Talkin' Cowboys: What Now At QB?

Rob Phillips, and Kyle Yeoman's how's it going, everybody? It's a Wednesday edition of Talking Cowboys here from the s WBC Mortgage Studios leading in to the Week nine matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers as the Cowboys look to get back on track against the only team that has not gotten off track at any point in the NFL NFL season so far. We're gonna break it down for you today, Cowboys defense and how they're gonna slow down this Steeler's offense.

The normal crew, as always are resident Super Bowl Champion Isaiah stam Back, the sultry voice of hack Ma Harrison, DJ Rob Beats bringing it in with the smooth jazz on the bottom right hand corner. I'm Kyle Yeoman says always, Chris Beam in the back and Gus what was that? I gotta get a better I gotta I gotta get a better title. Man. Then the sultry voice. You don't like that, get like it playing? I don't. I don't want to hear you can play. I'm here. I'm hating

on it. Yeah, alright, you are hating on it, but I think it fits you perfectly. It's that's that's the only issue. I wish I could tell everybody your nickname. No, you should not say that. Let's not going to that one. It's the internet. I think we can't. Let's sail. I don't want to look up one day on my pregame and see this nickname continuously pop up in the chat. So we're gonna we're gonna stay away from it from now because that would be maybe the burner account. Maybe

we'll make the burner account that one. But nicknames and all, we're gonna break down this this matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. We had a guy with some nicknames last week in the Nuche and Gucci de Nucci and Nucci Man starting a quarterback against Philadelphia. We were thought to have Andy Dalton back this week. By the time yesterday's showed exactly not so fast. He was as of yesterday afternoon, placed

on the COVID nineteen protocol list. And now it looks like there are other options at quarterback and none of them involved Ben DiNucci at least at the moment. Starter wise, Rob, what are you hearing in turn of the quarterback battle that is now ensuing in these walls at the Star. Just the reports out there that all options seem to be on the table with the healthy quarterbacks that they have.

First off, best wishes Tod Andy Dalton. That news did come out yesterday, as Kyle said, And you know, the Cowboys don't specify why he's on that list. You know, players go on that list either because they tested positive for COVID or they came in close contact with somebody who did so that you know whether or not it's one of those two, or if you're symptomatic or a symptomatic it can it can vary on how long you're

on that list regardless. Hope he's back soon, but yeah, I mean, I mean, if you're the Cowboys, what else can happen this season? Honestly, it's unbelievable. And you know there's reports out there that there they may be leaning towards Cooper Rush off the practice squad. I asked our friend Bobby Belt of NFL Network, if that were to happen, has that ever happened in the history of the NFL, where your starting quarterback for that Sunday began the week

on the practice squad. I wonder if that has ever happened. He could not find that, So that might be another first in Cowboys history if it happens on Sunday. Fellas, Hmmm, what if I told you I'm had to do that? That's why you sooice, because hey, man, I don't think any of us anticipated Cooper Rush starting against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Are man, this is this is we've we've reached def khon Ford. We're there, uh now. And once I got once we got the notification, and I be one of

you guys. It was Isaiah that sent the Texas. Oh my god, man, how do we get here? And this is, man, this is a whole new level of twenty twenty. I know that's cliche, but I mean, if Bobby Belt can't find out if a guy's ever gone from the practice squad to starting QB and this is the first time, and it happens to us, that. I don't even know what kind of open this is. Isaiah. You got nothing, Kyle, I got nothing, man. It's just, uh, you know, let's

talk about this offense versus defense. How about that? Yeah, you want to move you want to move on? Yeah? No, I don't know about that one yet. We're gonna do that one tomorrow. We need an extra day to prepare for that. But whenever it comes to Cooper Rush and Garrett Gilbert, which seemingly that's where the quarterback competition it lies. And that's kind of what I had been hearing throughout the building as well. Was it was those two, not

Ben de Nucci. But I was asked this question on the fan a moment ago, and I think it's a great question, Isaiah. I want to direct this towards you to start. But whenever it comes to Garrett Gilbert and Cooper Rush, what did they give you that Ben de Nucci doesn't give you. I don't know. I don't I don't know, and I don't answer it matters. Yeah, I don't think it really matters. I think that, you know, I don't care. If Dak was playing this game, it was gonna be It's gonna be a tough game. Um man,

that's just being transparent. Um. Obviously there's no dak um. So we were like, okay, Andy Dalton, Well, Andy Dalton can't play. Even if any Dalton's playing, it was gonna be a very tough game. Um. And now we're like Ben to Nucci, all right, here we go, Ben, um And now we don't know if it's been so now we're like Gilbert uh, um, anybody, but you got it? You want to play No No, No No, No seven or

seven leagues who played you know, Rob to the Pea. Um. So, I mean, I don't think it really matters this this defense, this defense is a problem. They are a problem. I'm not sure if anybody tuned into the film room yesterday. We try to highlight it a little bit. Um. These guys play hard, man, and I don't I don't think they don't care. And they are a great reflection of

their coach. They're smart, they're they're intentional, they're they're tenacious, they they they're relentless, and all the all the words that you want to be representative of your team. That's what this team is. And it's gonna be a problem. I don't care who you put in there. You can put all three of them there at the same time. I don't think it's gonna matter. Isaiah, did you did you unbox your cleats? You're the only one on this podcast that has actually taken snaps in the NFL at

any point. Have you unboxed them? Look at here. I don't think I would want these problems right now without having a little another week of practice. These dudes, these dudes are monsters on that side of the ball, and you better be strapped up and hopefully they all have hard chine straps on this week. He he, Well, we've obviously gotten an opportunity. Go ahead, up, I'm sorry, I

would go for you. You were going first. Now we've had an opportunity to see what Cooper Rush has and and some preseason games and um, you know when I when I got the news that these guys who are if they were going away from being to nut and I thought that was just obviously what we're gonna do. We're gonna give Donuti another opportunity. But obviously when they look that the tape he had, you just know that he had a rough outing versus Philadelphia, and to serve

him up to this stealer's defense. This is a mercy This is a mercy call for the Nucci not to to to send him literally to the Wolves in this situation. They're saving his career. They're saving his career. Yes, And and I don't know if if Andy saw what happened last week and saw Pittsburg coming up, and it's it's a tough goal, it's a cup go however you look at it, and for both of these quarterbacks. Now, Gilbert may be a guy that we know a lot more about because he played here at SMU, A big guy,

big arm. He can you know, I would hope that those quick throws is what he's it's specifically going to have to make to be successful against the Pittsburgh Steelers. But we have no idea how this is gonna come out. And Cowboy fans, right now, you've got to be just in a situation you just like feeling like a lamb getting ready to be led to slaughter in a game like this where you know you're going into it with your fifth and sixth stream quarterback at this point. So look,

let's talk about it. Let's just go through the rest of the show. Guys, come out, We gotta we hearn up twenty five dollars today. We're gonna earn out twenty five dollars for that. Yeah, you're getting twenty five, you're getting twenty five. I mean, wows. Oh, my bad, my bad. We can put that out there. Guy, is this a move? Go ahead and say what you're gonna say. But is this move also an indicative of the turnovers that we saw on Sunday as well? No, I just think he

wasn't ready. I don't think he's ready to play an NFL game. And that's not no knock on him. Yeah, it's not a It's not a knock on him at all. I mean this is where the no training camp preseason stuff is an excuse. Yeah, it's a good one, because he hasn't even gotten in a preseason game to at least just kind of get the taste of the NFL speed. He didn't have any of that, and he went up against a really good front. Like you guys said, he's

going up against a better front. He would be going up against a better front this week, and Jerry Jones said it on the fan yesterday. Frankly, it was more than he could handle. I think the coaches probably recognize that it probably is accurate. I'd be surprised if it didn't come down to Cooper Rush or Garrett Gilbert. Those two guys each have three career pass attempts, though in the regular season, so it's not like they have a

ton of experience in games. They've been around teams, you know, I think Gilbert's been in and out of team camps and roster since twenty fourteen. I guess I would go with Cooper Rush just because I've actually really seen him play, and you know, he's been in some form of Kellen

Moore's offense the last few years. I guess now in terms of this offense, with this terminology Isaiah does that would would Gilbert get the edge because he's been here a couple more weeks or do you think a Rush could come in from your experience, like come in this week and have enough familiarity with the past to be able to do it. I would think so, But I don't know. I mean because he just got here technically, I mean personally, I would stay with Denucci. That's just me.

There's no right answer here, So Twitter world, y'all chill out. There's no good answer. Here. Okay, um, but Denucci has been around the longest. I mean, that's the facts. None of these quarterbacks would be in a good position, none of them, none of them. Andy Dalton would be in a bad position. Dak would be in a bad position. This team is freaking good. This defense is they're freaking they're bullies there. This defense is they're a bunch of bullies.

And they bullied Lamar Jackson, they bullied everybody else they face. So what makes you think they're not gonna come in here and bully whoever we put that quarterback. Yeah, it's gonna be tough. Whenever you look at the last three or actually, I'll say it this way, how about that. There are three teams in the NFL that have a sack per pass attempts percentage of more than ten percents, which means they have a sack on more than ten percent of the past attempts against them. One of those

teams was Washington. We saw what that happened a couple of weeks ago. The other team was Philadelphia. We saw them on Sunday night. That's two and three respectively. Now you see the number one team, and that's Pittsburgh. They have a sack on thirteen percent of their snaps and of their past attempts against. And that's by far the tops in the league. This is gonna be the best

front you've seen so far. You might want an experienced quarterback back there, but even at the same time, it's gonna be rough no matter who's out there behind center. This is the best defense, not even just the best front, is the best defense in general, just all over the place. I mean, you got all these guys that we talked about TJ, and we talked about what das all other Cats,

but Dubs, I mean, but they got Joe Hayden. I don't know if you guys remember Joe Hayden, but Joe joeysan just a pro bowler guy, you know, just a guy I guess you know, high paid, but they don't. His name hasn't even come up. That's how much talent is on his defense. Joe Hayden used to be one of the best corners, one of the most talked about corners in this league. And he's still a pretty dog and well respected corner in this league. But you don't

even bring his name up. But that's because that's that's what mean guys they have on his team, It's it's kind of sickening, honestly, how much talent, not even not only talent they have, but how these guys play up to their talent, right, And I think that's I think you're you're right on with with that, man. But also guys like blood Dupree, uh he And I know T. J. Watt is the name that most people recognize from that defense, but blud Dupree is motor and he's gonna keep He's

gonna continue to come. But even with all of that being said, last week, when you know, when you guys watched the Baltimore game, Baltimore gave them everything that they wanted in that game, to a tune of about four hundred and forty five yards total offense. I have no idea how Baltimore lost that game, and obviously it was a it's a turn I know how they lost it. They lost it on the turnovers and giving up a special teams touchdown as well. But that was an AFC

North battle that Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh just found a way to win a tough game and that's what they do. And Isaiah, you said it, man, they are a reflection of their coach, coach tomlin is. Man, he's a great guy and they all respect him and they play for him, and they're just at a point right now. And I know we're gonna talk about their office, but Big Ben Roethlisberger is playing lights out and he has a new toy that

I'm we're gonna get into his toy. But man, they are lighting up the league with some of their formations that they have, and it's really hard to compete with. So they are the one seven and old team that doesn't look like this slowing down anytime soon, not at all, and they look like they're actually getting better. Last week against the Ravens, I thought that was maybe one of their better wins, even though it was a little ugly

at times. As AFC North football is going to be from time to time, I think you're gonna see some ugly games, but I thought that was one of their more impressive wins. And the Steelers coming up, They've got the Cowboys, They've got the Jaguars, and then I forgot who the third team was, but it's nobody very good, at least at the moment. So they've got some teams coming up that they could be very easily be ten and oh the Cowboys the one team in there that wants to try and or I mean all three teams.

The other one was Cincinnati by the way, that was in the mix there, but they could be very easily ten and oh if they take care of business against Dallas this week. Keckma alluded to it, We're gonna break down the Steelers offense against this Cowboys defense and really kind of look into how the Cowboys could have some success slowing down some of those weapons. We're gonna talk about that on the other side of the break when

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Switch to AT and T five G. It's not complicated. Five GET requires compatible plant may not be in your area. See att dot com slash five G for you for details to Talking Cowboys. Here for Talking Cowboys. It's the second segment of this Wednesday morning. Glad you're with us, Time to preview some of the matchups for this Cowboys

defense against this Pittsburgh Steelers offense. And you look at the Steelers overall guys and a lot of familiar faces for at least the quarterback position, but not so much anybody else on this cot or on this Steelers team from four years ago. First time these two teams have met since twenty sixteen, the two winning as franchises in

the Super Bowl era. Whenever you talk about Ben Roethlisberger, he continues to be the consistency guru, or at least the consistency mark of any veteran quarterback in the league. What have you seen from Ben Big Ben over the last couple of weeks and now into what is his age thirty eight season, Isaiah, and what he brings to the table for the Steelers. I mean you mentioned it. I mean I think Ben, coming off of last year, I'm not being able to really play. I knew he

was gonna come back and have a solid season. He's a competitor man, and nobody's ever questioned that about him. Um he's the he's the heartbeat of this team. Um uh. And and he's really just a corner of that cornerstone man and these guys he has a ton of weapons around him. For whatever reason, this organization knows how to develop talent, and they know how to develop receivers. That's why they were able to let go of the guys that they've let go in the past and not miss

a beat at all. Um. You know, it's it's amazing how they're able to build up these young receivers, um and and have a plethora of guys all shapes and sizes and speeds and and and skill sets and and they're all to the benefit of Pittsburgh. I mean, you take a you know, you take a guy like Claypool, Like, where the heck did he come from? Man, here he comes at, you know, at the size of a tight end. He's blown by guys, right. You got Washington, who's shifty

is all get out. You got Eric Ebron who's failed at his last couple of locations, and all of a sudden he shows up in Pittsburgh and he's balling out

and throwing people at the club. So I mean this, this offense, you know, I'm not gonna talking about the running game of the offense is nice, man, And Big Ben has done great job and it's a testament as to his leadership because you know, even regardless of what guys have said about him in the past, obviously he's doing something right because he keeps continue to build up and elevate the play of other guys around him. Agma, Yeah, okay, you know, Big Bend is Big Ben. He's and it

always have been a model of consistency. Like Isaiah was talking about. But I tell you, man, when he got the elbow surgery, I thought that that was gonna be the end of his career. When they talked about how you know, reattaching the tendons back to the elbow and all of that. But he's come back this year and

he's looked better than ever. He's not the same. He doesn't gamble the same that he used to, and I think that's just has to do with the rehabbing process and trusting his arm again and what that's made him do. It's just go with his more intermediary routes. And that's where Eric Ebroun and Chase Claypool are just feasting on defenses in you have to at their offensive coordinator's Dick Deischner.

I believe he's been with U. He's been with coach Thomlin since oh seven, but he was a wide receivers coaching. He is the one who they credit for, you know, getting these guys, these these these wide receivers and making them h so much better. But man, it's all about the formations for me. I mean, they use two and three tight ends. They go with a jumbo said, and Chase Claypool is not. He's not a wide receiver. He is a quarter pounder away from being a tight end.

The spooky thing about him is this guy has exceptionally fast and I know, how do we stop it? We're just going to have to get a lot of prayer and holy water. But no, no, what we gotta do is we've gotta get We got our cornerbacks, and hopefully Cheeto comes back this week because we're definitely gonna need him.

M Jay Leu has been playing in the slot a lot, and I think put in Jay Lew in the slot, that's gonna match him up Man the Man with guys like Chase Claypool, which I don't think that's that would be. I think that's a mismatching and everybody should agree. Uh then, but yeah, getting getting a woozier back, I think that's that's better for us. But again, you still have the mismatches on the outside with Juju and Rob. I'll just leave you a little bit of meat on this bomb.

Take it away, oh man, Josephrano, Yeah, No. Asaiah brought up the point I hadn't thought about that. You know, you lose Antonio Brown and you think, you know, for some teams, I mean, that's your offense, and they found a way to just keep going. And they're an outstanding

offense this year with a lot of new faces. And to Heck's point, like he's he's right up there with Russell Wilson to me in terms of the top quarterbacks you're gonna face this year because of his experience, his savvy, his ability to get the offense into the right play, and also just how clutchy is. You know, you're never out of a game with Ben Roethlisberger and talking about

those formations. Heck, just watching these last couple of games and playing you know, we talk about the Cowboys running game, run defense, but I'm turned on how they're just may just spread out the Cowboys defensively with all their receivers like they did last week where they went five wide a lot of the time. In the second half we went four wide. They had those bunch formations were receivers on the one side of the field just kind of scatter and you got to be on point as dbs.

So this is a big game for Cheeto to hopefully come back to try to counteract some of that. But what they were able to do in the second half of Baltimore was just like, Okay, you know what, We're just gonna spread out and we're just gonna run some plays. Guy's gonna run around and get open. And that really worked because they've got a lot of receivers who can get separation, and they've got a quarterback who can find you.

You heard it here first, Ben Roethlisberger and Russell Wilson are now in the MVP conversation according to Rob pe in the quarterback the quarterback comparison now and Lamar too, you'll see him a little later, a little bit later on. Yeah, I don't want to even think about that matchup just yet. Now. Whenever it comes to this offense for the Steelers specifically, it's kind of interesting the way that their statistics to

have worked out. And I know, out of everybody here, Isaiah is the one guy who really loves those statistics and is only with the statistics and only looks at those statistics. So I'm going to look at them. How about this total yardage? Twenty fifth in the league in total yardage. However, they're fifth in scoring. So they're the fourteenth or excuse me, sixteenth rushing offense, twenty fourth passing offense, but they're fifth in scoring. How does that work out?

That make it make sense? How does it work out that way? That's called defense? Oh, it's called defense. It's called special teams. Okay, defense and special teams absolutely, So should we be scared of this offense still or no? I mean I know the defense has yes, So all that all that stat means is that these guys don't have to go as far as to score. That's all. That's all. That's that means. That's it. That's that's all it means. So these guys are getting good field position.

It's a it's a it's a great uh you know, and it's great analytics for for how effective this special teams probably is because of the part game and a part return game. But you know, it's put set these guys up there for a good field position, um, and then their offense is having to do less work to score points. But it has nothing to do with the effectiveness of this offense. These guys are deadly. You can't,

we can't. We can't sit up here in name one position where we feel like the Cowboys have an advantage, not one, not one. And the other interesting thing about the stealers is they've scored sixty two points on turnovers, So turn the ball over, they will score. And that's that's a large part of that stat that you're talking about. Kyle is, like Isaiah said, it's just they're getting a short field and then position to score anytime they get

the ball. From the defense they've got, I think they're tied for the second most takeaways in the league through what seven games? They played seven games, and uh, you know, to me, that's why they're a favorite to win this whole thing, because they remind me of you know, when New Orleans won it with Breeze. They had the best offense in the league, but they also had forty takeaways defensively, So you're you're taking a great offense and just making

an easy for him, you know. And so that's that's a big prod for a team like the Cowboys, who took a step forward last week, but their biggest problem is taking care of the football. Yeah, this is a bad matchup. This is a very bad matchup, all right, So I gots we gotta give some positivity. We gotta give some positivity here, Kyle. So I know you're gonna come through with a question, so we can and check

some positive. Now that the only thing that I believe that Cowboys have to in their advantage here is to try and get pressure on being they have. You've got to try and manufacture that pressure, whether it be with blessing, your linebackers or your guys on the outside, that's the only way. And you saw Baltimore, which Isaiah has always said, Baltimore's defense is eerily similar to the Cowboys defense, but not like that similar because they have they have the

personnel that matches with it. But I think Baltimore had more success when they were coming after being instead of just sitting back and so, um, that's what we're gonna have to take a page from what Baltimore did last last last week and try and bring that pressure up the middle in Ben's face so that he can't just check down the air. Ebrun and Chase Claypool. Ah. This is my concern though, because they did a great job against them in the in the first half last week.

But their offensive line is so good that I mean, yeah, I mentioned it earlier. They went empty like the whole second half, and and Baltimore tried to get pressure with four, They tried to blitz and they you know, Ben had time. You know, he went down a couple of times. But can you get there's the question, because they're really good up front, rob their center is just okay. Their Senter is just a guy. Huh what was that? Ye? Yeah,

just a guy. Okay, just the guy. All right. Yeah, for those of you listening right now, I'm sorry for the sarcasm that is being played from Isaiah standing back, because that is he's trying to start up. He's trying to start an argument. That's not that's not true. He's only one of the best, only one of the best centers in the game. That's all. Maybe ever had been around for a while. Yeah, I mean, he's been as

efficient as anybody in the NFL since he entered the league. Now, they've also got Villaneueva on the left tackle spot who's pretty stout as well, and so you're gonna see Alden Smith and Randy Gregory going up against him. He's been hurt, he's been he's been hurt, but he's still he still should be there this week. I believe. I think he's ready to go this week. I'll double check that here

in a second. But is this a game where DeMarcus Lawrence has to even see a step up from what we saw last week in order to really get any kind of pressure on Big Ben. I mean the answer is yes. I mean, not a yes, And I'll take it a step further. The defense not only has to get a turnover, they have to get some form of points because if this think about it, guys, and since Dak Prescott was injured, the Cowboys have had thirty two drives where we've only manufactured one score. So that tells

you we need help. And the help has to come in the form of a defensive turnover that goes to the house. We've got to try and get points any which way we possibly can. So yes, does it. Does de Marcus Lawrence need to get Not only does he need to get a sack, he needs to carry Ben to the end zone with the ball in his hands. While he's doing it, Llain the same size. Heck, yeah,

that's true. Villain Aueva has not been on the injury reports since September twenty first, and he's playing in every down role right now, so he's should be good to go in terms of the left tackle spot for Pittsburgh. But whenever you look at the interior of this office or this defensive line rather, you're not gonna get a ton of pressure. It's just not gonna happen. That's not gonna happen. Against Palency. It's not gonna happen against this

Pittsburgh offensive line. How good does this secondary have to be against a Juju Smith Schuster, against the Chase Claypool, even against eric Keybrown like you said previously, and even these linebackers against the run whenever it comes down to the nitty gritty on Sunday, in order to have any remote kind of success against this offense, I'm taking the

opposite approach to what I suggested last week. Last week, I suggested that you line up man to man and you put some hands on them boys, right, because you had some guys that were really unproven. There some guys that we're kind of on the edge whether are they are a real due or are they just kind of flashing this week, don't line up man to man, please please, Ryan, do please don't do this. Don't do it. Um. Just just play zone right, play anything but the cover for

it that you've been playing. Just play a play a soft cover two. And if they're gonna score, they're gonna score anyways, but at least slow them down, right, at least slow them down. Don't let these guys strike whatever they want to, like, just just give your guys a chance. And last week it was a great you know, it was a great They they took a step forward on defense, and we talked about it. We talked about it in

the film room. How these guys were. They were playing a position, playing the roles they were supposed to play whenever they play his own defense. Right, they were where they were supposed to be. If they can continue to do that, they would be in position for success. Right because a lot of teams don't have the patients to march down the field. Most teams want that big shot.

A lot of offensive coordinators, especially when they have the resources in personnel, like they like the Steelers, due they don't really want to march all the way down they really go. They'll do it for a little bit and then they get a little greedy. They're like, all right, let me take the big shot. And that's what you wait on when you're playing his own defense. So that's my suggestion. Hey, we need to play some Cover two. We need to play some Cover six, we need to

play some Cover five. We need to mix it up, play some some out of the ordinary type of coverages just to try to throw off Roethlisberger's a little bit and give your guys a chance to keep everything in front of them, because if you try to step up Trayvon Diggs and try to man him up with any of these guys, they're gonna run right by him. Rob. Yeah.

I mean, the only thing I would add to that is you just gotta be if you're gonna give that cushion, you got to be sound in space because you know, guy like Deonte Johnson, you know they'll they'll throw him a quick screen or flair and he's off to the races. So he's you know, he's they have a lot of versatility with their receivers and what they can bring to the table. So he's a guy you've got to be

really mindful of um. And you know they'll use those jet sweeps to try to set up the run game, and you just gotta be really sound, like we've talked about all year, sound in your communication, Like as I said, sound in your assignments. And they were better at that

last week. Now this is a much better offense by far that they're facing, So it'll be a really good test of what their progress really is right now mid season, and we still hadn't brought up Juju Smiths Houston and right, Yeah, and that's that's another part of their offense that is really dynamic and just insibility to run those intermediate routes but also stretch the field as well. So this is a matchup for us, and especially with the big bodies

that they have with Claypool and also run. We just know that it's we have a mismatched problem. And I agree with you Isaiah zone forms of couple four. We're gonna have to and for our dvs and our secondary the communication is going to be key because when they go to those bunch when they go to those bunch formations, you know it's just a guy going to out guy doing this slant and another one doing a go. We have been miserable h in those formations as far as

this guy's communicating. That's what has got better last week and they have to build on that. And what was really crazy about that heck was was Ben said after the game. They basically just drawn up plays in the dirt. They basically got in the huddle and just said, hey, you go here, you go here like you do, you know, just backyard football what he said. And it worked. I mean it worked. They just you know, kind of scrapped

the game plan and said, spread you out. We're gonna try to make some something happen downfield, and they did. Whenever it comes to those formations, and I know, heck man, you've brought it up a couple different times tonight or I guess this morning rather, I'm completely off in terms of my time, but you've brought it up a couple of times this morning in those formations, and you set communication.

Is that all you need in order to find a way to defend those things, especially whenever there's a lot of miscommunication previously in previous weeks from this Cowboys defense. Well, you need that and you need playmakers. I mean, if you get both of those things together, I think you're gonna have a little bit more success. But that's where

that's what we haven't been doing, Kylin. And when you have offensive what we just see, guys we're outflanked or guys running streaking down the field with NOE one chasing, that's a problem. And I think Pittsburgh, because of those formations, they are going to bring back a bit of the problem that we had before. Look, Carson Wentz last week was horrible. It was horrible. And this week we get the polar opposite of Carson Wentz is horrible. I'm glad

you said that too whenever it comes to playmakers. And I've got a question for you guys coming up on the others side of the brick about whether or not we're ready to Caltrevon Diggs a quote unquote playmaker. And we're gonna ask that coming up here in just a little bit. If you're craving at a read, I'm trying to get into a read. Craving at and T stad Famous Cowboys cheese, steak, nachos or Cowboy rita when you're watching the Cowboys hit Home, bring your favorite stadium fair

to you. Place your order online for pickup at AT and T Stadium every week this season. Check out the menu at at and T stadium dot com Slash at Home. We'll get back to Isaiah here in just a minute. After this break on talking Cowboys, we're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Creeve Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor

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go through. So whether you're watching from home or cheering in the stands with l or lenses, you'll see every exciting playbook, an appointment at your local or experts and find the perfect l L for you. See more, do more or of course, and Isaiah is mailing the words along, speaking through his teeth. Here in this final segment of talking Cowboys and Isaiah, I want I'm gonna let you start this off because prior to the break, I asked the question, are we ready to call Trey Von Diggs

a playmaker? He had his first and second career interceptions in that loss against Philadelphia has been close on a number of occasions, but he's had his ups and downs, to say the least in his rookie season. I want to hear what you have to say on him moving forward. Is he a playmaker now? And if not, how long is it going to take. I'm going to answer your first question, and no, he's not a playmaker currently. Okay 's a He's a tough, tenacious, competitive, rocky cornerback who

I think is getting better every week. He's getting better every week. Um, he I know, I know we're responsible by tostitos and I mentioned this other day, but he has to stop getting tostito right. Um, he has to find a way. If you're gonna play press man, play press man, bro like your presence is not your presence isn't doing anything. This is the NFL. Guys, aren't afraid of what you may do. If you're gonna step up there, put your hands on him, right, You're big enough to

do so. So I think he has to get better at his press coverage. I think he will be more successful with his man to man coverage if he starts utilizing his hands. Um, and once he recognizes he has that power, it's like, uh, you know, he's like, they're getting an infinity stone for him. Right. He'll he'll, he'll, he'll realize that he has more powers than he currently has. Um. But as of right now, he's not a playmaker. In the interceptions from last week, we know what those were.

I mean, we know what those were. One was a fantastic player. They were both terrible. They were both terrible throws, but they were both really one. One was absolutely two great catches by him. Um, but it wasn't his coverage that did it. I don't want to take anything away from him, but he knows that, he knows. He knows that he should he knows that he shouldn't have had those opportunities to intersect the ball, but he when they came to him, he took him. I'm not mad at him.

You're supposed to do. That's a good job on that. But he didn't earn that. He didn't earn those plays. If you guys see what I'm getting that anyways, Um, but he will be I think he will be a star in this league. I think he will be. You know, all all the trash that I give him, Um, he's just young, you know, and in professionals take advantage of young dudes, right, they're gonna torch him. His job is, unfortunately, because Cheeto's been her, his job is to stick the

number the best guy that that we play against. That's not that's not fair for a rookie um and that's been his fate. But I think, and probably about you know, probably two years from now, he'll probably be a guy that everybody in his league will want. Hackman. Do you agree? Uh? Yeah, I think Isaiah's is man. He is tough on his grading uh grade cheat. Don't want to be in mister

Stanbacks class at all if you're a rookie corner. But you know, I think also when it comes down to digs, it's been a trial by fire and he's had number one receiver after number one receiver on his plate and he's had to deal with it. And yes, you have. You can go back to the tape and you can see where he got caught with his hand in the

cookie jar on a few times. But then you can also go back to the tape and see where this guy is playing really tough and he's getting close to stepping in front of a few balls and close, don't almost don't matter, right, But he's getting to the point where he's confident. His confidence is building. We have to continue to groom that, grow that and not destroy it. And I think getting guys like Cheeto back will help him. Yeah, that helps, and that allows him to be able to

be free. But also understanding the defense. We've been talking about this defense at Lynn and whether these guys understand coverages, especially with the defensive line or the linebackers. Everything has looked out of sorts. But in the middle of that, I think that we can look at number twenty seven and say we have a future with this. Right. And so the Alabama defense that he came to saving had

a much more intricate scheme. So he understands that. But right now, just playing within himself and not listening to the nationairs and people calling him tostitos and all of that, and just build on what's you got, Bill, what's a guy? And just get better. Rook we went to dog, we went to Digs. He gonna be he gonna be awesome. So you're saying, in time, Isaiah, he's gonna be the Thanos of the of the dB universe with the stone. You know, I do Rob I do, But I think

he has all the attributes that you want. Yeah, you know, when you think about you know, the short memory, when you think about competitiveness, you know, he has a lot of contested you know, defensive players where he's right on guys backs. He's getting balls batted down and you know when guys are trying to run one step slants and things of that nature. He's competitive man, and he comes right back at you regardless if he gets tortured or not. He comes right back. He's like a little pest. And

that's what you want from a cornerback. Now, he has good size, he can run around, he can run a little bit. He just has proof upon certain things. Of course, he has to improved and he's faced the best that this league has to offer. So of course that's not that's not a recipe for success. But down the road, I think he's gonna be a beast. Now, yeah, I

agree with you, guys. I think he's you know, he's he has struggled for a lot of stretches this year, and that's not really surprising, especially given given the way the defense has been on their heels the entire year or two. I mean, they haven't played with leads and so that's that's been It's that's a tough situation to

be in as a DV, I think. Um, but yeah, he has all the physical gifts because like those interceptions were gifts, right, But it also shows his his ball skills and it shows I think it illustrates how you can tell he's been a receiver because heat man, he can go up and get the ball. Uh, Like you said, he's got great size. Um, And yeah, I think it just comes down to technique. You know. You know when he got beat by by Terry McLaurin a couple of weeks ago, is just get his eyes in the backfield.

He wasn't he wasn't you know, he wasn't playing his man. You know. It's just little things like that that I think come with experience and he knows that, but you know, it's just it's just fine tune in that and yeah, I think a year from now he's going to be a much better player. Now. Heckma mentioned this earlier in the show, So if you if you missed it early live, go back and listen to us on iTunes or wherever

you find your shows. But Heckma mentioned it. It was a great point of needing playmakers to discount maybe some of these these miscommunications, especially in a Steeler's offense, like we're seeing right now. But who else is a playmaker? We've just established Treyvon Diggs as kind of a borderline playmaker, but somebody who's trending that direction may not be there yet.

But who is a playmaker when you look on this defensive side of the football, Because do you have one definitive guy right now that could be a playmaker specifically and definitively. It's a lot of positive yea, is it? Is it? DeMarcus? Urrence? Is that about it? Yeah? That's it? And Alden we can go tank Alden. Yeah. Vanderesh's he I think is he has more time to settle in and he made a big play the other other day.

I think, you know, if he if he can yeah, I mean, if he stays healthy and can continue to He really hadn't played any year basically, I mean he played, you know, please played a couple of games since coming back from the collar bone. I think he has that type of We've seen it. I mean we've seen it his rookie year. We saw it. So he's just got to stay on the field. And I thought you were talking about it from a secondary aspect. But yes, obviously Tank is that and he's obviously had a better game

last week. Alden Smith has has substituted for tanking those times that he was not as effective. But even those role players like Donovan Wilson, guy's like you know the safety number thirty seven Woods, I mean, these guys came up. He had a great blitz and forced to turn over last week. That was great for from a second Darry that had. We've been dogging these guys so little things like that. The Cowboys have to keep trying to manufacture that defensively so that they can get the ball back

for this offense. It's really about it again. Okay, go for it, Isaiah, tell me why so I can't go with d Lali. I love his effort. I love his effort. I don't think that d law is going to be the player that he that he can be until he plays on a team that has somebody better than him. I think I think he needs a mentor. I think he needs like a d Wear or a von Miller or somebody like that to show him the way, Like the Mandalorian. This is the way. I think he needs

a knee. He needs one of those guys. I think he has an effort. I think he has the fight in him, but I think he's still missing the skill sets that you know, just like just does just little just a little things that they really put him over the edge. But he has an intangibles that you really can't teach the guys to want to. I honestly think Aldon Smith I'm not. I think he's been probably probably playing injured the last couple of weeks, honestly, but I

think Aldis Smith is probably our only playmaker. How it is, He's the only guy. He's the only guy that he's the only guy that, when you think about, can disrupt offense. He's the only guy that you think about, there's nobody, there's nobody else on our team that you can say, oh,

they disrupt what they're trying to do. Aldi Smith is probably the only guy that they that they circle whenever they're playing this say, have Aldon Smith shows up today, This is who we have to worry about now, de law you circle him and say he's gonna keep coming, right, He's gonna keep coming. He's gonna keep fighting. He's gonna keep grinding. But he's not a guy that you let you say he's gonna disrupt what we do, not yet

at least, I don't know if I agree. I think I think de Law has a chance to be I agree the hasn't played up to the expectations, but I think overall that's a guy who you would still consider a playmaker and somebody who can disrupt the team because he's done it on occasion. I mean, see what he did in that Giants game and ended up winning you the football game with the strip sack and the fumble and the scoop and score in that one. He can make those plays, and he has done it throughout his career.

You just got to do it more consistently on his partner. He's gonna have a chance to show that coming up on Sunday. That's gonna do it here for today, when we come back tomorrow, we're gonna talk about the Cowboys offense. How did they get things going with Cooper Rush and or Garrett Gilbert at quarterback against the best defense quite possibly in the NFL, especially within you got t J. Watt on the other side in a bevy of casting characters that are gonna be coming at him hot and

heavy on Sunday. It's gonna be a it's gonna be a tough matchup, but we'll preview it tomorrow. Thanks for sticking with us here over the last forty five minutes for Chris Beam in the back, Risais Dan Back, Rob Phillips, and Hack Harrison. I'm Kyle Yeoman saying so long from the Star in Frisco. We'll see you tomorrow. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.