Hangin' with the Boys: Still Guessing

the next two days for all of you listening. We have rotated our lineups for all of our shows, but this will still be your favorite show, brought to you by your favorite wing provider, Wingstop Where Flavor Gets Its Wings. I am Shannon Gross, and I am please to announce that I am joined. Today. We mixed it up Fellas and Lady and everybody else listening. Rob Phillips underneath me. That sounded really weird over here to all right and Ambar Garcia, everybody from other shows. We have mixed it

up this week for the bye week. We're all over the place, and I really, I really feel bad for all of you guys because we are gonna have so much fun the next two days. You're not gonna want to go back to your normal shows. I mean, this is the one show on the Dallas Cowboys Network where we never we never have a run of show, we never have anything schedule to talk about. We just talk because we enjoy each other and we'd like football, and

specifically we like Cowboys football. So let's start. Don't you introduce yourselves? For those of those that are listening that aren't familiar with the Rob kick it off. Hi, I name, My name is Rob Phillips, talking Cowboys fame, and I just went all right, Rob Phillips, and I just went through puberty. Hello, Hello there, h excuse me. I just wanted to kick it off by first of all, this this show has something in common. We all, in one form or another. We all have babies at home, so

we're all trying to deal with lack of sleep. But we're still gonna bring it today. I'm still gonna bring it today. And I just wanted to give the host a happy birthday shout out today, Shannon, Happy birthday. Oh okay, happy birthday. Thank you, Rob. Chris. Something for the man. Something I got nothing flowers wings donuts. Chris is like, yeah, Chris got nothing, just like every other kid. Thank you, Rob.

Welcome Danny Danny of former LSU Fame, Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bear now fortunate enough to work with them on a daily basis. For the Dallas Cowboys. Danny introduce yourself, Well, well you actually just did, so I'm gonna just I'll just leave it there and I'll just I'll just I'll just asked this question. So you guys were like sitting sitting, sitting their fingering out what we're gonna do for the bye weekend. We went with the Dallas Cowboys offensive line themes.

So we just mix everything up and keep it consistent. Huh for the week that's you know, I mean, why why mess up a theme that's been on going with the you know on the field was transferred off the field. This was Derek Eagleton's brain child. I actually suggested that we should have a a host draft where we actually draft everybody that's on our show. So next time we do this, actually pull names out of the hat. You have a special show to where it's just all mixing.

You're not gonna tell everybody like who got picked first, who got picked last? Are you? Because I listen, I'm competitive, I'd be upset. And it was like black football, Hey, look the egos that we have on these shows between you and Nick Eatman and Jesse, Holly and Isaiah. Though we can break somebody's heart by letting them be the last pick, so no, we won't do that. It would just be names out of a hat. Cool Danny, Welcome

to the show at last, but definitely not least. Abbar Garcia our Spanish I guess you're our Spanish correspondent that you you produce all things, so most cowboys. What am I leaving out here? Aba? By the way, you have the best background of anyone on any of these shows. You look very well and the cutest cream colored wall. Thank you, thank you. I mean there's nothing, There's not much else to say that. I'm a female, I speak Spanish.

I'm on here in an all male show too. Hopefully teach you guys some manner as you should know, Shannon, ladies go first and you left me last. But that's okay. That's why I'm here, so hopefully you learn something. I say, I saved the best for last day. Yes, it wasn't a manners thing, it was just best for last on

this show. So there you go. There we are. We are the Motley crew that will be in this time slot today and tomorrow, and then we're taking Thursday Friday off to regroup for the bye week, and then we'll be back in our normal time slot starting Monday of next week. So let's now that we've killed the first five minutes of the show getting to know everybody, let's

get right into it. Amber. I will let you go first, since you are a lady, and you will, you know, point it out that I was a jerk and didn't introduce you first. Give me, give me your recap. Let's just go. Since we haven't all been together really in the same place, and this is really the first time we've kind of hung out chatted together since the season started.

Normally we're in the office. You know, all of our deaths are within probably twenty feet of each other, and you know, we're always talking about football, always talking about what's going on, you know, on the field, off the field. Amber, what's your take so far? You know, a little bit over halfway through the season, coming up on the bye week. I have a feeling we're all gonna have about the same take, but you kick us off. Tell us what

do you think about the season so far? Yeah? Go, okay, My take on the season a good feedback Amber, Okay, bab No, I think. I mean, I've been kind of over this whole team for a while now. I'm just you know, I'm tired of waiting every year for it to happen, for us to get past that first round or second round of the playoffs. And it's just it sucks when every year something there's a change and you create new hope and then you see the results that

we've been seeing for the past few years. For this year, it was a lot different because we had major changes. Sorry, we had major changes, especially in the coaching stuff. So you got new hopes and you got a new team, and then you start seeing twenty twenty all the things that have happened with COVID, no preseason games and all of that, and then you see how it affected the team, and then injuries here and there, and then you get into the games and see how the team is performing.

It's a crap. Here we go another year where we don't get to actually see a great result at the end,

and I've been kind of over it. But then last weekend watching the game against the Steelers, I guess I'm a sucker for the Cowboys because they always pulled me back in, so they are starting to pull me back in and maybe in my head, I'm like, Okay, maybe maybe they can start turning things around, especially when when you look at your opponents in the division and how bad the NFC East is and to the fact that maybe you can turn the page and start playing some

more competitive football. So not much else to say there. They just always suck me back in. So that's basically it. I'm in for the ride and still waiting to see what's going to happen after the week get back from the bye week, Amber, I would I would venture to say you are probably ninety nine percent of our fan base because they have this team has a way of raising your expectations before the season starts, coming in below

usually below those expectations. You're done with them, and then they do something like they did Sunday and you're right back in it and you're like, okay, well now I have this listen this to forward to, so you're not alone. You're not alone. Danny. What's your take so far all

the season? Uh? Yeah, so we we we aren't very good. Um. The most the most shocking part about the season so far has been defensively, to me, the lack of effort out there, Like I don't think we have a whole bunch of Star Wars out there, a whole bunch of all pros. But I think as you've seen the last couple of games, that you know, max effort can eliminate a lot of those mistakes that you have been seeing

in previous games. And the fact that we started off the season playing so lack of daisical was so surprising to me, which leaned in my mind, you know, sort of to the coaching staff. And then offensively, I'm shocked at how you know, uninvolved Amari Cooper has been in the in the game, and then kind of how uninvolved Zeke started off in the season, and it leaned to me.

You know, when I was going through Listen watching the draft, it was, man, we have all these weapons, and then we got to see Lamb and I'm like, man, you know, there's a point where you can have too much. And then you know, that's when I started first getting worried about Zeke. And you know, it proved me right. So you know, like unlike some people, you know, I've been on that bandwagon so long and I've been hurt so many times that I've flipped my my expectation to I

expect a little and then hope for a lot. So I'm not really hurting as much, but it's it's just more frustrating for me to see the lack of effort out there. You know, then that goes down. So we have another half of the season with really no expectation to make the super Bowl. So you know, I'm just here alone for the rout. All right, fair enough, Rob, You've been around this team for a long time, off

and on. Have you ever can you recall a season where so many people had such high expectations and then the result, like Danny said, just kind of kind of came in flat. Can you recall a season like this? I can recall a couple, but nothing, nothing quite like this, I think. Yeah. I mean I've been around since the Parcels days off and on. You know, covered a couple of Danny's teams, and there are a couple of seasons

in there. Twenty fifteen where you know, both seasons I'm gonna reference, you lose your starting quarterback, Tony got hurt in twenty fifteen. They finished four and twelve. Twenty ten Romo gets hurt again and they start one and seven and change coaches midstream. That's not going to happen here, but it is. It's similar in that Dac goes down what else can go wrong? And at this point, kind of like Danny said, you're playing for pride, you're playing

to just try to compete and show progress. And I think we saw that the last couple of weeks. And I know technically they're still into the division, but right now they're trying to just find progress with this new coaching staff, the new schemes, and but no, I've never seen anything quite like this man where and I don't think anybody has in terms of you throw in the pandemic with it, and there's just something different every single week.

Mike reference that McCarthy reference that couple days ago, that every week it's something, whether it's an injury, even on the bye week. This week we're supposed to all catch our breath. That's hasn't really happened because there's a positive test with the Steelers, so the Cowboys, out of precaution, have to meet at home do virtual stuff and no practice Wednesday. So like there hasn't been a single normal week since August and you know, hopefully that'll change, but

that's just kind of the theme of this season. Yeah, and I'll just throw this out there to the group and y'all jump in and and do you did you if Dak would not you reference Dak going down? Did any of you have? You know, I know we were competitive, we were in every game, but the defense was so bad up until this last week. You couldn't get the run game going, the you know, the fumbles were an issue,

the turnover deficit. Was there any part of you Now it looks like, Okay, you got one game where things click. You had a good, the most all around performance that you've had, you know, the entire season. You had a hell of a play call, a game called by Kelly Moore, your special teams, the trickery and the you know, the things that that Bones Fossil has been trying to do

all season. Finally, the execution part was there. You had some you know, you had a little bit of life at the quarter you know, the four string quarterback position. So you got a little bit of hope and you know, can you can you string a couple of these together now to where the arrows pointing up. Can it stay pointing up? But before this game, if you would have had Dak, you know, I just kick it back to you Rob real quick to start us off, since you

brought up the quarterback being out. If you had Dak, do you think they could have gotten this together and made some kind of a run or was this team just so all over the place that it was just doomed from the beginning. I don't know that you can say that they would have because even before Dak got hurt, they had yet to play a complete game together, like opplementary football. They haven't done it really all year long

until this last game. And like you guys said, I mean the defense two best games of the season, these last two games, but now you're seeing seeing a shift with the offense where they can't finish drives, can't score touchdowns, and and then the special teams has been hit or miss. That was their best game last week for sure. So I don't know, you know, I think they obviously missed Dak. He's their leader, he's their captain, he's arguably their best player.

But you know, it's just tough because because you know, those first four games, four and a half games before he got hurt. You know, there were a couple of last second field goals from being oh and five. So even with Dak, so until they're able to put it all together, they're not going to have consistent success and I think that's gonna be hard anyway, with the injuries

that they have right now. Yeah, and Danny, you you played on this team, and you played on this team when it was this team went as the quarterback goes. If your quarterback was clicking, this was a hell of a team and it was a hard team to beat if your quarterback was your starting quarterback was either injured or you know, not having a good game or good season. That's kind of what the rest of the team did.

This team has always seemed to, you know, not be able to pick up the pieces when a key position goes down on one side of the ball or the other, Sean Lee goes out, they forget how to line up with the goods. The quarterback goes out, they don't they can't score points. So if Dak was still here, you know, we're speaking of hypotheticals, but you know, would this team, would you still be interested in this team, invested in

this team? Well, listen, I'll answer that twofold. Listen, I'm gonna be interested in invested this seeming no matter what, just because like you said, I'm I'm an alumni. This is this is who gave me my shot here. But as but as far as but um yeah, but as far as uh us having a shot at back was still here. Like Rob said, we are two players away from from from not winning the game the whole season.

And I think for me, as I watched the as I watched from last year going into this year, I think we have been the same team as then you fall behind early and then we find a way to

come back at the end. And for me being a player out there, I can tell you that a lot of times when teams get a big lead on you, they take their foot off the gas, the defensive coordinator calls the game a little different, and that's how teams are allowed to come back in the game because they're playing not to give up points and hope the other teams run out of time before they can score enough. So I think we started to see that this season as well. And if you look back at the teams

then we beat, they had some horrible defenses. As you watch them play games after they've played us. So I don't think our offense was playing as well as it needed to, especially in the first half, and then you pile along the defense and power along the special teams. I think we were in for a long season of

a lot of mistakes. Luckily, a couple of guys got fired, and then you see the defense playing a little harder, so you know, hopefully that would have been an issue with I don't think we would have been in the running for for a long playoff run. All right, Well, we're in the running for a long playoff. Commercial break because we had to pay some bills because this show has sponsors and they keep us fed and we we keep them happy. So we're gonna take our first break

on hanging with the boys. When we come back, let's talk about we got a we got a former defensive player and special teams. Can we call you an ace, Danny? Can we call you a special team? You can just I was I was good, good at that part of my games, and we just we just say that he was an ace. Okay, he was an ace? All right? Special teams? Ace. I want to talk defense and special teams,

and you know who knows. We might have baby talk later, we might get wrong, but we gotta take a break first, so stay tuned in find out what we talk about. We'll be right back after this break. On hanging with the boys. He's your family, a cowboy family. Have you taken holiday photos at the Star? Was your wedding theme? Blue and silver? Have you convinced your kids them is

spelled with a d if? So every game day feels like a vacation to you, so treated like one, whether you're traveling to the game or watching from your favorite vacation spot. Bilka plays to Stay on Hotels dot com. Proud partner of the Dallas Cowboys. Just like all of you, we at Seki can't wait until we're back in the stands, at full strength, cheering on the Cowboys and singing along to our favorite songs again. We're using this time to

make discovering, buying, and selling tickets to events in Dallas easier. Plus, every ticket purchased on Siki is protected by our buyer Guarantee, which means you being your money back or better if your event is canceled guaranteed. Download the Siki Gap today and when the time is right, let's go SEEKI grab some autobus gear and get ready for hang with a Boy. From rugged venture coolers to tough as nails elevation tumblers, we've got what you need to keep your game day

drinks frosty and your football feast ice cold. And with cases, screen protectors and power accessories, you can defend your phone and stay connected to every play gear up at autterbox dot com and amp up the fun of every Cowboys game that's autterbox dot com. Dear, it's nineteen oh eight. Don't you think we should get electricity and stop using candles to see at night? It's just electricity lights up the room fast, It's more reliable than candles blowing out,

and people seem to love it nationwide. Well candles, dare? Did you just run into the wall? May I have a new candle? Please? Historically, switching to new technology is a no brainer. Today it's AT and T five G fast, reliable, secure, and nationwide. Switch to AT and T five G. It's not complicated. Five G requires compatible plant may not be in your area. See att dot com slash five G for you for details. Back to hang in with the Boys.

We're back. There's WBC Mortgage Living Room, Fresco, Texas. So you have your special game watching sweats. Well, that's adorable. How about you start to value yourself a little bit, experience the game and comfort without the nacho cheese stains. Upgrade to Tommy John Lounge where you'll look better, you'll feel better, and maybe you can claw back some of that good old self respect shop Loungewere Tommy John dot com Forward Slash Cowboys for fifteen percent off your first

order Tommy John dot com Forward Slash Cowboys. All right, back to the show. Welcome back to Hanging with the Boys. Shannon Grows, Danny McCrae, Rob Phillips, Amber Garcia saved the best for last. Again we are back for the second segment. We have Rob, give me a scouting report on Danny. Oh, don't do it on the team when he was here spot only a specialties. Do not do not give it a safety a safety scouting report. Police, you were great

an everything. Come on, Danny was the consummate professional and a terrific, terrific special teams player. I mean what I got? I mean? Joe D. Camillis special teams coach with the Cowboys, reunited with him in Chicago. Correct, because of what Danny brought to the table, and that were what we saw in the game on Sunday. We don't talk about special teams enough, but special teams almost won the Cowboys a football game against an undefeated team on Sunday. It's it's

a huge underrated part of the game. And Danny, what have you seen from special teams? You know, we heard about Fossil coming in and changing the game and what he did in New England and what he did, you know, what he's done it throughout his career. What have you seen so far? Have they tried to be too cute? Because it seems like every game and it's been a long time since special teams has been a strong point on this team. Like I tried to think back, like

when was special teams a threat on this team? And you have to go back to at least when Duwayne Harris was here, which was six seven years ago. Probably what have they what have you seen so far? They're getting too cute or is that what they need to do to make special teams special again? For the let me start by saying this, um, if you listen to the players louds. You've heard me say that our defensive MVP has been CJ Goodwe uh, he's he's made the

most plays. He's probably he's probably made the most impactful plays of the season to save us against the Falcons. Um as far as its bonds, sometimes I think we get a little bit too cute. Like I said, if it was me, I wouldn't be having Tony Pollard returning every kick, no matter how deep it is in the end zone. I wouldn't run as many fake punts I would have. I would have probably ran one and then and then moved on with it. And to be honest, the off side kick we got lucky is a huge play,

but we didn't execute that right. So I've been seeing some things that if you would have had a training camp, if you would have been able to get those reps, that the players probably would have executed a little better. But man, for the most part, I've been shocked to see. You know how when you bring up special teams is usually something bad. As a special the players you usually wanted to be neutral or good, and we've been, you know, being called out for a bad things. So it hadn't

been good so far. Aber what's your take on special teams So far? It's been entertaining to watch, But what are your thoughts? No, I mean, like Danny said, with the whole hiring of Fassl, we kept talking about all throughout the off season how this special team should look better and should be better. And when he came in, I think that some of the things that he was saying it motivated me as to thinking, Okay, maybe he

can turn things around. Because one of the votes that I remember from him that suit out was him wanting to make sure that he made special teams player feel like they matter and that they count in the game and that they can make plays that are gonna turn around the game or help the team for a win. And I thought that was very interesting because we tend to kind of forget about special teams player or maybe not see as much value as other positions around the team.

So the fact that it didn't work out that way all throughout the season, finally we started seeing it in this past game. I mean, that was great and we saw how much value there is there and how much it actually matters that special team is able to make place. But the thing is now they have to do it again, and then again and then again. The team needs to start getting that consistency and being able to just not do it one game, but carrying it over throughout the

rest of the season. Yeah, and Rob I said, I made the statement while ago, like it's been a while since this, you know, special teams has been special. That's that's not entirely true. You've got arguably the best deep snapper to ever play the game in LP. The guy just doesn't make mistakes. You've had obviously some great kickers in here. Dan Bailey comes to mind. You know, Chris Jones at one time was you know, an elite punter, one of the best in the league. They've they've had

good special teams players. I guess what I'm talking about is playmakers, difference makers when it comes to the return game, punting, kicking off, you know, they're tricking it up. As a person that covers this team, do you like what you're seeing? Is it too much? Should they be more straightforward? What's your tech? I think to Danny's point, I think there's times where they've tried to do too much. You know, they've tried some fake stuff on their own side of

the field. Early in the season where it didn't work, and I guess hindsight, you say, shouldn't have done it. I didn't have a problem with some of the stuff they did Sunday because I think they felt like, you know, you're undermatched with some of your personnel all over the field, with some of your injuries, so try to make something happen,

and you know, you know it's it's been inconsistent. You know, they've had games where you know, they've had misqus in terms of the return operation, Chris Jones dealing with some stuff, you know, physically before he goes on IR and the punting aspect of it, and they've had things where guys to the wrong number of guys are on the field. I mean, it's a lot of things that I think you probably and Danny could answer this better than I could.

You know, you probably get hashed out in preseason games and things that you know, not to be an excuse. But they I think they're starting to show it up a little bit, just like they have on defense in the last couple weeks, and maybe they can carry it over. But actually I had the question for Danny about it because just from your experience, you know what Fossil tries to do. Does that juice up guys? I mean that does that make it more of kind of like Amber said,

you feel part of it. It's it's more of an exciting part of your job to have kind of that that trick stuff where you know you you're you're coming up with things that might impact the game in kind of a crazy way. Uh you know sometimes, I mean because you got to look at it when when you have those type of players that really only one person really gets to be the start, right, So if you run a fake punt and they snap it to the to the to the personal protector, that's the guy that

that feels more involved. It's not necessarily the whole the whole team. Where you get rid when you feel really involved as a special teams player, is hey, instead of kicking a touchback, you kick it to the one yard line and give your your kickoff team that that confidence in them to know that, hey, you're going to go down there and make the tackle. You give them a chance to go out there and get some stats up

because you believe in them. Uh So, so not necessarily the trick stuff, but just showing them that you have confidence in them. To make certain players that will affect the game outside of you know, a fake punt here or or or a trick onside kick there, gotcha and all right, let's sick Earth ahead took one thing because because Amber said, um that you know, he came out with the quote where he said he wanted the people

to feel involved in all that. And the reason that I was upset with Bones at the beginning of the season is he released his MVP player that I just mentioned and I was so surprised that that it didn't make any sense to me, and and Rob brought up the miscues that we had. It almost cost us, cost us the game against the Giants. So you know, we've we've had some big issues on special teams. All right, when we come back, Ambert, I want to get you

said you got sucked back in this past week. I want to know what sucked you back in, and then we want to get y'all's take on the game Sunday. And then I want to get into since we have Danny on the team and he's still very connected to this team, I want to know what the hell is going on on defense and what the hell clicked this week that you know, it look like someone stole their uniforms.

On defense, it looked like a totally different team out there, attitude wise, effort wise, making plays like I want to get your take on that. So when we come back, we will get to all that and possibly more. You're listening and watching, hanging with the boys. Just like all of you, We at Seki can't wait until we're back in the stands at full strength, cheering on the cowboys and singing along to our favorite songs again. We're using this time to make discovering, buying, and selling tickets to

events in Dallas easier. Plus, every ticket purchased on Seki is protected by our buyer Guarantee, which means you being your money back or better if your event is canceled guaranteed. Download the Seki Gap today, and when the time is right, let's go seek each game day. You know what that means. First, gobob prep steak pepper Runnion steak pepper running. Next, a counter clockwise lap around the rule. Now the lucky grease stained jersey goes on, and lastly, the dance you know

the one. This is a game day ritual no matter where you are, whether you're traveling, to the game or watching from your favorite vacation spot. Folka plays to stay on hotels dot com and keep the tradition alive and well. Hotels dot com proud partner of the Dallas Cowboys. Grab some auterbox gear and get ready for hanging with the boys. From rugged venture coolers to tough as nails elevation tumblers, we've got what you need to keep your game day

drinks frosty and your football feast eyes cold. And with cases, screen protectors and power accessories, you can defend your phone and stay connected to every play gear up at auterbox dot com and amp up the fun of every Cowboys game that's auterbox dot com. Dear, it's nineteen oh eight. Don't you think we should get electricity and stop using candles to see it night? It's just electricity lights up the room fast, It's more reliable than candles blowing out,

and people seem to love it nationwide. Well, candles, dare, did you just run into the wall? I have a new can please. Historically, switching to new technology is a no brainer. Today it's AT and T five G, fast, reliable, secure, and nationwide. Switch to a T and T five G. It's not complicated. Five get requires compatible plant may not be in your area. See att doc com slash five G for you for details. Back to Hanging with the Boys, Welcome back to s WBC Mortger's living room at Fresco, Texas.

Final segment of the show. You are listening and watching to Hanging with the Boys. Shannon Gross, Amber Garcia, Danny McCrae, Rob We are back. Thank you. Thank I'm learning. Takes me a little bit, but I'm learning. I'm learning. You know what. The Cowboys are going to be back at at and T Stadium on Thanksgiving Day to take on the Washington football team. Tickets starting at eighty nine dollars or on sale now. Get yours today at Dallas Cowboys

dot com slash tickets. So Ever, what sucked you back in on Sunday? Why are you? Why are you interested in this team now? After Sunday? What happened? What happened? Well, I'll tell you what happened, and I'm gonna be on the past few weeks, I've lost complete interest. Like we were watching a football game where players were playing like I don't even know what how, I don't know. Having watched Middle school football to really know, but it was

just not NFL level whatsoever. And the difference was that this game, five minutes in, they still had my interest. I was still watching him, I was still in it. I'm like, okay, okay, okay. They it was just exciting. I felt like this is this was finally the one game where we were actually watching a real NFL football game, and that that was the friends to me. The energy, the fact that we started seeing place being made, the fact that they were being successful at least a different

parts of the three faces of the game. So that's basically why I'm back then, and I hate it. I absolutely hate it. Because after the Washington game, I was like, Okay, you know what, I am done. I am done, but this is my job, so I'm forced to be here. But after the way they played against the Steelers, they got my interest again, and now I'm like, Okay, well, we don't know how far they can get or any of that, or if they're gonna win another game, but

at least it's exciting to watch. At least you get to see certain players like Neville Gallimore. Do you like, okay, Oh, he's making plays and he's exciting to see just a little bit of energy, a little bit of energy on the field and them not being absolutely killed on there. So yeah, they got my interest back again. And next week I'll probably pick them to win again, which sucks because I feel like they're gonna just hurt my heart again. But that's what it is. They got you. Yeah, that's hey,

That that's Cowboys football. That's why we have such a strong fan basis because right about the time you get ready just to call it in and and and be like, I'm done with this team. There's no way I can there's no way. Every week on the show, I'm like, Okay, there's no way. I finally got to the point last week where I was like, there's no way they're winning, but I can't pick they're gonna do it. Yeah, yeah, I think I picked forty eight to ten them losing

and they almost win the damn game. And then I'm like, okay, I'm like you Hamber, I'm like, I'm probably gonna like I was done for the rest of the season, and now I'm probably gonna like you. They gave me a little bit of hope. Rob, what Danny do? I want to get to you in a minute about defense, because I got some questions about defense. How can you look so freaking horrible for so many games in a row and then all of a sudden, Okay, we'll get to that minute, Rob what'd you see on Sunday? Like it

looked like a different team out there? What you were there in person? What did you see? Saw a lot of terrible towels. But they didn't have as much to share about as we thought. I think obviously you see the difference between an from an offensive standpoint, a seventh round rookie trying to play quarterback without any preseason experience Benda Nucci against the Eagles just he wasn't ready for

prime time, and that's no knock on him. You saw the difference on Sunday with Garrett Gilbert, who's thrown six career passes before Sunday, but has been around the league, knows how to run an offense. Was you know, had some time to throw and was able to make some throws and just kind of be able to run the offense more so than they were the last couple of weeks by far. And then defensively, like Amber said, I don't have I don't have an explanation Danny hopefully can

help us why they're they're playing so much better. I think you know one thing they've done, and Danny references the top of the show, they parted ways with three veteran players that were getting a lot of playing time and the production wasn't there, and they felt good about the young guys that they had behind them, felt like they wanted to give them more snaps. And those particular

players are really running with the opportunity. Neville Gallimore, Randy Gregory, and you know you're seeing Donovan Wilson step up at the safety position. Darryl Warley played a little safety there early in the season. So you know, when you've got younger players embracing the new scheme and taking advantage of opportunities, and you've got a guy like Tank Lawrence playing with a lot of effort that can raise the level of play, maybe they're just buying in mid season. I'm not sure, yea.

And we talk about that all the time on our show, Like your season is mathematically you're still in this thing, right And I know that's as a player and as a coach and as an owner, you as long as you have a chance, you're gonna try to win every football game because they have a chance. I mean, look what the Giants did the year they won the Super Bowl. They had to win sixth straight just to get in as a wildcard, won the wild card wind up beating

the Patriots, the undefeated Patriots for the Super Bowl. So, I mean, anything can technically happen. But this team looked dysfunctional. I mean, this team was beyond beyond bad. I mean, especially defensively. And you know it's we always say on our show, like, if you're that bad, let the young guys play, let's see what you got, you know, Let's let's start looking to see. Okay, who's gonna be around here next year? It's a nine game job interview. Let the young guys play. We know what we have in

the veterans. Let's see, let's get them some reps. Let's see what we're working with. So, Danny as a defensive guy, how can you look so bad and so long and not know what your gap responsibility is for so many weeks in a row, and then all of a sudden it's like, Okay, we figured it out. We're good. Now. Can we expect them to keep doing this? Or was this just kind of like, okay, you know the Steelers, just listen, you can you what you can't expect for at least the next few weeks is these guys to

play with maximum effort. Right. If you remember back when when Wade Phillips got fired all of a sudden, we went five and three. It's something about some veterans or somebody getting fired and you being put on notice and knowing that your job is up for grabs as well to make you play a little bit harder. And like you said, then you get some new blood coming in, some young guys who have been chomping at the bit

to get a little bit more playing time. So they're playing just as hard as they can and they're out there making plays. I think I think getting really Warlie was huge because he was out there making some serious mistakes. And as a as a veteran guy, who are young guys looking up to and they seeing you play like that, I think that was having an effect on some of

some of the younger guys in the secondary. So I think some of the moves that they made with firing those guys and and letting these guys know that they need business, I think that changed a lot. Like I said, max effort can eliminate a lot of mistakes, and we saw that in the game. Now, Pittsburgh did help us, you know. I think it was a letdown game for them, one of those trap things to what they undefeated. They were coming to play the Cowboys and they were dropping

passes and things like that. But we maximized on all the mistakes that they made. So I think, at least for the next few weeks, if the Office can stay competitive and keep us in the games, I think you will see us play better. Okay, we've got a few minutes left in the show. This is gone by so fast.

This goes by so much faster than this show normally does because we usually have to sit here and listen to Jesse Holly talk for forty five and it's the longest forty five minutes that you could possibly sit through. So this has been a very refreshing breath of air for me personally. I'm sure Chris beam as he eats a sandwich behind the scenes for him as well. But Amber, here's what I need from you today to get me

through to we revisit each other tomorrow. I need some hope, I need some hope for the rest of the year. I need something. You can give me one thing, you can give me a couple of things. But what should I What's one thing or a couple of things I can cling on that give me hope for this season to get me through till tomorrow, till we can talk

about some other things and try to change my mind. Well, I know that a lot of people probably won't agree with me, and this is one of the conversations that are happening right now, and it's gonna keep happening during this week and next week. But the quarterback position, who's going to be the starter? I know that Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones, they've come out and said Andy Dalton is going to be our guy. But I have hope

in what I saw from Garret Gilbert. He showed some things that honestly made me raise an egg brow, and I'm like, Okay, he got something in him. He can certain things. He can throw some passes. He threw some amazing passes. He wasn't perfect or anything, but at least we saw the offense being able to move the ball, being able to throw passes. A quarterback that that has some mobility to him, he's able to get out of

the pocket and run a little bit. So some of those things that I saw me personally, I would like them to stay with Garrett Gilbert and see what else he can do, because I saw a better connection there. And to be fair, it's not like Andy Dalton got a lot of time to play with the team based because of the injury, the concussion that he got and everything. But from what I saw, I liked the connection between Garrett Gilbert and the rest of the offense. And that's

my little hope. My little hope is to be able to see some more of Garret Gilbert and maybe some better clarity about the court back pocision here in the near future. Danny, give me some hope, man, my hope. Listen. I've been begging for Kelling Moore to get these two guys involved and keep them involved in the game. If you get nineteen involved like you did in the previous game,

then it changes the dynamic for the defense. And previous games we had seen him not get involved except catching out routes and catching little slants, and you know, when the game was out of reach and they were just trying to catch up. When you watch this game, he goes down the scene and you get him involved at the beginning of the game, and then the defense is on notice, oh, we have to worry about nineteen like they should. And then you have to continue to focus

on twenty one. No matter how he's looked previously in the season, you have to remember what he's done for you in the previous years and know that he can still be that guy. So you focus the game on twenty one to nineteen and let everything else work off of that. And if kelling Moore continues to do that, I think we got a chance to at least be

competitive in some of these big games coming up. Daddy, it's funny you bring up nineteen because they have so underutilized him or so not gotten him involved in games. This year, he caught a ball and I don't remember exactly what play it was on, but he had He probably ran for a good twelve fifteen yards and I

was like, who is that? Like? He looked so fast that I had forgotten how good and how quick and smooth he really is because he hasn't had those those big play opportunities or those you know, those opportunities to get involved in games. So I'm glad you brought me. Oh we get out of here, give me some hope. Yeah, they should, You're right, I like y'alls. I'm gonna flip it around. I'll say a defense. I referenced a couple of the young guys on the defensive line. I'll say

the defensive line overall. Like, I think some of the biggest problem, maybe the biggest problem they've had throughout the season run defense, and probably starts in the middle of that defensive line. You know, don Terry Poe's not here anymore. Neville Gallimore played really good and I'm not expecting, you know,

high high production every week from the rookie. I think he's got a lot of growth to still make, but there's progress there and and and so that's that's encouraging, especially because you know, you lost Gerald McCoy before the season, he got hurt, Tristan Hills out for the year. So can they can they shore that up? Along with what Gregory did with some of his pressures in the game, That's really exciting to see the pressure they were able

to put on Ben in the game. And you saw, you know, some of their packages on third down where they've got you know, Tank and Alden Smith rushing inside. You got Gregory on the edge, Tyrone Crawford, Like, that's that's talent. I mean, that's that's that's a talented group. And I'm excited to see them try to continue that going forward. If they can do that, it's going to help the rest of the defense, and maybe they can continue doing what they've done the last two weeks. You

know what, just sitting here listen to y'all talk. I think we're gonna make the playoffs. We're two playoff games. Y'all have given me that much help. Really appreciate said didn't sound that good, hope because each one of you, each one of you had a different part of the game. That makes me hopeful. And you put all that together and I have hope as a group, as a team. That's a lot of stuff to put together, Shannon, Danny, let me hang on that long, long two months. Let

you played the perfect game and lost. We played almost the perfect game and lost to Pittsburgh at all, Right, so it's tough. I know. I'm just trying to find the silver lining here to get me through the next two months. I'm just trying to find something to hang on to y'all. Y'all gave me enough. Y'all gave me enough to get me to tomorrow. How about that. Let's do this again tomorrow. Amber, thank you for being on the show. Danny, it's it's a pleasure. It's great to

see your face again. Rob. You know, it's always good whenever I get to hang out with my old buddy Roster. Chris, thanks for keeping this thing going. We will be back tomorrow the same time, the same place, the same lineup, and then we're out of here till Monday. Check us out tomorrow, same place. Hey with the boys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.