Talkin' Cowboys: Final Predictions vs. ATL

I can't hear myself. I love the way mannikin over there, what's going on? I love sitting across from Rob Phillips because whenever Bicky makes a comment and I can see the facial expressions of Rob of the other side. We need a split screen at sometime where when when Mickey talks and also have a camera on Rob his reaction. I think it's pretty funny. Huh. We probably can't everything else.

Garrison can figure everything out, and so if it makes for good TV or good podcasts, then Kent Garrison, who is at hard at work right now fixing Mickey's problem. It's the best part of the show today. Here we go. You know the two you know, the two old Muppet guys that sit up in the theater, you know and yeah them yeah grumpy, I forget their name. Kent knows them. There it is, there you go, that's Mickey Sackla Man, he's a cartoon character. We love the cameo appearance on

camera appearance of Kent Garrison. Here is Carroll back the curtain and we try to get Mickey situated for this Thursday edition of Talking Cowboys. How are you doing, Brian brought us. I'm doing well, Bill, Thank you very much. Right. I was gonna have Mickey if he practiced yesterday on the offensive defensive lines yesterday, I did. You don't need the mic Oh, I don't need the mic You can have two mics. No, it makes you feel powerful. Yeah? Is that one work? No? You need you need to

pull the other one up. You need you do a coach o lsu. I didn't need the microphone. We were hopeful, Mickey. That was a hope, but no good. I can turn it around. There you go. Uh man, what a mess yesterday? Huh did you guys? I mean you see that injury report. Injury report, Yeah, nine guys sitting out. Did they have did they have any offensive defensive lineman practice? Yes? They didn't look like they had enough defensive linemen to get through practice. Now they did sign a guy back to

the practice squad. I think those guys needed to be used. Yeah, oh no, Yeah, there's no question the for the scout team or no for the for the first team. Yeah, they had to dip into the practice squad. I think that I didn't know that there was a kid named Ringo on this team. I didn't either. I asked Christian and Ringo. Christian Ringo was actually actually was starting for you yesterday when I saw them starting the skeleton drills and I saw sixty eight in there, and I was like,

I thought Daniel Ross Daniel Rolsons changed his name. Yeah, and then it was like, what he's hurt. It's like, who's sixty eight? Rob goes Ringo? Christian Ringo is the unsung star of practice yesterday, Ringo star. Oh yeah, boy, you went a long way again there. Yeah, there's people right now. They don't know exactly what you're talking about. Driving off the road. I liked it though, I liked it. I like least someone did it. Don't come easy, right,

I recognized it. I recognized the reference. I hope he has a good game, so we can use that on the website. Yes, that's right, all that would be good. Yes, Ringo Stars. So who all? Who all set out practice yesterday? There, Mickey, you got me down to name them all? Please do? Tavon, Austin, Taco Charlton, Malik Collins, David Irving, Shawn Lee's, Zach Martin, Daniel Ross, Tyrann Smith, and Antoine Woods. All right, so now of that group, there's what nine or so nine

of that group? Then? Which ones are significant for this week? Because we already knew the Tavans and Sean Lee's of the world were out and probably David Irving. And I'm a little bit worried about Taco Charles Tennessee, that's the one. And I'm worried about right now too, because I was kind of feeling like that that was going to be. Oh he's got a shoulder, Well, they can kind of work through it. It doesn't appear that's the case. I mean, he hasn't practiced in a couple of weeks. Now he

didn't play this week. He's not probably going to play against the Redskins, so that would be what missing three games for him? Now, did he missed the Tennessee game? Now? He I think that's when he got hurt. He can't remember what I had for breakfast. Think he came out. He came out early in the ear in the Tennessee game. See that's man. They're they're getting down to a point

with some of these guys. And you know, Mickey was talking about the other day having to move Crawford around and what he's been able to do, you know, playing tackle, playing end. You know, I mean you're kind of hopeful that they could just keep him in a spot. But the numbers at that defensive end spot, in the tackle spot, yeah, you know, I mean, okay, so what's what's concussion protocol? Right? Yeah, so we'll see how that. I guess that that concerns

me too. Yeah, especially two games in five days. He's coming up here too. Yeah. The fact that Malik Collins came back and finished the game I think is encouraging. Yes, Now you hope he can get back into practice today. We'll see. Um. You guys mentioned David Irving, like Brian said, you got a close stretch of two games here. I think Garrett. I think Garrett said he was hoping he

could get closer as the week goes on. But if he can't practice this week, now you turn around and yeah, that's tough if you focus focus on Mickey right now, Mickey, can I say what I said to the guys yesterday And they didn't understand the saying as saying. I said I hadn't seen Haigner hair of him and yeah, and they were like, what what what did you do with David Irvin? Though you did the traditional yeah he up, ye out. I mean, we haven't seen him, have we No?

And in locker room, I have not seen it. He hasn't been on the practice field in two weeks. Every time you get a question, it seems like Garrett gets a question about him, he's kind of like, nothing new. Yeah, you know, it's not really like, oh, you know what question. Yeah, we're hopeful that we was the word he used, hopeful and and and and sort of the same thing for Tacco. I think he said, we're hoping he can do something

by the end of the week. When I talked to Tacco, he didn't sound like he was very optimistic of getting back in time. So what's the rotation look like. Well, you got Randy Gregory and well, I think a lot of that depends on what happens inside, because if you if you need Crawford inside, then Gregory's a sixty play out, a sixty snap game. Yeah, Gregory be out there and then and then Armstrong would probably have to play both sides, is what you would get, which he did at the

end of the game. Yeah, he did at the end of the game. Uh, Sunday, you may have to call up a guy from the practice squad. It's possible. What's the name, Shooty shoot shoo too? Yeah, shoot too. Jason was Jason was very careful when he said it because he got it out wrong because he's a defensive town like you. Well, I just help us side. Potentially you may have to do that. Well again, you know Antoine Woods, we'll see. That's another one. I mean, if he can

be cleared, that helps your numbers. Randy Gregory played mate played as many snaps as he had all season long, forty out of I think it was fifty, no, sixty two, right, forty out of sixty two. He had to play, and DeMarcus Lawrence played almost every snap. I think he missed like four. This could be a tough game on these

guys too, especially the way these Cats throw the ball around. Yeah, you're gonna be rushing all especially he turns into a track meet to you know, where neither defense is really able to kind of get off the field and you're having to deal with a lot of running around. So it's gonna be really important that they get Antoine Woods and MALIEK Collins back. I don't know about um Ross because he got hurt before the game ever started, a calf injury. That didn't sound every time they've had or

had a calf injury. That's kind of linger at all he did out there when we were out there yesterday was walking. Yeah. I didn't see him even get on their resistance cards. Yeah, so that's that's somewhat troubling. That is. And with Matt Ryan, he's been sacked seventeen times this season, and when you look around the league, I mean, how many times has Dak been sag Now he's up around thirty,

I can tell you something like that. And which is so that is on the lower end of sacks in the in the league right now, U thirty two, and where Matt Ryan seems to have more problems is a rush up the middle, Yeah, get getting his face yeah, And that's and that's where that's where you have to find ways to deal with him, because he does even though he's a uttering guy, he does have enough mobility to escape. I mean, he's not gonna make you think of Cam Newton or Alex Smith of those guys running

the ball. But occasionally he'll be sneaky quick with a with a way that you know he'll get in trouble and all of a sudden he'll run six yards to get a first down. So you have to be alert for that. But his mobility, I think is one of his strengths. His ability to throw on the move is one of his strengths, just as good throwing left to the right as he you know, he could do both. And so you know, it's one of those games where

you're gonna have to chase receivers. I think you're gonna you know, when we broke down plays where he scrambled around and Julio Jones is running and Snow is running and they never stop, and yeah, if you stop, they you know they're gonna hit you on a big play. That's my biggest fear in this game. I don't fear Atlanta's defense. I fear Atlanta's offense throwing the football, especially at home. Yeah, home away. I mean, I know people are gonna say no broad Us. It was clear Eveland,

you know, but you know Cleveland played them well. And you know, I think though, if you the games, I watched them play like you said, Bill, at home Cincinnati, New Orleans. I mean, they were track meets. It was up and down the field. It was big pass plays. I mean, this team and where this team is different than Philadelphia is they're good in the red zone. There's a good red zone team. So you know that's something else. If Dallas has been good on defense. As a red

zone team, you made people kick fueld goals. So let's see, we've also does We'll talk about this yesterday, Bill. They're a good third down team, and they're a good third and long team. I mean they convert about half of their third and longs. They stay on the field. Cowboys did a better job getting off the field last game. But Brian's right, this could be first team to twenty eight thirty. Maybe we'll get one of those high school games sixty two to fifty six. What do you think

of the odds of that? Well, I don't know, Well, what are the odds in high school? I see every score. I look at Atlanta. Atlanta though they've had their struggles. Now they get on Jones back, but you know what kind of game shape is he going to be? And he'll help. But this this secondary's given up since game was thirty seven thirty six games something like that, and then the Saints game was an overtime game that went

really high as well. So to double down on what Route Rob said about third down, they convert fifty one point three percent of their third downs and their opponents convert fifty one point nine percent. There you go, third downs. They've had their problem. Sixty two fifty six. You've got the Cowboys my score right there. You got the Cowboys third down conversion rates there, it's gone up over thirty percent,

is it now? It's finally over thirty Yeah, So sad that again, let's reinforce that Atlanta's third down conversion rate point and Cowboyoys thirty five six. And this is only the second week it's been over thirty percent. Yeah, because they were eight for sixteen in the Philadelphia, but the last two games with the Marii Cooper on the Gold it's forty eight point one. There you go. That's no coincidence or just better blocking though, too, Mick. Yeah, you've

been right about blocking all along. These teams are kind of a reverse of each other. You know, defensively, Atlanta hasn't found consistency offensively. We know about the Cowboys struggles, but I think how many catches do Amari have so far through two eleven for one thirty three and I think ten of them have gone for first downs they have? There you go. I mean he is he keeps those drives going. And the one thing they're missing right now is that deep ball, and they almost had one the

other They're gonna get one in this game. I mean he's averaging twelve point one to catch. Yeah, I think they're gonna just again keep an eye on Robert Alford, number twenty three. That's the guy. He's the He's the fish out there that you take advantage of. That'd be interesting to see if they want to zone it because they're worried about Cooper and then allow the Cowboys to

have their way running the ball. You know what, Off the top of my head, when you were talking about the injuries on the defensive line and the ability to get pressure up the middle, what if they give him a heavy dose of that three man front and then play four linebackers because they're going to be in three wide receivers all the time, aren't they? They are going to be in three wider and then you don't know who's which linebackers rushing or blitzing and uh, and they

haven't run the ball all that well. Yeah, so that would be interesting to think about. I haven't seen that three man front as much this year. They did it a couple of times Philly, but they did it a decent amount the last year or two. So that's a thought, Mick. Maybe Chris Richard's not a fan of it. Maybe not m There you go, but they did they did. They did implement it against the Eagles, and I don't know if they did it because they wanted to change up

or they were getting diminishing returns on available bodies. That's probably had a lot to do with it. Right there, are gonna say this is a deeper d line than they've had the last couple of years too, where you don't necessarily have to go to that look until now until injuries. Yeah, tell you what, And I'm mentioned it

last night. We were on the Legend Show Mickey and I and uh, Wow, Randy Gregory coming off that Arthur scotpic surgery on his knee looks so quick off the ball in that Philadelphia game, and which makes you wonder if he had been dealing with an issue with that knee the last few weeks. Not that he was slower or anything, but when you got those book ends coming off the edge, that really is nice to see. I

think you're right. I think he had been dealing with it, and that's why they went ahead and got the scope. Same thing with Connor Williams. Instead of trying to battle through it for the rest of the season, take care of it, miss a couple of weeks and maybe it benefits you and you're more effect That's you know, as we all know, that's Randy Gregory's game. No doubt he can come off the edge like that. Wow, that impacts

the game all of a sudden light. Yeah, and you know, let's you know, you got to hope that you you know, you talked about the sack numbers are not huge for the Falcons allowing sacks, you know, but they talk about hits and they talk about pressure. You know, let's see if Matt Ryan can And I'm this this game worries me just from the aspect of all these receivers and Matt Ryan. You know, it's just that that. Yeah, I don't trust Atlanta's defense. I really don't. Sixty two fifty six. Yeah,

I don't trust them at all. But I I am worried about Atlanta's offense. Offensively, they're back to being close kind of what they were two years ago when they almost they should have won the Super Bowl and they were putting up about forty points a game in the playoffs. They're not there right now. But when they played Cowboys played up there last year, that was a stagnant offense. They weren't they weren't hitting, they were struggling. Yeah, yeah,

they found they found something. And again, like you said, I mean, you add Calvin Ridley to what they already have. That's a dangerous group, There's no question about it. But these dbs here have played, they played well. I know Philly hit some plays and I know zach Ertz was a tough cover. But they did some nice things against Philly, and you hope they can carry that over. So you're worried about them having scored thirty one, thirty seven, thirty six,

thirty four, thirty eight. Yeah, absolutely, sixty two fifty six. Maybe maybe they're you know, but what did they score? Gets Cleveland sixteen sixteen and their losses they scored sixteen Philadelphia was an opening day loss right seventeen against Pittsburgh twelve. But that was only eighteen twelve game. Where's their other loss? Pits beat by the Saints forty three thirty seven seven and Cincinnati thirty seven thirty six. Pittsburgh did a nice

job of getting after them. Pittsburgh did it. I mean, Pittsburgh can put some pressure on you, and they did a nice job. Did a good job of covering those receivers too. But you look at you look at Julio Jones numbers, and I know you're not supposed to just totally focus on numbers, but it just seems like it's his targets are double digit every game. He's over one hundred every game. Is he's you know, it's it's fourteen

it's ten receptions, fourteen targets. And he's right about the target thing, because they could throw the ball over his damn head and they give him a target. But it just seems like, man, they're just saying, Okay, we know who our best offensive player is. We're just gonna keep throwing the ball. And that's that's the danger you run into playing these guys. Yeah, I think where Julio Jones hurts you the most. I wrote about this morning, you know,

with my matchups with Byron Jones. I think Julio Jones hurt you run after catch. That's where I you know, I think that. And Mickey gave you the numbers last yesterday about Hulo Jones. He said, hey, would you take six for fifty nine? I believe is the number you use, Mickey, and that fifty seven from last year. Yeah, absolutely right now, yes, yes, sign me up for that. Now, find a way to cover everybody else, you know, cover Austin Hooper, cover all

these other guys. You know, you know this game is gonna come down to can you make one extra stop? A half football? Yeah, A little bit like the saber Cats and the and the Rattlers used to be when her serve you better score. But Tennis, look at the second half of the Eagles game. That's what it turned out to be. Yeah, you know the Cowboys Eagles game last week. Cowboys gotta stop finally on the last possession. It's gonna come down too, because you take a stop.

A stop in this game might be like a turnover. Yeah. But with the way the bow teams are, you know, I mean, and I think Dallas is better now offensively, I really do think they're better with with the Maury Cooper in the lineup. I think he and and you know again, Mickey's asked him to pair and you Rob have asked him to pair things down. I think they're finding out that, Okay, we could pare this thing down and just focus on these four guys and then try

and run the football. You know, we gotta you get a new left guard that seems like he's got everybody's

got some confidence in him. Ye. So you know, Dallas is capable of putting some points up if if they could get enough opportunities to do And by the way, that is sort of the offensive evolution of this league, the triple up, the trickle up effect from college to the NFL where you're seeing more coaches go for it on fourth down like Garrett did last week, because it become more like arena ball and possessions are so important

and giving up the football. That's why I made that comparison, because covering arena football, if you get a stop that is a turnover, it counts as one. So that's to your point, that's what they're trying to do. They trying to get one extra stop or two. We'll see. So it's funny that we're talking about Cowboys in the sense of can they win a track meet style game, because I mean, you're a little bit better equipment, there's no question.

I mean, now they trust me. They want to sit there and pound this ball and at Lant and say, okay, let's see if you're good enough stopping the run get ahead. Yeah, yeah, Let's see if you're good enough to you know, if we run this thing at you. Let's see if what kind of conditioned Dion Jones is in, you know, let's

see what kind of conditioned creating jared'son. Yeah, you know, let's kind of see what kind of condition that could see the safety's in, you know, but you need to make sure that you have a team that built to to Okay, that's the way you want to win games. But you gotta have your team built where you can win a track mate too. Yeah, and they're they're they're a little bit more capable now of being able to play in a game like that we saw in Philadelphia.

I mean, Philadelphia turned that second half into you score, I better score, you score, I better score again. You know it said fortunately did Dallas missed the early opportunities in that game and then they missed the field goal.

I always I think they put it posted the deal the other day, Dallas is like at a record like thirty five and oh in game it since like two thousand and I don't know, two thy fourteen or so at fifteen maybe or where if they have a seven point lead going into the fourth quarter that they haven't lost that is the running game. Yeah, this is NBC posted that, so I might don't don't don't hit me out, but it was some number that they put where Dallas had not lost a game going into the fourth quarter

with a seven point lead. So I know, I again I say that, I look at that, I'm like, where did that come? But I bet the records good because there it's a certain time, it's like three years, because that's that's where they get to their bread and butter. That's where they start choking the time away with Zeke, and that's that's what they want to do. They get a double digit lead, I feel good about this team. Hey, that's what Cleveland did against him last week, and that's

what Pittsburgh did against him. Pittsburgh wound up beating him forty one seventeen. If you go back and look at the box score through three quarters, Cleveland last week led him twenty eight to ten. There you go, and Nick Chub runs for one hundred and seventy six yards. I'll have to go back. One of it was for ninety five yards. I'm not taken. Yeah, yeah, but but it was a run. It was a touchdown run. So they were able to get ahead, right, And you remember Mayfield

was he was eighteen out of twenty one. He didn't throw the ball very much. I mean, only twenty one pass attempts in the game, right, And I think probably if you go back and look at their Pittsburgh game, Pittsburgh got ahead, and I know that they were ahead by at least two scores in the third at the end of the third quarter, and now you're you're taking that track meat ass past. See, Dallas could have got up two scores on Philadel if they make the field goal.

That's right, that's that's where Dallas. Mean, yeah, you feel more comfortable, even they were up thirteen to three and then Philadelphia, you know, came back. But still I always feel better about this team of a double digit lead as opposed to you know, three points. Sure, that kind of thing. Sure, So Julio Jones one hundred and two targets. Who do you think second on the team, Ridley Hooper? Yeah, that's yeah. So he's got twice as many as the

next guy on. Yeah, the boots, the waggles, things like that. When they get this guy on the rio, the quarterback on the move, this is where and they move that Hooper around a lot. I mean, and obviously the Cowboys had problems last week. I'll say it again, zach Ernst is a different type of animal. But this guy right here, Hooper, I mean, he can make plays. That's the thing. He can make plays in the passing game. And they have

to be ready for especially like Cleveland did. If you play your safeties deep and try to I'll let them do some underneath stuff. Give them that to try to prevent you know, like you said, deep plays from Julio got to be careful. There's that opens opportunities. Just can't give them those fifty one yard passes, yeah, forty eight, Yeah, you can't give them. You just can't allow them to change the field that way, you know that just they

can't have that. They can't have those huge, just chunk plays that just kills defenses when that But if you're an offensive quardan or are you're happy with sixty seven of one hundred and two? What's that? That's what he's had one hundred and two. Julio Jones just can't get keep right somehow, some way. Yeah, I got no problem of maybe they when they throw it away, they just throw it over his head and get No, there's a couple of them that are that hit. Matt's just thrown away.

But he I'll tell you what though, This this team though, is they've they're just hard. It's just hard to play against them because it just when you watch him, it's like they're all always open. Somebody is always open, and it's the scheme, design, whatever, ability. That's the problem. They put so much pressure on you because the quarterback does a good job of finding who's open. And I know their records four and five, but that's the only thing.

The only thing that scares me about the Atlanta Falcons is their offense. That's the only thing that scares me about sixty two fifty six. I'm sticking with that that feeling. The Falcons last two losses against Pittsburgh in Cleveland. Pittsburgh had a twenty seven to ten lead after three quarters. Cleveland had a twenty eight to ten lead after three quarters. Chubb ran for one hundred and seventy six and James

Connor ran for one hundred and ten against them. So get ahead, get ahead at one and then it won't be sixty two to fifty six, all right? Eight eight five, twenty two ninety seven. The number to call Talking Cowboys continues in a moment. Laura has been helping Cowboys fans seed better since nineteen seventy two. He said, they don't miss a moment on the field. Get classes with slor's best vision, clarity and protection with the ultimate lens package.

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twenty percent off your first order. That's Tommy John dot com Ford slash Cowboys. They're feeling really good today too, by the way. That's good to know. That's awesome. Oh my gosh, I'm uncomfortable, Mike. You can't say his socks or his T shirt and I had to go there and they're not Tommy John. You need to get the socks are really good though, No, I've got them. Yeah, although you have threatened to wear Tommy John on your face before, remember that you you tried to l that

was the cross between Jack Black. You're in the Jack Black rad and you said Tommy John and where her face on the face? Yeah, be a pro like me, huh. Moving on? Eight day to eight eight five five twenty two ninety seven is the number to call. Man, What a great day it is out here today. If I was the head coach, I'm practicing outside and they're not practicing outside. They're inside. But I don't care if you are playing in Mercedes Ben's stadium, dome, whatever it's called.

I'm taking it outside today. Oh they should have flipped it. Then practice outside today. Let us be inside yesterday so God and everybody can watch your practice. Yeah. Yeah. Jason Garrett said that he did think about practicing inside yesterday on the drive in. It was twenty eight degrees in the morning, and then he decided, you know what, though, it's gonna warm up, and he's you know, most coaches are like this. They're creatures of habit. Wednesday's the outside day.

And he said that Dak told Dak said, and outside. Aren't we playing in a dome this week? I kind of brought that went up yesterday. I'm glad that Dak and I are on the same page as far as that goes. You know, Jason, it's a beautiful day. Don't let it get away. That's that's his phrase. I can ask a question. Yes, this is This was getting me on the drive home because Mickey was going through the

list of injured guys. Is there somebody on this team that's playing really, really well that we're not talking about. We got scolded on Twitter for one in particular. Do you have one in mind? No? I do have one of mine, but I wanted I was driving in, I was thinking, you know, because I'm always interested. Is there a guy that we're not really talking about but he's playing, You're thinking like we should be talking more about him.

I mean, I know last week that that Vanderesh got all the credit, but like you know, with with Smith, I thought Smith played just as well. But is there somebody on this team that we're not talking about this? I know it's a four and five team, because there's somebody that we're kind of not talking about this playing pretty well? What did Twitter have? Were they accurate? You

tell me? They scold a guy scolded us for not mentioned Damien Wilson as as because we've talked about these young linebackers and he's done a nice job as well, not as many snaps. I wrote about Tyrone Crawford this week, and I know we've talked about the D line rotation. Just think about how much how often he's moving. He wrote about this, right, yeah, okay on Tuesday, how he he slimmed down to play end, right, then they decided helped him to play tackle maybe right, And then they decided, okay,

got Gregory back. We like our numbers at end, we'll move you back to the undertackle spot. He's done a nice job there. Now he's then he's shifted back out to end a week ago against Tennessee because of injuries, and now he's back inside and he's flipping around all over the place. And I think that's it speaks to his versatility and just kind of being a captain, doing whatever's needed. And he had a sack in the game, I think Russian from that undertackle spot. So he can

kind of do whatever you ask. And I know people talked about his contract in the past, but this is the guy who plays hurt, can play wherever they need him to. Yeah, you got a guy, Bill or Mickey, Mickey, you go first. I mean, you have a guy that you're kind of that. You know, we're really not talking about this guy very much. We talk enough about Byron Jones. Yeah, I think so we do. I mean, I think he's

gonna get here. Every TV broadcast they're talking about him being the best corner in the league, you know, because of Pro Football Focus. Do you like it? Now, let me ask you this descriptions. I got I got one for you. Go ahead, Um, Jeff Heath, Okay, I think that he is. He has played awfully well, and you know they trusted him in man a lot of man coverage against Ernst and which is not an East Simon easy now and and I thought he did most of their damage against him when they went in zone. Yeah.

Uh if you just think of kind of him being in charge of that secondary back there, I just think he's done it. Yeah, he's I think he's done a really good job. And then you know, he's the guy that everybody wants a pick on. But uh, you know, I think he's pretty darn good. Yeah, what you have in mind, I you know, what I was thinking about it, and you had him on the entry port was Woods, you know, I mean and not not you know, I'm

talking about the human lock Woods. Yeah. Yeah, but which is another candidate, by the way, because I thought he had a really good game again you know Antoine, Yeah, Xavier Xavier Woods with Yeah, it was I just I kind of looking at him and I'm thinking about where he came from, you know, I mean I was driving along, I'm thinking, Okay, who are these guys, you know, Suephilo. They get him from, you know, off the off the street.

They they'll get you know, they get Woods off the street, you know, and these guys come into they play like big roles from Tennessee. Yeah, you know, Suephilo was let go by Tennessee and sts Woods. Yeah, so it's crazy. It's crazy to think that, you know, you could go get a guy off the street and they've played well. You know, that's well. I could say Sue Philo is

amazing because he gets absolutely no reps. I mean, he got no reps until last week, and then all of sudden he goes into plays in a major game like that and does well. But but you know, Antoine Woods. To me, when I watch him play, I'm trying to think, how do you play without Antoine Woods? You know, I'm singer thinking, okay, if he's hurt concussion protocol, how do you play without him? That's why. Yeah, that's that's why

I'm kind of going. I'm thinking, okay, ready, and I like read and I like read and yeah, but only from the word go, I mean training camp. Yeah, It's like it's like, okay, when he came in as a fourth stringer, and then when started making noise and training camp and then you're like, looking back, now, where would this team have been in the interior, in the defensive

line if Antoine Woods yeah, hadn't come along. The numbers are not god yeah, but for second ina, I mean tied for a second, tied for eleventh in tackles, Yeah, with twenty two and he's only a couple behind Tyrone Crawford, who we just we'll think about it. I mean, we're about basically halfway point of the season. He's unpaced for forty four tackles, see, which is a which is a good number for our kind of when we started seeing we kind of started seeing the failing health of Frederick

in camp. And then that's when they got in that fight with Woods, and then all of a sudden, something flipped for Woods, something flipped. He went from being just a okay, you know, here we are, we're doing training camp live and talking about you know, oh there he's going to get Woods now, and then all of a sudden, after that it was like whoa. Well that it was cool to see in camp because Garrett talks about meritocracy. You know, this is a guy that they couldn't ignore him.

You know. By the second week of camp, Marinelli said, nah, you're with the first team. Yeah, you're playing, you're plugged him in, you're playing too well. Yeah, and he kept kept a spot, especially with Irving, you know, missing those first four games with suspension. That was it was after the exchange with Jerry that day when I was standing there, that's right, and Jerry up j Jerry would walked by him and he goes, I see you keep you know, you better keep it up, keep going, And he goes,

I don't know any difference, you know. And and I looked at him and I said, who is this guy? Why is he so cocky? After he got in that fight with Frederick? This one was before the fight came after that. Can I mention another guy or you got your guy? Bill Well? I was. I was kind of on heath at the same time Mickey mentioned it. And you know a guy that's quietly goes about his business on offense, is Cole Beasley? Sure? Sure, he gets open

all the time. Yeah. No, I was about another receiver his his Alan Hern's grown on you a little bit, Yeah, definitely. I mean has he grown on you? I mean is it still one of those things? I mean he had he had a he's had some games where he hasn't been a factor or nearly enough. Last two games he's come up. But yeah, but he's come up. Here's an interesting point. After you left last night, and I was talking with Joe Green about the team. Oh yeah, it

was great, and he was talking about that. He was talking about Marie Cooper and he goes, but you know what else he does. He goes, do you see him get separation at the top of the route And he goes And you can have coaches teach that talk about it, but when the other players see him do that, they learn better. And he goes and I see these other guys and he goes, I see these other guys now running better routes. And he you know, I forgot. He

coached for eighteen years in this league. And he scouting too. He was a damn good scoutout coaching eighteen years. You know what Michael Gallup said yesterday along those lines, He said, I forget what type of route it was, but he said he watches Cooper run a certain type of route and he's like, Wow, why can't I do it that way? You know, and almost like runner. No, And he's got he's got the speed and the gonna learn from it

and he's gonna become a better outline. So going to hearns maybe he's kind of you know, I kind of. I mean, he's only been here three weeks. But the thing about with Hearns is I think that he's now starting to be a better player, you know, and and and maybe maybe we need maybe we're gonna get in these games and come fast and furious here the next three maybe we'll see more like, you know, three targets, two big plays. That's what we're kind of starting to

see from Herns a little bit. You know, the the double move of Tennessee game, the big play on you know, he made the slant. I think the slant he made against third on third and eight too. You know, yeah, that's an easy ball. You're runn to slant, you're oway you can drop it and you're like, oh god, but no, he you know, he's making some play play down at the goal on set up the first touchdown. I was

hopefully he could have like got that ball in. But you know, it's funny you mentioned Alan Hearns, and I should have probably said Alan Hearns, because yesterday my unsung star of the week, well on the Jason Garrett Show with the Coach was Alan Hearns. For those two plays. He may say about it and and basically and I set him up saying, Okay, here is a reliable, veteran guy who, um, you know, made the big plays. And he said, you know, he's the type guy that the

quarterback can depend on. He's going to be in the right place at the right time. Doesn't do it fast right, doesn't do it quick, but can be reliable exactly. And his approach too, it could have been easy for him maybe to be frustrated coming in now on my snaps are down, I probably felt like I should have had more opportunities to begin with. And he's maximized what he's getting because his his snaps are down these last couple games, but he's his productions up and that's impressive. But he

understands where he is in this league. He understood coming into the league as an undrafted guy out of the U and had to earn his way in his second year in the league. Was a thousand yard receiver in Jacksonville. But then he was basically that third receiver role in Jacksonville with the talent that they had Alan Robinson and Marquis League in their receiving corps too. That's what he is. He understands what he is in this league, and it's a very it's a valuable part of a receiving corps

and a guy that a quarterback can depend on. Absolutely. Yeah, I have time to get into this right now. Yeah, we can do it right now, Brian. You gotta check out Brian on Dallas Cowboys dot Com breaking down Layton

vander Esh and what you did. I was able to eavesdrop on yesterday in the film room as he's breaking down Layton vander Esh and the play that he made the five yard loss Corey Clement on the third down play, and it jogged Brian's memory to a play that Sean Lee made against the Eagles two years ago at at and T Stadium in a similar situation. And he goes back and he breaks down the two plays and they're almost identical. Yeah, thank you, and I appreciate you mentioned that.

I just it was one of those things where it's a key point in the game and you've got one team trying to drive. I mean they're trying to drive. They're trying to you know, move the ball and in and just I wanted to show the instincts you see instincts with Sean Lee and now you see instincts with

Layton Vanderesh. So that was really my comparison there to try and say, hey, it's vision, it's athletic ability, it's finished, all these things that you see with the with these wells, and especially the end zone view, because from the end zone view, you know you're seeing tackle to tackle. Okay, Clement, and Brian points out Clement. He lines up to the right of the quarterback and his split was wider, little wider than what he normally does because they usually bunch

of the running back closer to that. And he shows vanders Assuming I don't know if you talked a lot about it, Okay he Layton notices that Clement is split out a little bit wider, so he anticipates that it could be a screen out into the flat right now, the play with it was Darren Sproles two years ago, and he lined up to the left side, brought him

and brought him back and him back. Okay, yeah, But on the end zone view, what's amazing about it is you can see okay, it follows the play and then all of a sudden you see the linebacker is whether it was vander Esh or Lee two years ago, is already out on the perimeter ahead of the offensive lineman. You can see how quickly you can see that they anticipated, they read the play, they diagnosed it, and they were

there to make the play for a loss. It was it really uh well, thank you, thank you for watching that well. He said after the game. He was leaning on a run and then he goes a screen pass, and he goes, I'm going with the screen pass. And so it was just his instincts of either how they lined up and the situation and what a feel for the game. And that's why you know, when everybody talks about his production, it's his instincts. Can't teach those, no question,

and they're amazing. He's got ninety six tackles right now overall, leads the team right The record for a rookie in a single season is one hundred and thirty six by Dexter Cokeley. He could tackle well too. Is he on the Pro Bowl ballot because he needs to be. I haven't seen him the ballot. Yeah, it just came. I'm sure he's not. He will be soon. Gret Goslin yesterday on Cowboys Insider, he said that he expects Banderesh to

get Pro Bowl votes. If if he's not on the Pro Bowl then ballot, then he needs to be one of the all time great write in count count. Yeah yeah, I mean that needs to be a write in all the way to check on that. Yeah. Absolutely, Okay, we continue with more of talking cowboys in just a moment. If you're like me and you love I mean, if you have a thing, then cutting the court is scary. But then I found out I could switch it or ACTV now and still get the live sports I love.

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into the Trooper cooler. Yep, but please don't. And that's been tailgating with the autobox boys. Learn more about the Trooper soft coolers at auterbox dot com. While the player could look good on paper, it's when he's out on the field that you really find out what he's made of. That's why the Cowboys rely on more than just stats and scouting reports when building their team. When picking a tractor, it's why you should rely on more than just specs and features. You've got to take it out and put

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I was thinking of ye kind of getting him and giving him as yourself Jack annuals do both. I got the Jack Black beard kit. Yeah, it's got stuff to put on the beard. It's got a little comb. Oh you got Yeah, it's got like four different things and a little comb in there to keep it all nice. Is it workonderful? Oh it's great. Yeah. It gave me an excuse to grow the beard out even more. I was gonna say, you got the beard going now? I thought you just quit. I thought you just quit with

theficial I did. Then I got the beard kit as a gift, and I was like, I'm growing this out again. I got to use this Jack Black stuff. You just got so beat down. Got you got any caboo today? You want to do caboo today? I need to ask Santa for that beard lube kit. Are you gonna grow a beard? No? Oh, but still you shave every day? Yeah? Right, all right. Cabo Texas is coming to at and T

Stadium May tenth through the twelfth. This is not your typical festival, Mickey, Kaboo Texas offers an adult escape, uniquely cult escape to appeal to all five of your sentence with world class music, hilarious comedy, incredible cuisine, craft libations, inspiring contemporary art, and personal indulgences. Rob I'm telling you, man, the lineup for that thing, the band lineup, you know, to borrow a line from Mickey, It's gonna be lit. I promise it is gonna be lit. Hey, it's gonna

wait for it. It's gonna feature a variety of chart topping hits, legendary rockers, bucket list performers, and new acts you'll be excited to discover. Brian I'll be there. Get your early bird passes now at Kabo Texas dot com. That's Kabo Ka Boo Texas dot com. Ice. Oh, you could pull that off, all right? The youngest on this show. Yeah, in the spring, that is. It's May tenth through the twelfth, right after the draft. Yeah, so it's a good time

to go. All right, let's go to Brian in Maryland. Oh, Brian. Brian thought he was being called upon being asked, Brian in Maryland, Hey, how you doing, guys? Good, y'all are just talking about unsung heroes. There's one player on the field that I saw last Sunday that finally got into the game. He made Dak more comfortable, he made Zeke more proficient, and he even helped Jesse's convert that fourth down hunt fake. I think that's Jamizzola. Wally there you go.

I think because the offseason Keith Smith with us losing him, we didn't realize how much of an impact that had on our offense and we stopped running twenty one personnel. But what I saw is the Scotland hand or I guess Dak and Zeke getting comfortable enough with him in the back field that he was he was part of the big plays. He just wasn't the main part. And yeah, I think with him on the field, it just showed

a different dynamic to our offense. The offensive line they were blocking and then he's getting on the second level and then you have Zeke dealing with the safety and we'll take that every day. There you go. Absolutely, So I think as far as people who never get recognition, I think, oh Wally has come in and really carved out a place for himself. And if he continues to, we're going to be talking about him being one of the big key factors in our red zone and our

third and shorts conversions. Yeah, there you go. Good observation right there, Brian. And that was I mean, that was kind of his best game maybe huh by far, by far, I mean I noticed him before. Yeah, that's the thing. I mean I was ready for him to play with some violence, you know, And maybe I was thinking too much of Keith Smith. I loved Keith Smith. I was sad to see Keith Smith go because I thought that he you know, not that old lo Wally doesn't bring

it every week. But Keith Smith was one of those guys that, you know, he was a glass eater when it came to trying to dig those linebackers that when he got the opportunity and catch the ball for you well, I mean they liked ola Wally because of special teams. He could be a one back runner. He catches the ball really well. But she saw a good example, like Brian was pointing out, though you know, a couple of the runs, you got a block from Rico, you got

a block from Ola Wally. The ball spills to the backside. It's a big gain on out the back door there and then you and then he had really the key block. He and march Lillard. I broke that play down too on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. You could check that out, and so you'll see. I mean, yeah, it was Mickey's right. This. We were waiting for this to happen. It actually happened hopefully in these games and the coming games that we could see more from Ola Wally at the point of

attack and being more physical. Harp, his name's Harp. He checked in with us a few minutes ago and said Xavier Woods made a couple really nice plays in the game. One key play particularly said, you guys haven't talked him up much, but that's I mentioned well, I mentioned his name as as a possibility disability for that. But we you know, and more with Xavier boy, are we maybe me? You know, I just I kind of wait for Xavier Woods when I want. When I'm down on him, he

plays well when I want to praise him. He kind of has a game where you're like, you know, you're like, but I you know, I wish there was more consistency to his game. I wish there were more of those players that you were talking about now, Uh, you know, as your safety, you want that, you want a guy that this, you know, Mickey brought up Jeff Heath, and I think I think both both safeties have had games where they've been outstanding and then other times you're kind

of like, got to be better than that. And but that's that's why I don't think we talk about Woods very much because there hasn't been that consistency with him play. Yeah, but he you know, the Twitter question or comment was was correct. I mean he was. He was a good player the other night. See. And and here's the the other thing about this team, and Stephen Jones used the term about three or four times in his interview on

the Fan on on Monday, young team. Yeah, we're talking about a guy playing for the first time in at starting at first time at through safety in this league. And they have got a lot of guys doing this stuff. It is a young team, I think, and I know the expectations for the Cowboys are always hey, you better go to the playoffs? Are you firing the coach? But this is a young team. It's a young team. But now they're veentered to the second half of this season

and they're not young anymore. So they're they're freshman's now. Software well, and you basically, in an NFL season, especially if you make the playoffs, you're playing two college seasons if you include preseason games, no question. I mean, maybe happen to Connor Williams. What was going on with him, right, you know that whole thing. But and let's hope it doesn't happen to Vanderesh, you know, let's hope that vandersh

can fight through anything. It obviously, I think with to me, I think my opinion on Woods deals more with I saw him at Louisiana Tech and he was drafting the sixth round, and I had a third round grade on him and my expectations for him. I was excited when they drafted him, I really really was. And I was just hopeful that he would get an opportunity too that he has today. And Mickey's right, he's a young player.

But well, I mean I had I had a high grade on him from my evaluation of watching him play in college. So you know, when he got here and we saw him play someone the nickel, you know, we saw him a little bit struggle with some tackling stuff. But overall, I think he's been a good player. I just think that he could if he was just a little bit more consistent than I would feel better about my evaluation of the player. Well, maybe his second year

you'll find that, I hope. So, well, you look at this game, then you got Washington and then you got the Saints. Okay, so you got three games in the span of whatever that however many days that is, and two of those games you've got this secondary is gonna be tested like it hasn't been all season against the Falcons and the Saints, right, and um so we're gonna we're gonna find out even more about this secondary here

in the next two weeks. Yeah, then you know that just your hope is if you can go get this game in Atlanta and then you get a little help from Houston. Houston's playing well, you know, let's let's be honest. I mean, ever since they lost the first two games and now I think they won six straight. Yeah, and

at a bye week, you gotta hope. Yeah, coming off a bye and Washington really has not scored a whole heck of a lot of points, and their injury depleted now and their offensive line hopefully you get yeah, you know you can. You can get those guys to you know, that pass rush in Houston can kind of get going, you know again, and so you know that that's that, you know, things can kind of take care of themselves.

You just got to give yourself an opportunity. You got to go out there and play one of your best games against Atlanta. That's just that's just the bottom line on that one. Did Houston turned their season around with that overtime win against the Cowboys. They won like four or five in a row. Actually the win they had I think the seat they were in trouble. They won a game in Indianapolis before they that before that there,

if they lose that game, remember Frank Reich. Frank Reich went for it on fourth down and is owned into the field and got stopped, and they went and won the game in overtime, and I think that saved their season. Yeah, they had two straight, it's because they were owing three to start the year and then the two straight overtime wins over the Colts and the Cowboys. Then they got the Bills, then they got a Jacksonville team that was down, then Miami and then Denver. One of the reasons they're six,

they schedules, schedules played well. The friend league schedule for them, absolutely, But as a team, you start gaining confidence and sometimes you need that and they don't ask how, they don't say how much? Right, Yeah, what's Indianapolis's record? They're I think they're they're four and four and two five as well. I think they've gonna you know, they have last yeah, the last two weeks, I believe the Colts have not given up a sack. Three straight wins yeah for Indianapolis.

So I mean, even when you look at the Cowboys schedule in December or where at the beginning of the year, you think, oh, okay, there's a w Yeah. Well the last three you're thinking they're probably looking at you saying, oh, well there's a w you know, yeah, right, yeah, And and that Colts game looks a little different. Now, sure Tampa Bay doesn't. No no giants either, no giants one buts on you. But you can't look at you don't look at any game on the schedule and say, oh,

we got this. You can't do it. It's impossible. Which one Tampa, Yeah, Tampa Giants. I think so. Now those Giants are struggling. There's one question. The question you're gonna have though when you get to that point, though, are you gonna be playing meaningful games? Right? That's why you got to take care of business. That's why you gotta go win. You gotta be you know, and hey, it's not gonna be easy playing the same It's not gonna

be easy playing there. I think, you know what, I think the Cowboys now are better equipped to sue Filo stays at that at the guard spot. I think they're a little bit better equipped how they're going to handle that now once Maybe Connor is not ready this way he practiced yesterday. But let's say two weeks from now. Yeah, said, they decide to go, it's sue Filo for the next they beat the Falcons and have a good game offensively like they did in Philadelphia, You're gonna see Sue Filo

start against Washington. I think they're looking at it. It was one game, Yeah, let me see it again again. Yeah, exactly, because now teams will be prepared for him and give him another week. Connor too to you know, get healthy, because what Gregory missed a couple of weeks. You know, don't rush him back because that's the way you can couch it. Sure, you know from that standpoint, you know you don't have to rush it, you know. And it's

a short week coming off this one. Anyway, next week and again they've got those two big inside players that gave you problems. Suefilo can make them, make them run through you there, big Philip. All I know is when they lined up and did their little drills yesterday when we were out there, the only starter out there I saw was Else Collins. That's the only one. Yeah, but you feel okay about tiring and Zach, I do. But I'm just saying that was looked like a preseason game. Yeah,

it wasn't a good look. I mean, it was a little unsettling if it was almost like I got that number, who is that? Especially Atlanta week, especially since you're second in the league with the most sacks, tied with the Giants, and did you get that number? Thirty two? Thirty two? I thought that's what it was Cleveland. It's not a thing you want to lead the league. So maybe I guess your last thirty five sacks? Yeah yeah, all right,

that doesn't for talking Cowboys for this Thursday. Jason Garrett coming up shortly here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com and we will talk at you again tomorrow. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.