Mick Shots: Other People’s Struggles

much to get caught up on. As we welcome you to another edition of mix Shots. As Mickey Spagnola is inside the SWBC Mortgage studios at Forward Center at the Star in Frisco, ready for duty. Everson Walls inside his own s WBC mortgage studio at his home, and I am as well, and y'all ready for a Super Bowl matchup of quarterbacks? What do y'all think? I am so sick of quarterbacks. Go ahead, Spacks. I'll get into that

crap later. I'm so sick of quarterbacks right now, geez, I have to have my own show for that one. Go ahead, Everson. I didn't say quarterbacks. A Super Bowl matchup of cornerbacks. Oh sorry, yes, we're looking forward to wood William. Thank you, sir, spoken like a true defensive back, right, Mickey, you gotta be uh you gotta be excited that this is a Senior Bowl week, that you're able to monitor things from a distance. It is. We're a week away from media day at the Super Bowl and you got

to do that from a distance. But you got to be excited that the Cowboys are now three weeks into this and there's not much, not much to talk about as far as this coaching staff right now that things are resolved, well, it looks like it's resolved. I don't know, there may be. I don't know if there's another move coming or not. I'm still looking at that linebacker position,

coaching position. We'll see what ends up happening there. But uh yeah, I'm I'm I'm sort of with Everson on the quarterback thing, not so much the uh my homes.

But can we get a little bit more of Tom Brady on how spectacular lee he played in the game with three consecutive interceptions, you know, and I thought he was really good afterwards when they interviewed him on the field when he basically said, Hey, go talk to some of the other guys, right, Maybe go talk to those defensive guys, right, maybe go to maybe maybe go interview green Bay, right, and uh, figure out why they go

go go inter view the cornerback for green Bay number twenty. Well, I got a comparison on that one too, by the way, or the head coach who decides kicking field goals is a really good thing, right, And when we get into this bill, I'm gonna I'm gonna get into the Cowboys making that same sort of decisions in the two thousand and nine Divisional Round playoff game against Minnesota, when the Cowboys went up against a team that was nearly averaging thirty points a game, and in their last two games

in the regular season they scored thirty and forty four. Yet the Cowboys, on fourth and one at the third Minnesota thirty eight, decided let's just try a field goal against this team, because, as we know, the more field goals you attempt, the closer you are the losing So I think those are the things that really decided this game, all right. Well, and difference they make right now has a target on Spagnola's back. I like that the more

field goals you kicked, the closer you are to losing. Well, in that case, it was definitely true for the Green Bay Packers. But let's be real, guys, And you know, I started off talking about the quarterbacks and things that nature. I know, that's just the nature of the beasts. I actually recall because I was playing at the time when they decided to put the quarterbacks officially into their own club,

and yeah, let's market quarterbacks even more. And so that as a defensive player and as a man trying to make his own livelihood at doing the same things that the quarterbacks are doing, I took offense to it. But it is what it is right now. So here we are. Every time we comment on the football game, it's always from what the quarterback is thinking, as if no one else on that particular team has any thought process, individual thought process in the heads. They don't have a life.

They're just drones. You know, you guys, just go do your job. The quarterback is the guy. It's like the queen Bee. That's what the quarterback is, all right. So greenback Queen Bee been getting praised all year long, deservedly so, been making plays all year long on his own. It just seemed like he was a coach on the field. Don't worry about Aaron Rodgers. He's gonna do his job no matter what. If there's a stake that's made it, Aaron Rodgers will get the benefit of the doubt in

any questionable situation. And that's pretty much any quarterback unless you're Dak Prescott. I guess so here it is. You have a chance, as Aaron Rodgers to do what you do. You're down in the red zone. You've got a chance to either run or throw. Your decision making process has always been on point and quit at the time. And all of a sudden, Aaron Rodgers gets pressure on him. Not just that particular play, but as the game goes on, you can feel him panicking. You can see that he's

not as poised as he was. He's not Joe Cool anymore. Now, all of a sudden, Aaron Rodgers makes an instant mistake. It just happened, just very quickly. You have a chance to either pass or run on third down. I don't care if you know that the coach wants to kick a field goal afterwards or not. It doesn't matter what the play call is afterwards, when you have a chance to get as many yards as possible running versus throwing it to your wife receiver who's not quite that open.

The pressure is on you. You make that decision pretty quick. It's a no brainer. But not for Aaron Rodgers. Not only did he did he do it once, he did it twice in the same particular situation, to where that moment of hesitancy, which he's never had during the season cost him affecting this in that play. And to me, those two mistakes really led to the difference in the ball game. And that's on your quarterback, who MVP of the year all of that, everybody, guys needs a teammate.

Everybody needs teammates to pull them out of the fire. I don't care if everybody's a Tom Braided, it doesn't matter. Eric Ridge was supposed to be the guy to make that play. He didn't make the plays plays twice because because he did it. On the other hand, Tom Brady through interception second half, what did his defense do. They'd stopped the momentum from the Green Bay Packers because their defense stepped up. And my illustration is this, it's a

team game. Let's stop making this about one position. I am so tired of it. Defensive players, offensive lineman. They have families too, They have parents. Okay, they have you know, aspirations to do other things then play football. They might want to be coaches, but they don't get that benefit because all we talk about is the importance of quarterbacks. We got to get out of these guys because it's

a team game. See and I understand what you're talking about on the third down play, but here's what should have taken place. Matt Lafleur should have told Aaron Rodgers on third and goal from the eight, you've got two plays to score a touchdown. Because if I think he knew ahead of time that he had a fourth down play, he could have taken off and run and even if he didn't get in, he would at least got inside the five. Might have been to the two or three, right,

I think too about the two? Yeah, I thought the two, and so if he had known that, I think And that's why a lot of head coaches, when they're not the offensive coordinator, they'll tell their offensive coordinator, Okay, we're in four down territory here, you know, call a play on third down. But no you got fourth down, So instead of throwing a pass in that situation, maybe you run the ball to get closer to make the fourth down more makeable. But you just can't kick a field goal.

And and think of out this, Everson, when when when you guys went to San Francisco and won that NFC title game, what was it fifteen thirteen or whatever? It's okay, the key thing hit the field goal to win it. The key thing in in that game was you guys had the ball at the end. You did not put the ball in Joe Montana's hands at the end of the game. Do not put the ball? Oh that's right. Yeah, you don't give them that opportunity, right, Uh, you don't

give Tom Brady the opportunity to salt a game away. Uh. And I thought that's where they made their mistake. And if you look at the other game, uh with McDermott, he's kicking field goals. No, Kansas City's gonna score thirty points. I don't care. You know what what everything says before my lance bags, it's you can't kick field goals against the team at averages thirty plus points a game, right, And that's what they did. They kicked field goals and you know what, gosh it would have been. I think

what was at halftime was twenty one twelve. You gotta go for the touchdown at the end there and score. Oh I just and so since I started here, I'll go back to the Cowboys playoff game in Minnesota two thousand and nine season. The Cowboys win eleven and five. Minnesota finished the season twelve and four and ten of sixteen games, they had scored thirty points. They were gonna score on you. So the Cowboys first possession in that game that they ended up losing thirty four to three,

they drove, they were moving the football. They got a first and ten at the Minnesota thirty four and on third and fourteen, Romo gets sacked and fumbles on the second possession. They're fourth and one at the thirty, fourth and one at the thirty against the teams are gonna score thirty points on you, and Wade Phillips decides, Wow, we're gonna have Sweeze him kick a forty eight yard

field goal. Well, guess what he misses. It's still zero zero until Brett five hits Sydney Rice for forty seven yard touchdown and even at that the Cowboys come back the next possession, first in goal at the nine, at the nine, and they end up third and goal at the fifteen because they end up with a one minus one and then a sack again and they kick a

thirty three yard field goal. And if you look at the first possession of the second half, they're only down seventeen to three first and ten at the twenty three, a run minus seven on third and fourteen, a sack, another field goal attempt and he misses again, and then they throw an interception. They're down twenty three and ball games over. Can't be kicking field goals. And the bottom line in that game, as I remember you guys and ever since you I'm sure you played in the Metrodome,

it was so loud. It was so loud. The Cowboys offensive line didn't have a chance. Right, Romo ends up getting sacked six times, he got hit another ten times, and they had eleven Minnesota had eleven tackles for losses. So we look at it and oh, Romo didn't win the game. No, the offensive line got their butts whip

because it was so loud. They were they couldn't get off the ball on time, and then it played out in twenty ten when that offensive line just got old overnight and we saw what happened with that one in seven seasons. So to me, the bottom line, you're playing playoff games, boy, you better be scoring touchdowns and you better protect your quarterback. You gotta you have to know your opponent, Spags. You know that Kansas City is gonna go off and they're like a streak shooter. Once they score,

they're gonna continue. You're not gonna hold them to field goals, and if you do, they're gonna come back and score a touchdown on the ensuing drive most likely. So that's things that you have to be aware of. You have to know your opponent. Getting back to the Aaron Rodgers situation and that decision whether you want to go kick a field going on fourth down or not, whether you are aware of what the coach wants to me, Spags, I can't allow Aaron Rodgers to be that naive. Okay,

oh well, coach didn't tell me, Well, you're Aaron Rodgers. Okay, that's all I've been hearing. You're Aaron Rodgers. You should know that this is a possibility. And I'm surprised they didn't discuss it. Why would you send me Why would you say, okay, you call this third down play, and me, as a quarterback, would say, okay, so that's it. We're just gonna gonna call this third down play. What's happening

after that? Quarterbacks and coaches go over every scenario. I cannot just say and give Aaron Rodgers the power to say, oh, I didn't know what we were gonna do on fourth down. Well, that should have been part of the discussion when the third down play was called. You can't go into a third down play, you say, knowing what you're gonna do on four I can't give him that that leeway there. So I can't. I can't put them on just to

pay or just Aaron Rodgers. Both of them should have known, Okay, if we don't make this third down, what are we gonna do on fourth downs? To me, that's a pressure, that's a no baby Chris not knowing how to produce I would we wouldn't have him back there if he didn't talk about all the things that might happen doing the show. Otherwise we don't need him. That's it. Maybe Matt Lafleur didn't tell Aaron Rodgers before the third down player, we're kicking the field goal if we don't score a touchdown.

And that's why Rodgers made the decision that he did in his own mind, I can't get to the end zone, so I gotta throw it. I don't know, I have no idea if that happened or not, and the decision. Throughout the ball game, the pressure on these guys was immense. And when I say these guys, I mean the Green Bay offense, So not just the Aaron Rodgers in the offense on the field, but the coaches are feeling the pressure on the sideline as well. All of a sudden,

everybody's out of the whack. No one is, you know, going through the procedures that they always go through in a calm situation. And that's that's why they always say, guys, pressure will bust a pipe. You can man what we'll

do to a human being. And that's why a coach makes a decision like that to kick a field goal that makes no sense whatsoever there was it made no sense to kick that field goal, well, especially when you consider go ahead Mickey, I was gonna say, just like it made no sense to Chase the two point conversion when a extra point puts them down seven points instead of being down. They don't take into account that's right.

They don't take into account that. Okay, what if the other team kicks a field goal on their next position and sally yeah, and now you have to not only score a touchdown but also a two point conversion. I mean, you just put yourself in that position. Here's the other thing when you when you mentioned pressure, Tampa Bay's defense

sacked Aaron Rodgers five times. They hit him another eight times. Now, I know they didn't have David Baktyari their starting offensive tackle, but boy, that just goes to show you how important in these games it is to protect your quarterback. Brady only got sacked one time. They couldn't get to him, right, and he's throwing deep. He's throwing deep and they can't

get to him. H So uh, that offensive line in these games is vitally, vitally important to the success of what your quarterback may or or or may not have. I mean, mahomes is thirty seven of forty nine, get out of here, right, and he wasn't scrambling for his life thirty seven of forty nine for four hundred and sixty two yards. And this Buffalo defense hadn't played well previously. Yes, they had well when you look at the Tampa Bay Green Bay game. Uh. One more note on the on

the field goal. It was just like Kevin Stefanski the week before in the Cleveland game where they it was almost identical situation, just different part of the field. Whether they're down five okay and they opt there, you're asking your defense to do the exact same thing. If you don't make it on fourth down, okay, you have to stop the other team. So you might as well, in this case, give your Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers an opportunity on fourth down to win the game for

you or to tie the game for you. And secondly, I mean, if you're if you're giving the football up, whether whether you're you fail on fourth down or you kick it on fourth down, you have to stop Tom Brady and so you might as well give your guy a chance. And the same thing happened the week before

with Baker Mayfield and Cleveland. The other thing as far as getting pressure on Rogers in Tampa Bay and how about Shack Barrett and JPP Jason Pierre Paul at whatever age his right now the one because remember Tampa Bay was playing throughout that second half without both their starting safeties. They played the entire game without a guy that should be in serious consideration for defensive Rookie of the Year

Antoine Winfield, who is out. And then they lose Whitehead, and so those edge rushers basically won the game for them defensively by getting pressure on Rogers and taking him out of his game. No, absolutely, And so you know, it's it's good to see other teams have problems like this, right, this is what happens to the Cowboys. Right the Cowboys never get beat. There's always a reason for it. Right now,

they're not. There's never well, they weren't good enough. No, there's always one player or one coaching decision that makes the difference. So it's nice to see somebody else have some problems. And eversing, how about this, you're talking about the pressure bursting pipes and coaches decisions and so forth.

How about Bruce Arians at the end of the first half. Okay, here's a veteran coach and they were about to punt the football away with eight seconds left and a half, and then and then he thought about it and okay, yeah, let's go ahead and take a shot. Okay. And there was some risks I guess involved there, because if you don't complete that, you give the ball back and then Rogers, the king of the hail Mary Uh, you know, gets

an opportunity to heave it downfield. But the Arians came that close to not making that decision to get Brady an opportunity to burn Kevin King on the touchdown pass to Scottie Miller at the end of the first half. Brady already had his cape on. He had gone to the sideline assuming they were gonna punt. He had the capon. Turns out, Mickey. Turns out, Mickey, it was a Superman cape he had. Yeah, right, exactly, well, and you know what, you know what, you know what that reminded me of.

You remember the end of the half in the ninety four NFC title game that the Cowboys fell behind twenty one nothing. I believe they were down twenty four to ten at that point, if I remember correctly, I may not. It might have been twenty. I think it was twenty four to ten, and there was mere seconds left in the half and San Francisco had the ball at the twenty eight yard line, and he ends up throwing a

touchdown pass. I believe it was to Jerry Rice of all people, right, and Larry Brown gets lost on the play and gets beat when basically they had one play left or two plays left. The last thing you can do is let Jerry Rice get behind you, right, and they end up throw in a touchdown pass similar to that. How do you let anybody get behind you to score a touchdown with one second to go? It's it's not only ridiculous in that manners bags. This is something that

Brady does often. This is no surprise, you know. It's one of those things where you know, what, might as well take a shot when you're around the fifty yard line, when you're around midfield. Defensive backs always know this is when quarterbacks like to take a shot. It's a no lose situation for the offense. If they make the touchdown,

of course, it's great. If they don't, then you still got the field position game one, because if you pump the ball away, then most likely you're going to have their offense deep down in the in the in their part of the field. So this is something that Brady has done before. He did it in New England many times, and so to me that was a matter of Okay, hey, coach, I want to give this a try. We don't need to worry about potting this ball. Like you said, it's only a few seconds left and a half. Let me

give it a try. What can we lose. He's done it before. It's a strategic, very strategic way to end the half as far as I'm concerned, and I'm very surprised that the green based secondary wasn't ready for it. Not just King himself, but as a secondary, you gotta talk he's not out when you say he's out there on the island by himself. Yes, that's one thing as a cornerback. I enjoyed that that that position as a cornerback.

But you still need to communicate. I'm still looking at Michael Downs and Dexter clean scale at all times, making sure we're on the same page in this crucial moment. If nothing else, you want to make sure. Okay, you don't want to give up the field goal, but the overall concept is, please you can't give up the quick six. They and Everson right after that the beginning of the

second half. You remember Tampa Bay got the turnover, and so they're down at the ten yard line or whatever it was, and you knew that Brady was gonna take a shot after it's the old sudden change. He was going to take a shot to the end zone. And Tampa Bay came out with three tight ends. Okay, so they got this bunch formation and then they just released

Cameron break they're tight end, and nobody covers in. I said as the play was starting, when they came out in a bunch formation, I said, he's stolen for the end zone because because you knew that was his best opportunity. He was he was They were trying to think, make him think that, Okay, we're gonna try to run it, run it, run it. And it's sure enough it was a play fake and Cameron Brad is wide open. How do you not cover the tight end releasing on that.

It's unbelievable. I gotta tell you, though, number one hero of this, this entire game, and that all comes from trust, is the fact that Todd bows knew everything Aaron Rodgers was gonna do before he did it. I think Todd bows is one of the better defensive coordinators in this league. He wasn't a good head coach because that's just not his personality. He is exactly where he likes to be right now. I don't want to discourage anyone from trying to hire him, like they're gonna listen to me as

a head coach again. But I do know he is extremely good and extremely comfortable at being a defensive coordinator. And I would dare say, based on how he took a forty plus year old quarterback and hit all his faults behind his defense, that was able to cover Brady's butt for as long as they could. Right now, they're on a roll, and let's be real, guys, they have

a chance to be kc Well. I know we're getting to that the whole later, but all right, if anyone has a chance to hold down that great consas to the offense, it's the experience of a Todd Bowles defense. And you know what, he probably he probably he probably knew everything about Brady because he got his ass kicked by Brady twice a year when he was the head coach of the Jets. Right, that's right, all right, we

need to take a break. But and I don't want to give advice to the Houston Texans who have their I think their only team left as a head coaching vacancy. But Todd Bowles would be a pretty good fit down in Houston as a as a coach. There. That's good stuff, all right. We continue with more mix shots in just a moment. Hey, they're Cowboys fans with Ty Cleaners at home pickup and delivery. Cleaning your clothes has never been

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stadium dot com slash tours. Now, that is a very good sign, Mickey that we have at and T Stadium Tours, Mickey and Everson, as we come out of this pandemic in twenty twenty one is going to be so much a better year. When you're opening up the stadium tours, it's a great sign. Yeah, I guess he want. I want the Cowboy legends when they opened that whole program back up again. That's what I'm excited about. I haven't been to an athletic event and I don't know how long, man,

it's been a while. I want to go see some Cowboys next year, man, Yep, I tried. You know, it's interesting. A year ago at this time, I was thinking about and I was telling people at work at CBS eleven how exciting this year was going to be sports wise. I'm talking twenty twenty a year ago. But I mean, when you think about it, the Cowboys had a new coaching staff. There was going to be so much going

on in the off season. As we learned Mike McCarthy and we get to talk with all the new coaches, and you know, the new players they bring in and all that stuff. It's it's always it's always a different type off season when there's a coaching change. Okay, there's more activity whatever. And then the new ballpark was opening up. The Rangers are going to be playing in a new ballpark. You look at the Mavericks and with Luca and KP healthy, and they were gonna have a great year, you know.

And then the the Stars also, and as it turned out in the bubble, the Stars wound up going all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, and then it was you know, come March eleventh, though it was it was horrific the rest of the year. Here's how here's how much I'm helding out hope. Here's how much a year's changed. I think a year ago today, I was skiing at Beaver Creek and I think that was one of the well. I ended up going to New Orleans for our department trip early in February. It is probably

the last time I've been out of town since. So you're on as far as skiing as concerned. Uh, not yet with the bike incident and the Achilles problem. You're on ir now for yeah, skiing, correct, We'll see what. We'll see what happens next year, though, I kind of just I kind of want to just go out there and sit and look at snow and be someplace different, you know. You know, they do anticipate having twenty two thousand fans in the stands in Tampa for the Super

Bowl next week. I saw that. I gotta say, guys, I to me, I look at this, regardless of the accomplishments of the Lakers and Tampa. You know, it's amazing that Tampa is is hosting the Super Bowl. The team itself, that's pretty amazing, you know, for what to happen during the pandemic year. But in regards of the Hall, the fame, ceremonies and things of that nature, it just seems to be watered down so much. And if I was gonna go in, oh trust me, I wouldn't be like, ah,

not this year. I'm gonna wait till all of this is over with. Nominate me again that year. I mean, I'm not I wouldn't do that, But I will say that if I had a choice, if I had a choice, I would choose another year to go in and have all of these ceremonies. You know, I'm more been a normal fashion as opposed to what we're looking at. You want to have your you would want to have your family there, and and so forth. Yeah, think about all the bells and whistles. Think about how spoiled these people

in Tampa are. Right, their team's gonna be home for Super Bowl. Their hockey team, the Lightning, won the Stanley Cup, and the baseball team, the Rays, played in the World Series. But Mickey, mick Key, it's it's typical Tampa though. All this happens in a year where the fans can't even enjoy him, you know, you know, their hockey team was

in Edmonton or wherever. They were playing Toronto, wherever in Toronto the same Yeah, the baseball team was playing here, right, I was playing here, and so they didn't get to even enjoy it, you know, and only be in the stands. And those aren't gonna be all Tampa fans. And with all the corporate sponsors that you usually get ticket Well, when you look at the state of Florida, let's let's not forget the Miami Heat was in the NBA Finals

as well. Yeah, we need to break this stuff up all right, about these Kansas City Chiefs Okay, there's so much attention, of course on the quarterback. But let me tell you, in fact, when Micole Hardman muff that punt early in the game, I told my wife, who was a big Kansas City fan because her quarterback is from Texas Tech, and she went to Texas Tech. So she's become this huge Chiefs fan all of a sudden the last couple of years, and like a lot of people around her half but I told her, I said, you

watch this Hardman. He's gonna he's gonna come back from that, and he's gonna do something later in the insured en if he scored the first touchdown and then they used him on an end around. And but you look at Hardman and you look at Tyreek Hill, and you just look at the weapons that Mahomes has. Hardman, I looked him up at the combine. He ran a four three three I think hand held it was a four two seven or something like that. Tyreek Hill laser time was

a four two nine. And I mean, when you have that kind of speed on the field, speed kills, right Everson, Yeah, but it should does. And it also, let's let's be real, when I played in the eighties in the eighties, two receivers came around that were two of the fastest players I guess to be in the NFL. One was Ron Brown wide receiver for the La Rams or Anaheim Rams i think at the time, and then also Willie Golf Chicago Bears. Now you take a look at those two

guys they were part of as NFL football players. In the off season, they decided to run in I think it was Helsinki on the USA four by one hundred meter relay team. I don't know what position they were in. I've never seen it. I think I might look at it on YouTube after the game, after the show, but they said a world wreck. Could they were part of a world record four by one hundred meter relay team Willie Golf and Ron Brown. They were still NFL football

players when they did it. So there's one thing to have to cover fast guys that are track athletes. But when you have someone like Bob Hayes, who is a football player who just happens to be fast as hell, that is a totally different issue. So when you're talking about speed kills is one thing. But when you have an athlete, a true athlete, a football player who happens to have speed like Tyree Hill, who can change direction just as quickly as he can run straight ahead. That's

when you have a problem. So in other words, Everson Now Willie Golf had football in his background. Ron Brown, but Ronaldo Nia Maya is a different story, right, different story track athletes, true track athletes who don't have football in their background at an early age. Their muscles are made to just run straight ahead. In football, you gotta

do all kinds of stuff. You've seen Beckham, You've seen Tommy Hill, that you have to be able to move and change direction instinctly, and so track guys muscles are just not made to make that lateral movement because everything that they do is all about going straight ahead. So that's the difference between a track athlete and a guy who's a football player who happens to be a fast track a fast player. And the poster child for that was Alexander Wright, the Cowboys second round draft choice in

nineteen ninety. He was a track guy, but boy, he just couldn't run routes in His hands were a little bit slower than his four three speed, by the way, I remember, his feet were great, but his hands was I remember. I remember at some point that rookie year, I went up to Jimmy and I go, why do you why do you stirn him? Why do you keep putting him on the field, And Jimmy goes out. They gotta cover him because you never know when he's gonna

catch one. Where you had we had Johnny Johnny Lamb Jones, I think the late great Johnny Lamb Jones, who also came to the Cowboys. One of the guys from Lamb Passes, Texas. If I'm not mistaken, one of them he won. If I'm not mistaken, he won the Texas state title in high school in track as a one man team. If I'm not mistaken, I think so. Yeah, he scored everyway to the track team in Lamb Passes Texas and he won state pretty much by himself. And he was seventy

six Olympics in Yeah. I just think I can't believe I was trying to cover these guys. I don't know. I think I just tried to block it out of my head, just how fast they were. Well, no, they but they weren't a threat. They just weren't threats too on the football field at all. You know, the Cowboys had another guy sort of like I think it was. He was a rookie year last year. Dixon. Yeah, he was kind of a small He's the guy that got you in trouble in Arizona, remember, because when Troy got

knocked out, he caught that touchdown pass. It was about sixty eight yards to tie the game. But he was another guy because the next year they were thinking about they were going to try and move him to like running back and have have like a high bred tailback. And I remember Jimmy, Jimmy said, Jimmy said, he goes. Yeah. Sometimes with with with Dixon, you're better off handing the

mall to him than throw the ball too. And you know, let's be real, Dixon, Uh, he wasn't the brightest bulb in thea So you have to you have to be aware of what you can do. But when you look at Dixon, uh, he is that that Tyreek hill. I mean if he would have you know, just had the ability, the mental ability and all of that to put it together. Because I've been looking at some YouTube videos. He caught a nice skinny post on me. Uh, and we were

so intent on not let him in catch it. My safety almost knocked me out because it was something that we anticipated. But yeah, Dixon was he had the ability, but physically it was just mentally he just wasn't there.

When you talk about that incident and have his owner, that was the big beginning of the end of my career with the Cowboys, but it was the beginning of my career as a Super Bowl winning with the Giants, because if it wasn't for that incident and Jimmy Johnson and I cursing each other out going down the ramp and amazone them, then I would probably still with the Bill Dallas Cowboys. No'm telling him how that would have turned out. And before we go to break, here's a

little trivia question for you. You mentioned Johnny Lamb Jones at the University of Texas and Lamb passes he was on that gold medal winning sprint relay team in the nineteen seventy six Olympics in Montreal. How high was Johnny Lamb Jones drafted in the NFL draft in nineteen eighty What pick was he? I think he was late. Okay, you got Hiven late. I don't remember. That was before my NFL days. First of all, I didn't know he

was drafted in eighty Yeah, he was. I had no idea because by the time he came around to the Cowboys, I think it was well eighty six seven or so. You're okay, You're gonna be shocked by this revelation. Johnny Lamb Jones was the second pick in the draft eighteen eighty by the New York Jets. Yes, Billy Simms went number one to the Detroit Lions, and Johnny Lamb Jones

went number two to the New York Jets. What Billy many Boos went number three to the Cincinnati Bengals in nineteen eighty Hall of Fame talk about another sprinter, Everson Curtis Dickeye out of Texas A and M went number five to the Baltimore Colts in nineteen eighty. Were in nineteen eighty one. We were running behind him for about eighty yards at Baltimore. I've seen that speed. I mean I was way back there, but yeah, I saw it.

Yeah I did. And so John Lamb Jones was the number one rated receiver coming out in that draft with that kind of speed. Art Monk first round pick of the Redskins, number eighteen overall in nineteen eighty. All right, we're back with more next shots in just a moment. We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping air waves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor Pepper and cream Soda. Is

he a new combone that's music to my ears? Okay, Doctor Pepper time pulling in a glass, music to my ears and mouth. New Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. A delicious Dear, it's nineteen oh eight. Don't you think we should get electricity and stop using candles to see at night? It's just electricity lights up the room fast. It's more reliable than candles blowing out, and people seem to love it nationwide. Well candles, dear, did you just run into

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limited time collections. Plus the pro Shop has a huge selection of cold weather gear and more deals for every fan. Visit your local Dallas Cowboys pro shop or go to shop dot Dallas Cowboys dot com for the best savings on your new gear today. Hey, you know what I'm doing right now, Mickey and Everson. Sounds like you're shuffling paper. No, that's me. That would be what I'm doing is I'm watching individual drills the National squad at the Senior Bowl

on the NFL Network. They are no longer at lad People's Stadium in Mobile, Alabama this year for the practices leading up to the game. That the University of South Alabama instead. And oh, yeah, there you go. There's an Oklahoma center of the Creed Humphrey right there. And so I'm going to watch this for a little bit and Nicky can take it away. Green Humphreys lined up at center. Now we're going to work with the left tackles. They're

got a kid from Notre Dame lining up at left tackle. Oh, I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon watching this stuff, Picky, And I bet there's not many people surrounding the field as normal watching those games, right, No, they especially from dands. There are some people up in the stands state the NFL scouts. Teams can have up to twelve individuals in attendance. Is that right? I think it's ten. I read ten. Okay, they're limited to ten personnel to scout the event. And as you said, the

games being played this time at Hancock Whitney Stadium. Uh, they've already sold out like six thousand tickets. And the media availability is very very limited. Uh. You know they used to let us on the field after the practice to kind of, you know, pick out who you wanted to interview. That won't be allowed. Uh. They're going to have four players per practice to be interviewed, and the interview has to have The media will be socially distanced

in sections in the in the stands. Uh. And then they'll have some evening phone line uh interviews, zoom calls, things like that. Uh. And uh, boy, they used to be able to hang out out at the hotel and bump into people. Uh. That's not happening uh any longer. Uh. And as you said, this year, it'll be the national team versus the American team. No more North uh and South. But they did uh manage to get Davante. Yeah you

explain noticing that. I'm not sure you're not gonna drag me into that, uh because it it very easily could happen, by the way. Uh oh, although you know what happened though, because of the the invitations and uh, you know, not knowing who was gonna come or who couldn't. I think they had a hard time dividing it up geographically, so

they just kind of put people on teams. But DeVante Smith, the Heisman Trophy winner, is competing in this Senior Bowl, and I read where he's only the tenth Heisman winner to participate in a Senior Bowl. The other nine, Doke Walker, I got one of them. Shut up, mother, Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield was the last one Heisman Trophy winner to participate. If I go backwards, Tim Tebow, Troy Smith, Carson Palmer, Bo Jackson in nineteen eighty, nineteen seventy four, John Cappelletti,

Pat Sullivan, Alan Amici, and Doke walk Away. Bo wait right, Bo Jackson in nineteen seventy four. What is a third grader? It says Comma, nineteen seventy four, Bo Jackson. It should be nineteen eighty six, right now, that's what that's what it has, you know, Bob Jackson. Bob Jackson as a sixth grader could have competed in the seed. They probably didn't have athlete as a sixth grader. He could have. He would have been like eighty three or so. Well,

it's either it's it's maybe. Well Carson Palmer it says, yeah, that's probably what it is. Yeah, they made a type on that thing. Anyway. Yeah, things have changed. Good things have changed. You know. They also got rid of the East West Shrine Game and also the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, Uh got canceled. And the ways we can't we can't have the East play in the West either, that's right, No, no, no,

we didn't no way. In fact, the players started arriving on Saturday because they had to do their COVID testing and had to pass through multiple times throughout the week. And this year each player gets his own room. And how about this, for the first time NFL teams had to buy into the Bowl game. They're paying for club suites at the new stadium for interviews with players. So that's how they're kind of raising money to help out with the loss because of lack of fans being allowed

into the stadium. So this whole thing is different. As a matter of fact, it was a couple of weeks ago and I was talking to Will McClay. He wasn't even sure they were gonna you know, they had all these plans to have the game, but he wasn't even sure,

you know, who was going to be allowed there. So from a team standpoint, even if you only have a limited amount of personnel at the practices, they record those things and they send them out to all the teams, so you're able to you're able to watch the practices. You just don't get that one on one capability with these players, And to me, that's one of the most important things, especially with the combine, which by the way, that has changed significantly. Also, you guys, I was one

of those guys. I was truly blessed to have the career that I had because when you think of where I came from, none of that recruiting crap. I was privy too, had to you know, basically bragg my way onto Grammling for that last scholarship. No, I mean I led the nation of New Sections, but I didn't get any invitations to any of the big you know, combines or any of that. I had my one experience in Jackson, Mississippi. It was Sardan Broadcasting Network Bowl Game, Black College Bowl Game,

and Shardan was at the hotel. It was an African American family that was in media, s H. E. R. I. D A N. And they were they were a great friend to HBCUs. So they sponsored this game. Man, it was so cold in Jackson, Mississippi in February, like fifteen hundred people showed up at the game. I didn't want to play that game, that's how cold it was. I felt like I was in Green Bay somewhere. I didn't know Jackson, Mississippi could be so cold, but it was

just so uneventful. Uh happy to play in the game. Of course, they sent some backup scouts down there to time us. There was no one of any prominence that was really there. So to be able to have the career I had and starting at such a powerful place, you know, I'm pretty I'm definitely blessed to have the career I had. But board all of these things you're talking about, North, South, East, West Shrine, all American Senior Bowl,

things of that nature. Yeah, most HBCU players we just don't get a chance to participate in that and especially since you know all the bigger, the better players are going to the Power fives now and that doesn't seem to be reversing course in any way. You just won't be seeing any HBCU players being prominent at any of those.

So to be able to come out my rookie year and my whole career, to be able to to play well against some of those guys that they thought deserved those those that reputation more than the HBCU players, it felt real good to just stick it to the scouts faces and stick it to all those UH owners and

offensive coordinates that just really thought they knew better. That had a lot to do with the how can I put it motivation behind my career, I think my whole career, I was still saying something like you to take that, take that. Yeah, that was pretty much month. So I'll tell you you mentioned how cold my first winner in Jackson, Mississippi. It actually snowed two inches. I want you to know this,

and it's crazy. And they were so worthy to stop that wind from just blowing right through your clothes, and they were so they were so worried that we wouldn't be able to get back the next morning to put out the what was then an afternoon paper too. They put us up in hotels overnight so we could just walk to work the next day. Well, it was two inches, right. I grew up in Chicago. My buddy that I was working with grew up in Detroit or in Saint Louis.

So we went back to our our apartments to get clothes for the next day, shower, change whatever, and bring stuff back. Right, the sports edator found out we went home and he just gave us, Holly, you drove home. It's like it's like time, it's two inches. Come on, give me a break. He just got like three minutes left. But Everson a capsule version of how did the Cowboys discover you? Well, Gil Brent, you know he's out there always looking at HBCUs away. I tell people all time

he's good at finding cheap labor. And that's what that's what Gil is good at. So you know he finds a cheap labor from all HBCUs and some of the smallest schools. You know, watch top Baptist Cliff Harris. He found me just like he found Cliff. You know, it wasn't that hard to find I mean, I was leading the nation in interceptions and I was only four golf of park. You were just down the road, Yeah, I'm just down just down the street. Yeah, no doubt a

couple of couple of lights away. But I wasn't known in that manner at that time. But being a Grambling, really, I think that's how they looked at it. You know, Grammling's only four four hour drive away. Uh he said, I think he sent uh jeff Roe Pew to lay Jeff Roe pu to come sign me, and uh, you know, I don't know what they told jeff Or to offer me, but I have a feeling if he could work a deal with me, he couldn't keep the difference. I think

that's I think that's how Gill said it off. So I don't know, maybe my fifteen hundred dollars signing bonus could have been two thy twenty five hundred. You just never know. I don't know what jeff will walked away with.

It sounds like it sounds like Drew Pearson's story when they signed him at Tulsa and after the draft undrafted and Drew didn't even have enough He said, I didn't hardly had enough money to put gas in my car to drive to the hotel to meet h to meet whoever was was, you know, scouting him or giving him signing him to the contract. So he got a five hundred dollars signing bonus, right, five hundred dollars signing bonus.

He went home and he basically told his wife, well, I got to go to the dorm because the guys are waiting for me after I signed. And she goes, well, how much did you get? And he goes, I got two hundred and fifty dollars because I took the other two fifty to buy beer for everybody. That's a lot of beer. Well maybe maybe food too, you never know, right, he figured, I you can get old Milwaukee, right, Yeah, you get old Milwaukee at six pack of Old Milwaukee

for a dollar eighty nine back. Yet I wouldn't know about that, Bill, I bet, I bet when you were in an HBCU right at Grambling, you never thought a graduate from one of those schools would end up being vice president? Is that crazy? Is that crazy Casebcus? We run the world, baby, We're taken over the world won't be long, all right? And next week super Bowl week it's also Hall of Fame week, Drew Pearson will be

finding out from Big David Baker. He'll probably surprise him at his home or something next week that he's going into the Hall of Fame and so everything. I want you to do your homework on the Hall of Fame finalist and give your breakdown on who should be Hall of Famers in this class this year. Nicky, you can

do the same easy work. That's easy work, and there's so much to get to next week, which will be it'll be our own version of media Day at the Super Bowl next Tuesday, and you keep watching those Senior Bowl practices. Okay, I am. I am going to do that. I'll give you a full record on the show. Sign I'll open up my big green NFL Draft scouting notebook. I purchased the notebook last week. I'm ready to fill it up. All right, We'll talk at you next week

here on mix Shots, Go Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.