Talkin' Cowboys: Venting Session

of Talking Cowboys. Welcome into the SWBC studios at the Star in fritz Gooe alongside heck Ma Harrison, Isaiah stand back, Rob Phillips still virtual, but we've got him on the line as Chris Beam in the back. As we continue to break down the twenty five twenty two lost to the Arizona Cardinals. We are taking your questions. Send me

a question, Kyle underscore Yeomans on Twitter. I just tweeted out the queue for everybody to release some questions, So whenever I get those questions, we will answer those coming up in the next segment. But gentlemen, glad to have you back in studio? How we am? Man? It's kind to be back in studio? Is it a relief? It is just for a split second be away to go back to what we did all of last year, and then it come right back and then it's not like

you're stuck there. Can I just hug this area? Yeah, that's I feel the warm. I just want to hug my little section beam. How much easier is it for you to do a show in person, like on a scale of one to ten, ten being like the hardest thing to do in one being like you were just fly high on cloud nine. I don't know the easiest with are you guys in here? Sure? The second easiest is how we're doing it right how we're doing it right now. So this would be like a three, yes,

solid three, that's three in the studio. So there you go, Hey, there you go. I like it. I'm the I'm the pain in the ass right now. I never said that, I'd say that. Anyway we can get off of the three way call or whatever you can call it where you have to have like a computer. Yes, and that's yeah. I hope all of Cowboys Nation at home realizes And I know I know, they really don't because they don't get to see it like we do day in and

day out. But realizes as hard as Chris Beam works the day in, day out, week in, week out to help provide content for not only Talking Cowboys put every Dallas Cowboys podcast and then some whenever he's on the field game game, I mean, he provides some of the best content. Did Billy he's the one Yeah, I think he's the one person that's allowed to do that. But Isaiah, how are you doing today? I'm good, ma, I am good. I feel good. You know, back back on the grind,

at the work, both both jobs. They're in here. Nice sounds good? Yeah, right back at it. And of course, the Cowboys have one more regular season game to go to, and that's the Philadelphia Eagles on the road Saturday night football. Hey HONEYESPN, So they flexed it to Saturday. Short week for the Cowboys, short or week. It's not a short week, I guess, no Thursday game. Think goodness. But Rob, I'll start with you on this. What goes into the decision

to switch it to Saturday? Why? Why are the Cowboys being pushed up a day? Is it solely based on TV or is there something else that's kind of lined up with it. Well, first of all, I feel like the kid at dodgeball that just got Blast to be picked. I'm I feel left out today. I'll be back with you guys soon. Yeah. I think it's about TV. And

actually I was kind of surprised. Mike McCarthy said he talked to rich Dalrypple, VP of public Relations, and they kind of weighed in on the on the press conference yesterday that they knew that this might be coming five six weeks ago. Wow. So I think it is all TV related and flexing things and finding games that have

more you know, playoff implications. In a way, this is kind of a boring matchup, I guess for the networks in a wave and though even though it's the Cowboys Eagles, because both teams are in and it's just a matter of seating. So but I was kind of surprised that they thought this possibly could have been coming as early as November apparently, and just in conversations being had yesterday, it also sounded like it may be a possibility to play on Saturday during the Wildcard round, maybe not for

the Cowboys, but also for the Eagles. It could be either one of those sides. Do you see that as a possibility as well for Dallas? I know the Eagles could certainly be put in that regard too, But do you see that as something that could be he talked about later. Yeah. Absolutely, that's the other side of it too. And I think, you know, if you're gonna have a short week, you'd rather have it this week than play on Sunday against Philly and then turn around and play

Saturday night against Philly. I don't think. I think, yeah, that's a possibility to now. Look, they're either play Saturday or they'll play Sunday with that home playoff game. So yeah, I think it's kind of a two prong thing. But but we've seen the league flex these games down the stretch, and for this particular week, I don't think it does them a lot of favors in terms of preparation having to play on a short week. But hey, they're gonna

play everybody, right, They're gonna load up and play. Isaiah, you're shaking your head. I just don't. I mean, it is what it is. It's a business, you know, it's a business, and unfortunately the league can just pull this pull this string whenever they feel you know, at the dismay of the players unfortunately, but you know, you're you're a constant professionals. So the guys they'll obviously figure it out and no make it happen. But it's a lot

of demand on your body, man. How But that's the other thing though, is like how much of a difference this one day A lot? I get a Thursday to a Saturday or Thursday to a Sunday break, But it is that much of a difference one day, absolutely, there's that's another day that you don't get treatment as another day you don't get to sit in the hot selves. Another day you don't get stretching by by professional or get a massage, just recovery, acupuncture, you know, whatever it

may be. Then in your typical regiment, that's one less day or you know that you get for that potential weekend. It's at the end of the season when you need it most, you know, when your body's most beat down. So I like, again, the league has a has a job to do. There's a business. They got to get their TV money. You know, I have to do what's best for viewership. But at the same time, it's at

the dismay of players. Well, they took care of the decision for the Cowboys on whether they were going to rest their players in the final week, So there it is, you know, And I think that with with Mike McCarthy in the press conference, he even voiced like, um, he just said, you know, they knew five weeks in advance that they had an opportunity possibly to play in this game.

So you know, look, that's why they no matter what they say, Yeah, we're going to play all of our guys because you have to because you're now you're in on a short week, and how imperative that day off is two professional athletes. But you know, I just think I look forward to this matchup, especially with everything that happened versus the Cardinals. We want to try and get this offense back going and this is the week and you and that was going to be one of my

questions to you man. It's just you know, after the week that we had with the offense looking dysfunctional, is this imperative that you see as even like looking at it from a preseason game kind of situation where at least the starters play the first half and maybe backups coming in second half. I think you play your guys to the point where you feel like you've accomplished whatever goal that you set out for that week. And I

think you need to have a sense of confidence. I mean your team if that happens in the first quarter, happs in the first quarter, if that happens at the end of the game, at the end of the game. But I think you need to obviously take care of your guys, but you can't go into it scared, right. I know, that's probably the mentality that most people pretty

much have going into this matchup. You want to ensure that you come out of it healthy, but at the same time, you need to ensure that you come out of it with confidence as well and feeling good about your game plan, your execution, um, you know, and obviously you guys, you know, feeling good about their play and kind of going along with that. I mean, Philadelphia is a team that's dealing with a bunch right now also, so you could get it get to that level in

the first quarter, first half. Did you guys see the list of masses that were placed on the COVID massive you want to see you, I'm gonna read them out because they're big names too ready, Jenard, Avery, Fletcher Cox, Marcus Epps, Dallas Goddard, Nick her Big, Jordan Howard, Jason Kelsey, Avante Maddox, Rodney McLeod, Boston Scott, Alex Singleton, Jack Stole, all on the reserve COVID nineteen list, Randall Cunningham, Bryan Dawkins,

Michael Vick, Torell oh, Michael Vick naw, they're all coming crazy. It's crazy, have you. I know, we've been through this already and we've seen the COVID reserve list play its

impact on games like this. But I mean in terms of key starters losing, I mean, I don't know if the Cowboys have faced a team yet that has lost that number of starters yet, Robin, Is there any way that they get back with this new rule because of the five days because even though it is a short week, Yeah, I mean, that's the thing is with the five day rule and testing on Monday and having these positive tests come back for Philly, that's that's part of the new

protocol where now it's an opportunity for guys to come back Sunday, And you know, I think maybe with this new variant. You're seeing guys by and large, it's not you know, it's not for everybody in the population, but people who are lssarly who are vaccinated or clearing this overcron quicker, you know. And I think that's so that's part of the thinking is that maybe the Eagles could get a large number of those guys back by Sunday.

We'll see. I mean, in the past, with that delta varya end, I'm thinking probably I'm putting on my virology hat here that passed with the delta varia. You know, if a guy got if a guy got the guy COVID, you're you're at I mean, we saw it with the Cowboys earlier season. You're out for that week for sure. Um, you know, there's less it seems like there's more of a chance that you could get back sooner. So you know,

we'll see. But I mean, that's tough for Philly. They're lucky that they clinched and took care of business last week, right, Yeah, that's huge if if any of those guys are missing, they're gonna be missing them. I mean, you talk to talk about your starting center. You're a starting guard. You your best defensive player and Fletcher Cox, guy who had to pick last week against Washington. So yeah, it's all huge, But let's let's keep talking about this Cowboys loss in Arizona.

We've got Twitter questions coming up here on the other segment. You can still keep sending those in. We need a couple more on Kyle underscore Yeomans on Twitter. But Hackman, when you take a look back and you've now watched the film a little bit more and you've seen and dissected what happened on Sunday, does anything else stick out to you that we didn't necessarily hit yesterday? You know,

I tell you what. I was in the stadium watching the game, and a man at and T Stadium was on fire again and it was rocking, And you know, so different, man, when you're at the game versus watching the copy on television, you know, and going back and watching the game again. I think one of the things, you know, much has been said about the referees from the team, from coaches, from people in general in the media.

One of the things that I noticed right away, and I you know, I've always talked about how I felt like establishing the line of scrimmage for offensive line was so important. But the Cardinals did a wonderful job. Their defensive line did and where they got away with some things was holding up our offensive line and preventing them from getting to the second level. Those were calls that didn't get made, and typically defensive holding at the line of scrimmage is one of those hard ones to catch.

They don't call it a lot, but and that's why you know Vansh Joseph obviously the DC probably planning for it to not allow Connor Williams or Zach Mardin to get to the next level. To get on Isaiah Simon is to open up some of those running lanes. And so those were some of the things that I saw. But all in all, Man I still stick with what I said yesterday. It just looked like this offense was out of rhythm. The penalties is really what costs them.

It just negated any motive, any anything that they had as far as offensive synergy in that game. Greg zero line, That was it, Greg zero line. This is something that has to be shared up. The last concern that you want to have going into the playoffs is worried about can your kicker make a kick? Once you get across the forty. It's not the concern that you want to have teams that have that confidence in their kickers going into these and going into this part of the season,

into the playoffs. You feel good? Didn't you play with Venitary? I did not have Venitary? You didn't okay Sskowsky? Okay, I had Gotskowski, which is he's a pretty dag going good too. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, I mean you you want that confidence because you know these games are going to be close. It's just it's playoff football is competitive, it's fast, it's furious, and it usually comes down to

a driver or two. And you want the confidence knowing that, hey, if as long as I can get to that forty yard line we had, we can put points on the board. And I don't think that that Dallas Nation has that confidence right now and their kicker. I mean we lost by how much? Three? Three? And he missed how many kicks? One? Yep, it's exactly. You're exactly right, leaving points on the board. It's why you lost Week one against Tampa Bay as well. I mean he left points on the board. He lost

by two. I mean that's just plain and simple. That's something that's cut and dry. You could say the same thing for the interception from Jay Ran Kurs would to knock three points off the board, but that's not as cut and dry as literally kicking in and having three points or not having three d J. So having that that sort of security would be nice in a kicker. But that's also why NFL kickers stick around for so long if they are automatic, and for the most part,

Greg's urline has been automatic throughout his career. Yeah, I wouldn't necessarily say he's been that. At least this year he's been good. He hasn't been automatic. There's a difference. What do you call it? What have you done for me lately? League? That is? And I want to go

back to the penalties that you had. I saw this this stat from Jeff Cavanaugh actually on Twitter, and he said Cowboys first four drives driving stalled after a holding call from Tyrant driving, then stalled after beatish false start. Dak then had that miss over the top to Cooper, drive stalled, and then Lyell was a hold I mean stalled that drive as well, and then the touchdown drive on the last one. Whether it didn't have any penalties in the first half, So that's I mean, that's about it.

Penalty wise, Where does this Where does that come from? And I asked you this. I believe I'm the postgame show, but where do you Where does that start? Does that start with the coaching status? To start with personnel? It's coaching. I mean, I think most problems started with the coaching staff and again as being being able to position your guys to be in the best spot possible to handle

their assignments correctly without being compromised. And I think what happened this past game was a lot of guys were positionally compromised um and kind of put in bad situations to where the recourse is gonna be holding, right, you're gonna end up holding, You're gonna end up getting these penalties. Not pre snap penalties, that's something totally different. But when it comes to these holding penalties though, that was an issue.

When you look at the defensive side of the ball and you look at you know, the special teams national right, that's face guarding, right, some of those things that I mean, it's just blatant plays. And that's why I don't allow guys to just say, oh, we were playing two teams in the BS you know, you didn't. You didn't put yourself in the right position. You were Hey, Tyrn Smith, you were holding right, your your feet were a little slow, right, you just got back. We get it. But it was

a holding right lyle called us holding right. Be honest, you're out of position right, Your leverage is bad. All these all these guys that were that had blatant penalties. You can't point the finger, ask somebody else and say hey, whoa me? And that's and that's kind of where I come out with that. You want toss it? Yeah, Rob, what you got on that? I totally agree. It's probably

not a popular opinion among Cowboys Nation. But I just watching that game, and I watched it on TV as well, and like I didn't I didn't get the sense that the officiating was reminiscent of Thanksgiving, where it was just like my goodness, you know, like the game moved along. I know, Mike McCarthy, I know yesterday said herky jerky about ten times. Yeah, the penalty stall drives. I mean,

there's no doubt about it. But I do think Isaiah's right, like there was there were some clear calls that I don't think you can debate those that look they missed, they missed the fumble at the end. That was a huge miss, no question about it. But again I said this yesterday. They have been one of the leading penalized teams in the league this year. It's been a problem, and it's not just the referees. It's something they've got

to correct. One more thing on zero line. Jerry was on the fan this morning and said he was asked about his miss in the game and said, I think the most important part of a kicker is consistency, and it's not consistently missing. And that was the end of So they need more from Greg's airline. But you know what, at this point the season, like, who's a better option right now? The guy's been the league for ten years. You just want him to turn it around in playoff time.

You should see the reaction from Isaiah in studio right now. That's not just the general manager, that's the owner. That's that's a hot seat. Yeah statement right then, Yeah, kind of reminder. Did you see what Mike Zimmer said about Kellen mon after So, Yeah, that was that was harsh. It was savage see him every day. That hurt me. That hurt me personally. Oh yeah, m kellen mon, that's my guy. Yeah. Yeah. Basically they lost thirty seven to ten because Man had to start in front of Kirk Cousins.

I don't think Kirk Cousins could have saved them in this game anyways. But they asked the reporter asked Mike Himmer, uh, would you like to see a wilk at Kelly mom next week? And he goes not particularly. They were like wait why not? And he was like, I see him every day. Damn yeah, that's every day after this week, right, Man's that was tough. It was um, but just picking like, I got a different view than you guys about the

whole game and the officials and all of that. I just feel like, look, if you play football long enough, you know that they could call holding on every play. Okay, you could call leading with the helmet on every play, and there are some obviously, you know, holding it doesn't always have to be egregious, just like PI, you know, not getting your head turned around. It's it's all subjective to what the referees are seeing where the ball is.

I mean, there was some there was a Mark Cooper in the end zone where it was clearly a PI that didn't get called the situations like that where these guys are giving it their all for one hour and they come back and they've played this game and they they've been in situations where they've seen that particular play be called has pass interference and they don't get it. That I just said talked about the defensive lineman holding the offensive lineman up. That holding call isn't called the

one on Lael Collins dog. They have been worse holding penalties called in the league. And that was like, you know, you just did one to ten, that dude, that was a one, a negative three, you know, but they call it anyway. And and what it does is it's stemings where your drive and it makes it takes a third and short now to a third and long, and it

takes you out of position. They have legitimate gripes, as does everybody that say, you look, you can't be pissed off about where what the referees did, but there's a point in the game where you look at it and you go with them. We go back to what Rob was talking about in the Las Vegas game, where you've seen this thing cost you a game and penalties being called, and then it always seems to go against you. So that's just frustration boiling over from these guys. Yeah, yeah,

I don't. I don't disagree real quick, like sorry, go ahead, I there, sorry you good b. I was gonna piggyback on what heck said. I think there's another game too that they won, the Patriots game, where it was like, man, nothing's going their way with some of the calls and and it again, there's no conspiracy here, but I understand why players get frustrated because I think that's probably three games now where they're like, God, can we catch a break?

But the bottom line is like, ultimately, you gotta play well enough to take it out of the officials hands. And that's all I was saying about, you know. And I think, as I said a postgame, like, if you don't think yourself a hole early in the game, you don't have to worry about the reps being human and missing a call late. That's all. This is not who's

the Saints playing a couple of years ago in the playoffs? Rams? Yeah, Like it's not that that level of you know, like it's not like that that that was blatant, like come on, like what the heck? Like you just cost us the ability to go to the dog on Jeff, you know, yep, it's not that level. This is like you said, heck, play you could throw a flag on every play. You literally can throw a flag on every play. Referees are

calling what they see. The penalties are pretty dog on even you know, it's just that it just you didn't come out the victor. That's what the that's what the issue is. You didn't come out the victor. Nobody's complaining about the referees in the Washington game or the New Orleans game and stuff like that. And I know that's that's a little tongue in cheek. Don't worry, Cowboys Nation. I'm not necessarily saying that's an award statement, but it's true.

If you don't put yourself in that position, it's a non topic going into Week seventeen or Week eighteen, you don't have to have this conversation. But certainly it's something. If you're the most penalized team in the league. And I said this earlier in the year, if you're the most penalized team in the league, that's got to be for a reason. There's something there. It's it's not a one week at a time. Deal is every week there

is something going on. But when we come back here on Talking Cowboys, we're gonna take your questions Cowboys Nation. I've got a slew of Twitter questions, some really good ones as well. We're gonna answer them when we come back after the break, right after this. There's nothing as unique as our eyes, which is why SLOR pioneers ways

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the Caliber Collision team. He could join him to do great work with great people for great pay and apply right now jobs at Caliber dot com. That's jobs at Caliber dot com. Heck was stacking up? What is the equivalent? The mouse has got it there. I think that's about it. Got all of it. He's got a wallet, phone, and the mouse all stacks right there in his back pocket. Have you tested out the spring on that money clip yet? I have not. It's been a weird Christmas. I'll get

to it, I promise. Oh, you know, he will get to it. I appreciate the love. Make sure you make sure you laminate the birth certificate before you put it in the clip. That's a great yes, don't the vaccination car Yeah, don't hold it, don't yeah, do it all? Get it done. That's funny. He goes, he gole test that spring the first thing to go. That's somebody can put it. Oh. Then all right, second segment here, Talking Cowboys. We've got some Twitter questions to answer to Twitter day,

and we're gonna start with Christian Paul. Really good question here. I'll start with Rob on this one. What can the Cowboys offense do in the coaching staff do to help the confusion for Dak Prescott on defensive pre snap coverages. Is there something that he just needs to overcome due to a lack of a run game. So it's kind of two questions in one, but ultimately it's what do you do to allow Dak to be more successful? Rob Well Jerry was asked kind of that question this morning,

and he talked about the route running. I think he said, you know, the route running can get better. I think we've talked about the communication between Dak and the receivers. I think that's probably something that can can continue to get better. Look, I mean, I don't think this is something Dak is now ever seen before, you know, I think I think you kind of the fan kind of answered his own question. I think the lack of the run game has really made it difficult for Dak in

the passing game. I mean, I'm not absolving Dak of everything. I mean I think they're Look, you go back and there's miss throws that he made, especially early in the game. But I think when they are totally one dimensional, it allows the defense to do some of those things and

kind of dictate the flow of the game. And until they can get the run game going, whether it's just hey getting better production or not having those penalties that Heck's been alluding to that's wiping out some of those plays, they have to get some some balance back in their offense.

And I'm not looking and I'm not just looking towards the wild card game, because you know, if they can get past that game, you're probably going to Green Bay and it's gonna be twenty degrees or snowing or something, and you have to be able to run the football. So even beyond if they're able to get past the first round, at some point, the run game has to get going. Yeah, I think that with all of that, what we've lost is our physicality at the line of scrimmage.

And when you when teams come into a game and they recognize that you're gonna we can easily get you out of your running back package by being physical what you've then hell, we win. Um dan Quinn has definitely almost gotten Defensive Coordinator of the Year because he's made forced teams to become one dimensional. Um doubts it is just like you. You talked about this yesterday and you really made a valid point about Kellen Moore's inability to

stay with the running game. The first opportunity to get out of the running game, he out of there. And so this is a situation where like like he is talking about where you're gonna need the running game in situations, especially when you know, we talk about football so much from offenses, defenses, and special teams, but we don't talk

about the elements. And now you're getting into that point where hey, if you go to Green Bay and it's two degrees, hey man, that ball don't don't float the same in two degree weather, so you're gonna have to run it in They definitely have a running back that can does green Bay that can two running backs that can run it. Agreed on both points. You guys did a great job raw Pe to your point. You know, Dak, I don't think Dak's confused. I think Dak is perfectly

fine at the line of scrimmage. But I think that Kella Moore has to put him in better situations to be able to easily audible out of certain place. Right, give yourself a two A two play. Look, they need to go back and look at the analytics of what it is, based upon their personnel, based upon their formation. Give dak a two play a call, going to the huddle, call and walk up to the line of scrimmage. If play A looks good, roll with it. If not, alert, alert,

We're on to the second player. We're not having to go up there a change a bunch of different protections. You have a good idea of what's being presented. I mean that takes a lot of data, a lot of research. So and to the other point that you made, you know the running game teams, teams aren't. We're not. We're not able to run the ball right now. And to your point, heck, team, when's the last time teams feared this office a line? They don't It's been a minute.

There's been a minute. Probably the New England game, right, didn't fear them? Fear at one point in time, this offensive line was feared. Yeah, it wouldn't be that game, for sure. It wouldn't be twenty twenty one. No, it's not twenty twenty one, all right, This offensive line is no longer feared. So when you don't fear an offensive line and their ability to move you off the line of scrimmage, what do you do? Apply pressure pressure, burst pipes. So that is what you're starting to see right now

with the Dallas Cowboys. It's teams don't respect this offensive line. So you gotta get that nasty back. You have to get that that dog back, and they have to re establish their intensity level at the line of scrimmage and start moving some guys off the ball. Because when a team decides, when we talked about this yesterday, when the team decides to walk all their guys up to the line of scrimmage, you should be it should be a

dog on magic school bus. They should just be moving those guys back five yards deep or at least popping open one scene right and so that one guy can get loose. It's kind of like when Heckman does push ups when it tries to wear bututting up shirt. It doesn't work because that top buddy, don't that tap? Will you just provide you just provide a magic school bus reference in Heckma's top button reference in the same sentence,

did you really just do that combination? I will have you know that my top button is button a lot easier. Although I can't breathe now, No, it's popping off for a different Oh man, that's crazy, all right. Kind of along the same lines, though, I'm trying to get this match of school bus back on track. John John asked, kind of along the same lines, but it's more so

towards the coaching. Why not established the run early in the first even if it's not quote unquote working, keep at it by the third and the fourth it's sure to be working effectively, same situation, why not get Coop involved early? Amari Cooper stick with it if it's not working early, And he said, as his example, look at Green Bay against Minnesota on Sunday night football, So kind of along those same lines, why not are they abandoning

the run too early? Yeah, and look it, Rob, I've already said it, and Rob backed it up before you know. It's just those penalties that negate those long runs. You're looking at over one hundred yards of rushing if you get those penalties back, right, But look, if it's a fifth we all be drunk. And I'm not trying to be drunk at nine o'clock in the morning. I just want as I am. I just look, I just feel like it's as far as the game playing is concerned going into the playoffs. We've got to find a way

to get our playmakers the ball. That's just what it is right now. Amari Cooper isn't being He isn't. He hasn't been highlighted in our offense, and he just seems like a cog in the wheel. But he ain't. He's a difference maker out there. So its Cede Lamb and you heard him after the game of Mark Cooper talks about how the communication needs to be better. I don't know if that was an indictment on where they are offensively. Maybe they're not getting enough time time to be together

to talk about these things. But I see it seems like to me this is too late in the season to you know. And I guess communication can always be better on both ends. But that kind of threw me off that come in about communication from Amara Cooper. Yeah, he slid that up in there. And if the thing is the reality is Cowboys Nation. Kelly Moore doesn't want to run the ball. That it's not it's not a natural instinct for him to call a run play. He

wants where does he come from? Passing freaking passing background. He wants to throw the ball. There's no question about that. Right air raid offense. He wants to throw it around, so it's not a bad thing. He runs the ball because he has to run the ball. But when he comes down to him being in the groove of things, he's going to call a pass. And that's the end.

If there's no if there's no resemblance of a consistent running game at all, and there's no control the line of scrimmage, what is he going to revert back to throwing the ball? That's his comfort zone. So that's the reality. People acknowledge that. And then additionally, when did we force feed Amari Cooper? What did it for us for Dallas and force feed to Marit coup for him to say that he's frustrated for him to come out publicly and say,

I'm frustrated one point one million dollars a game. You're throwing the ball at me four times per game until I complain about it, and then I get it four times in a first drive. But what happens to the next game goes back away, goes right back away. So it's not natural for Keller Moore to run the balls. Not natural for Keller Moore to force feed his playmakers. He has to make these changes. This is not solely

on Dak. This is a killer Moore issue. I mean, earlier in the season, the conversation was that Dak Prescott was the extension of the coaching staff. Where has that gone, Rob, Because that's my biggest thing is early in the year, it was it was Dak Prescott would trot out on the field and everything was clicking so seamlessly that you felt like Kellen Moore was just in his head all

the time. I mean, I mean, of course they have the connection and whatever, the communication, but you felt like there was just an extension of the coaching staff on the field and Dak Prescott. So I still think there's got to be blame considered for both sides. Well, yeah, for sure. And I mean I think you go all the way back to the Denver game, and that's kind of where you saw a shift in terms of defenses adjusting to what they were doing well early in the season.

And so you've got it's a chess game. You've got to be able to counter that. We've seen them counter that at times in matchups down the stretch, these last eight games, whatever other times they haven't, and they didn't. They didn't adjust well enough to what what Arizona was doing on Sunday. And one more thing on the run game is is you know, is is there enough confidence that they can win the line of scrimmage like you guys mentioned and just and pounded up between the tackles.

I think at some point you just have to keep trying. But I think, you know, sometimes sometimes Kellen will try to and we've talked about this going all the way back to the Tampa game and the opener. It's kind of a surrogate running game where he'll try to do, you know, a quick screen game, quick game stuff to the outside and that kind of serves as a quote unquote run and they try to do that early in the game and Buddha Baker almost took it to the house.

I mean he read that play to CD so quickly and so that you know that that wasn't going well for him and all those backs to the line of scrimmage, I mean, Arizona was just everywhere. So give them credit for being around the football a ton in that game Sunday. Yeah, and have to give them credit. And that was my point that I was gonna make Rob was was. You know, they did a really good job at Van Josephine as a defensive coordinator. He's one of the best in the league.

And these guys watch a ton of film on you. They study your tendencies to death. They know what you want to do. When Buddha Baker saw Connor McGovern go out there and cover he man, he he didn't even think about it. I don't even know if he was supposed to be in the two safety eye, but as soon as he saw him go over there, three automatically came that way. And that's one of those plays I'm talking about. Throw that whole play away. Don't use that

one again. But you know, I think we talked about without giving credence to the offensive line shuffles and things like that, where the running game hadn't got gone. We see what kind of success that can have once he has a running game that is going. You talk about him being an extension of the coaching staff and the way he is, you know, he's seeing things on the field and they've given him autonomy to be able to say, hey, you know what, I don't like that play kill, kill kill.

I'm gonna go with something different. So, look, you can't you can't have it both ways. You still got to allow your playmaker and the guy that you've paid a ton of money to be the guy that he is. You gotta still allow him to be the leader of your offense. And it's got to start this week, I think against Philadelphia, right because they got to find a

way to get back in rhythm. And I mean, like Isaiah said in the first segment, whether that's the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, if it takes to the fourth quarter, it takes to the fourth quarter, and you gotta get a rhythm back with Dak Prescott at this offense and everything in between. When we come back, we'll answer a couple more Twitter questions, including one very fiery one. It's it's funny. It'll we'll have some fun with him when

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on the field with America's team. Find a retailer nearest you at Stetson dot com, slash cowboys to talk in Cowboys, you can take his arm and whether you're watching from home or you're cheering in this stance with orleans As, you can see every exciting play book, an appointment at your local or experts and see what es Selor can do for you. See more. Two more on talking Cowboys. Okay, the question was posed in the Brake. It's a talking Tuesday.

We're answering fan questions. Now we've got a question for the fans. Isaiah present your scenario. All right, real quick, y'all. You guys, there's two mammals have to go into into the cage. Okay, the only one mammal could come out alive. You're one of the mammals. You have to choose your opponent. Is it going to be a lion, a grizzly bear, or a silverback gorilla? Which one are you choosing to go into battle with no weapons, no weapons at all,

just you and brute force strategy. All right, y'all think about that. Well, we'll get answer for me you'all tomorrow. I would love to hear all of your answers and why you chose which of your opponents to go into this cage match with. And I chose a grizzly bear. I chose a gorilla. Rob chose a lion. I've chosen he is sound right? Chose a lion too? Yeah he did? Yeah, yeah, No, everybody knows. I'm not going in with the bear there.

It's just not gonna happen. Um. And I'm not gonna chose for the same reason, just because I want a quick death. She's done. I want to live. Figure out punch you. I can't wait to have some wildlife expert that's also a friend of Talking Cowboys tell us with the right answer. Actually, I want to actually know what that is. But I want to hear everybody's opinion. Crucial stuff we talk about in the final week of the

regular season. All right, final segment here heck Ma Harrison, Isaiah dan Back, Chris Beam, Rob Phillips out at home. I'm Kyle Yeoman's glad you're with us. Hope you're having some fun with us here on this Tuesday. Here's a fiery question. This is from Zesty, and this is a Zesty question. Yeah, um, do we have the worst blocking tight ends in the league? Why does Kellen Moore cant then you rely on them to block in the run game? Yeah, Like I said, man Chandler Jones was a problem for Dalton. Uh,

we can't. We can't do that again. But can you really truthfully expect him to actually hold his ground against him? I mean one of the best wrests. Look on the one that that, especially when he got to Zeke on the back side, like there was plenty of opportunity there, I mean all we needed. It wasn't one of those things where Dalton needed to just like Pancake block him. He just needed to hold up, just be there, just be there and kind of like the first half of

the season. Oh God, Rob, what you got man? I say something wrong? No, Zesty what you got? Married? Zesty? Did y'all did? Y'all? See Dan Orlovsky just get killed on Twitter for saying that, you know, part of their problem is Blake Jarwin's been out and and he's been the key to their blocking game. This It's like Dan, that's that's not right. Not Blake's strength. Look, yeah they are. They're both guys. I mean, look that passing game is

both their strength. And by the way, that there is good news that Blake Jarwine is on his way back, maybe not this week, but maybe in time for the playoffs. Um, I don't know about the worst because I can't. I haven't been able to analyze the rest of the tight ends in the league. But I can say that the effort. I can say that the effort that shows gave him the first portion of the season. Maybe I've been the

first half. Maybe if I know for sure the first quarter of the season he was, he was giving a lot of effort. Now was he always the best. How No, he's not. That's not his strength. But again, all you can do is ask for somebody's best. I don't feel that same energy in the second half of the season, and obviously Kellen Moore is still calling plays as if he's taken that same approach that he did early in the season and is ineffective. Yeah, it just hasn't been

working the same way. Final question though, before we wrap up here on talking Cowboys. Do you think the injury to Michael Gallup potentially open the door for him to return to the Cowboys next season? And I mean I tweeted this out yesterday just rewatching the game. It makes me sick every time you think about it for Michael Gallup, for the person, the player, the leader, the locker room presence, the weapon on the field. I mean, everything is gonna

be missed about Michael Gallup. And of course with it being in a contract year, it makes it that much worse. So Rob, I'll ask you on this one because you're usually our contract expert, but do you think that this is an open of the door, opening of the door for him to come back? I know they've they've done that in the past. One of the guys who's on a lot of our shows. Barry Church had a similar situation during his contract year. But do you think this

could potentially see Michael Gallup return once he's healthy. That's a great question. I don't know that. I mean, I think I think Ian Rappaport made a good point yesterday when he said there's a couple of guys in the league that have had acls and still gotten there. You know they're due in terms of market value on a new track. That's Bud Dupree and Alan Robinson. So you know you hope that from Michael. Honestly, I mean, it just sucks it happens, and it happens this late in

the season. I know the Cowboys want him back. I think it was always going to be a challenge from a salary cap perspective, and so does that change in terms of in terms of salary, It's just gonna have to be remains to be seen. The one thing I do want to say is not only did he make that incredible catch, as he felt a pop before as he was going up to make the play, all you need to know about Michael Gallup is watching his reaction as he went to the locker room with Britt Brown

after the injury, smile on his face. His attitude is that's why, that's why the whole team loves him. That's why he's such a great teammate, his attitude and everything, and so he's brought that to this team, even more so than his talent level. So you hope he gets back and makes full recovery, and I'm sure he will. Yeah, And you just see the love that his teammates have for him, you know, Cowboy Nation has for him where he was drafted from Colorado State and everything that he's

done so far. Unfortunately, this is a business and the business aspects part of it is gonna take over in the offseason, and just to keep it real with you, I mean, when it comes down to the salary cap and where we are right now, this team is gonna not It's gonna be some some moves being made all around. So you know, obviously you'd like to have Mike g back, and especially looking at the beginning of the season and what him CD and Amark Cooper we're gonna do together.

It just sucks to see him go out at this point, especially with the Cowboys looking to make a run in the playoffs. Yeah, you hate it for him, and it's it sucks. It's it goes into the injuries, the business and it's it's all awful. And of course, like Mike or like Rob said, we hope the best for Michael Gallup. We hope he gets the big contract. We would love for it to be with a star on the side

of his helmet again. But like you said, with the salary cap and some of the stuff that's coming up this offseason, there's gonna be a lot of conversation and decisions to be had. But that's gonna do it for us here on Talking Cowboys. Hope you had some fun. Send us your answer lyon bear Gorilla, Who are you going one on one against in a cage match? Who will one that you're trying to win? We should say one that you want to win. Tomorrow. Tomorrow we're gonna

preview the Eagles offense versus the Cowboys defense. Jalen Hurdson company have won four straight and they have been rolling on offense. How did the Cowboys stifle that momentum? But for Chris Beam, I says, stand back, Rob Phillips, heck my Harrison, I'm Kyle yalmost will see Tomorrow on Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.