Cowboys Break: Another Mix Bag

Break Life INSBBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. David Nick here with me ambers out today Nicholas Star with a ninety What you got the best you got? Yeah, they didn't have a lot of ninety. They didn't have a lot of nineties in like in the eighties and seventies. They really didn't start doing ninety too late. About Jay Ratliffe, it was ninety. I like that. It's a pretty good player, scariest player. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jay Ratliffe. I don't know

what y'all were talking about upstairs. I guess it was on the air from the previous show about fight about a grizzly bear and a gorilla idea. What they were talking. I don't know either. But Jay Ratliffe I put him in there, and I mean like he had one scariest players I've ever seen. Yeah, yeah, and he kind of helps if you're playing defensive tackle, like I kind of want you to be scary, right, I don't. I don't think Jay Ratliffe was the most scariest ninety though. Who was. Yeah,

I'm agreeing with you. Yeah, that didn't take long. I didn't cover him. Hey, Ratliffe scared the hell out of me. Yeah. Lonzo Spellman was big. It was big. You remember the time in the on the airplane, Nick, Yeah, that was funny. Yeah, Lonzo Spellman and Chris and I are we both saw this. We were sitting in the back back in the days. We were sitting very back. Spellman literally with didn't He was sitting down in his seat and he on the

plane and he opened the door. But I mean he opened like the what's it called the cabin overhead had been. He opened it sitting down and closed it. Now he turned out his bag, went through his bag, put it back in and closed it without getting out. Never got up. So everybody out there listening, like, get catch a mental image of this. You're sitting in your seat. Someone reaches up to the overhead, opened it. You know, the little thing you pull up. Opening it is the easiest part.

Then grab your bag, pull it down without it dropping on your head, look through it, put it back up closed. The overhead met that guy pretty good. Not only is he big, Like that tells you how long his arms were. He was in the top percentile in his combat. I'm guessing he was in the window seat. OK, that would have been a whole different level. I was a spellman boy.

He had some crazy and you know, it's sad because he went through some some things and he was it was he was and maybe he still is and you know, he just there were some incidents there. It was tough for him. Um and the cowboy. I mean there was times where they couldn't get him off the field. One time he would not sub remember, you know, and he's the recubon tells the story like they were like, good, go go in there for for Zoe. And he goes

in there and he's like, I'm not coming out. So then he runs out and the coaches are yelling at him. He's like, what do you want me to do? Right? Why don't y'all go get him off the field? How about that? There was the time where the trainers went into the locker room in Tampa Bay. Where's he's not? He's on in the pregame warm ups? Where is he? They go in there and he's sitting in his locker

with his jersey on backwards. His jersey's on backwards, and he's sitting in his locker, and they're like, I don't know how to help this guy. That's tough man. Yeah he was. He was a good football player for Trump. Yet some things he was having to work with and deal with. But about I said, tank and yesterday eighty nine, I was gonna go with Randy Williams Randall Williams. Oh yeah, yeah, I do remember Randy Williams. What was three point how

many second point? Five seconds? Five seconds? Her touchdown? Eagles went on sidekick, Williams got it, rand it in for a touchdown. I just think the clock operator was eating a hot dog, wasn't wasn't ready for it? And but either way, now correct me here because you have a better memory. Obviously. Um. The reason why that was really interesting was wasn't it the year before when the Eagles started the game with a an on side kick and they got it. And then the next year they tried

it again. He recovers it and runs it back. Is that what happened? No, but that's explains your story is better. But it was three years later, three years later, two thousand the Pickle Juice game to start the season, they went on sidekick, they got it. They beat the Cowboys forty one seventeen whatever. Terrible games, one hundred, probably the worst game in my time. Covering the two thousand and three they tried it again on site kick to start the game and Randall Williams got it and ran it

in for a touchdown. And it goes three years later, three years later, same thing. Exactly, we've already established, same thing. You're now your perception of time is skew. I just put it all together, like, put it all together. They've you been here? What? Four years? Five? Yeah? Exactly? I have the memories. I just don't know where they all fit. Do you think Dave's been here? How many seasons is this for a day? If I had to guess seven, it's not awful. Where are you nine? How many of

you think Amber has been here? Oh? God, twenty five. Oh wow, it's just that on or Ollam listening. No, I would I would guess right around the same time as a little bit lessan you probably like seven seven, three years after me. I think it's about six. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, Rob Ever Riveting Radio Radio. They love it, Dave. Every time we do it and you say that people on Twitter comeback. I can say, we

like these old stories for some people. For every person that does that, there's somebody in their car right now that's just screaming at us to shut up. Cowpoys. Play the Eagles this week. They're gonna play with some of their guys. That's what they're saying. I'm not sure if they really really believe that, but they say right now that they're gonna play these guys, and they may treat this game like the third preseason game. All right, in and out, let's go. So let's get into that that

was on the rundown, but it's farther down. But we'll go ahead and jump into it now since you did it. All right, So, Mike McCarthy says yesterday, we need to stay in a rhythm. This is our first time in the playoffs together. We want to go in there as strong as possible with momentum and play style. My question for you guys is do you think it's important to use the Philly game to build momentum into the playoffs, because I don't think they really have any right now. No,

I don't know where was the momentum on Sunday. I get it, but I'm asking you the question. No, I had four game winning streak with the best win they've had all year against Washington, and then you wouldn't have known any of that when they played the game. That's my big thing. I like, I don't want to say that you're wrong. That stuff all sounds great, but they just showed me that it doesn't really account for all

that much. At the end of the day, when you kick, when you kick the ball off, especially if you're playing a good team, and say what you will. The Eagles have turned it around impressively this year. Honestly, I think a lot of that's who they've played in the second half of the season. But even if they're great, they're not gonna be playing anybody. They've got twelve guys on the COVID list and they're on a short week, and they know that they're gonna have to get ready to

play a good team in the playoffs. Not just to be clear the expectations, the majority of them probably will come back if they're symptom. If they're having symptoms, number one, if those symptoms are lessening by Friday, they can be back to play on Saturday because of the interpose new protocol, that's the protocol if they're lesson Basically, basically, here's how

the protocol goes. You have five days where you have to be quarantined, but if your symptoms have lessened, then you can go back and you can play as long as you're not have like fever. But if you're if you if you are basically the way they said it was, if your your symptoms aren't lessening. So for example, um, if you've got a cough and your cough is better on Friday than it was on Thursday, in you're okay

to go back and play. Okay, So if you had explosive diarrhea and now it's just diarrhea, it's a symptom of COVID. I think it is. Yeah, I think it is that What is going I don't know where, I don't know. I just think I just think that it's so weird about lessening. It's lessening. Well, do you have a st throat kind of all right, you're in, you're in,

You're good. That goes back to my even whatever the protocols are, though, like if let your Cox still feels kind of sick on Friday, even if he feels well enough to play, how many snaps are you gonna make him play? Like what you're gonna put him through that? In a game that really does Philly has less to play for than Dallas does. They're already in. They can't hang,

they can't get higher than six. They're gonna they're gonna go play a division champion in the warm weather city, like they're either going to be in Tampa, La or Arizona. That so like it's not even like you can avoid a cold weather situation outside Dallas. Or can they play I don't they can't play Dallas. I thought that was the Philly if Dallas gets up to the to the third or you're right, it's okay, No, there are two

scenarios where I think it's it's a long shot. Yeah, yeah, okay again another indoor stadium, like they're just you're playing a good team indoors or in warm weather, like, they just don't have a lot to play for. And so even if some of these guys come back from covin, I sure, absolutely sure, Which goes back to my point that, like I mean, I don't want to sit everybody. You can't sit everybody anyway. You only have forty eight. That's

and I love I love Mike McCarthy's transparency. They're just sort of breaking it down for maybe people that don't think about it that minutely. You only have forty eight players. If you just sit eleven starters, then you're just decimating the rest of the game in terms of like who's got to do special teams, who's got to play snaps? Unless you put twelve players on COVID. Sure, oh I thought about five people up. I'm just saying you could

definitely do that. You throw all your practice squad guys up to play this game, and then so this is a week, Well, maybe you do your test on Thursday. I'm just saying, I'm saying maybe that the eagle because because you get COVID replacements for all of When I saw the announcement, that flashed through my brain, like I'm not. I'm not going to accuse them of doing that, but I was, like a lot of veteran you know, Rodney McCloud's on the list, Fletcher Cox is on the list.

You never know, you never know, you never know. But I don't know. I just the offense needs to play some snaps. I get that you definitely don't want them just absolutely taking the week off. But I have a hard time buying this momentum thing. When they had all the momentum in the world on their side going into Sunday and they looked as disjointed as they ever have. I thought about this this morning. The NFL schedule makers

keep doing this and it's not working. So you know, every year we look at the schedule and we see this last game of the year at Philly or whatever. You're like, well, this game could be I can remember three now in the last ten years, and they haven't meant anything, and it's been bad football every time, and this one's gonna be the fourth. I mean, remember when Stephen McGee had to play and they had wrapped up

and the Cowboys won that game. And then and then in twenty and sixteen, Mark Sanchez played and Romo played and everyone sat and it boosted the Eagles to the Super Bowl for the next year. That's what they say. Seventeen is one of the worst sketball games I've ever watched in my life. And it's and anytime the Cowboys are shutting out a team through three quarters and you start Todd Archer looked over and starts flipping through like

once a last time I had to shut out. It's like six nothing over the Eagles in two thou seventeen six nothing Bryce Butler's count. Bryce Butler scored that touchdown like pretty late, right like it was late in the game, bad game, and Dan Bailey missed the extra point if I remember correctly, that's why it was six. Yeah, Bryce didn't score until the it was early fourth, but so we didn't get our first heard first score until the fourth quarter. Bailey misses the extra point. Wow, it wasn't

ninety nine yard drive. I don't remember that. I don't either, But they they were, they were the good team. They had already wrapped everything up, and so here we are both teams kind of wrapped things up. That That game was the epitome of Jason Garrett saying I'll be damned if I'm going eight and eight, I'm not doing it. Because they finished nine and seven, they were out of the playoffs, they had lost the Seattle the week before, and Jason, Jason Garrett was like, you're not putting another

eight and eight on my resume? Screw you guy. Yet not until not until eight years later. Yeah, all right, let's let's go ahead. Oh, actually, we'll know the question for you guys on that now. Knowing that and Jerry

said it, Stephen said it, Mike has said it. They all expect they're going to play, they say play to win, all that kind of stuff, but we all know that in this kind of scenario, there still might be situations where you look at certain players and you like, you know, they need a week to not play because of injuries that they're trying to nurse. Who are some of those guys?

Who are some of the guys you could still if they're still saying that they're playing to win, that you could see them say, hey, this is a week that we really do need to sit this guy. I would love to sit both of the running backs. I don't know if that's going to happen, especially if Dak's gonna play, Like, do you send Corey Clement and maybe Edo Smith out there to protect Dak Prescott. I don't know, but I

at the Flemino's Eagles. Yeah, good point. At the very least, I would like to see a limited role for Zeke and Tony Pollard, like just get them off their feed, give them a week to get right. Tyrant Smith is another one, going back to the COVID thing. No idea how severe his symptoms are, but maybe give Kean O'Neill a week to just not be out there running around short of breath or whatever might be bothering him. Are

we sure about Keian O'Neill even being available? No, I don't know what the new rules are with with players that are vaccinated or unvaccinated or whatever. Well, for unvacced it's the same, right, so, well I thought it was. Is it not five? Is it even for unvaccinated? Yeah, because Carson Wentz played, Yeah, I think it's five for

all players. I think for all players it's five. And then it's a matter of what are your symptoms, like do you have still have symptoms or the symptoms symptoms lessening? Like it's that kind of stuff that's the equation. Now, so there's I would assume he has a possibility of being back unless he's like really experiencing some some really tough symptoms, I would assume he has a possibility to

be back. DeMarcus Lawrence, Like, again, that's a one not somebody that you're just gonna take out of the game. But not all of these guys. I want everybody to play. I just don't see the benefit of playing like seventy five.

Do you think in twenty eighteen when they went up to New York in a game that they'd already wrapped things up and Zeke didn't play, but but Dad did, And that was one of those games where you know, they rallied to win thirty six thirty five, and there was a lot of people that think that that helped them the next week, at least for Dak. Yeah, and winning that game against Seattle that that was one where I think momentum maybe did help because they been Dak

drove down and they wanted the great game. Yeah, one of the best throws of his career. Basically, I get it. I like I said, I don't think it's silly. I guess I just make light of it because you didn't see it in practice at all the last two weeks. The momentum didn't help them giving them a chance to play and game plan against an opponent. Again, this is a team that's going on the playoffs. You can't just

completely write the Eagles off as a bad opponent. I get, Yeah, there's value in that, and that's why I do think they should play. Isn't momentum too, It's not just a result because obviously you look at a game where you score fifty six points and you're like, man, that was

that must have been a really great game. But there was still some of the same lingering things that we've seen from this offense that weren't quite right that have persisted, right, So it is momentum more maybe figuring out how to get some of those things going. How do you get more rhythm in your offense? How do you get more

can you sustain drives without killing yourselves with penalties? Like, maybe that's more of the momentum that you're looking for that you can get maybe out of this game that you hadn't gotten in the last I don't know how many weeks. How about the benefit of giving your workhorse running backs who were beat up eight days to not get pounded. I mean that that could factor into that stuff.

I think if I could fix anything with this Cowboys offense right now, it would be the running game, just to get it to a level of competency where you feel like you can average north of four yards a carry and flirt with one twenty one thirty, maybe even one fifty yards on the day. I mean that again, Like, I hate to take credit away from Dak because I do think he is good enough to carry it. But you don't want him to, you know what I mean? Yeah, sorry,

go ahead, No, you don't want them to. Like this team is at its best when they are when it's pick your poison, when it's fine clog our throwing lanes. We're gonna run for five and a half yards to carry on you stack the box, We're gonna throw it all over the field. They haven't had that on a consistent basis since the bye week. All right, let's take our first break when we come back. I don't want to talk a little bit about that. I actually want to dive a little bit deeper into that which you

think has been the biggest problem for this offense. The running game, or the passing game, and which do you think has a better chance of getting back on track. We'll talk about that when we come right back. This is Dallascotboys dot Com Radio. At ATNC, everyone new and existing customers get our best deals on every smartphone. Why because you deserve it. We're turning your living room into your office and your gym. We're teaching Grandma had a

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New Doctor Peppers zero sugar. You deserve it. I do deserve that. You deserve decadent flavor without sugar, and a day at the beach without sand getting everywhere, and a relaxing bath that your children don't interrupt. I deserve all that. It's really just a visual metaphor for Doctor Pepper zero sugar. Everything you want, nothing you don't a visual metaphor on the radio. I do deserve that. Doctor Pepper zero Sugar,

the zero you deserve is finally here. Back to the break All right, Cowboys Nation, head to the pro shop, step up your game for the playoffs or some classics like jerseys, t shirts, hats, plus exclusive collections and unique accessories when you visit your local Dallas Cowboys Pro Shop or log on the shop dot Dallas Cowboys dot com a fanatics experience. Welcome back. It is the second segment of the Break Life NESTUBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. Let's talk a little bit about the offense. I want

to dive into the running game. Passing game is two different parts. We've talked a lot about DAK and the struggles of their passing game. DAK, the receivers, the offensive

line keeping people off DAK, all that stuff, right. I noticed something interesting though, when I started looking at the rushing totals for the Cowboys this year against what I think we all agree and you can correct me if you think this is wrong, but against what I think of the three toughest opponents the Cowboys have played, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Arizona. They have had their three worst rushing performances against Tampa Bay. They only had sixty yards on

the ground against Kansas City. They had eighty two against Arizona. They had forty five not very good days on the ground against those teams. New England another one, but they were able to get one hundred and twenty two yards. Pretty decent day of rushing that day. My question for you is when you think about what they're doing right now offensively throwing the ball, and then what they're doing running the ball, which is a bigger concern for you,

the rushing game or the passing game. The run game easily without a question. I mean even Sunday was the was It wasn't great, Like Dak had some accuracy issues. There were some drop balls there, I mean, miscommunication, all that good stuff. But like it's not like they couldn't throw the ball. And that's it's the classic case of the and they keep saying it because kes he keep doing it. They're they're clogging the back end, they're keeping

a lid on it. And like every week we asked the same questions because every week the Cowboys can't shake him out of those looks. I mean, Dak average six yards per attempt, which isn't not good, but it's passable. I mean Kyler was at seven, so even that's low. I mean, this just wasn't a game where you were winging the ball all over the yard. Um He's had three touchdowns, got a rating of one oh six. If

he doesn't fumble there, it's probably even better. Like the passing offense, and the week before obviously speaks for itself. He did whatever he wanted to as a passer against Washington. I know, I don't like it's been fine. It has not been complimented by a worthwhile running game. That is the problem. I think teams are kind of on to Kellen Moore a little bit. I think that there they've figured out his tendencies on on what what he likes

to call in certain situations. UM and I think I think one of the biggest problems is first down and running. They they're trying to establish on first down, and there's just too many times it's second and nine second and eight second and ten and then that changes everything. I think that that they're just not getting a good feel there about when to run and when to kind of catch teams in these looks and when it when it's first and tend and they're running that they're just not

having success. I think it's setting them back. Do you think part of that is And they've talked about this that teams are basically and they actually the Cardinals talked about it after the game. Buddha Baker was talking about it. Um just throwing so many different disguised looks at the Cowboys to where they really can't adapt at the line of scrimmage. They got to run it and they and they got I'm sorry, they got to run their play, whatever the play is. They really adapt and say, hey,

we see this look, let's change it. Because at the moment they do that, the disguise changes and now you've got something different. And I was watching the safeties in this game. They did a bunch of I'll show you too high and at the last minute, somebody's shooting down, or I'll show you that one guy's down and at the last minute, somebody's shooting out. Like they did that throughout the entire game. And I think that may be part of it. And they tried to use tempo to

help them. That's not something you can do when you're not effective at actually keeping the ball going. So Dallas just really doesn't have an answer for it right now. No, I mean, and the greatest quarterback of all time in my opinion, and everyone will change. I mean, but I'm talking about just to go win one game, pay pay Manning. To me, it's the greatest quarterback of all time in my opinion, but it's hard to say that with the rings. But I think he's one of the smartest quarterbacks to

ever play. Watching him last night, did y'all watch him? It was absolutely gold by the way. I mean, Snoop Dogg is this That was awesome by the way, But I was watching the mask the Mavericks. You were was at the game, so, oh, mister Kyle was there, and so was Michael Parsons. We made a Michael Parson who's the first ruding Kyle in the same sentence, mister Kyle. Just in the same sentences Kyle and Michael Parson. Yeah, we were all all three of us were there, so

it was good. Kyle said, you had better seats than him. Were you on the floor? It was pretty nice? E VP perks baby, it was pretty well. No, Literally, five o'clock yesterday evening, I get a phone call for my boss and he's like, you want to go to game I'm like, uh yeah, yea, So here we go. We're off in rolling. So nice. That's fun. That's Dallas in a nutshell right there is like where are the seats, Like I don't know, the acts really far away. The

MAVs are kind of media oh courtside. Yeah, I mean, let's go. You can't pass up that opportunity. Literally, you're sitting on the opponent's bitch like you're sitting there in there done the same thing. Awesome. Just saying if I told you they were second deck behind the basket, you might have been, like, I live. I'm guessing made that happen.

You're guessing I would not have made that happen. If you're but if your boss says, hey, hey, let's go to the game, you're probably going, well, he's just like you want some tickets? Go? He was just like, you want the Yeah, no, I would have done the same thing. I'm just saying that is that is a very Dallas experience. I'm a ticket snob. Yeah, I said, no doubt. I watched Alabama Cincinnati the other day and the fourth fourth deck up there, yea, and not the whole time going

to the game. I was kind of like we'll see. I was just watching on the video board. I had a had a had a great time. It was I mean, it was a great seat. There's there's really not bad seat. I'm spoiled after working here. Yeah, Like I usually don't want to deal with traffic. I usually don't want to have to deal with security and lines. I don't want to deal with any of that stuff because we don't have to deal with it in our normal jobs. So going to a live game for me is not a

real treat most of the time. This is a that was a treat like that. Yeah that is a MAV's run, right, Yeah, yeah, killed him and we'll talk about self there. But I'm not I'm all of a sudden not as much of a Luca fan. How he complains so much, so much, it reminds me of Tim Duncan, Like that's what I hated about Tim Duncan, always complaining to the rest, not always well that's I don't know, that's Yeah, he does whine a lot, but that's just smart, like you gotta

work for get it. It just kind of it kind of just bothers me. After There's there's like six plays that they've even found where he's doing it during the play. He's given up layups, he's given up, he's not even given up not play Because I'm not defending him. It's annoying. I'm just saying, like most of the good players in the NBA seem like they whined to the refs a lot. Well, I'll tell you this quick little bit. Plays No, they played Nuggets. Here's an interesting little thing, and it may

remind him of this team, the Cowboys. We were sitting there and we're listening to Popeye Jones because he was playing. He was the coach for Denver last night. I assume their coaches out on COVID. I don't know. I don't even know what why he wasn't there, But they're in their huddle, and if you watch the game like they they were probably getting jobbed a little bit by the rest, Like you could say that they were like living. Their bench was going crazy because all these calls and misscalls.

And at one point he's like, I know they're in there huddle. He's like, I know the refs are fffing us, but you gotta figure it out. And I'm thinking, yeah, here this is And by the way, this applies to my job. But the point is this is every team and every sport like you're gonna have games are you're gonna feel like the refs are against you. Like that's just a part of it, yea, and you gotta figure

it out. I think his point was the same point that the Cowboys need to figure out some point, like stop complaining about that and you gotta figure it out. Just know what's a part of it. You know, when we were in Washington and we're sitting next to the stack crew and there's that one lady's job. Her only job is to say shotgun. Yeah, that's her only job. There are when you sit that close and you sit on how many coaches there are the annoying coaches are

the ones behind the bench? Yes, those there's one guy's job is to wait for the shot clock to get down into like seven when you're on offense and then just yell it out the whole time, just six five. You know, like that's his whole job. It's just me and another job of Hey, that's six possessions in a row for so and so he needs, you know, he

needs to come out. I mean, we were honestly convinced at one point that all those coaches over there were just screaming random things just to confuse people, because he was like, everybody's just saying crazy stuff, like oh, he stepped out and he was like three feet from the line, what are we talking about? But it's like, yeah, it's crazy over there, but it's it was a really fun experience. But I missed snooping, okay, And so I totally said that.

The reason why I said that is Peyton Manning actually talked about that last night and he said, when teams, when when when a safety you know, is sitting there like showing blitz, like you almost have to think the opposite of because you know that he's not gonna do it the whole time. So when they're showing that in your head and when you're before the snap, you know he's going to be back, it's almost the opposite of

what you're seeing. And so but then I'm sure there's times when the guy sits there and then he does blitz or whatever. So it's all about a cat and mouse game a little bit. But if if you know, if Peyton Manning at times could be confused, then they all can be that. That was kind of my point to that but yeah, the Manning broadcast was just it was Rogers was great. He's always good on that good really, I mean, Goodell was like, it's one of the worst

games I've watched this season, and they made it entertaining. Anyway, they're great. Call me coach again. Goodell said, yeah, the coach again. Yeah, Yeah, that wasn't the best guest. But but Snoop Snoop was he said. He said, I wish I was a Manning. He's like, can Yell adopt me? Rogers. Rogers did a whole thing about how because if you know anything about Pittsburgh, like they have a dialogue, oh yeah,

language all their own. And he was like, if you can understand Mike McCarthy on the headset, you can understand and it's right. He's like he gets going. And it made me laugh because yeah, like even I understand him, but he's just he just he's that Pittsburgh guy, Like he just talks that way and it's hilarious. I love it. Yeah, there, Pittsburgh is a is a place where I mean everyone

probably knows somebody from Pittsburgh, and it's it's different. I I've only been there a couple of times, but like it's like it seems like it's one of those places. This might be most hometowns or whatever, but like you could like get hit and you know, on the on the road and buy a car and get out and be like what the hell you get You're like, well, you're from Pittsburgh. From Pittsburgh, all right, let's work this

out and all right, you know what I mean. Like, it just seems like they're just kind of a brotherhood of people in Pittsburgh. Yes, I get you, And that might be a Louisiana thing that might be. Just think it's probably everywhere like most places, I should most places where it's probably a kinship of yea from this area. I'm from this area. It's like you I get you because I know what you've gone through in all experience. I think most hometowns are like that, but like Pittsburgh

maybe is ratcheted up a little bit. It's it's almost tribal with them, just like how socely protective And so why does McCarthy give Rich such a hard time because that's he's talked about He's talked about this before. Their buddies like that. Well, he's like, where I'm from, you just give people hell, Like that's how you can. That's a part of the which I I identify with that.

That's my love language too. So like when McCarthy said that, I was like, Okay, I get you, Like you're gonna tease the people that you care about and give them crap Like that's what you do, all right? So real quick, we got to get back to the talk of this running game. How do you fix it? Any ideas on how you can fix it. I'm not saying this will work, but my best idea is to give the Backs a week off. I'm serious, Like what I mean, get him

explosive again? Yeah, what I mean? Whatever? Everything else isn't working. And they had all their linement at their disposal, Arizona was injured. It's not like they just had all these and they didn't have the monstars out there. That was a compromised defense. More time on task, like having your starting five together, maybe a little bit more could help. But in terms of radical moves that they haven't done before, getting Tony and Zeke some time off would be mine.

That's me cheering, Oh for what that? No? For what Chris being just set me? What do you think Chris well, you go ahead, and you go ahead, you can announced introducing the Black College Football Hall of Fame Class of twenty twenty two. Did my guy get in, mister Naith, there we go, Here we go, Nice get in, Big Nate Ben, coachs Donald Driver, John Big Train Moody. I bet he was good. Yeah, Morris Brown College, Big Train Moody, Nate Newton, Sammy White, Roscoe Nance and coach William Billy Knicks.

But Nate Newton, Florida. Congratulations, the big Dog. We're gonna take our final break when we come back. I got a couple of news and note items I want to talk to you guys about. I want to talk about Michael Gallop a little bit. Also an interesting thing that coach McCarthy said yesterday about replay assist. We'll talk about that when come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. I want to use what the pros us? How about the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys,

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It is the final segment of the Break Life s WBC Morgan Studios at the Star Man. This has been a Tuesday show. We have been all over the map on this show and hopefully you guys have enjoyed some story telling you today. I managed to get explosive diarrhea in the show twice. Wait you did? Yes? Yeah, So, speaking of your memory being bad, you don't even remember? No, no, I remember that. I thought the way he said it was like he's having a problem over there himself. Oh no,

he said. I managed to get explosive diarrhea on the show twice. And I'm like, are you okay? What are you doing? But anyway, okay, Bay, I'm just saying, let's talk about Michael gallup. Um. He caught the touchdown pass in the game against Arizona Cardinals. He hurts his knee. We find out later he's out for the season with an ACL tear. Obviously, the big question, how does this affect his status as a free agent this year. Well, first of all, the Cowboys have a track record with this.

It's not happening a lot. It happened with Barry church. Um I talked to I talked to Barry about this just the other day. He goes, yeah, they lowballed me. Well, of course they lowballed you, but you took it because you're sitting there with the torn achilles and so that's that. Now a torn a cl is a little bit different, not a huge He'll come back and on that. But if I'm the Cowboys, I'm calling the agent now and

I'm like, let's let's work on this. Let's do a one year deal, Let's do a two year deal, two years, ten million, you know, not not sure exactly what they would want to do, but I would try to sign him right now. If you're Michael Gallup's agent, do you do that? Or if you're Michael Gallup, do you do this? Well? I mean that's that's that's why you're doing it. That's

the decision. And he has to have He's like, do I want to bet on myself and say no, I'll be fine, because what is the free agent market gonna look like for him? As he goes and visits people well with crutches, and like, how does that work? Is he gonna get the money he's gonna get. I'll take it even one step further. Let's think of it from the standpoint of the production that he's had this year

year that throughout his career. Thinking about the ACL and assuming that teams look at it like man acls these days, guys come back, He'll be fine, and they're just looking at the production. Is he a guy that you think is a coveted free agent pickup four team? It's so hard to answer because there's so many moving parts. I mean, for starters, let's look at the market like DeVante Adams is gonna set the market one way or the other. Alan Robinson's out there. Chris Godwin also tore his ACL

on the heels of a much better season. That's not necessarily Mike's fault. He was hurt. And that's the brutal thing in all of this is that you could no, this is statistically Mike's worst season of his career. I mean, he finishes with thirty five catches for four forty five and two. Does that affect him? The fact that he missed so much time this year with two different injuries. I mean, all of this stuff is going to affect him.

I don't think it's Teams are like, oh, he's injury prone, he can't play, But you just you didn't put all of that on tape that you are You're not. Your arrows not pointed up that you're like ascending into this category where you're worth all of this money. So yeah, I mean I think I said a few weeks ago that I thought he could get somewhere between ten and fifteen million dollars a year, and now I would guess it's somewhere between like six and I think just depending

on what's but it's impossible to know. And it also it's Mike's preference too. Maybe he wants to sign a one year, six to eight million dollars proven deal so he can blow it out of the water and get something better next year. Maybe he wants to sign a deal here with the Cowboys. I mean, it's partially up to him, not completely, but you can't predict that type. I think he's an I think he's about an eight to ten million a year receiver before this injury. You know,

That's what I think he is. And I kind of disagree. I think that's a little high on the numbers, but that's because that's we're going off of what we think and where he is. Where it's all projection on. Because I think if he's up into twelve to fifteen, that's probably somebody's number one. I just don't think he's a number one anywhere. I don't think there's that true though. I mean, the market is changing drastically. I'm I'm pulling. I'm trying to pull it up right now, like the

numbers for receivers are going up. I mean, well, okay, we'll look at it. Though. How many receivers make fifteen million a year? Okay, well i'll tell you that. I'll tell you this right now. There's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, Because you need to get to twenty five or thirty for that to be right. I mean, there's That's what I'm saying. He's not a number one receiver. And I don't think he's going I don't think a team will say, you know what, Michael gallups our guy, because I don't

believe he is that type of guy. I don't think he is. I think he is a really really good number two guy. And you need that you need I mean, I think you need a number two. There's seventeen receivers making more than fifteen million dollars a year right now? How many seventeen? Oh, that's my point point is I mean that and Adams is going to reset it. Uh, there's I mean Chris, all those guys expect all those guys are number one? But what point is that? I mean,

are you making the point or did I make the point? No, I'm because because there's thirty two teams in the league. So I mean, if seventeen guys are making that, then somebody's then there's That means there's there's fifteen number one receivers that are making less than that. Are they any good? Is Michael gallupin number one for any team? Go through any team in the league and say they he would be the best receiver on that team. Pittsburgh's probably a few,

there's probably is he with Pittsburgh? Would he be better than Claypool or Johnson? You think? Yeah, okay, I think at least that's good, that's fair. I mean, I'm just trying. I'm looking. I'm thinking about the Jets. What do they have it on their wide receiver corps? Is there anybody better Corey Davis? I don't think there's anybody I would say better, So I mean, yes, he could be the best receiver. I guess team the point I'm trying to the point, I'm trying to make regulations. I mean, what

have you won? You get to guard the Jets. Tim Patrick is an eleven million dollars a year receiver, which like he's having a great year. He beat Trayvon Diggs here. He's not like a number one like this great receiver. Nelson Aguilar got twenty two million over two years to go to New England as one of their like five slide. You're right then, if that's the case, then you're right that he's not an eight million dollar guy. He's he's gonna get he's gonna get twelve, he's gonna get that.

If that's if, well, now it's hard to say now because of the injury, and and you know, the Raiders used to do this for years. They would sign a defensive tackle or that they'd sign a player to some ridiculous deal that everybody in the league would go off of and it's like that got okay, but that sucks, you know what I mean? So, like, does Nelson Aguilar

getting eleven million a year? Is that does that make the point for agents to say, well, we need more than that, or do other teams look at it and say, okay, that was bad, that was a bad move. I mean, it still becomes part of the negotiation yeah, Now teams are going to argue that, but the agents is going to probably stick to the Micael, this is the market.

Michael Gallup said something after what game was that last year where he had like a hundred something maybe like San Francisco Philly he had one hundred in the first half hundred yards and he was like, I was good. I was done for the day. He was like, he was like, you didn't have any in the second half or maybe little He's like, well, I mean everybody had to get there as me. I got some and then

it was time for everyone else. That right there still sticks out to me because it's like most receivers aren't that way. I'm sorry that there's not They're not built that way. They like my receivers like that though, well, I mean, but I'm I'm saying though that right there makes me think he loves his guys. He wants them already to have it. He wants CD. It's not all about that, and so that might factor into all this too. And also who's your who's your rehab guy? Do you

want to stay here? Do you want to go in the middle of go over here now? Or do you want to rehab here? In the same care somewhere else. So I don't think. I think if they, if they they handle this the right way, maybe a one year deal and and say let's you know, we'll revisit it or something, or a two year deal with laced with some incentives that say if you do this and this

and get back to yourself, then boom. You know, it's a it's a nine million a year, but it can be up to twelve or fourteen if you hit these marks. You know, I completely agree, and I wish I had said this at the top. I just and it's all fair, it's a valid and it's an interesting conversation, but just on a personal level, I just hope it works out the best for him, regardless of what it is, because this industry and again everything we just talked about was justified,

but it can be very callous. Like he's probably on pain meds because his ACL's torn in a half right now and he's in the contract year. Homegrown guy to your point, like he's had a fantastic attitude about this whole thing. I think he's one of the nicest guys on the team. It's two years and I thought about this, it's two years in a row where somebody who's done it the right way every step of the way has really gotten screwed by this whole thing. And I mean

nobody's Dak. I mean, nobody's gonna cry for Dak because he was on a one million dollars franchise tag. But that still sucks. Like to have it all come down to this final year and you're out there to try to prove your worth and it ends like that, It just sucks, um And it had a very happy ending for Dak, and I just I hope it has a similarly good ending for Mike as well. Yeah, because that that didn't change the Cowboys in one one bit to

sign him regardless of what had happened there. And I don't now, but but we do have to ask that, you know, because everything Dave said is right, everything he said. I mean, he's a he's a I love his attitude, I love everything about it. And quiet has kept here. He's he's probably. I thought it was gonna be CD, but it hasn't been. CD has been Oxnard, you know, MVP, but he hasn't been that guy in the season yet. He hasn't been that. I'm I'm better than you. I'm

gonna go up in dislike plays hasn't done that. Michael Gallup is the best contested catcher on the team, and if it's anywhere close to the sideline, he's gonna get it. Even if he tears his acl in the middle of the play, he's gonna catch it. He's gonna hold onto it. Yeah, he tore it on the way up for that ball and caught that ball. Nuts. Yeah we didn't give him enough. But okay, all that being said, let's say he is a ten to twelve million a year guy. It can't

be here, you know. Well, but here's what I would do if I were if is going to play like that, Well, if I were the Cowboys, here's how I would look at it. If there was a way for me to even if I paid a little bit of a premium to do it for one year, I would do a

one to two year deal on him. Because what I want to see is where does Amari shake out a year two from now, Because you might end up in a situation where you're two receivers two years from now, are Michael Gallup and Cede lamp I don't think I'm ready to make that decision now, but give me another

year or two and maybe I am. And so I would kind of want to hold on to him if I could for the short term, if I could get him to do a short term deal, just so I could see how that all pans out before I make a long term decision on that list that you're looking at. And you're right about that you got CD. I mean, Amari that you have to answered that question before you get to some of these other ones. So and also then you have to go It's like I feel like

the second question is Michael Gallup. The first question is what's the long term thing with Cooper? Okay, let's slip down to the third question. What does Cedric Wilson get on the open market who's also a free agent. That's a wonderful quick because Nelson agular for That's what I would have said that four minutes ago. But after hearing some of this stuff, I don't think Cedric Wilson's a

four million a year guy. Well, I think if if there's a team that's negotiating with his agent for a deal, I think what they're going to probably point out is when he had an opportunity to be moved up the depth chart. He didn't really deliver in that game? What was that? What game was that earlier this year when they had CD and Amar out and he didn't really deliver in the city. Yeah, he didn't really deliver him now by the way, Thanksgiving, Now by the way, there

were other issues going on. He also he delivered in eight games when Michael wasn't available a third third. So the argument will be he is a great third receiver. He might even be able to be a pretty good number two. He's certainly not a number one, and he's not he can't be relied on in the instance of injury to necessarily step up and do that either on a short term basis. So that all being said, you pay him, but you don't pay him like he's a

number two, like a solid number two probab. But he leads the team in quarterback rating fair fair And I joked that with that. But he's his versatility, got a nice arm. I mean, he was like all state in high school. Yeah, he's got a nice arm. Yeah. And he even said after the game, he was like about Poular, He's like, I could have let him a little bit more there, and then he would have scored. But you know, he just wants to make sure he catches it, love it,

which is smart too. I mean, like he's wide open and make sure he catches it. Number one. Um, that's all I care about in that instance. When you got somebody other than the quarterbacks throw on the ball, just get it to him. And we've seen it twice now, Minnesota was one and this, and it's the angle that we are sitting at in the press box and the way he throws it across the field. It's just it's like that that pass that he threw to Cedee Lamb in that Minnesota game was one of the best throws.

I mean, that's one of the best throws we've seen all year by anybody. Yeah, there's I mean there are receivers who throw it and just kind of pray that it gets where it's supposed to. Then then there are guys like Cedric and Dez was that way too. They only asked him to throw once, but when Dez threw the rocket, it looked like a quarterback was thrown. If you we would have said this a week ago, I would have said the same thing. I would I'm resigning

Cedric Wilson before I'm resigning Gallop. And obviously I know that the it's going to be cheaper, But I really feel like Cedric and Dak have a really good relationship and I think we've we've seen it and we're starting to see it. I think that touchdown was another example of that the other day, just kind of knowing where to be and where, you know, trusting him in the offense on when plays break down and where the guy's gonna be. Um. I think I think you just need

Swiss Army knife players like that. And so I'm going to try to resign Cedric before Gallop, And that would have been my answer even before the injury. Yeah, it's just hard to gauge Cedric's UM contract value. It's it's it's hard to know. I mean, so I don't even feel like I can take a stab at that. So all that being said, there's no way that they're going to draft my guy out of Arkansas on the first round trailer Burke's I really want that, but there's no

I don't see that happening. I mean, I've so many other issues they for sure, but nobody saw a CD fall in that far either. But I mean, I think you're right, just in the sense sense that in this case, they will have made a decision in free agency about somebody. And I think, I know this doesn't need to be draft talk, but we've talked about everything else, so why not it's got to be. It's they've got a draft

on the offensive line, right, oh yeah, my first round. Honestly, I think they need to remake their offensive line up this coming on. I'm taking a best guard or center in the draft. And I've said this before, you getting good value and in the in the twenties or thirties or whever you're picking, I don't know, um, but but I mean, I just think you're gonna get even center, you know. I think I think if you can get a guy like that to upgrade, maybe it's an offensive tackle. Yeah.

I was gonna say, if the tackles there could be in any and there's good depth at tackle position, I wouldn't be against it could be. I just I think it's time to get stronger. And I no, I completely agree. I'm chuckling just because like I'm the draft nerd and I'm like, well, you don't pigeonhole yourself in January. You wait and see the guard tackle or center. Okay, no, I know. I mean there could be a corner that falls. There's there's a lot of stuff is gonna happen. All

I've been saying this for a while. I just think this offensive line needs a remake. I think I think. Let me ask you this though, and they's only played a little bit. Is Kelvin Joseph done enough where let's say, corner is the best spot in the you said you pick twenty seventh. I don't know, just just say that if a corner is there, is he done enough where you're thinking we're good here? Or is corner always going to be a need? And I think it just depends.

And I don't say that's a cop out, but like if if if some amazing corner, if you're in a CD situation where you can't believe this guy tell to you, you take him. But Anthony Brown's still under contract, Jordan Lewis is still under contract. Kelvin and Nishan Wright just got here, obviously, feel good about digs Like that's not a situation where I'm just circling in red sharpie like

like you were last year. Probably yeah, absolutely, um, but again, if if some stud out of whatever, if you know, if if if Georgia's guy, I'm sure they have a guy. I don't know. If some great guy falls to you, then do whatever. Frankly, there's no position on this team, and I'm like, nah, I can't take that guy. I'm good, Like, I just think every position is upgradeable right now. Um. And that's not to say, let's not say they got

bad talent. I'm just saying there's no position where I'm like, I can't about and I don't know where he fell. I think he fell in the eighteen twenty range. Naji Harris from Pittsburgh. I took him last year. Yeah, running back like that. So we're sitting although I do. I mean, I hear what some people say about him. They're like, you know, he doesn't have that breakaway speed. Now, he played a heck of a game last night. He's had

a good season this year. But any bath House from forty yeah right, but that but that's the knock on him. People are like, he doesn't have that kind of speed. I'm a believer in the fact that I would look at the production so I would take him, absolutely, I would take him. I mean people are always gonna say that you know you can you can get if your offensive lines in check, then your third or fourth round running back is going to be, you know, good and

comfortable and all that kind of stuff too. Tony is Tony will be in a contract here and that year. Next year, you want to talk about uniforms, I mean, we haven't talked about that. No, it's it's it's time to call it a day. Uniforms will looking good, we put I mean, I'm sure everybody's upset that they lost

in the Color Rush. I feel like for everybody that was excited about the Color Rush, a lot of people were upset that they so don't wear that when you're when you play Arizona in two weeks, which, no, they're gonna wear the American flag stripes and playoffs. Ready. Oh hey, I'm hiding, I'm worried. I'm kidding. That means that we're gonna get hijacked on to our our timelines on Twitter.

We'll get highjack because people are gonna be talking. Don't be surprised if the Cowboys are playing Monday night are you talking about? Because are you talking about because of Jerry? Yeah? I heard that too, oh, I said this yesterday. What Jerry saying it was. It was just he didn't subtle. It was very subtle, but if you were paying attention, because he was talking about the Saturday night game in Philly and he was like, and this will give us more than a week to get ready for our playoff game.

And I was like, okay, so you're not expecting to play on Saturday. No, And I could to play on Saturday and Monday night could be the thing. They could have that too. I was like, they could have eleven days okay, but then they're on a short week after if they win after the wildcard game, Yeah, that means you have to go back to Sunday in the divisional game. Yeah yeah, I hate that. Do you want one list day to have to maybe go to Green Bay? I

just I want Green Bay. You believe in that. I'll believe that would not not for the divisional round, maybe for the NFC championship game. But you and I've been here more than twenty years. We've never seen a NFC championship games. So I'm not believing that we will be in a championship game until I'm there. If you talk to anybody in the fan base. It's one and done. So all right, well, appreciate you guys joining us. We'll be back tomorrow. We'll start getting into Cowboys versus Eagles.

Watch Bucky Brooks joining us, talk about the Eagles office versus Dallas defense. Then for Nick Even to Dave Helm and I'm Derek Eagleton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. Riggio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.