Cowboys Break: Dissecting the Calls

are again. We are gonna be talking about these Cowboys who ended up having an outcome that we didn't necessarily expect them to have. What are you making that? Faith? I just wanted to see where you're going. I'm trying to be nice, but we're about to attack them in a little bit, especially with that play calling at the end of the game, which fans are going crazy about. We'll get into that in a minute. Just wanted to start off with how this game started. Once again, the

Cowboys start out slow. They figure it out eventually in the second quarter get some points on the board. Started earlier than we expected them to move the ball because usually it's in the second half, but eventually got moving and Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper, Randall Coup had an amazing game last night. Just let's start talking about the things that they were successful at in this game. As far

as the offense. Um, yeah, they could move the ball when then when it wasn't you know, um crunch time, they were able to throw the ball around and it really makes some good plays. And it wasn't enough to to for them to you know, to prove to them that they could do when they really needed to, because they went away from it obviously. But yeah, I mean they those receivers did a really nice job you know when um to get them back in the game and you know, to kind of get them down the field.

But obviously it wasn't enough when they really needed to. That they were one they were one dimensional. That's the problem. They were one dimensional and you can't really win games like that. You've got to be able to do both things. And they tried to run the ball with the guy that they're they're paying a lot of money you know too, and then offensive line and they couldn't block for him, and so it ended up, you know, you can't just be a one dimensional team, can't just pass your way around.

Eventually you have to run it. Guess after nine games it would be foolish to to try to expect anything else at this point, right, Like, I mean, we've been looking for consistency. We've been like we keep saying, we're trying to figure out who the Cowboys are. I figured it out. They're just in what is inconsistent or for you know, to be a little bit more mean about it, mediocre football team. I mean, you know, that's what I keep saying, is like they they're better than this, They

should be better than this. They can do this, they can do that. But it's you know, it's week eleven now starting today, and it's all looked the same, even in the winds, it's looked the same. The slow starts, the inconsistency, the puzzling play calling at times, you know, the run defense. Like they've had games where they played well, but you can't say they've truly fixed it. Screen passes.

I'm just kind of going off the dome here, but like all of the same problems, Like go all the way back to Week one and you know, they win comfortably and you're like, yeah, but you know that didn't look great and this was a problem. And in week eleven and all those things are still the case. And it's just is what it is at this point. Yeah, I didn't. I was staring at my computer last night after the game. I didn't know what the right like, what what is it? Why do they lose? What's the

problem with this? And I don't know I did something. I guess I don't. I put it out there, but not till the driving home that I realized what. In my opinion, the issue is, this team's pretty good at times, they're okay at times. They are absolutely not clutch. They are not a clutch football team. They're wins. I don't think they've been trailing in the second half of any of the games that they won. Maybe in the third quarter,

but certainly not in the fourth. But you ask them to make a two point conversion against the Jets to tie this game, they can't do it. Maher, we're down ten against the Packers. Make this so we can get down now, not gonna make it. You know, the game against the Saints, go drive down the field and get can't do it, got the penalties, can't can't make it happen.

Last night, same thing, Drive all the way down, but when we get down down inside the red zone, can't score this team, for whatever it is, is not a clutch team. They can't do those necessary things over the top. Defense can't get a stop when they really really need to. Yeah, offense can't make a play when they really really need to.

So that's an interesting point. I agree with you. But it's funny because, like my main my main thought from this game is, you know, we're down on the field in the fourth quarter of every Cowboys game, they got the ball in the six like really from the start of that drive right up until the fourth down ball fell incomplete. I was like, they're gonna score, Like that's

how well Dak has been playing. They're going to score this touchdown, and you know, maybe they won't be able to hold the thirty one twenty eight lead, but I just like I had no doubt in my mind they were going to do it because Dak was playing that clutch in my opinion, and I kind of struggle to just completely flip my lid about the play calls down on the eleven yard line because in that instance, with a minute thirty three to play, even even if you

don't trust Kirk Cousins, I think it's a good idea to try to run some clock I don't grudge them that, you know, even even with how poorly they were running the ball, you would like to think Ezekiel Elliott can get two yards. Having said that twice in a row, yea twice in a row, and then you know, just a very unimaginative like out route to your running back who you don't throw the ball to enough as it is in the clutchest part of the game. I didn't

like that. Maybe how about some north to south runs if you're going to do it instead of you know, this east to west stuff against a defense that's been shutting it down all day. I didn't like that. And it's just it stings that as well as Dak Prescott played in that game, they didn't give him that great of a chance to try to win it for him, I mean, in a way, for me, this kind of helped clear my vision a little bit because these games

have been somewhat confusing. You know, you're trying to figure out, Okay, is it really the players not being efficient on the field making the plays, or the coaching staff the way they are coaching them and calling these plays. You know, it's like a mixture of both. But then in this scenario. To me, I thought that the talent, you know, at least in the passing game, the Cowboys were doing exactly what they needed to do as far as Dak and

Mari even Randall cub which completely blew my mind. There were times that I got him confused with the MARII Cooper on the film. I'm like, oh wow, that's Randall cob making that play. It was amazing. So but then you peel that layer and I'm like, okay, I checked my box there, and then it comes back down to the coaches and how they're calling these plays. Now, I

wanted to dig deeper. I know you just talked about that towards the end of the game and the play calling there when you see the Cowboys who with the Dak Bress go that through for three hundred and ninety seven yards and then Elliott unable to run the ball, they end up with fifty yards in rushing. Now, I mean, it was that the really the right call to make. You said it not to do it twice, and that's the point when you see it doesn't work once, why do it again. But let's let's kind of dig deeper

inch comprehend really what happened here. Let me let me not even contradict myself. I will say this like you know, heat of the moment. Dak said it last night and he and there's always a point to that is, you know, if we pick it up, nobody's questioning that play call always. I get that, forget the sequence in the red zone. I just the play calling sucked, period. The Jerry Jones said after the game, he was like, Zeke might as well have had a Neon sign over and that that said,

it ain't happening tonight. Jerry Jones said he noticed that from the beginning of the game, and yet into the fourth quarter first down runs, it's just like there was no choice but to do that. I think the split was they threw fourteen times on first down and ran and sixteen times on first down, but take out you know, the in that final drive where they're passing all the

way downfield. Excuse the stats. So basically, again, just like the New Orleans game, you're running on first down like upward of sixty seventy percent of the time when you're in your basic offense, and when you saw how committed the Vikings were to not letting that be a thing. It's just kind of mind boggling. Ye, like Mike Zimmer dared Dak Prescott to win the game, and he was playing well enough to do it, and it felt like everybody in the building but the Cowboys coaches knew that. Yeah.

I love the second down call. I thought that was fine, that Vikings made a nice play on it. I'm second too. I'm gonna try to get the first down, but not on third down. And you know, you can watch the play again. I don't know exactly what's what's being asked of these players, but I've never seen Travis Frederick turned to the bench like that and get so upset with the you know, with the coaching staff on whatever call that was. This is just me and no one said this,

but I've said this for a while. Connor Williams to me is a problem left guard. I don't think he is good enough right now to do what they want to do. And this team, we said it several times, they're so stubborn at what they you know, this is how we do things, and we're gonna run the ball was even though he has been stuffed all game, We're gonna do it. His longest run was six yards first

drive of the game, first drive of the game, same thing. Well, we're just gonna kick a fifty seven yard because Maha can make it. Well he didn't, And now Kirk Cousins is gut a short field to go and and give you a seven enhing you know, deficit because you know they're just well I've seen him do it, and if

you make it. If you've listened to me at all this season on the podcast, on Twitter or whatever, I'm I've been very sure to you know, equal parts of blame like, well, yeah, it is it the coach's fault if the players aren't executing this or doing that. I thought, more so than any game this season, there were just so many baffling decisions by the coaching staff that put this team at a disadvantage. You talked the fifty seven yard field goal a kicker, Yeah he can do it.

Nobody in the world feels one hundred percent confident that it's going to happen. And you're just gifting a veteran quarterback with his opening possession at midfield and then what ten minutes later, they're in the same situation and they decide to punt. So like, you're not that confident because you could have kicked it again, but he'd missed the first one, so you don't do that. So now you're punting from the Vikings forty I believe on a fourth and four. Yeah, the way I mean Dak threw for

four hundred yards. I mean you could go for it if you feel that confident, or punt the first time and don't gift them with a possession at midfield. First down running was mind boggling. It's amazing. Honestly, this game could have been ugly if Dak Prescott wasn't so amazing. Like how many times did he bail them out of a third and long? At least three? Yeah, at least three where it's like third and twelve and he does some Houdini stuff back there and turns it into a

first down. Otherwise you could be talking about, you know, three four more possessions where the Vikings have favorable fuel position. I just you know, Tavon Austin with the fair catch, Jason Garrett said this morning on the radio that he had the option to return it. I don't know. I don't think I buy that because he shot his hand up in the air basically as soon as the ball left the punter's foot. I don't. I don't hate that

as much as people. You know that our people are saying, because yes, that he could have gotten some yards extra yards there, but this team was probably going to get I mean a block in the back, which we talked about this. We talked about this in the tunnel last night. And like the fact that you don't trust your team to cleanly feel the punt in week ten of the season is pretty embarrassing. So you you have a point.

I mean, if they draw a holding flag and back it up to their own thirty five over, it's over. But like, I don't know, competently return a punt in a crucial situation without getting a flag, it doesn't seem like it should be that hard. We're all standing down there and that ball and the hail Mary seemed like it was up there forever. Yeah, well, it seemed like it took Dak eight seconds to throw it because he I mean, he did scramble for a bit. I kind of thought it was it was going in. I just

thought it something was going to happen. That would have been pretty amazing. It been amazing. No, And I even thought I was looking at you because you you'll do this more than me. I'm like, does nobody want to want to put the video on this? You know? Does nobody want to go and turn on the video for something?

To make it? I actually did it. What year was that when um Romo drove him down the residence, drove him down against the Giants and Witton you know, fumbled the ball and then he threw it to Witten like week one, week fifteen. You know what a great season that was. I mean, I have the video of that. We're right down there, and I'm like, that's a really awesome plan. I thought maybe maybe we should get a video of this for the hail Mary. Yeah, it'd been

cool against the Vikings too, just like old times. Never thought about that, Yeah, not once. Did I ever think, Wow, this is gonna be another Hail Mary against the Vikings. Oh no, I didn't. I didn't not because how you very rarely see hail Mary's work in the NFL unless you have Aaron Rodgers, like otherwise. It's just that's funny because when we were like those last seconds of the game, in my mind, I thought, if that was Aaron Rodgers, he would have made that and we would have won.

But I just I mean, it can talk crap about doctors. He did play a game. No, I was gonna forget the Hail Mary. Like I almost I blocked that whole sequence out of my mind because I just can't believe the way he was dealing that they didn't get in the end zone from eleven yards out. It's it's unconscionable. All right, Well, let's take our first break. When we come back, we need to discuss what happened with the defense and why they weren't unabled. They were unable to

stop the run from the Vikings. I'm Jay Novachik, former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys back in the day. I was a guy who always got the tough yards, and that's why I run with John Deer today. In fact, I have a John Dear three zero twenty five E tractor that can handle any yard work I need to do, even the tough yards way out back. So if you have one acre or a thousand, John Deer has the equipment that's just right for you. Visit a John Deer dealer today and run with us. We are the official

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Hey give me as yes, give it? What does that spell? So? So are we gonna win? Just okay is not okay, whether it's cheerleaders or your wireless network. AT and T is America's best wireless network, Best network based on GW once were September twenty nineteen. Back to the break, all right, welcome back. Now let's talk about this defense and the hot boys who are getting a lot of criticism as well. Uh yeah, what the heck happened here? You know? In the in the first half, they were they were doing

a great job against the run. But the problem is is they couldn't handle the screen. And for you guys that don't know, a screen pass is one where the I'm kidding, but you certainly don't. I mean, god, you would think they would be like, hey, why don't we run the screen? We can screen, but now not not doing that. You don't think a screen would ever worked with Zeke like with that aggressive How that happened so many times and you're unable to fix it from your side?

You know, I don't know, but it's I mean, this is a I don't Jalen Smith and Layton vander esh like they they were not awful, but it tackles can be a deceiving statistic. They both finished with thirteen But yeah, I mean is that were they just dominant flying all over the field. I think Layton had a couple of nice plays where he sniffed out runs. But yeah, I mean, your linebackers are probably going to combine for twenty six tackles when the Vikings run the ball forty times. That's

it's just is what it is. But they can't handle the screen. I think the interior of this defense has been a problem in these losses. Defensive tackles, not winning at the line of scrimmage, which in turn doesn't free up the linebackers to make plays. Linebackers, you know, being you know, being out of position, overshooting their gaps, all

that type of stuff. The fourth down touchdown to cook Where was really kind of I've never seen I don't remember seeing an NFL team like run tosses and pitches as much as the Vikings did, like on fourth down that this defense is built to stop that play. You know, these linebackers and all that to be able to run over there and make that play. And you know you have Antoine Woods trying to you know, run out there and in the linebackers, and they just didn't. They just

didn't do it. I mean, when they pitched the ball, I thought they're not getting this. I mean, Cowboys, this is the type of play that they usually snuff out and they couldn't. But you know, that whole exchange was kind of interesting, And I put this on my five plays if you if you went back and saw the play before that touchdown or four plays before. I forgot the guy's name, Madison. Yeah, he's a really good runner too. Yeah, it looked like he had scored a touchdown and they

ruled it as a touchdown. The Vikings went out there and they were going to kick an extra point, make it twenty seven twenty one. Then they go back and review it and they say he's down. Four plays later and two minutes off the clock later, they go and score with Dalvin Cook, and they go down and decide to go for two, make it twenty eight to twenty one.

That would have been very interesting twenty seven twenty one because the way the Cowboys kicked the field goal twenty seven twenty four, when they drove down on that whole drive we're talking about, they would have been able to take a field goal and tie it. So the fact that the Vikings decided to go for two was the smart call. Derek and I argued about it in the

press box about it, but that surprised me. And one thing that stued off from this game to me was how aggressive the Vikings looked on both sides of the ball, Like you could tell just by the way they were playing that they were just much more aggressive than the way that the Cowboys physical. Yes, physical, and the Cowboys red zone defense has been really good, and then in

this game is just like nope, that's not here either. Yeah, Dalvin Cook looked like what you want the highest paid running back in the league to look like, like aggressive, attacking the whole never going down on first contact. And I mean Ezekiel Elliott for all the criticism he's going to get in this game, like he's a damn good running back and he does that type of stuff. He fights for it all the time. He requires a gang of tacklers too. But I don't know, man, Cook just

looked different. He looked dynamic and powerful. Every single time he got the ball and had more than two or three steps, I was like holding my breath, like, well, this has the potential to go twenty yards if not a touchdown wherever they are on the field. And you certainly didn't get that vibe from Zeke in this game. But I would argue not in any game either. He was really impressive. Based on you know, Zeke's contract and

what type of running back he is. Are we expecting him to be having one hundred yard games every time every week or is that just not a realistic expectation. There's two ways I can go with this. One. For the money you're paying him, and as talented as he is, it's fair to expect more from Ezekiel Elliott again, like breaking tackles, making guys miss in open space, being somebody

who can create something out of nothing. Dalvin Cook. We said it when we previewed the Vikings, and he did it a couple times last night, you know, broke off a tackle or made a guy miss and turned like a zero to two yard gain into eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. He did that several times. Haven't seen Zeke do a ton of that, Like he's very productive, but he doesn't

create something out of nothing like that. Having said that, this is a top ten run defense that was very clearly committed to not letting him hurt them, And as much as you'd like to see more from Zeke, a lot of that is on the coaching staff, in my opinion, for not recognizing that you're their quarterback through for ten yards a pop. Literally every single time he threw, they got ten yards and they were still just very insistent on running into a brick wall. And I just still

know how good of an idea that is. You know, I think that Dak could have run the ball some too, you know, and trying to think one of four games in his career where he hasn't where he did an attempt to carry and they needed it, I mean big time down there, or the read option only works if if the quarterback keeps it wants him to do that. So I thought that was that was a big part too. It's just not being able to I mean, and we saw that Dak was running for his life on some

of those passes. He did a nice job, but you know, I really thought on second or third down down there, that that that was going to be a play that you know that he has to keep the ball and kind of get some yards there. But it it just when when a guy has twenty carries for that many yards with forty ninety seventy seven, I mean it's the lowest output that he's had with twenty carries. I mean, usually you get that many carries, you know, obviously you're

gonna you're gonna break one. But this I think they have a problem at the offensive line in the middle. And I don't know if it's just uh Connor Williams. I really don't. I don't know if Frederick is playing as well as as they've expected. Um, I can't tell that Joe Looney wouldn't be a better option. I don't know that. But because you wins, because they're like, that's Travis Frederick and all the Pro Bowls, and I get it.

But we will find out either. Well, but that's cool, you know, like if the if the coach wants to continue to say, well, this is our guys, these guys will you know, this is the first round pick, and this is a second round pick, and this is a pro bowler. That's cool. He'll say that when the season's over and he's out of a job. I mean, at some point I would say I got to play them the best guys. I don't care who are they drafted whatever.

And I don't know that. I'm not saying that Travis Frederick is playing that poorly, but he's not playing as well as we've seen before. And I'm not sure that this team doesn't need more strength in the middle of the offensive line. I go the other way. The reason I winced is, I mean this is this is still an offensive line in a running game that has cranked out some really impressive performances, one of which came against the Eagles, who were more highly regarded against the run

than the Vikings were. So they have that capacity. I just again, like I lean more towards the coaches, is like, if it's not working, it's not working, and it's on you two adapt instead of just thinking will the next one the next one will be the one that pops? And so yeah, I mean, Travis Frederick is probably not as good as he was before his illness, and that's

totally understandable, but he's still him. And Connor Williams both they've been good enough to preside over some very good rushing performances, some very you know, keeping Dack clean, all that good stuff. Like, I don't think it's so drastically bad that I need to change the lineup. I'll just

change the way I call games. When a very good defense has hell bent on stopping the run, especially in a game where the quarterbacks throwing for four hundred yards and last year, Connor Williams got hurt, so I Filope came in. I think we all could see that it was he played well. He and I just and I wonder if what's it gonna take to maybe see that again, like maybe he is better. Well, it took an injury last year, right, but Connor came back and did not

get the job. Yeah back, I mean it took an injury for su A Philo around the playoffs for Connor to come back and get that. So I get it that he's he's the future, but I mean you kind of you got lucky with with Land into a Filo anyways, and he was drafted even higher than Connor, so he might even be a better prospect. Anyways, I think it's time to make that change. And I've said it before, but I thought yesterday was a big example of that of he missed his block several times and man Lynvall

Joseph was supposed to be. I mean, he didn't play. The number of the number of lucky breaks the Cowboys have gotten in terms of like who they haven't had to play and how it hasn't mattered. Five and four didn't play against Drew Brees, didn't play against Davante Adams. Yeah, the Jets are not good regardless. It doesn't matter who was or wasn't in that game. And then you didn't have Adam Thielan Lynvaal Joseph or Trey Waynes. Did not matter. Nope.

So if Matthew Staffords playing next week, I hope he plays. That's serious. I mean, seriously, who who's their quarterback? Right? Without Stafford? We can get into that, but I don't even know. Well, it doesn't give you a lot to feel good about. You're like, oh, well Stafford might not play. It hasn't matter in any of the other games. Well, Drew Brees didn't matter for the Saints yesterday anyways. True, I know what was going on over there, but that's

kind of shocking. The Falcons doubled their sack production in one game. That's what happened the Vision game. Well, clearly the Cowboys have bigger problems than who's playing or not playing from the opponent team. They have to fake their own issues. But let's take our final break and when we come back, where did this turnovers go? And should the Cowboys start playing Blake Jarwin Moore and take Jason Witton out of the fields. Ready, Okay? Oh? Are we

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sun did not come out yet. Nope. Now let's just dive writing into it. Jason Witten clearly is not playing how we expected or at least what we thought he could do for the cowboyzard and be as productive as he should be. When when they show his highlights, you know they're gonna show about a minute real and when he goes to the Hall of Fame in Canton, it won't probably be twenty nineteen that those highlights probably won't be the ones include there. He's I don't know if

he's playing better than expected or right. He's just not playing like the Hall of Fame tight end that he was, and we knew that, but you know, they still kind of go to him that in that sense. And David, you said something earlier about Witten that linebackers can kind of hang with him in definitely safeties. He's not the mismatch that he was before, and I think that's the problem. Before he could just if you're gonna put a linebacker on him, he could get open even some of the safeties.

He's not the mismatch anymore. And you know it was it was tough. You'd liked for him to make that play in the end zone. But he gets tripped up when when you look out Blake Jarwin and how he has been able to contribute in the passing game and have had some really successful plays that have helped the

Cowboys get to a different point in the game. But when you look at what he's doing versus Jason Witten, should the Cowboys be playing him more and try to give him more opportunities and chances to get the bull moving rather than keeping Jason Witten as much on the field. Probably probably, Like I mean you said, you know, he hasn't been performing like we expected him too. I would argue this is more or less exactly what I expected. Like Jason Witten is, He's still a solid to decent

football player. Like he can get open, he knows how to run routes, he knows how to use leverage. We've said all that stuff a million times. He's not a mismatch. He's not, at this point in his career a guy that like keeps defensive coordinators awake at night. He you know you can, you can take him out of the game if that's what you want to do. It's that, I mean, which is to be expected when you're thirty

seven years old. At the same time, he's still Jason Witten and he's not playing so terribly that like he's like this just liability clearly, Like he I mean, he was pretty fantastic against the Giants. But you're absolutely right, but for some reason, his little mistakes rest and they taught more than anybody else's in my head, because of who he is, because of who he is, and because

they're not winning games. But like it's I mean it, I don't know it was like that before he retired the first time too, though, Like he's a good football player. He's still probably good for somewhere between one and three bad plays per game, and they stand out because of who he is. Having said that, like he's not so bad that he's like this liability that they have to get off the field. And so I just don't think

they're going to. Like I said that way back when he came out of retirement, I'm just like, this is what the tight end position will be for the time that he is still here. You don't have to like it. You know, they're not going to draft a player, they're not going to elevate somebody above him. They're just kind of in a holding pattern while this is going on. And it could be the rest, I mean, could be just this season. Maybe he comes back. I don't know

the answer to that. But the tight end position just is what it is while he's here. And that is to say it's fine, but it's not something that like gets you excited or is going to like be the reason why you win games. I kind of want to see him out there just blocking and helping Zeke and in the blogging game and all that, and then just keep like driving for the passing game. And but that that sounds good, but obviously it doesn't necessarily work that

way if it's a coordinators figure of that stuff out too. Um, you know, they just were they just it was a physical game and Mike Zimmers never had a defense that wasn't physical even when he was here. Uh you know that that's kind of his emo. And they they just kind of punched the Cowboys in the mouth and they took some shots too. I mean, this was a back and forth game. It was a it was a good entertaining game. It was a very if you're Ager fan, if you're if you're a Chargers or a Colts fan,

you're watching it. It's fun, it's good football. Cowboy fans are you know, pissed off? And and you know in Jason Garrett and you know is the problem and Kellen Moore's the problem and all that. But they get twelve more yards and score touchdown and win the game. And you know, then all of a sudden, this is a six and three football team that's right in the middle of the playoff race. But what makes it so fair? Yeah?

I firmly believed that they were going to score with a minute in twelve seconds to go, and and Kirk Cousins was going to get him down to the thirty two yard line, and Dan Bailey would have a forty nine to fifty yard field goal to tie the game, and he was gonna miss. That's what I That's what I believe was going to happen. You went a few steps ahead of me. I just I thought they would

score and take the lead. I didn't know what would happen. Well, Dan Bailey coming back, I just thought for sure that was gonna happen. That's why we got rid of you. We're looking for a silver lining. I don't place. What's that right for first place in the division now, I'll forget that. Wait, I mean there, if they make the playoffs, it'll be as the NFC's champion. Like for me, this loss just is a nail in the coffin of whatever slim wildcard hopes they have or third loss to an

NFC contender. Minnesota and Green Bay are both fantastic. The Saints are doing their thing. You got you know, the forty nine ers. We'll see what happens tonight, but like they look like they're in line for a buy. So then you're dealing with the Seahawks to like they just if the Cowboys make the playoffs, it would be as the NFC East champion and they would be the four seed. Like I just feel like that's a foregone conclusion. Anyway, No, the silver lining is I really think that was the

best game of Dak's entire career. I'm serious, silver I mean no, no, seriously, it's it's gonna sound like cold comfort to anybody listening right now, and you're mad, and I'm sorry about that, but Dak played like a badass on a night where you know the line wasn't I mean, I know he only got sacked once, but the line wasn't protecting him great. He was running for his life. He had no running game. Zeke wasn't taking any pressure off of him, and he's they'll balled the hell out he.

I mean, his precision passing on third down. I think he was seven of ten on third down, just some of the best throws of his entire career. Him and Cooper, obviously, their chemistry is off the charts, so I guess I would throw the ball even before the receiver would be turned completely and they would. His anticipation was off the charts. And all of that is to say that is the criticism we've heard about Dax for so long. He's like, well, he's only good if everything's good around him, and he

doesn't elevate anybody. He put arrows in all those theories last night, which they lost the game. I get that, but he was outstanding and that gives me, if I'm a Cowboys fan, that gives me confidence that he is growing into that type of quarterback that can win you

a game on his own. Yeah, I can kind of argue a little bit the fact that he wasn't I mean, he was great, but he wasn't great enough to back off what the vice things were doing defensively true, and to run the ball because usually when you're just throwing it that way, you have to soften up the middle and then that's where you know, and that's what the Cowboys kept counting on, that all these passes are gonna lead to boom. Zeke's gonna but it never worked. Is

that his fault for not being great enough? Or is that the coaching staff's fault for not hammering what was working? Like mash that like button retweet on what's working? Why am I talking like this? I don't know, because you're I mean, the fact that you don't have your phone in your hand is you know. I mean, I get it. Balance is important and you have a great running back, but just ride the hot hand sometimes. And I'm again, I'm not even talking about down on the eleven yard line.

I get. I mean you would like to think Zeke can pick up a second and two. I get that. It's everything else. It's like, oh my god, what an incredible throw by Deck and Cooper with this amazing catch twenty yards. They're in Vikings territory, all right, Now let's run it for half a yard. Yeah, the fourth down play, you know, Vikings gave him, you know, a gift by calling the time out. Well, maybe it wasn't a gift because maybe the Vikings got a chance to get into

the defense that they wanted. But you know, coming out of a time out all fourth and five with the game on the line, like Zeke is a is a good option to throw the ball too and other times, but he is the worst route runner on the field. I mean, naturally, he's not a receiver. He's not a route runner. So he ran a you know, it wasn't a very uninspired yeah, and it was just a perfect throw to a non receiver that has to make this play when the other three guys are absolutely lighting up

the Vikings. So that just didn't make any sense at all. Why you wouldn't say, I'm gonna go to a Mariy Cooper. I'm gonna hope that he makes the right play here and if not, you know, we'll see if we get a past interference. Because that's Mary Cooper. He's the best, one of the best receivers in the League. You know what play I miss, and I I know they've probably called it this year, but I miss the just the little bubble screen to Dez Bryant where you just get

him the ball and let him make a play. No interesting, you said that. I thought that this morning when I was thinking about the game. This is when I think I'm gonna set in the press box. This is where you miss a Dez Bryant type of player down there where they can't looking for a job right now, sit in there. But I'm just saying, you can't punch it in, you can't run it in. You sometimes you have to say my guy versus your guy. My guy's gonna win. And they could do that with it or somebody like that.

They don't have that type of receiver. They really don't have that guy. Cooper doesn't have the build for it. But I would argue he could do that. I mean, he can high point the hell out of the ball. We've seen it. I know it got called back, but the play he made against I want to say the Eagles, you know, down on the goal line, he got separation, Like he can go up and get those types of balls.

So I would argue, and the same thing. Like if you throw Amari Cooper just a bubble throw with you know him on a cornerback like, I think he's gonna win the majority of those, which we'll see. We'll see if they can do that in Detroit. Yeah, we will. First time we're going to Detroit. Since that Gamez and Megatron going back and forth, I think Megatron went further. He did, he did, but Dez had a really great game too. Well, maybe this will be a game where

the Cowboys figure it out. I was gonna say, sorry, I just might be the most important. Well that's all. It usually happens with Jason. You know, when they start getting pushed against the wall a little bit, they they might win this game, and if Matthew Stafford doesn't play, they have a great chance. But we can't say that they have. They will have figured it out even if they win this game. I'm saying for that game. I'll

figure out for one game. Well, you know, you're five and four and you got the Lions and I believe the Patriots are next. Oh you better win this game. Yep. All right, Well that is all the time we have for today. I'm sure you guys can discuss turnovers tomorrow. Yeah, that wasn't They didn't get anyway, So, yeah, they didn't get any good all right, We handled it. That's it. That's it. Especially, I mean, you see them having success at it for the past couple of weeks and then

all of a sudden disappeared. But Dalvin Cook almost gave them the earliest Christmas present of all time with that fumble down there. I mean, I don't know what was happening right there. Not to say the Cowboys would have scored if they were recovered it at the five, but would have been interesting, would have been nice. All right. Well, thank you guys so much for tuning in today for Nickiman, David Hellman. Remember you'll see how it has been the

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