Talkin' Cowboys: Coaching Adjustments - podcast episode cover

Talkin' Cowboys: Coaching Adjustments

Nov 30, 202150 min
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Episode description

With Mike McCarthy not coaching Thursday due to COVID protocols, how does that impact the Cowboys’ matchup against the Saints? How will the team adjust? The crew also breaks down the Saints’ offense and defense and makes their picks for Week 13.

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Transcript

Speaker 1

The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club Cowboys. This He's Talking Cowboys, screening live from the Dallas Cowboys World headquarters at the Star in Frisco. Elliot flowing to the Scott and now your hosts Isaiah stand Back, heck Ma Harrison, Rob Phillips and Kyle Yeomans. It is a terrific Tuesday edition of Talking Cowboys presented by Tostidos, helping fans get in on the game. Welcome into the Star in Frisco. As we

are live as always on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. Chris Bazi in the back, hooking us up as always, Rob Phillips, Isaiah stand back, Hello, heck Ma Harrison. I'm Kyle Yeomans. Hi. How's everybody doing. I'm kind of sad? Why because it is our last day this week at least till Friday? Right, A little sad too? Are you about to give me some news on? Like? Yah, we got a Rappy has all the all the news today. Okay, that's true. We need to probably get into that pretty quick. Rapp has

all the all the tea today. Yeah, all the all the fun timeline stuff on Twitter. Come on, man, pour the earl Gray, pour some sugar on me. Uh, where do you want? Where do you want me to start? Come on, come on, you're too young to know that. Let's go. Let's go go for it. Where do you want me? Well, let's start with Mike McCarthy. That's a great way to start it. Okay, that's a hell of a song. It's a hell of a week for the Cowboys. So everybody knows by now. And hey, it broke one

minute after our show ended. Yes, we literally said so long from talking Cowboys, and we looked down on our phones and it was like, Mike McCarthy unavailable for Thursday. Wow, that's how things are with you, Pee. Everything is G fourteen classified and you don't give it to us to the end. I didn't have I wasn't withholding any scoop on that one. If I knew that one, I would have told you. Yeah. He actually spoke to the media via conference call yesterday, so he's feeling all right. But yeah,

he will not coach Thursday night. He will not be with the team at all this week. He will be involved virtually all the way up until they leave the hotel in New Orleans for the game, Like he's even going to talk to him virtually that morning or that day of so he's gonna be involved. But dan Quinn is the stand in guy in terms of the endgame operation Thursday night, and they're just gonna have to fill in. It's just one more thing that this team's having to

deal with. Heck and I were just talking about it. It It has constantly been something and this is the craziest one yet of this season. I think that's the biggest conversation, and it was what you guys were talking about off air a moment ago. But how big of a loss is that? How much of a change is that, because not only are you missing your lead voice on the sideline, not only are you missing him, you might have him

throughout the week of practice via virtual connection. However, when he's not there on the sideline, that starts a domino effect. And we've already seen that, the ripples of the domino effect of shifting some coaches around and moving different guys into different positions. But Isaiah, from your experience, I don't know if you ever had a game without your head coach, But how big of a loss would that be if that were the case. Yeah, I had to go back

to high school on that one. Geez the head coach and had called all the plays. That was exciting. We won that game. Nice. Uh No, I mean I don't know how much of a voice he is on his team. I really don't. I obviously we see all the things that he says in the media, but we don't know how how how imposing he is to to the rest of the team. So I can't sit here and say how much he'll be missed in that regard. I do know that he coaches the coaches, and having all these

coaches out that doesn't necessarily help. I think most of them are not gonna say most of them, but strength coaches, assistant assistants, and so that shouldn't be that big of an impact. But in terms of McCarthy, I think in terms of his game management, you know, the decisions that he meant that he makes in those regards. You know, when Kelly Moore wants to throw the ball versus pad very versus run, you know, I think he affects that. You know, the fourth down calls, those will always come

through to the head coach. So now those things will come through our defensive minnee coach. As we started thinking about some of the situations that may present themselves, you know, you might find yourself punty Moore because he wants a position of himself better for his defense. So those are some of the things that you will probably see more

so affected on the game. Yeah. You know, when I think about the maturation of Mike McCarthy from Green Bay to Dallas, his hands own approach with the offense was foremost in green Bay, called all the plays, and like you just said, he coaches the coaches here in Dallas that I think it makes it a little bit logistically

easier for something like this to happen. I think that what I really worry about is the daily routine of Mike McCarthy being in and out of meetings, what things and other things that he delegates to others, right, because that's obviously what he's doing. And I just think about it as being an entrepreneur. We've owned our own businesses and the hardest part about being an entrepreneur is delegating

to other people because you are the process. You control everything, and so sometimes that is the thing that will wear you out, is trying to do everything. And I think in this situation, especially with Dallas having as many coaches as they have, as Jerry Jones was talking about this morning on the FANI, it's like, look, we got twenty seven coaches. We got one coach or every three players,

so we're not at the shortage here on that. But dan Quinn I felt like even when the news broke, he would be the person that we would go to because of his experience and how lucky we are to have a head coach that's moonlighting as a as a an assistant right now. I think it's something that's gonna help us. Look, there's no time to panic at all, because for this team, this is as close to a must win or as you're gonna get to in this season. And I think that these guys are prepared, especially with

getting the health of a lot of other players. Now, if Mike McCarthy was that coach that was completely entrenched in every part of the offense and meetings and stuff like that, I think then you would have to worry a lot more. But I just think from his stance and what you see from him right now, and look, we need our head coach, we need you to get better. Mike, who needs you to hurry up and get back. But at the same time, I think you have soldiers use them.

This is not a long term issue, thank goodness. If it were a long term issue, I think we'd be talking about this in a completely different way. Yeah, because it is just a week or two, I think you're built as a coaching staff for this kind of scenario. Look at all the veterans on the coaching staff, like a Dan Quinn, like a Joe Witt junior, a Ben McAdoo who's been a consult George George Edwards. I mean, there's so many guys that have been there, done that

in the NFL, all the way down the list. Like he said, there's no shortage there. My one concern is in terms of the play calling and the aggressiveness, because, like you said it, it might change. You may be more conservative in the way that you call plays offensively, one more may not have that bug in his ear saying I don't really like that. Let's let's go ahead and dial it back, or even more so, let's go ahead and push it here. Yeah, that's my biggest concerts

in those crucial moments. How much of a discrepancy are we going to see from the play calling and really the work of the offense and the going into this week. Yeah, Robbie, can you clear up some stuff for myself and even some of the fans if you're in a position too. Yeah, how many coaches are COVID positive versus contact tracing? I'm not sure how that stuff works now this year, Right, some people, if you're if you have COVID, you have one set of rules. If you're being close in proximity

to somebody, that's a whole other set of rules. Right. If you're unvaccinated, that's a whole other set of rules. Right, So how is that working? I don't know with every single guy who's a positive test, but I do know the fact that the whole staff has to be vaccinated. Let's just that. Yeah, we know that. Yeah, I think fans are unclear about that. Yeah, Mike is vaccinated. He had to be vaccinated to be in the war room

on draft night, So all the coaches are vaccinated. So I think the fact, like the fact they ruled out guys ahead of time, and Mike has said there's been some positive tests, I think I think there have been some positive tests with the staff, and we're talking about all three as far as protocols, all three strength coaches. Cedric Smith could return because he was out last week. Joe Philbin is out again this week with the old line, So I think it's like it's up to six or

seven assistant coaches that will not be available. As Heck said, it's a huge staff, so guys will just kind of fill in where they can, especially on the old line. What are some of the moves that are being done to shift guys into those different positions You're gonna see was you don't have Philbin and blastco at the old line, so you've got Linda Wells kind of moonlighting between O line and tight end coaching. And I think Ben McAdoo is an option there as well. He's a consultant that

can help out there as well. He's got an old line background, So there's that, so you know, and you know, we'll just see how it goes with I think they'll get at least one shrink guy back this week potentially. That's good. So moving into practice today, this is a light practice on the field today and Amari Cooper was not on the practice field yesterday. Ce d Lamb was any updates on those two guys going into the weekend. Jerry said it. He said, you'll see DeMarcus Lawrence on

the field Thursday night. Let's go. And he said, you'll see it Mary Cooper most likely on the field. He's going to ramp up today coming off of the COVID list. He's still on the COVID list technically, so see how he goes today. And he said, Zekiel, he's got a full load coming on Thursday night. So enough talk about him resting this week. And it does it sound like that's going to happen. What do you do? You like

that or no? I think that's absolutely necessary. I think for z and Zeke's not gonna want to beg out of this game. There's no way in help. I think he's missed one game due to injury in his entire career, and in this matchup they need his pass protection with the noise factor, they need to try to find a way to run the football. And if that's only him for thirty snaps in this game, they could use him in this game, try to push through, try to find a way to get out of this situation. Win this game,

and then he gets ten days off. And we were originally going to talk Dallas offense in the second segment. I want to keep this going because I like this transition because of Ezekiel Elliott. But Cam Jordan earlier in the week on Scott Manpel's Sports Center, he said, there's one key of slowing down the Cowboys, and that's taking Ezekiel Elliott away. And to this point, you can't necessarily disagree if they take away the run game. The Cowboys have been flat three of the last four games, so

that's got to be the key. Even with those guys getting back. Having those guys back helps you a ton, helps you wait Ton and trying to get the run game going. But at the same time, you have to make sure that he has a good game. Yeah, and to the point the question that you ask Rob, you know, is that a good thing that Zeke's going to have a full load. I think it's a good thing for the team. It's a bad thing for Zeke. I think I think any of us can sit here and say

that Zeke looks healthy. Zeke, You're doing a good job. Z Year, You're close to a one hundred percent. We know that nobody, hardly anybody playing in this league today as one hundred percent unless they just got signed from the house or a practice squad. Even practice squad, you're still hurting. Zeke looks like I don't know where he's at physically, but he doesn't look like even a shadow of himself right now. And I know he's toughing it out.

I know that he's a beast about it. He's not going to complain all the you know, the warrior type mentality stuff that mostly most guys in the league really have and that you have to have in order to be, you know, be an enforcer in this league. I don't think it's good for Zeke because we recognize that when you have injuries, when you're sustaining things, they're not going to get better by putting more workload on them. That's just reality. So is it good for Zeke? Nah? Is

it good for the team if he can be productive? Now? I agree to a certain extent on that. But I think if if Zeke was hurting of the Brett Brown, or if any of them saw that this is just a guy that is just can't get it done, I don't see them putting them out there, or maybe they would. I think that in his situation, particularly with the offensive line. You rely so heavily on him in pass pro, and

that's that's you need him, you need him there. I don't think that Tony Pollard, you've seen anything from him blocking wise that says that he can shoulder the responsibility of doing that. Here's the thing, and it was going back to what you were talking about about Mike McCarthy not being there, and will you know, be pulling back those reins on how aggressive we've been this entire time. I think Mike McCarthy has been. One thing we could say is that he's taking some shots over the last

couple of weeks because we haven't had our weapons. We've gone to a little bit of a short game, short yardage game. But we've got to take our shots in this game. Literally, Michael Jordan makes a comment, you miss all the shots you don't take. We've got to try and get down the field and be aggressive the entire game versus Saints. Cam Jordan isn't saying anything that doesn't anybody else know about the Dallas Cowboys. You got to load up and you gotta stop the run, whether it's

Ezekiel Elliott or it's Tony Poller. So I expect for them, and I expect everyone until Dak Prescott makes defenses adjust in that way and by stretching the field and also trying to get the game, the running game going. One thing we can't do in this game versus Saints' is be going east and west. We cannot get our running

game to It has to be north and south. I mean, all of those things sound cliche, but we have to get this ground game going at least twenty five thirty rushes in this game to kind of back off this defense no matter what, no matter what, because they're gonna press. They're gonna press us at the line of scrimmage, but we are gonna have opportunities to hit these guys over the top. What Cam Jordan's say, That's That's what I was saying earlier where he said he was taking away

Ezekiel Elliott, that was the key. Yeah, I mean, and they've taken away running game all year three point four yards of carry. Teams have had trouble getting it going, but I they've They always say the road game travels. Game travels on the road, Like you've got to be able to get that going and take the crowd out of it. A little bit because that crowd is going to be drunk, Yes, literally, figuratively, whatever you want to call it, is coming on rocking. There's a couple of

Miller lights down the hatch. That's the toughest place I've played, really, hands down. And you've been in Seattle, Yeah, okay, more so than played there when I was when I was with New England and we got we got to hand it to us. Did you get to play an arrowhead? I don't believe so, Okay, I believe I ain't gonna be remember that one. I'm telling you. That place gets rocking, That kids rocking. Wow, I've never been to a game there. I want to go. It's pretty dope, dope. This was massive. Yeah,

it's on. It's one of those you can't hear yourself. Think. It feels like an old or At and T Stadium. That's what it feels like, an older version of an older version of just way louder. And I was about to say just it's probably a little louder you that Cowboys has turned up, which which will make things tough from an offensive perspective, But what is the what is the adjustment you have to make from an offensive standpoint to make sure that you were not affected like you were,

say early in the game against Kansas City. I mean you have to. I mean you you work all week on non verbals. I mean, hopefully they're blasting the music. That's typically what you do. When I was hearing you know, Dallas and most other stops that I had, you know, they turned the black. They'd take all these speakers out there and they blast them. When I was in Seattle, they had a live DJ out there and they blast crowd noise and it's just like overbearing. Just you can't

even hear yourself. Think you can hear it. So they blast the stuff and you you call your plays in the huddle and you go out there and you work on your nonverbals. You know, you're you're tapping the center on the butt, you know, and that's that's her. That's your snap count. You know, bone tap them on the butt or two taps or whatever it may be. The you know, in the gun, you'll see the guard look back and look at the look at the look at the quarterback and see that he's ready. He'll tap the

center on the butt. That's a snap count. But all those things play a part in that defensive line getting off the ball too. So you might have a couple couple of razzle Dallas in there where you might you know, fake snap it or you know a double head bob or whatever it may be for your center, But eighty percent of the time he's gonna be snapping it after he gets that tap on the hip. Well, if you're a defense in lineman and you see that, you have now have ability to get off the ball a lot

quicker than than you would have. So there's a lot of things that in regard to help you that but also can hurt you. But guys just have to be in tune and they have to have their signals down impacked. Is that something that where not having Mike McCarthy as a voice throughout practices could play a factor. Nah, there's just too many, too much experience on your coaching staff, and you just talked about that. I mean, something that small is not going to impact this game for the Cowboys.

I just think you know, you got these guys have got to correct their spacing. This Saints defense man. When you pack these guys in together, they play really well, and they're fast and they have a lot of experience I think when you spread them out, when you go back to the Carolina tape and teams that were able to get them out in space, I think that's where you have the most success. We've got to get some things corrected with blocking. There's a lot of questions being

asked about tight ends things like that. But when in those zone runs, we've got to get to the second level like we were in some of these other games. I mean, and you saw it versus San Diego, we saw versus the Giants where we're able to get to the second level. That's just tough. Man. They have guys like Malcolm Jenkins that is the lynchpin of this defense, you know, Rich Homi, Kuan Alexander. They got some guys so Demarrio Davis, Their linebackers flow really well. Yeah, they

got some guys that can get it there. I just think that upfront physically, Lele and Zach you know that right side, if we can get guys moving and get to the second level, that's gonna make the difference for the running game specifically. For sure, not having either of your offensive line coaches doesn't seem very ideal for this guy, you know, but he's right, like Demario Davis to me,

is their Bazuka. Like he's their guy in the middle of the defense that if you don't get a hat on him or two hats on him the second level, he can wreck the game and he could certainly stop your run game. So to me, he's the one that sticks out the most beyond and their front four is awesome. I mean that to me, they have. They were a championship level defense last year and they've shown signs of that this year as well. It's just offensively they've had

trouble getting going. He also got guys like Pete Warner who's stepped up. He's in rookie out of Ohio State, mid round guy, and I mean he's the fifth rated linebacker according to Pro Football Focus right now. Damary O'Davis those one that opens that up. He draws a lot of attention and you can see it on the film. Man, I mean, he flies around. It's pretty ridiculous how good he is. Williams is playing exceptionally well on the back end.

You mentioned, Yeah, Davenport's been playing well. He's not even a starter, he's a rotational piece and he's been playing really well. But he's out is he done. Yeah, Davenports out. Oh I didn't know that. Yeah, big oh right here next to his name. I guess that's what that means. Okay, then there you go. But h and been looking at Yeah, you might be uh you look at Jenkins too. You

mentioned him best a lynchpin. That's a perfect way to describe it, because it feels like anytime there is a hole in that New Orleans defense, plug and Jenkins because he's gonna be there. And it hurts my heart to say that, because you know, I don't like him because of him being an ex Philadelphia Eagle, so I mean, just keeping with the trend. But he's you know, he plays close to the line of scrimmage and he's gonna be instrumental in trying to stop the run as well.

That's one of his That's one of his key points. Man, He suffered the line of scrimmage. What else do you think about this, this front seven that's gonna give Dak Prescott issues. Do you feel like they're gonna get after him as well? Or do you feel more confident now that both Tyrn Smith has a week under his belt and Lyle Collins is the complete starter going into the week, no questions asked. I don't. I don't fear these guys as a pass rushing team. I fear these guys as

a run stuff stopping team. And if we can't, if if the Cowboys can't win on the outside, it's gonna be a long day. Yeah. If it's gonna be like Kansas City and it's gonna be a long day. Yeah. It's the where the crowds of factor and they just are I mean at home on Thanksgiving just just out of sync with their operation. You wonder about that, You wonder about that, with that environment that they're in on

Thursday night. Now, I feel better about this game being that, And I think we don't recognize that Dak has only been he's only had seven starts with all three of his wide receivers, and this is his opportunity to have all three the three of me goals together, right and the triplets whatever you want to call him, This is an opportunity to have these guys together. And the offense is so much more different when he has Coop, Lamb

and Gallop together. I mean they're averaging three hundred and forty six yards per game with them three together, and it makes a difference in the red zone without all three of them together, where you know, write at about forty percent with our three receivers together, where sixty seven percent. So all of those things are relative in this game. And I think that's gonna be the difference for Dak And we've been talking about him being a little bit off,

the timing of the offense not being there. I look for those things to improve by having these guys. What is the stat I saw that CD and Amari accounts for like a third of the offensive yardage. You know, it's a factor when both guys aren't out there. So you know, and we'll see what the MARII his conditioning is a factor this week, so will he get a full snap count assuming he's back in the game. But CD said yesterday he feels fine, he's good to go, So you know, even having just CD back is big.

And where do you see the the part or excuse me, the holes in this Saints defense Because you got Marshawn Lattimore at the corner spot and he hasn't had the best year, but he's still Marshawn Lattimore. Then on the other side, you have a guy like pauls and Adibo who is still a young player, still trying to find his own way. And I feel like that's a spot where the Cowboys could take advantage. Do you see that same sort of deal I see their secondary. They don't

have pairings. I think they have like one good guy per side just there. Yeah, they have like a really good corner on one side and have really good safety, But they don't have like a set of both. You know what. It's kind of having one of the other. They have one of the other. You don't have both, And they're not two good pairs of shoes. You got one pair of shoes. I know what Alan Evans want all though, you know what I mean. But so I

think we can definitely take advantage. You just have to pick your poison and just know, you know you're gonna get it. You're gonna be in a dog fight with Attimore. He loves, he loves being, he loves tuestling. You're gonna wrestle with him all day long. So referees and everybody

get ready. Referees are gonna play a part in this because it's gonna be You may get some calls, you may not get some calls, but just know it's gonna be They're not gonna be a flag coming out every play when there could be a flag coming out every play because of how physical this is gonna be on the outside. And then Malcolm Jenkins, you never know what he's gonna be at, but whenever he shows up, he's a force. He's dangerous and he can get turnovers. So

don't throw it up in his area. No, And it's gonna be tough and definitely tough against tight ends as well. I mean you talk about coverage ability. What I see from them and just my evaluation of them is as a team is the big playability is going to be there, and that's why I say take shots and they have the potential to get receivers get behind them deep. So I look for Dak to continue to, you know, test

the chin. We gotta test that chin, baby. We gotta try and stretch his defense and get behind the safeties. You talk about guys like Marcus Williams and I'm number forty three for the Saints. I just think that sometimes he's so aggressive with trying to get that into the run that sometimes he allows things to get behind them. So play action is going to be imperative and that's why establishing the run it's so important that shows up

on film a lot. They're they're overly aggressive and teams, you know, to your point in terms of teams stretching them out and spreading them out, when you get them running sideways, that's when they struggle. And that is I literally have that in my notes to have them going east and west as far as they're off their defense because they're so aggressive, and that's why the big play is going to be there there you get go stay north to south, and I think Kellen Moore is an

offensive coordinator that can take advantage of that. When he sees those tendencies on film, he's usually been able to exploit it. A lot of these teams that we've played late lately have not had those same sort of tendencies. They've kind of changed the things up and gone certain directions. Let's see if the Cowboys changed it up going this week against the Saints. When we come back, how about the Saints offense? What kind of challenges did they present.

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Miss Phillips know I'm in love with the one. I like this copper one right, yeah, good, all right, guys, Taysom Hill, since we last talked, saying the starting quarterback over Trevor Simeon and Trevor Simeon, it really looked like it was going to be a matchup heavy for the Cowboys that you liked. Look, you look like you got that said, you're You're absolutely correct. Simeon was looking like, Pepp, that's who I want it. I know that's what you want. Untunately,

you got you got Taysom. Yep, you got Taysom. What kind of challenge does he present? He Taysom Hill coming in that starting quarterback mark Ingram coming back, Alvin Kamara coming back, that's the that's the issue. So it's not just a Taysom issue. It's a it's what can you do with all three of those guys issue? And that's the the Obviously, we need to be able to stop the run, something we've struggled with. If if the Cowboys can't find a way to stop the run, they're gonna

be in trouble. Taysom Hill is not the most accurate, want to sit in a pocket type quarterback. He can he has a cannon. Now he'll launch that thing down the field. So you have to be disciplined in terms of your technique unlike last week. But if we can stop the run and load the box up and play good defense on the outside, sound defense, I think it'll be perfectly fine because he's gonna revert to his running. Yeah, to your point, it's like facing a Jalen Hurts or Kyler.

I mean he will take off and present. I mean he's you mentioned Tebow. I mean he's a faster version of that guy who can just take off and beat you with his legs and he can make throws. He's not gonna make every throw on the field, but he presents that different element. You knew Sean Payt was gonna change. Yes, Oh you had number one because they've lost four games and they're trying to get out of a rut. Isn't

he from here and doesn't he live here? Yeah? Yeah, but it's the Cowboys and he's gonna have it something in his bag and this is this maybe this is it, you know, to try to get something a spark going. I agree with you. I think it'd be a rougher matchup because of his versatility for their offense. Unlike those two other gentlemen that you name Kyler Murray and Hurts. When he gets out the pocket, he actually wants to contact. I like that, he actually wants contact, So take your shots. Yeah,

you have your opportunities. That's true. When he's when he's scrambling, he'll go up the middle and he's more of like a tight end again. Oh he's like he's like two forty five. Yeah. Well he's built for that too. I mean he's gone up against I mean he's been a receiver. He's used to taking himself tight end runners. Yeah, he's played running back as well, so it is a different aspect. This isn't Lamar Jackson running around where he's speedy. He's got the agility and then he's able to get down

and he's trying to avoid contact. This is a guy who's going to bring the fight to you. And I think this is a good challenge for the Cowboys defense. Well look like that, No, man, you know what I feel like, I don't want to make these quarterbacks some quarterbacks more than what they are. And you know, here's the thing about Tayson. You know he has that the arm to get extended down the field, but it's more of a shot put um. He works well for the

Saints in a slash quardel slash mentality. You know. Yeah, you know what I'm saying is you got to have He's he's coming in for somebody. He's a change of pace like it is for running back. So, you know, I think with our defense right now, these guys have got to feel really bad about their performances over the last couple of weeks, and this is the kind of game where you can get back to feeling good about yourself.

You got a quarterback that you know it's going to be trying to look for that contact and when you have guys like Michael Parsons on your team that crave that contact. Please, let's let's have an introduction, you know. And so I think that to stay aggressive defensively is going to be important. But Alvin Kamara coming back is the biggest word for me because he's so diversing what he does from a running back standpoint and also as a receiver. So you know we're gonna have our hands

filled to that degree. But they don't have Michael Thomas as a as a wide receiver. The options that they do have us Smith and Callaway, and so I feel good about the matchup for our secondary, our corners as far as their speed is concerned. But when you can't play around with them, obviously, you know, be aggressive, stay aggressive the entire game and create turnovers. It's going to be pivotal for our defense to create turnovers to get

our offense multiple opportunities. And this is a game where you can specialize on that because site Hill is one of those guys that if you beat on him, he will cave. You know, size all that don't matter. He don't want to be hit for four quarters either. They've won with him. Though they've won with him as the starter three and one I think last year, and you know Breeze wasn't Breeze last year. But yeah, to your point, I mean, I think Callaway's their leading receiver. Deantha Harris

is not available for them. They just don't have the weapons on the outside that they normally do. I think they say they may not have a receiver with fifty catches this season for the first time in almost since eighty seven. Goodness creation like that. But yeah, Kamara changes everything. Yeah, because he can he can kill you in space, he can do all that stuff. So that's that's the biggest factor. And then Ingram can get their running game going as well.

So yeah, we'll see. The latest out of Saints camp, by the way, is that Kamara, Ryan Ramcheck, the right tackle and mark Ingram were all uh in practice. Ingram excuse me, ran Check and Kamara were limited. Ingram was full. So they're probably going to get mark Ingram back. There's a very good chance they get both ram Check at the right tackle spot and Kamara back going into Thursday, And like you said, I mean, it's the Cowboys game.

It's Cowboys Saints. They're probably gonna play. Yes, they'll be out there, So does a limited Kamara change things for you? Still? No? No, why is that? Because you have to do still have the honor it the same way. Yeah, he let up, he's still got honor. I mean, if he widens out, you don't just say they all just bump out. Now, you still better make sure that you put somebody that can stick and stay with him in coverage and you know, and running the ball. I mean, he's the difference maker.

But everybody knows that. They know that as well, so though they will use that to their advantage. They will motion him around, they will do shifts and all kinds of different things to take your attention to him, all the while allow and Taysom Hill hopefully not to run draw plays and sprint outs and all those kind of things that where he could just tuck it and gain six, seven, eight yards at a time. This is a sustained drive game. This is again very much so very much like last week.

This is gonna be one of those sustained drive games. And I think they know that because they don't have that big playability like they have in years past. They now have turned into that team whereas now instead of the big shots, we're gonna just beat you down, and then our defense is physical enough to come out there and pop you in the mouse. That's the approach I believe they're gonna take with some little Dincon dunks in

their screenplayers in Kamara and all that. But they're okay with these seven eight yards at a time and a longs. Those chains keep moving. I think they're happy. And and the other thing about the Saints is they're playing at home, and they're like us with home cooking. They love playing at home. I think they're one of the tops in the NFL and scoring at home. So it's getting them in their surroundings and them being explosive. I think Tyson Hill is going to be a difference maker for them.

I think that's gonna be a change. I see Sean Payton even I said the same thing, How oh, how great. You know you're gonna make a change now at the quarterback position, huh. I think Trevor Simeon will come in as well. I think they'll he'll yeah, I think you'll see both. I don't see him going with Tyson Hill the entire game because they're just certain throws that he cannot make, and if they're put into a situation where he has to make throws to get them back in

the game. That's where they're gonna be in trouble. So creating those turnovers, that's what I'm saying. Initially it's gonna be important. But you're right, Alvin Kamara, whether he's hurt, limited, or whatever it is, you have to under him on the field because of his ability to stretch the field. But defensively we can't. I'm not saying, just freak out about every little thing that they have. We just have to be who we are, stay in our sets and

not panic. Once we forty one split out, adding adding Tank back to the mix, even as a situational rusher, if that's the case, that's huge. That's huge in this game part just to have him as part of that rotation. You don't have Tristan Hill in this game. He's been suspended two games or there's another piece of news we haven't hit yet. Yeah, just another thing that the timing unpaid, unpaid two games, two games pretty pretty it's a pretty clear firm letter from the NFL that he got too

on that. So getting Tank back helps that rotation on your rookie deal too, Bam. Um, dan Quinn's gonna be on the sideline call in the game, so the operation changes a little bit. But as you guys said, he's a veteran guy. Joe Witt, I imagine still be up in the box. He actually called the defense once in preseason because dan Quinn had COVID in preseason, So I don't think that operation changes a whole lot. But it's

just it's just gonna be different. It's gonna it's gonna feel different for the players, and that is a legit worry of mine. Him coming from the box down on the field. I think the the perspective may be different from him. Obviously, like you said, WIT's done it. We've already had the where coaches have called games in the preseason. I don't know if they were just trying to make ready for this kind of scenario, but either way, you know, I think if it fits perfectly what's happening right now.

A lot of it in the preseason was because of the lack of dan Quinn because he had had had tested positive for COVID at that point. But there were two games in the preseason where different coaches called plays, right it was Joe Witt junior on one because Dan was out and then cause Dan was out, Yeah, they let into us. That's right, That's what it was. So I mean, at least this coaching staff has reps in

that regard and so maybe that's the case. And then also you got to think about it, like dan Quinn was on the sideline during his time in Atlanta too. I mean, he's been on the sideline quite a bit recently. I'm not as worried about that as I feel like a lot of Cowboys fans out there are, because I feel like there are concerns around it, But I feel like dan Quinn's one of those guys where it shouldn't affect him too much. But positive I am, I'm a little bit. It's just I mean, it just does feel

like they're stuff stacked against him this week. Though it does. It just does. It's just a weird, another weird situation that they're in. You can't use that as an excuse, though, you absolutely can't. You gotta go into it. You gotta execute and law. When we come back here on talking Cowboys, We're gonna make our game picks. We're gonna do our pickups. So give us a call. Eight eight eight eight five

five two two nine to seven. Will tell you who had a good week last week, who had a bad week last week, And we'll tell you what the standings are. Who's gonna represent the fans this week eight eight eight eight five five two two ninety seven week when we come back here on Talking Cowboys, somebody had a big week. I want to use what the pros us? How about the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black.

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on the field with America's team. Find a retailer nearest you at Stetson dot com slash Cowboys to talk in Cowboys, whether you're watching from home or you're cheering in the stands. With or 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, two more or on Talking Cowboys. As always, the Mike flip from heck Ma Harrison, he didn't give me your Chris is answering the phone in the background, so he's doing a bunch

of different things. So don't don't get you see busy. That's why you see busy, busy, busy busy, Yeah, see busy. All right, we do have a caller. Who's the caller, Chris, It's Kyle in New Jersey. Let's go. Kyle's on one show? What up? Kyle? I really didn't know I was gonna get through him. Man. I've been a fan forever and of you guys in the battle, you guys talking about the best show. I'm gonna say, you guys are definitely

the best show, my favorite Kyle. So Kyle has now secured his fan representation for the best of the year. Thank you very much everybody else who has tried to give any call. All right, Kyle, you're the man for calling in. Appreciate your support as always, and we will give you the games as we go along. But first let's give a little standings update. Isaiah stand back gonna talk about to talk about it with the best week he's had all year. He went five and one, right,

how about that? Go five and one? Gained a little bit of the responsive he Heckma went three and three, So did the five and one? Can I say I get one? Well? You put this work. He's trying to get back in it. The fans lead Heckma buy a single game thirty nine twenty nine. Heckma's thirty eight and thirty. Rob Phillips tied with the fans after a four and two week last week. Very well done, Rob. Thirty nine and twenty nine is his overall record, and I had

not so good of a week. Two and four was my record, and you guys are right on the hills of me. How about forty one and twenty seven? So just two games back? Are the fans games? Bob Phillips, you all you would be one, two, three, seven, eight games back. You're saying from me, that's two that's two good weeks. Maybe you got plenty of time. All right, let's start things off with a pretty fun one up in the north or yeah, this is inc is Cincinnati.

How about the Bengals hosting the Los Angeles Chargers. Kyle will start with you. I'm going with the Bengals. Definitely. Heck, I'm going Bengals. The Bengals. Yeah, you stole my pink. Okay, Bengals cross the board so far, Rob can gain a game. Yeah, I'm going Chargers. They're like the Browns, man. I can't get them right. So I'm picking them this week. I'm gonna pick the I'm gonna go with you. I'm gonna pick the Chargers. Double down on double it down? How

about that? All right? The Giants at the Dolphins. The Giants with a big win over Philadelphia this past week. Do they keep it going this week? Rob's tough, give me the give me the Giants on the Roo. Giants? Are you kidding me? Okay, I'm gonna take the Dolphins here who you got. I'm going Dolphins, Dolphins flipping things. Let's go, Kyle, who you got in that one? Hate the Giant? Hey, that's true. You're up in Jersey, so you probably have to deal with a lot more Giants fans. Listen.

I've been dealing with Giants fans since I was six years old. Um, you have no idea what they do and how they talk about us. Help here, No, if the Giant, if the Giant's the only team in the NFL, I'm moving to soccer. Still moving to soccers. Yeah, I gotta get it right. We've had a lot of colors throughout this season repping from up in an enemy territory. Mike from New York, uh, Steve Oh from New York, Gee from Jersey, and now Kyle from Jersey. Oh and

Martez last week from Philly. So shout out to every Cowboys fan that's listening. If you are listening behind enemy lines, shoot us a tweet, tweet at us, and let us know, because we want to know where you're coming from. All right, Moving on to the football team. At the RAIDUS, they were able to take care of business against the Cowboys this past week, Washington holding off a late charge against the Seattle Seahawks, who are just got awful this year. Um,

let's go with Isaiah on this one. First, I'm going with the team of football, the team of football against the Raiders in Vegas. No, don't think Waller will play, so that makes sense. Heck monk, they beat us without Waller. I'm going with the Raiders, Okay, Kyle, Uh. I don't like them, one of them, but I gotta go to the Raiders because I can't do any NFC et Cowboys. I'm gonna say Washington gets the win here. I think you're playing. Well who you got, Rob? I got the

Raiders at home? But these games, man, they're tough right Well, yeah, dude, what do we know about any team right now? Exactly? It's wide open. The Broncos at the Chiefs at Arrowhead. Who you got in that one, Kyle? It's like taking all your exits? Yeah right? The Chiefs though, Okay, he catchup Chiefs for me, like skinny it what momes? Okay? Okay? All right? Uh? Patriots at the Bills. This is gonna be a really fun No, Nope, not it. Patriots at the Bills in Buffalo. Can Mac Jones go up there

and get a divisional win with the Buffalo Bills. Isaiah, the hell of a rivalry, man, But I gotta go with the Bills mafia that day. Yeah, I'm gonna ride with Buffalo in that one as well. Rob. Yeah, although Pat's going to Super Bowl hello, I mean, this is this the AMC Championship for you here? Maybe you never know. I'll go Bills though, Man, Patriots are looking good right now and that defense is playing outstanding. They gotta you know, look,

it's it's rookie quarterback. I want Patriots. Go for Patriots. I thought about it, Yeah, Page Big Mac, Kyle Bill easy pick for Kyle. All right, Let's see if this is as easy of a pick. The Dallas Cowboys traveling to the Super Dome for the first time since twenty nineteen. The Cowboys lost that game twelve to ten. Too much different teams this time around, as Dak Prescott and company try and go down to New Orleans and endo a streak of three losses in the last four games against

the Saints team that has lost four straight. But they are starting a different quarterback. They may get Alvin Kamara back. What is going to happen in this one. Kyle, what say you, Dallas Cowboys all the way? You're gonna see Ceddie lamp though up behind of yards this game. What's your score prediction? I'm going with twenty seven, twenty four, twenty seven. It's twenty four. Kyle. Thank you so much for calling in and being such an avid supporter of us here on this show. We love you. We'll talk

to you again soon. Thank you, guys. Take care, man, I really love you guys. Take care absolutely, Thanks guy. I appreciate you. Man. All right, Rob Phillips, will let you go first. This matchup bothers me and so there's just playing down there. It's always tough, all this crap going on with the team right now, do it. I just think ultimately the Cowboys offensively have enough to get out of there with a win. But I think it's gonna be close, and I think it might be kind

of ugly and rough at times. I'll just go Cowboys twenty three twenty He just did a league courso did just. I mean, there's not a lot going their way right now. They are getting guys back. Maybe that's the ultimate thing for me, and they got Dak and I think because of that, I think they respond in a big way. This is a team that's five and one against the NFC at the moment, best divisional record in the NFC, and I think they continue that this week. I think the Cowboys win it in a big way. I think

it's gonna be thirty one thirteen Cowboys, no doubt. Yeah. I think they come in and I think they respond. I think pissed off. I think they're gonna turn around and make some noise. Isaiah, who you got? Well? Five and one takes back, by the way, Isaiah, Isaiah is nine and two picking in the Cowboys. He's been on. He's been on nine and two. The rest of us are like kind of close to five hundred. Tayson Hills back, m Ingram's back, Kamara's back, but Michael Thomas is not back.

Le course Cowboys twenty seven fourteen. Okay, I like it alright, heck on, who you got? I mean, come on, man, you asked me this every week, and I mean I pick against the Cowboys. I'm not listening, man. This is what it is with me for the whole year. Just go ahead, just a couple of times last year, a couple of times, and that was last year. And that was last year, New Year, New Year. That's understand that. I understand. We need to get it. We need to get the dub and I'm going all in on the douve.

This week in New Orleans was gonna be some good smelling gum bow and everything else down there. I know, man, because my people down there. But going to the game, no, I'm not. I'm gonna go U Cowboys were up thirty Burger, I'm saying thirty five. We put up thirty five points, um twenty four. Something like that. Okay, something another. I like it, all right, I like it. Another offense gets back on track. Let's make it happen. All right? That does it? Here on Talking Cowboys, we are We are

not here on Wednesday. We will be back on Friday to break it all down for you. Enjoy the week, everybody. Hope you had some fun with us today. For Chris Beam, Rob Phillips, I stand back. I'm Kyle Yeoman's heck my Harrison. What do we say? Cowboy Nation? I need your team to win. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.

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