The following.
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This he's Talking Cowboys, Screaming live from the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters at.
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And now your hosts, Isaiah Standback, Patrick Walker, Josh Rodriguez, and Kyle Yeomans.
It's a Say It with your Chest Friday edition of Talking Cowboys, presented by Black Rifle Coffee Company, live from the Star in Frisco, Texas in the SWBC Studios. Welcome and everybody. Cowboys fall in Week one, twenty four to twenty the final score against the Philadelphia Eagles, and we've got the whole cast and crew ready to break it down for you. Ready to rock today with Drick no, Cy Walker, Josh Rodriguez, Isaiah stand Back, Chris Beam in
the back of Kyle Yeoman's. Gentlemen, where do we start?
We start?
There are a lot of different things to break down. We could talk about, Yeah, we could talk about that, talk about Jayalen Carter, talk about a couple couple dropped opportunities, a couple of things that slipped right through your fingertips within spitting distance. If you yeah, all all the metaphors, all the puns, all the puns. Cowboys fall had a shot to beat the reigning Super Bowl champions on the
road in Week one. It hurts the fact that they had a shot and they very easily could have won that game with as well as they played.
That shot, And it hurts.
Man. This is just we're on a roll here. No, but you had an opportunity late and ultimately just couldn't get it done.
Listen, you guys know everything about talking cowboys. We don't do moral victories, no going to do moral victories. But I can tell you what last night last night, when there is no draw, right, win or lose? Right, obviously you lost. You were going to find out where your team was. You had you had no idea what your team was. You literally had no idea that most of the guys that were playing last night had not touched the field in the in the preseason. That's just what
it is. You know what you have now in Cowboys Nation. Again, I'm going to say there are no moral victories, so don't don't at me. However, you should be highly encouraged.
Absolutely you should be highly encouraged as to what you have for what's transpired with this organization over the past week in terms of losing your best defensive player and seeing exactly what your defense looks like now, seeing exactly what your coverage looks like with Trayvon Diggs coming off of injury, and you still have other guys that have to come off the injury report to make contributions, to
see what your offense looks like. We're Brian's Schoenheimer and really everybody not even really being utilized last night.
You should be encouraged by the running game.
You had questions and concerns about who was going to be able to tote the rock and can you be effective on the ground with the ground game. You should be encouraged by your offensive line. How are these guys going to be able to be able to run block? Can these guys protect? Can they keep Daka? Is Dak's hamstring healthy? Can he run? Can he get out the pocket?
All these things. There's a lot of questions that I don't want to say fully got answered, but you have a pretty good idea as to where you're at right now. And again, you just played the Super Bowl champs. Who returned almost everybody, almost seventeen out of twenty two starters.
Impressive, they returned.
The Super Bowl champions returned seventeen out of twenty two starters. And you just went total told with them, and you should have won. You should have won. You had your opportunities, absolutely right. So again, no moral victories, but I am encouraged. Right, I have predicted that they were going to lose twenty seven to twenty one, I think, right, just guys like eh, I just don't know who they are.
I don't know if they're gonna be able to get over to edge. Right.
This was this was a good matchup. And I've gotten through the first half of film so far. A lot of things clean up, but all these things that that you see on film are correctable.
But again we'll get into the details. I'm highly encouraged.
Is it a lot of things that you think would have benefited from a few snaps in the preseason.
Yes, very much, so very much. I said it last night on a post game show.
I was about to say, did you listen to post game last night?
Yeah?
And then that's kind of why I'm leading into that, because those are a lot of things and a lot of fans.
We're kind of saying this too.
You know, it's if you don't have Dak playing in the preseason at all, getting snaps, getting familiar. That was the first time we had seen the offensive line play together as one on the field Thursday Night Football Game one. That's a crazy that's a tall order if you will, to serve up for Opening Day. But the Cowboys went down the field on two drives in a row and score touchdowns. You have to love that. You have to
love what Brian Schottenheimer came in with. Another thing that you said on the pregame show was that your coordinators were prepared.
They got your guys prepared.
I loved that because it was clear, it was obvious. I don't know that I necessarily loved Matt Eberflus's game plan when you look at the snaps of like a Maris lea foul, why he wasn't on the field, why he wasn't spying Jalen Hurts, Especially after the first few drives where they went down and scored touchdowns.
Back to back to back. It's tough, but I think there's a lot to build on.
I'll tell you what.
And speaking to eber Flus really quickly before I get to some of my key takeaways, because a lot a lot here, but I'll give as some mestion. But Eberflus, we talk about culture change. Mazzie Smith was a healthy scratch. You don't see that under Michae McCarthy. Mich McCarthy is still in this building as head coach. Mazzie Smith is not a healthy scratch at any point ever. So I would like to say that Schottenheimer and eber Flus are keeping to what they said. They said they want to
see more consistency from Mozzie Smith. Those were not words at all. Compete every day everything, So so kudos to them for that. Now, as far as some of the takeaways from those who did play, love what Isaiah's saying, love with Josh is saying, and I completely agree. Again, we will say this, and we will have to say this a million other times because we already know how fans are.
There are no moral victories, zero whatever.
Just as if the Cowboys had won, there would have been negatives to discuss as far as improvements. Yeah, okay, just like the Cowboys lost this game, there are positives to discuss along with the negatives. Yep, that's called football talk. Okay, there are a lot of positives. Schottenheimer came out his script was magnificent on that first drive. But then you're thinking to yourself, Okay, script looks magnificent. First twelve to
fifteen plays cool. Second drive mostly on scripted, still look magnificent. Oh mind, what are we doing?
Here?
Are a lot there's a lot of pre snap motion here in that snap motion there, these are a lot of condensed offensive sets to make things that much more challenging on the defense for the Eagles. And then you look at Dak. Granted no preseason, but saw stat yesterday finished the game with ninety percent catchuple throws ninety percent. Dak was pristine out there the run game. To Isaiah's point, we had no idea what this run game would look like, or this new look offensive line would look like. Man,
I get it. Jay Len Carter got removed, but guess what. They still have bodies out there like Jordan Davis for example. Shouts out to Javonte Williams. He was making the best of every opportunity given to him. In conjunction with the fact that man, this offensive line was just moving bodies they were moving.
Bodies forward, sideways.
It was a lot of steering going on out there. So run game looks good. Passing game looked great. Ceedee Lamb was virtually unstoppable in the first half. You know, he was approaching one hundred yard game at the half. Okay, let's see what else I got here. Defense iber Flus struggled with his initial game plan. Okay, first half did not look great in the run defense, and of course everyone include in us, I disagree, didn't look great because of Jalen Hurts.
Yes, it wasn't because sa Quon was going off doing Saquon.
They bottled him up.
Yes, it was because Jalen Hurts his mobility. But if you go back and look at the film, as we do on Talking Cowboy, what you would notice is that a lot of those runs from Jalen Hurts, none of them were designed.
They were broken.
Plays because the covering bridge absolutely down Chef Kiss.
Okay, so at that point, now another positive halftime adjustments. We saw halftime adjustments from the defense, absolutely.
Oh Man.
One hundred and twenty plus yards on the ground for the Eagles in the first half, roughly thirty on the ground in the second half. Three were ties in the first half, zero offensive touchdowns allowed in the second half. A lot of positives be taken to be taken away from here. Solomon Thomas, yes, sir played well, Okay Clark, Kenny Clark, sir Osa in the second half, three.
Defensive tackles that did what he's going on?
I did and shout out because I was shout out to Marshawn.
Marshawant was not.
Necessarily over the hill for the pass rush, but in terms of his had two sects physicality. The way that Marshawn o Sa, Solomon and Kenny Clark came off the ball that it was so encouraging when watching on film, like they were firing off the ball. Solomon Thomas is a madman coming off the snap like relent and he doesn't just look the part.
You know, it's the second moves too. It was the fact that he would get locked up on one side and yeah, yeah, I mean there were so many different options on the film. When you go back and look at it, it's.
A fun one. It really was.
In the top of that adds to very exciting.
How many times did we see in the past, just recent seasons, the Cowboys with go to go defense just basically find ways to partner it see or get bullied and just pushed into no not not last night against the arguably the best offensive line in the game.
It took. For example, one off Jalen Hurts rushing touchdowns was because it was go to go stuffed, stuffed and then he.
Goes to it wasn't easy, right, he goes to roll out, He's like, Oh, I don't have anyone to pass too?
Why because the coverage is Christine. He rolls out bootlegs and there you go. So lots of positive takeaways these negatives.
One thing that you just brought up marsh On kneel and a guy that you've been critical of since for him to show out like you did yesterday was impressive.
But what did you see? What was different from camp from yesterday?
Violence?
You don't you don't get that violence, and you get that violence in camp. You just don't know. You don't, you don't don't. You're not tackling it. Even when you are thudding up, you're still going three quarters. Let's call it what it is right in training camp and at the line position because you what are your coach is.
Saying stay up, Stay up, Stay up.
You can't go one hundred percent when you're worried about falling, you know, not trying not to fall on the ground. So that's just be really be real, be honest about it. The way that he was firing out the ball, even though I would like to see a I would like for him to get a bag of pass rushers when he even when he two gaps, he's powerful and he pushed Lane Johnson back numerous times into the into the lap of Jalen Hurts. So those things were very encouraging.
Like I said, there's a lot to go through. But you, for fans understand you. You won the number of first downs, you one third down, you one total total yards, you one average game per play.
You.
Let me let me add you won the coaching Yeah, let me let me add to this a little bit. If you would have told me on Wednesday going into Thursday that Sakuon Barkley is held to three point three yards per case.
Are cool?
DeVante Smith finishes with three grabs for sixteen yards, no touchdowns. Longest was seven yards.
I know a J.
Brown one reception.
Well, he was in the building. He was there.
He was in the building.
At the end of the game.
Yeah, one reception for eight yards at the end of the game will at the end of the game. If you would have told me all three of those things were true, I don't care what anybody else does. I think Dallas wins the game. And that's part of why this one does hurt the way that it does. And I say hurt with the little emphasis because you talked
about third down. That was the problem. That was the problem eight of thirteen and most of those thirteen that didn't end up on the positive side for Philly was late and that was part of the adjustment. In the forty five seconds that I saw my wife this morning, we talked to football because that was really all we had when we get home at two am and then
turn around and get up here at eight am. Yeah, and that's not even as bad as what Patrick's having to deal with and Chris beam are having to deal with. But for the forty five seconds I saw Laurena and I said, you know, I think it boils down to I loved Schottenheimer's game plan. I loved Eberflus's adjustments, and that's part of the game. Well, the game plan was there in the first half from the offense, and the game plan wasn't bad for Ebraflus in the first half.
They did good things or else Saquon Barkley doesn't get held to three point three yards per carry. But the adjustments going into the second half from the defensive side gave the offense every opportunity to win that game in the third or the fourth quarter, and you didn't take advantage.
To your point, Iberflus's game plan, I actually think in the.
First half was really good.
We're talking about like shutting down AJ Brown, We're talking about shutting in down DeVante Smith. That's the Barkley for the entire game. It was Jalen Hurts that hurt you, no pun intended. It was those third down situational things. It was Dante Fowler not have his best game. It was the linebackers not cleaning up, you know, the second level. It was the second level all day because Osa dige Zoo was in the backfield on every It was insane.
And the reason why I pointed, I'm not pointing fingers at anybody. We're just no, no, we watch film around here, Okay, so that's what we do. Talking cowboys. I can't speak to the other shows. You know, we watched, We watched film and we.
Talked watched it on the way home last night.
There was a lot of.
Things that you could point out as every coach on that staff is going to do. They are going to dissect it for those that are at home, and when you're a professional athlete in the NFL, the coaches come in, they watched the film first. They literally grade every single play. They give you a plus or they give you a minus.
When you walk into that meeting room that morning to go over what just took place, you were handed a packet of every play that was had for your offensive or defensive snaps, which your grade for that play, whatever plays you're on, you're graded okay, and you go through every single play and you talk what you should have done better, what we could have done better.
As a unit. We were talking about.
The d line and how they were firing off and how they for the most part, had relatively good gap discipline the linebackers. I know it is going to be highlighted and Maddiebriflus as his position, so please believe he's going to correct this. These guys were not playing as a cohesive unit in the terms of reactionary action, you know what I'm saying.
They weren't reacting, they were waiting. There was gaps that were there.
That's why Saquan got off and got should have been negative two, negative three yards a couple times, and he was able to make it plus four, right, because we were not shooting the gaps. We weren't seeing ball hit ball. There's hesitation there, and I think those are things that you only get by knocking off the rust. Last night was knocking off the rust. You just wish that it would have happened somewhere in the preseason or a training camp. But again, these are all the correctable items, and I
am encouraged by it. Only thing that sticks out to me had like a sore thumb. The Philadelphia Eagles were three for three in the red zone. If the Dallas Cowboys were three for three, Dallas Cowboys win the game. I'm not pointing saying that was the only thing. Officer's a gazillion things that took place. The fumble killed it. Yeah,
the fumble killed it. You were in the resid first of all, should never got to the fumbel because that was a heck of a blocked up great call by Schottenheimer, blocked up by the old line and the receivers should have been a house called, not a house call.
Who cribs there right, Jade and Blue Jane, Blue cribs that understood. I mean it happened one of the few coaching It's not.
I'm not gonna.
I'm not gonna. I'm not going to fifty back made a heck of a player, faulting him for that. But we're saying because two things can be true at the same time. It is a hell of a play that's blocked up wonderfully. Yeah, he executed it wonderfully, and it's also true that he got dragged down from behind.
But the same thing about Cavante Turpin. Though you can throw anybody's name in the.
Count on that particular plays Turping, but you can always always, so that's what I'm saying, But you always look.
At this player was there.
Blue is faster and in that particular play, all things being equal, Blue is not getting caught from behind.
To counteract that, though you have Zach Bond in the backfield that is gone, I mean in the out in space who cleaned it up?
It was Asle seven. I mean he was clearing up all day every day. I don't know.
Necessarily that Jayden Blue cribs that the chances are much higher.
Let's listen, listen, listen.
We can't go down the line and say on this play, if that's what I'm saying, that player, We're not going to do that.
But it was.
A heck of a play by Zach Bond. Heck of a played on the offense for the Dallas Cowboys. Unfortunately, you didn't score. You would have liked to score, and the consequence of that was unfortunately, ball security wasn't there.
You lost the ball. But we could point to that, we can point to the George.
Picktt, you know what I'm saying, which killed you on your ability to score touchdown on that particular drive. So there was a number of things that took place. We're not pointing fingers. We're just addressing that one stat line. If you were three for three, you win the game.
Well, turnovers decide games, and that was the only turnover of the entire game.
And drops and.
Yeah, drops in your quarterback tried to say you even from that turnover.
I want to talk a little more offense. Let's talk about the drops. Let's talk about the significance of Dak last night, and I thought he had some some ups and some downs, but really it was more ups than downs. Cowboys lose twenty four to twenty to the Philadelphia Eagles. Let's talk offense when we come back right after this.
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Back here on Talking Cowboys. This segment of the show is brought to you by in visil Line, the official smile of the Dallas Cowboys. Still smiling today.
Normally they call it I am smiling.
Yeah, there are things to smile about, sure, I'm dead serious.
They call it Black Monday most of the time on the week after the first game for every NFL team, because you're either winning the Super Bowl or you're gonna go oh and seventeen. And I think Dallas is about as in the middle as possible on that. And of course it's not a Monday, it's Black Friday, but it's not Thanksgiving. When you talk about some of the positives there for the offense, and we've kind of hit a
couple of these. Dak Prescott finishes twenty one to thirty four passing, didn't have a passing touchdown, one eighty eight through the air. One ten of that went to one guy named Ceedee Lamb. However, even after going seven receptions for one hundred and ten yards, a lot of people looking at CD as a microcosm reason, and it's not the only reason, but it's a big reason that the Cowboys didn't come up with this. Football is a funny game,
isn't it it is. Football is a funny game. He had four drops after putting up one hundred and ten yards receiving and being the majority of the offensive attack for the Dallas Cowboys. And at the end of the day, you come up just shy on a couple of really tough catches and it's still not enough to get it done. And he said to himself, he said, I gotta catch those balls.
Yeah, Like, let's give credit to the maturity of cd Lan. Like, think about where he came from. He's a captain, he's not ducking, and he's a captain now right.
I'm the captain now right.
I was hoping to get that reference.
He has taken so many strides towards leadership. Mean, I'm I you know, I don't have a personal relationship with him like that, but I'm proud of his development in that particular area, coming from where he was even in the beginning of last year. Go back a year, yep, where he was throwing tantrums and things like that, And I think that was kind of his awakening moment to
see himself in the mirror. But like, I don't like that, right, he made changes to the point where there's nothing negative that you can say about how he addressed and owned his drops from yesterday.
He owned that to a t Go watch it on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. The whole interviews up.
Listen, no excuses, Hey, look no further than me. I got to catch the ball. All the things like I'm not looking anywhere else, I'm looking at the man in the mirror, Michael Jackson style. And that's what I love about how he handled that yesterday. He said, if you don't think that I'm gonna come back better than I was tonight, you guys don't know me.
Love it. Love it.
It happens. Everybody's not under a game every day. He bought out, he really did. He bought out, But there's some balls that he wish he would have brought in. It happens. You can talk about the old line they bought out for the most part. Yeah, we can point to the number of blocks that you wish you would have done better. Yeah, it would have made a difference.
Right, And for any fan that says, you know, like he's getting up thirty four million dollars, he needs to make every single one of those catches. There were a couple of those catches I thought were pretty tough, and especially if you consider the secondary bearing down on him in those moments. But for him to outwardly say those are mine, I need to get those no matter.
Here's the exact quote and quote Ceede Lamb after the game last night. Man, that was terrible. I can't point fingers at anybody else. I take full accountability and everything else that comes with that. As a player, I've prayed for moments like that, and for the ball to come my way to not come up with it, it stings a little bit. And then he went on to say, as Isaiah was saying, if you don't think that he's going to come back basically and cook, then you got
another thing coming. And I'm standing right there with Isaiah. I cannot and I've I've said it a million times. One thing about me is I'm always going to give roses and kudos to a person who can be accountable. Right, they're not passing the buck off. He didn't even deflect, he didn't try to soften the blow. He basically stood right on the track, right on the tracks, looked at the train coming and said, okay, this is me.
Now. Was he the only reason the Cowboys dropped that game.
No.
I mean my prediction was the Cowboys win twenty seven to twenty four, and damn it, they were right there. They were right all is in your hand three minutes to go.
Got to make the catches, and he knows that.
I think what what highlights the drops is the situation in which the drops occurred. Absolutely, and the receiver that dropped the passes. It's kind of a perfect storm of That's why they pay CD Lamb to me make those catches Ceedee Lamb said it himself. He's prayed for times like that, and in the past he's come up good for the Cowboys in times like that.
In the future he will come up good.
For the Cowboys and times like that also true though those drops were brutal. If he gets just one of the final two drops, just one.
That that first or the second to last drop, Jack the ross deep cross.
Jack put itam and it tipped up perfect spot.
Thinks they were both good throws.
They were both.
They were both.
The last one was a little tough, that would have been yeah, had extension. You had to put it there with the sat coming over the top and then never under.
But the second to last, Dak put it on it.
I agree with Patrick entirely because the only reason we have that expectation for Ceedee Lamb is because we've seen it in the past. We've seen him make those types of plays in the past. CD knows he can make those types of plays. He's paid to make those types of plays. And at the end of the day, that's going to separate Ceedee Lamb from being a great receiver in this league, of being an elite receiver in this league. And I do. I've said it before, I've said it
since he was drafted. I think he has everything on the table to be an elite receiver in this league, and he has been at different points throughout his career. He had a chance to become the storyline last night. Imagine if he, like you said, grabs one or two of those four drops that he had on the night. You're talking about a buck thirty one hundred and forty
yards possibly a touchdown in there. If things continue going your way and he's the main reason Dallas wins the game on the road against Philadelphia, that's what's gonna come with the territory. You ride the highs, you ride the lows. Just this just happened to be a low for CD Lamb.
That was evidence of rust.
You think so, yes, because I want you to tell you, all right, all right, tell me the last time that he had to make a catch with that kind of that kind of coverage and that kind of physicality.
I get that.
The only reason I'm not making this I'm and reason I disagree with that is if he hadn't been on fire the first half.
So if you flip the halfs okay, but think about the catches, say that, I'm serious.
You think about the catches that he made versus the catches that he didn't make.
Yeah.
Right, the last time that he had that level of physicality was last season. Yeah, this is this is real. I'm not making an excuse. I'm just saying this is this is this is real truth. This is the reason why some teams play some of their guys in the preseason, whether however long that might be, is because it allows for guys to kind of get recalibrated. You're not that physical in practice. You're not diving for catches in practice training camp. You're not risk versus reward. Right, did we
see him have to dive? Did he die for anything in training camp. Now, a you see any of those receivers outside of the guys who are trying to make the roster die for anything in training camp.
No, so what practice would he have at that.
I'm just being real right now, Like, what's the last time somebody was that physical where you had a guy that's on your back and the guy's about to hit you, hit you in your face and you had to focus on the ball.
Last season, you feel the footsteps coming.
And that's lutting up.
In practice is not the same as life around because you know that you're safe.
It's a safe place. So your eyes, it's a safe place.
It's a safe place in practice it is you're not worried about getting injured by somebody knocking your head off, right. But now all of a sudden, I'm thrust it into the game. And again he's paid to do it, he knows it, own the ship. But again he needed this
one game to recalibrate himself. Say, we're back playing football again and there's a real chance that I can get hit, right, So now my eyes, my focus, everything has required to keep this guy off my back, catch the ball, and make sure that my eyes are wandering to the cat that's trying to take my head off. Yeah right, those are things that I have not had practice on since last season.
All the separation, sorry, all the separation and the route running and all of the things that Ceedee Lamb can do well in practice. Was fine because when he had a cushion, it was there. But you go back, you look at all four drops, like challenge, you go back and look at all four of them. There was somebody in the city and this is it was a contestant, and it wasn't like it wasn't like he didn't come up with contested catches. He had a couple of those.
But when it came to catches in heavy traffic and dangerous situations, the dive, the throw over the middle and the deep crosser, both of those situations were in heavy traffic, and as a receiver, you know you're about to get hit even if you catch the ball. Not saying I'm not saying he's backing down. He had, he had perfect position, he had an oppertity, but you know as soon as you grab that ball, you're getting lit up, and you know what, it is a little bit different.
And on top of that, and again I'm not gonna go down every dog on the drop, okay or whatever. George Pickins forced a pass interference at that I think the second quarter or some running in my head, George Pickins makes that catch, even with the flag call, even with the passage one.
In my head, that's a catch for George Piggins.
He got his hand, he somehow some ways stacked the dB, got one hand on it, dropped it.
I know.
I know that George is watching that film sometime today. It's like, I gotta make that catch.
But when's the last time.
When's the last time you had to make that catch.
He had to make that physical of a catch, not in training camp, not in OTA's It hasn't happened. So I mean, I'm not giving an excuse, but what I'm saying is be empathetic to the fact that they are doing a game to get recalibrate. Now, you wish that they wouldn't have to use a regular season game to get calibrated, but understand that as a human being, as a professional athlete, you have to get recalibrated to the
reality and a physicality resport. This is why it's risk versus reward for guys in the preseason some teams play their guys, some teams don't.
Why do some guys play their guys because they want.
That Russ those plays to happen early so that now when the regular season starts, they're not worried about it. Counterpoint, Now that I've heard your entire explanation, as I don't disagree as much right now as I did before you exprep so credit to you. That being said, I think we're looking at the angle of rust differently my purview of rust. If I'm to agree with you that there was those drops were due to rust, I will agree that it was in the focused capacity. That much I'll give to you.
But when I hear ceedee lamb affirm what I was thinking in my head, what I said out loud in the press box after the third drop, and then most certainly the fourth drop, but not necessarily the fourth drop. I really think that he was he refocused and tried to get that for it. That's why he laid out like that, and it just didn't happen for him. But after the third drop, I said out loud in the press box, I said something my grandma used to send my late grandma. I think he's smelling himself. I think
he's smelling himself. It's an old Southern saying that basically says you're getting too big for your bridges. He had an outstanding training camp Ceedee Lamb did one of the.
MVPs of training Best player on the field.
Yep, he's torching these guys seventy six eighty yards. He's having his way with him. He single back motion out of the backfield on third down. You know, I mean like Shody has him cooking. He's cooking, Deck is cooking. Seedee Lamb is starting to feel unstoppable. He's starting to feel like, Okay, this might be a two thousand receiving yard season. And then the focus starts to wane. So I agree with you the focus Wayne, the question and the argument, and we'll put it to Cowboys Nation.
Feel free to engage in the chat with it.
Argument is, do you feel like the focus because we agree they were focus drops. Do you think it was due to rust or do you think it was due to CD Lamb being too confident that he didn't have to necessarily like look up example. One of the drops I think was the second drop. Yes, it's the second drop. It was going away from the press box. If you look at that play CD and it kind of goes to your point a little bit. He started to turn his head to assess what was coming. Okay, bring the
ball in and then run. You know, that's football all ones.
Last last time he had to worry about getting hit. Oh, that's why I'm That's why I said, fully disagree. So when I say the word rust I mean it's just a calibration. Maybe I should use the word calibration right wrong with that. He hasn't had to worry about that, that rusty.
It was just just a timing element.
And that's it's you don't you don't go off the way you're calibrating.
It's it's calibrating, recalibrating, bro, Like I for dog on it.
That's right, I'm about to get dog on a hit.
Naturally for that point zero two seconds, my eyes went away from the ball because I'm like, oh, it's been a minute, so that it is a focus drop. But again, I have to get recalibrated, and I'm about to get dog on hit. And guess what, that's a part of the game.
Dang it. I wish that didn't happen. And it's fun.
The diving catch. Right, I died for the ball. I haven't done for the ball in freaking six months. Okay, last time I do for the ball, I tuck my elbows. This time my elbows were out. Dang it, all right, I said something that's easily correctable. I'll tuck my elbows next time, next time I get the cradle that that's a catch. I sure wish that didn't happen in the game, though, you know what I'm saying, Like, those are the things that I'm talking about in terms of like recalibrating himself.
And that's why after the game, when you interview ceedde Lamb, he says, please believe I'm gonna come back stronger. Why because those are all things that are correctable. I already know how to correct those things. I just wish that they didn't happen in Again, you also know what he said. He said, God has a weird way of hem. He did, and that was the answer to the question of did he feel a little over confident then after the first half that he was having and then his answer was
God has a strange way of humbling you. So that was him saying that maybe he did get over confident and he felt confident enough that he can do that, he can ditch the fundamentals at any get great.
I agree.
And now you're saying, here's the ball coming, it's from deck and let me get back.
His hands are here, and you're like, no, no, no, no.
No, oh not so fast. My friends see the ball in and then make the place. And this applies to all across the bort I know we're talking about CD, but this was a calibration for a lot of guys. Jack Sanborn, Seaball, hit ball. There's too much hesitation, Fowler freaking keep your leverage, working on your passwords. I think I don't know if they were being told the two gaps in the first half and not really, we don't work on one one shoulder of the offensive tackles. But
they were too gapping a lot. They worried it wasn't much pass rush going on. Uh, Malik hooker wrap up right, like there's there's We could point to a lot of different.
The whole board.
For guys that have not been playing in the preseason, this was their calibration and you just wish it didn't happen in the first game.
But again, be encouraged, be encouraged.
You just face arguably, and there's no reason to say anything different until these other teams start playing the best team in football. They're returning champions from last year. We returned seventeen starters and added players. Be encouraged. You wish you would have won the game. You had opportunities to win the game. There's things that you could point out in the film that you could say, had we made these plays, have we done these things better? We win
the game? And guess what Philly's saying the same thing. Had we had Jalen Carter, we would have won.
Buy more. Had we done these things, we would have won. Buy more.
Like everybody's gonna do that. But be encouraged with you have now Cowboys Nation. You have an idea of what your team is. You have an idea of how impactful you are without Mike up Parsons. You have an idea of what your running game looks like. You have a deal about a lot of things. Now this is week one. That thought process is we can only get better from here. That's the thought process. Now we have to sit and weight.
They are who we thought they were.
If I've learned one thing in this segment, all the way through is that Isaiah is trying to talk about starters in his preseason broadcasts next year, and he's just trying to push Brian Schottenheimer to put the starters in so he and Bill Jones can talk about him against the Falcons next year in preseason Week two.
That's what yes, flags, Yes, all right.
When we come back, I want to flip to the defensive side of the football. Mattie Refluse made the adjustments late? What happened with the container of Jalen Hurts early? And how can you take steps forward? Plus? Are the Cowboys good in coverage? Was the secondary good yesterday? When we come back with more talking Cowboys right after this?
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Welcome back into Dear Doctor, the show where I answer life's questions with an ice cold can of doctor Pepper. Sheila, let's hear from my next caller.
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That's get Jack Black dot com Slash Cowboys with the code Cowboys vip to Talking Cowboys. Back here on Talking Cowboys, presented by Black Rifle Coffee Company. Our comment of the day for a bunch of good ones today. You guys have been super active in the comment section of it.
Zion Childress in the comment section.
There is literally a Zion Childress here. I'm giving it to Adam just because it kind of makes me chuckle. A second ago, you said I smashed another TV into pieces last time.
Oh hopefully it was a old TV.
Old TV. Yeah, don't smash TV's. Don't do that. That's what people dress up as cowboys fans that aren't actually cowboys fans and then throw things at TVs to like.
Go viral anything. You should have smashed a CD player.
Mmm, with the anti skips, that's.
Rough, like a walkman or something that's rough.
It's good. Did you have anti skip?
Oh?
Yeah?
Did you absolutely money? You're all the jogging idea you have, bro.
I used to have a rubber band wrap that thing around and my pants and it sent up my my, my my pants and tightened up so that that thing didn't move. Yep, that's it for all the non anti skip people I had.
So I kept you from dropping this the cassette and like the worst of fanny pack situation.
Yeah, with my turtleneck with a big chain like Dwayne Rock looked like the Rock in the nineties.
I like it.
Uh, we've talked offense, We've talked a little bit of the defense. I want to continue with the secondary question.
Mark man Mark who put the question mark in the teleprocter that you know Kyle will read whatever.
Whatever's on the telepropter. Uh. I liked the coverage.
Yeah you day yea, Yeah, turns pretty much. I thought a really nice job primarily all is one.
They did a and I was on this show specifically, I've been very critical of the secondary and how without Trayvon Diggs. Luckily he's even partially back in the fold. Without Trayvon Diggs, I don't know what the secondary is going to look like. And I said that all off season long. I feel much better about the secondary just seeing what they had out there. Was it perfect? No, but again, if you hold aj Brown to one reception for eight yards, and you hold Devonte Smith for three receptions.
Even Dallas Goddard had seven catches, but he only went for forty four yards. They limited the passing game entirely in that even.
Even the deep throw of the Dots and the big the chunk play, the biggest play of the game for the Philadelphia Eagles, that was good coverage.
Elon was right there on his hip. That was just a damn yeah.
That was just hurt seeing that the defender was on the outside hip and the safety had already shaved it, so he threw to the inside hip.
And I still think the juries out I'm just being honest, that's for anything. No, no, no, I'm saying we did not truly have enough body of work in terms of coverage, man to man coverage, to really have an understanding of where you're at with your dB. And I think they were being protected by ibers in that regard.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
That's fine. There's nothing wrong with this as long as it's schemed.
Up and they're and that's what it was. It was. I don't care if.
It's a man's zone, guy by one High, I don't care.
Guys play zones very well yesterday.
I don't know yet the ability of our DB's to play man to man for a majority of the game right now, I don't know. We don't have enough on film sure to state that. So that's why I said coverage wise, and and and scheme wise, it was great for whatever Philly was presenting, right Iberflus had those guys dialed up, whatever whatever else they were running, there was somebody in that zone making sure that they were taking it away. I don't know in terms of ability to
cover yet. And I think with Deron Bland just coming back with Trayvon Diggs, you know, being on a kind of a pitch count, I don't think that Eberflus wanted to expose them, so that and also maybe Philadelphia's concepts didn't you know, we're better.
Defended in his zone.
I don't know.
I don't know what it was right, but either way, they did a heck of a job with coverage.
Their concepts didn't warrant man de man in the games the con it warranted a spy on the quarterback.
That's kind of gonna be my gridge.
You don't get, you don't get.
Both totally understand totally understandable.
But if you're not putting your most athletic linebacker out there the entire game, I don't know what you're doing. Because Jack Sanmore did not have a great game, did not have a great one time getting.
Stiff armed by.
One time I saw foul out there, Lias. I don't remember what the route was. I think it was a running back. They tried to shave him up and he literally was like shadow boxing with this dude, Like the dude made a move lea foul made a move.
His footwork was just like a mirror image with it.
I would have liked to see him more, but again, I'm not sure how he fit into the scheme that was executed yesterday. If you had to make a choice in terms of playing lea foul here to scheme him up to shadow. You know, Jalen Hurts versus have the coverage that you had last night.
I'm taking what we saw like.
In the coverage because what I would rather limited the big place, right, Because what I would rather do is I hate that Jalen Hurts was able to extend place.
I shouldn't have to say that, but let me say it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.
However, if this is to pick your poison scenario, and it very much is to pick your poison scenario, would you rather have Jalen Hurts have the strong ground game that he had in the first half, or aj Brown and DeVante Smith combined for two hundred yards and three receiving touchdowns, like I would rather the latter or not
be a thing. That being said, Also to Isaiah's point, something else to look at positively now that because they were forced into a zone coverage wisely so because of the concepts that are run by the Eagles, and you know their passing attack, you know that up against the best receivers in the league in zone this, this personnel can get the job done. Okay, that's with Treyvon Diggs
only playing forty three percent of the snaps. Okay, so now when they're forced to go into a man coverage and Trayvon Diggs now is more time removed from playing in the rust being knocked off. Now you're looking at the three pack, You're looking at Elam and Diggs and Bland on the field at the same time.
You didn't often see that last night. Trevon Diggs didn't even technically start the game last night. So as he gets that Russ knocked off. Now you know, can we go zone against a team that has two right, that has two arguably elite receivers. Yes, and you can do it with one of your guys. You're all pro record setting cornerback playing less than half the snaps, he's going to play more than this going festal So man zone. To Kyle's point with a question mark, the coverage was secondary.
The secondary was good.
And if you're going to do that, though, if you're going to have zone, you're going to need a cleanup crew on the second level, and I just don't think the linebackers were that. And we had talked about how well the linebackers were playing up until throughout the preseason, throughout camp, and then in Week one it just wasn't there.
They were tasked with play zone. Right.
Now, you have linebackers, you know, you got two A lot of times it was two linebackers, right, Samborne and Murray playing in space, and they're covering so much ground where they're responsible for. Aj Brown was running a lot of whip routes and hunting short underneath routes. Dotson was running across the middle of the field. So you had these guys that were literally covering receivers right because the
zone defense demanded that they guard that area, right. So, yeah, there was elements that you wish were different, But again, you're in a situation where you had to say, hey, we either got to do this and limit limit, you know, the big plays, or we got to do this and we're subject to big plays with you know, with guys
who necessarily haven't played a lot lately. They have a responsibility to make sure Trayvon was healthy coming out of Again, I had a responsibility to make sure that Deron Bland was able to do what he needed to do and build his confidence.
So I understand, and I am perfectly fine.
I am perfectly fine with the scheme that was brought to the game by Matt Eberfleece yesterday. You just would love to see them restricted the rushing lanes a little bit more. You'd like to see them get a little bit better pass rush. These are all things that are correctable, but in terms of what their responsibilities were defensively outside of that front d line, those guys did a heck of a job.
Yes, one thing, one thing, and I want to do this probably for the last time.
I want to bring it out. But this has brought up a lot yesterday. It's like Dallas really missed a guy like Michael Parsons.
It's true, it's true.
It's no doubt, there's no doubt about it.
And you didn't have a guy like them on over shown.
You didn't have a guy like Kenny Clark out there. You did not have a guy huge impact. So if you would have had Michael Parsons, you wouldn't MASI would have had more yards, had a lot more yards. You have had a way bigger issue in the running game.
So he got redirected a lot.
People are forgetting that fact is that the run defense would not have been and they weren't terrific yesterday. Granted they did hold U s Bark to fifty yards, you did not have Kenny Clark before Michael Parks.
I will honestly say Parson pars with the game. They were not terrific in the first half. They were pretty freaking terrific in the second.
They cleaned it up. Yew adjustments.
Like we said, i'mna lobby right back to k Why you could have had if the defensive front would have been able to maintain or keep contained on Jalen Hurts and shore up that the rushing lanes, you could have had three or four covered sects.
Last night.
They almost got home on him, yeah twice, in particular Trayvon Diggs. He had just missed on it and they couldn't clean up on the back end.
First touchdown was coverage.
Yeah, he only reason why he was able to get out of the pocket because the fowler went inside. Everybody else was covered up in like that. One guy went outside of the scheme and they allowed for Jalen Hurts.
If your coverage plays, if your secondary plays, this will see fifteen out of seventeen regular season games. Keep in mind, you're not going to go against every week or every other week a quarterback with the mobility and the talent that Jalen Hurts has. Sure, Okay, you will pay off, right, So if you get there first playoffs, I'm getting first.
That's why I said fifteen or seventeen. I ain't in January.
Yeah, if you, if your secondary, your coverage can play like this for the majority of the season, you will win a lot more games than you will lose because your defensive line will get home a lot more times than they don't get home. Because a lot of these quarterbacks they have some mobility, but they don't have Jalen Hurts's type of mobility. They don't have the what's my guy Josh Allen. They don't have his mobility. They don't
have the Lamar Jackson's mobility. You're going to have just traditional pocket passers who will see a Sam Williams clapsing down and they'll see, you know, mayor Sleafile being sent after you. They'll see Dante Fowler come in and they'll blink and once they blink, they're down.
Yeah, that's it.
There were times where Micah Parsons would have made an impact in this game one way or the other They missed him at times, but I also think we've now seen that Dallas will survive without him in the full defense.
Kenny Clark played.
There were a lot of things that went well for Dallas, and that was his first game. He's only been here a week and he played to that standard. Like I said last week, he gets off the plane as your best interior defensive lineman maybe not named Dosa di Zua because he was Oh, Sally is Sally Soloman was great. There's a lot of of positives to talk about it. So however, we've got to move on to next week, the Giants on Sunday. A little bit of a long
week here. Cowboys fall twenty four to twenty will have to stew on it for a little bit. Have a great weekend, everybody. Everybody stays safe from sleep. Get some sleep. Patrick especially, please go to sleep. Beam whenever you get back, go to sleep. I know you've got kids to worry about.
We appreciate you all tuning in joining us. We'll be back Monday, nine am Central Time to continue breaking it down here on Talking Cowboys for Patrick No see Walker, Josh Rodriguez, Isaiah standback, Chris Beam in the back of Kyle Yeomen saying so long from Talking Cowboys. We'll see you on Monday.
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