Cowboys Break: Winning With Style?

The Break, live from the SWBC Mortgage Studios. At the start, We've got a win to talk to you about. Cowboys. You get a win on the road Thursday Night football. They beat the New Orleans Saints twenty seven seventeen win that, by all accounts, is nothing more than that. It's us to win, and in these days in the NFL, that's a good thing. And we're gonna break it down for you here on today's show. Let's start where we normally start to day after a game with big picture storyline.

I'd love for each one of you guys to tell me what you think is the story of the game. Following that twenty seven seventeen victory, we got Dave remote, So Dave, let's get started with you. What's your big picture story coming out of that game. My big picture takeaway is thank God that this stretch is over. And I mean, I don't know if the Cowboys are gonna play noticeably different down the line, but this has been a tough three or four weeks, you know, the whole

the three games in twelve days. Look, everybody's got to do it, but doing it in the back half of the year around the holidays is not easy. They're banged up. They had a COVID outbreak. By the way, I kind of forgot that sounds bad, but like halfway through the game, I was like, oh, yeah, Mikeelcarthy's not here, or like this this whole week has been so surreal, but you didn't have time to really think about it because you got a game to get ready for on Thursday. So

not an inspiring performance. Yeah, I mean, the defense gets four takeaways. That's always great, albeit against maybe a guy that shouldn't be playing quarterback in the NFL. So kind of similar to what we saw against the Chiefs. Like it's nice to see the defense put in a performance like that, But this offense has got to huddle up and have some kind of come to Jesus moment, and

fortunately for them, they get time. They got a long weekend off, They've got a long time to get ready for their next game, whole divisions in front of them, and they can be rested for it. So I'm just I'm happy that they get a break and we don't have to keep doing this breakneck pace all right. Amber storyline of the game, well, I wish I was feeling more excited after what we saw in them getting the Wayne,

which I'm glad. I'm glad, but it's just it's been hard for them ever seeing Dak got back from the injury, and I'm out too. I don't want to blame Dak on everything that they've been through. You know, you got the offensive line making mistakes, you got receivers making mistakes. After he got back, we got issues with receivers missing games and being out injured, COVID and all that. So

a lot of moving parts. But what I was lacking from this team is being able to see them with that ability that they had shown earlier in the season, where they were capable and able to overcome anything, anything that came their way, they overcame it, and now it's like it's just missing that little spark that we've seen, and we saw it at different place. We saw that great series with the receivers back to back and getting that touchdowne with Gallup, but then you got the running

game that's just not there. And that's my concern. Right now. It's like, great, they gotta win. They needed it. Now we're slowly getting back on track. The defense is being pretty solid, but eventually, like Dave said said, this offense needs to pull it back together not become one dimensional without any help of the running game, because as we get closer to the end of the season, eventually that's gonna catch up to you and it's gonna bite you

in the butt. And then you know, you have to be able to run the ball despite what you're doing with the passing game. So anyways, great, great win. My point is what Nick, I'm laughing what no, I'm laughing at. I'm looking at these rushing yards. Go ahead, keep going, well, go ahead up. They ran the ball well, I mean they have one hundred forty six yard I mean, yeah, product, The product was good as far as the total six that's a good number. They had a fifty one yard run,

and they had a thirty three yard run. Well yeah, and and and most, but most I'm not sure. I'm not discounting I'm me but I get it. But like I understand, but who can do a fifty eight yard run? Not every team? I get them. By the way, I'm not discounting those because I don't. I don't like when people say, but for these plays, well, these plays matter too, right, I get it. My point is if you watched as we watched that game, we were saying, man, they're getting

nothing out of this running game. So I think I think there is something to the fact that the running game wasn't quite what you wanted it to be. Now, of course you were playing against a really good run defense, and the fact that you get those two big chunk plays that matters, But you didn't get what you really wanted out of the running But but they you know how many times have we heard him say, well they didn't stick to it. They did, They kept and they

stuck to it. They figured out you got to run it on the outside. So these runs by Pollard and CD or from the outside. But I mean, there's still technically runs. But let me back you up for a second, because you didn't give your storyline, and I saved you until last mainly because I know your storyline. Yeah, I thought it was a great win. I know that's not your storyline. The game storyline. Game is Dallas. Fine, that's storyline of the game. Flicker. Yeah, yeah, do it again,

do it again? Every day? Absolutely underwhelming. Yeah, it wasn't blocked. I get it. It was it wasn't blocked. But I'm telling you do it again, like like, run it. I mean, may you don't have to run it next game, but running you know, a couple of weeks, you got it out there, you put it on tape, run it, run it again. I mean, I loved it. I thought it was It was so funny because I looked over at Nick's computer after this happened, and Twitter is just going crazy.

Nick's getting all these tweets from people like it sucks. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Um, go ahead, but I did. I just thought. You know, I'm not a big fan of saying it was an ugly win. You know that's what I wrote. I mean, I don't My definition of ugly is I mean nine points in Kent City was ugly. One hundred and fifty yards, penalties was ugly. You know, getting shut out for most of the Bronco game was I mean this, this wasn't that way. I mean, I thought they figured

out ways to win and beat a team. I mean, to beat a really really good football coach. I mean, he knows how to do his thing. Now. I don't know what he's doing with his quarterback right now, but you don't have a lot of options. Didn't have options. He didn't have options, and I thought, you know, I said it to y'all in the press box. I said that second play of the game, and he threw it and Layton missed it, and I was like, well, you

keep throwing that like you're gonna get picks. I mean, he just he's not capable of sustaining those drives with his arm. Now, he's a damn good runner, there's no doubt about it. And turn him into a running back, well yeah, because he's gonna get the ball, he's gonna get hurt, keep running. But I don't know. He's the kind of guy that I kind of wonder he has

the build of a running back. I kind of wonder if maybe they ought not use him in that way, just because I told you in the second half when they were on those drives where they were running the ball with him and they were doing it consistently, I was like, if I were them, I keep doing it because they were having success, and they got out of it and started trying to throw instead of forcing Dallas to get them out. Yeah, and Dave alluded to this earlier.

But like just everything it takes to win a football game throughout the week, the preparation and all that, I do think fans forget that and how wonky it was for this team. So to come out and just overcome all of that, I thought it was a really impressive win. I really I think it's good. He had to stop this slide, and they did it in a week that it was it was tough to do that. They did it without their head coach, Mike McCarthy, who was out

due to COVID. Did you guys have any did you see any discernible difference between him coaching or Quinn acting as the head coach last night, Dave, We'll go to you. No, not really. And the one thing that we talked about in the press box was like are these decisions. Are these Dan Quinn decisions independent of any input from Mike McCarthy,

or is there kind of a guideline he's following. Cowboys went for a fourth down early in the game, that type of thing, and we asked him Quinn about it afterward, and he was like, yeah, we're just following the guidelines that we set up during the week. He talked to Mike McCarthy right up until when it was time to go to the stadium him on Thursday afternoon, so as you would expect, he had tons of input from his head coach. I think he followed a plan that they

put together. I hope that doesn't sound like a knock on Mike McCarthy, But I didn't feel like there was much of a difference in terms of the way the game was coached. Yeah, I didn't. I didn't really either.

The one thing and I did get a chance to talk to some some people afterwards, you know, offensive line, they were down two coaches and then London Welles had to slide over and tied in and all that, And from what I was told is that the biggest problem or challenge, challenge is the better word, right is, is just in game adjustments, especially on that offensive line. You're just not used to see him those fronts and what the Saints are doing and how do you adjust to that,

So that that was the only thing. I mean, I think it's underrated a little bit having both your old line coaches out. Remember this team didn't have the weight room open all week, and I mean the strength coaches where it was virtual meetings just a lot different. And you know, if we're making excuses, but those were they they weren't real things. They wouldn't do them. You know, they wouldn't have a walk around head coach if it wasn't something that you did, or you wouldn't have in

person meeting. So I just I thought they had to overcome a lot of challenges there and to be able to get a win because they got two more road games in a road they're gonna be tougher than this Washington. The Giants will probably be tougher than than these two teams, just because it's division games and you know that they're gonna be fighting for their lives right now. As the Saints sort of were. Well, I thought he did a nice job and we talked and I mentioned it. I

guess I was gonna say Friday, but today's Friday. So the Tuesday Tuesday, I mentioned that, and I was a little bit concerned them whether the defense was gonna suffer a little bit because of, oh my god, dan Quinn's role in the game. But clearly it didn't, and the defense played a really good game. And initially, and I'm switching it over too, and I know we're gonna get into it. But initially I was like, oh, well, great job by the defense and getting hyped and all that.

But then I stopped myself and then I'm like, well, the Saints aren't playing well, like they kind of saw what I was watching. And then eventually I'm like, well, hold on, this defense has been solid throughout the year. It's not just this one game. So got to give them credit. And it was impressive to me to watch this defense finally be the kind of have the kind of players that these balls are not just necessarily falling

into their hands or their laps. They are going after the ball and you see it over and over and anyways, I was just amazed the fact that dan Quinn had this other role added to him and the defense was able to perform the way that it did. Yeah, you look at this stretch of games where I think most people believe the Cowboys have not played their best football. It's really the defense, in my opinion, has played pretty well.

I mean, you could say in the Oakland game that was not one of their better performances, but any of those other games in these last five, I think the defense has played fairly well. It's been the offense that's failed them. I mean, they held Kansas City in Kansas City to nineteen points. Not a lot of teams do that.

And so I think this defense is coming into its own and to me, that's a good thing because if this offense and by the way, they're getting pieces back, it's gonna take them a while obviously to get all that rolling. But if they get it rolling and they got this offense back to rolling by December and January, this defense is shown they can win some games, not just kind of give you a moment here or there

in a game, like they can win some games. That becomes a really, really, really good team, and that's what you have to hope for. We'll see how it all plays out. You can't write the story before it happens. But that's what you have to hope for at this point. If you're following Dallas. I told myself I wasn't gonna let anybody say that again about it. They only held

can't see it to nineteen points. I was like, if I hear that again, I'm gonna I'm going off because they didn't really because like the Chiefs could do whatever they I mean, they could have scored thirty five if they needed to, they needed to score ten points because of that crappy offense on the other side that day. So like games take on their own life, you know, and like if the Cowboys would have kept scoring, they

wouldn't even probably stopped the Chiefs. I don't know about that, Nick, I don't think, well, you think if the Cowboys would have scored thirty one points they win thirty one? Nineteen? Maybe not. I don't think it's necessarily nineteen. But I do think that the defense played well enough in that game to where if Dallas could have gotten anything gone going offensively, they could have won that game. Yeah, And so guess what that's the NFL. The NFL is such

that teams do what they need to do. You're right, Yeah, But I do think that defense played pretty well against that offense. They did play pretty well. But I think if if the Cowboys would have made it a challenge and scored some points, I think my homes and then would have scored some points too. I mean, I just say all the point I was made. They didn't give up. This defense made it challenging for Kansas City, and and

they're playing games right now to where it is. It is not just an offensive team, which is what we thought it was earlier in the season. They have progressively gotten better and this defense I think is good enough where they can win you some games if the offense can give you just a little bit, and that that hasn't been like over these last five years, they've had some games with offense has just been putuls on defense. I mean, he's the best player. I think he's best

player on the team. I think he's the best player in I think he's the best defensive player. I don't I don't think right now, NICKI and you're and I are talking about this before the show. I can't remember a player. And I've been watching football for a long time, going back to the Love You Blue days of the Houston Oilers with ar Old Campbell. Like I've been watching football a long time. I can't come up with a single player that I think was as good as at

as many things as Michael Parsons is. This year, you've had guys who are really good, Like he plays linebacker like a Luke Keekley, he plays defensive end like DeMarcus Ware. That's two Hall of Fame type players, and it's one guy doing both those things. I can't come up with another name. And I would love for somebody to give me a comparable player that's doing what he's doing. I can't think of one, not just in the NFL right now,

in the history of the NFL. I can't think of one. Dave, you want to take a shot at that, Not really to be honest with you, because like I was making a face because like, yeah, I feel like embarrassed about the things that I start thinking about, like maybe the name Lawrence Taylor, you know that type of thing, And then you're like, oh, shut up, Dave, Like surely, surely you're a homer. Surely you're not comparing like two years ago, I don't remember who the player was. Yeah, fair, Oh wow,

I need to hear that story. Yeah, Okay, good to know. Um uh no, I it was a few it was a few years ago. I don't remember who they were talking about. But Bill Belichick was like, whoa pump the brakes on comparing anybody to Lawrence Taylor, and like, that's kind of how I feel. I'm like, yeah, let's not get carried away. But at the same time, did y'all see Brian Baltire's cut up of Mica from last night

and every week? Every week? Every week? Yeah? I mean, I guess if I was, if I was trying to tamp the brakes a little bit, I could point out that the Saints were without either of their tables, but still, like the guy wins the edge like an all probe edge rusher, He's carrying receivers down the field. He's taken

away for saver routes. Yeah, real, I can't. I just I need him to get a pick in coverage before the season's over, just to kind of complete the trifecta or like kit for the cycle in terms of defensive stats, because he's a freak. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's a finished product. I don't even know that his career is gonna be this. What I'm saying is through this whatever number of games sample that we've seen with Michael Parsons, and yeah, he's not Lawrence Taylor.

But my point is, did Lawrence Taylor do all the things that Dallas is asking this guy to do and do them as well as he's doing. That's the part where I'm like, I don't know that I can name a player that has done that many different things. Lawrence Taylor. You know, one, I think he won the defensive Player of the Year as a Rickie in eighty one. I believe that happened maybe one Rickie of the Year, but I also think he was Player of the Year. But Dave just called Parsons a freak, which I think is

fitting because we also looked something up yesterday. He's got ten sacks now with five to go. The NFL rookie record is fourteen by Javon Curse, who was called the freak. And who's he related to? And who's he related to? Nurse who's pretty freakish himself. I mean, this is this has been I mean, but but the thing about Parsons that I that justin Herbert didn't realize and Taysom Hill didn't realize. And most quarterbacks just don't realize they have

this clock. They have this sense of you're there, I'm here, you're gonna get here in about one second, or you're gonna get here in two and all of a sudden, it's bam right in your face. And I mean, he's just he's got that back. Can I add a point to that? Sure, I'm sorry, I know I'm on a delay here, But throughout the season I've been I agree with you, Like throughout the season, I don't think quarterbacks realized it. I think they realize it now. I just

don't think they're anything they can do about it. Like if Taysom Hill, he's as purely athletic as a quarterback is going to be in terms of just maneuverability and escapability. If Taysom Hill can't adjust for his closing speed, nobody in the league probably can except let's throw out Lamar Jackson and maybe Jalen Hurts. There's just there's not a lot of guys that can account for that. And so I mean, if you're trying to scramble or extend to play at his side of the field, I just think

you're gonna have a bad time. There's there's literally two or three times every game when he does something where you're like, wow, I can't believe what I just saw in how fast he got to the point that he was trying to get to. Has anyone seen a stat? And I mean we see stats all the time next Gin Sat, you know, there's there's companies that are make a living doing this. Has anyone seen a stat on

the amount of sacks versus the rush attempts? Because these guys that are leading the league in sacks, they rush every play. He doesn't rush every play, but like so when you think about average, you know, sacks per attempt, Like that's got to be off the charts. You know, one every I don't know ten, twelve, I don't know that, but I bet you that that stat's out there. Yep. All right, we're gonna check our first break when we come back, and we're gonna talking to about some of

these offensive struggles. This offense is not playing at its best right now. They did have some good moments last night. We'll talk about all that when we come back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio at ATNC. Everyone new and existing customers get our best deals on every smartphone. Why because you deserve it for 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

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Back to the break all right. You can register for holiday youth camps. It's now open. It's been open for a little bit. Don't miss the Dallas Cowboys Football Academy and Cowboys Cheerleaders Dance Academy. The camps are December twenty first at The Star in Frisco, December twenty second at at ANDC Stadium Spaces Limited. It's a register today a Das Cowboys dot Com slash Academy. Welcome back. We're in the second segment of the Break Life from s WBC

Mortgage Studios at the Star. We need to talk about the offense. They had some some some interesting moments last night. There were some struggles. There are also some good things that they They did get Amari Cooper back and and so you started to see some things that were that were favorable for them. But they were two of thirteen on third downs, which is obviously not great, oh of

one on fourth downs. Dak was twenty six to forty a sixty five percent completion rate, two hundred and thirty eight yards, one touchdown and one interception, and in my opinion, several missed opportunities where he was just off target on some throws that should have been completions. That all being said, tell me what your thoughts were on the offensive performance

last night. Nick. We'll start with you offensively. You know, they left some some yards out there, and they had they were one dimensional at times when they were running the ball. Like I said earlier, though you know, they stuck to it. What I liked about it, I thought one of the best players of the game was when they got up there, up ten, they were down on their own four yard line. They had to get themselves out of that, and that passed over the middle to

to CD where he went down and got it. They gave him some breathing room, took three or four more minutes off the clock. I thought when they really had to, they were able to function just enough. I mean, this, this isn't gonna win any shootouts. We know that, but I thought, based on all the circumstances going on, I'm not giving them as bad grades for this one. Are you saying you brought up that that Kansas City game.

Are you saying that Dallas would have been in a simmer Bowl last night if they had to win a shootout, they would have scored more points than twenty seven. I think so. I mean, sometimes you have to you have to for I mean, why why do teams always kind of score a little bit more there at the end of the game. It's based off coverage and all that stuff. But I just think sometimes games take on a life of their own, and if you have to get it a shootout, you kind of do. I think they could

have scored more if they needed to. So yeah, similar to that, they kind of played within themselves. When you see Taysom Hill on the other side making those throws, I just don't do anything stupid here, Let's don't. I mean, he's gonna he's gonna throw. They're shorthanded, they don't have Kamar, they don't have their guys. They're leaning on him in his arm. Eventually it's gonna go the other way. Amber.

I mean, with you saying they could have scored more if they needed to, it's like they've needed to be scoring more and they haven't. So you know, I you know what, if that sounds weird, I get it. I just believe what. I don't even know how to how to even interpret this. I just think the games take on a different life if if they're over there going up and down the field, Saints so scorn. I think the Cowboys match them to some degree. I don't think

it's a low scoring game. Well, we have seen in plenty of different games where they're down and Dak somehow every time at the end of the game just starts playing better and putting points out there. But anyways, overall, and I mentioned it earlier, this offense is just lacking that spark right now. And the good thing, the positive thing is that they are getting some of their guys back in slowly and every week we should start now, we should now start seeing a lot of progress. They

get a little break here. So with them being back again together, the receiving group being together again, the old line hopefully taking form now and being more solid as two. Okay, these are the guys that are gonna be in playing week after week. It should get better. I think that Kellen Moore should get better again. I know he's getting a lot of criticism, but we've seen him being capable of doing great things with this offense. So I think it's it's gonna be a good end of the year

for them and they're gonna get back on track. But I do want to bring this up Dak Prescott, and I know I feel like all of us on this show are agree with what we think of Dak. I know Nick makes some comments here and they're sometimes criticizing Dak. But all in all, we think that Dak has been pretty solid. He's a great leader, he's everything, and he's

shown upward trending. But when I get on Twitter and I see all these comments and so, you know, people really attacking him right now and like, oh see, he's not the quarterback that he needs to be, he doesn't deserve the amount of money that he's getting paid. Blah blah blah. I mean, I want to ask you guys and bring that from Twitter into this conversation real quick. How are you guys currently feeling about him? And can he turn things around back again for the remainder of

the season. Dave, what do you think? Yeah? I mean, and this is this is what happens when you give a quarterback forty million dollars a year, It comes with the dinner. You're gonna be hyper criticized. And Dak Dak

has been down this month. And if anything, the impression that I keep coming back to, and I take my impressions from Dak himself, because last night he said a lot of that is maybe me being too greedy, trying to put the dagger in on one play instead of going through my reads, I think Dak has been pressing for most of the last month. Now. Is that because he knows that they're banged up and he's got to

raise his level of play? Is that because he's here an MVP chatter whatt Is that because he wants to justify the contract. I don't know, But for how much we talk about the Dak yard and how these guys are in the lab all the time, Dak hasn't looked like he's been on the same page with his receivers consistently for about a month. I mean the fourth and two.

If there's better communication between DAK and CD on the fourth and two early in the game, not only do they probably score a touchdown, but we're throwing laurels at Kellen Moore's feet because it's such a cool play design. I mean, they schemed it up beautifully, and whether it was supposed to go to the inside shoulder or the outside, it doesn't matter. Dak and CD just weren't on the same page. We've seen that throughout the last month, I

mean throughout the game. On the play where Dak got picked CD for the eighteenth time in the game, is gesturing to the sideline, like, I don't know what the hell's going on, what's happening? And sure it's the Superdome, but these guys love to tell you how much that's not a big deal. So I'm gonna take their word for it and say, surely we should be better than this, Surely we should have better communication. So, I mean, everybody

can see the inconsistencies. I think it's a result of pressing on Dak's part, and again going back to the having a break thing, this group just needs to take a deep breath, reassessed self scout, think about what we do well and where we've been messing up. I really, I think they're just a few tweaks away from being better. But it's been frustrating to watch. You know, how many games do you think Dak has not played as well? Here? Four? Five, five?

You know what else is darting with Denver? Yeah? You know what else does not happened in five games? Was that Zeke hasn't gone like over fifty yards rushing. I mean, and it's just and it's hand in hand. I'm not just saying it's Zeke not running the ball. So Dak hasn't played as well. Maybe Dak hasn't played as well Zeke. They go hand in hand that this is where they

are now. It's not back to rookie season when it was mainly it was Zeke first and then Dak was able able to kind of, you know, compensate and and and play complimentary football. I think I think it's fifty fifty if if not leaning more towards Dak, but I do think that he needs a running game, and that hasn't happened. So I kind of put it on both of them. They're they're they're having to play one dimensional football right now. And and I don't know if that's

that's never anyone's strong student. It's certainly not Dax. That's not his game. He he needs play acts and to help him, uh, flee flickers and things like that. That was my big thing about the flee flicker on a game. When you're running the ball better, I think it's gonna

work better when you're not running as well. It's hard to be like, all right, well, I'm the safety is not just gonna jump up there and bite because they're not getting more than five yards anyway, So that that wouldn't be my favorite time to run it, but hey, I've asked for it for twelve years or fifteen years, so can't be greedy about it. But I do think that they're not running the ball as well and that is affecting dec. I think they kind of playing off

each other. But I agree with Dave. I mean, we're not talking about a bunch of tweaks here. They're getting their receivers back, They're getting everybody kind of back. The offensive line will be will be okay, I mean, but there'll be a huge test this week or the next game against Washington and the other thing I'll say too is that, and I want to keep an eye on this.

Go ahead, Dave, quit you go. I'm sorry, and I wanted to bring this up y'all y'all got really heated about the did they or did they not run the ball well? Things? So I left it alone. But like, I get what Nick is saying, and yes, this offense's best performances came when they were running the ball well, but I really hate their stubborn insistence on trying to do it when it's not working. And yeah, you can't take you can't take the good runs out, like that's

not how that works. But at the same time I looked this up for the story that I wrote last night. They ran at twenty four times. Six of the twenty four went for more than three yards. That's awful, that's so bad. And one of them, that's how you get a lot of three and out. Yeah, and a thirty three yard rushing game was a bubble screen to Ceedee Lamb, where it's really more your receiver corps and the design of the play doing the blocking and not your offensive line.

So that's twenty three percent of your rushing total that isn't traditional rushing yardage. And I just I say all that to say with the exception of the big breaks, and also two of those runs that went longer than three went for four, So it's not even like those were eight or nine yard games. Like they had three sizeable running games the whole time. And yet they just

kept on plowing right up the middle. And I would argue hurt Dak in the process, because the last thing you want to do is put him into an obvious third and seven, which I felt like they did six times last night. I don't have that number in front of me, but it had to have been more than a handful m and so that's that's what's frustrating to me, is just stubbornly trying to do something that that wasn't working.

It broke in the third quarter with the Pollard run, which was great, but again that that's something I would like to look at as well. I felt like this offense was a lot more adaptable earlier in the year. That Pollard touchdown, was it number forty three? Was that Latimer? That no? Which was there? Safety Marcus Williams, He's still waits Williams. He's still waiting for Pollard to cut back. I guess like when I watch that play out, but just it's funny watch the play and watch the safety

and watch Pollard. The safety is just kind of like, well, all right, what's gonna happen. What's gonna happen? And Tony Pollard is just like running like he's in the Olympics, just straight, like I'm not even looking at anyone else. I'm going as fast as I can. And it's like, you know, your angle is known, you don't have an angle anymore. Like it's gone. He's gone. And that's two weeks to the row. We've seen that, and I mean he's Tony Pollard is going to get himself into the

Pro Bowl and probably as a kick returner. But you know how those games go, you know if the Cowboys playing the game, But how those games go is that he'll be He'll be running the ball. He'll probably get more carries than anyone, but he might because of the kickoff returns. He might get himself in there. He's doing it on national TV, Big Games. All right, Can I

ask a question real quick? Dave talked about how it bothers him when they're like trying to run the ball it's not working, then why do you keep going back to that? But I feel like a lot of times we also talk about them the opposite way and say, well, they're not trying to run the ball enough to worry it actually gets going. So how do you how do you how do you figure out, like, at what point do you decide, Okay, let's keep running the ball, let's

actually not this game. Well that's a good point because also the play that I thought was a real big moment there. I just mentioned it about that passed the CD down in the end zone when Dak was kind of hanging out in the end zone for a few seconds and found CD. But that was a play acction passed. So if you don't run the ball and you don't commit to the run, your play accents is not gonna work either. So that's a fine line of when do you say this in working like Tampa, or say let's

keep let's keep going. Let's keep going because it'll it'll open up more things for us. It's a fine line to walk. And who knows. Who knows if that fifty eight yard run happens had they not been just consistently trying to pound them up the middle to where it created opportunities for them. Like that's what you don't know is what kind of side effects happened as a result of them continuing to consistently try to run the ball. And I get it, like you can't take away the

big plays. But at the end of the day, like they got. I think they got as much as they probably could have expected to get against that defense that was a number one rush defense in the NFL. So I don't think I went into that game thinking the Cowboys were gonna be able to run very well, especially with Zeke in the condition that he's in right now. I expected whatever they got out of the Running Game was gonna be gravy. For them to get a fifty eight yard touchdown out of it, that's a win in

my opinion. That was a huge play for them. Also, the way I see it though, is, and I know we're specifically talking about this game, but when it's like a reoccurring thing that we've seen game after game lately. And yes, Seek has been banged up, but when I was mentioning the Running Game and not working, Yes, they had those two plays that were great and l and

you can't take those away whatever. But the thing where I became becoming critical of them is when you see a game after game where it's not necessarily working, and then we start talking about them becoming one dimensional, and then you look at the rest of the stretch and it's like, Okay, who are they really gonna scare down the line? And is it gonna even ever get going and work. So it's just one of those things that it's just to me, it's been happening every week. Well,

everybody knows. What's really the problem is they haven't had McGovern as the fullback and for a game I'm sorry, but the McGovern fullback package I mean, what's going on with they've been that it seems like it. I mean, we haven't seen we haven't seen that McGovern as a fullback. Now. Connor Williams did it something at the end of the game last night, but it didn't matter. M Yeah, we're gonna say our final break. We're gonna come back. I

do want to talk about the offensive line. I want to get some opinions from you guys on what you saw from laoll Collins, from McGovern, from yadish how did the offensive line look with what we projected was going to be their starting offensive line at the beginnings, He's nor close to it. We'll talk about that when come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. I want to use what the pros use. How about the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black.

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pack VIP member experiences the season. Visit Dallas Cowboys dot com slash United to get us today, Welcome back to the final segment of the Break Life nest WBC Mortgage Studios. At the start, Hey Dave, I got a question for you? Is there any chance at all we can get we can get Papa Hellman or Mama Helman to come and give us some opinions on the game. Al Well, I'm still in my hotel. Oh, I thought you were back at the house. So okay, I thought you were back

at the house. Man hell I'm I'm I'm gonna use every minute of free hotel time that I am afforded. I get you. So, I know they're not here, but I'm gonna go see them in a little bit. I thought maybe we could get a little little perspective from them as as Louisiana folks on what they thought of the game. What are you Saints fans? Aren't they? Well I don't know, Dave, are these Saints fans? They are Saints fans? Well, that would have been fun, Yes, they are.

That would have been a lot of fun. They my my dad, Hey, he doesn't listen to the show, but love you dad, because he my dad hated the Cowboys my whole life, Like he couldn't stand them. And now he's like calls me and he's like, oh my god, when you think about Parsons, I'm like, Dad, I know you don't like the Cowboys. You don't have to talk, you don't have to humor me. But he loves it. He's like roots for the Cowboys when they're not playing

the Saints. Yeah, you know that's what's great. You know, your parents will do some crazy things. Kids. My dad listens. My dad listens to the show, and yeah, he'll he's he'll send a text message or twelve. You know. He gets frustrated too with the in the game. So yeah, maybe he was feeling better last night. Talk to me about this offensive line. What do we see last night? Let's start with Lyle Collins. What were your thoughts on Lyle Collins play last What show is it? Derek? Episode

seventy one? There we go, Lyle Collins. Oh good, it's my seventy one? Thank you. He's playing. He's playing did all right? Nate Livings? Nate Livings? Um, how about two an A? But um, anyways, I thought he played, you know, pretty well. I mean, it's hard for us to kind of talk about that. We didn't see all the you know, we don't grade him out like that, but it seemed like Dad had a lot of time lesson they were right, Yeah, that was I just kind of know there were sometimes

he did. I thought Lyle played pretty well. You can kind of tell, you know a guy. Especially after the game. I talked to him. He was feeling pretty good about it. You know, he's going back home to Louisiana two with him and you know, being in lsue guy and you know, and getting it to play, and I think this is where he feels like he should be starting. He should be starting to right tackle. Of course, he feels that way back with Zach Martin and you know, they they

they did okay. I think they'll they'll continue to get better. But I don't I don't think Lyell was a problem there. Camber Um trying to remember if there was anything noticeable that I watched from the game, but I can't think of anything good or bad. You know, it was just like one of those where you didn't necessarily noticed the whole a whole lot, which we haven't had in quite

a few games. So that's good, that's a positive, and it's to me an indication that they are starting to hopefully get better and kind of figuring things out there with the old line. But just in general, nothing necessarily stood out. I don't know if DATE saw anything differently. I mean, I haven't watched the game back at all, but Dak got sacked one time. I thought, I thought

the protection was pretty good, especially for being in the Superdome. Ironically, there were at least two plays where they did go to play action and like the protection was impeccable and Dak had like two and a half three and a half seconds to look down field and almost made it obvious. The push up front concerns me. Obvious. Like I said, I think they averaged like one point five yards per carry between the tackles. I get it, outside the tackles

was awesome, but you'd still like to see better. But I thought they were fine. Yeah, that's that's the one thing about it, and is I think that from a standpoint of running the ball, I give a lot of the a lot of what we've seen over the last several weeks with the guards of the running game. I think a lot of that's about the offensive line because these these backs are not getting a lot of room

to be able to run. I think you got two quality backs obviously, and even with Zach, I mean, even with a Zeke being hurt, Zeke still can run the ball. But I don't think he's just getting a lot of opportunities. They're not giving him much room. And that's where I look at this offensive line and I just think right now as a unit, they're not performing at their best when it comes to the running game. Yeah, you don't see them really creating those holes that we have been

used to see. It. It's like you see usually seek when he's at there and then he just kind of hits a wall. He just there's no space for him to get in. They don't get to the second level. I mean, it's it's kind of like you got a guy on a guy, but nobody ever gets up to that second level to the linebacker to where you can

create that play that's more than two or three yards. Basically, the running backs are running right into the line and there's nothing there, and you just can't get to the second level because none of the offensive linemen are getting to the second level. Maybe, you know, I mean Connor Williams. Of the penalties have gone down obviously from you know, Connor McGovern. But who's to say that Connor Williams isn't blocking better than than McGovern, You know what I mean?

Would you take some of those penalties if you. I mean, because they were running the ball better with him. If you're resting with McGovern as the fullback. Well, but how long has ever been starting now as a second game, I feel like this is the third Yeah, okay, okay, So I mean, I honestly I did. I thought running over Connor Williams was a problem. When Connor Williams is in there, You're right, I don't want to rewrite that history. I think he was a problem in the run game

as well as the pass game hasn't fixed anything. Yeah, And honestly, what I think we've learned is they're about comparable players. Yeah. I don't think one's necessarily better than the other, um, except for they don't have the penalties. So if you're getting a comparable player without the penalties, I still think at this point you probably made the

right movie. He got one penalty, right and for the legal man downfield, you know, I feel like that that penalty is getting called a lot more these days, and it's probably because of the run pass options and these you know, and these guys thinking it's run they don't know it's past. You're seeing it a lot. But um, yeah, he was only a couple of yards down the field. I thought that was a little sicky tack. But for the most part, though officiating like it was, it wasn't

the Thanksgiving crew for sure. You know. Yeah, I mean, can we talk about Anthony Brown too, because I thought Anthony Brown just the bounce back game, you know, and and he did. Michael Irvin texted him before the game saying, hey, you got this. You know you have a bad memory, go out there and do it. And they picked on him early, you could tell, but it didn't really work out for him. I mean, you got to give a

pass breakups. Ye give him some credit for the way he kind of fought through that Mentally, he even said it was a long week. It was a long week, and I'm like, it was only seven days, but I get it. It was a long week. And he came back and and you know, I give him props for the way he played in that game. But let's be honest. I think that most of us who have watched this team playoff season, we know how good Anthony Brown has been this season. He has not been as bad as

people want to say he's been. And I think it all started with that Week one mistake that wasn't his mistake that got got given to him, and I think from there people just had that opinion of him. But I think he's played really well. He's played as as well as any cornerback on this team, minus the interceptions. Obviously, Dix gets a lot of interceptions, and that matters. Don't get me wrong now saying that doesn't matter, but just

on a play to play, who wins that play. I think Brown has been every bit as good as Dicks from that standpoint, And I just think he's had some moments, and that's gonna happen when you play cornerback. They're gonna be some days. They're gonna be some moments you're gonna give up plays. That's the National Football League. All right, guys, we appreciate you join us. We'll be back on tomorrow. I'm sorry now, we'll be back on Monday. I don't even know what day it is. We'll be back on Monday.

We'll start getting you guys ready for the division. Man, these next four out of those five against the Division, it's gonna get real interesting here. We'll play the Washington football team next week in Washington. Util then for Nick Eatman, Dave helm and Amber Garcia. 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.