The following is a production of Dallascowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.
Cowboys.
This is Girls Talk Boys Talk, presented by Jigsaw Dating, preferred dating partner of the Dallas Cowboys, and broadcasting live from Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters at.
The Star.
Well.
Hello, Welcome back to Girls Talk, Boys Talk, presented by Jigsath, the preferre dating partner of the Dallas Cowboys. Christy Scales, Ashmores and Jess and Bars here with you on this Tuesday. We're Tuesday or Wednesday, Guys, We're Tuesday, Tuesday afternoon.
Had a little bit of a moment there here.
At the beautiful, beautiful Star in Frisco where it is hot outside. Guys, it says it's ninety three It does not feel like it's ninety three outside. I don't know if you've been outside. It's officially fall allegedly.
I don't know.
The only thing Phil and Fall like is the football season is here. But other than that, we are going to discuss we left off yesterday. What the coordinators and head coach mc McCarthy we're going to say post loss to the Arizona Cardinals. We're gonna break that down for one last day before we officially turned the page here on the podcast and we start looking into the Week four matchup against the Patriots. A lot to talk about,
so let's start with the offense. Aisha, yesterday you had a fantastic question to Mike McCarthy which went noted on Twitter, and I'm glad it did because it was very insightful and.
It just shows you always have football smarts.
So hello to anybody that didn't notice that. Let's talk about that because you asked him specifically about the tight end group and a big conversation this week is red zone lack of production and not capitalizing when you're in the red zone. When the Cowboys in the red zone, they can't find the end zone. So how did the tight ends tie into that?
Asha? What have you noticed?
You went back, you watched the film and you have key points that can help this team excel in what they need to work on.
What are they So my question was, you know, Coach, there's you know in the West Coast system, the vertical threat is important just because of how you're using so much of the intermediate and short field yardist to just move down the field. You're trying to you know, control the clock, do all that stuff. But you know, having the vertical threat really, to me, it opens up so much of what you want to do because defenses right now they're playing tight. They're betting on the fact that
you're gonna do short passes and stuff. So he mentioned the word, you know, he said, they're playing shell defense, and so I was like, when you think of shell, you think of two high safeties, you know, kind.
Of soft coverage or whatever.
But in doing some digging and learning, like shell can mean a number of things. So he also went on to talk about quarters and say that they're playing quarters defense, and the purpose of quarters defense is to take away deep shots. What happens is that you have two safeties
that have a quarter of the field. I kind of think of that it like a like a square like you know, you know, like yeah, you know, so you have they have a quarter of the defense the safety does, and then they have their responsibility is there's deep they have a deep zone responsibility. So and then the corners, the corners have the flat to the zone aerial in the area, and then the linebackers cover like the curl flat area. So I the the purpose of that is
to take away the middle of the field. And so I've been looking at like, why aren't we really attacking the middle of the field consistently with with a lot of teams playing cover four, which is like it's only one person out there. So my point was was, you know what schematically can you do to kind of beat that? And what are the things you can do to beat that?
And you can get behind the linebackers, which we seen We saw it last week with Ceedee Lamb with the flat slat, which is you're just letting him slip behind those linebackers that are kind of playing shallow and you know he's going to make the play. And that's also why you saw Michael Gallup be so effective this week
with slants because it's there. But my concern again is the fact that defenses are playing you so tight, and they're playing so close to the line of scrimmage, and they're aggressive, they're biting all stuff and everything because they're betting on you not passing the ball deep. So that's something that I'm looking for them to establish to kind of get these guys off their back and to you know, to get some respect there. And so I mean and again we thought that, you know, Brandon Cooks would be
that guy. We thought that that would be something that they can do. So really curious to see how they scheme that up and how things open up their Chris do you guys?
Yeah, Well, because when you're talking about like using the tight ends, I think that a lot of longtime Cowboy fans they picture Jason Witten on that sceam route right ye on the scene. But again it's how they're playing the coverage, quarters and things, so you don't want to force it. And so there's a thing there's the old, tried but true. You know, you take what the defense gives you. Well, it's like, well, why are you taking
what the defense gives you? You need to assert, you know, you be the dominant and you know you give it to them. Well no, I mean the coverage dictates where the ball is going to go, period. Otherwise you're forcing it in and you don't want to do that. The other thing where you're talking about with the way that some of these defenses were playing and when the linebackers drop, I think that a lot of times when we think that you really have to have this precision passing and
fitting the ball in there. You're thinking of a slant route or you're thinking of some out route, and the quarterback puts the ball right there because there's a defensive back draped all over the guy. Now it's oftentimes it's touch,
it's putting it over the linebacker in front. And so those those are difficult throws and you got to be just right because if you're a little short, or if that linebacker doesn't bite on the play action, you know, the fake hand off and react and you know just that quarter second of them, you know, delaying their drop into coverage. It's it's all interconnected and so you you really everybody has to play their part, whether you're the running back acting like you're taking the handoff or you
really got to sell that. So it goes to what we've been talking about and what the coaches and players have been talking about since early in the off season. Knowing your why, your purpose, what is your what is your why on this plan?
Yeah, and to be fair, I think in this game specifically, nobody knew what their why was. It leaked all over the place, right, nobody knew. Nobody knew how to once they were in that deficit, how to how to bounce back quickly. And that's okay, because here's the thing. I don't see that being an issue this week. They're going to hone in on that red zone play this week.
At practice.
Micha McCarthy said that yesterday, and I don't necessarily think they lost track of like their their whole why it was just look on his defense was outsmarting them in a lot of ways and that's just kind of what it came down to. As far as the red zone though, I think this is an interesting topic because we talked
about this throughout the summer. We talked about this after Zeke was released of who is the big red zone guy for the Cowboys now, because it was Zeke, right, And when Zeke was leading in red zone percentage scoring percentage for the Cowboys, he was second. He had the second most amount of touchdowns rushing touchdowns in the NFL last year. That's a big loss, right, And so, yes, the Cowboys are getting to the red zone, and I think that can't.
Be overlooked either. Is that's the hard part.
Schottenheimer said that yesterday, hardest part is getting there to the red zone. It's just continuing to get into the end zone. That's the issue.
Yeah, And I mean another thing that you're seeing in the red zone is you had the three red zone penalties that were huge, but these and that's a big part of it, is that those penalties are putting them in unfavorable situations when they're in second in goal, but it's at the fifteen or second, heir third and goal and you're at the ten or something like, you're they really I'm really looking for them to get closer to the goal line and I think that's going to open
up your playbook a whole bunch of Shotenheimer talked about that as well. The usage of the whole field too, is something that I've been looking at because when you talk about again, when you start talking about them playing quarters and stuff, is that it takes away you know, we'll middle of the field open. It takes away part of the field, but it's like the offense is taking it away on their own and so also too, so you look, there's opportunities to attack the left side of
the field, but it's not there. But anyway back into the red zone, stuff getting backed up is hurting them and staying ahead of the sticks, you know, Brian Schottenheimer mentioned that he mentioned that as well, But I want to say that Arizona, you mentioned it.
They were very disciplined, they play, they were down there.
Stop saying that about them. They poured gatorade.
That's fair. It was. It was his first victory as a head coach. So that's why they did.
In the Dallas Cowboys.
If you want to make a statement that you're not ranked thirty two among thirty two NFL.
Teams, this was the team to be That's fair.
It wouldn't have mattered, right because now they can go on, they can lose to the forty nine ers and be like, well.
We are going to beat the cat.
I want you want him to beat the forty nine ers because if things go to form, a lot of people think if preseason predictions are correct, Cowboys, Eagles and forty nine ers, so a lot of people think are the tops of the NFC. But one other thing that Schottenheimer said about the red zone offense is that a big part of it is scrambles. Now, we did see
dak on Sunday in Arizona. He had the big play that was not in the red zone, but it was third and twelve and then he broke the pocket and what a great play by him, great effort and execution. Believe he got fourteen yards on that to get a first down to continue that drive going down later they did stall in the red zone, but Schottenheimer mentioned that yesterday as offensive coordinator during his press conference that yeah, we got to remember, you know, everyone, Hey, that's a
big part of it. And you know, we say that Dak hasn't run as much as he did earlier in his career before he broke the ankle, obviously, but wouldn't be surprised to see, you know, have him maybe do some more keepers.
I was going to ask you, do you feel like because even after the game, Dak took accountability to say I need to use my legs more and I need to be more a little bit more mobile. Is that something you're going to say you expect to see out of Dak is to be a little more mobile, specifically in the red zone, maybe not so much, you know when when they're trying to drive up to it.
Do you see him being a little more mobile?
Don't. I don't think you do it for this. I don't think you do it for the sake of doing it. You're not going to put your franchise guy at risk like that. But but there are some perfect times, and again it depends on matchups and what you're seeing from the defense. But sometimes these quarterback draws are these designed keepers. You know, most of the time when when the quarterback are running, unless you're Jalen Hurts, it's you know, it's
it's because something is broken down. The defense is in the zone, they're not looking back, and so you know that's when you see him break down the field and get get some yards in either out of bounds or slide for a first down. So but I don't think you do it just to do it.
You know, there's some RPO situations there though in this game that were designed where he there was a play where he he actually gave the ball to Tony, but if he hadn't a given it to Tony, he was he might have had a bit of a collision at the goal line with the safety but at the the DV but at the same time he would have he probably would have scored a touchdown. I will say I actually had in my notes about the scrambling portion of it.
That's something that I've been noticing from the team. I noticed a little bit last year even so, is Dak is one of the best quarterbacks on the move making something happen. And I'm it's something that I'm a little down about with with with the receivers, is like, you gotta know yourquarterback, and your quarterback is a guy that again, he can be rolling to his left, he can be rolling to his right, and he can throw it on
a dime. So the scramble drills are something that I hope that they're working, because there were plenty of times in this game where they were scrambling and there was just no constant pursuit.
I think Michael Gallup.
Does a good job of that where he's still working trying to work the sideline and stuff, but know your quarterback nobody's capable of and fight for him.
Also too, with the CD Lamb thing in.
The red zone, they came with a blitz and I think that that's kind of what threw off things because you remember yesterday, I was under the impression that he was supposed to rub there and maybe you know, help out there, but it looks like there was a corner route there and Dak just once that blitz came We talked about it timing and how quick they have to be down there. The minute that that blitz came, that play was gone.
That play was gone.
And so it's something that I'm the spacing too, is just kind of funky.
They just I don't know, they just.
Were ineffishing down there, but a lot of it. In fairness, give it to the Cardinals. They tried to fool them a couple times with some things. Even with the RPO stuff.
They were not buying it.
And this offensive line.
Struggled blocking wise.
Once they got down there, they were very stout and the DBS came down and tackled and they were very physical for the Cardinals. So give them credit, but just a lot of errors down there.
And yeah, there's no margin for error when you're down there, like that Adoga penalty really was painful. But you can't shoot yourself in the foot when you're down there because the space is so compressed. It's hard enough already, yes.
Man, Yeah, And I mean it was a question posed for Dan Quinn yesterday in the press conference when I asked him about the penalties, but he made a really good point in saying, you know, sometimes the penalties are drawn from them being aggressive, and he said, I can live with those ones. However, it's the pre snap penalties, and I think that's fair to say for the offense too. When you're trying to push that aggression level and you're trying to make it dominant and protect your quarterbacks more
than anything else. Sure, those are penalties that I think we can all live with. It was just again the pre snap penalties, which very uncharacteristic considering last year. That was something that they really worked on, especially with the cadence drills, and they zoned it on. So if I'm being honest, I really don't think you see.
A penalty heavy game.
Like this, Well you hope not. The other thing is when you have a different center in there, who, by the way, did not get to practice. He got a little bit towards the end of Thursday's practice, didn't get to take first team reps. Tyler Biattish, the starting center, wasn't injured until Thursday's practice, So it's not like brought Kaufman, who had to step in elevated from the practice squad Saturday.
I mean they knew by Thursday, with Tyler getting hurt that it was likely that Hoffman would would have to play. But it's just different. So that first false start penalty that's called on Terrence Steele, that was just all four line, everybody moved except the ball, and so it was just that little bit of timing that that was off. So
I'm not putting it on Brockoff now at all. I'm just saying that time on task right, And and these injuries that have happened, Tyrone Smith not being injured with the knee until Saturday, Tuma Adoga, by the way, with an elbow injury that he was nursing from the previous week. So you know, it's tough enough in the regular season to just get enough snaps for your first teamers, but when you have these moving parts and guys are getting moved around and and you just don't get to work together.
An offensive line is the one that requires the most cohesion. So we haven't seen the group together, and I thought.
That he had that.
Mike McCarthy love.
This is one thing I like about him as a coach is he's not afraid to say like, yeah, I could have I could have done that. There he admitted, you know, even the seven step drops not you know,
not really taking any chances with the deep ball. But yeah, this, this, and that's why I'm trying to stay levelheaded about it because I know, I know that people are just like you should be able to overcome everything, but losing three starting offensive linemen probably drastically changes your game plan and what you do before.
Yeah, and same again, like in case you weren't with us yesterday on Girls Talk, Boys Talk. Mike McCarthy in his pregame interview with Brad Sham on Cowboys Radio says, I'm still going. I'm still going through things this morning, Sunday morning, and we're just a few hours from kickoff. But I want what Ayisha that little nugget that she dropped and this was from McCarthy's press conference yesterday, not
doing seven step drops? What does that mean? Well, with a quarterback, you have either a three step three step drop, a five step drop, a seven drip seven step drop. Well, obviously it takes longer to go back seven steps than it does three or five, and that's generally the plays that are further down the field. Well, when you have young guys on the offensive line and you know you want to you're not one hundred percent sure about your press protection as if you had some of your veterans
in there. That's one reason why they weren't going deep, which they weren't doing some of the deeper drops and setting things up for longer. So there's a reason why were the Tide Ends not as involved. They're into help pass protect and also help in the run game, and you saw it in the run game. The numbers were good in the run game. So there it's cause and effect, you know, and what you did against the Giants and what you did against the Jets. Sorry, that's off the table.
It's a completely different matchup against the Cardinals defense.
Very good point and a good way to transition to our next segment. When we come back from our next break, we're gonna talk about the run game. We're gonna talk a little bit about the running back situation, and then we'll transition into defense. So make sure to stay tuned. This is Girls Talk, Boys Talk, visited by Jig South that the preferred dating partner of the das Cowboys. We will be right back.
We know that juicy, cheesy, grilled to perfection burger sounds amazing, but it does and like something is missing. Pepsi Baby, the yin to this Burger's Yang. Burgers and pepsi go together like well, like burgers and pepsi. This perfect blending of flavors makes every bite of let Us, every sesame seed on the bun, and every sip of that crisp refreshing ice cold coola a journey to footopia.
Burgers better with pepsi.
That's what I like.
At Jigsaw Dating, we obviously want the Cowboys to bring that sixth ring home, but to be honest, we're more focused on finding the person who will put a ring on your finger. That's why we created a dating app that reveals your face through meaningful conversation so you can date deeper, because it's personality that matters the most, not looks. Join Jigsaw Dating today, dating partner of the Dallas Cowboys.
Welcome back to you Girls, Talkboys Talk, presented by Jigsaud, the preferred dating partner of the Dallas Cowboys.
We are getting into the run game a little bit of defense as well.
But first your Dallas Cowboys had to Santa Clara to take on the forty nine Ers in Week five at the twenty twenty three season. Come out to the Miller Lighthouse at at and t Stadium on October eighth for a free watch party presented by seven eleven Cheer on the Boys alongside the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and rowdy while enjoying five dollars Miller Lights, barbecue, game day, fair, and more. Gates open at six o'clock PM and kickoff is it seven to twenty. For more information and to claim your
free ticket. Free free free ticket, head to Dallascowboys dot com slash watch party, Go Cowboys, There we go.
Thank you for the emphasis. I'm really really.
Passionate about the whole free thing. You guys know how I feel about that.
We saint it.
Yeah.
You know.
Something I'm really passionate about as well. This Run Game.
Oh I'm wearing a shirt Alice because I run the ball today. I don't know if you've noticed that I didn't run the ball. I mean I could have said Taylor Swift, but I did not.
I switched gears. I said the run game. You know, going into this game. What I like that Mike.
McCarthy dropped a few weeks ago, was he said going into week five, Week four, even you start to see the teams develop across the NFL. It's not just specific to the Dallas Cowboys. You can even leak into week six at that point. You're getting to that point now where the identities are starting to be formed with the teams kind of what they're leaning a little more heavy on. If it's the run game, the pass game that obviously
is omped up by the run game. This team in a new era, Tony Pollard era, backed by Rico Dawdle, and then you now have Duce Vaughan entered the chat, Hunter Lipkey entered the chat.
This run game very interesting.
Something that was brought up to coach McCarthy yesterday was to preserve Tony Pollard for the rest of the season. How do you do that going into practice because he's taking a majority of these reps. How do you preserve him to ensure that by week seven he's still just as effective as he is now going into week four. Mike said, they're very aware of it, they know and that his practices will be adjusted to reflect preserving his body, which we appreciate.
Ladies. Let's go into this.
Let's go into Let's start with how Rico Dowdell is filling in that second position. What we've seen from him so far and how he can be more effective if given the opportunity to get a little bit more of the ball distribution.
He's always been a tough runner. The coaches have always loved Rico Dowdell. It's just the injuries that caught him the first few years here in Dallas. And it was noted by coach McCarthy yesterday about the tough running, not just Rico, but Tony and even Jake Ferguson slipping a couple of tackle Ceedee Lamb. Coach McCarthy said, he said, twenty eight or twenty nine. We'll go with twenty nine
because it sounds better broken tackles. That was some tougher and let me tell you from field level these and hey, same thing goes for James Connor with the Cardinals offense. These were hard earned yards. Okay, there was some hitting going on and so, but the ability to take a one yard run or a zero yard run and yet still go past that first contact or even second contact. Not all great runs go for fifteen to twenty plus yards.
Some of the better runs are ones where you get three or four off of something that should be zero or minus one. And it was some tough tough, tough sledding. But Rico and Tony. I mean, if we had just said, oh, you're going to have one hundred and eighty rushing yards in the game for the Cowboys, you'd say, oh, yeah, sign me up for that every day. But I was happy for Rico, just like we said yesterday, for him
to get his first career touchdown. Ironically it came on to pass instead of a run, but yeah, he's he's showing his value to the team this year. Yeah, I agree.
I like the usage of Rico Daddle to start the screen game has been so effective to start the season, and I think that that's important. Rico Daddo's gotten after it with it, Tony's gotten after it with it, Duce Vaughan has gotten after it with it. But I really I have noticed that Rico does come in in that fourth quarter and he's he's bruising, like I'm sure that he's exhausting for some of those those defenders that have been dealing with kind of chasing Tony and trying to
deal with his speed. But I like the one two punch right now. I will say that with Tony Pollard, I think he ran.
We talked about it.
He did. He ran effectively through the tackles, he had some physical play. Miss would love to see some more receiver Tony and using him still as even though he is a running back and he's your number one running back.
It would be nice to see him do some of that will route stuff that we've seen him do, come out the backfield as a passer, because that's also gonna help with what we were just talking about with these dbs playing up so close and on how they're acting, this is gonna that can open up some things too, also for you in the passing game.
So I was.
Looking at that like, love how they've been using Tony. It's been effective. He's been effective, Rico has been effective. It's just again when you get in that red area, things get a lot tighter and then you're having the penalties as well.
So loved how they use Hunter Liftkey this week too.
He's doing some lead blocking stuff and he's becoming far more and more effective every week as a as a blocker, and am using him as a fullback got him in some passing situations. So the usage of the running backs all in all, to answer your question, I think has been creative. It's been and it seems balanced right now. Besides the fact, I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit more Rico.
Anybody well with the usage you because just to your point what you were saying about, how you know how much Tony has gotten the ball these past couple of weeks. He ended up with twenty six touches on Sunday if you combine the rushing and receiving, and that's thirty two
the week before. That's a lot, you know, for a guy who in his career, you know, shared the load with Zeke coming into this year, and so I think it's going to be interesting because even when we were talking about lineman and giving these young linemen more practice time during the week, I think that that Tony's going to be pulled back. I think some of these practices, these Wednesday and some of these Thursday practices just to kind of make sure that you know, they That's why
they have those trackers, the GPS stuff. And I wouldn't be surprised if the threshold is maybe down a little bit because you don't want to use Tony up. We're only three games.
In, yeah, and you need him, you get him.
All yeah, And that's why it's so great that that Rico is showing his value.
I'm so excited for Rico.
Oh he's a good day, good day. He's a nice family.
Oh he's so He's so great and he's such a quiet guy, but his explosiveness speaks for himself. I mean, I started talking to Rico more this off season after.
I want to say it was OTAs.
I saw him and I was like, oh wow, I just we hadn't seen Rico in so long, and that was my first time seeing him in person, you know, at a practice capacity like that, and he just instantly stood out to me, Minni camp OTAs. So I went and I introduced myself and I talked to him, and I just told him, you look really good, you know, And he, you know, started talking to me a little bit more and more every week because he doesn't open up right away.
Kay, he's kind of a quiet guy. He was on IR last year, so people aren't you know, they're not bothering him.
He was a little weird a that He's like, why is she talking to me?
So we started talking more and more, and then there was an event here in Dallas called sports Con and he appeared there and he was doing. He was doing pictures, autographs with fans, and then he did some stuff on media row and that's when I caught up with him. I was walking around with him, I was talking to him, and that was really when we clicked because he had told me how he spent his weeks off, his six
weeks off. It was after a rookie mini camp OTAs that that part of the season, and then he told me he went on a cruise with his family and he said, I didn't realize I was afraid of water until that cruise. Like, that's kind of the wrong time to figure that out, man. So Ever, since then, I go check on him in the locker room, see how he's doing, see how he's feeling. And it was funny because I want to say it was after the Giants game.
I told him, when's your touchdown coming? He said, hopefully soon. I said, yeah, I'll be waiting for it and be right here to talk to you when it happens. So in the following week told him the same thing, and so this week, I'm very excited to go in the locker room be like, look, I'm not saying I predicted this, but he's he is such a hard worker. He was overlooked for so long for how hard he works. Yes,
injury has overshadowed his productivity during his time here. But he's doing everything in his power to stay healthy, and he has talked about that with me multiple times. He's changed how he eats, he changes how he handles post workouts and post practice and how he's taking care of his body. So oh, that is my Rico soapbox for
the day. But Christy, I wanted to talk to you about something because I'm looking back at the play log or at the playlist from yesterday or oh my goodness from Sunday, and there's four fifty eight left in the game.
This is Cowboys.
The Cowboys offense, last drive, essentially, last chance to get the points on the board. There was h Let's see one run, Tony Pollared up the middle for five yards, no huddle, by the way, and then they go no huddle again, Tony puddle, Tony Pollard up the middle for six yards, and then you're on the Arizona five. At this point, shotgun, Tony Pollared up the middle negative two yards and then again Tony Pollard left tackle tackled by Arizona for one yard at that point you're on the
Arizona six. And then the interception happens in the end zone as Dak tries to make a pass to Brandon Cooks. What do you think of the play calling there to run the ball with four minutes left in potentially what you know, could be your last shot.
I thank everyone from the sideline up in the Cowboys radio booths, everybody watching on TV, all the Cowboy fans that at State Farm Stadium?
Why are you running the ball?
O'clock is running?
Well?
Mike McCarthy when asked about it yesterday, he admits, I should have been more aggressive there, so you know, hey, he felt like with the timeouts that he had that they'd be able to get the ball in and then still have time to you know, get done what they need to do. But in hindsight, Mike agrees, you know, should have been more aggressive. Should they have thrown on the second down or the third down play? Well, of course everything's in is twenty twenty and in high insight,
but coaches don't always admit that. But but Mike, Mike did yesterday.
Yeah, I mean he was running the ball because they was giving him.
It goes back to what we said, they're giving.
It to you, you know, And honestly, I mean I wasn't a huge fan of it too, But they had time.
There was time. Yeah, there's not a wrong answer.
When they made the past, when they made the pass to the end zone, at that point, they did have enough time if they wanted to go for two or whatever if they had scored.
So yeah, at that point there was three or three h five left when the past was made.
So I wasn't Personally, I wasn't mad. I wasn't super upset about it, and especially given just how aggressive their dvs have been playing and biting on everything and stuff. I was like, oh, that that makes sense. I mean, you gotta go fast, but it makes sense.
But it wasn't I mean, yeah, we can be critical of it.
Yeah, like you would have wanted him to pass there or whatever. I just I don't want them.
To be scared.
I also like, yeah, but I also feel like in a normal situation to where maybe if the defense was playing like you know, they're capable of playing like they played the first two games of the season. This is obviously not their best showing. You don't want Arizona to have the ball for a long period of time too at that point, knowing kind of where things were with
the defense throughout the rest of the game. So I can understand it from that perspective of you run the ball to kind of kill time because you don't want the Cardinals to.
Have the map back.
It was a two possession game, so you needed to scores, you know, hopefully as quickly as you can.
The thing about it, though, it's one of those things.
If it worked, it would have been great. We wouldn't be talking about it if it worked.
Ernie's Zmpezi, the great play caller for when the greatest in NFL history and spent time in the nineties, you know, winning Super Bowls as the coordinator for the Cowboys, and Ernie always says, you know how you define a good play call?
It works there period. Well, let's take our next break.
When we talk back, We're gonna when we come back, we are going to talk about the Cowboys defense a little bit before we officially turn the page from this loss and move on to all things.
Week four. Stay tuned.
This is Girls Talk, Boys Talk, presented by Jigsaw, the preferred dating partner Dallas Cowbys.
We'll bear it back at Jigsaw Dating. We obviously want the Cowboys to bring that sixth ring home, but to be honest, we're more focused on finding the person who will put a ring on your finger. That's why we created a dating app that reveals your face through meaningful conversation so you can date deeper, because it's personality that matters the most, not looks. Join Jigsaw Dating Today, Dating partner of the Dallas Cowboys.
You know that sound anywhere. It's the crisp crunch, that first Natcho chip with its perfect cheese to sour cream ratio sitting atop a layer of delicious beans. It's a sip away from perfection. That's what we're looking for. Add a delicious, refreshing pepsi, and we've achieved absolute nacho nirvana. Because while you can pile those nachos high with every spicy, cheesy, savory topping, there's no topping a cool Petsy finish nachos better with pepsi.
That's what I like.
Welcome back to our final segment of a Girls Talkboys Talk, presented by Jake South, the preferred dating partner of the Dallas Cowboys. Do you eat, Sleep, and Breathe Dallas Cowboys Football. Well, tell us about it, tell us how you spice up the game for a chance to be named the twenty twenty three Cowboys Fan of the Year, presented by Captain Morgan, and win exclusive prizes plus a trip to Super Bowl fifty eight. Nominate yourself or another today at Dallascowboys dot
com slash Fan of the Year. Okay, let's talk a little bit of defense before we officially close the books on this loss that I think everybody is ready to just kind of turn the page on this week.
A Yasha, you went, Oh my gosh, I love you. You went back, you watched things.
Biggest takeaway from the Cowboys defense obviously run defense. We know we've talked about that. We understand that that was an issue. But again, a very uncharacteristic game. And I think that is the word that describes it the best. By them, What did you get out of it?
They just they just gotta play sound football, Like it sounds really simple, but there was just so many guys like doing other people's jobs and not filling gaps, like they didn't tackle super well. And I just think, like I said, Jaron Kurs said it last. He said it in his postgame interview, he said their will was stronger than ours, and in a lot of instances it was like that they were not the more physical team on that side of the ball, and that it just never
came to fruition for them. I will say that in the second half there did seem like there were some adjustments made. They came out there, they got the stop at first of the third quarter, then to Cavante Turpin, that's that big return and it gets called back, but they I mean, I think Arizona scored on that big play and that was it for them that in that half.
So they buckled down and they played better ball. But there were times that there were times that they did play straight up and they looked like the better team, but it just was I don't know, man, it was
just it was it was weird. You had guys like jay Ron Curse like getting turned around, and it's just it just never felt like they It just never felt like they were they were mentally in it, and I just never I don't know if I've ever seen them play that undisciplined in that way as far as their assignment. So I think they'll pick it up turn around. Yeah, I think they'll pay.
Oh yeah, I think they'll pick it up. Oh yeah, yeah.
Dan Quinn used his verbiage yesterday really spoke to I know, me and Jesse.
He said, it hurt him, you.
Know, just how things came to fruition, and but I do want to say that I do believe and it just is what it is. And I know that everyone's like, next man up. Dan Quinn alluded to this and everything. I do think that emotionally they would that there was a rough emotional week for these guys, especially at the end of the week.
So we'll see.
Give them some time left them, let them regroup and go out there and play, you know, play their ball, play the play ball the way they're supposed to. Because this this wasn't this wasn't it.
Yeah, And I love what dan Quinn said, and it goes to what you said, this wasn't characteristic of the cowboys, and like you say, that's what really hurt him. He he said, what really hit me, like five fingers across the face, was you guys didn't look like your defense right. They weren't playing fast they you know, And he also noted we'll grow from this. I have no doubt at all, but he said it was misfitting. They weren't in their fits right, and so that's the before you can make that.
You got to be in the right place. You got to you got to be in the gap, right. You got to handle the backside if they and so if you're not alignment assignment, if you're not, if you're not in your fits, then not only are you not going to make the play, but they're gonna they're gonna get through and into the you know, uh second part and
then through your defensive backfield. So yeah, and he also said what really hurt us was the five big runs that he says the explosives in the first half, they weren't due to physicality, they were due to job assignments. It's not in your fit, not in the gap right, not doing your job. And the one other thing I want to say is because on that one long pass play to Wilson, I believe it was and we saw Malik Hooker chasing and stuff, and so Wilson was on it like in the left slot, gets the release, no
one carries him. He ends up getting making the catch across the field left to right, and Malik Hooker chases him down and saves the touchdown. But huge play, And he said that that was not Hooker. It was good for MALIEK. Cooker just to even catch him, to make the the tackle to save the touchdown. But just because it's the guy that's chasen to make it doesn't mean
that that was his guy. So he you know, he's not going to call out what specifically happened on the play, but I know a lot of us assume, oh weak, it wasn't even his guy. I also liked, yeah, yeah, it was a lack of communication. You're exactly right.
And I also liked that Dan was quick to you mentioned that the Cowboys only missed six tackles during his game, So it wasn't a bad tackling game.
It just wasn't their best game.
If you're not if you're not in your fit to make the tackle.
Yeah you can't. Yeah, you can't.
Defensive line. Defensive line, you know, square, square your feet. Yeah, play your assignment, guys, you know, play for your brother. Because there was a lot of uh, it was a lot of guys. They talked about it last year, you know, earning the earning the opportunity to rush the passer and to and so I really did think that a lot of guys were getting a field. They were really I mean even the nose tackles, even like the dts were just so fast off the ball. Just looking for them
to be a little bit more patient. And and yeah, and yes.
We had OsO Diggi Zoo on last night on the Cowboys Hour, the Miller like Cowboys Hour, and you know he was he was straight up with yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, but and we were, you know, we shared some of the things that because it was right after dan Quinn's post press conference Monday afternoon press conference, and so a lot of the things that he told the media are basically the same things that he's you know, the players they all know, yeah, you know, and Osa said basically
the same things. Hey, we're going to grow from this. We make the corrections and you can't get too high or to like you know a lot of them are just kind of the same maxims and truisms that you hear week to week. But but no, I mean, you're right, it's personal.
It's personal because these guys when they because they love them some dan Quinn, they play for him and to hear and for each other yes, ma'am.
And for them to.
Say to know he was that disappointed in their performance, I think it makes a huge difference.
And that's why go ahead.
And I also think though he wasn't just dissipate pointed in their performance, he was disappointed in his performance as a coach as well, tracking because he also took accountability for his part in the loss. So that's another thing that I appreciate about Dan Quinn is he's not sitting there saying it was.
All your fault. Ohsa, it was all your fault. Don know.
He's not pointing fingers, he's not throwing anybody under the bus. He first thing he said was I take accountability for what I did wrong as a coach and setting my guys up to not be you know, prepared enough. And that went across the board yesterday anything.
Yeah, right, okay, I tried.
It's okay.
If anything that you can take away from yesterday's coordinator and coordinator press conferences and then Micha McCarthy as they all took accountability. There was not one that didn't take accountability for me.
Yeah, And I love I love what John Fossil said. John Fossil, the special teams coordinator who put the little Yorkie in the y man. So in regards to the sixty two yard field goal that Matt Prater hit at, which I mean, when you have to kick the ball that far, it's going to be a very low trajectory. I can tell yeah, I've in twenty five years on the sideline, I've never seen one that low.
It looks.
I don't think it ever got like eighteen to twenty feet off the ground. Seriously, the crossbars ten feet up, all right, and that ball was fair. It didn't have much art art to it, right, it was. It was pretty much a line drive. But here's the thing. When field goal kickers have to do longer attempts, then it has to be more line drive. They have to get more strength behind it. It's not going to be some high arching kick. Well that's when that's when it's ripe
for blocks, right, So get your hands up. And so one of the things that John Fossil said was he wished that he had done a different call on that. He says, I could have made a call where I had one more hand up there, and I wish I had I had made that call. Now would it have resulted in a block. Well, we'll never know, but I love that Bones speaks to the media, you know that we get to hear special teams as well as offense and defense. And he's the most honest, you know, free
flowing guy out there. He's so much fun to listen to. But when you talk about accountability, it's like, man, I wish I just I wish I had that callback and what if I would have done this?
Yeah, and now that everyone is taking accountability.
Yeah, apply it apple, see you adjust.
I mean I thoroughly enjoyed, you know, hearing them own up to some of the mistakes. It's it's always rewarding for someone like me, especially that because I'm still learning to go in there and be able to speak to them and they reassure me in a way that what I'm seeing on film is correct. Is I think that's It's one of the most valuable things I get from this. And I'm like, okay, okay, boss, Like you told me that this is something that you want to work on
and that is fixed, and that's the good thing. Like we talked about, though, it was a.
Lot of a lot of the things that we saw rear their head.
This week are fixable things. There are things that can be corrected. They're not guys just getting your guys are not just getting beat out there. And so we'll definitely get to see, you know, how this defense adjusts and then how this offense adjust as well, and even special teams.
I got something to share with the viewers and the listeners who if you love, if you love to learn about football and break things down Bill Belichick. Obviously, the Patriots come into town and Bill is notorious for not giving anything to media that would be just be the worst to have to cover that team, but he does, he does do it.
He's he supports.
I won't I won't say who was at at and T Stadium back in the spring to see Taylor Swift m m wow mm hmmm. So I didn't say that.
He was also see he saw multiple shows. He's a he's a swiftie.
So here's the thing.
But one thing that he does do and if you if you're a football junkie, you'll enjoy this. And even if you're not a junkie but you just want to learn a little bit. On the New England Patriots site, you go to video multimedia, just like when you go to Dallas Cowboys dot com. But it's called Belichick Breakdown, and so his coaches showed that he does each week.
It's him and a host and it's Bill at a teleprompter and they'll be I'm sorry, not a teleprompter, I tell a straighter and he he'll do about five or six plays from the previous game. So Belichick Breakdown, you'll find it on the video. I've already watched the one from their win over the Jets fifteen to ten. They're
one and two now on the season. But it's really it's really cool, and he doesn't go into a lot of coach speak, but here's one of the greatest football coaches of all time and he's breaking down plays and.
So you know when you can pick up a little nugguget, Yeah, well I love that. Thank you Christy for that. You know what, We are officially turning the page.
Here onlease Cardinals.
Who are they? We don't know, don't know?
You know, the ones with the win over the goal, the ones that we want to beat, the forty nine ers this weekend.
That's how we know them, and that's it. That's the only affiliation we have with them from here on out until the next time they have to play them.
Other than that, we're going to turn the page here on the podcast. Starting tomorrow, we're going to talk about all things Cowboys Patriots week four, talking about a little bit of a homecoming for two guys you may or may not remember, Will Greer and Ezekiel Elliott. We're gonna talk about some nuggets we got from the coordinators and coaches.
From that, we will give you the latest injury report and practice report.
You know that you're real when tay Girls Talkboys Talk. We got you covered. Thank you all so much for listening. Thank you ladies for talking ball with us every day. Love doing it. Thank you guys again. Go have a great day and we will see you tomorrow. This has been Girls Talkboys Talk, presented by JIGSA, the preferred dating partner of the Dallas Cowboys. Have a fantastic, amazing, incredible day. Goodbye.
This has been a production of Dallascowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.