Talkin' Cowboys: Bigger Issue?

Alongside Cowboys inside a Rob Phillips are resident Super Bowl Champion Isaiah stand Back and the great sultry voice of heck Ma Harrison. I'm not supposed to say that one, right, I'm supposed to say professional football analyst heck Ma Harrison. Yes, I'm Kyle Yomen's. How's it going, everybody? That's good? What you were shaking your head right there? I'm not gonna do it today? No? What? Nope? What's that? No? We said overreaction Monday and I just started going, Nope, not

gonna overreact. That's a good thing. And you know, it's kind of a great place to be as Cowboys fans because we've gotten to sleep on it a little bit. We've gotten to kind of mellow out after the Thursday lost and marinate to the Yeah that that could be the other word you could use to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, But you're right. Overreaction Monday is a thing around the NFL.

We had over overreaction Friday. So this is a this is a reflection Monday where we still look back at the Tampa Bay game, but now we get a chance to look ahead, and unfortunately for the Cowboys, there's a lot of bumps on the road coming ahead and the form of injuries and the form of suspensions. And we will get into all of that coming up here in a little bit, but let's start things off by taking a look back at the Week one just in general, Cowboys, rest of the NFL, rob what stuck out to you

the most from the entire league? Either one I was. We talked about this on a text message last night, like, what's the thing? Isaiah had a great idea, what now that it's marinating, you've had a weekend to marinate, what stands out in your mind about Week one? And for me, it's defensively, how did they play? Was it? Was it good? Was it more like last year? You know, because I think if you want to tie it up into a nice little narrative, you could say it kind of felt

like twenty twenty. You know. Offensively, they did a lot of good things. They scored some points, they piled up yards. Red zone wasn't great. Special teams did some okay things, had some some mistakes there. And defensively they gave up touchdowns and they gave up a key drive at the end. But you know, going back and looking at it, I thought I thought it was better. I thought it was definitely better than what we saw last year. You know, if you look at what they did in the second

half of that game. Yes, they gave up the field goal late, but Tampa Bay had five drives. It was a punt, touchdown, punt, fumble, field goal. That's better. That's better against the Tom Brady defense. So I'm more encouraged after spending the weekend marinating. As Isaiah would say, after the weekend, and not much has changed for me. I'm still concerned on the offensive side of the ball, in

terms of our ability to throw the ball downfield. I'm still concerned about Dak and his confidence in his shoulder, whether that's mental, whether that's physical. Either way, it had an effect over our ability to throw the ball down the field. So we got to figure that out because I don't believe that we'll be successful as we'd like to be if we can't have those big plays over the top and we have the receivers to do it minus one obviously right now, but we have to be

able to have those big plays down the field. Defensively, I love the way we flied, we were flying around, but we have to be able to cover man because that's what's going to be asked of them. They're going to be asked to cover, to play man coverage. And we have another tall task coming up this week on the outside with some guys are actually a little bit bigger overall, and then special teams dog on it. Man. We can't we can't keep giving up returns like this.

We have to get stout on that side of on that side of things, that's a third of the game. And I think if anybody never thought about it in their regard, I think people as probably more starting the forefront of their minds now, that is a very important aspect of the game. They don't just let it be something that you write off and think that your second

stringers just go and play special teams. That is a very impactful portion and it's something that we have to dominate if we want to be in position to win ball games. Well, I mean, I got I gotta what four good days asleep and still woke up with the same worries. But some of them I think I've subsided

a little bit. Really, it was good to see Trey Von Diggs actually dominate a top tier wide receiver and seeing him take those steps, I think everybody in Cowboys Nation, can you know, kind of rest your head on the fact that we have that cute that's quarterback one. Now, will he travel? Will some of those things happen? Because you know, if you can do that in your defense, that really allows Quinn to be very creative with what

he does. But man also bones fossil the special team was I think that's one of the things that it's going to come back to revisit and bite you again because you're gonna have to be able to cover special teams the way that Mickens was able to get them in favorable field position. I think that's you cannot do that and bones Fossil as a coach. I think we've

made so much of him and what he's done. I think you have to come back and revisit that, especially when the special team group has the words that they have. But Kella Moore's offense, I mean, after watching so much football this weekend, I just recognized that football has changed. It's a passing league. We watched NFL yesterday and not a whole bunch of runs. I mean the running backs. I'm talking about running backs, yeah are It's being cut out and there's just throwing it all over the park.

And I think the Booe Eagles were the only team to actually have a running back with twenty five plus Russians. And I could be wrong in that. I'm sure they're gonna fact check me. Still, I just feel like the whole league is changing. And you know, look, I do not doubt that Kelly Moore is going to end up being a head coach in the NFL or at some point, but just man, I think that this offense was in the college, it would be explosive. I would want to

play in this kind of offense. Because he's starting it all over, but defensively, just the last thing is, you know, look they still put up thirty points, and it's kind of hard to say, you know, look that was there's marked improvements, but at the same time, there was thirty points put up against the defense. But there are some things that you can hang your hat on and it's probably at the front line that you feel good about. No, I completely agree with you. And by the way, in

terms of in terms of rushing around the league. In the AFC, there were only three one hundred yard rushers and there are three guys that you wouldn't have expect expected Joe Mixon, Melvin Gorman, Gordon and then Damien Harris. And the NFC there are only two and that was Elijah Mitchell and David Montgomery. So not a lot of running backs had success Week one. So you're right, if that's what you're basing the success of this offfense on,

maybe think again, don't necessarily think that's the case. But I want to kind of go back the other direction. Now, if you had to rank the three UNIX units offense, defense special teams from last Thursday, what would you rank them? One through three? One through three? That's tough. I'll go if you want, I'll go offense, defense, special teams. Okay, you know, special teams. I think we've talked about it whole body of work last year, probably the best unit

they had butcher on Thursday, most consistent, most consistent. But on Thursday night they gave up a big kickoff return, a couple penalties, and multiple punt right. Yeah. Yeah, and Greg's airline missed two big kicks or you know, an extra point and field goal that costs them the game. So three kicks when you think about it, so two field goal attempts. So you know that was that was a tough night for the special teams. Yeah, I agree with rot pe E exactly, an order I was going

to utilize. UM. I think offense stepped up. Even though we didn't take advantage of some of the opportunities we had, we still were pretty consistent for the most part. We abandoned the run when we just talked about that. UM. Defensively, Uh, these guys they're flying around. I think we talked about it last week in terms of us actually having a culture. Now we have an identity. So that's something we've talked

about extensively over the past, you know, summer. So that's encouraging to see, but again we have to man up. We got we gotta be getting these guys facing guards some dudes, and it's hard in this league. But guess what, that's what you got and that's what you're paid to do. And then Special Teams, I mean, shoot, I mean that's just effort. That's really just effort. I mean, I don't I don't believe that coach Fossil was drawing up plays

that put us at a disadvantage of Special Teams. So it really just comes down to executing and and understand its film study, right, understanding what are these teams trying to do? Now? Obviously week one, it's kind of hard to do film study because you don't know what the heck they're gonna do. But as as a Special Teams player, you have to be high alert, you have to communicate. UM,

it takes a lot Special Teams. It's probably more demanding um mentally than offensive defense, to be honest with you, because you have to be aware of so much. You have to be aware of the other guys around you, and there's their schemes directly against you. UM. Depending off your impact putting a player tackler, disruptor or things of that nature. So there's a lot more moving parts and you have to be a lot more versatile as a

player if you're playing special teams. And you know, you have to also think about Noah Brown's absence, absolutely and maybe you know that that wasn't this don't want to magnify that, but again it may have been something that made a difference on special teams as well. But one, two, and three being offense defensive special teams, I think is just makes sense. And yeah, you hope the kicking situation does not carry over. No, I don't think so, man. I mean I don't think so either. But I mean

we've seen it here where it's snowballs. You know, if a guy has a bad game, and but I don't know if they've had they the last time they had a kicker this accomplished it was it was Dan Bailey. We saw it eventually with Dan Bailey. A lot of stuff's mental, But I'm chalking it up to Russ. Yeah. Remember, yeah,

the last kick was was dead center. And but you know, Jerry on the fan, he was talking about how we probably were kidding ourselves to think that you know, he's not gonna kick basically all preseason until the last game he gets one field goal attempt in there, and he was just gonna beat Greg's airline all but admitted that that was on the coaches pretty much. Jerry pretty much

says everything. Yeah, just a tiny bit actually saying that, Yeah, totally. Yeah, And you're trusting you're trusting John Fossil's relationship that the history coaching Greg's airline. I don't think it's going to be a problem over the course, but I think they're playing a good team this Sunday. So you hope it doesn't come down to a kick or two here like it down Thursday night. But you've got to you've got to depend on this guy that if it does come down to a kick or two, that he can actually

do it for you. Yeah. I have him, Yeah, yeah, I mean before Thursday night. I tweeted this out on Friday, but him as the Cowboys kicker before Thursday, kicks inside forty yards, he was nineteen of nineteen kicks inside fifty yards, he was thirty one of thirty two, so six of the seven kicks he missed last year were beyond fifty yards. Which are hit or miss regardless. I'm sure you would like him to hit it because his nickname is Greg the Leg, but you want him to be more automatic.

I mean, that was the problem prior to Greg Zirline was the automatic side of things between thirty and fifty yards that if you're in field goal range quote unquote field goal range, that you're gonna make it. And he didn't do that on Thursday. That was the Brett Maher thing. If Brett Maher kicks from fifty five two years ago, you're like, man, that was a great kick, and then it's thirty five and you're like, you're holding your breath.

You know, that's not Greg's Airline's history. So that's definitely yeah. So I think we're I think we'll feel a little bit more comfortable about Greg Zirline than Brett Maher. So we've got a couple guys out, which one do we want to start with. We're gonna start with a wide receiver or the offensive tackle because both of them are big. I think we're gonna start with the offensive tackle and we're gonna go into that. Well, we'll take this into the second segment as well. But Rob Lyle Collins now

suspended five games by the NFL for substance abuse. Yes, infractions is the best way to say it. Their violation of the policy. There you go. So he is unable to return until after the week's sixth game against New England. Correct, he'll be Yeah, he'll be ready to get back into everything the monday after. Goodness gracious, So out five weeks you don't have your right tackle who you didn't have all of twenty twenty, and we saw exactly how that

panned out. What's the biggest thing on your mind now about not having Lyle Collins best five is that It's kind of why I wanted to ask it that way, is are we going basketball here? Like? Is it? How are they gonna how are they gonna address this thing? And I'm curious what you guys think because I've kind of been saying it, but I don't know if Mike McCarthy's actually gonna do what he finally did last year,

and that's change out two spots. Well, my question is how soon did the team know that there was a suspension coming down? I mean, I think that they knew right right, and yeah, if they just a little bit, you know, I don't think they were blindsided by it. And you know, when you look at the fifty three, what they what they ultimately did, maybe it wasn't a

coincidence that they kept Tiniseki and Terrence Steele. I didn't think much of it because you know, Terrence Steele is kind of the developmental young guy and ni sekis the experienced guy. But they did keep some extra depth there. Yeah, I mean, that's that's my thing about Layl is when did they find out Um? And you know, were there any additional moves on the table to cover the team? Tiniscki in the in the preseason has just looked slow

to me. Um, but he's a little bit better than than Steel and that's really not saying a whole lot. And you say that, but you think about Dak and his development and what he did last week and going into this game this week, Well, you got a boast a brother on the other side of you that's going to become and and you're gonna well, I think the one thing you have to do is get him help, right, But you know that this guy is going to be directly in Dak's vision, So how do they make that work?

And when you talk about best five. I felt like the offense got flowing so much better in the running game once we converted Zach Martin out to tackle. But based off of everything that I'm here and Zach doesn't want to go out to tackle, so which would be I guess after seeing McGovern last week, you would think, Okay, put mcgovernor at right tackle, Zach out to you excuse me,

mc goovernor at right guard, Zach out to right tackle. Um, you know, let's just see how these things developed, because obviously, if you get down by too much in this this second game, or you know, it carries over to the next week versus Philadelphia, you're gonna have to make some moves to shore up the offensive line because right now, I don't think there's a lot of confidence there. I

don't like it. I don't like it at all, you know, and I want to I almost want to say, hey, let's just use Martin as you would use a corner right so, you know, just the same way we're saying, hey, tray Bard, you might have to you might have to follow,

you know, the best receiver around. You know, you know, Zach, you might we might have to put you at guard one day and put you out right tackle the next you know, just just based upon the biggest threat, and obviously going into this week, the biggest threat is dog on the bussa boy. Yeah, right, and and he already has a sack in the forest fumble, so we might want to consider putting him out there, even though that's

not really where he wants to be. We know he's a team player, we know he's one of the best guards ever. But where do we need you most tackle? And I think that's where what we might have to do. That's the approach I would take. But my name is not coach Field. That's where I'm at, man like. And you know, you say he's a team player, he'll do whatever needs to be done. But you know, I get

the hesitancy because you don't. There's no position that relies more on chemistry than the line, and so you're switching out three of the five spots that that chicks. Yeah it does, um And I know somebody threw out to us in the mail back today, watch put Connor Williams at at at right tackle and keep Zach at right guard, keep him happy, and then Connor McGovern, they've said, is

much better more more comfortable at right guard. So the question is, did he play well enough to make you feel like, well, best five, Let's keep him in the lineup and and kick maybe kick Zack out the right tackle. Mike just seems hesitant and publicly to do that. I mean, he said even Friday, like, I'd like to continue doing what, you know, working with the guys we've been working at tackle.

So I don't I don't foresee us doing it. That's I think that's what we're all suggesting, and I think that's what we will all do, But I don't foresee us doing it, especially after this first game, seeing how much too tight we used. We used a lot of too tight, a lot of twelve personnel, and I think that we had to and I think we're gonna have to again, you know what I'm saying. I mean, I

think you're gonna have to again. You know, I'm putting up having a tight end, you know, with his hand in the ground, and another tight end in the wing set um, you know, right in his hip pocket, just to kind of disturb, you know, and disrupt what Bosa is gonna try to do to us. I mean, because he's a beast, you know, even I mean, even even if Lyol was playing, he still would have had his hands full with dog On Bosa. But I think you trust Lyle much more than you ever. Yeah, no, no,

not even. And this is and I'm saying that's obvious that I'm saying that. But also I think it limits Ezekiel Elliott also in our offense again, because he's gonna have to stay at home, he's gonna have to chip on Bosa basically stay stay home to protect dak So from somebody who's been in contract negotiations and a locker room and switched positions back and forth. How much is it kind of a taboo thing to switch a position

like that? Even as simple as it is to say, hey, let's swing Zack Martin out the tackle, it's not that easy from a contract standpoint. I mean, Zach Martin in terms of average salary per year, it's the fourth highest paid guard in the league with fourteen million a year, fourth highest paid guard in the league. If you would have switched permanently the tackle and that would be the same contract, he'd be twenty first in terms of highest paid tackles in the league. So you think about the

contract disparity. You saw it with Peters in Philadelphia a couple of years ago when he made the permanent switched to tackle. He said, give my money, where's my money? I'm playing tackle now, more demanding role. So I know what's for five weeks and a lot of the times there's there's coaches having conversations and saying, hey, we need you to do what's best for the team. Sure, but with this guy like Zach Martin, with the pedigree that he has and the value that he obviously has for

your organization, is it worth disgruntling him from that? It's a it's a great point. And maybe just maybe you're just going to have a big maybe question mark big. Maybe we did free up a lot of cap space here over the past few weeks, so being that they might have known this is coming down, being that you just brought that point up, maybe they created us in space to be able to give him a little to give a little love tap because they knew that they

might have to make this move. That's a big maybe. Yeah. But there there is money there should we have to, you know, take care of that. I mean, you bring up a good point, Kyle, and just going from where he is pay scale wise going out and you would now be the twenty first guy. And this is a temporary situation. And just like Zach Misson last week, we realized it was a temporary situation. So him coming back, we all were like, yes, and then we get the

noodles of Layelle. No, we don't want to have to deal with this weekend and week out. I'm just speaking from a stand point of Once he did make the move to tackle, our running games seemed to flourish a little bit more. We were able to do a lot more with him in that position, as Terrence Steele just pretty much gave us no option with getting a tight end out and into coverage or doing any of that because he was so much of a looked at as

a liability. Um. And you just again, each and every week, there's going to be a guy across from him that's gonna be bonafide and it's gonna limit if we continue this, then it's gonna limit our offense for the next five weeks. I'm just curious, what's what's Lyle's base salary this year fourteen? And Zax is how much? Oh so you're sorry? I was saying zax. That was Zax. I'll get to Lyles here in a second. So right, yeah, I'm sure it's probably bigger than what Lyle's getting paid. So heck, what

would you do? Would you want your your your difference in pay? Chris said it was ten, So yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, well, if I'm taking on a larger role and everybody, I mean, obviously this is a league where everybody looks at how much I'm getting paid. The guy on another the team is getting paid. There're gonna move me out to tackle. I want to get paid like tackles um. But obviously they're going to pitch it

to him as a it's a bend Aid thing. And then there's an agent that's gonna call and say, oh, can you pay for the bend Aid money? Yeah, if we get that, man, I don't really I don't see that really. But but the thing that stands out to me is like it's a sucky situation for Lyle Collins. I mean, he didn't play all of last year. He gets this next singer that costs him the end of training camp, he plays one game, and now he's coming back midseason. So it's like a year and a half

of football, but it's time comes back. Do we have clarity on what actually happened. I'm hearing all kinds of things. I'm hearing the heel he did not take the test and therefore he received this penalty. Those are the reports, Yeah, the Cowboys. It's all confidential. Yeah, and there's steps within the program that as far as I know. But Mike McCarthy did not want to discuss it. I mean, he seemed like he's a little angry. Yeah, he called it awkward timing, which is it's a great question, like did

that mean they didn't know? And I think they knew something was to him? Yeah, I think. I mean, you think of all the years that we've heard about Gregory, it's always if that's something came down, It came down before the season. And so obviously we're gonna miss Zack Martin. Thank god we didn't have to go without our whole right side. That would have been complete disaster last week.

But just Mike, my question is, you know how far in advanced that they know and was Leall actually playing and with Zach being out did that factor in two? I mean, stranger things have happened in the NFL, right, You know, did did Jerry make a call? Jerry might have made a call. I think you would have made a bigger call if you could have. You gotta make a call. You gotta make a call and say, hey, look, manya, I can't do it like this. Just give me the

first game. Just give me the first time. What you want him after days? But I needed the first guy. I'm just saying. I mean, the way that this happened, it's really kind of weird and awkward. So I think that's probably what's throwing Mike McCarthy off. And then there's all this stuff about him appealing and lawyers being involved in all of that. So I don't think that they just found this out. Yeah, and I'm sure we're probably not going to hear the end of it for quite

some time either. I think it's gonna be a little bit of time before this thing really goes away, and we'll see how it goes. But when we come back, you're on Talking Cowboys, we are going to discuss how not only to replace Lio' collins some more, but we're gonna talk about Michael Gallup, what do we do without MG on the outside. When we come back to Talking Cowboys, presented by Tostitos Sonny Big News. Gary, Are you okay? Oh?

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drinking water out of a can? It hit your lips, It's so good. I'm sorry, what was that again? It's so good when it touch your lips, then it actually is quite refreshed to Okay, one, We've got a couple of questions to answer here, and then we're gonna take calls for the rest of the show. How does that sound, gentleman? All right, yes, sir, yeah, taking some calls. Okay. So Michael Gallop out for what could be multiple weeks. Haven't actually had a designation on how long the injury was.

There was reports out there that it was three to five weeks. I don't know if that's necessarily the case, Rob, can you clarify that. I think that's pretty accurate. Okay, it's gonna be. I think he's a candidate for i R. I don't know if they're actually gonna do it. It's three weeks, three weeks if they do, it's he'd be back in three weeks minimum, So it's not for the season. So you're saying that we're gonna be without Gallop, Brown and Turner. Yeah, well Brown, Noah should be back maybe

this week. No is back. No is back. He just was inactive ye last week. Um, And I don't know that they're gonna put Gallop on it. I just think that's an option. It is like he's gonna be out for a month. Why not, you know, open up a roster spot. And it was an ankle injury specified after the in the second half of that loss to Tampa Bay last week. So Nobe he didn't have a split in this contract. Yeah, I don't know if he did or not. That's that's the stuff people don't know about.

That's that's these new rules they mess with guys contracts because if you go on IR and you had to split in your contract, that means if you ever go on IR, you get a percentage of what your salary is. Oh that that's absolutely so. Oh it definitely sucks. So I know some people's money. Yeah, I know. I got put on IR like one week before the end of the season when I was one of my times here

in Dallas, and it cuts your for my split. I think I was down to a thirty percent split, So thirty percent of what I was supposed to make when you're on ir W oh yeah. So it's not just oh, he just goes on I R for a minute. He'll be back. Guys are like, no, no, no, no, I could play a little bit faster. I got this. I'm ready to go. Guys, Okay, But who is ready to go In terms of the wide receiver position, Isaiah Brown, nor Brown and nor Brown, I think that I think,

I mean said Will is already playing. I mean, he played a lot last game, so he's definitely he's thrown in there. He's a number three right off the bat. But then nor Brown comes in at number four and he helped you immediately on special teams. Simmy for Hoka was active last week, but I think he only played on maybe two special teams. So I think, as we talked about before, this is his working resume right now,

this is his extended period for his preseason. I think they're seeing what he can do, and I think by the time Malik Turner is ready to come back, they're gonna make a decision on Hey, Simmy, have you done enough? So? I mean, I'm pretty sure he'll be active again, but he's gonna have to make an impact and not just be a guy on special teams. So you said this is giving him rope. Basically, this is the giving rope period, you know. I think I love what you said, and

I agree. I think a lot of people don't understand that this isn't just a three wide receiver thing here in Dallas. More uses everybody and you saw that with the way that he used Wilson. But I think Noah Brown impact not only, like I said, special teams, but also on offense. I think he does a lot of good things in those intermediate routes, and I think Dak

trusts him and he's yes, and that's what Michael Gallot does. Also, the people don't mention that he's a better blocker than a lot of guys, and so it's going to be impactful for this team to have to try and deal without MG. But I think that man, I just this is that time that I wish Malik Turner was healthy because now he did so much in preseason, did so much in camp. But again, you have veteran guys already

here that's proven that they could do it. So Wilson, I think, is going to be the guy that really steps up, if you want to think in a positive manner. Only four receivers received any sort of snaps on Thursday, and that was the Big three and then Cedric Wilson. Wilson went three targets, three receptions, so he was able to make the catch on all three times the ball was thrown his way for twenty four yards on twenty

seven snaps total. So that's a positive thing is that even as were being used, you don't have to go further down the list and you have to That's a nice workload though for a number four receiver twenty snaps. Yeah, and that's not including special team snaps. It's a good point. So, I mean he probably had a fifty snap, you know,

sixty snap game. I mean, that's that's that's that's a great point because like he's a core guy, and especially didn't you hit a nice tackle, Especially when you're a core guy, you're on kickoff, kickoff return, punt punt return, And that's what I'm talking about. The point. I mean, you're like you're you're in there, I don't care where you're at on there, but you're you're in there having an impact some way, somehow, you know. And that's what

I'm talking about. Like terms of semi when I saw I think it was punt, when I saw a punt covers, I didn't see him on punt. I was like, Oh, that's not goode. Wilson had eight snaps on special teams as well, so so he was a you know, thirty five snap guy. That's that's a solid day now for

a four for number four receiver. I was just looking up the stats last year for Noah Brown in the five games that he played with Dak and then the six games for Cedric Wilson counting last week, and Noah Brown was seven of eight targets catches for eighty yards and Cedric was fifteen to twenty for one hundred and ninety and two touchdowns, both against Seattle. Like that that that is an underrated part of this offense. And I

know people wanted to cut both guys. Yeah, you find space for them that they have a nice rapport with Dak Prescott. Like I'm I think Michael Gopp's a fantastic young receiver. But like I feel better about this situation than Lyle Collins being out five in part because it may be less for Mike being out, and then you can use a lot of a lot more positions on offense. Not only is he can go in the slot, he

can also play a little bit of tight end. And know people don't like to hear that, but he can play a little and definitely make some blocks that are tight ends didn't make. So that's That's the other thing too, is that Kellen wants all the receivers to play every position, and Cedric Wilson can do that. When he first got here, That's the thing he kept telling me when I sat down with him one time, was I gotta learn every

position and so. And Mike didn't really play as many slot reps as maybe we thought he would based off a camp. I think he was mostly on the outside against Tampa Bay. But there's still that versatility there within the within the receiving corps, within the unit. But I still are they snake bit though? My god, you know, Friday after the game, it's like you can't even enjoy a moral victory. You know, you felt like you're still

doing You're feeling good despite the loss. It's only sixteen more weeks to go, right, Oh, that's an eternity fine way stuff, man, that's a tough that's a tough double blow. On Friday, before we go to the phone lines here, uh, you talked about slot reps. Cedric Wilson had the most slot reps on the team on Thursday, tied or actually tied with that, tied with Amari Cooper with twenty three.

Michael Gallipoli had four slot reps. Yeah, so that's actually kind of you think about just the natural plug and play there. Throw Ceedee Lamb outside, who had twenty two slot reps. Throw him outside. You got Cedric Wilson in the slot. You got some positivity. They're interesting because we had a lot of conversations about a guy up and his what he needs to do to become more versatile, right in terms of him being in the slot, and then all of a sudden, his first game out there's

like you just stay out there, Cedric, come on in. Well, I gotta ask you, you know, Amari Cooper did he like answer questions for you, like we've your toughness, all of those things. We're out running, Like he took over the game on Thursday and left no doubt. I mean we were I even we entertained the thought of who's the alpha doll in this trip? But Hard Cooper came out and just let it hang, no question. I mean, and I think he was. He put himself out there though,

right he walked to his own plank. He put it, he said, I consider myself to be the best receiver in the league. Whoa you say something like that. Yeah, you were on the Yeah, you were walking the plank. I mean you got to back that thing up. And so I think he put that pressure on himself intentionally. Thirteen receptions on seventeen targets one hundred and thirty nine yards. He was just on another level on Thursday. All right, let's go ahead and go to the phone lines. The

real Anthony from Florida on the line. What's on your mind? Hey guys, how y'all, guys, what's up? Let's go. We're gonna do it like this man. Everybody knows that me called him the last five years to any show. No, I'm number one with that. Dak is my dude. So I'm extremely happy with what he did. But I think you throw, you know, through too much and they put him in positions. Yea, I'm gonna tell you why. Here we go Jameis Winston. I think he had twenty attempts,

five touchdowns. Russell Wilson twenty three attempts, four touchdowns. Let me tell you something. That one guy that keep leaving out of everything saying he might have lost the step, this and that if you don't find better ways to get his zek Elliot dette Ball and the ones who are saying ZK got it no more lost the step. Let zeke go to another tune they will do the democuts with because I guarantee he'll go to a pro bowler the next two or three years and probably won

a Super Bowl. So get your man in the game. There's nothing wrong with throwing the ball for fifty eight times. Come on, man, let's focus on the run more. Let's let's final more opportunities to run the ball. And dan Quinn, everything he's brought to this team is gonna bring to the team with a few additions and then a few subtractors, probably make sure a couple of guys to be gone. I'm liking that. So I see the defense being able to help our team in the next two years or so.

In the last point, please Mike McCarthy stop listening to the bones Foster anything since he's got here to me, Germotic a good kicker. He missed, missed the feuds, But don't let a guy who just missed two kicks talk you into giving Tom Brady the ball. If you missed the sixty yards on the fifty yard line, come on, make you take them. Morality of tomb away. So Mike McCarty gotta have better coaches decisions. Let's putting much kick on. That's my man right there, get into game. I like

that a lot of things. Thanks so much for the call. And yeah, he hit a lot of great points there that a lot of Cowboys fans and I know the real Anthony is the realist Cowboys fan out. Oh yeah, but he hit a ton of points there that are just kind of rattling through the brain. He said about Dak Prescott throwing too much, which I can't disagree with.

I know that was kind of a part of the game plan and what the defense gave them, as we talked about on Friday, but five of the six leading passers in Week one lost their games in Week one. I mean, I know a lot of that has to do with throwing the ball late and trying to get back into a game in yawda, YadA YadA, But I mean, you look at the numbers and that's exactly what it says right there. So what did you guys take away

from that call? And I think that jameis Winston. Uh, the analogy is kind of misleading because he only had one hundred and fifty yards to pass it with five touchdowns, which is crazy efficiency efficient. Yeah, this is a crazy stat though in itself. But you know, I think that's what that's why we opened up with. I think that's just where the league is going. And I think for people that don't understand that mind state, it's kind of troubling.

And we abandoned the run in the first quarter. We was tied seven seven and we just quit And yeah, boy, and a lot of times when people do that, when you see teams um stop running, it's because they're behind by a lot. It was just the game plan. That's just what we were going to do. And obviously if it was for the protection with reasons, then okay, that makes sense, but goodness, we completely abandon it and ship

I agree with him. I believe that we were. It was frustrating to me because we were running the ball effectively. I believe that we were when we went outside. Now we knew not to even try to go inside. When you were going outside, we were getting the good yardage. And you saw the improvement from Zeke. You saw his explosiveness. So yes, I agree, you have to find ways to get Zeke the ball even if he comes said the expense of throwing another you know, a swing route or

whatever it maybe swing screen. There's a lot of opportunities out there for screens. I don't know if anybody else saw that, but a lot of opportunities for swings just based upon leverage advantages and things of that nature. But you know, yeah, he's right. We gotta get We gotta get Zeke the ball. And everybody who wants to say that Zeke lost something, please, Zeke's gonna break out one of these games and everybody's gonna be like, why haven't

we been giving him the ball? Yeah? For sure? Like no, I like, but see that's we do that with Tony Pollar too. If we don't, if he doesn't get enough touches. And they tried to work him in and then now it's it's what you just said about the Zeke. It's like part of it is they have so many weapons, you know, But I agree with you fifty eight times is it's too much and and it wasn't just a pure product of playing from behind. They had the lead

or within a few points in the second half. I thought, Zeke, you're right. I thought he looked great. He looked kind of slippery, shifty Zeke we saw in preseason and limited snaps. But yeah, maybe more screens, maybe he's more off on the outside. I don't disagree with the game plan, Like I think the matchups were the matchups on the outside and their best bet was throwing. But you know, you

could get it more involved. Do you guys have any friends that you know that you hang out with this guy who's gonna get you in trouble, so you hang out a little bit less bows Fossil is that guy. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about that one we come back on the other side of the break your listing that's talking Cowboys presented by Toastitos. Why I'm Clint Tullison with you United Aggin Turf. Before you can park yourself in front of the game, park yourself in a

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For more information, you can visit at and T stadium dot com, slash Miller Lighthouse, Miller Lighthouse, Your tailgate just got jealous. Final five minutes here of talking cow Boys on overreaction Monday around the NFL. This is reflection Monday for the Dallas Cowboys. Is the Chargers are on the horizon. You chuckle a little bit there. No, I like the reflection one. That's good. It's different than overreaction. Yeah. Yeah,

it's a little less like angry, dramatic sounding. Sure, you know, and we'll say it with our chest on Friday and we'll do all of that. But yeah, I thought it would have be a nice mellow show today after what we had Friday. You guys made an impact on Friday. I thought I thought I should share that it was fun. I'm sorry for what? Why would you be sorry? You know? The Harrison family has adopted Isaiah and they feel because he's the giver of Christmas trees. All right, it's true,

and so everybody loves it. Was a nice Christmas tree. It was a very You didn't you didn't you did not? Yes, yes, should we bring that Christmas tree? And everybody knows Uncle's Day. And so when I said I didn't speak to Isaiah on Friday, my Kia says, Daddy, you gotta speak to and I'm like, I was just she watches the show. Oh boy, I love kid that yes show, you gotta speak to Gotta gets Christmas tree from my room. We'll get you one, baby, We'll get you there. You go

shout out to Kia in the entire Harrison family. Goodness, that's awesome. Okay, final three minutes bones fossil. You were making a point about him prior to the break anyway you want to elaborate on it a little, No, I just think that you know, we talked about it last week. You guys didn't think that the field goal at the

end of the second quarter was that impactful. I mean, you talk about Tom Brady and all the things that he does and you leave him with fifteen twenty seconds in a period like that, that could be disaster for you. Fortunately for us, they didn't have any time out and Tom didn't go into his TV twelve magic bag and sprinkle some pixie dust on us and score at the end of the first half. But that's what that's I mean,

that's your man, right, that's what he does. And so we left a lot out there, and it's just every game now has began to be an event of its own, like we got a watermelon kick, we got it's just just things that are starting to happen. And this is I think, this is just who Mike McCarthy is. I mean, we got a riverboat run. I don't know what nickname we're gonna give coach Mike. So right now, he's just he's just doing a lot of things within his scheme and dealing with time that I don't think that a

lot of NFL head coaches would do. And that's been his emo. He's been doing it for a while now, and at some point it's gonna catch up or it's gonna win him a championship. I feel like, you're good. I love that reference, but you're you're right. A good special teams unit needs to It doesn't have to even make plays, it just has to make like it just has to d Y Jr. Job. That's the best way

to saying. It's almost like an umpire in baseball. It's like you don't want to remember the umpire's name at the end of the baseball game, because that means they didn't do their job the right way. It's not glorious. You're you're glorified within the special team's room. You're glorified within your within your team because those guys understand the

impact that you have. Right when you go down there on kickoff and you tackle those guys within the inside the twenty yard line and your offense is coming, you know your your your defense is coming out there. You give you guys a high five like they understand how important it's. It's a thankless job. It's a thankless I mean, you know, on the outside it is right unless you have a big return or something like that. But interior wise, on the team, guys are respected because you understand how

much of an impact they have on the game. You don't field. The possession matters. It freaking matters. Now we start talking about somebody these quarterbacks were going up against. It matters, right, whether those guys get the ball inside the twenty five or whether they get the ball on the forty, it matters. It matters. You're saying, bones is like Jonah Hill and super Bad. Yes, do it, Mike is like Michael Sarah. Yeah, I mean it's um you

Sillo like Jimmy Brother another great movie. I don't like. I don't think Mike just you know, is hearing bones in his ear and just saying, oh, yeah, whatever, whatever you say. I think Mike is has a tendency to be aggressive too and take chance. Like Mike throughout his career, going on fourth down, he'll do that, you know. So I think they both have that kind of mentality. Um, they were so banged up last year that I think they they felt like they had to do some of

that smoke and mirror stuff. I don't. I don't and and but John is known for doing that no matter what. But I think maybe you can do it a little less this year than than last year. We'll see. But yeah, the kick before the halftime was surprising. The last play of the game. I mean, they ran a special team's play. They didn't put Dak out there for the FID you

see that. So I was a little surprised to talk about Michael Parsons snapped the ball, yeah yeah, and late Vanderesh was the up back and then who was the first one with the carry was a Pollard. Maybe I can't remember back it was. It was it was kind of Pollard was the quarterback. The quarterback. I guess from the distance they were from, they didn't think, you know, I don't want to stretch it with Dak's arm, but maybe not. But Dak man m I was surprised by that.

I was surprised by that. But hey, yeah, we'll talk a little bit about that tomorrow. But tomorrow we're gonna take a lot of fan calls because we've got an extra day of a show before we start previewing the Cowboys and the Chargers coming up later this week. So we're gonna take a lot of fan calls, have a ton of conversation tomorrow. But that's gonna do it for us here on this Monday edition of Talking Cowboys Special. Thanks to everybody who's stuck with us here over the

last forty five minutes. For Chris Beam in the Bank, Rob Phillips, Isaiah Stanback, Heck My Harrison, I'm Kyle Yeoman's We'll see you tomorrow. I'm Talking Cowboys Presented by Tostitos. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.