Cowboys Break: Run-D Fixable?

twenty twenty two, Season eighteen, episode number seventy three. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break Life and s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. We're presented by mill of Like the only beer of the Dallas Cowboys. Appreciate you guys joining U's got Nick Amber, Brian All in studio today. Feels like it's been a while since it's been all of us, but ready to give you no, it's all good man, it's been It's been one of those weeks. We've had different people out for different reasons,

so it's good to have everybody back in studio. We got a lot that we're going to get into today. I want to start first with a couple of transactions that happened and get some Scoutter reports on some of the players at the Cowboys assigned to their practice squad two, in particular Tach McKinley Antonio Callaway. What do we know

about these players? Well, the thing the thing that I with with Tack McKinley and coming out of Usela, that was the thing that the Cowboys were very, very interested in him, and it was kind of debatable where was he going to get selected or not, you know, and how that was all kind of going down. Um, He's an interesting player because he was super active when you watched him coming out of college. He was a pass rusher, He was a physical player at the point of attack.

He you know, he had some he had some juice to his game. He really did. You watched him player, You're like, man, this guy's get getting in after it today he goes with dan Quinn Atlanta and all those things that kind you know, don't really you know, they don't. He doesn't play to the level that he wants that you kind of thought he was maybe a little bit like what you thought with Taco. You know, you watch and you're thinking and you're like, going, Okay, well, this

guy flashes some some good things. I think McKinley I was a better player than Taco myself, just coming out of watching him play, you know, and went at UCLA, went at Michigan, and then you know, he just kind of everywhere he went there was that that that kind

of that, well can you control him can emotionally? You know, there's a lot of things about his game that you were kind of just you know, the teams were looking into, they were having to really dive into, you know, and you get to important certain point in time where now, with your the ability to use the practice squad with veteran players, you keep maybe give a guy another chance instead of saying, well, I have to commit to this

guy to be on the fifty three. But I thought coming out of UCLA, this guy had a lot of ability to rush the pastor. I thought he had a lot of ability to be able to play the run, you know, and be physical when he had add to. And you know, they're in a situation right now where they're trying to find some defensive ends that can hold that point. You know what what Curse said yesterday I thought was really really good. He didn't call out names,

He's calling out positions. Hey, we got to be better at defensive end if you talk about that, because we've got to be better at lineback when it comes to filling, we gotta be better at corner when it comes to supporting. You know, he didn't say players names, but he said what they needed to do playing their assignment. So you know, you can't you can't expect you know, Charles Haley to come walking through that door and save you or any you know, any anybody, anybody that's ever played here that's

been good against the run. That's just not going to happen. See, you have to make these moves where you know, dan Quinn, the staff can maybe say, well, with Tack, this is what we kind of had with him in Atlanta. You know, maybe maybe he's you know, maybe he's better than than what you have, what you have right now that you're playing with, and you can work with that and then make that part of, you know, part of your rotation.

But it's it's a move that just you're kind of just looking, you're looking for you know, it's it's probably not going to solve your issues totally, but at least it's you're trying to find guys that can can play that way. Nick I remembered, I think it was yesterday you were talking about the defensive end position. You were like, I just have a feeling, and you preface it with that it's not something I'm hearing, but I'm having a feeling that one of these guys is gonna get washed

out and then this happens. And obviously he was signed a practice class. That doesn't mean that he's necessarily moving into someone the spot. But who becomes the person that has to now start maybe thinking about looking over their shoulder if he if he can be a better fit for them again and against the run, Well, they don't have that many. I mean, they don't have a need

for all of these guys. And those guys are I mean, if you're a veteran defensive end who's not making a lot of plays Dante Fowler, Yeah, bash him, Yeah, I mean, and I mean making plays for the Cowboys, because some of them make plays for the other teams. But I'm talking about making plays for your your team. If you're not doing that on a regular basis, then yeah, I think you should. You should, you know, and not technically it's just like like Bryan said, it's just a look.

See that's that is what that's the best thing that's come out of twenty out of the COVID twenty twenty rules and all. That is how they do the practice squad. It lets guys like that have a shot to get back in the league and improve themselves at a know, a minimum cost. And also it's the way they elevate. They just elevate on game day and then bring them

back down. And well, well, I'm sorry, I was just gonna say, I need to get past the point of like the old mentality of when Jason Garrett was still here and that type of team and what they did, because I find myself being like, well, they wouldn't do that.

But it's like, no, okay, we've seen things that Mike McCarthy has done, for example Tristan Hill, and I wasn't here when you guys had that discussion, but when I saw them news on my phone, I was like, oh wow, I wasn't necessarily expecting that kind of move to happen. So I'm caught up been this whole thinking of like, they wouldn't do this, this is not what they do.

This is what they do. But it's like, Okay, move past that, and now you realize or I need to start learning now Mike McCarthy's move mentality, the things that he does do because we sit here and we talk about certain things, and then he's shown that he's not necessarily afraid to make certain calls or move in mid season. So it's interesting and very refreshing actually to see those kinds. It's not huge, but at least trying to make no type of change. I think you're absolutely right. I think

this started with Jalen Smith. To be honest with you, when when dan Quinn, you know, for so many years, and you're right, Ambar, it was no, we like Jalen, Jalen guy, this our guy. Yeah. Coaches get in that mode of that mindset where they're like, no, no, we like this guy, we like you know, he could play. It really took dan Quinn coming in here and saying,

why is Jalen Smith on this team? You know, I can't use him like I want to use him, you know, And all of a sudden, now you know people in the front officers like, okay, Tristan Hill, well, why is Tristan Hill here? Well, I can't use him like I want to use him. Okay, Well, then move on see that's I think you're absolutely right. It's the mentality now is like listen, we don't have time to wait for you. I mean, it looks what's going on at receiver right now.

We've done shows and radio shows talking about Odell Beckham. You know it's it's not like, oh no, they'll tell you, yeah, we love our receivers until all of a sudden, all the receivers start playing and you're not getting exactly everything you want out of the position. Okay, we need to go. That part of it is very refreshing that they're not just going to sit there and say, oh no, this is this is fine. You know, they realize they have an issue with the running game or defending the running game.

They realize that, and there, you know, is like I say, can you make enough moves? They try to make a move with Hankins to give them a bigger inside presence to go with Bohana and those guys. Good for you. It helps because you can see some stuff going on now again. You know we have to you have to play the right scheme and go the right way and do all that stuff if you know they're asking you to do those things. But to me, it's it's it's very refreshing that they're just not going to sit there

and hope that it's gonna fix itself. Let's add some pieces to this and see if that piece. And to Nick's point, Nick's not calling out uh, you know, Fowler and bash him and those guys. He's just Tania honestly though. Hey, they've got to step up their game too. You know, if you want to be on the fifty three, there's expectations here of getting of trying to win this division,

going in the playoffs, going further. We can't just you just can't be a guy that's like Parcels used to say, just riding the bus, you know, hanging out and it's you know, a strap just waiting around holding on. You know, too many guys that are not big defensive ends that like to rush the passer, that don't hold the edge and it starts and Mica is one of them, and Sam Williams is another. And those guys are going to

be here obviously, obviously, and they should be. But I might be the guy that plays a little more right and and you know, if you're gonna you know, some size in there that conside inside play it play some end, traditional end, you know, or maybe Anthony Barr if he gets back. I don't know, he's I don't know he helps the problem or not, but something's got to give. You're just throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall,

and you know it's probably not all gonna stick. Now, we we all have been kind of listening to the talk of Odell Beckham Junior and that yesterday the Cowboys signed Antonio Callaway to the practice squad. Were you at all shocked by that, knowing that they got James Washington, who we think should be ready at some point here soon. Is it all at all shocking that they would go out and and add another veteran to the practice squad under those circumstances, or was this just a situation where

they just need more depth. They need more bodies, need some depth, need some bodies, and need need some guys that that have played it. I mean, you know, for Hoko still on IR, I mean, he's just it's just throwing stuff out there, and and and maybe you know, if he gets ready to play, they trust him more than who else they have on the pro I mean likes and Drummond. Yeah, he's a veteran. You have to keep an eye. And Michael Gilla got back in the

game and he finished the game. But when that happened, you know, you're like, oh crap, what's gonna happen here. You're already kind of don't have many guys to begin with, so I'll be curious to see what happened. I mean, if he's back, I don't even know which leg was it that he didn't kind of bang up. I don't even remember he was back before. Yeah, yeah, he was back in. It was fine. But it's just something to

keep an eye on as well. And when you look at contracts and all that, I mean, signing a guy like cam versus Odell, it's very very different. So I would have, you know, you find somebody that can kind of add some depth in there and help you out. But yeah, if you lose Michael Gallub right now, I don't know what the heck you do. Yeah, I think that's I think that to me, the Washington and Beckham

is tied together. I believe I said that's last week that if they go and get Beckham, then maybe they don't have to hurry Washington into the mix as quickly as they might need to. But if they don't get Beckham, now they've protected themselves. They've got Washington. We'll see what happens with drum Drummond and Houston. And then you know, also with Callaway. Callawe was a guy that was a very talented player coming out of Florida. He just got caught in some really bad situations. It was a credit

card scam at Florida that caused them some problems. There were some some suspensions, yeah, off the field stuff that people are kind of like going, huh, okay, well maybe we'll have this guy off the board. But that was several years ago. So now you're in a situation where you know, you look at a guy that's he's got the measurables, he's got the speed, and you're like, well, let's let's take a chance on this. Let's take a chance on a guy that you know that we we

lights coming out of college. He's been kind of bouncing around a little bit. And it's again like Nick's talking about, it's the practice squad. It's it's minimal, it's minimal payment, it's it's not a fifty three man roster spot. And if you do something wrong and they don't like you, they could just move away from you without ever having any issues with And I say this, and obviously you know,

knowing Brian can speak to this even more. But when you do the draft process and you have all of these scouts that do these extensive research on players, it's not just for the ten guys you're going to draft and then twelve guys you bring on free agency. It's when three or four years down the road, when McKinley and Callaway don't pan out, you go back to your notes and say, all right, Brian brought us, what did you think about this guy back then, and what has

changed or what it is? He's still the same guy. And and that's why you do all this stuff. And that's why we do the draft show, because you guys know these guys. It's you're only a few years removed. Oh see this. I mean if you talk about just the skill level of what you get with Callaway, I mean, this is a very natural player. Effortless I think was the words. So you know that we've used to talk about him the way he was moved, there was a smoothness to his game and all that. Again, it was

five six years ago. But but that's that's kind of Nick's right. You go back and you're saying, listen, we really weren't too high on this guy. Manu of fact, we probably had him off the board. But you know, hey, we've got a situation at wide receiver right now. And that's what the practice squads doing. We're testing guys out to see if they're better than you know, are they better than the other two practice squad guys we have, or are they better than say your fifth receiver or

sixth receivers that's playing in these games every week. All right, we're gonna take our first break and we come back. We're gonna launch into our breakdown of the Minnesota Vikings versus Dallas Cowboys. Promise we will. We'll do a little offense and defense. We gotta jump around there. You go, Well, when come back, Dallas Cowboys dot Com video. Todd thought it would be secure to jog and the cheatahs eventsment.

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on my fiftieth birthday present yet? Yeah, Sean, Charlie's coming back. Charlie's coming back to give you a cake. Yeah. That was one of the all time Nick Nick. Nick did a very nice thing. He did. That's when Nick and Dave helm and I were upstairs. Yeah, it was a long time and Sean and Nick he did here he goes, he goes, hey, Yeah, he was very great. It's very nice. Right now, Sean Lee and his wife are enjoying fish

tacos somewhere I'm sure probably somewhere in California. They used to love to get all the bikes and ride and enjoy. You know what a nice guy we need. We have Mickey's coming up here. We got a lot we Hamber's coming up. Mickey's the day before me or after. We need Zack Martin to do that. Oh, really for Zack Martin, for Mickey, Yes, oh wow, Mickey does not look though he is an Italian. Yeah, yeah, he's got a little of that. He's got a little Seattle Seahawks coach. He's

got a little that guy to him. You know, that guy's seventies all the time, just looking like he's not seventy three years old. You know what I'm saying. He's he's Yeah, he's the oldest coach in the league. I believe we got a lot of our producer Jazz. You said her birthdays coming up here in this Suber twelfth. So everybody, when are you twenty eighth? Okay, you're the twenty eighth Mickey, I think it was the day before me. I think you see eleventh. Yeah, and I'm the twelfth? Yeah,

and was eight? Two crusty guys voided, I will not say my age, but eighth. What's it's like, you guys talking about that? We're all hitting like those milestones. Yeah, big numbers here or so? Is it a big number for you than? Are you third? No, I'm twenty twenty, Yes, twenty one. Now I can drink bile. I'm turning twenty one. What you do when you get to that age, you just say, I'm celebrating my twenty first anniverse, the anniversary of my twenty first birthday. Like, just stick with twenty one,

you can stick there. All right, Let's let's dump in. Minnesota offense versus Dallas defense were really young when you started with us. Just keep it on stuff to make me more than pressed. Yeah, all right, look at this. You look at this. You look at this, This Vikings offense. And Nick didn't do it yesterday. Huh he did? He did. Jefferson's gonna catch it, and Feeland's gonna run routes, and Cook's gonna run it. And when he gets tired, Madison's

gonna come in and he's gonna run it. And since it's not a primetime game, Kirk Cousins is probably gonna play pretty well. And then you're gonna hear that horn. And when you hear that horn, you usually something bad. That's bad. Thing is bad. Okay, So, Brian, here's my question for you. Attack ed Ingram. That's all he forgot right there. The right guard, No, but go ahead. The pass defense defense, pass offense and the rush offense both

are good, right, which one do you think is better. Uh. I think I'm gonna say the way they run the football because what to me it really, man, I don't know. I say, run the ball pass offense because of the receivers they have with now the tight end and you can even include kJ Osborne in that group with feeling, and then they're deep in the wide receiver. Yeah, they really are. They're hard to cover and you know, but this guy will throw you some ball sometimes you just

gotta be ready for it. You gotta be ready for him to make mistakes. I think what they do running the ball kind of scares not just because it's the Cowboys, because I'm always scared of teams that have the ability. And this back is both these backs they were single digit numbers one Wars four, one WARS two, and they

look like the same guy playing. You know. It's but with Cook you get this attack the line and then if it's kind of muddy or not clean, he bounces it and so now you're like, you got all these bodies trying to stop a run and then he just bounces the ball to the outside and now it's you know, it's a instead of a gain of one, it's a gain of seven or eight because he's able to bounce the ball, you know. And it's both these backs, they're

just they're both very physical. They're downhill players. I think that if you the thing the problem is when they throw the ball is they do a great job. This coach and you know, and and hey, I love Mike Zimmer. You know, Mike and I worked together. We all worked with Mike Zimmer. We all know Mike Zimmer. And I think Kevin O'Connell coming in here, though, has given this

offense a totally different look. And I mean when you start to talk about the combinations of routes and stuff, the crossers, the you know, the rub routes, the things that you know that that's I'm envious, I really am it. So that rams attack where they're bringing guys across the field. There's deep routes, there's there's combinations with with tight bunch

formations and scattering. What happened with the Cowboys last week in that game, you know, the tight formation all of a sudden, it's like, you know, the receivers on the nickel and now it's across the field for a touchdown right there, and you know, so they're gonna have their hands full, they're gonna have their hands full of playing

pass defense. This just justin jeff'son me personally, I being an LSU guy, I thought Chase was better than Jeff I really really did, And to this day, I still Jefferson has just elevated his game to a whole other level. But you know, he had a bad game. He had one of his worst career stat games against the Cowboys last year. And then you know, if you're if it's digs or whatever whatever, that game plan was to take care of him, kind of dust that went off and

bring it back. But I mean the thing with Kevin O'Connell, he's a different kind of play caller, and I think that's the problems you run into. But you know, the running game will be a problem too because of this.

The way these two backs are, where's their weakness. If you catch him on that, if you catch them up front, then there's there an LSU guys starting at right guard for him at Ingram is starting for him at guard, and he's the guy that tends to kind of struggle a little bit, uh, you know, because of his lack of experience. He's kind of a He's a powerful guy, but there's a little bit of that. You can see him. He get over the tops of his skis, gets a

little top heavy. You know, you could work around him. Um, the we'll see what happens. Christian Darsaul is really good, but he's on the injured list right now. I think he's in the concussion protocol. If he can't line up at play with that would be a big loss because that's the left tackle. So the left tackle, if he's out,

keep an eye on that. And if you're going to attack a spot, I believe it's the right guard at ingram Is because the rookie, he just doesn't he just doesn't have the feel yet for how rushers work him. You know, he'll get that experience there for sure. It's not fun. It's not fun to watch. No, it's not fun to watch. If you're if you're a Viking fan, you should be excited about your offense. Now. Okay, on the defensive side of the ball, though, we're real quick

here though. We'll see what happens with Zadarius Smith. He's on their injured list. Him and Daniel Hunter, the two defensive ends are good players. They stand up, they're kind of like what Mica does they rush standing up, They'll put their hand down. But both of these guys have a really good feel for how to attack. But you know, teams have moved the ball on the vikings. They give up yards, they do. They give up some plays. I'm

gonna say this too. They got a rookie corner starting for him, a Caleb Evans, and he really had a problem last week against Digs, you know. I mean, you can run routes on him, you can get open on him. And Patrick Peterson. This team is really they're second in the league in turnovers. They think they got eighteen, but they do a good job. Again, they turn the ball, they get turnovers and stuff like that. But there's a

couple of varias you can attack. I think you can attack the corner Evans, and I think Patrick Peterson at times you can spin him around. I think he gets he's a little bit more of a guesser now with the routes and stuff. He's trying to guess where the routes are gonna go. He's not as you know, he was like a shut down guy at one time. I think there's a little bit of some you know, a little bit of slippage in his play, so to me,

the cornerbacks and in Harrison Smith. You know, Harrison Smith is a safety, has been an All Pro for a lot of years. It's starting to show though. The wear and tear on him is is pretty evident there. So maybe the tight ends could get a little more involved. So this will be a game that defending their offense could be very much a problem. But they're gonna have some problems having to defend you as well, So keep an eye on both those. When you look at their

offensive production, the Miami game stands out to me. At the point when they didn't have a lot of production, they are under Miami covering under the yards, passing hundred fifty six. Even in the Philadelphia and Washington games they had a hard time running the ball. They did. What happened in those three games, particularly, what will those defenses able to do to link Washington. We all know firsthand Washington will not let you run the football. Okay, Miami,

it was like nine thousand degrees in that game. It was one of those early season games and they got within a war down and I think what happened. Miami's really good on the outside at corner covering. Yeah, Miami's got some big inside guys too that kind of make it make it a little bit of a problem for you to run. But the both games though, the Commanders game and then and then the also the game that I saw against the Dolphins. Both teams tackled really really

well in that game. I mean both, I mean they both times the Dolphins. I mean they did not give They did not give these receivers any space. I went back and I was watching that game, and I'm thinking, like, man, this is not as good as what you thought at Philadelphia. Know I didn't see the Philadelphia gave, but we know Philadelphia has a really good secondary, you know, so if you get up on these guys, press them a little bit, you know, harass them a little bit. We saw last

week though, in the Buffalo game. This guy's capable of making catches, you know. But all that Buffalo defender had to do was not a fourth down in sixteen, was knocked the ball away, not try and intercept it, and then the game's over, you know. But they try for the interception and Jefferson's comes down with the ball. But these teams that have these really good secondaries and are able to play the run, you know, kind of do

a much better job against them. Yesterday day, Ron Curse and Neville Gallimore both spoke to the media No Patrick talk specifically to Neville Gallimore, Patrick Walker Dallas Cowboys dot Com, and both of them kind of agree and talked a lot about how they think that the fixing that fixing the run defense for them is about focus. It's about urgency. It's about everybody doing their jobs. Do you guys agree

that it's that simple? It really is. You got the right personnel in place, they just need to be more focused on doing their jobs rather than being heroes. And do you think that's the right answer. Yeah, I mean I think it's it's a scheme though. It's it's it's got to it's a commitment to stop in the run and not getting yourself out of position and looking for the big plays on the outside. I mean, it's it's got to be the players too. The players have to

buy in. They have to say, all right, we've got to stop this run. If we can stop this run, then we can do that. I mean, you have to. You know, it's this is eating the vegetable so you can eat something afterwards. I mean, this is what you have to do to do that, and they're not. They're not right now, they're trying to make all these plays. They're going around blocks, and this starts from the very top of the defensive players on that list to the

bottom all of them. Yeah, absolutely right there. I mean to me, it's you know, it's great, as Micah Parsons is. You can't run around this these blocks in this league and expect to make plays. You know, maybe you get away with it when you're playing Indiana and Northwestern and you know those people, but you can't do that and these not with these backs. Not with these backs, you run around blocks, you go behind guys that just that just you know, angles and all that stuff. But I

think that I think Curse is absolutely right. I love what he said yesterday. He went in that was a he had a purpose with how he figured out how to you know, talk into the media. What you know. It wasn't calling out teammates, it was calling out position groups. He was saying, Hey, we're not very good at defensive end because we're getting hooked. You know, We're not very good at linebacker because we're not shooting the gap when

we're supposed to. We're not doing a good enough job at safety and corner and filling when we need to fill. I mean, he basically he laid it out for you the problems that they have. And to Nick's point is when you're told to run an assignment like I was talking about last week. You know, I learned something yesterday about the situation. You know, I thought they were running a double twist stunt on the long Jones run that went for the touchdown. No, it's a defensive tackle, has

to be. They're all slant right. It wasn't a double twist. It was slant right. And that's what happens if you don't slant, if you go the wrong way, it leaves a huge hole. That's your responsibility. Know your assignment, execute your assignment. That's how you play run defense. You know, effort, assignment, and finish. Those are all things involved. And you can't have just one of them. You got to have all three of them to be good. And I think that's

what Curse was. And and I didn't hear Neville, but I heard Curse. That's what he's pointing out. We have to be better at playing our assignments. And then figuring out a way to finish when we get an opportunity. Well, glad amer I was gonna say that what they both said. I mean, it sounds simple enough and easy enough, But is it I don't think so, because this is nothing new. They've been struggling with this since week one, even last year, going back to last year. So yes, it wasn't necessarily

hurting them because they were winning games. But now it's to the point where okay, now it really is hurting them. They don't seem to find the right answer because it's like, yes, everybody do their job, and what really really concerns me here and I hope we'll see what the term what happens this weekend, but it's can't we get to that point where now we're just finger pointing at each other and now you're creating some kind of division within the locker room and we know how that can become like

and it just goes downhill from there. I don't think they're there at this point. I think this is a very tight group, competitive and they'll try their best for the better of the group, but you do have to kind of take a step back and just make sure everybody, like all of y'all have been saying, and what they were saying, just do your job, you know, don't try to go extra because you know, do too much. Just

focus on what you have to do. And something you mentioned, I think it was when you were talking about the Green Bay Packers their defense, I'm pretty sure, but it was something that just made me think. You were saying how the coach the coordinator likes to keep everybody at their position, not really travel guys and move them around, and you mentioned how the Cowboys can do that, however,

and I was thinking about that just back there. I'm like, oh, well, that means the Cowboys defense is pretty good because then they can follow and not get too confused and you know, just be more creative and what they're doing and confuse people a little bit. But then now I'm going back to can they be that or do you need to take a step back and try to kind of quote unquote simplify things a little bit and just make sure you just literally go back to basics and do what

you have to do at your position. Yeah, And I think the thing that fans have to hope for is that their pride kicks in a little bit now you're saying, will they be willing to do this? They got embarrassed last week, and it's all over everything. Everybody is talking about this defense that was supposed to be so great, and so, you know, one of the best in the league, you know, approaching real great things as a defensive unit, and now everybody's like, I don't know, like they can't

stop the run. They got embarrassed last week, and so if you're a Cowboys fan, you gotta hope that their pride kicks in and they're like, whatever we gotta do to not have that being what is said of us. That's what I'm willing to do. If that means I'm not gonna get the sack because I'm gonna stay in this gap, and I'm just gonna stay in this gap, that means I'm gonna hold this edge, and that means i won't get up field, but I'm gonna hold this edge.

That's what you gotta hope is that their pride kicks in at this point, because I don't I think these are good players, and if you have good players that are committed to their assignment, I think you can do what you need to do. They may never be great at stopping the run. They can do enough to be good enough for their team to be able to function and win. What's what's scary and Amber is absolutely right

about this. What's scary is curse when all the way back to San Francisco playoff game, you know, and Amber rightfully so brought up you know, Tom Brady didn't have to win this game. Neither did Aaron Rodgers. You know, it was they ran the football. Yeah, and so you know, and this is and this is what you know, Derek's talking about two and curse as well. It does become pride. It does become like, listen, if you want us just to continue to let teams run over us all day,

then we have the wrong people here, you know. And maybe that's what the Cowboys are thinking about too, with adding you know, with you know, with adding Tach McKinley and those guys like that, that that maybe you know, hey, we're not just going to sit here and let this just continue on. We're going to try and figure out a way to get the right people in here to play run defense. If we have to. All right, we're gonna take our final break, comeback. We got a little

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visit The Star and frisco dot com. Welcome back. This is the final segment of the break Life in the WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star, presenter by Like the Only Beer of the Dallas Cowboys. Real quick, we have a few more minutes left in the show. Question for you guys about Dak, how if right now I ask you, how would you characterize Dak's season so far? What would

you say? Average? It's two and two as a starter, and you know, he played really bad in the first loss, and uh he was he was okay against Detroit, but the defense kind of bailed him out, and then they looked worse than the game looked, you know, worse than it was. And then then I think he played okay, and they played really good against the Bears, I mean really good and not okay. He was really really good against the Bears and the reason why they blew them

out because they kept scoring. And then he was just okay against Screen Bay made some good plays, but made some for the Packers as well. So right now, say's average. Yeah, I think Nick has nailed it right on the head. You know, to me that we've talked about it as bunge on this platform we have here that throwing the ball forty some odd times is not a great thing for Dak Prescott, you know, And I personally feel like that if Zeke would have played that game, and they

probably would have had a different game plan. You know, with a fourteen point lead, you probably might have seen a little bit more Zeke for three, Zeke for four, Zeke for four, Zeke for three, Tony for eighteen. You know, I think you'd have seen a little bit more of that, you know, and you just you know, it's it's there's a lot of pressure on him. You know, there's a lot of pressure on him to deliver. You know. We

had Stephen A. Smith on from ESPN. He was on station on one oh five three this morning and talking about you know, hey, they built a good team around this guy. This is on him. It's on if this team is going to have success in the seasonal and playoffs and Super Bowl. He's capable, and I agree with him on that. He just has to be more consistent.

You know, he just can't have the seventeen play brilliant drives of just bam bam bam bam down the field every throw, and then the next time go two straight, three straight series of three and outs and you know, have two three bad throws or turn the ball over, you know, and not all the turnovers are his fault.

But I agree with Nick, it's just there's just it's just as it's so inconsistent right now that you kind of like you want to get excited and then two or three things happen the next series that you're kind of like going to a Well, he's just not capable of playing any better, And you know, that's kind of what we are right now. Yeah, I agree with both of them. But if I was killing Moore, if I'm kelling Moore, I'm trying to figure out how do I

get Dak to have a better start? I think, and we see it with a few exceptions, you know, and you look at through his career, I think that has been a persistent problem where he becomes a better player in the second half of the game. But how can we figure out for him to because if they get off to a good start. I think they have way better chances of winning games, especially with these all these

close games. You're taking a lead and protect the ball, don't take chances on throws that you don't need to throw. But then just and I don't know the answer here. I don't know how you get him. How do you get the player If he's better, I agree, if he's better in the second half, give him more opportunities in the second half, and by doing that, lean on your defense, even though your defense is having trouble stopping the run and all that stuff. I would kick off to start,

if you win the toss, kick off. Two of the three games that they they tried to go and be very aggressive. In the Detroit game that backfired. Chicago was a situation where they scored on the first four possessions of the game, and then in Green Bay you're thinking, well, we're gonna you know, we're gonna take the ball and we're gonna drive it, and that doesn't work out very well.

So yeah, I'd rather not have him start at the twenty five yard line and then and then try to drive it with the crowd the way it is, that crowd, we see it all the time. They know everybody thinks halftimes thirty minutes like high school, and it's not. And by the time you get back into your seat, it is dead as a doornail. In the third quarter, take the ball in the dome stadium like that when everyone's still not back in your seat, and go drive it down.

But to start the game, towels are waving and all that kind of crap. And then you're gonna get three and out and you punt it towards midfield, and then now they're going in. If you win the toss, kick it off and see if your defense can stop them. And if you do, turp In maybe makes a play. Now you're starting at the forty forty five yard line and you can go in. Did you say this the other day? I think you did that, and over time you would have taken the wind. I would have you

mentioned it to me. You mentioned it to me before they made the decision. You say it, I think I might take the win. And it's not just the wind and the and whatever. You know, kick it that way. It's not just that. The way the rules are set up and the way your defense is and the way Aaron Rodgers had kind of got him carved up. He probably was gonna go win it, so that that's probably why not. But if it would have been a situation where maybe you got something out. I said it in

New England. I said it the exact same thing in New England. I was like, I'm not taking the I've taken the wind here and that's what happens. You kick it off, Yeah, you stop them. Now all you have to do is go get a field goal. If they would have been if they would have won the game. I thought about this later. They would have won the game with a long touchdown. Especially to CD, that game would have been exactly like the Patriots game from the

year before. You're messing around with them, you're better than them, You've had turnovers in the red zone, you're keeping them in the game. They're not really very good, and then they come back and tie the game, and then you get to over time and you stop them and you go win with a bad weather and all that minutes didn't work out. But I think you gotta look at wind, and you gotta look at that sometimes. I think that. I think, to me that the prospect of and I

think you're absolutely right. I think the prospect of just having to kick a field goal, if you could play good enough defense the first time, is a great advantage. Scoring that initial touchdown is the hard thing, especially for the Cowboys, because they're gonna get a holding call along the way, or somebody's gonna line up off sides, or

something's gonna happen, you know, along the way. I mean, it's pretty simple, you know, if you got a good enough kicker, it's an advantage to take the win and kick a fifty yard field goal and get the hell out of there, right, you know, then then have to try and score touchdown on taking the ball. You know, it's weird. Wait till you get to the playoffs and a game goes to overtime and now the rules are different. You're gonna see a completely different h It's gonna be

like college a strategy. Teams are not going to take the ball now. You want to know what you gotta do, right, So now you want to kickoff for sure, right, and then make you stop them. Now you'll you do just kick a field goal and win. So it's going to be completely different structure, which is another reason why we

were talking about it. You don't make different rules for the playoffs now, because there's gonna change the stragg there's gonna be a team in Week eighteen like that, Raiders and Chargers having to play to get in for a time. They get in the next week and then it's a completely different you know, that's just stupid. Their playoff to me, the playoffs start in mid December. Every game is a playoff game for about half the league. There you go, it is going to be for sure this year with

all that's going on. All right, appreciate you guys, Johns. We'll be back tomorrow. We'll give you guys a basically our wrap up for the week. Let you know what we think is gonna happen this weekend. Cowboys Vergs versus Vikens. Till then for Nick Eamon Brian brought us Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Eagels and 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.