Talkin' Cowboys: Have Expectations Changed?

is a fans on the fifty Tuesday. We've got your fan questions rolling in all over the place because we've got a lot of him let's just say it, say it bluntly, We've got a lot of fan questions because this Dallas Cowboys team has a lot of questions. We're gonna answer him the best we can here over the

next forty five minutes. So glad you're with us on Dallas Cowboys dot Com and all the various streaming platforms alongside our resident Super Bowl Champion, mister Isaiah stand Back, the Great Heck Harrison, and just Rob Phillips chair today that's all we're seeing on the periscope at the moment and on the view at the moment. It's a good looking chair. I don't know if we've ever gotten a really good look at Rob's chair, but it looks great.

He'll be joining us here in just a moment. He had an interview with one oh five point three the fan the flagship station down the road. But guys, were a couple of days were mooved now from what was the thirty seven thirty four win over the Giants, and

of course Dak Prescott. Now the timeline is out four to six months due to the ankle injury, the foot injury, and just an unfortunate break for the Cowboys, and really something that I know we we're gonna going to address at nauseum over the next couple of weeks and really the rest of the season. But I want to kind of address something that was said today on the on the Jerry Jones side of the thing. But we're gonna

wait for Rob on that one. But has your opinion of this team changed, really expectation wise, Let's just started off with that, Isaiah. Expectations changed without Dak Prescott at the helm, absolutely not um Like as I mentioned, yesterday. Annie Dalton is a heck of a quarterback. In my opinion, he's a top twenty five quarterback in this NFL. And so I understand that everybody's you know, still still mourning the loss of a starting quarterback on a franchise quarterback

Dak Prescott. Obviously, he will be back and he'll be healthy, just not this season. But don't don't mistaken it, No, Danny, don't disrespect any Dalton. Any Dalton is is a duel man. He's a he's a dog. Any Dalton could have went to a lot of places this past year and started. He chose to come to Dallas and play the role of a backup. He is not a backup quarterback. He's playing the role of a backup quarterback. And that's what

everybody needs to understand. So when you guys are when Dak Prescott goes down, you're not going to just your normal number two quarterback that's on most rosters. You're going to an all pro quarterback who was trying to take a year off in a sense, he kind of let his hair down for a minute before he came back the next year to go back to taking a round

of responsibilities. Again, Yeah, Kyle, Yes, sir. I'm more of in a whole position on my expectation right now because I know that so much is going to have to change with the offensive line to facilitate what Andy Dalton's strengths are, and so knowing that Dak was that guy that could make plays with his legs to get out and even go on design runs. You know, that's what he was heard on. But that's one of the things

that he brings to the fold for your offense. And so I just feel as though with his experience, it's not as though I'm looking at this glass half half empty. Basically, I know that there is the potential for him to have success in this offense. But look, if he's back there running for his life and he can't get comfortable in this offense, I don't know what those results will be.

I'm hoping that the game plan for Andy Dalton is a heavy dose of zeke and then getting ahead of the sticks and having the advantage in second and third down to maybe then air it out, but I don't. The thing is is that I'm not trying to relegate Andy Dalton to a bus driver. I just want to know how he's going to look in this Dallas Cowboys offense. Yeah,

it really is something that's come in. Go for it, Isaiah, not just I mean, I guess, I know, I know you're probably posing the same question, and most people are posing heck, but I'm like, in what regard is any Dalton that much different than dak I mean, and I'm not saying that in a disrespectful way. Andy Dalton. Any Dalton again, he might be one step Slordan. Dak Da probably runs a six. Andy Dalton probably runs a four seven, So I mean, like the ability to run, it doesn't

really change. In terms of the terms of the passing game. Andy Dalton's, in my opinion, is a better passer than than Dak And I said that before the season even started, and I think Dak is coming along. He's becoming a better passer and he's doing the heck of a job. Obviously, up to the date he got hurt, he was doing a hell of a job passing a ball. But historically

Andy Dalton to me, is a better passer. We know that he's been able to manage a team that hasn't been very good for a number of years, and he got them to the Playoff a number of times. He also managed to make three Pro Bowls with those terrible teams. So when we're talking about Andy Dalton, Andy Dalton is somebody who is proven in this league. He has experience, he seemed more than Dak has seen. He's experienced more

than Dak has experience. And again that's no shade, but where he is just the facts, and he is more primed to handle this situation than anybody. So for anybody to look down and start luring their expectations, I don't care if you're the owner. I don't care if you're a coach, I don't care if you're a fan. I mean, I think it's almost disrespectful to Andy Dalton and what he's done in this league now. And I don't think that what I'm the perspective that I'm coming from is

at all a disrespect to Andy Dalton. I understand what the skill set is. What I'm saying is we already had an offensive line that was struggling. Let's just talk about the facts of it in the in the running game. In the running game, we've been struggling, right, and a lot of the struggle also in the passing game is giving Dak the time to see those open throws, the strip sack fumbles, uh, the just the lack of being able to see the field because guys are in your face.

How does that change with Andy Dalton. I'm not saying that Andy Dalton doesn't have an arm. He does. I'm not saying that Andy Dalton is that much is a statue in the in the pocket, because I think he's a lot more mobile than people believe that. It be right, I just but but what I'm saying is our offensive line we've had woes there. We just I personally just want to see how he operates. This is his team

for eleven games. That's understands it. But but can we all be an agreeance that Andie Dalton coming in at quarterback this officsive line is better than any line he's probably had a Cincinnati Oh hey, okay, So I'm saying what I'm saying. So that's why I'm asking, like, where did the question marks come in with somebody who has gotten a terrible team to the playoffs. He's gotten himself to the Pro Bowl right with less than what he has now, So for us to have, for us to

have Laura expectations for it. If to me, it doesn't make sense because he's walking into the situation where in his history this is better than all of his history. Better receivers collectively, better officsive line, better team talent wise, better organization, like, everything's better. So for him, he's like, man,

this is freaking Christmas. Let's go. I completely agree with what Isaiah saying here, specifically based on the comparison between Dallas and Cincinnati and the teams that Andy Dalton has had to work with. He's had playoff pushes with lesser rosters than what he has to do with now. And some would say that he hasn't won a playoff game. I agree, but he's made a push to the playoff. He's made a push to push off to playoff in the AFC with a lesser roster. That's my point here.

Some would also say that he's one of the more accomplished quarterbacks in the NFC East, or the most accomplished quarterback in the NFC East. And then one man that has said that is Rob Phillips, and he is now with us here on talking Cowboys and Rob. I was listening to your interview on Shawn and RJ, and they kind of gave you some flat for saying that Andy Dalton was the most accomplished quarterback in the NFC East over Carson Wentz, over of course, Dwayne Haskins, Daniel Jones.

That's a no brainer. But really the big question mark was Carson Wentz. I want to give you a chance to defend yourself, because I don't think you got a chance in that interview to defend yourself. I want you to be able to kind of got your back table. I kind of agree with you, and I want to hear your reason now. Yeah, I started a poll on Shawn and RJ on Twitter from that discussion, and I you know what, I didn't. I don't even know if

I took a real stance. I just threw it out there, and I think Kyle you might have thrown it out there. You can argue that Andy Dalton is still the best quarterback in the NFC East. And that's not a knock on Carson Wentz. That's just the fact that this guy has played in the league for ten years. You guys mentioned,

he's been to three Pro Bowls. He played with some teams that probably weren't They weren't necessarily contenders in the AFC, just solid Bengals teams, well coached by Marvin Lewis, and no, they didn't win playoff games. Carson Wentz does have a super Bowl ring. And if I'm starting a team, if I'm starting a team right now, between those two quarterbacks, You're probably going with Wentz because of his age and his talent level. But Nick Foles was the quarterback when

they won that Super Bowl. And so when you when I look at what's been accomplished over the last ten years, I think you can argue that it's that it's it's Andy Dalton and so, I, you know, expectations maybe they drop in terms of the Super Bowl for the Cowboys given all the injuries, But I don't know if you you can say, oh, they can't win the division in this in this terrible start to the division right now, and maybe they talk me into it yesterday, Isaiah, you know,

listening to Mike McCarthy and and and Kellen Moore. Not a knock on Dak because I think there is a drop. I think Dak has established himself as a top ten quarterback, but they really feel like they can run their offense still with Andy Dalton, and I'm really I'm anxious to see it, to see how they fare. Isaiah, I know you're you're probably in the same kind of boat there. I mean, I was with Rob for about eighty percent

of it, and I was. I was with him up until he said, you know, the whole Super Bowl, You're you're the Cowboys. Losing Dak Prescott and replacing him with Andy Dalton is not the reason why this team would that won't make the super Bowl. If it's this team won't make the super Bowl, it's not because of that. No, you're right, you're right, Okay, So yeah, so it's it's let's let's be sure of that. I don't. I don't. I don't think there's a huge drop off in production

between Dak Prescott, Andy Andy Andy Dalton. I just don't. And again, that's no shade on Dack. He's a dude, so is Andy Dalton. Right, you know, he's just he's a lot younger than him, and he's ran, he's moved around, he has the ability to move around a little bit more. He chooses to run the ball a little bit more. But aside from that, I don't see it. I don't see it. Das had more than than than Andy Dalton's

had his own career. Andy Dalton's had two dudes. He's had he is that He's had effort, and he had a J. Green. AJ Green was hurt half the time. So somehow, some way to Dunway and Mohammad Sanou, those guys aren't necessarily the you're right, you're right there. I may know they're not the same. They're not, no, not the same, but I mean, I mean, but I just see a lot of people kind of getting down and trying to use this as an opportunity to lower their

standards for this team. The standards were lord by from this by this team, from their play these first four to five games. That's where the standards were lord It's not because Dack's out. They got to figure this thing out on defense. If this team decides to play ball on defense, this team will be perfectly fine. If they decide not to, this team will could see you to struggle, but offensive production wise, it won't change. The only thing that you'll see change is that obviously now the running

game goes through Zeke, which should have been doing anyways. Right, we shouldn't be throwing the ball at sixty times a game. We should be running throwing the ball at thirty five times a game and giving it to seek for another twenty five or thirty. So that's exactly what I'm What I'm saying, Isaiah, is that that changes by those just

nuance changes to our approach on offense. By feeding Zeke, that changes the output for Andy Dalton, because again, I don't think you will see any success if Andy Dalton is throwing the ball fifty seven times a game. But but you but you weren't seeing that success with Dac either. I was gonna say so, so yeah, but we're saying the same thing. But the approach had nothing to do with who was at quarterback. It was the offensive coordinator

and how he was calling the game. It was your lack of production on defense, it was your inefficiency on special teams. Those were the issues that were hanging over this team. It had nothing to do with the quarterback play. And just because you go down to your second string who chose to be a second string, does not change

anything with this team. On the offensive side of the ball, they should have been running the ball with Zeke a lot more and they were going to have to make that change anyway if they wanted to start winning games. We're honestly, I think Isaiah, we're in agreement because I'm with you like I think if we're gonna get we're gonna get to our number one concern on the team right now. And You're right, it's not the quarterback position

for me. Even now, it's not. That being said, despite the fact they've been turning over the ball too much, I still think Dak the numbers, the yards and in position to score points. Man Like I still have to see Andy Dalton run the offense and move the ball down the field consistently the way Dak did. He may very well be able to do it, but I think Da Dak's ability to at least put keep them in

games despite well as some of his own turnovers. But the defensive struggles, the special team struggles as well, that's where I still got to see it on a consistent basis. But I think you're right in terms of I think we can still see really high production because we watched Andy Dalton in training camp have a really good solid performances with this offense, and I think it has a chance to continue, especially in a weird season. I said

this on a fan a minute ago. A weird season where all these road games coming up, there's not a crowd to affect this young offensive line or Andy Dalton. They can still they can operate. Mike McCarthy has said this. It's a disadvantage for the Cowboys to some degree when they come home, even though the crowd was good on Sunday. But they can go any game the rest of the season and still execute as far as communication and stuff.

So I'm with you there, But I do think Dak can mask some of the problems they have on defense. They gotta get balanced. They absolutely have to get more balanced with Zeke. He's gonna hold the key. I think he absolutely does. And if you have success with Zeke, they showed it against the Giants. I mean they had two really key cornerstone drives in that wind that allowed them to where they were allowed to run the ball and then continue to punch it up the middle with Zeke.

And one was in the first or the second quarter following the seventeen the three deficit. The other one was right after Andy Dalton replaced Dak Prescott. Both of those drives changed the game and allowed the Cowboys to come out on top in that thirty seven thirty four win. We are going to get to our biggest concern on this Cowboys team. We're gonna have to do it a little bit later in the show because it's past nine fifty and it's time for Fans on the fifty. When

we come back, we'll start answering your Twitter questions. We're gonna do two segments of Fans on the fifty this week because there are so many darned questions that have been flying in. People coming because there are same box to get to. Well, we come back talking Cowboys. Sam's eighteen sixty five Stetson hats are American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Want to show your Texas and Team pride two You can by purchasing your

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Doctor pep and Cream Soda. Is he a Newcombone's music to my ears? Okay? Doctor time music to my ears and mouths new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda delas just by to Talking Cowboys. Welcome back to Talking Cowboys here on this Tuesday edition. And of course it is time now for one of our favorite segments throughout the week. It's time for some fans on the fifty. Fans on the fifty of course, great work in the back from Chris Beam. And we're gonna start things off from hair

Old Carter and mister Harold has uh. He has bullet points of questions. I'm gonna take two of them because I think we need to address one of them and then I like the other question a lot. And the one of them is directed toward mister Uh, the biggest Texas A and m fan in the in the room, mister I hate saw him off. We added a quarterback yesterday. Who is this new quarterback? Mister Garrett Gilbert, And I'm gonna ask Rob Phillips, well, he's not an aggy, He's

a longhorn. And as I wanted to pitch it to you. Yeah, Yeah, he's from that town in Austin, keep Austin weird, and um, he's he's a he's a solid quarterback. He's uh, I think as far as number three options go, and that's probably what he's gonna be. Uh. I think it makes sense to bring him in given you know, he's been around the league for about six years, I think, and he's kind of bounced around practice squads. I think he's only thrown six passes in his NFL regular season career.

But if you're just looking for a guy with some experience that if you had to you know, if it's a break glass emergency situation with you know, if you get all the way down the depth chart to Benda Nucci, then it makes sense. But that's the expectation that he's coming in. And it's weird though with the COVID protocols, Like I think it's six days of testing now to even get him in the building, and I don't think it even changes for a guy that's coming from another team.

I think it's I have to double check that, but in either way, Ben da Nucci is going to be your backup quarterback this week and maybe just continuing down the road here behind Dalton, do you think so you you mentioned that he might be the second string quarterback, do you think it's more likely that he comes in and he's on the active roster as the backup to Andy Dalton and they continue to develop a benda Nucci

on the practice squad. I don't know. I mean, I think maybe at some point, depending on, you know, if there's some competition there with reps, I think, but I think Dalton needs as many. Asaiah can speak to this. I mean, Dalton's gonna need as many reps in practice as he can possibly get because Dak's taken most of

those up to this point. I just think the way this whole season has gone about, and at least the Nucci has been in the system, you know, for six weeks on the longer than six weeks since training camp started in mid August, I think that just gives him a jump in terms of being ready, but in terms of experience that Gilbert's been around longer obviously, So we'll just see how that develops. And I did just get another fan on the fifty question in our periscope and

it said, is Colt McCoy available? No, he was on the other sideline on Sunday. He's the backup quarterback to Daniel Jones. So no, not another Texas quarterback. We got Garrett Gilbert, the other Texas quarterback that is in here. Second. Yeah, there you go. Second question from Harold, and this one's a little bit more intriguing to me, And I think this is a question a lot of Cowboys fans had.

But the defense seemed to find themselves a little bit in the second half of Sunday's victory against the Giants, and I know that's still a question mark as a whole, and this is a defense that's underperformed already through the first four weeks of the season, and they definitely did

so in the first half of Sunday's game. However, is this something we can see continuing that second half where you saw some pass rush, you saw the winebackers able to fly around heckma, do you think this defense can continue some of that success then? I'm hoping so. Obviously with the strip sack turnover for a touchdown, those are little things that probably is given this group a bit

of confidence. And everybody knows that they have been getting the brunt of all the criticism for the losses, and rightfully so, but at the same time, they have a win and something to build off of if you just go with the edge rushers. I think Tank looked a little bit better than previous weeks. Hopefully that knee is getting healthier. Interior line wise, guys, we just have questions. Then.

We talked about that at length yesterday. But linebacker wise, I think Rob you said it, you felt as though Jalen Smith had his best game as a Dallas Cowboys, So building on that momentum, you know this, these guys have nothing but up to go from where they are right now. Definitely this season. Definitely his best game this season, no doubt. Yeah. Isay you agree? Um? Yeah? And in the sorts, Um, I feel like I can't. I can't

put too much weight on this previous game. I mean, I don't want to take anything away from those guys production in the plays that they made. They made those plays against other professional athletes, but it wasn't against a very good team. So I'm looking forward to seeing that.

I hope that that builds their confidence though, and I think we talked about that all last week, that there's an opportunity for them to get their confidence up and and and kind of rekindle that flame that's and that's inside you to say, hey, I'm a dog, you know, and I could play some ball around here. Um, why can't I do this every week? Okay? I will? And it's kind of almost a decision. Sometimes you just kind of need that little flame and turn inside you to

to light you up. But you know, going against the Cardinals this week, that's gonna be a test, you know. I mean, those guys were able to get pressure this pass. We could gets a sitting duck. This dude is not a sitting duck that they're gonna be facing this week. So I'll have a better opinion after this week. I

feel like this week is probably agree. I agree, going to answer a lot of those questions, Rob, Yeah, yeah, I mean, Daniel Jones has talent, but he consistently turns the ball over or puts the ball on the ground. I just felt like the Cowboys were gonna have opportunities to get the ball back for their defense, which hasn't

for their offense, which hasn't happened this year. I thought just the fact that they were able to play with a lead or close to it in the second half did so much for the pass rush to at least just get in a position to try to tee off. They haven't had that that that ability. Some of it's on them because they get up too many plays early

in games and points early in games. But if they can continue to do that, you know, we're there in situations where they're not playing from behind and you kind of know what the opposing offense needs to do, then I think that's going to help him going forward. And yeah, like like heck mentioned, Jalen really stepped up, you know, in terms of being on the screws and helping against screens,

against the run game, and that's really encouraging going forward. Now, if you get vander eschback fairly soon, I don't know if it's this week, that will be another step forward defensively. But there are still concerns and you know, I think Mike Nolan was asked yesterday, is this the toughest receiving corps you're gonna face this year to this point? And I don't think he didn't say no. I mean, obviously, just Hopkins alone with Kyler Murray's mobility, like that's a

different ball game than we saw this past week. Yeah, it's a containment nightmare. And you've also got Kenyan Drake in the backfield who's able to make an impact in the passing game. You've got Kyler Murray, who, like I said, as a containment nightmare himself. And then of course the receiving corps. This is gonna be a challenge. I mean, there's gonna be a lot of points put up in this game because I think I think you're gonna have to in order to get in a shootout in to

beat a Cliff Kingsbury led team. Now you mentioned some of the questions in the concerns of this defensive line. I think one of the biggest concerns on this entire roster, if not the biggest, is the interior presence of that defensive line. And our guy Will says, because of Dontari Poe's injury from last year and starting this year on the pup list, how hard is or how is that affecting his play this year moving into what has been

really a disappointing starting week or five weeks to the season. Isaiah, I don't know. I don't know what he's what he's dealing with physically. I can't speak to his physical well being right now. I don't have eyes on all in a training room, so I can't judge as Payne Tylers what he's dealing with. I don't know, but I don't want to make any excuses for him though now I do know. If you're out there, then you decide to suit up regardless of what paying your experience, and you

still have to produce. You know, when my time's in Dallas, I sublect my shoulder two years in a row, and I played with my shoulder popping in and out almost every other day. You know, I would my shoulder will pop out in practice and I'll be out of practice for a day or a half of practice and you know, get to the game and they would have to strap my shoulder down and I was not one hundred percent.

But guess what, I recognize that if I'm going to be out there, there's something that I can do that somebody else can't do on this team that they need me for. So if he knows that going into it, then he needs to be able to provide that. And if he has any kind of ailment that's preventing him from being as productive as they need him, to be in his roles that they're asking him to play, then

he needs to step off the field. Yeah. Well, we hadn't seen Dune Terry Pole show up on any injury report, so it sounds like to me that he's ready to go. He's just putting out bad, bad film. It's he's not winning his won on one battles, and I mean a man his size getting, you know, dug up out the middle,

it's gonna show up. And I think that's the thing that Cowboy fans are most frustrated with with Done Terry Pope, because we were sold on the fact that this guy is gonna be a run stuffer that's going to anchor himself in the middle, and all the great things that he has done in his career. Coming into this season, we just hadn't seen any of it, not even a flash of what you've seen him do with other ball club. So I don't know. I don't think it's because of

the element. Maybe so, And like Isaiah says, man, we don't we don't have the inside track on that to be able to say, all right, how are you feeling the day, Done Terry, But he's not showing up on any injury reports, So we just got to assume that he's healthy. I don't want to give away my number one concern on defense, so I'll just pass. Okay, well, I'll save that for a little bit later now whenever

he comes to getting some interior pass rush. We saw on Sunday that they actually slide in an Alden Smith and an Everson Griffin to that three technique spot. Do you think that's something we're gonna see more of moving into the later parts of the season, Rob seeing a Griffin moved to nose tackle, and not nose tackle, but to the three technique and defensive tackle, or allowing maybe an Alden Smith or an Everson Griffin whoever is still in that right defensive in spot, or a Randy Gregory

when he comes back to have more snaps. Yeah, and we saw it a little bit early in the season. It look it's something he did in Minnesota too. So yeah, if it's a situation where you can move him around and again, like you said, maybe create some matchups for some of your edge rushers, then yeah, they've got to find solutions in the middle. Right now. This is this is a big, big problem in terms of you already

lost Gerald McCoy. That was a big loss. Tristan Hill stepped up and really surprised everybody, maybe even the coaching staff in terms of you know, they said yesterday and Mike Nolan said, he's probably the most improved defensive player we had this year. Definitely the most improved defensive lineman. They loved his effort. They really thought he was growing as a player. Now you're trying to mix in Neville Gallimore,

who you know. I think he had some struggles in the game, but I think you have to remember, not only is he a rookie, he's he's really young in his football career coming from Canada. I think he just probably needs some more time. But that's where they are right now. They've got to find guys who can step

into that position. You guys mentioned Poe. You watch the game back and the Giants had the same success as the Browns in terms of sealing things off in the middle, and with one or two linemen seal that off and find increases. And that's that's going to continue. I mean, that's that's gonna that shows up on tape, and that's gonna be something that other teams are gonna try to exploit.

They've got to find a way to shore that up inside because you're getting you know, you're getting late Vanderesh back, but you don't have anybody coming back in the middle of that defensive line that you can count on right now. You've it's got to find some kind of patchwork solutions. Yeah. If you if you have a position that you play right, um, and you're a vet in this league. Unless you perform at that particular position, your position is null and void.

I now could push you wherever I need you and had to have the most effect, right, So I don't care if you play d N. Guess what. You haven't been productive at d N the way in which we want you to in this scheme. So now guess what you're playing at three technique because we feel like you're more experienced in there. If you're if you're a dog and they and they hide their weak spots in their interior officive line that we're gonna put you there to happen.

Maybe we have an advantage because we have a Bradley and Night, we have a we have all these guys that are Gregreat that's gonna be coming an office suspension. You have all these guys that are gonna be coming into with that juice, and guess what, we need some juice. So as you get older, you lose a little bit of juice, right, so let's go ahead and squeeze that juice on the inside and put some of that fresh blood on the outside. Like that. Ye I like that.

I think that Everson Griffin moving inside. That's in his wheelhouse, like you said, Robbie, he did that in Minnesota, so great to take advantage of it, especially with you know, being shorthanded after hell his incident, but also Alvin Smith had a ton of success playing inside as well. So I hope that that's something that they come back to and you know, obviously get these guys and get some type of continuity on that defensive line with the group,

because now you leave, you lose. He'll never Gallimore comes in and you know, look, it wasn't that he looked that great. But if he can, you know, continue to improve week after weekend at least supplement the energy that he'll was giving you on the defensive line, will be fine. Rob Have you heard anything and this is another fan on the fifty question, but have you heard of anything specifically about looking to outside help and bringing in some guys for workouts in terms of that d tackle spot,

especially with Tristan Hill out. I haven't heard anything in terms of workouts. Mike Nolan referenced yesterday that they might be looking for some help on the practice squad. Is just justin Hamilton's still on the practice squad. I think that that might be an option. Um, so yeah, maybe they're that's what they've been doing on defense, They've been looking in house, and so uh, that might be the

direction they go. But no, I haven't. I haven't heard anything of anything of the snacks variety, if that's what he's asking. Have you guys noticed that this year, out of all years, like up to this year, practice squad is going to kind of looked down upon, right, and now all of a sudden, practice squad is like the most valuable asset on your dog on team. It's kind it's kind of an interesting team because you get a

table or you are going to be utilized. Heckman, No, absolutely, and I think Isaiah that's because of you know, the the pandemic and just the ability to extend players on your practice squad. There are a lot of teams that are hoarding some bad players just because they don't know what's going to happen with the injuries on the team. So I think that's a by product of just not being able to evaluate guys. Yeah, I think it's sad. Yeah,

it's wild. They I mean, I think they had fifty one guys on the on the they kept fifty one on the active roster. But really it's it's more than that because you have the ability to elevate two guys every week. So uh, yeah, you're right, it's more of a it's more of a benefit and something you lean

on definitely than past years. And while we're on the topic of young players here, Chris being if I could get a one shot here, I just want to make my weekly pitch to give Bradley a NYE more playing time, please, because he's seen six snaps throughout his rookie season. He's had six snaps. He's had two pressures and a quarterback hit in those six naps. So please, for love of any good Friday by Friday, more playing time. I just wanted to. I just wanted to get out there. I

like the kid, Kyle, I do too. No, I like that man. When you said bring in the pitchs a steel shot of me. I thought you were gonna say, how good you looked at your shirt today? A young playoff. I thought you about film fresh today, clock bag with a star on it, off of the I picked it up off the floor. No I didn't. I love man, You're looking good, young player. Go ahead, whether you're watching

from home or watching us on Talking Cowboys. With lenses, you'll see every exciting play and see every great iron shirt. Book an appointment at your local esselor experts and finding the perfect lenses for you. See more, do more. We've got more fans on the fifty questions to answer when we come back. You're on Talking Cowboys. I'm Jay Novachik, former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys back in the day. I was the guy who always got the tough yards,

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that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor pepper and Cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor pet cream Soda. Is he a Newcombonet's music to my years? Okay, Doctor time a glass music to my ears and miles? New Doctor pepper and cream Soda? What delas? Just do bad want to use? What the pros use? How about the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black. Right now you can get the Jack Black Starter, a curated collection of Cowboys locker room favorites for just ten

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Cowboys final segment here of this Tuesday edition. And if you're coming to a Dallas Cowboys game this season, make sure you know before you go, wear a mask, keep distance, and be prepared for all the cash list transactions. Please be aware of all safe stadium policies prior to arriving at AT and T Stadium. Visit Dallas Cowboys dot com slash safe Stadium for details. It's been a ton of fun over the last couple of weeks having back to

back home games. We've got another home game coming up on Monday Night Football as the Arizona Cardinals come to town. By the way, just a quick little fun fact before we get in the couple more fans on the fifty questions here, But we've had three straight home games. By the time. This Monday night football game will conclude on Monday. It's also the third straight road game for Arizona. They've played three straight on the road before they'll return home

for two. So you've got the benefit of a homestand and they've got the road trip working coming from Phoenix, so overall you've got another advantage there. But as we go into the final segment, Heck Harrison, Isaiah stand back, Rob Phillips, I'm Kyle Yeoman's and a couple more fans

on the fifty questions. And this one came actually yesterday and it maybe wasn't tabbed as a fans on the fifty question specifically, but it was one that I want to I want to throw into this mix, and it was a fantastic question, but it was what is your biggest concern on this Cowboys team right now following the

injury to Dak Prescott. I'm gonna allow Rob to start this one off because he kind of alluded to it earlier, but whenever he comes to every unit, whether it's special teams, defense, offense, doesn't matter. What is your biggest concern right now? Well, Isaiah and I agree, I don't know if Heck agrees totally. It's not the quarterback for me. I think Andy Dalton

can come in and have success. I mentioned earlier I talked about the defensive interior line, and that for me, with losing Gerald McCoy and Triston Hill now for the season, they've got to get that short up because teams are going to continue to try to run the ball against them, and when they do that, the play action comes into play. And they have struggled against play action pretty much everywhere on the field, especially around the goal line, and that

can lead to big plays down the field. So to me, it's you still. Isaiah was rattling off statistics about numbers of points allowed already the season defensively, and it's not all defense on it's off turnovers. And that's a big one too, by the way. But they've got to get things short up defensively, and it starts in the middle. Manaiah, No,

I cannot. I want to just tell you. I just want to say, Rob, I agree, and I think that first of all, when you look at all the things that are showing up on tape and you're seeing teams repeat plays like the reverse, the reverses that they're running on this side. I mean the Giants ran a reverse on the goal line versus I mean, let that that's so disrespectful to give up a touchdo on the reverse on the goal line, and we've did. That's the second week in a row that we've given up points on

the reverse and we gotta get that fixed. And it starts inside. Yeah, and that was to a tight end. Or Evan Ingram comes running around the outside edge of Everson Griffin and Isaiah knows just how upset I was about that fact. But that's that's another story. Isaiah. Oh, I guess Isaiah's out on us. We're having some technical issues. Man, he's frozen right now. Okay, I want to pause for

I apologize for everybody who's listening at the moment. But he's frozen in this spot right now, and he's got his little smirk where he's kind of looking with just like that one eye. He's leaning in very like very Oh man, it's the Bafficks pause of a show. I think I've right, it's that. That's him. This is Kyle just said something stupid. Kyle said what Yeah, he says something dumb, and he's paused in it right now. It is hilarious. I highly encourage you to come and look

at look at it. We're sure that full straight all Now it went away. That's okay, that's okay. That was the best technical place we've ever had on this show. But but Rob, I mean, whenever he comes up to giving up plays like that, you talk about the reverse and we can talk about really the weird and plays that the Cowboys have given up to the defense over or to opposing offenses overall. How do you share that up?

What is this the beginning steps to kind of rain that in and go up against what is unconventional play calling being assignment sound, your preparation during the week and and not overrunning plays and trusting each other to make your own plays. I think that's something they talked about early in the season, uh, not trying to get outside your zone. And I thought they did a better job

of that. You know, I thought Jalen Smith, I keep talking about Jalen Smith, he really helped shore that up, especially those problems they had in the screen game early in the scene in much better. So that's encouraging. But I agree with you guys though, you got to see it week to week and Kyler Murray. I watched him. I watched him since high school, and he just keeps getting better and better. And it's the same threat that he had when he was at Allen just down the

road from here. He's gonna take off and run. He's gonna challenge you latterly and vertically. So can they shore that up? We'll see. Well, I'm back and I don't have a smirk on my face this time. I'm going, y'all see that kyllege trying to pause me. He put me up positive quick, but no, I'm I'm gonna go with time of possession, and time of possession has a

lot to do with really everybody. Um, So we talk about time of possession, you talk about our office's ability to actually be balanced in some form of fashion and balances that means fifty fifty. Balance just means to have a respectable m efficiency in both the running and the passing game. And then you look at the defense. You guys already touched on an interior defensive alignment. It's not just them, but they need to be able to get

some kind of a push. Um. If you don't have an interior defensive line presence, um, you can survive with it without without a defensive end presence, you can't survive without an interior defensive line presence um, and that's gonna If you don't have that, then then your linebackers are affected um and then and then it turn your secondary is affected because they're not being there. They're having to cover for longer durations of time. So it's kind of

a trigger down effect. Right. So the ability for other teams to be able to strike when they want to in any form or fashion, especially running the ball, is not good for you because if you're as an offense, if you're striking fast, and then on the other side of the ball, they're able to run the ball and strike. You know, at some point in time with four and a half minute, five minutes, six minute drives right and then for whatever reason you either turn the ball over

or you go three and out. Guess what advantage goes to them. It doesn't matter how fast you strike right at some point in time once they're as long as you're continue to move the ball and like they're like our schedule shows if you take away the first game, if you take away the Los Angeles Rams game, we have given up at least thirty four points per game, ye at least including and thirty thirty four points came by let me see, the worst offense in the league

last week. So you can't continue to do that. And time possession is huge and we have to be able to control that if we think we want to go far in the playoffs. That's that's that, Isaiah, that's that high football IQ of yours working right there when you call a lot of time of possession, because it's true. I mean, so many people that deal with analytics and they see the you know, throwing the ball all over the place and getting yards is like that. Uh, they

discount time of possession and you saw it. And Robert talked about that that drive for the Dallas Cowboys in the third quarter where they had eleven runs and what it did for our defense and galvanising them to make plays in the fourth quarters. It's a part of our game plan that we have to incorporate if we plan on having any success going forward. I totally agree, and

I'm glad. I'm glad you said that, Isaiah about the It doesn't mean balance, doesn't have to mean fifty fifty because, like I talked about that drive during the game, I was like, they had to have a drive like this, and on Twitter and guys came at me like THET analytics dudes come out and they're like, no, you gotta throw,

you gotta throw, you gotta throw. Keep in mind, like a lot of the problems they've had with turnovers that lead to the time of possession problems and lead to the defsits are because you have a banged up offensive line and you're asking them to pass protect over and over again. There are I know, Zeke's put the ball on the ground some, but there's there's less of a chance of turning the ball over if you you mix

in runs and you're not as bad as one sided. Uh. And it does help your play action game, it doesn't, you know. I think Mike McCarthy said, I don't think his goal is fifty fifty. He said, I think it of a perfect game. He said, it's like seventy plays and he said forty forty passes, thirty runs, like just some of that, not fifty seven passes. You know, that's what they have to get away from. People have to understand that we're passing the ball like we've been doing.

It's very hard to manage the time of possession. Reason being, even even on a completed pass, if I catch it and go out of bounds, I guess what clock stops? Right? If I throw an incomplete pass, guess what clock stops right. So you're literally saving time exactly. You're doing exactly what you want to do on two minutes drill right you want to get out of bounds or you know you

want the clock to stop. We're doing that throughout the whole game, and you're just giving up more opportunities for them to do what they need to do on their side of the ball. And then they just simply wait for you to mess up or wait for you to go three and out and guess what then then advantage switch,

it switches to the other team. It's interesting. I mean, even look at the mistakes that were capitalized by the Giants's past Sunday, I mean, the fourteen points off at turnovers, and they controlled the game really up until the last I guess, really the last quarter and a half of this one, which is the one time that the Cowboys have not seen a deficit throughout the course of the course of the season. The way fun fact, the Cowboys have not led during any two minute warning at any

point in the season so far at all. That's devastating. They have not led at any point, any of them. This kind of a first half, our second half, first half of the second half, and so you talk about time of possession. That's one way to bring up the argument and really prove Isaiah's point there because it is that crucial. But that's gonna do it here for Talking

Cowboys here on this Tuesday. Quick shout out to Talking Cowboys Nation out there, fire questions today on fans on the fifty, bring it back next Tuesday, and then bringing it back all week long. We'll say it on with our chest on Friday, and then of course Monday Night football coming up here in a couple of days as well. But that's gonna do it today for Heckma Harrison, for Rob Phillips, for Isaiah dam back in a special thanks to Chris Beam in the back up Kyle Yeoman saying

so long from the Star in Frisco. We'll see you next time on Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.