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Cowboys, Let's go. Are you ready for a break?
Yes?
Are you ready for a break? Absolutely? Ready for a break? Yeah, And so much for that.
It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. We were on Break with Ambar Garcia. Brian brought us Patrick Walker and Derek Eagleton.
It is Wednesday, February fourteenth, twenty twenty four, Season nineteen, episode number one hundred and twelve. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break. It is a special Valentine's edition of The Break. Brian's not here today, but got plenty of love for you guys with Patrick No C Walker and Amber Garcia. And so today we got a lot we're going to get into. We're going to talk about the defensive coordinator. Cowboys just get their new defensive coordinator.
We're going to talk about the defensive coordinator in Washington, UH and the head coach there, and talk about how we think that affect us and other NFC East movings. H when you talk about some of the coaches that have been hired in Philadelphia as well.
And then we'll see we will see if we'll get.
To the conversation on Dak Prescott.
I'm not sure it will, but it's on the rundown.
So if we get to it, we get to it, and if we don't, guess what, it'll roll right over the next week, and if there's not more news next week, then we'll hit it next week.
All right.
At some point that pitch gets old.
You know, yeah, but that's not going anywhere.
No, no, no, I know, I know.
But the fact that Derek mentions it every.
Week, it's because marketing, right, he knows what he's doing.
Man, I've been doing this a while. Keep keep them on this a while. Slow, all right, let's jump in Mike Zimmer, new defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys a week press conference to.
Day at two two pm Central time.
All right, cool, and Amber will have a question, and I'm sure you'll have a few questions from mister Zimmer, but.
Ask him Spanish right out of the gate.
That would actually be pretty interesting, is like she just jumped right out the gate and just asks the question Spanish and just sits back and waits, and everybody in the room would probably just be.
Like, what would be even better as if he replied in Spanish, that would be that will be all right.
So we talked about this a little bit last week. Was this the right decision for the Cowboys for me?
Yes?
And you know, when going back to last week, when you asked us to rank the candidates that the Cowboys were interested in, I had Mike Zimmer right up there alongside Wink Martindale. Martindale obviously has now gone to be the DC of the Michigan Wolverines. Congratulations to win Martindale. But I'm right here with Mike Zimmer. I had him ranked far above Rivera and that much farther above Rex Ryan because of the lack of experience over the past seven or eight years with Ryan, with Ryan being in
the broadcast booth versus being on an NFL sideline. Also of the fact that Zimmer versus Ryan Ryan was more of an AFC coach. Zimmer comes in as an NFC coach, knows how to navigate it. I get your point, Derek. There's been some turnover obviously in the NFC, but the conference is still the conference and he's familiar with it, and I feel like he's going to come in and I spoke last week also about the culture shock that's
probably gonna happen. I think it'll be a positive for this Cowboys locker room, going from Dan Quinn, who's a players coach. Obviously we love dan Quinn, but when you look at Zimmer, he's more of that old school ball coach, tough nose, holding guys accountable. I think this is the right time and the right personality for this Cowboys defense. Did you say tough nose, tough nose, hard nose, you know, tough hard synonyms?
Was the writer here?
Yeah, I know that's what I'm messing with.
The writer supposedly.
Oh did you say supposedly or supposedly, because that's gonna be a fun right either way.
That's not there's no supposedly.
And this is in reference to the game we played weeks ago.
I just want to make sure you didn't say supposedly, because then we.
Gotta okay, man, you got to come with it on this shows nothing.
You guys attack me. I attacked that.
Let's just call this.
I play defense and this guy, Mike Zimmer. I think he was my top candidatey. I think he brings the balance of the two things that I was looking for one, having somebody from the outside, the outside experience, but also an insider experience because he spent so many years here with the Cowboys. Again, very very different times. There's like not many people probably that are still working here from the time he was here, you know the other yeah you oh man, No, there's a lot of staff members still,
but there's been a huge turn, not a lot. Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. And obviously very very different players, uh, different build then back then he was Vallei Wrench.
So yeah, so it's.
A whole new different environment, but that he's not necessarily a stranger too completely, so that's good. He brings the experience, he brings that toughness that we talked about, but also talking to different people around the building because initially my first impression just from things that I've heard initially was that he was just like one.
Of those mean guys. But he has like a.
Combination of both things where he's actually what I hear, he's actually a pretty nice guy, but he will bring the toughness that is needed when it's needed.
So it has that balance as well there that I like.
And yeah, just looking forward, looking forward to what this is gonna actually look like and translate to when he steps in here and starts coaching.
Yeah, he reminds me of I guess the best way to put it is, you know what old school, like, my old high school code was like like the kind of guy that you knew he cared about you, but he also could pull out the paddle and uh and.
Make sure they.
Don't know this is a different error. Y'all don't know about that. Yeah, Like it was. The principal when I was in school was the person that basically regulated the school. And I'm sorry, not the principal, the coach, football coach if you played football, then your teachers, if you weren't doing what you're supposed to do in class, they didn't
go to the principal, They didn't go to counselors. They went to the coach and they said, hey, coach, this student isn't doing what they're supposed to do.
And the coach would literally.
Come and you would see him kind of peaking your class and be like I need this student for a minute, and then you're gonna go see the coach. Yeah, you're gonna go see the coach, and the coach is going to take care of that. And it might be paddling, it might be you're gonna run.
Do some extra work to you.
Oh yeah.
And and guess back in those days, not only did coach paddle you, then coach would call.
Your mama and then you go home and then mom would take care of you too, or daddy would take whatever it was. Man, it was just it was a different world.
My point is, I'm not thinking he's going to be pulling out the paddle around here. But my point is I would characterize Mike Zimmer as the kind of guy that is hard but fear And I heard somebody say that was.
A quote that that Parcels gave about him.
He's a hard coach, so he's gonna coach you hard, but he's gonna be fair. And I think the players will respect him, and I think the players will know that he has their best interests at heart. But he's not gonna let things slide. He's gonna hold them accountable to the things that he's asking them to do. He's gonna explain it well. He's gonna hold him accountable to doing those jobs really well. And I think that's something that this defense can use.
And I think that that's what I'm hoping will help take care of those penalties. And we've talked about it before, were my issue there, and I know it's difficult because sometimes, Okay, who else do you got that you're going to decide to sit someone out or whatever, But it's like, what does that look like during the week as well, what kind of discipline or something that you're trying to do to make a change. And it wasn't reflected throughout the season.
So that's an I expect where someone like him, I'm hoping would not let things like that slide all a full season.
Now I can pretty much attest to the fact that just in speaking with some people who covered the beating in Minnesota, who covered the beat continuingly in Minnesota in the Mike zimmer era, and some of the players that played under him penalties for example, going back to what I said as far as holding guys accountable, if you're not making those corrections on a weekly basis, and you're consistently costing the team and the defensive unit drives that
they should have gotten off the field on third down, but now they're still on the field, you're going to lose snaps under Mike Zimmer, He's going to sit you down until you get the point. And that's again, that's exactly what the Cowboys need because if you look at last season, you lead the league in penalties. They were one of the team one of the league leaders in penalties season before. So again, love with dan Quinn brought
to the equation. But when you talk about Zimmer, you're talking about a coach who is and I love the fact that you use the word respe He is so well respected because his resume is stellar. He comes in with the Super Bowl ring and by the way, there's a Cowboys star on that Super Bowl ring. He's coached
Hall of Famers, Ring of Honor guys. So there's the respect that comes with the ability for him to come in and say, I don't really care how much you're getting paid, I don't really care what the name on your jersey is. If you continue with these self inflicted wounds and these you know, these penalties, neutral zone infractions and things like that, you're not going to be on my field.
And there are big name.
Guys who have played under Zimmer who can attest to that and say, you know what, until I got my act together, he would sit me no, and I'm sitting here thinking, hey, I'm you know, the big dog in the locker room. Big dog versus Mike Zimmer. Mike Zimmer
wins that. And that's why, for the most part, you will hear a lot of players that loved playing under him, But there's just as many players who also love playing under him, who will look you in the face and say, hey, I remember a time he came to me and basically intimated, I don't care who you are. If you don't get this corrected, you're not going to be on this field. So when it comes to a accountability plus respect, he
gets both of those things. And I think again, I'll say it again, Cowboys defense needs this right now.
Let's take our first break.
When we come back, I'm gonna ask you guys the question, do you think that there can be issues and what do those issues look like in that type of coach coming in to coach current day players and how they look at the world. I talked about what it was like when I was in school. That ain't what these kids are going through now. It's a different world. I want to talk about what you think that could look like here and if you think that could be an
issue for the Cowboys. Do that when we come back Dallas, Cowboys dot com Radio.
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Welcome back to second segment of The Break. Life in thats WBC Mortgage Studios at the start. The segment brought to you by blockchain dot Com. All right, let's talk about this Mike, Mike. Let's talk about Mike Zimmer, new defensive coordinator of the Cowboys. From the standpoint of we talked about how tough he'll be. We talked about how he'll hold people accountable. My question for you is, is his style do you think his style can be a
problem for the Cowboys? Knowing that today's players very different than the players he may have coached in the past, certainly back when he was here with the Cowboys. The player of today they go through a different world where there's a lot more thought for, you know, how they're feeling and worried about their feelings a lot more than what it was when.
Maybe he was coaching here before.
Now, let's not act like when he was coaching in Minnesota, players were a lot different than they are. So he's had some experience there. But I think players every year get a little bit more different, you know what I mean by that? And so what do you think could be the algies here?
What do you think?
Well, there are a lot of different layers and aspects to this. I would say one thing is I like the balance And Derek, you brought this up. I believe it was last week where you talked about Mike McCarthy and in the way and we've seen it, the way that he's catered to the players and their mental health and just kind of making sure that they're good internally.
And I think Mike McCarthy with the combination of him, could be a good balance where you just kind of everybody keeps each other kind of in check.
Hey, come down or you you know.
But at the same time, I do agree in today's society, feelings do get hurt a lot more. We take things a lot differently now, and players and people in general have a lot more pride, and you're like, no, you're
not going to talk to me that way. But at the same time, when you're competing and playing and in this business, in this sports, for you to have that kind of demeanor too and stand up for yourself in that way, your work has to back it up too, you know, when you're and I'm saying, when you're surrounded in front of other players, like there's a reason certain things were accepted from certain certain players throughout history, just
because their work was spoke for themselves, right, And you're like, okay, well, so I don't know. It's just a very tough balance. I think it would be, okay. And my concern would be if the players end up not respecting him and lose respect.
And then now people are.
Venting on Twitter and we know certain people like to Yeah, people like to take things to Twitter and start commenting and airing things out, and then that causes drama. The media is fitting into it, and now you just have this whole division and drama in the throughout the season.
That's a huge problem. But given the stakes, given the scenarios, given the way and the embarres man that the season ended, I would be embarrassed to as a player to where you just keep your head down and do the work and do the grind, and there's no reason, like, we're all in this together, we're fighting for the same goal.
There's no reason for anybody to kind of be be be you know what I'm trying to say, So just do the work, do the work, and hopefully everyone can just come together and not create any drama.
So anyone who follows me knows I am a massive advocate for mental health, and I will say that in conjunction with I'm a competitor myself, and I've played, you know, all all types of major sports, so I understand there has to be the balance of respecting who you're talking to. Especially these are adults. These are not college these kids, these are not high school kids. These are adults who
are being paid millions and millions of dollars. But in saying that, that means that the adult who's being paid millions of millions of dollars also had to have the respect that this feedback is coming from a good place, and you have to be able to understand that, because, like you said, Ambar, if you can have your feelings, which is completely you're entitled to your feelings, You're entitled to voice those feelings one hundred percent, but you also
have to understand the context of where the feedback is coming. So if you're not playing up to par and you're getting this feedback, you need to be more receptive of why you're getting the feedback.
It's because you're not playing up to par.
So sometimes you know, as much as we need to make sure that we're walking the line and respecting everyone's mental health, sometimes tough love is just needed. Sometimes you have to look someone in the face, be to you know, your mom, your dad, your cousin, your brother, your sister, and say I love you to death, but you are really really messing up here. Let's sit down and let's talk about what we can do to get better. And
you also have to be receptive of that. So when it comes to Zimmer, I think he'll have a good balance to that, because, like you said, it's not that he's been out of the league since the nineties. He recently coached the Minnesota Viking, so he's not too far removed from this.
Brand of NFL player.
But going to the McCarthy aspect as well, I think it'll be a nice balance of good cop bad cop. And I kind of hesitate to put a good cop on McCarthy because that's an Irish guy from Pittsburgh. He can get bad cop, but I think Zimmer can get good cop as well. I think they'll play very well
alongside each other. I think it's yin and yanging. On any given moment, it might be McCarthy tearing into somebody and then Zimmer comes behind him and says, well, this is what coach was trying to say, and vice versa. Sometimes it'll be Zimmer saying, what the blank are you doing out there, and then McArthur come behind him and say,
this is what he's trying to say. I think those two guys, and especially with the accomplishments and the resume that they have, I think you have to respect as an NFL player, and especially as a Cowboys defensive player who is coming off of a performance that you came off of against the Green Bay Packers. You're not entirely in a position to say that you don't like the feedback. You need to take the feedback and then try to grow from it. So I think it'll work out well.
Yeah.
I think the interesting thing here is I think for any coach, I think the real difference to me and this is based on like the And obviously I know football players are very different than creatives, but I managed creatives. And one of the things I've learned over time with how you deal with creative versus how we dealt with them back in the day is relationships matter. The more you spend time with people, the more you get to know them, the.
Easier it is.
And it's never going to be easy, but it easier it is to be able to give hard feedback. And unless you have the relationship, people don't hear you as much. In today's WAFT, the young folks, they don't listen as well to you if you don't have the relationship, and you're just always coming down on me. And I think that's the key here, Like I don't think. I don't think Zimmer's the kind of guy that's just going to be demeaning players to do young players. I think it's about accountability.
And so if the player knows coach just told me yesterday I needed to do X, Y and Z, and the end of the day in practice, I'm not doing X, Y and Z, and he just went off, I think they can accept the fact that exactly this is accountability at work, Like this is a situation where I'm not doing exactly what he told me he needed me to do, and I'm getting a wrath of that right now. So I think as long as it's as long as it's built around true accountability and not just demeaning to be
to be demeaning. And again, I do think relationships matter. I think his ability to be able to get to know as players and develop that relationship to where they do respect him in a way they respect him as a man first before a coach, right, I think when that happens, I think that's a way that he will
probably deal better. And I think all coaches, anybody that's in a leadership position, has to deal with younger people because, as you said, you know now parents ask their kids how they grow up in an environment where the parents ask them, So tell me how you're feeling. A lot of kids in my generation didn't get that. It was like, do what I said, and that's it. I don't care how you feel about it.
So it just changed. The world has changed, and so you have to be aware of that. And I think you have to approach people in that way.
There's a fine line.
And this is just something that popped into my head right now that I find an interesting concept. For example, dan Quinn, he's and I love dyn Quinn. He's a player's coach. He's super like down there to their level, goes down and is next to them doing things, going through drills or things like that.
We know that, but maybe a.
Different guy like Zimmer brings a different aspect. To let me try to illustrate this for as an example, and I would assume this has happened to a lot of other people too, But for example me, I love kids. I will be with every single kid that I see and I'll be playing and I like lower myself to their levels and we become buddies. And there are times that they cross the line. I'm like whoa, wha, Hold on, hold on, we're not we're not on the same level.
Hold I'm back cup a second little kid exactly. Or another scenario. There was one time I had a trainer that he was too friendly with me. We became's buddy and like I didn't, I'm like, no, I'm done with the reps. Like I did, I took him more as like, Okay, we're too buddy. But you need someone that has that
kind of toughness sometimes. So what I'm trying to say is interesting to think about the balance between those relationships, because although you do want someone that can connect to you and be that guy in that closeness, you do need that kind of like straight I think that.
The best way to illustrate it.
What popped in my head is it's the stern dad versus the fun uncle, right, And it feels like Dan Quinn, as much as we love him, it was more the fun uncle's. It's the one that when you're you know, you're a kid, and the fun uncle comes over and you have so much respect for him because he's your uncle, right, But it's more of the fun personal conversations.
Kind of go out of the way.
It's like oh, uncle's here, right, But you also know that at a certain Pointunk's going to check you. But there's a lot more leeway as far as the fund is concerned. And that's why dan Quinn is such a player's coach, whereas Zimmer it's the stern dad. Not to say that stern necessarily means bad, but stern in that I'm going to give you these instructions. I need you to follow these instructions, and if you don't follow these instructions, we need to have a conversation about why these instructions
weren't followed. And it's more so that spect So I really think that the fun uncle has left the building, the stern dad is coming in, and that's what this locker room kind of needs to get used to.
The one thing I do want to clarify, though, is I don't necessarily want to characterize dan Quinn as someone that didn't hold play.
That's what we That's what I keep saying.
I think we need to make that clear because I think I think he can easily he could easily put it into either you are or you aren't.
Like I think it's just a different way that he did it.
I think Zimmer's way is, as you said, a lot, a lot more stern, or at least what I've seen, right, and what players who have played for him have told me, like, he's just done much more to the point, very direct, very stern, here's what I need you to do, and then holding players accountable to that and may not have a lot of more of the touchy feely kind of stuff in his repertoire school.
And then Quinn he's he's older too, but he is more in with the new type of stuff.
Think about it.
So from the fund, if we keep with the fun the fun uncle analogy, right, So let's say it's the fun uncle that you respect, and that uncle comes in and you haven't made your bed and he hears, you know, the parent kind of yelling at you to go make your bet and you haven't, and he kind of pulls you aside and says, hey, Derek, come.
On now, yeah, you know you're supposed to make that. Go ahead and knock that out. Make it easier on yourself.
Go ahead, knock that out. So we go outside and play, right. Whereas Mike Zimmer, he would come in as the stern day and why is this bed not made? So it's it's just those two different types of dynamics both held you accountable, but in two different ways.
And the interesting part about that is some kids respond well to the stern dad and some the fun uncle, and some don't respond to the dad, or some don't respond to the fun uncle. That's the key when you're coaching or leading. You got to figure out what works for every person, and you got to give them what
actually motivates them. So my hope is that for whether it's it's Mike Zimmer or whether it's McCarthy, they are tailoring their style of leadership to each and every player that they have to deal with, because every player is going to respond differently, and all you're trying to do at the end of the day is get the best out of the player. So you better figure it out. You better figure out what really mo tovase them. Some people they will cower when you go at them hard.
Other people take that as a challenge and they're like, okay, let's go right. So it's like, you got to figure out what it is that really motivates the players and then give them what really motivates.
I mean, like you said, that's what that's a huge part of coaching at every level, whether it be Pop Warner, high school, college you know D one, D two, or if you're at the NFL. If you're a coaching you know groups of individuals. You need to understand. It's not
indifferent from teaching. If you're a teacher, you have to teach to each individual's personality, but you also have to have this overarching message that basically is in line with every single person you approach, because otherwise you run the danger of Okay, well, I always more stern with Derek than Ambar. But then Derek comes to me and says, why do you always come at me like this? But you don't go with Ambar. So that's the respect aspect
of it. And so that just goes to coaching. Either you're really good at that as a coach, and if you are, then you're at this level, and if you're not, then you shouldn't be at this level. But Zimmer has proven time and again that he's able to coach the old school way, but by way of the nineties with the Cowboys and the personalities on his defense that he got some personalities, but he's also shown that he can coach the new age NFL player by way of the
Minnesota Viking. So I think, you know, he comes in with enough breath of experience and that to make sure that he marries quickly to this this locker room.
That's funny.
Think about the difference between a Charles Haley and Michael Parson's right, from a personality standpoint, very very different people.
But that's social media.
Yeah right, jesus, I'm glad they didn't have social media back there. That would have been a tough situation. All R We're gonna take our final break. We'll come back. We're gonna talk about the Washington Commanders. We'll talk about the Philadelphia Eagles, their moves at in coaching and how those moves picking up some players, some coaches that have been here and some coaches that have coached well against this team. What that means to the rest of the
NFC East. Will talk about that when we come back. Dllas Cowboys dot Com.
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Welcome back. It is the final segment of the Break.
We hear a live from SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. We're talking about coaches, and I want to extend the conversation we've talked about the Cowboys new defensive coordinator, Mike Zimmer. I want to extend that conversation now to talk about some other coaching hires around the end of ceast and how we think these hires may affect the Cowboys. Let's start first in Washington. Obviously, they hired Dan Quinn as their head coach, but they also pick up Joe wid Junior,
who was here last year as their defensive coordinator. How much do you think that move or those moves affect the Cowboys with now their defensive coordinator being the head coach there and one of their defensive coach his assistant coaches now being their defensive coordinator.
Well, we already know that the battles between the Commanders and the Cowboys are always heightened because there's so much familiarity, and I mean a lot of times they either go down to the wire or they're just wildly unpredictable. Either the Cowboys are blowing them out or they're blowing the Cowboys out, and whatever the case may be. Now you throw into the mix a guy like Dan Quinn who
knows your offense inside out. Joe Witt knows your offense inside out, and both of those guys also know both the strengths and the opportunities for improvement of all of your defensive guys, including your star guys like Micah and whatnot.
So of course when you look at dan Quinn, he's going to be, you know, feeding his offense all kind of intel on Well, this is how you attack Michael Parsons, this is how you try to attack the Marcus Lawrence, this is how you target to Ron Bland, things like that. So I think that for the Commanders it's a huge, huge level up because they basically poached one of the biggest guys from the Cowboys, and then that guy poached one of the other biggest guys from the Cowboys on
the defensive side of the ball. So thank goodness, the Cowboys blocked the interview for Al Harris. Otherwise we'd have that to contend with as well. But you know, if you if you don't think not going with if you don't think right. But I will say to everyone listening, and I tweeted this as well, I saw Al Harris doing some work today. So Zimmer's in the building and Al Harris is not only still here, but he's working.
So that's a good sign. Keep your fingers crossed. But I think it'd be disingenuous to pretend that you know the Commander's poaching. Dan Quinn is not going to have any impact. It's fun as a fan to say, oh, well, it doesn't matter. As an analyst, it one hundred matters. Like these contests are going to be that much more intense going forward.
Yeah, for sure. And I mean they already have been.
Even though the commanders haven't been doing very well, it's still, like you mentioned, every time they face each other, it's still a competitive game and you never know exactly what to expect. And I agree dan Quinn. I mean he
has a lot of insider information. He knows everything, He knows everybody's and weaknesses over here, So that's gonna be interesting, but at least I feel like outside those games, those two games against the Cowboys, overall, I think it's gonna it's it's a year of like rebuilding for the Commanders, So I don't expect them overall to be extremely successful. I say this, and you never know what happens.
Yeah, that QB you get.
You never know what can happen. It can definitely happen, you can there can be a lot of surprises. But as of right now, I just see it as a rebuild year for them, just piecing finding all the pieces, piecing it together and building for the future. So in general, not concerned, but with the Cowboys definitely those two matches are something to watch now.
Also, this just kind of on the other side of the Coin that I mentioned. Yeah, there's there's Coin and Wit and they know the Cowboys offense, but that means McCarthy and Schottenheimer. They know Dan Quinn and Joe Witch defense and what their tendencies are, what they like to run,
so that that pendulum swings both ways. So while it will work against the Cowboys and you know of the Commanders with Quinn and Wit knowing what the tendencies are, also means that McCarthy knows what dan quinn is likely to call it in any given situation, how to attack his defense.
Yeah.
Quite Frankly, I think it probably if you want to use the word compromise, I think that's a bit of a strong word. But if you want to use that word, it compromises the Cowboys offense far more than the defense in my opinion. I know you mentioned earlier he knows their defensive players, but I do think scheme matters, and I think they'll probably be doing a lot of things differently defensively that may accentuate some positives and affect some of the things that dan Quinn could or Joe Wood
could say, well, this is how you get Darron Bland. Well, I would think the defensive coordinator at this point would look at it and say, Okay, I know these are some challenges of this player. How does my scheme put them in a better position. So I think, actually, if you want to say one of them may be compromised more, it may be. You know, what we know is this is what they do on their offense. Here's how you can affect Dak Prescott. Here's how you can affect their
right tackle. Here's you know what I'm saying, because they've been you know, self scouting. They have that kind of information, and that's where I think it's gonna be a little bit harder. It'll be harder on the Dallas offense, I think than the Dallas defense because the Dallas defense will probably change so much with.
A new coordinator.
But also going to Ambar's point, and you make a fair point as far as it compromising the Cowboys offense, but it is a rebuild for the Commanders and their defensive line. I mean, you have the two big boys up front of the interior and pain and Island. They got a pass rush, but you don't have any edge rushers.
Right.
Your secondary is more or less in shamboos. Your linebacker corps is quite right. So as much as dan Quinn has the person not the personnel, but has the scheme to kind of compromise the Cowboys offense, the Cowboys offense has the firepower to compromise a being basically a revamped personnel on the Commander's side of the ball defensively, So ultimately it might all just be a wash and it
might just come down to execution. Who has the better players and right now it's the Cowboys and Ken McCarthy not be out schemed by dan quinn.
So I mean, for us looking at.
It, it's probably just going to feel like a training camp battle, right is dan quinn's play calling versus Mike McCarthy's play calling.
And we saw that all July and August. So let's flip to the Philadelphia Eagles.
They have two new coordinators that both are interesting from the standpoint of the Cowboys their offense. New offensive coordinator, Kelvin Moore obviously was here with the Cowboys for years as the offensive coordinator. Here Vic Fangio, is there a new defensive coordinator, a guy that is I think I think some of the talk around Fangio has been a
little bit overblown. I do think obviously when he was in Denver that game the Cowboys played against the Broncos, he certainly had the better of the Cowboys offense.
I don't think I agree with that.
Last year against Miami, I think I don't think that the Miami defense necessarily shut down the Cowboys offense.
I thought it was a close game.
I thought both teams had a little success and had some issues where you know it didn't quite work out, But I don't think it was a domination, where I too, that's what it is.
Yeah, would't think that was a domination.
But that all being said, looking at those two guys, which of those you think could be most problematic for the Cowboys Kelvin Moore's offensive coordinator or Vick Fango as a defensive coordinator.
That's a good question.
It would be easy to say Keller Moore because you know familiarity, right, But what Kellen Moore is not familiar with is Mike Zimmer. So advantage Cowboys there because it's not Kella Moore going against dan Quinn. And even when it was killing Moore going against dan Quyn and Los Angeles, dan Quinn and the Cowboys came out with the w so, but like I said, he doesn't he being Kella Moore, he doesn't know Mike Zimmer's scheme and what he's going
to call. So I'm going to look at Vic Fangio in this aspect because Fangio has had some consistent success in kind of bodiling up.
Dak Prescott and what Dak likes to do.
So I think that while like you said, it wasn't you know, Fangio with the Dolphins. It wasn't this, It wasn't Steve Spagnolo down there type performance type thing. But he's one of the better and more respective defensive minds in the league going to your division, one of your bitter divisional So I think it's going to be a bigger challenge for Dak to get over the Fangio quote
unquote hump. If that's how you want to label it, then it would be for Mike Zimber to sche or out scheme Kellen Moore, who at times struggled in Los Angeles as well, because keep in mind, if Kellen Moore was so electric in Los Angeles, he's still be in Los Angeles as opposed to one and done. So I'm going to look at evangel and versus Dak Prescott, and I think this is one of the few defensive coordinators that Dak Prescott consistently kind of struggles to be explosive against.
So if you can figure that out, then the Eagles will be less of a problem.
But they're going to be a problem.
Yeah.
To me, they're kind of equal in a little bit regarding your question. But Vangeol, He's like, I'm more impressed with what the Dolphins were able to do at the end of the day, the season they had, So I got to take that kind of experiences. Yeah, yeah, yeah, So I'm taking just that experience, his most recent experience and the level of success that he had to that being a little bit higher than what Kellen Moore brings to the table right now.
Yeah, the interesting part for me is I actually think Fangio had that defense playing really well. I think they'll correct some of their personnel issues in the secondary, but the fact that he has that pass rush and he has some horses up front, and I think the thing that Fangio does really well is he knows how to get pressure. And I think because he had now there's some I know, I thought you about to go there with the there is a possibility that somebody might be
a little disgruntled and might not be back. But that all being said, let's assume they have all the personnel that they have right now. If they have the personnel they have right now, that defense will be scary. They will have a pass rush and it will be difficult. The more interesting part is the offense for me, because people can can try to you know, I think a lot of Cowboys fans look at Kellen Moore in a.
Way that he shouldn't be viewed.
I think they look at him as lesser than what he was. He had some really good offenses here with Dallas. He cast some really good offense and they I mean they were talking. Yeah, they were up at the top of the league in offense. And don't get me wrong, yes they had challenges against some opponents. They'd have some challenges sometimes in the playoffs. All those things are true, got it. But by and large he called an offense that was consistently really good and probably among and not
probably among the best in the league. So when you look at it from that standpoint, and you look at where the Eagles were last year, especially at the end of the season on their offense, where they feel it felt like they were really stifled, I think that's where I'm more interested in. How does he turn that around? Does he get them into it? So, does he get Jalen Hurst to play a certain brand of football that
makes him as good as Dak Prescott. There was a time, not last year, but year before last one, a lot of people were saying Jalen Hurst was one of the better quarterbacks in the league, and last year things fell off.
It wasn't the same.
They weren't able to do all the things they did before. I'm interested to see if Kellen Wore can get that out of that offense because they got talent on the offense. They got a great offensive line, they got great skill position players, so they got talent. I want to see how he puts that together. So that's going to be the interesting one.
But to that point, this is also why I view Fangio as the bigger threat of the two, because the first when I heard the news that Kella Moore was going to join the Eagles as offensive courting, the first thing that popped in my head was how does he fit with what Jalen Hurts does well? Right, this is a run first offense in Philadelphia. They do so much damage on the ground bit with Jalen Hurts his legs,
DeAndre Swift, those guys in the backfield. But one of the reasons that Kellen Moore was on the outs here in Dallas on the back end of his career here is because he wanted to pass the ball. And he even he stood at the podium one day admitted it. He said if it were up to me, I just passed, pass, past, passed sixty times a game. But he said, and I quote, but I've had to learn to kind of scale back. Okay,
which Kella Moore is showing up in Philadelphia? Is it the one that sees Devonte Smith and sees aj Brown and sees Dallas Goddard and say, well, I have these weapons.
I just want to throw, throw, throw, throw, throw.
Well, Jalen Hurts showed last year that while he can drop back and throw, he if you force him to throw forty five fifty times, you'll probably win that game. So I wonder, how y all killing Moore is going to your point, how is he going to ask Jalen Hurts to play the game of football going forty? Is he going to say, I'm going to make you a forty forty time dropbacker. If that's the case, the Cowboys have to be thrilled with that, because that's what you
want to see, especially with Trevon Diggs returning. You got de Ron Bland, if you can get Stefan Gilmore, your secondary is good against that. But if they're not willing to run the ball and at least create some sembilance, of balance, then you have a better chance of your pass rush being successful because your pass rush is going to be asked to go out the quarterback more often than to stop the run.
So let me ask you this question, who's better DeAndre Swift or AJ Brown?
Well? AJ Brown? AJ Brown.
The only point I'm gonna make here is that's great to say unless he gets to Philadelphia and has a way of developing Jalen Hurts into being a guy that could throw the ball forty times a game because he's got the wide receivers and the tight end that if he can get it going, he would be deadly. Like that would be a deadly offense if they get that passing game going consistently enough. Right, So don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Jalen may or may not be
there yet. What I'm saying is Kellen Moore was able to do with By the way, when Dak Prescott got to the NFL, most people didn't call him a drop back passage, right. Somehow he developed into a drop back passer and now can light you up.
Right, That's why he developed great.
Great, But my point is it doesn't mean you can't do it. It doesn't mean that if you come in and you are this doesn't mean that within a year's time, two years time, whatever, you can't develop into something else. I think that that's where I look at it, and that's my point. I think that's the more interesting hire to me is I want to see if Kellen can get that passing game going in a way where they
can really take advantage of those skill position players. Because I don't think there aren't many teams in the league that have better skill position players.
Their teams have a better quarterback. I don't know that there are.
Many to have better skill position players. So when you start looking at from that standpoint, he's got something to work with. If they can develop the things they want to develop and Hurts, it can get really really really interesting out there.
For that's true, It just feels like the if, the question of if is bigger on the killing more side of the ball than fanjis.
All Right, we appreciate you guys join us.
We're back next week and we'll get into some maybe some time tom we'll see how We'll see how it goes and U we'll just we'll play it. By year, there'll meet maybe news there will be something we got to talk about. We're only a couple of weeks from free agency starting, so there's a lot that we still got to get into as we get ready for free agency, and hopefully, hopefully this year there'll be a little bit of that all in juice on on free.
Agent, free agency, on a parade.
Stop it all right, We appreciate you join us. We'll be back next week with Patrick Walker and Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Eiltson. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
This has been a production of Dallascowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.