Talkin' Cowboys: O-Line Concerns & Predictions

as we're gonna break down this Cowboys Giants matchup. We're gonna talk through our predictions, we're gonna finish up our first quarter grades, and guys, last week, first let me introduce you guys before I get into this little spiel. Heck Harrison, Rob Phillips, Isaiah stand Back. I'm Kyle Yeomans. And last week I mentioned that I don't think it was time to even look at the panic button yet the panic button wasn't even in the mail, wasn't even

in the mail, wasn't on the way, wasn't being shifted. Well, after last week, I was like, Okay, maybe it's still not time to make the order, but I've got it in my cart. I've got the panic button. It's in my cart on my Amazon It's it's ready to go. Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's ready to go, just to click on

the button. Well, then we heard some news yesterday. Let's just say the panic button may or may not be Amazon Prime to ride back into the mail head in my direction in Frisco right now, because Tyrant Smith news came out yesterday. It's not official yet, but the neck issue has resurfaced. It was a reason why he was out of practice on Wednesday, he was out again Thursday, and now reevaluating the neck issue on whether or not he should shut the season down. That's where we'll start

this Friday edition of Talking Cowboys. Didn't really want to make this an injury report, but really this is a huge blow to the Cowboys if it ends up being true. Rob. What's the latest on what Tyrn Smith is dealing with? Yeah, we're starting to say your Chess Friday off on a

down note. Left. Yeah, you know, basically as of now, what Stephen Jones told our Nickietman yesterday is that indeed all options are on the table, including surgery, to try to correct the problem, because clearly he had some type of setback after the game. You know, I mentioned yesterday he played eighty two snaps. He played every snap in the game, but clearly he had some problems afterwards as the week started, and you know, I think the Cowboys

were hopeful. You know, when he didn't practice Wednesday, it's like, okay, you know, I didn't I figured he was going to have a Romo type Wednesday thing as they went on through this season, because uh, you know, they felt like it was a situation. They you know, it didn't just go away with the Browns game. They were gonna have to manage it and make sure he's okay going forward

because the stuff can crop up pretty quickly. But obviously getting a second opinion anytime you're talking about surgery, as we saw with Lyle Collins who had surgery yesterday, if you're talking about it, it means it's a definitely a real proposition, and it's it's tough. You know, when Jerry Jones said on Tuesday on the Fan that his number one concern wasn't the defense, he didn't talk about the defense.

He talked about the offensive line depth. Now we know why, because now we're right back talking about how they're going to fix things on the on the left side and the right side. Yeah, heck, I mean this is not good, Fellas, It's not good. It's not good at all. Yeah, now that's not good at all. Man. Obviously we know the importance of having that man on the field. We need Tyron Smith. He is that dude on the left side. He protects the backside of your franchise quarterback, of your

most valuable player on your team. That is going to hurt with him not being there if he's taken from somebody who's had seven surgeries. Okay, I've had seven of them, all right, and I think three of them occurred here in Dallas. Seven damn it. Man. Hey, I'm just saying, Hey, I took a licking and I came back taking you know what I'm saying. But take it from somebody who's

been through it and been through injuries. And I even like my time here in Dallas, where it wasn't the greatest career that I wanted, of course, but it was played with injuries. I came in with coming off of surgery rehab from that, and then I faced three surgeries in a row here in Dallas, right, two shoulder surgeries and a knee surgery. Two of those surgeries. I played the whole year with the pain, but knowing that at the end of the year I was gonna have to

get surgery. So I played less than one hundred percent shoulder popping in and out, dealing with the pain, dealing with the you know, scruciating pain that comes with that. But I knew and I was gonna have to shut it down after the offseason or maybe even sometime during the season. They get it taken care of, if they know that they're his guy going forward, is probably a smart move to secure the bag and make sure that

he's good going forward. But you just hate to have to do that at the sacrifice of potentially this season. You came in with a laborum right with the Cowboys. I no, I came in with my foot I had. I had a little frank jury, but I had labor laboramu meniscus. So I just Dallas didn't like me apparently with my body. But uh, the league was rough to me. But I mean, but I mean, but it just sucks.

It sucks. And we we've been we've been talking about this office, the line for a long time, and this obviously it doesn't sound good to believe me, if you're talking about it, ask somebody who's had it. It's it's it's a rat heck. I mean, it would make me feel good at all whenever it comes to this office. You said last night on our on our on our text group last night, you said you had the bubble

guts again. Yeah. I was about to lead him into that convert because I know you're nervous about this, just in the fact of having a left tackle and a right tackle now out for the season. If that ends up being the decision, Now you've got a revolving door. Is he gonna be Brandon Night, is gonna be Terran Steele? You've got Jordan Mills, You've got Greg sat I mean, you've got a bevy of options, but none of them

are Tyrn Smith, no man. And I think my upset stomach and indigestion started with the retiring of Ving Fresh. So I mean it's just been it's steadily, you know, steady decline and guys being hurt and just the injury news. I thought, just like you did, Rob that you know, we were just taking those I wouldn't say senior citizen days are just days off of giving your veteran guys

a little bit of rest. But when the news came out that there was a setback from from the Cleveland game or whatever he's dealing with, and and even going back to a conversation that I had with Joe Thomas about stingers and saying that that's the only way to alleviate it for a lot of guys is by going to get those surgeries to widen the nerves. So it look, it gives us, It gives me pauls As to say, look, what do we do for the rest of the season.

It also tells you why they are bringing in so many guys in having those auditions every day at the Star in Frisco. But look, we have a game on Sunday, and we gotta go with the guys that we have. Brandon Brandon Knight. If you are a ward daddy, let's see it all right, Tara Steele, It's it's your job to lose at this point, and it looks how else

do you adjust your game plan at this point? If you're the Dallas Cowboys, knowing that you are going to go through twelve games without your veteran left tackle, it's amazing that they've played four games and they've got the number one offense and the third highest scoring offense, because I think when when Tyran first went down before the Atlantic game, it was like, can they function? You know? And it hasn't been the way they've wanted to, but they have been able to move the ball at least

in the passing game. So I guess that's encouraging. But you hate to see this, and yeah, it does bring up the question what are they gonna do? Because you know, if you want to put Brandon Knight at left tackle, I think that's probably your best option. They're getting like heck yeah, like as Heckma said, though they've got more options potentially at right tackle. I know people, Kyle, I don't know, if you want to get into all the different combinations, people are gonna ask should they move Zach

Martin out to right tackle? I think that comes down to whether you feel I think Mike McCarthy doesn't want to do that. I don't think he doesn't want to change a bunch of spots. But to me, it might come down to whether you feel better about a Connor McGovern playing tackle better than your options at right tackle. You know you juggle the two and say, okay, because

I'm about I'm about best five personally, guys. I mean I think you know, it eliminates concern of one on one matchups because you're gonna have you saw it with Miles Garrett against Terrence Steele last week. Eventually, guys are gonna have to just hold their own and so who's your best five? I think they still got to figure that out, and they still gotta be I think they gotta be flexible too at just as it goes. If it's not working, try something else. Hey, but Rob, I

have a question for you and and Kyle. Heck, even when you find the five, do you really expect him to give a hundred percent for all seventy plays? You damn right? Yes? Oh wow, we yeah, we didn't talk about that yesterday. No we didn't. No, no, we didn't. We can get into that if you want to. But that's a setup. That's a setup. You set me up there,

like yeah. So he's referring, of course, to what Xavier Woods had to say about the defensive side of the football and that you're not quote unquote expected to play one hundred percent at one hundred percent of the time ultimately, is what he ended up saying earlier in the week. So transferring that over to the offensive line though, and I kind of wanted to go off of what what Rob was just saying with the best five, Terrence Steele probably isn't a part of that best five? Correct? Would

we all agree with that? Terren Steele not a part of the best five? Who else do you have? Who else do you have behind tarn Still? I mean, at this point, we're talking about moving Zack Martin now to right tackle, and that's going to leave a deficiency right smack dab in the middle of our offensive line. We're already starting a rookie at center, and we already have

a big question mark over our left guard. You know, Zack Martin to me, I think he gives that assistance and at least gives you the state of mind going into a game that you're strong next to some of your weaker links. I don't know how you put him out on the island and expect for the middle of your offensive line to have be solid at all. I don't know. I think that would be a mistake to do that, especially with Looney now dealing with an mcl I agree, go ahead, us don't. I don't know who

our best five is. I know we got nine offensive tackles within this roster, so there's some guys that we don't even know what the they can do. So at this point, go out there and put your pass rushers. I put Alden Smith out there, pick d law on it, put Randy Gregory and having to do one on ones all practice today and find out who the heck is a dog and that's who you put out there on the field. Oklahoma, Drill drill second. Tried to do that. Yeah,

I'm with heck. I mean I would feel better about maybe kicking Zach out to right tackle if you had Looney in the middle there. I think having his presence probably helps be Oddish and uh, you know, look for cam Irving at some point. I think he's definitely making progress. They have two open spots on their fifty three right now, so you know, Anthony Brown could take one of those this week coming off I R and possibly cam Irving

as early as this week, maybe next week. And we'll see about Laton vander Esh But but I think they think he's getting close, so he becomes an option for you soon. I just don't know if it's gonna be at least a couple of weeks. Probably uh, with with the MCL, MCL usually you know, two to four or something like that. So they got to roll with the rookie there in the middle there for the time being,

which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing. I think be Odish has done a fine job of popping in there and even in the middle of that offense. Now look at that, and you look at that good, good way that I've always I'd like, be honest, I said a long time ago that Beyondes should have been a starter and Luna should be playing guard. I said that a long time ago. Oh, I like him, throw

him in there. We also we also said with a short training camp that Beodish would probably not be the starter at the beginning of the year, but ultimately would transition into that role. And I think we're starting to see that, maybe a little bit earlier than what was anticipated due to the MCL injury to Luny, But overall, Beyondest should really his job right now, and I don't I don't know if he even really which is it's not that early. Only have you only have seventy five

percent more games to play. That's true. Yeah, yeah, I'm three quarters of the season left to go. There's a lot of football left to be played here, Isaiah. Now, yes, with that being said, sticking with the theme of there's a lot of football left to be played, and Rob mentioned it, Isaiah mentioned it, Layton Vanderesh still looking ahead of schedule. Yesterday hearing practice he not only had a helmet on, but he also had pads and he was in team not team drills, but he was in individual

position drills throughout the course of the morning. So even yesterday, Mike McCarthy, he didn't rule out not having Layton Vanderesh, but he also didn't necessarily say he was going to play on Sunday. I still don't expect him to play on Sunday. But Rob, is this something that we can maybe see going into Week six against Arizona? Or do we take the there's a lot of football left to

play approach? It's crazy we're talking about this because he's what is he three weeks removed from having the play put in and the plate you know, it does accelerate the healing process. So and they say he's ahead of schedules, so we'll just see how he does. You're right, Mike didn't rule it out. I don't know how realistic that is. It depends on how he did yesterday. He's not on the injury report because he's on IR, so they said he was gonna try to do some stuff yesterday. You know,

next week they have a little bit longer week. I don't know if that really matters, but they play a Monday night game I think October nineteenth, so it's a little bit of a longer week. Maybe it's possible he gets back by then, but you know, wow, you know, usually when you're with collar bones, you're talking about six weeks minimum. So's he's Superman. Apparently he's doing well. He's got he's got to be man. And Isaiah being our resident doctor here on the podcast, I mean, you talk

about a bone healing fast. That's crazy to me. Even when I saw the images and we talked about it yesterday, I didn't even think that it was realistic that he would be back. But when you hear Mike McCarthy saying that he could play Sunday, I don't know what I'm I guess I'm trying to register how is that possible or even how can he be back versus Arizona. But apparently, with the medical advancements, that bone is healing quickly and he could be back playing medal. He could be back

playing middle linebacker by next Monday. Smoke signals. Smoke signals this dude, you would be setting him up for failure. We talked. I did mention you know here. I told you guys that bones hill substantially faster. You can put poems and bones hill fast. However, however, okay, him practicing, don't get too excited. He's practicing with pads on. Yes, he's practice with a helping on. Yes. But we ain't

said nothing about him hitting anybody. Yep. Okay, that collar bone, that neck, nothing about that prevents you from going out there and running around the practice field. Okay, but I guarantee you he hasn't hit not one person, nor do they intend on him hitting anybody over the next few weeks. And if they do, I think that this would be I love the training staff, but I and I respect Jim Bow and all those guys. I don't. I can't see them putting him out there. I just can't see

them they care too much about their guys. If they do that, then I feel like they're probably getting pressure from somewhere else because you're setting him up for failure. Yeah, I just I mean think about it, Like and Mike said he probably would do some limited stuff potentially yesterday, which doesn't mean full team or anything like that. That would be his first time out there period, in pads, whatever,

in basically a month. I think, like September twelfth was they had a practice the day before the game, the opener against the Rams. Like that's one practice and you put him out there. That's that's kind of hard to see. You can put him out there in a deep sea diving outfit and he's still not gonna be playing in the games. It doesn't matter. He won't be. He should not be. Let me put it this way, he should

not be playing for at least another three weeks. In my opinion, I'm confused where the deep sea diving reference came from, but whatever I'm gonna stick with it is that you know the navy man, you know that the heavy the heavy outfit. Okay, okay, okay, so like military grade stuff is what we're talking about here. Jorn uh Yeah,

and whenever it comes to late. In vander ash yesterday during the media portion of practice, there was actually a moment where he kind of I don't know if it was a joke or what what it ended up being, but there was a bit of a pad tackling drill that the defense and even some of the offense the special teams were going through on the other side where they were tackling dummies, and he kind of went and got in line and Jalen Smith like kind of kind of hugged him and gave him a little pat on

the back. I was like, yeah, not yet, buddy, let's not get ahead. And I think it might have been a joke between the two, but from afar it looked kind of funny, just that chopping at the bit mentality with Layton vander Esch. He's a leader, he's somebody that you want on your defense, but you also want him to stay healthy for an elongated period of time. I think that needs to be the priority, and I think it is the priority on the other side of the building.

And hopefully lvs ready to go for a lengthy period of time. Okay, so when we come back, we're going to finish up our grades of the first quarter. We've talked about it all week long. We finish it up with special teams and coaching. Let's see who Isaiah gives an f when we come back here on Talking Cowboys. Since eighteen sixty five, Stetson Hats are American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stepson is proud to

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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 Newcombonlet's music to my ears? Okay, doctor time, music to my ears and mouth New Doctor pepper and Cream Soda. Delas just do to Talking Cowboys. It's officially a say with your chest Friday. Here on Talking Cowboys. Glad you're with us on Dallas Cowboys dot

Com and the various streaming platforms. Kyle Yeomen's Isaiah stand Back, Rob Phillips, and the fantastic mister heck Ma Harrison with you up until ten o'clock today as we break down this Cowboys Giants game and also looking back a little bit. We're gonna finish up what we've done all week long. And this has been a fun segment because there's been some debate, there's been some disagreements, there's been some honeycrisp apples involved, There's been so many different things thrown around

during this segment. But it's our first quarter grades and we've talked about the offense in terms of the passing game, the running game, the trenches with offensive and defensive line. Yesterday we attacked the defense and went linebackers and safeties and those were some pretty harsh grades. But now we go into special teams and the coaching staff, and this is through the first couple of weeks of the season. We can be easy on the coaching staff and just

do it as a whole. We don't have to attack certain individuals or talk about certain individuals at this point, just coaching as a whole what you think thought so far? But special teams will start things off here. It hasn't been pretty for the Cowboys at times, but at other times. Its actually one year, your first football game, uh, and your only football game of the year so far. But Isaiah, what do you think in terms of this special teams unit so far in twenty twenty D minus oh D minus? Okay?

They have had entirely too many mistakes. Entirely too many mistakes. The only positive thing that I've seen from this unit is obviously the watermelon kick, which you really shouldn't have been in a situation anyway because you messed up earlier in the game. Um. And also their their their punt coverage has been good. Their their punt coverage has been pretty respectable. Uh. And they with their gunners. Their gunners are getting down the field enforcing fair catches like nobody's business.

So I respect them for that. But aside from that, it has not been good. UM in terms of not it seems you said we can lump it all together. Yeah, yeah, so it's a it's a D minus for me, for the coach, for the for the special team's coach, and this unit. UM. I think that they're trying hard, but their lack of execution. UM kudos that are coached for calling it. But you know, when the guys aren't aren't making them making the necessary plays, you got to get

somebody else in there. And there's just no there's no room for errors on special teams. It's just too it's too important a portion of the game. It's a third of the game, and people always forget that. All right, heck, all right. Well, the going theme around here has been that for as a coaching staff, we hadn't been very aggressive, and now we have a coaching staff that has been overly aggressive. And Chris Jones is where Chris Jones passed

away from obviously executing a great fake punt. I think all of the failed attempts you can look at, and we talked at length about the Squift kick in the Cleveland game. But when it comes down to other areas, in other areas and for special teams, I have the feeling like Ceedee Lamb is getting close. I feel as though somebody's gonna We're gonna cover one, and Ceedee Lamb is going to put the Lambeau on the runway, uh

and go take one to the house. I just look, there are other areas that you look at that you just oh, man, we need improvement on that. And I never liked pats or field goals turning into events. So I'm gonna go see minus overall and just leave it at that. I like it. Love that explanation, Rob. I got some apples ready for you, guys, because I got I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go to the sea. I'm gonna go to the sea because I know, I know. But look, they would be owing four right now if

they didn't pull off that kick. And that was a hell of a play. That's one of the best craziest plays I've ever seen that that that helps the curve a little, gives them a passing great rough Yeah, yeah, I think so. Now, look, it hasn't been good. It hasn't been good overall, and John Fossil spoke to that, But you guys hit on some things they have done well. You're right, Isaiah. The coverage has been pretty good. They haven't allowed any big returns really, uh in kickoffs or

punt um ceedee. Lamb, like heck said, has been effective as a returner. That's been a problem in the past. At punt returns. And I know Greg Zerline had a blocked extra point, he's missed a kick, but he's definitely an upgrade. I think he's definitely an upgrade over Brett Maher. So there's some things they can they can build on. But if not for your special teams, you were a winless football team. Right now, at the end of that game,

you're a winless football team. So if that's why I got to give him a little a little bit higher right before before Kyle goes, can I just help everybody remember because I'm a specialist. I was a special specialist in the league, more more than I was a receiver or quarterback or even a tight end. Right, I was a specialist. That's what I did. Um, let me just remind everybody. So there was a miss extra point yep. Yes, a block fail goal because we failed to block it

up properly. Yes, Um, A terrible squid kick that had that was pointless, right, and I'm not sure what the point of that was. Yes, Um, don't forget about kickoff returns. Yeah, kick kickoff returns off is like kick off is like pointless. Like the NFL needs to change it. It's ridiculous. I was a part of the XFL and they did a good job changing that. The NFL needs to figure this

out because that's a point display right now. But um, and then let's also not forget the fact if that we had two fake punts that failed, right, and that's all within the first four weeks, there's no way they have a passing grade. But I'm gonna I'm gonna, like Kyle, determine that. But it's the power of the watermelon kick, don't the power? Man? No A C minus. Let's see

C minus come on the paths to rob. You can't put too much weight on a watermelon kick because the watermelon kick only was successful because of the lack of execution by Atlanta Falcons defender. That is it? Hey, that's all that's maybe it's not, that's not it was no. Hey, you're you're absolutely correct, But it wasn't that. It was just this amazing. It was a great kick. Doesn't not get it wrong. But had that gentleman done when he was supposed to do, there would still be an on fourteen.

That's not how the statuate. Breeze man, how's this one? Listen? Whenever you're let's go across the street from where that watermelon kick happened, And yesterday the Dodgers and the Padres were playing in globally Field. You think at some point Joe Kelly was like, no, I'm gonna throw a curveball or a fastball instead of a curveball here, because you know, as a as a Padres hitter on the other side, you should be able to hit that ball. No, you try and change it up a little bit. You throw

a curveball at him. That's what the special teams did, and that's why that did that kick ended up working. Did the Dodgers lose that game? No? They won. No, That's why I'm saying. I'm saying they won that game because we know who would sleep on the game, Dodgers. Dodgers are going to the NLCS. Anyways, back to football, I'm gonna stick with hecma here. I'm not up to a sea, but I'm at a sem I thought, heck,

I explained it. Well, there's goods, there's bads. There hasn't necessarily been any sort of u of positive in the kick return, but there's been a lot of positive in the pump return, and even with the kicking game. I don't really put a ton of stock in block kicks. I think you can share that up pretty quickly here. I think Greg Surline gives you an opportunity at some point. You haven't seen it yet to knock through any kind of field goal from long distance. They haven't had a

chance to do any of that field goal. I'm looking at you, Isaiah, I see you doing this. It's ah, remember this first one. I'm saying it. So I just want to make sure that we're clear here because I know you guys are all educated individuals, and you guys are putting a lot of weight on the on the watermelon kicks. So that's a one positive correct, YEA one

positive Okay. So well, there's a couple we've had We've had a uh okay, there's one main positive that that's only one play that we can we got turned to it. There's been a couple of good what twelve yard returns or something like that by by CD Lamb. That's that's it. But we've had a drop kickoff return, we've had a miss extra point, we've had a block extra field goal,

we've had two failed punts. We've had a terrible squid here so I'm naming like six to seven negatives, and you guys are putting all the weight on one positive. We're not saying this is an A or an A plus. If you take all those things away, it may be a B or a B plus. But we're not even there yet. You gave you gave him a D. You gave him a D minus. Right. I guarantee you he would say the same thing. That is not a that

is not acceptable on special teams. You don't get enough plays on special teams every game to make mistakes like these guys are making. These are technical errors. These aren't just things that happen. No, you don't. You don't bring up a valid point. You don't drop a ballot point. As a kickoff returner for the former Dallas formerly as a Dallas Cowboys, you don't drop kickoff returns. You don't, especially when they're in the area they're curveballs, you don't

drop them. So so that's bad. Okay. You don't give up block field goals. You don't do that. You don't do that, not, not not with that, not technique wise, you don't. You don't miss extra points D minus, right, you don't. You don't do that right, and guess what, and when you're back and when you run a fake punt, you make sure that you do your job. And they did not twice twice. And look at the raplifications of those plays. Look at that. Look what happened on those

negative plays. Yeah, it didn't go well. No, it didn't go It didn't go well. And it's not like we're giving them an A minus, B plus any of that. Just c mind. But you're passing them onto the next grade though. Heck him, you're pat letting him go. You're letting them advance within your educational system. And that's you know what, Isaiah, you right, this is the one time you have changed all right, yeah, all right? A D plus? Can I give him a D plus and give that

worse deep still passing? No, according to the grade, No, it is not where where we're over that half a letter grade. He's not gonna litterize. He's sixty five to sixty nine percent. That's where they're at right now. If that, I mean, you're fighting over what could have been seventy one to sixty nine whatever. Let's move on to our coaching staff. I mean, we can talk about the special teams. And whether or not they've been good. None of us

said they were good. I just want to lay that out there, and I just want to say a passing grade at a C minus is different than getting an A or an A minus. Anyways, going to the coaching staff and like I said, lumping all of this together, mostly talking about play calling here. Whenever you're looking at the defensive side of the football and the offensive side, we can kind of balance it and Tito totter it

back and forth. But I'll start things off in terms of play calling, and really because of what Kellen Moore has done on the offensive side of the football to adjust for what is a banged up offensive line, I think it off balances what I could have given an F on the defensive side of the football, but I'll give it a solid D plus. And really that's the only thing I can look at from a positive standpoint, because I think Kellvin Moore is getting better as a

play caller and we're starting to see that evolution. However, Mike Nolan has just kind of struggled on the defensive side of the football, and I don't necessarily think he's done a good job of putting his players in the best scenario in where their talent is utilized the best. Isaiah, what have you've got on this grade? See? Were you talking about the offensive the defense both? I mean, that's what I'm saying. I'm combining them together. We don't have

time to do both. Here makes things a little tougher. Kellen Moore gives them a full letter grade upgrade off of what I would have given them. I give them a C combined. Okay, I would. I would too, because I think, I mean, what they've had to deal with upfront. Still, with the numbers they've put up, I know it hasn't led to winning. Some of their biggest problems have just been not taking care of the ball defensively. There's a lot of problems to go around. I think the coaches

have taken blame for it. Players have said, we got to be better with assignments. So it kind of all goes together. I think if you average it out, it's probably about to see so far. Okay, Mike McCarthy said, look, it all falls on me right now, where one in three it starts with me. It's true. Yeah, I love that, And that's that's just more coaches speak. You know, it's my job to get these guys in the right places.

And look, when you average it out on both sides of the ball, and this team isn't gonna get a mulligan for the climate that we're in with the pandemic or any of that, because all thirty one other teams, all thirty two teams are dealing with the same thing. But I think a lot of that has to do with the execution of the scheme. Defensively, we're just not

able to execute the scheme. That's just it, all right. Offensively, that looks to be some continuity, especially with the way that Dak is able to leave these drives and those come from behind efforts. But you know, look, you just get a smelly sticker for doing that, especially if you don't win the game. And I'm trying to be positive here, but I'm just saying one thing just kind of takes out the other. So y'all, y'all crack me up, man. Look like my whole what I'm saying is I hate

the banana sit and I hate I love that. I love the roof bear sit. So it was a great pay Like It's just one of those things where one of the one of the things that we have to correct as a team is just our execution offensively. If we cut down on the turnovers, obviously, that's gonna help Scott. Come on, God, I know, no, I just want to say, nineteen ninety two was the last time I heard a

street Fighter reference. Nineteen ninety two was also the last time I thought about yeahs, I'm gonna have to go to hobby lobby this week and get something I don't walking out street them. He's got it on. We go from honey Chris baffles to rounding out our grading segment with scratching sniffs to stickers. Yeah, and it's been I can't have no room in today at this It's been a rough quarter and to say the least, but at

least we're having fun hero talking Cowboys. Hopefully the second quarter will be much better and our grades will improve across the board. We'll get to that whenever Week eight comes to a close. But when we come back, we've got week five to talk about. We've got four games of predictions when we come back on the other side of the break. I'm Jay Novachik, former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys. Back in the day, I was a guy who always got the tough yards, and that's why

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airwaves and taste buds. It's new doctor pepper and cream soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor and Cream Soda. Is he a Newcombonelet's music to my ears? Okay, Doctor Bap time pour in as music to my ears and mouth new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda delas, just do back. I want to use what the pros use. How about the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black. Right now you can get the Jack Black Starter, a curated collection of Cowboys locker room favorites, for just ten

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free shipping to Talking Cowboys. Back here on the other side of the break, Aaron Talking Cowboys, As we've now gained our footing and stopped laughing from scratching sniffstick or references and whatnot throughout our grading standpoint, but we are Kyle Yeoman's heck Ma Harrison, Rob Phillips, Isaiah stand back.

Get the ultimate fan experience for the ultimate Cowboys fan joined Dallas Cowboys United, presented by a Globe Life starting at just twenty dollars visit Dallas Cowboys dot com Slash United and guys, we were now to the end of the week. Of course, every Friday at this time we predict four games. We predict three games throughout the regular NFL schedule, including the Sunday night game, the Monday night game, and then an insert getting name or a game here.

And then we've capped things off on the week with the Cowboys game, and we've got we've got some standings to update. And mister Rob Phillips had himself a week last week. He went three and one and has now taken a sole advantage of the standings lead five and two. A week ago, both Hecmah and Isaiah went two and two and even five hundred, so that puts Isaiah at four and three, squarely in second place. Heckma, after a slow start one and two, is back to three and

four and I went one in three last week. I did not have a week. Yeah, and uh so I'm at So we're all separated by two games. At the moment, Rob has the lead, which means he gets to go first. He's at five and two, And we're gonna start with the Colts and those now hated Cleveland Browns. Both teams at three and one. The Colts have allowed less than twelve points in three straight games. That defense is firing on all cylinders, both teams at three and one. Rob

who you got in that one? Oh? No, Nick Chubb? Right? No, Nick? A little bit. For Cleveland, I'll roll with Philip Rivers. It's the advantage at quarterback. Despite what we saw from Baker Mayfield last week, I think the Browns luck for now runs out with a Colts victory. Okay, this is in Cleveland, by the way, and also for the fans watching on periscope, send in your picks as well throughout the course of the segment. All Right, heckma, who you got? Yeah,

that's gonna be a tough matchup. Man, the Cleveland Browns. They left here the neighborhood hero. Everybody's talking about Stefanski and all the great work that he's doing with the offensive line in Callahan, and but I think they run into a bus. All that Indianapolis defense is for real, and you know, hopefully my guy Philip Rivers isn't going to turn over the ball and give them the opportunities that we did. So I'm going to Indie is zam Hey. My mascot, my mascot of high school as a dog

mascot in college was a dog. So I'm going with them dogs this weekend. I'm gonna ahead and go with Cleveland. Wow. Okay, so you're going with Cleveland, I'm gonna go with Indianapolis here. Top three offensive line, top three defense. I think they get the job done, even with Philip Rivers. Maybe gonna give an opportunity here and there to the Cleveland Browns. I think this will be a great game and it's one that I know I'll be watching kind of alongside

the Cowboys game on Sunday. Okay, here we go Sunday Night football. The Vikings, who desperately need a win at one in three, going up against Russell Wilson and a four and oh Seattle Seahawks team, by the way, Russell Wilson six and oh career against Minnesota. I think they make it seven and oh, and I'm picking Seattle to win. Isaiah, who you got Seattle? That's easy boys, Yeah, easy win for him? All right, Hackma, I'm gonna I'm yeah, definitely Seattle. ROBERTA, Yep,

we'll make it a clean sweep. If it's Russ, if it's Tom Brady, if it's Pat Mahomes, if it's Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, I'm probably gonna take their team. And if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Seattle wins. It's weird how there was no Kirk Cousins on that list that you just mentioned. I'm sure, I don't know. I've just wanted to mention that. By the way, the Cowboys not the only team with some disappointing starts to the season. Because the Vikings one and three, they could very easily be one and four

by the time by the time that the weekend's over. Okay, another one and three team, the Los Angeles Chargers, going up against the Saints back at the Superdome, and just a reminder, the Chargers starting to find a little bit of rhythm here. They've had a tough schedule to start the season as well. Now they've got Justin Herbert as the full time starter at quarterback in New Orleans. Four of their last five games against the Chargers have resulted in a win. Rob, Who you got in this one? Oh?

I got a side with experience. Go with Drew Brees. Herbert's got a lot of talent, but there he's gonna have some growing pains, I feel like, and the Dome's not gonna have the dome type environment. But I'll still take the Saints at home. I'm gonna Saints at home.

Two guys make it easy, okay, saying say, I'm gonna go to New Orleans across the board since we had two games that were clean sweeps, I'm gonna throw a bonus in there, and hopefully this game gets played, because we're really we want everybody to stay healthy and stay careful in this. But I do want to do this as an extra game on top, just in case it is played, because I think it's gonna be a fantastic one if it is. Ryan Tannehill and the Tennessee Titans

up against the Buffalo Bills, both teams undefeated. The Titans, of course, having their game postpone last week against Pittsburgh. Now they have a matchup with the Bills. If this game gets played, I'm gonna take the Bills on the road against Tennessee to take down the Titans and move to five. And oh, I think the Bills Mafia is the real deal in this one. But this is gonna be a good game. Isaiah. Let the Buffalo roan. I'm

all about them Bills. They're they're really good team. Nema M. I gotta get some separation here, so I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go Tennessee. I'm gonna go Tennessee. My mind sets one thing, but I know I gotta I gotta get some separations, So I'm going Titans on this one. I gotta go with the Bills. There's too much going on with the Titans right now, and I hope they can get it all corrected and everybody's okay. But I

gotta go with Buffalo. They're rolling right now. Thoughts and prayers with that organization, not only with the players, but even the personnel who had tested positive for COVID nineteen and hopefully that situation gets under raps pretty quickly and they everybody can stay safe. Now onto the big one. We've got about two and a half minutes left. Cowboys, Giants, the return of Jay Geez back to AT and T Stadium.

You've got the Cowboys looking to get back on track at one and three, and then really just trying to get on the track for the Giants as they come in at oh and four, needing Joe Judge his first win of his New York Giants tenure. I'm gonna go first on this one. I'll make it easy on everybody once again. I had the fake out the first couple of weeks. I'm not doing any fake out. I think the Cowboys take care of business here. I think it might be a little bit closer early on first three quarters.

I think it's gonna be a nerve racking first three quarters. I think the Cowboys stick with a lead though a short one, and then they pull away late to get their second win of the year. You get back to two and three and then have a long week ahead to where you can maybe take advantage of the Arizona Cardinals coming up on Monday Night football. But I think the Cowboys here in Week five get a win. They get back to two and three and take down the

Jason Garrett offensively led Giants on the other side. Rob any any score projections, I'll do a score thirty four twenty seven, Oh, no, thirty four, twenty four, twenty four, let twenty four, twenty four, Yeah, thirty four twenty four ten points win. I got all right, I got about a ten point win. Two, I'll go thirty twenty one Cowboys nine point win. I think it comes down to

chunk plays for me. Can the Giants get anything going down the field to give them put themselves in scoring position because they have their their explosive plays are very very low and the Cowboys have the ability to do that on any given play. I think that that that leads to more wins than anything, if you can take care of the ball. And so I think, you know, the Cowboys just more explosive offensively, they're gonna win this game. Heck yep, And oh are you going? You going? Me

can go? He was, he was ready to go. Oh yeah, I just got Cowboys forty two seventeen. Whoa, Okay, So you think it's not even close? Yeah? Is this? If this is close, then we have bigger problems than we Then we think the defense is averaging giving up what thirty eight points in the last three games, that doesn't look good. Yeah. If everybody in the national media laughing at you, you know, questioning whether you have the heart to play this game, the defense has to stand up.

They have to get it together offensively, just don't turn the ball over and be smart. The New York Giants having scored a touchdown since Week two, I don't expect for them to get in rhythm here in at and T Stadium, at least I hope they don't. So I'm predicting the score somewhere around the twenty eight to thirteen. But I believe that this is an easy win for the Dallas Cowboys. That's true. I think it will be a lower scoring game than than really even we anticipated.

I think twenty eight thirteen might be the closest thing that we see to the final score because this defense for the Giants pretty stout. They play together, they play fast, they play aggressive. The offense of the Cowboys, we know what they bring to the table. I think it'll kind of stifle each other out. But ultimately I think Cowboys are a better team, and then so does everybody. As we go across the board picking Dallas on Sunday once again that one on CBS, Jim Nance and our boy

Tony Romo on the call of that one. Hope you'll join us on Monday at nine thirty, win or lose, we'll break it all down for you. We'll party together if it's a win, or we'll really be talking about hitting that panic button come Monday morning. If it's a one in four start for the Cowboys, however, that's gonna do it here this week for Talking Cowboys. Glad you've been with us over the last five day special thanks to Chris Beam in the Bank special, thanks to Isaiah Stanback,

Rob Phillips, and heck My Harrison. I'm Kyle Yeoman saying so long from the start in Frisco. Thanks for listening to Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.