Talkin' Cowboys: What Now?

But either way, we're mixed, matched and mumbled because the Cowboys season came to a close yesterday twenty three to nineteen, a week seventeen loss the New York Giants. And if you're frustrated Cowboys Nation, we're right there with you, and we're gonna break things down about what happened to the Giants and how the Cowboys ended the twenty twenty campaign with a six and ten record. But first let me introduce the crew as always for one final time, at

least regular season wise. We'll get into the off season coming up next Monday, but alongside our resident Super Bowl champion, Isaiah stand Back, Cowboys insider Rob Phillips and our professional football analyst Heckma Harrison with you as always. But gentlemen, first off, Happy new year. I haven't seen you guys since twenty twenty. It's kind of crazy to talk about. Except for you, Isaiah, I saw you yesterday, so a little less of a happy new year, buddy, Yeah, exactly,

saw me yesterday too. Oh that's true. I did see Rob yesterday as well, but heck happy he forgot about you. Rob, don't worry about it. Happy new year to you, but it wasn't necessarily a happy new year for the Cowboys. As I want to spend the first segment kind of breaking down this game. The second segment we're going to kind of look at the biggest needs going into the offseason, and the third segment is going to be kind of a hodgepodge of what happened between Washington and Philly and

was that okay or not? And we're gonna kind of talk about a lot of things throughout the course of this show. But let's start with the Cowboys in the Giants, Rob, what did you see yesterday that kind of stuck out to you? Because I felt like after three weeks of getting complimentary football from this football team. It was not

so much yesterday. Yeah, heck and I talk just before the show started about how you know, an NFL season is a roller coaster ride and when you get done with it, it's like, Okay, it just stops suddenly when the season's over and go find your parents, like I said, And it's and it's even more so this year where you get off this ride and you're dizzy, because this season was like no other. And to your point, a lot of guys set it after the game, Mike McCarthy

said it. The game itself Sunday was a microcosm of the entire season in some ways where rough start, sloppy start, nothing went right, not complimentary football, like you said, second half of the game, like the second half of the season, you kind of get it together, but it doesn't end well.

And that's this Cowboys season will be remembered as hopefully the strangest season, the strangest season that we've ever seen, and one that a team that fought through a lot but ultimately wasn't good enough to win games consistently owen six against teams that were winning records. Teams this season. That's that's how it ends. Egma, hey, Rob, I call the emotional stamina this season, right, they get through this season,

um man, it was one heck of a year. And to go six and ten and obviously the last game still be in it just as indicative of the kind

of year that it was. But this game, it was like the ghost of Christmas Pass coming back to visit us on defense, not being able to set the edge, blown coverages in the secondary when you talk about our offensive line, just man New York, the New York Giants beat us up at the line of scrimmage and whether it was missing assignment so whatever it was, if that was the actual call that letting Leonard Williams just come

free on the quarterback, I don't know. But at the same time, it was just all of those things that we had been seeing over the season that has plagued this team. And look, I know that they fought. They fought all the way through and it was probably one of the hardest seasons for them to get through professionally. But I'm sure all of Cowboy Nation would echo those sentiments exactly because it was one of those seasons that was I would like to say as an outlier because

of COVID nineteen. But man, what a strange season. But we got through it. Yeah, I mean you got through it because the season ended heck up. But I mean these guys, it looked bad yesterday. Yesterday. It was terrible. It was it was. It was embarrassing, it was it was the opposite of what you would have hoped to see um on the field for this, for a game of this caliber. You had guys that were out there we talked about on the postgame show, Kyle, but guys

were getting literally drawn in. It's like it's like some remember the commercial we had had a little dollar bill like, oh you gotta be quicker like they like it was almost like you guys had a dollar bill out there and they were like, oh, oh you want to fight, Okay, here we're grabbed this and they just kept antagonizing us. And guess what we were biting on it. We were biting a bait. We just kept going for it, and we were getting emotionally irrational and getting penalties and doing

dump stuff. Jamal you know, Jordan Jordan Lewis head button a guy. You know, we got you know, freaking you know, the Swipers swiping on on first down plays and all kinds of stuff. Guys are just doing stuff that was just out of the ordinary. Um, we like you already said, heck, but we couldn't. We couldn't stop a running nose yesterday. This,

I mean the defensive line. You know, with Williams, he did whatever the heck he wanted to and when we and when he was when he even when we didn't want to allow him to do something, we just decided not to block him. We just say, hey, you just run free. You know, he run free and hit our quarterback. Take us out of you know, good position on the field. Um,

guys were dropping balls. Andy Dalton couldn't throw something on the side of a barn obviously, line couldn't hold up, defensive line couldn't get pressure all and Smith was standing straight up on his pass rushers and not giving for effort. I mean, it was bad all across the table. Um, throw throw the whole game away, and throw the whole season away. The only good thing is, Kyle, is that it had we won, we would be even more angrier today.

But I know we're gonna get God's true. Yeah, it's true now, And I've got an opinion on that as well, and we'll talk about that, like I said in the third segment, because there is a lot of hypothetical around what happened in the NFC East yesterday as a whole. But I kind of want to take something you just talked about Isaiah and Andy Dalton, and it seemed like the goal over the last four weeks, the final month

of the season following that Baltimore game. This was the goal before, but it wasn't executed well, but it was keeping Andy Dalton upright, and it seemed like yesterday that was the first game since that Baltimore game where Andy Dalton didn't have time to throw, didn't feel comfortable in the pocket, really kind of saw legitimate pressure and it was from a front seven that at least going into the game didn't scare you that much. And so my question to you is is was it a false screen?

Was it just that that veil over the eyes of the fact that we played Cincinnati and Philadelphia and won those games versus actually playing a team that wanted it more, a team that was ready to roll like New York yesterday. No, not at all. We just didn't show up. There's no excuses we just didn't show up. We faced defensive lions that were substantially better than that we face. We have facing really good defensive lions this year, Baltimore, Cleveland, Atlanta.

I mean we faced some dogs out there now this year. So when we look at this matchup, yeah, it should have been easily handle. But guess what it wasn't. And we know one thing about Annie Dalton. I love any Dalton, but guess what. Andy Dalton does not do well whenever he has pressure on him, he just doesn't. It's not something that he does. It's something that he has to work on being able to overcome that that adversity. And

he didn't do well yesterday. Right, He got a little bit of pressure and you know, all of a sudden, he throws inaccurately and his feet aren't moving as much. He got a little step on the hand, his hands jacked up, and guess what you can see that threw him off his game for about a series or two. So there's a there's a lot of things that he had to work on. But holistically, as a team, we

got pushed in the mouth. It's like it's like we're it's like we're facing dog on you know, Lennox Lewis, and Lennox Lewis came out and just popped us in the mouth and we were like, oh, wait a minute, Lennox, I didn't know you still you still have that innue And it took us two quarters to bounce back and we just didn't finish. And aside from that, I just felt like we came out flat too. I said, absolutely.

The tempo wasn't there, and it wasn't until they changed the tempo on offense that you started to see the offense start to come together. But you're right, man, if it was from the beginning, it was from the beginning. And you know, the Giants had added that pressure on us that made Andy Dalton uncomfortable, but he just wasn't able to find those quick reads that we became accustomed to seeing him do over the last couple of weeks.

And to me and just looking at the scheme that the Giants were playing, they were in man a lot of times, which I thought was advantageous for us. And it wasn't until Andy Dalton decided to stop trying to elude the pressure and just go ahead and try and get it up in there and get us the first down that I thought that there was even any motion to our offense, and they pretty much said, hey, if you're gonna be the one that beat us, we're gonna let you beat us. And it was just points in time.

There were times in the game where Andy slid and I'm sure the concussion and everything else was on his mind, but those were just plays where you say to yourself, if dad's in there, dad carries everybody to the end zone.

But I understand that's a conversation for another thing. It's a long off season, so I'm not gonna even start that, all right, Yeah, you know he uh The worst play obviously that he had was was the interception at the end, where you know, give you give your give your offense one more chance, you know, don't just chuck it up at the end and try to make a play. And

that's what he said afterwards. I thought second half, they got a little bit of tempo going, they got into a little hurry up, and that that maybe shook him out of it a little bit, and the Giants were playing soft a little bit in their coverage and they were able to get some things going on the outside. But first half, man, you know he had several balls that were contested that you could have argued could have

been intercepted, just just off. I know the weather wasn't good, and I know the protection wasn't great, but there were some throws he missed where he did have protection. Now, he was sacked six six times, he was hit nine times. So I do think while the Giants from a personnel standpoint, like Isaiah, I agree with you, they faced better fronts in terms of personnel. I do think their scheme is better than what they've seen defensively from the last three opponents.

I think they challenge you, they give you different looks, and yeah, they just didn't respond early. It was like early in the season where these slow starts kind of make you play from behind. At least they didn't turn it over early. But then on the defensive side of the ball, you know, you want him to come out with emotion and not not look flat, but but there was too much emotion. Yeah, something about Nick Gates, their

Giant's guard. I don't know, he's like a pro wrestler, cutting promos and after plays or something, but he was really ticking guys off and they lost their composure early and one of those penalties. I think it was Gregory's late late hit after oud yeah, led to a touchdown. They got away with Jordan Lewis's penalty, but but not Gregory's. Yeah, there was emotion yesterday, and even on the offensive side

of the football. Really quick to wrap that up. I mean, if you take the third quarter out of it, then the rest of the game it was stagnant. I mean, there was nothing. The third quarter was where Andy Dalton's kind of found his rhythm and then he got the hand stepped on, and then from then on out it was a struggle to find any kind of rhythm. Uh. Defensively, that's where I kind of want to go right now. Robin. And you mentioned that emotion, Isaiah. I know you were

all over that yesterday as well. You've been in big games before. We've the Cowboys, at least with this current group, have not necessarily seen those big games as much, and if they have, they haven't been able to take advantage. Why is emotion so much of a bugaboo for this Cowboys organization? And we saw it again yesterday. I don't know why it's such a bugaboo, but I can tell you yesterday the lack of emotional intelligence. You guys have heard me referred to that here on the show before.

Yesterday was a perfect example of it. If there, if there, if you had to look it up in the Dictionary of lack of emotional intelligence, that was it. That was a perfect display. And our guys were just unable to handle the task at hand that the giants were successful at. Just think about like, what was it. What's old boy used to play for Detroit Pistons back in today? Was that Lambrie or something like that. Yeah, yeah, Lambrier And you got like Dennis rob and those guys, they's just

like kind of antagonist. Just they just pull and just they're just waiting for you, right, They're just just making you mad the whole time. You just they know that you're gonna snap at some point in time. That's what they did to us. But they did it in the first quarter, Like how do they do it in the

first quarter? And they get you respond like that, Like we were literally responding like little boys on a pickup game on the field, you know what, say out there just out there in the playground, and like there was no referees and there was nobody else watching, Like No, there's there's rules, there's parameters what you can and can't do.

And when you have emotional intelligence, you go ahead and chock it up right or you quote unquote, you let somebody punk you for the greater good of the team, and you say, you know what I got you when I come back. You know, I'm saying, when the when the popper play allows for it, I'm gonna bush you in your mouth, or I'm embarrassing him a round you up, or I'm gonna get a big catch on you or something like that. You don't go out there and you

chin check somebody when they're not looking. You don't wait until Yeah, the oh boy made a dirty play, Gregory, But guess what he was trying to get you to react that way? So what did Gregory do? He was he didn't have a here to have emotional intelligence. So guess what I'm sticking up from my boy? My pride boom, get off, my boy. Guess what? You can't do that within the rules, buddy, You know that already. So there's things that, yeah, guys would get you emotionally routed up,

but you have to get them back legally. Yeah, I don't. I don't mind. I don't mind the mindset behind Gregory defending his teammate. That's not the issue. It was a jumped over the pile. You want your guys defend a guy that's fun, that's always going to be there, and you want that kind of fire. It was the fact that he jumped over a pile and shoved him off whenever he could have gone over and pulled him off

and said some words to him at that point. I know, in the moment, there's a lot of a lot of emotion. Like I said, heckmuer and like Isaiah just kind of talked about, but you got to find a better way to control it at this point. Semantics, guys, because when you look at the way that they were playing up until that point, they were lifeless until number sixty five

started agitating them. And then you all of a sudden, you see the defense started to all of a set and play with the competitive anger that they needed to to be in this game. And yeah, they made Stirling

Shepard look like Jerry Rice. Yeah. I mean there were points in this game where you're asking yourself, Okay, guys, when did we start to allow guys like this to just pop off on US and all year, and it's a reason for the fantasy points and all that we've given up more points to wide receivers all year, more

points two running backs all year. And that's why I say things that we did before came back to visit US and the Giants were able to just kind of bottle that up and show the world that, look, we hadn't really changed much. And look, when I say a competitive anger, I expected these guys to come out with the fire because they knew what was at stake. But

that didn't happen. And so for the Giants to then just bulldoze US with their offensive line and defensive line, I mean to me, like I said, you just frame that and that's your game. Yeah, you mentioned the plays in the past game. Heck, but I mean the run defense really it never got considerably better this season. I know they're in the three game stretch, Uh, the takeaways

or what really galvanized them defensively. Yeah, but they but they you know, and they finished I think with twelve and their last four games, and that's that's that's really good. That leads that leads the NFL over the last four games of the regular season. That's that's impressive. But you know, the run defense in the end proved to be the

biggest problem that they had defensively all year long. And I just looked it up, you know, I think they held two opponent two opponents under one hundred yards and they gave up one twenty five yesterday, gave up forty eight rushing yards on the opening drive and the first touchdown by Sterling Shepherd, as you mentioned, heck was a reverse. And what if we said all year long, mister direction, I think you know, motion in the backfield. Those have

been problems all year long. So while there was improvement defensively this year late in the season, uh, there are still some core things that that really ultimately proved to be the problem for them and and why that they struggled so much overall. And Kyle, can I say that it wasn't it wasn't just the anger or the lack

there of control of anger. Uh, But it was also like the celebration, like I don't know if I'm the only one, but like the Jalen Smith continuous celebration as if he was the one, yeah, as if he was the one making plays like Bro, you're you're, you're swiping on other people's plays, bro, and you're swiping when these guys got first downs Like that, to me is a lack of emotion, of emotional intelligence as well, because like

you're doing, do your job. Just just just just do your job, you know what I'm saying, Like these guys are moving the moving the chains. Why are we celebrating? Why are we celebrating? These guys are moving the sticks on us as they please, and we're celebrating that. Like, No, you don't celebrate until you get a dog on big third down stopping. You see that punter running on the field, that's when you celebrate. Yeah, it's comical. Fair, no fair,

it's comical. What I mean it was we just jaws hit the floor whenever the first down happened, and then all of a sudden you saw fifty four come up and just swipe. And I know you're trying to build a brand, and I know that's really kind of your thing, but I mean there's different times, different places, and that was definitely not one of them. Maybe he didn't think

he got the first down. There's definitely excuses, and honestly, I think he took more accountability postgame than he has all year long, so I respect him for that, but it is it's frustrating from a Cowboys standpoint. It was also frustrating on game management yesterday, and Mike McCarthy was asked about it yesterday in terms of game management. When we come back here on Talking Cowboys presented by Geico, was it the right call not to challenge on the

pettish catch. We're gonna talk about that and maybe some other game management hiccups yesterday in The Cowboys twenty three to nineteen lost when we returned on Talking Cowboys. There's nothing as unique as our eyes, which is why or pioneers ways to make lenses as unique as you. Verilux for super sharp vision, Essential Blue for protection, and Grisolve for freedom from glare. Three cutting at solutions in a

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with fans. We're gonna thank you guys at the end of the show, but we're gonna thank you right now by talking about what happened yesterday. Kyle Yeoman's Isaiah stand back, Rob Phillips, Heck Moharrison, and man, it was is frustrating from just a performance based standpoint. Yesterday, offense defense, I'll throw up special teams in their special teams kind of did their job, but it was it was frustrating from

a baseline performance standpoint. But whenever you look at the game management from the coaching staff yesterday, I thought it was one of the more poorly managed games this season. Heck, did you think that same case about the way Mike McCarthy kind of handled some of those situations. And we'll get to that challenge call here at a moment, But

what did you think overall? You know, I remember last year we always were on Jason Garrett about situational awareness and that was one of the pet peeves of the fan base, and it just seemed like it got ugly in this game will so, especially with the pettish challenge and the well, the lack there of a challenge, and it just you know, all of those things combined and when it comes down to a football game and the way that you evaluate it is there are so many

other things that happened within a football game that make your demise at the end, you know it realistic, but you know, red zone inefficiency, a lot of those things. The play call and was just, man, it's as bad as I've seen it. But you know, offensive line didn't give us much. But for me, it obviously was the lack of challenging because Spotellian Green Bay Boy, he was quick all the challenge with that dance catch. When he was quick on that challenge that I was like, come on, dude,

what you do Mike? And Mike didn't do so and people are definitely upset about it, but I've heard him say that it was a bang bang situation and it just didn't have time to evaluate whether he was going to throw it or not. Bright. Yeah, that's exactly what he said that, and he doubled down on it when he was pressed about not only that call, but you know, he's been questioned about game management stuff since week one.

You know, fourth quarter against the Rams, he decided to go for it and throw the CD lamb and they didn't get it instead of kicking a field goal, and they lost the game by three. So you can point to things throughout the season where it didn't go right, and so he's questioned. And obviously, you know, thanksgiving the fake punt that that will go down in history, that

one in particular. But ye know, I at first I thought he Pettis had it, and then when Mike Pereira's on the Fox broadcast saying had they challenged it, they probably would have gotten it overturned. It definitely was a questionable call. Now, I understand it's a one score game and you want to preserve your timeouts, but I was

surprised he didn't challenge it. And ultimately, look, you know, you're driving at first in goal at the Giant seven inside of two minutes, and instead of kicking a field goal to win the game, you're trying to score touchdown. So it was a huge play in the game, no question. Yeah, we hit on disgession at Kyle. I mean, Rogers did a heck of a job kind of recapping the bad decisions that have transpired over the whole year. He's had

an issue. I don't know if he was a year off or or he's just trying to instill confidence in his players or what. I'm not sure really what's going on, but that that was one of the many bad decisions that he made this year as a game manager, being the being a guy who gives the okay for plays to go through or flags to come out or not. The point of the matter is he said, oh, well, you know, we had three timeouts and it was a very close game, so obviously those timeouts are precious. Well

obviously possessions are precious. Uh you're talking about as it was inconclusive, you know, so I couldn't really tell if he cut it or not. Isn't that why we challenge? Don't we challenge when we can't tell? Um? So, everything, every from my perspective, every reason that he gave as to why he did not challenge, is why he should have challenge. Uh, you know, I was, I was. I was torn a little bit obviously because Pettis is a utub guy, you know. But but aside from that, um,

you know, it was it was a close play. It was a close playing. Yes it's a bang bang, but guess what, bang bang throw your flag so that you can get an opportunity to get the ball. But because that was just too important, because those guys got the first down, and obviously what the game change if they don't get that first down to guess what, they're trying to kick something right, so or you know, or punt. Actually they're out of field goal range. They're trying to punt,

so big, big opportunity missed. And yes, we can scrutinize him on the back end all day long, but I can truly say, throw the dog on flag. The game is too close. The game was too important for you to decide whether that was a catch or not. So and I thought, you know, I thought Hellman made up a good point on Twitter during the game that you know, college gets it right, College reviews all this stuff, and you don't put the coaches in a position to have

to do it. But you know, that's part of the game, that's part of part of the job description. And and when you're on the road, you don't get much help in terms of video replay from the opposing stadium, so you know, that's heck, that's part of it too. But but you gotta you gotta make the decision in the moment, and uh, we'll never know, but I think they certainly would have had a chance to get it reversed. Kind of value. That's what you guys are talking about. And

this let me say this. I think I said what you and is the responsibilities incumbent of the position. You know, it's your job to do that when you see something that's you, that drive that catch, right, there's a difference between them a sixty yard field gold or whatever it was going to be at that time. You place your ball club in a really bad position by not challenging. And we talk about the analytics of football and all of that, not going for two and all the situational things.

It just felt like yesterday, all of those things failed. Mike McCarthy. Well, whenever it came down to what Mike McCarthy said after the game in terms of the timeouts being valuable in a low scoring game like that, where I mean your offense is struggling to put points on the board. Aren't points a little bit more valuable than the timeouts? Especially at that point because even if it's a fifty fifty they get it, they don't get it.

And I think it was more than fifty percent chance the Cowboys were going to have that call overturned if you would have thrown the challenge flag. I absolutely think it was way more than fifty And even if it was a fifty fifty chance, I think the risk reward was much greater throwing that challenge flag. I think if this was Week one, it would be a little bit more of a little bit more of a pass a little bit, not a lot, but a little bit, because you don't know what your team can do. You don't

know where you're at team wise. You know your team struggles in the red zone. You know that, and if any possibility that you could keep that game within a field goal is on the board, you got to figure out how to do it. And that was what that was. That was a chance to keep it within a field goal and it ended up making it a four point game and the Cowboys needed a touchdown. Guess what happened.

They went down, got into the red zone through an interception, and thus there was the end of the ball game. So I'm just saying at that point, situational awareness you gotta keep it within three points because you know how your offense struggles in the red zone. You're already seeing that your offense has been stagnant against this Giant's defense, and rob they just couldn't figure out a way to score points. You got to take advantage of not putting

points up on the board. Yeah, and in terms of you know, it's got to be conclusive evidence, right if if it's going to go to review. So but to me, it was different than you know, the Wayne Gallman fumble at the end, which you know the season ends on a butt recovery. I mean, how fitting is that? Right? Right? But like, at least on that one, and that obviously

went straight to review. But you know, you wouldn't challenge that one because if it's challenged, then the officials would have to determine based on a pile where you can't see anything that oh, yeah, the Cowboys got it, and and so that that you know, when you're watching that replay, it's like there's to me, anyway, there's a serious question of did he trap trap the ball with the ground? You know? And so but again it does come down

to what's a catch in the NFL. I mean, since the death catch in twenty fifteen, I still don't know. I don't know what the officials are going to call, uh play to play a game to game, So there's that at least. My issue fellas with that call, and I know we're probably gonna be done this here in the second, But my issue with that call was if that was just a regular first down, I don't challenge. I don't challenge regular first down, but a first down that takes them from a punt to a potential field

goal right sounds. That's where you challenge had had it had it been further back, had it been all the way back on the thirty or somebody that's twenty or thirty. Guess what, I don't have a problem with you, not so much. Right, I don't go ahead, let them and let him have it. Right, we still have a chance to play defense if they don't. If this call gets overturned,

they punted, that is a change of possession. That's where the that's where the weight of this call, where the no call was the no the no throw right, he didn't throw the red flat, That's where the weight of this was at because of the fact he did not challenge he gave them an opportunity to get the first down, right, and not only first down, put them and put points into it. Yeah yeah, but when you get you had a between to get the ball back. You had opportunity

to get the ball back. And that's where the s why everybody's looking at this so seriously. Yeah, it was, Hey, what do you guys think about the I was going to let me yeah, let me go ahead and clarify this real quickly. It wasn't a first down on the play. It was third and sixteen, and he gained about twelve, sorry, gained about twelve and put them in the field goal range for a fifty yard attempt. So if you don't gain the twelve, it's a sixty two yard field goal

versus a fifty yard field goal. And it was nailed

from fifty yards out, go ahead, Rob. As to what you were saying, oh, well, speaking of you know, game management, I just want to see what you guys thought about the two point non two point decision midway through the third quarter where it becomes a twenty to fifteen game and they elect to kick the extra point instead of going for two, and Mike said it was too early in the game, And honestly, on that one at the time, I'm thinking, well, I've watched a lot of football, and

usually that's what coaches do. They don't they don't try to chase the points too early. I don't know what do you guys thought about that one? That that didn't bother me so much? That that didn't that didn't really bother me. What bothered me is when we get down to the red zone and we're going going empty sets. That bothers me because we're obviously having a problem blocking

that game. We're obviously having a problem keeping our quarterback up right, So why are we going to take one of the league's best blocking running backs out of that situation that protect him and or potentially run the ball? And I know Zeke wasn't running, he was really playing hurt. But you know, he's a good blocker, you know, so so why do we take him out of that situation? And then, oh, by the way, the guy who's been

sacking us all day, how about we just don't block him? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, none, None of that worked for us, man, And hope just isn't a strategy and hoping that somebody realizes that, oh he's coming off the edge. Hey, Terence Steel, you may want to block that guy, but Terce, you know, obviously the protection and I've read that, you know, the protection

was what it was, that was his responsibility. But back to what you were saying, Rob, you know, look, we've been a part of so many of these decisions where we're asking our sails, so why are you going for two now? We've become accustomed to those kinds of decisions, and when you don't do it, you find yourself kind of bewildered, like, okay, this is a situation where you would point to your analytics and going for two now versus worrying about it later. It really for me, look,

it didn't. It didn't. It wasn't a game break. It wasn't the thing that I said at the end was the reason why we won to lost the game. I just felt as though, look, man, here here, finally you're getting that momentum, go for it now versus waiting for it later. But still you know that it was what it was. There were plenty of decisions, there were plenty of plays throughout the game, throughout the season. That's the reason that the Cowboys are not in the playoffs. I mean,

it wasn't just one play here, one played there. There was a compounding struggle all the way through Week one through seventeen, and we saw that. That's why Week seventeen was a microcosm of the entire twenty twenty season because it looked the same throughout and the struggles continued to

compound as the season went along. So when we come back here on Talking Cowboys, as always presented by Geico, we're gonna talk about what the Cowboys need to fix, biggest impact spots on this roster and on this team going into the off season. We're gonna fix the Cowboys. When we come back here on Talking Cowboys, 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 Pepper and Cream sodas he a new combone.

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Back to Talking Cowboys. It is the final regular season segment of Talking Cowboys, presented by Geico, And well, you know, in order to do that, whether you're listening to Talking Cowboys or you're setting those fantasy draft lineups on Draft Kings and things of the sort, you can experience audio at a whole new level with Bose Quiet Comfort earbuds, the official earbuds of the Dallas Cowboys. Heck, well, what are those both Quiet Comfort earbuds sound like? Up there?

How it sounds like a symphony in your brain? Wow, in the brain, not even in the head this time, that's impressed in the brain. Well, we've been talking a lot about the brain here the last couple of a couple of moments and decisions that we're made, we're not made. And I want to talk about one more here in our final segment, and I don't want to end talking

about Philadelphia, So I'm gonna say it really quickly. We're gonna talk about it real fast, and then we'll fix the Cowboys for everybody, But wow, last night UM Washington Philadelphia Lincoln Financial Field, they sit Jalen Hurts in a one score game in the second half and seemingly tank the season away and tank the matchup with Washington New

York's upsets NFL is upset. What did you guys think about that, Rob, about the decision that Doug Peterson made to sit down Jalen Hurts and what was kind of a crazy turn of events in an NFC's battle. I thought of you, Oh, I thought of you away. That makes me feel great about myself because because like Peterson said after the game that uh, you know, I was coaching to win. I wanted to get sut Felt some

snaps for next season if they need him. Okay, fine, you know, but look, he's getting ripped and it's it's even even if it's just a perception of tanking, right, that's the perception by by a lot of people. That's why I thought of Kyle. That's why I thought of Kyle because that's what team tank gets you. It gets you a lot of a lot of criticism and and I'm sure a lot of players on the Eagles didn't like it either. I know Jason Kelsey's comments a few

weeks back about you play to win. It was basically herm Edwards channeled through Jason Kelsey. Heck and so uh it was just wild. I mean, Collinsworth and al Michaels didn't know what to say. No, I mean they literally didn't know what to say. They sounded beside themselves, both muff Well, Dougie Pee. What he did, man, that should be against the law man, And I'm just happy. I'm just happy it wasn't us last night, you know, wanting these series to get a win, I would have walked

to Philly. Man. I couldn't. I just didn't. I really did not believe that they did. And when it happened in real time, I was just like, Wow, this is this is criminal. How can you know? Get on Goodell, get on line one, get you know, call this guy and tell him, no, bro, you can't do this on national television. And he did it. Cried two chills in a bucket. I would never go compete for the Philadelphia Eagles,

never as a player. Had I had, I would still be in the league and had an opportunity to go play there, that would be a team that I would not go play for simply because that that displayed yesterday only time you would ever do that, as if you're playing against like your little brother and you want to build his confidence up, right, so you don't want to hurt his feelings. So I guess what, you let him win, right,

I let you win today. Right. But the fact that they sat, the fact that they sat nine at their best players, the fact that they were in a competitive game where Jalen Hurts was doing all right and they guess what he had already scored and oh, by the way, you're only down by three points. Oh let me pull him out. Oh yeah, I just want to get this

guy some reps. B to the s if you want to give him some reps, if you wanted to protect all your players from next year, Jalen Hurts would have never been in the game, player, would ever play, would

have never field. And that's what really shocked me was that I think I said it during the week, like if Carson Wentz isn't gonna play, then you need to get every look at Jalen Hurts that you possibly can for next season because there's a chance Carson Wentz they maybe move on from him and if he's your guy, which I think he probably will be, like, let him get some reps and give him, let him continue to build some confidence before before the season ends. I was

just shocking. So I want to preface this this opinion of my own based off of the fact that I don't agree that of what Doug Peterson did, I think it was it was BS. I think it was something that is spineless, if anything, from a good fore staff. I don't agree with that at all. I will say, though New York and the Giants fans that are upset, and and everybody, even Giants players that are upset. I know that sucks. It really does. It's not fun. However,

win more than six games. Don't put yourself in that situation to have another team control your Deskinay, that's my thing. I mean that I might not have said that same thing with the Cowboys. I would have been just as upset. I'm right there with you. Sports fandom is a thing. However, win more than six games, then you can kind of start whining a little bit more about a team. Tank Coyle, I I agree, However, I think people are more angry about the end. I don't. I don't obviously the Giants

are angry that they're not going to the playoffs. They're curious, right, obviously, very very much. They should they should be. However, on a on another level, I feel like they're actually more angry about the integrity of the game. I agree. I agree. It's it's it's about everybody in this game. That's what anybody. Yeah, what's a football fan should be? Yeah, whether whether you whether you have a good team or whether you have

an amazing team. Everybody's a freaking competitor in a league now, right, whether you're whether you're swiping, or whether you're going on about the next play. Everybody is a competitor, right, And so that this was the least competitive thing that you ever can do. And everybody understands that. At the same level, everybody steps on this field has a respect of the other man, no matter how good or bad you are,

simply because guess what, I know that you compete. You're one of You're one of one percent, right, You're you're one percent of one percent of the world as doing this. So guess what, I know you're competitive? What that what they just showed yesterday. I don't want any part of it. What Colin first said at the end of the game, I turned to my wife and I said, he's like

in my head right now. It was like a symphony in my head when he when he said he said, can you imagine kind of to your point, he could you imagine if the Cowboys were in the Giant situation last night? The conspiracy theories about how the Eagles just didn't want the Cowboys to make the playoffs and all that is a little less with the Giants because that the that rivalry is not quite the same, but that

was abundant. It would have been all over the place if that was the case and the Cowboys were the ones on the losing side of it. Now, we've got had four minutes left in the show. I'll give you guys four minutes. We're gonna go a little bit over. Sorry, Chris Beam, you do fantastic work in the back. Uh. I want you to fix the Dallas Cowboys. And one I want you to fix the Dallas Cowboys. What is the biggest impact need for the Cowboys going into this offseason.

We're gonna start with you, Isaiah on this one. Where did the Cowboys start this offseason as to getting back into contenders? In twenty twenty one. I think they got they have to fix the defensive line. I think I think our OFFICSI line gets healthy. But I think they have to fix the interior defensive alignment. Uh, you have to fix the interior defensive alignment. You need one more linebacker and you need one more solid corner that honestly,

you need to get a shutdown corner. If you can pick up a shutdown corner in free agency, I think you'll be good. Um And obviously if we can get some help at say but I think you work your way up. You go d line, linebackers safety and get corner safety. Em I say, I agree with everything that you just said. For me, for the front office and the coaches, I want these guys to go through an unrelenting evaluation process with every player on this roster. They

have got to find their dogs. They've got to find them, right. They've got to find the guys that are going to put it on the line and be dialed in each and every game. Not the guys that's talking about I don't play hard every snap, Not those guys. Right. They need to find the guys in and this whole plug and play mentality that any guy can be a part of your you know, with our offensive line, you could

put anybody in there do your job. That's disrespectful, that's disrespectful to the guys that were before them, because obviously that don't work either, right, But they have to evaluate these guys from top to bottom. Asks an organization. We have got to get back to playing winning football. However

we do that, right, however we do that. They you know, show Emma Smith running in Week eighteen in nineteen ninety three with a bum shoulder, and you look at all the names that are out there, but we don't have a shadow of that talent right now. So get back to and let's find and I know that it was in the nineteen hundreds, but still we need to get back to our winning ways. Yeah, get Dak Prescott healthy. Ye,

Dak gets healthy, and get him signed. Get him signed because the salary cap is gonna loom over this offseason. You know, we don't the Cowboys don't know what it's gonna be. They don't know right now what they have to work with because of all the revenue laws due to the pandemic. So you know, if he's franchised, it's like thirty eight million bucks if you get a long if you get a long term deal done, I assume you can probably structure in a way where that you

can lessen that a little bit. And that's I say that because of what you guys said, like they need help in a lot of spot, particularly on defense, and I just wonder how much you know financial resources. They're gonna have to really do that because of the strain with the cap this year, so the draft is going

to be absolutely huge. And then what can you do in free agency with with a little bit of wiggle room, Because yeah, defensively, I think you point what Isaiah pointed to, what Heck pointed to, a lot of spots have to be looked at and addressed rob really quickly. What is the date that the Cowboys can start talking again with Dak Prescott. I believe it's once the season ends. Today you can get back to the table now, Yeah, yeah, because you can't. You can't date ends, you can't talk

until the season ends. So I believe that's the case. Yes, Okay, I just wanted to make sure I thought that was the case, and I think you're correct on that one as well. But I agree with heck, I think you have to go through every single one of these players defense, offense, doesn't matter, and evaluate where they're part is, where their mindset is going into this off season to find the type of players that you need to be a contender. Because I agree, we're not there yet. And you see

that six and ten. It's six and ten. There's no way to dress it up and make it look like anything better than what it is. But ten losses in

a season, double digits not there. We would have said the same thing if it were seven to nine and you somehow found a way into the NFC's playoffs or at the NFL playoffs rather out of the NFC's fine, but it's still a lot of lack of talent on this roster, and I just hope the Cowboys go into the off season with a clear eye view of where they are talent wise, and hope they fix that just overall whenever it comes to player evaluation. Anyways, that's going

to do it for us on talking Cowboys. But I wanted to take take a moment and thank every single one of you guys that have tuned in over this entire season. You guys are fantastic. You guys are so much fun and it makes our jobs fun. I mean, we get up in the morning early and watch film and prepare for this show and all sorts of stuff, and it's it's fun because we know what we're waiting for whenever these shows comes or come around, and we have a blast. We really do. And I mean I

want to thank you guys as well. Heckma, Rob, Isaiah, Chris. I mean, you guys are fantastic. Thank you for making my job easier by being awesome yourselves. And it really is a blast getting to work with you guys, And I'm excited to go into the off season and we're going to continue to fix this Cowboys roster together. Gentlemen, we appreciate you, young Luke Skywalker. Yes, it's been a blast.

Let's do it, Mondays now going forward, Yes, sir, see Beasy, thank you very much, See Beasy, And thank you guys for letting me win the projections this year. Oh whatever whatever, that's not officially done, so we'll give our final standing next week. So we'll give our final standings next week whenever the Monday night games stick around. But I think you're out of that out when Isaiah, sorry, about you. But well, guys, by the way, for those of you listening,

we are on Monday's eleven thirty. It'll be an hour long show eleven thirty to twelve thirty starting next Monday. But that's it for us this week on Talking Cowboys. That's it for us in the twenty twenty season. Twenty twenty one is here. Let's go win a Super Bowl in twenty twenty one. How about that, gentlemen, Let's go on a run in the next season and figure things out.

There's a long way to go for it. But for Chris Beam, for Rob Phillips, for heck Ma Harrison and Isaiah stand Back, I'm Kyle Yeoman's one final time saying so long Here from Talking Cowboys, presented by Geico. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.