Cowboys Break: No Surprises

I'm live from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We got Dave and Amber. Nick is not joining us today, but we have a replacement for him that I think might be even better. We got Lucky Brooks. He usually joins us to talk about the opponent, but he's gonna join us all show today. I like that. We're gonna talk about everything today. We're gonna start with the or We're gonna get to talk about Cowboys versus forty nine ers. But before we get to that, though, we got to

catch up on some injury updates. Dave give us an update on the secondary, particularly Anthony Brown, Cheeto Woozier, Trayvon Diggs, and Donovan Wilson. Well, it's way too early to know if they're gonna play, but all of those guys are supposed to do something, I believe, particularly the injured guys, you know, Anthony Brown, Donovan Wilson, Ty, and Trayvon Diggs. Yes, Trayvon Diggs is going to be limited in practice on Wednesday,

so I can tell him. We're in nine with three games left, Like, I'm excited to see if you know, this full secondary has not been available all season and maybe they will be for two or three of these final games. And that's exciting. Bucky, I'm gonna ask you this question from the standpoint. Yes, yes, it is age, Yes it is. Well, yes, okay, Kevin Dix, it's exciting. But you're talking about the rest of the group. Well, I guess Donovan Wilson, we haven't. We've we've gotten to

see We've gotten to see Donovan for like two or day. Okay, I guess half of the half of them. Yes, the other half nuts so much because we didn't see any any much excitement prior to the injuries. So hater y hater in the house, Well, Dave, she told you yesterday. This is the Amber you're gonna get for the rest of the season, so this should not be a surprise. This is what we're gonna get for the rest of the season. This is hater Amber, and it's gonna be

there until the season is done. Buck, y'all want to ask you this question as a former secondary player, as a scout um, how much can a young guy like a Treylon Dix who had he was basically thrown into the fire this year. He was having to garden a lot of instances some of the better receivers in the league and matchups that the Cowboys had because they just did have a lot of their starters available to them

early in the season. How much can a young guy like that learn on the sideline because he's been out for these last several weeks, is at a time where he really can reflect on some of his experiences at that point and then kind of make things make more sense watching from the sideline while he's injured. Yeah, he can learn a lot. He can learn a lot in terms of understanding where he fits with the scheme, So

really understanding what the rules are the scheme. So what I do in our cover for am I roll in the post? Am I playing man to man some of the intricacies that he probably couldn't get because the game is going so fast. He now has an opportunity to look at these guys do it in practice, to do it in games, to review the film, to hear the questions and conversations that the coaches are having with the players, and maybe take some of that in. But the best way to really understand it is to play it and

do it. And so he'll miss those real reps. But depending upon how diligent he was in terms of getting the mental reps and asking questions and taking notes, he certainly can be a much better player coming back than he was when he departed. Yeah, that's really my hope for him at this point is that this this allowed the game to slow down a little bit for him, and we will see even better play in these final three games if he can manage to get out there.

Let's talk a little bit about Tyler battish Um. He was active last week coming back from his injury, but he only played six snaps and they were on special teams. And but do you expect him to return to the starting center role and should he return to that role? If you were making that decision. I think so, I

think once it's healthy. I know Mike McCarthy talked about him and just kind of saying they're easing him back in, and we saw a couple of plays, but it's it's something that they're going to be careful with, supposed to just throwing him in there. But yes, I would, And this has nothing to do with Joe Looney. I still think that if the season would be going in a different way, then I would want Joe Looney to be

the center, the starting center. But at this point, like you I just mentioned, you want to see these young guys out there. You want to see them getting reps. We know that that game date reps are very different than practice reps and training camp reps, so this time is very crucial to rookie guys like him. Dave, what do you think? Yeah, I'm really curious about that. You know, McCarthy isn't going to give too much away. He said today that you know, we're gonna keep trying to give

Tyler opportunities. We're gonna ease him back, no idea what that means, but I would absolutely put him back into the starting line up. Tyler biadis has a definitive future here, and we all love Joe Looney, but he doesn't. He's up for a new contract in this spring, and you know he's he's signed two or three contracts with the Cowboys at this point. Who knows how many more they

would want to sign him to. Whereas you know, Tyler's got three more seasons on his rookie deal after this, he's you know, he's the heir to the starting job and he needs the reps. I would plug him back in there as soon as I feel comfortable about his health. But I think a lot of it will depend upon I think I think a lot of depend upon if

they're eliminated from the playoffs. I think right now, the way the offensive line has been going, they've been playing well of late, I don't think you necessarily want to tinker with the chemistry until you're eliminated. If you're eliminated, I would think that he'll be named the starter. He'd get right in the lineup and get those rests. But as long as they have like a sliver of hope, I think they're probably going to keep it as it is because they finally got it going in the right direction.

Who do you think is a better player at this point, Joe Looney or Tyler Beyotish. I mean, I think Beyondish obviously has more upside. I mean, Looney's able to do it because of experiencing trickery. He knows all the tricks of the trade and how to kind of use his neighbors to help him. But eventually Tyler Beatis is going to be the starter and hopefully a long term starter. So you do want to get him in the lineup. But I can't understand from a coach's mind because they're thinking,

here and now, let's go with the veteran. Let's go with the crew that's been going the last few weeks, and then we'll deal with it whenever we have to deal with it if we're eliminated. All right, let's go ahead and move into the segment, Bucky, where we're going to talk a little bit about the San Francisco forty nine ers offense versus a Dallas defensive segment presented by Chevron with tech Ron will start what we normally start. Give us the greatest asset and greatest weakness of the

San Francisco offense. The greatest asset is Kyle Shanahan. This is a team that is very systematic and how they approach it. He is by far one of the best play designers in football, particularly in the run game. He does an outstanding job of creating mismatches and big play opportunities in the run and all of the teams that have traditionally given the Cowboys problems. He is basically the master of the scheme. And so when you think about

the Cleveland Browns, it's the same zone scheme. You think about what some of the other teams have been able to do successfully Baltimore, some of that stuff applies. But he is going to attack the Cowboys the way that

everybody has. This is a team that utilizes pre snaps shifts in motion on seventy percent of their down So it's a lot of eye candy, a lot of movement, a lot of misdirection, and based on how we've seen Laden vander esh and Jalen Smith and those guys get lost, I would expect him to have all the gimmicks and all of the shell game going to really make it

tough for them to find the ball. And then when it comes to just a hodgepot to running backs and the reason I'll talk too much about him, is because they throw anybody in a running back. It could be where he mosted, It could be Jeff Wilson, it can be any of those guys that are available. We've seen

those guys go over a hunting yards. Because the combination of the scheme and the way that he dials it up makes it very, very difficult, and so it's a very challenging offense to deal with, particularly when he also uses the wide receivers in the running game. Brandon Ayuk is basically a wing back, going back to your high school days playing in the wing t He's the wing back that is half running back, half receiver. They're gonna

give him a number of carries. Deebo Samuels is out, so I would expect Brandon Ayuk to take a bigger workload when it comes to the running game and those things. And then the biggest weakness is the quarterback position. Nick Mullins is up and down. He's hiding cold. Maybe they play CJ. Bethet because Muller's a struggle of late. But

either way, those guys aren't great. But what Shanahan does does a great job of creating opportunities where they can't miss, and so even bad quarterbacks look good in this system. And so it is a huge challenge for the Cowboys, one they can't have to really earn to win. Could you please talk more about the receivers and how those matchups may look like. We know how beat up this secondary is and all of that. So it's that an area where it could possibly become a threat for the Cowboys. Absolutely.

So what cow Shanahan wants to do is he wants to use the running game as bait, to really bait the trap, so you guys are out of place, and then he takes a shot misdirection, deep shots and those things full full flow, play action, max protect and take a shot down the field. And so what has to happen is Mike Nolan has to make it a very early in the game. How am I going to stop the run? Am I going to drop an extra defender

in the box? We've seen in the past what they do is they'll show like a five man line, they'll drop a safety in the box to have an eight man front, and they'll leave their quarterbacks one on one. Well, the problem with that is you will now see them keep everybody in and they'll run two man routes where you have Kendrick Bourne or Brennan Ayuk running double moves or deep overs or crosses, and the Cowboys have had a tough time picking up some of those old school routes.

So this, I would say, from an offensive standpoint, is one of the biggest challenges. And it's not because of the personnel, but it's because of the guy who has the joystick in his hand and Kyle Shanahan. But yeah, I feel like you kind of outlined all of my

concerns pretty thoroughly. And that's what I know of watching the forty nine ers is that even with a compromised quarterback position, between the amount of motion that they do, between the amount of different guys that they use in the running game, it's a lot to it's a lot to keep track of. Like I feel like every time I turn their games on said Auk or when he's healthy, Deebo Samuel's going around the end. They got like eighteen different running backs that have had success in that offense.

What confidence should I have that the Cowboys are up to that challenge? I mean, even and you know in a normal matchup, you say like, Okay, they don't have a good quarterback, you crowd the box and confidence that the Cowboys can do that, I kind of lean toward no. I think I think the number one priority has to be to stop the run, because we've seen if they can't stop the run, teams will absolutely obliterate them. We've seen three hundred yard games towards the ninety four yard

games from the things. So this has to be a concerted effort that you sell out to stop the run, and didn't you just have to live with what you give up in the passing game. I think the one thing you can encourage the DBS is just keep the ball in front, like keep the ball in front of the defense, rallyan tackle, just don't let them have the explosive, big place in the passing game. If they can die a slow death on defense and maybe buckle down and the rezon and forced him to kick field goals, that's

a win for the defense. But this is all hands on deck to stop the running game. And the one thing that I'm very confident in is Kyle Shanahan has looked at the Redskins, the Ravens, the Browns. He has looked at that tape over and over and over again, and he is going to test the Cowboys front to see if they have answered those problems that popped up. And if they haven't, they're gonna have a strong dose of runs and you may not see them throw a pass. Yeah,

it's interesting. Yes, you talk about did you talk about this running attack? And you were talking about how he uses all these different backs. It actually for those who have been around watching the NFL for a while, they may understand what I'm talking about. But it reminds me of his dad, Mike Shanahan. When he was in Denver. It seemed like they would run any running back in there, like I'm a fantasy football player, and literally it would

be you didn't care who was the running back. You just want to whoever was the starting running back in Denver because you knew they were going to get off because he was going to figure out how to make create opportunities for them. And it was even different kind of backs. He liked those one cut kind of backs. But but I say all that to get to Raheem Mostert,

who is leading this team in rushing right now. He's an extremely fast running back, but since his return from injury, he's only gained forty three yards against the Rams, forty two yards against Buffalo, and then sixty five yards against the Washington football team. Is this a function of the quality of the run defenses he's faced, Is it his health or is it something else? And how much of a problem will he particularly be for the struggling Dallas

a run defense. The three defenses that you listed are really really good at the front line. The La Rams have Aaron Donald who's a problem their run defense. Their defense overall has been really good. When you think about the Washington football team, their d line loaded, they can single handedly wreck shout with those guys up front. We've seen them make a run because the defensive front has been able to do it. And then Buffalo has gotten better on defense and their tryhard group. So it's more

a byproduct of the competition. Not as much about him, but what I do know about him him. He is described as all those guys you used to talk about in Denver Downhill, one cut running back, very decisive, not a lot of dancing. They pride themselves and not having negative runs, and so they tell their offensive line, your job is to get the running back four yards. Once you get the four yards running back, it's on your

job to do anything out of that. But they live for the four yard run, and over time it wears you down. And unlike a little bit those old Denver teams that you talk about, what they used to do is they used to cut you down on the back side. And so what would happen after they cut the d line the first quarter two? Those guys wouldn't chase as hard and then you would see these huge gaps where

they would come out the back door. And so my concern is will Dallas play hard enough up front to will stand all of the chop blocking in those things where they can not give up those big plays, Because the play that sticks out in my mind is Kenyan Drake at the end of the Arizona game win for eighty yards. At the end, you can see those runs happen. If the Cowboys don't kind of bring the big boys plays and don't play with the kind of effort that you need to play with the defendive team like this,

I guess my next question would be about turnovers. And we know that based on the game we saw last week with the Cowboys defense, much of their success became it came from turnovers and the ability to take away the ball. Is how good are the forty nine ers up protecting their ball? And is this a game where the defense could possibly have not a similar game to that where they can get their hands on the ball

and get it to the offense. You know, it's all about really if they can win first down, that they can have a chance win a first down means holding the team to four yards a fewer. So now they can put Nig Mullas in situations where he has to

pass in obvious passing downs. What the Niners want to do because there's such a pass, play action pass heavy team, they want to be in what we call mix downs where it's second and five and as a decordinator, you don't know if it's run or pass or it's first in ten and you're gearing up to stop the run and that's when they hit you with the play action pass. And so it's about winning the early downs. So Mike Nolan can dictate the turns with the call if they

can get them backed up. Yes, Nick Mules would turn the ball over not only on interceptions but on phone was because he can be careless with the ball. But it's about stopping to run early to be able to get into those situations where you can pin your ears back and go after him. I know you mentioned him at the top, as you know they use him as a flanker. He's got you know, he's done a lot

of stuff in the running game. But looking at it, Brandon Aiyuk like, I don't is he getting enough credit for how good of a rookie season that he's having because he's got fairly comparable stats to Ceedee Lamb and obviously he's only had Jimmy Garoppolo for four or five games this season. What I mean, obviously he's a first round pick we knew is a good receiver. But what I mean what does he look like? How comfortable does he look? And how much potential does he have to

hurt this defense as a true wide receiver. I'll say the Cowboys are very, very lucky that Deebo Samuels is out because what happens is when you have Deepo Samuys and Brandon Nayuk, you have two of the exact same guy. They're physical, they're tough, they're outstanding with the ball in their hands, and the best way to describe it is like I said, as a wing back, they're basically running backs at the wide receiver position, and the Niners do a great job of putting the ball in their hands,

fly sweeps in the rounds, quick passes, crossing routes. They want those guys to basically have punt returns where they're kidding on the move and they're running through tackles on the perimeter. He has been a fantastic player and as a first rounder, he's lived up to exactly what they want. And so as they build this team out with Deebo Samuels and Brandon Nayuk and Jimmy Garoppolo, this is a

very tough offense to deal with. Luckily, Deebo Saniors isn't available and the Cowboys don't have to worry about that part of their offense. That was our breakdown with Bucky Brooks, presented by Chevron with Tech Bron. We're going to take our first break we come back. I got some questions for this group about the Dallas defense. We'll talk about that when we come back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot

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not complicated. Five get requires compatible plant may not be in your area. See att dot com slash five G for you for details. Back to the Break, Welcome back. It is the second segment of The Break, presented by Geico Live from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We've got Dave in Amber and Bucky Brooks. You joined us for the remainder of the show because Nicka is

out today, So let's jump in. Let's talk about this Dallas defense earlier this week, Jerry Jones, it may have even been lad late last week, Jerry Jones was talking on an interview with One on five Down three the Fan, and he made the comment that if he had it all to do over again, maybe they would have not changed the defensive scheme knowing that they had the challenges or you know, now knowing that they had the challenges

that they've had with COVID. My question for you guys is is the scheme changed the biggest problem that the Dallas defense has faced this season. I'm gonna start first with you, Dave. Yeah, I think so, just because you know, they lost Gerald McCoy on the third day of training camp, and obviously you know they've had to shuffle the secondary a good bit, but we knew the secondary wasn't gonna be this elite unit anyway. So I look at it and I say, they haven't had nearly the personnel issues

that the offense has had. You know, they've had, you know, standard injuries that come with a football season, but they just haven't been decimated of all their most talented players like the offense has, and I mean, I think it's a little simplistic to pen the whole thing on changing the scheme, because you know, again I keep saying, like, teams have changed schemes all over the league and they haven't struggled with it to the degree that the Cowboys have.

So I think I look at it as a as a you know, an equation between like, they're not that talented, they change the scheme, and then somewhere in the middle, I think the guys that are here for whatever reason

just haven't committed to the scheme either. You know, you go back to like September and October when the coaches are very subtly suggesting that like, well, you know, guys revert to what they know when they're not sure what to do, which is basically like a very nice way of saying, they're not doing what we're asking them to do. They're freelancing, and that leads to really bad results. So I think it's a combination of all three of those things.

But you could probably eliminate two of them if you hadn't changed the scheme. So if you had stuck with what you had, you would have not that talented defense, but at least they would have confidence in what they were doing, and maybe, you know, they would probably look

a little bit better even if they weren't great. Amber. Well, we all know my football knowledge is somewhat limited and I am no football expert here, So I'm going to post a question to Bucky because in my eyes, and I get it, you get you have different schemes and all that, But at the same time, I have a hard time understanding why it is so hard to change from schemes. Like the way I see it is that every football player should be able to adapt to whatever the scheme is and to be able to figure out

how to fit in whatever is being asked. At the same time, from a coaching standpoint, I see it like you should adjust your scheme based on the talent that you have and what your players are more capable of doing. But my question, Bucky, is it's just that Why is it so hard? Why is scheme such a big deal and so complicated when it comes to a transition and changing between a four to three and a three four I don't get it, man. I think we could do

an entire podcast on this issue. When it comes to the Cowboys, when it starts leadership, Mike Nolan is a drastically different leader than Rod Marinelli and Christopher Shardon in terms of the way that he commands the room. He's a little more dos Allen his approach, and he wants to teach and maybe negotiate with the players as opposed to kind of demanding and setting high standards and pulling guys out. And so you saw some of that happen early.

In terms of the complexity of the scheme, the scheme that was in existence before was very, very simple. It was basically a high school team. They lined up and the same thing. They did it over and over again, and they believed through repetition that you cleared the mind. You allowed guys to play fast and they would make plays because they were more confident because they knew exactly what to do and how to do it. And you

spent your time coaching effort and those things. Mike Nolan wanted to add more complexity to the thing early on. Remember in the opening press conference, he was like, Hey, We're just not going to line up in that old high school cover three. It is too good, Like you have to have more variances or whatever. And so the more that you do, the more veritables come into it, the more that you have to explain to the players

and the more that they have to understand. And when you have so many moving parts, young guys coming in, veterans coming in everything, I think a lot was lost in translation, and so with out OTAs and all that other stuff, it was just a recipe for disaster. But then once you get into the season, it's on the coordinated to be able to recognize, we're not very good at these things. So I'm only going to call these handful of plays and we're gonna get good at that.

And it took them a long time to recognize that. And I still don't know if they've settled into here's what we're good and if we're just gonna run these things because this is all that our players understand. So then the follow up question to that is do they have the right players right now to be able to play successfully play a three fourth scheme? Dave, No, No, I don't. I mean no, hey, I don't know that

they have any of those components. I mean you don't. Okay, didn't take me farther, Take me a little farther and tell me specifically, where do you think they need different players or players that maybe you think right now you could work here in this defense. I take that back. Randy Gregory could play in a three four, but I've never seen DeMarcus Lawrence as a three four guy. It doesn't seem like he's adapted all that well to standing up.

You don't really have the bodies that ideally that you need for a three four front, like you know, the three four ends and the nose tackle. Tyrone Crawford was drafted to do that, but I don't think you would want him to do it now, which I mean, are you, like? Are we? And I don't even know. It's interesting because

we don't know for sure where this is going. I think that's one of the more frustrating things about this season with Mike Nolan is you know, say what you will about Rod Marinelli, but you knew exactly what he wanted to do, and you knew exactly what he wanted his defense to look like. Like is like we see we talk about this hybrid stuff or they have four three or they have three four. Sometimes guys are standing up, but it's not a it's not a three it's not

a three four front. This defense has never seemed to have an identity under Mike Nolan. Maybe that's because he doesn't have the ideal personnel, But will he be here in twenty twenty one to help them acquire the personnel that they need or will I mean, even if they do, Like, even if let's just let's just hypothesize that Mike Nolan stays here, what what is it going to look like.

Is he gonna be like, all right, we're going all in on this three four thing and we're gonna draft for that and mold it around that I don't really know, And honestly, with the personnel that you have here, I probably wouldn't want to. I think I said this the other day, like DeMarcus Lawrence is the best and the most expensive guy, and you're committed to him, and I think he should probably be playing on a four man line.

And so that's that's what I would do. Is And that doesn't mean you have to run Rod's scheme again. But I don't know that I would want to just blow this thing up and completely renovate it while I have guys under contract that are tailored for a different scheme. But what are your thoughts? Man? It's tough because Dave outline a bunch of issues because right now what you

have is a mess. You have some of what fits what Rod Marinella and Christian Chardon those guys want to do, and you have some of what Mike Nolan wants to do. And so the first thing you have to do is figure out are we going to go forward with this marriage with Mike Nolan because it doesn't make sense to go forward. But then you're hedging your bet and then you give him his players, and then in the middle of next season you fire him, and then the way

you go, you wasted another year. I think it's really a lot of samantas in terms of three four and four to three, like you have four bodies and whether you call DeMarcus Lawrence autside linebacker Edge Dresher, he's one of the thing. I think the main thing is can you call the defense that allows to Marcus Lawrence and Jalen Smith and Vander esh to do what they do best. That's the main thing. And in the secondary what happened

there was a change. Right part of the reason why Bryan Jones didn't come back is because there was a lot of conversation about buying Jones not generating turnovers, Well, you don't generate turnovers when you play man demand because your back is to the quarterback. If you want to get interceptions, you play zones so you can see the ball come out of the quarterback's hands, which is what we've seen. They played more off in theory to get interceptions,

off tips and overthrows in those things. The thing is, I still think it's a mess in the secondary because Diggs can play that way, but a Woozier and the other guys are not necessarily built to play that way. And so this has to be a meaning of the minds. And the biggest decision that they will make is what to do with Mike Nolan and his scheme because Will McClean the scouts, they don't know who to go get, because everybody doesn't fit how they want to play, and

so it's a mess. And because of that, that is what we've seen on the field, a mess. So we're gonna take our final break when we come back. We're gonna get all those topics that Bucky just highlighted. We're gonna talk about whether Mike Nolan should be back. We're also going to talk about that secondary. There are a lot of guys are going to be free agents, and how many of those guys should be coming back? Are

they a good scheme fit here in Dallas. If Dallas keeps Mike Nolan decides to go the route that we think he wants to go, we'll do all that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Let's take a listen Doctor and Cream sodas he a new combone that's music to my ears. Okay, doctor times, music to my ears and mouth, New Doctor Pepper and Cream

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twenty Bank of America Corporation. Dear, it's nineteen o eight. Don't you think we should get electricity and stop using candles to see it? Money? It's just electricity lights up the room fast, It's more reliable than candles blowing out, and people seem to love it nationwide. Well, dear, did you just run into the wall but don't have a new candle? Please? Historically, switching to new technology is a no brainer. Today it's AT and T five G fast, reliable,

secure and nationwide. Switch to a T and T five G. It's not complicated. Five G requires compatible plant may not be in your area. See at dot com slash five G for you for details. Back to the break, Welcome Back. It is the final segment of the Break. Were Alive from the SWVC Mortgage Studios. We're presented by Geico. Let's talk a little bit about Mike Nolan specifically, and I'm

gonna start off having Ambre answer this question first. How much benefit of the doubt should be given to Mike Nolan because of COVID and what he wanted to do, And should he get a chance to maybe try this after an offseason where maybe they can get more players that can fit a scheme that it seems like he wants to go to Amber. No, that's nonsense. There's zero benefit of the doubt here, and I'm gonna tell you why. Okay, First of all, I don't want to minimize what's happened

with COVID. Obviously know how big of an impact that has affected everyone around the world. But when it comes to the Cowboys and COVID and all of that, when you look at it and you compare other teams in the NFL, the Cowboys have been one of the least affective teams around the NFL and they haven't really had to deal with something huge or a breakout here with

the Cowboys. Now, the way I look at it, you guys talked about scheme just now, this is not a year where you come in trying to implement new things. You need to adjust. You need to adjust to your players, look at what's not working and make the right changes. Because this is because of the lack of training camp, you know, the lack of the off season, the ability of being together in person and practicing together for a

longer period of times and all that. It's going to affect the whole wanting to teach new things and implement all those things. So I think that Mike Nolan as a coach, just in general, a coach should be able to arrange things to I can think of the right word, but accommodate the players better, something that suits the players better. And again, one of the things to me is that when something's not working, then change it. Change it. It's you don't need to be so com you don't need

to overcomplicate things. And realistically speaking, you cannot change your whole defense. You cannot go out in the draft and try to draft all the players that are gonna be benefiting what you're looking to do as far as scheme wise. So that's the time where you need to take a step back and go go out of what you're wanting to do and try to figure out a better game plan for what you have right now that fits your players.

So don't talk to me about COVID and any of that, because there's no benefit of the DOAO here, all right, Bucky, I think you have to I think you have to move on. I don't think. I don't think you get the benefit of the doubt because when I look at the LA Rams and how they become a dominant unit under Brandon's daily his first year, a lot of it is due to being a great teacher, being a great communicator, being able to hold guys accountable, and so it's not

really about the scheme. It's about the leadership part of it. And I think Mike McCarthy has said this a few times where he talked about a the chemistry and the continuity not necessarily of the players, but of the coaching staff. And when he said that, my ears perked up. I think there's a little buyer's remorse with some of the coaches outside of Mike Nolan that are on that staff.

And I don't have anything to say that, but I just believe that from a teaching standpoint, when you have all of the issues that have taken place, somewhere it trickles down from the coordinator to the position coaches where it's not being communicated or taught effectively, And so I think they're gonna do a deep dive under the hood to figure out why this wasn't taught while we're not playing at a level that we should be playing yet, because it shouldn't be this difficult when I look at

some of those teams that have a success on defense, we have new coordinators, Dave, Are any of the like hundreds of players that get cut or don't get offered contracts with their teams this offseason going to get the benefit of the doubt, Like if they went out and just didn't perform up to expectations, had bad seasons, Like yeah, there.

I mean, there's a million reasons why that might be the case, but front officers probably aren't going to give them a benefit of the doubt, like, oh, cheetoh, we just we think you'll be a lot better in a non pandemic year. We don't have a ton of tape that suggests otherwise, But we're just going to offer you this nice contract because we like you. Like No, that

doesn't happen for players. It shouldn't happen for coaches. And I agree with Bucky's point about the Rams, but I'll even say, you know, the Rams have Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey, like they've got some amazing pieces there. But again, I'll say it for the million time, the New York Giants and the Carolina Panthers, both new coaching staff, first year NFL head coaches. They're not great defenses, but they're

they're solid, especially the Giants. The Giants are in top ten and scoring, you know, like a whole new coaching staff asking players to do different things. And the Giants they have some talented players. They've got some first round picks on that defense, but not anybody that's you know, we're not talking about like the best of the best in the NFL on that defense. They're just executing and

doing what they're supposed to do. And for that matter, I can't help it, you know, I can't help but think about the offseason and training camp, like everybody loves to say, like, oh my god, how many times did we hear like, actually, the virtual installation was really smooth, Like the guys handled it like pros, Like nobody it was awesome, like we did a great job of the virtual installation, and now here we are in December and they suck, And it's like, well, of course we suck.

We did everything virtually well, you told me it wasn't a problem, so I don't expect it to be a problem. And I don't want to make light of the pandemic. It's it sucks. I'm so sick of it. It has affected my life and my mental health. I can't imagine trying to play football at a high level on top of all that. But this is the profession that you have chosen, and you're at the very top level of it, and it just goes with the dinner, as Jason Garrett likes to say. So, no, there's there's no benefit of

the doubt. Let me pick it back on this there quickly. I think one thing that you have to understand when you talk about the Giants and the scheme today run. The Giants put a huge priority on making sure that they had high IQ guys on their defense because their defense has a level of complexity. The previous defense that Dallas ran, it didn't necessarily require you to have guys that were high IQ guys because it was very simple and it allowed you to just play on instincts and reactions.

And so when you have a room full of guys that may not necessarily be a level students, and then you come in with a complex defense, you begin to have some of those issues. And so when they talk about freelancing and those things, it may not have been freelancing. It may have been a lack of comprehension. And the pandemic exposed your ability to teach, and if you're not a good teaching, you can't meet students in different levels.

We see what plays out. I'm not saying that I have anything on that, but I think it's something to consider when you think about the mental lapses that occurred early in the year with this defense. Yeah, and I agree with that, Buck. I do think though, the other thing to consider about that is that also means that it's equally hard to know. And Dave mentioned that they were talking about how well it was going with the virtual installation. Well, it's hard to know when you're doing

installation virtually whether guys are picking up the information. You won't know that until you throw them out on the field. So it was probably a little short cited for them to make the comment that everything's going well. They don't know everything's going well. They can't see that until they get the guys on the field, and especially if they have issues where these guys really aren't comprehending it, where the product actually looks like they were not comprehen ending it.

They didn't know that until they gotten them on the field. And I'm wondering, like, once they got the training camp and they're having the coaches meetings after each practice, I'm wondering, how much of the conversation is, oh, gosh, they really don't know what they're doing out there, like they look lost. Now, maybe that wasn't happening because they had an offensive line that was really banged up, and so it looked like every play your pass rushers are going to get home

every play. Right, That's how it looked during training camp, and that may have given them a false sense of security. But at some point they had to figure out once they got these guys on the field, they weren't comprehending the information. And that's coaching, and so that's the part of coaching. Coaching is the ability to see where we are and to make to make changes. And I won't

just put this on Mike Nolan. Part of that is on Mike McCarthy too, because Mike McCarthy has to look and look at all the bewildered defenders and the guys with the wild like deer and head lights looking. He has to say, hey, Mike, tighten this up. We gotta scale it back, make it simple. I want the guys to play fast, and I don't care if they line up in cover for the entire game. I don't want any mental bus And so it's all of that, and

so part of the reset. If I'm ownership, I'm talking to Mike McCarthy, Hey man, the first year of your program, like we kind of got sold a bill of goods, and so we need to see that stuff that happened in Green Bay, because we're now going to climb to think maybe it was Aaron Rodgers and not the other stuff.

And I didn't think it was like that before. All right, let's move on with I was just gonna say another aspect of being a great teacher to me is the inspirational and motivational part of it, because I think, especially in a year like this, you know, and Dave you mentioned mental health. I mean, this is a your word.

It has affected all of us. And when you see the way that the defense was playing at the beginning of the year, the lack of motivation, the lack of energy that has to do that has to come from whoever the voice is in that room, whoever is speaking. And one of the things that I think this team is missing from Jason Garrett was that part of being

that inspiration and motivating people. And we've been in some of those meetings with Jason Garrett talking and where I mean, I'm sitting there and at the end of it, I'm like, all right, who do we gotta take down? Like I'm motivated. So I think that the players that needed that, and I feel that that's another mental part of the game that we don't talk about enough that I think that they've missed this year. Yeah, Amber to go off of that.

So when you're building your coaching staff out, you want to make sure that you don't have too many of the same kind of guys. And so Mike McCarthy is kind of laid back. Mike Nolan is laid back. Where you guys are there, who is the guy to get them going? Like, who is the coach that stands up in the room, it's like no, Yes, who is the guy on the defensive staff that is like, no, this is unacceptable. I don't care what you guys are telling me. We're not running to the ball. Look at the tape.

You can't have everyone trying to be their friend. Somebody has to be the depend in the room. You would think Tom Sula is that kind of guy, at least from what I've heard of him. I've never met him, because again we haven't met most of these guys as we would in a normal year, but you would think he would be that kind of guy that just kind of tells it like it is. But you're right, Bucky.

We saw the difference when Christoph Shard got here and how he was in guy's faces, and that made a difference for that first year he was here, I think where guys were taking notice and they were they were responding to it, and I think that's a big part of it. It was probably and I think Amber's absolutely right on this, It was probably the best part of what Jason Garrett brings as a coach, in my opinion, is his ability to motivate, because it was very rare

during his time here. When you saw them having games where they didn't where they lacked effort, or where they just got completely blown out. He had a way of getting his team motivated to play. They may not have always made all the right decisions. I questioned a lot of things they did from a tactical standpoint, but when it came to motivating his team and getting them ready to play, from that standpoint, it seemed like he was very,

very very good at that. Real quick before we in the show, I did want to talk a little bit about the secondary. Mike McCarthy said this morning on his press conference that some of the young secondary players played well last week. Who did you guys think played well? You have guys like Richard Robinson, Savian Smith, Deontay Burden that we're out there, and did any of them make a case or starting to make a case that maybe they should be back next year with all of the

free agents that you have in the secondary. Let's start first with you, Bucky. I mean, they played well, but I'm wondering if we dropped out of standards so low that we're okay with just not given, you know, giving them passing March because they didn't let the ball fly

over the head and it was the Cincinnati Bengals. I think Savian Smith and Richard Robinson have a role, maybe as the fourth and fifth guy, but I think for this team to compete, because you have to remember, this team has to be built to defeat the New York Johnson, the Washington Riskins, and those teams aren't going anywhere with the defenses that they have. You have to get a

level players in the secondary. And I can say outside of Dicks that I really would be fired up about bringing any of those guy back that are hanging around as free agents. Camber. I mean, I know we're running out of time as far as the season goes, but some of these guys, I mean, I just haven't seen enough. That game wasn't enough for me to base an opinion. And then the one thing that I'll say, though, based on that game and the way that they were playing,

that I liked was at least the fight. We just got done talking about motivation. We know the secondary was struggling with injuries and a lot of guys. Some of those guys got hurt in the game and all that one of them came back in and all, but still there was the one to fight and the will to go out there and at least try to play good. So that's the aspect that I saw that I liked from those young players in that game. But as far as performances that just that wasn't enough for me to

base an opinion on them just yet. Dave, I'm definitely I'm not about to like it's the Bengals, it's Brandon Allen. Good for you that I did. I did think that Richard robin and played really well, and I he intrigued me especially I full disclosure, I'm I'm more familiar with him than most would be because he did go to LSU. He was a fourth of course, of course, just saying, I mean, just saying, but he is. Honestly, he is exactly the type of guy that the Cowboys would sign

in free agency. You know, he's a fourth round pick. He's kind of kicked around the league. He's started fifteen to twenty games, which is not a small amount for a guy who's back at the depth chart. He's a lot like I'm not saying their games are similar, but it's a similar signing to Maurice Kennedy, who people forget about because he opted out before the season. Started, so you know, if they want to bring him back to be their fourth or fifth guy because he's dirt cheap,

I don't have a problem with that. I think he's played up to that level. But this is we're not talking about a guy who's going to come in and hopefully be a meaningful part of your secondary I'm really intrigued by that because you know they're gonna need to sign somebody. You know, they always say, like you address, you address things in free agency so that you don't go into the draft with an insane need. And as it stands right now, they're going to have an insane

need if they don't sign somebody. So whether it's Cheeto or Jordan Lewis or somebody from outside, either way, like they're going to need to sign a starting caliber cornerback in free agency, and history tells us that they will probably resign one of their own to avoid having to spend as much money. I know that's not what people want to hear, but that's what I expect, So um,

I'll be interested. Yeah, Like I said, Richard Robinson is a guy that I could see them bringing back just so that they say they can say, well, we've got a guy who's capable of starting in case of emergency. Don't forget Xavier Woods there at safety is also God's going to be a free agent. They got a lot of things that they got, They got them work, They have work to do, and you would think they can let him go. Yeah, you go down that list and you can get rid of a lot of those guys.

I think it goes back to what Dave saying, Now, you got to replace him. So will his group got to get to work because they're gonna have to either go out in free agency or they're gonna have to go in the draft, and they got have to replace all those guys that they're willing to let walk and and and probably walk or both. Yeah, exactly, all right, we appreciate you guys join us. We'll be back tomorrow.

Bucky's gonna join us again and talk just this time I think about about the forty nine Ers defense versus the Cowboys offense. But if he wants to stick around, he can stick around and talk a little bit more Cowboys football with us. Till for for Bucky Brooks, Dave Helm and Pars about to say there and we miss you. Nick. We'll hopefully have be like tomorrow. Well, we'll see you guys tomorrow. This has been The Break live on Dallas

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