long, 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.120 so I mean he worked at it for a solid hour. 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.760 He was throwing passes, he was working with the skill players, 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:26.920 and he looked pretty good to me. And so the 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:29.680 plan is for him to do that again today, and 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.280 with any luck, he'll mixing team from the things that 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:38.360 he did do yesterday. How much like footwork is involved 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:42.119 as opposed to when he's doing team reps. I mean 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:45.720 he was doing the quarterback stuff. He extensively worked with 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:49.240 the running backs on your footwork, on the handoff pitching, 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:51.679 making sure you're lining up right, all that type of 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:54.200 stuff they work on. He was throwing routes on air 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:59.480 with the receivers in the tight ends, and even even 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:02.119 when he was working on his own, he was practicing 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:04.679 his dropbacks. He was torking his hips and going through 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:08.919 the throwing motion. So a lot I would add that 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.440 he didn't look very gimpy to me, if you want 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:13.760 me to be honest, I'm not a medical professional, so 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:16.760 try not to read into that too much. But he 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:19.360 was moving well in my opinion, and he was working 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:22.240 on the chords at one point with the training staff, 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:24.920 the medical training staff, and it didn't look like again 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:27.239 we see chords, you know, basically, got a guy tethered 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:29.360 to you and you're having to move. That would be 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:31.120 when you would think it would look a little bit 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.359 like Okay, I don't know if I can really get 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:35.520 when I got weight that I'm pulling, can I really 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:38.160 do this? He didn't look really any different from me. Now, again, 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.280 I'm not a trained medical professional to know what different 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:44.120 looks like, but it certainly didn't look a lot different 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:46.440 to me. He looked like he was moving. Okay, I 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:48.920 completely agree. Yeah, The question for me is how much 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:51.800 Cooper Rush is getting. How many snaps is he getting, 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.160 because if he's getting the exact same amount, I think 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:56.560 that would be a miss here. I think he needs 0:03:56.560 --> 0:04:00.680 to get some more, I think, and it's is playing 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.960 so well in his game right now with this offense 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:07.360 that if he doesn't practice on Wednesday or Thursday or whatever, 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:09.200 I think he would still be Okay. He's kind of 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.400 mixing in and out. But this is an opportunity because 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:14.720 because of the nature of this injury, it could grab 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:17.560 you at any time, and it could happen in the game. 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:19.640 I mean, whatever he's doing out there, he's not going 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:21.640 to be doing Sunday at the game with a guy 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:24.960 chasing him, tackling him, bringing him to the ground. So 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:27.440 Cooper Rush could have to play. I think, you know, 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:31.360 if they're not getting him a lot more reps than normal. Again, 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:33.080 like I said, that would be a miss. That's actually 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:34.839 really a good point because when you think about it, 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:37.080 the way he got injured, like that was just a freak. 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:39.720 He threw the ball, he came down a little awkwardly, 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.760 and that's how the injury happened. What's happened. What's what's 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:44.360 to say that you're not in the middle of a game, 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:46.880 same thing, You make the throw, you come down a 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.280 little awkwardly, and here we go. Right, So I think 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:51.200 that's a good point. He's not going to do anything 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:53.680 out here that he's going to be doing there. And 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:56.480 you know they don't. They don't care about his red 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:58.640 jersey in Minnesota. In fact, they want to hit him 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:02.440 a lot harder. So I'm within the rules, of course, sure, 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.160 within the rules. Okay, Everson Griffin and those guys over there. 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:10.200 Everson he's over there. I know he's one of them 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:13.640 and has four sex like, yeah, yeah, he's not playing poorly. 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:17.800 He's back to being the good old ever since that. Yeah, 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:20.160 all right, let's let's move on. Talk to me about 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:23.520 Dorn's armstrong. He returned to practice yesterday. How much did 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:27.800 he work in He was Again, we don't see the 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:31.120 interesting part of practice, but he was there. He was participating. 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:34.520 He's limited. If you're limited on Wednesday, it's usually a 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.240 good sign that you are going to progress as the 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:40.760 week goes along. They wouldn't start you out doing stuff 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.000 if you weren't ready for it. So he looked fine 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:45.000 to me. I think this is injury high ankle high 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:48.320 ankle ankly week two, so I mean it's been it's 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:52.520 been six weeks. Um. I think that's that goes for 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:57.640 like everybody that you're really concerned about for this game, 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:01.280 Like Tyron Smith started with brit but he moved over 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.200 to team as they want to. I don't remember Diggs 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:08.760 was Diggs was just practicing. He didn't do it like that. 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:10.960 I'm sure you know. I doubt he got every rep, 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.440 but we don't see that he when you're looking for 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:16.120 the tell tales of like, okay, he's with the rehab group, 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:18.120 Diggs wasn't doing any of that. He was just out 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:22.680 there right That injury report is I mean they do it, 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.440 but they also do the bare minimum because and that's 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:29.160 just that's just the game that has played. I mean, 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:31.840 there are guys that are practicing in that twenty one 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:34.280 day window, but I don't believe they're on their injury report, right, 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:37.120 Michael Gallup? If there I R, If they're still in RR, 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:40.160 they're not often removed from my R until the team actually, 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:43.320 yeah Gallup and activates them right, Right, Michael Gallup and 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:45.840 Kelvin Joseph don't even have to show up on this 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:48.400 report because they're not technically on the roster and the 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:50.720 team's the team's gonna take advantage of it. Yeah, I 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.400 don't have we heard anything about how those guys looked 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:59.839 yesterday and practice. Gaya slow? What Cede Lamb said, CDC 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:03.080 looks slow? Yeah, he said, looked a little slow, but 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.200 that you know. Then he said like because he's coming 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:08.520 back into it, you can kind of tell. But you know, 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:11.080 he said, he'll be back to his old self in 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:13.760 no time. It wasn't it wasn't a dig, but he 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:15.520 just it was I thought it was jo especially for 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:18.120 a receiver to say another receiver he looked a bit slow, 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.320 but you know, he was trying to just say that's yeah, yeah, 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:24.920 not his old self. But I'm pretty sure McCarthy today, 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.800 which this shouldn't be shocking, but he I'm pretty sure. 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:30.840 He said Calvin Joseph is going to be up for 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:35.440 this game, which that is a surprising amount of transparency, 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:39.400 but it's also just common sense. Maurice Kennedy's on IR 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:42.960 with a concussion. Joseph is in his second week of practicing. 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:47.080 He was doing special teams during practice yesterday. He's going 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:48.800 to be up for this game. Not on the roster 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.280 right now, but I don't necessarily think that that for 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:53.960 for fans out there, he's gonna be out there jumping 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.840 out and taking Anthony Brown's place, just means he'll be up. 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.720 He'll play special might not spot, might might not play 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.280 US app of defense unless something goes wrong, but I 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:04.400 think he'll be in uniform. Do we hear anything about 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:08.000 this real quick? This is might be just information for me. 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.240 But by the time I was leaving to go on 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:14.160 attorney to leave, I remember he wasn't really doing well 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:17.640 and it was kind of like, wasn't that great out 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:21.360 in camp out there, the mini camps that they had? 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:25.480 How was he after all that? Like months. You guys 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:29.280 got to camp and he was fine. That's a great 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.680 way to put it, too fine. He was fine, Like 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.240 he didn't he didn't look like he didn't belong. He 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:37.479 wasn't out there making plays every day. I like his confidence. 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:40.280 I like his athleticism, so he can do enough to 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.560 contribute even though he's been out for it. Was he 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:47.560 better than Nashan? Right? No, certainly wasn't better than Anthony Brown. 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.480 Wasn't better than Nashan right. You know what I think 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:52.400 was happening. I'm not going to call out names, but 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:58.439 when you ask people that we interview at training camp, uh, 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:03.240 the there was a lot more praise about him than 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:06.120 what we ever saw in the field. So you're like, wow, 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:07.760 don't want what's going on in tape and all that. 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.080 But it's not like out here where where you know, 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.520 we saw everything we saw from the start to finish, 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:16.160 and nobody and everything gets videoed and charted and all 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:19.040 that stuff. And so we would hear from certain people 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.160 that would say, oh, boss man is looking great, and 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.960 you're like, oh, if you say so, I don't seen that. 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:28.600 You're like Jerry, you talk about Jerry right, right? He 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:30.880 was one of them saying it, so yeah, you know, 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:34.000 but no, I just kind of think it was you know, 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:36.560 he's coming on too, he's looking pretty good too, and 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:38.880 it's something that's more of a scouting. Let me be clear, though, 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:41.240 are you saying you think that was more just kind 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:43.960 of like, yeah, we want him to be better and 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:46.520 they're kind of trying to manifest in the words, or 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:48.520 do you think they really were seeing something They're like, man, 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.760 this guy's playing. I'm not I'm not gonna say that 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.720 I see everything we all saw, but but a lot 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:55.559 of the media, a lot of eyes are on practice, 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:58.320 and it wasn't coming from the media so much that 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.000 he was playing. It was from kind of from the team, 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:03.839 which makes you think that there's a little bit more 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.880 you know, it's more of a political answer, and hey, 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:10.440 let's get this guy going. He's looking pretty good. Yeah, 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:12.720 I don't care about that guy that got cut in wherever, 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:14.880 or this free agent that you've heard of that's gonna 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:16.720 go in the Hall of Fame. We're not worried about 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:18.400 all that. We got this guy and we think he's 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:20.280 doing well. And let's also be clear, when we're at 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:22.480 training camp, it's a lot easier to notice when a 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:24.760 guy gets a pick or gets a pass defense than 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:26.839 it is when he gives up a play. Right, So 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.600 they may have been looking at things with Calvin Joseph 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:32.280 where they're like, you know, he's playing solid in coverage. 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:34.880 He may not be getting interceptions, he may not be 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:36.960 getting his hand on the ball, but he's he's playing 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.720 solid in coverage to where they're got throwing at him 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.000 because this guy's covered. That's the part that sometimes can 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.160 get lost for the media. He's not gonna unseat either 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:48.520 of the guys starting anytime soon unless somebody gets hurt. 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:52.600 That's my opinion. Yeah, and he's the thing I did 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:54.400 like about him. And I remember a play I guess 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:56.560 it was Arizona game. It was, you know, it was 0:10:56.559 --> 0:10:59.199 a deep ball early in the game. I mean, he 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:03.760 gave up the pass. But he's got enough athleticism and speed. 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:07.280 He's there. He's not He's not getting like burned. It's 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:09.560 just gonna take just a little bit of playing for him. 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:12.280 I don't I think he's gonna be okay, I really do, 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:15.520 but I just think he's not ready. He's not there yet. 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.400 But as far as athleticism and all that, I mean, 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:20.640 if you can remember Treyvon Diggs last year. He was 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:23.600 getting beat a lot worse than that, you know, but 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:25.720 they kept throwing him out there giving him those reps. 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:27.679 So hopefully they can find a way to do that. 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:30.800 I want to be clear, I agree with that totally. 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:32.920 Like I'm I'm not worried about him as a player. 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:35.040 I think he's gonna be fine. He needs to practice. 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:39.560 Maybe as as the season goes, opportunities will become available, 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:43.800 whether that's because somebody got hurt or sub packages or whatever. 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:46.880 But he's gonna play in this game, and I think 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:49.520 it's largely going to be special team. It's more than anything. 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:51.080 All Right, we're gonna go ahead and take our first break. 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:52.920 When we come back, we're gonna be joined by Bucky 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.400 Brooks of NFL Network. We'll talk about the Minnesota defense 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:57.040 so that when we come right back. This is Dallas 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:00.160 Cowboys dot Com Radio before there was a draft. If 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.920 you get sized up a cowboy by three simple factors, 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:05.160 the crease at his hat, the bend of his brim, 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:08.720 and his unbending attitude. A man stetson didn't just protect 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.640 him from what life through at him. It projected a rugged, 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:16.000 unstoppable spirit. Stetson hats are still American, made with pride. 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.240 Right here in Texas. 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You join now, 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:17.520 get your fan pack, exclusive benefits and more. Visit Dallas 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:21.400 Cowboys dot com slash United for details and to join today. 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:23.800 Welcome back, second segment of the Break. Life in the 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:26.880 s WBC Mortgage studios. At the start, We're being joined 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:30.440 right now by Bucky Brooks of the NFL Network Buckey, 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:32.720 We're gonna talk a little bit about the Minnesota defense 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:36.040 versus the Cowboys offense. One of the things I noticed 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:38.160 as I was starting to kind of figure out what 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:40.760 this defense looked like, was that they have allowed less 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.680 than two hundred passing yards in each of the last 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:47.000 three games. They've also kept their opponents under three hundred 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:51.000 yards passing in every game except for the game against Arizona. 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.000 My question for you is is that about their passing 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:56.920 defense being really good or is this about the quality 0:14:56.960 --> 0:15:01.160 of the offenses that they've played thus far. Well, I 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:03.120 mean they're really good. They're gonna be really good because 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.240 Mike Zimmer does a great job and he wants to 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:08.560 re establish himself as a top defensive mind, and his 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:12.280 defense played horribly a season ago. And so what they've 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:15.360 done is they have their guys up front back Daniel 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:18.560 Hunter's back Everson Griffin is playing well. Eric Kendricks is 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:20.760 in the middle, and so that allows them to go 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:22.880 and do some of the double A gap pressures and 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:26.400 blitzes and disguise and changing coverage that they want to do. 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:28.880 He also has added some veterans back there. He had 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.840 Patrick Peterson early in the year playing. They have some 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:34.560 other veterans kind of mixing in there, Harrison Smith notably 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.280 being there. And so when you have an experienced group 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:39.800 that allows you to dig a little deeper into toolbox 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.000 to give your team the best stuff that they need 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:45.600 to be able to play well. I always think of 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:49.280 guys like Dion Branch and James Jones, these receivers that 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:52.120 would leave come back to their quarterbacks in their system 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.360 and they would be so much better. Is that a 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:57.800 case of like Everson Griffin and those guys have kind 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.080 of just playing better in Minnesota than they were at 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:07.000 other places. Yes, a lot of it is that Everson Griffin, 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:09.560 who I thought was an energy as a bunny throughout 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:12.280 his career. For whatever reason, I don't know why I 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:14.800 didn't work in Dallas, but I will say in Minnesota 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:17.120 he's back to being the Everson Griffin that we've always sent. 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.400 He has four sacks, he is still a guy with 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:22.640 two moves. He's gonna go with an upfield Russian and 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:25.120 he's gonna set you up and come with a spin underneath. 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:29.120 And if you're not solid in patient as an age blocker, 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:31.040 you're gonna have a tough time because he's gonna get sucks. 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:33.960 And so they are very comfortable. And I think it's 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:37.240 not only the familiar voices that are in the rooms, 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:40.880 coaches knowing how to use those guys the best. Andre 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.760 Patterson is an outstanding d line coach. I think that's 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:46.120 why some of that stuff works, because they know how 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:47.840 to use them and how to mask some of the 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:51.440 deficiencies that they may have as an older player. So 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:54.760 Bucky going kind of off what Derek asked. I mean, 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:58.440 their front speaks for itself. But am I being a 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:01.920 hater if I if I'm guessing that the front is 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.280 the key to that, to their past defense, I guess 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.200 because like I'm looking at their secondary and I just 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.520 don't feel impressed or should I be? Like Patrick Peterson's 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:16.679 on IR now, McKenzie, Alexander and Bashad Bryland, who we 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:20.359 know from Washington. I mean, they're like, there are plenty 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:22.960 of wins there for the Cowboys passing game if if 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:25.880 the you know, obviously, if the offensive line holds up right, 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:29.640 I mean, if it was a game of one on 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:31.760 one and they were playing like all Man and all 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:36.359 that other stuff without the front. Yes, theoretically, Ceedee Lamb 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:38.320 and Amari Cooper should have their way with those guys 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:40.800 in the back end. The problem is they do have 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:43.479 the front and they will junk it up. They will 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:46.320 show you. We call that double a gap pression. They're 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:48.960 gonna test Dak and see canny tail when they're coming 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:51.280 and when they're not. Can they mess with the clock 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:55.919 in his head while also playing games with the offensive line? 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:58.640 Can they pick up all the switches on the stunts 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:01.199 and loops in games? And then in the back end 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:05.840 because you have veterans you mentioned McKenzie, Alexander, Bishard, Brelan, 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.240 But those guys have played a ton of NFL games. 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:11.320 So now Zimmer can do more things when it comes 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:15.560 to coverage because they understand it. His frustration and previous 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:18.760 years was the team was too young and they didn't 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:20.480 know how to do the things that he wanted to 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:23.560 do in the back end. With all that being said, 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:25.640 I mean, would this be a game where you tried 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.879 to rely more on the running game? And if so, 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.400 can the Cowboys be effective enough to win a game 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.200 like this by just kind of leaning towards more using 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:39.760 Zeke and Tony well, I think a couple of things 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:42.440 that are in play with that. One the health of 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:45.760 number four and Dak Prescott, how healthy is he. You 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:47.720 might have to lean on the running game more because 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.000 you may be limited in terms of how you have 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.000 to throw the ball. Can you do movement passes? Can 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:55.520 you do those things that Dak was doing early in 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:57.800 the year when they were doing bootlegs and some of 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:00.320 the other stuff where you can use his athleticism If 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:03.120 he is a statue in the pocket now, you want 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:05.560 to make sure that the running game is going because 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:08.120 you don't want to kind of leave Dak out there 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:11.159 unprotected against the Neil Hunter who has six acts and 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.520 everything Griffin, who I told you has four. And so 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:15.960 it's just really important that you can run the ball, 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:18.400 slow down the pass for us, and when you do 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:20.600 it like the past, you can use play action to 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.000 kind of keep those guys off of number four when 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:25.040 you're looking at this defense and the fact that they 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:28.200 have those twenty one sacks. I was listening to coach 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:31.160 MacArthur this morning. He was talking about how for him, 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:35.040 what they're doing right now with the offensive line has 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:37.679 a lot to do with continuity. Do you and just 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:40.680 kind of your experience with NFL football, do you think 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:42.800 that that's as big a deal when it comes to 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:45.720 the continuity of the offensive line. How big a deal 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:48.080 is that for you? And do you think that maybe 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:51.040 that's the reason why Dallas may opt to keep still 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:53.919 in there, especially going against an aggressive defense like what 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.960 it sounds like they're gonna have to face this weekend. Yeah, 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:00.359 I think you have to always evaluate the office line 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:03.760 as a group is unlike any position in football. Those 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:06.720 five guys have to be connected, and when they're connected, 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:09.239