Talkin' Cowboys: Matchups To Watch

Is it it is? Once again? We don't know what day it is because the Cowboys have a Saturday game once again. Cowboys rams big time matchup Divisional Round of the NFC Playoffs at the LA Coliseum Saturday night, seven team pm Central kickoff, and we're gonna have a big show again today breaking it all down with my buddy Brian brought us. Good morning, sir morning. Mickey Spagnola will

be joining us shortly. Bill Jones has his TV duties today, but we have Kent Garrison producing next door as always, and welcome as well to our guys on periscope as well that are kind of falling along. Yes, I've kind of felt I've found that as my new little fun thing to hang out with at the show and my periscope, folks see what they're talking about. It's not always a toast city. It's it's one of those things where you kind of you kind of get an idea what they're

thinking too. Yeah, you know, and we're trying to be fan friendly on these programs and I'm always interested to see if if you know, I always like to see if we're reaching we reach into the listener, you know, so because despite what Mickey says, yeah, we fans drive the show. Fans, fans do a big part of the show. We appreciate the fans. We should do we should do it. Oh and there he is. Yeah, but no, you know this, you know you're one of the eight now, you know

you kind of look at you. It gets closer and closer and closer, and you know you're trying to figure out ways to uh, you know, when you're not playing bad teams. Now you know the the Arizona Cardinals are not showing up. I mean, this is gonna be a This is a team that you know, you have to go out and there's a reason why they got to buy in the first round. And there's a reason why you know, you're you're gonna have to You're gonna have

to play one of your best games. You're gonna absolutely have to play one of your best games to beat these guys. And I think the great thing about it, the fact is that you know you will have a road presence there. I think that helps. I think the road I think the home game last week really helped these players against you know, Seattle. I think the fans that are going to make the trip show up at the coliseum, the Southern California fans that have been so

great to us over the years in Oxnard. Now the players feel that they understand that and it helps them to play that way. So by all means, go go get it. I mean, they laid the groundwork for this season about an hour north of the Colasseum Exam and we've talked. I mean, Jerry has you know, he's put

that geographic footprint in the Southern California. Sure he has. Yeah, And we've seen it in preseason games, Mick, where you know it's not fifty fifty, but there's a lot of Navy blue and silver in the coliseum for a couple of those games we've we've covered I think they can turn this into a whiteout. That'd be funny if they could. They tried to do like a marketing campaign on it, because I read the Rams are gonna wear their throwback uniforms, go back to the old blue and gold or goler

or whatever it was, which were the coolest uniforms. They won a lot of games in those uniforms. Yeah, so maybe the Cobway fans need to wear white to counteract the Rams colors. What do you think? Maybe? So? I bet they get twenty thousand fans there. They were, they were There were some ticket people that were projecting that this could be a seventy thirty game, that that the Southern California clubs out there as soon as as soon as the game went final in Chicago just started buying

blocks of tickets. And people told me that if you were watching the tickets online, Yeah, the prices shot way up media because people knew the Loveway fans were gonna be buying tickets. We had a caller the other day it said it, you know, kind of a nosebleed ticket was four hundred bucks or something. I know some people

that got flights from here two hundred bucks. And then when it and then when the game flipped, you know, when they knew the game and the price believe it or not, went up on the airline ticket or did they were only yeah, some people shame on the so people got some tickets for flights for two hundred dollars round trip to LA and then now it's you know, doubled that so well, you know, you feel we even feel it out here this week. I mean there's more

media here. We've got some national media here. Ezekiel Elliott did his Wednesday Tuesday Wednesday press conference and instead of the locker room, they had him outside, yeah, in kind of a podium setting, which it just there's a bigger feel to it this week, no question. Good for the La Times. They actually sent writers here. Sam Farmer was yeah, Sam, Yeah, there was another guy. Maybe it was the Daily News.

I bet the Morning News didn't send anybody to LA and the Morning News is scrambling around a little bit right now. So but that shows you how kind of big the game is, or at least how well the La Times is do and that they can do what we used to do twenty some years ago during the playoffs. It's a huge game. See I mean, it's a huge game. I mean, you think about the you know, it's important for a lot of people. It's important for the Rams.

It's important for your team too. Is you look at you know, with with Jason Garrett and you know, Dak Prescott and those guys. We keep talking about that, but they keep answering the bell. You know, they keep finding ways to win these games. And this is you know we talk about. Also you look at some teams around the league, some hot teams. Cults are one of the hottest teams in the league. Cowboys won eight games, eight out of the last nine. Man, it's hard to do.

I mean we we went all went through it where they win eleven straight games, and how difficult that was. And now you get in the playoffs. You know, there's some things, there's some ways that the Cowboys matchup very well against these guys. Yeah, it's and you mentioned it, it's a big game for the Rams. Absolutely for Sean mcvayh. They made the playoffs last year. Yeah, got first round. It was a home game one the Visional game against the Falcons. They got beat. So now it's like, okay,

now what can you do? Uh? Thirteen and three looks real pretty Yeah, but you got to produce in the playoffs. Now, yeah, it was it a division game of Wald card game, wal Bad bad first round game. Yeah, I had lost to Atlanta. Atlanta came across the country and beat him. Yeah. Absolutely, and back. You know, last year, I think maybe people thought maybe they're y're ahead, you know, McVeigh, young coach, Goffe's young quarterback. But to Mickey's point, you win thirteen games,

you're expected to win. Now, Oh, the Cowboys were two years ago, exact same thing, the same thing. You got two games at home, well well potentially yeah, to go get to a super Bowl. And but on the flip side for the Cowboys, we had a mail back question about this. No matter what happens Saturday, is this season considered a success. I think it is. Brian thinks it is.

I think so. But I think when the players get this far and the coaches get this far, nothing short of a super Bowl I think is gonna satisfy people within this building because they feel like, I mean, they're so close at this point, I mean, from what they've been through. Now you've got it, like you said, final eight, you can see it in front of you you can,

you're still playing. You know. That's the thing about it is there's you know, all these other teams that are sitting there watching you play now, and so that, yeah, the the the thing that bothers me, and it's so hard is the finality of it all when if it doesn't work. But I mean, I don't know how you can say this season wasn't the success. But there's so

much more to play for. Exactly, you win this game. Now, now you're sitting there thinking, Okay, now you're down to the final four and you're one game away from going to the the super Bowl, which is your ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to go to the super Bowl and win the super Bowl, but to seek out you know, you win this game, you play well against the Rams, whatever happens happens in New Orleans on sat on Sunday,

and then you and then you march on. You try and do your best to you know, and you know, God willing, you can win this game and and somehow Philadelphia manages to avenge a loss that they had earlier the year. I'll take my chances playing Philadelphia again in a home game here after what I've seen with these crowd,

this year. Absolutely, I would you know, and if if Zeke is a barometer or the feeling on this team, you know, when he was asked yesterday about, oh, if you win this game, you'll be able to go to your first NFC title game, and he's like, well, okay, that's good, but he was basically saying, so what on history the goal is to get to this ultimate Yeah, they win the Super Bowl? Yeah, And I think that's kind of the feeling on this team. So yeah, they'll

be just a pointed if they lose. And if they lose, then all the people that have been picking on the head coach, the quarterback, this team all season long, we'll have fier to say. See, I told you, well, you can't you can't go there. I think you're wrong at this point. I think you have to be consistent. But I guarantee you that'll be what happens. Yeah. Oh they couldn't they couldn't win another one. Well, this was a three and five team that very young, and let's not

dismiss that. Yeah, to what they've accomplished here, and I think going forward from their confidence and just they're feeling about each other, then you come back next year with even more fire, I think. Yeah, well, big opportunity Saturday night to move on, keep going. Two two nine seven is the number if you'd like to join us over the next hour, and we're going to dive into some matchups here, Yeah, where kind of strength on strength, Where where these teams are maybe advantage over the two at

certain situations. Absolutely, before we get there, Mick got another practice today. They were outside yesterday. They're gonna be outside today, are they? I saw the grass and weather all right, and sun grass weather and sun five sixty degrees. It's really not that much different here right now. This is today is what you're gonna play in on set. Absolutely, So with that in mind, what's the injury situation looking right like right now? Well, they had a bunch of

guys that didn't practice. I don't know if they were hurt to the point where they couldn't practice, but maybe it was to the benefit not to work these guys to make sure you get them to Saturday. Maybe MALIEK Collins ankle, Blake Jarwin ankle, Yeah, I was I heard also the illness part. Can the illness college Collins got sick? Noah Brown was yet? Yeah, Yeah, so guys doing that right now. And then Cole Beasley. I think they're just trying to make sure that they get them to Saturday.

They know Cole Beasley can play when he has to play. And you know what, not a bad thing for Tavon Austin to get a bunch of reps in the slot. Not a not a bad thing at all, you know. And even though he hadn't practice very much, he was limited. Yeah, that's fine. Absolutely, it's fine. Just get him to get him to the game. I think all those guys that they had limited, they just want to make sure they get to the game. And including some of those guys

that did not practice. Um, you know, even Sue Philo was limited to Jason yeah, kind of indicating he wasn't gonna preciate. But I was talking to some folks, Mickey's right about this. Sue Philo practiced. Yeah, you know. And what you know, what they figured out about Sua Philo that he has to practice, whether it's limited, whether it's five reps, ten reps, fifty whatever reps. He can't go

three days without practicing and expect to play. And they know that, and you know what, and I think he knows that, and so for him to get out there with you know, with some Tyrn Smith and you know, and Connor Williams. You know, Connor Williams played well in that game the other day. You know, I've been kind of answering questions on Twitter and the mornings that I think that, you know, they would the gut, my gut feeling says they would go back to Sue Philo. I'm

not so sure. I'm not so sure. I probably shouldn't have probably shouldn't have jumped out there like that, you know. I mean, I'm gonna jump out there like that. And you know, if if Sua Philo can't answer the bell the right way, they the way that needs to be answered, Connor Williams will get that start. But I need to see today, and I need to see Friday with the situation, and then thirst what day we well Wednesday, right, yeah,

real quick. On Suefilo, I think it was the Philly game in early December where he played through an ankle, but he clearly wasn't himself. No and no practice time either. They know that that's that's a problem. So yeah, maybe it's a functionality thing. And and then the other thing is, you know, if nothing else, if he can at least be available as the backup guy, yeah, instead of Redmond, Right, then you know Redmond backup center. Right. But maybe he's ready to go because you got you know, I mean

Zack Martin's still not clear. I mean that that knees. You know he'll play, he'll play with a brace on, but he's still you know, any any play he could ding it any Okay, just throwing this out there, guys, if you're gonna go a little long, and I mean long by uh you know a Redman light guy or a Lenor light guy, where do you go long receiver? Where do you go long at offensive line? I think

you gotta keep eight offensive lineman, don't you. Yeah, but you got so many guys banged up at the receiver spot. When you talk about Beasley Austin, Well, then you go short on a pass rusher and a linebacker. Yeah, el Dorance Armstrong was inactive against Seattle. Yeah, yeah, I'm because if you're if you think active, Coco can play, then yeah, you got a play him. Yeah, Shaun Lee he got four snaps offensively. Yeah. That was a surprise, wasn't it. Oh?

I th I threw it out there too. And I threw it out there thinking that Shaun Lee played so well against Seattle on Week three that you'd want him on the field. And you know the long run they have. He got blocked, he couldn't get off the block. But the next very next play he's sprint into the ball. I mean, he's right there for the tackle for loss. For that Gregory had, you know, And but that was

kind of it. Jason Garrett kind of explained it as they wanted to get him a series here and there, Vanders saying, go long on the line, go on along on the line. Yeah, well that makes sense. But they only had I think twenty two defensive snaps in the first half was Seattle, and it just kind of got the flow of the game got him and then they rolled with Vander esh and Smith yea in the second forty eight plays right, something like that. It wasn't a

long number of play. Fifty five was fifty five in the fifties, I believe that's what it didn't I thought. I looked at the sheet and it said forty eight for some reason, I don't know why. Well in the line too, you don't want to get in a situation, Yeah, there was a couple of games ago where they were down to their last linemen. Yeah, because I think Souefieldo got hurt right game, so right, Yeah, but receiver too. You got to keep an eye on Beasley this week

and see how functional he can be. Yeah, we split the difference fifty two play fifty two. There you go, something like that, all right. Dak Prescott on the on the injury report, by the way, full participant with a knee. Yeah, I didn't miss any snaps. I mean fine, just something got banged up a little bit. I didn't I didn't get to feelings. I asked somebody afterwards and they're like, no, I just took every rep, so I didn't see maybe

too many somersaults. Yeah, if you're listening, just audio Mickey made a dismissive hand gesture wave like, don't worry about that. Yeah, QB one will be ready to go Saturday. Um, you'd have to tie him down to play in this game. There's no question about that. Same thing would Beasley. Same thing with MALIEK. Collins. Oh, I think it's his time of year. You don't want to miss. You don't want to miss playoff games. We talked about this a long

time ago. Fifteen years of Jason Witten's career. How many playoff games he play in? Not as many as he not as many as he wanted. Yeah, there's guys that are playing a far more layoff games. You know, the Jason Witton does not have a lot of playoff stats. And so if you think you're going to come back every year, you know, you know you want to. You want to get out there when you can, There's no question about that. It's on that note. The Rams injury

report looks pretty light. I think there's three guys on it, and one of them's Todd Gurley. Yeah as limited, Yeah, which is probably his first limited in three weeks. Expect the best of Todd Gurley in this game. I'm not worried about rust or anything with him. I have a feeling that Sean McVay is going to try and ride him. Now. They have to be a little bit concerned about Dallas's run defense, you know, they have to be a little concerned.

This is a push shove offensive line. They got some size, but they're pushhove guys, and I mean push shove you get it into and they're not like the Colts to climb you and then drive you. They're like they get into it and they push you where and then that and then Gurley, very hesitant, hesitants goes through the ghost line reminds me very much of Eric Dickerson. And I

know it's a ram to a ram. Wow, but you talk about when he's really upright running, he's really straight, and then when he hits, I mean it's like he's patient. He's patient, and then when he sees the whole, he's through the whole. Characters that glider just gliding the way, the way he covers ground. Thirty three years ago, he glided all over the Dallas Cowboys the last time these two teams met in the playoffs. Yeah, it's at the

twenty to nothing game. Yeah, not only was it twenty to nothing, he rushed thirty four times for two hundred and forty eight yards. I could still see him running down the field for a Cowboy team that finished ten and six but had some serious deficiencies. Yeah. I mean, you're a you're a division winner, and you get beat by the Bears forty four the nothing and you get beat by Cincinnati fifty to twenty four, It's like, okay, I'm not sure how good we are. And some guy

named kinne saw Kinnebrew. It was Kinnebrew ran all over the Cowboys, Larry Kinnebrew. He was like a big fullback, right yeah, big big back. Yeah. So yeah, Dickerson and his two touchdowns fifty five yards in forty six yards and he just glided. These are gliders. He was gliding all the way to Disneyland. Yeah. So you're saying that can't happen Saturday, Well he had better not. It was

that game in Anaheim. It was in Anaheim. There you go, maybe that's maybe that's a trick, get him out of Anaheim. I want to played at the Big A January fourth, nineteen eighty six. Yeah. Yeah, And they haven't met each other in the playoffs since, and only I read where they've only been in the playoffs the same year once since that. It was two thousand and three. Okay, so the tail end of the Greatest Show on Turf, right, yes? Yeah, yeah, okay,

Well let's take the beginning of Bill Parcels. Yeah it was. That was a talk about a Cinderella story that team necessary there. Yeah, all right, let's take our first break it two ninety seven, is the number, call us, join us and we come back. We're going to dive into some matchups. Cowboys rams next on Talking Cowboys has been helping Boys fans set better since nineteen seventy two, said

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dot com Forward Slash Cowboys. You threw in the expansive waistline. Yeah, he was looking at me when you said that. I don't know, He's not wrong. I was kind of looking at myself in the mirror since I haven't been able to work out for a couple of weeks. Right, gotta go for a walk in La Mickey, it's good for you. Here you go hopefully in La. Yeah, downtown, go walk down downtown a little bit. All right. We got boxing by the way, coming to AT and T Stadium in March.

I s are boxing expert, I think really. Yeah. IBF walterweight champion Errol Spence Junior set to defend his title against four division world champion and current WBC light Weight Champion Mikey Garcia March sixteenth and T and T Stadium. You won't want to miss this highly anticipated blockbuster showdown. Tickets are on sale now at segeek dot com, the official ticket provider of AT and T Stadium. Very good, all right, hey, And by the way, I left this

part out. When the Cowboys lost that game at eighty five the eighty five season, the Rams quarterback was Deeter Brock Rock Peter Brock, Yeah, he was thrown out some names. Peter Brock is shorter than Drew Brerees. You know he's he's yeah, Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray size. Peter Brock was a great CFL player, a great sif I get this. They lost to a team. The quarterback completed six of twenty two passes for fifty yards and was intercepted woods. Yeah,

Peter didn't need to throw it much. Problems, No, yeah, I just problem was Danny White with sack five times and intercepted three times. It doesn't help either trying to think who all was on that line for the Jack young Blood and then playing linebackers Hacksall Reynolds, those guys, Yeah, Hacksall Reynolds. Yes, what a name. Yeah, probably can't get away with that these days, right, Haxall Reynolds, Jack Hacksall Renalds. Right, yeah, right, don't look at me. Don't look at me, because he

would come with his Yeah, yeah, that's some guys. His forearm arm slap to the face might have been done then. Yeah, I think Merland Olsen was probably done. Yeah, I was on TV, was on TV NBC, NBC Football then with Dick Enberg. Oh yeah, he was doing that. What was the show with the little house in the prairie. No, no, no, he did that too. It was the thing with the bear. Yeah, he'd BJ and the bear. Somebody in the bear. Yeah, maybe that was a BJ and the bear. I don't know.

It was a BJ and the bear is like a monkey. I think it was a monkey BJ and I don't know. I don't know. I'm just I have no ideas, Coach. It is all right, Ray in fort Worth, get us back on track. Ray, what's up? Man? I can't wait to be at this game. I don't care how much those tickets calls, how much they try to drive with up. We're taking over that stadium. I can't wait here you go? Are you going? Of course? Yes? All right? I mean

never know when you're gonna get this for again. Um, a couple of I need to make some points, um, Brian, you you brought one of the points I want to make. Tayvron Austin in the slot. He is a wide receiver. He's not a running back like that guy tried to say yesterday. When you go back and look at that where Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek just absolutely torched them in that slide. Yeah, I think he's gonna be critical right there, and yeah, and I'm not worried about their secondary so much.

I'm worried about our secondary against their receivers because they've been incorporating those tight ends too in that game. So that's what I'm concerned about. Me personally, I want Sue a Filo to start this game. We need we need more help in the slot because you brought up a point earlier in the season. Smith seems more comfortable with sue Filo there because he can trust them, and we

need more strength than that middle. And if sue Filo plays, I'm going along at receiver because I think it's gonna be one of those types of games. I don't think it's gonna be a low scoring game. I think this is a game we're gonna have to really score some points. And don't forget about and you keep bringing don't forget about C. J. Anderson. He's the one that's been keeping that running games float without without Gurley, no question, he's

got fresh legs and he's been putting up some munster yards. Yeah, I can't wait. Thanks guys, all right, thanks Ray. He makes a good point about Anderson. I think he's got back to back one hundred yard games seven yards to carry. Yeah, without Gurly in the lineup, so um, but again I think they're expecting one hundred percent Todd Gurley. Yeah, in the playoffs, you'd go with, you ride with who you know, you go with. And they also played Arizona in San Francisco. Yeah,

true they did. But they have a good scheme. They have a great scheme offensively they do. Cowboys' gonna have to find a way to stop it. He's right about the tight ends though. Yeah, you know, matter of fact, from my under the radar guy, you know, you keep an eye on that Gerald Everett from South Alabama. You know when he came out of the league, came out

of South Alabama two years ago. He was a little an undersized guy, two hundred and forty pounds, but he's a He's a really good player as far as getting down the field. He's got a real good catch radius. You know, they throw balls, I mean, when they get him opportunity to make plays, he makes plays. But we've talked about him a bunch on the Draft show, and he's playing well for the Rams and Tyler Higby. I went back and watched the game last time last year.

These two teams played. Tyler Higby had a pretty good game too catching the football. So he raised absolutely right. The tight ends are going to be a little bit of an issue for the Cowboys have to deal with this game. Well, that kind of takes us into where I was going some of these matchups here. Yeah, when you look at it, Brian, where do you think the Cowboys have advantages? And where do you look at it and say, m could be a weakness or you know, it could be a tough man. Okay, let's look at

the Rams offensive line if we could. You know, with Andrew Whitworth, you know I they went that was a big time go out and get buy a tackle bit, you know that the Rams did. I think it left tackle. I think he does a really nice job. The thing the Rams have they have two really big tackles, big

and mean size with Whitwork and Haverstein. And so what you what you want to do with these guys though, is you want to try and find a way since they're so big and they don't move as well, you know, they're not these guys that are really light on their feet, and where the Cowboys can take advantage of them I think is with guys like Gregory rushing and with also with Lawrence first step teams that have been able to

rush these guys. I went back and watched the Bears and went back and watch how the You know, the Bears have got that front line that's got some first step quickness to them. The Rams had a hard time blocking their front with the quickness and the movement. And that's why I think the Cowboys. The Cowboys have done a nice job with the power inside but also having the edge rushers that have that first step quickness. And I think this is where I'm liking the Cowboys chances.

I like what I see with Lawrence coming off the edge. I think Gregory is going to have a good game too as well against these tackles. Now, the quarterback, he'll crumple on you a little bit, a little bit like Eli, man, this guy's not going to run around. They played again some runaround quarterbacks. This guy's not a runaround quarterback. And he's not gonna kill you with the read option and all those kinds of things that you have to worry about.

So he's gonna sit there and make throws in the pocket. You know where the spot he's gonna be, So find a way to win on the edge and get to the quarterback because he's not going to leave that pocket very much. Mick Gregory has really come on these last few weeks and gotten more snaps, earned more snaps, been more effective for this group, and they need him to be affect in this game because they're gonna I don't know if they realize how good he is, how quick

he is. They didn't play against him last year, so they really don't have an eye test to judge. But if he keeps playing the way he's been playing, he can cause some serious problems over there. And if he's playing well, and if they need to give him a leaku play here or play there, then Crawford good plan. And you know, I was talking with Jason Garrett the other day about Randy Gregory. When we think of Randy Gregory, we think of how well he's playing the run, I

mean the Russia passer. He's doing a better job holding down the absolutely right, and I think they're pretty hopeful that next year this guy could be an every down player at right defensive end because he's gotten bigger, right, supposedly he's up to two fifty now, he's got some weight on. Maybe he's eating some meat. Well, he's kept his weight up. You know, I remember his rookie year he couldn't keep weight on throughout the right. Yeah, and

I think he's probably learned how to eat. Lifestyle might have been a little lifestyle a little different, and uh, it helps you build some strength. And he's one of those guys that's deceptively strong. You remember when DeMarcus Ware got here, we all looked at him and kind of a skinny guy, but he was strong, heavy handed. Yeah, and I think Randy Gregory he's kind of moving in that direction, and you know, good for him. So, yeah,

he can be a load out there. If those guys aren't ready for that, that's good, good points by Mickey. They need him to be to play well, not only play the run well, but more importantly to get after that pastor because it turns into rams trying to play action you and stuff. You're gonna have to be able to play the run on the way to the rush. And Randy Gregory's shown up he can do that. I focus on the other on the defensive side of the ball for the rams. Okay, I think the guy you

need to take advantage of is to leave. Okay, And and and he's gonna play. He's gonna play on the on the right corner. Marcus Peters gonna play. But they'll they'll switch, but it's not switching in a way to like start coverage or anything like that. They'll just like formation. Nope, they'll bring corners over and stuff like that. Where I think to Leeb has problems is I think to Leab's losing the ball nowadays. He's not as good as he once was of making those plays of denying you the football.

I've seen people run routes on him, especially in zone coverage where he hasn't been as quick breaking on the ball, and I haven't seen him there was a couple of times where like the in the Bears game where they ran routes on him where he lost his man in courage. And if he got guys like Marii Cooper that are good route runners, you know, if he gets matched up, that could be a possibility right there, because he'll lose a guy like Cooper in coverage. So keep an eye

on that. Mark Baron is the linebacker there. He's a former safety that's playing linebacker's been playing linebacker now for a few years under this under what we've seen from Wade Phillips. But he is an undersized guy. He is an undersized guy, so people have been able to kind of get blockers up on him. That's why the people have had some success running the football against these guys.

Teams have teams have trapped the rams. I mean trap is you see, Okay, they get they get Donald up the field bull they hit him with a quick guard trap and then the ball comes behind or they get and Dona consue they trapped to his side, ball goes inside. So watch the how boys trying to run the ball. I think it's hard to run the ball wide on these guys because I think they could stretch you. I think they could stretch you with their speed. A little

bit Baron sideline and sidelines. Fouler a little bit of that kind of guy too. They've got some guys that can run and so that makes it a little bit difficult to have to Their safeties are super aggressive. But if you're gonna throw the ball to leave makes the most sense to me, and run the ball in the direction of Baron. If you can find that's I think that's gonna be the ticket for the Cowboys in this game, maybe not so much on the edge inside. Hit him

with some inside stuff. He's six two two thirty. Yeah, I'd put a bull's eye right on him. Yeah, try and get guys, and if you're gonna, if you're gonna do it, make Zeke, make him have to tackle Zeke all day. I just think they've had some problems. Of course, stop Ran Maldon. They got Michael Brocker's who they can move around. Sue Donald Donald is Donald Is, Donald is going to try and win every single time. On the first step. I mean, he's gonna try and swim you

right quick. That's just so if you could find a way to like, if you know he's gonna swim you on that on that three technique shoulder side, and you could just knock him, just get him up the field a little bit, you know, knock him a little bit to the side. That's where the ball can go right

in there. That that you know, when they run the zone and stuff, cutting him off as a pain and that you know what, So who went nowt would you rather them play in their three four defense or would you rather them go in with their nickel and bringing

in somebody the nickel or man. Yeah, the nickel. What they'll do is they'll rush Fowler, Sue Donald and then also this number ninety four, This Franklin Myers, John Franklin Myers is But when you get him in nickel, they spread out, they they're they their splits get real big. So that's where teams have also hit them on some second down runs. You get him a nickel, and then all of a sudden you can hit some runs inside because they get spread out. Franklin Myers is really interested

in getting up the field. Donald's interested in getting up the field. You know. That's where that's where I think the Cowboys. I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of these games where we see some second down runs and maybe if it's second and seven, you know, maybe you get a first down run and it's three yards or four yards, and then you come back with another run.

You know, if they feel like if you could get them, if you could get them in their four man line, you can get them to spread out a little bit. You can make them have to defend horizontally and then run the ball up inside on him. There interesting, very interesting. Yeah, let me flip it around real quick and go back to the Rams offense. Yeah, Cooper Cup was a huge difference. They missed him badly before he got hurt. Yeah, what is the state of their receiving core without him? What

does it look like? We you know, Brandon Cooks is a speedy guy. We know about him. Yeah, what's the state of their great well? Woods has involved, Robert Woods is involved, and you got Cooks, and then you've also got Josh Reynolds, and they where they've missed where they've missed Cooper Cup as Cooper Cups really good, was good in the slot, and so Josh Reynolds has been trying to take that role so as Cooks. You know. But but Cooper Cup is one of those We talked about

him a bunch on the Draft Show. Was bad ball receiver, you know, knows how to get open, high catch radius, you know all those things. They've had some inconsistency with Josh Reynolds, you know, and Robert Woods has had his share of issues as well. But you're usually gonna get Robert Woods catching the ball on the outs. He's kind of a sideline guys when they throw him the ball. Reynolds more inside, Cooks is more insight more down the field.

But where where Cooper Cup was really good was dragging stuff, I mean across the field and all of a sudden they're throwing the ball on the move and it's a you know, he's hitting guys in the first down. I broke down a plan Dallas Cowboys dot Com, and I think Kent's gonna put it up here this afternoon of how they used how He's Todd girl in the passing game where they get trips on one side and run everybody inside and then create a just a lot of

people and then they bring girly back underneath. They use it for a touch down against Green Bay. So you have to worry about them throwing the ball the tight ends the back and then again these receivers. But but not having Cup has been has been a little bit of a problem for them. And Reynolds six three kind of a mismatch guy, good player, if I remember at A and M. Yeah, he was the deep guy, right, Yeah,

that's what he doesn't down the field. Ye, So I don't know, you know, they probably they don't put him inside, right they he's on the outside, on the outside generally, yeah, yeah, And whichever last game I saw him play. They were going to him and he was doing a heck of a job. And um, yeah, I remember him from the Senior Bowl. Yeah, san Antonio, right, yeah, gig him absolutely. And hey, speaking of Senior Bowl, Zack Martins seen plenty of Aaron Donald. I mean he has there played the

Rams last year. Yeah, so you know, yeah, it was it was a couple of times where Zach got buckled a little bit, you know, on the and you don't often see that, but that's what Donald does to you. I mean, he he's built so low to the ground that what happens, He's like a wrestler, like those those short, powerful wrestlers, gets leverage. He's one of the best leverage

players I've ever seen playing inside. When he talked about getting because he's if he if he wins, then on the edge he's a problem because of the quickness and his ability to redirect. If he gets under you, which he can because he's short, then he has the power, the lower body power and the snap to kind of drive you back. He caught he caught Zach batt a couple of times last year in the game. You know, but you have to you know, if you don't account

for him the correct way. He can wreck your run game, he can wreck your passing game. But there's time you would think that because how short he is, that he wouldn't find the ball very well because he gets caught up on blocks when he gets caught up on Blox heat. But he does. He really does a great job of getting off the block and then getting to the ball. So that's something you have to stay on him. Just make him if he's going to make a tackle, make

sure you're between him and ball carrier. Just stay with him. That's where he beats a lot of people. Is he's able to disengage and go get the ball. That's a problem. He's like a Geiger counter ball. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I remember that. That was like the highlight of that Senior Bowl too. Yeah. Those two match guys go out at each other and it was really uh. And this will tell you when people get caught up on numbers like how big you are. Because coming out of high school,

he didn't have a lot of offers no Pitt. He was small, too short. So Pitt takes him right and then he comes out and it's like, well, I don't know where I'm gonna take this guy. He's a little too small. I don't think this is gonna translate in the NFL. And once he got twenty and a half sacks this year. Yeah, Well a lot of people are going to compare in this draft at Oliver coming up from you, Recie Houston to him, and they're they're not close.

At Oliver's a good football player, he is not this guy. And you know, part of it to compensate for his size is he's got the most Oh he never stops. It's unbelievable, never stops. You may think you got him blocked, but you don't have him blocked well unless you're sitting on him. It's one of those intangible traits. I mean, that's what makes Lawrence as good as he is. They will it's his effort in addition to what his skill

level is. Wade Phillips will move him to wherever he feels he can win that to get ready for that, if it's if it's Sue Philo, if it's Connor Williams, whoever. But he's always going to play the three technique, and there'll be an occasional scheme fit where he will play as a defensive end. Well, they'll put suit a defensive end and kind of move some guys around, So it's just an occasional thing, but generally he is going to play on the outside shoulder of whatever guard that he

lines up across from. Definitely a matchup to watch. Let's take our final break eight five, five, two two nine seven. Still time to call us if he'd like to join us, and we'll continue in a moment on talking cowboys. If you're like me and you love, I mean, if you have a thing, then cutting the court is scary. But then I found out I could switch it or atv now and still get the live sports I love. No satellite needed, no bulky hardware, annual contract, just that the

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put out. Help your face, help your shave does a matter of fact, I found a better way to use that beard loop. Oh yeah, there, put it on, put it on and let it sit there for like two minutes. Oh okay, And then I was wondering where you're going. You remember when we talked about butter. It is real butter to shave, and I had to do that today because I forgot my razor in the shower, so I had to shave when I got out, and it sat there for about two minutes and really good stuff. How

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Black dot com. Ask you this this interesting question if you don't mind, just I'm again to periscope and fest any chance that Lewis comes in to cover Gurley the way he did Kamara. Well, that's a great question because I was going to ask you out of the break. Is he is he similar to Gurley in that he'll wind up anywhere? Oh? He will in different ways? Yeah, ball, Yeah,

he's I mean that's the probably the closest thing they faced. Yeah, but you think that because Kamara is like you knew Kamara was coming in, Like for certain plays, Girly is gonna play all the time. Girly didn't come off the field. So do you play Lewis? Do you play Lewis in away that like, okay, where wherever Girly goes, I'm gonna go kind of a thing, I bet, I bet. Uh. That's a great question six two twenty four. Either. I'm just I think they're talking about I think they're just

talking about the the ability to receive. Do you deny you trying to if they hand you the ball? Oh no, but skinny Jordan Lewis on the field. Well, you got Jordan Lewis on the field, he's probably if if if they put Girly at half back and run, I mean, yeah, it's a little bit different when they moved Kamara to the outside, but there were some times where Girly or where Lewis faced Kamara when he was inside on some routes. Well, it would have to be down in distance then, yeah,

it would have to be down third and long. Yeah, it would have to be saying, okay, I'm going dime. Yeah, yeah, because they're gonna throw the ball. And Lewis was. He was great in that game. But he only played like eight snaps, eight snaps, but it was vital eight vital snaps. I think Kamar had one catch and that of the eight. So it's a great question. Yeah, it is if you would consider that. But I think that I think the way that you would probably handle this guy is with

your linebackers. This is where I think you hand because now you have a quarterback that doesn't run, so that'll allow you to keep Smith and vander esh on him. Right. If that's the case. Breeze wasn't a scrambling option though, really was he? No? I mean no, no, But what what what happened last year when he caught his touchdown pass?

They just had a busted coverage. Yeah, he came out of the slot and ran a little slant over the middle and no one went with him and get him in the open like that, and you're gonna have a big problem. Yeah, so m but it's a good thought. That's good. I just know it is. It's something you wouldn't We really haven't addressed. But he did. He took He took Alvin Kamara out of the game. He really did. He played eight snaps and it felt like he played twenty exactly because he was all over He was all

over them. Yeah, he was all But see that's the same thing with Gurley. And again that play I broke down that Kent's putting up for you. He they lined him up at wide receiver. So you know, if if you said, okay, do I want to walk vander Esh out there? Do I want to walk Smith? Smith is your primary blitzer, So if you walk, somebody would likely be vander Esh. But so you would walk, But again, you won't know they're sending him out at wide receiver

and until he's too late, until it's too late. Yeah, but you could just say okay, third, third, and like Mickey says, third and six dime dime, dime, dime, and then okay, now you've got you've got him if they try and run the screen, if they try and run him wide, you know that's your guy. A clear passing situation, clear pass situation. Yeah, yeah, yeah, interesting. Yeah, I like it though, Yeah, I like I like the thought. I mean it's something we maybe need to keep an eye on.

And as the game rolls on, I want to grab a phone call. Why not Ryan in California? You're up next? What's up? Right? Yeah? What's up? Guys? Hey, I just want to say one thing real quick, Broadest. You are the man and I go to Oxnard every year. Thank you. And if I can take you out to a stake dinner and just talk to the ball with you for a little bit, I'd really appreciate that. Well, you know, Mickey'd like to go. Rob'd like to go with the We love the Western Sizzler. They're an Oxnard. He's gonna

get us hamburgers. Yeah, yeah, we we have, we have, guys, we have. Yeah, one of our off days, we always go to the Western Sizzlers. So if you ever want to meet out there, we'll meet you and we'll let you buy the tab. Okay, all right, for sure, all right, all right, I just want to talk about the development of Dak Prescott. Um, it seems like to me he just kind of hit a new level these past social

games and around the league. You kind of see a quarterback maybe after their third going into the fourth year. You see if they'll if they'll survive in this league or not. So talk about the development of Dak Prescott for me. Okay, all right, right, thanks for the call. Mickey's been on this. Mickey's been trying to tell us all just to mind our peace and ques Mickey will tell us, well, what changed? Yeah? What changed? Change? What did change? Mick Maury Cooper changed? Yea, Mary Cooper is

offensive line change. Yeah a little yeah, that line change. Line coach changed, Mary Cooper changed. You know, you got Cole Beasley back playing at a high level. You've got a young guy that Mickey is. Again, I give you credit for this one. Mickey. You talked about Michael Gallup. Throw him out there and let him play. Hey, sometimes it's fifty you know, a lot of times it's fifty fifty. It might be seventy thirty another time. But you know,

at least you're letting young guys play. I think we're Prescott. I just think where we missed, evaluated, or I would miss evaluate Prescott is that you he doesn't get nearly enough credit for how the fire in his gut. That that's I think. I don't think there's anybody out there that if it came down to the last two minutes of a game and they had a chance to win, that they feel badly about Dak Prescott going at it.

I don't think there's anybody. If you're a Cowboy fan and you feel that right now, then you're clearly not watching the game. Colebas I've asked Cole about this, you know, and I think last week he said, when he's got the ball and they need to do something, the last team finds a way, it's gonna happen. And he said it's almost getting repetitive talking about it, because I get asked about it every time he does it, and it's like, well, what do you expect? You know, this is, that's what's

what he does. See now he's got development. We didn't get any of these questions in twenty sixteen about Dak Prescott. It was like, oh, how good is this guy? He's a rookie, a fourth round draft choice, And then the first half of last year. Oh man, this guy's just put this team on. It's on his back. Yeah, and then all of a sudden things go downhill the second half of the season with no Zeke, with no Tyrand Smith,

and it's like, oh, this guy's no good. And then it carried on to this year and they're three and five. Even it's always the quarterbacks problem. So now he's developed. Well, didn't get any of these questions for the first twenty four games of his career. Think about it. We didn't get those calls. Yeah, it was like, whoa did he get worse? Well? I would. I wouldn't say he was a finished product as a rookie either, I think, but we didn't get these calls. Now I think that people.

I think where I think where Dak Prescott gets where people are very critical of him, is just with the accuracy and things like that. But I mean, to me, I think there's so many other things involved with quarterback play than just accuracy. And I think he checks to borrow scouting terms from people. I think he checks a lot of those boxes. I think the most important one is give me a quarterback that's gonna win. That's the most important thing to me. You know, he finds ways

to limit his mistakes when he makes mistakes. It's not like he's making mistakes every game, you know, occasionally, not all the sacks are his fault. You know. Do you want him do you want him p s thing faster? Yeah, everybody would. But you know, there's quarterbacks in this league that gets sacked just like he does. There's quarterbacks in this league that makes mistakes just like he does. I think I think that we're very very I think that we've been critical of him, you know, to a fault

because the bottom line is winning games. That's what I've learned about this guy. I mean I saw him in the SEC at Mississippi State. I told the story before. Scouts have gone in there before after he left Mississippi State. That team was ranked number one in the country at one time, remember that, and it was you know, had had a great run with Dan Mullen there as him as a quarterback. Scouts went in there after he was gone and says, where's all the talent here, where's all

the talent. There weren't first round receivers. There weren't first round offensive linemen. There weren't first round you know, tight ends. There that guy, right, there was the reason why they were number one ranked team in the country. And I think there's a lot of that he's shown here, you know, And for you know, for me, I am not going to be critical of him as as a leader and as a winner, because I think that's the most important

thing you need to have as a quarterback. So I was looking at the stats from the game against Seattle, and this was afterwards, and I was on the front page, and I wrote this down and this will be the line in my column for Friday, Dak And it's grammatically incorrect. Right, Dak does what he'd do, Yeah, and dot dot dot win. Yeah, don't don't worry about all the other stuff, sure, just win, yeah, right, bottom line is to win. And he's won thirty three

games now including playoffs, thirty three and seventeen. That's over sixty percent of his game, half his games, half his games have been come behind victories. Think about that. It's that that's there's there's quarterbacks have been drafted. Blake Bortles would kill for these numbers. Yeah, there's quarterbacks have been drafted in high, high, high spots and slots that would kill to have this guy's numbers. I mean, he's I don't think anybody's had as many fourth quarter comebacks in

the first three years career. No, in the NFL. Now he's across the field, it's Jared Goff, number one picks, Scott Awful his first year, same draft. Yeah right, yeah, um. But you know, for whatever reason, Dak slips to the fourth round, and like you said, it probably has to do with off the field. He got a DUI. That didn't help. No, it doesn't help that teams are teams are wondering, oh my god. And you know, there's there's

things about it. There's coaches will tell you stories why this guy's perfect, doneah done, you know, all the stuff, and he get a DUI. All of a sudden, people are like, what going to wait a minute, this guy drunk. This is a drunk quarterback. I played with a drunk quarterback, Brett Farve, one of the best drunk quarterbacks ever to play of all time, all time. But what happened to

Brett Farve? He went to second round you know because of that, Yeah, that in his injury car accident, car accident he had, yeah, which might have had something to do with Yeah. Mississippi guys, Well he's Louisiana, yeah, document

you know, but State. But everything about Dak's character in college, everywhere he's and has been until he got the DUI, right, yeah, and but beyond that, I mean, yeah, that happened leading up to the draft, but I feel like and just talking to people that have been around him from high school, on every level he's been at, people have questioned the arm, talent, the whatever, the physical traits. And I think that was part of it too coming out. You know, could he

make all the throws at the NFL level? Could he do all that stuff? He's been questioned? Every would challenge I would challenge anybody to tell me a quarterback and I'm sure there, I'm sure there. Okay. I would challenge you to say that that that golf would make a run on third and sixteen to pick up a first down in that in that situation, I'll challenge you to say that, you know, give me I mean, maybe guys like Mahomes would make that run. Maybe some of the

younger guys might make that run. I challenge you to find a quarterback that we could talk about arm talent and accuracy and all that. But there's so much the other things that those quarterbacks that have armed talent, accuracy don't have that this guy has. It's a wash. It's a wash. I mean, think about think about just straight taking a snap and frigging power running to the left,

you know, with blockers in front. You know, you get your your star running back throwing a block, and you're all pro guard or tackle out there pulling and do it. You know, think about just how how much guts and determination and desire it takes. I'll take that if you want to tell me this guy doesn't have armed talent but keeps winning games, Like Mickey says, okay, no question

about it. That's why, that's why some of these top college programs look like fools for not recruiting him, because there's stuff you can't see with him that and he can think his ability to make throws as underrated. We're idiots, scouts, we are, We're idiots because we get caught up in the armed talent and all that other stuff and size. Yeah Donald, yeah, Aaron Donald. Well I know, no, no, Aaron Donald was good. But everybody senior bowl I saw it. Yeah,

but too many people. Well here short he went, he went fourteenth. Yeah, all right, Still twelve guys were better than him for an undersized defensive tackle. Yeah. So I thought Jerry made a really good point, uh when they asked him on Monday about the Dak's performance in the preseason game when we finally got and a lot of other people finally figured out that Jamil Showers wasn't better in that game. He got the start, and Jerry, they

were talking about his stats or whatever. He goes. You know what I looked at, he goes, I looked at my sideline. Yeah, and I saw what he was doing and how the guys on the sideline reacting to a second, number two quarterback or a number three quarterback, a rookie. He goes. Everybody was off on the field when he was completing passes. So it told you something about his leadership skills, as Jason Garrett was there unmatched. As Jason Garrett said, he's as natural a leader as I've ever

been around. Yeah, and they're gonna they're gonna rally behind him on Saturday night. They have to. Yeah, it's gonna start with DAK for nice to see on our on the Good Morning Football Human Log. Was he on they did Human Log was getting some like most underrated player. All right, human log. He's earned that, by the way, he sure had. There'll be a story on him in the La Times because arm was working on that USC guy homecoming for him and that's where he grew up.

I think he was. Absolutely, He's got a lot of ticket requests downtown LA or inner city Lay. Yeah, we're at a time now, Gonna be back tomorrow as Jason starting. Yeah yeah, Jason Garrett Press Carver's coming up live, got the break, got hanging with the boys later. Stay tuned to all our coverage on Dallas Cowboys dot Com as we continue previewing Cowboys rams this Saturday. See them all. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club at