Talkin' Cowboys: The Russ Problem

five hundred. But now it's time to take that next step, to take that next benchmark moment and go up against the Seattle Seahawks, and we're Talking Cowboys. We're gonna break it down for you for the next forty five minutes. Cowboys defense versus the Seattle offense. How in the world are we going to slow down? Russell Wilson heading into Sunday, So glad you're with us here on Dallas Cowboys dot

Com and the various platforms in which were streamed. Isaiah stand Back, our residence, super Bowl Champion, Rob Phillips, heck My Harrison, I'm Kyle Yeomans and Isaiah. You know one thing I've always respected about you, specifically as a member of this show, is because you do have that Washington allegiance. Sometimes you have that that u W pride. We mentioned it a little bit yesterday. You have that pride for

the great Northwest, and I respect that. But you still, as a former cowboy in your own right, you found a way to make that background specifically about the Cowboys. And you have a couple of Cowboys helmets up there. You've got the helmet up there. Yeah, my first touchdown. Yeah, and then I have another whoa, oh, whoa you got you got of the kid in me it with you. I swear that was a Cowboys helmet yesterday. It was yesterday. And now it's a Seattle Seahawks helmet hanging up on

the wall. For those of you who are listening to this podcast and not watching it on video, But there is a Cowboys helmet the last it's a beautiful canvas in the middle, and then a Seattle Seahawks helmet on the right rock. It's just it's just the matchup. It's the matchup. If you go to the Star, you go the Star right off the atrium. It's got all the helmets for the entire NFL. Whoever the Cowboys are playing. It lights up Isaiah, Just Isaiah just brought the star

to the studios. Maybe standbacks that always liked you? Yes, yes, yes, thank you? Is that he does not have a Cleveland browns helmet? So how did all of a sudden miraculously does this Seahawks helmet show up on your wall? Now tell me this. When you flip that your poster around, is the space needle on the backside of him? Oh my gosh, No, didn't get that custom burdens when we played. When we played a Giants, okay, I played for the Giants organization. We played a Patriots, I played for the

Patriots organization. Okay, to put the helmet over there to my head if I you know, if that's the matchup of the week and I have the helmet, why not? Okay? Why not? Sattle? He's from Seattle, Suspi, Seattle. Come on, I spend my whole life up there. You're pretty suspicious, my god. Man, come on, hey, hey, Dallas paid me, Seattle raised me. You know what I'm saying. Come on, man, I like that. Oh that's a that's a pretty good saying, but hey, we love you anyways, and we're ready to

talk about this matchup. No better person than talk about this matchup for somebody who played for both teams, and that's exactly what Isaiah Standback has done. But guys, I wanted to start this off by by looking at really the offense for Seattle, and of course they're off to a fantastic start. Russell Wilson just the fourth player in the Super Bowl era to throw at least nine touchdown

passes over the first two weeks of the season. Drew Brees in two thousand and nine Super Bowl MVP season, Peyton Manning in twenty thirteen won MVP that year, and then Patrick Mahomes in twenty eighteen. Guess what he did in twenty eighteen. He won the MVP. So you talk about a guy who's never had an MVP vote, which I think is just a travesty for all MVP voters

in the world. The fact that Russell Wilson throughout his eight year now into his ninth year career, has not had a vote, a single vote for the MVP award. But he's making a case right now. He's making a case to do that. It is really disrespectful. But Rob whenever he comes to Russell Wilson and you're looking at this offense for Seattle, they're firing all cylinders because three is playing extremely well. How do you start even game

planning to slow that down? Well, you said it. I watched back the Pats game last night, and that first touchdown drive they had it was a thing of beauty. Man, it was. It was thirteen plays, seventy five yards, six runs, seven passes, and three times he got out of trouble. They weren't even designed runs, just scrambles. One for twenty one yards. One was a slow developing play action that he got out of trouble for six and the balance

was there. They use their backs, they use their tight ends, they use their receivers and oh, by the way, yeah he's he's pretty good. And I don't know how you stop him, honestly, other than I know every time they played Seattle in the Rod Marinelli era, he talked about keeping him in the well. You've got you've got to be disciplined in your rushes and don't let him get outside the pocket. But then you've got to watch him scrambling up the middle two, which is why we talked

about the spy yesterday. I don't I don't know what you do other than try to get a pass rush on him, try to be more effective than you've been the first two weeks of the season, because the Cowboys

will admit it has been up to par so far. Yeah, And so as we talk about this defense, right, the Cowboys defense and trying to slow down the disrespected MVP caliber quarterback that is Russell Wilson, There's only been one thing that I've ever seen that has really slowed down Russell Wilson, it really caused him issues, and that one

thing is pressure on an interior line. But only time he's ever been disrupted as a quarterbacks when he has an interior pressure and the defensive end state discipline you guys mentioned and being able to contain him right and being able to spy him. The spy doesn't really work. There's not many guys in the NFL that can really not react to his to his moves right man to man, right, if Russell wasn't decides to scramble, one guy's really not

going to stop him. Not a guy out in space right with a two way go with giving Russell wasn't a two way goal. So when you provide pressure with the interior d lineman. So when we talk about Pole, we talk about Gallimore, we talk about Tristan Hill, we talk about these guys, and they're a bill of these that they have. Right, They're going to have to show up if Dallas wants to be successful against Russell Wilson,

because he can get out the pocket. But if you provide pressure in the middle and you contain him on the outside, now you have him doing running around and causing all kinds of serve. So that's how you stop this man. That is the only way you stopped this man. Our big boys up. Frank got to show up now, Isaiah, do you remember when they used to call Russell a bus driver in Seattle? He was considered the bus driver. Now the bus driver has turned into a Formula one racer.

He is he is throwing the ball all over the place and rob Like you said, that game last week versus New England was an instant classic. If you love watching the strategy of football, it was all you needed was in this one game. And you're right. I mean, you just have to take a deep breath and ask yourself how are you going to deal with all of the things that Russ can do? And Brian Schottenhammer is allowing Russ to cook, and Russ is looking unstoppable or

mister unlimited as he's calling himself these days. Because what do you do? Do you do? You play him his own like New England did last last week? He just throws that ball right over the top of you and make it a feast him, all those long balls to the Poleon. Do you play him in cover three? He just throws it over the top of your linebackers. If you go cover two, he'll find the scene with his

favorite receiver, Tyler Lockett. And so there are a multitude of things that I'm sure Mike Nolan has been staying up at night wondering how he's going to stop this guy. But it's gonna come down to a few factors. And that's just making DK Mancalf normal or human, I guess it. And how do you do that? Just try and turn that guy the big play receiver. You know he wants to hit you long, but tourn him in and Michael Irvin turn him into a possession receiver. Make it be

short and he has to go long. But Tyler Lockett is one of the guys that he really wants to catch you with. And man, the Cowboys secondary man, they have the we're cut out for him. And this is the week man that you figure out where we are. Because if you're basing it off of your performance versus the Rams in Atlanta, huh yeah, just take a deep breath. There's really no way to sugarcoat it. Whenever it comes

to the deep threat ability of this Seattle offense. And you look at the passing chart from Russell Wilson last week, go on Next Gen Stats. They do a fantastic job of putting out these charts from quarterbacks and where their throws were and where they were successful and how far their touchdown throws were from the line of scrimmage. And somebody tweeted out yesterday it said, when you're throwing chart as a quarterback looks more like a home run derby,

that's when you know you're really bawling. And that's exactly what it looked like for Russell Wilson. He had four touchdown passes. It seemed like that we're over fifteen yards of distance from the line of scrimmage last week against the New England Patriots, and he's able to hit those guys deep. Whether it's Tyler Lockett, whether it's dcpe, Metcalfe, treyvon digs, cheetah Oozia, Jordan Lewis, those guys are gonna have a tough matchup regardless. And that's where I kind

of agree with Isaiah here. Whenever it comes to the defensive line, you have to have pressure, especially in the interior, which is a place where when you watch the film against Atlanta, you're kind of bullied. You really were by an offensive line that wasn't necessarily touted coming into the day. You had Don Terre Pope pushed around. Even Tristan Hill at times didn't look great, and I know he's kind of still on the ascending side of his career, but

you got to be able to get pressure. They weren't able to do that. Now, Don Terry Poe has played against the Seahawks three times in his career and he's registered seven tackles, three tackles for loss, a sack, and three pressures. So maybe if history's on his side, Don Terry Pope might have a better game and have it a little bit of an uptick and you might be able to get pressure, but heckma, is that really outside of the secondary? I know you just mentioned the secondary.

If you're able to get pressure, is it really that easy to slow down Russell Wilson or is it much more than that? Well, I think one of the things that's a great question. But the thing about Russ is because of his height, he has to find a lunching point. He's when he's in his shotgun formation, he's a little he's back further than a lot of your taller quarterbacks,

so he knows I mean his offensive line. These guys are averaging six to five, so he has to get out of the pocket to create those passing lanes because of his height. And so it's gonna be very important that even if the Cowboys don't get there, that at least they get their hands up so they can knock some balls down. But the pass rush is gonna be pivotal in this game, and it's gonna come down to those guys that you pointed out, Hill Poe, Tying Crawford

and Alder Smith and Tank. Lawrence's injury. Really it worries me. We hadn't heard a lot about where he is right now, but We're gonna need our full arsenal of guys to get him because we're gonna have to get him on the ground, and inspiring him with one of our linebackers isn't the answer. You know, the Falcon's got three sacks on him, and that gives me a little bit of of optimism because you can pressure Russell Wilson because he's gonna hold onto the ball man He's gonna wait until

the last opportunity to get rid of that thing. Can you get him on the ground though, is the other question, because I think he'll take hits, but but he will, He'll buy a time and either get away from you or get the ball out eventually. The thing I love about him the most is he's like the most calm quarterback I've ever seen. Just I mean, it's almost like he's in slow motion. He doesn't have the Peyton Manning happy feet. You know, things are going crazy around him,

but he's just very common poise back there. I think they can get pressure on him if he's willing to. If if the coverage can hold up on the back end and make him have to wait, I think he might be able to hit him. Some question is how much. Can you bring him down now? Yeah, you guys are hitting on all really good points, really good, really good points, man.

And what I believe that is really the key. I know we're probably going to another segment here, but running of the key things is the only thing that has ever worked. And believe me, I'm watching Russell Wilson for a long time obviously with my Seattle ties. Whenever you can get that interior push right and you can stunt

your defensive ends. I know we brought up Lawrence, we brought up Aldon Smith, right, And being that those guys are going to be in the stand up position, I really think it puts them at a disadvantage versus their hand being in the ground because they don't have the then the ability to stunt as as as efficiently as

they would have with their hand in the ground. And when I say stunt, I mean meaning that those guys were putting their hands in the ground potentially right or they're standing up and they're they're they're then letting the interior defensive linement rush outside and they're crossing face. What that does is it causes confusion. It causes confusion on

the offensive line. So when these guys are trying to pass off somebody from the guard to the tackle, right if the guard has somebody lined up over them, right, and that person that goes now outside towards the tackle, they're following those guys out until they pass them off to the tackle. Meanwhile, Alden Smith and and d Law, those guys would be crossing face now coming and bringing that pressure interiorly while those your guys are now being

to contain guys. That's how you stop Russell Wilson Um. It's the only thing that ever causes him any confusion because he does like to spin outside in the pocket, and when you have those guys pressure upside, he can't step up and you won't allow him to get out.

Now all of a sudden, you provided some problems because if as long as you don't allow for him to have time, that's what causes people a lot of problems with him, because he does buy time, and when he's by his time, that's a long time for these dbs. And this guy's in the secondary to try to guard these four two or four three receivers that that Seattle has,

it's impossible. It's it's an eternity. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a lot of top flip it real quick, and just and just mentioned Sorry Kyle, Yeah, I just mentioned because we're because we're on the we're on the Russ topic right now. And Dak Ruscott, by the way, is your is your offensive player of the week for weeks? Yes,

he is. Dallas calbum about that, which no surprise really, but he Hegma brought up a really interesting point about bus driver, right, And I think Russ early in his career he kind of I mean, they let him kind of manage the game and they had such a great defense that you know, they tried to rely on on that first and and and try to, you know, manage the game offensively, and he look, he is slinging it around. We know that. I think I think first quarter in

Week one he had like ten or eleven passes. I mean, they're they're letting him loose. And to me, it's just a reminder that I think we try to microwave quarterbacks and what they're gonna be. And Tom Brady was the same way. And I'm not saying Dak Prescott's gonna end up with the career of Tom Brady or I think Russ is headed to the Hall of Fame probably, um, but you're seeing Dak. You're seeing the evolution of Dak's game too. Where where you are where I know where

you going with this? I like it. I'm saying that he can he can go win you a football game. He doesn't have to rely on everything being perfect around him. He lost his tight end last week. The offensive line was a mess, and and the pressure was there a lot of the time, and he still made it work with four hundred fifty yards. I just we had to talk to a whole lot of about Doc this week. I just wanted to throw that out there, like, let's let's give the man some credit. Like he's he's pretty

good Rob, no doubt that. Boys, he's bawling right these first two guys. He's taking care of business. But let's just bring up the fact that you mentioned Russell Wilson, Tom Brady and Hall of Fame in the same since No Dak, Chris Scott, I'm just I'm just making sure that I'm not going there. I'm saying he's in his fifth year and we're starting to see him. He fall guy that can be that type of guy, and I think that's what he doesn't have that long term deal yet,

will it happen? Yeah, we'll see, Rob But the first time, no, not. What the Cowboys are banking on. What the Cowboys are banking on is that he's gonna continue to ascend to by the time he's thirty, he's gonna be that guy. He's gonna be a guy. He's gonna be the offense starts with Dak Prescott and obviously you know they want Zeke here for the long term two. But I think that's that's the track they're expecting him to be on.

We'll see. I'm just I'm just saying, no point, he's he's doing a good job, he's elevating, and he's got a long way to go to get to Russell Wilson territory already. And I saw an interesting conversation, a very fascinating one on Twitter yesterday and somebody asked, I can't remember exactly what the account was, somebody asked, is there a possibility that you can name five or six quarterbacks that are better than Russell Wilson all time? And I

was like, yeah, sure, it's five or six quarterbacks. That's easy stuff. And you start going down the list and he kind of gets hard around five or six. It gets to the point where you're you're saying he might be in that conversation. I don't know. I would still probably put him maybe six or seven compared to some of the other greats. But you look at you look at like a Tom Tom Brady, a Peyton Manning, I mean,

guys like that Joe Montana up there. But other than that, Russell Wilson's at least kind of in that category already. And if he adds another Super Bowl title sometime or an MVP sometime, who knows what his possibilities could be as his career goes along. And if Dak Prescott could even sniff that, then all of a sudden, you're having a fantastic career and the Cowboys fans would be quite happy with that moving forward. But we're gonna come back

when we come back. There was a little drama on Cowboys Twitter yesterday, including one of our good friends from across the way at our flagship station one oh five three the fan we're gonna talk about that, and was he right? When we come back? You're on talking Cowboys since eighteen sixty five. Stetson hats are American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Want to show your Texas and Team pride too? You can by purchasing

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and Cream Soda. Is he a newcombone? Let's music to my ears? Okay, doctor time, music to my ears and mouth new Doctor pepper and Cream Soda. Delas Just do ba sama to Talking Cowboys. You with Talking Cowboys a Wednesday edition. Glad you're with us as we break down the Cowboys defense versus the Seattle offense and how in

the world are we slowing down? Russell Wilson heading into Sunday trying to get to two and one on the season, and in my opinion, the winner of this game is completely and utterly vaulted into the conversation of a potential NFC favorite conversation because of the Wow, I really think so. And that's crazy, crazy, how things can turn around with one week. I mean, if the Cowboys lose, no, that's

not the case. What I'm saying with my chest. If the Cowboys beat the Seahawks, all of a sudden, you're at two and one, You've got an easier schedule ahead of you, you could potentially be in that conversation. And I'm not saying they're the favorite, but I'm saying they're in the conversation now. Before we get into this next segment, are you come into the Cowboys game next weekend? Make sure you know before you go, wear a mask, keep distance,

and be prepared for cashless transactions. Please be aware of all safe stadium policies prior to arriving at AT and T Stadium. Visit Dallas Cowboys dot com slash safe Stadium for details. That's if you're going to the Sunday, October fourth game against the Cleveland Browns. Talk about an easier schedule. We'll get into that matchup next week, but if you're going to the game, stay safe. Be sure to stay

up to date on all of the regulations. But yesterday there's a little bit of drama in Cowboys Twitter, and Cowboys Twitter is a fun place. Let's just say it that way. It's a fun place at times. It's a hostile place at times. It's one of my favorite places just because of how fun and passionate it could be. And that's what makes our jobs fun is the passion that the fans have and the interaction that you have

with media members and other media members. And one of my favorite people in the media is Jeff Cavanaugh over a one or five point three the fan. I've learned so much from Jeff throughout our time on the Draft Show and just from listening to him throughout the early parts of my career. Well, he got himself in a little drama yesterday on Twitter, and it wasn't necessarily his fault. And there's a reason why we're gonna bring this up

and talk about this, because I think he's right. Anyways, he tweeted out and he said Everson Griffin hasn't been good for the Cowboys at all. Yet remember that yet word right there at the end. Well, normal tweet. He's watching the twenty two as he does. He works extremely hard at his craft and really gets to breaking down these players, and he thought Everson Griffin wasn't the same sort of player that he had seen on film prior

to his addition to the Cowboys. Well, Everson Griffin took exception to that, and he comes back and he's pretty vulgar in his first tweet. We can't really say that one on air. But then he starts talking about, please explain what I'm doing wrong in Week two of football, and then the responses started flying in. He starts going off,

going back and forth really with Jeff Cavanaugh. They're talking about what he's doing wrong, how he's evolving, and basically it ends up in a back and forth conversation that was picked up by TMZ plenty of different places, saying he went quote unquote nuclear. I don't necessarily think it

was nuclear on either side. I think it was actually a little bit of an exception at first, then morphing into what ended up being actually very meaningful conversation between the two and a lot of cool insight from Everson Griffin side, talking about how his game is evolving, how he's got slow hands, and how he's starting to turn

into the player that he wants to be. But my question to you guys about the Twitter beef and about what Jeff Kavanaugh initially said on Twitter about Everson Griffin not playing well and Isaiah, I'm gonna start with you on here. Was he right? And how can Everson Griffin continue to progress as a pass rusher heading into Seattle Week? Hey, guys, y'all hear that? Echo man? Yeah? Yeah, so no, he's he's wrong, He's he's completely wrong. Yeah, Kavanaugh was wrong.

I mean, Everson Griffin has been a solid force for his defensive aligne Now, now we talk about Everson Griffin and you know, oh, you know, is he balling out? Is he getting sacks left and right? No? But there's so much more responsibilities for defensive alignment aside from just simply getting sacks and tackles for losses. If you play sixty games and if you play sixty snaps in a game, you can I mean, if you grade out as a B plus or A, you might not have a tackle

for a loss. You might not have a sack, right because you you still carried out your responsibilities, you still held your gap, You still got that guy off from not allowing him to go up to the next level. So there's so many, so many aspects of the game that that that the average person doesn't see. Um. And when he doesn't, when you don't know their responsibilities, you

can't sit up here and critique how well they've played. Now, if they're getting drug and they're getting pancaked and and ran out the club, okay, thrown out the club like like like like Jeff from U Le Jazzy, Jeff from Frens French, then that's then that's that's something else, right. But everything Griffin has been there, he's we've called his name, we've seen him be there, and you haven't seen him get thrown her out. So I mean I think he's

he's he's wrong. Rob. I'm gonna let you take you're Hey, Rob, you you're the writer, man, you're the guy that that you know they pay to hear your opinion. Yeah, there's no open locker rooms this year to have these kind of conversations in a person um, And I've had a couple of those in my day. Um Man, this made

TMZ really yeah TMZ. Yeah, I mean I don't think. Yeah, I mean I would say this, and I haven't talked to players about this personally, but I would imagine that this year criticism probably stings more than it would in another year, you know, because players haven't had the time to get ready. And I'm not I'm not making excuses, I'm just stating facts, and that's that's around the league. Everson Griffin signed right before the start of training camp,

didn't even have the virtual offseason program. And I get that he's a vet, but um, you know, and I respect what Jeff does. Jeff does the work and Jeff puts time into his opinions. Um, but I will say I got asked by the fan, right is that all this was happening? And the thing that I did point out was Everson Griffin had two pressures in the game to get the Cowboys defense off the field and help them win the football game to come back. Now, overall, has the past rush been what it needs to be.

They've admitted no. Overall, it's not that it's we just talked about it in the first semi and they've got to get getting more pressure. But I would add, you know what, in Everson had a bunch of tweets throughout the morning. I guess the one that he that really jumped out to me was actually something we said on the show right before all this happened, and I think Heckman brought it up first. He said, it's all about

the trend line. Right. It's week two. They've had a lot of injuries, there's a lot of new concept, there's a lot of new players. Let's judge the defense as it goes here, because I think it's probably too early to say this player or that scheme won't do it now. I know Jeff's just talking about what happened so far. Yeah, but I think we've got to wait and see how this defense evolves. Look, guys, look we family. Man, Guys, we we family. We've been doing this together for a while,

and I can see to us brothers. You know, I want to see I want to share something I have too. We might. I wish you was in the studio because we could whole hands at this point. But guys, I have two phobias in life, and those are bears and people. Bears is one, and people that don't blink you ask me bears. Look, man, I have a feeling that I'm a brother from o Cliff that will be eaten by bear. I don't know why, that's happening. But that's just me, right.

People that don't blink, Look, breathing is like blinking. You don't have to tell yourself to breathe or blink. I watched Everson Griffin d and Instagram video when he first got with the Cowboys, and for admitted in thirteen seconds he didn't blink. That told me everything I need to know about Everson Griffin. I won't tweet anything about Everson Griffin. As a matter of fact, if I see Everson Griffin in the hallway, I'm going another way. So Cavanaugh, man,

you're a brave soul. I salute you and write home it just happened here. I don't. I don't know what I go in here. I don't know. Man. I won't touch it. I won't touch Robbie. I caught bears and people who don't blind. What are we talking about? I don't. I don't touch it. I don't mess with it. It's just something. Look when the last time you talk to somebody that didn't blink for two minutes, I'm just last

time I ran into Dragonfly Jones. Okay, I don't blink, get I mean, I understand, I understand the criticism, but at the same time, you know, Everson Griffin said it correctly. Man, He's just like, Look, I had been in long enough, and it's hard to judge and tape based off of how long I've been here. But I'm just telling you Everson Griffin for what I didn't know about him prior to coming too the Dallas Cowboys. I know he's somebody that you don't want to mess with on the football field.

He may be sweetest pie off of it, and I doubt it. But at the same time, I just feel like, you know, that was a brave thing. That's a brave thing to say about him in the The fact is he didn't add him on it. He didn't like Everson Griffin isn't play. He just said Everson Griffin, and Everson responded. So I'm sure Kavanaugh was like, WHOA, I wasn't expecting that. And you know, in terms of keep my name out your mouth, I mean, that's that's analogous to keep that

energy when I see you. So I'm just saying like he got out of control fast. Yeah, And you get the passion from both sides, and you also look at with with Jeff Cavanaugh specifically, I mean, he is confident in what he sees, he does the work, he's very good at what he does, and I respect the hell out of Jeff Cavanaugh. It's just the fact that it

was surprising that Everson Griffin did respond. It's nothing out of the ordinary for Jeff Cavanaugh to to do a film study and make an analysis and sometimes just players, I guess catch wind of and that's exactly what happened. Now before we head into this final segment and we take our second break, Rob on the other side of Everson Griffin, still a lot of question marks about DeMarcus Lawrence.

I haven't personally heard anything, but do you have any sort of update or have you heard anything specifically about d law and his status moving into week three? You know, just based off what Jerry said on the fan yesterday, it didn't sound like he was too concerned about him. So what that means for practice this week, I'm not I'm not sure. We'll talk to Mike McCarthy at what

thirty minutes or so and see what he does. But I think the fact that he was able to kind of get in and out of the lineup in the second half, I think is encouraging. The question is you know, if he if he's active and he starts is one percent, maybe a week between games what will help him out? But I think we'll just have to see what he does throughout the week of practice and hopefully he's ready to go because the Cowboys could absolutely use his help

in the run game. And then also when it comes to trying to keep Russell Wilson in the well and keep him in the pocket and allow him to feel that pressure who moving into his progressions and hopefully the Cowboys game coming up here this Sunday when we come back, linebackers, can they have the encore that they did on this past Sunday again this Sunday? Can they play well again? Joe Thomas and Jalen Smith, we'll talk about it next when we come back. You're on talking Cowboys. I'm Jay Novachek,

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shipping to talk in Cowboys. So now the phobias of snakes in spiders along with the bears of Heckma, I've been brought up in the break. We're going through our phobias. Let us know your phobia. I guess I was just I was just telling Heckma. I was just telling Hackma, you gotta go to a specific place to find a bear. Man. You can walk outside the Texas and find a snake or a spider all that. Yeah, look, man, I don't know what I saw. I just I just cannot deal

with it. And I just have a feeling if people have told me, like Heckma, they have this thing called bear repelling. It's to me that's seasoning for the bear like I bear repelling. So Robert cow I have nothing for you, man, I've learned so much about heck this week. You know, people blinking bears extra revenue. I mean, I don't know where. I don't know what else to really

talk about. I just man, And here's the thing. Whether you're giving it all like God, yeah, you are giving it all you got, And whether you're watching from home or searching for bears in the woods with sel or lenses, you'll see every exciting bear. Book an appointment with your local essel or experts and find the perfect essel or lenses for you. See more, do more? Er? What a segway there? Yeah, I just wanted to We're running out of time here, but uh yeah, I will appreciate that. Yeah,

I'm sure that. I'm sure they've loved it. Um moving into one final segment of this offense for Seattle versus the Cowboys defense, and I really want some education here for those of you who really enjoy watching the linebackers. And I'm specifically looking at you three because I'm not a big linebacker film study guy. I'm more of an offensive defensive lineman wide receiver Dbats was sort of dude. But whenever it comes to last week, Joe Thomas was fantastic in terms of the way that he stepped up

and filled the role for Layton vander Esh. Jalen Smith played better in week two than he did in Week one, but still I still think you're not seeing the best from Jalen Smith as of yet. Whenever you're going up against the team like Seattle and Rob We're gonna start

with you on this one. But whenever you're going up against the teams like Seattle that likes to air the football deep, that likes to throw it long, and likes to let right now let Russ Cook, how do these linebackers adjust and how do they find a way to make an impact both in coverage and in the run game against the guy like Chris Carson. Well, you're right, I mean, they have the deep threats down the field. Metcalf has been dynamic so far. Obviously Lockett's been doing

this for a lot of years. But just watching them so far, I think they get all their guys involved in all different levels of the field. I mean, I think Chris Carson and Carlos Hide they'll use them on swing passes, they'll get them involved in the short game, and you know they've got a couple of tight ends they like as well. This Ley's a good player, obviously, Olson has done it for a lot of years. So I think they're going to be situations where linebackers are

gonna be involved in coverage. And you mentioned some of the job they did, you know, up front, maybe stopping the run. They did a nice job I thought overall against Atlanta. That's something to build on. What they did in the running game. Like you said, Jalen was effective, Thomas as well. There were some angles you watched maybe they could have taken a better angle here or there.

But no, I think they've got to be They're gonna have a key role in this game because while Wilson likes to go down the field, they also set up things down the field with some of that intermediate stuff too, So they've got to be on point there. Yeah, go ahead, I'm sorry, go ahead, go ahead. No, the linebackers have the were cutout for him in this game. And that they have brought up a point about tight ends in

twelve personnel and stacking their tight ends. Stacking tight ends and Seattle does a really good job of that, and it stretches your defense and puts your linebackers in those one on one situations. And Jalen Smith first week, I think everybody by committee was just kind of down on Jaylen Smith and I think PFF, as Kyle pointed out, grading him really low. But it was a complete one eighty to the next week where he graded out in the seventies and coverage and run defense, and so really

positive about that. But no one grades out perfect, neither did Joe Thomas. But where he was was solid in the run game. And as you know Seattle, they have Carlos High, they have Carson, they have a lot of guys and also Russell Wilson on those design runs. And so for me, it's just the fact that Jalen Smith is going to be in some one on one situations with Olsen or maybe one on one situations with Carson,

and those will routes, and that's where I worry. It's not that I don't believe that he's up to it. I just feel like recognizing it, maybe taking a false step here or there and getting out in coverage, maybe his Achilles hill. But these guys are watching plenty of tape on it, so they know exactly how Seattle is gonna try and attack them. Yeah, just just be as as playing as straightforward as possible. Uh straight no ice. Uh. These the linebackers have problems this week. Uh. This backfield

is the most physical backfield that they faced this year. Um. It's essentially it's equivalent to facing Brown right in the first week against the Rams and how physical he was. You have two guys that are just as physical as Brown was. Um, but we saw how how how he brought that hat right. So you have Carson and you have carlos Hi who's running the ball like he like

he has a point to prove right now. Um. And both of those guys are compact, they're thick, they have some speed on them, and they're gonna they're gonna bring it when they when they come. And that works to advantage of our linebackers because the Cowboys linebackers Thomas and Jaylen Smith, they they're they're at their best when they're able to play downhill and be aggressive. So those two

powers coming together, we'll see how that turns out. The problem is because Seattle runs the ball so efficiently, and they will use Jaylen Smith and Joe Thomas's aggression against them. Right, So as you start talking about their ability to start coming downhill, Seattle's gonna handle about. Seattle will run the ball the entire head for an entire series without throwing

the ball. Jesse get those linebackers to commit, and then once Joe Thomas and Jalen Smith getting that instinctive mode where they're now just responding and coming downhill, that's when Greg Olsen gets behind you and eats. That's when Carson runs on a wheel route when you're trying to come up and lay a hat and he runs around you. So that's what that's what really sets up, and that's what makes this offense in Seattle. Seattle has never been

a lineup and throw the round type offense. Even though they're throwing it more consistently now, it's still is off of the play action. Seattle is a run first team, So Jalen Smith and Joe Thomas are going to have to really calm themselves down and be patient and be poised because they will get lured into being set up for big place. It's kind of like the Giants when

when Eli was in his prime. You know, they use the run game and the Jacobs and the play action everything to go deep and and it try to try to soften the coverage up and take those deep shots. It's kind of what you're seeing a little bit from from Russ this year through two games. Yeah, I think they gotta win second and three. I believe on a second and three they threw a deep route. Man on a second and three, I mean, that's that's naturally for a defense is going to tell you that's a running down.

And on second and nine they'll run the ball. And so what letting Russ cook is bringing a lot of variation to their offense. And I think again, Mike Nolan hasn't slept since Sunday, so there's a lot to look more at this Seattle offense. And before I know, Cole

hasn't go. But but heck, when you when you allude to these short the short distance you know, second down and third down place sometimes even fourth down, when you when key on an offense running the ball, these long passes for Seattle are not low percentage pass plays like they are from most quarterbacks in most teams. He throws a ball such with such accuracy on deep balls that guess what, it's not a risk to throw the ball forty yards down the field on a sick and a third.

That is crazy to even hear you say that, because that's not even conventional football, and he just he destroys all of that. You're right, his deep ball is like a handoffs. It's amazing the touch that Russell Wilson has. Yeah, there were a couple plays in that Patriots game where you couldn't have run down the field and set it into a receiver's hands better than what Russell Wilson's throw ultimately ended up being the fact that he was able to hit those guys in stride so efficiently. It's a

little bit scary. But is this the scariest offense that the Cowboys have seen so far? They've seen two really good ones. I mean the Rams week one. Sure, they were little dink and dunk, it was a little bit more of a different look of an offense. You saw a completely one eighty version of that with Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley last week. But where do the Seattle offense rank in terms of teams that you're most

scared about? Him? Atma will go with you. First, I believe what scares me about Seattle is their efficiency and their balance. That's it. I mean, he's not putting up those Matt Ryan four hundred yard three hundred whatever it was that had him number one in the league last week. He's not doing that. I mean he's finishing with two eighty nine. But he's so efficient. He's completing eighty six percent of his passes in his QBR is out of this world. So it's just that they're balanced and Russell

Russell is just so efficient. Yeah, this is the most dangerous offense that that they faced so far. Now, as we go forward, um, we'll see what happens, but as of right now, this is the most dangerous. I know, we would say the Rams were probably the most dangerous early on. But you know the fact that Russell Wilson just doesn't make mistakes that you know, and that alludes

to everything Hector said. Russell's not going to lose you the game, which is why they used to call him the bus driver back in the day, because hey, simply manage the game and we win. Right, our defense will help us win. Now it's like, hey, he still has those same attributes, right, but now he has the ability to call everything the way he wants to. And they're patient. They are very very patient. They are not gonna feel rushed. At no point in time do they feel like they're

out of the game. It doesn't matter how much you're up. They're gonna run it. They're gonna play action, and they have weapons all over the field. You alluded to already how he's spreading the ball all over the field. This is this is what makes the team dangerous is the fact that they don't turn the ball over their patient on offense. They're gonna run the ball and they go with play action. They have to speed to beat you

over the top. That's a dangerous team. Yeah, they've got the best quarterback of the three the Cowboys a face, and I don't think it's close right now because of what the ways he can beat you in different ways, more so than Ryan or Golf not. I mean, they've had some changes up front. I think they got three new starters. They've got a rookie at I believe right guard. But it's Russell Wilson Man. So it's gonna be fun.

It's gonna be fun to see how they match up with him because Yes, it's the best challenge they've had so far. It's a benchmark game, it really is. For the Cowboys. You got to win last week. You got lucky on that one. See if you can do it again, See if you can replicate and continue to improve. That's what I want this coaching staff to show me is

that you can improve as the season goes along. And something that we were really frustrated with in the Jason Garrett eras the fact that you were stuck in an identity. I think now you can take that identity and evolve it as the season goes along. And this is a great way to do it up against the best in the NFC, and that's what the Seattle Seahawks are now. Tomorrow we're going to break down the Cowboys offense against the Seattle defense, where I really do think the Seattle

defense is susceptible. Jamal Adams in his first game in a Seahawks uniform against the Cowboys, his hometown team, will break all of that down starting at nine thirty am tomorrow. If you have questions, send them to us on Twitter. We'll answer throughout the show and continue to break down this three week three matchup as the Cowboys travel to the Great Northwest. But that's it for Talking Cowboys Today for Isaiah Stanback for Rob Phillips and heck Ma Harrison.

Special thanks to Chris Beam In the back, I'm Kyle Yeoman's We'll see you Tomorrow with more Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.