Mick Shots: Calling All Leaders

and Nicky Spagnola. We are one week down, just over three weeks to go now before the Cowboys kick off this twenty twenty regular season at the Los Angeles Rams. How are you guys doing this morning? I'm doing great, sitting here at the start watch practice at the Ford Center and ready to take some shots today. All right, how about you? Ever soon? I am feeling good. I have your optimism today, Bill, Everything is about Cowboys. Everything is about the season getting going, and we are looking

forward to the super Bowl. Where's your hat? That's where's your super Bowl hat? I tried? I need to get. In fact, the Super Bowl is going to be carried on CBS once again this year, and so I hate to get my CBS super Bowl hat. Get ready, to make the trip to Tampa. We're ready, and in fact, Drew Pearson maybe making the trip to Tampa as some big news for him. We'll get into over the course of the next hour, and that moves to make you, That moves Everson one step closer to getting into kid today.

Absolutely should right. You never know how those wheels turn up there in Canton, but I think Everson should be absolutely next. And I was gonna be hesitant to bring it up because I didn't know if Everson would be like, oh, he's getting in and I'm not. No, no, you know, yeah, I know you guys. I love me some Drew, I mean, everybody does. I mean, that's that's why he was the I think he was the only senior nominee this year, because to me, that's just making up a lost time.

That's not a makeup call in basketball. They know they shouldn't have done it, and they're trying to go back and and reverse their mistakes. So good job by the Hall of Fame committee. Yeah, it's almost like they cleared the table off. It's like, let's not confuse this right and have two or three nominees. We're gonna have one and get it right, and uh, and so by being the lone senior finalist, that's when you know somebody screw

it up. Place a Saturday before the Super Bowl in February sixth in Tampa, and you have to get eighty percent of the vote, a virtual shoe in. And what's interesting about it is the fact that course is back in January, we all saw Drew was so emotional when he did not get the call, and he got the call from David Baker earlier this week. And now, oddly enough, with this pandemic, Jimmy's going in next year the actual

induction ceremony Cliff Harris as well. So as it turns out, if Drew gets voted in on February sixth, he'll go in with everybody else, just like he got as if he would have been and voted in back in January a Cowboys jamboree in Capton, Ohio. Absolutely see that the pandemic is the great It's the great equalizer. That's what that pandemic was, all right, it was a great equalizer. I love that. I love it. Everything turned out well.

We'll talk more about that over the course of the next hour and take your comments on it as well, but Mickey, we had a practice once again this morning. We had a Mike McCarthy press conference at seven to fifteen am, and you took it all in. Give us an update. What you know from Cowboys practice this morning. Well, they did a split location practice, I should say, did the individual drills outdoors on the grass field and then when they went into the team period, they moved inside

to the Ford Center. So not sure why he split it like that. I don't know if he's getting paranoid of people watching the team practice outdoors with all the construction going on, or what the deal is. But you know, they had practice indoors the previous day and then they did half and half today, so individual drills and then really do working hard indoors on two minute drill hurry up offense. They've done that now for the past couple

days and it's been pretty exciting to watch. They did have a couple I don't know if I should call a minor injuries. Jordan Lewis left as soon as they started to practice indoors. Looked like he got tangled up a little bit of an ankle. Maybe U Tyrant Smith left during individual drills, So I'm not sure what was going on there. And as for updates on Everson Griffin, he was in uniform but really didn't do much, especially when they went to team He and Don Terry Poe

who's now aff off of Pope Pop. Basically during the team sessions they were just watching so pretty spirited practice, and I thought Cedric Wilson kind of put his hand up in the air and said, hey, don't forget about me. Everybody talks about the first three wide receivers, and he had himself quite a day to day during the day. You go there, you go, good stuff, good stuff. It seems weird. The cowboys go from from Forest Lane over but by Hamilton Park where I grew up, Bill, you

know what that was. And they were always worried about being spied on from the hotel the day's in which you know, have the two stories and we had the little six foot fence, so they would always spy on our practices. The cowboys have gone all the way from Forest Lane h to Frisco and they still might have that same concern. So just think about how weird that is.

That's one thing you got to think about. Hey, Everson, you know what the other night I saw a special on the news and it was about Hamilton Park and a guy that grew grew up there, went to school at the elementary school and now he's the assistant principal at the elementary school there in Hamilton Park. So they gave me a little history lesson of where you grew up. Oh yeah, and and that's you can you can kind of surmise from the from the special just how proud

we were as a people. Uh. It was really when they talked about a project, they talked about the development of African Americans. Hamiltons Park is like no other h I was able to deal with gil Brant, Tech Shram, Hollywood, Henderson, Drew Pearsons. I was able to deal with all of those different personalities on the football field because when I grew up in Hamilton Park, we had every type of person that you ever wanted to come across, rich, poor, intelligent, crazy.

So it was like a sociology project and that that got me ready for the craziness that was up there at the forest Land and Agents back in the day twin sixties hotel as well. Yeah, I didn't realize it was a planned neighborhood and that was where they allowed I guess the black folks to be able to live within the city limits. It seemed like returning World War Two veterans and also Korean War veterans as well. That

was what it was for. I don't know how this black doctor pulled it off to buy this primo land on the north side of Dallas. They've been trying to boot us off that hill ever since. We're still hanging in there. We're still hanging in there. It was interesting. So well. Making one note about practice today, Everson Griffin has worked his way around to wearing his customary number ninety seven or the Cowboys. Originally he was believing gonna be ninety six. He's now ninety seven. Tristan Hill has

switched to seven. What is the seventy two seventy two, seventy two, yes, and Neville Gallimore moved to ninety six. Okay, all right, So for those of you keeping track at home, that that is your roster, update your Nu Miracle roster, so you can now update that on your respective computers. Let's let's talk about the news of the week to

kick things off. And of course it was the first practice in Pads on Monday about forty five minutes into the practice, Gerald McCoy goes down with a ruptured right quadriceps tendon. Had surgery the next day. Cowboys release him the next day, and as it turns out, he had a quad injury in fact, not just a quad injury, but a right quad injury clause in his contract, and so he gets his signing bonus, but the Cowboys are off the hook for the re Yeah. As pretty savvy

contract the Cowboys put together. So when he took his original uh physical uh it when it checked out, they saw a pre pre existing condition with the right quadricept. So in the contract, uh, they put a clause in there that said, if something happens with the right quadricep tendon or anything related to the right quadricept, that the

contract basically becomes null and void. And the only money that we're guaranteeing him that he will receive was the three million dollars signing bonus, So any other guarantees the per roster game played guarantee uh salary cap that all went away. So the Cowboys ended up putting four point seven five million back into the cap for this year. Now his charge on the three million dollars signing bonus will be spread over two years. One million dollars this year,

two million dollars in dead money next year. So obviously they saw something when he signed here in Bill and ever since, I was just wondering maybe that's the reason why the Cowboys were able to sign him when you know other teams maybe backed off, is that they were willing to gamble the three million dollars to bring him aboard,

where maybe other teams weren't. You know, we had we had said originally, and there was probably something to this that he wanted to get closer to his son, who was going to be a freshman at Oklahoma on scholarship, and that may have had something to do with it. But it also maybe he didn't have a lot of people knocking on his door because of the pre existing

condition with his quad. And I'm sure man, as as things went on, I'm sure he wasn't looking forward to this type of scenario just so happened to Cowboy has anticipated it, and I'm sure it was no big secret as well, Like you said, spacts, that's why no one was signing him at the time they put that clause in. They were willing to eat the three million plus if that was to happen. I think it's kind of sad though, you know it. I thought we saw some some good

things that were going to happen. We could we could foresee some good things that we were hoping that would happen with McCoy. It would have been nice to see him in that uniform and play out the season and see just what he could do for us. I guess when it's all said and done, you know, it's a consolation prize that he does. He is able to get the money and able to stay down here with his son. But this is kind of what I spoke about last show, guys.

This pace that we're dealing with in regards to the season, in regard us to no preseason games, in regards to the accelerated pace on getting this team ready. These injuries are going to wreak havoc on the Cowboy roster and we may go into the season with some very odd combinations when it comes to the roster itself. And I'm very curious to see how the Cowboy coaching staff and the training staff is going to deal with all of these different injuries coming and with the accelerated pace that

they're dealing with. It's going to be an odd combination for the team to deal with, more so, of course than a regular season. When you're dealing with this accelerated pace and the COVID thing going on, it's gonna be like juggling balls. Really, it's gonna be like a juggling act for the coaching staff and the training staff. You know,

I understand, I agree with it. I agree with you on that, And they've done a pretty good job so far because if it's a two hour practice, the first hour is all special teams and individual drills, so there's really minimal contact. And the unfortunate thing of this one was it was during the individual drills where all they were doing was coming off the ball, uh and having another defensive lineman across from the other guy and just

kind of acting like he's an offensive lineman. Uh. And unfortunately, when when Antoine Woods came off and it happened, Uh, we were watching from the Quarterback club in the Cowboys Club. It was right below and he stepped on his foot. That's what I thought happened. It looked like he stepped on his foot, exact foot and when he went back. You got three hundred pounds standing out on one of your your feet and it and it ruptured the tendon in his quad. So it was kind of a weird one.

You know. It wasn't like sprinting down field or pushing off and trying to tackle somebody. And they haven't done that yet, by the way, either there's been no tackling. There's been bumping. As a matter of fact, I saw Jalen Smith today. It was a running play by the sideline and he nailed the running back out and knocked him out of bounds. And then when the guy got up, I said, oh, it's twenty not twenty one, so it's okay. Well,

one thing, one thing that we talk about. These are pretty much non contact drills that we're talking about once the season starts. Yes, oh my goodness, I cannot wait to see the injury report after the first ball game, after a full contact after all the intensity. The guys are trying to hold everything for the first game, trying to hold it in. The injury list for after the first game is going to be so long and so confusing.

It's gonna be it's gonna be a trip well, as is the case as is the case every year, you know, early in training camp there's always a lot of injuries. And the ACL count as of about twenty four hours ago across the league was I believe at eight. Normally, one doctor said that they in a typical NFL season, you have fifty ACL injuries across the league. And so we are one week into this and there as of

yesterday there were eight ACL injuries across the league. And again, as you said, Everson, teams aren't going necessarily full speed all the time at all right now, and you know the hitting hasn't started or anything like that, and so uh, it's and it's going to be interesting this year, as you say, because they did not have the typical offseason to see how many more injuries if if indeed, we

do have more injuries as we go along. What about and by the way, I'm monitoring, of course, we're streaming as usual on periscope. I'm monitoring par scope. So if you have any comments and he questions, I can pass them along to Mickey and Everson here. But what about what do the Cowboys do now? With McCoy out. I think one of the not only his ability on the field, but his presence in the locker room is something that

they're going to really miss. You know, if you know anything about Gerald McCoy, you know that he has such a positive outlook on life. It was evident even as he posted videos from his hospital bed prior to surgery and after surgery, he says that he still wants to be a mentor to these young defensive linemen that he had established a relationship with. Even though now he can't go in the building because he's been released by the team,

He's still gonna connect with them. But how do the Cowboys offset the loss because they were counting on Gerald McCoy to be a big part of this team. Yeah, Billy, you know, we talked about that previously, about his influence in the locker room. They will miss that because I think those young guys were filing him, especially Tristan Hill, uh and Neville Gallimore. What a great example, what a

great personality mentor for those guys. And you know, always felt like a guy like Tristan Hill really needed that after he kind of had a washout rookie season. But he seems to have turned things around a little bit. His body looks better, his enthusiasm looks better. Uh. And when they're going out there and uh, you know he's he's he's taken the place uh in a lot of the snaps of Gerald McCoy, and so has uh Tyrone Crawford. Uh. And so between those two guys and Gallimore, they're gonna

have to fill that spot. And it made me takes three guys to do it. And I always thought that was going to be a rotation position there anyway that you know, McCoy wasn't gonna play five to fifty five snaps a game that they would try to get some young guys in there. Now if they earn it, they're getting every opportunity to do. So. Now we're gonna see what you got, Tristan Hill. We're gonna see what you

got Neville Gallimore. And if those guys, you know, don't don't grab some snaps, then Tyrone Crawford's gonna be your three technique, especially on first and second downs. And if they go to Nickel, I wouldn't be surprised. Look, they've got some big defensive ends, right, Alden Smith is two eighty, Joe Jackson's two eighty five. Those guy and Jackson rush some from inside you know, those guys can easily move inside and create some problems. And then you got Antoine

Woods at the nose tackle position. Don Terry. Poe hasn't practiced yet, so I'll be interested to see if if you know a little bit about Antoine. Right, he's not a give up guy, so I'm sure he's thinking, Okay, you brought in Poe, but I'm gonna fight for my snaps. And when you look at the roster, the core of this team, they all seem to be around the same age and also the same temperament. You look at the offensive lineman, you don't really have an outspoken guy on

the offensive linement. I think Looney might have been one of the more charismatic guys on the old line. You're looking at the quarterback position, running back position, D line, no one really stands out as that boisterous player. You're bringing a guy like Everson Griffin who's really not that boisterous. He's just a guy that does work as best he can. But I didn't I don't even call him being that

vocal leader they're going to have to rely on. I don't know either one person who's going to have to step up and be that person that inspires you. Maybe Woods would be that guy. But for the most part, everyone on that team seems to have the same temperament. No one seems to step out as that person that's unusually boisterous or that vocal leader. It would be nice to keep McCoy around, but like you said, you can't

come to the practice field anymore. But it would be nice to hit for him sometime in the future, to be that voice for the team in the locker room. Have a team full of players that are almost of the same temperament. I think that's why when things start to go wrong in the ballgame, you really don't see a sense of urgency coming from any particular player. You don't have that Michael Irvin or that Dare's Brian over there, you know, trying to you know, punch it at the

air and getting people fired up. I think they're going to need that person. Yeah, you need someone. Maybe it would be coach McCarthy. He can go out there and fill a red flag at a referee and hit him in the face and then that might inspire some people. But you don't have that on the team right now. I hope they can. They can find someone that can

inspire them verbally in that way. Wheneverson brought up the makeup call earlier in the show, I was thinking, Yeah, they sure didn't have a makeup call for two technical files on a basketball player. That's exactly right. And I'll just add this. I know we have to we have to go to break. But one of the guys that has become more vocal now that he's at middle life, hold on, hold on, hold on, Mickey, hold on, Let's let's tease that. Let's tease that. I want to know.

I'll tell you after this. Yes, let's take a break and we will let you know who Mickey thinks that vocal guy who will step up and Gerald McCoy's absence and we come back on Mick shots. Hey, they're cowboys. Fans with Ty Cleaners at home pickup and delivery, cleaning your clothes has never been more convenient. Simply sign up at your local store, set out your dirty clothes, and one of our tight cleaners for professionals will come directly

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choosing one of the Star District restaurants. For information on delivery, takeout, curbside pickup, and dine in availability, miss it the Star District dot com. Yes, there is activity in the Star District and obviously inside the Star as well inside Ford Center. The Cowboys have wrapped up another day of practice. They're in meetings and probably have a walk through this afternoon. I'm not sure exactly what the schedule is the rest of the day, but that's typically the way it works.

As yesterday, it wasn't a day off for the players. It was a day off as far as practice goes, but they did have meetings and walk throughs and then they'll pray practicing again tomorrow morning. And Mickey, as we went to break, Everson was talking about the loss of Gerald McCoy and who's going to replace Gerald as that vocal leader that we anticipated that Gerald might be a part of. Who do you have in mind as a

guy who's going to step up in that capacity. Well, I don't know about in the locker room, but I've seen it on the field already. And that guy that's kind of taken charge of that defense is Layton Vanderish. They moved him. They've moved him to the middle linebacker spot. So he's getting the call, the defensive call from Mike Nolan in his helmet, relaying it to the rest of the team. So that doesn't make you a leader. I could go out there and relay the call probably if

I could remember it all right. I know you're not trying to compare yourself to Layton Listen. No, I'm just comparing myself to relay in the call. Anybody can do that, right, But I see him being more vocal of getting guys lined up, making checks at the line of scrimmage or whatever they need to do. And he's talked about how he feels like he's a little bit more in charge now that he's at the middle linebacker spot. So from an on field presence, look for him to kind of

be that guy being more vocal. Uh. And then if you need the emotion, I guarantee it, you can get it from either one of those defensive ends, from either DeMarcus Lawrence. Uh. And from what I've heard of Everson Griffin probably him as a matter of fact, guys, he I just saw where he was doing his interview today

while we were getting going uh. And Rob Rob Phillips pointed out that Griffin talked about the Cowboys being his favorite team growing up, and we talked about this last week we beat him to the punch uh and said he was named after the great Everson Walls. Yeah, he talks about it in his best conference today. Yes he did, all right, he talks like that, but then he doesn't even know what position I played, So I'm kind of disappointed.

Safety a linebacker. He said safety linebacker or something like that. So he didn't name himself. It was his dad. That's okay. When I talk to him, I'm gonna be wagging my finger in his face like some old dude. We're gonna We're gonna have to get you two together, right, Yeah, well, Mickey, we need to get them together on this show. That's your assignment for you, I mean appreciate it is to get Everson Griffin on with Everson Walls so he can go down memory lank all right. On the topic of

the vocal leader, Everson, who on your teams was? I mean, we know who the big personalities were, but who are the real locker room leaders on those teams that you played on. You know, when you start talking about locker room leaders, that's one thing. I happened to be one of those locker room lawyers. I don't know if the leader and lawyer going the same category as for us coaches are concerned, but we've all we had a team full of veterans and one guy that I really enjoyed

listening to and he was my mentor. Was both of them have to be dbs. Actually, Dennis Thurman and Charlie Waters. Charlie Waters was just my own personal cheerleader because he wanted to make sure I made as many plays as possible because he's playing on one leg back there, so he need as much help as possible. But he was a guy that was always in the coach's ear, always doing those things behind the scenes to make the scheme, the defensive scheme morecompatible to the team that we were

playing against. That's what I liked about Charlie. You know, coaches will go out there and they'll have an idea of what's best for the players. You need a player to say what's best for the players, and Charlie was that guy. Dennis Thurman also was a guy that that followed in that same suit. Wanted to make sure that the players were in the best position to make plays in this difficult flex defense that we had to deal with. So those two guys were always those locker room leaders.

But when it came down to it, unfortunately back then you had a lot of people that were afraid to speak up because you know, the cowboy locker room back then was a little bit rigid, a little bit more rigid as far as the owners were concerned, as far as the coach was concerned. So we had to we had to. We had to find our leaders in some obscure places. And those two guys were the ones that really inspired me. Now, if you want to talk about guys like Harvey Martin who was always fired up, he

was just an engine within himself. Randy White was the same way, but just don't get in his way because he knocked the hell out of YouTube as a teammate. So you had all kinds of ways that people inspired each other and inspired their teammates. But this team was a little bit more rigid than the team that we're talking about right now. Yeah, they didn't have many present

day terms. Sean Lee would be a guy today in the latter stages of his career for what Charlie Waters was to you in the latter stages of his career back when you came into the league in the early eighties. Uh. And so there needs to be like a Layton vander Esha, Jalen Smith, DeMarcus Lawrence. So that type of guy who's in the in the Pro Bowl portion of their career where they can be big time leaders they're playing every play and and uh, you know, on Everson's team, while

you know, you have to kind of define leader. But they didn't have a lot of shy guys in that locker room, right. Uh. You know he mentioned Randy White. I could still hear the booming voice of John Dutton. Uh forgot he was not shy, right. Uh. Eugene Lockhart, I wouldn't call him shy either. Uh. So, yeah, they had some characters in that locker room. For sure. I

thought we were ray. But when it came to inspiration, Bill, they wouldn't inspire you as much as they would put the fear of God in you if you didn't make them play. So that was the difference. But don't you think that that teams that are successful you have to have a collection of guys like that that are big personalities. Yes, you do. And the fact that they were veterans, they were already there, they had already gone through so much. A couple of them had already been through more than

one Super Bowl. So yes, you had a lot of people that you could look up to in regards to inspiration, but it was up to you to find that inspiration. They weren't going to throw it out there for you. Like I said, the inspiration they gave you came through threats to your physical body. Well, and just think about the wide receiving corps on that team, and it relates to today's wide receivers. You know, when you got Drew Pearson, Tony Hill and Butch Johnson and your wide receiving cord,

they're not lacking for confidence, No, absolutely not. And and and these top three guys, um and we'll see where Cedee Lamb goes. I mean he's a rookie. But Gallop uh and Marie Cooper I said last year, they're the unwide receivers because they're very humble. Uh, they're not boisterous. Uh now they're they're confident in themselves, but they're not

what we're used to seeing with cowboy wide receivers. Yes, I cannot compare those three guys to any of the receivers that we've had going back to even Michael Irving. But Drew Piers and Tony Hill and Buss Johnson you have more in fighting than you did have. Uh you know, Coop by y'all moments, so to speak. So uh so it was it was, it was, it was It was lively for the reporters back then. All you had to do was say one buzzword. You get him fired up, and you have you have a story. They throwing Jay

Saldi at tight end. He was the best interviews on the team. He and Tony Dorset wasn't shy either. By the way, Let's let's just keep going and keep I keep bringing up I keep bringing up guys in that quadrant where Everson Walls lived. Once they they moved out to Valley Ranch. Hey, And one thing Ron Ron said he wouldn't make it to Valley Ranch. He wasn't loud. He said, I'll never make it to Valley rasum and talking about and I thought this was interesting. Mike Nolan

did his interview yesterday and he was talking about Alden Smith. UH. And one of the things UH, he pointed out, he goes number one. I like Alden Smith's interaction with the other players, to be honest with you, He's a he's a team player. He's got a lot of personality. I like the way he interacts with Demarrow Becas Lawrence and Tyrone Crawford with a number of guys. I see that

chemistry starting to build. UH and then Dak was asked about Alden today as they asked him, you know, does he look like a guy out there that hasn't played in five years? And uh? And Dak Prescott said, he's a man, he's a monster, and he damn sure doesn't look like he hasn't played in five years. And he had a really good day to day. He had pressure on the pocket no matter who the quarterback was. And

once uh, you know there was no Tyrant Smith there. Oh. Those poor young guys, they're just there's how do I say it lightly? They're learning a lot, okay? And how about hey, hey, Mike McCarthy this morning, his first questions about Alden Smith and they I remember exactly how it was posed, But McCarthy's answer was, I think if anyone sees him on the ractice field, there are good reaction is going to be who's that number? Fifty eight? Yeah, And so that that's what's kind of impression he's making

out there on the field. But that's what the Cowboys need players like that, and especially in building that chemistry. You got it. I mean, think of the Cowboys Super Bowl teams of the nineties and the personalities you had on that team, and that's what this defense that I thought has always been lacking because everybody was kind of quiet, you know, nice guys, and it's like, yeah, you need some rabble rousers out there. Uh you know this that we're not in a choir here, so uh, you know,

I think that's good. And it sounds like some of that is starting to build, and it's building, and yet there's been minimal contact. So once the contact starts up, we'll see a little bit more feistiness from some of these guys. And I think you go ahead, Reverson. I was gonna say, let's let's put a little onnus on the coaches as well. You know, Spage, you talk about my Nolan. I think he's a very aggressive defensive coordinator,

and I think the Cowboys need that. I think his defensive calls, I think the way he's going to use his linebackers deceptively when it comes to blitzes h the aggressiveness that he's gonna have with his upfront seven players, I think that's really gonna bowld a lot. I think it's gonna lend a lot to the attitude that this team has once they start really playing ball games and hopefully they show the success with the potential that they have. I think that is also going to be a good

thing for the Cowboys defensive front. It's going to allow aggression, is going to allow, I think, for a lot of turnovers because Mike Nolan has always used his linebackers in a very effective blitz style, and I think that's going to really open things up. It's like if you have a good three point shooter, that three point shooter is to open it up for the postman, uh down low.

I think these these blitzes coming from the linebackers, it's going to open it up more for DeMarcus Lawrence, for Aldus Smith and players to use their aggression even more than than they would so enormous circumstances, you know. And I don't think I'm giving away any secrets here, but you know, it's been talked about how Alden Smith has been used on the right defensive end spot standing up

instead of being in a three point stance. And boy, when he stands up, you think, well, if it's a running play, he's he might be, you know, susceptible to getting blocked, but his arms are so long, you know, he can keep guys off them. Uh and uh, he's been pretty effective over there. And I'll say it again, especially when Tyrn Smith's not indicate well. And then how about DeMarcus Lawrence uh standing him up some too, Yeah, and uh and he's he hasn't done it quite as much.

And again, you know, the last time I saw this take place, uh, you know, when they kind of went to the three four with Bill and DeMarcus where was standing up? And then I saw DeMarcus Ware back pedaling in coverage And It's like, I don't want to see DeMarcus ware going backwards. I want them going forward, right. Uh. And so I'll be interested to see if they if they get into any of those schemes. You know, are you going to use those guys in coverage because they're

basically you're outside linebacker. Uh. So that'll be interesting to see how they do that because I'll guarantee you DeMarcus Lawrence hasn't had to drop off the line of scrimmage much and cover anybody. Yeah. One of the things when you stand up a DeMarcus Lawrence or Alden Smith or Everson Griffin for that matter, h you can you can do some things to find mismatches on your pass rush

where they can go inside as well. If you go back and look at the Saints last year, they did a lot of that on their in their front four where they moved guys around, and there were multiple in that respect. Of course, Nolan wasn't the DC there in New Orleans last year as the linebackers coach, but I think some of those concepts, I think you can see him employing that which we haven't seen as much of here in Dallas over the years. And you know why,

from the predictability Bill. That's what we were for the last few years. I think that's been our weakness. We've been happy to come out and show the offense just exactly what we're doing. We lined up the same way all the time, I don't care if it was a two minute drill or if it was the beginning of the game. And I thought that that led us to a lot of disadvantages, and that's why we were always so predictable as far as not getting turnovers as well.

The offense is always gonna know where you are. There were no surprises. We just started putting in the blitzes really last year when the new defensive coach came in and those are the things that you just can't waste a play in that regard to me, that's called that's just taking a play for granted, you can't. You should always be able to show a change up in what

you do. You have to mentally keep your offense off guard when it comes to how good they are at this time in football, offenses are so explosive, so defensively, you have to take advantage of where you are strong, and if that has to be a little bit of misdirection coming from your defensive coordinator and from your staff, then that needs to be used. We have sorely missed that the last few years here with the Cowboys. All right, when we continue here on mix Shots, there's so much

more to get into. I want to pick Mickey's brain on some other things that he's seen through the first week of training camp practices at Ford Center at the Star in Friscoe. Mix Shots continues in just a moment, Hey, they're Cowboys fans with Ty Cleaners at home pickup and delivery, Cleaning your clothes has never been more convenient. Simply sign up at your local store, set out your dirty clothes, and one of our Ty cleaners professionals will come directly

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to join today. Mick Shots continues now. Bill Jones with Mickey Spagnola, who is experiencing some technical difficulties right now, I understand, and Everson Walls. We are streaming live on Periscope as well. Take you to the top of the hour and leading up to the start of the regular season. Will be here on a weekly basis on Thursdays at

eleven am. And Cowboys practice again tomorrow, take Saturday off in three straight practices Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, and we're now just over three weeks away from the start of the regular season. That regular season is going to be here before you know it. When the Cowboys play September thirteenth, a Sunday night game at the Los Angeles Rams, and the first home game the following Sunday on September twentieth against the Atlanta Falcons. Everson, are you there, I'm here,

You are there. Okay, you're echoing in my ear, but you are there everywhere. Let me ask you about the cornerbacks and Trayvon Diggs has been worked in a little bit throughout the first week. We'll get more on that from Mickey when he gets re established here. But what are you hoping to see a merge out of this training camp at the cornerback position. Well, I hope they have a a guy that they can they can depend on them. I hope they have someone that they can

I can make some plays for us. Uh, someone that we can keep up with the athleticism, because we always have athletic cornerbacks and that's what I like about. But I want someone that can make the plays that need to be made. When you start talking about our secondary we were reactionary. We didn't anticipate anything. And that's the problems that you have with a lot of just so so uh defensive backfields. You have to be as a unit.

You have to have a culture there that can be smart and anticipate the plays that they're coming your way. I don't care how good an offense is. Each one of them falls into a pattern, and you have to as a defensive back be smart enough to find that pattern. That's what Charlie Waters and then this Terman did for me. They showed me how to study my opposition and so that way I wouldn't be reactionary. I can anticipate what

was gonna come my way. Those interceptions, some of those interceptions weren't just about athletic ability that I made back in the day those interceptions was because I studied and because I had good study partners, people that showed me how to prepare for big time ball games and play against big time wide receivers. So not only are you studying the formations and the tendencies offensively, you're also studying your opponent, that single wide receiver that you're going against.

And I don't think that we've been doing that in the past. Hopefully they can change that culture here back to the way it was, to where we understood exactly what the offense was trying to do to us and how this particular wide receivers trying to set us up. Trey Von Digg seems to be a guy that can figure that out. Hopefully he can do it on this next level as well, because he did it well in college.

And you've got other defensive backs back there, such as how High Clinton Dix, who can be that anchor for you at a safety position and protect those corners and make sure that they have confidence in their safeties the way I had confidence in guys like Desta Cleiscale, Michael Downs, and Charlie Waters. I think you know, guys, can you hear me. Yeah, yes, it looks like you're back now, you know, Mickey, we got to give some credit to Everson here to pull back the curtain a little bit.

You know, we were discovering that if you open up another one of these little WebEx windows, it creates an echo effect in our ears that makes it sound like that you are speaking on a public address system at a stadium, where you're get hearing your own voice back and forth. And so Everson when he went through that whole little salute lakoi there, he was hearing himself for the first whole minute or so of that. But he fought through it, and he made it through it, and

he delivered. He came through in the crunch. So kudos to you ever send for fight. Thank you, Thank you. I thought I sounded like I sounded like God for a minute there sounded like Louis Garrett giving his rep Yes, the luckiest man in the world, world, world, He's the luckiest man on the face of the earth. And we are we are so lucky that we do not have that in our ears. Now, all right, Micky, what have you seen in our last few minutes? I want to

give you. Yeah, we'll give Chris being being some props there for getting that out of our ears too. Mickey, I want to give you an opportunity to talk about some of the guys that you've seen through this first week of training camp practices that have caught your eye. Where would you start, Well, you know, you guys were talking about the cornerback position, and they've been rotating them

guys through, even on the first team. You know, they normally if if Jordan Lewis was out there, you know, uh, you know, between a Woozier Brown Lewis digs uh worli uh. Those guys have been rotating through quite a bit. Uh and and and even in the secondary you know, they're given the young guys chance back there. Uh So they they've they've been kind of changing it up quite a bit. So it's really hard to say, Okay, this guy's first team, this guy's second team. I don't think that's happened so far.

Who's caught my eye overall? Um? You know, we know about Gallup, we know about Amari Cooper, Ceedee Lamb just plays this game so effortlessly. You know, we were watching them catch punts as we were leaving after the practice, finished, and the guys stay out there and do a little extra. And I wrote in Mick Shots yesterday, it's like if you know the expression in baseball catching a can of corn,

you know, and that that started. That expression started with the old grocery stores when they used to have the cans up high and they would have a pole and they would pull the can down and you would catch it right and put it on the shelf. Well, it's he catches punts just like that, like it's soft tossed. And the other day they were doing a drill where

it was a punt. They were catching punts. But what Fossil was having them do this new special team's coach is you you stand and it was off the judge machine. So you stand with your back towards the judge machine and they fire it off and when the ball hits its apex, he yells turn and you got to turn around find the ball. And this is indoors, so it's you're looking up in that roof. It's hard to find it, and then you got to catch it right. He was doing it like he'd been doing it in his whole career.

It's just to me, no stutter steps, just standing there, boot catches him. So it'll be interesting to see, you know, if he plays so much offensively, will he be okay to also returned punts. Cedric Wilson's not bad at it either, but CD just does it so so efforts lead it amazing. Mickey, let me let me throw in something about CD that I saw in person. It was at the Cotton Bowl last October, and one of his three touchdown passes in that game. He had an incredible game. Texas wins that game.

If CD Lamb's not on the field for ou, I mean, he just took over that game. But there's one play in particular, well, I believe it was a flea flicker and he's down the right sideline about twenty five thirty yards downfield, fairly deep pass, but it was a flee flicker and Jalen Hurts just sort of heaved it high in the air. CD sees the ball, the traject the trajectory of the ball, which is almost he threw it so high it was almost like a punt. And I'm

watching Cede Lamb. I had a fifty yard line seat, Okay, so I'm watching Cede Lamb and he took his eye off the ball as it was in midflight and surveyed where the secondary was and then he reached and then he looks back up, makes the catch, and then made his way through five defenders for the final twenty five yards all the way to the end zone. It was one of the most remarkable things I've seen on a

football field. But it illustrates exactly what you're talking about, just the natural instincts that he has and the confidence that he has, the field presence that he has. That was remarkable. I think that, well, yeah, I love the way that Bill likes to show off his Oklahoma affiliation. Nice to know that they give you fifty yard line seats. I'm I'm going to play with you. I'm going to the game with you next time, Bill, because I'm I'm

an old You fan myself. But it changes everything when you have the ability to do something that no one else knows how to do and you work on it so well, it does make you stand out. Bill. Uh. When my dad taught me how to catch a ball, when he when he taught me the mechanics of how to follow a ball in the air, I didn't know how unique that would make me as a player. Ceedee Lamb. He does things like we talk about Beckham does all the time. The one hand that catches that makes you

an extremely special person. But as far as I'm concerned, if you can do all of that, I would love it if you would just be consistent in what you do, uh no passes, no mistakes, not taking your basic fundamental talents for granted. And to me, that would really show me just what a good a player he is, because there are times when yes, those those amazing plays are gonna have to have to happen. But just show me some consistency day in and day out. To me, that's

more impressive. When you talk about Amari Cooper, I'm sure he can do all those things that Ceedee Lamb can do, let's be real, but he chooses not to because he's always so consistently good at being the fundamental player that he is. You show me fundamentals day in and day out, and success at that. To me, that impresses me more. Even though I do love seeing those plays by Ceedee Lamb,

especially being an OI fan. Well, in that play that CD made it that I was talking about it, I mean that he I don't he doesn't make he doesn't have the run after catch on that play if he didn't do what he did there. So I think it was fundamental to him making that play too. It wasn't he wasn't showing off doing it. He was just that was But he has that the natural instincts and so forth, that he's confident that, Okay, I can go ahead and catch that ball, I can take my offer and read

the defense and didn't go back to it. It was it was something else. I think. I think the difference is the differences Now you're going to have players, You're going to have defensive players that are going to react a little bit better to that. So right, how he going to react to the level of play heightening for him? I can't wait to see how he adjusted that, and

I think he'll do well. Bill Truck I'm a fan of his, I am, but it's not gonna be as you know, it's not gonna be as easy going against some some big twelve dbs versus going against some big time dbs in the NFL. And build a couple other quick observations. I see why Andy Dalton's been a nine year starter in the league. He's abay accurate throwing the football, and I think that has stood out, and that stood out yesterday with Dak. I thought he had one of

his best days. The ball in individual drills or team drills was not hitting the ground. He had a really, really good day. And then this one kind of you know, we talked to John Fossil yesterday and I kind of asked him, you know, you you cut Kai for bath, you know what went into that decision not to have any kicking competition in training camp? And he basically kind of got away from where I was going and said, well, we had to get to eighty, so we cut the

other deep snapper and we cut the other kicker. Well, finally somebody pinned him down and said, well, have you diagnosed what went wrong with Greg Zurline last year when his field goal percentage dropped to seventy two percent, which I think was the lowest of his career. And he said, yeah, I diagnosed he had a bad groin stream and he said, all we were doing during the week the last six to eight weeks of the season, we weren't kicking him to try to get him through, and so it was

affecting his swing. So he said he's got all the confidence in the world that they will get the Greg zur Line that he'd seen the last eight years while they were together with the Rams. Well, we've only seen him in practice kick twice, and the first time we saw him kick he went six for six, and today between thirty three and forty four yards he went six

for six. So Fossil basically was saying, I guarantee you he's going to be one of the top, if not top kickers in the NFL this year for the next couple of years for the Cowboys now that he's over the groin strain that really hampered his swing last year. So that Park stepped out because I thought we were

going to be charting field goals all training camp. Hey, hey, Fossil, Fossil knew what he had in Zerline's When zer Line came into the league in twenty twelve, John Fossil was his special team's coach with the Rams, and he's been there all the way, and you know, it was a priority for a Fossil when the free agency started, that we've got to sign to Greg Zerline, who's the only other kicker that John Fossil has had in this league as a special teams coordinator he was with the Rams,

and prior to that, he was the Raiders special teams coach and his kicker those four years in Oakland with Sebastian Janikowski. He's had two kickers in his time as a special team's coach, Janikowski and Zerlin. And that will continue this year. Yeah, and uh and so that that that's uh stood out. And one thing, you know, we I think there was a lot of anticipation that Trayvon Diggs was going to be a step in starter well as as a rookie. He looked like a rookie for

a few practices so far. He's got he's got a ways to go to beat out the veterans. Let's just put it. And it's not a bad thing. I think it's more of a recognition thing and understanding. As as Everson said about Cedee Lamb, you know he's not going to be going up against big twelve corners. Well, Trayvon's not going up against wide receivers that he saw in college. These guys are big time players, sou but they're working them in and they're giving them opportunities. I like that

they're given. Uh. Reggie Robinson opportunities. Uh so that that that that was a good thing. And one other guy that I wanted to point out that is getting opportunities back there as they haven't forgotten about Donovan Wilson, the safety that had a really good training camp last year and then he kind of faded away once the season started. He's getting opportunities back there also at the safety position. He made a lot of turnovers last year for the

short minute amount of time that he was exposed. All Right, I think we're out of time on this edition of Mix Shots. Next week, Everson, I want you to tell us a story of how you gave an indoctrination to Michael Irvin when Irvin came into the league. Irvin interviewed CD Lamb earlier this week on NFL Network and he was talking about the schooling that Everson Walls gave him in one of his first practices, and I don't know if you remember that or not, but next week I

want to hear that story. All right, it was several days, so I'll pick one out. Okay, that does it for Mixed Shots for this week, and we will see you again next Thursday at eleven am. Have a great week. Everybody. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.