Cowboys Break: Change is Needed

We are alive from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We got forty five minutes to tell you, guys what went wrong yesterday for the Dallas Cowboys, And there was so much that went wrong yesterday for the Dallas Cowboys. They lose thirty four seventeen to the Baltimore Ravens. I think we all picked against them going into this game, so I don't think it was a surprise that they lost.

But there were certainly some moments where you felt like they missed opportunities and maybe they could have made this more of a game than it was. We start where we normally start the day after a game, with big picture storylines coming out of the game, Nicholas, start with you, what's the big picture storyline for you? Well, I mean they were outclassed, outplayed, out coached, out hit, you know, just everything. Really. I mean, I thought They're offense just

didn't play very well at all. The defense was way worse. Special teams wasn't really good other than one play. And you had all that up and you get somebody that scores twice as many points as you and they have twice as many wins as you, So that just you know, they were they were you know, and there were some crazy stuff happening way before kickoff. But when it got to actually play in the game and they decided to play, they got They got beat by a much better football team. Amber,

what's your big picture storyline? Big picture, Well, that someone needs to get fired and probably won. Let's get a lot of people, probably the defense on the defensive side

of the ball, especially now the defensive coordinator. I mean, this is I feel like this game, and we've been talking about this throughout the season, but I feel like this specific game was maybe like the tipping point where people are just like, okay, there absolutely needs to be a change in coaching because and I know we're gonna get into this, but we cannot just blame everything on the play or the coaching for whatever reason is simply

just not working. So maybe this is something that obviously it's not gonna happen this year, but for next year in the offseason, I would expect some changes. Dave, Yeah, I mean a G when a G stole my thunder. I guess I don't know, because I think my big takeaway is, like, what do we always say about football teams? What do we always say in the NFL? Like December is when you're trying to round into playing your best football. Good football teams are supposed to improve as the year

goes along. Specifically the Dallas defense. What on earth was that? Because like we saw this trajectory of them, maybe they're not great, but like slowly getting better, making improvements, and then the bottom just completely drops out. They look just as pathetic as they did back in like October when we thought they were never going to win another game, and honestly, leave the offense out of all of it. Like the offense honestly looked pretty decent. Andy Dalton played well.

I thought he got the ball to eight different receivers. Zeke had a pretty nice night all things considered. The offensive line held up Greg zerline misses three kicks, but they were in position to score, you know, twenty six points. But what about that defense? Like embarrassing doesn't do it justice, Especially in December, after we've already had all of these growing pains, they just revert right back to where they were against the Arizonas and the Washington's of the world.

I'm at a loss, and yeah, I mean, how can you look at that defensive performance and think that you can just run it back? Like, what's the excuse there? Who's who's hurt on defense? That's not allowing them to play their best game? Um, it's mystifying and embarrassing. Yeah, I don't. I don't know how else to say it. We will. Let's let's dive into that a little bit more. Actually, one of the things that I think is a big picture storyline for this team, and it's been a consistent theme,

is they really can't stop the run. It was very apparent last night. They give up almost one hundred yards on hundred ninety four rush yards on thirty seven attempts. In average, let'sist an average of seven point nine yards per carry. It's almost eight yards per carry every time

they ran the ball. That's just it won't do. And and the interesting part about it is, you know there were there were all these different things out look at and I'm just like baffled by And this has been an all season thing that are about the scheme one of the things and this it's funny. We were watching the game last night, Dave, you were sitting right there by me. Micky was sitting across from us. And this

drove Mickey absolutely crazy. That you get teams that present a twelve personnel so they have two tight ends on the field, or they have a fullback on the field, and Dallas will notoriously stay in their nickel like they are not moving off of their nickel. They're gonna keep that extra defensive back in there. And when you think about that, you're basically allowing the other team to overmatch you like that. You're allowing them to have more power

on the field than you do. And when you're playing a power running team like they were playing last night, it just makes no sense why they would do that. But Mike McCarthy says after the game, he says, we're pretty far down the road to blame it on scheme. He's not blaming it on the scheme. He obviously is saying that there's more issues from the standpoint of execution

and the players. My question for you guys is is it believable that all these players on dee Fense, now we're here last year, all of a sudden can't play football anymore? Or is it more believable that there has been something changed from the standpoint of what they're being asked to do that is causing them to be not as good as they were even last year. Let's start

first with you Amber. It's so hard because for me and I don't play football, I'm not on the field, so I know we see from the outside we see things differently, But for me, it looks so simple. It looks like, Okay, this is football and doesn't matter what kind of scheme you're playing, you should be able to play it like you're a football player. You get paid to do this. So I just don't talk to me

about scheming. Simply, the coaching, whatever they're doing, they're not being able to get their players to play at a decent level. And the thing to me when I've watched the defense playing and like, look at highlights and all that, they just absolutely we looked lost most of the time.

They just looked confused. They don't have the anticipation. I talked about this last week, and it's every time I look at place, every single time, it's like they're always a step behind and they're always just being confused at what's going on in the field. There's not a good reaction time, and to me, that has been the problem. I don't I don't really know what to blame it specifically on, because again, we look at last year, these

players were able to perform better. We were still criticizing the defense last year, but they were playing a lot better than they are this year. So there has to be something to do with the coaching and them not just not getting the players to be right where they

need to be. Dave Yes, Stephen Jones, actually he had a radio appearance like right before we came on, he said something similar where he was like, you know a lot of these a lot of these guys are out here last year and we didn't look this bad against the run. And I mean, if Mike McCarthy doesn't want to blame it on scheme. That's fine, but like I said, it was mystifying, like I'm at a loss for how to explain it otherwise, because these breakdowns have been and

continue to be unconscionable. And that's you know, Derek, I was arguing with you and Mickey last night, is like who cares how many linebackers they have on the field when the linebackers just completely bite on basic play fakes like Layton Vanderesh Lamar Jackson's thirty seven yard touchdown was just it was just a read option, like it was something that every high school team knows how to do. There wasn't any crazy eye candy or motion or any

of that stuff. He just put it on JK. Dobbins and then pulled it and Layton Vanderesh ran himself five yards out of the play. Darry And Thompson was in the box, so there's no backup and he's in the end zone five seconds later. Like that's it just shouldn't happen. Huge NFL team and it's a perfect sorry go ahead now.

I was just gonna say, you just answered your own question with regard to that though, in my opinion, because if Darian Thompson is not in the box, and let's say he's back and that's a linebacker there in the box, then maybe there's a chance that either that other linebacker makes a stop, maybe he can get off a block. He has a much better chance of getting off a block than Darian Thompson does. And you start that safety back there that can come up and fill in the

event both the linebackers missed. So my point is, I still just feel like in those kind of situations, when you're playing a run deep a run offense that plays power run football, you want bigger guys on the field. You want more of those bigger guys on the field so that you have the better opportunity to maybe make those stops. I just want my Pro Bowl middle linebacker who's supposed to be in the middle of my defense to make a better read and agreeing, Layton, to his credit,

owned he owned it last night. He was like, that's one hundred percent on me. I second guessed myself. But the frequency with which that has happened this season is absolutely unbelievable. Yep, nick Um, we got kind of far down there. What's your question again, Well, question, is is it more believable? Is it more believable. Has been on a flight all night again, give him a little bits. Okay, yeah, I go, okay, I got it. Um, you know there are there's not the same team. I mean, this is

not the same defense at all. I mean, whether they've missed a couple of really big free agents. Um, you know that that left I mean Byron Jones being one of them. But but some of these guys have taken a step back, you know. And and I think the one player on defense that's probably been the I don't know you guys that were gonna say Jalen, but I mean he's made some plays this year. You can't say that about Davier Woods. He makes zero plays and he

doesn't to me, he doesn't understand the sideline. He doesn't understand that a sideline is his twelfth defender. And he he just makes these plays and then he gets beat. Happened to two games in a row, and like if you get them back to the inside, you would think you'll have some help that could make the play. I mean, he doesn't make it any plays at all, and so I think that that's it. And he didn't he seems like he gets a pass. He doesn't I think people

are killing him. I mean people are I'll put it like this, you don't know, I said last night, I tweeted that, I'm sure you guys probably saw on TV. They showed that one image of all four of the defensive backs kind of sitting on the bench together, and it looked really like they were just sitting there like

they'd all lost their best friends. And what I got back in tweets from people mostly targeted Xavier and they I think it's because most people believed that of all those guys, he still had Tod the chance to maybe turn out to be a player that could be a player for them long term. And I think everybody after this season has come to the same conclusion that he's not the answer. Well, you know, when Romo made the comment he made about this, this is the worst thing

that's ever happened to me. You know, he can't act the next what seven eight, nine years and was a pretty good player. So it's like, okay, okay, yeah, but when you make the comments Xavier woods Maine and then he hasn't he hasn't come in and done anything about it, it still hangs over your head, you know. And so that's that's unfortunate. But they just you know, they don't have any safety that make play. I mean, their best guy was out. So it is the scheme, right, is

that they have to the cowboys. The cowboys, they've known this for years. I don't know what are you saying what you're saying about the safety, but they need to go get into safety. Yes, I mean, I don't know, only not yeah quite acting like you could just go you know, I mean, I don't know. I don't want to name any stores because they're not sponsors. But you can't, you know, you can't. You can't go down the street and just get a safety and just say, oh, well,

just we'll just get one up. Oh hey, where are you going? Oh can you get the safety for me real quick? Okay? Things that doesn't work like that. It's not milk. You gotta you can put some you know, investment into it, and they don't do that. So there needs to be a change a defense. I bet you, I bet it happens before the end of the season that they'll change the coordinator. Is that what you're saying. And that's gonna be tough. That's easier said than done,

because why because the head coach, that's his buddy. At some point, at some point it becomes you know, you just can't continue to do it right. And and my thing is, even if even if you buy what Mike McCarthy said that it's not the scheme itself, like there are not flaws in the scheme itself, my thing is, then that point's even more to the coaching. And I

think that's the point that Amber is making. Two is, if you have a team and your team isn't able to buy in and do the things that you're asking them to do, then as a coach, you got to figure out a way to either change it up or put them in a different situation. You got at some point realize they aren't capable of doing what you're asking

them to do. And that still comes back to coaching. Yeah, but you know, to their credit, they didn't really have a lot of time to prepare for this game, you know. I mean, it wasn't like they had two full weeks. It wasn't two weeks. Okay, it was like twelve. That's not two weeks. They're prepared, but it was herkey, jackey. They didn't know when they were because they were trying to prepare, but they didn't know when they were actually preparing to play, so that does kind of affect what

you can do, right. Yeah, well, remember remember guys, why McCarthy said he wanted to make sure they did not over prepare for this game because it could actually hurt Point so they you know, I actually I got in I got into an argument with some people last night just about like the talent level on this defense relative to other teams. And you know, technically the Cowboys, you know, they let Byron Jones leave, Taco Charlton did not become a good player, so they really only have one first

round pick on this defense. I don't care. They have absolutely invested a decent amount of resources in to this defense. When you think about Cheeto, Jordan lewis Leyton Vander esh To, Marcus Lawrence, Jalen Smith, Like, they don't have the talent to be elite, but we know that they have the talent to be pretty good because we've seen them do it. Like they were middle of the pack last season, they

were a top ten defense. Somehow in twenty eighteen. I have no idea how that happened in light of what we've seen in the last two years. But I don't want to hear that. I do not want to hear that they don't have enough talent. I'm not asking them to be incredible. I'm asking them to be basically. I came into this season obviously we didn't know everybody was

going to get hurt. But I came into this season saying, if you can just be a mediocre or a little bit worse, this team has a chance to be pretty good. And they're not even close to being mediocre, and that is a coaching failure on every conceit. Don't come to me about the COVID stuff either, because the New York Giants have a new coaching staff with a first time head coach, by the way, and are rounding into decent form for their talent level, like without their base ones

five in the last seven games. As yeah, they went, I mean they went on the road to Seattle and beat Russell Wilson with Colton McCoy, largely because their defense played so inspired. Which go ahead, name the best defender on the New York Giants, right, badass stud that the Giants have. I guess they have Leonard Williams, but he is certainly not you know, he ain't Aaron Donald, So please please do not talk to me about the pandemic. I do not ever want to hear that again. Sorry, anyway,

what I mean, but that's a thing. I mean, no, it's it's okay, that's not that's not I know, I know what you're saying. No, it's but it's a thing. I mean, it's it affects, it affects teams. I mean, it affects the Cowboys. I mean, it definitely affected the Cowboys in what way. Let me let me rephrase. Obviously, it's a it's a big I'm not saying that. We don't need to talk about COVID nineteen never again. And

there are considerations that you've got to make. Of course, it affects everybody, but like nobody else seems to be handling that adversity as poorly as the Cowboys are. That's that's my only point. I think that's the point because, by the way, the Dallas isn't dealing with things that other teams aren't dealing with. You want to talk about injuries, other teams are dealing with injuries. You want to talk

about COVID, other teams are dealing with COVID. You want to talk about a new coaching staff that having to dealing with no offseason. Other teams are dealing with that and they're dealing with it better. And so that's the point I think some people are making and I think I agree with, is that this team is not handling

adversity very well. And and again it's it's hard because you look at it and you say, one of the best things, in my opinion about the previous regime in Jason Garrett, was that they tended to handle adversity pretty well. They didn't handle success well, but they had to handle adversity pretty well. And this team just seems to fall

apart when they face adversity. Yeah, there's there's too many resources now on the Like, this thing blew up on them because they keep putting resources on the offense to have the best offense in the land. And maybe they could have if everything, you know, fell into place, but it didn't, and the injuries were you know, just kept you know, piling up, and then the offense was supposed to carry the defense because and I don't think they have enough talent to win on defense. But they knew

that going in. They knew that because they were the offense supposed to carry them. But when that didn't work, and that's a bad that's a bad plan because you gotta be you gotta be balanced. You can't just say I'm gonna be a right handed fighter and just punch punch with my right hand and then when you break your right hand, then you can't do anything. So it was a bad, bad concept to start with. And you know, I think they should have put more resources on the defense. Clearly,

let's take our first break when we come back. Well, do we need to talk about des Ryan and we need to talk about COVID because you mentioned that and it certainly was a part of the conversation last night prior to the game, and I think it'll probably be a bit of the conversation about this team for the next few days at least as people keep an eye on what happens. We'll talk about that when we come

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Tom Thumb. The most electrifying holiday show of the season could be watched on Dallas Cowboys Facebook and Twitter on December eleventh and the December twenty fourth, at six pm Central, or on demand at Dallas Cowboys dot com slash Christmas Welcome Back. It is the second segment of the break Life from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star. Let's talk a little bit about Dez Bryant last night. He was planning to play the Cowboys. It was going to be the first time he would appear in a

game against his former team. Very excited about it, as as indicated by the interviews he did before the game and the excitement you saw from him as he was warming up out in field, the little images that you'd see of him out there, a woman up on the field. And then we find out, not to mention from Dez himself on Twitter, that he tested positive for COVID and was no longer going to be able to play in

the game. And the way it all went down, according to reports from Tom Pellicero, was he had an inconclusive test earlier in the day, had another test that was also inconclusive, then got a final test that revealed he was positive. At the point when they pulled him off the field and told him that he had to go

home because he had now tested positive for COVID. My first question is more on a personal level, what did you feel for Dez as this all went down, Because as we all know that he's a very emotional guy, and this was something he was looking forward to, an opportunity just to get out on the field and show his former team that he still could play. Nick hated it for Dez. For Dez, I hated it. I know

he wanted it so bad. And you know, anytime you get that close to a game like this, and I think, you know, everybody kind of wanted to see the matchup, so we hated it for all of us. I mean, we'll get into why it went down like that, but for DEAs specifically, I you know, I hated it for him. Dave. I'm sure I'm not speaking for every Cowboy fan in the world, but I think i'm I think I'm speaking for a lot of people. Like I didn't have high

hopes that the Cowboys were gonna win that game. I didn't have high hopes that it was even going to be a very entertaining matchup. But I was excited to see Dez Bryant play football. And even you know, even if that came at the expense of the Cowboys, you know that that was like a bright spot where you know, it's like it's like an old friend and it was gonna be weird, but it would have been really fun to see him have a moment, like I said, even if it was at the Cowboys expense. So I hated

it for Dez, I hated it for us. It was I mean, it's just classic twenty twenty that it's just one more bitter disappointment. And then on top of that, it was really just I mean, that's des Bryant in a nutshell. You were kind of saying that during the break is the guy. The guy just can't help himself. He never he never has been able to. It's an endearing thing sometimes and it's also a problem sometimes it is like maybe maybe put the phone down, Dees. But that's that's him to a to a t, that is

Dez Bryant, and you gotta you gotta love it. I guess it's just it's very typical him, the phone and or the wine amber. What are your thoughts on that he keeps it entertaining? I mean, I mean, we like drama, we like watching, but no, the same thing as these guys said, it sucks. And when I heard the news and so it happening like on TV and all that, I was like, man, what are the freaking odds of that? That of everyone on the field, death happens to be

the one that this happens too. And I'm not saying, oh hope, I would have hoped that it happened to someone else or anything, but not at all. But at the same time, out of all people, this happens to death. So it just sucks. We all knew the emotion and the excitement that he had going into this game, and for him to be warming up on the field and then you get pulled out to get tested again, You're like, what the heck. So it's just it's crazy the way

that it went't down. Yeah, the interesting part is I actually think that last night was a perfect illustration of why Dez Bryan was no longer with the Dallas Cowboys. I think what we saw last night was how he is a highly emotional player, a highly emotional person. When things are going good that can be a good thing for you. When things are going bad, he tends to just not have a filter and he puts it all out there. And that's what we saw last night take

place on Twitter. Once he got back home and he had his phone in his hand, he's sitting there, then he just kind of starts just throwing everything out there, and and it just it feels as though that's the kind of thing that in a locker room setting can be a distraction, because when things are going wrong, the last thing you needs people just kind of losing it. You know, you need people that kind of steady and know how to pull back and say, Okay, right now,

I don't need to say anything. I need to just let things lie for a second, let my emotions come down a bit, and then I may say something when I'm more controlled in what I say. And I don't think that's who des Brian is. I don't know that he'll ever be that person. They're good size to that because and Nick, I heard you say that on the

radio when you were talking about him yesterday. Like him being a leader, he brought that energy when it came to those practices when you're ten days into training camp and it's starting to get to a point where guys are getting tired and they can be be monotonous. He's the guy that would show up and challenge enough guys that were made for good practice. So it goes both ways, like there's good in it and there's bad in it, But at some point it can be a little bit

too destructive. Yeah, without a doubt. And it was there, and you know, I think you know, it was gonna be his night, you know, and not to say he was gonna have a huge game or whatever, but this was gonna be his stage. And and you know, it got taken away from him. And and you know, I don't know all the details there of why they went down the way it did, but you know, somebody messed

up on this. I think you think, well, yeah, I mean, don't you I mean, don't you think somebody messed up if he's over there and he No, No, I'm not gonna ask you that somebody messed up. I'm just gonna be I'm just gonna be a firm on it because because he went and hugged too many people, too many players, too many Cowboy employees, too many Cowboy players. He went and did all of that, and then all of a sudden, that's a problem. Now in the middle of the game,

people are talking about that. We've got the trainers on the sideline dealing with that also, and things were different on the on the flight back home. I'm not sure if it was because of that, but yes, somebody messed up if they allowed this guy with two tests that were pending and then all of a sudden, the third

one comes back. See, and I who I'll agree with you is I don't know if someone messed up or if the policy is messed up, Because what I mean by that is if if the policy doesn't say my opinion is, if a guy has an inconclusive test on the day of a game, until you give me a negative test, you shouldn't be or not anybody. That's how I look at it now. I don't know if that's what the protocol says. And maybe the protocol doesn't say that, and so nobody messed up, but the protocol may be

messed up. This whole thing is airing on the side of caution everything we do. That's exactly why it doesn't make sense, because everything else is just like, hey, we're gonna do whatever we gotta do to make sure we're being as safe as we possibly can be under the under this scenario. But the fact is, if a guy has an inconclusive test, the fact that he's allowed to just kind of go and warm up on the field and interact with people, go ahead, we'll call you if

it's bad. Yeah, that to me says that that maybe that's just not a great policy. If that's the policy, well then that whoever writes the policy messed up. Okay, guy, okay, we can agree on that. We can agree on that. So let me ask you this is there it'd be the same guy that changed the game from Monday to Tuesday. Hey, here we go. Do you think that there is or at least will you guys be keeping a close eye on what happens with this team for the next few days,

because obviously there was some contact. Now And just to be clear, the science around this, as much as the science they know about the science from the things I've read, suggests that you don't necessarily get it just by a happenstance contact with someone who has COVID. It typically happens when you have prolonged when you're in a setting prolonged period of time, typically indoors, where you then are more susceptible,

let's say, to getting the virus. But all that being said, and obviously the NFL has contact tracers on all these players. They know how long any of them are around each other, so they kind of know and that's why they supposedly the game was allowed to continue. It's because their contact tracing mechanisms suggested that nobody had been in that kind of close contact that would have necessitated them sitting anybody

else down. But with that being said, do you think there is at least caution at this point with regards to the Cowboys players heading into this week? Dave, Let's start with you. I mean, there should always be caution. That should be the name of the game with everything

they do. And I mean, you know, for I feel like you gotta give the Cowboys a pretty healthy amount of credit because there they are on a short list of teams that really haven't had a ton of problems with this like they they I mean, the Cowboys have not been responsible for these types of situations so far this season, not on any sort of you know, Andy Dalton caught it, but they managed to limit that. So

obviously you should be cautious. I'll say what I said to you, Derek last night is I don't think it's super troubling. Remember, this team played a game against Vance McDonald and he had it and they came out Okay, the game was outdoors. Everything we know suggests that being outdoors helps a lot in terms of like mitigating the spread. But that wouldn't make me feel any better if I was a guy that had hugged Dez Bryant last night.

I know that for a fact. So yeah, I mean, you're gonna want to be cautious and keep an eye on it for a few days, but I'm cautiously optimistic that this won't be a huge problem for the Cowboys. Yeah. It's interesting you say that, Dave, because I know we all probably know people who have had COVID. I've had friends who have had it, and to me, and one of the things that a lot of them have told me is the craziest part about it is the mind game.

Because you're sitting around and you're like, you have a little shortness of breath, and you're like, oh God, oh God, is this like the am I gonna need to be in the hospital by tomorrow? Or you know, you got this you know this cough, this little cough, And all of a sudden you're like, oh God, is that it? Like is this the telltale sign that now it's about

to tip? And so it is. It's that part where maybe there's some players that maybe had that interaction that they know the science says they're probably okay, but in the back of their minds Now, the mind game starts of every time you feel something a little bit weird in your body, is this covid? Is am I now infected? And you start wondering about those things, and then it becomes some of those things kind of start really playing

with you after a while. Do you think Lamar was like, Oh, I'm only gonna rush for ninety four yards against the Cowboys in about ten days, or we're only gonna only gonna score three touchdowns against them, you know what. I don't know what he said in the post game, but like if he said, man, I was only seventy five to eighty percent, I mean, how demoralizing would that be if he was like I wasn't really back to one

hundred percent. Yet you're like, oh, man, well you saw the their offensive lineman that was in the camera after the touchdown. It's like easy money like that. Those are the kind of things where when you're playing like this, I mean, you want somebody on that defense to just be like, look, we're not gonna be a laughing stock. So hey, you know, and this is gonna sound really bad. Guys, so excuse me. If we're gonna lose the game, we're

not gonna lose the fight. So if that means we gotta knuckle up at some point in the game, you gotta knuckle up because at the end of the day, I'm not gonna lose the fight too. Like, it's just you're not gonna disrespect me. You're not gonna treat me like I'm just some random person. I'm like, I'm just not gonna let that happen. And it doesn't seem like they had that kind of fight. They got one guy that wants to do it. Ninety nine. Yeah. True, that's it, Antoine, Yeah,

for sure. All right, we're gonna take our final break. When we come back from the break, we're gonna get into some moments that mattered from the game. There are each one of us going to go through and talk about a moment that we thought mattered most in this game. We'll do that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. We're back in the Tasty Treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor cream

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to the Cowboys fan in your life. All right, let's get back in. Let's talk about some moments that mattered. There were as as my co host here joked with me before the show, I've laid out a lot of them. There are a lot of moments in this game that that mattered. There are a lot of moments, and then, to be honest with you, there are a lot of missed opportunities in this game. I think the Dallas Cowboys

had opportunities to maybe even win this game. You could make that argument because there were so many moments that had they been a little more discipline, had they made a play that was there and available to them, had the right call been made on the field, they would have put themselves in position to possibly be in this game and maybe even win it. But we're gonna go around and each one of you guys to give me

the moment that you thought mattered. Most ambulests start with you, this might not be the moment that mattered the most when you look at the game in general, but to me, I think that Lamar Jackson's rushing touchdown in the first quarter was the moment that mattered the most to me because I was like, Okay, here we go again. This

is gonna be one of those games. And prior to that touched them, the Ravens were able to run the ball in a few plays pretty well as well, but it was still like, Okay, it was still in the first quarter, and maybe the Cowboys are just kind of warming up. But as soon as I saw that touchdown and the way it happened, how he was completely wide open, like he just had the whole thing to himself and he just ran all the way forward, I was like, Okay,

I guess it is. It is gonna be one of those games where the defense is simply not able to stop the run. So to me, that was the one moment that I was just like, okay, does that basically even though that we're still not out at that point of the game. You know, I think interesting part of that play too. It was third and fourteen before that, and the Cowboys, if you look at their defensive alignment.

They pretty much were standing about fourteen to fifteen yards off the ball to make sure that they didn't give up a first down. But okay, Luke Wilson caught a pass for twelve yards and if you saw. I don't know if the cameras caught this, but but Lamar Jackson, like Adam Lee told, you know, the coaching staff, keep the special teams off the field, punk kick, field goal, whatever, we're going for this, we're gonna score touchdown probably is

what he said. And they did. But but I thought the twelve yard I mean, she's right, that was a huge moment. The play right before that was big because it just gave him enough to say, all right, we will go for this, we can get this, and they scored. Yeah. I will mention this too. And I was talking to Isaiah standback last night. He was here in the building. We were talking about that play particular, and we were talking about it. I talked about it literalier in the show.

The fact that the Cowboys decided that they wanted to go with the goal. They basically they stuck with the nickel. They had only two linebackers in the game. They had Jalen lined up outside, they had Lvee and Darien Thompson in the middle, and so there was really basically once Vee took himself out of the play by getting completely tangled up and then dry and Thompson, he had no shot when their offensive lineman gets onto his body, he has no shot of being able to do anything with that.

And my thought was, what are you why would you do that? And hem actually made a good point. Isaiah was like, look from a schematic standpoint, he was like, I used to be a running quarterback. And what teams would do, and it's a really good strategy is they would try to line it up and match it up to where they had two spies on the field and one was on one side of the field, one was on the other, which would make sense. You put Jalen on top, you put Darien Thompson on the other side,

and essentially you got two guys that can spy. He set The problem with that he had with that alignment and that scheme or the players that they had on the field, was that they decide to go man and you get a quarterback like Lamar Jackson immediately when he sees man. And by the way, the way they were lined up, they basically zero coverage. There was no safety back deep. All the guys were lined up in man across.

When he sees that, he immediately says, I'm running the ball because none of those defensive backs are gonna see me. They're gonna be looking at the defender that they're having to cover in man. So it creates this great opportunity for him to do what he does best. And that was the problem he saw there, And I agree. I think again, you can look at this thing and you can come up with a number of different schematic challenges and personnel challenges with this defense that have nothing, in

my opinion, necessarily to do with execution. It has to do with putting your players in the right position. And I just don't think they're doing enough of that right now. All right, Dave, what's your moment that mattered? I mean mathematically? Nick mentioned it at the top of the show. The third down that Lamar picked up, Xavier Woods probably could have forced him out a bound if he'd taken a

better angle, didn't Baltimore scores. You know, he finds Hollywood Brown on the next play to go up twenty four ten that Hay in the quarter. You know, there's no way the Cowboys are making up that deficit with the amount of time they have left, So mathematically I think it would be that. But I completely agree with ag in the sense that between Lamar's touchdown run, you know, he finds Boykins, I think for a thirty eight yard touchdown, Gus Edwards had a thirty six yard run, and JK.

Dobbins had runs of eighteen and thirty yards And that was all on the first half. All of those plays happened in the first half. And after what I was just like, they will not win this game. Their defense, they cannot win this game. And I think, you know it was it was seventeen ten at halftime. They had a few opportunities to make it even closer than that zerline misses a kick, so mathematically they were in it.

But seeing the way the defense was playing, like in the late first quarter, early second quarter, I was like, they will not win this game the way they're playing. And you know, one of the interesting things Mike McCarthy said after the game, it was actually point of emphasis that his coaches were talking to the team about all week, saying we can't give up big plays big plays will kill us in this game. He can't give up big plays.

And then they go into halftime and he thought it was by at that point there were five, as he defined him, five big plays heading into halftime that they'd already given up. And this was after a whole week of telling players over and over we can't give up big plays. But again, if you're not giving them the tools to not give up big plays, then you still you know, you could talk about as much as you want, but it may not matter. Nick, what was your moment

that matter? I got a couple, but I'll leave this one free to go. Now, I'll just do the one. You know, if the teraway jerseys were back, the Cowboys might have won this game. Seriously, I mean that was a huge play in the game. Amari Cooper, he's rolling like he if he gets away from this guy that's got in out of the jersey, it's just one other game and there's a blocker. I mean, I'm not seeing these scores, but this is gonna be a really big play.

They're gonna get down into the thirty twenty yard line of the Baltimore They're already up ten to seven, and then a great job for making that that tackle there, Harris made it. DeVante Harris made that tackle. So that down's first and ten on the thirty seven, still in good shape. And then interception interception the next play a touchdown. I mean that if he can break out of that that was that would have been huge. And then the other one real quick is CD right before the half.

I mean, I'm not asking you to be a superhero, but catch it. I mean, yeah, I mean I understand that's a tough, tough play, but it's there. I mean catch it. And literally, it wasn't a situation where you know, somebody was interfering with him, somebody was grabbing him. I mean literally, the ball was there. The ball went straight through his hands, and there is no really excuse. Really it's a tough it's a tough play, but but that's the kind of play you expect him to make. I

think Andy had that. Andy had that in him. No matter fact. I was wondering why they I was wondering why they would line up to do it instead of just saying let's just go to half and then let's just get out of here. But he slung it down there. He absolutely slung it. Yeah, and I just I was surprised, were either you got surprised that CD didn't come up with that catch because that's what we expect from him, is to make those kind of plays. Right, I'm gonna try my best to be a like I'm gonna I'm

gonna spin it really good here. This is gonna be some really good cowboy propaganda, because I think we would all agree. You know, CD's had a great rookie year all things considered, Like he's he's lived up to the pick. He's done some really impressive things. Who knows how good his season would have been if he gets to play

with Dak all year. But I think he's gonna look at this as a humbling experience, like because you know, this season of that guy out there he said, just he has had moments throughout this season that should humble him. Gott and say, hey, you're a really good player. You are not DeAndre Hopkins. Who is you know? That's his guy, that's his favorite player, That's the guy he says he models himself after. DeAndre Hopkins made that exact catch like

three weeks ago. DeAndre Hopkins has performed like a badass throughout the years and not always with a good quarterback, by the way, So if I'm Ceedee Lamb, I'm going out like I'm leaving this season saying okay, I belong. I'm a good player to do if I want to

be one of the league's best. And I mean, you know, I've never met Ceedee Lamb face to face because of this whole dumb pandemic, But just based on my impression of him from Afar, I feel like he's got the right makeup where you know, he's I can be a much better player in year two than I was in year one. I mean, Dave, I'll speak, go ahead and broke ahead. I was just gonna say that it sucked

that he wasn't able to catch that ball. But at the same time, on the positive side is the fact that I don't think that many of us expected to see that kind of play happening. So the fact that it was something that we didn't really expect we saw Indy Dalton throw the way that he did, and it was almost a great play had it been caught by

Ceedee Lamb. But at the same time, just seeing a little moment so of just opportunities like that that, Okay, you get a sense that, Okay, maybe with sometime he's gonna be able to make those kinds of catches and it's gonna be great. Maybe not a Deander Hopkins level, but close to that. So it's just it's good even though it didn't work out this time, but it's still good looking forward. I don't think I was gonna say it's just kind of piggyback on what Dave said about

Ceedee Lamb. He is his heart, his stuff is critic is himself, I mean, and that's a good quality to have. I mean, no excuses for him. He's had some really tough games, you know, specifically against Washington. You know, you think about it, now, that's two weeks in a row that hit the ball has been in his hands in the end zone. One was ten yards, one was sixty. But still you know it's you know, it's been there,

and he prides himself on making that play. So I think, Dave, I think you're right about that is humbling experience that you're both right. You know, he goes about it the right way. And you know he didn't care about when airon in some NFL record or or cowboy record for rookie. You know, catches. He's gonna look at the plays that he didn't make it. I think that'll help him as he tries to get better and be one of those

best great receivers. Yeah, there's a lot of guys you look at that make that that missopportunities and you start worrying about their confidence. I think you can look at him and you can look at Digs there. They're similar mentalities, at least from what I can tell from the outside looking in, they seem to be those type mentalities that are gonna really make that push them and fuel them

to be even better. They're not, I don't think, deterred necessarily by their their bad plays or misplaced All right, appreciate you guys, you want us, We'll be back tomorrow. We'll start getting you guys ready for Cowboys versus Bengals. Actually, that game has been flexed down. The Cowboys will be playing at noon on Sunday instead of a Sunday. I'm sorry, No, that was a San Francisco. No, this game already be at noon, but the Cowboys will be on a plane Saturday, Nick,

So go ahead and get your big backpack. You may not even have to unpack he's getting ready again. Saturday. We'll be back on a plane. All right. We pro ate you guys. Jones. We're back tomorrow for Nick even Dave Him and Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Eagleson. 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.