Cowboys Break: Win, Lose or Tie?

Break Real, Live from the s WBC Mortgage Studios. At the start, we've got a few things we're gonna get into today. We're gonna be joined by Bucky Brooks in our second segment to talk about the New Orleans Saints versus the Cowboys. We got some big picture storylines we're gonna talk about. We've got a big injury list slash COVID list slash suspension list that we'll need to go through. Even a player added this morning to and Coach McCarthy's press conference that he just did a few minutes ago.

So let's start there. Let's talk first about some injuries. Let's start with a Mariy Cooper. What are we hearing about a Mariy Cooper at this point in his return from COVID. Marie Cooper might be hard pressed to play in this game. That's just me reading the tea leaves. Mike McCarthy said this morning, he's back in the building, but he's not feeling the best. Sounds like he's still got some lingering effects, which Amber and I were just

talking about this on the way downstairs. As far as I understand it, I have not knock on Wood contracted COVID during this entire thing. But you can have symptoms that persist after you stop testing negative for some people for a long Yeah, sure, like it can stick with

you for a long time. Maybe if he talked about that last year when he had COVID, he said he felt some things after he was past COVID, right, So I don't know this for sure, but I have a hard time believing they would let him back in the building if he was COVID positive. But you can have those symptoms after you stop testing positive, So that sounds like something he's dealing with. They have a practice today,

McCarthy said, He's TBD. They do. They do a mock game sort of walk through practice tomorrow before they leave town, and Mike said, if he can't do something tomorrow, then he probably won't play in this game, So we'll see. Jerry Jones said this morning that he thought Amari would be good to go, but Jerry's usually Jerry's not even half glass. He's not even glass half full. He's just glassful. He's just like, yeah, we're good. Amar's going to play, But I don't feel good about it right now on

Tuesday morning. It makes me and I doubt you guys have the answer to this. But going back to that and how cautious they are being currently with all these new cases are in test being positive to have popped up recently, with him testing negative and then having lingering effects of like not feeling too well or a little cough here and there, do you do you still risk it?

Like you know, I don't know even if you're still testing negative, Do you still want him or are you being extremely extra cautious at least this week and just keep him out? Well, I would assume. I would assume at this point he's beyond the point of being contagious. That's why they're letting him back in the building now. As Day said, that doesn't mean he's not necessarily that he's necessarily feeling better. He may still have some lingering effects.

And then that just becomes a matter of how do you feel. It's no different than if you had you know, I don't know if you if you had a cult, you know, the flu, you might be past being contagious, but you just might not feel good. And then it's just a matter of how do you feel. And if he feels okay, he plays. If he does, then they have to question do they put him out there knowing that maybe his conditioning isn't right, maybe isn't feeling up

to par whatever that might look like. Yeah, and McCarthy mentioned that as well, there's a conditioning aspect to it, like he needs to get onto a field and run some routes and prove that he can feel good. I guess it is. It is interesting, though, and I absolutely I'm not I don't intend to like make light of this virus that has killed so many people and been

so awful for all of us. But like, if he's not contagious and he's just feeling under the weather, like if a guy had the flu two years ago, if a guy had the flu, we'd be like, ze pack and some gatorade. He's gonna play like I've been great about that. So it sounds ridiculous to say, like, well, he can play through it because it's COVID is this awful thing. Like your brain goes to a different place when you hear that. But that was something we were

very comfortable with in the before times, you know. So I'm not saying that he needs to play through it if he's feeling crappy. But I do kind of think about that sometimes, about how just perception can kind of change the way that you feel about these sorts of things. So, like I said, I don't know, we'll see, but if he can't get out and run routes and prove that he's just feeling up to it, then he's probably not doing you any good anyway. What you have to remember

in a lot of aspects, COVID is a respiratory illness. Sure, So for a guy that's going to go out and run basically what's an equivalent to maybe a half marathon, I don't know during a game how many miles they run. I want to say, I want to say that somebody did a study, and it was like seven, eight, maybe even nine miles that a receiver would run in the course of a game. But I don't know that to

be sure. I'm just soccer players usually run between six and eight and they never stopped and they never stopped running. That's but either way, the point they're talking about running a lot. The point is you're sprinting a lot, and for someone coming off a respiratory disease, if if they are still having those effects, they maybe just very difficult to do when you're compromised a bit. All right, Let's

talk about Ceedee Lamb. Where is he in his recovery and his return that from dry concussion, he's gonna play. I feel like that Ceedee Lamb is that's that's overweight. He he said he wasn't feeling like himself last week, which makes total sense. Um didn't clear his protocol. But I mean, he's been full every day this week, says he feels fine, and he himself said he's gonna play. Let's talk about some good news to Marcus Lawrence. Where is he supposed to be back? I mean, he says

he's are they they say he's gonna be back. I mean Jerry says he's gonna be back, but I mean Jerry said Mary's gonna be back. I fully expect Mary to be back. Um, but no, I think Tank is gonna play. I don't know how well he'll play or how you know his conditioning will be, but he'll be out there, and he's gotta be better, I would think

than the guys that they that they have. I mean, I'm talking about maybe not Dori's armstrong right away, but I mean, you know, you're thinking about the guys that are rushing in the past or I'm sure he'll give him a little bit of a boost there, and then over time, I think he'll, you know, two or three games, he'll probably get back to his normal self. That's what my anticipation is. Yeah, I would imagine you're going to have a plan for him. It's been he hasn't He

played the season opener and nothing else. Didn't have a training camp, by the way, so um just has not had a ton of opportunity to play football. So I would imagine maybe there's a snap count or certain situations like I'd be kind of surprised if they just threw him out there and let him play sixty five snaps. But but but I think he will play. Is there any level of concern with Terrell Basham, another defensive end who was limited yesterday in practice? Where are we with him?

You know, when you look at the injury report, you don't always look at the guys like that, like, M sorry, you gotta starter. He's a starter on I mean, but I mean Cedric Wilson have another Yeah, I mean practice walked away the other day in a walking boot, and he didn't practice. And if Mary doesn't play, then that that's a problem to you. So I mean, I'll be honest though I don't think there was a lot of questions about Bashaim. Yeah, where he is well? And I

was fortunate enough to be our pool reporter at practice. Okay, he was out there. They were They were playing cash money, all the old all the good old stuff by the way, like the old New Orleans, the old Juvie, the old Wayne, like before a million. He was bad. We don't stop it. But what But my point is Terrell Basham was like dance into the music and having good He looked like he took second thinking. Okay, the type of play call is is this is a design ball you're talking about.

I think is this creative from major cash Money Millionaires taken over for the nine nine and the two thousand. It's one of my least favorite things. When you two start arguing about rap. It's like, I hate it because it's like it's never gonna be settled. It's like a cowboys. We don't we don't argue over over hire about what we do. Is like we just know that we have different tastes, we got different errors. Derek's like stubborn, that's

all I'm not. I'm just you know, we see hip hop music differently, but you were just talking about something that we agree on, Like that was pretty good. You would cash money back, You would think that y'all would see it differently. Yeah, maybe, well maybe not if you know Dave. Derek just Derek just thinks like nothing good has happened since like what two thousand and two night

hip hope, Very little has happened dude since late ridiculous. Yeah, it's ridiculous, but it's it's every once in a while something pops up. I was actually gonna ask Nick, do you have any lyrics you want through out there from the nineties cash money or Wayne or like you know

nineties hip hop. No, not really, you don't have anything just like no, if it's not, I mean I say last week you know and which By the way, that song has the greatest rap lyric of all time California love it in that second verse there, that's it, though you want to tell everybody what it is class, you guys know what it is? Okay, all right, cool, um, let's let's say I don't say the H word on the air. Okay, go ahead, sure, let's talk about Zeke Elliott.

He is a he is not really on the injury port, not really injured per se, but certainly not feeling great. Hasn't been great, got a little bit of a I wouldn't call it a rest last week, but certainly wasn't playing as many snaps as he's played in most other games this year. Where you guys, where you guys sit with regards to what's happening to Zeke right now? Should the Cowboys look at maybe having another week, Well, maybe they do less with him. It sounds like they're planning

to do more. But what are your thoughts on where he is right now? My opinion about this whole thing hasn't changed this entire time. I know he's hurting, I know he's probably compromised, But if he wasn't feeling up to it, then I would say, by all, of course, sit down. But like he he keeps saying the same thing. He's gonna got through it. He's got ways to get through it, and they need him. He's I don't really care as much about his explosiveness. Like he's too valuable

as an all around player. I don't want Tony Pollard and Corey clement In pass pro all night against this defense on the road in an environment where it's going to be loud and you don't have the benefit of being able to communicate. Hell, no, I need zeke In. There's protecting like he does too much. He's been underrated as a receiver this year. They're not always great catches, but like the number of times he's bailed Dack out with some great catches, some of the best of his

career in my opinion. No, he's too valuable as an all around player to sit. If he doesn't absolutely need to sit. They've got three to four days off when this is over, Like they're not going to be back on a field after this game. Until Wednesday. That's so from Thursday night until it is. It's exactly what it is. And McCarthy has specified like he's going to do everything

he can to give them as much time. So live in the cold tub, get some acupuncture, whatever it is that you got to do over the weekend, do it. But I need Zeke in this game. Real quick talk about Tristan Hill. He gets to amended two games. I honestly, I didn't even know this happened until it was probably the next day when I saw the video on Twitter. Did you guys see it happening? What are your thoughts on him being suspended and what happened there at the

end of the game versus the eraiders. I mean, he punched a guy in the face, that's in the face, then, yeah, and then he didn't get punched back. Obviously that's not gonna happen. He made sure that didn't happen, so he you know, I don't know. I didn't. I don't. I don't agree with anything that happened there with that, Okay, what you don't agree with I don't. I mean, from what we know, didn't agree with him punching a guy in the face. And then he didn't, you know, then

he backed away from that obviously. Then the two games doesn't make sense for what we know. I mean, I see Kadarius Tony hit Demonte Casey in the face and he didn't get anything. Um, you know, the Chiefs guy, as was pointed out upstairs a few minutes ago, and I'm gonna steal the line, but the Chiefs guy, you know, basically just sprayed the whole bench, you know, and and

that that's fine. Nothing there we got. We got to imaginary, well, we got a safety on our on our team that that got arrested for d WI and we're still figuring out what his suspension is going to be. I mean, I think that's a big deal in our world too, So like I just don't understand from what we know why that's a two game suspension. But you know, I have a problem with it. Typically just got fine first time. Yeah, Well,

but here's the deal. I don't think we've seen I certainly haven't seen any time that I can can recall recently where a player hit another player following the game, because I do think there is some difference between during the game heat of the moment guy punches another guy, you might get ejected in that game, you certainly will get fine Richard Sherman and Trump that was, yeah, that

was after game. And I saw that one that was like, yeah, that was when the Legion of Boom was still the Legion of Boom, right, And so yeah, that just doesn't happen very often. And I don't even know, do you know what happened with Trent Trent Williams And I'm sure, yeah, I don't know if it was. Two games are not, but but I do think there's a difference to be made there, and I think there's a legitimate difference in

me made. What you don't want as a league. You don't want guys going after each other after the game's over. That can turn into a really big problem really quickly, because there's a lot of things that happen on the field that can turn into that if you allow it too. So I could see what that's an issue. Two games does still seem kind of see it seems Trent Williams got fined eight grand and wasn't sid I mean it was it was a playoff game, so it was the

last game of the year. But still the league has never the league has never cared about carrying things over. That's I do agree with you. Like the fact that it happened after a game. It seemed kind of premeditated, like Tristan Hill was kind of hanging out waiting for it. But I mean the league's inconsistency with that stuff has always been it's just awful. There's no rhyme or reason.

There's no clearly outlined like reasoning for it. You never know it, and it's it's bs honestly, and the players probably should have collectively bargained for something better, Like there needs to be a panel with like a panel with a guy with an arbiter. It needs to be out of Goodell's hands. It never will be. Let me ask you for that kind of stuff. Is it Goodell who actually hands it down? Or does he have someone does

that in these circumstances, I think there's somebody else. Yeah, And I shouldn't pop off too much because I don't know the ends. And I thought it was Troy Vincent, but I think I think it is. But you know, he's not a repeat offender too, which is you know, usually stuff like that happens you see with in Dominican

Sue and issues that he had. It was because it was the second time, third time, but I mean Tristan Hill hasn't played enough to have you know, well, hold on now, I mean hold on, you thinking about the alligator get fined for that. I don't remember asking a lot of question. That's even a little bit different than this kind of situation, like that's kind of you kind of can give guys benefit of doubt that he was just kind of making a tackle and yeah, whatever, right.

I mean, he's very different than walking up to a guy after a punch. He was. He was fine seven grand for the alligator role last year. So still, I mean, two games just seems really steep anything. It's certainly just in one punch of a guy. Again, the fact that we still haven't heard and maybe never will hear anything about Demante CAZy, never nothing. We just sat on pins and needles for like two years with the Tyrone Crawford thing, and we were like, well, Gus, they're not going to

do anything. And then five days after Tristan Hill punches a guy who's wearing a helmet, they're like, we have to act on this right now. I just I don't get their methodology at all. Yeah, if I were, if I were the players in the next collective bargaining agreement, I would definitely say, give me a schedule. I want to know this offense, this fine or suspension, and do as much as you can to define that so that it's very clear, so players know the consequence of whatever

bad behavior they have. Cowboys might want to try to appeal, you know, for him to appeal, they are he's happening today, Play that's happening today, and and Mike McCarthy says that if they do, if he wins it, then obviously he would be available to play today. But I've very rarely heard of a player appealing and winning. I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell anybody who thinks the league's gonna overturn that that basically basically means they overturn their

own decision. You know, it's not about overturning it. You're gonna get your true games. What I would try to do if I'm the Cowboys there for him, I mean, is get back here, you know, play this game so Neville Galimore can come back in the next week. And then when you do get suspending the Neville Galimore sitting there but it sounds like they're gonna hear it today,

so it ain't gonna sure would be nice. And by the way, it's John Runyon who is now there, Johns who drops the suspension, And that also may be why you're seeing such a different skin to do it. My guess is John Runyon wasn't doing it back when Sherent Williams had his altercation with Richard Sherman. So as a new guy is handling that, he may look at things differently. And if there is no you know, no schedule of this offense produces this result, then and you're probably gonna

have in it. He one of the dirtiest players in the game. John Right, I don't. I'm not gonna call the guy dirty, but he was involved in a lot of crap when he was with the Eagles, and he's the guys. Let's just get Rashid Wallace to come in for the NBA and do that kind of stuff. Led the world in technical vouls. Both teams played hard. The thing is is Derek Brooks and James Thrash is the guy who they have to hear his appeal. By the way, well, I'm good with that. James Thrash seems like both stand

up kind of guys, all right, we're gonna No. I just I feel like I need to make it clear, like Chris Tristan Hill deserved some punishment for that, Like that's not professional, it's not okay, Like that's not what I'm defending. And I don't think anybody would and just don't understand the NFL is just so off the rails when it comes to how they make these decisions. That's all. Like I really I don't have a problem with the

punishment so much as the inconsistency from the league. And you know, from from Tristan Hills standpoint, I mean, what the what the Cowboys? What we thought from him? You know when when he was drafted, it was he he could be, you know, a good rusher, he can get up the field. He's an active player. He's a little bit immature, though we've seen more of that than we've seen what we've seen the player that they drafted in

the second round unfortunately. And that's just my ironic too, because no, I agree with you, but he played pretty well against three years. I thought like he was active, he was so he did he had he had a pretty good game and he gets up the field, he's not easy to block. Yeah, um, but you know he has. It's been mostly the other stuff so far. And this is year three, year three. All right, we're gonna take our first break. When we come back, we're gonna talk

to Bucky Brooks of NFL Network. We'll talk about the Saints versus Cowboys. But when we come right back, Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio, at AT and T, everyone new and existing customers get our best deals on every small phone. Why because you deserve it. We're turning your living room into your office and your gym. We're teaching Grandma had a video call and teaching her again. It's the button on your left, Nana. Okay, your other left. It's not complicated.

Everyone deserves something new. So ATNC has given everyone new and existing customers are best deals with every unlimited plan on every smartphone, even the latest ones. At T may temporalis ldated speach of the network is specific restrictions and acceptance may apply. Hi, I'm Clint Tillison with man, I'm Jay Novachek, and we're both with Turf, the official tractor provider of the Dallas Cowboys. So if you need a tractor to bail some hay. I'm more to cut some

grass or a gator to get some chores done. Get a John Deer at unantag in Turf and then let's get to work. Hey Jay, that's my line, Well not today. Get to work with a John Deer tractor package that's just right for you and your budget. Visit unantaginturf dot com. Before there was a draft. You get sized up a cowboy by three simple factors. The crease it is 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 a retailer nearest to you at Stetson dot com. Slash Cowboys, New Doctor Peppers zero sugar. You deserve it. I do deserve that. You deserve decadent flavor without sugar, and a day at the beach without sand, getting everywhere and a

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before they sell out. Visit steek dot com, the official ticketing provider of AT and T Stadium. Let's go. It's the second segment of the Break. Clive from the SWBC Morgan Studios music at the start, we Christmas music and Roman Rains WWE and Dave's T shirt. We're gonna go to Bucky Brooksville. We're gonna talk about that T shirt coming into the third segment. Okay, hey Bucky Man, we appreciate you joining us. Let's start real quick. Let's talk

about this New Orleans team. Just tell me, just as a big picture thing, what would you say is the biggest reason why they've struggled so much this year. They are five and six certainly don't look like the Saints teams that were used to seeing regularly. What do you

think is the biggest reason? Team and transition. You lose a Hall of Fame quarterback and Drew Brees, you don't have an all Pro receiver in Michael Thomas, your star running back album Kamari has been getting out the line up, so have a lot of different pieces that you're trying to juggle and reassemble. And so it's one of those deals where Sean Payton can anticipate the team being one way, but then you get into the regular season and you have to play a different way. And so it just

hasn't come together for them. And so without Michael Thomas, when you really look, you see, I mean look, a lack of high end personnel at wide receiver. And when you compound that by not having Alan Kamark, they just don't have the ability to score points like they used to. And so the defense has been solid. The defense has the potential to do it, but it's different when you go from being an offensive centric team to non needing

to be a defensive or unit team. And I think that transition has kind of caused them to kind of be a five under squad. Becky, what do you expect from the quarterback position? Taysom Hill is supposed to start, But do you think that they'll they'll rotate two guys in there. Do you think it's just going to be his the whole time? I mean, I think if your Dallas, you have to be ready for both guys because that's

how they typically have operated. Taysom Hill has started games and the games before as a qv one, but you know, like the game changes when he's in there, right. I think sometimes when they put him in a quarterback they take away some of the superpowers in terms of being able to be a change of Swiss Army Knight. I think you're expect to see a little more quarterback one game. The passing game would be a little more non rhythmic because he's not a guy that traditionally throws on time.

He's not a rhythm passes, and so you have to be ready for more improvisational play. G dbs have to plaster and stick to their guys more in casey scrambles and all that. So it's a change up. But I think the good thing for dan Quinn. Has he seen him before because he was in a division for a while, so he kind of understands who he is as an athlete. And then it's about making him be uncomfortable, making him

as a third of wall more than normal. How nervous do you think that Cowboys should be about the Saints pass rush? Just looking mainly at numbers, Cam Jordan's not putting up those type of numbers were used to. Doesn't look like Marcus Davenport's gonna play or he might not play, you know, obviously, just with how much this group has struggled over the last month, I mean, how does this

this front stack up to some of the other ones. Well, I mean, desperation brings about different game plans, and so this is a team that is desperate to stay in the playoff hunts. So all those stats and things that we think about prior to this game can go out the window because now you're trying to heat people up. And so then if you're heating them up, you're bringing pressure from everywhere. It's a randomness to how you come

about it that's hard to prepare for. And so I think debt has to do with a lot of it by what's an area that the Congress could catch some type of break when facing this opponent. I mean, look, I think what you want to do is before you can really even think about the things, you want to make sure that you get back on track, all right. I think the rough ass ratio got out of whack last game. They need to make sure that they've run the football regards of who's the running back twenty part

of needs to be a big part of it. I think Dak Prescott has a together way to play better and so in some of these what you want to do is simplify and do less, not more, so you can get back on track. The Cowboys really haven't played great football over the last four games. You gotta simplifier and get back to doing the base and so you can get back on track and get your confidence right. All right. I know we gotta get you out here, Bucky.

So before we let you go, we do need to get a prediction on what you think is going to happen Thursday night in New Orleans. I think the Cowboys have to get back on track. I think like the up and down nature of the way they perform, they're on high alert. Getting Amark Cooper back hopefully see the land back. That should help. But then you have the coaching situation where dan Quinn has to take over. I think all hands should be on deck because the Washington

football team is closing fast. This has to be one where they played much better than they played previously. I expect them to do that because this should be a wonder the game. This should be a game that they chalk up at the deck. All right, Bucky, we appreciate you. We'll let you go. We're gonna take our final break. Come back. We've got some storylines we've got to talk about going into this game. We'll do that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio.

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your other laughs. It's not complicated. Everyone deserves something new, so ATNC is given everyone new and existing customers are best deals with every unlimited plan on every smartphone, even the latest ones. Eighteen team a temporarily slidated speech at the network. Specific restrictions and exceptions may apply. Hi, I'm Clint Tillison with man, I'm Jay Nova Check and we're both with Turf, the official tractor provider of the Dallas Cowboys.

So if you need a tractor to bail some hay, a'm more to cut some grass, or a gator to get some chores done, get a John Deer at unantagin Turf and then let's get to work. Hey Jay, that's my line, well not today. Get to work with a John Deere tractor package that's just right for you in your budget. Visit unitedaginturf dot com. Before there was a draft, you could size 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 threw 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 a retailer nearest to you at Stetson dot com slash Cowboys. Back to the Break Registration for holiday youth camps is now open.

Don't miss the Dallas Cowboys Football Academy or Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Dance Academy camps on December twenty first at The Star in Fresco. December twenty second at at and T Stame. Space is limited. Welcome back, final segment of the Break life from the SWBC Mortgage Studios. At the Star, we are going to talk big picture storylines heading into Cowboys Versus Saints this Thursday Night. Thursday Night Football and let's

start first with the biggest storyline. I think that just from a storyline perspective, Cowboys don't have their head coach. My question for you guys is how big of a deal is it that they don't have the head coach Mike McCarthy for this game. I said this on the radio this morning. I don't it would be silly to just say like it doesn't matter at all just because you're drat, you're changing everything about your game day operations.

It's a different person. It's everything gets shuffled. Joe Witz going to be up in the booth now, So now you're two different people that have been next to each other all year communicating. Dan Quinn hasn't had to do all of the overseeing that he he's going to have to do. So there's definitely a difference. But two thoughts come to mind. One is like sort of the tongue in cheek joke we've had all year of like, well what does Mike McCarthy do? Really Well, we're about to

find out. I mean, we'll see. And if there's anybody that should be equipped to do this, I would imagine it's a guy that was a head coach for what six years five six years and made it halfway through last season, so it's really only just now been a full year since he stopped doing it. It's played plenty of games in the Superdome. He coached the Falcons like this just this shouldn't be too daunting for dan quinn. So, like, I think it's a best case scenario. Yeah, those guys

are important too. I mean, in any profession, there's a lot of positions out there where it's like, okay, what does that person do? They just sit around and make decisions. But yeah, every people need those those guys or girls. I mean they need them, They need the decision makers, and so it just trickles down and so I think that they'll be five six people that are probably going to be a lot more stressed than they normally are

because it's just different things that they're going through. So yeah, I mean there's the reason why you have head coaches like that, and I think I think McCarthy, you know, handles it well. But but yeah, I mean he doesn't call the plays, but he makes the decisions. Now, some

of the decisions have been questioned. I mean every game there's a couple that we questioned with him, and you know he did it in this last game, which I do think that's interesting though, is dan Quinn because and we brought this, We joked about this yesterday, like people keep trying to call him an interim coach, he's not. Mike McCarthy's still the head coach of this team. And when he was answering all these questions about the game day operations yesterday, he went out of his way to

not call dan Quinn like the acting head coach. He was like, Dan's gonna come down and help with the mechanics of all that, which I totally get. But I wonder like, is dan Quinn just going to consult the book of Mike? Like does he have does he have Mike's preferences written down on a notebook and he's like, okay, this this is fourth and two in plus territory, like we're gonna go for it. Or is dan Quinn does he have autonomy to do what dan Quinn would do?

Gotta have autonomy, right, I mean I would think if it was a guy that was not previously a head coach, didn't have that level of experience, thing, you may do a little more to kind of guide them I'm guessing. I'm guessing Mike would be like, look, you're going to be running the show for this game. Run the show, sure, and I agree with you to a degree, but like, do you have a conversation of like, Okay, this is this is kind of the guidelines of who we are

and who we want to be. Like those conversations probably going on all c sure, right, yeah, Kellen Moore's talked a lot about like, you know, it's not some big dramatic thing for us when we go for it on fourth down, like this is baked into our philosophy. But now you have a and I don't I don't know dan Quinn's tendencies from when he was at in Atlanta. I'm sorry, but like, but now you just have a different mind, and a defensive mind, by the way, who

ultimately has the final stay over this stuff. So I just wonder if we're if we're going to see a new look in terms of the decision making. And I don't think we can answer that until we see it. I personally believe that Mike McCarthy goes into it says this is you know, if he montells Jordan's these things, So this is how we do it. That would be terrible. It really would be because think about last night's game.

If you watch that crap last night, what if what if the Washington had a coach that said, this is how we're going to do it. Well, your your kicker just got hurt, or in this case like Zoroline, maybe he has a bad game, or maybe the Cowboys just cannot pick up one yard at all, So you get to fourth and one, fourth and two, where the Mike would do in previous games. Every game takes on a

different life of its own. If Zorline goes out there and miss is an extra point in a twenty eight yard field goal, knock on the biggest oak tree you can have, that's fine. But if that happens, then it's fourth and two from the twenty six yard line. It's got to be a different call than what we normally do because you got to play within the game. I personally think that, yeah, they'll be fine to a certain extent, and yes, he's had Dan Queen has had that experience.

But what concerns me in a way and worries me is the thought of knowing they haven't played great in the past few weeks. So, okay, I want my defensive coordinator to be fully focused on what his job is. I want Kellen Moore to be fully focused on what he does. So now you got Dan Queen, who's up at the booth usually. Now he's on the field. Now he's taking a different, bigger role, having to deal with

other things. And it's not ideal when they've been playing the way that they have been playing these past few weeks, and then you add this new element to it. Not like you have many other great choices, but at the end of the day, it's just I hope they manage it well, but hopefully it won't take away with what he has been doing with the defense overall, which we know that they do need to help on defense, and especially when the offense has been playing the way that

they have been playing. Yeah, I think we're you're thinking what I'm thinking. Bones Okay, I wouldn't go as far as because I love it. I love him. Let's just light this whole thing on fire, get wild. No, No, the games are stressful enough to add that kind of element to it. I think it would be great. I think dan Quinn will do a great job, but I mean it would be fun he would have, he would have more time to focus on the defense. It might be on the field a lot if Bones is calling

it too. We're good, We're good. We gotta we got a solution. We're gonna work with that. All right. Here's the next big picture question after you guys, what will be the starting offensive line? And does Lyle keep the job when Terrence still returns from COVID protocol. I don't think it's fair to ask me that question because we see what happens. Well, they just not only that, like they clearly don't know, like they can't make up their minds.

They're rotating guys during a game. So they's going to coach? Yeah that too, I mean, yeah, the coaches aren't even part of this. What is happening with that. It's gonna be Londa Wells, the tight ends coach is gonna is sliding over to do that. He's got that in his background. We did this yesterday, right before you got here. I believe we tried our best and and it doesn't seem that difficult at the moment to say left the right, Tyrn Smith, Connor McGovern, be Odish, Zack Martin and then

Lyle Collins. To answer your question, I don't know, because Jerry Jones made it very clear this morning that Terrence Steele. He said, basically, Terrence Steele's played better than Lyle calls or he's the better option. That's why he's been playing is because he has played better at right tackle. He also says that Lyle is not getting punished for anything like that, So it's just it's, you know, whatever the

term you want to use. They feel like Terrence is a better option, and they also probably are already deciding who's going to be here next year. I mean, that's got to be a big part of it. Maybe that's why McGovern's playing over Connor Williams. It's hard, are you saying that? Get your thought is that Lyle won't be here? Is that what you're saying. I think it's safe to say that. Yeah. I mean it's hard to watch this and like not think about those things right at the

very that's probably the best way to say it. I don't know what. I don't know the answer to that, but it's hard not to think about that stuff. And I said this today too. It's like when you're rotating guys in the middle of a game after like you made the big dramatic switch to Connor McGovern and it's a storyline, and then like a week later, you've got Connor Williams rotating in a very similar thing happening with

Terrence and LC. It makes me think that there's a difference of opinion somewhere on the chain of command, whether the front office thinks one thing and the coaching staff thinks the other, or the head coach thinks one thing and the offensive line coach thinks the I don't know, but it's weird. You never you will not convince me that exactly exactly like you won't important. You're not gonna You're not gonna sit up here and tell me continuity

over everything and fantasy football nonsense. To bring that up one more time and then must stop that. And well, and did you go into a game and you rotate? Nobody does that? It does fantasy. That's like it's nineteen like in the nineteen fifties, like player like teams would rotate. They would have like, oh, this is our first quarter defense in our second like yeah, that happened back then when freshmen weren't allowed to play varsity. That was a

million years ago. They don't do this in modern football, and so they should have back in the nineties, they should have rotated at all. I was actually thinking it. I wonder who's gonna tell Nate new that around and said Nate off the field. Nay, you're off. Yeah, Nate, you're off for this series. To the person that comes off the field comes on and says, Nate you're out, have fun, Well, things will happen to have fun. Yes,

today's gonna be like bro, I'm good. I don't want to deliver that he's gonna He's gonna say like Ricky Waters for who? For? What? For Kevin? No thanks, it's weird, decent, No thanks, I'm good. I'm good. Walking past our studio, Yeah, getting ready for the for the next show. What shows it? That show is Hanging with the boys. That's a really quality show. Yeah maybe, yeah, yeah. I think Kurt Daniels is going to get to talk some today. Wow, I mean she is not gonna be on. Well maybe we'll

see Jesse Jesse and and Nate Channing. It's good. It's a good quality show. Well it is time. Dave. Do you want me to get you some wings? Yes? I do? Well, yeah, not even gonna be bashful about that breaking wings. Free food always, especially if it's I'll see what I can. I would love for water Burger just to sponsor the lunch break. It's not the lunch break and been lunch break for a long time. If water Burger was a sponsor, it could be what if they said, hey, what if

you just add lunch back in it? Would you do thirty in the morning? Shunn in my fight tequo and this thing I was. I was ready to go on a roll. I had more to say about the offensive line. No, it's over. Now, that's over. Good, it's gone. I just my wife right now. Yeah, it's fine, honey. No, I'm fine. Talk about whatever you want to talk about. We talked about this yesterday when you were doing whatever you were doing. No, we talked about this where we said, um, nice answer there, McCarthy.

We don't believe it, thanks though, good good, try on because that that's wrong. That's wrong, because we know what's wrong because Tyran Smith didn't rotate and Zach Martin didn't rotate, and so whatever the answer is, it just say I don't want to tell you and we beg oh, okay, cool, Yeah, I don't want to tell you. I would prefer that you know what, You've done that a couple of years, And I was ipec that from coaches when they're like, that's not something I want to talk about. Yeah, yeah,

we haven't a lot of me though. Thanks. Yeah, yeah, Clarence, we have an answer. I just don't want to tell you next question. I really, I say it's not fair to ask me to answer that because God knows what they're like. God knows because they haven't been able to come up with a consistent strategy all year. Um, maybe maybe Elsie's just gonna grab the bull by the horns and kick Cam Jordan's ass around the field all night on Thursday and you'll have the answer for you. Yeah,

that would be nice. All right, let's real quickly before we in the show. I need some predictions doing this. Yeah yeah, why wouldn't we know? I know, I was just I thought about that a few minutes ago. Man, I'm not reading my dog to do it right again yesterday, I mean tomorrow, Well, yeah, do it and put it on video. Did it? You're up? He didn't do good after? Oh yeah that's what so he changed his big Yeah, he picked the Cowboys and then threw up a lot

of people throw it up after that game. Yeah, um, oh man, I was I really want to. No, I'm not. I'm not ready. I'm not. I'm not. I'm sorry, good, I'm not ready. I'm not ready to pick them to go win again. I mean, after all this crap that's going on, it probably would be very Cowboys in NFL like for them to go and strange lady this thing and go and win. But I'm not ready to do that. So I just I'm gonna pick. I'm not gonna pick the Saints, but I'm not gonna pick the Cowboys to win.

How does that work? You're just gonna I'm not gonna refuse yourself. I'm not picking the Cowboys to win right now. I'm just I'm just this after everything we've seen. I just I know they're getting a lot of guys back. But this game, you know the Saints are fighting too. I'm so you pick the st Yeah, I don't know yet. The score eighteen sixteens, I'm like that, I don't know, sixteen something crazy and stupid. Yeah, it's weird. Well, we've seen we've gone up there two years ago, this three

and old Cowboys. But and then they get shut down by the Saints defense, and then you know, the Saints. I don't say defense is not it's just not something to sneeze at. No, they'll be pretty good, and so I just I see a little bit more of a low scoring game. Maybe not that that low, but something twenty two twenty. I don't know. I don't think the Saints are that good, but I don't right now with the Cowboys. I mean, how could you pick them right now? I mean, you guys are gonna do it and probably

pick them, but I just don't see. I'm not alright, No, that's it. That's my answer. I'm like, I'm not picking.

Like I've given them the benefit of the dove a couple of times lately, and I've been like, I'm a believer, kind of hanging by a thread right there, but right now after and I get it, last week the game went over time and they were very close that we're fighting at the end, But to me, it just feels like they were a complete mess and they were not able to recover whatsoever, even though that was the end result.

So maybe I'm just forgetting those plays that were good, But I'm seeing that game as a complete mess and they were not good whatsoever. So this week I'm just I'm upset, don't want to prove it. Show it to me, and then I'll be like, Okay, good do it again next week. Let me jump in before you do that, Dave, because I didn't say this when you were talking about what's going to happen with Dan Quinn and all that stuff.

I've said it a thousand times. I think teams get beat earlier in the week, you know, usually on Wednesday or Thursday. Of course, this Wednesday, Thursday is a Saturday, and a Monday or Sunday in the Monday. I think that's where the Cowboys will probably struggle the most. It's right now, it's this week. It's this coming off of Thanksgiving and all this stuff happening. It's just a real practice. It is this you know, it's not a short week, but it's still a weird week. That's where I think

the Cowboys will probably not as be as prepared. And I think Sean Payton's one of the best coaches in the game. He does he does more with less every single year, and so that's why I just I don't see it happening this week. I'm sorry, Dave, that's I mean, how could you feel good about picking this team right now? There's no reason that you should, and I don't want to. But I also like, don't think highly of the Saints at all. They're banged up as well. I mean, they're

gonna have it's the same thing. They're gonna have some guys back, but not as many as they would prefer. Um and thinking about brought us here, what do you mean? Strange ladies, it's a strange And actually the Cowboys could I feel the opposite of you. I'm like, well you if you can't circle the wagons right now, Like dan Quinn's got to come down from the booth, Mike's not gonna be there. You've got You've gotten punched in the

mouth three out of the last four weeks. The whole league kind of thinks you're a joke right now as far as contending teams go, Like, nobody everybody's writing you off. We like, it's unbelievable to me that we don't feel confident in a team that had an MVP candidate quarterback a month ago, going in and beating a tight end at Quarterback Club but and but you shouldn't because they don't deserve it. But it's unbelievable to me. That's how low we've fallen that It's like can can dack out

dual Taysom Hill. I don't know, are you am? I am? I speaking English right now? I don't want to pick right now. No, But I don't like it sucks because to win I don't need. And that's I just I look at it. I'm like they've got this adversity that they can rally around. I don't think Cooper is going to be there, but um um but Lamb will be back. They'll have Gallop at least gives you a little bit of firepower, of course, and they probably won't have Cedric

Wilson either. Like I don't feel good about it. I don't feel good about it at all, But like they just are a more talented team and they should find a way to win. Is it gonna be pretty? Absolutely not. They haven't played a pretty game in almost a month. But I think they can go down there and sneak out like a twenty to sixteen win, and we're all gonna hate ourselves throughout the whole thing. Like nobody's gonna have fun. But guess what if you can get out

of there with the win, what's that Wednesday night? Maybe? But sure, Oh no, I'm talking about during those three hours, I'm changing my pick. But if they can get the worst, I'm changing my pick. This is something I've never seen ever with the Cowboys. What a three nothing win tie? Oh you're gonna go twenty two? Twenty two tie. I can't pick the Cowboys to That's what it was. I can't pick the Cowboys to win. I can't pick the Saints to win. I'm picking a tie that I've never

done it before. Have you ever? I'll throw up, I'll throw up all day. Ties are terrible. Have you ever been even harder picked than have you ever played? Have you ever played Roulette and bet green? Because it feels like that's what you're doing. I'm gonna take the green spot, right? But hey Mark, Hey Mark Carter? Yes, yeah, no, I'm just that's the jem but on my phone. But you know, I actually I agree with you, Dave, there are This pick for me is not about the Cowboys as much

as it is about the Saints. I just don't think and watching the Saints play the last several games, they're just a team that just doesn't look very good. Now, you could say the same thing about Denver. But Denver, as we've seen, they've actually had some games where they've kind of come on. I mean, you go back throughout the year and look at New Orleans, they just don't look good. They don't look yeah, but I'm saying they just don't throughout the season. You get beyond that week

and what have they really done? Like, they are just not a team that looks very good. And so I think that this is a game where the Cowboys are able to get right. To be honest with you, I'm really way more concerned and my pick may be very different next week, because I think that's going to be a very challenging game for the Dallas to win. If they don't get themselves back on track, if they play like they played over the last month, they will go

to Watchington and lose next week. But I think this week, I think what I think of New Orleans tells me that I think Dallas has enough to be able to beat them. It's funny, it goes back to what I said, and clearly I don't think nobody expected them to lose three out of four. But we were having arguments last week where it's like, well, nobody wants to hear this, but we're still playing AFC teams like they don't these aren't as important as some of these other games. And

I keep saying it. I just feel like they just got to hold the rope, and like, honestly, when or lose, you just gotta get through this stretch. They'll have ten days off or tie, well whatever, I don't care. Yeah, when loser, tie, but you just gotta get done with this crap and then you got ten days off hopefully you can put COVID behind you again. Hopefully. Jerry Very

I love Jerry Jones. He's such a salesman because he was like, we're one hundred percent vaccinated now if you include the guys that have antibodies, Like, yeah, okay, Jerry, it's always a positive line. So it's always something positive you can take out of every situation. They've shown up against the division consistently for Dak's entire career, like they were like twenty one and six against the division. That

doesn't worry me nearly as much. You just got to get done with this awful stretch, But how much better would it feel to be done with it having eked out a conference win. It would feel so much And I were, like I said, I think this is going to be a miserable experience for everyone, but for some reason,

think they'll wink before we leave. You guys have both talked about the Saints and how they have been, but I think you guys are forgetting that we've seen it way too many times happen where it's not necessarily on the opponent. It's like what the Cowboys are doing themselves.

So with everything that they've mentioned and everything that we've talked about during the show, of the struggles and the things that the Cowboys are going to have to overcome this week, that's why I personally don't feel confident that it's going to happen, not because they're facing the Saints or whoever. It's because of themselves. So it doesn't matter

to me how bad the Saints are. Right, it was four and four, the Chiefs were six and five, and the Raiders were five and five, and the Falcons were also four and four two, so that they played the last four games. Everybody's been right there either a little bit above or right there at five hundred and like she's saying, here come the Saints at five and six. So they're in that same group. And we've seen Derek Carr play out of his mind or we've seen guys

finally play a great game. So that's a good point. Question becomes who's gonna play out of their mind? They do get there. The running back back, which makes a huge year. It's the best running back in the league. Yeah, he's up there. I would say best in the league. He's up there that I would take. And I do think here's the part that that does concern me a lot. Is there seeing a different kind of offense than what

they've played this year. Other than the Eagles, they really haven't faced an offense where they have a running quarterback that is a run first option. Now here's the other part to that he has. He's a run first option type quarterback and in addition that he's got one of the best running backs in the league. That presents an interesting dynamic for Dallas that they haven't really faced this year. So that's the part that could get really hairy for

Dallas if they're not able to stop it. And stopping the run has not been a consistent thing for them this year. So if you want to look at that standpoint, yeah, there's some reasons Dallas could lose his game. I hate this. I just think they're able to. I think they're able to pull it out. I just like I agree with you. I just picked him to win. But I can just imagine sitting up there by the Archie Manning banner. Bring a jacket, by the way, if you forgot, bring a coat, coat,

but just eat your own food before you come. Kamara is gonna catch a swing pass at like the eighteen and just make two guys with eighteen that that what doesn't matter. Probably, I don't know. I just as I think they're gonna win, but I can just I see some potential for exactly nofident and either way on this one, Oh you know what my dog does? Please? I hope it's not. We can hold it down. If it's to

keep singing, stand up and get ironic. Love. No, when you hear that song, you know things are going to get ironic. That they their anthem is an Atlanta rap song. But that's for another day. All right, Thank you guys for joining us. We'll be back on Friday. We'll let you know what when right and wrong for the Cowboys. Still there for even Dave Helban Ambergar see you. I am Derek Eagleston. This has been the Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio