Cowboys Break: Analyzing the Fake

We're live from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star at least Nick is. The rest of us are at our homes. We'll be doing the show here. I'll be doing the show here this week and back in the studio next week. But that doesn't stop us. We got an hour, actually forty five minutes of Cowboys talk for you guys, and today we've got to rehash that

game from a Thanksgiving Day. The Cowboys lose to the Washington football team forty one to sixteen in a game that well, I'll let you guys tell us the bigger storyline of the game, because it seemed like for me that game, that final score didn't necessarily reflect the game through most of the game, but obviously at the end of the game, it just all exploded on the Cowboys and they lose forty one to sixteen. Let's go and start with the storylines of the game. Nick, let's start

with you. I mean, just when I wrote there were one dimensional, they couldn't run the ball, and when they showed it early in the game that they couldn't run. And when that happens, you know, obviously, especially on the defense, that goody, they they're gonna be looking for all kinds of trick gadget crap that they try to throw out there, and it didn't work. But I mean, this team was built to go run the football. They're obviously not built

that way more. And they were just so one dimensional and it affected them throughout the game and gave and it gave Washington short fields. Amber Well, doesn't matter how bad the NFC is, ease, it's just not gonna happen this year for the Cowboys. I had jumped back on the train thinking that after Minnesota they were able to do some things, and then this happened. It's like, if it's not one thing, it's another, you get your two starting tackles. They go out of the game early, but

then the Cowboys are still kind of in there. You know, they're still competing. But then the coaching staff, the coaching decisions, I don't understand, and I know we're gonna get into it, but it's just like, men, it's just we cannot enjoy one single game in peace. It's always gotta be one problem with this team. So that's all I have to say in a nice way at this you know it's funny at this moment. Is I don't know. I think we were all on that text message Thursday when Amber

was like, all right, I'm done. I'm absolutely done. So we knew this was coming and that was very light. So as we get into the show, I'm sure Amber will have more than she wants to throw on that pile. But that was a good four days to cool down day. What you got for us, I'm gonna Angie, we just we got to talk about just ride in the middle, man, Like you can't you can't follow. You can't follow the team on this roller coaster. It's gonna drive you crazy.

Because listen, Thursday sucked. They looked terrible, but like they're almost in the exact same boat that they already were like, Yeah, it's it's bad to lose a division game, but the roller Coasters not over. Like, there's five more of these to go against some terrible teams. So all I'm saying is just get ready to be frustrated for another month. If I had to guess um. As far as the game itself, I agree. I agree with with what Age just said. It like the decision making like this, this

shouldn't have been a blowout loss. I'm taking the point from Rob Phillips, but Washington basically started three possession in the Cowboys red zone. Two of those were questionable coaching decisions, and one wasn't fumbled by Ezekiel Elliott. I think that's

the story of the game, self inflicted errors. I know it sucks that they lost their tackles on the first drive of the game, but they were in it and I know, well, you know we're gonna get into the fake punt, but they were in it until the coaches decided that they didn't need to be anymore. In my opinion, this is a game more than any other this season where I put it on the coaching staff just putting their team in really bad situations. Let's jump into that.

I really want to dive into these these two. It were two coaching decisions I think that we really need to talk about as we start our moments that mattered. We'll start with these two and then we'll go around and let you guys talk about the moments that mattered to you. The first coaching decision, it was a fourth down. It was in the first quarter, about five twenty two left in the first quarter. Dallas and Washington were tie ten ten. And the interesting thing was it was a

third and one at the Dallas thirty four. Dallas runs a shovel pass to Ceedee Lamb, gets no gain, and then they come back on fourth and one and they have an incomplete pass to Ceedee Lamb where he was in one on one coverage on the outside. Tell me, do you do you agree or disagree with that decision? And why? Let's start first with you, Dave, the decision to go for it or the decision to throw a pass. Yep, No,

I don't mean the whole thing. Okay, I'm I'm not gonna sit here and question the decision to go for it. I'm I like aggressive football. I like when coaches play bold. You know, it's fourth and short, third and short for that matter, like you should be able to pick that up. We saw him do it last week, and everybody applauded him for it. Um, I really hate the play call to throw it out to Cede Lamb on a hitch like that. I mean, you know, they said that they

felt like they had a favorable matchup. Even if you do, it's such a high risk play on a fourth down. I really I thought that was really dumb. I you know, I think me and Nick are an agreement that in situations like this, there's just gotta be a way to make it easy. I mean, like, Okay, you don't feel comfortable quarterback sneaking with Andy Dalton, There's got to be

somebody else on the roster that can do it. Or you know, you pay your running back fifteen million dollars a year, you'd like to think that he can pick up nine inches. So, you know, I definitely don't hate the call, but I hate the play that they decided to do it with. If Andy Dalton had issues with his concussion, he didn't play like it. I mean, he was diving all over the place, he was running and and you know, and yeah, trying to get first downs

and all that. So I don't And then they ran it later, Yeah, they ran it later in the game. So I mean, I'm with you, David. I don't like to throw out there, you know, I can't. I can't say I hate the third down play because they did it a couple times against Minnesota and as he to work, so it was like, oh, that's a good play. But you know, it's just to me, that was the difference in the game. It's just showing that we can't run Zeke. We know we can't run Zeke. We're not even gonna try.

We're gonna try o this stuff, and you know, it just kind of so deflating for the team that, like, we can't do what we're supposed to do to run to get a yard, we have to try other things and it didn't work. What I don't get it's like at that point of the game, Zeke hadn't had the fumble. Like the fumble happened in the third quarter, so it was still pretty early in the game. Why do you feel so like you had no confidence on Zeke or

even Tony Polar for that matter. I mean, we've seen Tony Pollard being able to run the ball as well. So that's just very very confusing to me, as I can't really remember how the old line was playing at that specific moment, but it shouldn't have been that back to the point where you can't just get one like first down, Like, I just don't understand. It blows my mind. And the fact that it happened not just one time, it happened multiple times. That's the thing with me that

I just completely don't understand. Why not run the ball? Do you guys think that maybe they obviously they respects, they respected the Washington defensive front. Do you think that maybe in this instance they were giving a little bit too much respect to that defensive front and thinking, hey, we gotta do something different because we don't think that we can necessarily run at will against the front. This good.

Well go back to the after the jail interception. You know it's first and goal in the four, it was second and goal at the six. I mean, they looks like a run play on first down. That looks like a play that you know, you would think you would run. Washington guess that. And so I'm just I think that Cowboys looked at it and said, when we want to run the ball up the middle and that matchup, you know that man on man is not good for us. Looney's not gonna win. McGovern's not gonna win. Connor william

is not going to win. They're not gonna win. And then even the tackles at that point in the game. I mean it just so it's like they've got to try something else, but you know, just just showing that we're not even going to try. I agree with the Amber. I think you have to try right there that point in the game, you at least have to try to see if our fifteen million to a year running back can get a yard, which, on the flip side, I

agree with everything Nick just said. But the flip side is in the NFL, if you telegraph that you're going to run right up the gut and you're not good at it, or you don't have the line or the back or whatever like, you will get stopped. The Cowboys did against Minnesota on third and one last week. They got absolutely stuffed and they had to do the end

a round to CD to get the first down. So I definitely can't you know, like no, they probably were paying the proper amount of respect to Washington's front, like they might not have gotten it, but yeah, I still think you need to try or you know, that's a situation where if you know you're gonna do it, you've got two downs to get it. So maybe try Zeke on third and again. Like I just I think the quarterback sneak should be that play almost every single time.

And like, if you don't trust Andy Dalton to do it, then find somebody else who can. That's what's so valuable about Dak is h He's gonna get it ninety nine times out of one hundred. But I joked on Thursday, like Blake Bell played quarterback in college, he could definitely handle a snap and run forward for a yard. Like I would have that in my playbook every single week.

And you can't convince me that it wouldn't work in a situation like that at least, you know, and earlier in the game at that point the first quarter, I think Zeke was a fullback and with Pollard back there, and you can't think that that's that's the only play that's design there. It's just to run Zeke up the middle and a fullback. I mean, it's it's to do something else. So I probably would have gone back to that. They're thinking, Zeke, that's maybe when Pollard gets it. I

don't know, tell Zeke to block be a lead fullback. Yeah, but you know that's always been one glad amberg Am. I was just gonna say that, you guys are saying, oh, yeah, pay respect to them or whatever, but how about you have some self respect, like, have some self respect, respect your own team and go out there like you you you feel like you believe on your own team and

you believe that you can do it. To me, that just shows that you're scared that you you know, you're incapable of doing those kinds of plays, and you need to go out there. It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter who you're playing against. You need to go play with self confidence. And to me, those kinds of decisions just goes to show me or made me think that you don't think that your team has what he had what

he needs to be able to make it happen. What if that's true though, like, like honestly, because that's kind of what I wrote. No, I wrote that that whole thing I kind of said that was this is where the game was lost. But what if McCarthy, I'm just I'm just saying, you know, what if that's really the answer, Like I don't believe that, but I mean, we still have to play. We're not going to cancel. So like, what what do you do if you really believe, hey,

we cannot move these guys off the ball now? I honestly, I honestly believe that is the evaluation, and quite frankly, I think it's right the right evaluation. I don't think this offensive line can pick up that first down then that kind of short yardage situation unless you do something that's a little different. And Nick, that's where I go back to what you were saying about the play earlier in the game. We had Zeke and Pollard in the backfield.

One of the biggest complaints I've had about Kelling Moore from the time he started calling players here is I think there are too many of those kind of situations where they'll show you something girling in the game and to me, it's setting something up, but they never come back and follow it up, or it doesn't seem like

they come back and follow it up. And you're right, that would have been a perfect situation or maybe another situation later in the game where you put those two guys in the backfield again, it worked perfectly with Zeke at the fullback position getting the ball, kind of running into the line and get picking up the yardage. Next time, maybe pitch it out to Pollard, fag Zeke and then pitch out the Pollard. It's just like they didn't follow up and use what it already worked to the defenses

or to the offense's advantage. And you have to do those things when you're just not as good, and I don't think there is good all right, Let's go on to the second decision that the coach made. This one I think most people probably had even a bigger problem with it. Was the fourth quarter. It was twelve to twenty one left Washington was up twenty to sixteen, so the game was still in hand at this point. It was fourth and ten at the Dallas twenty four. Cowboys

decide they're gonna do a fake punt. Cedric Wilson gets the ball, He's tackled for a one yard loss. I think most people believe he was actually setting that up to be able to throw the pass, was not able to do it. To the punter and he ends up with the one yard loss. On the next very next play, Washington scores on a twenty three yard run by Gibson. Give me your thoughts on that decision making, because McCarthy says, based on the things they'd seen a week, they felt

like they had a good opportunity there. They it was the right decision. He didn't walk back on that. So what do you think of his decision there to go forward? Ambu, Let's start with you. Terrible, terrible decision because again you you go back to saying they were twenty sixteen, The game wasn't a way. You still had like how much time left like maybe twelve minutes left in the game in the so you still have plenty of time to

get back in it. You weren't that far. You were still in it, So why take a decision like that? It was terrible. And I went back to look at the play before the show and how Cedric Wilson. I mean, he goes back, he takes the ball and take makes this long ass curve all the way in the backfield. I'm like, why why are you take why are you going even further back to go forward? It doesn't. It didn't make any sense. I mean, the call. The call

was terrible. And it's not like you say, oh man, we've seen special teams play amazing this, or we trust them, we know they can do it. Absolutely not terrible decision. I don't care what they say. I don't care the reason behind it. I think you should not have done that whatsoever. You ended up positioning Washington in a great field position. They come back and score on you, and then there goes the game. Nick, I'm gonna play Devil's advocate. No I can't. No, I can't. Let's hear it. No,

I mean, you can't. It's the I mean, I tweeted, it's is this the worst play call ever? And you know I think it is here here here's my take, um that everything she said is right the time. I mean, but but I thought that Mike McCarthy came in here was preaching analytics. That's that's one thing he said from the start. You know, we were big a proponent of you know, analytics, Well, analytics is what probability, the probability rate that this is going to happen if you go

for to here and all that kind of stuff. So the probability of fourth and ten giving it to a backup receiver, let him come around ten yards or as she said, long ask her to get around to get there. Make it fourth and twenty. So you can throw it to the punter like that's the play. That's the probability. So you can have the ball to thirty five thirty eight yard line and then keep keep driving. I mean,

punt the ball because the probability. Alex Smith great story, comeback Player of the Year, tribute to him to come back. He's still not a good quarterback, and his last throw was to Jalen Smith, so the probability is that he's probably gonna make that. If you want to generate a big play, put it in the hands of Alex Smith. Put the pressure on and see if Alex Smith can give you a big play. He already gave you one that It just makes no sense to me, Okay, yeah,

I don't I don't know. I don't know what else I can add on top of that. I mean, it's just like I said, I mean, it's I think the game gets away from you right after this. They score on the next possession, and I mean, you can't tell me you can't tell me that that's not a morale thing. I mean, you know, the defense wasn't amazing on Thursday, but they had been playing well. The two possessions prior to that were a three and out and the interception

by Jalen Smith. You know, like I said, they weren't playing great, but they weren't surrendering twenty three and thirty seven yard touchdowns. And that happens on the first play afterward. No, that's a that is a demoralized defense. That is like, wow, appreciate you putting in this, putting us in this spot, coach. And they might not say that, but yeah, again, they might not say that publicly, but that's what I believe. Just yeah, and again. I mean, if it's fourth and two, okay,

I'm here. If it's fourth and five, okay, let's let's let's party. It's fourth and ten, fourth and ten, right up near your own red zone. You give the ball to Cedric Wilson ten yards behind the scrim behind the line, so you got to pick up twenty yards to convert. He's supposed to throw to the punter, which, by the way, this ain't Chris Jones or Johnny Hecker like these veteran punters who have run many fakes in their lives. This is a guy who's playing in like his third NFL game.

You're putting him in that spot or Cedric is supposed to, you know, find a secondary read and throw it fifteen twenty five yards down the field as a wide receiver. Like, the whole thing was asinine. And I mean the coaches can defend it all they want to, but it was awful. And I say that as a guy like I love fake punts, I love being aggressive. That wasn't aggressive. It was reckless, and it didn't work and it cost him

the game. What are your thoughts when when the special team's coach comes out and says it would have worked earlier in the game, Well, they should have called it then that right, call it earlier again, It call it earlier when you see the more favorable Yeah, and when it doesn't work, I'll put it in my five plays article, like, oh, I don't forget this play, you know, but don't make it like the game. You're right, I mean that when that happened, it was like, yeah, you know, you flip that.

What are they what are they wft? Yeah, flip those last two because that's exactly what it was. And I'm sure every one of us got a text message from someone that said those exact three words. Maybe people that I don't know that like, just people that I don't talk to on a regular basis. You know, it's Thanksgiving, everybody's watching football, Like people I don't hear from on a regular basis. We're texting me like what did I just watch in your game? Or what am I I'm

trying to figure that out. I'm trying to figure that out too. Yeah, when I and I've had to talk about this with people all weekend, I'm sure you could probably guys probably have two as you talking to different family members. My thing is always, look, when you call something like that, I'm not killing you for making the call to do it, even though it was a bad decision.

I think I'm not killing you for that part. What I'm killing you for is you made that decision in a bad situation, and you didn't have a play call that was so great that would overcome that bad situation, Like if you can convert something like that, because you knew we have been working on this one play that we knew was gonna be perfect for this situation and we were able to convert it in those kind of situations. Hey, it worked out for you. Great. It was still probably

a bad decision, but it worked out for you. So I'm killing him for the fact that, like you said, Nick, when you start factoring in all the things that are probabilities in this that you're gonna have a wide receiver who's gonna be able to throw a pass down, feel that you're gonna have a punter who's in this third NFL game is going to be able to run arount and get open. That you're gonna be able to convert

this thing ten yards. Right, Everything about this says, no, it's not going to happen, but somehow they felt like it was. And it proved out that they were absolutely wrong, as we all knew they probably would be in that kind of situation. So which all things being considered, it was a bad decision. It was a really bad decision.

It makes you wonder, and again, these are the you know, these are the types of things that you will never hear or somebody say publicly, But it makes me wonder what they were thinking about the state of the team, Like, you know, are they on the sideline like defense is given up a touchdown if they have to go back out there, no matter what I mean, because that it's

a call that reeks of desperation. And like I said, like they're not They're not going to say that publicly, but I wonder they're like, we gotta we gotta stay on the field or we're losing the game anyway, Which if that was their mindset, then maybe I understand it a little bit better. But but come, I mean, no, it was all it was bad. That's not like you're facing My Homes or Drew Brees or somebody that you

can't you know, you can't stop them. I mean they're they're facing Yeah, they're facing Alex Smith, who they up until that point, they have not They had not driven the ball past midfield for a points since the first quarter. I mean, they've got some short fields, but they had not been able to drive the ball since the first quarter and score any points. So what what is? Why do you have to generate a play? How about just

let nice Wonder do what he does. He punts playing he can punt fifty sixty yards flipping down there, there could be a block in the back the way those rests were calling on special teams, and then you know, and then and then you got to go make a stop. You're you're down four. But I mean the Cowboys. I wonder what the win probability was for the Cowboys at that point in the game. I mean, I bet he was right there at fifty fifty. You know, depends on when they punted it. But as Dave said, I mean,

everybody said, the coach took him out of that. The coach said, we're taking this away, and then then the bottom really dropped out. And they have been playing well to that point, so relatively well, I mean, you're only down twenty sixteen things, there are some things that are going well for you at that point. You're already you're

already down your two tackles as well. So I just I just think he basically put them in a situation that you put a team that has a much better defense in that you put a team has a much better offense in. He doesn't have those things to be able to take those kinds of chances. He's got to play it a little close to the vest. When the team is actually in a ball game. All right, we're gonna take our first break and we come back. We

got some performance reviews we want to get into. We'll talk a little bit about those tackles and the what it's looking like as far as their ability to come back and play here down the stretch in the final five games so that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. There's nothing as unique as our eyes, which is why Selor pioneers ways to make lenses as unique as you. Varilux for super sharp vision, Essential Blue for protection, and Krisol for freedom from glare.

Three cutting edge solutions in a single unique lens. So whatever your needs, insist on Selor visit your local slor experts and find a perfect lens for you. Seemore do more Slore Since eighteen sixty five, Stetson hats are American made with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Want to show your Texas and team pride too? You can

by purchasing your own stetson. You can look just like how the flag guys do on field at every home games, and hats the official crown of all self respecting Cowboys and your favorite football team. Get yours today at shop dot Dallas Cowboys dot com or at Stetson dot com. I'm Jay Novachek, former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys. Back in the day, I was the guy who always got the tough yards, and that's why I run with

John Deer today. In fact, I have a John Deer three zero twenty five E tractor that can handle any yardwork I need to do, even the tough yards way out back. So if you have one acre or a thousand, John Deer has the equipment that's just right for you. Visit a John Deer dealer today and run with us. We are the official tractor provider of your Dallas Cowboys. Here it's nineteen o eight. Don't you think we should get electricity and stop using candles? To see it night?

It's just electricity lights up the room fast, it's more reliable than candles blowing out, and people seem to love it nationwide. Candles, DA, did you just run into the wall. I have a new candle. Please. Historically, switching to new technology is a no brainer. Today it's AT and TI fast, reliable, secure, and nationwide. Switch to AT and T five G. It's not complicated. Five get requires compatible plan may not be in your area. See att dot com Slash five g

for you for details. Back to the break Cowboy Fans. Black Friday kicks off at the Dallas Cowboys Pro Shops with up to forty percent off new gear. The pro shop has a huge election of cold weather gear and hottest holiday gifts. Is the season for football and holiday fund Visit your Dallas Cowboys Pro shop or shop dot Dallas Cowboys dot COM's shop all of the holiday savings. Welcome back. It is the second segment of the Break Life from the s WBC Mortgage Studios. At the Star,

We're gonna do some performance reviews. We're talking about the Cowboys and the Washington football team game from Thanksgiving Day. Cowboys lose forty one to sixteen in the first quarter. The Cowboys lost versus lost both of their starting tackles, Zach Mardin and Cam Irving. As a result, check these lines out. Zeke has ten carries for thirty two yards a three point two average. Paulot has four carries for twelve yards a three yard average. They allowed four sacks

throughout the game. So my question for you guys is what's the status of Martin and h and Irving, because it doesn't look like if they don't come back anytime soon, that this team is going to be in position, even against bad teams, to really be able to do a whole lot. Dave, what do you know about that? It's an MCL sprain for Cam and a calf strain for Zach. So based on what Zach looked like leaving the field, I mean, I'm sure it hurts like hell, but it

looked a lot worse than a muscle strain. That's good news. I guarantee you. I guarante probably said no, no, Zach was like, f that, I'm not doing that. I guarantee you. He said something like that, I'm betting that. Yeah, I'm betting. He was like, I'm not getting driven off this field. It was a walk. It was almost fright which the time he got off the field, I mean, it was like, oh my god, it took it took a long It

took a long time. So it's so MCL sprain. We know that's typically a three or four week injury, and the timetable on Zach is probably three or four weeks, which so basically I would guess I would guess you're look, maybe maybe the San Francisco game on December twentieth, but I would guess the Philly game after Christmas is like

a realistic spot. And so then you just got to ask yourself, you know, are they still playing for something by then, because if they're not, I would imagine you just shut those guys down, but something to you know, we'll see, you know, if if they can, if they can get a win or two here in the next few weeks, maybe those guys come back. And if they can't,

then probably not. I just keep thinking about Nick's calf, and I'm like, man, three or four weeks, I don't know that been seeing right, it seems like this year honestly though, like he's he's gonna do what what anybody with a calf injury should do, and that's get off of it and and you know, and not not walk around or not try to run or anything stupid. So he's gonna, you know, yeah, dumb, but he's he's gonna he's gonna take care of it. I'm sure a little

way better. But um, when when did that happen? How long ago did that happen? May twenty eight, twenty nineteen, and The reason I know it is because I didn't feel it. It feels fine if I walk, but I guarantee I start I start running, like you know, it hurts, So I didn't. I probably damage it Moore, but he's not gonna damage it more. He's not gonna do that. But no, he's not. But I have a totally different

opinion about that injury. I really I really thought that was kind of like hamstring, like you know, a couple of weeks whatever. But as we as we've seen with Cheeto and other players, I mean just there's different types of hamstring. I mean, look at Daniel Jones. I mean, he's he's probably gonna be out. He could be out maybe the rest of the season with a hamstring injury right there. So this is it's those those strings are different for different guys. But uh, I don't think he's

gonna come back. Zack Martin, I don't know about Cam. I don't either. For I mean, if I'm just like if you just ask me my gut feeling, I don't think he comes back. Like you know, if this was if this was a team with something meaningful to play for, maybe he could get through it in a month. But Why would you do that to you the best on your team in a season that doesn't look like it's going anywhere. Yeah, since we're on this topic, can I

ask a fan question real quick? I was seeing people and we know we've talked about this old line and all these injuries, and at first we were thinking, oh, well, we know they haven't had a off season, the pandemic, blah blah blah and all this, and then we accounted all those injuries to the possibility of that being the reasoning. But this far along into the season, why is it that we keep seeing so many old line injuries this year? And I know that's hard to answer, but what would

you think is a problem here? Why does it keep happening at this point of the year. You know, I think it's I really think it's it's bad luck because none of them are the same. I mean, Tyler Biadis gets hurt in pregame warm ups. Are you serious? Like,

I don't know what happened was Zach Martin? I mean it just it didn't look like he It was like way away from the play, you know, Cam, I think I kind of rolled up on I believe I didn't really looked at that again, I just think they're all so different that I don't know if you can put your finger on one thing. But I mean, if you look around the league, everybody in the league's getting hurt. I mean, it's not just the Cowboys, it's I mean, there's I think one thing that is unique, sur Dada.

One thing that is unique about this team is the injuries are happening at the same position. It's like it's like, I understand, in certain places like Denver, you know, a whole position groups in one place, and you know that that could be bad. They give each other the same thing. But in this case, the position groups in the same they're given each other the injuries. I mean, it's it's it's four tackles, it's two quarterbacks, it's it's three cornerbacks,

it's two linebackers. It's just it's just you're really hurting this team's depth. I was just gonna I mean, I know, you know there's there's obviously, like you can apply science to health and and there are some really amazing, uh strength and conditioning staffs in the NFL. You know, the guys on the Cowboys roster adore the Cowboys strength and conditioning staff like so many good things to say about them, so I think you can gain an edge in that department.

But for the most I mean, it's an extremely violent game where guys who aren't supposed to be as big as they are are moving at speeds that they're not supposed to be moving at um I don't, you know, I almost it's basically I think it's kind of a waste of time to be like, why is this happening? Because it just does. And the Cowboys have been very unlucky A that it's been as bad as it has and B it's been one position group. But like, I don't think there's an underlying theme for why this stuff

is happening. It's just an unfortunate circumstance of playing the game of football. You know, I disagree with you a little bit, Dave. I do think the offseason, the lack of an offseason this last year, I think it makes a difference. I think that's a lot of why this is happening, and not just to the Cowboys, happening across

the league. When you're training your body to prepare to be able to play a game like this, I think people don't really understand the amount of work that has to happen starting back in April, and how they're training

your body based upon Nick. You were talking about it last week when we were talking about the passing of Marcus Paul and how he and his staff would literally get with every player individually and say, Okay, here are the things that we think we need to work with you on as far as your body is concerned to help you get through a sixteen game season at your

optimal level of play. Right and without that Now they had some of that, but without the guys being able to be in the building on a daily basis, going in and working out with their strengthen conditioning coaches, it's just hard to make sure that they all are prepared and prepared their bodies in the way that they need to in order to give them the best chance. Now, football's football, and it's still gonna be football. There's still

gonna be injuries. I just think you see more of them this year because I personally believe it's the fact that they didn't have the same kind of training in the offseason. I completely for the record, I completely agree

with everything you just said. It's very obvious that the unique year that we're in is a big part of why we've seen these injuries, But this happens in regular seasons too, Like how many years, how many seasons have we covered where there's been a rash of hamstring injuries and fans are like, what the hell is going on with this team's hamstrings? Like what are they doing wrong? Everybody's got a bum hamd Like Miles Austin. It was like year after year where people were like, what's the

deal with this guy's hammy? Like and yeah, there are things you can do to combat that, but same time, football's football. So yes, like the pandemic is a big part of it, but something similar would be happening in a regular year or two. Maybe not to this degree, but these things just happen, right absolutely, And I agree

there's definitely injuries every single year. I think that it's just in my opinion, there is an increased number of injuries this year, and I think the reason and you look across the league, like there are top line NFL stars that are out this year due to injuries that took them out for the whole year, And I don't think it's a coincidence that that happens in a year when they didn't have a normal offseason like they would have any other year. All right, we're gonna take our

final break. When we come back. We got some more positions that we want to talk about. We got to talk about Zeke in his fumbling situation that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and creep soda. Let's take a listen. Is he a new combone that's music to my years? Okay, doctor time already in music to my ears and mouth. New Doctor Pepper and cream soda

a delicious. There's nothing as unique as our eyes, which is why Selor pioneers ways to make lenses as unique as you. Varilux for super sharp vision, Essential Blue for protection, and Krisol for freedom from glare. Three cutting xe solutions in a single unique lens. So whatever your needs, insist on Selor visit your local SLOR experts and find a

perfect lens for you to see more. Do more slor the Cowboys Way, where sixteen Hall of Famers and five championships shows us what success looks like where turkey is always the second best part of Thanksgiving Day, where we are all defined by one single thing, the star, where we as fans know it's our job to keep the tradition going. Bank of America is proud to be the official bank of the Dallas Cowboys and to support the quest of living life the Cowboys Way. Copyright twenty twenty

Bank of America Corporation. Dear, it's nineteen oh eight. Don't you think we should get electricity and stop using candles to see it night? It's just electricity lights up the room fast, It's more reliable than candles blowing out, and people seem to love it nationwide. Well candles, dear, did you just run into the wall? I have a new candle please. Historically, switching to new technology is a no brainer. Today it's AT and T five G fast, reliable, secure,

and nationwide. Switch to AT and T five G. It's not complicated. Five G requires compatible plant may not be in your area. See att dot com slash five G for you for details. Back to the break, We've got boxing at AT and T Stadium, and I'm not talking about some over the hill legends or basketball players. I'm talking about the unified welterweight world champion Eiral the Truth

Spence Junior. He's going to duel Tuotive world champion Danny Swift Garcia in a blockbuster for events Saturdays December fifth, a T and T Stadium. Get your tickets down before they sell out at seat geek dot com. Yeah, I added that part. Hey, I'm gonna tell you this. I'm gonna tell you this. Though as much as it was, it was not great boxing. Oh, it was good comedy.

Saturday Night was really really good comedy. Yeah, oh man, that was I had a good time watching Twitter and seeing how everybody was reacting Nate Robinson and then reacting to the old guys in there. But it was. It was definitely good comedy. I needed that Saturday Night. That's all right, let's jump back yet. I was gonna say earlier today. You know Snoop obviously was commentating that, and it's what reminded me of, oh my god, what Amber

said it. I know you looked at me. I looked at you because it was like Snoop said it best. If it ain't one thing, it's another, right. We were both looking at each other, ready to laugh, ready to jump out and say it no, but yeah, no, yeah no. When when when Nate Robinson went down and and uh and uh and Snoop started singing, precious Lord, I really almost hurt my stomach, Like literally, I thought I was gonna hurt my stomach laughing so hard. That was hilarious.

All right, let's jump back in. We got to talk about Zeke Man and this is this fumbling thing is just out of control. He now had six fumbles this season. At the time when it happened, Dallas was they had the ball. It was the opening drive of the second half. They were down seventeen thirteen UM. It led to a Washington field goal that pushed it to twenty thirteen. After the game, though, and I'm just interested in hearing what Zeke had to say about it, Dave, what did you

hear from Zeke after the game? I'm sure he was asked by it, asked about it by the media. What was what was it? Were his thoughts on this fumble? I mean, his van thing was that he thought, you know, somebody, he said, he thought somebody kicked the ball while he

was fighting for extra yards. Uh, honestly, with everything that happened, like you know Zeke spent Zeke spent a lot of his media availability talking about Marcus Paul and just the emotion of getting ready for a game in those circumstances. Like he didn't he didn't really offer up a lot about the fumble, but I know what he would say. He would just be I can't let that happen. I have to be better, because that's what he's said after all of the other ones, and it's still happening. It's

it's really disheartening. I said, I said this on Thursdays, Like, I don't expect him to be amazing when he doesn't have his quarterback and his line as a fiasco. I mean, it would be great if he could be, but I don't expect it. I do expect him to hold onto the ball and be a reason why the team wins instead of a big reason why they lose. Um I like I run out of things to say. Is like

he's not playing up to his contract. He's not currently playing like an above replacement value NFL running back and like I still think he is, but but why, Like, where's my evidence that suggests that it's? Like I said, it's it's disheartening and frustrating. You got any answers? Nick and Amber Like, I'm just I'm such such a lot.

I'm so much at a loss at this point. And obviously we know that he's not necessarily um, he's not necessarily playing out a level that you would expect from a guy making that amount of money, but like Dave says, you would at least expect him to be able to hold on to the ball, right, Yeah, it's I don't know. I mean like, I don't if you didn't know him better, you would say maybe, like it just looks like a guy that's checked out. But I'm not saying that he is.

It's just that, you know, he doesn't have his quarterback, doesn't have his line. There's so many reasons of why it's not going his way. But he's got to focus better. You got to concentrate. I mean that I don't think anybody kicked that ball out. It sounded his quote was like, I think someone kicked the ball out, but it didn't. I mean like he was fighting, you know what. I rewatched it on the break and it's hard to tell.

I try to go slowly, and what it looks like is there is a defender there and when he goes down, the ball just kind of lands and it touches the foot of the guy. Not that the guy kicked it. He just happens to kind of land on the foot of somebody, and that's what it calls the ball to come out. And yeah, maybe he thought, oh, because he felt a foot there, maybe he thought, oh, someone kicked

it out. But in reality, it's just the way he landed and the fact that he didn't he wasn't protecting it with the other arm for the ball not to go out. Yeah, And that's kind of my biggest problem with this whole thing is just I feel like I feel like he's not protecting the ball, like it's not front of mine for him that when I'm fighting for these extra yards, even if it requires me covering the ball with both arms, I'm not doing enough to protect

the ball. And if I can't get the extra yards without protecting the ball, then maybe I don't need the extra yards. Of the way I would look at it if I'm him in this situation where your team needs you to at the very least not turn the ball over. Well, but I'll say this, though he this team, how many third and one fourth and one. I mean they couldn't. They had first and goal from the four. You've got to fight for extra yards. I mean he sees it there,

he goes. I mean I applaud him for trying to get that because he knows he's got to get a first down. I mean I made the comment earlier in the game. I mean, this team can get nine yards easy. It's just that last yard they can't get. And so yeah, he's got to fight for extra yards. He's just got to do it better. Yeah, he just got to protect the ball while he does it. I mean that's the only point. If he can't protect the ball, then it's

not worth it. Because, as they say in the program, imagine how good it would be if we still had the ball, Like, you gotta keep the ball, you can't turn it over. Let's imagine. Let's imagine an alternate an alternate reality where Zeke is one of the nine hundred guys on injured reserve. If they were getting this, if they were getting this level of production from Rico Doubtle,

they'd have cut him by now. They would have been like, well, you're not doing it, Like what, No, We'll just go get another guy who can do this, Like, that's the point, Dave. It's like I said, he's not he's playing below replacement value. Like the one thing any NFL running back should be able to do is get tackled and hold onto the ball. And I and like, I don't have an answer for it,

but I'm out of things to say. I really, I really do feel for Zeke, Like I think a lot of the a lot of the criticism is over the top in my opinion. Like I think I've already said before that it's not ideal for what you're paying him, but like when the team is healthier next year, I think he'll be just fine. Yeah, but it's so disheartening that you can't even get mediocre running back play from a guy that's making the money that Zeke is making right now. But I have to disagree on that though,

Rico Daddall, who would not be cut? You think if he's got six fumbles but he's seventh, He's seventh in the NFL and rushing. He's definitely not going to cut a guy who seventh in the league and rushing. If

he's an undrafted Rickie, you know what I mean. I mean, I mean, like that's I mean he's got that's volume stats though, that's that's volume stats, like Zeke really seventh in the league, I think so, I mean, I mean that's honestly, he's had one one yard game, he's averaged like more of that, he's averaged better than four yards

of carry, like. But he was seventh going into the game, and I don't know if that would have probably dropped him after it with just thirty five, right with thirty five last weekend, yeah, that's not going to keep him there. But but yeah, I mean I get the point. And here's the deal. I don't think that Zeke is it's somebody mentioned that you know, you know, you would think that that if you didn't know him, that he would be a guy that's kind of checked out. I don't

believe even for a second. I don't think any of us believe for a second he's a guy that's checked out. That's not the kind of guy that he is. I just think that for whatever reason, he can't fix this problem. And that's where to me, I think it's either on him or it's on his running back coach or some other coach to get in his ear and say, look, man, above all else, protect the ball. That's where your focus

needs to be. First and foremost. Everything else that comes from that has to start with you protecting the ball. And if you can get those actually are it's great. First and foremost, you have to protect the ball so that he can, at least in his mind refocus himself on protecting the ball at all situations. Yeah, you don't see a lot of bad quarterbacks, I'm sorry, great quarterbacks on bad teams. I mean, they typically do enough to get to get, you know, win games. But you see

it with running backs. I mean, there's been some really good running backs, Hall of Fame running backs that play on bad teams. I mean, if you don't have some help around you, it's hard to just do it all by yourself. You've got any especially if you're not dynamic that can just take it to the house. He's not that kind of guy. I mean, obviously you can say Barry Sanders, Barry Sanders was dynamic, doesn't matter who was blocking for him. But Zeke's certainly not that guy. He

needs help, He needs better blocking. He's had his whole career. He doesn't have it this year. Yeah, and that's one

of the problems. And that's one of the challenges when you spend as much money as you do on a running back, on any running back, when you pay that second contract a lot of time, is going to be very, very difficult to get the return on investment, because, as you said, Nick, if you can't do it by yourself, if you can't be the reason that the team is performing really well, it really even in adverse situations, then

it's hard to make that money make sense. Did anyone, though, I don't think anyone on this show, did anyone really stand up and say, no, way they should be paying this guy, like when he was holding out and all that stuff. I don't remember that. No, I definitely I think my attitude at the time and I still honestly believe it is like, you shouldn't be paying a running back. But if there's a guy that I think you can get away with paying a contract like that too, it's

probably Zeke. And my my thing with that was more about his durability than you know, than his dynamic ability. And that's kind of my point is, like, I'm not panicked about the Zeke contract the way a lot of people are, Like, when the team's healthier, I think he'll be just fine. Yeah, it's just it's but it does it does suck that he is not right to this challenge,

I guess. I mean, I don't envy him because it sounds hard, but that's what you expect for that price, right, And you know, I will say this Nick, at the time, I thought they needed to pay him. I do remember on this show though, us talking about should you ever pay a running back that second contract? And I think we all kind of landed on It's probably not going to be a good thing most of the time. But Zeke is a different situation. I think what I've learned since then is I don't care who it is. If

I'm an NFL team. The percentages you talk about, analytics, the percentages say it is not a smart idea to pay a running back in vast majority of the situations a second contract. So just go out and draft another one. And by the way, you can draft him in the second, third, fourth round and still get really, really quality running backs.

I just think that's a smarter way of doing business in today's NFL, because I think you can get quality without having to pay that big second contract to a guy that in most instances is not going to give you the return on that investment. But let's not forget the Cowboys. It's not like they don't think that way, because the cow always had the best season of any running back ever in DeMarco Murray. As far as you know,

he has the Cowboys single season record. And they they they came back the next year and said, yeah, well, we'll resign you for this about six million or so. We're not going to go over that Philadelphia did and they regretted it, you know, and he never was the same. So it's it's not like they don't already know that. I think they just felt like we're all saying here that with Zeke and everything, it's just different and he's worth it, and so far it's you know, and hasn't

hasn't worked out. Yeah, look across Amber, I was just gonna say, I mean, you talk about how easy it is to replace running backs because of the position, But at the same time, when you look at other NFL teams just in general around the league, how often do you say, oh, the best player on that team is the running back. I don't know. I think you say it in Tennessee right now, you'd probably say that maybe in definitely in Minnesota, you'd say that, yeah, would you agree? Yeah.

I mean, Zeke has been the best player of the Dallas Cowboys in the past few years. Hasn't been this year, clearly, but in previous year. I think that that you just would always see him specifically as the best player on the team, and therefore he kind of ended up with that kind of contract. Wonder there's not many ways like that. I just wonder maybe, you know, again, you kind of got to go back in time and think about it, Like Zeke signed that deal before they played a snap

of the twenty eighteen season. I wonder if they would feel as compelled to get that deal done if they had known Dak was going or excuse me, the twenty nineteen season, if they had known Dak was going to make the leap that he has made, because even I mean he was he was solid in twenty eighteen, but he took his ability to another level last season and certainly seemed like he was on that path in twenty

twenty before he got hurt. I wonder if the Cowboys had been a one hundred percent confidence they were going to get that quarterback, would they have been as eager to sign Zeke to that deal as they were, I don't know right and I think the other reason they were willing to sign that deal is because they thought they had a dominant offensive line and Zeke was the cherry on top of a dominant offensive line. You have an outstanding running back with an outstanding offensive line, you

can do some great things. So what we're seeing right now is without that offensive line, it kind of negates their ability to get great play out of Zeke, And in my opinion, you could get the same play, if maybe not a league a little bit better. At least we're holding on the ball from that standpoint from other running backs out there. And I'll challenge you to do this. Look across the NFL right now and find me the number of running backs in the top ten, let's say

in rushing that are on a second deal. It's not very many. Derrick Henry is the only one that can come to mind that comes to mind for me right now. Most of them are guys that are still on their first deal. And so I think that's the part you have to remember is that this is an NFL where younger guys at the running back position can give you great production for those first four or five years of that deal. It's really not worth it in most sensances

to pay the second deal. All right, appreciate you guys, join us. We'll be back tomorrow. We'll get into some bigger picture topics. We'll talk a little bit about the NFC East Eagles we'll be playing tonight. We'll see where the NFC East is, what the NFC East is looking like tomorrow when we get on the show. Till then, for Nick Eaton, 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.