Cowboys Break: Levels of Concern

number eighty. Welcome to another edition All Break, where you're live from the s WBC Morty Studios at the Star. You got about forty five minutes to talk about the Cowboys with you guys. Today, we're gonna talk about levels of concern coming off a game like that one that we saw on Sunday. There's a lot of things that

you could be concerned about with this team. But I think it's up to us, It's up to this group in here to add some perspective to this conversation of how much should you be concerned about certain things that we saw Sunday, about certain position groups, about particular players that may not have played so well in that game. But is it a real trend or is it something that you're seeing that you think will be a problem

as we go forward. So I got my crew here, got Nick, even Dave Hellman, Danny no excuse me, Danny serekis joining us today as well. So let's jump right in level of concern. It's gonna be a rating of one to ten, ten being I am losing my mind concerned with this one being as this is not a problem. All right, Let's start first with the offensive line. And I heard you guys actually had some interesting conversation on

that yesterday. And so before we get to your levels of concern, why don't you guys give me a little news on what's happening there on the offensive line. Don't you take care of that? Nick? And you called your shot like, babe, freaking I didn't he always done? And then later he's like he has no I didn't know anything. Yeah, He's like, I don't have a source, I don't know anything. He didn't know anything about an injury to Connor Williams.

And and as I was telling you this earlier, if he would have had like a you know, like a soreness in his knee and we'll see he's not going to practice then and be like, all right, they're they're protecting him and they're trying to start Sufilo. I don't think you have to go under the knife to like prove a point here. So I do think he's got a legitimate injury. He's gonna have scope on his right knee, I believe. I don't think it's left because last year

was right, he had the same thing. But at the same time, to Afilo came over and they had a game you know, seven game winning streak or whatever. So we'll see if that happens again. But I think it was just because a Sufilo, and I think he's a better lineman, and I think the Cowboys things so too. They just didn't draft him. But as I saw you, there there are tons of legitimate injuries in that locker room right now that could have surgery or decide not to have surgery. So yeah, I think he's got a

legitimate injury. I do wonder though, if if it was kind yeah Connor, you know, you might want to go ahead and get the surgery, Like it's let's just go ahead and do the surgery and you could sit for a few weeks. We got a plan. I think he's a better lineman right now in his career. I think he gives him a little bit more strength, and you know, we'll see. I wonder, I was gonna say, I wondered too, how much this decision comes from them liking what Suefila

did last year when he filled in for Williams. And I'm sure that came into you know, we can go a few weeks you feelab be ready. I'm sure that came into play some too. Put on my draft show hat real quick, and I'm going to defend the guy who I was very excited that they were going to draft. Maybe instead of saying, you know what, Connor, maybe you

go get that surgery. Maybe they watched it back and they were like, you know what, you're clearly not right because you would be playing better than this if you were healthy. Because he hasn't been perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think he has played as poorly as he did against the Vikings. And so maybe they took a look about look at it and said, you're not helping us right, You're not going to be effective enough to help us in your current states, So

go get this taken care of. Jason Garrett said he doesn't it. I mean, I don't think irs in consideration, and when you think about how far into the season we are, that I'm interested to see he You know, you don't ever want to put a firm timetable on it, just in case. But you know, when he says short term, I assume that means he can be back in three,

three or four weeks. I mean, Michael Gallup had had a situation like this earlier in the season, so you know, he's a second round pick and a guy that everyone thought might be a first round pick, so you don't expect him to be a starter. But even if his career is a backup to a lot of spots, that is a valuable position, especially with this line. That's probably

not what he wants or what the team wanted. But if he's your swing tackle who also can play guard and all that like, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Are you? Are you saying that's where you may need to be. Maybe? I mean, what if Connor mcgovernan comes back and he's absolutely really good and Frederick keeps keeps improving, and you know, and they've signed the tackles, and so we're you know, maybe he's a backup swing tackle but also has ability to play guard. Yeah,

we kind of that's a very valuable persons. Yeah, I mean we abandoned the whole moving him to write tackle thing because nobody expected Lyle Collins to resign. But now that he has, Yeah, and then you know McGovern's torn peck has kind of sidelined that conversation as well. But when the offseason gets here, I don't know, it's it's

something to consider. I mean, you would as sorry, you would assume Connor Williams is still going to have a leg up, just based on multiple years in the in the strength program, starting experience, Connor McGovern has basically not played a snap of NFL football, not even in practice for the most part. But something to watch if we're gonna just start the game. I'll say a seven for the the line because I do think they're getting a

little bit better here at left guard. But I also think there's also injury concerns to Zack Martin with his elbow, Lall Collins with his back. A couple of things to look at this week. Tyrant Smith is coming off one of his worst games we can remember, So Frederick, I don't think played that well either. Yeah, they I mean that was they got beat up by the Viking Vikings beat him across the board. It was just not I mean, it was uncharacteristically bad. Injuries are probably part of that,

but Everson Griffin gave Tyrant Smith the work. Zach and Lyle are injured. Seven's too high for me. Ten is like jump off a cliff. I'm gonna say six. Six. Okay, I'm gonna say six again. I mean, you know, you never want to overreact too much. They've played well way more often than they haven't. Yeah, and to a field

I should be able to help. Well, it's hard to say you have all these concerns when you see the level of talent allong offensive line and you know that this is more than likely just maybe like a bump in the road. This isn't something that's concerning for me for the rest of the season, because you know what they're all capable of. Okay, so let me play Devil's advocate with that. There have been two really good defense is that they've played this year. Both those instances, they

didn't win the battle. Does that concern you more when you're talking about this team? If they can win the division and get into the playoffs playing some of those though that caliber of talent in the playoffs. I'm gonna speak for the fans listening right now and say, playoffs, all right, let's string together some good results before we worry about what that means. Well, but the one thing we do know about this team, they can win in the NFC East, and if they keep winning the NFC East,

they're gonna find themselves in the playoffs. So it's true, if they win their next two games in the NFC East, I have a hard time thinking that. I have a hard time thinking that Philadelphias. Philadelphia is just as schizophrenic as the calf. They know they could go. They could theoretically go six and ozho in the East and finish seven and nine, So I'm not willing to concede that. All right, their only other win outside the division as Miami, my thought has not beaten a good team, got it.

But my thought is if they go seven and nine, somehow, Philly's gonna end up being seven to nine or less, because once again, those two teams are they're playing the same kind of football. Philly, it's really good. Well then that's so you still will win the division, right, y'all know who's who Philly has to end. They're not a

good team, but they're playing. They got two Giants games, a Redskins game, a Dolphins game, and that's but that's my point is if they are, if they play like the Cowboys, which to this point they have, they've been up and down, then it may not depend on the caliber of their opponent. They may lose some games that right now you're looking at like they can't lose that. Okay, lose to the Giants. Absolutely, anybody can lose to anybody,

of course. But but the whole point is, are you more concerned about these better teams, because that's where the Cowboys, like how was offensive line can bully some other teams, and they have. When it comes to some of these better lines, they've not gotten the better I mean, the last night's game was a good example. I mean, the two good football teams going back and forth, and you know, it came down to plays at the end of the game. And I think the the Vikings game is very similar.

I mean, yeah, it sucks to be five and four not six and three, because that's it seems like a really big difference. But you know, if they make a play, and I'm just saying, I know that's a big if, but I mean they're right there. Whin the game. We're not even talking about all these numbers were about to throw out or aren't it all because of a one play here and there. I mean, that was a very good two good football teams I think that are playing in that game. The Vikings won the game. They were

a little bit better. But I don't think it's I don't think the cow I mean, the Cowboys can compete with anyone, but they will lose to anyone if they don't play well and they're injured. So I don't think it's a panic button situation. They can they can get in here and they can be better than Philly. All right, let's talk about the tight ends, Jason Witten, Blake Jarwin, Dalton Schultz. I what's a level of concern there. I

don't know about concern. It's just I mean, even yesterday, Garrett was asked why they're not using Jarmin more when he seems to be playing well when he gets the opportunities, and it's Whittenes is just that good, and it almost kind of reminds me of Wait he said that. Did he say Witten is just that good? Or are you

saying that? No, I mean paraphrasing what he said. I mean, like Jason Witten is Jason Witten, right, And you know you can only play so many personal packages and it almost kind of reminds me of like Tony Pollard of you just you're not getting the opportunities that you need. I'm going to disagree with you there because you know, Zeke has been the best running back in the league

for the last few years. He wasn't the other night, obviously, but we know what Zeke is and uh but what Witten is not that guy anymore, you know, And so no, I agree with you. I would like to see more jarn I'm just saying what Garrett's and Garrett's you know, Jarwin seems to swam the nose and all the start. I mean, Garrett, we saw it at the press conference where you know, he was tearing up and all that.

That's this guy. But this is it's a tough situation because it's not like Jarwin is is great at everything. He's just a more athletic tight end than Witten, faster. So with Schultz, but that doesn't mean Choltzon needs to play. You'd be surprised to hear this, but I'm not going to play by the rules on this particular one because and listen, I'm wrong all the time, like I'm I'm always wrong. I thought they're gonna beat the Vikings. Definitely thought they're gonna beat the Jets. A lot of stuff

I say is wrong. But the minute Jason Witten unretired, I called this from a million miles away. I was like, tight end will be a problem spot. Jason Witten will be Jason Witten. It probably won't be good enough, but he's going to command a certain amount of it, you know, snaps and attention that you're not going to get better from your younger guys while he's here, and you're not going to draft a guy because you don't know how

long Jason Witten is going to be around. I don't think it's killing this team, you know, in the I mean, in the grand scheme of problems, you're going to say something else that scares me way more than tight end. But it's just a subpar position right now, and there's nothing they can do about it right now. And that's

just it just is what it is. That's kind of my take on it is, You've got so many things that you can put in the priorities as far as problems, this is so far down the list for me that my level of concern on the tight ends is really really small because I don't I'll put it like this, I don't think that anything the tight ends did or didn't do in this last game one or would have won or ended up losing this game for the Cowboys. I don't think the tight ends were part of my

equation at least on why they lost game. But but you know, maybe someone needs to tell Dak because you know, after the Jets game, Deck's like, I'm gonna throw it to the Hall of Fame tight end. Okay, I get that same with this last game, the Vikings third down critical play, that he's not winning those plays. He's not winning those fifty fifty balls where it's fighting with a with a defensive backer or a linebacker. He's not He's not that guy that's making that play. He's not getting

those pass interference calls. So it's I don't know if it's your best option, especially with critical pivotal plays in the game, when the game's on the line, he's like, well, I'm just gonna throw it to the goat. Well, but if but if he's throwing it to him, he's throwing it to him, because I don't think he's just throwing it just blindly. I think he's blown throwing it to him because he sees, Hey, maybe he's a man coverage,

maybe is not. You know what he said though, what he's said is I'm going to take the goat every time. And I don't know if that's you. I mean, do you really think he's saying I'm just gonna I don't care when I come out of the huddle, I don't care what I see I'm throwing into Jason Witt. I don't think that's what he's saying. I just think they're in they're in a unique spot, and not in a good way, because, I mean, what do we just talk about.

Connor Williams was the fiftieth overall pick and we're like, well, you know what, so what this is the NFL. If we got to move him to swing tackle next year, that's what we're gonna do that. Jason Witten is not going to be your third tight end he's not here to play six snaps and be on special teams. It's just not going to happen, right, And that doesn't mean and I don't have his snapcount in front of me. I bet it's it's not ninety nine percent. You know,

you were. You pointed out he wasn't on the field for the for the door do or Die drive, But he's still going to command a certain amount of snaps, attention and respect all that stuff. And it just is what it is. As we know, they have two tight ends on the field as much as they do anything else. I mean this year they use two tight ends quite a bit. And there are a lot of times, just like in that last drive, in games where Jason they only have one tight end and Jason's not in there,

they have Blake Jarwin in the game. As a matter of fact, there was one series this last game where they had two tight ends and Jason wasn't on the field. So I think they're moving it around. Jason's the starter and has more snaps than anybody else. I don't think it's a situation where they're not using Blake Jarwin. I think they're using him fine. I just think it's just one of those things where Jason just happens to have more snaps, you know. All right, let's move on. Let's

take our first break. When we come back, we'll talk about the running back position. We'll talk about the running offense and particularly the running defense. Will do I want to come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. I'm Jay Novachek, former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys. Back in the day. I was the guy who always got the tough yards and that's why I run with

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based on GWS one score, September twenty nineteen. Back to the Break Welcome Back In is a second second of The Break live in s WBC Mortgage Studios. At the start, we're talking about levels of concern. We've talked about the offensive wine, the tight end position. Let's talk about the running back in Ezekiel Elliott I've seen some I don't know, I don't even want to characterize, but I've seen some tweets that have been floating around over the last day.

They've been questioning Zeke's effectiveness looking at these games where they've had struggles trying to run the ball. Do you guys see anything in Zeke that that gives you a level of concerned I mean, and I'm talking about the separate from the offensive line, just Zeke as a runner. Are you at all concerned about hit him and what he's doing at the running back position a little bit? Yeah, because you want him to be a little bit more of an explosive player, because that's how you get those

big yards. That's how you want the guy that's that's paid as one of the best in the league to kind of every once in a while get a twenty five, thirty five fifty yard run. Have that in his arsenal. I'm not saying he doesn't have it, but most of his big plays in his career have been screened. Now that's on the Cowboys for not, you know, running one, because I think that they saw it once or twice or fifteen times. Dalvin Cook did it, so you'd think they can try it. But the explosive plays, to me,

are becoming a little bit of a problem. So what I'm sorry, the lack of explosive guys fat of Zeke or a little bit of a problem. I think he has one run of twenty or more yards this season. The longest rush of the season is Dak the Redskins two yards. I'm almost positive he's got a boatload of twelve to fifteen yard runs. And I've said before that'll do the trick more often than not. Like Zeke himself, I'm probably at like a two and a half or three. I mean, he three hundred yard games in a row

before that. He's a workhorse, He fights through contact, he does all that stuff. But just I don't know, go go flip on that tape of Dalvin Cook and just like you weren't here yesterday, but like you're holding your breath when he hits the hole because you're like, this could be this could be six yards, this could be twenty five yards, this could go to the house. And

you haven't felt that way often watching Zeke. And it's not to say he hasn't been good or he hasn't been productive, but consider the price tag and you have to you have to now that it's there. Yeah, that's you want. You would like to see more of that, But most of my concern with that is more about the way he's being used. Like you can also flip on the tape and watch Zeke run into some of these boxes of five guys trying to block six or seven guys and say, well, what is he really supposed

to do? Much like the Saints game, is Zeke not getting yards because he's not good. No, Zeke is getting yards because there's unblocked tacklers in the box bringing him down. And then what Nick just said, they just refused to use him creatively in the passing game, and at this point I've given up hope that they ever will. And that's that's like a nine. That's a nine, and stubbornly running him into brick walls is like an eight. So that's but I do not put that on Ezekiel Elliott.

I don't think that's his fault. He's still strong, he's still grinding and making those tough runs and breaking tackles. It's just I agree, I'm not sure why we haven't seen those explosive plays we talked about when we play the Giants. I mean, se Quon is always good for at least one every time, you know, we play him, And I'm just wondering why we haven't seen those from

Zeke yet. And again to a Dave, I don't know why they don't throw it to him or he's proven he can be just as consistent getting the ball in the air. Yeah, I'll say my paint by numbers thing for the millionth time. But like the way the Cowboys play it, They're like, Okay, here comes our screen. We're gonna fake the We're gonna fake the jet sweep, fake the play action. Dak's gonna look left, turn right and throw it to Zeke. And all right, we got our screen.

We did our screen for the night. We're done. We're good, and the Vikings are over here like we're gonna do it this way, We're gonna do it that way. Oh, here comes another screen pass. Here we go again. We're gonna do it coming out of this look. We're gonna do it coming out of that look. And the Cowboys just aren't like that. And Kellen Moore is obviously doing a good job. They have the best offense in the league, but said, I just think they could be more creative

across a bunch of different fronts. The interesting part about this is you talked about the money. Christian McCaffrey has not reached his second deal. Correct, No, all right, So check this out. Five rushers in the league right now, Christian McCaffrey, Nick Chubb, Dalvin Cook, Leonard Fournette, Josh Jacobs, all young guys, all still on their first contracts. If

you go beyond that, Zeke's at six. But then you've got Chris Carson, You've got Marlon Mack, You've got Derrick Henry, Carlos Hyde, Lamar Jackson, Funny Kenyon, Drake, mark Ingram, Philip like you start going down this list, and it is the whole argument that was being made before the deal with Zeke of do you ever and I've heard people make this argument, and I think it's a valid argument, do you ever go big on a second contract on a running back in today's NFL where you look at

this and this is not uncommon that you look at the top rushers in the league and they tend to be young guys on first deals. Does this change? Are you looking at this and do you guys have any questions now about whether it was a good idea to make the decision to pay him the amount of money that they ended up paying him. Yeah, I mean, go back and you know now and and make that argument. But I don't think it was a bad idea. I

think we were there in training camp. We kind of knew what this team was about, what they needed, and I think Zeke is the guy that he has been, the guy that kind of makes it all go. So, um, you know, Dak hasn't. This was one of the few games that we've really seen Dak really play great game without having him out there. I guess you could say the Giants from last year, but you know, against a much better team and uh, you know, Dak's kind of been the guy that's needed Zeke. And let's be honest,

he still had Zeke. I mean, he had Zeke in that game. Like he wasn't rushing for a lot, but he was there and the Vikings certainly knew he was there. So I think I think Zeke's president certainly helped Dak in that game. Um, I don't know, I don't know. I mean, I think we went in we went into this with our eyes open, like all that. None of that should be surprising to you if you play close pay close attention to the NFL. And I even I was like, it's scary have that much money to a

running back. But if there's a guy that I would give it to, it's Zeke x y Z. His age, his durability, his talent, blah blah blah blah blah. So I mean, it hurts to hear that, but you shouldn't be surprised, Like it shouldn't have taken to I'm not talking to you, ye speaking rhetorically, right, So like it kind of stings to hear that, But yeah, I agree

with Nick. I mean, the Vikings were so obviously keyed on Zeke and we I mean coach's fault in my opinion that they were still focusing that much on the run even late in the game, and the Cowboys did adjust to throw more, but I think they could have done more, I think, And yeah, and I agree, like that was one of Dak's first games where he was really able to carry that load on his own and they still didn't win. They could have, which hasn't always

been the case. When Zeke has had a bad day, but they didn't, and so Dak will hopefully continue to grow into that guy. I don't know if he's ready to be that guy a weekend and week out yet, and so I still don't have a problem with it,

even if it does kind of sting to hear those stats. Yeah, the part that's worsome for me is if you go back and watch the game, there were so many plays where it wasn't even like the it wasn't even a situation where the Vikings were just saying, at least in the situations I'm talking about, where the Vikings were saying, we're gonna put both safeties down in the box and we are committed to stopping Zeke. Like, these are situations where what the defense was dedicating to stop the run

was beatable. And especially when you consider the fact of how much money and how many first round draft picks have been used across that offensive line and at the running back position, You're like, they should be able to beat the front that says run against this front, And

I know they weren't. I get all that, But that's the part that's worthsome to me is the guys that you've really invested in to say third and two, we feel like we should be able to run against a four man front and six men in the box, and you can't. You get a two yard loss. Right, That's where I think there's a a disconnect and a problem. Danny used the jello analogy that, yeah, it was so great, I want to fight through the fan. This morning, Jerry was saying he was asked if he has, like any

concerns I guess more about Cowboys run defense. Was I think what the specific question was and is analogy. He's great analogies. He said, It's like holding jello in your hands. As soon as it starts to like you think you're good, it's not seeping through your middle fingers anymore. It starts overflowing on the edges. So as soon as you think you're good and comfortable in one aspect of your game,

something else kind of grabs your attention. Which the reason I asked you to bring that up is it's very fitting in that regard because whether it's injuries, whether it's the other talent in the NFL, whatever you want to chalk it up to, like, it's rare when you can just line up and out talent another NFL team, and it takes coaching to compensate for that. In my opinion, the forty nine ers, I believe, had they had their starting tackles for the first time in like a month

and a half night which they lost. Ironically, they lost, but they also got to eight no without their starting tackles. Can you imagine that happening here? No? I can't. But that also tells you, you you know, you invest so much in a particular area of your team, and when that part of the team is just performing like all these other teams that don't invest at and it makes you wonder,

is it a bad investment? Right? No, that's and that's my You know, yes, you spend all this money on the O line, but I mean, you know, Tyrone's his injury list is like a CBS receipt, and Lyle's been dealing with something. Travis is coming back from a sickness that knocked him out all year, and on and on and on and on, and it's it's unrealistic to be like, well, we spent first round picks on these guys for years and years, so we can just line up and run

over whoever we want to. You gotta be more creative than that. All right, Look, I was gonna say, you look at the teams, some of who they've lost too, and you think if the Cowboys were dealing with those injuries, could they have won games? Right? The Saints didn't have Breeze, if we didn't have Dak right Cooper Rush, Yeah, you know, Giant or Packers didn't have jamont To Adams. Like we've seen how this Cowboys team performs without Cooper. It's it's

just concerned. Yeah, you see the depth and then when they're putting this situation to use their backups doesn't always pan out the way it should. All Right, we're gonna say our final break, we will come back. We'll talk about the run defense, we'll talk about the linebackers, and I want to talk about special teams a little bit as well. We'll get levels of concern on all those players when we come back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Ready, Okay? Oh so so are we gonna win?

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it around here for sure. Cowboys will host their third annual Christmas at the Star, presented by Albertson's and Tom Thumb, from November twenty second through December twenty first, taking place at the Star in Frisco. It's a family friendly events through the holiday season, including the Christmas Spectacular. It's an opportunity to take a photo with Santa Claus. They've upgraded there this year, and for more information, visit the Star

in Frisco dot com. It's an awesome show, Suspect Arcular. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. You a part of it like you were last weekend, mat No I went last year as a fan. Awesome. So November twenty second through December twenty Friday Saturday, bundle up because if it's anything like it's he is right now, it should be cool out there a little bit. You never know, it could be hot. You're looking forward to Chicago. Yeah, yeah, fine, Detroit seems like it's gonna be pretty cool. I know

it'll be indoors. We'll be indoors, so it's a little different. But famous last words. But like, I don't know, Chicago probably won't be any colder than it was when I woke up in Dallas this morning. The windy city. About to say, the wind changes things a little bit. Although this morning in Dallas the wind chill was ten degrees, so yeah, it was brutal. It was pretty cold. All right, we're getting a right, let's get back in. Yeah, let's

talk some run defense. Uh, this last game, that one series is what I just had him my mind because it'll be honest with you, And we even mentioned in the Prescott press box knicks Nick early in the game they were actually doing a pretty good stopping the run. Their problems were in the screen game like they were having a hard time stop in the screen game. But as far as the run was concerned, they were doing

a pretty good job. And then you get to that series and basically Minnesota just lined up and see it. We're going to run the ball. You're not going to stop us. And the Cowboys had no answers. Yeah, it's very old school. Yeah, And you know, you can say what you want about Tony Pollard, he is a change of pace back, but Minnesota does it differently that when they bring a guy in, they bring a guy that's even bigger and more pissed off than Dalvin Cook and

he runs that way. And you don't really know the difference of these two guys, and it wasn't an advantage for them not to say that. You know, the Cowboys were doing it in another way, but they were able to just interchange them within a drive and keep it going, keep it pounding, and it was it was very impressive to see for that end. It wasn't impressive to see the linebackers and the defensive lines. Isn't it the same thing we've been saying all season? Tackling? Yeah, I mean,

tackling was definitely a problem in this game. Run defense has been at least somewhat of a concern sporadically throughout the season. At times I think we were getting better at one point, and can anybody pinpoint what the deal is here, because I mean, yeah, I'm I'm way, I'm

way up there, close to ten with the defense. I will say this anytime, anytime a team is getting run on the way the Cowboys got run on in that in the second half in that game, my first set of attention goes to the linebackers, and I think there were a number of times in that game where linebackers overran plays where linebackers slipped and fell, where linebackers had a guy like they had him and he got away and he's running. And so for me, the number one

job of a linebacker is make the tackle. Diagnosed the play, get there and make the tackle. And I don't think enough in that second half of that game the linebackers were diagnosing the play, getting there and making the tackle. That also means sometimes you gotta run through blocks. I mean, sometimes you gotta know enough about what's coming to not get in a bad position to get blocked. Didn't look like often enough the linebackers were doing that in this game.

It didn't seem like anybody was really doing it. Getting off I mean, m DeMarcus Lawrence played pretty well all things. I mean, what else is new? But yeah, get not being able to get off blocks, not diagnosing plays, tackling I think I think I read the Vikings had one hundred and forty four yards after contact. It's amazing. Yeah, it's amazing. It's it's it's incredible in all the wrong ways. Yea, So maybe they were diagnosing plays. Maybe they were diagnosing

plays working righta all all season? Yeah, I don't think it's been all season. I think yeah, I think consistently, Yeah, I think there's been issues tackling throughout the season. I get a confused with Texas football sometimes, So I don't know, it's sorry for me to say for the whole year, please don't bring up college football with David. I think, oh, yeah, right, we don't have to go there. You know the guy that that's really hard to figure out here is when

you just watch him plays, Alan Smith. I mean, is he good? Does he make a lot of plays? He makes some he tells you about it when he does, and you think, well, well, you know he's around the ball, he's making plays. He doesn't always make great plays, though he misses a lot too. And Jalen is very similar to this team in that you know, you see the good, he sees some of the bad at the end of the day. Though it doesn't add up like you like you'd want it to. You know, thirteen tackles, but it

just seems kind of hollow. Would it be fair? And I don't have them all in front of me, obviously, but like most of Jalen's really great plays this season have been as a pass rusher, really, haven't they I'm thinking, I mean, I'm thinking Saints, I'm thinking he had a sack against the Giants. I believe. I don't think he's a great rusher, though I'm not saying one way or

the other. I'm saying most of his good plays have been just screaming downfield trying to write, which I mean, that's nice, but that's not what I want from my linebackers. I want them using their instincts to get side to side and sniff stuff out before it gets started. I mean,

that's what you're there to do. Yeah, And I think if you're if if we're talking about this holistically, I don't think there's a linebacker on among those top three that have consistently done that this year, and to be honest with you, the one I'm probably most disappointed in, and again it's because of expectations, is Latent. My thoughts after last year was that Latan's gonna be a bad you know what in this league. He was going to be a really, really great linebacker. So my expectation is

sideline a sideline. I think about that Houston game and the way they run down that play on the sideline and stop the quarterback cold in his tracks and there is nothing that he gets out of the play. How often have we seen that this year? Like that's the part that I'm really concerned about, is they're just not flowing sideline the sideline. They're not diagnosing a play and making tackles for lasses where they just basically shoot through gaps.

You're not doing any of that stuff, and so there's not the big plays coming from They're not even making the kind of plays where receiver catches a ball in middle field, linebacker comes up and dislodges the ball. Those kind of like what kind of plays are they making right now? And I just don't see a lot of those splashed plays from the linebacking win late, sorry down, Would you even consider him healthy? No? Right? Which what sucks is it? Honestly it puts us in a bad spot.

Not that anybody, not that I expect anybody to have sympathy, But like Layton's got a stinger. It was bad enough that it kept him out the game after the bye week, so clearly something pretty nasty to sideline him for that long. Then he's clearly gimpy in this Vikings game, like he's limping. You could see it with your own eyes. He runs off the field, he goes to the locker room without his helmet, comes back, gets back in, finishes the game.

And so for all intents and purposes, he's healthy. Like, if you're healthy enough to be out there, then you're healthy enough for me to critique your level of play. But probably not in reality, you know, But how many guys on the field are all like that? Absolutely? I'm about football is if you're out there playing, you're probably playing with an injury. And it's just a matter of how much pain tolerance can you can you handle? But and again I don't even I don't know, like Jay,

we even asked Jason Garrett about it specifically. Yesterday we were like, did he come out of that game? Okay? And Jason said yes. So I'm going to take him at his word on that, even if it's probably not one the truth. But if he's and again pure conjecture on my part, I don't know, I'm speculating, but like, if he's got like a mild groin strain, no wonder he's not doing that type of stuff, you know, But if you're healthy enough to be out there, then I

have to critique what I see. You know, I think the big difference is is, you know, at the linebacker position, I think those are a lot of guys in the league that make tackles, especially since that's a that's a stat that you know, teams keep by, you know, to themselves, and it changes with every everybody who's who's grading those players. But you know, I think Layton made the Pro Bowl last because he had interceptions. He had a couple in

a row. He had a couple against the one on Monday night or Sunday night, and the next week as well, And I think that's right when you're really voting, and this guy's a stud and now he's making other plays, But I don't. I don't know. I think that's the big difference here. I don't he hasn't had those turnovers. I disagree with you, and I think you're right, like interceptions or splash plays and they stand out and they

run on Sports Center. But just week after week last year, he's knifing back into the backfield and like if he had been playing like he was last year, half of those pitches to Dalvin Cook, they're going for negative one, zero or one because Layton vander esh is getting through two blocks and getting there before he can get going. He did it. He made a huge play against Philly on the road last year where he did exactly that, and he did that reliably. They did it against Houston.

They wound up losing that game, but they both were doing stuff like that and you just don't see it. You remember Layton. I think he did it once in this game, and he's done it a few other times, and it stands out because it happened so rarely where you're like, WHOA, there's the latent that I remember from last year. How many games did he miss last year, like to start the year, how many he didn't work well? He wasn't starting until week four or five, but he

didn't miss anything. He didn't miss any games. I mean, he's on pace to get way more tackles this year. And I understand that he didn't, you know, play, it wasn't starting a lot in the first few games. But I mean, I think he's still making plays. I really do. I think he's making plays. I just don't know if he's making these splash plays, especially the turnovers. I've seen some tackles, but you know where he's chasing them down and all that, But I guess they haven't. I don't know.

Let's ask Corey Miller. How the house. Yeah, it's not very often. And actually the big board up there, how many times are they hitting the house? I heard it once in the game, and I want to say this last game where he did it, it was like a it was a play that I was kind of like a little nondescript, like I didn't think it was a great play, but he made a tackle his wife on six yard. I mean, so I don't know. All right,

real quick, we don't have much time left. I really quickly wanted to bring up special teams because I wanted to talk about Brett Maher. Is there any level of concern with him? I don't personally put okay, good every time he kicks, oh, okay, every time he makes every time he kicks, there's a concern. Yeah, there is. I don't know if he's gonna make it. I don't know if he's gonna make it, including extra points, I don't

know if he's going to make it. I was really wondering if they make that touchdown at the end of the game, was he going to make it? You know? Yeah, it was just I just thought it was gonna come down to either Maha or Bailey or both or whatever. But it didn't. It almost did. That's what's concerning. I get that they know he can make those really long kicks, you know, forty five fifty yarders, but does that mean that you have to put him in the multiple situations

like that every game. Did you guys talk about that yesterday? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, there's too much, too much faith. Well, extra points that I've seen him do it, cool, but I just like which he's seen him do it. He also knows that he's missed. He's fifty percent this year, which fifty plus, so he threw him. He threw him out there for the fifty seven yard or and then twenty minutes later had an opportunity at the same kick and didn't want

to do it. It's like, but but you had all this confidence in him, and so just watching him miss one kick changed all of that, even though you've seen him miss plenty of times in your life. Yeah, I just I can't fathom why you would make the decision I'm gonna take a fifty fifty shot at something, at anything, I would take a fifty fifty shot at something that early in the game where it's not necessary, Like you do that going into a half, when you have any

more time. You do that at the end of a game. Maybe late in a game when you just feel like, hey, we've been struggling all game to get into position to even get a score. We gotta get something here, then maybe you take it was the first series of the game. Why I didn't understand the point of it. I really didn't understand the point of It's not gonna give you a boost to go up three nothing. Rightly, look at the percentages. What's the percentage Chris Jones is gonna put

the ball in ten yard line? Probably like seventy five percent. That's what he does right there? Yeah, that and then what's the percent that the Vics are gonna go ninety? I mean, I don't know, it's smaller than fifty. Who do you don't know they did it on the next series. Who do you implicitly trust on this team? Implicitly like they're like it's a zero, you got a zero? Since we're talking about how concerned you are, I can think

of a few, all right. I was about to say, like, I'm having a hard time coming up with a single one other than maybe a Marmari I trust him four for me, I don't know. I mean, maybe I'm just a homer. Yeah, but I think Forrest shown us that at times, like he's had some games where you kind of like, yeah, but even there, even when he really not, even when I'm thinking that's true, not this year, You're right, nothing, and so it maybe past this year that kind of

closet for me. Right against the Packers, he was forcing a little bit, even though he went for four to fifty. But I mean he was no, he was he made little That's my point. Even even the bad games. I mean he threw he ends up threw a pick on the first play of the Giants game, and wasn't four nineteen and ninety. I'm good with you on nineteen and I'll even you know what, I'll probably throw in thirty one. Maybe that's just more it's been really good this year.

I think that's not the reason you say that. I think is just more about the struggles all over the rest of the secondary. Maybe he's not giving a ton of help, but I think he's played really you know what, I don't know. I don't know if if the reason why we're seeing what we're seeing is because teams think, why even mess with thirty one when we could just go to the other side. And so I wonder it is Byron really that good or is it a situation where teams just are like, I don't really want to

deal with that. If I can go over here, this is a better match. Guess what that counts is being good if teams don't even want to mess with you because it's that kind of black. But the flip side of that, if the flip side of that is the more important part, which is the guy on the other side is a guarantee, then it doesn't matter necessarily how good that guy is over there, he's I mean, and I'm not I'm not trying to take anything away from Byron.

All I'm saying is, I don't know if teams are just so heavily focused on the matchup of whoever's with with Cheeto that they just say that's a better matchup rather than it being on the scheme, then that's on Christopher Shard. That's on those guys, because I'm telling you, I know football has changed a lot over the years, but I've seen Larry Brown get nine interceptions one year and win a Super Bowl and MVP. Not because he was really that good. He was opportunistic. The other guy

was the best corner to ever play. So work on your defense to make that work to If Byron is that good and Cheeto is not, then why can't you give him more help and play that way, cheat that way, or give him some help. That's on the scheme. If that's if that's what's happening, quit just saying one guy over here, one guy over here, and god, I hope you know, I hope they both win. You know you think that's what they're doing. No, I mean, I don't think Cheo's getting some help. I mean, he's got safety

over the time. A lot of times we see the safety running into the screen as the completions being made, So I think a safety is there is well, I mean maybe, I don't know. I don't think that they're they're benefiting from the fact that thirty one is not doing anything, like he's not giving up anything. Yeah, they need to benefit from that and maybe get even more hill.

My point was just to say, it's not a long list, and that's right, and for a team with you know, an MC championship aspirations at the start of the season,

that's that's not great. What I don't know is if you went around all the teams in the NFL, is it the same thing, Like why who they implicitly trust is still just a handful of guys and everybody else just kind of takes their moments when they're really really good and the Cowboys aren't getting those other guys to step up and have those really really good games at just on a rotation. You know what I'm saying, I would sack Martin I think I do. I agree with you.

Is his injuries I feel like I have hurt him this year. Yeah, But I mean you know, if you're talking about the offensive line, and you could say, well, they didn't have a good game because they didn't run the ball as well as you wanted them too. But they still threw for four you know, like they had four hundred and fifty five yards. I mean that that's a lot of yards. So they were you know, in one sack and Dak could have been through or four. He did a nice job of getting out of it.

But you know, they they did a good job in certain aspect. They didn't move the ball up and down the field. It's hard to just say the offensive line was terrible. They they they're short art situations weren't good. I remember during the game when they got down to the ten yard line. I think I even said that you or Rob I said, okay, that's good, but this is where it gets really tough. It's just hard to score right in here at the ten. And that's when

we started dissecting all these touchdowns. When you get inside the red zone, you know, they're not as good. That's been a problem for a long time. They don't push the pile. So maybe Swiftie lokan help there. All right, we're gonna say that's in the show. Yea. We will be back tomorrow. We're on twenty five and a half hour Break. Here you go for Nick Even, Dave Hellman, and Danny Serect. I'm Derek Eagleton. 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.