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It's time for The Break.
On Dallas Cowboys dot Com.
We were on.
Break with Ambar Garcia.
Brian brought us, Nick Harris and Derek Eagleton.
It is Tuesday, August thirteenth, twenty twenty four, Season twenty, episode number sixteen. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break, Live from Oxnard, California. We are entering the third week of training camp out here in Oxnard. We will have about a week and a half left.
Man, I am sick of you counting these damn man, they need more practice time out here.
No, good, we're good. We got plenty.
I think we can. I think we could do ten more days.
I think we right Cleveland practice good, ready for Cleveland week out here?
No, no, we're good, and we're good. Chris, Chris Beam, our producer, just gave me the hands.
We got ten ten days left before we will be back in Dallas.
Some of us will be leaving a little earlier.
Than that, but we won't talk about that right now, But let's talk about the somebody. Oh yeah, we are presented by LGLG is the world's number one O led TV brand for eleven years in counting. See why at LG dot com, Ford slash o led Evo. All right, let's talk about Cowboys game. They had their first preseason game over the weekend.
We were there.
Uh, they played the Los Angeles Rams. They lose thirteen twelve scores. Not really that important. You come out of practice preseason games. You want to get some good work for your young guys, and you want to keep everybody healthy. Cowboys stayed pretty clean. One injury that did happen during the game Toomey Dooga.
What do we know at this point, Yeah, Chumaydoga.
He left in the first quarter and he was seen with a boot around his left foot going into the rest of the game and then going into the locker room. He was in street clothes and had that boot on his left foot. And it's kind of interesting too, because this time last year he was battling an ankle out here at training camp. But it seems at this time
it's sounding to be a little bit more serious. We'll find out more for Mike McCarthy today at his press conference eleven thirty a in Pacific one thirty three folks back out in Dallas. But that could be that could be the catalyst towards Tyler Geiton getting some more first team reps. I know a lot of people have been asking for it, and I think the virus that he had a couple of weeks ago maybe slowed the process
even from the coaching staff's perspective. But now it sounds like there's gonna be a huge opportunity in front of him this week, not only in the game on Saturday against the Raiders, but another joint practice with the Rams on Wednesday.
So expects sixty to get a lot of work.
It's one of the things.
It's one of the things actually that that coming out of that game he got a lot more work than maybe they were even expecting for him.
Would you guys see from him?
Yeah? Yeah.
The thing with the thing with Geyton, and it's so evident and by the way, if he could go of missing a week of practice basically and playing at the level that he played at in that football game, it's kind of a good sign for your Dallas Cowboys.
Right there with it.
It's fun to watch him play when you could see the athletic ability, and especially the very first rep he has and it's a pass set and you see him duck his head, and usually when an offensive tackle or blocker ducks his head, all that waits forward and you see the.
Defender grab and work around him that way.
But his ability to duck his head but then recover with the footwork and then get his hands in place and then keep the rusher wide push the rusher by that was a really good sign to me.
That just shows you his athletic ability. It shows you the link that he has.
And from that point on, when you started to evaluate him getting off the football in the running game, they tried to run the crack toss. He's knocking guys down on the crack toss, playing in space. There were a lot of positives about a guy, again that didn't practice all that much last week, if at all. Yeah, and for him to work his way back in I think it's a good scignce. It's unfortunate for a Doga. It seems like this training camp he has had to deal
with a lot of things. He had a lower back problem, he had backspasms. Now he's got the condition with his foot.
We'll see how that all plays out. But yeah, they now have to kind of figure out how things are going to work out at this tackle spot with Geydon, Like we get in the line's share of the reps, but then what's going to happen behind that, because they that's something that you know, you don't want to go into the season if a doogas say long term and we don't know yet, but you don't want to go in there shorthanded with that group.
Well, with Geyton, I've been extremely impressed knowing that he was sick for multiple days and then for him to perform the way that he did at the game, I mean that is very very promising and I'm super happy to see that the hard work that he's been putting in all the hours is translating and it's being shown on the field. I mean, the guy during the off season and even heading here into training camp, you ask him, Hey, what do you like doing?
What's your hobby? What do you do? Football? Football? Football?
Oh, my time off football, learn more football. So everything that has come out of his mouth is all about football.
So the guy speaking of all in he is all in, so he's.
Putting in the work and anyways, super super exciting to see that such a young guy switching positions like that. He's coming in and it doesn't look like he's gonna miss a beat.
Yeah, it's so interesting. You look at this team and what they've done. Really you could probably go back fifteen years or so, and their ability to be able to get good offensive linemen. It's like when they when they go for those first round offensive linemen, it's very.
Rare they miss like they they have.
They have been able to find some really good success there, and you look at other franchises less they like the Giants, tant so. Yeah, they've spent these first round picks and just haven't had the success. Like you, It's not an easy thing necessarily to draft, but the Cowboys have been really really good at it, at least from what we're seeing so far.
From Guyton.
Yeah, I think that you go back to even you mentioned go back all the way to Tyron Smith.
Yeah.
I think it starts there and then it's the Tyron Smith. It's the Zach Martins, it's the Travis Fredericks, It's.
And Travis Frederick. A lot of people didn't think that was no bit.
That was There was a lot of people that you know, when they when they when they dumped out of their spot to go all the way to the bottom of the board in the draft Travis Frederick and pick up an extra third round pick. That was a brilliant move. And you're absolutely right. There's a lot of us in me included that we're like, whoa, you know, did you get the value for the pick, because there there have been another player you were taken.
Why did you trade back? A lot of questions there.
But to your point, they've done a great job of evaluating offensive linemen and especially those first offensive lineman.
Yeah, going back to Guiden, I think for me, I expected him to look pretty good in pass protection against the Rams, and he did.
He looked great. He didn't allow any pressures.
For me, I've been expecting the inexperience to show up in the run game, and for what he did in the run game on Sunday, I felt great about it. You know, he was able to get get after guys at the point of attack he had to push, He was able to create running lanes off the left side. Now, granted, the running game itself was not great. I'm sure that's something we'll dive into. That's becoming a more glaring problem.
I think his training powers on. But looking from Tyler Guiden's perspective specifically, I think he did.
Just fine in the run game.
Now, granted it's a very small sample size, but a really good start for him on the field.
All right, let's flip and let's talk about it. I'm gonna do some player evaluations as we go throughout the show. Really in the second segment, we're going to dedicate it to throwing out some names and getting you guys opinions. But I think we got to start first with the name that I think everybody wants to hear about, which is Trey Lance. He gets his debut for the Cowboys, plays a ton in this game. What were your what is your evaluation of him after watching that game?
What do you think? I think he is reletive? What you thought going into the game versus how he played?
Yeah, my evaluation is he didn't make many mistakes, but he didn't he didn't do much to impress either. I mean, when you throw the ball forty one times and you only end up with one hundred and eighty eight yards. I believe that's about four point seven yards per attempt. It kind of shows you what he's doing. And even when he escaped the pocket, he relied on his throwing side.
He relied on that right side. And so whenever you kind of factor in the fact that he's not pushing the ball more than fifteen yards downfield, and when he is, he had I think he was about one for five he had that completion two or excuse me, that was Cooper Rush that had the completion of Jalen Brooks. So when you take out fifteen plus yards down the field, and then you also factor in that he's been rolling to the right and very when he's one read, he's sticking.
To the right side of the field.
He's taken away seventy percent of the field and so he's not seeing everything completely. He missed a couple of guys that were wide open down the field. There was one in the fourth quarter to Princeton Fan. I mean Fan could have walked in, he could have crawled into the end zone and Lance just didn't see him. Obviously, the fourth down throw to Jalen Cropper, you know, play call. How much is that factor in? But nevertheless, he's got to make that throw. He's got to give Cropper a
chance at least. I think, all in all, I would give his performance somewhere in a seed to C minus range as far as the grade goes. But he didn't make any mistakes. And I think if you're Trey Lance, you can look at it from two different perspectives. One, Okay, maybe are you a little gun shy to maybe make any big chances because you don't want to mess up in this big opportunity that you have. But also, on the same token, let's say you go and throw an
interception on the first drive against the Raiders. Maybe it kind of calms your nerves and say, okay, I got that mistake out the way, let's unleash it a little bit. I really do believe the best thing that can happen for Trey Lance in the first half next week is to throw a bad interception just so he could start forcing some things a little bit more and trusting his arm a little bit better. I truly do think that's when he'll start to grow comfortable in the system and in this offense.
Well, the thing for me and I had a lot of hopes in him.
I remember when we first started doing the show that we first got out here at training camp, I mentioned him as one of the guys that stood out to me based on the way he carried himself the field.
And you just have that leader vibe and command.
But then it wasn't and it hasn't been translating onto play the playing and nothing at practice, because I would say I would give him the benefit of the dow after this game. Had I seen anything that would make me hold on to the hope that he can be more and right now, so far he hasn't. And the fans, I know, I see a lot of questions like, hey, can he replace Trey Lance? Can he replace Dak? I mean, can Trey replace Dak? I think that answer that answer
your question. We only have two more preseason games. I would assume he takes on most of the playing time there. Cooper Rush, what he showed in a little bit and what he's shown at training camp is that he's still Cooper Rush. He's the Cooper Rush that we've seen and
he's a very reliable backup quarterback. So right now, Trey he's in a spot last year of his contract here with the Cowboys, and he's going to have to really really step it up, because even though you say, Nick, that he didn't make a lot of mistakes, and I agree, to me, what he didn't do equals us mistakes.
A little bit.
Is it's almost equivalent to me what he didn't what he wasn't able to do. And a lot of the times I like that he shows that he's a mobile quarterback and he's not afraid to run. But at the same time, I want to see you throwing the ball. I don't want to see you running. I need to see my running backs running, not you At the moment, I want to see what you can do as a quarterback.
Yeah, I think we and Nick gave you a really good idea of the things I think that he missed, and I think that we would have a different view of Trey Lance if he completed three passes that we were talking about.
It was so clear.
And I don't know if Mike McCarthy did this on purpose, but the past that they set it up, the one de fant to me seem like, Okay, I'm gonna take a shot here, we're close.
To the red zone. I'm gonna run this wheel.
I'm gonna take the back and put him in the flat and I'm gonna run the route inside and see if I could draw this safety. They got everything they wanted out of the play, so it was almost like McCarthy said okay, and McCarthy had here's Zimmer not using any call sheet and Mike looking like he had a menu at a Denny's.
You know.
I mean, it was like every play call you can imagine on that sheet. And I think Mike might have set that up and maybe Trey Lance didn't help him. My biggest issue with Trey Lance is I don't think he sees the field particularly well. And I say that and I don't know if that's something that you can correct. You know, when you see him out here practice, there are throws.
That he makes. It's like he didn't see that guy. He didn't see that defender.
He didn't see there were, like I say, there were three plays in that game that he might if he makes three to three throws seem er out the cropper swing pass to fan you know he makes it, or the touchdown on fourth down, we might be talking about Trey Lance in a different light today.
And I think that's the thing.
I'm going to see this thing through because I do see the athletic ability. He'll make this receivers work a little bit for this football. He's not the most accurate guy right now throwing the ball. But what I need for him to get better at, and hopefully he can.
Is seeing the field. Because they did give up some opportunities in that game.
We could be thinking a lot different in talking about him, a lot differently. If this all of a sudden is a cowboy victory, if it's you know, twenty twenty, you know, eight to whatever, you know, whenever the ram you know, I think there were some plays that were left on this field, and if he continues to lead those plays on the field, then he can't be your guy. But you know, but there's some there's some promise there. But it's just like you say, it's the word consistency, and
we talk about training camp. It's you can say the word consistency for a lot of different players on this practice field.
But the thing with him is like what he has issues with which you're talking about seeing the field, that takes time, Like I don't see it's changing in two weeks less of what's left of the preseason. So that's the issue for me, it's like what he needs to learn it comes with experience and time.
So oh no, you don't time, bro, though you're you're.
You're really you're running out of time. You're running out of time. If you want to make the evaluation, can he be your guy? And you might even make the evaluation without the time. You might Now depending on what happens with Dak, that's a whole nother story. You know, there's people out there to say that maybe, hey, no, they don't have a quarterback here. They're going to have to address that. So to me, I can understand they worked a year with him, but even though it was
just you know, we never saw it. Right now we're seeing it. We're seeing a but there's some things that he clearly has got to get better at. And it's a lot with these young quarterbacks. If they don't see the field particularly well, it's hard to play at a high level because you're constantly fighting Okay, why did you do that?
Well?
Why oh, you didn't see that defender. You know that the Rams are probably looking they won that game the other day, but they're looking at Stets and Bennet like, what the hell were you looking at?
Man?
Wins though, he finds a way to win.
What No, No, you know it's a little bit different.
You won the game, he had a nice drive, he made a nice throw and four down to win that game. But up until that point, you're going, what the hell this guy was a National championship quarterback.
Yeah, there's an SEC fan out there going like, yeah, we've seen that a few times, at least five or six times actly, So really quick with Trey Lance, I think from a fan perspective, I think fans are like seeing him in the preseason and saying, can he be QB one? Can he be this top option if if they don't resign Deck. I don't think that should be the mentality should be can he be QB two? Yeah,
because I believe that they re signed Dak. I still feel that that's about an eighty percent chance of happening at some point, whether that be before the season or in free agency next year. You match Trey Lance's deal to DAX deal from a time perspective, and you let Trey be that QB two to DAK. Because Cooper Rush is also going into the final year of his deal.
He's a thirty year old backup quarterback. A, he probably wants a bigger opportunity for himself, and then B, you probably want a younger guy to back up Dak Prescott because if you don't want injuries to start mounting. And so I think that the mentality should be, if everything goes right with Trey Lance and he can prove that he can be a QB two, then let him be that QB two and twenty twenty five and beyond, and go draft a guy in the later rounds next year
and work that young guy in the development program. But first, Trey's got to show that he can be a backup quarterback, and I haven't necessarily seen that yet.
All Right, we're gonna take our first break.
When we come back, we're gonna do some player evaluations to look at some different players played in this game and how well they perform moving back.
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All right, here we go.
Let's do some player evaluations. I want to start first with the defensive front. Talk about the defensive tackle position. Mazzi Smith, Justin Rogers, Carl Davis, Albert Huggins. What do you guys see from these players? And I guess let's start first with Mazzi. Obviously he's the one everybody wants to know, but probably played the least of these guys. What did you see from the defensive tackle position, particularly Mazzi.
Let's start with Mazzi.
I ran point on Tree. You can run point on Mazzi if you want.
I think the thing with Mazzi is when you watch Mozzie Smith play and you don't see his numbers from the sideline copy, you don't see a five and an eight means he's playing square. And I think there were several snaps where you watch Mozzie play square, they get on him about his hands. Coach Sagina does, It's always about inside Mazzie. We talk about that quite a bit. It's about extension, it's about balance with his feet, it's about dis gaging with the blocks Mazzi. Smith did all
the things they're asking him to do. Technique wise. He didn't get washed out of plays, he didn't get turned, he didn't get just bullied in this game. He did a really good job of dealing with that. The extension I thought was really good. The screenplay we all saw where he was able to you know, with Bolander the center, he able to extend, He finds the ball, he gets rid, and now he moves into space and then he makes the tackle. Those are the kinds of things you expect
to see from Mazzie Smith. That's the kind of player that we use the word capable. That is a capable football player. That is a player you can win with playing at that level. Next play, Mazzie Smith decides he wants to take a playoff and doesn't want to rush and doesn't want to try and play technique consistency.
With Mazzie Smith.
You can't keep doing one or two good things and then decide to take plays off. If you have to play six plays in a series, I need you to play hard all six plays. You know, they'll find ways to get you out of the game. But as far as overall what you're seeing from him, that was a step in the right direction that game for him.
They could coach off that they can see.
See, Mazzie, see what happens when you do what we ask you to do when you're not a one legged football player. You get your hands inside, when you find the football, when you show effort, when you go and make plays. We can win with that kind of player right there. But then the very next play he goes back into just okay, made a play. No, we're trying to get off the field, trying to get off the
field here, You've got it one more time. You got to find a way to take that center or that guard and drive him back in the in the pocket and affect the play. And so I'm gonna say it was positive from the aspect of what we've we've seen because it's been really up and down. I thought there were more good plays than bad plays with Manzi Smith the other day.
Yeah, I agree, And when Brian says getting square, I refer to it as getting wide and just getting getting in the way of running lanes. And I thought he did a good job of it, and in the playing time that he did get on Sunday, you mentioned that screenplay and that was that was the one that really stood out to me too, because that's instincts. And yes, he was going against Boatlimmer. He should be having the upper hand against a guy like Botlimmer who was just
drafted a rookie. Still, it was his first taste of NFL action. You know, you want to see Mozzie Smith doing that against ones out here, maybe in the joint practice again on Wednesday. But it's a good confidence stacker for him, and I think if this team does not want to address putting another one tech on the field after after training camp, then you know, Mazzie Smith really needs to be stacking confidence out here in these preseason games.
For sure, I.
Agree on the lack of consistency, but one of the things that I was paying attention to and wanted to see is, Okay, how is he going to perform overall after going through a couple of weeks of mental in a way I cannot pronounce this coach's name, help me cannot but again, and Briant has talked about it on the show. I mean, you you stand by where they are, you just hear the language and all that, and you're like, oh my, okay. If that was me, I'm like, all right, guys,
I'm out piece deuce. But no, it was the mental aspect for me, and I thought he handled it pretty well. Where you're me, I'm looking, is he gonna tear him down? Or is he gonna step up and rise through it? And I think it's headed towards the right direction in that way.
When you look at those other defensive tackles, it seemed like and this might have just been like you know, sometimes you're in a game, you're watching a game and it kind of just feels you feel certain things. Yeah, in the second part of the first quarter and into the second quarter, it seemed like they were getting run on like it consistently. It seemed like they were just getting kind of run straight up the white bottoms. Wasn't more of the linebackers.
What happens is they Leafel needs to play more snaps and he needs just for his own sake. But you had when you look at at the Cowboys and really what and how things were. I there were times where, like I say, where Davis was really really square and you see the back have to make a decision on which way to go.
And then and all of a sudden, then you're in it.
You're in that mode where you're looking at it and you're going, wait a minute, where are the linebackers here? You know where where's uh, you know, where's Willie Harvey? You know, all of a sudden, it's leaf Al and Harvey are like, what are you looking at?
You know, It's like it's it's it's like they were.
And I'm not gonna say the word guessing, but I'm gonna say the word guessing because we've seen these guys fit finish, fit, finish, and it was like, okay, ball coming and now all of a sudden, you're reading scheme, you're seeing a poller, you're seeing a down block, and now you're flying this way and it just creates a natural gap.
So linebackers missed some fits, and I.
Felt like the defensive tackles for the most part, did their jobs when the squareness. Davis Rogers, I thought, played really well in this game where you know when you go back and watch him play, but these linebackers they needed it, not so much like the first guy you saw with overshown and Clark overshowns a little bit of a slippery guy in between. You know, he beats the block inside down run defense, then you see all of a sudden balls the outside. He's there again. Clark's taken
on blocks. He saw it better up front. When you see square linemen and linebackers filling, you see better run there. There was a time where Carl Davis, they played great on the run defense. Davis takes the guard back in the backfield. You stop the tape there, and now the back is having to decide where do I go. He goes to his right. Now you got downhill linebacker safety. Now coming in the hole, everybody's there, everybody's playing it
the right way. That's run defense. But sometimes with run defense, it's not all about the defensive linemen. Those linebackers can't guess. And I do say this about lea foul and I'm not this is not a criticism.
He needs to play more. But they they were really him.
They were really really anxious with him and Harvey were really super anxious the way they were playing in that game the other day.
Yeah, there's a couple of clips of Harvey that have kind of made their way on Twitter of him just guessing the wrong running lanes. And it was tough because I felt like he was having a strong camp. But as far as a defensive perspective, he didn't look great in that game. But the linebacker position doesn't necessarily concern me. But there were some running lane discipline things that I think you can look at and you could point to as possible film corrections going into week two. But you
mentioned the defensive tackles. The one name he didn't mention is Albert Huggins, one of the newest atliss Yeah. I think he got caught on his back a couple of times. You talk about the sidelines tape. You saw his number a couple of times too. I think he could have
had a better preseason debut. But as far as the other guy's talking about Rogers, talking about Mazi Carl Davis, I liked what I saw from those guys, and I think more so whenever you look at the problems that stemmed up front in that game, was lack of pressure generated from the ends. I mean they were not getting home at all, and while Stetson Bennett didn't make a lot of mistakes, I don't think they were necessarily caused by the pressure. I think it was more so caused by the disguise coverage.
Can I say this so real quick?
When you start talking about defensive tackles and Nick, I don't know if you thought or you guys maybe saw yourselves. I kind of felt like the Hoko and Golston looked.
Better playing his edges.
Then they did his defensive tackles, and we've seen him out here a bunch and it's been like someone's like, what's what's the Hoko doing. I'm like, kind of a struggle, kind of struggled today kind of, but he looked like a different player playing in space with wide the ability to play the wide rush. And yeah, they didn't get home and they don't They really didn't have anybody doing that. But it looked like the Golston and him both were
were more comfortable playing on the edge. And that's maybe why you go and get Huggins that maybe he could come in and be a backup three.
Or they take you know, they take Kneelin.
And when they go to Nickel, they move him inside and that way you have Parsons, kneelan Osa and then Tank and that's gonna be your pass rush and hopefully that's gonna bode better for you getting getting pressures.
Yeah, to clarify, I don't have any concerns about the pass rush unit from this team because again we didn't see the one. We didn't get it done yesterday the other day though, Yeah, but they did not get it done when it comes to rotational bodies, and that's obviously a highlight. With Sam Williams going down with his ACL injury, who's gonna be those first guys to rotate in and right now, I don't think Darrell Johnson showed anything.
I don't think.
Al Kanad Muhammad showed anything. Shaka TONI. I didn't see a lot from those guys, but you see Golston getting off the edge and you see that power and you're like, Okay, that looks a lot more natural than coming in at three tex So. I think there may be needs to be some readjusting a philosophy with a couple of guys, I think on the defensive line, because I think you're you're not maximizing guys like Golstener. Forojoko, you look at Fojoco and what he did well at San Jose State.
Why he was able to get to the quarterback double digit times is his senior season is because he was put in space, whether that was inside or out, he had more space to operate. And I think if you marry that background with a little bit more size, a little bit more experience that he has, I think you can maximize what he brings to the pass rush.
Yeah. I think to me, if they're looking at positions, if you're just if you're pro scouts and you're kind of thinking about things, I know everybody's looking at running back. I think everybody's looking at defensive tackle, and I think their need to kind of think about looking at edge too. I know they brought in Mohammad and Tony and guys like that that might you might have to you might have to go with an upgrade there to make up for the Fouler and the Armstrong and those.
Types of guys.
I think that's the biggest key is without Foulo, without Armstrong, without Williams, those are three guys that you can say what you want about what they were kind of you could you could question how much they brought you in the run defense, the pass defense. There was no question you're bringing those guys in as rotational guys. They were getting after the quarterback. And that's the piece where I think the Cowboys may miss a little bit this odd I mean this season if they don't figure out some
kind of way to manufacture that a little better. And maybe that's with blitzing linebackers those kind of things. I think there's some other things they can do, but that's gonna be a bit of a challenge for them at the edge without those top two guys, or with those top two guys having to rotate in and out right.
Well, I trust in Mike Zimmer. In Mike Zimmer, I trust and I trust that after watching film. He's gonna get with the defensive line coach and they're gonna change things up or improve by this weekend against the Raiders.
We'll take a final break when we come back.
I actually want to talk about Mike zimmer and in his first outing with the Cowboys as a defensive coordinator, they get four interceptions, which you can put that on steats in it, or you can say that this defense was just doing some great things. We'll talk about that when we come back. Dallas Cowboys dot com radio.
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All right, let's move.
Let's talk about Mike Zimmer and one of the things that we talked a lot about last week and really since he's gotten here is Mike Zimmer's defense is built on disguise. They they kind of show you lots of different things. They got four interceptions in this game, you could probably say five. The holding call took back one
of them. Brian, you mentioned maybe a little bit of a Do you think that that was a lot because of or do you put that more on Mike Zimmer's defense and the disguise and obviously a young quarterback having to deal with that, or do you think these defensive backs really were just playing an outstanding game to be able to because we talked about the pass rush wasn't necessarily.
Like a killer pass rush.
Do you think it was just the secondary guys really playing outstanding football.
Yeah.
I think it's a combination of a few things. I think when you look at the four interceptions and you look at Okay, let's look at each one in a vacuum. How much was a product of the scheme, how much was a product of a guy just being in the right place. How much of it was a product of sets and Bennett just not seeing somebody and making a poor decision.
So I'll go one by one here. Marquise Bell.
The first interception, he was in the right place, but he also had to make a really good play, and I think that was a hell of a play by Bell to be able to get up there and get that. The second interception was to Eric Scott, I believe, and that was a product of him just being in the right place again, And it was kind of funny because he was getting cooked on that drive feed probably had two or three plays that he probably would have won
it back. Then he got it back with the interception there in the red zone, and I think that was a scheme thing. I think that was Scott just being in the right spot. Then you look at interception number three Julius Wood, and I have to give all credit to Wood there.
I mean, he was playing in his zone. He was doing what he was supposed to do.
Is that single high safety which by the way, we saw a lot of single high safety looks, which I.
Was at that one was at too deep. That wasn't too deep because they caught the crosser. That's right, that's right, and he stepped right in front of the crosser. He made a hell of a play. He was able to just get to the ball before the receiver did. Stetson put it a little bit out in front. But I think overall, I think it was a really good play from Wood. And then the fourth interception, Brock Mogens and
stets and Benches didn't see him. He threw it right to Brock's hands, So I think I think all in all, the defensive system is definitely confusing quarterbacks off of the one game that we have against a third string quarterback. But I also think there's some there's some application, especially by these rookies in these second year guys, to be able to take to the field and just be in the right spots and go grab these balls.
Yeah, I give Al Harris a lot of credit here these guys. I mean, you Al Harris on the sidelines when something happens to his guys. He is a very emotional you know coach on that you know, But they they did a really nice job in this game.
I thought, initially, first.
The young guys, when you talked about Scott and then Carson, I thought they both played really timid the first first series or two of the game, and then all of a sudden, Carson, he drove on a ball.
That went It was a receiver, quick passed out to the flat.
He drives on the ball, makes it tackle looks like he made on the field one over here when they worked against the Rams last time. And from that point on he became more aggressive. He became he was driving on routes. Before the first couple of passes that he faced, it was kind of like he was hanging back, hanging back and then drive. But we've seen him play downhill quick and I felt like after he made that tackle, it kind of got him into that mode of Okay,
I'm not gonna let these guys. He every other pass after that was contested for him. Yeah, they had some receptions on him, but.
He went from being a guy that looked.
Kind of scared. And I shouldn't used the words scared because he's not scared. He's a tough player.
But he played with more purpose after that first After that he made that.
Yeah it did, and I you know, I think the thing with a lot of these guys. The one thing we've talked about with Zimmer is he's going to put guys. Him and Alherris are going to put guys in positions to make plays for them to get four interceptions. I think that's a little bit on Stetson Bennett, but I think it's also on the Cowboys for being woods, those guys driving on balls and making sure that you know, hey, I'm supposed to play around the hash. All of a sudden,
I hear cross cross, cross cross cross. When you hear cross, now your eyes go inside and here you are, Boem. You see the crosser, you see the ball, and now you drive and make the play. That's that is. That is practice, that is skill, that is scheme, and those are all things and that's why you get the stops that you do of those interceptions.
I think he's teaching things with intent, and the players have really bought into what he's selling. And this is very differ from the time where mag Nolan was out here leading.
And it was.
But the point is is with that during that time, they were trying to do all these different things but it was just confusing, and you talk to the players and then they were saying it, so there was talks a lot about that that it was just very confusing, and no one knew what the heck was going on. No one was on the same page. But with Zimmer, you see the command that he's taking. You talk to the players and listen to what they're saying, and they
they speak so highly of him. And when you have a crew of guys, a group of guys that are just completely sold on what he's doing and all into the new scheme and what they're doing and seeing that it is effective. Because this is not just all we saw it in the game against the Rams. We've been seeing here at practice. We've been seeing how these guys has created better opportunities for players to be positioned in a way that they can excel their position and what
they're trying to do. So it's just it's all very very exciting. And Simmer, you talked about him not having the sheet, I mean, he's a.
Baller like he's he's just out there calling place.
It's just it's very fun and very exciting, and I think that the guys are just really shining in this scheme and Marquise Marquise Bell.
God, that guy, that guy, it's amazing.
Uh. The fact that we saw him last year, you know, doing pretty well a linebacker helping there. Now he's transitioned back to safety and what he's I mean, he's back in his natural spot and he's really really shining and he's gonna be a guy that's gonna be very effective this season.
While you're at it, through Rob Ryan in there for the confusion as sometimes you have twelve on the field, sometimes you have nine. Sometimes you're playing man, sometimes you're playing zone.
We don't know if I could.
Sound he is phenomenal this day, Maybe not so good on scheming him up.
How about that?
Can we take a look at the cornerback picture, just just for a moment, because you look at that trade last week right for Naseean Wright, uh to Minnesota.
In exchange they get Andrew Booth and.
You look at what how that helps Dallas From a personnel perspective. You look at Andrew Booth, I see him more as an inside guy. Do you feel the same way, Bro?
I've seen him when we play outside, So you'll.
Have more as an inside guy at least in this scheme, and if that's the case, then a guy like Eric Scott really needs.
To have a good camp.
Yeah.
That starts to worry me about his spot because I think from their perspective, they see Kaylen Carson as a guy that they can trust on the boundaries, Like, Okay, he's gonna be our first rotational guy. We have Naseean Wright, let's try to flip him for a guy that maybe fits a little bit better with what we're trying to work with.
And then you look at Andrew Booth.
I feel like he has that physicality, he has that quick twitch to be able to work inside. He did a little bit of it at Clemson, so I think he's he's a I think he's a guy that can factor in on the inside in case there was an injury to happen there. And if that's the case, like I said, I think Eric Scott's in trouble.
I hope you're right because I haven't seen him. I mean I watched that Clemson tabe. He was a second round pick out of Clemson, so he's a high pick. But I always saw this. They played a ton of zone. You know, they really didn't challenge him all that much and Clemson, but that will.
Be interesting to see how he how will he tackle us?
Yeah, really good dude. By the way, met him in the locker room after the game, and he's excited to be here. So that's a that's a fun one.
Good for him.
You mentioned Eric Scott, So what was your evaluation of Eric Scott in this game, knowing that this is a pivotal time for him.
Yeah, I didn't love his performance.
You take away that interception and I think he probably wants that entire game back. He had a couple of routes where he just he bit on on early breaks. He had the bad fifteen yard penalty pushing a guy out of bounds. It was It was a rough day for Eric Scott, and I think the interception definitely made up for a couple of his mistakes because he was able to get him back in the red zone. But overall, he needs to have a really solid last two weeks here at camping in the preseason. I just don't see
how he gets on the field right now. He doesn't have the speed to be able to keep up with guys. The coverage ability hasn't quite matched. And what I love from him from at Southern miss too was his run game instincts, and we haven't seen any.
Of that either, So I think Eric Scott needs to uptake it a little bit for sure.
Yeah.
So the consistency part of it too, is that.
Work again again.
Yeah, you see, you've seen.
Plays that he's made, and but it's just not not enough. And like you said, it's gonna I mean, when you're surrounded by these other guys what they're doing, you're gonna slowly start to fall into the shadows where people are not gonna notice you that much. I remember you. So he needs to step it up, for sure. But he's had those little moments of shining.
Don't be a flash player. Nobody likes a flash player. Hard to evaluate a flash player, especially at corner a flash and then you don't see it and you see something bad happen and maybe another flash. Flash players are really hard. Eric Scott tends to be a little bit of a flash player.
Yeah, and it's I think it's even highlighted by the fact of what you've seen from Kaylen Carson that that one Eric Scott to come on, gotta get it going, because this young guy, he's coming in here as a rookie and he's making he's turned some heads, and he's doing it consistently. That goes back to that word we've been talking about all I appreciate you guys joing. So we're back on It was a Thursday of this week. Uh, to get you guys ready at there's there's so much
going on. We got a joint practice now that's gonna happen tomorrow between the Cowboys and the Rams.
Are coming back out for another day.
More training camp life, Yes, more training camp Live.
We'll have all that going tomorrow and then we'll head into a weekend of football. On Saturday, Cowboys will take on the Las Vegas Raiders heading out to Las Vegas on Friday, will be out there and then we'll.
Get back to the sportsbook. Derek, you know about that? Do we standard at sports book? Hey, I don't do that, Rob Phillips.
I've done all my training. I've done all my training.
I know exactly where I should be it should not be, so you will not catch me in the sports.
Yeah, Rob Phillips, Yeah, you going there. You're both fired. Okay, sports until.
The next time Brian brought us and we're gonna see a Nick Harris. I'm Derek Eagleton.
This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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