Cowboys Break: Scouting the Giants' Defense

back from yesterday. I thought I missed the first segment. Welcome back, well back from yesterday. Thanky, Okay, so let's just jump right there we go. Thank you again. We have a lot to talk about today. So before we get into the Giants defense, wanted to hit up on the practice report. A few guys that showed up on there, the Marcus Lawrence being one of them, did not practice with a groin injury. As far as I know, this is nothing to be concerned about, right, do you guys

know anything else? Further from that, it doesn't seem like a big deal. He was out on the field just now. I don't know how much he's gonna do. But um, I don't get the impression this is a super big deal. Now, Dak he practiced in full but did show up on the injury report with an ankle and people so you saw that on Twitter and started going crazy, at least on my timeline, you know already freaking out. What's gonna happen if Dak is not ready? Who steps in? What's cheering?

It was a mixture of both. But I think I think the fact that he has um like a rap on his ankle and he's in the locker room and people see that, and then you know what's the issue, and he's still practiced with it. He's got something going on that he needed to get it wrapped. I think he's fine. Yeah. I feel like he's he's wrapped that thing a few times, like going back to training camp. Stop funny stop, I mean Knox and bruises of football season.

He's fine. Yeah. Now, Randy Gregory, Xavier Woods, they are still unable to practice, so it's still a pending status for them, so injury rapport as of right now, it looks pretty okay. Right. Can I just kind of just say this though, I mean, and you kind of intimated this earlier this week when you're talking about Randy Gregory, Like, you know, we've heard this before where players like I'm good, like no, I'm I'm good, and they tweet I'm good.

But that protocol is still the protocol. And the fact that he's not practicing, if he's not practicing today, that's something to keep an eye on. I mean, there's a we've seen it happen before where guy thought he was good and he missed six weeks. Like those concussions are. There's it's a different world than what it was even five years ago when it comes to concussions in the NFL. And I wonder to him, and I wonder they have got eight defensive linemen right on the on the team.

Funny that you say that because Dayton Jones was at practice today. I don't know what he's gonna do. They don't let us watch that. But he was out there stretching and warming up, and he was feeling himself too, Like he was kind of dancing to the music. And I'm probably excited he was his injury to stop. Uh what was his Seriously, it's a song, dude, I think

it was his growing right. Yeah, So I mean it's you know, him being in stretch line does not mean he's going to play, but he's that's closer, working working back, so we'll see so and that's defensive tackle position. Yeah, no, that's your Crawford slides back to end. Maybe. I mean they mixed these guys I know so much, and it's you know, but that's that's probably what they would do there.

If Gregory is inactive and Daytone can play, then Crawford will play more in and they could also go with three defensive end three three defensive end rotation, right, they don't have to have four, No, I have to But that sounds scary, does it. Yeah? Seven guys, they're indoors and not gonna open the roof. We're not doing that again. Oh no, No, Moving on from that, I just talk on Crawford real quick. He I mean, obviously he's always been a guy that can rotate and moved from place

to place and all that. But we've seen or talked about him kind of settling maybe more at the tackle position and him working on the whole weight thing. And that was a big thing this offseason where I heard him talk about that so much, about you know, getting the right weight and all that stuff. Now, are you guys still like okay with the whole movement happening there or would you rather just kind of figure these eyes, get this guy's out and keep them or try to

keep them at a specific spot. Um. I think that's the player would like to be at one spot, probably, but you know, the flexibility of the position is good for the team, you know, to have a guy that can do that. I think Randy Gregory is the reason why Crawford went inside is because you know, they weren't expecting him to do what he's doing, and maybe they didn't expect Dorn's armstrong to be at that level either, So it just made more sense with all the issues

that you had at tackle. But to answer your question, I think he got his body weight to the point to play defensive end and now he's an undersized tackle and it's gonna be that way. I mean, we can talk about it too the blue in the face. After a while, you just start to have to realize that that's what that's their plan for Tyrone Crawford. They see him as a hybrid player that they can move to wherever they need him, and that's just the way and he even said I heard him talking about it in

an interview last week. He was like, you know, at some point, it's just sounded like you. And then the question was asked him, would you like to be in one place? He's like, well, yeah, probably, But he said, also the fact matter is I'm a versatile player and that's helped me have a career, and so I want my coaches to be able to look at me and say, I can they can put me wherever, and I'm gonna be able to play it. And so that's the way

he has to look at it. So he's probably gonna have to find at some point, if he's smart, he's gonna have to find a weight that's kind of in between that gives him the flexibility to play either one, because as we've seen here already, every year, it can be a different one based upon what they need. Yeah, I hate it, that's his value. I hate it for Tyrone, but that's life. And yeah, I mean there's worse things than not having a permanent job on one position. You

could not have a job at all. So honestly, that might be the reason why he makes the value. Like people talk about, he doesn't have the sacks for the money that he's being paid, but for the versatility. Might be worth it to pay that kind of premium because there aren't a lot of guys that can play both those positions and jump between the two because there is a size of difference. I think the world of Tyrone Crawford as a guy, and I think he's better than

he gets credit for. But I'm not buying that. I don't think. I don't think they would do that deal again if they could go back in time. But because you really think they got the production they expected, absolutely, But how do they expect great production from a guy to keep moving back and forth? Well, if he was as great as they were expecting him to be at three Technique, he wouldn't be moving back and forth. He would be They'd be like, Yeah, he's our three Technique,

He's the guy that makes the whole show run. I mean, that's that's why they did that. They were trying to get ahead and hope that they struck big Kauwan Short.

That's I mean, that's why you pay that kind of money, and which ironically Kawan Shorts deal is for twice as much as what Tyrone got up, saying, I don't think, which is that's why like people talk about it like it's this terrible thing, like it's not that bad because the cap keeps going up, guys keep out performing that like he's not even close to being the most expensive defensive tackle in football, which so I mean, it's not a great deal, but it's not this team crippling problem

that some people want to make it out. When you go back and you think about which position has been hit the hardest and come in terms of suspension, I mean every year it's Irving for four or d Law for four or Gregory for four, sixteen, twelve and four or whatever he's got. And I mean he was four, ten, then sixteen, okay, yeah, and then who knows if he's done or not. I mean, and all and all that time, and I mean not even that greg Hardy for six.

I mean, but through that whole time, Crawford's been playing tackle and he's in and he's moving here, and so I mean give him credit for that. And that's I guess that's the point of what I'm saying, is why I'm not so against the idea of the amount of money that they're paying him, because he does have that kind of versatility in an area where they've had so

much just turnover and these guys in and out. You know, I really to be You don't hear a lot of I mean, this is the first time we've talked about it in a while. Like I don't You don't hear a lot of people trying to get rid of him, you know, the like Brandon Carr was the famous one. Like, he's pretty good at his job, he's versatile, and the money's nowhere near as bad as some people make it out to be. So it's fine. He's one of those glue kind of guys. Absolutely, he's good for the group.

He's good for the room, he's good for your team. He's not going to be your best player, but he's a good, solid player. But again that's the thing when I think when you have players that are flexible to have that position flex usually they're not gonna be great. So one of the things, like with Tyrone, he is good. He can get the job done in whether you like it or not. You need those kinds of guys. And the whole money thing. I don't mind to pay him. He does a good enough job for us to keep it.

And especially because of the position flex and the quality. Yes, it's not going to be a Hall of fame. When you have some dogs out there like Tank Lawrence that you put with him not makes it even better. You need those kind of solid guys when you have some really good players that you pair with him, and it's something to watch. I really I'd be pretty surprised if Daytona Jones can play two days after returning to practice,

and if Randy can't go. Yeah, I would probably play Tyrone at end and then let Daniel Ross and Antoine Woods figure it out. Next to Malie Collins would be my guess we're gonna say. I was talking about Crawford. I'm not one hundred percent sure that he's in the best scheme for him. You know, he's in I think so. I think, you know, for a guy that's kind of a tweeter back and forth, I think he'd be a three four defensive end and um, I think he'd be a really good one. Um, but it is what it is.

I mean, you know, you keep making that argument that they have the personnel close to the personnel that they would need to Actually, he was drafted by the Cowboys when Rob Ryan was the drafted to be a three four guy. Yeah, and um so it was Kyle but yeah, but but for some reason that didn't know, that didn't work out for him. He was better in the four three. But I think now is is he's gotten a little bit bigger and quicker. I think I think he's still

three four. Yeah, I think this team's got three four personnel. They ever went that way, I think they could. I mean with talk about three four defense, we're going to get into that a little bit. You've been used to seeing the Giants in four three. That's gonna be weird to watch, I think because you've been so used to them having those dominant front four you know, yeah, rushers, and now there are three four defense was you're gonna look very different. I think I didn't know any of

their guys on defense. Yeah, man, I looked at their depth chart. I was like, I don't know any of these guys. It's yeah, it's it's a it's a different secondary, and the secondary is pretty good. Yeah. Not another story. Yeah, well we'll get into it. But before the inverse of last week, before we move into that and we go and break and all that, I wanted to talk about

Connor Williams. You oc and I know you wrote a story and people I see people constantly asking about him and whether he's good enough at the guard position, whether he should move to tackle, blah blah blah. Now, one of the things that I think we've all seen since he's gotten here is his power. That he needs to work on his strength. Okay, yeah, that's gonna say. No. When you say we've seen his power, I was like, yeah,

have we? But do you say yeah? He's like, so, this is one of the things that I don't know how much time you really need to get that strength up to where you need it, but we'll see it. But you got a chance to talk to him, and I wanted to see his perspective on this issue. What I wanted to I thought you were going to go full a g right there and just be like it's not good enough. No, I think I think he's an

amazing athlete. I'm not gonna go there. I think he does like some strength, and maybe it's gonna take a while. I don't think it happening very soon, because that is something that needs time to build up. But at the same time, he has one of the greatest things that I like about him is that he comes back and shows you improvement. You know, he comes back and shows you that he is working on it. And that for me, I'm happy with whoever is willing to improve and shows

you the effort to improve. Uh. Yeah, well, and I did talk to Connor yesterday and he was telling a bunch of us. I thought it was fine. I mean, you know, you played for the Cowboys when thirty people want to talk to the rookie guard, you know, like that of doubt that happens in Jacksonville. But um, maybe now, well maybe you get my point. Yeah, Cincinnati, Um, you don't. You don't develop strength overnight. I mentioned this yesterday. It's

it's a very similar thing with Taco Charlton. Is just you need like a year or more in an NFL program to really work that type of him. Yeah, no, and no A hundred and look how much better Taco looked in Week one than he did. He played seventy three percent of the snaps, had some legitimate pressures YadA, YadA, and a and a pass deflection on Sunday. That look

at him too. Yeah, you look at guys between their first and their second year that there's a marked difference most of the time, and so guys up front, Connor says yesterday, he's like, look, I'm not going to develop super strength overnight. That's not how that works. I gotta be flawless with my technique. And he wasn't on Sunday,

like he can be better from a technique standpoint. But the thing I like about him is he's such a good athlete that I think in a lot of the matchups he's going to be in, that's going to help him out. Like you're not going to overpower everybody. You're certainly not going to overpower one of the best defensive tackles in football. And that's okay. I really I don't have this concern that a lot of other people do. And I'm I don't listen to talking, but I bet

over on talking Cowboys. Brian's been saying the same thing till he's blue in the face. Brian's been trying to tell you about tell you that about Connor Williams since before he was drafted, Like he was a tackle in college. He's not going to just dominate people off the line,

at least not as a rookie. We'll see what happens, and before anyone comes back and says, well, Zach Martin, did you know that's what people projected, and that they projected that kind of of strength and fundamentals and all that stuff that he's got. Was this technique for Zach. That that's why he They could say, you know what, he's going to make this transition without any issues at all, and he didn't and he hasn't had any. Zack Martin was also picked sixteenth overall in a draft that produced

a ton of amazing players. Like you go back and look at twenty fourteen, it's nice Aaron Donald was in that draft in a matter of four years. They're nice. Yeah, absolutely, And and but even if you redrafted twenty fourteen, Zach would probably go a lot higher. Even in the draft that good Connor was the sixtieth overall pick. There's a

difference there. It's fine, Yeah, I mean may honestly, I'll even allow like maybe Lyle would be better at guard and Connor would be better at tackle right now, but likes, that's that knee jerk type of stuff that I don't like. Just stick to the plan and hey, I'll be the first day Lyle Collins did not have a good game on Sunday either, But it's way too early to be shuffling your lineup because you didn't like the way they looked against a really good defensive front. I think patience

is a virtue. All right, Let's take our first break, and when we come back, can the Cowboys offense beat the New York Giants defense? We'll see. It can be hard to find the right resource for learning about important financial matter. You search how to build savings, you end up reading about the one weird ingredient from supermarkets that can make you taller. That's why Bank of America build Better Moneyhabits dot com, a safe little corner of the

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You get four of their very famous, very the some of their best stuff, plus the lip bomb which is lip bomb is pretty good too, and you get all that. If you just go to get Jack Black dot com. You two have to code cowboys. All right. Giants defense, Uh, we talked about well, we're gonna get into it right now. But in comparison to last week, this should be a little easier for the Cowboys than the than the Panthers. Defense. I'm not convinced it's gonna be easier. It's just gonna

be a different set of challenges. It's not you're this front, which is funny because for so long that's what you start with with the Giants as their front. I'm not impressed other I mean the obvious. The obvious one is Damon Snack's hair. And who's my favorite nickname in football. He's he's a great quote too, like he's not afraid to speak his mind. Oh yeah, And he's a great defensive tackle. He's he's your nose in the three four. He's the run stuffer, he's the guy you got to

account for. Probably, I don't think it's all gonna fall on Connor Williams. But another thing to watch is just how you deal with another dominant defensive tackle. But switching to three four. The talent around him does not terrify me. And actually it's funny that, you know, Nick was talking about how the Cowboys maybe have the personnel to switch to three four. I don't really see it because I think the world of DeMarcus Lawrence. But I just don't know that he's a guy that I want to put

in a three four and stand him up. Maybe I'm may I That's just that's how I feel. Which Olivier Vernon case in point. I know he played three four in Miami. He sure was good with the Giants when he was in a four to three. And we haven't seen him, well, I was gonna get to that, we haven't seen him. We don't know what he looks like, and hopefully it stay that way for one more week. He didn't play against the Jags, and let's even say he was going to be a dominant three four outside linebacker.

Without him, they don't have a lot else to work with. The guys that are doing that right now are Kareem Martin and Connor Barwin. Who Barwin is? He's all right. He used to be a lot better. He was a big money player with the Eagles a while back. Now he's really more of just a journeyman. He was with the Rams I think last year. And then a guy to watch just for the future is fifty nine Lorenzo Carter. My draft people will remember that name. He's an athletic freak,

but Georgia, Yeah, he's not. I don't really he's the one. He's a combine freak and he showed some promise rushing the passer, but I don't think he's ready to be that guy yet. Along that same line, they got an end named BJ Hill I think he came out of North Carolina State who looks like he could be something. And then Dalvin Tomlinson who took a defensive tackle job for them in the four three out of Alabama, Alsam, Alabama, Alabama.

They got some talent there, but they're all they're not established playmakers, which is what we've gotten used to seeing. And then your linebackers alec Ogletree who they traded for b J. Goodson and Ray Ray Armstrong. The thing with the linebackers, and again this applies to the pass rushers and the inside linebackers, is like there's talent here, I don't know how much discipline there is. Like that was always my thing with alec Ogletrees, Like he's super athletic.

He will sack the quarterback on a blitz or just make a hilacious tackle when he diagnoses the playwright. But like it doesn't seem like it happens on a consistent basis, Like you're watching tape and you see tight ends and wide receivers just get behind the linebackers on a routine basis. Miss tackles on running plays especially, and the Jaguars love

the run the ball. They had Leonard Fournette for the first little bit of the game, and then even with t J. Yelden, you see guys getting picked up by blockers, getting washed out of the play. I really like the Cowboys' odds of having success there, even though to be fair, Blake Bortles had a forty one yard keeper in this game in Week one, which again goes back to my thing about discipline, Like, maybe you talk about some misdirection. We didn't see it from Dak and them on Sunday.

Maybe you incorporate that because I think you can get these guys to bite, especially with the focus that they want to put on Zeke, because I just don't think this is a discipline group. Having said that, without the forty one yard keeper, they still limited the Jacks to three point five yards per carry, But at the end of the day, the Jacks had one hundred and fifty rushing yards, So I think there's plays to be made there, especially if you take advantage of their aggressive nature. Anyway,

I don't think the front seven is super special. The back end scares me a little bit, mainly because of Landon collins Um. He's scary man because I know he plays safety. But the thing with him is, I think he's gonna spend this whole game in the box because that's what he did against the Jags, Like he was basically an extra linebacker. He's in between the linebackers, he's over on the edge. He blitzed at least two or three times, and he was just always down in the box.

And I really think it's gonna be his mission to make Zeke a non factor. That's what he said, right, yeah, and he's equipped to do it. He's a good tackler. He's a smart player. I will say thing worth. I think he's aggressive too, like these guys want to make plays. One of Jacksonville's touchdowns, he chased in from the backside on t J Yelden or excuse me, on the on the read option. Would have had a tackle for a loss,

no doubt about it, except TJ. Elgin scored it out to the edge and was completely on his own for a pretty easy touchdown throw. So again, you can take advantage of that aggressiveness. But having said that, you're just talking about smash mouth running the ball right up the gut. I think it's gonna be hard to do, especially with him in there. Um. Then you got Generis Jenkins. Obviously we know all about him. I'm curious to see, Like

without a Dez Bryan on this team. I mean, there's not a receiver that he's gonna gonna follow somebody every week. The Cowboys, you would expect a team's just gonna play exactly. Um. And then Eli Apple, against all odds, would have never thought he'd still be on this team. But new coaching staff, I think they gave him a new chance. Looked all right to me. Uh, starting nickel back on this team is b W Webb. So Cole Beasley. Cole, Oh, he's a cue. I didn't know that. Uh, Cole Beasley, it's

on you, big guy. Um. And then your free safety's Curtis Riley, who plays. He's gonna be in Arlington to use a nick, to use a nick. No, well, you're right, he's gonna Yeah, he's gonna be He's gonna be at six Flags over Texas while everybody else at the same. But I'd never heard of him before he they got him from Tennessee. He looked pretty good in this game, like he's a willing hitter. He had a pass breakup, and they I don't know that they play him back

there because he's a liability. I think they do it because Landon Collins likes to freelance so much so these back guys, Dad's gonna have his work cut out for him. Like, I don't know how many easy throws are going to be there for him, And if they are, I'm looking at b W Web more so than the guys on the outside. Last year, we were playing up there the Meadowlands and we were about time to go down to

the field. It was about that point in the fourth quarter and I remember packing our stuff up and walking and looking at the TV. And Beasley had a really big catch, like fifty yards and got down to about the twenty and Landon Collins made the tackle and got hurt and went out of the game. And this is now we're at the elevator and we're about to go in and with him out of the game, the very next play, it was Jason Witten right down the seam touchdown. It was the one play that Collins was out of

the game. They recognized it, saw it, you know. I don't know who saw it or if it was just coincidence. Whitten's open That was an RPO too, if I remember, it was like kind of a read and pull and was that one handed San Francisco. But it was after like they had they were bad in the red zone all day, like they'd kicked like three field goals and then yeah, as soon as Collins went out and then just exploded, oh no, go ahead. There wasn't another point

I was gonna make about that. I don't remember. I just this is I mean, this is so it's football one oh one, like it's obvious. But I don't want to man up and just go mano a mano with these guys like Snax Harrison. You don't want to do that.

These linebackers will be able to fill behind him. But like I said, like I think that they're aggressive and they want to make plays, and they clearly don't respect Dak's ability to throw the ball, according to Landon Collins himself, so and there's got to be some room for some misdirection and fooling them and stuff like that. I just think, I mean, if Blake Bortles can gain forty one yards on a read option, keeper Dak should be able to

take advantage of that. Maybe he doesn't have a fifty yard run, but about fifty yards over the course of five or six carries. That sounds great to me. I remember one time in training camp with Paul Alexander was talking.

He didn't talk a lot to the media, but there was one time where he was he was talking about all his years in Cincinnati and having seen different schemes, and he said, you know, every year we knew how what a challenge it was to face Pittsburgh and to face that three four scheme, and so you know, with him in the offensive line and getting those guys ready to face that, you know, I mean, when you coach anywhere twenty seven years, you face a lot of teams,

but you know, for a franchise like Cincinnati, you know, beating Pittsburgh and that game is always a big thing for them and to go up against that, so you know, every year they were great. And so all I'm saying is, I think he's got good experience of facing different you know, three four fronts and what they need to do with that offensive line. But here's the interesting part about that.

He may have the experience, and now your rookie has to go well, I know, and I think That's the part that concerns me a little bit because his only experience in the NFL so far has been everyday at practice against a four man front first week of the season. Four man front is gonna be the first time he's gonna have experience in the NFL against the three man front front. I'm interested to see how different that is for him and how much they can confuse him with

what they do, right. I mean, I knew Paul Alexander had never played in any of those twenty seven years. I'm saying as a coach, he's getting his guys. Maybe you guys, Big twelve teams are are running a three four. You don't see it often. I don't I couldn't tell you, but you don't see it a whole lot. I should not in the Big twelve. You need a ton of talent to run three four that I mean, which that's probably why Alabama does it, and well LSU now too.

I always forget LSU runs. You guys go through yeah, three four years ago. Um, but actually Arkansas a three four. I mean, that's how many I think we might have its three or four. The point it's going to be, we're not talking about Arkansas. The point I wanted to make is actually Jason Garrett talked to me about this yesterday, which is that no three to four team exclusively runs three four anyway like a lot of Carwin loves to

put his hand on the ground. I mean, you're gonna see four man fronts, like I don't think it's gonna look that much drastically different, to be honest with you. But the personnel is a little bit different. Snacks will be lined up a little bit differently than he would probably,

So that's the fun thing about three to four. It's very multiple, which Rod Marinelli's scheme is so old school, like you're always gonna have four down linemen at least more maybe if they're running money forty four when it's third and eighteen. But it's much more uniform than this because you'll see five different alignments on five different snaps. But I don't know. I like this again for the fifth time. Damon Harrison's a beast, and he's gonna be

a handful. But if the Cowboys offensive line, even without Travis Frederick, is remotely as good as we give it credit for, they should have the upper hand against these linemen. The thing that gives me pause, honest, Like Landon Collins and Curtis Riley for that matter, like they like to blitz, they'll put guys near the line of scrimmage to help

out with that. Like this is going to be a big game for Zeke, maybe just as much as any offensive lineman in terms of protecting the passer, because just you know, bj Hill, Dalvin Tomlinson and Kareem Martin, I would hope are not going to be consistently whooping Tyrant Smith and Lyle Collins. If that's happening, then that's a whole different set of issues. I'll tell you this much.

I was watching Eli Apple and what I saw I did not like for the Cowboys especially we all really know that what's going on in the passing game, but Apple's ability to follow the receiver and stay with him, like he does not allow any separation and he's not afraid to get his hand on the ball or push you down or whatever he needs to do. So I'm really concerned about their secondary when you put it added

to what the Cowboys passing games. News flash, this is gonna be a recurring theme in the in the NFL this year too, and the Cowboys have known that since May, like Apple's probably gonna be They're gonna trust him man up on whoever he's got. They're definitely gonna trust Genorris Jenkins. They trust Land and Colins so much they're gonna send him down into the box and just be like, figure

it out. Uh, it's gonna be crowded, And that's what I'm saying, Like, if you're just gonna line up and try to just bulldoze this front, I don't think it's gonna go back and either one of those guys that you just mentioned those corners pop into the middle, I mean pop into into the slot. Jenkins can. Jenkins can. The reason why I asked that is because I believe personally that the best receiving director that the Cowboys have

is Cole Beasley. I wonder how often teams will say, our best guy can actually go in the slot and follow Beasley if they wanted to follow someone, could they do that? And would they be willing to commit today? I don't know if he will because the Giants don't share their game plan. Was absolutely, but he I think he could. Me personally, I'd trust him better than B. W. Webb. Although it's not BW. Web might be a fine player today,

I don't know. I just remember how not great he was when he has a cowboy would you always call him? I didn't know. That was not me, that was rowing Kavner called him burned whenever. Alright, let's take our second break, and when we come back out, I'll have a question for you guys about the running game. Is sequel Elliott and get it moving? Cowboys fans know that the second best of anything simply won't cut it, and your skincare

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You are a member of Cowboys LA and so is AT and T doing their part to keep you connected to America's team all season law At and T is a proud member of Cowboys Nation. Back to the break, all right, given the Giants secondary, how much are the Cowboys gonna have to rely on the running game? How well can they run the ball? Are they gonna get a moving this time? And how many times are we gonna see sick eating out of the imaginary fake spoon you can imaginary out of the imaginary bow? Right? Um?

I think I think yeah, I think they know that. Are you guys? I mean, based on where we're at right now, are you is that your expectation at this point? Do you really believe that it can get moving this time? I do think you can, because you know you're talking about listening to what Dave saying. You know their question marks they have on their defense is just how there's just three four you know, front seven gonna line up?

How do they match up against the run and against the what we still think to be a pretty good run offense. So I think that the Cowboys have to to you know, test them and early and often and see if they can do it. And if they can do it early in the game, see if they still can do it, you know, as you keep wearing on them throughout throughout the game. That's traditionally what a three or four defense is. I mean, you can you can actually you know, overpower them if you if you have

the ability to do so. And I think the Cowboys still do so. Yeah, I think they're gonna do it a lot, get him established, and I think they'll have a lot more success. News flash, Cowboys are not going to be successful this year if they can't run the ball. So I think this is an every week discussion from the standpoint that if they can't get the running game going, they haven't proven yet in my opinion, over the last you go back, I don't know, eight nine games, they

haven't proven that when teams can stop them from running. Really, you go back even beyond that, because you go back some of those games they played against the Giants in their in Jeke's rookie year, when they couldn't run the ball, they had a hard time moving the moving the offense, and they have a hard time scoring points. It happened against Minnesota, happened against Denver last year. We saw it a lot towards the end of last year. We saw

it the first game of this year. Until they show me that in a game where they're having trouble moving the ball on the ground, that they can still move the offense and still score points. Right now, that's what it seems like they are. So every week the discussion is going to be is this defense good enough their posing defense? Is it good enough to be able to stop the Cowboys from running the ball? And if they are,

they have a good chance for success. That's basically all they need to do to screw with the Cowboys, like screw them up, Like as soon as you take that element out of them, they freak and don't know what to do, like they can't handle it. At some point, at some point, I agree with you, at some point, at some point, the Cowboys are gonna have to show the league that they can pass their way out. And

we don't know when that's gonna happen. If that's gonna happen, they haven't been able to do that consistently at least over the last little stretch. Really only one thing that they need to do to kind of get that going. I mean, it's playing and simple. It's the fleeflicker, you know, just get you you you jest, But and I really it would be a play that would work for this team. I who could get down there. Though I understand, you

gotta you gotta have your bread and butter plays. You gotta run off tackle and off in the a gap.

Like I understand you have to do those things. But like I hope that they're not stubborn enough to just try to manoamano because I just have I have nightmares of like Landon Collins chasing off the backside and tripping Zeke up for one yard gain on a play that might have gotten seven, and that adds up so uh actually that if you go watch it, like the Giants did a lot of this, Like they did a lot of counters, a lot of they don't have an offensive line like some of se Quon Barkley's best runs were

where you get the whole line flowing one way and then get Barkley going the other. Like just stuff like that misdirection. I mean read option for the millionth time. And I'm not saying it has to be every play, but there needs to be an element of the unknown to where you're getting eight nine yards on a play that you know the whole defense is going the wrong way. That type of stuff to complement what you already do, and I think hopefully that'll work better than what they

did last. There was a play and I have such a bad memory when it comes to like time and why gaming was or what play was, but I remember you seeing and this is not necessarily something that happens very often, but the whole being on sync in the in tune with everybody else where. They ran this play and everyone went to I think the left, and the runner was supposed to go to the right or the receipt.

I don't even remember who it was. No, not this passe, not this recent game later ever whenever, I don't remember it was. It wasn't that long ago. It was pretty soon. I don't know, the preseason. Whatever. The point is, they're supposed they have this play very well planned out that would have worked perfectly, and it would have ended up

in a touchdown. Right there they were in the red zone and they all went to the left when the player was supposed to go to the right obviously open, and he went alone to go into the left as well. So just dumb mistakes. That's probably the player that's probably on the running back then, or the back I mean, if everybody's going left and he went right. But that's the infuriating thing about football is like that's every play.

Like if you go back and watch that Carolina tape, as bad as they look like, there's like six plays where you're like, that's a thirty yard game if Dax sees that, or if the ball's placed a little bit better, or there was even one I think it was Jeff Schwartz, the former offensive lineman. He did this whole breakdown, like the first play of the game. If Lyell and Joe Looney communicate a little bit better on their block, Zeke had like an alley for maybe maybe a touchdown, but

at least a chunk game. But it wasn't blocked right and it went for a yard Like that's I mean, that's the difference. It's and it's it's infuriating watching it back and seeing what could have been. I mean, well, to me, one of the most frustrating things. Watching the game, especially from the press box, you have an aerial view and we get to see it very clearly. Obviously, when you're on the field and you're actually playing at eye level,

it's a different type of view. And when you see certain people being open and stuff are you're like, oh my god, he should have made that. Well. The view is completely different, right, And it's like when you watch a karate or Karate kid or WWE or something that you watch a fight and then you think you get so fared up that you think you can do it better than the person, and like you want to get in there and do it. That's what I want to

do sometimes, get in there. I've sat next to Derek for years and he's always saying, well, I mean, receiver was wide open. Like you know, from our spot, you just see this receiver running in like that sounds good, and but who knows if the quarterback saw that. You know, we see it because we're up high, but the quarterbacks sometimes of what's in his face and all that. And my retort to that usually is it's a it's there are some quarterbacks that when that happens, that the ball

gets there. So maybe it's just that the quarterback has to improve his acumen so that he knows where he expects the guy to get open and has the ability to have the awareness to see what that you're saying. Some of these quarterbacks just make the throw without seeing it. Maybe maybe that's it too, I don't know. All it's rare when you're watching when Aaron Rodgers is in town, it's very rare that you see just a wide open guy running down the field and he doesn't see that guy,

you know. I mean, so I think there is there may be something to what you're saying, But I think there's also something to the idea that that means that maybe you need to do a little bit more whatever that is, to be able to give yourself a better vantage, a better understanding, to be able to get it to well. Beasley was wide open, I like says who I mean, like nobody knew that, you know. I mean, that's he gets overlooked sometimes, you know, when he's over the middle.

That's that's part of it. But it is on the quarterback too to move and laterally and get you know, find open lanes to throw and see. Yeah, and we're gonna keep talking about that, hopefully things calm down, and the Cowboys win this game, and we can't start talking about some positive things because one of the talk right now is who's the next quarterback? When are we getting ready to go there? If this game doesn't go the

right way, the draft show questions next week. They're already lining up, all right, well for Nickiman, Derek Eagleton, David Hellman, I remember Garcia. This has been the break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.