Talkin' Cowboys: Big Challenge On Defense

It's the Wednesday edition of Talking Cowboys as I'm line from inside the Ast WBC Mortgage Studios, and we're back and better than ever nine thirty every weekday morning as we preview the Atlanta Falcons and the Dallas Cowboys, a

Sunday afternoon matchup. It's Week two, Episode three. Isaiah stand Back, Rob Phillips, and the great Heck Harrison joining you as always, I'm Kyle Yeoman's and guys, it's it's Wednesday, and Isaiah, I've got a little bit of a bone to pick with you, my friend, because I was told, I was told by by you yourself, a former teammate of one certain Earl Thomas, that he would be a Dallas Cowboy by now, and that there would be movement on that front. And you know, I'm looking at the clock and I'm

seeing man, it's September sixteenth, it's a Wednesday. Where is Earl? Isaiah? Where is Earl? And I want to know why there's no Earl Thomas. Kyle. I have a response for you. Kyle's the heck of a question. And I had a feeling that it was coming, being that I have my crystal ball. At times I feel as if my crystal ball got a little murky, Right, he got a little murky, did it? And it got murky? It got murky in the form of of of of injuries this past week

that really took really took the helm. It really kind of took over, overshadowed what should have been all Pro Hall of Fame currently in his prime safety in the name of Earl Thomas, that should have been in addition

to this team yesterday. But because of the injuries at right tackle, because of the injuries at linebacker, because of our inability to stop the ball being ran up our throat, our inability to block the inside, I think that's become more of a president to address more than signing this current Hall of Fame player. Oh what happened? Was hppened? Yeah?

It kind of sounds like that a little bit. Uh, Yeah, so that's the I guess the big no news story of the day is that we are into the point where veterans contracts are no longer guaranteed for the remainder of the season. Unless priorly noted. But Earl Thomas is not a part of the Dallas Cowboys. Neither have the Cowboys really done a whole lot in terms of starting caliber players that have been brought in, but Rob there were plenty of moves made yesterday in terms of guys

being brought in off of other practice squads. The Cowboys were very active on waivers. Kind of run through some of those moves in what kind of impact they have in terms of the Cowboys this week. Yeah, I guess they didn't. They didn't make moves to fill starting positions, right, but they did because they talked about in house, and I guess they aren't doing that, but it's gonna be guys already on the roster of taking more snaps. Most likely.

They did address a couple of spots with some practice squad poachings, if you want to call it that, Alex Light offensive tackle off the Cardinals practice squad and linebacker Rashad Smith off Chicago's practice squad. He's a rookie free agent out of FAU and so you know. Also, oh, I forgot to mention Brandon Carr as we're talking about veteran DBS. He's on the fifty three man roster now I assume for the rest of the season unless something happens, and we'll see what his workload is going to be

this week. But hey, three open spots with three guys headed at two. I r not only Latent Vanderesh and Blake Jarwin, but Cam Irving as well with a spraying knee. So all three out for a minimum of three weeks. We know vander Esh is out for about six to eight. Jar went out for the season, and we'll see what happens with Cam Irving. But trying to get some tackle depth there as well. And I'm a little surprised they didn't go with you know, Francis Bernard maybe as a

call up from the practice squad. They go with Rashad Smith instead. Well, we only heard the last thing you said, and that was instead, so I'm sure I'm sure it was awesome. Oh man, Yeah, okay, all right, I just let me do a quick recap for you. Fellas. Alex light Rashad Smith, and Brandon Carr are your call ups, two poachings from the practice squad from Arizona and the Bears car gets called up three guys the ir Jarwin Vanderesh and Cam Irving for a minimum of three weeks

for Irving, so we'll see what happens. They're gonna have to fill some things in the house apparently with their starting spots, but they add some depth from other teams and Smith RASA. Smith is is a guy that I'm familiar with, and it sounded like to me rob he was someone that our scouts had targeted prior to the draft and obviously wanted to get him, but the Chicago Bears plucked him away from us, and to me, coming out of Florida Atlanta, he was a guy that would

fit perfectly into a three four scheme. So I'm really interested to see how he's going to fit into the Cowboys scheme. Yeah, I think he is somebody that's going to be interesting because you talk about the instead of you have excuse me, instead of having Francis Bernard, you go with him instead. That's the term that I'm kind of pointing at right now. Is the fact that you

still didn't call up Francis Bernard. I know that's what really the media and those who were watching training camp and everybody's kind at least relying on or at least that was the first thought that popped in our head. But Rob, why didn't they go with a guy like Francis Bernard? I guess maybe we just overestimated his training camp, you know, and maybe maybe we did in a few different spots as well, you know, in terms of how guys looked in practice, and then it didn't carry over

the game. I think they like him, but obviously, like as Hekma said, Smith's a guy that they liked coming out of school. And you look at his production in college. He's only about two hundred and twenty pounds, but he is a fly around, make plays guy. I think he had over three hundred tackles in college. So, you know, but it's gonna Kennie plays special teams, and how effective

is he on special teams? And if he's gonna be active, obviously they must feel good about that, Oh Rob, That is app sole fact, Old loot Lee the truth when it comes down to what they're doing at the linebacker because Francis Bernard would have to play a special team. So maybe that made the difference between going with him over Francis on It might have been the difference. And Isaiah, I know you're a guy who's who's played on special teams before, and is there really that kind of that battle.

I know, especially early in the weeks. We talk about it in training camp all the time, and we mentioned it in training camp, but whenever it comes into that first couple of weeks of the season, if you're a practice squad guy, you really got to up your special teams game, correct, absolutely, I mean special teams is huge.

I mean, I know we we spent a lot of energies talking about offensive defense, but uh, there's the other third of the game that's kind of important in terms of field, in terms of not only the scoring points, but just field it. You know, just just field a position right where where we're at on the field. You know,

a simple play such as a punt. You know, we saw it last week, you know where where the Cowboys were given some great field position because of because of their punter freaking boot at the ball doing there at the stadium. Um and and that those things matter and

then being able to cover on those plays matter. So if you're a you're a practice squad guy, I mean, you know you're going out there during your week of practice, you have an opportunity to show that guess what this starter, whoever else I'm facing in practice, you know they're not as good as I am in this regard, and you guys need to make some room for me. And hey, I will say this about Francis Bernard. Guys for the

second straight week. You know, you get to protect four or your practice squad guys from being you know, signed from another team. He's been protected two weeks in a row, so obviously they like him. But you know, I guess Smith really stood out to him as an option. One other note on Alex light the offensive tackle. He played for Mike McCarthy in twenty eighteen, So there's some familiarity there and some insurance there, I guess, depending on what

they do. Obviously you got Terrence Steele and you got Brandon Knight potentially as a tackle option. Two. Now I'm glad you mentioned that, Rob because you're talking about offensive tackle and you're mentioning the depth and the backup plan at least as Alex Light is concerned about this Cowboys offensive line, and really they were graded the third worst offensive performance from an offensive line by Pro Football Focus

in Week one. I have a couple of questions for you, guys, and you might be able to take this one way or the other way. You may agree or disagree. But I was kind of playing around with a depth chart this week, and I was looking at the Cowboys offensive line, and of course Connor Williams kind of struggled as a left guard this past week. He had the right guard spot. Of course, Zack Martin he's going to be he's locked

in Joe Looney a center. What would you think about potentially putting a Connor Williams back out at right tackle, which is really what he played throughout his career at Texas in college, and then throwing maybe a Joe Looney or a Connor McGovern at left guard, and then having Tyler Biattish play center or even a Connor McGovern play center. Is there any objection to that or what's what's so difficult about doing something of that kind of shifting around

on the offensive line. I sensed an objection from Isaiah. I want to hear in no disrespect. This is where just just our opinions, right, Um, however, you oh, how can I address it? Connor Williams, Yes, I'm being um. Unfortunately he had say so much of Unfortunately Connor Williams face arguably the best defensive alignment in the league, which he did this past week. Right, So that's that's we're gonna give him that benefit of the doubt. He got

ragged dog. He got disrespected. Zeke got disrespected, exact, Martin got disrespected, Looney got disrespected. Everybody got disrespected by this, by that gentleman. So we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna act like that didn't even happen. Um, But what what you're suggesting? Um, he got disrespected with help on both sides of him. Correct, he had a left tackle and he had a center. Correct, he had he had right. So we had big Smith on the left and we

had big Looney on his right. He still got ragged dog. So you're suggesting that we put him on an island in the NFC East conference where there are some dogs out there that we're gonna be facing. And I really want to kind of speak to the Washington Redskins maybe okay, and you want to put him on the island by himself to fin for himself where he can get rag dog and potentially have a straight line to your franchise quarterback.

Is that what you're suggesting. Well, the Cowboys don't play the Redskins until Week eight, and by that point I'm hoping that Lyle Collins is back at right tackle because I still think come back, I'm mostly talking about Atlanta Seattle. No, maybe I get it, Kyle, that was man, Kyle Yeoman's that's a great conversation piece. But no, I don't think that's gonna happen. I don't think that that's what you

want to do. And also with stell this, going back and watching the tape of steal Man like, he did a serviceable job. I know we're gonna talk about later possibly getting him some help with with tight ends to the right of him as well, but he didn't do as bad a job as making Connor Williams your right tackle and champ Like you said, Connor Williams won't have to go against ninety nine next week and the week thereafter. All right, that's a one time deal, hopefully into the playoffs.

But still, but still we understand how that is in and also the one thing about it is Looney is your veteran center. Hea. You gotta go with that. And I think that experience, especially with the abbreviated preseason and everything else, you just that that that's definitely gonna keep Mike McCarthy up at night with a rookie center. So I think this out of comfort right now. We just got to give it another week For Connor Williams. I

think he's gonna come around. We also have to mention that he came off of an ACL surgery also, that's true. That's true. But Kyle, I'm gonna throw you a raft here. Okay, your raft, you throw it. I kind of like it. I don't like it now. I don't think it's gonna happen. Now, I don't think. I don't think it's gonna happen. But I threw it out there yesterday as just an emergency option, you know, if things aren't going well or if there's

another injury at tackle. You know, Connor Williams played tackle in college basically, and I think his athleticism is a good fit out there if they needed to make a change. I don't think they will, and like you guys said, give him, you know, give him some time coming off the injury. Huge tough matchup, tough beyond a tough matchup in week one. But I do think they have some flexibility there also. I mean, if you had to really dig, dig deep in the bag, Zach Martin could go out

there too, So they have some flexibility there. I just don't know how they feel about how, you know, Connor McGovern and Tyler Biadaship come along so far in camp, if they're ready to step in and play starters snaps right now. I don't know about that. But obviously they felt like Karen Steele was, which came to surprise and everybody pretty much. Hey, Rob, just just because it's a life rapp doesn't mean they just inflated. So if you, Rob would would float me life and raft oh man,

that would That'd be the old man savage. But yeah, just trying to just grab on, I'll pull. It's got a roth attached to it. Uh yeah, I mean, I'm with you, Rob, I don't think it will happen. I just I was playing around with the depth chart and whenever you look at the past of both Looney and Williams. The fact that they've played those positions stuck out to me. I mean, Looney played the majority of the beginning of his career at guard, whereas you saw, like you said,

Connor Williams at Texas playing at a tackle role. And I think if you have two guys like McGovern, like be Oddish that could come in and play center, maybe not at the level of Joe Looney, but you sure up two other spots and sacrifice maybe a little bit of one. I think there's at least something to play around with here. I don't think it will happen. I don't really believe it it should happen, but it's just something to think about with this offensive line. If things

do go south, things go south. I would keep Looney he is at center. But it is interesting that when I think Connor Williams shoe fell off and for like one play in the game, Yeah, and it was it was be Honest that came out at left guard. That was interesting. That's interesting. Hey, Rob, you know you know

what else I saw. I saw that Beyondest was not ready to come in a game because by the time, by the time that Connor Williams got all the way to the sideline Beyondest was just getting his helmet, so I saw that as well. Oh man, you gotta stay ready, Yes, stay ready. Can't be ready, it's move the Wisconsin's center playing a little bit of left guard. That's probably why he wasn't ready because he was like, oh, I gotta go play left guard. Okay, uh, let's go ahead and

take our first break. Because like you guys were just talking about, Aaron Donald was a problem on Sunday. Tack McKinley could be a problem this upcoming Sunday. We're gonna preview the defense tomorrow. We've got the Atlanta offense versus the Cowboys defense when we returned here on Talking Cowboys since eighteen sixty five. Stats and hats are American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stepson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Want to

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that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor and Cream Soda. Is he a Newcombonelet's music to my ears? Okay, doctor time, music to my ears and mouths New Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Deliss to Talk in Cowboys. It's the second segment of the Wednesday edition of Talking Cowboys. Glad you're

with us. Kyle Yeoman's Heck Maharrison, Rob Phillips, and our residence Super Bowl champion Isaiah stand back as we get you ready for Falcons Week here at the Star in Frisco, as the Cowboys take on the oh and one Atlanta Falcons.

We're gonna preview the offense of this matchup. And when I'm mean offense, it's with a capital O from the Atlanta Falcons perspective, because they put up some numbers against a pretty stout Seattle defense on Sunday, even with Seattle getting the win, thirty eight to twenty five was the

final score of that one. Atlanta finished with the most offense in the NFC last week five hundred and six total yards, most in a season opening game by Atlanta since twenty fourteen when they had five to sixty eight against New Orleans. So the fact that Atlanta is firing on all cylinders, it really revolves around the passing game. Matt Ryan four hundred and fifty yards of passing through the air. Three count them, one, two, three, one hundred

yard receivers Russell Gauge. Then you had Calvin Ridley and then last week's NFL leading receiver Julio Jones. So guys, I know we had this conversation last week, Isaiah, and I'm looking at you. It's whiteouts versus Whiteouts again. We're gonna talk about the Atlanta Whiteouts today. We'll talk about the Cowboys versus their defense tomorrow. But this is another stout passing game, and it's one that even has a stout running game with Todd Gurley back there as well.

What do you think about the offense overall? Isaiah? I am nervous for all of Cowboys Nation because, like my statement I've made on Monday, which wasn't well received from Cowboys Nation, there's a real possibility now that we can go Oh and two reason being reason being this offense is probably one of the most talented offenses in the entire NFL. You have a veteran back in the form of some dude named Matt Ryan, a ka Mattie Ice. He gets the name Ice for a reason because he's

ice cold. And then you give him. You give him, in my opinion, the best receiver in the NFL, by the name of Julio Jones. You give him a secondary receiver by the name of Calvin Ridley who can blaze all day long. And then you bring in this dude named Russell Gage. Oh and by the way, there's a tight end that they have that they picked up in a trade who was a first round draft pick who is now on their team, named by the name of

Hayden Hurst. And then you get a dude who's been disrespected, who's probably the most angry running back in the NFL, by the name of Todd Gurley. This team is stacked. If last week's performance by them against Seattle didn't show everybody that these dudes are not to be mess with, they just happen to play a better Seattle team. Seattle is really good this year, but Matt Ryan still through for four hundred plus yards. They had three one hundred

yard receivers. Like you said, Kyle, these guys didn't just have one hundred yard receivers on hundred yard games like like it was just like big plays. These guys had nine receptions each, nine receptions each for one fifty seven, one thirty and two touchdowns and one hundred and fourteen yards. Fellas, bootstraps need to be strapped on because we're gonna for a ride this week. This secondary in trouble. Oh my god. Well, look to let me just say this two tis point

about the Atlanta Falcons. And look, guys, I don't know if no I should say this. Now there's a yes, the Christler three hundred looks a lot like a Rose Royce from a distance, but when you get right up on you realize this. So so they have a Rose Royce and they have a little Bentley on the side. But the other one man, that's that's the Christler three hundred. So you look, this is what I'm saying. The Atlanta

Falcons do. They do have a lot of weapons. And the Cowboys, if you go back to last week's tape, if we don't stop the screens those smoke routes, we're gonna be in trouble all season alone. So that's something that we're gonna have to fix anyway. And to mention Todd Gurley in that conversation, yeah, man, I mean play action. You're going to have to respect that heck out of

play action this week because of Todd Gurley. Last week, the Atlanta Falcons in that tall, sweet but girly my god, it was devastating to Seattle in the first half, but Seattle just started selling out to stop that. And that's exactly what Dallas's defense is going to have to do again. The our rookie tray Von Diggs last week, he looked phenomenal and I know he had the catches over him and they were in close waters and he was right there. But I know that that rookie is going to make

some adjustments that Cowboys secondary. They do have the word cut out for him. But at the same time, man Atlanta and all these nicknames, the natural Mattie Iceland, Man, he is somebody that will give you the ball. So he ain't his ice cold as they say he is. Say you call him lukewarm. Huh goodness, man, man, I don't know. I'd say this Falcon it's better than it's a luxury vehicle. Falcon's offense. Come on, now, it's pretty good. It's pretty talented all over the board, right, I mean, yeah,

that's what they say. That's what they say. I mean Todd Gurley, he was basically abandoned in la He goes to Atlanta, And you want me to believe that we're back at square one with Todd Gurley from three years ago. He has to show me that's all. Well, I'll tell you what. You guys covered the receivers and Hayden Herscher right, asaia athletic tight end. And I'm curious if Brandon Carr is active. Is that somebody that maybe that's a matchup, Maybe that's a matchup to watch. We saw Daryl World

come in and cover tight ends in week one. I'm looking at the running game to piggyback on what Heck said, because they established the run early against Seattle. I think at halftime Gurley was getting five yards a pop. They just felt fell behind and had had to throw. That's there's no way that that's as efficient as they wanted. They want to be more balanced than having to throw

fifty four times. Um So, so, how did the Cowboys stop that running game as well as the short passing game, as Heckma mentioned, And I'm just looking at that matchup up front between in the trenches because the Falcons have really tried to upgrade that offensive line. I think They've got three first round picks on their pro bowler at center with Alex Mack and m and another third round pick, so you know, I think they're improved there, and they needed to be, because I think I think Ryan was

sacked forty something times last couple of seasons. Can the Cowboys stop the run and force them into that one dimensional stuff? That's to me. I think they're gonna try to be balanced with Gurley and not go away from him like the Rams did at times last year. I think that's a fantastic point, Rob because when you look at matt Ryan and his stats last week, four hundred and fifty yards jumps off the stat sheet. It always will. That's an crazy number to put up, but you mentioned it.

He threw the ball fifty four times. That's tied for the second most attempts in a single game in Mattie ICE's career, which, by the way, I think it's crazy that he's already been playing since two thousand and eight. It feels like yesterday he was coming out of Boston College. But with that being said, it was the twelfth time that he's thrown for fifty or more passing attempts in a game. His record in those games three and nine.

So whenever you force them to abandon the run and you forced them to throw the football around, they're going to lose. They might lose. I don't want to say they're going to lose because they've won three of those games. And you look at the receivers, they're probably the best receivers Mattie Ice has had throughout his career. And I'm talking about Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, and then Russell Gage. Don't sleep on Russell Gauge. That guy's fantastic. I think

he's a guy who's undersung. It's kind of like how Michael Gallup was last year. Younger guys just twenty four years old out of LSU. This is a kid that is going to continue emerging and I think he's on that same track of what a Calvin Ridley was, maybe without the fan fair I mean, he was a sixth round pick. But this is a guy who is going to continue to improve. And he looked like a Lamborghini last week. He didn't look like no Chrysler three hundred.

And I think this whole offense holding Seattle was after they had gained the league. They were in pretty much a prevent defense. And so that's where you got a bunch of those yards from guys. I mean, I understand you look at the statue and make you go, oh my god, this guy's a stun But did you watch the film the narrative, absolutely, I know you want That's what I'm saying. You should have seen that Russell Gage

was not just going up against the prevent defense. This is so we're talking about when we're talking about Atlanta and their threat to Dallas. I realized if they have a treo, they have a trio wide receivers that can do damage. I see that clearly. But at the same time, if you make them abandoned and a great tight end and and if they abandoned the run, they're gonna have to throw. And like you just said, they're three and nine in those contests, and I'll take I'll take those

numbers right now. All I'm saying, look, basically, the Cowboys defense, they do have their work cutout for him. I'm not trying to undermine who the Atlanta Falcons are, but at the same time, I'm looking at their body of work. I'm looking at where they were last year. They started the season off two and six and dan Quinn's head was on the chopping block. So we have to remember that history if we're going to talk about future performance

and that what's coming up on Sunday at twelve. So I'm all things being considered, all things being considered, I'm telling you it is our responsibility to stop Girly and the guy that's only referred to by his first name. And I think we'll have this game in the bag. Yes, thank you, Kyle, I really appreciate Let me it's just me just my headphones here. Um heckma, heckma, heckma. I love you to death, sir. Um. However, you disrespected this

offense by calling them a Christ's last three hundred. Uh. I know we talked about bringing Brandon Carr up, and we and we keep saying things that are really common sense. Right, if you abandon the run, you have to pass obviously, right. Um. I think if anybody knows that Cowboys Nation knows that, right, we had to we got we got behind last year and what did we do, Oh, all of a sudden, we throw for all these you know, four thousand plus yards. Of course, you got to throw the ball around when

you're playing from behind. So that's why Maddie I s threw the ball over fifty times. Um, they don't want to do that. They want Matt Ryan to throw the ball about thirty to thirty five times a game. Why because they have that dude in the backfield that you guys seemingly I'm gonna say, you guys, but I know

Hecka has disrespected him already today on the show. UM, by the name of Todd Gurley, and by the way, Todd Gurley, the last twenty seventeen he has played against the Dallas Cowboys, I believe three times, and of those three times, he rushed for over one hundred yards two of those games. So he is a dog and he

likes playing against the Cowboys. And I think he's probably feeling disrespected not only by mister HECKM Harrison, but also by the rest of the NFL because he was disregarded and kicked out of LA as a disgruntled employee, and now he's here with an opportunity with Atlanta with a quarterback at the helm and other weapons, maybe arguably more weapons than even the Rams have on this team, and

he is going to do work. So if the Cowboys look anything like they looked last week on this defensive line against the run, there's going to be a problem. And if they do, if Mike Nolan does decide to bring pressure, he's caught in a little twenty twenty right, He's caught in between. He can't really blitz the way he wants to it he has historically, because you can't go man the man outside. You can't guard these guys man the man who are gonna who are you gonna

let guard Julio Jones man to man? So you can't blitz, and you can't sit back in the zone and play the way you played last week because you got the ball ran up your throat. So what do you do? So So every time, every week, everybody that we come against, are they gonna be king Kong every week? Because at the same time we are gonna be out there on the field with them as well. You're asking me on this question, I gave you an understannswer. I appreciate when

they come down to Julio. I'm watching out for Julio from the school, y'all. That's it now, Todd Gurley, he's gonna have to show me that he still has it because he didn't have it last year. Okay, so everybody else a six round draft pick. Calvin Ridley. I already told you the baby Bentley sitting next to the Rose Russ. I got respect for that. But at the same time, I'm looking at the same film you guys are looking at it. I have hope that our defense will make

those adjustments. And oh, by the way, we discovered this guy by the bay of Alvin Smith who is rocking and is one and a half sacks away from having fifty sacks, putting him in great company. H Look, Look, I don't know if ALDN. Smith will go to Canton, but what's the next town over from Canton? He at least got to go to that town, right, because I don't ever remember a guy playing in the first his

first game after a five year breaking having twelve tackles. Look, I know that this team is gonna show up next and look, I'm hoping that we show up next week, and we know who we have to stop. But I'm not gonna make Todd Gurley bigger than what I have to make him and say, oh my god, oh my god, Todd Gurley's coming to town. He didn't have it. Then, I'm telling you the Cowboys defense is gonna get stops this week. I'm a homer. Call me what you want to. I love it, and I love the passion, and I

love I respect every single point that you've made. And you mentioned that every week isn't going to be like this where you look on the other side and you say, oh oh, that's a matchup problem. But it was a matchup problem just past the first three games. That's the thing exactly it was. It was a matchup problem. Week one. We saw that the offense had their way. It was these little seven eight yard dinkin dunk under the secondary, really forcing the Cowboys defense to make a play in

the front seven. They didn't necessarily do that. This might be the opposite. This might be, Hey, we're gonna run the football and stuff it until we want to go along and we want to hit Julio the Lamborghini on the side of the field and find a way to

get him the football deep down the field. But Rob, whenever you talk about this Atlanta offense and you look at what the Cowboys have defensively, which position group, but real quickly before we go to break, which position group scares you the most from a Cowboys defensive perspective against this offense, this receiver. I mean, that's arguably the talented, most talented trio potentially. I mean, we talked about the

Cowboys Rams Bucks. I think you put the Falcons up there too, absolutely in that mix, But I do I got respect for Gurley, and I do think what we saw in week one that got to be able to stop the run. They got to be able to create some better third down situations for themselves. I went back and looked at it. Seventeen third downs for the Rams. They were only in third long three times, so they got to kind of do whatever they want. They were

constantly comfortable. So I think it starts with being able to control the line of scrimmage and try to get Matt Ryan, who's not the most mobile quarterback in third and lungs. And then Alvin Smith, who you're right, heck is a big time bright spot from week one. Then he can tee off then take and tee off Everson Griffin, and then you can get back to what you're doing, what you do well with your D line and rob and just because everybody's just forgetting what Gurley did, even

though they had to abandon the run. He was averaging four yards of pop last week against Seattle, better than that in the first half as well before Seattle really sold out to stop the run in the second half, which I was watching and Todd Gurley that I kind of expected to see, which is not prime tied Gurley, but it's still somebody who's gonna get you four or five yards of pop. He were still falls forward much like Zeke pairing the two, but they have that same

kind of running game, more of a side to side game for Gurley, and I don't think he's at the level of Zeke, but at the same time, he does present some of the same challenges to an imposing defense and he opens up the play action game, which is exactly what dan Quinn wants to do. With The Cowboys lead the all time series seventeen to eleven. The last meeting went in favor of the Cowboys twenty two to nineteen.

Back in twenty eighteen. However, Atlanta has had the best of the Cowboys in three of the last four meetings, so Cowboys looking to make it two in a row. On Sunday. We'll preview the defensive side of the football Deering tomorrow show. But when we come back, got some question marks for some more help on that offensive line for the Dallas Cowboys. We'll talk about if the tight ends could help out on the offensive tackles side when we return here on Talking Cowboys. I'm Jay Novacheck, former

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Cowboys and use the code word team JB. That's Get Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys, the Jack Black starter ten bucks free shipping to the Talking Cowboys. Back here with the final segment of Talking Cowboys. Glad you're with us on Dallas cowboys Com. It's the Wednesday edition as we're just a couple days away halfway through the week going into Falcon's week Here at the Star, Kyle Yeoman's heck My Harrison, Isaiah Standback and Cowboys insider Rob Phillips.

Rob Phillips, I just saw a tweet. There was a article you put up on Dallas Cowboys dot com looking at some of the bright spots from that lost a not so bright spot from Sunday's loss against the Ram. No more Blake Jarwin for the remainder of the season as tight end one has gone down, and that's unfortunate for him and for the Cowboys because this was supposed

to be the breakout here. This was supposed to be the year he finally got those snaps, finally got that opportunity to show what he's made of, got the extension, and in Game one he goes down. But now you kind of have to make some adjustments. And as we've got about seven minutes left in the show, guys, I want to talk about maybe having those tight ends play to their strength. In terms of Blake Bell and Dalton Schultz, their strengths are blocked. They're not necessarily the best receivers

in the tight end room. I think I would even throw maybe a cole Hiccottini up there in front of a couple of those guys, maybe on the off of the practice squad. But when you talk about blocking tight ends, Rob, these are two guys that could get the job done. Can we get these two to help out on the offensive tackle side? Should Terrence Steel need some help on

that offensive line? You know, you kind of sent a chill down my spine at the end of the last segment when you talked about the Falcons winning a couple of these games lately against the Cowboys, and I thought about twenty seventeen, Oh boy, twenty seventeen. How many times? How many times Dak's acted that game eight eight times for fifty yards nightmare game, the Chads Green game, por Chaz Green, and the same situation this week. I think they've got to be ready to give help to Terrence Steele.

And to your point, I think they did that. You know, I think they didn't wait to see how he fared one on one. They there were there was tight ends like Isaiah predicted it. They had tight ends in his hip pocket. They had two tight ends at times chipping away. And I think you're gonna see that. To your point, yeah, Blake Bell can do that and Blake Jarwin's I'm sorry, Blake Jarwins Dalton Schultzon can be an all around tight end.

I think he can help some of that too. Ecma. Yeah, I'm hoping that they get some help over there, and knowing what we want to do in the running game with Ezekiel Elliott is we're gonna have to get still some help. But again, when you go back and watch the tape, for everything that people are saying about still, it wasn't until the last pretty much drive that things

kind of fell apart for the young undrafted rookie. Other than that, I think we were able to go into our full you know, all of our all of our players that we wanted to call. We were able to do that even with the rookie out there. I think we're gonna have to go from twelve personnel. Fellas, I just think that you can't leave these guys on an island by themselves out there at tackle. Um, I don't. I think that you're going on what you still need

to get a tight end out. Um. I don't want to get a tight end out at the while while leaving that tackle on an island. So I think you need to have two tight ends in the game. Let one of them get out and in or out let one of them sit in and block. You probably won't see CD as much as you would like to, obviously being in twelve personnel. But I mean you have to protect the home right right, which is dak Um, and you need to lean on your strength, which is obviously

freaky Ezeki. So I think that their answer going forward, obviously not the entire game, but to establish themselves in this office and get the ball moving at these chains movement as twelve personnel, So twelve for protection for dak Or.

You said at least one of the tight ends go, So twelve personnel, right, So being that one one one one tight end is actually down in a three point stands, the other tight end is really in his hit pocket right, and one of those tight is being able to get off the ball and go round a route while the other one sitting there in a hit pocket at a

tackle protecting deck. So I think that you probably put Bail in and let Baill sit in there and be attached to that tackle, and you let Shows go out and run his little stick routes or whatever else you may need while you know, being able to initiate the run, initiate play action and get to get Gallop in and Cooper out and routes and Rob stuff that stuff that you I mean that you may have to do that just to compensate for h you know, protection is because

your best package is eleven, you know, And that's that's just the reality of it. I guess, yeah, And I kind of want to go off of the twelve personnel look and having Zeke in the ball game or Tony Pollard if you wanted to flip flop the two of them, and having that extra protection even in the passing game, you could have a Tony Pollard and Zeke be an extra blocker along with that extra tight end on the

edge of the line. But whenever Rob, whenever we were a training camp, and we were looking at the different at least scheme looks from the Cowboys. Twelve personnel was in the mix and and it was because of Blake Jarwin and Dalton Schultz. Do you expect Blake Bell to just come in and have some success in twelve personnel? Immediately? I'm with Isaiah. I think you're probably are gonna have to see more of it. I think, how many snaps did Blake Bell have in the game, like eight ything

like that? I was I was surprised that maybe he didn't he didn't be played as few as he did. Yeah, I mean, I'm with Isaiah on that. I think. I think ideally what the Cowboys did last year was eleven personnel most of the time with Randall Cobb, and I think that's still their best package. Obviously with Ceedee Lamb and I think he showed he showed some flashes of

exactly what he can be. But yeah, I think based on what they might have to do in certain situations, I think you're going to see more Blake Bell, and I think that's why they I think that's why they signed him. I mean, he was more of that utility type tight end for the Chiefs. Last year. A nice compliment to Kelsey, who's obviously ann elite pass catching tight end. Yeah, I think situationally, I'm fine with twelve personnel. But it all just goes to hell in a hand basket when

you say take take CD Lamb off the field. Right, So I want my weapons, all of my weapons on the field. But I understand where you're coming from, especially from a protection standpoint, But we're gonna have to play the percentages and rob again that you know, situational situational football, situational awareness and making sure that we get back the protection that he needs. But if you look at the drives from last week's game, you realize that the offense

we had it going. There were a couple drives that did sputter. But at the same time, look, we can't change what we were doing for especially for defense that didn't bring a lot to the table as far as sacks and things like that. Tack McKinley will be out there. They have a lot also at the front line. I can't think of the guy's name, but there they have a few defenders that we have to be aware of. But I don't I don't see us changing what we do and if we're talking twelve, what are the percentages

of playing twelve personnel? That's that's what I'm saying. As long as if it's take a ceede lamb off the field, I don't like it. That's fair. Yeah, And heck with the guy you were thinking of, Grady Jarrett is also in that mix, and when made the Pro Bowl, six six year veteran from Clemson j that's him, yep, and he's fantastic as well. That's gonna be a stout defensive line.

They had three sacks of Russell Wilson the other day and their loss on Sunday, so I think overall, the offensive line is gonna have another tough test, and I think if you can give some extra help. I know David Hellman is upstairs in the building or he's at home somewhere, and I know he's just cringing with the thought of twelve personnel because he hates it. But there's

just definite need for an extra blocker. Should there be some struggles on Sunday in terms of slowing down that defensive line, and I think there might be a couple of struggles, but that's gonna do it. Here for talking Cowboys on this Wednesday. Glad you've been with us here over the last forty five minutes, join us again tomorrow.

We're gonna flip the script. We're gonna talk about the Falcons defense versus the Cowboys offense as we preview both sides of the football each week here on Talking Cowboys. But for Rob Phillips, for heck Ma Harrison and Isaiah stand back, I'm Kyle Yeoman. Special thanks to Chris Beam in the back. We'll see you tomorrow on Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.