Cowboys Break: Momentum or Confidence?

at the Star. We're gonna talk about the Cowboys big win yesterday, thirty six thirty five in a game that most thought was meaningless but was entertaining nonetheless a fun game to watch. Cowboys come out on top and accomplished some of the things that I think they were trying to accomplish going into that game. Whether you agree with it or not, it seemed like they may have accomplished some of those things and felt good about. How's everybody

doing day now? Everyone's doing great, doing great? Every No, I'm pretty great, right. I'm happy with the end of the season. I'm happy of the things we were able to see yesterday definitely expected a really boring game and just like it was getting there and the way it started, yeah yeah, but things turned around and that was exciting. That was exciting to see some of the things that

they did. Yeah yeah, I thought, you know, and one of the things that I wrote about I was trying to figure out how what to write about this, and I just found some positive things that I think, you know, you can go into the playoffs with. And again, nothing really matters if you don't win. We all know that. I mean, it doesn't matter what the Chiefs have done, it doesn't matter what the Saints have done, Nobody it doesn't really matter if you don't go win this game

coming up against Seattle. So we all know that. But what are the some of the things that happened in there?

And I think that that there were some there's some things you can have some confidence about going into and I thought Dak just played amazing and this was really big for him in my opinion, because the three best players on the team I think of on the offense, if you say who are the three best guys, they were all out And there's a reason why they were out because they're probably because they're three best guys, and he goes out there and continues to play and thrive

without him, found some new guys to throw the ball too. I thought he played one of his best games of his career, without a doubt, because he didn't have that help that everyone always says he has. He was sixty one percent twenty seven or forty four, three hundred and eighty seven yards, four touchdowns, zero interceptions, zero fumbles, one hundred point one hundred and twenty point two quarterback rating.

And I thought the most important thing and she didn't even say the most important thing, but one of the most interesting things was he was sacked four times, he was hit ten times, there were no turnovers. That to me is improvement because what we have seen from Dak is he's been hit a lot this year, but he hasn't always held on to the ball. And I think I'm even willing. I know some fans were like, hey, some of those sacks, if he held on the ball maybe a little too long. I'm okay with that, as

long as he's not turning it over. Sometimes it's okay to take the sack and move on. You can't do it at certain times in the game, in certain situations, but sometimes taking the sack is not a horrible thing and you lived a fight another day. But all that considered, and considering the fact that you said, NICKI was without three of the top offensive players on the team, and

most importantly, my opinion is Zeke. We've talked a lot on this show about the fact that this is a running team that's built around its identity, being built around Zeke Elliot running the ball. Do you think this is maybe shades or at least giving you a little bit

of a glimpse at what this quarterback can be. I know we've talked a lot about, you know, the trajectory of a guy like Russell Wilson, who ironically they'll be playing this next weekend in the playoffs, and how you make a how a team makes a transition from being a running team and allowing their quarterback, their young quarterback, to develop into a team that then is relying on the quarterback's arm. I think maybe we're seeing a glimpse of that yesterday in what Dak was able to do.

I think, so go back to his rookie year. What were the not just Zeke, but what were the things that really helped him? You had a tied end he could rely on. You also had easily making seventy five catches in the year, So we always said kind of the easier throws, the ones that were more underneath, not as challenging. He had those security blanket type throws. He had those yesterday as well. And Beasley before the touchdown catch, Beasley was really helping throughout the game, making some nice

plays moving the chains. And then Jarwin it was just, you know, I don't know who that was, but I mean, he was unbelievable. But that return, and when you have those guys, then it opens up Gallop, it opens up Marii Cooper, and I think that, you know, that's what he needs. He needs these guys, these type of guys. But he made great plays on his own. To him, he made some really great throws. Um probably the best play of his career, I mean the touchdown to Beasley

because he could have run it. I think I still have not seen a regular highlight of that. Really, I haven't seen that highlight. I turner. I've finally found the news and got the end of that, and I have not seen the watch, sorry, the actual TV broadcast of the shot and of the throw you down on the got oh oh, yeah, can be it's gonna you know what.

I found really interesting. And I saw a comment someone sent to me after the game saying, well, you know, the pressure wasn't on because this was a meaningless game, didn't matter, so it's different when you're in the game, which is an interesting comment to me because he led me to thinking, I'm like, you know what, maybe I wonder how different this was compared to other games as far as let's say, lenning him saying certain things to dad, how much freedom was given to him as far as

the things he was doing on the field. I watched a lot of the replays on several plays, and he looked so poised and he wasn't hesitating. There was a lot less hesitation from him. He whenever he was in the pocket and didn't move, he found a guy, he was focused. And then when he did need to move and run and we've seen that how good he is sometimes when he's running and throwing the ball. And clearly it worked. So I'm really curious to see as far as the game plan and how much freedom was given.

You know, another thing, and anyone that says, well, that was just the Giants. Remember the Cowboys made themselves worse than the Giants. I mean they did that. They brought themselves down to a level lower than that. And if you don't believe that, just remember Vegas doesn't lose money on purpose. They don't like to do that. There was a reason why they were a seven point underdogs. The

Cowboys were seven point underdogs in the game. I thought that was a little too much, but I didn't you know they I guess they knew Zeke wasn't playing and all those are those linemen. But so you can say, well, I was just the Giants and they missed Ode. I said that. I said that at the first touchdown to Blake Jarman. I'm like, oh, this the Giants. And then they did it again, and then they did it again,

and it's like, okay, wow, it's different. And you know that the Giants they were competing, I mean they Helian. It's not good. But the team that beat the Bears a couple of weeks ago. I know that Trubisky wasn't playing there, but that you know, they went the Bears had things to play for, played a tough game against the Colts yesterday, I mean last week, so they were on paper, a better, more talented team than what the

Cowboys rolled out there. So that's why it to me was it was an impressive win, and I think it's more than anything. Gives them confidence to go into especially Dak. Gives them some confidence to say, you know what, you can be a really good player in this league. You were on this game, and then you get some weapons back and you know you can have a chance to the stakes will be raised a lot higher. But I thought it was a really good I don't know about momentum.

I don't know if I liked that word, but I think more confidence builder. So let me ask you this question. I was. I was one of the people as the game was going on. I was like, get Dak out of this game. And we got to the third quarter, I was like, get him out because whatever you're gonna gain from him being in there is not worth the potential risk of him getting hurt. Now, especially after you

saw Saphila and they saw get hit. Absolutely and but but then after the game, and I'm thinking about the things that that Jason and Dak and even Jerry were saying after the game about why they went this route, it started to kind of make a little sense to me. The way they were talking about it was like, this was an opportunity for us to kind of, you know, not only just kind of give this guys some give

DAC an opportunity to do some other things. But when you think about it, the offense did some things yesterday that it hasn't done all season. They put the game on the back of their quarterback and say we're gonna throw the ball around the yard the whole game, and

that's what they did. And to me, when you think of it from that standpoint, there was a lot gained by that because now you go into the playoffs with your receivers, your tight ends, and your quarterback knowing if they get into one of these games, well they got to go and score some points. They ought to feel a little more comfortable being able to do that. Now, again,

it was just one game. And so I don't want to I don't want this does not need to be a you know, a referendum on the future success of DAK because I don't think that's necessarily what it's telling us. I do think though, it does have an ability to give all those players I just talked about a certain level of confidence that in the playoffs, if they get into a game like this, they can they should be able to go out and compete. I still missed it.

We're watching if you're just listening to us audio wise, they're showing the videos of the play and and I just came in at the very last thing. This is exactly where I came on to the to the TV last night. I still haven't seen him the throw, and I'll see it later, but I wanted to see exactly how he set his feet and how he made that throw, because when I remember we were down on the field way on the other hand, here we go that right

there isn't an amazing throw. That really isn't. And thank you for rewinding that back that that was an amazing throw, because, um, he didn't, like you said, he didn't get his feet. Rolling left and throwing right is really not considered a smart play. But I mean it's fourth and fifteen. He got to make a play. Um. I know Beasley caught one on his head against the Giants. That that's his

best play I think ever for the Cowboys. Um. And just because that was an unbelievable catch, get his knee down and all that, UM, he made a great He's made some great catches before, that one was great. That was probably the best one, especially what it meant. But wow, first time I've seen that throw. That was one of

the cool things to me after this game. Hi, hey Dave, I'm here, was that it wasn't about let's say Zeke running the whole offense and running the ball and him being like the successful guy or Amari Cooper catching all the balls. The confidence I think it was well spread out because you get confidence to your receivers. Cole basically one of them who has kind of faded out throughout the season and I don't know where he'll make those kinds of plays. Also, Michael Gallup with that catch in

the end zone for the two point conversion. Also the offense, the old line, the old line just not counting with those two guys in there. I mean, it gives them confidence, and it gives that the confidence that you know what, I can't work with this old line. I can work with the backup guys and be okay and make it happen. So that was a cool thing that it wasn't like anybody like exploded or everyone got a little bit of

shining time. Especially obviously the tight end. Yeah, hey, Dave, actually I was I just wanted to ask you about this. We were talking about the quarterback and and how how much they used him yesterday, lett him play to the end of the game. I did remember a tweet that you put out during the third or fourth quarter, something to the effect of, um, I don't think that there's anything that this quarterback is going to do or learn in the rest of this game that will make him

appreciably better next week. I was on the same page. No, that's and I changed my tune by the end. I'm interested to see if you did is Yeah, no one under. I mean, you know that's You're not You're not always gonna be wrong. You're gonna have to eat some crow sometimes. And I mean, how many years in a row have we seen, you know, you just kind of play out the string in this six to nothing win or even

you know that. I don't remember the score of the Eagles game in twenty sixteen off the top of my head, but it was ugly. It was like twenty seven to thirteen, I think, or something like that. You just you know what, I didn't see that coming, nobody it and it was meaningless in the grand scheme of things in terms of the standings, but like that that was a moment for me.

It really, I mean, it's kind of ironic that one of Dak's moments is in a game that didn't ultimately affect anything, but I don't you can't take that away from this team. And and Jerry Jones said that after the game, he was like, I wouldn't trade anything for those last two quarters and to have the opportunity to go back and forth and battle back and come back

and lead the team to a win. And the confidence boost in Dak to make those plays and to do those things, and in the team to see him do that, it's it's invaluable, and it's it's so quintessential football. And that, you know, they were talking about it on talk radio this morning too, is like it was a bold strategy. It was you could even you could call it reckless. You could because if Dak breaks his fibula taking a sack in that game and he can't play in the playoffs,

then you look like an idiot. There's no way around it. And so you know, it's kind of like it's all hindsights so big in this game because you get so few opportunities. You only get to play these games once. You know, if Cooper scores on the reverse, then Scotland a hand's a genius and if it gets snuffed out, then it's the stupidest thing that's ever happened. And it's

it's kind of similar with this. If it hadn't worked out, if Dak had gotten hurt or something, or somebody had been injured, you look terrible and you're having your job security questioned and your decision making and all that type of stuff. But it worked out better than anybody could have ever drawn it up. And for that, they look like geniuses. And I legitimately do believe that this is

a better team because of what happened. And I never never would have guessed that even at halftime of that game. All right, we're gonna take a break. When we come back, we'll catch up with Dave. I know they just had the conference call for the coach, see if there was anything interesting it came out of that. And then we'll talk about Blake jar Win, the tight end. He had a really really great day yesterday. We'll talk about what that means to this team going into the playoffs will

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Studios at the Star talking Cowboys versus Giants. Cowboys get the big win and now they head on into the playoffs that we play in Seattle Seahawks this Saturday night. For those of you who have not heard, it will be a Saturday night game at AT and T Stadium. So Saturday we will be talking more about that. We'll be talking more about that when we get to Wednesday.

Dave Will gives scouting report on Wednesday at the offense, and then Thursday will be the defense, and then Friday we'll start giving you guys some smart our opinions on what we think will happen this Saturday night Cowboys take on the Seattle SEAHA. So let's jump back in, Dave real quick. I wanted to hit you and just see was there anything that Coach Garrett said in his conference call today that you just came from that that we need to discuss, h need to well. They So the

Cowboys are gonna practice tomorrow. Everything gets bumped up a day by the Suddorrows, like a Wednesday. Tomorrow is a Wednesday, which means practice and the whole shebang. Everybody except David Irving, who's not going to play for this team. I think we said that last weeks. Forget about it. Stop let's forget about him, stop it. He's not going to practice. Everybody else will in some Tyrone Crawford as well, will

at least be limited. According to Jason Love, that fifty two of your fifty three active guys are healthy enough to practice for a playoff game. That's pretty crazy. I wonder if there's any team in the league that's in the playoffs right now. Has that same scenario. I don't know off the top of my head, but I'd be shocked if it's the case, and if it wasn't for some weird circumstance that I don't know if we all,

any of us really know all the details. For um, you know, there's a lot of teams that probably would have cut ties with him or put them on ir David Irving. Yeah, I mean very easily could have had fifty three healthy guys here. Uh. Probably what it comes down to is because you have so many other guys that are healthy whoever you brought in to replace them, because they would be like, why don't you just put him on? I R whoever that is? It's not going to play. It would be inactive. It would be like

a defensive tackle Ringo type. I don't even know. Somebody somebody made the Ringo with no ring I don't know. I think Ringo wound up back in Green Bay. He's been gone for Ringo. No, you're it's okay, ring I'm just you know, somebody made the point when I tweeted out that are you know the practice details that your head Okay yeah, no, sorry, No, it's a bad headache. No I'm good, I'm distracted. Somebody pointed out, totally lost

my train of thought. Yeah, you could have had an extra offensive lineman on the roster yesterday, which might have come in handy since Xavier Suaphilo had to leave the game. And you're thin anyway with Zach and Tyrn sitting, And I don't have a great answer for you. There's just there's more at play with There's so much more at play with David Irving, and I you know, I know a little bit, but I don't know enough to feel comfortable speculating about it other than it's just a unique situation.

I don't expect that he's going to play ever again for this team. But just yeah, I don't have a great answer for you as to why they're still carrying him other than no, not other than just period don't have fun. Well, but I guess when you look at it again, when you look at overall, in fact, the Cowboys have fifty two other fifty three. They'll be ready and available for practice tomorrow. It's a big and David Irving.

David Irving hasn't played since the bye week, so like it's not I mean, it's not like you gotta get used to playing without him, like you've they've known this now who they haven't played without his Tyrone Crawford until yesterday. And you know, the Giants has some nice plays in there.

They're in for one forty three. You know, I'm never technically they've played that game without him, he point out in like the second yeah game and the second playoff, but they went into it, they went into it without it. You're right, right, you know, I just think he's a difference maker. I mean, without a doubt he's he played well and you know, I'm never gonna be one to say take away Barkley's sixty nine yard run because that

was a big part of it. But you're not going to face back like him all the time, especially this week, um that they run it differently, but I think that, you know, his his presence, his versatility really allows him to do different things on the line. So it'll be

good to have him back. Let's talk about Blake Darlin. Yesterday, he had a career day seven catches, one hundred nineteen yards seventeen point oh average um and then the key part, three touchdowns, two of those touchdowns being in the red zone from thirteen yards out and from nineteen yards out. Career day doesn't. It's true, but it doesn't feel like

good justice. Yeah. Nick said that before the break when I said, anytime you say someone had a really, really really good day and that doesn't do it justice, then there's something it's really special. I wrote this in my article and I know this is far fetched kind of but the only person I can really compare this too is Miles Austin. This was a Miles Auston type of thing. Now, Miles was there for two or three years and you're kind of waiting for him to have that that momentum.

You've waited a little bit now a year and a half for Darwin, but it's it's that type of game. It was like, oh my god. But I've always said this about Miles. The best thing that he ever did wasn't the necessarily the two fifty was the next game against Atlanta. I went for one seventy one and a touchdown and it's like, Okay, this really might be something, and so we'll see if if he built, you's got to follow it up. I'm just saying, yeah, well, that's

kind of the key. Though. A lot of three touchdown games, even in Cowboys history, it is a pretty good one. But but that's what I was gonna say that. I mean, this, this is the key here is that? And I guess it's a question for you guys. Do you think that this is a sign of things to come for him and for this offense because we've been waiting for one of the tight ends to step up and break out

and become the tight end for this team. He has a day like that, and he does that in the red zone, and and I don't think it's a coincidence that yesterday they go three or four in red zone efficiency and that's been a struggle for them most of the year, and all of a sudden, when the tight end starts rolling, it all of a sudden gets a

lot better. Do you think that that's something that now maybe you are seeing that that can become an option for them in the red zone and just an option for them overall and helps this offense move a lot more efficiently. Yeah, just they are all different players. That first touchdown, I mean, I think I think it was the first one that did a nice job of standing in the pocket waiting and waiting for that to kind of develop and then he was wide open the third touchdown.

It was starting to get funny, like okay, really like he's just gonna weave through the but yeah. But you know what though, and the short answer your question, Derek is yes, and I'm not I'm not ready to say he's gonna string that together every week because then he would be zach Ertz. I mean, if he was doing that every week, he would be a pro bowler. But he finished the season with three hundred and seven yards.

He went into December with I want to say eighty and he had one hundred and eighty eight going into that game. So he doubled his tally in one game, and he tripled what he had done the first two months of the season in the final month of the season. So he disappeared against he disappeared against Tampa. Okay, great, but he still put up three really good games in four outings. I mean, it's it's a trend. You're well.

And again he's been giving more chances after Schwaim got hurt, and that's that's that's a big part of it is the opportunity. But he is making the most of it. I mean, seven targets against Philly seven targets against Indy three against Tampa eight yesterday, and he turned that into eighteen catches. And that and that catch on the touchdown drive, that one was one of the key plays of the game,

key plays you know of of for him. And he had three touchdowns, but that catch right there really kind of got them in position to start being more aggressive. And it reminded me of the throw that that Dak kind of missed him on, or he didn't really miss him in Indianapolis. He was, he was open, he underthrew him, he didn't make the catch, you got it knocked out of his hands. It was a similar type play where now you're streaking again, you go up and make the play.

And I think, you know, that was just a few plays before Beasley's touchdown. Not only that, but and I wish I had time to like do real research on this, and we got in at ten o'clock last night, But how many of Dack's twenty two passing touchdowns came in the went down the middle of the field, specifically down the seam. It's straight up just has not been a part of the field that defenses have had to worry about. You got Zeke underneath you can have your linebackers, you know,

spy that and keep an eye on that. Cooper and Gallop the vast and hearns as well, the couple that he's got. The vast majority of that came outside the numbers, Like teams haven't had to worry about that. And you can't. No, you can't convince me now. I mean you will look at that and you say, all right, we gotta you know, safety's got a shade inside that that's vulnerable. That's something Jarwin can do. It's absolutely crucial to put that on

tape for defenses to have to worry about. That's you know. I we talked about the flea flicker and what it would do to run it, and every time you run the ball, you're like thinking about it. Same with with a guy like Darwin has a game like that. It's like, wow, I mean, you gotta we gotta worry about eighty nine now, and that's all you need for Zeke, for Cooper and

my goal. I gotta long talk about Gallup too. Yeah sure, gall Well, I got along to do list today, but I'm I'm gonna try to find the time this week to go back and chart it and see it, because I couldn't be more than two or three other ones like they just they haven't taken advantage of that part of the field very often this season. Down the middle and one more point two is let it's I mean, the red zone fact is great, but Jarwin was hurting them all day, all over the field. The fourth quarter,

I think it was Jarwin's last catch. Again, it was down the seam, over the linebacker, under the safety, middle of the field. It's probably like a fifteen sixteen yard game, but it was awesome that. Yeah, that's the play I was just talking about. Yeah, that was a key play in the game, and it was just one you're right right in the middle. So Gallup, I definitely talk about him real quick. If you just looked at Gallup, it said three catches, fifty yards, no touchdowns. You know, pretty

pretty solid day. But I mean a couple of things that don't really show up in that stat line right there, and put one game winning two point conversion that doesn't show there. Also, twenty three yard pass interference penalty was getting by b w Webb. He shoved him out of bounds. I know people in the press bucks around us did not agree with that call, like he stepped out of bounds. It's like he absolutely got shoved out of bounds. That's actually a penalty. Yeah, it's not a felony, but it

is a penalty, and that led to a touchdown. You know, his presence. I'm going to write an article later this week about some of the differences on both teams from this game against Seattle, and I think not only Cooper, but Cooper and Gallup. It's a completely different wide receiving core of the Seattle has to face. And I don't believe they're going to have one of their better players that they had in that game. True Earl Thomas. Oh yeah.

One other thought real quick, because we talked about it specifically on Friday with Chuck, I was like, I hope this is I hope this game gets a Moniker, like you know, the Darius Jackson game. And I don't feel bad for Blake Jarwin because he had an amazing day, but I feel a little bad because he got got it stolen. You got it stolen from him because fifteen years from now, I'm way more likely to remember dak to Beasley than the fact that he had three touchdowns.

I'll be like, oh, that was the game with that amazing throw from Dak to Beasley. Oh, and then Blake Jarwin had three touchdowns like he had it, he had it stolen from it. It should have been the Blake Jarwin game. It's funny about it. I thought about that, the Blake Jarwin game. You know, are they calling it that? Um? You know in our recap article, Kurt Daniels wrote that in there, and I'm thinking that sounds cool. But for him and his sake in his career, you kind of

hope it's not. You know, you hope it's not the Blake Jarwin game. I mean, sorry, the only reason it's the Jason Garrett game against Green Bay and Thanksgiving because he never did it. Really again, that's true, and you know, typically if it's a if it's a Blake Jarwin, it means you didn't do anything. Yes, like you don't want that. Although I will say Blake Jarwin could play here for another decade and go to five Pro Bowls and not have three touchdowns And the last time it happened was

nineteen seventy three. So yeah, there's been a lot of news to me that was just like find out, come back, and find out what Blake Jarwin did that Jason Witten has never done. It's like, okay, I just that's one of those things where like, you know, when you're in the locker room, like the people asking about Billy Joe Dupree or a certain age and demographic and the people that aren't asking about it are more but I mean

more like me. Yeah, So you just want to make sure that that this league, this turns into something like Miles Austin, he was a two time pro bowler turned into something don't be Laron Robinson who caught eleven touchdowns and a few years ago and never really played again. I mean, you know. And the thing about it is is all these all these things sound good, he's got

to be able to sit there and block. If he's not gonna be in every down blocker, then he's not ever going to be like a starting tight end for you. So that's that's what he needs to get better at and keep doing. But the one thing I will say about that is there a lot of really good tight ends in this league. Aren't great blockers are getting the way guys, And if you can do that well, then you can still be a good every down tight end in this league because they're on a lot that do

both well. Yeah, but in this scheme, well I get it, but this current scheme, who knows, But there's not there's also not a lot of guys on this roster as tight ends who block well. Which, right, I'm going to give you a free show idea. We don't need to talk about it now. We can save it for the offseason. But like this month plus, whatever happens in the playoffs, is it enough to make you reevaluate what this team needs to do at tight end in the off season, We will see. I think that has a lot to

do with it. What happens in this next these next this next game or games, hopefully we'll tell you. Yeah, that will that will dictate a lot what you're gonna do in the off season. I think let's take our final break. When we come back, we want to talk a little bit about cole Beasily in his day, and we'll also get to this defense and how they perform. They give up thirty six points, the most they've given up all season. Question, thirty five points, I'm sorry, and

and that's the most they've given up this season. And we'll talk about that and whether that makes you a little bit leary going into the postseason. We'll do when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. While a player could look good on paper, it's when he's out on the field that you really find out what he's made of. That's why the Cowboys rely on more than just stats and scouting reports when building their team. When picking a tractor, it's why you should rely on

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on the field with America's team. Find Steps and Hats in the Pro Shop or at Stetson dot Com Today. Back to the Break Welcome Back. It is the final segment of The Break Lack in the SWBC Morti Studios at the Star. Nicky, you tell us a little bit about Tommy John. I can Tommy John. Let's find something talk about here a little bit there. They're all about freedom, you know, and that's that's really where it's important to them, especially where it counts the most, which is you know, South.

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So yes, I am wearing a pair of right now. Are awesome as advertised? Thank you. They're clean. They're clean, and everybody calm down now, everyone's calm. Yeah, it's gonna be a long night. So it is. You're right, you're right about that New Year's Eve. We oh it is, Yeah, No,

you're right. Seriously a couple of times cool because at ten thirty tomorrow morning, you'd be Garrett, Hey, guys, and then he's gonna say have a good Wednesday or something like that ten dollars, and everybody room's gonna be like, how are you doing? Guys? At some point tomorrow we'll say you can't soar with the Eagles if you're out hooting with the Owls, because he's gonna look right at my hungover butt and say something like that. Yeah, I'll be in bed at about ten thirty and I think

call it an evening. You you're gonna live on the East Coast and be like, yeah, watch it on. Yeah, you know, I've already watched it, like I have. There a couple I've already had. I just watched it online and be like, who does it now? Who's the dick Clark? Now, I couldn't tell you, no Arson, somebody Arson, couldn't tell you Arson, who, no whom? I thinking, though, you think there we go, right and Seacrest Right, Seacrest, thank you.

Disembodied Kenn. We had a couple of big horse disembodied Ken. Yes, man, all right, let's get back into it. Um, Let's talk about this defense. Yesterday they gave up thirty five points. It was the most they've given up all season. And uh, and it was kind of shocking a little bit. What it was kind of shocking a little bit just because you know, Odell didn't play. You kind of thought, okay,

well they should be able to handle it. They really weren't missing a lot of guys, like the offense was, I mean, other than than Crawford pretty much had their guys out there for the most part. They did in the second half. They took deal out, but he was playing into the second he was playing into the third quarter they pulled him out. It was more like about

mid third quarter. I think was the last time I remembered seeing when they post I don't think it's I don't think it's up there yet, which okay, I feel two types of ways about this. But when they when they post the all twenty two on game Pass, go take a look at the you know, the fourth quarter drives where the Giants are moving it at will and tell me who's in there. Yeah, you're gonna see a lot of Daniel Ross. You're gonna see a lot of

Koran Read, Joe Thomas, Damian Wilson. The Cowboys were clearly rotating and not It was not their best eleven. It was not They were not playing as though the playoffs were on the line. They were giving guys rest, They were giving young guys an opportunity. Having said that, I said this on Twitter Yesterday's I can only evaluate what you put out on the field for me to see.

So I mean, if that's what you're comfortable running out during the game and they don't play well, then that's fair game and my and you know, I mean, I'm not just gonna write off what happens because you're subbing guys at the same time. They were doing that right. And I do think if you just look at the Giants drives, the first four how they how it ended. Interception, fumble, punt, punt, and then touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown, field goal downs.

That was all second half. That That is the most amazing part to me is that the downs. I mean, once they scored and then Antoine Woods got I don't even know what he did, got the penalty, taunting, haunting. They probably did he go thank you flash. I don't know. I don't know what he did, but anyways, I didn't know. He was apologizing to Jerry and Stephen in the locker

room after the game. Well, the Giants had the ball in the field and Rosa's now someone told me this that he had gotten hurt on the pre on the last kickoff. He had hurt his calf, was right. They weren't sure what kind of range he had, but they still needed fifteen or twenty yards. They got zero yards. Yeah, that's amazing that really, I mean, that does After I returned, you were like, okay, they're good. Been stopped. I was like, they're gonna kick this. They're that's the way the NFL works.

He figured they're at least gonna get into position to where it's a possibility. You know, maybe he doesn't make it, but they're at least gonna kick and to gain no yards. That's that was surprising. Yeah. I got a little bit of hell from some on one of my tweets yesterday, probably one of my first ones about eli Um. I just said, don't retire, and they got a lot of crap for that. So I apologize. But at the end, why you gotta fe I figured Cowboys fans would agree

with that. Yeah, I just want them. Yeah, But then it got I think he got moved over to some other people that weren't Cowboy fans. Oh, that'll happen. Whatever, It's all good and uh, because he ended the game kind of like that. I mean, you gotta get yards. You've got to give your kicker a chance. You've got to and the Cowboys, give them credit. They put a little bit more pressure on that drive and he couldn't

handle it. So I speak, I want to go back on game pass and see who was in for that drive, because Woods was because Woods was like, yeah, you need to do something. Well, DeMarcus Lawrence definitely wasn't. As I know that he walked off the field in Cities. He was wearing thims well he which cracked me up. He said earlier this week he was like, He's like, hell no, I'm not playing the whole game, which I appreciate his honesty. So it's DeMarcus. I think Dak even made a joke

about it in his poke. He was like, me and DeMarcus maybe have different philosophy. Were you in the I wasn't there the question? You were in there? The question was? DeMarcus said, he's surprised because you're the quarterback that this is a question to Dak. You're the quarterback of the team. DeMarcus said that you'll be able to just kind of come out and say, hey, I'm out of this game. Why didn't you do that? And he started laughing and he was like, um, I think we have a little

different opinion on how to handle that or something. He's not gonna be able to go and do that. I don't know why DeMarcus thinks he can, but um, I well I want Dak maybe could He could probably do that I don't. I mean, I don't know him out of the game. I don't know how the mechanics of that work. I mean it's a little different though. I mean you're talking about a guy that's in a position where they already rotate, right, So it's so him just being like, all right, tech, a couple of extra snaps.

It doesn't change, it doesn't change a lot. But the quarterback says, I'm out, like not like a go get some reps. And also it's like, I mean, that doesn't happen a season that he's been criticized so much and that people are still wanting to evaluate him and the way he's playing. I'm sure it would. And he's a smart guy, so he wouldn't be the one to go up to like the coach and say, you know what, throw Cooper rush which, but let's go down this rabbit hole.

Like he probably could, like if he was like probably could have that conversation with his head coach and say, hey, coach, you know what, I think I've had a good day. I got my reps. I just got crushed off the blind side, like I'm good. And what are they gonna do? Bench him for the Seahawks game, No, and so he and they or may not let him come out of the game if he did that too. I mean that's the other thing coach coach could say, all right, but we still want to get some more work, still go

back in, and he would go back in. What is it? What he definitely could say, or you can be like like my back hurts, I can't feel, I can't feel my right arm. Is that bad? And then the point the point is is it's like a right, go sit down. That's what makes That's what makes dak Dad is it Monday?

Is sit down? If if he was bound and determined to get out of that game, he probably could have if I had to guess, but he didn't want to, right, That's that and that's part of why the Cowboys are so enamored with him, and for good reason in my opinion, and that I'm not judging DeMarcus Lawrence at all, by the way, like he's got bum shoulders, he's had ten and a half sacks, like by all means, please sit the second half. But it's there's there's two different philosophies

at work there. For sure. Here's what DeMarcus Lawrence has said this year, he said, and that this week. You know, I'm not gonna be playing in the fourth quarter of that game. He wasn't. He also said, this is how you beat the Saints. You jump on him early and choked him out, and then then they're not gonna like it when you hit him like that, and they're not gonna be scoring fifty points on you. That's what happened.

He also said when asked at a at the hospital visits, there was a Seattle fan there, a little girl, and said, are you gonna try Did you try to change her to a cowboy fan? And he said, nah, no, it's fine. He goes like, we're gonna have to play them again. So when we do, you know, hopefully she'll she'll be happy, you know that we came to visit her and she'll be pulling for us. And I was like, you gotta

play him again? He goes, yeah, We're gonna have to see them again in the playoffs like this matter of fact, like it's sitting on the schedule. Seattle, Well, here we go. He's a smart man. He I love that guy. Yeah, And I honestly, I just I look at this defense and m I think yesterday. It didn't really tell me

anything that made me nervous about the playoffs. I think what I saw yesterday was, as you said, for most of the first half, they were doing a really great job of holding him at Bay got two turnovers there early in the game. UM. So I think the defense did what I wanted to see from it. Um And I think when she got into the second half, assuming again I was I was a little bit worried because

when when Layton went down. But assuming everything is fine there and it sounds like everything is, yeah, and it sounds like they came out of the game pretty clean on defense, and that to me means that they're ready to get into playoffs. You know, Byron gave up a touchdown, which is just the second of the year, second of the year, and it's I mean it's a you know, one handed Yeah, that's happened. Sometimes you got to tip your cap. Although you know, you know, to play Devil's advocate.

You feel so great about what the offense did and the note that they're going into the playoffs on like it's fair to be troubled, you know, even if they weren't playing everybody, Like the defense gave up thirty five Byron you know, gave up a play that he hasn't given up all year. But the way this defense has played all year, I doubt they allow that to affect

their confidence, especially you know they're sitting. They're like, yeah, whatever, like our that was our third Marcus Lawrence, that's what I'm de Marcus Lawrence. He's like, yeah, I was watching that on the sideline. Yeah. And he kind of came in in the second quarter at one point he'd been out a little bit. He comes in, he gets a sack fumble, you know, like okay. And that's also the thing. The way they start and finishes game gives them confidence. Right.

They started off basically shutting them down, and the way they finished, like you gotta sit. There was a situation where the Giants could have driven down and had great field position to drive down and get in position for a field goal and they gave up zero yards. That to me, the way they started the way they finished, they go into it on the same kind of momentum

that the offense. If you if you're one of those people that believes in momentum, then I think they can drop from that game the same kind of momentum in the way they started and finished. I just don't believe in momentum because if if momentum really mattered, then you don't You don't get be after five game winning Street. You don't give me twenty three nothing against the Colts. You know it's the momentum and then then you're able to come back. So I know what you're saying, but

I look at it more from a confident standpoint. I wish people would replace the word momentum with it, because that's what they mean. That's like what, because like what moment How does momentum even up there? You your stationary, your team like you're a We're not talking about a snowball rolling down the hill, right. What you're talking about is confidence talking about in a game. I think when people talk about momentum, I think what happens is you

can also talk you can talk about confidence. You can also talk of lack of confidence because when something happens and then it starts to snowball, you can see the other team then start kind of getting a little they'll press a little bit more, they start making more mistakes. That to me becomes lack of confidence. And that's how I think that's how you can see where it's that

whole idea. It's the concept of momentum. But really you're right, it's about confidence and lack of If you come into this game off of that game and you go three and out to start, it's like, it's okay, you know whatever. You know, we were three or four in the red zone last last time. You know, we'll get it rolling, as opposed to oh crap, here we go still and then something goes wrong and yeah, now you're really on

a bad play. And I don't I don't believe a momentum, but I do believe that confidence is very important to athletes. All right, guys, we appreciate you Jonnis. We'll be back on Wednesday. You guys have a very very happy New Year. Be safe out there. We'll get back with you guys on Wednesday. We'll start breaking down Cowboys versus Seahawks. Till then for Nick Eatman, Dave Hellman, Amber Garcia on Derek Eagilson. 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.