Cowboys Break: Raising the Bar?

twenty twenty two, season eighteen, episode number seventy five. Welcome to the latest edition of the Break Life Nest WBC Mortgage Studios at the Start, presented by Miller Lite, the only beer of the Dallas Cowboys. And although a lot of us throughout the building thought the Cowboys would get a win this last weekend, I don't think anybody predicted the beatdown that we watched yesterday. Cowboys win over the

Minnesota Vikings forty to three. I'm not gonna say, probably their most dominating win in quite a long time, certainly this season, against what is or what many believed to be one of the better teams in the NFC. We'll break it all down for you here over the next forty five minutes. We might even get into a little bit of Giants talk. We got a short week this week, coming up with a Thanksgiving Day game against the Giants.

So let's dive in. Let's go around the table. Let's start where we start on Monday's give me your big picture storyline, because there were lots of things that came out of this game. But what big picture six with you following this game? Nicholas start, Well, big picture, the Cowboys are a team that can compete and make a run for a Super Bowl, as Jerry said, Yeah, and that's the big picture. That's where the bar has been raised. Now. The bar has been raised because they went out and

I only know one way to say it. They played a perfect game. It was a perfect football game against a team that had the best record in the league at that time. They don't anymore, but they did, and it was a perfect game on the road. They just dominated in every facet And so now you know, to me, that's where it's like, Okay, well we've seen it then, we've seen it in Minnesota. Play like that where you can put it all together, you know that's they can go.

And if they play like that, you can beat anybody. You can beat anybody any place. If you play like that, Yeah, I mean, this is this is how the Cowboys should be playing football every time this they step on a field. I mean, it's very impressive. And it was very impressive

on the offensive side of the ball. And I know we're gonna break it down and all that, but to think we were just recently, you know, talking about the wide receivers and all that, and then you see a game where you can use a guy like Tony Polter. He freaking balled out, balled out running the ball and catching the ball. So it's just very very impressive. And like Nick said, now you can't take a step backward.

It's like you gotta keep it up. And maybe not every week scoring you know, forty points and all that and shutting the other team to just three points, but now you gotta you have to maintain it. And you mentioned super Bowl, and I was going to ask you there when you said big picture. We're talking big picture super Bowl big picture or if you want to go there. No, no, no, But I love it, love their energy and love the

way they responded after a loss against Green Bay. They're capable of beating really good teams and losing the bad teams. That's that's you know. I mean you can you could say that the Green Bay game that should have been a win. You know that that's which. You know, teams that are gonna win championships find ways along the way to win those games. You know, whether you're however your

competition is, and they're capable. They're capable, like we're talking about here, playing very well at a high level, making somebody one dimensional, putting pressure on them, you know, playing to their strengths, using the running back as a wide receiver. You know, those are all the things that are capable of doing. You know, the week before they didn't do that. They lined up off sides, they held, they made mistakes, they gave up big plays in the running game, they

gave up big pass plays. You know, they're capable. That That's what proved to me, if you want to know a big picture, that's that's the team that's what they should be, not the team that could play to the level of the team you know that that aren't very good, and so you know, yeah, I hope, I hope this is the start of more consistency with how this team needs to play every week in order to win a championship.

That's the aspirations. You know, they're clearly capable of doing it. Yeah, you look at this offense and I think you know you We'll talk about the defense in just a second. But offensively, they scored on their first seven possessions. It was score after score after score after score. What do you guys think was the key to their offense? Being able to move the ball so effortlessly down the field and doing it in a lot of different way. He's

using a lot of different weapons. Well, I don't know if this is the time to say it, but I will say it. I think lost in all of the you know, Pollard and Parsons and Maha and all that, I think Dak's coming back now, Like this is Dak. This type of game was what we've been asking for. Get off my back. You're not gonna sack me. You're not big enough to sack me. I'm gonna roll over here, I'm gonna run out. I'm gonna get it. You know, I'm gonna say twelve thirteen yards just by making a play.

I'm gonna fly around over here. I'm gonna fake you here. I was faked on one play. I was like, why is Pollard not running? He's you know, it was because Dak had the ball, you know, Dad, and then and then then you throw twenty two out of twenty five, and that you could not throw the past to Pollard even better for that sixty eight yard I mean that was perfect. But he did he was back to him. I mean he ran the ball. I mean three for sixteen yards. That doesn't really do it justice. I don't

think of what he was doing running the ball. So you throw it like that running, I think Dad, you know, and it all starts with Dak, But I think Dak was kind of back to vintage him again. Yeah. Another thing to help Dac, I think was that offensive line. They've done a really good job. They've they've proven that they can run block when they absolutely have to. And Minnesota, you know that Minnesota's got two legitimate pass rushers and they were able to hold up on the edges. That

wasn't a problem. You know, they had a couple of times on some big plays, some throws made. Zeke stepped up on one on a blitz pickup that went for a big play. Polar got run over, but he stepped up and made a big blitz pickup. You know, this offensive line is starting to kind of figure some things out, and you know, all year long, it's it's and we got some questions at center and questions that left guard,

and maybe some questions at right tackle. As a group, they're playing really really well right now and that and last night was a really good example of when they can get things going in the running game and then it helps so much as the passing game too. I'll tell you another thing that was big in this football game, and the reason why we talked about going to get Odell Beckham was to go get a guy that could snatch the football makee plays. He had receivers snatching the

football yesterday and that game. That's the difference. When the slants are run, ball high, gallup, goes up, gets it inside, tough catch and all that. You had guys going to get the football yesterday, and that's that's gonna make a big difference going forward. You want to keep, you know, keep pressure on opponents, find ways to make tough catches in traffic and when you have to extend or you get coverage and maybe the ball is a little off,

go get it. They did that yesterday. Offensive line wide receivers making plays in the outside I thought was really big in that game. Yeah, I have to go back and watch the game. There are a lot of things that I feel like I missed because by the time I was making a graphic and being done, I look up, They're already making another place. So I could hardly keep up with what was going on. They were playing so well. But to me, credit to Kellen Moore and what he did.

I mean, I thought he They just played so much smarter. They played to their strength. I thought the combination between the passing game like Dak wouldn't have I don't think he would have played such a good game had he not been for the running game and how he was working as well. Credit to them figuring out how do you utilize Zeke and Tony Poller. I thought they did

a really good job. There were a couple of plays where okay, the exception, but in general you could see this is when you need a guy like Zeke to come in. This is when you need a guy explosive, dynamic like Tony Pollard to carry the ball. So I just think they just played to their strength and played smarter. Yeah, and you look at the numbers yesterday with Zeke and Pollo, Zeke had fifteen carriage for forty two yards two point eight average, two touchdowns, and I think the two touchdowns

are key. Polo had fifteen carriage for eighty yards five point three average. And if you do what what Brian talks about, I call him zekerd the combination of the two and two. One. You had thirty carriage, one hundred and twenty two yards and two touchdowns. Like that's what you want, is that two of them combined. Yeah, you don't have to you don't have to have one or the other. You got buck, and when you've got both,

you can do what they did yesterday. And you could see the variety of what you can get out of. You can get a sixty eight yard touchdown pass where a guy runs a will route and just out runs a defender. You can also get that one yard power run to get you into It's gotta be this has gotta be over, like, yeah, I mean kill that. We gotta kill it because we just saw in one drive, we saw these are things that Zeke cannot do. He

cannot do these plays. And then they get down to the two and we see these are things that Pollard can't do my favorite run and I pointed out to you was one. It wasn't It was in the second quarter. I think it was like a second or third and two, third and one, and Zeke is clearly stopped. Yeah, and he just like just keeps the legs drive it and just pushes the whole thing two yards. They showed it from the aerial and you could see he was stopped and it was just like it just the whole pal starter.

He went horizontal and then but his feet were still on the ground and it just he just launched himself four. That's what he does. And I think you're absolutely right about it. You know, they tried to score with Pollard

on the goal line. They really legitimately tried. Yeah, and you know, and let's be honest though, I mean when you watch it and you guys go back and see it, you know they got I mean, Ferguson got just destroyed at the point of attack on the first time they handed him the ball and then you know, McEwan is trying to find a spot and he runs right in the back of Ferguson, so now it's all muddy and he can't get home. The second one, they don't block it really cleanly as well on the second one, but

still he's like stopped. He can't pattern. Then they put Zeke in and here like he just you know, he's able to kind of find that gap and finish forward. You know. That's the thing. That's that's why having these backs the way they are. When you get in third and one and you get down on the goal line and you hand them the ball, you've got to keep drives going. You can't get stopped. And you're right, Nick,

there's things that that Zeke can no longer do. They can't do the stuff we're all of a sudden, they check and they run, they run the wheel, you know, because they realized that they've got a matchup against a linebacker. Dak was looking at He's like, okay, I got my guy, and they got the safety comer. And great job by Schultz running a route to get the you know, to get Smith out of the way when Smith and Peterson, he gets them both out of the way and that's

up the sidelines. And that's the stuff that you don't get to see with Zeke. You know, when you see a one on one matchup, Okay, that linebacker is not going to cover my guy. He's not and they did a great job of doing that. Romo pointed this out in the in the in the broadcast afterwards, is that the best part of that play was the offensive line. And I think he pointed to Zach Martin specifically, but because to get him out in the wheel route that takes a little bit of time, you know, And so

that was great. And then you mentioned Schultz on that play running down the field, which was impressive. But I couldn't get over the fact on the first touchdown past the Pollard. I mean, Schultz is not just walls off yea, but he I mean he checked him off thirty He sat him on the bench. Yeah, he was like, you're with the cheerleaders. Yeah, like you're hanging out over here. No,

it was you know that That's the thing. I think that when you look at Schultz overall, you know, he gets a lot of criticism and flack for the way he blocks. I think these young guys have helped him along the way, you know, develop a little bit more. Okay, I just can't be a liability as a block or he's done it much better. He was really good yesterday in that game. Yeah, all right, let's move on. Let's talk a little bit about the defense. You look at yesterday,

the fact they held him to three points. Again, Nick, going back to your perfect game scenario. The offense scores forty, the defense as into three. They had seven sacks, and you're not even done. Yeah, I'm not even done because you got you gotta do the third level the special teams. Oh yeah, well we'll get to that. I'm just saying it was made it perfect. Yeah, we'll get to that. But but looking at the defense again, seven sacks and

a lot of that. Once they got to the second half and they had this this lead, devil was really insurmountable. Then it was like, all right, now they get to do what they always what. Parsons didn't want to come off the field. Yeah, you like, this is sounding to sack up some numbers, you know. And the problem, by the way to that ablem, somebody's got to get they won't take his helmet away. That kid he wants to play.

I love that about him. Well he realizes he realizes like, okay, now I get to rush the pastor I don't have to play the run. I don't have guys diving in my leg I've earned the right at that point, because that's what they kept talking about last week. Earned the right to pass rush once you're able to get a lead and once you put a team in a situation where they can't run the ball. They had that yesterday.

But I will I do have this question for you because I say something real quick sure about the defense. I think you learned a big picture thing yesterday that you can travel diggs no matter what you can't. You can travel digs no matter what you mean. Let's not act like anymore it's like, well, you know, I don't know if they really want to do this. No, if the other team has a star player, you can function

by traveling digs and everybody else will adjust. That defense did a great job in the secondary of playing for each other. They really did. And we always talk about, well, assignments were bad here. They didn't twist tier, they got a step here, they got to fill there. You know, you look at the first the very first play when you talk about the secondary, they're gonna try and run the very first pass that Minnesota throws. They're running pick

routes and they're dragging feeling across the field. Jay run. Curse is standing right there, and what happens. What is that quarterback sees that He's like, I can't throw that. He's expecting that thing to be clear across nobody there. I'm gonna throw the ball. They cover for each other, and then now it's now it turns into moving pocket and now number eleven running from the backside. Good luck on that. Yeah, So you had a secondary yesterday that

really played for each other. They did, they led, and that number seven he traveled. He went with that guy. And you know, other than I could say there was one pass on the outside to Osborne that he could have that went on the out that he could have. I mean, he just a little bit better out. But that's that's nippicking right there. If you want to talk about it, you know, it's I've seen him make the play, come downhill, drive on the ball. But he traveled with

that guy. So we you'd never ever, ever not The question should be if they have a great receiver and it takes taking him out of the game, that number seven can go walk with him and play with him anywhere in the field. I love that. Yep, that's right. Another thing that was that was really evident, and even on the Vikings drive for a field goal, But if you go back and watch it, they knocked the crap out of that team, Like even on the Cooks seventeen yard run that got a few more yards because it

was a holding whatever. Donald Wilson just blasts them out of bounds and then another time tank and curse. I mean, they are flying around. They hit them hard like they were And Dad said it in his post a post game, he was like, I knew this was gonna be a problem because they were running around in practice whole week

like that. They were pissed off, said it. I asked Stephen Jones before the game, you know, I said something about I've never been in the jungle, but I would imagine a pissed off Lions gotta be worse than anything. I mean, And that's what it felt like. The whole team was that way. They hit harder on the Vikings. Yeah,

you look at those numbers. I mean, it just was amazing what they were able to do against an offense that many thought were was one of the better offenses in the league, if not the best offense in league. Right up there were you could feel as the game wore on the anxiety of Kirk Cousins. You could feel it, you know. His it was the throw and duck throw and duck and moved throw, you know. I mean he was he knew that he was compromised, you know, even with Derissau in there. I mean the play that he

got hurt on was a sack. I mean, he got driven right back into I mean it was a great job by Armstrong and just driving him and then there's all kinds of you know, problems there. But yeah, I mean, this is the great thing about this defense when they when they know that they can rush the passer, it makes a defense is a whole different defense the way they play. Yeah, and I'll throw this outjestra perspective. You talked about Digs traveling with Jefferson. Yesterday, Jefferson had three

catches on five targets for thirty three yards. Absolutely, I didn't go back to look at his season, at every game from his season, I'm guessing that's going to be on the lower end of he hates playing the Cowboys. Got five for fifty five. That's what he's got previous. No, that that's what he's got against the Cowboys for two years. Yeah, he hates. I mean, there's something about this book and that's what I'm saying. We should never never ever say that.

Like listen, if you're going into a game and the other team has a star player, that should never be something that Dan Quinn doesn't automatically think about it. And you know what, and it's more than just that star players. There's not beeny. I mean, they've already faced i think the best receiving tandem in the league, like in Week two when it was Chase and then Higgins and Boyd

and all that. So it's going to be really hard pressed to find a better receiver that you're gonna face with a complimentary two that that Minnesota has, you know, I mean, and that's the Philadelphia game on Christmas Eve will be the one where you have to deal with size and Smith and all that kind of you know, and depending on if the tight ends back you know that tight well he might be he might be Yeah.

So that's you know that that will be your next time where you're gonna have to say, Okay, is it going to be how do you match them up? You know? But like I said, there should never be a question. Now it shouldn't be like anbar at a press conference. Haven't asked a question about were you gonna travel with you know, well, you know traveling takes a lot. No, you proved you could travel with the best receiver in the National Football League and go find a way to

do it. When you mentioned the tight ends yesterday, it was clear that Minnesota went into that game thinking Hockintson was going to be a target that they wanted to try to exploit. He had nine targets, only five receptions for thirty four yards. Cowboys did a really really good job on him. Yeah, different curse. Yeah, sometimes they were in zone. Sometimes they had a guy on him, like. They did it in different ways, but they were not allowed way to really get away. Curse got through. Well.

Hawkinson dropped the ball in the back of the end zone. I mean that that was a drop. Yeah, but the way that kur we've throw that pick and that's what they were trying to do, that was a pretty That was impressive play. I don't I'm not saying he made the difference in there because Hawkinson's a first round time. It could have been an easy throw. It could have been a lot easier throw if he doesn't travel'll get through the trash to get to the back of the

end zone. Yeah, but yeah, I thought, I thought curse, And there was a couple times and and I didn't even see the place it was blitz. The blitz that he got the sack on. I mean, he's like, he's acting like he's in coverage, and it just goes to show you tank during max protection and it's the two tight ends end up taking tank. Both of them go for tank, and now he's got to free run it at Cousins. That's when you gotta do with his defense. If people are going to make mistakes blocking, you take

advantage of that. Don't let them. Don't let them get away with a mistake there. And they made a big one on that one. We're gonna take our first break when we come back. I want to talk about the fact that the Vikings didn't run the ball quite as much as I thought they should have. We'll talk about that and how much that factored into the result that we saw yesterday. I will help when we come back. Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Todd thought it would be

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cold weather gear. We have you covered. Stop by your local Dallas Cowboys Pro shop or log onto the shop dot Dallas Cowboys dot com and do Turkey Day the Cowboy Way. Welcome back. Second segment of the Break live from the s WBC Mortgage studios. At the start the segments presented by blockchain dot Com. Let's talk about the defense, because the defense, you look at their numbers overall, they played really well, obviously holding their opponent to the three points.

When you start really digging into the game, Dalvin Cook had eleven carriages for seventy two yards. He was averaging six point five on the ground. But Minnesota was throwing the ball way more than they were running. And I don't know that they were in a situation where opponents that the Cowboys have faced so far have decided to keep running the ball rather than abandoning it. In the first half a loan, Minnesota ran in fifteen pass plays

only nine runs. Do you think the Dallas run defense is better or do you think they just face an opponent that just loves to throw the ball and that played right into Dallas's hands. I think that's part of it. I did question that if the Vikings were going to go into a game and go, like, you know what, this is what we're gonna do. We're gonna run the ball. We're gonna run the ball, because that's not the way they're built. I didn't think they were gonna they were

gonna stick with that. I think they were gonna kind of do the we're eight and one, we do it our way. They can't stop whatever we may a facials opponent exactly. And it didn't. It didn't work out. I mean, he had eight for forty five in the first half, but I mean it was twenty three to three at that point, and so you know, they're not gonna they feel too good about their passing game down twenty to

just run the ball that way. Yeah, it was surprising too, But if you're those folks that believe in analytics, they're the team that doesn't. They don't run a lot. That's their kind of their thing, and you wonder. I think the calb I think the Packers did it out of necessity because they felt like, you know, I think the Packers played the Cowboys smart, you know, I mean you learned. If you're the Vikings and you're watching this game today,

you're saying, why are we throwing the damn ball? I mean, the biggest problems they had during the game was them throwing the football. And the Packers, on the other hand, said, we probably can throw the ball, but we don't have these receivers that are worth a damn So the two backs are our strength. Let's just try. And you know, I don't know how anybody would just let the Cowboys tea off and pass rush yet I really really don't.

And I was talking to people in Minnesota up to this, leading up to this game, and they're like, we're that's like Nick says, we just we believe in keeping Dalvin Cook fresh. And you know, there were times when Mike Zimmer would run Dalvin Cook into the ground and stuff like that, and it would just be carry after carry after carry. This is Kevin O'Connell. It's a different, different

way he calls the game. But I don't know how you could sit there and say, let Dallas rush the passer on us and let's see if we can get away with it. And I they they clearly didn't respect Dallas's ability to do that. Yeah, I was surprised too the fact that they didn't run the ball a lot more.

But the way that the game started. I mean, to me, Micah Parsons making that sack to begin to start the game, right, I mean, that sets the tone that I think that was a huge play, and you just build off that energy with the whole defense, which makes me wonder, why don't you carry? But I don't care. I don't care

trying to figure that out. The Cowboys played the way that they did, and going back to an earlier conversations that you guys were having about the defense as a whole, I was very curious to see how they were actually going to be able to channel that energy that was building up throughout the week. I mean, that was the first time that they really got embarrassed in national TV. You're everybody talking about them, so some finger pointing started to happen, and all that out where they're gonna be

able to handle. So to see everybody doing their job. I don't know if the run defense as a whole is fully improved, just because we weren't able to actually see that happening with this opponent. But if I mean, we'll have to see with a different team that runs the ball a lot more. But just all in all, I didn't see anything that well, it's quick and the Giants everybody, well everybody know the Giants loss. So we'll see with what kind of energy they come to at

and T Stadium and how they play as well. I mean, I think that you go back to that the first drive of the game for the Vikings, not not the one that they got the fumble, but the second time they came out and they're down three to nothing. That right there just goes to show what they don't they don't do. They don't play this way. They come out throwing on first down and there's a and there's a past interference on Joseph and then they run for two

and then they pass for a first down. So on first down, then they run for seventeen yards and so they're rolling here. What do they do on the next time they pass? Pass, pass, and they get a first down. Then Cook goes for eight to the sixth. They're running the ball with Cook. They got second and two from the sixth past the Hawkinson past the Hawkinson kick a field goal. That right there, I mean, that's like they're not watching tape. They're not watching what Aaron Rodgers did. Yeah,

it's ro It's been a bunch of buns. The Parsons sack fumble was a third and three and as you mentioned, Nick, the next opportunity, they get down third and two, and what do they do They throw the ball again, you know, And that's some teams which is like, hey, this is what we do. We don't we don't we're going to throw the ball. We don't think you can cover. I don't know how you can watch the Cowboys and not think, what's the one thing defensively that would scare the hell

out of you? Them rushing the passer. It ain't defending the run. I mean the running is something that you're kind of like, that's the biggest question mark about this defense. It ain't the pass rush. Minnesota and Kevin O'Connell just kind of said, you know what, hey, we don't think you can cover. Well, then again, it's like, yeah, we don't have to cover because your left tackle is giving up sacks, your left guard's given up sacks. You know, we don't have to We don't have to cover because

of the pressure. Again, I hey, thank you Vikings for playing the way, you know, but the Cowboys offense put pressure on him to have to score though, too. Yeah, and that was big. The Cowboys just kind of starting starting fast, starting right away. But to your point, like, oh, do you not watch film? Yeah, I think. I mean we've seen it happen with the Cowboys as well, where they go in and they just keep doing something and we all clearly see that it's not working. So in

this case, it finally worked in the Cowboys advantage this time. Yeah, the Packers got down fourteen points and still were running the football. They're kind of like, okay, well, see the problem was Dallas's offense wasn't as good in that game. They didn't the Cowboys offense didn't make Green Bay pay like they made Minnesota's offense pay for their lack of getting things done. I got a kind of another big

picture thing. I think it needs to be mentioned. And you know, Cowboys get a lot of criticism for not doing things in free agency or the way they handle things, don't make splashes. I think it's it's got to be pointed out that by not signing Randy Gregory and they tried to sign him, wanted to, Yeah, they wanted to

So that's not acting like that was a decision. I mean, Randy made the decision to leave, and then they came after that and signed Dorn's, Armstrong and Fowler together, they have twelve sacks seven and five, and they're getting overshadowed because number eleven runs around and he's got ten and he's not gonna he's not gonna let them have more

sacks than him. So that's that's just the thing. They have seven and five and you know, Randy's played five games, he's got two sacks, and he's banged up and whatever it is. And I'm not saying the same thing what happened had he been here because he didn't have Michael Parsons also rushing. I get that. But and they traded away the other rusher bunch up, so it's a little

different scenario. But you gotta give the Cowboys credit for that and dan Quinn and all that, I mean, Fowler's haven't he looked at it and said, hey, we can make work with the with these guys. And Sam Williams is coming around too. I mean, you got to figure out ways to get him on this year. I mean dan Quinn did that last year. Too, So it's something he's he did it. He did it with Gregory like

like I think that that he's to be mentioned. He did it with Gregory like Gregory hadn't ever had a season like that before, so he can do it with someone else. Yea. And even with that, what he have five sex last year I think he had he had six and again his career I is six, you know. But I mean Dorian's armstrong, you know, And that's that's what a credit to them stopping the run because that's not his thing. He's not he's not going to stop the run and he's going to rush the passer and

do his thing. When when they get to that point. Fowler too. They got a lot of guys that they like to rust the passer, but they they they they've stopped the run. First, as we said, they ate their vegetables. They were able to have dessert. If you don't do that, then you can't do all that stuff. And I just wonder, I want and I think we're gonna see it, and not even so much this week because this week is an interesting thing just because the giants like you have

a different kind of running attack. You gotta deal with you gotta deal with just a beastly runner, and then you gotta deal with a quarterback that can run. But I'm even more interested in see what happens against a team like Indianapolis that has since they've made the coaching change, has kind of rediscovered its running game and now they're running the ball really well. That'll be an interesting test

as well. I don't know if you guys got to see that game yesterday, because I was doing pregame show and it was up the Philadelphia, so I was keeping an eye on it. If Matt Ryan has continued to play the quarterback, I played ten in the box because he's not gonna be He looked like he was a time. He looked like he was a thousand years old yesterday playing quarterback. And but for the running game they got in that game, Yeah, I know that, you say. I guess I was watching him. I was thinking, how old

is things? No, he it was like a thirty run week before they get a turnover. They get a turnover in the start the second half, they get a turnover on a sack strip and you know it hit hurts and the back balls on the ground. It's Indianapolis ball and they run three of the worst plays you can ever imagine to kick a field goal, and they missed a field goal along the way that cost them. You know, you know, just Saturday went for an opportunity and they

didn't get the field goal. You know, Philadelphia was beat But but if you're if you're gonna play with that running game, great, fine, just put ten in the box because Matt Ryan is not gonna beat you throwing the phone. I'm not gonna yeah, exactly. Pierce is not a bad player for them, But that's the whole issue. Though they can't they can't manufact Now, this is what's going to happen, in my opinion, this weekend. Real quick, you're short week.

What are you gonna do? Short game plans, small game plan kind of have, you know, can't work on a lot of things, can't even practice, Gonna have to walk through some things. This is gonna be about a little bit, I think of you know, the fact that you have some familiarity with both teams is a great thing. But the fact I think that you can't practice a lot and do a lot of crazy ass things that we

generally see during the week. I think this is going to be about both teams trying to kind of run the football and the waggles the boots and things like that to kind of keep the game plan tight and small. So yeah, you got to be ready for them to run the football in this game. They they they're gonna look at your team and say, well, this is the only chance we have because if we make Daniel Jones have to deal with your pass rush again like you did the last time we played, we're gonna lose this

football game. We're gonna take our final break when we come back. We got to talk about a guy that I think deserves some credit yesterday, the kicker. He is doing a phenomenal job. We'll talk about some of the numbers of what he's putting up this season. Just mind boggling stuff up we'll do when we come right back. Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. The season is finally here. For months, we've been gearing up to win. Now it's

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Welcome Back. Final segment of The Break Life in s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star were sent about Miller Light, the only beer of the Dallas Cowboys, and it's almost a shame other than the fact that it was such a great game and so many guys played well, that we're into the third segment and haven't mentioned the name of Brett Maher. He did. He had I think a really monstrous game when you just think about what his

role is on the team. Obviously, the kicker is still to kick for that fifty three yard field goal in Green Bay. Yeah right, I'm just kidding that that kick was probably not gonna know. But but but you start thinking about what he's done. He's done some things this year that are abnormal for a kicker. Sure, and certainly when you look at East nineteen of twenty one, it's only missed two field goals. Both of them were fifty

plus fifty nine. Both of them were fifty. But but what we also find out yesterday is that doesn't mean he can't make it because he made sixty twice. And I think we have to talk about the second line he had to say it really was that might have been Yeah, I don't know what the league is saying or whatever. If that was a closer game, that would have been probably something that the pool reporters talks about.

But that's embarrassing for what the NFL did. The end of what the NFL did is ridiculous, and they somebody should be held accountable for that. You have one job. You're sitting up there, you're watching the game. In the final two minutes, I mean, I think the Vikings players were saying no incomplete, So it should just be alerting, alerting you. Right, then, let's look at this play. Is his feed in bounds? Did he catch it? Just look at the play. The Cowboys gave you a timeout. I'm

not really sure why they called it. I think the play clock was rolling down. They called the timeout. They give you more time to look at it, and then you go and you freeze the kicker right when he's about to kick it. If the coach does it, it's one thing. If the league does it, that is excusable. And another thing about that is like, you don't have to stop it because you're sure. You have to stop

it because there's a question. Right. So, so the people in New York or whoever was reviewed doing this to make the decision, hey we're gonna check this out. Oh you need it was a little bit of suspicion to think, hey, this this might be one that we need to review you stop play, right, So the fact that they had all that time to say, yeah, this might be one we want to look at, that's the weird part to me, what happens. And someone on Twitter asked me this too.

It's like it's all about perspective. Would you have been mad if he missed the field goal? And if he missed the field goal then he got a chance to kick another one? And I responded, I bet you if he missed that field goal, they would have walked into the locker room. They wouldn't have done anything. They wouldn't have said we're not even looking at this, we're going in because the kick had already happened. Yeah, I'm talking

about it was. It took fifteen seconds for jim Nance and Romo to finally say wait, wait, hold on, man, hold on, like this is not going you know what I mean? If he just missed the kick poorly or missed you know, I bet you they go into the locker room and say, we're not even looking. And did they have anything that showed any of the rests actually waving it off before it actually was kicked. No, No, I didn't see anything on I didn't see to see.

The thing about it is and I don't know how you even challenge it because his hands when he caught the ball. When you see the final, his hands are under a cupped under the ball. They're cupped, you know. And so they're saying, well, maybe the feel you know, maybe gene stair stores like, well, the you might have used the ground. No, his hands were cupped under the ball. That's that's how you know it's a catch. That's what you look for when you know you're making these decisions.

But yeah, to to to not buzz down quick enough with all that was going on, I mean that that's that's inexcusable. I mean if and if you lost a game because of something like that happened, oh my god, that would be the NFL. Now now you're starting to talk about the fixes in Yeah, now you're now you're questioning, Okay, why do we have all this technology? What are the you know, what is why is the the buzzers not going off? What official responsible for that? What was the

sideline official doing that's responsible for reviews? You know, there's all these questions that you now have. But you know, Maher getting back to him, and I'll focus on him let's give if you want to give front office credit. How many times and you guys don't have to do it, I'll do it. How many times have we seen the Cowboys and certain players to say, no, Garabay is going to be fine. We love Garabay, We loved him in college. We think he's the next Tucker from you know, we

think he's this, we think he's that. He's he's better than you know, the kicker that the Chargers have, Dicker. They're better than him. You know that they there's so many times where they would just let this thing roll and they evaluated, they really did evaluate that Garabay and hire a lot who they weren't good enough. They weren't good enough. And because we've seen plenty of times, they just no, no, it's okay, he'll he'll work his way through.

He'll work his way through. This kid that they they got. I mean, you know, they're fortunate did it worked out. He wasn't terrible for the Saints. He wasn't terrible. But see people have the memory of him missing extra points. It wasn't the long field goals that were that were ever questioned. It was like, well, from forty to forty nine, right, what was happening there? You know, what was happening on

the thirty white? WHOA what was that all about? So, I mean everybody was pretty you know, like, oh, let's wait and see. But let's be honest. This whole Special Teams thing has been money the whole year. The returner's been money, the punter's been money, the kicker's been money. They've done a great job with this crew. They have legitimate weapons with all three of those guys that can that can switch a game or flip a game your direction to look, I mean, y'all, do not want to

know what's going through my head right now? I absolutely want to know what's going through your mind right now. The fact that you said that, I'm like, I definitely want to hear what was going on in your mind right well. You know, I'm just sitting here and things started coming up in my head, different thoughts, and you know you talk about that, Brian, just the talent and

and I've mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. How something that's impressive to me is this coaching staff being able to make those decisions and me kind of moving past the mentality the Jason Garret mentality of when he was still here, and I know that not every decision comes down fully to the coordinator, but I was just thinking, I'm like, huh, I've been pretty good about like everything, Like I trust them in the types of decisions they're making.

For example, we talked about the Kickers specifically, we knew the issues, the issues that were there. They eventually decided to make a move, they did it, and it shown to be the right move. But taking it even further, you can apply the same thing with dan Quinn what he's doing on defense, and I'm thinking, Okay, I trust what they're seeing in everything. But then I'm like, okay, what's an area that I'm still like kind of raising my eyebrows or just you know, wondering well wide receiver,

which is a position we've been talking about. Then that leads me to Kellen Moore, which then this is just how my brain is working. Then that leads me to well, Kellen Moore, he was with Jason Garrett and he still got a lot of you know, from all of that. So I'm you know, it's it's just I'm going down a rabbit hole of I'm not saying Kellen Moore is a problem and he needs to get out of here or anything. But I just wish that that same mentality of what we've seen so far on special teams and defense.

And maybe they are and maybe they'll be surprising us at some point. But if there's still one area on the team that I'm still wanting to see a change in or something extraordinary happening would be wide receiver. But anyways, we're talking about kickers specifically, and I think he's been amazing. He's been surprising me. Definitely didn't think he would be playing the way that he is when they signed him back.

You know, you look on Twitter and even because you're like, okay, we already you were already here, you were let go or whatever for a reason, why are you bringing back the same guy that you already had. But he's refreshed

and he's been doing an amazing job so far. You know what thing I will say is, if you want to talk about the offense, they have made one big significant change in my opinion, that is very in my opinion, not Garrett like, and that is playing Pollard n Zeke playing Pollard enze We saw it for so many years where they were like serious three you talked about, like, yeah, you put him in for serious three. If things don't go well, you don't see him till the second half.

They have incorporated him into the offensive game plan now and we saw it yesterday with Zeke back where he is a focal point of this offense. And that doesn't mean Zeke doesn't get curious and they don't use Zeke in the ways that you can use him best. But now he is a weapon. And if you're going to play the Cowboys, you better be prepared for Tony Pollard and all that he can do. And showing that wheel route yesterday just adds one more component where defenses have

to be aware of what he's doing. Well said, but he's also running the ball at the middle. No, none of that works if you don't show that he can be running back and run the ball up the middle. Not all the time because that's not his forte. But you can't do all the other stuff if he doesn't play that kind of stuff. So that both of it is is if we go back and count how many games has Zeke and Tony had the same amount of carries? Yeah, they both had fifteen in this game. I mean, I

don't know that. I don't think there's many games you could say it got close. It's been close, but I think this was one of the first ones that we've had where they both got the same amount of carries. And I want to mention real quick about you. We talked about the special teams. Turpin is becoming a really, really good all around returner. And I'm not just talking about a guy in space. A lot of guys can do that. I'm talking about we saw it in the

press box. Really short kick, and that's because they're stared at him. Really short kick. He flies up there, it gets everyone out of the wayfair catch and makes that catch, doesn't let it bounce where it could hit a player, hit Joseph or somebody right go up there and catch the ball. And he does that. He's the surehanded guy. Well he did drop it. He did drop that one. I guess he got it. He got it back. Yeah, I don't really put that on your legend. I'm okay

with with what he's done. He's become a really all around returner. That is a weapon that that teams are scared off. To your point, they tried to set him up on that play. The Paul that CD caught on the sidelines, the Terrence Williams toe tap looking play. They you know, they pull the center and get him in space. They're running, They're running Turpin on a go on the outside. They're gonna try and launch that thing down the sideline.

Turpins in the game, Yeah, he just went he went vertical, and what happened is you had to tight end underneath and then CD a little further up the field. But then they tried to run Turpin and set it up to where they can get launch a launch point from Dak all the way down the field on the Schultz incomplete in the end zone. The first drive of the game, they held his arm one arm, that's why. But also they also Turpin was flying around on the right side.

I don't I couldn't tell exactly what the safety was, but I'd like to have seen him just throw it there. And then it has been one on one in space and I'll take a take Turpin on whoever's out there with him one on one to the end zone. So I'm looking forward to seeing how much better he how much more he improves next year, because right now I still think his game is he's just like a little too anxious and too like come down, you know, there's some chaos, and the way he's coming off a second season,

like that's also what people find. Yeah yeah, he had like twenty games in a yeah yeah, which is crazy. But it's just he's like it. And I don't want to necessarily use the level, the maturity word or anything, but just what comes with experience, the calmness that comes with experience, because at the same time that anxiousness is as part of his game and what you like about

him and what creates his amount of speed. But he's just he's so good and he just needs to kind of polish a little more and then he'll be a freaking amazing special teams player for you. All right, appreciate you guys, join us. We'll be back tomorrow. We'll start getting into Cowboys versus Giants for you Giants offense and defense tomorrow since we got a compact week, so we'll have both and we'll get you guys some perspective on what you expect to see this Thursday. Till then for

nick Etan Brian brought us an Amber Garcia. I am Derek Eagleton. This has been the Break Live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.