Cowboys Break: What Went Wrong in Seattle?

episode number forty six. Welcome to a new edition of The Break, live from s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. Great show we got lined up for you guys today. We're gonna dissect that game from yesterday. It is gonna be great. It's always great when we have to. It is a new edition because I think na, yeah, so it's it is going to be a good show. We're gonna tell you guys what went wrong for the Cowboys yesterday. Maybe Dave will have one or two things that went right.

I don't know. We'll see. We could phil, we could be done in five five minutes if we just wanted to do what went right. We have top ten players from the game going up on the website later. Well, we're really going to do that today. I don't know, are you really going to do that today? One? Yeah, we did, and I thought, you know, if you could do it. Hey, sorry sorry it's not my original joke, but well something else, if nothing else, fans would get

some jokes and some last today. Yeah, because they probably do. They probably need it right now. It was a rough one for the Cowboys. I mean, they lose this game twenty four to thirteen, and it was more of the same really from the standpoint of the offense. I don't think anybody was surprised by what you saw offensively, maybe surprised that the Cowboys didn't do some of the things that they'd done that were successful the week before, but not surprised at the output and the and just what

happened with this offense? Um, what did you guys think? Just overall? I want to get and I'd like to do this as we start to show day after game, just want to get a big picture. What did you think was the big picture takeaway from this game? Let's start with you, Nick. Big picture to take well, I mean, the guy you've been talking about for six months, that we've been talking about for six months, you finally got to see him up close and personal, and he was

the best player on the field. He was a game changer and he you know he was. That's why you wanted to get him, not only to have him on your team, but to not have to face him because he beat you in more ways than one yesterday. And so you can talk about a lot of other things offense. I'll let him go that, but I'm just saying, Earl Thomas, you know that's why you wanted to go get him because he went out and he played great for that game.

Can imagine really good player? Oh man, he's an amazing player. Um, I don't disagree with that. Earl Thomas showed exactly why you would want a player like that on your team. He's exactly the type of player that this defense has not had in the entire time that I've covered them, just in terms of making plays. I mean, really, Darren Woodson is the last good safety they had. What was Darren Woodson? That? Though no disrespect to him, but I'm

not saying same kind of player. I'm saying just a really good safety, like somebody that was a different playing safe, but I mean that one. I mean a guy that you can count on to flip the game for you. Yeah, anyway, Williams maybe early. Regardless of that. Regardless of that, my main takeaway, I can't look at the Seahawks here this. My main takeaway is that this team cannot pass the ball downfield to save its life, and it is beyond a problem. That's I mean. I was sitting there in

the fourth quarter yesterday. This team did exactly what it wanted to in the run game, honestly, and that was even with you know, I was worried about Bobby Wagner getting his feet underneath him. Bobby Wagner played a good game. He had some stuffs, he stopped them on third down early. They still ran for one hundred and sixty six yards. They ran for nine yards per per carry on the road, and it didn't matter even a lick. That's how bad

the passing game was. Um what Dak finished with one hundred and sixty eight yards and I would be willing to guess I haven't done the math on it, but like at least forty or fifty of that came, you know, once the Seahawks had built a twenty four to sixth lead. Anemic doesn't do it justice. It's it is a problem that I don't know how to answer, and judging from their answers last night, I don't think they know either.

And it's I got a bad feeling like it's going to be something we're talking about for most of this season. So that's I don't know how anything else, but that can be the big takeaway Camber. I'm just confused, like I don't I really don't know what to think about this team anymore. And I know they have talent. They do have players with a lot of talent, and I just don't understand why it's not really working out. Why

can't they convert on third downs? And even usually Dak Prescott in his press conference, he always has like a good answer to come back with, or like a good political answer, you know, but he answered something last night. I felt that he's answered. I mean, he didn't even really have an answer to everything that was going on. He I felt it very differently in the way that he was answering his questions. And it's like, I don't know what's happening here. I don't know why they can't

freaking move the ball down and score points. And that's a big problem right now, because you talk about the defense being great. Yeah, some people think defenses win games, but I don't. I think defense can help you. And bringing a player, let's say, like Earl Thomas, and I've changed my whole tune after last night. You know, I've been one of the biggest just like Nick wanting to bring him over here. But my tune has changed completely.

It doesn't matter. Why give up a draft pick or whatever trade you want to make to get him over here. Why do that when even if he was here, your offense is not scoring points, your defense is not gonna be. You can't rely on your defense to be making plays and scoring points for you. If your offense is not working out, there's no point of making a trade like this and bringing someone great to make your defense even better. But I kind of disagree with that too after watching this. Basically,

you can't. And he's a great player and I really like him, and everyone does and all that, but how often can you rely on a guy like that to be making all this play every single game? Yesterday? It was two interceptions that changed the game. That was the difference in the game in my opinion, On top of the fact that by the way, the Cowboys safety who was out there at the time. Cavon Frasier was a big part of the fifty two yard touchdown you gave up.

That doesn't happen if you've got a guy to calibover. Earl Tom Spector playing the Seattle still scores point for you. No, they do. But but the thing is is that they don't have a great offense either. So my argument there is like, if you're playing downhill, you stop them from getting to midfield, you get a three and out early, you get a fair catch your ball, the balls at the forty forty five. Now you can go play downhill for this offense to being as bad as it is.

And I get I get your point. But I'm saying, if you're going to compete at all this year and maybe next year in the next few years, you've got to have an amazing defense and he can make he can get you. You know, Baltimore won a Super Bowl way back two thousand when you were like seven years old. But I'm saying they didn't have great quarterbacks. They had an unbelievable defense. Jim McMahon wasn't a great quarterback, but he had a great defense, And I think that's the

only way you can compete. You have too. Okay, Okay, picture this scenario. Earl Thomas is playing for your defense, right, Okay, makes an interception for you, gets you the ball. Here. Now the offense, the Cowboys offen has the ball. They move three plays, they're four second saying out of the field, doesn't even get to the red zone, doesn't score a point. What's the point of doing that? You're absolute? No, I get your point, and let's not sugarcoat it. This offense

is laughably bad. It's atrocious. But this, and basically that's my point is, at this point, three games into the season, I'm starting to think that this team will only go as far as its defense can carry, right right, Which, yeah, I don't I'm not. I don't know if they're gonna try to trade for Earl Thomas. I've said all along, I don't expect it to happen, and I still feel

that way. But I feel better about making this defense as good as it could possibly be, potentially winning some turnover battles and giving the offense short fields more often than not, because they sure as hell aren't gonna win a ton of games doing it the way they're doing it. Right now. That's the big thing is when you look at a team like this that has struggles on offense, the turnovo battle becomes huge because it makes a difference

in just sometimes those turnovers actually turned into points. Sometimes those turnovers turned into field goals. Whatever the situation is, you need those turnovers and you can't give them up. Yesterday, the Cowboys, I think they lost the turnovo battle three to zero. Is that right? Yes? So? And with an offense this bat, you're not going to win games when you have a three zero So so let's say, for example, Earl Thomas was not on that team. Let's say, for example,

Earl Thimis was on your team. I don't think there was a safety on that field yesterday for either team outside of Earl Thomas. That makes those two interceptions. Both those plays were amazing plays. I don't think most of those guys make so, that being said, like you change the whole complexion of that game by two interceptions not being interceptions. That's a big defer. Cowboys don't have a wide receiver that can make a play, that can make

make that I'm serious. Both those catches were unbelievable play hand eye coordination, I'm just saying, I've seen our defense give turnovers and the Cowboys get the ball and they still don't do anything with it. I'm just saying, and you have a bad offense. But the problem is, like they've said, the only chance you got right now unless basically tooth in one of two exactly. I agree that the offense is gonna have to get appreciably better in season,

which I don't know if that happens. How does that happen? Yeah, or they're gonna have to the defense is just gonna have to play out of their minds. I think you have a better shot of the defense playing out of their minds then the offense getting appreciably better this season. Absolutely. I why costs though second round pick? Yeah, maybe you're right, but it went up who knows. It's like if if they if doing that doesn't even get you to the playoff,

was it worth it? Yeah? Yeah, because you're going to get him for the next few years. You have to only make this trade if you know you can resign him if you're getting a long term deals on again. Yeah, if someone just turned on like thirty seconds ago, they're like, we're still just talking, like we've always talked. I don't think it's anything closer, And if you're him, I'm less today. I feel less likely it's going to happen than I did even Friday. Yeah, I really do no, And that's

we're kind of getting lost in the weeds here. It's a fun thing to talk about, and you're you. You make a great point, Amber, because as we sit here in week three right now, it's hard to imagine this team making the playoffs. Obviously there's a lot of time left, but doing that deal for a team that might not make the playoffs could be risky, although I would argue you get three more years of that. He does not look like a guy that's planning on slowing down, and

I still think that is your bet. Your best chance for this team to be successful is to have a top five ten defense and eke out what you can on offense, because even if this offense gets appreciably better, it's clearly not jumping to the top of the league. I mean again, I mean that, and that's that is that is what is so disheartening to me as we sit here, is that the Cowboys run game, you know, I mean, Zeke had a fumble, Z Zeke maybe played

his worst game as a pro yesterday. Honestly, say that this is why you lost, is that your best player on the field was your worst. He was the best player on the field, he had the best game of anybody on the team, and he actually had one of the worst games. It's hard to win like that, it is, but well, you're right he did. I mean, he left a touchdown on the field that would have made it. What seven to seven changed the whole complexion of the

first half. I have my doubts that it changes the outcome just because it was so anemic the rest of the time, but you never know. And then obviously the fumble in the open field when it was still possible to make it a game. Having said that, they did exactly what they want to do on the ground, they I mean, I would have liked to see some more design runs by Dak, but I'll even allow that when you have a linebacker like Bobby Wagner, the Seahawks can

kind of dictate that. But to see them put up one hundred and seventy rushing yards in a road game and still look that bad, Like, I don't know what to say, because typically in a Cowboys loss, You're like, well, yeah, they took away the run, what do you want them to do? Like, that's kind of what we've always said. They didn't yesterday and it didn't matter. But I think what we saw yesterday is this team, constructed as it is,

has to be perfect to win. Because if you take away the touchdown, if you if you look at that touchdown as Ke stepped out of bounds, if he doesn't step out of a bound, you get that score. If Randy Gregory doesn't have the dumb play where he hits the guy and and basically gives up three points, right, you take those two things, that's ten points right there. The Cowboys have to be perfect. They cannot have room for the stupid mistakes, right, They can't. They don't have

room for that if they're going to win. And that's a hard thing to do to say, you're going to go through a sixteen week season and you're not gonna have mistakes, like you're gonna play perfect every week. That's where they are right now because they just offensively can't get anything going. It's I mean, people don't want to hear me talk about my college football team, but it reminds me of watching LSU, Like there's there's talent there.

They can do things, but the minute it gets off of their schedule or what they want it to be, it falls apart. Uh. You know, I think I speak for anybody listening to this when I say I don't want to hear about being behind the chains this week. I know we're going to Oh they talk about it last I know. I know we're going to talk about And I get it, like second and third and long is not where you want to be in football, but good offense has overcome it all the time. It's part

of the game. Uh. And if you if third and eight is a death sentence to your hopes of moving the ball downfield, you suck. Sorry, I'm sorry, there's nothing else to say. WHOA. That's usually my quote is that, But and here we are, I mean, welcome to the break the offense is. I just you know, when you see thirty two carries for Carson for one hundred and two yards and you see sixteen carries for Zeke for

one twenty seven. I mean, but I'm going through the play by plays and I'm not really finding a lot of plays. I'm not I'm not trying to say, well, you know, the Cowboys. You know, I'm going to defend them. But if you just go through the play by play, you can't really find a ton of plays where you're like, should have run there, should have run there. I mean

there's there's a couple of the Cowboys. Yeah, well, I think the really I think the thing about it is as far as I look at it, and and this is going to go into a whole different conversation, but I just think that the Cowboys offense wasn't diverse enough. We saw the week before and then it starts and stops with this. We saw the week before how successful they were and how much it helped the offense move. When they use his own read, it just made a difference.

And to say that they didn't use it until I think it was like the late third or early forth before they get it one time. I mean it was. It was a clearly a successful part of their offense in week two. It just made no sense that they want to go back to what else was big in week two about like throwing the ball down the bild. Yeah, and honestly, you can even don't do it again, make argument Synchy. You can even make arguments as far as throwing it down the field that there was so much

pressure that they didn't have time to do it. I'll even allow for that whatever, But the point is to me, the zone read. There's nothing about pressure. This is a matter of fact, that would have slowed down the pressure that was coming at you if you would hit them with a few a few zone reads. I just think that it's just it's baffling to me that offensively, it doesn't seem like they're taking the things that are actually

successful and continuing to do them. It's almost like they outthink themselves, like yeah, just like yeah, they're they're gonna see that deep ball coming, So let's don't do that, all right, We're gonna take our first break when we come back. I do want to talk about this offensive line because I think a lot of the problems that they're having offensively is coming from the offensive line, and this is supposed to be what we all thought was the best part of this team. We'll talk about that

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exclusions and warranty limitations apply. See Can You Love for details. Back to the Brink Welcome back. It is the second segment of the show. We're talking about the Cowboy we're talking. We're talking about the Cowboys lost thirteen at Seattle. This is what's what's what am I looking for? This is a representation of the team. It's okay, sorry, pretty and get your stuff together over there? Please? It broke, man,

I guess I'll just how did you break it? I was trying to tea he is always messing with I've never even touched this. Why do you always do that? What do you want for me not to do that? You know what? He reminds me of. He reminds me of the guy that's in concert that's always like at his mic and always fixing his mic as he's about to seeing like Dave is all whatever, you bring your own headphones down here. That's and what does it have to do with messing with the microphone? This is not

my fault? All right? Well you just stand there like just gonna have it all the time, and now you cut a compilation of how many times it's been Yeah, I like, what do you do that? What do you think that the reason that this thing's broke? I'll have to investigate after I didn't definitively say who sits there for? Rob? Rob? It's fine, Yeah, just leave me alone. Let's just talk about this game, all right. So let's get back into it. Cowboys at Seattle, and I wanted to talk about the

offensive line. Do you think this offensive line is not good enough for them to have the type of offensive strategy that they have, which is a run first type strategy. Do you think that you need to have an offensive line that's playing better in order for this thing to have a chance that you have? Yes? Did I just hear you right like they ran for one hundred and seventy year? No? No No, But but my point is they

couldn't protect the quarterback. No. And if you can't protect the quarterback in this kind of offense, then you're even I think, even more at risk because even though your run, if you ever get behind, you have no shot. I am leary about going down this road because I have not rewatched it. I don't know, but I'm bringing it up because Dak himself brought it up last night. He said, I'm hesitant to criticize the offensive line even when I don't have time, because when I go back and look,

some of that stuff is self pressure. Some of that stuff is on me, and self pressure. Tell me what that means. Self pressure, as in the offensive line does enough to give him time and he bails out and runs into pressure. I can think of one right off the top of my head, which we can talk about. Tyron Smith. He got his butt kick by Frank Clark yesterday.

But Frank Clark ripped around the outside and Dak felt it and started moving up and moved up out of his protection, and Clark just dipped back around and sacked him like he had time if he played that different. But a lot of those those sacks are called coverage sacks, so he can say he can call it self pressure all you want to, but it's also those receivers aren't getting open. Are you sure about that? Though? Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're not. I mean, who's open, Who's sitting

there going I'm wide open? I mean how many times? And I have to go back and I have to go back and watch it. I just know that in the last two weeks, I've seen receivers open on several occasions and the quarterback didn't get him the ball. I haven't seen this is all twenty two for this game. Yet to be able to say that you're gonna find that, you're gonna find some receivers that are open at times.

You can find that all over the place. But you know that that this offense isn't scheming these guys to run free and all that. I mean, you saw a difference between what Seattle does and how they get their guys, and they get guys you've never even heard of wide open, and the Cowboys are struggling to get anybody open. I mean, it's it's ridiculous, full disclosed. Again. Like I I feel a little bit uncomfortable because what we got. I got in bed at two last night, I got up, I

had to go to the doctor. I had to get my dog from the vet. I haven't rewatched this game, but I bet when I do, I will see a combination of all of the above. I think Dak, for whatever reason, especially two weeks on the road now, in these hostile environments against good defenses, he I think he's a little gun shy. I think he's hesitant. I think the receivers probably don't do a great job of getting open.

I think he misdiagnoses his pressure sometimes, and then when the defense builds up a lead and can tee off, and then I think the offensive line gets beat as well. I think it all ties together to be a disaster. I don't think you can scapegoat any one person, but the receivers, the quarterback, and the offensive line between the three of them, I think they're all playing pretty poorly right now. So what do you think it says about this offense as Zeke ran so well, which is what

they want to do. They did what they want to do that we wanted to do on the ground yesterday and they still couldn't get the offense to consistently run it. I mean, I think it goes to what one of the first things that Dave said on the show was that just how bad the passing game is, because it's

kind of like a bend but don't break. I mean, we're gonna keep bending here and we're gonna give up some some runs to a really good running back, but when it gets down to it, we're gonna eventually kind of shut him down and we're gonna force, you know, the receivers to make plays and Dad to get him the ball, and over a long period of time in this drive, you're not going to be able to do it. And that's kind of what happens. They just don't have guys that just win one on one that passed that

Russell Wilson threw to Brandon Marshall on the sideline. I mean, Cheeto can't cover the guy better than that. It was the most unbelievable throw dak Is ever made that throw. He doesn't make that throw and you need that every once in a while, you need that, and he just I don't win the last time we've said that was

an amazing throw by Dak. I think that's part of the issue though here too, though, the way the Cowboys have gone about the strategy of going with the kind of the receivers that are all here versus having an amazing receiver, You're gonna have to have a quarterback that can make that throw if that's going to be successful, because they're more often than not, those guys are not necessarily going to be in situations where they're just running free.

They're gonna be in situations where they got somebody close to him. But if you put the ball on a spot, they can probably make a play, and Dak hasn't shown consistently he can put the ball on a spot it goes back. I mean, there's amounting amount of evidence that says, when everything is great, Dak Prescott can be a pretty damn good quarterback. If anything is off, he's not. And like I said, I mean that's not three games, that's about ten games, right, And again, you know you don't

see you don't see those anticipation throws. You don't see a throw that's like, well, what else can the cornerback do? Like you never see that. Um, everything has to be great. The receiver has to be blatantly open or you know something like that. Um, what he averaged four point nine yards per attempt? And with the rules the way they are in the NFL, like the NFL is begging the NFL is begging teams to have dynamic passing offenses. That's what they want to the first two weeks of the season,

they had more more scoring in the NFL before. It is it's the basis of this league right now, and all the rules are set up the way. If you can't do better than I mean, like six, six point nine is could be better, you know, like you're aiming for eight to eleven, Like eleven is like Pat mahomes territory. But either I mean four point nine, yeah, I know, first round pick I mean, but he was supposed to

be good, and that's I mean. But again, hey, I'm saying he's got He threw for four touchdowns in the first half of the game, and the Cowboys have four touchdowns this whole season. Yep. I mean, I'm not making excuses for the guy. I love Dak. I still do and too, I still despite all the evidence of the contrary, I still think he can be a good quarterback. Again, he can be a good quarterback when everything's rolling the right way for him. I don't know. I mean Russell Wilson.

The Seahawks ran for two point nine yards per carry, like Russell Wilson engineered most of that himself. Obviously, the Seahawks had a game plan to lean on the run, but Russell Wilson was making plays out of thin air and has done that for a long time. I don't know if Dak is that guy. I'm sorry, but I mean again, I like Dak too, But I don't think when you say, when you say he's a quarterback, when

things are going well, he can be really good. But if they're not going well, then it's really bad, Like that's not a good quarterback. Then if that's really the case, then that is not a good NFL quarterback. Because quarterback, your job is to make it right. Your job when it's third and eleven because this guy missed the block, this guy had a penalty, and now you're behind the chains. It's your job to bring it back. It's not really the other way around. I honestly, I think we've seen

two decks. I mean, I think earlier in his career, I think there were some games where things weren't necessarily going well and he played well despite that. So I think it's we've seen and really you can see the dividing line after that Atlanta game. It's been a whole different player, it really has. So. But there's two RG three's I don't yeah true, there's one that there's a ball cap and one hat was Rookie of the Year. I mean, if you watch Houston, same things happening with

Shaun Watson. Last year he was lighting the league on fire, and this year he has been anything but Hey, defensive coordinator X. Your job this whole summer is to figure out these teen quarterbacks that you have to face, and especially these five or six that you've never faced. Figure them out. It happened all other guys. And it happened

again yesterday. I don't know if anybody else noticed, but Barkivous Mingo shouts out, Lsu sacked the hell out of Dack on one of those you know action waggles where the sleight of hand and the action in the back didn't fool anybody. And that's the third week in a row.

That's like, I know, take that stuff out of the playbook because they know what they know what it is, they know what's got a lot of fans that are upset about the fact that you can grab the quarterback like that and throw him down like that, but you can't do a textbook tackle and bring a guy to the ground. I'll tell you what's gonna happen. There's no

makes it difference. Happened when when you know, a guy just hits a quarterback like that and he just doesn't throw it and he kind of bounces off and then he rolls over here. I mean, I really I don't know anything different that Tyron Crawford could have done on that play. I really don't. But you know, and I'll show you the juxtaposition of that. I don't know if you guys saw the ending of the of the Saints game, Drew Brees was running around the corner trying to get

in the end zone. The guys that there were two defends there. They both hit him. They didn't wrap him up. They hit him and he spun around and he went into the end zone. And it's one of those things where now guys can't even wrap up because if you wrap up and you drive, there's a good chance you're gonna drive him back down and you're gonna fall on top of him, because that's the rule. Though, can you do that like on the other side of the scrimmage. I'm sure you can do that. I'm sure runner maybe

want to become a runner. All I'm saying, though, defenders are now having the second guess how they tackle because you can't even make what has been a textbook tackle. Literally, this is text This is what they used to show as this is what you do when you tackle someone. You hit them not with your head, you hit them with your shoulder. You drive backwards, you drive, and you drive through the person into the ground. Like that's what

you do. That's a textbook tackle. I firmly believe that NFL officials are calling these hits just based on optics, like whether it looks nasty or not, or whether it looks violent. Um to no it' I know, I wrote a story about it. I was. I was impressed and refreshed by Tyrone Crawford's honesty yesterday. He is he is not a guy that wants to give a great sound bite like he's he's a cautious interview, understandably so in this day and age. But he did not hold back

to all he's about that flag. He I mean, what didn't he say? He said, I don't know any other way to hit. Leon Lette told me that he would have been flagged about two hundred times in his career if that was a flag in his day. I'm not going to change the way I hit. I can't afford to let these officials get in my head. You know, quarterbacks are slippery again to your points, like if you don't hit that way, they're going to get away from you, exactly.

M Bessie Russell Wilson. He's like, I'm sure the finds come in my way. And I mean basically was like, I don't care, Like that's how I have to play football to be successful at my job and I think, you know, he's like, I would prefer that money to go to my family, but if they want to flag me on some petty stuff, it is what it is. Changed the first half of the game. That was absolutely huge point. That was it was I'm glad you said that because I don't really disagree, and that's I hate

the flag. I think it's I mean, I don't really agree, is what I mean. I hate the flag. I think it's stupid. I think it's ruining the game. I can't sit here and act like that's why the Cowboys lost. It's not why they lost. But I'm just saying this team is. Momentum is a big deal. Field position is a big deal. They have their average starting field position with their own twenty yard line. You get off the field and dickon his punting in his own end zone.

Now he could maybe boom at sixty yards, but you're gonna be at like the forty or fifty rights. That's the type of play that you need to play downhill, get a field goal, get a lead, get a touchdown. That changes things. Do they win? I don't know, but I'm just saying that's a big deal. All those things add up The beautiful thing about football is like, you know, you play seventy snaps, it doesn't feel like they all matter in the moment. They do. They all really do.

You know. That's something I learned when I started covering this team is like when you're watching as a fan, it's a three hour game, it feels like forever, but it's eight possessions, like it's not a lot. Having said, I still I can't bring myself to completely agree. I hear everything you said. Seattle didn't score any points. It was the first quarter. You know, you had a hole. You had a hole two three and a half quarters to make a positive impact. After that, it sucked. It

changed the flow of the game. But I'm not can't use that as an excuse for why they will. Just remember this though, Seattle has been playing behind in the first two games, especially the second game, and you know, and that's not what their strength is. They can't run Carson thirty two times when they're behind. And if this defensive line could have maybe got a lead, teed off on him a little bit and actually split one of their weaknesses, it could have been different. If you take

the lead. That again, that doesn't change things, but there's a big play in the game, and how much did it affect the other guys later in the game of like, well, I can't do this, you can't hold them, can't hit them. Here goes back to the point which I mean, and I don't think it's a coincidence that the Cowboys took an early lead against the Giants last week. Either is again, if I think we said it after a week one, if the Cowboys are dictating the game, they can be

pretty good. If the game is being dictated to them, they look lost, all right. One of the thing I want to ask you before we get Joan, I'm gonna ask this question too. We talked about the offensive line. Knowing what you solved from that game, does that change anything? And now you go take you back to second round of the draft. Does that change anything that you do? Now? Can I throw out something as a part of that.

At about the same time as Connor William was giving up a sack yesterday, Derwin James was catching an interception in the end zone in the game that he was playing. Now again, they Derwin James was not there when it was time for them to select in the second round. But I do think that even in the first right they had, they would have had to move up two spots.

But I guess the point that I'm making is I think there was there was certainly opportunity for the Cowboys to go and get a safety in the draft if

they felt like they wanted to get a safety. And I think that when you look at everything that happened yesterday from the standpoint of the Cowboys safeties, from the standpoint of the safety they were playing, from the standpoint of the guy that they ended up drafting, from the standpoint of the guy that they could have drafted, I think there was a lot of stuff that suggested that maybe, just maybe they should have gone up and gotten Derwin James.

I hate that you're making me do this because it's well documented how much I liked and wanted Derwin James and how stupid I thought it was that this Cowboys didn't address the safety position. But as we sit here on Monday morning, drafting Layton vander esh looks pretty smart because it doesn't sound like Sean he's going to be playing for the foreseeable future. Could Joe Thomas do that? Maybe, But you didn't know that at the time. I understand that.

I'm just saying what I'll ask you, like this, take Sean out of the mix. Is your bigger problem at safety or at linebacker? The linebacker corps has looked Goodith just understood. I get it, and that's what it was. This is the epitome of hindsight twenty twenty. I get. So I'll say I I hate this again. I wanted Derwin James. I think they probably made the right call because you did not know any of that stuff at the time you had to make that pick. And we

have seen we have seen a small sample size. They broke down yesterday, but through three games, safety has not been as drastic of an issue as we thought it might be. But at that time, did you think which did you think was a bigger problem linebacker safety heading into the draft? Linemanbacker? Honestly, But I thought on the show, I thought, when you talked about safety, you said they

have to address the safety position. Maybe it's not a draft, they got to do it, and they didn't under standpoint of going out and even getting one of those other free agent safeties that was out there, right, But but you did nothing, which I'm firmly anti that they did. Not. I mean, they could have signed to any number of free agents. They could have drafted somebody. There were a lot of them that were available up through the training camp.

Irwin James, if you're gonna, if you're gonna say that they could have gotten him, do you just remember that you don't have Layton vander Esh and Connor Williams, because you're not gonna you have to give up a second round pick, probably to move up three spots or well at least a third probably gonna say maybe not a second. If you had Derwin James, you wouldn't have Laton Vanderesh and Michael Gallup, which through three games, I'm sure a lot of people are sitting here like big whoop, Like

Layton Vanderesh has ten tackles and Michael gall looks terrible. Which, okay, we're three games in Layton Vanderesh. They made that pick because they can't trust Sean Lee to play sixteen games. And Sean Lee is thirty two. He's way closer to the end of his career than the beginning. It looks like a pretty smart pick right now. The news coming out right now, I mean, it seems very unlikely Sean

is going to play against Detroit. I would guess he's probably gonna be out multiple report Well, Sean Sean said last night that you know, we'll see he didn't sounds not sound optimistic. Rappaport came out this morning. Sources say he'll likely be sidelined for multiple weeks. And Jason Garrell talked this afternoon. But it doesn't sound like you know, last week it was I'll be ready for some last it was a cramp, yeah, and now it's a full

blown hamstring. So I have a hard time killing him for drafting Layton Vanderesh right now, and especially I thought he played pretty well yesterday. Answer the question, do I wish I had Derwin James? No, of course I wish James, but not at that. This is different, And honestly I'm not I'm not making the claim one way or the other. Here's that playoffs telling you about. I'm not making the

claim one way or the other. The point is that I think it does beg the question did the Cowboys not do enough at the safety position, regardless of whether that was Derwin James, most way beyond the safety position. And it's like I've been talking about safety positions since I can remember Dave and I have been going at it. But this is past the safety position. This is all about the offense. And I don't care why you guys say about making this defense great and yes they can

really help the Cowboys. I do believe that. Yes, right now you're relying on your defense, but at this point, looking at what you have, the safety position is the least of my worries At this moment, I don't I don't put it in that category because I think yesterday and what we've seen in the first two weeks of the season, this defense was actually pretty good to hold those teams to too much to like, you know, sixteen points.

You gotta you can't. You gotta separate the like just because the offense is bad doesn't mean you just can't even focus on the defense. I mean, those are these are two different conversations. Yes, absolutely, But I'm just saying, if you're wanting to get somewhere and again, separate the two. You need the other to help you win games. As as of right now, the defense is pulling a ton of weight and the offense is doing very little things.

I'm just saying, again, if if the Cowboys offense keeps going in and out of the field, being there for like a minute. It's like you're putting more work on your defense, You're wearing them off, and it's like, how long are you gonna be able to keep this going? How long can you keep relying on your defense? At some point you have to help them and give them something. And even if you, like I said, even if they get a takeaway and get an interception, give the Cowboys

the ball back, what does that matter? Why does it? How? How does that matter? If you're not able to score at you're being I mean, I think you're saying that this team, this offense is like absolutely like ineffective when they I mean, if they got the ball at midfield, they're gonna score points, are they? Yeah, they're gonna score They got the ball on the Giants half last week and kicked a field goal with it? Is that not point? Okay?

If you're gonna win games not even scoring field goals? Cool? Yeah, I mean Tennessee did because their defense was outstanding. Good point every time, not every time. But they're gonna score touchdowns. But they have they have a dynamic running back. They can they can score. They just keep giving them the ball in midfield and see what happens. I mean, it's not gonna have any dynamic running back. Didn't help this, but no, but no, Amber, I think I think the

point of I think the point of it is. I think the point of it is, if you're gonna have a dynamic running game, if you're gonna be successful, and you don't have if you've got a very very mediocre quarterback play. Right if you got mediocre quarterback play, but you got a good running game, the only way, genus, the only way, the only way you're gonna be successful, in my opinions, if you have a great defense. And

that's my point. The chances of this team being successful are better right now with them having a great defense. And that's about the safety position. I think that is the weakest link of this defense right now. You could solve You could have solved that problem. I think I think you could have had a better safety position and this defense would have had a chance to be great enough to where you do give yourself a chance even

with an offense that's just ineffective. What would that very mixed feelings and again, you're just you're I'm just I'm just really upset. No, that's I love it when you bring like you're pissed off listening, And that's okay, because a lot of people listening right combine like twelve hours, we all agree, we all agree about the safety Yeah, no, you're probably right. Yeah, I don't know. We all agree about the safety position. And I'm not arguing that well

I am right now just because I'm so upset. It's like, again, you look at the Cowboys offense and you see the talent that you have. I truly believe that they are capable of moving the ball, scoring points and getting this team going. But when you see Seek putting up those runs and looking at the numbers that they got and they're still coming out the game with the loss like that,

it's it's upsetting. And that's just where I'm going at It's like when you see this offense not really producing what you expect them to or at least getting going, especially after what you saw worked last weekend. And remember when I said, okay, maybe they'll go back look at the film and clearly see what worked and what did it. I mean, that was a clear visual of the things that you can do and make it work right and what you. You know how to mess up the game anyways.

Just when you see those those calls and those things happening on the field, it's just upsetting you. Like that um that Drake song that's out right now. I don't listen to Drake. I'm upset you. Just all right, we're gonna take our final break pit. When we come back, we get a phone call to one here from you guys numbers eighty eight five five two two nine seven. Again it's eight eight eight eight five five two two nine seven. Let's hear from you guys well that when

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take it back? Yeah? They just got a pile. No, you don't have to smell him. Come on, man, I'm just saying, I mean, come on, I'm so sad that my microphone won't stay. You're still over there wrestling, Yeah, but didn't magically fix itself, just like the Cowboys exactly. It's like week two, the Cowboys are going into Seattle. Everything's gonna be great. What I am? Oh? Man? All right, let's get some phone calls. Um, I want to kind of hear from a fan on this. Joe and Merrill

and Joe, what up, Joe? How's it going? Guys? I just wanted to say that I was one of the many fans trying to kick Tony Romo out of the door and uh, Dak Prescott although he has not been playing well, I don't think he should take most of the blame. I mean he can't play offensive line or can he account for not having a Chason Witten or

Dez Bryant on the outside. That because the coordinators have to account for because right now you have one player that scares any kind of defensive coordinator, which is Ezekiel Elliott. So until this team can get someone else on offense that poses any kind of threat to any opposing teams, we're going to run into the same problem week after weeks. And that's all I have to say to you guys. And I don't think there's anything we could possibly do

midseason to bring someone in, um besides des Bryant. But um, I just like to hear your thoughts on that and Amber it goes down in the DM. Can I ask you a question? Can I ask you a question? Was he shooting a shot at you? He was trying? UM, let me ask you this question. So you said the only thing they can do is bring in Dez Bryant. Was the same thing happening last year when des Brian was here. I think he's gone already, man, But don't do that. No, I really want to ask the question

because I think I've heard this from fans before. No, no, no, because I want to hear from fans when they say, and I've heard them say it on Twitter multiple times, des is the answer to this problem. But I don't see that because Dez was a part of this problem last year. I don't think having Dez here solves your problem. And I want to hear from someone who believes that. Why they think that all of a sudden Deaz was gonna be better when last year dead was here and

it wasn't the answer to the problem. I mean, I don't know. I don't feel like the fact that he said that, you know Witton and he didn't have Witten and Dez. I mean Dak is one of the reasons for that. I mean, the Cowboys made the decision that they didn't think this could work together, so they went with Dak, and that that they cut de Witt. That's

another lemonade question right there. But I gues you think Jason Witten walks away to Monday night football if he's got a quarterback that can that can throw him the ball. I don't, honestly not if he did, I don't in my opinion, he didn't have confidence in in this offense, the calling, the quarterback, and he's like, you know what, I'm going to Monday night. I agree with that. I

think that said all he had to said. The weapons is part of this is, you know, because they said we're gonna go here with Dak and we're gonna make this friendly offense and we're gonna do this, but it's not. It's not friendly because as you asked Amber, as you asked Dak in the very first press conference of the season of being after Carolina, you said, do you have too many receivers running around? And he was like, no, no,

of course not, but they do. They do. They have too many guys trying to figure this out, and nobody gets in a flow. Nobody can do anything special. I mean, you start off a game with three tight ends, are you serious? And one of them barely even knows the position. I mean that just that just tells you right there that like and the other guy, I mean, you know, I'll go back to him, I'll go back to Jarwin. How big is Randy Gregory's penalty? Three points? No big deal?

Imagine it. Let's just say it plays out this way. And imagine you're down eight driving with five minutes to go. Do you have to force the ball to to Blake Jarwin, who's made zero plays in the NFL. Do you have to force it in there to him? You don't, you can you played a little differently. It's just comes down to it. They just don't have any guys that can make any plays. Yeah, no, I mean I again, I'm I feel like I'm pretty high up in the Dak Prescott fan club, But I don't know how you can

absolve him of this. There's plenty of stuff that he's doing wrong. But that's the beautiful thing about what's happening right now is that this bed has been perfectly made by everybody in the organization. The front office didn't think they needed to spend a premium on playmakers at safety, at receiver, at tight end. What else have I mean, they went in this direction. This was the mode, and it has not worked out through three games really at all.

Some of the plenty of that's on the quarterback, plenty of it's on the offensive line, a lot plenty of it is definitely on the fact that they don't have a reliable playmaker in the passing game. I mean, you tell me, I think I thought this yesterday. Like good stuff has generally happened when they've thrown it to Alan Hearns. But when I say good stuff, I mean like a fifth teen yard game. You know it's not it's not

anything that is gonna make Sports Center. Well, right now, the best playmaker on offense outside of is Equel Elliott is a lot of Oh you know, I was gonna right there, and quite frankly, Tavan Austin, they're not. I don't think they're they're integrating him enough into the offense to say he's the second best, second most productive offensive player. I think he needs to be. He needs to have a way more opportunities with the ball in his hands

than he does. I want to say, his carry against the Giants was for fifteen and he had an eighteen yard So he's averaging fifteen yards a carrier right now? Yeah, I don't. Yeah, they don't. They don't use him enough, which I'm not being facetious when I say this. Are they afraid that they're gonna break him? Like? Are they afraid that he can't stand up against an NFL defense?

Because that's the only explanation I can come and touch the ball eight times yesterday for forty yards, I mean, and and a lot of those is some punt returns and some wide open spaces and all that. So I mean how many of those were returns though, I mean I wouldn't count those in the same way before offense. Yeah, if your offense is having problems, that's where you need to be using anymore. But but also, I mean this helps my unlimited maths skills. Four for twenty so that's

also five. So I mean an offense, he got the ball four times twenty yards. Now one of that was was a run, you know, or a three yard pass. What would tax rating be like without that bad rule? Like if if that little pop pass counts as a touchdown pass, you take that away? Was it looked like? Then? Again, both those interceptions aren't on him either. All I'm saying is when he went down Phil, we've seen good things happen. Yeah, when he's taking the ball on the reserve on the reverse,

we've seen good things happen. When he had the little the little pass there yesterday for the touchdown, we saw good things happen. He is he is giving them good production when he has the ball in his hands on offense, and to say he went through a game and only had it four times in an offense that that wasn't functioning and wasn't consistently being able to move the ball, that to me just seems like a miss. Given given the lack of success everywhere else, it certainly would be

nice to see him get more of an opportunity. But and I think it actually helps Zeke even more when teams have to factor in that there's this other guy whipping around May yeah, I mean it just to me, Yeah, okay, make sure you gotta go out there to stop him just in case he gets the ball. That only helps like that, there's nothing wrong with that. If they say we're gonna stop Tavan, awesome, Great. That means that's one less guy is dedicated to trying to stop Ezekiel Elliott.

So I just I don't see the downside of having him way more involved in the offense. But for whatever reason, it's the same thing in the zone read for whatever reason, and they may they must have some I don't pretend to be smarter than these guys. They do it every day all day. They must have some reason. Buff for whatever reason, they're deciding that those two things are things

that they just don't want to do. Yeah, yeah, all right, real quick, before we end the show, let's talk about this defense, because overall the defense has played really well for the first two weeks. Yesterday they had a lot more moments when it wasn't what we've seen so far this year. Are you at all concerned or are you backing off how good you think this defense can be? H Do you think it was just a bad day. I don't even know if it was a bad day. Seriously,

I mean I think it. I think they played all right, but we're asking them to play phenomenal and this is this defense is to me just not built to be a phenomenal defense. It's been to be pretty good. You're gonna get beat by a Pro Bowl quarterback at times. He beat them with some with some throws. Um. I think they played well enough to win a game. Two hundred and ninety five yards of offense, two point nine

yards per carry, uh, twenty four points. They were negative which they're negative three in turnovers, which can't have that from the offense. It's also, if there's one valid criticism, they're not getting the ball enough they have no picks through three weeks. Yeah, and they talked about that in the in the locker room after the game. Third down, that's not gonna cut forty four percent, you know, seven

out of sixteen. They could have got off the field a little bit better there, but I can't, and I mean what And they had a busted coverage for a fifty two yard touchdown, which is uncharacteristic of a Rod Marinellie Deep. They really don't give up chunk touchdowns. And that's how you know that they're having problems is when they do. And I don't think it's a coincidence that Jeff Heath was getting his ankle x rayed when it happened.

And if you saw the play, the corner released a guy, you could tell corner was playing up safety was suppose a deep and Cavon just wasn't there. A classic It is a classic case. And I'm I'm not making excuses. I got in a lot of hot water for quote unquote making an excuse for Randy Gregory yesterday, which I was not trying to do. But what did you say? I said, this is the third youngest roster in the NFL, and Randy Gregory's playing his fourth game in the last

two years. Dumb stuff like that happens in those types of situations and people just did not which but in the same bit's true. But it's also just like you gotta be smart than that. In the same vein well, you gotta be better at safety than that. But when Xavier Woods and Cavan Frasier have three combined starts at the position in their careers on the road, these things happen. It's not an excuse for it. I'm trying to explain how that stuff happens. I mean, you don't have Earl Thomas,

you don't even have Kenny Vaccaro. You've got guys who are learning the positions though, and Cavan I love what he does, but he really shouldn't be playing a lot of deep safety. He is a third to fourth safety on your team. Great special teams guy can play some nickel coverages and dime packages, but doesn't need to be about there playing and doing all that kind of stuff. He doesn't have that kind of range and every he is beat up right now. He is not one hundred

percent healthy. He's fighting through what he's playing. I think with the shoulder injury that he's just gonna wait to the season. I mean, he's not healthy. He's not healthy. Which I'm gonna remember this game too, because anytime the storyline is just that obvious, don't bank on it. Like NFL teams play, the players are too talented and the coaches are too smart. We saw that throughout the NFL this week. Yeah, well one hundred percent. But I mean, oh,

the Cowboys are going to have fifty sacks because the Seahawks. No, the Seahawks are going to spend all weeks scheming away to give Russell Wilson time to do his job. Two sacks is good. I mean, you know, the pass rush was fine considering his release time was insane, but it's never gonna be that obvious in the NFL. These people get paid way too much money to figure out ways

to work around it. So I thought, I thought the defense was fine, that you could win a game with your defense playing that way, but the offense just didn't meet him halfway. All right, guys, appreciate you joining us.

We're back tomorrow. We're gonna do a little bit more in breaking down the bigger picture of some of the stuff we saw yesterday and starting to look forward a little bit as to how the Cowboys recover from this get themselves ready for this next opponent, who, by the way, the Detroit Lions beat the New England Patriots like there will be. That game just got a lot more interesting than we thought it was last week. We'll talk about

that tomorrow. This is for Nick Even, Dave helm and Amber Garcia on Derek Eagels and this has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. Rank you. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club