Cowboys Break: Addressing the Obvious at Safety

number twenty eight. Welcome to another edition of The Break, live from the s WBC Morgage Studios at the Star. We're back at the Star, away from Oxnard, California, and already talk some Cowboys football. How's everybody field in this morning? I feel I mean, I know that's bad timing because I feel great. I'm good. I feel great. Yeah, it rested, really bad timing. Okay, good, perfect? Amber good. Oh, it's good to be home. Yes, it's very good to be ready. Nice.

Nick tired. I don't know why. The first two days it was just a normal time. But now I'm like back on the West Coast time or something. I haven't try to figure it all out. Yeah, yeah, we're good though, Let's get it going here. Good, we got a lot to talk about today. We got the game. Are you doing Derek? Thank you Amber for asking. No one ever ask me that, but thank you. I'm feeling great. Everything's great, everything's great. All right, So we got a lot to

talk about. Cowboys lose, But do they really a game where where you saw again, just like the game the first week of the preseason, you saw a lot to be very positive about when it comes to this team, specifically if you want to look at the first team. So let's start there. Just give me the kind of a quick your thought on the game overall this week for the Cowboys versus the Bengals. Well, I mean these games, are you win the first half? That's all you really

want to do. You just want to win the first half and get out of the game healthy. And they were able to do one out of two. We'll talk about injuries in a little bit, but I mean, I think you know they're up ten nothing at the half. They were up I think fourteen seven last week. I mean that that's what you want, That's what you want out of these games. Are the starters better than your starters?

Look at that play? Right? There have been a lot of people won't be able to do that there showing Dak's touchdown to Terrence Williams on the TV's in here right now, right now. So the point is, I wanted to point out real quick, it's like how people keep talking about Dak Prescott and he's an ability of maybe not being like the perfect quarterback or whatever throwing passes.

But that's again why you like this guy, that he's capable to make those moves and although he's not always perfect with the passes, the fact that he can move around, get out of the pocket and still have time to make a good throw there and connect with Terrence. I mean, you love, you need a quarterback that can do that, and you got Dac that does that perfectly. Honest with you, I know you, I know how you prepare, So I'm not trying to cut your legs out from underneath you.

But we've got a lot of topics, so go for it with It's it's just a net win because we're not talking about replacing Zach Martin right now. That's where we're going next. I don't don't care about anything else, honest, and I'll be completely honest with you. It's my job to cover this team. I'm supposed to watch the game. As soon as he got hurt. I checked out down to about a ten percent attention span for most of the rest of the game because I was writing a

story about the injury. I was scanning the sideline to see if he was coming back out. I was trying to listen to the radio broadcast to see if Christy Scales had an update. I was imagining the conference call on Sunday where Jason Garrett calls in with the results of the MRI to tell us that Zach tores acl you know, like what veterans are out there, all of that stuff that we've done that before, and that's not

a fun cover. No, no, it's not fun and for us to be you know, we're not leading off talking about that. I don't give a crap about anything else that happened in that game, because Zach Martin is either your best or one of your two or three best players on this team, and for about an hour and a half on Saturday night, I thought he was done for the year. So when that happened, I was doing sideline and it happened literally right in front of me, and when I saw him go down, I'm like, damn, Zach,

he's a beast. That's why he's a beast. And then I'm like, oh wait, crap, that actually because the hint was so hard that I'm thinking, you know, this beast guy that just can't take anything, and then he's just laying on the ground like, oh oh boy, this does not look good. It's very unusual for one of those guys to have a situation like that. Travis has never missed the snap. Zach has never missed a regular season snap.

It took eight injuries for Tyrn Smith to eventually have to bow out of games last year, like it's unusual. So to see him have to not only leave the game, but go into that evaluation tent I just did not seem good. Okay, so let's go a little bit deeper into that. Talk to me about the status of Zach mar at this point. We all know that I think everybody's heard at this point it's not season ending, But tell us the status in and how long he's expected

to be out. An updated status from today is a little white sleeve on his knee, able to get a chicken sandwich. I think from the line or wherever I saw him, No, I didn't. I just saw it. But walking around there was two other guys not able to do that. They had some crutches. He's slight lamp. And then I started doing math in my head, like, okay, twentieth eleven more days plus nine, it's twenty days to go. He's fine, twenty days to go. He's good for the first game. I do. I do think he's good for

the first game if I had to. I mean, that's the word coming out of the organization too, is that they're optimistic he'll be ready for week one. No dress rehearsal for him. No, No, it's twenty something days away, and it's a tough guy. I would imagine he'll be ready. Let's be honest here, based on a lot of different scenarios, and I'll just leave it at that. I don't think. I don't think your dress rehearsal is going to look

the same as normally. I don't know if you play as many guys as you have played in the past for this particular Okay, so back up before we get to that. I do want to talk though about what happened once he left the game. Who goes in in his place, and how comfortable do you feel with that, knowing that once you get into the season you may have a similar situation if he should go down. Remember that Travis Frederick was also out with the shoulder injury,

and I don't think they're too concerned about that. So because Joe Looney was playing center, Kadeem Edwards came in. If this was just a regular season game that Frederick starts, I'm pretty sure it would have been Looney that went into guard. So that's kind of where they stand, and we're all we're all talking, Okay, what happens if he's out for a long time. Do you move Lyle back to guard? Do you move Fleming to guard? Do you put Looney there? You know a lot of different options,

and they really don't have to mess with that. I think for this game, I think you play kade Edwards to see if he makes your football team. I think he's right there on the edge of the eighth lineman. I think he's the eighth lineman right now on the team. But is someone that's gonna get cut gonna be better than Kadem Edwards? That's what's going to come down to

to me. Apps, Yeah, I completely agree. I think that's one of the biggest things facing one of the biggest unknowns is you know, how you round out that old line depth chart. I know, I mean it looked pretty awful after the main guys got out the other night, which I feel like, you know, you look around on Twitter, that's like a lot of doom and gloom, like that's just preseason football. That's there's not a lot of good offensive linemen in the NFL. And if you've got five

or six that you feel good about. I thought Joe Looney played really well for a guy that had to come in and play a boatload more than he's probably used to because Travis Frederick didn't play. Now you know, we know Zach and Travis are probably good for the season opener. You got seven guys that you feel pretty good about. I think Cam Fleming probably could have played better on Saturday, but I didn't think he was terrible.

I promise the Golden State Warriors are going to have a bad bitch because they've got the best players in the league. And that's what happens. What what what veteran's gonna want to come to play the offensive line here. They're not drafting a whole lot of offensive linemen to be backups, and the ones they are just aren't very good, which I mean, you know, I can hear the people at home reminding us about the Chaz Green game. I do. I mean Cam Fleming is a step up from that.

He's he had a good training camp. Like I said, he could have been better against the Bengals. I'm not sounding any alarms about it right now. Like I think you've got seven that you feel pretty good about when you add in Fleming and Looney and then whether it's

Kadeem Edwards. I have a hard time believing it would be Chaz Green, but maybe it's possible, or that would be interesting, it would be or you look, you look to the waiver wire, I think you know, that's a spot where I think they're going to be looking for

a guy who can maybe be better than what they've got. Right, if they keep Chaz Green, then they need to just give back all those T shirts that say, like the seventeen inch shirts of Everybody's the same and all that stuff, we don't care where your draft status is, because they obviously do. They obviously care about draft status. If they're gonna keep Chaz Green, if for three years, I understand, Dalton Schultz is a tight end who really hasn't done

anything and they want to keep him. I get that, but not for him, not for Green who almost got your quarterback killed last year. I just don't see he hasn't done anything to show that much improvement. You would just keep him just because you have him and you don't want I don't either. I was I was really just trying to cover my bases, like, I don't think they'll keep him either. I think he's had enough time. Kadeem or a guy, a player to be named later, if I had a guess. All right, let's move on

um and this one, Nick, I heard you say. I don't know if you were talking to me or I just overheard you telling someone else. But after the game you said, you know that's that was not the biggest injury. Not necessarily concerned, because it was a concern at first, but once you kind of figured out he was gonna be okay, you were way more concerned about Xavier Woods. Let's talk about Xavier Woods and his injury. He gets a hamstring injury and it has to leave the game.

He gets a hamstring injury doing what we've been waiting for him health for him to do and he did something similar in the San Francisco game as well. He's I mean, we talk about Dak being a gamer, Xavier Woods appears to be a gamer. It was an awesome player. He did get trucked a little earlier in the game, but you want your safety. Someone too over the middle too bed. It was Byron Jones. He did do that, trying to say he's Eric Barry. I'm just he was making a good play. Yes, no, I'm with you, I'm

with it God, and it got him hurt. He dropped the ball though too. God. Well, he was making a play. Can I get serious? I do give him that, like he came from. He made a lot of ground. He get there a nice good play. He didn't, I mean, didn't make any great That's one of the things we've talked about, or at least I have in the past, as when you speak about him, is him being or not being that kind of player like for example, Jeff Heath. That just it's aggressive and just comes out of nowhere

and it's not afraid to make a tackle. And I mean this time he took a chance and it just wasn't good. He showed the range that you're looking for, and then that's that's good. Okay, in stinks. Well, it doesn't matter because now he's done for his every season problem two to four weeks, which means there's a good chance, I think a sizeable chance that he's not going to

be there for week one. Now weeks. If guys, if you guys are listening, remember last week we were going through the roster and trying to make it down to our fifty three and one of the things we talked about was the lack of depth at the safety position. Now you're in a situation where you have to feel this spot at least probably for one week, if not longer.

And you've got some more issues going on there as well, because you've got and I know this doesn't matter for week one, but it matters for right now, is that you're you're when your backups. Jamal Showers hurt his knee. He's on crutches right now. Did we hear exactly what he's got? Is it a torn a cl I think it's an a cl I mean it doesn't look good at if you're on crutches, If you're on crushes, you're probably not playing this week. Or next at the very least,

you're probably not playing against the Cardinals. And Huff hasn't He's been hurt, that's growing injury hasn't done much. Forget forget the part where they might not have their starting free safety for week one. They don't have enough guys to get through this week, although apparently they disagree because I you know, I haven't heard anything about anybody coming in here. It's just Monday. But they got practice in

three hours. I mean, you got you got Joe, you got cave On Frasier, you got Tyree Robinson, and he's being a little banged up too. Keith was playing with an ankle injury too. Tyree Robinson and Cam Kelly are about to get a hell of a look so at trying to make some noise on this roster. So listen, I think that I'm a firm believer of the law of attraction, and explain what action the law of attraction.

When you really believe something, and when you stake your mind into it, you attracted, the world just works in your favor. You believe that I truly believed, I'm a walking testimony of that. Anyways, umat that you want to believe in it. I think that the world is conspiring to help someone in Seattle to get what he wants, which is to be here, and the world is it's yeah,

it's conspiring to his benefits. I want to have, like, I just want to stop talking about the cowboys and have like a forty five minute philosophical discussion about this. Let's do that after. We can't do that right and the break is not time? Um, I mean, I what what else can what else can you? What else can we say? I mean, I mean, well, here's the question. This side of the table has been concerned about safety since March. So what do you want me to say

that I haven't. I think there are two things that can be discussed right now. One of them is a new development in the way of Georgia Loca, who is the safety and Cincinnati. I hope I'll pronouncing that right. Um, he was a safety in Cincinnati, was their starting safety since twenty thirteen. Uh, they just cut him for what they call salary cap reasons. But typically when you cut a guy, no matter what his salary is, for whatever reason you're not happy with his play. Um. They they

selected by somebody in the second round. They're ready to make that guy their start, presume, and so he's on the street. Should the Cowboys go in a player like that, that's a veteran that may not cost a ton of money, especially where he is right now being cut at this point to where you get yourself some relief and you get yourself an extra body. And when Xavier Wood comes back, he doesn't slow down the progress of an Xavier Woods

right Wood, Is that the way to go? Or do you think that this changes anything about what we've been talking about for months, which is this whole thing kind of sitting out there in Seattle with Earl Thomas. I mean, well, you're the earl guy. Go ahead. Well, And I wrote a column after the game and I said, you know what, like you have to get a guy that can play now, because you didn't even know if you had one. An

Xavier Woods. We think that he's pretty good, he's got he's a good young prospect, and he didn't make a ton of plays in training camp. But let's also remember this about training camp. This team doesn't really throw the ball down the field in practice. They don't really stretch the field. They don't really hurt you and make you worried about the safeties, don't really have to worry about the deep ball. So he's not gonna get tested. He's not going to make a lot of plays, so you

can't the fault him a lot for that. But you still don't know exactly what you have. You need to get a guy that you do know what you have. And the thing about this situation is is that there's a player out there that is that you know is good. There's a player out there that wants to be here. He fits under the salary cap for this year, and there now is a glaring need. There's all of these reasons of why four yes is usually mean hell yeah,

And I just made it up, so calculations. We're doing a lot of stuff today this I'm not back to school, and you know, and we heard Stephen Jones talk a little bit on a couple occasions at training camp, and I think Steven kind of goes back and forth with his in his mind. He's like, you know, we don't I really want to pay a thirty year old but he's really good, you know, but you know, we don't really like It's like Earl Thomas breaks the rules of what they typically don't want to do, which is pay

these guys and give him a third contract. But when you're six time pro bowler and you're in you're in a position that this team really hasn't had a good player, you know it kind of you can there's exceptions to the rule. I think he's one of them that all sounds really good. But I just keep going back to the hear what you're saying, but yeah, well here's why,

here's why I think you're wrong. It goes back to leverage for me, which is the Cowboys now have none, um, the whatever impetus there was for Seattle to lower their prices gone now at least in their mind, and oh now you want it. Oh here's the other thing. If I'm being brutally honest, these guys like to think, or sometimes maybe they actually are, but they like to think that they're the smartest people in the room. And they're not going to like come to Seattle with their hat

in their hand like we're sorry, we'll pay whatever. They're negotiators, Yeah, they know how to negotiate. They're not going to do that. They're not just gonna be like you were right, we were wrong, we'll pay you like that's I don't believe that's going to happen. So I don't think this changes much of anything except that they're like, crap, we gotta

we gotta get somebody, but probably not that um. And that's why I mean Georgia Loca is like is like manna from the heavens, because it's like, this isn't going to ruin our cap. He's you know, it's not going to slow down Xavier Woods like you're saying he's not

a progress stopper. It reminds me a lot of Will Allen, who twenty thirteen they said he didn't even he didn't even last long here, but that was because they had a guy they felt good about in JJ Wilcox, which I know JJ Wilcox never lit the world on fire, but he was better than anything that's here right now other than Heath. So that's what I'm thinking is try to get him or or somebody like him, if there's anybody left on the market. But I don't think it

changes a whole lot. In terms of Earl Thomas, I kind of agree with, And I also think you can sign him, and you know, it basically shows Seattle kind of what you're talking. You know we're still We're still where we are. Like if if you signed Georgia Loca and Earl Thomas, situation still fell in your lap for what they want, you still do it. I mean something. I don't know exactly what he would he's going to command when it's all said and done. I know that

the Raiders are interested in him too. I feel like the Raiders have been interested in every free agent the Cowboys have been interested today. But I don't know what salary he's going to command, But it won't be enough to stop you if you can get a world materializes. Yeah, And to be honest with you, I think a one year deal makes a ton of sense from a standwoy. If you can get Georgia Local to sign here for a one year deal. The beautiful part about that is

Earl Thomas is a free agent after this year. So then when you tell Seattle's we've already figured ours out for this year, we don't need your guy. And now you take back what Dave was talking about. You take back that that leverage, so now you don't have to do a deal with Seattle, and Seattle knows you don't have to do it. Again with them, and you can wait till he becomes a free agent. When he becomes a free agent, if you want him, go get him.

I think there's a perception that that Seattle and maybe these people have watched the movie Draft Day, but I think there's a perception that Seattle sitting at a two and the Cowboys don't want to pay it too. And now that this guy got hurt, and now that they've gone to a one, I don't think that. I don't think that's the case. I think that they're still probably

where they are. The Cowboys have to just come up to that maybe, but I don't I don't know that this again, I don't know that the Cowboys feel like again if it's especially if they can find a safety that they can get some veterans safety that they think they can bring in to add a body to give them protection until the Xavier Woods is healthy again. Like Dave said earlier, that play he made and he did

a similar thing against Seattle. Those are things that are making the Cowboys I'm sure thinking, right, maybe we got something this young guy, and this is what why we drafted him is because we thought he had this playmaking ability. Maybe we should be going this year with him. So I just think, all things being considered, I think this doesn't change anything from the cowboysspective's concerned. Georgia Loga hasn't missed the start since twenty thirteen. He's got nine career

picks and three hundred and fifty career tackles. That's better than anything you got. For all, I know, his play has probably dipped again. For I know they say it's financial. You don't get cut if you're playing at the top of your game. Now they do say five points six million against the cap this year, so if they've got another option, that less than a million. But if he's playing like Earl Thomas, you happily eat that money makes

you have a great safety. So he's probably dipped. He's still better than a couple of undrafted free agent rookies. Now here's the other thing y'all didn't consider. He's a boise steak guy. I was about to say, I was about to say that. Actually know well, I was about to say. I remember being at the Senior Bowl when he was there, and I remember he was another one of the boise steak guys, and I remember the Cowboys talking to him a lot, and so it made me think that I'm sure they went to his pro day

because I mean, they just probably lived there. They have a Boysey scout. I want y'all to pay me to go to boards to bring him to figure out what's going on down to Boyse whole triangle like we did the Texas Triangle up there. It's just been a week. Hope, I haven't. I boys is beautiful and you've been there, No, but I know, I just know it is. Let's go to the blue Field. I would love to go to We're gonna see, yeah, what's just to see what's happening and I and there's no way of knowing how that's

gonna play. I haven't heard anything. I don't you know. I made a joke on Twitter yesterday is like, get on the phone. He's probably still in Dallas, like he hasn't even left town. But I don't. I mean, that would be cool if they would have said, you know what, you don't even get to come back. It would be here. It would be like that. It would just be too perfect, Like he's not going to significantly alter anything that you need to do for your future, but he could start

right now yeah, I agree. All right, let's take our first break. When we come back, I do want to talk a little bit more about this game. Let's get into Dak Prescott and how he performed and really what that means for this season. If it means anything, We'll do that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. It can be hard to find

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the Star and Frisco dot com. We are back at the SWBC Mortgage and Studios and as Nick said, there will be a practice this afternoon here at the Star. For those of you in the Dallas area you want a chance to be able to come out and check out the Cowboys in practice, this is your opportunity. They'll be out practicing today, Tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday. They're afternoon practices today and tomorrow. No practice on Wednesday, it's player's day off. Thursday and Friday they'll be in the morning.

Check the website for more information about what times and what days. But if you get a chance, come check it out. It's good stuff. If you haven't been out to the Star, it's worth a trip just to get out here and see everything. I think there's some really cool stuff people I've talked to Sometimes we're too close to it. But the people I've talked to who have come out here just to hang out saying a lot's a good experience. Watch practice in the ac go get

some raising canes or some pizza before or after. Yep, you might running to Derek Eagleton, get an autograph from Derek. I have done that before, and I love to do that because I love makes you feel important. I love the people I do. I love the people. All right, let's get back into it. Let's talk something about this game. Let's talk about Dak Prescott. This week he was ten of fifteen eighty six yards one touchdown, buying that with last week his three or three for thirty nine yards

in a touchdown. He is thirteen of eighteen, seventy two percent completion rate, one hundred and twenty five yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and in four possessions. As Dave so aptly pointed out on Twitter, he's had four possessions in these two preseason games, two touchdowns, one field goal, one punt. And he's done that without Zeke, without Cole Beasley, without Tavon Austin for this last game. What do you think right now, Zach, of Dak Prescott and how he's performing

in these games. I think it's very important that you just mentioned without Ezekiel Elliott. I think that that's huge play. Actions aren't the same when you're trying to fake it to Rod Smith up the middle and fake it to Zeke. I think that you know that, and you also know another thing that I don't think Dak's gonna run as much as he would in the regular season. He did in the first game, there was a chance in the second game. I don't believe I believe he would have

run in a regular game. And because it ended up being an interest, I mean, an incompletion, he forced it to Blake Jarwin to go up and make a play. I mean, the only one tight end is going to do that, so I don't think it would be him. Ut they're not playing the same type of game and they're still being effective. I think I think it's it's a good sign. I think he looks great. Yeah, um and yeah. It hasn't been perfect. I wrote in my story on Saturday night, he missed Jarwin. Um he I

think it was. He loves Blake Jarwin by the way he's I think he's targeted him thirty percent of the snaps that he's been on. You know that he's thrown the ball. Um, he missed him wide again. He made a really questionable throw on a comeback route where the receiver, I mean the dB had good positioning on it and it could have been a pick. Like, He's not perfect by any stretch, but I think he's been good. He's

led the offense. Uh. You know, Brian brought Us always gives him so much credit for his sleight of hand in his play fakes. I thought the work he did on the screen to Rod Smith was incredible, Like he basically gave himself up to make that play successful by holding onto the ball long enough to get Rod Open. He's been moving the offense. They're averaging ten plays per possession when he's in there, and that's you know, I know,

you wonder about explosiveness. I think they averaged five point seven yards per completion in this game, and it's like six point eight over the two games, which isn't amazing, But that's not this offense. It's just not. Even in twenty sixteen, Dak threw it long to Dez a few times, but that's not what this offense is predicated on. And when you mix it with the fact that Zeke hasn't been in there, I think it's looked really good overall.

That's one of the things I was going to mention, the fact that you're able to move this offense without relying on Zeke. And again Rod Smith, he does a great job and he's been doing great. But when you're not running the ball, he's still Dak is still able

to move down the ball. And is it flashy, No, But the point is get to these I think it's flashy and its efficiency though, like it's again, this isn't yeah, this isn't like this big play, quick strike offense, and that's you can come at me and say, well, that's why they sucked last year, Like that was this offense

in sixteen two. That's what they do. That's what they've done, and it works, especially works when Zeke's out there doing his thing, which is why I was so preoccupied when I thought Zack Martin was done for the year, because that's going to hurt your ability to do that. You're going to be successful playing this way, you need that line. But I mean, would people magically feel better if he

had hit Blake Jarwin on that one play? You know, like, if that one throw magically makes you feel that much better, then I think that's flawed thinking. Yeah, I think, But I do think that at some point they're gonna need to show some some speed down the field and that will happen. I mean, these guys can get down the field, but for the majority, you're going to see these curls where Hearns is just sitting there and available, and Terrence Williams the same way, and very very little Tavon Austin

so far in this preseason. He's going to be moving around and avoiding plays and then there's a tight end or one of these receivers just sitting there and it's going to be nine yards, turn up the field, get two more yards and you're moving the chains and it's it's not flashy. You know. What I really like about Dak too, is the fact that he's able to think. He I mean, yes, he might not be as precise with his passes how as you liked him to be,

but he thinks. He just doesn't get rid of the ball, and I know you want to get rid of the ball quickly, but he does it in a smart way. And and the fact that he's able to run and throw the ball at the same time as well as thinking and trying to figure out who his target is gonna be. I love that about him. And yes he's not a perfect but those are the qualities that it's still gonna get you somewhere. The biggest way, the biggest person that's going to help him become Dak friendly is Dak.

I mean he knowing the offense and knowing exactly where that guy's gonna be. And let's not put this all on Daz on Daz's routes and stuff like that. I mean, but I do think that there are some not just the other players, but Dak knowing this guy's going to

be sitting right here. So when I can get this big lineman out of my face and get over here and open up this window, there, Alan Hearns will be You think about this in terms of explosive and chunk plays too, I mean, like you know, touchdowns from twenty or more yards away, like that's a rare thing in the NFL. You can probably count on Zeke for four to six of those per year based on his track record, whether that's screen passes or long runs. And then the

rest of it is gonna be methodical. And if Tavon Austin, Michael Gallop and whoever, if the receivers can combine for another five that's all I'm looking for, and then the rest of it is going to be this methodical style of offense. So I'm happy to see that the bread and butter looks like it's working, and then you need to see that explosive element. But adding in other starters and I think that'll come together as you go, especially

jam Yeah. I mean, well, like I'm saying, what, you probably score for more than twenty yards out eight to ten times per season, maybe, and I think they can make up for that difference. By adding Zeke and when you look at two long, when you look at two thousand and sixteen, that was exactly what they were doing. That drive that they ended up having that was sixteen plays and I think eighty two yards and like eight plus minutes. That's how they made their living in twenty sixteen.

And I think that's what they're looking to do. That's the beauty of this offense is when you have that dominant and offensive line, that dominant or runner, then you want to have those long guys. It makes your defense better than on top. Did you did? I mean Dez probably scored three or four touchdowns of twenty five or more yards that season, and they need a guy that can do that. But between Tavon Gallup, Hearns, maybe Deontay Thompson, whatever, He'll get a few. Somebody can make up for that.

Somebody can it. Almost and I said this on Twitter, it almost became the worst sixteen play drive ever because if it would have been eleven plays or twelve plays and you get a field goal and not lose your starting guard, right, I mean that's why I said it, like, this is a great drive right now if if he there's bad news coming out of that medical tent. Then this was a really horrible drive. That was my tweet.

It was about as perfect as he can get, except for the fact that I just put be good there. If if preseason is for shaking off the rust, I love that this offense can average ten yard ten plays every time they go out there, like we haven't seen we haven't seen a three and out from the starters yet. That's great in my opinion. Without Zeke Let's flip to the to a little later in the game, Cooper Rush comes in and he goes six of nine for thirty

seven yards, not a touchdown. Are you at all I shouldn't even say concern, because I don't think concerns the right word at this point, but it seemed to me, it seemed to me that the offense wasn't as efficient

when Cooper was out there this last game. I think he played really well against San Francisco though, so again, with having that relatively small amount of experience, are you more or less about the same concern with him being your back up and being the next guy in the event that your starter goes down This line, this backup line just sucks. I mean, they're just not any good and and I don't know how you can really evaluate hardly anyone. I know that he did some decent things

last year. Um, I just I don't know. I'd like to see I'd like to see Dak play behind this. Wow, I'm not really I don't want to. I mean, I don't think they can block very long. I just don't think this is a really good set up. I don't I don't think these guys are really going to be in the NFL on other teams, maybe on you know, I mean, I just don't see it. I just don't see these guys really helping. So it's hard to evaluate

what Cooper Rush is trying to do. Yeah, I agree with that, and that's you know, we talked about it following the forty nine Ers game. I'm not trying to take anything away from Cooper, but he got better as the game went on, and I think you could argue lesser players started subbing in. These guys just looked overmatched

in that second half. Let's also not forget too and now Looney was an exception, but you know, when you don't have your star running back, and you don't have your starting center, and you don't have a guard for most of the time, and a couple of your wide receivers are out in Austin and Beasley, so then the DAK is playing with some backups. And then when it gets the time for Cooper Rush, he's playing with the

third running back. He's playing with in some cases your third center and your third receivers, so it's not even a true backups because your starters were out and they all had to move up. The funny thing for me is I was going to say, let's throw Cooper out there with the starters against Arizona, but I don't want to play any starters, so it'll probably look the same just earlier in the game. Well, and even when we saw him in San Francisco. I mean, he was better

in that game than this past game. Definitely. And again you look and it goes back to the guys that we're talking about being in and subbing for him. I think that Cooper, if you were to put him behind the same old line, the first team old line, he would be just what you need in a backup, I think. So all right, let's go ahead and take our final break. When we come back, I want to talk about Rico gathers.

I think that this conversation is one that we've talked about before, but it continues and it continues to be a topic of conversation because he continues to make these little plays every once in a while. I keep you interested. We're going to talk about that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. Cowboys fans know that the second best of anything simply won't cut it,

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go and sweat. It's not good down there. So anyway, I'm just telling you Tommy John keeps it cool, Okay, all right, all right, that's and you're right, that's not good. Welcome back with the s WBC Morger Studios at the Star. Appreciate you guys joining us. All Right, so we've got we've got one big topic that I didn't get a chance to hit yet. So I want to spend a little time on this, Rico gathers um I think the

way I want to set this up. First of all, he continues to make these plays, and we talked about this last week when we were talking about whether he makes the fifty three or not. They'll continue to be these moments and the very isolated moments like you'll get one a practice, or you'll get one every three practice, says,

or you'll get one in a preseason game. But there are plays that are so remarkable that they we're talking about, and in my opinion, plays that are so remarkable that it makes you wonder is this enough for the Cowboys? As saying, we gotta keep him around just to see how much more he can develop. But I wanted to start with a quote that Jerry gave last week about Rico gathers and I want to get your thoughts on it, he said at a point, and I'm not so sure

that we're at that point. If he can be consistent on a personal basis, then I'll give him the time he needs to make those kinds of plays. We talk about red zone plays and being a weapon in the red zone. He's certainly that he's making those highlight catches because of his obvious talent and physical advantage size, leaping ability, strength, hands, all that. He blocks well when he's blocking the right man.

He's got enough there. But the inks comes when you're sitting there looking at the guy that's not on the roster because you kept him on the roster. A lot to unpack there. The first part I'd go to is when he mentions if he can be consistent on a personal basis. You know, the first time you read you read that, it made me think that this is like he's talking about like a Randy Gregory or somebody off the field. I don't think this is an off the

field thing. I think this is just it's his personality there. I don't even know if it's that. I just think it's if him doing the right thing, like blocking the right guy and the assignments and that kind of stuff. Um that goes along with not being you know, a football player for a long time. I don't I hear that last thing that he said, and I'll just flip it. I mean, who is the player that you cut for him?

And there's not never really, I mean maybe one guys are gonna be one guy that he is cut, like we're cutting him and were keeping him. I bet you you won't feel as sick as you would if you kept this guy and Rico goes and catches forty five passes for somebody else for the for the bucks. I just I don't think you. I think you'd be sick your stomach knowing that it ends a position you're trying to rebuild, especially you know it's not only that, but

he's given you so many glimpses of that ability. Unless the guy you cut was Tapper, another guy that's a fourth round pick and and you know maybe you know you've kind of waited on him as well, that that would be one if it comes down to that situation. But I wouldn't feel I mean, I wouldn't feel bad about just cutting another guy. I think he makes the team. Honestly, I think I think you have to keep him on

the team. I promise I'm not taking this where it sounds like I'm going to take it, So just bear with me, all right. But this situation reminds me a lot of our current political climate in this country, which is there's two sides. They're pretty dug in and firmly believe what they believe, and I just don't think there's middle ground here. The people like the people who want to move on from Rico are not going to be

swayed that he's a guy worth keeping around. And the people who think Rico's the next Antonio Gates are not going to be swayed because he keeps doing stuff like that he takes the ball off the top of a cornerback's head. And then for every time he takes the ball off a cornerback's head, he's supposed to run a mesh play and runs in the wrong direction and messes up his pick and messes the whole play up. And everybody sees that and says, see, this guy doesn't know

what he's doing. Trustworthy, who cares if he can take the ball off the cornerback's head. If you don't have any faith that he knows what he's doing when he lines up, and so there's no there's no middle ground here, and the people like nobody's coming across the aisle on this, And honestly, we're gonna play this thing out for two more weeks and the cowboys are gonna make a decision. Honestly at this point, I don't know what it is,

but they're gonna make it and it'll be over. Maybe I don't know, but there has to be a firm decision on September second, one way or the other. Yeah, that's kind of the tough part here is that when you hear Jerry say that about you know, the personal basis, and then when he comes back later and says, you know, he blocks well when he's blocking the right man, it gives us an It kind of illuminates for us that the problem here is that it doesn't that he always

knows what his assignment is. And to me, knowing your assignment is as simple as studying. That is not like not being able to carry out your assignment if you miss a block, if you know you can't get open, like those are things that that's just a matter of your talent. Do you have the talent to do it? But everybody should be able to know their assignment if they get into it and they work hard enough to

understand what their assignment is right. And that to me is where I start wondering if if you've had him around here for over a year now and he's still not being able to get that part of it. Is this a situation where he doesn't work hard enough at really understanding his assignments so that he at least gets that part down, and if he doesn't do it right, he doesn't do it right, but at least be able

to know what you're supposed to do right. Yeah, And I think, I mean what it's upsetting to me is you talk about the studying and all that he was out a whole year with a concussion and not playing, or that that was your perfect time of really diving in and studying the game and studying everything that you need to learn to be able to come back now, and that whatever it is that you're doing, it's not about knowledge anymore, it's about you putting it into practice.

I mean, he should have the knowledge right now, and that catch that he made in the game, Yes, fantastic, but he goes back to the size that he has. He's an athlete, he's a monster, and we all know that. But what help does it give you when he's only making one play at a time, let's say, per game. I mean, yeah, it could be a touchdown that could change the game. But at the same time, can you rely on someone that is as inconsistent as he is.

He's a goal line player right now, and it's not about making the fifty three because they can figure out a way to get him on the fifty three. But if you're not going to figure out a way to get him on the forty six, then what's the point because he's got to do those things in the game. Well, isn't the point though, that you keep him for more time to see if he does develop again we are working against and I know Amber has a big problem

with this. You explain all that last week about the whole idea of keep waiting for that potential to show up. But I think you cannot. You can't over emphasize, in my opinion opinion, that this is a guy that didn't play college football and I think that matters. And so if you keep him on the fifty three and you can't find a way to get him to the forty six. You still do keep his rights and you give him a little bit more time. Get true. But again, and

I keep going to this example. It's like when you see all the freaking tight ends running and turning right catching the ball, and then he's last, he runs and turns left catching the ball. I mean, I mean, are you paying attention? Are you watching what they're doing? And I know, paying attention, you would know. Your point is if you just watch the other guys, you would know it.

And I don't know, but I'm just saying, if I'm really learning and I'm watching you guys do this drill and I'm doing it after you guys, I'm freaking in I'm gonna pay attention and know where I'm gonna go. And I'm just I know about instincts and all that, and you just gain instincts through playing. But at the same time, when it's something that's basic us turning right

or left. I mean, I feel like you kind of contradicted your points though, because you said last week and you're saying it now that that you know he at this point he should he should learn it. He should know it, but he also missed the whole season last year. This is really only his second year because he didn't practice all of last year, which is which that are you sitting on a couch the whole time? Can you not move around? I don't know what he was doing.

He was in the dark tenth the whole time. I don't know. I'm just saying to Derek's point. When it comes to knowledge, yes, certain things you'd learn on the field by actually doing. But as far as knowing where to go, I mean those are that's information that he's able to get from the staff here and be able

to study on his own. I really I don't feel comfortable questioning or criticizing people's work ethic because personally, I mean, you know, people a lot of times view me as a slacker, and I work really hard, even whatever image I might project. I'm being sorry, whatever image I might project, it's not the whole truth. And that's insulting to me when people will think that just because I act that way doesn't mean I don't bust my butt. So I'm

not trying to criticize Rico gathers work ethic. But this is his third year and his third training camp with the same offensive coordinator and the same schemes, and for whatever reason, he does not have a great grasp of the offense to the point where they trust him in every situation. And that's you know, I know there's people out there that think it's like a conspiracy theory. You can go watch the games and you know, hey, shameless plug,

go buy NFL game paths. You can see the real view of these things and see that to be true. He doesn't always handle his assignments the right way. So I think there's some validity to that. And I think again, you always have to look at this in the context of the coaching staff, because we know their patterns, we know what they want. That is something that they value

a lot. Me personally, I don't think it's that crazy to think that you find a way to utilize him on special teams and if he's a goal line and red zone player only, certainly there has to be a way to make that work. Like I'm gonna pick on Noah Brown just because it comes to my head, but like, is Noah Brown that he's just so vital as a blocking receiver that that he has to be active and Rico can't be active and you take away that mismatch

opportunity in the red zone. I don't necessarily believe that. I think I think it's stubbornness on the coaching staff's part that they insist that he has to be completely trustworthy to have a role on this team. Having said that, they make the decisions at the end of the day, and if that's how they feel, that's what they're gonna do. That's that was kind of my point at the beginning, is it's all just so much sound and fury signifying nothing.

First day of school. How about that. It's like, we can argue about this till we're blue in the face, and people who are pro Rico and people who are anti Rico both have a point yea, but they're like, they're just gonna make their decision. I don't know that

about it. That all being said, the fact that Jerry was so explicit in what he said about him and very I think very specific, I personally believe that this was Jerry shooting across the bot to let him know, we really want you to make this team, but you right now, you're giving us too much reason not to put you on this team and you better step it up, and you say, you can't criticize his work ethic, but

you can criticize the results. And what we know about it right now is the results are that he is extremely from what we can tell, very very inconsistent in just the assignment. And that's the part I think that that could platoon him at this point. I think he we've already said that we don't think this is going to be a true dress rehearsal. I think this game he needs to play. I would say the whole game,

from start to finish. I mean, because you think they'd give him that opportunity when they need to get these young inexperienced tight ends reps as well. That's that's I mean, I don't know that are they gonna they're gonna get the reps with the with the start first team offense with Dak. I don't even know if that if Dak doesn't play the game, even if they don't, but you still want him out there getting them the reps. So if here's my assignment, let me do my assignment, right.

That's they're inexperience. That's the hard part with all of this. If you still had Jason well, it's gonna be a little bit weird analogy because if you still have Jason, then Jason's gonna come off the field after the first

you know, first a bit and whatever. But I guess the point is you got young guys that you're trying to develop in addition to Rico Gathers, So you can't even say just give him a lot of reps because then you're taking reps from other guys that need to develop that you actually think which are gonna be playing season. Then I don't play Swain and play Jarwin and Chult, and then he'll still get in the mix with just doing that right there, You don't have to play Swain.

That is I mean, And that's that's the crux of this issue. It really is is I'm sure, like privately, away from microphones, Jason Garrett would probably say, these three guys like these are the like you're gonna have to pull on the goal line and get to your block so Zeke can score a touchdown when we're down by

four in the fourth quarter. You need practice doing that and now, and again off the record, you'd probably say, we know Rico's not picking that up between now in September ninth, he would it would have happened by now. He's not magically just going to become this relyable guy doing the dirty work between now and then, and so some mean the guys that are gonna be doing that need the reps. At the same time, he's an awfully intriguing talent that you would love to know what you

have in him. He's an amazing athlete. I mean, it's I don't I really don't think there's a completely right answer to it. That's why I'm just kind of resigned, like I can come up with a really good case for why it makes ye to make a really good case for why it's intriguing to keep him on the right. I just know that people in San Diego will tell you Antonio Gates didn't block anyone for years. I mean,

Witten has has said it before. Now, different type of player, but not only different type of player, but a different type of offense. Like if this team had Philip Rivers, we would be writing Rico's name on paper and sharpie. But you that's again going back to ten play drives, you know, short passes, sustaining possession, running the ball, any mistake by guy blocking that now gives you negative yards

kills that momentum. Type of player that fits this scheme and maybe in a red zone or goal line role, sure, but as the every down tight end, it doesn't make a ton of sense for what you're trying to do with the rest of your office. They had a star wide receiver on this team that still was trying to learn the offense after eight great point he was way as good as as much of an athlete as we think Rico is. He was ten times the athlete that Rico is. In my opinion, he was. He was at

his prime. He was way better than what Rico is. Oh yes he was. But but when you get down to the goal line, you know he I think Rico can do those kinds of things, and you get him in a mismatch and you may not even throw it to him, but you're gonna have to. He's gonna have to take somebody away. And I like that. I love that concept. But I started thinking about it like this

the other day. Even even if you keep Rico and you put him in the reds, if he's a red zone target for you, he's still what your fourth option down there, like Zeke's still your your best option when you get down in gold and what the defense does if they get that third down. I understand that. I'm just saying no when you when you think about if we're down in goal to go situations, what are our

best options to get in the end zone. I think Zeke is first, I think Dak is probably second, and I think you could probably make the argument that one of the receivers, whichever one, may be a better or more consistent option as the third. So at that point, for that number of reps and for that few times in those situations that you would use him, Like you were saying, can you even get him into on the forty six where he's actually available to you to be

a red zone coping too many options? It's not always a bad thing. I get that. Though, I get it, I get it. I'm not being sarcastic at all. I love like I love the fact that we just burned a whole segment of this show on the guy that's fourth on the depth chart. But I also saved that to the third segment because I knew we would burn

the entire segment on it. It's a fascinating conversation. I'm you know selfishly, I'm a little fatigued by it because I mean, this is year three of a very similar conversation. I think the expectations are a little different. I don't think anybody really expected him to blow up in year one, and then year two you had the injury mystery whatever

that was. Um, but it's the same debate of potential verse production to this point, Sweat and he's noticing a little report up on the h On the report Earl Thomas from from the uh No, it said it just said that he's he's paid or he's a crewed one point two million dollars. Fine, yeah, for the hold out. Of course, this isn't about Earl. Well, yeah it is.

He could get into camp and play, so yeah, but it's from the standpoint of ultimately Earl can't make the decision here, right is a This is a Seattle Seahawk decision and a cow I think. And to wrap this whole thing up, I think the Cowboys, with all the stuff that they've got injury wise, at safety and knowing that they need guys that could come in and play and know this system, I would go in there, and I would I would go back. I would move it up a little bit to what they where they had

I would move up just before in the show. That was another interesting note that just came up. Adrian Peterson's expected to sign with the Washington Redskin. So Howboys fans will get to see him twice a year. I think I tweeted this place. I like Jeff Heath's chance is better this time around. Yeah, I do too, I do too. All right, we appreciate you guys joining us. We're back tomorrow. I think we're gonna stick at the same time tomorrow, we'll be up at two pm, and then later in

the week we're gonna go move to the morning. So just check the website. We've got a lot of things going on this week that affect that schedule, but we will have the schedule up for you to see what time will be on each day till then. For Nicki Minamber Garcia, David Hellman, I'm Derek Eagles and 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.