Cowboys Break: Kicker Battle, Zeke Update & More

We're live in the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star and we're gonna make this a habit if we don't get if we don't do something about it that we actually have all four of our members here on the show for a second week in a row. Good what's going on? It's a good thing, right. We only have a few more shows before we kind of end for the little break here that we have before the season. I think we've got this will be after today. We'll have two more shows and then we'll have our little break.

Can kind of stop talking about football for a little bit, break, Greg, Yeah, see what I did? See what I did? Think? So you guys, I hope you guys enjoy this and we got a lot to talk about today. We're gonna talk

about OTAs. It's the second week for the Cowboys in a three week series of OTAs, and then that'll be there'll be a mini camp there in the following week, and then we'll get into a little talk on Ezekiel Elliott and some of the challenges that he's dealing with right now and find out from the get these guys how concerned they are that this could turn into something that could affect the Cowboys on the field. But before we do that, I want to do want to talk

about the OTAs um. Last week was week one of their OTAs, and I just kind of want to throw it out and get some general observations. I know you guys were out there every day during or at least Wednesday during practice, and so and so I wanted to get an idea from you guys of some of the things that you saw while you were out there, just to give our fans a little bit of a taste of what kind of stuff you can see while they

have on shorts and T shirts. I'll start with Nick, I think that the Kellen Moore era here for the offensive coordinator. I thought that was it's gonna be interesting to see how it plays out when you wait to the games come and really get to see what kind of plays that he's calling. But I think from the first indication here practice that you're gonna see some differences here.

You're gonna see the way that the plays are and dat kind of alluded to this is the plays will be the same, how they get there will be different, and they'll dress it up. You'll see something a little bit more of these reverses. I think what you saw in the Rams game at the end of the way the Rams, what they were doing with a lot of their emotion jet sweeps, fake jet sweeps. You'll see some Yeah,

you'll see some of that. That was the first thing that kind of that kind of popped out to me, just seeing how these guys are moving around a little bit different before the play I agree with that, and it's it's definitely noticeable. You know, Yeah, I don't think they're gonna overhaul the playbook, but I think you know, the personnel they used, the way they move it around pre snap motion. I know we've beaten into the ground, but it is something that we saw at practice last week.

It seems like it's something Kellen Moore wants to implement. I don't. I don't want to get too excited about it just because it's May and I want to you know, I feel like they did that stuff at training camp last year, and then it disappeared when the season started, which is you know, I don't. I don't want to get just absolutely psyched about that until I kind of see it in a more real environment. For me, I just like seeing the lineup combinations at this time of year.

You know, Connor Williams played left tackle last week, which you know, Tyrn Smith, Lyle Collins, and Cam Fleming all sat out of practice, So that's a pretty huge caveat. You know, it's not like he was tackles were gone, true, but there's eight other guys they could have asked to play tackle instead. It was really unexpected. That's something that you don't expect the Cowboys to show the media. We are not a big deal, but still it was surprising. It's not a big deal, but it's not not a deal,

you know what I mean. Yeah, but he's there alarating left guard. He you know, and he you know, he was solid as a rookie but he wasn't amazing, so you would think he needs all the reps he can get at the position you want him to play. And then a month after they draft Connor mcgovernor and we're like, what does this mean for Connor Williams the future? They got him play and tackle and again I know all the other tackles were out, but they could have asked

and undraft. I mean, Jake Campos was playing right tackle. He's not gonna make this team, no offense, Jake. But they got a guy that's gonna make this team playing left tackle. Right. But this is the day at that point, it was day two of installation. That's what these OTAs are. They're installing the offense. So to put a guy out there and to say this is where you're going to play, like, yeah, we need some of these, we need someone to play left tackle, but this is where you install the offense.

So if he's going to be your starting left guard, which which he will be, I still think that they use that time to get him some snaps at tack and then sorry, but the fun thing is you see that at practice and then you go into the locker room and you can Connor himself and he's like, yeah, this are the first reps I've gotten at tackle since

I was in college. So, like, you know, maybe it isn't a big deal if he's like, well, yeah, I did this for scout team all the time last year, or you know I did this at times in the spring last year too, Like, no, this is the first time they've ever asked him to do that. Yeah, and I don't care who was sitting out. That's significant. Yeah, I get that. I guess the way I looked at it when what I heard about it was I think there's kind of a now component to that and a

future component to that. I think the now component is that of all the guys you said they could have asked to do it, Like you said, those guys are not going to be here. So the likelihood that Connor has to play tackle as opposed to any of those other guys is still much higher that Connor will get the opportunity than they will in the event they lost all those tackles. Right, So, if you're going to throw somebody out there to learn the position R plus, somebody

out there's going to actually be here now. But you don't do that unless in the future you're thinking, hey, it would be nice to get him some reps because there may be an opportunity next year possibly for him to play some tackles. So I think I think it says something about maybe what they think for the future obviously doesn't make a whole big difference right now. But I don't think any of us are surprised by the fact that in the future they think he could possibly

play tackle for them. But again, no one's surprised and surprised that they admit that he's been saying it for a year, that that don't be surprised when this happens, and then they're gonna tell you, oh, we're all along and here it is. This is happening. Is exactly what Dave said a year ago. Maybe not a year ago, but like six months ago. Yeah, and what was that? What was that? I didn't hear the other thing? You know, don't don't get me in trouble because we only get

to watch one of these, and I did not. I was not at Tuesday or Thursday's ota. Jerry Stephen, if you happen to be listening, how would you ever see those We only see Wednesday exactly. Yeah, but they but so the point there's two practices that they The media is not there, so they had two practices to work Connor at tackle if they didn't want people to know, and they were like, ah, whatever, we'll just will play him here on Wednesday. Who cares. So I do think

that is somewhat significant. I'm kind of glad that they did that, though, you know, you're right, most of the times in this organization, typically that's the kind of thing they don't want to put out there because it writes a lot of questions. But it is the thing that if you if you're thinking about it, why not give him, especially when all those other guys are out, Why not give him a shot to kind of just see a

little bit. Let him have an opportunity to see what it's like, to start getting familiar with what his responsibilities are. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, because you also can see, hey, do we think this is actually going to work? And if any opportunity you get to see if it's going to work before you get to the chance where you have to throw him in, it's

a good thing. I would love it if he is, you know, and Tyron, you know, Tyron is going to have that days from now until the end of time now and at training camp. You know, he's missed at least two games each of the last three years, so it's a decent bed. He'll miss time in the regular season too. I hope he doesn't, but history indicates that he might, so I hope this continues. I hope this

isn't just a may thing. You know. I hope if Tyrant is off on a Thursday at training camp, you know, I hope that they find a way for that to mean Connor can play some tackle. But if Cam is health, do you kind of want Cam to have those opportunities because once he gets the season, he's gonna be the guys out there. If Tyrannt's out there, he gonna be the second team left tackle or something. You know. I'm just saying, I think it would be smart just give

him some opportunity. Yep. I see. All right, Let's let's get some more observations. What were some other things that you guys may have noticed. Ambersame thing that you that stood out to you well, by default, the way these practices are structure, Usually the wide receiver and like the running backs are the ones who stand who tend to stand out. The most one that com my eye was Tony Pollard, who obviously he's a guy that we've been talking about after since the draft, but I even know

his number at the moment. And then I saw a guy I'm like, oh wow, who's that? And Oh that's Tony. So it's noticeable the kind of speed that he has, the way he breaks. I like his awareness on the field. Again, these are light practices, but still just being able to see a guy stand out among the crowd, it was still. It was still good. Another thing that I was talking to to Dave and Brian that I wasn't thinking about was the kicker, and like the realization of man, they

have not brought a kicker in yet. Probably will happen at training camp. But that's another thing that we tend to forget a little bit. I don't I don't know they should. I asked Nick this question and it was kind of tongue in cheek during practice last week. Um, I said, what's the what's the chances that the Cowboys midseason have a different kicker than they have right now?

And we both kind of just looked at each other and I don't think either one of us were really convicted that they'll have the same kicker because he was so inconsistent last year. We know he has a big leg, but there was some misses that were just inexplicable. I mean, how many bad games does who's the best kicker in the league, got Tucker Tucker? How many or Askowski? Okay, how many bad games this Tucker have before he's cut? Depends on how bad they, you know, like he missed,

he missed over time. You're gonna have to have to have have a season of just like unexplainable things that just happens. So seven or eight, I mean he's the best of all time. Seven or eight. You're like, oh, this is he doesn't have it anymore. How many bad games does Maha have? Two in a two in a short span or no, three in a short span of time, like three in a month, three you know, three and

five weeks. I mean, I also wonder what you call a bad game, because there was your games when he came back and he made some kicks, some kicks, but then he missed some early whereas last twenty one to twenty in to the Giants in Week one, he missed an extra point in the second quarter and a forty four yard field goal. So that's a story. I thought. I was like that, didn't know. No, that's week one. And then week two he misses a thirty seven yarder

off the post in the press box. It's like, okay, available kicks out of Yeah, everyone start google about it. So I three seems like a lot if he if he started the season with two bad games, he's cut.

I just feel like it's it's been a while since y'all were probably at this stage in your life, but like, did you ever have like a beater car, like just a beater car, like a piece of crap car, Like oh yeah, and like it was a piece of crap, but you loved it, you know, and like other people might be like, man, is that what you're saying, I'm not saying a piece of crap? Well yeah, what are we saying? I'm just crap? But was him? You know, you probably loved that car a lot more than like

your friends did. Right, Like you had say so he's like it's gonna get me where I need to go sometimes, Well, I mean there, you know that was the point of but the point sometimes you loved it more than other people did. And I don't want to call Brett Maher a piece of crap, that's not my point, but I think that certainly would It sounded like cowboys like him and feel loyal to him a lot more than people

outside the organization. Okay, but that's why why would they Why this is not then the car that's taking them to the bailey exactly If they don't have loyalty to him, how what makes you think they got loyalty to Mahs? Just all signs point toward it, like they I mean, a guy would be here right now, like it's and this is in my six years of doing this, Like they don't just add a kicker a week before they leave, like they do that right after the draft, like he

would be here being part of this. So your thought is because there's nobody here, you think in their minds, Maher is their guy. They are sold here to Nix point and to your point too, like only until he's not, Like you know, they got da a week. Their attitude going into training camp is not like we need to do something about this, But it just doesn't make any sense. That is a position that we talked about or was talked about last year. Why would you not add some

kind of competition just for the sake of it. Why? Honestly, though, I really believe, especially a kicker that's been in the CFL and is bounced around like he has, I think those kickers think that they're competing all the time. They I mean, even even if they're not, even if there's not another kicker, they know that if they miss in practice, that that will mcclay's got fourteen kickers on a list that he knows who can get it's a good point.

So I think I think they all, Yeah, it's one thing to look her over your shoulder and see another guy he made it in practice and all the teammates, but they know if they struggled that there there's a hook there. Yeah. That's probably more than any other position. Yeah, you don't easily replaceable, but it's it seems like they're easily replaceable from the standpoint that you can always get

him out and bring in another guy. Like there's not there's not, Like you said, the best kicker in the league right now, if he has half a season worth of bad kicks, he's probably gonna think about the kicker in Minnesota. He for a long time was the was the best guy in the league. What's his name, Walsh, lay Blair Walsh, he was he wasna. He was a money kicker for them for a long time, and then all of a sudden, in one season, it just started going. It started the end of one season and then it

carried into the next season and then that way. Are you talking about Dan Bailey again, because that's it's the anything example. But my point is that's kickers in the NFL. You have it until you don't. Yeah, it's the story of every kicker except for like Vinetary and Um Janikowski. Yeah, like those are the only two that have really defied that. And Janikowski still, I mean, he didn't retire with his first team, so yeah, Nary, Well he left on purpose though he didn't get cut right, Yeah, he had a

better offer. I don't remember how it felt like he had a stretch there where he kinda he left in free agency to join the Colts and it was like that's the first time that's like, oh my god, we got this kicker. Like that. Doesn't he didn't retire this year, did he? No, he's still thinking, still going first ballot Hall of Famer. Don't at me do not at all. Right, let's let's take our first break. When we come back,

I want to talk about Ezekiel Elliott. He's found himself in a little bit of a issue here with the league. Reports are that maybe the league's gonna take a look at an incident that happened in Las Vegas. I want to ask these guys, how concerned are you that the Cowboys may be facing some problems with the situation. We'll talk about that. We'll come right back this Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. Well, a player could look good on paper, it's when he's out on the field that you really

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Single game tickets you're on sale down get them before they're goun first and gold quarterbacks and Prescott pushes up the middle touchdown. Visit Dallas Cowboys dot com to get your tickets today. Back to the Break Welcome back. It is the second segment of The Break Life in the s WBC Morgan Studios. At the start, we're talking some Cowboys football here and I'm going to talk a little bit about Ezekiel Elliott. Um. What was this? I think the report came out was that last week when the

port report came out. Yeah, Um, and uh, basically there was video of an incident that happened in Las Vegas while Ezekiel was there. And on the video, UM, there was I don't know if it was a It certainly wasn't a physical altercation. I don't think there was kind of a little bowing up between him and another guy and I guess that was security. Um and the incident. Police handcuffed him, but he was not arrested, supposedly just detained and and nothing ever came of it. From a

legal standpoint. Um, but here's the issue. We all go back to twenty seventeen, UM and when when Zeke had the issue with the NFL regarding uh the issue of or the allegation around domestic violence. The NFL had an investigation that they did. They had a person who was charged with doing the investigation. That person came to the conclusion that there should be no punishment because there were

too many inconsistencies in the whole story. Despite that, Roger Goodell and the people in charge of the NFL made the decision that Zeke should face a six game suspension. He ultimately served that suspension. That all being said, and knowing that because of that, he now is in a situation where he's under increased scrutiny from the NFL and Indian fraction is reviewable by the NFL and can lead

to punishment. How concerned are you, guys, that this particular situation, even though he was not arrested, can end up being a problem for Zeke and for the Cowboys. I'm not concerned. I don't think he'll be suspended. I don't. I don't think it. That's not a penalty on the football field. What he did. It's not a penalty. I don't think you can call that any kind of incident. I mean, ye, it's an incident because reported on tape, but you can't get suspended for that. I just don't believe it. I

don't believe that's going to happen. One thing to note is, and I was reading the report yesterday, a journalist for for Yahoo Sports, Charles Robinson, was breaking down the kind of the things that the league told Zeke at the time in twenty seventeen after he had been suspended, and one of the things that stuck out to me was it said, it is not just we're not just worried

about violence. We're worried about even threats of violence. And that's what made me start to think, can the league again in a situation well we know the league when it comes to Zeke, it seems like they just got

a thing for him. And that being said, do they construe what they saw there on that tape as a threat of violence that could then once again give them license because again, they don't need license from anybody else other than themselves to say we think there's an infraction here and because of that, we're giving you a suspension. I mean, all due respect to your opinion, Like I I know how you can sit here and just say no, there's no chance. I didn't say there's no chance. You

said you don't think it'll happen. That's two different things. I mean, there's a chance because you have that, you have the guy in the office up there. That right, and that's it should be. It should be concerning and like that, that should hang over everything else, and it I don't agree with it, you know, Like what happened with the security guard. I mean, come on, get out of here. Yeah, it wasn't right, but I didn't know Mino Genobli was running in security now. But seriously, at

the same time, focus should not flop. At the same time, he's Ezekiel Elliott. It sucks for him, Like, I mean, you know, he didn't do anything wrong that the video showed, you know, the pushing the guy over. It's not a great look. Seemed like he was arguing with who I think was his girlfriend thee Again, the guy fell on the ground and it's not fair. But Ezekieli is going

to be held to a different standard. I'm sorry, I don't know what y'all want me to say yeah, And there's one one guy that is really ultimately in charge of making that decision. And I think Charles Robinson made a really good point that maybe people don't want to hear. But I don't know that Jerry Jones does the Cowboys any favors. When he comes out and says like it's not a big deal like this, you know he's in good standing. He'll be okay because he said that last time.

And I wonder if, like maybe Roger Goodell is kind of like, well, you don't, Jerry, like I'll make these decisions like you don't ultimately decide what happens here. I'm the commissioner of the league. I know you're one of the most powerful owners in the league, but this is still up to me. And I think I think stuff like that matters. So if I had to bet on it today, it doesn't seem like it should merit to suspension.

But I can't in full confidence say it won't. I mean, as I said, I think we said this last week. The guy who's not going to do well in this scenario is Tyrone Crawford, because I don't think that Zeke will get a suspension based off of that. But I think Tyron Crawford will be what it's a similar you think it'll be kind of I mean, if you can sit here and say, well, you know, the guy flopped and all that stuff, then yeah, well looking not a whole lot of flopping going on in the video from

Panama City. There's a lot of I mean, yeah, that's a little more of a scary situation. And yeah, I mean that's a great point, you know what I wonder here? And I think you guys both are gonna say like a big hell note to this. But you know, and and as a referee, if you if you throw a past interference penaltee and it was questionable and everyone's going crazy, you're probably gonna get a makeup call the next play, next few plays is does he gonna get a makeup call? Here?

I think Roger Goodell thinks that he did something wrong because it only went to like nineteen higher courts. No, he had, he had every opportunity to make to make the decision that we all thought should have been made um And and that's because he had. He had And I really think the league in a lot of instances makes decisis based upon public perception and having cover for what they decide. I think in this instance, because they had a private investigation, because the result of that private

investigation was there should be no penalty. He had more than ample. And this is an independent person. This is not a person who is just like bound to the league. This is an independent person that made this a recommendation and said nothing should happen. He had sufficient cover to be able to say, okay, either nothing or just because we had to go through all this, we're going to give you a game or two games. Right. The fact

is they gave him six games. That says to me, and Roger Goodell doesn't really care about that what you're saying, like, he doesn't really care about trying to make up for anything. He ultimately was like, I think that this guy's a bad guy and I'm going to punish him. Okay, Well, after that happened, you know, all cowboy fans or other media members whatever, they you can find a similar situation.

And it was the kicker for the Giants. I forgot his name, Brown, Josh Brown, maybe Brown right, Okay, that was a lot of people were saying, hey, what about this so and it was Blake, right, So my point is is that if he gets suspended again for this, how many forearm shoves that have been that have taken place somebody on the camera, some you know incident. I mean the guy that's signed with the Raiders. I mean, he seems like he's got a few things as well.

So I'm just saying he's gonna at some point Goodell's gonna open himself up too. And he already has a bunch of criticism. If you if you do this again, it could be really bad. I just don't see it happening. But it doesn't doesn't seem he cares about criticism because he's criticism and he keeps making these kinds of decisions. Not only does he not care about criticism, Like if the NFL cared about congruents and their decisions, then we would be I mean like they do whatever they want

with a very little video. To me, the video hurts that case because what he was going off of was, well, look at this report. We have we know things that are happening. What two years ago? We know things. There's things in this report you don't even know about. See, that's the stuff we would hear, is that there's a lot to it. This, we all see it. He's not gonna see anything that we didn't see unless there's another

videos that services. So I just you can hide behind reports in forty seven page reports that you don't know all the details that we know. But in this particular case, I just don't think there's gonna be anything extra to it. I guess my whole thing with this is just that I don't think that this, like Dave was saying, I think this is all over the map. There is no real rhyme or reason that we can perceive in a

lot of the decisions. And because of that, you have a situation here where it for me, if I'm if I'm thinking just as a Cowboys fan, I would be concerned because this is a wildcard and I know that they've suspended Zeke for sick they gave him a maximum penalty for what many people thought should not have been a penalty, And this is a situation where he's on camera, and again, the league and Roger Goodell aren't necessarily concerned

about whether you're breaking the law. They're concerned about how it reflects on the NFL, how much time is being spent on it, being talked about on talk radio and being shown on television, and how much does that video gets shown from TMZ across all the masses. That affects what people think of NFL and NFL players. That's what they're way more concerned about, and that for me would

be a bit concerning. I will say it seems like this video it seems like it's kind of faded into the backdrop, like we're not I mean, obviously we are a cowboys talk show. Of course we're going to talk about it, but it doesn't seem like this is dominating the first takes of the world anymore, you know. Like so in that regard, maybe it's not the article come out yesterday. Yeah, this week, I mean, the holiday kind

of messed me up, but definitely this week. So I don't know, I wouldn't be surprised by anything, which and that's kind of that's the lesson that I took from the last one is I was pretty dead sure that that was going to blow over and it turned into a six game suspension, which I don't think obviously that would really be stunning. But I don't know. And if I had to guess this will play out like we won't probably won't hear anything about Zeke or Tyrone until August.

If I had to, if I had to guess, does this at all change or how does it, if if so, change your opinion of Zeke and his level of maturity. Was there anything in that video that changed your thoughts? There? No, And I think I'm really really glad he did not even touch the girl, to even grab her, like he would just stand in front of her and like block her just by him standing, because howd he just grabbed her arm or something that would Yeah, and that would

have been a total mess. So I'm really glad, and I we I think we can all agree on this. We I've seen a tremendous difference from Ezekiel Elia two years ago to the one that he is now. So I don't think this changes anything. It does for me because um not for one, because of the camp. Yeah, I'm sorry, because of the camp he had the next day. Yeah, I mean you are nine hours removed from being on the field with when you know, from Dallas to Las Vegas.

You're in Las Vegas nine hours from now, you're going to be uh in Dallas with these kids that that paid a lot of money for you. To be there and to give them your best, and you know, he's superhuman on the field, and so maybe he was absolutely

at his best at noon. But I don't know. I just is that really fair though, because okay, I like to put it in the context of myself when I was a young man and out having a good time, Like I didn't think necessarily me going out tonight and having a great time had anything to do with my ability to get up the next day and do my job. And I know you and I, like we were young,

you could actually do it. I can't train again. We go out, we'd have a great time at night, and the next morning we were up and at you know, up and at him at seven thirty eight o'clock, ready to do work. Right. I think there's an important difference there, And I would never throw stones. I said this on the show last week, like I've been to work hungover so many times in my career. Not this week, not this week? Really, Yeah, I know it's shocking, isn't It's

it's absolutely shock were doing his review? Yeah we need Actually it's maybe yeah, but there's a difference between you know, if you're rolling out of bed to go cover training camp practice and that's your job, and maybe you had

a few too many. Or like if we were doing a live episode of The Break and people were paying to watch us and we were going to do a meet and greet, like, Hey, nice to meet you, Thanks for coming to our show, Hopefully I wouldn't come to that with a terrible hangover, you know, like people are

paying for your services. Now, let's go back to when we were in London and we were just kind of hanging out and we were enjoying London, and we had shows every single day, and there were people that would never ever get a chance to interact with us, and we were we giving them our best every every day. Hell yeah, it's one of the best weeks of my life. Right.

But but we were enjoying the nightlife though, weren't we. Yeah, those shows were Okay, hold on, here's the here's the difference between that because the people that we were working for were the ones that were passing all the drink. Yeah again, And we don't know if he was drum right, We know, we don't. We don't. Okay point two. True, It's just that it would be the same if it like if okay three o'clock in the morning. We've all

done it on a road trip. We've been in a hotel abby at three o'clock in the morning, because we don't have the same job to do. If we saw a player doing that, you know, obviously that is his craft, that's his profession. You'd like to think that he's not going to break curfew. But if for that moment here in May, that is his job, he's he paid pretty good money to do that and be available. But so the whole question you asked me was does it Does it change my perception for him and his maturity a

little bit? Because you opened yourself up for it to be there, and at three o'clock in the morning, you're you're out, you're cutting it close, and I just think

it's that's not a good look for me. And that's the part I get when you say, just from a standpoint of being self aware, understanding the environment, understanding the people that are around you, understanding the cameras are there, understanding that it's probably not what's is saying, nothing good happens after three o'clock and after two o'clock and the more whatever it is. I mean, yes, that's a matter of maturity and maybe he's not at that point yet,

but I don't know that. I think that because he was out having a good time and he had something to do the next day, that necessarily, in my opinion, changes my belief in his maturity. It doesn't really affect my opinion just because it's it all fits with it all fits comfortably within the picture of who he is.

And I do think he's grown up since he got in the league, but at the same time, he's still he's still similar to me in the sense that, you know, I feel like we ride this roller coaster, where like in twenty seventeen he was the devil and that was never true. And then I don't want to point fingers, but in twenty nineteen, you can. People are trying to push this narrative that he's like Saint Zeke now, like,

look at the amazing offseason Zeke is having. He's he's feeding the homeless and doing like he's just the most wonderful. That's not true either, Like neither one of these things is true. He's a twenty three year old kid who has a big heart, loves to make kind gestures for people, is an amazing Probably was that guy back in said twenty seventeen, from the standpoint of just be having a big heart. Yeah, big heart. Teammates love him. He does

nice things in the community. He's also twenty three and likes the nightlife. That is well documented going back to which, by the way, most twenty three year course love the nightlife, of course, loves you know, loves to have a good time. He can be kind of moody, He can be kind of grumpy. He can also be like the happiest dude I've ever seen. It just kind of depends on when you catch him, like, are you describing him? Are you hey? Maybe that's why we get along. I don't know. It

all fits within the picture of who he like. He's a pretty normal twenty three year old guy who happens to be awesome in football and rich and rich rich as hell. I think he needs I think he needs to be a little more perceptive of just how big the spotlight on him is. But you know that'll come in time, hopefully. Some of the clips I saw from the camp, he seemed pretty good interacting with the kids. That's where I would have a problem with it. I

don't have a problem with it right now. But I would have had he been like just grumpy and just standing there and not really interacting with the kids. I think he was able to provide what the kids wanted and provide that experience for them. So it doesn't really matter. I'll point the finger back at myself because I do

this with Brian all the time. Brian brought us, loves to give me crap about like when I come in or what time I leave, or what I was doing the night before, And I'm like, if I'm here and I do my job and I do it well, why who's business? Like? Why your business? Yeah? And I think that's in everybody's life. I think the point is if you can manage it like I don't. I don't regulate your your employers should not regulate what you do in

your off time. But when you get to the office, there have been better not be lingering effects of what you did in your off time. So as long as you can manner and there was though, because I'm sure he's still on his wrist. He's probably still had the hint, you know, but who cares? But that doesn't matter if he who cares? What do you mean if he's still capable? If He's still capable of giving those kids a great experience.

He was not detained from the standpoint of still being there when he was supposed to be at the camp. So if he shows up at the camp and he gives those kids his best, I don't think whatever happened last night really matters. Okay, So the twice So the question is do you think that you have any issues

with his maturity? And I say yeah, because because right before the day of the camp, you know, and I have kids, You have kids in the camp leader sitting there and he's like, well, you know, nine hours ago he was in hand cuffs in Las Vegas. Maybe it was his fault, maybe it wasn't, but he was still there. Like you're still going to raise questions and be like, oh, that wasn't the best decision. Wasn't the best decision? And

does he where does he fly? Does he fly his own jet or does he does he do commercial because I know Shannon spent twelve hours in Vegas. Yeah, Shannon grows twelve hours back and forth, five hour delays here and there. Even if you're not in handcuffs, even if you're just doing great community work, that's cutting it close. For a camp that you need to be there for. That's all I'm saying. So which so everything I just said, yeah, like if you can handle it, good for you, this

is America, all that good stuff. But like the truly mature decision might have been, like, hey, I got this thing on Sunday, I'll probably just kick it in Dallas and Vegas will be there another weekend. And when I was twenty three years old, I wasn't mature either. I don't even know if I am right now. So the question about being mature, like does that really even matter? No, I don't think he's that mature. But I think he's one hell of a football player. He's still learning, he

has at heart. That the same guy that's paying for a funeral for a kid that was was he murdered in the same shot shot. Yeah, I mean it's a terrible story. Uh you know that that's great, But that guy still it's okay that he likes to go out and have fun. Everyone does. I just don't. Maybe what I'm trying to say is, I don't even know if it matters that much. There's guys, I mean, Michael Vert is one of the greatest players the Cowboys history. I don't know if he was mature at the end of

his career. Yeah, it happens like that. They're not paying for him to be They're paying for him to be a great football player. And that's what he is, and you know he's going to have some issues that way, he sticks to what he is. Part of what they're paying for is the confidence that he will be available to them. That's true and that and that's I guess where I come down on this is as of right now, I don't think it's a big enough deal. I said.

I did a segment with Brian brought Us on TV last week where I was like, if the Cowboys are thrown off by this, then like, how well do they really know their players? Because, like I said, it fits within the narrative of what we know about Ezekiel Elliott. So they should be the last people that are surprised. They might be disappointed, they shouldn't be surprised by it. Yeah.

So you could be a quality person and still like you kick it, Yeah, absolutely, And kicking it might mean you might be the wrong place at the wrong time, So you might get into bad situations because you're not because you're worth somewhere that at that time and night, bad things can tend to happen. But there's a point in that video where you don't have to do that. You don't have to load your shoulder on the guy and even make it, you don't have to go that far.

I think it's a serious thing. No, I don't, But I'm just saying he could have walked away from that. But that's also where I do think that my opinion may have changed to the better because I agree with Amber. I think there were moments in that video when it could have gotten a lot worse. And I think I think there was a certain level of restraint that he had in that video in a couple different situations where I'm not sure that a few years ago he would

have had that same level of restraint. Now, is he where he needs to be? As a forty seight year old man, I'd probably make much different decision and then he would have made. But I'm also forty six years old, and and that's a matter of getting older and being more mature. He can be more mature now than he was back then. That doesn't mean he's fully developed yet, right fair. I mean that's that's fair that you said

that I'm over this conversation. It's I mean, you can, like we've been arguing, you can argue both sides, and it's just whatever it is, what it is. We'll see what the league does, if they do something. But in the meantime, it's which it's a tough conversation to have because it's it's not a black and white issue that you can just come down with a firm take on, right, And that's what so many people want to do and I refuse to. But yeah, so I mean like, yeah,

I mean, just kind of play it by ear. It doesn't really drastically change my opinion of what I already knew about Ezekiel Elliott. It's something that he needs to continue to work on, and I'd be surprised if he got suspended, but you can never say for sure. So let's take that to the other stream. Then we only have a few more minutes here because we got to leave a little early today at ten thirty for Coach Garret's press conference. We have to say, see, no, we'll

get to that next week. But um, let's assume for a second at the Cowboy that the Cowboys do face a potential suspension with Zeke. How comfortable do you fill with the running back position right now, knowing that there's not a lot of experience there. You would have to let's assume that it's it happens at the beginning of the season and there are some games that he has

to miss. How comfortable do you feel that rookies can immediately step in and be able to give you what you need for those games and not going to replace Zeke? They're not good enough to replace Zeke. Gonna know who in the league would um it's the one position where guys can plug in and be more effective than others. And I you're drafted too, They're gonna have to do it. I mean, I don't think you go. Maybe they would go and sign someone that's out there, but I don't

think so. Tony Pollard, Mike Weber that the fact that a lot of confidence you'll have to rely on your old line and hope that they can do give the running back position as much help as they can and open some holes for the guy. But hard I got a hard disagree from me guys, and like, I don't feel good about it, but I have to go get somebody Alfred Morris, whatever, somebody that's done it. Somebody I mean Mike Weber and again, and they were pumped about him.

Maybe he's awesome. You know, he played at Ohio State. That that counts for a lot. But Bo Scarborough played at Alabama and people were high on him. He was drafted in the same range and he didn't make this team. Darius Jackson has six carries to his name. Tony Pollard

looks fast as hell, very exciting. I'm not sure I want to lean on him to carry the load for an NFL team one game into his career, even if it's like an Alfred Morris, Like, I'm not saying it would be somebody that would inspire confidence, but I would try to go get someone. Even if you see a good preseason from one of these two guys. Darius Jackson looked freaking awesome in the preseason a couple of years ago.

Philip Tanner pretty good. Yeah, But you know, I honestly believe though, if you look at kind of the way this team is constructed. Number One, I think your offensive line should be as good at least as they were last year, and I think they were pretty good running the ball. There were some deficiencies, particularly in the goal

line areas. I think that in what will be Dack's forts season, my expectation is that this year he's gonna take that next step, and especially if he's going to be your quarterback of the future, this is about the time you start seeing teams kind of make that transition to where they can have some games in a season, maybe not every game, but they can have some games in a season where they go into the game saying, we're gonna put the ball in our quarterbacks hands. He's

gonna win this game for us. So you look at those things and you look at the fact that, again, running back is a position where when you talk about being able to come in the league and produce immediately, we see it all the time their players that come in this league, and especially when they got good offense around them, when they've got a good offensive line, they've got capable receivers, capable quarterback. We've seen running backs coming

this league and immediately make an impact. I don't think this is the worst thing in the world. And I think a guy like Darius Jackson has been here. He's not a you know, he's not a guy that's got a ton of reps here, but he certainly has been here, and so I think between him and those two young guys, I think you got enough backs to where you can make this thing go. Now. I'm also assuming that if he gets suspended, this is like a short term thing. Yeah, if if it turns into a six game, which I

don't think he will buy any means. But if it's a long term thing, now you got a point. But if you're talking a couple of games, I think he got what you need. You go with and you see what happened. Let me ask the Cowboys historian here, when was the last time that a running back who wasn't the top one hundred pick did that for this team as a rookie? Just well period? But yeah, sure as a rookie would be even better. Marion Barber, Yeah, how long did it take him to do that? Actually? His

rookie year? About the week five year Tony Collard. Yeah, I mean, let's go. Yeah, but it was like week five, It wasn't like week one. And he was different because he was a barbarian. I mean he could run over people, um, and he had a great Where was he picked? Um? He it was in the fourth round. I would say, you know, with there's two picks in the fourth round that year. One of them was Canty, another one was him, but I think he was the first one. Okay, all right,

but in that range of it was one hundred. I mean I under like, I get running back value there. You can find them all over the place. I know, Jordan Howard, Philip lindsay, I get it. I haven't seen it happen for this team in the time I've been here. That didn't really matter for this team. I mean, if it happens around the NFL, then it can happen well. But but what you have seen is you have seen a third round pick set the Cowboys record for most

rushing yards in a season. You've also seen a guy that was at the end of his career and was pretty much washed up and with a one million a year of salary finished third in the NFL and rushing and Darren McFadden. So you've seen it with this team, seen this offensive line, seen this offensive line help elevate players to the best moments of their career. I'm a big show me guy. I'm not from Missouri, but like

I not that's fair. I'm not ready to sit here and say a seventh round pick and a fourth round pick can carry the load even for like two games. Yeah, I'm just not as worried about I think that for all those things I said, I think this team has enough other weapons to where I think they they can put those running backs in good positions to be able to be success. Remember this to say, you get Alfred Morris and Zee comes back, do you want Alfred Morris

on your team? No, you're just kind of right, you just kind of But also, the way the salary is that conscious whole salary is guaranteed for that year, the whole year. If he's your week one, yep, how much I mean this student's I love Alfred Morris to death. How much do you think you're paying for him? But you're paying for nothing at that point you sign him to have you met Cherry like. He doesn't like to, I mean, he doesn't like bad business. He signed that

guy to a vet minimum contract. He plays, he's on the roster for two games, then you're that's fine, Okay, we gotta get out of here. I'm so sorry, great conversation. Appreciate you guys today. We'll be back next week. At this at the normal time. I think next week will be actually, no, it's gonna be on Thursday next week. We'll give you more information. Check the website for more information.

Till then. For Nick Eatman, Dave Helmant amber Garcia, I'm Derek Eagles and this has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.