Talkin' Cowboys: What Needs Work?

show in store for you. As I've got an echo in my ear. Here there we go. Okay, now I can talk Talking Cowboys presented by Visit Dallas. Glad you're with us here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. Rob Phillips, heckm Harrison, Cameo's favorite former NFL player, Isaiah Standback and myself kyleie Yeomens and guys, We've got a full fledge show for you today because overall we're still kind of

reeling off of this Atlanta win. We're talking about the Cowboys getting that forty to thirty nine victory over the Falcons. This past Sunday. But man, we are starting to peak ahead and look forward a little bit to the Seattle Seahawks. Will answer your fan questions. Fans on the fifty coming up here in just a little bit, I guess here in twenty minutes or so, or fifteen minutes at nine

fifty every Tuesday morning, nine fifty. Send us your fan questions, whether it's on the periscope stream or on Twitter as well, and you can find all of our twitters through route. But boys, it's starting to get to that point where you're reflecting on the win. But Rob, there's a lot of work to do before you take on the Seattle Seahawks coming up this Sunday, y'all had I had a fan hit while y'all were talking, and I missed everything. Y'all are still laughing, like, let let the listener in.

What are we talking about here? So we were we were waiting on you. We had of course every Tuesday, Rob's on the fan, and this is why I was just flustered to start the show first off. But I think we need to peel the curtain back. Yeah, let's peel the curtain back. So we're talking to Isaiah and we're talking about how he's he's from Washington, right, I mean, this is a guy who played for the University of Washington Huskies for life. He were the were the Purple

and Gold with pride. But he also has some allegiance to the Seattle Seahawks as well. As we're leading into that week. Now, he's a Cowboys fan too, don't get them wrong, but Seattle's home and that's what he was kind of talking about. And we started giving him a little flak. Heckmun I talking about how there's a little bit of there's more of the cheer for the check mentality right now. I mean, look what we're We're talking Cowboys,

We're not talking Seahawks. And so we start to give in Isaiah a little flat here, and of course heading into the week, and he wanted to remind us that you can get checks other ways too, and one of the ways that he does it is on Cameo, the the app that you have on your phone where you can record special messages via a paycheck for certain check for for a whopping twenty five ninety nine, you can get Isaiah to personalize a message for you or your

family member or your friend and you can basically tell him what to say, and we pulled one up right before. What can I say? What? What was that? I'm a cheap date? You know, you know I'm easy. I said, you give him to me ninety nine. I got you. Hey man, every every little bit helps, right, I mean why not? You know what, I've only seen that one time and I can't remember the name of the celebrity, but it was basically he was taking money to to break up with somebody's girlfriend on the website. So I

don't know you go that far or not. That's not true. After today's show, maybe I'm sure. I'm qui. I just started on there, so hey, we're gonna find out what happens, oh man. But yeah, I mean we were. We were we were cackling at the fact of of Isaiah being on cameo and he was talking about cankles on one of his his preview videos as it's hilarious. We're not we're not trying to plug it so that Isaiah gets paid.

We're just plugging it getting funny, and we're not gonna we're not gonna talk about how he gets these other checks. We ain't gonna talk about that let's going to go to the next Yeah, we can't, can't mention that one on air, but glad you are. You guys are all having fun with us here on this Tuesday. But uh, but yeah, let's get into this this matchup, Rob or

I guess the week ahead. I mean, there's a lot of injury issues when it comes to the Dallas Cowboys and it comes to Tyrne Smith in the tackle position. I've heard from around the Star that they expect him to be ready to go. I've heard good news when it comes to Tyrant Smith dealing with a couple of stingers. Mike McCarthy talked about it a little bit, and then also Jerry Jones today on the Fan before Rob got on the Fan mentioned about Tyrn Smith and dealing with

some of those stingers. But really, Rob, whenever it comes to injuries right now, the entire NFL is dealing with it. We thought the Cowboys had the wrong end of the shift in the first week. We two kind of flipped that script. But what are you hearing in terms of some of these different nagging things. It's crazy, right, you know.

I think in twenty eleven, coming off the lockout, injuries went way up across the league, and I don't, you know, we'll see, but right now it seems like, you know, with no offseason, maybe there's a parallel there, and across the league teams are dealing with it. For the Cowboys, you mentioned Tyrn Smith, and what Jerry said is what

I've heard too. You know that they thought maybe he could play in Week two, and there was some optimism there, but they ltimately decided, hey, let's give him another week because with it you mentioned the stingers, man, that can be a nagging thing. It can crop back up and can bother you all year long. You know, that's what Lady vander esh was doing with last year, and ultimately they shut him down, not saying it's the same injury,

but they want to be real careful there. So I don't think he's guaranteed to play in Week three, but I think there's definitely optimism and see how he does throughout the week, and boy, that would you know. While while Brandon Knight I thought did a nice job. We talked about that yesterday. It's sure it would be nice to get things kind of settled down for you upfront and try to get some of your continuity back. So we'll see about their DeMarcus Lawrence. We mentioned yesterday, I believe,

and Mike McCarthy kind of spoke to it. Banged up his knee in the game. It doesn't sound like they're too concerned about at least Jerry didn't indicate that on the fan just now. But that's something to watch this week as well. They just they've got to try to get healthy upfront, both sides of the ball. I mean, that's where they you know, they've had some trouble and have tried to kind of do things to counteract it, but they need some contuity. They're both sides. Yeah, and

I'm sorry now that's gonna double. Just just gets everybody's some a little bit of information, a little insight for those that don't know what a stinger is, okay, and everybody that might be trying to say, Tyronne or you're being soft, you know what I'm saying, get out there, listen up. If you guys have never had a stinger before, A stinger is essentially when you're you have a pinched nerve, right, so your body is trying to communicate to your different

body parts right via your nervous system. When that nerve gets pinched, you get a shooting pain wherever that's at. Right, So, for instance, I've had one in the neck. It shoots down and it literally shuts off all functionality of that limb. Right, you have no function of that limb whatsoever. It is painful initially, is very painful initially, and then your body literally your brain cannot communicate with that side of your body. So for those of you that's saying all he can

get out there and play, No he can't. And that's that stinger can pop back up at any moment. It just takes the right type of hit well. And it's also something complaining about the injury bug. It's hard to complain about the injury bug affecting us when you look around the NFL and show that those acls man a dime a dozen. Right now, it just seems like everyone

is going down to that injury. But with the news about Tyren Smith and just looking from the past till now, I think that we all have just pretty much come to the fact that we know that Tyren Smith may miss a few games throughout the season, but we need to get him in the rhythm of this office. Having him miss last week and we pulled out the victory,

thank god for that. But you're right, Brandon Knight did play really well in his absence, But this week is a whole nother story, and we absolutely need to have our stud left tackle well. And it's also that stinger and that neck issue is something rob that I know that Tyren Smith's kind of dealt with for quite some time. I mean, this is something that you mentioned it could be lagging from week to week, but the fact that it's also kind of hindered him throughout his career. And

Heckmagreat makes a great point. This is a Cowboys team that's used to playing without Tyron Smith because over the last four years he's missed at least three games. He's played in thirteen games the last four years, and he's already missed one this year. Hopefully they get him back this week because you definitely need him up against a stout Seattle defense. I think the defensive line for Seattle leaves much to be desired, but that secondary is good

enough to force some issues as well. But whenever, when you look at the defensive sign of the football, Anthony Brown, he's on IR for a little bit due to that rib injury. Cornerback seems a little bit thin here. Jordan Lewis had an okay game. I'm not going to necessarily give him a ton of credit because I thought he

was beat on occasion. But whenever you look at this cornerbank group in the Cowboys secondary, specifically Isaiah, is there anything that kind of worries you heading into a week like Seattle where there are some pretty stout wide receivers. Isaiah gotcha. Yeah, no, so I think we have lost the audio from Isaiah, so Heckman, we'll go to you on that question. Is there anything secondary wise that you're

that you're potentially looking at to move forward? Yeah, you know, I think a lot has been We've we talked a lot about the dvs the secondary and just knowing coming into the season that that was going to be a group that we were looking to get better. We wanted more out of them. We definitely needed more ballhawks and we wanted to turn overs. We got that in the

first week. From a woozier second week, man, it just felt like we took a little bit of a step back, but that I think that's credit to the Atlanta receivers with Jones and brittley engage. Uh, I just I just look for Jordan Lewis to take another step. You know, the higher ankle sprain may have been something that was limited him. He still didn't look like he was full fleshed back to himself. So hopefully another week of preparation, because of another week of which preparation will make him

better for this week because God knows. Man, Uh, last week button his best showing at all. Yeah, Rob, I can hear We've got you. Now we don't, we do not have him. Let's go back to Rob here. Oh well, man, I want to hear us. I know I'm ready for Isaiah. Yeah, we got you know you mentioned Anthony Brown. You got Cheeto who got banged up I think a hamstring trying to block a punt on Sunday in the fourth quarters. So you'll see. You got to see how he is

this week. Um, just every level of their defense has got somebody banged up. And so you know you're hopeful that, like I mentioned, tank and get get back and be and be right. And to me, it starts there and I watched because I think that impacts what your secondary is doing. I thought when we talked about it, yesterday how Matt Ryan just seemed to have too much time overall in a game setting his feet and surveying the field. And Mike Nolan spoke to it yesterday. They've got to

be better, not just individually rushing, but better collectively. And I don't know if that's talked about enough. With what you have to do upfront as a defensive line together, you know, we talk about offensive line continuity, defensive line running games, stunts, all those things, trying to free other guys up to get home on a rush. That's something they're still trying to work through five weeks after camp started. And I think that's probably normal with the new scheme,

but they're just they're just not there yet. So you know, I went back and I watched it, and I thought, especially late in the game, they did a better job of forcing Ryan to throw the ball away and getting out of drives and so there are good things to build on. But that's going to help your secondary more than anything. Help Trayvon Digs more than anything as a young cornerback going up against you know what is another

talented Seattle receiving corps. They're really good, Yeah, ktcalm those coverage who had a few of those cover sacks and it just seems like we had him and Ryan just got out of the pocket and tried to run for a first down. You know, that second half, it's a tailor two halves. Obviously we had the worst first quarter in football, but that second half, I think it said

a lot about this defense. And also with Mike Nolan said yesterday and his presser was basically about Treyvon Digs and him winning those one on one matchups and talk about how long he is and how aggressive he is, and just saying that he's someone that's always touching the ball and he looks for those opportunities that he's missed in the game because we've he's been this close to

two to two interceptions. He's getting close to one this week. Man, I just looked for that rookie to take that next step and be as dumbinant as he's been looking in past coverage. Yeah, and what I saw kind of this week from from Treyvon Diggs was a lot of what I saw on the college tape in Alabama, as well as the fact that he's a step behind and he allowed his athleticism to make up that gap and he has that athleticism and that length to be able to make up that gap. I mean the throw that he

almost intercepted, Heckma, the one that you're alluding to. That was an awful throw for Matt Ryan. It was underthrown by about five yards. Treyvon Diggs was beat by at least two steps there, and the fact that Matt Ryan underthrew that ball helped treyvon Diggs almost come up with an interception one that I think was kind of a oh look at what I found type of thing where he was a little surprised, and the fact that the

ball was hitting him in the hands exactly. But that's the thing with Treyvon Diggs that you have to get him up to speed in is being able to have that step initially so that way he doesn't have to make up that ground later on, because that's really what he's having to do is play a lot of catchup. And I think overall it's it's something that he's gonna learn and it's something that these receivers are teaching him

right now. DK Mattcap quite possibly one of the best deep threats in all of the NFL right now coming up here on Sunday with the Seattle Seahawks. Isaiah may Or may not be back audio wise, but we're gonna take a break. When we come back, we'll make sure he's back audio wise because he's gonna help us answer

your questions. Fans on the fifty. Send us your questions right now, either in the periscope stream for those of you who are watching live, or you can tweet at us and we'll hit it up later and throughout the show. Hit us up, fans on the fifty. We'll be back with that when we return here on Talking Cowboys. Since eighteen sixty five, Stetson hats are American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be

on the field with America's team. Want to show your Texas and Team pride two You can by purchasing your own stetson. You can look just like how the flag guys do on field at every home game. Stetson hats the official crown of all self respecting Cowboys and your favorite football team. Get yours today at shop dot Dallas Cowboys dot com or at Stetson dot com. Want to use what the pros use? How about the official men's

skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black. Right now you can get the Jack Black Starter, curated collection of Cowboys locker room favorites for just ten bucks with free shipping. The Starter includes four Jack Clack skincare favorites plus a full sized and tense therapy lip bomb. Go to get Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys and use the code word team JB. That's get Jack Black dot com Slash

Cowboys the Jack Black Starter ten bucks free shipping. Laura is a proud sponsor of the Dallas Cowboys, helping fans seymore and do more with our best vision solutions. Our lens technologies reveal a world more beautiful than you can imagine. For a limited time, get the slur next Gen offer for you by the latest generation of Transitions lenses with select Esselore lenses. You can choose a second pair of clear lenses for free with qualifying frame purchases. Restrictions apply.

Find a participating eyecare professional by visiting slur usa dot com. Seemore do more. We're back in the Tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor Cream Soda, is he a new Combonut's Music to My Ears? Okay, Doctor Time Music to My Ears, den Mouth new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda Delash Just do back to the Talking Cowboys. It's the second segment here of Talking Cowboys on a

beautiful Tuesday morning. Glad you're with us here on Dallas Cowboys dot com. Kyle Yeoman's heck my Harrison, Isaiah stand Back and Rob Phillips. Get your tickets now to see the Cowboys take on the Cleveland Browns when they were turned to eight T and T Stadium for their encore following last Sunday's game. This one will be on Sunday, October fourth. A limited number of tickets are on sale now. Get yours today at Dallas Cowboys dot com slash tickets.

My parents got to go to their first game this weekend and they uh. They sent me a text message after after the game and has said, we're hooked. Can we have your tickets for the rest of the year. It was like, I don't really have tickets for the rest of the year, so no, you can at the moment, but we'll see what happens moving forward. But they had a ton of fun. Who wouldn't at that game? I mean, really, the fact that you had that kind of more memories being made in that game, man, that was a blast

for them. But we're getting into two fans on the fifty. It's nine fifty on a Tuesday. That's what that always will mean throughout the rest of the season. Here on Talking Cowboys. You guys are bringing the fire and some of these questions already and I love them, keep them coming.

First one has to do with the matchup that's coming up here this Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks and one early MVP candidate, and Russell Wilson has been just throwing the football around and running the football as well, up to four thousand career rushing yards now early in the season, and he's been fantastic for Seattle, leading them to a two and oh start. But first question comes from Broncos seven eight eight, and actually it was also asked by

Strike Chris as well. Do you think that having a spy on Russell Wilson this Sunday will help? Is there a possibility that this could help? And Isaiah, if you're back, we're gonna start with you here. Yes, he's back. I think I'm back here. Very good, You're back. Let's go. So that's something that I was going to bring up in the last segment. Okay, when we started talking about

the secondary. Russell Wilson, he presents a very unique issue for the Cowboys, right, and Mike Nolan, especially because of his scheme. There really is no win, right, So it really is gonna come down to can this defensive line get pressure. If the defensive line cannot get pressure alone, then this secondary is going to suffer. The reason being, if you decide to play man to man, you can't match up against the Seattle wide receiver speed. You just can't. Right.

DK Metcalf presents a problem, Tyler presents a problem, Greg Olsen presents a problem, right even O O g Right, So you can't line up man because if you go man to man against those guys, you're gonna lose with your receivers against the your dbs against their receivers, and you're gonna have a linebacker trying to spy Russell Wilson. So, to answer your question, that's not a good matchup. But then on the other end of that, if they decide

to go zone. Right now, you're if this defensive line doesn't get pressure and they're playing zone, Russell Wilson is going to pick you apart. So the d line has to show up playing spying Russell Wilson is a good idea if you're getting pressure with your with your defensive line. I think everyone knows that Bill Belichick is probably the single best game manager and prepare of anyone in the

National Football League. And last week he went from a zone, went from playing his traditional man to go and zone, and Stephan Gilmore his top dog and the Torch gave three touchdowns. So what do you do? Do you spy them, to spy or not to spy. It's really one of those situations where I agree with Isaiah, you have to get You have to generate some type of pressure and get Russell uncomfortable because what he'll do and that read

option is just destroy you. He'll set He's so masterful as setting that up and creating plays with his legs and getting out of the pocket and looking up field. They just have way too many weapons for us to just relegate one guy to him. We just have to rely on our scheme and just try and do everything that we possibly can to generate those sacks. Yeah, Isaiah convinced me, I don't think. I don't think he can't

spy him, at least not all the time. I thought I was encouraged in the second half just watching it back. You know, the Falcons tried some of that ram stuff. They tried some of the misdirection and boots and waggles and things like that a little bit. And I thought the Cowboys did a better job, like upfront, staying home on some of that stuff and being disciplined in their

rush lanes and there. But there is no more bigger challenge than Russell Wilson when it comes to being disciplined with your rushes and working in concert there and trying to keep him in the pocket as best you can. Like, there's no bigger challenge in the entire league. So I'm really curious to see how they handle it. And I think what I saw down the stretch is encouraging. But until you see it, I mean, he can beat just

so many different ways. He's reached a point in his career too, where he can just sit back in the pocket, like Isaiah said, and pick you apart two. So it's this is a this is a pass rush game. I think that's one reason why Mike Nolan was so emphatic yesterday about how they've just got to be better upfront together. It's really the first mobile quarterback that the Cowboys have faced this season. I mean, both Jared Goffin and Matt Ryan aren't necessarily the two quarterbacks that you're gonna see

takeoff and run the football quite a bit. But you have some more coming up on the schedule. Not only is Russell Wilson coming up, but you got Baker Mayfield who's not afraid to run the football. Kyler Murray's coming up in Week six. I mean, there's more quarterbacks coming up. I mean you even look ahead and you got Lamar Jackson down the line later in the season. So this is really gonna be that first This is gonna be

that first benchmark of how to handle a quarterback. And I know, must Russell Wilson compared to Lamar Jackson and Kyler Murray isn't as mobile. But this is going to be interesting to see how Mike Nolan plans for this and how even with some of the better matchups receivers wise, that Seattle has. It's going to be fun to see how Mike Nolan kind of schemes it up and gets

the chess match going there. But I agree with Isaiah, I think it's gonna be tough matchup wise to be able to cover both the receivers and also take up a defender. Worrying about the run, you may have to be bit a couple of times first before a switch is made in that regard. This question comes from Campbell eight nine, and he asked, why not just stick with the four three defense so we can get to Marcus Lawrence going? And now there's been a lot of frustration.

I've seen this a couple times throughout some of the comments over the last two days of DeMarcus Lawrence. Is it an injury? Is it just performance? But heck, well, we'll start with you on this one. How do you get dlow going? And is it the four three defense that's stifling him? Yeah? And also and just going back and watching the tape first half of d law, d law played really well against the run. It's just what we're accustomed to seeing from d Laws, just getting those pressures.

Also went back and watched and also saw some commentary on this about de Law putting his hand in the ground on the bicycle stands. Remember also DeMarcus Ware had to make that transition as well. He was a guy that had his hand in the ground but then also went to the bicycle stands. I just know that it's a technique thing, and I don't think the cowboy fantasy to panic so early on this. We know who d Law is. He's a dog and Isaiah, like you said

this check says that he will make those adjustments. Yeah. I mean, I don't really have nothing to add. I mean, heck, hit it on the head. I mean, he's a pro. You know, he has to make an adjustment. It is a technique deal. When you're talking about making an entire change to a defensive scheme simply because one player hasn't gotten going yet, that's not what you you know, you don't. I just absolutely everybody, you make that one individual a

just and he will. Yeah. I don't know if you guys disagree, but I think he's getting too much criticism right now. Yeah. I mean that that first game, Jared Goffton let them rush the passer, you know, and you go back and you look at the stats, and he had four pressures, which was most on the team. I know they didn't get a lot of pressure, but that wasn't the Rams plan. They weren't going to let them

rush the passer. And then just watching it back yesterday, I thought, like, like Heck said, he did a nice job against the run. He was clearly laboring in the third quarter and that's when he went out. I mean he was trying to limping around, trying to get to the ball. I don't think we saw him at one hundred percent last week, and in Week one it was a weird game. So I'm just not there yet. I think when he's one hundred percent, he's still gonna be

a good player for you. And but they absolutely need him. I don't know. Two point stance like you guys are right like it does. It helps you with your eyes to be able to see what's going on in the backfield, but maybe maybe your technique suffers a little bit. I don't know. Maybe maybe that is an adjustment for him, But to me, it's more about just being healthy, because because he was not moving well in the second half,

that's why he didn't play. It's why he saw more Everson Griffin and kind of going off of that, Rob, I think you made a great point on the Week one game specifically, nobody had pressure solely based off the fact that the Rams just didn't hold on to the

football a whole lot. They were in the football with Malcolm Brown, they switched it up with Cam Akers, and then there was the short Dnkin dunk passes, the death buy needles that we talked about all last week that really tore up the Cowboys defense because there was no ability to get pass pressure on the Jared Goffin and

really kind of take advantage of it that direction. But when it comes to the past rush in general, Rob, are you are you concerned about the fact that even in this Atlanta game, with an Atlanta offensive line that didn't necessarily come in with the best ratings, the highest praise, the fact that the Cowboys still really struggle to get any kind of pass rush into that fourth quarter. Well, yeah,

they need They need more, for sure. I do think you know, I thought Atlanta we talked about it last week, how or I mentioned how they they've invested draft picks on that line. They've got some talent up front. Is the pass rush what we needed to be? No, it's not there. Yet, And that's one thing we I think was an emphasis for me going into camp, where it was like, the the overall talent they've assembled is really good, but can you put it all together with a new

scheme right off the bat? And I don't. I don't think they're they're there yet. But again, fourth quarter, man, I was encouraged because you saw a couple of rushes late Everson Griffin, Alvin Smith flushing Matt Ryan out of the pocket, throwing the ball away, they hold him do a field goal and a punt, And if you take away those first twenty points, I mean, I can't. I

can't put any of that really on the defense. It's nineteen points after that, and then it's you know, there was stuff to be desired in the first game, but it's twenty points from the rams. You're hoping with the forty burger offense, you can win those games, right, So I don't know. I mean, the defense isn't there yet. I'm not arguing that, but there is some good there and there is some stuff to build on. They just need to be healthy, and they're not healthy and they're

not going to be fully healthy for a while. With vander Esche out for a while. Yeah, no, man, And then we saw a couple of instances where we only rush three and we dropped back eight, and we lan had to answer those questions about what are you doing. You're playing defensive ends in coverage. So I mean, right now, there's so much that's under the microscope and the people are trying to discern what exactly our strategy is. But I just feel like the longer this defense goes, the

better they're gonna get. Because the second half. I just point to the second half and what they were able to do. It wasn't a bind but don't break sort of mentality. They got some quality stops and you saw that, Like you said, Rob from the defensive ends, I think you're right. I think it's I think in this situation with a new scheme, it's got they've got to build week to week. Now, gosh, you need it this week

against Seattle, right, my goodness. But but but you try to build week to week and maybe Mike Noelan he talked about this a little bit yesterday. They're not doing as much schematically as maybe he wants to. You know, I think he's still trying to figure out what his guys really do well and what they're comfortable with, and so they're just not they're not there yet. I think it's just too early to make a statement on what this defense is yet. Yeah, it is a little early.

And you talk about two of the better offenses really in the NFL. You're going to get face another one coming up this week. But Los Angeles Atlanta each have great rosters when it comes to the offensive side of the football, and they're still left to be desired, of course, but I think you're you're also working on it as well, sticking on the same defensive side of the football. And this is a fan question from RJ Well's second straight week. RJ has been with a fire question. By the way,

keep sending him in. We've got hey, we've got a couple more We've got a couple more minutes to answer your questions, so keep them coming here on the periscope,

streaming on Twitter. But he asked, since every other defensive back other than Cheetoo Woozier gets their head around and looks for the ball to make a play even though they aren't necessarily locating the ball, do you guys agree that it would be a better team to put a better time to put Cheeto and Xavier Woods as the two safeties, like they had talked about heading into camp, then roll with the other guys in a cornerback rotation.

Long question there, but basically moving Cheeto to safety, sticking with what you got at corner. What do you think and Rob will start with you? Was that As shaking his head, Well do you think? No? No, I mean you don't have a problem at safety right now. I mean now, I still believe. I still I still believe I agree with them, and I'll get to I still believe that. Yeah, I still believe that you should go out there and get that dude. As sitting sitting in

his office with his feet kicked out. I don't know why Earl hasn't been signed yet, because if you want to have a dominant defense, you go add that extra piece. But I digress. Um, the problem is at corner. They don't have enough experience at corner right now and then and unfortunately these first two weeks you face some dudes,

right a receiver. Um, so these rickies, say, these these younger guys, some of these smaller guys, right, you know, we got Brown, we got Lewis you know, going back and forth from I R these guys are smaller dudes, and they're gonna be facing somebody like DK Metcalf who six four two twenty five or runs a four three three, Like, like, what do you do against that? Right? You know what I'm saying, Like you don't win against that man? Demand So um, it's it's a matter of these guys just

continue to get reps. You gotta remember they didn't have preseason to get these reps. This is their quote unquote preseason. But they just can't afford to lose the games and lose these battles. I agree one hundred percent. You know, they're they've got numbers at safety right now, they're just trying to I don't know if they're trying to figure

out a rotation or what exactly they're doing. Because dary and Thompson, Darryl Worley, h and Brandon Carr all got snaps with Xavier Woods on on Sunday, so I think they they're trying to settle that down or figure out what they want to do there. But yeah, as it is right at the corner position, I feel better about having a healthy cheeto out there to try to counteract

what you're seeing with some of these opposing receivers are facing. Yeah, J RJ with the tough question, this would this wouldn't be the week to try and have a position Cheeto. And I don't know if there's any week in the end on our schedule that you planned to do that. But I think if I'm just kind of reading in between the lines here for RJ's question, he's just saying that Cheeto isn't getting his head turned around so that

he could track the ball and get an interception. And there was a couple of plays that you look at, there was a fourth down that Cheeto was right there, he just didn't turn to get the ball. So I mean, all those things will come. One of the things that I know about professional athletes is that their preparation is seamless, and these guys will continue to watch that film to get better. We also have to understand these guys didn't have the two of them all the off season of activities.

Sounds they just rock knocking the rust off and so pretty soon Tito get there. But let's not move them the safety this week. PEO. Don't know if anything drove fans more crazy under the previous defense than than playing the ball and not the man at the cornerback position. I feel like it drove fans crazy, and I think they're they're they're more playing the ball. It seems like, at least to me with Diggs and watching watching the

guys play back there right now. Yeah, and remember that's kind of what the Chris Richard mindset was last year was let's let's play the receiver, not necessarily the ball. It was kind of what they were taught for a couple of years. Now you see a little bit of a shift. Dollar for every question I got exactly exactly and luckily I was a long time ago you would get some of the Meca Harrison off the off the air chicks. Yeah, some of cameo money man, it ain't cameo,

I'll tell you that much. Now, going off of what Isaiah was just talking about in terms of the Safeties, haven't necessarily played poorly. Darian Thompson has been on and off. He's inconsistent and is really the best way to put it. But Xavier Woods has been playing quite well and it's kind of one of those years that we expect Xavier Woods to kind of take that next step, and we're

kind of starting to see that. I was kind of curious last night and I was looking up where actually Jamal Adams was in terms of ranking on safeties in Pro Football Focus grades heading into this week, because I was just curious as to where Jamal Adams was. He seems like he's flying to the football. You hear his name every thirty seconds on the TV broadcast. He's twenty fifth. But I also was surprised at who was in the top three. Jordan Poyer leads the way with the highest

grade of eighty seven. Then you've got Antoine Winfield junior, the rookie out of Minnesota in Tampa Bay. He's second. Yeah, he was a pet cat of mine. But the third best player in terms of Pro Football Focus grade Xavier Woods at the safety position through the first two weeks of the season. Yeah, he's played well. And it's through one hundred and forty eight snaps. That's the major. That's the most snaps out of any of the guys in

the top ten. So he's played the most and he has the best or third best grade out of any of the top ten safeties through the first two weeks of the season. A lot can change, but he's played well so far, and I think if you get him some help at safety, it can help him out. But I think Derry and Thompson's still kind of learning a little bit and there's still some room for growth there. As a guy who's still learning how to be a starter in the NFL that's gonna do it for fans

on the fifty. Keeps sending those questions on Twitter, We'll answer them throughout the day. Things don't stop with Talking Cowboys. Whenever we get off the air, we'll talk to you on Twitter to follow us all Isaiah stand Back, Rob Phillips, heck Ma Harrison, I'm Kyle Yeomans. We'll be back with more talking Cowboys when we return after this. I'm Jay Novachik, former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys. Back in the day, I was the guy who always got the tough yards,

and that's why I run with John today. In fact, I have a John Deer three zero twenty five E tractor that can handle any yardwork I need to do, even the tough yards way out back. So if you have one acre or a thousand, John Deer has the equipment that's just right for you. Visit a John Deer dealer today and run with us. We are the official tractor provider of your Dallas Cowboys. Selor is a proud sponsor of the Dallas Cowboys, helping fans see more and

do more with our best vision solutions. Our lens technologies reveal a world more beautiful than you can imagine. For a limited time, get the slur next Gen offer for you buy the latest generation of Transitions lenses with select SLOR lenses, you can choose a second pair of clear lenses for free with qualifying frame purchases. Restrictions apply. Find a participating eyecare professional by visiting slor usa dot com. See more, Do More. We're back in a tasty treat

that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Let's take a listen Doctor peck and creams So does he a Newcombonet's Music to My ears? Okay, Doctor back Times, Music to my ears and mouths New Doctor pepper and Cream Soda, delas just do bad. I want to use what the pros use. How about the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black right now you can get the Jack Black Starter, a curated collection of Cowboys locker room favorites, for just ten

bucks with free shipping. The starter includes four Jack Black skincare favorites plus a full size Intense therapy lip bomb. Go to get Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys and use the code word team JB. That's get Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys. The Jack Black Starter ten bucks, free shipping to Talking Cowboys. Back here on Talking Cowboys the final segment here of our Tunday Show, Week three,

Episode two. Glad you're with us as we roll into Seattle week Now Tomorrow we'll preview the Seattle offense versus the Cowboys defense. We're talking a lot about that Cowboys defense right now. We'll talk about it again tomorrow and how they specifically match up with the Seattle offense, who

has been firing on all cylinders. Then Thursday, we'll go through the Seattle defense and Jamal Adams of course making his first Seattle appearance against the Dallas Cowboys, and we'll talk about how they match up with the offense heading into Thursday, and then we'll give our predictions Friday. There's the schedule of the week. Write it down, pin it up on your board, put it on your calendar, get ready for more talking Cowboys. But heading into this final segment,

I wanted to stay positive. And of course we're one and one as a Dallas Cowboys and you get the win on Sunday. But there's been a lot of complaining in terms of really some of the different areas of the Cowboys that need to be addressed. Sure, one area that does not need to be addressed, because he's been fantastic, He's been unstoppable, he's been outstanding. Ezekiel Elliott is just a man amongst boys when it comes to even the

men of the NFL. And if you disagree with that statement, go watch his run on the goal line where he just straight up ran over him. I mean, this is a guy who gets paid to make tackles in the NFL, and Ezekiel Elliott turned up into a statue. Yeah it was Uh, it was a hit that was heard around the world. You could hear it shaking from Mercedes ben

Stadium in Atlanta. But really, overall, Ezekiel Elliott continues to be that workhorse, continues to be the bell cow for the Cowboys offense, and really heck, it opened things up for the Cowboys to be able to have the run that they did in the second half on Sunday. That was the first time I'd ever seen a deep hug himself in the inn. It was Wakonda forever I think I heard him. You know, Zeke is like you you said to Kyle A man amost Boys. He is doing

so much in this offense. But I think it's the stuff that doesn't make the stat sheet that people should really look at. Last week Man his help with Brandon Knight, Chip Luck, what he's doing in past protection. He's just doing so many great things that's allowing Dak to get the ball down the field, and not only on those plays where he's a decoy. He's a worthy decoy, right because the deepense has to account for what he does

in the passing game. I just love the way that Kelly Moore is getting him involved, getting him in rhythm, and even with the score being what it was, Zeke still carried the ball twenty two times. So there's a lot of times when you get down that big you just completely abandon the run. And the Cowboys didn't go away from him. But Ezekiel Elliott no, no, that's some

great points. Heck now, and I want to allude to what you sated, that what everybody doesn't see, right, Most people pay attention to simply what shows up on the stat sheet, right, how many how many rushing yards did he have? How many touchdowns did he have? But there's so much more to that position, right, there's so much communication between him and the quarterback, him and the offensive line right where the offensive line is slide in there

blocking to who's the mic linebacker? What's his assignment as he blocked the front side linebacker, if he blesses us, he blocked the backside linebacker. He was doing all those things during the game. He was picking up so many blinches that they're the pressure that those guys were bringing on the opposing side of the ball. And then when it was his opportunity to run the ball, he came in. That boy was physziic coal. He kept bringing it. He

disrespected so many falcons. Them them dirty birds turned into little baby birds because then boys was getting laid up and rolled up like little tortillas. I felt so bad for the little dude on the goal line. He just he just usually rolled up in a little ball and he said, Mama, he was just hoping they snapped his fingers to be gone, but he wasn't. He was laying on the floor. But no, he's doing the heck of a job, man. And you know he is the physical side of this, of this offense, and he has to

continue to bring it. They have to continue to give him the rock. And if they continue to follow suit with that, I think they're gonna be They're gonna be in a good situation going forward with this season. Man, Tony Poll just eight snaps. I feel for him, but that's part. That's when you when you have a Hall of Fame at running back, That's that's what happens. And you can't fumble. You can't fumble when you come again either. That too, that too, even though that was called right,

was it was overturned, It wasn't. A film doesn't matter, but you're right the presson he can't play on the ground, but it doesn't matter. But yeah, the little things Zeke does or make him a top back in the league. But what we've seen his explosive this so far, I think it speaks to last year not having training camp. He's not he wasn't washed up he didn't lose his

explosive this. I think he needed time as a year went on to get some of that back and get a rhythm with the offensive line, and he did late later in the season, and you're seeing it from the jump this year. He's still he looks as good as I've seen him since twenty six to be honest with you, Wow, I mean, and that's exciting. And we had kind of

talked about it. I think this was the topic on one of our offseason shows where I said, or maybe it was training camp where I was saying, hey, watch out, I think this is going to be twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen Zeke territory. And he does. He looks like that, and he's running like that. The yardage hasn't necessarily been there from a ground standpoint. I mean, he's still getting

close to one hundred yards. He hasn't had a hundred yard game yet, but he's been over one hundred yards in terms of yards from scrimmage in each of the first two games, one hundred and twenty seven Week one, I believe he had one twenty two or more than that here this past week he gets to Atlanta, but really he adds that extra element though, of comfort whenever he comes to play calling Isaiah and you can look at Ezekiel Elliott and you can say, hey, let's run

it with him, or let's throw it to him. The screen passes were working throughout the second half. That was one of the reasons that Kellen Moore made those adjustments. But what is the biggest part of the game that really he opens up for you as offensive coordinator just based off of his versatility? Oh, play action. Yeah, it's pretty pretty easy, you know, with his ability to tilt the ball the way he does, for him bringing the physicality that he brings him being you know, obviously cutting

some week and being more explosive. Now you have to respect that you cannot just leave six seven guys in the box. That's not something that you can do, especially with this offensive line. Even with the tackle's gone right, you still have some guys in there that that know what they're doing up front, and you have to be able to respect them that they're going to move your

defensive line off the ball. So, I mean with the combination of that old line, the combination of him tolding that rock the way he's doing, I mean, they have to come down in the box, which is simply opens it up for you're eleven person. Now right when you get your boys CD out there, he had his first hundred yard right, you got CD, you got Gallup, you got Cooper, you got some dues out there, right, So

you can't forget about that. When you keep handing him the rock, handing him the rock, that safety keeps creeping up. They keep bringing the defense closer closer to the line of scrimmage. Now, nice hard play action, and you dump that thing over the top, big plays all over the place. Heck nailed it too. They were able to work in Zeke throughout the second half, even when they were trailing

by multiple scores. They Kellen Moore given credit. They didn't go away from it like maybe they did sometimes last year. And the play action, man, it gave me so much joy to watch in the second half of that game yesterday. Work in that play action. Good things always seem to happen when they do that. I love it. Hey, Rob, tell the people about uh if Zeke is the leading Russia about that feed me tattoo, You're gonna get on

your stone. That my best what I heard. I mean that he was the one that told me but I heard that one. I don't know. You're gonna have to let me in on some of your away from talking with checks to be able to do that. I don't know. I don't know it, oh man, that I mean, that's there's no better way to end the show than on that one. And here's your friendly daily reminder. And heck talking about Bets and Isaiah talking about how he had

his first one hundred yard game. Here's your daily reminder that the NFL let Ceedee Lamb slipped to pick seventeen, and the Dallas Cowboys have the best young wide receiver, best rookie wide receiver in football. And that's how I'm gonna end Talking Cowboys. Just a daily reminder. Let's have some fun with that because I think he'll have another big game coming up on Sunday, because that's just who he is. He's built different whenever he comes with it.

And I'm gonna say that with my chest as always here on Talking Cowboys. But that's gonna do it. Glad you've been with us here over the past forty five minutes, join us again tomorrow nine thirty. We'll be on our worst behavior, like always and continue talking about the Cowboys as the defense faces the Seattle offense. That's what we

preview tomorrow. Be here for it, keep subscribing, keep following, But for now, for heck Ma Harrison, for Rob Phillips, and for Isaiah stand Back, I'm Kyle Yeoman's special thanks to Chris Beam in the back. We'll be back tomorrow here on Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of dllas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.