Talkin' Cowboys: Concerns After Week 1

Phillips and Kyle Yeoman's. You know, there are a couple of things that I've learned over the last forty eight hours, in really twenty four hours, I guess about this Dallas Cowboys football team and about there how there's also two

types of people in this world. There's those types of people that go for it on fourth and three inside the twenty hard line with eleven minutes left in the fourth quarter, and there's those that decide to actually kick the field goal and tie the football game up at twenty. That's what we saw last night as the Dallas Cowboys fell to the Los Angeles Rams twenty to seventeen, the

final score. As the Rams come out on top and the Cowboys start the twenty twenty season oh and one, and we're talking Cowboys, and we're gonna talk about those cowboys and talk about what happened. And it's week two, episode one, but we got to look back at week one because there are a lot of question marks to address after the loss on the road in Inglewood, California. I'm Kyle Yeoman's alongside the normal group. Heckma Harrison, Isaiah standback back this week after he was out on Friday,

and the Great Cowboys Insider Rob Phillips and guys. It's definitely a disappointing feeling. There's not panic time by any means. I mean, it's week one of the season. There's still plenty of season to co but at the same time, there's a lot of concern around what happened last night. Rob. General thoughts and we'll start with you, Well you said it. I mean, it's probably too early to draw conclusions about the entire season based off of one game, given a

short training camp that they had. By the way, are you happy you're the only guy that picked against the Cowboys. I'm not happy, not happy at all. That's the thing is is what happened was kind of what I had that gut feeling about. But it's also yeah, no, I wish I was wrong, I really do. It's unfortunate. Well, we give we gave you props. You you were correct about this one, and you know, the thing to me that stood out was it's been one game, right, but

they lost more than the game last night. You know, they've they've got some question marks and some spots that we already had questions about, the tight end positions, the depth there, potentially offensive line and then late vander esh at the linebackers. Isaiah has been talking about that for weeks.

We'll see the severity there. But you're banged up on top of the fact that you didn't play as well as I think we thought they could, especially on defense, and the Rams just controlled the football game, really both lines of scrimmage for a good portion of the game. And when that happens, it comes down to, you know, you got to make a play here or there to go win the game, and they weren't able to do it. Ema. Yeah, oh man, you are absolutely correct. The line of scrimmage

was dominated by the Los Angeles Rams. I know, we talked about it in the pre show yesterday and it showed up in a big way. Um, there's a dude by the name of Aaron Donald who came and was like, you know what, I feel disrespected by the fact that you guys are talking about you guys can stop me. Let me I was worried about that. Let me remind

y'all who I am. And Aaron Donald came out and there are I know, there was one play instinctively where he just came down the line and washed everybody out and then came and decided to get a good hit on dec And it was pretty embarrassing, you know, to say the least, it was embarrassing, I mean to your point, Rob, Yeah, there there's a ton of question marks that we already had and guess what rightfully sold because now we're about

to talk about it. In my hey man, in my opinion, and what I saw, Sean McVeigh called an excellent game, especially the first quarter. Rams came out and they dominated the first quarter. They played tempo, Rob. This is something that we talked about on Friday, just expecting that the Rams would come out and play tempo in a variation of formations. But man, they came out in their two

minute offense in the first quarter. In it, I think it's zapped the defense and every team, if all the teams that I was all the games that I was watching, offenses were on quick tempo and that was only because, look, we hadn't had a preseason. You want to make sure our see our check and see if guys are in shape.

And they got their answer. And for the most part, the Cowboys defense in the first quarter it was Lord, I tell you, I had a lot of moments when just seeing some of those wide receiver screens where it didn't look like for the guy was running for ten yards and there was no Cowboys defenders around them. So look, they took it to us, but the deepest shored itself up and they made the game interesting going down to

the fourth quarter. Here's the thing, Yeah, that first right, well that first quarter, like you mentioned, and for a good portion of the game, it reminded me of the playoff game against the Rams a couple of years ago. Just controlling everything, the line of scrimmage, the you know, the quick passes, the miss direction, that's what they do. And I know Chris Collinsworth on the on the broadcast said,

well it's it's to counteract the Cowboys rushers. Now they to somebody extamp, but they also kind of did whatever they wanted to do and they didn't get three hundred rushing yards or whatever they had in the playoff game a couple of years ago, but they dominated in terms of running up the middle and getting penetration and getting

all the linebackers in the second level. I mean, you know, it wasn't consistent enough for the defense upfront for sure, And you know you're looking at the scoreboard at half time, You're like, how are they winning this game? Because because the Rams were really in complete control for most of it. It was really what the Cowboys did to the Rams in Week fifteen of last year, control the line of scrimmage, wear them down defensively with these short It was really

death by needles type of plays. It was nothing within or outside of seven yards. It was just dinking and dunking down the field enough to where the Cowboys defense was lulled to sleep. And Isaiah, I know you and I were in the same room watching the football game, but it was the It was just frustrating because of how relaxed the defense looked and how easy it was that the offense was able to get chunk plays of six or seven yards, whether it was by a run

or buy a short pass. Yeah, it reminds me. I don't know if you guys remember the movie Hitch and Will Smith was up there coaching, and man, he told him to come here. He said, that's exactly exactly what the ms on that opening series. They completely dominated it. I mean, I know, we'll get into the deep as a line in the line of scrimmage a little bit and a little bit more depth. But our defensive line looked like they had just came off the couch. I mean,

these guys were getting blown off the ball. There was misdirection everywhere. I mean, you know, you talk about Jalen Smith and vanderash those guys eyes were caught in the backfield. The ball was on the opposite side when those guys are bootlegging and dumping it off. Robert Woods had four i think four catches and like sixty yards and like the first in the first series alone, and they just

didn't know where to look. They were caught off guard until your until your point, Kyle, you know these guys, I mean, robbin you to your point. You know, these guys were still in the game. You know by halftime, they were winning by halftime. So that's inspiring Cowboys the nation that you guys were still in this game because in reality, it should have been a blowout. It really you look at third downs, thir third downs for the Rams,

who I think is the most significant thing. I mean, the way that they were able to convert those third downs, and defensively, we just were not able to steal any possessions. It wasn't until the Woozier interception where we kind of had the momentum shift in our favor. But the whole time the game was going on, like you said, Isaiah, it just looked like our defense was running in sand and the Rams were on a quick track. The way that they were running those Robert Woods plays too. You

mentioned all those yards, it was all yak. I mean, it was all yards after catch like like like Kyle said, you know, and they blocked it up downfield, like I said, they were able to get up in the second level and guys were just some of it was seemed like guys ride a position and some of it they just blocked it up really well. But the defense really just didn't have an answer for it, you know, they like you said, Heck, they kind of settled down a little

bit in the second half, but it wasn't. It wasn't as consistent. And you know they did counteract that pass rush that we've been talking about all training camp. Hey, but Rob not not only that, you know, Kyle mentioned the fact that the defense was playing soft. Not only did the defense, did the entire defense get slapped up and down, but Mike Nolan got slapped in his face. I don't know what he was doing come into the game.

I think he may have came into as saying, okay, let me be conservative in a sense and trying to figure out exactly what these guys are doing. But I think he was cut off guard because he there was no there was no point in the game where he or they actually there was one point I think in the third quarter we're here for a little bit aggressive.

But aside from that, that was not the Mike Nolan of the past, and that was one no and not a lot of movement whatsoever, which is one of the It's funny after the game, and I tweeted this out this morning, I said, I've got a laundry list of questions. I counted him a minute ago. I have thirty six bullet points of questions that I have going into this week. Of what what happened on Sunday night, and I'm not going to read all of them, but one of the big ones was what happened to the movement that we

saw in training camp. I mean, Rob, you and I were at the Ford Center here at the Star when we were looking at Mike Nolan's defense and we're saying, and we're reporting, we're throwing out there that this is gonna be a lot different than what we've seen in the past from these different staffs that we've seen. But Rob, last night, it looked like it was a lot of the same old, same old. From a defensive perspective, well, yeah, I mean there were some bright spots. I mean, Alden

Smith looked fantastic. If there are any questions about him, you know, coming back, you know he didn't training camp, but what about your live live action at five years off man, he was he kind of kept a minute, you know, there were a couple of times in the first half it was him or DeMarcus Lawrence that you know, batting the ball down or forcing a pressure that that

that's the only way Goff was getting in completion. So I thought they had some pressure on the defensive front, like I said it was more the interior and losing vander Esh to Kyle in the front seven huge. That hurts because you know Jaalen. I don't think they were able to use Jalen like they wanted to, and they were able to find Jalen in coverage too after that, and the results weren't too good. So that's why I go back to the injuries. Man. I think he felt

the Gerald McCoy injury too. Yes, you get it. You got Tristan Hill playing a lot of snaps in there and done Terry Poe and Antoine Woods and it just wasn't um, you know, it wasn't It wasn't productive inside for much of the game. Yeah. Speaking of Tristan Hill, I he had some flashes in this game, but then there then there were other times man, where he was getting pinballed out of there, and that that worried me.

That worries me, uh to see because to see that happen to him, knowing how solid of a training camp that he had. But you know, look, it's it. We have to to say it. Safety wise, we still saw that there was some some deficiencies there that need to be fixed. We have to get on that immediately because down in the goal line that one play where I believe it was Thompson. I mean, look, it's just just it's just a football play. But still, man, that's a

that's a tackle that you need to make. Oh my gosh, guys, Um, it's about to roll up as leaves. He's getting ready. You don't even have the sleeves, Kyle to answer your your your point that you brought into this this segment here, um, that you posed to rob in terms of what they look like in camp. Right. And and Mike Nolan had all this movement going on. Um, I think I've had a number of coaches in my football career say everybody has a plan until you're punched in the mouth, right, Um.

And I think Mike Nolan had a plan coming into this game, but I think he got punched in the mouth, and by him getting punched in the mouth, he became conservative. And by him becoming conservative, I think it threw the players off. I'm speculating here, but I think the players anticipated him coming in being a lot more aggressive, and then all of a sudden, the defensive coordinated person that's

calling the plays becomes conservative and they're like whoa. It comes across as if he's being scared, right, if he's being conservative, we've been practicing. Yeah, I'm just saying if all we've been practicing is being aggressive to all of a sudden were coming here and now we're being conservative, what is that communicating to your defense? I mean, you guys started talking about particular players port Pole, Oh, Pole Pole, look Pole, Uh that last night. And we know how

dominant a player he can. He can be, right um, and I hate talking about um, you know what players could be right um. However, he didn't look like he had any fire. And I hope that it was just a game one day and he'll figure it out because we know that he's a dominant player. But he didn't look like he even wanted to be near the ball. He was getting washed down the line of scrimmage a number of times. He never put his foot in the ground to change directions or to give any kind of resistance.

He's three hundred and fifty pounds. Yah, there's no way that you're just pushing this guy down the line. So when he doesn't want to move, guess what, He's not going to move. So he didn't show any any urge to even want to make a play. Um, you had Griffin who showed up and made players. You had office Aldon Smith who came out and balled out. Had it not been for Alden Smith, this game would have been really,

really ugly. Um, you got He'll. He'll was. I remember there's one player distinctively where hell was hustling his butt off there in the fourth quarter when they were trying to get things turned around. He ran He ran the ball down about a good thirty yards all the way across the field to get in on the tackle. Um. And then you had Gallimore, and Gallimore just looked like he just wasn't ready. Gallimour came into the game. Yeah, he came in, looked like a rookie. He was like, oh,

these are grown man. I'm sorry. I mean they got him off off, they got him off the field. So a lot of things will work on you know. I think the edges were shured up pretty good that interior, though. We were to figure that out. Yea, So Champ, let me ask you this man, a lot of those presnap penalties that we had, I mean, oh yeah, open you opened the game with DeMarcus where I mean DeMarcus where I set thats n come on and I just did it. DeMarcus Lawrence jumped outside and he couldn't even get back

to the other side. He was standing with the running back. But we had those presnap penalties that killed us and we made, you know, short field positions, short first downs for those guys. I mean, we didn't do ourselves any favors in this game. And when you talk about Mike Nolan and coming in being aggressive, doing certain things, I felt as though he could doll it up when he could, but I think after the Layton vander Esh injury that limited a lot of what we were gonna do defensively.

But kudos to we got to talk Aldon Smith. Rob when you bring him up, man, the way that he played against the run, he did not look like a guy that's been out of the NFL for four years. And my goodness was a pick up. Whatever McCarthy saw and him that day in the gym. My god, thank you for seeing that because he has come back in

full force. And think about this, He's a guy that was on his way to Canton prior to his problems and now it's like, man, you know he has watched all of those things away, and I'm praying that he is continues that domination because in the run, man, he just did some things that we hadn't been seeing, what

we didn't see last year. He had a couple of players where he just busted through a double team like Aaron Donald, where he was he was knocking down bowling pins a couple of times, against offensive line a couple of times, and you know they had they handled him at times, but not not consistently. How many times was that talking about Aaron? Are you talking about Aaron Donald or Alden Smith? Both? Both? Yeah? But I mean go ahead,

I say go ahead. All I'm gonna say is as we go into this um this second week, right, we got to finish up today obviously with the Monday night games, and then tomorrow who knows what happens tomorrow. But all I'm saying is, as we go forward into this week two, the best player on this defense is somebody who hasn't played in five years. Yeah. I want to let that

sink in. Yeah, it's there. There's there's problems. And one of the biggest things that stuck out to me, especially when you talk about the defensive line, maybe with the exception of Alden Smith, they weren't being pushed around by the Tyrant Smith's and the Zach Martins and the Travis

Fredericks of the world. They're getting pushed around by Austin blythe Joseph Nope Boom, Austin Corbett, and I mean, I know those guys are great in their own rights, but this is a Ram's offensive line that had a ton of question marks itself heading into last night. Well, they definitely showed out a lot more than what seemingly was an upgraded pass rush, at least outside of Alden Smith, thank goodness he was there. What was that? Well, I think maybe I was thinking that last night as we

were watching the game. Maybe we just underestimated that line. I mean, they had some injuries, they had some injuries last year and they're healthy now. And look they they did get all three of those running backs, all three backs got involved. I think we talked about it. Yeah, maybe that was a smoke screen, but they got Yeah,

they got everybody involved. And you guys talked about being conservative defensively, Man, the Rams, when they're rolling, that's what they can do to you because they put you on your heels the way they you know they don't. They keep it guessing with their pre snap. Look that tight formation of the line of scrimmage, and then if they get they hit a couple of plays. Here comes that tempo and they're dictating the tempo to you. And that's what happened early on. It just you know, it wasn't

the Cowboys weren't dictating to them well. And we've spent the majority of this first segment talking about the defensive side of the football. When we come back here on Talking Cowboys, let's see how disappointing it was on the offensive side. As we get our thoughts on how Dak Prescott is Ekiel Elliott in the entire offense underneath Kellen Moore looked in the twenty to seventeen losses, Cowboys fall on the road of the Rams. We'll be back here

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combone that's music to my ears? Okay, doctor music to my ears and mouth new Doctor pepper and cream soda. Delas just do back to talking cowboys is getting a little cynical in the in the break, they're just looking around and talking about separate subjects that we're gonna bring up in the third segment. We're gonna talk about the

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things are so good, so good. I mean, there's so many. Yeah, sorry, buddy, I didn't I didn't extend that one. That was that was a quick dying or not Dyna. That was a curbside pickup for me. I'm just trying to stay socially distant so I could be healthy enough to talk about this twenty to seventeen Cowboys' loss to the Los Angeles Rams. That's what I've been really waiting for all week long. Heck, My Harrison, Isaiah stand back, Rob Phillips, I'm Kyle Yeoman's

and guys. The offense, it wasn't necessarily bad from an offensive perspective. I mean, Dak Prescott I still ended with a day that he could at least lean on a little bit, but it really didn't look like he was comfortable. And that's really what I want to get into. It's not necessarily the stats. You can look at the stats all you want from Dak Prescott twenty five or thirty nine, two hundred and sixty six yards in a touchdown. Amari Cooper had ten receptions for eighty one yards. He was

the leading receiver. Ezekiel Elliott really probably the most effective member of the offense all day long. He had a hundred twenty seven one hundred and twenty seven all purpose yards, including ninety six on the ground thirty one through the air. But guys, it really seemed like that offensive line struggled to contain Aaron Donald. We alluded to that in the

first segment. But Rob, what was the biggest thing that stuck out to you in terms of this offense and just not getting off the ground and finding a bit of a rhythm. Well, they kind of settled in after the first drive. First drive, everything was sluggish that that first what eight nine minutes of the game. But third down, man three to twelve. I think on third down they just they couldn't they couldn't sustain drives, and um, that's

that's what got him last year offensively up man. I will say this about Zeke, that's as good as I've seen him play in a couple of years. Just looked fantastic, looked and oh my god, he looked like he I mean, we watched him in training camp, but to me, he looked ten pounds lighter. He just I don't know, he looked he looked I don't know, he looked, he looked fantastic, and they you know, they were able to get some things going off of him in a couple of different ways.

But yeah, third downs, they just couldn't sustain things. And you mentioned some of the pressure, especially late in the game. Uh, you know, they went after Terrence Steele, who I thought I thought he battled at right tackle. That was kind of a surprised start. Yeah, but you know, I think they got him laid the game. I think Leonard Floyd got a sack on him, and and you know, the pressure, the pressure, you know, got him late, but just not

consistent enough keeping drives going. Yeah, once they figured out where the weakest links were on the offensive line, we had to start moving coverage that way and the Rams took full advantage of it. With Brockers and number ninety nine he will forever be I won't even call him by his name. Number ninety nine was just so disruptive and the defensive line that we could, I mean a lot of our plays that we tried, it's ninety nine was just smack dab in the middle of our offense.

And you know, I felt as though Dak had his moments like the balls some of the balls that he threw, I mean right on the money, especially the one of the pi and I'm sure we're gonna talk about the pi uh from Ramsey, But I thought that I thought that ball was right on the money, guys, So that to me played well. Uh Man. When Jarwin went down, it was that was a moment, you know, as as a cowboy fan, and I was like, this is the one guy that we don't need to have this problem.

And then Schultz came in with one catch for eleven yards and just a couple of drops man in moments where it hid him right in his hands. That he gets that opportunity again, Schultz is definitely gonna have to take advantage of that. Yeah, all an offeners, the offense did pretty good. But obviously, um you know, the offense and coordinator did not read that Zeke's new tattoo where it said feed me. So look at that, I said, and I know you guys reference him with being a

little bit lighter. He didn't want it to say feed me. He just wanted to say feed me. So that's why he lost couple of pounds. But explosive, right, and they gave they gave him the rock, but they didn't give them the rock enough. And that was one of my fears going into this game, is that they would establish or run like we we all know that they would, but that they would go away from it to try to initiate the pass because of the receivers that they have on this team. And I felt that that's what

they did. I felt like they really try to force the issue in terms of passing. UM. That's the struggle right as we as we talked about it in the past, with all this talent on the team, if you have something that's working right what they say, old school, if it's not broke, don't don't it. So forget the fact that you got these three goons at receiver, forget the fact that you had Jarn went out there hand the ball to Zeke. That's where the Rams were struggling. They

had no answer for that. Zeke was falling for six yards, right, So why would you go away from that to throw the ball and then end up three for twelve on third down? You put yourself in those situations. UM. So I hope, I hope, I hope that the OC learns from that. UM In terms of the receivers, I think they did a great job. I mean they they were catching the rock. There was a couple of drops in there, but these guys were doing what they were supposed to do.

There was too many dog on crossing routes, good and its gracious, it was crossing routes to good lord. These guys didn't have the opportunity to go out there and run routes the way that they really wanted to. Um. You know, they were forced to try to look across covers as they were running crossing routes to try to look ahead to see if they're going to get their head knocked off. So all, all in all, they did

a good job. But hey, if you got the ball and you and you're feeding the ball to Szeke, keep giving it to him. Man. You guys were down by three majority of the game, right right, majority of the game. You guys were barely down. Keep giving him the rock. You will run yourself back into the game. Well. And Mike McCarthy said following the loss that he felt good about the offense and how they were moving the ball.

It's one of the reasons why he elected to go for it on fourth and three rather than turn around and kick the field goal and tie the game up

at twenty. But one of the that was a key play, absolutely, But I think another key play was one of the ones that were being about over the last twelve hours has been that class interference penalty that Heckma was alluding to just a moment ago, whenever there was the deep seam route on the left side of the field to Michael Gallup that would have ultimately put the Cowboys back into field goal range on what was the last drive

of the ball game. Jaitalen Ramsey was in coverage in the It was called a push off for Michael Gallup. And I know Cowboys fans are up in arms. It's controversial call. People think they got robbed. I'm not on that boat. I think it was a good call, and I know Cowboys fans don't want to hear that, but that's not the reason you lost. Even if you don't like hearing that, it's not the reason you lost. You lost because the interior are both are offensive and defensive lines.

I'm saying it. I'm saying it, I know, but I'm it was a push off. He extended all the way through. It was a that's a good play. It's a veteran play, buddy, it's a veteran play from MS. Okay, it's not. It's it's not why they lost. But if Amari Cooper had done that, I think maybe he gets away with it. If a four time pro bowler does that, Michael Lervin made a career out of doing that. You're the receiver. How I'm telling you, tell how many times? How many

times have you seen Michael Irvin do that? It's all damn career. Can I put this arrest? Can I put this arrest? Okay? Please? If you extend your arm as an offensive receiver or tight end, if you extend your arm to create space, you're going to get a call for offensive pass interference. You guys are referencing Michael Irvin, who hasn't played in seventy seven years. Okay, the rules are a little bit different back then. Okay, yeah, different. The game is a lot tougher if the game is

soft now, it's softest tissue paper. Was it a deliberate push? No? It was it enough to push Ramsey one hundred one hundred million dollars that's in his back pocket. No, But you leave yourself susceptible to the call if you extend your arm. So yes, his offensive passing affairs now to combat that, you wouldn't even been in that situation, all right, It wouldn't even be in a position to score had the call been made on the opposite side of the ball.

When when Jared golf through an interception after getting Mike Tyson k old in his helmet. So yeah, yeah, they get away with one there. Yeah, that and so you got one big, big one. The passing inferience was a judgment call, right, we can all agree to that. That That was a judgment call that could have went either way. Getting pushed in your face at the quarterback that should have been automatically a penalty in the game. It wouldn't even been as close as it was. I mean, should have,

would have, could have if but it didn't. That's the thing that's that's a great point. No. I love what you're saying. I love what you're saying. Hold on, man, I'm saying, Isaiah, you have hand thought with your son harder than what Ramsey exactly we're doing. And if the top of that route, if you're talking about Gallup having his hand extended and Ramsey holding only he was trying

to disrupt the route the whole time. He was knocking all the way down the field, and that little in this little emotional when you start seeing that if yeah, yeah, I say it with your chest. Hey, I don't know me like that. Don't do it like that like that today it's Monday. Disagree with you. Heck it was ticky tack as a Hey, listen, they were both hand fighting. However, if you extend your arm as a receiver, I can't

believe you as a receiver saying that. Hey, I'm telling you, if you're going five miles over the speed limit, is it speeding, yes, speeding back? No, But guess what, You're still speeding, so you don't say so susceptible to getting pulled over. It's the same thing. Is it a whack call? Yes? Is it a legal call? Yes? Here, I just wanted

to be like the NBA. Swallow your whistle, man, let them let them exactly, Rob, Rob, that's it right there, Swallow your whistle, because how many times do you see in championship moments a referee stymey or the deliberately I'm gonna say, deliberately make call, make a call that changes the complexion of the game. What that's Dak Prescott's moment. He puts the ball all the money and you call no way, dolls, you swallow your whistle. You don't call that.

It's not egregious. Push off. You've seen some of you push Come on, you have to look at it from the other end. Had the Cowboys capitalized off that interception, it really went on and just had the momentum shift. What would the rams to be sitting here saying about the no call hit to the helmet that everybody could agree wasn't fair. I say, I don't care what the rams will have been saying today. I mean they missed the call. I can't talk about a miss call versus

the call they made. I mean, come on, look at I mean, I'm sure that was several times they could have called holding against Arion Donald because we were holding the hell out of Aridonald was last interference. It was passing interference. I know, we all go to the next day. It was passing experience. Okay, okay, passing interference, but it was okay, okay, I accept okay. So hey, what did you guys think about the fourth and three? Oh? Would you have gone forward? Would you have kicked it. I

thought I thought they knew. I thought they knew they were going forward. Also, of Dalton Shotz runs that that route a little bit deeper. It gives Ceedee Lamb more of an opportunity to catch that ball and walk into the end zone. Do you not have one of the best field goal kickers in the league. I don't know. You might fifty three yard in the first quarter. So I'm just saying, I'm just this was gonna this was gonna be what a thirty yarder? I don't don't know.

I don't know where they're out on the field, but I know they're a pretty dog one close. You kicked the dog on field goal. You have been fighting all the game to get back to where it can be zero zero, and then you go out there and you do that. I understand. Coach had a big call and it could have went either way. He could have been he could have been the savior of all Saviors going

into this first game had he capitalized on that. But you didn't, and you had an opportunity to get yourself back to zero zero and which you hadn't had all game, and you missed out. So kicked the field goal and go out there and play some defense, like I know, go ahead, Kyle, No, you go for it. Well, I mean, if it were Jason Garrett, he would be and down for that. But you know, I think I'm with Isaiah on this one, mainly because you're not guaranteed to get

the ball back. I mean, the Rams, the way they were controlling time and possession throughout the game, except for a couple of drives here and there. I take the points, and I at least put myself in position to have a tie and hope you get the ball back. I just I wasn't the way the defense had been playing overall in that game, and I would take the points,

but defense. But your defense in the fourth quarter force three punts, and so by that point you it saw the momentum start to change by the way that we were playing defense. And they knew that they were gonna go forward on fourth down. They knew they were, so that's why they ran it on third and six. I agree with you there. Let's say we can say we can say, oh, oh my god, you know, why would he call that? But that's the aggression. Those are the

kind of plays that we've been begging for. It, So now that we got it, it's like, oh god, Mike, what are you doing. No. I like the aggression by Mike. I like him going forward on fourth and three. That's what that's what we need to see. If he ties it up, then what we go to all the time and we lose by a field goal something like that. Come on, man, that's not one one. Come on it. We'd all be junking it. But that's not what's going on.

I said, come on, man, hey, I hear you. I know calgoy Nation has been waiting for somebody to be a lot more aggressive than they've seen in the past. However, you have to be smart, and you have to be smart. You have to give your team a real chance, and by by playing from behind the entire game, you give them a chance by saying, hey, fellas, it's zero zero, let's go out there and it's a new game. As

a former player. As a former player, though, because I when he when I heard his explanation, it made more sense to me. You know, first, basically he said, look, first time coaching my guys in a game situation, I wanted to basically show them that I trusted them. You know, does that does that Gerry Waite. As a player, you can't. No, it doesn't because your job as a coach is to

position us for the best opportunity to win. Right, So, by by giving Greg zero a chip shot to make the game zero zero, that gives us a great position to win. By giving us a fifty fifty chance, that does not. Right. So, no disrespect to coach. He's coached a lot more games than I ever have. He's an

amazing coach. He's a super Bowl winning coach. However, I don't agree with him in this regard because you also not only are you thinking about this game, but you also have to think about the games you have coming up. How does this position you did a loss right here? How does that set me up for these next few games? And there's a real opportunity, I know we talked about

this in a break. There's a real chance that the Cowboys can start this year oh in three, And you have to take that consideration whenever you go into that. We still we've still got we've got some time to talk about three. Let's let's get past the O and one first, and let's we'll move fast this now. I haven't given my input on this. I liked the aggressiveness. I still think in that spot when there's eleven and it's left in the game, I think you kick it and you tie the football game up and then go

from it for from there later in the game. Any later than that shirt, I mean, that's fine. And I get the analytics side of it as well. Forty fourth and three analytically is something you should be able to convert. And that's exactly what Mike McCarthy looked at. But he wasn't necessarily all in on the analytics side of it. He was he was on the fence and it ended up being a fifty fifty call. But guys, for the fans out there, I know they know this as well.

This is Dallas Cowboys football. You can't just take care of business or get blown out. It's got to be a fifty fifty on the fence call that we have to debate for the next seven days until we get to see football again. And that's exactly what we've got again here in twenty twenty. Well, we've run over time here in this segment. When we come back Layton vander esh Blake jar went out for an extended period of time. How long are they out and what's next for the

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The Jack Black Starter ten bucks free shipping to Talking Cowboys last five minutes here of Talking Cowboys on the Monday morning. After a twenty to seventeen losses, The Cowboys are and one on the twenty campaign. Whether you're watching from home or cheering in the stands. With or lenses, you'll see every exciting play book, an appointment at your local or experts and find the perfect lenses for you

see more, do more lurs. The Cowboys do fall by three in the opening week matchup against the Rams, and we've been we've been breaking it down and we've been debating over the debatable calls that were made both on a referee side and on a coaching perspective side in the fourth quarter of the loss. But there's some cut and dry stuff out of this as well, injuries for the Dallas Cowboys, and it's something that is going to

impact this team throughout the rest of the season. And first off, we'll start on the offensive side of the football. Blake Jarwin out for a long period of time, still getting reevaluated today, but it looks like a feared hamstring injury, something that was non contact. You saw it on the broad cash if you were watching, just kind of running around, turning around on a curl and just falling to the ground.

Not necessarily what you want to see. And then on the other side, Layton vander esh defensively with a fractured clavicle out for some time. Rob, what are some of the updates on those injuries if you've heard any, and what is the next step for the Cowboys. Well, like you said with Jarwin, when you when you fear that ACL that that for your knee, usually they have a pretty good idea, but they'll they'll do the MRI to

confirm today. Um, you know with with vander Esh, it's going to depend on I think where where the fracture is, because if they could, if they can plate it and do surgery, he can come back, you know, in a shorter period of time. But if if it's not surgery, as we've seen with the Tony Rummo injuries in the past, it it's gonna be a couple months probably at minimum. So not good, not good. And then Cam Irving had

a knee injury too. When you're talking about your offensive line depth and I think that you're probably hoping that's a sprain knee there. But man, you're talking about a couple of key guys that are gonna be out for a lot of weeks and and Jarwin potentially the season. Ask somebody who has sustained their fair share of injuries. I feel for all of these guys and I pray that these guys all get back healthy as soon as possible. I know what it does to you mentally, UM as

a player. UM, I can tell you right now, M Blake Jarwin, it's acl most likely and he's he's done right. So these guys are gonna have to really rely on their on their next two guys to step up and feel that void. I don't nobody's gonna be able to feel the void of that vertical threat that he provided. UM. And then as you go over to UM, as we go over to vander Esh. Okay, how many times have we talked about the depth and heast my concern for

the linebacker depth. M. Vander Esh already had a neck injury that we talked about in his hesitation to be able to go in there and make contact. Right. We questioned that leading up to this first week because he didn't have any preseason to hit anybody. UM, And it was we saw it on that on that that goal

line stand where he went in there. He had an opportunity to go in there and field the gap on Malcolm Brown, and he hesitated that hesitation that we talked about, right, he turned his head sideways and instead of delivering it blow. He absorbed a blow, and I believe that's when he really sustained that initial m that initial injury. UM, I don't. I don't foresee him coming back any sooner than probably

the last the last quarter of the season. Um you know, I just the compounded injury with this neck, his previous injury with his neck, compounded with this, with this classical deal you put both of those together. Not even when he comes back physically right, how is he going to be mentally right and no different than he was when he did this this original game where he wasn't confident in his ability to deliver deliver a blow. Irving. Irving will be back. You know, he'll probably miss a couple

of weeks. He guys get rolled up on all the time. Luckily he probably had on a knee brace. So um, big, big time concerns these guys. They need to do some work and bring some guys up from the practice squad and Scow. I think they're gonna have to find an interior defensive alignment. Um, you know, injuries aside to right now to go out there and get a big dog because um, you know, even though we didn't have any

injuries there, we might as well have. Yeah, when when I look at all of this, the potential of losing two starters week one is devastating. I mean, who has that kind of luck. But also the cam Erman injury as well, with the depth at right tackle, it's concerned. And especially the game that still had. And you know that other other teams on our schedule have that film out and they will definitely be trying to utilize a

mismatch against him. And so all things being considered, Guys, like I said, the injuries to vander esh for the defense is it's gonna be it's gonna be big. And you talked about that Isaiah, the depth that linebacker, So yeah, man, that's uh, that's gonna be a big one for us.

But man, also Blake Jarwin going into the season, he was somebody that we really had high hopes for and man, I know they're doing an MRI just just to see if there's any potential that it wasn't that, but if it is, and losing him for the season, that's a

big blow. And they could have used him in that game too, because yes, it seemed like they're playing their safety deep and there were opportunities for a guy like Jarwin to make plays and try to get some things going because they didn't really go down field a lot in the game. And man, yeah, you're right. Heck they're gonna miss him because he provided. You put him on the field with the three top receivers and you got

some mismatches most weeks. And kudos, I know we were talking about a lot of negative stuff here, Kudos that Joe Thomas were stepping up your step in the game. He came in and played a heck of a game. He came in and field the gap. He was He was president, just as president as Alton Smith was from

the time that he entered a game. And we talked about those those linebackers of how we didn't think there were gonna be two me three linebacker sets the majority of the game, there were two true linebackers in there, and when he had to step in, he did a heck of a job. Yeah, I thought there was kind

of what we expected to see from the linebackers. I mean, we saw Anthony Brown really as that nickelback that that third linebacker quote unquote, even though it was really two true linebackers and Sean Lee he'll be back week three. You've got to Francis Bernard on the practice squad that you could potentially elevate and hopefully fill that role at least for a little bit there and have some at linebacker. I mean there's free agents out there as well. I

know Isaiah's probably looking at the secondary free agency. Wait for tomorrow's show. Do you have a do you have a prediction? As we're out of time, but you have a very quick ten second prediction. Well, the first week of the season ends tonight, which means that guys are eligible veterans are eligible to sign tomorrow. Yeah, Earl Thomas, So you see in the Star tomorrow morning. Okay, Okay, so there you go. I knew that was happening, So I just wanted to throw that out there for the

fans there. Whether it's Earl Thomas, Nax Harrison, Clay Matthews, who cares, there's there's options out there. The Cowboys have options in house, but hey, why not at least explore your options whenever you have injuries like you did last night in the twenty to seventeen loss. That's gonna do it here for talking Cowboys, Thanks for sticking around. With us and breaking down last night's game here over the past forty five minutes. We'll be back tomorrow nine thirty am.

Bring your questions. Is we've got We've got fans on the fifty tomorrow will be either taking your calls or reading them off of the periscope and Twitter. So bring your questions. I know we've got plenty. You've got plenty as well. But for now, for heck Ma Harrison, Rob Phillips, and Isaiah stand back. I'm Kyle Yeoman's that's it for Talking Cowboys. We'll see you next time. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.