Talkin' Cowboys: Built For Playoffs?

chip and our favorite dip of Dallas Cowboys and Talking Cowboys. So, if you can't tell already, we are not in the SWBC studios at the Star in Frisco. Instead, we are back virtual as we are unavailable to be in the Star at least for the next couple of days. But we are still gonna bring you some Cowboys content and we are going to talk to the fans today. We've got some Twitter questions that we're gonna hit coming up

in the next twenty minutes or so. But we're back with the normal crew, Rob Phillips, Isaiah stand Back, heck Ma Harris, and I'm Kyle Yeoman's and gentlemen, that's different, but it's also it really similar to where we've been used to getting back to normal, but maybe not so much normal again for at least a couple of days. But Rob, glad to have you back, and I'm excited to hear what you had to say about the game yesterday. First of all, I'm the last time we did this,

Isaiah did not have those fancy bows heads. So I'm just I'm loving this look today. I'm loving it. Thank you, Thank you, Rob Okay, Yeah, finally get the bows. Yeah, it looks fantastic. As Jason Garrett would say back in the day, fantastic. Yes, I was not on the show yesterday. You guys did a fantastic job domination. I mean, y'all covered it yesterday. That was as dominant performance as I can remember covering in what fifteen years something like that.

Just it was almost a perfect game the way they played, as far as getting everybody involved offensively, defensively, the turnovers continue, special teams touchdown. It was an embarrassing loss for Washington, no question about it. And honestly, the way the defense is playing, I think you have to say this team as a Super Bowl contender right now. I know they haven't beaten some very good teams lately, and one is

coming up. But I would say the way that this slump has happened, if you want to call it for the Cowboys offense, maybe it was the best thing that ever happened to this Cowboys team. If maybe if we go down the stretch, because it's allowed the defense to raise its game and it kind of forced them to raise their game. And if you can get both units kind of on this level going into the playoffs, that's the teams they make it to the super Bowl. That was a jumping out of the cake by you, Robert.

I heard it. I don't have pasties at home, but yeah, man, hey everybody, Yeah, yeah, come on, you know what to do, Isaiah, do your thing. But everybody just listened to the show. Thumbs up, a thumbs down for Rob's beard. I personally love the beard look for Rob. I think it makes them, you know, as a little thuggish, ruggish to the p Island. Well, we both watched the old school Miami vice. Right, so I'm just going for Crockett really right now, is what

I'm doing for Crockett. Yeah, Crockett really didn't trim it up, you know, he just kind of let it go. Mind straight out of laziness right now. But yeah, maybe I'll keep it in trim it for you. We'll see that's a T shirt, Rob and you hit straight out of lazy, Straight out of lazy, Isaiah, how's everything going in your world? Of course? Now that you're bad, I get the crib and you got that? Uh is that cowboys in the background there again? Or are you get something different? We

got some cowboys back there. You know. I received that gift from one of my one of my clients. I was awesome, got my old my first touchdown with the boys and then uh Dallas Renegades when when I was working with them. So I've got a couple of things around here. But I'm about to change the officer of now that we have to be remote for a little bit, I'm about to change the officer of. My dad bought

me some some background stuff. I'm about to fix it up so I can get my get my uh you know, my haygman Harrison On not trying to look bootlegs, always got the always got the office ready, man, I'm from the c FOAM Capitol right now, you know, so you know I gotta get it, get it cracking. But guys, I mean, I want to go back to what Rob pe is talking about a super Bowl caliber defense, and I just want to know from you, Pete, how long did it take for you to gravitate towards this defense

looking like a super Bowl caliber defense. I think it's come to during this stretch where the offense has struggled. Obviously they if you wanted to call it a slump, that was they broke a slump Sunday. Fifty six points is just ridiculous. But yeah, I think you know, early in the season, probably the narrative and maybe it was true, was, you know, offensively, that's the strength they're dominant. The defense

succeeds when they're playing with a lead. They haven't had that luxury lately, and obviously they haven't played they haven't played playoffs super Bowl caliber quarterbacks. But they played Pat Mahomes a few weeks ago and did a hell of

a job. And these takeaways are could be the difference maker to me because you go back in history teams that had thirty plus forty takeaways, if they have a quarterback that is playoff, super Bowl caliber, who gets hot most of the time in the past, twenty years there's a team with that many takeaways that makes the Super Bowl because you've got a quarterback in an offense that

can capitalize on those extra possessions. Is that quarterback definitely was earlier in the season, showed it on Sunday, great test Sunday against Arizona. But if he gets hot, this this team's got is dangerous. I mean, there's no question about that. Now. You mentioned it early on, You kind of talked about the fact that the defense having to

raise their game to keep up with the offense. Do you feel like that's starting to kind of get to that that vice versa it's kind of starting to turn the tide a little bit because the defense did raise their game and they've done it consistently now for the last four or five weeks. In the of course, the four game win streaks certainly showing for it. But is it also now the offense with the pressure and the bet that Michael Parsons was talking about the touchdowns versus turnovers?

Is it now the offense is turned to try and turn that tide moving into the final two games of the regular season. Yeah, absolutely, honestly. You know, with that bet, if the defense wins that bet this team's in trouble, you know, seriously, I mean, you can't have an offense that's losing the turnover, takeaway slash touchdown battle against their own defense every week. And obviously they came out and

played really well. I think you know, Isaiah, it's been a part of Super Bowl championship teams, and I just think you can't win a Super Bowl if you've got one side of the ball really struggling. I think you've got to have look at Tampa Bay last year. It was so take a drink from home complimentary, like that's what Mike McCarthy's been saying for two years now. Sunday was the best example yet that we've seen of it.

And yes, that was an opponent that was struggling with COVID, with injuries, with schedule, Cowboys were more rested, more ready for that game. But I think they've been playing at a certain level defensively for a while and they're peaking in time for the playoffs. And that's exciting if you're a fan. And obviously it's exciting that the offense took

a step forward. To Isaiah, Yeah, I mean, ross point, you want to make sure that your offense is able to score points and as well as the defense is playing is a great of a job as you're doing in terms of you know, four some three and outs and ultimately getting turnovers. If your offense gets the ball and they can't score points, and it's really for nothing.

And as we talked about it in the past weeks, you know, the teams that we're going to have to face in the playoffs, all those teams can score points. So the reality is your defense can't stop those guys every single time. So you're gonna have to be able to come back their onslaught with your ability to score points. Heck, well, I just think that it's I think it's interesting full of the Cowboys. How you know, the offense and defense a kind of being pi against each other. But this

team in general is peeking at the right time. Pee. I just you know, the turnover, the turnovers for the defense, I think it's carrying this team. That momentum is starting to be the catalyst for the success that we're having. Just the way the aggressiveness, the turnovers, all of that.

I mean, it permeates through the whole team. And you could tell the offense is like, hey, we gotta get in on the act too, and it was good to see that the last game in and just knowing that this offense for the first I don't know, is it safe to say first seven weeks of the season was just clicking on all cylinders and then something happened, and whether it was the blueprint that came about the show

that look, this is how you need to play these guys. Obviously, teams are willing to die in cover two and Dak is having to find this way here. You can see it a little bit, and we talked about it yesterday, some of the throws that he was making. But you can't you can't understate how the defense is taking the

range right now and leaving this team through. And I don't think that there's anybody that's going to have a problem with saying that if we win a super Bowl, it's because the defense showed up and showed out and made this possible. So I'm not complaining. Whoever decides to take the lead on this thing to get us there, I'm all for it. I'm right there with real quick. Just to piggyback on the takeaways thing, I went back I wrote about this flat last week. Last twenty seasons

fifteen super bowls. Out of those twenty, there's been at least one team in the Super Bowl that had thirty plus takeaways, including Wow, Isaiah's Championship Giants team in twenty eleven. They had thirty one takeaways in that season, so did the Patriots. If you've got a really good quarterback to capitalize on that, history shows you can do this. So they are a dangerous team right now, no question about it. But again, hey, Arizona is the best team they will

have played since Kansas City. So hey, great test coming up. It is a great test, and we're gonna get to that quick coming up here in the next couple of moments. In order to do that, first, Rob, I want to hear some news and notes. We didn't get the news and notes yesterday, but we also got to hear from Mike McCarthy and some of the coordinators and also had some updates on a certain left tackle that might be available moving into the week. Oh, I got some news

and I got some notes for y'all. Let's start with Tyran Smith. Stephen Jones on the Fan yesterday said he was quote very optimistic about Tyran returning against Arizona, and uh, you know, I think he made some progress last week and they felt like they, you know, could could wait another week and they were able to get the job done without him. So Stephen talked like they were going to have him back provided he's got no setbacks during practice this week, so that's good news. The COVID list

continues to have some editions. Francis Bernard joins that list. He tested positive, Avante Collins and Brandon Smith from the practice squad where COVID list editions as well. So I count one two through four nine players currently sorry on the on the COVID list since last week, and Tristan Hill's part of that group too. He has not returned since being on there a week or two ago, so

still dealing with COVID throughout the league. The league had one hundred and six placements on the reserve list and now that's four hundred and seventy six on the list since December thirteenth, according to the NFL four hundred twenty eight of last season. So this is something the Cowboys

continue have to be mindful of. Everybody does, and it kind of goes back to what Dak said before last season where healthiest team wins, you know, injuries slash COVID and heckm I want to get your your thought process on the offensive line and the way that they played on Sunday night and the way that they kind of bottled up the defensive line from Washington and to a

certain extent frustrated the defensive line from Washington. And I say that a little tongue in cheek, of course because the pain and the Allen of course, but the way that that offensive line played, how exciting is it now moving into these final two games. The fact that Tyren Smith, should he remain off the COVID list, looks like he's going to be a part of it. Yeah, and you're right, I know you said that tongue in cheek, but man,

we was. We was bringing it to him so much so that they got in the fight themselves on their own hot benches with them. And that's just you know, I think, you know, obviously, Tyren Smith coming back is going to be very important. You want to see your Hall of Fame left tackle back in action. But as much criticism as coach Philbin has taken from the whole

swing tackle by committee approach, man, it worked. I mean, you didn't see a drop off from Niseki or still, but I really love the way that if you go back and watch that Washington take, they were giving them them countertrads. And that's how old Joe Gibbs back when they were called the Washington Redskins offense, that the counter trade was what they started and pulling guards and tackles. And it worked. And you saw Ezekiel Elliott a patient runner and pick up those gash yards in the last game.

But I think if you continue this, and as me and I have talked about it, how this running game can also catapult the passing game to where it needs to be. Play action was very important, and I think that was all because of the job that the offensive line what's doing. We have seen so many times that Beadish and Connor Williams or McGovern whichever one we were having problems over the left side, over the center with getting pressure up in Dak's face, didn't have to go

through that. Obviously, you're going to have a test this Sunday with the Arizona defense because they are all formidable and they have some guys that are going to come after him. So I really. Look, I'm with p on this, Like you know, you understand that you have a test coming on Sunday. Yeah, it's great to hear that Tyran

Smith is back man or possibly back. I mean simply because of the fact that you know what you have in that all pro left tackle, and as soon as he comes back, you automatically get all of your debt back right, you get all your guys go right back to sitting right behind him, and you have a sure thing, no question marks, and you guys can go out there

and continue to be dominant up front. You know, these guys did a great job and obviously and replacing him during that time where he's been gone, and hopefully that ends this week. But those guys are able to get movement up front, and by having that movement up front, you force the defensive line, the defensive front seven to now respect your running game. We only ran for one hundred and eight yards. It wasn't like we beat beat

the ground up, but they had to respect it. And by doing that, like next said, it opens up all of the threatening aspects of our passing game, which really comes off of the play action passes. And it was awesome to see and Terrence Steele, can can you know, go back to his true calling. Apparently that's playing wide receiver, you know, on the edge. The other thing too, and I know y'all covered this yesterday, was Dak scrambling like that is an element that you know, it's not by

design necessarily, but it does keep the defense honest. And that's as much as he's running. I feel like, I don't know if the stats board out, but as much as he's running weeks in the game and at least as good as he's looked while running in weeks, right, Isaiah, Yeah, it's almost like he just made the decision. I still feel like there was a little bit of hesitation, but he was like, man, screw it, I know I need to do this. I know this is gonna help us

move to chains. I notice is going to help our entire offense continue them, you know, put points up, so freak here I go, all right, and I'm not happy about it, but I'm doing it, you know. And he made it happen. And guess what they obviously the offense was the benefactors of it. Yeah, Dak's game has definitely changed. If you go back to twenty nineteen and dad got in trouble. If there was an extra five seven yards to pick up, four will go get it for you.

And this year we've seen that change, and I don't think anyone is blaming him for that. Right after seeing him go through that catastrophic injury last year, I think we all thought that that was gonna be a little bit of doubt in the back of his head on whether I should leave the pocket, you know, And and I'm with you, Isaiah, maybe it was just this game that he said, you know what, I'm done with that. I'm gonna put that behind me and I'm gonna go out here. And you saw him running for those first

down yards. But we're gonna need that that that Dak in the playoffs. We're gonna need the guy that leaves the pocket because I don't think that defenses are gonna change the way that they approached the Cowboys offense. I don't think, so go for it. A couple of weeks ago, I think it was two weeks ago, we did a segment of Pregame Live. There was about you know, the four quarters in getting in. One of the points I

made was getting Dak swagged back. Did you guys notice the difference in his whole just ambyance, his his confidence when he stepped on the field yesterday, two days ago. I'm gonna be honest with you, because he's the guy that's always leading the group before games. I haven't seen it. I just hadn't seen it the way that I think that you're noticing it. And you've been talking about this for weeks, confidence and things like that, so if you noticed it coming back, I just feel like he's a

supremely confident athlete. But you know, hey, maybe maybe this game it was like the light switch came on. He's like, look, I'm in my bag. I gotta get it. No, I think I think, yeah, heck, and I think there's probably something to that, maybe not just for Dak but the whole team. I think they were relieved to be back at home. You know, three straight road games that had

been at home since Thanksgiving. And look, you know, the stats and the record bear it out like they're a better football team, especially offensively when they're at at and T Stadium. That's why keep winning. Hope Green Bay trips up and there's a chance they're in this one seed and they're not going anywhere before possibly we'll see man, and you would feel so much better about them playing home games at at and T Stadium if at least

got one right now. But then if you get a buy and then in your next two, we're supposed to be at home if you want to keep winning. Oh, I feel so much better about that than having to go up to Lambeau and having McCarthy's return on the docket and so many different things like that. So that one seed is certainly on the docket moving forward. But when we come back, what is the strongest part of the Dallas Cowboys right now? What position group, what unit

is the strongest part? We answer that and many more of your Twitter questions when we return 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 Crisol for freedom from glare, three cutting edge solutions in a single unique lens. So whatever your needs, insist on Selor visit your local SLOR experts and find a perfect

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That's jobs at Caliber. Second sentiment here of Talking Cowboys and thank god, I have some traditions that are able to live, just like Rob P's wallet, which is somehow at Isaiah's house right now. I don't know how you got a hold of this thing. Everything it's gotta it's gonna I'll pull my version of it out too, dog. That's awesome. Probably again, I'm gonna not yet. Thank you Chris for the clip. I got some cash to go buy a new wallet. You guys are the best. Isaiah,

Hey all you guys, Chris Kyle, thank you Mary. Christmas. Oh. I love how we turn like a tradition an ol just roast on Rob into what we actually get him for Christmas. I think that's the best part about this whole thing is that we roast them all year long and then we turn around and we say, here you go, Marry Christmas, mister phillis the best thing. The best gifts are things you can use, things that you need. You know, Yeah,

I love it. So with that being said, and we got to ask this yesterday with with Isaiah and with HECMO. But Rob, what was your favorite part about the win over Washington on Sunday? If there was one moment that stuck out to you, Um, I might be well, probably tanks pick six. It was almost like a yeah, like a like a trying to one up Randy Gregory for

the week before. And I I'm probably stepping on your teas pre show, but the most fun to me watching this team play right now is the D line and specifically third down, and Chris Collinsworth was highlighting it, you know, the different ways they're trying to exploit matchups in pass rush situations, the way they'll line up Randy Gregory and then blitz tomorrow I'm sorry, Micah Parsons from the linebacker position.

Off the ball, it's it's so much fun to watch Dan Quinn use all these talented players and put them in great positions to have success. I mean, it's it is really really exciting right now. And that's one thing that we didn't really get to highlight yesterday, but talk about the money down from Washington on offense versus Dallas on offense. I mean, it couldn't have been any more lopsided.

How about three of thirteen Washington was held to just three of thirteen on third down and then you've got ten of fifteen for the Cowboys offensively, So both sides of the football able to kind of destroy Washington on third down in Isaiah, that's going to win you a whole lot of football games if you're able to keep that going absolutely, And what's kind of eerie about is I remember a couple of weeks back we were three for thirteen on third down, and it just doesn't seem

that long ago that we were having along that same stat line. But if you continue to be continue to execute on third down like they did obviously against Washington, You're gonna win a lot of dog on ball games and you hope that that's going to be the result going forward. I have to say ditto and piggyback on Rob's point in terms of the defensive line. I'm loving with dan Quinn's doing in terms of these third down

these third down matchups, He's done a great job. We've talked about it yesterday in terms of moving d Law over into the inside and putting parsons on over over the middle as well. These offensive guards usually sitting his little bubble, and we talked about it a lot in terms of where guys are comfortable at. Right, guys are comfortable at sitting on the inside and guard at the guard position because they have help, they have somebody there.

Sandwich did between some guys and they're they're kind of in this nice little ice cream sandwich. But when you go out to the ends at the offensive tackle position,

you're really on the island. But these guys are really taking those offensive guards and putting them at a disadvantage, and they're really making them uncomfortable because now they have man to man matchups against our best pass rushers in d law In Michael Parsons, and I hate to take away from Gregory, but Gregory's on the outside picking on the tackles and it's awesome to see every time third

down pops around. There was a play that Collinsworth highlighted where one play Randy was in kind of a wide nine technique rush heck and Parsons had had free rain to go in and rush from the middle and get pressure, and then the next time they kind of blocked inside and allowed Gregory to get pressure on the outside and tank as well. It's like it's pick your poison right now. You know, you just hope that everybody can stay healthy

and stay together because it's it's really exciting. Yeah, and you know, and you know, third down is the money down right now, This defense ranks somewhere around twenty five twenty six, however, and maybe after the last game they're gonna be a lot higher. But third down is very important. No matter how you look at turnover differential, you get the turnovers and also third down getting off the field, and that's what they've been so good at is getting

off the field. And that's when we talk about this momentum and how you just accentuated that point about where our offense was on third down and how the tide had changed there with them, you know, obviously getting to first down the defense, and how the tide is changing them getting off the field on third down. Look, we're peeking at the right time. All the right things are happening for us. But I just want to go back to something that Isaiah said about what dan Quinn is doing,

and that is isolating these matchups. Putting guards on an island, and it ain't pe island, but you get on that and you get on that island and you have Michael Parsons in front of you, or Randy Gregory in front of you, however he switches it up, or Tank in front of you, and you're finding that they're just isolating and manhandling one side of the offensive line. It's so hard for guys to slide protect to one side, to take one guy away on our front seven. It's just

awesome to see this. And obviously as guys get healthy, we played that game without Tristan Hill. That's another guy that you're adding to that rotation. I don't look, man, the momentum that they have on defense right now. It's just, man, it's it's it's uncanny the way that this defense has changed from last year to this year. And one of the things that they highlighted on during the broadcast is a distribution of snaps. And that's one of the things

that's undervalued right now. Guys are going from playing fifty something sixty something snaps as a typical defensive alignment, typical front seven, and now these guys are twenty twenty five snaps. You know, what does that mean? What does that mean? I mean, y'all fresh legs, man, fresh legs. I mean you think about the duration of a game. If you go out there and run twenty five yards sprints, I could do twenty five yard sprints. And that's that's really

what these defensive alignment are doing. They're playing in the five to seven yard box. I can come off the ball one hundred percent twenty to twenty five times and literally be one hundred percent. Now you start taking me to fifty and sixty while I'm pushing up another girl. I'm pushing up against another girl, man, and you're mixing and run defense. I'm gonna be a little gas and I'm not gonna it's not gonna be on my best

every single time. I'm gonna give my best, but I'm not gonna be at my best when I'm growing twenty twenty five snaps a game. I'm not only gonna give my best, but I'm also gonna be at my best. So you're getting one hundred percent of whoever I am every time you line up against me, and guess what. When I go out, my boys come in and guess what, he's one hundred percent too. That problem, it's a huge problem, and they had I think a ten man rotation upfront

in this last game. I feel like they've done that since they've gotten some of their key guys back, so not only you, and that's without Tristan Hill playing in the game last Sunday, So that's a ten man rotation, and three of the guys with Hill coming back eventually are fresh legs, guys that have been out on top of it. I mean, DeMarcus Lawrence, Devil Gallimore and Tristan Hill should be really fresh down the stretch on top of the fact that they've got some depth, and it

just continues to keep opponents off balance. I think that's one of the biggest things for dan Quinn right now. It's not even just having success snap in and snap out, it's just having the offenses confused snap in and snap at.

It seems like every single time an offense goes up to the line of scrimmage, they are having to look at something different or something that they didn't anticipate, and because of that, there's really no way that an offense is able to pick that apart unless they're really some of the elite in the n All right, let's answer some of these Twitter questions. Oh, what do you want to hit Heckma, No, no, no, what you said, well solid,

I liked it. I was just giving you thank you. Well, this first question is actually perfect for you, So I'll turn it right back around to you. Joshua John on Twitter. And I love this because this is the way that a lot of Cowboys fans feel right now. As fans, I think we should all say this season has been great and all, but it's always different or it seems to fall apart whenever you get closer to the playoffs. So why will this year be any different? Mister heck

Ma Harrison, your defense. What we've just been talking about your defense and ability to take away whatever teams do. Well, look at it like this. You said his name is Josh. Yeah, Okay, here's the thing, Josh. After Sunday's game, everybody that was huddled around their television watching us play. One of all the teams in the NFC that are playing in the playoffs, one thing they don't want to do is they don't want to come here and they don't want us to

go there. And the reason again is because of this defense. I'm telling you, if you look at teams, we will make teams one dimensional. And that is dan Quinn. That's what he's been doing. If we just and I think we just have a date with let's just say it, Aaron Rodgers, and everybody wants to say, well, what happens? Will we run into Green Bay? Aaron Rodgers don't want to smoke, and if he does, that running game is gonna have to be clicking and everything else their defense

and what they're giving up. I think, man, when teams recognize that Dak is getting this running game back going, hey man, it's trouble. You should feel good about this team, man, you should feel good about them winning. A couple of playoffs, playoff games. Isaiah, I believe there's a number of things, Josh, that are really that have contributed to their failure going into the playoffs or at the playoff position versus now.

And one of the main things, obviously is leadership. This team, this particular team, has not been under this leadership and had failure at that level. You have Mike McCarthy, you have Dan Quinn, you have multiple other coaches on this coach and staff that know what it takes not only to get to the playoffs, but succeed in the playoffs. Oh and by the way, succeed at the Super Bowl.

So you have a level of understanding. Instead of hope, you have actual understanding and a game plan from multiple sources within your organization that know how to manage your team through through those situations and ultimately to your goal. So you couple that with the aspect of now you have a person nail to actually execute it. Offensively, you have a solid offense that everybody's getting healthy, so hopefully these these next two weeks you have all your guys

going into the playoff run. That's awesome, Okay, boom. Now you go to the defensive side, you have more personnel, more talent, and more guys willing to go out there and go out to give it. They're all make plays, play like a like a brotherhood than you've ever had really not say ever, but in a very long time within this organization, and everything is clicking. So it's a heckless point. The defense is playing well, the office is playing well. You have all the personnel, you have health

on your side. Oh and by the way, you have a bunch of coaches on this staff right here that understand what it takes to get there, go through it and ultimately winning. Rob totally agree with you, guys. I mean, top of the show we talked about. Look, it's the complimentary thing, like there's not right now when they're playing at their best, there's not really a weakness on this team in terms of when you go through all three phases and so, but I would really highlight the defense

more than anything, like Heck said. You know, Isaiah was part of a Giants team that won the Super Bowl, and really both those Giants teams that got pressure without having to send a bunch of extra guys, and that's how you can have a chance to win against an Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs and some of these great

quarterbacks that they're possibly going to run into. That's why I keep pointing towards Sunday, though, because Kyler Murray, you know, is going to present a different challenge with his ability to scramble and move around. And you know, I don't know if if the teams in the past that had a chance, like the playoff teams that Josh mentioned or the Twitter question mentioned, really limted the playoffs. But I think you know that twenty eighteen team had a weakness.

They couldn't stop the run. They're better against the run this year than they were that season, but again, a big test on Sunday, can you keep it going. I'd still think though, it comes down to the d line pressure because you have to have that against championship quarterbacks in the playoffs, especially mobile ones at that and you're going to get a great test with that with Kyler Murray coming up this week. But I want to go back to what Isaiah was talking about in the coaching staff.

I feel like that doesn't get enough credit right now because you look across this coaching staff and it's not just Mike McCarthy and the Super Bowl that he won with Green Bay. It's the dan Quinn's of the world. It's the Joe Witt Juniors and the Doug nust Meyers. These are guys that down the list have won either Super Bowls, national championships. They've gotten to the mountaintop where

their sport is. And you've been a guy who of course has gotten there as well or been on a team that's gotten to a Super Bowl and won a Super Bowl. So how big of an impact do coaches make whenever you are getting close to making a run, when you have the opportunity or at least the potential to get to that mountaintop. How big are the coaches to allow that to let it happen. They're major, and they don't. They don't get enough credit. And when you have,

when you have, they're the leaders. Let's let's play that out there. The coaches staff are the leaders of this organization. Okay, it goes to the ownership and he goes management, then it goes coaches. Okay, then it goes players, and the players are simply execute what they're being hot and they go along with the game plan that's laid out for them. You got coach McCarthy that it does a heck of a job of understanding. Hey, I've been to the show.

I've been to the playoffs a bunch of times, right, I know how to manage my team health wise, approach wise, during practice, all the different out you know, the different ins and outs that get you to that point to be competitive in the playoffs. I understand that, and I know how to win a dog on Super Bowl. Okay, let's go to dan Quinn. Dan Quinn knows the same exact thing. He knows how to manage your team and

get you there. He's won a Super Bowl. But one thing that's not getting enough credits the fact that dan Quinn gave up a Super Bowl. He lost it in the worst way ever in the history of football, and that hurts him. That kills him on the inside, the same way that we saw Alan or Pain whoever that was order shaking on the sideline pissed off. That is dan Quinn on the inside. He has that little hole in his heart and he's trying to patch that thing up.

So anytime you have a pain point in your life, you do everything you can from that point forward to ensure that it never happens again. So he had that's that that motivates him going forward, and he's doing he's doing everything he can to make sure that he doesn't repeat that again this year. You know, they say, you know, they say, experience is a good teacher, Isaiah, and we

have plenty of experiencing. You've echoed this the entire time, the culture, the culture changing aspect of the coaches that we have. And I remember at the beginning of the season when the Hard Knocks was going on and Coach McCarthy talking about that it takes seventy seven men to win a Super Bowl and that was his experience when

he was in Green Bay. Just think about how many guys have come on this roster and off the roster and how many I don't know what that number is to date, but I'm sure it's getting up there with their number of injuries and guys that we've had to fill in. But because of the culture change, you're not sweating it the same way that you did last year when guys went down, you know. And I just think all of that is a byproduct of everything that you just said, Isaiah, that when you bring in coaches that

have that experience, that have been to the mountaintop. They know how to coach these guys through it. Coach McCarthy even in an interview when he asked about, you know, kind of dolling things down for his team, he said, you know, I had years where I had a great team, but I just pounded those guys and pounded them, and when I needed them to get to the next level, I took it all out of them on the practice field.

And so maybe dolling these practices back and being the ultimate player coaches because his coach, because the players love him right now for that and they're rewarding him for that by going out and putting it on the field. That's a great point. He definitely said that. The other thing he said is he likes to get young players experience early in the season because it's gonna pay off late because you're gonna need, like you said, seventy seven guys.

I'd argue they're already above that when you factor in the larger practice squads now and the guys they've had used because of injury. So he's had that opportunity because of the injuries they've had. And I think, you know, think of Ansa Diggi Zua, the experience he's gotten early in the season that can help make him a better player by this point in the season. This, y'all brought

up a great point. I just want to point out one news and note left, and that's the fact that teams with head coaching vacancies can start talking to NFL assistance for head coaching jobs the final two weeks of the season. So we're here now starting today, So obviously dan Quinn could get some interests, Kellen Moore could get some interests. We'll see. Both guys were asked about it yesterday, kind of deflected it. Jerry didn't want to discuss that

possibility or getting specifics today on the fan. But it's something to keep an eye on, and it's it's a I would call it a good problem to have because it shows the hell of a job that this coaching staff's done. To y'all's point, I would rather have this problem than having like the Mike Nolan situation from twenty to twenty, where it's like, are we done with him yet? Or what's going on? No, it's more so, oh, can we hold on to dan Quinn? Can we find a

way to keep him here? And that I would much rather have that problem than what was happening a year ago around this time as well. But that is interesting. We're gonna talk a little bit more about dan Quinn and his game plan on Kyler Murray and so on and so forth going into tomorrow's show as we preview the Cardinals offense and the Cowboys defense. But when we come back, we got a couple more Twitter questions and

we wrap things up. How about a bubble? Could a bubble be in store for the Cowboys the final couple weeks of the season when we come back with more talking cowboy I want to use what the pros use. How about the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black. Right now you can get the Jack Black Starter, a curated collection of Cowboys locker room favorites, for just

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twenty Bank of America Corporation. Before there was a draft, you could sized up a cowboy by three simple factors. The crease at his hat, the bend of his brim, and his mending attitude a man, Stetson didn't just protect him from what life through at him, it projected a rugged, unstoppable spirit. Stetson hats are still American made with pride. Right here in Texas, there's still the unofficial crowd of all self respecting cowboys, and Stetson is proud to be

on the field with America's team. Find a retailer nearest to you at Stetson dot com slash cowboys to talk in Cowboys, whether you're watching from home or you're cheering in the stands with lindsays, you could see every exciting play took an appointment at your looks or experts. Let's see what selor can do for you. See more two more here on talking cowboys. Isaiah, those lindsayes right there. Uh, these are the custom Husky editions right there, Ski edition.

We have. We have a lot of recalibrating to do. Who I'm with my college program right now? State you're a big whoa don't don't you disrespect me? University of Washington Huskies, Washington. Yeah, Never would I ever go to Washington State. Yeah, but you're a big fan of of Gardner Minshew. Though I like Gardner, and that's one of the few Washington State guys that I would approve of. I got you, No, we know you're you dumb for life.

Got the Purple and Gold you bleeded. Final segment. Final segment here of talking Cowboys, Isaiah Standback, heck Ma Harrison, Rob Phillips, and Kyle Yeoman's Chris Beam hold it down back at the mother Ship at the Star in Frisco. So, guys, I got one more Twitter question for us before we wrap things up, and I teased it going into the break. Alice Alex asked on Twitter. Could be because of the spike in COVID cases? How is it and how it's

affected potential teams performances in the NFL? Could the Cowboys be considering a bubble from here on out because of how special this team could be? And of course, the main issue right now is the fact of trying to stay healthy going into the final games of the regular season and then of course into the playoffs. So Rob, I'll start with you on this one. Is there a

possibility of a bubble even being discussed? I know they had had that prior to training camp in twenty twenty with the Omni and they have the resources to do so, but is it even going to happen. I don't know if the entire team would do it, Kyle. I think Mike McCarthy was asked about this recently, and I think maybe on an individual basis, it's possible that guys might

do that. I mean, Mike did that prior to getting COVID a few weeks ago, just trying to keep his family safe, trying to isolate a little bit because they were having some cases in the staff. So I think maybe on an end of dual basis, I don't know if it would be a team wide operation thing necessarily, even though they've got amenities to do a lot of that.

You know, in some regards, I think, you know, we're in a better place than we were last year because of the vaccine, but look, cases are rising because this new variant obviously is so contagious. So I think it's something maybe to continue to look at. Maybe there's discussions, but I don't know that the entire team would do that.

I believe it's something that to look at, and to ross point, I'm not sure if they actually would go through, but it's a consideration, and I think It's a great question. It's a valid question. When you have something that you're so close to you you don't get that many opportunities to secure the bag in terms of a super Bowl. So as they approached the playoffs, I would not put it off the table. On a matter of fact, I'll throw the whole thing on the table, because you depending

on it. If you get the first seed, second, whatever seed you get, you either got a three or four game run. And so those for those for those four to those four to five weeks, depending on how far you get. You know, you want to ensure the safety and the validity of your of your opportunities as much as possible. So if that requires you staying in there in a hotel for a month to get your shot at walking away with that dog on Lombardi, ain't lock it up. I can do. I can do a month.

I can do an I got a month for you. Other than that, I don't know that part. No, I love it. I love what you just said. And I think the situation is so fluid right now in the NFL that they're just trying to do the best that they possibly can. He just mentioned, he just gave you the number since like December the twelfth or whatever, four hundred players more or more players have tested positive. Guys. It's just look, man, it's a serious situation. We're talking

about football, but just worldwide. This is a serious situation. And obviously we've looked at different leagues and how they've dealt with, how the NBA went into the bubble and all of that. Obviously, the NFL has got to be looking at this as well because they don't want to have anything interrupt the NFL playoffs. You can't have a game where one of your star players is out because of COVID, right, So I think a bubble situation may

be called for. But you know, when you have a guy like Isaiah who's been to the mountaintop and says, like a month, I'll due a month, And I'm sure that isn't a player with a star omers helmet that wouldn't isolate himself to hoist that Lombardi Trophy and make sure that everybody is straight and everybody's safe. Now, you do it for a month anyway during training camp, if you go out to ox Nord, you're out there for a month or so, and so hey, it makes sense.

I think I'm right there with you, guys, and I love how you attacked all three levels. Rob said, from an individual standpoint, some guys may say, hey, let me go take this time away. Isaiah said, Hey, as a team, you have an opportunity to do something special year. Don't let it slip. Don't let something affect that in those four games, those playoff games, this final run. Don't let that be the case. And Heckma says, well, what about the league. The league could potentially do something about it.

So I think you attack all three levels there, and at some point a solution should be available to at least ensure the possibility or at least lower the possibility that you are going to be affected by COVID heading into the playoffs, because I think that's a lot of people's worries at the moment, and I'm on the same page as you guys. I think they should consider something to try and stifle this before it really gets any worse. But we've got plenty more of storylines to talk about

throughout the rest of the week. Tomorrow, we preview the Cowboys defense taking on Kyler Murray and that Arizona offense without DeAndre Hopkins, but still very very dangerous coming out of the NFC West, and we'll talk about that more tomorrow nine am Central Time, but that doesn't for us today. For Rob Phillips isaiashs dan Back, Heck Maharrison, and Chris bean Back at the Star. I'm Kyle Yeoman saying so long,

We'll see tomorrow on Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.