Cowboys Break: Problem at Kicker?

guys doing great? I'm awesome. I'm so good. All right, guys, buckling your suit bell because you're in for a great ride of it here. Okay, Cowboys had their first preseason game and it was against the forty nine ers. Um, you know, these types of scores don't matter. It was seventeen nine, forty nine years one. But that doesn't stop fans to start criticizing and start talking like, man, this season's gonna stop fire. Jason Garrett, he's still here. He's

gonna be here this whole season. So state ball cool? Okay, all right, let's do it. Damn yeah, I don't know. I mean, somebody's gonna get fired. It might not be Jason Garrett in the middle of the season. I mean, could happened, that's true, but hey, NFL is a crazy beast. Ah, that is true. But in the meantime, he's here and he's expected to be here. There you go, all right, Okay, so let's go around the table and tell me your

stand out from the game. Nick, get it started. I've been the guy that I picked that I've been talking about forever. Had a sack in the game. Jalen jokes, not that I saw it, because I think I was getting something like a snack or something. But I didn't. I didn't hear about it that he got a sack. That that would be. That would be kind of easy, because I mean, he's just a rookie playing well. Let let me let me say, I thought Cheeto played well. I like the what Cheeto did as a starting cornerback.

He was really aggressive on the ball, knocking the ball down a little bit. Um. I thought, you know, we hadn't talked a lot about him, which is probably a good thing as a corner So Cheetah would be my guy. Dave, Okay, I didn't know which order you want to do that? Can I just okay? Whatever I could talk about Cheeto played great. I thought Jalen Smith looked awesome. I thought Dak looked really good. For you know, the four plays that we got to see. I don't really care about

any of that. Can I just say it stood out to me how scared I am of the kicker situation for this team. Like that's if I have one takeaway from the game. That's really what I'm dealing with right now. Because we saw it all last year. We've seen it out here train camp, and it carried right on over into the preseason game. Brett maher three or four three makes that's awesome. Thirty five yard miss, that's terrifying. So and we can get more into it. Like I said,

I thought, I thought the first team looked awesome. I thought the third team was awful. Everybody knows that if you watched. But man, I just don't know. I don't know what they're gonna do about this kicker thing. It's kind of scary. Yeah, there are quite a few guys I think. I assume we're going to get into that a little bit more and talk and talking depth about the kicker position. But there were quite a few guys I thought that stood out and it started to me

with Tony Pollard just from a standpoint. Again, he didn't get a lot of carries. But what I loved about what they did with him is he had four carries, he had sixteen yards, and all of those carries were between the tackles, and so we got an opportunity to kind of see him working in that kind of capacity. I don't think that was a I don't think that

was for any other purpose. And for the Cowboys to kind of put it out there that, you know, we might be all right if our twenty one doesn't show up, we might still do you talk to Jerry Jones after the game? Is that why he is? That why he said Tony Pollard is capable of cart on the whole load. No, I mean like the whole thing, like this whole thing.

From the beginning, it's been very clear that Jerry's out there talking about the running back position, and it's talked about him and when he when they brought in Alfred Morris, they talked a lot about all. You know, we've been won him like we were upset that we didn't get him last year. We think he's very capable, right, I think all of that is playing into this whole thing.

But what I will say just on that point, though, is I do believe that they at least publicly think that if they had to enter the season, they might be okay at running back with Pollard and the mashing together of those other guys. And I will say this, I'm not necessarily I don't necessarily think that that would

be a bad premise to take. Now, whether you can stand up sixteen games, who knows, but I think for whatever period of games that you would want him in there before you know, three, four or five games, I think he might be able to be a guy that could be pretty effective running in a lot of different ways between the tip goes to the outside, catching the ball out of the backfield. I think he might be

able to do a little bit of all that. Might be a little bit worried about blitz pick up, but other than that, I think he might be able to handle the rest of those roles were about. Now that it was a long sentence. Um No, I think whether or not they're they're okay about it or not doesn't matter. I mean, because it is what it is. I mean, who who they gonna go get and the only guy that they could really go get at this point. They they got him. Yeah, they got Alfred Morris, So they

are they've already kind of done that. I mean, they might be scared to death about it, but they're not gonna say it because if they say it, then obviously that just drives up the leverage for Zeke. So I mean, but I I mean, yeah, it was good to see Paula do all that stuff and run in between the tackles and that. But I mean, I don't think this is a situation where they're like, you know what, we might be okay, this team has been built to run the ball with Zeke like that, So I don't know.

It just reminds me of somebody who's going through a bad breakup on like Instagram and they're just real open about it and just I'm doing great, I'm amazing, I'm at the beach, i'm the gym, I'm looking my friend. I don't need you. Yeah, like that's what the Cowboys are doing. And I don't buy it, just like I don't buy it when my friends do that. I'm like, you're miserable. I Like, if you're posting on Instagram six

times a day, you're miserable. I'm sorry, That's just how it is, and that's how I feel like the Cowboys are. You know, I'm excited about Tony Pollard, don't get me wrong, but like not to the point where I'm forgetting about twenty one. I'm not there yet. Yeah, and nor should anyone, including the Cowboys. I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying I feel like they probably are looking at this like, Okay, if he if he wants to keep holding out, we

still know what our budget is. I don't think I don't think they feel like they're pressed to have to do something different than what they've already planned to do financially with him. And if he wants to show up and play with that kind of deal, then he will. And if he doesn't, I think they're gonna hold a line and be like, Okay, well we're gonna roll what we got. Yeah, now, based on I mean, you talked

about the first team. Clearly they had they got into the red zone, and this is again the preseason and all that, But did it bother you or did it concern you any way that they weren't able to get into the touchdown area and score six points. You know, I wrote a whole column about that, I don't think, so it doesn't bother me yet. I'm not at the point to worry about red zone or really anything like that,

because yeah, everything's vanilla. We know that. Defenses of vanilla too, I mean, and they're not trying to show a bunch of plays down there like that. And then also what they're built to run the ball and really push the pile, and they don't have that. They're running back in there to do that. The one thing you can really look at and go, this is something that will happen in

the game. Is snapping the ball, holding it and kicking like that is something that like Maha is going to be doing that same thing, same play call in games. And so if you want to be concerned about that, you can because that's not preseason to him, that's a game and he's kicking. There's nothing yeah preseason about it. Yeah, you know, I understand. I understand if fans have concerned just because red zone was arguably this team's biggest problem

all last year. You want to see it look better, Yeah, and you know how many they got in there? Four times? I mean, and then yeah, all the field goals were short range, and I understand it, but like, no, I'm not bothered either because it's it's not only preseason, but it's the first game of the preseason. Like, you're not You're not handling that as if as you would if it were the season. They didn't game plan for that opponent.

Kellen Moore wasn't calling anything that he wants to use during the regular season, so it would have been fun if they'd scored a touchdown. I'd way rather see Brett maher kick for that exact reason. He missed one from thirty five. I hope he kicks four in all four games. Yeah, preferably more. I hope he kicks like twenty times in the preseason, just from all angles and yardage and distance and everything, just to get a very clear idea of

what we're looking at now. Jerry was asked about the kicker position and I know you were in on that. What was his response to the whole situation, and he like, I that was my lead off to the show, is how concerned I was. Jerry Jones was like, that's the only way we scored. I feel great about the kicker position. He's like, I don't have a different than I did before, right, Yeah, yeah, I would. I was kind of standing there. I was like, it doesn't it doesn't bother you that he missed an

extra point. I think everybody's kind of like you were expecting something, you expecting him takes something different, like, well, we would have wished it he would. He was just kind of like the one. I was okay with it, that it was good and to this point, I'm not trying to freak anybody out, but I like that's kind of the organization. That's their whole attitude, Like they don't seem as concerned about MAHA as everybody else does, which

you know now that for what it's worth. I was by someone that works over on the football side and I heard that person make a comment and was like, damn kicker just in general, not only this one, but in general around the guys that are out there in

the market right now. And that made me feel like, Okay, well, maybe Maher is their best option that they do have right now, and that's why they're sticking to it, you know how well, I know you've made it sound like, Okay, they got all this kickers chartered and this is the

next one. And it's not that far different. But that guy, that guy that's on the list, I don't know what their names are, yeah, but I guarantee it's I mean, all of them they had their moment where they missed a thirty one yarder or a twenty eight yard or or something that got them out there. I mean, I know that's Mickey's favorite line, as they're on the street for a reason, but they are. But the thing about it is, too is with kickers, it's all about confidence.

You know. It's like they have the confidence. I mean, Nick Folk was a pretty good kicker for a lot of years in this league, and the Cowboys had to cut him in two thousand and nine because he just couldn't make kicks right there. He went on and had a career for I don't know, eight nine more years, but right then and there, he just couldn't make kicks.

And I'm not saying my HER's at that point, but I mean, if they have to go get someone else, it'll be someone else that maybe that has more confidence. But it's gonna be shaky all the way. I mean it is. This game was no different than it was last year. He was three or four seventy five percent. He kicked at eighty percent last year he missed. The largest percentage of his missus came forty to forty nine yards. The next largest percentage came at thirty to thirty nine yards.

So that's who he is, that's what he's been. I don't know that that's necessarily gonna change, and that may be what Jarry's point Moore was was like, look, guys, this is what we got, Like, this is what we have, and we don't think there's anybody better on the street. You kind of have to just know that this is

what you're dealing with a little bit. You got an eighty percent kicker, which means he's gonna make a lot, but he's gonna miss some and some of them ones he miss missus probably have you scratched your head a little bit. Now, let's get into two injuries that are concerning, because these two guys were guys that were performing wells and they were having a good game. One very unfortunate one is lud Geffer, who's a guy we've talked about on this show for sure. What is the update on

his injury and what is expected to happen here? Um I know he had an MRI yesterday. That not here. I haven't heard. It's a high he's got a high ankle sprain. Um, that pretty bad one. The fear was a dislocation, you know, right off the bat, and I was down on the field. I just remember looking at all of the doctors and trainers that kind of ran there, thought thinking, Okay, this this looks pretty bad. And it is actually you know what I mean high even it's

a high ankle sprain. Those are those are tough. I mean, those are those are gonna be four to six weeks, if not more. Um, So we'll see about that. Um. He's gonna be here though, I mean he's he's on the team or he's on the team or on injury reserve or something. I think he's done enough to be

like this somebody we can work with here. He made a play or interception before the nature of the injury ray is an interesting question though, because he's not done for the year, but he won't be taking part in the rest of training camp. So what do you do with him? Do you put him on injured reserve right now, which ends his season, Like if you put a guy on injured reserve during camp. He is, It's Cedric Wilson all over again. He's done for the year, can't come back.

You could wait until August thirty first, which is what I think they'll probably do, is put him on injured reserve. At roster cuts, he would have an opportunity to bring him back. You can designate two players to return from my rs. So he would start the season on injured reserve and you maybe see him in October. You know, the question that I have is, and this is what they're gonna have to figure out, is when he gets to August thirty first, is you know, where is he

Where is he on them with his rehab? Is it coming along pretty good? Is it just a few more weeks? And then also you got to look at the roster and go, all right, how is this game going to work for the Giants game? You know, say we put him on injured reserve and we go and now we have to keep this linebacker here like a Covington who's going to be inactive. You know, if that's if that's going to be the case for a few weeks, you know, maybe he's not on injured reserve. Well, if he's the

inactive linebacker one inactive right, Yeah, that's true. It's it's tricky too. But you know, guys like you know, like a Tyrant Smith, like he's not gonna be that big of a part of most of these preseason games. It's not a big deal to carry a guy like him on the roster, But what do you do with a down the line guy like You need guys like Luke Gifford to play meaningful snaps in preseason games, So do

you need that spot? Right? Yeah, it's it says a lot about how much they like him if they just carry their seventh linebacker on the roster hurt for the rest of training camp, you know. And I think that's probably what they'll do because they don't want to risk losing him on waivers, and they probably don't want to shut a season down either. So that's pretty impressive that an undrafted free agent could theoretically go two and a half weeks on the roster without well, you take advantage

of these days here at training camp. I mean, he did enough to have eyes on him. Sure. Now, another guy was Cedric Wilson, who I mean he got any illegal hit by safety from the forty nine ers, and it was pretty tough. He was having a pretty good game too. He was a guy that was that was making some plays, which wasn't completely surprising because he's had some of those moments out here. But he was probably

I would guess, you guys, tell what you think. I would guess he's probably the best receiver on the day, on the game. If you had to say who play kind of gave you the most plays, I would say it was probably him. Would you guys agree? Back end? Guys, Yeah, I mean I thought Gallup was awesome in the opening drive. But yes, it's a good catch. It that Wilson made over the middle and it was a little bit behind him, and you know it makes it a good play. I didn't love it, and you guys, I think all were

up there disagreed. I didn't love the ejection there. I didn't think that was a play that needs to be ejected from the game. But um, I thought it was pretty dirty. He launched him, yeah, like he like that. He lined him up and then went to get him. That play didn't hit him in the head, though, Yeah, that's beside the point. The guy was. I mean, defenseless receiver is not necessarily about the head. You know, I guess I just hate the defenseless receiver thing when you

when you're running a slam over the middle. I mean, I don't just don't know how you're gonna be defenseless. You know it's coming, Well, you're defenseless because you're you're looking back at the ball. And so what they what they're trying to take out of the game, and what I think what they've tried, what they actually have taken out of the game is you cannot a guy that's looking back at the ball. It's the same thing as

on kickcosts or whatever guy's looking somewhere else. They don't want guys getting lined up to basically take the guy out when he's not paying attention what's happening in front of That's what Jason Garrett was talking about the other day, a kind of you know, a walk off. And I don't think this was his words exactly, but he was just basically saying that if you're not looking like and then you get hit, like, are we gonna are we

gonna help you out for being a dumbass? I mean, I don't think he said it just like that, but it's just like you're gonna be paying attention. Yeah, no, and it's but that's the thing. It's not paying attention as much as it is. The ball's coming, so you're kind of looking. You're looking, definitely looking at the ball, so you can't look at two things at one time. And again this is this was you know, we all grew up in a in a with an NFL where that meant that you were looking back at the ball.

And so a defensive back new, I get a free shot on this guy. They're taking it. They're taking that out of the game. It's just not gonna be a part of the game anymore. Good safety play is one of my favorite things in football, Like Edward Brian Dawkins,

like those you know, Troy Paul Malu, love those guys. Yeah, but there's a different Like you can put a big hit on a guy going over the middle without like launching yourself at him like a projectile and like actively trying to murder him, which is what I thought that what happened on that play. So I think you can make a hit on a guy I like. I hate if it's just a good, nice hit and you get flagged for it. I hate that. But I thought that was a dirty hit. So now, what's the update on

the injury. Last time he's in concussion. Um, so we'll see. I mean, they're probably not going to rush him, especially not during training camp. They can't rush him. So yeah, something to keep an eye him to Hawaii before Yeah, probably because he probably all right, Well, let's take our first break. When we come back, we'll keep talking about this first preseason game. And you know, we got a taste from Travis Frederick and we'll get into how he

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it out and put it to the test. The Cowboys did when they named John Deer their official tractor experience one for yourself. Visit my John dear Dealer dot com slash Football Back to the Break Welcome back. All right, so let's just dive right into it. Jobs Frederick with it see him as center during with the first theme, Did you guys get a chance to look at him and evaluate and get a little taste of where he's at at this point? I didn't really notice a lot

from him. I didn't. Again, that's center as one of those positions where that's okay. I think there was one play right off the bat that he kind of he seemed like a guy got upfield on him. But for the most part, I did okay. He got into the game and they marched down field and he was okay and he felt fine afterward. Nine plays against live competition on the next one, and I knew he would be out there too. I thought, sure he would. Are you asking some questions after game? And I was standing there

when you did the interview. Just talk a little bit about what he was talking about, like, you know, sometimes you kind of I guess the questioning was more geared to having to get back in the flow and what's it like to have to give But what what's the hardest part of that? Talk about what he was saying to you. I was asking him, you know, what is the process like after a year away from the game to where this just kind of feels like muscle memory, to where you just sort of know it, like in

your bones and you're not thinking about it. And he was just talking, you know, it's it's a gradual process, which you know, he made the good point that made me feel kind of silly. He was like, that's that's anybody like, obviously it's something that I've got to do coming back from a year away from the game. But you know, you have to kind of reteach yourself that just taking a regular off season off when you haven't you know, you take nine months off every offseason. Even

OTAs aren't a good substitute for that. So he was taking me through just kind of the mental aspect of like, Okay, I need to be moving this way, I need to be in this gap when there's two guys over here. And honestly, like talking to Travis Frederick about football will humble you real quick because you're just like, oh my god, this guy knows stuff that I couldn't ever hope the process and then he has to know it and execute

it in about a quarter of a second. And that was the interesting part to me, is it sounded like what he was saying was the speed of having to remember, recall and execute was the part that takes a little time to get used to, like literally making his calls, the speed of being able to realize what his call needs to be and making the call, the speed of realizing, oh, I need to be in this gap and getting there, Like that's the part that he's having to reacclimate himself to.

It's not knowing it is the recall and the execution in shorter time. Travis Frederick knows more about what he's supposed to be doing than anybody but that, but it also tells you how fast that stuff happens. That he's having to adapt to getting faster at that right, you have to turn it from knowing what you're supposed to be doing flawlessly doing it in a very short amount of time. It's not a physical thing. From what he's saying, It felt like more of a mental thing for him

that he's having to adjust to it. So he definitely needs two more games, don't you think. I mean a couple more series in the second game. I think maybe the first half of the third game, assuming assuming good health for everybody, knock on woo. You remember last year the preseason got totally derailed because Zach got hurt. You want to be careful with Tyrn and all of a sudden, nobody's playing in the dress rehearsal because it's not worth

it to get your quarterback killed. But assuming good health, I think they'll just go on a straight line, like, you know, play the first quarter on Saturday in Honolulu, and then play after halftime when you get back, and then said everybody for the fourth one, although broad Us made the good point like do you consider doing the dress rehearsal now because of travel schedules and all that good stuff, Like they're gonna take this week in Hawaii.

The practice, they're gonna take two days off after they get home from Honolulu. That'll give them three days to kind of practice and get their stuff in order for whoever, who is the is it Tampa, the third is Houston. So Brian was trying to make the point that you don't have a super long to really get ready for this third game, so maybe it's better to just knock the dress rehearsal out now. But I don't think en if I'm buying, yeah, I don't think they would do that.

Maybe maybe it's not a bad idea, but I don't know that they would do that. I think you see the starters for the first quarter on Saturday and a little bit after halftime on when they play Houston. Right. So, now, an area that we said we were gonna be looking at during this game was the defensive line and Taco Charlton how he was performing some of those defensive ends. Did you notice something that motivates you from Taco during

that game? Ahead? No, I thought Taco played, Okay, I thought is comments after the game were even better because the thing about honestly, I think he was like exercising a lot of just whatever at that moment, like a lot of stuff just yeah, a lot of stuff probably just came out that he's probably been thinking that he hadn't really had a chance to voice. Basically, what he was saying was, look, I've I've given up trying to

get people's approval U at this point. The way I feel about it is, you know, I just gotta do what I'm supposed to do. My guys got my back. I'm gonna keep trying hard and hopefully everything works out to the you know, the best that it can possibly be. But um, I don't know. I thought it was refreshing to hear him talk like that, and I'm about the part where he was talking about how his agent sets

the tone. Yeah, well, you know, to me, that was to me, that was just kind of him pointing to at some point, I'm gonna be a free agent, and if I do the things I'm supposed to do, then I'll still be in control and I'll have the last laugh at all of this is the way I took it. I mean, you tell me what you I didn't. I honestly, I didn't really understand it. I was like, is he talking, He's saying like his agent's gonna help him get a trade, or like his agent's gonna help him. He's gonna be

up here in what another year to years too? H well, two seasons if you count this one. So I mean, I mean they don't pick up his option. Yeah, So I mean I just think he's probably like, look, I can't I can't control what people think of me. I ultimately can just go out and do what I can do on the field. We'll see what happens. The line he said, if when I play when I when I play good, people think it's bad. When I play bad,

people think it's terrible. Ye, like, which is probably true right now, and that it's part of that is his own doing, because he hasn't been great up until this, you know, hold on, give the fans and everybody a little bit more credit when when he does good and people people don't think that's bad. Like, so I would say this, expectations for good. I will say this. I think I hear what he means is like when he

does good. Like you know, he got a sack the other day and I was taking video of it and somebody behind me yelled finally, right, like that's the point, not that it's bad. But like even when he does well, it's like thanks, well, thanks for something. Yeah, it's like

it's just I don't know. And I think even out here, and that's a good example, but I think just throughout his play out here, like he never been some days he's been pretty good, and I think most people buying large is kind of like, uh okay, yeah, okay, And I just he's not gonna get the benefit of the doubt as the point, so he's gonna have to play really,

really well because he's not gonna get the benefit. Now, it's a first world problem, but I feel, you know, I feel for him because the only way to win, the only way to win in that situation is to play well like that, that's the only way you can play really well. Yeah, that's just good. Great. I hope it's true that he let that stuff go, because like if you follow, if you're on social media and stuff like, you can tell that stuff has gotten to him in the past. That's got to be rough for any player.

So I hope, I hope he's right that he's put that behind. You know, that's probably the first time a lot of these guys have to deal with that because in college. In college, you don't get that same level. Even at schools like yours where fans are very much involved, you don't get that same level level Texas. But I was I know because you know, because you're you're one

of those fans for LSU. But I mean my point is that it's like you don't get that level of vitriol in college, Like that's not that's not what you get. It's not until you get to the NFL where people that are fans of your team will be like you sung usually like if you're good enough to be a first round pick, you were a baller at your college, so you know people aren't hating on you. Yeah, and you can have a bad game in college and people

are like sor right. You know, It's funny when you go into the locker room after the game and things have changed over the years, but every single one of those guys when you walk in is looking at their phone. And I'm sure I'm sure they got a lot of text messages too, but they're probably looking at Twitter and looking at their mentions and seeing who's talking about him. I get notifications for half the players on the team, Like they started popping off before the media is even

allowed in. It's like the first thing they do. Some of them, not everybody, but yeah, it's one of them that here anymore. True. Yeah, he's notorious for it's on the bus, just going crazy with his things. A lot less exciting with his wife. Get in there a little bit. She'll get in there and defend his man um. So who would be someone else from the D line that you notice that's twoed out yesterday? I'll put off Carrie Hyder. He played Oh my god, he murdered that guy, but

he played pretty well. I mean, I don't think any of us disagree. I think he's gonna be on this team, just a matter of what role he is gonna play. I mean, I think he's played well out here during practices, and I think he was good in the game. I think the Quinn suspension just kind of solidified his spot to be here, you know, at least at least for that, you know, for a couple of weeks. Um and and those other guys. I mean, I don't know if both

Joe Jackson and Jalen Jokes can make this team. No, I don't see where right now because is gonna make it. Where are you going. I think Jolkes had the sack, but I think if you had, if you had to pick right now, I think it would be Joe Jackson. I think he's been better all around. For he's he's one of those dirty work guys like he can, he can play the run, he's he's good in pursuit. You know he hasn't he hasn't been as great of a pass rusher as others, but wide rounded guy. You might

have to keep them both. I really think you might have to and then figure something out when you get to the when Quinn comes back. How many d Lineman you're keeping twenty let's look at it. I think eleven is like eleven is as men As is the absolute max. And got Woods, Crawford Malik, I'm not gonna go Tacco yet. Um D L D Law. That's four Armstrong, Tristan Hill, Robert, he doesn't count. Get Robert Quinn right now? Okay? Um Hyder yep? Where are we at? Seven? Did you get

Christian Covington Covington? Okay? Eight? Did you get in? You got Antoine Woods? Yeah? Taco Taco on there? And did you say Hyder no? Yeah, he did it? Hider so here here it is. I got nine guys, and I've got three three players for two spots. If we go with eleven, and those three players I think right now would be Joe Jackson, Daniel Wise, Jalen Jones. I'm glad you mentioned why is because that's who I was gonna bring up next, which I don't want to just completely

rip off Brian's notebook. You should go read it on the website if you haven't. But um, he was raving about Daniel Wise and Ricky Walker too for that matter. Who walk Ricky Walker is? You know, no offense to him. He is probably like the most forgotten man at this camp, Like he's he's the last in line on the most loaded position. But he made a good accounting of himself in the game. But Wise, to me is really interesting because it seems like he's got some juice as a

three technique. They've put him on the edge a little bit out here, so he's got that position flex we love to talk so much about. I thought he played well somebody something yeah, something, but something. You know, I got three more games something You're probably gonna happen to shake it out. I mean we I mean it couldn't have played out any more perfectly than it did with the receivers like John Vay all day and then he had a terrible game like it and you know it

was lancelin Or all over again. He had two drops, he did rebound, he had some nice catches. But you know, we go into the game like, man, how they're gonna there's so many amazing receivers and you come out of the game and you're like, just get the only guy that played well? Is it can cussed? Like that's that's that's where Yeah, that's where we're at right now. Yeah, we say all this stuff, and they're gonna claim a guy that gets cut and they'll have him a fifth,

sixth receiver. That's also the thing, like you start getting to those other guys, and like we talked about earlier, like every team has one or two of those guys in their camp that they're like, I don't know how they gotta keep this guy. You don't want to expose him. And everybody's got one of those young guys that's kind of flashing a little bit. I will say, though, I do wonder like every year there's a receiver and everybody's always concerned that he won't make it to the practice squad,

and he does. But if you, if you, if you're flashing something as a pass rusher, I do think that's different. I agree with you don't want to expose, right, it's the receivers that I'm talking about that And when I say every team has one of them at the receiver position, I think every team has one or two guys at camp that's like flashing. Every single team has a receiver and a running back that they're like, I don't know

how you get into. Yeah, but if Daniel Wise or Ricky Walker or Joe Jackson or Jalen Jokes, Like, if those guys keep this up and you really feel that type of way about him, it's not worth the risk to expose them to the waiver wire. Now, let's go ahead and tap into the whole safety position, which is a position we on this show are known to talk about for several years now. With the guys that Chris Rushard has been training and coaching. Who would be a guy that kind of stood out to you in that

regard safety? Yeah, safety Donovan Wilson with the pick obvious one. Yeah, aside from him, anybody else you know, who's twenty three Thompson, Darian Thompson and C. J. Goodwin. You know those guys are interesting just because you know that their special teams plays. What's what's keeping them kind of around or keeping them on the forefront. I guess could that affect the Galla Cavon Frasier, I think so. I you don't really know.

A couple plays there in a in a row. He kind of got trucked a little bit and one of them was a touchdown. Um, And I don't know if Loca too. I mean, I wouldn't know if you had if you had to pick it right now, though, you gotta have a backup safety. Yeah, that's with some experience. Do you want Frasier? I think if if a kid's special teams got too, If Cavan makes this team and I want him to, it will be because he's a

special teams ace core guy. Like, I don't think you're keeping him with the expectation that he's gonna do a lot at safety for you. He's been declining and it's like to me, he has started fading away a little bit. He he's not doing much as he used to. And then again he I guess last year he was hurt right like here and there. He was always with a little something. And earlier this camp didn't he have. Yeah, he came in. He had a knee procedure in the spring that he was coming off of. But I mean

he's he's out there, he's practicing. He yes, he is, but it's just I don't know it. No, you don't notice him as much. Well, he's at that point in his career in my opinion, where he's got to be clearly better than the younger guy. Because it's at that point where it's like, okay, well we can kind of keep getting what we're getting from him, or we can go with the younger guy that can give us a similar production. But and so that that's what makes it

harder for him. As he keeps getting older, it makes it harder for him just to be that guy. He's got to take that next step. I will say. You know, again, this coaching staff loves veterans who know what they're doing. Though, you know, I mean, if if Keith O'Quinn feels like he can play all the teams and get his assignments right and if he needs to, he can do some

stuff on defense, that might be valuable to them. And you know, every team's got to Every team has a safety on the roster who like, well, if he learns how to cover, we could have something here. So but they have other guys that are core special teams guys. I mean, they know Heath is a good special teams player. Olali is a good special like. They got other guys here that are good special teams players. So I don't

know that he's like they're a special teams guy. It would not surprise me if the roster crunch catches up with him, which would bum me out because I love him to death. It's a great guy. I just I know that as you get older in the NFL, that's it's a young man's game. If you're not providing something significantly better than the younger guy, take a stop to take a moment to consider you're calling a twenty five or six year old old old. Absolutely, that's the nature

of the NFL. How does that make you feel? It's different? Really, we had to go there for us. I'm being nice. Now, I don't just say it. I ask a question. Now, how about like that strategy? Yeah? I like that strategy? Real which this is I guess this is my fault because I started the show off by whining about the Kicker, which I don't regret, but it's it seems harsh that we've gone this far into the show and nobody brought up Blake Jarwin. Actually I wanted to bring him up

as a guy that played well, played really well. He really and I still I really like him. I stand by my belief that he's going to have to work really hard to take snaps away from Jason Witten. I I gotta see that to believe it. But he looked nice, and he looks like a guy who could be really valuable in a scheme where the offensive coordinator knows how

to use him. The more I've thought about it, though, I don't know that he has to take him away from him, because I think the one thing I know about the scene they love they love to tight end plenty of so he's gonna get on the field a lot. And I'm what I'll be interested to see is sometimes when they're in twelve personnel, they'll keep one tight end

back to extra to have an extra blocker. I wonder how that transition works, like because it up a little bit more and Blake's going out, Like, let's keep an eye on that, because that'll be something that'll that'll be a tear. You won't see it in the number of snaps, but you will see it in the number of times that Blake's going out versus going out. I saw that. You know, it was a really first It was a

really nice play action, which yeay, play action. That's exciting. Um. He ran a crossing route and got behind the linebackers and it was a nice pickup. But the play that actually got me really excited was not even a catch. Um. He went down the seam and Cooper Rush missed him. I think he might have drawn a flag. Cooper Rush missed him down the scene, but he was there and he made a nice effort to get try to get it, and I was like, yes, send the athletic tight end

fifteen to twenty yards down the field. That's what we need to be doing. So that. It was exciting just to see that, and I think he's capable of making plays like that. He did it in the Giants game last year. I'm I'm intrigued. I'm very intrigued by mister Jarwin. Let's go ahead and take our final break. When we come back, we need to dive into the backup quarterback position,

Cooper Rush or Mike White. We well, a player can 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 more than just specs and features. You've got to take it out and put it to the test. The Cowboys did when they named John Dear their official tractor experience one for yourself. Visit

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be on the field with America's team. Find steps and hats in the pro shop or at Stetson Calm Today. Back to the Break, Welcome back. This is the final segment of the Break, and unfortunately for Dave, we do have to talk about these backup quarterbacks. Cooper Rush Mike White both got a previous cinemon of place in the game. Uh, let's just start off with the one that did better,

Cooper Rush. Yeah, I mean he he did a nice job out there, and he you know, threw a few good balls around and you know, I thought he's he's uh, he took a step forward because and it was two steps ahead because then Mike White took a huge step back. So yeah, a lot of people were like sending me messages and saying, well, you know, it looks like there's a roster spot there. There's two quarterbacks because that guy's

not gonna make the team. I tried to I tried to help Mike out because from my perspective, like I was sitting there, I was like, this guy doesn't have any time, Like he's getting killed. He's with the third team. Blah blah blah. It to me. You know, I'm not I'm not a guru. It didn't it didn't look like he had a lot to work with. So I go to Brian. I was like, you watched it back, like yeah.

I was like, like he didn't have time, right. He was like, oh no, Dave, like he he had all the time he needed, like he he won't throw the ball. I'm like, well, crap, all right, I don't have for Brian to be like, man, I was wrong about that. That was a guy, Brian. If you want to hear somebody just go off on themselves, Like nobody hates Brian more than he hates himself when it comes to evaluating quarterbacks. Like Joey Harrington was his guy that didn't work out.

He had a third round grade on Mike White, which he's we're not burying the guy yet, but not a great start to think. But either, oh, Paxton Lance, Yeah, that was his favorite. He liked him more than wins and gone. And even when you talk about the fumble, like, that's still on the quarterback. He's gonna share up. And in that instance, I didn't think he necessarily need to step up when he did. But even if he felt like he needed to, he's still got to protect the ball.

That's his responsibility to protect the ball when he's having to go through the line, and he didn't. And so that regardless of what you think about whether he held the ball or should have got rid of it or had time or whatever, you still got a responsibility as a quarterback hold onto the ball and he didn't. Did you feel better? Do you feel better about Cooper Rush than you did on Saturday afternoon? Actually? I do? I

think I do too, Actually I do. And I'm interested to see I'd like to see, you know, I'd really like to see is I'd like to see him work with the ones in a preseason game for a little bit, just to see what would he do if he were in a game and Dad goes down and he's got he's got to play. I want to see what he looks like behind that line with those weapons. Can he still move him down the field, because that's really what the job is is if the quarterback goes down, can

you fill in as the backup quarterback. I haven't really seen anything that suggests me either one of them is necessarily ready for that, but I'd love to see it, just so I can start get an opinion. That's what Parcels did for Roma. Remember two thousand and five, he said, all right, I'm just gonna let this guy take the

whole game, and bledso wasn't really happy about it. But I mean, I don't know if you would want to do that and get your offensive line, I'll started writing on the wall, right, yeah, but I mean, yeah, it's a little I mean but but the difference there is that you're thinking, maybe he's going to be a future and you're about to sign Dac to do all that. So, uh, I don't know if I if he goes that for you know, far, I think you just had to see

it when you see it. When it's unfortunately, if that happens, where he has to go in the game, but I thought he did a pretty good job. This is the question I've been asking myself, and my goal for the week is to ask it to an important person off the record now, like I'm sorry, more important than you, like you know, VPS type of importance, like that type of stuff. But at what point, there's like a there's

a line here. At what point are your backup quarterbacks so bad that a guy that has no familiarity with your scheme or anything is better? You know what I mean? Because when it comes when you're when it comes down to it, they're gonna say Cooper Rush or or Mike White whatever. This guy's been here for two years. He knows the offense, he knows Kellen, he knows Dak, he does this, he does that, he knows our calls, he knows our plays. So he's better, Like he might not

be better, but it's a negligible difference. So how much better does somebody else's guy have to be to where You're like, I don't care that he doesn't know anything about this team. Get him in here. And I don't know the answer that, Like I have my doubts that a quarterback that will be made available at roster cuts is going to be that much of an improvement, I think, because if he is, and he wouldn't be available, right, I think it comes down to he has to come

in and play. So I think the question of that is when that guy actually needs to come play. So are you going to just bring a guy in to be a backup quarterback? I don't know, but if if you have, I think if Dak were to get hurt, I think that you didn't, that's when you would say, all right, this guy's gonna come in here and play. We gotta get him ready. Maybe plays, but at some point you have to. I think that's that's kind of

been the mantra the last year, maybe two. But I think it's some point you got to get to a point where you're like, Okay, we have a backup quarterback for a reason, and if he's here, then he is that person that's going to play. It's not gonna be a well he's our guy that we're kind of getting ready for that day. But but at what point is he's like ready to be your backup your head coach

that's here has actually lived it. So he was the backup quarterback until Troy really got hurt and then all of a sudden they had to go get someone else. If Dad gets hurt, it's gonna be twenty fifteen all over again. Like they'll do it. They'll do a trade for somebody, or they'll convince Josh McCown to come out of retirement. They'll pay him a nice salary. To me, that begs the question, then is he really a backup

quarter Like, well, he's not a backup quarterback? Question, he's a I mean he is because he can do that stuff and he helps you practice and stuff. But like, I don't believe either one of these guys would be their answer if they needed him for a long time. You mentioned, but I mean, what are you What are you gonna do? Well, get get the guy that get the guy that you think actually is going to be your backup quarterback, because if it comes down to it, I want that guy here as much time as possible.

Is that you're you're saying he's gonna magically be available at the time. Then what I'm trying to tell you in nice terms is that they're screwed if the starter gets hurt. But they will, if it comes down to it, they will do something desperate to help themselves because like, they don't need Josh McCown here right now, but if they don't have a quarterback, they will and they'll say, we'll give you ten million dollars to come try to bail.

I guess that's my point is so if if you think that's the case, then get him here now, is my opinion. Why wouldn't you just why would it because you don't need him right I don't need him right now? Is it good? No? But like it's there's only it'll be better if he's been here and he has to play. Then if you bring him in off the street and he's got him, you're not gonna give a guy like that that kind of money just in case like not,

I mean, like there are teams to pay their backup quarterback. Yeah, that's a long term plan, and you could make the argument they should have a better option, and they probably will next year, like next year, unless something crazy happens and Mike White becomes the savior or Cooper Rush for that matter. You guys don't think do you guys think

that Cooper Rush has the ability to get there? Like do you think his trajectory will get him to the point where he is legitimately your back up and you feel like he is the guy who's gonna lead you in the event your starter goes down. No, not really, but because that's why I'm saying, didn't. You're just spinning

your wheels. What's the point We're not they're not spinning the wheels, Like they don't have a way to upgrade that position right now short of like doing something crazy, you know what I mean, Like you could try to draft another one next year or sign an undrafted free agent next year, Like I don't. I don't know what you do about it right now, And that's kind of

my point. I mean, they did that. They drafted a quarterback in the fifth round that they thought was was a good quarterback, that thought at this point he should definitely be better than Cooper Rush. And it hasn't happened. Ye, yeah, and it didn't work. There's there's not a whole lot you can do about it right now. Like some quarterbacks will become available when camp is over, but again, like will they be drastic upgrades? I guess it would be interesting.

Maybe they'll do a Kellen Moore type of thing. You know, Kellen Moore got here on the practice squad. If you'll remember, he was Lenahan's guy, like maybe Kellen Moore, like somebody, and they'll bring in a guy like, hey, maybe we can work with this guy and see what he's got. It's not out of the realm possibility. No one's gonna ever think Cooper Rush can do it until he has to do it. I mean, you're just not gonna ever think that way. I don't think so. You've got none

of you guys think think that way. But if he were to get her and he they're down by seven to the Eagles, and he goes and drives him down and wins the game, and then in overtime he goes and they win the game, We're gonna be thinking completely different about this guy. Da Prescott, Dak Prescott. He's an exact example because we all thought they were crazy when they say it, we're just gonna roll with him. It's like, really, yeah, Jamille Showers is better than this guy. You're just gonna

roll with him. Yeah, Okay, I mean everybody was seeing Glad get somebody off the street do not roll, and they went with it and it worked. So yeah, that's just what's gonna take but maybe that just doesn't happen. Maybe Dak just plays. I mean, Dak's Dak's built like a tank, not doing anything, but you can throw it and running can catch. He did catch. He did catch.

I was gonna say this. This isn't necessarily about the quarterback, but it's just something I've been mulling over since Saturday night.

I haven't run numbers on it, but just anecdotally having watched all of their preseason games for five years, Like when you get into the second half of these games and it's just backups playing street ball with each other basically, Like why it just seems like the Cowboys are always like overmatched, Like it seriously looked like they get their butts killed by the time third teams were in there.

It was like you did it felt like that it happens all the time, like it happened last year, Like it is a normal thing for the Cowboys to not score touchdowns in the preseason, Like that's just a thing that happens. I feel like, and I wonder why, Like is the other team scheming? Like are they trying harder at scheming? And the Cowboys are kind of like we just kind of want to see him in a natural environment, because that's what Garrett always says. He just kind of

wants to roll the ball out there. Maybe the other team is trying harder to scheme stuff up because we sit here all the time and talk how deep this roster is, Well, it doesn't look very deep when the third stringers are just getting bullied. And that's it looked like the third team offense. Their first first down that wasn't a penalty came on that it was the final drive where they tried to go tie the game, Like that's when they got their first first down of the half.

Were they trying to tie the game or try to air quotes tie the game? Where I think they would have I think they would have kicked the extra point, And that's that is peak preseason. You're like, well, we'd rather see our kicker try an extra point than tie this game. He would be crucified with any decision that

he went. He'd Jason if he would have tried to tie the game in overtime to force overtime for preseason, but if he also just kicked it and said, and how many people would say, you don't even care about winning? This guy? That is just a chance. The vast majority of intelligent fans would say, good, get mahers some work kicking extra. There are plenty of stupids, of course, there are plenty of stupids who would be like, you play

to win the game. Like the number of tweets I got on Saturday night that was like, I know it's preseason, but I want to win. Damn it. I'm like, how are you? How do you still feel? No, no, it's preseason, but stop, I know it's preseason. Well, I will say this about the offensive line in particular, like they had some guys out there playing into the fourth quarter that were guys that might be starting for this team due

to you know, injuries or whatever. Like, there are some guys out there they had played that have started for this team in the past. Um. And you know, particularly Xavier stuel Filo, he had some he had some tough moments out there in the fourth quarter. Yeah, I personally was wondering whether he was, you know, really physically ready to play a full game, Like he basically played a full game out there. Um. But so if you're just talking about this talent level, there was cowboys at talent

level out there. They just for whatever reason, in the fourth quarter looked like they were getting it. I just a little bit for what For whatever reason, in the fourth quarter of these preseason games, it often looks like the Cowboys are not playing football on offense specifically, like the defense. You know, I expect, I expect growing pains from rookie dbs and stuff like that. But often I'm just like, but is it also maybe the coordinate And now every team does this, so it's not like the

Cowboys are different. We think maybe it's about the fact that, particularly offensive line, these guys don't really play together, like they haven't developed the chemistry of a line. And if you listen to people talk about football, I mean, the offensive line is all about coordination, right, It's it's kind of working together as five the forty nine ers, I mean, they didn't look amazing, but they were competently moving the ball down field. That's and that's all I said. Every

team has to do it. I'm just saying like, maybe for the Cowboys, maybe the fact that you know, maybe there's something to that, because like I said, I don't think it was the talent level, but you're right, it does feel like that and start get into the second half in these preseason games, and the Cowboys just seem like, yeah, it's just not a great time for them in the preseas.

It happens all the time. I mean, I think last year they lost twenty four to twenty one, but all of those points came earlier in the game, and the forty nine ers, remember, like, came back. Yeah, same thing I think when when they opened the that game in the Coliseum against the Rams, Like the Cowboys ran up ten nothing in the first like five minutes, and then the Rams came back and won at the end because the Cowboys didn't score after the first teamers got out

of the game. It's curious. It's interesting because even me when I was watching the game, you know, I'm like, okay, well, it's the third team for the Cowboys. I'm like, okay, wait a second, it's also the third team for my old crap. For the record, I really don't care. It's preseason football, but like, it is weird that it just kind of all falls apart when the third team goes in, like all the time for this team. I don't know. Now we have a few minutes left on the show.

After watching this first preseason game, what is something that you're going to be keeping an eye on this week? Brett Maher Brett Maher, I think one of these receivers has to step up. I'm not. I'm not sure the fifth and sixth guy is actually on this team right now. I really no. I mean, like Dave said, that's weird to say because I've been talking about receivers for Browns on this team. But okay, yeah, I think Noah Browns, maybe maybe the six receivers on on here and maybe

they don't keep six. I don't know. I've just been trying to do the roster here, and um, I thought I could get to fifty three, but I don't know if you need six wide receivers maybe. I mean I kind of think that John Vay Johnson uh and Cedric Wilson are kind of battling for that six spot if

they're going to have a six spot. I'm not I'm not trying to bury anybody after one game, but like, yeah, I had that thought too, Nick, where I was just like, I've been sitting here thinking about six receivers, like do they really need it? Like so, but gallup Cooper a lot more, a lot more opportunities I would like to have a sixth one because, uh, you know, is Tavon gonna step in and really handle a big workload if somebody gets hurt, is he going to be You're inactive though?

Whoever that six or six receiver? Probably yeah and all And every year we fret about it, and every year guys get through to the practice squad and that'll probably. There's no spot on this roster for three quarterbacks, right, There's just not. There's too many positions. You have a

hard time having to cut down. Right. The only way you're gonna get three quarterbacks, I think is if, like we said, something happened to that and then Cooper and then then you gotta get I mean, something happens let's say like four weeks or something and then short time. Yeah, but I mean I'm going through the roster and I'm trying to get eleven eleven defensive It is tough because I'm just trying to go to nine defensive backs. And that's tough too. I don't know how you go nine

defensive backs. The defense is where it gets hard because they're linebackers. Yeah, but they well, now that Gifford's hurt, maybe, but they love their linebackers. Yeah, you know, we didn't talk about forty four linebackers. Yeah, Justin Phillips came in for Gifford and played really very well. He was he's the guy they cut right before camp and then when they another guy, was it not Innate Hall? Who was

the other guy they cut? Um? Well, they released Andrew down, got hurt, brought him back Phillips, and I thought he played real well. It was everywhere. We were like joking with Rob, like, you know Phillips on the tackle, Phillips on the play, were like, Rob, you know you're playing great, but I say you got some bad bag. Yeah. Injury really, injury really does create opportunity. It does like you can go yeah, like they didn't even bring him to camp, and now maybe he's got a shot to be there.

While Gifford recovers, yeah, well, the guys are walking out for the walkthrough. I think that's our cute to say good back to you guys listening. Thank you so much for tuning in this for what's your name? Nicki And now I'm just kidding for Nicki Man, Derek Ingleton, David Hellman, I remember Garcia, how this has been the break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.