Talkin' Cowboys: Kicking Off Week 1

one in the NFL. We are two days away from the first game of this NFL season and welcome to Talking Cowboys. Do we ever have a lot to get to over the course of the next hour. Here kicking off our Cowboys programming here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com, Bill Jones with Brian brought Us and Rob Phillips. Mickey Spagnola is out today and uh yeah, you're ready for

some football this week? Yeah? I feel like that. You know, once the college game started kicking off and I was like, okay, then you know the NFL season usually is right behind that, So yeah, I am ready. I think that when you look at training camps, when you look at how we got through that you look through the roster, the makeup of the roster, the waiver wire, all that stuff that you've had to do here the last that's really kind of where it's when I sat down and said, Okay,

I gotta start watching film the Carolina Panthers today. That's when it hits, right. It's Panthers week. So yeah, I get to watch Luke Keiklee and Cam Newton and Dj Moore, some of these guys I like to watch play football. It's time for your matchups on the website. It's been a while. Yeah, it's been a while. It's been a while. Yeah, look forward to look forward to kind of talking about it, and you know, looking forward to getting the season starting.

And that's that's the exciting thing. I think opening days are always great, whether you know baseball, football, whatever it is. I'm a horse racing horse. Sure, I'll tell you. It's funny. I tell a real quick horses. Sure. I had a buddy at del Mar yesterday. And maybe I'm not supposed to say this because it's gambling. Horse racing is okay, right, yeah, okay, okay. I can't bet on games. I can't bet on like our game. Buddy minds at del Mar and he he's

he's screenshotting pictures of the form, the racing form. And I'm picking horses while I'm watching Bennett's practice, and I one like I one like thirty five bucks on two races. All right, they heard the head of fire or something there. Well, they had they had it something, you know, they had somebody. They had the gun go off. That's what it was. Yeah, it was gunfire, gun fire, gun fire. But yeah, yeah, del Mar, del Mar's beautiful track. Yeah, I've been so yeah.

I used to make it back in the eighty when the Cowboys were in thousand Oaks, went down to the Chargers camp in Lajoya, uh and we made it over to Delmar a couple of times a couple of years, and it fits perfectly. Of course, I know we got a football park. But I'm sorry, I just I was just sitting I saw horse racing with you all day long. I was sitting there watching. I was watching Bennett practice a little bit late in the day and and I'm like, but he's like, I'm at Delmar. I'm like, text me

the race or sing. So I'd like three races. I sat there and made money just watching it. Been it win? No, Well, so I wouldn't do it during a game, but yeah, I love I love hors. He wasn't doing it for Bennett. It was yeah, yea for Bennett's college fund. R Bene did better better, I better win more than that. And um and before we dive into the NFL, you mentioned college football. I'm here on September fourth, ready to make a prediction in the final four in college FOOTBA ball.

It's Oklahoma, LSU, Texas, A and M and we'll throw in Alabama on that one man. Missouri's got a quarterback this year. We're gonna probably talk about it if they win this week. I have no idea. I thot they played, but I wouldn't that be something they got a first round quarterback. Though, Missouri has got a first round quarterback, so I'm sure we'll talk about their guy a lot during the So anyway, that's my take takeaway. Thank you from the first weekend of college football. Appreciate in fact

that's Lane Kiffin. By the way, he did say it was the best team he ever said. He'd be shocked if there's a better team in college football. Team, congrats to you. Yeah, Now we got Chip Kelly and UCLA this week. All right, they let the Cowboys the other day. The Cowboys have Ron Rivera and the Carolina Pan they do this week. All right, let's uh, let's get into this roster shakedown a little bit. I know, we had a show yesterday, not to exclusively a talking Cowboys show

yesterday leading up to Jason Garrett's press conference. Check out what Garrett said at the at the press conference yesterday, Brian, you had a chance to assume maybe Rob too, and they walk off with the head coach so quickly. Just what's your takeaway now with the Dan Bailey Brett Maher kicking situation. You know, I feel like though that all the things, and I thought Garrett would be really vague in the way that he presented it to in front of the cameras. But I don't think he was vague.

I think he I think he told you that there were several factors involved the fact that they felt like that he had kicked better than Bailey, and Bailey got limited opportunities, but they had practice and they felt like that, hey, you know, this is an opportunity and the chances that we gave him that he clearly showed up. And so I think that's a possibility, I mean, not a possible. I think that's a reason. I think the fact that the coaching staff maybe lost a little confidence in Dan Billy.

I mean, that was what I was thinking going in and asking Garrett that question. He's saying, Hey, you know, that's part of it. You know, you want to feel good about you know, what's going on with your with your kickers or anyone of those players. You know, you want to have confidence in your players. And then also the money factor I think came in as well, so

you know, all those things. Um, you know, Garrett could have came out there and he you know, he was very complimentary of Dan Billy, and he knew what Dan Billy meant to this organization. He knew what he meant to him, you know. But he's part of the decision

making process, Jason Garrett. And and and this is one of those things where maybe we'll find out one day that some of these moves, the Dez Bryant move, the Dan Bailey move, maybe one day we'll find out that, you know, maybe Jason Garrett was leaning towards, Hey, I want to keep Dez Bryant. I wanted to keep Dan Bailey, you know, And I don't think that's going to be like a you know, maybe it's an afterthought. But you know, sometimes

I say the coaches have the head coach. Everyone I've ever been around here had a big stick in that personnel department. And you know, whether that's Dave Campo or you know, Chan Gailey. I saw a chan Gailey turnal way Randy Moss, you know, I watched him do it. And so I know I'm going long winded here, but you know this is this looked like a very difficult decision for Garrett, and I'm wondering if he was totally

on board with it. But maybe they always look for a they always look for a consensus here, and that might be the way they win. But so many decisions just aren't cutting dry decisions. No, all right, yeah we're doing this for sure, they're right, yeah, right, And they admit that they could be wrong on it, but it could cost it could cost the head coach's job because all we if you ever looked at Jason Garrett's record and looked at the games he plays, and he doesn't either,

he doesn't blow people out. He's in a lot of tight, tough games where he's having to make a decision whether it kick a field goal. There's a lot of close games, and they're gonna probably play in a lot of close games this year. If they're going to run the football, if the if the primary way of moving the ball and scoring is going to be running the football, they're going to be in a lot of tight games because this is really it's a passing league. And we'll see

if they can pass. We know they can run, we'll see if they can pass. I might I might write about what you just said. That's a great point because and it goes back to coaches ten usually lean towards what they know and what they're comfort always, always, and this is a guy. Yeah, when you got inside thirty yards thirty five yard line, Bailey more than not was money. Now, he wasn't down the stretch. And I do think the

organization they admit it's it's a risk what they're doing here. However, I think the rationale that they ultimately the decision they came to was we're gonna look at this objectively. Brett Maher, I don't know if any of us tracked his kicks throughout camp. We started watching him. That's a mistake on

my part. And probably the whole media. Yeah, he kicked. Well, I think we all learned a lesson that maybe there is a competition and not not necessarily some jobs that appear to be safe, maybe they aren't safe, right, And I think they felt overall the numbers bore out mar One the competition. Now you have to factor in history as well. But like Brian said, there was concern there. Now Maher could go out and miss a couple kicks

Sunday and they can second guess. But what if Bailey missed on Sunday and they were worried about his confidence to begin with, Then you second guess yourself that way and say we didn't trust our objective evaluation that this guy was better than our veteran. So they ultimately kind of took the jersey off and said, Okay, this guy

was better. And then the other part of that is Brett Markers just made a fifty seven yard field goal in the last preseason game, and as we said on the TV broadcast, you probably said something similar on the radio broadcast, Brian, Well, other NFL teams just to that. Brad Sham and I went into a dissertation on why he will probably get another chance to kick for somebody else, Brad goes. Does he deserve an opportunity? I'm thinking, well, yeah, you look at what he was able to kind of

do in camp. You've seen what he was done with some of the games. He he'd have the blemish he had a miss in the forty nine Ers game that would have maybe put the Cowboys a little bit better position to trying. It was exactly it was, But you

know that's those are the things you're thinking about. I mean, they put him out there with confidence, and to be honest with you, I'm surprised Garrett put him out there with with for a fifty seven yard shot to be you know, to be honest, and depending on what they're thinking was going into that. We were thinking, Yeah, we were thinking emergency list guy. We were thinking workout guy. We were thinking everything a personnel man thinks of, but

making a football team. You know what I was thinking this morning, though, I was thinking, okay, I was trying to remember play out this scenario leading up to that fifty seven yard or I was thinking the opposite of that. Maybe they were put trying to put him in position. I don't remember what the play call was on third down. But maybe they wanted Hiven go out there, let's see if you can make a fifty five yard or yeah. But even then it's like, Okay, great, he made a

great kick. Maybe he's trade made over the weekend because we good about Dan Bailey. We don't need to see Dan Bailey kick. And ultimately it's like they wanted to see what this guy could do one more time before they bite the bullet. But also, okay, maybe they're leaning towards keeping Dan Bailey all right, and what are the

chances Maher gets picked up by somebody else? If Bailey missed a field goal in Carolina, we would always fall back on Mahr sud on the practice squad and he makes the fifty seven yard or and they're thinking, you know what, he's probably gonna get picked up by somebody. We gotta make a decision me personally, and I get you know what they're at. And it might have been the decision that they couldn't afford to have Dan Bailey on the roster for three million dollars and then cut him.

You know what I'm saying. I mean that that Okay, now he's due. He's doing all his money after week one right, So you know, maybe that's a situation that they had to they had to look at it. It's like, okay, yeah, nice to think about Maha on the practice squad, But what if Dan Bailey and week week two missus field goals.

Now now you've got now you got him on the books, you know, because he is a vested veteran and you're you're responsible for his entire contract, and you know, then then it's a little bit more of a of a challenge to to cut him right there. So that's a good point. I just feel like I felt like all I did not feel like that Dan Bailey's job was in jeopardy until until those two days where we saw him struggle. When it went back to back days. I'm not maybe it's a bad way of saying it his

job in jeopardy. I felt like that, Okay, now maybe we have to watch instead of going over there in bs and with somebody, you know during practice. Yeah, being practice time, we got to watch talking to the fans or whatever, I do, you know, visit with people. I feel like, now we've got to watch kicks. I remember Mickey and I with Mickey and I went and it's

so funny. At the same time, we walked underneath the goal post and just stopped and looked up you know where I and I'm looked at him like you're here watching this kicker. Huh. He's like yeah, and I was in the same thing. I mean, you had to watch and see what was going on. After a few days, it kind of it kind of wore off. You moved on, Yeah, you moved on. And I think maybe that's just shows you how great Dan Billy was at his job that

after two days he just moved on. Well, in most past years, I don't know if we really charted him at camp. Now I did this year every time, especially after those two kicks. But I think he missed one kick after that two day stretch where he struggled, so it looked like he had righted himself. I thought he was striking the ball pretty well. But I wasn't paying close enough attention to this other guy who apparently really won their confidence over and the other guy Brett Maher.

And that is how you pronounce it. According to the media, guy did is Mahr They her okay, and he has experienced in the Canadian Football League. And the other thing is he can also if something happened to Chris Jones, he can also punt, and of course he can kick off too. So anyway, he's your guy going to Carolina this week. Now. As far as other moves that have been made since we last convened and since the fifty three man roster was set, I liked. I thought it

was a very shrewd move what they did. As far as the wide receivers are concerned, Yes, with Noah Brown, who had putting him on injured reserve after he was on the fifty three, now they can bring him back. After eight weeks they made they they had the market figured out on Deontay Thompson where they were able to

bring him back and sign him. So now they had those wide receivers and really they could tell what the market was because of the interest that Deontay Thompson had in the presea in the off season because he did not sign for a huge amount of money, kind of had a sort of a semi breakout year last year, and so teams are usually overloaded at wide receivers, so

he was still available and now you got both those guys. Yeah, I think it's you know, the thing they didn't want to lose Brown, right, that was clear, you know that was And it gives you a guy now for the second half of the season, they give you exactly right, It gives you a guy. They'll work with him, he'll get in shape and by you know, we'll see what

happens in week eight. I mean, it's still a receiving crew that there's a lot of questions about right now, and hey, week eight might be too late, it might not, but they you always have guys to get banged up during the season, and you know they've they've got that to kind of fall back on in case they need to. Yeah, I think ultimately receiver, they kept the five that we thought in camp were probably the most proven. Slash had the most potential with Michael Gallup as the third round pick,

and I know Brian was banging his fist on the table. No. Six wide receivers, No. Seven wide receivers. Ultimately, they go light at running back and it allows you to get Rico Gathers on the fifty three and they just weren't going to give up the investment they'd made trying to develop him, and he showed enough to make it for now. Rico Gathers was a better player than Dalton Schultz. He was a better player there during and but you know, they're not going to give up on Dalton Schultz. And

they shouldn't give up on Dalton Schultz. They should find a way to say, Okay, we need to get him stronger, we need to get him more reps. But Dalton Schultz did not play as well as he had played at Stanford, and that that in itself, to me, was very disappointing. But Rico Gathers, I'm gonna say that he did deserve an opportunity to be on this football team. He put

himself in consideration. He went from a player that nobody really wanted to deal with very much, you know, last year, I mean it seemed like that the coaching staff had their questions about him. And what happens you get new coaches, you know, new coaches rolled in and that might have been the best thing that ever happened to Rico Gathers. That opinions of former coaches go with their new teams and you have a fresh slate and a fresh opportunity to come in and try and make the football team.

And he did. He was he was clearly you look at the plays he made. You look at now. Jason Garrett was very complimentary of his blocking. And I say this in a way that I understand where Jason Garrett's going here. Rico gathers at two hundred and eighty pounds when he gets in your way, when he's on a defensive end or a linebacker, is a hard guy. He can make mistakes. He can make mistakes as a blocker.

He can't make mental mistakes, but he can make mistakes in technique because and one of the reasons, one of the examples that Garrett gave was Martellis Bennett, Right, Martellis Bennett was not a great technique blocker, but when he got that two hundred and eighty pound body moving, he was difficult. Once he was on you, he was difficult to get rid of. So you said, it's a matter of making sure you're in the right spot. That's true.

That's the nuance of the BA. And that's a guy that hasn't played a ton of foot And it will be. And they're they're gonna dress. They're gonna dress three tight ends this week. And I wonder if the third time is interesting that one, or if the third tight end is going to be Rico Gathers instead of Dalton Schultz. That's where this is gonna The other two are gonna

dress and that would be Swain and Jarwin. I wonder if the third tight end is going to be Rico Gathers, and I'm going to say this, I think there's a really good possibility it will be. And it may go

week to week on that. And yes, and so if Rico depending on matchups or on development of Rico, if it depending on the game plan and stuff like that, if they if somebody's got a heavy sam lineback or they play with, or somebody's got a heavy defensive end, or they want to create opportunity there to get on the edge. But Rico Gathers. The only thing keeping Rico Gathers, and I'm just talking about the on the field stuff.

I'm not talking about the off the field stuff. The only thing keeping him from being the player that they want him to be is his ability to understand what he's got, his responsibility, his job. And there's been some signs where hot read or being where he needs to be on a certain call, or you see him playing second level. He's getting better at that. So If he can continue on that path, up Rico Gathers will be on your forty six every week. He's just too talent

of a player. The problem is, though, he doesn't always know what he's doing, and that keeps him from being a guy you won on the forty six. All right, we're going to take your phone calls here on Talking Cowboys. We're going to get into some of these other new cowboys Ibrahim Campbell, Adam Redman, Parker Anger, and others, as Brian has done the homework on that when Talking Cowboys

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pair you'll ever wear. Or it's free guarantee. Shop exclusive Cowboys Underwear at Tommy John dot com Forward Slash Cowboys for twenty percent off your first order Tommy John dot com Forward Slash Cowboys. I need to listen to and heed your spots there, Rob I was listening and I need to heed them because I just had to run

because I was having difficulty myself there. Oh no, So if I can keep it from running up, maybe to make the move there we go, right, Things things you learn in live radio hosting so much easier when you're not making adjustments. And yeah, right, John, we'll look you up. That's awesome. All right. I've got one little story to pass along from the weekend. Everyone survived the weekend. Obviously I came very close to not surviving the weekend. That's

not good. My Yeah, literally, i'd be I came about that close, I truly believe. All right. Um, on Sunday, some friends of mine and we went over to my daughter's new home and they're moving in, She and her husband are moving in a new home, and they have that popcorn ceiling of you that was popular back in the eighties houses back Okay, so we were we our assignment and we volunteered to do it was to get up on ladders and scrape the popcorn off. Okay, so

the whole house all right. Now. That wasn't where I had a near death experience. It was after that, not ladders and no, okay, all right, so we're just covered with plaster and paint and everything whatever. And so I got went home and I decided I'm getting in the pool, okay, to get all that stuff off me. I go to step into the pool. I step on the top step and it was slicker, and I'll get out. I slip. I fall to the side and I came. I guarantee you I came an entered two away from hitting my

head on the side of that pool. I mean, I go, I fall and I'm still sore on the left side my knee, which has torn meniscus already, it was buckled under and I could just feel as I'm falling. I'm saying, I just blew out my knee and now I'm thinking I'm gonna hit my head. Whatever go right, And I just sat there. Afterwards, I went and I got a scrape on my elbow and that's it. I'm so lucky.

But more than anything, what this brings to me to the talking cowboys in the NFL, is Okay, my knee was killing me immediately after that, my hip, my shoulder or whatever. I'm thinking, I just got hit by a three hundred pound lineman. I mean, this is what these NFL players go through every single Sunday, and here it is.

It got a little better yesterday and I feel fine today. Yeah, but you can understand why and why you have a schedule now that gives them a day to recover on Monday, and they don't get back here until Tuesday after a game because you need that time. Of course, their bodies are thirty years younger than mine. But but anyway, I'm glad you're all right. That's scary, man. I thought you were saying something with the plaster and it was, yeah, well no telling you about the asbestos had the mask

and everything. So good for you. I mean I would have been anyway. I've been like, I have no mask and it got in my mouth or something like that, and then have been like really like sick. Yeah, that was a horrible experience. I'm still having a hard time getting over it. Anyway, all right, let's get to these new players. Ibraheim Campbell. Yes, what does he bring to the party. I'll tell you what with Campbell? And I was and it's up on Dallas Cowboys dot com the

reports and stuff, and I really I was impressed. He saw him in the Cowboys game against the Texans the other day. He was around the ball. He is a fierce hitter. He's a wrap up tackle guy. He's a guy. It's five to eleven, about two hundred and fifteen pounds. He's got really a strong safety kind of a build. But they play him as really they'll play him down, but they'll also play him in that single high guy

and you'll see him react. There was a play I remember, particular play when Gallup dropped the ball in the slant. He was coming fast to defend that play. So with Campbell, he's a he is a veteran guy. He has played in this league as far as he's made some starts. Was with Cleveland's drafted by Cleveland the fourth round. I do like his ability to tackle. I do like his

ability to play physically. I do like the I do like the fact that you can play him down and you can play him back, and he seems to have that kind of flexibility to his game. He's not just a down guy, and I think that's something that they were kind of looking at. Can we get a guy that's just not a down guy? But here here he's he's got that ability to play in some coverage. He was having to cover some linebackers. I don't know if I would put him in the slot like what they

do with Xavier Woods. But I think there's some things that like what they do with Jeff Heath that play you know, they have to play Heath back, They could play him down, be a little bit interchangeable because you prefer to see Heath around the line of scrimmage. I would, because he's the way he reads things, and he's instinctive and he can he can him up and make plays. And now Cavon Frazier, we think he's gonna try to go week one, but at least this guy give you

some versatility in case he misses some snaps. This this guy's a better. This guy's a better both physical players. But I think if you said who's a better tackler, I think Campbell's a better tackler than Frasier. And I think you could play him in more coverage situations than you can Frasier. Okay, So that that in itself, I

think is a good thing. I'm all for if keeping Xavier Woods back and letting Jeff Heath played down underneath, because if I could get if I could get Heath, Jalen Smith and Shaun Lee all of the ball, one of those three is going to make a tackle. For me, So the more I don't want Jeff Heath playing, you know, in in so deep that he's everything is just run up, run up, run up, run up, that kind of thing. I want him around the ball where he can make some play. And when you look at Houston, they added

Tyron Matthew in the offseason. They also drafted Justin Reid, and so you can understand where Campbell he fell short in Houston. But there's an opportunity here and they signed. They signed the coup is that you told de coup Is. They already had Day coup on their roster, a day coup treston Day. Yeah, but I think he's on a Cowboys practice squad. Oh you're talking about Oh, you're talking about Day being Dallas. I thought, yeah, reports now that

he's signing to the practice squad. Okay, okay, good, Yeah, they go right, a little more depth there, yeah, a little bit more depth at the position and all that. So all right, how about these linemen. First you had Parker and we're hearing the pronunciation anger on E H I n G E R. Of course he went to the University of Cincinnati, Parker Anger and Adam Redmond, Yes, and then anger. He's a guy I really liked what

I saw. He was playing tackle at Kansas City, wasn't really playing the guard, but he's played both in his career. But I evaluated position. Yeah, I evaluate him as a right tackle. And I'll tell you what, though, there's there was things about I like the ability to finish. I think there were some things with him him where you at guard, I think it's a little bit easier for a tackle. His balance wasn't always good. H there was times where he'd have three or four plays where he

was really good. You see him in position, position, position, and then it's at fifth play that all of a sudden, Oh, why's the head down? He's lungeon, you know, trying to But I feel like though if you put him inside, he's probably better suited than having to play out in space. He's athletic enough to do the stuff that they want to do with the polls and things like that. He could second level block, he could reach, he could scoop. Those are the things that they're going to ask him

to do. I like the way that I mentioned. I like the way he finishes. I think that's a good thing for him. But yeah, he's got that ability. If they had to play him as an emergency tackle, I don't think you would be you know, to get out of a game. I think he could do it, but he's better suited to be playing guard, to play inside where he can where he can use more of his ability to get up on guys to day with guys.

The sustain is really really good for him. So uh, he was he played as a rookie quite a bit for the Chiefs and then got a really bad knee injury. And you know, I don't think that's robbed him of any of his you know, quickness or speed or anything, or lateral slide or any of that stuff, but it's something you have to kind of keep an eye on. So if one of your tackles Missus snaps, you're going with Fleming as your swing tackle. Yeah, that's what it

sounds like. If you in this game, they're going to try and get these two guys ready to roll, you know with And the thing I like about Redman is Redman's a scheme fit for him as well, because now here's the guy's And I always say this because when it pertains, if a guy has trouble extending, he's really kind of a billy to billy blocker. And I mean billy that's that's really a close guy. If you if you read me say, if you read that what I say, that means guy's getting real close. He's not able to

really extend. And this is the thing I think with Redman that they like is the fact that he could get up on this guy. He's a better angle blocker, I mean angle like blocking back. He's not going to drive people off the ball. He's gonna get into his block. He's gonna hold on, he's gonna shield from the he's the ball, it's gonna go behind him. He's gonna make the defender run through him to get to the ball. And that's but I saw some things where again second

level stuff that they do with Travis Frederick. Always talking about Frederick's ability to cut the defense in half. This guy could get up on the second level. Take some linebackers, give Ezekiel Eli, give the backs a little bit of a cutback lane if he had to play, and they pulled him quite a bit. He's a two hundred and ninety six pound guy, so he's the he's not a you know, he's built more like what you would see

with Connor Williams. But you see the athletic ability, and I think that's why they went and guy, he's he's a better He's better than what they were gonna get with Marcus Martin. Marcus Martin was a big, boxy, square guy, powerful guy. I compared him to Ron Leary the way he looked, you know, when Ron Larry was big that way. This guy's not. This guy's more of an athlete. And I could see why because he's a better scheme fit because of the mobility. So they are better at backup

offensive line. They are better now than what they want. And yeah, yeah, because the whole idea was to try and find somebody that was better than than uh Kadeem Edward. It was the whole idea, ye know, find find you know, they went out and they got it some a couple of young guys that that have had some experience, have played some preseason games. You know, those are the kinds of things. I mean, that's what you want. You you talk about anger, he's he's a guy that's been you know,

he's played. I mean, he's he's made some starts and stuff. That's what you want. You don't want to throw a Kadeem Edwards out there who hasn't had that experience and and he's not thirty years old. Exactly. This is not a band aid. It's not a band aid. This guy can legitimately play, and so you know, that's the whole idea. They've they've been chasing this, they've been chasing the swing guys,

and now they lost their best swing guy. Because their best swing guys now having a place as a starting center, so right, you know, that's why they had to make the moves they did. They've they've gone out and tried to address the two spots they were most thin. We just talked about safety and interior offensive lines. So they've at least they've tried to upgrade there. We'll see if they if it works, if they have to use those guys.

It sounds encouraging on Travis Frederick, although there's no timetable still, but obviously they feel optimistic that maybe he can get back within the next two months. The fact that he was not placed on IR after being on the obviously he's going to be on the fifty three to start because they want to keep that chance open. But even now here we sit on Tuesday and he hasn't been placed on IR. That gives you hope. That can't be the web blanket guy. Yeah, he Jerry Jones is gambling here.

He's gambling. They don't know. They don't, right, they don't know, and and and in all honesty, I don't think Travis Frederick knows, right, and I don't think doctors don't know. But they're they're gambling that because Frederick. They're gambling on Frederick's ability to to to get you know, he's a professional athlete, to get himself in condition. The minute he could they say, you can start lifting, you could start

doing all these things. Travis Frederick will be there twenty four hours a day trying to get himself ready to play. But they they, they are, they are, they are looking at a whole card right now, and they're not sure what that whole card is on the river, you know. And then I'm using poker terms, right, I got you. But they they're they're hoping, they're hoping that they draw the inside straight. Clar clarify for me the rule on injured reserve and returning from injured reserve. We see it

is eight weeks from when you get placed on him reserve. Right, So there would be if you're sitting there thinking, okay, if the doctors say it's going to take some time to get his strength back, I mean best case scenario, right, best case scenario would be he's back in four weeks whatever. Probably yeah, there yet there, but they're there is a place somewhere in there where you would want to if you if it looks like it's gonna linger, if it if it looks like this is the gamble, this is

the gamble. If he doesn't come back within eight weeks, you just you just you put him on ir you just go ahead and you just you just say he's done, he's the season. Yeah, it just gives you a window for a couple months and he can start practicing technically after six weeks, I believe. Yeah. But if you went ahead and did it now or next week or something, you get that eight week started, and now you know that, we'll see what happens. But he could be available the

last seven weeks. I'm saying, the longer you wait, the longer you're not gonna in that respect, you're well And like I said, I I've been from and I'm not betting against the guy, I'm not. I just because we don't know well and we don't know, and I haven't planned I mean, if I was a personal guy, I wouldn't plan on him playing. But you're but you're saying this same thing with Romo y his injury a couple of years ago, and they went ahead and kept him

on the fifty three. Right, A little different because that was a structural deal where you can kind of project Yeah. I will say this because to Brian's point, this is something they won't rush if he's not sure, because this is about his long term well being with his family and I you know, that's the most important thing. So I don't think they're going to rush him back because he's starting to feel excuse me a little better. Um, But the reports they say are encouraged, right, it is,

it is. That's good. I think the only two people that really know this situation well is Travis's doctor and Travis. I mean, I really really think, like the Cowboys are they have an idea of what but but they're they're there. I'm not saying they're flying blind, but there's a lot of things that we don't know, I mean, and gritting up on this apparent. Yeah, it's there's different severity, right, you know, right, and different happens different with different cases.

And so if they've have been told, I would think that there is a chance he could be back within eight weeks. And so since there is a chance, they're not putting him on no, and there this is they're they're they're looking for the they're looking for the inside straight like I said, because if if he comes back, and if he comes back in five weeks, boy what a great move. He comes back in six weeks, boy what a great move. He comes back, and said, boy,

what a great move. Now you're getting eight weeks he comes back. You're like, okay, well maybe you could have used the spot, but you know, it's still you kept him. You're you're just trying to your hope. You're you're playing with hope right now. It's what you're doing. And you know, sometimes hope is not a very good game plan. You know, hope is uh you know, but we'll see, but we all hope for the best. Yeah. Well, I mean, hey, you know what, they there's some of the best, you know,

best specialists in the world. They're dealing on this thing. I mean, Jerry Jones will not spare any expense to make sure, like you said, Rob, that this his life is, that Travis's life is okay, and and you know that they want to know. They'll do the best they can to know. Yeah, what I've heard about it, excuse me again, is that the treatment's help and then but some days can be better than others. Even after that, you can

feel good one day and the next day. It's it's just it truly is a day to day proposition until the symptoms go away, and I think eventually, if you catch it early enough, it will. Now it's another thing to go up and play all pro level football after this. So yeah, I'm with Brian that you just don't know. But I like that analogy you're just making. You're making a calculator, taking a calculator risk that you can get

your all pro center back at some point. Yeah, all right, And we are taking a calculated risk that there will be phone calls for us to go to when we come back here on talking cowboys. Cowboys fans know that the second best of anything simply won't cut it, and your skincare should be no different. A long time locker room favored of the players and the official men's skincare

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And so is AT and T doing their part to keep you connected to America's team all season law AT and T is a proud member of Cowboys Nation. To talk in Cowboys Talking Cowboys continues from the Star in Fresco. And yes I do wear readers. Yes you don't like me of my readers, or you prefer not wear readers. Do whatever you're to do, Billy I think it's never getting job done. It's very distinguished. I'm just sitting there looking at Maybe I'll keep them. You know, it's funny

on the TV broadcast, babewears readers. I wear readers, of course. The other game, the last game, Michael, everyone wears glasses anyway. So we're all sitting there with our readers on as the game's going on, and then the producer tells us, Okay, we're gonna take a camera shot at it. So we're all for the camera crames on. We take our glasses off. Like people don't know that we need readers. Of course, we need readers. I think it's a good look for

fifty something. One of these days, Rob, you'll need readers. It happens, it comes at you fast. That's exactly right. How about we go to Adrian in Texas? Adrian, where are you in this great state of Texas? Well as West Loco? All right, we go Westlico. What's their nickname? What's the high school nickname? We don't have a Oh okay, well sorry, a Texas town without a high school? All right? Yeah,

now I have a question for Blane. Yeah, go ahead, Um, I know they said I know that with that Bay release, the Coboy gave dremny of thars. I don't see why they're not going after old Thomas. Did you response to that? Well, because they have the extra money, that's why they're going there. Why they're not going after Old Thomas, that's the question, did he Yeah? It takes two to tang. Yeah. And if you've listened to me or follow me on Twitter or anything, I'm talking about John Snyder and I go

way back. John was my intern at Green Bay, so I know John. But this is one of those things that John will not talk to me about because but I know why he's doing this. He's not giving this guy up because it sets a bad presence in his locker room. He doesn't want guys John Gruden gave up. I mean, John grew knew he couldn't sign Khalil Mack, so he just gave up on it. He took what he can get. John doesn't feel that way. I know John.

John does not feel like he does not want players coming in and demanding to be traded and all that. You know, I do know for a fact, and talking to somebody other than John Snyder. When Earl Thomas went and made that little jaunt to the Cowboy locker room. John Snyder was ready to get rid of Earl Thomas at that point, and Pete Carroll told him, no, no, no, no, we're not going to do this. We're not going to do this. But now I heard that from some other

Seattle folks. So, but John is not ready to trade Earl Thomas, you know. But it's also in a situation too where the minute he is then he needs to call Dallas, and Dallas either needs to say yes, we can do this or no, we can't do this. You know. But they've they've had some conversations. They had conversations during the draft. They had they had conversations. When Dallas went on the clock at fifty we were here in this room draft show. I was thinking they were talking about

a possibly of a safety. You know, we were the kid more. We were talking about him from Southern Missile. Maybe they're gonna take this guy here. It's good opportunity to grabbing safety. We were thinking about a safety, but we were thinking about the wrong safety Stephen Jones was on the phone for an extensive period of time talking about but they were going to take That's what they took Connor Williams. So there see, I don't. I know

that Seattle is not ready to trade him. Just talking everybody but John and I know that Dallas will listen once Seattle makes that move. But there's no reason and Dallas is not gonna say, okay, we'll go take off your hands. Once Seattle makes a call, then you can be able to negotiate with Seattle. That's where that's where this is going to come down to. I've said this

all along. It's you've got to have the other team be willing to trade the guy, you know, But Seattle, I'm also might be putting putting out feelers out there saying we want a first round pick, which they're not going to get. Wow. Yeah, you know they're not going to get that. So I don't it's it's not it. This isn't The ball is not in the Cowboys core. The ball is in the Seattle Seahawks court. Like the caller asked about money, cap space is not an issue.

They're like they had cap space before the release Dan twenty million under the cap right now. Yeah, they're doing fine. Yeah, it's now. There were the Dan Bailey release and that three and a half million dollars if they want to extend guys, if they want money available. Yeah, Jerry Jones talked about that this point year. Then that gives him three and a half more million dollars to use. They have line. Jerry Jones brought it up this morning on

one oh five three the Fan. He said, you know, because the question was asked, do you use the money now or do you save the money, And you know, he says, Hey, we've got some guys coming up that we have to think about. We have some hefty contracts looking you know, you talk about with what if DeMarcus Lawrence has another great year, you know, Dak Prescott, that's gonna be a big contract if he has a gran

Jones Yeah. I mean they've got guys that young players that they want to try and extend and keep here. So I know, again the Earl Thomas stuff. When when Seattle has had enough, that's when you're gonna have an opportunity, because that will be the best time to deal with Seattle. That's when Seattle will say, Okay, we will take whatever your best offer is. And the Cowboys might not offer the best deal. Let's be let's be real, honest, about this. John Snyder doesn't owe it to him to trade him

to Dallas. He can trade him wherever he feels like he could get the best offer f him. That's his job. In fact, he probably does not want to send him to Dallas. Yeah yeah, yeah, A because Dallas is in their conference. B because that's what Earl Thomas. But it's his job to get the best offers. And if Dallas offers the best package to get Earl Thomas, then you'll see Earl Thomas being trade. But until Seattle is ready to trade him, we're just we're just starting today it now.

Earl Thomas now gets hit in the pocket book, Yeah he does. But in what happens when those fines and stuff like that, when they come back, Mysteriously, some team just goes, oh, we forgot about the fines. All right, We'll forget about the fines if you come back. If you come back, we'll just forget about the finals, that's all right. Uh. And Rob Wilson on Twitter, he tweets at me at CBS eleven Bill Jones, glad you're okay, but why the pool and not the shower on my

little incident fir point day and that smart man. The reason the pool and not the shower is my wife would let me in the house with plaster all over me. So I had to get to this about the host. How about back in the day building you ever grow up? Your mom took outside. Actually, I had already used the garden host and didn't get every garden, so I decided I needed to do fully immersed myself. There you go, I got a little more than I bargained for. All right,

let's go to Phil and Louisiana next up. I'm talking cowboys, Phil, Morning guys, and Hey Brian. I just wanted to tell you I took your advice and I'm gonna be fifty get to the point here, Okay, talk to you. It was about Travis Frederick and GM bray. Yeah. I want to offer an opinion, albeit about his condition. I want to be encouraging. It's anecdotal, but based on my dad's experience with it, don't believe Travis Frederick will be out

eight weeks. The very idea that he was walking around very soon after the diagnosis and the visual treatments was pretty encouraging to me. If he's got his energy and it has enough energy to come out stand up for a few hours at the game. All these things he's doing, then that tells me what's what's he's dealing with now is the latent or the hidden effects of the disease, not the actual overt things like you know, a loss

of muscular use or things of that nature. But I just feel like if he goes for I mean, I don't know if he'll go for but I don't surely don't think he'll go eight. But we don't know his strength levels. We we don't know. We don't know that. I mean, I really appreciate you making this call. I know you went through it with your family and all that, but this these cases, I mean, we don't know his strength level. I mean he could look good walking around

and all that, but we don't know his strength. Love, we don't know how much strength he lost. I mean, he could be down fifty percent from his strength levels, you know. I mean, he's gonna have to build all that back up. So I'm you know, for for us, you know, and I keep saying this. I appreciate you saying it that you know, this is this is something, this is we're sailing like, you know, we're Columbus. The

need of the pine and the Santa Maria. We're we're trying to find land right now, you know, Brian, I can tell you this, it's very worse. It just totally drops the person there. Sure, but but but again, we don't know his strength levels. This is a professional athlete, okay, And and and that's where and again I appreciate your insight knowledge on this, but we don't know. That's I mean, we he could look fine walking around. He's a professional athlete.

It's a good point you just made. There's two sides to it, right, he's a professional athlete, finally tuned athlete, young man, can you would think conceivably recover fairly quickly if it's caught quickly, right, right, But he's also in a profession that you gotta line up and against three hundred pound guys, he's not good. Who does Carolina have lining up over the center this week? That frigging don Terry Pop Terry Bot? Who did the Giants have the yeas? Yeah? Snacks? Yeah?

So who eats centers for snacks? That's right, So that's what you're going up against him. By the way, Phil, I really appreciate our word of the day today. Pithy. I like that word. He said he was gonna be pithy. You know what pithy means. I had to look it up myself. I've heard it in a phrase of pithy comments. Yeah, so well, that's exactly the way it's used. Apple would be pithy would be concise and forcefully expressive, which is exactly the way Brian brought us. Wants all of our

callers to be right, and I would agree. If we want to be we want you to be pithy with your question, not pissy. We want to be Okay, that's new. I thought pithy meant like smartass, but pithy is consticking to the point and forcefully expressing. You know, I don't mean no disrespect to him, No, no, I mean I I just we don't know the strength level of this of Frederick, We really don't. I mean, he could be

way down until until you get to start lifting. All of us who are watching the early days of training camp looked at Travis and there were some one on one battles where he did not look as strong as what has been in the past. Right, And I say that based on his statement that he released at the time that he was. It was announced that he was diagnosed with this, he said over the last four weeks. I think it was something that he had been dealing

with since the start a training game. And we thought they were stingers because usually when you have that stinger issue in your neck and shoulder lack of string, it's a strength issue. And that's what someone asked me. A friend of mine asked me, well, didn't he get hit? And that was when Antoine Woods and him got into the little breakas whatever. Woods became a player all the same, right, and and we'll go we'll look at it. We'll look back at Antoine woods career and think back to that

movement in Oxnard. That's how you get invest in Travis Frederick there and all of a sudden he went dad. He went from the all pro tackle fourth string to first string. It one fell swoop, one fell swipe of Travis Frederick's jaw. All right, uh, Cowboys report back today after the long weekend. What do you think those players would think? It is they hit the star today. This is it's time, It's go time. Yeah. I think that you know, with the players, the coaches, you know they'll

come in they'll have the run. Now, now is when the routine begins. You know, this is now for the next seventeen weeks. You get into a routine. You get into a routine of you know, when you come in, when you lift, when you meet, when you eat, when you meet, when you practice, when you you know, you

do your own work on the side. You know, Sean Lee and those guys, and hopefully these young guys will fall along some of the leads that you know, they have guys working and getting ready, you know for these games. It's it's it's a strange thing. And I don't know. I mean, you guys know this better than most that you it's week one and then the next thing you know, you'll wake up and it's week seven. I was just thinking,

it happens fast. It happens really fast. And but this is where you know, you go to Carolina and I'm just gonna say this. They have got to find a way if they want to be a playoff team. Not only you think about what you have to do in your own division, which will be very difficult in itself. You cannot go and be one in three against the NFC South. Those are the teams you are battling for if you if even if you're in a even if you're in a wild card spot, you were battling those teams.

I mean they put three teams last year in the playoffs. You now you got to think about the teams, you know. I mean you're in a battle with Seattle probably depend on what the Rams do you play them. You cannot go out and give these games away. You cannot go out and be one and three against How about the first four games of this season? Well, yeah, and you think about it. If you look at it, there's another team you think about. Detroit is the fourth team in

the in the in the way it is. I just think I just think the I think a lot will hinge on this, on this NFC North, I mean this NFC South. I just don't. You just can't go through and be one and three against these guys, because at the end of the day, when they line them up in December, they're gonna say, oh wait, Falcons were one game better than you. Now they get to go play you know, they get to go play a wild card

game against the Rams, and then what they do. They beat the Rams and then they turn out now they're playing against the Eagles, and there were one really bad play call away from being in the NFC Championship game. So you cannot, you cannot go out there and just and give these games away. You gotta be ready, You

gotta get out of the blocks. Is Carolina game is really huge, and not only to start the season, but also to find a way to keep Carolina behind you in the playoff hunt because you, yeah, your point is head to head tiebreakers when it comes down to December. And Bill, you talked about the first four games. Look at the quarterbacks. They're facing Cam Newton, Eli Manning with maybe a better cast around him and better running game for better running game for sure, Russ Wilson and Matt Stafford.

And we've talked about how good this defense has looked. They may have to carry things this first month and at least keep things interesting for the offense. And then you look at the second four. I mean, yeah, you go to week five and you've got three AFC South teams in that second quarter of the season at Houston and Jacksonville, and you got atwashing to split there. Somehow. You got to find a way to maybe go win a game at Houston or take care of Jacksonville at home.

Those are two potential. You could say what you want about Houston, but we saw them the other day. I know that was a lot of their backups and stuff like that. Plan that's a good roster though, that's a really good roster. And and and the fact we didn't yeah, and we didn't even get to see Watson, you know, the quarterback there. I mean he could be a very nineteen touchdown passes in six starts last year. Yeah, I mean they were averaging like forty points a game back

to back. That's two back to back defenses right there. That are going to be if they're healthy. If they're healthy, that's right. Yes, I just I there's the schedule has got a lot of those. You just can't ride the roller coaster here. You can't afford to just trade games up and down, up and down, up and down. Can't do that. You gotta find a way. When they won, when they won that eleven straight games in a row, well they do they FC North, which I thought was

gonna be really, really difficult. And they also swept the NFC North if you remember Green Bay to Troy also swept all the road games. Yeah. Yeah, so there's no excuse. I mean, if you're going to be a thirteen not not to say the Cowboys are going to be or need even but to win the division. But to win the division, you gotta go on the road and win. You've got to go in the road. And it starts at Carolina this weekend. Right, you probably need ten wins.

I need ten wins to get in the playoffs this year. Yeah, and so, and I think these first four games are so important and so don't get behind the eighth. See, this is where this is where you know when I don't like it when fans say this, I hate the must win game. This is a must win game, you know. Yeah, they're all must win because you only play sixteen. That's why it's the beauty of the NFL. Every game is must win. They must win against Carolina. They must People say, oh,

you can't go through life like that. Yeah, I can, because they're only sixteen of these things. And at the end of the day, there's not Major League Baseball can't rest guys too. You can't cannibal sixteen days. You cannot afford a four game losing streak in the NFL. You do that, you're gonna you're not gonna be in the playoffs. Two you go and two you start over. Do the research on how many teams will the four game losing streak. Ye have made it even to the playoffs much less.

I think it's San Diego like in ninety eight. Start seriously, I think I think they were one of the few. But it doesn't happen. You've but these these games are all must win, and I've I've always treated him that way, always treat him that way. All right, how does it for talking Cowboys? For this Tuesday. We will be shouting at you again tomorrow and look forward to the break

later today here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.