Talkin' Cowboys: Scheme or Execution?

it's week fourteen? Fourteen? Is it week fourteen? I'm already trying to skip weeks at a certain point of the season. I don't want the season. Did you know? Football season's fun? It's fun things. But yeah, it's Week fourteen, Episode three here of Talking Cowboys. Here from the s WBC Mortgage Studios. Kyle Yeoman's alongside Isaiah stand Back in studio again. Today we've got Rob Phillips with a gigantic, very nice looking Christmas tree in the background, and then we've got Heck.

But Harrison given his best effort. Wow, the milk's gone bad. That's how we got Heck. Just so you know every day you like that, man, I would never do you like that. Heck ah right, you know what I mean. Yeah, this is not is not meant to be a competition, this tree thing. I no, it's it's just before we for me, it was okay, well, well each of you move, move aside a little bit and just show these things off. I mean, the heck's got his on his desk, and he was the first one to have it. And then

Rob was like, oh, I've got one for you. Heck I covered heck, heck, we just completely covered his up. Heck me, you covered yours up. I love it. Oh, I mean yes, ornaments and everything on his tree. Bro, I look at my little naked tree back here that he definitely spirit man. Yeah exactly. Oh well that's uh, that's how we're gonna start talking Cowboys today, just by a little comparison between that and Rob. Always fun. But the Cowboys were back out on the practice field yesterday.

They will be back out there today following pretty much right when we're done with this show, they'll take the field and get back out here at the Star in Frisco. But there was an injury report yesterday and I just kind of wanted to point this out Yesterday during the show, I mentioned I wouldn't be surprised if Ezekiel Elliott was on that injury report. Well, he ended up being on the injury report with a bit of a calf lingering

calf issue. Is that what it was, Robin? Were there any other are injuries that stuck out to you off of yesterday's practice? Yeah, it's a calf for Zeke coming out of the game, and the other three players on the report are related to past injuries. Anthony Brown with ribs limited, what would have been limited how they practiced, Zeke would not or Zeke would have been limited if they had practiced, So the report was an estimation. Cam Irving would not have practice and Donovan Wilson would not

have either. So that's that's a pretty clean injury report. Although with a short week Nostradamas Kyle, I don't know what the Zeke's status is going to be, you know, because you know how much work they are they really going to get in. They'll probably have a normal practice maybe Friday, but it's kind of that Thanksgiving week where they're just gonna try to manage him and see if he can go he is that really a big issue

this week if if Zeke's not available. I know recently we've talked about the lack of production and we've talked about uh really just Zeke not being Zeke in twenty twenty. But how worried does that make you feel against a very winnable Cincinnati team? Uh coming up this weekend of Zeke's not on the field. Now, I want to go to what he said about you being no soredamic when you call that out, I mean it came out of

left field really when you said it. So I think you're really kind of Martha Stewart in the show right now with inside of information. We're gonna let that. We're gonna let that slide. But it does worry, It does worry you a little bit. Yeah, of course I got you, Bertie, but you know, I a little worried about that that injury.

I you know, obviously hope it's okay. Uh, in a game like this and where the season is going for the Dallas Cowboys, you know, look, man, you may want to get an opportunity to see some other guys if Zeke cannot go. Uh. So, Look, it's just it's the most twenty twenty. Thing that continues to happen is, you know, we get these freak injuries, got show up on the injury report that you didn't think that that was anything wrong with him, and Zeke is just another guy in

that long line of Cowboys that are injured. Gosh, yeah, I think he'd be all right. I mean, whatever he has going on, I think it's probably relatively minorum. If anything, they'll probably just monitor him, you know, like you already say, Rob going to you know, with a short week, making sure that he's good. He's a vet, they know what he could do. I think they probably feel bad and they know they should have kept giving him the ball

this past week. So they're probably just giving him an extra day off, right, and make sure that he's ready to go out here and run against these boys this week. So with all that being said, I know a lot of fans out there are looking at this as maybe even a premature tank move. I mean sitting your veteran guys. And I'm not even just talking about Zeke, but I

mean even some of these corners. Anthony Brown, he's been dealing with that issue kind of on and off all year long, and now he's he's back on the injury report. Then you talk about Donovan Wilson, a guy who's been an up and comer. I don't necessarily think he's one of those guys that you would sit out, even if you were trying to take because you want as many

reps for Donovan Wilson as possible. But could you see this as a potential move with Zeke sitting him down for the at least a couple weeks of the rest of the season and getting him ready for twenty twenty one a little bit early. I would. I would call it a strategic move if that is what they're doing. I wouldn't call it a tank move. The tank term is overutilized, and it isn't And yeah, it's definitely mismisused. There is no such thing as tanking in the NFL.

We've already touched on that in previous weeks. But it does make sense if you just pay somebody a bunch of money, if you're committed to them long term, to make sure that if this season, if they feel as if this season is out of hand, if if it's at a loss, right which it's right on the custom of that, then it only makes sense to protect your guys, the guys that you know are going to be here, the guys that you know are going to be valuable

to you going down to stretch. I don't think that they're doing that, but if they were to do that, it would be a strategic move. It would not be a tank move, right. Yeah. No. Another example of that would be Zach Martin maybe down the stretch here. You know, he's he's gonna miss minimum three games on irm with a calf as well. And the thing with calfs are like it's one of those soft tissue kind of things

that you don't want to mess around with. So, uh, you know, if the Cowboys are mathematically eliminated by the time Zaxell's were to come back, like if he's not one hundred percent, it makes no sense, like Isaiah said, to your best pound for pound player, to put him

out there. So we'll see what happens happens there. But you know, the whole tank thing, it's like, you know, a discussion coming out of the game the other day was, you know, what was their effort level like and did they you know, they look like they quit and all that kind of stuff that fans hate, Well, what which one do you want? You want them to just you know, I mean, you can't have it both ways. I've been

saying that all year. You can't. You can't accuse him of not playing hard and all that kind of stuff and it discuss you. But then you just want to hank and get a higher draft pick. You can't have it both ways. No, it definitely, it definitely is a double led sward when you talk about the fan base and that whole tanking uh thought process, and I think it ticked us off when we you know, a couple of games back when we when people were starting to

talk that way. But you know, at the end of the day, I just feel as though that that whole tanking thing is happening organically. Yeah. I mean you look at our deepness and you look at their uh inability to stop the run, and you talk about, hey, let's you know, Anthony Brown being on the injury reserve. If I believe if Anthony Brown had played last week, he wouldn't have been would have been an afterthought in that game. So look, like I said, it's all happening, uh, and

it's happening organically. You may want to check Greg Williams and him going cover zero for the Jets. Now, that's that's example of team tank right there. He got fired the next day. That's what they're trying to do. Yeah, lost, here's the thing, K like, so organically, He's right. They're down to their fifth and six offensive tackles. They're playing all kinds of backups this year because they've kind of

had to. So, you know, I do think it's organ It's like Jerry said on the fan recently, he said, if we if we earn it, we'll take the high draft pick. If we earn it, they're earning it because of what at what they're doing defensively and the struggles they're having. It's like it's not quite history. It's historic in Cowboys history, it's not quite historic in NFL history, but it's it's downright bad, no doubt about that. That defense could arguably be historic in terms of NFL history.

I think I think that defense would be right up there in terms of some of the top were just terrible defenses that the league has ever seen. But I kind of want to go back to the offensive line, and you guys mentioned Zack Martin. Of course, he was out against Baltimore here on Tuesday. But I wanted to kind of talk about the offensive line and yesterday, and we didn't get to it. But I thought the offensive line fared quite well. I thought they had one of

the better games of the year. Whenever they didn't have a Zach Martin, they didn't even have cam irving on the edge. I mean, you lost both of your tackles, and I mean these guys really kind of stepped up and played well against a very heavy front seven. Yeah. No,

they played well. They played well, and I know most people are gonna look at it and say, you know, Kalais Campbell was limping around his little gimpy Okay, but they still had They still had the wolf, the wolf on Wall Street as I referred to him, and he had a presence there. And they still they still have their dudes over there. Um, and the offensive line stepped up.

They played well, and they allowed Annie Dalton get getting in a rhythm, They allowed for him to get some sweat, They allow for him to disperse the ball all over the place. Um, you know, I thought they did a really good job. I think it right at the end of the game there, they started having a little bit of some cracks come through. But again, we were holding onto the ball a little bit longer than we have been um in an earlier in the game because we're

trying to get it downfield. So overall, for what they for what we're playing with, and you know what those guys had to do this week against that opponent, they did a heck of a job. Yeah, I think they came into the game with a great strategy called max Protects slide protection, and that's what you have to do for Andy Dalton in order for him to be upright for most of the game. And you think about it, Andy Dalton was getting those quick passes out fast. It

was dinkin dunk and finding his tight ends. And that's the game that that the Dallas Cowboys have to play because of where we are with our offensive line. I mean, there's a lot you know, we we've you know, a lot of people are pleased with the with Andy Dalton's performance. Obviously, there were a few throws that he did miss, one I believe, to Michael Gallup at the back of the

end zone. But still, I mean I think that we still don't we don't have the full arsenal of our offensive plays at our disposal because of how we're compromised at the offensive line. I saw them do a lot with Blake Bell to Bell Dozer should up not only block him, but I think he had a catch as well, And so you have we're gonna have to take that with us for the rest of these games if we want, you know, Andy Doggs to have just a titch of success. Yeah, for sure. And you know, some of it was what

Baltimore was just giving them. I feel like the way they were kind of playing their safeties, you know, just let the Cowboys rich just try to go down the field and and maybe they make a mistake on a long drive. Kind of a strategy there. But the problem with that is they didn't have any chunk plays in the game. They had one play over twenty yards and

I was laid in the game to Michael Gallop. And you know, when you combine that with what Baltimore did one, two, three, nine plays I believe over twenty yards in the game or close to it, and four over thirty yards, Like that's where you're struggling. I mean, defensively, believe it or not. They had some plays that were okay in the game, but when you give up those giant plays, you just don't have much to stand on over the course of a four quarter game. And that's been a problem all

year long. Now is that indicative of the offensive line, rob or is that something specific to play calling from Kellen Moore? Because you can attack underneath against really any defense and at some point they're going to creep up. Well, Baltimore didn't do that. Ultimately, they stayed in their game plan over the course of the game and because of that, there was nothing over the top for this Dallas offense.

Is that where does it start for the Cowboys if you want to fix that and find some more big place because they were really good at it earlier in the year. Well, I may say it goes back to play action too, and like Isaiah said, get Zeke involved a little bit more and try to hit them that way. You know, if you got your running game really cooking, that's where you can take the top off at some

point in the game. And but yeah, I mean they also though they have guys that can take short intermediate passes and turn them into something Ceedee Lamb is one that comes first to mind. So but either way, however you do it you've got to be able to with the line like this and the way they're compromised up front, you can't rely on these twelve play add r drives. You just can't do it. You gotta get some easy ones every now and then. Ema No, I feel the

same way. I think that you know, Kellen Moore does has done a better job of pulling back the game plan. I mean, we were seeing double reverses and triple option plays and things that just didn't what are we gonna do with that? And you know, I think that if you want to get Andy Dalton through the rest of the season, you're gonna have to max protect. I think what Rob said is right. You know, you do have those playmakers on your offense that can take a five

yard slant route to the house. But what teams are doing is they're basically you know, man and man zone, keep your safeties high and bringing guys down in the box to stop the run and daring Andy Dalton to throw the ball along. You know. So I think that's what Baltimore's strength was against us, because they have they had so many good the defensive backs to a great guys, and you know, they just didn't have the pass rush either.

And I think when you talk about Wolf and Klais Campbell and what they did and pushing the pocket, still the offensive line has some success, which just you know, getting a hat on the hat and big on big and so I think you progressed in that and I think you can take that, especially if you're not gonna get Irvin or Zack Martin back. That that gives you some positive. As far as the running game going into the Cincinnati, I mean, I agree, I don't really have

much of else to add to that. I mean, those guys said it, old line played well and he don't got the ball out, you know. You know, we talked about CD in the pregame show, and CD got the ball early and often, right. I think he ended up

having six catches or so. You know. But but to what you just said, Hey, Baltimore was playing, they're playing soft and the secondary side of things keeping everything in front of him because they knew that we couldn't beat them over the time, but they weren't going to have time to do. So, you know, we ran the ball whale, which is what you expect to do versus a heavy two high safety team, and we just got away from

the run. Ye you know, Zeke was running like Zeke, and unfortunately we decided to not go back to him. I thought we'd moved a ball pretty dog on whale. We just didn't score enough points. Yeah, I didn't score the points, didn't finish drives. Andy Dalton said that after the game he talked about the fact that not finishing those drives was big, I mean, stalling out right outside the red zone, and it ultimately made the kicks harder for Greg Zerline. He ended up leaving three kicks off

of the board, so nine points total. And I mean that's pretty much the difference in the game. You've either finished one or two of those drives or you'll get one more first down. And you trust Greg Zirline to kick more so from inside fifty yards than over fifty yards. And that's kind of what the difference in the ball game ended up being. So when we come back here on Talking Cowboys presented by Geico, let's talk about the

Cincinnati Bengals, the Cincinnati offense versus this Cowboys defense. It's the pin a sewer Bowl. Looser gets the third overall pick. Hey in the NFL draft, is it take Athon twenty twenty. We'll talk about it on the other side of the break. You're out talking, Cowboys. There's nothing as unique as our eyes, which is why Selor pioneers ways to make lenses as unique as you. Varilux for super sharp vision, Essential Blue for protection, and Resolve for freedom from glare. Three cutting

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I don't know if we're gonna get to fans on the fifty this week, just because it is a short week and we had a game kind of smack dab in the middle of it, but we will answer some fan questions if you put him in the periscope stream while I'm looking at it before we get into the second segment though, whether you're listening to music while you work or listening to Talking Cowboys, no or lenses at

this moment, that's coming in the next break. Both Quiet Comfort earbuds let you experience audio in a whole new way. Both Quiet Comfort earbuds are the official earbuds of the Dallas Cowboys. Heck Ma Harrison approves he has the bows up over the ears as always, Harrison, Rob Phillips, Isaiah stand back, and Kyle Yeoman's with you here on Talking Cowboys,

Chris Beam running it in the back. But guys talking about the Bengals coming up, and just the one of two teams in the NFL that are one of three teams in the NFL that don't have a record as bad as the Dallas Cowboys. They sit above you right now with the third overall pick in April's twenty twenty one NFL Draft. However, dared them, you lose this game to the Bengals, and all of a sudden, you have the third overall pick because they have a tie with

the Philadelphia Eagles on their record. But no Joe Burrow, no Joe Mixon. It's just a bunch of average joes for Cincinnati and the Bengals whenever it comes to the offensive side of the football. This week, But rob, what have you seen from Cincinnati? I mean, they still have a couple of good receivers out there, Te Higgins, who out of climps in this past year, and then of course a couple other guys they could go with, like a Tyler boy who had a seventy two yard touchdown test.

This week, I've seen an offense that has really really struggled. So we're gonna find out, you know, just how bad it gets for the Cowboys defense, to be honest with you. You know, without Joe Burrow in their lineup at quarterback, they've really struggled the last two and a half games. I think they've got three scores with Brandon Allen at quarterback, not that he can't make plays, but they haven't been very successful. Joe Mixon, they're starting running back I believe

is still going to be out of this game. He's still on IR So it's a Giovanni Bernard show. And you know, look, they've struggled to run the ball. I think they've had forty yards total in each of their last two games, both losses. But we'll fix that. Yeah, heck, like does that does that matter? Like you see that stat and say, oh, well, then it's a big day for the Cowboys defense. They have to go out there

and show it, show that they can stop that. Because Giovanni Bernard has been in the league for a few years and while maybe their offensive line is not productive up front or hasn't been, he's a competent running back. So Cowboys got a show they can stop the run against anybody, no matter how much their opponent has struggled with guys. Oh, man, you know Joe Mixon, Joe Mixon, he must don't want to get his stats up. What's

going on with you, Joe Giovanni Bernard. Man, he is, like you said, Rob, he's been in the league for a while and he's one of those you know, low to the ground, shifty bowling ball style running backs that he can get in behind those tackles and get some gash yards. I mean, he kind of reminds me of the running back from UM from the football team. Don't want to say the wrong name, M. Gibson, and yeah, kind they kind of you know, low to the ground, short guys that that can you know, kind of scatty.

But still Giovanni Bernard man has the best mustache in the league. I don't know if you check this guy's mustache out, but he's got the whole wide eer thing going on right now. I've never seen a brother with a wider mustache, but Jiovvanni Bernard got one. But you know, look, it's just one of those things where you could go into this game saying that, look, we have everything to play for, and this is an offense that you're not

scared of. And they have had every reason, they have every reason to lay down right, but for some reason they will show up with this average offensive line UH and give us some problems in the running game. And they still have some J. P. Run I believe from Oklahoma, who is definitely a viable option UH in the running game. As well. But let's not forget about the man A J. Green. He's still alive, he's still out there and there's still

some ability there. But you know, they're gonna load up with their tight ends and they're gonna run it right out of us. Man. Both both I said, and I both looked up and googled Giovanni Bernard's mustache. And you're right, that thing is fantastic. It's impressive. That's a I mean, that is a toss. It's like Captain Crunch Hall of Fame. Oh wow, I'm telling you, it's really it's really fantastic. Captain Way to go, Geo. Is that your favorite teial? No,

I'm a simto Crunch. I love Captain Crunch. I think it's so good. Captain MESSI the roof of your mouth. Oh yeah, that's fair, that's fair. What do you think about this? Good coo? It touched the lips? What do you think about this Giovanni Bernard led offense from Cincinnati? They struggled, I mean they've struggled. I mean this is gonna be a it's gonna be a battle royale this week. I mean, this is one of those games where you

have two teams that aren't playing very well. I don't want to call any team a bad team, but you've got two teams that aren't playing very well. And when those when when that tends, when that collides, when those when we have those two masses colliding, usually one comes out looking like a superstar. Right, Usually one comes out looking like a superstar and the other one comes out

looking like Pepper Lapu. So we're gonna find out which one comes out looking like Pepper lapu U. And I'm hopeful, I'm hopeful that it won't be the Cowboys, because these dudes have they have some weapons, but so do we, Right, So we're gonna see which team shows up. We're gonna see which offers a coordinator, brings the best game plan, and let's get ready to rumble. Yeah, well, then I think one of the game plans from Cincinnati is to

do do a couple how about three words here? Run the ball, And they've had some success whenever Giovanni Bernard runs the football. This is a part of the Big Fax article that out later today on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. But the Bengals throughout Bernard's career are eleven one and one when Bernard gets fifteen carries or more so, if he's able to get the rock and they feed him the rock, that is a team that has a lot

of success. And against the Cowboys, rob that's what they're going to do, because why would you do anything else. Why would you challenge and Alan, why would you challenge to try and get outside or back behind this defense? Because you know, even a veteran running back is going to have some success against this run defense. Yeah, for sure. I mean as long as the game is close, right, because I think I want to say he hasn't had more than thirty something yards this year in terms of

rushing in a single game. You know, I'm a stand corrected. He had sixty two against Tennessee, but he more than fifteen carries and they won that game against Tennessee. Though, you're right, he was right at fifteen carries, Blake, But you know, against the Dolphin last week, twelve or thirty, you know, and they fall behind, and you know they've struggled to protect Brandon Allen so and actually he's on the injury report for them this week. I think he

did practice yesterday. But yeah, yeah, they're gonna want to try to feed the Rock. Why not. I mean, that's the Cowboys biggest weakness by far. I was looking up at the Cowboys stats historically. I mentioned historically earlier in the show, they are on pace for the worst run defense in team history. They're on pace to give up two thousand, six hundred eighty five yards that would surpass the two thousand Cowboys twenty six hundred thirty six yards

in two thousand. The other two years were they're the top three currently years of worst run defenses historically, two thousand when they went five and eleven, one of three straight years of five and eleven, nineteen sixty okay, first year in team history where they were expansion back, and then nineteen eighty nine one in fifteen. That's what we're dealing with. That's what we're talking about this year in

terms of perspective of just how bad it's been. They're giving up one hundred and sixty seven yards of game fellas, and the next worst team is Houston one fifty. I mean, it's not even close right now, but they're giving up on the ground and and that's what happens when you basically have two three hundred yard games that you allow um they've got a short up. They've got a short up, and I don't know at this point, can they can? Can they consistently short up? They haven't shown that they can.

I love just hearing heck Mud just giggle in the background out of just disgusts like that, like it's a it's a picture of Rob, it's just the Rob video. And then he was just in the background just giggling because he can't believe it. It's like a laugh track on on the copy show, a sitcom, because you know this this I don't know how Rob does it. He still has hope in his voice, you know, And I love that about you, Rob Up. You still have that hope.

You know, you still use words like short up. You know. I think that's fantastic. Um, yeah, what do you what do you? What do you say? I mean since the expansion eighty nine, two thousand, with the three consecutive five and eleven, yeah, I mean, those were some historically bad teams,

and we see it again this year. Um, you know, and I know we're talking about Cincinnati, but guys, if you watch that, watch the Ravens game and that long run from Lamar Jackson when he when he sent his guy in motion and realized that we were in man. His eyes lit up because he knew that was nothing we could do to stop that. And it's gonna if we continue to play those kinds of defenses, If we

continue defensively, guys are just at living. I mean, n you can't tell me Tank Lawrence on that play wasn't supposed to step down with that tackle. You can't tell me that that's the angle that Layton vander Eshi is supposed to take. All of those things. I mean, it was a disaster. And so I keep saying and asking the questions to you guys, like what are we doing? And you could put a lot of it on Mike Nolan, you could call it scheme, but there's no way that

he's coaching guys to play like this. There's no way that he's coaching guys in the interior of your defense to get dug out like that. It's just it's nasty. Based off your statement, right, yo, is it as our problem as our biggest as our biggest problem the players on defense or is it a defensive coordinator. I mean, with that being said, you have to say it's a combination of both. If you want to give a percentage.

You want to give a percentage. No, you want to me to give a percentage on And I'm gonna have to put it on the coach. I'm gonna have to say coaching. Yeah, I'm gonna have to I'm gonna say fifty five forty five. You know coaches with the fifty five, you know it's it's got to be something. But there's no way that you coach a scheme like that. I mean, this is this is high school. This is high school, read option dog, this is this is nothing they run. Hey, Kyle,

we're gonna see that plates at night. Yeah, in a high school game, it's there's nothing, you know, and there's there's nothing scheme wise that is above that what you've what you've seen before. They are they're trapping guys. They're bringing them in an alley and you know to step down with that guy to not create uh an HLV lane And that's what we're doing. We got HV lanes in our defense man and guys have just run through. You said, you see to Cincinnati have a toll tag though,

that's my question. Yeah, did they get that toll tag taken care of us? Uh? With so kind of going off of what what Heckman just said though, and kind of the challenge that you brought with with coaches or players. I'm gonna play Devil's advocate here, But how could you say it's coaches whenever the same problems were from last year and it was a completely different coaching staff, Because I mean that's a legitimate question from a lot of Cowboys fans is why have we not seen a change?

Is it because that's just the personnel? Is it the players? Even Jones on the fan I believe yesterday said that he doesn't think it's not the players. He thinks the players are the right guys. You just haven't executed, Which wouldn't that put it on the coaches. But it's a different coaching staff, same result is twenty nineteen, if not worse. It's a really good question. I think I have to agree with heck and say it's a combination of both.

It has to be, absolutely has to be. I think no matter what team it is, it always has to be. But these players. I don't feel as if these players have taken enough responsibility, taking it upon themselves to ensure that they get things right. Your coaches can call things. Your defensive coordinator could call different plays, but you still have the power to change it on the field. Vander Ish and Jylen Smith. Whenever you have middle linebacker used

to have the power. Those guys are the quarterbacks on that side of the ball. They can check out of plays just like you see. I see quarterbacks check out of plays all the time. That guy has the power to check out of plays. These defensive linemen and these linebackers and these secondary guys, they all have choice whether or not to get beat or not, whether it'd be lined up in the right gap or not, rather the

right have the right proper the proper technique. Do I be inside leverage on this on his receiver or do I go outside? Do I go head up? Do I put my hands on them? Do I try to shadow them? So those are aspects that the coaches can't control, right, Um, But you know, I don't think there's enough enough responsibility being taken on either side. And they like, like you said, they have to share things up soon, Rob, What do

you think about that? Oh? No, please, though you don't like to show up, don't like the up stop it's too late for shoring up. Uh yeah, probably right. You're probably right. At this point, it's almost Christmas. We'll get the true we got the trees up, the true. Yeah. No, I think Um Stevens point is well made in that it is a lot of the same players from last year. I would say, though, you know, we've touched on this before.

There were issues last year with gap discipline and gap control and you know, and and kind of freelancing and those things, and they gave up some big yardage in terms of rushing last year. It's just gotten like historically bad this year. So you know, I don't think you can put it all on the players. You got to figure out why, you know, the new scheme or whatever you're asking players to do, why they're not responding to it. I mean, that's that does fall on coaching to a

certain extent. It has to sou But you know, you know what one of you guys mentioned, I think heck you mentioned the the early touchdown from Lamar Jackson. Mike McCarthy said that was a good look. They were in the right defense there. But I think you also can argue, like you said, there have been situations where you know, they kind of stubbornly stay in their sub packages when they're facing you know, power running team or a two tight end set and they're kind of overmatched in terms

of personnel. So I think you got to look at that stuff too. It's uh, I'm with heck man, it's just it's never it's never one thing, and they've really got to figure this out. If it's not this season, then they got to get in the offseason and see how can we get better at this because it's you know, you're going on a couple of years of this, honestly, where when they struggle to stop the run and they're

in big trouble. Man, there's so many holes to fill this offseason when you talk about that defense in the secondary and the contracts, who you bring it back, who you're not bringing back, I mean, you're gonna have to go out and find like six starters. I mean, if we're being real, I mean you're gonna have to go out end guys to come in and immediately make an impact on that defense. Because I think the offense is gonna be just fine in twenty twenty one. I really do.

And we're gonna talk about that offense when we come back on the other side of the break. Continuing on here on Talking Cowboys presented by Geico. We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and creep Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor pet cream Soda. Is he a new combone that's music to my years? Okay, doctor music to my ears and mouths? New Doctor Pepper and cream soda A delis.

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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 Talk in Cowboys, it's the final segment Hero of Talking Cowboys on this Cowboys Thursday? Are okay? Isaia? Are you ready? I stay ready? Are you ready? Presented by Geico by the Way, Talking Cowboys. Whether you're watching from home or you're cheering in the stands, well, that's lore Lenses.

You'll see every exciting play book. An appointment at your local salore experts and find the perfect eSeL lens for you see more, do more. Our friends over at doing fantastic job all year long and sponsoring us here on Talking Cowboys. We cannot thank them enough. And Ken, I thank you enough for just bringing out the guy. I mean, I definitely had on my sels when I projected the thirty four seventeen loss, and you apparently had on s lords when you projected Ezekiel elliott Um coming up on

an injury. And Rob had his eselaurs on when he was picking out the Christmas tree, and Heckma did not Dan whenever he was picking Christmas. There you go against our sponsor. There it is again, you guys, dog dog my tree. Okay, it's a good dog. It's a good tree. I like your tree. I think it's fantastic. I just want to see what you come back with on Monday, the big old tree. It's gonna be like the Griswolds. Yeah, you know, and you know, and you know coming back

Monday should be fun. Harrison, Rob Phillips, Isaiah stand back up Kyle Yeoman's final segment here. And I mentioned the offense and how they're gonna fare against Cincinnati, and we'll talk about it more tomorrow. But let's talk about Andy Dalton a little bit here because we talked earlier Isaiah mentioned how Andy Dalton kind of found a bit of

a rhythm. He was able to manage the game quite well through it to eight different receivers in the ball game, all of which had a reception in the first half of it. But whenever it comes to finding all four quarters, I don't know if we've necessarily seen that from both Andy Dalton and our offensive coordinator Kellen Morcas. Like we talked about, they kind of went away from the run game.

But now that you're going up against a team that seemingly has an inferior defense and has not had as much success on the defensive side of the football, Isaiah, do you feel like there's a chance and there's a little bit more confidence here for this offense moving into the week against Sinci. I think he's going into this game trying to have the game of his life. I mean,

it's against his team, it's against his former team. I mean, so if you can imagine somebody leaving a team, leaving an organization that you know wanted to replace you, and they drafted a number one pick to get you up out of there. I'm going out and I'm showing my tail off, right And I think we saw a little bit of that swag this past week. And I can't even imagine his mindset right now going back to Cincinnati.

He this might be the best any dudding we've ever seen, potentially against a bad defense against his old organization that he spent his whole career with. So I'm expecting amazing things from him. And I think the continuity between him and the receivers, I think we saw that this past we got to display starting half starting to happen. So if our office a line can protect, which I don't see any reason why they can't, because Cincinnati's best defensive linement.

You know, Geno's not doing a dog on thing seemingly, I think we'll be all right. Rob, Yeah, for sure. That's the first thing. You know, Andy, he's such a nice guy and he you know, he's never gonna give

you an explosive sound bite, and he didn't. But he was asked about, you know, after the Ravens game, he was asked about going back to Cincinnati, and he said, I knew this one was on the schedule, So I mean, that's the for Andy, Like that's probably the closest thing you'll ever hear of, Like I had this thing circled, you know, because I'm sure he did. I'm sure he did, you know, Like Asaia said, I mean he's he was their franchise for almost ten years. You know. They they

struggled last year, they went in a different direction. He got granted his release, and he never imagined he would play this much. But here he is with an opportunity to at least try to get his new team back on some kind of a track here, and I think he's building. That was his best performance of the season. I really don't really think that. It didn't translate to points. Obviously enough points, but he just looks like he's in

a better rhythm with his wide receivers. And if they can give him protection, and like you guys said, I mean, if you can, if you can try to establish some balance here, I think he's going to have he's got a chance to really show out. It's his old tam Oh gosh, oh no, oh, okay, guys, So you know Andy, Andy, what do you like? I just need Andy And he drove the bus. Andy drove the bus last year for Cincinnati to a number one draft pick. Right, so they did so Andy drove the bus bus this year to

this organic take it going on. I mean, you guys, this guy's an't talking about the game of his life on as though Cincinnati didn't give Andy Dalton the opportunity and the platform to be the player that he is multiple contracts. I mean, they named the one to name the city after the man, and so now he has a chip on his shoulder to go back to Cincinnati and at the game of his life. Wow, you guys are amazing, dude, when you don't know that I'm here for Yeah, a revenge on his mind this week before

he getting put off the field. Man, you know, I think it de Bryan situation. I think that would be completely I want to get some get back for the way that I got out of Dallas, right and the way that my my, my, wait a minute, my career, how my career is going. But if you're the franchise, you're the face of the franchise for ten years, and if the writing is on the wall that your career

and you are not the quarterback that you were. And oh, by the way, you lead us to the number one pick in the year that when you were not hurt or anything like that, you were a bench for Come on, man, I mean, I get it, I get it. Wet we need something to talk about. Revenge is key and he's going back to the Cincinnati and he's gonna have the game of his life. He question, does any doesn't throw for three hundred yards and three touchdowns? This game no different?

I feel like we have a friend friendly little bet coming off on talking cowboys. What we wager in here? Friendly bets? How about we wage a tree whole if he doesn't get three hundred yards, three hundred yards, three touchdowns, I will buy a tree to put in your back behind you and your back drop. How big of a tree? Are we talking and talking about a tree that day? That will cover up his bows? Quiet comforts? Okay, that's

how big of a tree something like that. But listen, I appreciate that because that's gonna put me in the crisp bean stratosphere that have a trip Christmas tree in every room. So yeah, give me a big tree. I can't wait to get well. So I have hit right there for your background. If he loses, though, what would if he loses? Because we could put a tree in your background too, and we would all have the festive spirit in the room. What's just rubbing into the fans?

Can we have the fans right now? Don't you ask the fans what do you think? What do you think the equivalent you know, pay should be for HECMA. So you don't want a tree, is what you're saying. No, I don't need a tree. Okay, I got a tree. No, just letting you know. I have one tree at my house. Just letting y'all know. Oh, christ tree at my house. He's just got multiple Emmys. That's all it is. It's the Gold and the Emmys confusing. It's like the grizzl one tree. Okay. So so here here's the bet. And

this isn't finalized yet. It will be finalized tomorrow. So if Andy Dalton throws for at least three hundred yards and three touchdowns, Isaiah will get something from HECMA. The fans get to decide this. So the fans are gonna say something and we're gonna kind of tweet at us at I am stand back, Rob Phillips three, we got HECKMA underscore, Harrison and Kyle underscore Yeoman's so he does look a little bit nervous, So fans tell us what

what would have to get Isaiah? And then if Isaiah loses the bet and Andy Dalton goes underneath three hundred yards and three touchdown, you've got to buy heckma tree, a big time tree, big old tree, big old tree. You won't even need your goods. That's saying something, saying something that's a tough I can't wait to get my tree. What do you think, Rob, what's your take on it? Row? I know you're not a part of this bet, but what's what's your what's your take on this? I think

he's gonna play well. I think the stats are lofty, loft, I mean he did. He did just throw for two eighty five two touchdowns with it with a high cover, two safety defense. You're right, although I will say Cincinnati has given up twenty nineteen and nineteen in the last three games. Now. They've lost them all. They've lost them off because they can't score any points offensively. But they've done They've been a little stingy, they've been a little centgy.

I'm very I'm very interested. I think it's a good bet because it's gonna take a good amount from Andy Dalton, Like it's gonna have to take a good game from Andy Dalton for Isaiah to win this bet. But it's possible because it's Cincinnati and like, like he said, like there's a little bit of revenge on the mind, even though Heckma doesn't believe that sort of thing, but it's it's definitely. I think this is a good bet. I like this. I like this a lot. I think this

could be a lot of fun. But that's gonna do it here for us on Talking Cowboys, send us what HECMA would have to buy Isaiah on Twitter. Please let us know and we'll get this bet finalizable. Update you tomorrow on the Great Bet of twenty twenty for Harrison, for Rob Phillips for Isaiah stand back and multiple Tree Chris Beam in the backup Kyley Ooman saying so long from the SWBC Mortgage Studios. We'll see you tomorrow on

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