Talkin' Cowboys: Reaching Their Standard?

starting another work weekend. After a thirty one to six win over the Miami Dolphins, your Dallas Cowboys are now three and oh on the season for the first time since two thousand and eight. They are three and oh in a season and have a two game lead in the National Football Conference Eastern Division. Things couldn't have gone any better this weekend, probably for the Cowboys. The Giants did win on Sunday, but Cowboys. Some people raise it as taking care of business against the Dolphins. I think

it was a little more than that myself. But things, what do you think? Well? Things played out the way I thought they would play out in the game. I thought it would be close for a while where maybe people would be on the verge of throwing things at TV's at by halftime always. Twitter did not think it should be close at halftime, exactly based on my mentions. Yeah, that's right. And I had it picked as a twenty four to three game, and they were roughly on that

schedule and late, yeah, until a late touchdown. But now I thought there was a good win, and you move on to the next one, and now things really get interesting. What do you think, Brian? You know, I felt like though that we kind of were looking at what Robert Quinn could potentially do, and the fact that he went out there and played the number of plays he did and played him effectively, I think says a lot about him,

the professionalism he has. It's unfortunate that he had the two game suspension because you know, maybe we would have thought a little bit different about this Cowboys pass rush if he was in there full time. But they were able to pick things up in the second half. I agree with you. I thought Miami was gonna give you

the best shot. I thought they were going to play the game unconventionally, they were gonna go for it more and fourth down they did try the on side kick, which they were a step away from picking that thing off and making it work. So uh yeah. Overall, yeah, it's a player for a player that the Cowboys were clearly a better team, but you know the Dolphins are.

They have pride to They're not going to let you, you know, go up and down the field on him, and you know they're gonna play a little bit better defense. I felt like when they made the quarterback switch that that that that gave him any chance to being really competitive overall, because I thought the ball would go down the field. Of plays the Cowboys did give up, the big plays were down the field, so I was thinking, Josh Rosen can't make those plays where the other guy

would make those plays. But good job in the second half of the defense and then good job of the offense getting go. I think the touchdown that started the third quarter really took a lot of air out of the Dolphins. You know, their situation when they fumbled the ball and now they have to they give up a touchdown on that quick drive that the Cowboys have. I

thought that took a lot out of them. I think based on watching them yesterday and what's happened to them in the season so far, they're a young team that when they get down, maybe it demoralizes them a little bit in the second half. Because Jason Witten told us last week, you turn on the tape, this is not like some big twelve team. They've got talent. I think they found a quarterback. It's not Ioways State, it's not always State. They found a quarterback. They've got some wide

receivers that can get open to make plays. They I thought they did a nice job covering the Cowboys wide receivers in the first half. Yeah, some missopportunities as well in the passing game for Dak and those guys, but they kind of settled in. Like you said, Brian, Robert Quinn was around the ball constantly, especially in the second

half of the DeMarcus Lawrence was too. They just weren't always getting home and some of the execution on both sides of the ball was just better as the game went on and the talent of this team took over. That's why the guy who invented the game put four quarters in the game, right, not two. And I think the Cowboys as they were a better team and they just wore them down as the game went along. And the Cowboys did what they should have done. They won

the game. They got to three and oz. They put up four hundred and seventy six yards total offense despite the blackout in the first half. Despite it, they still had four and seventy six yards two hundred and thirty five yards rushing, just the way I told you they would, by the way. Uh two guys, Yeah, I was. I'm Mickey. My middle name is I'm right at that. You know, at some point people are going to figure that out.

Sure we already have. Not the guy that called me out on Twitter saying, oh, he talked about good Miami was gonna be and they were gonna give him trouble, and then he picked him to win by thirty four to nine. He told us, you don't listen to Twitter. I read, Yes, I didn't listen to it. I read it. Unfortunately. I'll say what it could have been. It could have been worse for the Dolphins if you take away to

that the holding penalties. You know, they had an eighteen yard run that was brought back on a Lyle Collins hold, and then they also had Connor Williams on the seventy two yard touchdown paths, So things could have been a lot worse. I just felt like that the NFL is is hard. It's a hard place to win, and when you do win, just feel good and move on. And you know, I'm sure right now in Seattle they're feeling really poorly about the Saints going in there and kind

of them knocking them around. They have so much pride about that, you know, Saints coming off a bad loss. I felt like with against the Rams, you know, they weren't even competitive in that game, and then here they go and you go up to Seattle get a nice win there. I know. It's but it's just tough to win. It's wherever you go. It's a tough place to win, you know, because these guys dull they will find a way to bring their game. And again the everybody's right here.

The Dolphins clearly don't have enough personnel to play with the Cowboys. That's not the Cowboys fault. That's the Dolphins fault for the way they built their team. But you got to play at the games, and and the Cowboys got through this one, and like everybody says, onto the next one. And and as you pointed out, Um coming out in the start of the second half and doing what they did, and Mickey looking to it as well, when you when you come out and they basically scored

two touchdowns on one drive. Yeah, okay, and I made a mistake and overcame that and just went and four plays did it again, and they knew and they resolved in their mind at halftime that hey, we, as Dak said after the game, we have a chance to be a really really good team. And now let's go out and show that we are a really really good team, which is what they did at the start of the second half, you know. And and let's remember the first drive of the game, they drove right down the field.

The problem was they stalled out and had to kick a field goal once they reached the eleven yard line. So it wasn't like Miami stopped them. They drove right down and then they went three, and then they had to kick a field goal, and then the next time they got the ball, they drove right down the field and scored a touchdown. I think I think if it was fourteen to six at halftime, maybe everybody would have

felt a little bit better. Well, I mean, Miami left ten points on the board in the first half as well, and the forty seven yard field goal, right, and like a turnover and had a drop that should have been a touchdown before the fumble recover, any challenge, it should have been challenged. Yeah, why didn't you challenge that? Or how about the Parker drop? Yeah over the middle, yeah, right down inside the five yard line. Oh no, that's the one I think, Yeah Williams, which I thought I

was sorry, Yeah, we touchdown? Don't you think I thought it was? I thought it was there was movement the ball. I mean, it's just a was just kept pulling at that ball and that's the only chance he had. And as I think Al Riveron said in his little video on Twitter, he still has to even though he's in the end zone, he still has to control and make a football move. And so in that instance you credit

the defender. The defender e Wuzier kept him from making a football move right and knocked it out at the same time. And so I think it was worth a challenge me too. But you know, you know if I was wrong. But hey, but wait a second. I mean people were talking about that, they're oh and two, why

do they have to lose and challenge that? Well, if you get a look at it and you don't think you're gonna win the challenge, save your time out, because they could have used if if Drake doesn't fumble at the end of the first half, they needed that time out to try to score a touchdown at the end of the half. Sure, And so I mean there's two ways to look at that. You're not giving up on the let me ask him or whatever, real quick, I could bigger concern. Are we still talking about the pass rush?

Are we talking about the chunk plays that they're given up? That's what I was referring to earlier. They had at least I didn't count it fully, but I'm counting two

nineteen yard completions. They had at least four explosive plays allowed downfield in the first half, and that's not typical of this defense, right, you know, And I mentioned, you know ten points that the Dolphins probably should have had a lead in the first half, or at least it should have been tight because Mickey's right, four of six Cowboys offensive drives in the first half stalled because of the Dack interception or a penalty or a drop or something.

So either way, Dolphins hung in there in first half, and they could have had more points on the board either way. So pass rush got better in the second half, and I think you and I agreed, like they were around the ball affecting rows in a little bit more than maybe the perception was the game too. Sure he was off his mark most of the time. Yeah, I mean Dack's interception, and he spoke to it last night. He had too much time. I counted up nine seconds

to kind of scramble around two guys open. He saw he saw both guys opened at the same time, and got caught to which one to throw it too. Yeah. Actually, actually he said, I went through my progressions, my three progressions three times each. Yeah, which just doesn't happen in that point, and they throw the ball away. But but at that point, I've got I've got so much time here, I got him. I gotta take advantage of this opportunity where they're giving me this much time. I gotta make

a point. The offensive line was outstanding. He was sacked once and it was covered sacked. Taco finally got him down. But to Brian's point, I mean, the chunk plays, weren't you It's not I mean you got to you gotta limit those, right, I mean, yeah, I'm sure that was the message at halftime for sure. Now they weren't really telling us what the message was at halftime, I'm sure

it was a pretty stern one. Well, you know, whatever it was, they gave up a whole sixty seven yards of the second half, and thirty five were on the Dolphins last drive. So I understand the chunk stuff. There's a reason why these quarterbacks throw in this league for three yards. Yeah, you know, you're not going to be perfect. Oh does it need to be better? I get it, and I'm absolutely with you. But at the end of the day, it was six points. I get it. I'm

not our Dallas is punishing opponents with chunk plays. That's what I mean. You could get you know that. That's the thing that I think is really good about this offense now is you know, we've talked about its ability to run the football. Always had the ability to run the football. But now you're getting those plays down the field, you're getting those throws down the field, and they're making those big plays. And so I think it's great how the Dallas offense has taken advantage of those of their

weapons and made those chunk plays. But I'm wondering on the other side, though, is it you know it? Is it because of the way the league is now, because of the past interferences and the skill level and the quarterbacks and all that. Is that something we're just going to see from this defense. But I've always said, I've always said, I've always said that if they don't give up points, that's the most important thing. Well, I agree with Rod Marinelli and Christopher Shardon, those guys over there.

I'll give up five hundred yards if it means I'll give up ten points. I mean, you're not going to play teams like Miami and Washington and those people every week. Sometimes somebody will get five hundred yards and score thirty

one points, like Dallas did yesterday. I said this in the postgame show First Word presented by Doctor Pepper, that this defense has such a high standard, right, And you look at the first half, and there's some things you talked about the chunk players, they could clean them up. You look at the box score at the end, you said six points. Yeah, three games, opponents are seven of thirty five on third down. Absolutely, they're getting off the field.

Micky mentioned how many yards they allowed in the second half. I think they're fourth and points allowed fourteen points seven. Now you know what Washington does tonight against Chicago, Yes, yes, now, yeah, they could be third after tonight if Washington scores more than twenty one. Now, some better offenses, without question, are coming up, better quarterbacks, all those things. But they're doing what you're supposed to do. Get off the field, get

keep them out of the end zone. I think you know what the sign is, and I know there's a bunch of people probably complaining out there, is they've gotten good to the point where now it's expected for them to be perfect and it's not going to happen. You want to be better. And I thought Jeff Heath and being my column when he gets posted today, he said, we got to play to our standards. And that's what everybody kept talking about in the locker room, both offense

and defense. Didn't matter who we're playing, We've got our standard we're supposed to play too. And Heath pointed out that in Marinelli standard for the defense, they were oh and two by the way they played in the first two games according versus their standard. And I said, so what do you think this time? Is he going to give you a win? He goes, well, I don't know it's better but half a win, see what he has to say. Yeah, but that I thought that was a

good approach for them to keep continue to take. You have a standard that you want to play too, and did you play to it? You didn't in the first half, you did in the second half. Now you got to put that together for a full game because they owe and two means he didn't like those last drives in those first two games that allowed the team just to just drive right down this field and score when you had held a team to ten and fourteen points for

three and a half quarters. Can this offense maintain this scoring pace? I mean what you always like to talk about what you saw the last eight games of the season. Last night with the trade for Maury Cooper and then now three games in. I mean, we can talk about the playoff games if you want. I mean, if you want to include that or not, I think you have to.

But can this offense maintain that level to maybe the word mask is probably the wrong word to use, but kind of soften maybe some of the issues that defense might had that we didn't see. Whether they're not going to score over thirty points a game every week, and there's only two teams in the league that have scored thirty points or more in each of the first three games,

and those are the Patriots and the Cowboys. And now the question is can they What you're talking about is it's not so much over thirty points but the scoring pace in terms of around Can they give me twenty six? Really possible? Because the offensive line, they weren't happy with the way they pass protected in particular last year, pass

protection has been outstanding. If Dad continues to have those clean pockets, they have guys that can separate, and Michael Gallup will get back eventually, hopefully below that four week time. He's not going to practice this week though, but hopefully, you know, closer than two weeks than four, right, That's what Stephen Jones kind of indicated us in pre game. That's hopefully sooner than later. They have so many weapons that, like we talked about, eventually throughout a game they're going

to take over. Yeah. So not to mention Tony Pollard now getting into the mix. If we go back to last year when I pointed out five of eight games twenty seven or more, now you've got eight of eleven games twenty seven or more, and six of those eight are thirty points or more. Yeah, So I don't know if they can keep it up, but there I think that they can average somewhere. You know what, they're showing us twenty seven points or so, they're averaging thirty. So

they were average thirty three going in. They got thirty one, so it's probably about thirty two. Now what were they for the season last year, like twenty one? Yeah, but the first eight games. But my point is they're they're just better than that this year. Yeah, they're just a

more efficient group. Well, they have a better talent. Right, I'll see you what you show me that you can have two guys run the football the way they do, they can do some damage to some teams because all of a sudden, now you're starting to think about, Okay, I've got to I've got to I've got to cover the whole field. And now I mean it's taking players out of the box to have to cover the whole field. And now you're running the ball up inside. You can hand it to twenty one or twenty and you're gonna

get that's we're gonna get. Orleans has been doing here the last several years with Ingram and Kimara, and now they've got Murray and Kimara. Kimar though he took over the yesterday Holy Chief. Yeah. Yeah. It was two players in that game on offense for the Saints, Thomas and Kamara. That's it. Screens inside routes, screen inside routes. But you're gonna you are going to run into better defenses. There's no question about it. Green Bays arguably the best in

the league so far. Watching a little bit of the Rams last night, those guys tackle their tackle world. There they pressure you. I mean, they're gonna run into tougher opponents, there's no question about it. But you have to like what they're doing. The thing I like about this this team after three games is we talked about the standard on defense. Dak going to Kellen after the game. My bad, I'm too greedy. In the first half, they're not satisfied.

And I remember two thousand and eight. I don't know why it's burned in my memory, but their tunnel of Lambeau Field. They're they're three and oz. They just kind of stomped the Packers in Week three and one of the one player I can't remember who it was, but he was like, you know, we just want to fast forward and get this thing to the playoffs. And I remember thinking, in my mind, that's not the best. It's

probably not the best approach to have. And I don't see that from these guys, at least that's not the way they convey to us how they're thinking. They might

have fast forward the playoffs. It went for Brad Johnson have to play three games to just pointing that out well and to that point, as far as this Dolphins game is concerned, I love where it was in the Cowboys schedule and and the way this schedule was set up with a Giants team in flux, a Redskins team in flux, and a Dolphins team the way it is because this has built confidence for this team the first

three games. And if this Dolphins game had been scheduled in November, like in between the Eagles and the Patriots or something like that, it could have been a trap game for him. Whatever, they weren't going to lose it. But now in my mind, the season starts. Add Yeah, Nate Newton said, welcome to the preseasons. Now over, get ready for the regular season. Here we go. That's seventh, the Post add the Eagles to a team that might

be in flux. You know, if you're talking about teams you have to face here in the next next three weeks or so next four weeks. Yeah, and you know, and somebody asked me today question about if if they go into New Orleans and lose, you know, is that tell you what this team is? And it's like a lot of teams have gone into New Orleans on Sunday night and gotten beaten, you know, and it happens. But New Orleans would be a team in flux if we didn't see what we saw yesterday in Seattle. I think

it's a little different. Yeah, if if they've gone over and rolled over in Seattle and it would have been a bad loss, then you would have seen a definitely team in flux. But but you said it, that's shot out team. Sean Payton is going to play to the strengths of Teddy Bridgewater. He is just get ready, he is. It's not Drew Brees's offense. This is going to be They're gonna throw the screen to Taysom Hill. They're gonna throw the ball the Kamara, They're gonna hand him the ball.

They still have a big, physical offensive line. You know that that is that is still a team, like you said, Mickey, when you down there and play them, it will look different. Though. With Teddy Bridgewater playing quarterback. He it's remarkable how bad he looked in the second half or when he had to play in that Rams game, to how he looked in that game yesterday. Just they just the fact that he got to prepare a week for the game made

it a lot different. Hey, and we're talking a guy started games in this league, right, It's not like he's one of these young guys coming and got a good roster. And if you look at what all these backup quarterbacks and young quarterbacks making their first starts did yesterday, a majority of them one. Yeah. So yeah, you know it's not easy, this is the league. But you know if you lose one and it's not over, well, Dennis Allen's not going to be able to sleep very well watching tape.

He I mean, he watches all three games. Their breakdowns are gonna he's gonna see a lot of big plays for this Cowboys offense. He's gonna see a running game. Now all of a sudden that they've got two guys that can really hammer the ball at you. And they got a quarterback that, when he makes good decisions, he could throw the ball just as good as anybody in the league. That's going to be tough on them to have to defend so and they'd better have a plan

to take to take care of of number nineteen. Yeah, because Miami had no clue. Yeah, you know, you think he took his matchup seriously. He got asked about, just like everybody else, did you taking these guard against taking these guys too lightly? I think he told Clarence they got a Pro Bowl corner over there who I've played against before. Yeah, he took it serious. So it was six of eighty eight for two touchdowns, and he primarily was on him almost every play, and he lost them,

lost them. Ryan wrote a vose on some of the route he ran on the first touchdown, I think five yards that that was just beautiful. Yeah, he set him up nicely on that. All Right, we're I think we can probably take some phone calls as we go along here on this Monday edition of Talking Cowboys, and when we come back. I've got the definition of the word flux. I had to look it up myself since we used

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your tickets now at Dallas Cowboys dot com. That's games not a sellout yet apparently not. I figured all the cheese heads would show up for that one, hey will, Yeah, get ready. Absolutely, we haven't let those tickets become available for the cheeseheads. Yeah, we're gonna let the Cowboy fans buy them. Being from Dallas, I could say this, Our fans will will sell their tickets to pay for their tickets.

What they'll do. So it's the Saint Sun's Sunday night, and then it will be the Packers the following Sunday on October sixth. Things get good here, They do get good here. And that pass rush with Quinn in there, hmm okay. After the game I asked him, I said, so do you how many head? Any idea? How many players you played? And he goes, you know, about fifty And I said, did you plan to do that? Did you think he would play that much? And he goes,

whatever they needed, Well, he played forty five. He ends up with three tackles, one sack, one tackle for a loss, one quarterback hit. They should come up with another category, menace because he was a menace in the pocket. Yeah. He caused people to keep moving, keep rosen, keep moving. I like that, and and he's got such a quick now maybe fresh legs, I don't know, but that first step of his he's coming around that corner like his

hair was on fire. And so this is gonna make a difference on that side of the field, and it's gonna help MALIEK Colin. We talked about it, sure, and Malik came through for that tackle and it was like, man, he looked like he was shot out of a cannon on It was his sack right the tackle behind the line of scrimmage. So yeah, you know when people have to start worrying about him now, it's gonna make a huge difference. Do you think about the way Christian Covington

played inside? You know what I was. He went out with the calf injury and I was like, oh geez, that's gonna hurt them inside for the depth and rotation. He came back. He didn't look his he didn't look bad. I was watching him play. You know, to me, there's so much there's so much power in his game. And you know on the on the on the Colin sack, those guys were pushing, I mean they got they were getting the Dolphins on tape had shown that they had

problems with the twist stunts inside. That was something that I mentioned in my final thoughts, and so it was nice to see them get that sack the way they did and use the twist stunt. But yeah, you know what, he's really good against drunk He's hard to move, big body, yeah, and just anchored out. Yeah, he just does he just you know, he's not just slug. He's just not like you know, we always talk about the trash can full of dirt just doesn't do anything, just sits there. But

he's really an athletic guy. And then you put him with Collins in there, you know, you got two big men that can move, and that makes a big difference. And you and Hill wasn't bad either. The opportunities that he got, you know, to play. I was, I was, you know, I was worried about him getting washed a couple of times. Sometimes we see him get real tall and then he gets washed out of the play. Yeah, it didn't happen to him in that game. He was played, his pad level was down, he got up the field

a couple of times, he didn't kill him. I was worried about him getting killed in these plays. And it just didn't happen before Covington got hurt. He told me after it was kind of something like the back of his knee. Maybe it was more calf I don't know, but he came back before that. They showed some faith in Hill putting him in the goal line. They did, and he did a nice job, and they tried him

to a field goal. They tried to block back on him and he got up the field real quick man made a nice play there coming hand and ended up with three tackles a quarterback and passed batted at the line of scrimmage. They had the back to back with him and Joe Jackson. Joe Jackson, right, So, yeah, I thought Covington was was fine. And you know they ran for what seventy eight yards? Yeah, well, yeah, I mean the opener sa Quon got loose on him one big

play in particular. Actually, you know, they ran pretty fairly well the Giants did in Week one. But yeah, once again, three yards of carry total on twenty four carries for Miami. They're doing that job better than Week one for sure. Peterson last week got ten carries twenty five yards. Right, yeah, all right, let's go to Jean and Washington State. How about what Chip Kelly of the UCLA Bruins did the Washington State in the second half the other day thirty

two point deficited with sixty seven sixty three. But you want to talk Cowboys, Gene. Yeah, I'm not a Truers fan. So my question is for like, Brian, do you think the Seahawks defense just really played bad yesterday? I mean I watched that game. I'm not a Hawks fan at all, but it's like, I've never seen him miss that many tackles. Oh, they were bad. I mean no, I think I think Kamara had a lot to do with that. I really do. I mean, you watched when they found ways downhill running

toss sweeps inside. I mean it was run a screen on the goal line in the action the red zone area for a touchdown that was well executed. I mean they got Seattle coming up the field, everybody escapes, they throw it out, boom he's up to and yeah, yeah the Seahawks. I understand what you're saying about how poorly they tackled, but I think that it has a lot to do with how good that back is, the way his ability to take the ball find a hole, make the cut, get up the field, he runs to a linebacker,

he runs through a safety. You know though, that's more about him than I think how bad the Seahawks played in that football game. But it was two players that hurt him in that game. It really was. It was Thomas and Kamara. Those were the two guys that hurt them in that football game. And I think that's what Sean Payton is going to do exactly. He's going to find a way to make Teddy Bridgewater as comfortable as possible playing here. All right, Jeane, we appreciate the call.

And by the way, I mentioned the Saints would have been in flux as well as other teams, Sir, flux means something that constantly changes. But really, even with a different quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater, the Saints didn't change that much. No, they just they leaned on their big time players they've got They've got a good offensive line and it's a big, physical offensive line. Now where the Cowboys will have some advantage is to come with how well the Cowboys play

with quickness. You can't rush these guys down the middle. You got to play on the edges with these guys. You got to make them move a little bit, because like the guys like Larry Woolford and those guys have problems. Yesterday in the game when all of a sudden they had big time problems against the Rams when the movement started up front, when the Rams started adjusting their guys and trying to run some twist stunts and things like that. They it's a big body group that has problems moving.

You take him down the middle, they could block you all day. So it's a good time to get fifty eight back. Yeah, he could be. He could definitely. He could definitely give you some uh, you know, some some rush out there with you know, against Armstead, that the tackle for the Saints, and he's a guy that's he's a good tackle. But having having Robert Quinn rush out

there's not a bad thing, all right. Jake ben Waugh at Run Emmett Run on Twitter says, I know it was later in the game, but can we please give props to Joe Thomas. Dude lane Wood all over the field yesterday embarrassment of riches at the linebacker position. Yeah, snaps in the game. Yeah, I wrote about him too. I wrote about he played a couple of different spots

he actually was on the field for Jalen Smith. I think that's going to go up on Scout's eye to day later on, I guess if they haven't put it up yet. But yeah, the the Joe Thomas played played for Sean Lee and he played for Jalen Smith. And absolutely there was a couple of times where he played in coverage where he was pretty good as well. So yeah, he was a guy. I mean, we shouldn't be surprised about Joe Thomas because we saw him all training camp

have productive practices. We saw him the preseason have productive games. So Joe Thomas having a nice, you know, nice starts of the season should not be surprised to anybody. I just wonder was that a particular matchup or they just feel like he's a good linebacker, we can work him into a rotation. I think they're just trying to keep their guys fresh as they can. You know, Sean Lee just has not been the factor, and maybe it has a lot to do with how much Nicolin stuff they play.

You got snaps on Lee yesterday, yes fourteen, Yeah, which is about what he's had the first two games twelve to fourteen. But he missed those impact plays though you know where he Yeah, back in the day it was a four. Here's the thing with like a Joe Thomas and a Sean Lee and others at different positions on this team. One of the reasons I feel really good about this team long term this season is the quality of the depth on the team. Well, that was the

question yesterday. Could the depth? Could the depth rise up and play? And you know, you got you know, Thompson did a nice job. You know, you look at what he was able to do. We talked about Covington, you know what he was able to do. So some guys had to step up and make plays, and you know, for the most part, I felt like they did overall because I think, like, in the case of both Thomas and Sean Lee, what great insurance policies you have there? Sure if something and knock on wood and where have

happened to the two starting linebackers. I wonder if they looked at what was going on defensively and thought maybe Thomas That's what I was asking Nicol was a little bit better than Jalen's because some of those coverages. Just wondering because in the first two games, I mean if if Jalen's missed any snaps, it's like a couple per game. He's pretty much the team and tackles. So didn't he

have ten? Yes, Yeah, so it's a demanding position too. Yeah, well, you know, Jalen, you guys might be right about that. As far as the coverage aspect that I would never want to put him in coverage and I just don't. I just don't think that's a good fit for him. And only played sixty five the snaps seven. Yeah, and Thomas ended up playing like forty maybe looking ahead you know what, where they're gonna be here. Yeah, with both the Saints and the Packers coming up, Joe Thomas might

be a factor in the game plan. Absolutely. Yeah. They didn't sub for Thompson either. He played them all. Every play he did, he played well. I thought I did play well. He showed up, right, he did show up. That's that's the thing. I was worried about the ball going down the field and nobody playing with any range. By the way, you should get Woods back at practice.

My next question Xavier Woods. Yeah, it's what about Antoine. No, I don't think that he's probably h and him and Gallop both will be out for Gallop the week Gallop. I thought maybe game he would get back with the third week for the Packers games game the Packers. Okay, yeah, all right, let's go to Jim in Los Angeles. Next up here on Talking Cowboys. Good morning, guys, How are you actually Jim? Hi? Hey, Mickey, you're really good with stats.

Tell me how many of those yards the zkad were garbage time the second of first half, in the last thirty seconds. I added it up last night. I came still. Remember it was around go ahead, really good, I've got it. Mickey's the one look up, yeah, and somebody else looking up to I looked it up last night. I can consider is that considered garbage at the end of the half? You consider that garbage because they came for the first

half way away from kicking a fish. I think they tried to get I would think they were trying to kind of take advantage of if they could pop a couple of runs. It was three carries for thirty nine yards. He went from the from their own nine eleven yards, from the twenty fourteen yards, and then from the thirty four fourteen yards. But it was with a purpose. I got that mention on Twitter. You know he ran well in the first half. What he he run for thirteen

for eighty six. But yeah, yeah, a couple of garbage runs into the half. Well they almost they almost got in position for a few five seconds left and a half and with with timeouts. Yeah, I mean, what a great um shrew. Surprise. I didn't there a screen to him, you know, That's what I was kind of thinking. They were maybe going to try and set something up. Everybody backed off, but maybe Freddy Kitchens was watching the Cowboy game and that's why they ran on thirty nine or

fourth and nine. Yeah, either get used to their collar, do you em Are you still there? No? Okay, sorry, I mean you wouldn't have considered it garbage if you hit that hill. Mary. I mean that's what they were trying to do. I thought they were trying to get shape. Well, they were a great position to get into field goal range. Yeah. Um, well, well they had two seconds left after the fourteen yard

one one place short. What they were well, with thirteen seconds left, Zeke had two carries for twenty five yards thirteen seconds left there at the thirty four yard line, and they basically were one twenty five yard pass away from getting in field goal sure up for a fifty eight yard or something from our which is all you could ask for in that situation. I think that complete.

I think they were happy to get out of the half though, with that fumble recovery there down there, they were kind of like, okay, and then all of a sudden, but did you I didn't, you know, And I'm trying to kind of figure out the angle of the caller there, but I felt like I didn't feel like that really Dolphins had a really great answer for seek in that

game running the ball, you know. I mean, I know there were a couple inside runs it was two yards, two yards, three yards, whatever, But when the ball got on the edge, I mean he had he had an eighteen yard run that got called back on a holding penalley he had, I mean, he had some plays. I thought he ran the ball with a lot of toughness. I don't think the caller was going into an angle bad angle there, but I just think that I think

he was. Was he trying to Okay? If if that's the case, then you know, I don't know what to say other than I felt like though the physicality It's even said on the postgame show last night. And I maybe didn't watch, but it felt like every time he was running the ball, he was finishing forward. Yes, every time it was four And he had a couple of runs. One of them was where he tripped in the backfield.

He was gone, but even after slipping in the backfield, he was able to scramble forward and get four or five yards on the play. And then the other play was the one that the defensive tackle for the Dolphins. Uh, there's getting a run on Twitter this morning, god chaw or whatever. Uh. He Travis's Blockadeham and kind of threw him aside. Yeah, and he got to Zeke, but he

didn't make the tackle. And Zeke again, it was almost like a bear crawl for a four or five yards, right, I mean the way he was finishing runs and getting those extra yards. And it wasn't just one or two extra yards with a lean forward, it was with a vengeance, you know what. And he may be a good example for Tony Pollard because there was a couple of runs Pollard had up the middle that he pushed the pile. Yea. It might only been two yards, but it could have

been zero. And that showed some toughness too. Any remaining rust that he had it was gone in this game. Brian mentioned the first drive out of the third quarter there touchdown kind of demoralized Miami. The one I liked the most was when they went up twenty four to six in the third quarter, because that was that was classic Zeke. Nine play seventy six yards, five and a

half minutes and just just chewing off clock. He gets an eighteen yard run, he gets eleven yard run, he catches a pass for twelve yards, and then you know the game's over at that point. It was good stuff. Ye, very effective. I just didn't know. I'm sorry if I didn't. We didn't get through the callers question the right way. But I mean, i'd never look at garbage stats before half. Now, at the end of the game, if it's thirty one to six, and you know whatever, I get, I get that.

But if if it's before, I think they were trying to set something up and they popped a run, popped a run, and it's like the purpose like that. And we've we've seen him in Ox and Art all practice to Hail Mary. We've seen it take twelve minutes to just diagram one play on the field, so you know they were trying to do something with that play. Hands were pissed at that point though. I mean, I think that was just frustration over the scoreboard at the end of the half. But yeah, I don't there's no way

that's viewed as garbage time. They're trying to score points. Yeah, and if Dak had an arm, you know, he might have got it to the end zone. He didn't. He didn't quite throw it sixty yards. By the way, can I have another injury update. He just learned that Tavon Austin will practice Wednesday. Okay, so he's back in the mix now for all these wide receivers, so that teams that dressed four yesterday will have five this week to

play with it. Like we talked about Friday, you just try to get through this game and hopefully you get ever picked the wrong tied in I should have picked Witton, I picked I picked the wrong tight end in our and our and the jarwin. Yeah used him a lot his cop count for me because he had a seventy four yard touchdown. Yeah, yeah, I won. I picked Okay, right, was right? And comb another another called back to I

mean he was he had bad luck. Whoever he ever had Randall Cobb in fantasy football, which would include me pick the click had some bad tight end. Damn who'd you have? Bill Well? I give credit to chat O'sheay or whoever was who designed the blocking scheme for the Dolphins, because they helped JaMarcus Webb out immensely in that hired And my pick was DeMarcus Lawrence and he got one sack. He got a sack, but yeah, he got one but um and in fact, Danny White on our pregame show

on CBS eleven, that was his pick right there. He was like, Okay, this ja Marcus Webb blessed us hard watching the same film you are well and also just looking at his history. I mean he hadn't played in the league for four years basically. Yeah, and so they knew knew they needed to help him out, and so I credit the Dolphins coaches for helping him out there.

You go, well, he did have two tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, two quarterback hurries in a force big force fumbled, by the way, But you still won, right I did? Yeah? Two hundred how many hundred? How many yards? Hundred. I'm not disagree with you. I'm just pointing out that you won. Thank you, and I bet my score was closest too. We better go to race your score and that was Mars Fallings the fifty five

yard to Breakare so all right? We get carte to twelve o'clock to there, right, Yeah, we are all right, We're going to twelve and so when we come back, Michael in Italy will be next up. You're on Talking Cowboys. It can be hard to find the right resource for learning about important financial matters. You search how to build savings, you end up reading about the one weird ingredient from

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they were wrong with abroad. You're sure it's not Italy Texas. No, it's not the home of Keith Davis. Okay, they call it Italy Texas. That's right. But Michael calls it Italy, right Michael. Hey, guys, it's good talking to you again. And it's Marco actually not Michael. Okay. And what's setting out on Jack Black. I don't know whether it sells over here, but I promise I'll check out about it. There you go. What say? Are you in Milan? Very good? Look.

I'd like to share with you a couple of positive takeaways from these first games and one concern for next week's one. The positive number one Ducks character yesterday because following his lobby first house the interception, he did not fight to win it alone. He raised his mistakes and kept doing his job. This to me is a sign of maturity from a very young quarterback, so I think it's very positive. Second, a good performance by the kicker,

both verses Washington in Miami. I think the past has been most erratic when he came to convert short range kicks. This time he nailed them. And one concern for next game is that, in my opinion, your leans as he just says, a quarterback similar to Duck in that Russell Wilson is very athletic, very good past, but he can run as well. So I'm thinking that the defense would be fairly ready for the Cowboys, at least as long as dealing with the quarterback is concerned. And I'd like

to hear opinion on all these things. That's it. Thank you for your outstanding job. I look forward to talk to you again and have a great week. Guys. Thank you very much. Go ahead. There was too many questions for me. You keep tracking mobile quarterback. Yeah, yeah, I guess Rosen wasn't that mobile, not at all. And we know about I don't think Bridgewater Bridgewater. He doesn't just run run, does he? No? But I thought he was referring to the Saints being ready for a mobile quarterback

with reference to Russell Wilson. Ye, maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. I you know what, there was a there was a lot to digest there. I was. I didn't. I was kind of going through the points and stuff. I know that the Saints defensively, uh you know where they were they have issue And again, if you're talking about having to play a mobile quarterback like Dak Prescott with the with the read option stuff and the all the things that they deal with, the fakes and things.

They're linebackers. You know, Kiko Alonzo is a good player. I think you could fool him. I think he's over aggressive. I just don't. You know, the teams that have really good linebackers tend to control running games better, and I don't. I think the Saints linebackers are good, but I wouldn't say great in the way they play because I saw I saw the Seattle took some advantage of them in this game that I just watched in coverage, and then

also with their lack of mobility there. And I know we'll get into the Saints more tomorrow, but like aj Line was a kid I watched, and then Alonso and then you know, and Dallas is going to find a way to get you an eleven personnel and make you have to spread out and take and cover guys they dig a second half, they just they're gonna I mean, and Seattle hit on some big plays, these big plays where they move the pocket one way and then throw the ball back across the field. These are things we

saw Kellen Moore do it in training camp. So if if you think that the Saints would be ready for a mobile quarterback, I'm not so sure that's the case with their linebacker. Again, Alonso is a good player, but I think he's overly aggressive. I think you could take him out of position and take advantage of some of the things that he can that he can do or

the things that he doesn't do. Put it that way, when they play, I think the game plan there's gonna be a lot about moving these guys around and take an advantage of how aggressive they are. On defense and the corners. I mean, they got some good corners. Lattimore is a good corner, but you know, you know Eli Apple a little bit of a gambler and some of the things that he does. But I don't think their safeties are any good. Just watching a play, I know

this is kind of bramling down the path. I'm sorry about our caller there. I didn't mean, you know, I'm not just trying to tell you what to think about the Saints, but von bell in coverage is bad. And then you know Marcus Marcus Williams, I eat the range. I didn't see range from him, So when the ball is going to go down the field, when it's going there, But they had some trouble taking some stuff and out of the middle of the field, they really didn't. That's

where the Cowboys attack. They attack the middle of the field. So I just overall Saints defense, I'll be interested. I think Callum More will have a good game plan for them. I just don't know if they've got guys to cover. But I don't know if they could do a good enough job to completely cover everything Dallas does. And that's a different type of runner than Russell Wilson. Yeah, Russell Wilson's kind of us to run because he's got no protects, ramble stuff and make But Dac when he runs, it's

it's like a purpose. It's a called play, right, and he catches the teams by surprise by not only his speed but how tough he is running the ball. So uh yeah, it's it's it's a little bit different. And that's and he's not a small guy. By the way. By the way, I'm going to do a study in the next twenty four to forty eight hours on Russell Wilson.

I'm going to write that in a comparison with Dak Prescott that I mean, I know that that's been done before, but it might be more pertinent right now where Dak is in his career. Well, yeah, the thing about the thing if you watch Seattle play the threat, the Saints rush three because they're worried about Russell Wilson running. That that's what that's that's why you see teams play the

Seahawks differently. They talk about build them a well, make him throw from the pocket, don't give him any lanes, that kind of stuff, you know, don't commit pressure because then what he'll do is he'll spin out. I think with Dak, with Dak's ability now to throw from the pocket, I think teams are more worried about and throwing the foot ball than they are running the foot But he's still got that. But he's still got the especial especially down in the red zone. He got the eight yard

touchdown yesterday. The RPO stuff, they're really dangerous down there. Him doing that third and short, that's where teams have to be scared now. Two ran two options yesterday for first down. I love it. I mean, that's stuff that you have to that's the college element of the game that you have to prepare for when you play the Cowboys. I get the Russell Wilson comparison more than anything, just as a guy that early in his career. Maybe other things,

you know, they leaned that I'm getting at. They leaned on other parts of the offense, and then now it's become Russell's offense. And maybe it's it's training that way with Dak, or at least you know, Zeke's still the engine for this thing, but Dak has taken more and more ownership there and in the passing game, he reminds me more of like a McNabb or or a even a a Roethlisberger wasn't hasn't been a scrambler, but just a big quarterback that is hard to bring down hard

and he can move right. Well. What who was it that Kitnah compared him too? Yeah, Warren Moon in the ball. I remember guys like Dante Colepepper that could throw the ball, you know that, Steve McNair same time. I mean again, I'm sorry, I don't mean to tag black quarterbacks with you know, I mean again, I'm just talking about big body guys that stand the park but still have mobility that when you hit them, they could still they survived the hit, They get up, they go to the next play.

You know. With Dak the way he's he's throwing the ball so much better than he ever has. And that's where I mean, And that's the comparison with r with Russell Wilson. I want to look at Yea his hand career when this is happening. Yeah, and there could be a lot of factors that go into that. Brian and Maryland, you're next up on Talking Cowboys. Hello, Brian, heywre we

doing gentlemen, very good. I was watching the game last night while I was rewatching it, and I've noticed, uh, the one thing that we really haven't made a lot of mention of. Sure, Dak's making all these good passes in our run games great, but I see the only difference this year is Travis Frederick. He's really just brought this whole group together where he's they're opening these giant holes and Dak has forever to pass the ball, and I see the offense is really running well even so

that they're not getting into goal line situations. And one question I had was do you think Kellen Moore would utilize if we were in you know, first or second and goal from inside the five? Do you think we're going to see a jumbo packet where you bring in Joe Looney and Xavier sue a Philo and just have seven big meaty guys with Amar and Gallup or whoever on the outside and Zeke in the backfield. Do you

see that as an option? Because he's Kellen Moore seems to have not discounted anything as far as using his personnel for success. Yeah, I like where you were going with the I think the thing with Travis Frederick, we've talked about Travis Frederick cutting the defense in half, especially second level block the communication. I think the biggest thing about this offensive line is, for the most part, you have a healthy number seventy seven, you have a number

a healthy seventy two. You have a healthy seventy to the most part these guys, and you've got an improving number seventy one at right tackle. Fifty fifty two is a bigger body, but he still has issues, you know. But so as long as you have four guys that can make up for fifty two, this offensive line is going to have some success. And Colombo's influence too, Yeah, making that change at mid season, they got back to doing what they do and their approach and some of

their concepts technique wise too. Yeah, you know, and look around the league at other offensive lines. I mean, I just watched last night, well for four quarters against Auburn. Well, it made me miss the Cowboys offense. That's that's what a draft will do for you if you figure out, okay, we target this guy, target this guy. Let's be honest, they got lucky. I'm gonna say they got lucky with Travis Frederick because there's a lot of people that didn't

have Travis Frederick raided. As highly as he was, there was a lot of people that thought he was the third round type player, and they took him. Bill Callahan for noticing that. Kahan's the one the evaluation I know, I know Walter Juliffe was involved toom Siskowski, those guys involved with the offensive line evaluations. If yeah, you want to give Bill Callahan credit, absolutely, But they but they they did a great job of evaluating offensive lineman, the

right offensive lineman. Sometimes you gotta be lucky too. They were gonna take you know, if you look, Ryan Shazier was going to be their pick. And Ryan Jazier goes to Pittsburgh right ahead of them. They don't panic. They go Zack Martin, next pick. Bull, Let's go to Johnny Manzell was gonna be the pick. You understand what I'm saying. Yeah, but that's I'm saying. You evaluate, you have a plan

how you want to do so. And they made the commitment to doing that, and they and they've paid these guys and they've and they've got them all under contract for a long time. The only thing that could derail

this offensive line is lack of health. That's the only thing you know, but on the point on Travis Frederick and Zach Martin for that matter, because you take an offensive guard with the four teenth pick or whatever it was that they had that they took take a five nine quarterback first overall, and and do you take Frederick, Well,

no one had a first round grade on Frederick. They had second round grade a lot higher than everyone else, right, yeah, but they had conviction, absolutely this guy is going to be what he became, which is a perennial Pro Bowl player question. And they made the pick. And that's where I don't criticize the Giants for making the pick of Daniel Jones with the sixth pick in the draft. Yeah, they truly believe that Daniel Jones was their core franchise

quarterback for the future. It doesn't matter whether you took him at number six or seventy or whatever it is. They're looking good now by taking Barkley one year and taking Jones to the next. Let's see if Jones continues to develop and they and where they took Frederick they traded down was the second round pick, right they was thirty was it was? It fits right into the where their second round grades are anyway. Yeah, so that, yeah,

it wasn't like that big leap. And then you take Martin where you took him, yep so and everybody had him graded is perhaps the best offensive lineman in that draft. And then you got lucky with Lelee Collins just because of his circumstances. All Right, that does it for talking Cowboys for this Monday. We'll talk at you again on Tuesday. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.