Mick Shots: Game Ready

T Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The media just can't get enough of the fact that the Cowboys got flex down on Sunday night football playing at noon on Sunday on CBS eleven in Dallas Fort Worth. I'm am quick to add, and this is Mick Shots. This is Bill Jones, this is Everson Walls, this is Mickey Spagnola inside the SWBC Mortgage studio, and this is must win time for your Dallas Cowboys. Right, Mickey, we finally got to that point, right we've been, They've been yelling at it, and it's

got a must win, a must win. Well now mathematically it's a must win. You're exactly right. And I would imagine since it's a Sunday noon game, we're not getting Tony Romo doing the game? Are we? We probably aren't. I need to figure out who is doing that game. It's in the notes, I'm sure. Oh wait, I can tell you, babe, all right? Who is who has the call on CBS Kevin Harlan and Trent Green with Kevin Harlan and Trent Green with Melanie Collins on the sideline.

And I would imagine Kevin Harland is very good friends with Mike McCarthy. The Harland family very involved with that Green Bay Packer outfit through the years, and so they probably so maybe that will be something that will bode well for Mike McCarthy, at least from a broadcasting standpoint. He's got the play by play guy on his side, that's for sure. And I guess I should have said Tony Romo does Tony? Does Tony Romo ever give us a win? I can't recall, Well, did he do Atlanta?

Did what might have done? Minnesot he didn't do. No, Minnesota was probably a fin. No. Minnesota was near Jonathan Vill mcgae loves so much Jefferson. He brought us a win, Kenny Albert, Right, that's the reason you like, Vill brought us a win? His voice reminds me of victory. That's

probably what it is. You know what that that it me of, you know, being in Oklahoma grad My whole family went to OU to school, and so when they would play it like in the Orange Bowl, and the game would typically be on NBC and Jim Simpson or somebody would be calling the game with Paul McGuire or something, and OU would be doing a horrible at the game, and I'd get phone calls from my sisters saying, these announcers are horrible. No, if your team is horrible, that's

the reason the announcers are horrible. That's like blaming the weather man for the weather. That's rights, like, like the weather man actually makes the weather. Yeah, that's pretty pretty rich. That's what we had when I did Ranger games with Tom gree We had a saying, our broadcast, we can have an not that we ever would have an Emmy Award winning broadcast, but we could. We could be operating

at the ultimate levels that we could possibly operate. But if they're losing ten to one, it's a horrible broadcast. And so it has everything to do with the play of the team on the field. So it's hard it's at the salvage in competence in the in the commentator's boots, exactly like blaming us. However, the team we didn't pick him right right right there, that's right. They might start. So over the course of the next forty five minutes, we'll tell you whether whether you're going to enjoy the

game on Sunday or not. One are the chances that Cowboys fans will enjoy this game against the forty nine ers, Mickey, I'm like, I'm like Charles Barkley. I guarantee, I guarantee the Cowboys are gonna win this game. That's yeah. Are they gonna Are they gonna enjoy? Kevin Harland and Trent Green on the broadcast, Mickey, what do you think Kevin Harland's good? Um No, I'm saying you dismissed my whole point. That is, I got it broadcasters where your team's playing.

He doesn't want to say it because then that goes against his mantra of you know, they gotta win two in a row. So he can't really commit right now. You know, maybe next week he can commit, or or if I can, then you know what, I'll never Yet, we got a big problem you care after that, wait till next year. And by the way, what I said, what I said, Melody Collins was the sideline reporter. She'll be the lower section of the of the stands reporter by the way, because they're not allowed on the field.

There you go. And by the way, I have an update on Tony Romo broadcasting Cowboys games. This from Justin Ferrell on Twitter, and you can tweet us at spags fifty two. Are you monitoring Twitter, Mickey h You mean like right now? I am so good? Yeah, like right now. If you want to, if you want to communicate with this, go to at CBS eleven Bill Jones, because I'm looking at your tweets and the mentions on tweet deck right now.

All right, Romo called the Giants Cowboys game this year, which we won but lost, and we won, we lost because we lost DAK that game. They beat the Giant with DAK. Then no, he means, because he's saying Romo called the Giants game the Cowboy game this year, which we won but lost, and we won when he did the Chiefs game in twenty seventeen. All right, but but he's saying we won the game, but we lost Dak,

so we really didn't win the game. So all right, thank you very much, Justin Farrell, thank you, Justin so Nicky, give us a practice report where you there. They're not doing much. They're not doing much practice wise today. And now it's a McCarthy Friday and the walk through day today, so we'll go off of what we saw yesterday and what Mike had to say today. So when he was asked about Trayvon Diggs, Donovan Wilson, and Anthony Brown, he

said he is optimistic that they all will play on Sunday. Uh, and they should, and they already had participated in what he calls a mock game, not a walkthrough, a mock game already this morning, so he feels pretty good about that. Uh. He was not quite as uh positive about Zeke playing as Jerry Jones was when he was asked this morning on his segment on the on the Fan if he thought Zeke would play, and he said absolutely absolutely, and uh said uh, and he said, but you know that's

Jerry doctor, Jerry Jones saying it. And he goes in, it's not my he said, it's not my knee, it's not my ankle, it's not my hamstring. But I think he'll play, so anyway, I thought, I know, but the calf. He mentioned everything else but the calf, and as Zeke, sometimes I think Jerry, Jerry didn't get the memo. Sometimes Jerry just doesn't get the memo right. But as Zeke said, you know, it was stiff on him first couple series in this past game, and then it kind of worked

itself out. Since it's a bruise, it's not a tear or a strain and so and then H McCarthy said he thought Chitube Woozier was ready to go, so that bodes well for the corners along with Donovan Wilson ready to go. But I think there'll still be a question mark on Xavier Woods, who missed practice yesterday with a groin injury, a groin strain, and we'll see where that one goes. He was less definitive on Woods. He said,

I think he'll be ready to go Sunday. We'll see where he's in practice, what he does in practice tomorrow. So that's probably a game time decision. If Woods can't go, Darien Thompson and then Donovan Wilson will be the safeties. And then it looks like they'll have their Yeah, he was fully practiced yesterday, so that's good news there. And then we'll see where they go at the cornerback position if they have for one of the few times their

top four corners all dressed and ready to go. Deonte Burton and Richard Robinson neither one has practiced all weeks, so I would imagine they're down in this game. You know. I was we always kind of talking about some off the wall things about this segment and when you look at how teams are handling injuries this year versus all other years. I was listening to a show and they were talking about how things may change forever, never going back to the way it was in regards to preparation.

Even in regards to the coverage of sports. What do you think have you even thought about the spags the changes that might be made, not just in practices and how they prepare for the week now, how they prepare for the year, what the offseason might look like, and you know, a post vaccine, a post vaccinated world, what do you think some changes are going to stay in place,

even in regards to how you guys cover the squad. Yeah, I don't know about covering, but I read where the owners when they had their past meeting, when they put off the final decision on the seventeenth game, which Jerry thinks it's definitely gonna happen. It's just a matter of when they announce it. And then how they handled the preseason. But I saw one thing they they were talking about was maybe loosening the rules on injured reserve, like how

long you have to be out. I think they liked the way it worked this year with guys being able to go on IR but only for three weeks and

after that you were eligible to come back. And maybe also and you know, they were going to expand the practice squad I think from whatever it was last year to twelve this year, and then they expanded into sixteen, and I think they kind of liked that the fact that that you could put more veteran guys on the practice squad and then call guys up that stuff might change. I think they liked the way that that has worked

this year. And I don't and I don't think they saw much abuse of remember how you when you guys played, It's like, Okay, we liked this guy, but we really don't have room on the roster. We're gonna put them on IR for four weeks and then assuming after four weeks somebody else is gonna get hurt, and then we can bring them back. And so they started stashing guys when they weren't even hurt. But I think they liked the way it worked this year, So I think, um,

it's about I think we might see you were loopholes. Yeah, you were loopholes. Yeah, and so but it really and the game day roster too, Bill too on how you can call a guy up on Saturday and then put them back down on Monday off the fifty three man roster or fifty five. I think they liked the way that worked. Yeah, scheduling preseason versus the number of games. Also, are they going to change the number I'll continue to

deal with? Change the number of teams that make the playoffs. Well, they had already been talking about expanding that, right, and they just expanded it more. So I think that will go forward. I think they'll like that. I think the offseason, I think everybody realized this was a big miss this year, not having an off season. Uh, and we can go to you know what you said about the injuries and I think soft tissue injuries, uh certainly are affected by

not having the off season they're normally having. I think they realize now maybe more than they need that, yes, absolutely, and then camps. Yeah, and then and then you know, maybe three preseason games, but knowing you need uh, you know, the preseason games, you need the longer training camp like they used to have. I think they'll go back to that.

And this is assuming we're all in the clearer and safe right that they don't have to clean keep the distancing going on once the vaccine is and that's what I said post post vaccinated world. Yeah, they you know, speculation is by the end of July, you know, everything should be fine. And I'm like, whoa, just the time for football season because of course that's you know, we're worried about here. See. And then the other thing I

think is going to be interesting. And and Jerry was asked the question, you know, could he would he mandate that everybody on the team is vaccinated? And he oh, he put up the stop sign on that, right, because I mean, I mean, you just can't do that, right, you can suggest it and make it available. Uh. And and then if you don't take advantage of it. It's like the flu right, you don't have to have a flu shot, it's made available to the team and then

you're on your own. If you know, something happens, do you want to take that chance? So I don't know if go ahead, I was gonna say, Tom Landry, would you know, always with the veiled threats, sometimes not so veil. He said, Okay, you don't have to take a flu shot, but if you don't take a flu shot and you get sick and miss a game or practice, you will be docked in your page accordingly. So that kind of like, you know, it's like he I used to hate it when he did that. We always were the most abused

team in regards to time off in training camp. And there are certain rules that are set in place by the union and the League Office that we all agreed to. So Tom Landry will never adhere to that. It was I'm Tom Landry. I'm gonna, you know, do what I want with my team. And so one time somebody dropped a dime on him. They called the union, called the league office. So he comes in up there and he's upset and so he goes, okay, guys, the league office called and said I have to give you guys time off.

But then he goes, if one of you guys is one second late for curfew, you know we're gonna run forever. Okay, thanks Tom. You know now we're out, haven't trying to have a good time in La or wherever we are, and and everyone's watching the watch like, okay, guys, you know we had curfew was a new at midnight, and so everybody's in the room by ten thirty just to

make sure that we didn't have any unfortunate mishap. So yeah, the coaches still like to do what they like to do with their team, regardless of what the rules might be, sometimes especially if they can get away. All right, we need to take a break because I'm looking around me and I have an unfortunate mishap here in my office because my beagle Romo has a broken through the barricade on the stairway and he has made his way into

my office. Where to go Romo is? He is by himself today, And the reason I have to I've got things in this room like candybars and stuff that dogs cannot get to low lying areas. There's peanuts over there there's candy corn over there from Halloween. There's stuff in here that but dogs haven't been here for two months, and the broken down the barricade and he's made his

way in here. Well, here's the issue that the read. Okay, if you don't get done, Here's the issue that I have today is that Romo's brother Bo had had surgery this morning, and so Romo, for the first time in his life, basically is by himself downstairs, and he got restless. It's probably it's probably better that he broke the barricade and came upstairs, because otherwise he would be breaking into the Christmas presents under the tree downstairs. So it probably

better that this is happening. But let me go take care of that and we'll be back with more mix shots in a moment. But Mickey, be ready to do that read. In case I'm not there, I'll do the opening. Yeah, they're Cowboys fans with type Cleaners at home pickup and delivery. Cleaning your clothes has never been more convenient. Please sign up at your local store, set out your dirty clothes, and one of our tight cleaners professionals will come directly

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ready for hanging with the boys. From rugged venture coolers to tough as nails elevation tumblers, we've got what you need to keep your game day drinks frosty and your football feast eyes cold. And with cases, screen protectors and power accessories, you can defend your phone and stay connected to every play gear up at auterbox dot com. And amp up the fund of every Cowboys game. That's auterbox dot com. We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping

airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor Pa and Cream Soda. Is he a Newcombonet's music to my ears? Okayama, Doctor Papa Time put it in a glass of music to my ears and mouth new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda, delash, just do back back back to mixed shots. You can now support your beloved Cowboys from anywhere. Open up AT and t's fan Zone feature inside the Cowboys app and

record your personal cheer and referee signals. You will receive a personalized mosaic and may show up on the AT and T Live FX video board during the games. And we are on mix shots here on this Friday, Everson Rawls, Mickey Spagnola, and soon to join us here will be Bill Jones, who's on dog duty right now, and Romo don't forget coming back. And I think, Bill, Yeah, it's amazing.

You know it's got one of I got one of those baby gates that we put up so that the baby or the dog get get up, come up the stairs, and Romo is the one creature in the world who can knock it down out and well getting better than now he is. Yes, he's very athletic too. He really

is a very athletic. He's thirteen years old. We got him Christmas thirteen years ago, two thousand and seven, which was the end of Tony Romo's first year as a starting quarterback, first full season as the Cowboys starting quarterback. So he's he's he's living a good life. So the other dog is named Quincy. Yeah, I actually I actually wanted to name him TiO, and I got Boh hell no, hell no, hell no. And uh so yeah, they named him Bo. So it's Bo and Romo and Bo bohead

surgery today. We go pick him up at the vet later today. He's doing all right coming out of surgery. Romo's having a harder time than bo is. Yeah, oh so Bo. That's cool. Black Obama, that's cool. Wait there we go. That was even that was that was a precursor to Barack Obama. So that was it was actually an omen that Obama would be elected the following year. In fact, that would have been during the primaries and stuff. So there, Yeah, that's when he made the speech, when

he made the speech during the National Convention. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, that's right. All right, So where are we now? I got one for you. Well now now that Romos put up. So you know how we talked about how we thought the pandemic the limited off season

contributed to injuries. We debated that. I was curious if Everson thought maybe a shortened uh preseason or no preseason, a shortened training camp, no offseason had anything to do with the cowboys problems with turnovers in that first nine games of the season when Zeke was fumbling that we've never seen them fumble like that before. They were turning the ball over left and right. I was just wondering if you think maybe that affected your ability to take

care of the football. And you know, I do spags and I think it's not just you know about Zeke fumbling, and I think we can all agree on this. When when a guy fumbles, it's never really just the guy that you see in front of you that makes you fumble. It's always the one that tackles you that you're prepared for, and it's the hit that you are not prepared for. That usually jokes you. Case in point, we talked about Scholtz missing a block I think it was against Arizona,

and Zeke's running through there. The holder is wide open, he's about to make a move, he's about to make some steps and he's think he's gonna go Mentally, he's he's already ten yards ahead, and a guy comes unblocked off of Sheltz and blast him and then there goes the ball. That's because of the surprise. So the answer to that in regards to no training camp is you have to be your timing has to be down, not

just as an individual, but also as a team. And because of the fact that we've got all these guys hurt, offensive lineman hurt, you got a new tight end coming in the game with Schultz because Jarlon went down. So now you're looking at the timing is a little bit different when you have a whole different cast that that's performing at that point. So long answer to your question is, no doubt about it. It has something to do with it. Even with wide receivers quarterback combos. You know you gotta

work on that. You have to work on that. You can't just come in two guys two different individuals and just come in right away and you have your timing down. That's something no matter what kind of jailing you have, no, no, no matter what kind of connection you have with your wide receiver verse quarterback, that's something that has to be worked on over and over and over. And we're just

we're just talking about one receiver and one quarterback. Let's just not to mention when you're talking about the cast of people that have to get together and the timing has to be just right. So yeah, soft tissue or go ahead, go ahead. So I was gonna say so I did a little deeper dive into the Cowboys takeaway giveaways. I can't remember if I pointed this out the other day. The Cowboys have had twenty four turnovers. Twenty of those were in the first nine games, four of them were

in the last four games. But how about this on takeaways, the Cowboys have fourteen. They had seven in the first nine games and now seven in the last four games. So do you think it's just a coincident in those last four they went two and two and in those

first nine they went two and seven. I think when we talk about the stuff that's really caused this team to be in the situation is you know, we've talked about the quarterbacks, we've talked about the offensive line, but when it comes down to their disparity on takeaways and giveaways has been immens And the other thing that I

saw was the opponents points scored after takeaways. They have scored seventy five points off of takeaways in twelve games because the Cowboys didn't have any turnover this last game, So in twelve games it's been seventy five points. And the Cowboys in those first twelve games had only had twenty eight points off of takeaways until this last game when they had three and they added seventeen to it,

so they were there. At this point, they're a minus thirty on takeaways points because of turnovers, So to me, that has had a big factor and why they're sitting. You know, everybody's like, well, it's this, this, this and this, but how do you how do you qualify that many turnovers and that few takeaways. Here's my rule of thumbs fags. And you may have heard it as well. You've been around many practice field. Bill, you can chime in on this as well. They always say in the beginning of

the season. Defense has the advantage. That's always what you hear, because you know, defense is where we want to be. It doesn't take much for guys to coordinate different positions on the field, whether it's zone or matchup zone in that regard, and it seems like those stats bear that out. We were actually able to get turned overs early on because the defense is ahead of most offenses because of

the fact that they didn't have that off season. Now, of course, the talent allows you to come through and make plays, but in those crucial points that I always speak of, those critical moments, those are the ones that you that really suffer for you offensively, those critical moments, third downs, wanting to do well on first and ten,

you know, goal line. Those those are the situations where the defense starts off ahead of the offense of every offense, and then as the season goes on, then the offenses start clicking and and you know, between receivers and timing and things of that nature. You know, that's that to me bears that out, and I noticed on San Francisco. So they've gone in these their last four games, they're one in three. Actually they're there, I think one in five or six in the last six or seven games.

But anyway, offensively, they've turned the ball over these last four games ten times, ten times, they've gotten eight takeaways, but they're they're a minus two when it comes to that. So you know when here coach say that, and coaches say it all the time on how turnovers have the biggest effect on games, and it kind of goes in one ear out the other, and we're sitting there going, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I think if you look at it, uh, boy, that has had such a big effect on what the Cowboys have done over those first nine games of the season. And see to me, to hear you say that and to hear that heat that a coach has said that. You know, I've never really listened to the defensive coaches when they talk. I don't know if they put emphasis

on turnovers verbally. They can, they can put the emphasis all they want, but if you don't practice that, If you know turnovers are important, you're not just talking about strip sacks and fumbles. You're talking about the ones that make the biggest impact, you know, the biggest stat that makes the biggest impact on the ball game. So to me, there needs to be a huge effort for the entire organization. Yes, we love offense. We I've mentioned it before, offense salves tickets.

But we know the defense wins games, and specifically turnovers win games. So why is it that defensively, regardless of who you draft, all this of what personnelity is, why isn't that culture here to create turnovers if you know that they are important. That's the question that I would have to ask this the defensive coordinator and the second

day of the coach with the Cowboys. Okay, we're up against a break and when we come back, I want to tell you the real reason that the Cowboys and Niners got flexed out of Sunday Night football is sort of related to what you're talking about here. But the other thing about turnovers, Mickey, is the strange thing as far as the Cowboys giveaways are is that is that

they happened early in games. Typically, when you have turnovers, a lot of times it's because you're playing from behind, they'll happen late in the game or you'll have interceptions. But in the Cowboys case, in the first part of the season, many of those turnovers came in the first half of games or on the first play of the second half in Seattle. Uh. And it's when a game is either still under control where you've got a shot at it, or exactly and so you dig yourself this

huge hole. And uh and And I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that it almost felt like from an offensive standpoint, the Cowboys went into games with the mentality that we got to score so much that almost with the mentality that we're behind and we got to do more than what is necessary early in games. And a case in point, I mean touchdowns that they scored on the first drive of a game. They have they got none, Yes, they have not. They

have not scored a touchdown. And it's almost like they're trying too hard to rather than that's let the game come to them. Yeah, that's exactly right, and I've always seen it. And a lot of those turnovers were, especially when Dak was all, yeah, that was a lot of Zeke's problem. He was trying too hard to make something out of nothing and our trying to get an extra yard or two, and he got careless. So this will be shocking, and I'll let you go to break games.

The five games after the opener against the Rams, the Cowboys giveaways three three, three, two and four. That's shocking, and it was shocking at the time, and it's even more shocking now than when we come back the real reason that the Cowboys and Niners got flexed out of Sunday Night football. We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves 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's music to my ears? Okay, doctor music to my ears and mouth new Doctor pepper and Cream Soda delicts. Just do dear, it's nineteen oh eight. Don't you think we should get electricity and stop using candles to see it night? It's just electricity lights up the room fast, it's more reliable than candles blowing out, and people seem to love it nationwide. Well, dare, did you just run into the wall? May I have a new candle? Please? Historically, switching to new technology is a

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that's why I run with John Dear 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

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this delay? When I know I made a mistake and there's no reaction, and then I keep going and all of a sudden there's laughter, and it's like, oh, wait a minute, that was a line before that. Stay keep up with me. You know that that read was sort of like the Cowboys season. It was. It was teetering there at the beginning, there was a there was a fumble there in the first part of the season. There

have to make a comeback strong. Yeah. Yeah. The way the way he finished in the fourth quarter of that read gives me a hope that the Cowboys might finish this season strong. See again, I put two words together. I'm reading Anniversary and my eyes are already on featuring, and I combine the words again. Hey, by the way, I gotta see me have alop Blooper reel that put it together. Please, Chris, that's my whistler. You know how we used to do show and tell in school. I

found this in my dad's old jewelry box. It's a stop watch and it has to be it has to be at least seventy years old, right, So the back fell off of it. The back has an engraved train engine. Probably can't see it, it's not close enough. But I said, I wonder if this thing works. So I kind of wound it. All of a sudden, things start ticking and I go, I wonder how long it will work? Well, I said it at nine o'clock and it's picking up time. It's not losing time. How about that? Oh wow, it's fast.

It's not keeping accurate time. Yes, it's time. It's saying that we have three minutes left in the show. Hey, you talked about watch stories. I got one for you. Though. The Cowboys used to give away Bomb and Marcia watches for I mean every week they give away three of

them from Zoe's jewelry. I believe Rock just start back did the show and they had the Offense, Defensive and Special Teams MVP, and they gave away these beautiful bomb and Marcia watches of some French Watch and it's it's just below or maybe on the same level as rolettes. I don't know, but I know it's extremely expensive. I kept mine everyone else that I know of because they were giving them away so much. All the guys on the team cannot find the bomb and Marcia watches. I

still have mine. I got it in nineteen eighty one and I still have it. So, Bill, you're always talking about a loose track on time and how old I am. I know how old that watches Okay, that watches thirty nine, that watches thirty nine years old, And I will keep that watch as long as as I can. And maybe after I'm gone, maybe my son will be digging it out like like you're doing SPADs, digging it out of my jewelry old jewelry box somewhere and taking a look

at you. Always good to have memories like that. Man, that's pretty cool stuff. That's very cool. Hey, Bill, before you explain why the game got flexed, I wanted to point this out real quick. How about Jalen Giton. Do you guys remember Jalen Guiton Alan High School? I saw him the other night last night. He was texturing it up against the Vegas against Vegas for the Chargers a matter of fact, had the big interference call in the end zone that got him down there to score the

critical touchdown. He's been bawling for them now. I always thought it was good. They just he got a little nicked up at the end of training camp that year and they sort of gave up on him. I just always thought he had something well, and he was Kyler Murray's UH go to receiver at Alan High School back in the day. And there was a reason there was a reason he signed with Notre Dame out of high school because he he he there was a reason he

signed with Notre Dame. That was because he's good. He's good, right, and he wound up he wound up finishing up at North Texas and UH, and then he got an opportunity with any any He flashed with the Cowboys that in that preseason as well, but the Cowboys didn't keep him in. The Chargers are benefiting now, all right. The reason is the cowbast thing. I gotta say, he can he can go deep. Yes, you know that that system is made for him. They go deep all the time. That's where

he exposes the dbs. That's what he's best. I mean, here we go deep sometime, but most of what intermediate timing routes and things of that nature. Maybe it just obviously wasn't a good fit for him. He's good where he is right now with that rookie quarterban Red And he scored I remember he scored a touchdown in a preseason game. It was on a deep pass with the Cowboys. All right, So the real reason the Cowboys in Niners got flexed out of Sunday Night Football look no farther

than the quarterbacks. Okay, think about around the league, how many teams have lost their starting quarterbacks this season. And this kind of goes back to what ever since? And you alluded to it earlier when you're talking about the turnovers early in the season, But then you talked about how much a starting quarterback has to get on the same page with his receivers, not just one receiver, but the whole arsenal of receivers. All right, Think about how

costly it is for the teams. And we got two teams playing on Sunday they lost their starting quarterbacks back in October, and how costly it has been for both the Cowboys and the Niners. As Mickey pointed out, since Garoppolo went now with an injury in October, the last game that he started and finished for San Francisco, they went to New England and won thirty three to seven. They were starting to hit their stride even with their injuries.

They had already lost Nick Bosa for the season and Solomon Thomas to injuries, but they were hitting their stride with a thirty three to seven win on the road. They were four and three. Then they go to Seattle, Garoppolo gets hurt. They've lost five out of six games since then. And yeah, they don't have the same quality backup quarterback maybe that the Cowboys have with Andy Dalton. But it's enough to get your starters enough reps in

practice in an abbreviated preseason, much less your backup. And I think that's one of the reasons that Dalton struggled at first. And now he's kind of hit his stride a little bit here the last couple of weeks. But how many other teams in the league have lost their starting quarterbacks. Cincinnati lost Joe Cincinnati lost Joe Burrow. But but you look around the league and and what other teams have lost their starters for the for the season

for an extended period of time. Yeah, I mean Washington made a change, Okay, but that was because Haskins wasn't wasn't playing well and they put Alex Smith in. Uh. You know, the Dolphins made made the decision because they've got to Uh. It wasn't an injury deal there. The Bears are undecided between Falls and Drubisky. But other than that, I mean, well, let me starters have been playing for let me do it for you. So Buffalo has had

the same guy the whole season, right, Miami switched New England. Uh, there was an injury. Ryton Darnald got hurt with the Jets, didn't he Uh, Pittsburgh Big Ben was out for a while, Cleveland all the way through Baltimore with COVID. You mentioned Cincinnati, Uh, Tennessee, I don't remember Hill Way, Indianapolis with Rivers, Okay, all the way, Houston all the way. Jacksonville has switched all the way. They switched in Jackson and Jacksonville Jackson Jacksonville

and the Jets don't count. Okay, Okay, thank you. Kansas City was good last way. Las Vegas lost their starting quarterback. Right Denver, they've had car throughout the year. Yeah, Denver lost Drew Locke for tindhead an issue, and where they didn't have a quarterback. Now they have a quarter back one game. Yeah, and then they didn't have a quarterback for one game. But Drew Lockett had heard an ankle. I think it was her shoulder. Uh. The Chargers have

their garo. Okay. Washington lost THEIRS, The Giants lost THEIRS. Philly didn't lose THEIRS, but they decided to lose them. The Cowboys lost there. Yeah, the Giants would be the other team that lost THEIRS. But he's gonna come back him been lost for the season. Minnesota and Green Bay have been strong. Chicago they had to change Detroit Stafford. Didn't Stafford have a COVID? Did he actually sit out or did he actually? But he's been there, he's been

there throughout Okay. New Orleans lost Drew Braman had an issue. Uh. Tampa Bay. Yeah, that's the other one. Breeze Breeze Atlanta, Carolina, Uh, okay, and then okay with the Saints, how have the Saints

looked without Breeze? Defense? Yeah, try, But but offensively, offensively, they're sitting there with Taysom Hill and you're sitting there wondering how come they gave Taysom Hill all that money, you know, right, But but in his defense, he hadn't other same reps throughout the off season in preseason that Drew Brees had. It's a quarterback. He can't have all the reps he wants. But that defense is always gonna be the stabilizer for that tim all right, So until

very quickly, Yeah, that's try Who's gonna win Sunday? Well, you know that was you know mice pick Cowboys, Baby twenty one Cowboys. Hey, my pick to click the running game particularly uh thundering Lightning. I have it. Zeke's running game is gonna be if he plays, it's gonna be strong either way. If Polot play is still gonna be strong. And I look for Polock to be a effective receiver out of the backfield. Look for that to be key to the Cowboys getting some one on one space out

there for us talented young man. Okay, and I am picking the Cowboys to win the game on the final in the final minute or so of the game in the back right corner of the end zone. CD Lee, okay, over Richard Sherman to make the catch to win the game for the Cowboys. Vis Walls is gonna be very heavy. That's right, That's exactly right. It's not DC Dwight Clark. It's CD Lamb with the catch for the Cowboys that keep them alive and the playoff chase. But CD and

in Washington loses to Seattle. Until next week, the Cowboys are still a Lot five and the race for the NFC East Championship. So you know what, you know what's funny. You know what's funny is everybody in San Francisco's picking the Cowboys and everybody in Dallas is picking the forty nine ers. So I guess I'm picking at twenty eight? Twenty seven? All right, wasn't it? Wasn't that the score? Memory? Okay? Seven? What do you want to rub it into Cubby for?

This is? This is the redemption game. I like that. I'll take it. I'll take it. That's right, okay, And we'll talk about it on Monday at one thirty. And remember the game is at noon on Sunday. If you haven't heard, it's not at Sunday Night Football. It's noon Sunday on CBS with Kevin Harland and Trent Green on the call. I'll be showing up Cowboys at noon, gold Cowboys at noon. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.