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It's time for the Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com.
Were with Mbar Garcia.
Brian brought us, Patrick Walker and Derek Eagleton.
It is Wednesday, October eleventh, twenty twenty three, season nineteen, episode number fifty. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break. We are a life miss WBC Mortgage Studios.
At the start.
Today we turned the page. We start looking forward Cowboys versus Chargers. That happens this Monday night. And Cowboys are on Monday Night football this week, so they will start their practices today, kind of move everything a little bit forward to get ready for that Monday night game. We'll start getting you guys ready today. Brian will give us a breakdown of the Dallas offense versus the Chargers defense.
Let's start first though, what setting the table.
What are we looking like right now as far as the as far as the injuries aren't concerned going into this week, the things we need to be aware of and keep an eye on.
No changes from yesterday.
LVE and c J good when they're both still expected to be strong candidates for IR. Still looks like it's a possibility for return for LVE after the four to six week period. Cowboys are still working to make determinations there. Calante Turpin still has a chance to practice when they officially get it underway on tomorrow, because Thursday is the Wednesday this week. Jordan Lewis will see how much he does in practice. But like I said, I spoke with him and some other folks on Sunday after the game
and he sounds like he's good to go. Just some soreness, but no structural damage or anything, so that's good. Tyler Biadish with the ankle injury, He's expected to play on Monday night as long as things progress well for him this week. Other than that, I mean, they're, you know, expected to host some linebacker workouts today. The list is not finalized, so we're not gonna address it just yet.
But there's a chance the Cowboys will add one or maybe even two linebackers, and they're gonna need it because they needed for defensive rotation and they also needed for special teams as far as C. J.
Goodwill being out as well, So we will.
Get some real updates tomorrow, particularly when McCarthy is available again. And then when practice kind of starts kicking off, it.
Sounds more and more like, really, when it comes down to linebacker position, Mike is gonna be your answer and they're looking for depth of this.
There I go, Yeah, they're gonna They're looking to go back to the versatility of Micaeh, mixing him as an off ball linebacker and dropping him down at D as needed. And that's kind of what dan Quinn was intimating in his press conference on Monday when I asked him about you know, the what, how do you supplement the loss of lv particularly when you consider that LVE has been
one of your better run defenders. So yeah, that going to be the initial plan, and I think the couple is going to stick to that and we'll see who they can add as far as behind him and Damon Clark, and Bones is definitely going to need another strong special teams guy.
What are your thoughts on Damon Clark right now?
I know we all had high hopes for him when he was drafted, and what we saw from him knowing he was coming off the injury, what we saw from him the rest of his rookie year certainly made me think there was a possibility that he could take a big leap having an entire offseason.
What are you thinking of his play so far?
Better in the New England game and kind of struggled every other game since then. I don't think he's played with the awareness or the downhillness that he normally plays. I just made up a word there, downhillness. But that's what he that's what he does, and you know that's he's going to be a physical player. He's going to be around the ball, he's going to get off blocks. I kind of felt like that he was one of those guys that you know, with him and Van der
Esh paired up, they were so much. They were really a good little combination last year when they got the opportunity, he wasn't as good a player when Anthony Barr was next to him. It was a struggle there. I'm interested to see now. You know, with vander Esch being out of the lineup and him and Parsons, the group will be physical on the back end, There's no question about that.
But you know, demon I just felt like that he was going to be you know, when you look at what Overshown was able to do, and I hate to keep comparing that, but Overshowing plays six plays, he's got three tackles. You know, you kind of expected the same thing with the Moon Clark. You expected him to read, react, get to the ball, finish, and it really has been a struggle. The New England game was his best game
by far. Other than that, it's been it's been kind of just kind of, you know, really playing in neutral for this defense.
Yeah, and with him, I mean, the defense have been playing in its majority so well that it's one of those that you don't really pay much attention to or bring it up to the table because he hasn't necessarily been an issue until it does become an issue too now where we're sitting here and looking, well, who do we have to replace and help here with depth? Oh
where's he at? And like you said, everything, he's become that player that I've kind of obviously I haven't forgotten about him because I know he's on the team and he said a guy that you you want to keep looking to see how he develops. But he kind of has become like going under the shadows and become slightly unforgettable or forgettable the other way, forgettable just because everybody else has been kind of doing so well on defense overall.
But when you do face those games that you're like, okay, you start looking and breaking down those plays and seeing like he has not, unfortunately been that player, Derek, that you mentioned that we have been waiting on.
It's a great point that I think he's been kind of flying under the radar because of, you know, the headliners on defense, My could Tank. The list goes on and on, the league, jay Ron, Treyvon before the team lost Treyvondron Blan, Jordan Lewis Lve. I mean again, list goes on and on. So he's kind of flown onder the radar as far are as not being asked to step up massively in impact games. He's definitely had some flash plays. He had the great game against New England.
A little bit of inconsistency there. So I think he's just trying to string together. He's trying to work it out as a year two guy who's coming off his first full offseason with the Cowboys. Obviously, last offseason he lost that to the next surgery. So it just looks like he's working to figure it out. And when he flashes, he flashes big. When he has a strong game like he had in New England against the New England Patriots at and T Stadium, it stands out. It pops right
off the film. It's just a matter of him needing more reps and guess what, he's about to get more because with Lve going down, even if you look at at you know, going back to the versatility of Michael Parsons, you're really looking at Dumont Clarke to say, hey, we know that you're trying to strain good games together. We really need you to find that next gear and it's going to start as early as Los Angeles.
Now, do you think he'll take that kind those kind of snaps, like I mean, obviously Lve was getting the most snaps of any of the linebackers. That he's going to step up to that role or do you think it's still going to kind of be using it. I want to say, when I saw before he was like roughly fifty percent of the snaps.
I need to go look it up. But you think you'll have more at this point I.
Think that you really it depends on how you want to play Parsons. Yeah, you know, and so it's he he's going to have to he's the most if you look at it, the most experienced, you know, most experience. And now he's only in his second year. But if you look at the number of the number of snaps that he's played, you mentioned if it's fifty to fifty, I'm sure Patrick is going to tell you exactly what it is. But yeah, you know, you're you're you know,
he's out there, he's he's part of it. It's not like they use more keys bell and it's just kind of a part time thing. He's a guy that's been playing. When they go with they like their base where they played at the two linebackers him, vander Esh and then they bring down the safety. You know, that's kind of the look. He's out there on the field. So I assume that he is going to take that role of what vander Esh does.
Agree you're talking about you're losing eighty nine percent of your defensive snaps if once you lose rander Esh and the moon Clark was logging fifty eight percent of the defensive snaps. So I don't know that demon Clark jumps up to eighty nine almost ninety percent, but I think you could see him jump to seventy seventy five percent. And then you make up the difference with who.
Does make up different because Mike is already out there a lot, right, Who makes up the difference?
Is it? Is?
It? Probably one of those guys.
I think it's going to be a combination of Marque's bell and whomever they end up signing. If they end up signing someone from this workout group that they expecting.
But if they do sign someone from the guys so they're working out, are you expecting that person, that player to be ready to go for this game.
My gut would say no, But when you're in dire straits, that kind of forces your hand sometimes.
So I've seen corners playing playoff game.
Yeah, off the shop, absolutely absolutely right about that.
Absolutely happens, but not often.
This is Xavier Roads.
But I mean again, I don't and ideal circumstances, you would like to see more time for the guys to come in. We talked about offline. We talked about Michael Jones yesterday. He's an option for linebacker on the practice squad. But when I talked to Mike McCarthy about him, the expression Mike McCarthy had gave me the indication that they want him more time to ramp up. Okay, well, if that applies there, it probably applies to any one of
these new guys coming in. But again, the difference would be what's the what's the football experience of Michael Jones versus one of these newer guys coming in. So if it's more of a veteran coming in who's more proven and can probably tap in more immediately and be more impactful, then that has.
To go into the conversation as well.
Well. They also like Malik Jefferson. Yeah, and you know that's what we'll see that. That's one of those Malik Jefferson is that you talk about a flash player. There's times where he's been you know, like, okay, I see what you're doing here, first preseason game and then other games you're just kind of like, you know, he's kind of like everybody else getting blocked and you know those things. So they have a lot of faith in him. They do.
They keep them on the practice squad and you know, they elevate him, they bring him up he's been kind of playing special teams and stuff like that. But there's there's going to be this linebacker group, whether who had ever they bring in, the two guys they bring in, it is going to be a piece together unit for at least four weeks until they figure things completely out.
Yeah, there's not one person that you can plug into this LV world and say, Okay, that's the definitive solution. It's gonna you're gonna have to attack it by a committee.
And be nice to have over shown right now?
Who really wan'd you go there? Right in the gest? All right, so here we go.
Let's let's turn the page. Just talk a little bit about the Chargers. This is a two and two team. They're an interesting team because they've had some interesting games. They've won two games against Minnesota, who's won four, and against the Raiders, who are two and three. They had two losses, one of them to Miami, who is looking really over the area, and they only lost by two points, right, and then they lost that Tennessee that was an overtime game.
Tennessee is also two and three. So you don't really know what to think of this team just yet. They are coming off of bye and one other thing that's gonna be really interesting to keep an eye on this week is three of the best players missed the last game. See what health looks like for them coming off the buyo. You at Derwin James, their safety, Austin Ecle, their running back, Joey Bosa, their pass rusher. So three very very good players they didn't have the last game that after a bye,
maybe they get those guys back. It does complicate things for them. Let's start first with going around the table and let's get some storylines. What do you guys think is the storyline heading into this week? What is the biggest storyline for this game.
It's going to be for me, dan Quinn versus Kellen Moore. This is a Cowboys defense that was allowing less than ten and a half points per game through the first four weeks and then forty two point explosion against the team that you really needed.
To send a message against.
So you talk about needing a bounce back in a resilient game, and dan Quinn he's going to have his guys ready. To question is are they going to be ready when they get on that field and they're going against the Kella Moore offense that's you know this, This Chargers defense offense is average and almost twenty eight points per game. So you know you talked about Mike I said last week, something's gotta give. Well, defense gave last week for the Cowboys back in the same equation, something's
got to give. It's either going to be this high powered Justin Herbert and Kella Moore led offense to which will likely have Austin Eckler back on the field, or it's gonna be your world class defense that did not perform last week. So for me, it's Dan Quinn versus Kellen Moore. And then when you mix in the ton of familiarity between those two coaches from Kellen Moore's time here, Yeah, let's circle that for me.
Well, to me, I don't want to come out of this game hearing the word humbling again. Do not say you need to be humbled. That happened in Arizona, and then it happened in San Francisco against the forty nine ers. We heard and the there have been a lot of comments and it's been talked on social media, a whole lot of comments that players made after that loss against the forty nine ers and people have an issue with some of the words that came out.
Of there and shirts and yeah.
Yeah, yeah. So I'm just I want to see a team that really fights, that goes out there. And the thing is, we've seen it. They've had a history of being able to come back after losses. They come back and win and perform well. And that's the frustrating part is that here we are what we were saying yesterday, we don't really know what this team is. We don't know the identity of this team just yet. And that's something that was asked too to several players. They couldn't
even really answer it. Cedie Lamb, he had no answer for that, but again he was pissed after that game. But we don't know what we currently have with this Cowboys team this year, So hopefully we can get some clarity of some sorts. Hopefully things can kind of start piecing themselves together before the Cowboys have their own bite week and that buys them another week of gluing the pieces. But I just we that's I don't know what to call the specific headline for the storyline of this game,
but figure the figure it out. Just when figure it out, put some heart out there and fight and let's see if this thing starts coming in together. Because right now, to me, I know, and I was telling you Patrick before the show, I know, there's a lot of football left to play. There's a lot so much and so much can change, But to me, it just felt like the season is over. It's not over at all. A lot can change, but I need to see I need to see progress.
Yeah, this is week two of your five offensive linemen together, and it wasn't a very good start to the five guys. This week will be even more of a challenge. I don't think Joey Bosa is gonna play this week. The hamstring injury doesn't sound like it's going to allow him to do that. But you still have to deal with Khalil Mack And I think this is a team that sacks the quarterback at the same rate that you sack quarterbacks as well. So we all talk about the Cowboys
pass rush their ability to create pressure. This is another one of those teams. It's not gonna blitz a whole lot in the way they play. They're going to try and get you with four man pressure. They have a lot of guys that walk around and attack you in different ways. They're going to test your blocking scheme for sure.
I think the storyline is this week, can those five guys that we've all waited years, it seems like, to be able to play together, can they pull things together, bounce back and perform better than they did at San Francisco. That's my big question this week.
All right, we're going to take our first break. When we can come back, Brian's gonna start breaking this down for us. Tell us a little bit about this charger defense and that that's a menace that they call Khalil Mack will.
Do it when we come back. Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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It is the second segment of the Break Life in SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. The segment presented by blockchain dot Com. All right, let's go, Brian, give us your assessment of this Chargers defense.
Yeah, they're coming off the bias you mentioned, Derek. They're dealing with injuries throughout their defense. I mentioned Joey Bosa. I think he's doubtful. He's got a hamstring and a tow it's just not going the right way for him. So I think you're going to catch a break right there. They've also Derwin James has been dealing with a hamstring as well, but they sound like he's gonna play. The Chargers are more of a four to three front, but they do play some three four there's a combination of
it there. But because they stand guys up around the line, they show blitz and then they back out, So they're gonna kind of test you. They're gonna test you with their twists and their games that's big for them. They like to move and uh, you make the linemen have to adjust to them. They're gonna cost They're trying to cause confusion with their looks. Their linebackers are key to how this thing operates. I mentioned Bosen mac er list
as linebackers and they're outstanding. They're they're pressure players this unit, Like I said, they've come up with sixteen sacks. Twelve of those sacks were just off the results of just no blitz. That's just them rushing the passer. So they're kind of like you in that way. They're they're gonna they're gonna get guys home and the secondary they're gonna play a lot of man coverage. Uh, you know, right around thirty percent of the well, I just say a lot.
They're gonna play man coverage about thirty percent of the time zone or really the other seventy percent of the time when you watch them, they like to play cover two with those two safeties back in that zone. So you know, there's opportunities for some wide open throws, not as many tight window throws because of the zone. So if somebody's gonna played in a lot of zone, the Cowboys have had some pretty good success against teams that
have played more zone than man. Let's see if they turn around after watching the forty nine ers play that they play more man. I don't know if that's in there, that's in their repertoire as much as their zone. They love just to play the zone coverage and then try and attack you with that front. I mentioned Bosa Mac. They cause problems.
You know.
It's the thing with with with when you look at Khalil Mack and we were talking about it while we were off air here, it's there's so many different ways that he can rush the passer and I'm and when you watch him on tape, he covers so much ground on his first step. So the alignment or the tap are setting, but he's like on them because of just how he just is able to launch himself off the ball and then get onto the blocker and so he just doesn't want the blocker to get his hands on him.
You know, that's his thing. He's going to is he stepping, He's going to swat at you. He's gonna knock your hands down. He's going to try and get to your corner. And then he's trying to get around he'll take that long step and then readirect back in the twist game. And so that's a little bit of a problem, you know when you're dealing. But he's always working up the field. Uh, you know, it's it's it's really impressive to watch him play. You know, he's a veteran guy. Now they've they've done
a really good job since they've lost Bosa. Here twoy tou tou a loup. I'm gonna say this right, tule Tui Puloto is the the the guy who's playing opposite Khalil Mack right now. He's a rookie out of usc and this guy is a powerful player. When you watch him play, he's really really good with his hands. He's quick to get rid of blockers. He's another one of those guys that really really attacks you. Does a really good job of setting the edge and the running game.
But he could also come off the edge and a pat in the pass us. He's a spin or just flat bull rush. And we saw a little bit of some problems with Terrence Steele when he had to deal with a little bit of power. You're not gonna always bull rush Tyrant Smith, but it seems you could bull rush Terrence Steele a little bit more of the two, so you have to be alert for that they're running the run defense is when they play it. Their teams have more success running the ball on the outside than
they do in the middle. Teams have averaging about five yards of carry on the outside only three yards on the inside. So Nick Williams, Austin Johnson, and rookie Scott Madlock, they've done a pretty good job of kind of playing inside and clogging things up. But it also goes back to what their linebackers are playing. And I mentioned where Mac and Bose are listed, but the inside guys are
Kenneth Murphy and Keith Eric Kendricks. Excuse me. These are two veteran guys that are powerful guys that play down hill. There's some violence to their game, especially Murray, and he's a really good job. When you watch him changing directions, you know, he finds himself out of position and all of a sudden he rallies back because of his speed when he sees the ball. He does a great job of getting there finished in the place.
Yeah, yeah he was, Yeah, he really is.
His past coverage is not is good, but everything in the running game with him is like it's a physical downhill player. As I mentioned there, uh there, they have another a guy named a young guy named Nick Newman Nieman excuse me, Nick Neeman, who is the other linebacker. And he's more of the guy that will walk up and then drop or walk up blitz. Uh. He's you know, you got to kind of catch, you know, kind of keep an eye on him. He's smart, he's tough, he's
got really good instinct. He's relentless to the ball, and he's really good in the anticipations, the react plays, the coverage plays, and stuff like that. So keep an eye on those linebackers, especially Murray. In the secondary, I mentioned Derwin James, He's really kind of the glue of that secondary. He's a gifted athlete. He's versatile. You can line him up anywhere at the safeties. You play him up, you play him back, you play him deep. It really doesn't matter.
He's a fluid moving guy. There's no problem with him dealing with They put him in coverage with backs, tight ends, that's not an issue with him. He fits well defending the run. You'll see Number three come flying down hill and he's a really good tackler. He could be disruptive. He can make plays behind the line of scrimmage when he gets up there. So you got to be aware when three's hanging around, try and get a hat on him, because if you spill the ball one way, you know
they've had some trouble on the outside. But you know they're gonna try and I have a feeling they're going to try and run him more into position and make some of those outside plays that they can. I think is Sante Samuel is their best corner on the squad. He's not the biggest guy, but he's not afraid either. You'll see him line up on both sides. I didn't see a lot of traveling. I just saw they play
right and left. Some days they're on the right, or sometimes they're on the right, sometimes they're on the left. I didn't really see him traveling with you know, like they had a chance to travel with Adams with the Raiders, and you know he was matched up a little with Adams, but it was more about just Adams was on that side of the field and that's how they kind of dealt with it. Though, So a scheme requires him to play a lot of off coverage, but man, he could
play man if he had to. Again, if the coaching staff decides Dallas can't get off the press, we need to press these guys, we need to attack them at the line, then he's got the capability of doing that. The guy on the other side is Michael Davis. He's a lot longer, a lot taller, but I don't think he's as good and that the build. I think his long, rangy build hurts him in his ability to move, especially in zone when they run up on him and he has to turn and then go. There's just not that
burst that quickness. I mean, he's kind of a little bit of a stiff moving player that way. So maybe they'll again walk these guys up. But I think that if there was a guy to kind of go after in this game, Davis would be the guy because I look at Samuel. He's a ballhawker and and you know, when you throw the ball at stretch, you gotta be careful. He'll undercut routes, he'll jump routes, he will you know,
down the field. He might be a short guy, but he does a good job of playing you and putting himself in position to make plays that well, so the nickel is j Sir Taylor. He's a little bit of like Samuel. He's a smaller guy. There's a quickness to his game, willingness to come forward and tackle us. So of the primary of the three corners that are going to play in this game, the one I would go
after is Michael Davis. That's the guy that lacks the top end speed and the quickness that maybe the Cowboys could take advantage of a little bit.
Let's talk a little bit about Khalil Mack. Obviously we know how good he is, but if you look back at his season so far, he had all the sacks in one game, six sacks came against the Raiders. There were three other games where he had zero r What did the other teams do? How did they keep him?
The Raiders don't have a very good tackle group. That's their problem. I think the Raiders. Yeah, I think the Raiders with you know, with Colton Miller and guys like that, they're just not very good and I think they've struggled with that for a long time. The Raiders got in a situation too, where they had a rookie quarterback. We're playing in that game, so you know sometimes when you get in a situation, these tackles are not used to where quarterbacks are going to set. But they did do
a very good job of handling. The thing about the Chargers pass rush is all that movement up front, you know. I mean, they get guys home on the rush, But like I say, Mac to me, once they find somebody that they can deal with or somebody they can attack, they're just going to do that. I didn't think the Raider the Raider tackles were good at all, and as a matter of fact, the Raider offensive line as a whole, I didn't think we're very good in this game with
the pressure they gave up. Minnesota had problems with these guys too with the pass rush as well.
We saw last week that Terrence Steele, particularly on the right side, had some issues trying to stop Nick Bosa. How do you compare Bosa's game to Tokli Mac's game?
Is it is it a similar type rush style or is it very very different and that may help or hurt?
Well, yeah, steal both both guys are. I think both guys are power players. Like I say, if Bosa I said last week, if Bosa reads you setting soft he'll just take you straight to the quarterback. He'll lower his head. I think Mac is a more of a physical I mean physical when is how big he is and his ability to just play with power that way. I Bosa to me is more of a slippery player, where Mac is a guy like I said, that first step he gets on you, so now he's now he's on you,
and now he's swatting hands. The really good pass rushers have that ability to kind of break down blockers that way, And with Mac, I think he does it with more power. I think Bosa does it with more slipperiness, more that of trying to like dip underneath. But it's not to say both those guys can lower their heads and take it to the quarterback if you set soft on them.
I think the Cowboys, especially being that this is the second game that they'll have their full five, I think you will see a little bit more chemistry there. And this is a Chargers team that you know, while Khalil Mack cannot be underestimated and yeah, see what you're saying. The Raiders let him tee off to the tune of six sacs. But he was zero zero zero before then all of that's true, and no one is positioning it. As you know, don't worry about Khalil Mack, worry about
Khalil Ax. But the fact, the fact is the fact. One is what you said. Another is that the Chargers defensive front, they only get pressure on the quarterback around thirty five percent of the time. If you want to compare that against against what the Cowboys do, the Cowboys get pressure forty five percent of the time. It's so it's not that the Chargers are insanely good at getting pressure and getting into the defensive offensive backfield. I should
say it's they've been efficient with it. So they have sixteen sacks, and you can extrapolate and say, well, six of those belong against the Raiders, and that's completely fair and much the same way you could say, well, the Cowboys defensive stats got wildly skewed by what happened in San Francisco. The fact is it happened, though, right, So
if it happened, it happened. So the Cowboys offensive front, I don't think they'll have as hard of a time as they had against San Francisco's front, simply because, and particularly if Joey bos is not on the field. But even if Boso it was on the field, you're not looking at a team that gets into your backfield a ton.
It's just when they get.
Back there, they tend to get home far more often than the Cowboys would in that same capacity, Because the Cowboys have fifteen sacks on forty five percent QB pressures sixteen sacks on thirty five percent. So you see what I mean. If the Cowboys got more efficient and got home more often when they get into the opposing backfield, then they would just be unbeatable. But kudos to the Chargers. They can get back there. But it's not a situation where Cowboys can't handle it.
Like I don't.
Look, I don't go into this game feeling that the Cowboys can't handle Khalil Mack and company. I feel like they can. They just need to make sure that when he's back there. Goes back to what we were talking about. Is Dak Prescott going to be more decisive and saying, Hey, this play is broken down, let me use my legs to try to keep this alive, keep this drive alive.
Well that's the question. We haven't seen that yet, And one of that's best qualities is the fact that he's So what's where I'm looking for mental like.
His ability to stay mentally tough.
Mentally tough and he can stay in and like it doesn't really affect them. We've seen games in the past that it has. But yeah, but my thing is, how is last week's game going to affect him and the way they play, like as far as whether good or bad, Like, are they going to try to be more let him
be more free and run with the ball? Is he going to take those changes chances with throwing the ball given the fact that now in that game, was it three interceptions that you got against the forty nine ers and yeah, and you can are You're like, you know, at that point you have.
To take put the Cowboys in the same position the Cowboys put other teams in and said, now you have to throw the ball, and when you do, we're going.
That creates a chance for sure. But it's just like where is the mentally is he adding the mental part of like he's gonna go out there and ball out and like have one of those games or is he in that mental area where it's going to do the opposite. And now you're just kind of questioning because the whole thing. I don't know the whole thing with like some of the vibes I've been getting with the play calling and
people being a little disgrown tool. It's like, I don't know if that's about to become an issue or if it's just what happens. You're upset the game went the wrong way you expected to go that way, and everybody's pissed, and you're just now speaking words because out of the
emotions you're going through. But I don't have a clear understanding of the current situation of where they're at right now as far as like, are they bought in to this new offense style, the what Mike McCarthy is implemented here.
I mean, there have to be questions, I would think for every player on that offense. You look at the offense this year, and you look at the offense last year, which I'm sure in their minds they're at least doing, and they're saying last year seemed like we were moving the ball a little bit easier. It seems like we were getting more things to work offensively. So yeah, there
have to be questions. Now, I don't know that that means that they've necessarily like he's lost the offense, and now they won't they you know, they want to go back to all but.
They certainly have to have some questions.
It would be natural for them to have questions at this point about what's happening and whether they think it's moving in the right direction or not. And certainly, you know, whatever level of frustration, I think that's all part of Also, when you lose a like you lost the other night, there's gonna be a lot of frustration, and you're gonna point to a lot of different things as players, and you've probably done some of that's probably gonna be like I want the ball. I think what we saw from
CD was I can help us win. I'm not getting the opportunity to help us win. Makes me frustrated, right, And we heard from McCarthy, we heard Jerry on the on the fan earlier in the week.
They both said the same thing, like, that's what we expect from him.
He is a he's that type of player where he wants to be a part of the solution, and that's the frustration. So I think that's just the natural part of the offense not functioning as everyone expected it should.
All Right, We're gonna take our first break and we come back.
We'll get into a little bit more on the Cowboys offense then when we come back.
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Back to the break.
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Welcome back.
We were in the final segment of the break. We're talking Cowboys versus Chargers. I want to talk a little bit about the offensive line. This last game, the Cowboys offensive line gave up four sacks, nine quarterback hits. On the ground, they only were allowed only able to rush nineteen times for fifty seven yards. Although I don't I
think the numbers are a little misleading. There was a decent running game in that last game, But how did you guys think the offensive line for the first time of having them all together performed as a unit, and what can they build on?
I guess going into this week against.
The Chargers, I just felt it was a little bit disjointed, which makes sense when you consider that when was the last time the Cowboys had their whole front five, So it makes sense that they're going to need more actual game reps. And Tyler Smith before the game, he talked about how it feels good to get the rollover the training camp reps over to the regular season, and that's wonderful in theory, but when your first read season game is also against the San Francisco forty nine ers front,
it's kind of like, good luck with that. So I don't They didn't fare poorly, but it was a lot of disjointed play as they tried to figure out each other's time, and particularly on the left side, as Tyler and Tyron try to get together because they've not played in that rotation at all. Obviously, Tyler Smith this is only his second year. Last year Tyrone's injury, then he was on the right tackle and all of that, and then Terrence Steele. He struggled. We talked about it. He
struggled to contain on the right side. So I expect a better performance against Los Angeles second game back for this particular set up front. And also it's a Joey Bosa list team possibly likely, but even if Bosa is on the team, I mean, we've seen Terrence Steele farewell against Joey Bosa, albeit with some chip help and things like that. But I mean Terrence Steele's first start we talked about a couple times in Los Angeles.
He helped negate Joey Bosa. So it can be done.
Let's see what this front does with another game under its belt, because it just wasn't great. And I mean saw and it's rare that you will say this, but I even saw Zach Martin get beat a couple of times. I mean, that forty nine defensive front. They just had their way. I don't expect that you're going to continue to see Zach Martin get beaten on a week to week basis. So I think it'll be a better outing this time.
That's what I was gonna say. Like to me, it was really weird coming out of that loss and seeing how they performed, because yes, we can talk about they haven't played all five together in a long time, and you do want to have that continuity and know the timing of everybody and what everybody is doing. But we've seen each individual play or play and we know what they can do. So what was odd to me is that there were so many occasions where people were getting
beat one on one. You mentioned Zach Martin, Terren Steele. We saw that continuously too, and different guys, like everybody was beat at a certain time. So that was the odd part because yes, you can talk about continuity, I can't say that way, but at the same time, individual we know what that player is and what can do and what has done in the past. So how are they constantly because everybody at one point or another, just like they just didn't look like themselves individually.
I think not.
I think this is a fact when it comes to the offensive line, and you make a great point. Individually, each one of these guys can play at an elite level.
We've seen it consistently. That's fine, but when you put them all in this particular combination, there's also timing in chemistry and there's a bit of telepathy that has to happen between you and the guy next to you to the point where, and it's only established by reps in actual game reps, to the point where if you feel like you know this guy is coming this way, I'm going to block this and hand this off because this guy is gonna take this for me because I have
another blitzer here. If you do that and this guy doesn't know that you're going to do that, then that guy might end up coming free. And then now this guy comes free, and now that pressure is allowed by you and or him.
So there's a whole it has to move as a unit.
And that's one thing that Zach Martin talks a lot about when he talks about combo blocking with Terrence Steele and how the page that they operate on that at the moment is lacking between Tyler and Tyrone because they don't have the same number of reps, so there's not the telepathy that exists between Terrence Steele and Zach Martin and Zach Martin and Tyler Baddish does not quite exist to that level between Tyler Smith and Tyler Baddish, and
not at all between Tyler Smith and Tyron Smith because they simply don't have the reps together. So individually you can be stellar, but when you have to operate as a unit, as the offensive line has to, there has to be some type of telepathy between each player to say, hey, I know what your timing is, I know what your movement is, I know what your weakness is, and I know how to mask that.
And you know what mine is and you know how to mask that.
So that only comes with reps, though, and the more reps they have, and that's why it's key that this unit remain healthy, because the more reps they have, the better chances they're going to have of being that formidable force in front of deck later in the season when they really have to happen.
But the other part is we've seen it, and I absolutely get your point and totally agree with it. But where it's weird and odd to me, it's like we've seen the backups go in and they be okay and manageable.
So you we've seen it constantly with this line having completely different components, different guys that have to go in less inexperience, let's experience guys go in and be okay, be okay, like handle it, so that That's where I'm going with the whole like, it's odd that they performed that way because everybody has had their time healthy and
in there. They have the experience at a certain sorry, at a certain level, and we've seen it when backups go in and it's not and we've talked about it the earlier weeks when a few of those backups went in, Oh my god, I'm blaking and sho my doga Arizona all of those going in, and that wasn't the reason why they lost the game. They were still being able to set, would run the football and everything, which.
I believe is more of a credit to those young guys stepping up and stepping stepping in and stepping up than it is to discount the point that chemistry across the line matter. So, for example, Arizona, Hoffman and TJ. Bass those are two backups, and they were playing right next to each other. Well, guess what they're doing in practice every day playing right next to each other getting
second team reps. So there was already at least some type of chemistry between Hoffmann as a backup center and TJ. Basz coming in as a guard. So the chemistry definitely is there. But when you have when you have to move pieces around and it doesn't fall apart, that's.
A credit to two entities.
One those players that have come in and stepped up, but also the offensive line coach and his ability to put guys in the right places and when they need to be putt.
You're right, Ambar. Individually, they were bad. They were bad individually that Terrence Still individually was not good in that game. Uh be Ottish wasn't good in that game for you know, it's a couple of times he struggled. Tyler Smith individually was not very good in that game. A lot I could do with that. That individually that when you have breakdowns, it's you just you're not good enough on that particular play.
And I think that happened more times than not in that football game, that where they where they were able to, uh you know, when it came down to, Okay, hey we have to win this block at the point of attack, they weren't winning that block, or hey we have to be able to you know, we're gonna throw this three step drop here, We're going to run a slant or whatever. And they weren't individually good enough. I think that was a huge problem in this game.
Yeah, I agree with you, Brian, because typically what I what I look at is like, are they are they beating them with a lot of finesse? Are they beating them with twists? And they're beating them with stunts like? That wasn't what I was seeing a lot of times. That was one time when I saw I think it was hard grading, but it was one of the defensive tackles. Literally, Yeah, there were two offensive linemen blocks split them.
He split them and went and made the tackle in the backfield.
Right, That ain't about anything other than like that is not about miscommunication. That to me is about the fact that you just got beat. And that's why I think in some regards we're kind of burying the lead on this on this part of the conversation, which is that defensive front.
I think on that day was just better. I don't know that it was so much about You're right.
I do think chemistry matters, and I think it matters a ton for an offensive line, But the fact matter is on that day, I think the problem was way more they just got out.
I think the problem was everything.
The problem was that this was the first time this five man Combo has seen the field for the Cowboys. In addition to look who they're going up against, arguably probably not arguably anymore the best defensive front, and that best defensive front could not have been firing on all cylinders any better than they were on Sunday.
So all things that could have gone wrong went wrong.
I mean, the chemistry wasn't there for the Cowboys offensive line because they haven't played this front as this front. Then you look at who they were playing, then you look at the caliber or the level at which they were playing. I mean, yeah, the chemistry wasn't there. Individuals got beat, then they got demoralized, and then it just got worse.
They were better equipped to handle forty nine ers offense, excuse me, their defensive line. They physically got beat up front. That was a big, big issue in that football game. You were better at guard to handle those defensive tackles. You really didn't handle it all that well. That was a problem.
All right, We appreciate you, guys, Jones. That's a rap for us. We'll be back tomorrow.
We'll dive into the Cowboys defense versus his Chargers offense. That will be a challenge and that will be a fun matchup to watch until tomorrow for Patrick Walker. Brian brought us Ambergarcia. I'm Derek Eglton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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