Mick Shots: Cover Four

So we hope to have Bill as we go through this next hour here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. And I'm in the SWBC Mors Studio and Everson Walls was in the Walls studio at home. How are you doing today? The renovated, the renovated studio. We got our popcorn is gone, our popcorn gone. I'm onto the next phase, baby, I am onto the next phase. And if it wasn't for having such crappy games on Saturday, I probably still would have been sitting here with popcorn hovering over me. But man,

it was so boring, you know. And plus, let's just be real man. I mean, I know we had a team that was very average. I know that we didn't do well when it came to you know, adversarial problems and things of that nature. But you know, when your team's not in it, it's just kind of hard to stay extremely focused, especially in a Blowoutum well, I mean it was somewhat low. I mean, I guess you weren't engaged with Packers Rams. Is that what you're telling me? Yeah,

that's what I'm telling you. Once Aaron Donald went out, you know, I kind of figured what was happening was gonna happen. I mean, they actually made it somewhat interesting, but you know, it was typical of what you expected from the Packers. Aaron Rodgers is flawless. It's almost Aaron Rodgers reminds me of Lebron James in regards to the fact that he's playing a game within a game. You know, there are times you think you have him under control,

you don't. He's just testing you. And that's what was happening in the game. He was just picking and prodding and just trying to figure out the best way he's gonna beat you. Not if I can beat you, but how I'm going to beat you because beating you is inevitable.

And that's the way it usually is with Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, and you know, and and the amazing thing about the Packers is that you know they do it with um I mean, I understand you know the wide receiver thing, right, Uh you know that that uh you know, he's he's basically uh has the opportunity to throw to Davante Adams. But after that the wide receivers he's throwing too. Are

you serious? And they and they still you know, put up almost five hundred yards of of of offense, uh, you know, with with a guy night by the name of Lazard and uh, what's the other guy's name that has all the two last name Valdez Scandaling right, are

you kidding me? And and but the key thing to me, Everson, was the fact that they they they came out saying, we're gonna run the ball on you, by the way, La Rams and and you know Donald or no, Donald, we're running the football and they ran for what one hundred and eighty eight yards? That's clear. Now. Aaron Donald came in, he was he was he was having issues already coming into the game. I mean, let's let's just

be clear about that. I don't think a fully healthy Aaron Donald they would have been able to handle him consistently throughout the game. I get that. But when you look at this team, if you're a professional wide receivers bags, you know, I like it how people you know, guys like good quarterbacks, they spread the ball around to different receivers. Let's be real, now, if you made the pros as

a wide receiver, catching the ball shouldn't be that damn hard. Okay, I mean, and if you're running in a zone wide open, and it seems to be every wide receiver is wide open all the time. The scheme itself is good, but being able to catch a ball it's no big deal. Hell, the first time they tried me back in back in nineteen eighty one, I crossed the ball, So catching the

ball is no big deal, you know. But as far as I'm concerned, it's the system itself that has those wide receivers just running through zones wide open all the time. So as much as Aaron Rodgers is amazing, that system itself seems to be working so well to where if you're wide open, yeah, catch the ball, it's no big deal. You've been doing it since you were ten years old. Well, you know what the way Aaron Rodgers handed off to Aaron Jones for ninety nine yards, I'm gonna hand off

Bill Jones because Bill is ready to join us. Nice, nice, how y'all doing? We're good? How are you? What's going on? William going? All right? I'm sorry. I'm a little late. I had an appointment, and you know how that goes. No, we don't know. We don't want to hear it. Nobody wanted to hear my excuses out of you are now the Everson Walls of this group. I left the office at a level eight, and I was on track to get here at my home office and be ready to

go in eleven thirty. But I didn't factor in the I didn't factor in the trash pick up, and I got stuck behind the trash pick up. Guys, a little two lane road by my house. That's a good one, Bill, I'm gonna use that. I'm I'm the trash man why

I didn't get here in time? And I tell you the story about Lawrence Taylor said he was late to training camp practice, which is a quart of my walk from the dog, from the locker room to the field, and in between the field and the locker room, you know, people actually walk and they actually have their cause on the little gravel road. So we all kind of me Andrew I way on through, and so LT was late for practice, and then Belichick asked him why. He said, traffic.

Traffic from the locker room to the field is what held him up. So that's pretty good. So I don't know if you remember. I don't know if you heard Everson say he got bored watching the games on Saturday, so he got the popcorn off the ceiling. Did you get bored watching the games on Saturday? Well, you know, I didn't watch a Saturday night game, mickey, because I had a high school football state championship on Saturday night. But I asked, I am familiar with what happened, though.

We could break down that high school game if you'd like to, but we don't need to. I would, I would, I ain't gonna lie. I would love to hear about the high school game. Bill for real. It was the Dodge Bowl and a Dodge I want to tell I want to well, and a Dodge one, that's right. I want to tell the son that he needs to Well, I won't get into that on the air. I'll tell you off the air what I should tell the son

about the dad's team. Although all right there. You know, RPOs are big at every level of football, from the NFL on down to high schools. And and we're talking about the Austin Westlake South Lake Carol game and Todd Dodge won a sixth state championship. He was coaching against his son, Riley Dodge, who's a thirty two year old head coach at South Lake Carol. They called ineligible receiver down field at least three times on the Austin team. And but what it is, it's they run those RPOs.

And at the high school of you know, at the NFL, you can't have a lineman downfield, okay, they may give you the grace of a yard or who so around the line of scrimmage anymore. But at the lower levels they it is trickery at work here with these coaches

and running these RPOs. And what they do is they teach their offensive linemen to stay low as if they're run blocking, give the look of a run and they get vanced downfield a little bit, okay, but they're throwing the ball instead, and so it freezes those linebackers and the safety where just you know, obviously all you got to do that as for a split second and the

guy's running free behind you. I guarantee you the son knew exactly what the dad does all the time, told the officials before the game, this is what they do. They called it three times, but I bet you they did it about every pass play, and so Dad didn't care. He's going up against son, and son was just as

competitive going up against dad. But it is interesting when you talk about these RPOs or run pass option and the way they do use their offensive linemen to try to disguise what they're doing a scheme wise offense of ly and so I think it also relates to the NFL level what you see at the lower level. Well, that is tough enough just playing coaching against your dad, you know, I think it's tough enough coaching against your son, A coaching against your dad. I would never want to

do that if my son. My son is pretty good at cracking on people all the time. He's a jokester, and I think I'm pretty good too. But there's no way that I can get into a trash talking deal with my son. Eventually I would get too too deep, man, you know what I mean? You know I would, I would go for the juggular and then I would never forgive myself for that. So I just couldn't. I couldn't go against family, and that, you know, the the embrace after the game was not that long. I think that

both these guys are so competitive. They both wanted to win so badly. I mean, think about you, Everson, when you have let's just say you're around your family holidays and you're playing board games or whatever. How can competitive are you with your family plan? I'm as competitive my my family. I'll tell you, I'm as I'm the most competitive person going, and so it gets it gets heated at times. I think with me, I know my limitations. So I don't do board games. I don't. I don't

play them. I observe only because if I start getting into it, then there's something that I can't I can't pull away from, and feelings are going to get hurt and and you know, wills are gonna be rewritten if we start getting into it too deep. You know what I'm saying. And you can only imagine what Mickey is like. Mickey would pull protests. Mickey would protest a loss problem her.

You should have, you should have. You should have seen some of the basement ping pong games my sister and I got into because I taught her how to play, and I probably taught her a little too well, and I had to play hard. You know, you you start off playing left handed just to you know, become a competitive. Then I'm playing right handed, and it's like, oh, I guess I gotta go here now I got one story, I got one story, and my sister's gonna kill me.

I was sitting with my best friend with about fifteen years old. I'm the youngest in the family and we're playing Dominos. Now, you know, when it comes to Domino's, you gotta talk trash, and I don't think my sister understood that, right. So she's older than me, So of course I domino and I'm slapping it down. I'm talking trash. I'm on your backs, let's go blah blah blah. I said, I was, I killed you, and I was in her face like that, and she just calmly put her dominos

down and slapped me right across my face. That is the last time I played any games with family. So you just gotta learn, you gotta learn. Hey, Everson, I got a story just like that. This is my nephew, Will, who's now twenty five twenty six years old, but this was when he was about five or six years old. We're out here in my house. Here, my office. Here, it's above the garage. He overlooks the driveway. We've got

a basketball goal out there. All right. We're playing two unto It's me and my brother in law, and I can't remember the teams, but anyway, Will, the five or six year old, was on the other team. Well, we win the game. I'm jumping around in the driveway, up, up and down. I'm going yes, yes, yes, Will. He's five years old. He comes charging at me and with this fist puts it right where it hurts the most. Where did he learn? Back? Where did he learn? So

that that's how competitive it is around here. So case in point on all that, you can only imagine what it's what it's like when it's your livelihood, it's your profession, and you you uh that father son stuff out the window. I'm trying to beat that guy that could go off for years, by the way, off for years that rivalry. Yeah yeah, so anyway, um, but uh yeah, the whole RPO thing though, with the it's very interesting how it's changed.

You know, football is ever evolving strategy wise, and um and I think on this, uh you know, the ineligible receiver downfield stuff, that it's a five yard penalty right now, I think it needs to be a ten yard penalty just to to because it is basically it should be the same as holding because you're basically holding the linebacker in safety from being able to do their job because you're doing something uh illegal to keep them at bay. And so watch for it when you're when we're watching games.

How many times that offensive coordinators get away with the a lineman downfield on those RPO plays. Well, that would that would be Baltimore would be one of those teams. There you go that I had to deal with that well, making other teams deal with that, because you know, when you're looking at Lamar Jackson, you're looking at the best

RPO quarterback probably in history, especially with the speed. And once again we were I was kind of disappointed in his lack of passing prowess this year, especially after the improvements that he made last year which got him the MVP Trophy. He didn't get the MVP Trophy for just being able to run the ball. He got the trophy because he was able to show his improvement in passing the ball, which, by the way, was I the only one to pick the Bills doing that game? Yeah, I know,

I picked, uh, you know my pick. My pick was I think I went with Baltimore. I went with Everson so I would get a mollary disappointment now and missed the Saints. Okay, yeah, you missed the Saints. Oh you had you had the Saints. Yeah, Now, I was just I was just disappointed. I was very disappointed in Baltimore's offense. I really was. Defensively, they did it the best they could, but offensively, those same demons came back to haunt them.

And you know, otherwise, the Sunday games were good. I really enjoyed the Sunday games, but Saturday a little bit disappointing. Let's get into that when we come back in a moment. Hot sports opinion about the Cleveland Browns at the end of that game, and I would like to know what analytics says about a certain decision that was made towards the end of that game with the Browns head coach, and we got much more to get into. There's things going on there at the Star in Frisco as well.

Mickey can bring us up to speed on as we continue on mix shots here in just a moment. Hey, they're Cowboys fans with Type 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 professionals will come directly to your home for a totally contactless experience. Your clean garments will be returned promptly the next scheduled delivery day.

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percent off these limited time collections. Plus the pro Shop has a huge selection of cold weather gear and more deals for every fan. Visit your local Dallas Cowboys Pro Shop or go to shop dot Dallas Cowboys dot com for the best savings on your new gear. Today, talking about divisional playoff weekend, what happened on Saturday, And let's

turn our attention to Sunday a little bit. And of course you had the great quarterback matchup on Sunday night with Breeze against Brady, and then the early game you had Mayfield against Mahomes. Mahomes gets hurt and Chad Henney winds up winning that game for the Chiefs in the final minutes with a scramble and then a fourth down

play to Tyreek Hill to seal the deal. But let's talk about the Browns, and they're just insion with four and a half minutes to go in the game to punt the football away, and I believe that at least used one of their timeouts at that point, and I just think it was a critical mistake for Kevin Stefanski to punt the ball away. And even though it was fourth and nine or whatever it was, and your own

end of the field. But considering the fact that you're only down five points, and okay, you're asking your defense by punting the ball away, you got to get a stop because basically one, maybe one first down, but for sure two first downs wins the game for the Chiefs, and you're asking your defense they got to get a stop. Well, let's say that you don't get the first down on your fourth down play, and now you have you're basically having to ask your defense to do the exact same

thing you're asking them. If you're punting the ball away, you limit them to a field goal, and you're only down one score. Still it's still an eight point game, and so I think the risk of putting the ball away doesn't match up with the reward of going forward on that fourth down play. I just thought it was a huge mistake. And I don't know what analytics would say about something like that, but I think there was a huge mistake not to go for it on that

fourth down play by by Cleveland. What do y'all think? Well, the other the other part of that is, and you knew that when Kansas City got the ball, so they were going to either get the ball because they were facing a fourth and nine at Cleveland was facing the fourth and nine at their thirty two. So say you picked up seven yards or six yards, they're going to be in field goal range right away, like you said.

But the other factor is, okay, they're playing with a backup quarterback now all so, so I think you had to factor that in to not get and they only had one more time out left, Bill They had used their second one in that series, and that was the

critical thing. If they had three timeouts left, okay, but in this league, with the timing rules in the NFL, if you've got less than three, especially if you only got one, you got to treat that that it's basically two and a half minutes left of the game out

four and a half minutes left. Yeah, absolutely, And you know they had it set up they I mean, they had them third and four and they allowed to Henny to throw the little short pass two was it Darryl Williams for five yards in the first down, And that's what really killed the game right there, because then all you had was the two minute warning left, and you know, and even if you had stopped him on fourth and one, all right, you know you still got only a minute

fourteen to go, precious little time. Yeah, yeah, so yeah, I was. I was a little surprised they punted it at that time. Actually, I wasn't surprised. I think just based on what you said, Spact, you had the backup quarterback. I'm sure Stefanski was looking at that and saying, Okay, this is our opportunity that he was trying to be strategic in that regard. If my homes would have been quarterbacking, then they would have been a totally different story. His

decisions would have been a little bit more dire. They would have, you know, had a little bit more panic, a little bit more panic to them, a little more sense of urgency to me. Like Spack said, it was working out just the way they thought it would. You gotta backup quarterback. You have him on what was the thirty four Yeah, I'm thinking I'm gonna bet on my defense.

I have a hell of a defense in Cleveland. I'm gonna I'm sorry, i have a hell of a defense there, and I'm gonna I'm gonna go with with my strength at this point. We're gonna be strategic. We're gonna forget the analytics. We're just gonna go with what's traditional. You just don't go for fourth down that keep in your territory.

I know that's what he was thinking, and he couldn't justify that, especially when you start looking at the criticisms and just with us here in regards to going forward on fourth down, it may not be a fake punt, but going forward kind of deepen your own territory. They just looked at that as a quicker death as opposed to what happened, uh eventually to where they kind of drew it out and at least had a chance to make it happen. They just didn't. They just didn't do

it on third down defensively. And you know what, and when you look at it, you guys, you know what what Everson just said. Normally, coaching decisions, you try to draw the game out as long as you can and not try to have the outcome resting on one play. And and and that's that's historically the way coaches have coached. It's like, okay, until until I'm in desperate territory with you know, less than a minute to go. But otherwise, you know, the ideas draw the game out as long

as you can, don't rest it on one play. So I understand that part of it too. And now it's a Mahomes waiting game to get him cleared to play against Buffalo on Sunday. I don't think there's any doubt he'll get cleared. I mean, Andy Reid was acting like he in the old days and ever since days he would have gone back into the game, probably on Sunday. Of course, it's different rules, and that's a good thing

as far as getting guys. I don't know if he could have come back in the game even in the old days that he was making well, I know, but Andy Reid. Yesterday, Andy Reid said that he thought because he ran up the ramp a little while later the game was still going on that Uh, he probably the old days would have on right gone not right back in,

but eventually gone back in time. You know what I did, I did read part of part of his problem was that he got the win knocked out of him also, uh, and that may be why when he got up he looked like he was in another world, right. Uh. And then what I saw I'm running into the locker room, I said, Oh, he's trying to put on a brave thing for the independent uh doctor that's going to check

him for a concussion, right, you know. And and here's the other thing everybody was was was making a big deal that it on on Monday that he was still in concussion protocol. Well, of course he's in concussion protocol, because until you do two days in a row of strenuous work, you stay in concussion protocol. And so, uh, you know, not until they have not until he goes out and works out and then the next day gets up and works out again without any any problems, he's

going to stay in concussion protocol, you know. And uh, it was funny listening to Troy Aikman today on during his segment on The Ticket talking about the nineteen ninety three NFC Tile Game when he got knocked out and there was no week between that game winning beating San Francisco and then going to the Super Bowl in Atlanta. And he said that the concussion that he suffered in that NFC title game was the worst one of all

the concussions he suffered in the NFL. And he said, if it was today, he said, there was no way they would have let me play in the Super Bowl, he said, they were absolutely Wow. I would have been in concussion protocol and I wouldn't have made it to

the game. So things have changed. I have changed for the better, let's face it, right, Yeah, no doubt, because I remember that if you remember when when when when when they they the Cowboys showed up that Um, I guess it was Monday in Atlanta and they did the night interviews that night. And I don't know if Troy still knew where he was, you know. I think one of the times when they asked him after the game or where he was, and he I'm in the Henrietta, Oklahoma.

You know. So when they say you got you got knocked into yesterday, he got knocked into yesterday. Yeah, you talk about that, I would call it wasn't a concussion. But then the nineteen ninety one championship game against the forty nine ers, when I was with the Giants and uh Lt on the passing play makes Joe Montana pull the ball down and then here comes Lena Marshall for the clean up. And I told people we didn't Joe woke up up in Kansas City. That's the next time

you saw him playing football. So those hits. Yeah, they can knock you into another region. They can knock you into another stratosphere, another time zone. And that's why it's important for quarterbacks. The slide rule is good. And sometimes my homes can be you know, very mucho about that. You know, he's Texas kid, you know, he doesn't want to be thought of as just that guy that slides

all the time. But it's smart to slide because not only did his head hit the ground just the way he was being manipulated, it looked as if he would have had he also would have had some neck problems because once those linemen catch up with you, they're trying to hurt you and a quarterback as well. They want to their goal. Let's be real. Their goal is not just to tackle a quarterback. The goal is to knock a quarterback out of the game if you get the chance.

And that's going old school and that's new school. It doesn't matter. That does not change, you know, And that's I was dicey on the on the third down scrambled by Chad Henny because he was gonna get there. You know. However, he reminded me of Dak Prescott, right, He wasn't sliding. He was gonna go ahead first, right, what if he got hit? You know, yeah, they're probably punning because I don't know who the next quarterback was that would have would have been able to come in, and then the

punter probably was the next quarterback. Yeah, you're you're probably right, you know, And and if you think about it, the same thing nearly happened. And then the other key play in that game, uh was Higgins dive diving through the pylon and then fumbling the ball through the end zone for the touchback. That was the killer, you know, And I think I saw the interview with Stefanski and he basically said, our rule of thumb is if you're gonna be first in goal at the one, you don't reach out,

Let's let's give us four chances to get in. And you know, and he got hit ahead like a minute it was. It was over a minute plus to go, so it wasn't like there was a time serious situation then. But you know what he got, He got helmet to helmet and you know, he that couldn't very well. They missed him. They missed that, They missed that. If I'm a Cowboy fan and that happens to us. I'm going off right now, that's the first thing that we talk about,

and we'll probably talk about it through the break. If if I'm a Cowboy fan and that happens to us, that call needs to be made. And if you're talking about the reason for the helmet to helmet rule is for the safety of the players, just like with the quarterback. So now you can't can you review that? And if you can review it, why wasn't it reviewed. That's something that should have been really taken care of instead of it seems like they were trying to as referees, they

were trying to rush the game along. This is a playoff games. That's the time when you have to get everything right. That's the purpose of them having the best referee crews in playoff games. So they got it right all year long. You need to get it right now. This is crucial. And I thought, I don't know if you can review that, you tell miss bags. But if you can review it, it should have been reviewed. I don't know if they can review a missed penalty now.

In college, they would have reviewed it right because they from upstad. You know, in college under two mass it should be reviewed as targeting. It's under two minutes, doesn't let's take precedence. I don't know if they can review targeting if it's not called, if it's not called on the field. Yeah, and even in college, I think it's got to be called on the field, although maybe not. I thought I thought go to New York. I thought

you could go to New York. It is something that's not decided on the field, but it would be decided by the guys in New York. That's what I thought. See and the and the problem was there was only one official there that could see it right, and his his view was where's the ball in the pylon? He probably wasn't looking at the there's so much for him to look at there. Yeah, in bounds is bounds. And but why it should have been shifted to New York.

That's why that's why they need to have you're right, ever since that's why that needs to come from above. That's why they gain a sky judge. That is exactly why. Right there, the guy buzzes down and say, hey, you need to look at this. Just like past interference. The guy up there can see it. He can see it better than the guy that's on the field, looking at three different things at once, and and and they just refused to do what they should do. They got cameras

all over the freaking place. They got, they got beautiful angles everywhere college football, pro football. I don't know why I's not done it. Yeah, where was the pylone cam on that play? All right? Um? What about the Sunday night game Brady and Breeze? What do you think of that one? I somewhat felt sorry for Breeze. You know what? That game reminded me of Michael Thomas. Tried to play, right, he wasn't right. He's now he's gonna have surgery, all right,

that's how bad his injury was. He tried to go out there and play. It reminded me of the two thousand and seven playoff game with the Cowboys and the Giants when Taryll Owens tried to play, but he wasn't Taryll Owens in that game, and the cow and Tony Romo didn't really have a lead receiver to throw the ball too. And that was an instance where I just thought, on a couple of those interceptions for Drew Brees, his guys, he was thrown too, so him out. They didn't run

the route right the one to Kimeara. I don't know what what he was thinking. I don't know what happened on that one Spa. I mean he hadn oh, he never turned and I'm not sure what time at what point he was gonna turn, because he ran right into the coverage when he tried to throw him open. Uh so, yeah, unless he was going to hook up before that defender that got the interception, Unless he was gonna hook up

before that defender came across, that still could have been intercepted. Spags. Well, if he was hook up her opportunity, it wouldn't have been you know. And then the other one bounces off the guy's hands and it gets intercepted. Yeah, you know. And I know the quarterback gets charged for all the interceptions, but look, neither quarterback. I mean, you know, they talked about, you know, how well Tom Brady played. Would he have to drive like a yard, thirty yards, twenty yards for

a touchdown. It wasn't like he was zipping up and down the field. The defense won that game for Tampa Bay, and that was the impressive part of that game. We talked about the Saints number one defense I had a feeling that Brady was not going to have that great game, and it's like you said, Spags, it wasn't that great a game. He was just solid. He actually just managed that game with the great talent that he has on

the field. But at the same time, you look at the Tampa Bay defense was really what won that game for them. And I have always been one of those I guess because I'm a defender. I look at I can see Drew Brees and his talent dwindling a bit, and I could see him being a bit predictable down the scenes. Is the strength of their offense always has been. If I was a defender, that's exactly how I play him.

It seems like more defensive coordinators or understanding that, and they're really putting a lot of pressure on Drew Brees up the middle. Everything is up the middle, where it's a blitz or whether it's where you concentrate your past defense, it's always gonna be between the numbers. That's Breeze's strength,

and they finally started to figure that out. Plus his arm is just not quite there like it used to be, so yeah, those interceptions have been coming more often than they were in the past and his effectiveness is going down bit by bit. Is this his last game? That's the good question. Is he gonna come in and try it again with a great defense that he has where you think Spats, well, you know what, I trust Jay

Glazer and Jay glazers pretty close to Sean Payton. And when he announced it right before, are the last segment of the pregame show that this was the last home game for Drew Brees. Guardless if they won, they were going on the road. The Super Bowl would be on the road. Then I would think this is probably it for him. He's pretty tight with Sean and the scene

after the game would indicate it as well. The Cup and supposedly for a couple of hours, the Breeze and his family were out on the field and you probably saw the video of Brady out there with him throwing a pass to Breeze his kid on the yeah too. It was just a couple of forty year olds, forty something year olds just playing catch with the kids out in the park. Let me let me give some context. So that by the way, because if if you and I don't know, I mean, ever since played at the Superdome,

I'm gonna assume the visitors. Yeah, the visitors. The visitor's locker room is on the opposite end of the field from where the buses take you away. So, and the worst part is, if you lose, you gotta walk one hundred yards all the way across the field to get to where the buses are. So Tom Brady didn't go out there and make a special effort to talk to him. He had to walk all the way across. And I'll

give you a good example. The last time, um, the Cowboys played that was it last year or two years ago? It was last year? Right? They played at in New Orleans? Uh and got beat Um. No, I don't think so that. Maybe it was two years ago, not not this season, twenty nineteen or twenty and anyway, Okay, so I'm making I'm making the walk, the one hundred yard walk. Right, and Sean uh is on the bench. His kids are

out there playing. His kids, they're grown now, but they're still out there throwing the ball around, right and Uh and he saw me and we we talked for a while before I got to the bus. So that's kind of a natural thing that the players normally go out there with their kids afterwards, U, you gotta meet up. They didn't make us special. You gotta make that walk. But he did stop and that was a neat thing, and he told us, he told Breeze and Sound, I'll be nice to your sister. Because I guess they were

wrestling on the field or something. It was pretty cute, like one arm one of them's gonna be a gymnast. I saw some one one arm somersaults going on out there, so that was pretty good. One of the kids gonna be I think it's one of Breezes. I think it's Breezes his daughter. She's gonna be a nice gymnast or chiliad or something because she was out there making some moves. Man. Ever since, how amazing is it that these guys are still doing it over the age of forty. I think

it's it's very amazing. I'm you know, I'm a little envious. As a defensive back, we don't really get to ride off into the sunset like that. Never do. The quarterbacks are the ones that always get to have these press conferences and things of that nature. But play until you're forty plus years old. I don't give a dog on what kind of advantages you might have or whatever. That is an amazing accomplishment. And to have your team in

the position that it's in now is pretty cool. I recall I was only thirty one years old one time and I made a play in the end zone. It was Sunday night football. I made a play in the end zone against Philadelphia and the commentator said, yeah, he made that play with I think he said the light shined off my gray hair or some crap like that, and I'm like, you know, commentators words hurt. Okay, I mean so now if I'm watching that game, I'm like, oh, yeah,

everything waters old. Did you what the commentator just said? So now the narrative is already out there. I can't rewrite it, you know what I'm saying. But I think it's I think every position really should get a chance to be glorified in that manner. You see them sometimes they just can't wait to just kick guys out the door, and especially guys that have done so much for this NFL. And I'm going back to the eighties and nineties where there was no love loss for anybody in spags knows

about those days. Now, this is a nice, politically correct league to where guys are good, a little bit more love, a little bit more consideration based on what they've contributed to the NFL. So it's good to see that those guys are getting that. I'd like to see all types of players get that kind of love and respect into the older ages. That's why I ask you, they got to be a deep snapper. Yeah, all right? So ever, yeah, they've got many ceremonies for deep snappers out there when

they retire. Yeah right, every singing of all the cornerbacks who played to a to a late time in their career, late thirties, whatever the age might be, who is the most amazing to you that they kept their skill level up into their late thirties or whatever age you want to put on it. I can't think of any defensive back that went into their late thirties, but just a Dallas cowboy that I was very impressed with who made a change in his career in his style of play as he got older, and I was I kind of

did it myself, so I appreciate what he did. Watching Darren Woodson sacrifice his strong safety prowess to drop down and cover the slot on third downs, that was big for me to watch a guy who basically came out of height out of college as a linebacker and worked himself into one of the best strong safeties the Cowboys ever had, and then from there to drop down and cover a slot receiver, which is the toughest position to

cover on third downs in passing downs. I was very impressed to see how Woodson was able to play out his career while doing that. And I know how difficult that is, because I tried to do it myself. Okay, let me well, let me be more specific. All amazed to you that Daryl Greene was able to do it two years of age. I saw Daryl green thirty, I guess it was. He must have been thirty seven, thirty

eight years old. Put the lockdown on Randy Moss. I believe there was Monday Night football, and it was amazing to see he's maybe Spagnola size. They're they're about the same height. Let's be real. They both talk a whole lot of trash. Get on my damn nerves. But at the same time, he was so accomplished at what he did. He never got interceptions. He got He set a record for like at least one interception every year for seventeen years or something like that. That's not impressive to me.

What's impressive to me is the way that he handled wide receivers who were at the peak of their careers while he was at the end of his no interceptions, just straight up shutdown, real shutdown. I'm not talking about Dion Sanders or I shut them down. No, no, no, because I talked trash with my mouth. No, he shut them down with his legs and he it was, it was, it was evident, and it was often so. Yeah, Darryl

Green was that guy. Thanks for bringing that up. Yeah, a cornerback who played twenty years in the NFL, retiring after the two thousand and two season at age forty two. Texas A and I, right, whether Texas as I which is now Texas A and M Kingsville. All right, we continue? How about we talk a little hall of fame when we come back here on mix shots. In just a moment, we're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping air waves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and cream Soda.

Let's take a listen, Doctor Pepper and cream Soda. Is he a new combone that's music to my ears. Okay, doctor, pour music to my ears and mouth new doctor pepper and cream soda A delicious, 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. I have a

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I run with John Deer today. In fact, I have a John Deer three zero twenty five E tractor that can handle any yard work I need to do, even the tough yards way out back. So if you have one acre or a thousand, John Deer has the equipment that's just right for you. Visit a John Deer dealer today and run with us. We are the official tractor provider of your Dallas Cowboys. There's nothing as unique as our eyes, which is why Selor pioneers ways to make

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in the world. When Monster Energy am A Supercross returns to AT and T Stadium March thirteenth, sixteenth, and twentieth. Tickets are on sale now get yours before they sell out at SeatGeek dot com. You know what, guys, I've never told you guys, I used to do that stuff. No, you did not, really, Yeah, and I live to tell us, and I lived. I have a I have a broken clavicle to show for it. But yeah, we used to my neighborhood. We used to jump, We made our own ramps.

We do Evil Knevil. That was my hero, Evil Knevil. With my hero, I had a Honda one Honda XL one hundred and we tore up the neighborhood and me and my buddies, it was three of us, And I know those people in my neighborhood and Hamilton Park was so mad at us because we were up and down those streets all day long, every day. I never thought about what an inconvenience that was for all the people

that trying to get some rest. Because right now, if I had some people riding around my neighborhood making all that noise, I would shoot them. I promise you I would. How old no I was. I was very good at it. And we had guys in my neighborhood who were even better than me, so like when they were in high school. It was when I started playing football my senior year in high school. I finally made the team. When out of football. After that I stopped writing. But before that, yeah,

I was riding. We rode. I rode it to school. Yeah, it was it was. It was very that was my thing. Man. Most cycles were the best. They were the best. So what sports did you play before your senior year in high school. You didn't play football until your senior year in high school. Well, I and I played basketball. Of course I played basketball. Uh, never liked baseball that much. My dad loved baseball. Of course, that great center, the room,

center field. You would have been a guy. Oh, I was the willing you know, like I tell people, anytime you have a one black kid on an all white baseball team, where do you put that black kid center field? Let me tell you. Let me tell you because he had we had our ward right center field and leadoff. That's it. Well I was. I was a little bigger, so I was center field there and clean up so I backed it forth. But yeah, that's and I couldn't catch what the crap until my dad finally showed me.

And to this day people ask me, well, who's your the best coach I ever had? My father was my best coach I've ever had. He taught me how to care and that that's plays in the field. That Willie May scenario, that was a matter of necessity because I couldn't follow the ball in the air at all. It was like, what the hell am I doing out here? I dropped everything and I asked my father, why was that? I said, why is the ball moving so much? He said, son,

you're not running on your toes. And so once I ran on my toes, I tried to that practice and it was like magic. I could follow the ball without it dancing in the air. And so people when Bradsham said Bradsham was the only one that noticed it. He said, every sud I knew when you were gonna get an interception because your gate changed. That's because once you turn and look for the ball, I have to be on my toes. I can't run like you know, the frantic

urgency type of running. You have to gather yourself. I've been run on your toes so that you can follow the flight of the ball. That's what made me what I am today. And it's no lie. That's why my dad's my my my best coach I've ever had, Tom Ladie, Eddie Robinson, Belichet, it doesn't matter. My father was my

best coach simply because of that, out of necessity. Otherwise, I'd been getting hidden in the head in center field a whole game, playing that baseball game, and I just figured you would be a great center field because you're able to track the ball so well in as a cornerback in the NFL too. But you're right, I mean, baseball was first. Baseball made me the football player I am.

There you go, and you think about it with baseball players at the pitch, all right, you don't have to be on your toes until the pitcher gets into the wind up and throwing the home plate. But the great player, you're on your toes at right at the pitch, got too. All right, Let's talk Hall of Fame and apparently the virtue truly. The Hall of Fame Selection Committee is meeting today.

They've already discussed Drew Pearson this morning. I'm assuming they're all going to keep it a secret until the Saturday before the Super Bowl. Mickey, what's the deal on that. When's the announcement gonna come? Yeah, it doesn't come till then. I mean, they're they're going through so the drill will find out until then, Well, they're they're they're eliminated. I mean, they're they're whittling it down to what the last fifteen?

Is that what it is? Yeah? Yes? But but while are they discussing the senior then well there's only it's only he's the only senior. They gotta he's the only senior. What I'm saying is if they're gonna meet again on that Saturday before the super Bowl just discuss him, then yeah, I guess he's still just whittled down because normally they do it when there's more than more than two guys

to see. But usually those guys are automatically talked about on Saturday list of what happens today, Right, So I don't I'm not sure why why that that would take place. Plus they're gonna rubb or stamp this one that this ain't gonna happen, right, you know he's exactly so, uh, he's in for sure. And then and then when they have the ceremony finally next what next year or I'm

losing track to my time. Yeah, when they do well, because Cliff Cliffs still, they got so many they gotta click in the Jimmy's both both have to go in, right, so it'll be all good, right, Right, It's gonna be such a huge ceremony this year with the last year's class and this year's class going in. Yeah, so you get you're gonna have three cowboys with Jimmy Johnson, Cliff Harris and Drew Pearson going in coaching. You got two free agents going in. That's how about that? That's extremely

and should have another one and swift. You know, you think about where Cliffs came came from and what he's been through, really, both he and Drew. You know, as we get older, we go through our tragedies and things of that nature, and they've been through so much. Cliff's father was blind. I don't know if he's still alive. He's still alive, but he's blind from diabetes. Yeah, that's his cause. That's Cliff's cause. We're playing his diabetes golf

tournament all the time, and that's his cause. That's why he and I pretty tight in regards to that because of the whole thing what I did with Springs, and it kind of brought Cliff and I a little bit closer together and made me a little bit more empathetic towards what he and his father been going through. His father never could see him play, His father could never

visually physically see him play. And for a Cliff to be able to make this honor, you know, and his father still be around, that's pretty pretty cool, very amazing. And be a free agent coming out of where watch it Tall Baptist University, Give me a break, arcul Delphia, Arkansas. All of that sounds like made up words. All I'm selling Cowboys searching for a defensive line coach? If if not more than that, Mickey Wright, Yes, and who knows that that might just be the start of redoing that

defensive line coach. Reports out there say they've interviewed Aiden Derd Is that how you say? D U R d E? And Giff Smith for the defensive line coach. Dird served He worked with Dan Quinn on the staff in Atlanta, started off as a defensive quality controlled coach and then was an outside linebacker coach. So I don't know how much actual NFL experience he has other than those couple of years. And then Smith had spent five seasons with

the Chargers as their defensive line coach. Prior to that, he was a defensive line coach with the Titans for two years, the Bills for three years, and then Georgia Tech he started off their six years as a defensive coach. So, uh, looks like they're looking to bring in someone there by the way along those lines, Mackey Mackey just per second. Uh. You know, Quinn could decide to coach like Marinelli did, makes the defensive line and be the coordinator. I mean,

that's why he can be technically the defensive line. And he's probably looking for an assistant defense. I mean, he's got Scott leon let, but he has another spot there if he assuming they keep let h and then just have a guy there to help out for more of the clerical work. But he could he could be the defensive line coach. You know, I saw an interesting note on on Dan Quinn. Uh, And I don't know what the narrative is outside there about the Cowboys hiring dan Quinn.

You know I heard some people go, oh yeah, let me get excited about that. Well, okay, fine, but but think about this. The guy has a long resume as a defensive line coach. And I read where the Cowboys hired him just in time, because that's who Urban Meyer wanted to hire as his defensive coordinator in Jacksonville. He had circled dan Quinn to be his defensive coordinator, and the Cowboys beat him to the punch. So what everybody

thinks of the great Urban Meyer? You know that that was his notion to fill out that spot for himself. And then the other thing, speaking of urban Meyer, I saw Scott Linahan's name came up as an offensive coordinator candidate for that job too. So another guy that the narrative out there wasn't very kind to, even though he took a rookie quarterback in twenty sixteen at one thirteen games.

You know, and this whole notion about the Cowboys run the ball too much, Well, we keep talking about these playoffs, on how successful these teams have been running the football during the playoffs, So take that. Hey, what wins championships? Obviously defense first of all. But I've learned this year offensive lineman. Yes, the offensive line can win you championships, especially that this year. Never too old to learn something.

I'll tell you that it can turn you into you can turn you into six and ten or five and eleven. Whatever the hell It ended up real quickly. And then another note on a former Cowboy coach, Dan Campbell. I don't know if Detroit made it deficient yet, but they were supposed to announce that today as hiring him as a head coach. Was it such somewhat of an upset if you think about it, because all these head coaches that are getting hired these days, they're all coordinators, a

coordinator of offensive, coordinator of defense. And Dan Campbell basically was an assistant assistant head coach to Sean Payton and the tight ends coach. So uh, that's that's rather remarkable. Okay. And then how about do you think Jason Witten would be interested in the Tennessee job? Wow, I thought of that. I thought of that yesterday when I saw what happened to Prim. I would not at all be surprised if

he's a top candidate. See, I don't know, maybe, and I don't want to disregard anyone's talent and ability to inspire, But for some reason, I see Witten would inspire high school players a whole lot more than he will college players. Well,

I be in the high school coach here. I remember maybe it was a couple of years ago when all the notion came up that you know, he that Tennessee needs to hire him to him, right, they talked to him, And I had said something to somebody uh around here that I respect, and and and I said something, Well, I think the hardest thing he would have is knowing

enough people to hire a staff. Uh and and you know, without having been in the coaching circles, and I was I got looked at like I was cross eyed, and was told, don't underestimate Jason Witten and his ability to put a staff together. Okay, just like that, I said, Okay, so maybe maybe it's a possible. Look, they're gonna need they're gonna need a name to uh get through what they're getting ready to get through. Right, They're gonna get

prot on probation. Is that right? He hasn't rest. No, That's why I asked the question the way I did. I think there's no doubt he would be a candid. If they didn't have the recruiting violations and the probation they're about to go through, I think there'd be no doubt he'd be all over that job. That's why I asked the question the way I did. Would he be interested in it? Because they are gonna be I mean they're already internally they fired the head coach and nine

assistant coaches. Obviously they did something that's the NCAA is going to come down big time on him. So he's gonna be Whoever takes that job is going to be so far behind the eight ball as far as scholarship limitations and so forth, it may just be a no win situation for whoever takes that job. I mean, that's that, that's not the death penalty, but it's gonna come close, I guarantee you, especially in the SEC. Yes, yeah, absolutely. They weren't doing anything in the SEC anyway, so they well,

you know, well what happened, that's right. Well no, if you think about it last not this this season, but the previous season, they finished like on a six seven game winning streak, and they were they were projected to top twenty team this year in the polls, and everybody was expecting them to win the win the East, and they just fell apart, just fell apart big time. All right, Well that does it for this edition to Mix Shots.

We got a lot to discuss next week on mix Shots because we will have a Super Bowl matchup and our teams are, oh you want us to pick Casey K Kansas City and Green Bay and Green Bay, and oh you want me to go on the NFC side. If I'm going on the NFC side, I gotta go with Packers. I gotta go with Aaron Rodgers. All right, you got the home teams winning, Mickey, you got the

home teams winning. Yes, okay, I'll go ahead on the I'm gonna say, Kansas City and Tampa Bay hosting a Super Bowl Brady versus Holmes and only doing that because I want to be different. Oh and and it would be the first time in history, right, the team hosting the Super Bowl play in it. I'm gonna leave you.

I'm gonna leave you with one last mix shot. Okay. Uh. They kept talking about when Aaron Rodgers ran for a touchdown uh in the game, and it was the first time a quarterback, a Green Bay Packers quarterback ran for a playoff touchdown since nineteen No, no way, no, wait, let me let me no, I got it wrong. Yeah, the first time since nineteen that the run for a touchdown since bart Star ran in Yeah, thank you Fags. Yes, we appreciate that, that memory. Yeah, I get chills. I

get chills right now thinking about that game. Yes, I that note. And I've told Bill. I've told Bill the story because you know, I grew up a Packers fan, right and uh, yeah, we know when they when they lighted up, when they lighted up to go for it with what was it, thirteen seconds left in no timeouts, and I'm yelling at my dad. I'm going, what's he doing? He's got to kick a field goal. If he doesn't get in the games over, they're gonna lose a little, did I know? Or as Tex said dying, Bob really

couldn't get any footing. Yeah, as text Ram said to his dying day, he said, the worst call a coach has ever made in the history of the NFL to go for it in that situation. Well, hey, maybe if it's not a bad call, if it works, that's right, That's exactly right. All right. That does it for mix Shots for a Tuesday the nineteenth today, I believe it's nineteen. We will see you again next Tuesday for a Senior Bowl edition of Shots. It's all end in the Senior

Bowl next week. See you next week, Go Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.