Talkin' Cowboys: Saying There's A Chance?

be back. And it's been longer. It's been a full week since we've had the Talking Cowboys crew back together again. Come on that, Isaiah stand back, Rob Phillips, Kyle Yeomans were all back and we're ready. We're well rested, We're ready for the rest of the season. Exactly. Yeah, let's go. It's not even a say it with your chest Friday. Yet it's a say it with your chest Monday again. Here on talking back in the Trust Tree. I missed you guy in the Trust Tree. Missed you guys. I

missed you guys. So imagine imagine that Rob and Isaiah or excuse me, Robin Heckmer are the ones that said we miss people. And then Isaiah's you're sitting there smiling. He didn't miss any of this smoke. I didn't miss you guys, man, I miss you guys. It's been too long, you know, it's been too long. It's kind of like, you know, like we used to go on dates all the time and now we're just you know, now we had a little hiatus and now we're back, you know, so it feels kind of good to be back with

the crew. Yeah, it's been a hole what six days? I mean, that's like a yeah, that's like a middle school thing, like, no, you get off the phone. No, you get off the that's what That's how you feel. That's kind of what it felt like whenever we pop back on the call today and we were like, goodness, gracious, this this feels good, Like it just feels right, and we're ready to roll for another week of talking cowboys. And that's the fun thing is we're back for the

rest of the year this way. Nope, no more switch ups. It was definitely fun. We had Nate Newton and Nick Eatman specifically on this show, and then of course outside what do you what do you like that he was there? Something that happened. Now, now here's the thing you are used to me and Isaiah getting to it. Yeah, and you had you didn't you were not ready? You would

I could tell the look on your face. How when Nick, when Nick and Nate got into it, ye, you was just like, oh my god, well how do I get this show back on the He was ready on Wednesday because he brought props, when on Tuesday he was not ready. You're exactly right, I was. I had a feeling that was going to happen because because listen a little pull

back of the curtain here. Nick actually kind of he at one point early before the show, he kind of looked at me and said, hey, bring up moral victories and I was like, okay, Like I'll bring it up. I was like why, and he was like, just trust me, just bring it home. When I was like, okay, I feel like something's coming here, and so I brought it up, and of course insanity ensued, and it went back and forth the rest of the show and even spilling over

into Wednesday. So I was more prepared on Wednesday, but it was It was a blast and a ton of fun with with both those guys, and I'm sure you guys had a ton of fun on your various shows as well, but there's nothing like the Talking Cowboys crew. I'll just tell you that right right now, there's nothing we Well, we appreciate you taking us off a suspension. We recognize that you kicked us out of the cool club. I mean, you're here, you're inviting us back, so we're

grateful that, right, Yeah, the Commissioner's example list. Thank you, Kyle, You're welcome. But I doubt that's even remotely close to my pay grade. I don't think that's even close to the amount. No, no, I mean I mean for Heck and Rob Pie. I'm not sure if you guys remember, but when we asked why is it that you get to stay, Kyle, you said because I'm the host. Here was me and let us know where we were in

a pecking order. Oh my goodness. Well, if you want to, if we want to talk about pecking order, I got a fun one for you to start off the day, and I want to talk about specifically a stat that just blows my mind at the moment, and it's the fact that we are now in two week eleven, so going into week eleven of the twenty twenty NFL season, the division that the Cowboys are in the NFC East has a combined eleven wins. Eleven wins going into week eleven because of what happened over the bye week. The

Cowboys didn't lose, which is great. That's the first win of the bye week. The second win of the bye week is that Washington lost. The third win of the bye week is the fact that the Giants beat the Eagles. And so now you've got once again a week where you're going up against a good Minnesota team, but you're still a game and a half out of first place in the NFC East and it still seems like everyone else is reeling. Rob did you get a chance to watch any of those games? What is your thought on

the NFC East right now? Because it's just kind of a dumpster fire at the moment. So you're saying there's a chance, a chance for people don't want to hear it, there is a chance. I think. I think if you're a fan, like it's the battle, I call it the Battle of the Gems. You got Jim Carrey who's saying saying there's a chance, and then you've got you know, the Jim Mora video from back in the day with the Colts where it's the whole playoffs thing, like playoffs, seriously, playoffs.

I think that's the that's what you've got away if you're a fan. And I think if you know, if I'm a fan, I'm pulling for my team to always win games and try to get into the playoffs and try to make something of your season. But I think there's there's obviously a fan segment out there because we see it on Twitter all the time, you know, hashtag team tank and all that kind of stuff because they don't see this season ending with a championship because of all the injuries and you know, no Dak and all

that stuff. So but yeah, I mean, it's it is right there. It was such a weird day, like you said, because they dropped to last place, but in a way they close the gap just by sitting on their couch. So that's twenty twenty for you, and that's the twenty twenty NFC East for you. And actually, yeah, he is. I mean, and talk about moral victories, that's there. We are right there with all the losses in the NFC East.

But Rob came up short of just calling the NFC East to complete dumpster fire and that's what's bad with it. It's bad. And and you know, I had my popcorn ready getting ready to watch the Giants and Eagles game and had the rud snatch from under me. We'll talk about that about with Chris Beam a little bit later, but I did get a chance to see the game. Uh. Man,

the Eagles are they suck. They are bad as bad as as we saw them last when we had been to Nuccia and man, if we had had an opportunity to just have any type of putting any drives together anything like, we would have beat those guys easily. That's just my feeling on how bad they are. But the NFC East is just there. And so every time, you know, we try and get out, they pull us back in. You start to seeing those little percentages start to add up and say to yourself, oh my god, we have

a chance. And even with all of the injuries that we have, if you just look at the horizon, you it clearly there is a pathway to actually getting into the playoffs. Crazy. We said it a long time ago, at least I know I said something. I said it a while back. It doesn't matter how you get in the playoffs. It doesn't matter how ugly it is. But as long as you get in there, everything resets and you're now in a four game season, that's all that matters.

That's all that matters. So it could look as ugly as it wants to. But as long as these guys have opportunity, they always have a chance to turn it on and start playing better ball. We recognize over the past few games they have been playing better ball. Right, it's got a little bit better, you know. I think that the actual bye week, everybody thinks it came at a good time, I think it came at a bad time because they would be that momentum. Yeah, because you're

playing better. So we'll see how these guys bounce back against another great opponent. But I think I think, you know, we'll see. Man, there's a chance. There's a chance, And that's all we gotta ask for this league. Rather whether you're you know, you're you're freaking nine and nine and oh or yeah, two and set, it doesn't really matter. As long as you got a chance to win year and win your division. That's what the goal is. The first goal that you set forth in it when you

go to camp. Now, and I actually gave the division a little bit too much credit. They actually only have ten combined wins through ten weeks of the season, so they're averaging they're averaging one win per week out of four teams. That's pretty darn bad. That's pretty awful. So, but Isaiah, I wanted to kind of turn that back around on you here and as a player in a bye week, what is it like coming back from a

bye week? Because I mean, of course, like you said, it kills momentum from one standpoint, but you rest up in other standpoints and they kind of you have that balance back and forth. How tough is it to balance? And where does it start from a player's standpoint? Yeah, it really depends on on the players. I would imagine with this, hopefully with the leadership from Mike McCarthy, I would assume that he that he probably made all his guys aware that he didn't want them to leave town.

That that had been my advice. If I was him, I would want guys to stay close. I would want guys, even though it's a bye week, it's a bye week off of your legs and off of your body, um so much so versus actually just like leaving like we have to be engaged where we're in to think of these things. If you're if you're the Pittsburgh Steelers and you're hitting your bye week and you're nine and old, guess what, guys, go kick it for you know, four days, go go hang out, have a good time, come back,

be ready to grow. But when you're two and seven, fellas, I need you guys in the facility once a day watching film or at least hop hopping onto your tablet and watching film and staying engaged because we can't afford at any point in time right now to to to you know, slack off. You know, I think that's I think that what what what you just said, Isaiah is

right on queue with what this team needs. But at the same time, if coaches having to tell them that, especially where they are, uh, that would kind of be disheartening. You're two and seven, You're you're starting to catch some type of rhythm, but guys have to stay in their playbooks. And you know, for me, over the bye week, I had an off oportunity to look over all the games again and just looking at the first quarter of the season and just seeing how in disarray we were with

our whole scheme, and God's not especially on defense. God's just not understanding what was going on. You're still even up until this day seeing guys trying to get lined up, and I think those last minute trying to get aligned is allowing for gaping holes in our defense. Offensively, the offensive line has just not been healthy, so these guys

have got to try. Well. Can see that if by being healthy, playing together, and just getting better as a team, it's gonna help the second half of the season be a success. Yeah, I didn't go back and watch the games like you did, heck, but I can only imagine the difference defensively, like what it looked like compared to the last couple of games, because it has been an improvement. To your point, Isaiah, I'd be surprised if anybody left

town just because of the COVID stuff. You know, I think that's a message across the league trying to, you know, ensure don't leave town, stay, bubble up the best you can and try to get through this season, and especially with the Cowboys being in that intensive protocol last week as a precaution, the goal I think is to get back today and get back into meetings and I think we're going to hear from from Mike McCarthy later this afternoon for his press conference, so we'll see kind of

where they are. But that's that's the whole other dynamic with this season. You know, it's a bye week and probably the best, the only thing you could do, or the best thing you can do, is just stay home and rest and try to heal up if you've been banged up. Now, we just learned that heckma did his homework over the bye week. I don't know how much homework we all did. I put my phone away. I said, I'm not going to get on Twitter. I'm not gonna watch a ton of football. I watched the NFC East games,

but that was about it. I didn't do any film or anything this past week. But heck, when when you were going about its short timers, man, whatever, whatever. So I do want to ask, so when you went back and you watch these games, was there specifics that stuck out to you that that kind of either caught your eye or raised questions in terms of not only the

growth but maybe even in decay of some players. Whenever he comes from week one to week nine of the year, Man, you just had so many problems at the beginning of the season. I mean, if you could just categorize the first four games, it was like an amusement park. You didn't know what you were gonna get. Some of the coaching decisions things like that. I mean, it was really funny, man, the punts, the fake punts, and just it was comedy. Man, our first four games and says Cowboy fans, I'm sure, man,

that roller coaster rod is not fun. But then over the next couple of games, it was just disaster. Defensively, guys just couldn't get a line. And with done Terry pole Man, it just it never clicked for him, and he was a lot of the problems that we were having in the middle of our defense. Him just getting dug out of there. And that's why those running those teams could just run on us at will. You know,

they're just safety wise. I know we started off the season talking about what we needed, bringing guys in from off the street. Safety wise, Man, we don't have a lot. I mean, Exavier Woods, you know, Blessed, it is hard. I think he's playing to the best of his potential, but it's just he's leaving a lot to be desired at the safety position, and we just haven't found that

balance there. There are a lot of guys that need to be looked at, and I mean a lot of guys that are still on the roster that we need to talk about and see if they're gonna be here next year because we're not getting effort out of guys that we're actually paying big, good money to be here. So those are the things that I want to see over the second half of the season, just how those

guys start to perform well. Whenever it comes to the players that are gonna be here next year, And we kind of talked about this a little bit, but now, of course with especially the defense, and we saw the the addition via subtraction with Dantari Poe, and we've seen a little bit of a shift in the thinking of the interior of that defensive line over the last two weeks. But also in the secondary, there's guys playing for their jobs.

And I think Isaiah said this last week where it came to the point of Trayvon Diggs is now out for four to six weeks with his ankle injury or his foot injury. Now you're starting to find out who's gonna play alongside Trayvon Diggs next year in this secondary, whether it's the safety position or the corner opposite of them. Anthony Brown's the only one that's under contract past this season, so we've got a lot to talk about when we

come back here on Talking Cowboys. We're actually gonna address some of those issues and address some of those players back and forth in a game I like to call groove on or move on. We're gonna take some of these guys that are contract players and we're gonna play gm on whether or not we want them to be back based on the first part of the season when

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Switch to AT and T five G. It's not complicated. Five G requires compatible plant may not be in your area. See att dot com slash five G for you for details. To Talking Cowboys, it's the second segment here of Talking Cowboys here on this beautiful Monday morning from Frisco conle Yomans Hech Mohrrison, the great Rob Phillips, and our resident

Super Bowl Champion isaiahs. Dan Back. Glad you're with us here from the s WBC Mortgage Studios, and man, it's like I said earlier, it's very very good to be back with you boys and talking some Cowboys football after the bye week. Hope everybody had a nice and rested bye week and the ready to get after it this week as the Minnesota Vikings are up next on the schedule, so I'd ease this going into the break. But there's a couple of players, to say the least, probably not

as much as last year. I think last year we saw more roster turnover at least potential roster turnover than we are going to see this offseason. But I kind of wanted to get your gauge, your feelings on some guys through the first half of the season, or at least up until the bye week over half of the season now, and I wanted to hear whether or not you would keep these guys around if you were the GM. We're calling it groove on or move on in terms

of the players that you have to deal with. And I've got one of two ways we can do this, and I'll let you guys decide this on air. We could either pick a specific player and debate about it for each person, or I could run down the list of avail or I guess unrestricted free agents going into the twenty twenty one off season, which we're out there. You want me to throw it out there and I'll talk about him. Yeah, okay, so this is this is if the money is right, do we even want them

on our team? Is ultimately what we're going to talk about here in terms of these guys moving into twenty twenty one, and Rob, you said it last week very well. I thought, based off of what Stephen Jones said and based off of what Jerry said and basically running it back from a Cowboys perspective. And we're gonna try and figure out who we're gonna run it back with. I'm gonna start on the offensive line. Joe Looney. Do you think Joe Looney could be a valuable piece to this

franchise moving forward at the center position. He is an unrestricted free agent. We'll start with you, Isaiah. I'm keeping him only if he's willing to move to guard. You're still on that guard. I'm on, I'm on if he's playing a guard. Okay, Yeah, I'm okay, I'm I'm moving on, and I'm moving on because I want to develop McGovern. I think he gave you a little bit of something, a glimpse. Uh And be honest, is you know we

know we're getting with beyondest. He's uh, he's the next guy up, and he's a lone lineage of great sinners and offensive linemen that are coming from Wisconsin. So I'm all in, Rob, I'm I'm grooving on Joe Jumbo. I think, uh now, is there. Are you saying, like maybe because you'd like to move one of the guards out to tackle potentially like a Connor Williams. Is that kind of what are you thinking or just in terms of that's a better spot for Joe. I think it's a better

spot for him. I don't think Carter Williams is our is our guard. I don't think he can do that. So yeah, I like I like Blooney at guard. I mean, obviously give him a whole offseason of working at it. I like his size, I like his experience there. You put him on a you know him, you know next to be honest, I like that combination there. I like him in his role that he he's going to be in, well he would have been in yeah. Yeah, where he's he's your backup center. And like Isaiah said, he could

help you really either guard spot. Um, he hasn't played guard in a while really, but but I think that's the kind of valuable veteran depth, you know, like you said, Kyle, depending on the price, that I think can help your offensive line for sure moving forward. And I think you're going to be able to get him back for a reasonable bull contract. I think it's definitely doable to get Joe Looney back, but I agree it needs to be a depth piece. If he's coming back to be a starter,

then that means something's wrong on your offensive line. That means either you you had somebody leave that you weren't expecting to leave, or you didn't necessarily get the draft pick you wanted. So I think ultimately, if Joe Looney's coming back to be a starter, you're in a little bit of trouble. Okay, So moving on, There's not a ton of unrestricted free agents that I don't see or that that I see on the offensive side of the football, or Cam Irving's another one, but we'll leave that where

it's at. But let's go to Let's go to the defense and subside, and this is where the majority of them are. We're gonna start with Tyrone Crawford. Heckmu this is a guy who's been around forever. Are you moving on and grooving on? Man? And this is tough for me to say, because I liked Tyrone Man. He's he's given us a lot, He's been a leader on and off the field. But I'm moving on. I think in the new scheme he doesn't fit at just he's not able to make the plays or or I don't know

how healthy is from the hip surgery. Also, so all things being considered, I think for the money that we're paying him, we could we could get more out of

that position. So I'm moving on Rob. Yeah, I mean, well, yeah, I mean, I think it's it's a situation for Tyrone where we'll see where he's at after the season, because I know, like Heckma mentioned it, the double hip surgery was something I think he had to weigh whether he wanted to fight through that, you know, and I think he talked to us earlier in the season about how, you know, it's been a battle trying to battle through this, and he hasn't been on the injury port, he hasn't

been limited going through. But you know, we'll see, you know, at his age and the injuries he's had, you know, he's got to make a decision too on on whether where he's at in his career going forward. I did I didn't think he gave him something in the pass rush last week in that in that kind of they had a four man line where he's rushing from the in spot and they had I think they had tank and Alden inside so and with Gregory on the other spot outside that that that's that's a package just working

for him. So we'll see, you know, we'll see how these last seven games go. I think they made a call Tyron, tell him to go get his stuff. He gonna get him about it here. Man. Yeah, he's making he's making a lot of money. Man, he's making a lot of money. And uh, you know, I think I think you got some young some young goons out there that want to play some ball, and you know a place you got the draft, So I think you's got

to move off for you. Tell him thank you, pat him on the button, Jason Garrett, huh all, I tell him gone and wrap up his career. Man. But he's done. He's done well for an organization. I know everybody's grateful for it. But it's time to shuit have downplayer. So and he's making nine nine point one million at the moment,

he's already he's already thirty plus years old. And I wanted to ask the question, though, does it make a big difference the fact that he has been playing better over the last couple of games, Because I don't even think it was just this past week. I thought he played maybe his best two games of the year in a row. He played against Philly decently well, and then he figured out how to play better than that game against Pittsburgh in Week nine. So does it change your

mind at all? No, I'm not moving on because of his lack of um, you know production. I'm moving on just simply because it's just time to move on. You know, he's he's been through a lot, and you know, it's like the stock market, right he writing it high. You know at some point in time it's gonna drop, so

you want to you want to shake it before it drops. Man, I will say he's been he's one of my favorite guys, not just in the locker room, but also he's I know he's made a lot of money, but he has done a job that is not recognize enough over the years in terms of like he's had to play wherever he's needed. You know, he's never really been able to settle in one spot and I and that's that's a credit to him for being willing to play. Hey, I've kind of slimmed down for this position, maybe on the edge,

but they need me inside. Okay, I'm gonna take a pounding in there. You know, he's kind of doing he's you know, he's always been the good soldier, you know. I like that, and I think that's something that's undervalued with Tyrone Crawford as a whole, and it's been that way throughout his career. But I'm gonna move to a spot next to Tyrone. And you just mentioned the stock market, Isaiah,

you mentioned selling high, buying low. You want to make sure and kind of ride that star stock market market wave. Where's the stock for Alden Smith at the moment in terms of move on or groove on? Are you going to hi high on it? So you're grooving no matter what. I'm grooving for a nice little two year contract. I mean, give me, give me augu Smith for two years please. Okay, Yeah, that's a no brainer. I'm going, Yeah, I'm going. I'm grooving with all the smith Man he is. He's giving us.

And you talk about a guy that four and a half years of not playing football that has come back and given us everything, and that's been all the smith Man. So I'm definitely grooving. I'm grooving depending on the price. I keep saying that, But I mean I'm just thinking about Robert Quinn last year, and you know, the market for him was really high, higher than maybe the Cowboys, definitely higher than the Cowboys that hoped. And yeah, Alton's been all. He got to a really hot start, and

I think he still leads him in sacks. I think they wouldn't have traded They wouldn't they wouldn't have resisted trade offers if they didn't hope to get him back in the off season. But I do wonder. You know, they're gonna be up against it with the cap and they've got other decisions to make. We'll get into it. So if he gets into a bidding war, potentially, if he hits the market first, then they might have to move on. But what's your price, RAPI, what's your price?

What are you willing to pay him? Well? I'm with you. I mean, if it's like a two year deal and it's it's um you know, I don't know what the signing bonus would be, you know, if he if it's a deal like Robert Quinn where he's getting you know, ten twelve million bucks a year, I just don't know if you can do that, you know, But so you're willing to pay Crawford nine a year, but not Aldon Smith nine a year. Well, Crawford's not gonna be He's

not gonna make that. That's a renegotiating thing. Yeah, there's no way. It's not gonna be the same salary. Just wondering, I know where you're going. Remind me never, never to go shopping with Rob. It's like, man, that would be really cool, but for the price. I just don't know. I just don't you know what it is. It's it's all these damn years with Mickey on the podcast because it's like everything it's like, well, how much is it gonna be? What's the know? How much does it cost?

Much does it actually cost? Like shopping with your dad? There's a reason that that not wanting so right to be. To be honest with you, you should probably go shopping with Rob. Probably help your style. Absolutely true. You're probably right. Rob's got he's got the drift today. Look at that jacket. Look at this jacket's the Cowboys Pro Shop. Heck, was just jealous because I can actually unbutton one of my my top buttons on my polo. Oh my god. So moving on before we continue on this, so before we

keep going here, this is a restricted free agent? How about Antoine Woods? Heck, mo, would you keep Antoine around? That's how damn. That's how I know y'all are friends because like we have not been doing this show long enough. Beside Jones friendship outside of the show, that was cold. Yeah, let him let him live, man, it's all good. It's all good. H Antoine. He's a restricted free agent. Some money at this point is not really an option, or I guess it's not. I've been I really have been

up and down on Antoine. Was but after done Terry Poe leaving and just seeing the win it he's filled in. Um. I think there's something to be said about the job that he's doing. And also just look, man, the Micael. We're gonna be looking at him for the next seven games, so let's see how he performs. And man, I was really you know, protecting the star, what he did with Juju, letting him know, hey, don't you walk to that star. He's probably one of my favorites right there right now.

So I mean, it'd be hard to say anything bad about Antoine boy, you know. And I'm glad you brought that approving. I'm glad you brought that up. Heck money, does that change a lot of what you thought about Antoine Wood specifically as a player. The fact that you know he's thinking about that and he wants to be here, and that's exactly what we've kind of been calling for

on this defense. Yeah, well, I mean, come on, man, when you going back and looking at the other games, I mean, guys have definitely been trying to shame us and bully us, and you know, the Pittsburgh Steelers were just trying to continue that. And finally you see a game where guys are just saying, Noah, this is not gonna happen, and his damn show not gonna happen at at and T Stadium. So you know, just taking pride in what you do and taking pride in your football

team is won. So I mean that just lets me know that Antoine Woods is all in all making sure that he protects the brand. And that's you know, the Cowboys. So I'm with him. He's front of West Coast, you know, he's about that life. Heck, so he won't let that happen. But I'm a ride with him because we got him for a discount double check right now, So I think we can. I think we can bring him back. Yeah,

I agree. Mike Nolan said last week that he's becoming he's kind of emerged as a leader for those guys inside. You know what he's trying, you know, patch together this defensive line interior wise, with some of the injuries they've had and obviously moving on from Poe. So I would say, yeah, I talked to him in the offseason. I know he dealt with some injuries last year, had the knee, had a hip deal, and that was kind of frustrating for him. But I think he's come in and he's helped, He's

given him something, especially those last two weeks. I think that's a huge credit to Antoine. Not only the protecting of the Star because I thought that was fantastic and Nick Eatman wrote a really nice piece about it on Dallas Cowboys dot com as well. And also not to mention Juju was his college teammate. I mean they both were USC guys and they were teammates at USC, and so not only did he say okay, throw the college

allegiance aside, I'm still protecting the star here. I thought that was really cool, but also not to mention when we were at training camp prob it almost looked like Antoine Woods was the odd man out in terms of the interior of the defensive line. Whenever we had Poe come in and you had Gerald McCoy come in, and

it looked like they were building something new. It almost looked as if Woods was going to be the last man standing, or at least the last man in the line, because you wanted to keep Tristan Hill, you wanted to keep Neville Gallimore, and then where's where's Antoine Woods. Well, he not only stuck around, but he's played better and he's continued to improve, and like you said a moment ago, he stepped up as a leader. Yeah, I would groove

on with him one. I think he's somebody that's a little like kind of what we said earlier, a little underrated in terms of what he does and what he brings, but it's something this defense absolutely needs in the middle of it, for sure. The other thing with him is he was an exclusive rights free agent and he didn't sign his tender until right before training camp. I think, and you know, he wanted it. He wanted an extension, he has said that, and he didn't get it, and

I think he was pretty motivated by it. So we'll see what they do in the offseason. When I mean, when they're at full strength. Obviously they're they're excited about Tristan Hill, They're excited about Nevil Gallimore. But there's obviously gonna be rotation in there, and you know, a spot for a rotation next year. I like it. I like it. Okay, let's move on to the secondary. And these are three of the bigger, bigger, undrestricted free agent names coming up

in this offseason. We're gonna start at the corner spot. Jordan Lewis, What have you guys thought about him this year? And would you move on or groove on? Rob Man? This is tough. I love Jordan Man, He's um I would I would say, I'm gonna cop out. I'm gonna say we're gonna find out the last seven games. And I will say, when you're talking about a trio of dbs that are the seventeen draft pick guys that are all up, Cheeto, Xavier and Jordan, I don't expect all

three to be back. I mean, I think they're gonna make some changes, but we'll see. I mean, they haven't made enough plays on the ball this year. Let's let's be honest. I mean, and I think going forward, they've got to be able to get more of that ball hawking at the cornerback position, kind of what we've seen Treyvon Diggs do a little bit. So um, I do think in his role as a slot guy, and he's

gonna get to play more now we'll see. But they they've got to be able to be more active, getting hands on balls, being more productive in that regard the spotlight. The spotlight. The spotlight's gonna be on Jay Lou and uh A Woozier, and so these guys are gonna have to make some plays because they came into this this year knowing that they had to have big hears. I've been disappointed and Jay Lou Man, I think that he's giving up a lot even when he was playing in

the interior. Um it's he just it's just giving up a lot of plays. So, um, I'm moving on. It's tough to say that I'm moving on, is zam. I like Jay luke Man. I like his fight. I like his fight, but at one hundred and thirty three thousand dollars a game, mmm, I gotta I gotta roll on. Mmmm. Okay, so broke that broke down? Kind of going, yeah, he did broke that contract down pretty quick, didn't he. How about that math? That's the you doub that's your dog

coming out the quick math. I have a large computer screen. You're not going task there. I like it. I like it there now, Rob, I kind of want to go based off of what you were saying a moment ago, and it actually adds to what Heckma said too. But you talked about playing it plays on the ball and with Jordan Lewis, this is a guy who, at least the last couple years, has been the big play guy, multi sacks, multi interceptions. He's always been around the ball,

even in limited snaps. Well, this is the first year he's really had an abundance of snaps, or at least it seems like he's had an abundance of snaps. But we haven't seen that same sort of production. You mentioned Trey Von Diggs and with him now being out, is it up to Jordan Lewis to be that ball hawking type of player and somebody that's going to have to not only make interceptions but have find a way to get a sack or two in the last couple of

games of the year. Oh. Absolutely. But that's why I've said I think I think this last seven games is a really important evaluation. If your defense can continue doing what they've done the last couple of weeks, where you're you're playing complimentary, you're getting a push up front, your linebackers are playing a little better. I think you're going to see an opportunities for the corners to play better too, if that makes sense. So I think I think they've

just been on their heels the entire year. You know, they've been playing from behind, and so the play action comes into into play and all those things. So I think, yeah, But to answer your question, absolutely, I mean they need they need more of that from their dbs. And you know, Trayvon, despite his mistakes and we've talked about that, that's got to improved. But some of his strengths I think are

exactly what they're looking forward from the cornerback position moving forward. Heckma, no, I mean, that's that's just where it is with Jay Lou. I mean, this is so much to be desired from our secondary period defensive line wise, I mean, if we could give more push and more pressure. That was sure make the job a lot easier on our corners as well. It's just a lot of these guys have just been the usual suspects behind some of these big plays that

you see. And so, I mean, we give terms all the time, like ball hawk, but if you're not a ball hawk, then let's just move on from the title and call you what you are. You know, you're a reserve, feeling guy. And we need for this young defense. We for this young defense, we need guys that are ball hawks and guys that want to make plays, and we haven't been getting it. So I don't want to say, well, you did good in the past, but you're not doing it. You know. Look, man, you're only as good as your

last hit. Brother. That was harsh, No, it was that was nice. It's a season of giving. Heckma is so quiet reserve today. You just in the Christmas spirit already. You know, it's another week. It's another opportunity. You know, I'm renewed, I'm refreshed that opportunity to to you know, to simmer down from the last week's uh you know, the wee game, before the comments, the postgame comments. I had opportunity to woo saw who saw and I'm good

now yeah? Oh man God, Okay, Well we're gonna pro linebackers. Uh well, there's just a couple of them. We might get to them here in a minute. I'm gonna finish this up. I gotta take away, gotta take a break. When we come back, we'll hit the last two secondary guys. We'll probably do the linebackers tomorrow on Fans on the

fifty at some point tomorrow. So when we come back here on Talking Cowboys, Xavier Woods, Cheeta a Woozie, we haven't addressed them, move on or groove on when we come back right after this, we're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping air waves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor cream Soda. Is he a new combone. That's music to my ears? Okay, doctor time, music to my ears and mouth,

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no brainer. Today it's at and T five G, fast, reliable, secure, and nationwide. Switch to at and T five G. It's not complicated. Five GET requires compatible plant may not be in your area. See att dot com slash five G for you for details to Talking Cowboys. Final segment here of Talking Cowboys. The crew's back at it again. Heck Ma Harrison, Rob Phillips, Isaiah stand back. I'm Kyle Yeoman's. Each of these three guys so glad to have them back here on Talking Cowboys. Each of them in their

own rights are cornerstones to this show. And I just I know they all bring the fire whenever it comes to everything, every effort, every piece of Yeah, they're all cornerstones. What what damn it? What? Isaiah? What? What do you want? I just you're your your vocabulary today. I mean, is this Haven't heard you use that term before the corner stages. It's a good it's a good term. I like it. It's usually spot on when I say it that way. I'm surprised you're upset about it. I wonder why I don't.

I don't know anyway. So with that being said, let's move on to the secondary and just talk about the secondary and not talk about the linebackers that could potentially not be on this team. In twenty twenty one. So let's go to Xavier Woods. Heckma, you brought them up earlier, so I'm gonna have you started as well. But you talked about it whenever you went back and looked at the film, Xavier Woods stuck out as a as a big negative in terms of being just one of those

neutral players that you needed to have something from. Yeah, I'm moving on quick. Um, we're gonna go ahead and we're gonna call it a career here. Uh if if it were me, you like if he so uh yeah playing TM. Yeah, We're moving on. I mean it's just look, man, there's so many plays. I mean, this miss tackles, bad coverage, not really breaking on balls well at all for safety

being it you know. I guess you want to blame it on the scheme a lot of times, and I'm sure that may have been a quarter of it, but men, the majority of it is just missing assignments and missing tackles and just not making being able to make a play on ball. So I'm moving on, Rob Yeah, you know, I think so. I think there there are some things he does well, or we see him do well recently. He'll come up in the box and he'll make some

tackles and and and be physical that way. Um. But you know, I think we've talked about safety all year long, and I think you know, Diamond Wilson has showed them something I think in a rotation on the other at

the other spot. But to me, that's going to be a spot in the draft where you look at and say, can we find somebody that, uh can really be a difference at one of those two spots, Be a difference maker, Be a guy that can you know, you know, affect things matchup wise and maybe played linebacker a little bit, do those kind of things. So they don't they haven't had that and maybe they maybe that's something they gotta find the off season. Isaiah, I'm going with the X

on Xavier, we gotta get them up out of here. Uh. I like his effort, man. One thing you always didn't get from Xavier's effort right every play, even when he says that every play, Uh No, you gotta move on man. That's a position that we've been talking about for a very long time. I think that you need to obviously

get some young guys and developed them. Reggie Robinson can't seen him, but then you also gotta get a veteran, approven veteran in there, approven veteran, uh to kind of be you know, the big big, the big dog back there, to kind of lead these guys, to show them the way, like the Mandalorian. So I think I think that, you know, they need that going into this offseason. But as far as the Xavier was, I think his his first initial kind of gives everything we need. Do you have something

to add to that? Heckma Mandalorian. I love he got, he got the Mandalorian. He's bought out Erica Badu, we came Tarow. I mean, this guy's good. This the floors Isaiah. I've never met somebody that's so quick and witty with his random references as Isaiah is on not only this show, but that's the thing, like for all of you listening, like you might think he only has these ready for the show where it's the Jamesport backpack and it's the Mandalorian and this stuff in life. No, this is how

he talks on a normal basis. Like we're just walking down the hall to go get coffee, and it's like, oh, Isaiah just came up with a super witty reference I just wanted to throw that out there is it's it's fantastic, and that's where it's true. No, it's true. His head. His head is full of sayings from nineties sit Tom's like, no, seriously,

you remind me. You remind me and my friends growing up, we're like we talk in movie quotes bases, like we're quoting like Adam Sandler movie Vias and stuff like that's what That's what we still do to this day. I love it. Okay, final guy, move on or groove on today and then we'll wrap things up here on talking Cowboys.

But Cheeto Wi Lousier. I'm grooving on with Cheeto. And I know that he's had injuries throughout the year and it's kind of tough, and I know there's probably a lot that plays into that, Isaiah, but ultimately, this is still somebody I want to see with Treyvon Diggs in the future, and I want to have that back and forth. You can go out and draft another corner, and I actually advise going out and drafting another corner, but I still want Cheeto to be a part of the puzzle.

I'm I'm gonna ahead ride on it. I'm gonna go ahead, and I'm being a block I'm gonna roll with him, um something, because you know, I think we can get it for a good price, and we got him right now for a good price. I think he's a competitor. He's had he's had his injuries, but who hasn't on this team already, and uh, you know, I think I think he's a really good competitor. I don't think anybody's

ever questioned his effort. I don't think anybody's ever questioned any aspect of what he does, simply about the side for the fact that he just has a team to get better. But as everybody else us, so I'm gonna ride with him, I'm gonna let him go ahead and compete. I think he's shocked. I'm thinking he's probably the only guy that you're probably sound with, aside from you know, developing digs. That's the only guy that you feel good about. You know, when when he's out there, you feel you

feel you feel a lot better. You know, when you have you know Jordan Lewis, or when you have you know, any of these other guys out there, you don't feel as secure. And I think that's a testament regardless of how bad your team is, He's still one of the whate hundred defensive backs in this league, right, so you gotta respect him somehow. But yeah, I'm riding with him. I'm moving. Yeah, I'm moving. Um, yeah, I'm moving on.

And I think, you know, really just for him. I think he's a guy that may benefit from a fresh start, some start somewhere else. I mean, I just I hadn't seen it. I don't think we're ever gonna get it, And it's like wishing for something that's just not gonna happen. I'm not gonna get myself in trouble with Santa Claus in the tooth Fairy again. But but I want to say is that we could do better. We could do at a free agency uh, with another guy. I just, you know, I just don't think that he's going to

be a part of our plans in the future. I would have said before this season, go ahead, go ahead. Yeah. Now, I was gonna say Heckman did not get a Pepperman on his desk today, because I can tell he's a little angry as I mean these guys. Yeah, he's he did, I'm grooving. I guess I would have said before the season, probably no, just because the market could turn out where it's just not something you'd want to spend the money

and resign. But he's been out for half the year, most of the year, so you know, there may be away financially to bring him back. And and I kind of think Xavier is the same boat. Like I just think, you know, depending on what's out there, to bring guys back and compete for a spot in a rotation, I

think that makes sense. But as far as like cornerstones go, I think when you're look talking about both these positions, cowboys need to be looking in the draft and looking in free agency to kind of see, you know, how can we get better, how can we create more competition at this these two positions, because you know, for most of the year it just hasn't been their proactivity wise. It's been that way for the last couple of years. If we're being honest, that word again, Yeah, cornerstone, Well

that's gonna do it here for talking cowboys. We're gonna end it on that note from Isaiah in the bottom left hand corner just smirking his way into the final couple seconds of the show. But like we just talked about I mean, whenever it comes to the secondary, there's question marks like there has been in the past, and

it's going to continue to be that way. The next couple of weeks, in the last seven games of the year is going to tell a whole lot on how this team is going to look heading into twenty twenty one. And there's a lot of tryouts being had for the rest of the year and players going to have to step it up and continue playing better like we've seen over the last couple of weeks. But that's gonna do it for us, for Chris Beam in the back, for heckm. Harrison,

for Rob Phillips, for Isaiah stand Back. I'm Kyle Yeoman's glad to have you back here after the bye week. Will be back tomorrow, nine thirty. It's fans on the fifty Tuesday. We'll see you in here on Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.