Cowboys Break: Standouts From #DALvsAZ

episode number forty four. Welcome to another edition of The Break, live from the s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. And this is going to be a delirious hour of Cowboys football because not only do we have a lot to talk about, but we are all delirious because we don't. We haven't slept much. How's everybody doing today? Hell, I am great. Derek want me to bring the energy. So I'm bringing the energy. Bring the energy. Got two and a half hours of sleep. I'm ready to go do

some radio. Here we go, Nick, We're I mean, we're for the people here. I mean, think about it, for the people. I mean the look at the you know, not only do we got different groups that we represent here, but we're also I mean we got the we got the sport code, we got the polo, we got we got a hoodie at the top. We got yeah, I mean we oh the relax relax. As I thought she said the Blacks. I was like, the people have one two. I don't know about the Blacks, but we got one. Yeah.

All right, let's let's get into this. We got a lot to talk about. Cowboys win yesterday twenty eighth, seventeen, and um, it was I think a sorely needed wind coming out of what happened against Denver. Although it may have started off a little bit shaky and a little bit like, oh, here we go again, they righted and they righted. There we go again. They righted the ship and uh and actually got onto a role there. But I don't do is that there were so many different

storylines coming out of yesterday. I want to take some time first to go around the table, and I want everybody to start by giving me one thing that stood out to you most from yesterday, whether that's pregame, whether that was in game, what stood out the most? You will start with you Nick, Well, I mean there's a couple of things. I don't want to steal anyone stuff, but you know, it is unfortunate. It's unfortunate that people

just don't see what's what's really going on. You know, the fact that that what the Cowboys did, what they did before the game, UM, that that people are losing sight on that they see the kneel and they think that they were kneeling for the national anthem and that they didn't see what they really did. And if whether you're watching it at a sports bar or whatever and you didn't hear it, but it's it's your fault if you're gonna get on social media and attack people and

say that you can't believe the Cowboys did this. To get your facts straight on what they did and why they did it before you speak that, and that that's unfortunate because they put a lot of thought thought that that actually UM took into their preparation. I mean, let's not forget forty eight hours four game. You're thinking about what you're gonna do pre game because it's that important, and they went out and delivered it. No, they didn't play well to start the game, but they put a

lot of thought into it. Find out what they did and why they did it before they get judged for it. They were the best team in the league this weekend at what they did, and they have to because you're America's team, and they acted like it. Amber No. I mean, I'm absolutely impressed by the way they handled this situation.

And I know they have been struggling with what they were going to do about this fact and how they we're gonna go about it, and I'm just absolutely proud to see the outcome of this because not only did they go by respecting the flag and the national anthem and all that, but they also took a stand and stood side by side with those players that did want to protest, you know. So it was good to see them all united because I'm sure there were several there are players that may not want to do that, but

they still did it. But at the same time respecting anthem and kind of keeping the two things separate and not letting the whole presidential and politics kind of talk bad about this flag and the honor that it is to be an American. So I loved what they did here, Dave, I guess I'm just stuck with football. Then feel feel free to get let's change that. Then, since we kind of start on that, why don't you give your give us your opinion of the pregame, and then we'll get

into some of the football stuff. UM leave it to leave it to Jerry Jones to come up with a way to kind of satisfy everybody and kind of think

outside the box. Even with all the different um, even with all the different demonstrations you saw around the league on Sunday, he came up with something that clearly nobody else had thought of, where you were able to kind of speak your mind about the issue that started this whole thing while still um honoring the national anthem and the American which is something that Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett have both repeatedly expressed is something that they value

a lot, something the Cowboys organization values a lot. So they were basically, I mean, they were kind of able to have their cake and eat it too because they made a really powerful statement. I mean, you saw a lot of NFL owners take part in these demonstrations over the weekend. You didn't see any of them kneel with their team in this moment of solidarity before kickoff. And then they were still able to, you know, adhere to their core values about the flag and the anthem and

everything that it stands for. I thought, I'm not going to read the whole thing, but Jason Garrett had a pretty striking quote last night about how, you know, the flag represents two hundred and fifty years of struggle and the ideals of you know, the American democracy. You can go find on my Twitter timeline if you really want

to read it. But but you know, they basically didn't have to compromise on any of that stuff while still making a statement, and it was impressive that they were able to come up with kind of a work around like that. Yeah, I thought, UM, I thought there were some pretty important things that happened as a part of that. I think one of them was that UM and Jerry talked a little bit about this after the game. I think, UM, I think they were able to and I'm not quite

certain yet. I think time will tell, but I think they were able to, UM kind of change the narrative a little bit. I was uncomfortable and at Dave, you

and I had this conversation. I think both of us were a little bit uncomfortable with how it seems like over the last over the last several days, the narrative of what all the protests was originally about had changed, and the narrative had had taken more of a tone of either that that it was somehow a something that that was um that was harmful to the flag and

represented something that was not respectful of the flag. It had taken on a whole Trump thing because it kind of got boosted up to another level because of his comments.

I think that in this way, what it did was kind of disarmed those things and said, Okay, well, if the flag is the issue that so many people have, let's take that part out, like, let's remove that part from the discussion, and then let's let's now kind of point back to equality, and which the original issue was the fact that there were there were people that Colin kaeperni felt like, specifically there were African American people that he felt like, we're not being treated justly in a

lot of different areas, and that was his original protest, and it got bastardized because of all these other things. And so I like the fact that the way the Cowboys did it kind of disarmed that and moved back away from that. Now did it do enough? I don't know.

Is it going to really create more of a conversation to where people are really talking more about these issues and willing to not just talk because we all do a good job of talking, but listen and hear what other people are saying so that we all can kind of learn from one another and improve the conversation, improve the dialogue so that we get better as a country. Like that's still to be seen, but I do like the fact that it changed the narrative back hopefully to

kind of what it should have been. Do you think it did? I don't know. That's why I said, I think this is time will tell. I hope so, because I think it did disarm at least for the people that were not being able to see the issue because of the method. This takes the method out of the out of the out of the equation, and now let's see if they can really hear the issue and deal

with the issue. To mister Eatman's point, though, their period to still be a lot of people that are pretty mad about it, just be for I mean, in my personal opinion, for no reason other than that they want to be mad. And that may also tell you that at least for some of those people, I think some of it is misinformation, But maybe for some of those people, it may tell you that they weren't as upset as

they said about the method. Yeah, they were more upset with the idea that these multi millionaire black athletes are taking a stand for something that's not about them, it's about somebody else, and and they have a problem with that fundamentally. That's well, that's kind of where I sorry,

but I worry about that aspect of it. Derek and I we've known each other for about I don't know, eighteen nineteen years something like that, and uh, probably had one of the more deeper conversations we've ever had a few hours ago, and you expressed some some things, you know, and I don't know if you want to get into it here, but but you kind of gave your stance on some on some things um that I thought were really um they were deep, you know, and you were

talking about what taking a stance will do because because what I talked about it in my column, and I was really careful with it because I'm like, I feel like my platform is to talk about the Cowboys. We covered the team. We're here, you know, my platform to talk about my opinion, you know, the guys that are listening, listening right now, their opinion matter just as much because this isn't about football, this is about what your stance is.

So I'm all careful to kind of almost abuse my platform. And I kind of talked about are the players going down that road too a little bit? And if we I mean, if you don't mind sharing on some of the things that you said, because it really opened my eyes to the situation a little bit more, I guess the point of it for me, and I really kind of came to this as I was thinking about this over the weekend. I kind of came to this. I don't know if you want to call it an epiphany

or not, but I live. For those that don't know me, I live a pretty comfortable life. I have a job as a pretty high and pretty high profile brand. I manage a lot of people. My wife's an attorney, kid goes to private school. Like, there's a lot of things about my life that suggests that I don't have to worry about a lot of things, right, And when I think about that in the context of these players, I know where near where those players are from a financial standpoint,

or you know, whatever level of success they've reached. Versus the level of success that I've reached. But I live a comfortable life. And when you start thinking about it from that perspective, I look at I look at just a generation ago, and there were a ton of people who had money and privilege and wealth and success, people like Muhammad Ali, people like Kareem Abdul Jabbar, people like Bill Russell, people that, and that doesn't even get into some of the other people that we know, like doctor

King and people like that. But people that were willing to do things that could affect them that they'd have to pay price for, but doing it for the greater good, not for themselves, not because they were going to get in because they already had success, they already had fame and wealth and the whole nine. They were doing it because they saw a lot of other people who needed someone with a platform to be able to speak on

their behalf. And it would be hypocritical of me at this point where I am to now scoff at how these athletes are choosing to use that platform. And Nick, when you talked about the platform and using the platform, I think that but for that platform, and but for those guys like Muhammad Ali and those others being willing to use their platform to speak out, I wouldn't be

in the position that I'm in. It's very hard to believe that I would be in a position, judging from where people like me were in the nineteen sixties and seventies in this country, that I'd be in a position where I'm managing, you know it, let's be blunt, while I'm managing people who are white like That would not be happening, right, And so it would be very very hypocritical of me now to say, hey, these guys have a platform, but they should not use that platform in

order to speak on behalf of people who don't have that platform and don't have the ability to be able to speak for themselves to where people will listen and hear what they have to say. So I applaud people being willing to take a stand for what they believe in. Sometimes they're gonna be there's gonna be a penalty that has to be paid for that. But just as those guys a generation ago and two generations ago have done,

I applaud them for doing that. And I respect the fact that the cowboys were willing to find a way where in a room of fifty three men. They could find something that was a compromise that they all could agree on, that allowed some to protest in certain ways, and like do you said, dave others to hold true to whatever core values they had. It's, you know what I mean, very well said. And I think that it's really hard for people to try to get into other

people's shoes and to say what they're dealing with. And I've said this to you before, I've said this. You know, when I've been pulled over in my life, it's because I was speeding. That's why. That's why I got pulled over, or maybe I didn't have my signal on or seatbelt or whatever that you probably can't say the same thing.

And there's something that's something I don't go through and I know that, and I try to the best I can to kind of give him my views, but not knowing what yours are in your stance and stuff like that. And I think if more people would do that and quit saying, well, you don't need to do that, you don't need to do do you don't really know, you don't

really know what that's like. And so and I know I don't, I don't, I don't think you can empathy in perspective or like just I genuinely believe those are two of the most important things. And it's funny that Derek just said that and it was so eloquent. I've been thinking about the same thing from the opposite side of the spectrum all weekend, which is that I can't really relate to that at all, you know, like I am the I am the poster boy for the term

white privilege that you here thrown around so much. You know, I mean, middle class, white guy, nuclear family. I went to private school. I didn't have to worry. I mean, I knew I was going to college from the time I was old enough to know what college was, you know, that type of Yeah, I don't have to worry about what the cops are gonna do to me. I've never been afraid of a police officer in that sense, you know,

or anything like that. But I can still empathy with people who come from that and look at that and say, you know, there are some realities in this world that that I can't comprehend. But I still understand that they are issues, and just because I can't relate to them doesn't mean they're not real things. Uh, it's not something you have to get angry about. Um. And and to your point, and an NFL locker room or any locker room is a great place to kind of see that.

I was thinking about that last night when I was talking all these guys. I mean, uh, you know, you're you're Ezekiel Eliot's your DeMarcus Lawrence is your Dez Bryant. I mean, who comes from a rougher background than Dez Bryant Coming together with a guy like Sean Lee, who's

a white dude from western Pennsylvania. You know, mister, all of me, you know, all high school basketball and h and Jason Witten and they come together and kind of, you know, decide on this solution that they can all agree on that that makes them all feel like they're they're part of something. They're they're being true to who they are and what they want to do. And they made it all work between sixty three dudes and or fifty three players and two dozen other you know, staffers

and owners and everything else. And like I said, empathy being able to understand where other people are coming from, even if it's not your own story or your own struggle. I think you know, we'd all be a little better off if more people were. And let me just say this real quick. I don't know how much of an impact this will have. I don't know what change we will see coming from this, but I do believe that a lot of people, and if you want to call it ignorant, I mean a lot of people can't form.

There aren't opinions, they can't form, they can't come together with having their own beliefs, and they go with what they see online or people they look up to. So I feel like there might be some people that are fans of the Cowboys and they see what they did, and maybe they change their views on things and now they go with, Okay, well the Cowboys are supporting this, let me support this. Or the guy I look up sorry, the guy I look up to could be Jason Witten

or Sean Lee like you were talking about. Now they're gonna go that route. So I feel like you might have even if it's a little impact, it's still something And I'm glad they did what they did. You know, and I wrote this in my story last night. Then they they what they did more than anything was they they opened it up for everybody in their belief. If you really want to kneel down, you get to kneel. If you want to stand, you get to stand for

the national anthem. And if you're so upset with what's going on, you're you're upset with the leadership of our country, but you still respect the flag in a country enough that you want to stand and do both. You got to do both. You got to do both. You got to do everything. Best Monday night game ever because it gave him another day to figure out what they've done. To think about that, thirty things happened, Thirty teams did it one way, and they say, Okay, you have to

be number thirty one. You have to be thirty one. You have to do something different than everyone else. And they did it, and they did it better than anyone else. And the fact that people didn't appreciate it, I think they're just being shortsighted or stubborn or ignorant maybe. And one of the things that kind of goes to that is I think there is a there's a word that I think is inherently important to democracy that has somehow

become a bad word. And at this point, people are now not being reelected because they do it, and it's called compromise. There is no way you're going to bring groups of people with different backgrounds and different opinions together to create one government and to be able to effectively govern a people and make laws and those kinds of things unless there is compromise. And somehow that's become a

dirty word. If you compromise, you're now giving in. There's not enough people willing to sit and talk to people with different opinions and listen and then be willing to say I'm gonna give a little bit, You're gonna give a little bit, and we're gonna find a middle ground here. And it sounds like from what we heard in the locker room, those fifty three men were able to do that. They were able to sit and have discussions and at times, from the way Jason went and talked about it, at

times it got heated. But the fact of the matter is they were willing to listen to one another and come to it an agreement on what they wanted to do as a group, which is compromise. And that's the part that's I think missing so much about you know, what's happening right now just in our in our society, in general and our fans that are listening that you know, we're gonna talk about the game. But this was bigger

than the game. It was it was last night. It was bigger than the game, and I think that's why we spent the whole first segment talking about still will be bigger. They will be, Yeah, absolutely, Hopefully going forward, more attention is paid to the overall issue that's here, and at some point we find some resolution and we kind of get better as a society. That's why I'm hoping, all right, let's take our first back. When we come back, I do want to jump into the game. There's so

much to talk about here. Kat was going to win. That's a big, big deal coming off last week's lost. So let's do that when we come right. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. People demand the best unlimited wireless plan ever from AT ANDT. What else do you want? Are you in a car? Maybe only AT and T offers you unlimited data with HBO included and never payoverages. Get ATNT unlimited plus, our best wireless dealer, Unlimited data plus save twenty five dollars per month on direct TV.

It's entertainment. You're way after twenty two Tickle lights of data use A TAMY Slow Speeds plan includes stream saving videos, will stream and standard definition unless you're turn it all twenty five dollars Direct TV savings across AT and T Unlimited plus credits start within three bills. Service prices subject to change other usage speed fees, charges and restriction supplies

the att dot com slash unlimited for details. Hey Cowboys fans, did you know that over the next few years, more than a million service members will transition from military to civilian life. Veterans face unique challenges when they get out of the military, and Bank of America and the Dallas Cowboys are teaming up to help with financial education, career opportunities, and support of military nonprofits and organizations locally in North

Texas and across the country. We're proud to support our troops and are deeply greatful for the dedication and sacrifice of our service members and veterans. Bank of America Official Bank of the Dallas Cowboys invites you to join us in our efforts to get involved by tagging game day photos on social media using hashtag troop thanks. That's hashtag troop thanks, and by learning more about our commitment to

veterans at Bank of America dot com slash Military Support. Together, we can thank our troops in ways that make a real difference. Copyright twenty sixteen, Bank of America Corporation. It's bowling night with brands and you're hanging out together. Bit up us there, but you're craving something better. But they're fos depensa. You don't know what to do. You do same. You like to believe the doctor Pepper. When you pepper, When you crave a doctor Pepper, nothing else will do.

Pick up a nice cold twenty ounce bottle today, doctor Pepper. Grave. I hear all this talk about what it takes to be a cowboy. Everyone's got their ideas, but I just say to myself, it's what's up top that matters. Sure, you need men with the muscle and heart to get her done. But if your scouts and coaches are listening out there a word 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 have been on cowboys heads for over one hundred and fifty years the rest of you can visit stetson dot com slash cowboy to find a retailer nearest you. Back to the Break, Welcome back. We're in the second segment of The Break. Life in the s WBC Morgage Studios was talking Cowboys and now we're gonna talk Cowboys versus Cardinals. Cowboys gonna win twenty eighth

seventeen on the road mightbe at first right there? Stick, Now we went a whole first segment of a show after a win stick to sports. Hey, no, I don't think that's gonna happen too soon. I think it's gonna happen. But you know, here's kind of where I want to start with this because I know it was the case for me. I assume it was the case for you. Guys. You get through the first two series of the game for both teams, and I'm thinking, here we go again.

I thought, and I was actually thinking about what you talked about last weekday, where you were like, I'm more concerned that this is not just an isolated incident. And I started to think, is Dave right here, like is this team really not what we thought they were? And then things start to change, and by the end of the game, I'm back to Yes, that was an aberration

what we saw in Denver. This is a better team than Hey, before you say anything over there about start, let me just tell you this was Ada was one hundred of his past his pass one one for one. I mean, you know, in the first ball didn't hit the ground in the first quarter, hot start for him. Thirteen h twelve out thirteen for Curson Palmer. But I was gonna start the show off of and I loved

that segment we just did. But thinking purely about the football game game, my main takeaway was like, as atrociously as that game started, they came out and won that game by double digits, Like that's that's amazing when you really think about how up the creek they were twenty five minutes into that game. I mean the play I tweeted it out last night. The play disparity was like twenty eight to six at the end of the first quarter. It's like one hundred and fifty something yards to six.

Like it was atrocious. I mean, and you know, if not for a missed field goal, there in another double digit hole early you might have to climb out of that. You're running game's not working. Who the hell knows what could happen? And then you come out there and outscore them basically from the first drive of the game, you outscore them twenty eight to what ten. Yeah, it's amazing, amazing the way they were able to turn that around.

And I guess I shouldn't be surprised because they did that all last season, but with just with just the first two games to go on sample size, it certainly I did not have a lot of comf they were going to do it. Well, let's let's let's dive in a little deeper. I want to talk first about the defense the offense. At the interesting stat and I told you this in the press box, Nick, the offense scored

on four touchdowns that they had in the game. Three of them came in situations where they got the ball either in Arizona territory or at the fifty yard line, which to me is definitely about what the defense was doing. It was definitely about what your punter was doing, who I still believe is having a phenomenal year. He has a couple of shanks here and there, but by and large, he's having a really, really great season and creating field position for this team in situations where they where they

sorely needed. But you start looking at guys like DeMarcus Lawrence, and you start looking at guys like Malik Collins and how they're playing. And the question for you guys is have the Cowboys finally, after many, many years of searching for it, finally found a pass rush that they really can hang their hat on. Go ahead, Sorry, well yeah, I think I think that they're getting there. They're getting there, and Lawrence is healthier, he's leaner. Uh you know, he's

had a lot of injuries too. I mean he's had he's had a little setbacks there, um and and I think having that pass rush up the middle is gonna is helping. Let's not forget they're one game away from getting it. Pretty pissed off David Irving back into this thing, So now you're really starting figuring out. You know, they've got some things to work with. But I'll say one

thing real quick. Anytime a defensive tackle can get two sacks, two tackles for loss, two hits on the quarterback, five total tackles, and you're not even close to the best player on your team, on your defense, on your I mean on your defense, you kidding me? I mean DeMarcus Lawrence's line, go ahead, go ahead, Dave. Well, I'm gonna we just no, no, no, I'm just I you. You circled on a tweet DeMarcus Lawrence's stats. Yeah, so I figured you might be going down this road. I don't know. Well,

I'm gonna I'm gonna do two things right here. I'm gonna I'm gonna contradict myself because all the stats you just said, Arizona carried twenty one times for four nine yards two point three yards per carry. I didn't even realize this. Their long run of the night was six yards. Yeah. I mean, and I want to see I say a rid or stat somewhere that was probably Sage probably saw it for me. Yeah, because they say that's awesome at my job, are awesome at your job. They had six

sacks and ten tackles for loss. Arizona ran seventy five plays, twenty percent of them were stopped behind the line of scrimmage, so every fourth play they ran got tackled in the backfield. Between Shawn Lee to Marcus Lawrence, Malee Collins, Tyrone Crawford. That's unbelievable. That was Marcus Lawrence had six six He made six stops behind the line of scrimmage in the game, three sacks and three tackles for a loss, and then

on top of that hit the quarterback six times. I mean, not only do you have your three sacks, he had another sack called back. Ye probably could have maybe get a half sack on this one with Crawford and it might still come in. He was it was called for holding. That wiped out a touchdown for the Cardinals because they were holding him. And if he wouldn't have been so beastly on another play pushing his guy this far, he would have got an interception, but he was so far

up the field he didn't get to turn back. Having said ever seen, Having said all of this, I'm sorry, that's a murderers row of awful offensive lines that they've played to got it season. But let me ask you this question, and I know you can probably say is play the people No, I not across from And you can probably make a similar argument about the New York Giants. However, when you look at the body of work between these

first three games, that's I guess he has been. He has been This is not just a guy to me. This is not just a guy where you can say sometimes guys have these amazing seasons because it's in a contract year. I don't care who you are. There have only been three counted three in the history of the NFL that have had this how to start getting sacks against the opposing team's quarterback. He's on pace to like nearly double the single season sack record. Obviously that he's

gonna fall off. He's not gonna he can't do this sixteen games. I thought he would have fallen off after Week one and two. And you're absolutely right. Like I said, all you can do is play the opponent that you're given. But between the Giants, Broncos and Arizona missing two of its five starters, that's a hell of a way to kick start your season. These are not great units. Hopefully it gives you a ton of confidence and kind of gets you humming. You know, people, you know, once you

get sacks, they come in bunches. That's what people love to say, Well, you got them right now, and you know, I honestly up until probably Washington, which is all the way at Halloween, the Rams and the Packers are probably better than the Cardinals, but like that, it ain't the Raiders and it ain't you know, the Cowboys. So yeah, like I want to see him do it against some better teams, but objectively against NFL competition, this is amazing.

It's unbelievable. And the thing I like about what you've see from from Lawrence right now is and this is this used to be even a criticism of DeMarcus where he would get sacks in a game and people would be like, well, he didn't he wasn't getting any pressure instin when the game was on the line, when they needed the sack the most. It seems like you're in the third and fourth quarter, when it's like the other team is trying to get into games, that's when he

seems to be at his best. That's when he's getting the most pressure. Right, you keep talking and I'm gonna you're gonna pull up some numbers for me on that, and I don't know, I haven't looked at the numbers. That's yes, the way I'm going by by Amber's Looksie test, Like that's the way it feels to me is that when the game is most in need of a sack, most in need of a defensive play. Seems like that's when DeMarcus Lawrence is showing up and making a play

for them. It's very similar to what I think David Irwin was doing last year. It was like in those critical moments was when he showed up the most. I think that's what I'm seeing right now from DeMarcus Lawrence. Is that accurate statistically, Dave? It feels that way. All I know. All I know is I'm very excited right now. This was one of my main concerns since the moment I got here to the Dallas Cowboys and became a

fan of the Dallas Cowboys. Had a big issue with their past rush, And as it stands right now, I'm very excited to where it's headed, especially because I believe something like that is very contagious to all those other guys around him and next to him, and I expect Tackled Charlton to step up his game and kind of pick that up, and all of those guys doing a great job there and again the secondary I'm still now feeling good about them, But like I said last week,

I thought something that was gonna be big for them is for the defensive line to be able to kind of take off that pressure of those guys back there in the field, the secondary guys, and eventually, hopefully a few more weeks, those rookies are gonna be able to get more into the game and step up their game as well as the veterans like Byron Jones and Jeff Heath, who we are still waiting for something to happen there. But once they pick up their game, I think this

defense can be pretty good. They sacked him on three of their final four possessions to close the care It is right there. Yeah, I'm gonna rebut that, and I'm not all right careful because then I was gonna go talk to Jeff Heath. Yeah. Um, the stats don't provoke me. I will go to the locker room. The stats are gonna tell you that the secondary wasn't great, and they they weren't great. They weren't they weren't Denver. But they gave up three hundred and twenty five passing yards on

fifty attempts. UH finished, allowed seventeen points, denied the Cardinals scoring a touchdown on that last, you know, ultimately meaningless possession right before the final kneel down. All things considered and knowing what we know about the secondary, I e. Two of your starters aren't there. You're leaning on rookies like Xavier Woods and Jordan Lewis. Jeff heath Is starting third game at safety. I didn't think they were bad. No, they did good. But again I think it comes from

how well the defensive line. But let me let me ask this that I agree with that isolate this for me because I do think as a group, I kind of agree with you. But I do think if you isolated to specific players and we go down the list. Now, obviously there were rookies that showed up, and probably this goes the Knick's argument of grading on the curve right, you probably saw some of those kie rookies play above

what you thought they could. But I also heard a lot of grumbling in the press box about Byron Jones. So talk to me specifically about different guys in the secondary and how they perform. Yesterday. You know, Byron Jones I thought had a rough night for three and a half quarters. He did play better. He made a few plays there on the ball in the fourth quarter. You can do it a little bit more when you know that they're going to pass and the pass rush is getting there, and so I do think it was, like

she said, a product of the pass rush. I I'm not sure that he's fully comfortable play in safety back there, playing that center field. I just don't think he's got a great grasp of it just yet. And and him and Heath are still kind of learning on the run, so theyre as I said yesterday on Twitter, man, there's nothing really safe about that position right now, because those are the guys you wanted to count on. Jordan Lewis,

I'm not great in him as a rookie. I'm great in him as just number twenty seven out there and it guy's making plays. Yeah, kind of fearless too, Yeah. I actually I had a short chat with him in the locker room last night and I was like, look, because he's short and I'm short, Yeah, that's good. I didn't say that. We amuse ourselves with such silly things that I know. I went up actual, well, I'll just go ahead and continue the puns, because I went up to him and I was like, look, man, I'm not

trying to sell you short. Like I know that you were a big time player at Michigan. I know you've done this a lot, but it's gotta be kind of weird to like look jog out there and look across the line and see Larry Fitzgerald right, And he was like, oh my god, it was so surreal. Like, I mean, you know, you're in the game and you're trying to focus as much as you can, but but that's Larry Fitzgerald.

But what I mean, and you know, with all that stuff in mine knowing we talked all last week about how they're a big play offense and they're gonna try to hit deep balls. I thought he was awesome. I thought, you know, I went back and watched some tape with Brian brought us this morning. Xavier Woods didn't play a perfect game, but I thought he was awesome too. Like, remember the guy's playing out a position. He's playing out a position. Yeah, he's They tackled well, they were all

over the field. Jordan almost got Cavon Fraser an interception. I mean he was it was a quarter of an inch away. That was a huge play. Yeah, the tip ball um and he you know, I'll and yeah, maybe Byron a little bit, and the safeties weren't great, but I'll even I'll give them a little bit of credit just because you know. I talked to Orlando Scandric on the plane last night too, and he was He's saying he was in a great mood, which, hey, Dave, ride

good about me. Makes sure you're right good about me? Um, he said, yeah, correct him. No I did not. You didn't correct it. I did not. Say. Well, well, Orlando, you know, for their third game playing together, I'm I'll allow it. It didn't wind up counting, which Scandrick took

accountability for, which I thought was really funny. Jeff. He diagnosed that deep ball to I don't even remember which receiver was broke across the field, made the read and went up, like how often have we been lamenting for safeties to make those type of plays in this defense? He did it. He didn't catch it, played didn't count anyway, but he did it. He put himself in position. I just I saw a lot of positives from a unit

comprised of rookies and first year starters. Yeah, I really, And like I said, the stats will tell you that the Cardinals through for three hundred and twenty five yards. I think a lot of that's hollow when you consider it. They couldn't run the ball. They were trailing, you know, from halftime onward. And you know what, one of those plays was the catch of the year by Larry Fitzgerald. It was And at some point I think you got to tip your hat to a guy like Larry Fitzgerald too.

He's more often than not he's going to get his yards, especially when he's playing in depleted secondary like this, all that stuff considered, I thought they were pretty good. Like I'm not sitting here. I'm not saying they're the legion of boom. But I'm not sitting here thinking they're terrible

after this game either. And I will say this, if they're playing like this right now in week three, the hope exactly so if you're a Cowboys fan, is that and that's by week twelve thirteen that they really are working with something and you have to write, now, again, this is very very early, but you have to write now, feel really good about the prospect of where this can go a long term. These guys turn out to be players. You've now turned over your secondary in one season, and

that's that's that's a lot to hope for. It's a lot to get there. But at least you have a little more hope today than maybe you had last week. And that's you know, it goes. I say this all over and over and over again. My thought of you know, fans think of players like maddened guys where it's just kind of it's mechanical and it's out there and there's no human element to it. That's not how it works.

And Scandrick illustrated that for me perfectly last night. He was like, look, it's me and Jeff's third game where we're really playing together out there for fifty sixty snaps at a time, really second for Orlando since he had was out last week. That stuff comes in time. You learn how to you know, you know your teammates tendencies, you know that you can count on them, you know what they're going to do in this coverage, you know

how this is gonna look. So I think there's a lot to build on here, and I would I feel confident it will improve as the season goes along, especially with these young guys. All right, let's take our final break. When we come back, we'll do another first year. We managed to get too, Yeah, I managed to get through two actual segments without mentioning the quarterback or the running back for that man. So we'll do that. When we come right back, we'll get to those guys. We'll talk

a little bit about what they did yesterday. We'll be right back. This is a break switter. To work this big land, you need equipment with values rooted as deep in Texas soil as you are. Like John Dear compact tractors with a six year power training warn to in big features that help you work less so you have more time to do what you love. John Deer was first in the Texas fields, and we're proud to be on the field as the official agg and turf equipment

of the Dallas Cowboys. Find Texas sized deals at my John Deer Dealer dot com. Slash football Terms, conditions, exclusions, who warrant the limitations apply? See deluded details. We the entertainment loving people, demand the best unlimited wireless plan ever from ATNT. What else do you want? Are you unicorn? Maybe? Only at and T offers you unlimited data with Hbo included and never payoverages. Get ATNT Unlimited plus our best wireless deal and unlimited data plus save twenty five dollars

per month. On Direct TV. It's entertainment. You're way after twenty two three gods of data use and team may slow speeds. Plan includes stream saving videos, will stream and standard definition unless you turn it off. Twenty five dollars Direct TV savings, acridse AT and T Unlimited plus credits start within three bills. Service prices such AT to change, other usage, speed fees, charges and restrictions. Supplies the att

dot com slash unlimited for details. Star Sports Tours is the only official fan travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys, offering exclusive game weekend travel packages with sideline access and photo ops with current players, alumni and cheerleaders. That's not all, though, You'll get to talk x's and os with Senior Director of Player Personnel Will McClay and of course with yours truly me, Brian broad Us. You can trust the official fan travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys, and with us

you'll travel like a pro. Visit Cowboys Travel dot com to book your travel package today. Back to the break, Dave, take it away, there we go. I'm wondering where you were, hey, Derek, Tommy John gives you the feeling of freedom where it counts with a contour pouch that I'm not gonna say that phrase. Tommy John is really comfortable underwear. I think it's awesome. Um, if it was week three, I'd say it's a cardinal rule that you go get some Tommy

John underwear. But week four we're on a week four, so I'm really just gonna ram this message home that you should invest in some Tommy John under in Green Bay. Tommy John dot com Forward last cow always twenty percent off your order. It's the best underarial buyer. Your money's back. Karen Crazy. Yeah, I want, I wish, I want you would Cowboy fans that break listeners tweet me, email me whatever. I want to know how many people we've convinced to

buy this underwear. They should, like honestly, and you know, sometimes sometimes you have certain things that you kind of have to push and yeah, kind of that, okay, but they actually took they actually took care of us like before we started this and just kind of gave us some product to test out. And I swear every every guy in the office that tried it was it's great. It's great. Pretty much stuff just just because I legitimately mean it's great. I wouldn't talk about it as much

as I do if it wasn't. But that doesn't mean anybody's gonna listen to us and go buy it. So I'd be curious. Holler at me, try to try it then, Dezen, Dak and Zeke. Yeah, I got the important stuff out. Have you? You don't even remember us doing it. We've done shows for a long time, and you know what, I sorry, I think it's really fitting that we haven't talked about them today. I agree, I don't. I wouldn't have done it Tommy John was comfortable. No, I wouldn't

have done it any other way. And to be honest with the actually was gonna ask you guys this question earlier. Have we now seen two of the three games where and there were only two wins, but where the defense was more impressive than the offense. Can you make that claim about yesterday's game? Yes? Easy, I mean, I don't think they were more impressive. I really don't yesterday or a week one. You know what. I don't mean to get to get deep on this again. But they started

out as a group. They locked arms, they started out and they played together. They won together. They won they needed each other defense was struggling a little bit early to the defense had some issues when the offense picked it up. You know, one of them. You know, my favorite play in the history of the Alice Cowboys is as a fan, was the favorite play all time Tony Dorsett. Now now I'm six years old, then Woody Danceler. That's

one of my favorites up there. But but seriously, when my favorite players ever is the nineteen ninety two NFC Championship game. Cowboys have this game and under control. Oh yeah, Niners score four minutes to go Candlestick Parks. The crowd's going crazy. They got Emmett Smith. They're up by four. What are you gonna do. You're gonna give it to Emmett and you're gonna try to get you know, get a first down or two. No, we're throwing Alvin Harper on a slant seventy five yards for him though that

wasn't meant for him. Whatever, seventy five yards down to the nine. They scored to put the game away. They say, take that six minutes to go. Crowd on this feat we got this thing to four point gut the Cowboys car Well, the crowd's up there and they give it and they fake it to Zeke that goes slings it to Bryce. Yes, you know that's just like, you know what, take this, I'm gonna throw. I'm not evenna set my feet. I'm just gonna throw it, like Randy Moss would say.

And I just thought that was an amazing answer in a play, and to say we're gonna move the ball and we're gonna strike here. And I thought the offense responded when it was time for them to respond. So maybe the defense was a little a little more impressive at times, but I thought the offense really carried him as well. I thought the offense was just gutty. We gave him a lot of credit for sticking with the run and just powering through against the Giants. This was

even worse. I mean this, and I haven't graded the tape, but man, if this O line didn't look bad to start this thing out, I mean, Tyrn Smith got beat easily by Chandler Jones on a sack. Lyle Collins had his struggles, Chaz Green had his struggles. Travis Frederick looked like he got pancaked at least once in there somewhere. The only guy that I'm not one hundred percent sure did something wrong with Zach And even if I went back and watched, maybe he did it was bad. And

they just stuck with it. They didn't you know, defense helped him stay in it. They didn't fall behind like they did last week, so they could keep doing it. And then sure enough, fourth quarter comes around, Zeke's getting you know, four five, five, six, four three four eight yard touchdown. Like that's that's the beauty of it. If you can do that, you just wear people down and they don't want it anymore by the fourth quarter. And Dak it's I mean, you know, the two throws to

Bryce were stupid. I mean it's it's and I mean that in a good way, like it's it's so dumb. How much better Dak looks when he's running around with his head cut off and just kind of does that like not setting his feet and then I you know, Bryce Butler will drop a slant over the middle, but he goes up and gets that thing. Um. But they they were they were a compliment at best. I mean, when you complete thirteen yards and or thirteen passes in an NFL game, I mean that's insane when you think

about how pass happy. This league is Whitten Beasley does combined four kitch just you know, didn't to win a game like that. And then we all we all like Bryce in different ways, different levels. You know, we're all fans of Bryce on the show. But I think that we talked, now, we were a little bit ruthless, and you you know, we talked about like he could be cut and why why not be you know, why why

that's totally fair? And had some drops, had an ankle injury all week, come out and I mean the throws were okay, but the catches in the plays he made were even better. Proud of him for coming back and making that play, two plays like that. I thought that that was amazing. But this team is so much better. This offense is so much better when the quarterbacks legs are involved. Yes, that play where he runs in for

the touchdown, that was the beginning of it. Actually was a play before that when they did a boot to bring him out to the outside. He threw on the run. Last year, if we remember that was when the offense was at its best. Is when they were moving him around, giving him opportunities to throw on the run, allowing him to run some balls as well, Like that's when this offense is so dynamic, because now you're not just worried about the guy in the backfield that's the running back

that's going to get the ball. You also have to consider the fact that just because it's a running play doesn't mean he's going to be the one doing it. And you have to count for the fact that just because the quarterback takes off running doesn't mean he's actually going to run the ball. It means he's just getting space and time so that he can actually throw a lot of stuff you got to deal with and ches. J J. Nelson. I didn't realize that. I didn't realize

it had zero catches. He did have the near I mean he had the near circus catch. But yeah, he pretty amazing. He's been the best offensive player before this game going into the kicks out of seven games going last year was a touchdown. Yeah, they didn't get a catch. Yeah, this is not related to JJ Nelson. I'm sorry, but you asked me about this because I ranked oh yeah, well, I ranked as his touchdowns a couple of summers ago, and like, I don't have time to go back and

redo the whole thing. But much like the I think if you asked me for my personal favorite des Brian touchdown, and people kind of look at me funny when I say this, but I always say the Jacksonville crossing Road. Oh yeah, unbelievable. It's just bo But two showcases everything art two whatever. But on a on a it wasn't you know, I wasn't a full field touchdown, but on a much smaller scale, this touchdown should be right up there with any of them because it showcases exactly what

he's about. He got the ball, he wasn't in coverage on Peterson when he got it, but he juked the hell out of Patrick Peterson, got around one of the best cornerbacks in the league, and then just you stopped me and took him along for the ride. Just get off me, b to quote Nick, just like you're not you're not keeping me out of this. In wait a second,

I thought this was Travis Frederick's first career touchdown. Why are we not getting Well that's said in the locker room after the day, he was like, yeah, I went back and watched it. I just finished watching it and I noticed I got a little help. So I had to go over there and tell him thank you, because it he was Frederick just came and just like blasted it into the get that last little yard or whatever

it was. Hey, big beard um that has been dealing with a back injury for like last two or three years, So let's he's gonna slam your three and twenty pound weight. And I actually and Arkansas, My team actually won a game against TCU last year because of this. But I hate that rule. I don't think that should be fair at all. The plays pretty much stopped and now it just comes down to whose linemen are fatter than the others.

You can just pass the guy forward, don't. Don't undersell Reggie Bush like that well either way, but I'm just saying, when the defense piles on, you get to the two, the defense piles on, it pushes you back to the six. You're back at the two, but you get stopped at the two and your offensive lineman just pushes you into the end zone. Like this doesn't make sense to me. Maybe it doesn't, but I don't know how you police it. Get him. I love it. It's just cher. It's fun

to watch, and it wasn't. This game to me was not a good game. But no on but there were a lot of impressive plays. And I was laughing at myself just thinking about Jason Garrett. You know, they did what he says a lot. They went out there and crawl, scratched, bit pushed, you sound, just lunched all that stuff. They really did all that. Jason Garrett, he says something like that. He facing Garrett. Yeah no, but you would be no. It was. It was um really really good to see

them compared to the other games, especially last week. Compared to last week, it was good to see them coming back in the second half and not just Dak, but a lot of a lot of players, like a lot of them made plays that we didn't think we're gonna happen and impressed everyone. You know, I do those five plays not to forget about. I thought Terrence Williams catch in the first drive of the third quarter was really big because it was I think it was twenty two yard or and but what it did was got them

from the twenty yard line out to midfield. Now they ended up having to punt, but when they Chris Jones did his work down to the five yard line that they ended up punting back to Switzer who did his you know, then then they started at the forty five. That catch at twenty two yards just flipped the field position and got them to be aggressive. And the next thing, you know, when they got it back, they drove in for a touchdown. So that play was and it was

a great catch. You had to kind of dive for it, and you know, wasn't wasn't the best throw. So you know, it's it's plays like that that that you know if when it's a field position game, you just need to get out to midfield a little bit, and he didn't. I'm really impressed with him, and I think when you

have a real punt returner, a real punt returner. And I almost said this, there's a couple of times I wish I would have tweeted something and I would have made me look a little bit smarter, but but I said, I think I told you this afterwards. Yeah, you can put Patrick Peterson at midfield. You can be scared of him and all that, but put him back at the ten yard line and let's see how comfortable he really is.

Let's see how comfortable he is catching the ball. Because those guys are good when it's just an easy punp and you go they get outkicked the coverage, But does he really want to catch it down on the ten when the ball's kind of you know, it's a little it's a it's a left footed punt. He's not used to that, I'm sure, and all of a sudden he does he want to get it. He just stays away from it. It bounces down to the two. So that when you have a real punt turner like Switzer, that

that's what he does. You see a big difference. Not afraid to catch it, not afraid to get hit, not afraid to go north all the time. He's gonna break one for a touchdown. In the next couple of weeks. That's guarantee will score a touchdown. And he's making some big plays. He's had another nice return. I think that is a huge difference in hidden yardage. Go up and catch it, get five or six yards, other than let it roll twenty yards this way in both of their wins.

I don't think you can undersell the importance of special teams penning the opponent deep every chance you get. Chris Jones have four of his punts inside of twenty I don't know off the top of my head, but I guarantee you he had multiple punts down inside the twenty in the other two games as well. There's another guy we need to talk about two on special teams, and

that's Frasier. Sorry, no, good, good Cavon Frasier, he's you know, he's not if he's just gonna take more of a role like he is, and he's still playing special teams. But Frasier is now being that guy going down there not getting blocked, kind of being that missile just going down there hitting people. Maybe not the best choice of words right now, but but I think that that Frasier is actually playing really well on special team and playing

defense too. But but you need that guy. You need that the guy that's fearless on running down on pumps and kickoffs. Let's take a phone call. We got a call from Reggie in Germany. Reggie, what up? Man? Hey, what's up, Derek, what's up? Nick? What's up? Dave? Hey? Thanks for the calling, what's up? Hey? I got a mad crush on you. Amber story. Thank you, Lett. I just wanted to say, I wanted to get how proud I am of the team and how they handle that

whole um free game situation. Um you know, one of the things that you didn't address is that that whole action actually gave everybody on the team the ability, no matter what their opinion was, to support their fellow teammates and what their opinion was, if they wanted to kneel, those they wanted to stand, to show their support for the ones that wanted to kneel, those that wanted to stand, those that wanted to kneel, to show their support for

their teammates that wanted to stand. And I think that action was just great. Jerry was a genius and the team was great for coming up with that idea. And I just want to say kudos to Dallas Cowboys. All right. Thanks. One other thing I want to talk about, as far as football is um, I think that Chris Jones, it's

like the unsung hero of this game. I think that he played a major role in keeping the Cardinals pinned down in their own field, their own end of the field, and they couldn't flip the field on us, and that was crucial. Okay, So I just want to let you guys know that. And but now you know, okay, I'm out, all right, all right, thanks, I'll I'll feed in he's calling from Germany, right, speaking German. That's I don't know if he I don't know if he actually was listening

to the first part of the show. I don't know when you're on hold, if maybe he heard that because we didn't talk about some of those things that he Chris Jones and also the ability that what the play were able to do. But but um, that's okay, Yeah, that's he's from Germany. I mean, yeah, I hope we went on hold that the whole time. Oh, I don't think so. I think it just came up. Also, give me a question from Twitter, um, some questions about more. How do you guys feel about him? Does he keep

playing over Huh? I was about to say that no steps away from getting a sack of his own. Wait, okay, yeah, he hit Carson Palmer for a tackle for two yard game that nearly Yeah, I thought I thought he was. Okay, does he keep playing over Tapper? If? I mean, if somebody's gonna sit for Tapper, it should probably be Tracko.

You know what, Actually, I want to save that conversation because I do think that's a bigger conversation than the time we have left just talking about Tapper and Taco and what they're doing there and and who's active and who's not an age I think that's a conversational. It's a little more time set up to change again. Yeah, seven days exactly right, this is all. This is all. And we talked about this, and we we mentioned during training camp that these things tend to work themselves out,

you know, injury here, injury there. Don't say it hasn't it hasn't happened. I'm not gonna would and I'm not certainly asking for that, but I am saying that you got a week to figure this out. You already got one decision you had to make. Now you got another week before you have to make a bigger decision, not only about a guy that not needs to be on the roster, but also what are you gonna do with

game day inactives? Right? And you know, they they're a little bit short and linebacking linebacker numbers right now, especially on game day. And Hitchens is gonna come back here at some point, probably before the buy, but but maybe after the buy. But but they're not really It's not like there's a linebacker that's that's gonna just take his place and be off the field. I mean, maybe it's the rant, but I don't I don't know, And so

he can make get a starting job. And that's at the at the risk of us saying that with a minute left in the show, say why, let's why are you trying to do this conversation? That's a good time problem to have. It is a good problem to have. You can't have too many good players. And you know how it goes. The longer you go in a season, the more injuries are just a part of the game.

So it's good to have those. But I think that is a conversation that we're gonna need to have, and as a matter of fact, we will have that conversation when we start. Hey, we got to talk about one guy real quick. I'll let Dave talk about him. One catch, thirteen yards Noah Brown. Hey, it was a big play in the game too that that helped him get a touch. I thought it was. Yeah, every time they line up, I think it's I thought it was Noah Brown trying

to score from the one yard line. They're pushing it. I mean I hear, do I hear some converts coming aboard Noah's ark right, Well, there we're no converts. We all agreed that Noah Brown was a good player, right, I kind of the other day really like because I didn't know why they had to keep everybody active now with Bryce and Terrence hurt that I realized that, and they're gonna have to do that at some point, They're gonna have to sit one of it. They can't do

six receivers all the time. If everybody's completely helped. I would imagine, I mean, I would imagine if these if Terrence and Bryce keep getting better, he'll go back to sitting if I had, Yes, but not just he had a nice catch, don't get me wrong, but they clearly trust him in the blocking, trust him, and he looked like he did a decent job of it too. So I'm I'm pumped for the kid. All Right, We appreciate

you guys joining us. We're back tomorrow. We'll be at our normal time to our nine thirty am Central till then. For Nicki Minamber Garcia, Dave Hellman, I'm Derrik Eagles, and this has been the Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.