The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.
Cowboys Let's go.
Are you ready for a break?
Yes?
Are you ready for a break?
Absolutely? Ready for a break?
Yeah, and so much for that.
It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com.
We were with mbar.
Garcia, Brian brought us, Patrick Walker and Derek Eagleton.
It is Friday, December twenty second, twenty twenty three, Season nineteen, episode number ninety four. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break. We are live from the SWBC Mortgar Studios. At the start, I'm very.
Happy to have our full crew back for Friday.
We're getting you guys ready for Cowboys versus Dolphins. That's gonna happen this Sunday. We got to get caught up on some injuries. Man, there's some real, real concerns the Cowboys are dealing with heading into this game. We'll tell you what we think is going to happen from the standpoint of some of the matchups in this game. Amber's
got some questions for us. In the second segment, and then the final segment of the show, we're going to focus in on the NFC, talk a little bit about some of the scenarios where the cow Man they're looking like nobody wants to play, right, But we're gonna talk about some of those scenarios in NFC and where teams are lining up, and how this thing is going toward the end, and give you some of the ideas of there's so many games this weekend that the Cowboys will
have a vested interest in. So we'll lay some of that out for you.
Guys.
You know how you should be rooting if you're rooting for the Cowboys. So let's get this thing going. Let's jump right in. Let's talk about first injuries we got Tyron Smith and Zach Martin. I think those are the two that everyone's really paying attention to. What are we hearing at this point?
All right, so ladies and gentlemen, bear with me. I am back. I'm feeling better, but my voice is still somewhere in hell. I'm waiting for that to join us injury wise, Tyron Smith and Zach Martin, like you said in hearing what Jerry Jones on General Menal j Jerry Jones, A head coach Mike McCarthy said in their conversations, with one O five three the fan this morning. It's not
a lot of optimism. Mike said that Zach is ahead of Tyrann as far as the possibility of playing against the Dolphins, But based on some conversations I'm having and it being a reaggravation of that quad contusion, it's not exactly looking like sunshines and the rainbow. So I'd put Zack at about a fifty to fifty, maybe a little
bit less than fifty. I'm completely pessimistic on if Tyron Smith is going to take the field at all, and then that puts you again in an offensive line flux and then against a defensive line that is that excels at getting pressures and getting their hands on the quarterback. So if one or both of those guys are out, and it looks like it's possible that one or both of them will be out, then you're really gonna have your hands full up front.
Yeah, that's this morning.
They were saying that, especially with Tyrann, they're gonna carry that thing all the way up until the very last minute, is all that. And I was asking about, you know, Sunday, and they're like, we're gonna give them.
Every possibility every minute.
So yeah, hold your breath on that when whatever football gods you pray to go.
Ahead and go for it.
So but yeah, the thing with Martin, we we interviewed Zach yesterday one.
Five three the Fan first Week Interview. Thank you.
He's after we stopped asking about how to put Christmas toys together, then we started getting the nuts of bolts of football, and uh.
You know, he's always going to tell you he's fine.
He's always going to tell you that, hey, I'm good to you know, everything's good and all that.
Uh.
But like Patrick says, I think that these both are are we're looking at probably maybe Martin with the chance that. I don't think that the Tyron Smith one is going to work out for you this game. I just just just talking. I mean, when you start to talk about the very last minute, We've seen the very last minute before with Tyron Smith and it's gone the bad way. So uh, I hate to be the wet blanket guy here, but man, that that's that's gonna be a tough one to deal with.
Yeah, whether right or wrong, I think that the natural inclination for all fans or bystanders who've wont to the Cowboys for the last several years.
The history tells us.
That when you get into this kind of situation with Tyrant, the likelihood is that you probably out more on you fall more on the side that he's probably not gonna play. But you just don't know, and we'll wait and see until Sunday. But that being said, across the table, you guys, tell me, what's your level? How much does this change your thoughts on where you were on the Cowboys possibilities of going to Miami and getting a win.
I'll start you a lot.
I mean, I'm hoping for a win, but it's just it really complicates things because you come out of the loss against Buffalo where the offense wasn't able to really perform at a level that you expected them to or wanted them to, and you talk about the O line and the running game, how we started seeing an incline in that they started getting better. Now, any type of injury happening there, that's gonna take a hit and it's
going to affect their running game. Now that's kind of taken out of the equation for me, because I don't see it working very well if both of them are
out or even one of them. The key for me in this game would be for Dak to go back to that quick, quick, quick get maybe take a few steps back, get rid of the of the ball very very quickly, and connect with the receivers everyone's going to have to be on at the same pace and connect it and know exactly what the route is, what the call is, what the plan is, and hope that they're in sync, because that's the only way that I see
it right now knowing about these injuries. Even if they were to step on the field and play, that doesn't mean they're one hundred percent healthy. They're still banged up and they're still affected with these injuries. So regardless, I think for me, yeah, it changes what I think of the outcome maybe, but I have hope holding on to that stat of them playing really, really good after a loss and also hoping that the offense starts clicking again where Dak can just get rid of the ball very quickly.
Had an advantage. You had an advantage if you're healthy.
You have an advantage because they're really banged up on their offensive line, and you were hopeful that maybe that your defense would be able to take advantage of that. They're still dealing with Robert Hunt and Austin Jackson being hurt. So now it kind of if you lose two guys,
they lose two guys. Now it's going to be a battle of which backup group can find ways to block, you know, really good defensive lines, especially with you know, with dealing with Bradley Chubb and and Wilkins and that crew.
I mean, they could present some.
Problems, but you got better backups right now, I would say the Cowboys do that. That would be where I would go right now when you talk to talk about bass and a dooga, I think it's better than what I'm seeing with you know, with with what the Dolphins have thrown out there. But the Dolphins do a really good job of scheming around the deficiencies they have in their offensive line.
They don't ask.
Those guys to do a whole hell of a lot, you know, from what I was seeing, it's a lot of angle blocks, a lot of half man blocks. Uh, never have to take anybody on toe to toe.
You know.
Their scheme is built that way. The way they run the ball, they are a perimeter running team, and so everything is about movement and pulling and trapping and so it's it's not asking them to just go out there and just blow guys off the line of scrimmage.
They just don't play that way.
I think Dallas has the better group, but I'm interested to see which offensive staff schemes better in this game to get there to manufacture offense when they're compromised on their offensive lines.
Cowboys are going to have to learn from what the Arizona Cardinals tell them. Yeah, you go back and look at the Arizona Cardinals film, and you know that's what you draw from. As far as what you need to do against the Miami Dolphins, as far as supplanting or trying to supplant Tyron Smith and Zach Martin, It's not going to be an easy task at all, especially against this defensive front. But I'd love Ambar's point. You got to get the ball out quickly. Don't put your offensive
line in position and includes Chunmaydoga and likely TJ. Bass. Don't put those guys in position where they have to do a ton of pass pro against some of the better pass rushers in the league. Get it out quickly. The Dolphins love to run zone. They run zone assuming they do it because I'm always traumatized by what the
forty nine ers did with flipping that switch. But assuming that the Dolphins remain true to what they've been doing, which is running zone three out of every four defensive snaps, you're going to have the spacing there to get that ball out. So get the ball out, get it into the hands of your playmakers. Move CD Lamb around, Move Brandon Cooks around, get Cavante Turpin involved, use Jake Ferguson to attack that second level and attack the seams with
the linebackers applying pressure to the safety. They run a lot of single high as well, and that should help the passing game open up a little bit more with which then should make things easier for Tony Pollard recalled out on the run game because quite as it's kept. While the home and away splits are massive when it comes to like penalties, types of penalties, passing yards, things like that, the running game, the rushing attack has been pretty steady. I think four point one yard average per
handoff on the road, four point two at home. So if you can get out to a fast start, and that's going to come down to getting that ball out quickly, get out and score play from play ahead. That running game should be your steady hand going forward. You're probably not gonna get a lot of shots downfield without tiring exact there.
Well, I'll say the thing that concerns me most about that strategy is last week they faced another team that's similar to this one in the way that they get a four man pressure. They can have seven out in coverage and when they're playing zone with seven. By the way, they're pretty good playing zone with seven, it flogs everything's.
Up and the traveler too.
Yeah, so yeah, yeah, they got to travel to time.
It just makes it really I think it makes it really tough, whether you're talking about a quick passing game or a passing game where you can try to that the passes to let the routes develop. Either way, I think it's going to be really tough for Dak built to find those openings, especially if they're being able to get pressure with four knowing that the Cowboys are compromise on the offensive live. So I think that's really the
challenge for me. The key really gonna come down to, can the Cowboys find a way to run the ball that's gonna slow down those four pass rushers and give you that time that you need in order to really find those big plays, because this offense is predicated on the big plays. When they play well, when they're playing at their best, they got big plays involved. They're gonna need those, I think, and the running game is the only thing I think that's going to get them there.
And the only way you're gonna be able to do that is if your defense bottles up guys like Tyreek Hill, jay Lenwato kind of gets hands on tour rattles him as much as possible. Because if you allow the Dolphins to do what the Bills did, which is get up on you, and largely because of self inflicted wounds, but
however it happens. If you allow the Dolphins to get up on you early playing from behind Againstille, game's gone, right, running game's going and you're down to starting offensive lineman, you're in trouble.
Yeah, that's gonna be the thing that scares me about this game a little bit, as who the official.
Is with Sean Hockey, you know, and and we all are very.
Familiar with seen this before.
We've seen Sean Hockey insert himself and his crew.
Into into games.
And that's the that's the thing that that's always terrifying to me. I mean just looking through his the metrics with him, he's had he's had multiple games where it's eighteen penalties, fifteen penalties, fourteen penalties. You know, you just never know what you're gonna get. You're gonna get calls, but you don't and it and it's at the worst time with this, I just you know, I've always one of these guys, just let him play, let the two
teams figure it out. But you've got a guy that likes to put himself.
In the middle of the game.
And you know, I'm not trying to make excuses for either team here, but it is what it is. You know, sometimes you're at the mercy of these guys and uh, you know that's the that's the unfortunate part of the thing that you know, you didn't draw a crew this week that's probably gonna let you play. You're gonna get one that's gonna called the game probably pretty tight. And and you know who will have an advantage of that. Cowboy is one of the most penalized teams in the league.
I think the Dolphins are up there too, So.
I would love to see if this is the week would maybe maybe Michael Parsons gets a call like that's ridiculous that he hasn't gotten any of these holding calls.
Maybe this is a week where he gets some of those.
Yeah, well it's it's it's you know, like I said, you just don't know what these crews and had a holding call against him since since the Chargers game. You know, that's how far back that thing goes. But and and and they've got a compromised offensive line like you do right now, So there's going to be some holding in this game.
Don't don't. Don't act like it's not gonna happen.
What are we hearing about Malie Cooker? Have we heard anything more about it?
He's progressing, Obviously, he missed last week because of the illness. He didn't practice as they gave him and his ankle some rest on Wednesday. But he did practice in a limited participate as a limited participant on Thursday. So he's taking on more work. We'll see what today Friday's injury report looks like for him, but he's tracking toward taking the field, and uh, that would be you know, big one, Tomas.
He played solid. He had I think two or three missed tackles before the most part, given the fire that he was thrown in. In a situation he was thrown in, it was much more run support than coverage because Josh Allen only threw fifteen times. But yeah, mon Lee Cooker is tracking toward taking the feud.
All right, we're gonna take our first break. We'll come back. Amber has some questions for us.
All right, I can't smile.
No, I'm just wondering, like, Okay, we're gonna come back. AMA's got some questions for us and uh, and we'll get to those. We'll hopefully have a good time here. In the second segment, Move Back Dallas Cowboys dot Com.
Radio, Todd thought it would be secure to jog in the cheetah Savannah. Todd believed the big cat repellent he bought online was reliable. And now Todd is trying to be faster than this cheetah that can run eighty miles per hour. But the good news is Todd has at and T five G. It is fast, reliable, and secure, and he learned the best thing to do is stop running and toss her the backpack with the beef stew at and T five G. Fast reliable, secure, it's not complicated.
Five G requires compatible planning device. Five G may not be available in your areas. He att dot com slash five G for you for details.
Cowboys fans, after that move, we've just coined the term rowdy replay.
Let's roll back the table.
Okay, there's our mascot rowdy cheering on the boys, and now he's on his phone on his Bank of America Mobile Banking app.
Staying on top of his finances with his virtual financial assistant Erica.
Bank of America's digital tools are so impressive. Cowboys fans just can't stop banking. Learn more at Bank of America dot com Slash Can't Stop Banking Everica.
It is only available in the English language.
Must download the latest version of the mobile banking app, only available on select mobile devices. Message data raisy, apply number FBIC.
Welcome back into Dear Doctor, the show where I answer life's questions with an ice cold can of doctor pepper. Sheila, let's hear from my next caller, would you, Dear doctor?
My friend supported me during a tough time.
But what's the right gift that says thanks for.
Being the shoulder to cry out?
Okay, this one's easy. I say, give her a delicious Doctor Pepper. Nothing says thanks good better than one of a kind soda. Yes, any Doctor Pepper flavor will do. Now, just a reminder that I don't need to be a real doctor to know that Doctor Pepper is the one you deserve.
They say champions are remembered, but legends are never forgotten. United Agon Turf offers a winning lineup of John Deere equipment built to tackle anti challenge on and off the field. Legendary John Deere Tractors combines residential mowers, commercial mowers, compact construction equipment, hater utility vehicles, and a full line of golf and sports turf equipment. United Agon Turf the official
Agonturf equipment supplier of the Dallas Cowboys. Visit United Agonturf dot com to find a location near you.
Back to the.
Break all right, Get a frame worthy family holiday photo with Santa at the Star presented by Monument Reality. Santa Claus will be at his Cowboys themed cottage in the Star District through December twenty fourth. Visit the Stardistrict dot com slash Santa for more info.
Welcome back, second segment of the break lift in SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Stars segment brought to you by blockchain dot Com.
All right, let's jump into remember Thank you very much. Okay, so thank you to everyone who sent in their questions today. All right, guys, what's more important for success in this weekend's game? Offensive line dominates from the start? Or defensive line dominates from the start? From the cowboy side, do you prefer the offense to start off better the line or the defensive line to start off?
Said offensive line twice?
No, both offense line or defensive line. I think defensive line because the way I look at this game, it goes back to what you said, Patrick. They cannot afford to get down in this game, even if the offense is slow getting started. As long as they don't let Miami run away, then you could play a close game and you can just kind of figure it out as you go.
You cannot get behind.
If you get behind, we've seen how that goes, that's not gonna be good.
Yeah. For me, it's defensive line. Defensive line has to set the tone. Defense has to set the tone, especially after a game like what happened to Buffalo, when you basically just got mauled. So they need to get their confidence back. They need to get their resist show you the resilience, and they need to be what everybody believes they can be. And you already know the Cowboys offensive line might struggle a bit because they might be down
two starters. This defensive line is going to have to get it done.
Scoring helps this defense. Give me the offense.
I'm putting pressure on, as much pressure as I can on Miami. I'm gonna make them have to you know. The one thing that I know is if I can build a lead, hold a lead, that that dolphin running game will go away, because it happens every single time the Cowboys score for thirty points. Teams don't run the football on them. And that's my biggest concern right now. Give me the offense, come out blistering them right off the jump. Give me one of those games where you got three drives.
Give me. Give me the game that Buffalo had against you in the first half last week.
That's what I want, you know, twelve plays, seventy five yard drives, wear them down, score points, you know, give them a chance to have any offense.
I'll take that all day.
Real quick.
Before you go to the next question.
If you guys go back to earlier in the season, there was there were some times when tyroing Zach were out. What do you recall from that time from the standpoint of how well the offense and I know some of it was win before the offense turned into what it's but just looking at the offensive line, how the offensive line played with those backups, what are your recollections.
The line wasn't really the problem, Like they played good enough for them to have won a game or compete. So I don't going back, I don't remember us sitting here complaining how the how about of a job they did? It was like, okay, for the backups, they actually held up pretty good and they did a good enough job. So I don't think the I mean, it's possible to survive. It's basically one of yeah.
I mean, we ended up giving roses to Chimi Doga for stepping up big. We gave Rosy better than we thought he was exactly Guys like brock Hoffman, TJ. Best, and Arizona, those guys stepped up after being thrown in the fire. I don't think any of those. I don't
think the Arizona loss was on the offensive line. I do think that it's hard for me to figure out if the offensive line flux was part of the reason that the offense didn't take hadn't taken off quite yet kind of times up that it took off when the offensive line kind of came together, right, So that, Yeah, I don't like where that goes. If that's why you're
making their face, I get it. But yeah, I mean I think that the offensive line was not will cost you the game in Arizona, and if you look at any of those losses of San Francisco as well, I mean, the offensive line didn't cost you that game either, You're passing defense cost you that game. George Keittle gets three touchdowns, I mean that's game over. So yeah, I mean I think this offensive line can hold up well. But I mean we'll see because again they got horses up front. Yeah,
that's the big thing. That's the big thing. Just self inflicted wounds and just don't hockily and the officials there are going to be some bad cause and bad no calls. Just don't exacerbate the problem by you know, running into the past and when you don't have to, you know, trying to I want you to protect your quarterback, but unnecessarily bumping that we talked about. Just careful because you're
in hostile territory. You can't afford any mistakes. Just keep your emotional discipline where it needs to be and help your team out.
I think the one thing that it's weird because I felt like that his questions about his offensive.
Line affected his play calling in Arizona.
I felt like the weather affected his play calling, or the threat of weather affected his play calling in Buffalo.
Yep, he's got to put that aside.
You know, he's played games now with these guys and he has to say, you know what, last time, I was too cautious the way I played. I'm not asking you to go out there and sling it all over the place and try and get your quarterback hurt. But don't go into a shell with your offense. You know, trust that these guys can get the job done. You know, I think Mike, maybe I don't know, maybe overthink it a little bit there.
Didn't He wasn't there a game earlier this year where he actually admitted after the game he said that he called the game or Arizona was at Arizona. Yeah, and so I'm like, yeah, that that's when you talk about Buffalo. I actually, when I asked you guys the question yesterday about weather, I actually thought that's where you guys were going to go, because I personally believe Mike called a little different game because either the weather or because when he thought the weather, they would do.
They would they To me, and I'm not out here watching practice every day, but to me, if you were, I was wondering, Okay, is this a wet weather game plan you're throwing at him right now?
You know? And and and.
I think when the weather broke nice for him all of a sudden, like, well damn. We worked on this all week and it was not the creativity with the offense, you know. And and I know it was seven drop seven and rushed for I get that. But I've seen him call defenses or call plays against that and and have some success. I don't overthink this. If there's two guys out, don't overthink it. Go play football. You know
that's you've got guys. You got one of the best quarterbacks in the league, got one of the best wide receivers in the league, got one of the best tight ends in the league'll go play football today.
You know, I don't. I don't think Mike went into Buffalo thinking about the weather for the most part. And the reason I say that is because before the Cowboys first offensive drive, probably could have made that argument. But when you see Dak drop back and go deep to Cooks to try to get a home run ball on you know, one of the first players, they.
Never went back to right.
That's the right well, they never went back to it because that's just the game started to get away from them after that drive. Because on that drive you get the holding and you get no points, and then guess what penalty On the next Bills drive, they score again.
So the game's not of reason for them not to go back to the deep ball, especially if they saw some success on the front like it was there. They just didn't connect on it. And then, don't get me wrong, that's a hard pass to connect on. But I just felt like they they didn't do the things that we were accustomed to seeing them do on offense. And it left me to at least question whether Mike made some adjustments, because he was like.
Ah, oh, far as adjusting, pulling back, as far as versus walking into that game.
We know. What I'm saying is kind of going into that game with as Brian was saying, like, I kind of agree that maybe the game plan may have been set up for them to thinking because as we saw we got the Friday, we were the whole game. It was going to rain the whole game. That's what we went in thinking. And it makes me think that he went into the game in the same way, like, Okay, I need to protect my team knowing that this is going to be a game where whether we will.
Be a factor.
So here's how we need to call it in order to make sure we don't put ourselves in bad situations, rather than just going in and being like, hey, it's actually not that bad. Let's just go right. And I do believe it kind of affective, but that's just my.
Opinion, and I see where you're going with that. Where I depart on that is because I just pulled back up the opening Cowboys drive against the Cardinals, and the first two plays were hand off to Tony Pollard, and that's different from what we saw in Buffalo. First couple of plays he takes the deep shot to Cooks. So I think that to Mike's point after the Arizona Cardinals game, he was playing uber conservative against the Cardinals, but he started out the game being the exact optor is being
very liberal against the Buffalo Bills. Now, I will agree that maybe after that, in an adjustment capacity, he probably went back to being more conservative than they would have liked to, maybe be where the base. Maybe he saw that pass and was like, oh, well, the win on this field is not going the fact that they didn't Connet write. So that's what I mean. I think going in he didn't have his scripted plays based upon the weather.
But then after seeing that bass Sell three yards past Cooks, maybe at that point he was like, okay, maybe I should scale, but stick that. That's what I mean, that's the difference. I think he went into Arizona being conservative on purpose.
I do wonder if because he even admitted after the Arizona game, because of his compromise offensive line, he was more conservative. I wanted that'll push him to be less conservative this game if he loses those offensive linemen and be like, I gotta trust these guys. I went through that in Arizona. I didn't give my chance, my team the best chance to win. Maybe that helps him this week, just say let's just go. We're gonna play football.
One question down, Where to go?
Derek got two more questions from that.
Damn good courch man.
When you're the host, you just gotta always fall back at the being host, right, That a good question.
Yeah, Bryan Woodward, he asks, do you see the Cowboys staying with mainly men coverage against Miami? Especially if he'll plays.
It wouldn't be it probably wouldn't be the best thing. But that's who they are. That's who Dallas is. Dallas Dallas is. They're comfortable. You know, they'll rush for they'll rush five. They like to bring pressure. They like to bring pressure on second down. Uh, you have a quarterback that's really accurate in that near the line of scrimmage or underneath if you play a lot of manned stuff. You know they're big, they're fifty three percent of their
offense comes run after catch. That's what you have to worry about here. You have to worry about everything, the short passes and then them taking off with it.
And so is it in their DNA to play it zone coverage? Sure? Would it throw the Dolphins a curveball? Sure? I think the Dolphins are expecting to see man coverage in this game.
I think I think Dan's thinking, like, I trust my guys to be good enough this game. I'm gonna try and get pressure on this guy. This quarterback doesn't move, so you know, but the ball will come out quick. We saw it a the Jets game last week. He's not going to hold the football. That's that They're terrified of what's going on with their offensive line too.
So I think this.
I think, to me, if you're playing zone, that means you're playing with depth at depth, and I hate that because all of a sudden and you got these guys there, they get the ball and then it's run after catch. I would rather die quick. Don't let me die slow. Let me play up on the line. Let me try and disrupt what they're doing, and maybe I can affect the timing of this quarterback.
Here's what I worry about with man is it's not even so much the deep routes that I worry about with Tyreek Kill. It's those crossers where they rub and he gets up.
Just a foot.
If he's got a foot, you ain't catching When he catches the ball, you're not catching him.
And that's where I'm like, hope, is his ankle ain't great? That's what Joe.
But I will say this jump yeah, test that thing before that.
Before the game last week, there were reports that he looked like he was running. He was running really well, but they were like, we're still gonna hold him out. That's also what makes me think he's gonna be fine for this week. They thought last week Hero I would guess if that would have been a playoff gamey Kill would have played last week. They were figuring, let's give him one one week. We need him for a hundred one hundred percent close to it against Dallas. So I
expect him to be Tyree Kill this week. I don't expect him to have any ill anything that's coming from that ankle.
I think he'll be fine. What challenge what I where.
I think the real challenge is is trying to carry him across field, especially if you're having to run through traffic, and I think that's just going to be I mean, that is a recipe for disaster against a guy like him.
Well, see the thing about when you play zone that way though, when they run the guys through, do you lose.
Track of where guys are?
And that can happen.
That's that's the thing with That's the thing I worry about with Dallas because they don't play they don't play.
They play zone.
But there I feel like they're better playing man. I feel like they're better if they they play man and if Hooker can help them, if Hooker.
Lines up deep and he can read it, you.
Know, and we've seen we've seen teams play that cover two look and then play with a robber, you know, take the safety and drive it down, you know, drive that safety, put the safety in the middle of the field.
That's how that's how the Cleveland.
Browns beat the forty nine ers with all the crossing stuff that the forty nine ers do. They played man, but they put a robber in the middle of the field, so they it made that that that crosser have to run a little bit. And all you're trying to do is little longer hold. All you're trying to do is make these guys hold the ball a little bit longer. Yeah, because this quarterback when he holds the ball, though, like I say, he's not gonna move. He's not gonna run
away from you. The quarterbacks you played the last two weeks will run away if they see problems and he.
Will get down, like he's not gonna says he's gonna get down.
He's gonna get down, So.
You get close to him, you can get him down.
Yeah.
So no, I see Dallas being who they are. I just do.
I just feel like, if you're going to play man, you better you better be damn good at at press at disrupting at the line of scrimmage, disrupting those timing routes, because we talked about it, too. Is trying to get that ball out quickly, so his his passes are going to be based on timing, and you have to make sure that his man is not at the spot where he's throwing, because he's not thrown to the man. He's thrown to the spot he expects the guy to be.
So I like a matchup like Deron Bland. He's physical and Tyreek Hill while he's you know, quick, speeding, He's all of those things. Not necessarily the most physical guy. You can disrupt him. Jaylen Waddow a little bit bigger than Tyreek, but you can disrupt him. Jordan Lewis versus Cedric Wilson, that'll be an interesting one because Wilson obviously former cowboy. He's bigger than both of those guys on the outside, but he doesn't necessarily have the speed. So
I think Jordan Lewis can handle Cedric Wilson. So if you're going to press, if you're going to be do man coverage, don't don't play man and space them like, don't give them the space and man coverage that's just a death sent which.
We see them do quite a bit. They're gonna have to give that five to seven yard cushion.
You're gonna have to play run on the edge too, And so you're probably in a situation if you're playing zone, you're you know you're not. You're gonna have to commit guys the box, you know, especially on the age, and if you're playing if you commit guys to box, that meets you're.
One on one on the outside. You can't play zone that way. They're gonna have to play man.
Your linebackers are going to have to do damn well in coverage this week, especially if you choose to go to man, because if you choose to go to man and you go press, then of course you guys are at the line of scrimmage to try to disrupt. Once those guys get off of those routes. Guess what, Now it's on your linebackers. Now, your safety Molik, he's asked forward, and that's good. You want him to play forward as opposed to having to react backward to a play going deep.
But your linebackers, if you do man coverage, I would suggest pressing. And if you then do press, your linebackers better be damn good in coverage.
Well, speaking of linebacker, before we go to break, here are these two questions. And sorry if I mess up y'all's name, but I'm going to combine the two. First, John Teba's he's asking about my leak Jefferson and saying how he has a good size, and he says that he understands he might not be that good, but if so, why have him on the practice squad? And then kermeen Polo he's asking, do you guys think they're as a linebacker on someone else's practice squad that they can use
for run defense? Basically, what can you possibly do right now to address the linebackeration?
Is Jefferson out of elevations?
I can check for you right now.
I think I thought he was out of lay.
Yeah, So they're in a situation right now that they would if to get him on.
They would have to move somebody.
They'd have to take somebody off the roster to get him on, and I don't think they're going to do that.
In my opinion.
The best way that they solve the linebacker issue for the rest of this year's year at least, is they got to get Hankens back, because I think if you get Hankins back, that gives you a big body, as you talked about last week, Brian, a big body that's that can move laterally as well. I think that keeps your linebackers cleaner than what we saw this last game,
because otherwise, I just don't know. I don't trust that there's a guy on another team's practice squad that's going to be any better than what you got, Like, I just don't. I don't think if you got that guy, even if you're bigger, if you don't have the skill to still be able to move around offensive line and they get to the second level, you're still gonna have the same problem.
Right.
So I just think that we keep talking about having that instinct of reaction, how.
Quick can you guess?
But how many guys on a practice squad have that level of it? Like, right, you know, you're still talking about guys that don't have the same level of skill as a as a starting linebacker in the NFL. So I personally believe you got to get Handkins back and so you basically just steady the ship until you can get him back, because otherwise I just don't know that there's a better option from a personnel standpoint out there.
Yeah, Malie Jefferson's played three games.
Yeah, he's out in San Francisco.
In unless you put him on the active you have you have to, You would have to elevate him. And the one that would be interesting though is Evans, you know, and uh Rashad Evans that would be you know, and we'll see how I watched the Green Bay game last year where Michael was playing off ball linebacker the majority of that game, and what they did was they took Fouler and they took Armstrong on the right side, and then they put Tank on the left and then Micah played his off ball linebacker.
Early in the game, he was really.
It was it was good the way he played, and then it turned into he's just playing so many snaps he's having to rush and then he's having to play off ball linebacker, and so it's you know, it's a it's a it's a hard it's a hard game for him that way.
So wait, are you saying that it wasn't necessarily about skill? It was more about fatigue as the game.
I think I think the game.
I think he got tired as the game wore on and they and what happens is that then the Packers were able to get guys up on him. And when Micah has problems is that.
He will he'll.
Jump around blocks and stuff like that. And you know he's athletic enough to make plays that way, but you know, the anticipation you got to play with it, linebacker. That's why you've had such great ones here with the Cowboys, that that wins. The Dexter coke Lees, the you know, the Shawn Lee's, the Layton vander Eshes, those guys they played with such instinct. They knew when they read a formation that they were going to play. Okay, they're gonna
they're gonna do this. Well, they're running, they're half step ahead, at full step ahead, you know, and right now you've got guys that are safeties, that are trying to play with instinct and try and read blocks that are you know, and it's been difficult.
There's no question about that.
All Right, let's go and take our final break. We'll come back. We'll give our final thoughts on Dallas versus Miami. Tell you a little bit about what the games are this weekend that you should have an interest in. We'll be back, Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
Todd thought it would be secure to jog in the cheatah Savannah. Todd believed the big Cat repellent he bought online was reliable. And now Todd is trying to be faster than this cheetah that can run eighty miles per hour. But the good news is Todd has AT and T five G. It is fast, reliable, and secure, and he learned the best thing to do is stop running and toss her the backpack with the beef stew At and T five G. Fast, reliable, secure, It's not complicated.
Five G requires compatable planing device. Five G may not be available in your area. See att dot com Slash five G for you for details.
Don't put off getting your oil change Dallas. Take five oil Change, a proud partner of the Cowboys is faster than you think.
There's no appointment needed and no waiting room. Yep, you hurt that correctly.
Take five is so fast you don't even have to get out of your car. You can take advantage of Take five's fast, friendly and simple service at any of their locations across the Dallas area. And remember at Take five you stay in your car because they're faster than you think. Take five the official oil change of the Dallas Cowboys.
It's the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black and right now Cowboys fans can get fifteen percent off their seventy five dollars order. Plus because every deal needs a playmaker, your order will include a free five piece skincare set and free shipping. The Jack Black Playmaker is four of Jack's favorites and a full sized intense therapy lipball. Make a play for the playmaker at Getjack Black dot com slash Cowboys with the code Cowboys VIP.
That's get Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys with the code Cowboys VIP.
They say champions are remembered, but legends are never forgotten. United agg and Turf offers a winning lineup of John Deere equipment built to tackle any challenge on and off the field. Legendary John Deere Tractors combines residential mowers, commercial mowers, compact construction equipment, hater utility vehicles, and a full line of golf and sports turf equipment. United Agon Turf the
official Agonturf equipment supplier of the Dallas Cowboys. Visit United Dagonturf dot com to find a location near you.
Back to the Break Yep, Hey, it's time to vote for the Pro Bowl. The twenty twenty four NFL Pro Bowl Games are taking over Orlando.
The rosters up to you.
Cast your ballot for the twenty twenty four Pro Bowl Games. Vote and send your favorite Cowboy players to compete in the ultimate AFC NFC showdown.
Of Tug of War this February.
Vote now at Dallascowboys dot com slash vote.
Welcome back, final segment of the Break Life from the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star. I got a couple questions for you guys about the Dallas and Miami matchup.
Let's start first.
With the offensive side of the Ethan side. The ball for the Cowboys outside of Tyreek Hill, which Miami offensive player should Dallas be most concerned about.
I'm stuck here between Jalen Wattle and A Chain. So much focus is rightfully placed on Tyreek Hill that if you place too much focus on him and you forget what Wattle is capable of, he'll break the game wide open. So I'm gonna go with Wattle on this one. I think that it's easy, kind of low hanging fruit, and it's justifiable low hanging fruit to look at the running backs and most of the A Chain and say, oh, well, look at what Cook did, And I get that, but
circumstances permitted that. Hopefully the circumstances don't permit and the run defense can kind of do what it does. But Wattle. Don't forget Wattle is absolutely I mean cause he's a number one receiver on several teams that don't have Tyreek Hill uh on the roster. So for me, it's gonna be Wattle. Tyreek Hill obviously put a bottle on him as much as you can anyway, but don't look away from Jalen Wattle, because the moment you do, it's a big play.
Moster has got like twenty touchdowns. You know, he catches the ball, he runs the ball, he's he's physical. I mean, he's an all round player. He can run, Yeah, and never comes off the field. Yeah, Waddle's great player. But Moster is gonna make Moster makes this thing go.
They hand him the ball, toss him the ball, throw him the ball.
Yeah, you've got to find a way to knock him around a little bit and not let him get going this game, especially he gets down in the down that tight red zone.
You know, he just has a nose for the end zone and stuff like that.
He's been outstanding this year, So I would worry about him quite a bit going in this especially after what I saw last week against Buffalo.
Yeah, that's exactly who I was going to say as well, because he does two things that the Cowboys have shown not to be great at and struggle with last week. One stopping the run. What is he a running back and runs? And two he can break tackles. Ye, what are the Cowboys defense of what are they struggling with right now? Tackling? They're having tackling issues. And like you said, he's a physical player and he can break those tackles and those are just two things. Running and tackles, all.
Right, Flip it to the other side.
Which Miami defender should Dallas be most concerned about Ramsey.
Ramsey can eliminate your best player, your best receiver. He's got that kind of a bill. He's playing at a high level right now since he came back from injury. It's a fifty to fifty proposition throwing the ball at his direction. You know, he's one of the he's still one of the best in the league when it comes to challenging. He loves that. He loves the ability to go out and take your best receiver away. He'll play left,
he'll play right, he'll play in the slot. That just shows you that he doesn't care wherever you're gonna go. He's gonna go.
I worry about.
Him just completely eliminating Seedee Lamb from this game.
Bradley Chubb, the guy has almost ten sacks already. And we talked at the top of the show about the likelihood that you won't have Tyrone Smith on the field, So you better believe that Mike madonwel was going to take try to take advantage of that matchup as often as he can. Cho is really going to have to hold up and that's a tall task against a guy like Bradley Chubb. So he's a game wrecker and if you let him in that backfield to put hands on a pressure Dak Prescott, then you're going to see a
lot of broken offensive plays. So for me, it's Bradley Chubb.
Well, after we got done talking about the O line issues and health, a guy like Christian Wilkins. He's a guy that you know he plays like guard but also can move and rush. So that's anybody on the defensive line at this point is a good guest for me to be a struggle for this game against this Cowboys offensive line.
All right, so let's talk about the NFC and what's happening this weekend. There are a whole litany of games that matter for the Cowboys because really, when you look at the NFC East and who's going to win the division, a lot of it comes down to this final or.
Not the final type break.
I think it's the fifth tie break, Yes, fifth, which is a strength of victory. And so yeah, so I'm gonna lay out for you right now, there are five teams that the Cowboys really need to win and there are five teams the Cowboys need to lose as they keep going through the season to help their strength to victory. And that's assuming both teams went out. I'm talking to Cowboys and Eagles. So you got Buffalo, who the Cowboys need to lose. They're playing at the Chargers. You need
the Chargers to win. Convention says, that's probably not gonna happen, but that's where you're rooting. You're rooting for the Chargers. You got green Bay playing at Carolina. Dallas needs Carolina to continue to win or to win. They have not continued to win because they haven't been winning much. But that's the team that you want to win.
There.
Here's one that the Cowboys really need to win but they actually have a chance of winning is Detroit. Detroit goes to Minnesota. Dallas needs Detroit to continue to win. Washington at the New York Jets. The Jets are actually the team that the Cowboys need to continue to win. So you're rooting. It works out with your rooting interests. You hate the Washington Commanders, it's easy to root for the Jets. Root for the Jets to keep winning. Seattle
another team the Cowboys want to continue to win. They'll be at Tennessee. That's another game where you would think they have a pretty good shot to win. And then you've got Jacksonville at Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay you want to lose. Arizona, you want to lose at Chicago. And then the final one Las Vegas. You want them to beat the.
Chiefs in Kansas City.
I don't know that's gonna work out, but that's how your rooting interested go for the weekend. I want us to pick the final three games that I think are by the way most important to the Cowboys. Let's start first with Baltimore at San Francisco. An interesting matchup what many people believe maybe the best two teams in the NFL.
How do you guys pick it?
You know what, Give me Baltimore this one. It'll be a fight, to say the least. We know what San Francisco is doing, we know how dominant they've been both on the road and at home. But we've also seen Baltimore in these types of games step up and play some big boy football, and they are as hell bent on being the bully as any other team in the league. So I think Harball has them ready to go in to San Francisco and take that one.
Where do they play at San Francis. I've been there, done that, I know not crop I know not. Yeah, I think I can see the forty nine ers very well coming off with the win, for sure. But it's gonna be a really really good game to watch, actually, very very competitive. So that's one of the ones I will definitely be watching. But I think forty nine Ers, because they were playing at home, they end up with a win.
Right.
Yeah, the Ravens feel like they're getting any respect at all for being as one of the best teams in the league. It's gonna be tough. They don't give up any points Baltimore, and they've got a quarterback that can kind of cause some problems for you with you know, with the Ravens and stuff.
Give me Baltimore in that one. I think Baltimore is one of the.
Best teams in the National Football And by the way, the Rams went there a couple of weeks ago and almost won a game there, And so maybe the Rams are the second best team in the National Football right now.
I'll tell you this.
I just need somebody show me that San Francisco is beatable when they.
Have all their parts.
So Baltimore, I'm hoping that Baltimore can can show us that New York versus Philadelphia. They're in Philadelphia for this game.
Who wins.
If Cutlers.
If the Giants had beaten the Saints last week, I would have felt better about their chances Right now.
I feel like this Philadelphia gets back on the winning track.
It's hard to it's hard to think that Philadelphia, even though they're on a slide. It's hard to think they lose four in a row. But then when you look at everything that's going on with them, and the commitment being questioned by Jalen Hurts and Sirianni admitting that he was playing for help from the refs, I mean that
just tells you how dire straits there. Their secondary is without Darius Slay and I think Tommy Cutlets and day Ball going to target Brad Berry and that that secondary, and I think New York goes in and upsets them. I think I think they do. It might be by it might be by one point, but I think they're going to upset them. I mean that secondary is toast just pass, pass and keep passing.
I hope you're right, because I hope. But I mean, even though I do think the the Eagles are starting to crumble and fall apart, I think it's just hard to see them not beating the Giants right now. I mean, but I hope the Giants win, but I will pick the Eagles for this one.
Yeah.
I think it's a bounce back game for the Eagles. I think they get back on track. It might not be pretty, but I think they get the win. Final game, Cowboys at Miami. Give me your pick and your score.
We talked about this when I said the Cowboys messed up my two week prediction. Yeah, because I predicted that they take Buffalo. But then I predicted that because they took Buffalo, they lose in Miami. But they lost in Buffalo, And then it sticks me right where you are am barred that they don't lose to in a row. I just keep coming back to that. There are so many reasons that my gut says the Dolphins will do this.
The Dolphins will do this, and the Dolphins will probably score points and this will be a hell of a game. But the resiliencyeing this team in the McCarthy era, I just I can't get over that. So until they lose to in a row, they haven't lost to in a row. I don't think they do it this weekend. So Dolphin, I'm sorry, Cowboys over Dolphins. But it comes down to, you know, fifty five yard kicked by Butter Aubrey to get it done.
So Dolphins twenty eight, Cowboys twenty.
Four, didn't give you a school twenty seven to twenty four.
Cowboys Dolphins twenty eight, Colways twenty four.
All right, my heart says one thing, my brain says another.
So I went with this if I.
Don't want to pick this game, because if I picked them to win and they lose, I'm going to be so mad because they like doing that to me. But uh, I don't, I don't. I don't know, literally literally. The only thing that's that it's PINNI me tours them winning is the stat is that stat? But how much can of stat really really stay true? There's no guaranteed, right, but it's true until it's not. That will make the future.
But whatever what am I words you sad to say about compromised offensive life.
It says they were in for a long day.
Yeah, all right, let's let's go with the Cowboys. All right, that's close one. Hopefully, I don't know this. Let's give a score of twenty no, yeah, twenty eight, twenty six. Uh, it comes down to a kick.
Yeah.
I was really prepared if they won last week, to say that this would be a week that they were gonna lose exactly. I didn't when we when we started this five game stretch, we talked about it. I was like, there's no way they're going to go undefeated in that five game stretch. I do think they're good enough to go four and one, and so the fact that they lost last week is what gives me the belief that they'll go in this week and they'll win. I do think though it's going to be a high scoring game.
I think this is gonna be a game where it's gonna be a lot of track track.
I absolutely do.
And I think that what we saw from those off I intimated earlier in the show, what we saw from those offensive linemen earlier this year, is that they can play like and I think that Michae will go into this game and say I'm not gonna take put the handcuffs on my team. I'm going in and saying we're going to pla football and we're gonna do what we do best. And I think they're gonna go at Miami, and by the way, Miami's gonna go with them, and
I think it's gonna be a high scoring game. I think Cowboys win thirty seven to thirty five on the rule. Christmas Eve, all right, I appreciate you guys, Jonas said, Amber, gonna get some lunch.
We'll be back Monday.
We'll let you know what.
I'm sorry. We'll be back on Tuesday. Tuesday, you guys have a very very Christmas. We'll catch up with you next week. Till there.
For Patrick Walker, Brian brought us in Ambergarci. I'm Derek Eaglton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
This has been a production of Dallascowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.