Mick Shots: Full House

what day is this? Mickey Spagnola. This is Chris Beam's birthday, January twelfth. January twelfth, It's Chris Beam, our producer's birthday today. How about that, a fellow Capricorn, I had no idea. Yeah, Christopher, and he's working. He's working on his birthday. He's in fact, he is working this show. That's why this show will come out flawlessly, because Chris Beam is at the controls, although he will not show himself on mix shots for

some reason. And for some reason he won't. And Bill, you want to know a strange oddity and why I remember this because no, why is that his birthday is the same day as my sisters and his brother and his brother's birthday rich is on the same day as mine in December. That wow, Now the years are a little different. But and of course rich in that scouting department has done yeoman work for so many years for

this team and it's a rather busy time. Well, any time of the year is a busy time of the year for a Cowboys scout, but especially this time of the year, and especially with what they're going to be dealing with leading up to the draft. How much has happened though ever since since the last time we talked a week ago, well, I have been solely disappointed. Once again, I did not get the defensive coordinator's job for the Dallas Cowboys. I threw my name in the hat, but

it was the wrong hat. That's why I didn't get the job. So the way it goes, it's just it's amazing how much happens in the first week the offseason and it just jump starts. Uh. You know, I think Mickey that especially well, I think for NFL fans a lot of times, this time of the year gets them riled up as much as any time of the year because you're trying to fix your team now, and the Cowboys have gone to work rather quickly and trying to

fix that defense. Yeah, and I think for the fans out there, they everybody's a GM more so than a coach, right, so they feel like they can run this thing. But I don't think it was any surprise that the Cowboys cut ties with Mike Nolan as the defensive coordinator. I think we've probably seen that coming for quite some time, and I would imagine, you know, the Cowboys were I don't think it was a thing, Oh, we got to the end of the season. Now we're gonna have to

look for a new defensive coordinator. I think they probably had their eye on what was going on on other staffs and who was gonna be available and who became available. So I think this was probably pretty well thought out before deciding yesterday to hire uh Dan Quinn as the

new defensive coordinator. Uh. They had had a virtual interview with him on Sunday Blue, and then when you fly a guy in in these circumstances on Monday for an interview, you pretty much know what's getting ready to happen, right right, No, I'm not I'm not flying in for an interview. I may not make it back home. So yeah, you make a lot of sense back, Yeah, I'm flying in to sign that contract. Yeah. Now you talking about being a not being a head coach. Uh, that's what everyone was

talking about, you know on social media. I mean the guys, you know, not a good head coach, but as a DC, you know, he had some He's got some bones, you know what I mean, got some bones in his hand, and that Seattle Seahawk team was something that he's been laying his hat off for quite some time. But there at the same time, you look at what happened to the Super Bowl as a head coach and it just doesn't bode well. So I don't know, guys, it didn't.

It didn't seem like it took much thought. As much as McCarthy is just trying to find a competent coordinator that he has a good relationship with. He's not gonna bring in anyone that he hadn't worked with before. That seems to be obvious. So U McCarthy seems to be a little bit of a homie, a little bit of a homer there. He brings in people that he definitely knows and feels comfortable with me. He knows that doesn't

supersede I hope it doesn't supersede their their competence though. Well, he knows he knows Quinn because Quinn beat him on the way to the Super Bowl when he was the defensive coordinator in Seattle, and or beat him in uh no, beat him in twenty sixteen as the Falcons were going to the Super Bowl, by the way, So that's how he knows him. Uh. And and let's not Yeah, I understand the Falcons lost the Super Bowl, but they got there and that's something that hadn't happened here twenty five years.

So uh, kudos for him doing that. Also, by the way, he had beaten the Cowboys twice in a row and his first year as a head coach thirty nine twenty eight, and we will never forget twenty seventeen when they beat the Cowboys twenty seven seven and had like eight sacks and made a career for Adrian Clayborne with six of those.

So for right now, AH held Cleveland, Cleveland. Yeah, absolutely, Well, we we just we just we just we just we just just put him all the way up into the stratosphere, didn't we And he made a lot of Actually he went to the you know, he went to the Patriots after the Falcons, and then he may have gone back to Atlanta and then he's in Cleveland and so he's just every year he just checked cash is another big paycheck for thanks to Chaz Greeny. We'll look up and

he'll be here with us next year. There. Well, you know that's the way, as you know ever since, that's the way it works. It's that familiarity and you know a lot of times that's that's kind of what you're talking about. It's not only with McCarthy, but so many coaches. It's the guys they're familiar with that that they will hire.

And uh and even though he hadn't maybe worked with him before, Uh, you know, Quinn's been around a good while and uh, as you talk about with that Seattle Defense, the Legion of Boom Defense had he had a pretty good run there. He was first there as an assistant,

then left and then came back as the coordinator. And when he was the coordinator there, it was Super Bowl runs then two two of them by if we come out, Hey, if we come out this year, in another nickel defense on first down, I'm gonna go throw myself off as somebody off of somebody's building downtown because I hope we're not going through this again. I look for more. I don't know what's the word I'm looking for. Uh, you know, traditional. I want to be more traditional here in Dallas in

regards to stopping people. All this this unconventional defense, it just hadn't been working for us the last couple of years. Well, if you if you look at well, you know, when I saw who the other guys they were interviewing virtually Joe Went, Jason Simmons, These guys were passing game coordinators,

second dairy coaches. But when I saw a guy that was a successful former defensive coordinators, which those guys hadn't been, and not just in the NFL, but had a pretty good run at that one year when he did leave Seattle as the defensive line coach to become the off the defensive coordinator at Florida where they ended up as

the eighth ranked defense that year. You know, he's had defensive coordinator experience, and I think, you know, the last thing the Cowboys needed is somebody young to come in and tutor to be a defensive coordinator for the first time. They needed somebody established to come in, somebody that had a track record, somebody had skins on the wall with these players that would catch their attention when they reconvene here and whatever March April, whenever we get around to that.

You know, it's interesting like an understudy that he might bring in with him, or you know, someone that he could pass the baton to. Uh, Joe Joe Witt might be coming along with him, who interviewed for the job since he was on his staff in Atlanta and he has a history with Mike McCarthy. Yeah, I don't think this isn't the last This isn't the last shoot of to fall here. Uh that you know, they got to

bring in a defensive line coach. He's been a defensive line coach, so he probably knows people that he likes add in that position. In Bill's right about Joe went had coached in Green Bay with McCarthy, and you know who knows what they do if they shake up the secondary and you know they may listen to the to the you know, the new coordinator if he's got guys that he wants to go ahead and work with Yeah,

I think they will. I think they will. Also, you know the guy that was always standing next to him, uh, and I think it was his DC in the Super Bowl, or at least he was a secondary coach. Is it Raheem Morris? Do I have his name right? Well? Yeah, Raheem Morris. You know, he's been with Tampa Bay and then he was a head coach and uh, I'm trying to recall on the ended up the interim coacher in my confused I think he was the interim coach in

Atlanta for a minute. Uh, he's been around. I think he went to the reds to uh at that time they were the Redskins, but the Washington team. Uh, and they were very close when he was there doing that. I think he was they were close doing that Super Bowl run. That's right, that's right. Raheem was the interim coach after Quinn was let go this year and so Raheem Morris has been uh with the Falcons since twenty fifteen.

So he's been there the whole time uh that Quinn has been there, and you're right ever since prior to that, he was in Washington twenty twelve to fourteen. Prior to that, he was the Tampa head coach, Tampa Bay head coach nine to eleven, and the defensive backs coach prior to that, and he was a Case State defensive coordinator under Bill Snyder going all the way back to two thousand and six,

you know. And I've seen his name come up for some of these head coaching jobs too, So they might let that play out before he might bring in a guy, a guy like that. But look, at least dan Quinn has a track record. I mean, what he did in Seattle was incredible. Now, I know, I know, when you have Cam Chancellor and Bobby Wagner and kJ Wright and Richard Sherman and Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril and Earl Thomas, you probably got a pretty good head start on having

a decent defense. But at least it's a it's a guy that is structured in a four three defense, not coming in here trying to play a little bit of four three, a little bit three four, trying to invent reinvent the wheel when it should be pretty simple to look at the personnel here and think it's a four three defense. With the defensive ends they have, they are not those outside linebackers that you need in a in

A three four. Uh So I or you know, I just think that the transition should be a lot easier with him and his track record those two seasons, uh in Seattle when by the way, they won one Super Bowl and lost one Super Bowl. Uh So he's got

a down and they should have won two. And I and I saw this note that you know they that twenty thirteen season, and they led the league in points given up, They led the league in past defense, They led the league with thirty nine takeaways, and that's the first time a team has done that triple defensively since the nineteen eighty five Chicago Bears. So, uh he had something going there. Now, obviously he'll needs the help they

need personnel. But again, and I'll say it, and and people need to realize this, This Cowboy defense finished twenty third overall, thirty first against the run. And this was a defense the year before that finished ninth overall and

eleventh against the run. So I know they lost some personnel, but still the majority of the guys on that defense that had come back, and we're playing on that same defense that played decently in twenty nineteen I gotta tell you, Spags, the way things are going around the country with the pandemic, and it's not slowing down. I think this offseason is

still going to be extremely uncomfortable. I think it's still going to be a challenge for coaches and players to get together without having a whole bunch of protocol issues. That's number one. Number two. I think Dan might come in and change a whole lot of this team personnel to player personnel. I think he may try and get some of his guys in that he may feel more comfortable with, especially around the front seven. Again, things might be a little bit different. You talked about the that's

not the last shoe to drop. I think I think as far as football personnel, that's also going to be the case, because he's accustomed to certain types of players. But it's going to be difficult to really manage trying to get players in and things of that nature, just as difficult as it was last year. So there's gonna be some challenges that he's going to have to face, like the same challenges we had this passed off season. Well, I'll take care of one of his challenges. If he

needs a defensive tackle I'll take number fifty eight from Alabama. Okay, Barmore if he's still there with the tenth all right, Well along those lines, you know, Mickey, you talked about the talent that he had in Seattle, and a lot of that talent was already there when he came back as the defensive coordinator, but he was there as a defensive line coach when they started acquiring that talent when Pete Carroll took over there in Seattle before he left

to go to University of Florida as a DC. And then he comes into Atlanta and who did they pick in the fifth round his first year there? A defensive tackle by the name of Grady Jarrett who has turned out to be pretty darn good in this league as far as making Pro Bowls and so forth. And you know, and you know as well as I do, how much the coaching staff has an input as far as drafting players goes and on this Cowboys team and the outing staff and Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones, they want the coaches

to be involved in it. And if he can pick talent, you know. The other thing. They picked linebackers pretty good in Atlanta the last few years as well, and so if he's that judge of talent, I think is a big part of being a defensive coordinator for this Cowboys team. And I bet that was part of the interview too, by the way, not only you know the type of

players you want, you see what we have. And I'm sure he did his homework on what the Cowboys had along with just looking for the right type of person. And Hey, as good as that Barmore was last night, I liked his attitude during the interviews afterwards. I want somebody that's got a little oof to him, and he was like, yeah, we were the best, We're supposed to come out and win this game. God bless him. Hey, I spoke Nick Saban probably be there too, his head

all week long, all month long. So yeah, that's kind of the attitude that they've had there in Alabama. But when you talk about how the draft is going to turn out, I'm hoping that the Cowboys are looking for defense first this season. Let's look at trying to get that impact player, maybe even trade up and start making some moves. Because as far as offenser and offensively, if we can just of course get our offensive lineman healthy,

that wouldn't be a priority on this team. Defensively, we have got I think our first three picks should be quality defensive players on this team, sort of like they did last year. The first four, the first five, we're on defense, right, second, third, fourth, And then they brought in another fourth at the end of the round and then drafted another defensive guy in the fifth round. So

you know, everybody keeps talking about they ignore defense. Yeah, they picked Ceedee Lamb, but every pick after that was nearly defensive, except for Tyler Beannist, who's gonna be your starting center this coming season ever since? Did you have a chance to watch much of that game last night Alabama? I watched a bit of it. I'm gonna get Spags in trouble here. I watched a bit of it, and by halftime, I think by the beginning of the third I lost interests. And well, you didn't sod out Ohio

State on the popcorn. We'removing the popcorn from the ceiling. So I actually did it, Bill. I texted Spags and I told him I am going to attack this popcorn on my ceiling. I got so excited. I didn't just do one room. I went halfway into the other room. So yeah, all right, yeah, and Bill, I couldn't got your popcorn ready. I couldn't. I couldn't help myself. I needed to text somebody. Saw I said, oh, maybe somebody that's been a defensive player in the NFL will appreciate this.

I texted him and I said, do you think the news that Deante Smith won the Heisman Trophy made it to the state of Ohio? My son and I. I got so frustrated when he lined up in the slot on the left side and he ran directly to the end zone diagonally and no one touched him with the linebacker the same thing. Oh my god, are they gonna do they realize what this guy is? And it's just crazy that that's when I said, you know what, here I came, popcorn, I'm ready, I'm ready to take your arm.

I would have been double teaming him from the first snap of the game. Somebody, that's what Hey ever sin I think it was Emmanuel Acho who tweeted last night after that touchdown where they lined him up in the slot and then that four linebacker was trying to chase him down the middle of the field. Said, linebacker, he used to just keep on jogging up to the coach's box and slap his defensive coordinator outside the head. Hey, you know what my son said, who is this linebacker?

He looks like he's running in molasses nut. That's that's how But that's how quick and how good this guy Smith is. So he'll make and that's the quality linebacker that we're talking about him. He made him look like he was just an average joe. Yeah, I mean it doesn't There aren't very many linebackers they're gonna be able to run with that guy on the middle of the field. And so the Longhorn fans are pretty excited about Steve Sarkisian what he's gonna bring down to Texas. With the

play calling that he had in last night's game. He had he had, he had it all working well. And you know, when you're talking about an Ohio State team like they played that Ohio State I used to get into arguments with Von Springs all the time about who has the best athletes, and he always bragged on the

Ohio State and I couldn't argue against him. They always have such not just athletic players, but also football talented players on that squad, and Alabama and Sark made them look like they were just another team, just another team out there. And that's that's a quality defense that they were just running by all night long. Yeah, and I and then I kept hearing excuses about, well we didn't

have this player or that player. And I said to myself, you know what, that's what happens when you play, you know, try playing eleven games instead of six, you know, five injuries. Yeah, hey, how about how about they lose their running Ohio State loses Trey Sermon, they're running back on the first play of the game. Well, if you look at his track record at Oklahoma and I looked it up for Steve Dennis last night, Huge Ohio State. I said, over three years,

and he always was battling some sort of injury. And I love Trey Sermon as a running back. He's going to be in this draft. He's in. He's a guy that you want to look at. But he also has an injury history. And I looked it up and over the three years at OU he averaged one hundred and thirteen carries a season. It was always about the eighth

game of the year that okay he's banged up. Now, well it was the eighth game of the year for Ohio State, and he got hurt on the first play of the game and right at one hundred and sixteen snaps on the sea. It carries on the season for him. But you're right, I mean, that's that was my whole issue with Ohio State being in the game to begin with.

It was not the quality of the team there. Obviously, they've got the talent and they could have won the whole thing if things fell right, if they if Alabama would have had a COVID outbreak. But um, but they didn't face they didn't they didn't face the live bullets all season. They only played well, it was seven games before last night. It was six games before, five games before they played in the Big Ten. Yeah, yeah, right exactly. And uh and you have to play the games in

order to qualify to get into the playoff in my opinion. Anyway, Well, it seemed that once they beat Clemson, you know it really like, okay, that shut up all the critics because of how they really have the Clemson and the biggest critic in Dabbo. And so when you look at how that happened, you kind of thought that they put all naysayers aside. But of course, if you don't win out

then it's gonna pop back up and then here we are. Yeah, all right, and oh the reason I brought that up in the first place, Everson to you, did you have a chance to check out Patrick Certain, the cornerback for Alabama, who might be a guy that the Cowboys would be considering. How about having a couple of Alabama cornerbacks on this team. He's he's, uh so Tam the second? Correct, So Tam the second? Yes he is? That's right. Yes, Yeah, I saw Dad in the stands. Yeah, that was good stuff.

I'd love to have him here. But they got to come in playing like he did last night, you know, don't come in here playing like they played last year. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to have any excuses. I want to draft some players who are ready to make a difference this year. And I'm not talking about two interceptions and I don't understand the defense. I want some players that come in with that number

fifty eight's attitude, no matter what position you play. All right, we're just getting started on this edition of mix Shots. We've gotten so much to get into over the next course of the next thirty five or forty minutes or so back in just a moment. Hey, they're Cowboys fans with Tight Cleaners at Home pickup and delivery. Cleaning your

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making the team is the most competitive yet. Don't miss new episodes of season fifteen every Tuesday night at nine o'clock Central Time on See Him every Tuesday. That is a very timely read Mickey Spagnola because it is Tuesday, and so it's a constant reminder every Tuesday, we're going to give you as long as the season lasts. I'm not sure how long the season lasts, but maybe they have reruns after the episode, maybe it goes all year long. I'm not sure. I'll be check it out Tuesday night,

nine o'clock Central Time on cmt Okay. We mentioned in the first segment Mickey Mike Nolan and wasn't a surprise at all that he was let go on Friday. Also, Jim tom Sula, defensive line coach, was let go, and of course he was sort of a Nolan's right hand man. They had a history together in San Francisco, So I don't think it was surprising that tom Sula was also let go on Friday. No, I think you're exactly right.

And you know, I think probably some of it had to do with knowing that kind of where they wanted to go with the defensive coordinator deal. And and you know, here's another thing that I think might have taken place. You know, we heard about how they had exit interviews

with the players. Well, I think when you get to that point and Everson, you correct me if I'm wrong, but I think when you get to that point in the season, and Mike McCarthy made mention of, yeah, I've done the exit interview with our team leaders, meaning the defensive guys that they he considered their leaders, and I'm guessing you know, when they got asked the question about how things went, you'd be more likely to speak up after the season than during the season, right And and

you know, and I think at some point you got to listen to guys, and I would imagine, you know, I bet Mike Nolan didn't get a whole lot of pats on the back for the Bobby did from the players. If you just go back and listen to what DeMarcus Lawrence had to say after the season in his last press conference conference call, and he talked about how you know, I'll you know, when you change things like that, it's easy for a guy like me, but for young guys it was hard to kind of get the concept right.

And then he went on to mention, he goes, and I give Mike Nolan credit because he kind of changed things towards the end and we started playing better. He said, So Leasy was man enough to do that. So I would imagine when he got asked a question, he probably would have said the same thing to the owner that he said to us. I tell you, Spats, I can count. How can I put the postseason interviews back in the eighties on one finger? That was practice back then? And

in what season was that? I really, when I say one finger, I didn't have less than the fingers? Can I say finger case you could get zero fingers. There weren't no meetings that you know, you talk about post meeting I don't. Once we were done, it was almost like you got fired. We cleaned out a locker, and we went home until the offseason workouts were scheduled to start. So no, that was none of that. No, you're gonna tell Tom. You're gonna tell Tom Landry, Hey, coach, Uh,

your flex wasn't working right. You know. As a cornerback, I feel that I need more pressure on first down. Forget playing the run. I want to play the pass all the time. You know, let's let those horses go. I mean, if if I could have told him that, I shouldn't have. But I never ever was asked by Tom Langer or anyone in the Cowboy organization what I thought about the past season, and I wasn't the only one. So Everson, let me ask you, this, is it better

now that the players that get input? Hell yeah, it's better. It was better players should get as much love. I've been fighting this fight that the players are you know, succeeding at for over thirty years. I was a union rep. I was out on the picket line by myself. Okay,

no one wanted to be out there with me. So not only was it not the time that Cowboys was at that time as well, even though we were boardering on bankruptcy and things that nature, the Cowboys were still the most powerful and popular team in all of sports, even though we weren't winning. It just didn't have Jerry Jones there to up the prices on everything. That's all it was. That's the only difference. So and I agree

with you, Mickey. In fact, Mike McCarthy said that it's when we take the coaches show that he was He was inspired, I think was the word he used after hearing what the players had to say. And I think the other thing that comes into that is, you know, the wheels could have got turning as far as the input from the players before the Monday after the last regular season game, but the Cowboys were still in it all the way to the end, and so there was

never a time or place for it. If the Cowboys had been eliminated, you know, by Christmas, you know, a week or so earlier, then those conversations could have been had informally, you know, even before the end of the season. But this team was still focused on doing what they had to do to win football games. And I think that's actually why it took until Friday before the obvious

happened and there was the change made. As far as the defensive coordinator is concerned, and uh, you know, and and as far as Mike Nolan is concerned, I think if probably if he had it to do over again, if he knew what was and wasn't being learned through those offseason virtual obsessions, he probably would have taken a

different approach in the things that he did. But I think that one of the biggest things, what Mickey you talked about in the earlier segment is the fact that they need to have a coaching philosophy on defense that fits their personnel. And I believe the four three defense would fit their personnel better than what we were seeing this year, oh, you know, absolutely and especially you know, and we'll see what happens with um you know from the defensive front, you know, will Aldon Smith come back?

It sounded like they sort of liked what he did. Now it's a matter of um, you know, it comes down to finances and somebody else might be really interested in them. They still have the rights to Randy Gregory Antoine Hoods would make the other restricted free agents, so technically they could have his rights too. And the other thing on Alden Smith is, you know Tom Sula had him in San Francisco and so that was one of the main reasons that Alden Smith was here to begin with.

Where does Tom Sula wind up? I mean, well, would Alden Smith follow him wherever he goes? You know? So there's so much that the fu we don't know is with Dan Quinn and whoever the coaches are on this staff, they're going to have a different opinion about players than what the current what the twenty twenty coaching staff had, and so it's hard to predict a lot of stuff about free agency right now. And they probably know what

those guys think. Is when you bring in guys like that for interviews, You're you're picking tent guys brains, right, even if you don't hire them, you're trying to figure out what do they know? What do they know about us? Because I'll guarantee you when these guys get a call for an interview, they don't just fly in and say, oh, I'm here. They do their homework. They probably started looking at tape and knowing what the cowboys could do or

couldn't do, what the personnel was like. And even if you don't hire them, I know that was one of the reasons why Jerry would love to interview six guys for a head coaching job, just to pick their brain and find out more about what somebody else thinks of his team. And I would imagine this time around, you know, with those other two guys, they probably were picking their brain too, And who knows, you know, as you said, Bill, one of them might be here. Let's let's go through this, guys.

Let's let's think what if? What if Andy Dalton doesn't get a concussion in the Washington game and his continuity continues to improve, you know, he gets more games, more consecutive games under his belt, He hits the stride, sooner during the season than he would have when he had COVID on top of the concussion protocol. That is something that has always run through my mind. Even though I was kind of disappointed in his play in the last game, he was feeling the pressure. Let's just be real, and

I don't mean five pressure. I think he was just really feeling the pressure that he had put on himself. But I think he would have gone past all of that. If he would have continued to play without the interruption, his improvement would have continued. Therefore, offensively, our improvement would have continued. And let's be real, guys, as our offense continued to improve, our defense also continue to capitalize off

of their successes. So if if fifty three Boston, if he doesn't commit that personal file, we're looking at possibly an entirely different look on the Cowboys and maybe Mike Nolan he still has a job, and the Cowboys swell, no, they wouldn't still be playing because they wouldn't have eaten

Tampa Bay. They would have played Tampa they would have lost, and then we would still up and saying, boy, we're gonna get them next year, you know, And then the Nolan decision would have been made this week instead of last week because you know what, and I understand how the takeaways in those last games turn things around, but they were still giving up gobs of yards, right, I mean gobs. And they might have won some games, but

they're giving up four hundred yards total offense. You know, at some point you to be able to stop people, and you I know, you know, the turnovers are great, getting those takeaways are great, but you can't count on that to happen at that rate when you're giving up that many yards. I mean, uh, go back and look at the yardage they gave up against Baltimore. You know, they kept talking about all the yards that they gained running, uh in the in the playoff game with Lamar Jackson

just running buy people. But that happened against the Cowboys. They gave up what was a two hundred and seventy some yards rushing that game, if I remember correctly, And they gave up that game as well, right, And they gave up a bunch of yards to when they beat Minnesota, they still gave up a bunch of yards. They were giving up rushing yards left and right. They never really slowed anybody down. So, and I agree that you know, you can kind of if the offense is playing better

than the defense. Yeah, they you know, the teams have got to start taking chances against you, and you have a chance defensively. But boy, they just were not shutting anybody down anytime that you can't stop the run. And I am a living witness nineteen eighty five, hell, nineteen eighty three, anytime we saw Eric Dickerson, anytime we saw Walter Peyton. You know, they always knew. As we got older on our defensive line, that was the way we

were attacked. In the early eighties pads. They would come at us with the past because you had Harvey Martin, John Dutton too tall, and Randy Okay, so you're you're not gonna try and run on those guys when the flex defense is at its best in the early eighties. But as we started to go into eighty five, eighty six, eighty seven, the guys started to get a little bit older, and the opposition started to realize that the flex was obsolete. And so we're in the secondary. It's nothing you can do.

You know, they're running the ball. They're running the ball. They're running the ball and it's such a helpless feeling. And I could feel that for the Boys this year, all year long, when it seemed like we had to make a play, we just couldn't. And it all came

from the run. Yeah, you know. And the thing that stood out to me watching these playoff games all weekend, watching six games, and I know it's probably not what happened in all six games, but my takeaway from those games watching them was Number One, the teams that ran the ball really well ended up winning. The teams that played well defensively they ended up winning. Because now your offense doesn't have to score thirty points, doesn't have to score forty points to be able to win a game.

And those were two of the Cowboys downfalls. They did not run the ball effectively enough all season long, and that had something to do with that offensive line that they were playing with. And then from a defensive standpoint, they just had trouble stopping people. And if you can't, if you get into the playoffs and you can't stop anybody, chances are you're gonna struggle. And I think that's what happened. What happened, What happened with football, right, what happened with Cleveland. Right.

I don't know how good Cleveland was offensively, but boy, they sure took advantage of everything that was handed to him defensively. From the first snap of the narn game. How about that? You know what that game reminded me of? It?

It reminded me of the Cowboys nineteen ninety four NFC title game against San Francisco when they turned the ball over the first three possessions in that game and fell behind twenty one to nothing, and there was still seven minutes to go in the first quarter and they nearly caught up. Actually, what you saw this week, right, here's the other part of that. Mickey Mickey who was turning the ball over for the Cowboys in that game. It were future Hall of famers turning the football over in

that game and in that Pittsburgh Cleveland game. It's a future perhaps a future Hall of Fame center and Pouncy on the first play of the game. And then the quarterback right in the quarterbacks the future Hall of famer. Yeah, I mean, you know the other thing on that I was just looking up. I wrote it down on Sunday night. The quarterbacks in the playoff games, and I'm struggling to

find it. But the numbers on the quarterbacks in the in the playoff games over the weekend, the winning quarterbacks, I believe, through a total of one interception in the six games, and the losing quarterbacks it was around seven or eight interceptions. And part of that is they're playing from behind. They got to take more chances. But to your point, Mickey, about being able to run the football, and it's and it's such a complimentary thing between offense

and defense. If you can get ahead, it's just it's it makes it so much easier on your quarterback. Well, and you know what, and some of those interceptions that took place, they were batted balls at the line of scrimmage. How about that the outs of linemen getting their hand on the ball. Yeah, well a couple of them didn't even go past the lines. It was they got it in the pocket. He got the ball in the pocket. That's the quarterbacks pocket. That's how it goes. All right,

we're gonna take a break. We need to look ahead to this coming weeks. It's we're only doing this once a week. We got to look ahead to what's coming up this coming weekend. Playoff football in the National Football League what's that the Dallas Mavericks. Well, nothing's happening with them right now, so unfortunately, but we'll do that and much more when mix shot continues. In just a moment, we're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping air waves

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Alure back back to Mick Shuts. Lets again find out why this year's Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders making the team is the most competitive yet. Don't miss new episodes of season fifteen every Tuesday night, nine pm Central on c MT, which means nine o'clock tonight you can tune in. Well, you get back in the off season, spags. Why the season you're bet in the offset. That's like me having a great spring game and I sucked doing the opening. Let me just make I'm relaxed now. Yeah, I tried.

He's got too much on his plate during the season, you know, you know, that stuff off his plate and he can focus more. I didn't have. I found those I found those numbers on the quarterbacks over the weekend. In the six playoff games, the winning quarterbacks had one interception and ten touchdown passes. That's like Troy Aikman in the playoffs in nineteen ninety two. I think that was Troy's numbers. And the Cowboys went to the playoffs and won Super Bowl twenty seven. And by the way, Chris Beam,

we are birthday boy. We are getting feedback in our ears right now. There we go, and thank you Chris. And the losing quarterbacks had a total of seven interceptions and eleven touchdown passes, so the picks were seven to one. There you go, all right. Rocklisberger had what five hip yards passing? Yeah, so four of those interceptions were from Big Ben. So there's that too, and four of the

touchdowns too. Yeah, that's right, that's right. But to your point, Mickey, you take Big Ben's numbers out of there, and as far as losing quarterbacks, there were seven touchdown passes and even the winning in six games only ten touchdown passes. Uh. You know, running the football was a key and winning these games over the weekend. Man, I'll tell you what that that touchdown run Lamar Jackson from fifty yards. He kicked it in a gear that I don't think anybody

realized he had. Those guys had the angle on him, and he still ran by him. That's a big man. That's not like some little DeVante Smith guy. Right. But no, no, I gotta say what really, there's a sudden uh visual visuals that that kind of make things look different. I gotta say that number twenty four they had out there chasing him around. He bo as slow as I was. I mean, he might have been a big hitter, but was he a monster back or was he a defensive

back on it? Because he was he was big footing it, as Ron Springs used to say. He was big footing it around that entire field. And I don't think I saw him chase anybody down the entire game. But no, it doesn't take away from the fact that Lamar Jackson is who we always thought he was. And I must add still my Super Bowl pick, the Baltimore Ravens. My team is still in it. They have improved over the season. Lamar Jackson has even improved his passing just a bit

and as the season goes on. So right now, my dog, as except my dog on the AFC side, is still in the race. And I'm looking twenty four. That's can't even curl for Tennessee. He looked Horever Pierce for a first round draft pick of the He's out of Texas. He must be a linebacker. That that must safety. He is strong, he's always running behind. Is your all right? Um? All right? We got a choice here, Mickey. You want

to get into these games? I think we we need I forgot we got to talk a little bit about Doug Peterson in Philadelphia. Yes, yeah, for some reason that surprised me. I know there was there were there were some rumblings and I'm going, no, They're not going to do that, right, No, But I think, you know what, I think there might have been a disconnect between uh Peterson and Lurry. I think that maybe he was told to pull the quarterback and he didn't agree with it,

but he did it. And maybe that's why afterwards when he had trouble explaining why it happened, maybe that's why uh they that's maybe why it happened, because he couldn't explain it because he probably wasn't for it. I'm wondering if that took place. And when there's a disconnect between the owner and the head coach, you know who wins, right well, Spags Even before the interview, Lawyer was threatening

him before he came in. You know, he's like looking, he doesn't tell me what I want to hear, He's out of here. Basically, that's what the That was the pregame notion of the pre meeting moten notion was unless we're completely on the same page in this meeting, then then we're gonna part ways. So you kind of knew going in there was nothing that he could do to change Lawy's mind unless there was something biblical and we

didn't want that. So how about how about this in the NFC East now, because there's a new head coach in Philadelphia. So the three first year head coaches are now the deans of the NFC East, the trait. I think Ron Rivera is the dean because he got fired like on January second, and McCarthy was January seventh, and Joe Judge was January eighth or something like that. And so yeah, in a year's time, it's a complete turnover.

And I think if people that aren't fans of the NFC East, I would think they was probably a good thing that the change coaches in the NFC's I have to say, guys, we are looking at a new explosive rivalry though between Baltimore and the Titans. You know, you're talking about two teams that really, to me, have the same attitude. Both of the coaches are extremely hardheaded, stubborn and good at what they do. The team's philosophy almost

the same. The only difference is the quarterback. One quarterback is we're both extremely athletic quarterbacks as well. So when you look at that, those teams almost made the same up and down the line, and boy, they they're stomping on each other's logos and things of that nature. That's

the kind of playoff games that I really love. That goes back to the old school Cowboys versus Red Skins, Harvey Martin taking the wreath and throwing it into the locker room, other players and the red Skins crying because they just lost the game. That's real emotional playoff football, right there. Lamar Jackson running into the locker room. No fans fare of shake, quarterback shaking hands. No, that kind of crap. I'm going in. They don't deserve to shake

out hands. I love it, I love it. I love it. Good football. And one more note on the Eagles. They are not hiring Lincoln Riley. Okay, I'm just gonna tell you that right now. They are not hiring Lincoln Riley is not going to Philadelphia. Why would he take a worse job. I'll just say that. Okay. Anyway, all right, matchups this weekend. Here's what we got. We got the Ram the early game on Saturday. The Rams are at the Packers. The Saturday night game is Baltimore and Buffalo

Sunday at two o'clock. It's Cleveland and Kansas City Mayfield versus Mahomes. And of course they met in college and it was a sixty six to fifty nine game and mahomes against my sooner has passed for seven hundred and something yards and lost the game sixty six. Yeah, and then the night game on Sunday night, it's actually a five forty kickoffs. By the way, what year was that so that Stoops was still there? Or was he? No?

I mean, I mean, oh, Kingsbury, Kingsbury five. He was a he was a five hundred coach at Tech and he's ten got over five hundred in the NFL in two seasons. Either. Nothing right, nothing's same. Hey, you better be careful. My wife might be listening all right now. She's not here. Right now. I'll say that. You know what, It's funny you said that. I said something last night.

We were watching it and my two of my daughters were here last night and there they made me go upstairs to watch the game because they had to watch The Bachelor. Okay, so but I made I get kicked out of the room because they have to watch Bridget turn or something. I can't watch that with the girls. No, two of my daughters who live close to us, they purpose they've come over on Mondays to watch The Bachelor. I'm like, there's football to night. It's a national championship game.

Can't we watch some football? No, they want to look at mister hottie. They don't want to look at you, Bill. So anyway, I made some snide comment about Cliff Kingsbury as I was walking out of the room. I don't know why, and my wife, the tech grad, said, what is it that you have against Ingsbury? Anyway? All right, that's all right, Bill. I almost up. I almost got sent upstairs when I pointed out that the last time Davante Adams had two hundred yards in the first half

just happened to be against LSU. And by the way, we gang up on my wife because she's in the two daughters that were here last night. They both went to OU to school. So it's fun ganging up, all right. Tampa Bay in New Orleans is the Sunday night game and it's a five forty kickoff, so it's just like a Super Bowl kickoff between two forty plus year old quarterbacks. So which of those games do you like? Rams, Packers, Ravens, Bills, Brown's, Chiefs, Bucks, Saints. Oh,

I like all four of them. I think those are incredible matchups for the playoffs. Um, you know, I don't know about the Rams with their quarterback situation, right, So you we're gonna take the Packers there played at home, I would think, so, yeah, yeah, we got the Packers there. About Baltimore Buffalo, that's my game. That is going to be an amazing game. Buffalo is super scary. What about Hot Sauce? Man just just yes found himself another home.

And I must admit I'm jealous because I wanted him to stay here as much as I like Ceedee Lamb. Before that was a Ceede Lamb. That was Hot Sauce. He had had a couple of tough years here and then all of a sudden he just broke out his last year again. Just proud of him. But man, my Ravens are gonna go in there. They're gonna shock the world. They're gonna shock the world like Muhammad Ali. Baby. Okay, I'm waiting on it. That's gonna be the upset. That's

gonna be the upset of the playoffs right there. Okay, you got Baltimore, Mackey, you got Baltimore Buffalo. And now said I was sticking with the Bills, and so I'm gonna stay with them, although I worry about their defense going up against the Ravens. I think I'm gonna take Baltimore in that game too. I think I'm with you, Everson. All Right, Cleveland, Kansas City have a spirit, man, it comes from the coach. They a great spirit on that team.

All Right, Brown, Brown's can't go into Kansas City and win, right, I don't think so. Well, Casey, Casey's defense has been really struggle and if they can't stop the run, Chubb is gonna chew them up. Not just Chubb but Hunt as well. That's gonna be I'm sorry, not hot, but yeah, Chubb's gonna up. It's gonna be tough, guys. I yeah, that could be another upsets. Fags could be another upset. See the thing I worry about and Mickey, there's another quarterback.

There's another quarterback there in Mayfield. Is you get a run game going and he can see he can now be an efficient quarterback. What I worry, what I worry all the time. What I worry about Kansas City is the fact that they kind of struggled down the stretch. They should. They weren't steamrolling people the way Buffalo was, by the way, or the way the Ravens did at the end. Of the year they were struggling to win games.

But um, I still I just don't know if I trust the Browns uh this far, and they had to go against the Halls, just especially in the clutch, right right, I just can't see them losing their first playoff game the year after winning the Super Bowl second game. Maybe all right, Tampa Bay, New Orleans, M m brady and Breeze that that that Saints defense. That's the top two in the top two in the league right now, Saints defense, and I so we basically I was gonna say, and

I agree with him. I think the Saints deep fence will make make the difference in this one. They ain't giving up thirty or forty points to Tampa Bay. The two things you talked about in the playoffs bags running game and defense. The Saints have both. Okay, So we would be looking then at an NFC championship game next week of New Orleans at Green Bay and Everson, you would have an AFC championship game of Baltimore at Kansas City, and Mickey, you have Buffalo at Kansas City. Absolute there

you go. That's pretty pretty tasty. I like that, all right. I like that they're tasty. Yeah, that's good. Well, let's let's end the show. I'm tasty, don't need any hot sauce one, so you could have, you could have so you can have some cold weather come the conference championship games. Yes, it gets cold in Kansas City, and we know it gets cold in Green Bay. Yeah, Buffalo and Buffalo. If it turns, Kansas City would have to lose. But all right,

that does it for mick shots. Unless you got Mickey, you got a final mix shot to wrap it up. I think I took all my shots, and if I took one more, it probably wouldn't have anything to do about football. So I'm gonna bite my tongue. Oh, let's just end it. Okay, let's let me get into it. Mickey, Happy Birthday to Christmas. I am not singing, but you know what, on my Friday column, I made it all the way to my last two lines before I couldn't

bite my tongue any longer. When I was talking about why the Cowboys didn't play better this year, and I said, we need to quit lying to ourselves because we know what happened in this season and why they finished six and ten, And I said, and God, knows. We've been seeing too much lying going on already. All right, Well, we'll just let that lie there and then we'll let that marinade. We don't let that marinade. Yeah, and we will be back with a Conference Championship preview edition of

Mix Shots and no telling who gets fired next. Oh and by the way, we also got the Dodge Bowl on Saturday night at and T Stadium. Hello. Oh okay, I thought you said Dodgeall Dodge Bowl. Yes, got the Dodge Bowl. Well, Riley Versus tied on Saturday night, and I will recap for you that for you on the next Tuesday on mix Shots because that's the game I'm going to on Saturday night. All right, talk to you later,

see you, guys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.