Cowboys Break: Costly Win

Welcome to the latest edition of The Break with Life from s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star, presented by Miller Lake, the only beer of the Dallas Cowboys, and today we talk about Cowboys versus Texans. Cowboys get the win in the game that was probably shakier than people expected at twenty seven three. What's the date again? December twelfth? Did I get that wrong? It is December twelve. I was gonna get to that. Can you let me finish his birthday? No? Wait forgot mess you up? I mean

so so basically okay, appreciate Nick. We got a game to tak a Cowboys game. Yeah. I had a whole intro. I had a whole intro planned. I was driving into work like thinking, Okay, how am I gonna say this? And Nick just screws it up, started keeping no, no, no, you killed the moment. Happy birthday, Brian. Appiate you, guys. I really do thank you though. That was that was an interesting one yesterday. Yeah. Oh that's no Brian though, right, Yeah, very good. Yeah we all happy birthday, but thank I

appreciate that. Uh yeah, you're right. Not one we thought that that was going to be that way, but a one and ten team that kind of came in with a little bit of an idea about, uh, you know, maybe to kind of mess you up a little bit with some of the things that they did offensively. I

thought they had a pretty good plan. I think he caught a little bit of a break on that fourth down series with the ankle injury to Pierce the third kind of kind of slowed them down a little bit, and so Rex burkheads in there running the ball on fourth down and stuff, and yeah, okay, but sometimes you need some breaks along the way, sometimes you do. Yeah, you look at that. I really think about that that

whole last series. And we'll get to that. We're gonna talk a little bit more about that, but let's start first. Let's go around the table. What was the big takeaway from that game for you? Because I think there's right now kind of two camps. There's one camp of people who are like, Cowboys sucked there, no way they should have been in that game. They should have played like that yesterday yesterday. There's another camp that's like, a win is a win, never apologized for a win. Where do

you guys follow Nick? I mean, I definitely think you know the win is a win. I mean, like you you can't, you can't apologize for the game. I mean, you know, like we say all the time, emotions matter, and they mattered in this game, and and they Cowboys underestimated them. And you know, injuries are going to continue. When injuries pile up, you're going to the talent levels

going to kind of start to even out a little bit. So, um, you know, I thought the Cowboys gave Houston every chance to stay in the game, and then when it was time to take it, they you know, the better team won. But I'm not that worried about it because beating the Vikings didn't make you super Bowl champions. And winning this game the way they did, it doesn't mean that they can't compete in the playoffs, so there's a balance there.

I think you always expect the Cowboys to play this type of game, But for me, I thought it was going to happen last week against the Colts, not this week against the Texans. So it was still surprising to see the way they struggle, especially against a team like the Texans. And we talked about it. It just if I never imagine a scenario like what we watched yesterday,

but surprisingly, something about it. It just I don't feel as bad as people are feeling right now and like, oh, you're not gonna do anything in the playoffs, You're can't be any you know, you're not contenders, Dak is not enough to win a playoff game, blah blah blah. Something about it makes me feel better right now. At this point, I feel better than I did last season where they were at. So it's it just keeps them on their toes. I mean, had they lost a game, that would have

been a different story. But the fact that they went

out and still won the game. Now, the biggest part of what happened yesterday to me were those injuries, and I'm sure we'll get to them, but they suffer a lot of injuries that are concerning, and now it changes from a pretty healthy team that you had going on to Okay, now you got several key players hurt and we'll see kind of the capacity of what that looks like and all that as far as how about the injuries where But all in all, yes, a lot of mistakes,

but I don't know, I cut it just keeps them humble. In my opinion, this kind of embarrassment in a way keeps them humble, and I think that they'll be better because of it. I had visions of the Denver game in my head last year when they're you know, the different coverages and stuff like that, and to cover two and I'm kind of sitting there thinking, Okay, what are they doing to dak right now to kind of confuse them.

But I think on the interception to Noah Brown, I think he thought that they were going to play man coverage and they really they played zone. But they played

so much Cover two on him yesterday. You know, they even ran what with the Tampa two we talk about, we're all familiar because of Rod Marinelli run the linebacker through the middle of the field try and you know, you turn that linebacker to face the strong side of the field and run it, and if you don't throw it, then you know, you kind of rally and do that.

But you know, I felt like that it was one of those games where I'm thinking, man, they they're playing cover two, they're playing cover two, they're playing cover two. They're kind of they're messing with Dallas and they're messing with Dak. And then the final drive, the ninety eight yard drive, they played covered to every single snap and Dak picked him apart, and I'm thinking, oh, okay, okay,

they figured something out here. You know, I think that you played a football team that didn't have anything to lose. We should have known something with Jeff Driscoll gets called up from the practice squad and then they you know, and then Alan doesn't get to dress, and so now you're thinking, like, Okay, what's Jeff Driscoll ever done against the WHOA wait a minute. That Detroit game, they ran the read options stuff, they ran him. They did so they had a really nice game plan. You know, pet

Hamilton did a good job. I thought for the first half, second half, Dallas gave up three points it's all they gave up. You know, it took it took a goal line stand to really to win the football game, to give you an opportunity. But you couldn't have played that goal line stand any better than they played it. But I these games are tough, They're tough to win. I

think you're absolutely right about that, Ambar. But again, it's like, I think teams are trying to figure out ways to make Dak make miss stakes, you know, and Houston's call to that was to play was to play clog and cover that two and drop and then make him have to read that field. And there were some route combinations in this game that weren't really very good, you know that were they weren't. There was some there was some guys that were running in the same areas and Dak

was having to hesitate pull it down some. But yeah, I think teams are doing everything in their power not to blitz him and not to play man coverage against him, because that's when he's when he thrives throwing the ball. And you know, I think loving them had a really good plan defensively until that very last drive, and they they didn't have a plan. Guy made two the best throws you'll ever see. The throw to the throw to Noah Brown was a rope right where it needed to be.

The throw to Schultz on the next play was a great throw, So you know, yeah, you can kind of sputter along and have problems and then when it has to be on the line, go make plays. And that's what they did that final drive. Yeah, I probably for me, i'm as I'm not as wheels off as I think a lot of fans are today because for me, this is kind of what I expected to some degree that

this is a possibility. And if you remember, we started last week by saying, guys, this Texans team, this game may be a little different than you think it's going to be. The Only thing that surprised me that the Cowboys didn't pull away at the end, that they were actually having to play for the win at the end

of the game. But I expected that by halftime exactly what we saw was what we were going to see, because again, you're talking about a team and love you talked about it after they came into that game throwing every they had nothing to lose, and it was an in state rival. As far as the way they look at it, and for them, they know they're not going to the playoffs, they're not doing anything this year but trying to get the number one seed. And but to be able to say as a part of that they

beat the in state rival. That was huge for them, and they threw everything at the Cowboys. And on the flip side of that, I don't think the Cowboys came ready to play in the same way they didn't take I don't think the level of intensity was the same between the Cowboys and the Texans. And when you have those kind of scenarios, that's what you get. You get teams that are really good playing teams that are really bad, and the intensity level makes it even And I think

that's what we saw yesterday. And so again I'm not I don't think it's a bad like Cowboys. Look. Good teams have bad days. Good teams, probably even really good teams, figure out how to win in spite of it. Philadelphia did the same things, the same thing a few weeks ago when they had to struggle only score three points in the first three quarters against Indianapolis and figured out a way to win that game. That's what good teams to do. So I don't look at this as a

horrible thing. I think there are some things that came out of this game that concerned me about the Cowboys, But overall, I think the Cowboys just played a bad game. They figured out how to win. You survive in advance, like you go to the next week and you figure out and hope you don't get back in the same STA say that they didn't take this game seriously whatsoever. I mean, you still go in and take a game

serious and play how you need to play. But even the week leading to that game and the mood here, the energy is like, oh this, we got this. You know. They didn't have padded practice, They just had you know, walked throughs and things like that. So I think, and again I'm not in those meetings, but the preparation was different than how they've been preparing for all the games.

And that's something that Mike McCarthy has talked about kind of like at this point of the season, you have to manage you know, it wasn't just about this week, it was that's the part of the season. At their ending, things are changing because you do have to manage and take care of their bodies and all that. Because of where we're at in the year, but still it's a switch from what they've been doing versus how this week just kind of the mood, the energy, the environment that

it was around the building. I'm not speaking for them or whatever. I'm just like even us when we talked about the Texans. You did the analysis here, Brian, you you looked at their offense or defense and all that, but it was just kind of a very dismissive of in Vegas game seventeen points. I mean, I think everybody the country and again we talked about this last week too.

This is the nature of the NFL. When everybody assumes one thing is going to happen, that's when you start being like, Okay, I'm a little nervous about this because that's the nature of the NFL. They're professionals too. That's what happened sometimes and you can't really put your finger on it. But this is not a unique to the Cowboys. This happens across the league sometimes where things like this

just happened. And again it's the sign of a good team that in those situations can still figure out how to win. And I'm gonna run down this kind of the end of the game and I'd love for you guys just to talk about what stood out to you most. But you think about how this game played out, and the Cowboys are in a situation where the offense and the defense both had to make the plays necessary to win this game. The defense, Houston gets the ball on

the Dallas four after the interception. They had four tries within the four yard line to get into the end zone, and there was a great play to start off by LV and Sam Williams to get in one yard loss on a run. Carlos Watkins made what may have been the play of the game. I want to know what. You want to know what the play that set that whole thing up though? What Dalton Schultz made the tackle

on the interception return. Yeah, I didn't think about it, but I mean because that thing could have been like, Okay, ball's tipped, everybody gives up, and now it's a walk in touchdown. And Dalton Schultz actually made a really good play to get over. And that's why you teach these guys.

You you know, you hear the line coaches all the time at training camp, cover or cover when there's a ball tipped an interception, because you want to get guys over because that actually put the ball right there because they could have walked that thing in and now you're really dead yep. And then you got Carlos Watkins that makes the play. They thought it was a touchdown and college a touchdown I think initially didn't. His knee was down and he was down and so he's at the one.

And then you got the big play by Tank, which again he just seems to make these kind of plasing situations for the negative two and then Gallimore and Barr make the tackle for one and that gets the turnover on downs. Then the offense that's when Dak took over. They go six or seven for seventy nine yards. Dak also had two rushes in that drive for fifteen yards. They went the drive was on eleven play drive ninety

eight yards. Two thirty nine was the drive time and and then scored to take the lead and eventually win the game. And that, for me, was what I loved about what I saw yesterday is because it was at the time when you absolutely needed it, and it wasn't just one side of the ball. Both sides of the ball had to deliver in some very tough situations, stopping a team when they're at your four and then driving ninety eight yards for the touchdown. I love that. What

do you guys sing? Yeah? I mean, and also the special teams because fifty three yard field goal earlier in the quarter. If you don't make that field goal, you know, you're you're only up. You're up by six and they're kicking a field goal and then they beat you by nine. I mean like that, So that that was huge too.

But but I thought, yeah, like you said, I mean the defense, that was the huge, huge play there, that was stopping him at the one, and then you know, forcing love he spent to make a decision there on fourth down, and I don't blame him for going I don't either. I don't blame him, you know. And it was funny when I initially watched the play, I thought that the quarterback went the wrong way and it looked like they were trying to run like a reverse option

is what they were. When you look at the way it was blocked because you know, Driscoll kind of opens to his left, Birkhead goes right. It's like maybe it pierces in there. You get the jab step and then the spin. Maybe a guy's not working, you catch a break again, maybe the guy who's the play is kind of designed for isn't intore running it. They call it anyway.

And then Burkett just you know, he just takes off birkehead excuse me, just takes off running and now you your defense is set like they're like, oh, the ball's coming this way. Where it looked like they were trying to fool you on a option left, get you go that way and then come back to the right. So, you know, a really great job. And again that you Watkins played and those four plays, he was tremendous on

those four plays. And you know Tank and you know, I mean Tank's ability to re that quickly when there's a down block and he knows down block. This guy's gonna downblock me and he shoots the gap I mean right behind, you know, to get the stop right there. So yeah, it's just just all around great job by

the defense on that goal line stand. This was the first time, you know, usually you trust this defense to take care of business, and it's been that way kind of all season, I feel like, but it got to the point where around that time I didn't think the defense was gonna be able to make the stop. It's like certain things that they've been doing just kind of makes me nervous. But they took care of business as always.

Tank was amazing and I'm glad he had the game that he did, and because he's a guy that hasn't been receiving as much credit as he should and as a guy that's kind of overlooked because other players kind of get the benefit of you know, and we talked about it. Him being on the field gives the guys the opportunity to, you know, build up stats and all that. But I'm glad he played the way that he did.

I'm glad he was able to make his presence known at the time that he needed any key moments like that, because, like I said, when those plays have I was sure the Texans was gonna We're gonna take over in score. I'm surprised you say that because you have so much faith in Dan Quinn. You know that you like take

turn sometimes. That's what I'm saying. Though, to me, it was like it was a sudden change, and you're like, you know, all of a sudden the defense and you knew maybe a team in the past would have given it all up. I don't think. I think dan Quinn made some really good calls. I think the players play extremely hard for him on defense. I do they take

a lot of pride in that. And I think yesterday that was one of those opportunities were they weren't going to let themselves down and they weren't going to let dan Quinn down. And you know the only chance they had to do it to win is to get a stop, and they got a stop. A guy made some great calls down there to kind of take care of that. Dude. Let's take our first break. Let's come back. Let's talk about Dak Prescott in his day, kind of up and down.

Some questions about him, questioned about him for the last couple weeks. We'll talk about that when we come back. Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Todd thought it would be secure to jog and the cheetah sevent Todd believed the big Cat repellent he bought online was reliable. And now Todd is trying to be faster than this cheetah that

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Don't mister chance to send your athlete to camp at at and T Stadium on decib twentieth and twenty First register today Dallas Cowboys dot com Slash Academy. Welcome back. Second segment of the Break Life from the s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. This segment brought to you by blockchain dot Com. All right, let's jump into some

conversation on Dak Prescott. Yesterday. He was twenty four to thirty nine, sixty two percent completion rate, two hundred and eighty four passing yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, seventy point nine. Quarterback rating up and down a lot of the day. I mean earlier in the game. This was not one of those games where I thought, in my opinion, they

started slow. I mean, they scored two touchdowns in the first three possessions, but they had that loll there in the middle and uh and a lot of that was on Dak. What were your thoughts on how Dak played yesterday? Played all right, I mean to to win the game, you know what I mean, came back to win the game. But but he was not as I said earlier, I mean, he was the third best quarterback on the field behind the two that they were rolling out in Houston. So

that's all. That's never a good thing to be number three quarterback on the field. And I thought he was playing. I thought he was missing throws. I thought that the offensive line wasn't helping them, that they didn't look like they practiced all week, and so that's what it looked like me. But that's that was That was the thing. And you know, but it was you know what, it go win the game. I mean, your defense bailed you out or whatever it is, and you still have a

chance to go win. And then they just carved him up like like they would and waiting for it all time, you know, the whole time. Yeah, well, you had quite a few passes that were dropped by the receiver or tight end. There were several occasions where dacked through it. I thought, pretty good, and then they just dropped it for no. I mean, should have a tough catch. Me they got hit, but they should hold on the ball,

make it. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it was nothing like like, if you're a professional NFL player playing this game, you should have caught that and held onto that ball. But here's the thing with Dack. For me, it's just it's complicated because there are so many good throws that he makes some really good throws and you're like, that's why, but then he goes back and makes mistakes or it's not consistently great, But can you ask that for him

to be consistently great? And that's where I think the argument comes into hid and I think the salary stuff that's out of question because it's not even he's not even the most paid quarterback now anymore at all. So he's about you know, that's just the business of it. But the problem here, and we talked about it that Nate brought it when we did that show, was the interceptions. That it's becoming a constant thing, like every game there's

an interception at least one. And now it goes into the argument, Okay, do you want him to be more careful or do you want what's the word aggressive? Or do you want him to keep being aggressive? And he talked about it after the game in the press conference and he's like, Okay, I don't want to take away from my aggressiveness. Yes, I gotta be more smart with

throwing the ball. I know that. But it's a tough balance there, and I think that at some point in my bite them in the but as I mean, I do not want to take that away from him and just let him because again, some of he makes some really really good throws and the ones you pointed out Brian are pretty impressive. But how do you find the right balance? Yeah, that's the thing about it. I don't think his offensive line was there was very good yesterday. I think that, and it wasn't just when they got

backed up. I thought they were not very good at tackle. I don't think Smith was particularly good at times. He got compressed quite a bit. I felt like that steal up until the point when he got hurt, he was having one of those games. He's always to me a better run blocker than than pass blocker. I think they got out of in the first half what they're really good at, and that's having the balance and running the football. Their disparity see was it the word dissparity exactly two here?

Ambar and I are in the same side here where, But it was it was really heavy, heavy pass to run in the first half, and they came out in the second half they got the ball where they run at ten straight times and down to the goal line, and you're kind of like thinking, Okay, they're getting back to what they're going to try and do. They're going to try to establish something. But I think that teams

have figured this out about day. Make him read the field, make him have to see all that color, and make him have to And you've got some guys out there, and Nick brought it up about the receiver and bar that. You know, you've got to be able to run routes. You've got to find a way not to get knocked off route. You know, you've got to find a way to get open or to separate. And you know, he made some bad throws. He's made some bad decisions. The interceptions that he made to throw. I think he got

fooled on the first one. I think he got fooled on the very first interception he had. I think that was he probably thought he was going to get man coverage when Schultz went inside. The nickel didn't go with Schultz. He stayed where he was and he threw the ball thinking that it was going to be you know, that that nickel was going to clear. You know, I think that was about he got hit on the second one. You know, that was ball got beat bad, got beat on the inside move, got beat on an outside move.

That was bad job by him, you know, And that's what it causes. But I think the team should figure it out that make him have to read. Don't blitz him, because we saw what happens when you rushed him. He throws the ball fifty one yards down the field to Noah Brown. You know, when you pressure him, he finds ways to manipulate and make plays. It's when you make him have to look at that everybody's standing there. It's that's when I think it's the hardest for him to

do right now. And I have a feeling you're going to see teams do it more that they've kind of figured that out about him, make him have to, make him have to study and kind of try and confuse him on where bodies are on certain parts of the field. One thing I want to point out that I think is fair when you talked about them having the disparity between the past and run game in the first half,

a lot of that happened in that final drive. The final drive when they were in there two minute trying to score before the half, they had ten straight passes. If you don't factor that in, they were had about a fifty fifth. They were running like I think they had run ten times and had passed eleven times, So they're at a fifty fifty till that drive, and obviously that drive threw it way out of whack because they were just trying to drive down the field and get

to the field goal. So I just think that has to be factored in, Like, yes, they did still have the disparity, but I do think that has to be factored in that they were calling a pretty balanced game up until that drive. There's something to think about. Let's actually move on. I want to talk about the defense a little bit, because we got I really need to

in that final segment. We got to talk a lot about what happens from here because there are a lot of injuries that are that are part of this conversation at this point. But let's start about the defense. The one way area I will give them some credit is yesterday against Damian Pierce, who we all agreed that's that's the guy you gotta worry about the most. They held him a twenty two carries, seventy eight yards a three

point five average. He did get in the end zone once, but all in all, that's a day where you look at and you say, they did a pretty good job against the back that has you know, he's shown some things in weeks where you would think he could be a problem. That being said, there were other things that they had problems with, particularly Jeff Driscoll and what he presented in the RPO game and how they used him running the ball. He had seven carriages for thirty six

yards average five point one. How concerned do you, guys, not necessarily even just about yesterday, but knowing that you got to deal with Philly still and you may have to deal with other teams that run that style of offense. Do you put this in the category of Dallas just wasn't ready for it, or do you put this in the category of this is still a problem running quarterbacks with a good running back as well, that that seems to be an issue of fields and Montgomery, Hurts and Sanders.

Even in this case, you know those two runners, both of them could run well, not as well as Driscoll, but both of them with Piers, I just think the combination of both doesn't doesn't fly well with this team. And then then it lets a guy that you never even heard of, you know, go make you know, have a career day at receivers. So I do think that the running quarterback element gives this team the biggest issues

and it allows other players to make more plays. Yeah, I mean again, I'm looking at the Damian Pierce thing so well, and he had that one run for twenty four sort of reality, it's like twenty one cares for fifty four yards, which is kind of like you're thinking going into the game, you'd take that all day for there. The running quarterback is an issue, and the problem is this team is so aggressive in the way they play.

They fly to the ball and that's the deal. And you have to have discipline, you have to have There were a couple of times there where you know, you look at guys like Layton vanders who had a hell of a game that yesterday was a type of game that Layton vander Esh thrives in. They're gonna try and run the ball. There's not a lot of passing going. They're gonna try, you know, they're gonna try and beat up on you a little bit and do some stuff. But they had guys in space. They had guys in space.

They had Wilson in space. One time they had Vanderish in space. And one time, you know, it's one thing to go and tackle tho you got to tackle those guys. You got to keep teams from not wanting to hand you know, make him keep handing the ball off. You know, punish the quarterback whatever you have to do when he's running with the football. You know, good hard tackling and that way you keep these quarterbacks they want to they don't want to get hit. They keep giving it all.

They give it off, they give it off. But yeah, the running quarterback is an issue here because of how aggressive the Cowboys play their front and how they're trained to go get the football, and the discipline they play with or the lack of it shows when the quarterback

pulls that ball and takes off running. I think now, I mean I would really try to focus a lot on the way you tackle the opponent team, the opposing team in trying to get the ball out of their hands, because I think that's an area where they can actually if they get to the guy that they can try to take advantage. Because we saw it even that one play, you know where Trevon Diggs gets the ball back and

then figures out. My point is here is if you can fully fix the problem, I would emphasize when you do get to the runner, whoever it is, whether that's the quarterback or the running back tackle. Like I don't know as worst techniques, how tackling where you can get the ball and hit it and just try to get it out as much as possible, just to recover the ball, because I don't know what else you can do to get better in general, just and stop it the run

at this point of the season. I mean what I mean, you've been saying some of the things that you can do there, but an advantage that they can do is just try to get more the ball for the offense. But other than that, I don't know what else you can do. The only thing about that is that you could be so sometimes you just want to get the guy to the ground, so when you are punching for

the ball, that's like five or six. That's why they were trying to do it as Zeke on that first good run where he went like twenty yards and after about fifteen they were trying to get the ball and it's like, well, somebody's gotta get him down. So it's a great technique and some some players really do it well. It's just that you've got it, you can't miss because if you miss, I'm sure that peanut tilman. You know, he had the peanut punch. I'm sure he's missed a

few as well too. So there's two two, you know, two ways of thinking there. You also get the guy to the ground. Yeah, we've seen we've seen what playing really good read option football does to Michael Parsons in that Philadelphia game. It frozen, you know, And that's the last thing you need is your entire defense being frozen by that, you know. And that's why I think the Cowboys, they're gonna they're gonna be damned, They're gonna try and get to the ball. They're gonna try and be aggressive.

If they give up the run to the quarterback, they're you know, so be it. You know. I just I think there's things the tackling aspects I think are well, you know, I think those are good things to think about. But if you get these guys in space, you got to make sure. I mean, there were a couple of times where Driscoll was just more athletic, more quick, more fresh, whatever you want to say. They able to run away, you know, from the finishers and watching some highlights, and

he was pretty good too. I'd like throwing wild running while on the run and that touchdown pass he had was a really good pass. Yeah, several throws where he's just running, running, running and then throws and makes the connection there. So, uh, that's definitely a challenge for the

Cowboys for sure. And I think that I don't want to overstate this and we're talking about this, but at the end of the day, the Cowboys did still hold them to thirty seven carries for one hundred and fourteen yards three point one average, and only allowed three points in the second half. But that's true. Yeah, so you can you don't want to be too critical like they just sucked yesterday. I don't think that was the issue. I think it was just we've seen this thing happen before.

And it's one of the things I talked about at the beginning show that where you look at this game and even if you want to give them the benefit of the doubt they had a bad day, they still won. There are some troubling things coming out of this game, and that's one of them. Can I say a positive thing that I saw yesterday? Dis played much better as a defender when it came to having to deal with the run. You know, there were one time the ball

spilled the outside. Pierce's trying to and he's like playing leverage. He didn't didn't it didn't soften and all that. He had a couple of tackles. I mean, the in the final drive for the Texans, they threw a first down pass, he drives, the guy, tackles. He was trying to keep the guy in bounce. You could tell he's trying to keep him in bounce. So you know the positivity of him tackling better or playing with a more physical edge, I think Bland playing with a more physical edge out there.

You know, there were some things in the secondary. I think that when I always worry is when they don't tackle and they don't play with any physicality. I thought yesterday they did. So if teams are going to try and run the ball to the perimeter, it's nice to know that Diggs could step up and make plays if he has to. Bland can step up and make plays. Barrow was in a good position yesterday to make plays, of course, like he did on the fourth down play.

So you know, those kinds of things are encouraging to me. All Right, we're gonna take our final break, will come back. Let's talk about these injuries. Cowboys injury list is growing. After the loss of Anthony Brown last week. He had more losses this week. We'll talk about that when we come back Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. The season is finally here. For months, we've been gearing up to win. Now it's time for the team that performs on any field.

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Christmas for more information. Welcome Back. It is the final segment of The Break live from the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We are presented by mill Like the only beer of the Dallas Cowboys Stock Injuries. Man, It's it started getting pretty hectic yesterday because there are not only guys you lost. There were other guys that left the games that you just mentioned in the Break Gamber, like Treyvon Diggs who came back that we all were

a bit worried there for a second. And if you lose him, now all three of your starting cornerbacks going into the season are gone. But he did come back and play. There are three other troubling injuries though, that we don't need to talk about. Jess heard he hurt himself on the tackle the tight end when he came up and yeah, he got he kind of when he undercutting it kind of jacked him up a little bit.

So let's start with the injury. I think that is, in my opinion, probably the biggest Terrence Steele right tackle. What are we hearing about his situation and where he is as far as a prognosis is concerned. I disagree with you on the order of your injuries, but I will say he's he's got a torn acl and he's out for the season. And as bad as that is, um, you know that, I still think that there's there could

be a worse one. But that is really bad because he's been playing so well and he's such a good young player that they're trying to resign. And I'm not saying that they won't now, but um, you know, that's just it's bad because you know the continuity. You already have issues on left side and now stuff with the right side. But I just think that I just it's a very rare situation to lose a really good player like this and you might have a better backup. You might.

I mean, Jason Peters could be a better backup. He's a bet, he's he's a he's a better pro. He's never been. He hasn't played a lot of right tackle but he's he could be a better player for you, and he's certainly changed things. When he got in the game and they had Josh Ball over there, which will probably never play right tackle again this season, I wouldn't think. I mean, I was gonna ask you, do you think

they're gonna rotate ball in Peters. I'm just I'm can I just make you throw up in a Nick is thinking, No, he's he's way over in left field. Don't get him started. He's his mind has not mean rotate ball and Peters come on now, No, but I'm seeing it. But we've seen but we've seen him, you know, we've seen him like they you know, maybe they don't want Jason Peters playing sixty five players. Yeah, I know, but I don't

know honestly. And I saw your tweet this morning, Brian. Well, but they played twenty eight he did, he played, He played twenty eight plays and the problem was the one the back top plays he got beat inside and that that threw him and then all of a sudden, now you're over setting it inside and then you get been on the edge. And it sometimes with these and we've seen with guys like with Chads Green, like once you have a bad one. It's just it's just snowballs and

you can't recover. And you know, to Jason Peters credit, they were thinking about you know, I mean I was talking to Jane Slater from the NFL network about this after the game, Like Jason Peters went up to Joe Philbin and Philbin's like they're kind of like talking about it, and they go with ball and then it you know, then at the end, it's like you're going in we've

talked about this, you go in there. So you know, there's a previous regime that probably would have just ran with ball and you know, and tried to explain it at the end of the day. But they didn't. They made the switch. But the twenty eight plays, I you know, I have great guys on all their plays. I don't know the one or two plays, Yeah, I could have killed you in the game. Absolutely, it could have, you know, And that's the unfortunate thing, you know. I mean I

graded Michael Parsons and all the plays he played. He didn't have a sack that make him a terrible player, no, but you got to just grade those plays. And they did the right thing by putting Peters in because I think Ball's confidence was not very good at that point. Yeah.

I think the interesting thing here too is you also have to factor in what we saw during training camp in preseason, and I think that's why that even though you say you got a factor in all the plays from yesterday, I think fans were looking at it as, Yeah, that might only been two plays yesterday, but we've seen this before. We saw this during the preseason, we saw this during camp like he's been shaky, and so yesterday was just more confirmation that he's shaky. And then I

think the Cowboys made the moves. I think that's where probably most fans are looking at this and saying Ball's not the guy. He's not the guy, and then it becomes a question of do you take one of the tackles? Nick, You're not talking about this in the press box yesterday. It's hard to believe in a world where you have a team that has Tyron Smith, Tyler Smith, and Jason Peters on it that two of those guys would be sitting on the bench in favor of Josh Ball, even

if they've never played right tackle. You at some point say, okay, guys, one of y'all need to figure it out and play right tack. Jason Peters has plays right tackle. He played like eight snaps and then the fourth quarter the other day. He's never yesterday, he's never practiced and you know, in what seventeen years? Yeah, so I like my chances with him getting better. Heard an interesting question this morning that

came up. Somebody said, would you can say it was Brad Brad Syam, he's one or five out through the van. He said, nobody's told me this, but it does make me think. You go back to Tyron's rookie year he played right tackle. He did is the answer to this question? Keep Tyler where he is, put Tyron Smith on the right side. I've said this a hundred times. Jason Peters, I still think he needs to be out there like

I would rather have Tyler Smith. I mean, I'm sorry Tyrn Smith at left tackle, Jason Peters at right tackle, and then just figure out the best left guard for Jacksonville and Philly and all that, not for the future, not for all that stuff. Just who is the best left guard? Figure it out, don't worry about feelings, will

deal with that later. But I mean that's I think if Jason Peters can go out and just play like that and it's never played it in seventeen years, then then I'm okay with him, like all week learning the steps, figuring it out, playing that a pretty good player in Zach Martin. Yeah, I think that could be a really good right side of the line. I'm kind of feeling.

I mean, I Nick makes a lot of great points, and there's a side of me that thought that, maybe initially after Week one when there were struggles with with Steele, why wouldn't you put why when you put you know Smith over there, that you know at right Tai Smith, Tyler Smith? Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know, I'm sitting there thinking, note Threw Tram like watching, Hey, if I'm gonna put my best five out there, why would you not put

Tyler Smith? I would consider playing Tyler Smith at right tackle and using Peters as that swing guy if you know, if you want to get, if you want to let if you want to, let Peters continue. And the smart thing the Cowboys have done this year is they've been using Peters throughout the season. It wasn't like he had to come in in Week fourteen and save the day this one, like, oh the first time he's got to

play all year he's played. That's a smart movie. So you know, by them, by them not just saying like we're gonna sit there and just content continuity, continuity. No, by playing Peters, you caught him ready so he could step into at least like imagine him like he hadn't played all year, and all of a sudden, they're like, I think you can go at right tackle and played all year. Have you ever played right tackle two thousand and five? Oh, okay, you imagine that. Here we go, Yeah,

imagine that. See that's I mean, this is where when rotation actually helps you, and by them playing him in these games and kind of messing with the continuity has actually been and to the point now where you have options along the line. My option would be to play Tyrant Smith at left tackle, put Smith at right tackle, and use Peters as the swing. That's what I would do.

You know, this team has made a lot of questionable decisions along the way that has made me kind of raise an eyebrow and squen my eyes and be like, I don't know if I agree with that, but it's proven to work. So I think I'm at a point and just like you said, continua a reputation. You know you got, you gotta working there the same thing over and over. That's the old let's say Jason Garrett era where we used to were you just stick with what you got, and we saw it in that game they

took out ball. So my point is, I think I'm at a point now where I actually now trust their decisions and their judgment on what's gonna work best. So as opposed to before, I was kind of things didn't really make that much sense. We saw it one way, they saw it a different way. But over time, I think that when you look at when um Mike McCarthy got here, how things started, even all the questions that we were wondering why still playing his second year, he

got better and better and better. So now looking all the last three years, I think every decision, how you see the final outcome, has worked out for them. So I do trust whatever decisions that make. Maybe if I questioned it at first, I think they're gonna make the right one, and they've shown not. They've shown not to be scared or afraid to make whatever switch that they need to make, even mid game whenever they just they'll do it. So we'll see interesting situation here. But I

did want to ask something real quick. Is it better to move a veteran guy, because we've talked about the difference of sides, you know, right versus left. Is it better to move a guy that has already the experience a veteran guy, or is it kind of easier to take the younger guy, a guy like Tyler Smith that you can that it's still moldible, like you're still molding, you know. You look at it like how babies are.

They just absorb things very quickly and then they can adjust versus an older person that's already used to it and accustom to being on that side specific side. I'm you're absolute, I move the younger guy. I mean, Tyran Smith is a Hall of Fame left tackle. You know

now you could ask him to play right tackle. But I mean, I just think I'm doing everything in my pop in my power just to keep him and let him since he's coming back, since he hasn't played all year, I'm gonna let him play the position that he naturally plays. I'm not gonna bring him back and say, okay, man, I need you to play right tackle. I know you haven't played all year. I think I'm gonna move. I

think Tyler Smith to me would be better suit. It would help him play next to Zach Martin too, you know, and that way you could keep McGovern at guard. You know they're they're okay with McGovern playing at guard, you know. So I'm I'm I'm more likely to move the young guy and let the and let Peters, who I think like you'd say, keep him. Is that is that as the ason the hole. If something is save Tyler Smith struggles, then you put him in the lineup and go from there.

All right, we don't have much time. Actually we're already over time, Nick, real quick. Just give me the other injuries that we got that we need to keep an eye. We'll talk about some of the details of them tomorrow. But Hankins, justin Hankins, Uh, he's dealing with a peck injury. We'll see how long I mean, he could be this, it could be the season. We'll see how long he's going to be out. But that's big because they went and got him and they don't really happen. Yeah, backup

for him for Jake Ferguson with a concussion. So we'll see, uh, you know how long it takes for him to come back. And then also um Dorn's Armstrong was in a walking boot and he says he just tweaked his ankle. But you know, I don't think they just give walking boots out for everything. So it didn't look good. You forgot to shoot him. Yeah, maybe left in the locker room because where this boot where his boot home? Yeah, that's

where the boot home. You'll you'll freak care bringing back Tomorrowlay, Yeah, don't worry about it happened on the very last play of the game, the Hail Mary. He got kind of pushed as the guy flushed to the outside and and that was happened at back that way with a calf injury too. Yep, it happens. All right, appreciate you guys, Johns. We'll be back tomorrow. We're gonna get a little deeper

into some of these conversations. Maybe we have some clarity on some of these injuries and what's going to happen, and then we'll start talking about what the Cowboys need to do to move forward from them till in for Nick Even Brian brought us Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Eagleton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.