Talkin' Cowboys: Changes On Defense?

ready for Brown's Week inside the Star in Frisco. Here in the SWBC Mortgage Studios. I'm Kyle Yeomans alongside Rob Phillips, heck My Harrison, and Great Isaiah. Stand back, gentlemen. It's been quite the couple of days. There's been some more

Twitter drama. We're not gonna get into it. We're gonna talk about the football side of things, previewing the Browns offense and Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham Junior in this entire Cleveland high powered attack, Nick Chubb going up against this pretty decimated Cowboys defense coming up in just a little bit. But Rob, I know there's been a couple of additions or at least workouts that the Cowboys have put on the table this week, and some roster moves players off yesterday.

We don't have an injury report yet. That's kind of the disadvantage I guess that we have as a show in terms of going so early in the morning, we don't get to see the injury report. But what have you heard in terms of some of the ins and outs of this Cowboys roster moving into Week four, Well, I think the big one is Tyran Smith and what he might do today. Mike McCarthy said in his press conference on Monday that they sounded optimistic he might get

some work in today. We'll see if that happens. Obviously, he hasn't practiced in almost two weeks, or basically two weeks was the last time we saw him out there after he hurt the neck and had had the singers he's dealing with. So that's the big one to keep an eye on. You mentioned roster moves. The Cowboys made an alteration to their practice squad yesterday on the offensive line with regard to probably Smith and Lyle Collins still

dealing with an injury. On ir Jordan Mills, which a veteran guy that's you know, because of the new rules, you're able to bring in a veteran guy on the practice squad, and he's a guy that's been in the league for six seven years, has eighty four career starts at tackle, so some more insurance there. And they had an open spot because Rondell Carter, highly touted undrafted hookie that they brought in after the draft is off to the Colts active roster, So trying to beef up that

old line just in case. I mean, it doesn't sound it sounds not great about Lyle Collins. You know, I'm not sure what his status is going to be going forward. Yeah, there was a lot of uncertainty around Lyle Collins yesterday, both Stephen Jones and Mike McCarthy on Monday saying that they just don't really know, and then Jerry kind of echoed that on his Tuesday interview with Sean and RJ, saying, I don't know what's going on with Lyle Collins. The

training staff doesn't know. It's really kind of a curious case moving forward. But HECMO whenever you look at some of the additions that the Cowboys are going to have to make they've really addressed the offensive offensive line. Rather by taking Mills and putting him on a practice squad, He's not necessarily going to be somebody to look for right now. It's still gonna rely on branded Night. You're

still gonna rely on Terren Steele. But is this a guy moving into maybe Week five, week six that you could potentially see in that rotation at the tackle spot. I think just the experience alone, Kyle gives me a promise that this guy can come in and do a good job for us. Will you look at a NFL season all of the with injuries and all of that, The Cowboys are just trying to find the best fit for this team in case guys are not able to go.

So I like the move. I hate that we lost the guy off of the practice squad that seemed like a young defender that may have had some promise, But that's just the way it is with all thirty two teams. We're looking at everyone's practice squad and guys that are inactive to see if there's a trade that can be made, if you could pluck the guys from another team's practice squad.

Isaiah do you think that's kind of the move and the thought process here in terms of bringing in Jordan Mills, just groom a guy for a little bit, replace the practice squad spot of Rondelle Carter, which I'll give you a little insight here in a second, But whenever it comes to this offensive line, just trying to find some kind of extra depth anywhere you can. I mean, it's

all about, you know, adding assets, right. I mean, as a general manager of a National Football League team, your job is to acquire the most amount of talent possi underneath your salary cap. That's the facts. You want to assemble the most efficient team possible. And I think this is just them doing their due diligence, and it would be negligent of them if they did not continue to

add depth in competition at certain positions. Obviously there's a competitive uh it's it's an open competition right now, seemingly at the tackle position, So why not continue to add add some more depth there. And if there's somebody who can push somebody in practice, then hey, there you go.

It's all better for the team. You know. I knew the name sounded familiar, guys because he he came through the Cowboys roster for like a week when they had some some depth issues at tackle back in twenty fifteen. And he's been the Bill's starting right tackle for a few years, so he's played in the league. And you know, Cam Irving is another guy you got to mention because Lyle's still on ir so is Cam Irving, and he might be on there for another few weeks with the

spraying knee. So they've like, like Asaiah said, like Heck said, just have another asset there. You know, you've already shuffled your line a little bit of the tackle position. You're hoping to get tired back. But we'll see what they do at right tackle. I mean, they thrived with Zack Martin out there. I don't know if they want to

continue to do that, but they're awfully young. Beyond that insurance policy, we talked about the potential of having Zack Martin out at right tackle and keeping the best five offensive linemen on the field, and I think maybe this prevents you from doing so moving forward. You might still see it in Week four, like I said, he's not He's on the practice squad. He may be called up for the game. But with a guy coming off the streets out of free agency, you don't necessarily expect him

to make an immediate impact. As for the position on the practice squad in which he's filling, Rondelle Carter the edge rusher out of James Madison undrafted free agent. I really liked Rondelle Carter coming out of the draft. I was kind of surprised he wasn't taken in the actual draft process. His signing bonus absolutely showed that one of the the biggest signing bonus out of all of the

undrafted free agents, so the Cowboys side of things. But he's plucked up off of the practice squad by the Indianapolis Colts, is sixty three two hundred and seventy pound linemen and somebody I really thought had a chance to maybe make some noise. I think the reinstatement of Randy Gregory maybe stifled his chance to finally make it active roster. Plus, I wasn't necessarily encouraged by his training camp. I thought he was outdone by fellow undrafted free agent Ladarius Hamilton.

I found Hamilton had a better training camp, and I thought Carter was left a little to be desired. But the Colts certainly found something they liked and they plucked him up off the practice squad. Now looking ahead here to Week four, Cleveland Browns coming in two and one on the season, the Cowboys, of course at one and two. This is going to be a matchup that a lot of Cowboys fans have had circled as the get right game.

Such a tough schedule leading into the year. Whenever you talk about three straight teams that well, the only loss that the Rams have had was nail biter loss to the Bills. You talk about Atlanta, that's a team that right now should be two and one. It might be the best oh and three team I've seen in a long time. The fact that they're two and one or they're not two and one is kind of a kind of criminal on that side of things. And then you have, of course the Seattle Seahawks, who a lot of people

believe are one of the favorites in the NFC. But now you get this quote unquote get right game for the Cowboys isay, yeah, that's not necessarily what this is. This is a Cleveland team that's not your normal Cleveland team going into this week. Absolutely not, I think in recent years because you know, everybody brings up the Cleveland Browns, They're like, oh, we got a second bye week. That's not the case. We know Cleveland has been working hard trying to figure this thing out for the last I

would say about five years, right. They've been shuffling around coaches, they've been acquiring, you know, all these offseason acquisitions and free agents. They've been trying to develop Baker Mayfield. So they have been working diligently to trying to assemble a team that can go out there and put the other wins. And it seems as if they might have found a little something with the squad that they have this year, as they are now what two and one? Um they

are they are. They have a very well respected offense. Their defense has been respected for a number of years now. So I mean, this is not this is not the easy game that you that you would like to see on your schedule getting excited about, especially coming off of you know, a loss here against Seattle. Heck, you know

that movie Draft Day with Kevin Costner. Yeah, and they were just the it was like it was like truth Stranger than fiction kind of thing where they were really they were just much maligned and at the first pick for years, It's that's not the case anymore. I think they're two and one for the first time since twenty fourteen. So yeah, they're above above five hundred for the first time since December of twenty fourteen. And just to get an idea of how long ago that was, Johnny Manziel

was the starting quarterback the next week. It was his debut. The week after, they were one game above five hundred. So it's been quite some time, Oh, Johnny, Johnny Manziel, Sorry, I thank you. No. When it when it comes yes, when it comes down to the Browns and Isaiah, you're back in. You're back in the Isaiah standback studios there and I could and I can hear you bawl in the water for what you're about to cook up for. He got the hey, he got the big spoon out.

He's getting ready to serve this dish. Like the Browns have been a dumpster fire for years. And you look no further than the fact that they've had what six general managers in nine years, and all of the coaching, the coaching changes and things that have happened. And I think coach Kevin Stefanski is a young gun coach that's going to be on the rise. But he has benefited from the fact that he hasn't had any preseason games and a lot of people don't realize what he's going

to do with Baker Mayfield. He came into this knowing that he had to cure this third year quarterback, that

last year man. He just it was a dismal The turnover to touchdown ratio was really bad for the Browns last year that had the tenth round pick in the draft, because they finished six and ten, and so the things that they have done, and I will just point to the fact that yes, offensive line wise, they they have gotten some better guys and shored up that right tackle position with Conklin and Jedrick Willis the left tackle out

of Alabama. But the Dallas Cowboys are gonna have a lot of opportunity versus the Cleveland Browns because the Cleveland Browns they like to load up and do that student body right, student body left with Mick Chub which Chub and look, it's just we're just gonna be in a situation if this is a get right game, then we have the perfect opponent to get right because they're not gonna throw a lot of sophisticated, sophisticated formations at us.

And they're also not going to throw the ball nearly as much as the first three games of the season as well. I mean, we're not out here looking at Jerry at golf, Russell Wilson and Matt Ryan, and week four you're looking at a dual headed backfield, which hopefully your defensive line is up to the challenge to stop.

I haven't seen anything truly worrisome in terms of stopping the run the first three weeks, maybe with the exception of Malcolm Brown in week one in that three headed offense that we saw from the Rams perspective, But overall, the trouble has been stopping throwing the football. But do you expect maybe Baker Mayfield to let it loose a little bit more and try and get it into the playmakers of Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Junior Robbis we head into week four just based off of the fact

that that's where the Cowboys are susceptible. You know, that's a good question. I know yesterday you asked us what concerns you most about their offense? And I think I think heck. And I said the receivers and covering their receivers, and that's obvious with Beckham and Jarvis Landry. But after watching them a little bit on game Pass yesterday and they all twenty two, I mean, I'm with Isaiah now.

I think it's got to be they've got to hone in on their run game and be able to stop them from going downhill, because that's what they want to do. They don't they don't want um. They don't want Baker to cook. They don't want to let Russ cook thing going and leave them that they want. They want balanced offense. They want to establish the run and they want to

get some play action going. And where they've had trouble is when they've gotten in third and longs um and and Baker's forced to really just make something happen, and sometimes he'll he'll do something impulsively. And I think they had an interception on their first series of the season against Baltimore. They got blown out by Baltimore and it was a third and long situation. UM. So they want to establish the run, and that's I'm with you, Kyle.

I think overall they've done pretty solid against the run. Dallas as defensively. But Chub is a guy that's just going to move the chains. I mean, he had more ten yard runs than anybody in the league last year, and Zeke I think was third. But but he's going to continue moving the chains. And Hunt is such an interesting player because he can he can be that compliment in the running game or they can. They can put him out wide and he can do and he can

hurt you there too. Yeah, that's that's going to definitely be the challenge with those two running backs and Rob Again, that's the Kevin Stefanski's cure for Baker Mayfield is setting up that run game for him and making sure that he's throwing short yards passage. I mean they're doing slants, nine routes, out routes, curls, things that are just easy for him. Those slow developing plays that they had last year that just killed his QBR. I think they've pretty

much ex may those things out of the playbook for him. Yeah, Isiah yeah, man, yeah, yeah, yeah, No, here we go. All I'm gonna say is make Dallas needs to respect his team. Dallas really needs to respect his team. I have been on teams, I've been in organizations. I've been in seasons where you have looked past opponents and opponents I'm in there and bush you and your dog on mouth.

I was in New England in two thousand and that was two thousand and ten when we played we had a first round buying and all of a sudden, we played Baltimore. Baltimore comes in and we're like, all right, they're a good team, but you know we're better, and they came in and and freaking ray Rice took off on the first play for eight yards at the middle end. We got ourselves busted in our mouth and we should

have been out there competing for a ring. You cannot under rate and overlook this team because, as you guys mentioned Kareem Hunt, let me back this up, Cleveland's offensive line is nasty, right They nasty. They're they're mc nasty McDonald's they're getting to McNasty, all right, and that's what you want as an offensive line. Right So where I said when I said yesterday is where Cleveland is strong.

Dallas is weak right now. And I'm not talking about I'm talking about I'm not talking about on paper, I'm talking about in general way, Dallas has been playing in certain areas of the game, certain positions. That's where Cleveland is strong, and that's what worries me wanted to this game, I doubt. Let me be very clear, guy, know Heck's gonna try to twist my words. Dallas, I feel like is a better team Cleveland by the stats and by

their record. Cleveland is playing better right now, right And let me let me give you just a little bit of information here, Heck, before you, before you, before you you get killed me here. Uh, Baker Mayfield has sixty sixty two as fast as completed Dak Prescott sixty seven. Baker Mayfield has only had to attempt eighty five passes. Yeah, yep, Dak Prescott has had an attempt one hundred and forty three one. Browns are two on one, Dallas Cowboys are

one and two. Right, So, when we started talking about some of these things, and like Kareem Hunt, Kareem Hunt has two hundred and four yards rushing already. Nick Chubb has two hundred and ninety two yard is rushing already. They are running the ball. And as we talk about I'm not going to make a comparison to Baker Mayfield to Deck that's not what I'm doing. But what I'm saying is he's being asked to be a game manager. He's being asked to be what Russell Wilson was years ago,

before he before he is who he is now. He just just don't lose the game, right turn around, hand the ball off to your two dogs back there. Let this old line establish a run, manage to clock, and put ourselves in a situational football to win the game. And that's what these guys are doing. And that's why I say that these guys are a little bit dangerous

right now. I think that's a great point brought up by Isaiah, the fact that early in Baker Mayfield's career, as the number one overall pick and as the quarterback who's supposedly going to be the savior for this Brown's franchise, there's a lot of pressure on him. There was a lot of pressure to perform. They really threw him into the fire immediately. They made him throw a ton of passing attempts. And now with a supporting cast around him,

he doesn't have to have that kind of pressure. He has an opportunity to kind of sit back and find his weapons and be able to go back behind what is a much improved offensive line. I know you guys are talking about Mick nasty in terms of the good part of the word. It was pretty nasty in terms of the bad part of the word for much of Baker Mayfield's career that was not a good offensive line. But like you said, Jedrick Wills Junior, who's just a

fantastic pickup in the draft. They got him a tenth overall this year and he's been pretty solid as the left tackle for the brown so far. You have the other side with Conklin. You've shirt up the edges, the

interior still has a little bit to work on. You've got a veteran in the middle, which is nice, and you have some guys that you can rely on from a Brown's offensive line perspective, and that's one of the reasons why they are the only team in the NFL with two two hundred yard rushers in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. But we'll have to see how the Cowboys combat that. In terms of slowing them down. We're gonna talk about how to slow down those receivers with a

banged up secondary. After this first break, when we come we'll talk about Jarvis Landry Odell Beckham Junior and how in the world or the Cowboys going to slow them down because they've struggled to do that so far. This sees it when we return here on talking Cowboys. Since eighteen sixty five, Stetson Hats are American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Want to show your Texas and Team pride two you can by purchasing your

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Back here for talking cowboys here on this Wednesday morning. Glad you're with us on Dallas Cowboys dot Com, heck Ma Harrison, Rob Phillips, Isaiah stand back, and I'm your host Kyle Yeoman's Are you coming to the Cowboys game this weekend? Make sure you know before you go, wear a mask, keep distancing, be prepared for cash list transactions. Please be aware of all of the safe stadium policies prior to arriving at AT and T Stadium. Visit Dallas

Cowboys dot com slash safe Stadium for details. It'll be a fun weekend at AT and T Stadium as the Cleveland Browns come to town. I will say uh. I wrote a big picture article yesterday with some of the biggest storylines surrounding this game in terms of the brown and the Cowboys, and there was a homecoming of sort for for two players, two very key players, one of which we're talking about today, the other one we'll talk

about tomorrow. But Baker Mayfield a reunion with AT and T Stadium, where, of course he saw some success with Oklahoma at the university level, but he also won a state championship there in high school against my alma mater in midway when I was a sophomore, he at Lake Travis took down our Midway Panthers twenty two to seven, and what was a heartbreaker at at and T Stadium

for me. So I have a personal vendetta against Baker Mayfield because of this fact, and because of the fact of him beating us in the state championship game at the high school level and taking that away from me as a sophomore. But that's okay, Well, well we'll put that personal thing aside for now. The other word, the other never bring it out again. We're gonna bring it back again. I'm gonna put it back down there. Um No.

So the other homecoming, of course, Myles Garrett, a product of Arlington Martin High School who was so rich in tradition in terms of the high school level around these areas and Texas and him, I'll throw that in there for you, Rob if you would like, I'll throw the Aggie statue. I got you. But but yeah, he was a five star recruit. I looked it up yesterday. He had thirty nine tackles for loss and somewhere close to twenty seven sacks as a senior in high school. And

that's just ridiculous to me. That's unbelievable. The fact that you can put that, Yeah, that's about it. I mean, he was the number two recruit in the country behind Leonard Fournette coming out of high school whenever he committed an M. But talking about Baker Mayfield and I mentioned these wide receivers he's got, he's got some targets to throw the football too. Nonetheless, whenever it comes to Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Junior, finally those two looks like

starting Ketchester stride a little bit. I know, Jarvis Landry's kind of been dealing with a little bit of an ailing injury and a nagging injury on his side of things. But Odell Beckham Junior has been playing well. Isaiah, Whenever you look at these receivers, what is it that they bring to the table that makes them stand out as

opposed to what the Cowboys have already seen on the schedule. Um, I guess this is a little bit of good in mad What the Cowboys have seen over these first three weeks is they've seen some very prominent receivers that are testing their unexperienced dbs um down the field. Right. They have literally people have been blowing by our our secondary. Unfortunately,

I don't foresee that with this particular group. Even though Landry and especially o'delle are well respected for their speed, their vertical their vertical threat, they haven't had that many big plays, right, So as I look at it, you know Landry, Landry's long of the of the year, longest play of the year is twenty one yards and o'dale as long as it's forty three yards. You know O'Dell

is only he's only caught fifty percent of his targets. Meanwhile, Landry has caught twelve but a thirteenth that's come his way. So as you start looking at this, you know, they're becoming more possession receivers, right, They're becoming more possession receivers, and that might be more of a threat to Dallas than even some of these deeper, really deeper routes that

we've been facing. I think so because because they're completing amount of higher percentage, right, they're completing about a higher percentage, And you don't when you're running the balls as efficiently as you are right now, you don't have to take those deep shots because you don't have to have those big plays. Right, It's all about moving the sticks and the way that Cleveland wins ball games right now? Is Cleveland plays keepaway? Right, they played keep away. They're not

asking eighty five passes through three games. It's not a lot of passes. Yeah right, it's not a lot of passes at all. We almost hit that last week alone, right, So right now, you know it's about them in game management and putting themselves in a situation. So these receivers are possession receivers in my eyes right now, regardless of all the one hand catches that we've seen O'Dell made and all the stuff that all dancing he does. Yeah,

these guys are possession receivers. And and we're gonna have to see if we can come up there and getting these guys's face. And not only one, our secondary is gonna have to be able to make tackles, right, They're gonna to make some tackles on these running backs. And two, they're gonna have to be patient and keep everything in front of them. So I like that you said that, Isaiah, that that Odell Beckham is a possession receiver. I don't think anyone has ever called ov J a possession receiver

because you know, he has that big playability. But I think that that goes into how they are curing Baker Mayfield just by those short throws. But I like I like that though. I like that for our defense. I think that digs his strength is the ability to flip his hips and close on the ball and so not getting letting people get behind them. I mean, we've seen those highlights over and over with people running by our

safeties and our cornerbacks. But even when you go back to last week in the Seattle game, man, they were doing what they were doing to our defense with two receivers and so look, we've all of those mistakes, and the guys that we have on the roster in the secondary, I believe they're capable this week of keeping guys in front of them, and especially if these are gonna be

shorter routes. But man, the worry for me is at the tight end position because I feel that Austin Hooper against Jalen Smith again, he has his work cutout for him. But guys, I feel like for Jalen Smith, this is a point where he can show what all of his strengths are, especially with these guys playing the twenty two personnel, having a fullback being able to take on those ISOs and I like Jaylen Smith and Thomas in those situations. But you're right, you know both of these guys. Landry,

he's caught twelve of the thirteen targets. That means he's pretty much money anytime you throw it to number eighty. But the guys that we have, especially if we're Jordan le Us and Trey Von Diggs, I think that this is a favorable matchup for them, especially in the short possession receiver part of it. Where I worry about the Dallas Cowboys defense is the big plays, the long developing plays. That's where we've been getting dash. So let me let

me ask you can ask a question off of that car. Yeah, with knowing that how these guys running the ball, right, Hack and Robert especially knowing how these guys run the ball, and knowing that Jalen Smith is aggressive and he knows that he's got to play downhill, which works to his advantage. He's a downhill player, right, So he's gonna have his

eyes in the backfield. Last week. If last week wasn't proved that these safeties have their eyes in the backfield, I don't know what it is, right, Xavier Woods, you thought he was gonna freaking come up there and tackle somebody from twenty five yards deep. That's how much he

was locked in on the backfield, right. So if these guys have a tendency to do that against that running in it without facing a predominantly running team, how much more so are they susceptible to those big plays that you're alluding to again agains a team like this, Well, I think I think they are until they show that they're not, you know, and and just I'm with you guys and just watching them. They are more of a

intermediate to short passing game. And I wonder if that's Kevin Stefanski, like, like Heck said, just trying to help Baker out, because I think he just snapped an interception streak of like eight games going back to last year, and he had one that O'Dell went in and knocked down that saved one the other last week. Ye, so you know they're they're trying to get the ball out quickly,

trying to help him out. And it's not the same stylistically as the rams um, but they're trying, you know, use that run game to get into second and short, third and short and then where you're not having to take chances down the field with the ball. But based on what you saw on film from the Cowboys last year, when you have receivers of that caliber, I and Baker's

got the arm to do it. I would be surprised if they didn't test Dallas at least in a couple of situations, maybe early, to see how they handled community back there. That's that's the biggest thing. That's that's what caused a lot of those problems, at least in the first half. Yeah, absolutely, Rob and Isaia to your question, they're gonna test us. Every team is gonna test us until we stop it. But that's just not yeah, and that's just not who we are, who they are right now.

But at some point they're going to put the play action on display and try and bomb us until they're gonna play the percentages to see if we can stop it. So I expect them to do that. And guys, yesterday I was talking to hopeful first ballot Hall of Famer Joe Thomas, offensive lineman for the Cleveland Browns, and he talked a lot about that the Cowboys hadn't been able to They're susceptible on the play action pass and that's

a strong suit for the Cleveland Browns. So I look for them to bomb us and do those kinds of things against us until we're able to stop it. Just got to show we can now the big thing too, that's help. I'm go ahead, Kyle. Sorry, Well, just the other thing that's helping their offense right now is their defense and the fact that they're forcing so many takeaways. I mean, they put up thirty plus points the last two games, but they're starting drives deep into opposing territory.

I think they had four drives against Washington that started at the forty yard liner inside. So when that happens, you're able to really dictate what you want to do offensively, and that really helps your quarterback. So, I mean, I know we're talking about the Cowboys defense, but DA's got to take care of the ball. The offense has to take care of the ball, and it would probably help them if he's not throwing fifty seven times a game and they're able to have some balance where he's not

dropping back so much. Well and going off of that, whenever you talk about combining what Cleveland has done from a defensive standpoint, in the five turnovers that they forced against Washington and the fact that the Cowboys have started six drives defensively in their own territory based off of mistakes early in the games versus Atlanta and versus Seattle.

You can't have those two things combine. You can't spot any yardage, spot any points to this offense because, like you said, if they're able to dictate what they want to do in terms of running the football and then allowing it to take off the top of the defense with Baker Mayfield and these receivers, things are going to get really tough really quickly for Mike Nolan. But based off of kind of what all three of you guys said, the answer to slow down these receivers for the Cowboys

is allow the secondary to be physical. Am I hearing that right? Because right now I think that's really kind of the strength Trayvon Diggs. Coming out of Alabama, he was known as a press man coverage corner. This is a guy who likes to get physical. This is a like guy who wants to get up in your face and make things tough. At the Linus scrimmage. Can we expect to see that not only from Diggs, from the rest of the secondary as well. Though, Isaiah, I hope so.

I mean they definitely they haven't put hands on nobody. This is so far. Yeah, God Lee, I mean yeah, I mean, I mean that's your if that's what you're doing. Sorry, if that's what you don't, didn't do it. I don't care that. This is the NFL. Go put hands on somebody, slaps somebody in the face, especially when you're playing somebody like O'Dell Beckham, who is not emotionally stable, right, he's just not the most emotionally intelligent individual in the league.

I'm sorry, but but you can frustrate him, right if you get your hands on him, He's gonna wind, he's gonna bicker, he's gonna try to talk to the referees, get him out of his game. Landry's the more mature one of the two, right, He's really like the big brother of the group, So that one he might be a little bit more difficult to get going. You actually might piss him off and it might actually go to

opposite way for you. But as far as O'Dell put hands on him all day long, you guys, remember street Fighter, y'all, remember I Honda, y'all get Honda all up in his chest. We had a Moses reference yesterday. I have thought about street fighters since nineteen ninety two. I love it. Oh that's awesome. Let's go ahead and take our second break.

On the other side of this, we're gonna really kind of look at the battle of the trenches, which I think, along with being physical on the outside, we have to find a way to win the battle of the trenches when we come back, continue on this preview of the Browns and the Cowboys. Here on Talking Cowboys. I'm Jay Nobachik, former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys back in the day. I was a guy who always got the tough yards,

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you're with us. And once again, whether you're watching from home or cheering from the stands, with slore lenses, you'll see every exciting playbook and appointment at your local or experts and find the perfect lenses for you. See more, Do more or Kyle Yeoman, Zac Maharris and Isaiah stand Back and Rob Phillips and heck, when you mentioned you had this conversation with one of the all time greats

in terms of offensive lineman and Joe Thomas. He was with the Browns for so long that that consecutive snap streak and game streak and just an all around impressive career from his standpoint, and of course a gold jacket is coming his way soon. But whenever you had that conversation, did he buy any chance mention the name Alden Smith? Because my goodness, Alden Smith's been incredible for this Cowboys

defensive line. I went back and launched again yesterday, and I specifically wanted to see fifty eight and whether or not he was in part in one of the three sacks that he had against Seattle on Sunday. He's just a game wrecker, and it's something that the Cowboys really wanted to see from DeMarcus Lawrence. But at least they're

getting in from that side of things. Yeah, he talked about how physical a physical specimen Aldon Smith is for being able to be away from the NFL for five years and come back and play at the level that he's playing. He's like, man, even with all my iron man consecutive streak that I had in Cleveland, I couldn't even imagine doing pregame warmups right now, let alone play a full game. But he basically talked about Aldon Smith and the way how powerful he is at the one

of attack and the way that he uses his hands. Obviously, we're all, you know, patting him on the back for his ability to get to the quarterback, but his strong suit is his run defense. He's one of the best run defenders that we have. But also, guys, when we say this is a good get right game for our defense, our defense, our team in general. Look at the guys that we have on our defensive line. If you just Everson Griffith, he couldn't have played for Zimmer in Minnesota

if he was not stout in the run. And he's been known and that's his reputation as a run stuffer. Done. Terry Poe the same, a guy that is known around the league as a run stuffer. These guys get an opportunity versus a Cleveland Brown's offensive line. That man, these guys are really good, and to Isaiah's point, they are on a roll and they're making Nick Chubb look good. But I have to circle the matchup between Alden Smith and the rookie Willis, and I wish I could do that.

What's the t and team can run to the board. I'd be pitching told and not need running to the board. Just give you an illustration of it. But I think that's where the matchup is. And I think the rookie really is going to have a trial by fire because Aldon Smith is going to be covering him for most of the game. In montest sweat last week for the Washington team really gave him fits. So that's where a lot of our pressure is gonna come from. But I

look for our defense. This is a game that these guys can get muddy and physical at at and T So we're not gonna be getting muddy, but they can get physical with this offensive line. And I want to come back on Monday and say, this is a game that our defensive line took to the Cleveland Browns. I love that. I mean, no game is is truly a get right game in the NFL. But if you look at the strengths in terms of that defensive line, it does align with the fact of stopping the run and

slowing down guys like Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb. It's gonna be tough because both of them are receiving threats out of the backfield. But Rob, as you look at this matchup in the trenches, how imperative is it that the Cowboys still get in the backfield and really recavoc on not only the two backs but also Baker Mayfield to make mistakes. Oh, it's critical every week for sure, and heck hit on it. You know that they want to run the ball. They've got some nasty interior lineman.

Teller's a guy they run behind. I believe he's the right guard and but against the past, you know, I think they're trying to get the ball out of Baker's hands early though, so it might be more difficult than than what we saw in the Seattle game with Russ who likes to hold it, likes to buy time. But yeah,

it's got to be more than just Alden Smith. And like you guys said, he's been he's two eighty five, but he doesn't look it, but he plays like it because he's so powerful the way he can drive guys back, in addition to be able to bend around the edge. And uh, like Heckma said, Willis had a couple of false starts too, I believe in that game. So that's that is a matchup to watch. And I just wonder, you know, you know, can they get DeMarcus into more of a place where he can have more than thirty

snaps because they need more from him. You know, everybody's talking about its production, and yes, they need more production from he's got a They need him on the field more than half the game. So that's that's a big one too, isah. I just I mean, I look at

this as an opportunity um. If as a as an athlete, as a competitor, you know, if somebody's telling you you're you're doing this or you're not doing this, and you know you're really kind of second in this area, they're calling you out right there, they're calling they're pulling your man card, right They just pulling your man card like

this and just holding it in front of you. And I think that's what's being said and done to the Cowboys even as a line right now, and for good reason, because if I'm if I'm if I'm correct, I believe we're giving up around five yards per carry over these three games. You're already first three games, we're giving up around five yards per carry. And this team is coming in Kareem Humps averaging five point two per carry, Nique

Shup's averaging five point seven per carry. So, um, we have an opportunity to go out there improve everybody wrong and say, hey, we have fixed this defensive line problem. We do have some dogs up here, and we're not going to go out here and get pancaked, as Heck said in the break uh and not not going to become an international house of pancakes. You know, that's a little bit. We have to make sure that you know that these guys show up there. There's pride that comes

with playing this game. There's pribade with being a player, and you got to refuse to not get done in and not get punked when you when you step out there and played against other grown men. Cowboys defense giving up one hundred and twenty seven yards on average per game on the ground, and then most of that really came from that first game against the Los Angeles Rams. Other than that, they've kind of at least slowed down Chris Carson for the Seattle side and then Todd Gurley

for Atlanta. But it'll be an interesting matchup. Those are two backs of the backfield. You gotta have to have to get some hands on and find a way to get past this revamped offensive line from the Cleveland perspective. But we'll continue previewing this matchup. We'll flip things around tomorrow. How can Miles Carrott be stopped by this offensive line and what specific challenges does the defensive line from Cleveland

present the offense. We'll talk about that tomorrow and see if Dak Prescott can continue putting up big numbers but actually get the win this time here on Sunday, but that's gonna do it. Here for Talking Cowboys, thanks for listening here over the last forty five minutes. For Isaiah Stanback, for Heckma Harrison, and for the Cowboys insider Rob Phillips. I'm Kyle Yeoman saying so long, thanks for listening here

on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.