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This he's Talking Cowboys, springing live from the Dallas Cowboys World Colors at.
The Star in Friscot Tison and now your hosts Isaiah Standback, Nick Harris, John Mashoda, and Kyle Yeomans.
It's a Thursday edition of Talking Cowboys, presented by Black Rifle Coffee Company, live from the Star in Frisco in the SWBC studios. It is a Thursday, which means we're breaking down the Cowboys offensive preview against the New York Jets.
In Week two of the NFL season.
Here with Nick Harris, John Machoda, Isaiah Standback, I'm Kyle Yeomans.
Gentlemen. We doing today.
Pretty good, quick click, getting ready for Week two and this is this is really the preview day that I've been looking forward to because the Jets defense has some pieces.
I mean they are they are loaded, no doubt about it.
And of course we talked yesterday about the Jets offense versus the Cowboys defense. The Cowboys defense is exceptionally loaded, but now you've got the Jets defense to to talk about and we'll see how the Cowboys offense can adjust. But I want to start things off with a little news and notes. We've done this quite a few times on top talking Cowboys, but I'll hand things over to Nick Harris. Give me the news and notes of yesterday.
Cowboys back on the practice field. Just a tiny pit, kind of not really full yeah, practice, I mean it was just kind of a it was a mock walkthrough, so a mock game and a walk through. But there were some news that came out of Miam McCarthy's press conference yesterday.
Yeah, so they gave a practice estimate report, which is basically saying if they were in a full practice, this is how much certain guys would have practiced. And I know a notable addition to that list was Brandon Cooks, who's dealing with a knee issue apparently. So we were able to talk to Mike McCarthy about it. He said that he's going to try to do a little bit more today, talking about Thursday and then hope.
He said he's got a.
Chance to to to play on Sunday, so, you know, and talking to Brandon Cooks in the locker room after he was very kind of hush hush about everything. He was like, yeah, I'll just like coach speak on that, and you know, I feel good and you know, we'll see where we go from here. So it looks like it's just like a nagging recovery as far as I can tell.
That's my personal perspective of it.
You know, if he if he can't go on Sunday, I think that makes, you know, some things interesting for the receiving corps. And we lost our host, you know, so we've we've lost a receiver and we've lost our host.
Today, it's been bad.
I found it interesting how he answered that question about how multiple times he was asked and he said, well, you're you gonna have to ask coach about there whatever. I'm just not used to players saying that, So I don't know if that's a he's used to doing that at other stops in his career whenever there's been injuries. But I found that interesting how there's multiple times it was circled back on like his possibilities of playing and
everything of that, and he didn't reveal anything. So of course when we like leave the locker room, I go back. I'm like, let me just see when when's the last time he was out on the field and it's the play right before Turpin's touchdown to make it forty to nothing. And so he left basically when all the rest of the starters left. It wasn't like heh, he did something in the first half and then you know, we didn't see him in the second half. I mean that would have,
you know, raised some red flags. But he was out there until when they pulled Dak and everybody else like, so, I don't know.
And a lot of Texans beat writers were kind of coming to Twitter yesterday and be like, oh, yeah, it's Brandon Cook's Wednesday day off, like he does this, and we were like, Okay, good context, I guess, but I do feel like there's an actual injury going on here, just because of the way McCarthy communicated it yesterday.
But I guess that's something to keep in mind.
It was like, yeah, like Brandon Cooks took a few Wednesdays off last year, so is a veteran's day off.
He's a ten year guy, he could do that.
So did you ever take a veteran's day off? Isaiah?
Did you ever get a chance to take take the kick the feet up a little bit.
You're telling me a senior at U dub you weren't, you know, coming into practice timiously.
And that was my get money year. I had no time to be taking breaks.
Yeah, how much could missing Brandon Cooks this week? There's not a ton of concern, at least it doesn't seem like it. For Mike McCarthy, there was a little bit of concern when he said, yeah, he should be able to go. It's like, Okay, I don't like the words should.
No, I think he said chance, chance.
Even worse, So the wordage isn't necessarily great. But I still have confidence that that you'll see number three out there. But if he's not out there, Isaiah, how can that change things?
Not drastically this week? And be honest with you, really, this defense is not it's not really a man to man defense, and these guys like to play a lot of his own. So with that being the case, I'm not saying that be Cooks is just like any other receiver run this team, because obviously not the case. But you know, we have other guys that could be serviceable
against this particular type of defense. So Michael Gallup could have a day against these guys even Tolbert can have a day against these guys, so should be Cooks be missing, obviously you will miss him, but there's other guys that can still the job now for sure.
What do you think about some of the other injuries that were kind of addressed. I mean, don Van Wilson still trying to work back. He did not practice yesterday. Tyron Smith was a full participant with the ankle in practice, so that was a good sign. And then you're still looking for maybe Jordan Lewis to get back in the fold this week.
What do you think about some of those things. It's Lewis was active all week last week, but then he was inactive for the game.
I want to start with Tyler Smith, just because it's starting to feel like he won't play on Sunday again. Whenever we asked Mike McCarthy yesterday about it, he's like Donna was closer than Tyler, which you know, Donald's been dealing with the injury a little bit longer, and you know, if there's a clear eschalon there, then that probably means that, you know, he's probably down a little bit further than we would probably want him to be.
And then later in the press commerce.
He was asked about Tchuma Udoga's performance last week and he's like, yeah, you know, he stepped up to the plate.
He should be much more prepared this week. Now he's got the full week.
And I was like, okay, so I think they're preparing Tuma again for a week two. But as far as Tyron Smith looks like he's good to go, you know, full participant yesterday in the estimate. And then Donovan Wilson would love to see his debut. But again, as we spoke on it yesterday, like if it's if you, if you feel like you're pushing it, there's no needs there's
no need to. So you know, this defense proved that they're more than capable of, you know, doing things without him and Jordan, but would love to get those guys back on the field as suit as possible.
You still look concerned without Tyler Smith in the fold.
I would like to have him versus this front. I really would.
The reason being, these these guys are they're pretty big humans, and they're pretty strong humans. And really their way of pass rush is bull rush. That's their form of that's their style that they choose, right, Dallas's style is stunts, speed, you know, beat you vertically or confuse you versus. These guys are really just line up and we're just going to push you back into the quarterback. Obviously, that is
the strength of Tyler Smith. He can sit up there and and be broughtic with the big with the biggest guys in the league. So definitely will miss most likely miss that presence too, money Doga. It has good size to him and hopefully he can hopefully he can buck up his chin strap because he's gonna need it.
Yeah, it's his old team.
He's gonna be ready to go.
Is that what it is. He's gonna he's gonna play play well against him.
I mean, Jonathan Hankins played against his team last week that drafted him, and he played pretty well.
So that's pretty sound reasoning overall.
That's the that's the thing that sucks about the offensive line. You can't interchange guys based upon best matchups. Now, you know, you need chemistry. You know, if I was if you were able to interchange guys and chemistry wasn't really a factor, then I would put t J.
Bass in this game because TJ.
Bass is bigger in my opinion, he's a big bigger, more brawlic uh kind of road greater type of guy, right like, once you get in their physical old school irishman, right like. I think that's his style and I think that will work well against this defensive.
Front Chimmy Douga.
I think he should be serviceable as well, and being based upon his size, I think he has problems when guys are able to move and get around him. Right, So this is gonna be in a phone boo. It's gonna be strength on strength and who can really hunker down and put their foot in the ground, which also makes you want to turn your attention towards Tyrone Smith and find out how how strong that ankle is.
How'd you feel like he played in Week one?
I feel like he did really pretty good. I felt he did pretty good.
But again, you know, that's that style of rush that he that that we dealt with last week is not what he's going to see.
This week's different. Yeah, it's totally different.
What did you think about Tyron Smith? Yeah?
I really solid.
I thought it was a sound effort, you know, all the way from both tackles with Tyrone and Terrence. Terrence had one bad penal leave, but other than that, it was. It was mostly pretty clean. You know, I didn't love Beotish's performance, and I know we talked about that, but the more I've gone back to watch film from that game, the more I see Beyondash calling out things pre snap and that just I love to see that, like that's
that's invaluable. But as far as post snap, I feel like he could have cleaned some things up and had a better day overall. But Tyron, overall, I feel like he performed well my expectation for him.
It was met. I wouldn't say it was exceeded, but it was met.
So yeah, And I think there's ways that they can still see in Uptick. I mean, you were able to pave the way for the run early. You were able to get things going on the ground initially, and then the game was out of hand at that point, so it didn't really matter towards the back end. But I want to talk about the run game specifically this week because it's not going to be easy to run against
this front and John. I mean, we've talked at nauseum about the number two and number three running backs, Rico Dawdle and of course Douce Vaughn. But Tony Pollard, he was limited. He had the two touchdowns, sounded good. He didn't have to do a whole lot. Do you expect more out of Tony Pollard just from a usage standpoint in week two than you did in week one or you saw in week one?
Not much?
Yeah, No, I don't.
I think if anything, you might see more of Rico Dautle, maybe you see more Deuce Vawn. I could see Turpin getting a similar workload. So I guess it depends on how the game goes.
You know.
If there's certain situations where they just feel that way better off of Tony Pollard out there, they will be. But I just I don't get the sense at all that they're going to be throwing him out there for twenty twenty five carries a game.
I just really don't.
I think he's too valuable for the law on haul and what he can bring them in January. So I think that it's going to be managed to where he's out there in the right situations.
And obviously that was the case on Sunday.
They didn't have to give him the huge workload, but I think he had I want to say, like maybe eighteen.
Touches I can give you for sure.
I think it was.
Around fourteen attempts and he had two receptions.
Sixteen sixteen touches.
Yeah, yeah, I think that that's about right. Yeah, keep that around twenty.
Yeah.
And then Dawbdell had six carries, did not have a target. Turpin of course, had three carries, he had the touchdown.
Do you like the wrinkle of Turpin being thrown in there as a running back?
I mean, we talked about it a little bit on Hit Sticks earlier this week, But he's not a running back, but they can use him in that standpoint kind of the same way they use Deuce Vaughan.
In certain situations.
If he's on the field, he's not pass blocking, I can tell you that much. Yeah, So I do like to I like it for two reasons. I like it from a standpoint that you're taking carries off of Tony Pollard because they favor each other in their their dynamic ability to make a play, right and in terms of trying to outflank and use your speed and hit the hole and get up there and make somebody miss. So if you're gonna have somebody that can take carries off him and you can get the same effectiveness.
From that standpoint, then why not. And then from the other standpoint that.
You keep guys under toes and you find a way to get the ball into your playmaker's hands. You know, Turping is a supreme runner right with the ball in his hand, he just is. You know, you don't have to really worry about it except for the preseason game about him fumbling. So you can trust him in that regard, and he's gonna make He's gonna be a matchup nightmare. Now once he comes into the game personnel wise, you know,
when you're in a huddle. That's what's how that's how defenses are are are scripting.
Right, let me back up. A defensive coordinator sitting in the booth.
He's watching players come on the field as soon as he sees what players come on the field for the offense. Now he's calling his defense based upon the guys that are coming in for offense. So if you see Turping coming in, okay, obviously you have a four receivers on the field at one time. Okay, now you're sending out your dying but all of us and Turping lines up in the backfield. Oh crap, right, now we're now we're in a bad situation, right, So it's a mismatched nightmare
for teams. And yes, they're gonna still try to match up based upon personnel. But when he lines up in the backfield, now all of a sudden, you only got five guys in the box, you have some things to worry about.
Do you love it still? In goal line situations?
Because I figure him being as a running back, it would be most effective between the thirties, get him out in the open field where he can break off and get loose with a big hole, but in the goal line, where everything's much more compact.
I think he was only one.
For three on goal line opportunities on Sunday, So I don't know if I love goal line, But do you do?
You have the same sentiment.
I don't have an issue with it because you think about it from like, what this is going to sound bad, somebody's gonna take the offense of this. But what does Tony Pollard provide for you on the goal line that Turpin doesn't.
It's a little bit more physicality and more size.
I mean, when the last time you saw Tony Pauler run through somebody on Sunday.
I mean Sunday on the goal line.
I mean, he'll run through something.
I mean, I'm not saying that he can't, but I'm saying that's not his thing. I mean, I'm saying, you want to run through somebody, you put reco on the game, right, you want to talk about somebody running in tight spaces. Well, Turpen's kind of your guy, right, what does he do as a part returner? You run through tight spaces?
Yeah?
Right, So, I mean so it's not like he has an inability to be able to run the ball down there. Sure, it's just out of the box thinking and people are struggling with that.
And I liked how you mentioned just him even having him out there, what it does for opposing defenses that are watching it, Because there were some plays in that game that maybe they didn't have the biggest success, but like the dack keeper down in the red zone off when he ran to the left, Like, yeah, did they score a touchdown?
No?
But you liked that they're still showing, Hey, you have to account for the quarterback here. It's yeah, is he running like twenty sixteen? No, but you still have to count for it. We're still going to show that. Yeah, and probably my favorite play in the game was this
was the screen of power. I know he fumbled, but the way they brought CD in motion and then he circled around the gun and then came back out still to the left, Like they didn't throw to CD, but it is the most that's the playmaker you worry the most about in defense, and it still did enough to like draw some attention there, so then they could throw the screen back to the right like that. Like, yeah, they didn't throw to CD, but you can off of that.
And just to put that out there, there was just there was a few plays in there that I just really liked that. Like I said, it didn't hit big, but you can see what some big things that could come off of it.
No, I think that's that that creativity is what we've been waiting for. We were talking about it on Thursday last week of get the screen Game going. I mean, get it, get it rolling, and you're gonna use it with Turpin, You're gonna use it with Pollard, You're gonna use it with Douce Vaughan, and those are gonna be guys that the screen game allows uh or that allow the screen game to open up.
You also need a healthy offensive line to have some success and happening where you like from week to week.
Maybe you have the same five guys. I know this is crazy.
Yeah, I know, I know, but it happens sometimes. But if you have that, I just wonder how much.
Continuity there really was maybe, And.
I mean, let's be honest, since Micha McCarthy's been the head coach, it just really not had some good health in the offensive line. I think having you know, several weeks in a row with Tyron out there, Terrence Steele, Zach, Yeah, I think that could be that could help the screen game as well.
Yeah, we need to buy like a wood plant. We knock on this.
You don't think, what do you think that is?
I think it's like plywood, like it's okay, it's just there, which I mean, it's got wood in the name, So I mean, I think.
It's true work. I agree with you.
I think a healthy offensive line is always going to help this offense move forward. But you can't count on that, and that's why we had a problem with the offensive line depth at the beginning at the beginning of the year, and now you're already seeing it with Tyler Smith and Tyron Smith.
Last week there was a bit of a scare.
Luckily true, Modoga came back in and did a nice job. Tyron Smith was healthy enough to play. It looks like that'll be the case going into week two. But you still don't necessarily feel comfortable with it.
But it just it opens so many things up.
If you can have all five of those guys up front, it's a completely different ball game. And we're talking and nitpicking on an offense that one thirty or I mean, excuse me, forty to nothing in week one. A lot of that came from the defense and the special teams. Of course we know that, but the offense did some good stuff too, and they were able to put drives together.
They were able to make it look good.
And Isaya even talked about it prior to really the introduction to the West Coast offense. It's not always pretty, and nor will it, but it's going to get the job done because it's supposed to help you help your defense and be complimentary to the other two units.
Absolutely, and you're going to see more of that. I truly believe that you're going to see more of that. However, I think it's going to be a completely different approach this week. And like as I as I look at this this defense of the Jets, they're they're huge up front.
They're huge upfront. I mean these guys.
The smallest lineman they have, I think they have one hundred and sixty five pounds defensive end.
Other than that it's two three hundred.
Like they're ginormous, and they're athletic, but they don't use their athleticism right, right, So they want to to gap you, right And for those that don't know what two gap is, that means. I want to be in my three point stands. Come off the ball, put both hands on your chest, grab your chest, your your chest piece, and drive you back into the quarterback. I want to constrict your ability to rend the ball. I want to take away your running lanes, and I want to take away your quarterback's pocket.
That that's the benefit of a two gap.
So when you have usually most teams have one guy as good at two gapping, these guys have four.
That's me. That's what they're doing. That's their style.
They are not generic pass rushers in the sense that they're going to go out there and try to up and under They don't have a Michael Parsons, they don't have a d Law, they don't have a Sam Way, they don't they don't have any of those type of guys Like Cowboys Nation is very familiar with guys, you know, getting those one on one matchups and just making somebody just miss.
That's not this team.
This team wants to drive you back into the ball, you know, to the quarterback or into the lap of the runner.
What does that do for you offensively?
Though?
Let's talk about it in the second back bet I like it? Yeah, how about that for a tease? How does that change things offensively? We'll get Isaiah's full scouting report. We'll talk about this Jets defense in the matchup for the Cowboys offense.
When we come back with more talking Cowboys.
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Welcome back into Dear Doctor, the show where I answer life's questions with an ice cold can of doctor Pepper. Sheila, let's hear from my next caller.
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To cry out?
Okay, this one's easy, I say, give her a delicious doctor Pepper. Nothing says thanks good better than one of a kind soda. Yes, any Doctor Pepper flavor will do. Now, Just a reminder that I don't need to be a real doctor to know that Doctor Pepper is the one you deserve.
Better to Talking Cowboys.
Back here on Talking Cowboys and the SWBC Mortgage Studios. This segment is brought to you by Invisilne, the official Smile of the Dallas Cowboys, and of course our show as always brought to you by Black Rifle Coffee Company, the official coffee of the Alice Cowboys. Cheers from Nick Harris, John Machoda, Isaiah stand back, Chris Beam in the back of Kyle the omens. All right, Isaiah, you've you've crunched the film, you've broken this thing down. I want you
to tell me about the Jets defense. They're complete scouting report and how it could change things this week for the Cowboys offense game plan wise. There are gonna be times this year where Isaiah will say that.
What team did you call compost last year?
A few you will hear it this week this year. Sometimes it's not gonna be this week though. This team is not compost on the defense.
They have some dudes offense.
On offense, they have guys, But I think it's gonna be a rough night for them. Yeah, it's gonna be a rough knight for Wilson. Okay, let's get into it. So defense, so defensively, their defensive front is their strength of their team.
All right. Everybody can talk about Salis Gardner all day long.
Sauce Gardner is a dude, but how they utilize these and how he gets his opportunities to come from this front right, and it's really the front six.
I wouldn't even call it the front seven. Defensive lineman.
Obviously everybody knows Keenan uh it, Keenan, Quinn, Quinn, Quinn, Quinn, Quinn, Williams. Okay, he's a dude, but he he's not as much of a dude as I as I would expect him to be as I watch him on film, and I think because he has one style that I've seen, I think he is limited. I think he's very limited. Now is he dominant in that one way of going about it? It's almost like if you took Michael Parsons and said, Okay, Michael Parson's gonna line up outside.
He's going to run outside you every single time. Good luck trying to keep up?
Yeah, right, play linebacker like he didn't come Yeah, I mean lineman that like, they'll be happy to know that he's going to do that every single time. But can you stop it? No, you probably still can't stop a majority of the times. And that's really how Quinn and Williams is as well. So he's gonna two.
You realize he was the third over pick in that twent nineteen drafts.
Yeah, it was didn't realize.
Yes, he just got paid again.
There was a chance they were going to trade him and Dallas was an interested team. It just was back in like this is the the Jamal Adams trade time, you know, like there was a there was a time where it's like Dallas was kind of throwing their hat in the ring of like we would like to maybe throw something at you for Quinn Williams and Jets are like, you know what, we'll hold on.
So if he was in this defense, he would be used differently.
Oh man, oh, if he was in this defense, I wouldn't say that he'd be used differently. I think that he would be a great accomplishe to to Hankas, Yeah, I mean.
He he does what you hope Mazi will do. Okay, pretty much. That's probably That's probably the best way.
Of saying basically just using his strength to.
Be using your strength to be purely just.
I don't need you to I don't need you picking a side. That's what our defense is kind of falling into right now. We'll touch base on that in film room this week. But you know, our defense likes to jump around and like the stunt a lot. There's a lot of cross there's a ton of movement, right, So there's benefits of that when you get your matchups, but you can get out of place as well. This team isn't going to get out of place. They're always going to be where they're supposed to be. But you have
to drive them off the ball. You have to use your combo blocks, your double teams to get these guys moving the opposite direction because if you don't, they will disrupt everything you have going on in the backfield. So as we talk about at you money Doga's that is a potential red flag if he can't hold the fort, because they will obviously try to expose him in that regard.
But that the front four of those guys is pretty dark on solid right, all right, So ninety five, ninety three, ninety one, Okay, those are the main guys that you have to worry about. I think the most impactful aspect of their defense are their linebackers.
Dogs, complete utter dogs.
And one thing that we've talked about in the past is the reason why Dallas Dallas's defense a front is so important. While we need interior linemen that can hold the ford and demand double teams is because what what does it do for your second level? Allows for your second level to free flow? Well, guess what that is exactly what they do in New York. New York has their down linemen. These guys are gonna two gap.
You better.
You better get a little shoulder on them or something to stop the men from coming forward.
Otherwise you're gonna be in the quarterback's lap.
But those guys are taking up your linemen so that their second level guys can free flow. And those are their playmakers. So their playmakers are that and CJ. Moseley out of Baltimore, uh and in Quincy Williams. So fifty six to fifty seven. So as fans, as you're watching the game, fifty six to fifty seven. Those dudes are dudes, and they fly around. They are they have the energy of what I would call.
Like a Michael Parsons.
They have that energy right like they're like, they're tenacious, they're relentless, they are gonna they have no regard for their body. They are coming downhill, they're making a decision. They're trying to take your head off.
Yeah, Mosely especially like he's a downhill beat.
Yes, yes, And now there's advantages to that. Yeah, there's advantages to that. Right, So we talk about their front four really just getting vertical, right. They just want to push, push, push, push push, let their linebackers free flow run to the ball. But what happens when those guys are overly aggressive, they oversell.
They oversell. So now, all of a sudden, if you can establish a running game and demand the respect of those second level guys, if you could demand the spect them mostly, if you can just demand the respect of Williams, then all of a sudden, you can run your play action game all day long. And the reason being is because these guys want to play a base defense. On the back end, they are a too high defense. They
want to play two safeties all day, every day. There are a couple of ways that I found that you can force them out of a too high look, okay, and that's usually comes in the form of bunch sets. They don't want to play too high in bunch they
really don't. But and for the most part, they want to play quarters coverage, which is cover four right, everybody, all their guys the corners have a quarter, the safeties have a quarter of the field, or they want to play Cover two right, and the corners are sitting five yards.
The safeties have that the haves one thing that they do really.
Well of and it's screwed the crap out of Josh Allen is they don't like to just play two and just play four. And sometimes they want to play two on one side of the field and they want to play four on the other side, or they want to play two on one side of the field and they want to play man on the other side of the field.
So what Josh Allen ran into, and the reason why he threw three picks other day, is because of the fact that he was seeing the front side of the coverage and he wasn't picking up that they were running a completely different coverage on the backside. So when he had guys running deep routes and backside posts and over routes, Okay, yeah, I see what they're running front side.
Cool, got that diagnosed.
Okay, So if I see that and I know they're running Cover four over here, that means that the guy's open on the backside over here shooting. Yeah, he's just shooting over there, right, Because he was assuming that the coverage was the same on the other half of the field. They were really dividing their coverage right down the middle right cover for this side, cover two backside, man on this side, cover two backside right. So he was getting
screwed because he wasn't diagnosing the entire play. So that's something that Dak's going to have to be uber aware of as he goes out there and starts trying to throw some of these routes because you have to see the entire field. They do a good job with their safeties of making it look like the base coverage when in reality, this half is one coverage, that half's another.
So if that's the case, there's no such way that Dak can come up to the line of scrimmage other than just watching film and knowing that it's a possible ability he can diagnose that pre snap. That's all post snap diagnosis quarterback.
So as a quarterback, when you step to the line of scrimm, it's you. It's a process of elimination. Right, So I stepped to the line of scrimmage, I see two safeties, Okay. Automatically my mind goes to okay, either it's cover two or cover four. Usually that's where my mind goes. Okay, great for running the ball against. So the ability to run the ball awesome if you can
get these guys moving in opposite direction on the front. Okay, but easier said than Donehen you got three hundred pounds across the d line that played with good pad level and have good strength, and the linebackers can roam free without alignment being able to work up to them. So Tony Pollard and you know, Rico, You're gonna have to make a man miss. You have to run through a guy who doesn't care about his face because he's going to come and try to try to take your chest out.
But on the backside, Daxson have to come up and really diagnosis. So pre stap okay, cover two. Okay, that's safety is a little bit, a little bit deeper than the other. Okay, I'll keep my eye on it. Okay, I snapped the ball, now, what is it?
Right?
It doesn't become too much of a problem when I'm in my typical drop back, but it does become a problem when I'm in play action, because when I'm in play action, Okay, I'm diagnosed.
Okay, so two is it? Four? Okay? I snapped the ball?
Now I'm doing what as a quarterback, I'm turning my back to the coverage right. So when I turn my back to the coverage right, I have my pre snap. But now I don't get my post snap until I get my head back around, and I have to reevaluate what that defense is within what half a second to make my decision based upon what.
I thought it was. So that's where he is terrible. It is terrible. It is terrible, But that's the reality. Will Yeah. So I was sitting there talking to my wife.
Last night when I was watching film, and she's sitting there and and she's like, what do you what are you watching? I was watching the game, you know, and I'm like, man, I showed her one pass rush and she was like, man, why did he take someone?
I said, who whaha whoa.
I said, you have maybe two and a half seconds, Like maybe two and a half seconds. She looked at me like I was crazy. I was like, no, no, to count this out. Count this out, because on the play it looked like he had all day long. But in reality, Josh Allen ended up getting sacked on a two and a half second drop.
I'm like, it comes at you fast.
I mean, they put the clock on the Dallas defense getting after Daniel Jones and it was like two point three, and they had the clock on it on the NBC broadcast the other day. It's not too far off from this New York Jets front. And I think the secondary benefit from it. I mean, you've got a guy like Whitehead that had the three picks because of bad decisions, the decision making and confusing a quarterback that's gonna have to be honest reads this week.
Yeah, yeah, and one thing that Josh Allen did. And honestly, there's gonna be a huge opportunity for Dallas's defense as well because the Jets offense. I know we were ready hit on that yesterday, but these guys push everything down the field. Everything's way down the field like they want to sit back. And that's why I think there's gonna be another six or seven sack game for this defense. But the same thing with with Buffalo. They were pushing
everything down the field. And that's not the weakness of this defense. The weakness of this defense is right in the middle of their defense because they're relying so heavily on mostly they were lying so heavily on Williams. At that second level, both of those guys are being asked to cover the entire middle of the field and they can't because they really want to play the run.
So a lot of slant drags trying to get those guys out in space.
Overs, overshit destroy these guys.
Okay, that's what we talk so when we talk about be Cooks, right, that's what Bee Cooks does really well in this offense. At least that what we saw in preseason. What we saw at camp is a lot of over routes and week won Yeah, right, lots of over so overs ferguson. Okay, you should be killing them on a little post routes, you should be killing them on corner routes like all those type of things that's in that middle portion of the field, right, Shallows. It should be good,
right if you can get those guys biting. Play action is going to be a real thing this week.
So let me ask you, because I don't feel like any of this is successful without being able to utilize the play action, which means you gotta get the running You got run, ye, So how do you get the running game going?
Yes, front like this, you're gonna have to I would come out personally in twelve personnel and it's just bully ball.
You're big, you're strong, we know what you do, which you We're gonna get your moving thirteen person No, I'm not going thirty.
They have a lot of plays in thirteen though on Sunday Night, on Sunday Night, but they are pulling Jake Ferguson and putting them in the sea gap and he's getting it done correct.
I really like Jake Ferguson's ability to block and his willingness to willingness in this in this scheme and what he was able to do. Uh in that game on Sunday Night, plus New York offensively ran a lot of thirteen personnel. There's some some teams going back to that that heavy tight end package.
To be able to try and push the balled it.
I would go.
I would go twelve, and I would not come out in a duce set. So a duce set is when you have just mim we have a tight end on each side right. I would put these guys more in a wing set, meaning that hey, I have one tight end on line of scrimmage, I have another tight end right in his hip pocket and the reason being because it gives you an ability to run your combo blocks. So you don't want to run straight down here with
these guys. Don't don't. I mean you're going to have to try it, but the success rate is probably slimmed to none against these guys. They're just too big, they're too strong. This is what they do well. They want you to run at their face, like, come come down. I want you to come downhill. Right, I'm a two gap you. I'm gonna throw one guy one direction. I'm gonna get my arm out there, and then my linebackers are filling the gaps, right, They're gonna knock the crap
out of your chin strap. So you want to get these guys moving sideways. The linemen don't do well moving sideways. But what happens is if you can't get off of the defensive linemen. Though again, Moseley and Williams are literally free flowing. I mean they're coming one hundred miles per hour and they're knocking the crap out of you at the line of scrimmage, if not behind the line of scrimmage.
So if you have those combo blocks by your tight ends, now you can outflake the defensive line right, and your tight ends can now work up and seal those guys as they free flow. On the second level, now you have some lanes because those cornerbacks don't want to come up and hit. Those cornerbacks are playing out in coverage, right, you could run your guys off as if they're running a route and get them out the picture.
And really have an opportunity to get some big plays on the ground.
Williams had ten tackles in Sunday Night Football excuse me, Monday Night Football for the Jets, and he was ranked as the seventh out of seventy three linebackers. So I mean, the second level of that Jets defense is very good, but it's mostly because of what Quinn Williams is doing up run and how they're paving the way consuming John.
When you look at the Jets defense and you've kind of done your study on them, how do they compare to some of the defenses that the Cowboys have seen in the past, because Giants had a solid front seven, but they didn't necessarily have the experience on the outside before that.
You go back to San Francisco.
Of course, San Francisco in the playoff game had a phenomenal defense and that's why they did what they did.
In the last couple of years.
But where do you think the Jets defense, now that you've kind of looked at it a little bit, kind of ranks along the lines of some of the past defense as Cowboys offenses have gone against.
I think it's up there with all of them.
And that's why it's going to be good to see because it is going to be that type of a playoff type defense that you're going against that Let's be honest, the last two times that the Cowboys were in the playoffs, they got sent home because they played probably the best
defense in the NFL. And so I think there's a lot of us wondering, Okay, then how are they going to how are they going to do against one of these this type of test also coming off of a game that you can factor in a lot of first time Mike McCarthy is a play caller, sloppy weather, you're not going to have that you're inside, you're at home,
you're gonna be pretty hyped up. I mean talking to Brandon Cooks at his locker after like the whole group left, you know, he's asked about like how much they even showed on offense, and he was like, no, no, no, we haven't really shown it. There's a lot that we haven't even come close to getting too yet. So going against an elite defense like this, like, I don't think they're San Francisco elite, but I think they're one of the best,
one of the better defenses in the league. So just to see Dak and some of these wide receivers, seeing Jalen Tolbert, seeing the kind of success he can have.
But I also wonder with a.
Guy like like a Jordan Whitehead, you know, I think this is fifth or six year in the league, never had more than two picks in an entire season, and then he has three in one game. He is he had a hot handed he was he in the right place at the right time. Is that does that carry Does that carry over? And then there's Sauce Gardner back there,
that that so, and then all this stuff. Obviously Isaiah said, there's just there's gonna be a lot of stuff to evaluate Dak off of this game, maybe more so than than the last game. So that's kind of excuse me, That's how I kind of look at it. It's just like, all right, this will give us a chance early on to see how this this offense will stack up against a defense that that's certainly going to be better than the Giants was.
Would you say this is an elite defense that they're going up against.
I think he has a chance to be Yeah, I mean it's super early, but I mean, yeah, there's a lot of question marks about their quarterback. But if they're going to have the type of success that they expect to have, well, let's say even if they had Aaron Rodgers, sure they weren't going to get to whatever level that they wanted to. Like, you know, if you're making picks at the end of the year, there's a lot of people that thought, you know, Jets could win that division,
possibly the super Bowl. Yeah, Aaron Rodgers a big part of it, but it's also because of that defense, you know. So, like I said, it's not San Francisco's, it's not Dallas's.
They should put them.
They went into this season realizing that, hey, if we have a quarterback, we have a chance because our defense is so good.
Yeah, would you put them up there with let's say, here's some of the San Francisco, Dallas, Philadelphia New England's defense is still legitimate. Yeah, Pittsburgh got a good defense, Washington's got a solid front seven, Miami's got a good defense, Baltimore always does.
Would you put them up there kind of.
With the the Eagles and the Cowboys and the forty nine.
Team, it'd be like the next tier.
Yeah, the second tier down.
Yeah, but it's it's certainly close for sure. I look at the Cowboys even, I just think that there's just more playmakers on all three levels. So that's the only reason why I wouldn't put them there. But most of the times, anytime you have, you know, a defensive head coach, your defense is probably going to be pretty good, and if it's not, then that coach isn't gonna be very long.
That's this is gonna be such a fun challenge for this offense.
Like you said, the last two times they've been bounced from the playoffs, has been one of the.
Best defenses in the NFL. Here's a great early look at it.
And then you got a couple a couple more down the road with Philadelphia and forty nine ers and the Patriots and everything down the road as well, So it gets uh, it doesn't get much easier for this Cowboys offense to try and find that rhythm early in the.
Season when we come back.
Though, on talking Cowboys, who's the most polarizing figure in the NF right now without Aaron Rodgers and without Tom Brady. Plus, let's talk about Dak Prescott being the most tenured player in the NFL tenured quarterback, I should say in the NFL when we come back.
Right after this, on to more talking to Cowboys.
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To Talking Cowboys back here on Talking Cowboys presented by Quaker Oats, a super trusted super food. Quaker Oats, the official oatmeal sponsor of the Dallas Cowboys. Talking Cowboys brought to you by Black Rifle Coffee Company. And I saw something from our old friend David Hellman, of course with Dallas Cowboys dot com, the former beat writer, good friend of John and Man. He's on this NFL on Fox podcast. We're really happy for Dave. He's doing phenomenal work out there.
And he put up a a it was.
A graphic and it was Dak Prescott is now the most tenured quarterback in the NFL. He's been with the team the longest He's continued to be with the Cowboys for the longest amount of time that any quarterback in the NFL has been with a certain team.
Nick, does that give.
Any sort of advantage whatsoever to being the most tenured. It's It's an interesting stat because it feels like just yesterday he was one of the young guns in the league.
It is crazy. Whenever I saw that yesterday, I was like, wow, like you posted that gift.
Of like Keenan Thomas.
Yeah, yeah, it's very much how I felt about it too. Advantage if there is, you could say, just experiencing and knowing what to expect when you walk in the building. You know.
Even let's look at Aaron Rodgers case.
You know, he's had what was at eighteen years in Green Bay and then you know, walks into a new situation in New York, pretending he's healthy. Walking into a new situation in New York, He's having to get used to a new system, a new home stadium, you know, a new and new weapons around him. But you know, at the end of the day, he's still Aaron Rodgers. He's going to have more experience than Dak Prescott. At the end of the day, he's going to be able
to overcome that a lot quicker. So it's like, yeah, there's an advantage of just knowing what to expect when you walk in the door every Sunday, But I don't think it's one that decides win and losses.
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is just the Dallas Cowboys brand and everything that comes with being the Cowboys quarterback.
To be experienced through that.
I'll just use this saying that I've heard him say a bunch of that water off a duck's back, like allowing things to just move on. And he said that early in his career, and I'm sure that he did deal with it as well as pretty much anybody could.
But then there's another thing of just like every year that goes by, there's just certain things that happened that you're gonna be able to handle better because you're like, yeah, I get it's I got to just deal with this, like I don't know, I'm just gonna let me think of oh, I don't know, like trading for a tree lance. You probably handle that a little bit better now than maybe you would have handled it earlier in his career. There's just a lot of stuff that comes with being
the Cowboys quarterback. The thing I always say is that, like I don't believe Tom Brady wins seven Super Bowls if he's then his entire careers with the Dallas Cowboys. I just think that there's so many other things that come with it that I think they would. It's a lot for anybody mentally.
Whatever.
You can stay off social media and do all that, but there's still it's it's going to be.
You can't live in a bubble. You know, There's always going to be stuff.
That that you hear, and it's it's not the easiest to deal with. So yes, obviously to your point all the stuff on the field, but I think of even off the field stuff. I just being the Cowboys franchise quarterback is is just it's not for everybody, you know, it's it's there's more to it than than it is for a lot of the other organizations.
How many Super Bowls does Tom Brady win if he's the quarterback of the Cowboys this whole career, thinking about the teams that he would have.
Had, Okay, the entire time, including the time he was with the Bucks.
Ye yeah, say your entire career three to five Okay, do you.
Know what years seven? Uh seven?
Maybe, yeah, that's a possibility. Fourteen sixteen, maybe that's tough.
You got to be so bad in fifteen to get the drafts of sixteen, so maybe they never even get that down that level. Yeah, I know it's Bill Beljick could to come with him during all.
Yeah, that's a good question, Mark too, Yeah, that would be nice. No he doesn't so.
Yeah, and if there's no Bill, then yeah, I'm in that probably three to five ring.
I could see that.
It would be.
Interesting to see Bill coaching with Jerry would be fascinating.
Isaiah's like, I'm not going to say anything, You're going to stay off to the side here.
What kind of the John's point?
I mean, there's there's really not a more polarizing figure in sports. I mean, there are polarizing figures in sports around, but the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys is always up toward the top of the list. And without Tom Brady, without now Aaron Rodgers active in twenty twenty three, where does Dak rank on that list in terms of the most polarizing individuals in sports? Because you could put up i mean Lebron on the NBA side, Kevin Durant, probably NBA.
Side, Steph Curry, Steph Curry, Oh yeah, for sure, No doubt. Golf, there's not.
I mean, Tiger has always been that guy, but is he that guy right this second? Probably not? Show Hey in baseball, that's about the only baseball guy you would get. I mean, it's tough, like Dak's up there in terms of those guys, maybe Joe Burrow now Patrick Mahomes.
I mean those guys are up there.
Number one in the NFL.
Yeah yeah, but I mean Dak as the quarterback for the Cowboys is always there.
The eyes are on Dak though for this is Michael Parsons.
Yeah, yeah, I could see that.
I would put Tyreek above Dak right now, just with all the mess that he loves to talk and he backs it up.
It's he's started to become kind of a figure down there.
And we talked about polarizing, like I have to take the brand off of it. Why because the brand bears majority of the weight of the polarizing, of the polarization in regards to Dak.
That's fair because the Cowboys are the most polarizing in the NFL.
All those other individuals you mentioned they're polarizing, and their media follows them because them, Yeah, and then what they've done. So from that regard, I think the brand bears more polarizing weight on Dak than Dak does on the brand. Tyreek Hill made a brand for himself. He don't matter where he goes. Patrick Mahone in freaking Kansas City. You know, we got Burrow, He's in Cincinnati, you know. Lebron doesn't matter where he goes, you know, So he's not about
some of these guys. I guess the player that you're following. I don't know if Dak's hit that yet, but he has a great chance to this year.
I mean, he's already in that spot of you know, he can retire after the season and if he wants one of those top TV jobs, he's getting it.
Yeah, you know.
I mean that's just that's one of those it's those that cowboys slash, you know, like all the former players and stuff with like Duke, that they get all these TV jobs and.
Things like that.
And the reason I bring that up is because sometimes you're even more you become even more known for that than you were even from your your playing days. So when the polarizing part. I do agree with you on that the Cowboys brand. There's good and bad with it, you know, like like I sit there and I say, oh, you know, you know, he's had a lot to deal with whatever. Cowboys brand has also made him a lot of money, to know what I'm saying, Like, uh so there,
you know, there's the give and take of that. But I just think he's just wired the right way to hand to handle that. That's why I don't know, it had been kind of interesting. I know it's not good for the Cowboys probably if he did this, But after getting done watching that Quarterback series of Netflix, I would have kind of liked to see dak On there just to see because there's a lot of off the field stuff like being back at home and things like that.
I think they did a great job on it from three different quarterback perspectives in that, but it would be interesting to see.
How the Cowboys.
But then, you know, when he's asked about it, he was like, yeah, no, we get enough coverage here, you know the Cowboys, which is true.
Which is very very true.
And I think we've talked about this enough and and by we I mean just Cowboys Nation, Like there's there's very few quarterbacks that could handle this job as well as Dak Prescott does. There are very few guys that can handle that level of pressure, that level of intensity from a fan base that is as passionate as the Cowboys, and that's what makes it great. That's what makes Cowboys Nation great is the fact that they are passionate about it.
But it does bring some ups in and bring some downs, and he's got to be able to ride the wave with it.
Hey, the way his face looked and just the way he answered those questions on that pre game interview with Melissa Stark, like it was like locked in. Yeah, we're not We're not doing any type of ads right now.
Did you like that Campbell? Like it was like he Isaiah can he can?
Uh?
I wasn't. I was irritated by that, Yeah he.
Can, he can, attest to it. I was sitting there, I was I was not happy.
It was weird.
Like I get that TV is TV and they have you know, yeah, but like, come on, he's that work. He's at work at work.
It's like the locked in that's a sacred times.
This is not preseason.
No, it's not preseason where you're trying to you know, kill time, and no, this is he has prepared all week for this opportunity.
Like, get he looks like he was ready to go.
Yeah you got you go postgame for that. Yeah you got postgame for that. Go talk to coach as he's coming out of the tunnel. He has obligation to do that. That sounds that's contractual, right, But talking.
To a coach is different than talking to your franchise quarterback seconds before he takes the field. Now that that that specific interview was pre recorded, I don't know.
I mean, just to pull the curtain back.
That was not a live interview right as they were about to walk on to the field. It was probably twenty men and a's prior to that, It was probably before they went back into the locker room. But still, like that's pregame stretching.
That should be a no touch zone.
I should player. I don't like it.
I'll say that that should be offline.
Yeah I'm not even as a member of the media, I shouldn't says, but like I'm even good with if you don't do the coaches either, Yeah, I really, I mean, and I guess I'm not thinking about it as much from the NFL. I think for me, it's more just like NBA playoff games, like you just so rarely get anything that you're even like, WHOA, Okay, well that's what they're doing. Like it's just like they're a miserable miserable to a certain extent that they have to do it.
But they're also like a lot of these coaches, this is maybe the only chance they're going to be in like this deep in the playoffs and things like, I don't know, like I've just and like I said, you rarely the return on investment is generally not great. I mean, it's got to the point in the NBA where one of the most talked about ones is just the fact of how Greg Popovich blows off the reporter. You know, it's not even about like did you get anything, it's
just that, oh, look at how entertaining that is. Like he totally made that reporter look like an idiot, and you're just like, well, why is this even being done anymore?
You know, it's a pop And then Quinn Snyder, the head coach for the Atlanta Hawks, he always like the interview, Yeah, that's starting to.
Pay Nothing ever good comes out of it.
On just put a count to it.
Yeah, I tried one time. It's impossible. Like that's how fast he's blinking during an interview.
So Jason Whitney has been the one in previous years that before some of those sudden that games is the one that did an interview. And that's the most like because Jason Witten it like that, very very media friendly, but that's the most I've ever seen him be like, Yeah, I'm I'll give you these answers, but I really just want to run away from this as soon as possible. I don't want to be here right now. But yeah, it's it's rough.
I mean, John tweeted out a video of me last year with Mike McCarthy and Denver.
Yeah, that was that was a part.
I mean, that was that was my learning opportunity with with that whole situation. But yeah, I mean, things happen and you gotta you gotta roll with the punches. Both from a media stame kind of job, so from a player standpoint, you both have a job to do and you got to get through it.
But I just didn't like it.
Pregame, halftime and postgame all you want, but pregame, especially with the franchise quarterback.
Let's not do that. Let's not do that.
NBC.
All right, when we well, we're done for the day. How about that it flew by. I thought we had one more segment left. I'm trying to keep John around. I want to get his predictions. That's gonna do it for us tomorrow. Say it with your chest, Friday, bring the energy. We'll give our pick'ems. We'll already have John's in the bank and we will get you ready for
the Week two matchup with the New York Jets. For Chris Beam in the back, Isaiah standback, John Machoda, Nick Harris, i' Kyle Yomen saying so long from the Star in Frisco. We'll see you tomorrow on More Talking Cowboys.
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