Cowboys Break: Big Bounce?

twenty one, Season seventeen, episode number sixty. Welcome to the latest edition All the Break Life in the s WBC Morri Studios at the Star. We are gonna get you ready for Cowboys versus Falcons is Sunday at at and T Stadium. It's a noon kickoff. We got some big picture storyline items that we're gonna hit today in order to get you ready for that game. Nick, real quick, give me a sixty. Um. There's a guard named Derek Isaac Good good He's he's sixty, is he not? He

might have been before you left. I don't know. I mean that sounds all right. I guess maybe Derek Cannard was the guard that I was talking about. They called him Big Baby. Nate liked him because he said he was bigger than him, So he's big. Yeah. Derek Canard, he played back in the in the nineties. Yeah, it's really not a lot of guys that have worned sixty in a game. Backup he played. He played in the in the middle of the nineties. He was like a backup center guard. But he played a lot. He played.

He was a big dude. Uh, I mean, especially bigger than Nate. So that tells you a lot. Yeah. Yeah, you missed yesterday that we didn't talk about fifty No, but dat was on. He was on the show Wednesday night up Crosstalk, Cowboys Crosstalk. He was up there so talking and so he was. He was a good fifty nine. Yeah, he's not alone doing it. He was doing radio in sant Antelo. Yeah. I don't think he is anymore. Now. I should have listened to the show. Shannon would tell

us what he's doing now or Mickey. That's what I thought. I thought he was a restaurant to work to Chick fil A, And yes, you know that's that's actually that's big because I believe if you own a Chick fil A, it means you have to work at Chick fil A's correct for two years. I mean you have to do go through all the steps and stuff like that. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's so. Dat was in there making like hey, yeah, get a doctor pepper Chick because of

Dat can't take your order place. Yeah, something like that. I wish I could have just driven up and been like that, Hey, how are you doing? Cool? Okay number one with fries. Yeah, probably not sponsored, but whatever. And I think they tell you where your restaurant has to be. You can't like, oh, you don't tell him like hey, so you just put in basically say give me all the restaurant and they say, okay, we're gonna put your this location the general area. And they're like, hey, we

want to put one here. Would you like to own that one? Does that make sense? Okay? Can't You can't be like, hey, it'd be great spot to put one right next. Well, basically what you have to do is you have to find a spot. Then you have to find the smallest parking lot in the world to put it right there with it. That's that's I'm telling you. I mean, one of my buddies that said this a long time ago. It's one of the funniest things ever.

He's like, when my son gets old enough to drive, I'm just taking him to a Chick fil a parking lot and let him, you know, maneuver in there, because if you can do it through there, you can get through anywhere. Good point. That is a good point. All right, let's catch up on I would usually we talk about injuries. I only think there's one injury we're talking about this week, Tyren Smith. What are we hearing and what are you expecting to happen come Sunday. I'm start with expecting, Okay,

I'm expecting him to not be there and play. I'm not expecting him to play. Okay. He hasn't done much this week, he hasn't done any practicing, but they're still that they do. They don't practice today, they practice tomorrow. And McCarthy said multiple times today that if he doesn't do anything about him or he's not gonna play. But they're still sort of holding out hope that he can do that. But yes, I guess because it's tiring and because of the nature of the injury, I just have

a feeling he won't play. That's my guess. How guess they're they're gonna keep the same line it. Yeah, I'm thinking in Spanish, I almost starry speaking Spanish. Sorry, the same lineup. I don't if that's good or bad that you were going to do that, because it might mean you have some really strong opinions there um no, but yeah, it sounds like they're gonna keep the same lineup, keeps still on that side, which y'all, I really said it.

I'm not happy with the decision, but don't be better than well, that's what I was going to ask you. I was actually just gonna ask you that, do you think with a week more of work, do you expect him to be better than he was last week? We know he's not tiring. He's not gonna be tiring. That's that's that's not what who he is. But you think he'll be better. Obviously he's gonna keep improving game after game. But I feel like at this point in a mid season,

I'm wanting the least changes as possible. You know, when something is working, I don't want to mess with it. So that's why that's how I see it. Yes, he's gonna be fine, he might hold up. He's gonna keep improving week after week, but We're at the point of the year that I'm like, I'd rather not just put Lyle on less Lyle unless they did try it in practice and he completely butchered the whole day. In let's let's focus on that. I mean, I'm not saying that

that happened, right, but we don't know. But they didn't practice. But Lyle missed the whole season last year. He came back to training camp, came back to preseason games, and the first couple of games he hasn't been great at his normal spot right which right tackle and left tackle is always considered to be harder than right tackle. So if he hasn't if he's come back to his normal spot hasn't been great, what do you think it would

look like on the left side. Yeah, and not only that, but you factor in the fact that they are telling us that this is a shorter term injury. And this is what Bucky was talking about earlier this week. If you want to get Lyle kind of back in the groove on the right side, the last thing you want to do is maybe throw him to the left, and then Tyrn's back in a week or two, and now you got to throw him back to the right. Now

he's not better at the right. He hadn't worked himself back into shape and the right, but he's been trying to do the it just gets very, very convoluted. So it makes more sense just to say, my swing tackle will put him over there, and let's just work with whatever we got to work with. But if he doesn't play well this week, I think you really start you have to look at tie and Seki as a possible

left tackle replacement. Then I'm not sure Tian Seki will be any better than the last week, not either, but I mean, I'm just you have to try something. Do you think do you think part of the issue is also he is on the left side with Connor Williams versus being on the right side with Zach Martin. I mean, and sometimes the guy that you're beside can help because the communication may be better. They may be able to have the ability to kind of help you out a

little bit more in tough situations. Probably, Like do you think that that's a part of this as well? Yeah, I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure it's It doesn't hurt, you know, it only helps to have, you know, And Zach Martin is is the best guard in the league in my opinion, and Carlin Williams is isn't the best guard in the league. That's a great analysis right there. He's not. He's not the best guard in the league. So anymore, there you go. What else? It's so true,

it's like it's yeah, that's that's good. Nick, that's good. All right, let's get into this. We got some storylines later in the show. Also, we got Amber's got a game for us, so we'll do that a little bit later. But let's start with some of these storylines. Here's my first question for you guys. What do you think is the most important key to Dallas's offense getting back on track?

After last week where they were uncharacteristically bad, that they have not had a game like that all season, what do you think is most important key to them getting back to where they were? Well? I think for them, I mean that you could say, you know, be balanced, run the ball, spread it around, you know, all the cliche things you say, but but you know, I think the most important thing. But after a game like that, it's probably just to score early. I'm not saying you

take the ball to start the game. If you win the toss, but I think that you need you know, I think the best thing for them is to score early. If they can get a drive and score early in the game, I think that'll that'll really kind of you know, take them to that to that next level. That's that's to me, the biggest thing, just that flush is that other game out completely. You go, you score, you get a lead, you get back on track, so to speak, and then I think from there they can they can

play in downhill. I think, Um, for me, it's hard to kind of single one thing out, but I would say just what they're doing this week, like refocusing after getting slapped in the face that side of their face, kind of cooling off and being like, Okay, I don't on the other side to be slapped because we have seen them being very much capable of overcoming every single obstacle and we know they can be a really powerful offense in scoring. So it's there, it's there, you know,

you know they have it. So I think that's just it comes down to them being humble, refocused, prioritizing and having their game plan figure it out. I trust Kellen Moore. I trust he's what he's been doing this year and

coming up with creative ways to move the ball. So to me is that but if I had to pick something specifically in the game, is just mainly what happens in the old line, given that the protection he needs, even because we saw a last game and that's how we were talking about, well, the ankle is great because he had to run several times he got to Yeah, he was running out of the podcast because there was

no protection there. So I would say if there is any kind of hesitation with him trying to connect with the guy, is just comes down to the old line, just trying to be as solid as possible. Yeah, you know, the one thing I'll point out if there was one thing that changed that they could change from last week to this that I think would make the difference, it would be Dak and Dak playing at the level that

we're accustomed to seeing. Dak. We've heard some you know, he talked yesterday and talked about how footwork wasn't great sometimes throwing off the back foot. Those are the kinds of mechanics that I think sometimes as as fans, we don't always think about when a guy is coming back those kind of things. You think, well, they can just jump right back in but not having the repetitive motion of doing it daily as you've been doing all season,

all the way back to minicamp. Right getting away from that, even for a week or two, there's a difference. Your body just loses some of that muscle memory, and that especially when you're talking about these are split second decisions. Like literally these guys are like you. They said he had We were looking at some of the stats. He had a long time in the pocket this games. He

had three seconds versus two. Think about that, like, you're having to make decisions so fast and having to do things so quickly that if your muscle memory isn't on point to where your body is just reacting versus you know, versus you having to think about it and do it,

that makes a difference. And so I think if Dak is better this week, even though there were some drop balls last week, I think if Dak is better, there's less a percentage chance that even if they have some drop balls that they won't connect on some of those plays that would have made a difference last week against that team. So I think if Dak is better, I think they get this offense backrolling. It was a second worst completion percentage game of his career and the worst

when it doesn't snow. I mean, the other one was a snowy game against the Giants his rookie year, which by the way, they had won eleven straight when they when they played that game, and so here they are, you know, sixth straight. But the big difference obviously with him coming back from injury and the guy's being out and the receivers being out, and it just it just was a perfect storm to be terrible all the way across the board. We're joined by David Hellman coming from

talking to coach mart Did he give you anything good? Um? Yeah, you want to throw some of that out there? Trade keep going up on these octaves, trade secrets, trade secrets. I'll talk about it in the break. Yeah, there we go. Good. Hey, maybe sprinkle some of it in there. No one today, what's up? All right? Yeah? I just information sessions, we'll

call them. They're very useful. All right, Well, I'll throw the question of you go through these guys, Uh, if you could identify one thing, what would be the most important key for Dallas this week for their offense to get back on track. I mean, I'm sorry if this sounds glib, But how about just like play good football. And I don't mean like, I don't mean because they lost. I mean they all played terribly. Like Dak's footwork was off. Amari Cooper dropped his only his first first drop of

the year, first time he's been targeted and didn't catch it. Um, you attribute that to focus, So they're more focus focus, rust, especially in Dak's case where he can't do or wasn't able to do as much because of the calf injury. Probably focused, Probably pressing because the game started off against you and you're just scrambling to try to catch up.

Like I know, like I said, that sounds almost like a smart Alec reply, But I don't think anybody on the entire offense played a sound game, and I think correcting that would go a long way. I am not to take too much credit away from the Broncos, but they didn't do themselves any favor with their own play. All Right, We're gonna go ahead and take our first break. When we come back, We're gonna dive a little bit more into some of the storylines heading into this game.

Particularly we're gonna talk about the pass rush and what the Cowboys need to do in order to get some pressure on Matt Ryan. We'll do that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. Before there was a draft, you could size up a cowboy by three simple factors. Decrease at his hat, the bend of his brim, and his unbending attitude a man. Stetson didn't just protect him from what life through at him. It projected a rugged, unstoppable spirit. Stetson hats are still American,

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Back to the break give the gift of the Cowboys the season with the Dallas Cowboys United membership presented by Globe Life. It's the ultimate fan experience for the ultimate Cowboys fan. Memberships start at just twenty dollars. Visit Dallas Cowboys dot com slash united to get yours today. Welcome back. It is the second segment of the Break Life in the SWUBC Mortgage Studios. At the start, would talking big

picture storylines heading into Cowboys versus Falcons my neck. My second question for you guys is, well, Dallas get pressure on Matt Ryan without Randy Gregory or DeMarcus Lawrence. And if so, how nick Um those guys are gonna have to PLU mean the bash him and Armstrong and Gholston. I mean they're gonna have to uh do their job on the outside and wherever they put Parsons, wherever that is. He's gonna have to, you know, to be as good

as as as he's been. Oh yeah, man. And the thing about quarterbacks like this, Matt Ryan and you know Eli Manning kind of I mean, they're they're they're they're not gonna beat you with their athleticism, but they know how to get rid of the ball, So you know, I mean, to me, the best, the three guys that are gonna help the pass rush of the most are

gonna be Anthony Brown, Trayvon Diggs, and Jordan Lewis. If they can get their guys locked in and not get beat early on and force him to make some tough decisions, then I think that's going to help the pass rushmore than anything. I'm gonna say. No, Matt Ryan is very good at getting rid of the ball. Like Nick just said, like a quarterback who knows where he wants to put the ball before it's even snapped is always going to be tough to sack. That's why Brady doesn't take a

lot of sacks historically. I just hope. So. No, I don't think they're gonna be able to consistently pressure him, but I don't need it all the time anyway. If if and I'm looking at Micah Parsons specifically, I'm sure they're gonna use him as a blitzer. I'm sure he's gonna do some situational edge rush and I don't even

need you to sack him. I just need you to make him uncomfortable enough that the throw is off or he's got to get rid of it, or he's got to check it down when he's looking for something else. If Micah Parsons can do that a couple a handful of times in crunch situations, red zone, end of half scenarios, that's good enough considering what they're lacking. But I don't think they're gonna be able to consistently pressure him in the flow of the game. I guess we'll have to

tune in on Sunday the game. No, but I just don't see any other That's what McCarthy said yesterday. He was like games at noon. Oh, I'm sorry, Wow, you are on one. Did not didn't pick that up at all. I'm sorry, I'm bad and dumb. I'll go in the corner. But I just don't see any other way with like them being successful without using the help of Micah and

everything that Dave said. And I know your Nick is not necessarily a fan of that idea, and he wants it to be you know, here and there, but not fully. But I just it's it's kind of like pick your poison type of not pick your poison. What nothing I was telling Derek. I want to talk when you're done oh, don't be distractable. No, but it depends, okay, which which area of the field are you willing to sacrifice a

little more. You know, these eyes in the backfield are gonna need help from whatever pressure they can create up front. So I would rather create as much pressure as I can, even though it's not gonna be easy, but with a guy like Mica and relieve some of what's been happening, you know, some of the all the work on the backfield. So other than that, I just don't see how it's fully successful. I think Dave. I think it was Dave that said it best. I don't change my whole tune.

I don't really care where Parsons lines up. He needs to play eighty to ninety percent of the snaps. Don't this rotating him at forty to fifty percent like to happen in the Charger game. I'm not okay with that. He needs to be on the field. There were some two point conversions in that game. There were plays where he just wasn't out there because it wasn't his turn. Now he needs to play lineback if it's almost a linebacker and moving around. That's what I want him to do.

I want him on the field. So wherever that is, let's get him on the field. All right, Let's go onto the next question. How much does the move from Zeroline to Hira lah Who Hallelujah hurt your earliest. I can't say that. I can't say Hira lah Who because I can't say that. I just said it good, not the other word. That Christmas word doesn't come out. An he can't say it. It doesn't. It doesn't come out. Okay, I can't do it. It's terrible. But Hira lah who's working? Yeah,

we were there like Amber. You just said it right now, Hira la Who. We're good. The whole show can say Hira lah Who. Yeah, we're all good. I'm good. All right. So how much does the move from Zeroline to Hira La affect Hira lah who affects Dallas on special teams? And I'm talking about field goals, talking about extra points and I'm talking about kickoffs, canny watermelon, I mean, can he do that? Does he has to? It's not gonna be good. I say, I hope he doesn't need to, right,

I mean, that's it's another McCarthy. We'll see will I mean, how can you do this guy's never kicked. He's never kicked a game, he never kicked in an NFL game, he's never kicked in America, I mean, like in the NFL. But a position like that, how much does it really really change to practice? Okay, but my point is when you're looking at a position like that, you know, because we can talk about receivers, tackles, but oh, it's very very different compared to practice when you're in a game.

But then for a kicker, how much does that really change when like comparing practicing game in high school people, you had to do a speech, you did it in front of your mirror, you rocked it, and then you stood up there in front of twenty eight people, and it's, oh, this is a guy that has but this is not the same thing. But this guy has six years of experience in the CFLs Day said, like, I didn't look up the numbers, but you said, get a decent number

of people at those stadiums fifty sixty thousand people. So this is not something that he's unfamiliar with when it comes to even the crowd aspect. Right, But true, all that is true. I just know that every year they don't just take the All Star kicker from the CFL and put him in the lead. It just doesn't happened. There's always an All Star kicker. It doesn't always move to the NFL. It's gonna be different. And I think we're fooling ourselves if we don't think it is. But

we'll see. He might just he might just go out there and rocket. Those numbers are good. Those are good numbers, I think more than more than the crowd. Conditions for a kicker matter more. And so he's kicked through that. I like what There are no conditions at AT and

T Stadium pretty much. I mean can be if they decided they want to open the doors, and they might actually again, I mean that's what That's what they banked on last year was that, you know, help with COVID and all that has opened those doors, get the air going through. They haven't always done it this year, no, I think they've done it twice. It did last game, they did it last week. Never opened the roof though, most gorgeous day you could ever ask for, But they're

not going to open them. They don't even when it's a beautiful day like I thought that would be the norm, and when a beautiful day, they'd open it. I just that's just not It's not a thing. They don't like the roof open for whatever reason, only if they get asked by ESPN or NBC for a night game. Yeah, I don't think. I don't know if the roof's ever been open for a day game. I'd have to look that up. I don't know that it has because you

can tell by the by the sunlight on there. It's there's been some That's what I like about it is it looks like Texas Stadium when they do well what's I figured they'd open it a lot to make it look like Texas Stadium. But whatever. Um, I'm curious about the kickoff aspect with Lerim. I don't know if he's got the leg strength to consistently banging out of the

back of the end zone. And Cordarrel Patterson has Hall of Fame credentials as a kick returner, so fearless, he's I mean, he's great, he will, he will if he gets to eight yards deep. He's coming out right pretty much. He's always done that. He's not afraid. And I if anybody's got the green light, you would guess that it's him, so just something to watch. I'm not I'm not saying he's gonna have a touchdown, but I just it makes

me curious. What's harder for you to spell Hira law Who or Cordurel Patterson Hira law who, just because I didn't know who he was until a month ago, Whereas Patterson's been in the league for he actually his name though. I mean, it's like there's two rs, three ls, and he was even it's one one R, no one are the first time, two hours, the second time, two ells and two els, two ells. I didn't a little, he wrote. They wanted to draft him. They I was gonna. I

wrote yesterday about all the recent It's eerie. I wrote a whole column about it. Just the Cowboys and Falcons have occupied an eerily similar place in the NFL hierarchy. Like they haven't been good consistently over the last decade, but when they have been good, they've been good at the same time. Their records have been similar, so they're always around each other. You know. Atlanta traded up for Tack McKinley, which is who Dallas wanted. They settled for Taco.

They took aj Tarrell which opened the door for the Cowboys to draft CD and then yeah, even going I remember the um, well that's not Atlanta, do Dave. But anyway, Minnesota drafted Patterson right out from in front of Dallas, and I remember Derek Dooley, who coached Adderson at Tennessee, was furious. He was just like, they're taking all our guys.

What is happening here? So it's interesting how those guys take it so personally, which is whenever you get your guy taken, they took our God, that's what makes the draft fun. I mean a lot of things make the draft fun, but yeah, it's it's interesting the way. Same thing. Um, Calvin Ridley was a guy we talked about a lot the year he came out, and they opted for Layton, and then five or six spots later Atlanta took Ridley. So just a lot of a lot of weird coincidences

with these two teams. Let's get one more question, a big picture question. Who has a great advantage due to familiarity? Dan Quinn or Matt Ryan? Uh? True? Um, I asked you. I gotta asked this question yesterday. I think it's um, Matt Ryan has it has more of an advantage. I think just seeing concepts and style of the way that that dan Quinn likes to play. I know he's got different personnel, but I think when you're a quarterback, like like Matt Ryan, you've had to be a student of

the game for a long time. I feel like he will be able to kind of I mean, just be able to understand the approach of what Quinn's trying to do more so than Quinn can do it with Matt Ryan. Because do you think he's running the same the same defense here as what he ran in it later? No? I mean which I would I would say Quinn, because unless Quinn's been lying to us, he he's talked a lot about how he's completely revamped this whole thing. It's a he's not just running Seattle cover three. That's not

what he does. I'm talking about being distractable, right, Um, So I'd say Quinn just began. I mean to be fair, Ryan's in a different scheme with different personnel as well, but you just develop such a level of familiarity with your quarterback coaching there for six years. Yeah, And I just think dan Quinn just as an example, It's like I know a slot blitz and this part of the field is going to mess with him or what I mean.

That's just generic example, But like dan Quinn knows his tendencies, he knows his body language, he knows what rattles him and what doesn't. And Matt Ryan knows a lot about dan Quinn obviously, but it's just all different personnel and according to Quinn, a very different scheme from what he was doing when he was still a head coach. So

I think I would bet on Quinn. I would agree with that mainly because I'm looking for from the like experienced perspective and like, who's the coach here, who's the one that And I'm not saying obviously a quarterback has to study and he has experience too, but as far as like who invested, that is his job full on one thousand percent. So I would imagine that dan Quinn would be the one to actually benefit the most in this scenario. But it'll be fun, it would be fun

to watch and actually see what actually happens. I just think when you're out and you're practicing, you know, and you're practicing against the defense, like he's actually seeing their concepts more when you're I mean I don't know how many times that dan Quinn's actually studying how to stop Matt Ryan. No, but what he does know, and this is the part where I think I agree on on Matt Ryan on dan Quinn being having the advantage is any successful head coach in the NFL has to know

his quarterback really, really well. And that means I think Dave hit it on the on the head when he said, you know his body language, how he responds in certain situations, what he's trying to do when he gets a little bit rattled, when he gets into those are the kinds of things that a head coach has to read from his quarterback to know, Okay, how do we keep him out of bad situations? That's the part where you don't have He doesn't know that about dan Quinn necessarily, right.

It's like he doesn't know the body language part and all that he's gonna be. He's gonna be up in the press box something, not the press box, but up in the coaches boot so he's not gonna even see him. So I just I just think it's it's it's just a familiarity. It's just kind of knowing. We all know people, you know, well, you can kind of see on their face when things aren't going right, and you know how they typically respond in those situations. You know what things

really push their buttons. And so it's those kind of things that are that are more mental that I think that I'm more mental that can create some problems for Ryan that may not be the same for for dan Quinn. Disagree, just like I did yesterday. Good, all right, we're gonna take our final break. We come back. We got a little game, and we got some questions for us. We'll get to those when we come back. This is Dallas

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The zero you deserve is finally here. Before there was a draft. You get sized up a cowboy by three simple factors. The crease at his hat, the bend of his brim and his unbending attitude a man, Stetson didn't just protect him from what life through at him. It projected a rugged, unstoppable spirit. Stetson hats are still American, made with pride. Right here in Texas. There's still the unofficial crowd of all self respecting Cowboys, and Stetson is

proud to be on the field with America's team. Find a retailer nearest to you at Stetson dot com slash Cowboys Back to the Break all Right. Registration for holiday youth camps is now open. Don't miss the Dallas Cowboys Football Academy and Cowboys Cheerleaders Dance Academy camps on December twenty first at the Star and twenty second at AT and T Stadium. Spaces limited Register today at Dallas Cowboys dot com slash Academy. That is cheer camps and football camps,

Singing camps. If they're singing camps, singing camps, yeah, there could be. You think the Cowboys are gonna have a singing here, They could. I mean, if it's they're gonna make money, they have any kind of camp. Really, that is a fair point. That absolutely makes money around here printed and know how to print it. They got a printer sitting in the back. All right, welcome back. It is the final segment of Break Live from the SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star Amber. It's your turn. Got

a game for us. You got some questions, Let's go which is there? All questions kind of more since we're mid season, just general overall, not necessarily focused on this game for this weekend. Okay, okay, So if they always where to lose another game, which one do you think would hurt them the less, the least least? Yes, which one would you prefer them to if they had to lose another game? Which opponent it was losing the AFC

always lose the game? That's going to affect the You got two operations, got a specific team, Well, they've got two AFC teams on the horizon right here. So I think those are their last AFC games of the year, right yeah, because they've already played Denver in LA and New England. So yeah, and I said that, Yes, Look, I'm not I don't believe in bad juju anyway, I'm

not trying to put this out into the world. But like they could lose, like they could lose all three of these and they would still everything they need to do would still be out in front of them. Division schedule is backloaded. They still got to play four of the six division games. I think they could lose all three and probably still have the division lead depending on what happens with the other teams. And I know that's not what anybody wants to hear after a six and

one start, but that's what we always talk about. Like football is it's a living, breathing season, right, Like you could suck for the next three weeks and then get Randy and DeMarcus Lawrence back and all of a sudden, your pass rushes humming and all this other stuff is happening and everything's still out in front of you. So that's a long answer, But like they could, they could have a real slump here and it still wouldn't affect

their ability to accomplish the Chiefs. Chiefs would be the word would hurt them the least, I think, more than the Raiders. And the reason why I would say that is because I kind of want them to get on a I think they need to have the positive momentum of the Raiders game to get a win so the least would be, you know, you go out there and you beat Kansas City, then they'll be printing Super Bowl tickets again. And then you go in four days already lose the Raiders. I mean that's just like here we

go again. I think if you know, you lose the Chiefs, they're going to figure it out. They got a great quarterback, they got a great crowd, coach, all that on the road, But come back four days and go and beat the Raiders. I think that would, like you said, help the momentum. So if it's one of the other, I would say Chiefs, ye. Well.

And then within the division, I mean there's no such thing as a good division loss, but um, it's almost you have to figure out who do you think is the worst team in the NFC East and loose to them, because then like you want to beat the team you think has any shot if there is one, of getting back into the division race. I mean, I'm always going to be leary of Washington. Just be like, they haven't

had their quarterback. He's gonna come back. It's one point, and I know the defense has been bad, but again, you can figure things out as the season goes, and so them, and but then like it seems like Philly might be sort of getting their act together. I can't tell. I know, it's all these seems like you're just like they look bad, but you never know. There's something good about that though too. They all like kind of have the arrow pointed up. Maybe not Washington just yet, but

you think that they might. But the good thing is is they got to play each other. That's always a thing. They always kind of beat each other, just like just like it's tough with the Cowboys beating them, because you know, the division games are always tough. But if they just kind of hold serve at home and win their games and that kind of stuff, that'll just keep them at that level down there, and they hope, you know, hopefully

the Cowboys can if they get there. If New York gets Saquon back and he's healthy, I actually think that could make a big difference. They're not playing horrible football right now. Their defense is actually pretty good. I just I look at them and I'm like, man, they really just need that. They need that offensive player that can make big plays for them. They don't have that right now in their offense. I don't think they got a lot of receivers that are kind of miss hit or miss.

They don't have a guy they can rely on at office to make me play for I'm out on them until Daniel Jones does something to prove that I should think that he's good. He's not great. I don't think he's good. So this is the second time the Cowboys have faced the team that picked up a road win at New Orleans the week before, Right, didn't the Giants do that, beat them on the road? Point? I think about that, And then the Atlanta did the same thing. And there they come in and just beat the Saints.

And it's funny too, and I'm not saying anybody's wrong, but these things have residual effects. It's like they went into the Dome and beat the Saints and it's like, well, are these the Saints that were that really terrified you? No, Saints are probably the most maddeningly inconsistent team in the NFL. Right, and they got five wins. Yes, that's amazing, Like, yeah, we're messing up the game. Let's go, let's play the game.

That's the whole point. But um, injury wise, up until this point of the season, which injury do you think will have affected the Cowboys the most. We're talking about right up until right now, Yeah, because we don't know really what's going to happen. I mean, not having he was your best defender when the season started. Not having arguably your best defender for the entire season at this point, I'm sure has had an effect. The flip side of that is, it's exciting that you're getting him back at

some point. But when DeMarcus, when you suck that one without him, yeah or six, how much better could they have been? Instead? We'll see. I mean, well, Brandy hasn't missed any time yet, he missed one game. You're saying, you're up until now, right now with the injuries that we currently know, and we know that Randy my miss like what three elite maybe he's gonna miss three games,

So I miss, I think I'm misunderstanding the question. I thought you were talking about the biggest thing that's happened to this point in the season, well, including the injuries that we currently know of. I will into Marcus Larrence. I would actually I would go the other day because I would think about it from a standpoint of consequence. As you get back, they haven't played with DeMarcus all season and the defense has been markedly better than it

was last year. That doesn't mean when he comes back, they're not going to be even better, you would think, and he's going to add something that they don't have. But I look at Tyren Smith and last week his replacement was a problem. And if you want to go even farther and get a little bit, you know, a little bit crazy with this, maybe you even say the

injuries heard him most has been Dak. Because Dak's return last week, the product of how he played might have been he didn't play like that because of the Bronco right, I'm sorry. I mean they played well, but I think the fact that he was missing time and all that, I think that certainly affected him more than Denver. I was focusing on defense because there have been so many

more injuries on defense. But that you're right now, I think Tyrn's the right answer because I have all the confidence in the world that Dak that was just a blip, like whatever you want to call I don't. I'm not worried that he's gonna play early on Sunday. I am worried about what the tackles are going to look like. On Sunday, Randy missed the second game of the year.

Is that what happened? Yeah, with COVID. Yeah, and then so they went into the Chargers with okay, and they lost to Marcus the same week they I mean, they were in this situation week two as well. Let me throw this at you, though, do you think maybe Zach Martin would be considered because the game he missed. I think if they would have had him, their running game probably would have been a lot better, and maybe they win that close game against Camp with us start the season.

I don't think you're wrong, but I can't just go there, you know, just don't guarantee you Yeah, yeah, but wouldn't like they were horrible. They just didn't. And it's Brady and it's the reigning champs playing on Banner Night. Oh no, man, I mean they get if they get it. I mean we're talking like one play, Yeah, one play, either they run the ball in front of touchdown or or at that final drive they just get one more first down,

one more first down, then another short field goal. Actually well you know, and sometimes an all program yard can just help you like that, Like I mean, if they would have got one more first down, bleed the clock down, kick a field goal, win the game. But then who knows that they go and play the beat the Chargers. That's what I mean, that's just the way of this.

You can make fun of me all you want, ag but I believe in the law of averages implicitly, Like if they beat Tampa, they for some reason, they're not going to five win. They're not. Yeah, they're not seven and oh because because of that one thing. There's I just there's too many weird factors in the NFL. If you have to pick one thing, what would be the biggest fix that this Skyways team needs for the rest of the season healthy tyrants Man, please please tyrant I

would say short yardage. Yeah, figure out short yardage because right now they're not very good in those situations. Figure out how to if you got to get to a fourth down and one fourth and one fourth and two, figure out how to pick that up and you got you got enough pieces on this offense to be able to consistently do that, and they're not consistently doing it. Yeah, I agree with that. I think that's the right answer.

Center guard in the middle there and there's no doubt and you know, we can say all we wanted about what. Washington doesn't look very good. The last two times the Cowboys a face Washington, it was not pretty. Now the offensive line doesn't look the same. Jack Martin hadn't hasn't played guard in any of those games. Tyran Smith didn't play in those games. But I mean that's the last time we saw Washington. They were scoring more more points than the Cowboys offense. Was seemed like the defense was

scoring all these points. So Dak was missing from those games too, that's worth bringing up. Yeah, fair, but I mean you can't block them. He can't block them though. Yeah, but I don't know that that first one, the first Washington game just was ridiculous. Like the line was a mess. Dalton got concussed in like the second quarter. Nobody cared. Yeah, I mean I think that looks like that hurt. And I'm sure the that was they wasn't it. That was the week after Dak, right, Yeah, there was such a

hangover on that team. They that's throw that game out completely anyway. Okay, Uh, we know a lot of guys are under this is their contract year, so biggest priority for the Cowboys going into free agency. Oh god, there's so many good choices on Randy. Randy, Randy. You get Randy. Everybody else is like, Okay, maybe we want you, maybe we don't. I don't know. If I could serve anybody, it would be Randy. And it's yeah, he plays the

most valuable position of any of them. The story's so good, just the way the way that their patients paid off with him. And he's still a relatively young player in terms of age and the amount of football he's actually played. One him, you can keep him like, you can just tag him and you don't even have to worry about it. I just I don't I don't remember when it happened, but I suggested that in the spring. I'm just saying I was like, he could play his way into a

franchise tag and I feel like nobody agreed with me. Right, well, we just ignore you. Sometimes it's fairly busy thinking out other things. Okay, all right, find the clip, I'll go find it. Receipts. I'm fine with that answer. I just wonder if you're that means you have two pass rushers or one. That's what I wonder worst. While you do it, can you keep tank if you do that? I think you can. Yeah, look at look at the rams. They

figure it out. Okay, if you're willing to just completely mortgage everything and cannon ball into the pool, you can do whatever you want. Yeah, And I'm not saying that's definitely a bad idea. You just gotta be committed. I mean, at some point, you look at this team, you say you got a lot of talent. Man, at some point you say, push them all in. See what happens. Sean mcfaih is gonna get fired in three years. They're gonna be three and fourteen or three and fifteen, and they're

gonna be you know, it's gonna talent depleted. And yes, like, well what happens. It's like, what do you mean? What happened? They went all in the twenty twenty one and they got bounced in the playoffs and then they ended up not drafting it. I mean, even what they did a quarterback that's an older quarterback, that's and I'm thinking another four it's worth. I mean, you know, they're gonna have two or three years to try to win a super

Bowl with this roster, and if it works, nobody's gonna care. Yeah, true, especial if it works multiple times, like he will, It'll be okay, It'll be fine. Yeah, it's it's I think it's I love it. I'm I'm fascinated by it because if it works, it could severely change attitudes in the league about that type of stuff, because that the reason people don't do that more often is because football is

so hard to predict. Like you could push your chips in the middle of the table and Tony Romo breaks his back during a preseason game and all of this hard work is undone by a flukey play. But the Eagles did it. They won a Super Bowl and didn't change many hearts and minds? Did did they go all in? It seemed like that year they were just like it seemed like they were doing then what the Rams are doing now, where they were just like, I think, pick

up this guy, pick up this guy up. The Eagles added a lot of talent, but it wasn't as you think it was. His drastic drastick is a better word. I was about to say reckless. The Ms are this is the Rams are drastic the ram Yeah, I mean it borders on reckless, which it's gonna I just I wonder if it works out I think you have to start having conversations about like, how do we overvalue draft picks? Do we? But do we worry too much about the future when you have an opportunity in front of you.

But the thing is is Odell's gonna have to fit in up there. He has to. He has to change some of the ways that he's you know, reportedly you know, been acting in Cleveland, and and he's gotta you know, if he didn't get the ball enough there, he's gonna have to, you know, make sure he gets the I mean, but I think he I would like to think that he will, you know, I'd like to think he picked them. They got They got a lot of receivers, a lot

of good receivers. They do. But they're but you know, when you're winning, you can you can, you know, kind of deal with that kind of stuff. But we'll see, we'll see. I've made the point. I don't remember when I said it. I just I think O'Dell and Dez are very very similar players and people. I think, Yeah, I mean, if they're they're winning twelve or thirteen games, I think he'll be fine having a role. But when they hit choppy water, that could be a problem. He's

gonna be healthy. Yeah, I mean, if he's that's the big thing. We saw he's still he'd still be running in that reverse against them last year. You know, God, I mean you know he was healthy and he and he showed it. All right, real quick. You don't have to you don't have to go to me. I've done it. Nicks at thirty one, we said it's thirty five thirteen, thirty five thirteen. All right, yeah, all right. So here's the thing you got to remember. Garrett nuss Meyer is

gonna get in on Saturday night. They're gonna let him play because the season's a watch anyway. Jalen Catalan's hurt, Arkansas's secondaries kind of where we go, Let's go. He's like, he's very athletic, he can run around, extend plays. He's got a cannon arm. I think it's gonna be high scoring. I think Lsu wins a shoot. Nust Meyer is that Nuss Yes, Nuss's kid is gonna play. He's probably not gonna start. So I don't like thirty thirty one twenty

seven Tigers. But people that don't know he saw an Lsu versus Arkansas and and we do have a bet on that? Will you here Tuesday when we make What color is the jersey that it brought us? Jersey? Purple? Okay, so Nickolie to be wearing a white LSU jersey on Monday or Dave will be wearing a Arkansas razorback head gear? No, right, we will have facebook. Yah, you bring the face. This is the closest Arkansas has ever had a chance to win this game. You know, I think I cannot wait?

What time is the game? Six thirty? Yeah? Arkansas is a road Arkansas is a road favorite. That's disgusting. Come on, what's going road favorite? They've been the better team this year? Been Arkansas has been the better team this year. It'll it'll it'll be a fun though. I think I think we got it. It'll be more fun Monday and it will be we'll see, Oh, trust hope. But I hope that freshman play, I really do. I mean, he could be great, but I wouldn't mind the freshman quarterback being

out there. Dave, you want to give me a prediction out Boys games? Yeah? Um, I think. I mean. The one thing I know is Dallas is going to play a better game. Like I said, no, disrespect to the Broncos. I think it was way more about what they didn't do than what Denver did. Uh, it's gonna be tough. It's the NFL. Losing gr Randy doesn't help. The Falcons offense has the potential to blow up on you. Um. But I think Dallas is they're better. They're going to

play a better game. I do think it's gonna be kind of stressful. I got thirty eight twenty seven shootout, Cowboys win, But definitely it's gonna be a stressful affair. Okay, Yeah, I think the defense is not it's gonna have a hard time. I just think that without Randy that's just gonna kind of mess things up for them. But I think that the offense will pick it up and do their job for both eyes of the ball. They're gonna be throwing touchdown passes even to a point conversion in there.

Why not Cowboys win? M thinking like thirty twenty six twenty six? All right, I also think the Cowboys will win. I think it will be a game that I kind of agree with Nick. I think Cowboys will come out and they will be highly motivated, and I think they'll be very focused and I think the better team will win. I think they win thirty one calling for the blowout, yeah,

I think thirty one to like sixteen. I think it's gonna be one of those games it's kind of lopsided and Cowboys just kind of take control early and take it, just run away with the game. I don't think I'll be close. Monday is gonna be forget LSU Arkansas. Monday is gonna be so rough. If if we're wrong, Hey, if we're wrong, then the whole tone of the show next week will be very different than anything we've experienced this. It's gonna go like it will change every single flip.

We're gonna go from planning out Super Bowl parades to when does the draft show sea We maybe having those kind of conversations. All right, Appreciate you guys, Joannas be back next week for Nick Even, Dave helm and Ambergarcia. I am Derek Eagleton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.