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It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com with Mbar Garcia. Brian brought us, Patrick Walker and Derek Eagleton.
It is Thursday, December twenty first, twenty twenty three, Season nineteen, episode number ninety three. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break. We are live from the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star and today we're going to talk about the Miami defense versus a Cowboys offense. We'll catch up on some injury updates here to get us going. Brian, what do we know about these three players, Tyron Smith, Zach Martin, and Malie Hooker.
Yeah, the the seem to be getting the positive. I didn't get an update on Smith, and I think it's one of those things that they I need to circle back on that one. I didn't get an update on that. The other ones were improving. And I say that with the with the thought I mean, I'm I'm kind of learning my lesson about saying yep, they're gonna play this week because I heard yep, they're gonna play this week, and then they didn't play. So I don't want to. I don't want to make people feel go the wrong
way here. I think that's important that if people want information, you give them the right information. But we need to circle back about Tyron Smith and what you know. Now he naturally doesn't practice during the week and so and this is going to be an important one when we get into the Dolphins defense about having him on the field. This is going to be an important one for that regard. So, but the other ones I was told are making improvements towards playing. So let's see how that works.
Yeah, the thing that that kind of concerned me is you look at the injury report and we've been used to Tyron being on the injury report as a rest as a rest. Yeah, yesterday it was designated as a back. And and that's the part that makes me a little bit worried just because of the history of the player. Does that concern you guys at this point from the standpoint of just his history, it's.
The Yeah, that's that's the the there's always things with Tyron Smith that you have to worry about. You have to worry about the neck, and you have to worry about the back because when his back tightens up, it seems like there's always okay. Now, what's it's all about? Rest? And does rest mean does it mean practice rest like they're trying to or does it mean like he's gonna have to miss a game because it's tightened up that bad?
And I, man, I that's that's what I'm saying. And hopefully I need to reach out and see if I can get the information before the end of this show. Uh, and and kind of figure out is it something we need to worry about, which we're talking about right now because it is a concern because we always worry about Tyron Smith when he could get on an airplane and sit in the seat for four hours flying and next thing, you know, always back tightens up for the game and now it's not good and they.
Get a step further. He can be on the field dressed up in full uniform, not really practicing, but just standing there together that paycheck, but not play in that game. So it happens a lot with him where it's last minute or he does miss more than one game back to back. So it's definitely an area of concern because there are other guys that are on there and you see it next to their name, say n ir Rest day. So that's a tough one. And then add on Zach
Martin on top of that. I don't even want to think of a scenario like that with two of them out, I don't know what happens. We're dead, I don't know. I started freaking out. But yeah, with Zach Martin, I think what I've heard lately, it's just they're still waiting to see a day by day type of situation because it is a bruise, but then you don't really know until you get further along how that's gonna look and all of that.
Yeah, Like I say, the word was that I asked to go how you feeling, and my guys were saying, it's to the point where he's getting better every day, so they must be the bruising must be. That's that's collection of blood there that Those are the kinds of things when you have a bruise that leads to tightness, can you move? So with the improvement every day, we'll see They man, they need all these guys to line up. They really really do in this same.
The reports are from from Zach's standpoint that it was because it's a deep bruise. What tends to happen is is there's kind of the pain associated with it. There's also the muscle, like the the the ability to weakness fire right, And it sounded like it wasn't firing. That's
why he couldn't go back into the game. So if it's if it's something like that, then I don't know if if anyone knows until it's firing the way it should be, how long it's going to take for it to start firing again in the way that it needs to. So that's the part you just you know, I assume you just don't know. Yeah, yeah, What do they do if if Tyron can't play? What happens from a standpoint of personnel, We've had this conversation at nauseum about Tyler Smith and does he slide out or do you just
throw Austome Richards in there? What do you think they would probably do if they if they didn't have Tyron Smith for a week.
My gut would be that they would play awesome Richards at left tackle, That's what Mike I always talk about are we as a group talk about it as like, oh, it's simple, just kick you know, kick Tyler Smith to the outside and then you know, go ahead and kind of navigate it that way. But the fact that you've also got maybe Zach Martin being you know, at do you want to really weaken two spots? You know? I mean yes you would. Hey, you're gonna need you're gonna
need someone to block Bradley Chubb. We'll get into that. You're gonna need somebody to take care of that. But I think that they would put Awesome Richards that left tackle, let him start and then try and navigate it from there.
And we've seen this scenario before already this season, so it's all really happened. They've seen this happen. Now. I don't know what you do if both of them are out, if Zach and Tyrone are out, what would you guys do? That's a really tough one, hard long.
Yeah, you know, I well, they would probably do the like I said, I think, but Awesome Richards would be the adjustment. And then they'll do what they did in the Buffalo game. Yeah, you know with the guard and so I that's kind of how I think they would work about it.
How did Tyler Bass look to you and I came.
You know what, I tell you what, there was only really the one time where they gave it, they give it a sack. He was beat right off the jump, and all of a sudden it turned into when he got beat, then rico' daddle had to come and pick up his guy because it happened so quick. And then what that allowed the Buffalo linebacker Dotson, once he saw that Dowdell was blocking, he just said, okay, well I'm
gonna rush. I'm gonna key blitz this thing. And so when his key when his key blocked, he immediately rushed, and that you know, then Russo gets inside Dots and gets there, and then they have, you know, they split a sack that way. That was the one time that I felt like that he was not good. But other than that, he comes in and plays pretty well. It's
not like it's just this huge drop off. Okay, I know it's Zach Martin Hall of Fame guard, but when you usually you expect like this big massive, just oh my gosh, they can't block anybody with this guy. And he's he he comes in and he does a good job. He works well with beattish. You know, he worked well with Steel when they had to. So, you know, but that one time was when you went, oh, geez, okay, now I understand why when you don't have Zack Martin
in a game, this is what you're gonna get. Sometimes you're gonna get. But you know that's sometimes these offensive lineman do get beat, you know. And and but with Bass, it's he's he's a he's a pretty dependable guy.
Yeah, I'm actually I'm glad.
I was just gonna say that with him too. With TJ. Bass, he's a guy that a lot of people over on that football side were talked very highly of.
Absolutely, they like him a lot.
I remember going back to preseason game talking to Tyler Smith and him asked me asking him the question who has impressed you the most in the old lineman group, and he mentioned TJ. Bass. So they like him for a reason. I think he's a guy that it's talented and he can do, you know, be a plugging player when needed, but of course totally different playing level than when you take out a guy like Czeck Martin.
Yeah, that's the thing with with the thing with Basses that there was a lot of people and I know he was one of the guys that we talked about on the Draft Show quite a bit and like, Okay, who are your best available? Guys? Who are your best You know, you get to the third day of the draft and you're starting to think about guys with trades
and six haven't rowned. Who's your best available? And Bass's name was always coming up on the list, And so when Dallas signed him as a free agent, then you were kind of like going, Okay, here's a guy that probably should have got drafted and didn't get drafted, but Dallas was able to sign him and make it work, and he's and he's done a really nice job. He really has.
Frankly, between Bass and Richards, I'm actually really happy with what they've got out of these young offensive linemen and excited about what the prospects can be going forward with them, because there are areas of this offensive line that are getting older and you're gonna have to have some some key parts that you may have to replace here in the next several years. All Right, we're gonna take our first break when we come back, We'll dive into the
Miami defense. There's a lot to talk about here, particularly starting with Vic Vangil. He is a defensive coordinator that's given the Cowboys some problems in the past. We'll talk about that when we come back to this Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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Com, we came up with a really good idea. If they're gonna play games, you know, they're playing tug of war and all that's for these games. Yeah, you know, we figured out they needed to do a four x four relay.
That'd be fun.
Two of the guys have to be big men relay guys. Yeah, that two big men, two hill guys, two fast guys, two big men, and the big man has to anchor, has to be the end.
That would be outstandy. So yeah, I'm tuning in for that.
That's what I'm saying. I would dodgeball and then tug Award and all that give me the give me the four by four relay with two of the guys being offensive defensive line.
That's that's where I think it would be so much fun. But knowing the NFL, they'd be like, oh, there's a chance they could get hurt, Like, we don't want.
To get hurt in dodgeball. That's my point ahead.
But I would bet somebody be like, oh no, they could pull something like they run every day, Like it's fine, but that would be out. See I would I'd be in on that.
See I don't I'm not interested in the flag football game, but I would be interested in a in a four by like, okay, it's it's the only thing we're gonna do. Yeah, And the winner there there, the winning group, their charity gets money to you know, they get money for their charity. They pick a charity and the winning team gets the and you have to pick two fast guys and two little guys.
That guys and heavy, because you know, there's some big guys that can move like there's some big guys NFL that can move right.
That would be really interesting to.
Watch, But it has to be a relay.
That would be good.
I think the stadium would be an electric.
No, it would, it would. All right, let's jump into the Miami offense. I'm sorry, Miami defense. The Cowboys offense. I mentioned before the break. Vic Vangio was the head coach in Denver back in twenty twenty one. Yeah, they beat the Cowboys thirty six.
That shut got down pretty good.
After the game, he talked about how he had a blueprint for beating this Cowboys offense.
My question for you.
Is number one, does he do the same sort of things here in Miami that he was doing back in Denver.
Yeah. The thing that he's going to do, and it's really interesting the way that they play. He's he's really is a zone concepts guy. He's going to play a lot of seventy five percent. If you look at the metrics seventy five percent zone twenty five percent man even though he's got some he's got a really good man player in Ramsey, which he's absolutely going to use in
this game. I mean, you watch the Jets, and maybe it had to do a little bit with the Jets in their quarterback situation that they felt like that they can match up and play a little bit more man, you know, against Zach Wilson and maybe make that work. And they were able to do that. The Jets offensive line, as we all know, which was just horrific and and Mimi took advantage of that. The numbers will tell you too that this is this is a team with forty
eight sacks. Thirty two of those sacks have come with man pressure, so they're not really uh you know, thirty two of them have come without bringing a blitz, so they're there. That's that's the second most in the National Football League. By the way, they you know, they bring a format pressure thirty nine percent of the time, so
that's again that's second best in the league. I mentioned this about they play something that when you watch them on tape, they play a group or a coverage called cloud and cloud coverage is let me give you an example, cloud coverage. They play it twenty six percent of the time and you're kind of like watching, like, okay, Buffalo plays at thirty percent of the time, Buffalo is just ahead of them an amount of cloud coverage. And what
cloud coverage does it. It's one of those things you usually can recognize it on defense because the depth of the cornerbacks, like one cornerback will play up and the other one will play back and then so you kind of got a at the line and you got a soft one. And what it's designed to do is pre snap. It looks like Cover two with the two safeties, but it's designed to take away the deep ball and also help you in the run, is what it's done. But you could attack the middle of the field with it,
and the seams you can attack. So that's the Cowboys. So the Cowboys do have So Vic Fangio plays a lot of cloud coverage, and you could tell by the like I say, you could see how the corners are playing up and back and then with the two deep looks. So he's gonna make Dak. He's gonna make Dak try and read his coverage, is what And every quarterback goes into game trying to read the coverage, but he does it in a way to help himself not give up the deep ball. And we saw that last week with Buffalo.
Buffalo was not interested in letting you throw the ball over the top, and they play that coverage more than just slightly more than what the Dolphins play.
Real quick, when you say one one of the corners pass up, one plays back right, is that because it morphs? Is that because it mors kind of in until cover three? The one that's back kind of covers a third of the field.
The back.
What's the point of it?
The back? The back one does move back. The one that plays up is responsible for everything to the outside of that, you know, so he's up, it takes away that the one that's back again, it kind of gives you that that four it gives you, like four across look is really what it gives you right there. And that's where we saw last week with the Cowboys. What
were they dealing with. They were dealing with five underneath, four underneath, you know, with with two guys behind or one guy behind right, and they were trying to kind of to make it look appear like there's no seams there's nothing, there's no way to throw it.
It's hard to find, hard to find.
Yeah, So so let's see if the Cowboys and the Buffalo game might have helped him in this regard of having to deal with like, Okay, we saw this last week. We saw this coverage last week, you know, and we had problems with it. Let's figure out ways and like I say, the middle of it, the way, the middle of the of the of the zone you can attack. And then it also you can you can deal with the seams or another one that you can attack.
If I remember correctly.
Back in twenty twenty one when they played Denver, there was a lot of talk about them running a lot of match Man. Explain for the visitors number one, I mean for the listeners for number one, what that kind of is, and then do they use that in Miami?
Yeah? Yeah, and match Man is what you wanted with what you do is that you find the way too. It's exactly what it says, and you just find a way to match your guys up with.
And it looks kind of like zone before, but then it kind of morps into me it worse into Man exactly right. So you have guys back but you have everybody underneath playing man coverage, or you have a single high safety everybody playing man underneath. And now that they have Ramsey back, they're.
Able to play that where he could play, where he could travel. Now he didn't travel all the time. But the thing you know about Ramsey in this game, we always talk about guys that travel, and they're like, well, let's put CD in the slot and he won't be able to know Ramsey will go on the slot with him. So that's that's where that's an advantage that they had.
Slot.
He's he's a hard guy to complete the ball on. Yeah, he really no matter where he lines up. I mean, if you look at if you look at the corner, the corner that I think that that you know that you absolutely need to I mean and and and if as we get into their corners there this this secondary is struggling with health, like their offensive line. I mean, Xavier Howard is a really good player. We'll see if he plays this week. Deshaun Elliott will see if he plays.
He's been in a concussion protocol. Uh, Jiven Holland has been a safety. You know, they've all missed time during the thing and the one player that people have is uh is that the the the opponents have attacked is Kadar Kahoe is I think how you say his last name, it's k O h o u Kadar Kaho and and and so it's he's the guy that teams have kind of gone after. He's he's the one that's played the most coverage snaps and teams have had success. He where's
number four. And so Ramsey will travel and then the Eli Apple and Caho that those guys will play the other the other positions, and studying the Eagles game, there was no Ramsey that Caho. He was, he was involved and he he had his share of issues in these games, you know with the and I was looking for okay, give me. Teams have got good wide receivers. The Jets were a hard game to watch because their quarterbacks so damn bad. You know. So now you're really not getting
the feel of how they're playing coverage. But they they they this Ramsey's a guy. Me personally, I don't know how often you want to go at him because if you just you look at the metrics, he hasn't given up any touchdowns. It's a fifty to fifty proposition whether you're going to catch the ball or not. He's either going to knock it down or maybe catch. He's right at forty eight percent for allow you know, for completions on him.
So you'd stay away from him, even if that means that you don't get your top.
It's it's it's a problem. It's I'm not saying you just have to completely abandon. I just think you have to be careful. I think you have to be. Ramsey lives for these kinds of moments to playing games like this. And he did a great job against Garrett Wilson for the Jets. But again, and Jets quarterback situation is bad. So now you know, is there you know? Are you? Are you with Dak? Are you Lamb? Do you say you know what? We're going to go ahead and go
after this guy anyway? So but I would, I would. I would look at Apple. It's depending on if they if like I say, if if they don't get Howard back and others back in this game. But I would look at Apple and Coho and look at those guys and and and see if you know that that might be the route better off in this game.
Who's the most dangerous player in the in the Miami front and where they line up, who are they matched up against. Who's gonna be the primary person for the cowboy's gonna have to deal with?
Okay, this is where your cowboy injury is kind of come into play here if in fact Smith and Martin can't go because Christian Wilkins is a is a beast inside defensive tackle, Yeah, defensive tackle, and he is a combination. He's got power, he's got quickness, he's got speed, agility. I mean, he's off the charts for his size, for how big he is. He's just one of those types of guys. The movement trades, they're second to none. When you watch him play, he can penetrate, he can be disruptive,
He plays the run well, he plays well. It's past okay, he moves around, so it would be Smith and Martin having to deal with him. So you feel like that maybe you're in good shape there. Bradley Chubb on the outside usually plays as the right defensive end, and so he's the guy he has a lot of tank Lawrence traits to him because he plays the run so well too. So if you try and run the ball at him off.
It would be your left side. He would he is he could be disrupted because he's strong, He gets up the field, he knows how to like he reads scheme. If you're try and block him a certain way, he's able to get off. He plays with his hands well, and he's a really really good pass rusher, and he's just kind of a relentless guy, super active as a pass rusher. So in my opinion of your front seven, those are their two best players. Now they're at linebacker.
They played that. We've seen it last week with a little bit of a lack of size. David Long is an inside linebacker. He doesn't have great height and he doesn't have great bulk, but he's super aggressive. These linebackers attack. Play action could be big against this group because all of a sudden, if you kind of get things go when play action will bring these linebackers up. You block the front, play action gets them up. Now you've got
seams behind or you've got area behind these linebackers. Because they're so interested in getting downhill and attacking the run. That's what they want to do. They want to attack as soon as they see run. They're all attacking there. They're going to play gaps. They played with really good discipline and they tackle very very well. But they have their linebacker, like I say, Long, he's too aggressive and you can get plays in behind him that way with
the play action. It might be a good opportunity for the Cowboys if they can get it going.
One other thing I noticed Miami right now is sixth and rushing attempts against, but fifth in yards per attempt, which suggests that teams want to be able to run the ball. They haven't necessarily been successful in doing that. When you think about it from that standpoint, is this a game where the Cowboys really shit be focused on their passing game or do you think they are going to really have to go heavy on the run in order to set up to pass.
I think that I think they're going it's going to have to be an element. I was encouraged by what they did against Buffalo and running the football. I was encouraged by it. I think I think Pollard is finally finding it.
He has some good runs game.
Now. The question, I mean, the question will come into though, if no Smith and no Martin, how much you might have to run the ball or try to run the ball just to keep this pass rush off the top of off Dak in this game. Play action would be good if they can get the run. As I was saying, it can be good to use in this game if they can get the running game going. But it's the way the configuration of the secondary right now, how banged
up they are. If it's the guys that played against the Jets last week, and then I think that they're with the exception of Ramsey, you know, Eli Apple and the others, I think, can you can you can find ways to make some plays on those guys.
You know, I'm thinking of like what the Dolphin's break would be talking about when talking about the Cowboys offense and just looking at the opposing side, like Dallas does have very talented players everywhere on offense weapons when you were talking, even if they take out or follow Lamb the whole time, you still have Cooks, You still have Jake Ferguson. Michael Gillup is still there with him. You never know which kind of game he's gonna have, but
you've seen him be good. You still have Tony Poller in there too, ric o'dale. They both can run the ball. The only biggest issue here that I think it's gonna come down to is the O line. And I think the same thing with what you talked about their offense, the Dolphine offense. I think both teams right now offensively are set up pretty similar, and it's gonna come down to who can play the fastest and who can get ahead the fast like the sooner the quicker right off
the bat. So you're not falling behind and just having to kind of catch up to the opposing team because right now, I mean, both quarterbacks can do things. They can throw the ball, they can.
Run the MVP kind of candidate quarterbacks back of them. Yeah.
Yeah, so it's it. I think it really does come down everything to just how long can the O line, both all lines hold up in the game.
Yeah, when you talk about this defense, it sounds like when you go through all the different pieces of the defense, sounds like they got as much talent as any of the better defenses that they've played all season. How would you rate them, like if you if you were saying, are they better than the Philly Do they have more talent than the Philly defense?
I don't think they have. Yeah, I don't think they have the pass rush that Philly has. Uh, But I think they've got the inside presence that Philly has, and I think they've got the one guy in Chubb would be very similar to what Hassan Reddick is. So can you this group when you watch them play, they tackle well. They I was impressed of how well they get to the ball and get guys on the ground. That that was something I'm usually you watch teams that struggle, but
they're so aggressive in the way that they play. I just was like, I'm like, dang that, you know, that could have been a bigger game there, but but it wasn't. So uh. I think the two teams are very similar. How that I mean with the Cowboys and you know there's some there's explosive players on Cowboys offense or explosive, really explosive players on the Dolphins offense. Yeah, you know, their their ability at running back to run the ball is probably better than yours. You know that. But I
think Ambar's right. I think it's going to come down to, you know, the health of both offensive lines and if backup guys have to play in this game, which one of these backup offensive linemen hold up the best? Because that's that's going to tell the tale of the tail of the game. I believe too. She's right about that.
We're going to take our final break.
We will come back and we'll have a little more talk on this Miami Dallas match up, the Cowboys offense versus Miami's defense.
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Back to the Break, How about this one? DeMarcus Lawrence is the Dallas Cowboys nominee for the twenty twenty three Walter Pateton Man of the Year Award, presented by Nationwide. Help Tank raise funds for the Dak Prescott Faith Fight and Finish Foundation by casting your vote on NFL dot com slash Man of the Year or tweet your support using the hashtag wpm O why Challenge. Voting ends on January eighth. Vote for Tank Welcome back.
It is the final segment of The Break live from the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We got a few more things I want to talk to you guys about regarding this matchup, and we'll hopefully get a couple of fan questions in here towards the end of the show as well.
I'm laughing at me.
So obviously the fans fan derect really doesn't like you fans. I'm just going to let you know that I try, Man, I try. Everybody else on the show really appreciate I try. I'd try.
All right, So here's the question.
What was the primary reason for the offensive challenges we saw last week? I think there are a lot of things you can point two yea, What would you say is the biggest thing that was the problem for Dallas last week against Buffalo?
I think the cover. I think I think Dallas's Dallas looks so basic playing defense or playing offense last week, the routes look basic that it reminded me so much of the struggles that they had, and maybe the fact that Buffalo did a great job of playing, in my opinion, playing coverage and not allowing you any because we felt like that Buffalo was going to give up some separation, they were going to give up some plays they were going to and their their their pass rush was was
good enough because it just kind of like it rushed and then it kind of and then when there when nothing developed for Doc to get rid of the ball. We didn't see Dak getting rid of the ball with any quickness in this game. There wasn any There wasn't any decisiveness, and it was all like, man, I'm not sure, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Throw it. I'm not sure, I'm not sure. Throw it, you know that kind of thing.
And I think he was going through that he saw a bunch of blue jerseys and it's like nobody everything. It just looks like there's no you could not see any white jerseys, gonna see of blue. And I think that's something that really caused them problems that there was no combinations of the routes. The one that they had was the one, the big one that went to the Cooks that they actually got the safety to play because
of the Lamb route. But other than that, it seemed so just basic from what we've seen the previous six seven weeks. It's just it was not a it was not something that you would you would it's not something you would use for teaching film. You use it for teaching film how to play defense. You wouldn't use it
for hey, this is offensive attack. Watch this This is how you this is how you manipulate routes, and this is how it just seems so just you know, and I think I think give Buffalo credit for the way they the way they played their guys in the back end.
The If you if you look at the game, obviously there was there was some rain. It was some rain early, got heavier towards the second half. How much do you think the weather really malade a factor in the game.
No, not at all.
I mean obviously, I mean you can't just disregard that.
But I'm not trying to excuse anything. I'm just saying how much did it factor into what they were trying to do?
It shouldn't be that different. Like we were there, we watched it. It was raining before the game, it stopped once kickoffs started. The whole first half, it didn't seem like it was barely raining at all, like it was. It dried up that way. Then into the second half it kind of started sprinkling again, but it wasn't a
whole lot. And we know they were practicing out here with buckets full of water and getting their hands wet and the ball's wet, So I don't I mean, the performance should not have been that bad to blame it on the weather. It's what I'm trying to say, Like, you should have played better. Yeah, you could have come out with the loss and everything, but the playing level should have been a lot higher than what it was. So don't blame it on the weather because it wasn't even that bad.
And I like what you're saying there, because to me that it almost like if Dallas could have played some good defense early in that game and not, you know, maybe you do get the block punt, maybe you know, some things kind of you get off the field, you get them off the field, that kind of thing, and you know, maybe if it was a more of an even game, you would have seen Dallas just run the football and like all of a sudden, it's like, okay, we're gonna make this a low scoring like like I predicted.
I said, I thought it was gonna be a twenty to sixteen Dallas victory. And I was thinking that because I was thinking, Okay, Dallas will be able to find a way to run the ball, they'll play some defense. But once their defense started just giving up gash plays and big runs and Buffalo was not you know, Buffalo was holding the ball all day, I was like, oh man, this is just this is not going to work today. This is not going to work. But they never could.
They never could get the game back into control. Those long drives, twelve plays, thirteen plays, seventy five yards, eight minutes off the clock. It's just that's just demoralizing, you know that. That's to me, that is the absolute worst way to lose a football game, when you have no answer to stop somebody from running the football.
Yeah, I agree with you Amber that it's not an excuse. The one thing I will say is I do believe that because of their own doing, they got themselves into a hole where it's not conducive in that type of weather to get yourself out right, you get to that second half and the rain starts back up. That ain't the conditions that you're like, we're.
Gonna have a way back up and throw it everything.
Yeah, you needed to have the league at that point.
So yeah, they put themselves in the hole. But I do think the weather contributed them not being able to dig themselves out.
I think I will say this though weather. I do like what Ambar said, because they do they prepped it, maybe over prepped it. Maybe it got into their head a little bit the way the tack looked like it was just so basic. But I will say this though, that that I'm gonna give Buffalo's defense a lot of credit.
Yeah.
I just think the way that they they didn't give you anything on the back end. They didn't give up any big plays. Any type of big play that they did give up, they were able to rally and not me. It was a sixteen yard pass or eighteen yard pass. That was about it. They didn't really give up any huge, thirty seven yard chunk plays that we've seen the previous seven weeks.
Yeah.
But you know what, more than weather, I would say, the stadium. When you go into that stadium, it's so it feels very but it feels very intimate because of the way that it's constructed. It feels very intimate. Is it was extremely loud, Like the Bills fans showed up, they were there and most of the time, obviously because how the game was going, they were standing up, cheering, very very loud, banging on our windows and that was
ridiculous and annoying. It but I think that that type of environment is harder to play, more so than the little sprinkle of rain that was happening.
Yeah, they got an dan on Tyron Smith. All right, we got he's coming around.
Is that the update.
That's not very helpful. That's not a very helpful.
Look.
Sometimes you get good information. Sometimes you just say, Okay, he's learn anything, but.
He's coming around. So I don't know. I mean, like I said, it's that's that's that's where we're that's a world we live in right now with Tyrone Smith and others. We just yeah, he's coming around. I will see how it works.
I think we all know when it when it comes to neck and back, you got you should be turned until he clears it. Absolutely should be concerned because we've seen this before. And that's not a knock on him as much as it just that's reality. We've seen this before. You got to be aware and concerned until you see him clear.
Ye.
All right, Let's get a question here from Jakarrol Williams. He says, why not start Dante Fowler and move Parsons to linebacker? If they're having issues with linebacker they need more size at linebacker. Is this a prime opportunity to use one of your best players at linebacker?
Mike are really a linebacker?
He was in college?
See he was. But this this what's funny. We we we're dancing this dance. You know, we've danced it all year now, we've conveniently I can't tell you how many times. And folks, trust me, I love you. I appreciate you out there. I appreciate you fans.
But but, but the it's so funny because when you when you bring up the point of Micah Parsons being a linebacker, people will fight you tooth.
And nail about it. He's not a linebacker. He's an edge rusher. Can't you see that if you put him at linebacker, he's not gonna be able to rush. He's not gonna be able to do everything. He affects the game more at linebacker. What the hell are you talking about? There's a reason why you're a fired scout because you don't know what the hell you're talking about. That's the arguments that I get. Then when you start to talk about, you know, linebacking is not you know, maybe they're struggling
a little bit against the run, you know. Now and now it's like now everybody is flipped and they're saying, well, it's obvious he's a linebacker. Put him put him it off ball linebacker? What are you guys doing? What you what's your problem here, folks. This is in my opinion. You know what I've learned. He's an edge player. He is an edge player. He's a he is a He's one of the best defensive players in the National Football League.
When you put him near the ball, when you put him down on the line, on the edge, or you put him inside against guards and centers who can't block him one on one, he is a weapon that way. He's not as effective as a linebackers as he is a down player. And you've got now, you've got to figure that out. You've got to figure out some other things. You are who you are right now because of the injuries to Overshown and to Van der Ash and others.
That's that's that's who you are right now. But to sit there, I can't see how many people flip flop on this and I thought, yeah, he's a linebacker. I've always argued that he was a linebacker. But you watch him play and the way he affects games. He affects games more playing hand down than he does play this linebacker.
Okay, after so long of watching him, you see where he thrives the most, and that is being on the line and pressuring the quarterback. It's kind of like Zach Martin. Can he play tackle, absolutely, but where is he best at a guard? So it's that type like it depends like where do you want Okay, do you want like him playing his best or because of the needs that you currently have, do you prefer moving him. He's still going to play good, but now you're kind of it depends like pick your well.
But but here's the deal I think we're making it seem like it has to be all or none. The way I look at this is if you've got a team right now where by the way, the linebackers are playing right now are not linebackers. You want to talk about him being a linebacker, Well, the guys are linebacker on linebackers safety the state that you're bringing him down to play linebacker. So let's agree he's an edge player.
But it does this edge player need to play linebacker because otherwise you're going to get it handed to you in the run, Like you can't stop the run game when these safeties are down there because you're giving up so much size. My question becomes if in a situation where maybe even early in the game or an early downs where you're more prone to see the run. You put him at linebacker and then on pass rush downs put him down so he can he can go get the quarterback.
Can you do both?
Right? Go back and watch the Green Bay game of him playing alf linebacker last year. They ran the ball for two hundred and forty sething yards of that game or more, I think Green Bay.
So you don't think he can play off ball line.
I don't think because you even even when you watched him in the Carolina game play linebacker, he ran around blocks, he jumped blocks. Yeah, you know sometimes, like you say, the biggest problem that that the Cowboys have right now is the lack of bulk, which you're trying to make up by putting Parsons in there as a bulk player. Yeah. But then but you also have to have the instincts to play. That's the to me.
Did he have those instincts in college though?
Because I think coming out we all thought he was a good off ball linebacker. We didn't know he had the pass rushing right.
But to me, to me, we keep referring to college, but how long has it been already?
Like he even got the incidentt you got the instinct ye right, don't see.
That's the thing about it is, though, the prep work that he has to do to play off ball linebacker is a lot different than the prep work he has to do for for how you're how he's going to play as the edge. That's something you have to think
about too. You know, you have to feel okay when you There's a reason why Sean Lee, Leyton vander Esch, guys like that are really good linebackers because they sit down and they study, and they read and they and they watch film and they do everything in their power to get ready for a game. And when somebody runs a formation, they're thinking like, Okay, we're about to get this. There's something to that. There's something to having to put in all that work to be that guy.
So you can't just show up if you're playing edge and be like, Okay, today I'm playing linebacker.
You got to really know it. You can prepare for.
That, you absolutely have to. And so if that's if you know his preparation to have to do that, I'll be interested to see that. I'd be interested to see how much that works. But if you if when you play him at edge, he has a god given talent to rush the pass or wherever you put him. And but people are saying, well, Brian, it's not rushed the passer. We're playing the run. He could play the run. They run the ball at him too sometimes and some of the things when they run the ball at him, it's
that awareness, it's that understanding what's happening. Yep. Things that you know, like I say, go back and watch the Green Bay game where he was off ball linebacker, and I think he's one. I think he's rare. I think he's an absolute rare player. But I'm going to try
and figure out other things. And you're right, you're gonna get it handed to you in the running game because of what's going on with Dan trying and I keep saying this, the best defense for a run defense is an offense that scores a lot of pains because we've learned when when they don't. When when there's thirty five, thirty forty points a game for the Dallas Cowboys, nobody's running the ball on you. Yeah, you know that's that.
At least this year, you have to you're gonna have to get around that.
You're gonna have to till you get your linebacker's back right, all right, appreciate you guys.
Jones. Tomorrow we will wrap this thing up.
We'll let you know what we think is going to happen this Sunday till Livrat, Brian brot us An Amber Garcia, I'm Derekton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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