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Surprise, it's not named Newton, Jesse Holly, Shannon Gross and Kurt Daniels. But we will tell you who is here on our White Elephant week on Hanging with a Boy to call Yeah.
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Turn me up, let's go. I'm about that. Oh yeah, and you were listening to what is it you are? Shannon? This is Jazz. This is Nick Harris in the back of Christopher Beemer.
There we go.
Hi, am Josh Rodriguez you're listening to Hanging with the Boys, the sports talk equivalent of Brielley with the Boys and Goal Poe metaphorically, when we.
Speak, there we go. Chris asked Jesse, asked Jess how he did?
I missed it?
Asked Jesse how he did?
How we do? Jesse?
Practice?
Practice practice? Okay, I tried to do a tone down version because I think the only way you can go is down from Jesse. You know what I'm saying, like, you have to tone it down. I can't go to that. If you're going into the bye week needing some practice, You're not the only one around here.
And just to say shots, we are brought to them each and every day by Wing Stop Flavor gets its way. Yeah, we got.
Practice.
We all listen to all shows either. So, but how does it feel to sit in the seats of the number one rated podcast on the Dallas Cowboys Network.
It's funny because you guys have more podcasts than everybody else. So it's funny how that number works out.
You know, we have more podcasts than everybody.
Literally, they're more Hanging with the Boys podcast, We're all they're like twenty that last there's only two more So let's not let's oh Josh, okay, okay, you're sharing right sometimes Okay, the mood, so we're talking about quantity.
I didn't know we were coming on the air and starting to throw rocks at people, like.
I'm just here to talk ball.
Yeah the show.
By the way, I didn't know we're here.
And he's like, so the number one show, that's a fact.
That's a fact. Apparently we have more shows than everybody. So that's an excuse you can use until next week.
The number of episodes.
Yes, all right, let's go.
It's fair enough.
All right.
The second best fight between radio hosts today.
Wow them? So how do let's go around? By the way, let's enter. Everybody kind of entered. Everybody should know me and Josh because we're we're interact on the show all the time on this show. So for the people that don't know, Nick, introduce yourself. Sorry, let me introduce the lady on the show. First, Jazz introducer.
I'm Jazz Money from Girls Talk, Boys Talk Okay, anything else I should share? No, this is my first season doing this with the Dallas Cowboys. I've had my own podcast on YouTube for a while.
Oh nice, So I would say yes, normally, but the last year we had these, I tried to get to know everyone on the air, and it was the two worst shows I've ever done in my life because there was I was like, I don't really know these people, Let's get to know each other. Where are you from?
What are you doing?
It was terrible radio. So that's that works perfectly, So thank you.
Okay, all right, I'm gonna use that you a shortened sweet.
I'm to Carris.
I'm on the Break formerly of Dallas Cowboys dot Com now with the four star Tillgram and Josh.
For folks that don't know who you are, I just.
Kind of work here, man, you know what I mean. I've pushed a couple of buttons in the back and that's why asked me yesterday.
He was like, who's Josh? And I'm like, he's just always doing something very important. But he's always in the room with Beam, always doing something very important. Go introduce yourself and this is fair. This is fair a vip of sorts.
No, not note at all, And you're on which shows Escape by Talking Cowboys, the flagship podcast on the Dallascowboys dot Com radio network.
Baby apparently with two less shows than us every month.
So just a couple less shows and it just was a weird month because of you kind of training camp. And anyways, no excuses, no excuses. You guys are number one.
You take us live and man, we've been working for that for ten years. Let us have our moment.
You take it your number one podcast. I'm happy to be I'm honored. I'm honored to be on hanging for you.
Sit and keep pushing those buttons because the button pushers in the back wind up doing big things with this organization. So everyone gets out of the basement Jesus except Chris.
Chris Chris.
So yeah, all right, let's talk some football.
Let's beef man, Jazz.
Let's start with you. We're going into the bye week. What were your expectations going into the season, Where are they now and where do you think this team is going to end up at the end of the year.
Oh lord, where it started, where it's going.
With my expectations coming into the season, I wanted to see what Zim was going to do with the defense. With the reputation that he had for being like a no nonsense guy. I wanted to see how that would pair with what honestly, like, I'm one of those people I like to go back to this is what this person said, and I was singing about Michael Parsons podcast. Now he's all like, I want to be a leader and hold people accountable, and I'm like, how's that going
to work with this guy? So I was expecting to see a much like a very disciplined defense that was like really on top of their game.
From the offense.
I was expecting a lot more comfort with Michae McCarthy assistance their second year in a lot of the same players, and so far, it's.
Honestly been unpredictable.
I can't think of a single thing that's actually been consistent this entire season. So it's really hard to evaluate them on every week as a whole. That we could go back to this last game that we just saw and talk about how disappointed we are in just about
everything except for Brandon Aubrey. But I definitely expected at least some consistency in some sense, especially as much as Mike McCarthy emphasizes things like complimentary football and everything that he said about, you know, wanting to work on the run game and just going into the season knowing Okay, our biggest problems for the Cowboys are their ability to stop the run and to run the ball, And I'm just like, Okay, that's like football basics, So they're going
to get better at that, right And even with the inconsistencies, it feels like in that area not so much. So I'm hoping during the bye week that something happens. I know Dak said that he was going to lick at things that they could do to work on. I'm like, I don't know what that means, because you're a quarterback, not a coach last time I checked. But like I I'm trying to be optimistic and just wait and see
what happens when they come back. Maybe that game was like the reality check a lot of people needed, and they'll come back as a totally different team.
You could have that was great. You could have really just summed up the whole thing by saying the part where you said everything but our kicker. Whenever your kicker is the strongest thing that you can talk about, then you know the team is in complete disarray.
Yeah, he's like got a record now for like most consecutive field goals, and I'm like, that's not really the flex that we really want this season.
When you're talking about your kicker, it is the high point of the season so far. That's not a great thing.
So better than the punter, I guess.
Yeah, I guess. So it could be a little worse or your deep snap deep say deep snapper, if he wasn't the.
Kicker that he is, it would be the punter with some record.
It probably would be. So what about you?
No time to give trend Sek his flowers?
Honestly, honestly, he needs to get that Pro Bowl node for me whatever, I was looking at the twenty twenty three season and as a holistic approach, you know, looking at and being poor Beam. He's heard the same point from me one hundred million times on the brink. This team was not tough in twenty twenty three. It lacked toughness, It lacked physicality. You saw losses against the Bills, the Cardinals,
the forty nine Ers, the Packers. There was a common theme with all of them in the sense that they were getting blown off the line, they were getting thrown off rhythm and timing in the secondary, and it was
just they were overmatched physically. You come into this season and honestly, I expected that to increase a little bit, like to your point, getting Mike Zimmer into the building, bringing in a guy like Eric Kendricks, you know, focusing in on what DeMarcus Lawrence had kind of said over the offseason about wanting to be a more physical team.
And then we see that out on the field in these first three games against the Browns, Saints and then the Ravens, and the physicality and the toughness somehow decreased. And then you look on the offensive side of the ball. Yes, you lose Tyron Smith, but and you have two rookies starting up front, but there is no reason why in some of these games that they are being outmatched as a physically as they are.
And then it all just kind of came.
Crashing down against the Lions, and you saw all of those problems really just kind of supersede. And it was a microcosm of what this team has been over the course of the last two years. Not a physical football team, not tough, and in this game specifically, not disciplined, and we've seen that come about over and over and over again.
I came into the season understanding that the ceiling the expectations the ceiling for this team was a lot lower than it was in twenty twenty three, but I still expected that ceiling to be they will be among the NFC contenders. They'll have a shot right at the end to make the NFC Championship. Whereas last year, I thought their ceiling was to be able to get to a Super Bowl. I think everyone believed that going into the
year and even going into the playoffs. Last year, I think some people would tell you, Hey, there was a shot for this team to make the Super Bowl if things fell right, and they did fall right, they wouldn't have had to go to San Francisco until the NFC Championship game.
But that's neither here nor there. Looking at twenty twenty four.
I thought the expectation would be, Hey, the ceiling for this team is to make an NFC Championship. I'm looking at it now, and I think the ceiling for this team is just to make the playoffs. I think right now I'm firmly looking at it. Eight to nine or nine and eight squad by the end of the.
Year, in any win in their future in the playoffs, if they get there, I don't, Yeah, why I'm done.
I don't believe so. I don't believe so, but you, Josh, I think that's a fair assessment. At least my expectations coming into the season. I definitely thought that we were going to struggle in the first half. I thought it was going to be a struggle getting used to Mike Zimmer's defense, especially the fact that you don't have the personnel for a Mike Zimmer defense. It wasn't a plug and play situation when it came to Mike Zimmer. These guys were gonna have to learn it on the fly.
The fact that you had all of these injuries on top of that, Not to give any excuses at all, because all of the same issues that we had from last year are now exacerbated. You can't beat good teams. You're not winning. You're no longer winning at home on the road is sus You got away with a win in Pittsburgh, and now, at least looking at it, like Harris just said, you're not a physical football team. You're
not going to grit your way to a win Pittsburgh. Notwithstanding, I don't understand how we got out of that with a win. I think they just stopped running the ball for whatever inexplicable reason, and we happen to get that win, but I expected a struggle up until the bye week. After the bye week, I was like, Okay, this is a get right time. And granted we're still three and three right now, but I did not expect any of the losses in the first half of the season to
be as dramatic as they've been. We've just looked horrendous at home. It's really disheartening. However, you have people coming back. You have Michael coming back, you have DeMarcus Lawrence coming back. They're not season ending injuries by any means. And you have to Ron Bland on the horizon too, who almost went in this game, and I think they sort of were like, all right, we need to take a step back.
This game is not looking good on all fronts. You have one of the scariest running tandems in the league coming to a t T stadium and it's not going to be fun. We don't know how to stop the run at all, So to me, it's sort of power for the course. However, I'm did not expect the losses to be as bad as they were. I expected a
losing record by this time in the season. Now, looking at the rest of the season, you look at the Falcons, you look at the Texans, the Commanders, even it's like, Okay, this is not as downhill as I thought it was going to be. And you have some really tough teams ahead of you that are literally tough, whereas we are kind of looking for that. And I don't think there is an identity on this team. We've talked about this on Talking Cowboys, of course, but what can you really point to?
Unfortunately, I think there is, and it's that they're soft. Unfortunately, use that word lightly, my friend. I know, I know, and that was that was told. Unfortunately, I think that is the identity that's being created around this team.
But yeah, yeah, I think one of your points is you could see this team before the season started being have a losing record. You're at five hundred, but you would almost I mean, you feel bad about that five hundred. It's not a positive five hundred. It's like we're very lucky to be five hundred.
If the Steelers had a better game plan, they would they should have won that game. We'd looked, we genuinely looked so bad. If they would have just kept running the ball. I think that's a different story. But you know you are what your record says you are, right.
Don't ask a question, No, you can't ask questions.
Of course, I kind of want to dive into this word soft, like when you say that, what do you what do you mean by soft? Because I feel like that could refer to a few different things, like physically.
Obviously people have been talking about the mistackles, but then I was also thinking about the fact that we all mentioned things that were happening last year that either didn't improve or got worse this year, And so it kind of makes me wonder when people are using that word, is it also like a mental thing where when they talk about how mentally tucked they are and resilient and all this work that they do over the off season for like emotional improvement and ways to mentally approach the game,
is it maybe not working or not having the desired effect? What are you thinking of when you use that word?
Yeah, I just want to see it translated to the field. And in these games where the Cowboys have gotten in these early deficits, they have not been able to claw back. And the entire time that Mike McCarthy has been head coached, they've only overcome two double digit deficits only twice, and only once since the twenty twenty season. There was one game in the twenty twenty season where they were able to make up some ground, but it was in a
game where both backup units were playing. So really, in essence one time, that speaks some mental toughness being able to overcome early deficits. And so when you look at the Detroit game and you're down ten three, seventeen to three right there in the early beginnings, Hey, I can go ahead and start writing this story, you know, because it's we haven't seen this team be able to overcome
those challenges. And even in Green Bay Againstkreem Bay last year, once it got to twenty one three, we're all looking around like, dang, this is over.
So I just want to see it translated.
Do I think that some of these guys in the locker room are mentally and or physically tough, Absolutely, But I don't think as a unit that they are, And I think it needs to be translated. In two games, we haven't seen that happen yet.
Breaking news real quick before you get back into that.
Wow.
Yes, Former Cowboy Amari Cooper has been traded to the Buffalo Bills. Reports say, thanks Chris for the breaking news. And I think Nick, that goes back several years. What it means to me is, I think of this one. I don't remember the game. It was I think three years ago and maybe four years ago now, Beam you may remember. And the backup quarterback was in I believe it was in I want to say we were playing Cleveland or someone like that, and he just got murdered.
He slid and a guy came in high hit him with a forearm, and not one offensive lineman went over there to even help him up, like the man could have was Andy Dalton. Yeah it was Andy Dalton. And to me that's.
Been It was the Washington game by the Washington Yeah it was Washington. Like your offensive lineman should have been over there getting fifteen yard penalties left and right, defending the even though he's the backup.
Right, like taking up for your your your teammate doing. And I see some signs of dog on this team, Jordan Lewis, you know, I think Smith, I think Demarian's got some of that. But I also see some guys that are just like they almost seem like they're over it. You know. It's almost like that this is what we do. We show up and then there's no ramifications for not doing your job and missing tackles and not sticking your nose in there and things like that. And I think
that's contagious. And I think when when there's no you know, when you're you're supposedly leaders. And I'm not pointing specific names, but I think it's a you get that feel as the team as a whole.
It's miscrocosm of all of that.
Yeah, like you look at the lines and you know you're gonna get hit, even the offensive line, you're gonna get manhandled. Even when we had really good offensive lines, you didn't feel like there was Lyell he was a maler, Right, you just don't. That's what I say whenever you see and you're right. It can mean a lot of different things, but I think of just to me, it's a mentality of like, you're not going to push us around, and when you do, you know you're gonna we're gonna push back.
And there's not a lot of that to me.
Yeah, I don't like to use the word soft, but like yesterday I was driving around and the word that I did think of I think would actually align with what y'all are saying, which was it I went back to win. After the Green Bay game, they were called front runners because I just kept thinking about the fact that it's like, Okay, they got down early, right, but they still had opportunities, at least in terms of time
to come back and do something. Had they kind of gotten it together and been like, all right, we didn't start well, but like, let's let's rite the ship now. But it felt like they just gave up so early. I felt like, right, the ship, oh the shipka like with the sale.
Yes, fix it.
But it felt like they gave up so early, and like they just didn't have any answers. They had nothing to resort to on either side of the ball to say like, Okay, here's what we're gonna do now. And I watch a lot of sports, right, and there are a few tennis players that I like, Serena Williams Coco gov They both have the sing about.
Them where when they start to lose sometimes.
They'll get like aggressive, and you can tell that, like I don't know if they're mad at their opponent or they're mad at themselves or just mad at this, but it's like they will turn it up like there's a fire lit under them when they see that they're not
playing to the level they want to play to. A lot of my favorite athletes are like that, And I guess to your point, that's just one of the things that I don't see and what you were saying about leaders like Deon Sanders, he differentiates leaders from dogs, right. He talks about leaders being an example of what you're supposed to do, when dogs being an example of what
attitude you're supposed to have. And if you ever, like look at the Colorado jerseys, some of them have an L and some of them have a D. That's how he identifies who, so you can kind of tell. And so I do think that there are some dogs on the team, but none of them are like also leaders. And so at the end of the day, people follow leaders, so it's up to them to kind of set the tone if that's what they want the team to be.
Like, I think so too and soft is a very operative for it. I mean, I don't want to be like, yeah, sawft, these guys are swaft. I think when it comes to the Cowboys and how they get down early and how that translates for the rest of the game. It kind of feels like PTSD in a way. It feels like all of it, Even in the press box, all of us are thinking back to that wild card game that really just broke the team, you know, it really just
demolished us inside it out. Granted we weren't playing well in December leading up to that game either, but to me, when like you just said, you're down ten to three against the Lions and then everybody's thinking, oh no, oh no, like it's happening again, and it is a self fulfilling prophecy in that moment, and the guys aren't stepping above what they're expected to do because they're accepting it. They're accepting,
oh no, this is just gonna. I know, I've seen this movie before, and this is what's gonna And.
It's gotta be a terrible feeling for those guys when they look turn the tape on and they look what they're about to play that week, and they know they just don't have the personnel that too. They don't have you know, even if they play their their best game, they've got to make a lot of mistakes on their side. For us to win. So it's got to be defeating no way, especially when you're down as me. I mean,
I don't know. I know people have a opinions, but I don't know if anybody could have coached that team to not lose by twenty with all the injuries they had in that game. I mean, if you look at the injury report, especially on defense, it's like, Okay, how
do you deal with this? But it's got to be And I bet that compounds too as an athlete on a team in a team sport, you know, the biggest of all team sports, where everybody has to do their job to know you're out matched and whatever you're trying and whatever's happening, you're just you just can't get it done. It's got to just you know, and you see it on their faces in the third and fourth quarter.
It's just like, yeah, but here's what I'll say to that. Yeah, on paper, it didn't look like they were supposed to win. But teams that aren't supposed to win on paper, they are able to pull off miracles all the time. It happens all the time. That's where the phrase any given Sunday comes from.
And yes, but for that to happen, you have to play a team that's either unprepared or underestimated.
Do you have to have a really good day, which is what they needed.
So like they did not have a good day.
They not at all.
Yes, they had some injuries, and anybody could point to those entries, but it's like you could also even point to some of the things that were in the right direction leading up to the game, and they didn't even do that well. I like, I listened to a lot of people's predictions for that game, and even the people who predicted that the Cowboys would lose didn't think that it was gonna go like that. And that's what I think the bigger problem is. I don't think it's just
that they lost. I think it's the way they lost that This is literally a historical loss for the Dallas Cowboys, and even with the people who are on the field, there's no excuse for that. Like there's no excuse for Dak Prescott to be throwing off his back foot the entire game. I can hardly think of a throw that he was even able to step into what was going on in the run game, Like even Mike McCarthy didn't have answers.
He's like, yeah, Recoa should touch the ball more.
Okay, well what if yeah, if only the play caller agreed with you. Oh wait, you know, or like even on the defensive side, like so many misstackles, like just so many of the of the disciplinary issues that they have been talking about all season in terms of people doing their job, not playing hero ball, Like all of
a sudden, those things are coming back. So it was just like, even for what they put on the field, they didn't even rise to the ocsion considering that group and what we've seen from them in that regard, even if you just look at the fact that going into that game, the way that that seeding Lamb's numbers were looking against man coverage, I was like, Okay, if he can at least do that and they can improve on that just a little bit, like they should be all right. No,
every every single thing was worse. And I think that's the part that people are looking at when they're like, Okay, that's that's what's making people say, why isn't Mike McCarthy's jobbing question.
I'm not saying that it should be.
I'm just saying that that's why a lot of people are saying those things.
That's why the discourse is there exactly.
And I thought discourse was an app used on the internet to talk about videos. Sorry, let's take our first break. When we come back, we'll talk some more. What is this team's identity? Josh brought it up earlier. We'll get everybody's opinion on that and more when we come back. On Hanging with the Boys and girls?
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I just texted them you up in non text. That's a game they could win, big Golf, sir.
Yeah, it is a game.
That's a game they could win too.
It's a good game. It'd be fun. See Joey Burrow and come in here. All right, let's see six weeks in.
Yeah, I can't.
I don't have any identity at all for this team. This was this was a point that you you wanted to bring up, so you what is your your take on this team? Do they have an identity?
You know? And then we just talked about it, and I'm still not of the idea that the Cowboys are soft quite yet. I think the identity was supposed to be that the offense was going to carry you. Dak was going to be you know, for god, he was going to go out there and do his thing right. He had the same offense that you did last year, the same play caller, and they were going to start cooking.
You had the first five weeks of last year that looked exactly like the rest of the season, right, and then they got it back together after the charge, they picked it up. They were able to scheme players open, you know, and CD was just going bonkers. But now you have the season where this Lion's game. Correct me if I'm wrong. This was the best second half CD has had all year long. By matter of the fact that he only caught more than two balls in this
second half. CD has not been playing very well and we're six weeks in. You can't blame it on training camp, you really cannot. It's six weeks into your regular season. He should be on in sync with Dak Prescott, and you see it in their press conferences. They're all talking about you know, yeah, look in the mirror. We got to look in the mirror. We got to see the take accountability for how we're playing and the details.
Right.
Well, they're all in sync on that front, but you're not seeing it on the field. You're seeing CD and Jake Ferguson run into each other on routes. It to me, it's just not necessarily soft. It's just they're they're not in sync. They're not playing with the same idea in mind getting on the field at least that's what it looks like.
Right.
You only can judge the results, not the intent. So as far as I'm sitting here, I it just blank John Doe for me. As far as the identity of this team, it's a cadaver with a toe tag on it.
Oh wow, just kind of add on, Ceedee Lamb. In the first five games and second halfs five receptions for twenty four yards. In this game it was three receptions for forty three.
Yards, so doubled it, almost almost doubled it. Three receptions though, and that's his best half second half.
So did you just Josh refer to the Cowboys as being in a body bag for the second half of the season. You said they're cadaver with a toe tag. So are you writing them off? Or they done? They did?
I said this was after the Ravens game. I said, if you lost any of the next three games, I would be hitting the panic button any of the next three Pittsburgh, New York and the Lions. I am firmly Why the Lions? Why the Lions? Like, let's just say it was a close loss. You still would have felt that way. I still would have felt that way. Why Because after the Ravens loss, you can't look like that again. If it was a close loss, maybe I would have
been a little hesitant on it, but it was. It was what I expected out of the Lions loss.
I felt better if it had been a close game because I think the Lions have a legit shot of going to the super Bowl in the NFC after seeing what they're there. Yeah and there, you know, especially the weapons they have on offense and you know, but barring injuries.
My thing was you, to me, the real test on the schedule, the demon in the closet that's been haunting you for the last five years as the San Francisco
forty nine Ers. Yeah, you have them on your schedule right after the bye WEEKI to me, it was like, you need to stack wins and then prove that you can beat the forty nine ers for you to kind of get by against You defeated the Giants, fine, but to kind of get by against the Steelers and then to drop yet another disciplin pointing home loss to the Lions, to me, that just says, yeah, this team's just not it. It's not ready.
All about you, Nick identity wise, Yeah, if we're looking for something positive, I don't think it's been I don't think it's been figured out at all. Like I said, if there was, if there was an identity that I had to place on this team right now, is that they're not physically uh, they're not physically tough. And and that's that's proven in games that they've lost and even
in some games that they've won. You could look back to a to a couple last year, but even this year, specifically looking at the Pittsburgh game, second half, offense couldn't find anything. I mean, if that's an incomplete pass on that fourth down to Jalen Tolbert, we're having a different conversation about that Pittsburgh game too. You know, that was a game that they were outmatched physically, but they were
still able to find a win. I think that's probably where the mental toughness probably came in came into the equation, especially after losing Marshaw Kneeland on the fourth play of the game and you're already down too. Edge rushers and those guys on the ends did step up. That's probably where the mental toughness did come into play. But I think from a physical standpoint, you have guys that are
not willing to tackle out in open space. You have past protection issues, and it's trickling down to all five guys, including Zach Martin, who had the worst game of his career against the Lions.
It's not a tough football team. That's my identity right now.
About you, Jazz I also don't have a very positive word for their identity. Earlier this season, the question was asked, who's to blame for the cowboys rough start? And at that time I said it was a players, because the players were saying it was a players. Every bit of sound you heard from them was then pointing to each other. You know, Mike is saying guys need to step up, Jay Lou saying that, you know, guys need to do their job, Cavante.
Saying people need to be on their p's and q's.
Everybody was pointing to the other guys in the locker room and themselves. Right, So, if I follow that same trend of going by what they're saying, then their identity is that they're unprepared, because that's.
What they're saying now.
Dak is saying that they can't just show up on Sunday and they need to prepare better and Mike McCarthy even when he was asked about it, he's like, oh, well, it doesn't mean they're not practicing hard, they're just not practicing well. And I'm like, okay, that's still not great. Yeah, So they're unprepared on the field and off the field.
It seems like they all know the right things to say, and they fall in line behind Mike McCarthy, Like when Dak said, well, I don't care to share the message that he that he gave us, I'm like, well, we all know what it is, because like three of you have said it now.
It was look in the mirror.
We know.
And so like you hear that mirrord, But how often do you hear people really say what?
What exactly does that mean?
And it sounds good in theory when when we think, okay, they're gonna they're gonna go self scout, they're going to like really examine what they need to do better as an athlete in order to show up as their best selves.
But we don't really know, you know. So they're unprepared and they say the right things.
After the fat they're saying the right things. And I loved what Tommy Irish asked Dak Prescott after the game where he said it's like, okay, well, you know, looking in the mirror, what do you want to see in your reflection when you go go up to San Francisco. And Dak was a little puzzled by the question first, and he's like, you know, that's a really good question, and I think that kind of sums it up. It's like, yeah, you have the right answer, but what are the results? Man? Are the results?
You have to take action with that.
And I'm glad you brought that up because this past postgame press conference was probably the first time I remember ever seeing Dak Prescott looking like he was at a loss for what to say because it was that one. And also when he said that they needed to prepare better and somebody was like, well, that was the problem two weeks ago, and he was like two weeks ago, and I'm like I'm watching this. I'm like, yes, Dak, you said that two weeks ago, and apparently it's still
a problem. So yeah, there were a couple of moments during that press conference that he just seemed like he just wasn't prepared for the question.
If there's preparation problems, if there's practice problems, then there are foundational issues around how they operate on a daily basis, and that just that gives me a little bit more pessimism about how an entire season can go. When you're already six games in and you're talking about key foundational things that you start your campaign with that you started in with OTA, when you started with Mini Camp, it's like, Okay, hey, young guys, Hey new guys that are in the building,
this is how we prepare every single day. This is how we attack the day. That's what OTAs in Mini Camp is there for. So that when you do get to training camp, when you do get in the season, there's an expectation that you don't have to go over. Now we're in the bye week, they're going to be coming out of the bye week just now trying to put these things in and even if they do get them in place within three four weeks, that's not an overnight process. And then by then you're looking at the
back half of a schedule. You have a lot more games already under your belt. By that point, then you have left. So I just it's going to take a really intentional coaching job and a really intentional approach by the players to be able to correct the issues that they have from a foundational standpoint going into the rest of the season. If they want to reach that ceiling that they had coming into the year.
Let's talk about what they can do between now and Yes, Well.
I wanted to hear what you had to say about Well, we.
Got to go to break. We're talking too much, y'all. It's fine because I'm getting to know you you through this. Yeah, we'll be right back. We'll get to meet with more of me on the third segment of Hanging with the Boys. Will be right back.
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Seed Geek. Welcome back to the final segment of Hanging with the Boys, brought to you each and every day by Jigsaw, the proud dating partner of the Dallas Cowboys.
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A chance, I mean, like, not.
Right, it's not this minute today.
A chance.
Not a chance before we get to what they can do to show up against and show out against San Francisco. What you had a question for me? You were gonna let me talk.
No, I wanted. I wanted you to to kind of give your answer for the identity of the team and at least, uh, just a bit, just give me a bit. And we talked a little bit off air.
But yeah, I mean, tell the people you don't have one, like, you don't have a passing game. Your passing game is not existent. You're you're the people, the two people you paid all the money to or not for whatever reason. And there's many reasons that everyone would like to know and pinpoint what it is. But you don't have a passing game, you don't have a running game at all. It's running back by committee. I think we were all everybody was worried about that going into the season, right
because it's not fixed. It's not fixed. You're not gonna I don't think you're gonna fix it. I think Rico Dubtell is a good running back. I don't think he's he's not going to be able to do anything with what's around it, right. I think he's a good supplemental guy, but he's I mean, could Derrick Henry come in here. I know everybody talked about that, they wanted him in the off season. They still would he have even been made a difference on this team because your offensive line
is the way they are. So I think they're probably frustrated and there they don't even know what the identity is. There's no you know, it's not a defensive team. You're giving up forty points a game when you lose. You're not a You're not a home team, You're not an on the road team. You're I mean I don't think you have one, and I don't know if they're going
to figure it out. I don't This may just be one of those years where it's like, let's just get through the year, right, Let's just get from game to game. And because I think what makes this year different and feels different as from a fans perspective, is every other year there were things that were wrong and you had hope. I think this year, I don't know if there's any hope right now. I think it's like it is what
it is. And you know, even when you say, well, when Micah comes back and when Tank comes back, and like years probably fixed, they're not fixed right in the past, you would think like that's gonna make a difference. And I feel like the fans probably feel like there's a lot more going on. Like you said, there's foundational things, and what have caused those I don't know. But even when the guys, like you said, when they go and they talk after the game, I think they're looking for answers,
they're trying to figure out what the identity is. So you know, there's just a lot a lot of questions, man, this early in the season. That's the thing. Six games in and you're life. You know what's what's next. And I think going out, you have to play a good game against San Francisco or you're gonna lose the team, You're gonna lose the fan base. You're I mean, you may not even you may not win, but you can't do what you did against Detroit because I mean, then
these shows aren't going to be any fun. Like you know, we're gonna be talking about you know, dating apps and upside down pineapples. So I mean, you know, what, what do you guys think? And anybody feel free to jump in on this one. What what do they have to do? Well, let me ask you guys this. Do you guys feel
like the seasons? I mean, anything can happen in the NFL. Right, We've seen a year every year there's a team that starts off terrible and they come on strong at the end of the year and they figured out, Yes, you could do that. You have the tools to do that, right, you just have to figure out how things work. And you know, hopefully those guys are still plugging away and they feel that way. So anything can happen in the NFL.
You can get hot. Look at the Giants at the end of the year when they won the Super Bowl. They ripped off you know, five six wins at the end of the season and won the Super Bowl. They were bad during the year. So nothing's beyond you know, being possible. But do you feel like the season is lost or do you think they can You said your your ceiling is getting to the playoffs now right, do you think that's attainable or are you kind of like that's pie in the sky tight?
Now? I think it's attainable. I think it's a table to get to the playoffs. You still have really talented players on this team. You have a Dak Prescott, a CD Lamb of Michael Parsons when he comes back, which I assume will be in San Francisco. You have guys on both sides of the ball, all three phases. If you want to count in Brandon Aubrey, that can win you ball games and that can step up and be able to be that guy whenever they need one guy.
To step up.
Eventually the talent is going to show up, and we haven't necessarily seen it so far. Even in their wins. It's been more of a cumulative effort, whereas in years past. You could point at, Hey, that was the Mica game. Hey that was the CD game, the Detroit game last year was the CD game. You could look at a DAK game. We haven't seen any of those so far. Those games will come. I'm confident in that I think
there is still talent on this team. But I think from an overall perspective, whenever you look at the twenty three to fifty three on this roster, I don't think there's enough there to lead me to believe that this can be a team we look at in late January that's still playing.
So the depth, to you is what's causing a lot of this is when you lose your key role players, there's not the depth and the quality of depth to back.
Yeah, and it's just a lot of young players that are that are getting these reps and eventually that will pay off down the line. You know, these young players getting this this type of time and experience young in their career, it's gonna help, but not this season. You know, I think this season it's it's taking the learning curve and understanding that that will you know, read the rewards in future seasons, but as of right now, you need that one to twenty two.
Back healthy, Let me let me cook for a second. Does this feel in a way? You know in high school? You you you study hard, you're getting ready to graduate, you know, Freshman year, I know, sorry, senior year, senior year. She's the only one with a book in front of it. I believe it.
I believe it.
It's all about to come to an end senior year. And there's a little thing called senioritis when you have a coaching staff that is on the final year of their contracts. Difference. I wasn't getting paid my senior year of high school. That's fair that there are millions of dollars, millions.
Of dollars with the threat of not having that money come back if I didn't do a good job that senior year.
But that's fair. But I think at least with the players around you, you know what I mean. Do you think the mentality do you think that creeps in a little bit where it's like, of course it does. It's coming to an end here, guys. You know, I think for.
The players and how they feel about McCarthy.
I don't want to say that.
I don't want to say that explicitly, but I'm saying, is that even a fact. I don't think it is. I really don't.
I don't think it is among the players who matter.
I think obviously there are just gonna be some some guys who, like like you mentioned the twenty three through fifty three, there'll be a few among them who and it wouldn't even have anything to do with McCarthy. That just might be the attitude that they have in general. But I feel like when it comes to players, they play for their pride, they play for their future contracts, they play for their incentives. They there's a lot of guys on the team who don't seem to end joy losing.
So I just don't see them being like, oh, well, there's gonna be a new system next season.
So I think there's no guarantee that.
I think for the exact reasons of what you just said, there is some of that. They're playing for their contracts, they're playing for their incentives, they're playing for that next contract. I know most of you guys aren't gonna be here, So if I can freelance a little bit to get my numbers up and get good tape out there and do something, you're not gonna be here to tell me what to do next year anyway, So I'm gonna get my money, like I'm gonna pull out some good tape.
I don't think there's a lot of that, but I.
Think they're on the same page with me a little bit that that's kind of where I'm getting at. I'm definitely don't.
Think anybody is out to get coach McCarthy, like we're gonna sabbotelage him and do that. But I do think there's a little bit of Okay, I'm gonna get mine because this might not be around me next year and I don't have to answer you know, I'm not gonna have to answer this. There's gonna be a new system in place, and so I'm gonna do what I can do.
But you know, I feel quish apathy in that respect.
Personal great question.
I don't think it's set in yet. I think if it does, it'll look up.
We'll look up after Thanksgiving, and if this team is, you know, at the bottom of the ocean, then.
That's that's way you start to see that happen.
How bad is let's don't even talk about that. Well, it looks like it does now without appat you imagine what it would look like with that.
And to your questions, this is something that Nate Newton told me last year when I was first starting with the Cowboys, was that you don't really know who a team is until Thanksgiving. So that has sucked with me since because I kind of had a better idea of who the team was last Thanksgiving and now I'm kind of waiting for that. I don't think the season is lost by any means, speaking of speaking of right there respect more than anyone, and he has different feelings for me.
But late.
What's going out. Let's going out.
To people.
I ain't trying to brag.
We need the hand most. We are the number one.
View Oh Josh just told me somebody cooked the numbers. We had two more shows than anybody.
Else last it was more like three buttons. All right, yeah, that's all right. That's why we're number one. I got more views and all the other shows that you rosters, we're still number one. You have the same you have the same olds. It's entire time, last seven years. You know what I mean. They're familiar with you guys.
That's all right, Just so you know, Nate Newton and Jesse Holly just walked in the studio. They are on the player's lounge next right after it. Normally, no, we have we have a little great speriod, we have a little thanks.
I'm sorry Jazz for the terrible.
These jokers, thanks for stopping by. Miss y'all. What was your point?
Sorry, I was just gonna say for me, I agree with you all that this season is not over. I think I've been I've been trying not to look at this as a movie that sucks and more like a series that like left us at a midseason cliffhanger. Yes, like they're going into the bye week and Noah doesn't feel like they're saying the right things. But we have seen examples of a lot of these guys performing a
lot better than we saw against the lines. If they can do something to harness whatever got them to those points, then maybe there's a little bit of hope. There's a lot of stories that need to be told here. Like there's a story of Dak Prescott as a leader who's trying to, you know, navigate this situation with this unmotivated, well seemingly unmotivated offense. There's a story of Ceedee Lamb getting paid and people expecting him to show up as a leader, and some people in the locker room saying
he's the leader, but people not really seeing it. There's all these guys on defense, Like who knows what kind of perspective Michael Parsons and d Law might come back with after like looking at the team more so from the outside looking in, and how that might impact their role on the team. We've got the whole situation with the running back room and how are they gonna get on the same page. Like, I mean, the offensive line
is a whole soap opera within itself. Like I just feel like there's a lot of stories to be told here, and depending on how each of the stories goes, that's what's going to determine how this season goes. So it's like it's not like there's like one thing that's going to be the thing. I feel like there's each Each person has an opportunity right now to do something different
that can impact the rest of the season. And I feel like if you get most people going in the right direction, then the team will go in the right direction.
I like it, and don't lose hope. There is hope because if you look at the standings right now, six weeks in. There are teams in the very bottom of their divisions that are going to turn it around and they're going to be at the top, and there's ones that are at the top that are going to be at the bottom. I have every year in the NFL. It just feels really the no identity part. You don't have anything to cling on to, and it feels a little hopeless.
So but what's not hopeless is this show because guess what, we will be back tomorrow doing the same show at the same time.
Six less Pro Bowls, but we'll be here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, in three Super Bowl Championships less, but we'll be here. So thank you. This was awesome, nice hanging out with you, Jazz YouTube, Nick, what was your name.
Again, Josh Josh, Thanks, thanks for the shure.
You're welcome man, Chris, thanks for keeping us on the air. Josh, you're not in the back anymore, Jazz, thanks for keeping Chris company in the back. And Jesse. Jesse was back there today. We will be back tomorrow, same time, the same place. On Hanging with the Boys, it's just been
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