Talkin' Cowboys: Defensive Identity?

on Talking Cowboys. And you know I would introduce Isaiahs introduction already because of oh Man pre show antics or something on this show that I will never ever ever revealed to the public. But that's okay. Heck Ma Harrison, Rob Phillips, Isaiah stand back, Glad you're with us here on this Wednesday. I hope you're having as much fun as we are. We're gonna break down the San Francisco forty nine ers as well as the Dallas Cowboys coming up on Sunday. But guys, first off, glad you're with

us and hope you're having a great day. But Rob kind of break down the fact that the Cowboys could get some reinforcements back as soon as today on the practice field, Mike McCarthy saying that secondary could see some guys get back and healthy. Yeah, just real quick. Yeah, we gotta stop the jokes. I guess right before because Chris gets mad. Chris is yelling at us to stop giggling because we got stand by. Yeah, stop it, stop

and stop it. Okay. Injury wise, yeah, it looks like Cheeta Wuzier should be back to practice, which means taking him off of reserve COVID list. McCarthy said Monday that he definitely should be ready Wednesday, so that's good, and some more help in the secondary. Potentially Trayvon Diggs who's still on IR and Donovan Wilson as well could practice as early as today. So for Diggs that would be starting that through that three week window to get him

back with the fractured foot. So you know, hey, going up against the forty nine ers team Sunday, could have some healthy bodies back there in the secondary. That's good. How significant is that heckmanna get some some healthy bodies backing into the picture on that secondary side of things. Yeah, I'm really excited to hear about Donovan Wilson coming back in his presence is solely missed on the defense. He has,

you know, been a temple setter for our defense. As far as the physicality that he brings, I think Thompson, you know, trying to fill in for him and some of those sets that we have on defense where Donald comes up kind of in the linebacker will or sam Well will linebacker stands and he's so physical he's able to do it well. And so hearing that he's going to be back, and also Cheeto getting him back, it's

going to be very important. Um. But as far as our rookie digs through the fractured foot, you know, just let him heal up. Man. It's just I know that we want to get more reps and see this guy and he may end up coming back, but just for me, caution is the best way to go for Diggs. Now, it's good to hear that some of these guys are

coming back. I mean, you definitely, your your approach to the game is a little bit different, Your effort levels are a little bit different when you know that you have your guys out there, uh, you know, kind of doubling down on what Heck just said in terms of digs, I've had foot issues. I had to total as Frank, and you're the foot is nothing to play with. If he is, if he's not one, if he's like ninety, you know, eighty five, then just let him let him

sit out the rest of the year. Um, you know that, you know that he's a cornerstone. I'm gonna call him a cornerstone to this defense going forward. Is somebody that you definitely going to be relying on and leaning on heavily going into next year and the years beyond that. So just make sure that he's one hundred percent healthy prior to coming back. But in terms of the other guys, you know, you did say Wilson, Wilson, we missed. We missed him last week even though we are guys did Um.

They came in and the form reincarnated form of Wilson last week when they're coming out lading hitting guys. Um, that's what we thought we were going to miss last game. But those guys decided to bring it. So if those guys bring that same intensity and we have Wilson out there coming down here, I think it's a whole it's

a completely different, completely different defense. Yeah, Isaiah, go for a rob No I was just thinking, you're throwing some elbow drops off the top rope for meet you get the hit man back in the lineup, and man, you got something cooking on Jim. It's a recipe for success. Now, I wanted to ask a couple either or questions, and this first one has to deal with two of the guys that we just talked about with Donovan Wilson and Treyvon Diggs. Each young guys who saw quite a bit

of progression as the twenty twenty season went along. But which one is more significant to return right now? Is it Treyvon Diggs? I Mean, we talked about being safe here, but I wanted to talk about in terms of growth and reps over the past the final three games of the season, is Wilson more important to return or Digs more important to return? Isaiah, if we were kind of coming back for this game, if all those guys are one hundred percent, um, I think Wilson's physical presence is

something that's that's needed. Um. But again, if our defense plays physical as he did last week, then is not as needed as we would need Diggs? Right, we have Brandon I coming in this week, and um, he's he's a dude. He's a dude. He's he's a young cat. That's that's that's Torton Seemingly everybody that tries to guard him.

So it would be nice to have somebody out there that could put some hands on it and kind of stick with him because he's been he's been running up the dog on a scoreboard and that's not somebody that we want to let loose this week. Yeah, I agree, Isaiah Wilson would be the guy between those two simply because of the physic the physicality of this game that

we're about to play. Mcnam think about it. We've been talking about the culture for a lot of organizations and Kyle Shanahan has done a really good job of implementing that culture him and Lynch, the general manager, Lynch, and so they have a culture that is physical. And every time you play the forty nine ers, win, lose, a draw, even all the injuries that they have, the one common denominator for this team is going to be that they're

going to play physical football. And so our defense versus that offense, we're gonna have to have guys like that to shut down this run. And you talk about Brandon i u Ki is going to be a nightmare for our secondary. So having that push in the front seven and also supporting cast behind, it's going to be very important for this game. Yeah, I would agree. I'd say Wilson, especially to against against their running game. You know, having

a box safety was physical. That's that's that's important for sure, just for the rest of the season. Again, like like you guys said, if Treyvon Diggs is one hundred percent, they wouldn't put him out there. I don't think I know they wouldn't, But you know, it's been I think it's been about five and a half weeks since the since the fracture he had. Um, you know, if he's

if he's ready, I think that's valuable for him. You know, get him two or three games down the stretch here, finish out the season, and just get him reps because, yeah, he is a cornerstone. He's a guy that they expect to be a starter here for a long time. And as many snaps as a rookie can get, no matter the stakes of the game, I think is really good for him. So we'll see if he can do that. So my second either or question has to deal with

kind of the same, same sort of deal. But is it more important that you get these guys back in the final three weeks of the season for wins or is it for growth? Which which one is more important for these guys right now whenever it comes to getting back into the pray, do you want them to come back and win or do you want to come back and see them grow? Heckma, the name of the game is winning, Kyle, So we want to we want to,

we want to win. And you know the I think Diggs has shown you we're traveling with number one receivers his you know when he was in there that what you have in him, you you have a fair assessment of his abilities and so um, if he's not and I understand, and I'm with Rob, if he's not one hundred percent, he's not gonna play. But again, you know, there's so much have been made about gaining momentum going

into next season. If that means anything, right, if it's not lip service, then we have to get some wins at least for this defense to start to feel good about themselves going into the all season. They cleaned up a lot of it. They don't look like the keystone cops anymore moving around free snap. So I like that, and so hopefully they didn't against Cincinnati, and look, we're just all we can go off of is that last performance.

And they did not look like Keystone cops there. And so this team, though, Kyle Shanahan does a lot of motions, and so we'll see if we're able to get set up in our alignments. Isaiah, what happens said? What Hecka said? Um, you know, especially as we're talking about the physicality, that's something that we'll touch on. You'll see on the film room. These guys there, they are physical. Um, they are physical.

But as we talk about guys coming back for development or guys coming back for a win, I think you obviously you come back for a win, and you expect development in that process. So you just put development into underneath that umbrella. You know, if you're not playing, if you're not playing to win, get out the game. Get out the game. So you come back to play for the WS, I don't care whether you have a shot

at the playoffs or not. You know, like as my old coach, Coach Belichick said, you're out there to do one thing, and if you're on offense, you're out there to score points. You're on defense, you out there to stop them, and you know, and altogether you come together. You can come out there to win games. And if you're not doing that, you're in the wrong business. Rob. I guess we lost Rob. So with that being said, I mean we're talking about growth, we're talking about wins,

and sometimes it ends up being both. Whenever it comes to the younger players on the back end, I mean, they're not playing to lose the game. I mean, we've talked about that already. You play to win the game, and you have that kind of competitive edge. But from a coaching staff standpoint, I think it's just as important

to see the growth. I mean, if you lose two either of these next three to let's say you lose to San Francisco and you lose to Philadelphia, but you're able to shut down their offense, is to maybe under twenty points, you can't get your offense off the ground, YadA, YadA.

There's so many different scenarios here where you can see some growth from these guys at cornerback that could potentially allow you to more evaluate or more accurately evaluate these guys going into twenty twenty one, which is pretty much what we're doing right now right. I mean, we're looking at who's going to be here in twenty twenty one.

Whenever it comes to the Dallas Cowboys and that secondary and I believe Rob Phillips is back here with us, Rob, I wanted to hear your answer to that question, growth or wins whenever it comes to the Cowboys in the final three games of the year, asking fans or the team asking, Well, that's up to you. Actually, I would say asking the team, And I mean just for you, Kyle, I think we need to cut the h the Herm Edwards quote and just use it over and over again

play to win the game. I mean, like, I know the draft thing is important, and I know the Draft show is going to be fun this offseason, but like, they're trying to win games. They're trying that's what the team has to do. So, um, you know, whether they do that or not, I don't know. The odds of them winning this division are really short. So they're probably gonna get a top ten pick regardless. Um, but they're gonna try to win games, there's no question about that.

I don't know. I don't know how many of you'll get. But you know, I think I think you can try to accomplish both. And I think it comes down to the number of injuries they have. If you if you look at their roster, it's been saved four, four or five young guys. Man, they're they're playing all of them. So I think, you know, I think Trayvon digs A is a guy that can can accomplish both. For you comes back, he stabilized your secondary and you get in valuable reps. So I think it's probably the best of

both worlds for a guy like him. You know, I gotta say to this guy's and we've been talking a lot about you know, players, guys that are going to be free agents next year, and then the questions are starting to be asked in the media about our coaching staff.

This game versus the San Francisco forty nine US is going to be very important for our coaching staff because if you love XS and os, this is going to be a game to look out to watch, right because Kyle Shanahan in the zone offense and the zone running game against Mike Nolan, how does he attack attack that? And also on the other side, for Kellen Moore, versus Robert Sanley. I believe it's how you pronounced his last name.

A guy that's going to be a front runner for a lot of head coaching jobs, and he has a ton of exotic looks that he's going to bring into this game that's gonna be troublesome for already depleted offensive line. So I'm really excited about this matchup from a coaching standpoint.

The exs and oos and how we're going to attack San Francisco forty nine is defense, but obviously for us, it's gonna be shutting down the run, and I believe we're gonna have to take the approach that we took in the Vikings game, where Donovan Wilson was a big part of that, and so that's why getting him back is going to be very important because of the physicality

that he does bring from the box safety position. With that being said, or I was gonna go to Isaiah here, but I kind of want to back off of that. But I like the way you kind of transitioned into that. Heckmu, because there has been some rumors around this coaching staff lately, and you heard Jerry Jones kind of back up Mike McCarthy. Yesterday we went into those guys a little bit or

a little bit early on in the week. I can't remember if it was Monday or Tuesday that we talked about it, but the Jones family, the front office backing up Mike McCarthy. But there has been those rumors from Ian Rapperport. There have been the rumors from NFL Network that are saying that there are changes coming on the defensive side of the football. Isaiah, do you believe that's there's there's something ground into those rumors and if that, if so, is there a way to change that the

final three weeks of the season. I do believe that there's some merit to those um to those rumors. I do believe obviously we talked about that think yesterday. I think that the defensive coordinator would not be retained this year going into the next season. I think that's a

done deal. I I do believe that if somehow, some way, he, you know, coach Nolan finds a way to make this defense dominant, not just not just okay, not just hey, that was a good game, but if these guys are dominant over these next three games, if you see them build momentum, if you see them really adhere to his schemes and um and his and you know, and what he does on that side of the ball, I think

there's a chance that he can save his job. Let's just let's just go ahead, and let's let's go ahead and just say that, hey, right now, as right now,

his job is done. Right, he's gone. If you show me, right, if I'm if I'm Jerry Jones, and you showed me that that these guys are going, these guys buy into what you're saying, if they buy into your to your schemes, if you get out of this dog on three four and they started hearing to your four or three and you start blitzing and applying pressure and you're able to shut down some of these opposing offenses over these next

three weeks. I might give you a chance because you have face some adversity, right, But but we talked about it. If it's one thing for adversity to hit you, and if you just take it all in the face, right, and there's and then there's another thing for you to be like all right, stop, all right, and now let me now, now, let me find a way to keep pushing forward. And that's what I think more than anybody, more than anything, that everybody's looking forward. It's like, say,

can you keep pushing forward? We know that you face adversity, we know that you that you're your guys did not pan out, But can you still find a way and and all as you you show that perseverance and that determination, I think guys are willing to give you a chance. But when you show contentment um, that's when that's when it's kind of like, I can't stick with you. I just got an image of like just mosquitoes flying around. Yeah, just just just just knocking them all away. It gets

them off. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I I wouldn't say for sure that he's gone. I mean I don't think the team hasn't indicated that obviously. Like I said, I think earlier in the week, I mean, they're gonna have hard conversations about what what happened here. And to Isaiah's point, you know when they had that stretch with Minnesota and really before that, Philly, Washington, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, that the defense

was showing progress. You know, it was round Thanksgiving where they took a step backward, and I wonder, I do wonder how much of like the Ravens loss where they give up almost three hundred rushing yards again where you look at it and say, this is just isn't working, you know. And look, they're gonna have those conversations, what scheme, personnel, all those things. We'll see. You know, Mike McCarthy, they have so much faith in him and his voice and

his opinion matters. Mike Nolan's his guy in terms of someone he's worked with, someone he trusts, that's you know, that's got a factor too. What Mike McCarthy wants to do. Um, So that'll be part of the discussion. But obviously it's something to talk about because of the amount of you know, troubles they've had and then a little bit of progress

and then kind of right back to square one. Cincinnati was a step forward, and yeah, there are three games left to see, you know, what they can do and if they're if they are dominant down the stretch, then maybe that's enough equity where they feel like, Okay, give us a full offseason, we'll figure this thing out. A yeah, and I worry also about our defense. We've had you know, this this this thing where after a win we come back and we've we've given up a hundred and was

one hundred and thirteen points after a victory. That's not that's not good. That's an average of forty points. So hopefully we don't have itis going into the forty nine ers game. And you know it's gonna be it's both of these coordinators have their hands filled with implementing a system today, their game plan today. So I'm just excited to see what Mike Nolan is gonna do because his back is against the wall. He has the league's worst defense, and it's it's gonna be reflective of him and what

he does over the next couple of games. So I look for him to be aggressive. There was a lot of times in the Cincinnati game, especially when the quarterback was hurt, we still sat back and coverage and did not attack. And I understand that maybe the mind state of the defensive coordinator is, look, we got you know, we're got a double ditch lead here, let's not blow it. And sometimes, you know, you gotta show your guys that you're willing to allow them to be aggressive all the

way through. And that's what Mike Nolan has to do specifically in this game because he's gonna get an opportunity to see that zone run which we did not measure up in the key the time game. So it's just gonna be the situation. We gotta we gotta come after. We gotta come after this offense. Man, and if we're going to have some success, well, what does buying in look like from the defensive standpoint. We're going to answer

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G for you for details to Talking Cowboys. Back here on Talking Cowboys second segment here of the Wednesday edition. Glad you're with us. You're on Dallas Cowboys dot com and whether you're watching from home or you're cheering in the stands with or lenses, you'll see every exciting play book, an appointment at your local slor experts and see what

l can do for you. See more, do more or as always on Talking Cowboys are resident Super Bowl Champion Isaiah stanback Cowboys inside of Rob Phillips and professional football analyst Heck Maharrisons driving the bus. But yeah, you like that, that's the new one. Yeah, professional football analysts. That's what love man. Well it is and we'll talk about those ear phones in the next segment as well. Um, So, since you are mister professional football analysts, We're gonna let

you start this off here. How about that? Heck my Harrison. So Cowboys defense, San Francisco offense. This is a San Francisco offense that is extremely banged up, missing multiple pieces on their offensive line. No starting quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo.

Nick Mullins comes in ten touchdown passes this year, but he also has ten interceptions and the two touchdowns that Washington scored the only two touchdowns that Washington scored against the forty nine ers last week, we're on an interception return for a touchdown and a fumble recovery out of the hands of Nick Mullins. So he has had some trouble holding onto the football. The Cowboys, of course, forced

three turnovers against Cincinnati on Sunday. When can this defense find some success forcing turnovers against they banged up and pretty loose offense whenever it comes to hold on to the football. Yeah, I mean, that's that's a plan. And you saw, you know, take Lawrence and him creating those fumbles, and so hopefully because of the way that they laid the ball on the ground, that's something that we can

we can repeat that performance. But guys. I know a couple of y'all eighties babies, but do y'all remember this forty nine is Cowboy rivalry and what it used to mean in the nineties. This used to be musty TV, Joe Money, Roger Craig Raffman. No, this was the game and the Dallas Cowboys may have had four Super Bowl champions had it not been for Dion Sanders in the past interference against Michael Lervin. But anyway, I just you know, look on defense has got there. They got their hands

a field with this offense. But you said it, man, they are missing Jimmy g and I wish he would have gotten an opportunity to play. This was a game I had circle because of Dak and the contract and all of that. Jimmy Gee, what three years ago was the highest fad quarterback in the league. And so I'm just looking for this defense to make some advancements. Although they don't have Kittle, they do have Jordan Reid, who

was a tight end for the Washington football team. You don't remember, he's given us fits for a number of years. And so there are some matchups that I look for in this game that I think are going to be pivotal for this team. And the two that I have is Trent Williams and Aldon Smith and Jalen Smith versus

the fullback Kyle you check. So there's a lot of things that in this football game that you got to just kind of circle and look at and because those are gonna be pinpointed after this game how we won or lost. I say, what matchups are you looking for in this game overall? Is it something with the fact of maybe a Jeff Wilson versus these linebackers by the way, Jeff Wilson a former member of the Me and Green. And then we've also got also got guys like Brandon Aiyuk.

I know you mentioned him earlier, the rookie out of Arizona State. He's been have been quite the rookie season as well. Yeah, I'm not even too concerned about the individual battles. I'm more sore concerned about their um, their approach as a team and as an organization. Uh you know, HECKM already alluded to it about how physical they are. We haven't done good against physical teams. We just we just haven't, especially teams that are relentless and um in

their pursuit to establish the ground game. These guys are going to run the ball. They don't have Jimmy g back. They're throwing the thing around, as you ready alluded to. Um, they do have Brandon Ayouk, but guess what, he gets the ball awful lot of play action, right, he gets the ball off a ton of play actions. So these guys, I'm more concerned about our offensive offense, their offensive line being able to establish the ground game and then what

comes off of that. Obviously they have the matches, you know, Brandon, hopefully we can get some digs back and you have somebody to stand, you know, a bit of guard Ayuk Man a man. Jordan Reed obviously concerned about him. Um, he's been a sleeping giant. But we know what he's capable of. So there's definitely there's definitely some a couple of matchup opportunities there that we have to be aware of. But overall, I'm more concerned about this office a line

collectively dominating our front seven. Right. Absolutely, you took my thunder as a because I'm thinking about it. I'm thinking about that Cleveland game where you know there were breakdowns as a unit in the front seven just trying to stop the run, and what Cleveland tries to do use play play action off of that. That's what the forty nine ers want to do. It's it's that wide zone scheme and they're gonna pound you and pound you. If it's working, they're gonna do it over and over again.

I mean, think about the NFC Championship game last year. Jimmy Garoppolo through eight passes and they put up thirty seven points, like in what's a passing league. Now, that's just how good they can be. Now, they've had some problems with the health of their running backs this year, and then you lose your quarterback and the running game

hasn't been the same. Actually, I think it's actually ranked just below the Cowboys this year, but they're still capable of being productive in that area against the Cowboys defense that has struggled there obviously, and Mike Nolan spoke to this couple days ago that run defense is about everybody winning their individual assignments and their responsibilities. And if you get beat more than more than half, you know, five six times out of eleven, you're you're probably in big trouble.

So they've just got to be sound as a unit. Man's that's been the key all year long to stop in the run game. All right, So I just kind of want to call all three of you guys out of one time here for just a split second. So I'm the one that's been talking about draft and I'm the one that's been talking about potentially losing the next three games and on having the best feel here. But you guys are the one that are talking up in offense that's not very good right now, to the point of,

oh my gosh, they're gonna run all over us. There's physicality, there's all sorts of different zone schemes and things like that. I know Kyle Shanahan's a fantastic coach, but this is not the same team that was in the NFC Championship game last year. They don't have Garoppolo, where he mosted is questionable, if anything, doubtful for Week fifteen. Deebo Samuel's out. I mean Tom Compton, their offensive guard is out. Harris Grouse or however you say his last name. The starting

center is out. I mean, there's a lot of guys on this team that are banged up, that are hurt, that are not going to be here, So how do we expect them to be as physical Isaiah as they have been in the past. So just just a piggyback off of your point, I'm glad you brought all those things up. Right. These guys are still who they are, we are, they are who we think they are. That is is in their DNA. They are relentless in their pursuit to run the ball. They have eight yards last week.

It well, look who they're playing. The play they played Washington. I mean, they're playing Washington. I mean and they I mean they're playing Washington. Look look what we do against Washington. So, I mean, regardless, these guys, these guys are consistent. So and even to your point, Yeah, they've had a bunch of injuries they've had They probably had more injuries than we've had. Honestly, umah, yeah, I mean they've they've lost more primetime guys than then we've lost. Maybe, as I said,

we're right about the same. But but yet they still are trying to do the same exact things that they do and nothing's changed. They're not They're not all of a sudden throwing the ball all over the place. They're not all of a sudden, you know, just trying to change up what they do. They're not bringing a bunch of reverses and and fake punts and all that kind

of stuff. They are who they are, um, and that's that's to me, that's more dangerous than a team that's just trying to figure stuff out, just Willie Nearly trying to pull stuff out the back of the playbook. These guys are consistent. They know who they are and again this is in their DNA. Kyle, I have a rebuttal to your rebuttal. Do it. Let's go rebuttal to the butt. I got a butt to. But who picked against the Dallas Oh? Last week? I totally did talk about what

was the Bengals record? Oh to nine one? Okay? And why did you pick against the Cowboys? Because I was mad at the Cowboys? Because you don't because maybe you don't take the motion out of the Kyle, you don't know what you're gonna get from a week to week. Maybe that's true. Yeah, and so, and I think I think that's what we're talking about. Like, to me, it

doesn't number one. They they have shown they can run the football better than anybody in the league when they're when they're right number two for the for the Cowboys, it doesn't this year. It hasn't mattered who they're playing. That's what That's what I was saying earlier. In terms of defensive if they're not sound with what they're doing assignment wise defensively, they can get run on. I mean, that's that's happened a lot of games this year. So

that's what I'm talking about. But I will say this, I will I will say this. They they are they kind of mirror the Cowboys in terms of the injuries. They don't have their quarterback. They can't stop turning the ball over. I think they turn the ball over at least twice in seven straight games. So if they do that, and if the Cowboys are able to capitalize on that, then the forty nine ers aren't giving themselves a chance to win. So that that's key. But but in terms

of stopping the run, it's about the Cowboys. To me, it's not. It's not so much just about the opponent. Absolutely, And I agree because I want to have a rebuttal to your rebuttal to my rebuttal. But yeah, whatever it comes, whenever it comes to the Cowboys worst rushing defense performances. Who was it against It was against Cleveland, it was against Baltimore. And then throw in one more in there. It's just one more bad game against the run this year, Washington. Cool.

That's fine. Great. So there's three right there, all the same schemes. What did those three teams have that San Francisco does not have. They had their starters, They had starting guys run against you. You had Nick yeah, but no, there no hang on, there were there were backs wear Jackson, and then you had Antonia running went out in the first quarter, Willow. They had their starters at one point of time in a game. But the guys who killed us were not their starters. It was Antonio Gibson, and

it was for Washington, Gus Edwards. I will give you, okay, what about Cleve About Cleveland, it was Nick Chubb, Ka Hunt. It was not Kareem Hunt has been to a Pro Bowl. It was their thirst ring running back the head out Hunters there yards get us the Okay, what's the same, Yeah, yeah, exactly. But I'm just saying it starts with those guys. First. You don't have that front line of events. You have guys that are just there. I love I mean, Jeff

Wilson's gonna be the number one rusher in this game. Hey, are you scared of Jeff Wilson. Mike rob just said when he quoted the rock, it doesn't matter who's in there. It's about the scheme. Man. I mean, I understand where you're coming from college, and you know it makes sense, I believe if you just think about it long enough. But oh man, we went up against the Baltimore squad that was was you know, had injuries up front as well, and they were managed to run the ball on it.

So you know, when you have a defense is giving up what we have over the course of the thirteen games that we played. Man, it's it's you. You cannot hope put your hat on one thing to say, okay, we can stop this running game. Even with the damage offensive line, even with the the game that doesn't look

like it did last year. We still have to keep in mind that this teaming is ten months removed from playing in a Super Bowl, and I would say a quarter and a half away from actually winning the Super Bowl. So a lot of those pieces are still there. The mentality is still there. That's what That's what I believe.

That's what the guys are talking about the culture, the DNA and what they are going to they are going to promise you when you line up against them is the fact they're gonna run the ball and they're gonna stay committed to that inside zone and it's just gonna be a game of attrition for your defense that you know we're weakest inside and guys are getting blown off the line of scrimmage. Those things are still coming up on tape. You know, Hamilton is doing his best po

impersonation on certain plays. So we have got to get those things shored up. And again we talk about momentum going into next season. This is a game where you have an a fist that presents that challenge and if you don't match it, you could get ran off the field. Even against the forty nine ers. I think this is a huge game whenever it comes to building that momentum and finding out exactly what you have not only personnel wise,

but coaching wise. And that's what we're gonna talk about when we come back after the break, is how can this coaching staff win the coaching battle against Kyle Shanahan and company. Whenever Sunday rolls around, when we come back here on Talking Cowboys presented by Geico. We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor Baba cream Soda. Is he a new combone that's

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Because you're it's like it's like a symphony in my head that's one way to put it. One way to put it here on Talk a Cowboys final segment. Oh man, glad you're so you're still with us. If you're still with us, God bless you. I hope you have a fantastic day. Rob Phillips, Isaiah's dam back in professional football analyst heck Ma Harrison with us. Kyleie Olman's driving the bus, trying not to drive it off the tracks. But okay,

we talked. We talked about this last segment, the coaching staff and the DNA, and certainly the forty nine ers do have that DNA, and Isaiah completely agree with you

on that. Whenever comes to Kyle Shanahan and what he's begun to build out on the West Coast, I mean, he's done a great job of kind of turning that football program around or finding a way to the Super Bowl last year, and there's really no doubt in my mind that they're going to be back to that glory once they get some of these guys back and these

injuries are are kind of rectified. But kind of tell me how the Cowboys can exploit Kyle Shanahan and how this Mike McCarthy LEDs to can have some success against the coaching staff as talented as this one. I think you have to just be relentless man. That's why I think we all said that Donifan Wilson's such an important pertin person to be on this on this side of the ball. For us, we have to be able to establish a form of physicality. We have to be able

to establish the line of scrimmage. And in order to do that, you have to play downhill. You can't you can't catch people. You can't catch grown men and think that you're gonna that you're gonna impose your will. You gotta bust somebody to dog our mouth, bust them in their chin, make sure they have a hard chance trap on because you need to come downhill. It at them every play, play in play out, and they have to know that you're there for the whole game. So they

has to start from the first snap. Um. And like I said, we're gonna talk about it in the film room, but you know, when you turn on the film and you watch, you know, the forty nine ers first play against Washington last week, they Diligneman, one of their office of alignement, turns back and completely just just destroys one of their one of Washington's linebackers, and they let they let them know, Hey, y'all might be a better team than us right now. But guess what, we we're here.

You know what I'm saying, We're here. We're physical. Um So, I mean that's what you're gonna get out of these guys. And like you said, it's in their DNA, and you know, with their GM being who he is, I think that you just know that you're gonna play a physical team, so you might night I gotta have any softies on that side of the ball. Rob Yeah, No, I mean that what they did, even without Donovan Wilson, DeMarcus Lawrence setting the tone being physical guys rallying to the ball.

We mentioned we mentioned Antoine Woods macho man moment where they had like seven guys tackle p Ryan. Yeah, coming in off the top rowe and and you know Rachard Robinson laying a big hit Like that's the kind of physical mindset culture you're talking about. Kyle offensively, Kellen Moore said it on a call on Monday, He's got to do a better job calling plays in the red zone and getting the Cowboys in the end zone and stop

kicking field goals. You know, a better day for Greg's rline, but you don't want him kicking three field goals, you know, and going two for four in the red zone. It's not just the red zone, it's goal to goal, goal to go situations. And I think more than anything, they miss Zach Martin and their veteran offensive line getting a push up front because it's just harder down there to get space. But that's got to be a key to finish your drives. That's been a problem all year long. Hey, Rob,

that that what you just mentioned by Kelly Moore. I don't want people to look past that, right. I don't want people to look past the fact that he admitted it, right He's That's that's called accountability. And players, as much as players don't listen to what's going on in the media, when their coaches speak, they're listening, right, They're listening because they want to know are they pushing this off on us or are they going to own up to it

and self critique themselves. So that's huge. Yeah, yeah, accountability has been a huge problem at the beginning of the season. And again, you know, when you go back over the record, and you look at certain games where we got our lunch taken right, and it's one thing to lose, but it's another thing to get the breaks beat up for you. And we've seen those games where it was just hopeless

and we had nothing. And I just believe that that demoralizing feeling that that Cowboys as a as an organization has filmed. They're done with that, and I hope they're done with that, and hopefully that's a nasty taste in their mouth that they feel like, look, we can lose the game, right, but we're not gonna lose the fight. We're gonna bring it all, right, And that's what this kind of matchup is indicative of. Man, you have got to bring it in a game where you know that

this is the other team. Their m and their DNA is to be physical for four quarters. You talked about the Washington football team game. You're right, even though Washington, Man, if you watch that game, Washington's just defensively is as dumbinated as any team in the league. But the forty ninets were like, look, y'all, just not gonna run over us, although they kind of ran over them, but the still

you know, but the fight's still there. We try so we gotta have some of that this Sunday when you say that we are not literal anymore, well, and I think that's a huge credit to this coach because if you go back to the first Washington game, you were embarrassed, and every game before that it seemed like there was no fight. It seemed like there was no energy, there was no rallying to the football, and even after that.

Sure there have been losses all the way through since that first Washington game, but really you started to see against Philadelphia the energy. You saw it against Pittsburgh again, you saw it again on Thanksgiving at least for three quarters. Then maybe that fourth quarter got away from you a little bit, and then even against Baltimore, I just don't

think you were the better team in that regard. I mean, the energy has been there, and that's a credit to coach McCarthy, to his entire staff, and even coach Nolan on the fact of getting these guys ready and mentally ready to play to the point where they're not embarrassed anymore. They're out there making hits. Like rob said, you got guys like Richard Robinson stepping over guys that's the kind of swagger that you've been waiting to see from this

Cowboys defense. You finally have gotten to see it over the last few weeks, and I think it continues to compound the rest of the season. Hopefully that's something you can take into twenty twenty one. But that's gonna do it here for this edition of Talking Cowboys. So glad you've been with us here over the last forty five minutes, and man, it's been a ton of fun all week long. We'll be back tomorrow nine fifteen for Talking Cowboys as

we'll go ahead of the Mike McCarthy press conference. But for today for Chris being back in the s WBC Mortgage studios, for heck Ma Harrison, for Rob Phillips and Isaiah Dan back up Kyle Yeoman, saying so long, We'll see you tomorrow on Talking Cowboys, Presented by Geico. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.