Cowboys Break: Changes Need For O-Line?

season fourteen, episode number sixty seven. Welcome to another edition of The Break, live from the s WBC Morgan Studios. At the start, we appreciate, we appreciate you guys, take it some time with us today. It is our last show of the week. We're gonna take a little time tomorrow to regenerate and recuperate and rejuvenate and just have a good weekend. And we're started today. High asked soon, so it must be nice. Yeah, no, So we'll go,

we'll go. We'll we have about third minutes today because Cowboys change up some of the scheduling that this is not our fault, like we've been doing the forty five minute thing and I know some people don't like that, hate it. Sorry, but this is not our fault. Like Cowboys changed up their schedule during the bye week, which is completely contrary to the schedule we've been running on all during the season. So I think we can do I don't know what you want me to do about it. Yeah,

do it in the afternoon. But I want to go home. I want to go home, yes, the bye week. So we're gonna jump right in. We got a few topics I want to hit um. First thing I want to hit um is the Amari Cooper arrival. He is now in the building. He had his first practice yesterday. Let me ask you a question. How long do you guys expect it will take before he is ready to be a starting contributor for this team. I mean he's gonna be starting against the Titans on Monday, he will be yes.

Hell yeah, you don't give up a first round pick. And then especially if you have the bye week, like if they were playing Sunday, maybe, but he'll have been here for twelve days by the time our ten days whatever it is, by the time they take the field. Like, if he's not starting, something is up. I hope he's not taking a five day, you know, bye week like everyone else, because he's already Remember he's coming off a

bye week. Yeah, well, I did see yesterday that supposedly he and Dak are planning to stay in town and just kind of spending a little time together over the bye which if true and accurate, then I think it's

probably a good thing. It's probably not a bad idea for them to start getting on the same page because now Dak has his number one guy and it's not I mean, it's a guy that he's getting fresh, and so it's kind of like, you know, he has an opportunity to kind of mold him around what he does and the vice versa, and the hope I think from the Cowboys perspective is that they're both going to be here for quite a while, So that's probably a smartening to do. It's like a body catcher to me? Is

he cool? I just saw a couple of highlights he was now. I mean, it's hard to tell for what we saw yesterday and today. I mean, there's it's not a lot of practice practice, but I mean he's he's got a you know, good size to him. I mean he's not like a really really big guy, but he's definitely not a small guy. And he's just you know, he looks like a kind of looks like an average sized receiver. Um, maybe a little bit bigger than that. But you know he's got he's supposed to do everything well,

which is why they draft you fourth overall. When your receiver draft fourth overall. I mean, you run good routes, you've got good speed, you've got good body size, and you've got good hands. And I know he's had some drops lately, but I don't really I don't buy the theory that like, I mean, it sounds good and it can certainly be useful, but I just think it's one of the most overhyped things in football. Like we're gonna we're gonna get together on Saturday and run some routes,

like your routes on air. Is really gonna do that much for you? Like, I don't necessarily buy it, But by the time they play the Titans, Dak and Cooper will have been able to practice five or six times. So it's enough. I don't know how great it's gonna look, but it's enough. So that's what I expect. Yeah, do you expect? I know you said he's definitely you you think he's definitely starting by Tennessee how how long do

you think it takes before he's actually really contributing? Would you be shocked if you get to Tennessee, he starts the game he only has one catch? Does that bother you if you get to Tennessee and he only has one catch? I think he'll really be a good contributor for this offense next season. That's really what I believe. That's that's what I'm trying to get to. Is this

so this year thing or is this a well? I think they're gonna try this year, and I think there'll be certain routes that he can run and and you know, whether he starts or not just depends on the personnel package they put out there. But I mean, I think he's going to be a contributor right away. But I just think it'll take a while before he actually is, you know, in this offense. And who knows if next year's offense will be the same as this year. I don't I don't know that. I don't know. I actually

I wrote about this. I wrote three thousand words for my column this week, Like that's how much That's how much stuff I just had for the average person out there. That threat that when you say that doesn't really make a difference. To tell me a little bit, what put some great mark on that. A story. A news story is anywhere from three to eight hundred words, and column is probably like eight hundreds. You went through thousand to a thousand in my college yesterday. Yeah, so you did

three lot a book. I had a lot to say about the trade. But anyway, the point is into some days here like multiple two. Um. I think one thing I want to keep in mind is like the Cowboys are not asking Amari Cooper to be like Antonio Brown in the sense that he's going to catch one hundred and fifteen balls for sixteen hundred yards. Like that's not really, that's not this offense. It's not I mean, this is still a run first offense. It hasn't looked as good

because they haven't had a receiving threat. But literally, in my column, the baseline that I'm looking at for any number one receiver in this offense is pretty much what Dez did in sixteen. And I know that sounds weird, but and I've said this a million times, like Dez played well in that sixteen offense, and he gave them the running room that they needed. And he made plays

down the field. He caught fifty balls for eight something or no, he caught fifty balls for seven something and eight touchdowns in thirteen games because he missed three and I literally handicapped, and I was like, Okay, if you play sixteen games, that's about sixty catches for about almost a thousand a little bit less and eight to ten touchdowns. It's not elite numbers, but it's good enough. It's good enough for what you want to do in this offense to run the ball the way you need to run

it and to open things up for Beasley. That's only four catches for sixty yards a game. That's not I mean, I'm not asking a lot of you. So I don't know if he's going to get that against Tennessee. I'd be surprised, but I would like to believe that he can start hitting those types of numbers after a little

while in this offense. I mean, what I would like to see more than anything is is, you know, just get the ball down the field or at least attempt him down the field a little bit more, and you don't even have to make that's just with that pass interference penalties work. Just the same. It doesn't help anyone's fantasy team or doesn't really help his numbers, but I can promise you if you're going down the field and getting you know, different kind of coverages and things like that,

and drawing penalties, that would be good. It'll be interesting to see how teams treat him, you know, watching Mary Cooper over there, you know, just like because it took a while for dez Dez even last year got more double coverages than anybody's getting. Nobody's really getting that here, so they need that. They need that back again. That would kind of help with it with the offense, but they're gonna have to prove that he's worth doubling at

some point. You gotta prove that. And that's a good point. I felt if it were me, and it's not. But if it were me and I were making the offensive calls in the game against Tennessee, I would come out in that game and I would I would just be bombs away that game. The reason why is because I need teams to think, right, I need teams to think that I got this new weapon and I'm gonna be

I'm gonna be bullish about using him. And and he has the ability to be able to be a game breaker, like if you don't pay enough attention to him, he will hit you for an eighty yard or and all of a sudden, just like that, Cowboys got seven points. I need them to know that, because I think that's part of the reason why the offense has been staggered at times this year is because it. Part of the reason is because again what they've said is we expect that we're gonna have eight nine in the box all

the time, and we always run against that. Well, with an offensive line that's not as good as what it's been in the past, they can't run against eight and nine in the box. They got to be able to get that safety out of this. They got to be able to force them to keep two guys back. And I would basically more than a few times this game, I would have Gallop and I would have Cooper on opposite sides of the field, both challenging both deep sides

of the field. So the safeties have to be back, and I'm taking the shot if if if I catch him in single high safety, I'm taking a shot at him. Because I'm forcing teams around. I'm doing it more for all the other teams are gonna have to play than just for Tennessee. You know what, let me say this too. And I don't know about if this is fair to the offensive line or not, but you said, because of the way the offensive line is playing, they can't beat

the eight and nine men in the box. Are we sure it's not because of the eight and nine men in the box the offensive line is playing this way. Well, if you want to go back to what Zeke was saying before the season began, he said, we always have eight nine in the box, we still run against it, and we're still going to be successful against. His expectation at least was we've seen that before. I've been seeing

that since I got to the Cowboys. My offensive line is good enough to where we could still make Hay against that kind of front. And to be honest with you, for the most part, they had like there have been one or two defenses in these last couple of years that could really stop the Cowboys offense when they wanted to run the ball. The Denver game, the New York game. New York had had done a pretty good job against them in a couple of different occasions. You could say Philly,

but there weren't a lot of teams the other day. Yeah, but this year we've seen a lot more. Yeah, but that's my point Like before, he was right before that, there are a lot of teams that wanted to stop the run, they just couldn't. Yeah, this year, more and more teams having success stopping the run. But you've got all Pro and Hall of Fame players that are that are gone, and you just can't on all levels too. I mean, you're an All Pro center, the best center

in the league, or arguably the best, is gone. You've got an Hall of Fame tight end who wasn't playing at that highest of levels. Still better than anything you got, still better, and he still understood coverages, he understood how to get open, he understood, you know, just how to get in the way and blocking. You know, Dez, say what you want. He's still demanded more more attention than anybody's doing now. So when you're taking all of these hits like that, yeah, it is going to be a difference.

And I think Connor Williams is learning on the run and that's affecting everything. Yep. Let's take a real quick break when we come back. Um, I want to jump into an idea I had for a few topics where we'll talk about some change. I want to throw some different things that the Cowboys could do here in the in the off week that could possibly changed things up. And then I'm gonna let you guys tell me whether

you think they're good ideas bad ideas. And also are these things that the Cowboys coaches you think would actually do or if it's something they would never do. We'll do that when we come right back. This is the Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. If you're like me and you love I mean, if you have a thing, then cutting the chord is scary. But then I found out I could switch to DirecTV Now and still get the live sports I love. No satellite needed, no bulky hardware,

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The cowboy Boys did when they named John Dear their official tractor experience one for yourself. If this is my John Dear dealer dot com slash football Back to the Break, Welcome back. It is the second and final segment of the Break Clocks WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. Remember, we will not be doing shows tomorrow. Actually, none of

the podcasts will be happening tomorrow. We're giving these guys a little bit of time to term Recouper eight and get their minds right for this second half of the season. So Rie and Marie Cooper eight, you know what I mean? You get it? Yeah, Okay, good job, You're welcome. You're welcome to that. No. I mean when you said recouper eight, I thought that's gonna be a headline. Oh you guys are already thinking like that. Oh I just that was My first thought was wow, because every thing we've done

in the last four five days. I mean, if you just look at all our headlines, just says Scooper. Cooper, you know, if if he goes out and he plays a good game and the Cowboys win against Tennessee, the heck of a title for your game. The Cowboys are winning against Tennessee. Like, let's just let's dispel that. I mean, I know, we got to talk about them next week. No,

they are. They're at home. They're at home. They're that's literally, they're gonna win at home, and then they're gonna lose to the Eagles, and then I don't think you can take any team for any game for granted. I take for granted, I was just trying to make a smart ass game. Okay, good at three and our at home. They are gonna win that game, all right, They're gonna win.

All right, We will see Tennessee. I mean, Tennessee is one of those teams is so weird, Like there are times they played this year where you were like, huh, look pretty good. The other times they play this year, you're like, yeah, but layoffs last year they don't get believable, Like they don't get blown out, though they were in a lot of game. They lost twenty one nothing at home. They got Ravens be slapped by that Ravens last week though, who are they playing? Last? They lost by a point

to the Chargers in London. Charges, that's what it was, and the Charges are good team. They gave the good eleven sacks to the Ravens eleven. I know the Ravens has been really good, their defense especially really words. We're burning through topics for now, all right, So here's what's gonna do. Here's gonna do. We've got um. I wanted to throw out some different things that the Cowboys could possibly change this week, and these are not things that

necessarily they would change. But what I guess the question I'm gonna ask you guys on each of these is number one, is it a good idea or bad idea to make this change? And then number two is this something that, based on your knowledge of this coaching staff, that they would do or something they would absolutely not do? All right, we gotta do it. First one change the offensive play caller. Go from Linahan to Jason Garrett. Good idea, bad idea, good idea, good idea. I mean that's wow.

You may really make me take a hard stance here, Like it's not a bad idea, but like, I don't, I really don't think that that's like this magical cure all. To be totally honest with you, like, I don't think the play calling is Like I know people hate Scott Nahan, but I don't think it's just gonna magically be better doing doing. There's no doing if it's not gonna be Basically, I feel like there's not a different point. I really Yeah,

that's kind of how I feel. Like I'm not saying it's a great Like I don't think Scotland Hahn's doing this amazing job, but I don't think that's this huge fix in my opinion. I mean, I probably isn't, but I mean it's not nothing's changing right now. So I mean, what's it gonna hurt his feelings? Yeah, I mean it would, yeah, assume but not that Oh well, this is a results oriented business. Yeah, it's I mean something different. I mean

we've been seeing the same stuff over and over. I mean I don't know I would I would make a change, but yeah, I don't know if it would necessarily do anything. Yeah, but I would have I would have made a change this this week. I kind of agree with you from the standpoint that Nick, I kind of agree with you because I think you know what they always say about the definition of insanity, keep doing the same thing over

and over and expecting a different result. If your offense is not doing enough right, um, you gotta do something to shake it up and whether and I kind of agree with you Dave from standpoint, I don't know that that's the answer. I don't know if there's gonna be some magical change that would happen by that. But to me, sometimes if you just have a different person calling plays in a different sequence, it can ignite the offense and give the offense a little bit of a spark because

it's just a little bit different. It's the same plays, it's just a sequencing which you call them, right, It's just how aggressive are you in this situation versus this

situation that can sometimes make the difference. I mean, think of it if you're like a NASCAR team though, think of it if you're at Lanahan and you're like, Okay, I'm the driver, I'm the driver here and we've been dealing with this and this car's a little raggedy or whatever, and they're like, all right, well guess what, we're gonna change the driver this week, and we're changing a new car. So we're gonna give a new car, and then someone else is gonna get the driver. Like, wait a second,

why can't I get the new car? You know, maybe I'm gonna do better if you give me something, you know, some better tools. Yeah. The only problem with that is he got a nice, nice car, pretty decent car in Tavon Austin, and we hadn't seen us effective, right, Yeah, it's a really good point. Yeah, I mean he didn't

got him the way that the other teams. They didn't find a way to use him and incorporate him into this offense to where it made a sizeable difference in I mean, if Houston could do something with Kiki Kuti or whatever, I mean, do something, yes Austin, Yes, I agree. No, And that's that's a really good point. Is I mean, No, there's there's clearly star power lacking on this offense, but they are not without talent, and that Tavon Austin is

the big one that I don't understand. Uh, Lucky Whitehead was more active in their offense than Tavon Austin was, and he didn't always even get the ball, but he was just a more active part of what was going on. Uh baffling U. The Deontay Thompson thing. It's just like you're not using him to do what he's supposed to do. I mean, you're just you're you're not. I mean, you're He needs to be running the deep rounity. He needs to be using the speed. He's not a possession receiver.

I mean with the game on the line and Carolina, they threw him the out route he was cut earlier in the week, and then now he's the guy with the game on the line. He runs a timing route and you know it's incomplete off his hands or it's an interception against Houston because you know he doesn't he comes back and bought you know, knocks the ball up in the air. I mean, it just he seems like the guy that should be running deep and taking the safety with them and opening out things in the middle.

I want to I don't want to kill your game. But the last thing that you the last thing that you said, really is it keeps resonating with me. Is like based on what I know about this coaching staff, what do I think? And that's gonna color everything I say. And that's cool, that's why I that's the next part

of the question, So go with that. Well, it's just that, like I know, I know this coaching staff really well, to the point, like I was shocked that the Cowboys even traded for a Marii Cooper because that doesn't seem like something that they would do. So it's nice to see that they're willing to step outside their comfort zone. But in my opinion, basically Jason Garrett is he's not

that type of guy. Like he's more you know, he's gonna keep hammering on the nail until it goes in, like you know, even I specifically myself asked him, you know, earlier in the season, like, well, your tight ends aren't really playing the way that you would prefer them to play, Like does that make you think that you need to alter the way that you play offense? But I mean,

do you need to change personality? You need to use fewer tight ends, you need to incorporate your receivers more, And he thought of it more as, no, we need more time on task with these tight ends. So that they can get better and we can execute what we want them to do better I can. I know there's people at home that disagree with that, and that's fine, but that's how the head coach thinks. And the head

coach has the backing of the owner. And we've said before, I mean he's going to have the backing until he doesn't. But for the time being, Jerry Jones is all in on Jason Garrett, and so all these decisions are going to reflect Jason Garrett's thought process, and it's not Jason Garrett's way to make those type of knee jerk mid season changes. I don't think that's an interesting point of view on the coach because I see that in some ways that that could be a good characteristic because I

think sometimes this happens a lot in college football. There's so much change in college football. You see, these programs are changing coaches every three or four years, and there's just always something changing, and so there's never a time to really focus in and say we're just going to get better in this area. We're gonna keep hammering at until we get better in this area to actually improve.

So I can see it from that side, the flip side to it is you can become so stubborn to the point to where you literally need to make a move and you won't because you're so blinded by we gotta make this work, gotta make this work, and it just doesn't work right. So it's kind of a double edged sword. You kind of want that a little bit. But at what point does he have to say, Okay,

I've really got to make a change. This organization has come across as pretty stubborn at many points in the last five or six years, So, I mean, you're right, there's been some times when I thought that Jason should change things up a lot more, but he just stays consistent with the message. And you know, that's why this team has been consistent. I mean they have. I mean, you can say that they're inconsistent, but they're very consistent.

I mean they're they're just very consistently average, and even in the years that they have good years, they follow it up with a really bad year. I mean, it all kind of evens out. That's why his record is a kind of right there. But you look around the league, most coaches are, i mean, most teams are kind of the same way. They just haven't had as much longer as long as a leash as he's had a right Let's move on to the next topic regarding change Lyle Collins.

You could take Lyle Collins who is in right now you're right tackle, and you could possibly flip him into left guard. Take Connor Williams moving him out to right tackle. The idea would be there that maybe Lyle is better at guard. Maybe that shorees up your left side a little bit more. Connor Williams played tackle in college, so maybe getting him back out to tackle moves him to

something that's more familiar. Although he was a left tackle in college, moving out to tackle, maybe that gets him something that's more familiar that he can maybe adapt to a little faster, and maybe you get a little bump in in what you're able to get out of your offensive line. Good idea or bad idea. This goes right back to what I was saying, is like, you know, do you you see it and say this isn't working. We got a change, or you like, these guys will

get better if they can just get more time. And I don't have an easy answer to it, and it hurts me just on a Lyle Collins is one of my favorite guys on the team. He went to LSU and he I thought he played fantastic last year given the circumstances, and it's just not happening for him this year. Like he's he's not playing well and I can't put a finger on why. Um so I'm not I'm not trying to defend that and he's playing great. What are you talking about? I'm not blind, but I don't know

what to do about that. And I don't know, I really don't know if shuffling is the right is the right call, because what's what's Connor Williams's problem when he's run into problems power? Right, Like he's not that strong, which ends are strong too? Like it's not, you know, I mean, you don't have to be as strong to play tackle. It's more about your feet, it's more about

it's more about your absolutely. But I guarante he'll get overpowered at tackle too if he's getting I mean, you know, it's not it ain't like I mean, think look at look at DeMarcus Lawrence like he's I mean, no, they're bullrushes. That's how you're going up that power. Yeah, And on top of that, I think. I mean think Connor Williams has played well more than he's played bad, that I worried about hindering his development at one position by flopping him.

And you're already paying Lyle pretty good money at tackle, and I just I don't. I tempted to say, you just write it out. I'm not saying it's looked good, but I think that's better than the ultimate first thought was the same as you know, write it out. But but I do I thought of the exact same thing you just said, like, what are the problems of these two guys? And I think that that Lyle has become kind of big and you know, burly little bit and and he has some problems with some speed rushers and

maybe you know, inside would be better for him. And on the flip side, yeah, I think Connor's got pretty good feet, but he gets overpowered some and and he might face less of that on the outside. But you know, if if if you could just do that quickly, then why do we go to training camp? You know, why do we have off season? If we could just do it like whatever that you know, then then why do it and practice and all that time? And I don't I don't know if that's necessarily the best answer, but um,

it's kind of similar to the play calling stuff. I mean, maybe you can try it, but if you try it, how long do you stick with it? I mean, this isn't something you just go back to something else. So I don't see that happening. I'd be intrigued if they did it, but I don't see it happening. And I think that's the big thing like this, when you get to this part of the question would the coaches do it? I don't think there's any way in hell that these coaches would make that kind of change right now in

the season. To be perfect, I given to go ahead. You know what Another issue that the Lyon's dealing with as well is is, you know, Jason Witton would line up on that right side this team would play right handed, and they'd have he'd have an experienced, you know, good technique block or not strong all the time, but he held his own at times, you know, And he doesn't have that guy anymore. And I think that they're hurting

on at the tight end position. So I think that's how you know, that's definitely affecting Lyell, and I think it would affect whoever the right tackle is too. I mean, you're not getting as much help as you typically have in the past. If you had asked me earlier in the week, you know, if there was going to be a change, even more so than Scotland Ahan. And I'm just you know, I'm taking a guest based on my knowledge of the team. I probably would have said Paul Alexander.

Just you know, he's the new offensive line coach. Your tackles have both regressed this year. You know, there's been a lot of talk about playing new techniques on the offensive line. I would not have been surprised to see them make that change at all. But it's Thursday of the bye week. I mean, it's it's Friday for all intents and purposes, and that hasn't happened, and I have a hard time believing it's going to happen now. So that's definitely, you know, I think that's something that could

have been considered. But again, the coaching staff, the way we do, I don't think any of us are surprised that they didn't do that. Okay, I have several more. We're at the end of our show, so I'm gonna hold these till next week. We'll get into these on Mondays. I'm actually some are more interesting ones, like travel Byron Jones. I think that would be an interesting one for us to dive into and think about it so whether that could be a good option. But we'll talk about all

those on next Monday. Again, we're out tomorrow. We'll be back on Monday. We'll be back at our regular time, hopefully. I'm pretty sure we'll be back at our regular time eleven forty five on Monday till then for Nick, even Dave Helm but I'm Derek. If 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.