Cowboys Break: Track Meet?

We are live from the s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. Got David Amber also joining us here at the Star, and we got forty five minutes of Cowboys talk for you guys. Hopefully you will enjoy this next forty five minutes. We got a lot of stuff to get into. We're gonna talk about some personnel things. We're gonna talk about the Cowboys offense, uh, and we're gonna get into a little conversation with Bucky Brooks a little later in the show. He's going to break down the

Atlanta Falcon defense versus the Cowboys offense. First, let's jump though into a little talk around injuries and personnel. Jordan Lewis returned to practice yesterday. He's been out for a while. That means at this point, all players that are on the active roster are practicing looking good heading into the game against the Atlanta Falcons. How much does Jordan Lewis provide for this team? I guess coming back based upon

what you guys saw during training camp. Nick, Well, he's the best slot guy, I think, and that's big in a situation like this, when you're facing a team like the Falcons that move their guys around a lot, So you know, he's gonna have to take on whoever's lining it up kind of in the slot, and I think that that just helps those other guys be more comfortable

playing on the outside. So you know, and he's also I think the best playmaker on the defense, and he comes up gets the football in his hands more than anybody else. Not a lot, but it's more than the other guys, and so I think that, you know, those two things together, it's just it's just good to have

more depth at a position that's already kind of lacking. Dave, who was the guy last week that that had the majority of those snacks snap snaps, they're in the slot, for the Cowboys that that presumably would be doing a little bit less this week. I guess would be Daryl Worley. Uh, he got a lot of looks there. Anthony browned too, but Worley got a lot of them. Wasn't a great night for him. I think I read um, I think Pro Football Focus said he gave up completion every time

he was targeted. Um. Oh wow. Uh so that's good, consistently bad, not great. I do wonder though, I I'm you know, I thought it was interesting that you phrased it, you know, based on what we saw from Jordan during training camp. The answer to that is not a whole lot. Yeah, he got hurt in like the second padded practice, so he didn't really have much of one. So I would be I would be slightly surprised if he goes in

and plays every single snap in the slot. I think you'll probably still see some shifting around and you know, Worley and maybe probably being part of that. But it can't be a bad thing to have an extra experienced cornerback available. Amber Lassa. Yesterday, Nick mentioned that the Brandon Carr was I guess replaced on the active roster. I don't know again, I don't know how this works as far as to take him down to practice squad and

back up, but he's on the active roster. How much do you suspect this week they will maybe work him in or do you think are you hoping that maybe they work him in this week based upon what they're facing and what they have at cornerback and at safety. I would hope to be able to see kind of both of them, Jordan Lewis and Brandon Carr being worked in.

I don't know how many guys like all those that affect your roster as far as how many people you have active and how many people you can actually work in in that specific position in the secondary, But ideally that's a position where I would want to see guys kind of rotate around, get guys to get some in game experience, and especially this veteran guys, just get them back in the group because to me, which is funny, because Jordan Lewis in previous years, he was always kind

of like at the bottom behind everyone else. But to me, he's always been the one player that is a playmaker, gets to the ball, gets the ball in his hands. So I think that the Cowboys need to take advantage of that and hopefully get him at least as soon as possible in there. And Brandon Carr, well, he has the experience, so I would assume they work him in slowly as well. Yeah, Darian Thompson is a guy I wanted to talk a little bit about. He's a guy

that I've actually been a fan of. I think he's done pretty decent job in the time he's been with the Cowboys, in the roles that they've given him. He now was a starter on this team, and so obviously expectations go up a bit. Last week there were a number of a couple of plays, two plays in particular, where I thought his run support wasn't great. One of them was on a touchdown where he got into the hole. He diagnosed the play crup properly, he just couldn't make

the stop. And I do wonder if you know you can't do what you can't do it. You know, he's not a big guy. He's not what I would consider to be a big safety. And so I guess with all that being said, i'd like to hear from you guys, what are your thoughts on Dari and Thompson particularly and how he performed last week versus the Rams, Well, I think he had. He had eleven tackles, I believe, and

that's what the statue said. He might have had more than that when it was all said and done, and I think that's not a good thing for a safety. That means your linebackers and it means your defensive tackles are letting too many plays go through. I thought he was physical enough to make some plays. We're talking about Malcolm Brown right from the front. I mean, he's a big he's a big d Yeah, that's that's not that's not going to be a favorable matchup for him. But

I think to have that mini tackles. He's a physical safety, physical enough, and you know he's not always gonna win some of those big, lumbering backs in at the goal line. But I thought he was okay there. I mean, I don't think that was it. But he's just not a dynamic player and that's that that's maybe what they need. Dave, what are your thoughts on Darian Thompson. I feel really good about Darien Thompson as the third safety on your team. Like if he's your third safety and your special team's

ace then that seems pretty good. If he's your starter and you're asking him to be dynamic, that's probably not very good. Which that should sound a lot like Jeff Heath because the Cowboys love doing that. They love promoting guys into starting roles who were good at special teams and other stuff like that. Um, you know, we don't have to do it right now. They don't. They don't seem to value safety play the same way as a

lot of other teams. Um. I don't really I don't want to knock Darian Thompson because he's just doing with that stuff him basically, like he's in that situation, Um, because of the Cowboys choices at stocking their roster. Basically, So you know, he had I thought he was all right, Yeah he I mean he had at least a couple of plays where I thought he could have made a better tackle. Um, it is what it is, basically. I mean, we don't think that they're gonna go get Earl Thomas.

So this is what they're working with for the time being. Although I meant to say Mike McCarthy said this morning, Uh, they are gonna you know, Brandon Carter didn't play a snap last week. I think that's gonna change. I think they're gonna see a little bit hard. I think we think we lost day for a second. There. Uh, Dave did mention, Dave, you're there, Dave, there's a spot for

you down Okay. Uh they Dave did mention, though he did mention Earl Thomas, and I do want to and to be honest with you, I think it's something that almost every week we're probably going to have at least a question about Earl Tom as long as he's a free agent number one and number two, as long as we're seeing play from the Cowboys defense that you think could be better. Right, and so my question for you is not necessarily do you think the Cowboys will make

this move? Because we know right now, as of what we see right now, it doesn't suggest that they are actively pursuing him or vice versa. Do you think can I ask you this, Derek? Sure? Can I jump in real quickly because I do see a lot of people on social media writing and all that, and I'm trying to keep the fans plugged into this whole conversation as well.

One of the biggest questions that I constantly see is them asking what's really the reason as to why the Cowboys haven't made this move yet, whether they wanted to sign him or not, what's really stopping them or just what's really going on there? Do you guys know, I don't think that the Cowboys feel like he's healthy. Yeah, that's interesting. I don't. I think that's that's a fear that they have. Are you saying mentally healthy or physically healthy? Healthy? Love?

I mean absolutely love how Nick does things like, I mean, he put he puts that out there, and when he puts it out there, you can tell it's more to it than jess he's got a bum knee or a bum shoulder, Like, there's more to it. Because I've worked with you so long, I know you're saying more than what you're saying. So tell me what you're saying. I will break, Okay. I just he's got a lot of issues in his life. He's got he's got a lot of stuff. Is it worth what he is on the field?

And it's and that's probably a tough question because he's he's a good football player. He still is. He was in the Pro Bowl last year. He was a good player. And I just don't know if the Cowboys are saying it is all this as he going to be what we need and be. Is he gonna be worth what we think would be some headaches? Is he ready to play football? I don't know. I don't know if he's one hundred percent healthy. And I think the Cowboys are trying to figure this out. You know, they're also trying

to figure out if they really you need him? Can Darian Thompson plays he good enough? I don't know if he's proved that he was, Dave, were you about to say something? I think we got you back? Now? Am I back? Can you hear your back? Yeah? You're back? Okay, just making sure sorry? Um yeah, No, I mean I don't think it was like, I don't think anybody was lying. I think there's a lot of concerns about whether or not Earl Thomas is worth the headache. Like I think

that was actually a true storyline. And but I will say, and I've said this before and I'll say it again, it's safety. And I already said it was tight end this week too. Is like not being losing games and not being good has a way of changing your opinion of whether or not something's worth it. Like Amari Cooper's not worth a first round pick until you're averaging one hundred and seventy passing yards a game, and then you

change your mind about it real quick. So that's what And I don't, you know, I don't know what they're gonna do or if it's gonna happen, But I don't think you can close that book completely until we see what this secondary looks like over longer period of time. Do you guys, it sounds like you guys had a fairly decent view of Darian Thompson and what he did

in Week one. Do you think this is a week where they should consider using Brandon car at least on some snaps at safety or do you think you stick with safety as is and maybe if you're going to use him, you look at using him maybe at the cornerback position. I think I don't know if I just be dynamic on defense because you know the Falcons will be you know, Julio's gonna line up different spots, so you have to be dynamic too. You have a corner who's a veteran who can play safety. He could play

both spots. You know, he understands, he's seen a lot of things, a lot of football in his life. You need to use him in a way that maybe the Falcons aren't necessarily expecting. So I don't think it's just one way. I think you got to disguise a lot of things because you know the Falcons will. Sorry, Dave, my audio might have cut out earlier, but Mike McCarthy did say the goal is to up Brandon cars reps. I think they have a better grasp on what he's

comfortable with. So, you know, I don't think he's gonna start or play sixty snaps, but I do think we'll see car out there this weekend at least a little bit. I would imagine. Yeah, I don't think. I don't get the idea that they would put him out on the boundary with any of those receivers, but maybe as a hybrid role, maybe as your third safety or coming in as a safety and spot situations, stuff like that subpackage stuff.

You know. My first thought when I saw that was is this And Mike McCarthy has talked a lot about this. He believes football is a matchup game, and he believes it's all about every week trying to find matchups. My thought was, is this the week where Brandon car is a guy that maybe they can use on a Hayden Hurst. He is a bigger guy. He comes in and I

think he becomes the biggest cornerback the Cowboys have. I think, certainly of those of those starting cornerbacks, is he a guy that maybe they think a certain situations they want to match up with Julio. Now I'm not saying he can cover Julio, but I do think again, if you're trying to look at matchups and you're trying to look at body types, I think Brandon Carter might give you some options there from the standpoint of some bigger body types that you might face this week. What do you

guys think? I think that sounds like a good plan. YEA, yeah, it's a plan. It's just a plan, right. I Mean sometimes when you tight ends have given this team problems, you know, and so if you if you have a guy that can play safety for you, you know, I hear that all the time. If you have like a zach Ertz, They're like, we'll just put your cornerback on them.

That's not a good thing to put your cornerback on a tight end, because what does that mean for the other matchup, So to have a safety slat who's got cornerback experience. That seems like a good plan to being. I like it. Tell McCarthy that I like it all right. I will make it sure. I send him an email as soon as this show is over and let him know what we're thinking here on the break, we're gonna take our first break and we come back. We're gonna

jump into the Dallas offense. I got some questions for these guys about the offense and how it performed last week and then looking forward to their matchup against this Atlanta defense. Remember in the third segment, well, Bucky Brooks joining us to break down the Atlanta defense. We'll be right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. We're back in the tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Let's take a listen,

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That's why at American Airlines we've been using enhanced cleaning measures so you can feel confident every step until you get to them. So, as always, our people can't wait to take you to yours American Airlines. You are why we fly back to the Break. Welcome back to the second segment of The Break live from the s WBC Mortgage studios. At the start, Dick, you got something for us over there, I do, I got I got something for us here. I think what we need to do

is find now I don't have it. Okay, we got all kinds of things going on over the studio. Guys, We're gonna get this worked out. I promise. All right, let's talk a little bit about the Cowboys offense. There are several things I kind of want to go through here, and one that's a big picture. One question out for you is a big picture. I guess we'll start with that one. You look at the around the NFL. The Cowboys, the Panthers, the Giants, and the Browns all lost in

Week one. The Reds, I'm sorry, the Washington football team the only team in the NFL that has a new coach that actually won in Week one. All those other four teams lost in Week one. My question for you guys is how much do you think that the new

coaches have been disadvanced about what's happened this offseason? Typically they get a few more practices, they get to bring their team back a little sooner, because I think there's a recognized thing in the NFL that being a new coach requires some extra time in order to get your team up to speed with everything that's happened with the pandemic and coronavirus, like, they haven't had that kind of time. How much do you think they've been disadvantaged going into

this season. We'll start first with you Amber. Well, it's obviously gonna always be a disadvantage when you're not able to get everyone in the same place in person and

go through things physically together. But at the same time, it sounds to me like everything I heard during this off season, we're just great things that the virtual program went well and everything was going as planned, and they were gonna take this as an advantage as to not allowing other people to watch anything that they did during preseason. So and I remember we had this discussion is similar discussion several weeks ago, and I think it was it

might have been naked that brought up the whole thing. Well, you can hide everything that you want, but at the same time, you're not actually practicing and actually doing it with the team, so that that can always come back and hurt you. And I guess that's what happened, at least with the Cowboys. I can't speak for other teams necessarily because I haven't been keeping up with them as much as I have with the Cowboys, but I think regardless,

it's always going to be a disadvantage. But at the same time, from the sounds of it, it didn't seem like it was a huge hurdle because of the technology and everything that they were doing this offseason. Dave, Yeah, way to go. Age took the words right out of my mouth. I thought it was an awesome advantage that nobody knew what they were up to. That was kind

of the talking point for the last six weeks. So yeah, I mean, obviously there's gonna be disadvantages that come with it, but every team in the league, nobody was able to have OTAs or mini camp, and I know some teams have been around longer, but that doesn't make it any easier to get ready for football without preseason and practice

and stuff like that. On top of that, a team like the Rams, they've been doing the same thing for three or four years at this point, So you know, the Cowboys had a pretty good book to consult on what they were going to do. So, I mean, I'm not buying this. It is true, but I'm not buying it as a worthwhile excuse. Nick. Yeah, I mean I do think it was. It was a disadvantage for him

more than anything. I think not having preseason games probably hurt the Cowboys more than it hurt, you know, hurt the Rams, of course, and because you got you gotta remember preseason games. Yeah, it's not about just the players, you know. Yeah, Okay, Zeke gets ten snaps in preseason, now you got zero. But it's the ill tell you who plays every single snap, and that's the coaching staff.

They know where they're sitting, they know who challenges a place, They know how to call in a play really quickly and who doing this and who would have talked to a guy on the sideline. They don't take plays off in the preseason so they didn't have any of that. I thought that was it was probably a show that I mean, I bet you it was a cluster down there for them as opposed to maybe other staffs that are more you know, well in tune with with what's going on. Again, non excuse, you have to go do it,

but I guarantee that coaching staff missed the preseason games. Yeah, to be honest with I think what I've come to the conclusion of is just I don't think the Cowboys and I don't know if this happened in the other games, I can't really speak to that, but I don't think the Cowboys took full advantage of the fact that they had a team that was on film doing exactly what they did to them on Sunday, and it looked like their team wasn't prepared to defend that, and that to

me was the biggest travesty of all of it. And on top of that, we didn't really see the Cowboys do new and different things like they did an offset by saying, Okay, we're hiding all this stuff, so we're gonna do all We're gonna throw all these new and different wrinkles at you. That you're not prepared for. So they didn't take care of it on that side of it. And then they also didn't take advantage of the fact that they had the other team on film all this time,

for these last several years. They knew exactly what they like to do, and it didn't seem like they were prepared for that. So all the way around, I don't think the Cowboys took full advantage of their opportunity to hide and to be able to have their opponent be seen. All right, let's move on to the next question at for you guys, Atlanta's defense front. They sack Russell Wilson

last week three times? How concerned to you at the Dallas offensive line, which we know they have some issues there, we'll be able to match up against these pass rushers for Atlanta. Let's start first with you Nick Well, I think you know, we'll see how good Terrence Steele is, you know, in the second game. But but I do think that we said it last week. I mean, I think Aaron Donald kind of presented such a huge problem

across the line. You have to give so much, you know, looks towards him and and you know, everything his way. You've got to figure out where he is, and so I think it's hard to give help to everybody, especially when you need it for for a guy like Aaron Donald. So but Atlanta will bring, you know, their share pass rushers. I think it makes sure if Terren Steele can kind of hold up his own on the right side, I think they should be pretty good. But that's that's a

big if because he's still a young guy. Amber Man. I am still heartbroken at the fact that Blake Jarwin is out because I think not only is he good at catching balls and was having a great camp blah blah blah, but everything that I saw from him at training camp, I was hoping he would be able to help a lot more blocking and helping the offense in that way as well. He had done a pretty good

job at that. So it sucks that at least don't I don't see any current tight end being able to help with the blocking at that level that I was expecting Blake Jarwin to do. But all you know, I think that everything that I saw from Steele honestly wasn't terrible. I feel okay at having him there the position. At least we're the next few what two more games before we get Collinsy. We were talking about the whole season. That's a different story, But as of now and for

this upcoming game, I think that the Cowboys can't handle that. Dave. It's funny because I mean, obviously the Falcons don't have a defender on Aaron Donald's caliber. Nobody does. But Grady Jarrett's no slouch. He is a very good interior pass rusher. So you know, Connor Williams and Joe Looney are probably gonna have their hands full again. And I think maybe this is debatable, maybe this is a question for Bucky.

I think I like the pair of Tack McKinley and Dante Fowler more than the guys that were edge rushing for the Rams. You know, we talked about how we didn't think that Rams edge rushers were all that special and it was really more about Donald. So lesser interior still good though, and then better edge rushers, I would guess, So yeah, I mean, it's something to be worried about.

I'll just say, you know, I guess the silver lining is Russell Wilson might have gotten sacked three times, it didn't stop him from just slicing and dicing that secondary, so, uh, you know, hopefully I think a heavier emphasis on play

action maybe and getting Dak moving. It seems like, I know he scrambled a little bit, but that that bootleg element of his game that we've seen so much over the years didn't really seem like it was a thing last week, and maybe that would maybe that would be a good idea to kind of mitigate the fact that Terrence Steele is out there. Yeah, I think I agree with you, Dave that if you look across this Atlanta defensive front, I think they got more horses than the

Rams do. I think this is going to be a classic case of the deciding do you want the one guy that can wreck everything and then everybody else kind of feeds off of that, or having several guys who all at any given moment can wreck right, And so I think that's where what you're facing this week is you got three guys then I think are a legitimate good NFL pass rushers that can get generate some pressure. That's going to be a lane for the Cowboys offensive line.

I think trying to match up and not necessarily being able to focus just on one guy, but now having a number of guys that can be a problem for them and even given time. Let's go ahead and move on to the next question I have for you guys going back to last season, how what do you think Kellen Moore is doing as your play caller? And if you had one thing that you would like to see him do more or do less, what would it be. We're gonna start first with you, Nick Um. I think

he's done okay. You know, kind of liked to grade him. I would say like eight and eight kind of was what he did last year, kind of like right at the middle. He did great against teams that weren't very good. He struggled against I mean they didn't they didn't do anything against teams that were really pretty good on defense. So for a first year coordinator, you know, I thought he did okay, But I mean he's got to be better. What I think he needs to be more dynamic with

is just things that you haven't seen. I mean, you know, it's I don't know. I always think it's kind of weird. Is a guy who's kind of his personality is kind of dry. Is he going to be dynamic as a play caller? I mean, I don't know. Is that does that happen. I mean, the best coach in NFL history is about as blah as you can get from a personality standpoint. He seems to always pull something out of his act that keeps his team among the best in the NFL. Right, So, I don't know, I don't know

if that necessarily correlates for me I'm talking about. I don't know. I just I just want to see more cool stuff. I'm with you on that. Amber Well. I guess he deserves credit for having the number one offense last year, so the kudos to him on his first year of coaching as a coordinator. But for this year, I think, um, I agree with Nick be just be

more dynamic on offense, cream or plays. I remember him talking a lot about these wrinkles, and I'm still waiting to see more ankles, because when you talk about wrinkles, that's more than two little things little stripes. I was expecting a lot more. But I do have a question. And I know that a lot of fans are talking about the play caller and Mike McCarthy versus Kellen Moore

and who should be the play caller? And I remember Mike McCarthy was very clear about his impressions on Kellen Moore and saying and making sure that, Okay, this is the play caller. I don't want to step on his toes. I want to let him do his thing. But what's how difficult is it on game day to just kind of have a combination of both working side by side together and making decisions together. I know that in real time, I'm sure that's difficult to do, but do you see

that often in the NFL? Like, just how do you work together between having maybe two play callers? I mean, you're not gonna have You're not gonna have two guys calling the offense because I think there's too much potential for wires to be crossed. But to paraphrase Jason Garrett, I mean that's an ongoing collective deal tip. I mean, that's that's what those headsets are for. You know, Kellen Moore comes up with what he wants and Mike McCarthy's

obviously going to have final say. I would be very surprised if Kellen Moore just has carte blanche like obviously Mike McCarthy has the power to override that or offer his input. I you know, I really think we need to run here. I don't know how I feel about that. So that's an every snap deal, and I think it's very rare for it not to be that way, Like you know, like Sean Payton with the Saints, probably Sean McVay.

Head coaches who call the offense, it's a little bit different, But in a situation like that, I think it's you know, it's collaboration basically on every snap of the game. Yeah, you know. I'll be interested to see as this season goes on. If this offense is again and I don't think the offense struggled, I wouldn't put it in the category. If they struggled last week, I will say they didn't

live up to what I think their potential is. And I do wonder if that becomes a theme for this offense where they're not quite as good as we think they should be. I do wonder at some point if Mike McCarthy decides that he wants to be more involved in the play calling or actually take the play calling. By the way, there have been some really good play callers in the NFL that have gotten those duties taken

from them. And if by the head coach. I remember Sean Payton being here and Bill Parcels taking those responsibilities from him, and he went on to be Sean Payton, right, So it happens, and I don't think that you know, again, Kellen Moore is very very early in his NFL coaching career. This is a very extremely inexperienced coordinator in the NFL. He didn't really do have a much of a coaching

career before he became a coordinator. And so I think, you know, when you factor all that in, you got a guy like Mike McCarthy, and that is extremely experienced as a head coach, extremely experienced as a play caller. I do wonder at some point, if he's not getting the results that he wants, does Mike McCarthy take over and kind of impose his will bit more or take those responsibilities back. He probably does that more during the

Pope ahead, guys, but no, go ahead. I just hope, I hope, I hope they open it up a little bit more before Mike McCarthy makes the situation, makes a decision like that, because I mean, I agree with you, Derek. I don't think they struggled, you know, Dak almost throw for three hundred and Zeke had one hundred and thirty and all purpose and two touchdowns. They just couldn't convert on third down. I think that's that's the real difference.

But to Nick's point, like they just looked kind of boring, they looked very similar to what they looked like last year. I'm stealing these stats from Seth Walder on Twitter, but he charted every team in the NFL in Week one and how often they put guys in motion and how often they had guys in motion at the snap of the ball. The Cowboys only had a guy in motion at the snap of the ball on four point three percent of their snaps, and for reference, the Rams did

it thirty four percent of the time. A third of the time the Rams had a receiver crossing the formation or a guy creating misdirection when they snapped the ball. It puts so much stress on a defense, and the Cowboys are just like, no, we don't really want to

do that. They also, I think I think dak only did play action ten times on thirty nine attempts, and when you have a guy like Zeke Elliott, you should probably be doing it more than that, in my opinion, So I don't think you have to tweak a whole lot to make this thing a little bit more dynamic. And I hope that they give Kellen Moore a chance to do some of that, but you know, before they make some kind of decision about changing the play caller.

I do think the assumption there with what you were saying, Dave, is that that somebody is holding him back. It could be one of situations where he needs to let himself be freer, let himself do more things. Maybe that's not something that he's being held from. Maybe he's just not being as creative or really pushing on those kinds of things to give this offense a little more of a dynamic feel. And but did you have something you want

throwing there? I was going to mention, you know, it says a lot looking at the coaching staff that Mike McCarthy put together, The fact that he brought in so many experienced guys, which is something that wasn't usual to see here with the Cowboys. Usually you see a lot of guys that don't that end up having coaching jobs with not much experience behind them, and the fact that he decided to keep Kellen Moore as the offensive coordinator.

I think that it says a lot. He must see something in him and fully trust his abilities to coach. So I guess I mean the him with so much experience that he has Mike McCarthy, the fact that he sees this young guy and is giving him that kind of power. I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt and just hope that it works out to his advantage.

You know, that's a great point, Amber, because the fact that Mike has all the experience that I just was talking about, and he entrusted the offense to Kellen Moore when it could have been very easy for him to say, Hey, I'm coming as a new head coach, I'm going to call my own plays. I don't think anybody would have faulted him for that. The fact that he said I'd rather keep Kellen Moore as my guy to call plays, that speaks a lot. So I think that's a I

think that's a great point. We're gonna go and take our final break. When we come back, hopefully we'll have Bucky Brooks joining us here. We have some other questions we're gonna get to as well. Do all that. In the final segment, This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com radio since eighteen sixty five. Stetson Hats are American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Want to show your Texas and team pride too, You can by purchasing

your own Stetson. You can look just like how the flag guys do on field at every home game. Stetson Hats the official crown of all self respecting Cowboys and your favorite football team. Get yours today at shop dot Dallas Cowboys dot com or at Stetson dot com. I'm Jay Novachik, former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys. Back in the day. I was the guy who always got the tough yard and that's why I run with John

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We're backing the tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor Batman and cream Soda. Is he a new Combone's music to my ears? Okay, Doctor time my ears and mouth, New Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda, delash, just do bad. Back to the break. Get your tickets now to see the Cowboys take on the Atlanta Falcons the first home game of the twenty twenty season this Sunday at noon.

A limited number of tickets are still on sale right now. Get yours at Dallas Cowboys dot com slash tickets. Man I'm really glad that we're able to read that. Get your tickets now, come to the game. Not everybody gets to, but at least more than zero, which is we'll be an upbreak. Yeah. Mike McCarthy mentioned is press conference yesterday. They're expecting about twenty five percent capacity at the stadium, which will be nice. It'll be nice to have to

have some fans in the crowd. And Nick, I know, especially for you, as you were at the game last week and I've heard you and many other people say how how eerily quiet it was. It should feel a lot different at at and T Stadium this weekend. It was. It was terrible. I mean, I don't know. I was being in my own suite, like I said, that was cool for about thirty seconds, and then I was like

this sucks. I mean just because I didn't have my team here at number one, and then I didn't have you know, the guy mispronouncing names up there, and I mean I would have taken that big time. Oh yeah, all right, we are joined now. We are joined now by Bucky Brooks of NFL Network. Thanks Bucky for joining us. Today. We're talking Atlanta Falcons defense versus the Cowboys. Offense, and as I do every day when we have you on,

I'm gonna start with the big picture question. Talk to me about their greatest strength and then their greatest weakness as a defensive unit. I think the greatest strength defensively is just their overall team speed. This is a fast defense. They put a premier on making sure that they've collected a ton of what they call urgent athletes. They have guys that can go from side on the sideline and can play very explosive players. And I think it starts

upfront with Grady Jarrett. They've complimented him by going and get Dante Fowler. So upfront they have guys that can really get after attack. McKinley has kind of come on board, even though they didn't pick up his fifth year option, played like a madman a week ago, and so upfront they're talented. Dion Jones is the guy that controls them in the middle, and then Kean O'Neil is a guy

that is they're enforcing down the middle. So like most defenses that are good, they're strong right down the middle. They just have to do a good job of getting good play on the corners. Now, looking at the defense, the Atlanta Fulton's defense and looking at some of what the Cowboys were able to do last week. Which area do you expect the Cowboys to be able to exploit the most in this game? The running game or the

passing game? When after that you're gonna look at the yards and see how effishing Russell Wilson was thirty one for thirty five had three hundred and fifty yards and think that the Cowboys should air it out. But really, the Cowboys on offense have to think about protecting their defense. This may be a game where Ezekiel Elliott plays a huge role as they continue to try and keep the ball away from the Falcons. Ezekiel Elliott has to get twenty five or more touches. They have to put him

over the one hundred yard mark. If they are running the ball efficiently and effectively, that is the best way. Because the problems come when you expose that offensive line to this front four. You can't put them in long yard of situations and allow the Falcons to tee off on this offensive line. Bucky, I don't know the roster for the Falcons like I should. Is Adrian Claiborne on the team? No? Man, Adrian Claiborne. I think he's still around. I think the big thing has been Dante foul attat MCKI.

They upgraded there by d N Jones being a major factor there, and then the Nickel package that they have. They play a five safety front. They drop Kean O'Neil down in the box. So this is a team that is a little different in terms of unorthodox four two five, but they can get after you because they have a ton of athletes. Bucky, we actually talked about this in the which No, Nick, Adrian Clayborne is not there anymore. I see what you did there. Yeah, No, it was

definitely the joke of Nick to day. Would you would you agree that, I mean, maybe they're not all pros, but this is a better edge rushing situation than they saw last week. Would you agree? By far, by far, a much more complete and more explosive set of edge rushers. They can come at you in waves. Dante Fowler is a guy that certainly has the power and explosiveness to give you problems. Had a half sack a week ago.

And then Tad McKinley is a high mortor athletic player, and so we saw the way that they isolated Terry Steele last week. They were able to take a wide nine alignment, get them one on one, and they did some things to be able to keep the Cowboys from helping out. I think you're going to see some of those situations where they can try and use their speed

to really create problems in that matchup. Speaking of that pass rush, last week, we saw Terren Steele was a starting right tackle for the Cowboys, got his first start, mixed reviews, I would assume at best with regards to how he played. But that being said, what did you see from him? And how concerned would you be if you were the Cowboys going into this week with him being again their right tackle up against these pass rushings. I mean, let's be honest. Up front, they got whooped

a bunch of different people. Aaron Donald had his way with the interior three. Terry Steele did a pretty solid job until you got into the fourth quarter. The issue that you're always going to have with an undrafted free agent is trying to get acclimated to the speed of the pass rushes, and when the Cowboys win long yarded situations third and seven or more is going to be difficult and tough for him. The best thing that the Cowboys can do is they have to win first down.

They have to win their early daw So Dak has to work with third and fours, third and five where it's a mix down where you can run or pass. But if you get these obvious passing nows, it doesn't matter who is playing tackle. These athletes that Atlanta has, they can give anybody problems in these one on one situations when they know they only have to worry about a quarterback to wing the ball. Now, there's a lot

of talk about the Cowboys wide receiver. Obviously, that trio that we keep expecting big things from last week didn't necessarily go as everyone expected, and even Michael Gallup talked recently to the media and he said he's not really concerned about it after looking at the tape. He expect them to be able to do what they're trying to do.

When you look at matchups, specifically looking at the receivers, how does that what does that look like with the Falcons secondary, well, I mean it's favorable match up for the Cowboys. Isaiah Oliver and aj Turell had up and down moments against the Seahawks. A week ago. They're young, they're inexperience, and so you would like to think that Michael Gallup and Mary Cooper would be able to have their way in one on one situations. This is a defense that is similar to some of the things that

Chris Rashard wanted to do last year. A lot of one on one man coverage, single hot safety looks. So they're going to be opportunities. The key will be can they win against press coverage and more importantly, can they win quick enough so Dak Prescott can get the ball to them before the pass fresk gets home and knocks him around. Oh you said something. You said something about the Cowboys trying to get Zeke, you know, get him

going and maybe keep the Falcons off the field. Do you think that that actually goes against what the Cowboys are trying to do with building the offense with those three receivers. I mean, sometimes you try to play someone else's game, it doesn't always work. Do you think that there's a way they can mix that where because maybe the Cowboys need to be the team the Falcons want to keep off the field, you know, does that limit them with the receivers they have to play that kind

of style. Well, yeah, because you saw that strategy, Employee that we could go by the Rams. The Rams made a concerted effort to keep the ball. I want to say the time the possession was over thirty five minutes. The best way to slow down the Cowboys is to not let the Cowboys offense get onto the field. So you could see that the rub with both of these teams. The Atlanta Falcons aren't great on defense, and so they have to figure out how to protect their defense. So

do they play keep away with their offense. For the Cowboys, maybe it is come out and be very aggressive in the first quarter, throw the ball all over the yard, and then in the second quarters and later in the game, get the ball to Zeke Elliott. You have to be committed because if you're going to play that style, it

puts the pressure on Dak and the wide receivers. They got to win their matchups early because what you don't want to happen is you can't have a series of three and outs early where you give the Atlanta Falcons back to back possessions where they can attack the Cowboys defense. Before we let you go, but I have one more question for you. Talking about those wide receivers at Amber mentioned for the Cowboys and how they match up against Atlanta's secondary. I want to go back to the Seattle

game against Atlanta. What kinds of pass routes did you see that those receivers had the most success running against that defensive secondary. You know, it's funny because people are gonna look at the numbers and then think that Russell Wilson threw the ball all over the yard outside early in the game, a lot of swing routes to the running backs. They stretched him from sidel on the sideline, did a really good job of getting the ball in

the hands. And Chris Carson later in the game in the second half, that's when they attack down the field fourth and five, toy hit DK Metcalf on a go route. I think for the Cowboys, Zeke Elliott has to be involved early in the pass game. You gotta take the check down. You have to be patient enough to force the dbs to come up. Then you take your shots. Dak Prescott has to push you down the field, but he has to be selective. A week ago was different

because the Rams took away the deep ball. I don't know if Atlanta is going to play it because that's typically not in their scheme repertoire to play a lot of two deep coverage. All right, Rocky, Bucky, we appreciate you joining us. We'll see you next week. I guess real quick, before we let you go, you want to give us a kind of what you think is gonna happen this week. A prediction for the game. Well, I mean, I think a lot of pressures on the Cowboys, and

Cowboys have to win this. They can't fall behind two. Oh, so I think you'll see them play with a little more urgency and desperation. It's on the offense. The offense has to show up each and every week because there's a strength of the team. I think you see a much better effort. I would expect him to play very very well against the defensive struggle. All right, man, we appreciate you. We're gonna be back next week. Actually, sorry, Bucky will be back next week. We're gonna be back

tomorrow at eleven thirty. We're gonna get you guys ready for the game. We'll give you our predictions for the game till then. For nickiep and Dave Hellman, Ambergarcia, I am Derek Eagleton. This has been the Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com video. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.