Talkin' Cowboys: It Starts Up Front

bit early on this Thursday. As Thursday and Fridays from now on, we will be going at nine fifteen thanks to Mike McCarthy's press conference coming up a little bit later on in the morning. But we are Talking Cowboys. Happy October. October everybody. It's now September is ended. We've moved into October. It's officially football season, at least for those of you who are up here with us in North Texas. It's not football weather yet, but we're getting there.

But we're into October. And if you want to have some encouragement today, Mike McCarthy has had a fantastic record in the month of October thirty two and fifteen in his career. In October, So hopefully that's some good juju heading in the way of the Dallas Cowboys as we head into this next couple of games. I'm Kyle Yeoman's alongside as well, Rob Phillips, heck Ma Harrison, and our residence Super Bowl champion Isaiah stand Back and guys, it's

nice that it is October. I'm waiting for the cool air to kind of finally make its way to North Texas. But we haven't had that opportunity yet, unfortunately. But one thing we have had the opportunity of is seeing a little bit of an injury report from yesterday's game. We mentioned how or yesterday's practice. Rather, we mentioned how we weren't necessarily going to get that for the Wednesday show.

But now as we're in the Thursday show, Rob, what have you seen from the injury report and what stuck out to you from yesterday's practice the fact that they don't have injured reserve guys on the injury report. You look at it and you're like, man, the Cowboys look pretty healthy. They look good. They only got three guys

on there. They got more problems than just that. However, some progress with Tyrn Smith with the neck injury he didn't officially practice, but he did get some individual work done. As of Wednesday, Mike McCarthy said he's not cleared for full contact yet. So I would imagine today, although he's a VET and he can play on short notice, I would imagine today is very important to see what he can do, just because it's their last big work day of the week, and so that's the one to really

keep an eye on. Also to Marcus Lawrence, did not practice with the knee that he's been managing and probably just trying to manage him to get to the game, I would imagine. And Trayvon Diggs also on that injury report, although he was a full participant. You find it and like that DMP next too. I did not like that DMP next to Tank Lawrence's name. Man, that took all the pumpkin spice out of the air for me. Okay, So you don't find that anything. That is what my

question was gonna be. Is that not an encouraging thing with it? Did not practice because of the fact that he may just be looking for the game. But once again, and kind of goes back to last week, we thought the same thing and he didn't really have a really a huge impact in Week three. Well, I think it's impactful that he's obviously not practicing, but look at the game man, Tank is. As much as people are down on him about not getting to the quarterback, he's doing

a lot of other things at the defensive line. In all, twenty two has blessed us with the ability to go back and slow mow a lot of these things to show the effectiveness to up Tank in the run. And so I'm just looking for a guy like Tank to get healthy because we know we need him going down the stretch. But right now, just these early injury bugs that's hitting the Cowboys. Man, it's not a good sign

for us, Isaiah. Whenever it comes to having guys that are trying to get back and trying to rehab and trying to work on specifically a knee injury, and we're talking in the case of DeMarcus Lawrence here, is that one of the tougher parts of the body, at least to rehab. I know, really, any NFL injury is going to be a significant NFL injury. There's no such thing

as a small one. But whenever you talk about the knee specifically, is that a tougher region of the body to heal and to rehab more efficiently moving into the week, I believe, So, I guess in its totality, I mean, it really depends on what he's dealing with. Right, Obviously we're not going to get through the real scoop. They're going to keep that close to their chest. But you know, it really depends on what, how how how traumatic it really is whatever he's dealing with. So, I mean, they

can be ailing. I can mention that obviously, being that you need your legs for every position in this sport, and especially at the position that he plays because it is so much more demanding of a position. Right, He's pushing against people who weigh more than him every single play, which caused obviously you know, causes stress on the knee. He's also coming out as explosively as he can, which obviously push the most amount of stress on the knee.

And then he's going to be facing offenses where guess what, everybody knows he has knee issues. People are in the game to necessarily try to hurt you, but if they have an advantage, guys will definitely as a running back, they'll try to take your knees out to guess what to make you think twice about rushing at the speed in which you're capable of. So it's definitely a concern. It's not something that you want to see. They are

going to do everything they can. Like I said, at the Cowboys, they probably have the best training staff that I encounter, and they probably have the best to training staff in the league with all the guys they have there. So he's in more than more than good care. But it's definitely something that that's concerning, especially when you're one and two when you need this. W Isaiah, you sound like a doctor man. Unfortunately I know too much about

the body. Unfortunately, when we were when we were up here filming the film study session for Academy earlier in the week, one of the biggest things that Isaiah was saying is like, Man, I wish this was not COVID times I would walk over and say hi to all the training staff. He's like, I'd go and say hi to Brett Brown and say hi to these guys because you knew them well enough. And I guess that's something that a lot of players have the opportunity to to know those guys and be able to get to have

those those relationships, and Isaiah's one of those. But uh yeah, whenever we're talking about the injuries, and Rob mentioned this a minute ago, when you look at the injury report, Cleveland puts all of their guys on there. So really the injury report, it's a couple names of the Cowboys and then it's just a hefty list of Cleveland Brown's following it, and it makes it look like, oh wow, the Cowboys are relatively healthy. As we all know, that's

not necessarily the New England approach. It is the New Land approach. Newland approach. Man. It's also not the case from the Cowboys perspective because of all the players on injury reserve, which there are quite a few, close to close to a dozen players on injured reserve right now. But of course the offensive line is banged up as we preview today the Cowboys offense versus the Cleveland defense,

and I want to start in the trenches. I want to start there because I really think that's where this game can be won for the Dallas Cowboys is the fact that your offensive line, yes it's banged up. You have both tackles out, potentially Lyle Collins as seemingly as not making his return this week. He hasn't returned the practice or been taken off of ir Tyrann Smith trying to get back into the group, but still questionable as

we head into week four. But whenever it comes to Brandon knighte whenever it comes to Terrence Steel, they're gonna have those matchups that they dread really from an office into tackle standpoint. Miles Garrett looking on the other side and heck, b I know you've done the film work throughout the first couple of days. Tell me what you've seen from Miles Garrett. And is there a way that we have Brandon Knight or Terrence Steel in a position where they could stop him at any point this week?

Oh God, another week, another dog. And that is what Miles Garrett is. Miles Garrett in high school, man, he played like one of those guys from your neighborhood that didn't get to come outside a lot. He plays with a lot of energy and he is running hard all the time. And now he's just transition from Texas A and m all the way now to the Cleveland Browns and his ability to get around, to get around that curve and bend and his power at the point of

attack is amazing. And I what I really worry about, it's him stunting towards some guys that may need some help at the guard position. But he doesn't just want to get your sack your quarterback. He wants to sack him, he wants to strip the ball, he wants to create that bumble and he's better than a lot of people in the league at doing that. But another name on this defensive front that really worries me is Adrian Clayborne.

And uh, Rob, you know about our history with this guy, and so, uh no, a little bit, yeah no, no, a little bit about him. So I mean, I think we got him some some dollars in the bank one game that he played against us. But this is just gonna be one of those matchups. And I know, Isaiah, we're gonna talk about the Sheldon Richardsons of the world and all the guys that we have in the interior

line for the Browns. But the Browns have they're pretty styled up front, and so again offensive line is going to have to take the battle to another defensive front. Yeah, man, we touch on it. We touch on it in the film room the other day, right, um, and talking about this defensive line in their defensive ends and how they play these guys, I mean this defense. They want to play a bass defense. They want to go four three

on you all day long. They are gonna sit in that box and they're gonna say, hey, could come at me, Bro, you know, as we've been saying. So, I mean, these guys are stout. Uh, they're strong up front. We mentioned yesterday on the show how they're strong right now where

we're weak right now. So this office aligne and the trenches, as you mentioned, Kyed, is gonna be tough because they do have some dogs and they you know, they have guys like you know, Garrett, they have guys like Richardson, you know, they have Clay where they have these guys that are high motor guys. It's not even so much that they're necessarily just all out dogs. It's just that it's more dangerous sometimes to play just high motor guys because they don't stop right and it's coming in a wave.

Like all of them, whoever's in the game for them right now is just going right. And I mean they have I think they have eight sacks on the year, right, which is they're they're they're coming. So they're dangerous, man, They're dangerous, and like I said, I think the biggest challenge. I know we've talked a lot about our interior alignement as of late because they just haven't been that great. But these tackles, man, they're gonna be on an eye

land and it ain't Rivers's island. These boys are gonna be out there by themselves, and you know, we're gonna really see what these guys can and can't do. They've been helped out a lot over these first few games. This game, they're gonna be one on one by themselves, and not only them, but the guards as well, because of how why these guys play on a defensive line. They play four eyes so that the defensive tackles on third down like the lineup on an outside shoulder of

the guards. Well not only that, then the defensive end likes line up two to you know, one of two, one of three yards outside of your outside of your your your tack or you're tight end. So everybody's gonna be on an island. They're gonna be by themselves. This is one on one drills in practice. This is not

gonna be a collaborative effort out offensive line. You know, we've been talking the last couple of days about Zack Martin and where he should play to give the line the best chance, and he said on conference call yesterday he said he expects to play guard, go back to

his normal spot. And the more to y'all's point, the more you watch the Cleveland Browns on tape, you could put him anywhere, and there's gonna be a matchup problem somewhere else potentially because of their stout front four, and it's one of those front fours where they don't really have to blitz much. They've got they've got four guys up front, they can get to the quarterback. And you guys mentioned Garrett. Obviously, we'll see what happens with Olivier Vernon,

he's been banged up. And then like heck said, we might see Adrian Clayborne, which will you know, cause some goosebumps for Cowboys fans based on twenty seventeen, But the interior defensive line Ojanobia I hope I pronounced his name correctly, is really stout against the run, and that's that's a that's a matchup I'm looking forward to seeing can the Cowboys establish their run against this interior Brown's defensive front because they do get up the field, they do have

high motor guys, and they're able to affect teams that way. And we've talked about it for a few days now. Cowboys need more balance than they had on Sunday in Seattle. It's just, you know, they've got to get Zeke more involved. Some of it was Okay, they're going to load up to stop us, They're gonna blitz safeties and linebackers. Okay, we're gonna we're gonna try to expose things in the passing game. But you'd like to think ze can get

more involved than he was in Week three. Well in this defensive line, do you guys truly do you guys think that he can? I'm sorry, now go for it, Isaiah. I was just gonna ask if you guys think that he really can, because i mean, we all know in this league, once you put something on tape like it's gonna like that next team is like, oh, let's get or done right. So the Seattle Show, we talked about it prior to the game, and then Seattle went out there and showed it that they weren't gonna let Zeke

get off, Right, they weren't gonna let Zeke get off. Hey, Dak, you're gonna have to throw your way to a victory. And he almost did, right, he almost did. But I think teams feel more secure forcing Dak to throw the ball versus letting Zeke eat on the ground, because there's there's less. It's it's a high it's a higher percentage play. Right, handing the ball off and letting him run is a higher percentage play, So it's probably gonna be more effective.

So how about we just put a stop to that and let this guy see if he gets thrown around. I honestly think they're gonna get a heavy dose of what they saw last week against Seattle. Except for what Rob mentioned, this team doesn't have to blitz to get pressure. Yeah, we'll probably agree with you. I think you pointed that out. You pointed that out last week against Seattle, saying that they were going to sell out to stop Zeke. And what did they do? They sold out to stop Zeke.

And the film is out there and Ogen Jovi, Rob is he's a run stuffer for real, and he's a kind and he's a kind of guy that will move around a lot on that Cleveland Browns line. But one thing that I'm noticing is teams every time the Cowboys spread them out or gold trips formations, they automatically are

blitzed the Cowboys. I mean, it's like they abandoned everything once we go into trips, because our trips formations are really dangerous once we set a tight end or all three of our great receivers together and so the teams understand what we're trying to do and just getting that balance back into the fold for the running game, This heink is something that it is going to be necessary for us, because once we become predictable, I think that's when that's what things kind of go out of whack

for all offense. But you know, it does bring up the question, you know, when this offensive line has been at their absolute best and dominant, it doesn't it didn't really matter how many guys are in the box seven eight. You know, they could still run Zeke and Zeke could still eat and I think I think he's such a

great running back. I think he still can. But they've been so compromised with their with their front you know, that push has got to be there, and I think at times, at times it hasn't been to Isaiah's point, and that takes away from, you know, really what their identity has been the last few years. I mean, Da Dak has progressed as a passer, we know that, but when he's throwing thirty times as opposed to forty five, they're they're just in better shape. He's in better shape.

It helps him out. They get the play action going, they're able to to move safeties off spots and things like that, so they've got to try to get back

to that. It is a tough matchup upfront, though this week it's a matchup against a defensive line that you want your defensive line to look like, where you've got two guys in the middle of Oceanobi and also Sheldon Richards Richardson right there in the middle that are pushing three hundred pounds, that are run stuffers, that are still going to be able to provide you a little bit

of pass rush. But then you have those athletic ends, the Miles Garrett's, the Olivier Vernon, and if not Olivia Vernon, then you've got Adrian Clayborne on the edge that are very athletic, they're slim, they're they're fast, and they get home very quickly. Those are the type of pass rushers you're going up against. By the way, Miles Garrett thirty three and a half sacks throughout his career. That's the second most by an active player in their first forty

games or less in their career. I believe I haven't double checked this yet, but I believe that other players Alden Smith because of what he did early in his career in his first forty games. I believe it's Alden Smith. I'll double check that and come back tomorrow with a handsolute answer. Yeah, there you go. But even and if you don't see Olivier Vernon, you're gonna see an Adrian Clayborne.

You're gonna see maybe even a Joe Jackson. Joe Jackson, of course, who was with the Cowboys throughout training camp and was plucked up off of waivers on September sixth. He's played a multitude of snaps through the first three weeks of the season and has actually played well and has had a couple key plays in both the wins against the Bengals and a win against Washington as well, So that's gonna be a key matchup before we take

our first break. Really quickly though, in that interior of the offensive line, we've heard some rumblings, we've heard the rumors. We saw what we saw in terms of fifty two offensive snaps in Week three. But as Tyler beotis, the rookie center out of Wisconsin potentially going to see a start this week whenever it comes to this offensive line trying to shake things up and move into Week four against the Browns here, I hope, so, I hope. So

at least Savan he's one of those. He's another one of those great Wisconsin offensive lineman and we've we've had a few one of those, and he looked, be honest, did not play bad at all. I mean, he showed a lot of power also at the center position. So we know that we're just the time clock for him to actually take over that position has has started. So it wouldn't surprise me if if Tyler started the game this Sunday at and T Statium against Shelton Richardson, Yeah,

it wouldn't surprise. You. Gotta put him in there sometime. We cannot hide him. You know it. Come on now, Isaiah, that you don't get a red shirt gear in the NFL. So we gotta see what you got. That's what it is. Can you get a can you get a red shirt game? No? No, he can't get the job. You want to put him in there. You want to find the perfect time, Isaiah. There are no perfect time. He didn't have a preseason.

You gotta feed him, you gotta put in there. We have all I'm gonna say, I think he played well last week. To throw him in there against this interior defensive line is very similar to throwing trip on digs against Julio Jones and DK Metcam. I'm just saying. You gotta say, any time trial by fire or trialed by death and such sees a rookie at center, oh my gosh, that's and that's what we're gonna have to deal with. The Cowboys can't hide any of these guys. Whatever the

witches are, it's already on tape, you see it. And so we have got to get this rookie. We gotta get him the reps. We weren't able to get it to him in preseason. And if Looney is giving up space are not able to hold ground or anchor himself in that offensive lining. The tape is there on that. It doesn't matter if you have a rookie in there or a Looney, the results are still the same. So we can't just continue to wait. You can't continue to wait to see who's gonna take the helm and be

the lead dog. We gotta say, hey, man, this is your chance. We'll see if you got it or else. Man, We're just gonna start looking on the street for one. Hey, looking on the street this offseason obviously did some dog on whale because it's the best player of the defense right now, so that might not be a bad option. Hello, that's true, that's fair. Yeah, No, I kind of tend to lean on the side of hect my here. I tend to lean on Hey, let's give the rookie a shot.

We've seen on film that really it hasn't been in with Joe Looney in the middle, and maybe you even slide him out to guard, and you slide Martin out the tackle like we talked about last week, and like we saw last week, you don't even have to do that. I'd be okay with Tyler Ben. Y'all are ruthless Hey, you want to he won he won the Rimington Trophy or whatever. Right, So you know, but Isaiah, you want to swaddle these guys, you would have put him in swaddle.

I'm not just talking about them. Let me help you understand. I'm not gonna swaddw I know, Rob got the swadow all the way down right now. I love that word. Yeah, good word there. I am not only just concerned about these guys and their feelings and all that kind of stuff. I'm concerned about what happens who you're trying to protect. Right If you put a rookie out there against Schulder, against Schulder Richardson, he is going to have a field day,

I'm just telling you. And if he has a field day, then guess who's not going to be very happy and physically and mentally. It's going to be the dude that you guys are trying to pay that right, So you it's not just a matter of these guys getting out there and oh they got to learn at sometime, it's like, no, be very careful about who you put them out there to learn against, because you can't help them this week. The way that this defensive line plays, they literally put

all the offensive alignment on an island. It's not your typical defensive line. They run all kinds of different form. They line up all kind of different different ways to create this separation. I mean, these guys are spreading fifteen yards across the field now with the defensive alignment. So these guys are going to have the interior help beyondat wouldn't have Looney or Martin. They wouldn't have those guys next to them to help and you know, assistant. Some

of these blocks, it's gonna be man to man. So if they get beat the interior line, it's gonna be a straight line shot straight to deck. I would lean towards experience here too. Yeah, but hey, Mike McCarthy said they're gonna work multiple combinations. In practice, he's gonna be as vague as possible. And I guess we'll find out at noon on Sunday. No, and I wish this might have been a debate I would have started with. I didn't realize we were so split, who's gonna play the

center position come Sunday. I didn't realize the honest versus Looney was gonna really divide us as much. But when we come back, we're gonna talk about the wide receivers and of course the Cowboys having some success at that spot no surprise to anybody in the NFL with the personnel that they have there. But we're also going to talk about how susceptible is this brown secondary. I think very susceptible, and we're gonna talk about that next when we come back on the other side of the break.

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Back to Talk in Cowboys. It's the second segment here of Talking Cowboys, Week four, Episode four, Happy October, Everybody. I'm live from inside the SWBC Mortgage Studios, staying socially distant out at the moment with met Ma Harrison, Rob Phillips, Isaiah stand back and guys, if you're going to the stadium this weekend, I don't know if any of you guys are, but make sure you know before you go, wear a mask, keep that distance, and be prepared for

the cash list transactions. Please be aware of all safe stadium policies prior to arriving at AT and T Stadium. Be sure to visit Dallas Cowboys dot com slash safe Stadium for details. Stay safe, state distance, stay loud. Whenever it comes to the Dallas Cowboys taking on these Cleveland Browns this week, they're gonna have to have to get a win to get back to two and two. And I don't know, I mean, if they don't get a w this weekend, and we'll talk about this more tomorrow,

it may start to be the panic time. But with this division being as bad as it is, I still don't think that's the case. I don't think that's the case just yet. I really don't. But I think you can get a win this weekend, and the reasons why is because of just how susceptible this secondary is against what is still, in my opinion, the best wide receiving

corps in the NFL. The first time in Cowboys franchise history they've had four one hundred yard game receivers in one season, which is crazy because they've done it over the span of two weeks. They had Michael gallup In, Cedric Wilson this past weekend against Seattle. The week prior against Atlanta, it was Amara Cooper and Cedee Lamb. That's the only time in Cowboys history that they've had four different one hundred yard receivers in a single season at

any point, which is crazy to me. But they're going to continue that success against what is Denzel Ward, Terrence Mitchell, Greedy Williams, who's been banged up a little bit on the Cleveland Brown's side of things. But Isaiah, when you look at this matchup between the receivers and this Cleveland secondary, is there anything that catches your eye in terms of how the Cowboys can take advantage. Um, it's this. I mean, this is gonna be real short. These these guys are

not impressive in the secondary. And I think it's not even because of the personnel. I think it's more so because of the scheme that the defensive coordinator is playing with him. He is so confident in their front seven that he believes that he can get home at any time. So I think, I mean, even when you look at some of their base defenses versus eleven personnel, they don't

always adjust. They don't always adjust a nickel. They'll leave their base defense in there a lot of times, and their linebackers are expected to go out there and cover slot receivers. So this should be a dog on field day for our for our offense, and the receivers they should eat more than they've eating any other week. Um. The only downside of that is you know, you have to really abandon the run in order to do so. So, Um, these guys, they they should kill this secondary all day long. Rob,

do you agree? Please? Yeah? I think, I mean there's no question the strength of the Cleveland's defenses up front and part of the two with Cleveland in the back end. Is is the injuries they've had. You know, Grant Delpitt was a guy I just you know, I loved coming out of LSU. He's out for the season. Greedy Williams has yet to play I think this year, but he's getting healthier. And Denzel Ward, who did a nice job, was effective against AJ Green in the Cincinnati game, has

been banged up too, So they've they've got some injuries. Isaiahs, you got me nervous on the Oh, well, we gotta have been in the run maybe to do it. But you know that I didn't. I didn't have a huge problem with part of that game plan against Seattle, because if you love your matchups on the outside, go for it. You know. It's just the volume of times you're having

to pass protech with a banged up offensive line. And for me, it goes back to, you know, taking care of the football and making sure that you're not putting your defense already in a tougher position than they already are. How do you do that? Run the ball, that's the that's the that's the elixir for all that. So when Isaiah says abandon the run, that I get that mystery me feeling again, Fellas, I don't like it, but I mean because I don't, I don't want to see I

don't look. Man. For the last three weeks, this has been a wild ride as a Cowboy fans, just watching these games, it's like, man, I need a pacemaker. And it's the back and forth and just the continuity of our offense and the rhythm of it just doesn't seem to be there. And I hate going back to the Seattle game, but I have to. At the end of the second end of the second half of the turnover for Dak the to Amari Cooper, it was a play where where Amara Cooper didn't come off the line for

a whole second. Now, I watched a lot of football. I don't know of any routes that start there where, especially a post route, which Isaiah you know as a former quarterback, is a timing rote. It's all about timing, and so it's just those little things that the Cowboys are doing to beat themselves. When you bring in Cleveland, we ought to feasts on this team because if they're going to load the box up against us and these receivers,

Dak should throw for let's say three hundred yards. So if we say three hundred yards, that means he's to throw the ball fifty seven times. But at least that's loosening that defense up and making them do something that they don't want to do. Last week, man, they had the gift that keeps on giving, and that's Dwayne Haskins for the Washington football team. He was a turnover machine. Once they went from two safeties high to one safety high, he could not figure out what they were doing, and

he was just throwing into coverage. Dak isn't going to do that. And how you don't do that is when they are loading up, man, you still continue to give Zeke the ball and feed him and let everything after that be predicated off of the success of the run game. So my next question was going to be, is this gonna be another forty five parts passage the game in terms of Dak Prescott, And I guess that answer was

just given to me by heck My Harrison. It's this is not gonna be another one where you just air it out over and over and over again, which brings me to another question. Yes it is Kyle, you think, Yeah, I know, I know, we don't have a lot. I know, we don't have a lot of time, becauld, we have a couple of seconds to get through. But is he's gonna throw the ball forty times this game? Man? Okay, Okay, he's gonna throw the ball forty times this game. Because

one understand this, Cleveland's gonna run the ball on offense. Right, there's so many different things. We can't just look at one side of the ball. Cleveland's going to run the ball. Cleveland is going to run six minutes off the clock every time, not every time, but for a good amount of every time they get the ball. I say every time. If it's not really that, but they're gonna they're gonna,

you know, I say they have twelve possessions. You know at least some of these half of those possessions gonna go for four to six minutes. Okay, so there's not gonna be a lot of time left when the Cowboys get the ball. So say Cleveland does score, right, Say Cleveland tolts this thing all the way down here. It takes time out of the clock. Now Dallas is being left with half a quarter. They have to they have to throw the ball like that. They like that because

these guys are gonna be loading the box up. They're not going to allow them to run, just like last week. This is the this is the pride and joy of their defense, the front seven. So you think they're gonna let the pride and enjoy get disrespected. No, they're gonna force you to throw somewhere else. And guess what, that's okay, But you're not gonna be able to run the ball

like you want to. And if you shoot, if you do try to run the ball, now you're forced You're now you're trying to force it, and you're leaving yourself susceptible to long down. And this is this that is Isaiah.

What you just said was absolutely correct. But just take Cleveland's name off of that statement that you just said and put Cowboys on that and then they have to deal with all of the things that you just said, Well they don't have, you know, their their clock management is and they're trying to play from behind as well, because we've milked a lot of that clock. That's all. That's that's the game play, very very very very true.

But also this head there's a higher percentage, there's a higher chance and a higher probability that you're gonna turn the ball over throwing the ball, would you agree? Absolutely? Okay, So they're just gonna bank on the fact that I know you said Dax is not going to throw it up. Dak has more turnovers in Baker Mayfield this year, just in case there is any question, right so, whether it's fumbling or whether they think they had the same at

the same amount of interceptions. But Dad has multiple fumbles, right, So, so he has more turnovers than Baker Mayfield right now, So they're gonna bank on the fact that, hey, he'll throw it around forty times, and yes, we'll give us some plays here and there. They might just try to keep everything in front of them, right. If they keep that's that's gonna I feel that's gonna be that's gonna

be the game play. I think they're gonna play off and let these guys throw underneath routes all day long that they're not going to allow them to run the ball, and they're gonna bank that they go they can hold them in a red zone and make them kick field goals. I think that's their game plan. Man, Cowboys just needed like a ten point lead. They need a ten point in a football game to be able to try to

try to get the run going. You know, um and you mentioned turnovers, and that's Mike McCarthy continues to hammer the turnover battle. And the reason why is Cleveland's tied. I think for the most takeaways in the league was seven. I looked it up. They've got They've scored thirty four points this year or I think thirty one off of turnovers so far from their defense. Cowboys have three Cowboys have scored three points I believe off takeaways from their defense.

And you and you, yeah, and you look at their average start drive so far, like against Seattle was their own nineteen. They're just they're having to drive a long fields. They're having to throw the ball too much. And it's

all complimentary. You know, they need they need help from their defense to get some shorter drives and to try to build a lead because playing from behind, you're, like like Isaiah said, man, you're just asking, you're putting yourself in higher risk situations where you're gonna have to turn the ball over and and they just they can't do it because Cleveland will feast off that. That's how they're two and one more than anything. Absolutely. Yeah, they why

Baker only has eighty some throws eighty times? It's really easy. Also whatever you have that yeah efficient and Kyle, Yeah I did. I just wanted to point out the fact that you know, Dak Prescott has forty three more completions and fifty eight more past attempts than Baker. Mayfield is six hundred and twenty four more yards, five touchdowns, two interceptions, the same. But look at the records, and so that is indicative of the game plan. And that's what I'm saying, Isaiah.

If you if we're saying that we're gonna go into a game like this and our number one thing that we're gonna underline and circle is abandoning the run, We're not gonna have any success doing that. I'm saying it's it's it's an area of concern because because you have a like I said, you're right now, we're weak upfront. Call it how it is in comparison and comparison to where we want to be and where we've been in the past. Where you're weak up front, guess what they're not.

They're strong upfront. They're front seven is strong. So where we're weak, they're strong, So even if you try to go into you try to force it, force it, force it. Guess what, Now you're in third and long, right, you pump the ball and you're giving it back to a team that's going to run the ball efficiently where you're weak, and they're gonna run time off the clock, which which all adds up to them, guess what, having a lead.

And then at some point in time in the game, probably around the second quarter, you gotta say the heck with it with this run thing. We gotta we gotta, we gotta score some points. So what do you start doing. You start throwing and they're gonna let you throw it. They're gonna let you throw. They're gonna let you throw it. They're gonna try to buckle down into red zone and guess what, give you three points and guess what three points is and beat seven points. So that's where this

game is gonna have. It's gonna go I think if the game is gonna go by really quickly, I think it's gonna be This game is gonna fly by because there's gonna be a lot of catches for the Cowboys and gonna be a lot of running for Cleveland and it's a tough matchup. They have to be efficient. They have to be efficient. Well, we're up on the other side of a break here as we get into the final minutes here of Talking Cowboys when we come back, is this the best defense in front that the Cowboys

that face so far? And I'll ask you a couple more questions as we wrap things up here on this Thursday edition when we come back here 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 and that's why I run with John Deer today. In fact, I have a John Deer three zero twenty five E tractor that can handle any yard work I need to do, even the tough yards

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use the code word Team JB. That's get Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys, the Jack Black Starter, ten bucks free shipping to talk in Cowboys. This is one of those moments where I wish more than anything, we could release the audio that is shared back and forth in between a break and put that out on a podcast because the debate that we were just having carried over into the break and it continues to be entertaining and we may have to may have to carry it into

tomorrow as well. But before we get started here, in the final couple of minutes, whether you're watching from home or cheering in the stands, with lenses, you'll see every exciting playbook and appointment at your local or experts and find the perfect or lenses for you seaboard, do more slor guys. I'd use this question going into the break,

but I've actually got two questions for you. The first one is, out of the first three games, now entering week four, is this the best front seven that we've seen as the Dallas Cowboys Looking on the Cleveland defensive side to the football, is this the best front seven we've seen? And is it the worst secondary we've seen it. You don't have to say yes or no to both.

It's not one question. There are two separate questions. But I'm curious to see what you guys think because this has been a debate throughout the office up here, at least over the last couple of days in terms of what we're actually seeing on this defensive side of the football. Heckma, And that's a tough one. I mean because Aaron Donald is like five guys and one, so what do you I just have a hard time saying that after the

job that ninety nine did to offensive line. But I guess if we're just basing it off of names and studs and dudes that have done it for a while in the league, Yeah, that's that's that's a fair assessment. Secondary. Oh yea go yeah that second part, Go ahead, Yeah, secondaries it's bad. So, I mean, I think offensive front line wise, yes, they're really good for line wise, but as far as the back half of the defense, no,

it's it's pretty bad. Okay isah uh? Defensive front? I think the best defensive front we faced was Atlanta prior to Tach getting getting hurt um, that was gonna be absolute problem. In that first quarter of a prior to him getting hurt. So I think they had the best front seven. I think this is probably the second best front seven. Um, they don't have necessarily one dominant player, but again, collectively, I think they do a good job secondary. The secondary is gonna get torched. M I just don't

think that they're gonna allow big plays to happen. They were gonna give up a lot of underneath classes, a lot of out routes, a lot of curls and anything underneath that they want to think calb was to have their way there. But I think they're just gonna be told, don't let anybody beat you over the top, because that's honestly where Dallas is one. Yeah, I'm not sure about their second there. I guess it might depend on how healthy they are. Um, but yeah, i'd say there it's

probably the second best front seven. I mean, like I'm with hack On on Aaron Donald, Like, if you got Aaron Donald, you're the best front seven. But but but Miles Garrett is basically the same type in terms of a guy that can wreck a game. He could do that, you know, basically any chance Washington had to come back in that game last week. He ruined that with a sack strip fumble, So he can turn a game on a dime with a big play and take the ball

away from your offense. I think whatever, you look at the front seven, and I would probably say Atlanta up there as well with Tat McKinley, even though I know Tat McKinley doesn't scare you as much as Aaron Donald or Miles Garrett. But I think that whole front that Atlanta had was probably the best collective unit in terms of what they were bringing to the table. And we saw that in terms of the fumbles and the turnovers in the run game that we saw in that first

quarter against the Falcons that just didn't look good. Now, I don't expect that same thing to happen, hopefully not the same thing to happen against Cleveland because that would be a disaster again. But I really do like what Cleveland does from a scheme perspective, And Isaiah sold me the other day on the film session. By the way, if you haven't checked it out, go look at it

on Cowboys dot Com because it's extremely insightful. But the way that Miles Gary gets so out wide and the way that Clayborne and Vernon whenever they need to and whenever they're healthy, can get out wide. I think these tackles are going to have a rough time against this defensive line. I still think the secondary susceptible. I think there's a chance that you can have those big plays, even though I know Isaiah you said they're mostly gonna

give up the underneath stuff. Either way, you're going to have success throwing the football and finding it, finding the way to get it into the weapons hands. In terms of Ceedee Lamb and Mary Cooper, Michael Gallup, Cedric Wilson, I think they have a big game moving into this weekend. Is this a chance that we go into it though looking at it as maybe another slow game for Zeke.

I know we've talked about the run game and getting it going, but real quick, we real quickly before we wrap up Zeke hundred yards all purpose or no heading into this weekend. No? Oh okay, so no, just like that. Okay, there you go. Hey, And I gotta say, also, man, that Philip Studdy that you and Isaiah did was quality, because when Isaiah was showing how that wide nine split from Miles Garrett, it's it's a nightmare for a lot of left tackles to see that guy that far away.

It's like that whole split second that he gets to use it lasted eternity. And with a guy like Brandon Knight, who Zeke called the war Daddy Dadda, I want to see him take the barroom brawl if he has that in him two miles Garrett, because he's gonna have that time, I mean, because he's spread out so wide. But our offensive line has got to take pride, has to take some pride in themselves. And they hear all the chirping and people like Isaiah staring it up and saying that, hey,

you're gonna be on an island by yourself. This guy's gonna be a friendly gonna beat you down. So you know, these guys are these guys are professionals too, and so they've got to take some pride in the fact that they have the number one running back in the whole league. So you gotta get that guy off, and you know that makes a game so much easier for your quarterback.

I'll say yes, just because I don't I don't love the matchup up front either, but I think they're due to have a lead in the second half where he can eat a little bit, and maybe Tony Pollard can eat a little bit. So I think I'll go, Yes, I'll just be a little I'll be different here. Yes, oh man, I'm with you. Rob. I think he'll get a hundred yards here. And I think it's because of the fact that the Cowboys should hopefully have a second half lead against Cleveland. But it'll be a fun one.

We'll predict the game tomorrow. We'll give you the final keys as we head into the weekend and get you set up for Sunday's matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the Cleveland Browns when we come back nine fifteen tomorrow, once again a little bit early because of the Mike McCarthy press conference. Nine and fifteen tomorrow. Bring it, Say it with your chest Friday. We're gonna lay it all out on the table, bring us your fan questions. Let's

talk about say with your chests. We're leading into the weekend. We're gonna get back to five hundred. It's gonna be a party at the Star. It's gonna be a whole ordeal throughout the next couple days. But that's gonna do it here for this Thursday edition of Talking Cowboys. For Rob Phillips, Fort Harrison, and Isaiah Standback. I'm Kyle Yeoman saying so long from the Star in Frisco. We'll see

you tomorrow. I'm Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.