Cowboys Break: What Went Wrong in Carolina?

from the SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. We are going to talk about this Cowboys game versus the Carolina Panthers. Cowboys lose sixteen to eight. Not what any of us expected, far from what we expected. Probably, I think we all probably expected that that offense would be a little bit better than it was yesterday. And and so we're gonna get into that. We're gonna talk about everything that happened in the game and why the Cowboys end up losing it.

But first, before we get to to just the intricate parts of the game, I want to start with the big picture here. Dallas basically blank defensively, they blanked until the fourth quarter. They didn't, I'm sorry, offensively, they weren't able to score until the fourth quarter. The defense, pretty much after giving up ten points in the first half, then held this team pretty steady there for the rest

of the game. And really it was a lot of the damage that the Panthers did offensively happened early in the game, before they started to figure out what was happening with Cam Newton. Overall, what did you think of the just the poor play offensively and how the Cowboys really are going to get any better at this point. I'm surprised. I thought they would beat the Panthers by thirteen points. I thought Zeke would look good. I thought

the offense would look good. I was naive to think that this team would just magically get it together, and they didn't. They looked like they had not played with each other before, and a lot of them hadn't, you know, haven't because there are new players. It was really ugly, and I'm the first one to say I was absolutely wrong about it, and I won't do that again until they they changed things around, because this is this is really looking bad. And I thought last year was kind

of a well, you know, the Zeke and then the injuries. Now, this is a this is a trend that that's been happening for a while, and it it showed up again. And here, I mean, I was absolutely wrong. I'm not gonna try to pretend like I wasn't. But I keep going back to the last thing I said on our show Friday, which ironically a lot of people didn't hear

because it got cut off, but I heard it. I basically, I mean, I said, you know, I'm gonna choose to believe what I've seen over the last six weeks, and that went for both sides of the ball, and on the defensive side. I feel pretty good about that, honestly. I mean, yeah, they they It took them some time to get their feet wet. Shaun Lee missed some tackles. You know, Cam ran for sixty yards. It's not great, but they buckled down two hundred ninety three yards and

sixty points should win you most football out. Yeah, not bad at all. The two or three sacks through DeMarcus Lawrence looked amazing. So I chose to believe that that could happen, and it worked. And then I chose to believe that what we'd seen at training camp would translate over. I mean, you know, Michael Gallup getting involved, Havon Austin doing a little bit of everything, Dak Prescott not being amazing, certainly not Aaron Rodgers but moving the ball, and Ezekiel

Elliott doing his thing. Literally, like none of that happened. I'd like, all benefit of the doubt is gone. They don't deserve it. Dak looked terrible, He looked inaccurate, He looked, he looked flustered by the pressure. Connor Williams we said on the show, to our credit, we're not wrong about everything. He said. Kawan Short and Don Taripoe had the potential to erect this game, and they did. Tyrant Smith got flagged twice. Lyle Collins called like literally against a good

defensive front. Ezekiel Elliott ran hard and effectively in a game where he was out of his rhythm from the get so I'll give him a little bit of credit for playing a decent game. Everything else sucked, and we can get into it in more detail later, but all benefit of the doubt out the window in one game. There you go. I really really thought that having all

these receivers was gonna change everything. In a way that you were gonna get something different from this offense, and Dad was go be able to, as we seen during training camp, have a better connection with them, and clearly that was in the case. This was a whole mess. The offense couldn't get going, and I'm so disappointed and upset because there was nothing to get you excited about. Again.

Ezekiel Elliott obviously a great running back. We didn't really see him going and when you look at the stat and we were looking at it on the plane, it's like, oh, okay, he got sixty nine yards. Oh, we don't know how that happened. And he's known to get those little yards here and there and then they start accumulating and adding up. But at the end of the day, it didn't help at all. And there was one Um what play was that Nike where we were like, they need to run

the freaking ball? Um? There were third and I think, yes, the third and three play and the third quarter when it that's what I'm thinking, Yeah, yeah, we're Dak went in for a pass and it's like, why are they calling this play? Like why not run the ball? They just needed like three more yards to get first down. I think it's the play in the third quarter where we're third and three, like on the forty six, and

they hadn't done anything all day. This is like the furthest they've gotten, and it's like, you have to decide this is four down territory. And if you can decide that, you know, Zeke for two, Zeke for one, you'll you'll get the first down. They ran him throw. He just threw it away and then ended up punting, and you know, I just it's you you're down to nothing. It's like halfway halfway, uh second and five, Zeke makes it third three, they throw and complete the swam and punt from the

Carolina forty six. Yeah. I mean I was thinking, you're about six seven yards away from from trying to field goal. And if this guy's got you know, super strong leg, which he does, not sure how accurate he is, but he's got a super leg. I mean, you're down ten nothing, you might have to try fifty seven yard or the fifty seven yard is why he is on the team because he made it in Houston, and you know he obviously drilled that kick. I never got a good look.

I mean, it would seem like it was pretty close forty seven yard or yeah, he just feel like it just drifted off to the right. Just I mean, he's got the leg, but I mean, you know, you gotta doesn't. Forty seven yard is not a gimme, and I don't. I don't want anybody act like it is. It's not a gimme in the NFL. I mean, but but first kick,

you kind of want to see it. And certainly when people are going to compare him to Dan Bailey, which that's gonna be the refrain everything he does from this point forward, it will be compared to Dan Bailey and not Dan Bailey that was here when he left Dan Bailey's career. That's gonna be a thing. And a forty seven yard or was a gimme in Dan Bailey's prime exactly, and that's what he's going to be compared to. That's the problem. I'll say this. I'll say this about about

the Bailey situation. I don't know if he would have made the forty seven yarder. I do not know that history says that he probably would. Recent history said that he might not. But I know this, he's not. He's not given um. He's not getting four touchbacks at all and the way that the Cowboys were covering punts um that if they covered kickoffs the same way then that could have been a problem. So that's one of the reasons why they did it, is that they can't tell

Dan go get get me a touchback. They could tell this guy and most of the other kickers get one. So that's a big difference there. But I know no one cares about that. They want to They want to see him made field goals and he missed. All right, let's move on. Let's talk about particularly about the offense. I want to talk about Dak Prescott and the protection.

Uh Dac was nineteen of twenty nine. That was sixty six percent completion, one hundred and seventy yards, zero touchdown, zero interceptions, eighty one QB rating for the game, he was sacked six times. If you watch the game, there were there were sometimes it was just kind of like guy just got beat. There were other times where it was just like it seemed like maybe they were out of sync and not knowing where it was coming from. That I think about the Shack Thompson blitz where Zeke

was Sposa picked him up. It seemed like Zeke ad just it too late, No way he's gonna get there in time. Guy just gets clean shot on the quarterback. But obviously your rookie Connor Williams had a rough day

and he gave up two of those sacks. So just offensively, looking at the offensive line in the protections, do you think that do you blame this more on the fact that this unit has not did not play a lot together during the preseason, or do you think it was just literally they were overmatched and this defensive front was just a ton better than they were to give up six sacks, Well, a combination of both. I mean, clearly they haven't had enough time playing time against another opposing team,

you know, together, so that's gonna show up. And one of my biggest things, like Dad, he's known in the past for his confidence level and the fact that he's able to, you know, keep it together and kind of figure out what to do a little bit. But one of the things that I noticed as far as him, when the offensive line did give him some time, he just wouldn't really process things and think quickly enough. And there were times like the I think it was the past to Blake Jarwin where he missed it and he

could have read, he was wide open. He could have just ran the ball. And that's one of the things he used to know. And the fact that you see the opposing team doing it so much, we can and I mean, you should be inspired to run the freaking ball too and just go for it. A lot of the times he just wouldn't really think quick enough, and that obviously got to and with the offense having some

struggles to combine the two, it's a disaster. I got a couple things to touch on, but and we sort of argued about this in the press box yesterday, which I'm not gonna I'm not gonna give them the didn't have enough playing time excuse, because Connor Williams did get a lot of playing time in the preseason, and so did Joe Looney because they didn't have another option, Lyle Collins. But the unit, the unit is where I'm more talking about.

You talk about offensive line, any offensive lineman will tell you the value the offensive line is dim playing as a unit, not about the individual. The three. The three, I mean, first of all, the all five of them are never gonna get a ton of playing time together in the preseason, even if the Cowboys had done a different even if they'd handled it differently, that's just not gonna happen. You might get a maximum of like three or four series in one game, Lyle, that's not true.

The dress rehearsal game usually the offense usually plays through the first half and sometimes comes back and gets a series into the into the third. How many possessions do you get in an NFL game? Nine or ten? Yeah, so if you probably have about five or six in one game, cool, you're quibbling, true, Lyle, Joe and Connor Williams got plenty of playing time. Zack Martin and Tyron Smith or supposedly two of the best players on your team.

I don't none of us have anything bad to say about the way Zach played right necessarily, I mean, from what I know, it seemed like he played like Zach Martin Tyron Smith. I mean, for the way we talk about him, that's not good enough. Two flags that get you behind the chains. I'm sorry if you didn't get enough playing time, but you're on that level where you're supposed to be better than that. And then the play calling.

Two things come to mind. One, if you're playing a front that you think has the potential to wreck your game like that, which we us idiots who don't get paid to game plan, we saw that coming, so I

would hope that they did. And so it didn't seem like there was enough creativity, not just in the sense that Dak was in the pocket too much against the front that had the potential to kill him, but even the stuff that they did to combat that was so incredibly predictable, like the waggles that Dak has become known for. He had a guy in his face when he got done with the action every single time, Like that's that's

not great. That suggests to me that Carolina watched some tape and had a pretty good idea of what to expect, Like can I get some read option, can I get some misdirection? Can I get I mean, I don't know, I don't remember for sure, but I'm I feel like most of Dak's carries were improvised and not planned, which

that's stupid. I mean Carolina's offense didn't look great either, literally, like the difference between them winning and losing his fifty eight rushing yards for Cam Newton, like just give me something, yep. So what I say all the time up in the press by He's got to keep this balls. Dak's gotta keep it. I mean, give Carolina credit because Cam Newton is not a good passer. To me, he can get the job done. He's a good manager because he can run the ball, and that they know what he is, like,

he knows what he is. He's not trying to be anything that he's not. He's a big, strong tight end that just decides to play quarterback and he's really good. Well no, I mean he can throw the ball better than any tight he can throw the ball, okay, end basically quarterback. He's he's like a Tebow with that's better. He's a better thrower than Tebow. But I'm just saying he is what he is and they don't try to do anything different out of it. He doesn't, you know,

throw the ball down the field a whole lot. He does some, but he takes his shots. But he runs the ball, and that's what they need to do. Dak's not a passer right now either. Dak is better at running. So play off of that and kind of quit trying to make Dak what he isn't. And maybe that's what Carolina I'm figured out with Cam over the years, he's liked play to his strengths. And that's what I think this team is really struggling with with Dak. They're trying

to make him something that he's not. This is simplistic, but and let like, if if this team can run the ball, if they can do their thing with Ze, can just crank out yard and stay ahead of the chains, they will take the game to anybody. And fortunately for them, there's a lot of defensive fronts in the league that

can't handle that. When they go up against the defense that can take that away, they just seem scared and lost, and like they they let the defense dictate what happens, Like it sounds good when Jason garretts it, sounds plausible and excuseable when Jason Garrett says it, which is, you know, we got behind the chains. We let you know, circumstances take us out of or in the NFL, that sucks. Like if it being second and twelve instead of second

and five. Is the difference between you being good and bad? You're not good, and you saw that. I mean to let defenses dictate that to you the way the Panthers did yesterday, it's an indictment of everybody involved in the way this works. You mentioned that, but you look at the division, that may be your hardest problem. Like there are an there's several teams in this division that can stop run well unfortunately for the Cowboys. I mean, there are a lot of defenses that can't handle the way

they run the ball. There are a lot that can. And that's I mean, the Giants have a front that can do that. We've they were the first ones to crack this code. The Eagles obviously, like that's disgusting. Watch out for those those Ridskins that those two guys that they got from Alabama, like they could become that kind those kind of players that certainly have the ability. So all I'm saying is there are going to be teams

that will be able to stop this running attack. And we've been saying this back since the Cowboys made this decision to get rid of Dez Bryant. That you can go with that option of just saying we're gonna have a lot of good receivers and not really have a great receiver. But the problem is you're gonna get into those games you can't run. Who's going to be the guy to catch the ball. And yesterday they didn't have

anybody who could get the ball there. First of all, let alone be able to make a catch and make a play. And to be clear, I think it's simplistic to sit here and I can hear somebody saying it, like the difference between success and failure is not Dak's ability to throw it to a receiver thirty yards downfield and back the defense off. I don't believe that you just have to have a Plan B that works, whatever

that is, and we didn't. I mean, honestly, it looked like they didn't even have one, Like they didn't try, and like I can't. This is what I just can't get over, which is that Blake Jarwin had twenty two snaps to Tavon Austin's ten. They gave Tavon Austin the ball on the second play of the game. It was nullified by a Tyron Smith flag. They handed the ball off to him halfway through the second quarter, and then

he disappeared from the offense. Why, I mean, if everything, if he was so good at training camp and we would all agree that he was, where was it like? Where I mean missed? How about if the defensive front is collapsing on you take the game out wide. At least try. I mean, I can't say with a certainty that it would have worked, but they didn't even try. They gave him the ball one yard off the ball. He's a little guy, he needs a little bit of space. Put him in a shotgun. Give it to him from

the shotgun so he has some running start. I mean Lyell was getting pushed back every time, so as soon as he got the ball, he was getting hit right on the line like it was too close. That was a bad play call. And then and then that's it. It was almost like, okay, I'll show you Tavon Austin nap. It's almost like they didn't want to really do it, and then they gave him a play that he's not going to succeed at and now, like them, that's it. And I'm pretty sure correct me if I'm wrong. I

know there was at least once. I think there were twice that they ran a tight end screen in that game twice, right, so, so the tight ends got more screens than Tavon Austin. That to me is still a problem. It's like it's almost like they're out thinking themselves, because if you think about it, who would you rather have in open space with the ball in his hands, a tight end or a guy that runs a four three forty.

I mean, it just it doesn't make sense to not get him more involved in the Austene What's weird to me is which two receivers. Which two receivers were missing for most of training camp and preseason, Beyonte Thompson and Tavon Austin. I think it would be Beasley and oh, you're right, Beasley too, And they got thirteen targets combined, I mean, more than anybody else. And then the next

receiver with the most is Hearns at three. I mean, so it was kind of weird to go back on the preseason stuff like you can say, well did it matter? Did it? I mean, I don't really blame the Cowboys for anything. I mean, is it a factor, Yes, it probably is. But I'm not sitting here are going to point fingers because again I said this over and over. I think it was a domino effect that they could

not control. They could not control what happened to Travis Frederick and at the same time it happened, it was Zach Martin got hurt. So those two things are out of your middle. There's no reason to play Time and Smith. Then now we're not playing Dack and we're certainly not playing z So that kind of affected what the what their third preseason game usually isn't. I don't blame them for that. I do think it factored in. But there's enough quick crying about it. It's time to move on

from there. Let's take our first break. When we come back, we need to talk a little bit about Zeke Elliott and what he was able to do. We'll talk a little bit about three receivers, and of course we got to talk something about the defense because they did play a quality game yesterday, and I'll ask the question as to whether these guys think this defense is for real and they can expect to see that more throughout this season. We'll talk about that when we come right back. This

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Back to the Break, Welcome back. It is the second segment of The Break live from the SWBC Mortgage Studios. As the Star, we're talking Cowboys versus Panthers. Cowboys loses from sixteen eight. Close game, but not really that close when you watched it, it seemed like it was a game that the Cowboys got beat up pretty good, even though the scores is that they had a shot. That's if anybody's curious. That's what it's like being an LSUE football fan. No, Like it's ten nothing and you're just like,

we're not winning this freaking let's not talk about football. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, it's not the greatest, all right, so let's talk about Let's talk about Ezekuel Elliott yesterday, he runs fifteen times or sixty nine yards four point six average. He gets four I'm sorry, three catches, four targets, seventeen yards five point seven yards per catch, all in all against a good defensive front. Not a horrible day. Probably not what

you want. And certainly if you're looking at this offense and how it's going to have to perform in order to win, probably not what you need from the running game if you're going to be expected to win. So my question for you, guys is what do you think the Cowboys can or will need to do in order to get themselves to a position where their offense can still run when the Russian game is not what it should be. Well, I thought you just said it wasn't

a horrible game. I mean, I thought Zeke actually played a really good game. Um, I mean that's the four point six yards to carry is pretty good. Fifteen attempts is not what you want to give. What you think is that one of the best backs in the league. He needs ten more carries than that. At least you do that. You're sitting at one hundred and fifteen yards or so. And and you know, I thought he his worst play was the was the block that he missed.

I'm not sure he was standing on the right side of the quarterback there, but I mean that they just got him. But the run right after that, the very next run, I mean I remember saying that is a big boy run. That's like, all right, I messed this thing up at second in eighteen or first and eighteen, and I'm gonna just go and get everything I can. He put his space right in it. He did a nice job there. But I mean I thought he ran hard,

did everything he could. They need to give him more carries, and they got to move the change to give him more carries. See I And I mean I wouldn't be upset if they'd given him more carries. But I said this last night, I'm not even mad about the carry count the run when there in the first half the game, the score got away from him. You're in a two score hole in the second half. That's what it looks like when you're trailing by two scores for most of

the game. My thing is, dude ran fifteen times for sixty nine yards, three catches for seventeen No, No, that's them and bad. And that's what we've been saying, is Ze going to be more involved in the passing game. Early returns aren't great, and that really the theme for this And to be fair, to be clear, it's one week. It's the NFL, Like everybody obviously needs to calm down

a couple notches. But through one game, we have seen nothing to give us confidence that this offense will be different, not only just one game, because you got to take this back to last year. Well, that's what I'm saying is we changed the coaches, we brought in all these receivers, we did this, we did that, we traded for Tavon. There's no reason to believe that anything's different and and honestly, more so than Tavon and anything else, Zeke's performance in

the passing game is what makes me think that. I mean because what he got thrown a couple of screens. There was an aborted waggle because the Panthers read it like a book, and then there was a swing pass where maybe other than the Blitz pick up, I thought that was that was such a big play because Zeke was one on one with either a linebacker or a dB and the guy made the tackle for a one yard game. If he makes that guy miss, it's probably

a crucial third down conversion. Maybe a different ball game. But I had a lot of green grass absolutely there, as if he's one of the best backs in the league, that's the play he needs to make. Yeah, but I thought he played really well. I need to see more, and I put that on coaching, like can my guy go? Can he hang in the middle of the field? Can he run a Texas route? Can you do some thing with him? Literally? I got home last night at one o'clock in the morning and turned on you know sports

center James Connor first went crazy. Okay, first NFL start replacing Levon Bell. You know what his receiving line was fifty yards I think five catches, for sixty yards. That's better than all but two of Zeke's receiving performances in his career, and the two that were better were when he broke super long screens for touchdowns. And by the way, James Connor coming out of college was not considered a pass catchy running back like in college, he did it

very little. Don't tell me that you can't do this with an all pro. If a guy making his first start can be that involved in the passing game, it's crap, and it can it should be better, and that is what upsets me the most. It's fine if you got to get away from the run when you're down two scores, do something else like that's I think people attributed to Mike Tyson. I don't know if he actually said it, but everybody's got a great plan until they get punched

in the mouth. The Cowboys have a great plan and we've seen it work when they're the ones doing the punching. When they get punched in the mouth, it just they

just fall apart. And that's the way it is. It's tough, and you really, really, when you look at it, you start thinking about the fact that you watch a lot of teams around the NFL, especially teams that have that go to kind of player, whether it's a running back, whether it's receiver, they get into crunch time, they get into times of the game when they're having a hard time moving the ball, and they start feeding those guys.

I mean, like play after play after play, and the Cowboys seemed, for whatever reason, right now, there's only one of those guys on this team right now. That's Zeke. So when you get into that situation, like you said, whether it's in the running game or in the passing game, get him the ball, figure out creative ways to get him the ball in space, and let him do what

he does because he is your best player. If you're gonna lose, at least lose on the back of your best player, right Yeah, I mean, like he should touch the ball upward of twenty two times per game, all things considered. It doesn't always have to be carries. It's yeah, it's it's not ideal. Let's talk about the I was gonna say, move to defense. Actually I was gonna talk about the receivers. Okay, go ahead, Okay, did you you

want to say something? What was the main thing that you guys noticed when that was the change, when the ball was finally able to get moving, and that got into the end side, they went to their two minute offense. Basically they were in spread, and they were in eleven personnel and they were basically just moving the ball. And they've done that before. When they tend to find themselves in games where they can't really get anything going, they'll go into their two minute and usually that gives them

a little bit more no huddle. You know, it moves a little fast, you got a little bigger, a little better pace, and it tends to get him into a flow. And that's when they got that one drive that drove all down the field. I think it was a ten play drive. They ended up with a touchdown. They were exclusively in two minute and there was no third down except for the one run that deck went eleven yards or nine yards on the scramble. Right. But that he was I mean, he was bad. Objectively, he did not

have a good game. I think we would all agree on that. But and I Nick tweeted this during the game, that was that was a gutsy drive on his part. I'll give credit where it's dude, like that third down conversion fighting those guys off to get the two point conversion. Just I mean, there's there's reason to believe that this thing can work. But you got it's got to show up for more than three minutes of a sixty minute game. You want so hard to like him because he does.

He says the right thing, he typically wears the right thing. I kind of wonder about that one. But for the most part, like he's you know, he you know, he's playing like a like a warrior. He tries to play the game like like you see Newton plant and stuff like that. You just wonder what his capabilities are throwing the ball. And it begs the question if teams have started to figure him out. I mean, they look like

they did last year. What was one of your question, I was gonna get to that good, very good now I was gonna get to Okay. For example, last year, a lot of the times that we come in in the second quarter, in the second part of the game and not second quarter, second half of the game, and you would see them doing some things and moving the ball, but by that time it's freaking too late, Like whatever you do, it doesn't matter. And we saw it last year too, where you can't rely on just your defense,

like your defense is gonna get tired. We saw it in this game. They can be as good as they could be, Like they could be great. I don't believe the whole thing, Like, you know, defenses win games. They do, but you need to freaking score points otherwise you're not getting anywhere. So this whole thing was like, yeah, it's exciting to see the defense and the progress that we've been seeing. But by the second half of the game this time, fourth quarter, by that time, it's way too late.

You need to figure it out and start doing things. You really know the things that that can't do. You really know what your players can't do. So now figure out how to make it work with what they can do. And they've pointed out a lot of those things too. Where okay, how do you how do you you delize State in Austin this team better or not ever? Ever take the ball to start the game ever again not not, I mean one of your biggest thing. It was, well,

it's it's always been one of my biggest things. Now, now yesterday wasn't their choice. I'm not saying it was. But the strength of this team has changed, It's changed it's changed right in front of him. You just said, Amber, you said they know what Dak Cannon can't do. Do they like? Do they really do? They really still wonder that he can be the guy because they need to figure that out. Their strength on this team is defense. For this team, if they get in a situation where

they win the toss, they need to defer. They need to go play defense. Why are you looking at me like this? Would you like to make a lunch bet that they don't Yeah, yeah, next time they win the toss, whether it's Sunday. I'm kind of I'm kind of we oh. I know because knowing this team, I agree with your point. But knowing this team and kind of how they do things at times, I would not be shot at all. They say we're taking the ball, I'm waiting out for you going to try to score. Okay, that's that's a

one change that needs to be made. I'm waiting for you to ask if there needs to be another. I'm like waiting for you. Okay, So let's get actually, let's get into that, because I do think that's a worthy conversation. There's a lot of talk right now about how creative the offense is being called, and how they're using DAK and how they're doing things in order to get Zeke involved.

And we talked about tavon Austin. Do you think at this point that maybe there is a scenario where you should consider going back to Jason Garrett calling the plays versus having Scott Lenahan calling the plays. I think that's something that has to happen here somebody. I think that there needs to be some kind of change here, because, like you said, it's one game. It's still early in the year, but it's not too early for these trends

to be to be that. We've seen these trends, and I've seen other teams do this where it's like, all right, you kind of go into this year like all right, let's make sure it's different, and when it's not, the first sign that it's not, you have to do something different. Hopefully they had some kind of recourse in place. I think you're right, and I think they need to make a change. I think Jason Garrett could could be the

play caller. Don't know what that means as far as job status and all that stuff, but I do think that you you need to switch something up here. And I think. You know, he's been a pretty good play caller. I don't care what you think about him as a game manager, all this stuff. From a play caller standpoint, he's done a good job over the course of his career. Maybe also had Tony though, that was that was a

big difference. Yeah, yeah, I get it. I mean most people will say Tony was the best play caller they've had. I mean there may be something to that too. Well. They never didn't. They always moved the ball in two minute. He was the play caller always. Yes, well maybe, I mean that moved the ball in two minute two I mean i mean, you can't look the whole game. I'm sorry, that's a I don't know. That's that's interesting. I mean, they're certainly precedent for it. I was talking to somebody

about that this morning. The Bengals outright fired their offensive coordinator after two games last year. I mean, they got shut out twice in a row, or you know, close to it, and they just bye bye. John Payton got it stripped from him when he was in New York like people, I mean, before he became the great Sean Payton as a head coach, he was him with the Giants.

Point being, it can definitely happen. Other point being, it flies in the face of everything we have established about Jason Garrett's tenure here, Like that's just not something that they do. So that would be hold on, I just want to stop you right there. What what did we figure out when we talked about Bill Callahan? Yeah earlier? Was that when you right, am I am I crazy? Or was that not like an off season that was

an off season thing they brought in Scott Linahan. After they brought in Scott Linahan after the twenty thirteen season, Scott Linahan was like the passing game coordinator and Bill Callahan was the running game coordinator, which again, they don't just get rid of people. That's not something that they do, Okay, But something happened in the middle of the season where I remember Callahan. I'm pretty sure that Garrett went to calling plays like in the middle of the season. I'm

gonna have to look this up or figure out. You might that sounds familiar. You might be right, jeried never or fire a coach in the middle of the season until the season with Wade right, hey, there's the first time for everything, and that honestly and I'm the first one to say, like, no, the status quo is always

typically the way it goes. But like, like I literally I pulled up the scoreboard from the league, Like three teams didn't score ten points yesterday, and two of them, Buffalo and in Arizona, are widely considered to be in the running for the number one overall pick. If I mean, it's embarrassing if it doesn't, I mean, hey, if it doesn't change something, will I guarantee you? I mean, that's not you don't lose anything by making any change. At this point, what are you gonna lose? You don't have

anything else to lose. Like that, end point accurate statement. That feels a little dramatic to go back to, offensively what they've been doing from last year into this year. I mean, are you saying you gotta be worse than that? In that? In that I agree, But I'm basically I get. I mean, at the end of the day, and I'm not here to sugarcoat it. That sucked. It was so bad it hurt. I still it's still one game. It's

still just one you know. It was crazy right now that Dave is talking us all off the lage, like that's that's that's when we know something is wrong here. I'm sorry, I don't agree though I think you're one game into the season, but I don't think it's one game, and I think that you know, you'll agree with me here that this is a troubling pattern that's been happening. Absolutely. You said it on the plane yesterday. You said it's hard not to score ten points in the league. And

yet in the last what seven games? Five? Five? That's embarrassing. Five times that they haven't managed to do it in the last or ten I mean going back to what was the first game of that side, going back to Atlanta last year. Okay, this is like the fifth time that they haven't scored more than ten points. It was historically bad last year, right, didn't the Atlanta Chargers m

Philly again? Again? And now yesterday said that's that's nine games, and that's five times in nine games that you've you've scored less than ten points. It's quite mean. You have to try to be that bad in the NFL. Well, I mean in a league, in a series two, in a league where the nine or ten point underdog Bucks went into the Superdome and put fifty on the Saints. You can't score ten points, ye, And I'm not talking about winning. It's hard to win on the road in

the NFL too, score ten points. My god. And by the way, but I was just saying, I thought I was gonna really have this cool stat. I started looking in the media guy to like figure out, when's the last time they won with something less than ten? And I got one game. I forgot they won that game. You're six nothing like that because you spent you spent eight months trying to purge that that wasn't a real game. But like, yeah, it was like taking it. But by the way, for those people out there who won a

point two, well they let Dez Bryant go. This also goes back to when Dez Bryant was here. So I'm not saying des Bryant was the problem last year. What I am saying is he wasn't a part of the solution, and not having him means you, I mean, they are still having the exact same problems they were having when he was point That's the biggest problem for me, though, is you see so many elements change, but you're still getting the same freaking result. So that is what is

more I know you're setting. I know you're serious because you've said freaking like five times. Yes, did I point me in the direction of a person that thinks Dez Bryant changes the outcome of that because I got a bridge. I want to sell him honestly him. Well, he tweeted it, you know. I mean, did you hear Alan Hurn going off in the locker room about it? No? No, No, I was like, wait, did I miss something? The difference here? Although, let me ask you this question, do you think that?

And actually, this time for a sake of break, I'll ask this question when we come back. I want to talk about No, we haven't. We haven't to give talking. Do you think do you think, maybe though, that this team needs more dog type mentalities, those kind of guys that are so so so riled up about not winning that maybe it is like that maybe you need that in order to be successful in the NFL. I don't know, but I think it's a question worth asking, and I want you guys answer when we come back to the

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to the break Welcome back. This is the final segment of The Break Black from the SWBC Mortgage Studios. At the start, we're talking Cowboys versus Panthers, and I posed the question right before the break, is this a situation where you know we we've already I've already mentioned that. I don't think that Dez was a part of the solution because last year they were having these same offensive problems.

I don't think necessarily that Jason Witten was a part of the solution because he was here last year when they were having the same situation. But I do wonder if not having those kinds of guys. What I mean by that is the kind of guys that are that are are way more emotional, because you could talk about Dez throwing tantrums and all that, but Jason was just as emotional. Like Jason took losses really hard, and you could tell by the way he responded to people after

the game that he did. Excuse me, not having those kind of guys, or at least those kind of guys that we can perceive. Maybe they're there and they just hold it back and they don't show us, But not having those guys that we can perceive with that dog type mentality does that hurt you? Does that is that one of those things that maybe you need in order to be successful in the NFL. And maybe the Cowboys

at least offensively may not have enough of those guys. Yes, they do need more of that because when this this thing has to matter, it has to hurt at some point. Because if it does, if it really bothers them, uh losing, then then you you'll fix it. On Monday. We talk about this all the time. You'll you'll work harder on Tuesday. You'll watch more film on Wednesday, and you'll practice better, and Cristoper and and you'll you'll figure things out more

and it'll be it'll you'll things will matter more. Um and that and that's just what. And I don't know who that leader is. I really don't. They are offensive line. You've got three guys that they're they're not vocal leaders that we see that we see, um. But you have to be a great player to be a leader. You know, everyone always talks about NFL leaders, Well, who's the best leader of all time? I'm like Ray Lewis, Michael Irvin,

those are Hall of famers. Like you can't just be a good player that messes up every now and again and then you're a leader. And I don't know if they have that guy. I don't think I buy this just and I've said this before, but I look at myself when I think about that, because if you look at me from an outsider's perspective on almost any given day, you would think that I don't really care that much about my job. I think that's a fair criticism, and I also know that it's not true. I care deeply

about my job. I put a lot of work into hopefully being good at it. But you don't have to hit people for a living. Oh no, and thank God for that. But that's my point though. I think there's a part to that. Okay, let's hold on, let him finish, because I think I want to sit here. What he's saying, I don't. I don't believe. And there is something to be said for that. This is a violent, physical game.

There is emotion that goes into it. Case in point, Zach Martin, he's probably the best player on this team. He's not like that. I guarantee you he's a mean soob on the line, and I guarantee you he gives a crap what happens. I don't necessarily buy that you need to have that wear your heart on your sleeve mentality to be a leader, right can I can? I clarify though, Can I clarify though, I'm not saying this has to be somebody who is wears it on their sleeve as much as it is like if he is

a mean so ob during the game. That's what I'm talking about. And my question is, do you think they have enough of those mean sobs during the game on the offensive side of the ball. Here's that have that kind of dog mentality? How about this screw the mentality? I don't know if they have enough good players? Yeah, Like, I mean, that's fair. Unfortunately for me, I'm I'm struggling to come up with the counter example, like a strong silent I mean, for so long that was Tyrann Smith.

Unfortunately did not play a good enough game for me to feel comfortable using him. As you've seen left out tackles in the NFL who are really really good that aren't really really outspoken. I mean, it's been tying for a decade. There's been a lot of those guys that acrost the NFL. I just I don't believe that you need to have that desmntality. I think you need to be really good and care a lot. Hell, I'm gonna

I'm gonna cut you off on this part. And I'm not trying to bring anything specific to the air that we deal with. But you talked about your job and what you do and people perceive you and all that which isn't true and all that, and I believe that you're one hundred percent right in that. But let's say another writer or another we have four other stories over here, and three of them the head they linked to the wrong story. They messed up. Our headline wasn't here. We

had the wrong picture here. Your two stories were good and they had no errors in it, and they were great, but these other three things kind of messed up, and overall the whole website when you looked at it, did not look very good. And so you're like, yeah, I care, I did a good job, But do you care enough to say and I'm not specifically, I'm saying, do you

say that's got to be better? Like you have to be better to say that to your teammates, to say your teammate, it's like, because you did your job, your stories were good, but these two weren't good. So Zach Martin the only one can say, I've blocked my guy all day long, but you didn't. And you didn't and you gotta get open. That's what they need. They are doing that, like, I'm sure they're not gonna do that

in front of us. That's true, all true, and that's that's the point of what I was prefacing when I asked the question. We don't know if they're doing that behind the scenes. What I'm saying, though, is do you need to have that? And I think I believe that you do need to have players that hold other players accountable, and that means calling guys out. If if you're a leader, calling guys out who are not doing their jobs, so that everybody knows that. Ultimately, you have to be accountable

to your teammate. I'll say this like, sorry, obviously not the offense, but as far as let's say, for example, Sean Lee, we all know how much he cares about this game, and it's very obvious, but he's a very quiet guy, at least you would think. So now where that changed my mind? It's like when we get to training camp and you get to see more of the

real action happening there and you start paying attentions. Oh crap, dang, he's pretty vocal, exactly exactly, So it's like you just never really know how vocal these guys are when they're you know, doing their own thing in private, versus why we get to see from the outside. Absolutely I agree to. I mean, there are guys like that on this team, whether it's Sean, whether it's DeMarcus. Okay, hey, I'll take

any of those offensive linemen as far. And they're not the yelling types, but they talk about it all the time, the standard that they set Zeke and Dak for that matter. Dak's got to play better. But we can't sit here for eighteen weeks in twenty sixteen and talk about what an effortless and natural leader Dac is and then just throw that out the window when he's not playing well. I think it's there on both sides. It just again,

do they have enough good players? We don't know, And again it's one week, but the early indications are not good. Right now. It doesn't look like right now for whatever reason, it's working. So whether they don't have enough good players, whether they're not calling the right plays, whether they're not putting their guys in the right positions, whether they're overmatched because of guys that are out like there are a lot of different things that it can be. What we

do know is it didn't work. Yes, you had good players last year, it wasn't working. This year you switched it up. It's still not working. And it goes I think, and I'm not trying to you know whatever, but it goes beyond that. I mean, at this point you've seen different kinds of players, and it's upsetting when you see to me, when you see like a great player like Jason went and leave without nothing. Okay, but let me

ask you this question. Do you think we're sent to some degree undervaluing what Travis Frederick means to this offense for them to give up six sacks yesterday and on several of those situations it seemed like maybe they just weren't in the right place at the right time, or

they just kind of something was a little off. I mean, is are we seeing right now the result of not necessarily his play, but having his ability to be able to make the calls, to be able to get everybody where they need to be and know what they're what's gonna happen. Do you think that maybe that's more of a problem than we anticipated it would be. Yeah. Yeah, Well, in a hard to know but I'm I'm giving his first game without him. He he's never missed a game.

He missed a game. Have they given up that mini with that offensive line? They've never played with that offensive What I mean by that is when you've got, when you've had, when you've had Tyrant and Track, I mean Tyrant and Zach without well, you haven't had without Frederick. But with Frederick, let's say, with the three of them and whoever other two you want. With those three, have they ever given him six sacks? I doubt it, But yeah, because that last year you go to Atlanta, but they

didn't have the three of them. I'm I'm not gonna I'm not gonna buy it in this case. I just I can't because you you and I know nobody could have seen what happened in Travis coming. But you had the offseason, you brought back Joe, You took all these steps. Joe has been in the starting lineup for three weeks at this point, and I haven't had a chance to go back and watch it. I don't remember. I don't think Joe was terrible. I mean, but he's also the thing.

Elliott Zeke ran for four point six per carry, but the reason, the reason why you put that rookie out there at guard and you felt okay about it is because of the guys that were beside him. Joe may have been able to do his job. Is he good enough to be able to do his job and help out with the with Connor Williams, I saw him try. It doesn't necessary. It didn't always work out, but it's still not as it shouldn't be as bad to get you to the point where you can't move around, and

it's not. It's not a good enough excuse. And if if it had looked like Denver, like literally ten rushing yard, like you can't do freaking anything like that's the that was different. No, absolutely, I mean it looked a lot like Denver, but it was better. I mean the offense there were flashes of competency when there weren't flags and sacks and bad decisions, and I just think of play call was very predictable and not innovative in the slightest And on top of that, Dak wasn't good, he wasn't

hidden people. I mean, the Jarwin throw just has burned into my brain, like I saw enough to think that it could have been different with better execution. I guess that's my point. Like if it had just been a nightmare from beginning to end, where you had no hope that they were ever going to do anything, then I might be talking more about Travis Frederick. But there was enough there to make me think they could have done

more if they'd played and coached better. But that's also the problem I think when and again I'm not I don't want to get too far into this debate, but I believe that when you don't, when you make the decision that you're not going to play guys in the preseason, and you're not gonna in some instances, as was the case with Shaun Lee, you're not even going to practice

them during training camp. A lot of the time, I think that when you go into this game and guys are not at their best, then it begs the question, did you miss that opportunity? And here's wick and come back and bite you. If this is a nine and seventeen and they lost this game to Caroline, that's the kind of game that could matter when it comes time for tie breaks in the playoffs. Is looking more like a hey, you know, this is a draft pick game,

Like you could be picking sixth overall. If you you know, if you didn't win this game and this is a playoff seven nine seven, seen it right now. I just I don't think they used enough of the field on offense. I think that they they they're just too egotistical to think that they're guys and this scheme works, that you can just bring everyone down and Terrence Williams in the box is better than Terrence Williams way over here, and you have more space. Let's just clutter this whole thing up.

We're not going down, we're not going side. We're just we're just sitting there and just thinking that our guys and our scheme is better than yours. And it's not. It's it's something that fans, to y'all's credit, you know, I know we roll our eyes at y'all sometimes, and I'm sorry for that, but fans have been saying it forever. Is like the refrain from this coaching staff is like,

don't worry about them. We focus on ourselves. Maybe you should worry about them, and maybe you should scheme, maybe they are a problem, to beat them, and not just scheme to do your own thing, because it ain't working and hasn't been very well for most of the last

season and a half. And that's what you that's what you worry about because you're gonna get blue shirt blue shorts today at the press conference, he just sticks with this plan and it's like beating, you know, your head against the wall, like he just this is the plan. This is the plan, this is how we do it, and you know what, you need to shuffle the deck

every now and again. I know it's only one game for this year, but I'm just saying you've got to mix things up a little bit because I think they went out there thinking that what they do it would be better than the Panthers, and it really wasn't close. Just to be petty to your point, I'm going to have a close eye on Rams Raiders tonight because they Sean McVay didn't play any of his guys, and I

have a feeling they're gonna look not like that. Even if they don't look awesome, I bet they scored more than eight points. I'm gonna guess that's today now. Of course, let's also think about it from this standpoint. The defense they're playing at night is very different in the defense for Cowboys played yesterday. That's a very very different comparison. But I get your point, and you're probably accurate. They're

probably gonna look really, really good. There is an argument to be made, and I've always said, you run the risk of rust if you don't play your guys. I'd still rather have them available in a game that matters. And but you're making the assumption that you're going to lose them if you play them in the preseason. I mean, it happens every year, but that doesn't mean happens to everybody. We don't have to do this right now, the point

being that's my personal preference. I'd rather run the risk of looking crappy in Week one than not have them at all, if and on top of that looking crappy. On top of that, it's the NFL. I refuse to like, you can still play and play well and win without optimal conditions, and that's I can't I get all that. But a guy, but a guy like Sean Lee to

me is the prime example. Sure, because Sean Lee played an uncharacteristically bad game but today, and I refuse to believe that it's not, at least in part because he didn't get the number of reps that he needed to get in the preseason. Is actually he is a perfect example because he looked rusty, He didn't look like himself. He missed two or three tackles. Most of it happened in the first half and by the second half he I mean, they buckled down. The defense gave up, losing

you a game. And in today's NFL. In today's NFL, you only have sixteen of them. Here's the only got sixteen. The defense gave up eighty five yards after halftime. Even if they were rusty from not playing in the preseason, they got it together. They held theirs, but never did. That's my point is that is what it looks like when you're rusty, is like you're like, oh crap, all right, we're not great. We got it, we adjust, We're good. Sixteen points, two hundred ninety three yards. What happened to

the offense is not rust. That's just awful football. Like there's a difference, you know what I mean? Eight points two of eleven on third down, two hundred and thirty two total yards. Whatever. That ain't rust. That's just bad. In my opinion. Maybe all I'm saying is I do

think that that the rust was a factory yesterday. And I believe that in today's NFL, the games are so close, the teams are so close, that every single game matters, especially games in your conference and games in your division, because those games are going to be the games that

decide who makes the playoffs and who doesn't. And I think if you get to the end of this season and the Cowboys were right there and it was one game difference, you're going to look back at this game and say, should they have been a little bit more prepared going into that game by playing those guys a little bit more and maybe possibly being it because this was not a game that was out of reach. They had an opportunity to win it. If they would have

been a little more prepared, maybe they win it. And I think it's just at least worth a conversation. No way to know for sure, you're right. I wish I could bet my paycheck that twenty extra, twenty five extra snaps in the preseason is not the difference between what we saw and what could have been. Yeah, I don't know. It's hard to know. I don't believe that. All right, we appreciate you guys. You want us we'll be back tomorrow.

We'll give you a big picture look at where they sit at this point, what's happening around the division, around the conference. We'll do that tomorrow for Nicki, even Dave Hellman, Ambergarcia. I'm Derek Eelson. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.