Cowboys Break: Coach Speak

my break. Every once a week I get to actually get away from the business of the Dallas Cowboys and come spend an hour talking Cowboys football with you guys. So it's fun. This is my fun part of the week. So I'm glad to have these guys. Women, got Dave, Dave and Amber all joining me, and we're gonna have some fun today. We're gonna start this and I actually wanted to do this. I know we were at the one hundred and one episode, so I don't know there are any players that have ever won one on one.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna flip this a little bit in the off season. It's the off season, so we can talk about a lot of different stuff. But we're gonna start each show going around the table. We're gonna let everyone kind of give us one story, one story in all sports. It can be football related, Cowboys related, it could be about baseball, basketball, it could be your college whatever, one story from the previous week, since the last time we were on the air that

you found most intriguing. So let's go around the table and do that to get us going here today. And Nick, I'm gonna start with you. M Well, obviously there's other NFL stuff. I mean, like it's hard to branch out with other stuff. But actually I just switched. I just switched in the last five seconds. That's you, Seriously, that is me. That is you. You know when you watch baseball and you just you know, you grow ape of the guys you remember like it's it's complete bs, it

really is. They need to fix what's going on in the Hall of Fame because the guys that were the greatest players are the guys that should be in there. And I understand they messed up Baseball messed up. They they I mean, you can't come back and if you're not gonna you know, policemen don't know if if there's no speed limit right here, you can't come back and go, well, you look like you were speeding. Well you should have been back there trying to you. And you know, I'm

figuring out. I think it's a it's a shame that Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGuire, Pete Rose or not in the Hall of Fame. That is absolutely ridiculous to me, because the Major League Baseball made a mistake and then they're gonna try back and we think we're gonna clean it up. I think it's ridiculous. And I switched it. It It was gonna be about Lebron James, and then I just moved it to that. Now I've actually think that was very timely, and I agree with you by the way.

I think it's I'm not a big baseball fan, but if I were taking my son to the Baseball Hall of Fame, I would want to be able to walk through that thing and tell him all the stories of the guys that are there. And if you're going to do that without Barry Bonds, I just I don't even understand how you start that conversation I've always I've always thought that that, and I mean, it happens in football too, Like the people who vote for these guys play favorites.

Barry Bonds was never really well liked by the media. He was kind of gruff, and some of that was brought on by him by his own actions. Sure, but but if you're one of the best to ever do it, it shouldn't matter if you were a jerk, right, shouldn't matter If I'm David ortiz is tested positive for steroids at one point during his career. Yeah, he's also he's why he's widely beloved, and I just I hate that. Um. I think Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame,

no doubt. I just I've never liked that. Um yeah, I thought that was right, and I don't. I don't pay super close attension to baseball either. I didn't realize, like, if you don't make it after enough ballots, you're just done. Right, So you're gonna tell me that Barry Bonds just won't be in the Hall of Fame. That's I mean, that's insane. And when you think of the guys that are like Jeff Kent or Andrew Jones, you're like, stop, just stop,

I don't know. Yeah, well, Andrew Jones, I think I had a good case for the Hall of Fame and like he's somebody that deserves consideration. It has nothing to do with him, Yeah, just like people's unwillingness to vote for Barry Bonds because he probably cheated at a time when everyone else did too and was a jerk. I mean,

that's basically what it comes down to him. Like, um, he's the best hitter of a baseball I've ever seen, and by the way, was a pretty damn good fielder before he ever took and I left elicit I left two guys out of that. I mean Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire. Those guys absolutely I think took baseball to a different level in nineteen ninety eight. As a non baseball fan, I was following that, like you, if you were a sports fan, you were following that every day,

every day, who was getting more home run? Like it was a fun summer of baseball. And I just yeah, you're right. I mean, again, telling the story of baseball, I think it's hard to do it without those guys. Longer than I thought, well, that's what this segment is gonna be mine? Is Mine's really tied into what we talk about here, So we can get back on track. If you went to I mean you know where I'm from. Sure,

I don't think you can quantify if you're not. If you're not from there and you don't follow them, I don't think you can quantify what Sean Payton did for the New Orleans Saints. It's for the city of New word for the city. And I want to be clear, like so much more went into fixing New Orleans after Katrina than the Saints being good at football. But it

was a big, big deal at it. I mean, you're talking about a team I looked this up before we came on when you told me we were going to talk about from their founding in sixty seven to when he got hired, they made the playoffs four times. It took them until four, not forty. And by the way, a lot of those were under Jim Morrow, when they were sharing in division with like the Walsh forty nine ers, and it was like, cute, you made the playoffs, Like

you're not going anywhere. They didn't win their first playoff game until the year two thousand and Again, they were a they won a wildcard game and then got smoked like they weren't they weren't really a deserving team, And so put all that in context. Two thousand and five, the city gets destroyed by a hurricane. The franchise is like the epitome of a joke. Like teammates are robbing

each other in the locker room, getting in fights. There's rumors that the owner wants to move the team to San Antonio, which, now that I've worked here for a while, I was like, how is that ever going to happen? But when you're living in a flooded out city for the worst team in the world that just finished playing its season at LSU Stadium, You're like, yeah, who would want to keep a team here? This is a joke? And Sean Payton comes in and they've been to the

playoffs nine times one. He's got a nine and eight playoff record. They've been to they won a Super Bowl. They're in the playoffs like all the time. He won seven division titles. They made it four years in a row. Probably they got robbed. They should have made the Super

Bowl in twenty eighteen, and it's twenty twenty one. Now, if you were born in the year two thousand, all you've known is the New Orleans Saints being like one of the model franchises in the NFL, and those of us that are older than that know how insane that is.

It's just crazy. And so I got emotional is not the right word, but like I listened to his whole press conference yesterday and I was like, this is surreal, because I mean, him and Breeze got there when I was sixteen, and now it's it feels over like there's nobody left from when they first got there except maybe Mickey Loomis the GM. But yeah, it's just it's it's crazy. And we're gonna talk a little bit later in the show about that little bit more just about where he

stands in the coaching hierarchy. But um, yeah, we are gonna talk a little bit about it. But one of the things I thought should be I thought that I thought it was a timely mention just based on my Twitter mentions. Maybe, but I do think what gets lost

sometimes and it's because of what you just said. Most young people at this point, I'm thinking anybody that's your age or younger, probably younger much younger than you, even um, they probably look at Drew Brees and what they know if Drew Brees is, oh my god, Hall of Fame Drew Brees. That was not Drew Brees. When he got to New Orleans. Drew Brees was coming out of San Diego,

where Nick I asked you this yesterday. We remember because we went up there, always went up there and played San Diego in San Diego, and I remember watching him walk off the field with the Danian Tomlinson. We were standing in the under the stadium, and wasn't that big a guy. He was a pretty good quarterback, but he was coming off shoulder surgery. Miami was kind of flirting with him, but they didn't go that route, and so

he was not this highly coveted free agent. He was a guy that that look like Sean Payton decided, hey, I can do something with this guy, got in there and turned him into Hall of Fame Drew Bridge. It's a long it's ninety minutes. I don't know who has time to go listen to it unless you're just a die hard Saints fan. But Sean Payton was about as like, candid and emotional as I've ever heard. He told so

many cool stories. One of which being and I mean, I've known this for a long time, but they had to aggressively outbid everyone for Breeze, not knowing for sure that he would ever throw the same way ever again because he tore his labram. But they were just like, we won't get him otherwise, nobody's signing up to come here. There's still water in half the city like it. I mean,

it's crazy to think about. And he had a story in his press conference about how like it wasn't until week three of the ensuing season he made like a back shoulder throw to Marcus Colston in Cleveland or something, and he was like, that's when I felt confident that he would be able to throw again. It's like, you weren't sure until week two, Like forget training camp and all that. I mean, you could get right. Yeah, it's it's the greatest free agent signing in the history of

professional sports probably. I mean, when you just think about all of the impact that I wound up having. All right, Amber, Well, I don't have as a passionate story as these guys did, but uh, I mean a lot of things happened this weekend in sports around and even in the NFL. All these crazy games. But to be honest, if I'm just

being candidate, mine is pretty simple. One thing that this turned out to me was what happened with Green Bay and the Packers, because you know, we come on here and we talk and Nick is one that talks about it all the time. Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers, but you two you have mentioned it. He's great, he's great, But when the Cowboys are going to face him, Yeah, I think that's something we all agree on. I don't treat

him like Lucy. I'm I'm usually the one that treats him like Yoda or Obi Wan, whatever you want to say.

My point being is it was one of those things that it just takes me back to the Cowboys and think of that and thinking like, man, I'm not saying that the Cowboys were great or that I expected them to really step it up in the playoffs, but when you see little things like that and then Tom Brady losing, little things like that, guys that you put them up here and then they lose, and then you're like, man, you never know what kind of magic could have happened

with the Cowboys and how far they could have gone with like a guy like Aaron Rodgers already out of the race, and just things like that that leads me back to how sad this season ended. You know, that does bring up an interesting question, and I saw a lot of people talking about this on Twitter as they were watching those games. Was there anything that you saw last weekend that made you think differently about the Cowboys or made you wonder, like, man, that was a missed opportunity.

Was there anything that you saw last weekend that just kind of made you think differently? Yeah. I mean I applaud the NFL for growth. You know, everybody wants to get better and you improve on things even if you make mistakes. I love that how a week later, the NFL has figured out that, you know, maybe the back judge can can spot the ball. You know, it's not doesn't have to be the umpire to run in sixty yards.

I mean, if this was closer to the back judge, you got seven on the field and four others and then a wholes you know in New York sitting there as well. So the closest one of the ball that can tuckle do it, especially in a frantic moment. Then nobody has to come running in and tackle the quarterback and bull rush people down and waste some seconds. I thought it was great by the NFL for able to do that. A one week later, it's awesome for them. Kudos I better much. No, No, I think it's great.

We're looking for growth. I mean, you know, Dez makes the catch and he goes down and he moves the ball here, and then all of a sudden, three years later, they say, you know what that was, Rumbo drops the snap in Seattle, you know, a block of ice coming back there, and all of a sudden, the league says, you know what, we need to control their our own ball boys here. We don't need to let our own you know, Seattle's ball boys control what kind of ball Let's do our the NFL, you know. So it's cool

these playoff losses. They're just changing rules for the NFL. You gotta love it. It was well said. That was good. Um. I just think watching watching these games, I think in today's NFL, you gotta be able to get home with four pass rushers. Yeah, that's that was what I took away, And that's yeah. San Francisco did the same thing to Green Bay that they did to Dallas. Obviously, the weather

didn't help, but Rogers wasn't comfortable. I think he got sacked three times, rushed a lot more than that, obviously, I mean Tampa ll excuse me, LA made Brady look awful because he didn't have time. Von Miller and von Miller and Aaron Donald combined for like seventeen pressures in that game, and he got he got sacked three times as well. That's somebody was like, which, again, I get it, you're frustrated this time what we saw from Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. I don't even know what to say

to that. Seasons and and and the best quarterback performances I've seen all season, and I just think you have to come to the very painful realization that like, yeah, I don't if you're hoping for your quarterback to be that good luck, I just I don't know what to say. You know, those guys are unicorns. But somebody was like, all I saw all weekend was quarterbacks getting the job done when Dak Prescott couldn't. And I'm like, not to let those guys, not to let him off the hook.

But I saw Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers looking mortal as hell when faced with pass rushes that their offensive line couldn't handle. It's football unless you have a six five rocket launcher who can run of four five. Josh Allen, I probably owe him an apology. I didn't think he was I didn't think he would translate to the NFL. I didn't see it. It just I'm a big believer, like, even if you're not a finished product in college, I think you should lift your team and just obviously be

the best person on the field. I didn't think he was that guy. I certainly didn't think he was capable of playing at the level we've seen over the last month of this season. I know Herbert has something to say about this, but I just feel I've said it a couple of times. I feel like that it's like Manning versus Brady every year, you know, with those two. But I mean Herbert will have you know, he'll be in the conversation as well, but he'll need better guys

around him. And those teams are great and then they're good. What's your well? I honestly it was. It was the playoffs, and I actually had a couple of different thoughts coming out of the playoffs, and I'll just run these down for you. The first one was Joe Burrow and Cincinnati.

They're playing with house money at this point, Like, yeah, if you're a fan of that team, even though you've not had experienced this probably in your lifetime, then the beautiful part about it is you're well ahead of schedule.

So I love what I'm saying from that team, and they've kind of become my darling team now I'm kind of rooting for the Other thing I thought about is and there's been a lot of talk about Aaron Rodgers and what they're gonna do with him this offseason, and I started looking at some of the money and Nick, you and I talked about this yesterday. Did you guys know that basically it's twenty seven million dollars of dead money if the green Bay Packers trade him or release him. Yeah.

I'm not understanding where all the conversation is coming from that he's not gonna be a green Bay Packer unless he's gonna retire, right. I just don't see how how Green Bay's gonna make that work. You're gonna, yeah, you're gonna have twenty seven million of dead money to not

have Aaron Rodgers. I just don't see how that's gonna work, you know, And so all the talk that's out there about where's he gonna be next year, to me, it's pretty clear he's either gonna be in Green Bay or he's gonna be on his couch, one of the two. It's ironic to me that they probably pissed him off when they drafted a first round quarterback. Uh. It's the ironic part of it is is that the Packers did the exact same thing to Brett Farve to draft him,

and it was kind of weird. It was like, I'm not done, I'm still gonna play, and so it is. It is weird. I wouldn't have done it if I was Green Bay, I'd give the guy help. He's still great, He's still he's still he's gonna win MVP. Yeah, like this, they should have helped him more, and that is probably what started it all. I don't know. But that's also where I look at him and I'm like, dude, you did the same thing was done for you. Yeah, So

why are you really that upset? Like you've obviously seen this franchise will do that and they've had success doing it, Like they're one of the few franchises had that level of quarterback play for that long period of time, and it's reflected in their ability to win that Actually, it goes back to what I was going to say, which some people came at me for this opinion, because I get it, like, you want to to be the best,

you gotta beat the best. But if Rogers is potentially mulling retirement and Brady sounds like he's mulling retirement, you look around all the quarterback talent in the NFL's in the AFC right now, like it's loaded over there, and then you look at the NFC and you're like, Okay, Russell Wilson's still a good player. That situation is not ideal.

But if those two or even one of them retires, the actually like the best quarterback in the NFC rights And that's not even a stretch to say Arizona and Okay, yeah, I mean Kyler's there and I Stafford's still playing. I get that. I should say he's in the conversation at least. And then I just Nick brought it up with Herbert, like I feel so bad for anybody that's got to figure out how to consistently win in the AFC knowing that Alan and Mahomes are like twenty six, Burrows twenty five,

Herbert's younger than that. Good Luck Raiders, Lamar Jackson's only twenty five. It feels like Lamar's been in the league forever, but he's only twenty five. I just think they got a lot of quarterback talent that at conference. I know it. They're going to change the Pro Bowl format once again.

That right there is gonna change it because it's gonna be like these three quarterbacks made it like you know, like Herbert and whatever, and then all these Lamar's out like seriously, and then all of a sudden, the a in the NFC, you know you got I mean, Kyler's there, Stafford's there. Um, I'm a year from now we could be talking about justin field Lance Lance. But I just Jimmy, why I trying to run this guy out of town? Well, but you gotta also remit, admit like they didn't. They

didn't didn't. They didn't play great. They had a great special teams or a couple of great special teams players they won that game for them, which, by the way, that's part of the game. I'm not taking anything away from them. But I think when you start talking about Jimmy g like, they probably want a little more from the quarterback position. Yeah, I mean, of course they obviously already invested in You watched You watched those two games

Dallas too, Jimmy tried to give the Cowboys the game. Yeah, you watch both of those games, and you're like, I understand why you're good enough to still be playing, and I understand why your top priority in the offseason was improving your quarterback. Like it they he'll be Tyrod Taylor or he'll just be a starter for some teams until they get the young guy going. This is which is what he's doing now, you know, And it just happened to be in the championship. He won't be done. And whatever.

I love a point Trey Lance takes over, somebody else will be very happy to bring him in and make them their starter. Any team that, any team that feels pretty good about their roster should want him. I mean Denver is a great example. Like if Denver, if the magical Rodgers trade doesn't happen, Denver should want Jimmy g Orleans might be absolutely market to say that's a guy we can bring in and do something. Maybe I just think the path I know it, I know it. It

hurts to hear this right now. Nobody wants to hear it right now, But the path deep into the playoffs in the NFC looks so much nicer than it does in the AFC. All right, here's gonna do. We're gonna take our first break and we come back. I want to talk about coaches. We got a lot to talk about there. There are coaches that are doing interviews, there are coaches that are being talked about in the media. We got a lot of things we're gonna discuss there. We'll do it when we come right back. This is

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Essler lens for you. See more, Do More. Welcome Back. Second segment of the Break Life in the s WBC Bortgage Studios at the Star, Let's talk coaches, and I want to start with Mike McCarthy, and I want to take us back to the final game of the season, the playoff game the Cowboys lost. My question for you, guys, it's how much blame do you give McCarthy for that? Loss. When you think about things like the delay Penley after the fake punt, the final play. How much blame do

you give him for what transpired that day? Um A lot. You're the head coach, Your team wasn't ready to play, team wasn't ready. You work all year to get home field advantage. You get home field advantage. Your crowd's into it. It's not that it's not a pro forty nine ers crowd. You're in it. You know, you do everything, and then your team's flat and you noticed it, and he noticed it. I mean, whatever he said, nervous, angst, whatever he said, he noticed it. And so that's that goes on him.

Maybe the players just don't have it, but that's on him to get it there. And then some of those players said, I mean I throw in you know, if there's a big shiny spot on the field of sun, I wouldn't throw a crucial third down past or a receiver over there who's not wearing EyeBlack. Don't do that. Throw it over here. Sorry we can't see. So I mean, like there's little things about the game. And if you're not the offens coordinator, you're a defense coordinator. You don't

call the plays, then you should be doing those things. Yeah, that's if you're a walk around head coach and you're not calling the plays. I know this is like simplistic, and sometimes memes take on a life of their own, but it sure seems. I mean, then forty nine ers didn't look nervous walking out of their locker room with that big ass boom box like swagging down the tunnel.

Why why were you nervous? This is a team full of like guys in their prime, A lot, I mean lots of important members of his team have been in the playoffs before. You're playing at home? Why why are you nervous? Why? Why did you have fourteen penalties? Why? Why has that been a Jerry Jones said it amazingly last week. He was like, I don't want to hear about how we're working on penalties in the off season. Weren't we doing that when it was happening every week?

And that falls I mean, that should fall on a walk around head coach who's like you look, you go look at the trends and you're like, man, we've been averaging nine penalties a game for the last month. That's not good enough. Did you see that they were nervous before the game because I didn't I didn't know Amber saw it. Thank you. Let me take him moment here, because people like to give me crap all the time anytime I make a remarked like that, Oh you don't

know what you're talking about. I know why my eyes are talking about. I know what I see with my eyes. And I did see a pregame the energy was just off. He just looked right before the game, Storry, while they're warming up and everything. You look at both sides of the benches the field and you see the forty nine ers I see that are about like fighting each other. I'm like, what the heck is going on? Well, it turns out that they're pumping each other out and just

like high energy. And then I look at the cowboys and they're just standing around holding a helmet, and that was basically I'm like, oh god. But going back to this your question Derek about head coach. I left last show last week's show walking out and thinking, Okay, what are really really the responsibilities of a head coach? Like

what is Mike McCarthy full on? If you had to list this is what you do on a weekday and this is what you do game day that has a full on effect on how the Cowboys perform right the day of the game, as opposed to what I'm trying to get at, as opposed to how the players play on the game, and then what the coordinators are doing during the game, you know what I mean, Like, what are you trying to figure out? Who's here to blame

and how much blame does the heck? I mean, yeah, he's the face of the whole team and has to stand up there. But as far as like duties, what are his duties exactly? Like during the course of the week, typically he oversees the like the staffs as they put their game plan together, and it's up to him to decide, like how much time he spends with who he's always He's said time and time again. He kind of lets Kellen take the lead on that, but he leans more

offensively because that's his background. And most importantly, I'll say this real quick, most important I think, and this is with any leader, I think his primary responsibility is to identify and solve problems. So as he's watching his team prepares, he's watching his coaches prepare, he's identifying This was an issue last week. Let me spend a little extra time over here making sure stress the importance of what we need to do to do this. Let me go solve

this problem over here. I see this is happening over here. I need to deal with this. Like that's what leadership is. So if you're a walk around he had coach to me, that's your first and most primary responsibility is identify problems and solve them because in a lot of instances, the people that are close to it may not see it and certainly may not have the answers to it. And it should be you also should allow yourself to be more of a coach for the entire team. You know,

I think sometimes if you're an offense of coordinator. I think it was Homegrins teams back in the Green Bay. I remember some defensive players where are like, yeah, our offense is great. He calls the plays, he's the head coach. Defensively, didn't have the same kind of pulse, and so that's one of the things that that goes against you a little bit. So if you're a fear coach that handles everything, you should have a better pulse for the entire team.

The entire roster kind of know what's going on with them. I don't know if he does that, but I'm just saying that's one of the reasons why you do that. I guess where I'm trying to get at it is too. It's like, how much do you put on Kellen versus Mike McCarthy rather than people when you get on Twitter people asking oh, different head coach, different head coach versus

different offensive coordinators type of stuff. You know, Well, I think I think it still goes to McCarthy because it goes back to the last year, in that game against Washington on Thanksgiving, when you know a fossil call in fake punt, it's like what you don't get to call things like yeah, I mean it's your job over here to rein him back in. So that's when you throw your UNO car Like, no, I'm trumping what you're saying.

I'm gonna do something different. Yeah, like the draw too, I mean like, like, no, I don't, I don't know if I like that call. Let's think of something else, which again they say it fit within their their time frame. They say fourteen seconds. Now again, I'm not saying it's right. I'm saying he he agrees that that was no. He he backed it up in the press conference. I don't agree.

Got yesterday from somebody. I think the Dallas Stars. You probably don't know this, but I think the Dallas Stars scored, like, scored fourteen seconds in in their game, and somebody tweets, we'll see they can score fourteen seconds. I'm like, I mean this the whole Chiefs thing. Thirteen seconds. It's like, I think there's a big difference here. I don't know about you, but I think having a timeout changes. So yeah, it does. Yeah, that's like it's just it's pilot and

just wait away and always. But that's a part of that's a part of being here. That's a part of thing. I actually want to ask you guys that question as you guys started talking about the nervousness and all that stuff, like, do you think that at some point, maybe that time time is now? Do you think at some point the pressure of playing here just becomes so heavy that because again you're talking about a team where all eyes are on this team no matter what's happening, good or bad. Yes,

where you're just it's just so much. Do you think at some point it can just be so much pressure to where you are going to have a team that should be confident, but they're nervous because there's just so much pressure. Maybe not even pressure, hype too, I think, I mean that's the double edged sword. It's all it's cool to brag about how everybody wants to watch you and you set the rating record all the time, But this team will never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever ever

sneak up on somebody. It just won't happen. Because the first time the Cowboys win two or three games in a row, it all like the circus comes to town. That's what they're talking about on the national talk shows. The fan base is excited. The team has to deal with that. So I mean, I think it's pressure. I think it's just notoriety, for lack of a better word, like it's fitting because this is what the forty nine

ers were. Like, the forty nine ers snuck into the playoffs and everybody was like, don't think you want to play this team that'll never be the Cowboys ever. And I think that matters. I think history continues to prove that that matters. It's not always the reason why they come up short in these situations, but I don't think it helps. Yeah, I think they're gonna have to be number one or number seven to get to a championship game or past. And I do think at seven that's

the best way you're gonna do it. As kind of be the wildcard team and didn't win the division, but you're pretty good and now you get your pieces back together and you know you win this game, but the pressure you, oh, you're not gonna win this game, and then you do and all that you can kind of it or you're just so good. I think Dave said it in the press box after the game. It's gonna have to be a team that's so good and so powerful that could just withstand all the hype all that

because they're just better. And I think that happens with offensive line. You get offensive line because you don't have to. I mean, that will travel. If you're big and strong and you're going or just mall people that will That will happen in Lambeau. That will happen and so far it'll happen that at and t will happen anywhere. And I think that's where the offensive line has gotta get.

You gotta get to that malling thing stage. Again, I think it does go back to the voice that they are listening to, because me personally, as someone who deals with like anxiety or whatever, I understand that it's only human for you to feel nervous before anything. But if you have the right voice in your ear going out and you're even if I have anxiety right now, you're gonna make me run through this wall if I need to,

you know. So it goes back to that, even especially when they were coming off a win like the last game that they had of the season, that they were great, Yeah, playing against backups and things like that, but it was still the kind of ended, sorry, the kind of ending that they needed to at least get their energy back

up and all that. So I think it does go back to the leadership and the voice is and all that, because yes, you can be nervous, but there's no reason that you're walking out on the field on a playoff game and not feeling pumped and ready to go no matter what, even if there's always a chance for you to lose, you're gonna give it your all and go out there thinking that you're gonna win this game. Well, that's the perfect lead into the next question. You talk

about leadership in that right voice. My question for you guys, do you think McCarthy is providing the right kind of guidance for his coaches and for his players? And I'll give you a few examples. What led me to this question. Number one, You think about this last this last season and the offense and Kellen Moore and for whatever reason, they got to the midpoint in season and the offense fell off and it didn't seem like they had any answers.

Did he have enough answers for him? You go back to last year, the defense didn't seem like they had answers. I don't know that they had. Coach was necessarily helping them out of that hole. You even look at all the stuff that was going on this year where there was this kind of preoccupation with the referees, and it didn't seem like there was enough of a voice being up, enough of a voice out there saying to these players stop worrying about the referees, because it continued to be

something they were talking about after games. Do you think he's giving the right kind of guidance to his coaches into his players. The penalty thing is a really good point because no. I mean, I think it was the Cardinals game. A bunch of players were like, yeah, Mike told us that we got to play two different teams. Like that was his message in the postgame locker room. And in that Cardinals game, Cliff Kingsbury, they basically stole a time out from the Cowboys, knowing that they could

just keep this unit on the field. They would be confused, they'd run around, they'd call time out, and it ended up ended affecting the game, you know, because they knew the Cowboys were going to do that. So that that's a you know, that's a mindset too from the opponents that they kind of know that your undisciplined at times. This is one of it's a question that it's easy to just like lean into the most recent thing that happened, but I mean there have been evidence of him doing

a good job with that. I mean, to cut ties with Mike Nolan immediately, I mean, you gotta give him credit for the Dan Quinn higher, even if it was Dan that that revitalized the defense. Mike figured out what needed to be done, and Kellen Moore's public enemy number one right now. I think that's fair. Honestly, like I have lost a lot of confidence in Kellen Moore from

November until now. But I think we would all agree we I think you would prefer in a vacuum like oh, like, that's great that the head coach recognizes the play caller and doesn't want to get in the way of that. I mean, it would be so easy to sit here in a different universe and be like McCarthy's in the way, Like McCarthy he's stifling Kellen Moore. I mean, Jason Garrett caught a lot of flak for that. A lot of

people thought Jason Garrett like handcuffed Kellen. And so I think it's a progressive and a helpful attitude to let your coaches do their thing. And maybe Kellen Moore just reached the ceiling of what he's capable of. I don't know at what point, And we're making a lot of assumptions here. Of course, very very plainly, McCarthy could have been in his ear and could have been talking through him with him during the weeks and helping him along.

The results didn't change, and that's why I'm asking this

line of question. But at what point do you think going to what you were saying Dave, a coach does have to step in and say, Okay, we're not getting this, we're not moving beyond this, we're not figuring this out, so let me use my experience agains, especially with the guy like Kellen who has limited amount of experience as a play caller, with Mike having as much experience as he does, do you think that maybe that was a situation where he should have stepped in more and been

way more involved in the play calling, just because he has the experience, and maybe he could have provided something to help him out of that funk. I sort of expected. I was like, I was half expecting that to happen all through the final month of this season, just like like I wouldn't be surprised if today is the day that this comes out. You know, maybe he should have.

But again I leaned toward the idea, like when you start throwing your eight around and like making drastic change, like I've in my experience just being around the league, I feel like that is more likely to cause trouble than not. But it's easy to sit here in in the aftermath of everything and be like, yeah, he probably should have done that, you know, I mean, they won.

They won twelve games this year, and that that that's what makes it tough, because yeah, that they lost some games against teams that were better than them, but you know, teams teams upset teams all the time. You know, like Washington beat the Bucks, and you know, I think the Giants beat a couple of playoff teams. I mean, so you got to get credit for winning the games. I mean, it doesn't matter if your division is bad, you still you have to go out and win the game. So

you got to get credit for that. I think it's I think it's what's unfair is the whole game clock management stuff, because that is that is usually comes down to lazy reporting because of what you see and you're like, oh, it didn't work. Bad management. This team has more points than anyone in the NFL is scoring in the final two minutes of a game or a half, and they led the league. That it comes down to tub minute offense running. And I get it. We saw the forty

nine er game at the end. But I'm just saying, you can't be that bad of clock management and score at the end of half so many times. So I don't think he's getting a fair shake all the time. Elephant in the room here. Steven Jones says it all time about players. Player acquisition is three five days a year. Well is coaching. I mean, that's what's coming down to. If they feel like there's a better option out there. Jerry even said it, if there's a better option out there,

then I would make the move. Well, I'm just saying maybe there is, Maybe there isn't. I don't know. Well, I mean, but I mean they say it all the time about players. Why wouldn't you say it about coaches talent acquisition full year? Well, I'm sure it's the same with coaches. Want you want to get you want to get better, and if there's better option out there, then they need to look into I'm gonna have a big problem if dan Quinn walk. It's away and it's unable

to stay here. One way or another. Interview for eighteen saying just herself, here's what we're gonna do it. We're actually gonna take our final bank when we come back. I do want to flip the conversation to the coordinators. They're both interviewing. They both got interviews lined up. Seems like every day you hear about a different one we'll talk about what the Cowboys lose if they lose one or both of those defensive coordinators, so that when we

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Back to the break, WrestleMania comes to at and T Stadium April second and April Third's a two night event. Get your tickets on SeatGeek dot com. Welcome back, final second of the braakelock from s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. Let's talk about defensive course, I mean, let's talk about the offensive and defensive coordinator. Dan Quinn Kellum were both taking interviews. I've just read this morning that dan Quinn is now in for second interview. I think

it was in Chicago, Is that right? Yes, So he's look, it's like, hey's even advancing in this to where he's he's already there was already a sport that he's supposedly a finalist in Denver. Yeah, So there's a lot going on with dan queen. Let's start with Quinn. Let's start with him. What does Dallas lose if they don't have Dan Quinn. Well, at the very bare minimum, we know they lose a coach that all of the defenders on this team love, I mean, the player coach reputation he

came in with, it lived up to that. He seems so well liked by all of those guys. So a guy that they're bought into, a guy who picked your most recent draft class, which was very defense heavy by the way, um and and kind of has a handle on the talent here and the schemes that they work well within. Yeah, right off the top of my head. Yeah, I mean, he's just a he's just a tough dude. He's tough, mentally tough. I think I think he I mean, you have to be mentally tough to go through what

he's gone through as a coach, you know. I mean, like like what happened in Atlanta happened, you know, And and he's not the first one, you know, because Brady can do that to other teams. But like, you know, I think from a mentally tough guy, and I think the players feed off on that. I don't want him to go to any place Chicago though. I don't think you could be the coach in Chicago if you're not, you know, a tough s ob. I mean, you just have to be. And I think they would be a

good fit there. But that's if he leaves, and I don't I don't know. I've said it a hundred times, I've said it on here. I think this is a very unique situation. I'll be surprised if he stays, I'll be surprised if he leaves. So I don't know if I can just sit on the fence then just sit

right on top of it. Is I mean, we've seen we've seen Jerry pull out stops to keep people before, and it's hard to read into these situations because it's shrouded in so much secrecy, And like Jerry has gone out of his way to not want to talk about anything having to do with any of his coaches. Really, but if that was a thing, wouldn't it have happened by now? Or like, is Jerry waiting for somebody to get an offer before he counters with stay here for

this instead? I mean, I don't know. I feel like you've had ample opportunity to try to convince him to stay by certainly, don't want to be bidding against yourself. That's a good point. Actually, that's a really good thing. You wait until there's something I'll have the money for business, and then you say, okay, I will beat that by whatever,

and I'll keep you here. And honestly, I do wonder if it's a situation with him where it's more by the fact that or I'll speak for myself if I were him, I would be looking at it like I'm still going to I got great enough players here on this defense that I'm still going to be a commodity

next year. And so if there isn't a position that's available right now that has the things in it I think are necessary, and each coach probably has that list of those two or three things that are like, this is what may makes it necessary to win, Quarterback, pass rusher, you know, whatever it is, right, whatever those things are that he's like, these are absolutely mustas Knowing where I came from in Atlanta, I know I can't win without these things. If I'm him, I'm not taking a job

unless it has those things. I'm not going to convince myself, well, baby, I could make this work. If it doesn't clearly have those things, I'm not taking it because I feel like I could stay here and my defense is still gonna be top ten next year. It's gonna be a really

good Why not? I think if he if he leaves, whoever it is, I don't even know who the guy would be the defensive coordinator for the Cowboys, but I just don't think that he would be the same defense or even take a step forward well, let me be clear. I was actually saying, if he came back, he could rely on the fact that he's going to have this defense a top ten Oh yeah, yeah yeah. And that's where I'm like, So if I'm him, I don't run

for any position. I only go if I'm like, whatever those things are that I absolutely have to have in place. Unless they're already in place, I'm not going. I'll stay here. I'll keep this defense up there in the time opped in and next year I'll be right back in the cycle again and they'll be talking about me again. I was gonna ask you, guys, just real quick, why why wasn't that in the first place? He ended up being a defensive coordinators because he was ahead back in the

day or here he got fired. He was a head coach who got fired. So what happened? Because I think that you also have to look at the history and like what happened that let him to where he's at right now, even though he's been blown leads, watermelon kicks, things like that Super Bowl eight, I think he was I think he lost this offensive coordinator. I think that was the difference. You look at that Atlanta team that went to the Super Bowl. Shanahan was that offensive coordinator.

The next year he left, and they never were. That offense was never the same after he left. They were, they were doing remarkable things that year when they went to the Super Bowl on the offensive side of the ball. Once he left, it all changed and I think that was the biggest undoing of of of Quinn in Atlanta. Ironically, and he didn't call the defense when he was there. But like their defense was never good in the year they made the Super Bowl, their defensive they were just

they were. They were a help to that offense. I think they played for complimentary football, but that offense was really really good understanding. But let's also be clear too, like about dan Quinn is a great coach and I think he's you know, he's changed a lot of things. But if you were to, like, we keep dan Quinn, but you're gonna lose Parsons and Diggs, no one's gonna take that. Parsons digs in tank and maybe if it's Randy whatever, like that's that's the core. That's the core.

Any defensive coordinator that's been good in this league is going to come in and I think gonna be pretty good because Michael Parsons is ready to take the next level. He might be the best defensive player in football. Trayvon Diggs. I don't care what his grades are. He takes the ball away, he's gonna get even better. I think those pieces right there, and maybe that's why dan Quinn will stay right. I don't mean that's my hope. I think that's why I look at the like free aging guys

and what happened last year under Mike Nolan. This is what happened with the free agent guys. Then Queenn brought in. Like last year, it was kind of like a wash. No free agent guy did anything that was terrible failure. A third line didn't wash it clean. He did okay, but it was bad. It was bad. Just to make sure I use that right. Wash doesn't that mean that's bad kind And I thought watched it's like like wash it away, it's terrible, like this the shows A watch.

We got young people, we got old people. You know, we got so maybe like a flush flushes. Well. Anyways, my point is, I don't know if you got Ace King, Queen Jackson, I mean, it could be good point. Actually that's a that's a straight but it would be a straight flush. Sorry, that was when you compare players, are not those guys like a Parson's tremor Diggs. What happens with the other guys on the defense. What happened to the rest of the linebackers and the safeties and the

other corners. So things like that that I'm like, Okay, what dan Quinn proved to do with guys like that that weren't that the cow Is didn't necessarily break the bank in free agency. Are things that I'm like, Okay, I love this guy, bring him back, keep him here however you can. But this is a tough spot. But yeah, that's why I think I don't know how it's going to be. It's a depressing That's part of why, like

getting bounced out of the playoffs is depressing. I mean, there's a lot of reasons to be optimistic that the defense will stay good next year, but defense comes with a lot of variants. There's a lot of key free agents on this team. And I always say this, like, it's not mad enfranchise mode where you click advanced through the offseason and all of your guys get three points better, Like, that's not how it works in the real world. Some

guys stay the same, some guys get worse. Some guys the scheme changes and they're not good at what's being asked of them anymore. So there's a lot of reasons to be optimistic. But I don't think you can sit here in January, even if Dan stay is, I don't think you can sit here and be like, yeah, they're gonna be better. It's like, I hope, so yeah, I hope they make all the right moves and push all the right buttons. But you can't bank on that right now.

He's got he's gotta find some wild cards to the mix, you know, and and and jay Ron Curse to me was the biggest wild card. And that was a guy that that I thought, you know, he just said, I mean I got a spot for him. I mean, I could use this guy, you know, he's he's a type um to me, though, this offense, this defense can take a big step. One of the key players he's got to be able to do it is Kelvin Joseph. That's the biggest question I have is this offseason we talked

about him off the field, his maturity, all that. How much you concern about that. I'm concerned I'm concerned his track record has been bad like that. Athletically he's great. His track record of sticking with the place and being under the rules and everything that goes into it and being dedicated all the time has not always been there. If he takes that next level, if he grows with Tray and they go he tries to cover Stefan Diggs and all this stuff. He does that this offseason and

really dedicates himself. I think he could be a good player. We saw signs of it. He can be good. I just hope, which by the way, that there were signed to that in college as well, he just had both

those two stops. There were just these things that came up to where at some point they were like we just we we'd rather be without you than'd be with you in the way that I mean, I'm not gonna call names, but there was a player from last year that was that his signs, you know, Arrow was pointed up and he was ready to take a next level, and he had a bad offseason. He didn't he didn't come in, he didn't do the same things as he wanted to, and he was pretty much an afterthought of

the season. So I mean y'all can figure it out if you want. But there was a defensive player Rady to take the next level that didn't and I think it was because of his offseason. So the big big step for Kelvin Joseph to go and do that. I know he's talking about it. I'm like, I'm trying to go through this and going to call out people for whatever, because you know, you don't know all the story. You

just kind of hear some things a lot that. But just there's a guy that you thought would be a starter and be there and be ready to play, and he really it didn't. It didn't pan out. Um, maybe he has a better offseason. So yeah, all right, well keep thinking about that. All right, Let's let's to the offensive side of the ball. What does this team lose

if they don't have Kellen Moore? Uh, continuity and the offense um that they lose you know, you know, Dack's gonna have to learn different you know it would have to learn I think different scheme depends on who they bring in. Um, you know, and he's willing to do some some different you know, I like the some of them change trick plays and stuff like that. Um, but you know I there he could be better, though he could be better during the week that they have too

many slow starts, and I think that comes with preparation. Yeah, I like I said it is. It is a tough question because I mean this offense has been really, really, really good at times, it's also gone into a shell and kind of lost its identity. This low starts, the inability to run the ball. Whether or not it falls on Kellen Moore. That Tony Pollard didn't have a role against the forty nine ers, I don't know, but he

should have. That's somebody's fault somewhere. Someone made that decision, whether it was the OC, the head coach, the front office, I don't know about you. There's just a lot of disconcerting stuff that's happened there, and so I think it's knee jerky to just be like anybody's better, any like, just get I'm out of here. But at the same time, I said it earlier in the show, like I've I've lost some confidence there, um, But just in terms of

what they lose, it is interesting. McCarthy was asked about this at his press conference, just in the vein of like, you don't know whether or not he'll be here, and he was like, well, it'll it'll be the same. We're gonna tailor it toward Dak Prescott, like he's going to be at the center of everything, which is smart, but what does that mean, Like, are you just gonna keep the offense and put it in the hands of a new person, like you just promote a Doug nuss Meyer.

He can't promote Ben McAdoo anymore. He's in Carolina, which I feel I think most people are probably like relieved to hear that news. If I had to get this was a good officive coordiney whatn't he That's how he got the opportunity to be a hit coach? Yeah he was. Yeah, he was the offensive coordinator for the Giants for a couple of years when they were still good with Eli.

I don't know if he was ever amazing. It's a moot point now, but I just it's my question is just like, so, were you just taken what Kellen has done and putting it in the hands of a new person and not changing anything. You're not gonna let somebody use their own terminology or are you going to hire

from outside the building? Like it's easy to say we're going to build around Dak, But what does that mean if the guy that's been Dak's coordinator for the last three years is not in the building, which I think Kellen will be here. I don't think Kellen's going to get a head coaching job, so probably doesn't matter. Yeah, I'm definitely not as passionate about him than I am

for Den Quinn. But you know what, I think I still haven't lost faith in Kellen Moore, and I think that he can take the off season and really study and evaluate everything that he did and figure out how he can improve for another season. I don't think he's the right person to be a head coach just yet, at least at this point in his career, but I

do think that he is a very smart guy. And although I'm very down about what he did at the second half of the season, I think he has brought new things to this offense that we haven't seen or in a long time since Jason Garrett was here, So at least that's a big step forward. He brought in the creativity, brought in different ways that he was using the offense, and just needs to kind of take the

off season and figure out how to get better. I think he has it in him, and he's still a very young guy starting out in his career, so it's only fair to say that for him, starting right off the bat, without any coaching's experience, any of that, he's done a pretty how damn good job? How Americans say, pretty damn good job? So but he Yeah, he had a big, very bad hiccup there, but I think, yeah, he can still turn things around and get it better

here with the Cowboys. All right, let's go around the table once, you guys to tell me what do you expect to happen with both Dan Quinn and Kellen Moore? What do you expect to happen? I think Dan's gone. He'll I don't know, You're just gonna be a finalist for that many jobs and not take any of them. Um. The big question for me is like, will there be anybody left to promote from within? Because Joe Witt has

had a few interviews for DC jobs. I think Dan's gone, and I would I would try to promote Joe Witt or if you want to go after Mike Zimmer, that's fine, and sure, I just reading between the tea leaves of the exchanges between Mike and Fansie. It's actually be pretty spicy. I have a hard time believing that that would happen, but maybe, um and then I just I think Kellen will be here. Yeah, So m um, how how how much can I say? How much can I actually voice

what I would like? All you got what you think is gonna happens happen? I mean, I think Ellen Moore stays here with the Cowboys as the offensive coordinator, then Quinn. Yeah, highly possible that he leaves. But one mood is Jerry Jones in right now? How is he feeling? How is he at home sitting down or maybe at his office and his desk feeling Okay? How how crazy of a move can I make here? How? You know? Um, he

seemed pretty upset at the end of the season. You know, even when he got on the fan, he seemed pretty upset about the loss. So I'm just you just never know what kind of craziness can happen with the head coaching position. And I think the only way you can really keep then Quinn is by making that kind of move, because I don't think you keep him here by just giving him more money and being like, oh, well, just I mean, you can't have him make him more than

Mike McCarthy. Oh maybe not, maybe not more than well, first of all you could, but hood you're not more than Mike, but just way more than your average. Be clear about this. My understanding is that there's still money he's getting from Atlanta as well, so that fattens into this too. And I don't know. Sometimes in the contracts, it kind of depends on whether you get another head

coaching job. So if he gets if his contract was set up such that, like as a coordinator, maybe he's not gets additive, but if he's a head coach, it's not like that could also affect. You know, money does go away coach, So yeah, so that he really want those So then money doesn't just about money may yeah, And that's the point, Like, I don't think I don't know that money necessarily drives is He's the only one

that can answer that question. But because he's still making that money from Atlanta, I don't know that money is really driving his decision. Quid didn't I already go? You are to sit no, I you know Jerry didn't come out and say anything. I mean, he did say that he thinks Dak Prescott could win the Super Bowl. Yeah, so he's given the quarterback support. He could have done that different way, but he did that. He didn't get the head coach support. He didn't. He could have could

have easily done that. He didn't do that. He didn't want to give any you want to talk about it, so you know, Jared could do whatever he wants. I'll say this, I think if McCarthy's the head coach next year, I think dan quinn will be the coordinator. Okay, I don't know about Kevin Moore, but I do think dan quinn will be the coordinator if macarth's coach. If Jared decided to do some crazy stuff that I think I'll he'll break loose and it'll be different. We'll have a

fun off season. Do we think that's happening? Like? Do we? How confident do you feel that we're not out of the news cycle in terms of like, I don't think i've been. I've been working here. I've been working here long enough to know that as soon as you feel comfortable that something's gonna stay the same or change either way different, it'll it'll be it's just one way or

the other. I mean that I phrase that, I don't know what I phrase that poorly, because like, of course we're not out of the news cycle, because like Dan has to make a decision, by the way, we just find ways to make it. Well, but that I guess. I guess that's and Nick, I'll relate it to you, like, how likely do you think it is that my life gets turned upside down while I'm trying to plan this vacation gonna go? All right? This has been the Super

Bowl for the ages. Here, it's fourth and nine. Here, my homes with the ball has a chance to win this game. But you know, Bosa is gonna be coming up off the off the edge here. You know what breaking news out of Dallas Cowboys. You know, yeah, my home scoring and the Chiefs one. But here's the thing, and then leading the next day all the local newspapers, all the national newspapers, Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, I guess I

just gave him my Super Bowl pick. Yeah, I guess, But I just and I know we we have to tread delicate ground, I understand, but like this this is shaping up to be a circus environment. To be honest with you, well, I I don't like, I don't like firing people, so I don't I don't like supposing that something else is gonna happen when you still have a guy. No, no, no, no, It's just it's just put it this way. There's a there's a big story that's just gonna hover over this

team for the foreseeable future. Yea. And by the way, that could be for a year, I be for two years. It could be a story that just kind of lingers out there and and there's nothing it may be nothing to it, but it can linger out there for a long time, you know. So that's just the nature of it. Like that's just a part of the Cowboys. The Cowboys have those kinds of stories that just kind of linger.

You know. If you've if you're like a head coach, you know of like I don't know, Texas Tech or something like that for a while and it's been really stressful for you and you just need a break. You probably don't want to go to Texas the next year, you know what I mean. If if if taking a break is what you need, you know what I mean, because it's gonna be crazy. So I'm saying, you know, which happened Chris Beard did that Texas Texas, Texas. That's

really all I'm saying. But he wasn't looking for a break. He was like, I'm ready for the big time. I'm saying that if it's been a stressful time at a certain job. Really, Texas, Texas made a huge hire and it's not paying dividend. No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying I'm sure he's looking at it like, dang, I don't I don't bet. We just dropped out of the top twenty five when we started at six. Yes, I paid just enough attention to know that LSU's pretty good.

I didn't know how Texas was doing. We have we'll be playing Tennessee. We get to play SEC this Yeah, y'all arrows going down. Yea, we've been hurt. We had like three guys not playing. I was wondering LSU lost in a basketball game on Saturday, and I was wondering, are the fans in in Baton Rouge down? Are they excited because the Bengals won? Uh? Well, it goes, it goes both ways. It like because it timed up perfectly. It was like, you kidd me, we lost Arkansas, like

they they like they're not really good. Well, but they lost Tennessee whatever. Yeah. I literally I was at a bar and LSU Tennessee was on one TV and the Bengals were on the other, and I'm like, yeah, Joe, yeah, yeah, go Joe, look over like we're losing whatever. Okay, what's Joe doesn't like? It's like, yeah, I mean, you don't want the basketball team to lose, but what the Bengals are doing is definitely Mark. Why aren't you given jamaras

say Jamar too? No, no, no, I said that's Kelsey was like, I'm rooting for LSU because of this guy. And I was like, don't you dare forget Jamar. Chase is doing his thing. Hey, they they have a few more too. They got Tyler Shelvin, They're they're at baton Rouge North up there, Let's go Bengals. All right, real quick, I don't want to end the show without doing this. I want to quickly get some picks from you guys of what's going to happen this weekend NFC and AFC

title games. You got Cincinnati beingles versus the Kansas Chiefs. You got San Francisco forty nine ers, versus the Los Angeles Rams, who wins each game, giving two Chie's forty nine a super Bowl. Yea, all right. I will be rooting my heart out for Joe and Jamar, but I can't pick against my homes in his building. There's no way Chiefs. I go Chiefs Rams, mainly just because I don't want to see a rematch like we just had that Super Bowl. Plus, I don't know, it's it's it's

hard to beat the same team three times in a season. Yeah, So Chiefs Rams Bengals and let's go, all right, Age, you know it'll be interesting. I know you're about to make a pick. But it's like when fifty five years with nobody had Nobody's home team went to the Super Bowl, and we could have it twice in two years. Yeah, it would mean now we also saw that. Does that

matter for the Rams, I mean it won't. I don't expect this week is going to be the same as that that final week, Like I don't think they were gonna be that. I don't think it's gonna be that overrun by the forty Niners this week. I really don't. Maybe I'm wrong. I saw a story Niners had I had one day advantage like a heads up, because they still started selling tickets like after the game's done, because

they didn't know where the game is gonna beat. It's a five hour drive if assuming you live in the Bay Area, get all the Niner fans all over Californy. I get all that, But I just I kind of gotta feel it will be a little different. First of all, I think the Rams are gonna play better football than they played that game. And that's the most important part. Yeah, so I look at this. I look at this, and I say it's gonna be Chiefs Rams. I think that's

gonna be yourself room for the wrong team. I know that. Yeah, right, we talked about that last week, though, I mean the Rams have a nasty pass rush too. Like, I don't know, I don't know if you have to see Aaron Donald, I don't know. If it wasn't with this interior offensive line, don't have to face the Cardinals, and then the Cowboys would have been the one to play in Lambeau last week. It's not a lot of great options here. It's gonna

take it's gonna take some time. Yeah, all right, we'll appretect. You join us We'll be back next week. Next Wednesday, we'll have more talk for you guys. I picked Chiefs and um and ramsis Rams. All right, We'll see you guys next week. Till then for Nick Eatman, Dave Helm and AMers See. I'm Derek Hiltson. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. So this has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the US Cowboys Football Club.