Talkin' Cowboys: Calling Out The Linebackers

and the official dip of Talking Cowboys. Glad you're with us here from the s WBC studios at the Star in Frisco, as we break down the Washington football team and the Dallas Cowboys. The Washington's Is Mickey likes the column. Mickey said that he does that on purpose, and I feel like that's I love it. It's funny. I like it a lot. But yeah, Washington football team. We're talking about the Washington offense and the Cowboys defense today. But we've got plenty to get to here over the Latin

X forty five minutes. Heck Ma Harrison, Isaiah Stanback, Kyle Yeoman's with you. No Rob Phillips today or tomorrow as he had some some business to take care of. But we will see Rob back sooner rather than later. Is hopefully it would be a god came a friend. You're gonna be okay. You're sitting in the chair, you're filling the shoes, feeling right now. He's missing his rub like I'm on an island on the island, Rob p island. I'm on an island by myself on that side of

the table. Oh man, We've got a lot to get to. No, not a ton of news and notes. Usually we start this show with news and notes with Rob, but there's not a ton to to go with, especially since yesterday, with it being a long week, was one of the more quiet tuesdays you've had and quite some time. Most of the news is going to rain down tomorrow or at least today, as the Cowboys do get back on the practice field today, and then they'll get into kind of the injury reports and things of the sort. Is

Randy Gregory are Neville Gallimore? Are those two guys going to be back heading into this Washington matchup? But you guys, are you guys a little nervous about this matchup at all? Yep? Why is that I think this thing is better than I First, first of all, it is a divisional wall, right is his divisional little competition on and then second of all, these guys are these guys are. They're sneaky good. They're sneaky good, and it's I think it's gonna be

a very competitive game. I think the areas that they're strong end we're still trying to figure out. And you know, we need I think we need to be hidden on all cylinders, much like last week, in order to pull this one out. What are some of those areas that they're strong end? As I dive more into the running scheme, I know yesterday I talked about their individual runners in terms of Gibson and the Kissick, but I think their

running scheme is actually pretty sneaky as well. I think that they run, they run a lot of counters, a lot of powers, a lot of pulling, a lot of guards leaving the defensive end backside. And I think that we just have not enforced our wheel on the line of scrimmage yet. And I think that against this running scheme, you have to be able to do that. So we definitely need a defensive line presence and the linebackers are gonna have at the second level, are gonna have to to

be very aggressive. Yeah. I think they've gone on a winning streak and some of the teams that they've beat obviously have beat you. So when you start doing a comparison, how do we size up? You start looking at the games that you lost in the games that they won. What did they do? I mean? And so I go back and I watched the Tampa tape and to me, I just felt like Tampa walked in and underestimated them. Man.

And just like with any team, if you underestimate them and you give them life and Tom Brady throws a couple of interceptions on their side of the field, and you give them momentum, and they are hard to stop once they get momentum, especially at home. So M Taylor Heineke to me, is serviceable. These has been an overachiever for most of his career. I think the Cowboys have to put themselves in a position defensively to create turnovers. This is that game where you have to create turnovers.

Enforced mistakes on this team, but nothing about them per se makes me nervous. I think if you stick to the ball that you've been playing here. Let's you start from last week to this week, all right, but just some of the great things that you've done defensively, I think this is this is a game that you win, and you can win it big. I think that's the matchup that's going to win you this game. It's your

defense over your offense. It's gonna be a lot like last week, and the offense has an opportunity here to figure things out. They're gonna get pressured by guys like Jonathan Allen and the guys on that Washington defense, Dak Prescott will be under pressure. But this I feel like this is a game where the Dallas defense can really take over. Despite some of the inconsistencies in the run game and kind of like what you were talking about.

Against teams that Washington has been successful against, the Cowboys have not necessarily been that sucessful against them here Over the last couple of weeks during that four game win streak, two of those wins against teams that the Cowboys have lost to the Las Vegas Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They beat the Carolina Panthers by a single score, and then they beat the lowly Seahawks by just two. It was seventeen fifteen. The final score, same score of the Raiders

game too, the lowly the lowly Sea. Man. Just do some money on your team. Man. Not good right now. The engine they're yeah, they're not very good. But Washington certainly gave them a game, or at least Seattle Gabe Washington a game. But the final kind of right along the lines of the Cowboys final five games of the regular season. Cowboys play four of those five against divisional foes. All five of Washington's final games are against the NFC East.

It's Dallas Philly, Dallas Philly, and then New York to end it out. So that's really odd too much different, No, no, because we've got, of course Washington than the Giants. Then back to Washington's the matchmakers wanted it to come down to December, right, That's what they wanted, at least they can make it at a little less honest right now. They wanted it to be in your face obvious that we want December to be the month that everybody is scratching the claw and trying to get those last little

positions to go to the playoffs. So it's gonna be interesting, you know, And I'm glad you say that because this is such a crucial game, and we talked about it a little bit yesterday. Is how if you win the game, it's a three game lead, lose it, it's a one game lead, a full two game swing, as most divisional games are, but at this point in the season, that makes this game that much more important. What is the

temperature of this locker room right now? Because you had the three or four losses, you were able to get back on track, but it was still sloppy at times against the New Orleans Saints. So what do you feel like this locker room? Confidence wise? Where do you feel like they're at at the moment, because I feel like it's kind of hard to gage. I mean I would, I would honestly say that I think their confidence has to be high, that they have to feel good about

where they are right now. They're getting a lot of people back. They were able to get Amark Cooper back, and you saw just with Man and he was more of a decoy a week than anything. But I think offensively, they've got to feel good about where they were. They've got to feel good about, you know, some of the and I keep using this we're momentum. But when they were going into that six game winning streak, some of the things that were clicking for them offensively and getting

guys back healthy, like Michael Gallup. Defensively, I think these turnovers in sacks and pressures that they've been getting on the quarterback, they've got to feel good about that too. So going into December, are going against your division. You got to look at this like you're oh and zero and zero. This is a whole other thing with the division folds that you go against, and you got to

try and squeak out. You gotta get as many of these wins and go into the playoffs with that momentum and feeling as good as about yourself as you can. You know. I just I just think right now, as you say temperature, I think they should be feeling really good about themselves right now. Good. I think they should be just above luke warm, just above Luke warrem not not not hot because you're still eating form. I mean, you're eating for the record. The record, of mean doesn't

mean anything. The record the record doesn't mean anything to me. I mean, that's the stats records all that Jazz's cool. When you start going against opponents like this at this time of the year, that stuff really doesn't matter. It really comes down to who's gonna ball out. It comes down to how effective are you going to be against your opponent? Right, the record or the Washington is not going to care what their record is when they when they step out that field, neither as Dallas. It's going

to be all about who can execute. And you know, these guys have kind of they whipped our tails last year. You know, obviously it's a different year. Obviously we didn't have DAK and all the other things that we could throw in there. At the end of the day, the areas that we were weak last year we still haven't necessarily shared up. So that raises concerned for me, and I think that for them has to be some form of a question mark until they can prove that they

that they've solidified that. When you say the record doesn't matter, and what context are you saying that going up against the division are your division foe? Are you just saying saying once you step on the field, once you step on the film, mean, yeah, we can talk about records and all that jazz as you approach the game, and hey, what happens if you lose, what happens if you win. Once you step on the field, you're not worried about

your record. You're not You're really not concerned about your You're worried about Hey, we need to take care of these cats, regardless of what the outcome of game is. We need to go hire and handle our business. Yeah no, I don't. I don't think the ball kick is kicking off and Dak is saying, oh, we're eight and four.

I'm just saying like that. As far as the what's created this whole season, if there was a narrative to this season from where they were just going into Tampa and the team that you thought that they were going to be to what they are right now. Defensively, I think you would agree that this is a different team from twenty twenty one and who they were in twenty twenty. Oh no, no, no no, no question at all. I don't think that's a question at all. But I'm thinking about

in terms of the temperature. I don't think that you can be hot when you have question marks. You can't be hot when you have question marks. They in my head, if if I'm hot, passing games on point, running games on point run defense, is on point passing to kind of how the Cowboys were in the six game wins. Absolutely, it felt like everything was going what team is what? What team checks all those boxes for you? Nobody. I

don't feel anybody can say that they're hotten. No, oh okay, I don't feel anybody can say that this year's being England. Maybe right now New England. New England's rolling. But even them, they're not hot, you know, in terms of the passing, and they can run the ball on you all day long, um, and they're figuring things out passing wise. That we knew that they were going to continually get better as that quarterback continue to got get more reps and get more confidence.

But I don't, I can't. I don't feel as if. I don't think we're anywhere near the confidence level that we were first first part of the season. No, I'm not. I don't feel that confidence. I don't know about you guys, I don't feel that same sense of security. I feel like we're going to the games now, and I feel like what's going to happen? I don't, you know. I feel like before, you know, mid season, we felt like, oh we go out there and just just smack up anybody.

I don't have that same vibe, that same energy right now. Why is that the case? Because I mean the inconsistency, that's that. The inconsistency is that on the the offense? Is that on the defense? Is that? Is there someone specific blamers that the entire team? And I think it's in every aspect. There's been times and this is every team, right but especially right now. We had a lot of concerns about the specials. A lot of people have a lot of concerns about the special teams. We guess with

that's shirt up, that's getting a lot better. Now you start talking about Kellen Moore was in his bag. First part of the year, offense was hidden on all cylinders and guess what. Then we had some injuries, right, some receivers went down. Then you know now we're running big game is slim to none. The passing game kind of fell off because Dad came out the calf injury. He wasn't and he hasn't been as accurate since then. So there's question marks around the past, which is definitely question

marks around around the run. There's question marks about protection right now, there's question marks are kick Can we can we stop a running a running team that's going to be adamant about the run because the last two times we faced gifts and he's had one hundred and twenty plush yards. Can we stop that? He's going to be confident coming in here passingwise, defensively, okay, can our defensive backs handle these guys? I think we're pretty good on

that regard. But there's there's more question marks than there are answers. Now, there's hope. There's a ton of hope guys coming back there. Most of the conversation around Cowboys right now is what's going to happen when our guys come back, not necessarily what is actually taking place on the field? What is this? What is the saying in the NFL? Though? Hope is not a strategy, it's definitely

not now. And I appreciate that. I guess from the standpoint when I asked who is and you say no, one is, then hell, you're not judging based off of a curve because nobody's actually getting that. Watched the Chris

Bapple from you. I just feel as though, you know, look, I agree, I agree with that, and I think that you know, as far as your assessment of the entire league and the way that teams are playing, like everybody's looking to hit stride, even Tampa with the division champs where they were last year, this time they were like, man, everybody was saying that they're going to super Bowl. That

was a bad pick up by Tampa. I just believe that there are some things that you're starting to see from your team, and you can look at the cause and effect from the injuries that you just talked about. Dak battle through that Saints game and was able to complete some passes and get guys open. Seeing Michael Gallaback on the field with his other two of me goos,

you to see how things are going alone. I'm not saying that they're red hot right now, not at all, but I think the and it's not even a hope, it's just that you're getting key guys back that can help you defensively, and you see how Almark Cooper impacts the offense. Is that something that can happen this week? Though?

And I'm not necessarily talking about Gallimore and Gregory because we still are at this point unsure whether or not they will be available, But now that Cooper has been limited in at least one game, and he's back and hopefully the ten days helps him out. Maybe ten days helps out Ezekiel Elliott. Do you expect that to click now or do you expect it to click two or three weeks down the road when they get into a

little bit more opportunity to have some snaps and some continuity. Well, I hope it's not a strategy, but but I hope it's now. But yeah, you know, that's what I wanted to be. You would like to think that if you do from where Randy Gregory left off. I mean, he was having Pro Bowl caliber reps. You were saying like, look, man, if he could keep this up all year, Oh yeah, he's not. Only is he gonna get the bag, He's gonna get the big bag according to the way that

he's playing. The same with you know, we were talking about Amark Cooper and can Gallop be a number one receiver in the league. Look, those questions were answered as well. I just feel like, Kyle, look where you're getting the guys that you need to make the run. It'd be different if you were going into this and all of your guys were hurt and then you'd be talking from a whole other perspective on what this team could be. I just think that right now is solid. We look solid.

I feel solid about where we're going into December. And again, I don't know what Nevill Gallimore is gonna bring. He hadn't been on the field all year exactly right, Yeah, I don't know. I know what Tristan Hill can bring because we've seen the little sample size from him, So I'm okay with that. I felt bad about losing Urban because we know that we have to control the line of scrimmage and that's where we've been getting hit the most. I worry about Gibson. I think look his physicality at

twenty twenty two music. That was an embarrassment to see the way that he ran over our guys last year. I just think that physically, speed wise, our defense is in a completely different zone. I just don't see them showing up and beating the brakes off of us like

you know they did last year. Yeah. I honestly just feel that most of the confidence right now around at he's revolving around the Dallas' defense comes around one person, Mica, and if that person hopefully never ever, nothing ever, happens to him. But if that person is knocked on some wood, if that person is not on the field, how do you feel about your defense? I mean, I still guys have to step up. I understand that guys have to step up, But how do you feel about your defense

not there? I feel better now than I would have two weeks ago about that defense because of the law, because of guys coming back, yes, and because of Jeron Curse. It's what you built your team for in the training in training camp. Yeah, and Curse is stepped up and played exceptionally well. And we're gonna ask a question later on about who's been the most surprising part of the defense, and I'm assuming Curse is going to be in that conversation.

But the whole point of what you did in the off season though, all the roster building, all that acquisition, all the Steven Jones twenty four seven deal of Hey, it's a twenty four seven business of building a roster. They built it to have depth. Sure, the top end talent is there, and when you don't have that top end talent, you're gonna see holes. That's what DeMarcus Lawrence left, That's what Randy Gregory has left. That's what if Michael

Parsons is not available, we'll leave on that defense. Luckily that's not the case at the point moment, and all of that top end talent is starting to get back and healthy. You're not supposed to win games or at least be a Super Bowl contender if your top end talent's not available, and going to Hope is not a strategy. But what you're saying is, now that you're getting that top end talent back, there's no reason that sudn't shouldn't

start clicking here over the next couple weeks. And think about the watching a football team they lose Chase Young and then they go on a winning play better, you know. I mean, that's that's almost weird to even think about or consider the rookie of the year last year that has seven and a half sacks and now he's gone and your defense is playing better. I where you guys have to step up, And that all comes from the

leadership at the top. We talk about culture, We talk about Dan Quinn's effect on this defense, and I don't think of it any other way, especially when I see it being played out on other teams. At least one hundred and twenty yards rushing in each of the last two games for Antonio Gibson and this Washington football team offense.

When we come back, we talk about the football team, what do they bring from a strength standpoint on the offensive side of the football, and how to the Cowboys counter it on defense when we come back with more talking Cowboys. There's nothing as unique as our eyes, which is why SLOR pioneers ways to make lenses as unique as you. Very Lux for super sharp vision, Essential Blue for protection on Krisol for freedom from glare, three cutting

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Collision team. You can join him to do great work with great people for great pay and apply right now at jobs at Caliber dot Com. That's jobs at Caliber dot Com. We don't have the brick slammed on the bet money, Bet money. Rob's at home right now with that brick in his back pocket. Yeah, on a table, messing up his back. Now he's walking around the house creaking the back. Would just help him declutter that thing. Man, just take one thing out of day Rob with his

birth certificates in that thing, his house keys and jumper cables. Hey, that's a dad wallet right there now. Now we talked about yesterday. I'm hoping he's tuning out at this point. But we were gonna get him a wallet for Christmas or we were all going in on that are We're gonna get him one of those like sweet ones. Now I'm going for the pro shot. I might get him a binder. Get him a binder. Cowboys go to the

back to school aisle and he needs one. He needs one of those Velcrow ones that once it starts to get ugly, the velcrow won't go back. Then that'll be the telltale that you just can't keep it no more. Bro, when's the last time you had a velcro wall. It's been ages. It's about to say, I haven't had one, and I don't think I ever had one middle school probably Yeah, I was thinking like middle school first fifth grade had put in a wallet. Stop. It hit him

with all I did. You guys are so privileged. Let it's crazy. I want to you need I think we need to make him sleek and get him the wallet that goes on the back of the phone. There's don't think so. Rob has trust issues. Anybody that has that kind of wallets legit trust issues. He's packing it all in, Bro, he does, I might forget something, never knows. You get one for his phone cover and it's like you can't

lift up his phone anymore. Uh. Chris in the in the Break brought up a really good point that no team or there's only been two teams that that have swept the NFC East in the last what twenty years, Chris, and more than that, more than that then and the Cowboys of course would have to sweep the NFC East by winning four of their last five. The only one that would not be there would be the Cardinals, and

then the Washington football team is on. He played one divisional game and they last five are all against the NFC East. Last time the Cowboys did it was in nineteen ninety eight back in the Dude. That surprises me when I saw that, because while think about it, how many Super Bowls the Cowboys won in the nineties and they never swept the division at any point throughout those runs. Nope, Wow, just tell you how contentious those those meetings were. A boy, Buddy, Ryan,

Jimmy Johnson, Philly. Oh, you don't have any coaching rivalries like that anymore. Maybe you do now and Buffalo and those guys don't like each other. That coach was bothered by what Bill did. Yeah, Buffalo in New eng Yeah. I feel like there's there's coaching rivalries, but there's a lot of turnover and some of the big brands lately in the NFL, and I think it needs to kind

of get to that point. I feel like Andy Reid is probably one of those guys that's starting to solidify himself with the Chiefs, but before then, it was the turnover from him going to the Eagles to the Chiefs and then the Cowboys haven't had a stable decision since, I guess, Garrett, but there's there's a lot of things that I guess play into that. But I bet you it comes back. McCarthy takes a swing at Riverboat run. Not gonna happen. That ain't gonna happen. That'd be fun though.

All right, let's talk about this run game. Gibson and company have had their fair share of success against the Cowboys defense the last couple of seasons, most notably last year, with the Cowboys were just dominated in two games against the Washington football team, both on Thanksgiving forty one to sixteen, and then back in week what was it eight of the season, seven of the season and it was twenty

five to three at FedEx Field. They go back out to Maryland for this one, and now they're gonna have to face Gibson and possibly J. D. McKissick back there as well, another tandem backfield that's been pretty good this year, but Gibson is definitely the main star of that. Isaiah. When you look at the film, what scares you the most about what those tailbacks and what that running game can do against the Cowboys upfront. Their running scheme is

set up for big place. It's where you down, where you're down, if you're out of if you choose wrong in terms of your your leverage on the defensive line, a big play is right there ready to happen. It's not it's not a downhill. Hey, we're shooting this one gap type of offense. These guys are literally running a zone scheme and they're leaving the backside defensive end free.

They're running tight ends on the backside, receivers to cut off the backside, and there's these big, gaping holes that present themselves, and it takes one cut to tear in something that should be two or three yards into something that's a fifty yard play. And I think that they have the patients to just chip away, chip away and wait for that big opportunity. And hopefully that doesn't occur obviously, but I think that that's the way that this offense

is set up. And then with Heineke, he's gaining confidence, he's really gaining confidence and allowing that run game to set up and really set up their play action because all their run plays they have a route off of their run plays. Every single run play that they have, whether it's a counter, whether there's a power or there's a regular zone, whether it's a RPO, they have a pass a passing option off of it, and they're really

just setting you up. It reminds me of old school West Coast offense, where it's like, hey, we hand the ball off, but if you don't respect this backside, you know, they we'll throw this thing, we'll boot out of it. And he has the ability to obviously get out on the edge and create some issues as well, especially with

both of their route runners back now. Now, I saw that too, and when I watched the running game, I try and watch it from the end zone copy, and what I saw from Gibson is they the linemen give him a two way go. You know, if it's not there, like you said, it's on the backside and the way you have to read and respect it from an RPO standpoint, it gives him that you have to close off all those options. And you know, I was run Rivera is one of my favorite was one of my favorite Bears.

Loved him as a linebacker defensive coordinator for the Chargers. Also, you know, just Chargers Bears. Everywhere he's been, he's had success. Even with the Carolina Panthers, you knew that that was what their formula was gonna be. They're gonna play physical defense with Luke Keikley and they're gonna run the ball

right and the same thing applies here for Washington. They are gonna play physical upfront, try and win the line of scrimmage, but they want to beat you into submission offensive I just think that their offensive line, there's going to be some opportunities for us. I think we have to put pressure on them every week. We're gonna say this, you gotta win the line of scrimmage. Hell, everybody in the league is saying the same thing, win the line

of scrimmage. But it's going to be important for us, especially with Gibson because of the kind of wiggle that he has. He's talking about Gibson's patience. He really is. I mean, he's not one of those guys that tries to hit the hole too fast before it's open. He's really trying to find his way and read his blocks, and he does a good job of doing that. I think our ability to put pressure on these guys up

front and close those running lanes down. It's going to be important for us to just hold these guys off because if they are able to establish any part of their running game, everything else is going to start to open up. Now. I guess fortunately for us, we don't have to worry about the tight end aspect of it, but they still have some guys on the outside man, and look, Terry McLaurin is a guy that you know, but DeAndre Carter, DeAndre Carter, you have to watch him

because we've struggled versus. He's the prototypical guy that gives us problems. Short, speedy, and can work into space. The other thing, man, is the last thing about Taylor Heineke. He's feisty man. He's a feisty guy. He's gonna keep scrapping. And just like most quarterbacks, if you give you give me a phenomenal defense and a serviceable quarterback, you can win some games. And that formula still works in the NFL, especially when you can run the football. Like you said,

it opens everything up. And that's how Taylor Heinekes still won football games is because the running game has opened things up. I'm gonna go back to Week four, I'm gonna read off the running totals from Washington as a team since this week four. This is pretty incredible. They're still ranked ninth in the NFL one hundred and twenty four yards per game. But this is what they've done lately.

After kind of a pitter pattering to start the year, one twenty two versus Atlanta, one thirty one versus New Orleans, they only had ninety four against Kansas City. Kansas City kind of shut them down, one ninety five against Green Bay in a bounce back game, one twelve against Denver, ninety four again against Tampa Bay. So the two Super Bowl teams were the only teams that held them under

one hundred yards to this point. One ninety against Carolina, one fifty two against Seattle, and then one twelve against Las Vegas. Since a trend there. Yeah, they're pretty good at running the football and they can do it with a committee as well. And when you go back and watch the film, one of the things I think the change is they started using Heineken more under center and giving Gibson a little bit more leverage in the background,

you know, in the backfield to get going downfield. They use a pistol a lot, and I think that is what's changed their running game. You look at the four games that they lost, going it back to the Saints, the Chiefs, the Packers, and the Broncos, their running game was just in disarray. I mean, they had some you know, artist time runs and things like that. But you go against those defenses, your offense, Jess, isn't clicking. You're putting

up thirteen points, ten points. I mean, where your offense is sputtering, and even to the point where they've won some games, it's not like they're thirty burger ring here, forty burger there the rest. Still it's a slow paced offense. And even with as great as they are in the run, they're one of the worst teams in the NFL in the red zone. So, you know, some doesn't compute which one of these kids are doing their own thing and we've got to figure out how to keep them out

of the end zone. They are straight up fifty percent in the red zone. That's twenty ninth in the league. Thin't good. That's not very good? Is it? Not very good? Now? With that being said, you mentioned the route runners, and that's the thing that also kind of gives me pause whenever looking at this matchup, because not only are you talking about like you said McLaurin, Curtis Samuel, it's almost every wide receiver on their roster knows how to route, run,

knows how to cook in the second level. Is that something that the secondary from the Cowboys is going to struggle with going into Sunday. I think this is gonna be a challenging game in terms of playing sound defense at the defensive back position under under fourteen yards. So there's so most of the route tree comes to under fourteen yards. It's not a deep threat. It's not a

deep threat team. This is this is a Hey, these guys are gonna rout trying to route you up five six yards, catch it, get yack yardage, just like you know, to Heckim's point, this is a very physical team. These guys don't have a problem taking the little five yards and you know it was like three yards in a cloud. It does. They're they're okay with that. They are perfectly that they are okay with that. And so you're gonna have to be very sound defensively to not get your

hips turned to the sideline. These defense these ddbs are gonna have to be squared up, keep their hands on guys and stay square second. Of all these guys anna to tackle, They're gonna have to tackle their buts off in the secondary anywhere from the second level to the secondary I got to tackle. Because the defensive line. I think it's gonna have their hands full, even though I

think that they can win with leverage upfront. If they don't, if they pull an old school pole and start standing up and they're getting moves side to side, it's gonna be a problem. Because of how these boys play downhill. That name keeps getting dragged through the mud on this show. Hey don Terry Poe, No, that's bad, that's bad. Do you travel digs with mclaura No, No, keep him to the side. Yeah you agree, you know, I think you

you switch it up. Maybe not the whole game. I think in their situations with them, I think Taylor Heineke, his deep crossing routes are just balls. He can make that throw, but I don't think that he can make every throw. I think he struggles. I don't think that you why they keep it under fifteen yards For the most part, I don't believe you ever play these guys man to man, I really pla him in the zone. I think you can play zone with these guys and try to keep your two, keep your box as sound

as possible. I wouldn't go cover two shot. I don't want to keep another man down there close to the line of experience because you know, if they're gonna try to win this game running dan Quinn cover three defense is a sort of deal. But but the thing is, like your second I'm again, I'm gonna keep saying this, Your second level has to tackle this game. They have to tackle. If they don't tackle, if they don't close those holes and close those gaps, is gonna be a

long freaking day. And what's your confidence level that they're going to go up and tackle. There's the pause because we have shown repeatedly as of late that we're not as physical as we were the first half of the season, and that concerns me. That concerns me, especially against a team like this. That's my worry against this team. Not skills, not these guys have so much talent, Not that their schemes are so amazing. This is a physical team, right,

It's a physical team. The last physical team that we that we handle was New England won that game. That was awesome. Physical though, right gave us problems because of that. I would argue the Raiders were physical, the Raiders would fly around. They're they're competitive, they're they're super competitive. But in terms of in some terms of a strategy, in terms of, hey, we are going to just we're coming downhill.

We don't give a dog on at you that you know we're coming down here, We're coming downhill at you. This is gonna be with one of those type of games and guess what, we'll sprinkling you know, springklin heinee every so often. That's why you can't play a whole lot of Man, because he will take off and get that fire yards and keep those chains moving. Yeah, that's the reason why you don't want to play Man against

these guys. You don't want to give mclauren. You don't want to give Samuel an opportunity to have extended plays. And now all of a sudden, it's harder to stick guys longer as a player. You know, duration continues, So you want to go ahead and zone it up and make sure that your sound right there in that box man, because that's where it's gonna be one or lost. Honey. He's not gonna beat you dropping back and throwing the ball.

He will beat you if you try to play man to man and you allow him to get out in extend plays. And the reason man to man, just just elaborating on that reason why man man is such a factor is that your dvs will have their back turn while he's running towards them. But in this game, one of the keys to victory is going to be meeting matching their intensitive We can't in weeks past, we've had a problem with starting slow, and I think even just hey, I just feel like we're a little foggy going into

this other team is primed and ready to go. This is gonna be a playoff atmosphere in Washington because they understand what they have at stake here. I just we have to make these tackles where you say be physical at the latter half or back half of the defense, I agree with that. I just believe that you have such talent back there that you can mix some of these things up. I think he's they tilt their hands on a lot of things that they do. They try and run a lot of motion, just so that you

know Heineke knows what he's in. But I believe that's where you can confuse them the short routes that they are gonna throw digs last year versus Terry McLaurin. If you watch The Tape Boys a couple of times, McLaren took him to church, and it's just true. For the matter, I just think he's so much better now at those crossing routes and breaking on crossing routes. But getting that pressure up front, I think it's going to make the

difference for Taylor Heineken. Again, he's serviceable. You know, he's good enough for you to win with him, but you can also force some mistakes and those mistakes that he makes this once he starts getting happy feet, he will run because he's an athlete. You know he'll go back to what he knows. He's gonna try and run the ball. If you force him to do that, and then he looks up at the last minute and try and get rid of the ball, that's where you can get some interceptions.

I think I completely agree with you because I think one riverboat Ron is watching this show and he's gonna clip that and send that to Taylor and say, hey, here's your here's your motivation. Oh man, man, that's what's getting you going into more to please use me. No, I agree with you completely. I think this is a game where you have to be physical from a defensive standpoint, and you're gonna have to step up and have some guys step up, even though you can't sit back and say, oh,

our guys are back, let's have some fun now. No, no, no, this is a wake up game. You need vander Es, you gotta step up. Neil has to step up. Curse is gonna have to tackle at that level as well. He doesn't have a tie, big tight end to worry about. Now, his mostly his responsibility of this game. Off, lease elaborate why fifty five? Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait, we'll come back here. Let's do it when we come back. Let's take our break and

let's elaborate on that. Who needs to step up and be physical? Also? Who has been the biggest surprise for the Cowboys defense? Well we return with more talking cowboys. I want to use what the pros use. How about the official men's skin hair brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black? Right now, you can get to Jack Black Starter, a curated collection of Cowboys locker room favorites, for just

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could size up a cowboy by three simple factors. The crease in his hat, the bend of his brim, and his unbending 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

Jewitt Stetson dot com, slash Cowboys to Talking Cowboys. Whether you're watching from home or you're cheering in the stands, with lenses, you can see every exciting play book an appointment at your local or experts and see what esselor can do for you. See more, Do more, or on Talking Cowboys Isaiah stand back with these gorgeous l lenses. Those are awesome. I can see everything with those. Hey, now that Rob's not here, three one hundred percent of

the show has been taken care of by at some point. Wow. Yeah, isn't that fun? Is awesome? Yeah? Yeah, there are friends over there. We need to get robbed there. I need to just kidnap him and take him there at some point. A busy man. He's a busy man. I get it. Kicking and screaming, yo, little Will Ferrell action awesome. Yeah, no,

that would be good. That'd be good. Final segment here of talking Cowboys heck My Harris and Isaiah's stand back Chris Beam in the back, and we left it on a cliffhanger, going into the cliffhanger of asking who needs to step up against the Cowboys or excuse me, against the Washington offense. From that Cowboys defense, there's there is an a mention of a number fifty five and maybe a forty two. Who out of those guys needs to

step up more? Fifty five? Why he's supposed to be our big physical linebacker, supposed to be our big physical linebacker. And I'm not in the business of calling anybody out. But I feel as if he is not upholding the ask and the responsibility that they have placed on him this year. But that's a call out. Yeah, I mean, I mean, I mean, I just go up what I see. I mean, I just call how I see it, umtat stats aside. I just I see him retreating more than

I see him attacking. The there's a reason why they didn't re up him, and it's showing up. It's showing up is a reason why they didn't. They didn't grab that at that fifth year or whatever it is. It is showing up last game in particular, watching him, I'm like, come downhill, please, come downhill. We need you at the second level to be physical. Who else is going to

be physic about that second level aside from Mica. Again, that's why I say, if MICA's not there, we got a freaking problem, because nobody is stepping up to be physical at that second level. There is nobody that you circle on that on on the roster right now. That's as you say, he's gonna he gonna bush you in your mouth, maybe curse. That's that's that's third level. But yeah, second level, you know, like so like that's what I'm saying. At that second level, who are you circling to say,

we got to worry about this dude? Or even guess what, you can't just go you can't just go lock up with him because you can run him to the sideline like he's not being what we need him to be and we and we have to figure that out because as you guys know, as we go further and further in this season and hopefully into the playoffs, teams are going to come downhill and they will double up. They will combo block on your on your on your nose guard and your dtackles and work up to that next level.

And if that person doesn't want the smoke, there's gonna be big, big holes leading up to the K k Z and all this everybody else in that third level. No, that's a that's a great point. I just wanted to make sure that you elaborated on that when you left off of the second piece there, because you know, last game Laton had one tackle, Yeah, and that linebacker, yeah, that's one tackle. And the stats she's show, I mean,

it's like the proof is there. And then they say, and this scot don't lie you what you're talking about, is him catching at the line of scrimmage? Are you're not scraping and feeling hole? Yeah, And it's weird to hear to think about Laton Vanderesh and that to that aspect because you have to think about him as a rookie. He was All Pro as a rookie and his whole game was being physical. Now, I don't know if if he's if he's injured. We hadn't heard about it any

any of that. He's out there, but we need him, especially specifically in this game, to pick up the pace and be physical at the line of scrimmage. Also, Ken O'Neil Neil has been making some tackles. He's been doing some really good things in pass coverage, but at the line of scrimmage, I think he gets washed out and he tries to run around block and I think that gets him in trouble because he's a little bit lighter

of of a linebacker. But going back to Curse, I think there have been times where Curses playing a lot closer to the line of scrimmage than we even give credit for because he has acted because our linebackers because that physicality, you know, but he's just operated. He's operated in that way, and that's where a lot of I think when teams have had success versus us in the running game, going back to the Denver game, you could

just see it. Man, They're they're gashing us, and those you know, those two phases of being able to find the two way go and get on the back side. We just hadn't had a defender that could stop it or at least stimy that block. And that's my concern with this game, and I'm gonna keep saying it because where these guys can be dangerous is what our guys are doing right now. They're gonna combo block. Guys are gonna try to wash one side of the of the

line one direction. They're gonna leave one guy free. They're gonna run somebody back, try to take his knees out on the back end. So d Law, if Gregory comes back, your knees are gonna you better get your hands down, he says. They say, they're just shooting straight at your knees and they're gonna clear you out. So now there's a gaping hole right there. And if your guys at the second level linebackers want to run around blocks, and

want to avoid lineman leaving. You are literally doing what they want you to do, and there we will be in a world of trouble, whole heap of trouble if these guys don't come down and be physical. I'm just saying, I'm just telling you how it is. I've seen it too many times. So are the linebackers getting a pass

this year? From a general standpoint, I know we're really diving into it right now, but from a Cowboys Nation standpoint, I feel like there's not as much heat on the linebackers now that Jalen Smith's not a part of that group. Is that because just from a tag standpoint, late or not late manner, Michael Parsons is categorized as a linebacker. But outside of Michael Parsons, the linebackers have not played

exceptionally Well, That's why I brought up the point. I said, if you take Mica out the picture, which I hope never happens, what do you have. No, that's a great point, um, And going back to the you know, just watching film and watching the Carolina game and with that Jalen played in and you could tell the differences in speed from my linebacker group I think we've gotten a lot faster since then. Um, just the tackling just hadn't been there at the line of scrimmag Jar tackles for loss. That's

where Michael is so much better. And we don't know where Michael's gonna line up. So you want to, you wanna you want to, you know, do a critique. Hell, you don't know he's gonna be an age at well, Michael wants to smoke. Right when you walk up there as an office a linement, you look up, you see Michael. You're like, ooh, if I go up to that next level, I gotta bring my big boy draws, even though I outweigh him by seventy pounds. I gotta bring my big boy dress because I know he gonna bust me in

my chin. And the mother cats next to him I handle them. Yeah, they don't. And then those other cats don't have the no lateness as big. He's catching, he's catching. But that's this is why important, why this game is so important, and how Washington has gotten their running game going. It's really kind of we need to look at how we need to get our running game back going. It's just look one of this game particularly guys like Osa Diggi Zoor up front, if not Neville Gallimore, but Tristan Hill.

It's gonna be imperative that our techniques that if they play sound and they gobble up those blocks to allow our linebackers to be able to get to flow and shed. We hadn't had that a lot because it's been we've been interchanging guys. But you know, I don't know that's gonna be as soon as these guys get back, it's gonna be an odd man out on our defensive front. I don't know exactly who that's gonna be, but I

don't know if we can have everybody on. Yeah, the fact that Brent Urban's not available for the rest of the season gives you an extra spot to work with. But you're right, I think, especially at the edge rusher spot. I mean, having all those guys and then Michael Parson's rotating in as well, are you really gonna need to keep all those edge rushers. Probably not. It's probably not

the case. You'll probably have to move somebody down to the practice Watt squad or put them on waivers so their decisions to be mad now really quickly before we wrap up I know Chris is gonna get get us on time here for a in a second, but most surprising piece of the Cowboys defense real quickly. Who has it been throughout the course of this season. I mean, I'm going to go with the easy one, and that's the runt curse, Ye curse all the way across the board.

I agree, he's played phenomenal and like we just said, the ability that he has to come up to the line of scrimmage is huge because outside of Michael Parsons, the speed might be better at the second level than it has been in years, but the physicality has not been. And that's something we're gonna talk about. And you mentioned getting the Cowboys run game jump started. That's what we're gonna talk about tomorrow, Cowboys offense versus the Washington defense.

But that's it for us here on this Wednesday edition of Talking Cowboys. For Chris Beam in the back, Isaiah stand Back, the Great, heck Ma Harris, and I'm Kyle Yeoman's We'll see you tomorrow on Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.