Cowboys Break: Scouting The Falcons Offense

episode number seventy one. Welcome to another edition of The Break, live from the s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star, and today we got a lot to talk about. We'll start with the Atlanta offense today. We'll get into that and tell you a little bit about what you can expect as far as the matchups there. But first, what I wanted to do is give everybody a good rundown of what the storylines will look like for this week. There are a few that are worth keeping an eye on.

How's everybody doing this morning? Great, Derek, wonderful, awesome cold? You got on a coat? So yeah, all right, I'll be okay. I want to be in bed, all right. That just took me by surprise, Like I wasn't expecting you to say it, wouldn't you want to be in bed in your covers like all nice and coach. Actually, yes,

that'd be great, exactly awesome. No, I want to grind and I only want to talk about Cowboys football, getting this win against the Falcons, previewing this Atlanta offense, talking to Dak Prescott and maybe Zeke today and just really kicking ass. That's what I want to do. That's boy, That's what I'm talking about. Energy from Dave, That's what I'm talking about, just saying, sure, all right, let's jump right into this thing. Here the storylines for this, Dave agree,

I don't know. We're gonna pretend he does. He's spilling coffee everywhere. As long as long as he's got energy, let's let's play that up and let's just give him a good pat on the back and say thanks, David, thanks for bringing that energy. All right, Let's talk about Ezekiel Elliott. What's going on with him this week? Think it's later this week, there's going to be another hearing.

Give me the update on where we are and what's going to happen this week and when that should happened, and when the Cowboys will know more and just the whole nine, what's happening everything. I thought it was really great because Jerry Jones was asked that question a little a little bit earlier this morning, and he knows as much as I know, which is like, not as much as you'd prefer, you'd want him to know a little

bit more. Yeah, well, it's I mean, it's all in the hands of a federal court, and like we've said a few times on this show, they do whatever they want on whatever timeline they want. So he's going to have his appeal hearing on Thursday with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. It's a three judge panel, I believe. I heard it was two Democrats and a Republican. That's

a good thing, right, I think so. But I'm not going to pretend to like, oh, yeah, well, you see what they need here is this guy voted here, and like, I don't know, it's got to go three nothing, right, I believe, so does it? Yeah? I believe so appeals it has to be unlike a regular district court. I guess I don't know, but I think it does have to be. It it's got to go well for Zeke Daniel, Yeah, Daniel Wallack, where are you, Um, that's gonna be on Tuesday.

There's gonna be oral argument Thursday. Sorry, yes, yes, two pm Thursday, Tuesday already happened. Yeah, it's gonna be Thursday. There's gonna be oral arguments. I think Daniel Wallack actually said that, you know, they a lot for thirty minutes on each side for oral arguments, but he expects in a situation like this that it'll last longer than that

and then they just make their decision. And apparently right there at the moment, no, they well they can they can make it Thursday night, they can make it Friday. They could wait until next week, in which case Zeke would be eligible to play against Atlanta. Could they wait like feasibly? Could they actually do this at like one

thirty on Sunday afternoon? I don't think so, because again courts closed it talking about the government, and government doesn't work on weekends, like no exceptions, like president doesn't work on the weekend. Depending don't get me stand all right, talk about something else? Yeah, Um, so yeah I would if it's not by Friday, a like close of business, I would expect that he can play. And it took ten days for this thing to go through the federal

the Circuit court in New Orleans. Having said that, it just seems like they've been really good about doing everything on a speedy time. It's like, how long in New yorlds you said thirty I don't, I didn't. I didn't hear what you said. You said, Okay, ten days. So if that were to happen, presumably he could play two games before you even have a decision if it took that same timeline, right, theoretically, But I really just kind of have a hunch that they're going to have it

figured out by Friday. I just everything ever since, ever since Zeke had that overturned, so going back to the bye week, ever since that was overturned and he filed for the TRRO and that was, you know, blah blah blah. Everything that's happened since then has been fast, like by court stand right, Yeah, So I think that's going to keep up, and so we will We'll see what happens,

but I'm thinking maybe Friday. But as of right now, because there is not a ruling, the temporary restraining order is still in place, which means he practices at least until a decision is made right, Bay say, I'm sorry, temporary restraining order was two weeks ago. Got it, get it out of the same terminology, But I don't think

that wrong. Okay. Either way, he's still practicing as of today, which does create I think an interesting conversation, at least for us, of how the Cowboys should handle this week. It's I'll ask you guys that question, knowing the situation that they're in, that there could be a situation they could find out his latest Friday, and even though courts don't work on the weekends, I guess it could come

out this weekend. All that being said, if you're the Cowboys coaches, do you maybe just practice as usual assuming that Zeke's going to be your starter, or do you maybe say, Okay, Zeke, we're not going to practice you this week. What we're gonna do is let you sit in on meetings. You'll understand the game plan, you'll know

what what you would be doing. We know that you know how to do it out on the field, but we'd rather give the reps to the other guys to get them prepared so that you basically are prepared for either way, whether Zeke plays or does not. What do you guys think is the best way to go somewhere in between? Maybe I may split the reps a little bit, give Zeke some some time, give some to Alfred Morris if he's going to be your starter, and then the other guys he's just you know, they're gonna get scout

team reps. I guess. So that's why I would do it. I would not just sit Zeke this week. I would I would just split it. Garrett had a really good read between the lines type of answer about that back on Monday during his wrap up press conference, which, if you think about it, I mean, you watch training camp. That's not how these guys practice anyway, you know, like you do, you do a period of you know, all right, you do individuals whatever. You go to full team, you

probably run ten reps. The starter will get six of those seven and then you know, and so then the backup gets two, and the third guy maybe gets one or zero or whatever. Like they always divvy it up. It's not like the starter gets everything always. And so I would imagine you just adjust your game plan. Would you flip that though? Would you would you maybe give Morris six and give Zeke three? Like I would probably give Zeke the lion's share of the work, but less

than he's used to. So if he usually gets eight out of ten, I would give him five this week, or you know, something like that, and I think they will, like Garrett basically said, you know, we'll bury it up and make sure that our you know, number two and number three you get more than they're probably used to getting in a situation like that. What's your opinion on the Namber I trust whatever they're doing. I mean, this is again something that it's not catching them by surprise necessarily.

They've been dealing with this uncertainty, uncertainty for weeks, with the exception of last week that Zeke was unable to be here in practice, that's the only exception. But aside from that, I'm sure whatever they're doing in the way that they're preparing, they're making sure they covered in all areas, you know, with all their backups and including seek in case he's able to play. All right, let's move on.

Let's talk a little bit about injuries. They got some significant injuries that you'll have to keep an eye on this week. Tyren Smith, Dez Bryant, Terrence Williams, Cheetobayo Woozy. I'm going to throw him in that category just because we're still waiting for his return and it sounds like that maybe he might be able to resume practice this week. Tell me about those four injuries and kind of what

you're expecting this week as we go throughout the week. Well, Jerry tried to shed some light on those things this morning and didn't really and come away from that really feeling one way or the other about it. He said he's not sure about he doesn't know that they'll have desert terrence. But he doesn't know that they won't have desert terrence, which great, thanks Les. Again, don't know, yeah, he did. He kind of alluded that, you know, he's hopeful that you can count on him from what I gather,

and you never know. But it sounds like DEAs and Terrence maybe that it's like a pain tolerance thing. Daz has an ankle on a knee, Terrence has an ankle. It up. I mean, Terrence played through this in week two after hurting it pretty bad in week one, and he was like adamant about it too. He's like, if all it is is pain tolerance, I'll play so I sort of feel like at least one of those two guys will be out there, if not both. Tyrone's the

one that really kind of freaks me out. He's got a groin injury, and I mean, I don't even know where to begin with that, Like, it doesn't sound like something you can play with six days later. But if there's one type of iron man freak who can do it, it's probably him. I'm gonna go ahead and guess you won't see him today or tomorrow at practice, and then just be a matter of how he feels on Friday. If I had to guess, it should have based fine. He was playing basketball in the locker room. He's good

turn around jupper looking good defense. That he was playing some defense. I mean, he didn't get hurt through that. I think he's I think he's gonna practice. I would hope, So I would hope that what we saw yesterday leads us to think that he's going to practice, because if not, then yeah, he was active out there. Yeah, like hamper Ball is back in the Cowboys locker I love it. Yeah, it was. It was a staple last year, right. It really it helps the time go by in the locker room,

and but typically hamper ball. Like you, you stand still and shoot shots. It's like horse like but Cheeto and Jordan Lewis are like backing each other down and just look, he's just don't know how to play the game, play the game the way it was meant to be played. Young for messing it up. Amber balls, he said, hamper ball, or like staff ball, hamper ball. I kept having to look back every time. As I'm listening to Tackles Week, I'm having to look back every second to make sure

they don't they shoot this. They shoot this oversized tennis ball into a hamper where also sweaty towels and stuff are getting thrown into and jockstraps and all that, and then they make they make it. Then they go and tell me grab it and get it, and then shoot it again, and then it vall goes over here, and Dave picks it up and thirst over here and all right, calm down, matches his eyebrows and it's all over his face. Sorry, done, hamper ball is much better than all right, all right,

let's get back into this. All right, So we got injuries lined out, kind of know what to expect here, at least what to be looking for with the injuries. What to be looking forward, Zeke. Now, let's focus in on the team the Cowboys have to play, the Atlanta Falcons. This is going to be another tough one, and I know that they have not been the team that you

saw last year that went to the Super Bowl. They are four and for right now, and they've had that kind of season where it's been really up and down. But you cannot ignore the number of playmakers they have, specifically on this offense. Dave Giffish a scouting report on the offense. Honestly, I the Atlanta Falcons don't make any sense to me. That's really yeah. You set it up pretty perfectly there. This is the number six team in total offense, the number six team in passing offense, thirteenth

in rushing offense. Not great, but definitely not bad. You have the reigning NFL MVP Matt Ryan, who's completing sixty five percent and has thrown for two thousand yards halfway through the season. You have a Pro Bowl running back in DeVonta Freeman who's averaging four point five yards per carry. He's got five hundred yards at the halfway mark. Tevin Coleman doesn't get as many carries as Freeman, but he's averaging five yards per carry a weapon. So you have

two really nice running backs. And then there's Julio Jones who has almost seven hundred receiving yards. And another guy that you probably know from Fantasy is Austin Hooper who he only has twenty five catches for three hundred and thirty twenty five catches, but he's averaging thirteen yards per catch, so he's a big play threat for a tight end as well. But the thing is, there's seventeenth in scoring offense.

They're averaging twenty one points per game. They've lost three out of their last four with you know what they have? They they beat the Jets, That's what it was. They beat the Jets, I think that was last week after giving up a twenty point lead to the Dolphins, and obviously they lost to the Panthers. Um, there's talent all over this offense, and they suck, suck for what they have.

They suck, I think. And so I went and I watched this game against the Panthers to try to figure it out, and I just this is a team that doesn't know what it is or what it wants to do. I really believe that. And I think they missed Kyle Shanahan. He was their offensive coordinator. He was amazing last year. They have Steve Sarkisian now who's famous for a variety of reasons. This is like, this is a team that's equipped to be like high flying, you know, limousine ride

and wheel and deal and kiss. Yeah, all that Rick Flair stuff. But like, but they also want to They also think they're like a Kyle Shanahan ground and pound twenty one personnel twelve personnel. Like they've got two tight ends on the field all the time, Austin Hooper and Levine Talolo. I hope I pronounced that right, And and they have two really nice running backs. So what are you what are you doing here? Do you want to ground and pound? Do you want to run that West

Coast like Spider two? Why banana throw it to your fullback? Or do you want to go three wide with Julio and Mohammed Sanou and Taylor Gabriel and just moved down the field, And like it seems like they're trying to do all of it at once and there's no rhyme or reason to it. Devanta Freeman was averaging four and a half yards per carry against the Panthers. Last week, he carried the ball eleven times for like forty something yards.

They carried the ball eighteen times on the day. And this is in a game where they built up a ten nothing lead on Carolina and then they just got away from it and Matt Ryan wound up throwing thirty eight times in a game that they lost by three. Like, it's just stuff like that where you're like, what are you trying to do here? What's you know? Like you to talk about identity all the time, right, the Cowboys identity is so crystal clear, Like they're gonna run the ball,

They're gonna get Dak on the move. Uh, you know they're They're not They're not into that high flying stuff so much. You just have a pretty good idea of what their game plan is going to look like, regardless of the opponent. I feel like these guys have no idea. Um. They throw it fifty eight percent of the time, obviously because they have a great quarterback and for my money, probably the best receiver in football, but they get distracted

by other stuff. I'm It's like it's like somebody told them like, oh, you gotta run the ball to win, and that helps, but like they're not really committed to it. But it sounds like from what you're saying, they at least last week they should have stuck with the run. If that's averaging four point five, stick with it, keep doing it right. That's what I'm saying is it doesn't It doesn't make a ton of sense to me what

they're doing. Like it's they're caught between two different philosophies, and I don't get the impression that they really haven't figured out what they want to do. And I actually I went I read up on some of it. And you know, anytime an offense this talented is struggling, you hear rumors and whispers and you know there's talk of disorganized game plans and you know, not really establishing an identity.

And it certainly looks like that when you watch them, because I'm just like, well but DeVonta Freeman just did that. Where's where'd he go? Why why aren't you doing more of that? Where's you know? Blah blah blah. The one thing I will say is they are dedicated to getting Julio Jones the ball and they should be. I mean he had I think he had twelve targets last week. Obviously everybody saw the fourth down drop that would have

put them right back in that game. Um, he's got sixty eight targets on the year, forty three catches, only one touchdown, which is surprising to me. Um, yeah, this just this was that last week. No, I thought. I thought going into that game, I thought I saw somebody says he was walking to the you know, they showed the them getting off the bus. I thought they said he had no touchdowns at that point, but maybe they said one what game was earlier in the season or something.

I don't know off the top of them. Okay, Matt Ryan also has seven picks to just eleven touchdowns, so for whatever reason, I mean, the gains are there. He's got two thousand yards. I mean they hit big plays. Julio's Julio's averaging something like fifteen or sixteen yards per reception. Like I said, Austin Hooper's averaging thirteen. So this is a big play offense. But they just don't know how

to convert it into points, it seems like. And I think that's because they don't really know what they want to do. He had seven picks all of last year in sixteen games. Seven now half we got seven halfway through. And he also had thirty eight touchdowns last year and he's I believe he's got eleven, so you know it pace for twenty two. Obviously things are different, you know, for him. So I'm going to be winning the MVP

this year. They are fifty one point eight percent in the red zone, like they're just And that was actually the question I was gonna ask. Usually when you see a team that has a ton of yards, which they do. They're right now sixth in the league in yards, but they're only seventeenth and points typically they're having issues in the red zone. And it sounds like that's the issue here is they're they're in the red zone and they're

not being able to convert it to touchdowns. Yeah. I and again, you know, I took some notes, like, I mean, they've got two pretty nice tight ends they try to do, you know, the tight end screens and the movement the motions like you see from the Cowboys. I saw. It's kind of funny they tried to run a shovel pass like Travis Kelsey style. And it just sucked, like they

didn't it did not work. So again, like it just seems like they're trying to do it's a mismash of all these different things, and like instead of instead of being really good at one thing, they're trying to be good at kind of good at a few things. And I think that's dumb. Basically, all right, let's take our first break when we come back quick. Can only just throw some news in there that's been out there. M Lewis and Neil has been signed to the to the

active roster. He's gonna be on the fifty three. My guy. They also replace that on the practice squad with a defensive tackle, Joe Vellano. He's been around a little bit. He's six two three hundred pounds, so getting a little six two three hundred pounds. Um, he'll be on the practice squad. He's been around the league a little bit. But Lewis Neil on the team, and they'll figure out, you know, they'll figure out how how to make it work. I would imagine he's probably gonna be active too. I mean,

I don't think you would be inactive. They signed him up there, so they only have four defensive well, full time defensive uncles on the on the on the active ross right now, right right, So I would imagine he probably plays in your He might play in some nickel situations because he can't get up the field a little bit. So we'll see. But they that's the move they made, and Brian Price is going to I R. So that's that's where that's the spot he takes. All right, we're

gonna take our first break when we come back. Nick and Amber are gonna give us. There are things that stand out about this Atlanta offense and how they match up against the Cowboys. Will do it when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio Entertainment loving people want a smartphone built for us. With AT and T and Direct TV, you can get the Samsung Galaxy Saight with an Infinity edge to edge screen. It's perfect for entertainment. We want exactly what you just said.

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of advice. Pick the man with the most well worn stetson. That's the one most cut out to be a cowboy. Stetson hats are handmade right here in Texas, and if bet on cowboys heads for over one hundred fifty years. The rest of you can visit stetson dot com slash cowboy to find a retailer nearest you to the break. Welcome back to the second segment of the break. Laughing. That's WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. We're talking about the Cowboys versus the Falcons. The day we're focusing in

on the Falcons offense versus the Cowboys. Defense. Dave gave us a scintillating scouting report. Was pretty great. It was really good. It was really good. Um. And so now we get to move on to the part of the show that's even better where Amber and Nick get to give us what are you laughing about? Ambering Nick gets to get to give us there one thing that's that's that stands out about this Atlanta offense. Seriously, crying stands out. The little Jones stands out. That's gonna be I'm gonna

go first. He when you look at just I mean, obviously he's not playing as like up to part like you would expect, like fantasy owners of him would expect. But you're right, it's not because of a lack of triumph. I'll say this though, because of Scandrick, Jordan Lewis, Anthony Brown. They we saw last week. These guys can run. I mean, you're not really gonna just run by them. But they still have some issues with the bigger receivers. And in Garcon Uh, he didn't. It was quiet, but he still

had five catches fifty yards. Travis Kelsey is a wide receiver. He had a nice game, seven catches seventy seven yards. UM. Look at Obviously Fitzgerald a big receiver and had one of the best games of his career. So I still feel like that the matchup favors Julio Jones every week with anybody he faces, but especially against the Cowboys, They're gonna try to give him the ball, and they just don't have those big bodies that you know that that

can just shut him down. I don't think he's gonna fly by him, but I do think they can move the chains with him, So he'd be the guy i'd be really concerned about. I mean, I mean, that's a no brainer there. Obviously you'd be concerned about Julio, but because of the matchup, I think that he can really really hurt him. Did he what do he do statistically?

What do you do statistically? The last time they played the Cobs, it seems like I remember him having a pretty good day, even roasted them two hundred something like that. I thought was close to two hundred yards. I don't have it in front of me, but he kicked the

crap out of it. That was two years ago. Yeah, it was the twenty fifteen game, and he did it all in the second half, and it was just did it from deep over the middle and swing routes and screens and just and the reason I bring it up, I know that there's different personnel now in the secondary. The reason I bring it up, though, is because the corners now, even though I think they are skilled corners, they're even shorter than Yeah, you had some bigger corners

back then with Mo and with with a car. But this guy is a big he's a big receiver and he plays vertically, So I agree with you. I think the big challenge here is can these shorter corners be able to match up vertically with him? Twelve for one and sixty four and two touchdowns? Yeah, I mean, Julio Jones is a super fast guy, but I don't. Yeah, it's not like Tyreek Hill where I think he's just gonna blame by. It's he's a great route runner too, and he can buy himself space with his route running.

And on top of that, he's like this, he can box you out, and that's definitely something these guys needed. Bigger than this, Taller than this, and no, yeah, but all around, but just the vertical. His ability to vertically go up, I think is the part of his game to me that makes him a tough, tough matchup and he's not like you said, he's not like a burner fast, but you're not gonna catch him from behind either, especially once he gets up and he gets those long legs rolling.

Like that's a that's a really tough matchup for guys that don't can't match up physically as far as hides concern. All right, Amber, what's your what's your one thing? Well? I have two things, all right. One that stood out to me was the word successful out of these ranking I want to be success. This is a statup. I'm not really sure why did me? Or like how they get the staff from? And I asked Brian and he

wasn't even sure himself. But again, the Falcons are ranked number four on successful plays and the Cowboys defense ranked thirty. So not a good matchup there, whatever that means. The word successful coming from the opposing team is something I wouldn't one. We don't know, we don't know how many yards that is, probably like, yeah, if I had to guess ten is I would think that's a successful play

because a big play is twenty. I would think success successful would be more like four because if you get four on a play and you do that consistently, you're gonna get a lot of first downs, right, yeah, well that's how I look at I mean, I don't know, maybe, I mean there's ranked second in first down efficiency. How many how many do they have of successful plays? Fifty? I don't think that before. Yeah, you're right about that.

There probably would be ten. And I mean they are a big play team, like they get a lot of twenty plus in forty plus yards. I want to say that they are there. They're ranked eighth in forty plus yard passes. They're ranked eighth and twenty plus yard rushes and second in forty plus yard rushers, So they got a lot of big plays in this off I mean if the running backs averaging four yards to carry, then probably true. Yeah, yeah, that'd be a lot of successful Well,

we don't want them to be successful. So anyways. Another thing was the blitz passing situation. I know the Cowboys they've been pretty good rushing the quarterback, but I'm interested to see what they do how they handle this situation, if they do the four men rush and how they play with the coverage or if they go with blitzing. Their quarterback is rated one hundred and six on blitzen situations, So that means he's pretty good when the opposing team

it's blitzing and he's able to make plays. The one thing is maybe when his pressure he's not as accurate, but still rating wise, he's pretty good. Cowboys just I'm interested to see how exactly they're going to handle that and what route they decide to go with in the whole quarterback pressure. The good thing about this team is that they're not like their defense isn't predicated on blitzing. They blitzed at moments in games, but really is predicated

on the front four being able to get pressure. So that should work well for the Cowboys because when they blitz, it's usually a lot less predictable than when you say, play a team like Pittsburgh, that blitz is quite a bit more. Yeah, but when the Cowboys have blitz, I mean they have been successful at different situations, So I don't know. We'll see how they play with that, and you're right, they play more with the fore man, but

we'll see. You know, last week against the against the Chiefs, David Irving got a sack in the game, but really it was the blitz from the outside and Byron. Yeah, those those guys. Was that one of your plays that you did when you break down your plays? No, no, but but yeah, those those two were coming from the edge and just forced Alex Smith to step up, stepped right up into David Irving and made made the sacks.

You know that that was one of those plays where you could really see that they caught him off guard. I don't think he was expected that, especially from either side. And when you have a good defensive tackle like David Irving has become, you can do that a little bit more because you can't just step up in the pocket. You step up into a guy that's sixty seven, you're right into him. So he's becoming a weapon for this team.

So when you look at this offense, I know DeVante's Freeman's numbers as far as just his overall yards isn't up there as high as it was last year, but you look at his average, he certainly is doing well. Is this the best running back the Cowboys will have seen this point? I know Girly's probably the better of the two. Well, you just answered jeral question. I understand what what I'm getting to though, is is he in the same category with a guy like Girly. Is he

is stepped down last year? I want to say he was. He had he was in top three, top four rushing back in the league last year. Like, this is a serious running back. This is not just some some average guy, probably the best running back to dam you're gonna face you know two guys. Yeah, I think I think I'll pull it back up. I think Freeman killed the Cowboys in that game too once they did. Yeah, three touchdownes, yeah, yeah, and no one had hurt of him at that point

because he was a third round picked out. Yeah, he was a rookie and making his first start that they had. I forgot who had gotten thirty carries for one forty one and three touchdown No. Here, He's seriously good and he's versatile, you can catch and run. I going back to my point kind of is I don't trust the Falcons to just lean on him enough to where he's really gonna hurt you, because they have not done that. Right.

I'm not saying he can't hurt you. I'm saying, like this offense just strikes me as being schizophrenic, and I don't think they're gonna come in here and be like, we're getting Davante thirty touches today, Like I just I

don't believe that they'll do. That kind of kind of reminds me a little bit of like the Cowboys when I first got here, it was just like you got a stud running back and a great quarterback and for whatever reason, like you let yourself get away from what works a lot of the times, and all of a sudden you're like, holy crap, DeMarco only had eight carries in this game, What the hell are we doing. That's

kind of how I feel about the Falcons. Yeah, do you think there's ever a little bit and this is a completely different subject, but do you think I know right now? The Cowboys have been the team ever since they opened their new stadium. They're the team that everybody comes to town and the opposing team is like, don't spend too much time looking around at the bright, shiny

object which is this stadium. For the first time, the Cowboys players are going to have that kind of situation where they're going into a new stadium that has these bright new features. Do you expect that's something that, at least from the coaches standpoint, that they at least say hey, look, don't get focused on the bright, new shiny toy. Focus on what you're doing. Do they even go there day before?

I don't know. I'm just wondering if that becomes because Cowboys have never had to deal with that, But other teams, I'm sure have to deal with that. Cowboys have never had to deal with that when they play in the shiniest most room that stadium in the league. But they also practiced in that stadium for quite a bit a few times before they opened the stadium, so they've never had to go into a stadium that's right. Was it the same thing? Though I haven't been to this place?

Is it the one thing? I'll say? The one part of it that's very different is their video board, which that's the same thing here that you see all the opposing players always doing this looking up at this video board because I think who've seen that. I think it

helps that. I think it helps opponents more than it hurts them, because it's not a when you come to AT and T Stadium, it's not you know, the crowd isn't just like oh my god, I've never heard I've never seen, you know, a quarterback that can't hear and and has to make these different signals. I mean, that's it's not intimidating from that standpoint. And I've always I've always said it's very similar to like Notre Dame. You know, you go there, you look around, and you go look

at the team. The Notre Dame is having a great year. But for the most part, when teams go in to play them, they play them well because this is like the cathedral of football. This is it, this is it. And I think teams have going into the AT and T Stadium the same way. So I don't think it's a great home field of village. And but I don't know if if you look at it the same way, I don't think the players are going we're going into

Mercedes Stadium. Just I don't think it matters because it's new to us, but it's not new to Jordan Lewis. He doesn't know the difference if it's been here six years or one year. I mean, you know what I mean. I mean, it's we've know, we've never been here. I've been to the Georgia Dome at the fifty yard line, been there like four or five times, yeah, but maybe ten times. But I don't think it's as new to these other players because everything's new. You know, FedEx Field

was new to half the team. Yeah, not only that, Like I think it does matter you play like what and I'm not trying to be like two not trying to kiss the cowboys butts too much, but like what could be that impressive after you spent that amount of time at AT AT and T in terms of just being like shock and awe, like oh my god. I do think it's different when you go into a stadium that has a full three hundred and sixty degree video board.

I mean that's different. I've never seen anything like that before. So I know, for me, I'm gonna walk in and be like I want to see this right never you play under an eighty yard wide screen every week, Like I mean, yeah, it's different, but it's not different, you know what I mean, Like it's a novelty act. It's that you're used to it. I really, I just think it's by the pregame warm ups, you're done with it, seen it, you think so, and it doesn't affect like

how they Because I know a lot of players. You hear players saying like I know in certain stadiums It's easy because if the video boards in the end zone, I can look up if I'm running and see what's

behind me. Obviously can't do that at and T Stadium, And I wonder if that's something like those kind of tactical things affect players sometimes, where at other stadiums it's much easier to be able to do those kinds of Zeke's longest run this year's thirty yards, So he's not really been breaking away looking up like that Admitte issue. I don't think Scandrick was trying to look forward at FedEx figuring out. I mean, yeah, well the only time Isaac Bruce is the one that I that I've seen

do that way back in the ram. Did he do that? He did that the Seattle playoff game. Remember that, yep, I do remember it all happened. He thought he was just smiling because he was seeing himself in the screen and laughing. He's just like, look at me, number fourteen Miles Austin. Other than Scandrick's field goal return, the Cowboys haven't really had a play like that this year, haven't. They haven't really breaking away, haven't they haven't housed a

long one. I wonder why. I wonder why they don't have that speed like to do that, Like why they haven't Just where are you going with this implier? I just think they should where he always goes with it. I think they should draft some speed next year. I've been going on this for like twelve years. What are you gonna do when they finally do that? Like, are you just gonna like have a party or like, what

are you gonna do? No, the around the buildings, shaking everybody's hands, celebrating the ultimate twist of fate is that he's gonna get this guy and it's gonna be one of those receivers who just can't catch anything. He's always open. Yeah, well there there's gonna be a reason why he's in the third round, right or second round? I mean, and I'm okay with that, especially if he's like a four three guy. Yeah, I'm okay with either he's gonna be a very small school guy or he's gonna be you know,

he's just off the field. Doesn't Yeah, it doesn't. He doesn't catch really that you know that great? But you know he was in the Olympic trials last year. You know, he finished eighth up there in Oregon or whatever. All right, let's take our final break, will come back. Let's get some questions and numbers two one four eight seven two twenty one oh two again two one four eight seven two twenty one O two or hit us on Twitter

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of the Break last in the s WVC. Mortgage studios at the Star will take in questions. Two one four eighty seven to twenty one h two is the number. You can also send your questions to Twitter at Cowboys Break Amber will grab those. Start first with a phone call from Tim in New York. Tim, what up, Hi, guys him. I know that our defense looked a lot better this past game, of course, and I think you know,

Cowboys fans are pretty excited about that. But I guess I'm still pretty concerned about the rundefense um, and especially not just with price going out. But I was concerned about that before, and I know that in Marinelli's scheme they don't put a lot of emphasis on drafting a one technique, a true one technique. I mean that the emphasis is really on the three tech. But um, my question is, do you think that it's time that he

uh puts more value on that. I mean, I would think that if we could draft someone that'd cost maybe a third or something, but really a guy that can that is big, that can just eat up blocks they're in the middle, and then you know we can we can continue to use our better players at the three. I mean, it just seems like that maybe it's time to reconsider that that strategy. All right, thanks for the call.

I hear, I hear what he's saying. And you know, first of all, I think you want to put on your defensive line anyway, which you know we've talked about before. I think they've done. But I think he sort of contradicted himself and or answered his own question there in the sense that you just want your one technique to eat up blocks and eat up space, free up areas for your three tech and your weak side linebacker, and

open things up for other guys to make plays. Right, why would you spend a first round pick on that? He didn't say first round. Well, you're you're right, he didn't. Okay, but that I guess that's and fine if you want to spend a third round pick on it. I'm totally on board with that. But I get why Rod doesn't put that premium on a guy whose job is to open things up for other people. I think you can find that obviously they did that with Joey Ivy and

Jordan Carroll. Seventh round is probably too late for anybody that you're hoping to make a real impact. Yeah, I mean, I would absolutely be on board with drafting a defensive tackle in the third or fourth round. The one thing to say, though, is you can see the difference in teams that do have that big guy like you saw that defense and there were a couple other guys they

signed last year, but Snacks Harrison made a difference. Excuse me in New York, Um and you you can go back to what was the guy's name in Green Bay that was there for so long. He was just a Gilbert Gilbert ground. He was just like a big, huge, sloppy dude that they sat there in the middle and you were not gonna move him, so you better run around him. Because was also you know, both benefited from from Wilford for many years and was his first or second.

He was the first round thing he was. He was drafted one spot ahead of where the Cowboys were picking that year. But I don't think the interesting, I don't think so. I don't think they were, and I think that they were going to trade that pick in. As valuable as it might be in a four to three, it's even more valuable in a three four absolutely, So yeah, um yeah, And you know I would in a perfect world, I would want my league Collins playing three. I get

why he's playing one right now. Um, but yeah, if I mean yeah, I wouldn't want to spend the first round pick on it just because I said because then or the position. I just think it's easier to find a guy who can play it well as opposed to you need to be using first round picks on freakish athletes like edge rushers, receivers, you know, guys like that.

But you know, let's not make no mistake that Marinelli does not like that type of player so much because of athletically, he wants them to get up the field. He says that a lot, so I know why he doesn't like it, but I don't really agree with it. I agree with the caller. I mean, I think it is time to revisit that. I think I would I

would go into the second or third round. You know, if you get a really big, strong guy like that, there's just like we talked about all the time about speed receivers, there's gonna be a reason why he's there, because if he's that big, that's strong, that dominant, he's gonna go in the first round. But there's a reason why he's in the second or third, whether he was you know, has weight issues, he doesn't have a great work ethic, he gets hurt a lot, he doesn't know

how to play with that size, I mean, whatever it is. Yeah, the one way, the one area where I do disagree with the caller is in the fact that, like it's always easy to say, well, you should have done this, you should who were you not going to draft last year? They had I think higher priorities last year that they went out to get, especially in the secondary. They spent quite a bit of their other resources in the secondary

last year. And so I think you know where you're going to get rid of those first three picks last year, which one of those guys. Are you willing to give back in order to get a one technique? I think that it to me, it's better spent on cornerback. No, it's better spent on cornerback. It's better spent on a pass rusher. Those picks to me where this team is right now, those picks that were necessary way more than

one techniue worth round. Where they got where they got my leak is like the perfect range where I'm starting to think about that sixty seven, which you know, I'm biased. He's an LSU guy. Brian talks about him all the time though, But Benny Logan was a guy, He's a one tech that they could have got. He was a third round pick. I don't remember exactly, but those types of guys are there and they can make it different. I mean Benny Logan when he was paired with Fletcher

Cox in Philly, that was gross. Yeah, Kansas City actually yeah, which they obviously didn't play that well. They got him, they got him. Yeah, Well he's playing like nose in a three four. But you can find that type of talent and I'm totally on board with that. If that's you know, that's something to look at just I'm not trying to spend a top first round pick on that position. That's just me. All right. Let's take a question from Twitter. Well, yesterday we talked about the n NFC, but we didn't

get to answer some questions. So here's one. Do you guys see the Cowboys leading the NFC East Division after December tenth game due to the Eagles schedule? Both teams would have nine four or who the Eagles have coming up? That's I mean, it didn't sound like the Eagles were really going to be in trouble. I know they don't. Mean I'm trying to think of who else they have left. The Eagles go bye week Dallas. I know they have a trip to Seattle in there somewhere. They actually they

go back to back um West Coast. They're at Seattle and at the rams Umay that week. That's kind of interesting. I was thinking about that. I would if all three games that are losable, sure, yeah, I don't. I don't know if Seattle is right after the Cowboys game. I don't know what their Thanksgiving week game is. I'm not sure.

I'm sorry, um, but yeah, I mean, you know, I get in that argument with Maniaco on our show Cover four all the time because he's a ridiculous Eagles homer, and you know he he basically is of the opinion that the division has been decided and the Cowboys, you know, need to be thinking about the wild card. And I think, you know, yeah, that's that's probably the more likely scenario.

I think the Eagles are talented enough to hang onto the lead, but it's certainly not something that's already been decided. Especially week is big though it is because they're two and a half games behind them. They could be three if you lose, and that's that's huge. But if you're only two games, you win this game and you're just a you know, just a solid two games behind Philly with playing them twice, you know, I think that they're very catchable in that sense, but you got to win

this game when they're off. I said, we talked about that and I'm sorry to plug it on Cover four yesterday. Just you know, what does this Chiefs win means? Statement win blah blah blah. I'm like, it doesn't mean anything if they don't beat Atlanta, because like this is your real opportunity to gain ground on Philly, Like I mean, you're two games back of them, and you get to

play them. So if you win this game, then you're at least in position to be a game behind Philly heading into the really the home stretch of the season. If you don't beat Atlanta, then you're right back where you were where even if you beat them, you're still two games out after November nineteenth. So if the Cowboys have legitimate aspirations of winning the East, I really think they have to beat Atlanta this week. Here there remaining

here's the eagles remaining schedule. They got at Cowboys, then they play at home versus the Bears, then three road games in a row, two on the West Coast against the Seahawks, the Rams, and then at the Giants. Then they're back home to play the Raiders, and finish the

season at home against the Cowboys. Yeah. So four of those games are against teams winning records right now, and two of them that well, aside from the Cowboys the Rams game, in the Seahawks game, I mean the Seahawks live and Rams daily are talking about how that's key because that's going to help the side the West. So I mean they're they're having the same conversation that we are for a different division. So I'm sure they're gonna

give the Eagles their best shot and at home. Just make up two names there, yes, Uh, what about hanging with the Seahawks, Hanging with the hanging the Hawks. Yeah, you gotta go with the allow Hanging with the Hawks. That's actually a good name. That doesn't make sense. It does. Hang with the Hawks. Yes, I mean, you know the Eagles are. The Eagles are eight and one right now. Even even if they go so twelve and four, they'd still what have to go five and three down the

stretch or whatever. I don't think they did the mat there, right, but you get my point. I mean they could lose some games here. They could lose some games here and still finish with a really great record. I mean, if they lose out, they would go eight and eight. Still, So what do you think right now is realistic? With the Cowboys their final record find out after two o'clock tomorrow. That's a great point. Just okay, give me with Zeke.

With with Zeke, I think ten and six with Zeke, Yes, five and three again, you do five and three one more time. If Zeke is here for the whole rest of the season. You could talk me into eleven and five or twelve and four. To be totally honest, you could talk me into it. I'm not saying it would happen, not there yet, but I'm just good, but a good talking about they are rounding into form other than the Eagles, I'm not just complete. There's not a game left on

the schedule, you know. I looked at the Chiefs all season, like, well, what are they gonna do against the chief Like, I don't see that game left. I mean, I'm not saying they're gonna win them all, but there's just not a team left on the schedule that I just think they're definitively better. But maybe the Eagles, but that's a division game. But either way, Like, you also don't see that one Where're like, there's no way if the Cowboys do their job,

there's no way they should lose that game. Argers, I don't really think so, no way. Great quarterback, great pass rush, Like this team doesn't play that great on Thanksgiving? It really don't. You don't, they really don't. I Mean, you can get a team, a veteran team, especially with a veteran quarterback that comes in a short week. That one scares me. Always thought that was a game that favored the Cowboys so much, and maybe not, maybe not. I

really don't my experience here. They played mediocre against a bad Raider team. In twenty thirteen, they got owned by Philly. In twenty fourteen, they got owned by Carolina. In twenty fifteen, they played really well, this is our nineteenth, this will be our our nineteenth the Thanksgiving Day game. Yeah, okay, at eighteen, I really don't know this. At eighteen games, what do you think? What do you think the record is? You've been at eighteen all those giving out of out

of eighteen games, I would guess they are. I bet it's twelve and six. I would say ten and eight, maybe nine and nine, but I'm gonna say ten and eighte We'll look it up. We'll look it up. Ten and six, eleven and five is my optimistic but realistic idea for how this thing's going to finish out. Not tell me without Zeke, No, I think either way, that's okay. I really did without Zeke. M you're so they're they're

five and three right now? So I guess you? I mean, yeah, without Zeke, maybe you think they go three and five and finish eight and eight. But I don't Yeah, probably nine and seven. I'd say that they'll split them, go four and four'll go nine and seven. Amber, let's go back to the I don't know, I don't know. Um Again, this team is picking up, you know, they're starting to become more consistent. But I'm not just and I'm not trying to be negative again. I'm just, you know, kind

of let's see how it goes type of mood. What what's where? What world are we in? Where I'm the optimist? Like where I'm telling you right now. If the defense keeps getting sacks and turnovers the way they have been since the buy, and if the quarterback keeps playing like a badass and you keep the running back, I think

the sky's the limit for him. Well, I'm saying even without them, if those three things are happening, if Dak's playing like a badass and the defense keeps doing what it's doing, Okay, I'm not saying it doesn't matter that Zeke's not there, but I'm saying they should be able to win more games than they lose. Yeah, that's basically all right. What happens if Tyron Smith is out that I think is an Zeke. Here's here's the So, how do you envision this team doing with two players like

that out? If you're without Tyron Smith. I'm more concerned than being without Tyren Smith than I am being without Zeke. And I know that sounds crazy, but it's about It's about who's behind him. Not only that, but if Tyron has to miss multiple games, I'm not certain that I trust the fact that Chaz Green is gonna stay healthy. And then what do you do is now, Byron Bell your left tackle with a right tackle I mean, I'm sorry,

is your left tackle and a right guard? By the way, That still I think relies on the fact that he has those guys beside him. I get really worried about that. Yeah, and we've seen Chads Green step in for tiring, you know, and replace him and he's done okay. But again, handling all these games and I don't know how much he can play it, I don't know how much he would affect this team and how they would be able to

handle that. So when we've seen how changes like that really affect the offensive line, it's a troubling prospect, to be sure. But you make do. The fact that you have a mobile quarterback probably helps with that. Does I mean that can do a lot of stuff on the move, move the pocket. It would help if you had Zeke too. Right, so you lose both and now I think that's the part you really worry about. And that's to be honest with This's not so much in my opinion about how

bad Chaz Green or Byron Bill are. I don't think they're horrible players. I just think, now when you start changing now two pieces on the left side of the offensive line, this offensive line is just now starting jail and now you're gonna change that up at the most important position on that That's what I'm saying. I don't know how they would react to that. I'm gonna I'm gonna sound like Eatman a little bit right here, But honestly,

I have my doubts. I have my doubts Tyrant's gonna play in this game, just based on the injury and the time turnaround and all that. But I'll believe he's gonna miss a substantial chunk of time when I see it, Like he is an iron man, He's like a team first dude. He's the ultimate just shut up and let me get through a guy even I mean even going to his his contract is more team friendly than it should be. Just two games matters right now because you got at Land in Philly. Of course, because of where

you're locating your schedule. Of course it matters. But well, I'll believe he's not playing against Philly when I see it. I'm we're projecting, right, But I mean that'll be that'll be two weeks out from when he heard it. I don't know. Yeah, that's the one more injury added to that big body. Of course. Oh, it's it's terrible. It's terrible in the long run. I told him that in the locker room on Sunday and I was like, dude, you're getting old like these things just like stold By.

He said, wow, thanks, Like did he grab you and kind of pick you up by your neck? Oh he's too nice for dude, you're getting old. Yeah. He was like, come on now, and I was like, you're ancient by NFL standards, like you've been doing this for Oh, come on, while the man's down, Like seriously, he wasn't. But that's like he's his down is not like it's not like he's in a wheelchair, like, oh, but he's hurt. Like on top of that, nowadays heaping on him that he's

old and washed up and ready to retire. All of this. I didn't say that. All of this stuff. It's it's troubling in the long term, and it's stuff that he and the Cowboys are gonna have to figure out when the season's over. But I just like he's gonna find a way to grin and then get through the season even if he misses this week. Like, I'm not envisioning a world where they don't have Tyrn Smith, for he is a tough dude, substantial chunk of time. So that helps the fact that he's a tough guy and he's

played through injuries before. So, um, let's get a phone call from Michael and Tennessee. Michael, what up? Hey you guys, how you guys doing good? Are you pretty good? Um? This is a question for Nick. Um. I listen to the show all the time. I've been meaning the call. But last Friday, you had a crazy prediction that the game would be decided by a pick or it would be a huge play in the game, and you didn't talk about it at all. They don't they don't like

to bring that stuff up. Actually kind of forgot about it. I said that there. I think I said there would be late in the game, would be a pick. I didn't say it was Jeff Heath. But yeah, well it happens. I mean, if you sat next to me at the game, you'll see that I make a lot of predictions, and I'm not always right that he makes a ton of him what he's got one almost every other allies all credit, all credit in the world. Because Nick hits on a

lot of predictions. He really does, but a lot out there. I thought he predicts something before every player, like and he's the Kobe Bryant, like he's gonna jack up a lot of shot every he's gonna hit almost every like I can because I sit two guys over right, got every play, but knowing if that's every play, that's not every play, but you you throw them out there a lot like, yeah, at least you'll throw one out there.

I get real mad at myself when I don't say it and it happens it and then you do the makeup when and I was just about I want to hear that, right. It's kind of like Romo, you know, just like better watch the motion here and like this is going to turn and do that just it's okay. But but but I'll say this, the drive right before the half, the Cowboys had third and fifteen. Draw draw

this stupid why are they throwing? We throw on desk for twenty two like okay, okay, whatever, And then then there's Dak rolling around like Dak and running there it is he's open running okay, well, and then then they score it and like, well, I don't know anything. That's exactly what you say. You're like, I don't know anything. I don't know anything. I just missed all that up.

So thank you for remembering that. And people on Twitter said that, but I you know, it's a little hollow because I do make a lot of predictions, and I'm I don't even think I'm fifty percent. I don't. I don't think it's fifty percent. But yeah, just do follow up on a question y'all had earlier about Thanksgiving. I calculated as their seven and ten in the past seventeen Thanksgiving games seven and ten. Yeah boo, yeah, wow. I

didn't realize they've been that bad. I'm Thanksgiving. They've been good recently, but they had they were not good in that now of course during those five and eleven years, they were just a bad team, right, yeah, that hurt them. They put themselves in quite a hole. Oh well, no, it doesn't count when you no what I'm saying. And in those three years though, in the two thousand, thousand, one thousand and two, I think they were one and two in those two yea three years, so they lost

a bunch in a row. Um from two thousand and five until two thousand, Ron Dane, Yeah, maybe that's what I'm thinking about ZA period when they were kind of reeling them off. One oh six, oh seven, O eight oh nine they lost they one oh nine, they lost ten. They didn't win in twenty ten, remember that one? Yeah? Thanks, that was thanks um. That was the the Roy Williams fumble game. Yeah yeah, they should have won that game. Yeah,

they should have it. That was one of them game miraculous, you know, like everybody in my living room and like, well, I guess Saints they're gonna lose. And then there you go, Nope, yeah you weren't working. You weren't working again. I was like, I wasn't even out of college yet. I am like I'll tell you all the time, like I don't know, Like I can't tell you yesterday what was happening at three o'clock? Like I'm I'm horrible at you. We're having a meeting at three o'clock. Yeah, was a good one.

Did I have something enlightening? You have a meeting at three o'clock? Put another show out there on it. I did create a new show, So stay tuned for that. All right, guys, appreciate you joining us. We'll be back tomorrow. Until then, for Nick, even Dave Helmet, Amber Garcia, I'm Derek Eelton. 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.