Talkin' Cowboys: A Different Defense?

Studio and the Star in Frisco. Welcome in everybody, whether you're listening on Dallas Cowboys dot Com, the various streaming platforms, iTunes, Periscope, be sure to to go follow Talking Cowboys, Go subscribe if you're on iTunes, click that button. It takes like two seconds. Go and click that and support our shows throughout the year because no matter win or lose, we might have a two and seven team to cover, but we as Talking Cowboys are nine and oh just to

say the least, So go ahead and follow up. Wow, that's cocky. We're always gonna be spitting hot fire. Yes, always hot fire, and yes a little bit cocky, but that's okay. Rob Phillips, Heck Harrison, the Great, Isaiah stand Back, I'm Kyle Yeoman's and gentleman, it's Thursday, which means we're a day away from saying saying it with our chest on say it with your chest Friday. But I have an interesting hypothetical for you guys, and we're gonna start

the show with this, which is a little bit different. Normally, we go into injury reports and we kind of update the team and update what's going on. We'll talk about that coming up in a second, but I sent out this hypothetical on Twitter yesterday based off of events in New York. And I know, Heck, you're you're a big fighting guy. You're a big boxing fan. Rob you you like that as well. Isaiah. I haven't really had that conversation with you, but I think you're pretty good. I'm

looking forward to the tight. Okay, so we're three for three here based on events that happened in New York. Of course, for those that don't know, the facts are is that Mark Colombo, former coach here at the Dallas Cowboys and offensive line coach with the Giants, was fired yesterday. That's the facts. But now there's some rumors that circled yesterday at least, and some of them have been debunked, but it raised this question, but that he had gotten

into an altercation with the head coach, Joe Judge. Now my question is is if this coaching staff that the Dallas Cowboys have right now had gotten into let's say a UFC style boxing battle royale type thing, who would come out on top. That's my question to start talking cowboys on a Thursday. Yeah, we're starting the show act. Yes, this is how we're starting at hack and if you want to go first, you can. But Rob had a

little heads up because we talked about it yesterday. But Rob could probably start us off with who he things could come out on top. Uh. Can I just say, first of all, I wouldn't fight Mark Colombo if you paid me. I don't know. Six g seven geez, Isaiah. He's a lot lighter than he used to be, though, Rob, I think I got you know, you got a chance. He's still six eight and you can't teach that. So I don't teach that. I can't. I can't go there. But okay, I'll play along with you. Kyle. I'm going

to Jim tom Sula, Baby, Jim tom Sula. I know he's not the tallest guy on the coaching staff. And this is kind of a tough question because we haven't been around the coaches really at all this year. Uh, but d line coaches, to me are among the most intimidating people on the planet. And uh, he's a great guy, but I wouldn't want to make him angry, just like I wouldn't want to make Rod Marinelli angry back in the day. So I'll go with mister Tom Sulam say, that's a that's a good pick. He took that one

away from me. Robbins. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but I'm hey, I'm gonna stand that same vein. Now I know that big Cat leon letstill on staff, So I'm going with big Cat. Like you said, you k teach height. I think cat six seven, So there you go, and he'll have to reach on most of us, So that is I'm gonna cat. Yeah, I think you went there. Yeah, that's pretty Are we going? Are we going like any coach on the staff? On the staff, any coach? I am going to go with coach McCarthy. WHOA, I'm going

to coach McCarthy. Coach McCarthy looks like he will wrestle the crap out of you. And he literally he put like a big thing of true and cook that being in his lip and like huge, like let's go. Yeah, I can just see that, right. He probably got cauliflower ere he's been hiding with the masks and stuff. I don't know, but I'm going with coach McCarthy. He's got califlower. Yeah. Well, then you also got McCarthy. I mean his backgrounds from Pittsburgh and they know how to they know how to

fight up in Pittsburgh. They'll come tough out of that region of the country. So you know what, Yeah, never my good. Oh, I don't know. I don't even want to know where you're going with that. But coach McCarthy doesn't have a neck, man, you don't want to wrestle nobody who doesn't have a neck. That's like a Brahma bull man. You have a chance. I like, listen, hear me out here, though, John Fossil and I somebody threw this out yesterday and Chris even talked about it yesterday.

But the trickery that's involved there, he would pull something out of the hat. He'd pull something out of the hat to win that fight and come out on top. So I would say, how about John Fossil there for a little bit of a sneaky pick an underdog. I also think Doug nuss Meyer would do well in a in a ring like that. I think he's quick, he's agile, he's still in shape, and if quarterbacks coach, he's got the headspace to come through. So I think nuss Meyer would have a pretty good look at it. But O

fun Wester backup. Okay, I'm gonna skip people would be my backup because that's that's my guy and I know him personally, and Skip Peep got some hood in him. So you don't want to mess with a hood cat. You don't want it. You don't mess with a Brahma bull like coach McCarthy. You don't want to mess with a hood cat like Coach Pete. I'm just saying those are those are my two ringers right there. Who's the first one out of the ring? Who's the first out?

That's a good question. I don't know. Man, We got coach, we playing coaches against each other right now? What that's like? Yeah, you're leading me down to the principal's office hallway right now. I don't want to go there. I'm not going. Do you guys know that I'm the most glucking person to

go through the principal see that already, thank you? Uh so, Kyle, Kyle is trying to set up scenario where we set up two coaches and we put them on rock Pee Island, right, and then they got they got at a Risto to get off the island. Fight Island. Yes, p fight Island. I love that, okay, But I would say Callen Moore is the first one out just in my personal and my personal thought process. Anyway, I just go for it.

Can I just say real quick, that's for Colombo, for for Mark, I mean Isaiah played with him, We've been around him. That's it's that's tough news, you know, And it's kind of it was strange to hear coming out of New York, just because you know, they've got some young guys on their offensive line. But they were they're playing better. I mean, they've got three wins this year. They're doing pretty well. So that was kind of odd to see. Um. But I like the way you're thinking, Kyle.

I like it. I like it, but Rob it is not surprising. It's not surprising because I know I know Colombo's character and Colombo's he's not no punk, right, And unfortunately in this league, you deal with a lot of grown men, right that are carrying a lot of little boy characteristics when it comes to the coaches in this league. And I'm not speaking to any to one particular coach, I'm talking about this. It's a reoccurring trait word. You know,

things that people had whenever when they were younger. If they haven't dealt with those things by the time they're adults, just because they're adults and something that they're gonna handle situations any better. So and you know it, terms of people trying to be bullies, in terms of people trying to use their authoritative power over people and speak down to people and things of that nature, it happens a

lot in this league. It happens a lot. And sometimes when you stay in your ground and you don't put up with it and you don't allow somebody to punk you, a lot of times they just try to get rid of you because now you've challenged your authority in a in a sort right. So knowing Colombo, when I read when I read the article, I can imagine that coach probably trying to say something crazy out of sort to Colombo,

Colombo being like, who the heck are you? You know, so it makes sense anything Columbus, no Columbus, no part. I can tell you that. Right now we're talking about football, man. People are getting into it facilities all over America right now. So I know Colombo is a tough guy. And whatever happened, I mean, somebody said to put their words together the wrong way or the right way, and Colombo responded to it. So this is this is this is the game of football.

This is where it happens regard I mean, I don't know about the psychology of bullying and all of that stuff, but you know you'll get hitting the mouth of what you say no matter where you are. So kudos to Colombo. There are some punks in the league, but Colombo by far is not one of those guys. And this is not all that and he's going to stand up for himself. So, like you said, not surprising, but at the same time, it is tough news and we wish him the best

moving forward. He's going to find a job somewhere. He'll be just fine. He'll be in the league for a good amount of time because he's Colombo hit him with them. Now, with that being said, we did have some offensive line news of our own yesterday, Rob for Mike McCarthy. He mentioned it in his press conference that cut our cut our show short yesterday, but also uh led into practice. Brandon Knight was back and practicing yesterday. Is what is going on with Brandon Knight and then some of these

other injury updates from yesterday's practice. Yeah, they started the twenty one day practice window for night. He was on injured reserve. I want to say after the Monday night game. Was that the Arizona game. I think he got a niscope right after that, so he's back. He was on the fe field. That's encouraging. I don't know if it's this week where he could be potentially active, but that's good progress. Give you some depth at offensive tackle because

we've talked about that position a lot. Only two guys didn't practice yesterday, Tyler Biadesh, of course, with the hamstring injury, that's going to keep him out a little bit. And Randy Gregory was sick yesterday, so that's about it. Zack Martin was limited, So that's something to kind of keep an eye on. But I'm sure I would imagine they're trying to manage him and get him to Sunday. He was doing some some core to work with the athletic training staff and just trying to get himself loosened out

before he practiced. So the best thing I saw in there was Zeke had a full practice and said told us after practice that he felt better this week than he did the week at the Steelers game. So for a matchup that we're going to get into this today, for this week with Minnesota, that's huge. That's huge if you've got a closer to healthy Zeke. And whenever it comes to Zack Martin and kind of a lingering issue there, like you said, it's not necessarily anything to be really

upset about. I mean, you're coming off of a bye week, so it might have been something that it was a right right place, right time, and just not as big of an issue as normally it would be. But whenever it comes to him being on cords, Isaiah, does that worry you at all? From Zach Martin just being the cornerstone of that offensive line, it was a corner storm. Okay, we brought that back out. No, I'm not at all, man, I mean he's gonna be good. I mean it's the

middle of the season. It's the middle of the season. Guys are banged up. Nobody's healthy. I can tell you that right now, nobody on this roster is healthy except for Razzie Robinson and Bradley and I those are only two guys that are probably healthy guys because they haven't had touch the field. Other than that, many everybody's dealing with something and that's just that's just being real. Um. Sometimes it gets out, you know, to the public, and

things end up on an injury report. Sometimes they don't end up on an injury report. But you know, guys are gonna be They're gonna overcome things every single day. I'm not worried at all. I'm looking forward to seeing these guys continue to get healthier as the season progresses, because I think I think they are going to can just continue to get stronger. Ema. No, you know he

what Isaiah said, It makes sense. I mean, you have a veteran guy just you can't give him the day off, but still, you know, to give him an opportunity to stay in rhythm. These guys have had a bye weekend. Like like Isaiah said, no one's healthy at this point in the season, So it doesn't concern me about Zach Martin. What I want to know is, you know, it is

night ready to go. If there's a situation that happens in this game where we have to maybe plug and play him on the right side or on the left side, can't he go? So that's important with this offensive line because we've again we've this has become cliche, the musical chairs, and this would be the eleventh combination of guys on that offensive line. So you know, the getting guy's healthy, it's very important. Don't like to hear be honest, I'm

really curious about the sickness of Randy Gregory. I'm I'm I'm glad that it's not like a hopefu lea not COVID related cousin when anytime you see sick, the first thing you think is, oh my god, does he have COVID? So, knowing how how bad we need him this week, as far as applying pressure to Kirk Cousins, is that was the one thing that raised our brow exactly. Yeah, I mean, if he if it was something like that, he'd be

on the list, he'd be on the reserve list. So that's yeah, But that's a good You brought up a good point about night. Like we've talked about this old line combination over and over again. Like if he was if he were to be healthy and ready to go this week and have a good week of practice or maybe next week, would you guys like to plug him in at one of those tackle spots or are we at a point where it's like, let's just keep the same five if we possibly can for like two weeks

in a row. Can we can we just do that? Just go back and do it? Is important and this offensive line, this offensive line needs that, right. But I think that Brandon Knight before he was injured was man, it's kind of hard to say a bright spot, but he was giving you. He was giving you a lot more than say some other names. Right now with Irving, you see that. I think he's a lot better in the run than he is versus the pass, and just comparable.

I would like to see, you know, these guys kind of figure out what we're gonna do with the left tackle, but we know that we're having big time issues at the right side, So just being able to have him for that, I think it's more important. Man, well. And one of the things in terms of the left side, go for it, Isaiah. Now I was gonna say the left side. I mean some of the films that I've been watching, going back to the last few games, Urban's

been doing good. He's been playing physical, He's been he's been popping dues and knocking dues off. I know in a film Roo Another Day, Kyle, show the play where Scholtzmith's the block. But if you watch that same play where Schultsmith that block, freaking Irvan freaking just destroyed the guy right when you it didn't even look like he had opportunity to get back into playing. He just knocked the do it all the way to the ground. So

I think he's bringing some physicality to it. But yeah, there last you mentioned, Kyle, that right side we need some hell well. And what Mike McCarthy said whenever he was asked about best five, which is kind of something we've talked about over the course of the season, but whenever he was asked about it, he said, it's not fantasy football. You can't just mix and match and just throw guys out there and into certain positions. But the thing is is when Brandon Knight comes back. You've got

two swing tackles available. You got Cam Irving and you've got Brandon Knight. And Brandon Knight and Cam Irving I've each played better than what Terren steel has done on the right tackle spot. So my question to you guys is, and heck, he'll start us off here Cam Irving at left tackle or right tackle, and then of course Brandon Knight would fill in that other hole. Are you more

comfortable with that than what you're working with right now? Yeah, I'm I'm more comfortable with Tyrn Smith, but I want well, that's not unfortunately, I think Night right, right, I know right, I'm just swishing here. I would say Night at the left. I just felt like Knight gave us a lot more before his injury. But in this situation, the continuity, if these guys are starting to play together, I think the Steelers game they played a lot better together. But my

question is who's gonna be the quarterback? Because who's the quarterback is really gonna help you say, you know, look, this guy is gonna be a better fit in this situation because offensively, the last game that we saw against the Steelers, we had a lot more movement in our offense. So look, keeping these same guys together it's very important. But I want to know who's gonna be the quarterback? Kyle,

It's gonna be Andy Dalton. Oh God, I mean please, that's that's Please know what that's That's what the decision is. It's Andy Dalton, that's the quarterback. I mean, that's a that's a proven thing. But why why are you saying? Please know with Andy Dalton. We've had this conversation I feel like six times about Garrett Gilbert or Andy Dalton, but you're that adamant against Andy Dalton. Hex Ready, Look man, Okay, so we this is gonna be the This is gonna

be the seventh time that we argued it. Right, So yes, if we're gonna go with based off of percentage and just look looking at the performance we've already said the energy and the offense efficiency seemed to be moving a lot better with Garret Gilbert. The last time I saw Andy Dalton against a defense that was bringing any pressure, I say, Arizona or Washington football team, it didn't look

good for him. And Pittsburgh and the defense that they had, I mean they were applying pressure for sure, and Garret Gilbert did a very nice job of getting out of the pocket. I mean, we've been on killing Moore about his offensive strategy over the last just play calling over the last couple of games. I thought he did a better job even though the offense has you know, the motions and shifts and things like that he hadn't been able to do obviously, because he's had a rookie quarterback

and a guy that hadn't played in a while. But I think you see a guy that's getting better if the offense is gonna move more efficiently with Andy Dalton, and you're just gonna have to show me because I don't. I didn't see it. He hadn't been able to do it. And I think g Wagon gave you the best shot. Oh oh that's me. Um, I like I like, I like g Wagon, right, I like double G all right, G two whatever you want to call him, right, Uh.

He he did have the energy who was successful. And I already mentioned that you know this week that I think that that would be the decision if I was making it, to go with him, because just simply off

a momentum. However, Um, I encourage you, and I encourage some other people and everybody else that has questions regarding Andy Dalton to go back and watch the film room session from this week, because we addressed at least two of the six sacks that he experienced in one of his most recent games, and a lot of that stuff was not just falling on him. Now, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of stuff. He still has to do a lot better. But when it came down to protections,

guys just weren't doing their jobs. They were not doing their assignments and and unfortunately, it looks bad upon just a quarterback that when those things happen, because it looks like he's holding the ball, looks like he's not getting the ball out of his hands. You know, he's not making good throws all that kind of stuff. So I'm not I'm not taking I'm not taking it shoulders and saying that he didn't he needed that. He doesn't need to play better. He definitely does, but there's a lot

of other elements that were going into that. He did not have the same offensive line. So we're gonna see, We're gonna see. I don't I don't disagree with you wholeheartedly, but we're gonna we're gonna see what it looks like this weekend. Um, yeah, let's see what it looks like. Let's let's say this, all right. So Mike Zimmer was on the staff at Cincinnati, I believe for twenty eleven to twenty fourteen. Right, he knows Andy Dalton like the

back of his hand. The last time Mike Zimmer saw Andy Dalton, he beat him like thirty nine to six or something like that, where Andy Dalton had a twenty six percent QBR. All right, Mike Zimmer, that's the He is going to love seeing Andy Dalton at quarterback because he knows the kind of pressure that he can put on Andy. I think the one thing that we have at our disposal is the unknown with Garrey Gilberto that one game that we've seen him uh be successful in

this offense. Man. That's all I'm I'm weighing this on. This is the fact that we have history with Mike Zimmer and Andy Dalton. So do with it. What's your mother points? Llot point, ballot point, looking forward to the game. That's a very good point. Two thousand, two thousand and eight to twenty thirteen was when Zimmer was the defensive coordinator with Cincinnati, And like you said, the last time

that they had played was back in twenty seventeen. That's actually the only time that those two had played where Mike Zimmer was the head coach, Andy Dalton was the quarterback. Zimmer won that battle thirty four to seven. Was that final score. Andy Dalton in that game went eleven of twenty two for one hundred and thirteen yards, no touchdowns, and an interception. In that game, his QB rating was twenty three seven point three and he was sacked three

times from seven? Did he have aj Green? Man? Now, you can't roll out so all the numbers you got, Aj Green was on the field. Yes, he had cj Uzma, Giovanni, Bernard, AJ Green, Tyler Croft, Brandon LaFell had had his full arsenal of guys and he got blanked for seven points in a couple of picks. Yeah, So I'm just like, I know Double G played good. I know he did, and I know he looked like Joe Montana compared to what we saw with the Nucci trying to play his

first start. But are we really just wiping away one hundred and thirty four's career starts for a guy I mean, do we just feel it just feel like he can't play anymore. Like I just I know it didn't look it against Arizona. But I'm kind of with Isaiah on this one, Like I'm willing to wipe away that disaster offensively against Arizona with the turnovers and the fumbles and

the lack of protection. And then you played Washington without Zack Martin against five first round picks on the Washington front, and if they don't clean it up on Thanksgiving, it'll be the same story. But I just think it just wasn't a good situation for Andy. Not that it's all on everybody else, but you know, if I've got to pick one guy to go win a game, I'm gonna go with the more experienced guy. But like Isaiah said,

we'll see, I mean, we'll see how it goes. At least they feel like they've got a solid number two at this point filling in behind him. That's a good thing. I mean, it's a good problem to have because, like we talked about previously, we didn't know what was going

on going into the game against Pittsburgh. Now we know what we have from all three even maybe four perspectives of a quarterback if we really needed to come down to that, we know what we're dealing with, but it's a debate that'll ray John until after the Vikings game this week. We'll have the short week to talk about it next week, So maybe not as much Garrett Gilbert v. Dandy Dalton talk as we had this week in last week, but still gonna be something we're gonna talk about when

we come back though. Here on talking Cowboys, we got to continue breaking down this offense facing this Minnesota defense. What does Minnesota bring that the Cowboys have already seen the last three weeks. We'll tell you when we come back right after this. There's nothing as unique as our eyes, which is why Selor pioneers ways to make lenses as unique as you. Varilux for super sharp vision, Essential Blue for protection, and Krisol for freedom from glare. Three cutting

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Glad you're with us, of course, as always, whether you're watching from home or cheering in the stands with lenses, you'll see every exciting playbook and appointment at your local esselor experts and find the perfect essel or Lenz for you. See More, Do More Or almost sounds like a like a makeup commercial at the end. I kind of like it. Like that, it's got that catchy ring to it. The Seymour Do More or I like it every week and Isaiah likes it too because he echoes it every single

time on camera. He doesn't do it audibly. For those of you listening, on iTunes unfortunately. But anyways, heck Ma Harrison and Rob Phillips I stand back up Kyle Yeoman's and today, of course, being Thursday, we're breaking down the Cowboys offense versus the opponent defense, and of course the opponent this week is the Minnesota Vikings. And guys, I want to ask this question because last Sweet Minnesota on Monday Night football held Chicago to forty six yards total rushing,

really kind of blank them all together. I mean, Chicago didn't actually hit two hundred yards in that football game and only had a couple of field goals to show for it. However, this is a defense that doesn't scare me as much watching it on film. Looking at the stats, this defense doesn't scared me nearly as much as what Washington, Philly and even Pittsburgh. Of course, Pittsburgh ad showed you defensively,

just based off of the front seven. But am I wrong in thinking that this might be the weakest front seven the Cowboys have seen, maybe since Week five of the season when we played the Giants. Isaiah No, I think you're right in saying that. The thing about Minnesota and Minnesota's being consistent for a very long time, all the way back to when I play this is a too high team. They want to play too high, and they've always entrusted in their front seven. They've always had

solid linebackers and they still do now. They've always had sign of linebackers, but they always relied heavily under defensive alignment to apply pressure because they don't want to go single high. They don't want to come up and play you man to man. They want to sit back, have a two shell over the top and make you work your way down the field and let them apply pressure with their front four and the Unfortunately, this front four

is just not applying that pressure. Like I said, if you get up to the second level, you got to do a big Kendricks and company. But you're absolutely correct in saying that this D line does not have the same presence, nor are they as much of a threat as the D lines we faced so far this year. Rob. Yeah, No, I agree. I agree. I think when you watch them play against Chicago, as they mentioned, the too high, they did play too deep, and a lot of that is

because they're they're young. They're young, they're they're missing some key eyes on defense this year. They don't have the Kneil Hunter up front. No, I don't think they have a bar and so, and they've got a couple of rookie corners back there. And I think Dancer didn't play in that game, so he was back to practice this week. So with young corners, you're trying to protect them and like Asaiah said, you know, you know, don't give anything

away deep make them drive the field. That does you would think open up some running opportunities for the Cowboys, you know, when you're not if Zeke's not facing those those boxes with seven eight man fronts all the time, maybe there's an opportunity to do that. Now, Maybe maybe Zim changes it up because he knows, with you know, compromised up front, they've got to be able to run the football. Dallas does to have success. But I think

matchup wise, there could be some opportunities. And hey, the Cowboys have struggled offensively, but I think they've topped you know, I think like one hundred and thirty yards the last couple of games. Maybe they can build on that. I think for me, it's it's gonna be the Mike Zimmer, I mean, Cowboy great defensive coordinator. He does a really good job of dalling it up for his defense, and these guys play really well together. I mean, when Kyle you say you look at the tape and nothing about

them scares you, then I'll go with that. But at the same time, they still have Harrison Smith and guys like Hendricks and Wilson. They look, they're going to present a problem defensively as far as the way that they pressure the line of scrimmage. They know that their best shot is stopping the Cowboys is obviously making sure that Zeke doesn't get going early, so that whole loading up the box that is what Zimmer is definitely gonna do

to alleviate any of that. So, look, I'm looking at this scheme and just realizing that for the Dallas Cowboys offense, you're gonna have to get some of your playmakers involved. I mean, I want to see Amari Cooper actually make a play, stretch the field, do something with the secondary that is decimated well by injuries, and they have rookie guys.

So the only way that we have any success is that you know, one Zeke brings his hard hat and collects those really tough yards that you know the Vikings are going to be against him on but also if Andy Dalton is the quarterback, well he is the quarterback that he gets the ball out of it his hand quickly and get it to a playmakers so that they

could do something. I mean, this offense, our receiver has just hadn't been given us much and it's been because they hadn't had the quarterback there to supply it or get those yards helped them get that yard yards. So we have to get this offense going. We hadn't seen the last couple of games, so that change is going to be welcome. And whenever it comes to the decimated secondary, and you guys are mentioning these rookies, Jeff Gladdene, a

TCU product, actually is one of the starting corners. The other one who's been dealing with a concussion is Cameron Danceler, the Mississippi State corner that we saw at the Senior Bowl last year. Pretty good little corner, but still not anybody that should be starting as a rookie. I was high on I did like Cameron Danceler, but I still

didn't think he would be a starter as a rookie. Well, he's adding to step in and do that because they've been just absolutely torn apart by injuries whenever it comes to the secondary. Holton Hill, Mark Fields, Mike Hughes, Miles Dorn, all of those guys have been out and missed significant time for this secondary. It's kind of like what the Cowboys are dealing with on the offensive line where the

Minnesota Vikings are dealing with in the secondary. They're having to do a musical chairs sort of thing back there to deal with it. But that brings this question to me, is this the chance that we finally get to see Andy Dalton with minimal pressure coming up against an offensive line that has a wee bit of continuity to attack a week secondary with the receivers that we've been waiting for.

Is this finally the opportunity we get to see Dalton kind of blossom into the quarterback that we had originally thought he could be as a backup. Well, it's gonna say yes. I don't think it's gonna be that type of game. I think Andy Dalton's going to be in a game management type of scenario. I'm kind of like a like a old school Russell Wilson just don't mess up type of scenario. I really think this is the

game that Zeke comes out and he's into Zeke. I think everyth think he probably gets around one hundred and thirty yards on the ground this game. And you know, and Anye Dalton's gonna be facing too high, probably the second half of face single high. He might be able to start getting some things down to field a little bit, but this is gonna be a mid short, short, the mid range game for Anye Daldon. He's just gonna have to be precise, and I think he'll have the time

he needs to throw the ball. So yes, to answer your question, we should see the original Any Dalton this game, but we won't. But he should not be throwing a ball forty times. Yeah, I think the hope is, you know, you can establish the run and then if you can get them out of some of that that looks where they're they're playing their safeties, deep move with guys up, because there are to your point, Kyle, there are some matchups on the outside that you've got to feel good about.

I think if you can get him the ball, but you mentioned protection. Look, the Viking sin still get pressure. I think they rely a lot on their front floor to just go get the quarterback. But they'll blitz their linebackers. You know, Eric Wilson is really doing damage for them as a blitzer with pressure in Saxon affecting the quarterbacks. So you know, I you know they're they're lying and maybe isn't what it's been, but I think they're still

capable of getting pressure on Andy Dalton. And I just think that's the scheme going into every week, that you try and establish the run and set up everything after that, and yes, be a game manager, Andy Dalton, but that's all good until you're down about three, you know, three touchdowns and then you have to throw the ball. So that's I guess I'm basing this off of our past history as a team with us always being playing from behind.

So obviously a lot of things have to go good for the Dallas Cowboys to actually play the kind of football that we know is run the ball, then throw and he can facilitate and not put this defense or put himself in a situation where he's throwing the ball forty times this game. But that's been what we do. We throw the ball forty times a game. They just

need to hit some big plays here and there. Yeah, they just haven't had that and Gilbert finally gave him a little bit of that the touchdown to CD, And that's I think that's why I guess I just feel better about Andy, just because if he's got the protection, I feel better about him. His rapport with the receivers, getting a couple of plays, you know, thirty forty yards down the field where now you're in scoring position. Let me ask you this, Yeah, let me ask you this.

So how short of a lease do you have on Andy Thalton? Right? So if this first half is just abysmal, is no good? Do you then put Gilbert in the game? Are you saying, no, matter what, we ride to die all the way through Islam? Is Andy's healthy? Yeah? I would? I would. I mean, look, if it's not going good, I think based on what you've seen from Gilbert, you could, you know, you could take a look at him again.

Uh what I think they would do? It just sounds like they're riding with fourteen just you know, so we'll see m riding with fourteen. So it's Rob pet Rob Pete right for life? Team? Are ask you agree there? Your friend ride together and die together? Yes? Double H on his own? Uh, he's on his own island over here, it's it's double H Island at this point. Whenever it's the yacht, it's the yacht there. Yeah, the yacht for three to the double G. Okay, when we come back,

you're on talking Cowboys. We have some unfinished business in terms of talking about the Cowboys defense versus this Minnesota offense. We'll finish the show with that and get you ready for say it with your chest Friday when we come back. Right after this, we're backing the tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and creep Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor cream Soda. Is he a new combone. That's music to my ears? Okay, doctor time,

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for you for details. To talk in Cowboys Final segment here of the Thursday edition of Talking Cowboys and whether you're listening to music while you work out, watching highlights, or even trading Fantasy draft players like we normally do on a Thursday. Bows Quiet Comfort Earbuds let you experience audio in a whole new way. Bows Quiet Comfort Earbuds are the official earbuds of the Dallas Cowboys. What was that head? Oh? I can hear you? Just fine? This

is great, man. You're coming through. Oh you're showing off the bo Okay, okay, okay, you can hear me just loud and clear. It sounds great. Uh So, like I mentioned a moment ago, heading into the commercial break, we do have some unfinished business in terms of talking about the matchups that are on the table. And yesterday I got a nice little scary from Isaiah and a scary scary from mister rob Pe whenever it came to Justin

Jefferson and Adam Feeling and the weapons outside. But I want to I want to ask you this question, who is going to cover who in this regard? Because Cheeto's back, You've got Anthony Brown, of course, you've got Cheeto Woozier in the slot. Or excuse me Jordan Lewis in the slot, but ultimately there's not going to be enough to cover

either one of these guys efficiently. Isaiah, how did the Cowboys come back this duo like we've seen already this season that could potentially have a lot of success zone coverage and communication. Don't try to play these guys, man. We've tried that too many times this year by facing Um some of some of the best receivers that this league has to offer, and it didn't work in our favor. I don't think hardly at all. And maybe a sept For Atlanta game because Julio was hurt and he wasn't himself,

but UM play zone defense. Hopefully coach calls Coach Ryan calls that, and uh and yeah, yeah, that's it. Just just just don't put these guys on the island, true, Please, don't put these guys on the island. It's just not a smart move. How quickly to you think we see these guys on an island. It's gonna happen. I mean, you can't go a whole game just playing his own so it's gonna I mean, you're gonna see these guys on the island at some point in time. You just

hope that you know, again your communications on point. Hopefully they played with good technique. Hopefully they get their hands on somebody. It's one thing to play man coverage and you try to shadow somebody at the line of scrimmage. That where that's where we've really failed this year is in man coverage, playing at the line, trying to shadow somebody. All of a sudden, they finally make a decision, they go a certain direction, and then they just gas on

us and run by us for a big play. You know, if you're gonna get up there and play man play some old school man, put your hands on somebody, and and you know it's if you're gonna get burnt, get burnt that way. Don't get burnt by just trying to, you know, try to keep up with somebody's feet. Yeah, everybody's gonna be ready because, um, you know, they moved

some guys around. They moved Jefferson in the slot some and uh, you know, to y'all's point, like if they when they play off at some time off man or zone, they can find those holes and they can beat you. I thought the biggest play in the game against Chicago was fifty four yards by justin Jefferson just finding a hole. It was kind of seedee lamb, like where catch him on the run and go and he can do that. So uh. And the other thing too about communication that

Isaiah mentioned, they'll do those bunch sets. They'll line guys up together on one side and and and make you communicate and decide who's taking who basically so um and kind of those kind of pick type thing. So they do it. They do a lot of short, short, short splits. With Jefferson especially, he runs a lot of a lot of corner routes, a lot of corner routes, a lot of speed outs, and those present problems because when you're when you're when he's so tight down to towards towards

the lineman. And as a as a secondary guy, as a defensive back, you're gonna sit outside a little bit typically right because you're protecting the majority of the field. But what ends up happening is he runs a stem towards your outside shoulder, and by the time he comes out of that break, if the balls on time, it's literally a player that you really can't defend. You could take your shot at it by trying to undercut it

and try to get an interception. But if you don't, if you miss, then all of a sudden he's catching the ball and he has the whole sideline. So he runs. Pay attention to that those short splits, and pay attention to him running those corner routes and those speed outs. It's it's a problem. He does a good job of finding his own and he's lanky. He gets upon you quick.

He doesn't look like he's running fast. He has the long freaking Dawsome legs from Street Fighter, and he just, you know, just runs and he just gets upart you really quick. That It's just it's kind of creepy. The second Street Fight the reference of the season. I love it. There it is. Yes, I haven't m I could just say, man, I haven't been afraid of a Minnesota Vikings rookie receiver since Brandy Moss and Jefferson, since that Jefferson presents a problem.

But also I would like to think that the veterans that we have on our team and the secondary will be able to mitigate a lot of that worry and play to their strength. Cheeto, for me, is a guy that always does a really good job of using the boundary as an extra defender. So that play that you're talking about undercutting that that I believe it's that the fade that they like Kirk Cousins like to throw to Jefferson, that he uses that to his advantage. These guys can't

tip their hand and goes on the whole game. They're gonna have to play some man, this is a part of the part of defense, and if you play zone that they will eat that apart. I mean, I don't like Kirk Cousins, but man, you know you that would be checkers to his chest as an offense. So, you know, the Cowboys defense, I believe Anthony ab is a guy that I feel comfortable being by himself on Feeling or on Jefferson. I just feel like that part of their what they do and just have to, you know, play

to their strengths as defenders. But it's all going to be surrounding around the kind of pressure that we get. You know, the interview yesterday with Tank Lawrence and they asked him about the difference between the comparison between the Kevin Safanski Cleveland Brown's offense and this offense. He's like, look, man, we realize that these guys are very similar, but we are a different defense than where we were when we

played these guys. We were not being able. We weren't able to play fast and free because we didn't realize what the defense, what defensive coordinator was asking for us and from us. And these guys feel a lot comfortable going into this week. So look, man, I just feel as though the defense plays together just the same as the Vikings defense has been doing. We should have some success on Sunday. How much of a role is Kyle

Rudolph gonna play in this game? They called him all reliable on the on the Monday night football broadcast, and I thought that was the best way to put it, because he's been around for ten years and he continues to do the same thing. Plus Isaiah, we looked at it in the film room. I mean, he's a fantastic blocker still even at this point in his career, but he's also a receiving threat. How big of an impact does he play? Real quickly here before we wrap things up.

He plays he's a huge man. I mean he looks like it looks like Christoph from Frozen on there. He's a big bike and if anybody, if anybody, if anybody remember what a bike you should look like. It's him. He's a large human and he's gonna block. He's gonna consume you in the Rand game, he's gonna he's gonna he's gonna box you out if he runs a route. So he's he's a problem man, and they're definitely gonna use him. Street Fighter Frozen all in the span of

two minutes. I love it. It's accurate and it's accurate. It is accurate. That's the best part about it. It's completely accurate. Got Christoph Rudolph over here. I mean his name is literally Rudolf and Christoph d a reindeer, So I mean, I guess it works. It completely works. That's that's impressive. Isaiah rob Big big Impactrol Cook from Kyle Rudolph Christolf is good as a blocker, man. You guys showed it in the film room on those Zone runs. He can, he can, he can move guys out of

the way. So watch out for Christolf. I'm no good right now, Kyle, Where do you come up with this stuff? Man? Do you have a no card in front of you? With this? What is that? Man? That's that's crazy. He goes through and he looks he goes through and looks at the headshots of all these players. He goes, that's Christoffs. That's that's what that one is. Oh Man, that just comes to me. Man, that's That's the best way I

could have possibly found a way in this show. And and and send us in to say it with your chess Friday. I want to thank everybody for sticking around here over the last forty five minutes. For all those that are on here, go ahead and subscribe, like follow, do everything you need to follow each of these guys on social media as well. But for today, for Chris Beam in the back, for heck My Harrison, for Rob Beam, for Isaiah stand Back, I'm Kyle Yeoman saying so long

from the SWBC Mortgage Studios. We'll see you tomorrow. I'm talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.