Mick Shots: Lance Dance

Bill Jones, Everson Walls, and Mickey Spagnola. And as I arrived here at the Star in Frisco, I was thinking, what a beautiful day it would be, Mickey, if I could look out over that practice field, frackball players on the football field getting ready for us Saturday night in Tampa. But it's not gonna be. Not so much. So here we are picking up the pieces once again. Yes, so how are we doing? Not good? Still not good? Still still not good. I got the beef, guys, all right,

beef out. We can't blame the referees. We just can't a lot of those calls self inflicted bs that we put on ourselves, number one. And I gotta say I was very disappointed in Dak's little dig at the referees that that that comment after the game. You know, you just expect so much better from him, you know, but one of the classiest guys in the NFL. You know,

the frustration was there after at the press conference. I'm sure he was still feeling it, and his reaction to the Cowboy fans, you know, throwing garbage and whatever at the referees. You know, you might want to believe it, you might want to be angry all you want, but you just can't say that. And I'm hoping that I wish he would have done it already, that an apology would be sent out, because that's just not him. And when you start reacting in these kind of situations, you know,

everybody wants you to lose because your Dallas Cowboy. Everybody knows that there's nothing new. I mean, they take joy, you know, in the demise. But you can't as a leader of this team and one of the classiest guys in sports, you cannot do that as Dak Prescott the leader of this team. That's something that you know, I don't want to dwell on it too much, but it's it's glaring when it comes from a guy like Dak.

So that's all I gotta say. So you think he's done with the being nominated as the NFL Man of the Year is what you're telling, you know, the way he came back and played this year after that, I hope it has nothing to do you're talking comeback player, but you're talking to okay. Yeah, yeah, well even so, and you know, so he's done so much for a lot of people. Yeah, that I thought. I thought initially when he said it, he was just kind of being kind of a smart alec trying to make a joke.

But then he got an opportunity to walk it back and he kind of doubled down. So yeah, And the unfortunate thing is the whole thing came up wrong because the question to him initially was what is your opinion of the fans throwing stuff at you guys when you left the field? That was the first question, okay, right, and he and it was and I'm and I don't care,

I'll throw the guy under the bus. It was Mike Leslie a Channel eight, And he had the question wrong, right, because the referees went under the same tunnel as the Cowboy players, And so that got corrected and he goes, oh, and then he said credit to them, and it was like, oh, okay, but you're right, then there is the opportunity to walk that back, and I thought he was just kind of tongue in cheek. Well, credit to them, and then he got the chance to walk it back and he didn't

do it. And that when you double down on it, and it makes the apology even more different. There won't be another press conference. Till OTAs right, But we all have our social media accounts. That's yeah, well yeah, if he wants he could, yeah right, yeah, uh man. But to you, and also to your point on the officiating, I'm with you too on the you just can't blame it on the refs. You know, there were so many opportunities in that game to take business into your own hand. Well, yeah,

time's time. But but going back and looking at the game, first play of the game, it was a false start and they got called for offsides. And he did it again somewhere in the second quarter. And someone told me that watches the game more intimately than I do, that that's what Trent Williams does. He digs his left foot into the ground just before it's time to snap the ball, and he flinched the first time, it wasn't just digging

his toes in the ground. The second time he dug his toes in the ground, and it was offsides and the member the kickoff return by Pollard got to the thirty five and then they called holding on Gifford. He didn't hold him. He pushed the guy to the ground. And I was wondering when I saw it first that Fossil was going crazy on the sideline. Well, whoever called it wasn't within twenty yards of Gifford, and they called holding.

It's like, okay, how do you do that? So the danger sometimes is going back and watching the game a little closer. Not the replays, but just going back and watching the plays and you pick things up. And boy, I don't mean to go on a rant here, but I thought the offensive line didn't play well. They played

worse than I thought they did. And I don't know if this is a sign of the future, but they better not let happen that happened in twenty ten, because in two thousand and nine, if you remember, they went up to Minnesota and got waxed. The offense was awful. Offensive line didn't play well that game, and it was like, well, you know what, they're in a dome. It's hard to hear. The defense has the advantage. And then twenty ten, that

same offensive line got old overnight. I mean just it was like, oh my god, and then they had to reconstruct it. Right, well, they better not let that happen again, because it's time for whatever reasons. If Lale Collins did not have a good game, the guys in the middle didn't have a good game, and then even um Tyrann Smith struggled at times, and so they got to they better take a close look at that and make sure that they do what they have to do to try

to not let that get old. And all of a sudden, year here next year and it's like there were so many plays. Dad didn't have a chance on it. He didn't have fourteen and they had a play. Um they were it was at the end of the half. They were after they got the roughing the kicker penalty, and they got another set of downs and they got a first down and they were third and seven at the

forty five and he gets hit. He gets hit just as he's releasing the ball and it's incomplete and now they got a punt right and It's like, gosh, you just everybody was wow, his accuracy was bad. Well, it's it's hard. Got somebody always somebody in your face. And I just wish people would go back and look at it critically instead of emotionally as the game's going to Actually what you what you's as a fan, you you

are frustrated because he seems to always be surrounded. You know, even with the four man rush, you can't see your quarterback in the pocket. He was trying to remember the one that he tried to dump off to Zeke. He was under pressure and it was high. Well there was everybody was around him and he had to get us an arm up and he had to do that many times. Bags And so what you look at is you're looking at the offensive line that we're all getting beat the

same way, you know, So is it technique? I mean these guys, let me say this. We have gone up against offensive lineman I've never heard of, no Pro Bowls, no All Pros, and here they are running on our defense. It just depends on the team. Could I could pick the Broncos, you know, I could pick any team that ran well on us. I've never heard of those guys but their technique is solid and they keep all players

off of their running back. And I've seen over and over again our offensive linemen are over extending it themselves. They're getting thrown out of the way, and it is no one between the D lineman and that running back to stop the collision from happening. It's not like you can go in there and say, okay, I can lean on my offensive lineman here until he gets rid of that guy can lean here, and I can have ways where I can have patience to wait for the hole to open up. No, it's not like that with us.

The lineman is on the ground, the old lineman's on the ground, but D lineman is coming to attack. That is not comfortable, and that's what really It causes the big hits on my running backs. And that happens over and over against bags. It's not it's not something that's old just the last two weeks, you know this is happening. No, this has been happening for really the second half of

the season. And uh, I had a feeling even if we would have won this game, come back and everything would have happened on that play, I see, it wouldn't have felt good. About us, Yeah, because we should have done better the entire game. I felt that we lost the game before the clock ran out because we weren't playing well and we keep relying on this same you know, captain comeback situation and for us to be squabbling over one second referee grabbing the ball with his dumb self

grabbing the ball again and again. I don't know what the hell he was trying to do. But we should never have even gotten today. It should not even be part of the conversation, you know. And I'll take it back to the drive. The law stop tunity late in the game was when you get the football with two forty two left, you have three timeouts left. Now you're at your own sixteen yard line. But but you're you made it to midfield. Here's here's something I haven't heard

anyone talk about that I don't understand. And in Romo on the broadcast as the Cowboys, it was second and eleven and whatever yard line the Cowboys were at at that point, it's around midfield. And Romo said, well, they might be able to get a playoff before the two minute warning, and hurriedly, the Cowboys ran a play before the two minute warning. And I'm sitting there thinking, why do we care about running a play before the two minute warning? The clock is not an issue here. There's

three timeouts left. Get the play that you want to run. Don't hurriedly run a play instead of a prize that they ran. And so they run a play was acted at two one, two oh one. They like, okay, they snap it, and that was what was the result of them. It was an incompa It was a sharp pass to okay, it was like a crossing route or something about five yards down field, something like that, okay, and it was incomplete. Okay.

So instead of at the two minute warning, you're facing second and eleven, instead it's one fifty six left and you're third and eleven. Okay. I much prefer okay, just chill out, Okay, things are under control. Don't hurry up and run a play that you necessarily don't like. Get the play you want to run, and at the two minute warning on second and eleven, run that rather than you're faced with at one fifty six, third and eleven. And they were at the San Francisco forty seven. So

it wasn't like time was a vessence. And I would say if you are going to run a play, that's a great opportunity to run the ball. To run the ball, okay, because you're getting a time out. The clock's gonna stop at one fifty six, which will give you a third

and five or I mean presumably they're not thinking. They're not thinking you're gonna run the ball, and so you might be able to pop something, or at worst you don't gain anything, okay, which is what you're not getting anywhere still, right, But my preference is get the play that you want and just let it go to the two minute warning. And then on third and eleven, uh, incomplete and because he dumped it to Zeke and then Tyrn got called for holding and they declined it. Right,

they could have had third and twenty one. Uh, and then you had to punt. Uh speaking of that. Uh also they were they they didn't you meant they had to punt if they took No, they did find a penalty, right, and so they went forward on fourth and eleven. Yeah, and that was the incomplete path to centric Wilson. Yeah. Now, now, now having said that, if you wanted to, okay, you could have gone ahead and punt. You have your three timeouts left. And I understand this, this is goes against

all analytics and everything. But if you were got from bad and if you were confident in your defense okay to stop them, you could have punted the ball. And as far as field position goes, if it played out and you stopped them and hadn't, they had to punt. Then instead of starting at your own what yard line?

Did cowboys started out on the last drive, all right, at the twenty on the last drive you might be starting at with thirty two seconds left, you might have been starting at your own forty five with thirty two seconds. I don't like that. I don't like it yet. I don't like taking the ball out of my hand. No, I don't either that. I'm not saying that they should have done that, but but with the three time outs left, you had enough time where you could actually do that

if you were cared about it. And by the by the way, the other thing that I noticed that and no one would do that at the end of the at the end of the first half, um they were facing third and nineteen and the past that Cedric Wilson couldn't see. If they catch that, he's at the thirty for thirty five, thirty six somewhere in there. They would have at least because it was thirty nineteen, it wasn't going to be a first down, they would have had an opportunity to kick a fifty five yard field goal

and three points. And let's at the end of the game. Let's say, I am just saying and and and and so, but here's wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, lucky I know oblivious teen ever, so wait always something. So he's blinded by the sun before the snap, just about where he was trying to catch the ball. They're San Francisco's linebacker Fred Warner. He's standing right where Cedric was going to catch the ball, by the way before the stap, right

and you know what he's doing. And for everybody that's not watching, he's crouched down and he's got his hand up shielding his eye so he can see before the snap, and the ball ended up right at that spot. What are the chances now, the big chances for us, because this is what happens to us when we lose. There's always these little quirky things and then you're feeling, okay, you know what, though, we're gonna get the ball to start the second half, right, the Cowboys are gonna get

the ball first series. Uh it's it's uh third and four false start, third and nine false start, And what happens on third and fourteen a sack And it's like that's your offensive line. That's it. And they just I'm saying right now, we're two months and a half from the draft. They just better keep that in mind when they started looking, and they better hope they hit on Josh ball U Tarrance Steel may give them something. But and I know the money they've got spent up there,

but you better look at this thing pragmatically. And you know that you gotta be a smart team too, Spacs's all. It's not just about the physicality. You know, sometimes just being smart really takes away from from these these small incidents that lead to failure. You know, you could just pick out so many things when we lose games to where you say, wow, I never thought that could happen, but it happens to us. And the other thing, they

better keep their eye going forward. On linebackers. You bring that up, Yes, yes, talking about we need three linebackers. Vannoresh is a free agent. Um, okay, you you got Parsons. But what else, because when they loaded up with a fullback a tight end or a fullback in two tight ends, they got overpowered. And but spas, what a surprise, right, what a surprise. We weren't ready did we think that, Okay, let's just do what for the next line? I mean, you know, I think must have to be made. Jay

Ron Curse is a boy. They got more out of him than I ever dreamed. But he's a safety. He's still a safety. And they got overpowered up front. And the other thing I noticed is it seemed like when San Francisco's offensive line had double team block, they gashing hole. Right. I didn't never see the Cowboys offensive line do that, but they it seemed like they were always outnumbered up front somehow, someway, it's an ever evolving game. And um, how many times the Rams carry the ball? Last night?

They ran the ball over thirty times? Right last night against the Cardinals. All Right, the Niners are a team that as much as as much as offensive coordinators are spreading it out now, they're going to come back now, well and it's getting in, They're going to come back right that, And just the game evolves. He goes back and forth. He goes to a spread and then it goes back to power football exactly right, and so you

have to be able to defend either one. Okay, if you go up against a spread team that doesn't have a power running game, then you have personnel for that, and the Cowboys I think have done a great job with that kind of personnel. But one of the things that happened this year, of course, is that Jalen Smith didn't play to the level that they wanted him to be playing at, or they expected him to be playing at.

They had to release him. So now you get into a situation in a game against San Francisco, who likes to run the ball, and if you had the two linebackers Vander esh and Jalen Smith that you hope to have had to start the season, Parsons wouldn't even have to play linebacker in that run defense. He could be you could use him on the edge. You weren't able to use him on the edge at all in this game because you had to play him as a linebacker

because of their threat to run nickel. For two years now I know, and it never works, and it's a it's we thought when we came in nickel. Is that what it's called no because but the Niners have that,

they run a big nickel all the time. They've got Fred Warner and um Drey Greenlaw who just came back, and then they got a third linebacker, and so they've got three linebackers that they're confident they can play in their Warner goes out in the fourth quarter of that game, the other guy comes in and and so they were able to work it that way. Luke Gifford is not at that point in his career. Maybe Luke Gifford can develop. I don't know, but I know they liked him, but

he was an undrafted guy. You haven't invested there. Think about how the plan was when they started the season before they had uh injuries or whatever on the defensive line. At the defensive ends art the idea was assuming Jalen Smith was going to play well, Jalen Smith was going to be the middle guy, Vander esh was going to be the weak side guy, and Parsons was going to

be the strong side guy. And if you think back the training camp with him lined up on the line of scrimmage as the strong side linebacker can do right and teams wouldn't know is he playing linebacker or is he rushing the quarter? Quarterback? You want him as your jack linebacker, right exactly, move him around all over the place. And then it didn't turn out that well. Jayleen Smith somehow was lost. They didn't have a fourth linebacker, and so when they got rid of him, it was two

linebackers and Jayron Curse who did well. But when teams decide to load up like that, boy, you're at a disadvantage. I can't see how you would expect our linebackers to all of a sudden be different from the historically bad running defense that we had. Right, So that was come in with thinking that going to be better than what he had been. Yeah, that's right. Historically bad, that's right.

That was not good good forecasting to me. So you just hope when they look at this thing that, okay, let's be honest here, right, And they're going to have salary cap problems, so it's not like you're going to go out and put somebody right and say, Okay, we're gonna fill this hole with that you're gonna have to build. But they did a good job last year of coming up with guys exactly, like Kean O'Neil, like Jay roun Kerrs, like Kayzy. I mean there's a number of them Urban Watkins.

I mean there's so many of them like that. Even the thing with Keyan O'Neill, he's not a linebacker. I'm sorry, he's a strong safety, and you put him there at linebacker and he gets his three hundred and thirty pound eye on them. It's like, well that's kind of one hundred pound mismatch. So um, but yeah, they're running. Yeah right, yeah, we have we have big nickel. But big nickel didn't work last year, and it didn't really work. This didn't

even try big nickels last year. They sacrifice Anthony Brown or no, not Anthony Brown. Who was the poor cornerback that ended up coming up there? Well, no, it was the little safety. The safety well, um, Xavier Woods. Yeah, they had him playing the linebackers. So what they need to be honest about two positions. Then we're talking linebackers and the entire offensive line. Yeah, yeah, probably be honest about the entire offensive line. They are no longer that.

And you need a couple, You need a couple guys. The way I look at and somebody asked me today on the fan, that's it's like what you get a tackle? And I said, get me a tackle who can play guard? And he can tell got one guard spot, but if the tackles don't perform well, then he can go out to tackle. That should cost you a lot of money. Well, that should cost you a lot. Well. They hope that they drafted one in Alan Ball who can do something.

Josh Ball, I mean Joshana cornerback. It was a little They hope they found what did Josh Ball will sit and still I mean, you know, when you think about it, when he was playing, they were like running the ball a little bit better. I don't you know, I don't know who where whyline coach Joe Philbert, Joe needs to get on his job. I mean, I'm sorry, we're looking at coach McCarthy all the time. We're looking at Kellen. I mean, you look at these position coaches. They're like

lower level court officials. You might not you might not even know that you voted for them, but they're going to do their work for you, right, So that's what you need. You need somebody offense of line coach or that Joe himself, he needs to try and figure out the best way for loud Collins to not get caught for holding long time Connell Williams. He needs to have him after practice over there doing something because I don't know what offensive linemen do. Michael Lahman was talking bad

about him on some show. I guess that went viral, you know, talking about these big mother brothers, you know, I mean they have to they have the girth, they have the the size. What is the tech? It has to be the technique because I've seen other players come in who are lesser players than than uh McGovern and Williams, and they come in here and they do an adequate job at least against our defensive lineman. And all we need is adequate and you know what, we know what

I noticed also that San Francisco. San Francisco was doing. They were their defensive front was overloading the Cowboys right side of the offensive line and tyroling. We'd get singled up. And there were so many plays I saw, like the one Bosa looped in for the sack. Connor McGovern didn't have anybody in front of him. Why are they doing that? Why is the fire the forty nine ers doing that? That's unfair. They shouldn't be able to do no. No, I said no, wait, I said Connor McGovern. I met

Connor Williams. So here's him in space like looking for something, right, and Bosa loops around and he's looking over here to help the Pro Bowl tackle. And it's like, well, what about that guy there? Right? And he comes in untouched. Um, it seems like if they can overload like that, then obviously we're tipping something. We're tipping something. You know what this means? Times time, it's time for the second break. Yeah, I mean just read both here. Yeah, maybe doing it

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fan pack, exclusive benefits and more. Visit Dallas Cowboys dot com slash United for details and to join today. Good job. What do you think of that game last night? Oh? It was hard to not fall asleep on I saw that one. Guess they should have played Arizona. Huh yeah really, but it had been different than a couple of weeks before. I think, so, I think so yeah, I think I think it would have been best if we wouldn't played Arizona. As you look at so, how did we lose to Arizona?

How did we lose to this this last Okay? So so yeah, we get back to we get back to it. It was twenty five, twenty two and at the Cowboys won that game and then beat in Philadelphia. Then what would have been the playoffs scenario they would have hosted. They would have been the second. Well people will say, well green Bay lost to Detroit, and they wouldn't. They wouldn't have lost to Detroit, right, yeah, so they would have still had the number one seat, but they would

have ended up it would have been the same state. Right, the only way they wouldn't know if they lost to Philadelphia and ended up the fourth seat, then they would have played. So that would have been motivation not to play against Philadelphia so that you could come back and play against Arizona again. Right yeah, yeah, right, could have rested everybody. I'd that work out for Philadelphia too. By the way, all that rest they got, they were still sleeping.

They looked like they hadn't played a preseason game. So do you think Kingsbury's on the hot seat in any of the desert? All right, I looked this up last night. All right, Arizona started seven, and oh this year they did okay, and they went four and said what they so they wound up uh four and seven the last after the last eleven games, including the playoff game, because Kyler Murray went two and seven. By the way, Colt McCoy won, won two of those get two of those

four games in the last half of the year. You were right about him. You always said about who trust him, Kyler Murder And boy he come, he came, as Nate Newton said, short gut him. That interception that picks six of the end zone. Oh god, that looked like Carson Wentz moment there, all right, So anyway, Kingsbury take the safe. Kingsbury. Three years at Arizona weeks one through seven. In these three years, he has a combined record of fifteen wins, five losses and a tie after week seven, nine wins

and twenty losses. Oh my, so five fifteen, five and one the first seven weeks and from week eight on nine and twenty six years at Texas Tech weeks one, weeks one through seven, twenty seven wins, fifteen losses. After week seven eight wins and twenty five losses. Crazy man, So people figure them out well, part of that. At Texas Tech, you're playing a cupcake non conference schedule that adds to that. But also but they would also still yeah, he went to the pros, right, and so is that adjustment?

In season adjustments, people make adjustments and you're not. I don't think we haven't made good adjustments. The games that we lost by halftime, you kind of said, Okay, yeah, we're gonna lose this game because we never come out with something different, Like I said, the second half, the first drive of the second half, we went backwards. You know, we came out with the same lull. I didn't I didn't see. I don't know. I guess I'm too much on body language. But the body language didn't even good

as we came out into the third quarter. We didn't seem like, okay, guys, we figured out, let's go take care of business. I didn't think the body language looked good coming on the field at the beginning the game. Yeah, yeah, I said that, Francisco. You wanted that. I've said it. I said it. I said it at the time. I'm sitting there watching the game at home with my wife, Okay, and I'm watching San Francisco come on the field and

they looked confident coming on that field. And then I later I saw the video of the Debos boom box who someone had a humongous boom box and they marched from their every every game, right they yeah, they okay, they do it every game, but still it's working. Half of the season. They're still march out. They won eight of their last ten games. So we need a boombox at least or longer walk from the locker room to get them. I mean, because then they showed the Cowboys

and I'm like, I don't like this body language. I'm saying this again. Let's just come out with better adjustments at halftime, because it doesn't seem like anyone has any confidence in what was said in the locker room. It's like, okay, well, let's just continue with what we're doing. And to me, that is not part of a championship team that has a home game. You're playing in a home playoff game and you're it's as if you were at the disadvantage.

It's like you are the one that's intimidated. And I've seen that before from the Cowboys, not only from as a as a fan and former player, but as a player as well. You can feel it from your own players. You know, defense must have adjusted because they held them do one touchdown the second half, I think, and that's the way it used the goals. Defense is all mad about what they did. They don't make the same mistakes again,

but you have the offense themselves and don't follow. Had they not thrown that pick, they might have not scored that touchdown. Well, you know what, you would make you sick, right if you could have won the game? What was it twenty what was the final score? Twenty three seventeen? What if they didn't score that touchdown and you won three six? See? That's that? That that that's the off season that you hate. What if? What if? That's the

off season that you hate. I hate hearing that, I hate thinking it because it just makes the off season even longer. Right and and once again, lack of lack of adjustments to me, uh, this team has. That's what youth does for you. Okay, it can work for you, nick can work against you. And I don't think those guys, I think they were intimidated by the forty nine ers and they didn't have any confidence that the coaches were

going to make this any better, you know. And there were a couple of things that I saw it didn't make sense, Like San Francisco's first possession, Um, they had that one. They were like the eleven eleven plays for touchdown. It was seven plays. Never got to take that. Yeah, it was like no third downs. In fact, there was just one second down on that drive. I mean, aside aside from the off sides to start the game that Mickey contends didn't happen. Then there was a Samuel went

for nine. Samuel went for one. Okay, that was the one second down, second and nine. It's Travis Benjamin who hadn't Blaton Weeks for seventeen yards. No, wait, that's the one I was looking for, the Benjamin. Yeah, so he lined up on the right side, and so it was. It was Anthony Brown's. Anthony Brown was at least seven yards off the line of scrimmage right and he runs this crossing route to the left and there's nobody in

the middle of the field. And when he catches the ball and goes out of bounds, well here's Anthony Brown playing catch up from behind. Well, if you give the guy a free release off the line of scrimmage like that, and you got seven yards cushion or whatever it was, You're not gonna catch up. We've been long the angles that they've been doing that all year long. The inside crossing routes have killed us all year long. That is nothing new. You know how many catches Travis Benjamin had

for the forty nine season. I think I heard it, but I'm gonna guess he had four. He had zero. He had five targets all season in the regular season. He's a pump returner, he's not a receiver, and so they line him up and the Cowboys are thinking, well, they're not gonna throw to this guy. They throw to him all year. Maybe, but that's what it looks the year before. Okay, you know how many catches Travis Benjamin had last year? Zero? Zero. He didn't play twenty night

team with the Chargers at age thirty. You know what I mean? Catches? He had six. He had six catches the year before. Over the last three years, he's got six catches. And I'm a third play of the game, he goes for seventeen yards and that was his only catch in the game. That's right, that I saw him. I'm like, I didn't know Travis Benjamin was on their team where he come from. It's it's amazing when you

go back and look at the game. Some of the stuff you see you can actually be dangerous and if you're looking at it realistically, right, because I know some people look at tape and they want the tape to correspond with their opinion. Yeah right, And I think scouts get themselves in trouble sometimes with that. But you got to look at it realistically and you see that and it's like, well, yeah, you can't close that cushion. That's too much cushion for a guy like that. Oh, I

think we need another break. Yes, yeah, okay, we got another break coming at you in three two one. Medal of Honor our country's highest military award for valor in combat. More than forty million individuals have served in the armed forces since the Civil War. Fewer than four thousand have received the Medal of Honor. The National Medal of Honor Museum will be a place to preserve these legacies and inspire America. It's being built right next door to the

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it is twenty twenty two. Get your tickets to the most stupendous to night WrestleMania in history. Visit SeatGeek dot com, the official ticketing provider of AT and T Stadium. Okay, we get like four minutes left in our final show for the twenty twenty one season, so let me give you an example of how what commentators say on TV shape people's opinion. We're gonna take the fake punt that

worked and then what happened afterwards. I'm doing a radio hit this morning on station in Washington, d C. And so that came up and the guy, who is very good by the way, the host, Kevin Um, was like, yeah, he goes, what were the cowboys doing? Why were they so disorganized after after that play? And I kind of had to explain to him what the intent was, right, and he goes, well, I don't know about that, because Tony Romo said that they're trying to get a time

out at of them and they were just fudging. And I said, okay, let me give you the rest of the story. But this is a guy that's pretty knowledgeable, right, and he's watching it casually at home. He doesn't know. And so that was hire the perception. Yeah, the power that Romo and Collinsworth have to man to set the narrative for sports talk shows the rest of the week

around the country, it's immense. Yeah, no, absolutely, And and so I had to explain to him, you know, and he was like, well, I mean, I said, now listen to me. You know, I got this, uh, and I understand what happened. Could you imagine with podcasts and stuff out there now You've got people out there doing the same thing he's doing, right, and you have his own followings that believe it. You know, we always tease stephen A on what he does, and that's just him making

his money. You know, you're making money, you get your hustle on. I get that, but a lot of people they're gonna swear by that. I mean, you look at this, this this debate between Lebron and Michael Jordan. You know, people get fired up over that stuff. You know, half the stuff that's put out there, and it has nothing to do with who's the greatest and who's not the greatest.

That's why I hate this part of the season because there's a lot of mashed potatoes being thrown on the wall and they're just hoping stuff will stick and come on. The same thing will say, spaghetti, spaghetti. We'd never threw spaghetti on the wall. You too valuable. You finished your plate,

by God before you left the table. But now with all the coaching stuff, right, and so today's supposedly Denver's here interviewing Dan Quinn, interviewing Kellen Moore, and then you know the rumor starts about, well they're gonna keep Dan Quinn and fire Mike McCarthy, and it's like, Okay, where'd you get that from? You? And I feel sam Adam Schefter last night that well, he reported that Quinn has

and I saw him was on the halftime show. I think um or maybe a pregame, but anyway, he said that Quinn's got interviews lined up with four teams the Broncos, Bears, Dolphins, and Vikings this week. And but and then he adds this at the end, but the Cowboys want to keep him, and so that leads everyone to think, well, the only way they're going to keep him if he's got a head coaching offer somewhere else, is to make him the head. And you know where that stuff comes from, right, the

agent for the coach. That's why Kellen Moore was a front runner for the TCU job. There was no that was crazy, that was not gonna happen. But agent gets it out there and he makes him a wanted man, you know. And that's where those guys get that stuff from. They don't get it from the teams. They get it from the agent. And the agent wants to get his guy's name out there. He's just doing his jobs. Add

up he's got to get him more. I used to, you know, and and there were some guys out there that you could trust, and then there were some guys you knew you were getting used, right, and uh yeah, I always hated that part of it. I hated that part of it. So we'll see what happens with uh

this coaching deal. See, because if look, if you're the head coach, I mean, if you're the guy looking for that or getting interviewed for the job, what's your first priority, like, if you have multiple opportunities, what's your first priority to decide where you're going family as far as coach for another job, which team, who's playing quarterback for that team? Exactly? Isn't that right? The kids going to school, that's all right? So the openings then you like Jacksonville Trevor Lawrence. Now

the second thing I would look at his ownership. How stable is it? You know? And where's the owner? Because somebody was talking about Miami today and they were talking about how the owner I forget his name, he's not on site owner from a five hands on yeah, So then it's like, okay, who's the general manager? So somebody you have to answer, who are you who am I

answering exactly? And what sort of a which is actually the most important, right, that's the most important, more important unless the owners Jerry Jones, and then you know who you're answer because usually when these teams that are changing head coaches, even though they might have a prospect like Trevor Lawrence at quarterback, he's still unproven in this league, you know, and so and how many number one overall

picks have flamed out? Well, and think about me. Look at at Cleveland, Well, look at look at the openings Miami, Tom you sure? Um? And he was very high draft pick, Chicago Josh Fields, sure, first round draft pick, Denver first sale by the way, Yes they have, but I think I think they know who they're selling it too. I think they just got approved for uh to sell it. I think there was keep going Denver Vikings, Viking Cousins right now? And yeah, and are you sure that's that's

the deal? Um, Cardinals? Oh no, not hadn't much yet, that hadn't happened. I'm trying to think there was, Like there's Texans Vegas now Vegas probably not bad, right, car? You can win with car, right? And I wonder if they consider as as a legitimate candidate. With Mayok out as GM, I mean, I don't know that that bodes

well for rich Yeah. So because the new guy's going to come in, Yeah yeah, yeah, Houston, you don't know who your quarterback is, right, third rounder played this year, so Tyrod Taylor and then whatever's going on, I'm saying I can stay on the field. So Jacksonville, at least as far as prospects go, I mean, there's yeah, it's probably, but it's Jacksonville. But it is Jacksonville, and there hasn't been much stability there every week the New York Giants

and the Giants. Yeah, sorry, Judge, there you go. And Daniel Jones jury is still out there, right although and with the GM no longer there, there's no tie to the draft choice, right. The next guy's going to come in and say, what my draft choice? He's not gonna take me down. So yeah, But isn't that funny that the team's needing head coaches also need quarterbacks, and the teams that have quarterbacks to the team that needs not at all. That's what happens in this league. The quarterback heads.

Would you like it as we close it out? Would you like a list of the twenty one free agents. Unrestricted free agents. I probably know him, but go ahead, Yeah, okay, let's try lets all right, Kean O'Neil, Layton, Vanderish, Cedric Wilson, Carlos Watkins, ti In Secky, Brent Urban, Connor Williams, Maurice Kennedy, Jyron Curse, Demante Kazy, Noah Brown, Jake McQuaid, Brian Anger, Randy Gregory, Corey Clement, Jeremy Sprinkle, Malik Turner, Malik Hooker,

Michael Gallup, Dorance Armstrong, Dalton Schultz. Those are your unrestricted free agents. It's about twenty one of them, about eight of them that are really crucial. There you go. I was waiting for Michael Galloping. Took a while to get to that. Well. I just read it off over thecap dot com. I don't know why they have it in the order, probably I don't know, and I think it's by their salaries last year. Yeah, and it's accurate. It's just interesting how one game can change how you look

at potential players. You know, I'm not looking at Cedric Wilson the same as I looked at him before the game, you know, because he threw the pass out of bounds, the backwards pass out. Oh you know what, I'm kitty when I when I went back and looked at that, the ball came out of his hands. Weird. But you had somebody trying to throw a pass with a glove on. Oh, by the way, but you can't tip it off though, No, I know, I know. I'm like, oh wait, let's go on. Man.

I haven't been able. I haven't been able to look this. The timing rules. I jokingly brought it up yesterday, timing the timing rules in the final two minutes five minutes of an NFL game. Yeah, on that play, the Cedric Wilson play where he threw the ball out of bounds, clock kept running, okay, because okay, it happened in the first quarter. Whatever, the timing rules change at the final couple of minutes because they considered it a fumble. Right, So okay, if you fumble out of bounds in the

final two minutes, does the clock stop? I bet not. That was my I jokingly brought this up yesterday that the play they should have run instead of draw was the crossing route let's say ten to twelve yards down field. E Cedric Wilson, he throws it or tries to throw it backwards past a Tony and run that same play ball goes out of bounds. Clock stops. Now you're at clock dust stop. I don't know. I don't know for sure, was the answer. I don't know. I don't have the answer.

I don't I said it before. I want my next Thursday. Okay, I got the answer for you. If he stays on his dog on feet, we might have a damn touchdown. How about that? Not try that? Just get one of them? Was just just the I was the fifty fifty ball. I'm still mad about that. Guys. You know that's the difference. Like you said, that's why he's the fourth receiver. Oh yeah, we're saying if Cedric Wilson had stayed on this yeah right, yeah. I mean, this is not the time to fall. You

can you can come up and you can't fall. Hey, coach, I slip, Well he'll get some new shoes. Man, you can't slip. This is not the time to slip. I mean, this is your moment you get that big contracting free agency. That's my point. That's how I started this off. I'm looking at people differently. Now, one game makes a difference

in how you look at them before. So when you look at all those free agents, obviously you can't resign anybody, but that's twenty one salaries that come off the books, right, that you were counting on for this year. Okay, so you got to be very selective and you're at you're going to be at the mercy of market value, right, you know that what somebody else gonna hire, What the what they're going to offer this guy? Or can I

sign somebody back on a two year deal? Can I sign you back on a one year prove it deal? They're going to have to be very selective. I was just so the offensive lineman only Connor Williams is a free agent, that's correct, Okay, I think Leil Collins has at least one year left, and seeing everybody wants to right away wants to cut Cooper, Marie Cooper, and it's like, okay, but you got to replace them, and they want to look at numbers, right, there's a lot of reasons why

his numbers were the numbers this year. We spread it out. We've got a lot of players out there, a lot of players, and they want to see a salary, and I forgot to look it up to see you know, okay, you're gonna get twenty two million dollars back in base salary. Well, what's it gonna because the cat number was twenty two this year, right, But there's gonna be there's gonna be dead money that's gonna go into the cap for sure.

I forget how many he has three years? This is updated, uh, cut pre June first, six million after let's see dead money six million, cap saving sixteen million if cut pre June first, according to over the cap, that can't be right. Yeah, that means he only has six They only have six million left on his signing bonus. His signing bonus was huge, right right, let me see here, or maybe it wasn't

and they just made it put it in base salary. Yeah, you know what, we got a lot to explore, that's right, week, okay, a lot of research to do, a lot more explore. It says on here cut post Une first, two million dollars dead money, twenty million dollars cap savings. M but it may not be right, so don't hold us to it. Okay, it's got to be more than that, all right. You got any final mix shot for the twenty twenty one season. Um,

it's on the twenty twenty two Thanks. It was ticket ticket all right, so that doesn't By the way, starting next week we will be on Thursdays at eleven am eleven for an hour every Thursday at eleven am. And if you have enough rad an hour. Yeah today we did an hour. And if you're and if you're brave enough, we'll open it up to questions. Y' call in. Oh the phone line will be working. Well, we probably get an hour when when we re you get it, we get an hour yet and we're trying real hard to

get it out. You are right now, you're really treaty towards an hour today, Now I know, Chris. I'm just I'm sitting here just being very patient. Okay. You the only guy you haven't not the only guys ever since said I only get paid for forty five I got the Twitter going, look at my video in Australia. All right, okay, retreat that would you? Was that? That's your family? Okay? Well, all right, so onward and upwards. Twenty twenty two, Happy

New Year, everybody go cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas cowboys dot com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club