Talkin' Cowboys: The Mahomes Factor

and boy, do we have a show for you. One of the best matchups of the season. Are you Hike oh man? I'm ready to talk about this one man. Chiefs Offense, Cowboys defense who This is gonna be a fun one and we've got plenty to talk about on this one. As always. Heck Ma Harris and Isaiah stand back, Rob Phillips, We've got Chris Beam in the back. Everybody good, Everybody buckled up, ready to go for this one. Strapped in, sir, That's that's more like yes, it's not really buckled in,

it's more of like strapped down. Make sure the roller coasters. Sorry sorry Rob, No, right, yeah, baby, seat around both bull shoulders. Yes, yeah, it's going. I'm ready, put the head rest and the helmet on. You're about to buckle up and get ready to go. Heck mo, you're ready of course already. Are you talking about? Let's go around your neck pillow just in case it rubs and knicks if I ever good on one. That is the most

bougie thing I think I've ever heard say. The kids have to have it, really though, Yeah, the kause the kids always fall asleep and throw up with one. He No, yeah I didn't either, So I think I think you and I turned out for I'm like mc light. I'm a rough nick, you know. But but the kids nowadays, they're not do it to say truth true? Huh yeah, okay, okay, evolution. I'll get back to you in a couple of years. Yeah, I'll let you know a couple of years. Oh, I

mean putting it? I mean you said it. I'm not coming with two? No, because the couple two isn't that the reference a few a few let's say a few years. No, don know what I'm saying to stop watch Chase put that place number seventeen twenty three, Stop nine two am you s got this? I'm gonna get like a message from Rob that day and he's gonna be like, so

calendar and be like, what are you talking about? You're crazy? Oh. So we are going to preview the Cowboys defense versus that Chiefs offense and the Chiefs offense finding the rhythm against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday night. Foot football put up forty one points, the majority of those coming in the second half of Before we get into that, anything come out of yesterday. It was a day off for the Cowboys, so kind of a slow Tuesday, right Rob,

It was slow. News wise was awesome. We touched on Jerry Jones on the fan yesterday and what the right tackle situation might look like if Tyrant Smith comes back as early as this week. Other than that, I mean, hadn't been a whole lot of news in the in the old been there. One thing I did want to ask was is there any significance of having Debarcus Lawrence back on the sideline again? The fact that he was on the sideline. He hasn't activated that practice window yet,

we haven't gotten to that point, but he was around right. Yeah, he was, and I think he's all I think that'd give some juice on the sideline when we talked about kind he kind of sets the tone for this defense when he's been out there, and he's also ramping up his rehab. I mean, he's doing more deering practice off to the side with Britt Brown than we've seen, so I think he is getting closer. I'm trying to think

if there's any injuries. Ceedee Lamb had the arm contusion that kept him out of the second half, but I think if they weren't up by forty points, he probably would have been back in there. I think he's supposed to practice today most likely. That's good. And heck, I know you've been on a sideline like that before and

you like the sounds of the sideline too. Love In terms of the video and that was released yesterday, but did you like seeing DeMarcus Lawrence back out there instead of being in like a field level suite and dapping up the guys when they come by, at least actually having a presence on the sideline. I mean, tak is one of the unquestioned leaders of your team and it's got to be killing him. To be sideline and not

be a part of what's going on. Just gotta imagine all of the work that goes into this for these guys as as brothers, and an injury kind of ostracizes you from the group and you finally can you know, you're getting back to yourself and you feel healthy and obviously you can walk on your foot again. You want

to be down on the sideline in any capacity. I wouldn't want to be away, you know, I'd be back there with Chris, you know something like you know, like something like that, because you just it's something that you do every day. Football is a part of him. And not only that, Like I said, he's one of the unquestioned leaders of this team. Heck but loses his voice and he's in the back with like cough drops and things. Boy like we're sitting there with Chris. I'll be all here, Horsey.

Don't you worry about it? What is it like getting a leader like that back? I saiah um, you know to what your Hecken's point. I mean, he's one of the leaders, the leaders that are definitely known on this team. They think they miss his presence and anytime you can have a guy like that present in whatever capacity he can be. I'm glad that the team's allowing him to be on the sideline. Sometimes they throw guys up in the up and up the suite or in the stands uh,

typically a suite here, especially here in Dallas. Uh. But you know it's it's also when they allow those guys to be a part of it, because I mean, he's a hype man. He's a hype man when he's when he's playing. He's a hype man when he's not playing. And you know, it's always good to have your boys there. I'm giving you that extra juice. But yeah, in terms of when you're when you're not playing, it's sucks. It sucks when you're when you're used to being one of

the guys. And um, even if you're just a special teamer, right, I mean, you don't want to be on the outside looking in, but especially when you're one of the leaders on this team, the last thing you want to be is feeling like you're just isolated to just being with Britt Brown, which is not a bad thing. Britt's awesome, but it's not where you want to be. It's not funny either, It's not funny this is this is usually

a great tank week for the media, this kind of game. Yeah, and obviously he's still in ir but you know, there's been games where the Cowboys have matched up against a great offense and how they gonna stop him? And I'm trying to I'm thinking of like twenty eighteen against the Saints. Yeah, where and he he will stand up in front of the media and kind of send a message through the media about the confidence level of the defense. He's coming

after you. He's always had that and that and I remember that game is particularly that was the best defensive performance in a while for the Cowboys. So, uh, it's that kind of matchup again. How do they how do they stop this Chief's offense? Man, it's it's it's it's it's a tasty one. They're going need every ounce of

that confidence going into this game. Cowboys in the Chiefs have combined for eight hundred and thirty five total yards per game entering the matchup, and that's the sixth most all time in the NFL, sixth most since nineteen fifty in a matchup later than Week eleven, So I mean up there with Rams and Chiefs in twenty eighteen, which we saw what that kind of game turned into, drunk Bronco's Charger, Saints and Panthers, Eagles, Patriots, all of those

in twenty thirty, eleven, twenty eleven. And then it's the Chiefs and the Cowboys coming up this week, and this is going to be a fun one. And like I mentioned, the Chiefs are getting back on track, and first off, I want to kind of dial it back a little bit for the Chiefs standpoint and sort of deal with what the I guess the slow start. Dealt with what made them get off to such a slow start, What were they doing wrong? And how have they since fixed that? Heckpone. Yeah,

I think initially teams were getting pressure. It's all derived from the Super Bowl. I'm gonna I'm gonna say a word. It's triggering for you, el ravo. And that's blueprint. I think. I think teams saw in the Super Bowl that what Patrick Mahomes does when he gets under pressure. He you know, some of the cardinal rules of sports apply. You can't throw Layton, can't throw across your body. Obviously, Patrick Mahomes

has an IQ and he's a great decision maker. But you saw at the beginning of the season, he was starting to have some location problems, and I think the pressure was starting to get to him a bit as well. I don't know, per se if there's anything that he hasn't seen defensively, so it's hard for me to imagine that he's confused by anything. I just think that some of the decisions that he made clearly pointed out. That's

how you started to have those turnovers. And look, just like with any other sport, whether we always use those boxing analogies, there's a guy has not seen him admit he was a boxer back and they may not remember Ben Away. God, he would hit you anywhere except for under your feet. I mean, he was that good. But the cardinal rule of boxing is if you can't not escape a left hook, you shouldn't be boxing. Box you

shouldn't be boxing. And finally somebody cracked the code. I think Tampa may have cracked the code and some of those cardinal rules of football. Can't throw late across your body. Some of the things that he's been able to get away with because of his superior athleticism. I'm not saying he's in decline, but some of those things are starting to catch up with him. It certainly seemed that way early on, because Patrick Mahomes had never been stood up. I mean, it had been to a point where he

had never really just laid in that. I mean, there were statistics about it all the way through the early parts of his career where he hadn't thrown under a certain amount of yards, or hadn't thrown a pick here, having thrown a pick there. I mean, he was as good as anybody to start a career in the history of the NFL. But then he pitter pattered through the middle of this season. And I think you're right. I think it came from that Super Bowl and I carried over.

But it's also that offensive line, right, that offensive line is not as good as what it used to be. Yeah, that's and so I have to, honestly, I have to. I'm blessed to be able to be an insider for probably another podcast platform. And we had addressed this a couple of weeks back back when they were three and four and it and I pointed directly to the office of line and officer. Line is totally brand new, totally

brand new. These guys have five new guys up front. Wow, they I mean from the starting from the left side. These guys drafted Creed Humphrey. Their center drafted him this year, trace me after the right guard drafted him this year. They had a guy their last year's drafty, the right tackle, Lucas nng Uh. He was a twenty twenty draft he but he opted out of the season because of the covid Um. You got Joe Thuney that they picked up from the from the Patriots, and the Orlando Brown they

picked up from the Ravens. These guys, literally all five guys are brand new. So you're expecting Patrick Mahomes to still be Patrick Mahomes with five new guys that don't have any continuity the things that we've been talking about in terms of Collins and and Terrence Steell, And we don't want to move these guys around because of those the commisit it might mess with the continuity. Imagine moving all five pieces. So that's what these guys have sustained.

And I was one of the ones to stand up on the table and say it's only a matter of time. The lightships, the light switches, it's only a matter of time. Because you're putting representing teams recognize that this was a whole new front. So what are you gonna do if you're a defensive coordinator. We're lighting them up, light them up, let's bring pressure because these guys can't figure it out. They don't know how to pass up off yet they don't know how to communicate. They don't know exactly what

to do. So that was the issue early on. And then Patrick Mahomes, I'm still Patrick Mahomes, So I'm still gonna get out the pocket and do the things that I do. And what does that force you to do? Start making inherrent throws, start making throws that you used to be able to make. That you just say, my guys are better than your guys, and we're just gonna make plays regardless. And guess what, sometimes there's fifty fifty balls and those fifty fifty balls went the other way.

So that's what happened early on with the kanc Chiefs, And that's why these guys are so dangerous because everybody in the whole country who watches football and understands how as these guys are offensively, the weapons that they have offers a coordinator that they have the hey coach that they have and the knowledge that he has a he's a Jedi. I don't think there's any questions in regards of that. And these guys are dangerous as they continue

to get better. Okay, that's all they're going to continue to do is get better every single game. As these guys continue to get familiarized with each other. Yeah, it's kind of you know, the Sunday night game against Las Vegas and obviously they went off in that game forty one points. Got back to doing what they do. There was a graphic up there about how much less Pat Mahomes is being blitzed this year compared to the past.

It's like ten percent drop. The teams are playing more coverage and honestly, like that's what you're seeing with Dak to some degree, teams and we're like, look, we can't do this. He's burning us every time. And so that's that's the challenge with the great quarterbacks. So they're they're doing more of that, and they haven't gotten a lot of variants in their offense in terms of targets. You look at the targets in there. I mean, we all

know about Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelsey. They're amazing players. But beyond that they Okay, Tyreek's got one hundred and eleven targets this year, Kelsey eighty nine. The next guy is Hardman with fifty six, a huge drop off. So you know, satically, the Cowboys are the best offense in the league. But I think I think you can make the argument that although maybe there's a similar approach to trying to play the Cowboys offense, Cowboys have a little more balance in

terms of what they can do to counteract that. And the Chiefs don't like to run that much anyway, So I think that's part of it, and I think Isaiah just spoke to it too. I mean, Pat, there's probably some frustration there when you get played like that, you want to hit the big plays, and maybe he was forcing some things and that's where the turnovers came, and also not to mention, and added an element to their offense. Will be back this week or is expected to be back,

and that's Clyde Edwards Hilaire. He had been out for a couple of weeks. Miss since we saw like another week, what was that, he just sit out one more. Now it's not a foregone conclusion, but his practice window has started in there is a great chance quote unquote from Andy Reid that he does find the way. The reports last week that he was practicing and practicing very well. Kids ready, But basically last week they said no, not so fast this week for the care We're gonna get

ready for this one. By the way, he's kind of going along the same lines of career in season success Dak Prescott having a better season at the moment than Patrick Mahomes, but Mahomes is the career leader in passer rating at least during his time. This is the fourth time that the season leader and the career leader in passer rating have met in the same game past week

eleven or entering the week since nineteen ninety. The other matchups this is a fun one Jim Harball versus Steve Young in ninety five, John Elway versus Joe Montana another Kansas City Joe Montana, uh nineteen ninety three, San Francisco Joe Montana and Phil Simms. So that was in nineteen ninety So, man, there's this is This has got the feelings of an historic matchup. But instant classic, yeah, instant, and it's guys, I mean, Pat Mahomes has done so

much already. But he he's ascending and we know Dak Prescott's sending. That's what's that's what's fun about it. Him. Like the opener was great because it's Brady, and Brady's a legend and all that, but these are two guys that are I mean, gonna be going at it. I mean, they don't play that often, but they're going to be right at the top for years to come. That's what's cool about it. But I just want to go back

to what you were saying about defenses playing coverage. I think all around the league, that's what defenses have started to do. You see more big nickel all over because teams are willing to say I'm gonna rush three, rush four, and drop everybody else back into coverage because you're you're giving up so much in the passing league by staying with conventional linebackers and not hybrid safeties that can cover

out in space. And I just look, they never have, like you pointed out, they never have really have been balanced with a running game. I think Edwards a layer. I mean, him coming back doesn't doesn't unnerve me simply because I feel like our defense is playing well enough to this point that they can nullify whatever impact that

he'll have on this game. For me, I just want to know how Dan Quinn schemes this up from a coverage standpoint, because if you go back to the games where the Tennessee Titans play, them just saying when they came up against some pretty good defenses that often struggle, they went into a shell of themselves. Right that Titans game specifically, I went back and watched the first half

and the Titans just flat out dominated them. Not only that, go back to the Bills game and you see those games where defenses that they don't have to sacrifice by coming after him. You talk about teams blitzing Patrick Mahomes, and that was I saw a stat against Dak about how he is rated when teams try to bliss. He's picking guys apart and stop blitz pass the NFL right now, and I think Mahomes has been since whenever going back a couple of years. But that just says talks to

his IQ. Now, if you're a team that's gonna put come after him with two or three down line, and of course he's just gonna turn around and hand the ball the clods. That was Hilaire. You know, so you'll have to stay in a base to some degree. I think I just think that for our dbs, for our second there our safeties. This game is gonna be a get a big game for them because they're gonna have to play sound without question. Yeah. Yeah, these guys don't

run the ball much. They don't. They're not they're not traditional in that in that way. They don't. They understand that that's not where their strength of their team is. The strength of their team is getting the ball in their playmaker's hands by any means necessary, and that's not necessarily coming back and handing the ball off. These guys run more screens than probably any team in the NFL, and that's how they get their running plays exactly, that's

their running place. So I know people are all, these guys, we get shut down their run. Yeah, you might better shut down to run, but these guys are gonna run screens all day long. And that's like a long handoff exactly what it is, exactly what it is. It's it's almost like, how do you define a run these days? Because the analytics, yeah, behind the screen is like yeah, I almost said geeks. Because some people don't think like

you should even run the ball anymore. And I and that's I think there's value in running the ball, but I think there is value also. And if they're loading the box, it's kind of what the Cowboys did against the Bucks. It's just yeah, spread it out to the outside. They do with Tyreek Hill. I think Darryl Williams had nine catches for one hundred and one yards, so you can kind of stuff that into his run productions. That's

what it is. Yeah, I mean he's not even I mean I guess attribute wise, they're him and Clyde Edwards there night and day. They're night and day skill wise. So if Clyde Edwards decides to make his comeback this week, which I'm pretty sure that's why he held him out last week, we can expect him to have at least five or six screens in the game, and then you

have to watch him on the screens. You have to watch Tyreek Hill on the screens to Keilsy on the screens, so that again, you know, to that point, it's a long handoff. And that's what they are, perfectly or they're perfectly fine. People talking about how they don't have a run game, and that's how they get their yardage inside the box. Well, even in a blowout win against the Raiders, forty one to fourteen was the score, and Patrick Mahomes still hit fifty pass attempts. He still went thirty five

or fifty for four hundred plus and five touchdown. They're gonna throw the ball around no matter if it's a big lead. Not so much. They don't really have that salt to way tough back like a Zeke who can really kind of put it on the ground and just keep rolling all the way down the field. Now. I know Tony Pollard did that against that land of quite a bit in that second half, which is great too, But I don't know if Williams is that guy. I don't know if Clyde Edwards, a layer, especially coming off

an injury, is that guy. However, they're gonna spread it out. I mean, they're gonna spread that thing out and they're gonna get it to their weapons, and they are all very dangerous, especially when they have a little bit of space. And that's one thing that I want to hit when we come back on the other side of the break. How much space are the Cowboys gonna give them? Because we know this already. The big play is a big deal for the Cowboys defense. Can they snuff that out?

And how do they plan on snuffing that out? When we return with more talking Cowboys? Honey, big news? Gary? Are you okay? Oh? I'm not Gary anymore. I'm Jackie Flash. What see? I want the latest smartphone, but the best deals are only for new customers. So to get a new customer deal, I change my name to Jackie Flash. Okay, But the best smartphone deals at AT AT and T are for everyone, new and existing customers. That's huge. Then guess who's getting a deal? Is it Jackie Flash, Jackie Flash?

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you doing? What are you waiting for? Go apply? Freaking get this money, dude, there's so much money. Yes, why why? It's like what Maury said the CD a couple of weeks ago. You don't like money. Yeah, you're getting all these fines, which for some socks, he said pregame. After the game, he said, pregame, I talked to the league official about his thing. I think we're good on the unicase stuff. Yeah, he's gonna get a FedEx FedEx Pa, He's gonna get a FedEx package for a targeting call

on the sideline. You see what he did with Dak Yes, I saw that yesterday. That was one. I wonder how he got that. Yeah. I thought of the pimple. Yeah it was not. That was a straight battle scar. Yeah, I mean I feel like that would be easy. Now. I didn't spend a whole lot of time with a helmet on. I was mostly on the sidelines when I played, But it's instinctive. You're not thinking of Yeah, you're just instinct. It's just a habit. It's like whenever you like, I

don't know, you're just knuckle punching somebody. You do it like four times in a row. You'd give him a little short of shouldered pat Yeah, I don't know. You just bow hit him like that. There you go, look at those instincts. Yeah, yeah, that was quick. You had to be better than Dason's. That's a man that has a baby around whatever. Fast All right back here on talking Cowboys presented by Tostitos getting fans back in the game. Oh man, we haven't trouble, so there you go. Um

mentioned this going into the break. The big play for the Cowboys defensively has not really been the best calling card for the dan Quinn's defense. There have been a ton of improvements on that side of the football. The big play has not been one of those. So how do they avoid that against Kansas City? Is there are a weakness that you've seen in Kansas City's offense that can take away from the big player, maybe downgraded from there.

But is there anything that hack mother stands out to you that where the Cowboys defense could try and maybe something new to try and defend Kansas City. Well, I mean, you talked about the targets for Hill and Kelsey. Kelsey last year had fourteen hundred yards as a tight end, and it just you know that they want to target him. I believe trying to take Kelsey away immediately is going

to be one of your best options. And also with Isaiah saying about the offensive line, you know that if you can get that pressure, contain the running game, those things, those aspects to their offense, you gotta eliminate certain things. He'll man. You just pray that you know he doesn't because because he can take it to the house anytime.

And we saw that it was at twenty seventeen at the end of the game on a hell Mary ball or not even really hell Mary pass, he takes it and he scores in twenty seventeen at the last minute to go into halftime. I hated that place. Isn't it crazy? I mean, and it's just one. It's just one of those plays that he can make it anytime, and so you gotta try and cloud this guy. Put him in a situation where you when he gets the ball you get him down immediately. You have to pick one or

the other, right, I mean, you can't. You can't double both every play. And I think I think it seems like teams are taking more chances just saying we'll take our chances with Kelsey, which is no fun in its own right. But tyreek Hill is just he can run past anybody on any given play wreck the game, embarrass you with his speed. So you know, that's that's what it seems like they're doing. And Kelsey's been he hasn't had the production that he's normally had so far, but

he's eating up. He broke out Sunday night though, Yeah, eating up and the Cowboys, you know, tight ends have been a challenge at times, but Jayron Curse has been a nice addition in terms of that, you know, counteracting that. And Jordan Lewis, what he was able to do against Kyle Pitts was really impressive. Yeah, I mean Kyle Pitts took its lumps early. I mean he was catching a couple balls in those opening drives, but then it was shut down from then on out. So I mean, I'm

not comparing Kyle Pitts at the moments. Travis Kelsey, but Kelsey at some point, Yeah, I think they're gonna be on a similar level. I think Kyle Pitts is that type of player. But right this second, Kyle Pitts is not. Right this second, Travis Kelsey, he said, what you gotta put some weight on dah he will. Yeah, he's coming

out of floor. But I got a question for you guys as far as dan Quinn is getting a lot of accolades for his defense, but then in the same breath, and I feel like this is disingenuous When people say, oh, this Cowboys defense can only be effective if they have a lead. Do you feel the same way about their defense? Do you feel like, Okay, they are effective when they play with the lead versus and then you give dan Quinn the kudos that he's getting right now. I just

I don't think those two things go together. I don't think it's entirely fair because Minnesota showed that they can stand up and win a game for you against a pretty good team, or at least a pretty good offense. But I do think there's evidence over the for the vast majority of this season, they have had the benefits of we can tee off because we got, we got leads coming. But it all works together because the Cowboys are posting all a lot of these points because they're

they're tied for second and interceptions in the league. I mean, they got fourteen picks, They're right up there in terms of takeaways. They're doing their part to help the Cowboys offense as well. It is kind of tied together. I don't think it's entirely fair, but but that is You're right, like, that's kind of the narrative right now, is that they're protecting the defense. You can look at two of the last three wins and say that Patriots as well. You

came from behind in that game too. I mean, I know you played with a lead late and then basically gave that up and went into ot But I mean the Patriots and the Vikings game, I think you could take as examples of the defense playing well enough for you without a big lead. Every road game so far this year has been decided by a single score. It's

been so every road game. Keep that in mind going into Arrowhead, but it's been decided by a single possession every single game so far this season on the road. That doesn't say that the Cowboys have been playing with the lead. They've only lost one of those games so and that was the first one to Tampa Bay. Yeah. The one thing is it's been hard to test their run defense this season. It's been very hard, and Denver was able to do it, jumped out early and it

didn't go well at all. But this is a this is a totally different matchup. We just talked about how they're you know, they're not going to hand the ball off thirty times, so I guess their luck runs out. Maybe Clyde Edwards a layer coming back. Now the Cowboys were able to pass over a healthy sae Quon Barkley and a healthy Christian McCaffrey, and now they get Clyde

Edwards a layer. But they're gonna get a client, all right. Um, In terms of a big play, to address your question, you can't stop these guys from having big plays, but you can't limit them. That's I'm just gonna go ahead and say that. It's like it's like facing freed Muhammad Ali. I think you're not gonna get jabbed. You can let me how many times you get jabb but you're gonna get jabbed. So they're gonna get their big plays. You

have to pick your poison. So I think teams are starting to take the approach in terms of trying to find a way to double Hill some way, somehow he does. So many of his routes are across the across the field, and if you're playing man, you can't. You can't play man. He's too quick. He's too fast. He's the fastest doing the league, hands down. He's too quick. He's too fast, So you can't jam him at the line of scrammisca. He'll shake you up. If you play off, he's gonna

run right by you. If you try to double him, then somebody else wins. So it's hard to stop him. So you're gonna have to say, hey, I'm gonna put him one man on him, and I'm gonna put the far safety and the near safety. You guys both have to keep your eyes on him. So you're literally trying to have three guys stop one person. So that's why these other guys start having big games. So you're playing too safeties high. Yeah, that man, I don't. I guess

you have too. He plays if you play single. Hi, I understand this through film, saying you watch film too, you can't guard him. Man, No, no, it's impossible. And if you play zone, if you play a single high zone, he's just gonna run across the field to the gap over the other corner. Right. So essentially the blueprint is that two safeties high and instead of going man, you're passing them off. You oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you have you have to pass them off and you have

to to your point the game, Tennessee. What Tennessee did so well against these guys was get hands on guys as they crossed their zone. They were physical with him. Get my hands on you. You're gonna run by me, but I'm gonna push the crap out of you or your jam you up a little bit, just to knock you off just a little bit as you go into the next zone. And then guess what our communication has to be such that the next zone that you're going to, my guy needs to be on his piece and Ques

and be ready. We need our guys up front, four guys up front to try to get home as much as possible. It sucks that Gregory, it sucks Thatt d laws out, but we've been able to generate pressure without it. But our four guys are going to have to try to get home because these guys don't like to accept the fact that he that his guys are covered. He hates it. That's what's got him in trouble this year.

A lot of those miraculous what the things that make Patrick Mahomes great are the same things that make him turn over. You know, you pretty turnover prone. So those great plays or throws across across the formation, across the coverage, all those kind of things, those become jump balls. And as long as you have guys that are being physical, and as long as you have guys that are staying in their hip pockets and you're like a pinball going

down the field, those opportunities will present themselves. But just understand, your character has to be such that you have to be able to bounce back and put the last play away because they're going to get their big plays. It's gonna happen the same way the week at our big places. It's gonna happen on both sides. Two things to play Devil's advocate to what you just said. One too high.

Safety is something that a lot of defense have done against the Cowboys this year, right and in the Cowboys offense to their demise because the Cowboys have picked them apart because of the weapons, because of the options and the balance in terms of their games. They'll just turn in, hand it off and pound you with Zeke and Tony exactly.

We have that option. Yeah, I don't know if Kansas City has the extent of that option, but I think they have an option to do that as well, especially with as bad as the Cowboys run defense has been at times this year. Because you think about it both ways. Sure it's not Zeke, it's not Pollard, but Edwards, Hilaire and Williams can still run the football efficiently. I mean, we saw what Denver did. Melvin Gordon and Javante Williams can run the ball efficiently as well, so too high safety.

It definitely concerns me if there's those options as a whole from an offense. Secondly, you mentioned being physical. Has there been a consistency of physicality on this Cowboys defense this year, because I don't know if there has been. We've seen moments Denver, for instance, where there's people sent standing in the gap, hesitant to be physical at the

point of attack. So are those two things that the Cowboys defense can afford to whiff on because I feel like if they whiff on, no, yeah, WHI no, not an option this week. So let's go ahead and say that right now. I don't know where I saw it. I was actually meant to send it to you guys. Yesterday there was a highlight. Somebody put together a highlight. I think it was just the NFL sounds of the game for Tyreek Hill and it was them just following

him around and his releases. He just excuse me, excuse me. He's literally just saying excuse me. He's saying excuse me every single time he's killing guys off the line of scrimmage, and he's laughing about it, right him and the DV you are laughing about it. And if the ball doesn't come his waysycha, Andrew Luck saying thank you whenever he gets good job, whenever he get hit. But I mean,

so you can't whip. You have to these guys have to be intent on making sure that everything in practice this week is hands on, all our dbs, hands on line of scrimmage, getting these guys freaking get a jam. Right. If you don't get a jam, the next man gets a jam. Bump him off as straight because he's gonna run across. He's like a little little pinball where he literally just weave his way through. And as long as Patrick Mahome has time back there, he will sit there

and hold the ball and wait. If you play zone, if you play too high right, he if he has time, he will literally just run across from one zone to the second zone to the third zone, all the way across the field out the back end. He's coming out the back shoot right. Or if you try to go single high now you're trying to pass stuff off. You're taking the attention of that one safety and saying when he crosses the field, try to cut him off. Well then what Now? You got these other guys that are

getting free. So it's going It's going to happen, but you have to limit it. And I think the only way that you could limit it is by being physical and staying in the hip pocket. Whenever the ball is in the air, they're gonna get their catches, but they better be contested because if you allow these guys to get the confidence to just catch the balls freely, or trying to play cover three and play saft or cover four and play soft it's gonna be a long day.

And you're saying, hip pocket, that's just closing, closing that hill. Yeah. So but I like what you what you're saying and playing the devil's advocate in this in this situation is good because you saw what Denver did versus us, and they were effective in that they were passing off CD, they were plassing off of Mary. But again, those guys were not healthy. We saw that and it bolded well

for you. But then the next opponent steps up and tries to do that, they burn them the same thing that the difference is and you pointed out it's our running game. I mean, I guess on paper right now, I can see Dan Quinn going with four guys, one linebacker and six dvs because he has the safeties, he has the DV. So I'm sure, uh, Jordan Lewis is gonna play damn near the whole game. Obviously, we know Javon Jon Curse is gonna play the entire game. But

that's the only approach that you can take. And I know they're gonna switch it up too. They're gonna switch it up as the Chiefs play a lot of trips formation and those screens that you're talking about. You go round a guys step back and next thing you know, Terik Hill takes the ball and you're still there bumping them off of the line scrimmage. Being physical at the

line scrimmage is going to be important. Now what does that also get you if you with He said, so that's a that's a that's a big time gamble is The other thing they'll do, too, is to try to get Kelsey and they'll line him up right next to Tyreek Hill, and like we just talked about it, he draws so much attention. Now Kelsey's free and can kind of win his matchup that way. Um, there was a staff from CBS. I think that Cover two and Cover four have been the most popular coverages against the four.

Reason you can't you really can't do anything else because of that speed element. But to your question, I do think I don't think physicality has been a problem for this defense this season. Actually, I think it's kind of been their calling card. You only pointed out one game though I did, And yeah, I'm trying. I'm trying to, but they can't. You guys are like they can't miss tackles. I mean, I think they had fourteen miss tackles against Denver.

Dan Quinn said, it was like three or four last Week's so much better, so much more sound, and so much more physical. This has to be the most physical game, no doubt about it. I don't think that more so than New England. Oh yeah. And the reason why Tennessee just disrespected Can City like that, not only because of the pressure, not only because of the bad decisions by Mahomes, but they hit the crap out of you. They wipe their faces. That's the thing. What's what's what's the culture

of the what's their identity in Tennessee physical. We're gonna outfield will on both sides of anybody that plays Tennessee. You know you're you're coming out beat up right, You're going old Rabel right, You're gonna get beat The craps are gonna get beat out of you. Offensively, defensively, special teams. We're hitting you in the mouth. If we don't do anything else, you're gonna leave Buddy, bloody and Bruce. That has to be our approach because Kansas City doesn't like that.

These is like the almost I almost use the fraternity. It's like the capitals of the fraternity. He's like these like these are like the pretty boys, right, these are the pretty boys of the wie. Now they're they're nice and then they're cleaning. They can make plays, but they don't want to get hit. They don't want to get hit. Are you in a frat? I'm not fra Hey, you just called the caps the pretty boy pretty boy around mirrors everything else. You call the soft soft piece pretty boys.

Oh my god, it's que days, so they are real. Okay, se counters day today, my boys spice. Let me know that this morning. But no, I mean, but you want to hit these guys. I don't think outside of the Tennessee game, they haven't been hit, and I don't think they like it. I really don't think they like it. I don't think they respond well to it. So our guys need to flop. Donovan Wilson, strap them up, curse, strap them up, right, Kayze, don't do what you did

a couple of weeks ago. Strap them up. Okay, I need everybody out there strapped up flat, Mica, this is your time to freaking unleash it. Dude, put your juggernai helmet on and run through somebody's soul, vander Ash, I haven't seen a wolf call all year. I've seen one wolf call that was after Jalen left. I need the wolf call out because we need all two hundred fifty pounds you running through somebody's chest cavity of this game. We have to outphysical these boys to make them second

guess anything quick underneath coming at you. That is all right, And defensive line wise, it's where it's gonna start. Up front. We have got to apply that pressure and we've got we've got to relegate. Have our four guys up front or however we're gonna switch this up three four guys up front. Well, we gotta get physical. We we've got to get penetration, and we've got to get home. But you point out Micah Micael can be a big difference maker in this game. Yeah, good through somebody's soul. Yeah,

I love that. I want to take that and make it a cowbite Aaron, Yeah, cow by exactly before we leave. Let's make it happen. All right, let's take our second break when we come back. How does Dallas get pressure with this offensive line from Kansas City. We'll talk about it next. You're on talking cowboys Hi, I'm Clint Tillison with man, I'm Jay Novachek, and we're both with Turf,

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for everyone. Restrictions apply. Is it att dot com for details to Talking Cowboys, whether you're watching from home or you're cheering in the stands. With esselore lenses, you can see every exciting play book an appointment at your local or experts and see what slor can do for you. See more. Two more or on talking Cowboys as he cleans the screen, clear eye view, see more, do more those slore lenses. It was like a javelin on the mic. Push was aggressive, he kept the physicality up. I'm trying

to this Cowboys. You understand what I'm picking it up? All right, real quickly before we wrap things up, Kansas City tackles in one words, one word from each of you. Offensive tackles for Kansas City have been trash. Okay, okay, yeah, yeah, that's I would probably go a little bit under. Okay, I'd probably say not adequate. But actually, I mean Isaiah

mentioned there're two rookies on the interior. They've been part of the strength of their line, and they've had injuries on the tackle spot too, like Rimors has been out right, So yeah, I mean look going back to the Super Bowl, like Heck mentioned like that's it's been a problem. You know. Tray Smith out of Tennessee, he's playing the right guard spot.

Creed Humphrey, who was one of the more touted interior offensive lineman in front of last raft out of OUH is playing the center spot, and he's been actually really good and oh Brown, I got veterans on the incaps, but but they haven't been great though, well not in day on one incap. The Kyle Long is out. Still exactly that was I think that was their game plan initially, Let's get some young guys on the inside or obviously except for the guard from New England, or some bets

on the outside. And yeah, and Kyle Long has been on the pup list for quite some time now. He's expected to return soon, but still no word on whether or not it'll be this week or not. So without Randy Gregory, without DeMarcus Lawrence again, how does how did the Cowboys generate some pressure? I'm gonna start with Isaiah

on this one because I feel like we have something coming. Yeah. No, I'm in agreeance with the Heckma train in terms of putting Parsons on the wait a minute, hey, for this game, but for this game reason being, reason being, this guy, out of any quarterback that we've faced so far this year, can hurt you the most if he gets outside the pocket and you don't have somebody running after him, Our defensive alignment won't catch him. We have some really athletic

defensive alignment. Our current guys that are playing won't catch him, so you need somebody that's gonna put some heat on him. Patrick Mahomes is not like getting hit. He does not and he does not do a great job of ball security. We've seen that this year. He runs with the ball in one hand. He's all kinds of He's not worried about ball secured. He's worried about the big play down

the field. And that's why I think if you have a two hundred and forties plus pounder, a guy who runs a four to three chasing after him, he can cause him some issues and give us the opportunities if Parsons hits him, chance for a fumble, if Parson puts pressure on him like we like we know he could, then we get those opportunities down the field for those in errand throws that Patrick Mahomes has likes that he likes to make because he likes those fifty fifty balls.

He thinks his guys are just that much better than the defenders. Damn sure does. So you're on board. Obviously, no surprise there. Wouldn't that be funny if Heckman was like, you know, but I think he's better as a linebacker. Well, you know. I mean the thing is, because of their lack of a run identity, you don't need a true just linebacker in this In this game, you need people to get pressure and you need dbs. I don't know.

I really like the way that he had a head esteem though against Atlanta, and we're able to kind of kind of control that edge a little bit more coming from the second level, more so than I think he had done previously in that specific mindset. If they brought him on a blitz on multiple occasions, I think that could work as well. I do as well. However, majority of the day, right think about let's just go ahead and just say that Kensey's gonna have sixty snaps. It's

safe to say that kensa City has sixty snaps. Of those sixty snaps, how many times will he really affect this game at that level, They're not running a lot of stuff within that five yard range. Well, and that's what dan Quinn mentioned when he was asked about UH to the effect of he's generating a ton of pressure. How do you fee you feel encouraged that using him the right way? You guys know, how much I loved

Dan Quinn Press conversation said, what an awesome question. I guess that's saying you're doing a good job Dan, or you're a dumb ass. But he said, he pointed out that you know he's going vertical a lot from the linebacker position as well. But you guys points well taken like this is a matchup where you have to get to Pat Mahomes. In the conversation, I'm gonna steal this directly from Nick Eatman, and he said, man, I want to use I want to use Michael Parsons like they

used Troy Paulamalo. And I don't see nothing wrong with that. You know, just a guy that you line up everywhere and you know he can be effective from anywhere on the field. Last week against Atlanta, the one rush where he went he even tweeted Almari Cooper, I told you my dead leg was better than your, you know, and he would then and the guy didn't even put a

hand on him. That's just the kind of speed, the athleticism that he presents from the from the from the edge, and even when he takes a bad angle, you see the speed that he could do to still get to the outside and not give up contain. He's just a special guy. And coming up against a player like Patrick Mahomes, I see him different. I see him as a quarterback

that can extend plays with his legs. No, he does not want to get touched, but he can extend plays with his legs, and they go to that scrambled drill and that's where he will make a mistake if you're touching him already, right, and so he's gonna try and extend to play, get something across his body. And that's where he was nightmarish at the beginning of the season trying to do this and also just looking at the

role that they're getting on. Look at the games that they've played, look at the teams that they've beat, so a lot of that maybe fools gold up until this point. And I believe that this Dallas defense, which has been underappreciated to a certain degree, can actually put their stamp

on this game. And that be the reminder because we hadn't seen an offense like this since Tampa as far as the weapons that they have, but we hadn't seen a team move formations like this either since Minnesota or maybe against the Patriots where they They're doing so many different things out of different formations. So look, it's just gonna be a chess match, and Dan Quinn is worth this salt. You're gonna see it this week. I agree with you on the teams and the potential fools gold

for Kansas City. We'll talk about that a little bit more on Friday. But their last two wins have been really impressive against against Green Bay and then against the Race green Bay without Oh that's right, it was without Aaron Rodd. Come on, come, okay, that's right. I forgot about that point point. We're gonna talk about that on Friday. But tomorrow we preview the Cowboys offense. Sir, I think

the Cowboys offense could have another big day. I've been looking at this Kansas City defense and I think the holes, man, I think there's some holes. We're gonna talk about it tomorrow. I hope you had fun on this one. Lots of excitement around this matchup heading into Sunday. But for Chris Beam, Rob Phillips, Isaiah Daanback, heck Ma Harris, and I'm Kyle Yeoman's we'll see you tomorrow on talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.