Cowboys Break: Full Workload For Zeke?

We are live the SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star at a poppet Star like. Lots of a lot of stuff going on today. Cowboys get their guy back. Diquel Elliott Ezekiel Elliott is in the building, or at least on the practice field today. He did to start preparing himself for this upcoming game, the first game of the season, and with a much much bigger bank account than either of us will ever experience, I assume. But I got my guys here, Nick Dave amberback with us. How's everybody

feeling this morning? I feel great. There is nothing nothing better for the adrenaline system, the old shock start than the six am work group text. Like we talk about how we don't like to hear from you at ten pm. Well, it's interesting hearing from you at five forty five am. Too. Hell of a start to the old day. I mean, we knew it was coming, but and you guys were well prepared. We were as well prepared. You're you're as

well prepared as you can be. But still, you know, wasn't expecting to have my MacBook in my lap with me at five forty five this morning in my bed. Well, let's jump right in. I want to get some opinions from all three of you guys. I want to go

around the table. When you heard about the news that they got the deal done and for the amount of money that they got it done, tell me what your initial reaction was, Nicholas, start with you that Zeke, you know, did exactly what he wanted to do, and he pushed the issue here and he won. You know, not to say that the Cowboys lost. They're still getting a great running back, the best in the league in my opinion. But you know, they they had to come his way.

You know, they said they weren't going to set the market, but they did. And you know, he's a cowboy for life, and he didn't go to training camp, and now he gets to play this first game and he gets fifty million dollars guarantee. I think he's a winner. That's a fun thing though, is did they set the market? It depends on how you want to look at it. It's

a six year extension that sets the market. It's also an eight year contract that puts him very comfortably down in about third place twelve point eight million per year. I think, so, I think both sides get what they want. I'm curious to know. You know, and this will come out over time, but you know how it's structured, the guarantees, how frontloaded and how backload is it backloaded? Is it? How quickly can you get out of this? How much

is voided? If Zeke steps out of line? It matters tremendously. And that's what we I mean a week ago, we were like, it's gonna get done. He'll probably be here for week one. What's it look like? And we know the money. We still don't know that it's an eight year contract for a running back. I mean, are we kidding ourselves? Like, let's be real, Like we're all very excited he's back, but what are the odds he plays to the end of that deal. Is that sorry, but

you're good. No, I'm just happy that one he got what he wanted, but he didn't in a way where he didn't ruin relationships. I mean, you hear Jerry Jones talk about him. You hear Jason Garrett talk about him, and they all speak very highly of him and talk about how much they love him, how much how important

he is to the team. I just I'm really glad that along the way he didn't do it in a nasty way where he comes out here and then people are just negative about it, or you know, every one's happy, everyone's in it, and it's great to see that kind of relationship in chemistry around the team. Are you guys surprised at all that the guarantees were so high? I when I looked at the deal, my initial reaction is, okay, six years, probably a little bit high, but whatever, um

ninety million dollars overall, Okay, whatever. The fifty million dollars guaranteed is the part that that kind of took me aback, just because that is setting the market. That's higher than Girly who had previously. I think he got like forty five, somewhere in that range, but he was significantly well, I should say it just above above what Girly got. Did that all surprise you guys that he got more guaranteed money?

I would say yeah, because that's what we talked about a week ago, is that, you know, the guarantees, the the lack of trust that he's going to be available are really the only issue a week that you have with seek. You know, his on field performance is impeccable, um And I mean that's that's what it took. I guess, and that's why. But I do want to know. I mean, how's that going to hit you three years from now, four years from now, if you do decide to part ways,

or if he declines or whatever might arise. Because if if it's not structured in a way to let you out of it in a few years, then it's a bad deal. In my opinion, I am going to assume that it is well structured. I don't know that off the top of my head right now, but an eight year contract for anybody should give you some pause, especially for the guy that plays the most physical position. The

guarantees have got to be right off the bat. I mean, I don't know any other way that they could structure it. I mean, it's got to be this year's roster's guarantee. They got to have roster bonuses early on. You got to have a signing bonus, you know, right now, which a bulk of it. I mean, you got to do as much as you can within the frame of the of the salary cap. I mean, because I know there was a report that I've got all this money on the cap, but you know, they had a running back

that was making three million a year. I don't know how much he was hitting towards the cap, but now now it's a lot more than that. And so, you know, to make this thing work, like they were saying, it's a lot of it's got to be structured, a lot of it's gonna be guaranteed sooner rather than later. You can't have a thirty year old running back making four

million a year guarantee. Previous experience with deals leads me to believe that this is really like a three or four year deal, you know, not an eight year deal. But I don't know right now, but I'm going to assume that that's the case, and that's that's it. Then that's the cost of doing business. And fifty million guaranteed. I mean, that's that's what Girley got for a four year deal. So really, and let's say let's say he does play out the whole thing, then it becomes a bargain,

assuming we don't have to do this again. It's a bar and I no, no, And actually I was gonna say that that's actually a great point from the standpoint that if you get let's say, six years from now, and he's still producing at a high level, at the same level or similar level to what he's producing right now than you are, because guess what, Yeah, he google be a Hall of Famer. But the point will be, these numbers are just going to keep going up every year.

With every Alvin Kamara will get more, and whoever else comes after him will get more, and these guys will keep getting more and more and more. So you get four or five six years down the road, Zeke will be a little lower down that pecking chart as far as number amount of money. Now, the problem with that is, as we just saw in this instance, he still had two years left on this deal and went back to

the wealth. So what makes you think if that's happening at that point, he's not going to do the exact same thing and say I want a new deal. The oodles and oodles and oodles of history that suggests that running backs hit a pretty sharp decline by the time they're twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, unless you're just so special, yeah, and which he could be. You know, if he's Adrian Peterson, then this deal was a bargain. And if he's not Adrian Peterson, then I would bet

you can get out of this after the time. Is there a report on the signing bonus? Not yet. That's and that's the thing is, you know, it's got to be a very high The agreement comes first, and then the terms and then you know, maybe even a week from now, we'll start to hear because about the specifics

of it all. Because if you think about it, if you get a high signing bonus, it's why you would extend it and make it a six year deal, just so you can, you know, you can kind of cut that up and spread it over the course of six seasons, really eight seasons, you can if you put it in right now. So I would imagine when this numbers come out, I would imagine that the signing bonus is going to be relatively high. That's why you make it stretch it out for so long. All right, So let's get into

expectations for this Sunday. What do you guys expect to see when Sunday comes around and the Cowboys take the field against the New York Giants. How much do you expect to see Zekiel Elliot amber Well? Again, like they keep saying, we just have to see how he responds to these next few practices. But I would like them to throw him in there a little bit. I think this is the perfect game to do that. Where you're going up against the Giants, you don't really have to worry.

I know we'll get into the Giants defense and all that, but you don't really have to worry about getting a guy like Zeke in there. You got other guys that can do that, Tony Polar So this is the perfect game. Too easy him in. We've mentioned smilar things with Byron Jones. I don't know if he'll he'll be playing or not, but just throw him in there a little bit and get him a good feel for it. He's he can

definitely handle the Giants with no problem. I'm starting to get nervous at the way, and I include myself in that, like a lot of writing off of the Giants going on from that from the outsider's perspective, not the team, but us. Use. Those are always bad situations when it just everything says one thing. In the NFL, especially at the beginning of the season, it just it works me. There's no way, there's no way it can be the other way. I mean, it shouldn't be seen, it should

not be I've seen crazier things happen. I would expect him to be out there for the first snap of the game. I don't. I mean it's dumb, but I think that matters. I mean, you just gave him this money, Like half the crowd's gonna be wearing twenty one jerseys and chanting Zeke and all that stuff, and get the first carry of the season. But like he'll be on

some kind of pitch count. I would think, like no more than thirty snaps, you know, if they play sixty five seventy snaps in a game, like maybe half of it. I agree, I think that he'll start. I think Tony Poller will will play more than what Rod Smith did and I think that they'll have a little bit more of a rotation there. But I don't think that you're really gonna see a big difference this week because I think we signed him. We made this big fuss. You know,

everybody's talking about it. Let's put him out there, and it'll also determine on how he's how he's playing in the game. But like I said yesterday, you know, the freak back factor has to to you know, weigh in here and we're gonna find out. We're gonna find out if this guy can come in from Cabo on Tuesday and play and be effective on Sunday. I would be I would be surprised if he gets more than like a dozen or so carries. Though a dozen, yeah, I

mean I don't. I just I don't think you want to put thirty carries on a guy who just came back from Cabo. It's a big difference, though, I mean between twelve and thirty. Yeah, I mean, I don thirties a lot, but twelve. I think if you have a good first half, you can get you can get more than twelve. I would be surprised if he gets more than twelve. Let's put it that way, right, he doesn't

have to get all carries. He can still be out there just moving, say, I mean thirty snaps and you assume he's not going to get a touch on every single snap, so probably somewhere around twelve to fifteen carries. Yeah, putn't pick up that blitz. Yeah right, that's that's a big part of it, because you know, other than that, like you don't have a lot of experience back there running backs. So having a guy that you know can pick up the blitz probably is a good thing and

you don't lose learning how to do that. If he knows how to pick up the blitz, he should know how to pick up the blitz, right, he's been a practice or not. It'll be fun to see how they play this, because like they're not just gonna throw them out there for the first half and then they're like, whoa, you hit your count and it's the fourth quarter, you know, like the Giants are down three, but they're like, well, he got his thirty snaps, Like we're not putting them

out there. Like, so they're gonna have to be judicious about this, assuming they don't feel comfortable just giving him everything, like you know, we We've joked for years about like, well, Alfred Morris gets the third possession of the game, doesn't no matter what, no matter what, if he's humming or not. So I would guess there's gonna be some mixing and matching. Hopefully it's not too frustrating to watch. Yeah, I went

back and put some numbers to it. Yesterday we talked about how Zeke has started the season these last three years. Check this out. In the first three years, first two games of the season, his averages three point seven yards per carry, and he has about sixty six yards per game. Third game and beyond four point eight yards per carry and one hundred and eight yards per game. It's a little over a yard per carry more and about forty

four yards per game more. He's not been a guy that traditionally has had a great start, so I think we should just kind of pull it down just a little bit. He'll be back, that's the great part about it.

See what happens. I also want to see how much adding in a different kind of back that they can kind of mix in with him helps that a little bit, because you know that I think they'll probably have a little bit more excitement at the backup running back position than they've probably had in quite a while, and maybe that helps with getting you know, defenses a little bit

off kilter a little bit. But we'll see. It would be fun in a I mean, just imagine, like Zeke has a very solid but pedestrian like twelve carries for fifty yards, maybe even a touchdown, but like Tony Pollard averages, you know, he has like a seventy five yard run or something. You know, but just that actually create a

hell of a conversation on the morning talk shows. Tony Pollard actually may be able to make this deal actually make a ton of sense, if that makes some sense, because if you have a running back that actually really can legitimately give Zeke time off the field for him to not have to have the number of touches and carries that he's had in previous years, you may actually be able to see a good part of this six

year deal. This eight years that they have him on the contract, you might be able to see him get through most of that because you're not working him at the same pace as you worked him those first three years. So it'll be important for Tony Pollard or somebody to be able to be a good spell type back, somebody that can come in and give you some good production so that Zeke doesn't have to carry that full low. And I don't think though, I mean we're talking about

other backs. I mean they have to make a move here for when Zeke officially goes on the roster, So it would make sense that one of these running backs would not be here. Explain to me where they are right now? Is what is the deal? Because obviously he's back, but is he on the roster the way it hasn't been another move? No way I understand it. I mean, in these situations, you're usually granted an exemption by the NFL. He can be here without you having to make a move.

I mean you get basically get here. You get the three days to evaluate him without having to kick somebody off your team. And if he plays, which he will, then they have to make a move by a Saturday. Probably so And I mean, if I had to guess right now, would probably be Alfred Morris. Do you think it has to be a running back or do you think in this instance, I know, yesterday you guys are saying maybe you keep that extra running back just so you kind of mix between the three guys. But do

you think it has to be Alfred more? Do you think it's most likely going to be offered more so, Well, it doesn't have to be obviously, but you know they brought Jordan Chun up. Now, maybe they decide to put him back down. But I think he's a special team's guy. I think you're gonna try to fig out of way to get him to the game. We said all along if if Zeke's here, I mean Alfred was only signed when Zeke wasn't here. So I think you know it's

all about and guaranteed. I mean I said during the summer I thought Alfred would be on the team regardless, which maybe not because again the forty six man roster, two running backs that don't play special teams, that's hard to work with. And his salary I believe since he's

on the roster on Tuesday, I believe his salary. Now I was guaranteed for the entire season, Alfred Morris and all veterans, and the likelihoods you could probably keep him around and if you need to resign him back, to resign him back, I would think cutting him on Saturday does not mean he's done with this team by any stretch. If they were really gonna just cut him and say see you later, I mean, would they even let him

change numbers? I mean, would they go through that process like, oh, Le's changed numbers and be like, you're about to be cut anyways. Oh what do you tell the guy if he's like, I won this jersey number you, Oh, well, we're gonna cut you. And you're sure about that? Are you sure you want to change? I don't know if I can't do that because we've got Scandrick. You know, we're going to retire as a number or something like that. Justice protection, I would probably want to keep Alfred Morris

because I'd probably make him inactive every week. But just having that insurance in the event that if you don't feel great about Pollard being able to be your workhorse back in the events he goes down, then I think that gives you a little bit of insurance. Knowing that Zeke has been out of training camp gives you a little bit insurance just in case something should happen here, you know, in this time when he's having to kind of reacclimate himself to the NFL and to playing football,

all right, let's take our first break. When we come back, we're gonna talk about the Giants offense. I'n't spoke yesterday. Me and Dave talked about it. He's gonna do OFFENSEI today. We'll talk about the Giants offense versus the Cowboys defense. Do that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Well, a player can look good on paper, it's when he's out on the field that you really find out what he's made of. That's why the Cowboys rely on more than just stats and scouting

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s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. We've been talking about Zeke's contract. We're going to talk about the Giants here. Coming up today, We're going to focus in on the Giants offense. Before we do that, Nick though, give me a quick update on injuries. There are a lot of guys that towards the end of training camp were kind of out and getting back into practice. Tell me where we are heading into this first full practice before the

Giants game. As far as injuries are concerned, Well, the main guys that were banged up that all came back last week. I mean the key one I think was Byron Jones. I mean, Byron is a guy that we thought might be limited with a hip injury for this game, and he might be, but he looked like he was okay out there. He was practicing and did some good things there. I think Zack Martin was back, Mary Cooper, Tyrn Smith, DeMarcus Lawrence, Tyron Crawford. I mean they're all.

They all not only did they practice Monday, but seemed to respond well and practice on Wednesday. So we'll find out today on an official injury report. I'm probably missing some guys like a Darien Thompson and all that. Thompson and Wilson are still out. Which Wilson we've found got well. Cedric's on the practice squad now, Damien is gone, Blake already doing some things like Blake and Jarwin. Blake. Darwin and Dalton Schultz are both going Blake out there, Donovan Wilson, Silverthorn,

Darien Thompson. There was a third guy, oh, Luke Gifford, which you know that, yeah, you're not going to see him see him for a while. Andy of you who are healthy, I'm that certain you're good. You were good. I can see him. Yeah, but yeah, I mean Byron, you know, he was doing walk pre practice walkthrough. He was doing practice, Like I don't know what that means. Like I've heard whispers that maybe he's on a snap count too, and you know, don't just give him the

whole workload right away. But early signs are positive. I want to doing active right now, do you I mean he's messing up Derek's whole flow. No, I know it's a Friday thing and it and things will change by them, but it'll be interesting to see. It will be how they do this. It'll be very interesting. Once everybody's back and healthy. And what I mean back is you got Quinn back from I mean from from suspension, and you

got you know, everybody healthy. It'll be interesting to see what they're gonna do because they got a lot of decisions they'll have to make coming back. Stop it all right, let's let's get into the giants. Dave, you're gonna give us your your your assessment of this giant's offense. Walk us through this thing. Yeah, I mean, you know, I always say I like to watch at least like two games of tape when we do this, just so I have some kind of clue. But I'm sorry, I'm not

gonna watch more preseason football. I'm over that. I watched enough with the Cowboys, Plus Daniel Jones did most of it for them anyway, And honestly, as much as I made fun of as much as I made fun of the pick in April, like I'm pumped that it's gonna be Eli Manning, I know what we've got an Eli. I'm he's he's capable of beating you. But you know what you've got. It's like you're annoying and who comes in for holidays? You're like all right, Like I can

handle this for four hours. Uh so, yeah, I feel good about that. I'd much rather play Eli than the young stud I bet you. I bet you. The next time they play this game, Daniel Jones will be the quarterback. A reckless prediction on my part because they play in like October, don't they or November early game since I mean Eli hasn't missed a game since time, Like yeah, like from injury. Yeah, they would likely have to bench. Maybe it's like a you're injured, right, Eli? You hurt

your anxiet in that game, no, No, I'm not. I'm good, but just without looking at it, I mean it's I don't know, I know the NFL turns over a lot, but like, this is just such a different team than it was a year ago. I mean, Odell Beckham's gone, Olivier Vernon's gone, Landon Collins is gone. I know those are defensive guys, but I mean you're you know, your jersey sellers are all gone. Yeah. Um, so it'll be

interesting to see what this looks like. Like we said, everybody's but he's kind of writing him off just because there's not No, that's not true, because Okay, Sterling Shepherd, we know he broke his finger early in the preseason. He's back, he's ready to go. We kind of figured that might be the case. So him and Evin Ingram are your main receiving threats and then you and I shouldn't need to say much more else than that. Honestly, throw out the part that Golden Tate was signed and

he's suspended. Yeah, I don't have to worry about him until no, when you play. No, I mean, honestly, Okay, Sterling Shepherd's a really good player. But Benny Fowler, who was with the Rams for forever. I think he was with San Francisco last year. Cody Lattimore Latimer excuse me not Lattimore, UM, big draft pick with the Broncos who never really panned into anything. My guy, Russell Shepherd, the former LSU quarterback who is still collecting a paycheck in

the NFL ten years later. Good for him. Um, But like you know, that's the receivers. That's guys you named, yeah, Sterling Shepherd, Benny Fowler, Cody Lattimer, Russell Shepherd. That your top four then. Evan Ingram is legitimately a dynamic receiving tight end, more of a big, big slot than a tight end. Basically, Um, something to watch. But like that, you know, with what we've seen from the secondary, don't you feel pretty comfortable with that matchup? And Mike A

big dude to the ground. I mean get him to the ground. I mean he's got really strong thighs, legs. I mean he's hard to tackle. You're talking about get to the ground. I thought you're talking about Ingram for a minute. He's like for a tight end, he's actually not that bad. I'm just saying when it comes to playing the Giants, I think that's everybody's key. Tackle that guy well and make sure he doesn't get loose and great, go crazy on. This was a team that last year

gave up forty seven sacks of eli. They were still sixth most in the league. What is their offensive line? Like? Did they upgrade it? Is it pretty much the same as what it was last year? Still there? No, no, Actually, you're gonna get flowers in week two though, yes he's with Washington now. Nate Soldiers still there, Will her Nandez the uh the big draft pick, John Uh. I never Halapio or Halopio? How are you pretty underrated? Underrated center? In my opinion? He was like I hit somebody and

then I mean, okay, Odell Beckham is gone. But Kevin Zeitler. Zeitler, he's their new right guard, a very very good right guard. So like this, you know, the joke the offensive line has been a joke for the Giants for like five years. I don't know. It's not a joke anymore. It's better, it's I would call it good, Okay, it's it's a good offensive line. It's certainly better than it was when they were throwing flowers out there at left tackle. Four

or five years ago. So combine that with say Quon and a quarterback who knows what he's doing even if he's on the decline, Like that's nothing to scoff at. I still think it matches up pretty well with the Cowboys. I mean, we've been talking. This is the most talent they've had on their d line in a decade. You just paid one of your linebackers and the other one was an All Pro last year. Like, step it up, let's go. In my opinion, we're gonna quickly take our

final break. When we come back, I'm gonna ask you guys the question. The last time that we saw this Cowboys team in a regular season or not a regular season, in a game that meant something, they were getting run over by the Los Angeles Rams. Now they face Sae Kwon Barkley. Do you think they're ready for this challenge. We'll talk about that when we come back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Your new apartment's big, such a great deal, Yeah, it's okay, just okay. What's not

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truly me, Brian broad Us. You can trust the official fan travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys, and with us you'll travel like a pro because at Cowboys Travel dot Com to book your travel package today. Back to the Break, Welcome back. It is the final segment of the Break Life in SWBC Mortgage Studios. At the start, we're talking about the Giants offense. Cowboys will take on the Giants sist Sunday three thirty five is a kick time at AT and T Stadium in Arlington. Before the Break, I

was asking you guys. The last time we saw this team on the field, they were playing the Rams, and that wasn't a good day for them from the standpoint of stopping the run. Now you face what is, in my opinion, if not the best in one of the top two to three running backs in the NFL, and say, Quon Barkley, you think they're up for the challenge. How comfortable do you feel that they can handle this challenge a lot better than that game. I don't really know

if the Rams. I mean, I don't understand that Gurley is really good, but the Rams offense is to me what makes that so good? They were so dynamic, they have a really good quarterback, those that down the field, good receiver speed, A lot of things you have to account for it. And I'm not saying that the Giants don't have. Well, they don't have as much as what the Rams did. That was evident by the records and how far they finished and all that stuff. So I do think it's more of a one man show with

the Giants. You can't take those guys for granted, but I think that it's a much different animal when you're facing the Rams and what they've got going on. My main is at our main impression from the Rams game, like how out of character it was, Like, well, we saw it twice at towards the end of last year.

We saw saying with the Cults, right and again, if you're saying that this offensive line is a little bit better and you're facing a really, really talented running back, are you convinced that or do you feel good about the fact that this defensive front can make stops in the running game against a guy like that. I remember saying this last year about the offense. Actually, I was like, you know, my ex dictations start at zero and based on what I've seen, this is why I have confidence

to believe this. That and the other end. The offense proved me wrong and I said that like two weeks into the season. But the body of work from last year, the amount of guys that are back and what they've looked like during the preseason, which is awesome. In all of the looks that were gotten, like my my base expectations like, yeah, they should be good and they should be up to this. Like that's not to say, you know,

se Quon Barkley is going to make some plays. He ran, he ran for one hundred yards in that game in week seventeen, one oh eight with a long of sixty eight, which I don't I have no memory of that whatsoever, but I'm sure it happened. But like they're, they're up

to this, I think, until they proved me wrong. Because again, those the Rams game in the Colts game were such bizarre outliers because they were so strong against the run for most of that season and as opposed to the Rams, like Nick was mentioning, right now, you have a lot less elements to worry about, so you can use your defense differently where you can focus more on stopping him rather than having to deal with all these other aspects. Now. I remember last year we were trying to figure out

whether to buy into the whole defense or not. Right now, I'm completely bought in. I am bought in. I feel really really good about the defense. I feel good about the defensive line. You know, DeMarcus Lawrence. Just looking at him and every time he makes a post, you know, his energy just hypes you up even more. So I feel good. I'm not concerned whatsoever, And that game against the Rams, I forgot about it. I've moved on. I'm focused on now, and I think they're gonna stop the

Giants pretty good. Yeah. One thing to note about sae Quon Barkley. You can stop him a lot during the game, but where he made his money last year was on those big plays. You know that sixty yard or check this out last year twenty plus yard runs. He was a leader in the league with sixteen. The next closest person had eleven. With forty plus yard runs, he had seven, again first in the league. The next closest was four. He made his living off of those big plays. So

you can stop him a lot. What you have to worry about is then you got that one run that happens in his eleventh carry, and now he takes it to the house. Fifty years they'll have our run. We'll have our run. You score a touchdown, you got a touchdown pass to Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, we got even Jason Witton and include him in there. We got a lot of stuff to come back now, and you know ours Jason went and running here forty Okay, not a big run. I'm talking when you're in the red zone

right there, poop, easy touchdown. And that's the part that could help here. And we'll get into that when we talk about the Cowboys offense versus a Giants defense tomorrow. The Cowboys can get their offense rolling and get the kind of lead that takes the running game away from the Giants. Now you have to worry about sake. One still is a pass catcher, but it does change the dynamics of the game a little bit if you can.

If they don't, if they can't just get back there and just try to pound the ball the entire game, He's gonna get them. He will. That's just football, especially at the NFL level. But like I think you can mitigate that with all of the other fat factors that you have working in your favor. Home field advantage being one of them. You know, we talk teams. A lot of teams travel really well to A and T at

and t. The Giants are never one of them. You know, like you never, you know, like a lot you'll see you know, you'll see a lot of red in the stands. Sometimes Eagles travel really well for division games a lot of times. Never the Giants. It's always a super pro Cowboy crowd season opener, and I think the Cowboys are just better. Yeah, And you know, you said, you said red zone and easy in the same sentence, like easy,

that's the hope, that's the hope. And you know, and I do think that when you when you talk about how you know this year going to be better in a lot of ways, we'll see if Kellen Moore has been working on it, he's got to be working on the red zone stuff all year long. I think your center is going to be better, which is recognizing different things. Your quarterbacks should be better for, you know, just being a year older in this system. And then Jason Whitnett

tied end. So I think that those are three really good reasons why, maybe four good reasons why the red zones should be better this year. I don't I mean, I know Jerry Jones was in New York this morning at the Stock Exchange, so I know this didn't happen, but I like to imagine he stopped by Garrett's office with Zeke's contract and like threw it on the desk

and was like, here you go, no more excuses. And then Jason Garrett picked up that contract and walked down in the hall to Callen Moore's office and threw it on the desk and say here you go. No more excuses because there aren't anymore. All right, Let's get to this No agree? I agree? Yeah, all right, so let's get to this question I have about the offense. If you look at obviously we know sae Quon Barkley is the most important cog in that will but what would

be the next best, biggest offensive threat they have. Would it be Sterling Shepard or would it be Evan Ingram? I think the Ingram, especially when you look at the matchups, think about the matchups and do they be playing against? Yeah, I just I just feel like, you know, even the really good defenses that the Cowboys have had in the last few years, I don't think they're good as this one. But you've seen that the tight end has has been

able to kind of hurt him a little bit. So he would be a guy that I think that you know, he could move the change even before you know it, he's thirty yards down the field. And so he would be the one that I think that he would be more worried about as somebody who's owned him in Fantasy twice. He never he's never on the field, like he gets

hurt a lot. All I mean, it's week one. Though, if there's a week where he's gonna be available, it's this one that's interesting because Brian wrote about this I encourage you to read on the site. He picked Ingram as one of the Giants three guys to watch, and Cowboys have struggled with tight end. But also they've had their moments. I mean, Jeff Heath for all the stats, Jeff Heath played arts really well when it mattered last year.

I wonder if they will let he do that again on Sunday handle Ingram rather than maybe try to put a dB on him or what have you. I think, yeah, it's probably Ingram. These cornerbacks have just had such a good camp. I would like to think that. And Sterling Shepherd is good. He got an extension in the off season two. But yeah, Ingram is the bigger X factor because I trust the people that might be covering him less. I agree with that, and I think you can stop

him most of the time. But he's a guy that will sneak in there and make a few plays that you didn't expect. So I would am I fully worry about him, No, but he would be another guy aside from it is it? Did you just say those two guys are You're just saying, anybody, if you got another guy, throw him in there. Well, I think the Hall of Fame quarterback, like he's going to the Hall of Fame. He's won two Super Bowls. He doesn't get sacked a lot, and there's a reason for that because he couldn't take

a bunch of hits. He gets the ball out pretty quick. So if those receivers, if if Shepherd and Ingram, if those guys can get open quick or maybe Barkley. I mean, he relies on that because I do think the defensive line is going to be in his face all day long. But the thing about Eli has always been where he's crafty. He knows how to kind of get away from stuff, maneuver in the pocket and get the ball out. And if he's moving the chains. I mean, there's a reason

why he's still the starting quarterback. I mean, you know, they could have made the move to Daniel Jones if they really wanted to. He's I think they still feel like he's better right now. Rope. But I mean so, I mean the Giants swept them in sixteen. It's really more about their defense frustrating the Dallas offense than anything. I mean, they won one of those games ten to seven and the other one twenty to nineteen, and they don't have two of their best defensive players that they

had last year. That's the part that's that that should worry them a little bit. I would think, I know that he has done it during his career, but in the time that I have covered the Cowboys, I have yet to see Eli Manning out duel them, you know, just zip them downfield and all that good type. I have not seen that well, right, And you're what you're saying is is the defense that he's relied on a good defense. He just doesn't make mistakes all the time.

I mean, he's I'm trying to go through. I'm just saying, like, if it gets in a situation and all of a sudden the game is close or whatever, which I don't think it should be, but if it is, you know, he's a guy that can get the ball down the field, and he can he can move him down the field. He's done this a thousand times. No absolutely, I'm just saying, you know, and they you know, last year they went back and forth and it was this high scoring affair.

The Cowboys won. I just what twenty twelve when Dez missed the touchdown? Was that twenty twelve when he missed it by like the tip of his finger. That was probably the last time that ELI like outscored the Cowboys, right, I mean every other time it's kind of been this defensive. I can't remember what year it was. Miles lost it in the lights stadium. Yeah, that was a pretty bad loss. It's funny like in I started in thirteen and the Giants were the season opener, then of course they were.

It's every three out of eight, six out of eight years. This will be six out in the least eight years they've started. In twenty thirteen, it was like, can they finally beat the Giants? Are they gonna get over the hump? Finally beat Big Blue? And like, in the time I've been here, they always they always beat the Giants. I mean they got swept in sixteen, but every other year

it really hasn't been that much of a problem. Yeah, real quick, before we end the show, I have a couple of questions from a Twitter I wanted to hit bass Reeves asked the question how much does Goff's new deal affect Dak and Jake also followed that up with with with a Zeke contract now finally wrapped up, who do you expect to hear something about more next? Would it be Dak or mar? So let's talk a little

bit about those other contracts that are out there. How much does the Golf deal affect what they're doing with Dak or what they want to do with that effects a lot, actually, I mean, because he's just another player that's that's in that mix of you know, in the

range of thirty. The one thing I have heard about the Golf deal Golf and Wentz and guys that already had this is like a contract extension is guaranteed money is playing a big factor there because they're taking the overall I don't know what what Golf's overall number is. I believe it's like eight hundred it's over one hundred million maybe, but it's one hundred and four guarantee guaranteed.

But the thing about the full number you already had about twenty four to twenty five and the first part of it, so because it's still the last couple of years the number one deal, so it's really about eighty million news. So I think what Dak's camp is trying to get into the one hundred and four. But the thing is is that they're starting at zero because he

didn't really have any money guaranteed to start with. So that's kind of one of the hang ups that I've heard about the Wins and Golf deal is that these guys are getting you know, they're not really dealing with new money, They're dealing with the overall thing. Yeah, I mean typically and talking about following contracts like that's the way it kind of goes, is like one deal gets done and then the next one and you're like, all right,

we can sandwich you somewhere in there. The thing that makes me wonder is, we know Dak's not going to get forty, but if it's true that he's gunning for thirty five or thirty six, then his representation might not care about the golf deal. You hope they do when ideally the negotiation brings it down into that range. But if that was the case, part of me thinks they would have had this done by now, Like if it was that easy as being like, all right, well this

is where we slot in, then it would be done. Well. Maybe it also might be that the golf deal. They were kind of wanting to see where that would it was. Was WinCE an outlier or was it kind of consistent. It seems like the Winz deal and the Golf deal seemed to be pretty parallel. They're pretty close. Would you make me think Dak should probably be somewhere in that

range of around thirty two. You would be a great person to ask when did Romo sign his not the one hundred million one in thirteen, but when did he sign the one in like oh seven? I think it was the bye week of like Week six, or was during the regular season. It's the bye week, I believe in mid October. I think I think you could see I think it'll be DAK. I really like, I don't think Amari cares, and I think he wants not right now, and I yeah, and obviously he cares, but like not

like today today. Today he's making fourteen this year. He's good, and I think he wants to see what Julio Jones gets for the same reason that's Jared Goff. I wouldn't be surprised to see Dak sign anywhere between tomorrow and at some point during the season. Wow, I mean not like I'm not saying you don't think the point is you don't think he gets to the off season, it actually gets to play with a Cowboys. I'm not saying

I'm hearing whispers. That's not I know, but that's like when when they called to say they're going to come, some repairman's gonna come and we'll be there between eight am and next Friday. You know, you're like, like, can I get a smaller window than that? Said tomorrow or the end of the season. I woke up yesterday morning to news that Lyle Collins had signed, and like nobody in the world had said anything. So what I mean is I'm ready for anything. I think Dack will get signed.

I would be surprised if it gets to the point where it's like, you know, franchise tag time that I mean that, Yeah, I would just be surprised by that. Like, there's got to be a way you can come to a compromise, especially if he's willing to negotiate during the season. Stephen Jones said that they have not heard any talks

about tabling it, and you have precedent. The last quarterback who rose from making no money to making a lot of money, did it so sometime between tomorrow and all right, guys, appreciate you joined this back tomorrow at eleven forty five a m. Till then for Nick Even, Dave Helm and Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Eagleton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.