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Cowboys, Let's go.
Are you ready for a break?
Yes?
Are you ready for a break?
Absolutely? Ready for a break?
Yeah, and so much for that.
It's time for the Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com with Ambar Garcia, Brian brought us, Patrick Walker, and Derek Eagleton.
It is Thursday October twenty sixth, twenty twenty three, Season nineteen, Episode number fifty seven. Welcome to the latest edition of The Breakwheel, Live from the SWBC Mortgane Studios at the Star. Got Brian, Patrick and Amber all here with me. We got an hour forty five minutes or so of Cowboys talk for you guys. Today we're talking Dallas defense versus the Rams offense. Brian's going to break that down for
us in the second segment. We'll have a lot to talk about talking about the Cowboys defense and how they will match up against this Rams offense. Let's start first with a topic though they came up yesterday for Mike McCarthy. During his press conference, he was asked about his key to post by success. If you don't have you hadn't heard the statistic Mike McCarthy coming out by question, I know, right coming off the buy and go figure you're on this show. He has a record coming off by of
eleven and five, so pretty successful doing it. The key for him and this was the quote. I think the first thing is rest in recovery. Their ability to step away mentally and emotionally is probably the most important and physically it's good for all of them. My question for you guys, because I think there are two schools of thought here. There's the rest, there's also the rust factor. Where do you guys fall rest or rust?
I think rest.
I think it's a situation where in mcayink makes a good point, this is a long season and I mean if you look at the injury report going into week six, I mean it was a laundry list of guys dealing with things and that the rest goes to the recovery portion of it. And now we're talking about an injury report that technically didn't exist yesterday. The only reason why your Thomas was on there was, you know, the NFL protocol. He missed the previous game, so he had to be
listed but for participants. So Cowboys active roster is fantastically healthy. Knock on wood that that continues as we talk on Thursday, which is the dark day for the Cowboys, but also to the mental aspect of it. And I love that coming from McCarthy because it shows that this coaching staff and this culture just that the Cowboys organization have fostered it.
Mental health matters, and sometimes you really just need that break from the grind of pushing and pushing and pushing and trying to improve yourself, and it helps in the long run to be able to have that pit stop, and that's basically what it is. It's a mental and a physical pit stop.
You go in, you know.
And Brian loved this because he's a racing guy as well. You go in and you refuel and you change your tires, and then you get back out there and you get running at full speed. So it worked out favorably for the Cowboys. And he clearly has the right tone for it, because he's eleven and five coming out of the by could have been twelve and four if not for the
over the loss in Green Bay. But I mean, Mike McCarthy, he if his record did not indicate that he knew what he was doing then I'd have bigger questions.
But yeah, like what he's doing doing with it.
Yeah, absolutely, I think.
He knows exactly how to handle it, clearly based on that stat But at the same time, to me, and we came off of bye two, we were at home or doing whatever, and means taking me multiple days to get back in the groove, like I would not be ready to play a football game this week. And I'll be honest, but then again, I don't get paid that money.
I am not an athlete or a pro football player, So very different and bad maybe bad comparison, but we go through the same type of rhythm, and we know when we get away for a little bit, yes we come back mentally better and refresh, but it does take you a little bit to get back into it. Also, I guess I wasn't fully fully aware of the whole bargaining player what is it called the agreement of it?
You have to be completely away, like you'ren not be having meetings and sitting down watching film together and breaking down things and looking what you can improve on.
So I don't know how I didn't fully know that.
I thought in my mind that you could still at least meet and talk and conversate, so that kind of takes away that aspect of the game of me thinking, okay, well, at least I can work on this and that. Well that's a way because you actually need to fully rest and give your player time. But at least on the injury report, everybody seems to be healthy. So that's wonderful news for the Cowboys and for the O line that
hopefully they start clicking this week. But yeah, he shows to know what he's doing, so we'll see and hopefully it translates once again and adds to his record.
If they're six and zero, we keep playing. You know, I believe in momentum. I believe in every week you talk about routine, you talk about you know, the fact that they've lost a couple of games for being foreign to there are a reasonably healthy team. There's a lot of teams around the league that are kind of struggling with that right now, and I think that leads to Mike is a really good understanding of how to do
it during the week. I know we've had some injuries unfortunately that have happened on some days that we've lost some guys, but overall, I think he knows how to manage his team to keep him healthy throughout the season. But I've always believed if you're winning, just keep playing. Just you're in that routine, you're in the grind of it. You're just But with the team being foreign too. And then now once you talk about ambar with a collective
bargain agreement, they're not going to let you price. You know, they're not going to let you it's four days y, yeah, it's they're not going to let you get any better. You know, there was a time in the NFL where a coach like a Bill Parcells would keep them all
the way to a Thursday. You know, they would have they'd come in, they would work on stuff, they would work on self scouting stuff, they might practice, they might have a walked through, they might and then on a Thursday or Friday he would let them go and then they have to come back the following Saturday or Sunday. Excuse me, but I just kind of feel like though with the collective bargaining, it's good to get away from
it now. But man, if you were if you were six and oher right now, you want to keep playing because you just you've built that that momentum that.
Routine, I think what would also help fight against rust because even though with the CBA you have to sit out X number of days, but when you look at the individual players and what they choose to do, Like oh, so Dickie Zuol, for example, he had defensive line coach eight, and there they make him a tape of his first six games so that he could dive in and dissect and do film watching. And then you have players meeting with other players and doing like some backyard work. Maybe
they're sitting down dissecting film together. So these guys are still working as individuals, they just can't come together in the facility and work over those days.
Yeah, it's it is interesting to me because Ambro, I kind of agree with you from the standpoint of I think, even though I think the mental break is a good thing, I do believe this week is probably a little harder because it with anything. And I'm like you guys know, I'm an amateur runner. I love to run. I trained for races, and for me, I've noticed that if I'm in a groove, no matter how I'm feeling, even if my body is beat up, staying in that groove keeps
me going. The moment I break my routine is the moment it's yeah, at the moment it gets harder, it's done harder, You're.
Done the moment you buy it a piece of cake or.
That.
But it's that, like I really believe mentally, when you get out of the routine, it takes a little bit more to get yourself back into it. And that's the part where you know, I wonder, again you have to be disciplined to be able to do that, and I do wonder. You know how well they adapt to that. It looks like in past years we've seen them do pretty well with it. So we'll see how it goes.
But dude's a study that I forgot the exact amount of time. But let's say you're focused working right now, and then you walk up to me and distract me and I become distracted. It can take you like twenty seven minutes for you to actually get back into actually
focusing and getting back into that group again. This is a very small scale compared to what your body's doing, but just something as small as a little period moment right there, it does take your body and your mental focus an x amount of time for you to get back into physically and mentally in a groove.
Again.
Yeah, there's a you know, if you follow just professional sports in general, you look at what's happening in baseball right now. The teams like the Braves, the Dodgers, the Orioles, all teams that want and well over one hundred games they have time off. It's teams that were fighting to get into the playoffs, and all of a sudden, these teams get knocked off, you know. And you know, and
clearly those teams I talked about have better. You know, look at the teams that have, like the Giants and the way they've won super Bowls in the playoffs and they just had to play four games on the road. They just kept playing, you know. And I think there's something too that I think players they they want the routine. They want to know every day what they're going to do, and they want it mapped out for him. And sometimes
taking a step back. We've seen like with with with Romo and Whitten and the Cabo thing and how that kind of that became a huge story, get a huge story for a team that was thirteen and three and had the number one seed in football that year and in the NFC. So there's something to it, there's something to getting away from it, but there is that struggle of can you regain what you had before you took that break.
It's like, in a while, I'm going to sound like McArthur and this one's just like anything. It's just like anything, right, It's balance. It's about balance because I hate when people say, you know, there's no such thing as momentum.
Momentum is a very real it is a very real, freaking thing.
But while that's true, it's also true you have to have the self discipline and understand that. For example, you as a runner, you're in your momentum, you're in mile three and you're going, and you're going, and you're going, and you don't want to break stride because it becomes
harder to regain stride when you break it. That's true, but you also know that eventually, either you're going to choose to break the stride at this particular state, strategic point in your run so that the back half of the run can be strong, or your body's going to force you to.
Actually that's the opposite for me.
Yeah, from the moment I started training to run long distances, what I always told myself is if I start a run, I don't stop until the run is done.
I don't care. I don't stop until the run is here.
So and so from that standpoint, if I wake up that morning and that's a morning where I gotta do thirteen miles, guess what. From the beginning until thirteen point one one miles are done, I am running. I don't stop because of what you just said, because it is so much harder if you get to about eight and you stop and walk for a little bit, it's much harder to get your body back going to finish those last five.
So fair, So let's qualify the stop define stop, right, Because if you look at it from the aspect of let's say a marathon, the marathon runner, right, the marathons, marathon runners don't typically stop as much as they keep going and then they might slow so they are going the moment, right, So it's not necessarily a stop as much as it is a slow down.
Right.
So in that capacity, I understand what you're saying. So if you qualify that or equate that to a guy like oh, so, for example, he knows he can't come in the building these four days, but instead of stopping and being at home and saying, yeah, well, I'm just going to completely detach. He says, give me film, let me do this. Maybe he calls Tank and says, hey, let's meet up and talk about some things. So physically they were forced to stop. Mentally, you're still going.
I can rest my body, corn keeps going.
So maybe it's not a hard stop. Maybe it's a yield. Yeah.
The one thing I learned, and I've been very fortunate, I've run five marathons in my life, completed five marathon.
How do you guys do it? I'm a sprinter. I can't do all of it.
But the way I got to plan.
So the one thing I learned about marathon running is you manage problems the whole time.
Yeah, that's it.
There's problems at mile eight there's problems at mile twelve, there's problems at mile sixteen, there's big problems at mile eighteen, and now you're getting to twenty one and there's even huge problems because you look, there's a problem. There's blood all in your shoe, right, you know, and and your side feels like it's ripped off because your wet clothes are rubbing on you, you know, you manage problems the whole way. Yeah, and that's and that's that's really what a season is
out here. Basically you've managed problems the whole way, you know.
And so yeah, honestly, it's the reason why I like the do Long diestn't running.
It because it is.
It is a cosmic football from the standpoint of it is a challenge to physically and mentally push yourself beyond.
You have to trick yourself to run, you do. You have to trick yourself.
I give you guys a lot of credit because I was a sprinter coming up through high school and into college, and my whole mindset is you it's one hundred you one hundred miles an hour, right, and then you got to stop because you just burned all of that, and then you gotta stop and you recover, and then you go and do it again, and you go and do it again, and that's how you do track me.
So, yeah, just two different trains of thought.
I heard that there's such thing as certain parts of your chest area bleeding. Yeah, that I've never experienced that because I don't run like that, no, thank you.
I would die on the frow. But Once I heard that, I said.
The greatest thing, the greatest no fun, the greatest event you never for runners called glot exactly.
I got multiple tubes of that.
It's more important than deodorant.
That very much stuff.
All right, we're gonna take our first break.
When we come back.
We're gonna dive into this Cowboys defense versus the Rams offense. We'll be back Dallas, Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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Cowboys fans, after that move, we've just coined the term rowdy replay let's roll back the table.
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Oh wow, I didn't know what you were talking about, but now I know what you're talking about. All right, Welcome back into the second segment of the SWBC Morgan Studio.
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Got to recover from Yeah.
But I get into them. I really have all these images in my head right now.
You guys enjoy your little mashups. You guys enjoy that was You didn't like him more than this though, did you?
It was fun.
I could be traded at any man.
I have been traded. It was fun though, Hang with it was it was It was good.
All right, Here we go.
Let's talk about the Dallas defense versus the Rams offense.
Briant, we did that yesterday. Let's talk about the Rams defense.
I say it wrong. Yeah, okay, I'm sorry I said it wrong. Yes, their defense versus did a.
Great job of breaking it wrong to rush.
Yeah, we did it. We did it in blocks so we can.
Yeah, okay, and we did so why don't you tell me how we're doing it?
Amber go for it.
Let's go for it.
Start started for group.
Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna play a three three four front here, and that their base defenses is really that. But that's something that they're They played quite a bit of nickel too. That's really big for them because but the way the Cowboys play their eleven personnel stuff, the Rams are gonna match you that way. So get ready for a lot of nickel in this game. I will say this about this team, about the Rams they've got we all talk about and focus on Aaron Donell. This
team has a good group of secondary. They've got some guys in the secondary that can cover. And then Aquila Witherspoon and is you know, he is really really really good at his job. And then Darren Kendrick the other one, the other corner that plays, and I'll start with them just because I think like the Dallas will want to try and throw the ball in this game. I think they will. But the matchup might not be as favorable against the two corners as it is attacking their nickel.
Kobe Durant is their nickel. But when you look at Witherspoon and the way that the way and him and Kendrick in the way they play, they teams are completing like fifty of their passes against. I mean, it's it's really a coin flip whether you're going to get a completion against these guys. The Cowboys have played against some corners that have given them space, have given them opportunity.
These guys are two of the top in the league when it comes to not allowing you to catch the football on them, but their nickels a little bit different in that way. So if the Cowboys matchup, maybe this is one of those things where if you want to put Lamb in the slot, try and run him off Durant a little bit because his ability to give up plays.
You could see the others the corners, it's not this team's only given up four touchdown passes and you know, and they've got a couple of interceptions to their credit. Quarterback rating is not very good against either one of these guys. So you've got to be ready for And I think the problem until like a guy like Witherspoon is that he is extremely long. He's a long, tall guy. He a veteran guy. He's gonna line up on the left side, so that'll be your that'll be your offensive
right side, but he primarily plays the left. Cornerback Kendrick is on the other side. Now, they'll flop, but they'll flop in a way, not because they're caring or traveling. They just for some reason they just try and give you a little bit of a different look. But for the majority of time, it's gonna be left and right in this game. And I just kind of feel like, though you have to this will be a tough matchup on the outside for these for these Cowboys wide receivers.
You know, with Dak, you gotta be careful about you know where you're gonna throw the ball. If you're gonna be late, don't do that because these guys will find a way to drive on the football and make it and make it happen. So I'm I'm giving they a strong keep an eye on to the cornerbacks for the Rams in this game. Now got to keep an eye on Aaron Donald. We all know Aaron Aaron Donald. I don't know what I could say about Aaron Donald that already hasn't been saying.
Said before you move into him with the defensive bags, do you happen to know how well they cover in the red zone?
Yeah, well that's that's the they They'll only give it up four touchdown passes overall. So yeah, I mean you teams are struggling to throw the ball whether they're infield or in the red zone, no matter where they're at. These corners, I I the Cowboys have played some good corners. I think these two might be the best ones that they've played against, right, And I know what we went through San Francisco and what they were able to do. We felt like that San Francisco would give up some
San Francisco's corners played great against you. But these guys I think offer a different challenge. And and so you know, I just like I say, be mindful if you're throwing the ball on the outside there.
With regard to that, are they are they the kind of corners that are going to come up press you.
Are They play a ton of zone, play a ton of zone. This is zone. Yeah, this is a zone team. And what they do is they try and funnel things to the inside. But if they feel like they can, you know, when you come up on them, they're good at turning and then going with you, or driving or going downhill where you try and take them on the out undercut underneath. The movement of both these guys are are is really good. You know, It's not like, okay, you're having the like labor. As they're coming out of
the break, they're gonna be a little late. They're going to drive on the football and try and defend it. Or they can stay with you when stay once you get into their area and they carry you in the zone, they're able to stay with you. So that's again, keep your eye on, you know, how the Cowboys match up. I think going against the slot might be the best avenue if you're going to throw the football on that moves CD inside and we all kind of like where
that goes with CD. We know all know, like I say, we all know about Aaron Donald and his ability what okay, Donald plays what we call that under tackle, the three technique, the outside shoulder, but he plays it really wide. He's he's almost like he's playing, you know, a gap over. We talk about a three technique as being on the outside shoulder. He's almost a four where it's a little bit further out. So all of a sudden you're thinking, like, well,
he's tight right there. You can maybe double team. No, they keep him a little wider so he doesn't get double team, but teams try. He gets your watch games where he gets double team, triple team, and then everybody else around him is you know, having to try and and and make plays. But they've they've got the ability with with some of their guys, uh to make that happen.
They he's only got two and a half sacks. But what they they're still doing with him is they like to move him around as far as the left, the right. They like to play him in the twist games.
They put him an end to Yeah, they play.
Him yeah with the that they absolutely do. So they've they've got they've got plans to how to to use him in a way that you don't just get a complete bead on how he's gonna play uh, you know, I mean you gotta you gotta know they're gonna say, well, hey, you know you're going to slide your line this way and this that they try and move him around so that it kind of messes with with your protection in that way. Byron Young is a rookie that they have and he wears numbered zero, so he's easy to find
on the field. But he's a rookie from Tennessee and when he was at He's he's listed like as an outside linebacker, but he's really an edge rusher, and and the way he plays at Tennessee, he was a stand up guy, put his hand down, So he's really really kind of comfortable for this position that they play him in, that edge rusher. He is one of those guys that's got excellent lateral legility. He can flatten the corner quickly. He leads the team in sacks. He's got a burst
in space, he get quarterback, hits her big. He's always in that pocket area. So now you're dealing with Aaron Donell on the inside and then you got Byron Young on the outside. So he's the guy that kind of when they when when there's disruption inside, well, here comes that guy off the edge. They also have another linebacker named Michael Hoyt that plays and he's kind of he's the opposite of Young in the scheme, and he's a guy that is kind of a relentless pass rush guy
that he will bring pressure. He's not as athletic as Young, but it's one of those and you hate to say he's like this, the guy that's the relentless, tryhard but has some game to him. It's just not just run up the field and he you know, he makes plays. He's got some movement to him. So they've got legitimate rushers in on their on their on their defensive line, and they've got when you look at their linebackers, it's really not a dynamic group. But Ernest Jones, the linebacker
is there. He's the best one of the two. Christian Rosenboom is the other one, and he's a I think with Jones, he is a downhill player. He's kind of a sidelined the sideline. He's physical with his hands. You could target him though, and there's some people that have thrown the ball when his guy when he's had to be in coverage. It's kind of a fifty to fifty thing with him. But he's but he's he's he's given
up some plays when you're targeting. Rosenboom is the guy on the other side that they that they put in coverage more and they allow Ernest Jones to kind of play in the box a little bit. Rosen Boom is the guy that covers. He's got an interception and a
couple of pass breakups. So it's a defense that has good couple of good corners attack the nickel, a good inside linebacker in Jones, and then you have to deal with with the pass rush that they're gonna they're gonna give you from three different guys, with Aaron Donald being the best of the three, and Young as the rookie guy, has shown some promise for them.
As it goes protect up front. It starts there.
But what's promising for the Cowboys is as as solid or better than solid as the cornerbacks are for the Los Angeles Rams. We kind of touched on it a few minutes ago. The fact that they lean so heavily on zone coverage versus press man. They're not trying to get up and disrupt the time in and get physical with your wide receivers.
They're gonna they're putting it on you to.
Find the holes in that defense, and the Jets weren't. For contrast, the Jets ran zone or run zone seventy one seventy two percent of the time. In twenty twenty three, Ceedee Lamb racked up over one hundred and forty yards against that defense. The Rams run it seventy seven percent of the time. The opportunities will be there for Dak Prescott to hit these receivers, particularly guys like maybe get Brandon Cooks going, get him sitting down in some of those holes, get him in space so he can get
some Yak as well. It's going to be a good opportunity to get Jake Ferguson involved, get him sitting down in some of those zone holes. So the opportunities will be there. Cowboys just need to make sure that they exploit them when they happen, and that'll start to soften those guys up that much more. And to Brian's point, Ernest Jones, You're gonna hear that name a lot. He's just he's a tackling machine. He really is a tackling machine. This guy has sixty seven tackles in through seven games,
averaging almost ten tackles a game. That's somebody that gets the job done. He doesn't miss tackles. When he gets his hands on you, more often than not, you're going to the ground. So that's something to keep in mind on as well. The playmakers are going to have to make plays for the Cowboys. Be slippery when you get the ball in your hands.
All right, we're going to Well I wanted to ask.
I don't know if you said this, Brian, and I just missed it, but how well do they defend the run? Is this a game where maybe the running game for the Cowboys can be a little bit more.
What you're gonna get with with these guys is they play with a slant front. And when I say slant front, it's where they'll take their guys and they really it's kind of predicated off trying to keep you know, keep their defensive lineman moving. They're gonna attack gaps is what they're going to So you'll see him slant and then bring somebody maybe the safety or a linebacker down on
the other side. So they're trying they're trying to cover all their gaps and with Jones the linebacker, He's gonna scrape that and then find way to get in on the play. I feel like that though, the thing that the real problem for the Cowboys in this game could be the movement of that front, you know, because we've seen where when teams twist on Dallas, they tend to
lose guys in passing. But if you move in there and and say they're trying to you know there there there are a lot of combo blocks that they're trying to do. So all of a sudden, either they're gonna run themselves into into the into making a play, or they're gonna run themselves out of making a play. So the Cowboy just if they if you see a couple of runs that hit, it's probably because the Rams ran themselves out of you know, the Cowboys got it okay
down in distance tendency. Do they slant the front to the strong side where the you know, the strength of the Cowboy offenses, or are they going to try and say do the Cowboys say well, we'll run the ball back the opposite way of our strength and take advantage of maybe them running themselves out of play. But I feel like with their their their down linemen that that linebackers can make plays as far as the Jones I
mentioned him. But you got guys, like I say, up front that playoff blocks well on the move and then can play those gaps. It's a matter of them just kind of seeing if they could widen. These guys and the teams have had not a whole heck of a lot of success when it comes to run I mean, there's a time when the Rams were really really bad playing run defense. I don't think this is one of those times.
They're definitely solid, But it's kind of a wash when you look at it from how the Cowboys are trained in the run game versus how the Rams are treating to run defense. Because right now the Rams are training, I think they're allowing like just over four yards per carry, where the Cowboys are getting just under four yards per carry. So I mean, it's not a situation where I expect that suddenly the Rams are going to shut down what the Cowboys have been doing. I think that's kind of
a wash. And then the only thing that comes to question is, yeah, how does it balance out? And then you look at the return of Jeff Blasco as the run game coordinator like, maybe that's the edge that turns that four yards per game to four and a half or four point seven something like that. But I mean the Rams are pretty solid. They've only allowed nine rushing touchdowns through their seven games.
Is that's a.
Strong number, But so theyve been don't break because they're also averaging as far as allowing yards on the ground one hundred and seventeen per game. So there are opportunities there. Cowboys are going to have to turn those opportunities maybe into one or two home run balls.
We're going to take our final break when we come back. We've heard all the things that they do really well. My question will be what is their vulnerability. Where is the area that Dallas has to attack and has to attack effectively in order to get this win. We'll do that when we come back, Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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Back to the break, The Salvation Army's twenty siventh annual Red Kettle Kickoff returns to AT and T Stadium this Thanksgiving. Get excited to watch one of the one and only Dolly Parton rock the stage during a halftime with your Dallas Cowboys go head ahead with the Washington Commanders. Tune in at three point thirty pm on CBS.
Welcome back n final segment of the break here and then you know the radio guy, my radiar olypic.
Yeah, you got a murderer, she.
Wrote, welcome back the final segment.
We are going to finish this thing off strong.
We're talking the Cowboys offense versus the Rams defense. We've talked about a lot of things that the Rams do well offensively, but this is a team that still is a five hundred is team that being said, where are they vulnerable?
Where is the vulnerable?
Oh, where's the defense? Or there?
I'm sorry, where's the now? Where's the Rams defense vulnerable?
Okay, I'll get this straight one of these days, Derek, I promise you I will. You know, to me, I talked about the nickel in the corner of the nickel corner there with throwing the football, and Patrick's right about the zone coverage. We'll see if Dak kid, Dak usually is pretty good against teams that will play zone coverage. You know, teams that the thing that the thing I can say, I worry about the twisting of the front and pass rush stuff and trying to get Aaron Donald free.
You pick that up and then all of a sudden, now are the opportunities down the field? Are there opportunities in the zone coverage. I just feel like that that Nickel spot, that's the one area that that to me, it's like, okay, if we could go for something, sure, you know the on the you know, we'll you kind of kind of navigate that a little bit. You put your best player on a player that's not their best player.
That's just the matchups that that that I look at right there, I think running the football, like Ambar asked earlier, though, can you can you determine Uh, okay, they're gonna you feel like they're gonna slant. Can we run the play this way? Or are you're gonna be able to pop some runs if they just slant them slant themselves out of a play or out of a front. Now there's gonna probably be a run or two where they're gonna guess right with you and then they're gonna make a play.
That's you know, they're as Stephen Jones like to say, they're getting paid to to do this stuff. But I feel like that if you catch them on the slant, that could be a problem for him. If you catch them in the nickel, which we're gonna which they're gonna see a lot in this game, that'll be a problem for him as well as two are as I would kind of look at.
For me, it's they don't do well at turning the ball over and they don't do well at taking the ball away. They only have three interceptions, of two of which to a dB one is Christian Rosenboom linebacker. The other cornerbacks other defensive backs haven't gotten a takeaway. They have only four forced fumbles on defense and they've only
recovered two of those. So maybe this is a game where the Cowboys get a little bit more frisky as far as the risk mitigation is concerned on offense, because bottom line is the Rams for a solid as a defense as they are, they just don't do well at taking the ball away and giving Matthew Stafford in an offense additional opportunity. So that's something to consider a few the Cowboys.
I was looking at the We were talking earlier about the slot and what you can do against their nickel corner. How much does Dallas use Brandon Cooks in the slot, and should they be doing that even more, it is something that he has in his repertoire, right, do you think that could help this offense and help them get him more involved in the offense.
Yeah, I don't think there's an I think that you could play you play Cooks at any spot you really want to me that. You know, when he with his quickness, I think he's the best route runer in my opinion, I think he's the best route runner you have. He is on this team. So if you put him in the slot, and we always say this about slot players, they have the whole field to at their disposal to run routes. And so if you put somebody like that who is a great route runner, you put him in there,
let him use the whole field. You're probably gonna be able to take advantage of that. You know, I'll say this about Durant. He does have quickness. He is you know, he is a quick footed guy. So but the problem is though he he's a slightly built guy, so he when you put somebody on him that's got a little size to him, that's a problem to him. So that's why I kind of felt like with Lamb and not that Lamb is you know, makes you feel like he's
one of those Eagles receivers or something like that. But he's one of those guys that Lamb as at least got some you know, length to him and then his ability to to to kind of to make those quick catch. We've seen Lamb plenty of times running those crossing routes and stuff, catching the ball on the move and work in the middle of the field. So I just kind of feel like if you use either one of those Cooks or Lamb and you're gonna have an opportunity to make some plays one.
Hundred and anything. To your point, Derek, or to your.
Question, anything that helps get additional touches to Brandon Cook's can only help the Cowboys offense finally get a rhythm. That can only be a positive thing. So whether you're doing it at X y Z, wherever you put him at, just make sure you make it effective. But yeah, I would like to see more of that work on the inside at slot. And that's not to take away from what I would like to see as far as them continuing to use Cavante Turpin in that role as well.
But if we're talking, I mean there are levels to this right, you need to get Brandon Cooks absolutely going, not only for this week, but for the long run and the remainder of the season. Turpin's going to get his touches, and he's shown that he can be efficient
and producing when he does. But let last week or a couple of weeks ago against the Chargers be kind of the flare that goes up and says, hey, Brandon Cooks has arrived in this offense, and build on that as far as consistency is concerned, so that you know, opposing teams really have to try to q in on him as well, because as it stands, they just know that they can q in on Cdland because Cooks hasn't been involved as much as we would all have liked to see it. Let that be, you know, the start
of that change having been in Los Angeles. Let's continue that. Let's ramp that up against the Rams.
Think I mean, sorry, I'm completely distracted.
I went because I went to look just kind of all the games they've played so far in the final score and the stats in each of those. And you know, when you look up certain stats, how they have it is in group by division. So of course NFC West. The Cardinals are in there too, and I just happened to see there's the record right now.
One in six. I'm like, that is so freaking.
Annoying that the one law, that, the one law, the one win for them had to come football the Cowboys freaking annoyance.
But yeah, that strikes and pissed me off.
That's the thing about early NFL season, man, It's it's like you can catch teams with some stuff and get them Like they had a game plan for the Cowboys that was very, very effective, and I would I would venture to say, I don't know this for a fact, but I would venture to say if the Cowboys played them in Week twelve, that same outcome probably doesn't happen. Because Dallas has seen more. Dallas seen more of what they do. They wouldn't have hit it all that seat
all that, you know what I'm saying. There are ways that that all this stuff kind of washes itself out, and I think that's why in the NFL you see a lot of upsets.
That's why it's not just the.
Cowboys, a lot of teams around here around the NFL that have been upset here earlier in the season because It's just it's harder because you don't know exactly what teams are gonna do. Too.
There are teams that play poor in certain cities. Yeah, there are teams that that don't match it. Well, they might match us in the desert, yeah, but there. I mean that the history of the Cowboys playing in Arizona is not a great one.
Talk about spooky season.
Yeah, trust me, it's in the desert. It's been. It's been.
Playing at AT and T that used to it used.
To not be a home field advantage for Dallas, and now they were.
They flipped it.
It's like I think they won ten straight games. There was a time early where playing at AT and T Stadium was not a home field advantage for Dallas when it first opened.
Derek, Yeah, it was.
It wasn't.
It wasn't nearly as loud as you would want your stadium to be when they first opened it. I think now fans have done a really good job here of the last few years of really creating that kind of environment. From credit to Corey Miller and his team as well. They do a lot of things to incite the crowd and get them going. But but yeah, I remember that Brian was. There was a lot of talk about that earlier, like a.
Five hundred team. You were like a five hundred team playing at AT and T. And now, like I say, I think you won ten straight games.
And I actually mentioned that in shameless plug for the Science Lab this week's edition dropped this morning. Make sure you guys check that out on the dot com. But the Cowboys are fifteen science at home, nice fifteen and four at home since twenty twenty one, inclusive of that ten straight at AT and T Stadium. But you factor that into the fact that they've had a rough stretch as far as road.
Games over the first six.
Four of the first six we're at home or on the road, two of which were CALLI trips back to back. They only have one three game homestand that's to come in November. So when you look at how the second trimester shapes out its trimesters now based on like McCarthy's divisions, the second trimester includes a lot of home cooking for the Cowboys and they desperately needed. And you look at the record and how good they've been doing at home, that bodes well.
Let's real quick, I want to hit one more topic. I think This will be the third game now that this starting offensive line will be playing together. I don't think any of us believe that they've hit their stride and are at a point where they've jailed. How much time do you think, legitimately it should take for this offensive line, because I think we all agree, man to if you go down the line, you go.
Man for man. They're good players.
How long do you think it takes in the jail as a unit to get the production that we'd like to see out of them?
I expect four games, four actual regular season games against good fronts, and they've had that forty nine Ers Chargers front. Aaron Donald is about to come to town. So four consecutive games, and now that you're healthy, there's no excuse after this particular game. There's no excuse for you to go into Philadelphia and still be working on continuity as far as this front five is concerned. So for me,
that's a safe mark. Four games. I think anything shorter than that it's kind of premature, you know, inclusive of what were the injuries, who was in, who was out, four games in a row, continuity against strong fronts, they should be ready to go for Philadelphia this is not overlooking the Rams. I'm saying, including the rams going up
against Aaron Donald. This is going to be game This is game three, So as you approach Game four with Philadelphia, you should be you should be right there ready to Yeah.
I think that's the same time frame that I've heard Nate Newton talk.
About big Nate Great, let's go big.
Think that's the same time frame. I will say this. Yesterday, as I was walking to the locker room, I did notice that the line the offensive linemen were the last one I practiced, just working out hand movement, hand placement, all of that. As I'm walking and watching it, I'm like, you go get it, good job. I'm proud of you. That's the way to do it. No, but I was sending the good vibes and my signals.
I'm like, I like it. That's why y'all need to do. So they are working together and working on it. So that's that's the most you can hope for, is for you to put the effort and work at it.
Yeah, this is this will be a good challenge for him this week with Aaron Donald and the and the way that with Young and the other guys and Hoyt the guys we mentioned that could potentially rest the passer. We won't see the twist games and stuff like that. It's going to be a whole different animal when they play against Philadelphia.
Now.
And if they go out there and flop around and struggle running the ball and don't pick up blitzes and you know, miss some assignments and the combination blocks aren't good enough, I'm gonna be really concerned going to Philadelphia because I feel like that will be the best front that you have played the NFL. I know that I know San Francisco, will you know, they'll tell you that
their front is really good, and it is. It's it's outstanding, and but Philadelphia, I think offers a whole different package for you to have to deal with. So I need to see. I don't know if when you when you grade sixty five plays, you know you might see three bad plays. I don't need to see eight bad plays. I need to see two or three bad plays. That's
all I need to see. If they haven't approved by then, I'm gonna have a I'm gonna I'm gonna really sound the alarm when by the time we get to that Philadelphia game, the following week because that that that is going to be so important for them to be able to win that football game, is to be able to control that front the best I can.
That's a WROP. We appreciate you, guys, Jonius.
We'll be back tomorrow.
We're gonna wrap this whole thing up and get you ready for our final views on Cowboys versus Rams. Still then for Patrick walk O'Brian brought us Ambergarci. I'm Derek Eagleton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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