Cowboys Break: Final Show In Oxnard

I am Derrek Eagleton, join by Nick Amber Dave. We are live in Oxnard, California. It is our final day of shows here from Oxnard. Tomorrow we start packing things up. Friday, the team heads back to Dallas and they got a game Saturday night, and on Monday they start practices or training camp Phase two. I guess is what it would be back at the Star in Frisco. How how's everybody doing this? Good? And see the end? And see the end.

It's been four weeks, four long weeks of training camp out here, and today we're actually going to wrap that up on the show. I have a series of questions I'm going to ask you guys that we'll give fans a good overall perspective of what you think after four weeks of watching this team practice of a couple preseason games, and just give him a general overview of what we think of the team coming out of training camp. Before we get to that, though, there are a couple of

news items we need to hit. We'll start first with Ezekiel Elliott. He has now officially done what we knew he was going to do, which is appealed the six game suspension. At this point, I think the the appeal will be heard by the NFL sometime between now and August twenty ninth. There's been a lot of news thought that's been developing, and the story keeps developing over this week. A lot of news about different things that we've heard about seem to be things that that are coming from

Ezekiel Elliott's camp. Just talking about their position in all of this day. You've talked about some of this stuff. You're not talked about some of this stuff before we went on the air. Tell me a little bit about your thoughts there. Well, I think if you go back when this was first happening, we kind of mentioned that, you know, if you appeal and maybe even later in the future if this goes into actual court, that this is a thing that could get pretty ugly. It already

seems like that's starting to happen. Every day this week since this you know suspension was announced on Friday, you've seen stuff trickling into the news. You know, four Ward Star Telegram has a story, Yahoo Sports has a story. This morning, you're hearing Ezekiel elliott side of the story. You're hearing, you know, the pushback from the league suspension,

what the league said Elliott did or didn't do. You're hearing now, you know, information discrediting maybe what his ex girlfriend you know, is implying in these accounts and things like that. And actually, literally we haven't had a chance to talk about this, Like within the last ten minutes. Nfl PR put out a statement basically saying, you know, we've seen these stories. This is a common tactic that people do to try to discredit victims of abuse, and

they actually called it shameful. These you know, these stories that are coming out that kind of tell Elliot's camp side of the story. I don't I mean, I don't think it's a coincidence that we hadn't heard much about this all summer, and in the five days since Elliott's suspension was announced, you're seeing it playing out of the news, and you know, far be it. Like I said, I don't feel comfortable dictating who's right and who's wrong in

the entire situation. You know, the information is out there for anybody to read it and decide for themselves. I think it's obviously a lot of conflicting information and it's hard to really sift and come to a concrete conclusion about it. But like we said, when you're talking about appeals, Elliot's camp, Ezekiel, Elliott, his representation, the NFLPA, they want to they want to make a case for lessening his

suspension or throwing it out all together. The NFL obviously wants to stand firm on their ground that they feel they are justified in suspending him for six games, And you're seeing it play out in the news right now, and the longer it goes on, I think it'll be even more contentious. So it's a hell of a start to the whole situation and we'll see where it goes

from there. But it's been an interesting few days and we will see how Ezekiel Eliot will and his representatives will handle this situation because obviously, when you start talking about appeals, there's no guarantee that anything will change, the same NFL infrastructure that made the decision that this was the right thing to do is going to hear the appeal. Whether it's a different person or not, it's still the

same apparatus. And so we'll see how far. We'll see how far Ezekuel wants to take that well and on that it comes to. It's impossible to predict, but it's I mean, their goal is they're going after the credibility of the person that's saying that he did these things that merrit a six game suspension, and you've seen that Monday, Tuesday, and now Wednesday, and now you've seen the NFL answer it. They kind of fire their own shot back at wherever

this news is coming from. And like I said, I mean, this is three days into it over an NFL appeal, This is still just the NFL's infrastructure. If this goes into actual court, it could be really nasty. So it's, like I said, it's going to be interesting to watch how it unfolds. All right, let's let's talk one other thing. We needed to hit real quick Jaalen Smith. Yesterday, Jerry Jones says that Jalen Smith will actually play this week. Talk to me, Nick, I know you were you were there, Dave,

I think you were there as well. Talk about how much you expect him to play. Is this going to be a quick in and out and do a couple of plays or is he going to play an extended period of time. Well, I think that you know, what's probably going to happen with him is that I don't expect him to actually start the game, but he will get some time out there, and he'll do it with some um, you know players that you know, for some first teamers in there, just depending on how long did

they play those guys. But I would imagine that they're not just gonna put him in there, but strictly second team guys. He'll get there, he'll get to play, and they want to see him kind of move around a little bit. It'll probably be a scripted thing. Maybe eight to ten plays, maybe it's a few more, you know, depending on how serieses go. Yeah, I would. I mean, it's hard to say because you don't know how long a series is gonna last, you know, if like, is

it everybody, sorry, something's happening. Yeah, we're good. What we're saying. If he gets in there and it's if he goes if he goes in there and it's a three and out, then I would imagine he'll come back out, you know. I mean I would imagine, Yeah, they want to between eight and fifteen plays. I certainly he's not going to be one of those guys that plays the whole back into the second half. I think that's way too big

of a jump from what he's done out here. But he's definitely shown that he can handle I don't know, one, two, or maybe even three series in a game. I think that's reasonable. It'll be interesting to see just because we obviously haven't been able to see him in game action since he's been on the on the Cowboys roster, so right, this will be interesting from that standpoint. And I remember we talked about him, um close to when we got

here to training camp. Has y'all's opinion changed a little bit more about him, the optimism of him play this year and playing during this I guess first per season. The game I think a little bit. I mean, I kept noticing that that gallop that that he was calling a run and it's still sort of there. But but I think that might just kind of be his run too, because when he's shown out here on the practice field, when he needs to get from point A to point B,

he can do that. He can do that pretty quickly, and he kind of his thing is he knows where a point B is gonna gonna be because that's his His awareness is so good, and so I've seen him moving quick and he can definitely react. But when he is kind of jogging a running, he kind of looks

like a cult a little bit. So I don't think my opt I don't think my outlook has changed about the immediate future, like September tenth or seventeenth, or twenty fourth or fifth, because they play Monday night that week. But I feel a lot better just in the long term, I mean you think. I mean, he's still really fresh

into his career. He has not played an NFL game, And I keep thinking back to that report that came out right when we got to training camp that he's, you know, somewhere between sixty and eighty percent and he needs he needs more time before he's at one hundred percent. And I feel more optimistic than ever that he can get there. I wasn't sure about that when we got here, but just watching the progress he's been able to make out here, I don't think they're blowing smoke that they

think he can be one hundred percent. And this is without the nerve being completely read. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, that's exactly he's obvious. I mean, he's obviously not one hundred percent roaring ready to go, or else he'd be doing way more. But I'm way more optimistic than I ever have been that he might get there one day. And all along the trainers have said. I remember talking to the guy that's kind of been helping him the

most there, Britt Brown. He does all the rehabs, and he said, before, you know, I'm not trying to get him to play sixteen games, like, that's not my goal. My goal is to get him to play ten years in this league. But so the long game. So yeah, so it doesn't matter if he's not ready for week one. Okay, if he's not ready, if he's if we have to put him on pup, which they did not, but if he that was way back then he has to miss

six games so be it. I'm trying to get him to play a full career here and get him to that point. So that's the goal with him. The fact that he's going to play this third game in the preseason and you know, he's probably gonna play for Week one and you know, against the Giants in some role, I think that that's a win right there. That's a success probably. Yeah. No, well, I mean and even now after everything we've seen, I still I think you're making a mistake if you expect him to be a Pro

Bowl linebacker in September. But like I said, I'm way more optimistic that he could play at a Pro Bowl level later in his career. I mean, you're seeing the steps and they've all been encouraging to this point. And the Cowboys are obviously very patient, and I think if fans can just take a patient approach and you know, not expect to move mountains right there at the start of this second season, really his first season, I'm starting to feel good that this could pay dividends in the

long run. Yeah, we will definitely get our first chance to see Jayleen Smith this weekend. Cowboys. I will play on Saturday night versus the cults, So that will be the first time that you guys as fans, will also get a chance to see him as a cowboy, So that should be fun, seed Doc and see Dak's gonna play as well. There will be a lot more I would assume a lot more of the veterans players that we haven't seen a lot of here in the preseason

that will be playing this weekend. Maybe not for a prolonged period of time, but at least out on the field. It's starting to feel a little bit more like NFL football. All right, let's go ahead and take our first break. When we come back, I do want to get into some of these camp questions. We're going to talk about just the big picture of what's been happening out here over the last four weeks and give you guys an idea of what you can expect heading into the season.

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retailer nearest you. Back to the lunch Free Welcome Back. It's the second segment of The Break Live from Oxnard, California's final show of training camp for two seventeen. We'll be heading back to the Star and getting started back there practices next week. Let's go ahead and get into this camp rap segment of the show. I have a couple of questions. I'm gonna gonna wrap Yeah, we're gonna wrap this up in a pretty a w. Yes, we're gonna wrap this up in a pretty little bow for

all of our fans out there. So I'm gonna give these questions. I have some answers that I'm gonna give you that you guys can choose, so it'll be kind of like multiple choice. But feel free if you don't like my answers to throw in whatever you like, Dave, because I know you always have something else to say, So feel free to throw in whatever other answer you'd like to throw, and we'll give people a good idea

of what's been happening for the last four weeks. First question, which position are you least concerned about after watching this team for four weeks? Wide receiver, offensive line, tight in or running back? Least concerned wide wide receiver, Yeah, ode receiver because there's the is the answer based off of the ones you gave us or just yeah, And you can feel free if you think there's another one that wasn't included in that least concerned position you least concerned about, y'all,

go ahead with your receiver. They're loaded. They got you have Desdas looks like DEAs And we joked, yeah, I mean we spent and I see all your tweets. Don't worry like I'm not ignoring you, like we probably spent five ten minutes kind of like is Das having like ads camp? Yeah, y'all did go there. And then he goes out good. He sometimes he wasn't, but he sure is now because he's making he's doing crazy circus catches. He's just he's dunking it over the goal posts. Taking

photos of people. Yeah, a little nervous by that because last time he dunked, I know, two years ago. Yeah, he was like, yeah, well he was out his hamstring looks fine. Um, he's been awesome. He looks like he's at Dad's level. You got two burners who can take the top off the defense. Before he got hurt, and it's not a serious injury. Bryce Butler was great. Terrence Williams has been consistent. I know we haven't seen Switzer in training camp, but I've seen enough from him in

OTAs and just in general to feel comfortable. I'm not saying he's as good as Beasley, but you got two of those slot mismatch type guys. And then I got a big old man crush on Noah Brown too. He's had a great camp. And that doesn't even mention Andy Jones, who I don't know how you even find a place for him, Hopefully he can. Him and Noah Brown both might be practice squad guys, I don't know, but they

got seven really solid looking wide receivers. Yeah, it's got to be that position unless you're gonna, you know, go punter or a a kicker or something like that, because no other spot when you're looking at it has The only question market receiver is number six if they will even have a number six, and then will it be Brown or Andy Jones? Because these five guys were making the team. Switzer is a bit of a question but not from

making the team. But there's a question mark around him just because he's missed so much time, right, I don't think so really question mark of what I'm sorry, there's a question mark around Switzer from the standpoint of how much can he really be expected to control missing so much? I thought you were trying to say he wouldn't make the team, and no, no, no, no no, no, no, no,

you wouldn't do that. But but but I'm just saying no, I'm just saying from that standpoint, I think when a rookie misses that much training, yea, at the receiver position, I would think there's some effect to that. Yeah, But so that just means if he's not ready, then that's this one package that they don't use that as much. Yeah. Yeah. And now punt return, he's supposed to do that because I know who it's not going to return punts And that's all ll over back there. Hell, he took some

else against them did. I just kept thinking he's at some point you're gonna but even I mean even if he's not ready to go, or if they don't feel comfortable with him for week one, Cole Beasley can do it. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's the least concerning position. Okay, which position are you most concerned? Running back, defensive line, defensive backs? Um,

I will say the defensive line. And there's a lot of question marks there because you got this sense you got guys practicing out here that aren't going to play. You got guys that aren't practicing that are going to play, and Tyrone Crawford. So it's just it's kind of a you're counting on Tapper. That's dicey. You know. You got these young guys that you want, you know, and then then when someone starts to play, well, I'll Stephen Pie doing well, then he's got a knee kind of flares up.

You got Cedric Thorton in there, then he's there has been no consistency there and no players that you can just kind of count on a go he'll be there, wait till he comes back. You don't give Lawrence that kind of no for now, No, no, no, because Lawrence is a solid player, but they drafted him and they need him to be a really good player and he hasn't shown that. Collins Leik, Yeah, I think he's the

one that you're the most excited about. But he's plays defensive tackle and he's gonna if he'll be a beast if he gets five sacks. And you know what you're saying is that's not enough. Yeah, from a standpoint amount of pressure, you really there's just so many question marks there. You don't know where it's going to come from. Yeah, there are very very few guys and some you just mentioned that you can kind of count on it and that are good. But aside from that, I mean, you

don't really have anyone. And it's kind of concerning, well pretty concerning compared to you. How they were last year. They were not They weren't great, So it's not much better at all this year. Have you ever seen a good defense that didn't have a great player, just a good defense, a great defense. Defense of this team has a great player, Shaun Lee, good point. They were I mean they were good last year. They had one great player. They were good. They weren't great, they were good, So

that would be my rebuttal. Yeah, but shell Lee, I mean that's about it. Really, You're no argument here. I'm just other than that. Right, But he's a great player, but he's not a difference maker, not really well. Linebacker, even more so than running back. Linebackers, even the best linebackers, the best linebackers that have ever played the game. Let's say you know, from from the eighties on and you name the great linebackers, most of them had a great

and like a pro bowled somebody up front. It's but if we still go if we still go back to the argument I made a few weeks ago, that doesn't you don't have to have a great defense in order to have success as a as a team, like you don't even Super Bowl success. I mean you mentioned the New Orleans Saints that they have a great player on that defense. That defense was an opportunitist, opportunistic defense, and the offense was putting up a ton of points and

so it created good scenarios for the defense. Right, So I don't think you have to have of a great defense, and maybe not even a really good defense. Maybe just an average defense is okay if your offense is good enough.

We got that we got average, And that's why my answer would actually be running back, because as I've established with Nick, I great on a curve, Like I'm not worried about the defensive line or the secondary because like I'm not expecting that much from Like they're gonna be what they are, and honestly, considering what I thought they had when we got here, I'm actually encouraged because I've seen some stuff from Taco that makes me think he could come on. I've seen Demontre Moore has been a

pleasant surprise. Uh, Stephen Paia has been a pleasant surprise. Collins looks like the beast that we thought he was. Coming over to my side. I'm well, Camp, we've kind of I'm not you're kind of moving on over to my side. It's happening, it's inevitable. I'm not telling you that they're gonna get sixty sacks. They're probably the middle

of the pack. There you go. But running back concerns me because five days ago we had argue he had the best backfield here in the league between how good Zeke is and then the depth and now you're just like, man, I hope this old folks home can handle the load. While we figure this zek stuff out. I mean, and I actually think they'll be fine. But you downgraded from

a Ferrari to a Mazda or not a Masda. You're still getting to your destination down You downgraded from a Ferrari to like an Accura, which is like Accuras are fine, but it's not a Ferrari. It's you might get there, but it's not fun. It's not as it's not as fun. Yeah, So, I I mean, you went from arguably the best running back maybe top three for sure, to like, these guys will get it done. It's just kind of yeah, yeah, it's concerning, but I think they'll be okay. All right,

let's let's move on to the next question. Which player has exceeded expectations most. Jalen Smith Rico gathers Bryce Butler. Now, this is always this is graded on the curve of coming into camp, what you expect to them, and I'll even go back to at the last season what you thought of them, to what you think of them now

after four weeks in training camp. Jalen Smith Rico gathers Bryce Butler, who has exceeded expectations more of those three players, I'm gonna say Rico because he has not played this. You know, he has not practiced football until last year. He doesn't really know how to do hardly anything. I mean, he's still talking about catching football and where where you

high point the ball and all that stuff. So I think when you watch him play now, he's starting to really look like a player that I'm not saying he can contribute right now, but he looks the part for sure, and I think he's come, you know, the furthest. Before you guys answer, I also want to say something about what you just said about how he catches the ball.

If you watch how he catches the ball, he catches the ball actually more naturally then some of the guys out here who have been doing it for a much longer period of time. It's rare you see a ball get to his body. Most of the time he puts his hands out and he's plucking the ball out of the air, which which is pretty remarkable for god that

hasn't played football. Unless you think about it from a standpoint of basketball and what you do in basketball, you always yea, he's got an instinct to go and use the body, and he knows how to do that and use leverage and all that. So, uh, it's not like he's been sitting on his count since he was thirteen years old and he's been doing things. Obviously, he's been

at the gym a couple of times, but two or three. Yeah, but I just think that he, uh, he's come a long way and he's still got a long ways to go. Amber I wouldn't. I mean, I'm not gonna choose Rico just because before we got to training camp, I got to see plenty of him, like his development and how good he's guy in all the progress he's made. So and Jalen Smith I had pretty a pretty good feeling about him. I was feeling pretty good. So I'm gonna

have to go with Bryce Butler. I honestly didn't expect him to do as well as he did this camp, aside from the little setback he had there with the injury, but overall, he he did exceed my expectations for this camp. I'm actually gonna throw a Bryce out too. And I agree with everything Nick said about Rico, but I just think back to the draft when Noah Brown's name got called, it was bye bye, Bryce. It was like, you're expendable,

They're trying and get rid of you. You are going to be gotten rid of because you're inconsistent and blah blah blah. And he just told everybody to shove that narrative. I mean, right now, barring injury, three weeks away from final cuts, he's on the team. I'm they're not cutting him. They trust him. He's been there, he's done that, He's made plays in this offense. He works well with Dak and Kellen Moore's he's on the team and he's been damn good too. And I don't have a lick of

doubt that. If not, I mean not so much Dez because he's so irreplaceable in terms of his skill set. But if Terence were to go down, I think Bryce Butler could do that job just fine. And that's not a knock on what Rico and Jalen have achieved out here, but I think everybody thought that they would both be on the roster when it was all said and done for one reason or what I like what Bryce has done is he you can see the improvement in his game. Yes, he's a tall guy that goes and he can run.

He's always been able to run, but he's been able to get low, get the ball, and really, you know he's he's kind of sacrifices, his body goes down he gets it. He's made catches like that, the tough catches this year that that he hadn't really seen. So he has elevated his game. He looks like a different player. I mean he looks like a complete wide receiver more so than just a really fast guy who occasionally gets open. I'll take it one step further. I don't think it

is just as he's gonna make this team. I think he's gonna make this team, and I think if he continues to play like he has, I think he'll have a role on this team. I think this is a guy that can get you four or five touchdowns this year, and he has that big play of ability. He'll get some big plays for you out of the in this offense if he continues to be as consistent as he's

been out here in training camp yes or day. I heard him talking to someone out here on the field after practice, and I don't know if this has any effect on how well he's performing out here on the field, but I heard him say how he's put the whole DJ thing off to the side and a little he's retired, yeah, temporarily. I don't know. I mean, if you could remember last year, if you follow him on social media and see his stuff, how much he would you know, go out at night

DJ and do this or do that. And now apparently he's more focused on the game rather than outside. Not that there is nothing wrong with that, but maybe just more focused and that has helped him. Yeah, I think that, you know, that's that's a good point for him, you know, for him, and it's glad that he did that. Now, when we went to that concert justin Timberlake, he looked like he was trying to get the DJ get off. He was trying to move him off the stage, but

they were just having DJ talk. But that that happened, happened. These guys, you know that they have so many opportunities, so many doors that open that it's hard and they have more passion, you know, passion. They're passionate about other things. So it's a tough balance. And that's okay as long as you put it in context. Right, that's luck with any of our jobs. We can all have passions that go beyond our jobs. As long as when you're on

your job. That's your passion. Like when you're on your job, you're doing that with passion, right, So I guess it doesn't really matter as much from that standpoint. Let's move on to the next question, which player has not met expectations? I have a couple out throughout there, but I'll let you guys choose, and this one's wide open. If there's anybody else you want to throw and you can, but because of injury Chaz Green, Ryan Switzer, I would put

on that list of guys you could throw in. Who are some other guys that maybe you guys think or do you agree that maybe one of these two guys has not met expectations for you, Dave, let's start with you. I think both of those are fair, and I mentioned this in our Pretty Show meeting. I'm gonna Jordan Lewis, I'm gonna throw him out there, and I'm sorry, Jordan, I'm not trying to dog you. I don't don't again I ranted about it. I'm not blaming you for injury

that happens. And I think they're being smart with him because he can still play a role for this team once he gets healthy. It looks like he'll be back at practice sooner rather than later. He's kind of making strides to get back on the field. But like I said, when we got out here, I pulled as many people as possible back at the Star after the draft, and he was the runaway winner in terms of the guy

people were most excited to see. He was a first round caliber talent that they got in the third round. The off field incident came up clear, so he's good to go, and we just haven't gotten a chance to really see him at all. He's fielded a few punts in practice and that's really it. So, you know, I think he was a guy that a lot of people

were excited to see and still are. I mean training you know, we're going home, but training camp still has three weeks left, and I just, you know, I thought he would push for playing time and we just haven't gotten a chance to see it yet. And that's I mean, it's disappointing. It's not his fault, but it is what it is. Yeah, I did my rant yesterday on Topper,

so I'm not gonna talking. I really expressed myself on that subject, but I'm just gonna go with the whole rookie grew that is injured, and like you said, Dave, it's not their fault. Really, you can't really say, oh, he didn't meet my expectations because of an injury he

just had. And although none of those injuries are major, it's still something that it's disappointing to see happening, just because this is a crucial time for all these rookies to come out here and kind of learn about the speed of this game and developed their talent and play with the other veterian guys, and we just haven't really seen much of that. And I think it's although they still have time to do all that, it's still going to affect their game definitely. I mean, practice matters, is

what Jason Garrett says. I think I think I'm gonna go with a different, different guy on that list. Uh. And this is because of my own expectations. I kind of set them higher, and I thought he might take a bigger step than he has, and that's Jeff Heath. I thought that that Heath would would show out a little bit more. Uh. It's not to say that he's he's taking a big step back. I just kind of expected that maybe he would he would really turn the corner and show show out more. It's only been a

couple of games. I don't think he played that well in that first game, but you know that they were they were throwing the ball up and down the field on him. Uh, he could have grabbed that fumble, you know, from mid air. That's a tough play to play, a tough play to make. He didn't make that, But I just I just kind of thought he would be in a point where they really wouldn't be rotating. Now, with Xavier Woods and Cavan kind of playing the way they are,

I think you'll see more rotation there. So you know, it's still early, but I thought Jeff Heath might take it, take the ball and run with it a little bit more than he has. Here's how the coming from Twitter covering Dad. Uh, Jeff Heath seems to be more of a coverage guy and Xavier Woods more of the right kind of safety guy. What do you think on that? Well, I mean, there's been a couple a couple of games with with with Xavier Woods, he's obviously got good instincts.

Let's see, you know, he's playing, he's he's playing in the second half of these games. He hasn't faced a great competition, but that's not his fault. But you know, he finds himself around the football a lot. So I think that you know, you'll see that a little bit more. But but they'll play both. I mean that's the thing. I think they'll both go out there and they'll play and Frasier will get involved too. All Right, So tell me who is the who's been the best rookie so

far in camp? And I'll give you a list of the guys. Cheetah bay A, Woozier, Taco Charlton, Noah Brown, Mark west White, and Xavier Woods. Which has been the best rookie of camp in these four weeks? We kind of talked about this yesterday, Well camp or preseason or I mean, well, I'm thinking in the last four weeks, Rush should be in there. If it's games in the last four weeks, you could certainly put Coopers. I think Cooper should be in the group there in the last

four weeks. Who's been the best rookie? Chittabay had the best start. I said that yesterday, but I mean he's kind of faded. Injuries play a role in that. Um, I think the most consistently the best consistent camp of everybody just from beginning to end showing up doing stuff. It is probably Noah Brown. Taco deserves a mention too, but he's he's had his bad days, he's had his good days, and you know, people have been down on

him and up and everything. I think for a seventh round pick, who's got who's looking on the outside of the wide receiver position. I think Noah Brown has been really really good. Yeah, and they they've all had their moments, other than Jordan Lewis who just hasn't been out here, but they've all had their moments where they they've been

the most surprising or the best. You know, Taco had some great moments in the game, and you know Switzer's he had the whole off season where he was great, U Cheeto did did well, and Marquez White, you know, had for a moment he had he was kind of going Cooper Rush the same way. So they've all kind of had their moments of it. I'm gonna pick Tacco because I think Taco is the guy that's kind of he's he's played the more, the most he's been there, and I think, you know, I think he's the lights

starting to come on for him. If there's one guy that I mean basically everybody were mentioning other than Brown has been had, has been hurt, or is dealing with something or whatever. If there's one guy that's gonna be available every day, it's nice that it's Taco, Like he's

had the fewest amount of setbacks. That's exactly where I was going to go with it, is Taco has been the guy that's been In my opinion, you look at what you want from a rookie and training camp, which is wherever you start, be better by the time you finish the four weeks, and I think there's been clear progress for Taco from the beginning to where he is now. And if he keeps on that trajectory, I think he

continues to grow. He'll be an asset for the Cowboys this season, and then beyond should be more than that. He should be a really good player for him if he continues again to grow the way that he's grown over these four weeks, Amber I would have go with Rush. I mean, just although we not many eyes have been on him during training camp, during practices and all that, when he has played, he has played very well. So that's something that to me at least was very unexpected.

I did not expect him to play the way he did and has played so far. And I don't know. I'm hoping he can kind of beat out Kellen Moore somehow, somehow, But we'll see, we'll see what happened. Uh hopefully. I don't know this coach is no one more than I do, but we'll see. All right, let's real quick about Cooper Rush. The last preseason game, you start him, start to finish, Yeah, I think. I mean we've seen that before out of a guy like Stephen McGee when they were trying to

figure out that they keep three or two. And this is the time. I mean, I don't think Kellen Moore is gonna have to show you anything else at that point. He's not going to get to play with a lot of guys. I want Cooper Rush to start the game, run out of the tunnel, coin flip everything, be the guy. We'll see what happens. It's your, it's your. Rico gathers theory like I don't, don't try to stash him, figure

out if he's worth keeping or not. And by the time that game's over, you should know if he merits a Russ and this is a pretty decent for fifth preseason game or final preseason game. This will be a good atmosphere for him because you're going into a place where they hate you. I'm gonna say it don't matter, Cowboy, it don't matter, and it matters to theaters. Even if it's preseason, that matters. So it'll it'll be a good It'll be a good atmosphere for him to go in there.

I know it's a good three games to go, but I think I think that's what they should be looking at for a good point. All right, let's take our final break. We're gonna come back. We've got to talk a little bit about our next upper upcoming Deep Blue. Nick's gonna talk a little bit about that. He's been involved in that project. It's called Let It Ride. We'll talk about that when we come right back. This is

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Go to our website at get Jack Black dot com and check out all of our game changing products, including Beard Lube, our award winning shave cream, and Deep Dive Glacolic facial cleanser, a Men's Health Award winner. Again, that's get Jack Black dot com. Nothing complicated, nothing cosmetic, just superior skincare. Back to the Lunch Break Welcome back. It is the final segment of the break Glide from Ox and Art California, it's our final final show from out

here in Ox and Art. We head back to Frisco here soon. We'll be heading out tomorrow, but the team will be heading out on Friday and back in Dallas for game Saturday. Everybody Phili a quitter for doing that, for leaving a little barer. No, not at all. It's been four weeks and it's time to get back to get back. We got here before them, and I can eat Jimmy John's on Friday and not feel guilty about

it or excuse me, Jersey Mikes. No nothing. I thought that would register with y'all because they have the Jersey Mike's on the plane and they don't like it when we eat them. No, yeah, that fel fly. I'm I'm excited about it. Okay, Yeah, I'm gonna go get Jersey Mikes Friday and it's gonna be great. So whatever, Okay, Dave, Thanks, Dave, appreciate it. Dave. All right, let's you know we need to talk about though. We do need to talk about

our next upcoming Deep Blue. If you didn't catch the one that we put out last week called Doomsday two, you can go to Dallas Cowboys dot com Forward Slash Deep Blue, or you can go on to our new Cowboys Now app on connected TV devices where you can watch that documentary. But the one that's come up this week, you'll be able to watch that one as well. We'll have a live premier Saturday where we're gonna basically play

it everywhere. It'll be live on Facebook, be live on Periscope, on YouTube, on Dallas Cowboys dot Com, on Cowboys Mobile, and then again on Cowboys Now are connected TV devices on connected TV devices. Nick, you've been a part of that project. It's called Let It Ride. It's the story of Leon Let talked to us a little bit about that story and some of the more interesting things that maybe you came across as you were putting it together. Well, I've been very grateful to be able to do it,

and it's a remarkable story and for him. The one thing that that and I'll try not to go to too long on this, but the one thing that's so fascinating for me was that when when you talk about players that grow up in uh, you know, rural towns, and he didn't have a lot of money. He was in Alabama and it didn't have great grades. He dealt with tragedy. Uh. Then he went to some small couple of small colleges to get to the NFL from a set. You know, there's a seventh round pick. They get to

the NFL, that would be your biggest triumph. That's for most people out here, their biggest triumph is to get here and wear the start and be there. For leon Let, he had to deal with bigger obstacles than that once he got here. Some of them and some of those things he did on his own. I mean, he had a couple of those gaps that we know, the ninety two game, the ninety three game, those two embarrassing moments.

He had a hard time with off the field issues he had, uh, whether it be drugs, he had injuries, but mainly him. He was suspended three different times. Yet every time he kept battling back. It's very easy to drop the rope, and he never did. He kept going every single time. And so um that I think is the most remarkable thing, the fact that he is now

a football coach. When you think about being in in school, you always had these guys that you looked around that weren't very good in class and they didn't show up. They barely did they. They didn't. They didn't know anything. You just wonder what are you gonna do with your life? And if they turned and say, well, I'm probably going to be a teacher, I mean, you can't even be a student, and now you're a teacher. And that's what Leon Lett has done. He was a very tough student

and now he's teaching these guys. It's a it's an amazing story, it really is, and so um, you know, let it Ride. We came up with the title because the two moments everyone knows, or those two plays on the field, but he has had two life changing moments. They both happened in a car and you know, he and he he had to basically drive his father to the hospital when he's fifteen years old, didn't know how

to drive. His dad is having a heart attack and he's helping him drive at the same time, like you know, hold it in the road, do this, do that, and he's goes to there and gets there in time for him to take the you know, oxygen masks off and said be strong for the family, Leon and he dies, you know, and so he had to he had to grow up right then, at fifteen years old, and then fifteen years after that incident, with the Thanksgiving Day game

against the Dolphins, he was still dealing with it. He had to get in the car drive and say, you know what, I'm never letting this affect me ever again. This is stupid. I'm not gonna it's not gonna bother me. It's not gonna affect my life. Came back around boom. He decides I'm gonna go back to school, I'm gonna I'm gonna get graduate, I'm gonna become a coach. And now's with the Dallas Cowboys. Some pre remarkable story, really

pretter remarkable story. And again this Saturday, I think it's at four pm, Yeah, four pm Central time, we will be running Let It Ride. That will be again, it will be everywhere. We'll have it on Facebook, on YouTube, on Periscope, Dallas Cowboys, dotrim Cowboys Mobile. Friday, we'll have a Facebook live interview with Leon himself and then Nick, Nick, you're going to do the interview, correct, right? Yeah, So we'll do a Facebook live on Friday, and hey, we're everywhere.

We'll talk to We'll talk to Leon and he'll he'll kind of give a little bit of perspective on the on the documentary and on his story again for you guys to get ready for that document it's coming out this uh this Saturday. I drove to Omaha this summer to watch LSU's Ill Faded World Series bid and I guess it's in which aitar emporious state in which, yeah,

it's it's in Kansas. I drove past it and I just it would I mean to ninety nine percent of people would mean Jack, like, what the hell's emporious state? But I was just like, yeah, good for you, dude. This is where you were and you made it to the NFL. That's pretty cool. It's a little small school, right. Yeah. One of my favorite interviews was from going down to Miami to talk to Jimmy Johnson. I thought that that

was that was great. You know, he gave us a lot of insight on his career and kind of what happened with that Thanksgiving Day game and some some things I didn't really realize. Did you make it out to the boat. Now, we didn't go out to the boat, but we went to his restaurant, Jimmy Johnson's Big Chill, Big Chill. That's what it's good food. It was good food. Yeah, And he said, hey, get what you want and it's on me. Guess when you're the owner, you can just

you can do that whatever you want. That's what that's what he does. You know. You see these documentaries and stuff with the Johnson and that's what he'll do. You say, yeah, I'll talk to anybody. You come down here, set up right here at the restaurant and we'll do it. Yeah, that's what anybody living the dream more than him think so.

The coaching legend, his his coaching record is impeccable. He shows up on Sundays, he does work like two days a week during football season, talking about football right and having his opinion respected across the country by football fans. And then the rest of the time he just chills in South Florida. Like what a beast. You think he gets in the Hall of Fame. I don't know the Hall of Fame, Ring of honor, hall of fame. Give me both, Like, what do you you think he gets

in the Ring of honor? You think he gets in the Hall of Fame. I think he gets in the Ring of Honor. I don't know about the Hall of Fame, although I would it's I would the same argument that you make for Terrell Davis, I think you could make for Jimmy Like it's a brief career. But I mean, how do you tell the story of the NFL without the nineties Cowboys? Right? And who built the night who

helped build the nineties? Because you know what's I think there are a lot of people that will probably say that Tom Coughlin is a guy that belongs in the Hall of Fame at some point there will at least be an argument made for that. And he will have two Super Bowl trophies, right, And yes, he coached for a much long period of time, he did it with two different teams. Now he's back with that that first team, and and took that first team pretty far. I mean

they got to a championship game. Um, so there's there's a little bit to that. But I do think that at the end of the day, you still do judge coaches a lot of times on championships, and his ability to win two championships, even if it was in a short period of time, to me, matters, yeahn't it Isn't it just hard for coaches though, I mean, like other than the Landry's and then I mean, like I guess, I guess I knew this, but LT when he was

in trying. Marty Schottenheimer's not in the Hall of Fame, and I think, like, probably not gonna make it in the Hall of Fame, which seems crazy, But didn't the coach from the Buffalo Bills that lost four times in the Super Bowl? Isn't isn't he in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? I mean, if he can get in with four losses, I would think two women John right, I would think with two wins that should be enough. And like you say, like, can you tell the story

of the NFL without this person? And I think, not only was he a great coach even for a short period, it's time that won two championships. His personality is big enough because that's a part of You can't tell me it's not a part of it. That's a part of it. Was how about them Cowboys a thing? Before Jimmy Johnson, I don't know was it. I don't think anybody was screaming it until Jimmy Johnson. Yeah, I think I mean Ring of Honor, yes, hall of Fame, sure, Yeah, I

think so. I think there's definitely a case to be made there. They don't ask me, but they don't they don't ask any Maybe in ten us from now, there's one per committee of one. Yeah, yep, all right, let's let's get some questions. We got a couple more minutes here. We got about seven minutes left on the show. You can call us nine seven two four nine seven forty four hundred is the number. Let's see if we've got a question on Twitter, what do we have Amber? Do

you see Rod calling more blitz with this personal on defense? Um? Not really, you hope not, because I mean blitz is typically or for teams that can't get you know, generate their own pass rush. So but probably he'll have to. He'll he'll have to, uh in this case, because I don't think that these whoever they put out there, you know, especially until Irving comes back. If Irving comes back, I think he'll help you with with that. But but yeah, he's gonna probably have to throw some blitz out there.

Stand pretty good at it. They got some corners who can blitz, but I I don't see them. These the linebackers I got, I mean they do, I know they do, but like it's not a staple of this defense, and I think he would prefer not to unless it's desperate. I think Damien Wilson has the traits for a guy that could do that. I agree, you know, what are we gonna miss? What are we gonna miss the most about camping ox Snart? The weather? That was easy, chinks,

that's honestly the only thing. You don't agree. I don't. I don't like the cold. I don't in the mornings and when it's you're only you're the only person out here without sleeves, like eight is not cold. Much from them, and it can Republic exactly. It's like freezing out here. Not at this moment, but yeah, not at this moment. Every morning, I'm not going to miss anything else. I hate the Pacific time zone, sorry West Coasters. I hate eating the same thing and going through the same thirteen

hour routine every day. I hate living in a hotel room. But I sure do like the weather. Yes, the weather is are very very nice, and of course days now runners, so that definitely helps. I'm dreading my first run in Texas. It's gonna be very bad. We'll be hard, Okay, next question answer, I don't know. Moving on, Moving on this is a question. Huh, Jordan Lewis make the fifty three of ving though he hasn't shown he hasn't been active. There's no way he doesn't. Yeah, underdraft pay, there's no

way he doesn't make the same. He may not be active, Um very often. I mean he spend some time on the baseball brigade. Yeah, I don't think I think he'll be an active first week. Sure, he asked to me. So let's let's finish the show with this final question. UM, giving me an MVP of training camp for you? Um, we kind of do this. This is going to kind of become a bit of a of a tradition that we do at the end of training camp. But give me who has been your MVP of training camp so

far in twenty and seventeen. Well, I'll start it, and I'm not I don't think it's a really a cop out. I mean, I'm I'm staring at I think the best player that at camp here probably is Zach Martin President. I really think that he has been. I don't think he can't just say that because he's right there in front of you here, he can't hear me, and he's focused us. But he's not the MVP. He's not the MVP. He's just he's a he's a really good player, Dak Prescott is to me, And you know what, that's fine,

that's not a cop out. He has been the most valuable player on it. He come, he's come here every day, He's practiced well. He's had a couple of moments here and there, but this is the time to have those interceptions and all that. But for the most part, I think he's he's shown improvement in this game, and he is the leader. He is the star and he's gonna need to shine even brighter now with with Zeke down. Let me let me change this just about I want

to make sure we're clear. I said MVP. What I'm really talking about, who's been the best player, who's played the best out here. And I don't know if that changed your answer or nothing. Okay, Zach Martin has played the best. He doesn't get beat very much. Even when Malik gives him a goal, gives him a go, That's what I'm saying, gives him a go. That's that's good. Yeah, But he's been he's been here. I agree the MVP. I would agree that it's dak best training camp overall,

like from day one to the end. See, this is why I don't you know this, Like we talked about, I don't grade with the curve. I mean, I just look at Zach Martin d I expect him. Yeah it has he been there yet, but I mean, I know fifty five probably gonna factor into this. That's mine. Yeah, and he should be. He's been good well. Stephen Pie, I think is to me, has been the clear best

player out here because I think it's been consistent. That's the thing about it is up until the point where his knife flared up at the end of last week, which has affected his ability to practice this week, it's pretty much every day in practice I'm seeing him do something. It wasn't like you know, some guys you talked about Chittabey Uh he started off hot and then he kind

of you didn't really hear a lot from him. And there been a lot of guys that kind of at different moments during camp kind of camp and that's perfect and that doesn't mean they're not gonna be a good player for the season, just means it kind of ebbs and flows. I think Stephen Pie has been the most consistently good player out here on the field throughout the entire four weeks. And that's why I would say he's been the best player. I'm gonna I'm just gonna disobey

your rule. Um, it's kind of the same thing as Dak, but Tyron Smith is like, he's so good when he's on it's I mean, you just get he just was gonna pick he and that's all I think. And we argued about this on like day one. I think he's pound for pound the best player on the team, and the one time we're like, we're like, oh my god, DeMarcus beat him inside. That's not like him. And then the next day he sits out because his back hurts, and now they're managing him. He hasn't been practicing. He's

looked good these last two days. If he if he can't go, I think even more so than Zeke, it changes the outlook of the entire season. And when he's out there, he's nasty and unbeatable and great. And if he's not out there, it's probably because he's dealing with

his back. Outside of the quarterback, there is no other position on this team where you lose a player, and it more affects this team than Tyren Smith in a way exactly, which is I'm I say he's the MVP in terms of when he has been practicing, he's been great, and when he doesn't practice, you can tell how screwed they would be without of it. The delta between him

and the next guy is huge. It's not good, it's huge. Yeah, And even with his back injury, like you said, even with dealing with that pain, when he has been out there, he's still better than everyone else. So let at seventy five percent, he's better than every defensive lineman on this team and probably most defensive lineman in the league. So you know, he's also I think could could factor in

here is Orlando Scandrick. I think Scandrick has had a pretty good, brilliant Yeah, because we haven't talked a lot about him throughout camp, I don't feel like, well, you know, before camp, we did top twenty questions and I said he would be the MVP of camp, and so I kind of want he has had a he has had a good camp that I talked to him to him the other day about his whole veteran program and he was like, it makes a world of difference that they're

giving me that time off, and I feel awesome. Even this was like two days ago at the tail end of camp. And that's great because he and he, I mean, he's beating Beasley out here on the one on ones. He's gotten a couple of picks. I mean, you know, the deck is stacked against you as a defender in training camp practices anyway, because you can't tackle, and it's geared toward the offense. And maybe not MVP, but I think he's been good. He's got a different position and

a different um. You know, obviously he's got he plays a different position, different type of injury. But look at what Jalen Smith is doing now. The fact that the Scandred got hurt last year. He came back, but he wasn't himself this year year or two of the injury. He's ready to go. That's what the Cowboys are hoping with Jaylen Smith. He's gonna play this week. We talked about it earlier on He's gonna play Saturday. But they're hoping this year, get through the year, get better by

next year. Ready to go. That's a rap for our show. That's a rap for Camp First We'll be back on the air on Monday. We'll tell you what went write and what went wrong for the Cowboys fright when they play the Colts. Till then. For Nick Eatman, Ambergarcia, Dave Hellman, I'm Derek Eagleton. This has been the Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio