Talkin' Cowboys: A Missed Opportunity

virtual s WBC studios at the Star in Frisco. Following a twenty five twenty two Dallas Cowboys law to the Arizona Cardinals in week seventeen, and we are going to talk about it offense, defense, special teams. We have talked about complimentary wins on this show the last four weeks or so. This was a complimentary loss and we are going to break it down for you here from the Star in Frisco alongside heck My Harrison, Isaiah stand back

back with Rob Phillips. Great news there that Rob is back on Talking Cowboys this week with Rob p Island. I'm Kyle Yeoman's Chris Beam running this thing in the back. But gentlemen, we'll start with just general thoughts about the loss of Cowboys come up short in a comeback effort. They fell behind at one point in the game twenty two to seven, and just really couldn't find their way back.

Rob They had a couple opportunities, maybe some miscalls from the officials, but in the end, the Cowboys just didn't play well enough to win that football game. Yeah, I think you said it, Kyle. Like I, I kind of got killed on social media after the game, and sometimes I'm a little sensitive about those things, but at this time, I held I held my ground because because look, yes there were misscalls. There was a huge miss call at

the end of the game. But the bottom line is they did not do enough in quarters one through three to give themselves a good enough chance to win that game. That's the bottom line. And guys said that after the game. Amari Cooper said that the game doesn't go on forever. You don't get an eternal number of chances. And like you said, when you only have seven points deep into the game in the second half and you've got a single yard in the third quarter until the very end,

you're digging yourself a huge hole. And Arizona came out and was the more desperate team. They were the more banged up team, coming off of three straight losses and missing a bunch of guys on defense. They found a way to win. The Cowboys did not, even though, yes, you can question some calls, and I understand why players are upset, but they didn't play enough well enough to win that football game, and now they're not in the position they would like to be, certainly in the playoff picture.

As Rob p I'm not gonna let you do that. I agree with the second half of your sentiments. The first half sounds are much like Mike McCarthy or players on the Dallas Cowboys right now that are accepting this excuse for saying all the referees. Every time the Dallas Cowboys have lost this year, it's been the referees. If you go back to a look at all the postgame interviews, it's always the referees that are getting the fingerpointed at him.

And that is such a victim mentality. I talked about it on a post game that play at the end of the game. First of all, no referee is seeing that play. Everybody could barely even see that the dog on replay that it was a fumble, right, You had to watch it six seven times in the road even identify as a fumble. And then it had they not gotten taken advantage of by Arizona earlier in that half, they would have had an additional time out where they could have challenged it. So there's a lot of things

that went into this loss. The referees was not one of them. They needed to make more plays when it came back, came in and executed much better than Dallas did. And that's the more older story because stone Cole said so, well, well, I mean, look, I'm not gonna argue with that, man. It's uh, they came out flat. They came out flat, They played flat. Um. It was eerily reminiscent of the Denver game where they came out and just nothing with fire at all, um defensively, And I know we're gonna

get into a lot of that. It's just look, man, I'm not into conspiracy theories, but I've watched a lot of dan Quinn football this year and I just didn't see the same thing, same play, same calls from the defense, So you know, I think it was very interesting, um as the game progressed some of the things that they tried to do to make Kyler uncomfortable. But let's just face it, man, Kyler Murray is a is a different beast altogether when it comes down to play in the

quarterback position. We have to give them their respect in their kudos because they played a hell of a game. Being short and the way that they were, they picked up a lot of our stuff and again, they just did a really they did a phenomenal job where we did not. And blaming it on the referees, I obviously, you know, I can see it both ways. But Isaiah, I'm kind of with you on this. Man, you can't use that as an excuse because at this point in time in the season, you're supposed to be firing on

all cylinders. And I think that's the most disconcerting thing about the about this game is the fact that even when you looked like you were the stronger team, the healthier team, you had all the momentum in the world, and you laid an egg in the first three quarters. And that's what that was. I mean, outside of the one drive right before halftime, or at least with the

midway through that second quarter. You really didn't have any rhythm offensively until the fourth quarter, and then Arizona shorthanded. They hadn't had any kind of rhythm without DeAndre Hopkins on the field, and a guy like Antoine Wesley comes up and makes two touchdown grabs. You have Christian Kirk as the leading receiver. AJ Greene turns back the clock. Zach Ertz was pretty much a factor until the second half.

But all of these guys stepped up and filled in roles that they hadn't been over the last three weeks. So why is it the Cowboys Isaiah as the team that had to be the one they had to figure it out against because there had to be something that they saw on film both sides of the football. We'll get into offensive defense specifically coming up in the next couple of segments, but there had to be something they saw that said we're gonna beat this team, because they

came out with a boatload of confidence. Your professional athletes, you professional coaches, and you show up to a game and your competitors, you make a decision that you're gonna go, you know, a ball to the wall, and that's exactly what Arizona came in it did. They said, we're gonna throw everything at Dallas, and Dallas is gonna have to show us that they're capable of stopping it, and they weren't.

When they came out and they lined up and they brought everybody at the line of scrimmage, Deck said, oh crap. The offensive line said, oh crap, there's only so many guys that you can block, and we're gonna get home. We're gonna get to Deck. We're gonna disrupt Deck before he can get the ball off to these receivers. These receivers were not going to get off the line of scrimmage and get these these you know, these short passing game options like Dak had been so great at earlier

in the season. They totally disrupted that. So what started happening. Dak was coming up and he was having to totally redo all the protections, he was having to totally redo all the plays, and that cause hesitation. That did not enable them to go out there and play fast like they did last week. That was disruptive. And then offensively for Arizona, they just had Kyler Murray. Everybody's putting the finger at the defensive line saying, oh, where where was

this that? You know? Heckman, you mentioned that, you know, you didn't see the dan Quinn type defense, and I kind of come back that because I feel as if they did a good job of getting back there. The only difference is you're not dealing with quarterbacks who have the inability to run the ball. This dude sees pressure. This dude sees defensive ends going up the field. He's coming, stepping in and out. We said it all week long.

Pressure on the ends means nothing. If you don't have internal pressure against a running quarterback, it doesn't present a problem for him. And we did not have internal pressure this week, and that is why this game turned out the way that it was. They just wanted to win the game more in Dallas, unfortunately, this year has a record of that versus teams that are above five hundred in the win column. They were aiding one coming into the game versus the NFC. Okay, that's fine and Danny,

but only one in one against the NFC. When it comes to games over five hundred, you know, the teams that have a winning percentage over five hundred. This was another one of those teams. So now you're eight and two against the NFC and you're one in two versus teams over five hundred. Rob totally agree. I mean we talked about it during the week or when I was on barely during the week last week, that this was

a better test. I mean, they won four straight games, and give them credit, three of them more straight we're on the road, but that was a playoff team that they played yesterday and a playoff quarterback, and hey, a hell of a coaching job by Arizona in terms of the game plan that was executed better. I mean, they knew, as banged up as their defense was, they had to control the line of scrimmage, control time of possession, and keep Dak and the offense off the field and protect

their defense. And they did that. They dominated time of possession, They kept the ball out of the Cowboys offenses hands, got them out of rhythm, like you said, with a lot of different pre snap looks, a lot of stuff, you know, not necessarily stuff Dak hasn't seen, but a lot of that after the snap, guys dropping back into coverage, flooding passing lanes. And they got the other thing too, is they completely shut down the run. That was a season low forty five rushing yards for the Cowboys. We've

talked about it. They have been in a run offensively. We thought they got out of it against Washington, but they were not in this game, and they just didn't have enough cracks at it and weren't efficient enough when they had the football. Yeah, for me, Isaiah, it's really just you know, switching up the coverages. They stayed in the vanilla coverage the entire game. For me, I've seen them switch it up too many times and bringing pressure from different angles. But again I say this, man, Arizona

did a good job of picking up the blissing. You're absolutely right that if it's any of the other quarterbacks in the NFL, they have three four sacks yesterday because you know, look, Colin Murray was just able to get out of the pocket, outside of the pocket and just elude the defense. But it's you know, it's one of those things where when you look at this game in totality, the run game coming up missing is gonna be the story of this game. But also just the fact that

we're not talking about the penalties. You know, this this team anytime they tried to steal any momentum. They shot themselves in the foot, and those third down penalties killed them, killed them. We talk about the running game and them only having forty fifty yards of rushing excuse me, forty five yards rushing, But you take some of those the big run from Ezekiel Elliott back, even a run from Tony Pollard that comes back as well on a penalty. Look,

all of those things are relative. Again, if we had we had our opportunities. But all in all, this team just came out flatt and you can't do that. Um, you're right again, Isaiah with the you know, when you start facing those upper echelon teams and you want to if this is a measuring stick, in the words of Rick Flair, in order to be the best, you gotta beat the best, and we just didn't be. You know, we didn't measure up in this game, and a lot of it had to do with the way that we

opened up the game. So heck, I'm gonna turn the first second I got I know, Rob, Rob, you really the only one that hasn't come up with one yet, So heck, I'm gonna I'm gonna put this right back on top of you. I'm gonna turn this right back around here for you just a second, because you talked about the preparedness, you talked about the play calling. You mentioned the fact that that there were multiple opportunities for the Cowboys to be in better positions, and the penalties

as well. How severely out coached were the Cowboys on Sunday afternoon. I mean, if Cliff Kingsbury and company, how much did they out coach Mike McCarthy and his staff? Look, man, you know, situational awareness is all coaching. And there was a situation where McCarthy got caught with his pants down, you know, and they called they called him, and that was all he could do was burn that time out, and so it came back to haunt them. And anytime you're in a close matchup and that's why timeouts in

the second half are so pivotal. But that was one instance where look, that was just you know, that was a coaching and I'm sure he wishes that he had that that time out back because obviously that probably would have made the difference on that call that everybody wished that wasn't And where the hell is New York? You need him? I thought they called down and say, hey, that was actually a fun But why come we can't get in New York to place a call inside two minutes? Right?

It was outside of two minutes? Stuff? Is it outside they the call? I mean, well, we look that we can't bear for that. That's enough. That's another But I'm just saying that's that's that's that's a cove, that's a caveat of the game. Had it been inside two minutes, they would have got that call. But it was outside of two minutes. And because you got quote unquote out coached during that early situation earlier in the game, that

disabled you from being able to challenge it. Well, hen is bad this morning, Isaiah our ass right now, boy, that's tell you what this is why I had hesitation earlier in the week, right, And I know you guys looked at me sideways, and a lot of other people probably did as well when we started coming. When we came off the Washington game and we're right, you know, everybody was writing high, oh, Dallas is killing it, Dallas is They're unstoppable. And what was my response? I want

to see it this week. That was my first thing I said, I I want to see it this week. The reason why is because you're supposed to beat up on those teams, right, And I said that you're supposed to beat up on those seats. That's a little brother. What did I what did I refer to last week? That was a rotary boys and girls club that you beat up on them? That was a rotary league. Right, you had to go play the select games now, and

these are the select games. It doesn't matter what you do against against the casts that you play around, that run around and play the same four or five team, It doesn't matter. Right at NFC East, it doesn't matter when you go out there and you play the other boys that have to have played nationally ranked guys all the time. This is what the Dallas Cowboys have shown and they have to show different going into the playoffs. Slow, slowdown gym shoes. This is this is This is a

C saw league. The NFL is a C saw league. And if you looked at the year that that has been, Oh, just look at the AFC, right, they are the best. The best record in the AFC is eleven and five. That's the that's the a FC. There. You come to the NFC. Obviously, the green Bay has the best record. So what I'm saying is it's been a good year of football. Anybody could beat anybody if you look at last year. Last night, oh yesterday, the Jets were supposed

to beat the Bucks in New York. I mean, there's there's been strange things that have happened to all year. And all I'm saying is, look, we played flat. We'll see him again or whoever see. We just got to play better. It's not as though Arizona came in here and completely wiped the floor with us. It was self inflicted.

Before this week, you were you know, hey, it was when a team gets back Montan sweating, and you know, when teams get these people back, or you know, Dak is not looking like himself anymore, and all of those things. But look, man, if Kelly Moore comes out and he scripts the first fifteen plays the way that he did against this team against Arizona, man throw those first fifteam plays away. You have to start all over with this thing,

because look, that just didn't work for us. Man. And I mean, look, Isaiah, I rely on you heavily for a lot of this because I feel as though you're gonna tell it like it is, and I feel like that's we appreciate that part of it. But if you're looking around the rest of the league, man, you're seeing that that's a whole lot of parody. Bro anybody that

could beat anybody, And that's absolutely correct. I don't, but I don't look around for everybody else, right, I'm looking at these and all the talk that I have that all my opinions come from that standpoint of where the Dallas Cowboys are trying to go. And when you start talking about where they're trying to go and not who they had on their eleven and five schedule was based upon, It's all about what level of ball do you have to play in order to win those type of games?

That's all That's where all my opinions always come from. And this has always been a question mark that subsitted over my head and over the Dallas Cowboys head. Can they deliver when you face these teams that are like, I don't give a dog on that we have a lot of injuries. I don't give a dog on that we don't have our full squad. This is what the type of ball that we're gonna play. Can you stop it? We're gonna give it everything that we have, and this

is our approach. We're gonna blitch you seventy five percent of the game. That's what we're doing. What are you gonna do? Are you gonna run the ball because you because you're the Dallas Cowboys and you have all your office alignment back, or are you gonna say, now, we can't run the ball and bust through this first line of defense and get to the big plays because there's

no second level of defenders. That was the approach that Keller Moore and the Dallas Cowboys took yesterday when they should have said, we got Tyrn Smith, we got Collins, we got Martin, We're coming at you. We're gonna get past this first layer. Yes, we're gonna hit our head on the wall a couple of times. But once we get through this first layer of defense, we're gonna be having nothing big big plays. And they didn't take that approach.

They sat back on their heels and this was what they put on film, much like what they put on film when they played against Denver. So now other team, Philadelphia, all right, Philadelphia is now looking at that like, hmm, can we do the same thing? All right? We're not gonna take the same approach Arizona is gonna take. But there's two different examples, now, two examples of how Dallas has now left a window opened them for devot and you're right, heck, like there is parody in this conference.

Like you watch those noon games and the Rams almost lose that game, and obviously the Bucks had everything that they had going on in that game. So yeah, but there's evidence going back to post By that offensively they are just not in a rhythm and Washington was maybe

an operation. I don't know, like I had pause about this game too, but I picked the Cowboys based off the fact that they got back home the AT and T Stadium where they've averaged almost forty points a game, and you're thinking it's gonna be a track me, you know, but it's gonna be a boat race. But that didn't happen. So the problem is going back to late October, there's just evidence that they are still not in a rhythm offensively.

That is a concern going into the playoffs. And now they've got this situation where, Okay, are they the four seed, do they have a chance to move up? Do they play guys in week eighteen that's now on Saturday on a short week, or do they try to get ready for the playoffs, Like I'm not sure what Mike McCarthy does right now, because I do think offensively they need to try to get some rhythm back going before the postseason starts instead of just sitting guys. It's it's an

interesting position that they're in right now. Well, let's talk about that on the other side of the break, because I want to talk about one the Saturday's scenario in which is going to be placed this week, and then we'll talk about going into the playoffs there. But I also want to hear does it make you feel a little bit better the fact that they found a rhythm in the fourth quarter, even though it was late in the game and they were trying to get back into it.

Does it make you feel better moving into the final game of the regular season than, of course, into the playoffs when we come back with more talking cowboys. There's nothing as unique as our eyes, which is why SLOR pioneers ways to make lenses as unique as you Varilux for super sharp vision, Essential Blue for protection, and Crisolve for freedom from glare. Three cutting up solutions in a

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You've heard it already that Jason Witten has joined the Caliber Collision team. You can join him to do great work with great people for great pay and apply right now at jobs at Caliber dot com. That's jobs at Caliber dot com. What is that, Isaiah? This is my rob pe wallet still in the box or what fresh fresh box? That's just the outerway I was gonna say, it looks like a brick from here. Rob did you watch to go get my new one soon? Good. Good.

Did you watch the shows last week? I'm assuming you did, because we were we were talking about maybe pulling a bible out that would probably be a great representation of the wallet, something of the sort, King James. That's about right in terms of thickness. Oh man, I love it.

I love it. Second segment here of talking Cowboys. First non victory Monday that we've had since right after Thanksgiving and so a little somber today, but we're gonna help get through it, and we're gonna talk about the Cowboys and what went right, what went wrong? And I want to start things off in this segment. I want to We will get to what I teased a little bit later in the next couple minutes or so, but I want to ask is who is the blame for the

game yesterday? Because it could be a finger could be pointed a couple of different directions. I'll start with you, heck mu but offensive coordinator, quarterback, offensive line, running game. Which one do you start with here? Because I know a lot of people were going after Dak Prescott. I don't know if that's necessarily all on his shoulders, but I want to hear it from you first. You know, I think you have to break this thing down in

percentages as far as blame is concerned. I mean, the offensive line is definitely that they didn't play their best ball yesterday, and I'm sure they would agree. Dak didn't either. He had some throws that got away from him, He didn't read the defenses as well as he should have balls. He just looked off. I mean, the whole offense looked flat. Kellen Moore I talked about his play scripting from the beginning of the game, and it just man, the play

calling was off. I mean a lot of the formations that he came out with, Budda Baker was reading them all right. Budda Baker was supposed to have three interceptions yesterday, they went through his hand. So this game was lopsided from the beginning, just from the from a scheme standpoint. But you know, there's a lot of blame to carry to get to pass out. But I think it starts with the offensive line. They didn't play well at all.

And if you look at the way that we rushed yesterday, I mean forty five forty five rushing yards that ain't gonna get it. And you know, hey, Isaiah, hello, darkness, my old friend. We're back to that third down stat. We were three four eleven on third down, so you're not gonna win very much when the third down stat looks like that, Isaiah, I'm gonna put it on killing Moore.

Killing Moore. I felt a fella he tucked his tail yesterday, and that's yeah, it's unfortunate, Yeah, because you expect, you expect office a coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys with all these weapons, to have a freaking Napoleon company. Hsould just walk out there just chess, just just swollen, right, just fresh off some you know, there's some some pushups, just fresh off pushups, fresh on pull ups, all that, just

chest swollen up. And and he didn't do that, and Arizona came at him and attacked him like Mike Tyson used to come out in the in the first round and just just coming with just a barrage of punches and just just swinging and upper cuts and overhand rights and and dank Kellen Moore was just like, oh crap, right, I'm gonna stop running the ball. I'm gonna stop my quick passing game. I'm not gonna change anything that I that my first fifteen or whateverybody's referring to right now.

His approach to this game was different than what his execution was. And yes, Dak Prescott gets to the blame. Yes, the running the officer and line gets the blank because those guys are underneath his umbrella. But he is a leader of this offense. Does not forget that Dak gets paid forty million dollars a year, But he's not the leader of this offense Kellen Morris and they're gonna follow it suit in terms of what he calls in the

positions that he puts them in. And I don't believe that he was aggressive enough in his approach in the game to rebut whatever it is Arizona brought yesterday, and that was them saying, Hey, we're gonna blitch you to death because we know that you're gonna play on your heels. So you wanted Kellen to come out like the ultimate warrior and just like shake the ropes and do all that stuff. And yes, absolutely, and he didn't do that.

I had to get the wrestling. I like it. Yeah, I mean I think you have to give the edge and the game plan and the execution to Cliff Kingsbury in this game, you know, and not not just the time out or the time out that they forced them to get. The Heck reference that that turned out to be the difference in the game at the end. But again, yeah, they did a better job of controlling the pace of the game throughout on their offensive side of the ball. I think, yeah, I'm with Heck and Isaiah like I

think it's all the way around. Offensively, they were, they were out of sync, um. But the penalties to me or what stood out the most in terms of I think they had six drives in the first two quarters in the first half, five of them they had at least one penalty that stalled drives, and they were two of six on third down and they never got anything going.

And I know everybody wants to talk about the refs and the miscalls, but when you dig yourself a hole like that, you're asking for everything to go right late in the game. That the refs they're human, that they're not going to make a mistake and not gonna do something that's gonna screw it up. That's that's what happened.

They put themselves in a position where too much had to go right for them late, and that's that's ultimately why they lost, even though yes it was a miscall Lake, Yeah, go ahead, go ahead, and whatever whatever scheme that has Schultz blocking Chandler Jones, if we see this team again, let's just throw that way away and heck and that that's an example of that is a penalty like the holding that he had, Like, that's not and I know, look ten penalties, and I know that the guys are frustrated,

but like, there are clear penalties out there, and they've been one of the most penalized teams in the league this year. This has been a problem, not just oh, it's the rest fault every time. Yeah, thank you very

much for acknowledging that. But let me address this. The reason why I point the finger at Kellen Moore is because if you come out and you're playing against we talked about it, right, We talked about how aggressive Arizonia is on defense, how they have an all Pro guy at every level, and it reminded me of the Los Angeles Chargers and how aggressive these guys are at every level.

Chandler Jones, Right, you guys, Zaiah Simmons, you got Buda Baker, all these boys we said, they play off a momentum, right, We said, all these things leading up the entire week, and you have to slow these guys down. So when they come up to the line of scrimmage and they said,

we're blitzing all eight guys, what is your approach? Is your approach to say, Okay, we're gonna just drop back and we're gonna now just try to catch and hold as many guys as we can and hope that you guys don't get dat or are you gonna reverse the reverse course and say we're gonna come at you. I'm gonna bush you in your mouth, I'm gonna meet you at the line of scrimmage. I'm gonna drive you back

because we're better than you upfront. That's when I talk about when I'm talking about the mentality of Kellen Moore. He dropped back and said, I'm gonna try to hold off as long as I can to try to get deck as much time as possible. And when you do that and you don't have enough blockers to block their guys that they're bringing, you are now in a catching position. And if you're in a catching position, guess what you're

gonna catch? You're gonna catch some of them flags because you're now holding off for dear life instead of attacking. Now you think that's Do you think that is the thing that is bugging Dak the most, the way that teams are crowding the line of scrimage because you're no. You saw New Orleans do the same thing. We've seen a lot of teams do that show coverage one way to press the line of scrimmage and then bail at the last minute. I personally, that's just one of the things,

Like I'm out there watching that. But Isaiah, I guess I'm asking you that question. Do you think that's making the biggest difference and how Dak is reading defenses? It should piss them off. And you hear that in this postgame interview where he's like, you know, for whatever reason, teams, you know, they come at me more than they come at to other teams. That's a freaking problem that and that's not just your problem. That's killing Moore. That teams

are bullying killing Moore. They're not bullying you and your inability to be able to handle the blitz. They're saying, scheme wise, we can get to you and disrupt what you guys are doing more so when we blitch you. So guess when we played the Dallas Cowboys absolute frequent lutely, we're sitting in the whole house because guess what their officer coordinator has improven that they're gonna make anybody pay

well and earlier. You're ignoring the stat that that Dak is number one when facing the blizz Exactly, he's he has the best, keep the best, keep qbr and less lately, I feel like last month or so, but not in this game. Not in this game. Yeah, and you to your point, he is the best when he comes to the short passing game. Right when it comes to a short passing game, he was. He's at the top of

the league. Absolutely heckling. But guess what, something's changed, and all of a sudden, now we don't have Michael Gallop and teams start building their confidence. When you have your twenty million dollar man out there at the receiver position and you're not getting him the ball, Guess well, we're no longer threatened by you. We're not threatened by you. If you're not gonna get a Mary Cooper the ball more than three or four times a game, I can

blitch you thirty times a game. You know why, because you're not gonna get the ball in his hands right now, as teams go forward, they don't have a Michael Gallop on the other side. Oh guess what. Oh even more so, we're gonna bring these dogs, and even more so, we're gonna put hands on you. The line of scrimmage CD has now become the name receiver for these guys, and that is a problem when defensive start approaching us. How much of an effect does that have on the run

game as well? Because we can't go away from this game and say forty five yards is gonna get it done? Nine carries for sixteen yards and along of six for Ezekiel Elliott's second worst game of his career. That's not gonna get it done. So, Isaiah, how much does the blitzing packages have to do with the fact that the run game has been bad too? Is huge? And I again, I say it all the time. Dak is not built to drop back and throw the ball forty plus times

a game. He's not built that way. He's not built. This offense isn't built that way. Can he do it? Yes? Are they going to be successful? Majority of the time. No, that's now. This team is still revolved around the running game. That is the identity of his team. I don't care how beat up the running game is. I don't care how how much Dak can throw the ball down the field. This team needs to run the ball. And when you blitz against the Dallas Cowboys, what is it known that

they do they abandon the run? They abandon the run. Do they have the personnel up front to batter you and get through that first line? They're moving two three layers of defenders down to one. You're saying that you can't find a scene. You can't find one scene to break through that and make them pay. That's what you do with a teams that blitch. You walk all those guys up to the line of scrimmage if you want to. And yes, you're gonna get us a couple of times.

You don't get us one, two, three times. But guess what in that second half, when you're dog tired and I still got Tyran Smith, and I still got a lay On Collins, and I still got Zack Martin over there, We're gonna get through this first layer. And guess what tp Zeke and Zeke was running hard. That's the healthies we've seen. Zeke, He's gonna bust out for twenty thirty forty plus yards and I bet you won't bring that

blitz again. That's the mentality you have to have. But that's not the response that teams are getting when they face the Dallas Cowboys. Keller Moore is saying, Oh, let's just hard to hold him up, and I hope that my officive line doesn't get a holding penalty. That's b s attack them. Heck, well, I mean I say it's on fire right now. Man, let's go. We just go let him, let him simmer over there, because they you're right, man, for real, Like, they didn't get to the second level

at all. And when they were pressing at the line of scrimmage, whether they bailed or stayed blessing, our offensive line didn't do a good job. And when they did, when we finally did get a break, guess what, there was a penalty that went with that. So um, you know there was Jeff's never any way to capture any momentum. Man, this is an ugly game, man, and they really can't make any excuses for it. But at the same time, man, the penalties really stopped a lot of the momentum offensively,

Uh that we had. Dak has to do a better job. Everybody has to be better. Uh the next time that we face a team like this, if this is going to be the measuring stick game that we need, uh, now it's gonna come down to you know, a winner takes all approach for the playoffs, and so we have to be better no matter what. Rob Yeah, for sure. The other thing too offensively is they didn't we heard about the fastball offense for a week straight and they

that tempo wasn't that tempo wasn't there. I mean, they got on the ball quick in the first drive, but after that, I didn't really see it. And I think part of it was they just they stalled out for the reasons you guys mentioned, And you know, the defense is on the field a ton and maybe you don't want to, you know, hanger defense out to dry as much because you know, if if you don't convert those drives,

then you're hurrying up for what you know. So I think that was something they got into against Washington that was very helpful for them that they weren't able to establish in this last game. But you're right. Heck like, they're looking at a situation now if you're looking big picture where you had the two seed. Now it's the situation where you very well, you have to win two road games to get to the super Bowl. And you know the way they played yesterday, that's gonna be a

tough that's a that's a tough task. They got to be more efficient. So we're five. Were five and three at home, now at six and two on the road. Hey, maybe it works out that way. Maybe that's what we should be doing. They've won three straight on the road, right, they're gonna play on the road this week. Let's see if they could get four straight on the road. So

all of that in tougue in cheek, of course. But when we come back, let's talk about the seating scenario and what's on the docket for the Cowboys moving into the final week the regular season. Can name move out of the fourth seed? They can. We'll tell you how when we come back on talking Cowboys. I want to use what the pros use. How about the official men's

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see what can do for you. See more, do more or on Talking Cowboys. Those are custom esselors for the U dub fam. How about that. That's the disgusted Auntie right there. That's the look she giving you. The damn oh no, the disgusted Auntie. Final segment here of talking Cowboys. Heck My Harrison, Isaiah stand back, Rob Phillips, Chris Beam, I'm Kyle Yeoman's Green Bay with their win last night over the Minnesota Vikings locking up the one seed in the NFC. So the one seed, the bye. It is

gone for everyone, including the Dallas Cowboy. Green Bay locked it up with their win dominant fashion thirty seven to ten over the Vikings on Sunday Night Football. So where does it line up for the Cowboys? Now? How can they get out of the four seed? Because right now, almost every scenario except for two, has them as the

four seed. Here's the two scenarios. If they want to be the two seed, Let's say they want to get up and have that chance at a second home game, and then also maybe play a team like Philadelphia, maybe a San Francisco, the seventh seed in the NFC in the first round. They would need the Panthers to beat the Buccaneers, the Seahawks to beat the Arizona Cardinals, and the forty nine ers to beat the Los Angeles Rams.

So every team that you were in the conversation with that's right around that twelve and four, eleven and five realm with you, you would need all three of those teams to lose, and of course the Cowboys to win their game on Sunday against the Eagles. You would need that to happen in order for the Cowboys to beat the two. So likelihood of that happening pretty slim, and

we would need a lot to happen there. But you're saying there's a che there is a chance, and they could also be the three seed if they wanted to, which would most likely pit them up against maybe a San Francisco or I don't even know who else could be the sixth seed, But they would need the Seahawks to still beat the Cardinals, the forty Niners to still beat the Rams, So basically, you need the NFC West to lose, and then if the Buccaneers beat the Panthers,

you would still be the three seed if that's the case. Of course, if you take advantage of the Eagles on Sundays, So there's a chance still for the Cowboys to be the two seed and to be the three seed, But there's only two scenarios where that works out, because any other win from the Rams or the Cardinals or the Buccaneers kind of throws that all out of whack. Rob Am I missing anything in terms of the playoffs scenarios? There No. What you're saying is they missed a huge

opportunity yesterday, a huge opportunity. Um, but yeah, a lot has to go right, and I guess that I brought it up earlier. Like what do you guys do in this situation? Do you just play everybody and try to go win the game and hope for help and try to stay sharp, or do you say, hey, Zeke, you've been playing up on a bang knee for since week three, why don't you take a rest for this game? Like? What how do you how do you approach it? If

you're Mike McCarthy, Isaiah, everybody got to play. Everybody's playing because the last thing you want to do is going to the playoffs with this as your last memory? What's this as your as your mojo? Should we say yeah baby, okay, we need we need some of that yeah baby to get on the field because the last this last game was not it, Washington, you're riding high. You were. We would have hoped that would have been your last game going into the playoffs, so that you can have the confidence.

But you have to play everybody now, and that's a situation that you've put yourself in. Seatings matter, freaking a seatings matter. That first round buy is absolutely everything, and that's that's gone now. So now you want to set yourself up to have the easiest road for a three game Winnie Street. What is or at least all you can control is the first game. But who can you

Who do you want to face that first week? It matters And a lot of people are gonna say, oh, you know, everybody's kind of equally yoked bs, They're not. You much rather play a San fran or much rather play a Philly than you ever want to play a freaking Tampa or La or any of those guys. So it matters. So you have to do what you can to control what you can because you have put yourself

where you're at. Back they have to they have to get you know, look that we talk about being a scene, we talk about the offense and where they are right now, no matter what they have to get some type of you know, continuity going again it fits against the Philadelphia Eagles, then fine, let's get it. We have to get it. You can't feel good about the way that the offense played. But then also Mike McCarthy his finger on the post

of this team. And if this is a situation where and look, you're going into the Philadelphia game with some with some injuries in places, and you may be able to wrest some guys, maybe this is the time to do it because you're already where you are. If it can't get any better than three or four, you're gonna be You're gonna play one of the teams that Isaiah just mentioned. So no matter what it's, you know, it's playoffs, and it's it's winner take all, you know, when to

go home. And that's that's the way that this team has to approach it. I'm looking at it as look, man, we gotta get our defense back on track. Um, we gotta get our defense back you know, sacking, getting getting turnovers. We were not able to do any of that. Well, we got one tack yesterday, but we were not able to create those turnovers. You know. Well, Jern curtse had won on his finger taps. But there are several situations like that where you want to see this defense play

a lot better. And like I opened up the show just basically saying, like, I don't believe in conspiracy theories. But at the same time, I didn't see the same defense out there, Isaiah, I didn't. I didn't see Dan Quinn attacking it the same way. But I did see the Philadelphia excuse me, the Cardinals picking up Blitzer is they did some great things also, So look it went both ways. But this defense, this offense, these guys have

got to get back and sing. Cast you a question. Hey, go ahead, If the Dallas Cowboys don't have a turnover, don't don't you know what I'm saying, don't force a turnover. Do you feel good about this team's ability to win games? I do? I do. And on the reason I feel like feel good about this because I think they do

so many other things. You can still get sacks, you know, pressures, they could they stop the run, and if they could clearly do that the last time that we saw the last time we saw Arizona Cardinals, man, they ran for two hundred and sixty five yards. You know, again, they still had. Well they have one D one hundred and twenty seven yards. So those are the things that I'm saying that you gotta get fixes on. You gotta fix that, And that's what going into that playoff game that I

want to see them fix. And hey, man, you're not guaranteed to get a turnover every game, you know, it's just when you get your opportunity used to get them New York call, don't do that. I think it does illustrate how complimentary this team has gotten, where the offense has been somewhat reliant on. Hey, these extra possessions, it's happened.

To answer your question, it's happened four times this season. Ye, no takeaways yesterday, Vegas on Thanksgiving loss, Denver loss, Minnesota, the Cooper Rush Show came down to the very end. So uh, that's been a huge part of them. Yeah, yeah, one and three, Yeah, one and three. So Rob, what would you do in that regard in terms of playing everybody, trying to get everybody back on track both sides of

the football, defense, offense doesn't matter. Would you play these guys and try and go for that second seed, third seed, or do you try and set yourself up for success and potentially most likely going to play in Arizona coming around on the wild card round. It's tough. I mean I I leaned towards Heck and Isaiah that I would play guys and try to stay sharp or get sharp going in, because I think rust in the playoffs is

a real thing. I've seen it with the Cowboys in the past, even when they have been really sharp going in and had the top seed. So I think that it's a long time off when you're talking about sitting a bunch of guys. However, the thing that gives me pause beyond guys. You know, I mentioned Zeke Tyrant's been banged up. Now all of a sudden, it's a short week, So how do you treat that. You turn it around and now you're traveling on Friday to go play this game.

So I don't know that's what makes it a little different wrench in it for me. But but I do think there's value in getting out there and competing, and maybe it's not so much about the seeding but just trying to get back to playing your best football going into the playoffs. And Isaiah, what did you say last week whenever one of the biggest factors in Super Bowl runs. It's not necessarily the best team, but what kind of

team makes the Super Bowl runs? The team that's playing best at day and when the playoffs hit, the hottest team that was not it yesterday, not it yesterday. But if you get a win against Philadelphia, you turn around, you win this week, and then you go into the playoffs. You've still won five of your last six games going into the postseason, so you can still categorize that as Hey, maybe the Arizona game was the exception as opposed to

the reality, and hopefully that's the case. I think the Cowboys, I'm on your side. I would play everybody. Let's get a win, go six and o in the division, build some confidence, and then get going and for the playoffs, try and jump start this thing, because right now you might have that dead battery if you if you try and rely on that Arizona game a little bit too much. You need to get that jump start going, get those cables out, and that Philadelphia game is the way to

get it done. But that's gonna do it for us here on talking Cowboys. Be sure to tune in tomorrow. We're gonna take your questions either over the phone or on Twitter on Talking Tuesday, So we will answer your questions from Cowboys Nation what went wrong yesterday, and then we'll of course start looking ahead to the Philadelphia game here in Week eighteen of the NFL season for Chris Beam running this one for HECKM. Harrison, Isaiah Stanback, Rob

Phillips and Kyle Yeoman's We'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for joining us here on Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.