Mick Shots: The Day After

week begins. Mickey Spagnola inside the SWBC Mortgage studios at Forward Center at the Star in Frisco. We expect to be joined by Everson Walls here shortly as we look back at Sunday afternoon at AT and T Stadium. But Mickey, about right off the bat. First off, how are you doing on this fine Monday. I'm doing fine on this fine Monday here in my SWBC mortgage studio, and you look like you're doing great. You got your ball cap on on a Monday after That's right, yep, it was.

I've been studying up so much on the game from yesterday and this bye week opponent this week that I will take my shower after we get done with mick shots. Well, very good, because there was when you when you end up playing close games like this, there's always a lot to go back and look at. You know, when you get wiped out, it's like, okay, just got beat. But

I know in this game, Bill, I went back. I don't know, I probably got home about eleventh last night from the stadium, and of course I had to go back and check out several plays and rewatch them, and I ended up with a full page here and then the back page here of critical plays in this game that I know we don't have time to go all over all of them. But when you lose twenty four nineteen, there's a lot of different things that lead to that outcome,

good and bad. Well, isn't it nice to have here a couple of games in a row now where you can actually fill up both sides of a sheet of notebook paper with critical plays. Yeah, that's two weeks in a row, right, And you know last week we talked about how well, okay, the defense looked like they took a step forward, but it was against the Eagles. Well, they took another step forward. And this wasn't just against

the Steelers. This was against the Steelers that came into this game averaging thirty points a game, had not scored fewer than twenty five in any game, And the Cowboys really did a nice job defensively to kind of hold the Steelers down to a manageable amount of points. That gave yourself a chance to win and really not have to come out of your game plan since, by golly, the Cowboys had a thirteen point lead in a game, the biggest lead they've had all season long, So again

encouraging steps. Unfortunately, they did not get a rewarded for playing much better defensively. And then a really fine performance by Garrett Gilbert on offense, starting his first NFL game, and I don't care if this is his seventh season or not. He had not played a full game since like March I think it was March thirtieth of twenty nineteen with the Orlando Apollos, by the way, and had only thrown six passes in the NFL in his career

to this point. So we almost had another really really fairy tale story about a Cowboys backup quarterback coming in to save the day. And the other thing that I'm taking away with taken from that game yesterday is the fact that there's really not that much difference between the best teams in the league and the teams that are sitting there with two and seven records right now. I mean, when you break it all down, you take a couple three players off that Steelers team, and they might be

sitting there at two and seven also right now. Everson Walls I think might be joining us here. Hey not, Everson. Not only did two or three players make a difference, two or three bad calls also make a difference in the ball game. I mean, we talked about it. We've always said that, you know, I go on my little rants about we get the worst officiating crew because we're at the bottom now as far as wins are concerned.

It seems as if you know, nothing's critical to the referees, whether there's critical to us as fans and as Cowboy fans, as Cowboy players. And I'm a little bit different from you Spags in regard to the fact that I expect more from these guys. You know, you're giving them a pass. I'm not giving them a pass because I see just how good they can be, and I'm really encouraged by that. So of course, if you see that they're finally realizing their potential, then I'm going to expect more from them

physically and mentally. Gilbert, good game. But I'm sitting there on the couch with my family. I'm thinking about you two guys. I'm wanting to build courses like I do. You know, the last thing that you do is have a turnover in that situation. My daughter knows it, my son knows it, my wife comes walking in the room even she knows it. You do not throw that into And it just got me off of my couch. I

think I texted Spags Bill. You know, I didn't think of you at that time because this is mix shots and I know Mick was gonna go off, but I can't give them a pass on that one. I am so sorry, guys. I expect more from them. We should have won this game going away. When you realize what you're doing before you wake up, you say, let's go forward with this, because if I wake up from this dream, I'm never gonna be back here again. Right now, the

Cowboys had the perfect situation. They had many situations. You could have gambled a little bit more. You could have believed in yourself, you know, and you could have played smart. So right now, I'm happy about what we did, but I'm also so sad about how we lost it. Okay, Everson, I got it, Micky, I gotta jump in there. Yeah. I was trying to get in there, but he wouldn't let me in. I'm not letting you in, damn. And that was my time. I give it to you, Mickey,

I give it to you. But I just got to say I did the exact same thing you did, Everson, watching the game at home on my couch and I was watching it by myself help. And right before that, my wife had come in from shopping, her sister in laws intown, just got intown, my nephews with them, my daughter is they all walk in and I'm just oblivious

to them. I mean, she just got into town and I'm not even I'm focused on this game and I'm not even paying attention to them, and I'm yelling at the TV when that interception happened, and they quickly got

their beverages and went out on the back porch. Thank god. Yeah, the game, Yeah, this is this is not a place for the faith of hard exact same thing you did, all right, that's exactly right, all right, what you got man, So he should have never been put in that situation at the five yard line, throwing passes into the end zone or attempting to throw passes into the end zone. If you look at the second down play, seconding goal at the five, had that pass not been batted at

the line of scrimmage by TJ. Watt, that ball was going to get intercepted in the end zone. And the next play you've got a field goal in your back pocket. And I'm not a fan of field goals, but when you can go up twenty two twenty two fifteen, then I think you've got to protect the field goal and you've got to protect your quarterback. Should have ran the ball twice, even if Pittsburgh is stacking the line of scrimmage with seven eight guys at the line, six guys

blitzing all the time. I just think you had to be conservative there and protect your quarterback and not asked him to do something that he hadn't done since March thirtieth of twenty nineteen. And I think you had to take that into account. And know that you had a field goal in your back pocket and not try to do something fancy. And it wasn't his fault. He's trying to throw the ball away and he gets blasted and unfortunately the ball pops up in the air and it's

an interception. So I think you had to protect your quarterback at that spot. And I agree wholeheartedly, and in fact that you're in the field goal range. Yeah, go ahead, Everson. I think my thing was we just have to we have to go. We have to make sure that we secure one thing. At least. I want to go for the score, but we've got to make sure that we end up with no less than that field goal. Yes, and you went a little, you went out on him.

My internet is horrible over here right now. But but Spats, I don't know if you can hear me, but you know that was the passing offense call. I've got a list of bad plays by the referees, and that was one of them. Should have called the passion affairence on Cooper. It's easy to call. I don't I don't understand why. It seems that when the Cowboys need a play and we make that play, they always find one of our dbs holding and rightfully so, I see it all the time.

They're holding. They shouldn't have held. They deserved the call. Let's move on. Pittsburgh does the same thing. Blatant hook moved by the slot deb dB as Cooper was about to beat him inside that past still should not have been thrown. I see. I think that's where Gilbert was looking. But at the same time, we need that call to be made. It's only fair that you call PI in the end zone. You call it all the time, all

of a sudden, want to swallow your whistle. And I don't understand this reticence on these referees in these Cowboys games. That seems to be a virus going around of ignorance when it comes to these referees, because it's a clear call that should have been made. And when you're talking about a crucial situation like this, if you're talking about a team that's seven and old, you're talking about another team who's, you know, the most renowned team in the world.

So you gotta send in referees that know what the hell they're doing. McCarthy's gonna have a freaking aneurysm over there if they keep on screwing him over in these critical situations because he sees it and he's letting them know. And I'm hoping that he continues this throughout the week because the Cowboys have been getting hosed by the referees way too much this season. I don't think there's a vaccine for that virus either. By the way, I hope

y'all heard that, because my internet is horrible. Yeah, yeah, we did. We did. Hear you ever soon, and I'll reiterate that when I was yelling at the TV, it wasn't at ed Gary Gilbert. It was I agree with you, Mickey wholeheartedly that that you just can't put your quarterback who's got three practice well not even all of three practices with the first team the past week, out there

in that situation. You got to protect him from making a mistake against the number one pass rush in the league, and you gotta come away from that situation where a twenty two to fifteen lead and then the rest of the game might play out a little bit differently. So that's just the way I look at that as well. While we're on that subject, Mickey, maybe one of the decisions on your little play sheet there was kicking the field goal on fourth and inches. How did you feel

about that? Yeah, you're absolutely right, And I think uh uh, Tony Romo and I were on the on the same page on that one. I just think and think and taking into consideration who you are, who you're playing, where you're at, how hard it is to get that close, uh to scoring a touchdown and you just got inches to go. I just think you got to gamble there and not take the field goal, uh, and and go for it, I think and that and it was early enough in the game, uh to to go ahead and

do that. And as I've always said, especially in that case, the more field goals you kick, you're getting closer to getting beat because you're allowing that other team to get back into the game. And I just think they had to gamble. And I don't even know if you call it a gamble at that point. I think you just had to go for it at that At that point,

your rights fad that that's no gamble at all. You're talking about inches, and you know, even when you go to that situation once again, I'm going to my referees. I'm sorry, guys, I thought that was a bad spot. I really did. I thought that was just a bad spot by the referees. I thought, Uh, if I'm not mistaken, that that run by Zeke of ten or eleven yard run, whereas elbow came down, that was the that was what preceded that decision. Correct, Is that to play the decision? Yes,

there's eight yard runs. To me, as he before, he felt he used that one leg and he used just a little bit more of a push off to stay off the ground. The elbow was there. To me, the elbow was there. Base called it a good spot. A matter of fact, Romo called it a perfect spot. I called it a bad spot. It seems as if teams are that are losing, referees never give them the benefit of the doubt any other time, any other game. They're gonna come up, they're gonna put that ball down, and

they're gonna say move the chains. That's what they should have done with us. I just don't. I think that's just a no brainer. I don't know what you guys saw. I thought his elbow was down at the first down marker. When when? When? When that referee on that side. Uh? The official on the Cowboys sidelines initially spotted the ball. He put his foot right on the first down line. And then when he came in and set the ball down here back about six inches and moved the first time.

He sure did. And that guy, that guy really critical calls in the game that I'm surprised McCarthy just didn't beat him up. Wouldn't that be a sight right because he was in that guy. He was in that guy. That's the same guy I think it was on that side of the field when they called the big play back for steel not being on the line of scrimmage. Uh. And even Romo said, normally when that happens, they'll give the guy a warning and say, hey, you better bring it up and you get a warning, right, And he

got no warning. He threw the flag no warning. And it's like I thought, yeah, McCarthy was gonna come unglued. But there's you know, there's a bunch of them. And I'll go back to the interception. By the way, in the end zone, Cameron Hayward should have been called for hands to the face. He had he had his hand right in the chin of Connor Williams pushing the whole way, which caused the thing to collapse and it was obvious. I saw it real time. It was like, whoa look

at that? And and no call? How do you miss that? How do you miss that? I got I got one for you, and I got one for you, then I got personal. No one, no one made reference to it. I don't know if you saw a bill because you're at home by yourself. Your wife wasn't there for distraction yet. And I hope you guys can hear me because my internet once again is Harbor. First quarter, ten fifty at the ten fifty five mark, No, no, no, I'm sorry. Let me start over. First quarter? Was it seven thirteen mark?

Pollock breaks through. That's his first big run. Did anyone notice of Fitzpackrid Fitzpatrick horsecollar on that play? He was tackled at the fourteen yard line and Pollock gave a good stiff arm to him. And in order for that guy to to maintain a grass on Polot, he had to grab him around the show the pad and he brought him down hard. That was at the fourteen yard line. If the referee is on his job, then we get half the distance after that and we're at the seven

yard line. We end up kicking the field goals. After that, you put me at the seventh, I might score a touchdown. Look, things like that just really make a difference in the ball game when you have the just ineptitude of referees. And really there wasn't even a tough call to make. There were the only two people involved in the play itself, So for them not to see that, it just seems like they're just out. They're just out to lunch. They're just out to lunch. I'm sorry, all right, we gotta

go up against a break. I do want to say this about the fourth and inches decision. I initially and I agree with you on the spot, although the last replay made me wonder if it was whether it was good or not. But anyway, that's beside the point. I did not have an issue with kicking the field go there because I going into this game, this is my philosophy.

With a quarterback who's had three practices, I just don't think he's going to be able to convert touchdowns in the red zone myself, and I think that the chances were greater that there would be a negative play that would get you either not out of field goal range necessarily at that point because you're at the twenty yard line. Although it could have happened with a sack, but coughing up the football or whatever where you don't get those three points. I want those three points so badly because

of the situation. If it was Dac at quarterback, if it was Dalton at quarterback, I'd say go for it. But also I looked at the last three times that Zeke carried the football. He went for zero yards, one yard in zero yards prior to that eight yard run. I thought you were fortunate that you got within inches. Okay, you didn't get the call go ahead and take your three points a ten point lead late in the third quarter. That's the way I looked at it. But I totally

understand going for it as well. It's just in my mindset, with a quarterback making his first start with three practices, I just don't think you're gonna be converting to having much success in the red zone at all. All Right, we gotta take a break. You sound like an analytics guy. No, I'm just I'm just ultra conservative. With a quarterback that doesn't have any experience at all, you gotta do what's happening.

My gut was totally opposite, because Tony Romo, when he was a rookie, he would have wanted to go for it too, And I guarantee you built barselves would have taken him out of harm's away. No, Romo, you can't do that, all right, We continue with more mix shots in just a moment. Hey, they're Cowboys fans with Tight Cleaners at home pickup and delivery. Cleaning your clothes has

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game that's auterbox dot com. We're back in the tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor Pepa and Cream Soda. Is he a newcombone that's music to my ears? Okay, Doctor Bata, time point in a glass of music to my ears and mouth, New Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Delas, just do back back back to

mixed shots. Don't miss your chance to get tickets to see the Cowboys at at and t Stadium this season, the whole matchups remaining against Washington on Thanksgiving Day as well as the forty nine Ers and the Eagles. Limited number of tickets on sale now get yours today at Dallas Cowboys dot com slash tickets and Mickey Spagnola, we are going through your playlist of critical moments in Sunday's game and before you we get to your next whatever you want to go with on your playsheet there. How

about some an update on injury situation. I know Stephen Jones was on the radio this morning and gave us an update on Tyler Battish as well as uh Andy Dalton. Yeah, and he also so on Tyler Bottish ended up pulling a hamstring muscle and it sound like from what he said, he'd be out two to three woody warmups in warmups, in warmups. Go figure you finally you were gonna get your same combination of offensive linemen for two consecutive weeks and you couldn't make it to the game and warm

ups and Looney's got to come up. Mickey ever said, how how often do you hear about an offensive lineman pulling a hamstring? Uh? Never? Are you trying to take away that they're not built. You just off to uh to have always he doing in a young man, especially a young man especially, I mean he's a young man to have one problems and warm up and give me a break. I didn't even start stretching until I was thirty years old. Come on, man, this guy's twenty seven

years old. He pulls hamstring. I wonder who was a back, who was the backup center after that loony right? And then after him? Yeah, unbelievable, wouldn't it. I don't know if McGovern's yeah, you know, when I when i've seen him do the quarterback school, I hadn't seen McGovern over there doing that kind of stuff, So I don't know where they would have gone. Um, so, how how long is he out? How long does this out? Guys? Oh,

he's out a couple of three weeks at least. I mean, they got guys on the practice squad that they can move up that that Marcus Henry and and Redman. They can they can put those guys on the fifty three from the practice squad. But yeah, and then Trayvon Diggs has a foot injury. They were trying to wrap it. I' might have been an ankle, and uh, he doesn't come back, and so now they've got to play Savian Smith at right corner because Chitabee Woozier did not get activated off

of injured reserve. So now we got to keep an eye on what happens with digs. And I think there was was there one more injury bill that took place in the game. I'm trying well Dalton hell yeah, and Dalton first coming back, he sounded like with the with the bye week, that he should be out of the reserve COVID nineteen list by time they have to play Minnesota. So I think those were the three things that Stephen gave us updates on. We'll find out more at four

thirty when Mike McCarthy does his conference call. All right, so next up on your play sheet? What do you got there, Mickey? Where do you want to go? Oh? My, uh, let's talk good stuff. Well we can, we can, we can certainly talk. Don't have anything written down? Yeah? I do. And did you notice how they were able to set up that uh, that punt return the pass off the punt returned because the first I don't know if it

was the first punt or the second punt. They had Cedric, They had Cedric Wilson back returning punts, so it wasn't out of the ordinary when they did this that he went back there and didn't cost spread up. Oh why is that guy back there? Right? Uh? And they uh so yeah, and a heck of a play, and you know, the unfortunate And then I didn't know. I didn't know. We had to go to acting class to uh to fake the hamstring pull to finish our special teams plays. Did you see the acting Yes, I think it was

Thompson did no, it was good. One hamstring yeah, so so and then the other thing, very creative. The other thing is and the small things that make a difference, and you and you end up getting the ball down to the nine yard line right, and and of all things, you get a block in the back that didn't need to be thrown on Thompson and now it's fifteen yards back. You're at the thirty one and you end up kicking a field goal when you would have had a really

good chance to possibly score a touchdown. So you did something good and then something bad happens. You know the same thing with Donald's kickoff return, you get a big kickoff return that and you can't get a touchdown, you end up with a field goal. You know. The other thing on the punt return, the scheme by John Fossil

on that, you know, it's really unusual. You see that occasionally on a kickoff return, but on a punt return, it's really unusual to see that because you have to depend on the directional punt by the other team to get it to send it to the other side of the field. I have seen Fossil do that before. I remember when he was with the Saint Louis Rams. He did it with Tavon Austin and Steadman Bailey and I'm pretty sure it was on a kickoff return and that

was what I was reminded of that. I remember it being a kickoff return and it worked, and I can't remember if Tavan threw it to Sedmond Bailey or vice versa, but it worked and they scored a touchdown on it. But I just thought to do it to be able to pull that off on a punt return, I don't

know that I've seen it very often on a punt return. Yeah, and you gotta have a returner who's a former directional kickie because for them to be able to set it up like that, they must he must be consistently kicking to that side that's right, and then the other and then the other thing is you one of your returners have to have a strong enough arm to throw the ball as far as Cedric Wilson did. Uh. And then you better hope the cornerback is a cornerback because he

is a cornerback. You gotta hope that's not there because he can't catch the ball right as a wide receiver. And then he bobbled that thing, almost dropped it. It was a perfect pass too. Um, Okay, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta, I got another one for you. I gotta say, guys, I know I know somebody. I know somebody on that Cowboys coaching staff that is earning his paycheck every week, and that is a special team's coach, Fossil. I mean, you're talking about going deep into the into your your

special team's playbook week end and week out. Every week we come up with something unique to give ourselves a chance to win a ball game. And most of them work. I gotta say, I've never seen a special teams coach work so hard at being innovative and trying to do his part and keep this team in the in the winning column. I told you, guys, we gotta have all three fasces of the game. We have to have it.

We cannot keep thinking just defense and offense. Special teams has to enhance our chances, which he's tried to do all year long. And I'm very very impressed with the effort that they're giving mentally and physically, well other things. How about coming up with an alignment to help block a kick with Crawford when exactly when he blocked that, well did you see that? Yeah? And he and he

did it the other time and nearly blocked it. And then also having the foresight on that the kickoff that they tried to pooch down to the corner of the goal line, he had two running back and he had two guys back for that it was Pollard and Dottle, so they were spread out in case they kicked it into the corner. It was almost like he was anticipating that. Uh. And then they had all the blockers over there, and boy,

that guy can scoot. Did I mentioned his name on Friday, by the way, and you the roster, Yes, you did. Yes you did. That's the first time he touched the whole season. That should have been your pick to clicky, I don't know that right. Here's the other thing on Rico o'dowdle. Had we had preseason games, we'd all know about Rico o'dowdle because he's got a lot of time in the preseason. He was a secret weapon on that

kickoff return. And I like the way he runs too, And I've heard from scouts that they really were high on him as an undrafted guy, and you can see why on that run. And you know what, we also should give a hand to Henry Stroka, who's kind of the Cowboys scout that kind of takes care of kickers and punters. To find Nice Wander. Well, we were all sitting here going, oh my god, they got this new punter. He did just fine. And his holds were just fine too,

by the way, So shout out to Henry. All right, yeah, and the hunter, the punter and the holder too, Hunter and us nice wander. All right. We continue with more mix shots. In just a moment, we go further into Mickey's play sheet from Sunday's game. 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 pepet and cream soda. Is he a new combone

that's music to my ears? Okay, doctor music to my ears and mouth new Doctor pepper and cream soda a delicious Well, dear, it's nineteen oh eight. Don't you think we should get electricity and stop using candles to see it night? It's just electricity lights up the room fast. It's more reliable than candles blowing out, and people seem to love it nationwide. Well, candles, DA, did you just run into the wall? I have a new candle please. Historically,

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Get your tickets now at PBR dot com or SeatGeek dot com. And let me tell you that, immediately after that game was over, the crew was out there rolling up the field because they had to get rid of PB getting ready for PBR on Thursday. Were the bulls already there? No, the bulls weren't there. You have some bull crap there though, I'll tell you, Oh it's funny. Ever said I like that. That was a good one, all right, Ricky? Yet what kind of bull do you

have on the your playsheet? There? Third and twenty one in the fourth quarter and Roethlisberger throws deep for Claypool. It's incomplete, and Jalen Smith gets called for roughing the quarterback. Roughing the quarterback one hand, came the back of it, hit his face mask and came down on his shoulder pad. And somehow they saw that one which gave them a first down, yes, at the thirty six, and that drive continued on and it ended up with the Ebron touchdown.

Otherwise the Cowboys at that point are forcing them to punt. I think there was gonna be maybe. Oh I had it written down like eight minutes left to go in the game. Uh and and oh no, there was like four minutes minute. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right, sorry about that? Yeah? Yeah? Can you that that that go ahead drop that was on the go ahead drive? Right? That was gonna buy It's gonna be a three and out. It was gonna

be a three and out. They got a three and out and it was basically a hands to the face of the quarterback rough in the passer. I mean, how you as much as I called that, as much as I call that a nitpicking call, I was really hard on Jalen uh exactly on Twitter after that, and I should be. I was not gonna apologize bill Um, you know, I want. The words that came out of my mouth was that, uh, well, my words were Jaylea Smith is a black blank blank. But when I put it on Twitter,

it was we have a an unintelligent defense. You know, we have to believe in ourselves. We have to believe that we are good players. Good players don't do ignorant things in that manner at that time of the ball game. It's reckless, it's irresponsible, and there are things that should go through your mind before certain players, such as Gay Gilbert's interception. This is also another one when I make this rush. I have got to be legitimate in every way and as a leader of this team, and that's

what Jaylen Smith thinks he is. He has got to do better. There is no excuse for what he did and I'm not forgiving one play and saying that that was the demise of a game or a season or whatever, but that was a huge mistake in the ball game at that particular time. We had a time to make up for all other craft that we had done, we could make up for in this moment, and he chose to follow a certain pattern that we've always been subject to all season long. Right now, the very disappointed him.

Hit very disappointing. His biggest mistake was on the goal line after having a great ball game, by the way, yeah, after having a decent ball game. His biggest mistake, though, was was on the Ebron touchdown when they looked like they were in man defense and Jalen's got the tight end and he just stood there and started motioning like this at the snap for the corner who was covering a receiver. It was Savion Smith. There were two receivers.

Jordan Lewis was over there covering the other guy. They carried them into the end zone and Jalen got frozen. He didn't do anything, and I'm guessing that's gotta be his guy, and he never took a step over there. And then poor Savion tries to make the tackle and Ebron leaps over him into the end zone for the touch ever since, ever since him when it's really that was a good thing because you kind of wanted them to score quick at that point. Well, yeah, so the

we could have it. It was the John Madden philosophy. Okay, he was employing that. Yeah, no, I think it. Actually it was a very smart play and he was employing that. Yeah, that was all in his head. He looked at his size and he loved ay Bron's size and said, I better not hit him in the chest. I might embarrass myself. No I'm saying, I'm saying, do you Oh yeah, let him go score now. I don't think that went through the ball back. Okay, so here's the other key part

you think. Here's the other key point in the game. The Cowboys were up nineteen to nine, there was two thirteen left to go in the third quarter, and Pittsburgh said, you know what, we don't need a running back on the field. We've only gained forty some yards. We're going four wide receivers in a tight end. And Roethlisberger then threw the ball on twenty two of the next twenty three snaps for one hundred and ninety three yards when he only threw for one hundred and eleven in the

first half. And the Cowboys finally know why, and we're trying to hang in here with our nickel, but we're gonna go to our dime now, finally, finally, but they could not cover all those receivers and the tight end. And that's when Roethlisberger turned the game around and picked him a cart because they basically went four wide in a tight end the rest of the game until they had the lead. So do you have how many passes that Roethlisberger threw from that point on? I said twenty

two of twenty three. Okay, So basically, the Steelers, maybe for the first time this year, were in the same position the Cowboys have been in all season long, especially when Dak was at quarterback. Two, when Dak racks up all these numbers where he's throwing the ball on every play in the second half because the team is down by multiple by double digg. Well, the Steelers found themselves down late in the third quarter, down by ten points, and okay, let's put it in the hands of our quarterback.

The other part of that is, and you talked ever since about positives coming out of this game. How about the Cowboys run defense and what they did against this Steelers rushing offense. The Steelers couldn't run the ball against the Cowboys, and so it was even if it was a tie game at that point, it would behoove them to go ahead and throw the ball because they weren't running it against the Cowboys in this game. You know

what I thought. I thought Gallimore really came alive in that game, and maybe they should make a bad defense that Mikenilder came up with, and maybe they should make Antoine Woods the captain every game because he came alive too. Those guys in the middle really played well, and they even got ankup some snaps too, the new guy that they had just traded for. So I thought the activity of those guys inside did a heck of a heck

of a job. But again, it was just a shame that they couldn't match up with all those wide receivers to the finish the way they had stopped him previously. Bill, And you're right with the running game, I think they ended up with forty six yards rushing, and they just said, but so here's the downside. From the Cowboys standpoint, they couldn't sack Roethlisberger. They had a five man line and

they stopped him every time. And I guess when you get spread out like that, it's hard to blitz because somebody's gonna be open if you take somebody off to blitz. H So they kind of got them in a bind when their front four could not get to Roethlisberger. During that whole period, he didn't get sacked once and I think I think he only got hit a couple of times, and so I thought that was the turning point. They gambled on throwing the ball every down to Cowboy knew

they were throwing the ball. There was no one to hand it off to. And the one run they had was an end around two. Uh oh, maybe it might have been Ray Ray McLeod. I think they had Ray Ray McLeod. So that was it, and they but they couldn't put pressure on him that whole time. He was picking them apart, and that turned the entire game around.

It went from nineteen nine to twenty four nineteen and he hit he hit my guy Juju four times, including the touchdown the guy that should have been a Cowboy that people talk about drafting t J. Watt instead of Taco in that draft. I would have taken Juju Smith Schuster myself. But that's another another story for another day. All Right, Everson's gonna be uh are you gonna be with the next couple of days? Everson? Do you remember we're changing up the line up the next couple of days.

I don't know if he can hear us. We're losing everyone. Who you? Who you? Who are you? On tomorrow? We're changing the line there we go, look at there. I'm sorry, all right, we're losing him. Where's he at? Whatever? It's on the screen here, I can't find him here. He's on the Players Lounge with NEWEI and Jesse, and we have joining us Dave Hellman and Heckma Harrison with us on mixed sets against two days. There's your podcast schedule, all right? Who I'm with? I'm with Heckma. No, you're

with NEWI are you? You're with NEWI and Jesse on the Players Lounge right after us. I like Jesse. All right, that ought to be funny. I'm ready, I'm ready, Okay, we will see you again. Mickey and I on mix shots at one thirty tomorrow and right after that the Players Lounge and Everson will be there and we will see you on Tuesday. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.