Cowboys Break: Defensive Advantages?

to the latest edition of The Break. We are alive from the s WBC Morgan Studios at the Star, presented by Milla Like the Only Beer of the Dallas Cowboys Got Brian and ever with us. Nick will not be in today, but three of us will hold it down and our jobs today is to get you guys ready for San Francisco defense versus Cowboy his offense. We'll talk about all the matchups that matter. Brian actually has some information. He's been doing a little reconnaissance on the forty nine.

Is talking to some people around the league, some contacts, and he'll give us a little bit of what they said about how you prepare for the San Francisco defense. We'll also get some questions for you guys. You can hit me up on Twitter at Derek Eagleton to send your questions and we will try to answer as mean as we can in that third segment of the show. Let's start first with a little bit of news. Yesterday, Cowboys signed a kicker to their practice squad, Justin Visciano Ryan.

What do we know about him? I visited with a team that had him, and it was funny. He's kicked, he hasn't missed. I think he was five for five when you're talking about field goals and extra points. This team told me it's extremely strong, leg very professional in his approach. And but this one team was telling me

that he could be a little erratic. Now, the numbers don't tell you that he's erratic, meaning what exactly, meaning that when you're erratic, you're kind of all over the place, good or bad, And but the numbers say that that he was good and so but this team that had him, you know, they moved on from him, and so, uh, that's you know, that's what they were just kind of talking about. But to me, this is one of those things I don't know if if this is a practice

squad elevation that you know when you're forty eight. Uh, you know, do you do you get in that situation? I Uh, it's so funny. I talked to John Gruden about this yesterday, about having a situation and you know, I'll read to you what John told me. You know, because I asked, you know, John and I whether you hate John or not, John and I go way, way, way way back, and so you know, I just from a head coaches experience, I just wanted to kind of know, how do you handle this? You know, how do you

handle something? And John told me this, I'll read John doesn't mind, he says, not many options at this point of the season. Normally you would cut a guy from missing five straight extra points, he says, But make sure that, he says, I would make sure that people leave him alone. Probably bring in his personal guru or the guy that helped him along the way. He's a very talented kicker. Now he just has a chance to prove it. And this is he's you know, he's talking about Mahr. He says,

keep encouraging him. But obviously, you know, have a few contingencies of two point thoughts ready and also be ready in four down territory. I never liked feeling like you're going to go for two or go for fourth down, but you should always have that in mind. So you know, that's that's a former NFL head coach right there talking about, you know, how you would maybe handle a situation. I kind of feel like that. You know, if you feel that strongly that there could be an issue, then you

need to make Tristan one of your forty eight. And if you have a miss of field gold or an extra point, then you make that adjustment as the case. Let me ask you guys this I started hearing yesterday. Someone was just kind of telling me something that Christie Scales wrote in regards to the balls and some issues that they have balls the balls, Yeah, yes, they were

losing them. Yeah. So I'm just I haven't dug much into that because I was like later in the day that I heard about it yesterday and I'm meant to look it up to see exactly what the whole deal and how much that attributed to some of the misses that I don't think it did contribute. I think the point she was making was they were getting to a point where it could have been an issue so essentially caballs,

they are kicking balls. They are balls that each team brings to the game prepared for their kicker to be

able to use, because they didn't. The way they all started was back in the day, kickers would kind of doctor the balls a little bit to kind of make it better for them to kick the different The problem was what's good for one kicker might not be good for the others, and so you had these balls they're playing with throughout the game that have now been doctored by one kicker or the other, and it created this unfair advantage. So they basically said, okay, teams, each of

you bring your own kicking balls. That's what you'll used to kick field goals whatever. Right, The issue became that as he was kicking these that they were going so far wide that they weren't being they didn't hit the net. And as you know, when we go down on the field, it's a big net there that keeps the balls from going into the stands. Well, these were so wide they were going into the stands, and nobody retrieved him from

the stands. And so at some point they got to a point where I think she said, I think her report was that they were down to one kicking ball. Yeah, and so it could have become a problem at that point, but it wasn't. It wasn't a problem to that point, Like they still had kicking balls, they were just down

to maybe just want it. They might have had a bum the Buccaneers kicking balls because they weren't using theirs right, which again might be a problem because it might be a situation where the way they make their balls work best for their kicker might not work best for him. So it might have made it worse at that point because he didn't have balls that he was I think I think something that was really said that was interesting yesterday and it actually came from Mickey, and and I'm

not acting surprised. I just you know, Mickey came up with it and he was he observed maher on the field pre game, and that he was going to all the various spots on the field and like pushing down with his cleats, and maybe that there was some kind of issue because they they had satted the middle between the hashes, So where are the ball being placed? Are you in a situation where the resorted on half and then now you put the ball on a bad area and half of a bad air and half of a

good area. So do you have an elevation maybe, or you have something. But Mickey was made a point that he was observing Maha and Mickey I used to stand on the field with Mickey for the game. So he's down there watching. But Brett Maher maybe went down there and maybe in his head, I mean, we're again, we're all just throwing ideas out there. But maybe as he's trying to pat down surfaces and stuff like that, that

that man, I don't know about this. Yeah, I don't know about kicking here and and so you know, that's that's why in the pre game I always ask Christie Scales about that because I know CHRISTI is going to walk the field. I know She's going to find the bad spots. She's gonna tell me which way the winds blow, and she's gonna tell me, you know, so and so missed him going this way. I mean, there was some

there were some people in pregame. I know Todd Archer was charting the kicks before pregame and there was some inconsistencies there. Nick mentioned that as well, and Nick did too exactly, so you know, There's a lot of things going into this, um into this, but the fact that they brought a kicker, and it goes back to the point that Anbar has made many a time on the show, is that you know, they're more willing now to do things. They're not just going to let something just go on

and on. You know, they're not going to let the Chad's green things happen where they just oh, it'll be fine, let's just keep going, let's keep you know, they they least are building in now plans that if something doesn't work, be ready to replace. And you know, like I said this, you know the kicker here. You know it's got a small history. You've been with a lot of teams, but that might be your answer to move on in a divisional round game if he has to get in there.

So now the decision has been made. Obviously they have a guy on their practice squad, they have another kicker. There are two decisions I think that have to be made at this point. I want to hear your opinions on what you think should happen. One should he be active. So now you're going to take an active roster spot and use it on a second kicker right there? Or two and two. I'm sorry and I want you guys to answer both of these two. How long is your

leash if if you get one miss? Are you at that point like, hey, we're gonna just go with the other guy, or do you say, hey, I'm gonna ride with maher through this game and this guy is more of just my insurance. If we have another bad game and we still win, then I will continue using what do you think happen? Do we secretly have a Jeff Heath on the team? I don't know afore yeah, like and because that's the with as many as the like injuries that have happened, having an extra guy that's a

huge thing, especially at that position for the kicker. It's just a tough one. And I don't know who you would take out. I know you can't elevate two guys from the practice squad game day, but who are you sitting out? Like not even white guy? But what position are you taking away from in case of an injury? Now I'm looking at the old line issues with guys. Obviously they made it through Jason Peters came out and they did that. But now are you bringing up somebody

else an extra guy or on the old line. Are you bringing somebody else for the secondary with Darren Curse, who's supposed to be one hundred percent ready, But things like that that you need to account for. I don't know who. I don't know. It's it's really really tough because you do have those injuries. Yeah, you know you do have the injuries. I mean with Curse. Curse will tell you he's one hundred percent. Curse is not one hundred percent, but you know what, he'll play like he's

one hundred percent. And so now do you worry about can you afford to you know, you mentioned the offensive line, you know you mentioned you know they're gonna be They're gonna they're gonna be short this week because Jason Peters. They brought Collins up last week. Collins, Yeah, that's one where you might look at it and you might say, hey, we already had him active last week, so maybe you sit Peters and that becomes a spot that you could use.

I don't know. It's it's one of those things where I think the only player on the forty eight that doesn't play is Cooper Rush. Everybody else plays, so everybody else has a role in the game. So here you are in a playoff game and use forty seven to or forty eight players in the game. So now who you take in? Who the forty seven? Who are you going to take away? You know, who do you determine

is going to be that guy? And there's really not any place that you can really really go light you know, I just don't feel like it with some of the injuries that you're dealing with. Uh, you know that that's that's the man. It would be tough to sit there and say, Okay, we're gonna we're gonna play with forty seven guys. We're really forty six guys. If the kicker and Cooper Rush both don't play well, now you're going into a divisional playoff game one player short. Yeah, you know,

and that's that's that's a problem. I know this. Obviously, I don't have a great answer for you. By the way, you don't have you don't have to hear not the coach, right, we talk about the field and the win and just the environment overall. How he changes from you having what you're usually accustomed to here in your own practice field, but does what you watch him do throughout this week at practice changes at all. Like let's say he's perfect

and he makes everything or whatever. That wouldn't change your mind. Honestly, that doesn't change anything for me, because the way I look at it is you can simulate as much as you want. Now let me let me put it in context. If let's say, for example, last week, he had a great week of practice and then obviously at the game what happened happened, then this week doesn't matter to me.

Now it can go bad, Like if he has a week of practice where he's missing everything, then I start really wondering, like does he have it mentally to be able to do this and turn this around. But if he's been having good practices these last several weeks and he still had the performance like he did, then no matter what he does in practice this week, I would personally be a little worried about what I'm going to see once game day gets here. And that's the reason

why I think I'm looking for a way. I don't know what it is, but I'm looking for a way to have this second kicker available. Now, if I get into a situation where I look at it and and I'm like, I don't think I can then I'm spending in an nordant amount of time this week on what am I doing on fourth down? What kind of plays do I love that I can run on fourth down? And quite frankly, I actually think my herd to work his way out of this. It may not beat through kicking extra points.

It maybe give him a fifty yarder. Is what we know about this guy is once he gets out in those that deep territory, oh he's money. And so I'm almost like, let him work out of it with longer kicks than shorter kicks, because right now the shorter kicks are the ones that are in his head. Yeah me personally, I know, I said, I don't have an answer, but I'll try here. I think I carry the extra kicker. I just can't take a chance in the game. I can't. I'm not gonna lose a game because you missed the

thirty eight yard field goal. I mean that if you get out there and it's a field goal, maybe not even an extra point, but it's a field it's the first field goal of the game. You drive, you get stalled, it's a forty yard field gold and he misses. Now I've now I know where I am, I'm gonna use

the other kicker, and here we go. And if that guy misses two, then now we got planned planned C, which is go forward on fourth down, go for two point plays, and hope that you know the hope you can hang in there long enough that the game doesn't get away from me because you're giving away points. Yeah, it's gonna be amber. No, I was. I was looking back kind of the history of his career for this guy, how do you say his last name? I think it's Viscano, Viscano, Yes,

tristan um, Tristan, let's call him rist Uh. I mean he's kind of switch around, jumped around the league for a little bit. But looking at just his overall UH career, he's made eleven out of twelve field goals, but then on extra point fifteen of twenty and That's where I'm like, Okay, that doesn't make me feel that much better. And he has he even been in an environment that it's playoffs environment, which kind of you know how the nerves go up

there and then how everything switches. So what I'm trying to say is this guy is what he's coming in experience wise, doesn't make me feel that much greater. You would hate that your season would come down to a miskick being that being how Brett maher has been great all year, you know, until this last game, he's been great, and that if you if if going into the Tampa game, we would have said the number one concerned I have

of the Cowboys is a kicking game. Everybody looked at each other, like, what you know, I you know, maybe you bring it up after what happened in the Commander's game. He misses an extra point, was the only extra point. Now what if they score a bunch of points against the Commanders and he's missing them, Then now you're going, oh, okay, all right, so maybe we do have an issue here

at kicker. But the fact that it was one miss extra point and that's all Dallas did for scoring, you know, he never kicked the field goal or anything like that. I mean, his miss is on extra points. There were three of them before this game. One miss two blocks. Wasn't like he was, you know, wasn't like it was him, it was you know, one of them was. But other than that, man, it's this is tough. This is really really tough because you need all your players and you

really want to give him the benefit of doubt. I mean, he has made a ton of big kicks for this team this year, and I personally thought he was having a Pro Bowl type season. Now you look around the league, and his percentages as good as he did, there were still lots of kickers out there that had that were ranked higher than him when you just look at the

statistics of it. But just looking at when this team needed him to make kicks, and even some of those kicks being extremely long like that that goes back to back to back fifty six yard kicks like that, to me was impressive, extremely impressive. And so I look at this and I'm like, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. And that's what the one reason why I don't pull the trigger. I mean, I don't

pull the trigger on moving on from him. I look at that and say, everybody on this team has had at least one week this season where they were just off. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that this was the week when he was just off. That doesn't mean that I don't want an insurance policy that this is more than just an off week, because at this point of season, you can't afford that, especially at the position kicker. And that's why I loved what CD said.

And if you guys haven't seen sounds of the sidelines, Alex killed it again. Yes, as always make sure to check it out on Dallas Holways dot com and on social media. But CD just coming to the bench and just letting him know, like, hey, you're good, like, don't worry about him. You've I don't remember the exact word many times, which is one hundred percent, So just kind of seeing that support that you know, okay, a guy like like that, you need that, you need that after

you have such a day, such a bad day. But it's true, Bred Maher has bailed them out so many times this year, so many times that the offense wouldn't be able to get to the end zone and score a touchdown. And now you got him kicking and even those fifty yarders making those so me personally, I'm a diver, like, let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Now. When

you said, how long is that leash? If it happens and they do have the other kicker, Tristan Active, I would say too, I wouldn't just set him out after the first miss if he misses the second one, then I'm like, Okay, that's that's it. My leash would be too, missus. How about you? That sounds about right, And it also to me, it depends on what stage how the game's

playing out. If it's a really really close game and you have an opportunity to be able to either you're behind and this is an opportunity to catch up, or you're in the lead by very narrow margin and this was your opportunity to kind of give yourself a little bit of a cushion. If it's that kind of game, close game, then maybe after one miss, if it's the first kick of the game, then I'm may be willing to say, hey, let me do something a little different here,

let me change this up a little bit. Maybe let me go for go for it on a fourth down, or maybe, you know whatever. I would be thinking of other options after a first miss. If it's the first kick of the game. Now let's say he gets the first kick and then he misses a second. Now I might be a little bit more like, Okay, let me see if I want to hold. But if he misses

that first one, I'm really thinking about it. In a close game, because as we know, it's a good team, and we're gonna talk about here in this segment, it's a really good team. You're not gonna have a lot of opportunities at the end zone. You wouldn't think, so every point is going to matter for this team. And that's where I'm a little bit, you know, I just was looking at his numbers and I was trying to whether there was a game where he made a bunch

of fifty yard field goals in the game. It was like, incredible, he had like four or fifty yard field goals. I think it was we made the Command game because I was looking. He was four for four in that game. Uh, you know, earlier in the year, he was four for four and field goals against Minnesota, which was a big win. He was four for four and a huge win against Philadelphia. You know. I mean, there's just so many things to say, you know, positive and confident about this player and for him,

and maybe it was just one bad day. Maybe you just but with kickers, you don't know, because that's the one position that's so hard to evaluate, I mean, other than quarterback. Yeah, quarterbacks are hard to evaluate. Two yeah, but it is like we we all watched, we all watched Dan Bailey. We all watched Dan Bailey here, and we saw Dan Bailey and then we saw it was Dan Bailey. You know, he started missing a go Was he hurt? Is something wrong? You know? We found out Yeah,

he's got he had some issues and stuff. But once you have a guy that's just so reliable, then all of a sudden goes south, you really don't have any answers. Yeah, especially yeah go south in a big way. And and now the games are just so magnified, you know. I mean, one missed extra point could be the difference of you going on or going home. And that's man that I'm just I don't know what I'm gonna think. If it's a game winning field goal and he's gonna line up,

and I don't know. I usually you would think we're going on, we're moving on, And now I'm thinking, I don't want to look, you know, I don't want to look. I'm gonna let the crowd tell me where this thing is going. I'll tell you the one thing I would do if I was Mike McCarthy. The first opportunity I come up on where it's fourth down in field goal range, kick it. I don't go for without hesitation. I'm like field goal because I want him to know. Honestly, I want him to know. If I want him to know,

I believe in you. I'm confidenting you. We're not going to change it. We're gonna do right now because I trust you, and go out there and make the kick. I would keep things as normal as I normally would, and I would send him right out there to kick it. And my hope is that mentally that gives him a little bit more of a boost of confidence, like my team still believes in me. I got this. I've been doing this all year. I'll just do what i'd do.

He makes that first kick, here we go, and now we'll roll again, right, And so I just wouldn't hesitate at all. I would immediately send him out there and let's let's get it done. All right, Let's take our first break. We'll come back. We'll jump into San Francisco defense versus a Dallas offense. We'll ride back Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Todd thought it would be secure to

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in the SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. This segment brought to you by blockchain dot com. Let's talk about the forty nine Ers defense versus Dallas offense. Brian. I know you said you had an opportunity to I did some of your contacts around the league. Some coaches I think I did around the league who have faced to San Francisco forty nine Ers. What have they told you about best ways to match up with this defense? I

will tell you this I did. I talked to a coach and I got another one that I have to talk to after the show today that it's going to help me. But yeah, this is a guy that played the forty nine ers this year and gave me an idea of how to attack them. And I was like, cool, let's sear it and what the notes. I'm just going to read from my notes what this is. I'll try to organize it the best I can for you. Here

he does. This coach told me it was harder preparing for Todd Bowles, who the Cowboys played last week, as opposed to Damiko Ryans. And he said what he says, Todd Bowles is always going to come up with something you probably haven't seen. He says, Demico trust his guys more, and when he plays games against teams that they feel like they're better than, they'll play it pretty straight up. My guy said, Demico will have something ready for you.

He'll have some type of blitz package or something that you know that they haven't used or you know, maybe they made they've have used, but they're gonna bring it back out. But this, this coach said, it Bowls, who you saw last week, is tougher to prepare for. He says, it's a lot of the Seattle principles that we've seen when they play with the zone coverages and stuff, and then on third down you're going to get the man

principles out of this. This coach told me. He says, I believe they're going to try and take away Shultz in this game. And I'm like, I'm like, oh, you know, because you're thinking CD or you know somebody else, like coach goes Now, what they're concerned about is the middle of their defense. They're concerned that they're not very good

at safety. That's their biggest concern. So what happens is that whoever's the biggest threat to the middle of their defense would be the guy that they try and and hone in on. So I was like, all right, that makes a lot of sense because when you look at Hafenga and Gibson their two safeties, it makes sense watching them on tape. We were talking about that a little bit, you know, yesterday and then and then on our show one three the Fan, we were talking about it because

the matchups are a problem for them. They don't cover the tight ends. If you go back and watch the Raiders game, they Darren Waller had a huge game against these guys because of stuff that was happening in the middle of the field. So that's a big, big concern. You know, he was saying, listen, give the Raiders a lot of credit for the way they were attacking down the field. They got the protection that they needed, and that's going to be the really the way of the

key that he goes. What he said is you can't let this be a two minute game. And by saying that two minute game turns into a Nick Bosa game, because when Nick Bosa is just all he knows is rushing the passer, that's a two minute game. He's hand down. Here we go that kind of thing. He says, the minute you turn that into a two minute game, it's a problem for you, not for them, because it plays right in their strength. He also says, you need to

run the ball at Nick Bosa. You know, it's similar what we see with what teams do with Michael Parsons. You know, you think, oh jeez, stay away. No, if you run the ball away, what does Michael Parsons do chases? What does Nick Bosa do chases? So you take it at them, make them have to play the point of attack. He could take some of the steam out of his pass rush or something. He says, Fred warner the linebacker. The linebacker is very hard to fool, he says, you can't.

The problem is the way they play with some of their zone coverages. If you just let him read the quarterback and react, he's going to make all the plays. He's really really good, he's really smart, has a has a feel for how to play in those coverage lanes. But the guy also said, though he tackles well, but he goes, that's another guy you can run at. You can run at him because he's because he's Sometimes they'll jump around blocks and things like that, so you can

maybe My coach here said, change the tempo of the game. Okay, this plays into the Cowboys. This plays into the Cowboys. Uh ahnds here because they love to they love to play fast. They'll slow it down and they'll you know, but they but they if they get into a mode, he says, make sure you just keep going. Keep If you haven't success, change the tempo, keep playing. Here mentioned again too about you have to win the middle of

the field, especially on third down. That's where that's where that's the best spot to attack the forty nine ers is on third down. I think that their two corners can give up some plays. I think Lenore and I think Ward. If you get protection in the way, you're going to probably get some protection is what we talk about.

I do feel like the Cowboys can hold up against botha one on one, but they also this coach said, if you get in twelve personnel and you make them have to play a little bit wider, if you make those rushers, if you can secure the edges, get the ball out, work the middle of the field, then you could have some success doing that way. So that was let me see. Oh. He said that the checkdown the pollard in these games, in this game is going to

be huge because they tackle well. But he says, the thing about it is if you break tackles on these guys, you have a chance for some big, big plays. And they think that pollard, the checkdowns the pollard are going to be really good to check down the backs. And I said, coach, these guys don't run screens very well.

And he says, if you have a screen, a tight end screen, some type of screens, because they're gonna want to get up the field, but you have you know, when not playing man coverage, they're going to drop into zones. You can maybe get the ball to the back and then blocks as they're coming forward. So those are some of the thoughts of a coach coach that played against the San Francisco forty nine ers this year. A lot of good stuff. That's a kind of like yesterday, right,

It's like, where do you really start with all that? Well, I think it starts with Nick Bosa myself. I know, I went on my station yesterday and made a lot of people mad in San Francisco Land because I said I felt like that Smith and Smith could hold up with Nick Bosa. I do if they were to go in and defend this game with taking out the tight end. Let's say, how much does that do you feel like

it changes the game for Dad? Because, like we saw even last week, he relied a lot on Dalton Shoultz and we've seen it through his career even this year. The guy that he can go in and tends to do better with is a tight end. Whoever, it is a tight end. So if they kind of take him out of the game, how do you think that truly affects him? My question would be are we seeing that

with Dalton? Because teams say we're not that Dalton isn't the guy who're gonna double double, right, We're gonna worry about Cede Lamb right, And so if CD is the guy that they think they're gonna take out, and this team says, you know, we're gonna take out Dalton Schultz, okay, Like and especially I was sitting there listening to Brian talk about the corners and vulnerability at the corners, I'm like, Okay, if you're worried about the middle of the field, and

you're worried about Dalton Schultz, I'm looking at my two speedy guys, or my guys I know they can get down field, Like Gallup who can go downfield. We know he can do that. T Y Hilton, who's a speed guy. I'm looking at sending them down the field on the corners. And if you're worried about the middle field and that safety's gonna stay in the middle to try to take

out Dalton, I welcome that. I think Dad should have a That means DA's gonna have some opportunities for some big plays against this offense, I mean against this defense, and I think that's what you're gonna need in order to be able to win all the teams that have beaten this team, they've had big plays in their offense, like they have gone downfield and exploited that. So if that's the way they played Dallas, I think it plays

right into their hand. It also create creates more room for error as far as like interceptions and how well some of their guys could possibly get their hands on the ball and create an interception for that. Yeah, their front, their front I think masks some of the I think I think there's two teams here playing this game that they're fronts mask the deficiencies they have in the secondary. Dallas's pass rush I think masks the issues that they have at corner, and I think the forty nine ers

are the same team. I think that when you talk about kin Law, Armstead, Bosa, green Law, all these guys that can a men, who these guys that can attack the quarterback, they they they cause problems and it helps their secondary because, like I said, this coach was saying, if you could block their front, and the tape shows that the Raiders block their front, ball was going down

the field. They it was almost like they didn't respect back that stood him the quarterback at the Raiders, It's like they they they they they loaded the box thinking it's Jacob's run, Jacob's run, Jacob's run, and that was and they shut him down pretty much, I think at sixty nine yards or something. But the throat, the way they threw the ball was incredible, you know. But they were able to block so well up front that even when Stidham had to move around a little bit, that

he was able to find guys to pick off. I mean, Adams was incredible that game. And not to say that, you know, CD's a CD's been playing great, and you would hope that he would have the type of game that Adams had against him, you know, throwing the ball down the field. But it's gonna come down to can you block this front. That's where this and it always is. They're gonna have to block your front and you're gonna

have to block their front. And I'll tell you the other thing that I think will be critical to that is how much is Dack willing to run the ball. I love that you say on third down they tend to go man. Yeah, that means on third down there creates opportunities where the defense is the defensive backs their

back is to the quarterback. He's gonna have some opportunities, and especially for an aggressive rushing defense that's coming all forward, if Dak finds that seam and gets out of it and runs, he's gonna have some daylight moments, right, and that's going to force their their pass rush to slow down a little bit, which again Negate, it's it's what teams have done to the Cowboys and some instances, well

they've played these running types of quarterbacks. So I look at this and I'm thinking, I actually like all this stuff you're saying because it to me it kind of factors into what you want Dallas to be able to do offensively. Yeah, if they're able to that's the thing, and that's why both these teams are where they are. They're the final you know, they're the final teams because they play well on defense and they're capable. I think the thing that just the thing for me for Dallas's

offense is can they just maintain the consistency. I think Dallas could beat anybody in the NFL if they don't turn over the ball. I really do. I just it's when they get it's those turnovers that create doubt. And now are we are? We are? We willing to throw it? Are you sew it? Doc? When he was the way he was just bam bam bam, and there was separation,

there were balls where they needed to be. You know, they were converting, they were you know, it was it's this offense is really fun to watch when they're playing that way. But that, like I say, can you get the consistency? I think that's a word that you used the other day to talk about. Can you get that consistency to from week to week? And you know we'll see this week for sure. Let's take our final break. We'll come back. We got a few more questions on

this matchup talk. We'll do that when we come back. Dallas Cowboys dot Com. Are you 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. United eggin Turf with John Deer zero turns for mowing, compact tractors for loading to many excavators for digging, Gator utility vehicles for hauling, implements for grading, a tools for bailing. United Aggin Turf for winning the official LaGG and Turf

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with Dallas Cowboys Jerseys. Get your hands on premium year at the nearest Dallas Cowboys Pro Shop or log onto Shop dot Dallas Cowboys dot com a fanatics experience and level up your game day. Look for the NFC Conference Championship Welcome Back final segment of the Break Life from the s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. Now sound like a real radio guy. He is a real radio guy, is no. No, there's like a little transition. But now that he's been working with the fan boy like these reads.

He's a radio guy. Now, you know what they tell you. They always tell you like to like, they'll get mad at if you don't show enthusiasm, like, you know, this is how we country country music, you know, I mean you have to you can't read it like this is how we country country music. Party of You know, you can't do that. My boy Nick does it every day. Nick's Nick loves everybody it's on the sponsor sheet. He just doesn't love the read. Yeah, yeah, he loves everybody

on the sheet. He just doesn't love the read. He doesn't love the read. Yeah. Yeah, I think he'd probably write him a little differently if it was up to him. But all right, let's let's jump back in. Let's talk about the office of line. You mentioned the Smith's at the two tackles. It's my personal belief that I think they're actually better off with Tyler Smith at left tackle than they would have been with Jason Peters. Let's assume Jason can't play this weekend. Yeah, what are your thoughts

on that? Yeah, I don't think you're gonna get Jason Peters this weekend. I think the hip flexor problem, man, You know, as we speak on Let's Day Thursday. Yeah, yeah, I say that's going to be a problem. Why they better off against this matchup? I think so? To me, this is it's it's never easy because Bosa is going to work both sides. This is never easy. You know, we've seen Tyron Smith breakdown. I mean last year, you know,

a game it against the forty nine ers. I think Bosa got hurt in this game two last year as well, you know, got nicked up a little bit. But he's such a dynamic player, you know when you talk about a rusher and how he's able to dip and get around and stuff. And now you're playing with crowd noise and all that stuff like that you're having to deal with. But yeah, I think that having Tyler Smith out of left you know, he's he's he's navigated this season very nicely.

I mean, if you want to talk about guys to deserve the game ball from last week, Tyler Smith deserves a game ball just for the fact that he had to deal with Vita Veay and that whole thing. You know that, and then all of a sudden it's like, oh, well, by the way, now right before the half, you're going

to shift out to left tackle. Okay, the Tampa Bay didn't have the dynamic pass rushers, but still you're dealing with a game of having to worry about blocking this guy who's perennial All Pro type of a noseman power guy to like, Okay, now I got to shift all the way to the outside and now deal with some speed and so yeah, it's it's impressive what he can do. Dallas,

Like I say, they can make plays. If they if the Smith's Law firm of Smith and Smith can can block these edges and secure these edges, they they can make some plays on the secondary. Yeah, happy about that? I mean, because there were times even this past game and they did a really nice job with the offensive line, especially with Peter's coming out and just kind of regrouping

and making those changes. But there were times where they did get to that, and there were times where Dad did have to run and luckily he had a great game and he was able to run really really good. But it's you keep mentioning Bosa and in going into this game, that is one area that still does scare me. What happens. Can we get the dak that had that focus and mentality as he did last week, Like before the break, you mentioned consistency, and that's one of the things.

It's like, yes, it depends how the previous game goes, you know, how Okay, they played really good and then they got that very important win in a playoff game. How are they right now mentally? Like is it like are they kind of feeling themselves a little bit or

they're still like super humble right now? Is Dad gonna and he's really tough and we know he has very a lot of mental toughness, but can he be that guy that can just if he if they get to him and create pressure and sack him, can he play after play, snap after snap kind of maintain his school and focus or is this a game where they can disrupt, you know, and create that kind of what's the word I'm looking for, hesitation uneasiness with that? Well, you know,

here's my thing. What I go back to is I think the point in the season when I saw the offensive line play its best was when you had Tyron Smith. I'm sorry, you had Tyler Smith at left tackle, Connomer Governor at left guard, Beyondash at center, Zack Martin at right tackle, and I'm sorry right guard and then you had Terrence Steele at right tackle. That was the best

lineup that they had out there. The way I look at that is, Okay, take me back to that as much as I can, and if I'm subbing out Terrence Steele for Tyron Smith, I feel as good about that as any combination as Cowboys team can run out there. I don't think at this point from what I've seen my opinion, and I don't think Jason Peters is somebody you can rely on for a full game, not at all.

So yeah, and by the way, he filled in a role that you needed for him to ge in as as you know, I told my wife this, like that injury reminds me of kind of where I am in life right now, where I'm no, not just running, but like literally I'm around the house. I see a box and I'm like, I probably need to move that box, and I'm like, no, I probably ought to use my back, but I'm like, no, I'll power through it, and I

just lift it. And then as soon as I lifted, I'm like, yeah, that was a bad idea, and now my back's gonna hurt for the next two weeks. Yeah, It's that kind of thing. It's like he tried to do the reach block and then it was kind of like, oh yeah, I'm forty years old and and so that's the nature of it. He filled a role for you. He played that role. You got him much as much out of him as you could not go back to

the young guy way. You got so much out of him even off the field, like not you get the on field stuff when he came in and played, so some snaps for you the off field and how much he's been able to teach these guys and you see it like you watch that do you watch the sidelines and you see the relationship and you see how much he is there like a coach, just as another coach. So I really appreciate like his presence, the type of stuff that he was able to bring this year, even

off the field for these younger guys. Yeah, it's uh, you know, they protected themselves and they got what they needed out of him. And you know, the the hip flex or for an older guy is not an easy thing to come back from, you know. I mean that's something that he's gonna you know, any lower body power and getting away from the line and stuff like that. So I just keep going back the confidence I have in this offense, and I mean this with all sincerity.

I think they played a better defense against Philadelphia. I think they played a better and they had really nice success moving the football against Philadelphia. But you're talking about pass rushers, talk about sec overall, I think Philadelphia's defense is better, and you move the ball against them very well. That's that is my hope going into this game, that you figure out that, Okay, how do we move the ball then against a really good secondary and a pass rush.

You know, I think they if San Francisco's got a really good tackling team, really good tackling team. Their front's good, the linebackers good, the secondary is their issue, and if you find a way to somehow, some way block this front, you know, much like you did Philadelphia. But you made plays against Philadelphia. You know, you also created turnovers too, and Brett Maher made all those field goals as well. There's a lot of other things that have to happen. Yeah,

but but I don't think this team is unbeatable. I think that's the one thing I've learned is that they got a lot of weapons, and there's a lot of things on paper you look at and you're like, man, I don't know how you beat the team. But when you really start diving into it, there are reasons to believe this is not an unbeatable team. And I think Dallas is gonna have to play their very best game. They're gonna have to do what they did last week against a better opponent in order to win. But it's

not it's not like this is something that can't be done. No, They've got and then and it's I think a lot of it. It's gonna hinge on Dallas's defense though too. How you play McCaffrey, you know, I mean, he's outstanding as a player. How you deal with these wide receivers? How do you deal with all the all the things that they're gonna show you. They're gonna make you, they're gonna stretch the field on you, and they're gonna make

you probably play a little bit unconventionally. And are you willing to fall into that trap or are you going to say, no, no, this is what we do. We're gonna match it this way. So this is why it's a playoff game. I actually think this might be a game where this may be a game where defensively, we might see a lot of those three safeties. Yeah, because this is not a team that threatens you deep down the field a lot. This is a game that has

a lot of short and intermediate throws. And especially if you're gonna say, hey, we kind of stick with what we do, We're gonna stay in where we are, they may opt to say we'll have three safeties on the field, so we think we have the bulk to stop your run, right. We also think we got the athletes to be able to run with you across the field, to be able to get into zones that where you're trying to throw the all, be able to quickly react rally to the ball,

make tackles. I could see a game like that where they just say we're gonna stick with what we do. We're not gonna let you move us out of what we do because the personnel that we have can morph into whatever you try to do without us having to move people around too much. Be a great game, he will, It'll be a fun chess match real quick. Going back

to the old line. Terren Smith, he popped up on the injury report, on the practice report, and he was a full participant, but it was the knee that popped up. So any scenario where something happens in the game and he got it, he has to come out. What's your combination, what's your line looking like? Ball right? Ball would play tackle? Yeah, I mean you can't unless you know you're not gonna you're not gonna move. You're gonna you're gonna keep everybody

the same. You're not gonna move Zach Martin, But Colin, would you maybe think Collins because I'm kind of I don't know if Collins may be a better answer than Ball. I just have no faith in Ball right now. Nobody really does. But you're to that point where now you're trying to mask, like we're talking about, you're trying to mask problems. And so you put him on the you put him on that, you know, ball on the outside. You put tight end over there, you have wing over there,

you chip over there. I mean, they're probably gonna have to do that anyway. You know, you're probably gonna have to do that to help a little bit with Bosa being over there. But if it's if it's Ball over there, you're gonna make it's almost gonna look like a punt return where you're like you're you're doubling the you know, you got both guys like on Bosa, like right there, that's that's kind of what that's going to turn into.

A ball has to play right tackle, to be honest with you, no matter who they put in there, if that were to happen, they immediately become a target for San Francisco's defense. I'm sure they are like Bosa, you're not moving around anymore. We know where you're going to be, and we're coming and we're coming regularly. And so that's just gonna be one of those situations where you really

don't have a great answer for. Yeah, I hope Dallas this ability to can can run the football, though I'd like to see them trying to war or this forty nine or defense down if they can, because they want to rush the passer, they want to get up field. They're very physical. But yeah, if you get in a situation where one of your offensive linemen are down, and

we'll see what what Farniac is too. Farniac might now take over that role of the full back guy that you know now that you have to play kind of mcgovernment back there at you know, and you're saying, maybe even go in a power running game with right just run, just run right at him and see what happens. All right, We appreciate you guys, Johns. We'll be back tomorrow. I appreciate all the questions that came in. We're gonna get

to a lot of these tomorrow. We're gonna spend quite a bit of the show tomorrow answering questions we received from you guys over the last couple of days. Till then for Brian brought us and Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Eagelton. 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.