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Cowboys Let's go. Are you ready for a break?
Yes?
Are you ready for a break?
Absolutely ready for a break?
Yeah, and so much for that.
It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com right with Mbar Garcia, Brian brought Us, Patrick Walker, and Derek Eagleton.
It is Friday, July twenty eighth, twenty twenty three, Season nineteen, episode number twelve. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break, Live from California.
Voice.
Okay, I'm a little bit on the struggle bus.
I get it.
Let's be honest with Yeah, let's I love you guys out there struggling the voices as Chris talking about.
Talking about all these shows, but we're living on Star Telling it is our second show out here, got my crew Brian, Patrick Amber and today we've got a lot of things we're going to talk about.
We are going to get to some standout moments.
We are gonna'll tell you guys a little bit of what we've seen through these first couple of practices. Uh and Monday Pads will come on next time we go on the air. Pads will have been on for a practice. And so the one thing I want to do today, and we'll probably spend the bulk of our time today doing,
is laying the storylines out for fans. I think there are a number of storylines that entering this camp and entering uh training camp through the preseason, these are gonna be the start storylines I think will be the predominant storylines for the Cowboys, And I'll throw them out to you guys and let you guys just pontificate on those different storylines.
Uh.
But let's start first.
Let's get some updates on some injuries. We've got a few guys that have some injury issues. Let's start with Donovan Wilson. What we know, Patrick.
Donovan Wilson, he left to practice on Day one, ladies and gentlemen, with what is reported to be a calf injury, potentially a calf strain. The good news is it looks like the Cowboys dodge the worst case scenario, So it's not a month's long gets a week's long injury, per Mike McCarthy on yesterday. So Donovan Wilson will likely miss
the entirety of camp and the preseason. But not that big of a deal because I didn't anticipate Donovan would get much of any work in the preseason anyway, and he's a veteran at this point.
He knows how to jump in and play.
But expectation at this point is that he'll be available Week one when the Cowboys visit the New York Giants. Second injury, unfortunately, also in the safety unit, Israel mcwambo left with injury on the same day, day one of practice, but mccuamoo, I'm told, actually pulled himself as a precautionary for precautionary reasons. He returned to the sideline, but he was in street closed. But similar timeline between mccuambo and Wilson.
Mccuambo expected to be weeks long as well, so expect both of them on the field as it stands, to play against the New York Giants. But in the meantime, they will not be at practice on the field, I should say, they will be leading from the sidelines, and that's going to give these young guys like Mike Keith Bell, jan Ye Thommas, Tyler Coyle a chance to step up and really try to prove themselves.
Which those other line. I'm sorry.
Safeties, do you guys see as as being the biggest benefactors of this situation just from a standpoint of now getting some more looks, more opportunity.
Yeah, yesterday Thomas had to play in the middle of the field where he was.
Able to knock the ball down and stuff like that.
So yeah, like Patrick's talking about, though, these you got some veteran safeties that are out and you mentioned all the young guys, but I really, you know, you talk about him, you talk about with Bell, you know, guys like that.
Playing safety in the National Football.
League to me is all about recognition, and through recognition is reps, you know, and those guys don't get a whole lot of you know, Tyler Coyle.
The same way. You know, give these guys the.
Opportunity to get some prac just working against some of the quality receivers and tight ends they have in camp, and you know, you start to see the field a little bit better. You gotta you know, you got a quarterback that's capable of picking you apart if you don't make your right reads and stuff. So any kind of extra reps. Again, it's because of injury. That's the shame.
The part that you kind of feel bad about. But for young guys to get reps, like I say, Thomas Bell, those guys quarrel, that helps them in the long run going forward.
Let's let's also give me update on Luke's gooon maker. What do we know about him?
Yeah, this one can and I don't know if I could add anything like that. I was talking to some people about Luke and this is an injury, a pre existing injury that comes from Michigan is where we're talking about here. And so you know, when you're dealing with feet, you know, that's something that this kind of you know, there's the high ankles and then there's certain other injuries to feed and stuff that people just kind of you got to give this single rest. You got to get
let it, you know. And it's unfortunate because to me, I know, through the draft show and the coverage that we were doing, he was picked in the second round. I was super ex cited about the pick because I've seen this guy Michigan run the football, you know, I've seen Blake Corn from Michigan just hammer it down people's
throats in the Big Ten. Well, they're running behind scoon Maker and stuff and I'm thinking, Okay, big body guy translates, that's a guy that probably needs to be working, you know, next to Tyron Smith needs to be working, next to Terrence Steele needs to be working and kind of.
Developing his craft a little bit.
So the fact that they're trying to figure out a timeline for this, they really don't have a specific specific When we was Patrick you got one, I was told they're trying to work through that possibility of when they can get him back on the field, but they're going to take their time with this one.
Absolutely correct, and specifically, what Luke Schoolmaker is dealing with is plantar fesciitis, and as Brian so eloquently stated, that does take time.
It is painful.
You don't want to try to push that because it can work against you very quickly and then it'll extend the length of your absence. So what I did like to see from school what it did like as far as what I saw Schoolmaker yesterday, is he's already out there doing mental reps. Yeah, you could see him in
the team drills. He was off in the end zone and he was mimicking and doing phantom drills trying to keep up with the mental reps and the assignments that so that when he is healthy and he gets in there, he'll be able to pick right up. But in his absence, obviously we know Jake Ferguson, for my money, he was coming in as te one and he was going to go against Schoolmaker for that role. But right now it's Jake Ferguson who looks like he's put on some good weight.
Put on some good weight. He's ready to go. Peyton Hendershot needs to take advantage of these opportunities as well. But more so than those two guys are the ones that we didn't necessarily talk too much about coming into training camp, Seth Green, Sean McEwen, Princeton, Fance. Some of these younger guys really now have an opportunity in Schoolmaker's current absence. Day two, I ended up my eyeballs went to him a few times because.
I'm like, hey, look at that kid, Hey look at that kid again.
John Stevens, he what he did yesterday in practice is a perfect example of what we're talking about here. Young guys need to step up and take this opportunity and make sure that they get a name for themselves before schoonmaker gets back on the field.
All right, here's we gonna do. We're gonna move on to well.
Hold on, I think you should mention someone else. Trevon Diggs. He's been out on the sideline. He hasn't really been practicing yet. I don't think we know, or have you guys heard yet, any of the specifics. I know there's been a lot of questions as to why he hasn't been out there just yet.
So it's being described as a toe injury.
And I know that when you're talking about two positions in particular, cornerback and wide receiver, you hear toe, you get scared, okay, But what it's being described to me as is a sore toe. And then when you look at Trevon yesterday the interception by Nashan right versus Jaylen Toby, now exactly he ran full speed down the sideline. So Mike McCarthy said yesterday in the press conference that Trevon Diggs is quote unquote fine, and then in practice I
see him spritting down the sidelines. I'm inclined to believe that he is indeed fine. The Cowboys are just being cautious with that, which makes sense with your ninety seven dollar cornerback.
Yeah, if you've got a part that's already sore, my thought is, let that simmer down a round bit, especially this early early in camp. Give it a little time. We'll see where it goes.
Yeah, the play that right made, I'd run down there too, maybe put my PAGs on while I'm at A really nice job by him playing in position Tolbert had him beat and the balls so slightly underthrown but rally to get to that point.
Good job by Right. A lot of.
Pressure on him, you know, people were kind of talking about him and Kelvin Joseph. Nice to see him have some early success.
Yeah, you mentioned Kelvin Joseph. Did you notice anything.
There didn't know a thing about Kevin Joseph. Yeah, I didn't notice anything different.
There doesn't make up break Ye, this is there's a lot of guys on this field.
There's a lot of guys.
As this camp goes on, the thing that you will learn is, and I always thought this, I'm like, man, these you know, we're gonna have to let these players go. When I was in player personnel, we're gonna have to let these players go. Bill Parcells told me one time. He said, Brian, these players get themselves cut. They get themselves cut. Either play or they don't play. You know, don't ever feel bad. I'm like, well, you know, he goes No. These players they're gonna either play for you
or they're not gonna play for you. So the field will tell you a lot as we watch these practices.
I'll tell you this, as much as we wanted him to step up as a cornerback and become one of the guys, he may actually just end up finding his role as a special teams guy yea, because he's shown some flashes there where he could become a special team's ace. It's not what you want from your second round pick, but there's a need for something.
I felt like though that maybe they were playing at safety a little bit, and then I was going, man, okay, I see what's going on. And because you talk about covering kicks, but then there were a couple of times where you had the penalties you know, fair catch, interference and all that, and you're like, oh, where's the awareness there, you know, and stuff like that. So you have to
have that ability to see the field at safety. We talked about it earlier in the segment that you know, you have to see the field, you have to be able to react. The part about him being tough and tackling that's not the question. But you know, it's very much like it's like a woozy A. To me remember with a Woozia, it was always like he's in a
position and he just couldn't finish the play. Yeah, and then you're like, please just finish one of these plays, like Kelvin Joseph might be one of those guys too.
That's kind of a please finish the play guy.
Yeah, all right, here's gonna do.
We're gonna take a quick break a little early here, but we're gonna go ahead and take our break.
We'll come back.
We'll get into some of our standout moments or players will let you guys go around the table and tell us a little bit about what you've seen at practice, what's really stood out to you, and do when we come back.
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All right, so here we go.
Let's get some standout players and moments from the first couple of days of unpadded practices. Let's start with you Amber. What stood out to you?
Well?
To me, a lot of the wide receivers have been making pretty nice plays. I mean, you talk about Ceedee Lamb, he's been standing out Cooks, He's been doing a really nice job. But one player that I've kept my eyes on is Jalen Tolbert. How even though he's had a couple of plays where you're like, oh no, that was not that great, he's had moments where you can see the growth that he's shown just from last year and to this point right now, you can see that he's
taking a step up. And as far as his confidence, there are moments that his movements to me now look like they have a purpose. He's moving with purpose, and he's out there he looks a lot more confident and you can tell that, I guess the time that he's spent with Dak in his backyard with everybody else, just creating and building that relationship, that chemistry. It's starting to really show out here in camp. I thought we were about to get hit with that balls. It was close.
But anyways, Wide receivers have done a really nice job. But just wanted to point out Jaalen Tolbert and just tell fans that there's hope. There's hope there and he's starting to show, uh, some of that growth and development right now.
I love that.
And Jalen Tobert is actually was one of the practice points that I put on the dot com yesterday as far as one of the key guys that stood out to me yesterday. Even for example, in that matchup against Nashwan Right, even though Right won that battle, Jalen Tobert was right there high pointing it with Right. He was physical and then he went right back to Dark Prescott and said come back to me and guess what. Two plays later, across the middle dark Presscott rewards him for
that confidence. So, but I'm gonna go defense on this one. I'm gonna go with Jabrill Cox. Jabril Cox looks he's he's carrying over. Yeah, he's carrying over what we he saw from him in mini camp. His confidence level another former mid round pick. Jabrill Cox's confidence level is reminded me of what I'm seeing from Jalen Jalen Tobert's confidence levels through the roof right now. And now Jabril Cox is as well, and he's playing like that. There was
one play in particular, route comes across the middle. The red of the play was fantastic, the reaction was even better, and on top of that not toping.
I'm sorry Cox played through the whistle.
I thought at one point they were gonna have to break that tackle up. And then kind of jokingly afterwards, I asked he Brill, I said, were you gonna take the receiver with you home?
And he was like, I would have if I had to. That's the kind of energy I liked.
This is a pivotal season for Jabrill Cox as well, and especially in that LB.
Three battle whe the Cowboys try to saw it.
Yeah, he's the June guy.
You throw on the bubble, kind of like where's Cox gonna how is he gonna play this year?
But especially the.
Depth they need to figure out the depth at linebacker. That's a good view right there. I was up by Ambar and Derek watching practice and I'm going to point out kept my aunt, Terrence Steele yesterday. What one particular play, Terrett Steel is your right tackle. They're gonna run outside play going all the way to the left, and they're gonna try and carry it to the boundary and up
the sidelines. Terret Steel a his right tackle spot. He comes all the way through and the next thing I know, he's out there blocking on the safety out in space. So here's the play.
Going completely away from him.
You worry about his agility, mobility, how he plays in space. He got engaged with the safety up the field and then you watch the ball cut behind him there. So it's good to watch him. The pass sets looked good from him as well. You know, it was very clear
to me when he wasn't in the lineup. Adoga had some struggles yesterday playing a little bit of tackle feet not as good as it needed to be, but it was good to see Terren Steele, engaged up the field, mobility, agility, all those things that we love about his game.
All Right, So here's what I do.
I want to pivot now to the storylines that we will be telling talking about throughout this training camp, and I want to start with the storyline. I think that's probably the biggest one for the Cowboys right now, Zach Martin. My question for you guys is how much of an issue do you think Zach Zach Martin's unhappiness with his contract will be for the Cowboys this preseason heading into the season.
I think.
I mean we've talked about it. We talked about it on the first show. You know, when the Cowboys want something, they're gonna get it done. And I think it's not gonna go into the season with you not having Sach Martin. He's gonna be there. I think they'll find a solution. If anything, I look at this on the brighter side, the opportunities that this is giving other guys on the O line. We know the issues as far as injuries that we've seen the O line struggle and how often
we see them shifting from position. Even though Sag has been that one constant guy that doesn't move and stays there. It still gives other guys the opportunity to just take those reps here and be able to bond and build that chemistry on the old line as well. But I don't, honestly, I'm just waiting for it to get done. We heard Dak Prescott on the podium say, just to pay the man, pay him. He deserves it, so honestly, right, I just don't think it's going to be an issue at.
All, and I agree, I don't.
I don't think it's going to be an issue regardless of the amount of time it takes for this resolution to land. But I get the impression that this resolution is coming fairly soon, especially when you hear Tyler Smith yesterday after second day of practice say that Zach Martin sent a text message to each of the offensive linemen and he said, quote unquote, I'll be there soon.
So I think it's already in the works.
And I am one hundred percent confident that of any player getting a deal done, it will be on Zach Martin, because that's the guy that you pay. And that's why Dak Prescott was so definitive and concise in that comment. Just pay the man, because if you're Dak Prescott, you're already looking at an offensive line that's trying to sort itself out, even with Zach Martin right there being your security blanket at right guard. If you remove him, that's a that's a scary site for Dak Prescott. So that's
why Dak said what he said. But you know, brother Zach Martin is out a week, two weeks the entirety of camp as far as his preparation. We see video coming out on Twitter right now. He's working without a good friend, Duke Minyweather. He's staying in shape. He's going to hit the ground running whenever he gets here. But
in the meantime, great point by Mbar. Much like Donovan Wilson, although injury that's injury based and Israel mcconwell injury based, it's an opportunity for these younger guys, Matt Farniac for example, to step up and show what they can do on the interior of the offensive level.
Farniac was a reason why it actually was a better practice at that spot because everybody else it took a swing at that right guard spot.
It was a nightmare. It really really was. He the man they had Josh Paul had problems over there.
You know, it's TJ. Bass had problems over there. I'm sure when Dak was standing on the podium yesterday he said, pay them man, knowing.
How practice just went over on that right side. They they really struggled over there. And you know, but the.
Cowboys, yeah, you put you put DeMarcus Lawrence inside is a three technique and rushing the nickel, there's gonna be problems. But it just was not anywhere where it needed to be yesterday again, Farniac to me, was the best option there, you know.
And and it.
Was good, you know, Tyler Smith and Tyron Smith on that left side, things were fine over there. That right side was a mess other than stealing Farniac when and that's the thing that scares me a little bit of about, you know, not having Zach Martin over there.
So yes, pay the man for sure as well.
Sometimes your absence will help negotiate your contract for you.
Yeah.
Yeah, but you know one thing I out throw out there, and I hear what you guys are saying. From the standpoint you don't worry so much about Zach. You know, he could come in, he'll be fine.
I worry after what I saw yesterday.
Yeah, and what I what I worry about as well is continuity.
Like I'm trying to build continuity on this offensive line with a bit I mean you, I don't know if I call it a brand new offense, but certainly newer elements being added to the offense. I really want my offensive line to start develop that chemistry together as a unit.
And to me, that's where I think not having exact their matters and so for every day he misses, yeah, somebody else is going to get those reps, but that's also one less rep or however many less reps that Terrence still is gonna get with the guy he's gonna be playing with on Sundays, right, And that's where I think it's It's one of those things where you would hope that at some point this gets resolved one way or the other and he gets out here because you do want to start building well.
And I guess also when you speak out of it that way, you can point out the voice, the voice lacking in that room as far as leadership and experience. We know h Yren Smith, he's not I mean we've talked to him or barely barely. You barely get to hear his voice. Oh my god, almost got killed here.
We're at camp ladies and gentlemen.
That would be a miss that training camp battle for kickers, that would be a miss for that camera. We were almost made funny home videos there almost to keep it.
I'm awake now anyway, Tyron Smith.
One of the things that h Tyler Smith pointed out yesterday is that he is having now in his second year, having to kind of step up and speak up and just take a little more of that leadership role in the meantime. So that's good for young guys to develop that way, but also it's it would be nice to have sex experience and voice guiding these guys.
I mean, that's all of that's true.
And you know, every coin has two sides, and Derek, you make an excellent point. You want continuity to be established early on so that you can build on it. The good news when it comes to that is with Terrence Steele coming back and looking like you know, Prime Terrence Steele and Tyler Badish is right there. When Zach does return, you instantly have that pre established chemistry between Beadish,
Martin and still it's already there. But then if you're the coaching staff, you have to find out what you have in these younger guys Farni y'ac and in the Doga when you operate him on the interior. You gotta find out sooner or later what you have there or what you don't have there in the event that you might need to go out into veteran free agency and bring somebody in so that you have a better situation
behind Zach Martin going forward. So it's it's unfortunate you because you want Zach on the field, but being that he's not on the field, you got to take advantage of that.
Alright, This conversation.
And the trenches ladies and gentlemen like.
Com does.
Put you in the take one for the thing. Right, Let's go on to the next storyline, and this is obvious.
So do we have concussion protocols as media folks, because if.
It causes the.
Situation, than I am Zach Mark.
That's a fact.
This storyline is probably the biggest storyline for the Cowboys coming out of last season that they will have to answer going into the upcoming season. How will Dallas solve its interceptions from twenty twenty two.
I'll tell you the there's the one thing that you kind of can hang your hat on if you look at the history of Mike McCarthy, and yeah, he's he had a Hall of Fame quarterback in Aaron Rodgers who doesn't throw interceptions, but his offenses tend.
To lend to not allowing that to happen.
When he's been the primary play caller, you have seen where the interceptions the touchdowns are high, interceptions are low. If you're a fan of that, if that's the how you believe in things, and I want to say that about Mike as a play caller. You know, maybe there's some things that you know, I've got in trouble on on my radio station. People have kind of taken this
the wrong way about Dak. Dak is super aggressive when it comes to throwing the football, you know, and so you know, when you start to talk about how much trust does he really have, I mean, he has.
Maybe too much trust.
You know, maybe some guys were letting him down, you know when it came to well, Simi Fijoco let him down just the other day, you know. And there's quite a few of those Dak interceptions where somebody let him down. So if you just you know, again the trust, there's guys that are going to have to make some plays for him. But you know, nobody ever talks about, uh, you know, the quarterback at the Rams when they won the Super.
Bowl and he basically led the league in interceptions.
You know, once your once your if you you find a way to win games and win playoff games and win the Super Bowl, some of those things go away. But I want to believe because of Mike McCarthy's history as he really does a good job of limiting the number. And maybe it's just the way he calls the game. Maybe it's the way you know. And we'll see Brian with him and Brian Schottenheimer if they can. But Dak's aggressiveness is one of those things that I.
Think you're going to have to live with. That's what he wants to do.
And I will throw this into Brian when you say that about his aggressiveness to people letting him down, his receivers maybe letting him down. That really goes back and speaks to what I think was the biggest challenge was I think and then again, I'm not trying to necessarily point out any particular player. But I think the level of his talent, of the talent of the receivers and what they were providing last season was down from what
it had been the year before. And I think you solve a lot of the problems of the interceptions by upping the quality when you go out and get a Brandon Cooks, when you get Michael Gallup back to hopefully what we think Michael Gallup is like those things alone.
Take your second and third receivers and improve them over what you had last year, and that will give you targets that, by the way, if you are being aggressive and you want to trust them by giving them a shot to make a play, you know either they're gonna make the play or nobody's gonna make the.
Yeah, that's the thing about it though.
But but you go back and you watch in the Green Bay game and he throws an interception down almost in the red zone where Schultz and Lamb he Dak was thinking somebody was going to break inside. Yeah, two guys basically the same area, and one of them was supposed to go inside, and Dak's reading that, Okay, I'm gonna throw you inside where you need to be and
there's the trust. Yeah, there's the trust factor. And to your point, I totally agree with you because you know Noah Brown throwing to him and also the balls in the air, and Michael Gallup wasn't at his absolute best, you know, I mean the things happening there, Simmi Fajoco out here and immediately it's like, oh damn it, Dak's throwing.
Another interception where the ball hit Semi.
Fojoko between the eight and the one, you know, and he's got to make that play. He did underthrow the ball yesterday, but what is he doing. He's taking a shot on a nine route and it was really a good play.
And by the way, those kind of balls, yeah, I'm not as upset about.
That's a point in my mind. Do it all the time, but take that chance.
You got to figure that out practice.
If you want to do that, if you want to figure out, if you want to challenge that, let's go for it. But like I said, there's I'm banking on that. Mike McCarthy's way he calls plays could limit the way that Dak Prescott could be put into some harm's way of throwing some interceptions.
And I've always been and I agree, and I've always been on the heel of you don't want to mute, for lack of a better way to put it, you don't want to mute Dak Prescott's aggressiveness. You want to trim it so that you can eliminate as many riverboat throws as possible. But you got to understand that some of those riverboat throws are gonna win you games, right right, that's how you well, you have to have that kind of quarterback.
But here's the big thing for me.
For those that are harping Ondak's fifteen interceptions last season, you go back and you look at the film into my account, and I logged each one of them. It was thirty three thirty four percent were accountable to the receivers. So if you take that out of the math, then that means he threw ten interceptions. Now granted that was in a shorter time frame, only twelve games, but interceptions mirrors what he typically does on an annual basis. So
you still say, Okay, twelve games, ten picks. Gotta peel that back. I believe he will because history shows that he can when he has a three headed monster. First full year of Mary Cooper being here Dak Prescott, that's when he almost took the record from Tony Romo FO nine hundred and two yards, thirty touchdowns to only eleven picks. He was injured in twenty twenty. We know about the broken ankle twenty twenty one, another Mari Cooper year, almost
forty five hundred yards, thirty seven touchdowns, ten interceptions. Now you bring in Brandon Cooks logic, Dick takes, and history tells us that in this formula, Dak Prescott will thrive, the interceptions will decrease, the production will increase, and then you have McCarthy.
Into it as a play caller, and now who we are.
Well, but then again, we're gonna get to week eight, Patrick and Amber's gonna go this offense makes no big plays.
If this thing turns into dank and.
Dunk, dank and dunk, dancon dunk and then ambar and week eight, it's gonna go. Where are the big plays? Where are the chunk plays? Where the twenty yard plays? This offense it's you know, and hope they get off the field. They don't score any points.
You know, that's the problem.
If you you talk about muting Dak and they don't make big plays and they don't get points, you know, because that's one of the thing.
They're one of the teams of the.
League in big plays, you know them, the Dolphins for I mean they they they're one of the teams that make big plays in this scene. And the minute this turns into just a dink and dunk offense, fans are gonna be losing their damn minds about that.
You know what. Surprisingly, I myself don't feel concerned for the interceptions this year. I feel like now with the off season, because last year, what was that thing that we always heard after a game Brian press conference, ye dark saying my.
Babe, I've got to improve.
Week after week we would see kind of the same performance. But I think now with this break and working together and all that, I do know for a fact that I feel a lot better about the wide receiver group currently then and I did last year at the same time. So I think that they're starting training camp on the right foot with the right kind of guys that you want, so wide receivers, I feel a lot better.
Dak.
I think he's gonna figure it out. And I'm with you, guys, I don't want him to take a step back and become more conservative. I think he should keep going. And it's all about getting on the same page, being on the same page, that chemistry that we keep mentioning, just knowing, Okay, I know exactly where that guy's gonna be, and you know exactly that I'm going to you, And just that comes with time. But obviously you feel like you're running
out of time here. When is the time coming? But I do think that they're on the right track, and I think that would be an area that I believe that they will definitely have improved by the start.
Of the season.
Chemistry and trust.
To Edbar's point, chemistry and trust, and it looks like he has an instant in building chemistry with Brandon Cooks, already has it with Ceedee Lamb. They had some timing issues last year the resulted in some of those interceptions, Lamb not crossing face, he going behind the safety. But we've also seen Dak make throws like, for example, he doesn't make the throw the game winning can throw in New York to Cole Beasley if he doesn't trust that receiver.
There was a particular play against the Cleveland Browns when Cooper was here. Mark Cooper was here in Dallas. It was a key hole throw. He doesn't make that throw if he doesn't trust the receiver. So this is Dak trying to see who he can and cannot trust, and now it's the time to do it in training camp.
In fact of the matter, in this kind of offense, what we think we're gonna see from this offense, that's what this offense is predicated on.
It's those timing bas throws.
It's those quick get the ball out and the receiver has to be i mean, with pinpoint accuracy in the spot where he needs to be because the ball is gonna beat there, right, Yeah, so you got to trust him.
A great example yesterday, I have them running.
They're running a lot of bunch formation three to one side and then scatter and then also they got these pick routes too, where they're driving guys inside and then running CD behind that, you know, and he's sitting down in his zone and Dak's throwing the ball. That's exactly to your point, though, Receivers need to be where they are are supposed to be, and you also need to find a way to finish though if you're receiver. Don't let the ball clang off you and go in the
air and then somebody makes an interception. And now we're talking about the quarterback and a high number of interceptions at a game or a practice.
And it's also true that Deck needs to also make sure that he's making a smart decision. Example, you look at the playoff game against the forty nine ers. You dodge a bullet once against Fred Warner. Yeah, you can't go there again. So those are the types of things that are accountable to Dek Prescott, and he knows it, and that's what he's working to clean up mentally.
All Right, we're gonna take our final break.
Come back.
We got some more story lines we'll hit. We'll do that in a second. As Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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Welcome back into Dear Doctor, the show where I answer life's questions with an ice cold can of doctor Pepper. Sheila, let's hear from my next caller, would.
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Back to the break.
The official twenty twenty three Dallas Cowboys Star Magazine I Love You Beam Star Magazine Training Camp Preview is now available. This year's edition, which Chris Beam absolutely loves, features scatter reports, position analysis at pull out schedule which Amberg Garcia has at her desk, and articles from your favorite Cowboy writers like Patrick Walker. Get your Training Camp preview today at Dallas Cowboys dot Com. Slash the Star Star, not the Star Star.
Welcome back. It is the final segment of.
The break Trains California.
We are avoiding kicks and we are we're taking you guys through the storylines of training camp.
Let's move on to our next topic.
This one.
I have that I literally had that one at the bottom of the list, but you know, it seems like a great time to go.
Ahead and have that conversation.
Call the audible ahead, what do you got there?
But I know you got it lined up how you want.
Let me let me let me ask you that though.
How concerned are you guys with with what's going on with the game situation?
I guess at this point.
Our producer Chris, he's on record, he's a little, a little worried, just a little concern for his life.
I think, go ahead, Patrick, because you mean I thought you made a good point. We were just talking at the break.
Yeah.
For me coming into camp, this was still the most glaring position that needed to be addressed.
And I said it at several points.
I understand you bring it, you bring Backtris in thiss Guyano, and then you go and get Brandon Aubrey from the USFL And the question was posed to me on one to five point three of him the fan on yesterday morning. Uh do I feel like one of these guys is the answer? As Jerry Jones said, one of them can be. I don't have the body of work that gives me that level of confidence. I can't justifiably sit here and say yes, I believe that, and there therefore I do have some concern at the position.
And as these footballs.
Sail over our heads with the goal post over there, it just let it reinforces that. Now I understand these guys. They have to get there. Yeah, there's some win and they got to get their their leg beneath them, you know, so to speak. But that being said again, neither of these guys have the body of work that gives me the confidence. And then what we're kind of halfway seeing they're struggling to start training camp.
Hopefully they pick things up.
But when you have some veteran free agents out there, like a Mason Crosby, for example, who has familiarity with Mike McCarthy obviously from their days with the Packers, Viscay I ain't know and I'll be they're really going to have to get the going and they can't wait until later in camp to get it going to happen, has to happen now or we're going to be looking at a situation like last year where a veteran was brought in and ended up winning the job.
Yeah. I think everything that Patrick said is absolutely correct, and you know it's it's it's almost like they're I'd be interested to see if they do some actual kicks in practice in front of all the.
Media, which they haven't.
Really they haven't.
And I think Mike McCarthy, we don't see a lot of one on one. Yeah, we don't see a lot of one on ones and things like that. It's almost like you're not we really don't want people to write or talk about, Okay, they were six of ten from and then you're you know, we're charting all the distances and stuff like that. I just I don't think they want to put that out there that way. We've learned this about Pier being an ox star though. This is
kind of a difficult place to kick. Even though it's sunny and bright and nice, they have trees all over this place and the wind comes over these trees and stuff. It does do tricks with the ball. So we've seen some kickers. Look, really, last year they were kicking into a pre stiff breeze. It was like they were four of nine, there were you know, three of you know what. It was just it was kind of it wasn't kind
of it wasn't pretty at all. And so I'm saying, I think they're trying to kind of figure this thing out right now, and maybe even maybe not in front of the media. Maybe it's going to be after practice, before practice, those kinds of things.
You know, every time I've ever asked about kickers in general since the Dan Bailey era, I've always been told the same thing as far as like how easy quote unquote it is to bring a kicker just because the nature of the position, you don't it's easier to kind of give them a trial and then bring them in and just plug them right in and all that. But I've seen year after year when you talk about the problems that they've had kicking the ball, doesn't seem like
it ever really works out that way. With a few exceptions. Yeah, but even every time we head into training camp, I feel like they're there they're always way towards the very last minute to go into panic mode when it comes down to the kicker position. So I'm just I just hope that they can take no I mean, obviously they're watching everything, but that they can take action a lot sooner than what happened last year.
As an example, let me ask you this question though, because I hear what you're saying, I wonder sometimes if the kicker position is one that is very different than other positions in the NFL. Like if you got a linebacker problem, you know you can go into the draft that year and there will be linebackers available to solve your linebacker problem.
Right, you just got to pick the right one. You know.
You don't have that every year when it comes to kickers, Like there is kind of this certain number of kickers that are out there, and that number doesn't seem to be changing very very much, and so you're really taking a shot on guys that are unproven to try to figure out if maybe you could kind of find one. But it's not as simple as finding other positions to be able to get ahead of it, as you say.
Right, unless you draft one, right Because to your point, well, I was gonna say.
That's exactly we drafted a third round guy that didn't work.
There's there's not going to be any guarantee on any position that you know, if any play. But I get
what you're saying, and you're absolutely correct. Here's what I'm going with it, though, uh, because of the greatness of Dan Bailey, and Dan Bailey was an undrafted I am of the belief that that gives the front office confidence and saying, well, we did it once, we can do it again, which is generally true if I show you something once then But we're now so far removed to Ambars, but we're so far removed from Dan Bailey that maybe we should think a little bit differently as far as
approaching the position.
Is what I'm saying, Well, this is where Derek and I grew up together here in Dallas Cowboys about the same time, and they used to have a kicking coach you named Steve Hoffman.
It's Steve Hoffman.
Whoever the official sponsor for the Dallas Cowboys is for building projects and stuff like that. I don't know which company, so I don't want to say, But whoever is that Hoffman could go to that particular depot place or wherever and find ten dudes and he would find a Pro Bowl guy out of that. Never when I was working with the scoun department here did I ever have to evaluate a kicker because we had Steve Hoffman.
Steve Hoffman knew he would.
Find high school teachers. Tim Ceter right, sim was the one that was a coach.
He had them all.
He would just go down to the local store and say pro Bowl kicker, and he would find them. And that and that's where I mean. I want the days of Steve Hoffman. And I know he's coaching special teams somewhere right now. I want that day back where I don't have to worry about this anymore, because what's gonna happen is this head coach is okay with kicking field goals. It's gonna be tight, tough games he's gonna play, he's gonna be if he's calling the offense like he's talking
about it. There's gonna come down to some kicking situations. We've seen it before. So to Ambar's point, please please, please please make it a priority.
Right now, I'll to that point and I will kind of pick dovetail off of it. I would like to plead to the play caller, the offensive play.
Caller, and Michael McCarthy and just hey, listen, listen to me, coach.
The more effect of this offense can be on third down, the less you have to worry about how effective your kicker might or might not be.
So there you go.
Yeah, and I'll take you one step further. How efficient you can be on first and second down. Will then dicate fish can be on third down, which make sure you keep that kicker on the sideline.
So just be perfect.
You don't have to be perfect.
We're not asking you're not asking better than thirty five percent on third down.
Yeah, I mean winning first down to me, I think winning first down to me, whether you're on offense or defense, that's really where To me, offense and defense matters like first down. If you can win on first down, it dictates everything else until you get to a punt or you get to another first down, you know, And so I think that's a critical down for the Cowboys. All Right, we appreciate you guys joining us. We're going to be back on Tuesday. Yeah, we'll be back on Tuesday, and
we'll get to some of the defense. I we didn't get to a lot of the defensive storylines. We'll get some of those on Tuesday. We will also have at that point a practice that we have gone through where the Cowboys will have on paths they come on on Monday, so we'll get to see a little bit more, particularly on the offensive and defensive line, where guys start kind of running into each other a little bit more. That should be fun. Till then for Brian brought us Patrick Walker, Ambergarcia.
I am Derek Heiglton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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