The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.
Cowboys Let's go. Are you ready for a break?
Yes?
Are you ready for a break?
Absolutely?
Ready for a break?
Yeah, and so much for that.
It's time for the Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com.
Were on right.
With Ambar Garcia, Brian brought us, Nick Harris and Derek Eagleton.
It is Thursday, October tenth, twenty twenty four, Season twenty, episode number forty six. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break. We are alive from the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We're presented by LG. LG is the world's number one OLED TV brand for eleven years in counting. See why at LG dot Com Forward slash O Ledebo.
Hi, everybody doing doing well? Cannot complain, Yeah, cannot complain.
So you got on your Duncanville y Soto game.
Yep, yep, Yeah, but sure it's gonna be fun tomorrow night down at De Soto. So I heard they had one hundred and fifty media requests this week, so the same. Yeah, that's more than they deal with here sometimes.
In case you didn't know what high school football is like in Texas. That's what high school football is like in Texas. It is a.
Draw two top ten teams in the nation. Yeah, that's what that's what it's going to bring.
I live about ten minutes from the Allen Stadium, where Kyler Murray went to high school and a bunch of other NFL players have gone to high school. And it's like on a Friday night when there's a home game, you don't want to be in that area because it's gridlock. Trying to get in and out of there is it's madness.
It makes me wonder about that apartment complex. It's like right next to eighteen, right next to the Walmart, Like, I, I, how do they live?
Would you want that? Like some people might be like, hey, that's great, I got actors. I can just walk to and from the stadium if I want to games.
And you know what, if you're a single guy and you're in the sport, it's fair because you could go walk to the baseball park too.
Yeah, you got all of that.
There's some there's some I remember like living in Philly when they had like the hockey arena and the basketball arena. The vet was the like the vet was the baseball and the football. But you could walk across the street and if you lived in the area, if you were into that, you could go to a you could go to an event every night if you wanted to. You go watch the seventy six Ers play, Flyers play on
the weekend, you catch the Eagles. You know. It was it was actually it was pretty cool if you were a you know, if you were just into that stuff.
And now they've built up that area. You got all kinds of stuff in that area within walking distance if you live there, as far as just kind of hanging out watching games on even if you're not going to the game, you can go down there to to a couple of places.
Right you can watch the game and six Flags.
So yeah, six Flags right there. So it's not it's not a bad one if you're a young, single person. But I'm thinking if you got a family, you.
Might somebody likes football in your life or sports. Maybe you never know.
I just know my luck. I would need to get to like downtown Dallas at two pm on a Sunday afternoon, and the Cowboys play at noon, and it takes me an hour and a half to just get out of my apartment complex, and that's that's where I draw away.
And you just zip right down there, hang it left and you're on thirty.
You hang it left on Randall Mill.
Yeah, come on, man, what are we doing?
Just hope that the street isn't blocked off. Just hope that you could actually get the.
Opposite way when you head to the stadium and they have a blocked street and now you're like, oh great, and you got to turn around the.
Four hours for the game.
Four hours.
Yeah, that's that's that's There was one game last year I didn't get there in time and I had to deal with all that mess. It took me like forty five minutes to get in and I was like, I'm never doing this again.
That's way and that's why we get You catch the Chatty parking attendant Lot three.
Uh yeah, absolutely, friend or guy? Yeah, yeah, I've see. I've known Chatty years because he he also does a Texas high school football state championships. But he kind of runs in with the media with those guys because he tries to tell them where to bart and he's like they're like, no, we're not doing that. So they park in the front row and he loses his mind. But every time he's an interesting fellow.
Yeah, nice guy.
He tells me.
There doesn't even stop, he just keeps going.
Well, and then he'll just hurry.
I'm in a hurry. I'm in a hurry. I gotta get apart to get inside things to do. But I do wave. I always wave at.
Him, just say, oh, I remember the way, like I don't have time that way.
Thank you, you know, the classic.
Thank you. I'm supposed to be here, thank you.
All right, let's talk some Cowboys football. Let's get into some of the injury updates. Actually some positive things coming from the Cowboys. We look at the injury report, uh Drawn Bland, Kayln Carson, Trayvon Diggs, Tyler Guyden all full participants yesterday and practice according to the practice report. That's a positive sign obviously for them heading into this game where they're about to face a really good offense. Particularly. A couple of things did pop up of interest though.
Eric Kendricks did not practice due to a calf and shoulder injury. Marki's Bell also out of practice. What are we hearing about those guys?
Yeah, so I think something to keep an eye on. As as the week goes on is obviously great news on a Darn Bland and Kayln Carson front. You would want one or both of those guys back for a Detroit game against the skill group. That's that's really talented. But I think specifically for Eric Kendricks, he's dealing with a calf and a shoulder. Did not practice when he went down in week one for a couple of drives because he was dealing with dehydration, needed to go to
the locker room and get an ivy. Nick Vigil was the guy who stepped in and filled in his for green dot responsibilities. He also did not practice yesterday. So if both of those guys potentially cannot go on Sunday, then who are you looking at to be the green dot to be able to manage the defense. That's gonna be a really big task for whoever has to take that on. Whether it's Molie Hooker in the third level or it's over shown it. But it's still young for him. So you wonder, you wonder about.
You, wonder how much is going to play?
You wonder how I just wonder if this.
Would be the opportunity where he would play and you will put him maybe in that kind of situation.
You definitely wonder about DeMont Clark as well. I think Buddy Johnson, you wonder about it. It's it could be a range of guys. I think there's probably six candidates there that could that could feel that responsibility. But you don't know who that's gonna be. If one of those two or or or both of those guys cannot go.
How much of a loss would that be if if Kendrick couldn't play, that pretty significant, Yeah.
I would say so, especially against this running game.
We yeah, we we got into it a little bit yesterday about this. This team is going to challenge your linebackers, much like the Saints challenged your linebackers. The Ravens challenged your linebackers. These guys are the same way with they run the ball. Dallas has lost games where their linebackers haven't been able to be free. You know, the games they've won. Brown's didn't really block them, Giants didn't block them, Steelers didn't block them. You know, this is going to
be a different animal. Like we talked about yesterday, these linemen they're not interested in secure and they trust each other that they're gonna shove a guy and go to the next guy. They're not gonna they're not gonna sit around to try and the Steelers were trying double the one technique or double the three and then get to the second level. These guys are just like what you dealt with with the Ravens and the Saints. It's a shove and a go. So you know, he his ability.
I mean, I think every week he leads a team in tackles. He's one of the top, you know, one or two guys when it comes to tackles every week for you. So not having Kendricks in this game would be or limited what would be a big, big blow.
Assuming that that that would be the case. Let's say that if that, if that was the case, is Demone the guy that now is going to get those those extra snaps and you're looking at him with lea file and overshown.
That that's in the case of Vigil and Kendricks not that would be my assumption. I mean, that's the guy who should fill in that role. I mean, he had agreed not responsibilities last year, right, But again, this is a different defense. He's kind of seen himself fall out of the rotation with the linebackers. I don't think he played a defensive snap the entire game against the Steelers and was very limited against the Giants. If he had any compuiod.
It is from where he was last year to that.
Well, we've kind of talked about things that Mike Zimmer likes about his defensive players. You better know be knowing what you're supposed to do, you know, and you know a sigment sound, you know, are you making mistakes? Are you picking it out?
Notice a lot of that when you're looking at the time.
Are you practicing well, you know all those things. Are you picking things up? That's the thing. Are you out of position? It's another thing, you know, which.
This could be an opportunity for him to be able to fill in and kind of rectify all those mistakes that made early in the season, because against the Ravens he stepped in in the fourth quarter he made some really nice plays and that was kind of the beginning of seeing his snaps taken away because he didn't get into the into the game defensively until the fourth quarter
and then he made some plays. So if he's able to get back into the game and maybe find a starting role against the Lions, then it's a good opportunity for him, But I know there would be some concern on the defensive staffs front, just from what they've shown us so far in the trust that they put into more Clark, because it hasn't really been there.
If it wasn't him, who would be that guy that that you would see maybe stepping into that role of both Vigil and Kendricks are out. Is there another option.
You want to say? At the same time, go ahead?
Ready?
One, two, three? Overshown, I think it'd be over I.
Was, you know what, I was struggling with it because I think it'd be Clark. You know, I don't think. I don't think it changes.
But if you said, if Clark's not the.
One, if the one, you know, are you looking? And I still still I still could. I couldn't wrap my arms around it not being Clark. Yeah, yeah, you know, but if he's here, you got to use that it is.
It has to be. It has to be Clark. But if they don't, he's right, Overshown would be the guy. I just couldn't wrap my arms around it not being anybody other than Clark.
They did talk about Mully Cooker at training camp picking up some green dot responsibilities on days that Kendricks was not practicing and things like that, just to get him comfortable with it. So don't discount that option either.
But it's weird being so has about feeling confident in how he can perform in there because we've seen him you mentioned last year, Derek, we've seen it last year. And yes, and even prior to him getting all the opportunities that he got last year when he was coming back from the injury and all of that, we talked about him so much and we've seen the talent his ability, and I don't think that's something you just lose so quickly.
He has it in him and maybe it is those things where he's missing, those assignments that he can maybe find the new fire in him. And like you were mentioning, Nick, this is the game that kind of gets him back into the makes and show what he can actually do. But we know he has the talent to do the job.
What happened last year when Van der USh went out to him, what happened to Clark.
Is play suffered that think, Yeah, he.
Needs somebody other people around him. He needs people.
Helping Malon absolutely a million.
Yeah, he's and and again, I love the kid, I really do. But you know, if there if you're if they're not sure about you and your assignments and stuff and being where you need to be, which said us a bunch when Mike first took the gig. They're not gonna play you. They're just not. He has to have trust in what you're doing in your assignments in order to make that work.
One other thing of note, and we didn't bring this up yesterday, but I had it in my notes. Detroit is a team that uses a lot of twelve personnel. They are right now fourth in the league. And the amount of times they use twelve personnel's one running back, two tight ends at twenty eight percent of the time, almost twenty nine percent of the time they're in twelve personnel. That's a pretty big clip. That being said, you would expect Dallas is probably going to match that with their
base defense. I think they're going to put a nickel out there against a twelve offense, especially for a team that likes to run a lot. That being said, they're gonna need three linebackers at least a lot in that game, I would think. And so that's where this becomes a little very interesting thing.
You're about to play a team that runs more base defense than you do, which is and this team will play, this line's will play bass against eleven personal and twelve personnel.
They have interesting and.
They do it because they trust they trust Brian Branch their safety. He was also like a corner like he could play like you know they have. They have four legitimate guys that can cover. It's much like what you're about to experience with you know, we'll say with with Carson and out with Bland and his health and all that. But they can afford to play bass because they got four legitimate cover guys, you know, and they can match you.
And and we'll get into Brian Branch because I have a feeling that's where this thing is going to go. To try and take lamb Away out of this game, but also try and take Ferguson out of this game too, with Brian Branch being that guy.
All right, we're gonna take our first break. We'll come back. We're going to dive into that Detroit offense.
We'll be defense.
I'm sorry, Detroit offense. Sorry Detroit offense today, right, it's defense defense. Yes, I loo' good.
You're good.
Detroit Defense.
Ready either way.
Detroit Defense Today. We'll talk about well about when we come back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio.
Todd thought it would be secure to jog in the cheetah Savannah. Todd believed the big Cat repellent he bought online was reliable. And now Todd is trying to be faster than this cheetah that can run eighty miles per hour. But the good news is Todd has AT and T five G. It is fast, reliable, and secure, and he learned the best thing to do is stop running and toss her the backpack with the beef stew At and T five G. Fast, reliable, Secure.
Five G requires compatable plan and device five G may not be available in your area. See add dot com slash five G for you fifty deals.
It's the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black, and right now Cowboys fans can get fifteen percent off their seventy five dollars order. Plus because every deal needs a playmaker, your order will include a free five piece skincare set and free shipping. The Jack Black Playmaker is four of Jack's favorites and a full sized intense therapy lifball make a play for the playmaker at Getjack Black dot com slash Cowboys with the code Cowboys VIP.
That's get Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys with the code Cowboys VIP.
Don't put off getting your oil change.
Dallas.
Take five Oil Change, a proud partner of the Cowboys, is faster than you think. There's no appointment needed and no waiting room.
Yep, you hurt that correctly.
Take five is so fast you don't even have to get out of your car. You can take advantage of Take five's fast, friendly and simple service at any of their locations across the Dallas area.
And remember at Take five.
You stay in your car because they're faster than you think. Take five the official oil change of the Dallas Cowboys.
From the field to the festivities.
Lu Casey embodies the essence of luxury and tradition. Handcrafted with meticulous precision, each pair offers unmatched comfort and style. Stand tall while you're tailgating or cheering in the stands with the Dallas Cowboys collection by Lucasey. Shop the collection today at the Lucasey Store at the Starn Frisco or online at Lucasey dot com.
Lucasey the official boot.
Of the da Elas Cowboys and Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Hey y'all, Matt Pittman of Meat Church here. With football season kicking off, I'm already gear enough to bring the smoker back to AT and T Stadium for some epic tailgates. But with that Texas heat, it's crucial to keep my beer hand cramping cold. That's where Yeti's insulated colster can cooler comes in clutch this year. You can even get him with
the iconic star engraved on the side. Licensed YETI Cowboys gear is now available at stadium pro shops, concessions and on yetti dot com.
Check it out today.
YETI Official cooler and drinkware of the Dallas Cowboys.
Back to the.
Break, lgoled evo is the best TV in the game. But don't take Derek's word for it because he just keeps messing up, So don't trust him. But trust Digital Trends because they said the lgoled G four has the best picture quality they've ever seen. See for yourself at LG dot com slash Oledevo.
Welcome back to the second segment of the break. We can turn that microphone off now.
I was wondering if the same for you for your opinion on the corn dog.
Yeah, she has a horrible opinion on that. She says Texas State Fair food is not impressive.
It's not that impressive. It is not saying it.
That is a horrible tap.
People over hype it. I don't think it's that great.
I wonder is Craig Leaper's brother still the president of the state I think.
I saw that. I want TV talking about it.
This talking about Yeah, that would be teammate on teammate.
Crime, Chrispy all that fried foods, Chrispy and.
Teammates. Is the president of the State Fair and you're trashing the great State Fair is.
A big statement. I just said it's over hyped.
And it's not. It's not Fletcher scorn dogs. I'll put them up there with any.
Well worth it. Yeah, we worth it.
We'll keep enjoying it.
Then we will.
We will.
I'll be out there next week.
Do all your money on that.
I will. I absolutely will. Five I will. It'll be great, it will be fun. All right, let's jump back in, Brian. Let's talk about this Detroit defense. So the first thing I noticed was they are twenty seventh in pass defense. As much as we talk about all the things they do really well, they have given up a lot of yards in the air. Where are they most vulnerable in their secondary Well.
If you block Aiden Hutchinson, they don't have a pass rush. That's really where they're at there the bottom of the league when it comes to pressures. Without him, he's one of the best players in the league when it comes to pressures. And you watch the game and you watch how it progresses in these teams, you know they they give him a lot of attention. Is a he's a chip and a chip and now block the tackle on him. Guy,
he's that good of a player. But if you find a way to control him in that part of the game and he'll move around, he will move around. So he will he will take a rush on, he'll take a rush on Steele, and then he'll go on the other side and take a rush on Guiton. So there's really no rule, rhyme or reason why. They just kind of hunt some matchups. But you got to be aware of him. Where's number ninety seven And they don't really have anybody else. I mean, they they've they've they've struggled,
They've struggled to get a pass rush. They you know, they tried to do that through free agency. It you know, they lost a couple of guys be due to injury. Derek Barnes got hurt in the in the Arizona game and he was a he was a good pass rusher for him. Marcus Davenport is a guy they signed as a free agent. He was going to play opposite he's on IR So they really don't have anybody opposite of Hutchson to be able to do that. So this is where, all of a sudden, you you have a little bit
of an advantage. Don't let one guy kill your passing game, because he can kill your passing game if you let him to.
That point real quick. Yeah, Hutchinson, last year I had four pressures in two sacks. Yeah, twenty six snaps versus Steel. That ain't a good clip for Steel. No, is there anything that you've seen as far as Steel, And I think we all agree that Steele has a season war on Last year he got better and this year I
think he's better than what he was last year. Do you think that there are parts of his game that have improved to the point where some of that can be cleared up, or do you think this is still going to be a challenge for.
Them good luck? Yeah, yeah, good luck. It's good, but it's true. Yeah, because there's there's moments and I think both tackles, yeah, or that way. I think there's moments, maybe on the left side a little bit more of a hold on to your rear kind of a thing. But you know, with with Steel, there could be five, six, seven great plays in a row, and then the one time that he gets off balance, he maybe kicks too wide, think he's going to have an edge rusher, and then
the rusher goes down inside. You know, you just got to be He's got to be aware of that. He's also got to know that when you watch the lines play, Hutchinson will rush inside if they have a blitzer that's outside. So if there's somebody standing outside of him, he's got to kind of be aware that maybe this guy is going to rush inside on me, because you're not gonna have two guys rush the same gap. You're going to you know, and and Hutchinson plays you thought that Watt
played wide last week. You'll see how why this guy plays, he gets way out there, so he's going to challenge you to be able to handle him playing from that wide technique. But Stele, Yeah, it's it's you just know that every game there's going to be one or two snaps where it could probably end up in a sack or he's going to give up a pressure and it's but it's the nature of playing against guys like that.
You know, you're dealing with somebody that's an outstanding pass rush, one of the best young pass rushers in the league. So you got to help these guys a little bit. You know, maybe this is a game where kind of sneak around a little hunter lipkey, you know, kind of you know, motion across boom, pick him up, line up over their help, you know, everywhere. If I knew going into this game, which I know watching the tape, and I'm sure these guys across the hall know ninety seven
is the one is going to kill your game. Everybody else we could we can handle everybody else. We can handle here. So make sure you take care of that guy first.
Let's assume they get that done. Yeah, where are the points of the secondary where they can have best success.
Yeah, I'll tell you what. You know, there's they've got a rookie corner playing right now. That's everybody's kind of on Interry and Arnold that people are kind of down on. Actually, yes, yeah, he's a really Dallas. They've traded up to Dallas's spot to draft him. He was on a lot of boards. I know on my board he was the first corner from that I had the number one corner. He fell all the way down into the twenties.
Why had him too?
But yeah, yeah, why do I have no idea?
I think that. I think that was a nature of everybody drafting an offensive guy. The first round was so weird.
It's just one of those things where Welling just going in.
I don't think it was ability. I don't think it was ability at all. I mean, it was a deep draft for corners, and maybe some guys had some guys higher than him. I sure didn't. This kid's a really good football player. But where people have taken advantage? Now, last year when you played this team, they were completely different at corner. They had a guy named Cameron Sudden that played corner and you lit him up. Yep, he
had no chance. Every target at him was a big play, and they realized that we can't play that way, so went and traded for Carlton Davis from Tampa. We're familiar with Carlton Davis. He's played against the Cowboys before in games in Tampa. Kind of had some mixed bag doing that, you know, that kind of the coverage at Tampa. But they drafted Arnold, they traded for Davis. It's a completely different group now in the secondary and line. I mentioned
that's kind of where I would go. Carlton Davis if you look at the balls that are thrown at him, you know, if you look at him, now, this group is good with their tight window throws. I mean, I was like, man, they're they're close, They're close, They're close. You kind of check that number. They're like fifth, sixth in the league when it comes to tight window throws. That shouldn't bother Dak. He's like, he gets more tight window throws than any other quarterback in the league. You know,
his guys that they just they're tight window guys. So where I would go though, is teams quarterbacks have had some success throwing the ball at Davis, even on some tight window stuff. The rookie, you know, is giving up some plays. I think the rookie Arnold has there's some separation at times with his games. But both corners have kind of get picked on a little bit more. And I think Carlton Davis gets picked on the most of the two, and he's the veteran guy. The safety are there.
Nicol Robinson is another player that was added. They got him from the Raiders. He's a tight window guy, but he'll lose some separation and contact occasionally with you guys. I mentioned Brian Branch, he's the safety. He was a corner safety at Alabama. He's a I don't think he gets nearly enough credit for how good of a football player he is. And he could cover you in the slot. He can and cover you well. He could cover a
tight end no problem. So I wonder how they're going to play against Lamb in this game, and if they find a way to kind of double, if they double with like Joseph the safety, and then one of these corners and then take Branch and put him on Ferguson and then say, Okay, Tolbert and everybody else, you gotta beat us today. But they've they if they don't get any pass rush and as I mentioned, they play a
lot of bass that I mean they play primarily. You know, they're well over fifty percent base of there the way they play. So and Dak Prescott, I look this up because I'm like, okay, here's the number. Fifty percent base. That's the highest of anybody in the league. Dak sixty percent win rate against base defense hasn't been sacked this year, and the numbers like can say that league average I think is forty eight percent of success. DA's at sixty.
These guys play base against him. That's a good matchup for Dak Prescott.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Looking at this defensive line. If I could also highlight one other guy that I think could be a problem if they move this guy up and down the line, a piano player. If we came back to draft show Aileen McNeil, he's a guy that rotates in. You won't see him start the game necessarily of a bully. Yeah, you might see him start the game with a couple of these injuries that they have up front. But I think he's gonna be a guy you definitely see rotate in.
You'll see him inside, you'll see him outside. They will move him up and down and he gets out for the quarterback too. Eight pressures so far in three games, three hundred and fifteen pounds. He's a guy that is big in the middle and he can make some things happen. And then also in the run game, they do have Derek Barnes on the ir which will help as far as the Cowboys trying to get into that second level. But don't discount Malcolm Rodriguez out of Oklahoma State. That's
still a really powerful guy. Also came in that same draft class as Aiden hutch and so in factor in Hudginson's ability to defend the run, it's gonna be tough for this run game still. And I think Brian Branch when you factor in safeties that can play the run games, he's top five in the league in mind so well in coverage, he does well on the run.
I think they're linebacker To me, throwing the ball against these guys is the best chance because again I think the pressure you got to find a way. We mentioned about Hutchinson, the corners, the possibility these linebackers a Zeloney and Campbell are they played real tight to the line of scrimmage, so I mean they're physical upfront, They're going to try and beat you up. But these these linebackers do a really good job of filling, getting off blocks,
making tackles. You'll see occasionally every once in a while Campbell will miss the tackle. But man, it's just such a physical front seven that you're dealing with. But I running, I think is going to be difficult. I thought running was gonna be difficult against the Steelers. They came out and did a pretty damn good job against them, you know,
last week doing that. So uh but man, I think the path the victory in this thing, if you had to, is throwing the football because I'm just like I say, block the front and and let these let the Cowboys uh receivers work against the secondary a little bit.
One of the things that stood out to me is I was looking at this team they are right now. Obviously we know they were a good run defense, but in their last game before the buye they played when they played Seattle, Seattle hit him for one hundred and thirty three rushouts. What did Seattle do in that game? Was there anything specific that they did?
They were on the edge, they were on the edge.
Is that something? Did they do things that the Cowboys have shown any sort of propensity to be able to replicate.
Well, it's a lot of the inside hand off, the read option stuff. It was, it was snap, it was orbit motion, it was spin, turn in hand, it was it wasn't like your traditional lineup, but they they took the ball and tried to create ways, whether it was toss or whether it was motion, and then come back and then toss it. But they they knew that going out on the edge was their best chance of running this.
Football and they were successful.
They were successful doing it.
Yeah, Yeah, so I guess that that could create some sort of opportunity for the Cowboys.
These guys are big. When you talk about Reader and McNeil inside, they've got big body guys. That's the thing that you have to kind of worry about. And we saw it a little bit with the you know, with the Steelers, I felt like mashing the edges was going to be you know, some of the success you had, but you did a pretty good job of handling inside of the Steelers guys.
Uh.
But same challenge again this week. I think I think the the linebackers here though, present a little bit of a different problem for for you. Running the ball.
Yeah, right, I want to attack the edge that Aiden Hudgerson is not on.
Yeah, he's an equally good run defender as pass.
Defender Josh Pascal. You want to be able to attack him. I think he's easily the worst run defender on that line. Not that he's a bad run defender, but I just wouldn't call him. I wouldn't call him Mavericke. So somewhere below that, below that range.
One other thing I was going to ask you on on the how Cowboys, how the Cowboys should attack them knowing that Aiden Hudginson is there and he can create that pressure. Would you say this is a game where you would lean more heavily on maybe spring them out and just quick passes, get the ball out really quick. Or would you do would you would you opt for more max protect where you keep more guys in with the opportunity to give Dak a little more of an opportunity to get downfield, maybe make.
Some big play. Worry about the quick game because of how much press coverage they play. Now they're gonna play man coverage, right they They went from being a team that played a lot of zone last year because those corners were not good, right, So they had to They have a lot more confidence in Davis and then Arnold and then and then Branch and their ability to cover. They have a lot more. So they're playing a lot
more man coverage. If they're up on you, I don't know how much quick passing game you're gonna get off. You know, if there was a team that played like last week, the Steelers played a ton of zone coverage against you. If you're getting guys playing off, that's to me with a quick passing game. They took advantage of, you know, the space because those screens and stuff that
they threw because the corners were backed off there. So I would I would tend to lean towards Max protecting this thing and try to throw the ball.
I think there could be a little bit of succes us in the quick game, just because I think back to last year against the Lions. Again, there's a couple of different faces in the secondary, but it's still the same bread and butter at the end of the day. And you see CD getting thirteen receptions for two hundred and twenty seven yards, and that was more of a
product of the quick game. And so I think if they can line him up in situations where he can kind of get some freedom, which that's a little bit different this year, especially in motion, that that would be a little bit different this year.
But yeah, we'll believe that when we see it.
Right.
All in all, I think you got to be able to find ways to scheme ced Lamb open on one on one coverage because we look at these second half stats, four receptions for twenty five yards in the entire second halves of games this season for ced Lamb. They got to be able to get him open. They got to be able to identify some some matchups that they can key him in on, whether that be one on one with Terry and Arnold or shoot one on one with Brian Branch. Just put him one on one with somebody
and let him go make a play. That's why you pay him the money you do.
If I told you that his read his targets, and I looked this up because I was curious, If I told you his targets in off coverage is half of what it was last year, would you believe me?
Shocking to me?
I would believe you just from the fact that it is.
This season, he's had eleven targets in off coverage six catches. That's half of what he had. His his targets against man are the same as they were last year. Trending that way.
Are we talking about this point last year?
Yes, okay, trending up, trending up for the targets against man off coverage, half the targets against Tell me why you.
Think that's a product Are you saying number wise or percentage wise?
Both?
Okay? You think that's a product more of just more man defenses these first few weeks, or.
It's the same. It's it's it's it's funny because to me, I'm trying to figure out to me, getting him the ball on the move in off coverage and letting him run after catch would be that would be my goal. Yeah, And the fact that they've got half of the targets at this point time he had twenty two targets I believe twenty two or twenty three targets against off coverage at this point and now we're still the point whe the offense hasn't done the everybody losing their mind bit,
you know. But then we get after the San Francisco game. But the fact that he does it, that they're not throwing him the ball more and off coverage. I have no idea why.
Well, you know the other day when you asked, you weren't here, Nick, but when you were asking questions, it was on Tuesday and you asked Derrek and I should we shoot fans be worried about Ceedee Lamb? And he led me to thinking, because of how you answer that Derek world, defenses are paying more attention to him, and now that creates more opportunities for everybody else on the offense.
And he led me to think, I'm like, okay, then what was the difference then last year during that second half of last year, because he was the one still catching balls all the time, and you can't tell me that defenses weren't trying to take him out of the game either, So what's the difference this year versus?
I think I'm trying to figure out why the off coverage numbers are down. To me, that's the best time to throw the ball to CD Lamb. Let him get the ball with some separation and then magic, you know that kind of thing.
I think there was more respect for the other receivers involved, because Brandon Cooks really start to heat up along the second half of the season two, and I think that
opened up a lot of opportunities for CD. I don't necessarily have a question for your or answer for your question, Brian, I don't know's that's because whenever he does get a ball and off coverage, whether it be like a quick hitch, Yeah, I love the ability of him to be able to catch the ball and then just kind of wiggle and be able to kind of like look around his shoulders and be able to spin.
Fine.
Oh it's a half the number move.
For that doesn't mean and so just to be clear on that, Brian, are you saying that the same number of opportunities of at with off coverage are this year as last year. Yeah, they just have half the number of tries when they've taken advantage of it.
They have if I cause I was I'm trying, I'm working on mysteries without any clues. I'm at Bob Singer song right now, Yeah, and I'm trying to kind of figure out. Let me if we go to if you go to break, I'll go to break. I'll come back and I'll read you exactly what I learned about this.
Right, let's do it. Let's take a break. We'll come back, we'll hear what Brian has to say on that. We'll talk a little bit more about that topic. You'll also get into a couple offensive guys, and I want to get some player evaluations from will to be back Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio.
If you can't be at the stadium, there's no better way to watch your Cowboys than on an lg O lead Evo TV. That's because everything you see is more lifelike, every play, every hit. I mean, you might just will be on the sidelines, that's how clear it is. It's all thanks to LG's legendary technology, perfect black, over eight point three million self lit pixels.
No one comes close. LGO led Evo is the best TV in the game.
For a reason.
See for yourself at LG dot com slash o Leedevo.
They say champions are remembered, but legends are never forgotten. United Egg and Term offers a winning lineup of John Deere equipment built to tackle any challenge on and off the field. Legendary John Deere Tractors combines residential mowers, commercial mowers, compact construction equipment.
Cater utility vehicles, and a full line of golf.
And sports turf equipment. United Agon Turf the official agonturf equipment supplier of the Dallas Cowboys. Visit Unitedagonturf dot com to find a location near you.
If you shout how about them Cowboys? You have that undeniable passion that's the heart of Cowboys Nation. And if you like to drink Doctor Pepper, you love the unique blend of its twenty three flavors. Together, you're one of a kind fandom paired with the one of a kind taste of a delicious ice cold Doctor Pepper is the game day lineup that can't be beat better yet, Gather your Cowboys and Doctor Pepper fan friends to watch the next game and crack open a delicious ice cold Doctor
Pepper for everyone. The wins will be even taste here. It's a pepper thing, and we're going to overtime.
Erica, how much have I spent on Concessions?
For questions about their money, Dallas Cowboys fans can turn to Erica, the virtual financial Assistant in the Bank of America mobile banking app. Learn more at Bankofamerica dot com. Slash Erica by your side. Bank of America Official Bank of the Dallas Cowboys. Erica respondses me very digital tool featured required downloading the mobile banking app and may only be available on select mobile devices. Erica is a mobile feature only available in the English language. Your chap may
be recorded and monitored. Qualit Assurance message data rates. Additional terms may apply. Bank of America and a member FDIC.
Todd thought it would be secure to jog in the Cheatah Savannah. Todd believed the big cat repellent he bought online was reliable, and now Todd is trying to be faster than this cheetah that can run eighty miles per hour. But the good news is Todd has AT and T five G. It is fast, reliable, and secure, and he learned the best thing to do is stop running and toss her the backpack with the beef stew AT and T five G Fast, reliable, Secure.
Five G requires compatible plan and device. Five G may not be available in your areas. See add dot com slash five G for you for details.
Back to the break, AT and T connecting changes everything.
That's all you gotta, that's it, that's all you need.
With AT and T. They're so trustworthy and good Yeah, simple, yeah, trust.
And everything.
Welcome back, final segment of the Break Laugh in s WBC Mortgage Studios at Star. Let's continue our conversation real quick. This segment's brought to you by blockchain dot Com. All right, Brian, you were you were telling us before you break God and clarify. You've looked up some information I did.
This is where I pulled this from. Okay, and this is because it's it was relating to Lamb and I was curious and then I saw this note because it had to do with the Lions, and the Lions of a line. They're outside cornerbacks and press coverage about thirty four percent of their snaps this season. That's the fifth highest in the NFL. So they're gonna play press corner.
That's kind of their back the matchup ceedee. Lamb has stayed effective against press coverage this season, recording a near identical target rate twenty seven percent and yards per route two point eight to last year, so that's very similar against the press coverage. Lamb's drop off in performance has mainly come against off coverage, where he has just caught six of eleven targets for fifty eight yards. His target rate has been cut in half against off coverage this season.
That's fourteen percent compared to last season's thirty percent. So that's where we're at with that.
Well, it sounds like it's not as much of a problem this week because it they play a lot of press coverage cover that's what he's doing well against.
But you wonder, how why are they are they are they facing off coverage and in the in the second half of games fair and he's not getting the opportunity in the off coverage that the Daks throwing the ball to other guys in off coverage that he feels like might be a little bit more open.
Again, I wonder if this is just me theorizing out loud, most of his action last season was in the quick game. I think this is just kind of a guestimation, but I would say probably sixty percent of his completions last year wor quick game. It was slants, hitches, quick curls. I mean, it was quick outs. I mean he was
getting the ball quick. So I wonder if if defenses have identified that looked at it and be like, Okay, if we play more off coverage and that gives us a little bit more leverage to be able to play in front or keep Cede Lamb in front of us if he were to run those quick game type routes, and then you know, if Dak Prescott sees that, then he's probably looking elsewhere. So that's just me theorizing out loud, though.
But I do wonder why the target share is cut in half compared to last year because that same problem would have still existed last year. So I don't know that's interesting.
That is a baffling stat but you know, I mean, I think at the end of the day, I still think that part of what we're seeing at the early part of this year isn't it, you know, not really an adapt and adaptation because I think Dak and CD are on. I think they're on the same page. They've played enough together. I do think timing, though, is a part of it. When you don't go to train in camp, I think timing can be a part of the issue, and so I do give a little bit of difference
to that. I don't know if it would make that big of a difference where you know, you're cut in half the number of opportunities you're getting in an off coverage, but I do think that's a part of it.
At what point do we stop referencing training camp.
Well, no, and I'm not saying that it shouldn't be corrected. At this point, it should be correct. My point is, though the numbers in the first five weeks could have been affected by more so even week one, week two, week three, and by now it may not be as effective. But we're looking at numbers over the entire first five games, which means it could be skewed a little bit because early on they were having some of those challenges. My question would be on a week to week basis, what
does that look like? And every week has it gotten better? My expectations it should if that's the problem, If the problem is really about timing, it should get better every week, right, it.
Should, especially with two veteran guys, two professionals, two guys that have been I mean, you look out how they were last year during that second half of the season, and you would expect it to be a lot better. So it's just it's it's interesting in the and yet I agree, we all I think we all agree at this point that him missing training camp has affected his game. Uh, But at the same time, it's like we're week seeks it.
We are we are, I think even more so, not only I think if we are attributing some of this to CID not being a training camp, I think there's also a little bit of attribution that I think needs to go towards the offense not playing in the preseason, because we saw this last year where they had a slow start and you saw rhythm and things that weren't quite developed, and then they didn't integrate motion. They didn't
integrate a lot of things until after the buye. I was like, okay, then was before the buy your preseason? Then if only you had three games to work those things out.
But you know, I mean, honestly, you across the league we saw first couple of weeks scoring was down, offenses weren't going. I really think that's a function of across the league teams not playing their starters or in the preseason.
I think, what's happening now and if they moved eighteen games I think will happen even more is the first few weeks of the NFL season really is a preseason, and so you're going to be kind of just struggling to make it work those first few weeks, and then you start getting on your role and then you start really figuring out what works for you.
Look at the two teams out are five and zero, and see how much their starters played in the preseason.
That's all I guess were the teams They played a lot, not.
A lot, but they played you know, like Mahomes played quarters. Yeah, he played quarters at a time. Yeah, Donald, those guys they played quarters at a time.
So there was a time where I would have fought you on this. Now you're I can't fight you anymore.
Yeah.
I mean there's a lot of.
People out there listening right now and like say something broad us. You're the one that always says that the games, the practices against the Rams were and I do think they were beneficial for you because you can control and Dak got you know, basically two hundred snaps against a first team defense and he didn't get hit in any of those times.
But also a lot of questionable no there no question.
Now you're like, huh, no question, We're not, you know.
And there's a side of me that you know, the scaredy player personnel guy. That's me. I'm the scary player personnel guy, and I don't want anybody to get hurt and I.
Think whenever Tyron Smith had that injury a couple of years ago, even though it wasn't in a preseason game. But you also called back to Romo having his preseason injury, went back when I wonder how much of that is just kind of PTSD from preseason injuries. Yeah, I do think about that. You mentioned Dak not getting hit, but a Ram Stafford did, so, Yeah, there was still physicality.
It was physicality involved.
You had to bring that up.
It was the first thing that it was a crazy when it happened, it was hilarious, well not hilarious. Fine, he was fine, So it was funny.
All right, real quick, before we end the show, I did want to get an update on what you guys saw from Cooper BB in this last game. We hadn't talked much about him, but how has his progression worked out? I know we talk a lot about Guiden. How much has BB progressed now over the first five games of the season.
Well, I will there's a quote from Mike McCarthy directly from the pre conference going on. I think right now he had said that Cooper BB through the first five games quote has done a heck of a job and he is quote two and seventy two percent better at snapping since the start of training camps.
Twenty Yeah, I would have said seventy three.
He's a big analytics guy. He's got a huge analytics team.
So they put that number, and they do have a lot of them.
Yeah, I'll tell you what, how do you get to that number? How analytics?
I feel like they you're right that the calls it just doesn't seem to be you know, the snapping part of it. We were kind of worried about the calls appear fine. You haven't seen any major busts or anything. Inside, you know, it's where they've had problems. It seems like it's been more on the edges than inside. So you got you got to give a tip of the cap to him. The one thing he's got to do. He's got to learn this. It's like he has got too pro Bowl guys playing next to him. Shove that guy,
Shove him and go. You can you can help this running game being up there blocking Angeloni or blocking one of their you know, blocking one of their guys. Yeah, you're helping get the play going. But we need that guy blocked. If we get that guy blocked. Instead of a six yard run, it might be a twelve yard run. You know, he's got to do a better job of like he's thinking so much of got to secure this guy.
Gotta secure this guy instead of shoving with power. You got pro bowl guards that can handle him one on one and go get on the second level and when that ball cuts right behind you, it's going to be a pretty play that we sow on sounds to the sidelines now, Dallas Cowboys dot Com. Yeah, make sure, you know, make sure you get up on that second level. You get those blocks.
One thing that I think will help Cooper bb in these next few weeks as Zach Martin's finally hitting his stride. I think he had a slow start to the season from my perspective, but that game against the Steelers and probably the second half against the Giants, I really like the work that he's put together over the last six quarters or so.
Yeah, it was a stark reminder, Brian, as you were talking about Detroit and how they do that. They don't waste time, they and they're off to the second level, and it made me think, like that's exactly what I want Bab to study and figure out because if he gets that part of his game down, I think it's going to add a lot to this offense.
He's just I went through and just look at the metrics real quick, and in two hundred and seven pass snaps, he's only giving up nine pressures. Yeah, and three of those pressures have been one on one.
Right now, he's second among all rookie offensive linemen and the pressure is allowed, Yeah, which tells you something across the entire league. That's a pretty impressive stat. So he's I think he's doing some good things. Like you said, I think it's a matter of how do you go from being pretty good to now being a real real asset to this offense and this offensive line.
Yeah, I appreciate if I could injury news just from the press conference. I'll go through it really quick. Deron Bland came out of yesterday's practice quote good. Today will be a real test for him, according to Mike McCarthy. McCarthy also said Eric Kendricks will be limited today with his shoulder and calf issue, so that's that's really good,
but he will start with the rehab group. Kayln Carson will be back with the rehab group today after being a full participant yesterday, so something to keep an eye on moving forward.
I Ain good. That's that.
Seems like a little going backwards for him, but going forward for the other two. So we'll see where that all lands out. Yeah, all right till tomorrow. Tomorrow will wrap this whole thing up. Amber Yetty games tomorrow until then for Nick Harris, Ryan Brost and Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Eagleton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
This has been a production of Dallascowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.