Cowboys Break: The Rams Defense?

We're moving along here, and we got a lot more shows to go because next week we'll be doing shows heading into the Championship game, and then we'll have two weeks shows heading into the super Bowl. So it's just there's a lot mans right here. There's a lot to do here. I'm I'm the one that says superstitions aren't real, and you clearly you clearly believe that too. Yeah, I guess a whole bunch of people superstition. You're putting the mouth on it. That's no stop. Seriously, I'm no turner

my golf. That's what That's what people say when you bring up that, the pitchers saying you're like, oh, he's throwing a no hitter, You're like, great, you put the mouth on and he's gonna freaking I've never heard that. You've never heard that to watch baseball, So maybe it's just another way of saying you spoke it into existence. They don't say that with kickers, because I've heard that about kickers too. When you like, as soon as they say he hasn't missed an extra point all season, it's like,

there we go here that miss it applies there. But I've never heard that term. I guess, yeah, it's a term. I promise I'm looking at it either not in sports. It's a term, I promise. It's all right, let's get back on the rails. Let's let's talk about why start now? Why this is a it's it's you know, it's just the biggest game of the year, and the game the Cowboys having won in twenty years. What could we possibly

want to talk about? All right, Well, what we need to start is with injuries, and I don't even want to start with the real quick, just real quick. Someone gave us a shout out at our show yesterday because apparently talking cowboys, what's doing a whole bunch of college football talking yeah, I'm talking about this game. Those guys did a good job. Those guys just talk about whatever they want to talk about. Maybe we should follow their lead.

I don't think people all right serious, like we're being like them. Yeah, let's jump back into I don't want to start with the guys that had missed. I want to start with the guy that did practice, Dak Prescott, because as soon as you see his name pop on an injury report and then you hear reports that he has a sprain knee, obviously everyone's alert goes up because of just how much he means to this team, this offense.

Talk to me about kind of what you've heard so far, and if you're completely buying it, this has this is no problem whatsoever. A nice sprain with your quarterback. Yeah, I do. I mean, you're right, you're right to be suspicious. Teams like to keep stuff under wraps. But like he's out there, he's ten feet away, jogging around looking fine. He was full, he was full, He definitely was full,

and you're well, go you can go watch. I mean, it's a great play, but he took a Seahawks helmet to his upper knee when he tried to dive into the end zone on that sixteen yards and reminds me of what happened to Carson Wentz last year to put him out of the playoffs, right, and he put him out out for the rest of the season. He practiced. I mean, I get that, and I'm not saying that

he's hurt. What I'm saying is real. What I'm really looking for is for you guys to reassure fans out there, because as soon as you hear the quarterback has a needs brings fine, here you go. He's thank you fifty feet away, like doing running back drills where he's got the ball on the crook of his arm, running up and down the field. Cart Will, he's fine this morning. Unbelievable, the backflip in the cart. He will always catch that kind of stuff. There's not to get in which dancing cart.

Will's not kidding. But I wouldn't dream of I wouldn't dream of making this a Romo Dak debate. But like that's a selling point on Dak Prescott. He takes those types of hits all the time, and he's builtfully fine. He is, he is built for it, and he's out there. He was full yesterday exprapping to be full today. Good. I don't think this is a problem at all. That's perfect. Waiting for Joe Looney to pop into injury report yesterday because the way he was dancing at the beginning of practice,

like moving his neck. I'm like, he's gonna hurt his neck. He was doing some serious dance move out there, just, uh, what do you call this move? Like idea, you know we need to do. We may need to get a camera that just goes out to practice and just gets footage of guys dancing at practice and put it all together in one big Actually, it would be pretty good. I tried to take a video of Tavon dancing just

to show you what it was. And I thought I was going to get tackled by the our our pr with cell phone videos prohibited, but I didn't say cell phone, which you didn't let me finish. He can't do it, can't do it. But yeah, if we sent Kent or William out there with a real camera, there's nothing they could do to stop us. There you go, And I think that might be an idea. That is a good idea. Yeah, Like, and then they lose the game and they're like, why

did they lose? And it's like he was shot of looney. Here's a shot out of TV that's happening to Dave. Just by the way, that's happened at every NFL practice. That's what they do, all right. So let's talk about some of the guys that did not practice. Cole Beasley, Noah Brown, Malie Collins, Blake Jarwin, David Army Um didn't practice yesterday. Which of those I guess are are concerning or should not be concerning. Malik's back so that's not

super concerning. It was an ankle and an illness. Yes, yeah, he's back. Noah Brown is also back. He was sick, so you know he's okay. But Beasley and Jarwin are still missing. Jason Garrett has and going back to skepticism, he has said multiple times this week that they're optimistic

about those guys, but we'll see. Not practicing on Thursday, particularly for Jarwin, who's still a young player, it's not a super great sign, which is interesting because Swam's already on IR We kind of we sort of prodded at Garrett about that in the walk off today. We're like, well, you only have two tight ends. If Jarwin can't play, and he just kind of he kind of mildes Garrett smile, like, you know, you gotta make do at this time of your type of deal. Yeah, yeah, I mean it. In

other words, that's a good question. I mean that's what they're asking, like, what's how bad is this? And that's that's one of those backdoor questions that you're like trying to see, what's what's the situation here? Is there a

tight end on the practice squad right now? No? No, So essentially like they have no real back backup options that even know the offense to be able to play in the event they got in that situation if Jarwin couldn't play, like the best the closest thing to a backup would probably be Noah Brown, which you know for all of the you know, people like move him to tight end. He weighs two hundred and twenty pounds. Here we go ten personnel. Hey, that's hey, Mad, that's what

it takes. That might be your best option. Now, of course it would help if you had Hearns and Beasley, but it's something it's something to watch. It's it's always concerning when a young guys not practicing on Thursday. I know it's Wednesday, but it's really Thursday. Get Beasley all right? Talking to me about Beasley, I don't think he's in the same categories ears like no, no, no, what no? That was I'm saying, hearns it's out and Beasley, we

don't know. It'd be nice if you're gonna run a lot of ten personnel, if you had one or both of those guys for sure. Right, what do you say about Beasley today? He's not practicing, Like he said, they feel optimistic that both of those guys are gonna come around. That's what he said. Okay, it's up to you to decide how much you trust that, although I mean, Beasley's kind of in the same boat. Like I don't think

I trust Tavon aust We talked about this yesterday. I don't think I trust Tavon Austin to assume that whole role. And then your next best bet is probably Lance Lenore, who is now on the fifty three or will be by the end of the week if he's not officially yet. The one thing you can't say about Beasley is he's a tough guy and he's had this injury. Like he went into the game last week. He wasn't completely healthy. I mean he's been playing here for the last few

weeks kind of banged up. So he is a warrior. He'll get out there to play even when he's not one hundred percent. He had the foot spring before he had the ankle spring, and Garrett said, it's the ankle that's bothering him more so than the foot. Right now, he's yeah, he's dealing with some stuff. Yeah, that's that's probably I don't know, but I mean Jarwin's maybe Jarwin's injuries not as severe, but he's a younger, less experienced player,

whereas Beasley's. You know, Beasley's getting up there. He's like, this is like his eighth year or seventh year. Been around for a minute. Yeah, I think he's played the second most games on the team right now. Damn, it's either LP behind LP. Sean hasn't played all the games. Oh yeah, is Sean would be up there, Sean And then then I think it's Chris Jones and and Beasley and it was Terrence, but you know, Terrence isn't hasn't played.

Terence Williams number eighty three, he is still officially on their roster r I are I forget about that. I think he'll be released in the off season and save some money for this team. Yeah, one of many. There was a list of guys that were limited in practice. Tell me if any of these are guys that should be of concern. Tavon Austin, Tyrone Crawford, Zach Martin, Tyrn Smith, Xavier is still a Philo, and Darien Thompson. Which of

those is an issue? And where are we sitting with specifically with Sue a Philo who didn't play last week. My rule for a guy that played the last game is that if you start the week practicing limited, I assume you're good to good, even if it's limited. If you played in the game and then you're back practicing by Wednesday, I assume you're good. Okay. Yeah, Xavier's the question mark. We'll see if he ups his participation today.

It's always a good sign when a guy is practicing to start the week, even if it's in a limited fashion. So correct me if I'm wrong. Last week he didn't practice at all. No, so this is a step ahead, This is a step forward. It is a step in the right direction. Well, so we'll see and that's you know. I asked him after the game, I'm like, how are you feeling? How's your um ankle? He's like, we won the game. I'm like, no, I know, how are you feeling? How are you doing? He's like, we won the game.

I'm just smiling because we won the game. I'm like, okay, cool, I guess I'll just wait for later in the week. Then is that English conversation? Yeah, well I don't remember. It could be in Spanish. I mean he speaks Spanish, right, Yeah, he did, like the only guy on the team. But he wouldn't give me any inful. He was just that might take that might tell you all you need to know about that, because if you're great, you're like, man, I'm great, I'm good. Like crap, Probably it probably ain't

feeling great. We won the game. Usually when that's the answer, we won the game, something weird happened, or you know, it was like we were up twenty eighth to nothing, we won twenty eight twenty seven, you know, or something like that. We won the game. He was happy, though, Yeah, but yeah, who knows something. And hey, it's we talked about the same thing as like gimpies to a Philo or one Conor Williams, and these d tackles are better

than last week's. So we'll see all right every week. Yeah, we're going to take our first break when we come back. Dave's gonna get us going with his scatter report on this Rams defense. Talking about that defensive A line tell us a little bit about them, and I want to talk a lot about that secondary because that's a secondary they thought they upgraded coming into the year. I don't know if they've always they've played in that way. We'll talk about that when we come right back. Because this

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it out and put it to the test. The Cowboys did when they named John Deer their official tractor experience one for yourself. Visit my John Deerdealer dot com slash football. Back to the break welcome back. It is the second second of the Break live from the s WBC Morea Studios at the Star. We're talking Cowboys versus Rams. That would be the big playoff game this Saturday night Cowboys. That kickoff will be at seven fIF teen Central Time for you guys in our time zone, will be out

in California, it'll be five fifteen there. So Dave, Yes, sir, tell us a little bit about a little bit about this Rams defense. We talked about the offense yesterday. Talk to me about the defense. I think you kind of have alluded to it throughout the week, which is true. Is like this thing and I think the Rams defense

is better than gets credit for. But it is a murderers row in terms of the talent on hand and the production statistically says it's not as good as you would expect because you got Pro Bowl corners and Marcus Peters and a keeb to Leabe. You got a safety in LaMarcus Joiner, who I believe. I was trying to look this up during the break I forgot to last night. He's one of like five players that got put on the franchise tag this year, maybe less than Yeah, Joiner

Ziggyanza Tank obviously Kyle Fuller. I mean they liked him enough to pay him top ten percent at his position to keep him there. So you got Pro Bowler caliber players all over the secondary. Uh, and then the defensive line you got that's just embarrassing. It is an Enriches embarrassment of riches. You got a top five pick, and in domi con sue, you got a top fifteen. Where was Donald drafted? Like? Was he fourteen? It doesn't, it doesn't matter. He's the best defensive player in the NFL.

He might be the best player in the NFL. He's certainly the best non quarterback in the NFL. In domi con sue, Aaron Donald, Mike Brockers, who was a top fifteen pick, he could have been a cowboy in another universe. Dante Fowler has absolutely not lived up to his draft pedigree, but he's still a top ten pick. Even oddly enough, Mark Barron, who's playing so he's playing inside linebacker in a three four Wade Phillip scheme. He was a top ten pick as the safety not too too long ago.

So the talent is is gross. I mean there's a lot of it. I think I'm even I'm missing somebody. Um, it would have to be an outside linebacker. Don't don't worry about it. Remember how good Will Wade Phillips defenses were without guys like that. I mean he had where but I mean that was by it. He's got like three of those guys. He had some He had some

highly picked talent on that team too. I mean he had Spears, right, he had some other guys that were getting Nick Nick is like sure Spears was top twenty. Didn't live up to those ex Okay, that's then. But Fouler's the third overall pick, you know. I mean like I'm just saying that he didn't know he's he's a good coordinate, he's a really good question is he hasn't

had that kind of talent. Yeah, if anyone can get Fouler and Brokers to play in Baron to play at higher levels, he's got um Donald playing at a higher level than he was before, right, I mean probably. I mean like it's all relative. Yeah, Like I'm not gonna is prettier to dat thing yesterday. Okay, Yes, I'm not all relative, Hallie right, halle Berry, all Haley, I'm not gonna get Okay, I'm not letting. I'm not letting y'all take this in of the ditch. This is important yesterday. Okay, Um,

have you ever seen the memes? Have you ever seen like the memes or the posts on the internet where it's like, look at this sandwich that the sandwich shop tried to sell me, and it looks like amazing on the outside, and the bread is all the bread's perfect and it's risen up and like the meat is just it looks great and yeah, and then you lift up, you lift it up and look at it and like there it's mostly bread, Like it's all just a show. Yeah.

That's sort of how I feel about this defense and not I'm not saying they're not actually good, because they are. My point is is great great in the middle like the top and the bottom, or great and is in the middle that's really because what I'm saying is the line is disgusting, the secondary is really talented. I'm not impressed by anything in between. And that I really I think that's why you see the rams have the results they have. So all right, we went over the personnel

there cannot throw this in that. Actually it makes a lot of sense from the standpoint of I went back and watched the game they played against the Seahawks, and you saw the Seahawks running game gashing them. And really all season they've had some games or they've gotten gashed in the running game, and I think it's because of that.

I think it's because that those linebackers just they don't always get off blocks, they don't always feel gaps, and so it creates these holes that running backs have been able to exploit at times. I did you won better? I went back and looked at all of their games that they played against run offenses that finished in the top half of the league. Okay, they played nine teams

that finished in the top half of the league. They gave up an average of one hundred and forty eight rushing yards per game, which is thirty yards more than their average five and a half yards per carry, which is a half yard more than their average, So they're even they're doing even worse as you would expect against the top running offenses in the league. Against teams that finished in the top ten, which that's only three. They played Seattle, the number one rushing offense twice and the Saints,

the number six rushing offense. Once a hundred carries for six hundred yards in three games. They gave up an average of six yards per carry eight yards per carry in four point one yards per carry in those games. And it's not it's not their front. It's not like Aaron Donald I wrote this down to uh, he leads the league in like run stuffs, meaning like you know a run that that goes for a negative or zero yards,

like he's great, Sue's great. Brockers is really underrated, Like they do their job, but it's if you get past them, it's real yucky. And that's where I think the Cowboys have the chance to have a lot of success. Like I mean, Corey Littleton made the Pro Bowl. I don't care, Mark Baron's the top ten pick. I don't care. Like the Cowboys should be able to bully these guys, and if they can't, I don't know what's going on. Because they did it against Bobby Wagner and kJ right, So

I'm not buying it, which obvious. I mean, you know, I think Zack Martin said it yesterday. It's a great point, is like you look at these stats, He's like, cool, it's not just because it's just because the numbers say it's that easy. It's not easy, like you got to execute, but you trust this running offense to be able to do that, I would think. Um, so that's that's really where it all starts for me obviously, is running the ball. Can I ask you a question about their third down? Um?

Do you know about that? Which? Which aspect of it? Like third and one? I mean, are like short yardage? Are they good there it? Well? Short yardage again, yes, like they they can because this line is really good at stopping those types of things. Um, it just depends on what they want to throw out there. The reason why I asked that is that sometimes you know, you say,

stats can be deceiving. If you've got a team with with some you know, beef in the middle there like that, it's hard to just third and one to just say I'm gonna do that. Those are the type of players that bring an average down anyway, So why is there average at five yards? Now that's the worst in the league.

I get it. But if there's the teams that aren't really trying to test them on third and one and fourth and one, those are the type of plays that you're like, well, I'm gonna we're not even going to try it. That's the reason that their average is going to be higher than than you would think. You know what I mean, I don't know that it's a good point. I don't know if they if they're third and you know, short, fourth and short, if they're really good or bad. I

don't have those numbers on hand. I will say this, their numbers up the middle are far better than the rest of their numbers, meaning and I will give credit where it's due. I borrowed these stats directly from John Owning, who does he does tape work for the Dallas Morning News. He's great at it. If you're not, I mean you should definitely go check that out. Um, three point three yards per carry going at the right guard. I mean

this is their defense, so they allowed. So if you go at their right guard, if you got your right guard, yea three point three three yards yes, four point one on left guard. So in the middle, and again that's where their best players are. That makes sense. It's when you take it outside five point two yards per carry at left tackle, five point seven yards per carry at right tackle, and if you go off the end it's five point six and five point two, which to Met's

about linebackers. Absolutely, like Jalen and Layton, how good are they at pursuing across the field side to side? And yeah, they don't have guys that can do that. So I mean, if you test the teeth of this line, it'll probably

go pretty poorly for you. But the rest of their personnel allows you to take advantage of that, in my opinion, and that's that's where it starts with me, because you should be able to take advantage of that because again, okay, you wanted to talk about their secondary I think that's a case where stats can be deceiving because again, you know, you're talking about a team that's had big leads for most of the season. Teams have to pass against them.

They're still fourteenth, and it keep has missed a lot of the year, and the keep to leave has missed a lot of the year. Marcus Peters, you know, you could make the argument like when when he was the guy, maybe he didn't live up to his billing, but to leave his backs, So that's kind of irrelevant in my in my eyes anyway, Um, it's classic Wade Phillips, like they just do their thing. They play. Those guys play head up on guys, they press them fingle safety high

a lot. Yeah, absolutely like they I mean they trust their personnel, I would hope. So they traded for Talib, they traded for Peters like that's that's why they got him. And it's a smart move when you have a defensive front like they do, to go out and get corners that can really just man up on the outside and then you can try to get some pressure and in hope that you get more pressure before they can get free,

which I don't have. I don't have this on hand, but the the narrative is that which it's It is interesting. Amari Cooper used to be in the AFC West. He's spent a lot of time playing against Talib and Peters on other teams right on other and so um. The narrative is that he's fared far better against Peters than he did against Talib, which I believe a lot of people do. The the insane game that he had if you remember last year, I think it was a Thursday

night game Keef's Raiders. Cooper put up like two twenty or something on the I mean he had he had a dope game and he did a lot of that against Marcus Peters, So that's probably where I think they were from. You think they do they add all this season? Do they travel to leave? I mean, it's it's what it always is, is like more often than not, those guys handle their side of the defense. But like, yeah,

I think they probably would. And if they feel like to Leab is going to be better against Cooper, yeah, I think that they would make that adjustment. But that does go back to the question we got from a fan I think it was yesterday, where they were asking, you know, would you put Cooper in the slot? My thought is, if you got a situation like that, I'd move them around a lot and forced them to always

adjust to wherever I'm going to put him. And if they wanted to start traveling a key to leave, then that means, as we've talked about before, that means everybody else now has to travel because they can't just stay on the side that they're accustomed to. But i'd firstly, i'd personally test them. If you feel like that's the guy that's the clearly the best of what they do, I wouldn't let them easily be able to just line up against my best if he's able to do it.

I mean, yes, he's a really good receiver, but I mean he hasn't been here for a whole offseason and all that. Sometimes he get him to do the things that he needs to do. Just because he goes inside, that doesn't mean that he's, you know, going to be effective there. And if Beasley's you know, like we said yesterday, if Beasley's on the outside, I don't know if I like that. So it's it's like how right I And

that can lead you. You can take this like down a road where you're gonna go, oh, well, the coaches are bad, which I mean that's you know, most people think that anyway, that's fine, which I guess. My point though, is this is not This is not a team that seems to just make drastic adjustments based on their opposition.

I don't you know, Jalen Smith spied Russell Wilson last week, and that's a wrinkle that we don't always see, but like more often than not, I feel like the Cowboys are way more just about like, if we execute the way we should, then we don't need to gadget it up. But they have done special things when they play special opponents. Obviously,

they did that with New Orleans. They did some different things defensively than they typically And I'm spitballing here, so I want you to correct me if I'm wrong, But like, have they done a lot of that on offense? No? And your example was on defense as well. So yeah, that's a good point that they have made more adjustments like that typically on defense when they've done it. I struggle to think of a game where somebody on offense

was just doing something way outside. I mean, you know, Blake Jarwin, Yeah, at that game against the Giants, but was he well, I mean, okay, they sent him up the scene more off They did some things than that game a little different, It's true. But in terms of like Amari Cooper just suddenly playing fifteen snaps in the slot, Like, have we seen a lot of that this year? We do what we do. Yeah? No, And there's an art

I mean that I don't agree with that. You know, I think you need to adjust to suit your opposition, but I just don't I don't think the Cowboys will do that. Yeah, and I honestly I don't. I don't know that they would. I'm just I guess going back to that question at the fan ask I think it's something worth considering. Again, your point's valid, Nick that if if he can't do it, he can't do it. You

don't just do something just because. But if he can do it, if he has that capability, if he knows all the positions, I would move him around a little bit more. And again, I'm looking for opportunities. If I'm making those calls, I'm looking for opportunities to get my best players in the best positions possible, which means the more I can move them around and force the defense to have to identify where he is and try to get their guy on him, the better chance that I'm

going to get a mismatch with my best player. And if I can get mismatches with my best player, they can make big plays. If you've followed the league at all in the last like five years, you don't need me to tell you that the secondary gets take of I mean these dbs get takeaways. I mean Peters has been insane since he got in the league. To leave pick six that hundred yards against the Cowboys, to leave did that to Dak in Week two last year. Yeah,

like these guys, they're good. Neither one of them has had like that type of season this year. To Leave missed a lot of it. I think they both. I think Peters has three and I think to Leave has somewhere between one and three. Like not a high number, but they obviously both can do it. The thing that scares me, and I put this on Twitter last night, is they have they have fourteen for yeah, fourteen forced fumbles as a team, twelve recovered. It's third in the league.

Nine of those have come from their defensive lineman, which it shouldn't surprise you. They're good at getting pressure, but they have shown a knack for getting the ball in the pocket getting it from the quarterback. We know Dak Prescott has had a problem with that. They have eight fumble recoveries just as a line, So like Donald Brockers, those guys eight, which is more than half the teams in the league have period. So and to his credit, Dak has been better. He's been better probably the last

three games with the ball security. But just don't don't let up now, because that's something that worries me. Yeah. Part of that is that Donald just gets such great penetration throughout the game, like he's a guy that can wreck a game from the defensive tackle position, and when you're getting when you're getting up feels so quick. Sometimes the quarterback doesn't have a chance to adjust. He's trying to get rid of the ball and then he grabs

an arm and bam, balls out. I think, I mean, how many times you see him, Kalil Mack, those really great defensive players do that, And I think it's because they just get back on the quarterback so quickly. The quarterback doesn't even really recognize that they are in cloth. They're in arms reach to be able to make that kind of play. And just in case you were curious, Zack Martin actually, which so I think every other week I've talked about how somebody can wreck a game. I

say that all the time. Zack Martin said that about Donald Yet he's like, this guy can wreck everything on his own, which carries more weight coming from him than me. He also, and it's a it's not a Connor Williams thing, like he just likes to rush over the left guard. He's a three tech. He's gonna line up right off the guards outside shoulder, and he just likes the left side for whatever reason. So have fun. And honestly, this

is XAVI. You talk about Aaron Donald and Sue obviously hasn't been the greatest player since he's been there with them this year. But I'll say one of the best games I ever saw a defensive tackle play was in college when he was playing for Nebraska and he played against Texas and talk about wrecking the goodev won the Heisman that year. Talk about wrecking a game from the defensive tackle position. I mean, every single play almost he

was in the backfield. Texas was trying to double him, are trying to triple to like they had no answers whatsoever. I mean this guy and he's the kind of guy that even though he might not have had a great season on a given day, he can show up and probably turn that on and have that kind of day if given the opportunity. This is you know, I always hesitate to say these types of things about players, but

something it's always seemed like with Sue. You know, he's not that like relentless motor guy like an Aaron Donald or a DeMarcus Lawrence where it's just always on like he I think he picks and chooses his spots. But if it's third and four and the games on the line in the playoffs, Like, you're probably gonna get that too, Like people, you know, it's a great play and it's football.

It's not a big deal. But the famous uh you know the Romo to Winton fourth down, you know, the one Garrett diagram and went and retired that helped them win the Lions game. Ronald Leary had to basically hug Sue and bring him to the ground to keep him from sacking Romo. Like it was one of the most blatant holds I've seen in forever. And that's the type of stuff you have to do to beat him. He's not He's got talent, There's no doubt, no doubt they got talent. It just hasn't always shown up for him

this year. And so we'll see how that helps. And we'll see how much the Cowboys offense can affect that too, because this offensive line I think played really well last week. We'll see how much they can they can pull some more of that against what is a really really good front, probably a better front. I mean, I think one of the reasons why Aaron Donald is probably getting so many sacks, it's just the mindset of the defense to go rush the quarterback get there and you know, when you hit home,

that's great. But when they when they pop up a draw right, you know, right in between both of them, then that's what's get leading to some of these bigger runs. So I think that, you know, just the mindset of every all those guys, I gotta get sacked, I get up the field. That's fine. But but if you're not in the right spot, then that's when you're gonna get

you know, be vulnerable to a run. Of the of the nine games they played against teams in the top half of the league in rushing offense, they only held two of them below a hundred yards. They held Denver to sixty Denverse twelfth. They held Kansas a pretty good running game, yeah, no decent, and they held Kansas City to ninety eight. Um, Kansas. At what point of the season was that? That was the fifty four to fifty one, Okay, whatever, November, I don't remember the exact Playing in the game is

what you're at. Yeah, he was playing game. He was playing. Um. But also, I mean, the Chiefs have other things in mind than running the ball. Oh yeah, and they were doing it well, and that that's their ranked their ranked sixteenth, So they are the last possible spot that I considered for this. So that you know, Seattle one ninety, Seattle two seventy three, New Orleans forty one, Chargers one forty one, San Francisco one twenty seven, San Francisco one oh seven,

Chicago one ninety four. I'd be very surprised if the Cowboys can't successfully run the ball and at least to the one forty range, right, I mean least they did one eighty nine on them at AT and T, And by I mean obviously this is not a recipe for success. Necessarily, Seattle ran for two seventy three and one ninety and lost both of those games, but it was a two point loss and a five point loss that came in

the final minutes. So it will give you a chance to be successful if you can do it, I think. Um and yeah, So they ran. They ran for one eighty nine in Week four last year. Alfred Morris had the seventy five yard run. Uh did you finally see the Alan Herns? Yeah, they're just holding on it. This is the actual game broadcast, I think. So Okay, yeah, I like looked over and if you're if you're listening when you have TV's in the studio, and like Derek and Nick just both like jumped out of their seat

in agony. I haven't really seen that play, and so you have now it was happening, all right, I no, I mean, this defense is much better than the stats say they are, I think, and it's full of guys who have been here and done that. I mean, you know, to leave obviously is the big one. Um. But Sue has been in the playoffs. Donald has Donald played a playoff game last year. Peters with the Chiefs like they they're they're not new to this, at least not all of them. So all right, let's go ahead and take

our final break. We'll come back and we'll get some Let's get some questions. Eight eight eight eight five five two two nine seven is our number again. It is eight eight eight eight five five two two nine seven. You can also hit us on Twitter at Cowboys Break. This is the break. Well, the player could look good on paper, it's when he's out on the field that you really find out what he's made of. That's why the Cowboys rely on more than just stats and scouting

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on the field with America's team. Find steps and hats in the pro shop or at Stetson dot com. Today, Back to the Break Welcome Back. It is the final segment of The Break Life from the s WBC Mortgage Studios. At the start, Nick tell us about Tommy John, Well, I've been, you know, singing their praises really all you I think you would say, you know, I've kind of been the I guess the president of the fan club. Maybe, I don't know, I'm kind of I'm kind of up there.

You guys are vice president yeh, cabinet advice. Why can't we just be president? Because you don't do the read I do the ready and you know, I don't know. Tommy John dot com that's forward slash Cowboys. That's where you're gonna get to get twenty percent off your first order. Not gonna be able to really tell how good it is on the website though, No, you really got to experience it for yourself, right, Men's and women's they have the best thing you have and also, you know, very underrated.

They have T shirts, socks, everything's good and soft there. Yeah. So if all you guys at me have gotten like gift cards, like Visa gift cards or something like that, it's a good Christmas. Now you can go and put it on something that actually matters. It's a really good idea. Really turn around later and be like that was a great I got a Visa or MasterCard, gift card or whatever for Christmas, and I don't know what to spend it on. So Hommy John, good point, Tommy John. All right,

let's get back into it. We're gonna take some calls and numbers. Eight eight eight eight five five two two nine seven again eight eight eight eight five five two two ninety seven. Let's get a call from Ray and San Diego. Ray, what up? How you guys doing? You're coming up right? I hope, man, Come on, man, hey, even if you don't even if you don't get a ticket, it's like ninety minutes, just come be part of the atmosphere.

I probably will the weather. I will say this. I heard that there's like this big tailgate that's gonna be going on for cowboys fans like this, Like I want to say, it's like ten or twenty different fan clubs are all kind of coming together. I might even dip out there, but it's if you're coming up, there will be Cowboys fans hanging out out. Actually, I'm here, I might dip out there. I might. I might. I meet you guys every time you guys come to San Diego.

I've met you and Nick every last time, So I might, all right make the trip up. Man, it'd be good to see I probably will, but real quick, I want to get you guys tick on this. How do you guys still on this game? About comeback routes? So those a little quick hitches because as I look at Talib and Peters, they sit on these comeback routes, and over the last couple of weeks, Dak has been laid on

those comeback routes. I've seen dbs drop the ball, and I don't think this team is going to drop the ball. I agree with that, just like Talib took that one for a hundred yards. That was a comeback route. And it's like every time we get to get to the team where these dbs sit on those routes, they got a good d line Denver, just like the Rams do and these dbs are not They're sitting on it. So I'm thinking more crossing routes, a little something different this week.

I just want to get your guys on those routes. It's great. I think that's in a stew point when I think you talk Hey, all all credit in the world to Dak Prescott. He's played great, but like you forget about those things when you're when you're winning and you know when the dbs are dropping the ball. But he's left some out there, and it's been a talking point all year, like it's so stupid how often they do.

It's like third and eight, so they run eight yard comebacks to the sticks like it's the most predictable thing in the world. So yeah, I think that's a really good point. That Redskin game where um Michael Gallup scored his first touchdown, it was one of those stop and go I mean, you kind of have to do that. And it reminds me of the time they played the Rams up in Saint Louis because it was twenty fourteen where Genorris Jenkins had an interception early in the game

for a touchdown. You know he was he jumped into a slant and then later in the game and they did a stop and go. And I don't think Dez Bryant's ever been as wide open as he was because you have to, you know, make him pay for doing those things. So that's what I hope, You're right. I hope the Cowboys will make them pay for that. They're gonna sit on that, You're gonna have to hopefully block them long enough to do a stop and go. I

just this is totally anecdotal. I have nothing to back it up, but I just feel like this team runs crossing routes like less than everybody else in the league. Yea, deep crossers, shallow crossers. I know. Uh Dak actually threw a pick on a route like that. He was looking for a Mari in the end zone against um crap. I don't know Tennessee. No, was it Tennessee or I think it was Philly. It was the first Philly or

the second Philly? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah through but it well, it was there, it was there, and it was just a bad it was a misthrow missroute whatever. Anyway, Yeah, I'd love to see more of that, but I'm not optimistic. Let's take a call from GEO in Jersey City GEO. What g O are you there? Guess not? All right? Do you have any questions? Let's get a question. Did you guys get a chance to watch back then? Uh? The La Rams versus Eagual game? Yeah? Yeah, I watched

it was a Sunday night football. I well, I watched it. That's the main game I watched when I was watching tape. So well, someone's asking and wanting to knew what were some of the things that the Eagles were able to do defensively to beat the Ramsha you remember, Well, I was hoping you were going to ask about the Rams defense because I'll tell they used a lot of play action to beat them in that game. That's what they did. And they ran the ball well, which is part of it.

Girly didn't play the full game, did he? I thinking about the right, Yeah, I thought that was it was that the game where he came out. They had they pulled him out. I believe he didn't have a good game in that game, and I want to say he did because I think it's because he left his face golf. That's what they were doing. They were they were you know, they applied the pressure. I know that off the edge they were and and I remember correctly, there was at

least two or three passes deflected. I mean they were getting in his face and in those in those throwing lanes. So, uh, they were just aggressive. And that defense is starting to come on Philadelphia's you know that. I think. I don't know if I said that yesterday here or on cover four, but that's I'm fascinated. The line on golf is definitely that if you get to him, he can't handle it.

And Garrett said yesterday that that was the thing that impressed him the most is that he was so good at throwing it under pressure when he was at Cow. So both of those things can't be true, right, I mean, well he say it at Cal Well, you're right, But so he magically got worse. That's such a difficult thing to do as he got to the pros. No, I

think he hang it worse at that. If you're facing now three hundred pound grown men as opposed to three hundred pound you know, if you if you display, if you display that ability in the Pac twelve, I would

feel like it would carry over. Maybe not, maybe, I know, I've just seen I've seen a lot of quarterbacks get into the NFL and they get those big guys, Like that's just I just feel like, whoever coming at me the thumb print, Like you know, you go on Twitter, you see it every it's like if you get to golf, you just get to golf and it's all over. So I want to see if that's true, because I think the Cowboys will get to him at least. I mean, he's not going to be clean. They might not sack

him six times. One thing I think I will I feel pretty confident is that girly is what makes that thing go. And so in that game, particularly when girl's not at full blast, when he's not out there, when his knee is bothering him, whatever the case is, I think that matters because I think that offense really revolves and it's no different than the Cowboys offense. I think the Cowboys offense, in a lot of respects revolves around what Zeke provides. We didn't talk about this yesterday, but

it's worth mentioning. C. C. J. Anderson's a better fallback than Rod Smith is. He played really well these last two weeks, murdered Dallas in Denver last year. He I mean, so just saying I mean, yet they got they got options if Curly's not at okay, So Girly yesterday on the practice report with the knee still limited, Yeah, still kind of just I don't know, how do you feel about this? Like I don't I don't know what to feel playing yes, and he's gonna and he's gonna play well,

he's gonna play well. I'm just saying that. I think if you want to compare, it's hard to compare that Eagles game and say, what did they do the thing they didn't have to do with stop Girley, And that's the part that is to me the hardest thing to do when you're playing that offense, you know, So it's just hard to me to get a good comparison comparison when you're playing when when it was the Eagles game

versus any other game that where he was playing. I mean, obviously, I mean clearly that has something to do with the fact that they won that game, and it changes the whole game when he's in the field and when he's not. But I don't know, we'll see this weekend he's playing at this time of the year. Yes, of course you're gonna play, but how well is he gonna play? That's the question. True. All right, we appreciate you guys. John Us are back tomorrow. We'll give you guys our picks.

Friday will be traveling, so tomorrow will be our last show of the week till then for Nicki, even Dave Helm and Amber Garcia on Derek Eagleton. This has been the Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.