Cowboys Break: Getting the W?

episode number eighty seven. Welcome to another edition of The Break, live from the s w ABC Portgage Studios at the Star. Welcome to you, guys. We've got about I'll be doing forty five minutes an hour today. I want to do an hour. Let's do an hour. Director of Digital, I don't know. You tell me director director of Digital five years ago. I don't know. It's a long one. Huh about forty five minutes? Forty five minutes. You know we're gonna go an hour today. We're going a full hour.

We're talking some Cowboys football. We're gonna get you guys ready for Cowboys Verse Saints. That'll happen tomorrow night on Thursday Night football. Um, and there's some interesting things we got to talk about today, including some comments from DeMarcus Lawrence, which I absolutely loved. But we'll talk about that a little bit later in the show. We're gonna starts. Huh a little aggressive and I like aggressive about well, well wait till we get there. But but no, yeah, it

was a little aggressive. It was a little aggresive. But um, let's talk first about injuries. Yesterday we look at the injury report. Cowboys have three waiting. I'm sorry, they have five guys who did not practice, good burgers. Four of them, sorry, four of them we knew weren't going to practice. Tavon Austin, Sean Lee, David Irving, and Jeff Swain Tyren Smith. We probably we knew it was probably not going to practice.

But he did not practice, and he's probably the one of those five that even has a small chance of being able to play at this point. Um, what are you guys thinking? What are you hearing as far as the likelihood of him playing tomorrow night? That's the I mean, that's you're right, that's really the only one. I think the other, well, the other one of those the other four definitely not playing, Yeah, and they were never expected

to for the rest of the year. Well, I want to talk a little bit about David Irving, but let's just hold that for a second. Is that who you're talking about? Maybe, Okay, maybe not. Maybe there's others on that. All right, we'll talk about that in a second. I haven't heard I have not heard any whispers leaning anyone which way. You know, we said this earlier in the week. He hasn't practiced. That's not a good sign, but he is definitely on that list of guys that don't need

to practice. Um, if he does anything, you know, I'm sure the Cowboys are holding a walk through at some point today. Maybe they can get him into that. And like I said, like he'll he'll be out there early with the trainers tomorrow, you know, five o'clock, trying to get loose and see how he feels. Um. I've leaned toward thinking he'll probably sit, especially when you think, you know, you got a division game next. If he doesn't play in this game, he's got a long weekend to cover.

Just seems like a better safe than sorry type of situation to me. Cam Fleming last week had some rough moments, but also played pretty well. Definitely played better in the second half. The entire offensive line played better in the second half. How much confidence do you have in him that would you have in him this week as a starter last week? It's one thing when when the team because I don't think anyone including us, expected that Tyrone

was gonna miss last week. So once you figure out that he's not playing, and then he has to go in and Cam Fleming has to go into the game, that's one thing for a defender to have to adjust to this week. My assumption is that the New Orleans Saints are looking at this team and looking at Cam Fleming specifically those pass rushers, and saying, that's the guy that we're probably gonna have to play this thing. I'm gonna have to be What does he not do well?

How much confidence do you have in him to be able to be successful in that kind of scenario. I don't really put a lot of stuck get in that because I think most of the time, if you talk to somebody from the Saints, they would say, oh, Tyrant's gonna play. You know that. I don't think they still believe's gonna think that they believe that, and because they can prepare for that, and if they have to prepare

and play against Fleming. That's fine, you don't you don't want it to be the other way around, and you start preparing for Fleming. I don't, really, I don't. I think there's too much put into that. I think that Cam Fleming is gonna have to go out and play well. He is what he is. He's a he's a kind of a he's not a journeyman yet, but he's that guy where he's kind of bounced around a little bit.

He's pretty good, but he's not that great, and he's a backup lineman, and those guys get exposed if you leave him out there for too long, especially um, you know, got a Pro Bowl defensive end and Cam Jordan, who he actually he flip flops around on their defensive line.

But i'd imagine he's going to get some run at right defensive end if Cam Fleming is playing, U feel better that he had, you know, a full week to take starters reps and get acclimated because he I mean, he said after the game on Thanksgiving that he didn't know he was going to be starting until he got to the stadium on Thursday, So that'll hopefully make a difference. I don't, you know, I don't think he's gonna look

like Chad's green out there. And I hate for Chad's green that we're gonna say that for the Restord he just got signed. Yeah, he's in Oakland now. He was actually with the Saints for a little while, but good for him. I thought it was with the Saints. He's with Oakland now either though he just got signed yesterday. I just hate, like, fifty years from now on, you know, if Cowboys Break is still a thing, people gonna be like, well,

the anniversary off Cowboys Break. Hopefully he's not gonna give you. Hopefully, he's not gonna get Chad's greened out there like he's the bar He's like, anything better than Chad's green than you're Okay, that's what happens, and have one of the worst games in history NASCAR break. Is that what we're doing? Fifty years, ten years from now? How about that? Okay? For a long time, For a long time, Chad's green will be the barometer there? Would you say? A little

diego over there? That's what she says. Her kid's gonna be, Oh my god, really diego If I have a kid. I don't know why we're talking about that. Yeah, when I have a kid, my boy's gonna be named Diego. You guys sure do love to let us be on the road. I know, we just look for opportunities to fifteen minutes, Dave, um, I've lost my training. You know what, I think, Cam Flumbing will be fine. It makes it's

all relative right, He'll be all right. It makes me wonder the severity of this injury because coming off the game, when you saw tiring fall on the ground, it looked pretty serious, it looked pretty painful. But then when he talked to the media, he basically said, I'm okay, I'm fine, And that's kind of the thing that he always says. And it's gonna keep Sam Yeah, yeah, And again, in my opinion, I would imagine this whole season he's been playing with some kind of pain already from the past.

So to be painful enough or severe enough to where now it's keeping you off the field, what does that mean for the future, especially a guy that has already been dealing with injury. But again, you look at this game and you, guys, you and Dave said yesterday that this is not necessarily a game that you need to win. Therefore, yes, keep him off to the side. In case you do make it to the playoff, then you can just tell him, well, no, you need you need Well, here's still you need to win.

You gotta win. You just don't think they will win. I don't think I'm talking about this specific game though. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree with you. Well we move on. If you know they can't handle that they lose this week, it's not the end. If they lose next week to Philadelphia, I believe their chances of then winning the division decreased significantly in my opinion. Now maybe it doesn't, but that's

my opinion. So I'm way more concerned about what's going to happen against Philadelphia than I am what's gonna happen this week. I think you can set yourself up in a very very nice position by winning this week. But I don't think it kills you if you don't. That's the point, and that's why I would sit tyn Uh give him ten days to get ready for that game. You just you have to beat Philly. You don't have to beat the Saints. It would be fun. Yeah, you

don't have to win. It would be good. It would be in a great position if you can beat them, you think they can beat them without Tyrant? Oh Philly. Yeah, of course they can't yet beat anybody. I mean, but that's not the point yourself about to have the best players possible healthy for the most important game. There you go, there you go, Okay, No, I mean, honestly, I just think, I honestly think that Philadelphia is the one that has

the bull's eye on it. You lose that game, and it's it's to me, it's it's gonna make it very tough down the stretch for you to be able to win this division. If you're not, if you don't have that tige break over Philadelphia, I think you need it. I agree. All right, let's let's talk a little bit more about I guess the inactives. At this point, we know that those four Tavon, Austin, Sean Lee, David Irving, Jeff Swain will be inactive right now. If we had

to guess, would you say Tyrant's probably inactive? If I had to guess, I think, so, okay, that gets you to five. I wouldn't. I would not put him on the list. I think you can get there without putting him on the list, just because because you've got Connor Williams as your own back up there, and he hasn't practiced all year. I mean, I would think you could probably put him in uniform like he did last week, and so you would just then go with the backup quarterback. Yeah,

I mean you can do it for sure. It kind of goes back to what Derek said yesterday though, like if he's not healthy enough to start, it reminds me of what I said about Travis Frederick too. Just remove the temptation to use him, Like if he's not healthy enough to start, then why it's he healthy enough to do anything? Because eighty percent Tyren Smith is good enough to start. Probably a seventy percent Tyren Smith is good

enough to start if you tell him. He's a lot less than that as far as just his health and his ability to do things. I don't know if you want him out there at all, right, but I mean they he was active last week, so yeah, and you could. I mean, so Mike White'll sit. That gets you to five. Chris Covington is always a candidate to sit. You'd like to have more defensive or more linebackers than that, but you could sit him. You could sit the safety darry

and Thompson. There's an easy way to get into the defensive line. You've I have a lot of guys there now because the typical comes back, you don't necessarily need could she got a lot of options of guys that you can make inactive, Plenty of options if you know what Tyran Smith. Because we're doing it then yeah, yeah, keeping active because it doesn't make sense so that if he was to be inactive, the week to do so was last week, right, which is the closest to when

his injury happened. Now, you're supposed to progress a time as time goes by. This is another week a head, so why would you make him inactive now? The thing you gotta remember, though, is when you're talking about stingers, when you're talking about anything that's nerve related, that's not like a typical let's say you gotta sprain knee that yes, over time is going to get better yet, but but I don't know that. But with nerves, it's not a thing where it's just like you can really say, well,

it's better today than it was yesterday. Right, It's just it takes its own time to kind of get better, and and you might feel better today and then feel worse tomorrow. I mean, I've had some dealt with some stuff with nerves. Like it's all over the map. Yeah, it's all over the map. You just don't Yeah it does. It really sucks because you might think you're starting to feel better, but then you know a day later you feel horrible. Right, So it's just I don't know. You

just really don't know how that all plays out. And so I think I kind of agree with Dave that maybe just take away the temptation. But if you have the the inactives already and you just have the extra spot to make him active, there's probably no harm in making him. I just don't necessarily want to see him have to play if he's not healthy enough to start,

is the way I look at it. Ten years ago, one of the worst losses ever that the Cowboys have had since we've been here was the game against the Rams. Remember that back in two thousand and eight, and Romo had gotten hurt a week before and they put him out in uniform, had a broken finger, and they put him in uniform for the game against the Old and four Rams, and they let Brad Johnson start a round. Terrible you just go with. And it was one of

the worst losses. They lost by like twenty points, and Romo was in uniform the whole day and it was kind of he had been throwing passes and it just caused all this confusion. So now, like I kind of see your point a little bit there, because I remember that day was so frustrating. It was like, why would you even have him out there if you think he could maybe do something? At what point in this game do you not say, please come in and save us here? Right?

Remember that? Yeah? I do remember that. Here's two sides to that too, because I mean, you know, if Cam Fleming is just getting his butt whipped and Tyrn standing there in uniform, yeah, or the flip side of that is Cam Fleming, you know, dislocates his finger and has to come out for a snap and tyr And is sitting even you know, you only need him for six plays, but he's unavailable and so you got to send Connor Williams out there to play tackle when Tyran probably could

have gotten through a series. So six to one half a dozen together, which is why you know, people roll their eyes at that me included, You're like, who's a game time decision. Bs, But yeah, I think it probably truly is for him. You go out, see how it feels, see how he's moving, YadA, YadA, YadA, try to come up with can he start? Do you think he could give you fifteen plays if he needed to, and then you know, make your determination. Yeah, there's a lot of

things that play there. I mean, like what's his range, emotion, we start talking about this kind of injury, like can he move his arm a certain way? How does it you know, all those things matter, and that probably is

a day to day type thing. So it literally would be a get him out to the stadium tomorrow, test it out, see how he feels, see what his pain level is, like all those things, and then you have to make a decision on how much you think you can use him in whether like Dave says, maybe it is you feel like, hey, if he had to play a series, he could, If he felt if he had to play two series, he could, well, Okay, in that instance, maybe you make him in, you make him active, so

if you get into that pinch, you can throw him out there for a little bit and help yourself. All right, let's take let's take our first break. We'll take an early break here. We'll come back, and I want to jump right into Dave scouting report on the Saints. He's going to tell us about the Saints defense and how it matches up with this Cowboys offensive when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. If you're like me and you love I mean, if you

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It is a Thursday night football kick off with the Cowboys at home, and we'll get a chance to see how they perform against this ten and one Saints team. Dave, Yes, sir, Let's talk a little bit about the Saints defense. Let's do it. What you got? Um? Well, the big talking point that I think everybody's heard at this point in time is their run defense, which you know, anytime the Cowboys play a good run defense, it's gonna be much

bally hood. I don't mean this in any disrespect to them, but it just it reminds me of the twenty sixteen Cowboys. I think it's really more of a product of how often they're playing with leads than that. It's just this impenetrable front so I'm just really curious to see how that plays out and see all you know, unstoppable force to move a blah object. I think the Saints, I mean, I think the Cowboys can have success against these guys.

This is a talented group, but we've just we've seen them execute at two high of a level for the last three weeks for me to think the Saints can completely shut them down. Um, they're number one against the run, they're still their middle of the pack. Just as a defense, their secondary has been surprisingly bad because it was actually a strength last year. You know, they drafted Marshawn Lattimore.

They brought in Marcus Williams, who I know he made the terrible play that lost them in the Minnesota game in the playoffs, but actually had a really great rookie season before that. Hold on, why are they bad? Dude? Like? What? What? What tells you that they're bad? They're giving up an average of three hundred yards per game, but the run defense is no, You're right, I mean their number, you're both of these are slightly skewed because of how teams

have to play against. Yes, you are. That's all I'm saying. There is just I did an interview yesterday and they were like, there's a number one run defense. I'm like, okay, but I'm sure teams aren't just running the ball in the second and third quarter. You're absolutely right. The numbers are skewed because they pass a lot. They still give up big plays though, like they give up gains in coverage again, probably because opponents are throwing so much against them.

And to their credit, it really seems like they're rounding into form over the last month or so, not so much. I mean, you know, they gave up three hundred and seventy four yards to Matt Ryan, but they have forced eleven turnovers in their last five games. I believe eight of those are interceptions. Lattimore is a top ten pick. Williams is good. Kurt Coleman used to play with the Panthers.

He's a veteran guy, and they traded for Eli Apple, who He's not lighting the world on fire, and he's probably the guy that you want to pick on in this matchup, but he is. He's playing better the longer he's there. Do they travel those guys like they travel? I think I think they would prefer not to. And I've talked to Brian about this. He thinks that, you know, let's if Amari Cooper has sets against Apple, he thinks

they'll move Lattimore or they'll do something. But I don't, you know, I don't think it's going to be a scenario where Lattimore just starts out going wherever Cooper goes. I think they'll adjust to that as the game goes along. And the good thing to note about about Cooper is that he can play all all the positions, so they can move him all across. So it makes it tough for teams to say, hey, we're just going to travel a guy, because now you may be traveling him all

over the place, and that affects everybody else. You talk about this a lot nick Traveling somebody means that everybody else has to travel too. You're going to travel that one corner who's going to cover this receiver. It's one thing when that receiver stays in one place, like a Dez Bryant. When you got into Mark Cooper, who can play all the different positions, now when that guy moves, everybody else on the defense has to move and play

another position. Couple other points. So, yes, these stats are a byproduct of how the offense is playing. I definitely believe that. Probably I wouldn't write it off that way though. You know, Lattimore is a much more talented corner than thirtieth ranked secondary would have you believe just because people aren't running on him. Cam Jordan is just fantastic like he Him and DeMarcus Lawrence reminds me a lot of each other, like they're they're highly drafted guys. What did

he say this week? Then? Cam Jordan? Actually he had a good quote that was just kind of about, you know, yeah, we're playing with a lot of leads in our offense, helps us, but we've played in some nitty gritty type ball games where we did our jobs really well too. And to that end, I looked this up. The three best rushing offenses they've played are the Rams, the Ravens, and the Browns. The Rams completely gashed him, which to that point, Rams ran at nineteen times for ninety two

yards five yards to carry. That's exactly right, they just got away from it. Nowhere near as many rushing attempts as you would prefer, but against the Ravens and Browns, the eleventh and seventh best rushing games in football three point three yards per carry in three point four yards per carry, and those were one possession games that came

down to the buzzers. So tell me the different. It's also between sure those runners, right obviously, yeah, I know, Uh, they don't have Zeke Chubb wasn't playing Willard Browns played that game at least not enough. Actually, I think Razorback was playing Alex Collins. Oh uh yeah Baltimore. Yeah yeah, probably Chubb had two carries for fourteen yards, so maybe they should have given it two more of Maybe that was a hint um. But Cam Jordan's outstanding. He's just

he's much like DeMarcus Lawrence. He's underrated as a run defender. He's got eight sacks and that kind of steals the headlines. But he's great at creating penetration, setting the like. He doesn't give up the edge. It's hardly ever. And then Sheldon rankins, he is I want a defensive tackle like this on this Dallas defense. He's which you know, he's the twelfth overall pick I think, so that's not going to happen here, but uh, just big No, he's got

seven sacks. He just destroys the interior the line. He's I mean, he's not like you know, he's not like Vince Wilfork. He's not like Buddy. He is a great trading I want that defensive to vincel for it. Well, I mean just everybody does, no, but just six oh see, six foot thirty pounds. I don't want that because of

stubby little Yes, I don't want that. Vita vea perfect example, like the Bucks aren't even using him because in the modern NFL there's no use for that guy unless it's like short yardage, like he's got to come off the field off after second down. You'd rather have the guy that even though he may not be a just a fireplug. I want he's gonna get a feel a little bit more. Two hundred and seventy five pound guy who's gonna be on top of the quarterback before he's finishing and dropped.

I'm on David Irving. Well, sorry, he's got a sprained ankle. Yeah he does. I don't know what you want me to say about that. Will he ever play for the Cowboys again? I just took us on a whole different path than where we were there. I'm just rounding it out. They get takeaways, Uh, they got a lot of it, doesn't It's not completely dissimilar to the Cowboys because they've got a lot of young draft picks who are rounding into playing that way. I mean, Cam Jordan's the old head.

He's been there forever at this point. But Rankins was a sixteen draft pick. He's this is the first year he's really playing like that. Obviously, Lattimore and Marcus Williams are on the back end. Apples not their draft pick, but he's a young draft pick, first round right Apple. Yes, they brought into Mario O'Davis from the Jets. He's I mean, he's there, do everything guy, but a name I think people should know. Alexandz ALONEI third round pick last year.

Always injured in college, like never played more than I don't think he ever played a full college season while he was at Florida, and that was kind of like, well, he's a great player if he can stay on the field. Well, he's been on the field this year. In their last four games, he's got twenty tackles, a pick, a sack, and two pass breakups. So he's a player when he's healthy, and he's healthy right now. He's got long, blonde hair, he can't miss him. So that's a guy that I

would watch out for. But so young young defense that is. I think they kind of struggled at the beginning. I mean, they start the season by giving up fifty points in a loss. But they are playing much better. But I think the Cowboys are going to be able to run the ball on them straight up. Let me ask you this. Do you think that there will be any temptation on the part of the Cowboys to do what the Rams did and abandon the run because they see so many

opportunities in the passing game? Is it one of those situations whereas the game wears on, you see, hey, we're getting understand my point. I understand my point. As the game goes on, if you're seeing receivers open a lot, then it starts making you think, hey, kill, kill kill,

We need to throw right. Do you get baited into that to some degree because you start seeing all these opportunities if these numbers hold up from the standpoint of this past defense really being able to be gashed, do you find yourself in one of those games where it just kind of works out that when we've seen don't act like we haven't seen that before. We've seen situations where we look back at the end of the game we're like, get maybe not. And then that's my point,

that's why I would be worried about it. But do you find yourself maybe in that situation where you just you're tempted to keep throwing the ball when you really should be running you No, you're right, that's what happens. That's what happens in football. So what happens in basketball, that's what happens in boxing. That's what happens when someone tries to get you out of your game and you get tempted to doing that. You're fast, you know, fast paced,

up and down. You're like, wait, well, that's not what we need to do. So you're right about that. They don't need to be baited into that. I don't think the Rams were baited into that because that's what the Rams so they do, and I don't think they should have been afraid to go, well, we can go up and down the field. They got the number one pick, they got a great running back to so, but the Cowboys can't do that, And you're right, they need to make sure they don't do that. Run the ball, keep

breeze on the sideline, cash it in, get touchdowns. You can't play that type of game. They don't have the type of guys that can go up and down the field and do that. Because even more, you keep throwing it to Dac over the middle, his ninety yard touchdown, great throw. He does that five times, it might get picked a couple of times. So you're playing with fire if you want to play that style, and I think the Cowboys would be would be foolish to get into

a game like that. Also proven to win any game by playing that way. And another thing is it's dad, but would be careful the way he handles the ball right now, he's been lucky, you know, when he makes a fumble and somehow magically the ball just comes back to him. So that's another thing that he needs to be very careful when he starts feeling pressure. Keep in mind, also it doesn't look like it, but that game got away from the Rams. They were down thirty five fourteen

at one point. They had to throw their way back

into it. And I don't think the Cowboys are coming back from a twenty one point deficit the way that they're built, And that's I might be misremembering this, but like in the Dak Prescott era, have they ever I know they've gotten away from the run because they've been down or because they can't run the ball, but like, have they ever gotten into like a track meet type of game where Zach Za Dak is just zipping them down the field and Zeke is like an afterthought because

recall it, it's not a thing that they do. Like it. When the Cowboys play in shootouts, they're stringing together you know, six, seven, eight or longer play drives that incorporate Zeke, Like that's how they they play winning football. When they were down in the playoffs against the Packers at home, yeah, I don't remember exactly, and I know they were down pretty big and one three at one point and all no Zeke. Zeke had so many fewer touches in that game than

you would have preferred. I think that was one redected kind of have to throw. But I also think I also think if you're early in the game and the Cowboys are down let's say two touchdowns, I don't think they panic. I don't think they get into a situation where let's just throw our way out of it, and you can't. I think you have to actually slow it down at that moment. And by slowing it down, I mean now run the ball like run the ball and try to take a lot more time to move the

ball methodically down the field. It's okay to get four yards and keep going and doing that consistently and drive the ball down the field. Second down is gonna be huge. I know we talk about third down a lot and first down. Second down is really important here because you get a three or four yard run on second and you know it's ninety's second and six, second and seven.

What do you do there? Because if you can't get any more yards and now it's third down and we know what's going to happen there, they've got to keep moving. That's what happened on that long drive against the Falcons when they had about five first downs they were they were able to get it to third and two and

third and one on productive second down plays. But we'll say this now that they have incorporated Mary Cooper, they've gotten a lot better with converting those third and six is third and sevens because he is he has been a conversion machine for him when it comes to third downs that end using zeke a little bit more out of the backfield. I think that gives them a few more options. But you're right, it's going to be very important for them to get manageable third down. Yeah, I

just about it. Well, I'm looking for the exact where was the ninety yard or Yeah, no, that ain't I mean you never want to You don't want to turn up your nose at a ninety yard touchdown, but two plays ninety one yards fifty five seconds, that's a bad thing in this game, Like you don't want that. Well, sounds like it's not a preferable thing. It's not a bad thing when you get a touch touchdowns are never bad, but you need to control the ball and the clock

way more than that. Like, I don't this, I don't want to zip up and down the field. And that's the Atlanta blueprint is what I'm looking at. Like, and it's gonna be way easier said than done. But I think you win this game by scoring no more than twenty four points. Seen what then, like do that type of play where they throw for like, let's say runs. I'm not worried. I'm not worried about it happening. You're lucky if it happens, but and that's okay, it's happen

in a game. Yeah, exactly, me too, But it's you're okay if it only happens once in a game. If you know, in that last game they still had two drives that I want to say, over seven minutes for each one of those drives, that's what you need to do. You just think to have two three, four drives in the game that are gonna take significant, significant amount of time and then you end with touchdowns. So that's the key. You gotta end with touchdowns when you have those long

sustained drives. But if they can do that a few times, even if they get some quick strikes, which is always good too, I think you're still okay. It's just you can't do that all day because then you're gonna track meet and if you're in a track meet against Drew Brees and that offense, it's gonna be hard to win. It's gonna be very hard to win. All right, let's take um, let's take. Actually, I did have one other

question for you, Dave on the Scoutter Report. Yeah, um, looking at Cam Jordan alex Oka for Marcus Davenport, is this the best. Is this the best group of edge rushers the cowboys that face to see No, Okay, who's better? Clownie and Watt for sure? Okay, and I would throw um Washington. Washington's interior is really good. I don't know, you think they're edge guys are as good as these guys as well. I'm I mean, I have an immense amount of respect for Cam Jordan. I think Rankins is

really good. Okah, for is fine, and I'm Marcus Davenports playing well before you got hurt, and he's got four sacks like he's he's been. He's been really good for a rookie who wasn't like the consensus number one overall pick Um Oh, Clowney and Wine. I think uh In,

Gockway and Campbell are significantly better. I don't know about significantly, but like can't I really, I mean, I think it's a it sucks that Tyrant might not play because if he if he was playing, I think this was a pretty favorable matchup because I you know, Suaphilo has played well, and you got Zack Martin to handle Rankins, and then Cam Jordan is is far and away their best addresser. I mean, they only have thirty one sacks. Like they're

not I think they're ranked fourteenth. They're not like this act. They're like one spot behind the scene the Cowboys. So um no, I think no. Well, the reason the reason I don't think, well, let me ask you the reason why. The reason why I ask that is because I'm looking at the fact that if if Tyron doesn't play, then now you're one step down there and the other area where you've had significant problem you still continue to have

problems is at the right tackle position. If you've got significant pass rushers on the other team off the edge, now your weakest point on the offensive line is maybe where their strength is. That's the reason why I think that's the question you're saying is is they've made him better a little bit, that made him a little bit more a part of the game if Tyrn doesn't play

in the way Lyle's plan. But I don't think that that makes them one of your you know, I think tougher duos because what happened in Houston, and I think Jacksonville was better Washington. I think it probably has you know, comparable defensive ends around the edge. But I yeah, Cam Jordan against Lyle and Cam Fleming could be problematic, but he can only be in one place at a time. He doesn't have a partner, I mean Clowney and Watt, that's gross. And Hilo, Yeah, Sue A. Philo has played

you know well. He handled Fletcher Cox, which leads me to believe he can handle Sheldon Rankins. Right. Yeah, I'm less concerned about the interior. I'm way more concerned about what's happening on the edge. And Marcus, that report, I think is a guy that can't have an impact in this game. Every time I downplay somebody's players like they just blow up. So, now that I've said this, I'm sure Debt Marcus Davenport's gonna have five, but he's coming

off an injury. He's a rookie like I would hope Lyle Collins can give better than he gets in that matchup. Cam Jordan will probably be problematic, especially if Tyrant can't play, but it's not something I think that the Cowboys should let ruin their game plan. I hope again, knock on wood. Now that I've said it's that's never good. All right, We're gonna go and take our final break. When we

come back, We've got to talk about Debarcus Lawrence. He has some interesting comments yesterday about these New Orleans Saints. And then we'll also get to our picks for the game. Nick's going to tell us why the New Orleans Saints will win or lose. We'll see what he's gonna say when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. Well, a player could look good on paper, it's when he's out on the field that you find

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Today Back to the Break, Welcome Back, final segment of The Break, Live from the SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star, Talking Cowboys versus Saints, Nick tell us about Tommy John. Let's go script number one, Script number one here in Cowboys Country, and yes it is Cowboys country. No matter what it looks like, we always ride up with our boys, making a joke about how many Saints fans are going to be there tomorrow and here and here walking around the Star and all that stuff. It's gonna be it's

gonna be a battle there. Okay, in cowboys country, though, you always ride with our boys, but right when it comes to your underwear, you definitely don't want them riding up on your boys bolded and italics. That's why we always wear Tommy John. It's a great brand of underwear. They put waist bands and keep everything in place. Timmy John dot com forward slash cow wish you get twenty percent off your first order. Don't let it write up

your boys. It is Christmas time, makes you you go get your Tommy John for the special man a woman in your life. Trust this, Trust me on that this read was definitely for men's underwear. Huh well, yes, but I'm just saying, but yes, there are women. Women don't want them either. Good, they don't. Nobody likes that feeling. All right, good, all right, So let's jump back in. We've gotten our Scotter report for both the offense, I

mean for the offense yesterday for the defense today. Um, and we're gonna take some calls here at some point during the show, so feel free to call us eight eight eight eight five five two two nine seven before we get to calls. Though, I do want to talk about DeMarcus Lawrence. Yesterday. He had some interesting comments, and I think they were kind of uh. There's one comment that's getting a lot of play. There's another that's not getting as much play. But I think it's as important

as the second comments. I'm gonna read the first comment that he made, and he said this team right here that we're going to face his hands down, if you really look at the details, the best team in the league. That's an important statement. On the other hand, here was this other comment, They're going to have to match our intensity for sixty minutes straight if they if you hit up mother um in the mouth and then they ain't doing what they're regularly doing, putting up fifty points, they

start to get a little distressed. Now you got them where you want them at and then you um choked there out guys. I think that's a good idea for him to go that hard, and I guess with the media. As far as his comments about the Saints, I think it's great. I think it's awesome, but Also, I want to throw something else out there, which is it's not an idea. It's not like I really don't DeMarcus Lawrence didn't wake up and say like, I'm gonna let the

Saints know what's up today. DeMarcus Lawrence is like one of the most authentic people I've ever been around. He can't be anybody but himself and and I'm not trying to call him stupid. He's not a stupid person at all, but like he's just going to tell you how he feels, and it doesn't matter if you're holding a recorder or if you've got a camera in his face. And I

value that about him. I love it. There's there's so much phoniness and canned bs in sports, and I spend so much time rolling my eyes at the phony bs that I hear from most football players and coaches that I appreciate him saying something authentic and so I appreciated it. You know, I love DeMarcus Lawrence. I love his personality, he's attitude and everything. I love the comment he made was it last year when he was talking about the referee and you know, getting penalties and stuff like that.

I'm af or Yes, but this specific comment, to me, it was a little too aggressive, because the Saints they deserve that kind of respect. I mean, they've earned it this year. Like you, you should have respect for what they're doing. And no, and the fact that you're mentioning, oh, what they're usually doing putting up fifty points, that's pretty high. The fact that you said that, you know, they're pretty

high up there. And even if you chucked them in the neck and let's say you hold them there for a little bit, they're still most likely going to get at least half of that, let's say twenty five points. So I think that was a little two out there. I can I just say this one thing, and I want to I want to clarify this a little bit exactly. I think it's been mischaracterized. I don't think that DeMarcus was saying we're going to choke out the sting Saints. Nope.

I think what he was saying was this is a really good team, but if we're gonna have a chance of success, we have to punch him in the mouth. And then yea, if we can punch him in the mouth, then you see how they respond to that. If they're the kind that when they get punched in the mouth, they get distressed. Oh now we got them, right, And so I think what he's doing is he's painting the scenario of this is what we have to do, and this is how we're going to find out what kind

of team they are. And then when we find out what kind of team we are, if they are the type that gets you know, messed up by us really you know, punching them in the mouth, then we have a shot, right. And so I don't think it's him going out saying we're going to choke them, but that's certainly the way it's being portrayed. And that's why I

asked the question is it smart to do that? Because now if you're worried, if you're one of those people that worries about bullets and a board material, you've now given bullets and board material. Yeah, it's good to have that kind of attitude too, because you want to have that energy and that confidence, especially when you're playing against such a good team. But at the same time, let's say they are unable to do anything great against them, then you look dumb in a way. You know. I'm

just saying, like, it's good to be really confident. But you have to be careful when you're overly confident against the person that you're doing it, you know what I mean. I don't know if he cared, he wouldn't say it, Like if you're right, and that's a great thing about the market, Yeah, he wouldn't say it. I mean, it's the whole thing. I mean, the Saints don't need it.

The Saints don't need that to get I mean, to get excited about this game that they should already be there, and you know, I mean it's all I mean, it's not even literal anyways. I mean, can't hit anybody in the mouth, that's obviously penalty. You're not choking anyone out, that's felony. So I mean, is that yeah, I mean it's just football talk. Is he's talking about choking all the time. Yeah. Not. I just don't. I just don't think it's something that really, at the end of the day,

affects one thing or another. I mean, I don't. I mean, it's just him trying to get one excited. I hope it doesn't get the hot boys excited they should already be there. And I hope it doesn't get ram Check or whoever over there excited to block him. Although when you when you when your boy goes all in, I mean, you know, if it's your boy and he's going all in, like yeah, we got we can, we can get with these,

it does I think you talk about his leadership. I do think that that kind of thing can't have an impact on the rest of that defensive line to be like, man, we don't have to be scared of them. The other quote that you left out of there too, because I was there the reporter at the reporter basically was like, well, so what do you think about this offensive line? Is it the best that you've watched? Like eleven sacks blah blah blah. You know that nobody can get to Breeze

and he to market as only he can say. He's like, Shi, t, I don't know, we haven't played him yet. And then you know, he's like, they haven't played us either, so and then he said he was like, come ask me when the game's over, and I'll be honest with you. I'll let you know, and he will and that's yeah, exactly like he can't be anybody but himself, and he said it is only DeMarcus can say it, but he basically just outlined the way you have to beat a

team like this, Like he said it very aggressively. But he's like, yeah, you gotta be physical with him, hit him, throw them off what they're used to doing, and see if you can frustrate him. He just said it like DeMarcus instead of that. So, hey, when you appreciate it. When you got a group of players that have to go and sit and watch Marionelli madness, they're gonna be a little bit aggressive. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I don't want to hear I don't want to hear a Rod Baronelli.

He's like, you shouldn't have said that. We don't show me videos of lions disemboweling antelopes all right, eating them and then looking up with blood all over their faces smile like that. That's that's a part of what you're gonna get. You're gonna have a very aggressive group, right. I appreciate his authenticity. And Yeah, to Nix's point, I mean, you know, if you need that to get hype in

the NFL, then you got a problem. Yeah. So, and I honestly I don't I'm not one that buys much into the whole idea of bulletin board material, although I do think it just adds extra fodder, and I think

it actually can work in the reverse. I think sometimes if you talk a bunch of smack before whenever you're going to compete against someone, if things start going bad, sometimes if you're the kind of person that gets worried about having to back that up, then it can cause you to make mistakes because you start pressing to try

to make yourself right. I don't think that's DeMarcus at all. Like, I don't think he's that kind of I think he's gonna put it all earlier, he's gonna play the best he can play, and then when it's done, however it turns out if they don't play well, he will say we didn't play well himself a really big out too, because it's like, well, can you talk about the comments after this game, and in your comments he's like, yeah, I said if we could hit him in the mount,

we didn't. We didn't, right, And that's exactly how he'll say it too. So I have no problem with a guy like it reminds me of It actually reminds me of Alvin Kamara, another guy who was just clearly, very authentic and true to himself. He's I mean before they played the Eagles, because he said last year, he's like, if we'd gotten to play the Eagles in the in the NFC title game, we would have beat the crap

out of him. And it came back around on him before they played the Eagles, and he's like, yeah, so what we said we would have And then they come and they beat him fifty one to seven. So they come back after the game and say, so you were right. Guess you were right about that, Alvin. All right, let's jump into our predictions for the game. There we go. Let's start with Amber. Amber. It was not happy. Who's going? Who's going? What? Yeah? Game? Sorry? What do you have

for this game? Who's gonna win? Oh? I'm gonna have to pick the Saints. I think it's it's hard not to. But again we've said, I don't think anyone of us would be surprised if the Cowboys actually did win this game. You would be going to be surprised, Yeah, gonna be Yes, I will be surprised if the Cowboys win the game. Who's not going to be surprised? I will. I won't be surprised. I won't be surprised. I won't be surprised. Then pick them no, because I don't think they're going

to will be. That's like saying yes, it is. It's different from being shocked stunned. Now, just because just because you think something's gonna turn out away a certain way doesn't mean you're sur prize when it doesn't. Because sometimes you have to make a decision. You're like, I think it's gonna go this way, but I could vary. It's my game Saturday, Like, I think we're gonna get rolled by Oklahoma, but I wouldn't be shocked if we win. I wouldn't. I wouldn't be surprised if we I wouldn't

be surprised if we win. I just kind of think we're gonna lose. I'm gonna call heads on this coin toss, but I'm not gonna be surprised if it's tails. Like there's only there's two possible out rights. I mean, no, I don't think. I don't what's your story because Vegas doesn't have it as pick them and they would if you were flipping a coin. It's a seven point game, it's a one touchdown game. This is this in the NFL? You know that the seven points is the Saints should

win the game. They should win the game. I think people are gonna be surprised if the Cowboys win. I don't know. The commentary I've heard from a lot of different people suggest that people expect the Saints to win, but they won't be surprised if the Cowboys win. Okay, and so I hate I don't know that it's either.

I don't think it has to be either or in this situation, I hate to pull the cliche, but like, if I've learned one thing covering Jason Garrett's teams, it's like, how can you be surprised by anything they do, like the hood or bad, especially this year, Like you really don't know why they're going to be doing in each game week by week. Right, But but for the Saints to not win, then they're probably going to have to be held under thirty points or maybe even you know,

and that would be surprising considering where they are. If the Saints score over thirty in the Cowboys match him, everyone's going to be shocked to see a thirty five forty point game like that for the Cowboys. If the Cowboys win forty five to forty one, I will be surprised. If they win twenty eight to twenty four, I won't

be surprised. Okay, they haven't let a team score thirty yes, yes, okay, especially when you don't know what could happen on the game as far as injuries and stuff like that, you never know what could end up working in your favor. All right, So anyways, I'm picking the Cowboys. No, I'm okay, I'm picking the things I think. I'm curious to see how the Old Line is gonna play and if they're gonna be affected at all without having Tyren Smith there

and being able to help out. Also, if so, if they do struggle, how Dak is gonna be able to react to that? Is you're gonna go back to that whole on confidencedness. I don't even know the right word. But but you got my point, keep going, you get the point, You get the point. But how that's gonna be affected, because once again we've seen that as soon as they mess with the old Line, that's when everything else starts to fall down. And so go seek obviously

Dak and then for Amari Cooper. So it's all That's where the chain effect starts for me, and I'm curious about that. As far as the defense, and sorry I'm kind of rambling around, but as far as the defense go, I think they can do enough to hold up the Saints for sure. But if the offense is not able to help them out as well and do put part of their job, then they're screwed. All right, Dave, there are actually a couple of things that work really well

for the Cowboys in this matchup. I think they'll be able to run the ball better than most teams have against the Saints. They do really well against pocket passing quarterbacks. It's the mobile guys that have really given them a problem. I think they can absolutely badger Drew Brees to Ron Armstead. You know, they got their own left tackle problems to Ron Armstad's probably not going to play. Trummond Bushrod, who got abused by DeMarcus Ware a decade ago, is going

to probably be their left tackle in this game. So I think they'll be able to get to Breeze. I think they'll be able to run the ball. I think that they can at least make a spirited effort at playing like they did against Atlanta and keeping it in the load of mid twenties. I just I think too much has to go right. Like, you can't afford to struggle on offense, you can't afford three and outs, which we've seen too many times, even in the games that

they've won. They've been good at taking care of the ball recently, but you can't lose the turnover battle. You can't struggle in the red zone and kick field goals against this team, which we've seen throughout the season, and so you know, I think it'll be a spirited effort. I think this is gonna be a really entertaining game, but you just got to play too close to perfect against these guys, and I think I think that'll be

too much. At the end of the day, Saints thirty four to twenty four, and to Nick's point, it'll you know, it'll be a ten point win, but I think it'll be. I think it'll be close and crunch time, all right, I have thirty seven twenty four Saints. I just I

don't think the kind of secondary is good enough. I think Byron Jones has done a job this year, probably because of our expectations more than anything, but he's done a nice job, and Anthony Brown and those guys, I think I think they're gonna have a hard time, and I think the Saints will will just keep scoring on him, and I don't think the Cowboys can can play a

game like that. So I will be surprised for sure if the Cowboys win, because I'm picking a thirteen point win for the Saints and I actually just dropped it down in from the forties. So at thirty seven to twenty four, I just don't think they can hang with him. Hold on because Derek is about to tell you how they can. I am going to tell you how they can because when you look at this team, in my opinion,

this is a different team. If the Cowboys would have had the team that they had now from the beginning of the season, I think this would be a different record. I think this team would be talked about as a different kind of team. So I think right now their record is what it is. They're six and five. But I do think that when you talk about the product

on the field, think about it. The last three weeks, Cowboys are entering a lot closer to having an average of thirty points a game, which is much closer to what they were two years ago and four years ago when they had a really good team and it was built again around the running game. But they have a

much better defense right now. I think that serves them well, and I think that gives them the opportunity to win this kind of game and reassert themselves as maybe they are a player in the NFC because of the changes that they've made. I think this offensive line is a ton better than what it was five weeks ago, and that's even without Tyren Smith. I think they're a lot better off than they were because the guard position has been solidified a little bit more. I think all those

things Dave said all right. I think they'll be able to run the ball. I actually think they'll be able to pass the ball as well. I think offensively they'll be okay, as long as they don't end up having problems on the edge. That's the one area that I think could be a problem for the Cowboys that could hurt them Above and beyond what we already know of the Saints. Their offense is going to do what their offense does best. The Cowboys will do is slow them down,

which I think they can do. I think it'll be a close game, but I think I just have this feeling this is a Cowboys win to other times I've seen this happened, like I've seen in the time I've covered the Cowboys. I've seen these games where the Giant comes to play the Cowboys, or the Cowboys go to play the Giant. And I'm not talking about the Giants. I'm talking about the Giant team, the team that's undefeated, or the team that has one loss and they managed

to pull off a win. I saw him do it in Indianapolis, like it's happened, and so I just have a feeling that this is this is setting up nicely for the Cowboys to get us, as Nick would call it, a surprise win. I did some research. I did a blog on this. The Cowboys have faced the team four times in the franchise history that have won ten straight games. They come in with a ten game winning streak or more, and they're two and two in those games they differed,

which is probably pretty pretty good percentage. Defeated the Redskins in ninety one they were eleven and oh they defeated the Saints and oh nine, they were thirteen and oh they lost to the Panthers. In twenty fifteen. I did not remember that Carolina came in here, tend to No, I don't remember that. Thank Yeah, they finished fifteen and one. Yeah, and then they also face the Bears in eighty five and lost forty four to nothing. And that doesn't throw

in the nine the nine win team Indianapolis team, aren't they? Like? Yeah, and you count that team if you want to say nine, that's fine. All five of those teams made it to the super Bowl and four of them won it. I'm a big I'm a big believer, and within a league with this much parody, I like, probability means a lot to me, And like you, just you don't see even the best teams in the NFL. You don't see teams string together win streaks that go longer than nine or

ten games very often. I mean the Patriots, it's too hard to do, the oh nine Saints one thirteen before the Cowboys beat them. But I mean, just based on probability, you play enough games in a league that this that, this, that is this, even somebody will find a way to

beat you or you won't be on your game. Which again I hear what you're saying, and I obviously picked the Saints to win by ten, but I will not be surprised at but the same thing that you're saying about probability, and you're saying that basically it's hard for a team to win eleven in a row and all that, But a Jason Garrett coach cowboy team to win fourt eight games, Yeah, I mean six and five. They want to eleven that one time, thoughts, and then they lost

to a could score more than seven points. What would have loss put them at six and six? All right, So let's real quick, let's get one question before we end the show. We got a call from Horace in Atlanta. Hey, what's up, gentlemen? Hey, real quick. Yeah, I think that we have a really good chance, and I really like our chances with our quarterback Jack, I think you all are kind of give him a loud not not enough credit. I mean, the guy has not played up to the capability.

Because of that offers a line, and I think you all have mentioned that before. When the line is right, the play is right, the play of the quarterback is right. You know, offers a line in twenty sixteen is not the offensive line that we have today. And if you want to evaluate that line. With this line, you have to make everything equally. He's not playing with the level of talent that he had on that team. I think he's done really well. I think he's going to do

really well in this game. He always plays well in the big game, and I love that about him. I hope that we resign him to a big contract because I think he is worth it and I think he's going to prove that this weekend. All right, thanks for the call, Horson. I just, you know, just remember exactly what was said in that call that you know about the big contract and all that. If the line is plays well, then he plays well. And I don't think

that is the definition of an elite quarterback. That's okay, he can be really good and he can play really you know, he can play well at times. But if if you need that offensive line to elevate your game, then that just kind of goes to show where you sort of stand. I think guys like the elite quarterbacks, they elevate the guys around them. And Amari Cooper comes in and now he's playing better. That there's nothing wrong with that. It just goes to show that, you know,

Dak need needs help. He does need help around him to be really good, and he needs a new coach. That's what he needs. He needs a new coach. And I'm sorry. The end of story. We've seen we've seen his talent. We've seen what he's capable of. I'll just tell you real quick. We've seen his talent. We've seen what he's capable of. You know he has it in him. He just needs to be better. Coach needs a new coach. We've seen what Christershar was able to do with Byron Jones.

We've seen what the new offensive line has been able to do with this offensive line. Now, end of story. Just need someone in your ear that has the knowledge and he's able to direct you the right direction. You kick a lot of ant piles when you're a kid. You just can't help yourself by Yeah, I appreciate you, guys. We'll be back on Friday to tell you, guys what went right and what went wrong for the Cowboys. Still 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