Cowboys Break: Hindsight is “2020”

the latest edition of The Break. We are alive from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We've got Nick amber Gave, and we are gonna get honest with you guys today. We're gonna talk about this team and we're gonna hit a lot of different topics. We're gonna talk about the coaching, We're gonna talk about the defense, we're gonna talk about special teams. We're gonna talk about a little bit of everything on this show. And so

I want to start first though, with Jerry Jones. He had his weekly or one of his weekly sit downs with the folks from one or five out three the fan here locally in Dallas Sean and RJ's show in the morning and had some interesting things to say. The funniest part though, obviously, and I know this is for those of you that that follow a lot of the

Cowboys beat writers on social media. I'm sure you've heard by now that Jerry had a little bit of a moment where he's he was a little upset, a little frustrated, and even though admitted at the end he's a little upset and frustrated, but but you know, it kind of came out boiled over a little bit there with some of the questioning. But I want to start first with a question that Jerry was asked where he kind of volunteered.

They were talking about the run defense, and he volunteered that there will be some personnel changes, and so let's start looking at it from that standpoint. First, we know they're problems for this team all year stopping the run. Nick, what do you think or who do you think maybe the target of some of the personnel changes or should be some of the targets these personnel changes. Well, just like you said, I mean, he was answering the question about the defense and he said, we can't stop the

run if you can't stop the run. He can't do anything, and that's you know, basic football, one on one right there. Then he said there will be some personnel changes, so you know, you'd like to think it's going to start right there of the guys that are stopping the run. He also was asked later about specifically ever since Griffin, Dontari Po, Darryl Worley, who I guess reportedly are being

shopped around. He answered about Griffin, he said, I don't know about the other guys, So I'm just gonna put those together and think that Dontari Po is probably not going to be in the mix. And you can just look at the play snap and you can kind of figure that out. So that might be one change. Ye, Amber, So my personnel, are you specially when we're talking about players, yes? Or is any coaching involved here? When I hear personnel,

my first thought as players. Now, maybe he was alluding to coaches too, but I would assume he's talking about players. I guess let's let's for the second, let's focus this on the players. Well, to me, it's still very confusing because I think they're they're like contradicting comments here with that one and then you keep hearing about them saying they have the right kind of guys player wise, they have the right kind of coaching, and then oh, it's gonna take time to kind of mend everyone to get

there and make it work. So to me, it's it's very confusing. I wish that would be more a little bit more outspoken on what we have all been seeing in these past games, because it's there's so much blame to go around, and it's hard to point out or try to figure out exactly who that year would be. Who would you want to change? And I post this question on Twitter to people because what trade or what guy could you cut that would make your team better

this year? Because the thing is, are you trying to make the team better this year or are you preparing for the future. And it's like, you can't really do that or make it appear that way, because then you can insinuating that you're taking the season and that's definitely not a good look and you can't just put that

out there like that. So I'm just having a hard time trying to wrap my head around all this and figure out what exactly he meant by that and what the right move would be at this point, Dave, I'm with Nick. I I mean, I know he said it, and I guess it's interesting, but I don't really think it's all that sexy. I think you're probably talking about, you know, Justin Hamilton and Neville Gallimore getting more snaps

over done Tari Poe and maybe Tyrone Crawford. I'd love to see Bradley and I be active and get some more snaps stuff like that. But I don't get the impression that this is some type of crazy change, you know, cutting somebody notable or benching somebody notable that would surprise me. I think you're talking about shuffling guys that they're already shuffling. Basically,

let me ask you this question. At whatever point Sean Lee is back and healthy and playing at a full clip, because obviously they're probably not going to just throw him

right in, they'll ease him back in. But at whatever point you get there, do you think there's a possibility that Cowboys decide, hey, we're not seeing what we need to see from Jalen, we're in nickel a good majority of the time, or we have two linebackers on the field good majority of the time that they'll opt for maybe having Sean and Layton Vanderesh on the field more often than having Vanderesh and Jalen on the field. What do you think, Dave, would I do that? Yes? Do

I think they'll do that? Not really. I mean, for a variety of reasons. It's a bad look to basically bench a thirteen million dollars a year player. I don't think Jalen's reaction to that would be very good. And you know we're already talking about locker room chemistry being

a problem. You probably exacerbate that issue, you know. I always say, like ego is a huge part of this thing, and I don't think they want to admit so publicly that a guy that's supposed to be such a big part of their defense is that big of a problem. So for all of those reasons, I don't really think

it would happen. But if you and and that's a very fair point, like you're not going to throw Sean in for one hundred percent of the snaps the minute he's healthy, But if you tell me that, like a month from now, he's capable of playing fifty sixty snaps a game, I would absolutely at least throw him in there. More often to see what he can do, because I mean that's just as big of a part of it as the defensive tackles. Like the linebacker plays is not

good enough. I mean, better defensive tackle play would help, but that's not That's not the whole issue for sure, Nick Well, I mean, you can you can do that. You can bench Jalen Lee, j Jayleen Smith, but he'll just be back on the field and a few plays. I mean he will. I mean, those two guys are not gonna stay on the field. I mean what they can just be the starters Layton and Shaun Lee as long as you can write it, I mean, okay, well, then the next series Jaylen Smith, Beckett. That's just the

way it is. We always talk about it. Those positions you're gonna have, you need more than two. Anyways, they all play. Joe Thomas is gonna have to play, so they all will play. So yeah, you can rotate it more and and and maybe that would help them. But I mean, I just don't think you can rely on Layton and Shaun Lee to be the guys at linebacker. And I still don't think Jayalen Smith is is the biggest problem out there. But like, you know, he certainly did not do a good job of tackling in the

game the other day. I mean, he led a lot of those those plays that he should have a lot more tackle than he did. What do you think I agree with Nick And going back to Dave's comment about ego and the Cowboys maybe not really wanting to do that. I think that at this point, ego is out of the door. If you're playing this bad, you should not care about someone's ego. You can go sit in the bench and watch and learn and try to figure out how to be better once you're back on the field.

But the ego, it isn't just about the player's ego. It's the coach and the and the GM's ego that made the decision. I mean, that's the ego is the coach didn't make this decide, he did it. And and that's where I kind of agree with Amber here, like I actually want to see I want to see how coach McCarthy handles this situation where his team is playing poorly and individual players, even some highly paid players, are

not playing well. Okaber go and finish the point. No, And I mean yes, it's it goes back to Okay, maybe not the right look for the people that brought these players here, but at the same time, at that point it does matter. We all make mistakes, that's fine, but what do you do to start fixing it? What do you do to start making it better? So it's like, Okay, even though there's some blame on me, let me make

a change now. Let's let me accept the reality of what we are all seeing on the field and try to make some changes or at least send out a notice or try to make some kind of statement, because I feel that right now, everyone that's speaking from the Cowboys, whether that's Steven Jones, Jerry Jones, or coach Mike McCarthy, I feel that they're not necessarily being as vocal as I would want them to be as far as players in ability to perform on the field right now, and

I think that they need to put some blame on that. And you don't need to call anyone's name out specifically, but at least say it out there and make a notice that you guys are very very aware of this too, and not keep saying, well, we have the right kind of guy. Yeah. On that same note earlier, another thing that Jerry said during his radio hit on one or

five O three the Fan. He said that he pointed to injuries as the reason for their poor performances, and he threw out the statistic that forty five percent of their salary cap right now is going to players that are currently out on injury. That's a lot. Is it that simple, though? And I'm asking this question you guys, Is it that simple though? Or do you think that this team, even with the injuries they have, the expectation is they should be playing better than what we're seeing

on the field right now. Let's start first with you, Nick, Well, yeah, I think they should be playing better than that. I don't think you should lose by four touchdowns to Arizona ever, you know, to anybody really four touchdowns. You shouldn't be losing to Washington like that. Yeah, you're you're playing with one hand tied behind your back. I mean forty five percent of it and not just forty five percent. But we're talking the key position. Oh yeah, you know, your quarterback,

your left tackle, you're right tackle. I mean, I mean that whole offensive line and the tight end and all that stuff. But you should you should come up with a better effort than that. You know, you gotta figure out a way. You bring in veteran coaches who have dealt with this before. I guarantee they sit there when they're when they're sitting around eating and whatever, and then they're like, oh, one time when I was in New Orleans that this happened, or when I was in Green Bank,

we did this and this we lost four guys. Cool. Well, you know, I mean McCarthy talks about the story where he won a game with four four guards in a center or something like that one time. On the offensive line, well, I mean, do that fix it. It's whatever you figured out. I mean, that's that's the thing. So, yeah, injuries really really bad, but figure out how to play more competitive than that. Amber, Well, I see this US two parts.

There's the offense and in the defense. On offense, yeah, you can definitely argue that injuries have for sure affected their performance. But when you go back to a few weeks ago when Dak was still in the field and all that, I mean, regardless of what was going on the old line, you could see what they were capable of doing in the second half of the game, so you knew that you could still make it work. Now when you talk about the defense, I mean, what's really

the excuse there? There's none because the guys that have been anger. I mean, is there really an argument that you really believe that with those guys coming back that's really gonna make an impact and a big change, that's all of a sudden going to change their performance. I don't. I don't believe that at all. So, yes, you can make the argument on offense right now at this point given the fact that we don't have Dak Prescott anymore.

But on the defense, there's absolutely no excuse, Dave. I gotta give a lot of credit to r J Choppy on the Fan because he actually followed Jerry up by saying, I understand, yeah, I understand the offensive woes. Who are you missing from the defense that would be making this big difference? Cheeto Woozier. Don't think anybody buys that he's the difference between terrible and good. M Gerald McCoy. Same thing. You know, he's not the guy that he was ten

years ago. You cut Haha Clinton Dicks and you didn't want Byron Jones. So yeah, what don't you have on defense? That is, you know what, like they're that excuse does not exist on defense, and that's the real problem because you can, I keep bringing up twenty fifteen, go back and look at some of those games. That is a situation where your team scrapped for as hard as it could for three and a half quarters and an inability to move the ball and score points just it killed

you in the end. You know, they lost thirty to six to the Patriots that season, but it was like, you know, it was like seventeen to six midway through the third quarter, like they were scrapping. This is not what that looks like. They're getting decimated by the worst offense in football in the first half, getting you know, zipping right down the field on the first two possessions of the game. It's fourteen to nothing if not for a stand on the one inch line. It's just no there,

there's no excuse for that. And they for the most part, have the personnel that they would prefer to have, and it's I mean to say they're not getting the job done as a massive understatement. We're gonna take our first break when we come back. I'm gonna ask you, guys, the question on the defensive side of the ball, is it the players that they don't have, or is it maybe the defensive coordinator that they no longer have. We'll talk about that when we come right back. This is

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to the break. Are you looking for something to change up your dinner routine? Help support local Frisco businesses by choosing one of the Star District restaurants. For more information on delivery, take out, curbside, pickup, and dine in availability is at the Star dot Com a lot of good options over there. Yeah, we've been doing that here when we have home game. I mean, I'm sorry road games.

All of us that usually travel have been working here at the Star and we'll go and get food from out there and bring it in and been pretty good. I have to admit it's been pretty good. I'll just ask, has there been hot toss? You really want to talk about that? I'm just saying hazard or I mean, was asking it could be dangerous. Were you watching the press conference live when it happened? No, Dave, were you watching it live when it happened? Amber? Were you watching it live?

I was on good I was on the phone. I didn't have the I didn't have the video up, okay, but I was on the phone. Yeah. What do you think is it was a happening? Did you know what

was going on at first? Or was it just kind of like and for those that don't know, he was it was all the stuff that happened yesterday with the press conference with Mike Nolan where he got hot sauce, tabasco whatever in his eye accidentally and and just had to shut down the press conference for a few minutes until he got it cleaned out, I guess, but did you know what was going on? Dave? Yeah, yeah, Well he's felled it out pretty clearly. What was going on?

He was he was mid answer about DeMarcus Lawrence, and all of a sudden he was like, hang on a second, I think I got my eyes burning. I think I think I accidentally rubbed some tabasco in my eye, and he was kind of narrating it. He was like, this is terrible, and then all of a sudden, the line, the line goes dark, and so like you know, obviously you know those of us in the media, we all talk to each other. So I'm like texting around to all some of the other beat writers like did did

they hang up? Like is the call over? Is he coming back? What's going on? And at that point you just can't help but laugh because it's I mean, that's just the type of season this is. And of course he's okay, Mike PHE's okay, And of course at that moment you got Clarence and Macholda, they're tweeting it, and I'm like, oh god, what's going on? And that's when I jumped on, like what am I missing you? What's going on. But no, it's pretty pretty interesting it. They

did save his eye, so that's a good thing. Let's talk about this defense though. Well, I didn't know if Amber had something to add to that, but all I was gonna say if this was if they were winning, I mean, this is what d Law and those guys, you know, make him an honorary member of the Hot Boys, you know. I mean, you have some fun with this type of stuff. I mean, he comes back and starts talking about why Trayvon did gave up a touchdown is

because he's his eyes failed him. I'm like, oh, Shannon Screw will be making all kinds of cool little memes and videos if we were winning, but you know you can't do that when you're losing. Did you have something on that, Amber? No. I honestly felt terrible because out of all the people write it happens to him specifically who was being on. There's so much criticism this year, so it was hilarious, but at the same time, I

did feel really bad for him. We didn't we didn't end up using the headline nick, but I thought it was we could say it on the air like that was actually gonna be a really good headline if we would have used it, Rob, this is the one that came up with this. I think hot mess. I mean, like, what else is there then? But you know, people talk about TMI a lot, you know, and kind of gross stuff. Yeah, that's TMI. I mean, why do you have to say that.

You're just being too honest. You're like, guys, hold, I'm just saying it'll be I'll be right back something if no one says anything, but if you specifically mentioned it, it just you just asking for it. I don't know, all right, So let's let's talk about this defense. And I think Mike Nolan becomes a part of the conversation because I started thinking about this and you guys, one of you guys just mentioned a little earlier that the

guys on defense that aren't here from last year. You got Byron Jones, who, as Dave said, they didn't want Clearly they didn't want him at the price that he was gonna cost price. Jeff Heath is no longer here, Malik Collins is no longer here, Robert Quinn is no longer here. These were guys at buying large. I don't think the Cowboys wanted at the price that they were

gonna get on the free agent market. Um, and so my question for you guys is who's been missed more the players that are no longer here or the defensive coordinator that's no longer here and Rod Marinella who's now with the Las Vegas Raiders. Let's start first with you Amber. That's tough because last year we were complaining about the defense. So it sucks that we're at this point talking about, Yeah, which which of the two bad do you want? I mean, I guess we all rather take what we had last year.

But that's a tough one. And you can talk about the talent and all that, or the lack of talent on the field, but there has to be a good portion of blame in the coaching staff because there's no way, and I get it, we've seen a lot of things that these players haven't been able to do on the field. Things are basics when you come about to talk about

tackling and all that little things. But still, there's no way that you can tell me that all of these defensive players playing in the NFL are this bad because of a lack of talent. I mean, there has to be something to say about the coaching and the lack of motivation. I'm not in the meetings. I don't know how it all works in there, but you need someone that has a strong, a very strong voice that it's intimidating that you don't want to look bad or do

anything bad in that person's eyes. So I think that that, Yes, Rod Marinelli, one thing he had was fire and passion, and we always heard about his little presentations that he would do and and create to motivate the players. So yes, I do think that I miss him. I miss him

right now. So yeah, Dave, I don't really want to hear this revisionist stuff because like all I can all I can think of, not all I can think of when we talk about this is like through the spring and summer, when guys were saying, like, we're gonna disguise more stuff. You know, the last guys just rolled the ball out there and it was straightforward and we do what we do, and like you can take advantage of that. So like, teams aren't going to know what's coming this

time around, and we're gonna be better for it. So don't come at me like all of a sudden it's terrible because it's not working and by the way, Rod Marinelli was fiery. Chris Richard was even more fiery, And all of this crap happened to him last year. It didn't happen as frequently as it's happening this year, but it still happened. Um, Robbie Anderson, New York Jets, anybody,

Yeah this year, Dave, they're they're historically bad. No, no, no, different than they're so they they are so much worse, I understand, but these problems were still there. Like you had your your linebacker play regressed, your defensive line didn't make as much of an impact as you preferred, the secondary was not great, and they are much worse this year. But these problems were manifesting themselves under Rod Marinelli as well. And on top of that, in Rod Marinelli's tenure, I think,

I mean, he's he's obviously, he's a great coach. I love talking to him. He's a super nice guy. But they fielded like one above average defense during his time here, So I'm not trying to hear that. I just don't think these guys are adapting as well. I don't think these guys are adapting as well to what Nolan's asking him to do, and I don't think Nolan's adapting very well to them not adapting. So that's pretty much where

I'm at. But I don't think Rod Marinelli's defense is like a cure all by any means that Nick, I mean, Jeff Heath, I think that. I think he's been missed for sure. But that's that's one of the things I take a little exception to because the way they're using him in Las Vegas is different than how they were using him here. He's not a starter there. He's a rotational guy, which I think if they were going to use him as a rotational guy here, great, I don't

think he's an every down starter. Well are you saying they miss him as a starter or they missed him just being on the team. Well, I've seen Steven Parker have to play safety and Donovan Wilson, So yeah, he's a starter here. He would be a starter, and he'd be a good starter here. You can't tell me that, Donovan. I don't think he's but I don't think he's been a good starter than the years he's been here, So I don't think you're gonna expect he'd be a good

starter now. He'd be a part of all the stuff that's going wrong. I think I don't agree with that. He would be way better than what you have. I mean, he wasn't a great player, but he would be way better than than this. And for for him to make three million a year, I mean they're paying they're paying worthy a million and a half. I mean, like they could have they could have kept him here, and I think I think in hindsight, yeah, it would have been better. I would have I would have us two last year.

I mean, like that jet skin, that was his work too. I mean that's all I'm saying is I don't think he is. You're right, he probably if you just say play for play, he's better. If you want to grade him, then maybe what they have right now, I don't think it makes a difference at the point where his deference looks different. If he's on the team, well, he would have been a better I think he would have been better than resigning Darian Thompson or resigning or even signing haha.

I mean I would have rather signed him, you know. I mean that's just one of them. Quinn. I mean that that they miss him big time. They miss Byron. Yeah, which I didn't expect him to miss him as much. Well, the only thing you could do there is just just know that CD's gonna fall to you. If you know CD's gonna fall to you, then go ahead and do it, and don't don't resign let him Mari, go let himri Goo and and then and then franchise Byron Jones and then he then he CV falls in your lap. But

it doesn't work that one. Yea. At this point, if there was any one of those guys, any of those players that you could have back, is it Byron across the board? Well, like without even thinking about it. Yeah, I mean, you're always gonna take the seventeen million guy over all the others because they don't even combine the seventeen million a year. So yeah, you take him. But but I mean, and he's been missed big time. Quinn's been missed, Lee Collins been missed, Jeff He's been missed.

All those guys have been missed. Yeah. I wonder how much difference Malie Collins would make, because I don't know that I necessarily saw Malie get pushed around a lot. I don't think he made enough plays for people. That was the problem most people had with Malie Collins. He's at a three technique. He wanted him to make more plays. But I don't remember him just getting completely pushed around a lot. But I don't know. You guys never seen that different. No, he was. He was pretty good. That's

especially a training camp. He was really good training a training camp. Guy. Um, you know what, I'll say one thing here and I and this Dave and I will both agreed on when he said it like this was music to our ears that I don't I don't have a scheme. We don't have one thing. We build the scheme around the players. We all love that. I was one of the first ones to say that. I think that is actually biding them right now because they don't have anything to hang their hat on. They don't do anything.

They need to do something like they need to say this is kind of what we do. I'm not saying Wade Phillips has the answer, but when you hire a Wade Phillips, you know exactly what you're getting. You know what you're getting with Rod Marinelli, and I think the players know it as well. So yess it might be simple to some degree, but it is the scheme and there's a reason why you do that. And so I'm kind of starting to wonder if that that that whole we build it around is not such a good especially

in the pandemic. It's really not a good idea. So you guys have mentioned I think all of you guys have mentioned that this isn't you know, yeah, the worst this year on defense, but they were bad last year as well. At some point you have to start questioning is it just the personnel? The personnel is just not good. So here's my question for you guys looking at this

defense right now. What players do you think are on this defense currently that you figure should be and not will be because I know money always factors into will be, but should be a part of their plans moving forward or should be guys that you look at and say, these are guys that need to be a part of what they continue to be, well, what they build on this defense, because what they're doing right now either they're playing at a decent level or I think that I'm

giving them a little bit of deference because maybe they've just come back from injury or something like that. But how many of these guys do you think are guys that you. That should be a part of what you're doing moving forward. Let's start first, Start first with Amber. I'm at zero now I might be able to add one, but I can't wait to hear this, I know, right, I afraid to ask after yesterday. Well, okay, I'll donate Smith. I'm keeping him, okay, Randy Gregory, I'm keeping him just

because I haven't seen enough just yet. I would keep I'd still keep DeMarcus Lawrence. I know, you know, he's not necessarily being so impactful as we all would like him to be. But I think he's still a guy that can do some things for you under a different kind of voice in his head. You know, he just needs to get back to that fiery, motivational type of

guy that we've seen from him in previous years. Sean Lee, I'm turning him into a coach, so I guess I'll take him out and then out of that, I'm left with Dix because I think he does have the potential. It's just been a tough year on him, given the fact that he's been put in a role and having to carry so much on his back, So it's not ideal to just throw him out there. The way he's been thrown out there this year, but I still think he has some potential development that needs to happen there.

Other than that, I can't think of it. I can't think of anyone else that comes to mind that has no No. But that's very unrealistic because there's no way you can get rid of that many guys on defense and just keep for So don't be so sure that's

not necessarily true. How do you do that? Dave? You can remake this thing real quick if you want to between the draft and if you're willing to spend in free agency, if you're willing to sign your quarterback so you can free up some cap space so you're not carrying a forty million dollar hit all at once, you can definitely, I mean, you could remake this thing real quick. I'm not saying it'll be great right away, but you

can turn over some personnel. I mean, think about how many guys on this defense or in contract years as it is. Yeah, I have a lot of expectation that this thing is going to look real different in twenty twenty one. Again, not necessarily saying it'll be better, but different. How would not play into the whole thing that you still have Dak's contract that you still dealing with, and then on top of that, all the issues that are

happening in the old line. I don't really like the O line doesn't really bother me as much as it might bother some other people. I mean, Tyrn and Lyle are under contract, and you know, we'll see what their progress is. I mean, Joe Looney is really the only guy on the offensive line who doesn't have a deaf you know, a definitive future right now. So those guys need to get healthy and maybe we'll look at the

draft for that. But I'm not sweating that. The Dack thing is curious because you could go a long way toward helping your ability to you know, shuffle the roster if he's got a smaller number than thirty eight million. I can't predict how that's going to happen, though, Nick, Well, that that right there is a whole conversation, you know, that whole deck thing, and you know, just to see how bad things get, I mean, because if they get really bad and you're picking really high, no, what do

you mean day started having that conversation. We'll say that to another day, Jarry. That's a whole show. Jerry and Stephen. That's that's a whole show. That is a whole show. Jerry, Stephen and Mine McCarthy aren't doing their job if they don't consider it. Yes, you have to consider it. Her. I just don't think it's a smart idea. But go ahead. You can fix the defense real quick if you do that. That's my point. Okay, we're over here implying everybody knows

what we're talking. Well, I mean everybody. I'm just saying. I mean, if you're sitting there that high and you get a cheap quarterback, I mean, I get it, that changes everything. But you can also get a ransom of picks. So if you give up that spot. Yeah, okay, uh I she was naming a bunch of guys, I mean, or not a bunch, not a bunch, just a few and you got five am Yeah, and I you know, or I changed the question a little bit because it's

so unrealistic to answer it that way. But I kind of changed it to the new team in San Antonio, I guess which is the Cowboys with hate. But if there was an expansion team and they were plucking players and they look at the Cowboys defense, I mean, who would they go get Diggs? Diggs would be a good fourth corner, fifth corner a little bit. Diggs maybe, Tristan Hill and Gallamore and Rayton Vanderesh maybe, But I mean that's who you would take if you were starting, and

those just young guys. I would take Tank in a heartbeat. Here's the deal. And you said this the other day on the show. You said this other day on the radio show that you do the hit you did on one on five out three you said, you know Tank Tank as a leader. What you didn't say that I know you were thinking that you were intimating is throw me out here like as I said it, and I thought it was just gonna be just no. They didn't even catch it, I know, And I was like, Nick,

say what you're trying to say. But my point is, like I agree with you Tank as a leader, I don't know if Tank necessarily leads the right way. And that's why to me, Tank is a good player. And Tank is a good player if you watch the games and really watch the nuance of the game, because he makes he makes plays, he makes things happen. It doesn't always show up on the statue the way you want it to. But he's the type of player. He is a good pressure player. I don't think you necessarily want

him to be the leader of your defense. I think what you want him to be is you're hired assassin. You want him to be the guy that you got another leader that's running things and that people are following. He's the guy that you say, hey, man, stirred down, we're gonna all do our jobs. Right now, a lot of guys aren't doing their jobs, so you can't even really get him to a position where he can do something and make something happen. But we're all doing our jobs.

You're gonna make something happen. And I think in a role like that, I think DeMarcus Lawrence could be a really, really good player, And so I don't to me, he is the first player I say, if I'm gonna keep one guy from this defense, that's actually the guy I keep. Now, everybody doesn't like the money, because for that amount of money, you're expecting a leader. You're expecting a great player, even when everybody else isn't great. You're expecting a guy can

make other guys greater. That's not necessarily who he is. So I get the money part of it, but I think just from a purest play standpoint, I think he's one of the really good pressure players in the NFL. Yeah, and again, I've been thinking about this a lot recently.

Oh I'm sorry, I've been thinking about it a lot recently that it's it's very fitting where DeMarcus Lawrence sits in the Cowboys locker room right now, and for those of y'all that don't go in the Cowboys locker room, he sits where Dad's used to sit, and I think that's I think that's perfect because DeMarcus Lawrence is everything you want in a player between the lines, He's not.

I don't think he's the guy. You know, people always talk about Tyrn Smith, like, look to him if you want to see what it is to be a pro day in and day out, like just a great example. I don't know if DeMarcus is that guy. Des definitely wasn't that guy, but he's still a guy you want on your team. And I absolutely want Tank on this team, but there needs to he needs more of the other type of leadership around him, Like he's the guy that's

gonna rally you on the field. He's maybe not the guy that's gonna set the best example Monday to Saturday. In my opinion, that doesn't mean I don't want him on this team though. I think that and I said this, I think to Dave yesterday or Rob, I think they need to I don't like the whole captain's thing every week. I think that's it gets watered down when every single week there's just a different person because it doesn't mean anything. It means nothing when you get to the game. I

think this team really needs real captains. Can't don't talk about leadership if you're just gonna make it whose turn is at this time? Oh z, everyone's stand up zaverywhere to the captain tales never fails. Let's go. I mean, have about a captain, a real captain, and let the players vote decide throughout the year. And those are the guys that are that are the leaders. I mean, that's not gonna make this team different than two and five.

I get it. I just think that, don't you'll be surprised when there's leadership issues when you're kind of passing the leadership had around every week. All Right, we're gonna take our final break when we come back. I want to flip a little bit, and let's talk a little bit about this head coach and some of the things that he has done and whether you're at this point or second guessing at all the decision on whether you think this is a good hire or not. What do

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Welcome back. It is the final segment of the Brake Left Nest WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star and those of you out there listening, you aught the ultimate fans because no doubt when it gets to this part of the year, and a year like this one, this is when we find out who the pretenders are and who the real ones are? Right, so these are the real ones? Well you say that, but yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree. What all I was gonna say is this yesterday we had a lot of people on a lot of people

on the show yesterday. And if they win twenty five to three against Washington, maybe not as many. Maybe. I mean, you know, I've seen that before. You've seen that. Sometimes our numbers are worse on Monday in me. But still you're here, ultimate fan. Yeah, we appreciate you guys joining us.

All right, so here's my question for you guys. Let's start this final segment talking about the head coach, and obviously the results have not been good, which at the end of the day, every coach is judged by the

results first and foremost. But beyond that, and this is even his own self scouting, he says that he hasn't seen necessarily improvement and that's been very disappointing to him from the beginning of the season to where they are now all those things being considered, are you at all and this is with the assumption that I think I remember correctly everybody on this show was at least okay with the hiring of Mike McCarthy as the head coach at this point, are you second guessing the decision to

hire Mike McCarthy as the head coach? Nicho will start with you, No, I'm not second guessing at all. I think that you know, he's uh. He was what this team needed and they needed a change, They needed a different voice, and they also needed a voice of somebody that that has has been there and has has done that in one um. And I know that there's a lot of talk about him being carried and all that stuff. Well, he hasn't won anything yet. I mean that guy and

he was so great over there that they've only won one. Now, he's great, but I mean he's not like pretty good this year. They're doing good. They're doing good, and and he'll and he'll he'll mess up in the playoffs and they'll lose. I mean, you know, he's won one. This isn't Jesus Okay, he's he's won a super Bowl. He's great, he's great, but I'm just saying he's I mean, I'm just saying, it's not like he carried him that much. They won one time. Gongratulations, more than we've seen around

here in a while. But no, I don't. I mean now, and I know that, I know you're gonna you love Aaron Rodgers. I know I get it. But I'm just saying, how do you know? You don't know that he carried him? And I'm putting words in your mouth. I don't know what you're about to say. But I would hate for any boss to come to anyone this year and judge them off this year. I mean, what if somebody working behind the desk whatever or not behind the desk at home,

they got fired for what they did this year. I don't think you can really do that so I mean, I don't think this is going to be a one and done or anything. I think it's hard to really evaluate, all right, Dave, I will let me let me I'm not going to second guess the McCarthy hiring right now, especially with everything that's gone wrong. Like, I'm not saying it was a mistake, not saying the guy needs to

lose his job. I just wanted to say, you know, they might have only won one super Bowl, but Green Bay has been in the playoffs perennially since Aaron Rodgers got there, and some of that was with Mike McCarthy, but they got to the NFC Title Game in their first year without him. So I don't know, he's pretty awesome in my opinion. He is anyway, he's awesome in my opinion too. I'm just saying he's yeah, But I just I you know, winning the Super Bowl is the

ultimate goal. But actually, what I said when McCarthy was hired is get the Cowboys to that level where being in the playoffs every year is a reasonable expectation because it hasn't been here for thirty years. They have not been able to reliably make the playoffs in thirty years, and even more so than winning a super Bowl. That would be success is every year everybody in the NFL landscape is like, well, yeah, you know, Dallas will be there.

They're They're always there, because that's what we've been saying about Green Bay for ten years. So that's my standard for success. Like I said, even more so than actually winning the Super Bowl is reaching that level of consistency. I'm not ready to second guess the decision I am. I mean obviously, like how could you not second guess the defensive coordinator higher based on what we've seen and like, you know, I know it's a unique year. I know

the pandemic is terrible. It doesn't seem like it's stopping a lot of other people from playing competent defense, and that I mean, that would really be a starting point. So again, you know, October is early to call for people's jobs, But I'm curious to see how this team responds in the second half. Like, you know, you're up against the wall. You know Dack's not coming back to save you. You've got this horrible run of results. I mean, they've gotten their butts kick three or four times already,

six in seven games. And how do you respond to that, because if McCarthy is a good coach who can deal with this adversity the way that we think, then they should at least be able to dig out of this and fight, and if they don't, that's really bad. I don't know. That's kind of where I'm at right now, Amber, I don't remember what they said. I mean, this is not necessarily the year to kind of fully judge him, but I would say I will say this, I feel that he lacks a sense of that motivational type of

leadership voice that Jason Garrett had. And I know we Jason Garrett was on their lot of criticism, but one thing that he did have that was positive was the fact that he's a guy that can really motivate you, Like he's good with his words during the week and all that, and he's able to motivate players to a certain level. Yes, he didn't get you where you wanted to, but there's something that that's very important that the Cowboys are lacking right now, and it's that that voice of

leadership and kind of trying to bring everyone together. Some of the things that we saw in this previous game against Washington. I don't know if you guys remember that one play well, aside from the whole thing about Andy Dalton and the fact that no one really cared what happened to him. Aside from that, do you guys remember watching that one play where I don't know exactly what happened, but Antoine Woods was mad at the offense and then there was like a little pushing back and forth, and

then I think someone came in. Armstrong came in to kind of get him off, and then Boots just shoved

him away. It was it's still like that. That's the kind of things like, you don't do that to a teammate, like to me that you should ask, And it wasn't a big deal or anything, but still, the fact that you're shoving a teammate away like that should not be happening, and he tells me it gives me a lot more worries because, aside from from the inability to perform on the field, you have to have that kind of connection.

And the thing is, yes, COVID nineteen and yes we didn't have an off season and we have a new coaching staff, but the Cowboys had a lot of advantage with the fact that they haven't faced a real outbreak or issue with COVID nineteen. Here with the team, they they've had all the kind of technology to keep communication during the off season. They have the army right next door where players were staying, so they were able to

stay together during this whole process. So I think that there were a lot of little things that they still have an advantage against other teams during this hard time. So there's just a lack of just some fire in there, a lack of motivation that I personally I'm not seeing. Yeah, at the end of the day, I think it's premature to want a second guest the decision because I agree with all you guys that that you know, with these unique circumstances, it's hard to make a decision to say, well,

he's not the right guy. Definitively. Here's the one thing that I am interested in seeing. And Jerry mentioned it this morning on one on five Dot three the Fan. He mentioned, Uh, you know, I wanted I want to see if you know, to me, I tell the greatness of a coach by what happens when the you know what hits the fan and uh, and I think this is where we get to see from Mike McCarthy what does he do. He's at seven, he's seven games in, he's two and five. You know his team has been

beaten severely in a couple of those games. What does he do at this point? Is he to kind of coach that ken and this will require him making some really tough decisions. I go back to earlier what somebody said about worrying about egos, like I think at this point, he's got to step in and say, look, I'm doing what's best for the team. If there is a player that's not playing well, doesn't mean the guy that I'm

gonna start playing more than him is better necessarily. What it means is if you're not going to do the job well, I got to search for someone else. That means I got to give someone else another opportunity, and if they happen to be better, great, If they don't, then we'll move on to the next guy. But I think this is where we get to find out how coach McCarthy handles these kinds of tough situations. Is he the kind of coach that can get his team to refocus?

And I'm not expecting to win a lot of games down the stretch. What I am expecting if he is a good coach, is that they will be competitive and they will find a way with all the things that have gone on to get steady and to be able to be competitive in these games. And if they can't do that, then I will have a different opinion of him as a head coach than maybe what I have right now and certainly what I had at the time that the Cowboys made the higher. All right, we appreciate

you guys. Join us. We're back tomorrow. We'll start getting you guys ready for Cowboys versus Eagles. That happens this Sunday night, Sunday Night Football. Until then. For Nick Eatman, Dave Helm and Amber Garcia. I am Derek Eagle and this has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.