Cowboys Break: Has Dak Met Expectations?

We're locking s WBC Mortgage Studios at the starts the bye week, so we're gonna do some big picture stuff pretty much all week this week. Today, we're gonna focus in on the offense. Um, what I'm gonna do is we're going to go through every single player that has a role on this offense that plays decent time. We're

going to talk about expectations. We're going to talk about whether they are above expectations, below expectations, or right at expectations of where you thought they were going into the season compared to where they are seven games into the season. How's everybody doing today? Great? Good? So good? See some problems with this? Really great? Do you see some problems with what this the premise of your game because my expectations and Dave's expectations and your expectations. Yeah, so that's

the point that they can all chime in. Honestly, that's the point of the game is because I want to know not only how they're playing, but how they're playing relative to what you thought they would be when we

went into the season. And this comes It stems all the way back to the difference that Dave and I have with grading players with Avali grading on a curve because it's like whether or not you thought they would be great or not, as he's still good, yeah, you know, is like is a Mark Cooper like still having a good year or you know. But here's why it's important.

The reason why it's important, in my opinion, is because if the if the team went into the season and they expected this player to be at the middle level and they expected this play player to be great, then they factor all that into how they build a team. Right, oh, the team. Now that now we're on the team's expectations, I'm gonna say, yes, yes, but I'm I'm talking about it.

But you give my point though, and because of that then If a player is meeting expectations, then that means for the overall team and how they composite, how they built the team, they feel like, Okay, we're getting what we need out of the different players were getting. If you've got too many guys following below expectations, whether those expectations were high or middle, middle, or low, then that's when you run into problems. That's because what you built

isn't performing as it should. Does that make sense? I feel like I'm talking to a lawyer. But yeah, I understand what I'm saying. It makes sense. Okay, good. I just I'm sitting here, I'm doing the math in my head already, like okay, above, above, maybe below, blah blah blah. And I'm like, how does that jive with the fact that the team's four and three and lost to the Jets,

because that's not where I thought they'd be. Well, Thursday, I'm glad you up will get into the big overall where they are as a team that is relative where they can't like this is this This is a multi year trend where like I start asking the questions that Derek is trying to save that's just what I do. He just kills shows. Yeah, I'm sorry. Well let's just say this though, that was a really bad loss until last night. Then it was just loss loss. They beat

the Eagles. It was great, and that's what I mean. We talked about it yesterday, is like, how good should you feel about that? And you're allowed to feel good about it. It's a division rival. They beat him really bad. They're above five hundred on top of the Vision, all that good stuff. But man, it was hard to turn that on and watch it and not I mean, it's stung. You're sitting like this team is trash. They're they're awful, and even I mean, oh Sam Darnold's back, maybe they'll

be good. No turns out. All you gotta do is blitz him even a little bit and he falls apart a terrible How did they lose that game? That's what that's the crazy part, because it did. It was a buzz kill because you're riding high off Sunday and then you watch Dad and you'll like, I've never felt that victory. Monday vibe just sucked away so quickly as I did when I turned that game on. Literally, Sinica looks over at me at one point it's like this is the

team we lost to last week. Yeah, that's the team we lost to last week. It's been an interesting first seven weeks. Yeah, all right, So let's jump into this conversation on expectations we've got. I'm gonna run through this list of the different players. We'll also get to some some bigger picture stuff around that. I'll talk about the running offense, passing offense, the red zone offense. But let's start first with some of the players. Let's talk about

Dak Prescott. Let's start with the big guy. Has he performed above expectations, at expectations or below expectations? And again, I want you to factor in all seven games, not just the last game, or not just the last the three before that where they lost, factor in the entire body of work he's been. He's at expectations. For me, I expected him to have his team above I mean you could almost you could almost say below, but his stats have been pretty good, So I will say at expectations.

I agree with that, and I'm I'm the guy that grades on a curve. But he's not the fourth He's not a fourth round pick anymore. He's a guy that's trying to be a franchise quarterback and get the money that goes along with that. So it's hard for me to say above Yeah, they they're four and three. They're four and three. At the very least they should have beat the Jets, but they should have gone two and one against those three teams and they went oh and

three instead. I agree. I think he's at expectations. I think we've seen a massive jump and improvements between year three and four, and a lot more confidence. He's playing well. I don't have his stats in front of me, but the touchdown to jar Win the other net, so he's at twelve touchdowns. I just I'm writing a story about the Cooper trade right now. Like he was averaging one hundred and eighty passing yards and less than a touchdown per game at this point in the season last year. Obviously,

he's playing much better than that. He's made a couple of you know, the pick against the Eagles was ugly and the one against the Dolphins, but I'll take that because he's playing more aggressive and I think he's playing really well, but not above expect I say, and we're not gonna do this with every player you could every player you could say they're four and three, but quarterbacks obviously get linked to two records, and so that being said,

I think it's, you know, right out of expectations. Yeah. The interesting thing to note though, he is right now seventy percent completion rate, he has two over two thousand yards, he's got twelve touchdowns. I mean, the seven interceptions is the part that that certainly would bother you. But when you look at that overall, I think then and again

I'll point out one thing in particular. I think his ability to throw the ball down field with more accuracy is much better this year than it was last year, and that's the part of their game I felt like they needed to improve the most, because if you're gonna have teams that are gonna suck down and they're gonna have eight guys in the box, you're gonna have to

be able to kill him down field them to back up. Now, they haven't been able to do that consistently across all seven games, but by and large, I think he's way better there, and that's where I would give him. May I certainly think he's had expectations. Maybe you can get him a little bump above, but I get what you guys. Well, and I'll let me say this about Dak. Either they were three and four last year they traded for a Maori, all of a sudden, the offense got better. I think

you could put that on him. Look at this year without any of their receivers, you know. I mean, when he has Gallup and Cooper in the lineup, they're three and oh whether they or not in the lineup, they're they're one in one in three because they were able to win the Dolphins game without Gallup, But when he doesn't have those guys and definitely doesn't have both of them, like the Jets game, they don't win. So I don't

not just comparing him to Aaron Rodgers. No one is Aaron Rodgers, but you could see a guy that makes these other guys around him better, and Dak's not at that point yet. So yeah, that's fair. Um, It's so funny because what I was thinking is, like, if you beat the Jets, obviously if they should they should have.

If they beat the Jets and he finds a way to win that New Orleans game, you I mean, he wouldn't be like the leader in the clubhouse, but like he would probably be on like the shortlist of like MVP talk. Yes, you know, like with the way that he's played, and I mean if ifs were fifth fifth, we'd all be drunk. I get that. But I mean it's a fine line. He's played really well. As what I'm trying to say, he really has um, but not

above expectation. Yeah, somebody just tweeted at me and said, you know what, you're down twelve to ten, why don't you just let Maha kick a seventy yard at field goal instead of doing the hell marriage We kind of talk talking about the Saints game, We kind of we sort of mold that over in the Superdome. We were like what I was saying was it was especially with him, you know Russian like that. I would have tried the hard count if anyone could hear, but I would try

the hard count. See if you can get a five yard pilming, if you get a five yard pilny in the sixty five yard or let's go get some adrenaline going the one from Sunday Night would have gone in from sixty five. So yeah, I mean that that's where he is as a weapon, right as you put him back there, Like he may not make that thirty three yarder, but he is a weapon you get beyond fifty and sixty, Like, seriously, think about no, I get it. It's just he doesn't

make layoffs, but on half court shot people will kill him. Right, And that's the part where it does affect your ability to maybe win some games if you're willing to do that, win some games that maybe you wouldn't win otherwise, right, you know, Yeah, all right, Let's me on to the next player, Zeke Elliott. How's he performed above at or below expectations? At again at I mean top five pick ninety million dollar contract. He's been. He's been really good.

But when you're talking about the amount of money involved, like I don't begrudge fans for wondering where the long runs are and the you know, the jaw dropping stuff that makes Red Zone channel cut in and like, oh my god, you have to see what Zeke did. I mean, he's been really good, and there's no doubt that he sets the tone for this team, But I can't say

he's playing above expectations. The greatness from him in the consistency. Yeah, and he's been he's borderline being below expectations, really really he'd be he'd be closer to that than he would

be above. Yes, because because of fumble in New Orleans. Yeah, I mean he had and when he got here, you know, now he he got here without a training camp and he's been when you factor that part, and I know you always think that guys are going to have, you know, have a huge drop off, so he hasn't really had that, right, But I think it's just add expectations. You expected him to be one of, you know, probably be the best running back in the league, and he's just he's right there.

I wish and not necessarily on him, like I wish he was more involved in the passing game. I mean, how many times are we going to say that? But you know, other than like the no I actually I thought quietly, six catches for thirty six yards against the Eagles, like I'd like to see that on a weekly basis even. I mean, it doesn't sound like a lot, but it really does help. It moves the chains, you know, when he was just running into a brick wall time after

time against the Saints. There's other ways to use him that could maybe help you with that. And it's ridiculous that you go a year between seeing him run a wheel route. He did it against Detroit in eighteen in Green Bay in nineteen, Like, maybe he could do that more often than once per season, just stuff like that.

Right now, he is sixth in the league in yards per attempt, which is not a bad thing to be obviously, expectations might be higher than that, but he's also fifth in the league and attempts per game, so he's getting the bass, it's in a significant amount of times, and again maybe getting him more involved in the passing game would help. Really. I think, as you guys said, the big challenged there as he's not getting the big, big

chunk yard plays that you'd expect from him. But you know, still that's a pretty good number to be, what fifth or six with the yards per attempt because he is a short yardage back pack. He's gonna get third and one, he's gonna get the one yard or two yards here, So that kills your average there. What helps is getting those thirty and forty yard runs, which he doesn't have, so that means he's getting a healthy amount of ten

and eleven yard runs. Yeah, they're not going to cut into the red zone channel with that, but if you keep doing it. Obviously, I haven't checked on it since the Eagles game, but again, I mean, I think he leads the league in terms of explosive runs if you consider that an explosive run is only twelve yard and changing the word on that explosive to me, I think it's it speaks to how hard it is to get running room in the NFL. I think that's fine. Twelve yards if you get a first down on one touch,

that's explosive to me. I agree, Yeah, I think that's But he definitely doesn't lead the league in terms of you know, twenty thirty forty plus, and you'd like to see more of that. I'm not going to kill that's an explosive pass play sixteen ye eighteen. The parameters are a lot lower than you would says Witten gets I mean, how often does Jason get that? Say? He has maybe a few in the career. Yeah, like an eighteen yard fumble. It's true, he doesn't do it often. All right, let's

take our first break when we come back. I'm gonna ask you about Tony Pollard. Then we'll move into this offensive line. We're gonna move move quickly, all right. Then we'll come back back. This is the Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Well, a player could look good on paper, it's one he's out on the field that you really find out what he's made of. That's why the Cowboys rely on more than just stats and scouting reports when building their team. When picking a tractor, it's why you

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Back to the Break Welcome back to the second segment of the Break. Lock Nest WVC Morgy Studios at the Star We're talking about expectations for this team. We talked about the quarterback in the running back. Tell me about Tony Pollits. He's been above expectations, below er at expectations, below expectations. That is that entirely his fault. None of it's his fault, but it's below expectations. I expected him to be the gadget player that would be, that would

be similar to Alvin Kamara. Okay, so let me ask you this. Does it change your answer? If I tell you a little later we're gonna actually talk about expectations for Kellen Moore and the offensive, it doesn't change my answer. But because what I'm saying is that sept To me, that separates out what For me, it separates out Tony Pollard from how he's being used for what I've seen in the plays that I've seen. That is a different like when you're talking about met expectations. To me, he's

been above expectations the plays I've seen him play. He's actually played above what I thought he would play. He's okay, but he's not being utilized enough. That's on Kellen Moore. If he can't what if he doesn't know where to line up? What if he doesn't. What if he's not get Well, that's an assumption. I'm not making an assumption. I'm saying based on what I've seen, I don't know if I buy that. Because he blocked the hell out of that guy on the first snap of the second night.

I just wonder why they're not using that. Okay, Well, we have a history with this team of seeing a lot of players alf talent that not that are underutilized, and I would say he's at the expectation of the talent that I expect him to have and we're not seeing it. I don't put that on him. So fine, Okay, yeah, Tony Pollard's at expectation, But I say at not above because spent the whole offseason telling me how awesome he is and like basically intimating that you might not need Zeke.

I mean, they basically did that, and obviously it was posturing, but you believed it enough to even say it to begin with. So, but what we saw in training camp for him to come out and have you know, this kind of numbers, it is below the expectations that I thought they'd have for him. Put it on him, Kellen Moore, whatever, I'm not sawing him a bad player. I'm just saying

I've expected more. I get lead back at camp. I just look at it as some of the things I've seen him do on the field are better than where I expected him to be at this point in his career. Now they're not utilizing him enough, and you're right, it could be that there's something he's doing to make them not when you I don't know that. What I know

is in the opportunities they've given him. That run he made last week, that that level of balance I didn't expect that he had, Like that is that is an extraordinary run that I didn't necessarily think this guy would necessarily be able to provide. Me. I'm not gonna let I'm not gonna let them off the hook for that.

And now I mean no, no, no, but it's it's no. I'm gonna go as far as to say, like none of it is Tony Pollard's fault, because at every step of the way, like all through training camp, like do you trust him to block? Do you try? Like really, he's your number one guy. Where's Darius Jackson and Alfred Morris And they're like no, Like every step of the way, he just impresses us, like, every time we put more on his plate, he can do this, he can do that.

We totally trust him way more than we thought we would. Like, these are all things that they said, Could this also be a situation where because I do think in this last game we saw Tony Pollard out there with Zeke more frequently. Could this be a situation where up until this point, the reason why he hasn't been utilized as much as because they don't want to take Zeke off the field. And we know how important Zeke is, we know how good Zeke is is. That could that be

part of it? And now they're starting to realize, hey, we could put them out there together more frequently. That's how you get it more involved rather than necessarily having to take Zeke off the field. Yes, I'd be okay with that. I don't like I mean, the guy played receiver in college. Like, there's so many different ways you can do this, and that's I keep I like this analogy is like that, it's so paint by numbers. They're like, well, we have Zeke. We can't take Zeke off field. Nobody

said you had to do something different. Fun you think that would have been different if during training camp you had Zeke there, which meant you could have Zeke in the backfield and now you could actually practice him out of very fair assessment that he wasn't able to do those kind of things because he was the number one running back. Okay, I didn't even really think about that until you just said it. But yeah, that's probably one

of the reasons. What that kind of hurt him with that, And I wonder if that's a I wonder if that's something he can pick up in season with a limited amount of reps. Like you know how it goes during the season. Everything this week might be a week, but you know how during the season it's it's very tough to get reps outside of just installing the offense. Right, Yeah, I wonder how much they can really build those skills

and teach him. Okay, here's what you gotta do on this play as a wide receiver playing whichever one of the positions you want to play you want to play him at. I wonder if that's something they can develop now or if they have to wait all the way till the next offseason. There's probably something in between that to where you can start working on parts of it and get him involved in certain parts of it without giving him the whole thing. I would guess. I'm not

a football coach, okay, but I know shocking. All I want is for number twenty to line up in the slot motion across the formation. It could be an orbital thing like we saw from Tavon, it could be straight across the formation. And I want him to be right there at the mesh point when Dak snaps the ball, and sometimes I want it to go to Zeke and sometimes I want him to take it. And I don't think that would be very hard to pull off. I just don't because Tavan does it all good. Point, absolutely,

you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Just get your very fast, talented playmaker onto the field and put him in position to make place. All right, let's move on. I want to talk about this one from the standpoint of the unit, the offensive line above at or below expectations below below below expectations. It's amazing that we all agree on that one. It's it's just a statement about how high the expectations are. Yeah, and okay, they've been banged up, so you know they that those injuries cost

him a game maybe two. You can go down the I mean Tyrone has been banged up. We know that. Zach Martin, I mean he he might be playing like the worst football of his career right now. And I mean that sounds I don't like that the way that sounds coming out of my mouth, because I still think he's a hell of a player. But he's been dealing with this back injury. We've talked about it. Nobody played very well against the Saints. He didn't have a great

game against the Jets. I'm sure that's part of it, but those are the expectations that come along with being at all pro every year of your career. We talked the other week too about Frederick not have not playing up to his standards and if we would have started Looney and I feel like we're talking about Connor Williams that if you want to put into a filo, I think it's just every player and earlier, I mean, even the guys filling in for injuries. I just they haven't

been performing to the standards that this offensive line has. Okay, so good day, um My guy Lyle has been killing it though I know, I mean he lost the game to injury too. But he stepped right back in and kicked Brandon Graham's But the other night, I guess you would say ad expectation because they paid him very well. He got that extension, So still hard to say above, but he's playing very well. I'll say this, when you look at how he played last year compared to this year,

I think it's above expectations. My expectations for him were not that he would be the best right tackle in football through what was that Week five? I think it was before he went on the injury. Doesn't it kind of I mean, I'm going along with Nick here, like, doesn't it kind of reset your expectations when he gets a sixty nine million dollars extent or whatever it was? Yeah, it was a lot. No, No, we'll tell him. Let me just say this, and I may be a little

different on this. I know fans are out there saying absolutely. I've just over the years, I've come to believe, Look, you pay the guy, you get him in the building. Because you don't pay, you're not paying necessarily for how

the guy plays. I think a lot of times you're paying for what it would cost to either replace him, or you're trying to figure out what the market value is relative to that position, and if you think you have a good one, then you kind of have to pay at the top part of that market, right, So there are a lot of factors involved in that that aren't necessarily saying because I give him a top contract means he's a top player, I think, especially at the

quarterback position. I just think there's a lot of other factors. So I don't not for me so much just answering your question, that doesn't factor in so much for me. But that all being said, I still think where Lyle was last year to where Lyle is this year, I think he's performing significantly better than he was last year in my opinion. Okay, all right, let's do this. I'm gonna change that question a little bit, just on this

position alone. If you have to lean more toward good or bad, and this is not about expectations, has offensive linemen closer to good or closer to bad on a seven game full body of work seven game games full body of work, I'd say more good because you know, there have been injuries, and they've they've played, they've played their fourth you know, tackle, he had to start a game, he had to play you know, a game and a half and again I win the lost to the worst

team in football. So I don't know if that's good. Quarterback took a few hits, I will say, but I'll I will continue to insist this, like we've seen bad offensive line play completely sink this team's ability to win a game. I don't think that was the case against either the Packers or the Jets. Like they did not lose that game because either of those games because their tackles couldn't protect. That's not why, UM, And so to some degree, I think it's you know, it's impressive that

Cam Fleming stepped up. He wasn't awesome by any stretch, not saying that, UM. And then Brandon Knight like they were playing him at guard and training camp and they got him ready to go in and handle himself at right tackle and play fairly well. So you take all that stuff together, injuries to Zach and Travis coming back from a year long absence, like there's way more to

feel good about than bad. And an interesting stat here, Cowboys right now ranked sixth in the league and sacks allout, They've only given up ten for the season, So when you compare them to the rest of the league. Although we watched these games, we think Dak's getting hit a lot, and maybe he is getting hit more than he's being sacked. Right now, they're only ranked six in the league in the season. Yeah, they've never allowed they haven't allowed more than three in a game in this so far. Right,

the Packers got Dack three times. I think I don't know about per game, but I think the Eagles and Packers got him three each. I think, yeah, they gave up eight against Atlanta on their own that one time. That's what I'm saying is, yeah, they're playing pretty well. Yeah, that one of those sacks was probably one of the worst play of the season though. We're just getting getting

against the Saints. The sack there and it also he runs into tire and you know, they lost yards, they lost ten seconds, they lost their left tackle, they lost the game. I mean, that was a very bad play on that And they didn't give up a sack in the two point conversion, but miscommunication right at the line of scrimmage mess that whole play up. So they've gotten some pressure. Packers game forced a couple of interceptions. I don't think they've been great, but you know, pressure does matter.

It's not a sack, but horseshoes, hand grenades and pressure. I've always said that needs to be included because close matters. Have you always said that always? Okay, I'm talking about We've talked about it with Anthony Spencer for you about Anthony. Yeah, I believe you. I just thought it was funny because it's always horses and hand grenades the only thing that

matters close. No, if you get after the quarterback and you hit him and you don't get the sack, but he's still looking at his year whole when he gets up that you did something there, which is a big deal in today's NFL because it's not even often you can hit a quarterback. You'd better be like a split second after gres the ball. Right, all right, so let's let's move on. Let's actually take our final break. We'll come back. We'll get it to some of the skill

positions to tight end the wide receivers. Do that when come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Your new apartment's big, such a great deal. Yeah, it's okay, just okay, what's not right above the subway? Well, I bet you don't even notice it. After that's my neighbor angus. A deal that's just okay is not okay. Get a great deal with America's best network. Come into an AT and T store and learn how to buy one smartphone and get second one on US Based on GWS one score.

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They are still the official crown of all self prospecting Cowboys, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Find Stetson Hats in the pro Shop or at Stetson dot Com today. Star Sports Tours is the only official fan travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys, offering exclusive game weekend travel packages with sideline access and photo

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We don't have to look ahead, but we will here does it is? They salute to service party Plaza coffin over there. You got to make sure Danny Serek is gonna make sure it and be healthy for this one because she's the host of the Tostitos Championship Plaza, Salute to Service Plaza Party, man enjoy live entertainment, military ceremonies, Dallas Cowboys alumni autographs, Danny Sirek will be there and more.

After the event festivities, the Star will also be hosting two Madden players as they face off in the EA Sports Madden NFL twenty Club Championship presented by Spire. That's actually a really cool thing. What they're gonna do is they're gonna actually take the There are every team's having like a tournament and this is going to be to determine who the Cowbotto's presentative from the Madden Tournament will be that will be playing. Then go and play a

tournament against all the other teams. And if that happens, I mean, do you have do you play with the Cowboys? Like when you go to that tournament? If you are the Cowboys, you're going to have on the Cowboys jersey? Sounds good? You have to play with the Cowboys, I would assume the team I would assume. So I'm not. I'm one of the most tricked up teams where Aaron Rodgers is playing for the Cowboys. I doubt that, actually I don't. Honestly, I don't know how that rule works.

I would assume they're going to be playing with the Cowboys, but maybe in this in this championship game, then are they both playing with the Cowboys. I don't know. That's a good question. Can you show up and figure it out? Is that you're the host, She'll be there. She will figure it out when she gets she will be there. Should be a lot of fun. November the ninth, it is the Salute service party. Plaza. Yeah, plaza party. It will be fun. All right, let's jump back in. We

got a few more players we gotta hit. We're talking about expectations above below or ad expectations. Jason Witten, he is literally like at the definition of ad expected. This is like, this is what we thought. He's exactly like the day he came out of retirement. You're like, he's gonna play most of the snaps. He's gonna run eight yards, turn around and catch it a bunch of times, unless

this is the last minute of the game. Three times when it's an end of scenario, he's going to run a ten and out like he's Jason Witton and he'll have a few penalties here and there, and some of them will be costly. But I mean, he is what he is, and this is exactly what we thought he'd be. Is he the same guy that he was when he was here his final year before he went into retirement. I do think like he does. Look he still looks fresher like that was a storyline at camp, and I

think it's fair. I'm a little better than I thought he would be. Yeah, that's where I was getting to like moves a little better. Probably he seems like he's a little bit and this is gonna be like this is here a little bit better than he was before, And maybe that is taking a year away and letting your body actually actually heal. Well, he's got better wide receivers around him that are better at running routes, which should open up the guys in the in the middle.

So he's got three route runners that are way better than the three that when he was here before, with Dez Beasley and Terrence Williams. It seems like forever ago. It was literally two years ago, not for long. Terence in the XFL. I believe he is he was his like I heard his name crop up, but he was not drafted into the exile. Okay, scooting, No, na, all right, let's let's go ahead and get with Blake Blake Jarwin Blake Jarwin above below or at expectations, much like Tony Pollard.

It's very similar to me. How much is just his usage? Verse? Like how good he actually is? I mean, I mean I played a decent amount of twelve personnel, So he's getting on the field a decent amount of times at expectations. Yeah, yeah, probably, it's so it's running into a problem though, because it's four and three at expectations for this team or below. Well, you kill him on the Thrisday Show. No, I'm not,

We're not. But this this, this would happen with Wade Phillips on a Monday after the Cowboys would lose by twenty points and he would sell everybody played pretty well, but you lost by twenty to the to the Rams. So guess what a guess what tomorrow? That's so, but that's but tomorrow, I'm but here's no, here's the deal. Tomorrow We're going to talk about the defense, and I want to see if we start to see more of those below expectations when you talk about the defense. Now

we've already talked about the offensive line. You guys say it was below expectations, right, true, And if if your offensive line is performing below expectations, that's a big reason why you could be losing three games in a row, right I. Honestly, the offense is not the reason why this team is where they are kind of, I know, I know, I'm just saying. I mean, they are playing pretty well. Like the Green Bay game was a stinker in the sense that, like, you know, guys that don't

typically do this stuff for are making boneheaded players. A Mari's tip that was picked even with the potential penalty, the throw Dack's throw to Kevin King bad throw, bad throw over the middle, Like that was like the outlier because even even the Saints game, like we were so troubled about how bad they looked. Well, what if the

Saints done since completely annihilated the Bears. Uh, they you know the game before they played the Cowboys, they went up to Seattle and like Russell Wilson scored a garbage time touchdown in that game, but they shut them out. Uh, there's another game. I'm forgetting in there. But like the Saints, their defense is for mine. For my money, they're probably the best team in the league considering they're doing all

of this without Drew Breests. Yes, I mean, you got to give people credit in the NFL regardless, But like, go look at the supposed murderers Row that the Patriots have beaten, because it's a bunch of crap. It's a bunch of baden playing out there. Knowing that hit coach, I'm gonna bet they might be very point actually put it there. Okay, the Saints have the best resume of any team in the league. They have beaten some good teams without the starting Tom Brady have the best resume

in the I'm trying to have it both ways. Regardless, I agree with the points you're making. The Cowboys have been great. The Cowboys offense played a very bad game in our arguably the toughest environment in the league. Against the defense that we are seeing is pretty legit. So even if that's their one stinker, I'll give it to him because it's you know, it's not an outlier in

the way that the Jets are an outline. And so I mean not to throw out this as an excuse but I would have liked to have seen Michael Gallop in that game because I think that that would have opened up a little bit more from them trying to throw the ball around down the field. So I guess my overarching point is I think more the offense has been pretty good for the most part, like more often

than not. Like I don't think they're the reason why this team is four and three, So I don't have a problem saying most of them are playing at or above expectations. So let's move to the wide receivers of Mark Cooper above below or at expectations. I think it's kind of similar almost to think in a sense that your expectations, yeah, are so high because of what he

can do. Not just to be clear, if you look at if you look at as of this week, he's now been with the Cowboys sixteen games, which would be a full season. That would be ninety one options, thirteen hundred and forty six yards and eleven touchdowns. Yeah, I'm gonna say it has been bawling. It's at for me, Yeah, yeah, it talk for me to go below it. But he's playing. He had a crucial part in all three losses because he had He had two pass interference penalties against the

Saints that were big. He had a big drop pass against the Packers, even though he came back with so many great plays, And then he got hurt against the Jets, and I don't know, I don't mean he didn't he didn't get back on the field. I don't know what the deal was there. I don't know how bad he was in pain. I don't know. But he did come back the next week and help him. But his absence hurt them in that game. I'm not gonna blame him for that. Just he was a he was a part

of all three losses. Yeah, well but but but but he's balled out completely when he's out there, even in that game against the Packers. So I don't think they'd win the four games they win without him. So if you want to say, well, those three he had a hand in all three losses, well that tells me how critical he is to his team, because go back to even last year, what were they doing before he got here?

What do they do after? He may be one of the most critical parts on this entire team because they just need him in order to make this offense work. For something, something about him elevates this entire offense. Right, We've seen that plenty of times last year, this year, even all the points you were just listing off Nick, it's something about him being on that field that makes his offense overall a whole different teams. Oh sorry, go ahead.

I just wish I would have known what was going on with that injury there in the Jets game, because just watching him, they just showed him on the bench, I mean just just his body language. I just didn't understand any of that, and and I know he was in pain, but I was like, never thought he'd come back and play the very next week. So I just wondered why he didn't try more. There's a phrase, come back. There's a phrase that he keeps using. He said it

over and over again. He said it after that game and after the Eagles game and leading up to it, where he was like, I didn't think I could do my job. And I think that's probably the crux of it, and not like in the sense of like, you know, I need to get my numbers or I'm gonna be unhappy, because like he hasn't been that guy the whole time he's been here, and he's had some not great games

in the Atlantic Game last year. Like, I don't think he's thinking about it from a stat standpoint, but he was simply like me, being out here is going to hurt the team more than than than it won't. And that's you watched the sluggo that he ran against the Jets, like he's basically hobbling at the end of his route. I can see. I can see where that comes from. I don't. I mean, especially with all the stuff he's

fought through since the start of training camp. I'm not about to question his toughness or his want to planned or fasciitis. Yeah, I mean, that's the point. The fact that throughout his career, not just even with the Cowboys, just throughout his career college in pro. He's a guy who's played through some pretty painful injuries. So for him to be like, I just can't do it during this game because of the pain, that says to me the pain must have been immense for him not to be

able to go. I wouldn't question personally, I wouldn't question his toughness. I think that if he couldn't and he was doing because he said, I just can't give what I need to give his toughness at all. I'm just questioning the fact that if you watched it. When you were you were watching, you had the binoculars on him as well. Just the whole sequence seemed odd to then come back and play the next week, That's that's all. It was just odd that he wasn't even trying Byron

Jones had a hamstring injury. He was running around and hopping and trying to see it. Maybe I missed it. It just seemed like he was tugging on the shoulder pads the whole time, and like, but there is something to say, like if you know because you let's say he went into that game in those first three plays, Yeah, he kind of knew it and he was like, all right, this ain't right. And then after that third play he's like, yeah, this definitely ain't right. I ain't got it. Just can't

do it right. Then then he knows, like there's no point in jumping around on it, Like he knows I don't have it right now. I've already done three plays and I'm not I don't have it. That have been I think the biggest surprises that he was able to come back, maybe because I thought if that's the case

where you absolutely know you're not gonna be back. And that's and that's also when I also questioned, like or at least I say, maybe this guy's that tough where yeah, he wasn't there, he couldn't do it that day, but then that next week he's like, he probably went into this game not one hundred percent, but he's like, I feel better than I felt last week. I feel like I can give a little something and here we go, right or knows he always balls out against Philly either way.

But the point is, I think there are a lot of guys played in this game because they feel like they needed it, and they were at a situation where they were like, literally, I'm gonna put my body on the line a little bit more this week because I think we needed I don't think those guys were all healthy. I can't. I can't get myself to believe all five of them where all of a sudden healthy. No chance, yeah they were. None of them were healthy. And they

always say we figured it out. Kudos to them, they say, when we're not gonna determine whether or not someone's going to play or wrestling before by a week, if we think, but these players know, I've got to buy a week if if I have to go through a little extra pain. This week, I had more recovery time. I think that played. It was a critical game like being four and three verses three and four and having that division win is a ton of difference. They didn't want to go went

to that bye week on a four game loser. The Giants and Eagles play, does anyone know? Not off the top of my head, because that's big. I mean, you want to be able to beat the Giants coming up, but you know you want the Giants to kind of be competitive here and beat the Eagles. That would be huge. Eagles got somebody tough this week too, don't they. We'll talk about that when we get thirty. But I think they got a tough game this week at all. Get tough for them. They have a tough schedule coming up.

I think the Bills are in there and the bill yeah, thank you. I knew it was gonna register as soon as you said it. All right, let's go to a real quick Randall Cobb and Michael Gallup. How do you think they've performed above or below expectations? Expectations for Gallup for he's above. What I thought. I thought was, what about the last two games, Um, you have some drops? Yeah? Yeah, I mean he but he have every drop the ball against Philly, Yeah he did. I never expected him to

be the number one receiver. I just I was hoping he would be a good, solid number two. And he's been even better than that. But in that game against the Jets, he showed that he wasn't ready to be in the number one. That's fine. I didn't expect that get out of him. That's not what they drafted for. That's not what they're paying for. They expect him to be a very good, complimentary receiver. He's been that and

more so. I say above, definitely above. I'm gonna go under for cop I'm gonna say below for Cobb, And I hate I hate that because, like he's such a victim of circumstance almost I mean, injuries is obviously part of it, but like he had a seventy four yard touchdown negated by a penalty he got within just a hair or the goal line the other night against Philly. Like, if four, I'm serious, give him five, reminds me seven

more yards at the end of the game. I mean, he get tripped up, but if he can get seven the hail Mary, Yeah, then then you're talking about a Brett Maher kick. If four or five different plays go the other way for Randall Cobb, we would be talking about him much differently. And I you know that's that's in small consolation. But Dak had a bad throw. He was wide open in the end zone against the Saints and Dak missed him, missed him in the missed him

on third well, I mean half and half. He should have caught the third down ball in New Orleans, but it was not a great throw her. So again, so he's been so close so many times. Like on Sunday night, I was like, can we get this man a touchdown because he's he's I know, he's a pro, but like he's got to be frustrated based on how close he is to having a better season and having that great first game as a cowboy. Yeah, touchdown the staff arm. Yeah,

it's it's been below. I'm not going to kill him for it because there's there's a few different circumstances that contribute to that. But hasn't quite clicked for him yet. All Right, I think Galve's above too good. All right, that's a rap for today. We'll be back to Mark tomorrow. We're gonna talk about the defense. We wanna talk about the guys that are above below and av expectations on the defense and the defensive unit as a whole. Do that when we come back tomorrow. Until then, for Nick Even,

Dave Hellman, Danny Serek, I'm Derek Hilton. 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 cowboy Is Football Club. How Go