Cowboys Break: Where's the Rush?

Were life in s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star, got David Amber in their home setups as well, and we got about forty five minutes of Cowboys talk with you guys today. It is Tuesday, so it is a big picture day. We're gonna look at a couple different items around this team and give you some opinions on what we think of the team overall. Some areas of

concern is really where we're gonna focus. And they were particularly to particular to some areas that we didn't get a chance to talk about yesterday on the show as we were recapping the game. And so let's let's jump right in. I guess the first position I want to bring up that was going into this game an area of concern, and I'll be interested to see if you guys still feel the same level of concern is the offensive tackle position. Dak was only sacked one time in

this game. It was a first quarter blitz and that led to the sack fumble, and as far as I can tell from rewatching it, it looked like Zeke was maybe more the culprit. Maybe you can make the case that Connor Williams should have blocked down and that guy shouldn't have been released up the middle. Either way, it wasn't the tackles. I don't think that were involved in

that particular situation. Dat being said, how do you assess the play of the two offensive tackles from Sunday's game, Terrence Steele and Brandon Night Nichol's start with you, Well, I thought they struggled, and I think that those numbers are deceiving a little. I think Dak was running for his life. I think that's why Dalton Schultz had so many catches, just because he's had to get the ball out quick. They did settle down. I thought they did

better job. Terrence Steel that's twice. Now he's kind of settled down later in the game, but you know, you got to hold on for one more game here and that Lyle should come back after that, and I think Tyrn could come back this week. So my level of concern is lower than it was because they were able to win a game. I mean, think about that. When does the team ever put up five hundred yards five hundred and fifty yards or whatever with both tackles starting

just their second game. Ever, I thought that was that was interesting. Amber, what do you think? Honestly, I'm way less concerned than I initially was prior to going into the game. I think they did a good job. Honestly, I think they handle what they needed to handle. Yes, there were some mistakes, but at the same time, example, the penalty, it wasn't fortunate, but you know, like even Tyren Smith Lyalla Collins, they have guying penalties in the past,

so it happens. It happens. You don't want them to the opposing team to score on you from a penalty, but it's just part of the game. I think that they did as best as they could as backup, so I'm definitely not as concerned, specially knowing that it won't be for the rest of the year. You know, if they was for the whole season, then maybe we got

a problem here. But at this but right now, knowing that Lyelle and Tyrone are gonna be coming back, I think I'm okay, Dave, how did you assess steal a Knight? I feel a little vindicated by Brandon Knight's success. I mean I feel like, you know, me and me and Nick have been driving that train a little bit. You know, back heading into training camp, I was surprised that he didn't get the first look against the Rams at right tackle.

So yeah, I thought they played really well given the circumstances. Now, you wouldn't prefer it that Dak not only was running for his life and had to check down to Dalton Schultz a few times. I mean, he got he got rocked, even on some completions. The long ball to Cooper, he took a pretty nasty shot, which obviously he's a tough guy. Um, so do I want that for a ton of games?

Not really? But um, you know, Seattle's pass rush has been struggling through two weeks, so you know, it's nice to think that if you have to do that again this weekend, you might be able to survive it, I thought, I mean, they played well enough that you can survive it, obviously. Yeah, it's getting really scary how much the two of you guys are thinking alike like this is this is happening way too frequently to Dave and Nick park agreeing on

things like that's not the fun of this show. Y'all need to be at odds about something, right, Yeah, Okay, we go, but I do go ahead. I don't know. Well, Amber's Amber's doing a good job of taking the other side. Well, Amber's always gonna be That's what they know about. Ag Hey, if you want me to play that role, I can

play that role. I can argue the other way. Did you see that play where your dad had to go out to the tent and get tended by the medical staff, and then we had to see Andy Dalton go into the game. That's a big worry because they could have gone bad and maybe we're talking about a different story here for the rest of the year. So I guess you can argue the other way. That was that was a pretty That was a pretty cheap shot by my guy,

Dion Jones. I mean that was a rollout and he hit him pretty late after the throw, so Dak took a lot of shots and his protection was not amazing, But that that play is not on the tackles, though. I guess the point I'm making and that I would make, is the fact that these guys, as you said, Nick, was this was their second start for both of them. These are undrafted guys. And the fact that you only

ended up giving up one sec. I know, Dak is amazing, but still you had two tackles who were starting an NFL game for only the first second time in their careers and we're undrafted players. That says something about the level of play. And by the way, I think we got to give a little bit of deference there to the coaches as well, because part of being able to protect your quarterback in those kind of situations is what are you doing, how are you running the offense, what

kind of plays are you running? How do you keep the defense off balance? Or that you can't just take advantage of those two positions. So I think all that stuff matters, and I think you've got to give credit to these tackles and to these coaches. Yeah, I agree with them real quick, Dave. I want to get I assume you listen to Jerry this morning on the fan. I'd love to know what you what you're hearing right now as far as the you know where they are with Tyrant and maybe where they are with Lyle. If

you've heard anything more on Lyle and when he's expected back. Yeah, well not so much Lyle. I mean, we know he can't play Sunday. Yeah, I'll be interested to see how quickly you know he's eligible to come off. I are after the Seahawks game. That doesn't necessarily mean he will, so we probably need to start putting some lines in

the water about that Tyring. Jerry said something pretty interesting, which you know, maybe isn't a huge surprise, but he basically said, like, you know, if we were just determined, come hell or high water to play Tyr and we probably could have done it on Sunday, but we held him out in the interest of having him better for the long term, whether that's Seattle or just moving down

the season. It is. It's stingers, which actually, ironically enough, he suffered a really bad stinger against Atlanta in twenty eighteen, the other one that they won at the end with a fuel goal. So this has been a thing for him, and I'm sure he's not feeling great, so they held him out in the interest of all right by not asking you to play on this on three days rest. Hopefully we can get it to settle down enough to

where it doesn't bother you all season long. Stephen Jones said yesterday he in the same sentence, he said, we think Tyrone's got a great shot to play Sunday. We also think he's a game time decision. So those two ideas don't really mesh. So, I mean, it sounds like it's gonna be another week of watching the injury report, but it is interesting to think that you know, they're obviously making these decisions with an eye on the entire

schedule and not just a week to week basis. And I think it helps that steal And Night practice last week, and that will probably be the case this week too. I would imagine if they're going to get a lot of practice reps, even if Tyrant is supposed to play, I don't know if you'll need to be out there a lot, So I would imagine those two guys are going to get a lot of snaps. And that all being said, I'll to go to Amber first on this one. What is your level? Are you more comfortable going into

this game? If you have to start steal and night then you were, say last week based upon what you saw in the game against the Falcons for sure, because prior to the game, like I said earlier, my level of concern was very, very high. And going into this game, I think that one you expect player to get better as they play games. So I think that that game last weekend was just a perfect practice time to get better in real game action rather than just practicing. So

I expect them to be able to hold up. And even if Tyring comes back in, and I wonder, I mean, if he does come back in, do they let him play all throughout the game or do they try to eat him in and rotate him? So I do feel more comfortable, but it's still always an area of concern when when you don't have the old all players that you are used to having. More comfortable Yeah, and I'll answer to that part. I mean, I think if he

comes back, I don't believe there'll be any rotating. I just don't think they do that with tackles with with him now. I mean, it makes sense though it's really is the only position where you don't do that. You

don't like rotating. I guess squreback as well. Um, but I you know, I think it's this is a very interesting dilemma that they're in because it's just early in the season to be battling with this, and you know it's going to be something that they have to deal with and their bye week is way down the road here. So yeah, I feel more comfortable. I mean, the more steel and night play, I would feel more comfortable with night.

I just feel like he's gonna fight you. He's he wants to like turn it into a fist fight if he can. And I think that he might have some limitations athletically, but I think that that guy will will get the job done too. And you know, pride takes over and all that stuff. I think he's a pretty I think he's turned it into a pretty good player. You made the comparison a couple maybeen last week between him and Mark Colombo. I'm starting to see that too.

That's the that's the m O on Mark Colombo. Although Mark Colombo was a much higher pay I mean, the first round thick and so he had a lot more pedigree coming in but it's that type of mentality where he was just going to brawl with you for sixty minutes. And that's just kind of how I pay Footballston that after the game, um night, I asked him about being a like a barroom brawler. He was like, oh, yeah, yeah, that's exactly what I like to do. I want to

brawl with you. F'm like, okay, we'll take that, all right, Dave, you feel more comfortable. I don't want to steal a segment from our Thursday show when we talk about the Seahawks, but if there's a team where you're gonna be compromised to tackle, this is probably the one. Like these these guys don't have edge rushers, which I know that's famous last words because as soon as you say that, you're gonna have five sacks. But I mean their fan base was Their fan base was clamoring all off season for

Clowney and Everson Griffin. Ironically, Everson Griffin winds up here, uh they I mean, they don't have a proven guy that their DPR Bruce Irvin towards ACL the other night, so they don't have him. It's our old, our old friend. Benson Mayowa is their most proven pass rusher right now. So if if you're gonna be compromised to tackle, this is a favorable game to be doing it now. Week four, when Miles Garrett comes to town, I'm starting to get nervous. But in this game, I feel all right, yeah, No.

The big difference between whatever they got right now and Miles Garrett. I think he's one of the premier pass rushers, young pass rushers in this league. All right, we're gonna take an early quick break. When we come back. I want to jump into this defense. We got a lot to talk about on the defense. We're gonna talk about both the pass rush and we're gonna talk about the secondary. But we'll do that when we come back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. We're back in the tasty

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in availability, visit the Star District dot com. Welcome back. It is the second segment of the Break. We are alive from the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Stop and we're talking about areas of concern. Today we talked about the offensive tackles. I think we all came away feeling a little bit better this week than we may have felt going into the game. Now let's flip over to the defense, where they've had some real issues at times

and games. For the most part, I would think throughout most both of the games they've played, I don't think we would necessarily say they've had a great start here to the season. That being said, I looked at just some of the moments in that game this last week where particularly the secondary had some issues. You look at the forty two yard past Hayden Hurst where he was wide open down the field. Looked like there was a mix up between the safety and the linebacker on who

was gonna get him. Nobody seemed to figure that out, and he's wide open down the field for a touchdown. You had Cheeto being beat on the twenty two yard touchdown to Calvin Ridley. You had Jordan being beat on the three yard down touchdown to Ridley. Again, Cheeto got beat by Julio and then missed the tackle. They gave up the nineteen yard gain to Julio and that ends up leading to a touchdown. That all being said, how

do you assess the play of the secondary? And I want you to take two weeks in total, looking at what they did first against the Rams and then what happened against the Falcons, and tell me how you assess this secondary. Nick, let's start with you. I think it's been okay. I think it's been exposed because when we get to the when we get to the party in your little book there about about the defensive line that'll be bad. So what you think when you were reading that,

keep scrolling. I'm like, you need to write a book every day. Sorry, But I do believe that it's been okay. I just feel like that they're having a hard time with no pass rush. I mean that secondary those guys, Oh we're gonna get there, right, they need a pass rush and they're not good enough to be chasing Julio Jones and Ridley around all day long. All right, Amber, what you got. That's exactly what I was gonna say.

I hate just keep agreeing with especially nig but Dave and I are usually kind of on the same page. But no, that's exactly what I think they've They've been just okay. They've made a lot of mistakes here, and they're big ones that cost the Cowboys. But at the same time, I feel that I'm more concerned about the pass rush and what they're doing there. And you know, Derek, you kept saying this is where where we're gonna get all this help for the secondary, but it hasn't happened, honestly.

And as far as Jordan Lewis, it was disappointing to see him give up that that touchdown play. I always expect him to play better, and he's played better, but I think that's also just a product of him not being able to have a full training camp and just being out there practicing enough times. But and also I am have you guys heard anything about Cheeto and the injury. I know, he like walked out of the game with some hamstring hamstring issue there. Yeah, he left at the

very end with a hammy. You know. Mike McCarthy's made it pretty clear he doesn't love talking specifics, so I really don't know the severity of it. Obviously, the injury report will be out tomorrow. Yeah, well we'll see how that how severe that is. But it just another thing, another thing to add to the defense and in their secondary, Dave,

how do you assess the secondary? I'll go against the grain a little bit because I feel like I'm always the guy, you know, I hate to say making excuses, but I'm usually the guy that's defending dbs because it's such a hard position to play, and you know, people tend to hold the losses in, you know, they hold it over your head and never credit the successes. So like, I'm never going to criticize a guy, like if the coverage is good, and you give to Van Jefferson just

a beautifully thrown ball. I'm not gonna kill you for that. I thought Calvin Ridley's first touchdown Cheetoh was he was like one step from you know, he dives and reaches and he was like one step from king it up. I'm not going to kill a guy for that either. Like it's a hard position. But what troubles you is the busts. Like I mean, come on, guys, Hayden Hurst is a first round pick. The Falcons traded for him to replace Hooper. He's gonna be a focal point of

their offense, and they've just lost him. Like I mean, you can't. You can't give up touchdowns in the NFL where the guys scoring doesn't have anyone around him. So that and to get you know, the play on the goal line where Jordan seemed to lose his man as well. I think that was Ridley's second touchdown. That's the stuff you can't. You gotta clean that up because you're gonna give up plays when the coverage is good. That's the

nature of the game right now. You just so, I mean to have three big busts where people just didn't know what they were doing in the same game, that that's what troubles you, and that's gonna get you beat when you don't put together a miracle in the fourth quarter. Yeah, I will say this, of all those problems, and by the way, I do think they're all problems. Of all those problem though, what I've seen from Digs over the first two weeks gets me really excited about him as

a cornerback for this team. Because I was telling my wife this about the play that he broke up with Julio down field. To me, I look at that and I'm like, yeah, he didn't necessarily make that interception, but I think just if you watch the way that he was able to recover and get in position to actually break it up, it was a really really great play if he gets to the point. And by the way, one of the things that they liked about him is

he is a guy that actually can catch. Now. I know, these first two weeks, he's had two opportunities and he hasn't come up with either one of them. But once he gets that part down, I think I'm seeing things right now that suggests he's gonna be a really good player. That doesn't mean he's not gonna get beat. And as you were saying, Dave, cornerbacks get beat, that's a part of it. You're not gonna beat. These are NFL wide receivers. A lot of them are really good wide receivers. You're

not gonna win every time. But if you can win some of the time, and if some of those times you can turn the ball over, then that's when you step into that elite level of cornerbacks in this league. And I'm starting to see some things that makes me think he has a shot at that. Whether he gets there or not, not quite sure, but I do think he has a shot at being one of those better

upper upper end cornerbacks in the NFL. You know, if Cheeto doesn't play this week, which that could be, you know, a big concern obviously, because you've already got Anthony Brown on injured reserve, you just have Jordan Lewis coming back DIGS. I mean, I think you have to throw in Brandon Carr back into the cornerback mix there, even though they've

got him listed on the depth chart at safety. Uh not that not that they haven't changed the depth chart around already on us, but I think that he could he could definitely. I mean, I'm not ready to put Reggie Robinson out there on Tyler Lockett and that beast from Ole Miss what's his name? Woof metcats got? I mean he's he's a tight end, running deep rout is what he is? Yeah, guy's sick. Yeah, we didn't talk

about Anthony Brown? What is that injury? Like he almost just kind of crept up and all of a sudden he's on IR Like is he it's just one of those that's ir to return in three weeks? The expectation or is this like I offer the season? Like, what's what's the deal? I mean, ribs, ribs for three weeks? Like what happened in practice? Is he fighting Apollo Creed? I mean, like what happened? I don't seriously, like do

you I don't know. I don't know what's going on with this with just I r out out for three yea three games. It's kind of crept up. Did you? Did you guys know anything about that last week or that did that? Really? Was it surprising to you guys?

It was to me. No, Well, he showed up on the injury report on Friday, But I mean, guys, guys, get dinged up in practice, Like if if fans could see practice and see how you know, it's still football, Like guys go down like fans would have panic attacks every day, so you see, you know, I saw Anthony Brown pop up on the injury report on Friday. I was like, Oh, he probably took a helmet to the

ribs or something whatever. But but he goes on I R. And the thing that makes it tricky is typically you only get a couple of guys that you're allowed to bring back, so you know, you can ask people and say, well, you know, is this is designated a return. They don't have to do that this year. Yeah, So as of right now, I'm not sure of the severity. Obviously, it means a b will be gone at least until you know,

he can't come back until after week five. And I would like to think, I mean rib injuries, you're you would like to think unless he just absolutely broke a bunch of his ribs, you would think it's you know, a three to six week injury. I guess. So I leaned toward thinking he'll be back, but you know, not any time to help him against Russell Wilson. Unfortunately. All right, let's move on to the front end of the defense. Cowboys were able to get one sack this last game.

Everson Griffin gets that sack. It was a time in the game when I think they really needed it, so I was a big play for him and for this defense. That all being said, I have a basically a very simple question for you guys, what's wrong with the pass rush? Because I think we all expected more at this point. Amber, Let's start with you, what's wrong with this pass rush? Shore?

I wish I knew what was wrong with the pass rush, jeez, and I wish they knew, because again, big, big expectations for this pass rush, a lot of talent there, and unfortunately they're just not being able to get the job done. And honestly, I don't know what exactly is happening. We talk about DeMarcus Lawrence, a guy that you keep seeing fans asking about him and what's going on? Why is he not playing at the level he should be playing at?

And again that was another question last year, but this year specifically, my concern is that you always talk about when you got a great guy, you expect him even if he's getting blocked, you expect that person to be able to create more opportunities for the rest of the line, and that's not happening. There are several guys that are very talented guys, but at the same time, I'm not being able to see any other opportunities being created for

the other guys in the line. So I wish I knew exactly what the problem was, but I don't, and it is very concerning for me because I was expecting a lot more, and I was expecting because of everything I hear from Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones. How oh, we trust that the defensive line is going to be able to help our secondary. Well, I'm sorry, but it's not happening. So I hope they're they're able to fix

it pretty soon. And I still don't know what's happening with de Marcus Lawrence as far as the injury, because I know he I saw the report that he came out of the game. I forgot what they we're looking at. I don't remember Danny, so hopefully that that's not something that we see tomorrow pop up. And then here we are with a bigger problem of injuries added up to the list of guys that are injured. The key guys that are injured for these upcoming games. But yeah, I

hope Dave and Nick have better answers. Well. According I was just gonna say, according to Jerry Jones, he said this morning on his radio call that as far as his health, DeMarcus Lawrence is fine. He said, he may be nicked up a little bit, but his health is fine. This is not a situation where he feels like DeMarcus Lawrence is injured to the point where he can't play and can't play well. That was again, those are the words of Jerry. But but you know, for example, you

hear certain injuries. For example, Chris Jones, I was just recently finding out this year about the injury that he was dealing with last year and he was playing. And even though there is obviously very different positions here, but you hear it all the time about guys that are dealing with certain type of injury and although they're still able to play, it does it does affect them in the game and the level that they're able to perform.

So even though he might be fine to playing to the game, I'm still that's going to be in the back of my mind us to how well he can deal with that injury during an actual game. This reminds me of the movie The Program where the coach walks up to the player and says, are you injured? Are you hurt? Because guess what, in football, everybody's hurt. Like that's just the nature of playing football. You're going to

be hurt. Injured means you can't play. And it sounds like right here, what Jerry at least is saying is that DeMarcus is hurt, not injured, hurt. That movie came out in ninety three. You and I got that. I don't know they've seen that, haven't today. I've yeah, I've I mean, and I've heard I've heard the line. I've heard all of that stuff. I was gonna say, I love it. It's a it's a fun interesting paradox is. You know, everybody gets dinged up. Everybody's dealing with something.

Number One, teams don't want to talk about it because they don't want to give away, you know, things that might compromise them. And two guys know they got a gut through it. But then when they take criticism, it's like, well I'm dealing with this, this, that, and the other. And it's like, well, either you play to do. All

I can do is comment on what I'm watching. Yeah, actually, no, I think it's it's very very interesting timing that we're talking about this, because Everson Griffin has actually been waging in on it on Twitter this morning. Yeah, and no, this is this is actually interesting. Like I love this response.

So you know, our good friend Jeff Kavanaugh was watching the game this morning and he said, you know, Everson Griffin really hasn't been playing well, and Everson took exception to it, and I actually appreciate rather than just he actually kind of gave some detail in these Twitter replies. So I'm reading from him. He said. You know, he says, I get that it's week two. How many injuries were there in the league last Sunday, kind of referring to the fact that, you know, it's a short preseason, lack

of practice time. He says, let's talk about playing well at the end of the year instead of week two. I get that everyone has a job to do, but in this unique year of football, it's all about the trend line, which I think is really interesting. So if you're asking it's wrong pass rush, it's probably I mean, it sounds like an excuse but it seems like it holds water that they haven't had a lot of time to work together. Everson Griffin didn't start practicing until eight

days before the end of training camp. I guess Tank has something bothering his knee. And even Mike Nolan said yesterday and his availability with the media, he said, you know, our pass rush needs to get better as at working together as one unit, not just guys winning individual matchups, but kind of working as a cohesive group. And when you think about the complete lack of playing time that these guys have had together, it makes sense that they're not in sync. And now the flip side of that

coin is, guess what nobody cares. Nobody cares about any of that because y'all are all big names, and you're paid very well, and you got to get to the quarterback and you didn't do it very well against a very slow quarterback in Matt Ryan. So how am I supposed to have confidence that you're going to do it against Udini? Because that's what Russell Wilson is. So I get where Everson Griffin is coming from, and I understand that there are a lot of factors getting in the

way of just hitting the ground running. I bet there'll be a lot better in Week ten than they are right now. But that doesn't matter. You gotta find ways to win football games, and sacking the quarterback is a big part of that. So that was a mouthful, but I think I covered it no, And I think it also comes with the territory when you are highly paid, when you are when expectations are really high. You look

at that those pass rushers. I think we all watching during training camp believed that that was going to be the strength of that defense. And if the defense was gonna be any way better than it was last year, it was going to be because of those three guys in particular. And so there is an expectation, and I think, be honest with you, when they want when they want more money, they throw it out there that there are those kinds of players. So I think you can't have

it both ways. You gotta have to say you have to step up to the occasion when it's time to perform. Nick, what do you think of this pass rush? Um? I think I got asked on Twitter in the game, where is this pass rush? And I said, for Skull, I mean, that's that's the Ford center and that's where that's where it was. That's where we saw it, and that's where they were there wasn't I haven't seen it since then. Uh I am. I am glad that the tweet I was about to fire off that said I thought they

signed Everson Griffin. I didn't do that. I decided not to do that. You know, it was like midway through the third quarter. I was like, I thought they signed Everson Griffin. But then I was like, man, that's fine because he'll probably come up with a big play. I even thought that thankfully did um but um, you know, I think Amber and David Wright about all all that, all that they said, I mean, it's just this, it's on them, this is this is what they keep adding to. Uh. Yeah,

it would have been nice to have Gerald McCoy. You know, I think he would help there in the middle, because I think the best guy that is getting back there is Tristan Hill. Now he's not doing a lot with it, but I see him back there a lot. He's disruptive, and that's what you want there in the middle. You want somebody's disruptive. Yeah, so they they've got to get better. I mean, uh, I thought what Jerry Jones said, if he said that on the radio today, I think that's

I think it's a message. I mean, I think Jerry would would not say it that way if he wasn't trying to say he's fine. He might have a little bit here and there, but he's fine. Yeah, and he's probably thinking about his check book there and he's fine. He needs to be out there, don't get it. Yeah, all right, we're gonna take our final book when we come back. I want to go ahead, go ahead, Amber.

I was just gonna ask, who would you say is the best defensive player currently on the whole defense Smithy, which I was gonna say. The irony, the irony of me saying that the pass rush will be a lot better in week ten than it is right now, is that a guy who hasn't played since twenty fifteen is the best defender on this team right now. Like there's I don't even think it's tough. Yeah, I don't think

it's even close. I don't even think it's close. Nick No, I mean, yeah, it's probably it's probably Aldon Smith, yeah, but I mean I don't know. I think it'll be Jaalen Smith Wents. All said and done, huh yeah, Jed, what was that? But I think it'll be all said and done, he's gonna be the best player in the YEP. I saw a swipe he got. He got one too. And by the way, I'm not saying I don't think

Jalen can get better as the season goes on. But I don't see anything right now that suggests to me that by the end of the season he'll be better than Aldon Smith. He'll be better. I think Tank is a guy that maybe he'sn't showing up right now. And by the way, when we say not showing up, go back to watch the beginning of that game, that first series,

that was the Tank Show. And that's that's why. That's why people have the expectations, is because there are moments in games where you see it and you're like, that's what I'm talking about. That's why they pay him the big bucks. It's just in other moments it's not there. But that that first series, he made some outstanding plays I thought, I mean just his ability to be able to get around blocks, get off blocks and then make

a tackle like he made some really good plays. So yeah, I don't I think there are a lot there are probably four or five guys out within and have a chance of being the best player on this defense. Before I would get to Jake again, I know we're going to break. But Mike Nolan knows how to coach defense. He knows how to figure things out. No, he does. He's been around too long not to know he knows how to coach defense. He's trying to figure out what

he's got here. Is this the same d Law he saw on tape, the same Griffin, the same Poe, all that stuff you watch. They'll start mixing in some blitzes and things like that here and there to be disruptive. He's been in this league too long not to figure it out on a week to week basis. You know, I think the lack of preseason, lack of training camp, some of those things. I think he'll start to turn things around. All right, let's go to our final break.

We'll come back now. We're gonna talk coaching, and we're gonna talk special teams and coaching and how that all has worked out these first two games so that when we come back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio since eighteen sixty five, Stetson hats are American Maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Want to show your Texas and team pride too, You can by purchasing your own stepson. You can look just like how the

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We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor Batband cream Soda. Is he a Newcombonlet's music to my Ears? Okay, Doctor Batime, Music's my ears and mouths New Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Delas, just do bah. Back to the break after this game, the Cowboys have three straight home games. We want to know. Are you coming to the game next weekend? If you are, make sure you know before you go you wear a mask,

keep distance prepared for cash less transaction. Please be aware of all safe stadium policies prior to arriving at AT AT and T Stadiums at Dallas Cowboys dot Com slash Safe Stadium for details versus Cowboys at Seattle this week. But after that home home home. All right, we're in the final segment of the break and this segment we're gonna talk about coaching a little bit, and I want to

talk about it from two different facets. I first want to start and talk a little bit about special teams, and they brought in a coach Fossil as what most people consider one of the better special teams coaches in the NFL. And I think through two games, the one thing that we've seen is he has ideas like that's the one thing about special teams. You look at some teams and special teams is really just like kick the ball off, try to make sure nobody scores on you, like,

just keep the status quo. It seems like his philosophy on this is we can change games, like we can make things happen, and his head coach buys into it. They've had two fake punts that they've tried, having converted either one, but they tried. They had obviously the biggest play of the game in my opinion on Sunday, which was the onside kick, where again they did something that you haven't seen teams do the way he kicked the ball. There they call it, I've heard called the water watermelon kick.

But you know the way they kicked the ball, it's new and different. That all being said, how would you assess, at least what you've seen the philosophy with regards to special teams and being willing to try more things and be a bit more aggressive. Let's start first with you, Nick. I think you know he's innovative. That's all he does. I mean, he just lives and breathes the mean he's

being special teams, trying to trying to one up the rules. Uh. And I say that, like, okay, this is the this is the new rule for special I mean for onside kicks. It's hard to get this. The players can't have a running start. You have to do something creative, do something slow that will work. Try to play mind tricks on the four guys that that won't actually touch the ball when they could. I mean, dude, whatever you've got to do, figure out how to get that ball to go ten

and a half yards. But I thought, you know, I just think he's he's he's a really a good coach, and he's you know, he just trying to figure out different ways to make this work. And even from the kickoff, if you look at it, I mean he's I mean, they know that that there's of all kickoffs have a penalty in it. That's why Zoroline's not kicking it into the net. He's popping it up, trying to get it down so they can get you a better field position.

Don't know why Tony Polter keeps running it out seven yards deep, but but yeah, I haven't figured that one out either, but they'll they'll figured it out. I think he's a great addition, all right, Dave. I love this guy. He's it's I mean, it bums me out that you know, we're doing all that we're doing this season via COVID, and I haven't really gotten a chance to get to know him, because he's just a breath of fresh air.

Like he's always excited, he's always in a good mood, and I freaking I love his his confidence and his his go get or attitude. I mean, we can talk about the special team stuff, but if you go back to week one, some he asked him, you know, as the special teams coordinator, how do you feel when they pass up on a chance for an easy field goal to go for it on a fourth and three and he was like, hell yeah, I love it one hundred percent of the time. I don't know if we lost

Dave there. I think we may have lost Dave there for a second, Amber, Why don't we go to you. Let's talk a little bit about the special teams and what the coach is doing there. You like it? You don't like it? Are you talking to me? Yes? Yeah? Amber? He was saying some good stuff too. I know he was on a pro he's on a roll, and we think we just lost him. All right, Well I'll give am I back. Yes, you're back. Oh boy, I'm sorry. I don't I'm sorry though. Uh yeah, I was on

a roll, damn it. It's fine. Um oh no, he said. Yesterday, somebody was like, they asked him about the first fake punt failed, and he was like, when we do it again, we'll get it. And I was like, I love your confidence, my man. That's awesome. He's just fun. I like his aggressive attitude, his attention to detail. He also somebody asked him yesterday, did you kick the on site kick toward

the Dallas sideline on purpose? So that Atlanta's coaches wouldn't be able to yell at their players about what to do. And he laughed and said no comment, which means yes, by the way. So I love that he took the time to think of that like that. That's again, that's the type of stuff that we would have complained that the old coaching staff doesn't think that far ahead or think that minutely about it. So I got a lot to say about it, clearly, because I'm I'm a big

fan of this guy. Yep, me too. What do you think, Amber, Well, I love him as well. I think that he's great and I do have full confidence that special teams will

keep improving as the season goes on. And one of the things I remember where he said in one of his initial interviews when he first got here with Dallas Um, I remember him saying that his hope is to make special team players feel like they matter, like they are important, just as important as any of the other guys, and that that stuck to me at the time because I'm like, huh, that's I love that kind of mentality, because you need to make every person feel like they matter. So his

whole mentality, I absolutely love him. I think that the game changing like the way that he's choosing these and making these decisions that could be game changing plays. That goes along with what he said initially about making players feel like they matter, like this play is important, We're gonna make it happen. We have a chance to make a game changing decision here and all that. So I just think they're gonna keep doing better. There's there's been mistakes.

It all goes back to execution, but players will keep improving, especially when you got that type of leader leading them. I think that they're just gonna get better. Let's extend out, Nick, and I'm gonna ask you this question. Let's extend out to the broader head coach and some of the decisions that he's made so far. In two weeks. You think about this. In two weeks, Cowboys have had two fake punts. They've had a two point conversion attempt that they tried

earlier than some people thought they should have. They had a forty six yard field goal at the end of that game, which we didn't talk about yesterday, but they settled for forty six yards and they probably could have been a little more aggressive tried to get more yards they settled for forty six. It worked out, but they settled for forty six. And then they had the fourth down attempt in week one where instead of taking easy

field goal, they attempt a fourth down conversion. Now, all of those except for settling for the forty six yarder went against them. Right now, when you look at the coaching decisions that have been made, he's obviously very very aggressive coach. That being said, though, do you think that this is a problem or do you think it's just a different way doing things that we're all going to have to adjust to because he's just more aggressive. They're

a different way of doing it. I mean, just just completely different way of of you know, figuring out how to manage a game. And you know where right now he's he's one and one. I mean, that's that's probably I'm not gonna say he's gonna be fifty fifty all all year long. But but yeah, I mean, we're we're everybody would do you know, things differently. We say it all the time, We joke around. You coach your team, I'll coach my team. And literally he coaches his team.

He does it his way. And there's some people that that believe that they only won the game because he went for two. I'm I'm I'm not necessarily a believer in that at all, but I just think there are some people think that that actually worked out for them and why that they won. But you know, I like his his ideas. They're different, they're they're new and fresh. You're not gonna agree with all of them. Amber, I

like it. It's very different than than what we were used to, and that's what we've been asking for the past couple of years. So I can't complain now that we're actually seeing it happen. But at the same time, I think you also have to put some blame into the players. I think that there has been some calls that were good and risky, but it just comes down to execution and the players actually making the play happen.

But then again, that goes into coaching as well, because at the same time, you as a coach are supposed to know and have a good feel of what your players can actually do and make happen. So it's just a balancing between. So to be fair, there's some blame to go around as far as the players making the

play happen. But I love what I'm seeing some questionable things, but had they worked out to their advantage, we would be talking about how amazing and great and unbelievable this coaching staff is, especially Mike McCarthy, But it just it hasn't necessarily fully worked out just yet. But I do think it's like I said about special teams, I do think that as time goes on, they're gonna be able

to improve and get better the more they keep practicing together. Obviously, those uh the preseason was crucial for everyone around the league. We know that, but I think given time, we'll be able to be cheering more than being questioning those play calls, Dave, what do you think? I absolutely and unequ unequivocally love it. And that's even you know, that's even I still don't. I don't love the two point conversion call. We don't have to do all that again. But give me the

coach that's gonna do that stuff. Give me the coach. I mean, god, how much time have we spent talking about whether or not Mike McCarthy cares about analytics. I mean, that's that's what that is. That's that's what I didn't like the second fake punk call. I don't care I'm always going to be in favor of being aggressive to

give your team the best chance to in. I mean, we spend eight years complaining about Garrett, and I feel like what a lot of people are saying is I want you to be aggressive when it's fourth and two on the opponent's thirty five yard line. Like that's that's not aggressive, that's obvious. So I love this idea of thinking outside the box. I say, keep doing it because I think they have the talent that it'll it'll pay off way more often than not, even though we haven't

seen it through. But keep doing it right, Nick, real quick, you had a little story you wanted to give us before we in the show. I forgot to tell you this yesterday. I thought this was This was funny at the end of the game. It's not related to fossil into the game, I'm like running down to try to get to the elevator to get down to the field. Right after right after the kick, everyone's going nuts. There's about thirteen guys in front of me in this hallway.

They're huge guys too, and they're all pissed and they're all, you know, kind of cussing, and I'm trying to weave through to get through the elevator and all that get there, and then if six or seven of them get on the elevator, is not really safe distancing on there. And it turns out its practice squad that they sit up in a suite or whatever, and they're pissed off because

they can't believe it. And one guy was like, man, I wasn't here, but this has got to be the same feeling for losing that that super Bowl like that, and I'm just thinking that's probably not the same, close not the same. He's like, now I know, no, he said, now I know how those guys fell after, you know, losing the Super Bowl like this, And I'm just like, mm, I don't think that's actually the same at all. But it's just funny when you think about the practice squad.

They travel these guys that you know, and then they're up there they're pissed off too. And another funny thing is CJ. Goodwin. I told Dave this history. He actually was on the falcons for that that game in the Super Bowl and all that, and then here he is, but three years later, recovering you know, watermelon sugar high

down there spending there and makes it makes the play. No, even though it was that, that would have been the headline if we knew that, all go ahead, dude, of all the people to make the Harry Styles joke on this show, I would have guessed it would be you. I would have not guessed that. Yep, that would have been the headline of that if we knew that was called the watermelon cake. Oh yeah, no doubt about it. Now we know, and we'll never see that cake again.

Oh probably not. All right, guys, we appreciate you join us. We're back tomorrow. We got Bucky Brooks joining us as he does every week. He's gonna talk to us about the Seattle offense and good luck with that one. That's gonna be an interesting conversation we'll have with him. Till then. For Nick Eatman, Dave Helmett, Amber Garcia, I am Derek Eakleton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot

Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.