The following.
He is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.
Cowboys.
This He's Talking Cowboys, springing live from the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters.
At the Star in Frisco, Second dot Kitsondown, and now your hosts Isaiah Standback, Nick Harris, John Mashoda, and Kyle Yeomans.
It's a Thursday edition of Talking Cowboys, presented by Black Rifle Coffee Company, live from the Star in Frisco in the.
S WBC studios. Today we have QB vision.
Isaiah Standback breaks down the Carolina Panthers defense and.
When they bring to the table, don't laugh. It's an NFL team. We can talk about this.
John Machoda, Nick Harris, of course, Isaia stand Back. We've got Chris Beaman in the back of Kylie the almost gentleman.
How we do it today?
Doing good, doing fantastic. I made a stop at Wingstop last night to prepare.
Did you you're trying to trying to.
Prepare the pallette?
You can't. Yeah, I got the blazing you know, I ate about ten of them things, and you know my mouth is good and numb, so I'm ready for tomorrow.
Nice.
I love that you got in practice.
That's yeah, absolutely absolutely. I'm a guy who likes spice like this is why I initiated this bet to be getting with.
But trying to calibrate.
But yeah, I feel like we still need to train for this.
Yeah, failed to prepare prepared.
Never heard of mouth.
Calbra Hey, you might be a fan of jogging. You might might love going on on a nice, just normal job, but whenever you're out there sprinting for twenty six miles, it's different.
That's different.
That's what That's what Nick's doing on this on Friday. Yeah, that's what he's trying to do.
Like Ceed Lamb, he said he's a top receiver in the NFL, but he's not just going to go out there and not warm up before.
Sometimes somebody, did you just compare yourself to Ceedy Lamb.
I am the CD Lamb of eating spicy food.
Oh wow, I will say that there is a receiver though that used to brag about that. Maybe it was Randy about eating spicy food, know about not warming up, I don't need to stretch or something. It might have been Randy.
It sounds like something Chatto Joe saying Okay, it's.
One of those two. Yeah, I don't even need to warm sound.
Yeah, I don't know either way.
Spicy Food Day is tomorrow, Johnny, You're going to try and stop in tomorrow. I'm thinking about it, think about maybe popping in just for the second segment.
And if I won't, if I'm not here, I will be to feeling we hire an audience, I think we should.
I think if if we can get everybody upstairs down here, I'll try. I'll start to stress.
Might have send me a message. Somebody who watches our show religiously. I think he works at a prison. He's like, I'm not have to walk out the prison and go watch this.
It's like, that's awesome.
People have like countdown time ers.
Yes, some days though this place would be more difficult to get into though.
Oh yeah, this place specifically. I was in the lunch room yesterday and I was waiting in line and I got a tap on the shoulder.
It was Will McLay.
Will McClay came up to me and he goes, man, I heard about your hot sauce bet. And I was like, oh really, He's like, what are you doing on Friday?
You want to come down. You want to you want to hang out? He was like, nah, dude, I don't want to watch you cry.
And I was like, whoa me?
How to get to me?
He's like wha.
I was like, let it be known. I was not the one that lost the bat.
There were a couple of people that tweeted at us on Sunday too that thought I was the one that lost the bat. My agreement was that if it was a push, if it was in even one hundred, I would do it with both of you guys.
That's what it was. There's rights for that comment.
But the uh but yeah, he was like, I don't want to watch you cry and I was like, oh, well, no, it's actually Nick carras doing And he was like, oh really.
I was like, so does that injured?
Do you want to come watch it now? He's like, nah, good, he's got busier things to take care of. So tomorrow's second segment key matchups with the Hottest third, Hottest Hot Sauce in the Country, Hottest segment of the year.
Oh there we go, bang like that bar. Speaking of the hottest segment, let's get into news and no.
Stupid absolutely, let's uh goodness, gracious I had something immediately ready and now here I am fumbling trying to get it ready.
Yeah it is.
I'm just sitting here thinking about spice and it's like, oh my god. Okay. The Cowboys practice report came out yesterday. A lot of people were on it, but everybody was listed as a full participant. Will run down Rego Dawdle with an ankle injury, Villiamifojoko with a knee injury, h Jordan Lewis with a neck injury, Osa Digizua with the hamstring injury, Jalen Tolbert with a knee injury, and Cavante Turpin with his shoulder injury that he that forced him
to miss the game against the Giants. And then also Peyton Hindershot was activated or not activated. He his practice window was opened so that he could could be activated on the active roster within twenty one days. That actually kind of surprises me. I didn't expect him to be brought back this season, but they opened his practice window and it looks like they're opening up the possibility of having four tight ends on the roster if they want to bring him back.
You think that could happen as soon as this week. The thing is pretty quick. It goes back to our conversation yesterday. It's like, who do you who do you take off the active roster? And I'm just not sure at that point. Yeah, I'm not sure at that point.
But four tight ends is it's not unheard of, but it's it's kind of wild.
Uh when you hear that name, Isaiah, which one worries you the most? Those names on the list, which one would you, uh, would you be more concerned about?
To run them through it?
Yeah, go through one more time.
Rico, Daudovilliamifojoko, Jordan Lewis, Osa, Digizua, Jalen Tolbert Cavante Turpin.
Mine would be Osa this week this is Osa was a neck, right, This week it will be Rico.
Oh it's a hampster. Okay, Who's is the neck?
Was Jordan Lewis?
Oh yeah, that's right? Differ this week it will be Rico because I believe that the box that was left unchecked, as we mentioned a couple of days ago, was the run game, and I believe they need to get the run game going, and I think that they can get it going, and I believe that if he's not there, that impacts that tremendously impacts their effectiveness and what they're trying to do in terms of trying to get Tony Pollard going. So I think they need that one two punch.
I think they realized that last week, and if Rico is unavailable because of that angle, then I believe that that obviously puts a halt to that development. And this is a developmental week for that offensive line in this and this running running game.
For me, it's Jordan Lewis. I think when you're going up against the skill group like the Panthers have, I think you need your entire secondary and I would love for Jordan Lewis to be able to get some good reps against guys like DJ Shark and Adam Thielen and so on and so forth. Additionally to that is the Panthers practice report looks like DJ Shark is making some headway in his elbow injury. Looks like he could be ready to go. Hayden Hurst popped up with a concussion.
He did not practice yesterday, so that would obviously be notable. Aside from that JC Horn earlier this week, I know we talked about it. His practice window was open. Still unsure if he'll be activated before Sunday, but he was limited yesterday in practice.
Any of those names concern you overall, John.
Not with the Panthers, but Thosa, Diggi Zoo with the hamstring. Yeah, the Cowboys does a little bit, just because I wrote an article the other day for The Athletic about who I think are the top ten and I added an additional five at the bottom most important players for the rest of this season, and I had Osa in my top ten just because of one his value and then two just the position he plays and where the depth is with the rest of the team in the middle
of the defensive line, and he's just so valuable to that defensive line. And in hamstrings, you just never know, I mean like they can kind of be annoying and be something you're dealing with for you know, several weeks. So whatever it takes to get him healthy, if that means limited as reps this week, you do what you gotta do for sure.
Also not to mention the one of the things it's that plays into his strengths from most of the standpoint is.
His get off.
It's the motor, it's the way he can he can explode off the line of scrimmage, and if he's dealing with a ham tring, that's probably going to be hindered just a little bit.
To go along with what John just said.
In terms of the importance of what he brings to the interior of that defense, He's been a big part of how this run defense has taken a step forward and taking a step in the right direction this year.
Yeah, but also, let's say worst case scenario, OSA, I think he's can't go, you know, does that open up more opportunities for guys like Manzie Smith and Nevill Gallimore and against a team where you know their run game obviously isn't the most effective in the world. Would it be valuable to get reps for those guys in that instance At the same.
Time, probably, yeah, probably, Yeah.
Then, I mean, I don't know if I love having one of our better players out on the defense exactly.
I'm just saying, like, it's not the worst case, It's.
A very positive way to look at it.
I appreciate that.
I wouldn't even really try to be positive. Next thing we were we were in the locker room yesterday, and wasn't a ton of guys in the locker room they've kind of moved to a different practice schedule of the course the last couple of weeks looks like that's gonna be mostly the schedule moving forward. Whereas like Wednesday, whereas typically they held a light practice, instead, they're doing a light walk through later in the day and we have locker room much earlier in the day where you know,
some guys are in, some guys are out. We were able to talk to Marquis Bell and talk to a lot of guys honestly about just the LVE injury and how it impacts everybody, but obviously the linebackers it impacts a lot more. With Marquis Spell and Damont Clark, and Marquis Bell was talking about how him and DeMont Clark have you know, come into this year and they've really bonded because they've been in that second level together and
they've been able to grow in that second level. They're both second year guys, both came in together last year, and both of them were able to just kind of bounce stuff off each other. It was really good to just hear that out of Marquise Bell, and he's really confident moving forward that he can, you know, man down that second level as the year goes on. There was a question I asked him towards the end. I was like, do you feel like, do you feel like you need
to bulke up? Do you feel like it's taken a little bit more of a physical toll on you as the season has gone on, since you're, you know, a little bit of a smaller linebacker. He's like, no, I feel great. He's like, if anything, I'm faster because I'm getting around these offensive linemen. So it was good to hear from Marquis. He's a guy that doesn't really talk too much whenever you do get him, but he was very open yesterday and had a lot of good things to say.
Both he and Demone Clark both talked about the emotional significance of Layton vander Esch being out for the season two. And I thought the way that they kind of outlined that, John, you were in there too, but the way they outlined that yesterday was it was pretty indicative of how much of an impact l the has had on that defensive side.
Yeah, I'm really surprised with how, like when you mentioned Bell has been able to fill in for Layton, Yeah, just because of the significant drop off. We've seen in the past when he has gone out, But yeah, there's no question. I mean, he's just been around for a while. I mean he's been around a long time by NFL years, So those defensive guys are all familiar with him, just because he's been one of those guys that he's looked at as one of the faces of the team's defense.
So yeah, there's no question. Yeah, that's a that's a big loss for them.
What about you got for news and notes?
This is the last thing it was. It's on the same note Damon Clark talking about LVE and how he's been in meetings ever since he has been injured, and how he's been on the sideline. He's been taking the road trips with the team and just being very involved with everything that's going on. This is what Damone Clark had to say. I'm going to support him because that was a guy that was with me every step of the way when I was rehabbing coming off my neck
injury that he suffered last year. He said, don't worry about me, I'm going to be straight. That just speaks to the type of warrior he is. He's going to help us. I talked to Layton all the time. I look up to Layton. That's someone that does everything the right way. To me, that's way more important than the football player. If I never play another down with Layton, that's my brother. So definitely a lot of impact off
the field that Layton is still able to bring. But it was it was interesting to see how impactful he really is. Talking to the players this year.
How much of an impact have you seen, Because I know you're really close with the bone and you had spoken to him during that same time period, but how much of an impact do you feel like Layton had on what Damon has become in that second level?
A lot. I think he was an instrumental element to Damon Clark's growth and continued development. I think mostly from the mental aspect, obviously trying to overcome that injury. Obviously having been somebody who had been through something similar before.
It's always good and reassuring to have somebody that can that can communicate, and from a sense of understanding, and I think that was with the role that Vandersh played in de Moon Clark's life and that in that regard, and then obviously from being on the field together, being in the meeting rooms together, He's able to get that wisdom much like the Sean Lee you know, to vander Ash and other guys. Right, it's kind of just passing
it along, right, kind of passing the baton. And if that was it for vander Esh, I think that he's had a long standing impact on Damon and he will continue to do so throughout the season. Yeah.
I was going to add something here that I don't want to take this thing off the track. How much time I got for this first break?
We got about four minutes?
Okay, Yeah, so I did this like off the track of the ten most important players, Mark eas bell Is and my next five, I just want to run through these real quick. Yes, year, if there's any four rejections.
From you guys, okay, I like it.
One is Dak two, Michaeh Parsons three, CD Lamb, I had, Tyron Smith four, Zach Martin five, Tyler Smith's six, OSAs seven, Darron Bland eight, Ferguson nine, Brandon Cooks ten, and then my next five are DeMarcus Lawrence Gilmore, Tony Pollard, Brandon Aubrey, and Marquise bell. Now this isn't just about oh, who
are your fifteen ten to fifteen best players. This is about importance, you know, looking at the rest of the depth chart, if you were to lose one of these guys that drop off that you would have by it. So it's not just oh, who are the ten to fifteen best players on the team. It's in terms of their value to the team. That's why I had three offensive linemen in the top six, because if you lose any one of those guys, you know, there's just the pieces that have to move around. A lot of things
fall apart here. And then I had Jake Ferguson on there because I think he's really taking his game to a different level than the other tight ends and if you were to lose him, like they have other tight ends, but I don't think that they're on the level of the level.
Oh we have a question, Yes, it's how's it going?
You omit it? Somebody? Okay, Brandon Aubrey.
Well he's no, okay, So I have him next to five.
He's in.
He's in my next five. I did not have him in the top ten. But yeah, no, I'm trying to.
Catch John Slip.
A lot of thought in this.
When I heard you started talking about the depth chart, I'm like, well, who is your backup kicker?
He's not, He's not in the rosn.
I feel more I don't have Well who was it that just had a backup kicker and it was like the running back or somebody like the Texans.
Yeah, yeah, for an Yeah, for an individual game. That's not like they're gonna be like, Okay, that guy is gonna be it for the season.
That's our guy.
You got a better chance to find a kicker on the street than you do, being like any number one tight ends out of there want a step into our offense right now, any any defensive tackles.
To be fair, you kind of did find your kicker on the street left tackle?
Anybodynybody out their left tackle.
Literally on his couch playing where did you have d law at?
Uh?
He was the first of the next five.
Right, first of my next five.
Yeah.
I think the only thing I would and that's only because of the depth that I think the only guy that I would maybe include in the top ten is Tony Pollard. Just yes, I think it's really important for him to get going for this team, to find longevity success, if that makes sense. Yeah, And then I was thinking about Marque Spell, but I think Marques Spell is a good like next five type guy, just because yeah, yeah, the depth is bad at linebacker, yes, but yeah, I think he's important to Tony.
Poller was the only name that kind of flagged for me.
But when you're talking about depth chart and ways that they could fill the void, they have three other guys they feel really confident in where he go, doubt on, Malink Davis and Douce Fawn.
If I did this a week ago, I might not have had Tony just looked as a freak go. The way he played kind of impressed me in a sense of I knew he can do what he did in that game, but to actually see it, you're kind of like, okay, that that adds to the value.
Who were your eight, nine, ten guys, because that's that's about as high as I would put Tony.
I don't think i'd put him up above any of the offensive lineman.
Just I mean, obviously have Gilmore's I just think it's real thin at corn. If you're losing, I would keep it on there Ferguson was nine and then Brandon Cooks was ten, because again I think there's a lot of separation between Brandon Cooks and then whoever. Like, I feel like you can really count on Brandon in a big moment if you need to, if a team's completely taken CD away, I don't feel as strongly about what comes next on the on the depth chartway, I.
Would probably take Pollard and put him above Ferguson.
Okay, if I were.
Making mile O, I would put Pollard above Ferguson.
I get what you're saying on on Brandon Cooks, but if he that just thinks that makes me think he's like a first of the top of the next five guys, just based off of where CD is in this offense and how he is such a feature part.
But I like the list overall. Did a great job like that.
I just like these because they make for a good like talking point, because.
Everybody has their own opinions too.
Exactly, and anytime you put a list together of anything, as long as it's five or more, you'll always get a bunch of people that disagree. And that makes for a great conversation though, you know, just to see where people value different things.
It's funny, and I'll bring this up in the third segment, but it's very similar yesterday we were talking about MVP odds with Dak Prescott being number nine in the NFL's MVP odds and what they bring to the table, and while we were running through it, Nick mentioned instead of Jalen Hurts, you would put aj Brown in that mix, and I was It had me thinking yesterday when I was going back and watching through the show, was who's the Cowboys MVP? Who right now is your mid season
Dallas Cowboys MVP. Don't say it out work loud, because I want to talk about it in the third segment, but I want to do it in like a voting standpoint where we each have a list of three and if you're the top vote, you get three points, if you're the second vote, you get two points, and then for the third vote you get one point. And then see what our collective Talking Cowboys mid season MVP would be.
So we're gonna do that in the third segment.
But when we come back here on Talking Cowboys, we've got QB vision. Isaiah is going to break it down for about two minutes and twelve tel seconds, eleven to eleven over the Carolina Panthers. When we come back with more Talking Cowboys.
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Welcome back into Dear Doctor, the show where I answer life's questions with an ice cold can of doctor pepper. Sheila, let's hear from my next caller.
Would you there, doctor? My friend supported me during a tough time.
But what's the right gift that says thanks for being the soldier to cry out? Okay, this one's easy. I say, give her a delicious doctor pepper. Nothing says thanks good better than one of a kind soda. Yes, any Doctor Pepper for flavorable do now, just a reminder that I don't need to be a real doctor to know that Doctor Pepper is the one you deserve.
To Talking Cowboys.
Back here on Talking Cowboys, This segment of the show is brought to you by Quaker Oats, a super trusted super fruit. Quaker Oats, the official oatmeal sponsor of the Dallas Cowboys from the two four oh.
On our text line, it's Dennis from.
The d n V.
He says, hey, guys, well you have medical on standby for Nick Harris tomorrow. You may want to consider it. It's actually not a bad idea. I mean, that's the third hottest hot sauce.
He said. He is a CD Lamb of Spice.
I am the Lamb of Spice.
I just don't want him to like hot die on air.
Serry.
You guys are focused on that side of it. I'm focused on what would be.
Bad for the janitors.
No bad for the show is that there's no zero reaction either. They get like he's sweating a little.
That's the case, and we're giving him another that's the case. We're going to double down.
Unvelow twenty dollars on it underneath the door to the bathroom for the janitors.
What makes those two fast?
As if someone just pouring down a bunch of milk, they're trying to like shovel in ice cream because they're just so much pain.
Would you what is your choice? That's a good point. Would you rather have milk ice cream? I mean, what's what's your like?
Water?
Let's just go uh, let's just go milk.
Just milk. Would you like me to have like a pint device?
King of Spice wouldn't need anything, he really doesn't, but just in case he does talk to me, we're.
Gonna have it just a case. I'm just have it just in case.
Maybe a baby asprin as long as you like, if you don't have a heart attack, I will.
Need toms toms. Okay, okay, I want to bring Tom's tombs.
I'm gonna bring I'm gonna bring like a pint device sponsor here thumbs yeah, uh what what are.
Those tablets called? What's the actual thing that there's a name for it though? It's like a anti yeah, yeah, antacit tablet.
That's what we're doing, thank you.
Not the branded one I.
Have seen because I watched that Hot one show from time to time. I have seen that there are people that will drink a bunch of like Capto before like to kind of code there. I don't know if any of that stuff works. That's the thing, like people try different stuff, but I don't know if there's any scientific proof that I didn't even really makes it.
Calibrate in his mouth.
So yeah, are you are you ramping back up again tonight? Are you gonna go back to wingstop? And we'll see ramp it up?
We'll see, well, I want to give it a day to rest, sir.
We'll see what my preparation feels like going into the night.
I felt like a champion of spice.
Last night, me and my wife had we had some Thai food and you know how you rate it like one through five on the spicy scale.
I usually get like a three.
I went up to a four and it was awesome.
Yeah, go ahead and five solid.
I don't know if I could do a five solid.
I tried her.
She she does a five. She's big time into the spice.
And she did the five and nah, no, they'ren take a bite.
I took a bite. I took two or three and I was like, I couldn't finish the whole thing. There's no way I can finish it.
But don't kill her, you know. We'll see how Nick prepares for tomorrow. The end is the name of this near right in this near we'll see, We'll see. Yeah, yeah, we had a we had a bit of a snaffoo in our shipping schedule.
But that's okay.
We'll make it work.
We'll make it work, all right. Beamer, what time is it? It's time for some Why Eddie? Why Eddie? It's time for QB vision. With Isaiah's standback, get after it.
It's not much to get after Kyle. Why not for a second week in a row. Last week against the Giants, it was relatively quick because we knew that these guys were going to be playing man to man. We talked about who was going to have an opportunity to get off, which is why we're sitting here talking about hot sauce.
This team is.
This team is different in the sense that they don't play a ton of man de man. Their team is a zone, primarily a zone defense and a primarily single high zone defense. Really weird to see in the NFL. I've never seen a team play as much as single high zone ever. To be honest with you, these guys are at the top of the league in terms of zone U I guess they they were. I'm sorry, I'm gonna get a seat line here.
Their second They run the second most ze Secamos.
Zone Sycamore zone coverage in the league. They blitzed almost as much as Dallas does. They're fifth in the league in terms of blitz percentage, but their pressure rate is thirty first. So much like last week, the Giants were at the top of the league in terms of uh pressure, pressure and you know, attemph of pressures and blitzes, but they weren't getting home right so they left themselves open and that obviously hurt them last week with Brandon Cooks
having some opportunities off of some blitzes. These guys want to sit in single high. They're set in terms of too high. These guys at the bottom of the league, Okay, they just don't play it. They'll start off in too high shell. They'll show that they're playing two or show like they're playing four, and then right at this snap they do a really good job of disguising it at the snap, but you know what they're getting to, so it's not too much of a disguise. There's more so,
which safety is coming down. That's pretty much what you're looking at. Okay, they started on a too high shell. All right, I know you're not staying back there, so go ahead and tell me. You know, I'm looking for any indicator to give me the idea of which direction that safety roll is. And then the reason why that's important is because you obviously, depending on what you have going on in terms of the passing game, you probably
want to go away from the rolling down safety. Okay, so that's gonna be important for dak to be able to come up to the line of scrimmage and identify. From what I've seen on film, they disguise it up to the snap pretty much. And then when they roll. A lot of the times they're not rolling to get that safety down in the box for run prevention like most teams do. Okay, most teams roll that safety down to add another man to the box much like Dallas does.
Or if they'll bring curse down and he's coming for run, run influence right to run stopping influence, these guys bring it down so that they can have another man on coverage, right, So they're bringing that safety down to have their four guys underneath or running Cover three zone. That is pretty much what they're running. And I don't know why they
continue to do it that way. I don't know what is going on in their defensive coordinators head to think that you can run a cover three defense every single week in the NFL and be successful. But that's what he's doing. He's going he's playing single high and not playing man. Again, they're at the bottom of league in terms of man coverage. Dallas plays man the second most in the league. These guys play the second least in
the league. So from that regard, okay, so when we start talking about personnel, there's not a lot that goes on outside of that. Defensively, scheme wise, it's it's really simple. It doesn't make any sense scheme wise. Are personnel wise, I'm not impressed. They're missing some of their main guys. Defensively, they are missing their Shaq Thompson. Shout out to you, dub uh They're they're missing They're missing Shack Thompson. They're
also missing there there's one of their starting linebackers. He's uh. I just blanked on his name.
I'll find it for you.
Okay, just blanked on it. But they're missing two of their starting line Brian Burns is questionable. Well not Brian Burns, Justin Houston. There is so Justin Houston for just Justin Houston and Shack Thompson. Those guys are both two of their three starting linebackers.
Think about Jarno that's on the edge. He's designated to return, but I doubt he plays this week. You to Gross Matos, who was a big but that.
Was the trump in terms of their the heart and soul of their team. Brian Burns is obviously their best defensive player at the defensive and position. He's questionable to come back. He is somebody that you need to circle if he's on the field. He's a he's a mad man. He's huge, he's fast, he's powerful, he's explosive.
He's five and a half sacks this year.
He's a complete beast. Right, he's a game wrecker by all by himself. He's their version of Micah Right. You put him on the field, doesn't matter where who you put him up against, He's going to be disruptive. Now if he can't get a sack. He's going to get a pressure if he's not on the field. Okay, they relied heavily on their linebackers. That was really the hard and soul of their team. And they're missing two of their main guys. That has caused them to play a
very soft defense. Okay, so even when they're going single high, even when they're going to cover three, these guys are not pressing up they are You're gonna have the most free release run routes ever. This should be like routes
on air. This should be like anybody who went out the training camp or anybody who's seen any kind of practices from the Dallas Cowboys, and you see the warm up part portion of practice where these guys are throwing the routes on air and Dack's throwing the CD Brandon Cooks, you know, jayln Tober. That's what it should look like.
Because these guys don't come up and disrupt you, they don't put their hands on you, they don't alter anything that you're doing in terms of your route running capabilities. So this I foresee this being much more like the rams and the chargers. But the rams and the charges ran a too high show and they stayed in a too high shell. But that same amount of space is going to be given in terms of what the what our routes are are allowing for. Okay, against the Rams
and the Chargers, you had three man covering underneath. This week, you'll have four men covering underneath. In terms of linebacker depth players, Okay, so you have one extra guy that you have to kind of decipher and find a zone in. Again, that's gonna come down to Dak being able to see exactly where that safety role coverage is coming from. And then in the secondary, Okay, when first level Brian burn is the dude, that's about all they have. The interior
defensive lineman, they don't have a lot. I know you guys mentioned Derrick Brown in the break. He doesn't pop off film to me at all, regardless of where he was drafted. Think he has been popping out film the last couple of years. He's he was so good at Abera like he was he was my number four ranked player in that draft. That's crazy.
I mean, he was insanely good at office.
It's not translating to the NFL. Is not the only person that kind of shows up a little bit to me on film is Deshaun Williams, number ninety six. He's a big boy. But these guys primarily two gap. They want to get their hands on your office alignment and they just want to bull rush or they want to play peekaboo. They want to grab your office lineman. They want to poke their head on the left, poke their head on the right. See where your running back's going.
So there's plenty of opportunity to have an established running game against this front defensive line because their linebackers are dwindled down to backups. Their their front defensive line is not very effective outside of Burns going to the secondary. He mentioned J. C. Horn. Jac Horn is a really good cornerback, but he is not available as far as we know. Right now. They open up that window, but he's he's off in terms of in terms of availability.
The only person that remotely pops off film is somebody that Dallas Cowboys are familiar with, and that's Xavier Woods. All he wants to do is run around to hit you. That's pretty much all he's doing. He just wants to be heat seeking missile. He doesn't care. I don't even know how many personal fouls he has, but I'll watch a couple of games and he had a few.
But outside of that, he's been playing pretty well.
Outside of that, he's been playing okay. I mean, but again, he's just running around and hitting. He's not covering very well. He doesn't do anything that scares me in that regard. He just wants to take your head off if you come across the middle, that's that's it, all right, And he doesn't care that the flag's throne. He wants to get up and celebrate and find the nearest camera.
That's the Louisiana Tech and of Rust and Louis Yeah, so.
They're not being very off, but I believe that he's doing that because of how soft their defense is playing. Right, the calls that are coming in, you're not they're not being allowed. This is a for the first time, I'm seeing a bind. But don't break defense out of a single high It blows my mind. Right, Typically you see that out of two high shell right, cover four, cover two, whatever it might be. They'll go to cover two from
time to time. If you're in like third and twelve, like most teams do, just to have a little bit of protection and keep everything in front of them. But for the most part, man, this is about as simple as it as can be. You should be able to have effective running game. That's why I was saying about Rico Dawdle, and that scared me in terms of him that being on the injury report, I would like to see Dallas get their running game going. Their linebackers are
not what they what they used to be. Their defensive line doesn't do much, but you know, you know what they're going to do. In terms of their rushing capabilities. They're gonna grab you, They're gonna try to bull rush you back, They're gonna try to stay at the line of scrimmage. Move these guys off the line of scrimmage and get up to the second level on their linebackers. In terms of their defensive back their defensive backs are literally just watching you run routes and then they're trying
to tackle you in front of you. That's that's it. We're gonna sit back, watch you run routes, you'll catch the ball, will tackle you, and then hopefully you'll throw enough enough incompletions where you know we'll have a chance offensively. But this is simple, simple. I hate to make it sound that simple. But that's what they've shown on film.
My biggest surprise with them is that when you look at the stats from them, the season that they're passing yards against is one seventy six. Blows me away. I thought for sure looking at their record going in this game, like, oh, I bet you teams just throw all over them. Not the case that that really stunned me because and it's also it's not like it's a team that takes the ball away a bunch I want. I'm pretty sure they're tied for last in the league at like, I think
they only have like six or seven takeaways. But when I saw that, I thought for sure that their overall defense, like their total defense, I didn't think it would be as high as it is. But I mean, teams are scoring twenty seven to twenty eight points on them. But I was a little surprised at the.
Yeah, and that's because they're dropping that fourth man. It's underneath coverage, right, so they you can push the ball down the field on them, right. They want to imagine if dan Quinn just sat back and was like, okay, you guys play off. Let these guys run routes. Don't let anybody behind you if they try to get behind you. By the time that they do get behind you, you know, Michael Parsons will be home. That's pretty much what they're
doing defensively, right, Hey, Brian Burns, go go get the quarterback. Okay, Well we'll back up and keep everybody in front and they'll get They'll get bored enough that they'll try to push your thing over the top, and by that time you should be home and have an opportunity for a pressure, if not a sack. That's how I foresee their defense being facilitated. I'm sure it's a lot more complicated than that, but that's what it looks. That's what appears like to me.
And again, to that point, they're dropping four guys underneath, so you have to find out where that safety is rolling right, So you're not gonna be able to identify that into a post.
Snap, as I say, that's a post snap post that breeze.
So Dackson come up to the line scrimmage, he's gonna come up. There's gonna be two high safeties. The cornerbacks are gonna be playing six to seven yards off. You have hitch routes all day long. But how many teams are gonna run hitches all the way down the field. Most office coordinators that path aren't that uh no, they're not that patient.
Sorry patient, So I can kiel you looking.
The Peppers are preparing me. So most teams aren't going to be that patient to just work down the field like that. So what they're relying on is for you to try to get some stuff going across the middle. And that's where they have that safety rolling down and
they have those four guys underneath. It's like a little umbrella, right, It's like a little umbrella that they're putting up, and then they're putting a big umbrella over the top of it and saying, hey, take your shot if you want to, you probably won't have time if we have number zero on the field.
Out of the last couple of games.
How is that different than what Dak Prescott has been seeing with the Giants, the Rams, the Chargers going backwards.
Going backwards, the Eagles and the Giants was man to man. So once your guy won, your guy was open. Now he's gonna have to go back to finding those zones and it's it's gonna be a little bit difficult from him in the sense that a lot of the route, most of the routes tree for Dallas is in breaking routes. So being that they're in breaking routes versus a single high zone, he's really gonna have to do a good job of putting the ball in the right place right.
So that's what I'm saying, Like these teams like this wait for you to make the first mistake, Like they're just they're banking on you throwing it inaccurately and somebody getting their hands on it and getting the tip ball. You know, if you're going across the middle, Xavier Woods wants to be the enforcer. He wants to scare you so that you're not running anything deep across the middle. He'll take the penalty just to have your head on a swivel. And he's really they're really relying on you
run a slant route right. You better throw it perfect because there's an outside linebacker and an inside linebacker and you got to fit it in that window right. So that's what you can get off the ball free. But you've got to go in there with our four guys and good luck trying to find something across the middle. If your patient enough, you will pick apart the outside that goes to piece again, you'll pick apart the outside.
Put again. Most guys aren't going to be that patient, and you're not going to throw hitches, You're not gonna run quick outs. You're not gonna do all those things for an entire drive. Most people won't. Right, at some point, you're gonna want to throw in route and you're gonna want to throw a shallow You're gonna want to throw a slant, and that's what Dallas has made their living on.
You think about a lot of the players that Ceedee Lamb's made has either been a big player on the outside or it's been a short, little slant route and he's kind of made something happen. Same thing with Brandon Cooks last week. Play action right, little ball across the middle that isn't going to be as tangible this week because of the zone coverage, and there's just again they're
just waiting for that mistake. Now, you could pick this apart if you're patient, but you have to be precise with your ball.
Does that mean most of the success you'll find is outside of the numbers.
Yes, very much so. Screen game, yeah, I mean you can screen I mean but these guys playing six or seven years off, like this is crazy, Like this is the NFL. This isn't college, this isn't high school. This is high school stuff that you see out of them. Scheme wise, Now, their effectiveness is totally different. Right, you talk about the passing yardage against them, but this is a this is high school. This is high school defense.
But even with high school defenses, with professional players, NFL players, you better be precise. And that's what Dak's gonna that's his challenge this week. If there is a challenge, that's his challenge. His accuracy last week. My guy's gonna better than your guy, but we're gonna beat you, and you're gonna they're gonna have a yard to two step on you. That's not gonna be the case this week unless it's outside.
What fascinates me about this defense is to what you've already mentioned. They're fifth in the NFL and passing yards allowed through the first nine games, but they are bottom three in the league in sacks. So it's not like they're generating pressure and it's forcing you know, it's not allowing anything to happen downfield. And they blitzed the fifth most Yeah, it's it's strange.
They still don't have any they don't.
Get so it's much like last week where the Giants blitz almost the most out of anybody in the league, but they're the bottom of the league in.
Terms of pressure that they can't get home.
They can't get home, so they're exposed, right these guys, I don't foresee that being the case this week for them. I don't. I don't see them blitzing much because they don't want to get exposed.
Giants didn't blitz a whole lot of not compared to what they have been doing.
They spend a lot of time in doubling CD. They spent a lot of time doubling CD to a fault. And that's why Brandon Cooks went off. I mean they went single high. They were going single high safety, but that single safety was sitting over the top of Ceede Lamb. It was like, Okay, Brandon Cooks is over there, man and man against your number two cornerback. We're gonna win that all day long.
This week.
They're gonna sit back and literally just say okay, put the umbrella up, wait, wait for the rain drops. That's it. That's all They're doing so.
The real question is is Brandon Cook's gonna go over one hundred yards receiving again?
No?
And should we bet on it?
No?
I don't. I don't think. I don't see that this week. I really think this is a Tony Pollard game. I think I think the offense wants to get him going anyway, So I think that's the focus probably going hope, it's the focus going into this week. But this defense allows for that as well, as long as your receivers could get in there and get some blocks.
By the way, this is fantasy football though.
I'm just gonna tell you, all.
Right, Mike McCarthy, that's my favorite quarter of the year right now.
This isn't. I don't play fantasy football.
The three teams, three offenses that you would maybe that you would say, are I know, Nate, I've got We're on a podcast, Nate walking by saying I'm laid for TV. The here's the thing with Carolina. You were talking about how they've been giving up twenty one seventeen sixteen points last week and their loss against the Bears. The three teams that they've played that are playoff caliber teams, the Seahawks,
the Lions and the Dolphins. Seahawks put up thirty seven, the Lions put up forty two, and the Dolphins put up forty two. So you can you can score against this team, and they've shown in the past that they will allow some points. But it is a bin don't break mentality and it's something that they're going to try and employ. By the way, Dak Prescott six interceptions this year. Four of those six have come against zone coverage.
Yeah, he has not historically been great against them, and he's gonna play a lot of song. They're gonna play a lot of song. So what I'm saying, that's that's Dak's challenge this week. It's not a complicate his own, but it's still his own sure, so he just has to be accurate, that's all.
Yeah, Yeah, I'm with you. This is another quick stet. We'll look at his rushing yards allowed defense wise, Panthers are ninth, but the Giants are fourth and as far as the most that they're giving up, So this is going to be an opportunity get the running game going, whether Rico Dall's playing or not. Like you just you have to find a way to rush for one seventy five.
Thanks awesome.
That's that's where you have to get this offense this week.
That'd be great. All right, let's take our second break when we come back. Who is the mid season team MVP and who does John think is going to win this game? Coming up on.
Jay some day we get his pick and we'll give you our team MVPs when we come back right after this.
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To Talking Cowboys. Back here on Talking Cowboys.
This segment has brought to you by in visi Line, the official smile of the Dallas Cowboys, Isaiah stand back, John Machoda, Nick Harris, Chris Beaman, the back of Kyle Yeomans.
Mario from South Texas chimes in on the text line.
He says, tell Nick, just because he's a fan of the Miami Heat doesn't mean he can handle the heats of.
One percent, right, But I'm still I can handle it.
You can handle it.
We're gonna see, we're gonna have medical person. So now we're gonna have uh antacids after I handle this tomorrow.
Customer service has gotten back to me once again.
Kyle, You're working the phone.
Working the phones right now. This is happening customer service. They just let me know the last time the physical location, which is here in Texas, of the store. I'm not gonna mention the store was closed last time I walked, but I was like, oh man, they closed. That sucks. So I ordered it online right on Sunday. I'm like, okay, I can't go in person, so I'm gonna order it online. Well, the shipment hasn't gotten here, right, So that's my expression to the services.
You have the hot sauce, so we have it, Yes, old batch store.
I don' want to. I want to.
Actually, you want a fresh I say a lot of words on that phone.
Strong. Absolutely, I can write an email. So they communicated to me that we're apologized. We understand that you're frustrated. We apologize that it's not their USPS has not checked it in yet. But the store is not closed. The store has moved.
Oh okay, done, done dum. So you're gonna.
Where's the store? I mean, I guess we can't. Really five minutes from my house. Nice, very nice.
Doesn't matter where the store is at too. More of these emails and their hand delivery into the house.
It could be Antias Strong.
Either way, it's happening tomorrow.
Second segment, Hot Sauce Payoff Bet Brandon Cooks will be in attendance as well.
We're gonna make it happen. Talk to him in locker room today and.
Tell them come through. Tell him come through.
Show we offered him at the post game show, and we'll show.
Me the video. What video video polls it? Show them that video when you see them.
Oh, okay, yeah, yeah I will. I'll do that. That that sounds good?
All right.
I want you to give me your top three Cowboys m vps this season, top.
Three, one, two, and three. I want you to rank them top three top players at this point in the season. If season ended today, who would be.
Your m v P.
I'll start with Nick Harris.
I'm gonna go one CD, I'm gonna go to Dak Prescott and three Uhland.
M One of the text lines said, Deron Bland needs to be the in the MVP conversation.
If we lost him, we'd be in big trouble. That was Brian in Colorado. What do you think, John? This is tough.
This is really tough.
Man.
So there's no way I'm leaving Micah Parsons off my top three.
Yeah, it was tough. It was tough for me.
I'm gonna go Ceedee Lamb one, Micah two, Dak three mm hmm. But I will say you could have any of those three in a different order and I wouldn't have a huge argument for it. Yeah, but I would have a big argument for anybody but those three. Mm.
By the way, we do have some text line conversation Dak, Lamb, Aubrey Brandon.
Aubrey be in the third one. That one's from me.
If there had been a lot of close games that came down to him kicking game winning field goal, as I'd feel a little bit differently and maybe that would be more of a factor for me. But still, no way is that in my top three.
Didn't a kicker win the MVP in like the eighties?
Uh?
What I mean? What was going on?
Then?
Hold on, I'm about.
Wish did they have the forward pass?
Man?
I'm gonna look it up.
Go ahead, Isaiah, I am along the lines of you, I believe. I think I'm going with c D Cam. Then I'm going with Micah. Oh crap, there's a lot of guys making place, and then I guess I have to go back. Okay, Yeah, so I think Deron Bland is a benefactor.
He would be my four, but he's I don't put him on that same.
Michael Parsons just because he hasn't getting into sacks. This dude is leaving the NFL and pressures. Yeah, nobody wants to get hit by him. So they're running away and just tossing it in the air.
And there is nobody that I know that loves pressures more than you.
Nineteen eighty two, Mark Moseley, kicker the MV.
What are we doing?
NFL? Yeah, what do we do?
That's or something?
Mark Moseley.
I mean, okay, I'll just come up with this scenario. If you in a seventeen games obviously was sixteen at that time to win MVP minimum six game winning field goals minimum minimum. We don't even start talking anything without.
We're talking like forty five plus fifty yarder plus like just moving and Adam Vanity Yoakland playoffs in the wind and snow.
There's not just because you had a bunch of field goals.
Maybe even a touchdown maybe where he like throws a touchdown to win the game like late, like it's a fake field goal and he tosses it forty yards downfield like that would maybe give.
It to him about to laugh. He went twenty for twenty one from field goals and he missed three extra points and that was when the extra points were like right there. He only played nine games that season, was eighty two a strike season. Maybe gosh, we look, look dude quarterbacks doing then Yeah, Joe, thiseman was second, which he on the same team, So I don't know this is why he was.
What are we doing people?
This is weird?
Yeah?
All right, So I have CD Dak and Mike had might have written down already, so that across the board has CD as your Cowboys mid season MVP. Uh, followed by Dak, then Micah, than Deron Bland, and I mean it was unanimous among the four here. Cede Lamb is the number one possibility, number one MVP. When you look at the national media, do you think he would ever get anywhere close to that sort of attention before Dak Prescott does.
No, no, no, I don't hear the quarterback of the Cowboys. There's just so much more on your plate.
Man.
It would be tough. Only way again, like I think we talked about the other day, you'd have to set the single season receiving record. Even then that means obviously Dak through for a ton of yards too. I think it would be I think it would be tough. I think the only guys on the Cowboys that could get MVP would be if Micah had, you know, set the sack record, or if obviously they win a lot of games.
Is going to deck. Just like I said when we went over those odds for the favorites to win MVP, I mean, it's Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts, and I don't think Hurts. I would love to pull NBA, I mean NFL GMS and see how many would take Jalen Hurts over Patrick Mahomes if you could pick. I would be surprised if there was one. Yeah, but I see Jalen Hurts winning the award if they end up with the best record in the NFL, and.
Then Brandon Aubrey of course could win. And if it goes twenty to twenty one, that missus three.
Pat yeah, yeah, he could also.
Absolutely he could be up there.
So any objections, Isaiah, Nope, none, You just focused on tomorrow.
I'm game ready.
H eight eight says, is John not going to be at the best show of the year. I said, if I can get up at five am in Hawaii to watch your show every day, which, by the way, salute to you, Salute to you. John has to make the show tomorrow.
Yes, I have to see how we words. Me not being here probably has nothing to do about when I can wake up. That's not the dedication. Yeah, probably got the wrong guy for that. We'll leave it at that. That's probably not the thing that's the issue.
No, No, it's a contract thing.
The one thing I will say, I would love for John to be there. I would love for anybody upstairs who can be here. We could phone John in, but that I mean, that's not the same.
Oh he needs to see this, Yeah a lot.
Even if I'm not here, I'll be here.
In you guys can video chatty.
Even so, if you are listening to this podcast via audio, which we love our audio listener, you'll hear it all the time.
You will hear it.
But I would encourage you to go on the YouTube, to go on the Twitter, to go on the website and watch it in person, watch it actually see the video of what is happening.
Maybe also a live streaming on ig.
Maybe Yeah, you can maybe do like a behind the scenes live stream.
I don't want to take away from here.
I've already called YouTube. They're gonna come out here.
Oh sweet, you're such a phenomenal hater.
We've got hard knocks, We've got an NFL network crew coming in NFL films.
Yeah, we've got all of it happening.
Goodness. Just in case you didn't know, Sweet Bill, I really do foresee us having a whole little We're gonna make it happen audience right here will make it happening.
Around the building, and then what really happens. This is just one person. Yeah, this man is just eating an entire bag of these chips and it's not even bothering.
Them at all, and everyone's just like, I'm just dowsing, probably not being such a realistic.
All right, that does it for us here today on Talking Cowboys. Hope you had as much fun as we did. We'll be back tomorrow, John real quickly. Who you picking on Sunday?
Same score A last week forty to seven Cowboys. I just sorry, I understand in the locker room. I don't know if you've noticed this. People are trying to bring along the storyline of you know, this could be like Arizona again. Yeah, that's not happening. I don't seven.
Well done, Well done, John Matchoda, appreciate you as always for Chris be Isaiah stand back, John Mitchoda, Nick Harris, and Kyle Gyemans saying.
So long from the Star in Frisco. We'll see you tomorrow. It's hot sass Day
I'm Talking Cowboys has been a production of Dallascowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.