Talkin' Cowboys: Matching Up With NYG

Ready to go, Ready to talk Friday. Right, it is Friday where we're gonna talk some inactive possibilities, some game predictions, and we even have a guest Mickey if you would like to introduce him, and he'll be in our third segment. John Schmelt, the I think he's got this weird title is managing producer for the New York Football Giants and I just got off the phone with their show. So he said he'd see us in a little bit, so I think we can count on it. Were you just

as informative as he will be trying to be. I was kind of step We lost in that bit, right, well, giants took the l there. John's a heck of a guest. Yeah, yeah, that's a tough challenge for you. Yeah, yeah, especially since he asked me about Jack Rabbit. Did you know? Oh yeah, he knows. Now we all know jack Rabbit. It's in the New York Post, the whole story with Jack Rabbit

in the headline. There's Megatron and there's Jack Rabbit. And yeah, you guys get into discussing the fact that finally we know that Odell Beckham Junior is questionable for the game. They said that, yeah, but they didn't haven't seen the practice yet, so didn't know if he was going to do anything more than what he hasn't done the last two games. But I did, in my research find out that in twenty fifteen, he missed a whole week of practice, was listed as questionable, and then played in the game.

He's done this three times at four catches against the Cowboys thirty some yards. So my guess was when the day started that he would do a little something today and they would list them as questionable. And I guarantee you that's what they do. Ye not going to tell the Cowboys, right? Why would they? Why would you, but keep them guessing something that we don't need to guess about. Is the only guy who's for sure out for them is Kenyan Robinson, their linebacker within concussion Brian O'Dell. Is

he going to surprise us all? You know? I mean, I went on yesterday feeling like that if he didn't practice today that he would be out. And you know, Mickey's right, They're not gonna say whether he's in or out. They're gonna let it roll to a game time decision. I will say this though, they practiced all week with the thought of him playing, So this is not going to be a surprise. If he doesn't show up, they'll there's other weapons you have to deal with. I think

that they're more than prepared to handle. You know, whoever else has to step into thirteen shoes if he doesn't play, Yeah, it won't be like, oh he's playing, we don't know what to do. Yeah, They've got a game play compared for both ways, and regardless of what they say, right absolutely, I think that's why they went ahead and kind of stacked that receiver corps in the offseason, obviously adding Brandon Marshall. They feel more comfortable with Sterling Shepherd than they did

before let go of Cruise. They were looking at this receiver corps because part of the playoff loss was around them. They couldn't catch the ball. Yeah, they had some troubles in that Green Bay game. They again, it goes all the way back tay to their inability to run the football though too. That's something that we, you know, we have to keep an eye on. You know, the Cowboys one of the best in the National Football last year defending the run. You add Steven Pia to the mix,

I think that even helps more. Now, you know, we'll see what happens at the middle linebacker spot. We think maybe Jalen Smith will be the guy justin Durant will get some opportunities there. But it's a different team to Dallas Cowboys up the middle now if you think about it, with Pia's starting with a new mic linebacker and Jeff Heath also playing as a safety. So usually your run defense is predicated on how you play up the middle. And that's three really new parts. But we all think

him as positive parts. We mentioned offensive line for the Giants yesterday and that's that's a question mark for them. And John might speak to it later in the show for me that you mentioned Pie, you mentioned Malie Collins. That's what I want to see in this game is can they get that middle rush to prevent Eli from climb in the pocket and making throws. If he's flushed out of the pocket, that's going to only help the guys on the edges. To me, that's a huge key

in the game on Sunday. I think they're going to primarily look to Paul Perkins to be their primary back in this game. And you may recognize the last name, Mickey, Paul Perkins. You mentioned Don Perkins last week, and he is related to him. It is his great nephew or it's a nephew. I don't know how great it is, but yeah, there's a relation there. Went to UCLA. Yes, second year guy. I think it's his nephew. Yeah, I think it's his brothers son related. Yeah, Perkins last name

running back. Yeah, kind of in the bloodlines, right, yep? Yeah, not making pies now making pies. You you looked at Paul Perkins a lot. Yeah, how boys drafted? I did Zee Elliott. Now that was if they took a running back a little bit later, and sure, fourth overall, Is he a deep threat? I mean no, this is this

is a guy that with the Giant. The Giants don't have a home run hitter per se as at running backs, you know, if you look at there and really what they do Perkins, Shane Vereen got they got steady, kind of grinded running backs. Perkins has got. He's one of those guests. It's got initial movement, can make one guy miss, but then it far as extending runs, not so much. They just don't have that. I mean, you know, the Cowboys are blessed to have a guy like Ezekiel Elate.

It has that ability to finish runs. And really the Giants don't have that steady kind of handing the ball. Get what they can breaking the casual run, but nothing that would make you alarm about the way they play or the way they run the football. Al Perkins nothing like the rookie from the Chiefs last night. Oh Kareem Hunt. He had himself a game pretty good. Oh my fantasy team,

so it's very happy. I'll start. But after that, Paul Perkins one hundred and twelve carries last year, four hundred and fifty six yards, four point one average, No touchdown, still looking for his first NFL touchdown comes Sheppard had his first running or last year. I don't like talking about right guys, that's right, celebrating in the end zone. Yeah, I just think it's you know, you need to find a way to be Mickey brought up the point last year the Giants were able to finish the game in

Week one by running the football. They kept the ball away from Dallas, They made some he first downs, you know, running the ball late, and you know, I mean Dallas has got to be on the screws and not allow them to have to deal with you know, with that. I mean, they need to find a way to make this a game where they make Manning play in long yarded situations. It affects the way that he plays. The longer yarded situations you put him in, the harder it

is for him to have success. Talked about it a bunch. Twenty nine percent of the time this team goes three and out. That was last year. Not a lot has changed other than adding you know, really Brandon Marshalling and adding the tight end. We'll see if that really makes the difference for them. But their inability to run the football really hurts them. Rob. Yesterday you were writing about the practice, and fortunately for the Cowboys, it's pretty much

the same practice report as it was on Wednesday. Of course, they're practicing as we're speaking right now and kind of wrapping up things for the week. But the Cowboys fortunately had only the same limited player in Jordan Lewis, even though coach Garrett said that he was going to be doing more. Yeah, maybe some team snaps, I believe is what he's said. Has been working that way, but he's the lone question. Market looks like I think a Woozier seems ready to go. As far as the rookies go.

Woods has been practicing, Xavier Woods, Ryan Switzer's not even on the injury report, so that's a good sign. Some of the guys that have been banged up, Chaz Green has been taken left guard snaps, Tyrone Crawford looks to have some type of role in the defensive line rotation Sunday. So the Cowboys a pretty good health shape. Two things I learned from practice today or five minutes I was there today or yesterday today, the tours are flourishing here,

Yes they are. Could barely walk through the hallway Hey, I'm glad to hear that. What's going on? And I realized, Oh, it's the Friday before the season opener. At number two. The Miami Dolphins are vacating and they're going to Oxnard, California to set up camp because their next game is against the Chargers. Out there, they're gonna be practicing on the River Rich. Yes, they're gonna put up tents and they don't know maybe when they're gonna get back. So

that's breaking news, isn't it? An you think cowboy related? They're using the Cowboys facility? So did the Rams for a while? There you go, it's kind of a regular So did the Saints. Yeah, let me ask you this though, you know, going back real quick, ta if I could, though, you know, the with the comfort level with a Woozier, you know, because Mickey's thought, you know, you're gonna have to play dime package stuff. And I'm interested to see how they're gonna play against Evan Ingram. And I know

that's a guy that you haven't got to. I mean, we were kind of going through names and stuff. I wonder how you know, and just what you guys feel about him playing in that matchup right there. I don't think it's gonna be him totally all the time, But what about him? How are they going to handle Well, wouldn't you have more of a comfort level with Byron Jones doing that, giving his ability to cover tight ends? So then what's your comfort level with Cavon Frasier playing

deep safety? See that? Well, I mean, what if it's if it's what if it's what if it's Heath Fraser. No, No, I'm saying, well in the slot, not Byron Jones, you know, because they've practice Heath down there off they do practice And that's what I'm saying though, and I know it it kind of takes us away, but I just feel like, though, if no Beckham, They're gonna have to go to other things.

I'm just thinking about from a standpoint of how you match up in this game, because you know, he hasn't practiced much in training camp, but now he's going to get thrown into a pretty big situation having to carry a guy that's a pretty good downfield threat from what I've seen the preseason games and for what I saw from when he played at Old Miss. Well, maybe they're not in man because you know, one of the other things they've done on that dime defense when they've only

had one linebacker, They've brought Heath down and somebody in the slot. They've played single high play zone in the back and then had a Woozier in the other slot Orlando on the other side. So they've had about three different formations of defense right that they've been practicing. And I would imagine they're going to roll some stuff up to try to confuse Manning. If you can't get to him,

you're better confused. Yeah, yeah, I think that's gonna be. Yeah, that's something I think that you need to keep an eye on in this game. You know, how how are they going to handle the different packages that you know, because what will happen with Evan Ingram. They'll line him up as in the backfield in line flexed out, So you have to find him. You can't allow him to be a big player in this game, especially if they

do a good job of covering. We've seen the past with Scandrick in his ability last year to cover, you know, cover Shephard. You know how gimpy is Beckham going to be? You know, he might be compromised. They're gonna have to find somebody to throw the football too, or they snap him the ball. No, they won't. I saw an interesting tweet discussing the fact a lot of discussion over the offseason was about how teams are going to be watching tape on Dak figure out ways to beat him, the

rookie quarterback. Obviously the Giants will or his kryptonite last season, and everyone's saying and he I thought he had a great response this past summer. Maybe it was at training, camper the exact time it was, but he said, Hey, I've been watching tape two right, and now that he's going against a defense just like the Giants, how do you guys think he will prepare? To me? It comes

down it's not all about Dak. I mean, you're right, he's They did some things to kind of keep him in the pocket and contain him and force him to make throws, and there weren't always receivers open. But I we just talked about it on our roundtable segment our Keys to the Game a few minutes ago, which you can catch on Dallas Cowboys dot com. Down and distance for me is is huge. You mentioned it for the Giants first down stuff. You're right, it's huge for the

Cowboys too. I mean last year they had thirty two first downs in two games. Sixteen times Dak was facing third and eight or longer. And that is just I mean, what can you draw are to convert? Those really hard to convert. And that's with Ezekiel Elliott playing in both of those games. But you'd like to think with Zeke in the game, they got a better chance to get into second, five, third, and two. Things like that. They

ahead of the change, stay ahead of the change. That to me against this type of defense, that is the key to the game for me. Well, and I liked what you said earlier and also blueprint the red zone offense. Yeah, that was kind of going to what Mickey was saying the other day about these defenses just didn't let these teams score at all. Yeah, this is a these are

high powered offenses. Yeah, this is gonna be tough and in space is tough to fight for down in the red zones, especially with the way the Giants play in their secondary and they have guys that can cover, that can chase. You know that don't give you a lot of room. They don't make it. They give you tight window throws. You have to take opportunities. And we talked about last year the game. In the second game they had no red zone opportunities, but the first game they

were one of three in the red zone. Right, the Giants one of the best teams in the league in the red zone, and when you get inside the thirty they're even better than that. So yeah, it's you know, you just can't go in there and kick field goals. It's gonna be about finding ways to score touchdowns. The Giants were three of three, so they missed an extra point that first game. Yes it was Josh why they end It wasn't John Brown, It was the guy who

was at ain't gonna be Josh Brown anytime soon. Well, he was missing that first game and it was a kicker they had for that one week. Yeah, that's why they had money. Yeah, they have a rookie kicker. That Ross is his name. Yeah, I saw some interesting notes about that. This is the first time they've ever started

a season with a rookie kicker. Not that that matters, but we're talking about a game that has come down sure very close to a lot of field goals and you're ruining up against Dan Bailey, Mister accuracy The Cowboys clearly have the advantage in this one. They really really do. And you're right, Tae. If it comes down to having to make long field goals even even extra points that we've seen y Yeah, we've seen this. You know, we've

seen this. We've seen this script many a day. Yeah. Now, you were talking about Evan Ingram, but I want to talk about a Cowboys tight end and we haven't seen him in a year. But James Hannah. You mentioned him, Mickey, Where do you see his role being for this game on Sunday? Oh? I think that one they go to tight ends that James Hannah's on the field. Uh, and that's one way they can help minimize any problems. If you know Lal Collins struggles, you know, you put another

tight end over there. Uh, you don't have to take up your running back. So yeah, I think it's huge that they have both Hannah and swam Back on the field and they can do multiple things with their tight ends in blocking situations, but also two guys that can get across the field and catch the balls. So that's something they I thought they sorely missed last year because Escobar was a one trick pony and evidently that trick wasn't real good in Kansas City. Got yeah, I think

that to me though, that Mickey's right. And this is where you're gonna see thirteen personnel, one back, three tight ends. Yeah, and you know, and they're going to find a way. The Giants are gonna have to find a way to defend, you know, the extra tight ends, and especially if you've got a guy like Swaim who can make plays in space catching the football. I think Hannah we saw in the preseason he you know, a little bit underrated in that regard, but he's no more as a blocker now.

But yeah, they find a way. Some of the biggest plays they had running the football last year in the second game was on the edge, and that's where you have to find find a way to attack. You got to you gotta crash these ends, you wherever you want to do. Crack him, block him, shield him however you want to do it, and get the ball to the outside. That's gonna be the way they're gonna have to run

the football. And one way with those guys on the field, even if they go three, one way to slow down that Giant's rushes to continue wanting that waggle play where you'd exactly fake the run up the middle and you have a naked boot and those tight ends crossing the field and now which one you're covering, you know who you're ready for, because you can't use all your linebackers to go with those tight ends because the next time they may hand it off and then you get faked out.

Very underrated trade of Dak Prescott is his way the ball handle that that that right there, We've seen it. The one big play if you remember the touchdown in the second game, was a fake sweep to Zeke going to the left and they take Williams all the way across the field and that was just off a left hand play, fake him spin and then fire the ball down the field. So Giants are aware of that, but it's a it's a great weapon to have you allowed

to run that play again. Why not? Aside from the playoff game, I feel like those two Giants games just haunted Dak Prescott last season. They were the last yeah, you know, the division games, just felt like he couldn't get any movement at traction at all. So I just feel like he's gonna come out hungry this Sunday you realize he threw for more yards than Eli Manning did in that first game. Yeah, but I mean what I'm saying is that was he's a team guy, you know.

He wants to bring this team that victory, especially that first one right there. So we're gonna get to enactis. But we're gonna take our first break really quickly here in the SWBC Mortgage studio. Make sure you call us the numbers two one four eight seven two twenty one h two. We'll have a caller in the third segment, So stay tuned. We the entertainment loving people to and the best unlimited wireless plan ever from ATNT. What else

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your first order Mickey, Tommy John dot com slash Cowboys. Hey, and for all our female have I been fired? Who are listening? Make sure you guys can still get this for family or friends, boyfriends, husband's, dads, whatever. It's a great deal. But we mentioned it prior to the break. Let's get into it. The guys that we expect to be in sweatsuits come this Sunday. These seven inactives that

are possible for this Cowboys team. Of course, let's explain it. Obviously, fifty three on the final roster, but there are seven on game day that are inactive, and now you go down to forty six. So I have a few names here I'll just mentioned and you guys kind of fill in some blanks or let me know if you think otherwise. I'm gonna go first with the quarterback, and I think Cooper Rush. Then I think a wide receiver. Obviously them carrying six, you're gonna have Noah Brown. You agree on

this so far? Oh Rush? Brown's me he doesn't agree with Rush? Yeah, you know what you see Brown to hear the rest of them before I say Brown, go fort Okay, I think Cooper. I think Jonathan Cooper. Right, They've been waiting this week to really gauge Chas Green's health, so I'm going to go there for that one. Then I'm thinking more Jordan Lewis. Honestly, I think that's kind

of our expected one. Anthony Hitchens okay. And then even though he just brought was brought in, I don't know if he's necessarily ready and fans may disagree with this, especially with rookie DBS. But Banet ben Wickery I think will be the other one. And then lastly, I'm having a hard time and this is where I want to talk to you guys about this. We gotta have a running back out there. So you know last year Alfred

Morris had success against them Week one. Later on in the year it was more Darren McFadden, but you got to seek in this game. He's hungry. You want to play him as much as you can. Coach Garrett has come out and said that where are you leaning? Yeah, I don't know if you keep five running backs active because now keep in mind, Keith Smith, your fullback, has been healthy practicing all week. He's on the injury report, so full practice for him, Rod Smith for special teams.

So to me, it might come down to either Darren McFadden or Alfred Morris. That's where I'm thinking. One's a primary backup to Zeke and the others inactive. We'll see Micky who you got? Yeah, same thing? But who who would you guess out of those two? Um, who's played the best out of the two. Well, Alfred Morris has showed the most. Yeah, Um, but then who did he play against? Yeah, it's one of those two guys. And then you have to decide if it's Um, do you

still need a wide receiver out? Yeah? I need. I'm gonna play. I'm gonna play with five because my fifth one is gonna be is gonna be my punt kickoff return guy. Yeah, So I don't I can't play with six. So Noah Brown's Noah browns out. I had Noah Brown in my mind. When you start going through the names, I'm thinking, okay, good, good good. I'm in the same boat with her though as far as who would be

the inactive running back. But if you go on, if you go on who has played better or has shown more in the preseason, and Mickey, I know you're gonna disagree with me about the level of competition, but I'm I'm I'm almost positive in my mind that Alfred Morris is outplayed Darren McFadden And so with that being said, I would probably lean towards taking Darren McFadden off the

field and going with with Zeke Morris. See, I thought, I thought even if Morris had to start, if Zeke got suspended, I would consider starting Morris just because I feel like that first second down you get what you need. Third down McFadden, yes, or your third down type back anyway. Yeah, but I could see you made the point about Rod

Smith being needed for specialty. D Smith for sure, And I know some fans may disagree because they want McFadden and Morris both out there, but they're one and the same sometimes, and so returning kickoffs I've got if I'm gonna have number ten active and that would do both. Yeah, Ryan Switzer is gonna return kicks and punts for me in this way because that was one thing McFadden was doing, by the right. That's true. I'm usually got to bring

up the different traits that each of them bring. You could use Rod Smith there too, if you him be inactive, he could be your guy. But yeah, I me personally, if you're thinking about special team stuff, Switzer is a guy I need, and then Smith, Rod Smith's a guy I need. I don't necessarily need McFadden only for kickoff return stuff, which is kind of minimized these days. Yeah, because if they just not gonna be watching the ball

go overhead. Usually, Yeah, it is get all fired up for the first kickoff of the season and then it's so we're comfortable here saying that it's out of those inactives, one of them will either be Darren McFadden or Alfred Morris.

You're leaning more towards McFadden. I'm leaning towards mcfadd. If you if you tell me who is played, if they if they clearly, if both are equal, if you feel like that both are equal, and the only thing you really need McFadden for would be kickoff return right right, So, I mean I think the guy that I think the guy that's I think that that Morris has come into camp. He's obviously he was in shape. He showed up. You know,

I'm going to give him the nod in this. If we have to make one or the other inactive, I'm gonna make McFadden in active. You think it's Ben Rickery instead of Elliott. Elliott probably can contribute on special team. Yeah, I think Elliott to me can cover kicks, he could play. I mean I watched him do this. He could cover kicks. He could also play as a wing and the punt

or the a tackle the punt return. And I can also watched him play on the arts on the punt team, and he could also help you on the punt return as a blocker. So I think he's I think. And besides, I'm a little leary about my linebacker situation with if you talk about with Jalen Smith, if you talk about with with also then with with the rant not playing a whole lot in the training camp, I mean, maybe you get a situation you don't want to be light

at linebacker. I don't believe. So you're good with the Woozier being the next man up at cornerback. I think we have to be at this point, you know what. I'm okay with that. Okay, I'm okay with him because no, I'm just asking no, no, And that's why I asked the question earlier. Yeah, because I feel like that A Woozier is gonna have to play in this game as your dime linebacker. I mean, it's your dime player. Now there's your dime player. He's gonna play in the slot.

He's gonna play linebacker, he's gonna play. You know, they're gonna put him in all over the place. But you draft show. That's why he was drafted. Absolutely. If they're doing a good job with the front four stopping the run, then here's one way they can cover that linebacker spot is you just play one. You've got two guys in the slot, A Woozier, Scandrick and Sean Lee is your linebacker, right, you know, but you gotta be able to stop the run.

You gotta stop the run. You gotta be able to tackle and get them into situations where you know, darn well they're throwing one of the worst in the league last year when it came to third downs, one of the worst. Yeah, well, let's hear from the callers. We have one on the line, Ernesto in Virginia Beach. What is your question? How are we doing? Guys? It's been great, Thank you, good good. A few things. First of all, somebody's game is going to come down to who can

run the ball the best. You look at last night's game, New England had to respect Kansas City's running game and they made Alex Smith look like Aaron Rodgers. So that's going to come down. Um, and I think we're gonna run it well no matter who's in there, m Zeke or Morse or McFadden. U. Secondly, I was a little disappointed, but Tam I know, was on the practice squad, but who just kept showing up larding me a lot of jails. George Selby a couple of years ago. UM, can't wait

to see what he can turn into. And Yantly, I think not week one, but probably towards Week five. Taco Charlton and Jalen Smith are really going to be contributors on this team. You look at preseason, each week they got better, especially Taco from the first preseason game to the last. So I think these guys are going to develop point in the system. They're gonna be big contributors. Brian, if I ever own a team, you're going to be in my GM. Thank you, Hey, Mick, give you a

hard time. Oh he got muted, Sorry you broke up? Yeah, wad He's gonna say mother Nature, muting mother Nature. Thank you. So first, you know, I thought he brought up a good point about he believes it's going to come down who can run the ball the best. You've brought that up, We've discussed that. Getting the last night's game. I think

that's little bit different you had. As Mickey mentioned earlier, Kareem Hunt just showed up for a great game and Tom Brady dealing with some different pieces missing from his offense. But for the Cowboys coming back to their run game, he said, it didn't matter. Do you agree with the McAdoo logic, m Now, the runner matters. They need Zeke in this football game. He is too much of a

home run threat. And I've said earlier this week he's a guy that on a run that should get you one yard, he gets you three or four and then he can break something. And I don't one thing about McFadden when he was the guy a couple of years ago. And I like him as a runner and he's a great professional, but there were runs. There were yards left on the field when he was the back. There they meat left on the bone. There was meat left on

the bone. I mean in terms of when you look at the number of touchdowns they scored when he was the guy a couple of years ago compared to what I think Zeke had fifteen touchdowns last year. Like that's that is a huge difference. What do you always say? He runs for touchdowns, runs the ball into the end zone, Right, That's what the offense has to do, right, He's yeah,

and the runner does matter. And before we move on and talking about Ezekielly at the TRORO hearing ruling will be before five pm, around five pm, No, it will be today. But Ezekie Elliott And one thing we haven't discussed about his game coming into here, and this was heavy at training camp. He really worked on his passing skills. Yes, and that's something that Dak has been comfortable with him and how much of a passing threat he might be

in this game that he wasn't as much last season. Yeah, and that's another thing when we talk about who could be inactive, do we think about maybe leaving mcfaddener Morris on the bench. Zeke can play all three downs, he can he can be an every down guy for you. And Scott Lenahan apparently said yesterday, look, when you think about, oh, could he be suspended or could he could he keep playing after week one? We're gonna wear him out regardless. And he's a guy that's hard to take off the field.

So yeah, that's absolutely right. I wouldn't worry about that, and I think, yeah, his role could be I mean, I wouldn't say sixties snaps, but he's gonna be on the field a lot. Saying that's another way to slow down that pass rush using him as a receiver, Yes, exactly, because we saw them using him as a receiver quite a bit, and then he certainly can help him that way. Every compete period it seemed that he was involved with there was some one on one stuff where he was

able to get loose. And you know, but I'm always from the other end of this though, too. If the giant splits, you know, you want Ezekiel at standing there picking up blitz Us. In my opinion, so you have to weigh, you know, when do you want to get him in the route or when do you want him to stand in there and help your quarterback get the ball out of his hand. Rob, Let's hear it from your pole for the last one of this week. Yes, so we went with a giant centric pole today. How

can the Cowboys beat the Giants? And we've covered a lot of those topics. I gave you four in today's pole. The key to winning score touchdowns is that what a person who has the most points on the board will win. Wait, you're you're such a practical guy. All right, do you ever ride end today? Did you? Mic? I would have used Marinelli's Did you hear Maridelli? What do you say play football? Oh? They said they were asking him something about that you limited teams to points last year. You

were fifth in scoring. One of the best, he goes, is that's your goal, he goes, My goal is to give up one less point than we score. It's a good goal. It's always a good goal to strive for. All right. Hell, he helps me all the time with goals all the time, All the time. All right, all these are important, But what's the biggest key pass protection for Dak? Pass rush against Eli, the running game, or

red zone efficiency? Really close poll today, twenty nine percent say pass rush gotta get to Eli, gotta get more pressure. A tie for second twenty seven percent run game and red zone efficiency, followed by protecting Dak Prescott. I know you have a lot of notes over there, Mickey. How many sacks did the Cowboys get against Eli Manning in those two games last season? Got three the second time around? For you, the second time around, first game, he didn't

hurt them last year. They hurt themselves by not scoring in the red zone. So that's my red zone. That's my vote. Ze efficiency definitely, when you kick field goals from the five and seven yard line, you're asking to get beat. Yeah, that's why. Again, the Giants are very very difficult, and they they can keep you out of the end zone. They're gonna win a lot of games. I mean they obviously they beat the Cowboys twice doing that, and that's that's how they play football. I Mean, they're

they're gonna make it tough on you down there. They're gonna cover you, They're gonna put pressure on you. They're gonna choke the run. So yeah, if you you have to find a way, my vote on that poll would have definitely And that's one of the on the Xerox blueprint that we had red zone offense. You know, the Cowboys are gonna yeh, the Cowboys are gonna get in the red zone. You know, the Cowboys are gonna get in the red zone. Now, how do you finish drives?

That's gonna be to get they start kicking a bunch of field goals and keep the giants around. Never Mind, never mind, that's that's just that's not gonna be a recipe for them to win. I agree. Now, let's talk about this. A week makes a huge difference here in Cowboys Land. A week ago we're talking about who will make the fifty three and if they'll keep three quarterbacks. Mickey,

you agreed with the Cooper rush. So I think now we're not we have nothing to complain about because we are forced to accept Kellen Moore as the backup at least this week one. Is everyone comfortable with it? I mean I've seen it as hey, they have the confidence in him. He's comfortable with his offense. He's been here for almost three years now here he is. Yeah, I mean what what do you guys feel like they've been never comfortable with the backup quarterback at all at all? Then,

you know what, he makes a point. But but if you had to play, if you had to play with one guy just in comfort fact, let's okay, maybe comfortable was a wrong word. No, no, no, I don't know it's a wrong word at all. It's the right word because that's why. Yeah, that's right, it's comfortable. Yeah, that's

that's there. You go. Good point. Yeah. See to me, I think that you always would love to have a quarterback that you feel like you could put in there and you know, not worry about and not worry about it. You know, the Cowboys for years had a guy like a Danny White that could come in, you know, early before that, Craig Mooreton. They've always had, always had players they have backup quarterbacks that could come in and win games.

And then you know, we went to an era where you know, the Cowboys were winning Super Bowls, but boy they were doing it with Bernie Cosars of the world and people like that, see Berline, Yeah, exactly. So Rodney Pete. Yeah, you want it. You want to be able to have a guy you can really and this is what it really comes down to. The Cowboys coaches are comfortable with Kellen Moore. Is could Cooper Rush be a better player?

Pretend absolutely he could, but good then he can develop at least Yeah, and that and if and if if, if Dak Prescott can play the whole entire season, you know, knock on wood, as they like to say. But to me, it is it's just about comfort. We might not like it, you know, they don't care what we think. But but but if you look at how I can understand and being in that side of the building at one time, I understand what coaches go through. Nobody asked Nobody asked me,

but didn't. They didn't ask me for my opinion. But a question for you guys, if you're looking at comfort level week one is the guy they cut and this is hindsight, but it is the guy they cut. Would you be more comfortable with Luke McCown in this situation just based on his time in the league, number of years, what he's been able to do as a backup. You know, they Cooper Rush. I get it. You bring him back. He's a developmental guy, Okay, you want a veteran Kellen Moore.

I know there's the history with Scott Lindahan, but McCown was probably the most on paper resume guy to be in this position and they let him go. Teams, I think, if I think, I think if McCown had come in last season, I think it would be a little bit mad. I know if I'm okay with that, But I'm okay with mccount. I mean, I watched the one game, the one start he had, you know, gets Carolina and you know he's spinning the ball all over the place and

they're moving the ball, and that's all I want. Yeah, give me the guy's gonna it's Mickey would say, give me the guy's gonna move the offense. And it might have been different story had he not got hurt. He got hurt executed, because I don't know how healthy he would have been either at the end. Anyway, you know,

we said comfortable, and we're never comfortable. I agree with you, Mickey, and I think this Cowboys front office, executives, teams, they're all feeling so much more comfortable than they wore at this point. Last year when they were sitting there with rookie starter quarterback Dak Prescott, and then oh behind him was Mark Sanchez, right like just a right who had literally just arrived. You're right, So I think we're gonna see how this plays out. Knock on wood. We don't

have to hope there's one of their improvements. That's one of their improvements here. So we're gonna take our final break here on Talking Cowboys. When we come back, we have a special guest us from Giants dot com, John Schmilk. He's going to give you insight behind enemy lines. So

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Oh I never forget. I don't forget about the ingredients in those Papa John pizzas, the vegetables, you know, they just kind of bring them in fresh all the time, and the pepperonie you asked DA approved. Then you can't go wrong if you get Papa Johns and absolutely you can't go wrong because we're still waiting for your cold pizza. Brian. You you left us hanging on that one. Yeah, I need to figure that out. Cold pizza is the best. It truly is, and I guess you guys can enjoy

that Monday morning. Hopefully a victory on Monday morning sounds great. So before we get to our guests, we're gonna do a little bit of a game here. And Rob Phillips, why don't you lead us through this game? Now? Are we taken from Cowboys? Break? Are we going with our deal? I think we go with our Let's go with our deal. Let's go with we are our own people, we are, we are our own crew. We got two crew members new from Talking Cowboys last year, Tay Brian. We're doing

a thing called rank Them. Okay, it's very simple, very simple game. We just go around the table, pick a guy on either team that you think is going to make an impact, a big impact, big influence on the outcome of Sunday's game, and we'll review them early the next week. Okay, So can I interrupt and just tell Kent to go ahead and give him a call because I just got a text that John's ready, Kent is working on it. We are ready to go. But let's just you wanna go around the table real quick? Yeah,

let's just get our names. Okay, Mick go. I'm sorry. I was taking care of you know, the game rank them. Oh, you're trying to pick a player. It's a game we've been playing. Oh, MALIEK. Collins. There you go. No explanation needed. I guess none. Tell you got I got cold. Beasley mentioned him early this week. I think, oh, Beasley is going to be a guy you might be in consideration for Player of the game. All eyes on Ezekiel Elliott. They're preparing for a running back, but let's give him

a wide receiver. Brian Shawn Lee, Sean Lee the general. Yeah, gotta play. I gotta play some tough defense here. It's gonna be a run past. He's able to make plays in both areas. I'm gonna go with Dez Bryant to try to get a vertical threat for the Cowboys, try to open things up against Norris Jenkins on Sunday. So we got MALIEK. Collins, Shawn Lee, Dez Bryant, and Cole Beasley. Week one of Rank them will go revisit that next week.

Did you have any predictions with any of your guys Dez Bryant, you think he's gonna score a few touchdowns. I think he'll throw up the X one or two times. I do absolutely. I think his time And I asked Garrett about this last week, the time on task he's had with Dak this year, it makes a difference. They kind of know where each other is gonna be with the ball. And when you think of because Dez is missed time, you know, this is his first full off season.

I think he's benefited from that with Dack. Yeah. I think Cole Beasley was the one talking about that the other day. He said, Dez is ready. Yeah, I mean, and you know it's it's a it's a it's a matchup. Though that he has had a little problem, some problems with the last two games. You know, if you look at where Jenkins, Jenkins relish just the fact of playing against des Bryant, you know he realizes the level in

which Dez Brian is viewed around the league. You go out and shut a guy down like Dez Brian, a big, physical wide receiver, you know, people notice that about you. They don't call. You know, you say Norris Jenkins is a gambler, a guesser, and all those things. Now they kind of talk about Norris Jenkins is being a pretty damn good cornerback. He is, Yeah, he is. And I mean I think that they valued their secondary so much. You got you got great cornerbacks and then he got

Landing Collins. Yeah, Landing Collins makes a big difference back there at safety, and you know he could be that extra guy. He's the guy that if you don't account for him down in the box. You know, say you get hat on hat on the front seven and you get everything kind of blocked up. But then here comes Landing Collins, number twenty one, walking down in there, and

then he's going to make the tackle. It looks like it's going to be a seven or eight yard gain, all of a sudden, it's a gain of four or a gain of three because Landing Collins, you know, he's just he's got that rare ability to play the run, be physical. But also take whoever you want to throw the football to, whether it's Witten, he could play in the slot, he can line. I mean, it doesn't matter

where you play him. That has that kind of ability very similar to what you know a guy like Darren Woodson used to be his ability to play at a lot of different levels. And I liked what Mickey said with Malie Collins. I know you said no explanation needed, but the fans think that this game is going to really depend on getting to Eli Manning. I think Malie Collins could be that guy. You're talking about a new middle rction. But Malie Collins is so comfortable, he's ready,

He's ready for a second season. You've got any guesses on maybe some sack numbers for us? Mickey, Oh, he'll get a couple against that Giant's line. You watch out, He's going to cause some problem out front. Yeah, prediction, man. I think that Justin Pugh is the one tackle the left guard. I think you have to kind of be careful. He's the one guy. John Jerry on the right side is a guy you maybe want to go at because he handled. He doesn't handle the quickness, he doesn't handle

the power as well. What you don't want to do with these guys just rush them down the middle. Make these guys have to move, Make these guys have to be athletic players. I could say Pew is a good Richberg the center I think is a good player as well. The rest of them, though, try and take advantage of moving these guys around a little bit. Two young tackles on the edges. I think they're both twenty three years old, So how do they handle? You know? Could the Cowboys

get some edge pressure? That's gonna be a key too. Absolutely, all right, we have our guest on the line. John, thank you so much for joining us today. I know you you've talked to all these guys multiple times. Very familiar with mister Spagnola to my right. But John, thank you again. And they have some questions for you. Fireway boys. Come on, I need that update on Odell Beckham. You tell me you're gonna give me Yeah, questionable. I would imagine he's going to be a game time decision. They'll

bring him a couple hours before the game. They'll see if he can go with his ankle, and we'll see what happens. He did say the other day it was interesting that he would not want to play if he has to tape his ankles. He wants to go with the natural and not have to wear tape. I'm not sure if I buy that. I think if they tell him you have to wear tape to play, he'll play. We will see. I think right now it's a coin toss. John.

You know, I'm interested to see you know a lot of us talking about the Giants and that, you know, not that so much. The offensive line gives up sacks, but they give up pressure, they give up hits, you know, and Manning is you know, it succumbed to that. It affects the way he plays. Though, Were you surprised though that the Giants did not address their offensive line? You know, they go with the Titan Evan Ingram is a nice pick. I mean, it would probably be a great pick one day.

But are you surprised the Giants did not try and do anything at their offensive line this year? You know, Brian, I'm surprised that nothing happened looking at the big picture perspective. But when I looked at the individual options offseason, I think the one guy that could have worked was Whitworth, the veteran tackle that went to the Rams. But he just got so much money. I don't think he would

have been a fit in the Giant's budget. And then when the Giants picked you know middle of that first round. I don't think they see a guy like Ken Robinson from Alabama was great to step in and play. I don't think they liked the offensive lineman in the draft, to be honest with you, So they figured there was a better chance of Eric Flowers taking a jump making an improvement than one of these rookies stepping in in year one and being better than what Flowers is now. Hey,

great talk. We've been talking a lot about this game coming down to the run game. People know Ezekie Elliott, but tell us more about Paul Perkins and what you expect from the second year running back. I'm a big

Paul Perkins guy. I think he's very elusive. But I think when you get back to the offensive line, like the question that Brian asked, they allow way too much penet traction, especially in the middle of the line, and too many times Perkins is looking at one or two guys in the back room before he can get going. If he can a couple of steps in and he can get one on one with a linebacker, he didn't make that guy miss. It's just a matter of that offensive line can give him the room to use his skills.

And make guys miss to get to the second level. Hey, John, one matchup we're really talking about as Lyle Collins at right tackle making his debut for the Cowboys at that position and JPP probably being the primary matchup for him. Where Where is Pierre Paul in terms of kind of rounding back into form. It looked like he was last year and he's had a nice preseason coming off of that hand injury he had a couple of years ago, a horrific injury. Where is he right now in kind

of getting back to form opposite Olivier Vernon? Yeah, I don't think you guys like this answer, Jim Po. Paul probably looked as good this summer as I've seen him in three or four years. To be honest with you. He's been dominant in the limited snats he's had in the preseason. He's using those long arm to get into those right tackles. He's speed to get around the edge. He's been dynamic. So I think it'll be interesting to

see how LEL. Collins does against him in his first ever NFL started right tackle, and maybe how much help he needs right exactly. Hey, here's a serious question. Now, I want to know, did you guys give Genores Jenkins the nickname jack Rabbit or did he come accompanied with it? No, he came with it, he said his high school coach at practice. So I'm kind of running around and being all quick and jumping around and he called in jack Rabbit and that's where it came from. Well, John, thank

you so much for all of this great insight. We will see you Sunday night at at and T Stadium. Have safe travels here and we'll talk to you soon. Thanks guys, Sorry for the sports spot. I gotta one up to talk to he Ben mcindoefore, already, you're not much more important than talking to us. I'll guarantee you absolutely good. Thank you, Thank you Mickey for getting that great interview with us, because he You're right, he gave

us a lot of good insight there. You know, when we go around the league and try to find people to talk about their team, John's tops. Yeah, I don't think we can find any guys that are. He's not going to sugarcoat it. He realizes that that you know, he's right about JPP. He's absolute right about that, and

he's right about the offensive line. I mean, they've got issues in the middle of the line, and that you know they they they have struggles, and so yeah, he's always going to give you the fair assessment of really what's going on with this football team. Everybody's got issues the first week of the season at least, question right, because you haven't seen it. Yeah, so we'll see there's a lot of moving parts. But for the Dallas Cowboys, I want to know, let's make some gang predictions here.

If you guys, who would just give us a score? We could put it on the rank of and we can who's keeping score here? I got it, we got it, the secretary, you start first, Mickey, I got the Cowboys twenty three twenty. Everyone's feeling really comfortable with that. Twenty is like a field goal to win it kind of a thing? Or yes? Probably you think it's like a

last second field goal. Yes, this is gonna be or is it gonna be a very close game just like everyone last year against the Giant, They're gonna mob Dan Bailey after he kicked. Yes, absolutely all right, and he'll be interviewed on is that NBC does something NBC? Yeah, absolutely, Does he get a turkey or what does he get? Nothing? I don't know what that's only for Thanksgiving holiday. Sorry. I got the Cowboys twenty four or fourteen defense first,

but then they pull away, they get going. The Giants can't figure it out. Odell doesn't play, doesn't play, doesn't plays. Odell put that down as their bold prediction, as a good Bowl prediction, though Brian brought us you know, I've kind of gone back and forth in my mind on this one because I think the teams really are pretty evenly matched. I think that the Cowboys defensive offensively very explosive, and but the Giants can match that. You know, I wanted to say that it was going to be a

low scoring game. I'll keep it as low scoring game. I think the Cowboys win this game twenty one seventeen. I don't think they're going to be able to kick field goals, so they're going to have to score touchdowns. I think the Cowboys defensively can do enough if they can. You know, if we talked about yesterday, I ask you guys some questions about interceptions, turnovers. That's going to be

the difference in this football game. Right now. People talk about running the football and all that, but can the Cowboys take advantage of some giant misques. Hopefully Eli Manning will throw you a couple. Hopefully Dak Prescott won't throw them any that'll be the difference in the game twenty one seventeen Cowboys. What do you think was the key last year that the Cowboys you're going to defense held them to no more than twenty points in both games.

That the Cowboys defense, I mean, they did that to so many teams, and I think, but we're talking about the Giants. No, they did a nice job. If the Giants did not have the big play guys they have. If you look at really, I mean the big plays that they made, there was like one big one big catch, one big run. They didn't they didn't give up. The Cowboys didn't give up a bunch of big plays. And

when you play the Giants, that's usually the problem. You know, usually you get a Beckham slant pass that goes for sixty five yards or they are usually yeah, they run play action right and use that and they've they've struggled running the ball. But that's been a big Eli staple over the years. You use the run, you set up, you go play action and he goes deep. Yeah, sometub at the trap pass, stuff like that that they do.

That one pass they threw down that they threw the seam in the first game to the tight end down the seam. See, that's what I worry about. Plays like that. Can you know, can the Cowboys match up and you know the Cowboys defense recipe defense for success or recipe for success on defense. Don't give up big plays they Mary Nelly's right, I'm gonna give up one less point.

That's his that's his mantra, give up one less He could care less about the yards and Manning didn't have yards, they didn't run the ball, they didn't have success throwing it. It's just the Cowboys could not take advantage of the things that their defense gave him in those games. Well, I would have to say tackling, at least in the second game, Sean Lee was an absolute monster. I think he's anything getting past him. And I like what you say as far as he's your guy to watch because

he feels comfortable. Yeah, not realm Just get him down, get him down, don't let him move, and keep going. So there you go, and Rob, let's hear your prediction. I'm gonna go because we just to your point, Brian, you talked about big play guys, and we'll see if Odell plays in this game. But they have they added new weapons. They got Evan Ingram, They've got Brandon Marshall. The Cowboys have Zeke Back. I'm gonna say this is a little more higher scoring than we think it'll be.

I'm gonna go you guys basically said first team to twenty wins. I'm gonna say first team to thirty wins, thirty one, twenty seven. Cowboys get some revenge. Somebody said it's going to be an overtime game here. Oh oh, that'd be a late ever good ever good win. It's overtime game. It wasn't bad two years ago. It wasn't bad Philly. The Philly game with Dak last year, that was pretty good. Did you enjoy the dissertation last night

on overtime? I did not hear that. This nobody. I enjoyed them hearing how important social media has been for Did you hear that? I guess I missed that part. Yeah. Chris Collinsworth made the comment, and now Michael's agreed with them. Al Michael's legendary broadcaster. They showed j They showed JJ Watt's fundraising page, and I think he's closing in on like thirty million. He's over twenty five millions. Right, it's a power social society. It will be in the death

of society. Okay, except for raising money for people that need it. Thank you are the people that should be using Yeah. Yeah, but it's bad except for the what ca Yeah, it's only bad when it's not good. Hey, if I guess this couple of minutes to be what what could go bad? What do you think what would be the I mean, just a bad scenario, just one bad thought. It's something that you would say, Man, if I if this happens, if Kellen Moore's playing, okay, that's

that's fair. But if there's no If if Mike Mickey says, if the Cowboys can't stop the run and all of a sudden, the giants are just staying ahead of the chains and they're just wearing you down that way now, you know, running and play action and all that stuff. I mean to me, that would be that would be a big, a big issue. Last night, both teams guys were falling like flies. Yeah, And one of the things

Marinelli pointed out yesterday. What he worries about is I'm going to be playing a lot of guys that we had to regulate their snaps during preseason. Very fair point, that we had to regulate their snaps during training camp. And now I'm going to ask that Benson Mayo was the Tyrone Crawfords. The should be a woozier to go out there, Jalen Smith right out there and maybe play forty eight to seventy plays. Yeah, yeah, And he was

somewhat concerned about that should be. That's good though, if you want to concern no matter how good this offensive line is, I the Giants pass rush and defensive pressure stopping the run. To me, if they get into third and nine, third and ten, third and eleven, they're not going to put a lot of points on the board. So it's it's it's a big challenge for this Cowboys offensive line. I think they're up to it, all right, Well all of us. Mickey, you'll have pregame coverage on

Sunday and you'll be doing different things. Brian, you'll be here at the Star. Rob you'll be on the sidelines with me. We will be at at and T Stadium, and we will be covering the Dallas Cowboys season opener against the New York Giants, and we'll be here Monday at eleven thirty am to break it all down for you guys. Join us then. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.