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Cowboys Let's go. Are you ready for a break?
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Were on with Mbar.
Garcia, Brian brought us, Patrick Walker and Derek Eagleton.
It is Wednesday, September. Ma'm sorry.
December twenty seventh, twenty twenty, third season nineteen, episode number ninety six.
Welcome to the latest edition of The Break.
We're a lot from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star and as you can see, I'm trying to take us back to September because I want to start this thing all over again and do it again college football, pro football.
I'd sign up for that if we can start it all over again, but we're not. We're toward the end of the season and we're.
Going to get kids to the Super Bowl first.
No, I just want to start over like that scares me. I just want to start back over in September. One's just fun and just free flowing, and you got all the optimism and don't have all the problems that you discovered during the season, but.
Aubrey's kicking the ball and it.
Yeah, right, that was the worst problem we had back then, was like are you gonna have a kicker? And now that all resolved itself, we got so many other issues to talk about.
We know so much about kickers, don't we?
Yeah, we do, all right, So we're going to today We're going to talk about the Cowboys versus the Lions. We're going to get into the Lions offense versus the Cowboys defense. Uh, let's start first though, with some injury updates. What are we hearing right now about Tyron Smith?
Well, Tyron Smith he said on yesterday and with locker room availability that he had, he's not calling it the stinger. He's like, it's not a stinger. He's saying it his back tightened up. He said, quote unquote, it feels better. He said that they set him so that it would quote unquote call down. Apparently, based upon what Tyron said on yesterday, it has calmed down. That does provide some optimism that he could possibly take the field against the
Detroit Lions. If you ask McCarthy and owner and general manager Jerry Jones. They're kind of fifty to fifty on it right now. Of course, there's still half today's practice, you know, have a walk through tomorrow so we'll know the final determination. But when it comes to Tyron, progress
has been made, so that's the good news there. Jonathan Hankins still fifty to fifty based on what Jerry said to One on five through the Fan on yesterday, what McCarthy is saying, but McCarthy said he does have a chance. Hankins does to take the field as well. He also said Tyron has a chance as well, so that goes to the progress that Tyron has made. Those are your two headliners as it stands, they both have an opportunity. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. The
rest of everyone else is just limited. Stefan Gilmore, he said that he was dealing with a rib injury that he suffered against the Miami Dolphins, but he said that he's in, He's going to play. That's basically that's what was echoed by Mike McCarthy. Stefan was limited on yesterday, but they expect that Stefan Gilmore will be on the field against the Detroit Lions and they're gonna need him because, as Brian is going.
To tell you, guys, they've got some firepower in Detroit.
The rest is basically some rest days, veteran rest days, guys limited. We had two transactions this morning that came in a few minutes before the show kicked off. Rashaan Evans has been waived by the Cowboys to make room for the activation of Matt will Let's go. So, well, let's go is now back from ir with hit that shoulder injury there. I know he's going to get into it in a moment, but yeah, so linebacker depth is now much more of a concern with Rashaan Evans being
sent to waivers. And for those that don't know now, at this point of the season, every single person that's waived goes to the waiver wire and can't be claimed. And if he's not claimed, then he'll be a free agent. He can sound whatever he wants. But well, let's go is back and we'll see if his shoulders can allow
him to stay on the field this time. But I think it's one of the things with the Cowboys saw the pressure put on Dak Prescott in the absence of Tyrone Smith and said, Okay, yeah, Matt, come on up and let's see what you.
Got a little confused on the Rashawn Evans move. I mean, here's my thing.
When when you're starving, do you like turn down saltine crackers?
Like is it?
Like?
No, They're delicious everything, everything's delicious, right, And I'm like, okay, so linebackers the position very good?
Right?
Literally?
Like you like like it's like, you know, I mean, I just I don't understand that, Brian, what have you seen in Rashon Evans? I guess what have you seen from Rashaan Evans that may suggest that maybe he's just not the answer for them? And they're like, he's a part, he's too much a part of the problem, you know.
I the times he did play, I think that they were a little bit worried about. And it's been a struggle for the linebackers or the guys that have played. It's been about awareness. It's about when you when you play, are you seeing everything? Are you reacting the right way? Are you Can we trust you to play coverages? Can we trust you to play downhill? Can we trust you to fill when you have to fill? I think they're having some really struggles with that right now, and you know,
then they really don't have an answer. They tried their answer. Their best shot at this was trying to get Shack Lennard. That was their best shot at it and to try
and maybe help the situation. But I think the thing with Evans is that when they put him in there, they they obviously did not like what they saw the way that he played at all the things I mentioned, you know, I mean, he didn't get a whole lot of chances to play, but the ones that he did play, you know, you kind of felt like though that here's a guy that in his career had been a difference
maker in some teams. For this one though, wasn't nearly around the ball near enough, wasn't nearly finishing blocks like he needed or it's going to be finishing plays like he needed to finish. And they deemed him as the fifty third guy, which is surprising to me, but considering that, I didn't think.
He was that bad of a player.
But their thoughts and my thoughts are totally different a lot of times, and so uh, you know, they they move on that way, but it does it definitely weakens what they're trying to do at least from a depth standpoint, you know, And we need to probably go back and look at the special team stuff. Was Evans helping you enough on special teams to you know if if if he was, I guarantee a bones fossil would have been standing at at Will's door saying no, no, you can't do this.
I need this guy.
So obviously everything that about that tells him just to move on from him.
Yeah, I think there are probably That's the thing we have to always remember is the amount of time that the coaches are spending with these players is substantially more than what we see.
Just on the field when we watch games and the room stuff. Yeah, it's all practice stuff. Does you have the right practice habits? Yeah?
Like, there are lots of things about and I'm not saying he doesn't. All I'm saying is a lot more.
It's clues. It's clues. It's clues.
And I've been a part of scouting staffs for thirteen years and exactly everything you just said is exactly true.
You know it.
There's things that day's coaches like, would they get to a point where they do not want a.
Player regardless of what he's doing regardless.
Of what he's doing.
As a personal guy, you just have to say, Okay, coach, you got it because.
The road right the personnel guys like he can play yeah, and the coaches like I can't coach him.
And that's the thing.
You never want to put a player bring a player to a coach that doesn't want to coaching. It's a it's a bad mix right there. And you know, obviously he did not do enough for what they were asking him to do on the field. You as a player to be part of this fifty three man roster. I say something about Hankins real quick if I could. The thing they're struggling with right now with Hankins is he's a three hundred and thirty pound man with a high ankle sprain.
That's a problem. That's a problem.
Usually sometimes you get lighter guys. It's a little bit more of a quicker fix. And that's what they're working through right now. They're hopeful, they're hopeful on Smith, but they're hopeful on Hankins as well. But the problem is have his size and taking on double teams, the lateral agility and all those things, those are all weighing into them. Trying to get him ready to practice right now or to excuse me to play. You know, are they making
progress like Patrick said, Yes, are they? But is it going to take more time? We'll see, We'll see. But right now that's the biggest issue. They're dealing with his size and they want to make sure that he has he's playing on both both feet. You know, you don't want to be a defensive tackle and playing on one leg.
That's a problem.
I want to ask you another question here real quick, guys, before we get into this, how much you think Mazzie Smith ways.
If you had to guess, I would guess three.
Two ninety three. See, this is the problem now, and I'm bringing up during the season. He's lost forty pounds.
During the season.
He's three hundred and thirty.
Pounds coming out of at A Michigan and we wonder, you know, we wonder I was visiting.
With he has a lot of weight to lose.
He's lost weight along the way. Because we've seen other guys in this. You know, Tank is a guy you talk to Tank, what he eats is very very regimented. You know, you got guys, uh oh, so Diggy's what up? Very regimented the way he eats, you know, not with me. Oh they're standing there waiting for the burgers, you know, with the fries that are excellent at this facility, you know, kind of going to the salad bar, tater tots, Yeah that's.
Here, you know, and I'm not.
I was just talking to some folks about it, and I said, why does Mazzi look smaller on tape? He doesn't have the big rear anymore and stuff like that. He goes, No, he's down, he's down. He's lost about forty pounds. So you wonder they're asking him to play a role for Hankins, in a role where he's we're like, really a three technique. And so that's that's part of what we're dealing with right now. We're dealing with being
laid off the ball. But we're not the player we drafted coming out of Michigan that was three hundred and thirty pounds. You know, you get a better dietitian program or whatever, but you lose forty pounds when you're a one technique. That's you're not a one technique playing at two hundred and ninety three pounds.
But also, just to be clear.
And I'm not making excuses for it.
Yeah, but this is a coach decision.
This is like the coach player decision.
Well, what I've been told, and I'm not talking about Mazi specifically, I'm talking about different players what I've been told. I mean, there is a certain weight that you're required to be, depending on what they're asking you to be. If you're over under that weight when they have to weigh every week, they get fine, Yeah, oh no, it has to be exactly the weight that you're supposed to be. So that just leads me to think this is the weight that they're asking to be and is not otherwise. Yeah,
they wouldn't have him played. I mean, that's a lot of weight to lose.
Well, you think about what his responsibility is.
And we talked about him on the draft show for an up and you know, as we've gone through the year here and I'm not trying to make excuses for the guy again, I really am not.
He's a different player. Yeah, he's a different player at two ninety three as he is the three thirty.
Let me ask you this.
Would they have thought that maybe getting him at a smaller weight would help.
With his get Yeah.
Right now, he's not getting up as fast as you wanted to.
But I would think that's more of a just reaction than it is.
Three twelve yeah, right, three twelve, three fifteen.
I mean if you maybe kick out, you know, kick off eight to ten pounds and he's already quick. But you know it's just that reaction, right, you know, it's the snap of the ball and his hands are still on the ground and everybody's moving. That's the thing that is correct that with lower weight. Yeah, no, it's but maybe he's thinking like, oh I for movement, how I get up the field, be quicker and all that when he when he gets off the ball, he can play
football well for you. But I think our vision of the player is and I'm watching him on tape and I'm wondering. I'm like, does he looks smaller?
You know?
And I ask, and this is what I hear. And so now all of a sudden you're thinking this is a different football player. I'm not looking at it. I'm not looking at Hankins. I'm looking at oh so Dighy's is what I'm looking at. Or I'm looking at you know, I'm looking at a smaller player. That's asked to play as a run stopper. So when you talk about Hankins and how important he is, and there's a lot of things that go into this defense and a lot of questions about it right now, to be honest with you.
It makes me wonder thinking about or having this conversation. First person that pops in my head is Tyrone Crawford. Now where you know the Cowboys, That coaching staff had him, They pop him inside, they asked him to put on weight, move him outside, he have to ship away. That was kind of a yo yo situation regularly regularly.
Yeah.
So and that then takes me back to training camp this h this past summer wherein we saw a lot of Mazzie Smith packages side by side with Jonathan Hankins, which kind of makes me wonder if their plan, at least this year was to say, Okay, well, we're going to see how much we can play you alongside Hankins.
Maybe drop some of that weight.
But that's a lot of package to drop forty, So that that does kind of pigeonhole him at the three because you're not playing zero in one, you know, unless your Michael, Yeah, your Michael, you can do zero and one you can move on past.
But when you're trying to stop running, when when you're ready to have an issue, you're not going to hold up pounds on you.
You're already small. You're already kind of small up front.
And one of the things, and maybe one of these things too, like Ambar says, is like, Okay, maybe we want to get him on the field more with Hankings, And so how do you get him on the field more with Hanks?
You play him as a traditional three. They turn him into a three.
But I haven't heard anybody come out and say we're going to start working Mozzie Moore as a three technique.
All of a sudden, he's got this year's come up.
Sometimes these players they lose weight through the year because they're not used to playing seventeen games and having a whole training camp, and naturally they just get beat down and they can't. But that's a lot yeahs.
And they added.
You have to purposely run of those those because.
The added problem is if I was a bitten man, and but if I'm a bitting man, I don't think Jonathan Hankins plays in this game. It's obviously possible, but I just don't feel like he plays in this game. I feel like he's too valuable for what they need
to do in the playoffs. So they're kind of at a situation where, yeah, they want it, Yeah, they don't want to back into the playoffs, so they want to win these games, but they don't want to win these games at the risk of hurting the possible playoff run. And Carl Davis, bless his heart, did not look great.
Did not look great. So if we got a forty pounds lighter Mazzi plus Carl Davis not looking great, Jonathan Hankins likely not playing this particular week, that you have an issue at nose tackle, and now you just sent the linebacker packing. So now you have depth issue at linebacker unless you're one, and I'm not one. Unless you're one who thinks Buddy Johnson's going to come off the practice squad and and be you know, Bobby Wagner, you
got some issues there as well. So some things to figure out for the Cowboys.
A name out there maybe they're looking at possibly to bring in because.
This, you know, not this not this late in the year. I wish that they would. I wish you've got the playoffs they'd let you take somebody off somebody's team, right, not the playoffs like travel baseball, Like you beat somebody in a tournament, you get we can to take one.
Of their pot allow that that would be not I really think it's rightful.
I think it's something that they should consider.
Absolutely.
It doesn't hurt anything, but it helps the competitive competitiveness of the playoffs.
Although knowing how the Eagles are, everybody you know they are, they going they don't mind if you get anybody and everybody you if.
You get the if you get the buye, you don't get to take a guy.
Okay, good, I like that. I like that. So they would be rooting for the Eagles to get the BUYO.
Yeah, anybody you got a five? No guy? Right a Right, let's take our first break when we come back. We're gonna dive into the Detroit offense. Man, there's some there's some problems. Yeah, we're gonna talk about it. Talk about some of the players that you should be aware of going into this weekend. We'll back Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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Let's roll back the tape.
Okay, there's our mascot rowdy cheering on the boys.
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Brian, you ever danced on the table at Concrete Cowboy?
No, but you know after the draft, it's a good place to go have a beer. It is.
I mean, I've we've done a like we do our shows here and you just you've spent fifteen hours in this room and you just want to go have a beer and a burger, and it's a good place to go.
I just figure about it.
But I've never never, never got up on the table.
Now, I figure after a couple of vodka waters.
Maybe you kind of get out where.
Let's let's lose.
Let Texas beat Washington in this playoff and we'll see you up on the tables.
Yes you will in your hometown.
Yes you will, Yes you will. All right, let's jump in. This is the second segment of the break. We'll live from that WBC Mortgage studios at the Star In. This segment's brought to you by blockchain dot Com. All right, let's go. Uh, let's start going to see you right. Offense, and I guess I'm gonna ask you a big picture question. You take it where you want to take it. What does this offense do best? And where are they most challenged?
I think actually where they're the best?
Is there a built hand It's hard to say because I'm on, I'm on, Rod Saint Brown is a really talented player and so he could put a lot of pressure on you catching the football. I'm gonna start with these backs because I kind of feel like though that there's a lot of people that gave the Lions a lot of.
Grief for drafting Jamar.
Gibbs where they got him, and then you look at him, Gibbs and David Montgomery. These are quality backs, I mean quality backs, and you look like last week what you had to deal with with the Dolphins, you're kind of dealing with the same kind of thing this week with But the thing with Gibbs, he is an amazing kid. Started his career at Georgia Tech and then went to Alabama. He can wore multiple hats as a player. You can hand it to them, you can throw it to him.
I will give you a little key though. When they're under center, they're going to run the football. That's their thing they do. They're one of the they're one of the they're one of the when you look at the metrics, and the metrics tell you when you watch the tape that when Golf gets in gets under center, they're probably going to hand the ball to one of these backs. So Cowboys, if you're in that mode, you know there's your key right there. Check it out. I'm sure they
know that just as well as I do. But yeah, this team does not run the ball all that much out of shotgun. But when they do hand it to these guys, and I think one they want to do is they want to play under centers because they want to put Gibbs as far back.
As they can and then hand it to him.
And then let it already running.
When he's already running and so I mean he's when he runs, it's like he's on ice skates. I mean I watch a lot of Dallas Stars hockey, and he just kind of like he's one of these guys just going up the ice the way he plays. But he's got home run speed. He's the feel for the crease, he can hit it. He could set up the blockers, he gain an angle and then man, he could just hit it and go his hands. He's got receiver like hands. So he's really a weapon in all areas right here.
And he's a you know, he's just that kind of that qual you have a player. Montgomery doesn't have the flash of Gibbs, but he's a chain mover, you know, is that you hand him the ball and it's next thing.
You know, it's it's.
Second and six and he's getting seven. It's second in five, he's getting six. He's he's just that kind of player. He's really good after contact too. Actually, both these guys are really really good after contact, Like you hit them and then they find a way to gain extra yards. But the balance, the vision, you know, both of these guys have really are impressive players, and their line does a really good job where they do struggle is I
think with some of their past protection stuff. I don't think the right side of actually be the left side of their offensive line is particularly a strength of theirs. But as run blockers, man, they do a good job. Frank Ragnow the center man, I had problems with him coming out of Arkansas, and I was it's kind of like it reminded me of Travis Frederick. I'm like, Wow, you took a guy in the first round.
Prove me wrong. He proved me way wrong.
The way this guy the movement, skills, agility, all that stuff. But if they've got a problem, it's going to be on there on that left side with Jonah Jackson and Taylor Decker, I think are the areas that you might need to focus on if you're going after pass rushing.
Right, I was looking at the metrics for this team. They are right now fifth in passing. Yeah, they are also third in rushing, So across the board, whether they're throwing or run the ball, they are very potent and they can put up a lot of yards on you. Let's focus in on the passing for a second. First, there are two guys that I want you to give us a scouting report on huh Aman Ross Saint Brown you already mentioned, and then Sam Laporta, the rookie tight end.
Okay, well, okay, Saint Brown is This is how I would describe him. He's the kind of receiver who doesn't let the ball hit the turf when it comes to is, when it comes to him and it hits his hands, it's not gonna hit the ground. I mean, he is one of the most consistent when you start to talk about ball skills of receivers that I've seen. The attention to detail that he plays with or outstanding. He's super competitive and you could tell with the way he plays
he really loves the game. It's important to him the way he plays and his detail is like when you when he runs routes, it's very heavy of just that. Like I was talking about the detail foot points where he needs to be.
There's just no wasted motion.
When he plays, and he can put a defensive back in an area where he wants and take advantage of that. So'll run at you, he'll move you, and now you're in trouble. And then he goes off his way and he'll go catch the football. So he's got strength in his hands, he's got quickness, he's he's a he's a quality player for for them.
And Laporta the question, and this is a this came up on draft day.
So if you're listening to the Dallas Cowboys dot Com the Draft show, we were talking about this because late in the process, late in the process, we were hearing about Sam Laporta tight end from Iowa, that maybe the Cowboys would select him in the first round. We were all like, oh wow, okay, that's interesting. So and just kind of visit with people post draft about him. I was like, man, I was hearing whispers.
About this tight end.
Coach and head coach really liked Sam Laporta a lot. I mean, they were on that. That was something that give my credit, you know, give under Wells a lot of credit. They had a vision for what this player potentially could be. And as crazy as that might have sounded back then, it might have been a really wise choice to take to take this guy in the first round because he's a thick, compact kind of guy, but his lower body power is excellent. He's got to burst off the ball, he creates separation.
He's got foot.
Speed, physicality, toughness, in the routes, mismatch player, he's got strength, he's got speeds off handed, he's got the catch radius. He wins on contested balls. He has had some drops this year. There were a couple that I saw in the games I watched. Matter of fact, the Bears game is a kind of a fun game to watch. They really didn't. I think it has something to do again with with golf, playing outside and cold. It's kind of
his kryptonite. And the Bears caught him in one of those games and he wasn't as good as he needed to be.
But they've had.
Some drops with Laporta, but most of everything nine touchdowns and he's kind of got solid effort desires or run blocker. I think he's going to need to improve his sustain a little bit. But this is a guy's a weapon. I mean, he really is a weapon when you watch him when you run the routes and they throw him the ball.
So looking at the rushing attack. As I said before, they're third in rushing in the NFL.
Check this out.
In seven of the last eight games they've played this season, they have one hundred and forty plus rushing yards.
This is a potent running offense.
Yeah.
So here's a question that I have for you, guys, because in this last game with the Cowboys played, they held they held moster to forty six yards, they held a change to twenty four yards.
My question for you is what does.
That tell you about the Cowboys rush defense if anything?
And I want to hear from everybody on this, but go ahead.
I've talked too much, Patrick, go ahead.
No. I was going to say.
It kind of goes back to a couple of weeks ago when I said, this Cowboys team has shown me that they can stop the opponent's run. It's just a matter of like Brian said yesterday, it's the details. It's it's execution. It's first of all, going in with the correct mindset and then not allowing one big game or something like that to demoralize you and just keep these guys in front of you, play sideline the sideline. And as long as you can do that, then you can
keep guys like most It contained. You can keep guys like a prime in that moment Austin Eckler contained. And I mean talk about a chain for example, that's one of the shiftier, speedier running backs. And for the at least the first half of the season. He was a hit one of the headliners for the Dolphins offense. He was an afterthought against the Cowboys run rushing defense on a couple of days ago on Sunday. So, I mean that tells me they have the ability to do it
even with a guy like Jonathan Hankins injured. It's just it's commitment to it. It's you know, staying focused on the details and just making sure that everybody plays their role in a Texas that way. And you can do that. So I'm not of the mindset that, oh, well Hankins is out and oh who is the world? No, I've seen this team be able to stop with Hankins and without Hankins. It's just mindset, mindset, stay committed, play your play your lanes, and focus on the details.
They handle the perimeter run really well in the Miami game. Yeah, and so but what you have to worry about with this group, it's a little bit more inside and outside. You know, they're they're gonna if they they're going this line is gonna come off. They're gonna come off and zone and they're gonna double and then they're gonna push and they're gonna get second level. And like Patrick's talking about though, the reason the Cowboys play, they play with
great discipline. The other day when you watch the Ravens play. Somebody we're talking to is Aisham Wurson and I were talking about this and she goes, why, I really admire the way the Ravens play.
And I don't think the Ravens get enough credit for how physical.
They give them credit for about physical and the players they have give credit for how discipline they play and they don't get out of place, and that, you know, to be really good in run defense, like Patrick saying, you have to have fits. You have to have you have to have your your nickel coming down. You have to have your safety coming down. You have to have your your edges like Tank and those guys holding up, pushing, you know, getting guys up the field, not letting them
get around the corner. You know that that's the challenge again this week. I mean, these guys are gonna they're going to test the edges on you. And but these guys I think are better running the ball inside than what the Dolphins were.
That's gonna be the challenge for you.
Right there, we've seen improvement for sure, but to me, it's always like kind of like.
A slippery slope where.
You can't have those games and they've come out with wins. Even though teams have ran the ball very well, there have been games where the Colways end up winning the game regardless, but we've seen those games where they the running back can escape and then there it goes. And then now that kind of becomes the trend of the
game and it's hard to stop it. So that's why I call it a slippery slope because as well as soon as sometimes they allow one big play, two big play, then it just carries on throughout the whole game and it happens like that, and then mistakes start happening. Also, you talked about playing a clean game, penalties and those things where you know at key moments, and that goes on both sides of the ball. Honestly, it's not just
on the defense offense as well. But I think the advantage here and I know you'll do the scouting report tomorrow for the defense, but I think the advantage here is one they're playing at home and to.
The offense. Cowboys offense, I.
Think they should be able to play better and score more points than they have the last two weeks, which will then help the defense as well. That's one of the things you can This defense has been getting tired, and they've been holding on there for dear life and making it happen. But then at the end of the day, the offense hasn't pulled their part of the game.
When it comes to a guy like Jamior Gibbs especially, and I'm looking at the linebackers for this one, you got to try to get him at the line of scrimmage as often as passe quick like, yes, quickly, because if he if he already gets past the first level and he has a lane to the second level and it's him versus your linebacker, your linebacker is in dire straits immediately because he's one plant direction change and it's so difficult to square him up. So you gotta at least,
you know, for the defensive line. Obviously you want that tackle at or behind the line of scrimmage, but worst case, just disrupt him and give your linebacker a chance, because if it is, if it's a clean lane and he's staring at at your linebacker coming full speed, if you try to score up, where do you go because fake left, go right, and you're done. We just saw the highlight yesterday on Twitter. Oh my god, that man has a family. He laid a grown man down with one move. So careful.
That's Jamiir Gibbs's game. If you let him at the second level, your linebackers are in trump.
Yeah.
One of the things I do take from that game against the Dolphins is Mostert and Hn are both speed guys.
There are Jamir Gibbs is also a speed guy.
Yes, And so the hope is that what they did in that game, maybe they can bottle him up in the same way and the speed won't affect him in the same way. I will say that Gibbs, in my opinion, is a little shiftier than I of those other two backs. But that all being said, like, this is going to be a challenge, and I don't care how you how you dice it up.
This is going to be a challenge trying to stop Gibbs and Montgomery.
Score forty and they don't run the ball.
It's a good point.
You can't do that. Bar's playing score forty and they won't run the ball.
All right, let's take our final break.
Will we come back we come back, will jump into the Dallas defense. I actually want to talk a little bit about some of the some specific players, particularly some of the safeties and the linebackers. We'll talk about that when we come back to this Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio.
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All right, we appreciate you, guys.
Jon Us, it's the final segment of the break Let's talk about the Dallas defense. I noticed something as I was going through and looking at some well, something triggered.
I don't even remember what it was, but.
I started thinking, I wonder if the Cowboys made any changes to who was playing and how much they were playing between the Baltimore mean Sorry, the Bills game and then looking at the Miami game.
Say that once more time, I got a text that it confused me quick, So player participation.
I wanted to look at player participation in the Bills game versus the Miami Dolphins game, particularly at the safety and linebacker position, because seeing how much better they played in Miami, my thought was.
Did they use people less or more? And I saw something very very interesting.
Dmoon Clark the Buffalo game played ninety two point three percent of the snaps in the Miami game, however, he only played sixty seven point two percent of the snaps. You look at Marquise Bell in the Buffalo game seventy five point four percent of the snaps in the Dolphins game forty six point nine percent of the snap So
both of them dropped off a significant amount. On the flip side of that, Donovan Wilson in the Bills game sixty nine point two percent of the plays in the Miami game ninety eight point four percent, so almost a complete game for him.
Yep.
And by the way, I don't know that Donovan had a great game, but the run defense was better.
My question is, do you think that this was just by a chance or do you think they actively were like those two linebackers have to be on the field less for us to be better at run defense.
You're gonna go after one of the You're gonna go after these guys a little bit.
Well, I know it's a hard question.
It's it's it's a fair question. Yeah, I think this is weird. I think Donovan Wilson is a good run player. I think he struggles seeing in the pass, but he's so physical and when you play him close to the line of scrimmage and ask, now, okay, we've seen some Arizona game was a crazy angle next thing, you know, it's out the gate kind of thing. But I think overall, you put him near the ball or around the ball, or let him see the ball, he is going to go get the ball. And I do feel like there's
some things I think Bell is trying his best. I think they're asking Bell to play at a superhuman level, and I think he's played his best. I mean that's it's not like a compliment Sandwich there, but it's really not. I do really feel like that he's you know, when he's down there in the box, he could play the run as well. But then again, his size limits when people get up on him. And I think with with with Clark, just to see the instincts, I just don't
and I don't. And we talk about the linebackers that have been able to the great ones around here. You know that that wins the Dexter coke Les, the just.
Name them all, Sean Lee's. I mean, they see.
The formation and they know where the ball's going and they and they just go and they don't. They have trouble getting off blocks. And that's the thing about it. You when you don't get off blocks where Wilson will run and get away from blocks, you know they'll run. And that's where Belle needs to take more of it. He needs to run away, get away from those blocks, don't.
Take them on. So I think they said, hey.
We're going to have to do something different because when they do get hooked up on these blocks, we're having problems stop in the run. And they're trying to limit the number of times they have to face a three hundred and eighteen pound man being in their face the whole day.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, let's be honest here, no one's ever picked Donathan Wilson as your best cover guy. As far as your safety United, that's not history history. Yeah, his strength is playing forward and that could be in blitz packages, it could be in run defense things like that. That's what he's the heat seeking missile. Like Brian said, see ball, get ball, and that ramping him up likely helped you
on the run defense. And of course like that we talked about when it comes to Marquise Bell for its as exceptional as he's played, particularly in the context of what he's been asked to do, you give up size for that speed. But Donovan Wilson, you're not giving up that size. Donald is a unit, right, So you have a guy who can not only disengage blocks, but he rarely is locked up on the block in the first place,
he's moving around it, he's going through it. And then when it comes to the Moon Clark, we've seen flashes and we've seen games where he's played well, but you've seen games where he's kind of dipped as well. So for me and Demon, it's the lack of consistency that's kind of plaguing him at the moment. And I think that his development is kind of being stared just a bit by LV not being on the field because when he and LV we on the field together, you saw
him playing off of LV a lot. You saw those having those who having a lot of conversations, and they still do because LV is his biggest mentor here outside of Dan Quinn and the coaching staff. But the absence of LVE it has layers to it. So you missed that player on the field, but you also miss what his impact is to a younger guy like Demon Clark.
So with Clark not being consistent enough and then the size that you're giving up on Bail and Bell gets locked up in blocks, sometimes it just makes sense that you look at Donovan and say, hey, well we're you know, the more we play you forward, it's not that we're losing anything in coverage because you're not the coverage guy as far as the safety's un concerned.
So it's not an accident.
It's not a crapshoot that was obviously planned and it worked in their favor. So we probably see it again against the running back you andit like what Detroit has.
Yeah, you're absolutely right because Patrick's wright because what's gonna happen. Wilson's gonna fly downhill and you know, and you can't. If you're gonna deal with speed, you got to get to speed before speed gets to you. Yeah, and that's what Wilson.
He will.
He will throw his body in there, good and bad. But what you have to do is, especially in those edge perimeter runs, is you have to disrupt blocking and you have to disrupt the back, make the back stop, and once the back stops, now you got bodies that can get there and limit the gain and what you're going to have.
And he's a guy, and I know he hasn't He's had his fair share of problems as you're Donovan Wilson as far as how he's played. But when he is good, he's a great tackler. He can really really tackle. And that's another thing that the Cowboys defense has been struggling with the past couple of weeks, has been tackling. And I think it just it's as simple as who's giving you more currently. And that's not to say not to give credit to those guys, because I think they've done
a nice job given the situation. It's not what we need it to be or what we wish it was, but given the current situation, I think they think I give them credit to what they've done, because it is a hard job. It is something hard. The moon Clark we he came back way faster from that injury. Yeah, and we got to take that into account. Everybody's human. He's a human being, and we know that it takes time. Even though he was I'm not saying that the staff
rushed him or anything at all. They they they're great at rehab and everything. But I still think that after you get from come back from an injury, it does take time. Even though you're healthy, it takes your body time to get adjusted and all of that.
But I think that right now.
Donovan Wilson, he's been improving his game and because of that, I.
See it as okay, if you're the.
One playing better right now, hey, we need you go out there and here are more plays for you.
They miss vander USh and Patrick because because van der USh will say, watch the watch his own watch his zone watching and he's telling you know, they're communicating like he's talking about what's about to happen, and and that was that was It was like it was like Darren Woodson playing with Roy Williams. Yeah, when wood he went away, Roy.
Williams all of a sudden, Well, yeah, what am I supposed to do here?
Now?
You know, run pass, runner pass and that Woodies like watch it, they're gonna do this and and so you know that that clicked Roy Williams and then Roy Wiams could go attack.
So yes, I guess from that standpoint, and jay Ron Curse, he's playing one hundred percent of the snaps. Yeah, it almost feels to me like they've just said, we're going to go back to those safeties that we had in there last year, and we're just gonna have all three of them out and that's going to act. As I saw the first I think it was the first play the game, jay Ron was lined up at lineback like it's I think they've just made a decision that that's
probably a better option for them. Theyre going with the inexperience is as good as he's played for what they've as to do of Marque's bell, there's still some inexperience there, right, and so I think they just decided to give me some experience and we'll see what we can do with that. You're still gonna give up size with those offensive linemen, but at least you'll have more experience out there with Donovan and with Dayron Kurrs.
As long as the team doesn't pound the ball at him straight ahead, they're all right. Yeah, when teams play on the sideline, sideline, the sideline, it's a little bit easier for them to run and go make.
Plays, which does concern me a bit with Montgomery. Montgomery, he's coming at you. That's the kind of running back he is. So that's going to be a bit of a challenge for them this week. All right, appreciate Jeffs.
I was going to say out on a closing point, and when it comes to stopping the Lions offense, I'll say two fold. When it comes to rushing again, it's about stopping at the line of scrimmage because they're rushing yards over expectation, almost two hundred yards over expectation, So do not let them get to the second level. The biggest crux of what you want to stop for them
is is yards after the catch. Almost fifty percent from a receiving standpoint, almost fifty percent of the passing yards last receiving yards for that offense golf and those guys are off of yak. So you know, a couple weeks ago, Cowboys did a great job of stopping guys up front as once they caught the ball. That's what you need in this game. If you allow them to get free laporting and I'm on Ross Saint Brown, and you let those guys get that ball and start making moves, you're
in for a long day. So once they make the catch, just bring them down right there and you will get more third down stops than not.
Who just came all right there?
You see it right right there, right oh, right there, Georgia came out that George is coming.
Outright because we went past eleven forty five. You go past eleven forty five, Georgia sneaks up.
As a route man. We'll be back tomorrow.
We're gonna talk about this Lion's defense versus the Cowboys offense. Till then for Patrick Walker, Brian brought us Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Eiltson. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
This has been a production of Dallascowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.