But I've got to believe that Kellen Moore is keeping the ball in Herbert t Hayn. They picked the handoff Afrin wide up and touchdown la the rookie Brandon Aubrey.
Is good.
That kid has been sensational two for two tonight and that thirty nine yarder puts Dallas on top by three. And no sacks by the defense at all. They've handled him. No sacks at San Francisco.
Either, And here it is right on que.
Parsons his first the Cowboys first, and.
What a time for it.
Now third down and ten, first sack of the night. Herbert gets rid of Edney's pett intercepted by the Cowboys.
The catch is good. That's the tale of what happened on Monday night, had so stadium as Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys get a little bit of help from their defense when they needed it most hang on for a twenty to seventeen victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, a game that was fraught with errors on both sides, but the Cowboys score a much needed win coming off of that blowout loss last week to the San Francisco
forty nine ers. I'm nick Schook here with the Monday Night recap along with pleasure to be joined by Jane Slater and Jane, I'll tell you what, it wasn't the prettiest game, but the Cowboys they held on. They were able to get the job done.
Defense once again bailing them out here.
Nick, you know, at some point we're going to talk about what happened with the Cowboys heading into the half. It didn't need to be this hard. That sort of been the story for the Cowboys this year. It's been easy for them to beat up on some of the lesser teams. Of course, they didn't catch the break with the forty nine ers last week, and then we now learned that the forty nine ers are chilling with the injuries some of their key players, Christian McCaffrey namely.
One of them. But here the Cowboys coming to town.
Facing Kellen wore in the Chargers, which, if anyone followed this saga last year, the biggest indictment of Kellen Moore was they wasn't running the ball enough that this was a guy that wanted to light up the scoreboard. Tonight, we didn't really see either team lighting up the scoreboard, did we, Nick? But what we did see was Cowboys, as you said, sort of got through this one, fraught
with eras, fraught with penalties, some questionable coaching decisions. But for me, it was good to see them finally get the ball to Ceede Lamb after last week him expressing his frustration.
We saw it on the sidelines.
We heard about Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott talking to him about his body language, the need to lead, the understanding that they need to.
Get him the ball.
By the way, that paid off seven receptions for one hundred and seventeen yards. He was averaging sixteen point seven in this one. But also more important, Brendan Cooks. His name has been on a bit of a milk carton here lately, haven't really seen him involved. They finally got him here late involved in the game, and then of course the defense stepping up. They didn't have much of a pass rush all night, but Micah Parsons with the big one that helped seal this one off.
Yeah, you know, it was funny. Earlier in that game it felt like Ceedee Lamb was the only guy on the field for the Cowboys, at least when it concerned Dak Prescott, where he was gonna throw the football. It was just all right, we're throwing to CD. Here, We're throwing to CD over the middle. He's on the sideline.
Nobody else exists. Of course, Michael Gallup didn't really help him out at all with the lack of playmaking ability, you know, with contested catches or just not jumping for the ball when it was placed in a perfect spot. Whatever it was. They were able to rely on Cde Lamb until Brandon Cooks got involved with that goal line touchdown, a nice little mesh concept where he runs through the defense, gets some natural picks and catches his first touchdown pass
as a cowboy. You know, this offense overall, though, you talked about the fact that Callen Moore didn't like to run the ball that much. Well, Tony Pollard didn't necessarily get going either. That when I talk about how ugly this game was, there wasn't exactly a ton of success on the ground for either team. But you want to go back to that revenge element. Dan Quinn as Kellen Moore's number right now. He had his number throughout the night. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.
I mean, who's gonna know an offensive coordinator that you're facing the defensive coordinator that went against you in practice for years. That's who's gonna know. And he knew for sure. There was a play fourth and one, chargers deep in the Cowboys red zone where Kellen Moore dials up a rollout to the short side of the field to the right, gives him two options to throw to a shallow crosser and a little bit deeper of a crosser, and then
Keenan Allen going across the field. That would have been a prayer based on how the Cowboys were getting after justin Herbert all night, that would have been a prayer for him to stop and make that throw. And of course Keenan Allen was double covered. Deron Bland, who's having a fantastic season, steps in to make that deflection and force the turnover on downs. But it is nice to see that Cowboys offense not just rely on CD Lamb,
especially in the second half. You know what's not to me the most, though, Jane, was the fact that Dak Prescott, who I'm sure, as you know, makes one or two too many hero plays from time to time, trust himself a little bit too much to get out of some sticky situations that actually paid off for him in this game because he did find Tony Pollard with a nice little dump off over the middle under duress, a sixty yard gain that quickly flipped the script in favor of
the Cowboys, set them up for that touchdown and really took a tie game and put the Cowboys in a bit of leverage in that fourth quarter.
That was an incredible play and it was one that could have gone awry. You know, it was Dak Prescott trying to extend that play, extend that drive, and as you said, Pollard was able to. I don't know how he did it, but grab that ball and put that in the end zone or get it close to there with the sixty yards.
So love seeing that from him.
But again I think that there were a lot of other curious instances.
I mean, we talked about that one connection.
Was it a Tony Pollard when it was a little bit overthrown there? Where was that one? Yeah, Well you had the wide open Pollard who couldn't grab it. They ended up settling for the thirty nine yard filled goal. Looked like Dak just kind of overthrew that one. We saw that last week with DAK. Sometimes the ball placement
from Dak has been interesting. Troy Aitman even weighing in on a little bit in the broadcast, talking about, you know, they've talked so much and I can attest to this covering that team this year so much about the timing with the receivers, but the timing has still felt like it's not exactly their nick.
Are you seeing that when you're watching some of these games.
I actually felt like some of his throwts tonight were pinpoint and they just you know, we talked about the Michael Gallup thing where he just wasn't making the play, But yeah, it is hit or miss with them. That throw specifically, you were mentioning outside shoulder to a place where only his guy can go get it. But his guy's got to be, you know, superhuman to make that catch.
You're dealing with Tony Pollinch. He's not exactly a six foot four pass catcher over there that is going to make an acrobatic catch like that, especially a difficult one over the shoulder. So it was kind of a mixed bag from DAK. That's kind of how a season's been. I mean, there's been a couple of games where I've been like, hey, he's gone out and actually won them this game. There's been some other games where he's done
enough to help them win. The defense has done a really good job in some of those contests, and tonight though he stepped up when he needed to. It wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I felt, well, you know better about it. It's a nice step in
the right direction for the Cowboys. And concerning Dak and an offense that you know, they improved it receiver in the offseason, right because they knew that all they had last year was Sidi, and yet they also lost Ezekiel Elliott and the running game not as much of an elements, so they're still trying to figure it out. I think a little bit with Mike McCarthy now back in charge of calling the plays. But Gene, I got to go
to the other side of the field here. I gotta go to the Chargers because look, as you can see if you're watching on YouTube, as you can see, I'm a bald man. I'm a bald man because my hairline betrayed me at a premature time in my early twenties. I am going to go progressively Balder if I have to watch the Chargers perform the way they did, starting with Justin Herbert, who was just not dialed in. You want to talk about you being a little bit off.
That was Justin Herbert tonight, whether he was under pressure or whether he had time to throw, just routinely missing guys that are open. Keenan Allen wide open down the sideline and a must have situation misses him. He missed him three times I think in this game, and he wasn't the only guy that he missed. And of course, you know, he ends with the interception in which he was under pressure. But it probably one of Justin Herbert's
worst performances of his career. And considering that Mike Williams is no longer with this team because of his ACL injury, it's pretty concerning when you look ahead because they have no run game to speak of. I mean, when Austin Eckler's on the field. In the past, their offense has been a little bit better. But tonight he was on
the field and it didn't matter. And that's a credit to the Cowboys defense, but it's also highly concerning for a Chargers offense that's gonna have to go win them some football games, especially if you're going to overcome some of the aggressive decisions made by Brandon Staley, which we didn't get a ton of those tonight, but we've seen how that's put them in bad spots in the past.
Well, and what's interesting is, you know this game started off, it was defense, they allowed.
It's three and out, you know, Cowboys opening drive.
Then you've got the first drive, you get the touchdown, set up the twenty six yard return, and you're thinking to yourself, man, the Chargers are coming out and establishing themselves early. But then it seemed like the Cowboys had an answer for them. They sort of started to settle in. But as much as you are concerned about, you know, Justin Herbert and his play, I'm sorry, I still am
just not sold on this Cowboys team. I'm like, and I always feel like I feel like I'm kind of watching something different than some of the people that are obviously from hearing Cowboy fans, and when I talk to people that I surround myself with, but they still don't give me a lot of confidence. I mean, we're talking about this is probably one of Justin Herbert's worst games.
They were able to overcome the fact that, I mean, the past rush you want to talk about may not have come alive for the Cowboys until when they needed. At the end of this game, you had a pass rush from the Chargers. They had five sacks in this one. I just I still have concerns about this Cowboys offensive line, about some of their untimely penalties, the fact that they keep forcing this ball to Michael Gallup, which we have seen. And I don't know what they're going to do with Michael Gallup.
Nick.
I'm a huge Michael Gallup van and on the record is saying that, but ever since he got injured and then he was dealing with some stuff off the field, from a personal standpoint, it just feels like, and we were told he was springing it can't it feels like he's lost his step a little bit. Yeah, And so again, like even though they won this game against the Chargers, it was hard fought. They know, it was three different ties, and you know they were able to overcome some bonehead
decisions by their coach. I still just don't know what to make of this team, and I don't know what to make of this division, right because we just saw the Eagles get beat by the Jets yesterday, So I do think that's.
What's going to be interesting.
But I think more importantly for the Cowboys, whether this was an ugly game or not, it was a win and they needed that win after the loss of the forty nine ers last week ahead of this buy because when they come off the by Nick, they've got to go face the Eagles on the road.
Yeah, it doesn't get any easier for them. That's kind of the NFL in a nutshell.
Well that's after the Rams game. Let me walk you back. You've got Rams at home.
Then, you know what, don't don't discount the Rams. Matthew Stafford's playing some really good football right now. And I know that they don't have as much talent of some of the other teams in the NFL, but they're a tough out on a weekly basis, at least to this point. But you know, that's where it's Week six. It was a weird week in the NFL. We get one or two of these weeks in the first half of every season, and it just decided to be Week six this year.
Like I said, we were on the Around the NFL podcast last night, I was like, you know, we're pretty close to closing that parody circle, that graphic that comes out when every team's beating a team that's beating the team and goes all the way around the circle. Just because of games like this, there's no more undefeated teams.
You know, there are randomly competitive teams like the Cardinals, and then there's teams like the Cowboys, who you think on paper should be better, and yet they have not established themselves, you know, at a level of consistency that you expect from a team that has to face the defending NFC champions in their own division, and that game coming up very quickly. As you just said, you know, I'm not sure where are my concerns live with them, though.
I think you make a great point about Michael Gallup and and the fact that you know, he does look like he lost a step. I mean, he does look like he's just not the same guy he was. And I was one of the biggest fans right there next to you of him in previous years and was really bummed when he did get injured and he just you know, sometimes those injuries just take toll. It takes a while
for somebody to find their footing. Again, sometimes they never do, which would be a very big disappointment, you know, regarding the arc of his career. But I don't think that that is going to be something that necessarily sinks them. It's more about them playing you know, complimentary football. Some games it's been the defense, some games it's been the offense. That defense is talented. I mean, they got a ton of studs on that side of the ball. Even with
the additions they made the off season. Stefon Gilmore comes up with the game ceiling interception tonight. It's just that, I guess we can sit back and say, well, it's only week six, and as long as you stack a win here and another one here, and maybe you take a tough loss here, you stay in the hunt. You at least afford yourself the time to start to figure it out. I feel like that's what a Cowboys, you know, team is going to be under Mike McCarthy, is one
that hopefully peaks later rather than earlier. It's just a question of where does it come from, because right now it's it's hit or miss depending on the week. I will give them some credit, though, Jane, I know that it took them forever to get their first sack of the night. They did make a difference, you know, when it came to the pass rush, they were racking up pressures,
they just getting home. And you know, some credit is due to Justin Herbert for being able to evade that or get the ball out when you know there's no other option but either to take a sack or throw the ball, you know, into the abyss. He's still able to get it out from time to time. So I you know, they they impacted the game. It just didn't show up from a statistical standpoint of course. You know, naturally, when everybody's focusing on how Micah Parsons has one tackle
and hasn't done anything, he does get the sack. That's you know, that's just how the I think football goes sometimes. So I'm right there with you. I am concerned. I'm not sold. I think that's what I would like to pitch this ass is. I'm not sold on them yet.
I just I'm still looking for a decisive win from them. Against it, I get an opponent that I consider is a legitimate postseason team, because in Dallas, it's not enough to have a twelve and five season. You need to go deep in the postseason, particularly because of the way
the postseason has gone the last two years. And I think for a lot of people in Dallas, a lot of people are selling the Cowboys, not buying them, because in order to get to your ultimate goal, which is hoisting up the Lombardi, you're gonna have to get through the forty nine ers. Likely, and it felt like you were completely Their performance was so underwhelming that you found yourself wondering if some of these other games were outliers.
But if you think about it, they faced the Jets right after.
Aaron Rodgers' injury, so Zach Wilson likely seeing ghosts that week.
That was.
I think that was unexpected for Zach, and I think they were still filling themselves out in that one. I mean, I think we already know what level of play the Patriots are doing this year, the Giants.
Who else have they played so far?
Yeah, Giants, Jets, the Cardinals, which is a shocking loss, but it's because they got Gars on the ground.
But the Cardinals I think are better than a lot of this gave them credit for this offseason. They're scrappy, that's for sure, and so again I think that the Rams is going to be very interesting because Jerry Jones was beside himself a couple of years ago when Jason Garrett lost on the road to the Rams in the postseason, and it was then I was told that Jerry Jones was ready to move on from Garrett.
And they gave him one more year and then we know how that went.
So I think if they were to lose by a large march into the Rams ahead of the Eagles, this would be very very interesting in Dallas. That's why they absolutely needed that win against the Chargers on the road tonight because you kind of find yourself going was Kellen Moore the one we let get away? He always had this offense in the top five, And I mean now you're looking at the middle of the pack offense, which is what essentially Mike McCarthy set the table for heading
into this season. He wanted an above average defense and he wanted somewhere in the middle offense, and that's what you've gotten. It just hasn't felt like explosive games. It feels like everything is harder. And then the question I have for you, Nick, and this is why I was looking forward to doing the show with you after I think some of us are wondering. You say publicly you
trust your quarterback. If you trust your quarterback and you're going into the half and you've got eight seconds left, they go ahead and they stop the clock, assuming that with your two timeouts, you're going to do something about it. Mike says, I don't want it, and then they settle for a field goal. Why would you do that when you've got a franchise quarterback who's been in Dallas for eight years.
So we've had two instances of this happening in the last twenty four hours, the other one being Brian Dable letting the clock run down to thirty seconds last night calling a timeout when there was forty four seconds when he could have called a timeout. And then it cost them on the goal line when Tyrod Taylor checks to a run, they don't get it. They run out of time. But it's funny that you mentioned this because I had a notable former NFL quarterback slide into my DMS the
other day. I still haven't replied to him.
I'm prepared to if you left, did you leave him on red?
I you know, unintentionally I left him on red? Yes, I actually went up. I crafted a serious response. I just did not have time to send it off over the weekend. But he made the argument it was related to Kirk Cousins because I had written something about Kirk Cousins and the potential of the Vikings trading him because they're just not that good of a football team. He's an expiring year all that, and he immediately jumped to the Deck comparison, and I was like, oh, I mean,
I've heard this before. And basically what he said was, you know, Kirk and Dack are the same guy, which they're totally different quarterbacks, but it's the same ceiling, which is that they can win you games, but they're not going to win you important games. They're not gonna win you championships. They might help you win a division title if everything around them is good, but they're never going to elevate the team to that elite level. And I
don't necessarily disagree. And I think that you may see a little bit of that with a decision like this tonight. And you know, I think about the money and everything else, and that's fine, and an extension that could be coming up maybe not. I'm not sold on Deck. I've really never been sold. I see the potential, and I don't think it's ever going to be reached for a number
of different reasons. But in this instance tonight, what have we known that he's been prone to do from time to time take risks that end up, you know, producing turnovers, and in that instance, you want to make sure that you have an opportunity to get some points on the board instead of letting him take a risk. But my biggest issue when that sequence was the fact that they played it so conservatively. Then they even gave themselves a shot at the end zone, and then he lets the clock run down.
But the even more concerning and conflicting of all of it was ahead of that. Remember they went for it on fourth, the one that's when they tried to do the little tush push and it didn't work for them.
Yeah, yeah, everybody needs to stop being the Eagles.
By the way, you're not exactly it's I think everyone's got that play in their playbook now you know it's going to happen.
But yeah, I thought that was interesting. They go for it on fourth and one.
They trust Dak there they don't trust him again right before you're heading in the half, and that's the second half didn't have to be so hard.
And we were talking earlier that third quarter.
The fact they got in only five plays and they had negative yards to finish it. I mean, the Chargers absolutely controlled the time of possession in the third quarter. Again, it just it sometimes this offense just feels so stagnant to me. It feels very conservative to me. That's why I love to see Dak. You don't want to see that putting his body on the line every time, but it was nice to see him rush there and get that what was an eighteen yard touchdown at one point.
Seeing him use his legs that's what made him so great his rookie season. It's almost like they sort of started putting him in bubble wrap.
And I get it.
After the injury that he had against the Giants a couple of years ago, it was gruesome.
It was awful to watch.
I know it was a tough recovery, and then of course he had a couple of other injuries after that. But it was nice to see him sort of use his legs because I think that's what makes him special at times, because he is an athletic quarterback and I just feel like maybe they've handcuffed him a little bit this year.
Yeah, I mean first rushing touchdown since Week eight of twenty twenty two. You know, Jane, here's a fun stat from NFL research to find folks over there. The Cowboys are now twenty one and four when Dak scores a rushing touchdown, which proves the point that you just made. I mean, and what it really I think speaks to is the way McCarthy has approached this team for I don't know, maybe the last two maybe three seasons, coaching
not to lose instead of coaching to win. And it's very you know, you see often the flip side of that coin is Brandon Staley going for it in situations in which you're like, why are you going for it
on fourth down on your own twenty five? And they're like, well, the analytics say it, and then you go to next gen stats and it's like, actually, next gen stats is that because of the how it could affect the game, it is a better decision to go for it because you can end it effectively right there, even if you know logic says otherwise, so has.
An impressive fourth down and go for it number I think I saw during the broadcast. I don't have it at the top of my head, but I think he has missed a fourth down guy.
Oh he is. He defines analytics driven fourth down decisions. That guy will go for it quicker than anybody else in the NFL, which may end up costing him his job if they don't turn things. I mean they're not. They're a losing team right now, but it's not looking too good. But back to your point about that, I just think that that's the way McCarthy kind of coaches.
I even felt like he was like that in Green Bay for a stretch, which kind of led to his departure from there, And that's probably just what you're gonna get. You're gonna get him also burning timeouts at weird times and going into the fourth quarter of a tie game with one time out left, which he lucked out. That did not burn him to but you know, in some states, in some instances, it will. So I think that's something
that you have to accept. But what's funny to me that came to mind earlier when you were talking about the feeling around this team. I'm in Cleveland, where everybody's you know, hopes and dreams rest on the Browns. I live within the city limits. My neighbor right behind me is a diehard Browns fan. Everybody wants to talk about the Browns at the gym anywhere, and it's all about the next game. And let me tell you, the lead up the last week's game was depressing, and when they won,
everybody here is on cloud nine. It's funny to me that the whole feeling around an entire season and team that an area identifies so deeply with can rest on the most recent result and why this win was so important. Like you said, but it just makes me laugh that at the same time, there's more people selling than buying, there's more people that are skeptical than not. The expectations
are different. I understand the drought of not getting past the divisional round of the playoffs, and look, that's got to be painful, But at the same time, it's just so I mean, people care about the NFL so much. It just makes me laugh to think, man, people really are uptight about a Cowboys team that just went and got a gritty win.
Well in the morning after, no matter how ugly the win is, a w makes all the difference because if they had actually lost this game, I think our narrative
about Dak would be a little different. Our narrative about the play calling will be a little bit different, But sort of like putting a little bit of a lipstick on a pig when they win the game, because I think we would be having a very different conversation Micah Parsons didn't have that sack and they blew their three point lead there at the end.
I just, you know, going back to what you're saying about Dak.
Sometimes I'm a huge Dak fan off the field, incredible guy, but when I'm beginning to look at his body of work, his body language last week against the forty nine ers, it just, for whatever reason, feels like things have been hard. And granted, he's been through so many different offensive corn I mean we're talking Scott Lenahan, Wade Wilson, John Kittna, Douga Smeyer, all of this, now, Schottenheimer, all these guys in his ear, Scott Tolzine in his ear. You know,
he works in the offseason footwork. I know he's got a lot of messaging coming in. And when you're a player for the Dallas Cowboys, you also see it, read it. You tell everybody you don't pay attention to it. You campartmentalize.
I don't believe that for a second, but it is interesting to me that if you looked at his career, getting his team to the postseason, the way that he has, the way that he typically does play, if he was playing for the Panthers, would dak be under the same level of scrutiny about who he is as a quarterback and as a player if he was playing for the Panthers.
No, absolutely not. And I also think that his path to this position makes a difference because nobody when he came out of Mississippi State, Nobody was like, Yeah, Dakota Rayne Prescott, He's going to be the future of the Cowboys. And then he was. And then he got the money. Remember the conversation around his contract extension at the time forty million a year. You out of your mind, Well that's what he got. I mean, you had to take a franchise tag for it, but that's what he got.
He's always been fighting against that, I think, and he would do himself a whole lot of good if he wouldn't want a Super Bowl, but he hasn't yet. And because he plays the Cowboys, he is constantly going to be under that microscope. That's what you get when you wear I mean, I don't have to tell you. You know this, when you wear the star in your helmet, that's what you get. It's unfortunate, but that's just the reality of the situation.
Well, and I.
Think a lot of people that are Dak fans Dak stands they are particularly sensitive to the comparisons between him and Kirk Cousins.
And I get that, oh, I hit.
A nerve, unintentionally hit a nerve.
But if you look at he and Kirk Cousins, they are a little similar lately, you know, and even just their their willingness to bet on themselves. I mean, there is this sort of mentality that is very similar. They're also both very well liked in their locker room at nauseum. But it's their inability to win some of those big games and their inability to win and extend in the postseason that I do think sort of puts Dak in
that Kirk Cousins too. And again I would argue that if he was playing for another team, just as I was saying, his career wouldn't be as scrutinized. I don't think that you would be comparing him. I don't know why the Kirk Cousins thing is such a knock. I mean, I think Kirk Cousins has actually done a pretty good job there in Minnesota and throughout his career. Yeah, but
for whatever reasons, people love to bag on Kirk. But I do wonder that if Dak was playing somewhere like the Browns or the Panthers, and he had put up the same numbers and their resume, if there would be so much scrutiny about his play, good or.
Bad from a national perspective.
Visualize it putting his put a different jersey on him.
Yeah, from a national perspective, especially with the Panthers. Now, I think locally, if he was with a team like the Browns or the Steelers, yeah, they'd be all over him, just like they're all over de Shaun Watson in this town right now. But from a national perspective, no, And that's just the price you pay for being the Cowboys. Because the Cowboys generate, you know, the most clicks, the
most views, that's just who they are. They got a massive fan base that fills Sofi Stadium when the Chargers played, because they apparently have more Cowboys fans in the area, which does not surprise me. Then Chargers fans in the Los Angeles area. So you're right, and perhaps it's a bit unfair, but that's also kind of what his football fate has led him to. And because he had success early, that's just the path that's been set forth for him
and he's just had to travel that. It's just that I don't know, and we're getting way ahead of it here, and I admit that, but I don't know what happens a year from now, two years from now, like it could look vastly different. The same pressure will be applied to the next quarterback that plays with the Cowboys about one thousand percent.
And you know, sometimes you know, I find myself or Cowboy fans that say, you know, even like after the forty nine Ers game, a lot of people are ready to move on from Dak Prescott.
My whole argument is what else are you going to go get? What do you want?
And I don't know if Trey Lance is mature enough. I don't know him that well personally, but I don't know if he has the type of shoulders, you know, the broad shoulders that you have to have to wear the star on your home, in the scrutiny that.
Comes with it.
You know, Dak, even as he came in as sort of a bright eyed, bushy tailed rookie, he felt mature beyond his years. And he's talked about this, you know, as it relates to his mother and what he went through growing up. He just always felt like he was ready to step into that opportunity and he could handle it.
I don't know if Trey is now.
Granted, Trey took a lot of hits in San Francisco and the media scrutiny leading up to the draft, so there are elements to him that he has.
He understands that.
But think how much we were talking about a third string quarterback getting traded to Dallas like it's it's always a big deal and so, and then the argument of well, who would want Dak? I bet you Sean Payton pick up the phone. I bet Sean Payton would love a Dak Prescott right now. I mean, there's going to be a team that's going to be in the market for Dak Prescott. But just show me what other quarterback you
want to bring to Dallas. And my argument is you can't cut him it's going to hit you too much in the book, Yes, but I just I'm like you, I've got questions marks about what it's going to look like moving forward, and I just hope that his career doesn't ultimately end the way that Tony Romos did, which
was started to feel like he couldn't win the big games. Yeah, the reason why Dak was so energizing for the locker room is when Romo felt like he was more often losing games for you, Dak gave you the sense that he was going to win.
More of those games free in the fourth quarter.
But here lately, I don't know if those of us that cover this team fans have as much trust as we did in Dak early on his careers. And I don't know if that's Dak. I don't know if that's his receivers. I don't know if it's the coaching, quite frankly, and so I think that's the hard part, is like it's always.
What is it?
Last year? I would pin a lot of the blame on the personnel. I don't think he had enough options. Once they traded Amari Cooper for peanuts amounting in the form of fifth round picks, they he didn't really have
anybody to go to. It was a glaring knee. I don't think that's necessarily the issue now, and I think it goes back to what we kind of discussed earlier, which is that since the injury and since everything else, you know, what energized him and the Cowboys when he first came in was his ability to do both to throw and to run. And he's not running that much. He scores a touchdown tonight, key touchdown for them early in this game, but are you going to see that
from on a week to week basis? Probably not, And that goes back to the conservative coaching style, right, So, because you go to preserve your quarterback above all, you don't want to be in a position where you have to go to, you know, somebody like a Tree Lance in a big spot and or you know, like they were last year when they had to go to Cooper Rush for a little bit. You don't want to be in that situation. Nobody does. That's why you go pay
a starting quarterback. So there's a little bit of both there, I think. But again I think we go back to the ceiling and it feels like a lot like when the Chargers fired Mar Schotheimer after they went fourteen to two. They were just like, well, you can't win the big one, and then they took a huge step back with north Turner over the course of that tenure's and the grass is always greener on the other side. But is it actually that green? Like is the next option that good?
I don't know, And I think again, I think we're getting ahead of ourselves because there is so much left in this season to play. Okay, Like, they can rattle off a number of wins here, like if you look at their schedule.
But if you look at their schedule, if you look at their scal I know it's tough.
I see a soft spot. I see giants, giants, Panthers, and commanders will be tough because I think their defense will show up for that one and then it gets really tough throughout the rest of it. So you're gonna have to rattle off some wins. You're gonna have to get a win over the Eagles. And now I see you understand. I understand now while you're looking ahead and thinking,
oh man, catastrophe could be setting in. I mean, if you take it in a week to week basis, I mean, look not to take it back to Cleveland, but the Browns did just beat the forty nine ERSIL with PJ Walker. Okay, crazy things, Nick, You.
Can't you can't keep expecting your defense to bail you out. And I think that's my concern about Dallas is when they start playing some of these higher scoring offenses, you can't keep expecting your defense to bail you out. You've got to start putting more points on the board.
That's to me.
The one thing that's standing out about this this Dak team is you really don't know what you're getting week to week.
You know what's funny is we spend this time talking about how DAK is being scrutinized so much and how so much of it revolves around him, and as the most important position in all of sports, it will naturally with one of the most watched teams in the world. But then you think about how Justin Herbert had a bad night tonight, and how the only people that are going to talk about that are like the Sea block of a morning show and the football heads on Twitter
because it's the Chargers. Like, if you want to pick a pairing where this guy has room for air, it's the Chargers a team that can ever play a normal game, and this was not a normal game by any stretch of the imagination. And they're arguably in a worse situation if you can think about it in terms of talent and what they have on both sides of the field, and what their season looks like. But again, what's going to dominate the conversations the team that you know quite well, the Dallas Cowboys.
Well, and Steven A. Smith of course was at the game. So I'm sure that there's going to be lots.
Of talk about in his cowboy hat.
And his cowboy hat, it's a bit people love to talk about it, But I don't know people are going to still feel I mean, how do you think that Dak is going to be talked about tomorrow after this game?
Well, because media discussions so often are driven by hate. Just to put it plainly, there will be some worthwhile criticism of his play. But again, you don't go win this game without him. I mean some of the plays that he made in this game. Yeah he missed a
couple of throws. Yeah, but yeah, he missed a couple of throws, but he also found some guys and he was on target on time a number of times, Like I'm doing QB Index this year, and I'm going to look at this game and think, I don't know if I want to move him up, but he's not going to move down, and whereas Justin Herbert's going to move down off of performance like this. So you have to be happy with those results, even if they're not spectatic.
It's not going to be spectacular every week. He's not going to throw for three to fifty every week, but you're right, it will be talk like that.
But I think what this game showed you is can you start getting Brandon Cooks more involved? I mean, I think a lot of us here in Dallas have been asking ourselves he runs a four three forty. You went out and got a vertical deep threat, and I think at one point in the game, and I don't know if this was still the case when the game ended,
they only had one pass of over twenty yards. I mean, granted, the Chargers did a good job of isolating some of those big plays, but the Cowboys are afraid of the deep shots this year.
Yes they are. They are.
I mean they're taking some of them.
But I just saw a recent report by Buddy Patrick Walker over Dallas Cowboys dot Com road.
It was a fascinating article. Mike McCarthy. For the most part, it just avoided the middle of the field.
Leading up to the forty nine Ers game, just completely ignored the middle of the field. And so I'm still I've reached out to somebody and I've asked them, is some of this play calling lately is it a concerted effort to eliminate some of the interceptions last year? They didn't want to comment on that. You know, it was sort of one of those no, that's not the case.
Blah blah blah.
But for all of us watching it, we can't help but ask that question.
I think it's a fair question.
Yeah, it's been a major talking point throughout the offseason and into the season, and it's affecting his play. I think that you're trying to protect your quarterback from making those mistakes again and trying to keep his confidence high.
But at the same time, if you're actually going to maximize the potential of this offense, you do have to throw the ball down the field, especially when you have a guy like Brandon Cooks who has not made I mean, I looked at the stats to night, he tied his single game high this year for receptions with four, and he's set a new yardage mark at thirty four. That's not Brandon Cooks. No matter where he's been, he's made
a difference. He's been on a number of teams and he's made a difference on all of them and he could do the same thing for this team. But they got to figure it out so.
And he looked great in camp.
I mean, I think for all of us that were watching Brandon and Dak in camp, that was the most solid connection on the field. And tonight was really the first night that we've started to see them utilize him, and he stepped up in a big way in the second half. For you you have two incredible threat like Ceedee Lamb. The fact that they weren't really going to him last week that was confusing, and then you finally get him the ball this week and you see.
What he can do. It was a couple of weeks ago.
CD was frustrated then and he just said, we were talking about the red zone woes and he said, just get me the ball and I'm going to get it in and he did in that game. And after last week he said get me the ball. Good things are going to happen. They did that today, good things were
beginning to happen. So I just feel like there was times when Mike McCarthy and again that's why keep going back to you, is this Dak checking out a certain place Because there are certain situations too, Nick, where if you're looking at the game, Dax had guys open, it's like he's not seeing them.
Yeah, that's what I was going to go to, is that I think he is hesitant to take the shot. There was actually there was a play I was messaging our fellow writer Kevin Patrick and I during the game where it resulted in a sack and he had an option. It was a wheel route.
It was.
Jalen Tolbert. He was open and he saw him and he had a little hitch, little pump fake like I want to throw it, but I'm not sure I want to throw it because's Jalen Tolbert and I don't trust him, and now I'm sacked. I don't want to make take the risk. Not taking the risk will burn you. Eventually, Eventually he's gonna have to play in simple He's going.
To have to the thing that I you know, because I hadn't really seen too much of Brock Purdy play this year. You know, when you're focused on one team, you're not watching some of these other teams as much. Brock just looks so confident, decisive and convicted under center. Watching him last week, Yeah, and then you watch Dak and it's like you're watching him process things in real time.
Sometimes.
That's why it's fascinating to me. The beginning of season, I think he was one of the quick. He had one of the quickest releases, getting the balls out like two point three seconds. It feels longer sometimes like watching Dak sometimes this year, it just feels like he's processing too much information.
The only way I can like in this is do you play golf?
Yes, Okay, I don't know about you, but if you got on the golf course. I've had golf coaches, I've I've had friends. You go out on the golf course and everyone's giving you a piece of information. Yeah, And so I find out typically when I go up, I go up and get a RDY tee up. I'm going through like a four to five point checklist, and it's
almost like you overthink it too much. And that's what it feels like watching Dak play is I feel like he's received so much information and he's getting so much messaging that it's like we're watching and process it in real time. That's the only way I can describe it. Sometimes when I'm watching him play.
I had that happen to me on a bachelor party last summer. I was hitting all my irons, just shanking right, shanking right, and I had like three people giving me different tips, and I would do that part and it would fix it, and then somebody else would say something and it would screw it up again. And I just was like, I'm just gonna be bad for the day.
And maybe Dak just doesn't want to be bad for the day, like he just wants to boil it down, but he knows that he's dealing with so many different things. I do think it's a fear of making mistake. I mean, you hear it. He seemed like somebody who probably pays attention to the off season narrative more than maybe your average player. It's hard not to when you're for the Cowboys, and last offseason that the whole thing was about how he led the league interceptions, and that's not supposed to
be what a franchise quarterback does. And he also probably you know, knows the future is not entirely certain and deals with the pressure of need to get to Cowboys to the next step. So all of that is probably in play. But again, the good thing is it's only week six. It's gonna get tough, but it is, and he got the bye week, you know, a little vacation, little R and R resett a little bit. You're coming off a win.
And Nick, you escaped this game without nandrees.
Yes, so that I think was the biggest thing for the Cowboys because the guys that.
Have been on the mend.
You took so many hits to your secondary last week, losing Layton Vanderesh I thought was going to be a big deal.
I will say this, We've.
Talked a lot about offense and Dak tonight when they lost Layton Van deersh last week.
Who is your quarterback on defense? He's calling the place.
I found myself deeply concerned about them this week, particularly going up against Austin Eckler, But I think they did a pretty good job to one and that's been an area that sort of bit them.
Now. I still do have concerns about this.
Secondary Chargers were really able to get things going with the Palmer and Keenan Allen, so I think Cowboys have got to be a little bit more mindful of that moving forward. We'll see if they even bring in some additional help there at corner. I don't know what else is out there at this point, but I was encouraged at least by the play of the linebackers tonight in the absence of Layton Vander Esh.
Yeah, they haven't had a practice squad promotion played pretty well in this game. My biggest concern for the Cowboys outside of Dak which I think he's just going to be up and down. That's who he is, and it's never going to be somebody who I think is deserving of a place beyond like ten in the QB Index, but could get up there sometimes and we'll sit Linger
right beneath it. For most of it. Tyler Smith did not have a game that and I got to go back and watch it again on the actual tape and not on the broadcast, but there were a few moments where I'm like, what are you doing? This is a young guy, and I thought he played really well as a rookie for the most part, but you know, you go into the BI week, you might need to spend a little bit extra time looked at this tape and fixing some things.
But yeah, basically, which is interesting because Tyler Tyler, who's in his second year, they've moved him from you.
Know, left guard.
He's been all over tackle.
He's been all over the place.
Yeah.
Uh, I don't know if I watched the tape as as closely as you do on Tyler Smith. So I'm gonna have to go back and look at it because normally he's not the one we're talking about. You know, we see some of these ridiculous holding penalties sometimes with this offensive line and inopportune moments. But Tyler, I feel like, you know, that was such a heavily scrutinized draft pick for the Cowboys when they took him the first round two years ago, and not only did he start last year.
I mean I remember right out of the gate, the Cowboys are getting ready to play the Bucks and Tyron Smith goes down and You're like, wow, now we've got to ask this rookie to fill in for our all Pro guy t Smith. And he did a great job, and then you got Terrence still back, and you didn't need Tyler Tyron Smith over there at right tackle. You're able to move Terrence back over there and move Tyron back over the left side, and it was the starting
five that you've always been looking for. I got a little nervous for the Cowboys when Zach Morton was slow to get up this week.
You know, he got a little banged up last week.
It's like, come on, you don't need any more help any more guys getting hurt on the offensive line. So I thought the biggest thing for me taking away from this game was one, like I said, seeing Brandon Cooks get going, seeing Ceedee Lamb get his.
Confidence back, get utilized, but also more importantly getting out of this one and not having the injuries.
Yeah, and you talk about Zach Martin. That's the one guy more than anybody that you can trust in the offensive line, so you definitely need him to be on the field. Yeah. Defensively, I don't feel too bad about them. I think that you know, you talk about some of the you know, personnel, the depth on the back end. I still feel good about this group. Save for that strange game against the Cardinals, when they couldn't stop a
nosebleed on the ground. They've been pretty solid throughout the season, so I think that's still going to be their strength as they figure out offensively. Going back to the Charges real quick before we wrap this up. You talked about you were worried if they were going to run the ball. Well, team net rushing total fifty three yards, Austin Eckler averaging a incendiary one point nine yards per pop. Really, they have a lot to fix there, and I'm not sure
you know. I watched Colts Titans or sorry, Colts Jags this week and the whole second half of the broadcast was I don't know how you can perform when you're so one dimensional offense because you have no running game. It felt like the same thing for the Chargers, you know, that last drive. I looked at Herbert and You're sitting here thinking, how's the defense gonna blow this? I'm sitting there thinking, how is he gonna cover seventy yards? Like
he has no time to throw? So I think I'm pretty concerned about them at two and three, you know, taking a quick look ahead at their schedule, you know, w well, the Cowboys going to the bi week. The Chargers actually just came out of the bye week. It does not get easier for them. They get the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead next week, so I'm not gonna say chalk that one up as an l but that's
gonna be real tough. Then you get Chicago, which may or may not have justin field at that time, and then you faced the Jets, who are gonna be an even tougher challenge defensively than the Cowboys were tonight, and the Lions after that. So it's gonna be a tough month ahead. Yeah, you better hope that they pull out one or two wins there or Brandon stalely watch is going to ramp up real quick. But I think that's going to do it for us. Jane, it's been a
pleasure to do this recap with you. I thought we did a pretty good job.
Well, we got big shoes to fill with the boys, but.
You know, they're flying back from London and so honored that Greg and the guys asked me to fill in, and sorry for the Raspee boys just getting back from acl It was a great music weekend.
Oh what bands did you see?
Oh?
Nineteen seventy five Bob Moses Odesa, Maggie Rogers.
It was a good one.
Oh yeah, I'm sure you had a plan. Well, I think you're probably in line for some sleep now. It's pretty late here. We might as well wrap this thing up all right. Well, for Jane Slater, I'm Nick Shook. This has been your Monday Night recap. Thanks again to the boys as they travel back from London. They'll be back for the rest of the week. Until then, so long.