Cowboys Break: Who Ya Got?

Break Life in the SWBC Mortgage Studios. At the start, Nick, give me a twenty three. Kevin Mathis, Ah, that's a good one. Actually, that's a really good one. I almost went with Dwayne Goodridge, but I just started going, Yeah, let's go Kevin messes on that. What's a good twenty three for you? You have a good choice, Like Darian Thompson has worn twenty three the whole freaking time I've covered this team. I know that's an exaggeration, but barely. Um.

I don't know Tyler Patman were twenty three. I think he was twenty six. Yeah, that's twenty. I thought maybe he's one of those that had a couple. It's not a number with an illustrious history. I forgot that he hasn't He wasn't here at that time. So when I said, do you have a good choice for twenty three, he didn't really get the shard choice was twenty three? That was years before my years. It was too two years before your time. When was the last year he played here?

I don't remember. He was in the O eight draft, so yeah, probably, But like whenever he got the autograph from Michael Vick, I mean I remember that. I remember that. Remember watching as a football fan. I was like, it's kind of weird. I liked he was ahead of his time because now, man, everybody's getting autographs and trade and jerseys and all kinds of stuff after the game. It's

a trade show. Yeah, following the guy into the locker room to do it is kind of weird, though maybe really happens like out on the field whatever usually but whatever. Robert Williams, by the way, is my favorite. Twenty three. Oh Robert Williams. Producer Chris Beam says, Robert Williams, Yeah, he played like eighty seven to ninety two, ninety three. Thank he's coaching somewhere in Donald's really good. Okay, all right, all right, let's jump into it. We got a lot

we're gonna get into today. Today we're gonna do. I'm gonna do this as kind of our typical format on a Friday. I'm gonna throw out some storylines to you guys, and I'm gonna try to hit different storylines around this team. Some have to do with the offense, some have to do with the defense, I have to do with special teams. And get your opinions on what you think is going to happen, what you think the current state is, just your general overall thoughts on these different storylines as we

head into this game. But before we get to that, I want to catch up on a couple of injuries for the Charges. We haven't talked a lot about their team. Obviously, the Cowboys are dealing with a lot of stuff when it comes to players that are not going to be available them to them this week end. But the Chargers, I think they have two guys that are very, very interesting that are on their injury report that have now practice all week. Let's start first with tackle Brian Bulaga.

He has a growing back issue, has not practiced all week. How does that affect the Cowboys as they prepared to take all the Chargers? Well, I mean it would. You know, they're looking at it like, well, you know, the Cowboys have lost some defensive ends too, you know, definitely d Law probably Randy Gregory. So you know it's gonna be it's gonna look like a preseason game. Really, I mean, it'll look like a second preseason game. They're backup, going

up against Dorn's armstrong or bash them. So yeah, it's got it's a tough break that because I mean we're you know, we're sitting here, Joey Bose is going against Terrence Steele and that's the predominant storyline in terms of matchups. And the guy that can't play for the Chargers plays a position where DeMarcus Lawrence isn't going to be there because DeMarcus All doesn't move. He very rarely moves from left end, so that would have been his guy. So that's a bad break that you don't get to take

advantage of a possible absence. See I look at it the other way. I look at it like as the equalizer because it starts with the Cowboys. So I look at it like, oh my God, like you know they're gonna get any pass rush. It's like, well, yeah, probably because I mean if you if you look at um Dorn's Armstrong and the way he's played and the way he played in the preseason, the stuff he did in

that Arizona game, you're you're impressed by it. But then you kind of be like, well, you know they're not really playing it against their starters, but if that's the way, you know, he he looked great in training camp too, going up sometimes against Tyrn and Lyle, sometimes against the backups. So I would feel better about it, you know. From that I mean, maybe I'm just no one's ever said glass half full for me. But I get the point that you're trying to make. I got it from that angle.

I get the point you're making. But having to Marcus Lawrence, like having a guy of his caliber going against the backup you have a chance to wreck their game plan. I don't know. I don't trust Dorn's Armstrong and Terrell Basham to be that good. Yeah. The difference is you kind of and I agree with both guys. The difference is you look at a Doran's Armstrong and what we've seen so far, you would think, Okay, I feel good. If somebody told me, hey, Durrance is gonna have a

sack in this game, I feel good about that. Durrance will get a sack or make a play in this game in the PA in his pass rush direct their game plan. I don't know if I'd go that far right where you would think, if it's DeMarcus, maybe you could wreck their game plan. You know, this reminds me back the last time the Cowboys, I guess it was at the last time they played at the Chargers in a regular season game. It was twenty thirteen, and every

offensive lineman on their teams was out. It was it was it's gonna be a field day, and it was I think Rivers through for like four hundred yards and they hurries covered Danny Woodhead Woodhead. It Seawan Lee pick

six Rivers or Danny Woodhead. They took a twenty one ten lead into halftime, and they lost like thirty to twenty one, and it was it was one of those where, like you know, it was such a just a mass unit for their offensive line, but they figured it out, So you know, it's I remember that game a lot when I think about situations where you're like, oh, how is this team going to do this? Or you know,

and a lot of times it's been with Washington. You know, the last few years, Washington's offensive lines been a train wreck and all that, and you know a lot of it was you know who they you know, Trent Williams was out and all that. But that kind of teams seem to kind of figure it out. Yeah. But the one thing I do like about this is I think Drance Armstrong is the kind of guy that he probably looks at this is Okay, here's my opportunity. This is

my big opportunity. And the matchup actually favors him in this instance. So let's see what he does. I'm interested to see what he can do in this kind of situation. If he's going to be the guy that's gonna be on that side, that I feel like Durrance is more likely to be on the right. Basham said yesterday he prefers to be on the left. So and he actually he talked about Bulaga. He was like, I was looking forward to going against him. Apparently he had a great

game against him last year. I looked it up. He was like, I had a lot of fun playing him. Last year, I hit the quarterback a lot in that game. He was credited with two tackles and one quarterback hit in that game. So I mean, I think guys have a way of embellishing a little bit, and it might feel a little different when you're playing too. You know, the stats say one thing, but yeah, you get you get a little scar on the quarterback. You might know

what the quarterback might know. You might not actually might not show up on the statue exactly. So it happens, it happens, all right. One other guy I thought was interesting, Chris Harris or cornerback. Chris Harris Junior has a shoulder injury. He is not practiced all week. Once again, when you think about the San Diego defense, or from my perspective, I look at this defense and I think the passing defense is the best thing that they do, and he's

a part of that. Without him, how much does that change their ability to cover this hypoton I feel better about it since I'm not the only one that's done it. Oh did you say San Diego? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, Los Angeles charges. I'm so sorry starts Los Angeles charge yea, let's go. Um, Honestly, I'm not sure how much he's I mean, was he starter Chris Harris, He's listed on

their depth charts, one of their outside starters. Yeah, I mean it's yeah, it's it's the same type of deal where like the you know, it's like which which news did you hear first? You know, and from my perspective, it's like, well they lost Gallop, Okay, well let's you know, and then it's like, well, if they lose a guy too,

then it kind of equalizes. I think Cedric Wilson could probably go up against their backup or however it's gonna shake out, so you know, it's kind of those two losses there are kind of kind of playing off of each other. So now it's the Chargers can lose one of their pass rushers, um preferably Bosa that you know, to to not wish injury on anyone. No, just no, you can just on the way to stadium, just get lost, just gets It's it is fun the way these mirror

each other. Because Sire Monsieur Adderley's out as well. Well, I mean he hasn't been ruled out for the game, but he hasn't practiced yet this week. If you don't practice Thursday. That's usually not good. Uh So Cowboys are having some safety issues as well. Adderley's obviously not He's not the star Derwin James is, but but he was on the injury report earlier in the week. He did practice yesterday. I think Derwin James is a guy that'll

probably be on the injury report every week. Doesn't mean he's gonna doesn't mean it's gonna affect how he you know, whether or not he plays. So let's go ahead and move into some of the storylines that the Cowboys will face. Actually, we're gonna take a quick break before we do that. We'll come back. We'll talk a little bit about this offensive, this offense. We'll start with the offense first and go through a couple of storylines for this game that won't

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little bit about the storylines of this game. Cowboys were just chargers on Sunday afternoon. It'll be a I think a three thirty kick time here Central time Zone. Let's start the offense Lyle being replaced by Terrence still facing Joey Bosa. Is dad good enough to make that that doesn't become a big issue for this offense and their ability to still be able to move the ball? I think yeah, I think so. Yes. It's not just Dak either, Kellen Moore as well. Kellen Moore is smart enough to

design a game plan that will not allow that to happen. Now, we talk about this a lot because tackle has been a problem a lot. Twenty seventeen against Atlanta as an aberration like that is not that should not be and I get it. It was painful to watch and it is burned into people's brains. But that's not what happens. Nick just pointed it out when they played the Chargers, like this happens to teams all the time. This is

a one hundred injury league. To quote Terrell Basham from yesterday, It's going to happen to everybody, and ninety five percent of the time teams don't let it completely derailed him like that. Dak is good, he is mobile, Kellen Morridge smart. They'll be I mean, I don't know if they're gonna win, but they'll be fine in the sense that they'll be

able to move the ball and score points. Nick, if you take us back to last year when Dak was playing and he didn't have both those tackles at some point, were the tackles as big of a problem as they were later in the year when Dak wasn't there. Yeah, Well, they had their moments that of hurting the offense, and they in the Rams game, I believe, you know, Terrence Steele played and he played, you know, he played pretty

well based off our expectations. But at the end of the game, the last drive, he gives up a big sack. He gave up a sack to Miles Garrett that forced the fumble. I think he had a couple of plays with the whole offensive line did against Atlanta early on.

And so yeah, I mean, they have their moments. You hope that they don't they don't happen at the wrong time, and so you know, with with both, So I think with any any of those speed rushers that love to get up the field, you gotta take advantage of it. You got it. It's a chess match on those plays that he wants to get up the field, that's where you can maybe get some runs inside, trap him, gash him in there. So it'll it'll be up to Kellen Moore, Dak and all that to really figure out how to

how to offset that. And you know, I think Terrence steals up for the challenge. He's played a lot of football, He's an athletic guy, and he's gonna you know, this will be this will be an outstanding, you know, opportunity for him. The Chargers defense allow one hundred and twenty four rush yards in Week one and Dallas on the flip side never really got their rushing attack established. Does

Dallas take advantage of the run this week? I don't like the phrasing take advantage of just because I do think, I mean, the Chargers have the capability to stop it. And that's who was talking about this yesterday where we talking probably maybe it was Bucky talking about it, and he was just like, they're gonna Yeah, it was Bucky, You're right, just like they're gonna key on Zeke. That's everything. I'm like, well, surely one of these days somebody's gonna

be like, I don't know if I agree with that. Like, one of these days, somebody's gonna be like, man, this quarterback's capable of putting four hundred on us. Deal with that? Are doing that? Like do we think teams? If you were a defensive coordinator you were getting ready for the Cowboys, would your first priority be Zee? Now let's let's also be honest that in the NFL, I think every defense defensive coordinator step one every week is you got to stop the run, because if you can make a team

one dimensional, that's your better chance. But just thinking about where you're king, I think Dak is the more important piece, right, I think about there's an interesting precedent here. And I know Brandon Staley's not calling the defense. He's not the defensive coordinator for the Chargers, but he was the DC for that Rams game last year, and they played a boatload of too high and dared Dak to take deep shots, and like the one time he got it done, they

called offensive past interference on Michael Gallup. It was a dumb call. It was a dumb call, but he averaged ian He averaged less than seven yards per tenth in that game. So I wouldn't be shocked if that is a similar approach here, where you're like, yeah, you know, we'll let you run the ball. We're just not going to let you just kill us with big plays. Having said that roundabout point, but like they have the personnel to stop the run if they want to. Joey Bose

is great against the run. We talked about Linvall, Joseph. I don't know how good Jerry Tillery's been. I'm not I don't have a good read on his career, but he's a first round pick in there in the middle. And then they drafted Kenneth Murray last year to kind of, you know, very similar, not comparing him to Micah Parsons, but a guy who can clean up and make life easier on your defensive line. So I mean, if that's

what they want to do, they probably can. It's just a matter of I tend to doubt that they want to. I think they'd rather take big plays from Dac Away. Yeah. I mean, you're right, stopping the run it's always it's always going to be a key for defensive coordinators, and I think that they do that. But you know, the thing is about the passing yards and the passing attempts

and all that with Dak. I mean, they were there, but I don't think you could you would say that they took a ton to shut down the field, So you know, I mean it was it was a passing thing. I think Dave said it earlier in the week. I agree with it. I mean, it was a different way to run. It was through the pass. It was still you know, outside passes, quick ball control, moving the chains. So you know, you look at the stat sheet, it's like wow, but it's not like he's throwing it down

the field fifty eight sixty times. I wrote this in my column yesterday. He threw ten balls that didn't go past the line of scrimmage, seventy yards of offense through balls that traveled four feet or less or you know whatever, ten feet or less. So that's an element of it for sure. And I yeah, Callen said that on Monday. It's like people kind of get hung up on Well, Zeke only ran it eleven times. That means you didn't care about moving the ball that way. No, that's not true.

They control the time of possession, so that's a big part of that too, you know, but not only want it. They controlled it, you know, But as I keep reiterating, when you get into down inside, it's not even in the red zone. I'm talking about goal to go get inside ten, something's got to happen here. You gotta figure out the ways to run it. You gotta figure out passes that you can complete down there because you want

to be safe. You know, you don't want to throw picks down there, but you also want to figure out how to how to you know, get the job done. Is if CDs the you know jump ball guy, I don't love the play because I don't. I don't really think it's a fifty fifty ball. I don't. I don't seem like it's always fifty percent. It seems like it's a less you know, percentage play than that. But they're gonna if they can't run it, and they're not going to run it, they gotta figure out ways to score

because they're gonna end up kicking field goals. And we saw what happened there. Ye all right, Michael Gallup is out in a week where they face a really good secondary. Does Dallas continue the same level of explosive explosiveness without him? Yeah, I'm I don't know. Maybe I'm weirdly not worried about not having Gallop and that's not a knock on him. But if you still have CD Lambing and Mary Cooper, Yeah, and then Cedric Wilson is about as good as you

could hope for from your fourth receiver. I mean not many teams have a fourth and fifth receiver with as much experience as these two. So between all those things and then the you know, the opportunities that will be there for guys like the tight ends because of all the attention paid to the receivers. Chris Harris might not play in this game. Yeah, I mean plays, plays will

be there, I think, and plays are gonna. Plays should be there with this group as long as everybody's not even everybody, as long as Dak's healthy, plays should be there against almost everybody. I think this is a really big opportunity for him and for Cedric Wilson and for the Cowboys to evaluate him moving forward. I mean, he's a this will he'll be a free agent next year and he could be a Swiss Army Knife type of player.

I think him as a slot receiver might give you even more opportunities than what you would get with Gallup. Gallup is a better receiver, and he's a better down the field threat. But this guy as a third receiver, I mean, he can do some dynamic things kind of underneath. I think he's a good slot guy. If you want to run trick plays. We've seen it with him. We've seen him as he's got an arm. He can do some things. I think he can be dynamic in a different type of way too. So I don't think you're

losing a lot there. All right, let's go both to the defensive side of the ball. First question, they both start both starting defensive tackles are presumably out. Does Dallas find a way to get pressure and how I mean and sorry defensive man. Sorry, um, yeah, yeah, they'll find a way. They'll find it one just I mean, to find a will they Yeah, go ahead, I think so, I mean, just just go back to training camp. Just go to training camp. No, not talking about, not talking

about on the field. Just sit just just put yourself back in training camp. At a press conference when Dan Quinn was up there, Gump walks in there, you know, with his with his camouflage boy's shirt on, you know, and he's just cussing here and there. But does it in like his own cool way. He's he's he's the dude, man, He's the dude. He'll he'll get it, He'll get it right. He'll figure it out. That it's not gonna be perfect. He'd he'd like to have his weapons and all that stuff,

but he'll figure out a way. It's just his demeanor, his personality. He got it. He got he figured it out when the Cowboys were facing in Atlanta. I mean, some of those guys that you never heard of, they'll get to the quarterback. They'll they'll get there. I don't think it'll be I mean, they'll have some issues. They might have to blitz a lot more, but he'll he's too aggressive not to get to the quarterback. I think.

I just think it's going to take some outside the box thinking, and I do think dan Quinn's capable of that. But he everybody blitz is more than Rodman Ramaronelli. But dan Quinn's not known as this like crazy exotic blitzer either. That hasn't been a hallmark of his defenses. But I

think that's what it's going to take. Micah Parsons did a lot of work with the edge rushers yesterday in practice during like team fundamental excuse me, um, you know, which we saw during training camp, but during training camp and during game planning for a week or different things. So if he's gonna rush off the edge more, if they're gonna blitz some more, I think that's a good idea. Safety blitz is if you can get them. I just I have a hard time believing Dorian's Armstrong and Terrell

Basham are going to they'll win. I mean, you pressure the quarterback in every game, but not on a consistent enough basis without some help from somebody else. Yeah. And the tough thing is you look at that defensive front, which we saw again last night, that Washington defensive front, and they weren't able to get a lot of pressure against against that team. So it's gonna be a tough, uphill battle no matter what. That offensive line is good. Even if they don't have Brian Balagi, you would expect

they're still going to be pretty good. So it's gonna be a challenge. Herbert Herbert is an athletic guy. He's not even sneaky athletic. He's an athlete, and so he can six sixth athletes. He can get away from the front. I just I'm nervous about them drawing up boots for him where you know, it's just a slow rolling play

where he can get on the move. So even if the rusher comes free, he's got you're not gonna catch him before he throws the ball, and Alan or Mike Williams, whoever it is, just has six seconds to get behind its coverage. And just that's that's what I worry about. That sounds like a nightmare. All Right, we're gonna take our final break. We'll come back. We got another question on the defense, and then we'll talk about special teams

we got. We really have not talked about the kicker much this week, so we're gonna spend a little time talking about the kicker in the final segment. We'll be right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Hi, I'm Clint Tillison with United Aggin Turf. Before you can park yourself in front of the game, park yourself in

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there was a draft. You get sized up a cowboy by three simple factors. The crease in his hat, the bend of his brim, and his unbending attitude a man. Stetson didn't just protect him from what life through at him. It projected a rugged, unstoppable spirit. Stetson hats are still American, made with pride. Right here in Texas, there's still the unofficial crowd of all self respecting cowboys, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Find

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It's pretty awesome, pretty cool thing. Fifty inches of me, I don't know, like looking at this camera like nobody wants that. Nobody wants it. It actually works, David, It actually works. I'll watch it at night and it actually works. It's a it's a good thing. It actually works. All right, let's move on. We got this final segment. We're gonna finish up. We got one more question on the defense, and we'll talk about special teams before we end the show.

On special, I mean a defense Dallas could be without Donovan Wilson. Who gets those snaps? And who do you expect or do you expect it to be a noticeable loss if he's not out there? I actually asked, because we talked about this yesterday, I asked, or maybe was Wednesday, but I talked to I asked Mike McCarthy, you know, can Malie cooker or play strong safety or these things

interchangeable enough that it doesn't matter. And obviously he's not gonna tell me the game plan, but he more or less was like it has to be when you're in this circumstance. And on top of that, we have to find ways to play to our player's strength. And that's what makes me curious, because I'm not I'm not saying like Malie Hooker is afraid to tackle or anything like that, but that his game has always has been as like

a deep coverage guy and Demonte Casey as well. I mean we've made a lot of jokes about the Zeke play from Week two last year. You don't want him coming down into the box to deal with those types of plays. So I am curious about how that works and how they're going to use those guys. Jron curse will be part of it. If Donovan can't go, I assume he won't. Um, Well, Casey's hurt too. I mean he can't hurt in practice yesterday with a thigh injury, and we'll see what we did say limited, right, so

well limited because he was practicing earlier got hurt. I mean the law was limited as well. Yeah, two days ago when he hurt his foot. I mean like he was limited because because he left practice couldn't finish. So you have to And I know they don't really practice today, so it's gonna be hard to kind of tell, but I mean I've watched because he also I just I'm with you. I don't think Donal and Wilson is going to play so that means Mailie Cooker jumps in there.

Jarn Curse will will obviously get a lot of snaps and this might be the fan Thompson's out hurt too. Yeah, No, Israel mcquama will get a jerk out this week. He's got to play. Yeah, And I'm thinking, um, because I remember looking that they put they got so many lists. Now one of them is an is a practice squad

injury list? No idea that was a thing. Yeah, so I saw but not only but not only Darren Thompson's on it, but Deontay Burton is on it, which you know, many people that watched the last preseason game didn't think he would still be around. But yeah, he had a tough one. But he's a big, physical type corner that can maybe help. So I'm thinking, do they have another safety they can they can elevate because who are your elevations? I mean you got to elevate people. I think Sprinkle

has to be one. Sprinkle will be one of them. But I mean I'm looking at I'm trying to think of the practice squad that they have, Like they have a guy that you can elevate like a safety. Kiron Brown is on the practice squad could elevate Tyler Coyle if you're if you think he's ready for it, those

are the only healthy coil. And I don't know if this is good or bad, but he's He was one of the guys, three or four guys that just went through all of training camp and you really never talked about it ever, like not once, not good play, bad play, who gave up that ball? Who picked that off? Nothing? And honestly, for the first two or three weeks until Hard Knocks came out, Kamara was in that way with me.

I didn't even I trying to forgot he was even there, and so and Dale Hard Knocks did the story and I didn't didn't realize he was going to be a guy that they liked and he might play this game. He might. I mean, he probably has to be active between what he does on special teams and the fact that you just don't have very many edge rushers if

something happens. Yeah, the tricky part here is that a lot of these injuries now, the way the rules are set up with especially with COVID and even this i R, is that when you get injuries, they don't They're not just like well, he's the inactive guy even when Zach was out of Randy is out with COVID, Like, they're on a different list. So if you're inactive, like like mcquama was inactive, right, I'm trying to think, like who who's Who's going to be somebody that's inactive but still

on the list. I guess, uh, Donovan Wilson. Donovan Wilson would be inactive. Yeah, I mean if you're if you're on the COVID list, you don't count toward the roster, right. DeMarcus has obviously been moved to injured reserve. Yeah, so it's just it's hard to kind of it's like once you're inactive, like, it's hard to kind of it's harder. It's harder than it's ever been to figure out the inactives.

But it's probably don't do it anymore. No, it's just just not you know, great exercise at this point when COVID is not a thing anymore. We can go back maybe,

but it's just not it's not worth the headache. If does that happening, yeah for real, Um, it would obviously be bad if Demante Casey can't play, right, but it would it would make it easier to figure that out because I think you just play Malik occur at Free and jay Ron Curse as you're strong, instead of kind of having to juggle the three because I think you probably have to. It's almost like a timeshare between Hooker and Curse right now, because, like I said, I just

I'm curious how that's gonna play. I would be shocked if Hooker and Kasey, assuming he can play, if they just play one hundred percent of the snaps together. The Curse played some last week too. Yeah, that's what I'm about. Yes, he's still gonna come to be in the mixture, but it would happen, but it's a larger role now if Donovan can't play. That's also factor. Listened to it, like, I mean, you do have a guy on your roster. I knew he that's where you were going. I was

just waiting for you to bring it. I'm just saying it's not gonna be this week, Like why not? You got everybody else that's banged up. Yan O'Neil keyan O'Neill giddy. I know. I don't mean just run him out of the tunnel as your safety. I'm talking about creative packages on third down that he's playing down your safety plus U. I mean Layton in the game with you know, let's play let's play the whole game in quote unquote dime with Neil as a third safety and Parsons as a linebacker.

I mean all day, honestly, I'd be playing that personnel grouping. Yeah. I mean, I don't never talking about a running back that's just gonna, you know, really hurt you as a runner. So much so I think they can get it done that way. Keep them in a dime or nickel package and try to, you know, try to stop the run like you can. I love that idea, and I'm upset that I didn't think about it before. Good job, all right,

let's suck real quick about the special teams. Earlier this week, John Fossil did have some thoughts on Greg Zerline in his game against Tampa Bay. What did he say? According to everybody, he's healthy. I wasn't convinced by Zerline himself. They were just like, you are you healthy? He was like, yeah, I feel. He was like I feel good. I feel I think he was like I feel good enough to kick, And I was like, not the answer. I'm looking for,

not the answer. I'm looking forward. You know. I've noticed that when I've when I've interviewed him, you know, last year and stuff. I mean, he just I don't know, there's something about his answers. He's just not giving you exactly what you want. But he's he's always been willing to do it, you know. And he's just kind of with kickers. Anytime you're talking to him, it's something good or bad happen, you know what I mean. You don't just say, hey, let's talk about your three extra points

in the thirty one yard field goal you made. I mean, it's always either you missed it, why did you miss it?

You made it? And it's just all about me. There are there are people on every beat that want to talk to the kicker about like the mechanics of the hold, and I'm just like, oh my god, I don't care because because nothing with a miss, nothing is good for them to say, right, they just missed the kick, they just missed it, because they're not gonna say, well, yeah, the whole you know, he didn't get the hole down like I wanted it to. He had it tilted a

little bit. It was really on him laces are in, it was terrible, yea, or the snap was way too high. They don't do that. Those guys are kind of a you know that they work together, they practice together, always there, so they're not going to really do that to each other. So talking about a missed kick or whatever, if he says he's hurt, and then he'll come back and say, well, there's no excuses, So there's really no point never talk

to him. Even when they make game winning kicks, it's like, I just just do the same operation, you know, I get down and focus or we're focused on the kick, try to block everything out. So let's just not talk to kickers anymore. If Zerline hits a walk off, I'm just gonna be like, you know what, I'm not gonna

write about him. I don't want to. I'm gonna write about something else, which is you know, it's so ironic that I said all this is that I had a mini argument in the press in the press box last week. I don't know if y'all even hurt all that because we were going down and it was the media was trying to figure out who do they wanted for the podium, and I was gonna get four or five guys, and I was like, okay, and they're driving. This whole thing's happening.

I'm like, okay, who's getting Zerline And they're like, I don't think we're gonna get them. I'm like, we're not gonna get Zerline. He's missed two bad kicks. They're driving. He's gonna make a game winning I thought it was gonna be game winning field goal. And then we're not going to talk to him, Like his whole career just went in a circle in one three hours. Ban I'll get him, you know, And then of course then here I am four days later, like what do we talk

to uh? Zir Line says he's healthy. He says he had a really bad game. Fossil said it was he just missed the kicks. It was bad mechanics, whatever you want to call it. It wasn't health related. He was kicking short of the goal line on purpose, not because he couldn't get there on kickoffs, which is ironic because their kickoff coverage was bad. You got to remember this about about Fossil. It's not the worst thing in the world, but he's got his kids, and then he's got like

underneath him. He's got like you know, Zerline mcquai, you know, like his guy Hecker, you know the anger his guys, guys right there, he's got a kid, I think kids didn't them so that he could he could have another kick that that you know, kicks all the way to San Diego, Like that one was looking like it was gonna go well. But I mean, I agree with you. He clearly has his guys, like he remodeled the Special Team's room to look like the La Rams in the

span of one year. But if Zirline has another game like that, like they already and and Zirline even said he was like, I don't blame him for bringing in another kicker. Why wouldn't you after what I did? So that if if he has another game like that, that's a decision that goes beyond seas coordinator. All right, he'll understand that real quick. Before we end the show, give me your picks for the week, Dave. You can make me go first, I'll go. I mean I had to

I pick that, yeah, just a second ago. I'm back and forth on this one. I really am. Um. I did a little research on you know games that you're like the start what first two games of the season on the road. You know, usually it's one and one. It typically is, and it's like you need it so bad if you if you lose, and if sometimes when you win that first game, you just don't just you

kind of come back to earth a little bit. So all that being said, I do think I don't know how it's gonna happen, but I think the Cowboys find a way. I'm still reminding myself it's gonna be almost a fifty fifty split on so it's not so much gonna be a road game. I think the Cowboys will find a way, and it'll be because number four. I think Dak will will play well, he'll get that offense rolling. I think that they figure out ways to get turnovers again and they win it. Score it'll be high scoring.

I'm gonna say they win it thirty to twenty six. Okay, I don't remember the last time I felt so conflicted about a game, Like Yeah, I go back and forth, and my like, my overall logic is, I'm like, I just Dak. If you're gonna win, you just trust Dak to drag you over the finish line. And I think he's good enough to do that. And I know this is not scientific, and I'm sorry for that, but like, this should not be a game that everybody that works for us picks the Cowboys to win. Like this is

going to be a tough game toss up. Chargers are favored. I know they're gonna be a lot of Cowboys fan but they're still opening up their stadium, you get it. And I just, you know, with that in the back of my head, I'm like, I'll pick the Chargers just because, like some somebody should, you know, Like they're not going to play the New York Jets or the Jacksonville Jaguars. Like this is a good team that has a lot

of advantages in terms of who the Cowboys don't have available. Um, I won't be surprised at all if they find if the Cowboys find a way to pull it out, but I'll take the Chargers thirty five thirty one, And I won't be surprised if, you know, the Cowboys have to kick a field goal in the red zone because that is still not one hundred percent tightened up, and the

Chargers score touchdown instead, and that's the difference. I just laughed because it's like if if like if Vamber was here and it was like, I pick him Chargers and I said Chargers and he said Charger, I would pick the Cowboys, and like that's what I'm saying. It's I get it's not a scientific way to pick a game, but something just doesn't sit right with me when this is you know, everything in the world says this is a toss up, and we're just all like cowboys, cowboys, Cowboys, cowboys.

That's that's not a realistic way. I think we all agree this is going to be a tough game and it's probably gonna come down to a last position, I would guess, because I think both these teams are a somewhat evenly matched. If you look at them like they're often, both can do some pretty remarkable things. So I think it's going to be a shootout. I think this is

going to be a high scoring game. I think the Cowboys get to win thirty four thirty one, and and I think it'll be it'll Cowboys will go to one in one, charge will go to one and one. All right, appreciate you guys, Jonas. We'll be back next week. We'll let you know what went right and what went wrong for the Cowboys. So then for Nick even Dave Helmett, I am Derek Eagleton. 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.