Cowboys Break: Backwards & Forward

Break live the SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. Amber's not joining us today, but I do have Nick and Dave Wooden. We're gonna talk to some Cowboys football. If you guys were about forty five minutes, we haven't had a chance to discuss that big win on Thanksgiving Day by the Dallas Cowboys. They win thirty one twenty three Washington Redskins. Dave said, I mean, I'm sorry, Nick said before the game, they win that game to go on

a Super Bowl. So I overstay that a little bit. Yeah, a little too thought it was just the Falcons games and you'll make the player, Okay, all right, I may have overstated that just just a bit, just a little bit. Yeah, well they're there. Hey, right now things are looking positive for the Dallas Cowboys. If if Seattle would have would have won the game or lost the game, wouldn't they have been a wildcard spot? Now Minnesota is still up

there in Minnesota, Minnesota, and it's it's all. But I'm just saying, I still think you have to win your division you get in. I tend to agree with you, but I mean, take a look around. I mean there's two ways you could think about it. If Carolina beats Seattle yesterday, then they take a pretty firm grip on the five seed. Yeah, and then so you're like, well, there's only one seed left. But now it's literally a

jumble of teams with roughly six wins. The Vikings are six four and one, Seahawks are six and five, Panthers are six and five, Cowboys are six and five. I just think that Panthers and Seahawks though, that's but I just think that if the cow Boys or even the Redskins, if you get to the point where you're good enough to be in that wild card conversation, that will win your division. So probably probably so well, and it hurts

the Cowboys. They don't have tiebreakers against several of these teams, but with five games to play, all these records are the same. I mean their tiebreakers are going to be against the NFC East, so which I think would win their division. Yeah, it's I said this yesterday, like I can't.

I picked the Cowboys to go nine and seven and miss the playoffs because I thought the NFC was so good that you were gonna have like five or six eleven win teams, you know, I mean the Vikings, what weakness did they have on paper before the season, The Saints, the Panthers, the Falcons, the Packers have Aaron Rodgers, so they have a chance. I thought about it the wrong way, like as an SEC fan, I should have thought about

it that way. I've been like, oh, yeah, they're gonna beat the hell out of each other, and nobody's gonna have more than nine or ten wins, which is exactly other than the Saints and the Rams. That's what it looks like, is what's going to happen. Yeah, yeah, they look like seven looks very good right now for the Cowboys. Yeah, it does, and not because the interesting part about that is toughest names that got left are against one of them is in the conference, but the others outside of

the conference, Indianapolis looking really good. Beyond that, I don't think the Cowboys have another team that has a winning record on their schedule, so they should be favored in every game. Maybe they're favored in the Indianapolis game, they should be favored in most of the games they got down the stretch. True, yep, so we'll see what happens. Let's talk about that game, though. I want to start first with Ezekiel Elliott. This guy just continues to rack

up yards and touches. This last game, he had twenty six rushers from one hundred and twenty one yards four point seven average in a touchdown, had six I'm sorry five catches for twenty two yards, gave him a total of thirty one touches on the day, with a total of one hundred and forty three yards from scrimmage. Here's

my question for you. Guys are starting to get to a point where you're wondering if they're using him a bit too much, and maybe not, but I think it's a question worth asking because against Atlanti at thirty touches, against Philadelphia at twenty five, he is right now leading the NFL and touches ahead of Todd Gurley by about eleven and Barkley sequon Barkley's third and he's beaten, he's ahead of him by like eighteen. Um, so it's significant.

I mean, you're starting to get to when you get to the third and fourth guy, that's probably a game worth the touches for the that guy. So are they starting to use him a bit much? And maybe they should consider the possibility of just trying to mix rod Smith in there a little bit more. You're just like, hey, if it's working, don't mess with it. I think they're using them a little too much, and I think that's all you can do. I mean, you got to get

you your three and five. You're three to five team at the break, so you've got to ride, you know, ride the horse that that that's getting you there. And then and it's Zeke and we all see when Rod Smith comes in the game that it's it's it's a complete difference. So, UM, I get it that. Yeah, he's got a lot of them carries, but that's why you draft them fourth overall. And you know, I mean, I don't think that they're worried about that maybe they should be,

but I don't think that they are. He's twenty three years old. You drafted him in the top five. No, I'm not worried about it. Um, that's what you brought him here, and and he wasn't touching it enough when they were losing games and all honesty. Uh sorry, you can have Sunday off. They gave him yesterday off had some sore hips maybe, I mean, I'm sure a lot. They'll manage him, but yeah, that's what you do. That's

why he's here. And you know, if there were if there were other weapons that you felt comfortable leaning on, Okay, but who you got? Yeah, it's a nixt point. I mean, Amari Cooper had eight receptions. That's probably as much as you can realistically expect in this offense. And then you got a bunch of other guys who have moments but aren't proven to be consistent. This is how you built this team. This is not that always bothered me is like,

he's amazing, he's amazing. Whoa, whoa take stop? Don't give him the ball so much? No way, he's twenty three years old, he can handle it. I don't know if I love the twenty three year old. You know, argument just because I look at it like a picture picture is twenty two years old. You don't hear and pitch nine anis every game. I mean, I get it. But it's more likely to be able to handle that at

twenty three than at thirty one. Though. Yeah, but it's probably not the greatest idea for even a twenty three year old to get well overward here here, and the question is where's the old Where does he get overard? We're not there yet, Like, are we trying to get him to thirty one? Probably not. They're just trying to be Larry Johnson for the Chiefs and just running in. Well, they're gonna They're not gonna do it at this pace.

And that's where you know, I think right now, where you are on this in this year, with this team, I think you don't have any other option. That's the way you got to go because he is your he

is your best offensive weapon. But I will say this, I do think going into next year they ought to consider the possibility that if they don't think Rod Smith is a guy that can take a little bit more of that load, then maybe they got to go out and get a guy that they think could take a little bit more of that load, if for nothing else

than to keep him fresh. Yeah. Um, that's the way I look at it, even more than preserving his body, because I'm a big believer in Hey, first contract, maybe second contract, you don't go beyond that with a running back. But I think you keep bringing running backs in and you try to go younger as you keep going. Sure, yeah, I'm fine with that. I gotta do the math, and I mean he's at He's touched the ball one hundred and seven times since they came back from there by week.

I mean, I get that's he's averaging twenty seven touches a game. It's a lot, but he's not on some type of like historic pace that's just gonna you know, like he's he's well within the range of what a feature back gets, you know. So I'm not worried about the reason why I think he's getting more carries is not just a difference in philosophy. Maybe a little bit

with the passing game, but it's just having success. I mean, if you get if you get the ball three times in a row and you get stopped for eight yards and you punt and then obviously you get three touches, but if you if you're getting first downs and you're moving the ball and it's a fifteen playe drive and now you've got eight, you know, eight or nine times, So they're they're having success with it, which is why they're getting more. He's getting more touches and more opportunities.

I think it goes back to the whole offensive line. This offensive line, since Colombo's taken over, since Sui Filo has been added, offensive line is doing better despite even having some injuries that they're doing a much better job, which is keeping them on the field, which is getting more touchy. How surprised were you, and we're moving on to the next topic, but how surprised were you when

you find out that Tyron Smith isn't gonna play? And then you get to that to the end of that game, and you realize, although they gave up four sacks, it happened in the first half and by the second half seemed like they pulled things together. They were still able to get a really fantastic day on the ground, a really nice day through the air. How do you feel about the offensive line and their performance? I thought this is exactly why they signed Cameron Fleming. They signed him

for games like that, you know. I mean when you really think about last year and the problems that they had. Now, they didn't go out and get a running back. They didn't do that. They expected Zeke to be there. But they did go get another linebacker in the first round. They also got Cameron Fleming in case things happened to shahn Lee and Tyron Smith, which they have, and I think that there hasn't been a drop off. Really. I don't think you can keep playing with with Fleming and

not being okay there. But I think for that one game it was good. It looked rough at first. I mean Dak was on pace to be sacked as many times as he was against Atlanta, but yeah, they cleaned it up. Cam Fleming talked after the game that he felt rusty. He didn't know he was going to go until he got to the stadium, which I was surprised,

but not that surprised. I mean, you saw the agony that Tyron Smith was on Sunday, and then he didn't look a lot better on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, so I thought he was going to gut it out, but certainly not surprising that they decided to spare him. Um, I thought fleming and and that's what he was like. I felt like I got better as I got more acclimated, and he might they might need him again on Thursday.

Because Tyron's not at practice today and he didn't practice yesterday, So we know how that that's that's never a good sign obviously, Friday. This is a Friday, right, this is a Thursday. Okay, there's a great Wednesday. Sorry it is I mean what day is? Tyron is definitely in the class. It's Monday, but it's Thursday. I thought about this this morning. I'm like, it's Monday, but it's Thursday. But the Saints are playing the Cowboys are playing on Thursday, so it's all.

And then they were a couple of days from games and then it all it all reverts because then friday's Friday, because then you're back on your regular schedule because you have the long weekend. It's whatever. Um, Tyrant Smith is definitely in the class of player who can play with minimal practice reps. But he's not practicing Thursday. That's never a good sign for a guy's availability. Yeah, that's still concerning because as much as you like what Fleming did.

Now you're attempting fate we have to do with multiple games, and that that does worry me a little bit. I mean, you think about this offensive line. That would be now three guys that you would have on that offensive line that were not your starters coming into this season when you went to training camp. Those are those are three guys, and two of them all pro caliber guys. So that's a big difference. Zach Martin and Xavier sue a Philo were both back to practice today. They sat out yesterday.

I think that's more maintenance than anything. Yeah, but yeah, I mean Tyrn obviously Travis and Xavier stepped in for Connor, So yeah, yep. Is there any chance that if if they were gonna go longer term, then maybe maybe look at Connor at tackle or do you think Fleming's a guy is going to be there in the event that Tyrant camp play. He played tackle for a snap on the Southern Thursday. That's I mean quickly in twenty eighteen. No way, No, I mean just too much. I would

I would love to have him as a backup. I really think swing yes, this is he would be an outstanding sixth Lineman. Yes, yeah, guard tackle maybe centered out because he could just play pretty much, and you can do everything. You gotta do what you gotta do in an emergency. But I mean, like, but to try to switch him to tackle when he's been playing guard, and I mean Cam Fleming. He might not be as good as Tyrant Smith, but he started for the Patriots in

the playoffs last year like I would. I'm fine with that, and you know he wasn't. He wasn't such a disaster that I'm looking for contingency plans as of yet. All right, let's go to our first break. When we come back, we got to talk about Dak Prescott and Amark Cooper. They are turning into quite a pair. We'll talk about that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. You're like me and you love I mean, if you have a right thing, then cutting the chord

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Studios at the start talking Cowboys versus Redskins. Cowboys get the big win on Thanksgiving Day, They're moving on to the New Orleans Saints. This will be this will definitely be their toughest matchup of the year. I don't think there's any doubt about you know, a lot of the players were asked yesterday about it is this a benchmark game? Is this a game? And the natural answer for a player like that is to always say no, you know, because that's what Garrett reaches. And they're like, no, no,

we do what we do. But they tried that, like Zach Martin Amari Cooper that they're like, well, no, I mean yeah, yeah kind of, I mean, this is the best team in the league. Yeah, I mean, which it definitely they're liars. Zeke had a great well that we're not them. But any body that says it's not, it's my point tried to answer it. Well. Ze had he had a good quote. He had a good quote where he's like, you know, this is the NFL, like records

really don't matter. You can get beat by the worst team or the bad I mean, and and he's got a point, But I don't care what anybody says, like ten games in a row, you see what they're doing. If you're a competitor, you have to kind of like measure yourself against that. I remember, um twenty fourteen, the Cowboys beat the crap out of the Saints here at at and T. I think it was like their third

win in a row. And like the Saints weren't even the Saints that year, Like they were not that great, and like after the game, everybody were like who that, what's up? Like beat the Saints by so like, yeah, it's everybody knows what they do and everybody it's a measuring stick game for sure. I like what Zach Martin said, he goes, you know, we've won three in a row and we feel like, you know, it's hard to do

and we feel like we were on a roll. Imagine the Saints three times and in some right, Yeah, and so that's that's amazing. Yeah, But it's one of those things where to me, it's a measure a more kind of how you play football too, because right now we see that there are three teams sitting the top of the NFL afc NNFCUM that are teams that score ton of points and they may not play the greatest defense,

but they play a little defense with it. And we're about to find out, or at least this will be an indication for the Cowboys if their style of play can match up with those teams. Can they play good enough defense to where they can slow down those offenses? And they can they played right style of offense where they can consistently keep the ball out of those guys hands in order to give them an opportunity to win.

That's what I'm looking for more than anything else, just to see Woola's style work against some of these really high powered offense. Actually, uh I did. I did a hit for a Saints podcast this morning and it was like Saints break Trader. No, No, they why is that try? They asked me. You do know the Chargers have a Chargers break now right? I really every team league has something. No, it's called the Chargers Break. I was listening on the

radio and the Chargers break this. I'm like, really what I call those guys up and be like, uh they Well, so the Saints, like the Pelicans and the Saints are all owned and managed by the same people. So there's is the Black and Blue podcast because Pelicans were blue and the Saints were black, so um whatever. But I was like, I was like, do get to talk basketball and football? They just interestingly and not a lot of time. I mean, the Cowboys just did this a week ago.

Like the game plan for the Falcon it should be the same thing, like shorten that game up, run the ball probably it's much This is a tougher task. Like the Saints are much better than the Falcons. They beat them twice this year, so but we've seen it. We've seen it work, is what I'm trying to say. They did it against the number six offense in the league. So you know, the Saints I believe are number one in the league and rush defense, but I have to

feel like those numbers are kind of of course. I mean, who's some degrees running? Although their defense is playing really good. Defense is playing well, there's no doubt about it. But I just don't think that there's just shutting down the run. I think teams breeze is shutting down the run. Yes, I don't think that the Cowboys had the number one run defense in twenty sixteen. Either nobody ran the ball against them because they were down seventeen points at half time.

Choice you gotta throw it. But you know they have definitely figured it out if you look at their at their team and you go okay. Earlier, I mean, the toughest game they've had to losing was the Browns in Week two. They probably should have lost the game, but they they've turned it around to the point where in the last three or four weeks. I mean then just annihilating teams. I mean just kind of taking their will. Really.

I mean the Philadelphia that's the Browns and the Ravens are the only teams to hold them under thirty this whole year, and they won them, won both of those games, both teams with good defenses. Though yep, so that does serve the Cowboys. Well, we'll see if the defense is good enough. And more importantly, in my opinion, can the offense but consistent enough the defense, though it has been

good all year, lately, they've been getting turnovers. The Cowboys have been getting turnovers, and that's gonna be the key. I mean, you can kind of be good, but if you don't turn the ball over. You know, the Saints are gonna get ten possessions and they're gonna score on six or seven of them. You gotta get turnovers. So and and Breeze doesn't just give the ball away. So this I mean shorten the game, run the ball, hopefully a turnover or two, and you can't turn it over,

force some field goals. Again, that's I said all this this morning on the show, and I was like, you know, good too. I'm talking to a Saint's audience, and I'm like, listen, I understand that's easier said than done. But that's what the Cowboys are gonna be. They gotta to do. That's what they have to do if they're gonna get a win, and if you're pin back and if you can get a ninety yard touchdown like doing nice Yeah, yeah, because that's what Cooper did. Yeah, let's talk about Amari Cooper.

Amari Cooper. He usually drives you into the ditch. He actually just pulled you back on the road. And that's awesome. Amari Cooper this last game man eight catches, one hundred and eighty yards twenty two point five was his average, the ninety yard touchdown pass and also had a forty yard touchdown pass two touchdowns. The thing I was most impressed with was what he was doing on third downs. Cowboys had one, two, three, They had six third downs

that they converted. He converted four of those six. He is I think that is the biggest difference between what they were doing before Amark Hooper got here and what they've done since he's got here, is he is a third down converting machine for them. He reminds me and he's not as accomplished. I understand that. But he reminds me of Julio Jones in that he's a big possession type receiver who can also make a big play. He doesn't look like he's that fast, but he was running

away from people. He's got that long stride, you know he was. He played that trivia game no Moss. He said if he could be in the Olympics, he'd be a fifteen hundred meter runner and fifteen hundred you know those long strides. You saw it in that in that ninety yard touchdown. I was like, he's gonna get caught. He's gonna get caught, and he just never did. Yeah, and he didn't, like, yeah, he's just taking these long strides.

I always think about Vince Young, like like, he doesn't look like he's running that fast because his legs aren't moving that everybody else looks like they're standing steel. Yeah. Yeah, and you know what I mean, he made his free throw. That's the thing. You know, you can go and make it, score your point, but then go to the line and make it. I like that. I just it was a

great celebrations all the way around. I'm not Sanjay lal, it was no, you're right, You're right about that, but I don't, like I don't know about route running, you know, like I you know, I can. You gotta drop your hips and lower your center gravity, but like I don't know how to do that. But he just looks different, like if you watch him, and it's like when you have a chance to watch the replays, but even in

real time, like no offense to Dez Bryant. He was great in his prime, but like even I mean Dez ran slants and out muscled people, you know, like you can see this dude, like the way he like shifts his hips or like stutters his feed like and it like it's obvious, like it creates this separation that is rare, at least around here. It has been. I I'm not used to seeing it, and maybe I don't watch enough AJ Green or Julio Jones, but it just it looks different from what I'm used to seeing. I was just

happy to see that. You know, for three games, you could tell that he has done a better job and the offense has done better with him here. But his numbers aren't great because you know, we live in a fantasy football world where it's just like they were great, well they were great, and then they were on a lot of people's bench. I understand that, but I'm just me. I'm just saying, you know, he was like, he's this guy's different and he's got well five catches for sixty yards?

Is that different? Was like, yeah, you know what I mean. It's kind of hard to really say, yeah, but it is. So finally this was a yeah, see which And I mean, you're not going to do that every week. You'll probably

do that once a season. But but I mean even in the games where even in the games where he didn't blow up, I mean not that this is a good thing, but he literally shook um what's he shook Ronald Darby so bad that he tore his acl Like if you go back and watch that, he he cut on a dime twice in a row, and Darby literally like couldn't stand up. You know, he's just he's he's good at what he does. You know who he is

actually more than Julio Jones. I mean in that game that it was a Terrell Owens type of game where you catch the ball and then you spin away and then it's just you and another guy. Now, who's who fast? Because it's not like it was a running head start. He was at a stand still. You know. It wasn't

like the Juju touchdown yesterday ninety seven yards. I mean this was like, you know, over the middle should have been about fifteen twenty yards, and so he's strength the break tackles and then just on a dead sprint to go out run everyone. I thought it was awesome. Yeah, I think this is this is turning out to be one of those moves at the Cowboys. Mate, that's so

far seems like it's worth it. And it's not often you can say that when you get the first round pick that you can go back and look at and say, man, this is gonna be this might be a great trade. But it sounds it's looking like it has the potential to be a really great move for the Cowboys. I understand this. This math is faulty, I get, but I

still think it's fun. Like if you adjust his four game stats for sixteen games, it's obscene, like eighty eight catches, fourteen hundred yards, twelve touchdowns and even, and so I'm you know, like, oh, well, of course you had a two hundred yard game. How often you see that, So I readjusted it and it's still like seventy something catches for nine hundred and fifty yards, which again, I mean, that's that's all you need to be in this offense.

That's exact the game out. I took the Thanksgiving game out just to see, you know, just too, because that's such a ridiculous outlier. You can't expect any receiver to do that, but he will. I think the kind of receiver he is, there will be one, two, possibly three per year that he'll have like but that just games where he just goes crazy, and then most of the

games will be what you see. There will be those five six catches somewhere between sixty and eighty yards, and again, in this offense, that's really all me and I understand why you did that, but like you have to leave it in because when you take a first round pick, that's what you're hoping for games like that, So that's what you get. He's played four games. One of them was a monster game, one of them wasn't that great, two of them were pretty good. I just wanted to

see sides of it. Either way, it's good and the residual effect of that is, now defenses have to pay attention to him. And that's all you really wanted, you had, you wanted to make defenses have to play you honest. And because he's making these big plays, he's starting what would be, as you said, would have been probably just

a routine catch and he took it ninety yards. That makes defensive think, you know, is it really worth us bringing that extra safety down in every circumstance like they've been doing, or do we have to just kind of pick and choose. And when we pick and choose, it may create some really nice openings for a seat. And they've done really nice job. This team needs a tight

end so bad. And I understand that their offense has done a lot better, but if you had a real tight end that could that was like a complete tight end who could stay on the line and block for you. He also can get downfield for you. And there's not many of those guys and they've definitely been, you know, spoiled. Do they go back to the well this offseason on that one? You have to what's the well sorry, I mean draft like doing, but you know you have yeah, I mean it has it's I mean, you haven't seen

what what Schultz can do yet. I mean, he's gonna he's gonna obviously get bigger this offseason. You would hope. Hope is not a strategy, I got you, That's true. Like you gotta do. I mean, if you don't want to spend your second round pick, that's fine, but you gotta do something. Yeah, I mean yeah, free agency draft, I think I think you can't run You can't run these back. In my opinion, I run him back. You can't, Hey, I would. I'm I would love to sign Jeff Swain

to a contract like what James Hannah got. I would love Swam to be my second tight absolutely. I would love the Salts back to be my third. Yeah. And then whatever you gotta do to find a starter to experiment on what the experiment experiment has been over pretty cool? I mean yeah, yeah, I don't think he's gonna get to fives. He's not gonna get to five catches. You

have five touchdowns. I think if there were ever a year where you know he's gonna be able to do something, look at all the injuries, look at all the opportunities, and he's still it's just not you know what it is them he's gonna go somewhere else and you're just gonna have to just deal with it if he If he does well, But they've done everything they can do. Yeah, I just don't know. All Right, We're gonna take our

final break. We'll come back. We'll talk a little bit of a little bit about the defense and what they did this last game. We'll also talk a little bit about the NFC East before we end the show. We'll be right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. Back to the break. While the player can look good on paper, it's when he's out on the field that you really find out what he's made of. That's why the Cowboys rely on more than just stats and scouting

reports when building their team. When picking a tractor, it's why you should rely on more than just specs and features. You've got to take it out and put it to the test. The Cowboys did when they named John Deer their official tractor experience one for yourself. Visit my John Deardealer dot com slash football. It's time for tailgaate with the autobox Boys. Auterbox the makers are those crazy protective phone cases so one and only. They're also wild about

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Black Playmaker ten bucks free shipping. Star Sports Tours is the only official fan travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys, offering exclusive game weekend travel packages with sideline access and photo ops with current players, alumni and cheerleaders. That's not all, though, You'll get to talk x's and os with Senior Director of Player Personnel Will McClay and of course with yours truly me, Brian broad Us you can trust the official fan travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys, and with us

you'll travel like a pro. Visit Cowboys Travel dot com to book your travel package today. A man's stepson doesn't just protect him from life's elements, it projects an unstoppable and legendary spirit, just like the men wearing silver and Navy on the field every Sunday. Since eighteen sixty five, Stetson hats are American made with pride right here in Texas. They are still the official crown of all self prospecting Cowboys, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with

America's team. Find steps and hats in the pro Shop or at Stetson dot Com. Today. Back to the Break, Welcome Back. It is the final segment of The Break live from the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star. Nick, can you tell me about Tommy Johns? I can Tommy John I think everybody in here has experienced the greatness of Tommy John. I like how you say that it is an experience. It is. It's the best underwear I think that you'll ever have. That's the guarantee Tommy John

gives you is that is the best. And if you're not satisfied, they'll return it and they'll give you your money back. I'll adopt that that happens too often. I bet you when you do contact them again, it's because you're doing a reorder. So Tommy John dot com forward slash Cowboys feels great, looks good. Get your twenty percent off your first order. See if they got some kind of deal for your second or third order. And Derek's going to hook us up this year for Christmas with

some Tommy John busy. That's so I just cool. You better talk to missus Eagleton about that. Thanks. We got a lot of people on the list. I didn't think y'all were on it, but I second see, well that's okay, what they I don't know whatever, Just stop stop stop all right, let's let's jump back in the defense. The Dallas defense. This defense it's playing well. Now. You don't always get Colton McCoy. But you know, I do think you I do think Drew Brees is going to be

an upgrade there a little bit, a little bit. See it's funny, like you're right. I mean, hey, they held them to twenty three points. They picked Colton McCoy off three times. My main takeaway from that game is that they gave up a fifty three yard touchdown to Vernon Davis as the first like really bad break in coverage in a while. I mean, Julio Jones. But you're gonna give those up every once in a while. I mean, you're they still are human. I mean, that's gonna happen

from time. It's high right. They got Damien Wilson on a bad matchup there and which just gonna help. I know. I just it troubles me when you think about who's coming in here on Thursday. Let's put because no doubt about that. And it's it's fitting because it's something I've been working on, Like I literally for the last week. I went back and looked, I'm like, what are the drives you know that have started in Dallas territory? And how did they I'm sorry that have finished opposing territory

and how did they finish? So I just finished this this morning. Fifty eight drives where the opponent took the ball in their own territory and drove it into Dallas territory, and eighteen of them have ended in touchdowns, which is pretty good. Seventeen field goals, I think, nine punts and a few takeaways. But they hadn't given up a play like that in more than a month and then so to see him give it up right there the week

before this Saints game bothered me. But but make no mistake about it, there will be at least one moment in this game against the Saints where they'll probably have somebody get behind the defense and now it's gonna definite saying like against this team, you're not gonna go You're not gonna set them. I don't think that you're gonna get them in an over Like they're not gonna go all day without breaking a big play. That's what they do. But that best in the league at it. That's how

you're gonna beat them. That's and that's it's I think of the Houston game all the time. It's like, give up all the yards you want, just don't let them finish in the end zone. It's certainly and if they are going to finish in the end zone, it needs to be a five yard touchdown or a three yard touchdown. You need to make them drive the length of the field. Giving up fifty three yards on a scoring play is

not winning defense. And it's fine against the Redskins when they're starting Colt McCoy and you can pick them off three times. But against Drew Brees that's not good enough. It's just not that's not good. And so I like, I'm hearing myself say it, and I feel like a jerk because they played far like way more good than bad. But when you consider the upcoming opponent, that's just not good. Yeah, I mean it's it's not ideal, But I still don't believe that if you give up a big play against

the Saints that means you lose. I think you still have to manage it. But you have to go into this game knowing there may be moments when you get punched in the mouth, because that's the kind of offense that you're playing, and if you're gonna win, you have to be able to jump back on after you get punched in the mouth and be able to make the next stop right. But I think, like you know, from a boxing reference there, I don't think that the Cowboys

can get punched in the mouth and win. I really don't. I think they have not even once. No, I mean they have to be the first one. They have to take the fight to them. Yeah, you'll get punched back, and that's fine, but you can't get you can't. This isn't like Rocky Too, where you can just you know, get like two rounds where you're down and then all of a sudden start wreck. No, I don't think that can happen. It has to be like oh nine, or they take it right to them and say, we're gonna

be here all day. This is a this is the way it is. We've got a seven nothing lead, we've got a ten three to lead, and and then you know, hold on for life. I certainly don't think you're bouncing back from fourteen to three. That's what I like. That's yeah, I agree in that regard. But I agree with you too, like you're gonna get punched in the mouth by this team you just are? Did you work around it? Sorry?

Did y'all hear that they talked about. I mean, I guess al Michaels had a problem with the Vikings taking the ball started the game yesterday. I don't know if y'all saw this on the broadcast. Well, just like and then they did three and out and had to punt, and he kind of talked about it. They went and did their research at halftime and they said that ninety five percent of the league has deferred when they won the toss. Ninety five Well, when did Jason Garrett start

doing this midway through the year? When you start it wasn't quite midway? Was it season this season? He I don't actually, I don't think he has won the toss and taken the ball this year really, but they've lost a lot of tosses. That's the thing they've started with. I thought it was early in the year the first time he deferred. I thought it was like week I'm saying, is that of the time. I'm thinking most of that's gotta be Garrett. Not this year, though, I don't think that.

I really think early on they did. I don't think that they have. I might be wrong. Last year they did it all the time and then and this whole thing started, Like I want to say, Week four of twenty sixteen, they had done a great job and then he's like, you know what, yeah, let's take the ball. And it worked, and then they kept doing it in

twenty seventeen even though it wasn't working. I really think they haven't done it this year because they lost the toss two or three times in a row to start this season, and they went three and out and they're like, you know what, we'll defer like everybody else, that's fine, knowing that they have to, you know, get an early lead. What do you think you get the ball if you win the toss. I still like to defer, but yeah, I always defer. I mean, I guess just set the

tone early. I mean, the thing about it is, is crowd going to be unbelievable. I'm sure it'll be a lot of Saints fans will be Cowboy fans, of course, I mean it'll be it'll probably be a close to fifty fifty maybe we'll see it might even be sixty forty Cowboys. But it'll be so loud because there's their fans are louder. I don't know if there's any other way to say it. They're just louder. Fans, so so I do think if you do want to kick off, you play some defense early and let's just see, let's see,

right off the bat, what do we have. I don't like the thought of sending them out there, sending the Saints out there with a chance to take a seven nothing lead, but I don't like the thought of kicking the ball to start it. But in the third quarter, right yeah, and the third quarters half of the stadium is still doesn't remember that it's a thirteen minute and a half time and they can't get back to their seat and it's quiet, and Breech just goes Kamara for

Twylfth's you definitely want the ball in the third quarter. Yeah, yeah,

I agree. And that's that's the way that if you do get punched them out early, that might be your say even grace if you have the ball at the beginning the third quarter, because if you can turn around and get that back to back score at the end and score again at the beginning, it allows you to get either some cushion or allows you to get back into a game that you might be a little bit behind without off the other posing offense having a shot

to get back on the fin I really do. All I know is I've seen this scenario before them, but I really think that they can. I know you said it in the press box the other day, you don't really expect to pick the Cowboys, but wouldn't be surprised if they want at all. Who would be, like, I mean, nobody Vegas. Probably the Saints or seven point favorites I think, so that's not huge. I mean the ten point favorites on a neutral field, Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. But

it's gonna it's gonna take all hands on deck. I mean, how about you talked about defense. How about de Marcus Lawrence again, I mean that interception and that I mean, it's not the best interception I've ever seen by de Marcus because what Ware did against the Falcons still that's

pretty almost lucky. But you know, quietly, he's playing so well that Tyrone Crawford's playing really well, and he just doesn't have the numbers and and you know, for stat I think that I think he's playing the best game of his entire I mean, best season of his entire career, and it's it's overshadowed because he's moving around doing different things. But but just de Marcus and those two guys, they're they're leaders, you know, just with the way they play,

with the way that they're acting. I mean their defense of line. It starts up there and both those guys. I know, the laws getting a lot of the credit, but I think you gotta, you gotta remember what Crawford has been doing. Yeah, I need to look at him. He's up to like at least four and a half, if not five or more sacks Like he's yeah, he's I really admire the job that he's doing. And then not. I mean, I've made my feelings on Tank perfectly clear.

He needs to be extended the day after their season ends. And the crazy part is the numbers don't even begin to do justice to the kind of season that DeMarcus Lawrence is having. If you just look at his numbers, it's like, I was pretty good, but he's actually playing

much better than that. Like the things that that don't show up on the stat sheet, the way he's able to affect plays without getting the tackle, without getting the sack, it's huge in my I know I say this every week and I'm not name dropping, but I mean, we did an interview with Steven Jones right after the game and I said to him right before we were about to do the interview, and I said, every play the Marcus makes, it's just like hitting the pocket, you know,

hitting the wallet a little bit more. And he goes yeah. He's like, yeah, it's the price that keeps going up. But you know what, we're gonna do it. And you're happy to do it when you got a player like that, right, I mean, that's the kind of deal where you're like, hey, if I gotta pay, at least I'm at least I'm

getting what I'm paying for. Right. Somebody brought that up to Jerry too, and he was like, he was like her de Marcus making it hit in your pocketbook, and he's like a lot of guys are making a hit in my pocketbook right now. He's like a mari He's making a bid for some money too. No doubt they got a lot of those guys coming up too. They have to figure out some some some ways to pay all these guys, which you forgot about him, that it'll be smart for them to actually extend him, right, you

could probably, Yeah, you can lower number Byron Jones. You don't have to, but you could. Yeah, you probably want to consider it. I think he's playing really well too. I mean, if he if you could get in to agree to it, I would try to extend Zeke too, and just just do it. Yeah, just do it. And then I actually like that idea. Yeah, you keep him.

I mean, you get him under contract for a longer period of time, you can maybe lower his number off the fifth year option, and then if you extend him now, then he's under contract until he's probably twenty eight or so, and man, okay, hey, thanks for your time. You finish your career, unless, of course, at that point he's got enough yards to where you keep him around just because he's that kind of like he's m Smith, transcendent kind of player, and you keep him around, right maybe, I mean, yeah,

you got to be special. I mean, Adrian Peterson is showing that. I mean, maybe he's not the same, but he's still showing that he can be pretty good. Well with that is off the field stuff. I suspect he may have continued where he was having to make a move. I really wonder if that would have been the case, because those kind of transcendent players you play for a long time in your place, and then at some point you're gonna have to move on. Ladanian Tomlinson is a

good example. Eight or nine years. But but yeah, you'll be there for a while, and and I think it could get beyond that second. We could stand him one more time. Look at those guys in that oh eight draft, all all those backs in that draft. I think it. You know, you've got Jamal Charles and Matt Forte and Fadden, and they all played about eight or nine years and then it's like, I don't even know are they in the league at all. I think Charles trying to be

in the league. Charles got cute. He came in for like a week or something. He was with the Panthers. I think somebody brought him in. Didn't we just play him? Yeah? I mean no, we we played him this year. I think it was the Airline. Yeah right, yeah, yeah, yeah, So I don't know. We had this whole conversation and didn't bring up the quarterback. I have to pay him too, Yeah, yeah, it would be so lukewarm. Nick, No, you do have to pay him. You have to pay him next year.

I don't know. Yeah, I might defer on that a little bit because if you got to pay them. You gotta pay him anyway. Quarterbacks they're gonna cost. But I think i'd want to see as much as I could possibly see before I made I agree with I agree with you, but I don't know. I mean, he's regardless of what you think about him, there's no denying the fact that he's playing at an absurd discount compared to the going rate for a good starting quarterback, which I don't.

I mean, but don't you want to ride that as long as you can? What if Dak is like I ain't riding this. There's nineteen backups that are making more than him. I looked this up. I'm not backups, Yes, backup or going rate for a backup is like a million, but nineteen, I'm not. I have heard nothing. I'm not trying to suggest that. But like, what if Dak may makes an issue of this? DA would I honestly don't think he would. I don't know. Maybe he would. I

don't think you would. I would. I mean, even if you think he's terrible, which he's not, But even if you think he is, he is playing at an absurd discount compared to the going rate for a starting quarterback. And so I just think that's something you got to consider heading into the final year of his deal. I mean is I think if you looked at the quarterbacks in the in the history of the league, that are

the first three seasons of their career. Um, I only think there's I think he's right there in the top four or five of wins. He's right there. Whatever inner you can say, is it because of the line and all the he's winning games. I can't. I can't imagine him holding out, but I can imagine him in his camp being deeply unhappy at the thought of having to play another season on a fourth round picks rookie contract.

But but that being said, if that happens, then I think the Cowboys would probably be okay with it because they could probably get him for a discount because of what he's done right now. He has won the games.

But from stats standpoint, where does he where would he rank among the high What they did with with Romo and the first big contract he got it was like a little less than what you would say, maybe he could have even gone for, but they did it at the right time when there like sixty seven it was something like that. But I know When the negotiations began, it was for to be the highest paid quarterback league, and they did not end it and go that way.

But I'm just saying, and so you know, you they'll they'll make the argument the Dak's camp about law the winds, and then the Cowboys will say, well, look look at the stats and look how much we have to help you. And so it's it's going to be interesting. I think that there will be a different offensive coordinator. I think it'll be a very It won't just be entitled of

saying Dack friendly. This really will be Dack friendly. I don't think the system is friendly for Dak, but I think I think it will be um if they get a new new system. I think you have to you know, I think it depends on what happens here down the stretch, because I'll tell you this, if if they keep rolling like they're rolling right now, it's gonna be hard to make a lot of moves once the offseason gets here.

I think I don't agree with that. But the well, the funny thing for me is, and you know, the Cowboys are in as favorable a spot as anybody in the NFC East, But you know, a month ago. All looked hopeless. So there's there's a coaster, Give me a twister, a turn or two before it's all said and done. All right, appreciate you guys, join us. We'll be back tomorrow where another edition of The Break Till then for Nike, even Dave Helmet. I'm Derek Hilton. 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.