Cowboys Break: How Much Better Is The Defense?

edition of The Break. We are very happy to be back with you guys, starting up the sixtieth anniversary of the Dallas Cowboys. I'm here live at the Start. Nick, you're here live at the Star, but we're separated in different offices. Amber at our home studio, Dave at his home studio, and of course our producer Chris Beam helping us get everything going here. We appreciate you guys joining us. We got a lot to talk about today. First of all, welcome back to my crew. It's good to see you guys.

How's everybody doing today. I'm wonderful, I'm happy, happy to see you guys. Let's go. So last night, it gets really interesting. I made all the show notes for today and we were talking about it. I think we were all on the same page. We had a lot to talk about. And then news breaks at the Cowboys go out and agree to terms with a pass rusher that's a pretty good pass rusher, Everson Griffin agrees to terms with the Cowboys, reportedly a one year, six million dollar contract.

Think about this. This guy is a has been in the Pro bowls for has been to the Pro Bowl for the last five seasons. He's accumulated forty four point five sacks over those last five seasons, averaging about nine point five sacks a year. Only year he had under six sacks was twenty and eighteen, when he only had he only played eleven games. So my question for you guys is, first, what was your reaction when you first started the Cowboys made this deal. Let's start with you, Nick.

You know, it's like what else from one day? You know, I mean we've had a lot of a lot of news that day, and you know it was a good camp or two to the entire day. I think it'll be it'll be a good addition, but you know, I don't look at it as it's gonna put them over to the top unless the defensive tackles are better, Because if the defensive tackles aren't better than I don't think he's gonna be much different than Robert Quinn who got

him too eight and eight. So it could be a good move, but I want to see if it's if he's gonna be a huge upgrade from what they had last year. Amber I think, I mean, definitely surprising. When I saw that on my phone, I was like, what what is going on here? And definitely something that I was not expecting to me. I see this as a

great addition. I wonder if maybe they feel like the whole Randy Gregory theme might not happen after all, because initially, I remember after last season we were concerned about the pass rush and then trying to get to the quarterback last year, and then you lose Robert Quinn, which was your most productive guy last year, and this year we were talking about Alden Smith and Randy Gregory coming back and all that. You do get Alden Smith Smith back, but you still don't know what you got going on

there with him yet. So it makes me think or wonder if maybe they're just kind of not seeing the whole Randy Gregory theme happening for this season, and I know a lot a lot of fans are always asking about Randy Gregory. I don't know why so many fans

like Randy Gregory so much, but they do so. I just think it's it's a great addition to just help the whole line helm a g. I'm so glad you said that because it was such a perfect segue, because my primary reaction is that we're still learning so much about what this team's going to do under Mike McCarthy. I know it's technically a front office signing, I don't care. This is a head coach thing in my opinion, because under the old regime, we would have heard we like

the guys we have. Randy Gregory's still out there. We feel good that maybe he can come back. We're gonna work with what we got. Mike McCarthy's like, what if we don't do that, what if we go get a talented, affordable veteran who can help the pass rush. It reminds me a lot of the Center situation, because if you go back to the draft, you think about McCarthy saying, yeah, I know we had Connor McGovern and we got Joe Looney, but what if we drafted Tyler Biadas just to really

make sure we address the situation. So this strikes me as Mike McCarthy saying, why don't we go ahead and turn over every stone that we can instead of just hoping that what we have is good enough. I love it. I love the approach. I love the fact that he's talented. Dude, Yeah he's got seventy career sex or seventy five. Excuse me. Love it all the way around, not just because he's a good player, but the approach to just never stopping

adding talented players. That's what good front officers should do. Love it. Can't say enough about it. So let's talk about where he fits. You look at a guy like him, and obviously with his resume, he's a starting caliber player. Does he immediately step right in and become the starter opposite DeMarcus Lawrence? In your opinion? Is that for me? It's for any one of you guys want to jump in. I mean, he hasn't had an off season, but the good thing is that nobody's really had an off season,

so you know enough, he's a ten year veteran. I assume he's been taking care of himself. I assume, you know, he'll pass his physicals and all that, so I doubt he'll be that far behind. And yeah, I mean, you know, Tyrone Crawford's going to be part of that and Alden Smith as well. But yeah, I mean my expectation is that he can handle a starting caliber role for sure. Nick.

Let's talk a little bit about what you mentioned a few minutes ago, and you're when you first talked about it, and you mentioned the fact that you don't think this is necessarily a game changing type move for the Cowboys unless the defensive tackles are better. Talk a little bit more about that and talk about it in the context of the defensive tackles that they've picked up this offseason and what you think you can expect from them, and then what it means for this defensive end signing. I mean,

don't get me wrong, I think it's gonna be. It's it's a big upgrade for what they had, you know, twenty four hours ago. But my point is is we've seen this defense, and not with the same coaches, but we've seen this defense with personnel that Robert Quinn came in here and he got eleven and a half sacks. Now, I was surprised by that. I know Dave was Derek you argued with this, you thought he was gonna be in the top match. I don't think he thought he

was gonna go eleven or eleven sacks. But either way, he was really really good. And I think Griffin is probably I don't think the expectations would be that high. So all I'm saying is unless the defensive tackles are way better, that changes the whole dynamic. Now now you're you're working with something here. But you know, to me, he's gonna be kind of what Quinn was and what d Law was. I don't know if that changes a whole lot, but I think McCoy and Poe will change that. Yeah.

I actually think it's really interesting there because I think if you look at the production of what Gerald McCoy particularly has been throughout his career as a pass rushing defensive tackle, I think he's a guy that's gotten a good amount of production. You know, when you're talking about five or six sacks for a defensive tackle, that's significant. And I think that that that I think he will

be more more disruptive. I think they will require teams to pay a little bit more attention in the middle, and I think it does help them from that standpoint. I think both these defensive ends, but the two starting defensive defensive ends, at least the way I'm projecting it, I think will be even better. We'll be able to produce even more than last season. I think Tank's going to be better than he was last season. So I think it's ultimately going to be a good move for

the Cowboys. You know, did you have some point? But I was just saying real quick, in twenty eighteen, which is not that long ago, you know, there was a Pro Bowl being played that that had McCoy, that had d Law, that had a Griffin, all on the same you know line, they're probably playing at the same time. So you know, just to be two years ago and to have those guys now on one team, that's pretty good. Talk to me about what this means for the other

defensive ends, particularly Crawford Alden Smith. How do you think this affects them, if at all. We'll start with you Amber. Honestly, I think this whole thing just goes back to experience, just because of the whole like not having an offseason right now, I think your users going to have to rely on the guy that has the most experiencing who can perform better during practice. I mean those guys are great.

Tyland Crawford, I think he's a great piece to have just because of his flexibility and in case you never know why player, what happens or what's going to happen this offseason with the whole COVID or whatever other injury a guy may suffer throughout the process. I think having Tyrone Crawford not just set in a single spot, it's just going to help them out and just keeping him being like keeping that flexibility with him to move around. And as far as Alden Smith, I don't know. I

don't know. We just have to if we haven't seen of him for such a long time. So I think that he's just has to whole experience disadvantage on his side. But you just never know how players are going to perform at the moment of everyone getting back on the field. Dave,

what are your expectations of Alden Smith? I mean, he is a guy that and I put I put him in a category of a guy that required very little from the standpoint of risk for the Cowboys, but at the same time, the potential upside for the Cowboys I think is huge, especially if he can get back to and this is the part that's a little bit risky, he could get back to what he was before his career was cut short. I think back in twenty fifteen

was the last time he played. Maybe, So what are your thoughts on Alden Smith and what you think your expectations are for him? I guess at least from a standpoint of not only played, but but where they can use him and how quickly they can use him. That's honestly for me, that's part of the beauty of this

Griffin signing. I mean, yeah, and it's it's totally fair to be excited about Alden Smith's upside, and the same thing kind of goes for Tyrone Crawford not you know, he was never an Alden Smith type of talent, but both of those guys you feel good about what they can do. The question was always can you lean on him? Can you expect Tyrone to stay healthy after two hip surgeries? Can you expect Alden Smith to get back to that level?

With Everson Griffin in the mix? You don't have to count on that as much, so they can be you know, whatever they can provide you is great. And this honestly makes Alden Smith that much more exciting because if it's me, I'm putting him on the field in obvious pass rush situations, I would have a Nickel pass rush package where he's on the field at the same time as Griffin and DeMarcus Lawrence. You know, Mike Nolan hasn't asked me for

my opinion, but that's something that I would consider. Put that guy in on second and third and long and let him go to work, and you don't have to worry about him holding up against sixty to seventy percent of the snaps. So this should help him do what he does best, which is get after the quarterback and passing situations. So in a way, I think adding Griffin, you know, makes me even more excited about Aldan Smith because I'm not asking him to do as much. Yeah, Nick,

I'll take that a little different direction. Some of the I know you and I've had some conversations about some of the younger defensive ends on this team's particularly guys like Jolkes Jackson. I think Jelks was one of your guys that was a pet cat for you last year during training camp and you kind of liked Obviously, Armstrong played quite a bit last year, and then the Cowboys draft Bradley and I so you look at those kinds

of guys. How much does a signing like this affect those guys, Because again, we're talking about a roster where you make at the most five pass rushers and that fifth one probably is going to be a guy that does both and someone like Crawford, Right, so maybe two of these guys at the most can actually make this team. How does it affect those guys and what do you think that all shakes out? Well? I think it's it

affects them a lot. I mean, yeah, those guys were pet cats because they had to be better than Taco, They had to be better than Dora's Armstrong. You know, you thought that they had a chance to play a little bit more. And now if you're trying to figure out how Tyron Crawford and Halden Smith get on the field, yeah, it's gonna be tough for a guy like Jelks who has never played a snap, Joe Jackson, who's played about

fifty snaps. So yeah, to me, I think it comes down to who was the most discipline this year in the offseason and who has helped themselves the most in the weight room. You know, who comes back in the best shape, whether b Jackson or Jilkes or Armstrong, you know somebody. There's really only one spot there. Who takes it? Now, this question is going to be for everybody. I want

everybody to chime in on this. I think the common thought right now by most people that observe the Cowboys is that this offense is on a different level than the defense, that the Cowboys success this year will be

driven by how successful the offense can be. How much do you think this signing in I don't know, in whatever terms you want to put it in, whether you're being optimistic or pessimistic, how much do you think this signing um makes the defense a little closer to being able to pull its own weight and really compliment what this offense may be able to do, especially if it's the high powered offense that we expect it to be.

Let's start with you, Amber. I think it's a it's a I mean, we've said it's a great addition, and obviously that that's just a plus. That's something else to have in there and someone with experience. But the thing is, to me, we talked so much about the offense, because we've seen the offense, I think we have a clear, clear, better picture of what this offense is going to look like.

I mean, they have the addition of City Lamb and other guys in there, but we have overall just a better vision of what that whole offense is going to look like. As opposed to the defense, there are so many little different parts that we just don't feel one hundred percent sure about. For example, the whole secondary. We're still trying to figure out what's going to happen at

the cornerback position, what's going to happen at safety. I mean, the linebacker group is still essentially the same one as last year, but there's still question marks around it. And we just talked about the whole defensive line. There are new elements in there that, yeah, they're exciting and it's going to be exciting to watch, but we just haven't seen it yet. So I think that it's a great addition. For sure, it's going to elevate the defense one way

or another, But at the end, of the day. We just can't have a full clear picture of what that's really gonna look like just yet. Dave. Yeah, I'll you know, sorry, Nick, but I'm gonna steal your talking point a little bit. But I mean they had Robert Quinn last year and they were bad. Um, So you know, adding Everson Griffin is not a cure all by any means. I think if they're gonna be better, if they're gonna be good,

it's gonna be because of the coaching. You know, Mike Nolan, Jim tom Seula, having another pro bowler to work with is exciting. Um. But you know, they had they had just as much, if not more talent last year and they were mediocre or worse. So it's not so much about the players, in my opinion. I think it's it's on the defensive coaches to take this talent and do something with it, because the talent was there last year. Yeah, And I mean, you're right, the talent was there a

defensive end. I think I think what my point is that you know, I never really agree. Of course, I don't like to, you know, discredit Marinelli, because I mean he was a great football coach, but I just to me. When everybody's going up to the quarterback, every single guy, then that's going to expose you to to draws. It's going to expose you too, guys because he wants these rushmen. Well, these guys aren't very vague, and so they get locked on by a gardener center and then no one's at

the quarterback. So I think that the way that they changed it, they got these big guys up front, they got talented guys in the middle, and you know, I just think it'll help everybody on the outside. So but Derek, to answer your question, I think the offense is still I mean, a great offense will give you a great defense. Nineteen ninety two Colbys had the best defense in the NFL and it was because of Emmon Smith, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvan and having fourth quarter leads now Charles Haley helped.

But if you have a great offense, I can score points and give you leads, it'll make your defense better. Yeah. I think that's the point, Nick, and it was the point that I would have made that when you look at this team, I think the great part about it is and Dave, you've used this term that team forty Burger. I think you guys started using that back during the trap.

But the fact of the matter is that if this offense really can live up to that kind of potential where they're putting up tons of points every week and they're consistent, and we saw it last year in spurts, we just didn't see it consistently enough. But if they consistently are putting up big points, now, I think what they've done with this signing is they've actually created a

defense that's very complimentary to a high powered offense. You give them a lead and then you say, go get the quarterback, and now they got horses that can go get the quarterback. Right, So I think that this this move really gives them the ability to play complimentary football to an offense that they expect to be high powered. It's still going to revolve around can they be high powered? Um, and I think there are a lot of other issues

that will come into into play. If the Cowboys can't really score a lot of points, or they find themselves in games where where it's more of a defensive struggle, then we'll rely more on can the linebackers play up up to par and can the safeties make tackles and cover the deep part of the field. Those are all the issues that come up um that they may not have to deal with as much if they could play

with a lead. So I think it'll be it'll be interesting to see how much the offense can be consistent and how much that then affects this defense's ability to play complimentary football. We're gonna take our first break. When we come back from the break, we're gonna get into a lot of conversations from yesterday Jerry Jones, Mike McCarthy, and Stephen Jones at their opening press conference. We're gonna talk a little bit about some of the things that

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four ninety five at Dallas Cowboys dot Com. Slash Star Welcome back to the Break. We are here live. I'm live at the Start. Nickslive here at the Star, not in the SWBC boarding studios, although I do think we'll probably get back in there, hopefully at some point in the future. We'll see when that actually happens. Maybe I'll go down there next show, but we are very happy to be back with you guys. Let's talk a little

bit about what happened yesterday. The Cowboys have their opening training camp, opening press conference where Jerry Jones and Mike McCarthy and Stephen Jones addressed the media. And where I want to start is where I think everybody was expecting

this whole thing to start. There's been a lot that's been going on in our country over the last several months, obviously everything with regards to COVID, but also a lot of things around social justice, and there was kind of this this waiting, I guess, from the standpoint of the media and fans to hear from from Jerry Jones with regards to the topic, and specifically with regards to players

kneeling during the national anthem. And yesterday, the first question in the press conference dealt with that, and so we had an opportunity for the first time to hear from Jerry on the subject. So my question for you guys is what were your thoughts after hearing his statement. What did you take from the statement that he made about players potentially kneeling this year as a season as the

games begin. We'll start with you, Nigga. Well, you know, I thought that it was clear that that you know, he had you know, the word in mind that with grace, I mean, that was what That's what he said. He said it a dozen times, I think it in his in those answers, And so what does that really mean? I mean, I'm not sure, but but it sounds like he's going to be more you know, lenient towards things that you know, that that might have happened a couple

of years ago, three years ago. You know, he said that was then and this is now, and I thought that was the probably the most important part of all that. So whatever you know, he had said and his stance was, you know, I think now that he's going to be

more understanding of that. But without talking to the team and players and having those conversations yet, he left it kind of vague still, but it does sound like, you know, he said he's gonna be graceful in things that pop up and trying to understand what players feel like and you know, get their perspective back and forth, and hoping

that the fans can understand that as well. So, Dave, I want to start off by addressing the person that's listening or watching this, who's I guarantee you you're sitting there saying nobody cares about this talk about football, nobody cares. It's not true, because my email inbox is absolutely full of people that have something to say about this. People care a lot, even still, even after the summer that

we've had, even though this is three years old. At this point, people feel some type of way on both sides of this issue. And my main reaction is, I hope the Cowboys don't make the mistake of thinking that nobody really cares, because and you know, I thought what Jerry said was very smart. He walked the line very well. Dak Prescott did the same thing. Mike McCarthy did it

a week ago. Where the thing that concerns me is it's nice to say that you're gonna have these conversations, you're gonna have grace, you're gonna think of the right way to do it. And they've got the benefit of time. They've got a month until the season starts. But when the season starts and the national anthem plays, people are watching, paying attention. They care. There are people that don't want you to kneel. There are people that want you to kneel.

People want you to come up with some sort of different way to say something whatever, But people are going to be paying attention, So I hope they're smart enough to actually follow through with this, because if they don't, if this is all just lip service, they're going to be in for a rough time when the season starts and things actually start happening, whether that's fans, the President of the United States is going to have something to

say about this at some point. So I really really hope that they follow through on this and have some honest to god conversations or they're gonna be in for

a rough time when the season starts. Amber. Yeah, I agree with everything that they've said, and I am one of those people that when we didn't hear anything out in public, you know, to the media, of Jerry Jones kind of speaking about the issue, I was one of those people that it bothered me, and I'll be honest, it did bother me because you you you want or you expect that the people that you're surrounded with are people that kind of believe or have your same beliefs,

and I was just waiting for it. So when I heard his answer, it was if I liked his answer, I liked the way I mean, he wasn't super clear about it. But if one thing that Jerry Jones has is that he's a very smart guy. He knows how to handle different situations. He knows how to find that medium line of what can I do to please both sides, you know, And we saw that a couple of years ago, what they did and how they handled the situation back then,

and I thought it was a very clever way. I know that there are very very mixed opinions on this issue, but I do believe that the Cowboys, and from what I know of Jerry Jones, he will do his best to have those conversations, even though he said he hasn't had them yet with these players, but I do believe that they're gonna be having those conversations and that eventually they'll figure out a way to be able to stand for what they believe and to support, you know, the

players at the end of the day. And what he said was basically he wants to support his players and what they feel. You know, you this is the time to listen, sit back and listen, let other voices be heard. So if anything, Jerry Jones is a it's an expert at finding that right balance in between to kind of

try to please everyone. Yeah, this is a this is a really interesting topic, and I don't I don't know that that yesterday really cleared up anything from the standpoint of giving any definitives, because Jerry wasn't definitive on exactly how he's going to handle this. Uh, he did say obviously he's going to have the conversations, and I think at the end of the day, we will see his days. Say, we will see on that first weekend of games when the national anthem is played and you see players across

the league, you know, kneeling. We will see how teams respond to that. We'll see how the NFL responds to that, We'll see how Jerry responds to that, and then based upon that, then I think we will all be able to have a much clearer idea of where we think things stand and be able to give a clearer idea on what we think that means. Let's go ahead, move on, Mike. But Nick, Well, I was just saying, you know what, how don't we already seeing this a little bit with

the other leagues. I mean, like when you said we'll see how people will respond, I mean, is it are people gonna respond like, you know, publicly, like you know, I hate that the NBA teams are doing that. I mean, I haven't seen a lot of public backlash at that. Well, no, you know how it goes. We know exactly who would out there, who would and there there's certainly some criticism

that's happening. But but to be honest with you, I do think and this is my personal belief and sometimes you kind of have to be careful because you know, my sphere of people may be very different than your sphere of people or anyone else's sphere of people, right, And but in my sphere, like I haven't heard any

negativity other than some national negativity. That's more you know, political based, right, um And certainly from the standpoint of of of looking at ratings, doesn't seem like the NBA is hurting from from all the different um acts that they've had over the last month that have have brought attention to you know, social injustice. So I don't I don't know that there is there's a ton of it out there, but there certainly is, and I think that's the nature of our country and by the way, that's

the way our country is supposed to work. We're not supposed to all think the same things, and we should have a right to be able to get out there and speak our minds and be able to talk about the things that are important to us and why it matters to us. So I don't care with the idea that there are multiple views on this, and I expect that if that happens with the NFL, there will be multiple multiple views on that as well. Let's quit and move forward to Mike McCarthy and his comment that he made.

He said, basically, they're trying to create this Oxnard like environment here at the Star, and I do think the Star is really uniquely situated for a situation like this. Obviously, you've got the Omni Hotel right here on site. You've got indoor facility, you got outdoor facility, you've got really great accommodations that have a lot of space for the team to kind of space out and do the things

that they need to do. That all being said, with what they've kind of established here in the way of a bubble, and Nick, you've been really close to this because you have a little more access than some of them the rest of our team, because you've kind of been a part of the kind of the teering system. But that all being said, um, what do you think of kind of what they've been able to create here

specifically now with the virtual bubble. I guess that the players are creating with the Omni and not necessarily going home every night, but staying at the Omni. You know, how close is that to what they would have been able to do in a situation like an ox Star. I think you know, they're they're doing the best that they can obviously, and uh yeah, I mean other than when practice starts, you know, Friday or tomorrow and you go out there and you'll feel that it's not ox Star.

I mean we know that. But everything else, Yeah, I think I think they are doing that. You know, there's there's a hotel, it's right there, you can walk over and do it. I mean, aside from you know, getting a giant Q tip up your nose every day and that there's not going to be a lot of you know, changes masks and distancing and all that. But but yeah, you're right, they have tried to establish this the best

that they can. Now, again, it's optional for players to say at the Omnium, and it's not like an oka where it's like we need you at practice, it's optional. This is this is different. Everybody's got unique situations at home and all that. So, but it does sound like there's there's quite a few players that being one of them, that are that are going to be up here at

the Omni. Yeah, Dak said yesterday that he would guess anywhere around ninety percent of the players are going to be staying here at the Omni, which is a great thing for them. And I'll take it to that. Next to the next question, Dak actually said that he thinks

the healthiest team wins this season. With that being said, Dave, I would like to hear from you, like, do you think that there is a h what is the likelihood that you think the Cowboys continue with the bubble going into the season knowing that there is a belief at the healthiest team ultimately has the best shot to win

this year, win it all this year. Yeah, I mean, I know, you know, you can't make guys do it, but that's a hell of a compelling case to keep it going, because I mean, when when Dak said that, and and I really thought about it, it's about as excited as I've been this entire offseason that football might actually happen, at at least for the Cowboys, because if ninety percent of the players are bubbled and they're all doing what they're supposed to do, I mean, we've seen

it's working beautifully for the NBA MLS man Like they finished their season already, you know, no positive tests going all the way back to July. It works. If you can control the environment that well, it works. And so if the Cowboys entire roster is accounted for and they're all at the hotel, you know, we've all been there. You can walk literally from the lobby of the hotel to the Ford Center without ever going outside. So it makes me really excited that the Cowboys can keep this

thing under control and get through training camp. And like I said, I mean, it's a big ask to expect somebody to live in a hotel from September until New Year's but if it allows you to keep your team healthy, it sounds awfully compelling to me. Like I mean, you know, like I said, I don't know how you make people do that, but if it gives you a chance of staying healthy and finishing the season, it's definitely something I

think they should look into. Yeah, it's it's really interesting because I've always wondered as the NFL is putting out its protocols, I always wondered why they didn't essentially create team bubbles. I know they couldn't. There are too many players in the NFL to take all the NFL teams and put them in one bubble like the NBA did in Orlando, Right, there's way too many people that are involved.

It just I don't think that would be practical. But I did think, you know, why wouldn't every team create their own individual team bubble at their facility or wherever they choose to do it. Practice there, meet there, do all the stuff that they do there, and then pick up your bubble and take it to whatever city you

have to play. And if you have sterile planes and sterile buses and you take them to a hotel that hasn't been that's been thoroughly cleaned, and you keep it kind of locked down to just the players while they're there, there's a way to do this to where you essentially have one pristine bubble meeting up with another pristine bubble,

and the chance of someone being infected becomes much smaller. Now, of course, that always means that you got fifty three, at least fifty three guys not including the staff and the coaches and all that that have to be away from their families for whatever portion of the season you're talking about. But if you want to do it in a way that gives you the best chance, I think

that really gives you the best chance. So I love the fact that they're talking about this their own player created bubble, and I think if the Cowboys can do that and do that well, I think it does help them. I'll ask you this question, Naimber. I was wondering about this from the standpoint of the quarterbacks because of the fact that you know, you look at Dak's statement that the healthiest team wins. I'll take it one step further.

The healthiest quarterback team wins. And that's no different than most years. You lose your quarterback during the season, the likelihood that you're going to be successful diminishes significantly. It makes me wonder, in a year like this, where the Cowboys have actually invested in a legitimate backup quarterback in Andy Dalton, should the Cowboys consider employing a method where maybe they treat them like the president and the vice president.

Where you keep them apart at all times, right, You don't let them actually come in contact with one another, so that if one gets gets the virus the other one, the likelihood the other one getting it from him is very, very small. And you always protect yourself with a quarterback, a capable quarterback. And then they give a moment, what

do you think about that? Right? Well, real quick, going back to Dank's statement where he said that yesterday, it just automatically made me think of like a survival show. I'm like, Okay, I started seeing players drop out because of COVID from different teams, and I'm like, Okay, the Cowboys are still in. They got players healthy, They're still going. Another thing that led me to think, I'm like, you know what, Frisco. There's not much to do in Frisco

as far as like a nightlife there. There are no strip clubs around in Frisco, so players can go out and go do that. So how do you know, I don't know, I don't know, but Frisco is just a nice little you know a lot of nice restaurants, very chill, nice nice places. Nothing. Yeah, nothing to crays GK. Actually even mentioned yesterday about not being you know, in a city like Dallas where players would have the possibility of going out to different places, and another thing I wanted

to add to the whole scenario. I did get a chance to talk to one of the rookies and he was just talking to me about the advantage of being in the OMNI that after they get done through the day, they can go back to the hotel and still be able to keep learning with each other's like like get together in small groups even of two or whatever, and just keep learning the playbook, keep learning and going over things, studying and everything. So I think it's a great perfect

environment that the Cowboys have with their whole facility. But going back to the whole quarterback thing, you know, and I had not thought about it that way at all until you mentioned that. I'm like, huh, that that would be pretty smart. I mean, it's not a bad idea at all. But then you go into the whole thing of that can happen with anybody else too. What happens if again, and that was talked about during the press conference.

What if Mike McCarthy gets it, What if a coach that's necessary gets it, or you just cannot fully control who's gonna get it. But if they do have the chance, and if some if one of them is somehow listening to this show and heard your what you just set up out the quarterbacks, I mean, I think it. I don't think it's a horrible idea to kind of keep those two separated from each other and just to be extra extra careful with everything because we know, we've seen it.

We've seen the Cowboys have issues, plenty of issues when a quarterback goes down. So why not try it out and see prepare yourself. So now that I have your voter confidence, I'm gonna text Jerry as soon as the show's over. I'm gonna tell them you might want to keep it quarterback separate and let's see if we can make that work. All Right, we gonna take out five break, we'll come back. We gotta talk a little bit about Dak.

He had a press conference yesterday as well. There was some interesting things that he talked about, particularly around his contract and how he looks at coming into this season and playing without having a long term You'll do that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. I want to use what the pros use. How about the official men's skincare brand or the Dallas

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the Break. We are. I am live at the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star, not in the studio, but I went down there this morning. Nick is here at the Star as well, Amber and Dave at their own homes. We're going to continue remotely with the shows for the foreseeable future. We just know that starting next week our

schedule changes up just a bit. We'll get back to our weekly shows on the break will be every Wednesday at eleven am, and we're going to continue that presumably for the next week two weeks, but no doubt by the time we get to the regular season, we will be in our regular, full season schedule where we'll be

on every single day. We'll let you know the time when we get a little closer and we figure out what coaches schedule is going to look like with the team to make sure we're available to go to practice and press conferences in the whole nine But next week

we're full into it. We have all of our shows starting back up, we'll have our press conferences each day, we'll have practice going on, and I just got confirmation we are going to be able to resume Training Camp live for those of you out there who have consumed that content in the past, about three times a week.

We will be able to bring to you, guys, some sights and sounds from practice, and we'll have our writers talking you through some of the different drills and some of the players and how they're performing on the field during practice. So that will be really really exciting as well. Let's get into Dak Prescott, and I want to talk a little bit about some of the things he talked about yesterday, but I want to start the conversation first just getting your overall opinions of Dak, because I walked

away from that press conference. It's not that I'm not impressed with him normally, but you watch him in a press conference like that, and the way he commanded the room and the way he made, the types of answers he gave where it seemed like he was being transparent but at the same time controlled in what he said, and just I just walked away from it so impressed

with Dak Prescott. What were your initial thoughts just kind of watching him up there and some of the things he said, maybe even something that really stood out to

you about what he said. Let's start with you, Nick, Well, I think when it's probably third and twelve and four receivers at a tight end come to the huddle and start talking all at once, and he does a pretty good job of being like one at a time, because that's what happened the entire press conference was everybody going at once there, So he did a good job of feeling Now he's probably had a lot of practice, especially when Dez was here to do that. I thought, yeah,

I thought he did a nice job. He really did. I thought he did a good job of of you know, handling everything. I will say this, you get somebody, you know, four months off to not talk about anything, they're they're probably he going to be pretty you know, ready for it. But he does a good job. But he's always been great in those press conferences, and yesterday was no exception.

Camper I thought that in all his answers, I felt him so genuine, you know, sometimes when we listened to him throughout the season in the locker room, I mean, he's always been a great speaker and can speak in front of everyone. But yesterday I got a sense of more like Dak, of genuine and Dak in there and getting a good feel of what were some of his

thoughts and emotions. And one of the things that I'm I mean, we'll have to figure out what happens in the future next year with the whole contract issue and what happens with the economics of the NFL, But just overall, listening to both sides, Stephen Jerry, Mike McCarthy and then Dak it seems like they seem good to go like, it doesn't seem like there's any hard feelings or anything, or at least they're not showing that. So you always want to keep a good relationship at your workplace and

be able to have everyone get along. So I think that that made me feel better and happier to listen from both sides, just to make sure that they're both kind of somewhat on the same page. They might not be on the same page just yet, but on the same book at least day. I think everybody knows at this point that I'm a dack Homer, but I don't care. Man. I felt like to that whole time, but that's my quarterback. That's how I felt. It was. Yeah, it was freaking awesome.

I mean, the guy stepped from eloquently talking about police reform and you know, trying to get people pardoned on death row, to talking about taking accountability and staying safe during COVID, talking about his contract, talking about the coaching staff, the way the communication has improved with Mike McCarthy and Kellen Moore. I mean, he's always been an impressive speaker, but it was it was extra impressive given the circumstances, and I mean, yeah, Nick's totally right. He did it

on a cluster f of a conference call too. It wasn't like a normal thing at his locker where he can look people in the eye. He's doing all of this remotely without even being able to tell who's talking to him. I just I think Dak's the man everybody knows. That's what I think, And yesterday just gave I mean, I don't know how you could be a Cowboy fan and you don't have to love his play if you don't want to. But I don't know how you could be a Cowboy fan and not be happy that he

represents your franchise. He's just He's awesome, Yeah, Jerry. One of the things that was interesting to me was both and this is not surprising Jerry being optimistic, but it was. It was interesting to me to hear both Jerry and Dak the optimistic that a deal would get done next year.

One of the things that stood out to me was Dak saying that he believes that the nature of some of the conversations at the last minute before the deadline hit between Stephen Jones and his agent Todd France makes him believe that maybe they even have a better understanding of each other that will work in their favor of

being able to get a long term deal done. All that being said, it sounds right like, right now everybody feels optimistic that something will get done by the way we've been hearing that for the last couple of years, we'll see it. This is what I don't This is what I don't understand because when I heard that, I mean, if you had those conversations the day off and you're like, okay, now I get you, you get me, then why didn't

he get done that day? I don't get it. It does sound to me like and this is this is one of those challenges of you know, everybody always talks about the Cowboys having the philosophy that deals, that that deadlines make deals. But one of the issues with deadlines making deals is sometimes everybody's waiting too close to the deadline so that when you actually start to talk, you actually literally run out of time in trying to finalize

a deal. Right You've sorry, yeah, but this is the Packers game where you just sit there at the whole game and don't do anything until the fourth quarter, and then you start throwing the ball around, and everybody's like, well, man, why didn't they do this earlier? They're like, well, maybe if they did, they would have won the game. I mean,

it's it's kind of the same thing. I think. Dave's clapping and she's right, and I mean, if you've made progress in the last hour, why didn't you start maybe two weeks earlier, maybe a month or there, maybe two years or you know, I mean, I'm sure there's more two it than that. And Jared makes a good point about you know, COVID had affected a lot of these because there's a lot of those guys that did not

get deals. Other than the chiefs, I think with franchise players, think Henry maybe maybe two oh yeah, Henry got right. But you know, I just think that you know, it just it just does. It's unsettling to hear, man, we made good progress at the end when you've had two years, right, If I mean, if the Cowboys are confident that a deal is going to get done, then what on earth

are they doing? Like that's really that's what it comes down to, because the only read, the only way it makes sense to not have a deal done is if you're comfortable moving on because guess what I mean. You don't want to give up the negotiation and pay him too much. You've already done that. It has already happened. The tag is going to go up to thirty eight

regardless of what happens with the salary cap. You are already committing to paying him thirty eight million a year because you have to tag him if you don't get a deal done. So the price tag is now thirty eight million dollars. It's gone up already without him playing another down. It's gone up. So if they're confident that they're going to resign him, then I don't understand the strategy. They should have just I mean, sorry, you have to lose the negotiation, but they should have just done it.

It doesn't make sense otherwise, Well, Jerry did mention that, you know, the complications of doing a deal like this in the midst of a pandemic makes it a little bit tougher and give you some different dynamics that you really don't know. Right. For example, let's assume for a second, and these are all assumptions, but let's assume for a second that something happens where the NFL can't play the

whole season this year. Well, that means it affects revenues, which means that going into next year, revenues are down, and then you work with maybe a much smaller salary cap, and that can be affected by the amount of money that then you would have to pay. Maybe there are other things that are unforeseen right now that will be that will be things that are that that affect how you do the business of football based upon the fact that we're in the in these tough situations financially as

a country because of COVID. So maybe that's a part of it. Who knows, I'm just saying I think there may be more. It may be a little more complex than just simply the number of years and the total amount of money. I don't know. Does that lower sorry, does that lower what Doc is wanting to get as a total amount of money or do you just go like, okay, well whatever, I'll just see what other teams can actually

pay me this much. I mean, I get it that it affects revenues and all of that, but at the end of the day, how does that affect from a

player's perspective and what they're trying to get from you? Know, whatever team and salary, Well, the salary cap still is a function of how much you're going to get paid, and I would suspect that, let's us again, these are assumptions, but but if revenue is down significantly, then that's going to affect the overall salary cap, and the players and owners may have to go back and rethink how they're they're doing contracts and that sort of thing in order

to I mean, you saw it this offseason. You saw how it played out where before the players showed up, there was a whole deal that had to be worked out between the players union and the and the and the NFL owners to be able to figure out how they operate under these circumstances. So all I'm saying is there's a lot that's unknown because of COVID. We've seen a lot of businesses in this country be very adversely

affected by COVID. So, um, I don't I don't know that the NFL will be affected or will be more affected. What I do know is that it's an unknown right now, and that could post some challenges when you're talking about a deal as large as something like this, and certainly for the extended period of time like this, I would have an easier time believing that if you know, Miles Garrett hadn't signed a gigantic extension over the summer and Chris Jones, I don't even want to bring up Pat

Mahomes because it's such a different contract. But you know, but I mean, yeah, well for sure, but you know, ten years, but the Titans signed Derrick Henry to a huge four year deal. Garrett gets a five year deal like and I know Dax deal would be worth it just you just said though, but Davey just said though we talked about it at the open up this segment. There's only a couple of those guys that were that were that were franchise guys that got long term deal.

So I don't think this is just the cowboys who were worried about how does this how does this look in a new COVID world? Absolutely not. But the Cleveland Browns were comfortable giving Miles Garrett like one hundred and forty million dollars and it's it's not what DAK would get, but it's not chump change either, right on top. And but those are exceptions. I know, I know there's a lot of unknowns, but in the long run, in the four or five six year long run, the NFL is

gonna be just fine. Like when they can get around to playing games, the ratings are gonna be nuts, Like there might not even be college football this year. The NFL is gonna do numbers, and they're gonna be fine in the long run. So I don't know all the ins and outs, but I just I think they could have made it work if they really wanted to. And maybe they could have. I mean, everything we're hearing suggests that if they would have started talking maybe day before that,

and maybe they would have had a deal. Right, So you're you're probably right, And to be quite honest with you, I think that it gives me more optimism to believe that the Cowboys get a long term deal done because of the fact that it sounds like they were. They were actual making headway in the last couple hours, minutes whatever before the deadline expired, and they'll pick that up hopefully this offseason, and hopefully nothing happens this season that

totally changes the dynamics. And what I mean by that is Dak plays extremely well or Dak plays extremely poorly, then you got a whole different set of circumstances and now we're back at ground zero versus him just being on the steady incline, which he's been on most of his career. All right, real quick, before we end the show, I did want to real quickly with practices starting tomorrow.

I wanted to go through the whole roster with you guys and just see, you know, what is if you had one thing that you're most excited about watching heading into camp, what is that one thing. It could be a player, it could be a position group, it can be a camp battle. Give me one thing that you're most excited about watching heading into practices tomorrow. Let's start with you Amber. I mean it has to be Dak and the receivers. I want to see Cezee Lamb in

action and the connection between him and Dad. They've been practicing together during the off season here and there, and we've seen a few little clips of that, but I want to see it in real life and see how

that all looks like. That's always very exciting and I think those are probably one of the easiest things to watch during a training camp practice, aside from the defensive line and the old line and you know, linemen going at it against each other one on one of those are always pretty fun as well, but mainly the wide receiver and see how Dak connects with them. Dave, I think anybody that's listening to this show can probably tell you what to expect about most of the roster, except

the cornerbacks. It's you know, it's not the juiciest thing, but it's it's the position we know the least about. Who's gonna who's gonna be the top trio? Treyvon Diggs is he good enough to get in there? Jordan Lewis is the new coaching staff gonna give him a shot? Nobody really knows what to expect, and I can't wait to see how it shakes out. Nick, both both of

those answers. Because really every practice that you ever attend, and we've attended just about every one of them, um you know, you know in the last in what ten, fifteen, Tony or whatever, which we always say, cornerbacks and receivers. That's the only thing you could really judge in a practice other than did the quarterback get the ball there? Did he get open? And did the guy you know catch it? And what he covered? So to have cdee Lamb and Trayvon Diggs, those two that were just mentioned.

I think those are the ones that you know, not only is it easy for us to to, you know, evaluate that, it'll be easy for us to see from wherever we are going into watch practice from. Let me give you guys one more quick note, one more quick question before we end the show. Think about Mike McCarthy and he's had an opportunity now to address the media a couple times, a few times. We've had an opportunity to see some of the things he's trying to do

with this team. We've seen his staff that he's assembled. Um, what do you think right now? Um? And I'm going to kind of put you in a position where i want you to make a comparison. What do you think is the greatest thing that he brings this team that may not have been here with Jason Garrett, big shiny europhy about a shiny trophy in a big rain that he that he's won at the stadium, about to say,

remember that time that I won the championship. I mean, Garrett can say it too, but he was the backup quarterback, you know, or the third stream quarterback. But I'm just saying the experience of winning and uh and you know, having developed a quarterback that arguably is one of the best of all time. Um. You know, I just think that that he's he's got that experience so um and he brings that to the table of a team. You know that that was close to winning last year a

lot of games. He just needed to learn how to win. And now they're bringing a coach that has won. Allright, Amber, just something fresh, something completely new. I mean, I don't hate Jason or anything, but we knew what Jason was gonna be wearing. We knew what his first word would be, We knew what he was gonna do, so we knew every single move. It was. I don't know McCarthy. I don't know McCarthy what he's gonna do, so I cannot be predicting his first moves. In comparison to Garrett, I

could predict basically everything he was gonna do. Day. This is gonna sound like a shot, and I swear I don't mean it too, but I would say expertise probably. I mean, when Jason Garrett got this job, he had never been a head coach. Mike McCarthy has been a head coach in this league for a long time. He's been to four NFC title games in the Super Bowl somewhere. Jason Garrett never made it as a coach. Jason Garrett, he elevated a lot of young coaches. Sometimes it worked out,

Mark Colombo, Kelly Moore, sometimes it didn't. And that's not the case with this coaching staff. Damn near every coach on this staff has years and years and years of experience, whether you want to talk about Jim tom Sula, Joe Philbin, Mike Nolan, like, most of these guys have been there and done that at every level of the NFL. So there's just a lot of expertise that I don't know necessarily was there, especially in the last few years of

the Jason Garrett era. You know, I think that I think that coaching staff was in over excuse me, in over its head a lot of times. And I don't

think that'll be the case with these guys. Yeah. I thought it was very interesting that Dak yesterday, when ask a similar the question, talked about the authenticity of Mike McCarthy and how he presents himself to the team, And I thought that was really interesting because I mean, and that's probably been one of the biggest knocks publicly on Jason Garrett when he was here was that, you know, fans certainly saw him as a robot and didn't see him as as real, didn't see him as authentic and uh.

And so it was interesting to hear Dax say that's one of the things that stood up to him about Mike McCarthy. And so we'll see how it all turns out. We've seen those of us that have been around here for a long time, We've seen a lot of different coaches come through the door, and you know, you just never know. You never know how they're gonna resonate with the team, and you never know a long term the

amount of success that they'll be able to generate. But let's let's be clear too, when you listen to McCarthy, you know, it's not like billing partls press conferences. You know, fifteen years ago, there's coach speak involved. There's a reason why they're guarded. Jason Garret would talk for ten minutes and not getting you an answer. Guess what. McCarthy does the same thing. You know, when they was asked about Cheeto moving to safety, I mean that answer was just

like he was side stepping and dancing around it. That's what coaches do, you know, and they don't want to give up more than they should right now. And so you know, he's he's more interesting and Dave than I have been able to be in a couple of spots already with McCarthy, and he's really cool. Um, But when he's when he's on the mic there, I don't know

if there's a huge difference there, which is fine. I mean at the end, like football coaches are gonna be football coaches, just like you said, but Mike McCarthy at least kind of acts like a person. Um. It's just it's not so ridiculously robotic as it used to be, which yeah, I mean, the answers are basically the same, but it's it's a little more refreshing to feel like you're talking to a human being. He doesn't do this now, Dave.

Are you saying that if you run into McCarthy at the airport going to the Senior Bowl it won't be really really awkward. Well, that depends on if I mean, did he just get fired, because it would probably be awkward in that situation. That's gonna be awkward. I guarantee you that might have been one of that most awkward situations. Dave Tar Dave walking over to talk to Jason Garrett and his blue I was shirt but it didn't have

a star at this time, and it was weird. I guarantee you, if we run into Mike McCarthy in the airport bar, he probably won't say, how are we doing? Guys? I feel confident. I feel confident about that. All Right, guys, that's it. We appreciate you guys joining us. We're back next Wednesday eleven am for another episode of The Break till then for Nick Eatman, Dave Hillman, Abergarcia. I am Derek Eagles and this has been The Break Lit on

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