Talkin' Cowboys: Frederick Out Indefinitely

practice which gets underway at eleven am. I have another opportunity on Friday morning, and we are at half strength as we begin this edition of Talking Cowboys. Bill Jones with Brian brought us. Hello sir, Good morning Brian, thank you, Good morning to you as well. We've got some injury news to get into all right off the top of course, and we're missing We will start with the illness that is crept into the lineup here on Talking Cowboys as

Rob Phillips a little under the weather this morning. The weather, so Rob is not here with us today. We expect Mickey Spagnola in a matter of moments. He has another broadcasting respect Hurricane get ready he's gonna come rolling in here. There'll be papers all over the counter, He'll he'll act all flustered, he will be he'll put on his headset and then and then he'll be ready to go, and

he did you miss me? And we'll all have to acknowledge the fact that he just rolled in like a something that we would see on the Weather channel, hurricane Hurricane Mickey will come rolling in here and he will well, what do you talk about since I was gone? You know, that's kind of what you do with Mickey. That's exactly right. So let's and he'll get into this when he rolls in here at a moment. But of course, the big news around here concerns Travis Frederick and the announcement last

night that Travis is dealing with Guion Barre syndrome. And right off the top, I'll read the statement from Travis Frederick that he released last night. After very extensive examination a discovery process over the past few weeks, I have been diagnosed with having Guion Barre syndrome, which is an autoimmune disease. In the last forty eight hours, I have received two treatments that address my condition, and I am feeling much better from an overall strength perspective. I will

continue these treatments over the next few days. I am very optimistic about my condition and the immediate future, as I have been told that the illness was detected at a fairly early stage. My doctors have told me that it is not possible to determine a timetable for a return to the field right now, but I am hopeful that I will be able to play as soon as possible.

I am deeply grateful for all of the people who have expressed concern from me throughout the past four weeks, and my teammates and the Cowboys organization had provided me and my family with tremendous support. So when you got that news, what did you think, Well, you know, last night, Bill, you know, we were all sitting there and we saw the release just what you just read. You know, had

a feeling that something more was to this. The fact that he had gone to doctor Watkins in Los Angeles and doctor Watkins said there's no structural damage, there's maybe rest, you know, as prescribed. But then when he had when when other specialists became involved, then you're starting to think, Okay, there could be something more here. Now, I didn't feel like that he was going to have some disease that was going to attack his you know, immune system and

things like that. But you knew there was something else happening. And I I you know, as a as a former personnel man, you look at these things and you know he goes the the first thing every says, well, why us why that's the devastating For yeah, it's a devastating thing. But as a personnel guy, you can't put your head in the sand here, you know, you can't. He's going to get all the treatment he can. He's gonna be back as soon as he can. But then you find ways. Okay,

with this setback, how do you work around it? You know, you talk about Joe Looney, you talk about other ways to bring in things, but I I just it's from a from a from a medical standpoint. You're you're he's in great hands with these The Cowboys have always had the best and the brightest and specialists, you know'll send you all over the country, all over the world, whatever they have to do to get your help. So that

part of it, I think is taken care of. And you have to have faith that what they do, Uh, personnel wise, will will make do until Travis Frederick returns. As we welcome in Mickey Spagnola, who has done with his other responsibilities. I beamed in. You didn't even see me walk in, did you, or at least on camera? Uh? Well, and we read the statement that Travis released last night, and what was your take when you when you heard

this is what he's been dealing with. Well, it was another step in my medical degree covering the National Football League, because I have to admit I'd never heard of this uh syndrome whatsoever. So you kind of read up about it, and it sounds like and again I don't know that we know everything, but it sounds like that they caught this early what he said. Yeah, and and by catching it early, it seems like it uh maximizes your ability

to recover from it, uh sooner than than later. So um, if there's a you know a good thing in any of this, it's it's the fact that they did catch it. Uh that And maybe you give Travis some credit for saying, I'm not just accepting I'm getting stingers. Let's let's investing a little fur last for a little while, and goes away,

so absolute and That's the thing. When I think once he got the news from the specialist there in Los Angeles, I think he's thinking, Okay, there's something else wrong with me here, and it sounds like that a blood test was provided and once they figured out they say, okay, this is what you have when they look at the symptoms the blood test, and you know, we should have we should have known something was up when the specialist in Los Angeles basically said, hey, there's no structural damage,

maybe something else was going to symptoms something and persist and the fact that he was weakening, and you know, he's like, okay, this is more than just stingers. You know, I'm feeling something that I shouldn't be feeling here. And you know, Travis is Travis is one of those guys. It's always in the way room. He knows his body. He's always been in condition. So you know, professional, Yeah,

professional athletes know when something's not right. And that's h you know, that's like Mickey said, hopefully that they found things early enough and he's already started the treatments and hopefully the treatments work for him for hitting only for you know, more importantly, for the quality of his life. It sounds like a very very serious disease if not treated correctly, and it sounds like people that have had it previously. Uh. And it wasn't detected right away. It

became a prolonged thing. I was listening to a little bit of the cuts from Mark Schlareff. Uh. They had him on the fan last night, and Uh, it sounded his was a year long Yeah, ninety three season and affected his Todd Archers also had this disease and he and he wrote about it. Yeah, he wrote about it and and Todd I was talking to him about it last night and he says, you know, treatments are far far better than what we had in nineteen eighty seven. But he goes, it's a very it's a very scary

situation to fill your body the way that is. So let's in thoughts and prayers with Travis and hopefully things work out. For When I saw the list of people that have had it, another friend of at least mine, I think you guys might know him. And Pascarelli had Atlanta Constitutional and then he was with ESPN R and um he suffered from it too, and I remember seeing him and it kind of diminished him absolutely greatly. So, um, yeah,

we'll see where this uh goes. But again it's and at least Travis sounded upbeat about it that Okay, we know where we're going now, and we can treat this thing and I can go forward. So but I don't think anybody really knows a timetable of how long. There's no way to predict that, right, right. I think I think just from again from a personal aspect of I think you have to assume he's not going to be playing this year. That's okay, that's I'm not trying to

say I'm not dooming glooming in here. I'm just saying, if you're if you're thinking about it, when you tell me, I have no timetable. You know, with a hamstring, I could generally Britt Brown and Jim Mayer can generally tell me, hey, he needs five weeks off, he needs six weeks off. You know, this is what we have. We have to treat this injury. This is one of those you don't know, and you know they can they can keep him on.

They can keep him on the active roster and go week to week on an inactive thing until they feel But I think from a personnel aspect. You have to prepare that you're not going to have him this entire season, you know, And and I'm not trying to minimize this, but I think you almost put him in the same

category we've put David Irving in. I can't count on it if I get something great, right, but I can't sit here and structure my roster right for the first week of the season thinking, Okay, in four weeks, I'm gonna have Travis fred. But do you structure your roster at the countdown date where you have him on the active I guess you wait until you've got the full report. Yeah, September first, on right on day right, okay, where is

he at right now? You could put him on. Then you could keep him on so that he's on the fifty three, and then the next day you put him onjored reserve where you can return after eight weeks of the That's exactly That's exactly the plan right there. And like a like I said, there's a couple of different

ways you can play this. If if the doctors feel like that, Okay, the treatment he's had so far, Hey, he's making great progress right now, then maybe you do just keep him on the active roster and inactive and make him inactive every week until maybe this is a three week injury, maybe it's a four but if it turns into more than eight weeks, you didn't go ahead and put him on injured reserve and get the spot.

But you would think that even the best case scenario here in a few weeks he's able to return to football activities, that his strength needs to be built up. That's the hope. That's the hope. And that's where again, you know where the countdown, the cutdown day is looming here quickly, right. You know we're gonna have this game over a week away. Yeah, you're gonna have this game. So I have a feeling they have yet eight days away. Yeah,

I have a feeling they have a plan. They could they know more, Yeah, they can know more with if they do another treatment. It's like, boy, he's making great progress. This appears to be working the right way. You know that, that's your hope. But like Mickey said, you can't tell me when he's coming back. Definitely, then I have to feel like that I'm not going to play with this guy because I you know, I've got a structure my

team in a way that. Okay, I could put him down for eight weeks and see what happens, or or I can in activate him every week and maybe in a month's time four games he's back with you. That's that's the unknown right now. This is another one of those things where you really have to rely on the medical people, the best prognosis or the best you know, long range specialists term on this whole thing so you

would have a better feel. So my my instructions or whatever to the fans out there, not everybody's case is the same. No, right, So everybody's got a story about having this or having dealt with it. Well, it's not always the same. And there's can be specialists out there that have dealt with this, but they haven't dealt with this case. And I'm going to give you a very good example. There's a doctor out in former team physician out in San Diego who basically came out and say,

Jalen Smith will never play football again. That's true. And he had no inner knowledge of the knee, who did the surgery, how the surgery was done. And I've seen already he's already, oh this is you know, this is bad. He may not play football. Well, let's just kind of ease back and let the boys, doctors and the specialists that are here in Dallas that are actually dealing with him kind of give us an idea of what's going on. Not everybody that is an expert, because they don't know

this case particular. There are cases where what I've read anyway, there are cases where people are able to come back within a few weeks. Right now are cases that linger on absolutely facts. A professional athlete helps exactly exactly. I've got a friend who contracted West Nile virus and then he got gian bare and he's so he was in a weekend state, and he's still dealing with the after effects. And he's thirty years older than what Travis Frederick is sure,

you know, And so they're all different cases. From a roster standpoint. The Cowboys were already down Marcus Martin Okay, hurts a little ed terry or offensive lineman who was in position. I mean they signed him in the offseason basically to be a backup at either a center or a guard position. Joe Looney of course, moves into the starting lineup at center. But they even without the Travis Frederick and Drew they were they were in the market

to acquire an interior offensive lineman. Yeah, no question. We talked about this on our show that you know, if the positions that we were looking at, we were thinking offensive line was one that you'd have to make a claim or trade or something to to try and shore some things up. We weren't very We weren't thrilled with the backups. We had questions about Cadeem Edwards and really is he the eighth guy? Is there somebody better out there? We we focus so much on this team that we

don't know really what's on. I mean, I did a little research of some guys, especially with last night, you know, with this injury. Are there backup centers out there? No, they're really not. There's not at all. And the guys that have had experienced there's a couple that have retired. They retired guys would from buffers, Yeah, exactly. So there's some Gerard Holly Holly, there was a guy that rights

working the defensive line right now. But yeah, it's the the the prospects of going and getting at and then you look at Okay, is there a guy that's a guard that can play in the prospects there are not there, so yeah, this is gonna have to be. You know, they signed a kid, you know, from South Dakota State, Jacob Osanji. Yes, from South Dakota, right, and I sat down and watch tape of him. You know, he's probably

what you would sign after the draft. Uh. You know, Dallas Goddard was on the same team at South Dakota States. There was a lot of Dallas Goddard making plays, you know for that. But yeah, he's a he's a guy. He's you know, just watching him play, he's a he's a you know, two hundred ninety five pound guys, sixty three he's got. He does a nice job of playing on his feet. He has some of the traits that they're going to ask some of these offensive lineman to

do now. And that's with the with the pulling, the space stuff and all that. Uh, you know that part of it's all been really really good. When he's uncovered, I thought he did a nice job of getting to the second level when he had to get there. But you know, it's guy's a three time captain. There's a lot of really positive things about it. But like Mickey says, he hasn't played you know, at the NFL level right now. But that's that's kind of where they're at right now.

They've got to figure out. They've got Joe Looney, who we all have thought very well of Joe Looney since we've seen him at training camp. I felt like Joe Looney has remade his body. I compared it to what Ron Leary did when when Lyle Collins went out, you know, with injury what happened, Joe Looney was ready to play, and Joe Looney never uh Ron Learry was ready to play and he when he when he had to play,

he never gave up the job. You know, even though Collins was coming back, they kept with Ron, and but Ron remade his body. He got in better condition. I think Joe Looney has shown the same types of traits And is it a drop off, yes, but is it going completely off the cliff, No, it's not so. I feel like though that it will be a good transition for somebody. Now they got to get somebody behind him.

That's going to be the trick. That's a difficult part because the only other guy that that that they've put his hand on the ball is Dustin Stanton, And we're talking another guy that hasn't probably not in the league, right, probably not good enough. And and you know you've already got a rookie left guard who's starting, who's not taking a snap in the league. Um so Saints worked him as center. By the way, you know when you when you brought up Looney, how about this how it took place?

Because you know last year, the year before, Sure it's jumbo Joe right, funny guying the clown. Yeah, And for some reason this offseason, after he had his wrist surgery and he didn't get to participate in No ta's A mini camps, It's like he took his rehab seriously. He took his conditioning seriously, he took his strength work seriously, and as Brian said, he kind of remade himself. And we're looking at him going, well, this is kind of a serious football player now, and why would that you

know what if that hattn't taken place? No, that's that's the Yeah. I don't I want to say it's a miracle, but it's a godsend. Well, the wrist surgery probably made him realize that, you know what, I've got to be more serious about my craft. And you're right, I think that Joe has always been a guy. You go up and he's a clown guy. You go up and use it for social media. Yeah, he's a fun guy. We're soccer jerseys. You know he'll interact with you instead. I need a guy like that on the team, right. It

reminds me Kevin Gogan. Yea, yeah, dress us up like Zeke, you know, funny guy. But you're thinking, okay, now he has to play. But I think what we've seen the last twenty five days or so of practice is he's taken his job seriously, and you know, when they've asked him to play. When this whole thing we found out what was going on with Travis Frederick, he's been in there playing well. And I don't think there's you know this,

like I say, a huge drop off. The guy played fifty five or so plays the other day, you know, in a preseason game, and you think, boy, that would be kind of tough. But you know he was just fine doing that, never complained about it, did his job, went about his business and all that. So if you're going to have something happened to a center, you know, it looks like Joe Looney has has stepped up and said, okay,

I'm I'm ready to do what I have to do. Okay, we thought we talked about this yesterday, sorry, Bill, and we'd kind of dismissed it. Right, Cameron Fleming's a tackle that he has played some guard right in the NFL? Right, is is he lacking at guard better than some guy that's never take a snap at guard if they needed a backup guard. This is where this is where I'm gonna go with that. What happened last year when they took your backup tackle and made him a guard. I'm

not a point I am not. I am not as Greeny. Yeah, i Am not going to sit there and I'm gonna less with that. I'm gonna let that kid take every single rep at tackle that he can take when he plays in these preseason games. Whatever he has to do. I'm gonna let Cam Fleming play every single rep at offensive tackle. I will find a guard. I am not gonna. I am not gonna sacrifice making him have to play another position to both It's more important to me to have a backup tackle than it is to have a

guy as a backup guard. That's just me. And by the way, I'm back on Joe Looney. I mean, let's remember he was a fourth round pick of San Francisco in twenty twelve. Yes, and he's smart and he's a wake for guy that you're he's gonna know what to do. He's a veteran guy. I think the fact, like Mickey said, that he has remade his body tells you how important it is to him now. He realizes, Hey, I'm at a point in my time my career that you know, I could be the class clown, but I've also might

have to play You remember one on ones in Oxnard. Yes, Saint Luney was strong holding Yeah, and yeah, there was there was a lot of really good battles inside with him. Anything with Travis, Yes, yeah, I did too, Yeah, and it was it was. It kind of made me go, huh. He's always been a billy to billy kind of a blocker because he gets guys real tight and then he sets his hands. But there was some statement he mentioned the having gratitude for people, for the people in the

organization sticking by him the last four weeks. Yeah, so I think he's maybe been having some of these symptoms. There's no questions he was getting Yeah, instances where he doesn't normally normally it was like a strength thing. Well, but that's kind of one of the reasons. That was the one thing that we saw in Antoine Woods that made us after the Antoine Woods and Travis Frederick dust up, right, we kind of thought thought, boy, that's really stupid by

Antoine Woods. And then what did Antoine would start doing? He started playing better, you know, he started actually and but maybe you know, maybe he was taking advantage of of of a weekend Travis Frederick. And we were all like, man, what's wrong with Travis Frederick? And now we know not that Antoine Woods. Antoine Woods won a lot of reps, right, but that was kind of a little bit of a sign. And maybe he thought it was this he was losing strength in his shoulder, but there was a reason why

blood test. Good point, Bill, Yeah, and another point. And before we take up our first break here, Gil Brandt yesterday I either either tweeter editors I saw it. They actually he was on his radio show. He said that he considers Travis Frederick to be one of the five best centers he has seen in the National Football League. That makes sense, Trakes, you feel worse now, well, because I don't know. I don't know Gil been involved in

the national football Yeah, I don't know. If they asked you the question Mickey on win oh five three this morning, I know they asked me. You know the traits of Travis Frederick. I think we all know what Travis Frederick can do. I think his best trade is his ability to cut the defense in half. And I mean that that he could play front side secure and then play backside. If you look at the way Ezekiel Elliott runs the

football with vision, it's attack and then cut. It's cut and then attack, or you know he's Travis Frederick gives you options with the middle in the middle of that offense because his ability to get a block at second level after securing first level block. So when I say cut the defense in half, there's that natural lane in the middle because of his ability to how he plays front side, backside, and then at the point of attack. Unless you have really watched Travis Frederick, you don't understand

the athleticism that he has. Credible, yes, And one of the one of the ways that we can see it is in pregame warmups. He and Zach Martin are all always out there. Uh, This is an hour before the team comes out. They're the first ones out on the field and they're playing ketch. Yeah, and they were throwing routes to each other at the corner of the end zone and tapping and you know, get tapping to uh get both feet in bounds. I mean, that's your center and guard. Let me tell you this, and we've all

known this as well. Travis Frederick has been a day one starter. He was a plug and play player. They drafted him and he went from first day. They put him right in there in center, put him right in there at center, and he has not missed a snap since. Which, by the way, when people talk about, okay, Connor Williams, the Saints worked him out at center or whatever and that, okay, well, maybe he's got some trades to be a center and

and relate it to Travis Frederick. Well, Travis Frederick first day at Valley Ranch, he comes in there and they are teaching him the NFL position of the center and never missed a beat and straight. And I'm talking from a mental standpoint as much as anything. That Connor Williams stays at left guard. Oh yeah, absolutely. The people will ask would you move would you consider. I just do know for a fact, though I watched the workout myself

in Austin. They did work him out as a center, So I mean, if right, right, but but I keep you can see that, yeah, you know, but the athletic ability, it's unrealistic at this stage, eight days before cut down day, that you're going to move a rookie to center, and well, I think it would be disasters. Yeah, because I think from a mental standpoint, if nothing else, Looney's got the mental part down. There's no question. I think he's pretty

sharp up there right now. Travis is really sharp. I bet he never misses a fall or well, you think about they're supposed to do. Think about Dak Prescott's first year a rookie quarterback, trying to identify fronts, teams like the Steelers, the Ravens, you know, defenses that are pretty difficult to play against. Giant Yeah, share surely his best friend identifying those fronts, all right? Eight eight, five, two nine seven the number to join us here on Talking

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Go Rob, we missed you? I got the nestling one here. Yeah, well, I I kind of passed on all the ones I thought were a little shaky. For once, I can't pronounce the world. How about this one. I haven't heard this one before. Put Tommy John on your end zone underwear. That's gear interspeed. I would rather read that when end zones an easier words pronounce then and anti uh microfibril. It's like a disease. You pick that one. I don't

know why I had the easier it was. I was, it was not any uncomfortable things about it, and then all of a sudden get germs and perspiration and all kinds of Tommy John's sort of like trying to pronounce emma globin, how do you say it? Hemoglobin? Hemoglobin, because that was one of the treatments you can have for this. One of them was plasma replacement, which takes time because they got to take your the plasma or your blood and they reinject it. But the hemoglobin, Uh, in Jeckson's

you can do it intravenously right away. And he said he's already had a couple. I guess he's got a pick line. So a pickline, Yeah, it's in your hand. I had a pick line. Yeah, I was having to medicine, had a pickline, had a stick in you every time. Yeah, that's that's amazing. Yeah, I know, I'm cringing. I'm so cringing right now. Cringe. It's really I hate needles. It doesn't hurt, and I know I hate needles. Run stop, Bill stop and io and that might have been what

they what they've done. Oh I'm the one when they try to. I I'm just like cringing right now if it's not like a really Mickey professional person. Mickey, Yeah, it was really bad where they screwed up the first time, and then it's what are the what are the downsides of having dark skin? They can't find your veins? Oh yeah, oh yeah, Mickey, it's not bad. No offense to all the nurses out there, male, female, just it's it's it's

needle stop. Let's stop, stop stop stop. Oh well, we're gonna hear from Kent if we have a phone called soon, I hope. Yeah. Yeah, we got a phone call from anybody Taylor, Scott and White, got anybody ever there wants to talk about sticking people? Uh yeah, for lns are open two two ninety seven and they're actually ringing right now, so I'm gonna answer them, all right, So just let us know when you've got someone lined up and there is practice out here eleven am, and we are predicting

that they will be in shells and shorts. Are we I got a feeling? Yeah, we kind of. Mickey and I have done some TV work to kind of give some folks some welcomes. We kind of set it up like we were going to have a practice where it was gonna be that way. So okay, hopefully they have to follow suit. Hopefully they will follow suit. I mean,

if they're in pads, it'll be today only, today only. Yeah, this will be the last you look at ads until the first week of the regular season and Wednesday before the first game, right, yes, yes, because next week, two

weeks form, you're only going to practice one. I mean seriously, you're looking at a practice today, shorter practice Tomorrow, Friday before a Sunday game, and then so you play on Sunday off, Monday off, Monday practice Tuesday, which is also open to the public here at the start at eleven

am Tuesday. Travel, you're traveling Wednesday, you're playing Thursday. You're cutting the roster Friday, Saturday day, and they'll have that weekend off and be back here the following Monday or two, which, by the way, the kickoff luncheons that Wednesday, also right right before they leave for Houston. Right, So yeah, I would say today, if they were going to put pads on, this is it. If so, we're you getting quality practice time for your first unit. If they're not going to

play Sunday, night see over the next ten days. You know, I this sounds crazy, but I wrote about some stuff, you know, ten points from practice the other day. I thought, for just a Shell's practice, I thought it was a really good practice as far as getting you know, the defense was getting after the offense, which kind of put him in some binds. The guys had to fight on the outside to catch some balls. Prescott had to make some some throws. I kind of liked the practice, even

though it was Shells. I was okay with it. I'm one of these guys that believes that what we saw in Oxnard is if you went around, if you got to go to all thirty two teams, I guarantee you their Cowboys practice. As far as the way it's conducted, the physicality of the practice, I'm gonna guarantee it's a top three practice as far as is getting after you know, getting after each other, and the you know, remember those

days standing out there. I mean it seemed pretty long, the periods were long, but it was always a padded practice. There was you know, guys were staying healthy, and you know it was it was a lot of really good competition. So I can understand him back and off. I said this yesterday or show. I felt like I still feel that way. He's trying to give these young guys a chance because they're gonna have to play a lot of

football here to come. You know, I think the yeah, I think I think the dress rehearsal game for this football team wasn't this one. I think it was the I think it, yeah, I think it was the second week and the fact that the owner general manager came out and said, I don't need to see Prescott. I don't need to see now. He carries a big stick in that room and he's gonna ask those coaches, Okay, why do I need to play Prescott. I think we've seen a lot of Prescott at practice. I think we've

seen a lot of them the first two games. You know, I'm okay with him, and I'm important to play Tyrone Smith alongside Connor Williams at all. And see I asked that question the walk off. Did you feel like that Travis got enough time with Connor Williams not knowing that about to happen, So, you know, I think that you looked at that they were together in the OTAs in mini camps, they got to work together when Tyron was practice. I just, yeah, I have I have a suitable replacement

at center. I I don't know if I have a suitable replacement at left tackle. Right now, I have a guy. It's a fifty fifty player at best or guard. Yeah, so I'm kind of that goes for Lyle Collins on the other side. Those guys got to play. But Collins is gonna play because Collins needs to work more in his hands and stuff with this new high low thing. And I mean I was talking some players and they're like, man, poor,

poor Lyle Collins. He just he's just now learning how to put his hands in the right place and plays through the season. Everything cool. Then they come through and they say, hey, listen, high low your hands and he's like, oh no really, so you know, so hopefully uh you know, he gets that all down. But he is, you know, he's he's done some really some good things. But I I don't play press Scott, any of us. You haven't played Zeke the whole summer. No, No, he's done. Yeah,

let's you know, let's keep let's see what if. In fact, let's see what's going on with Scarborough in those guys. Yeah, let's you know, let's find a competition Jackson j Jackson Scarborough. If you want to alternate him every series, do that. Find a way maybe I don't know. Give you find a way to give him a little rhythm and see what you got. So Bill Scarborough doing on Tuesday, he was dressed, He was dressed, but I didn't see him out there. I didn't see him how much he did

ready to go something. Well, we'll see in respect to what you asked about the practices out there. Uh In Oxnard, it was interesting comment. Martin and Frederick were on with the fan and Travis said this was one of the most physical training camps he's ever been through, and it was like, well, the sessions weren't longer or harder, But I think what happened was with the competition with the

young guys. The young guys weren't taking plays off, which in turn made those guys practice harder and more physical. It's like there was no brother in law in going on. Used to back in the nineties, right, Nate would go up to the line of scrimins, Hey, Kat take this playoff. Yeah yeah, man, Okay, dance here. I think he's absolutely right. You had a lot of guys, especially with all the questions inside it tackle people to play. Ye, Woods caused you to play jahad Ward was trying to compete. You

also had Dayton Jones was having to compete. I mean, you had guys inside that they're trying to fight for roster spots. So you know, like I say, Antoine Woods made his name fighting Travis Frederick, and then all of a sudden things they started throwing him out there and said, well, heck, if he's crazy enough to fight Frederick, let's throw him out there and see what he's got. And he responded, well, Phil and Louisiana, you're up on talking cowboys. Phil. Thanks guys,

it's a pleasure to talk to you. I listen to you. I watch your podcast every day, so this is a treat. But I just wanted to make a comment and also a question. The comment is about gan beret. I have a familiarity with it only because my dad was diagnosed with it in two thousand and five. He was eighty at the time. So it effects people differently depending upon

their age. So it can affect somebody. It can just pop up on somebody in their teams doesn't know an age, or I can can strike somebody down in their eighties. And the problem with age is that when my dad was diagnosed with it, he was in his apartment. He wasn't a high rise, a four full apartment at home of Louisiana, and just thought of them blue. It comes upon him and he just dropped to the floor because he had lost all of his muscular functions. He could

not he could not function. He was just laying there and he lay there for about a few hours until he was found by one of the workers in the complex. But it took them thirty days at the Terribone General Medical Center to diagnosed it. And at the time, injections weren't even I don't think injections were part of the the recovery process or or anything. Uh they back then, I don't know if they're doing it now. Back then the remedy or the way to kind of build their

strength back up is uh. In plasma transfusion that Mickey was talking about, Yeah, and I didn't get that part of the early part of the show. So it was a complete transfusion of plasma. So I mean when they said yet and brave, we went huh. And not too many people are familiar with. It's just so rare and so you know. But the other part of the uh, My thoughts were this, uh, and I've been meeting done

to ask somebody this uh. And I don't know if it's been talked about that much, but this Earl Thomas thing,

I know they're not going after him right now. But then of you guys find it a contradiction and in philosophies when when you know you're reading the print that they're not willing to give up a second round draft choice for him, So you say, okay, they want to give up a second round draft choice for Earl Thomas, and it may not be a fair comparison, but yet for a way, how many different drafts and they give up second round draft choices or a hope that a

player would be great, like for instance, Randy Grady because he's now Barry Food and Jalen Smith he's now very food. But they will in the risk second round draft choices and guys, they weren't sure we're going to produce. So do you guys, I'll hang up and listen, But do you guys see any contradiction in philosophy there? The way they value a second round draft choice. Thank all right, Phil,

appreciate it. Another example is giving up the second round to move up to take Mo Claiborne twenty twelve, or moving up to get to Marcus Lawrence in the second round, or taking a shot on Sean Lee. Sure. Yeah, so yeah, all depends whether it pans out or not. I think it's what you think you're getting right, right, You're you're getting a You're taking a shot on somebody that's twenty two, twenty three years old, not saying I'm going to use it on a twenty nine year old player who's on

a one year deal. And so there's so many different layers to this whole Earl Thomas thing Brian will tell you. The first layer is Seattle. Seattle. They got to be willing, dude. I think I think Seattle is the number one reason why this steal hasn't been made. Number two is the contract. It's not just a second or third round pick, it's how much money do you want to invest in a twenty nine year old safety? Now? Do you want to just take a shot for one year and say okay,

come and play and then we'll sit it out. Yeah? Yeah, at the end and we'll just pay eight and a half million dollars. Okay, fine, but do you want to sink fourteen million dollars a year into a twenty nine year old player? And that's what he wants. That's why he's not in Seattle right now. Now, Maybe he says, Oh, to come back for Texas, I'll play for ten million. Yeah, I don't know. It depends on how much you get guaranteed.

That's the bottom line from all this stuff. And I think these players are going to figure out when they sign these long term deals, you better put a clause going into that last year that if I'm on the roster March tenth, then my base salary is guaranteed. Because what they worry about is getting hurt and then they go into free agency and or they get hurt during and you get released. You got to protect yourself going

into that last year. If you think, and this wasn't does his last year of his contract, but I think he would have liked to have had something in his contract. Yeah, but March tenth that they got to make it yeah and give me an opportunity to get into free agency if if indeed that does is a classic example of a guy that had he been released on March thirteenth instead of April thirteenth, the market would have played out totally different for him. No, I don't disagree with y'all.

I think though two with the still in my mind, have the thought of Dallas at on the clock at fifty and being willing to talk about it. So that to me, right there says that, Okay, the second round pick was in play. But the fact that we like a player better at that point, or a guy that we really cove it a position, a position we cove it,

I think that says a lot. But the fact that they were willing to talk about it and Dallas called back to Seattle and out at you know when they got I think on the clock at ninety one the third round pick, and that's when John Snyder said, no, we're not going to do that. This is on John Snyder. This is not on the Dallas Cowboys. When John Snyder's ready to check with ready to trade him, if in fact he is at all, he needs to call Dallas and he just says, okay, this is what I want

for Earl Thomas. He's got I believe he's got thirty other team or twenty nine other teams that he could shop him too as well. They're they're calling Earl Thomas bluff. And yeah, I think if he's, if Earl Thomas is gonna be willing to give up John September fourth, Yeah, John will not talk to me about him at all. And and you know, and rightfully so, I mean I worked for this organization. He shouldn't talk to me. But the thing about it is he's he's gonna he's gonna

make Earl Thomas to play. I believe he is, you know, And and and that's where and if Earl Thomas is it as a conviction, if and maybe Earl Thomas has enough money to where he could sit out and for eight hundred thousand dollars a week, more power to him. But he's gonna have to come back to get free agency. He's gonna have to come back in week ten. You know, I don't know if the Seahawks want to go that route. And I told the story yesterday. There are people within

the organization that want Earl Thomas gone. They wanted him gone after he went and made the run to the locker room at AT and T Stadium. But then there's also the coaching side of it, where Pete Carroll's like, no, no, let's not do this. So you know, coaches want to keep all the best players they can. Coaches aren't interested in just moving guys along just on principle, you know. So John's going to call this guy's bluff and see if the fact that he does, if he's going to

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drive to the parking lots. You're not going to drive through in front of the Star because those streets are blocked off. It's like a street stace party out there right now. That's right, looking way ahead to the season opener against the Carolina Panthers and on the heels of the Travis Frederick News and then looking even further, they are ahead the week after that when the Giants come by and defensive tackles here. That's why there's four you're

worried about. Well, the keep in mind the Carolina Panthers, they not only have Kawan short, but in the off season they signed on Terry Poe. Sure and he can give a center fits. And then Travis Frederick fits first time. Remember that in Kansas City. That's right, and uh, and then the second week you got Snacks Harrison and the Giant two have switched to a three four three four. He'll be lined up right over the center, won't he

sure will. Yeah, So Looney just let you know, yep. Yeah, So we knew it wasn't going to be easy with Travis Frederick in the lineup. We kind of felt like that exactly. The NFC South, the AFC South, those are you know, those are some difficult games. You can't go you can't go in those games and be two and six. You know, you've got you've got to find a way to, you know, to to win one of those divisions. I mean when I mean when a three and a one,

you know, two and two split something. But you just can't let those two your your own divisions is difficult as well. So you know you've got to find a way not to be one in three going either in those divisions. When you look when they win thirteen games, what they do. They swept the North, They swept both norths, which I didn't think was possible the NFC North with the Packers Vikings. You know, won all those games and then you turn around and you beat at the Steelers Baltimore.

That that's the difficult So but the huge thing at season is the way they played on the road. Yes, absolutely, especially with a rookie quarterback runs so in the center to helping him out and lou Of and loeu of that. One of the things that I think Brian has been pointing out and helped maybe the Connor Williams is that they've been doing a lot of pulling. Yes, so maybe that continues. So Joe Looney is not sitting there one on one with Don Terry Poe every snap, right, Like,

you get them moving. Yeah, the thing you get those guys moving, it helps your it ends too. If you have tight ends that aren't James Hannah, that are a good point of attack, point of attack blockers. Anytime you can angle block your line or you're tight end, it makes it easier because you're not asking guys to physically move somebody out of the way. You're making them have to run through you to get to the ball. Now, what has been Paul Alexander's philosophy as far as zone blocking.

We've seen it. Now we're starting to see it because because I saw reports the last couple of years in Cincinnati, they were complaining from a media fans. Never we're complaining about too much zone blocking, too much zone blocking. Yeah, maybe it had more to do with the personnel. It's exactly right. And I was talking with Mark Colombo about that before we got on the plane and I said, hey, you know the high hand low hand. He goes, Hey,

it's just not that. He goes, I've done since, you know, with working with Bill Callahan and then working with Frank Pollock and now working with this guy. He goes, I've seen power gap schemes. I've seen you know, zone schemes. I've seen far reach zone schemes. He's kind of talking about. These guys have had to go through a lot of different but I feel like that they're going to take advantage of the offensive lines ability to get on the edge.

Smith Williams Joe Looney was pulling the other day and some stuff, you know Martin can pull. We saw what happened. Martin got when he was pulling, He got, he got dinged up. But they by the way, he didn't blame that dB for what happened to him, he said, and in fact, that's what he said. He said, you know what if I was a dB, that's the way that they're taught that they're taught to get to the ground quick and try and check that out. But that Kurtpatrick, Yeah,

Draker Patrick. But I also saw something very positive again one of the great things of working at the Stars. He was out there working with Britt Brown yesterday. Yeah, so you know that's good. We can stand up and turn oh hey, who's that. Oh, it's sat Martin out there working. So I think that's a positive sign that he's out there and trying to to rehab himself and get him going the right way. And he's been engaged

with the team throughout. Yeah. Absolutely, And you know what I bet he becomes if if Travis isn't in the locker room every day because he's sort of the leader of the pack right at that offensive line, and it would really have taken a more leadership role on the offense. I bet Zach Martin now steps up. I've just noticed

how he's conducted himself in interviews lately. He's more forthcoming, he's more forceful in his answers, and I think if you're looking for a guy to kind of take charge of that offensive line room, it's going to be Zach. War He feels a responsibility to the Joneses for his contract, right. He feels like, hey, I've got to find a way to I'm sure Travis feels that same way. Yeah. Yeah, these guys are very mindful of the you know. And I saw some people asking on Twitter and say, well, hey,

good for Travis Frederick. He got paid. You know, if something happens Lacy got paid. I'm like, that's just a bad attitude to have about it. You know, it's not about you worry about the guy's health first. And but there are people saying, oh, he got paid. I'm like, that's just a terrible way of looking at you. But there's a need and Zack Martin has his quality about him,

as does Travis Frederick, as does Tyron Smith. There's a conviction, a strength of mind that you had doubt have after you get paid that kind of money, No doubt, there is an extra pressure on that player to they if they feel the same way about the organization because they want to make sure that they are earning that money. Talk to Tyron Crawford about that, right, Yeah. Tyron Crawford is one of those guys that he doesn't show up in the box score. We always say that that's when

those baseball sayings. But he is a guy that if you if you look at what he does on film every game, it's not the flashiest thing, but he is going to find a way to get Randy Gregory home this year. He is going to find a way who ever plays next to him, He's going to do whatever he has to do. If he can't get himself home on a rush or make a play, he's going to

get somebody else around him home. By the way he plays and the fact that he's probably gonna have to play a lot of three technique until they kind of figure things out through the first four weeks this season, I think that's just, you know, admirable thing you can bust on him all you want, but the guy is one of the To me, he has earned his salary. And it's not all about sacks. It's about how you help others around you get better. And he's done that

for sure. All right, fin a minute or so, and he certainly could have been like, oh, you're gonna move me inside. I'm a defensive end, and he would. When I talked to him on Tuesday, he was just fine with him whatever. Its a matter of fact, he was laughing. He looked at me and he goes, do you have to ask? He goes, you knew this was going to happen. Are you surprised? But he was good with it. And that's what Marinelli said. He goes, what a great team leader.

He will do anything I ask him to do. Yep. And so we'll keep an eye on that today. See if Randy Gregory's still working with the first team. That's true. A couple of minutes left here actually, And so we're Arizona on Sunday night. What are you looking for? Sunday night against Arizona? A lot of young guys getting an opportunity to make their career in the National Football League with the amount of injuries, the amount of guys that they're gonna hold out just because a lot of guys

are gonna get a chance. Cam Kelly Tyree Robinson a huge you know. And we saw Robinson in the in the in the in the practice on Tuesday, playing center field and picking one off. Yeah, so let's go. Let's let's see it. Kadeem Edwards big time? Are you Are you going to be the eighth offensive lineman or is there somebody at Tampa Bay or New Orleans it's better than you. They have to figure that out with him, because right now, until until Zack Martin gets back, that

is your right guard for your Dallas Cowboys. Cam Fleming, get out there and make me feel better about if you have to play, you know, and not to mention the wide receiver series and the quarter and the quarterbacks. You know, this is gonna be a great opportunity for both of those quarterbacks to get snaps in a National Football League game. Uh, and Cooper Rush needs them. Mike White is showing signs. Okay, get out there showing me

the next the tight ends, same thing. There's tough to accomplish in these last couple of games, all right, And then we turn around then four days later and finish out the preseason at Houston next Thursday. We will be back on Monday to wrap up what happened on Sunday Night and Jason Garrett coming up next year on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.