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Cowboys Let's go. But are you ready for a break?
Yes?
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Absolutely?
Ready for a break?
Yeah, and so much for that.
It's time for the Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. We were on right with Ambar Garcia, Brian brought us, Patrick Walker and Derek Eagleton.
It is Wednesday, October fourth, twenty twenty three, Season nineteen, episode number forty five. Welcome to the latest edition Oh the Break, live from the SWBC Mortgage Studios. At the start today we start talking Cowboys versus forty nine Ers. Brian will have his breakdown of the Cowboys offense versus forty nine Ers defense. We will also get a few updates here, hopefully at some point during the show on
some injuries. But we'll kind of lay the table on what that looks like and then start getting you guys ready for this upcoming game on Sunday Night Football.
Got my crew here, Let's start off first.
I know that Mike McCarthy will be going we'll be approaching the podium here momentarily, but in the meantime, no, see just kind of lay the groundwork on what we're looking at as far as injuries for this week, What should we be keeping an eye on, and what do we think is the status as of right now?
And as you stated, we'll get some real time updates from Mike McCarthy here via text momentarily, but yesterday is what we have as far as the most updated. Ric o'dowdo hip contusion is what it's being described as. He's expected to be limited in today's practice, today, me and Wednesday. Zach Martin suffered a quad injury on Sunday. He's also
expected to be limited. He and Rico will both do some work with the rehab group and then the expectation is they'll get a little bit of participation with the team practice. Tyrone Smith knee, he's been out the past two games. Expectations that he will be with the rehab group on Wednesday and they'll see how he feels after that. But I expect that he'll be DMP four Wednesday. We'll see if they wrap him up for Thursday, which is a big day in Cowboys Nation as far as practices
are concerned. Knock going all the wood you need to when it comes to Thursday practice, Michael Parson's dealing with a knee and an ankle injury. They were kind of banged up against the Patriots. Michael told media on yesterday at a somewhat of a charity event with a youth sports team that he's good to go for Sunday, so as long as there are no setbacks from nothing worse. Since this week, Michael Parsons will be on the field
and that's massive for the Cowboys. Can't afford to not have him, so Dowell and Martin have a chance to play. Michael Parsons sounds like he's a full go. Tyrone Smith still wait and see, all right. One of the quick note, I wanted to hit here real quick. Actually, right before we went on the air, I started seeing some news reports of a former Cowboy that may actually be out on the street again as a free agent, both Adam Schefter at ESPN and kevinpatrat NFL dot Com.
Or reporting that he will be released. And I will say this before we get into the conversation. Let me be real clear, these are the opinions of this group based upon being media people. We are not representing anything from the football side of the football operations part of the building. This is just opinions that we're giving based on our impressions of Randy.
Gregory and the Cowboys team.
So that being said, if Randy Gregory is released, as these reports are saying he will be, do you think the Cowboys.
Should be interested in possibly bringing him back.
I don't see the fit now.
Obviously saw the fit then when they were willing to sign him a free agency before they lost him out to the Broncos. But now when you look at what Dante Fowler has come in and done and being researching under Dan Quinn, you want to see Sam Williams continue to ramp up and the only way to do that
is to keep getting this guy the reps. And then, of course you know you have Mike and DeMarcus Lawrence, so you know, from a Cowboys standpoint, you would then be trying amend fences to bring in a D five maybe because who are you taking reps away from Fowler who just got you a strip fumble that you took for a touchdown, or Sam who you need to take that year two leap. I just don't see it happening from a Cowboys standpoint, And then from a Randy Gregory standpoint.
I think Bill Belichick is probably on his phone already. I mean, Belichick just lost Matthew Judon, he lost Christian Gonzales and then had to give up a couple of picks to go back and get J. C. Jackson, which probably put them out of the trademarket for a pass rusher after losing Judon. But then the timing goes, you have a veteran pass rusher who can still be effective
on the edge come into free agency. I think this has Bill Belichick written all over it, which would also give Gregory a chance to kind of rebuild himself for a better contract than twenty twenty four.
Two years ago. They were willing to pay him. Yeah, you know, and they thought enough of him, and I actually they thought they had the deal done. You know, you have a Denver based agent, and so you know, it makes sense to try and maybe build some more clientele there with the Broncos, which is always good. That way the guy can kind of look after Randy while he's there in Denver. Always been a huge fan of Randy Gregor. The injury part of his career has been difficult.
The mental struggles that he's dealt with. I think he's come through brilliantly. I would absolutely bring him back, and I really don't have time for people's feelings right now when it comes to playing time. I'm kind of in that mode where to me, it's about trying to find the best best players to put on the field and rush the passer or play run defense. Run defense not always one of Randy's strength, But I know with Randy you could put him wide, He's fine, you could kick
guys inside of him. He's a really good combination player when you work games with him. When you start to talk about the one thing we'll get into with the forty nine ers is they create a lot of forman pressure. You bring Randy Gregory in here, I think you create foreman pressure. Haven't been completely sold on what I've seen
from Dords Armstrong. I know Dward's Armstrong has a is in the last year trying to get a deal and all that you know going forward, But to me, I have no problems with trying to add guys that I know legitimately can rush the passer and I know this guy can't do that.
I agree with everything you both said about the talent, but I would say no, thank you. I do take feelings into consideration. I am a very stubborn person and I will admit that. But after everything we did with the organization did and then I know there was a whole confusion and whether was it the agent or not and what there was a lot going on and at the end the deal didn't work out. But even then, the comments that were made on social media, I don't
forget about that. I mean, after they've supported him for so long and then he comes out with I forget exactly a word by word what he had tweeted at the time. I'm like, I'm sorry, I don't That's like a slap in the face to me. And no, I don't care if i'm if I have zero pressure right now, tours like pressuring the quarterback and I'm here struggling and losing every game, I don't care. I'm good.
If you get fired, then you get fired for not having then you get fired for not having players. See, this is where and I get that, this is where you have to disconnect yourself from the situation. You have to sit there and look at it and go, Okay, what is the one thing that Randy Gregory could help us to and again two years ago you were committed to doing that, dan Quinn probably signed off on it. Dan Quinn's like, yeah, heck yeah, I can use this guy.
So to me, I'm not in the business of getting fired, you know, I'm in the business of trying to find players so my defense can match up with the teams I'm playing on my schedule, you know, the Philadelphias, the Detroits, the Chargers coming up. That's what I'm trying to figure out. I don't win enough games I get fired. Nobody's gonna feel sorry for me when I get fired, you know.
But you also have to look. I think the one thing that always came down with Randy Gregory was his talent was always so innate. He had that innate talent. Yeah, and we always talked about what he could be, and it always came down to how available he was because he kept getting.
Suspended and all of that.
And and again I don't I don't. I take mental health super super serious one hundred percent, So I'm not trying to downplay that. But when you talk about availability and can you count on something like that and someone like that, is that someone that will fit in now with the culture that's currently being created.
In the law. If you, if you told me that you are against this move because of availability, I really don't have a leg to stand on because that has been a history. But I do know that when he is available that he could be a difference maker as a player. You know, there's a reason why. You know, the Denver gave him five years, seventy million dollars second year in a deal. Now what's happened is Denver's in a situation right now with a brand new head coach,
brand new staff. There's that guy over there is setting examples, is what he's doing. He's saying, Okay, how can I you know, I'm gonna get somebody's attention in this locker room today, And that's how you do things like that. But like I said, if you told me, if you told me, hey, I don't want the player because he's not always available, you have a point.
And when it comes to like Randy Grigory and just mental health in you know, specifically, everyone knows how I feel about mental health and knowing both sides of the coin. As far as the availability part of it, the non injury availability issues which were the NFL suspensions around marijuana, and my feelings on all of that are relevant.
So I'm not going to get into all that.
He's proven to be right by the way what he thought about correct for a year.
And then here we are new CBA, new testing rules that don't apply as far as you know, suspension for marijuana and a certain and a much much of a degree. But i will say this, my main thing is for that thing when that thing fell apart. Between both sides, there's Brandy Gregor and his agent side of the story, and they're the cowboys side of the story, and there's dirty laundry on both sides. I'm not going to air either of the dirty laundry because I know both sides.
What I will say though, is knowing both sides, I give grace to both sides of that coin to say, hey, it's possible to mend those fences. It's ugly, but it's possible. That being said, to answer Derek's question, I'm not going to put any of that into play. As far as my thought process or potentially or not potentially bringing Randy Gregory back, I'm looking at it strictly as from.
A cowboy schematics.
I don't know that he would be the Dee f five that you would want in the building if your plan is to develop Sam Williams and to keep Dante Fowler out there as well.
I don't see that fit.
Because you probably are gonna have to pay him, probably more than you would typically play it, pay ade five to get that done. Now you flip over to the player side of it, because free agency is a two way street. From a player side of it, Randy Gregory's agent is looking at him, him saying, there's better situations
out there. New England is a better situation. You'll probably get paid a little bit more, You'll likely be a starter in the absence of Judaan, and you get a chance to kind of rebuild yourself to maybe get back into the pool in twenty twenty four. So feelings hurt, feelings aside, and burnt bridges aside, take all of that, throwt out the window, and if we're strictly talking football from both sides, I don't see it.
And let's also be clear that the one thing I know about Jerry Jones is he is not one of the whole crutches.
He is.
It is about when it comes down to it, like it's business, and I think he looks at it as business. It's the reason why you can have an ezek. You'll come back last week and them get you on it, put it on.
Video board and say, man, he is one of us, right, and the.
Cowboys had to cut him. Cowboys cut him a smith like there are. There are lots of situations. I've seen this over no.
No, no, no no, I have different no no.
I've seen this organization.
I've seen this situation a number of times where you could say the cowboys were in a situation where they were spurned by a player, or the player had something to say walking out of the door after the cowboys cut him. And and then you see when that guy's retired, he's back here and he's in the building and he's got off the gray jacket, and the cowboys are like, he's one of ours. I just don't think Jerry takes it personal like that. So I don't think Jerry would
look at it like that. That's my own personal opinion. I don't think he would look at it like that. But I do think your point about availability is the most important.
That's the point you look at it.
I think at least in part, he is not he will be if these reports are accurate that he's going to be released.
Then I think in part that's.
Because over two seasons he's now played ten games he missed I think what it was eleven games last season, And on top of that, in the games that he's played in those ten games, he only has three sacks and twenty one tackles. When you're paying a guy five year deal word seventy million dollars, your expectations are you going to get a little bit more in your pass rush?
Remember how what has been the longest that he's played in one season?
We could find out, Yeah, I assume somebody can pull that up real quick.
Sure, but again I think you can.
I don't think anyone is going to argue availability has been his biggest.
Death around his career.
And so for me, that's when I look at the depth of this defense, of the defensive end position in particular, I'm like, hey, I know you may say Durance Armstrong may not be showing me all I want.
What I look at is.
I'm like, he can make a few plays here and there. He's not going to be a world beater. But what I do love about him. Is he shows up every week, he's available, he's available, He's consistently available.
And I don't know that there are guys on that list that I.
Would think I would want to take time from for a guy that I don't consider to be So.
To answer your question, eleven starts in twenty twenty one.
That's the well.
Also, I think we've seen when people don't fit in Laurria laughing.
I'm laughing because just real quick, what about Tyron Smith and Tyler Smith?
We can have that conversation now. I don't think Tyler is the same conversation. I think Tyron is a conversation that we've already had and we've talked about, like, how do you manage when you're going into a season you have to be thinking about I think they need to be thinking about, you're not going to have him for a full season.
Yeah, and if they've made the.
Decision that his talent is good enough for them to deal with that, that's one thing. But I also will say this, are you trying to make the equation? Are you trying to make the equivalent between the ability of Tyron Smith when he's healthy ability?
No?
No, but say to me, to me, Tyler Smith as a tackle is the future. That's the future to me, and they chose to go with non availability at times at tackle instead of putting the guy out there who's the future of your team.
But is that about the fact that they consider the talent they would consider in this instance, lets's they were comparing these two things. They consider the talent of Tyron Smith at that position with what else they've got better and more important and work the risk than defensive end, where they've got lots of different options and it's the same level of unavailability. I think there are more factors that are involved in that than just availability versus unavailability.
Right, I mean that's completely factual. I mean because contextually speaking, you're both right, but you have to apply the extra variables. Like you said, they're thinner on offensive line than they are on defensive front. And then this is a league where you're seeing the offensive line play kind of take a large hit.
Because you talked about it a few weeks ago.
It's the quality of the offensive lineman that are coming into the league. So the pipeline isn't there, So it gives you a little bit, It gives you an option to give more grace to a guy like Tyron Smith than maybe you would have given to Randy Gregory. But again, this is all if we're talking about feelings, we got to get feelings off the table. Availability absolutely a great point. Scheme fit or lack thereof, absolutely great point.
Let's not make let's not mince words there.
We know d Q can get the most out of Oh yeah, that's the part I do agree with you, like, that's the part what makes you a little bit like.
Out of him. There is a willingness. There was a willingness at the time to give Randy Gregory probably seventy million dollars. Maybe not the way that maybe not the way the Broncos were willing to do it. But but Jerry Jones, I mean Jerry Jones to to you know, has gone out of his way to always try and help Randy Gregory even and you know, to me, there's that You're absolutely right. I don't think he'll ever have a bad thing to say about Randy Gregory. I don't think.
I think the agent is a whole other thing to it.
I think that's why Jerry backed him up so long, because you do get to know Randy. He's such a great guy. Like you know, there's nothing like he's not a bad person. So it's very smart. So it's one of those things that yes, you want to support not as a player, just as a player, but also as a person be there. And I think that's why he stayed here for so long, where so many critics and I think me at some point and a lot of people at some point before you really got to know
the full situation behind every suspension type of stuff. They they allowed him to try to get better and gave him all the support he wanted, he needed, and the talent has always been there. But again, can he be available? And then I just remember the other thing that I was going to say, is he and I don't know the answer to this, but would he be a good fit?
Like I mentioned before in the locker room, because we've seen it with other guys that just they don't fit in, not on the field, but with everybody else on the team, and that kind of creates we saw it with talk. I know that was a little difference because I know that's very different, very different. I get, I get I'm talking about yeah, you know, clicking, But.
I will say this, I have never heard anything heard no suggested to me that he was ever not good with the locker room when he I think I think the players were good with him. I think he was good with the players buy and large, so I don't I wouldn't necessarily worry about that one too much. I think he was a guy that they respected, and he respected them.
I think it all worked here from the statement.
I'm just not I'm not putting too much. I'm not investing much of anything into the hurt feelings thing things, because we're not going to sit here and pretend that we've not said some things during a breakup only to end up back with that person a few months later. We've we've all you've never never circled back. Now, once respect done, once it's done, I honestly can't say the same,
So let me move on. I mean, there are times where you say things during the toxic breakup because you thought it was going to go this way and it didn't go that way, and then you both kind of yelling at each other and then you hate each other for you know whatever, And then time passes and those feelings, those feelings lesson, and you start to kind of remember the good times a little bit and then you start do you start to kind of wonder, you know, But nonetheless,
but nonetheless I'll say feelings aside, because I think feelings can be repaired, especially when you start sprinkling money on the feelings.
But feelings aside.
If you look at it from a football fit, from a Cowboys standpoint, I don't think that they will want to pay what they need to pay Randy Gregory to be what is likely d E five because then losing him, they got Sam Williams, so that's who they want, you know, to replace Randy Gregory with. And then from a player standpoint, like I said, they are better options Bill Belichick and the Patriots, they they're in dire straits right now. This is a move that maybe the Chiefs will probably look
at something like that. Andy Reid is not adverse to adding pass rushers, and they need some depth on the defensive line behind Chris Jones.
So I mean, I just don't see it.
There are probably lots of teams where he'll get a better opportunity as a defensive.
But he has already been paid.
That's jay he's getting them latter, so that's which also makes it easier the next.
Two needs to go where the fit is, where he feels the most.
Comfortable, and I would get the most rips.
I wouldn't be doubt if it's in the backyard. We're right here all right.
Are you saying down down to South Texas?
No, I'm saying right here, right here, in this backyard here, all right.
We will see.
That'll be interesting to keep an eye on here over the next few days, because I have some something should happen relatively quickly.
We'll see.
Let's take our first brick.
Let's come back, and we'll start getting into the storylines of the week. We'll that Brian give us his breakdown the Cowboys offense versus the forty nine Ers defense. We'll be back Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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Welcome Back.
It is the second segment of The Break Live from the SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. The segment brought to you by block game dot Com. All right, here we go, Brian, give us your breakdown. Dallas offense versus forty nine Ers defense.
Yeah, this is a true four to three front. You've seen one to play like this already this year with the New York Jets. They're going to play what they call we call the wide nine, where those defensive ends are going to be really lined up wide outside of the tackles the stream extreme outside shoulder of the offensive
tackles is you look at it. Their outstanding when it comes to getting pressure on the quarterback without using the blitz, they're gonna they're gonna rush for they don't have the blitz, they will just it's it's really impressive the way that they play. They they've got. The thing about it is they tend to play a little bit more with their front and when I get into the defensive lineman where guys play a little bit stationary, they don't really move
back and forth. One plays on the left, one plays on the right. That's kind of how they work. So it's it's a it's a really unique way of playing it because you see guys flipping all the time. But but not this crew. They're going to play a lot more. They're gonna play a lot more zone coverage in the
secondary than they are man. They're going to be in nickel about eighty five percent of the time you're going to get I went back and looked at the divisional game last year against Dallas and the way that they played Dak They played Cover three, which is that zone look to cover two, which is a too high safety look to cover four and then Cover one in those snaps, So you know, Dak took advantage of them when they went single high or the Cover three. He did a
really nice job against him that way. When they played the two safeties, the cover two look, that was a little bit more of a problem for him. So we'll see if, in fact that the forty nine ers give him a little bit more of Cover two stuff. But they're really a Cover three zone kind of a team when you look at him their defensive line, this is one of the best defensive lines that the Cowboys probably will face this year. They're physical, they're disruptive, they're difficult
to move. Nick Bosa is primarily the guy you're going to have to deal with. He's going to line up on the left at the left defensive end, so that means this will be a Terrence Steele game. Last year, Terrence Steele wasn't in this game. The playoff game that was Tyron Smith. Tyrant Smith didn't fare too well against Nick Bosa in that game. That was a problem for him, So we'll see how how things work out this time around.
The biggest problem deal with Bosa is the movement that he plays with like he is going to He's not just going to rush up the field. He's a He kind of just tries to break you down by suddenly just moving back and forth, kind of finding spot and then you're not sure how to get your hands on him. And that's the way he kind of breaks you down by that movement. He shakes, he wiggles, and then he just doesn't want the blockers to get his hands on him. You have to be really patient when you block him.
Don't let him get you with all that movement. You got to kind of set you know, let him move all that stuff. He's not getting to the quarterback. Just let him move, let him move, let him move, and then kind of find a way to get your hands on him. So he'll also lower his head and bullrush a blocker. If he feels the blockers given too much ground,
he'll just carry you right to the quarterback. This is where Terrence still needs to be careful because Terrence still at times doesn't always set his feet and when guys get under him, he gets compressed. And so that's if Bosa feels like that he can run steal back into the quarterback, he will.
He will do that.
He's really good on on running plays where he'll gamble. He'll gamble on just shooting the gap and just going down. And sometimes we've seen DeMarcus Lawrence do this where all of a sudden, they're lined up and they're like they're feeling like the run play is going to go to their side or go away, and they just shoot the gap. And that turns into a problem because once he gets going, he could be a hard guy to stop inside it. Tackle Armstead and Hardgrave, they're the problems that I talked about.
They're going to line up, you can Armstead is going to line up on the left tackle at left tackle, and Hargrave is going to line up on the right side. Eighty five percent of snaps, these guys just kind of play those spots. But Armstead is long, powerful, He's a handful to deal with against the run. Hargrave is the pass rusher. He's the top tackle in the league when it comes to quarterback pressures. If you get these guys what we would call adjacent or right next to each other,
you're gonna get some type of game. So you know, with how wide they play, and all of a sudden they get real tight and they get together well they're gonna do some game. You're probably gonna get a twist. You're gonna get it. Maybe a linebacker involved. So the Cowboys just by alignment need to be aware of where these guys play. Tight alignment probably a game, you know, far alignment, probably a little bit of a normal pass rush. Drake Jackson is another one. He's a guy plays edge
opposite of Bosa. He's got three sacks, nine quarterback hits. He's exceptionally quick off the ball. He's got the ability to use that quickness in order to break down blockers. So they've got a front that's pretty pretty potent to deal with with the two big inside guys, three guys that could really get after the passer. When you look at their linebackers, Fred Warner and Drake Greenlaw, that are outstanding when it comes to play in the run.
That's the league.
Yeah, they are really good. You know the sixty run snaps that they face this year. The two they've got sixteen tackles, so they're not going to miss when they get in position. They're a difficult group to run away from due to their awareness, their anticipation, and their athletic ability. They both diagnose well they play down hill in a hurry. What you hope for is you take advantage of their aggressiveness. You know, we have this problem here with the Cowboys
at times. Can you get them to run past the play? Can you get them to over commit in the run game. That's really your best hope because getting guys up on
them can be really, really difficult. There's there's been some success when you throw the ball though against this guy, I mean, and I'm Fred Warner is the one particularly if you look at the number of targets and receptions that have come to dealing with him, he's he's one of those guys though that he might let you catch the ball, but he's not going to give you any run after catch. But there are times where people have caught the ball, but he's quick to bring you on
the onto the ground. So middle of the field, though, is his area where he generally operates. And so that's where you got to kind of worry about. If you know where where those guys are on the field. You know, you gotta worry about the these guys jumping routes too. They like to if they see like the ball, maybe quarterback sets looks back. Next thing you know the quarterbacks, guy's eyes on the underneath and they just immediately just drive
on it. They play with really, really great awareness when it comes to this, They're gonna be difficult to deal with in that way. The secondary I mentioned they're going to play nickel eighty five percent of the time. I think this unit really benefits from their front seven because again it's another one of those stationary groups. Travarius Ward he's going to line up at the left cornerback ninety eight percent of the time. So if he lines up at left corner, that's going to be your right side
of the defense. And then Leonore is the other corner on the other side. He's going to play that spot seventy eight percent of the times. Isaiah Oliver is their nickel. He's always in the slot. When they in the first two games, they had a guy Abray Thomas was in the lineup, but they've gone with this current group of Ward, Leonore, and Oliver the last several weeks, and Thomas has played
a far less. I think if you throw the ball at one of these guys, I throw it at Leonore is who I would throw it Ceedee Lamb had a huge play against him last year on a bit of a just a go, just a go route, a vertical nine route and Dak They maxed the protection, got the ball down the field, Ceedy made the catch. He also drew a pass interference call. I don't think Leonor runs as well as some of these corners that we've seen the Cowboys play. I think he's a better zone player
than he is a man. The catchup speed there, I just don't see. When there's separation, it's a little bit of a struggle for him to get back. So taking a shot at him, I don't think is a bad option. The numbers, the metrics, all those things kind of point to that direction too. Teams have had success throwing the ball in front of him and they and they've had some success throwing the ball behind him a little bit. So you know, that's something that the Cowboys kind of
need to keep an eye. The safeties are really good players to Sean Gibbs and then the Funga are two really solid players. They Funga is always around the line of scrimmage. He's like cursed the way he plays. He's going to line up in the box. He's like a linebacker. He's kind of a headhunter when it comes to the way he plays. If you're one of these guys, you're on crossing routes, the stuff underneath neath. If he's in that area, he is going to take a shot at you.
He's going to try and knock that ball loose, and he does a really good job of that. Gibson plays more coverage. I think Gibson does a really good job of reading routes. He puts himself in position in the middle of the field. You got Warner and Gibson in the middle. That's why teams have struggled a little bit to throw the ball inside there because of those two guys in the way they play. But there's there's there's They do a great job of keeping the ball in
front of him and then rallying. Both safeties tackle really really well. So it's a hard team to move the ball on. But in a way, the running aspect of it, I think is going to be some of a prompt. But if you're going to attack a guy leonor the corner, I think would be the guy if they want to throw the football, that's the guy that I would go after.
All Right, we're going to take our final break when we come back. We got some questions and some different topics we're going to hit with regards to this matchup Cowboys offense versus forty nine Ers defense.
We'll be back, Dallas Cowboys dot com Radial.
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Welcome back.
Final segment of The Break Life from SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. Right before we went to break, Brian broke down the Cowboys offense versus of Niners defense.
No, see in the Break you had.
Something you wanted to arrive Absolutely just sparting Lenor right, Just some science to help support what Brian's excellent scouting report was saying about Leonor. He is absolutely the weak spot. He's the one that you want to poke with a sharp stick. His hawk rate per our good friends at next Gen Stats, I mean love them, Yeah, is roughly just three percent. That's one of the lowest, one of the worst in the league. So he doesn't halk the
ball very well. Coverage success rate is just around forty five percent, so less than half the time when you target him he's having success. Those are two of the lowest marks of any defensive back in San Francisco. But contrarily, when you look at Hufanga, Whufonka hawks the ball at a rate of about thirty three percent, so that's hey keep an eye on that. But also he has the highest covered success rate on the entire team, which is roughly sixty seven percent, So.
It's wildly lopsided.
Like Brian said, so if you're Mike McCarthy, Brian Schottenheimer, Dak Prescott, as long as your front five holds up, you need to target leonor early often and for the entirety of the game.
That's a huge if.
When you say, if you're front five, pretty your job holds This is a tough defense. I wanted to go back and I was looking at this top the defensive front. Their pressure rate is about forty three percent. They get pressure almost half the time when they're when they're going to get the quarterback they don't blitz much though obviously he st Brian On about it over time.
But what was.
Interesting to me was Javon Hargrave is actually the person that leads the team in quarterback pressures in twenty two Uh. He also has three sacks try with tied with Drake Jackson for the lead on the team. Talk to me about how the interior of this offensive line matches up with those two defensive tackles, particularly because it mostly gets.
A lot of a lot of the press. Hardgraves a problem.
Yeah. The thing about it is with Hardgrave and the Cowboys are familiar with Hargraves game from Philadelphia a little bit, you know, and you know, San Francisco goes out, they realize, well, heck, we need to maybe shore some things up, you know, with help Armstead inside, and they and they really have. And the thing that that Armstead is so long and
strong that he's he doesn't have the explosiveness. So you know, if the matchup, the left and right matchup and the way they play is going to be critical in this game.
And the Cowboys, I feel like, are really equipped to handle this because Smith last year, well in the playoff game, he played tackle so here you have Martin a little bit compromised with the thigh or the quad or what he's dealing with, maybe a little bit of an ankle, but you do have two power players inside that when you when I went back and watched that game, it wasn't a very good game for the oddish that it
was a struggle for him in this football game. And yeah, because the way these linebackers played, but these defensive tackles and Hartgrave is just such an up the field player, so you have got to stop him at the point you've got. You can't let him get going. And the Cowboys are equipped to be able to do that. Is last year, like say, Connor McGovern, not probably the best situation there. I mean, they moved on from him. He was the starter in this game. Wasn't terrible, but he
wasn't you know. It's not Smith and then also Martin. So Dallas is better equipped to handle this will be a this will be a difficult matchup for San Francisco with really good on good inside. They haven't played anybody that's as good as Dallas is in the inside.
That way, the Rams also regularly what I saw when I went back and watched the game against the Rams. They would regularly keep six blockers in to be able
to handle this. I was actually thinking, like, this will be a game where I would love to see them play a little bit more twelve personnel and try to max protective thing to where you can now really try to get those receivers out in routes where where maybe you can get them freed up to where they are, you know, matched up one on one with these corners and try to make some plays there.
I feel that's where they that's where they really they have to They have to be almost predetermined where they're going to go with the ball, like with the intent of may make the forty nine ers have to commit resources to going over and helping you know, Dallas needs to find ways to win on the outside. Both these corners will give up some plays, it just so happens that Leonora gives up more. But they benefit so much from that front. I mean, okay, it's great to say,
oh we'll attack the secondary here. Oh yeah, by the way, you got to block this front, you know, and sometimes you look at it, but the Rams did a good job of getting the ball out. I mean it was like, you know, Matthew Stafford was not interested in holding that ball at all. It was get it out, get it out, get it out. And I have a feeling that the Cowboys are gonna have to if they're gonna play, if they'll play his own coverage against Dak and they'll play
off like what New England did you know? Run these guys off, throw them the ball and go for it.
I mean, if there ever was a week when you want to see this Texas Coast offense that's predicated on getting the ball out quick, this is the week to do it. This is the week when it should actually help you, right.
I think they're gonna have to be able to run the ball a little bit too.
I know this.
I would think, oh well, this could this be one of those game plans where you like Tampa was a couple of years ago where Dak where they played in Tampa, not the playoff game, but the one that started the season, and they just completely committed to throwing the football. You know that's I don't know, could that be, like you said, could you just max this thing up and say, you know what, our best shot at winning this game will be throwing the football. If we can just block this front.
If you had to summarize.
And there are pain has to deal with, well, yes.
But I was the biggest difference between what they're what they look like now versus the last time last year when or earlier.
This they rattled. They rattled, I mean and they they they took advantage of your offensive line in some spots. I mentioned Tyron Smith was not good enough at right tackle. He just wasn't that that matchup with him and Bosa, Bosa had him on his heels in that game. Usually Tyron Smith is base is good, is balance is good, body control is good. He was, he was caught. He was caught a little bit. I mentioned the center wasn't
very good. McGovern wasn't great. You know, uh, ty Tyler Smith was fine at the at the other tackle spot, but they were really lacking. You the forty nine ers said, Okay, you're just not good enough at these spots. And they they went after that. They and they they did a really good job of when you know when the receivers you talk about teams, when when they when they able
to make plays, they tackled really well. That's the thing about this defense is it's like the balls there and then there's it looks like a big game, Like Zeke had a run where it looked like it was going to be out the gate and it's like a six seven yard run that looked like it could have gone for thirty six yards. But you know here's the you know, Warner jumps over boom tackle right there came in six and you're thinking, wow, that was that could have been a huge player right there.
He had a big day there.
Yeah, that's that's where that's the that's when you have to deal with the team. You have to take what you can get, but be ready for you're probably going to be tackled at the spot. But if you could break a tackle or two and make a big play, that's what they were able to do against the Patriots. I felt like it broke some tackles in the secondary and Nebor, you know, Ferguson and Lambing. Those guys able to break some tackles and make some bigger gains because
of that. But I don't know, we'll see how if they can get away from this crew.
I just feel like this is and I've been saying it all week to anybody who listen. I just feel like this is the Brandon Cooks game. I keep saying, I feel like this is the Brandon Cooks game, and you know, part of it goes to you know, this is the stockedon native, this is his area. He's back in his old stumping grounds. He's most comfortable here and
playing football here out in the Santa Clara area. But at the same time, like we've been talking about, we've been waiting to see what that package looks like with Cooks, and we've not seen it in Week one because they didn't have to get unveiled. He missed Week two. Week three three offensive linemen out. Mike McCarthy says he overreacts. He takes some of the vertical package against the j didn't quite need it, but he started to get a little more active.
This is it.
This is the game that you have to You're probably going to have to go deep into your offensive playbook. You're gonna have to stretch the field to keep those pass pass rushers honest. And then when you look at the matchups like Brian was talking about, Yeah, hufang is going to be a problem, but you would love to believe that Ceede Lambkin can take advantage of that, which means Cooks is against Leonore, if Cooks is against Lenoir or whomever is against Lenor, but schematically it'll probably be
Cooks for most of the time. Get him the ball in space, let him be effective. Get him the ball on vertical routes against a guy who doesn't have a good success rate, has one of the worst hawking rates in the in the NFL. Take advantage of that. So I think this is a Brandon Cooks game.
One of the things I saw on film with against the Rams, and Rams had a lot of success on deep crossing routes. If you're trying to stretch the field doesn't need to necessarily even be vertical right deep middle you can do a lot you can do not even.
The middle like.
Cross good for you can do.
And they actually lost some receivers a couple of times in zone coverage when they were sitting them across the field. So I would love to see the Cowboys use some of that and use Brandon Cooks in that way. He has the speed to where he can get open. He can make some plays, especially if they're gonna try to play him in zone. So I'd love to see some of that. Now, this could be a game where they could use the skills of Brandon Cooks. All right, we
appreciate you, guys, Jonas. We're back tomorrow. We'll talk about the Cowboys defense versus this Niners offense. You thought it was complicated to the man that defense. We'll talk about that offense tomorrow.
We'll be back Dallas.
Until then, for Brian brought us Patrick Walker, Amber Garcia. I am Derek gild And this has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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