Cowboys Break: 49ers Scouting Report

Break Live from the s WBC Mortgage Studios. We got so much to get into today. We didn't get a chance to get to a lot of our talk yesterday around San Francisco forty nine ers, but still was a good show. Yesterday had an opportunity to have Daniel Wallat join us to talk a little bit more about the legal aspects of Zeke's case, and it sounds like from what the fans have at least tweeted me, they got out a lot out of it. So I thought it was a good show. But to day we were going

to focus in on the San Francisco forty niners. Cowboys traveled to San Francisco this Saturday and on Sunday at three oh five Central time, they'll they'll kick off. Let's start first with injuries. We had a couple of different guys on the injury report that did not practice yesterday, and I need to get some clarity from you guys on whether fans should be concerned about this because he seemed to be things that keep lingering on. You thought over bye week, maybe you get out of there and

you have a clean injury report. But there were two guys that didn't practice, Chobei A. Woozier and Tyren Smith. What you we think. I think that especially with Tyron Smith, that he's gonna get just about every Wednesday off. That's just that's it's almost like the Tony Romo plan for him. And until he can figure something out, and it's probably gonna be in the off season, I would imagine there

could be surgery in his future. I don't know, but they're gonna have to manage this the best way they can and Wednesday after Wednesday's practice is probably more of a routine schedule miss for him. I'm not worried about Tyron Smith's ability to get ready to play in a game.

I don't know how you couldn't be worried about Tyron Smith's like long term future as it stands right now, because this is season number three where this has at least been a thing where this is I mean, he's only missed two games ever because of it, but they managed him in training camp. He missed two games last year. He's had weeks like this where you're sitting him down and limiting him and it's his back and he's he's

an offensive line. I mean, you need your back to play sports regardless, but like you spend your career in a two point stance on the offensive line, so I need your back for every profession. Yeah, well maybe I think you would be a writer with I'm gonna say, I just sit in a chair all day. I mean you have bad back though, the way you sit, no doubt it's gonna catch It's gonna catch up to you. Kid. That was really good. It's really good, really good, And

there's no way that was planned. No, no, it's really good. But that was flat. That was off the again. Tyrant Smith is twenty six years old and still has a large chunk of his contract left. Luckily, it's like the team friendliest contract in the history of the world. But like I said, I just I mean, and I'm not saying I'm not saying like he's gonna have to retire or anything, or I don't know what's in his future, but like, how can you not be concerned that he

keeps showing up on the injury report? And back injuries are one of those injuries that you can really heal. Like, once you have a back injury, you have it for the rest of your life. So I am concerned about his future. Again, I don't really know the severity of it, but just seeing that, yeah, he wasn't able to practice, but going back to last year, him being out two games, and they say, this is a different That's what Garrett keeps saying. Yeah, he keeps saying it's different. It's not

the same, it's not it's he just it's tightness. He used the word inflamed yesterday, and and Garrett's sure to all he's always sure to say that he's not a doctor. And I'm definitely not a doctor, Uh, just an attorney you've become. I feel like I, unofficially I've never felt stupider than I did during that segment on that show yesterday.

So I'm glad. I'm glad the fans. Glad the fans got something out of it, because I was just like, what, well, Um, It's like, do you believe that all of Tony Romo's back issues were just non related? How he had a herniated disc here, and he had another herniated disc, and he had the transverse process injury, and then he had another back. I mean, Okay, there might have been all different, but it's all from the same area. So I and it's you're talking about, I mean, you have to move here,

I mean to next point. You gotta move your back to play. So it's always if it's something, if it's even if it's different things, if your backs just give new problems, like, it's not something you can rest or really with fix I mean without surgery. I mean yeah, surgery might be. But then again, like I said about Romo, it was then something else, and DeMarcus ware kind of was the same way, and they act back. DeMarcus Lawrence is similar. Don't don't go, don't go any further with that.

DeMarcus Lawrence he had back surgeries in two consecutive offseasons. He finally looks like he's over it now. But it took a hell of a lot of time. So, like I said, I think Tyron Smith will be out there against San Francisco and I think he'll play just fine. But long term, big picture, it's got to be concerning. Yeah. And as for Cheeto, I don't even I don't know

what to do with that guy anymore. Um. He it's been an issue for him since mid August, and you know, he played through the Giants game, he left in the Denver game, and every time you think he's coming back, he's it's he's had a setback with it. And you know, I'm not blaming him for that, but it just is what it is. Yeah, I don't know if it's a good point. I meant he had a setback every time he's tried to play. I mean, you know, was it

the Rams or the Packers. He played the game, but they they pulled him because he felt it tightened up on it. So I didn't mean, I don't know, it's too early to say yesterday as a setback, but it's just something that he's been perpetually dealing with since August. Garrett said he was going to be on the field limited, but they did list him As did not practice. Yeah, so we'll see today. Yeah, do you expected maybe he

returns today. I would expect him to be limited today. Okay, this is an interesting point though, because we're talking about that open roster spot. I do expect them to make a move. Common sense tells you maybe defensive tackle because Stephen pie retired, Lewis Neil and Richard Ashe are there. But if Cheeto can't get this thing right for the game, then maybe you're thinking cornerback. You've got Mark Quaiz White sitting there, so you know that gives them something to consider.

I would imagine that move will probably happen on Saturday. That's what teams typically do. So that's something to watch right when we're on the plane. Yeah, right, driving too. When I like, I'm gonna sit there with my laptop on Saturday morning, I'm just gonna sit in me like, all right, I'm ready to write this when it happens, and then finally I'm going to close it and and say,

all right, I gotta go to the airport. And right when I turned the ignition on my car, that's when I'm gonna get the email that you know, it might be the smartest thing what's that write it before, send it on over to Kent and then hit to the airport and say, whenever this breaks, here's your article. It sounds like a great plan, like no one's ever thought

about doing that. But you know what, when that happens, then they take Darryl Reeves something like that, somebody that you would try to stay a step ahead, and you still get I had I had a lot, right, three or three to five different stories. Let's go all the

way from this. I'm trying to go out with a fun time on Friday, still the fifty third roster spot after I wrote twelve paragraphs that they signed a Namdi awesome wa and then that had to just delete the whole thing because the novel idea how about just tweeted it's the fifty third man on the rock, all right, that's recorded on the podcast for posterity. So when there's no story on Saturday, just playing, I'm just playing, Um,

is there a reason there's not a story? There a reason why we didn't cover Marquez White getting called up or yeah, Derek, I was driving the A. I try to ask questions. I don't assume anything. I like to questions. When I end up doing that, like I always think of you, and I'm like, you know, it's the better approach. It is the better approach because you never know, I've been burned a few times where I went all in, you know, like, hey, why didn't I mean, what's going on?

You're like? And I thought about it later. I was like, I probably should have asked a question rather than just like going at people. But so now I asked the really, we don't have this story up? Yeah, Charlotte Anderson told us not too. Okay, yeah, good idea. Okay, all right, let's let's jump back in. Let's talk about I guess move on to the San Francisco forty nine ers and Dave. Yesterday we did a little bit of a breakdown. You d gave us a little bit of a scattering port.

To be honest with you, I kind of missed it. You were thinking about what we were doing to get our guests on yesterday. It's really hard to talk when you know that nobody when you're talking to is not listening to you. Just so you know, like I'm not oblivious to that. Trying Okay, you know what, real quick it prepares you for marriage, though, So just get there. I was thinking, shit, I didn't, but it's so true. God, I was thinking how you said yesterday, how I was saying, like,

it doesn't really affect us, the whole Seek thing. But look at this week. We haven't talked about the forty nine ers yet, and we did spend the whole show talking about Seek yesterday. So yeah, it affects us. I'm just saying, I don't know if it affects everybody in the locker room like that, but hey, it's probably a bit of a distraction. I can give you that. Would you like me to redo the offense? Yes, I work with the defense. Why don't we do this? Why don't

you give us a full team scattering report. Let's or better yet, tell you what, Let's start with the offense, and then once you give us the offense, then I want to ask the question to Amber and Nick regarding the San Francisco offense, what concerns you most? Then we'll do a scattering report on the defense, and then we'll ask the same question to him about the defense. Does that sound good? All right? All right, let's go. I'm gonna try to abbreviate this because I did do this yesterday.

Just you can just run because you weren't listening. Fans weren't the main thing. I mean, the obvious thing is that CJ. Beth is going to make his first start in this game. And that all sounds well and good. Tell me how good he is. Well, he's a he's a rookie. That's that's my point. Like it sounds like a favorable matchup, But he came in against a pretty good Washington team and played really well. I mean, given

the circumstances. I mean, he comes in, okay, first possessions, a punt, then he goes touchdown, field goal, missfield goal, touchdown, punt, touchdown, and like we said, he had him in position to try to set up a game winning field goal, bad penalty, ultimately gets picked off to end the game. Does that happen? Sometimes?

More frequently when a team goes into the week preparing for one quarterback, that quarterback comes out another quarterback that maybe they didn't prepare for, especially guys they don't have a lot of tape on, comes in and now can do a little bit more because you don't know what he mean. There's probably something to be said for that, But I mean, you're still talking about a rookie and not, you know, not a number one overall pick, like he's

a third round pick. Yeah, then to steal a line from Garrett like you would imagine in that scenario, you've got steam coming out of your ears because you're thinking so hard. Like the fact the fact that an NFL defense couldn't take better advantage of him. I mean, he might be great, but you would still give the edge to the defense and that and let's not forget the flip side of that too. Here's a rookie quarterback that didn't get any snaps all week, that's coming in there

and having to play. Maybe he didn't get any snap like they may they may have been seen this coming going lastainly didn't get as many as the starter. Yeah, he might, he might have gotten some. But I would really hope Kyle Shanahan didn't set Horyer up to fail and just give all the snaps to him, let him start, he didn't play well, and then pull him. So. So the big things to know obvious everybody should know. Carlos Hide, he's their second round pick from a few years, A good,

good player. He's averaging four point two yards per attempt. He's Also, it kind of like Zeke in the sense that I think he could be a really good receiving running back, but they don't use him a lot. He's got twenty three receptions on the year, although he did have five once Bethard came into this game. You think safety blankets. So is that because they're dropping the ball down. That drops the ball down less like a lot of swing passes, a lot of like little run and turn

around and face back to the quarterback. That's kind of a good thing for the Cowboys, right good thing for the Cowboys because right now, I mean that's good good thing for the Cowboys in the sense that he's looking for the easy throw, but it's still a dynamic player that they're getting the ball to as many ways as possible. It's just you know, and yeah, Sean Lee is supposed to be back, but if you're not tackling, well, who cares that? That could be bad stuff. Um. Pierre Garson

is the other guy that everybody should know. Got the don't forget to put the little squiggle on this seat. His last name U Thirty three catches this year, no touchdowns, but he's average thirteen yards per catch. He's not a big touchdown guy anyway, even when he was with Washington. He's like a weird mix between a big play guy and a possession guy. Like he's a little bit of both.

A lot of volume for him, like he'll catch a lot of balls, he's not like he's not purely explosive like a DeShawn Jackson, but he's not like this unathletic bum. Yeah you know, um, by far the best receiver though by far, by far, I mean Mark Marquis, Marquis Goodwin, who's mainly famous for being a track runner, and Aldrick Robinson. Aldrick Robinson did actually have a big touchdown catch in

this Redskins game. But he's got He's got nine catches on the year on twenty four targets, So that tells me they're looking for him on a lot of chunk plays and they're not really hitting him that much. The one thing I will say about Marquis Goodwin, and I know this because obviously he was a Texas guy, but he, like you said, he's a track guy. He can burn you down. Oh he's fast as they stretched the field kind of guy. For sure. He's the everyone's got one

of those though. See but the all right Nick, the the Condon. The opposite of that argument is that he's he's good for like two of those per years, Like he's got sixteen catches, could be this week, right, which it could. But yeah, he's probably gonna get three looks in this game, and one of them will probably be on like an eighty yard go route. And you just hope that your cornerbacks up to the challenge. And what you don't want to see is your safety doing the

handclap like that meant something bad happened. He got loose in the meantime, Like I said yesterday, like this looks like a West Coast offense type of team, just in the sense of like they love them some twelve personnel. George Kittle, who's I think a fifth round rookie this year, and Garrett I can't remember, Jason, Oh no, no no, Garrett Selleck, I'm sorry. Yeah, Garrett Selleck is their other tight end. They're out there all the time. They use him to block,

they use him to receive. Kittle's got twenty one catches this year as a again a rookie, and he's kind of there do everything tight end, a lot of a lot of passes, near the line of scrimmage. I imagine that will continue with a rookie being their quarterback. But it's just it's it's like a it's a heavy personnel type of team. Like it looks it looks kind of old school when you watch them play like it's they're not doing that five wide, skinny little receivers at every spot.

They got a lot of a lot of big bodies out there. Yeah, it's when you look at them statistically, they don't do anything particularly well. They're in the bottom quarter. I mean, they really did in the bottom third, bottom quarter of the league in almost every offensive statistical category that you that you look at. The one that stood out is rush yards per attempt. There they average four point two yards per rushing attempt, and that puts them

thirteenth in the league. Again saying that maybe they're not running the ball enough, but when they do, they've been fairly successful with it. So that's something worth noting, especially against this team that has given up something in I mean, they haven't been great against the run, so that's something worth noting going into this game. A name that I also would recommend you know is Matt Breda. He's their number two running back. He's an undrafted free agent out

of Georgia Southern. He's got thirty four carries for one hundred and fifty yards, give or take. He doesn't touch the ball a lot in a given game, it seems like, but when he does, he rips off eight to ten yards. Like it seemed like every time he touched the ball he was either catching a short pass and taking it eight nine yards or just going right through the line like he's he kind of took again to quote Garrett, he's kind of got that. I hate that. I just

said that out loud, but I do too. Didn't roll off your tongue like it does. It doesn't roll off his tongue either. It's not a good catch phrase, but it's good on a T shirt. Sure, But he kind of pops off the tape when you watch him play a little bit. All right, cool, Amber, give me one thing about this offense that concerned you going into this game, Well, you kind of mention it just now. The running game kind of interesting to see how they go up against

the Cowboys, especially with a rookie quarterback. I'm assuming or I would expect them to rely somewhat on the running game and the Cowboys fifty percent of the time they've allowed the opposing team to rush for four plus yards on their first downs. Now we know that shan Lee is coming back. I know Shanle is not more fifty, but is he that fifty percent that this defense is missing?

I don't know. Um. I expect him to make an impact for sure, but again I'm interested to see how it plays out with him being back on the field. It can't it can't just be one guy that fixes everything. So we'll see what happens there. So, just to be clear, you're saying, at fifty percent of the time on first down when opponents run the ball, they get four plus yards. Yeah, that's that's a lot. Oh gotta be gotta be I don't I don't know, but it's pretty low. It's pretty low.

Like that's one of their weakest points right now. So that again, that's something that concerns me. And we will see shan Lee back on the field. But everyone, I mean I see Twitter, and everyone seems to be expecting shan Lee to be that huge difference maker and he's gonna change this defense. I believe in shan Lee and I think he's a great player, but again, not everything can rely on one single player. Yeah, some of those games,

some of those plays were in Denver. Yeah, the worst, the worst game they've had all seasons stopping the role was Endeavering. Sean was playing so and that's not to say Sean won't won't give them a big lift. I think he will, but he will. But at the end of the day, I don't know if you can say that's gonna fix everything, right. And when you look at that number, I mean fifty percent considering all the guys are out there. We'll see how they do, but that would be an area that I would be on the

lookout for. I'm gonna push all my chips into the table and say this for like the eighteen thousandth time, and I'll look either really good or really bad. But I think people undersell what it'll mean to also have Anthony Hitchins there. He's not a Pro Bowl player, but this will be the first game of the year where the Cowboys will have both of their preferred top two linebackers playing. They're both instinctive players, they both know the

scheme really well. They've played in it. I mean, Shahn's played in it for four or five years now, and Hitchins has only ever played in this scheme. So and they play fast because of that, right, and they make a good team together. They're good players, you know, and you know they're not going to magically transform into this elite unit. But they got to be able to stop the run a lot better than they have and having those two guys out there should help them do that. Yeah,

stopping the run makes a big difference. The linebackers that you have there, those two particular, make a big difference in your ability to stop the run. Nick, tell me what offensively about the San Francisco forty ninets concern you most? Concerns you most. We'll have two points. I didn't know which way Amber was gonna go, so I wanted to make sure I covered it up. I'll be brief. The receivers,

Pierre Garston. When you look at the receivers that the Cowboys have faced this year that have kind of hurt them, de Marius Thomas had had a big day, obviously, Larry Fitzgerald had a really big day. DeVante Adams did some things. All of those guys are pretty well built, big, big receivers going up against the cornerbacks. When you think about Scandrick, Anthony Brown, even Jordan Lewis, they don't have a lot of size with them, so that matchup kind of worries me.

Garson against them, he's a possession guy. He could kind of goes and get going. He knows him well and he's had some days against them, so that that would be one. And then another thing is that with Bethard in the game, I feel like it almost takes their bye week almost away from them because of what we said about hard to prepare. You don't have a lot

of tape on them. We saw what the Giants did to Denver when they just switched up the play callers and and kind of and had different personnel in there. So I kind of wonder if having those two weeks off, that first week's kind of out the window because they didn't, you know, Bethard guide in the game. So it's almost like that that just basically stole their bye week from them and put in preparation. But on the flip side, you're playing a rookie quarterback, so that's a good thing too.

So two things to worry about that maybe they're not going to be as prepared and they have some different things thrown at them. We'll take our first break when we come back. Let's flip to the defensive side of the ball. We'll get a scatter report. We'll find out what Amber and Nick think are the biggest concerns defensively against the forty nine ers. Will do it when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. We the entertainment loving people, want a smartphone built for us.

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skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys. I hear all this talk about what it takes to be a cowboy. Everyone's got their ideas, but I just say to myself, it's what's up top that matters. Sure, you need men with the muscle and heart to get her done. But if your scouts are listening out there, a word of advice. Picked the man with the most well worn stetson. That's

the one most cut out to be a cowboy. Stetson hats her handmade right here in Texas and have been on cowboys heads for over one hundred and fifty years. The rest of you can visit stetson dot com slash cowboy to find a retailer nearest you. Back to the break Back. It is the second segment of the break live from the s WBC Mortgage Studios. We're talking cowboys versus forty nine ers, and we've gone through the deep. I'm sorry the offense for the forty nine ers. Now

let's talk about the defense. Dave, give us a scouting report. I'm tempted to make you do this after the mean thing you just said to me. That was not mean, it's true, asked Nick. Has he become mister grumpy? Like? Is he always grumpy? Is he always just like, that's not that's not what you said. You know what I'm saying. Now, let's just move on. I would be offended if I was Dave. I'm not becoming Mickey. Okay, I'm not all right. You know what's fun about about what's going on? Something's fun.

I love it. Okay, shut up. What's fun about what's going on with the forty nine ers defense is that they switched. I don't know about y'all, but you know, you kind of like when you think four three verse three four. The forty nine Ers are one of those teams that I've associated with a three four for a long time now. I mean they've been they were running it out there forever. They were really good while they were running it, and now they switched to a forty three.

And so what's fun about that is it puts a lot of guys into favorable positions because maybe that's where they should have been. But also, you've been drafting for a three four for the last decade, so you got a lot of guys playing in weird spots. Eli Harold is one that jumps to mine. He's a second round pick who they drafted to be a rush linebacker and now he's stuck playing sam because there's he's too small to be an edge a down lineman in a four three.

It's like you don't know what to do with him. Conversely, maybe their best player is DeForrest Buckner, who is now playing three tech defensive tackle in a four to three, which is probably where he should have been in the first place. So he's a better player there than he I mean, he was a great player. He's one of the it doesn't matter for him. He had three sacks as a down line I'm sorry, he had six sacks as a down lineman in a three four. As a

defensive end he was a three four end. Yeah, He's got twenty nine tackles in a sack and a half through six games. He's consistently been rated one of the best interior lineman in football by you know, Pro Football Focus and all those types of places that do that type of stuff. He's the guy that I'm really looking at. And then you have Solomon Thomas, who you drafted in the top five this year, which, again, if you're still playing three four, is he outside rusher? Is he had

three to four end? What do you do with him? But he's just your right end right now. And he kind of had a slow start, but I think he's figuring it out because he's been nominated for NFC Defensive Rookie of the Week three times this year already. He's Wow, he's got twenty three tacks in two sacks. Uh. So he's doing a lot better than Taco Charlton. It's not a fair comparison to throw that in. It's not a fair comparison, But I'm just saying, if you're a beast,

you can figure this type of stuff out. Apparently as a rookie. Solomon Thomas, Yeah, um, you really really quick on him. You realize that that he would watch the Cowboys several times when back when they were in Valley Ranch and they'd had to go to Capel High School for um, you know days when it rained and they go into the indoor facility, which always seems weird that an NFL team would go to a high school Texas right there. Uh, And and he would he would be

out there a lot. I know he's done some interviews saying that he would. He would you know, you'd like skip class, I guess and go over there and watch him play and all that. So here here he is, and that that's only you know, five or six years ago. Maybe three of the top ten picks in this past draft are all from the Dallas area. Not bad really, Miles Garrett Solomon, Thomas, Jamal Adams. Wow yea. None of them play for the Cowboys. No, unfortunately, but still impressive.

They would all be upgrades at their perspective positions. Um, those stop ten picks would be okay, that's fair. Um. Eric Armstead is a guy that the forty nine ers have spent a lot of draft capital on their front seven in the last five or so years. Eric Armstead, unfortunately, he is on he is on ir he heard his wrist. I think in this past game, I'm thinking you're probably looking at Elvis Dumerville, who you probably remember. He'll probably

play left end. Was with Baltimore, he was with Denver, then he was with Baltimore now and I think that's I don't know if there was a team in between there, but he's probably your starting left end now. Um, should we be afraid of him at all? To keep going? Yeah? I mean I think I think I'll be interested to see how how the Dallas line. I mean, you got a lot of talent up here, Spenton Buckner particularly, Fortunately, that's the strength of your line. And is Martin and

Frederick left guard? Maybe I'm I'm curious to see what Buckner can do. Does he go on either side? Yeah? Yeah? Um, linebacker's interesting. They I mentioned Harold your primary linebackers, Ray Ray Armstrong's your primary yeah, um, he's your primary will And then right now brock Coyle is playing Mike because Navarro Bowman is no longer a forty nine er big X factor. Here is Ruben Foster, who you might remember. He's he seems kind of like the spiritual descendant of

Rolando McLean in a lot of ways. That's not good. He's from He's from Alabama. He certainly seems a little feisty. Uh. He was the guy that got thrown on or off the field both. Okay, he got thrown out of the combine. If you'll remember he freaked out on the medical remember that. Yeah, um, what do you remember? The circumstances. It's just the NFL comb I mean, in their defense, it is a grueling process where you spend like fifteen hours in a hospital

getting poked and prodded. And I guess he just had enough and somebody like yanked on his arm or just you know, he got he won test too many and he wasn't having it. Yeah, Um, of course you think, you know, you're basically interviewing for a million dollar job. You think you could keep your patients for a day. Um, he's dealing. Also him, Reuben and Ray Ray were somebody

tried to rob them earlier this week. I heard about the outside of a club and they didn't do anything wrong, but they it was just an altercation and the police got involved. And so that's a thing. He was limited in practice this week. He's a first round pick. I mean, he's a stud if he's on the field, but he's kind of been limited as he played well with him this year. He's only played one game. Oh but he did play well in that game. So that does sound

a lot like lauro Landon will claimed it. Yeah, a little bit. Um bye the bye I went. I went to I went to the sample sale, the DCM sample say last night found a Rolando McClean jersey for like jersey. Yeah, it's like a T shirt jersey. Like I never heard that. The discount was insane, Like it was a twenty five dollars shirt for like five dollars. Obviously, ill you got it, like obviously you're gonna hang it in the office. I don't know what I'm gonna do with it yet. I

might frame it. I don't know. But he's one of my own. So I have a giveaway on the here on the air. No I want it. I bought it for me. Cocate your own. Um, all right, your secondary. It's definitely a medium. Yeah, it's median. It's a medium for sure. I might frame it. I don't know. Um, maybe a lot of LSU guys in the secondary starting with not Eric reads the name, you know. But Richard Robinson is the guy you need to know. Um, he's

a long range like six one safety or cornerback. He's probably the guy that's gonna be dealing with Dez because he's big. He's big height wise, but he's skinny. But he can dezle abuse him. Well, that's gonna I think, honestly, that's gonna be something to watch. Is who gets the upper hand in that because Das has the size to beat him. But he is a good man corner with

good height. So yes, he's he's I mean, he's physically very He probably should have been a first round pick or at least, you know, a top sixty type of pick, but he got into a lot of off field stuff at LSU, couldn't stay at eligible. Yeah. I mean, if you have to leave LSU early, you really really messed up. Uh. And I mean the same thing with the with Tyron Matthew though he left early. They kicked him out, but he still got drafted and is making a name for himself,

So good for him. Um, Dante Johnson is your other cornerback. Kwan Williams and Jaquisky Tart a quiskey A quiskey Tart. They're the guys Yack and whiskey, Like, just put it together if you're quis If that's what you want to do. Sure, um. And then Eric Reid, who solid player, is notable for off field reasons more so the last year or two. He's the other guy along with Colin Kaepernick, who's been involved in the anthem protests. Wrote a really good op

ed about it in The New York Times. I advise anybody and everybody to read it if they get a chance. All of that said, like there's a lot of draft capital on here. These guys aren't very good. They're twenty eighth, and total defense twenty seventh, and past defense eighteenth, and run defense giving up one hundred and thirteen yards per game twenty third, and scoring they're allowing twenty five points

a game. It's so, I mean, it's a testament I call it good coaching that they're not particularly great on offense and they're not particularly great on defense, but all all their games are coming down to the wire, so they're doing enough to make it work one way or the other. I kind of wonder if that's bad coaching, honestly, because you know, I think, well, the games are coming

down to the wire. I mean, you know, you know, damn well if if Jason Garrett doesn't win games that are close, as he's not managing them, well, so you know, you have to kind of wonder if you get down to that point in the game, or they not doing what they need to to. I mean, five in a row. I mean, that's you can make that argument, but I just think of it in turns. I mean, this has got to be one of the five least talented rosters in the NFL right now, I would guess, And they're

going through a big transition. They totally overhauled their defense. First time. Shanahan's weren't running their offense. He doesn't have really a whole lot of guys that he would prefer to have quarter and they're still very, very competitive, So you're right. I mean, they're not finishing in crunch time, but given what they're working with, I think it's impressive that they've given it as good of a goat they have,

so ambers there anything about this defense. This gives you anything that you're concerned about with regards to this defense, not super scared, but I got a few things. So I was checking out all these stats, and you know, Dallas have done a really good job scoring inside the thirty, so I think right now they're ranked taken best in

the league. Now, the forty nine ers defense has done a fairly good job at stopping the opposing team to score inside the thirty touchdowns yore, yeah, inside the thirty. So this is where I thought things got a little interested interesting, and I think the Cowboys should be aware and kind of be careful with this. The defense, the forty nine ers defense, they're ranked in third place with red zone takeaways. Now the Cowboys, they haven't given the ball at all this year, but this is my concern.

If they choose to not run the ball and throw it. I'm concerned with these wide receivers, the receivers catching the ball, you know, not letting the ball, not dropping the ball. And it's a fine line where the drob becomes a fumble and then now the other team takes it away and now we see some of these receiver receivers struggle with that this year, and with the forty nine ers being ranked at number three with red zone takeaways, I would say this is an area where I would be

very cautious of. Okay, Nick all right, um, you know, anytime you have a pass rusher that can get after the quarterback, he could disrupt the games. And Dumerville is on by the downside of his career, buddy. It does have three and a half sacks this year. It's not eight and a half like DeMarcus Lawrence, but it's still you know, he's getting to the quarterback. And I think if if he gets in a situation where maybe they put him over there on Lyle Collins and here's a

crafty veteran, he's seen some things. He can start disrupting things. That could be one. Anytime you have a guy that that can kind of take over a game that I don't know if Dumerville still has the ability, but he still has shown he can get after the quarterback, so he would be my guy that I think that you have to watch that because you know it takes eleven but but really, if one guy's messing up a play, then you know you can be to field quick. So that would be my guy to watch. All right. Two

things I'll point out real quick, the passing game. In the passing game defense, they have given up a lot of big plays. You look at right now, they're ranked twenty second and twenty plus YAR passes that they've given up with nineteen and ranked thirtieth in the league with forty plus YAR passes they've given up. They've given up six of those. So this is a defense that's right for big plays. We don't know if the Cowboys will necessarily be able to take advantage of that. They have

had some big plays this season. I don't know if it's been at a at a big rate, but they have had some. This would be a defense where maybe it suggests they have some opportunities this week to have some big plays. But I'll flip it to the other side of this, and the same way I said the statistically, offensively, there was nothing they really did well other than their yards per attempt was pretty good. It's the same thing

on the defensive side of the ball. The one thing that was pretty good about them statistically is that right now they're ranked fourth in rush yards per attempt allowed, only at only allowing an average of three point four yards per tip. Now, that suggests that in these games, again, this could be a situation where the teams they've played and just said, hey, we're gonna just throw the ball around,

and they really can't stop the pass. But when they've tried to run, at least they've held them to three point four yards per tip. That's something worth worth noting in and being aware of. Well, yeah, and I think that makes sense because, like I said, the I mean, the bulk of the really good talent on this defense is in the front seven, especially if Ruben Foster plays in this game, and that gives you a really athletic,

physical linebacker to help your defensive line. I mean, at the end of the day, the Cowboys need to be able to run the ball against anybody but a lot like the Rams. This is a matchup where I'm thinking, all right, they have they have the talent where they can probably make life difficult for you in the run game. Your receivers need to be able to win some matchups to take the pressure off that. This is mentioning Dez and Richard Robinson, Beasley, all those guys. I think this is.

This is a game where I'm thinking you passed the set up the run more than vice versa. All right, let's take our finals. They do have one area, though, real quick, one area where they are the best in the league, and that is punt coverage. They are the best. So Switzer is gonna have a tough game because they only they only allow one point seven yards on punt return. Oh wow, so they I mean most of us catch it, go down, most of us getting you know, fair catches.

But I just don't drop him. But yeah, yeah, he doesn't. He doesn't worry worry about that. He'll probably do it again. All right, let's take our final break. We'll come back and get some questions from you guys. Give us a call. The number is two, one four eight seven two twenty one h two, or you can hit us on Twitter

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photos of childhood stars grown up. To learn more, visit better Moneyhabits dot com. Back to the Break Welcome back to the final segment of The Break. Life in the s WBC Mortgat Studios at the Star. Nick, go Tommy John dot com Forward slash Cowboys. Make sure and put a good pair on your pair, Tommy John dot com Forward slash Cowboys. Okay, move on. Nick doesn't like. Nick

doesn't like playing up to Tommy John advertisements. He's over it. Well, you know, I was ready yesterday and you just basically said I was about to do it, and then you just moved on to something else. You had so much going on yesterday. I got it. I understand that. But when I said it in the break that I was about to do it and you were like, Okay, that's fine, and then by fifteen seconds later you just kind of forgot about it. I think I think you're gonna be fine.

Thanks Nick for nothing. All right, let's get into questions. The number is two one, four eight seven two twenty one O two. You can also hit us on Twitter at Cowboys Break. Let's start with a call from Antonio and California. Antonio, what up? What's up? Guys and lady? How's everybody doing? So? All right? Um, so my question, I don't really I'm not hit too what you got

talking about today. I'm just I'm really cooling about yesterday's segment segment with a lawyer, and I thought it was phenomenal. I mean, man, that was great, great radio. I listened on the podcast in the morning because I worked. I worked nice. I want a janetarial service, so I mean, I'm up early in the morning. But um, the reason my call at Amber, I think it's super smart, and I mean, I love you on the show as a

different dynamic. I just feel like you were beating that dead horse, you know, because it really doesn't matter Web and he did it. I mean it matters, but the police in file charges and indeed in prosecute, and in my mind, the system says he didn't do it because there's not enough evidence to say he did it. So I mean, it feels like it's a dead horse to keep going back and say, well, I want to know the truth and Web or not he did it or not.

I mean the fact that the matter is this, there's a lot of evidence to prove that the accuser is it's not credible. And we all noticed there's people out there, not just women, men too, who make force claims against people who have money and power and influence. They've want

some of that money power influence. So I feel like weep, we keep perpetuating the narrative that he may have did it or not because he's a football player and he played for the Cowboys, and you know, the Cowboys always have that reputation of having players who necessarily don't make the best choices. So that was that was just my reason for the call. And all right, a little too cent, thanks, Antonio.

I appreciate the call. I will say this though, I think that's kind of what you got to yesterday, Dave, which is everybody kind of has to make their own decision on that because there is nothing that's clear cut that says definitively this is what happened. This is the person that was right, and this is the person that was wrong, and so everybody kind of has to listen to the information and read the information and for themselves

kind of figure it out. And I think amber not to put words in your mouth, but it seems like what you were saying was you still don't feel like you have enough already on that, and that's something you really wish you had more clarity on. Yeah, I mean, I know at this point that's a dead end right there. You're not going anywhere. And again, the whole five isn't really about that anymore. It's more about the whole process

and the whole case being done fairly to Zeek. But again, my whole reason behind that was just the whole point of hearing the NFL finding all this evidence or all these little things to prove that he did he did, you know, the whole domestic violence thing, and that he was guilty and therefore he has a six games suspension. So that's just out of curiosity, Like now, I just want to hear it from both sides, but I know

that's not going to happen. And again, I think the whole fact that Zeke did all these other things, the whole punching thing, whether it happened or not, I know there was some confusion with that whole thing at the club, the whole pulling down the shirt also what was the other one that he did, the walking inside the marijuana shop, All those little things, I think it tied up to this bigger thing. And the NFL just was kind of put up with him, and you know, did whatever they

could to in fact, suspend him for six games. Not only that, I mean, it's we've talked about it a lot, and then you can only talk about it to a certain point. But you know, and you I mean, you have to, like you said, you have to make your own decision about this at the end of the day. But I would argue with the caller that it's important, and it's important because he's a Cowboys player, and it's it's not like it's some kind of witch hunt because he's this visible guy. I mean, this is a guy

that millions of people. You know, you buy your son or your daughter his jersey, and he's this representative of these things that you hold dear in this team that you love. And for everybody that wants this to just not be talked about anymore because it's their favorite player on their favorite team, that's what makes it important is you kind of want to know, or a lot of people at least want to know you know what type

of person he is and whether they should be supporting him. Yeah, but to represent this for the caller, I don't think it's a matter of him saying I don't want this to be talked about because it's my favorite player. I think what he's saying is there's enough information out there that clearly paints Tiffany Thompson. I think that's her name

as someone who is not credible. And even the person that did the investigation and talked to Tiffany Thompson on six different occasions said she is not a credible witness. So I think what he's saying is it's not so much about his favorite player, it's more about there's enough out there that suggests that she was trying to take advantage of a situation. Whether that's true or not, that's

what it suggests. And he said, from that standpoint, he feels like it's beating a dead horse because she's not credible. That's what I think he's saying. I and you know what, I agree with that, but I think, you know, going back to what she was just saying, there's enough other circumstantial evidence, and to be fair, it is hearsay, but there's been enough troubling stuff surrounding Ezekiel Elliott that it bears questioning and thinking about and coming to your own

decisions about. And he put himself in that situation with questionable decision making regardless of whether he's guilty or innocent of this particular act. Yeah, and to be honest with you, all those other things are very very small compared to being accused of domestic violence. And that's kind of what he was getting in the locker room yesterday. That's what he has to fight if it feels like he didn't do anything wrong, because I don't want to live with that.

And again, the fact that he is fighting this whole thing, this horror and going this far kind of place to the whole idea that he didn't do anything, and maybe he didn't. But again, it's just so many little holes here and there throughout this whole case that it just creates some doubt. And that's just me wanting to know more in detail. And I did read all the details of the whole case and Tiffany Thompson and all that, and even then I wasn't clear on what to think.

You know, one moment, you think one thing, next thing, you know, you see something else and now you're thinking the other ways. So we want to know. But it's it's important. All right, Let's get a question from Twitter. Do you think Woods will get more snaps at safety and bass defense with Byron Jones? In other words, take take Keith off the field pretty much. There's a couple of variables there. One which we already talked about, is that Shitta be Woozier might not play in this game.

It's early to say that, but it's something you have to wonder about. They looked at him at safety against Green Bay, so that's something that could affect the rest of the playing time. The other one is cornerback playing time. Is Wood's gonna play more nickelback? Where exactly A you're gonna line him up? I know, I know fans hate Jeff Heath, but I'd be pretty surprised if they look drastically different on defense than they have. I think, I mean,

you'll see some young guys. Cheetah will be in there. If he's able, Woods will mix in dime Nickel. I think maybe he's played a little bit of base. Yeah, like they they've taken Byron and Heath. Heath often base a couple of times and put caveon and Woods out there before. But you know, if you just if you're thinking Jeff Heath's going to be standing with his helmet on the sideline for this whole game, you're wrong. Do you think that there is a I'll ask question all

you guys. Do you think that there is a significant chance that by the time we get to late part of the season December, that Xavier Woods will be your starting safety? How's the team doing you you paint the scenario. Let's assume for a second that they're doing well. Let's also assume that they're not doing well. And does it matter if they're winning games? I would be surprised if

they make wholesale changes like that. I mean, even if you think back actually in twenty fifteen when they've made changes. I mean they've they've switched around the running backs, they changed quarterbacks because they were losing games. They're like, this isn't working. We got to find something that will. But Heath is a bridge player, right, I would assume we all agree that Heath is kind of your bridge to

the point where you get a safety long term. You lost your you lost safeties last year and so this was your kind of answer for the short term until you can bring somebody along. Right, Is he the worst safety that starts? No, but he's the one you got the least invested in. Yeah, but the first round pick is not going to be a guy you sit on the bench unless you just have to. I don't have to sit him on the bench. You can maybe playing

him in the other position. I guess that. I mean, they're not gonna move in the corner this year, are they. I don't know. I don't think. I wouldn't expect Xavier Woods to be playing slot corner either. I mean, I just think when when if Xavier Woods is going to play in the game. I think his skill set is probably similar to what Byron Jones can do. So maybe Byron Jones can play some some corner. I don't know.

I just feel like that the one thing Heath does is that he's he's pretty It's pretty physical when it comes to tackling. Now, if he misses d Gurley in the open field, then yeah, that's not very physical, but he'll come up there and bring it. I think that Byron Jones more that I see him, the more I think he's probably not built for the position. That's what

I view. So if I was gonna take it, you know, put Xavier Woods in there, I think I would look at it maybe Byron Jones before I would look at Heath. I just think a lot of times, I think coaches hate to be wrong more than than they want to be right, if that makes sense, you know. And Heath is a veteran who has played and he can tackle, he has made some plays before, he has those instincts,

and he has earned the coaches trust. Regardless of whether you the listener think that's fair, that's the case, and I think it's going to take something drastic for them to just pull him and replace him with a rookie. That's just kind of my instinct. That's that's me getting based on what I know about those coaches. But the fact that they were that they did a similar thing with Carol and Jordan Lewis. They got Jordan Lewis in there, he did took advantage of the opportunity, and and Xavier

Wood is getting opportunities. What happened there there was an injury, I get that. All I'm saying though, is there was an opportunity for Jordan Lewis to play. He played well, and they said, you know, Carol, Carol is a guy that just came in, just got to the team, has been here for a while. Yes, but but the question still remains, do you not see Heath as a bridge player in the exact same way the Carol was a bridge player? Or do you think he's in there the

Cowboys long term plans as a safety. Probably not, He's No, You're probably right that he's a bridge player, but you know you can space that out. I mean, Jeremy Mincy was a bridge player and he started for two years, so you know he's under contract again. They trust him, they value him, and I just feel like they'll be reluctant to do something that dramatic. I mean, you know, we've already seen the young guys getting snaps and I

think that will continue. But I'm just I'm talking drastic, like, Noah, Jeff, we don't need you. We're good. You're not playing safety in this game. I don't think you'll see something like that unless there's an injury. And I was I wasn't saying that either. I guess what I was more asking is do you see a scenario where the playing time kind of flips to where Xavier's playing more. That doesn't mean they're not gonna rotate, because this team rotates on defense.

Like we know that they're gonna rotate guys in They're gonna be times you're gonna have guys on the field and aren't starters, and you're gonna have a lot of them. So I understand that. But I'm just saying, do you think there's a point where it flips to where Xavier Woods is out there more frequently than than Jeff Heath is. That's more what I was kind of. I can see that mainly because of the special team's ability that Heat does. But again, like I'm saying, I feel like they all

need some work. I mean, I couldn't imagine just benching Heath and just letting Byron Jones continue to go out there and take the wrong angles and getting you know, knocked off the ball by you know, tight ends and guards and stuff like that. So I just don't know if his body type. I thought he would kind of develop into that, but I don't think he has. I think he is probably now more of a corner to me. Yeah, I don't even know if it's the body tie. I

just don't think he's they're playing everyone. I think that's for both safeties. You said, we said it last week. I think the safety position. Is this a position that concerns me to most on this team because I don't think they're getting great play out either one of them. I think that's fair and for the ten millionth time, I think it's more likely it's just a scenario where they're leaning on all five of those guys or six

if you want to count cheetoh, whatever. But this is just a platoon because there's there's no great answer anywhere. All Right, let's take another question from other than Garson against our corners, which matchup against the forty nine ers, are you guys more intrigued intrigued by well, mainly, I mean you have to stop Carlos Hyde. I think he's other than Garson, he's probably their most talented offensive player.

He's going to run the ball again. I look for Bethard to try to find him on easy open routes. That's on your linebackers, specifically Sean Lee Ming he's out there. And then George Kittle probably I mean for a rookie, like I said, he's he's got twenty one catches and he's already been targeted thirty one times. For a guy that was drafted in the fifth round, that's pretty crazy. And again, he plays a position that can be really

friendly to a rookie quarterback. So yeah, is this only the Are you just talking about the offense or you're talking about offense or defense. I think Buckner's a guy I'm going to keep an eye on, just because when he lines up on what would be his right side and Cowboys left side, and that that matchup could be

favorable for them, you know, for a defense. I mean, for a disruptive defensive tackle to line up over whoever's gonna line up for the Cowboys at left guard, I think that can be a bit of a you know, that can be a bit of a problem for the Cowboys, especially if he becomes disruptive enough to where the running game can't really do what it needs to do, and

especially in short yard situation. I think Tyron Smith's back is allowing Jonathan Cooper to stay at left guard right because I think in practice they'd like to keep the continuity there. And what's happening is when he doesn't practice chas Green goes over and plays left tackle. So I think that that that's helping, you know, Cooper stay in there, you know, in keeping him at that spot, because then you'd have to move once Tyran comes back, then you

moved him. And that's the problem because Shaz Green didn't significantly show that he was better than Cooper. He might be a little bit better and it's better. Like you said, you know, we've always said about coaches and scouts feel smarter when they drafted a guy that's playing. But you know, I don't think. I think at this point Cooper is going to stay there left guard. We've talked about tackle plenty of times, but the questions just keep coming in

in regards to him. Where does Taco need to improve his game the most? Some options are balanced, still biggest issue first step, hands staying lower. What do you guys think. I'm not a scout, but I just think he needs a bigger repertoire of stuff that he can do. I mean, it's a joke by now, Rush moves. Yeah, it's a joke by now where we're in the press box, like, oh,

spin move. Taco tried to spind move. It didn't work, and if it doesn't work, then then nothing else and then have a whole lot else except to just run and hope he gets past the guy. Like you don't see swims or stutter steps or any of that type of To me, after all those things, it would be upper body strength because he needs to just get bigger up there. Because of what happens is is that all these moves that you see defensive ends have, they also

have one called just the straight bullrush. If the guy's kind of off balance a little bit, you just straight go right into his chest and just shove him back. I don't think Taco can do that. I have a hard time imagining Taco just pushing walking a tackle and they can't really do that yet. He'll get to that point, and when he does, then the other moves will start to work. So he's gotta just gets bigger and stronger. And you know, for your feeing going to do that

till offseason. Yeah, and your first round pick coming from Michigan, I think that maybe they thought that wouldn't be as much of an issue, But you know, you would think a defensive vent in the first round could have helped this team. Yeah, I mean camp early, the early report on him was that he was raw and he was

going to take some developing. That is clearly true, but that can still be true, and you can still say that this is a disappointing output for a first round pick, Like you can be raw and know that it's going to take some time and still a couple great still more. I mean, if by Jones was raw, yeah, exactly, I mean, that's you're even you know, I hate to even bring him up, but t J. Watt is raw and he's not JJ Watt by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think he's had a sack in a month. But

he's out there impacting the game. I mean, he's making tackles and rushing the passer and being a part of Pittsburgh's defense. But is that also because of opportunity as well? Like it doesn't seem like tackles out there very much, which he would be out there if he was showing a pension to do anything. But even with the little times that he is out there, every time I see him,

I don't know why. He just always looks exhaust and I know playing this game is exhausting, but I also get to see the other guys and they don't look like that. And I've been on the sideline and every time I see him coming off the field, he's just like he just played the biggest game of his life and he's just done with it. I don't know, there's something. He just needs more work out there and hopefully play up to his first round pick expectations. All Right, thanks

guys for joining us. We're back tomorrow nine thirty am till then. For Nick Even, Dave helm and Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Eagleton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.