Talkin' Cowboys: Must-Win Game?

from inside the SWBC Mortgage Studios. You can see it back behind me, but we are virtual as always, or at least as always this year. Rob Phillips, Isaiah stand back in the Great heck Harrison as we break down the great Yeah you got it, great, There you go, the Great heck My Harrison breaking down this Atlanta defense versus the Cowboys offense today where we're really going to dive into how the Cowboys can look better on the

offensive side of the football. And I know that's something that is really a big question mark amongst Cowboys Nation right now. But Rob, the thing is with me is I'm pretty happy right now because there's some reinforcements coming on that defensive side for the Cowboys in the form of Jordan Lewis, seemingly because he was a full participant in practice yesterday and this is a cornerback room that really needs some extra help. And the fact that he's available for a game where you have to stop a

Julio Jones, a Russell Gage and Calvin Ridley. That's something that sticks out to me because he's definitely one of those guys who can make a play on the football. Rob Yeah, for sure. I think we talked about the how dangerous this Falcon's receiving core is and I got I kind of got yelled at in my Twitter mentions yesterday because I was like, hey, the injury report looks

pretty clean. Only Jordan Lewis is the only guy on it and he had a full practice And everybody's like, yeah, but they've got like eighteen guys on IR and you're right, they do. But that is, uh, that is encouraging to have Lewis full practice. That's a great sign for Sunday. I'm not sure exactly how that might affect the rotation, because you know, Anthony Brown was kind of in that nickel roll last week, and that's kind of been the battle between those two guys for a couple of years

now who takes over the slot. But Lewis certainly could do it when he's when he's healthy. And I think he will be healthy because I think he got his boot off. He had that ankle injury. He had the boot off I think before week one, so I think he's been he's been pouring towards full practice for a while now. Yeah, that's absolutely great news to hear that

Jay Lewis is back. And obviously, prior to training camp and even before all this ovid, we knew that a Woozier and Lewis had to have a lights out camp and it sounds like both of these guys during training camp they did that. Very unfortunate for the High Eicle spray for Jordan Lewis, but really fortunate for us. We get him back at in a week that's really important, and especially with the firepower that Atlanta has. So I'm looking at Jordan Lewis to make some big plays this Sunday. Yeah, man,

it fellas. I just like his I like his energy, right, I like Jordan Lewis's energy. I like it. I like how tenacious he is. I think that's something that's going to be needed this weekend against this onslaught of receivers that obviously are coming to town. So kudos. I'm glad he's back. Go ahead and throw them into the rotation. There's a lot of guys back there competing, and competition ever a bad thing, It's not a bad thing. And I think there's gonna be some competition against Julio Jones.

And I was just asked this question on the fan with Sean and RJ just a moment ago, and I was gonna actually bring it up to you guys, because I'm struggling with this in terms of who who out there do we put on these three receivers? Who do you want matched up against the Julio Jones? Who do you want matched up against the Calvin Ridley? And then who's the third that ultimately has to go up against

Russell Gage. But I mean, when I look at it, and this is my answer that I gave Sean and r J, I said, why not throw treyvon Digs out there on Julio Jones. There's a lot of reasons why not. Sure, He's Julio Jones. Nobody's really gonna slow him down. But I'm just saying that. That's when I'm looking at it. He's the most athletic one we've got back there, and he's also the longest corner we've got back there. Isaiah, if you have a rebuttal, give it to me, because

I'm not confident in it. Um, you're a very mean person because you want this. You want this rookie to go out there and play against the best receiver the NFL has to resist. Yes, by the way, who went again? Us a dog ar good defense last week? And he's still put up one hundred and fifty yards? Are you serious right now? Yeah? Yeah, No, I'm I'm one serious. It's trial by fire. I'm still I really seriously a

heart attack. I hope you don't walk into Diggs in the hallway because he's gonna be like, why would you say that? Would you do to me? Well? Who else you put on? Hope he doesn't say that. Come on, come on, Isaiah, If you're gonna do that, you know you gotta give days help over the top. He won't be he won't be a one man army versus Julio that. Come on, Yeah, you know you're gonna you're gonna give him help over the top, but he's got to get used to it one of these one way or another.

He's a guy, you got. There's there's trial by fire and then there's just death. Okay, let's not throw him. He just got here. Let's not send him on his way already. Okay, we don't want to say, r ip Diggs. Already, Julio Jones will have a complete field day. No disrespected, Diggs. You made it to the league and you're gonna continue to get better. You're a great player. But we're playing against a great player, and not just a great player, like the greatest receive that we have in the game today.

And I don't think that anybody can really dispeate that right now. So let's not put him out there against Julio, even with help, because we've seen Julio get guarded. Nobody just goes man to man against Julio. He doesn't, right, I don't. I don't think. I don't think that's what we're talking about. Man. But with that right, Julio Jones is still the best receiver and undoubtedly in this in this league right now, and he never faces simply just

man to man coverage. So think about that. He always has help over the top, and he's still it's Julio, So yes, we might give me. Yes, Dixon, go out there and do it. Agin It's just again, I'm just I'm just saying, hey, I you know, I am a realist. If anybody out here that's listening, y'all can come at me all you want to, I am a realist. Okay, don't do it. There's a great poet by the name of Andre three thousand. He said, don't do it, reconsider, don't do it. Suck love it. I love it. So wait,

you got Julio Bob Hopkins best receiver in the leagues? Yes, yeah, I would approach you too, just because just because it was like Megatron in his day, there's just nobody that can match up with him now. To play Devil's advocate, and I'm not agreeing with Kyle, but I'm just playing that Cable's advocate here. Tyon Treybond Diggs is six two, and he's drafted to be a guy that eventually, eventually can maybe match up with some of those larger receivers

in the league. But yeah, we two today. Yeah, today, that might be a Cheeto matchup for me, Thank you very much. You put Cheeto on them, You put Cheeto on them, and you give Cheeto help, just like you give everybody else help, you know what I mean, Just like everybody else gives help whenever they play against Hulo and you take your chances, you roll your dice against Ridley engaged, You try your best to eliminate their number

one resource. You take him out the game, and you trust that you have enough talent on that side of the ball to handle everybody else that they have on their roster. But you do not. You do not let their number one beat you, even with help over the top. You don't trust your rookie in that situation. I say, no, no, not against Julio. See look just just look at it. Last week. What do you do last week? I thought? Okay, I mean, but still that that's who who digs are

Julio Julio Julio. Okay, yeah, Julio is fantastic. Yeah, that's yeah, that happened. At some point. Where do you when you're I guess, when you're strategizing for this, do you say, all right, Julio is gonna get his, but not everybody else? Is that the moond state going into a game like this, No, you go, you go the opposite. You ensure that Julio does not get his, and you trust that that you're that your other guys on your depth chart can handle the rest of their lineup. I would much rather lose

to Ridley Engage going off than Julio going off. That's just that's just how it goes. Right. You trust that your defensive line is gonna handle Girly in the backfield. You trust that your dbs in your in your scheme right where Mike Nolan is gonna handle Julio. Now, guess what, Jordan lewis you figure out how to handle Gauge whoever else step up up and you handle Ridley and we roll the dice and we go to work. Right, that's

what you want to do. You do not want to give this guy an opportunity to get going, because it's not just Julio Jones. You still have Maddie Ice placing the ball in the exact spots for only Julio to catch the ball. So let's not just think about it. It's just receivers out there running rounds on dbs. It's also a matter of the quarterbacks throwing them open when they they maybe not be open. Apparently. Remember, heck, it's not a Chrysler here. We're not deal with just no, no, no,

I know exactly the one that we're talking about. And that's what I'm saying from a schematic standpoint. Would it be better that we say, look, we're gonna obviously double this guy. We're not gonna send someone out there to dive a thousand paper cuts against him. It's gonna be a situation where we double him. But at the same time, these other guys I believe are manageable. If we're gonna go a Woozier against Jones and then go with Trey digs against Ridley and engage with our nickel corner, I

trust that. I trust that. But at the same time, it's just a give and take. It's gonna be a situation where, you know, a veteran receiver like Julio, you can't just put the clamps on him and shut him down completely. He's too good, his game's too good. So uh, that's that's just you know, my my feeling on it is that that's the approach that we have to have going into this Sunday. And if you miss, guys encouraged by what Diggs did in a week one? Sorry, Kyle, Yeah,

I mean I'm encouraged by it. What's the question? What'd you say? Well? I'm sorry? Were you guys encouraged by the way Diggs plays? What played what he did in week one? Because I was, I mean, if he were three inches toler he might have had a pick. Yeah, And I thought and I thought he battled. You know, but the way the way the RAMS scheme things up, I mean, yeah, nobody could. Yeah, I mean they're all over the place. I mean, but but going but going into this week, Rob like Dives had a good a

good week one. Why would you take his confidence down? Right? Don't take his confidence down? Build his confidence. Put him out there on Ridley. Okay, listen up. You did a good job of this past weekend. Yeah, let's go ahead and step it up. Now you're sticking Ridley right now, that's your responsibility. Don't put that on a Ricky handle, Julio. I don't think there's any team in the league. I don't care what Ricky it is. It's gonna put Ricky on Julio. Okay, it's not gonna happen. Okay, it's just

not smart going off of that. By the way, for those of you listening, if you haven't checked out Wednesday's episode, we talked a lot about cars. We talked about Bentley's and Chrysler's and how Julio's the Lamborghini of the group. But here's the thing. So, Isaiah, if you're not willing to take that fresh car straight off the lot, driving it straight off the lot to go race to the Lamborghini, would you be more willing to throw a classic car

on there? What about branding car is what I'm talking about whenever you're talking about specifically putting a veteran out there to maybe cover Julio Jones. Yes, absolutely, I'll put a branded car on Julio and give him help. I would, Honestly. It's not just our dvs that have their job cutout for him, right obviously our defensive coordinator only he has

to figure it out. And I would, personally, if I was a decordinator, I would put to cover two men on that side of the field wherever to hit Julio's at. I'm gonna sit at defense a bat on his inside shoulder to get closest to the ball. I'm gonna have that guy turn his back to the inside of the field or turn his back to the quarterback. His job is simply to force Julio Jones to run any route outside right, and then you also have a safety over

the top that helps it. It It justicates Julio runs by you, so you're essentially pinning him and saying all your routes can only go in that outside five yards outside the outside the hash marks, outside the numbers, and to the sideline. That's where all your routes could be ran. And that's all we're gonna allow for you to do. If you come inside, we have help. If you run by us, we have help. And you eliminate him out the game

and just limit him to just those routes. Everybody else go play ball, and you expect you, We're expecting our defensive line to come back and have a heck of a response to they're lack thereof this past week. I know that's that, and that's and that is the key, because if you're talking about Julio Jones on you know, out routes and all that, Mattie Ice is gonna Matt Ryan is gonna have to have time to do that and go through his progression. So the line has to

get pressure this week. They have to last week. Man, just look be smarter. Just if you looked at the game, you realize, Man, everything that golf was doing was quick throws, those little five yard Deacon dunk and those guys were taking it the rest of the way. And I think that any quarterback in the NFL would like to throw a five yard pass and see it go for thirty yards.

So we definitely have to stop that. Rob. Is there a chance that we see a lot of Brandon car because of this then in his first week back, even though it really hasn't been that long since he was actually plucked up off of the free agent market. It's a great question. I'm not I'm not so sure. I think I don't think they wanted to really put him

out their week one. He didn't have a training camp, and I think as a vet, twelve year vet, I think he could he could have gone out there and played, but I think they wanted to give him another week. Maybe he works into a rotation there I mentioned yesterday, you know, Zaiah mentioned Hurst the tight end for Atlanta. That that's a type of matchup that I think Brandon

Carr could thrive in. Potentially. I think we saw Darryl Worley take the tight end last week, and maybe that's something a way he could he could get in and get some snaps um. But it's it's such a there's so many numbers at this position. I'm not sure exactly how they're gonna work them in unless they just make a change at safety, which I don't think they're they're gonna do week two. And Rob to your point, and Kyle,

I guess I didn't answer fully answer your question. Uh. With car being a twelve year veteran, Right's he's your most experienced defensive back that you have now on this inside or side of the ball, and he has faced more number one receivers than Trevan Dix has ever dreamed of. Right, So, the fact that he knows the ins and outs of number one receivers, he knows what Julio has done because he's faced them before. Right, he knows what these guys's

schemes are. He is so much more prepared to handle a situation such as this, which is I'm gonna go ahead and say it. This is a must win game for the Cowboys, must win all right, You're right, because because you're going to Seattle next week, right, so this is must week win, must week, must win week for the Cowboys. And I know it sounds silly going to

the week two. We have some some teams that we can definitely scrape up going past that, but these first three games are important, so you cannot afford to miss on this opportunity. And if we were to come back next week on Monday and talk about, oh, Julio Jones went off for one hundred and seventy five yards because we decided to let him just do what he does, we will be a very, very sick as Cowboys nation.

So would you consider you know, the talk has been you know, Brandon Carr comes in, maybe helps the numbers at safety, would you consider playing him at corner potential. I'll put him right on Julio. Okay, I'll put him right on Holi because there's nothing that Julio is going to do that that car has not seen. Right now, can he fully adjust and cover him? Nobody can cover Julio,

So you're not losing anything there. But in terms of schemes, in terms of making sure that other dbs know what's going on, in terms of seeing things on the field, of combination routes and being able to help guys be prepared for what's coming. Car is the most prepared person aside from Worthy. It's the same team that had three hundred yards receivers and lost about thirteen last year. That's true.

That's a very good point, very good point. Just because these receivers are having success doesn't mean the team has success. If you can put up points as well, which we know the Cowboys can do, it could pay dividends for them moving forward. Now we're going to talk about that Cowboys side of the football offense versus defense. Is Kellen Moore going to get more creative with his play calling? We're going to talk about it next here on talking Cowboys.

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usa dot com selor seemore do more. We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor pepper and cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor and cream soda. Is he a new combone that's music to my ears? Okay? Doctor time? Non music to my ears and mouth? New Doctor pepper and cream soda A delisious do bad to talking Cowboys? Who is glad you're with us? Here on Dallas Cowboys dot com. We're breaking down the Atlanta defense versus that Dallas Cowboys high

flying offense that only put up seventeen points in Week one. Boat, We're gonna get past that and we're gonna talk about how they can get better in week two. Isaiah standback, heck My Harrison, Rob Phillips, I'm Kyle Yeoman's and guys like I said, there were some disappointment around this offense. Uh play calling, offensive wine, not really getting your playmakers the football in space. There were quite a few different things that could have been upgraded from a Cowboys perspective,

but Heck, we're gonna start with you. What was the number one thing in week one that has to improve going into week two? Third down efficiency. We have to get better on third down. That's uh. And I'm sure you know Dak Prescott that's on his mind because that's the quarterback stat. And it just felt as though, and

let me just back up here a little bit. I realized we had those penalties that just sty me those drives and when we were still in momentum, but we were awful on third down, and we have to get better in this game. Rob, Yeah, totally agree. I agree with you. Heck, I think that third down efficiency. I mean, you don't. You don't give yourself a chance to win ball games if you only convert twenty five percent of

your third downs. Just just just not not set up for success unless you're just making big plays all the time. But I I think that we have to control the line of scrimmage. I don't if we don't, if our office a line doesn't control the line of scrimmage, then we have zero chance. Obviously, there is a disruptorum, the best disruptor in the league right now. Um, in terms of with the Rams last week and with with Aaron Donald. But you know, aside from a physical specimen of a

force like that, we don't face that this week. But collectively, I think that the Atlanta's defensive line plays better as a whole in their in their scheme that they play, So we don't have to worry about just one person. You have to worry about two or three people now because of the scheme that they play. Um behind these guys and as much movement as they have on this D line, So they we have some work cut out for us that we have to show up this week

or the otherwise there's no chance. Yeah, you're right, I mean Tack McKinley, Dante Fowler. They had some success up front in Week one. It's just there are some some busted plays on the back end for Atlanta in Week one. I think that's that was a big thing for I mean that game was a two point game at halftime and they kind of got blown open. I'll take it a step further from third down and say red zone.

And I wrote about this yesterday. It's just when the Cowboys have not been able to convert inside the twenty consistently, they lose games. They were one in seven in games last year when they converted it fifty percent or less, and they were at fifty percent on Sunday night and they lost. So it's one in eight. Going back to last year, they just you know, they pile up yards, you know, three hundred and eighty yards, almost four hundred yards.

They would have been well over that if that gallop play counted, and yet they're not matching that with the points. So that's the biggest thing to me. They've just got to find a way that ceedee lamb play. They've got to be able to cash in. Yeah, I think I would be right there with Heckma whenever he's talking about the Linus grimmage and Rob you're mentioning it as well. But you have to be able to control the attack. McKinley's the Grady Jarretts of the world. These are two

top level edge rushers. They're not necessarily the household names like an Aaron Donald, but they're both ascending players, and they're both guys that got to the quarterback in Week one against Seattle and the Russell Wilson offense. But if this is going to be another game where Terrence Steele is starting at right tackle, are you worried Rob about

potentially having problems over there at right tackle. I know we kind of talked about this a little bit yesterday, But in watching the film and looking at what Terrence Steel did, he stood up for the majority of the plays against that Los Angeles Rams defensive line. But is he able to do it two weeks in a row, That's the big question. I'm with you. I thought he battled in the game, and you know, it wasn't really until I think the Leonard Floyd stack late where it

really showed up. You know. I mean, you know he had some trouble during the game. They all did because Aaron Donald was everywhere and he was pushing three guys around at times. But I think for his first time out, you know, there was definitely some progress there. But yeah, it's something you've got to be mindful of. We talked about yesterday. You may need some help, some chip help, whether it's a running back at tied end, somebody on

that side. So you know, we'll see what happens, and it's definitely something to watch because, like I said, and like Isaiah said, they have guys who can get to the quarterback. You know, it's just I think as they fell behind in the game, it was harder to probably get on get pressure on Russ as the game went on on last Sunday. Now, Isaiah, I know you actually were on the Seahawks roster back in twenty ten whenever

dan Quinn was the defensive line coach. Any stories that kind of stick out from your time there and what you remember about dan Quinn. Now, of course he ended up becoming the defensive coordinator, and now he's the head coach. He's been the head coach for quite some time. But what's stuck out to you a decade ago Whenever it comes to dan Quinn, Queen likes to have fun. He's a high energy coach who wants to get in your face.

Obviously he's passed off his defensive coordinator duties over to over to what Raheim Raheem Morris and but the aggressive right, they're both aggressive. I mean these dudes, these dudes got

some juice in them now, both of them. So you can see that in last week's game against Seattle, where you know we're gonna have to beat man coverage, you know, so there's there's there's pros, and there's conser that this defensive line is collectively better than what we face last week, and they can get pressure up the field, but it actually hurt them last week and get Seattle as well because guys were able to beat man coverage and make

some plays. So, um, you know we're gonna have to figure it out on the on the offensive line side of things, because Quinn is gonna bring the pressure. He's gonna bring pressure, he's gonna step up in your face with his DBS, and he's gonna challenge Cooper. He's not threatened by any of these guys that we have. He's not threatened by Cooper. He's not threatened by Gallup. He's definitely not He's definitely not threatened by Ceedee Lamb until he shows them some more. So, these guys are gonna

get up in your face. They're gonna put hands on your the line of scrimmage, and they're gonna trust that their front four can get to your quarterback before you have an opportunity to break open as a receiver. Um. So, if we can block it up, if we can block it up and these and our receivers can beat man coverage, then we're gonna have an opportunity of some big plays. Don't really see him. I really don't see us chipping away,

you know, just moving the sticks. I think that this game, if we're gonna have success in this game, I think it's gonna have to come into former big plays and that's gonna require his office in line blocking up this front four heckma, Well, hey, well, you know, I don't know Dan Quinn personally, so I don't have any stories for you Quinn, but I can just go based off of what I know about. The defense is and Roddy

Morrison again another very aggressive defensive coordinator as well. But Tach McKinley last week has six quarterback hits, which was tops in the NFL. And they also get Dante Fowler from the Rams, who had a twelve sacks last year, so they have some guys that can hunt. But it's there a guy Grady Jared. If we're gonna do a comparison between and we're gonna seems like we're gonna talk about Aaron Donald every week because he pressed the heck out of us. But Grady Jared's he's that high energy

guy man. He is so strong at the point of attack. His hands and feet work together he's ripping guys and getting to the quarterback. He's a run stuffer. That's what he specializes in. And when you look at his numbers in comparison to Aaron Donald, he's right there. As far as the statistics. I'm not calling him Aaron Donald. I'm

just talking about the numbers. But when you talk about when you talk about the one on one matchups, and that's where I think the rubber meets the roll for the Cowboys, because if you're gonna give our receivers one on one on the outside, specifically especially of Mary Cooper, I'll take that. But also there's another matchup that I think is really gonna be interesting. Dean Jones for the Atlanta Falcons. Out of LSU six one two and twenty

five pounds. Very aggressive linebacker, but he plays more like a rover. He's gonna get one on one opportunities with Ezekiel Elliott in the passing game, and that's where I feel like we can exploit them. But guys, we have to play bullyball. We have to play bullyball, and we have to run this ball. Title possession is going to be very important because the best defender that we have Julio Jones is the bench and Gatorade. Yeah, I love it. Yeah,

you're not wrong. Just to piggyback too on that, sorry, Kyle, on that. Um, you know, winning those man coverage battles, DK Metcalf blew the game open for Seattle. So he beat them. He beat the jam. It wasn't a good enough jam from Isaiah Oliver and he was gone thirty eight yards touchdown. And that's that's the thing. You want to play man coverage. The Cowboys have three guys who can win on any given down. So that was that was on fourth down, by the way, to Row, that's right,

fourth down play. You think you have them, So you know the Cowboys, there's gonna be some opportunities. By the way, the Falcons have a have a rookie cornerback as well. They're gonna play a lot. So how you know which which secondary can be more consistent. That's a big one.

And like you guys said to controlling the line of scrimmage. Okay, So now that we've kind of talked about the defensive sign for for an Atlanta team that needs some help defensively, like I said earlier, they gave up thirty eight points and really I had a bit of yardage as well there last week, three and twenty two passing yards along with eighty four rushing yards. They were good on the ground, but through the air, Russell Wilson really kind of tore

them apart. Now, offensively for the Cowboys, we mentioned that the offensive line has to get better, but really a lot of the conversation this week has been centered around Kellen Moore and the play calling. It seemed like it was back to the conservative side of things that we really saw at the end of last year, and that's what was really frustrating for a lot of Cowboys fans.

But Rob, when you look at this play calling and really the the entire body of work for Kellen Moore, is there something that's concerning with you or is this just really the way things were against a team last week that was destroying you on the offensive line. I'm not as concerned with it as some people are. I think I think yeah, I think maybe there was a

little bit of surprise. They didn't have as much pre snap motion, some different looks pre snap Maybe some of it had to do with the fact that you're playing a defense you're not really sure what you're getting from them. There's there's no there's no tape on them, so maybe it'll change as the weeks go on. I do think you have to remember the way that the Rams played their safeties back. That affects your ability to go down the field, or at least you have to make adjustments

off of that. You have a rookie right tackle that you want to protect, and so I know there's I know there's been complaints about, you know, running too much on first down. I think they try to be balanced to help out their line, you know, and get some balance established there. So I'm not that concerned about the biggest thing for me is the yardage is there. They got to finish drives and finish third downs because I think they're able to pile up yards, it's turning it

into points. It's the biggest thing. And Rob just to get Just to give a little bit more background for those that are listening out there, this isn't just a hey, m pick up play and we're just gonna run it. Yeah, That's not how it goes on office, right. There's so much work that goes into this on the back end. These offensive coordinators, these defensive coordinators, are playing chess games. Is literally they played. They played thirty games in their

head before four Sunday ever shows up. So I can tell you for like a Kellen Moore, you know, there's probably three hundred, three hundred plays that he has on that call sheet. Every play is broken down to this is a first down call, This is a first and five call, This is a you know whatever our first and tam call. This is a first and long call. These things are so broken down. The statistics are so

so fine or minute. It's crazy if you guys were ever to see it on the back end, because there's so much data and those are the things that are going through their head. On third down, they blit sixty seven percent at a time, but if we bring an

eleven personnel, it drops down to thirty percent. Right, So there's so many things that they're literally going back and forthood within themselves, but before ever calling a play, and then once they call that play, now all of a sudden, we can't be aggressive because if we don't secure the interior line of the scrimmage, we don't have time for Dak to sit back and throw some of these deeper routes and be more aggressive so I understand people, Kellen

Moore is really good. These guys have to take care of the things up front. Until your point, Rob, it was a first week without a preseason seeing this with that defensive coordinator was going to do, so he had no idea right what the heck was going on. So some of that conservativeness came from, Hey, let me sit and watch. Let me get a beat on this defensive coordinator. Let me see what his schemes are, let me see where his tendencies are, so then I can start trying

to figure it out. But they just never got their feet underneath them. So I said, do you mean that they are not drawing up these plays in the dirt? Absolutely not. Hey also as that's good man, But I think everyone was. I guess, I guess the complaint last week, well Monday morning was we didn't see the creative plays that we had been waiting for, and it was this whole mystery what is the offense gonna look like? And a lot of people thought that it was black luster.

For me, when I looked at I saw the offense try to get that motion. I saw the sprint option plays as well, that that made a lot of sense. When you look at what the Rams were doing then, they just had so many different formations in comparison to what we were doing in the having personnel the majority of the time that it looked like we were not being creative. But I think the word for creative needs

to be substituted with explosive. We're just looking for more explosive plays and it's gonna be all about the matchups. I would give some credence to what you said about not knowing what the defensive coordinator was gonna do last week, only too so much, right, because we knew what we were going to do and they had to beat us at what we do best. We just have to find that balance, man, finding balance in our play calling and making sure that look we stay ahead of the sticks

and just look for the matchup nightmares. And I think a matchup nightmare for Atlanta it's gonna be Cedee Lamb versus Denard. I can't say his first name, but he is there. He's there, Nickel guy. I mean, he had ten interceptions since twenty eighteen. But I think that's gonna be a matchup that we could take advantage of with

our rookie. Yeah, there's some weaknesses back there, and I think the Cowboys are going to look to try and exploit some of those, much like how the Seahawks did in Week one, and hopefully it leads to more success on the offensive side. I don't think there's any reason the panic whenever it comes to Callen Moore in the play calling. It's week one, you have such a small sample size. Let's not be so quick to saying this coaching staff is the last coaching staff. It's a new era.

Things are going to turn around, and I got a staff for you. This will come out later in the week on Big Fat Big Facts on Dallas Cowboys dot com. But Mike McCarthy after a season opening loss is three and one. The only time he didn't win after a season opening loss was his first year as a head coach. He's won the last three times after opening the season on the wrong side of things. So hopefully that gives

you a little bit more rest. Hopefully he can help turn these things around and get back to even five hundred. But with that being said, when we come back, is this old must win for the Dallas Cowboys. Isaiah already said it was. I'm not so sure. We're going to debate about it when we come back. You're on Talking Cowboys. I'm Jay Nobacheck, former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys. Back in the day. I was the guy who always got the tough yards, and that's why I run with

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the perfect lenses for you. See more do More guys. Final segment here of talking Cowboys, Kyle Yeoman's heck Ma Harrison, Isaiah standback and Rob Phillips has a stat for us because I don't think this is a must win game based off of the fact that your division is still pretty weak. Whenever you talk about the Washington football team, the Philadelphia Eagles want to know, the New York Giants, Yeah, they are want to know, but it's because they played

the Eagles who had no offensive line. So Isaiah already said it's a must win. Rob, are you with him in that regard? And what is your stat? Yeah, I'm with Isaiah because it's pretty it's pretty damn close to must win based on the numbers. Based on the numbers according to USA USA Today since nineteen ninety the team since that was when the league expanded the playoff field to twelve teams, twelve point six percent of teams that have started O and two have actually rebounded to make

the playoffs. That is not a good percentage, and that means that it's it's about as close to must win as it gets. Now. Could they rebound, sure, but you don't want to be on the wrong side of history. Guys. So, Rob, so you're saying you don't want to go to Seattle ONEN two, I definitely don't want to go to Seattle O two and neither do I. I'm not saying I want any of that, Isaiah. I mean I'm waiting for your bottle here. I mean, that's all I was saying.

There was no rebuttal So what Rob said, I listen here. The Cowboys have absolutely everything that they need to have a heck of a season. That first game, as bad as we failed that we played, or as we did not execute the way which we needed to correct, but we were still in a great position to steal a game. We still sort of stall that game, right, But we

did it right. So we're on one all right. So on one now we have the Atlanta Falcons coming in, who are respectable on defense, right, probably more of a threat on defense than the team we just faced, right, and we didn't do too well for them. And but but there's gonna be a great opportunity for big plays because of a man coverage and because of their their

their chances of blitzing and taking risks. Right. But but then you know, on the other side of the ball, you know what do we do right, What do we do in terms of stopping Julio and all these other highly acclaimed veterans. So we're gonna see, right, but if it should we fall, right, obviously we all hope they win. But should we fall, you were going into the Seattle Seahawks,

who were looking like muy Glliente. They have all their pieces for the most part, that they've had over past years that have made them a pretty dug on good team, and they actually have gotten better because they have probably the best safety duo in the league. And we're going into their home. Oh and two particularly, it's not what you want to do. It's just saying it's not what you want to do. So you heard the statistics of going on to your chance to come back to the playoffs.

And Kyle, I heard you talking about how the Washington this is not the Washington of the old. They got a heck of a defensive line over there, you got a great defensive line. I'm not necessarily sold on the rest of their team, now, that's the thing. Yeah, But but was anybody sold on the forty nine ers until about week four of last year? But there's a little different. Always a team that that Why is it that went

because of Washington football team offense? And come on, man, it's not even comparable, not with probably right, but let's wait and see I just below and now that's yeah. Confidence is a heck of a tool. That's all I'm gonna saying. Let me let me say this, guys, what we did not do with seeing Happy birthday to the NFL. It's the hundredth birthday. Are fifteen guys met met in Canton. This is the reason why we're here. I just wanted to pres stay tactic is with this. Yeah he is

the guys, Come on, come on, that's what question. Yeah, he doesn't want to hear this. I said it last week. Yeah, I said it last week. There's a real chance right now. I'm not saying that this is a for sure thing, but there is a real chance that the Cowboys can start this year and three if they don't strap up tomorrow, I mean on Sunday. I'm sure there's a stat for that as well. A team that start away get to the postseason. So what is that, Rob, I'm sure you

got that hand. You just pulled that one out, so I'm sure you got another SNA I don't. I don't have that one in Look, twelve point six percent. It's not it's not the end, it's not zero percent, but it's not great. I could hear the stress in your voice though, when when Isaiah was talking about Seattle, you made a oh boy three Because every every week, man Isaiah puts his facts together, and that's what he does.

He bogged you down with his words and the facts, and it makes you like, wait, second, guess what you had. I'm not gonna let him do that to me because he building the other teams up so big that you're like, oh my god, that guys an It's like, come on, I just don't feel that way about my team. But if we're talking about a must win game, I'm I'm

gonna agree with you. Guys. We have to win. This is a must win game because the last thing we want on Monday it's for the sky to be falling, and we want to get rid of it, get rid of everybody. I'm telling you right now, Atlanta is always We're gonna have fried Bird at twelve o'clock. Oh oh my gosh. Um, by the way, are fantastic. I don't. I don't think so. But it's a I would say it's an extremely important game and you you need to

win it, but it's not a must win. It's not one of those if we if we start owing two, you're not making the playoffs. That's what I consider a must win. I mean, yeah, that's that's not a playoff game, exact playoff game completely, it's but it's big. It's twelve point six big now, Okay. Based off of the twelve point six, our fantastic producer in the back, Chris Beam, gave us the stat of oh and three teams two. Apparently, only six teams since nineteen eighty have actually reached the

playoffs when starting oh and three. Here's the thing, though, the Cowboys last year, if you remember, started three and oh and missed the playoffs. So wouldn't it only be right to flip that script and go oh and three and then make the playoffs. I'm just I'm trying for

good carma here. That'll do. Don't do that. That's I'm looking for a good carm it count it just it just give a little bit more back into the reason why I say it is a must Winky guess the division sucks a little bit, Okay, but these guys are getting better, all right, But we're also a guy. We have to face the forty nine ers this year, the Baltimore Ravens yea, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Arizona Carlos who looked like a dog on old school Saint Louis team

with all their weapons they have. Right now, there's some games on the schedule, so we need to get off to a quick start and get these ws early so that you can account for mistakes later on. Yeah, I mean, not a schedule, but it sure feels like one. Yeah, it's gonna be. It'll be tough for the Cowboys, especially if they fall this week. We will give our predictions tomorrow,

nine thirty. Join us. It's the final weekday edition of Week two as we lead into the weekend and hopefully the Cowboys come out with a win against the Atlanta Falcons at noon Sunday on Fox. But that's gonna do it here for talking Cowboys. So glad you've been with us here over the past forty five minutes, Join us tomorrow Prediction Day here from the Star for heck My Harrison, Rob Phillips and Isaiah stand back and our great producer Chris Beam, I'm Kyle Yeoman saying so long, We'll see

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