Cowboys Break: Blitzing Brady?

practice today and who wasn't um. The main guys have been out of practice and one of the biggest returns would be Connor Williams, who has been spotted out there doing some things after a nice scope last week. Thoughts on this, That's pretty impressive, legitimately shocking. Yeah, I was not expecting to see that. But he's out there running went the first team. It's been eight days since he had surgery on his knee. So was he doing like rotating with Xavier or just talk over and as we

always say, I mean we saw fifteen minutes. They don't really get into the nitty gritty of playing football. While we're out there. It's mostly position drills and you know, warm up reps. So I don't know what it's going to look like when they actually go through their game plan for today. But he's I mean he had a scope on his knee eight days ago. That's great. I mean even Michael Gallup needed like three weeks. I think

Gallup missed two games. You know, Gallup obviously is running routes and true, you know, that's what you do the entire game. You can't really have a big bulky knee brace there. You could do that probably with Connor Williams if you wanted to. That is also assuming he's head and shoulders above the guy behind him. But I think they believe that he is. The Cowboys believe that Connor Williams is definitely a better player than Zabor Supilo. So yeah,

I think you're right. What you see from last game when they were playing against the Lions. Do you notice where you I know I heard you say you were going to watch that position. Did you notice a significant there. I didn't notice any big problems with him on the passing game. I thought he did actually a good job there. They didn't run the ball well and so it wasn't just on him, but he didn't provide as much of

that strength and push as you would have wanted. Collectively, they didn't run it well, but they also made sure that the Cowboys weren't going to run on them. That was something that the Lions did. So I'm not sure if if you know, Nate Newton and Larry Allen, Larry probably would have pushed people around. But yeah, you know, I'm just not sure if anybody was going to be able to run the ball the way the Lions were playing. So when that happens, you have to throw for four

forty four. That's what you have to do, and you have to be the NFC Offensive Player of the Week if you're the quarterback and you're not going to take away your running game like that. I'm curious, Like we just said what this means. I mean, Connor's out there. That doesn't mean that he's going to play against the Patriots. We'll see. Um, it's a good sign. Another guy though that is important for the line and wasn't out there today.

Le Collins, he's dealing with you know, he got h I mean, yeah, that's that's the thing is like Lyle told me after the game, He's like, yeah, my back flared up. It's you know, it's the thing I was dealing with leading into the game. But then they're saying it's his knee, and that was something that was already aggravating him too. Like these guys are just beat to hell. Man. We were told on the plane that he had reaggravated

the mcl sprain. They're gonna watch it this week, but you just got the sense from the trainers and from Jason Garrett that it was a positive thing. It's going to be okay, just just from a sense of he'll probably be able to play. I think that they think he can play now, but I also think he probably

won't show up on the field until Friday. Here's what's not good is that you're facing the best defense, the best team in the league, the best team over the last twenty years, and they are a very physical team, and so they're gonna do everything they can to play this game. And I'm not trying to look ahead of

the best team of all time. But you got a game in four days after that, Yep, you know it's it's you might take everything you have to get through this game, and even that might not be enough for win. And think I've turnedund to play a really physical Buffalo team in four days. It's a really good point. It's

a tough stretch right there. From we've seen that. I mean, I think they've had good luck on Thanksgiving the last few years, but I remember in fourteen who they yeah, and they they sold out to win the game before Philly and the Eagles came in on Thanksgiving him beat beat him up because they were Yeah, it was I mean, it was a short week, and that was the year Romo was balanced. I'm sorry, it's actually it's kind of yeah, he was managing his back, but it's it's a little

bit comparable because they went up to New York. That was the Odell game, the Dez game at Ride and High. You get this impressive win against the Giants, and then they just they were hurt and flat and and got beat pretty bad by the Eagles in that game. So that is, of course, you're not going to look past playing the New England Patriots in Gillette Stadium. But it's gonna be tough to turn around and play a good Bills team, right It's gonna be tough for those guys.

That are like the Lyle Collins of the world, and maybe maybe that's not what they do. You know, maybe they look at it and say, we're not doing that. We're gonna, We're gonna. Actually, if they're not one hundred percent healthy, let's see if they can get healthy for next Thursday. You'd hate to say that when you're playing the Patriots, but surely the smart thing to do that then this. I mean, I'm so to finish off the injury stuff. Amari Cooper, Tank, Lawrence, Jeff Heath, they were

all out there. That's great Amari. Actually this is the first time he's practiced on a Wednesday in a few weeks, so that's positive. But again, how's he going to feel on Monday morning? And you don't have the benefit of having seven days to get ready. You gotta get ready in three. So that'll be a challenge for everybody. And I mean, sit these guys somebody else and let him play against the Bills. No, you can't, which I typically like.

I like that line of thinking typically, and like you know, load management has taken over the NBA, and we talked about let's think about this. I was about to say, you can't do that in this situation against the team that's good. Sorry, if you feel that you're gonna lose, I mean that's not the mentality basically. But it's like against the Beaches when you're like, Okay, you can't concede, and if you sit guys, I mean, guys will know. Guys will know. If you're starting to sit guys that

are kind of injured but they could play, they're gonna know. Basically, you're conceding this game. You can't do that. I just don't think you can do it. Not saying you're conceding this game, but but let's let's all strategiz. But but let's think about like this. Okay, tomorrow you go to these guys that have been battling with things all year. I'm talking about Zach Martins and Tyren Smiths and all that. Can you play? I'm talking about on Thursday you say,

can you play? No, not today, but I'll be all right by Sunday. That's what you're dealing with next week. So all I'm saying is for a guy like that, and particularly Lyle Collins who was dealing with something last week, it may not be in the best interest to do that because he played this game, he may not be one hundred percent and then you're not gonna get him at all for Thursday. That sounds good. I get your logic. Good point though, point though, still remains that how does

that play in the locker room. I think in the locker room, it'll feel like, well, he could play, Like we know he could play. They're saving him for next week? So what does that say about this week? Are they conceding that we just can't beat them? I think that first of all, if you can play him, say in play, yeah, but I'm gonna argue semantics with you, like, you're not

conceding defeat. You're saying we run the risk of like not having this guy for a longer stretch of time, or do we just sit him for one and then hopefully that helps him be right for the final five. That's not that's not deceding defeat. And I'm not saying they are conceding defeat. What I'm saying is you have to think about the optics and you have to think about how that plays in the locker room with fifty three men, Like that's a part of this. Don't don't

act like it's not. It is a part of this, and if they're looking at it, and the players in there for one minute start to think this guy can play, but they're gonna sit him this week because they figure it's we'd better just to have him for next week, then they certainly start having those conversations. I mean, you guys have been around groups. Anytime you have groups of people, you always have to be concerned about one guy planning

a seat. All it takes is one guy to think that and he said to the guy sitting beside him, and then all of a sudden it becomes a man, Yeah, I think he could play. Why are they not playing that they think we can't win this. There's a lot of stuff that can happen from that. I just don't think it's good for the team dynamic to ever sit a guy that that can play. In this culture, like

in football, it's about if you can play. And we say it all the time, how crazy these guys are for getting out there with some of the injuries they have. But if you can play in a football culture and you decide not to or the team decides not to play you, I think they're always going to be questions. I hate that we're in the weeds on this right now, it's irrelevant. If you can play, he'll play that. I agree. I mean it's all about do you want to got to play two games or one? I mean, that's really

what it comes down to you. Yeah, there's always really the one on one to one right because they just wouldn't play this week and they play next week, right, Or if they play this week, then you're saying they might be ready for next week, but they're ready for the Bears game, right, Yeah, So it's one to one. Either you want to play this week, you want to play him next week unless you heard the guy even worse and it keeps him out even a longer amount of time. So you just never know to every game.

I'm only five five, Like the weeds are so tall above me. I can't see it. I can't deep in the weeds right now? All right, go ahead? All right, Well, I thought you were taking over over you got this thing all right? Right? Well, I wanted to talk about real quick. I don't know if you guys talked about the cornerback position, Anthony Brown being out and who's gonna kind of take over his role in what's going to happen.

There are there any updates on that. They poached a guy by the name of Deonte Burton off the Colts practice squad. He's a journeyman, practice squad type of guy. He's been I mean, he's been in the league for three years. I think he's been in three games at something like like just practice squad kind of guy. I think their hope is that he doesn't have to be active for this game. It's more of a I mean,

you need the fifth cornerback, you need that guy. But you know, it's not like a sign him on Wednesday, throw him into the game against Tom Brady on Sunday

type of deal. Hopefully yep. I remember when you sign a guy off a practice squad, it'll be here three weeks, so you have to be here at least for three games, right, So yeah, I think a lot of times though, when they do sign there's a lot of cornerbacks on practice squads, and the Cowboys have two of them that right there is kind of weird to me, Like what does it say for the guys that are know your system and here that are playing that aren't good enough to be

called up? Like when when is it ever going to be good time for Donovan Lumba. I guess not this week. Maybe if he could run a little bit faster. But then the question is why do you have him here? Like, well, is he on the practice squad? You need you have to be able to get through practice. I get that. My point is, is it a situation where he's never gonna be Yeah, he'll be it here for this year and all that because he knows it and that's what

they're doing and all that. He understands the terminology. But there's no sense in probably bringing him back for next year for another go round on this unless he's just kind of banged up or something. But I mean, if I were him, I certainly would be like what the hell? I'm like, Yeah, i'd be what am I doing here? If I'm out here practicing every day and I know

what I'm doing helping them get through practice. Like the cruel reality of the situation is that's the ideas you want to develop these guys, but that they're not all gonna be good enough to call up to the fifty three. And that's what this guy that's played three games and three years is Like. That's again I'm just saying I just think this he if he's better than them, then they got to really be questioning, like what that they

don't see value in me? They are the lumba right now is like he's scratching his head, like I don't know what's going on here. If you're not I mean, if you're not good enough to be secure, the NFL is a sucky job. I mean, it just it is what it is. Like they could they could cut you

right now, Like you're you're making good money. I think, um, somebody wrote a story about this last year, and like I'm not trying to make anybody feel terrible for these guys that make six figures, but practice squad guys like you make like one hundred and twenty thousand dollars before taxes. You can't really like buy a lease or you know, lease in apartment or anything because you don't know how. I mean, they could cut you at a moment's notice, and then you're stuck with a lease on a place

you can't pay. There's no residual money that comes after that when they cut you and cut you right and and they'll bounce you back and forth, so like one week you've got active roster money, one week you don't, uh, and so yeah, like if you're in that situation, it sucks, and I'm sure it probably sucks for for a lumba. And who's the other cornerback? I don't I can't even think of his name. Oh the guy they got from

Georgia Teche or DJ read Jay Jones. You're like, well, yeah, I mean think about that, Like he's throwing out names. If they liked them enough, they could bring them up for this game. And like a fifty three man roster game check is like eighty grand, Like you're basically getting half of your practice squad paycheck for one week's worth the work. And they're like, no, we think this guy might have more juice. Sorry about it. Maybe us on the corner. If you can help us get through practice though,

that would be great. But if you if you suck, we'll cut you. And then you got to figure it out. I mean, it's again business. It pays well, but if you're not good enough to have a guaranteed spot, it can be kind of tough. All right, Well, let's take an early break. When we come back, Dave is going to have his counting rapport and then Nick, I know he has some storylines dealing about the Patriots when we come back. I'm Jay nova Check, former tight end for

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Gill so, so are we gonna win? Just okay? Is not okay, whether it's cheerleaders or your wireless network. At and T is America's best wireless network. Best network based on GWS once sqre SIP number twenty nineteen. Back to the break, Welcome back, Nick, take it away for already for months? Seriously, you had a whole break to and get Renty here we go? Is this what happens when I'm not here? All happens when you are here? There are the storylines that the Patriots are kind of going

through right now. Obviously their offense is not what, you know, what they're used to seeing here. And Brady was very frustrated the other day. It sounded like he was about to jump off a cliff. I think he's been calmed down and realized they're nine in one. But he's he's you know, they hold himself to a higher standard and so that the offense is not something that is on par right now for what the Patriots are used to.

One of the reasons is their red zone scoring. They've only scored a touchdown forty eight percent of the time inside the twenty They ranked twenty fifth in the league. They're hoping that their first round picking to kill Harry who's a big bodied guy. He's been on injured reserve till last week. He came back made his debut. They think he might be an option in there. He's at wide receiver. Why didn't they get it back? That's my

third point. Isaiah Win is coming back off of r He's another first round pick from twenty eighteen, hasn't played a lot. They expect he's going to be active. He may just jump right in and play there at left tackle. They're going to see about that. Another point is that their their defense could be we could be talking about the two thousand and nineteen Patriots like we say some of the other two thousand Ravens maybe the eighty five Bears. I mean, they've been that good. Their first in total

yards allowed and points scoring. On that They've got six total touchdowns on defense and special teams. They've only given up nine on offensive. But they there bucks defense from the early two thousand that were scoring a ton. They were really good, but they were scoring a ton as well. Last point for them is they've won seventeen straight games at home, dating back to October twenty seventeen. Cowboys have

not won there since eighty seven. Don't play a whole lot, but they certainly have never won in this stadium, Gilette Stadium. Not many teams do the It's kind of what's going on with the Patriots there, but I need to look that up. I'm going through for my column tomorrow. Just like who has beaten the Pats at Gillette? Lost two that year in twenty and seventeen, lost the opener to the Chiefs, and then the Panthers came in there and beat them. I know they, I mean they do looking

after them. I know they have, but it's I bet it's not a super long list. Um, that's cool. That's another thing. Yeah, let's just sit everybody, you know, although I will say, I you know, I'm I'm the pessimist. I get that. I already said I'm gonna pick the Patriots, but like I dove into the offense and kind of to Nick's point, I was like, okay, like you can you can beat these guys may the offense. I haven't watched the defense yet, and that's kind of the bread

and butter. That's the bread. A good team. Yeah, don't don't no, only some Miami crap. No. I always yet It's it's tricky because I always try to watch I always try to watch the most recent game, but I feel like if the most recent game isn't super super indicative of who they are, I try to go back. So yeah, like I'm not gonna watch them play the Dolphins. It's a way. I think that's a waste of time. Ravens.

I'm gonna watch him play the Ravens to see what it looks like when somebody kicks their ass, because nobody does that. And I'll probably watch him play the Eagles just because that was the most recent opponent anyway, and they played him tough. The Eagles played him tough. I watched I watched the Eagles game on offense, and then I watched the first half of the Ravens game, and then I went back and watched some of the stuff they did before that. Um, yeah, they're they're they're pretty

mediocre and even bad by their standards. Um, their sixteenth in the league until offense. Which so here's the thing, like we all know they reinvent themselves, YadA, YadA, YadA, big cliche. They've got nineteen running backs. They've been like a sneaky, powerful running team for the last few years. Like they're not even good at that this year because their offensive line has been so banged up. Isaiah Wynn

left in Week two. Another one of their starters whose name I don't think I wrote down it has been out. They also lost their fullback James Devlin. He's been uninjured reserve. They only average three yards per carry. They've got nine hundred yards on the year. Um, so like you know, even with Sony Michelle and like that whole storyline. Sorry, Um, they're they don't run the ball very well. They're twenty fourth in the league. Having said that, they're third in

the league and scoring, which is kind of funny. Um, they scored forty two points off defense and special teams. And that's not even including when defense and special teams gives them short feels. I just mean six touchdowns on the year from defense and special teams. Their average drops a whole four points to twenty four per game when you take that away. And I know, I know you can't because that's part of it, right, you got to protect the ball and all that. But like their offense,

I think it's misleading. Like you would think, like, oh, Brady's averaging thirty points a game, really good. No, the offense is getting a lot of help. They had a game yet this year where they didn't win the terrible battle. You know, I don't know. Actually, you like every week you like, I'm like, I got five pages, I'm killing it. I feel good. And Derek's like, explain to me, they're splits over the last month and damn it. Okay, this is a very horizontal team. In my opinion, they don't

like that. For my money, they lack like real downfield threats. A b was there at the beginning, he's gone. Josh Gordon was there for a while, he's gone. Julian Edelman can go downfield, but he's he's a slot guy. He plays at all three levels, but you don't think of him as a vertical threat. Philip Door said, has speed, but there hasn't been a ton of consistency there. I looked this up. His longest game of the year's fifty eight. He did that in week one. There's not a huge

element of downfield ability. They got Mohammed Sanu in a trade right around the deadline. He hasn't done a lot yet he has in his career. And then nikis the chains kind of got too right. Yeah, I mean he's got speed again. I mean he did wonders with Julio, but obviously Julio is a big part of that equation. Nikkil Harry's coming back off ir He's a big bodied, more of a possession guy. Sixty three, two thirty, like a big bodied Guy'd be interesting to see what he does.

He caught three balls for eighteen last week against the Eagles, so kind of getting his feet wet. When I say they're horizontal, I mean you see a lot of screens from the receivers and the running backs to offset the fact that they don't have that stuff Like James White is probably their most reliable weapon right now. I crunch the numbers on this running backs have caught eighty five balls so far this year. White is caught catching sixty

percent of those. He's got fifty catches already this year. That's the funny thing is like, and I wrote this down too, So they're in eleven perconnel fifty four percent of the time and then they thirty percent of the time. They're running a two back set. So you're like, oh, they got White and Michelle on the field. They got

Burkhead and White. They got Burkhead and Michelle. They can do all this different stuff with all these running back but they seem a lot more predictable than that because Sony Michelle has one hundred and fifty carries on the year, the next best guy has forty, and then James White has forty eight of their eighty five catches, the next best guy has like eighteen. Like Michelle is there running back,

and then they have a committee of pass catchers. And I was kind of surprised that like it wasn't more evenly split, you know, like like when Michelle's on the field, they're probably gonna I mean, if he's gonna get the ball, it's probably gonna be on a run and the other guy's catch. White is super dangerous. You remember him from the Super Bowl. He's got the longest gain of the season for them. Let's talk about Tom Brady. He looks not like the goat and for a variety of reasons.

My main thing, if you've watched the Cowboys play Eli Manning in the downturn of his career, that's kind of what it reminds me of. Like he's a super he's he makes he's smarter than Eli Marry, Like he makes better decisions. He can still get the ball out, he still has really good accuracy. But my main point is, like if you pressure him, he kind of falls apart.

I mean, like I think, I hate to use the word a fraid for a pro football player, but like he doesn't want to take contact, and so like the minute there's pressure, he's looking for a way to get rid of it or or get down and get out of the way. That's that's kind of been them and him his whole career. It has gets him the problems you haven't been able to always get to. You're right, I mean, you're right, and like you can go back to two thousand and seven and like that's how the

Giants beat him. I get that, but like it looks even more obvious because I think and he's never been mobile, but at forty two, like there's just not a lot he can do with a twenty five year old defender putting pressure on him. So are they putting him in situations where he's making bad decisions because of that? Or is it just the thing getting a lot? No, Well, he's taken sixteen sacks, which isn't a ton. But that's what I'm saying, is like he's got so many incompletions.

He threw fourteen first half incompletions against the Eagles the other night, and that's just because like if it's not there immediately and he's worried about something bad happening, he's just throwing it at somebody's feet or throwing it out about. I don't think they have any real playmakers. They don't on this team, and Keelman is, but I'm just saying he's not a guy that's just gonna, you know, throw it fifty yards down the field, go up and make

a play like Galladay did against them. Are you saying there's nobody that really scares opposing defenses that you have to have added. That's why you say they're not very vertical. I mean that's not something that offsets a huge blitz. I mean the Cowboys would be crazy not to get after him. And just you know, I'm anxious to see what they do with Edelman. You know, they have a they have a cornerback right now that nobody's really trying

to touch at all. And maybe it's going to be a situation where Bryan Jones needs to be with Edelman a little bit. Do you think that will happen? Though, Well, yeah, have they done that before. I put him in the slot a lot, Like when when you face the team with their best guy as the slot guy, follow him into the slot A lot? I don't. I mean, here's a guy that played safety, right, I mean he should be able to sort of do it. I'm not saying he's great at slot Barmon Jones. I'm just saying that

though I really want to. I want to see. I know where you're gonna have one time one Jordan Lewis one and not so much because I think like maybe Edelman will win some He Edelman will definitely win something. He's a great player, but like the yapping and the extracurricular just sounds way too entertaining not to and I

want to just see for myself. I want to see how good Jordan situation where he's about to have to play a good part in the game, and can he take that step, because that's gonna tell I think it's it should tell you a lot about what the Cowboys should be thinking about it about him going forward. And this guy, you said you didn't think the corner would play the burden John Trey Burton, I don't think so. No, who else would be a corner though, I think your

fourth corner would be CJ. Goodwin, which I mean it's not exciting, but well, they've been keeping them all active. I mean, Brown was active. So I think when they sign a guy, I think they sign them for a guy that's the most ready. I didn't finish that point. I think that's what the determining factor is. Who can play right now? Who can play today? And so I would imagine he is going to play just because they've

been they've been keeping all five corners active. Okay, all right, well let's talk I want to talk a little bit more about that, but let's take a final break, we come back. Yeah, we we'll finish up this Patriots offense already. Okay? Yes, so are we gonna win? Just? Okay? Is not okay, whether it's cheerleaders or your wireless network. At and T is America's best wireless network. Best network based on GWS one score, September twenty nineteen. Ladies and gentlemen, it's that

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Cowboys Nation runs on Duncan. Excludes coldbrew, limit one for guests. Participation may vary limited time offer back to the break. Hey this weekend, Cowboys have a watch party. I know you've been hearing a lot about it because it's going to be a cool place to be, probably cool, maybe not too cold, and whether it'll be fine. Sunday in November twenty fourth, on the Socitos Championship Closet at the Star watch the Cowboys take on the Patriots with all

your Cowboys fans. It'll be fun out there at mission in parking and free. Visit The Star and Frisco dot com for more details. All right, Well, I wanted to go back and talk about Jordan Lewis a little more. I know, when I was watching the Patriots playing, a lot of the things that I saw Tom Brady doing was what do you call those passes where you kind of toss it, you know, you're not really throwing it, It's just kind of like a level password. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I noticed him doing that a lot. I'm like, oh, that could be a perfect opportunity for the Cowboys to create some takeaways. And who better than Jordan Lewis, who has been seen getting his hands around the ball pretty often. So when you mentioned that about, well, you did kind of putting Jordan Lewis there. I love that whole idea of possibly utilizing him that way and starting to see the Cowboys create some more turnovers this way. I mean,

it's it's remarkable. Their running backs are the way that they try to move the ball more than anything. And like I said, I mean it's really Michelle doing the majority of the work actually running it. But Burkehead, Bolden, James White, they can all line up. I mean they flex them out, they motion them back, lots of screens, Brady loves I mean, Brady throws like three swing passes to James White per game. And we know the Cowboys aren't good at that. I would assume that's that's going

to be a big point of emphasis. And yeah, I mean, you know, misdirection kind of trickling, the running back back over behind the line and giving him room to run. They do that all the time. I don't mean to discount the things Edelman in even Philip Dorset can do down the field. I think Edelman is a lot like Randall Cobb, Like he's got that reputation of being the shifty in you know, fifteen yards and shorter guy, but like he can go downfield and hurt you there too,

Like he's dangerous at all three levels. But I really there's not a guy and this is always famous last words, but there's not a guy where I'm just like, oh, I don't know what they're gonna do with him. Like they have the personnel to defend these guys if they play well and That's the thing that gives you pause is they haven't. And with a guy like Belichick and Josh McDaniel's drawing it up, you would think they can. Probably, I think they're going to try to take advantage of

how aggressive the Cowboys are. But that's the thing I wonder about. The Ravens blitzed the hell out of Brady and it worked. Earl Thomas sacked him linebacker sacks and I actually kind of like what I just joked about with Byron Jones, like do you really think he'll travel? But Stephen Jones went on the radio yesterday and he said they were talking about, you know, how can the

defense play better? This is buried in a wall of tex But he said, as we move forward, we may do a little more here and there in terms of getting some pressure and making plays on the ball. Do a little bit more, like do a little bit more than which I'm like, I mean, that's what that's my immediate thought to. You have to get after him, and you have to hope the linebackers, you know, because because the one thing that you do when the team is

blitzing you is you get ready for the screen. It's the linebackers have got to be able to make those plays. And while they didn't do a good job on Dalvin Cook, there's not that type of back out there. It's look at the backs that have kind of hurt him here lately, Scarborough a little bit, Dalvin Cook. It's the big strong backs. So you know, not to say miss tackles, Yeah, a lot of miss tackles. Not to say that those shifty

I mean they're good for a reason. I mean Burkehead and um like almost said Dion Lewis, but James White, I mean they just kind of rotate them in and shift either Sonny Michelle. But I think those guys have to go and get them on the ground because I do believe they're going to be sending a lot of people at Brady. But I think we have seen with these linebackers though, is they do sometimes over run over. So that's where you're worried about the shifty guy being

able to get them. But you're right, they've they've been there, they just haven't made the tackles. If they can wrap up, I think they can manage this. They just they gotta make tackles. Sonny Michelle is a little more powerful than I think a lot of people want to give him credit for it, like he's not dainty. Yeah, but I agree with you. I agree with you in theory, and

that's I don't know, out Blitz. I'm trying to get and get at Brady because, like I mean, if he even like senses the plays going south, he's gonna get rid of it. And he's smart enough that, like he can throw it away from the pocket and make it look like an incompletion. He does that all the time, Like he'll just chuck it at a guy's feet, knowing full well that it's not going to be a completion.

Whether that's Jeff Heath, whether I mean I would assume Jalen Smith's going to be part of it again, Jordan Lewis,

he's shown an ability to do that. I'm trying to bring pressure on Tom Brady, and I don't know if I want to sit back and count on just the down linemen to do it, because they've had games where they've been able to but they've I mean, and Jeff Driscoll obviously is so much more athletic than Tom Brady, but but they still they didn't get at him as much as I think we thought they would, and so I'm I'm trying my best to make him uncomfortable because

I think their offense really struggles when he is. That was gonna be my next question, just kind of looking at how the Cowboys defensive line played last week against the Lions, and you know, we did expect them to be able to pressure Driscle a lot more. And now when you mentioned about the Patriots offensive line then being banged up, and do you I mean, are you guys really expecting the Cowboys to kind of come back to that fiery defensive line that we keep hoping to see

from last year and even instances this year. I do. I think they're gonna win this game, and I think the defense is gonna I think they're gonna get out. Are you still picking them to work? Oh yeah, I'm probably double digit win. I'm not joking. I think they're gonna win by maybe eleven points, like twenty eight seventeen something like that. Yeah, I do. I'm listening to know. It's not proper to drink on the job, right, I know.

I know. The funny thing is like having so much to hang out with them now A right, Sorry, that's funny. It's really funny. I haven't watched their defense yet. I mean, I know they're putting up historic numbers, but like, just having watched their offense, I'm like, if the Cowboys can score twenty points, they I think they've got a good chance to win this game. Just I mean, I can't see I can't see the Patriots just absolutely lighting them

up unless the defense is just forcing, you know. I mean, if Dak throws three picks against these guys, then a lot and they maybe won. But if they don't turn the ball over a lot, I think the Cowboys will win. I do. I think they're I think they're a better team. I think they're coach, I think I'm sorry, you know, but what you know about this coach, though you have to do this, what you know about complying stuff? And

right it's like bullets flying around him right now. What you know about this coach is he has a way of masking his deficiencies and exploiting yours. Right, and so if he knows about if we know what, you kill him. If he knows well, first of all, we're talking about the fact that this quarterback is not like he's just he's not getting the protection he needs. He's not being able to really be able to throw it like that,

then he's going to do something to help. And so I don't think going back to that original question of do you think the front can can get pressure without blitzing, I don't think so. I think this week they're gonna go into this game saying, Okay, let's max protect a little bit. Let's scheme open a guy if we max protect. And this is a team that loves to do those little you know, they call him rubs, but we know their picks, right. They do it all the time. That's

a part of their offense. They're gonna say, let's max protect, let's put two guys out there, we're gonna run a little they'll run a route combination that gets one of them free. And here we're often running. That's the kind of stuff you gotta worry about because this coach, again, he looks at ways to mask his deficiencies and take advantage of yours, and he changes the game plan every single week, really, every single possession. To be able to

adapt to what you're doing. This is not going to be as simple as just hey, cowboys can put their front four out there and they're ferocious enough, and they're better enough. They may be they're that much better to where they're gonna be able to take advantage of it. I don't think that will be the case. The other thing, too, is and Isaiah wins only played like two games in his NFL career, so I hesitate to you know, I don't know if he's like all world, but he was

good enough to be a first round pick. We were dying for the Cowboys to draft him to be the left guard the year they drafted Connor. He went way too high. But he's a really good player and the Cowboys have gotten so many lucky breaks. Well he's back, like that's an unlucky break, which is he Tyrn Smith? Probably not, but having your starting left tackle in there,

you'd think will help matters with the pressure. And yeah, I mean I would blitz Brady because I don't I don't trust the front four to get home consistently enough on their own. But yeah, I mean they definitely they've been they've been pretty met. I think we watched the Eagles game on the flight home from Detroit seventeen ten, like all you need is a good enough drive to get down and get a field goal and you can put it away. I think they punted on their last

eight possessions of the game. That's I mean. Brady was furious after the game because he played like crap. Yeah, so it is possible to make them look very pedestrian. And that's the defense the cup we put thirty seven points on, you know, the Eagles, the Eagles defense. I'm sure that the Eagles played way better in that game that everybody plays seemingly plays better at home. But I'm just saying, you know, that's a that was a defense that the Cowboys were able to kind of move the

ball on. So it'll be interesting to see. I just the more I'm listening to this, I see I vision. I can envision the Cowboys win in this game. I really do. I think that they're I think we're gonna look up in the third quarter and it's going to be like ten to three Dallas or you know. I think the defense canna play really well in this game, really well. I just think they're playing complimentary, complimentary football.

And so Brady even said a few weeks ago, he said, you know, hey, what I have to realize is right now, the strength of the team is on defensive special teams. We just basically don't need to mess it up. And I think that's probably why he's like, Okay, I'm just gonna get rid of ball. If things look like they can go south, get rid of the ball. Because my defense is good enough. Not only can they stop the opposing offense, they might be able to take the ball

away and they might be able to score. So they're just playing complimentary football. I would suspect if their defense wasn't this good, you'd probably be see that offense doing a lot more things. But right now, they're playing complimentary football and their defense is playing that level. The big key to this game, in my opinion, is not how

the Cowboys defense matches up with the Patriots offense. It is more so, can the Cowboys offense continue to be a juggernaut that it's been throughout most of the season against a really, really, really as you said, possibly great defense. That's the challenge. Here are their kicker, that's a really good while they had one of the best in the league, but Stephen got s I R and then he missed last week. Him up today, Oh saw he missed last Some reasons for that. Though Nick Folk is five of

five since he joined the team. But I thought he missed last week. Not according to the staff, that's unless almost nugent is there too. Are we sure that folkus from last week where he missed a kick, but maybe I missed it focus I'm walking off the field and they were like, yeah, I'm nick Folk makes missed but they have not. Um, folks, long is only thirty nine so and that's uh, here's a funny stat. The Patriots have not even attempted a kick from fifty plus and

they've only attempted three from forty to forty nine. Like they're doing all of their kicking from the twenty to the thirty nine, which stall around the thirty five yard. No they stall, which I mean they stall. No, they don't even stall in the red zone. They stall in pretty normal kicking range. But with Gaskowski out of the lineup, they clearly don't trust these guys to be booming big. That's I'm not sure. I feel like I'm a bad reporter because I focus so much on the offense. That's

all right, that's all right. Well, the cow was just need to kind of clean it up, and it's it's gonna be Nick Folk on Sunday Day. That's yeah, and he has not missed this, Suson, I must ms. Derek tried to throw me under the bus. No, I wasn't trying to throw you know, I was kidding, just checking.

And hopefully the Cowboys um run defense gets some more confidence, I should say, because you said them not being so good in the red zone, maybe this is a good matchup there with the Cowboys run defense, red zone defense kind of get him back on track. I don't think the Patriots can just line up and run him over the way that like Dalvin Cook did or even you know, Bo Scarborough at times. But I do last words, it

always is, it always is. But I mean there. I mean on the season, even with as many bad teams as they play, they're averaging three yards per carry. Yeah, but it's the screens and the flare routes and the swing. I'm so tired of seeing James White like, you know, the perfect little wheel, you know, screen not screen wheel up the field, like Brady just puts it right in his bread basket as he's crossing the line of scrimmage.

It looks like arena football. He's off to the race and he always gets at least eight, if not like sixteen or more. Yeah, all right, well that is all the time we got for today. I appreciate mix optimism. The defense is going to clean up on their tackles. They're gonna pressure Tom Brady, they're gonna create some turnovers. They're gonna keep them out of the end zone. And they're gonna walk out with the wind this weekend. So that's impressive. If they get the wind, they're not gonna

walk out of there. They're gonna all be doing the Dak dance out of Jelette Stadium everybody. They win this game, I'll do that dance on the show with Rob on the field quote and I'll have Rob do it. Let's say Rob's not doing that. They both get to the super Bowl. Can they beat them twice? Oh my god, they're like twenty step. I worry that I'm the hover on this particular. You know, like she just took the polls, started running with it, just bull vaulted all across the top.

I look at probability, so I'm like, can you beat somebody twice like this? I don't know. I'm not worried about that, right, I know, I thank you worried about all right. I'll say this, if they played the Jets again, though, they would beat them again. There there you go. All right, Thank you guys so much for Derek Gingleton, Heckman, David Hellman, remember Garcia. This has been the Break on Dallas Cowboys

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