Talkin' Cowboys: Most Critical Matchup vs. Saints?

first tacoless Tuesday of the year. And uh, I am Bill Jones alone with Mickey Spagnola, Rob Phillips and Brian brought us. What's on your mind on a Tuesday morning? Trying to figure out how this Saint team is going to attack this Dallas defense with Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback. That's what I'm trying to figure out because I you know, I mean, I'm jumping right into this thing. Let's do it. I'm jumping right in because to me, man, this I

think always catch a huge break. I'm not captain obvious here, I know, but without Drew Brees, but they're they're gonna play differently offensively I think I think they're going to really lean on the salmon Kamara, and they're going to really lean on Michael Thompson to see if Dallas is good enough to stop them. Well, that's what they did against Seattle, and they total to hole two hundred and

sixty five yards of offense. Mickey's been done some research already this week if you want, But are they good enough? But there's Dallas good enough to stop both of those guys though, Mickey, if it does, if it does come down to that, well, Seattle, I know they were playing at home. Sure, they stopped them with nineteen points, right, fourteen of them were on or thirteen because they missed

the extra point. So you have to feel good. We're on returns, right, Yeah, So you feel good about this defensive touchdown return in a punt return touchdown to start the game off. Yeah. Yeah. So from an offensive standpoint, yeah, Kamara is a load. Yeah. I mean he touched the bald. I think I added up twenty five times for one hundred and sixty one yards. That was more than half their offense from a yardage standpoint. Teddy Bridgewater didn't beat Seattle.

He was he didn't he didn't make any mistake. That did his job. Yeah, that touchdowns, no interception, one yard touchdown throw okay, and I've screen passed it was all Kamara, so it wasn't like he lit him up. It definitely starts with Alvin Kamara as we saw last year, and Jordan Lewis did a great job with like eight snaps against him. But Brian and I are talking to this before the show started. Starter. Now, right, he's getting a lot. He had twenty five touches in this game. Yeah, and

they still line him up everywhere. I mean, he's they're featured back now, but I've I've gotten through the first half of the seat game. You line them up in a bunch formation, line him up out wid yeah, screen with Blockerman front Roma screen, he's in the eye formation. I mean, he's the guy. He's the guy. Once again that you got to be able to say, would you would you take it right now? If you gave up nineteen points to the Saints? Could I score more than nineteen? Yeah?

And I'm asking you is nineteen is that? Yeah? Absolutely take that. I take nineteen if you if defensively We've talked about that. Rod Marinelli in this bunch. They would rather, they would rather give up limited points. And I don't care about the yards. You think you can guarantee that the Saints that usually play a lot better at home, we're only going to get nineteen points on offense. Teddy Bridgewater, they it's Teddy Bridgewater. Well, I started games in the league.

I'm not sure I wouldn't act like he's, you know, an undrafted rookie coming in here playing. I'm just saying, no different, It's offense different with them, That's what I'm asking It is different. Yeah, ball didn't go down the field. Yeah, see that's what That's what I'm saying. Rob. I'm not trying to attack you on this point. I just feel like that this team, what how if you're the Cowboys, how do you prepare? Is it is? It? Is it? Okay, We're gonna focus on Alvin Kamara and say, okay, we'll

take our chances that are recorded. Do you have enough faith in your cornerbacks to line up and take Thomas and again potentially out of this game, or do you focus completely on taking Kamara out of this game? You got to focus on him for sure, because if it breeze, it Breeze is playing and now we're gonna need to

score thirty one points. In my mind, yeah, I think you're going to need I mean yeah, but the fact that they had a punt return, had a fumble return, that's those are camping seen that from the Cowboys have we and their special teams are excellent too. I mean the stal position was flipped entirely. I got a field goal kicker. Make him from that middle that Saints logo. He can make field goals from there. So if they cross into midfield, get ready for that and they're putter

two can pinions. Yeah, Mart, that's right. Yeah, he was pretty good in the game. See that's I think this is where this is. If you're the Cowboys, you know you can say, okay, you got to stop one. But they did a great job last year playing this game and stopping a bunch a bunch of guys. I mean, they go, they harassed, they harassed. Is that the best this defense has played since? I mean, is this call the last time the defense this team played better than that?

Is there a game in the opposition? Yeah? Is there a game that they've played better? And even last year this year, is there a game they played better than defensively than that game. Is that the best that we've seen him play considering who the quarterback was? Absolutely hate I hate playing that. I'm so this quarterback and the guy next week, you know, the two guys back to back, just like you wake up, You're like, oh God, not these guys and the Rams not too far down. Yeah

with the rams Cat. I can deal with that Rams Cat. I'm just saying, though, I'm just saying, no, bless you, Mickey, I need mic not really. You just turned your head like you're the doctor. Yeah yeah, doctor office or something like that, you know. I feel, yeah, I feel like though that that this game will hinge on the offense, the Dallas's offense with the Cowboys defense in this game, who will it hinge on? Who will the Who will

the game hinge on? Because the last time they played last year, it hinged on the Dallas defense being able to play absolutely now without Drew Brees on the field. Yeah, um, because if you if you scored thirty one points, you're gonna win this football game. And I think it probably hinges more on the Dallas defense. But I just I'm just saying, you go into the Superdome it's a different

it's a different question story I question. I just expect their whole team to play better than they did, especially two weeks ago and even last week in Seattle. That's impressive win no matter how you do it. I mean, I don't I don't know though, that the home field advantage makes your cornerbacks play better or your linebackers play better. They couldn't cover more, was getting toasted. Yeah, you realize Lockett had eleven catches for one hundred and fifty four yards. Yeah,

that's the big difference Seattle. He's still their best player. I would attack me personally, I'd attack the other guy. But Mickey brings up a point. He brings up a point about Lattimore playing that off coverage. Though that's kind of not their tea. They had a lot of they had. I mean, they need to get up tight and play on you. But Mickey makes a point, Martial, I mean, Saddle's offense wasn't that good. Wilson was running for his life half the game. I thought, Yeah, how much of

that late was though? Late? They were they were behind in the game, last touchdown, mean they had, they were down, they were scrambling. I think at one point. It was twenty seven to seven. Yeah, they were still playing on that last drive when they scored the untimed touchdown. Yeah, they were still they were still grinding. Yeah, I understand what you're saying about Lattimore. I don't take my chances with him. I think Apple's the guy you attack in this one. I think, I guess said I think Von

von Bell and PJ. Woods. I mean, if the Cowboys, if anything we've seen with this Cowboys offenses, they like to work the middle of that field, and if those two safeties aren't going to cover, playing coverage or helping coverage by all means to continue to attack, or if they're going to back off the way Miami did, then he leave the middle of the field open. Yeah. I think that. I think this offense has got to be

the key, the key. The key, the key will be the offense scoring and be able to block their front, because I think their front's pretty good. That's that's good, good analogy, right, if you can block them and give your quarterback time because uh, Wilson had no time whatsoever. Yeah, I don't know how I didn't count how many times he ran the ball, right he was running for his life mostly that's kind of the way he plays. And they called a bunch of run plays for him too.

Had seven carries for fifty one yards and two touchdown and I'll guarantee you five of them where he's just trying nothing in the pocket through fifty passes through for four hundred yards. You run the ball this game, you try and you try and attack it that way, or do you need to stay aggressive and and and continue to do what you're doing. I think you just try

to do both. I mean, I mean, I think that the best thing they do is build off of their running game first, their play action cooking, get the RPOs going, all that stuff. Um help you with the crowd noise a little bit. Running the ball, absolutely, that's going to play it. But but the the opponent already knows the Cowboys can run the ball, and so you don't have to run the ball first. You can throw the ball first because they're they're defending the run to start the

game too. You don't have to establish the run yet. Got a veteran quarterback, veteran offensive line express crowd boys shouldn't be a problem, shouldn't There's there's gonna be rhetorical. There's there's gonna be Cowboy fans as it's gonna be it's a Sunday night. Probably. I leaned towards the Dallas defense as the biggest key here and and getting a couple stops early and trying to take the crowd out of it. Can they play the way they have the

last three weeks and win this game? The defense? The defense? Mickey say that again? Can they play? Thank you for listening. I thought I was getting something on Paris. Yeah, good Jack Black question to you there? Yeah, well you could talk to Mickey. I always talked to Mickey Cowboys. Cowboys can play on defense the way they last three weeks and win this football game. Can they play? Yes? Yes, sorry I was They can't as they eliminate the last

drives in those first two games score defense. So if they play the way they did in the second half last week, they will win this game. Yeah. Yeah. They gave up sixty five yards absolutely no points. I'll tell you what though, man, and the pressure was better. You're gonna have to get after Teddy Bridge. That's what I'm saying. You are going to the Rams got after him when he came into the game. And I know we didn't have any time to prepare pair. Yeah, but when he

went in that game, it was about Clay Matthews. It was about Donald, it was about it was it's just rush, rush, rush, Yes, it's about hit him, knock him around, effect passes. May I'll tell you that the Rams played well in the second ary in that game. Let's see what what what Seattle's Seattle thought the same thing. And then they countered it with all those little dump off passes and screen passes and dumps over the middle and lots of Camara, Yeah,

and all to Kimara. Yeah. Seattle linebackers supposed to be pretty good, aren't they, And that's supposed to be a pretty good linebacker. They weren't fast enough. Not Yeah, not for it. He just runs through tackle trying to think which which guy said it? Uh, I can't remember who said it, but it was maybe it was Bridge Rotter. About Camara, he said it was like playing with a joystick. Yeah, watching him bounce. He know many catches he had like the week before against the Rams, M one. Yeah, they

did a great job that Rams. The Rams have got a lot of speed on defense, and they've got big rushers. Up front and they tackle well the tact right, So go study what Wade did. Wait, wait, it's pretty good DC by the one. If we haven't guessed the other day, it might not be a very good head coach, but he's a really good DC. Ye haven't tried, Ye? So big? How big is the difference between Breeze and Bridgewater. It's

a big difference. Okay. I can't I understand the Hall of Fame quarterback is not in the game this Sunday for for the Saints, But I do trust Sean Payton to put his quarterback in the right spots. And I think having a couple of games now, one full game is going to help him. He's gotting worried. Played together, he's got to be worried though. Can he score enough point?

I absolutely, that's a that's a valid point. It's it's not trying to frustrate you here, Rob, No, I'm just saying I think it is going to be on this Dallas defense to pick up where they left off it basically like Bill said it half and I think some of the talk about they didn't get any pressure on Roads and they were around him in the first half

two but they really cranked it up. Robert Quinn getting back is such a huge factor for this defense, and we'll see what they can do with their other linemen. I don't know how good it's looking for Woods. Yeah, so who's getting back this week? To answer your question? Oh, okay, Bridgewater? How wide's the Mississippi River. I've crossed it a few times. I've crossed it. You know that to me? I yeah, you want to? You want to again? I'm not cheering

for injury, I'm but trust me. I. Hey, if guys don't play it, as long as it's not career ending, I'm okay. No, Drew. Hey, if Aaron Rodgers wants to sit out next week, I'm okay with that too. You know, I have no it's a fan you ought to, you know you you don't want them to, don't want to be you know, career ending. But if they don't play your a week, they don't play your week. I'll tell you what though. Hey, the cowboy is not going to play with the Michael Gallup. That's a Michael Gallup did

a nice job against these guys last year. Yeah, I mean, and that's a huge thing to me because Mickey was talking about Lattimore. If Lattimore goes out there in stinks against Cooper, they're likely to lose this game. You know what I'm saying. I mean, Cooper got there and make plays. But if Lattimore all of a sudden is able to cover, and now you get you get Cob and Smith not winning their one on one battles, all things could be

pretty equal here, you know. So you know, keeping Gallop out of this game is a big loss with the Cowboy I thought I thought Miami did a pretty good job against the Cowboys receivers in the first half, um limiting them, limiting them. I mean, Cooper had his chances. He was just outstanding overall on the game. But you know they're best players that we forget. The Cooper drop. Yeah, that was the thing. I mean, we talked about how

Miami missed some chances in the first half. That was another miss one for the cow You know why he dropped it though, right the safety was approaching quickly. Yeah, he looked up in the middle of the field real quick. But it's interesting now when things click and you're converting third downs and stuff, the drops don't matter now. Or the seventy four yard touchdown pass. Yeah, I mean in the seventy four yarder gets called back, and you overcome that.

When the offense is clicking like this offense is right now, you can overcome penalties or drops or whatever. And that I think is the biggest difference between what the Saints have faced last week and even the Rams the week before. Is the way this Cowboy's offense is playing right now. Now can they continue it? Dennis Allen has to be worried about Dallas running the football he does, He does have to be worried about. Okay, I'm gonna take the

crowd noise out of this. I'm gonna put that prescotted situation. I'm not going to expose even though the line has done a great job with pass protection. Mickey's right about this defense. I think the strength of it is as a guy's like the Cameron Jordan's and guys like that that are able to rush up the field and cause problems.

But yeah, if Dallas can run the football with Elliott and Pollard in this game and kind of just grind it out, grind it out, and I know fans out there will probably go, how cheez, it's not pretty, it's not whatever, You're just trying to get a win against these guys. Sure that then would be just yeah, we're not We're not playing you know, we're not playing Alabama this week for style points or whatever. I'm just saying, we're trying. You're trying to go out there and fight

for inches in a hostile environment. You know. I agree. They asked Jerry this morning, would you rather have Drew Brees play so you can get a better Gaye test for your team? How good it is? Shut up? And it was like, seriously, I'm so glad he and again, I hope they affect teddy Bridge was just wait a week because Jerry and then Jerry and then Jerry said, well, you know everybody's got injuries, and you know we got

injuries too, So yeah, can't you feeling sorry for anybody? Okay, hound the ball as much as I say, though, this Cowboys offense is playing so well, Yeah, who have the Cowboys played? It doesn't matter to me, that doesn't matter. You only play your schedule, but they didn You can only play your skis. But they did what they should have done against those teams. Yeah, I mean that's the Redskins have given up now after losing last night, they

lost thirty one to fifteen. Last night they get up thirty one to the Cowboys and they lost to the Eagles thirty two to twenty seven. The Giants gave up thirty one to Tampa and Sunday they gotta win, they gotta win. And who else did they play? I can't remember, but anyway, yeah, Buffalo is undefeated. And then Miami gave up fifty nine, forty three and thirty one. So you can only play your schedule. Take that away from it. But now, like I said yesterday, the preseason's over and

now we see what they've really got. I'm just happy to see him scoring points and moving the football. I'm happy that, you know, defensively with Quinn, Rob said it. With Quinn, it gives them a different element as the pass rush. I think we'd think differently about this defense if Jeff Heath had made a couple of interceptions, if Xavier Woods had to drop the ball, I think we'd feel differently about this defense with some of the things. I'm not gonna here and blow smoke everybody and say

it's perfect by any means, because it's not. We'll see how if Tenny Bridgewater goes out there and lights the Cowboys up and they lose because of that. Then you come back and say, okay, well, Aaron Rodgers next week, this could be a real problem for the team. And that's the other thing as far as the offense goes.

When you're playing against a Giants team and a Redskins team and a Saints team that are our Dolphins team that aren't a threat offensively, it's a different ball game than when you're playing again, even against the Saints team without Breeze, okay, because we've already seen what they can do without breeze, right, and then the Packers the following week. There's just a pressure that builds that, Okay, we got to score points this week. You got to score points.

But you also you have to find a way to get those turnovers. If you have opportunities and you can't get holding penalties on seventy two yard touchdown place you can't have it, or you can't get a holding penlly on an eighteen yard run. Right, You can make up for that when you're playing the Giants Redskins. You can't make it up when you're playing the Saints. Especially, possessions are so vital in these games. That's just that's just

the bottom line. Collins held that guy. I thought it was the guy was in such bad body position the defender that he had no choice. He just he just steamrolled them. Well, he had his hands inside that the close up shot showed he had his hands inside. But again, the Dolphin defender was in was in such bad position that you know, sometimes you get caught yourself in bad position because they're in such bad position. That makes sense. Body position was bad. Holding calls down across the league.

After a conference call apparently from Al river on to the officials saying that after Tom Brady said that there's to be holding calls, Coos Cowboys still had three of them, right right, Apparently this crew wasn't on the conference call. I guess, yeah, there were a million of them. He just needed to play the opener against the Texans and it was a war. And yeah, okay, I mean, I don't mean more came back in Houston, the Rams and Seahawks. Seahawks, Yeah,

and they got the twenty eighth ranked defense. Yeah, Houston went after him. Houston made some Houston made some great plays down the field. I mean picked the game, go ahead pick the game. What's that? I mean, what do you think it's gonna be? Mickey's calling for a big route. I warned you last week it wasn't gonna be hard, didn't I. It's just it's just funny for my position when Mickey says something this smile though on Rob's face. We need to have h dual cameras here like that

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don't know what qualifies as gambling these days. I don't know. I'm not sure. What do you think, Mickey, It's gambling. It is gambling, That's what I thought. Free to play free, that's right. Well, ask you this though off the periscope, you know, and they're asking about is something wrong with Jalen Smith? Can I get your opinions on what you guys have seen from Jalen Smith as a player so far? And I and I've got I know, I've got my answer for that. That sarreo. But I'll let you guys start.

But they wanted to know, is something wrong with you? And I know something physically is not wrong with him because I asked, But I just wondered if you guys saw something differently. No, I mean I said it on the show yesterday. They have a good linebacker in their reserves with Joe Thomas, and maybe they saw something in the matchup where hey, we can give him a series and he can help. But no, I don't see him limited.

I really don't physically in the game, and I know he had to come off the field the first two games. Jason Garrett spoke to it yesterday. We just wanted to create a rotation and they they did do that last year at the beginning of the year before Sean Lee got hurt. They gave and I know, Vanderesh's first round pick, but they gave him a series here and there. And they not only spelled Jalen, they spelled Sean Lee with

with Joe Thomas, if I'm not mistaken. So I don't know if there's you should read too much into that. Sean Lee played fourteen plays, so that tells you basically fourteen times they were in three linebackers. Yeah, base, So I don't know that at nickel is Jalen Smith's forte unless you're blitzing him. And if you notice that towards the end of the game, when Miami was in ketchup mode, they were going three down and Jalen was standing up as the fourth down line well rush rusher, Yeah, and

he blitzing. He's much better going I think we've always said that, right, he's better going forward and going backwards, especially especially he was coming right off of that injury. But still, and I think maybe what they noticed is like, Okay, Joe Thomas is a little a little better at that, Let's get him in there, because they're not. They're they're going nickel every play, every play, almost sou and a lot of that has to do with the fact that

Cowboys are way ahead in these games. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, So I didn't see anything wrong with it. So where this is all coming from because they asked me the question this morning. Yeah, are my favorite site, p p F had him ranked the fifty eighth best linebacker in the league. Sure after three games. Sure, So that's where it's coming from. Yeah, So it's because they're always right. Yeah, is in the mail for you? Bill? What about you? And I I haven't noticed anything that out of the

ordinary from what I've seen before from him. And I agree with Mickey. I've always thought that he's a better going forward than going back. I like, I would like to see him use him more in rush type situations. You know. I've always even in like what Rob said, coming off the injury, it was a way to it was a way to use him when they had Hitchens and Lee. It was a way to use him coming

off the edge, you know, and have a package for him. Uh. And I like to see it now to get him on the field, maybe even in nickel situations, you know, you know the interesting thing And I'll let you say what you're just chopping at the bit to say about. Yeah, But the other thing that I would say is it is interesting that he's got this big contract. And my question is is he in this defense with the Layton vanderg is he a three down linebacker? See that's to me.

I think Mickey nailed this. I think you do not want to play him in pass coverage. You want to play him attacking when they got when they actually had some sacks. When they had the sacks, he was involved with the picks and stuff like that, him and Lawrence and those guys. He can affect the pocket as a blitzer, and so if you're going to use him as a three down player but have him as the extra rusher,

it makes perfect sense. Yeah, I think that's the Yet he can be a three down linebacker, but yetive have to be creative of how to use him. And you know what the problem is I think right now is as fans out there, we see them not making a bunch of splash plays. We're not seeing the run to the sidelines and knock Deshaun Watson completely off the field. You know, on fourth down, we're not seeing the tackle behind the line of scrimmage. And you can include I

think the linebackers as a whole. That was one of the strengths that I felt like that they had going into the season. We just haven't seen the linebackers as a whole make those splash plays. So now he's getting paid and now we don't see the splash plays. And where's Vanderesh. Oh wait, they're playing Joe Thomas Sean Lee's only playing fourteen plays. There's a lot of things going on here where the fan is looking at the looking at it just as you know, like with tunnel vision,

whereas the big picture. Yeah, they're not giving up points. Yeah, they're you know, every week you look at him, it's Vanders has ten tackles, Jalen Smith has ten tackles, Vanders has nine times. You know, every week they have tackles. But we're not seeing the splash plays. So when you don't see the splash plays, you're not thinking, oh, well, he's not playing. Well, I don't remember him doing anything. Yeah, that play he made it, They didn't show him doing anything.

That play he made on the goal line to rip the ball out of the out of the running backs hands as he's going away from the play, and to reach back instinctively, just reach back and just be strong enough to pull the ball out of his hands. You know. That's that's that's the that's your splash play. Yeah, but the see but but but Joe flower Mound's going he's not making enough of those. He's not making Yeah, he's not he's not having sacks, he's not tackling behind the line.

He's I mean, you know, these linebackers, you know, their bar is very very high, I mean very high with the way that they're playing and I to me, you know, that's where you know, give them an opportunity to kind of get things going, because I think you will see some splash plays from these guys. But to to say that, you know, Smith is not hurt, but everybody out there is now taking this tunnel vision of him, like, oh,

he got paid and he's not making any plays. That play on the goal line was a huge play because it kept it kept the Dolphins out of the end zone and potentially taking the lead. And if he go back and look at it, he's the one that messed up to play. He didn't make the tackle right, but he caused the running back to move to the side because he was coming through right that gap. They had ten tackles in the game. Yeah. See, that's where I think you get in trouble when we don't know what

specifically for the scheme his plans are. We don't know. I mean that's again me personally. I mean I watched the stuff every week and there's questions that I had, like was he supposed to do this? Or was he supposed to do you know? And I try and ask the coaches want to see him you know, well, no, this is where and then I write about it that way. But yeah, I think we have to be really careful talking about these cowboy linebackers because there's going to be

a game, and it might be this week. You know, they're gonna have to They're gonna have to be ready for Alan Kamara running that football, downhill, toss sweeps, things like that, ball inside, fit, finish, all those things are gonna happen. And if they get blown up this week and who's the game, it probably because they didn't tackle well enough, they didn't fit, they didn't finish, and they weren't happy with that in Week one and it wasn't

just the one Barkley run. The Giants ran it pretty well, but these last couple of games, it's like two and a half three yards of carry. Yeah, and I know it's not you know, big time Peterson has been a big time runner. That's linebackers having to do with some of their run defense that they fixed the last two weeks. You're right about the splash plays, though, I think I

will raise my hand in blame. I'll raise my hand in blame for being a guy that watched thirty practices and when we were on in Oxnard and training camp and all that stuff like that and saying, hey, the strength of this team is this linebacker crew. I'll be the first to admit that because I believed in my heart and watching these guys play last year and saying, Okay, what I saw in training camp, this is what you're

going to see again this year. I mean, if I'm influencing people to say that, you know that these guys the bar it was this high, I'll take I'll take the blame. That part of why you said that is because of their death and because Joe Thomas was a starting line Thomas was a most camp in preseason and the guy was a stud. Yeah, so that's it's not surprising to see him come in the game and play well because we've seen him do it when called upon.

Sure it was surprising though that Jalen really didn't come off the field for two games and then here he is giving a series here there to Joe, and like Mickey said, maybe it turned into a passing game and all of a sudden, they're like, we don't want to just keep using him on the blitz. We want to put Joe Thomas on the field. And but Joe Thomas not only played for Smith. He played for Shawn Lee too, so half of Shawn Lee's I mean you look at Sean Lee eight r. Yeah, you look at Sean Lee

snaps right there fourteen. It wasn't just Jaalen, it wasn't just Ja. They put Joe Thomas. It's like, yeah, it's like they put a gut It's like a gut feeling. It's like a manager sending up a pinch hitter. You know, Hey, Bill, get the back, go hit. You know, It's like, you know, sometimes you have to have a gut feeling that maybe in this scheme or maybe against his team, that they were going to have to do things a little bit differently.

And Joe Thomas got the opportunity because, like Rob said all during training camp, we said, Joe Thomas is getting a lot of work and he's looking pretty damn good doing the work. I mean, they gave they gave Tony Pollard a chance late in the game to salt this thing away. What does that say about Zeke Nothing, Zeke Elliot's great opportunity against Miami to give guys a look

and see what you got. Darren Thompson, I mean, here was the other thing that came out also because Pollard played that way, do you wish you didn't give Zeke all that money? Well, that's that's another question. See, that's that's gonna be the next you know, if we were on the radio every day, and it might even be a TV question, you know, it might be TV might ask that question, do you do you have any remorse? Yeah, yesterday, I'm listen, I'm driving home, and again I work with

those guys. Mickey works with those guys on one oh five three. But they're you know, they're talking about do you have any buyer's remorse on guys? Do you have buyer's remorse on paying players? You know? And this is after a victory. And I'm not trying to say everything has to be rosy and sugarcoated and all that, but it's a it's a it's an unusual path to take to do a show. If you're just saying, do they

have buyer's remorse on on Lawrence? Do they have buyer's remorse on you know, all these guys that they paid, you know? And I thought that was an unusual angle to an angle to take, but but it's, you know, that's what they have. They have to do their show, as we have to do our show as well. So I'm I'm you know, if that's what they're If that's what they're gonna do, fine, But I'm just saying though to me listening, Yeah, give me, give me all the

best players I can have. Give me Ezekiel Elliott, give me you know, MARII give me all the best players. That's why you're able to match up in these games and had potentially have some success. So let's go to the phone line. We got Denny and ay here. Oh well we don't want anyway, right hello Ny? Yeah? Um, I have two questions on like, um, how important will

it be our tackling this game? You know, like because I saw a lot of screens and yeah, yeah, you know, a lot a lot of mixtures of and and then you know Alvin kamar or is this yeah absolutely the beast right now? So you know, like, you know, I think all I've tackling that is going to be very imperative. And then um, I really liked the package of leaking Pollard in the backfield. Um, how much is too much? And what would you to think about? How much would

be this? This enough of them and sharing the backfield together to be answering a lot, hello, thank you to answer his first questions might be the most important thing very game, the most important thing. They tackle bad, they lose. He could have had Kamara could have had eighteen catching, he had nine. He could have had eighteen in this game because he's leaking out and and Bridgewater goes somewhere else with the ball. I mean, he is going to

be a huge factor in this game. So the key thing on this So the third leading tackler in the game against the Dolphins was Anthony Brown. Anthony Brown. So if they're gonna go well, for if they're gonna go three wide and try to run out of it, and then your nickel corner in the slot has got to be able to play the run. Yeah, And that was where Darren Woodson made his name, made his money because he could line up in the slot and take Jerry Rice. He can line up in the slot and play the run.

And so with Camara, the way he plays, that guy in the slot's going to be really important to help and run support. Yeah, otherwise they're going to have problems. And not just your linebackers that important. I wonder how much dime they're going to play because they've got the tied end to Hill that they might treat, you know again, if that gets another good tackler. I think Jordan Lewis is a good tackler, you know. I mean, we saw what he was able to do last year in this game.

But maybe it just gives me and those good tacklers as you can on the field, because you know, to Denny's point and Mickey every point is you've got if if I have a feel, if they tackle poorly in this game, they're gonna lose. I just do I just don't. I don't feel like you can. You know you can. You gotta get off the field. You got to get the offense back the ball. You've got to find a way to steal a possession or two. You know, with Breeze it would have been even more imperative, But now

I think that it's a little bit with Bridgewater. If you could get a couple of extra possessions and they don't score and you're scoring, that's gonna put a ton of pressure on him. That's exactly what the Rams did. They forced him to have to be a player in this game, and he just wasn't capable of being that way, they got him a lead against the Ram against the Seahawks, and he was a better player for it. So his

second question was about Zeke and Pollard together. Yeah, that's Kellen Moore, right, that's Kellen Moore coming up with some plans, some ideas, some creative ways to to get them both

in the same backfield. It does present a lot of problems of how you want to play that you can you could have you can use you can use Politis the receiver, Zeke as the blitz pick up guy, or you can you know, you can put them both on the field the same time, to go empty backfield and put both them in the slot and have them you know, work underneath routes and stuff like that. Well how many

times did we see it? It was one time particular. Yeah, I think it was maybe one or two that would they will expand that package just for what Brian said, because if you got them both on the field, you're going heavy on defense, and then what happens when you spread them out and put them in the past formation. Now you've got mismatches probably with the linebackers. It was a nice wrinkle to use, especially with Gallup and not in the game and being out at this point, we'll

take a twenty here. All right, We're gonna take a time out because we've got a read coming up from Mickey and absolutely it can be hard to find the right resource for learning about important financial matters. You search how to build savings, you end up reading about the one weird ingredient from supermarkets that can make you taller.

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out sizes now available at Jack Black. You don't get these very often and the deadline is tonight at eleven fifty nine, So make sure you go to get Jack Black dot com and all orders twenty thirty five dollars or more free shipping and get free samples with the orders in an arab picture of Mickey Spagnola with your ovis is who. That was very good, Mickey, thank you, way to go, Hey y'all see choys tweet last night. Yeah no, you did not. It was great. It was classic.

There's something going on between him and Mahomes because he is There's something I don't know. But here's what happened. It was nine thirty last night. The Athletic Kansas City tweeted, in case you missed it, Patrick Mahomes has thrown thirty six percent of Troy Aikman's career touchdowns and about eight percent of the games. Well, Troy saw that apparently, and he tweeted, in case you missed it, talk to me when he has thirty three percent of my Super Bowl titles.

Who It was so funny on Twitter to see how many, how quickly the likes and Larie tweets were happening. It's a great equalizer, right, You'll get salty on you on Twitter man within an hour because we used it on our newski. I saw it at nine thirty. I told Dandy or producer, I said, we got to use this, okay, And by that time, in forty minute, fifty minutes later, there were already forty thousand likes on Twitter. It's up to one hundred and fifty two thousand now. But black

Kid is a good player, though. When Kansas is yes he is. But what I like about it as much as anything too. On Troy's tweet, it says, I see why am I am I? In case you missed it, talk to me? When when he has thirty three percent, he was so poed by it that he just quickly responded to it. He didn't even proof read his tweeting that happens. Well, you know who the top two rated quarterbacks in the league are right now, don't you? I do, yes,

why don't you tell us? I think that would be Mahomes and Prescott here, and Mahomes has a better cornerback rating one thirty four nine to Dak's one twenty eight. He also Dak has a better completion percentage seventy four five to seventy one nine, and Mahomes has one more touchdown, so it's and the nine And Dak's percentage poor attempt is nine to six to his eight eight. So DA's basically played as well as Mahomes has to start these

first three games. Through three games, through three games, we're just awarding it. And by the way, I'm just I'm saving this Troy Aitman tweet for Super Bowl week in Miami. I think it's going to be great to be able to pull that out when the Cowboys play the Chiefs in the Super Bowl in Miami, which is my prediction from the beginning of the season. All Right, that does it for this Tuesday edition of Talking Cowboys, who We'll

talk at you again tomorrow. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.