Talkin' Cowboys: Practice Standouts

Mickey's Bagnola. We've got Rob Phillips and Rob how about this, We've got Spagnola on time today. I found him. I found him in the cafeteria this morning. I said, we do have a show, so let's go. And I followed him to his room and made sure that he followed me to the trailer and then we got out here. I needed no help, did you? I needed no help. You just needed a nudge. I was up. I gave you a n reminder, No I knew. Did you get your bike ride? Sunrise bike ride in Today was a

day of rest for these old lakes. Okay, that's that's good. They need that every one. So it's regeneration day, right, Regen and McCarthy Regen today absolutely, Oh, McCarthy and Mickey in cahoots with the regeneration schedule, but there is no regeneration this weekend for the Cowboys. We're kind of sandwiched in between a couple of practices. It's the first days of back to back practices out here in Oxnard. Practice

number two yesterday. Any general thoughts to get us kicked off of what you saw yesterday, Rob Well, I thought the second practice was I don't want it's too early to say win for defense, win for offense, but I thought Dak Prescott was terrific, especially in the two minute work. I think he had one in completion and probably a touchdown pass. They didn't give the last throw to Noah Brown because he was clearly out of bounds, had a great catch to go get it, but he might have

scored the play before. But I just thought Dak showed really good command in that in that scenario, and you know connection with his wide receivers. You know, he hasn't been in team drills since really before the injury last October, so this is kind of new for him to get back into you know, full practice, and I thought it was a good day for him, And there were certain

defensive players that definitely stood out as well. Yeah, it wasn't eleven on nine or whatever they did in OTA's yea mini camp, or the defensive line wasn't there, and so he had a little clutter around him. And you know, it takes a while once when you haven't played quarterback to get back on the field and see things. You got to get used to all the congestion out there. And you know, you can do all the drills you want, but you got to be out there and see things.

And that's why you know, he knows. You know, it may not be the first preseason game. He needs to play in preseason, there's no doubt about it. I remember when Tony Romo had missed the one of the seasons that he missed, and his point was, I need to play in preseason because I need to remind myself of the congestion. I need to remind myself that I got to look to see where the play clock is and be mindful of the play clock and just get used to being on the field with everybody and all the noise.

And he thought preseason was important for him. Now unfortunately he did a little too much the one preseason and got hurt, but yeah, it's necessary, So yeah, I thought it was a better day for him, and then just all around, probably a better day for the wide receivers. Um Cedee Lamb with another one handed catch, Wilson pulled one in um Um the rookie Fijokou Huh nice nice deep ball catch. So yeah. But then the defense made

some plays too. I finally saw Calvin Joseph get a hand on on a football or two, so that was somewhat new because we haven't seen him practice and it's gonna take him some time too, So yeah, I thought, all in all, it was a it was a pretty good day. And by the way, the uh the coaching staff uh or the training staff probably would uh pick a bone with you about the first back to back practice because they consider the conditioning day like a practice

for all the running they did. So they did running practice, region practice practice now today before tomorrow's official day off because they don't have to like go to meetings or anything out the condition and run. Yeah. One more thing about DAK because Kellen Moore said something interesting during his podium talk about how as a quarterback you want to get hit coming off an injury. It's it feels good, it feels like you're you're kind of knocked back into

the game. I don't want to see too much of that from Dak Prescott. And that's my question to Mickey is like, how how much do you want to see him in preseason? Because yeah, I agree with you, he probably it's it feels a game, get back out there. But I don't want him tested too. I can probably manage that by the plays I call as an offensive coordinator. I can get a couple of quick throws, a couple of quick throws over the middle. I don't want him

see him doing scramble drill in preseason games one. That's where Tony got in trouble. I don't want to see him running with the ball. You know, you just throw it away or throw it in the ground and discuss, uh that play has gone away. In training camp, Troy

Aikman was great at it. When he would get pissed off at guy's not doing what they were supposed to do, or they didn't run a right route, or the blocking wasn't right, he'd throw the ball on the ground and then you'd hear him cussing, like come on, you know, but he would when you saw him throw the ball in the ground, you knew he wasn't happy. Sounds like you, yeah,

you're not happy with us. That's right, I'll throw the mic in the ground whenever we come on, let's go take our break, And Mickey's just throwing his head set across the table and beamers over in the corner, like

covering his ears for safety. But continuing on with a little bit of this Dak Prescott talk and the importance of getting those reps in the preseason, because sure, I don't know if there's been a guy in the past that's been so open about flipping a switch between practice in the game, about forcing things and trying some things out in practice and kind of pushing the limits to know whenever game time comes around, then that that's what you can and cannot do and it allows you to

be successful. However, he hasn't played football and almost a full year, so maybe he needs to go and look at the timing and look at the decision making that you have to have against an actual NFL defense in real game time action like a preseason instead of maybe sitting out and just having one drive here in one drive there, and then I don't know, maybe he does

need more snaps along the way. I would take it one step further and say there are half a dozen players on the starting offense that didn't play either in a year or Zack Martin missed six games and Zeke was playing hurt a lot of last season, especially down the stretch. And we're talking about Tyrn Smith, Lyle Collins, Blake Jarwin. So I mean they as a group, I think it would be beneficial to get out there have a nice efficient driver too in preseason. I think that's

that's good Hall of Fame game. I mean, typically that's a that's reserved for the young guys, especially back in the day when it was five preseason games. But yeah, I think at some point it'll be good for the entire group to just get out there against an opponent for a little bit. No, I think you're right, and probably not the Hall of Fame game, Yeah, probably not. Probably that's gonna get punted right, But after that, No,

they need to be out there. I mean there's you can't You're right, you can't just turn it on especially at the quarterback position, right, you got to play quarterback. Um. I remember, and I think I've told you this story on one summer US probably after they like around ninety four and Emmett Smith had won a couple rushing titles and they basically weren't going to play him in preseason. And so I go up to him. I said, well, don't you have to like get out there and get

used to getting hit again? And he looked at me, he goes, are you crazy. I know what it feels like to get hit. I don't need to be reminded, right, And I said, okay, I retract the question, your honor. Uh and uh. It was pretty funny. And he had

a point. I think from a running back standpoint, whatever you're doing in practice, you're you're getting hit a little bit because back then they actually hitting practice, yeah, and took people to the ground at times a little bit different than the quarterback position now, where they're protected in practice, you don't actually have that physicality back and forth, and maybe it does take a little bit of an adjustment period to finally get back and get used to that.

Now switching over to the defensive side of the football, of course, practice one was a positive uptick for the defense, and I think the offense kind of got back after him yesterday. Even Zeke talked about it in his press conference after the first day on the gridiron. He said, Hey, it was nice seeing the defense get after us a little bit. It was nice to have a little pushback, and then turning around yesterday, I think the offense may have had the upper hand rop Yeah, I do. I think.

You know, we touched on the connection between Dak and his receivers. I thought there were some nice throws the last couple days by Garrett Gilbert, by Benda Nucci. We didn't see Cooper rush yesterday. Apparently he's got a tight back, so we'll see how that goes day to day here going forward. They do practice again today, But yeah, I thought it was just more a fish in the drills from the offense. But they're defensively. There were guys Mick

that continued to stand out. I mean, Trayvon Dix continues to make plays on the ball. Um, Micah Parsons continues to be everywhere, uh, working different drills. Um. You'll see him rushing off the edge, You'll see him covering fifty yards down field in a seven on seven drill to go break up a pass um and Randy Gregory is looking and I again say it, let's say it, Rod, Let's just let's just put it out there, say well, we have everything has to be a disclaimer. They're not

in pad. We've been here. We've been here two days. But yeah, dinner last night, we're talking about, like, you know, what's what where's the cap room to resign him to a big deal after the season, because he's gonna have a big ear after get it done. Yeah yeah, or now with that too, Brad Sham was giving him a gold jacket yesterday while we were watching practice. That's who I had dinner with last night, and that's what we

were talking about. Maybe that rubbed up a little bit, but I mean, say with your chest, rob, I mean, Brandy Gregory's gonna have a big ear, right. I mean what we've seen absolutely and what really what we saw in ten games last year with twenty snaps a game, you extrapolate that over sixteen games he had three and a half sacks. He can be a double digit sack guy for this group, and I think he needs to be because it's not a super deep position that they have.

That's another mistake they made last year after he was eligible to play, giving him only twenty snaps a game. Are you serious? He was the best thing they had out there rushing the quarterback, and they were kind of just gingerly using him. Guys might have missed this because I wrote the column about him just before we kind of all went on vacation, but I basically pointed out

he was my mister relevant. He needed to become relevant this year and take over and take that step to the point where they thought what they were getting when they drafted him in the second round in twenty fifteen. He needs he needs to be a stud out there. They need that, and from everything we're seeing, it's only two practices. Pads aren't on, but boy, he is active, and I'm not talking about just rushing the quarterback. He stopped two runs that were major for a right defensive

end to set the edge. The first time they tried to get Zeke outside and he turned them back inside because he beat him to the outside spot. And then the second time they tried to run an end a round to suck in the defensive lineman going one way, and they I believe it was CD was coming the other way, and he would have dropped him for maybe a five or ten yard loss on that end a round because he jumped on the outside and he was fast enough and quick enough. I'll tell you what. It's

a good start to training camp for him. And if you consider this is his first training camp since twenty eighteen and his first offseason since his rookie year, and I think it's starting to show that boy he's six four. I don't know what they've got him listed weight, maybe about two two fifty two sixty, and his body is completely different than when they got him at two fifty eight. And you remember when he got here he was two forty and by the end of training camp he was

two thirty because he couldn't keep the weight on. And he just looks he looks like he should be in number ninety four. By the way. Yeah, and you mentioned it's a bold statement, Mickey Spagnola. That's high prey here. I mean you mentioned his run defense, which people get that gets lost with the Marcus Lawrence too, because that's

a part of the position that nobody talks about. But I mean I do focus on his pass rush ability for us why I asked Dan Quinn about it the other day because if you watch him in these and we've seen him play obviously, but you watch him in these pass rustrials, it is rare bend around the edge, the way he can bend and get inside to the quarterback. I've tweeted this last night. I haven't seen the Cowboys

rusher do that since I've been here. The marcut swears in the Hall of Fame, better player, but it bendy. He has rare bend. He really does. And like Mickey said, it just comes down to him being available, and based on what they did or didn't do in free agency in the draft, they're counting on him to play most of the snaps and all the games at right defensive end because it's not it's not a super deposition. They addressed tackle. We talked about that the other show, but

not as much on the on the edge. And Michael Parsons can help supplement that a little bit. We could just name him the rubber band Man. I like that because he's big. I like that a lot. Before we take this to break, I want to kind of keep this going and look on the positive side of things. What can the ceiling be for both Randy Gregory and DeMarcus Lawrence if they're both on the field at the same time, because that's that's a problem for offenses, that's

going to be an issue. What is the ceiling if you had to put those guys out there and they're both healthy and starting. I know de Marcus Lawrence is on the publist at the moment. He should be ready to go by week one is what we've been told. So if they're both out on the field, what is the top of what they could do? Make? Oh this team? If they do what we think they should do, then their their sack totals as a team is going to rise greatly. I think it could double from last year.

They ended up with thirty I think thirty thirty five, thirty seven something like which is not not good. It's it's almost average. Uh. It needs to be in the fifties. And and if they can do that together, uh, and DeMarcus Lawrence has his Robin on the other side, Um, you know, they could possibly both reach double digits. Thirty one sacks last year for the Cowboys, I mean back they haven't gotten sacks as a team in the fifties. Probably since Wade Phillips was head coached, probably probably two

thousand and nine. Yeah, my guess is, do you ware in his prime Anthony Spencer was a very good player, And I think that was the last time they had two guys with double digit sacks. I think that's the ceiling. I think that's you know, with a healthy to Marcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory playing an entire season, hopefully, I think that's definitely possible. We got a mailback question about like the over under on between those two guys and Micah Parsons. Could they get like twenty five sacks just

between the three of them. I think it's possible. I think, I mean, it's possible, but a lot of things have to go right, and you know, it's just it's hard to project a little bit because Randy has played so little. He's played thirty games in his career, but he the talent is there, it's so obvious. You also remember that this is going to be a seventeen game regular season. Yeah, you could double that number to sixty plus. Yeah, well I really wanted to. It's up the annie. Then we

could turn it up all the way. Yeah, beat five more than we'd predicted the five sacks a game from Mickey's bagnola. The other thing, too, is can the offense stay healthy and build leads where your defense can tee off a little can get after when you're playing from behind like you did every every game last year, That's a little difficult to do. I saw an interesting thing

after practice. I hung out back down the other end and we had a little one on one schooling going on um taught by Professor Tyron Smith to the young Micah Parsons. They were practicing his get off in pass rush, and Tyron was trying to show him that if you're gonna use that inside spin move, you gotta make contact with me before you start spinning, because if you start spinning before we have contact, I'm just sitting here waiting

on you and I'll just punch you out. So he was making sure that he makes sure you get into the left tackle before you start spinning. You know, it's sort of like that was it blazing Saddles when the guy was you know, the sword, he was zipping it around. I never saw it, and and the and the guy he was zipping an ats looking at him where he quiz and then he picks out a gun and shoots him. So the point is, you got you got with this.

You don't be doing all these fancy moves when you're three yards away from the guy you're trying to beat. You got to get into him. So then he got finally got him to get into him on the spin move, and then he was showing him how he's got to use his hands to knock my hands off. And they went at it for a good ten ten minutes and finally near the end he got Tyrn and Tyrn just sit there and smile like a proud papa, right. And it was very interesting though that he pulled him aside

and they actually worked on that. That's an awesome note because that also just tells me that Michael Parson's book book into his practice yesterday with getting out there early. He was working with Dan Quinn. There's a video on my Twitter of that working on his pass rush move right, and then he book ends it with having Tyron Smith

talking about his pass right. See, and the key thing for him is if if they're gonna play at the way they did in standard defense with three linebackers out there, they had him on the strong side and when he was on the strong side. He was playing on the line of scrimmage, like right in front of the tight end, so that lets the offense know, Okay, is he going to cover my guy one on one or is he coming? And I thought it really looks like an interesting possibility

because he was running with those tight ends. By the way, it's almost like, well, heck running with the tight ends on that one scramble drill ceedee. Lamb was screwing around at the line of scrimmage and all of a sudden, heat takes off and just goes deep almost to the end zone. And who's running with him Michael Parsons eleven. First step it was one number one, number one right draft choices, Yeah, step back to back down the field. He's been lined up with Zeke two covering Zeke, which

is no easy task as well. I mean, he's just his versatility is uncommon. It really, it really is. I was just I was just wish and no offense to anybody that anybody that said, now they shouldn't have taken a linebacker that high. You'd be out here and watch what this guy's doing. Yeah, he's pretty special and he's taken advantage of every opportunity he can throughout practice as a rookie. That's certainly important in his first training camp.

Another rookie taking advantage of his time on the practice field, Nashan Wright. Can he somehow play his way into a starting cornerback role? Well, that's one of the fan questions we've got when we return for fans on the fifty Here on Talking Cowboys, presented by Geico Honey, Big News. Gary, Are you okay? Oh? I'm not Gary anymore. I'm Jackie Flash. What see? I want the latest smartphone, but the best deals are only for new customers. So to get a

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upset about that. That's that's on me. Yeah, that's on me. I gotta be better. You can't have that. We have no practice here. I know they're actually I tack lenses. I have the contacts in right now, so that's why I didn't have the esselors on. So I'm not seeing his clearly, Mick. I can't see your face from here because of l But they do great job over there and are gonna hook Rob up here in a couple of weeks. And that's exciting. Excited to get Isaiah in

a training camp. He's gonna be here at a couple of weeks or I guess about a week from today or tomorrow something like that. He comes in. He's gonna be here for a week of training camp, he'll he'll have the goggles back out for the or read no doubt about that. We got some time now for some fans on the fifty back starting things off with the one that I teased going into break and we'll start with you on this one, Mickey, and you can feel

free to downplay this if you want. But of course, Nashan Wright, cornerback rookie out of Oregon State, has really looked impressive. Is there a chance, any realistic scenario that he plays into a starting role the way that he's been performing this offseason? If he does, he's gonna have to change sides, okay, because he's playing behind Trayvon Diggs and he's probably not beating him out for a starting job.

Looked really good too, Yes, he has so. And on the other side, they've got Anthony Brown and Kelvin Joseph, So it'll be interesting if how they decide to maybe move him around. I don't think he's a slot corner at his size. He'd have trouble there, but you know who knows. One of the other corners can play inside.

Anthony Brown's played inside, I would think play Kelvin could play, but I haven't seen him in the slot yet, and then you can bring him in if Calvin was a starter to you know, play the other side, But so far he's been on the right side, behind behind Trayvon Diggs. So we'll see on that. All I know is they went through growing praying pains with the rookie corner last year starting game one. I don't know you want to

go through that again. And there's two of them that are clamoring for a starting job, mister Kelvin Joseph and Nishan right at the same time. Rob, Yeah, that's where I was going. I mean, I think from an experienced standpoint, I like Trayvon Diggs put his name in Penn for starting cornerback job. He's got one. I would still lean toward Anthony Brown on the other side to give you some more experience at least week one. That's just my projection.

We'll see how it goes. But yeah, I think Kelvin Joseph will push and I think he'll play his rookie year, maybe be a starter at some point, and Nashan Wright, Nashan Wright will be continuing develop, to develop and be there potentially. But I go back to what happened last year. Every cornerback got hurt. So both guys have to be ready to play, and there's a chance that based on injuries, Nashan Wright might be a starter at some point as a rookie. Maybe that's not the plan, but it could happen.

So he's got to be ready as a top one hundred pick. I mean, the question from Ernie was is there a realistic scenario? I think there definitely is a realistic scenario because, like you just said, where putting them? I think it would be an injury sort of deal. That's what I was kind of leading to is that there's anything is realistic at this point, and we saw

that last year in twenty twenty. I'm not saying he would play into a starting spot unless there's somebody in front of him that's not on the depth chart anymore via injury, And that's that's kind of the way I was thinking, which is definitely realistic. But I think there's some some dominoes that have to fall first, and the guys do that. They asked the question, Ernie, Ernie, Ernie, let's get the pads on first before we get starters.

Has he looked impressive though, yes, yes, because every practice he gets a hand on the ball as he does change. I don't rection, I don't know who's throwing it. I don't know who he's covering all the time, but he gets his hand on the ball. Two of his PBUs in practice, number one came against number four. Yeah, but number four is just throwing the ball. That's true. But you still gotta get a handle the ball. That's qualified a little bit of credit. I just want to slow

the steamroller down. That's okay, we can we can, we can do that. How does Jarwin look so far after returning from his ACL injury. That question is from Jake Mickey's back Nolah. I wrote a note down here. Jar run running real well and cutting So to me, he doesn't look like he's he's got any lasting effects from the torn ACL. He's running well, he's cutting well. Now he just needs to get in the flow of the offense. Got after he missed what all but twenty snaps last year.

It was twenty snaps I think in the season opener and then he got hurt. So yeah, he looks fine to me. I think they've got something going with a two tight end offense too. Unfortunately, that means one of the wide receivers has to come off the field. Yeah, that's the thing, Like how much are they going to get away from eleven personnel because that was like two thirds of the time that's what they did. Reason for good reason, because you have three studs on the outside. Yeah.

But to Mickey's point, I think Blake and and Dalton Schultz have skill set that compliment each other as well, So I think that's a package you can get to. I'm with him. I think he's looked good. I haven't seen any effects from from the knee. I think there was one route on air between Dak and Blake that they missed each other on yesterday, and that's just I think it's probably just the timing thing, just getting him back in the flow and getting his timing back, and

then they'll come. One of the notes that I wrote down and Mickey and I were standing next to each other for a good amount of practice yesterday and I said, Jarwin looks one hundred percent healthy, and it looks a little bigger too, And maybe that's just because I'm closer than I have been because whenever I started doing on air work, we were up in the booth and doing

whatever different things. Well, if you think about it, when you're rehabbing like that strength a leg injury, then you know that nothing stops you from upper body weightlifting and putting on you know, good weight with spending time in the weight room. So yeah, I think he probably does look a little bit bigger. Yeah, no, I agree. This final question comes from Chewy great name by the way, on Twitter, who was likely to be the punt turner

in at the start of the season. And the reason why he asked this question is he says, please don't let it be eighty eight because he's too valuable. What's his name, Chewy Chewy, Sorry, Chew, Chewy, Chew up the wrong number. Eighty eight is gonna return punts because he is valuable. Punt returns not a blowoff play, right, It's significant. And if I got a guy that can do what he can do, he's out there returning punts. I mean,

just I'm I agree with you. And he did have some explosive plays and he nearly had some more last season, which they haven't had in past years. They've had reliable guys. Cole Beasley was reliable, but he wasn't going to get you, you know, a twenty plus yard return Ceedee Lamb can do that. I'm not saying Amari Cooper is going to miss a bunch of time here. But if they are, just hypothetically, if they were to have some depth issues

at wide receiver, would you change your thinking during the season. No, Now, you said reliable. If I need reliable, I put Cedric Wilson out there, just go catch it, right. If I'm not gonna return the punt, I'm fine with that. Yeah. But did you see the guy's catching punts yesterday? Yes? And I was off the jugs machine. But everybody, almost everybody we're on camera, right, yes, we okay, so almost everybody there. Yes, everybody's sitting there ready to catch the ball.

That's this thing right there. They're they're they're just adjusting every step of the way. Right. He stands there like this, and then all of a sudden, he puts his hands out and catches it like he knows where the ball's gonna land. He doesn't have to adjust his feet, he doesn't have to adjust his hands, and and and it's not easy. You saw what Zeke did right when he went out there. I said, oh, this is gonna be good, and all of a sudden, Zeke's trying to catch it

like this in his five yards over his head. The first time he catches the ball, every it's like it's it's like a can of corn. You know. They used to call in baseball, and you know why they started that saying, right, why is that? Because bats should know this. I used to put work in baseball back in the day. In the grocery stores when they had high, high shelves, they used to have a pole and they pulled the

can down and you catch it like a can of corn. Right, So that's only the insight that Mickey Spagnola can provide you. Let's try cowboys, because the grocery stores probably don't stack their stuff that high. And you don't have to get a pole, yeah, or you don't have to get a poll. Well, people group taller. Right, Wait, so where are your's What's where's the connection between hey catch the grocery stores. It

like a can of corn. Okay, okay, you know, just like in baseball and they say, oh it's a high pop up. It's a can of corn, you know, and you catch it. He also had a cool little juggling act after practice where he would they were trying to catch as many as they could, but he would toss one up the air, catch it one handed, and then catch the other one, catch the other one so he could hold the other one in this hand, get rid of the one in this hand, and then catch the

thing he threw in the air. So I saw. I'm not a producer, but look for that on hard Knock who was Triumph, who was one of the guys, was trying to do it, and he couldn't throw the ball up in the air straight, ye, throw it, throw it out in front of him. Then he's lugen to catch this one. He'd catch the other one right. Well, don't you remember Jenorris Jenkins when they did that in training camp that one year when Bill was here and and they were trying to catch see how many the and

I think he caught like five, wasn't it. Pac Man did no, pac Man, that's right, Yeah, pac Man did it. Yeah he caught like yeah, yeah it was pac Man, that's right. And then everybody kept trying to do it. He had like six at once. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, can of corn, cann of corn. Yeah. I think it's interesting to think about the decision that's going to go

into the punt return of question. Shoe. He got us down a little bit of a rabbit hole there, But at some point, and I think, Rob, you ask a good question because it's a decision that would have to be made if there's depth that shoes that wide receiver, or if Ceedee Lamb just takes that second year leap and turns into maybe the best receiver or future receiver on this cowboy's roster. Do you still put him out there? Is twenty yards on every couple punt returns more valuable

than having a healthy number one wide. I just think at this point they're not afraid to do that, to put him out there at all. No, it ain't right now, No, it ain't twenty yards. It's the sixty yards that I could get that would be nice. There's that, And you know, like because the common example for the opposite thinking is well, they never let Dez Bryant do it well Dez Bryant.

I think sometimes with Dez they were trying to protect des from Dez sure because Dez was so physical and wanted to always you know, you know, not live to play another down, you know what I mean? And I think that was one reason why they didn't do that with Dez. Well, did you trust Dez to make the right decision? Well, okay, maybe there's a fair catch. Maybe I got a fair catch this one. Okay, maybe I

wouldn't trust him, but no, But fine. But there's also, like you just said earlier, there are situations where you can have a safe return or if the other teams backed up and there's a clear return situation. They used to do that with Terence Newman too. Yeah, you could have done that with Dez, but I don't think they trust the Dez just you know, just go down. You know, Dez is gonna fight for every inch, and that that was one reason why they didn't let him do that.

It's a good point. It's a good point. When we come back here on Talking Cowboys, we're gonna talk about the offensive line a little bit and maybe kind of go deeper into that scramble drill that we were talking about with Dak Prescott a little bit earlier and see why they've been running that so much. Right here when we return on Talking Cowboys from Oxnard, Hi, I'm Clint Tillison with you not at agg in Turf before you can park yourself in front of the game, park yourself

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here of Talking Cowboys. We gotta get off a little bit early today because Mike McCarthy speaking up on the podium here in Training Camp twenty twenty one presented by American Airlines, Mickey's Bagnola, Rob Phillips and Kyle Yeomans and Rob I'll starts with you on this one. It is just nothing but refreshing to see the starting offensive line back together, Lyle Collins, Tyrant Smith along with Zach Martin.

You've even got Connor Williams, Tyler Biadas. The front five are out there and they're running in team drills eleven on eleven. How refreshing is it to see that again? Extremely refreshing, and it's nice to hear from Tyrn Smith and Lyle Collins like we did a couple in the last couple of days. Lyle talk yesterday and talked about how just about the long road back eighteen weeks he was on a walker then crutches, couldn't bathe himself at

times after the hip surgery. I mean that that is the type of stuff we don't see and hear about when guys are coming back from serious injuries. He said, he never considered retirement. I think that was a false report out there. But yeah, I think it's they've been out We've talked about Blake Jarwin. Both those guys have

been out there moving well. I don't see anything, you know, that's out of the ordinary there, and I think both guys Lyle said in twenty nineteen his hip started bothering and tyrants had kind of that residual back next stuff for a while. I think these surgeries are supposed to permanently fix those issues. So I think there's a comfort level there and a great job by by Britt Brown and the rehab process as well. If there's a question mark for me, it's some of the depth issues they have,

or depth questions on the offensive line. Who's the swing tackle, who's the backup center. I think those questions still have to be determined. But it's great to see the starting vibe out there, for sure. So this is a bad visual. But he couldn't bathe himself, That's what he said. Did anybody else who did it? Nope? I didn't want to. He talked about his support system that his family was around. I didn't want know. It's not getting into too much detail here. It was a sort of refreshing as waking

up every morning here and it's sixty two degrees. That's how refreshing it was. Um, we're just in the ditch every second. Gotta out yep, keep going, keep going. What else you got me? Now? I have no problems with the starting five. I think as solid as can be. But yeah, I'm keeping my eye on the swing tackle and I'm keeping my eye in the backup center because no one on this roster behind Beads snapped the ball in an NFL game last year. That's considered a backup center.

One of them is a rookie free agent, right. The other one's a guy that played guard that they're moving the center who had played some center at in Nebraska. Farniac did get drafted, which is what he didn't play in the NFL. You're right, he was right. That is my point. Those are the two that have had snaps at center outside of Beads. And by the way, both of them in the first two practice have had a fumble, have had a bad snap, and finally they got um.

So when they do, when the stretchings going on and the quarterbacks are doing their deal on the other field and they get somebody they practice snap into the center, right, and Connor Williams is over there. Yeah last year too, And and he actually got a snap with the seconds yesterday in practice and sailed at five feet over the quarterbacks head in a shotgun. She didn't have a chance. So I don't know that they consider somebody. RI saw

read something that they considered him the backup center. And that's the furthest from the truth because Farniac OTAs and and minicamp was in there with the seconds. By the way, he didn't play a lot of center in college either. He didn't really, That's what I'm here in Nebraska. Yeah, he was moving the tackle yard. He was a tackle guard, and I think they ended up moving him back to guard, you know. So it's been ale and then everybody talks

about Connor McGovern. The last time Connor McGovern actually played a season of center at Penn State was twenty seventeen. And yeah, and I talked to him at mini camp and he said, I'm basically working in guard right now. Yeah, he's not. I haven't. I haven't. I see him sometimes doing that pre practice snap stuff, but other than that, he's been at guard. So, um, keep an eye off for Jumbo Joe at some point. Well, I think it's it's in their hip pocket probably if he kept himself

in shape. You think that could be after week one thing with the not guaranteed veteran contracts, Yes, it could be. It may take some time if he's in shape, But again, what are what are the COVID rules? It's true because it would take about five days for right an unvaccinated player to come in and do it vaccinated unvaccinated? Um? Is he in shape? Because he could eat himself out of a job by three? Um? So I think they got to let these young guys. Um, yeah right, let

these young guys just let's see what they got. And again we're we're saying all this stuff and the pads haven't come. Yeah, not one padded practice since the end of last season, So I think we have to wait. But but you you know what for the backup tackle spot. Yeah, you could watch their footwork right and it almost tells you can they do this or can't they do this? So what do you think about time? And Secky? Right now, I'm not overly impressed. Um. Same, I would like to

see more of Josh ball. They're gonna give him a chance. Um, he may have to get stronger at some point, and I can't do that in a month. Um. Terrence Steele is still there taking second team reps and he's tacks both, but mostly at the right side, right Brandon Knight. We've seen him a little at guard. He's been at guard rum And you know you've said this, and I agree with you. If you get into the season and there's a brig Glass emergency situation, Zack Martin could be my

right tack. He's my right tackle. And because you know why, I trust Connor McGovern to go in and play guard now. I think the reason they were hesitant last year because they weren't sure McGovern was ready to play after missing all the previous season. And then when they got comfortable with him playing guard, it was like, Okay, is he playing guard better than Terrence Steele playing right tackle? And the answer was yes, the whole best five right right exactly.

And so I think he's got their confidence now that yeah, drop of a hat, Zack Martin's going out there. I ain't missing around. So starting five offensive line right now, compared to last year's training camp, you feel much better. Yeah, and I let them all. Yeah, I don't know about training camp. Two games into the season, I feel much better, right, true, because you didn't have Lale Collins, you didn't have Tyrn Smith. Collins was only out at training camp, like what one practice?

I don't even think he did. He was out there for a little little bit practice. Did he get on the field like in a team situation? I don't think so. He was definitely went back and looked at my notes, he did, because it's in this notebook. But he got out there for it was like four snaps though. Mack. Yeah, it was. He was trying to push through this hip thing and they've just decided we've got to do something.

And then and then you got to remember Travis Frederick wasn't there, you know, right questions too, and so you know, all of a sudden, everybody just assumed Joe Looney was your starting center. I guarantee you had they had an off season in preseason, Beatish would have beat him out by time the season opener. I think i'd agree. Do you think it was weird that when Tyler got healthy they didn't put him back in down the stretch last year? Yes?

I do but he got healthy, and then okay, now he's can put a uniform on, but was he ready to play? And then maybe for continuity's sake, that's so many change they said, okay, let's leave Looney in there. I think he had won the job in those four starts that he had or he and I think he played the majority of two other games in a relief role. To me, it's like, well, we talked about Randy Gregory a defensive end. What they haven't done at center tells

me it's Tyler Biadas's job. Yeah, I don't think there's any question. It's the backup question, the depth that's the issue. And we found out last year how important that is, right, Yeah, Yeah, Unfortunately for them, I felt really good about this last segment about the offensive line until you said that, But comparative to last year, now I don't feel that great anymore. That's gonna do it here for us on talking Cowboys. Hope you enjoyed the last forty five minutes with us.

We're having some fun out here in Oxnard. We will be back on Tuesday. Plenty more practice to talk about, and plenty more as we get closer and closer to padded practices that start next week. Don't forget the cannic corn yep canic corn. Don't hurt yourselves. Ladies and gentlemen for Rob Phillips, for Mitchy's bagnola, I'm Kyle Yeoman's That will do it for us. We'll see you next time. I'm talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.