Mick Shots: Sports Interrupted

this morning. They did, They might made it to about ten twelve. I think I wrote down, yeah, And so you can tell they're they're getting closer and closer to the start of this regular season, which is two weeks from some day. Cowboys will be playing in that new stadium in Los Angeles against the Amazon September thirteen. Everson, how are you doing. I'm doing fine this morning, sir. I'm doing a little bit better than than the entire

sports world. We've had a little shake up that we need to talk about this morning, but otherwise I'm in good shape, yep. And we'll get into that. Making anything of note that you see on so on the practice field, because the Cowboys we should point out, as Mike McCarthy said that his press conference at seven fifteen this morning, the Cowboys have already had talks and we'll have future talks today about the things that Everson is talking about. But they were out on the practice field and they

got completed at ten twelve, precisely. Ye, the Cowboys did practice. I noticed there was about a half a dozen teams that decided today not to practice, but the Cowboys went through with their regular routine indoors again, or the first part for some of the guys outdoors, and then they moved indoors and a lot of individual drills, a lot of just position drills, and then team team type stuff

for about forty five minutes. Situational things built you know, first in ten second and four third and two fourth and eight things like that. So maybe some of the stuff will see in the scrimmage on some day, so things. But yeah, it was you know, another really good practice, and they finished off with another kicking session. Didn't have an official under the goal post this time, but it looked like zerline went six for six. I only saw one that was kind of hump did that go in?

But all the rest were kind of right down the middle. So if he made all six of them again, he would have been twenty four for twenty four. So uh, back guys, uh briefly, and they called up Joe Looney and Joe Loubi stood while all the players knelt, uh, and he addressed the team, and I'm assuming uh he addressed the team about what took place uh in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Uh. And then they all bowed their heads and I can see he let them in a prayer. So that was kind of a sad out here. And I can also

point out Layton vander essh talking with the media. Uh Uh he says to quote right now, we're lined up to have discussions about it during our team meeting this afternoon. That's still to come. So that's going to be part of the team meeting. And so Everson, you wanted to jump in with what you're seeing. Of course, as all of you know of who have not been buried in

work here in the last twenty four hours. It started yesterday afternoon with the Milwaukee Bucks deciding not to play in their NBA playoff game at three o'clock yesterday afternoon, and within about a half hour after that, the NBA had postponed all the playoff games, all three of them from yesterday. There were three Major League Baseball games that were postponed as well as the w NBA canceled their

games yesterday and Major League Soccer as well. There are several teams around the league who have elected not to practice today. So Everson weigh in on what you're seeing. Well, you know, one thing that I love is are the gestures, and these are That's exactly what they are. These are amazing gestures that really saw a little bit of empathy that hadn't hadn't been shown in any sport in our history.

And the thing that I like about it is you've got all these other teams, all these other team sports that are participating in these gestures, which is really, I think an easy thing to do. Easier with a smaller roster. You know, you're talking baseball. You know, they only have about, you know, maybe fifteen twenty guys that you have to deal with on the roster basketball itself, maybe about fifteen people that you have to worry about w NBA and NBA.

You're talking about soccer a little bit more, but even the individual sports such as tennis, one of the young ladies decided not to go forward with her semifinal match as well in tennis and decided to withdraw from participating. And see, these things are These are amazing gestures because it's affecting them. Money that these people might get, that these athletes might be coming into it can cost them

a little bit of money. But when you're talking about football, you're talking about fifty five players, and having fifty five players on the same accord is really tough. I tried to do it back in eighty seven when I was a union rep. Failed miserably. I might add, all guys, they you know, when it comes to football, it's a different breed in regards to the players, and it's also a different breed when it comes to the owners. They're much more staunch about taking care of business and trying

not to let the outside world interfere. That is old school. That's an old school remedy. Now you've got the new school remedy to where you gotta be a little bit more empathetic to what's going on. And I'm glad to see that. It's a shame what we saw in Wisconsin's it's like a broken record now, really I mean, because you've got so much video out there really hyping up

the thing and the tragedy that ensued from that. So it's just good to see that at least the players are aware of it, and you know, we have to get out of this mode I think we are of just worrying about well, it's just all about the sport. It's all about our institution. Every institution is touched by racism, everyone, and that's including the Dallas Cowboys organization. Throughout history, that's

the way it's been. So I'm just glad that things are being talked about and they're being noticed by these new this new wave of athletes that are coming through it. You know, Bill and ever since I thought Mike McCarthy he had a really good comment. He said, you know, we looked the sports to escape the things that are going on the pandemic, you know, the hurricane that was hitting the post of Louisiana in Texas, and he goes, but when it comes to this, he goes, we can't

escape it. We just can't escape and not talk about it. And that's why he pointed out that when they would have their meetings after practice, they would talk about this and see what's going on and maybe this example or this instance what happened in Kenosha kind of gosh, it just highlights the problem of all the things that have been going on, right and everything, and all the protests and everything we've heard, and yet this policeman still did this.

I mean, does not go through your mind when and it's hard to put yourself in his shoes on why he would make a decision to do that, But you would think, gosh, you would check yourself, right. I just don't get it, and I think that is it just illustrates the depth of the problem out there. I have to say, guys, and because you know, we're looking at this instance and we're worried about how the police are looking at African Americans and really looking at society. Being

the policeman, man, it's a scary job. Let's just all recognize that it is an extremely scary job. When you take that job on, you have to realize what your responsibilities are. You have to be a totally different person

than what we are. You represent law, you represent law and order, and you have the gun and all the equipment that can enforce that, and so with that brings much responsibility I mean so much responsibility to where sometimes you have to sit back and take a breath and not just react so quickly to what I think is fear and fear of the unknown. And that lets you know just how disconnected the police are. Officers are from

the community itself. So you know, we in America we always try and put a band aid on something before we fix the problem. We don't want to go all the way back and fix it. They're like, oh, that's too much work, Let's just start from here. Well, you can't. You can't put a band aid on something when it's an open wound such as what we have here in America between the policeman and the African American community. So these are things that have to be uh, we have to be aware of. We have to we have to

go back and start almost from scratch. Because the the the institutions, the law institutions, law enforcement institutions, they are being trained in a way that has brought much confusion and much death unnecessarily checking Twitter, The news out of the NBA this morning, by the way, is that the board of governors are meeting this morning and the players as well, and they are postponing games today and they will.

They are working towards restarting the playoffs on Friday. So what will in essence be U two days worth of protests here in Dallas. That means the Mavericks game a night against the Clippers is postponed until either Friday or Saturday. But I understand that the meeting last night and Lebron James and the Lakers as well as the Clippers, and then Kawhi Leonard was leaving the way there there were two teams that voted, and basically a poll of the teams.

They will obviously nothing binding, but they voted not to resume the season, to boycott the rest of the season, but they've decided now that the league has decided to continue on with the playoffs and do what they can as far as enacting of some way to help with social justice in America, which is an ongoing thing for all leagues right now. What what do you anticipate the

Cowboys meeting this afternoon to be like? If you I would imagine it would be something where the coaches will give the players all the time that they want in order to address whatever whatever they would like to say. Right Yeah, Bill, I think you're exactly right. I think Mike wants guys to basically speak up, get their feelings, let them say what they feel like they need to say. And then again, you know, as as Everson said, you know, you've got eighty guys out there, and not everybody's going

to agree with everything. But I think if you have an open forum for guys to talk and just you know, get your feelings out there and then go forward. But it appears, you know, they were all in today in the practice. I get that it didn't look like everybody was you know, just not was disinterested. So yeah, we'll see where it goes. And like I said yesterday, by time they finished their basically their walkthrough and their meetings, and then they were on their own, as he said,

when they left for dinner. And then that's kind of when everything hit. So they really didn't have an opportunity as a team to address it. And then when you start practicing, guys getting ready at seven thirty in the morning, I think they basically said, Okay, let's practice and then we'll talk about this after the practice. And I gotta say, guys, this is you know, I keep comparing it to the

eighty seven strike because it's about work stoppage. It really that's that's the bottom linement when it comes to this, the decision that they make the example is just like here in America as a society, examples have to come from the top. The proper example on how to deal with this has to come from the top. You can't have a mixed message coming from the coach and then you have the the owner saying something else or acting

in another way. So when you talk about work stoppage in eighty seven, the team that stayed together the best in eighty seven after the strike, after we resumed work after the work stoppage in eighty seven was the Redskins. Their coach, Joe Gibbs was famously known for telling the guys either you're all going to be together or you're all not going to be together. But whatever it is,

it's going to be together. And in Dallas we were you know, we we had scabs going across all our superstars went across the line and across the picket line. So that was really the beginning of the end for a lot of players and also for coach Landry and that entire management organization. When it came to the nineteen eighty seven, Strake, that was we didn't know that we were dismantling ourselves with the decisions that we were making

over at Valley Ranch at the time. So there has to be coming together from management that's including coach McCarthy and including Jerry Jones in regards to how they deal with this, because if you have a mixed message coming from the top, then it's just like what I we got here in America as a society, You're gonna have a bunch of you know, bungling idiots running around, I

know what the hell they're doing. Isn't that kind of ironic that back then the Redskins were the model team franchise that now the situation they're in now totally different. Were the difference thirty plus years? Make right? And excuse me if I said Redskins does Washington football team? Okay? Is that it Washington football team? Washington football team? You know? And to that point ever since point there, Mickey Mike McCarthy, if you go back, you can go on Dallas Cowboys

dot com and watch his entire press conference breaking. I don't think I've seen a press conference where he just he didn't start off the press conference, just asking for questions and said today and right off the top before he asked for any questions, he commented on what he was watching and what the team were, the players who have been watching the last twenty four hours and m and clearly is very bothered by what is going on.

Of course, he you know, has a home in Wisconsin, his family's up there and um and so it's it's hits close to home for for him having been in Wisconsin for the past fifteen years himself. But larger picture, I think we're getting an idea and more and more with the new coach coming in, we're getting a better idea of some of the things away from coaching football, how to you manage a team and how you're receptive

to players. We're getting a better idea of why Mike McCarthy has been successful as an NFL head coach the last fifteen years. Well, you know what, I thought, we got another example of that that he's not tone deaf on how he answered the questions about Earl Thomas when everybody at the beginning of the week start peppering him with those questions. And I thought the key and while he straddled defense like, you know, he wasn't going to

say yea or nay. But I thought the key thing he said, and this goes to kind of what you're talking about, Bill, He understands the importance of the locker room. And he said, at the end of the day, no matter what else happens, my focus as a head coach has to be on the locker room. So basically what he's saying is, if going to bring in a guy that's been on two teams now and things have gone badly, can he fit into my locker room? And regardless of how good a player he was. I thought that was

his emphasis. And I thought again, as you were saying, Bill, talking about the team and the players, not just a body to bring in and play football, And to him, that was probably the more important thing than anything else. I'll tell you what, though, if you think of the comparison between the coaches now versus the coaches back in eighty seven, you know you're looking at an entirely different

group of group of coaches. You know, Tom Lagie would not even want to be bothered with anything like this, which he was never wanted to be bothered with anything that didn't have something to do with football. That is the old school way Tom Lagie was born, of course, back in the forties or whatever. So you're looking at a different mentality these days, not just from from coaches, but also from fans. You know, the NFL and all

of sports. They're going to lose a lot of fans because you've got old school fans are like, look, I tuned into mix shots just to talk, just to hear football talk. I don't want to hear anything else. I'm so tired of watching the videos, which I am as well, so tired of watching videos and all the arguing. And you're you're you're bringing your mixing society with sports. Well, you were never supposed to separate the two. Let's just be real about it, because life goes on when those

players leave the field. And as social media and all of this, you know, starts to to to to flourish, it does mud the issue a little bit because now you have to worry about things other than sports. As a matter of fact, sometimes what's going on those other things they are more important than sports. So as much as you're gonna lose a lot of fans in regards to this new way of sports and new way of

looking at athletics. You're also going to gain a lot of fans that were staying away from sports because it was so myopic, you know. And then the other part of that is if if there are issues, no matter what it is, that are impacting the majority of the players on your team did not affect your team, and you have to you have to get a handle on that. You have to address it. And we never we never

did back in the eighties. That just wasn't And I'm not just talking Cowboys, I'm talking just all the sports. We never want to deal with anything outside of sports as much as it was affecting us all when we went home away from our arenas. All right, we're just getting started on this edition of Mixed Shots, and we're going to preview what's coming up this weekend. We've got a practice Cowboys Night at at and T Stadium on Sunday that you will actually be able to look in on.

We'll be a part of that and much more coming up on Mix Shots here in just a morning. Hey, they're Cowboys fans with Type Cleaners at home pickup and delivery. Cleaning your clothes has never been more convenient. Simply sign up at your local store. Set out your dirty clothes, and one of our tight cleaner professionals will come directly to your home for a totally contactless experience. Your clean garments will be returned promptly the next scheduled delivery day,

So skip the errand and enjoy life not laundry. Visit ty cleaners dot com or your local store to sign up for ty Cleaners at home pickup and delivery today. Make the most of summer with Ford America's best selling brands during the Ford Summer Sales at ent with great offers on a huge selection of Ford SUVs and the largest selection of truck inventory to choose yet huge offers across the Ford lineup. So grab the family and head out.

Ford's helping you meet the most out of summer. It's easier now during the Ford Summer Sales events based on twenty nineteen calendar year total sales based on Autodata contact and full sized stock inventory as of June twenty twenty. Want to use what the pros use? How about the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black. Right now, you can get the Jack Black Starter, a curated collection of Cowboys locker room favorites for just ten

bucks with free shipping. The Starter includes four Jack Clack skincare favorites plus a full sized and tense therapy lip bomb. Go to get Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys and use the code word Team JB. That's get Jack Black dot com Slash Cowboys The Jack Black Starter ten bucks free shipping. I'm Jay Nova Check, former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys. Back in the day, I was the guy who always got the tough yards and that's why

I run with John Deer today. In fact, I have a John Deer three zero twenty five E tractor that can handle any yard work I need to do, even the toughyards way out back. So if you have one acre or a thousand, John Dear has the equipment that's just right for you. Visit a John Dear dealer today and run with us. We are the official tractor provider of your Dallas Cowboys. Back back to mixed shots. Looking for something to change up your dinner routine, Well help

is on the way. Help support local Frisco businesses by choosing one of these Star District restaurants. For information on delivery, takeout curbside pickup and dine in availability, visit the Star District dot com mickey, are you taking advantage of the Star District restaurants and takeout and that sort of thing as you're back at the Star, I haven't done any takeout here. And as for sitting in a restaurant and eating, I don't think I've done that since like March thirteenth.

I have taken advantage of it. People. My wife, myself, my daughter, and my business partner. We went to the Star area and we ate some good food. We had a great time, great conversation. My wife was starving for some social interaction, so I had to take it out there. We wouldn't even let the waitress didn't even have time to serve people because we kept just monopolizing her time because we hadn't talked to anyone outside of our own household.

So yeah, I understand not going. I understand not wanting to go, but we couldn't take it anymore. We just had to go. We had a great time too, had a great time. All right, NICKI gonna tell us about practice today. Let's go in depth with what you saw, what stood out for you at practice this morning. You know, it always seems to happen this way and ever since probably experience this. It's like injury. These are like a disease. They attack one part of the team and then it

goes and attacks another part of the team. Right, So, the Cowboys were having problems at on the offensive line with both Tyrant Smith and Lale Collins, and by the way, their presumptive swing tackle Cam Irving. We're all missing practice all last week. In the beginning of this week, well, at least today, Tyrn Smith and Lale Collins had their uniforms on their helmets and pads and they did individual drills before they left to go do their rehab drills.

Cam Irving actually got back into team practice for the first time today. Now, the last couple practices this week he was at least out there in individual drills, and today was the first time he actually participated in team drills. So they had him lined up basically at left tackle, taking tyre and spot. But at least those guys looked like they're getting closer. Well with that happened, now, the

attention went to the cornerback position. Hitabey A Woozier on getting my day's confused Monday, he looked like he suffered somewhat of a leg injury. He tried to go on Tuesday, and after a couple of individual drills he pulled out. So today he basically was on the chords outside at the resistant chords and was rehabbing and he didn't do anything. Jordan Lewis is still out with the ankle injury he suffered the previous week, and Mike McCarthy had said that

he probably would miss this entire week. They were hoping to get him back, and then having the last two practices, they were using Darryl Worley and the rookie Reggie Robinson at safety. They were down to five corners today, so those guys got a pretty good workout out there. But you know, at least for guys like Deante Burton and Chris Westry, they were getting a whole lot of snaps that they probably wouldn't have gotten. So the cornerback position

was a little bit stretched thin. And then going back to the offensive line. Before they even got into team practice, they were just doing these individual drills where you would come off the line and just kind of meet a guy across the across from you. Mitch Hyatt went down and they ended up carting him off with looked like an apparent right knee injury. Yes, so, and he was a guy that was helping out with the depth along

with Brandon Knight and gosh, it was another practice. Basically it was an all comers meet with the defensive ends at Dak Prescott. They can't block those guys. And you know you're gonna read that, uh you know, Trayvon digs

or No, it was u haha, Clinton Dix had an interception. Well, what happened was Dak would have got sacked right and then he just kind of threw the ball up and he overthrew the Uh it was one of those Larry Brown interceptions, right, he got b but the ball flew over the wide receiver's head and went right to him, you know. So so haha was the MVP. I'm sure

he's gonna be player today for somebody. And it's like, oh, okay, but let's put some context into the interception, uh, you know, and yeah, they were just having trouble, you know, blocking and uh. There was a couple of times, you know, a couple of plays in a row where DeMarcus Lawrence, you know, zip by Uh Terrence Steele. I mean, they've got guys back there that I don't know if they're gonna make the team, but they've got they're kind of forced to work with the first team, so uh that

that was somewhat problematic out there. Uh, they did work. They did have a session where they worked a lot on the on the run game. Somebody early in the week uh told McCarthy, it doesn't look like Zeke's going to touch the ball because you don't really run the ball in practice, and you know they're practicing in segments, and so today was a little bit more run orient. I thought. Tony Pollard had another day and UM, keeping an eye on this Regal Doubtle. He's really getting some

opportunities and maybe push the envope a little bit. If they decide to keep three running backs. I don't know that they will uh and I don't know that they'll keep a fullback. Uh uh. But the kid from uh TCU, the LUA did I get it? Yeah, Alona Luaga sa Alona Lua. He actually I think on Tuesday they did a little goal line Monday or Tuesday and he got as Skip Pete said the running backs coach. He said he got a couple of good strikes in their meaning blocks and he had a nice run to day on

fourth and short. So I like you a lot. Yeah, I think he's versatile and as long as he you know in the song. And here's the hard part. You guys a lot of this stuff for these backups that I'm talking about, it comes down to special teams. But they're not going to have any live special teams till September thirteenth, So it's kind of hard to prove yourself that, hey, I'm a good Special teams player when you're just doing special teams drills out there because they're not lighting anybody up. Well,

I'll tell you what the accelerated pace is. Just like I talked about last week, it's it's proving out to have accelerated injuries as well. It seems like spags because you've got all of these different groups that are being affected. Uh some of them, it's just a matter of timing. When you're talking about an ankle injury from Jordan Lewis, that's just a matter of not really having your your your upper body uh in congruence with your lower body.

I mean, that's just really about balance and in regards to your own body. And that's kind of those those injuries that you're going to see a lot of the muscle injuries that you're gonna look at, those are all about just really not being in shape and your your your uh, your tendoms are not really prepared for this change in pace that your body has been accustomed to throughout the off season. And even with the defensive backs, I think with a Woozier uh he made he was

injured making an interception, Am I right? I believe it did happen at that point, Yes, well, I'm pretty sure his body was kind of allergic to making plays like that. So you know, uh, those are the kind of that you're gonna have to deal with. You know, he's he's looking back for the ball. Now. I don't think his body is accustomed to his hand telling you're looking for the ball. But I love the effort. It looked good. I saw that on video, and of course he would

come up. You know, it didn't look like he was limping at the time, but he came up a little lane at the time. But I hope that doesn't discourage him from trying to make more plays on the ball. Let's let's let's pray that he doesn't do that, you know, And I thought I noticed one of the things to try to not tire these guys out. Like they're rolling

guys in and out. It's a huge rotation. And it's like when they when they have like the first team off what looks like the first team offense out there, and if they run of the pass pattern and the receivers are down field, they don't. They don't wait till those guys come back. They get in the huddle and there's another three receivers in h and he's rolling the same thing with the linebackers, the defensive line. They're rolling guys in and the pace is pretty quick, but it's

quick with different guys. I don't know how they keep tracked of how all the guys are in and out. You know. If this was hockey, they would have too many men on the field. But they're done a pretty good job of having eleven on eleven and then they they've gone back to this old drill. Ever since that, I haven't seen the Cowboys using it in a while. They used to use it. Jimmy used it. I think

Switzer use it. It's eleven on nine where they don't use two defensive linemen on the backside to basically make sure no one's getting rolled up on, and so a lot of their practices, you know, and that was my concern about the past protection. There's only two guys rushing and they're still getting to the quarterback. Yeah, but those tackles, Mickey, they're not going to be playing in games starting September thirteenth, right, Yeah, absolutely, Collins and Tyrn Smith will will be back out there.

The hopes are that Cam Irving is the swing tackle. He's got some experience. He's played almost every position on the offensive line, I think instead of center. And speaking of center, the rookie Tyler beadish Is is really starting to come on. Uh. You know, it's too bad he didn't have preseason to get in games and kind of show him what he can do. But he's he's a

pretty tough little sucker in there. Uh. And I think from a you know, once he gets the recognition down, I think he's going to be a pretty pretty good, pretty good center for the Cowboys. How about Tylan Smith? What is what is his injury? Is it a recurring injury? Because when he goes down. Our offensive line totally changes. It's in thy kevy. Yeah. I think he had a tight hamstring, and that's all you've got to hear, not

a pull or strain. If it's tight on ty, it's like, okay, go sit over there with September thirteenth is what we're worried about, right. And the same thing with Lal Collins.

He he had somewhat of a tight back, I was told, and it was kind of a leftover from last year when end of the season he was having some back issues and it kind of flared up again in the off season before they even got here, and so they were just being very cautious with him too, And so knowing the Cowboys trainers and their mentality on this stuff, it's like, you know, you don't have to play a game on September first, you got to play a game

on September thirteenth. Let's make sure we can get these guys to the game. You know, you think about what the Cowboys are going through injury wise at the tackle position, and this would be the third preseason game this weekend, and I would think they probably the first team offense. You'd be hard press to to make that decision to send Dak Prescott in the first team offense out there

to play in the actual preseason game. When you've got what you've got lining up at offensive tackle right now, go absolutely, you'd be calling a lot of running plays, I guarantee you. And it may not be handing the ball to twenty one or twenty either. It would be

a lot of quick a lot of quick passes. But you know what, the way they're doing it, they're given some of these young guys like today John Vay Johnson, who had a really good training camp last year and then when the preseason game started he kind of faded away a rookie wide receiver and he had a nice day to day. And another guy that's gotten more opportunities lately, it was Noah Brown and Bill. You know, I got so tired of everybody wanted to talk about Noah Brown

and it's like, well, yeah, he's a good blocker. Well, I don't want my wide receivers to be a good blocker, I mean being good catchers. Right. Well, you know what, I noticed that he dropped his listed weight from last year this year and and by the way, the last two years he was on injured reserve with an injury and then they just kind of left him there because they wanted to keep his right rights. Well, he's dropped

some weight. He looks more like a wide receiver now than a tight end and he did years yea laster now and he's getting downfield and catching the ball. Uh. So to me, you know, we know who the top three receivers are. And then after that, Cedric Wilson has been really good and Noah Brown's coming on. So I won't pick on him if he can continue to play

like that and tell me he's a good blocker. Okay, Well I tell you what this would be the Uh, this part of the training camp would usually be those dog days of training camp stags, you know, where the monotony is just really getting to you, especially to the veterans. But speaking as a as a free agent, former free agent, this was my time back in eighty one to really make a difference in regards to the coach's eyes. My first drill, I got cursed out by Jane Stallins. After

that I start to make up for it. So these are the times, the preseason games where you get in and try to make a difference, and especially in practice These are the times when a younger player, someone who wasn't as heralded as the other players that were drafted or signed along with him in his class. These are the times where you can make a difference and let

the coaches see you. No special teams like you talked about, Spag, but when it comes to one on one, when you put me in there with an entire team, or you put me in there on seven on seven, this is the time that I get to make a difference. And so I'm hoping some of the young guys really take advantage this time, and like you're speaking of, some of these they are doing it and some of them hopefully

can supplies the coaches. Yeah, one of the young free agent rookie linebackers that has least got his hand up in the air to say hey, I'm here, Francis Bernard six foot two forty two from from Utah. The guys made some plays on the ball, and he keeps showing up.

So even today he got some extra snaps because Luke Gifford, the free agent linebacker who made the team last year, was not dressed out for practice, so he got to move up a notch and and so there's an example of a guy getting some more reps and an opportunity to do things. And he would be a guy that if they were really doing special teams live, I think he would show up. And that's how Gifford kind of got his name in the uh you know, kind of everybody to look at him last year because some special

teams things he was doing. So yeah, there are some young guys. Because they're rotating guys so quickly and going so fast, they're getting opportunities. So did they ask you to play special teams you're rookie year? Oh yes, I played special teams my entire career all right, West Team pump return, first team pump return, first team field goal block, first team pump No, all of that first team pump return.

I was on everything. I was leading the league and interceptions when I was still on the bench, and Charlie Waters and Dennis Thurman they would make mike downs and myself practice every play. We were. We were the dummy squad as well. So I can't tell Charlie Waters he's in the last of his career. Dennis Thurman, hey man, I need a breakout here. They're like, okay, we'll find somebody, but it hope me me so, yes, I was. I

was always that guy. You know. The funny thing is now that that's funny you say that because McCarthy made this comment. Maybe it wasn't McCarthy, you know what, I think it was Jim Tom Sula. He was talking about the rotation and all the guys getting in there, and he goes, I got guys fighting to go and get snaps. He goes, I can't keep him out. You know. It's like somebody said, well, will you fight him? He goes, oh, no, not at all, but but he said, that's kind of

guys I've got on that defensive front. All right, we continue with big shots here, just so it's about time somebody did that. And uh, I wonder what Mickey, what road Mickey wants to go down here? In just a moment, I know what road I want to go down with Everson. I want to go back to a rookie wide receiver breaking into the NFL and what a veteran cornerback tries to do to him with Everson and when we come back, Hey, they're Cowboys fans with ty cleaners at home pickup and

delivery cleaning your clothes has never been more convenient. Simply sign up at your local store, set out your dirty clothes, and one of our Ty Cleaners professionals will come directly to your home for a totally contactless experience. Your clean garments will be returned promptly the next scheduled delivery day, So skip the errand and enjoy life not laundry. Visit ty Cleaners dot com or your local store to sign up for ty Cleaners at home pickup and delivery today.

Since eighteen sixty five, Stetson Hats are American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Want to show your Texas and team pride too, You can by purchasing your own stetson. You can look just like how the flag guys do on field at every home game. Stetson hats the official crown of all self respecting Cowboys and your favorite football team. Get yours today at Shop dot

Dallas Cowboys dot com or at Stetson dot com. What do you call a group of grown men and women who get together every week proudly wearing the star to share a three hour long ritual of cheering, shouting at the TV, and raising their Miller light together while yelling, how about them boys? You call it Miller Time and Cowboys Nation. Here's to the only beer of the Cowboys, celebrating sixty years of greatness. Here's to the original light beer.

It's Miller Time. Celebrate Responsibly. Twenty twenty Millie Brun Company, four fourth Texas. Hey, Cowboys Fans, ready to spice up your next watch party? Bring Yokiero Guacamole and be the game day hero. Yokierro means I want and we know you want. Great fresh tasting, ready to serve guacomole for your home gating and tailgating events. Made with real avocados and the perfect blend of spices. It will be the star of any party. You can find us at your

local Albertson's or Tom Thumb in the Delhi section. If you can't find it, talk to your store manager and tell them Yokierro, Yoki yar O Guacamoley Back back to Mick Shots. Get the ultimate fan experience for the ultimate Cowboys fan Joined Dallas Cowboys United and get an exclusive DCU fan pack and member benefits. Membership start at only twenty dollars. Visit Dallas Cowboys dot com slash United to

join today. All right, I want to get into how difficult the transition is for a rookie receiver as a first round draft pick coming into the NFL. How different is it for CD Lamb going up against NFL cornerbacks as opposed to say, big twelve cornerbacks or even LSU cornerbacks like he did in a college football playoff last year. And what as I'll set this up for you, ever person.

A couple of weeks ago, Michael Irvin was interviewing ceedee Lamb on the NFL net work, and he was reminiscing about his rookie training camp with the Cowboys, and he said that there was a veteran cornerback by the name of Everson Walls who gave him fits during that first training camp. But he looks back on that as a great time for him because he had someone like Everson who basically taught him the ropes of how to try to get open in this league. Because and so Everson,

what did what did? What do you remember from those battles in training camp in Thousand Oaks in the late eighties. Well, I think the bad drop on that was, you know, when we bought Mike in as a team, we would headed downhill. There's no doubt about it. That was Tom Laddie's last year, if I'm not mistaken, And we didn't know it at the time, but but signing Mike was just a big hype. And I had never seen really a wide receiver talk so much trash who had never

even been on the field yet. And you know, but but I knew that he was, you know, he was gonna be he was gonna be around for a while. So of course, you know, I tried my best to make sure that he knew what it was gonna be like. And one thing you don't want as a veteran defensive back who's you know, already did all the things that I could do as a cowboy. I can't let this rookie coming here and show me. You know, I think

he was like eight years my senior. I'm eight years his senior, and I couldn't let him come out here and embarrassed me because of course when he lined up, everyone's watching, So I had to come out with my best stuff. Bill, you know, I couldn't just jack him up at the line of scrimmage. I pulled out one of my best tricks of what we call the bill technique. I would line up as if I'm gonna jack him up, and then I would bail out and play his own well.

I used that this guy, but we were still in man to man, so as I bailed out within five yards, I stood in my ground, and so he thought I was gonna continue to bail But I met him within those five yards, and I met him with a lot of force. Both he and I about the same size. So you're looking at at two guys. You know, you're looking at six two d being the six two wide

receiver really going at it. One thing that Ceedee Lamb will not be going up against, he will not be going up against in practice, is at all pro defensive back. That's one thing he has to realize. So it's only gonna get tougher as he gets into the season. A wusier, good player. You've got good cornerbacks out there for the Cowboys. But if you're gonna be you're gonna be going up against some dynamic individuals. If I'm not Jalen Ramsey, yes, that's who you're gonna have to deal with first game.

And not only is he going to try and take your heart, he's gonna he's gonna try and demean you as he does it. So these are the things that I don't know if Ceedee lamp ever came up against what he did against those dbs in the Big Twelve in the NC Double A, he must look forward to some of those things being turned around and happening to him, because he will have his embarrassing moments. Trust me, they will come. Mickey, do you remember watching ever single up

against Michael at training camp? Very vaguely because I think that eighty eight training camp was I only spent a year at training camp that year, and after that, Tom didn't let us watch practice. By the way, that I was not gonna happen once the season started, I guarantee you. And then in eighty nine. Now I was at training camp in eighty nine. But I think Mike matured a little bit by time he got to that second year. By the time he got to his second year, I

would call he really impressed me. Uh. First of all, after his first year he was hurt the entire season pretty much, and his first his his his first game back was the last game of the season. If from the mistake it was, it was a game he toasted. He toasted future Hall of Famer Daryl Green for a couple of touchdowns and almost two hundred yards in receiving.

So now he goes into the off season and here comes his boy Jimmy and Jerry, and boy, you saw you saw his uh his participation in practice and his his uh his level of aggressiveness. You saw that uped it was even up another chick. And so that's when you start to see the Michael Irvin that you see today. His rehab was some of the most uh groomsome and just tiring and intense uh activity. I've never seen anyone work so hard to coming back from that injury, and

that continued throughout his entire Hall of Fame career. So it was just good to be a part of that because this guy was amazing. Yeah, I didn't get a chance to cover that game against the last game of the season because you guys were on your way to three and thirteen, and there was a yeah already by time that game was already said I think I had my vacation plans already. There was a more important game going on in the NFC East, and they sent me

the Dallas Times. Harold sent me to another game to cover. They said, nah, we need you to do this. So I missed his kind of coming out party. And then in eighty nine, I think it was five games into the season against San Francisco, when he's tour as ACLU and by the way, his re So this is funny. We were both living in Carrollton at that time and

our path to Valley Ranch was the same. And I remember one time it was after his surgery and it probably was early nineties, and I'm driving down Trinity Mills and down the middle of the street. There wasn't a median there. It was the middle of the street, and I see this big guy on a bicycle and I've never seen a seat so high on a bicycle peddling down the middle of the road. It was Michael peddling to Valley Ranch, probably a good five or six miles, part of his rehab that he was serious about in

the offseason. I said, he's gonna scare everybody, this big guy like that coming down the middle of the road. Well, you know, Mike has to always be seen at Valley ranch are out in the streets. That's just the way it was. So that was just the shape of things to come stag. Yeah, absolutely, that was the way it was with Michael, and it is the way it is with Michael today. All right, So how about Mickey, where do you think the Cowboys are at the safety position?

Because obviously the Ravens let go Earl Thomas earlier in the week that's been in the headlines whether the Cowboys should be interested in Earl Thomas. What are you seeing at the safety spot and should the Cowboys be interested in? Well, the sure thing at safety is Xavier Woods. They really like him and he's played well, so he's won safety. Now they've been rotating guys at the other spot. Darien Thompson's been getting a lot of snaps lately and so

they they like him. Now where Earl fits in, I think that's it's more than can this guy come in and play? I think we probably know the answer that he can. But again, you would like a guy on your team that doesn't have as many interceptions as he has fights in the locker room with his teeth and that's two each from last year, right, So you got to factor that in and then you know, I've always said, and I learned this, and I'm sure Everson will agree

with me. When you're looking for personnel decisions, who's playing, who's going whatever, I always said, follow the money, right. So if you look at the situation he was in Baltimore, if if they don't get win their grievance and get his base salary back, which was a guaranteed ten million, Now if he has ten million in his pocket, then you know I might be able to get him for cheap because if I give him three million, he's made

thirteen million this year. But if the Ravens win that grievance and they get that money back, He's not going to play for three million dollars. He wants his ten million. And the other thing that stuck out to me on this whole thing is the Ravens discontent with him. They were so fed up with him they took a fifteen million dollar hit this year. If they don't get that money back on the salary cap, it's dead money, and then ten more next year to get rid of them.

So that's how badly they wanted him out of the locker room. So again, talent, Yes, could he fit in, Yes, but would he fit into this locker room? And how much does he want to be a part of the team. And I think, how do you judge that until you have the guy here? So to me, it's got to be a you know, you play, you get paid kind of contract. Hey, to me, this is just like a marriage. And regards to Arrol Thomas and the Ravens, they already had underlying content issues. I mean, let's just be real

about that. They've been having issues since he came up to the Cowboys and then to Jason Garrett really campaigning for himself to come here. So there's always been some issues between that organization and with Earl Thomas. So that just continued. I mean, when you come into the locker room and you know that that that condition is there, you can feel it every time you come into the locker room, So your attitude is going to depict what you're feeling at that time. I felt it in nineteen

eighty nine. You know one to fifteen team. I mean, you come in every day every week, is the same. We're losing. We're losing. Well with Earl Thomas, it wasn't that they were losing. I think he was losing the battle between himself and the organization. So there's still a loss there that you feel, there's still a riff there. And so that argument that he may have had with his teammate or whatever arguments he's having with management, that is something that was just that was just the tip

of the iceberg. And let's just be real about that. They couldn't wait for this to happen. I'm sure he couldn't wait for it to happen either, So this is just the time to do it. It's just a matter of how you're gonna split up the money, like you said, Fags and regard in regards in regards to him fitting in into the Cowboys locker room, you would hope that that would look You would look at that as a

different relationship, just like a marriage. As I said, hopefully this young lady might work out, and you might be more compatible with this young lady than you were with your previous wife. So that's just the only way you have to look at it. He may not come to the locker room with the same attitude that he had in Baltimore, because he might look at this as a

totally different situation and a better relationship. So that's something that the Cowboys have to figure out if they even have a chance to talk with Earl and see where his head is at in regards to his attitude coming into this locker room. Leave all of that baggage back in Baltimore. Yeah, I just think from a contract standpoint, you've got to have a safety net in there that you just can't guarantee him this amount of money and

then something flares up like it did. Look, I read a story in the Baltimore paper and it was talking about before they let him go, their leadership committee or whatever they call it, the top veteran guys. They got together and they basically said, we want him out of here. And we're talking about a team that's gotten designs on winning a Super Bowl. And and and if I remember correctly, he did get selected to the Pro Bowl last year even though he only had two interceptions, and they said, no,

get him out of here. Because the guy in Kolcock was one of the team leaders, it might have been even a team captain, and it was a good guy in the locker room. So Arl Thomas used to be part of the veteran council, so to speak. So that's how they held him in high regard until these last few years. The last couple of years well, and seeing the same thing kind of wore out as welcome in Seattle.

You know, now he wore is welcome out there. So you know, I think you got to look into that and figure out, Okay, how much of a difference would he make on this defense. But I'll tell you what, guys, when you look at this, this defensive line, and with the addition of Everson Griffin and and all those poor

young tackles, they oh, gosh, I saw one. I saw one coming today where he's lined up at defensive end and he kind of rushes and he gets the guy to the outside, and I'm going, oh, he's gonna do a spin move and go inside right, And there was a huge hole, and of course he did, and he

just went and he would have obliterated the quarterback. Right. So, when you put him on that defensive line and you got guys like Alden Smith and DeMarcus Lawrence and then whoever you want the fourth guy in there, throw them in there. Uh, they're going to create some problems, which is going to help out your secondary uh. And and so this will be an interesting deal with this defense because uh just Nolan, Nolan's background, he's going to be

more aggressive. Uh and and and the thing everybody keeps talking about the players, even the cornerbacks, is how they're disguising more of their coverages. It's like the coverages aren't that much different, but we're not showing our hand before

we get into what we're really gonna do. And and uh even that, and they're hoping that that pressure that they bring up front, the cornerback will not have nearly enough time to decipher the coverage, right, And that's what that's what the that's the advantage of being more aggressive and more unpredictable. And I think they're the linebackers are being more active, uh in in in their defenses and

what they're doing so as Mike Nolan's style. And I don't want to And I kind of said this the other day when I did my segment on the Fan. I was saying, you know, unless that safety is kind of Darren Woodson safety, I'm not paying them big money. I just don't want to do that. And then I was thinking, Okay, I'm gonna say this to Everson and he finished his career play at safety. It makes no sense. I have no idea what you're talking about. That's how

about this? They go, oh, that's good that you told us that. Because we've got Woodie tomorrow for an interview. We'll tell him Smagnola doesn't value the safety. Yeah, he's gonna be a little upset right when I when I said it, I meant it from a financial like where you allocate your resources, right, Yeah, thanks a lot. Yeah, Okay, I'm sorry, I'm not funny anymore because you're really good on this show. All right, that doesn't for this edition to Mick Shots, and again the we got the Cowboys

Night at the Stadium coming up on Sunday. It starts at five o'clock here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com locally and Dallas pot Worth on TXA twenty one and on TSA twenty one. By the way, on Sunday night after Cowboys Night, at eight o'clock, they're replaying Super Bowl twelve. The Cowboys win over the Denver Broncos, So we have that to look forward to this weekend as well. All Right, Thanks Everson, Thanks Mick, and we will see you again

next week here on Mick Shots. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.