Talkin' Cowboys: Who's More Physical?

for the day. Yes, all the carbs. You've been doing a good job. By the way, you're looking sleek. You're looking fantastic in this velvet. No, I don't know. I don't even know what kind of what kind of jacket that is? Alaca, Oh my god, everybody's looking nice and buttoned up today. We've got TV shows and we've got brunch. Is that what that is? Yeah, that's what she told me. Yeah, let me take it somebody mom in the brunt. Oh okay,

all right, well I like it. I think it looks spazzy back there, spizzy, spisy, whatever the I got you. I don't know what it is, but glad you're with us here on Talking Cowboys. Heck my Harrison, Isaiah stand back. We've got Chris Beam in the back. No Rob Phillips again for the second straight day, but do not worry, don't fret. Rob Phillips is back tomorrow. So we will have a say it with your chest Friday with all four quarters of Talking Cowboys. Thank you, Chris. That's the

perfect way to summarize not having Rob Phillips. But we do have Isaiah in the Rob p Island chair, trying to get close to greatness, my best best. How's everybody doing today? Done? Good? Good? Still? How about how about even better? After yesterday's practice report for the Cowboys. Felt pretty good about that, right, Getting Randy Gregory Neville Gallimore back on the practice field kind of what we had anticipated. But at the same time, you also didn't have any

Tony Pollard out there. Oh no, that's one thing I was really happy to hear about. No one COVID listed. That's another huge Mike McCarthy back in the building. Yes, he even joked around yesterday as of twelve or one am today, which would have been a minute after midnight and that's that's huge. So everybody's off the COVID list, right, everybody's good at the moment. Knock on wood, where's that wood? We have knocked on it. But that's that is that's

a huge key to having everyone back. You feel like that's an added boots to this team of having just regalvanizing the coaching staff and kind of getting back to your roles. Health in general, health in general. But you know, it's it's amazing how you go through a season having to check who's on the injury report and COVID report. That's the biggest thing. I mean, we did and have our coach, our head coach last game and just to hear that he's back in the building, I think in

Phil Bend and other assistance. You know, although we have more coaches on the staff than any other team, obviously just having guys back healthy is going to be a boost for this team. I believe. How much is that a boost for guys, not even just the players and looking around and seeing their coaches back, which is obviously going to be a confidence level that's higher than it was without those guys, But really for the coaches that had to do two three, four, jobs at a time.

I mean, you talk about the guys who had to fill in for the head coach Dan Quinn. Of course you talk about the offensive line coaches and having Wells jump over to from the tight end spots coach the offensive line. How much of a relief is that. I don't know how much. I don't know how much of a relief it is. I think those guys honestly their competitors,

so they look forward to those opportunities too. They don't look forward to the situation presenting itself, but once it does, you know they're not going to back down from it. I think every coach on his staff looks for opportunities to try to expand and kind of proof in themselves what they are and what their capabilities are. So whenever those type of situations present area rear their head, you know, I think those guys step up, you know, willingly. But

I am now concerned with their backfield. The heck's going on there? And talk about running back? Yeah, yeah, what's going on? TP doesn't go to practice, you know, and doesn't practice. He's over there with Britain, those guys, and then we signed somebody else, so we have Clement already. What is this an indication to That's so yeah, that was the that's the three things that you can talk about when it comes to the running back position. Is one,

Ezekiel Elliott despite the knee concerns, is one practicing. Two. They actually got a really good report on Zeke and said that his knee injury at the moment will not require any offseason surgery, which is huge to say that it's healing up and it's looking better. And so that's a positive spin. But then a not so positive spin. Tony Pollard, dealing with a foot injury, spent time off the practice field yesterday, was with the athletic trainers and on the bands with Brown and company and trying to

get back and ready to go. So the Cowboys are anticipating both of those guys playing. But then they go out and signed Edo Smith, a five one hundred ninety five pound very gat back type of player. He's actually went to Southern miss and it's pretty good little back, but he's been around the league for quite some time.

They go out and get him veterans, So is that an indication that there maybe isn't a chance that those two guys play on Saturday, and I guess asking you when you have you bringing guys to the practice squad mid season, it's just, you know, obviously shoring up the position in a way if all else fails. But I don't think that this time to take the glass off

the panic button? Am I? Am? I too? Am? I just too laid back about it because we've gone through situations throughout the week where Ezekiel Elliott has been hurt and been on the bands with Brett, and maybe we're going through the same thing with Tony Pollard. I watched the game just trying to find when he actually hurt his foot. I couldn't find it because the last thing I saw Tony Pollard was running by somebody and they

didn't even have him in the angle on the sideline. Yeah, you know, so I'm just evaluating that just to see exactly what it is. But obviously it's enough to keep him out of practice. But if they feel like he's going to be healthy and ready to go against Washington, then hell, who am I to panic? I wouldn't say panic mode, but you know you don't. You don't panic with your finances, but you prepare for the worst case scenario, right so I mean, this is what an indication of that.

I don't think this is something that you can ignore. They have running backs on the roster. You know, they have Zeke, they have Polor, they have clements, right, so they have some guys on the roster already. So to bring somebody else now from the crib and put them on your practice squad, now you're prepping him for there just in case. Right, Obviously, Zeke has not been healthy. I don't care what nobody says. Zeke has not been healthy. He's been playing through it, right, but he has not

been healthy. Therefore, he has not been Zeke or even a reflection of what Zeke has been. So we know Zeke is injured, but he's not missing practice time, right. Yeah, then we have TP who actually is now missing practice time and he didn't appear to be injured at all. Being that it's a foot injury, we don't know the complexity of the injury. But being that it's a foot, trust me, I've blown my foot out before I know

about those. It takes one bad cut, one bad cut for whatever he may be dealing with, and it's now inflamed because it's a foot, right, So you got Zeke who's not healthy but playing through it. He said he already has a quote on under saying you have to drag me off the field. Well, and we hope we

don't get to that point. And then you have this guy that he has a change of pace back, who has his filling TP, who's now missing time, and who has possibly an injury that could requires one bad cut that not even a non contact potential injury can remove him off the field. And now you possibly down to Clement and now Ito that you just brought out to the roster. So not panicking, but have your antennis though

you got you got your concerns. Yeah, and I think that's fair to say, because I mean, how thin do you look at this running back position now as opposed to what you had maybe going into training camp you thought you had Rico Dowdle back behind Pollard and Zeke. You had Shiwoallana Lua back there as well. Both of those guys had great training camps up until the point

where they got injured. So now you have to go to the Corey Clement side, who's played a decent amount of time on special teams and he's been a nice little fill in Without those two guys, though, you feel

severely limited in your run game. You know. I think going back to the interview from one of our three the Fan and Jerry Jones was speaking and talking about Zeke being the glue of this team, I really would And I was excited about that, Kyle, because you know, we do interviews with coaches, college coaches, football coaches, high school coaches, and one of my main question is who's your glue guy. Who's your guy, who's your guy? Who's

the glue guy? And I asked that question because I feel like when you have a glue guy, that's a uniter, that is the guy that everybody looks to for leadership, and he's the one that's putting it on the line. And that's been so much being talked about about Zeke and this injury. But at the same him being injured but playing through that, I think that catapults your whole team. That everybody's nicked, and you talked about it doing this

time in the season. Everybody's a little hurt, right, but guys are playing through things because our main guy, the guy that leads us, is playing through it, you know, And well, I'll take I'll take a one out of page out of the Great Nate Newton, and Nate said, you know, if he could stand, if a mule could stand,

he'll work, right, He's like a mule. And he was talking about Emmitt Smith in the game versus New York Giants to seal home field advantage where he completely sublocked his shoulder was out of place, right, And so you he's a hero around here because of the way that he played in that game. For some reason, Zeke and his toughness is viewed and looked at completely differently. But he's playing through it. It's not a tear. It's not something he's gonna have to have surgery on at the

end of the year. So obviously the ten day rest that they got, I think that he's gonna be a lot better. But I also feel as though this should be his time of the year. We want him obviously to be healthier. I don't want him to play obviously if he's injured. But these are the things that get guys the glory that they want. If you're not contributing, then that's a whole other thing. But just to say, hey man, you need to sit and go away, you know,

and I'm not saying that anybody here saying that. I'm just saying particularly Zeke and his toughness in him saying that, hey, you're gonna have to drag me off, that sends a message to everybody that look, man, I'm in it, and I don't think there's anybody is questioning his toughness. I don't think that anybody's question his toughness nor his ability

to produce one healthy. But the reality is he's not healthy and he's not productive in the running game right now because of his because of this knee injury, whatever he has sustained, it's affecting his ability to run. Officially,

I don't think there's any question marks around that. But can I ask you this, with the offensive line, and we've seen the musical chairs that we played up front in the offensive line, do you think that and even coming from last year and the way that teams have been pretty much daring Dak to throw the ball into these seven eight man boxes, do you think any of those things have anything to do with his production? I

would say yes. I mean, obviously, the officive line always plays a part in any running backs production, unless you're Barry Sanders. But but here's what we saw last week. We can just go to what we saw last week with the holes that were there. Even at times he got through the holes. That was a Now I don't know what that was a fraction of what Zeke is. He was limping, he was he was gimpy, he was slow, he had no acceleration. And he could be a dog.

He could be he is all those things. He's a dog, he's a physical specimen, he is mental you know, fortitude, he's he's gonna ground it out, he's gonna be your leader. He's all those things. But that doesn't make you a productive running back on the field. And I don't think that that he is that right now, simply because of his hindrance with his injury. Now you you you you you pair that up with the fact that now Pollard has something that he's dealing with, and now that worries me.

That worries me because now even when Zeke's not even Zeke was reverted to a third down back simply and they're just a block exactly because his ability to be able to diagnose the defense what they have going on and be able to negate uh some kind of a factor that they are there, they're they're imposing on deck. So that's why he was really out there as a threat. And also his ability to keep people off Deck's back. He can do that all day long, but he's not

toting the ball. So if you take Zeke out the running game the running game, and you take Pollard out the running game, if injury occurs, if it's this thing gets worse or whatever it has flares back up, now you really don't have a running game that we're already struggling with with those guys in the picture, and I know you're gonna you're gonna go forward with the matchups

and everything in this game. So I like this conversation though, because I think it is a concern because at some point in the last couple of weeks, when Zeke hasn't looked like Zeke, you at least had the fall back of saying Tony Pollard's here, Tony Pollard's gonna take this rock and he's gonna have a fifty eight yard touchdown run That opened up the game completely for your offense.

So there is that concern. But I agree with you in the fact that I think there's a lot of the wrong idea the wrong perception of Ezekiel Elliott by playing through this because he is that glue guy. Because he is the guy, and going back to the conversations that you and I have with these college and high school coaches, for the most part, it's either an offensive lineman, it's a quarterback. It's never the tailback. It is almost

never the half back. There are a couple exceptions, of course, but Zeke is that guy, and he's been that glue guy for a couple of years now, and I think Mike McCarthy knows that. I think Amari Cooper is another one of those guys that this year, early in the year, we heard him talk about saying, in order to be the best, and I want to be the best, I have to be on the field, right I have to be healthy, I have to play through whatever's nicking at me. I think Zeke probably picked up a little bit of

that too. He knows that, hey, I can help this team when I'm on the field, and especially now with Tony Pollard out, he's going to have to help the team out. And hopefully this ten days does do that. And I think it also for a Cowboy Nation, a lot of people are looking at what's going on with the running game. But then you look at where the running game work ranks in the NFL, and I believe it's still it's still a top ten running game and so it's hard to panic when you look at the

numbers and you see it. But then if I told you that running in general in the league was down without actually looking at a stat, I'm sure you would believe me because of the way that teams are throwing the ball and the league has changed. Right, So I'll get you, guys know, I'm not a big stat guy or by any means, but this team, I don't care how many receivers we get. I don't care what we have at the quarterback position. This team is revolves around

the ground game, and most offenses do. There's very few that just can just light you up with the air raid offense. Okay, So Dallas's inability to run the ball has affected their ability to win ball games. That is a fact. That's a fact over the last five games or so, yeah, I mean, which they lost three of four at one point in time, right, So that is a fact. This team needs to be able to run the ball. Now, can Dak throw the ball fifty times. We've seen it happen. Yes, he can throw the ball

fifty times. Does he have the receivers out there? Absolutely? Is that an effective way to win ball games with this team. No. So, at the end of the day, regardless of what we can do around these issues that we're having, sustaining you have to create a ground game. And if you don't have a ground game and you and your opponents due, you're gonna be in trouble. You're limit. I mean, it goes back to the six game win streak,

when everything was going right. What was the thing that was leading the way to the ground Yeah, but let me ask you this. You know, obviously, and I've already asked this question and pointed to the injuries and everything that we had. But also you're going up against professionals here, and defensive coordinators are not going to allow you to get away with things. Yeah. Once we see that, Okay,

you bring in kind of a governor as a fullback. Okay, we know where you're going with this, you know, And so teams have adjusted. Regardless of Vick Vangio's claim that he came up with the recipe of the blueprint to beat you, you've seen teams make the adjustment. I think that adjustment started versus the Patriots. The Patriots were one of the first teams to say, we're going to crowd the line of scrimmage. We're gonna body you on the outside, and we're gonna dare Dak to find it and hell

walk off home run. You know, and over time is what he shown. Since the injury, since then, since the musical chairs at the offensive line position, you've seen our offense not be able to generate that kind of rushing um. And it's because teams are just again crowding the line of scrimmage and we don't have that take a drink continuity at the offensive line that's been plaguing us. I

think we get back to that. I think you have to because you just pointed out if you go up against a team that has a running game and you don't, what can they do. They can sustain drives that can milk the clock, and if you do three, if you have a three and out, you're just putting your defense out there to drive. Yeah, it's a bad situation, and I'm gonna double down on the fact that, you know, I think Jerry Jones gave Dak a scapegoat. I'd be honest with you, I'm gonna call a spade a spade.

I think he gave him a scapegoat the other day when he said that those receivers that are running the y didn't like didn't like them, didn't like it at all, didn't like it at all, and did not like you. Felt like he threw he threw the receivers under the bus. I felt like he threw the receivers under the bus. And he gave gave Dak an exit. And this is a former quarterback and the reality and the reality is, since since Dak's injury to his calf, his mechanics have

been off. There are pockets that Dak is not stepping up into. There are a lot of balls that he's throwing off his back leg. His form is bad, his deliveries bad, his accuracies not there. So all these things you pair that up with, and that's something that he can correct, right, he can correct that out. Yeah, that's all. That's all fixed the bo out here in the practice field.

But he has to show it, right, he has to show it He's taken from the practice field or from his mind and make it physical into the actual game. You pair those bad mechanics up, they reflect in those Mickey bad mechanics reflecting a two out of thirteen on third down. Yeah, all right, and then you pair that up with an inability to have a ground game and injured running backs. It's a bad combination. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, that's all. You're not saying Dak Prescott has been playing poorly.

You're saying his mechanics are are putting just a little bit off. He has to show him up because there are times when Dak Prescott, especially in that Saints game, we're making just the perfect times now just dots to his receivers, But there were other times, like you said, that miss wide open guys and missed first down opportunities and multiple things of the of the sword. And actually we're looking at there's a monitor in here with NFL Network and it's got Jerry and says why Cowboys widers

didn't run? So how about that for timing? But what about I mean, and even this week, you know you heard Ceedee Lamb in an interview talk about that fourth down play where he was supposed to be a little bit more shallow or more to the outside where the ball would would land to him. Anyway, they would have had success. But he threw himself on the sword and said,

I didn't I misheard what was going on. And then and then in the same breath, for the last those five game stretches that you're talking about, we're playing without key guys at positions. Whether it'd be the concussion or whether it'd be COVID for Amari Cooper, and guys taking reps that they wouldn't necessarily be taken. I think Central Wilson, all of these guys, Noah Brown would also with the

amount of reps that they got, they're not used to that. Again, no excuses for that, all right, because you get enough practice and you get enough reps to be able to show those things up. But just going back to what you said about Dak Dad came into the league as a fourth round draft pick, and everybody when I watched him in Mississippi State, I thought he was just dynamic as a runner and he still could throw the ball,

but the mechanics were never there. Those were things that he had to acquire over his career, and sometimes especially when you're hurting, and again, it sounds like an excuse for me for Dak that when you're dealing with an injury, sometimes you're mechanics they suffer. That would either be with

the calf injury or whatever it is. I think he's played cleanly enough throughout his throughout his career that we at least I believe that he can still make all the throws and if he and if he can actually get back to being mechanically sound like you're talking about, then we're talking about the number, and we're obviously talking about the quarterback that has the number one offense, and that not the ifs and the and the what ifs, right right, But you and I both know if it

was a fifth we'd be drunk exactly. So he has to do it. He has to do it, and he's fully capable of doing it, right, but he has to get back to doing it. If we want to have any opportunity of talking about playoffs and NFC each championship all that stuff. You have to be more effective at that position. You have to be able to run the ball effectively with healthy backs, right, and you got to

improve upon your third down. Both of those things have a part in that number because you're not going to go any further than hopefully even in the first round if that, if that continues, I love the amount of like coaching cliches that are used on this show, and that shows that we've been around coaches for a long time. Yesterday it was hope is not a strategy today as if if if we're a fifth and that's some hood stuff. Oh goodness, all right, let's take our first break when

we come back. Who could this offense be exposed by? From the Washington football team. We continue previewing Cowboys offense versus Washington defense when we return with more talking Cowboys. There's nothing as unique as our eyes, which is why SLOR pioneers ways to make lenses as unique as you. Very Lux for super sharp vision, Essential Blue for protection, and Krazol for freedom from three cutting edge solutions and

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that Jason Witten has joined the Caliber Collision team. If you join him to do great work with great people, a great pay, and apply right now at jobs at Caliber dot com. That is jobs at Caliber dot com. You're not far off from freaking raw. Yeah, I know have hidden in the back. I've still got my like student ID card. I've got my my go cart g I P member don't make his thing, let's not make Does that have a flip Look, it's actually like a go cart, but they have like a flip up. Fortunate

it does. It's got my it's like a whole none of my ID pictures. You don't show the camera of them, be good? H Yeah. Yeah, it's a three ring. Yeah, it's got like three different things too. He's got a lot of punch cards, three ring I eat a lot of tacos. Man, you're a boy scout. You could prepare like you got you have a band aid in there somewhere there's something. There's a there's a lot a way to make a campfire. Not in there, but in the in the truck idea. We have these things called cell phones.

Is the new digital age. It's kind of crazy. You can put a lot of that stuff. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. You don't trust it, you don't trust and I don't think. I mean, how many things are laminated in there right now? Laminated? How many laminated cards? I don't think I have any? Uh hey maybe one Christmas list. No, I don't have any laminated things. I've also got like one of those little tile things because

I'll lose my wallet all the time. Oh yeah, losing the ongoing joke, Well Eve in stadiums that no, yeah easy, yeah, Well me and Heckan will walk out of a stadium. Heck would be like you got your wallet, got your keys, got your phone, got it all. That's what it is. That's how it goes, all right, Glad you're with us here on Talking Cowboys Presented by Toe Stidos, and we were just talking about the Cowboys offense and the Washington defense. If you're just joining us, and I wanted to ask

you this question about the Washington football team. It's a defense that's been playing really well over the last four weeks. You talk about a complete turnaround, and five of their first six game of the year they had allowed at least twenty nine points. At least for the most part, it was up over thirty. Yeah. Five of their first

horrible they were not good at all. And then they turn around and even without some of their key pieces like a Chase Young, especially off the edge, a top pick in the draft a couple of years ago, and Ohio State Buckeye edge rusher that is one of the young stars in the league. He's out for the season with a torn acl So with that being said, they shouldn't be as good, right wrong. They've been really good the last four weeks and have really turned it around

since the bye week. Huge credit to Ron Rivera and company to getting to that point. But Isaiah, when you look at this defense and you see some of the ways that they could expose the Cowboys offense, which one's the number one way that they could do that. Just their defense up front. I mean, they're they're missing some guys, they're definitely missing some guys, but they're they're still pretty pretty stout up front. There no Montes sweat because he's

on the COVID list. Montes, you know they who else they're missing up there? Um? Yeah, really about it, honestly, that's really about everybody else. Still got big John Allen in there. Um they got you know, hold him. That linebacker does a great job for them. They they are, they're they're they're just pretty strong. They're they're strong at the point of contact. And that's these guys are. I think they're third in the league right now in terms

of yards rushing allowed something like that. So, I mean, these guys are not allowing you to run the ball, which doesn't necessarily bode well for the whole conversation we just had a whole But at the same token, these guys are thirtieth in the league in terms of yards allowed in the air, So it's something that we can definitely exploit in that regard. But you know, running running the ball, as we just talked about, it's it's it's essential to the success of the Dallas Cowboys. Can they

win without it? Yes, that's not the way in which you want to approach this game. Well, Duran pain has been the pain UH for us, and he's been over the top of Connor Williams for a lot of these matchups that we had last year. Specifically, I think now that we've gone with Connor mcgovernor, I'm excited to see

how this matchup goes. And last year when we played them and just I have to talk about this, A lot of people talk about the UH when Dalton Showtz was pounded on the carpet and no one said anything about our Our team didn't retaliate, basically didn't respond to Andy Dalton as well, both of them in that game. That's why I was. I was, I was trying to Andy Dalton. Was Andy Dalton? That's the play that to me,

I think was sealed twenty twenty altogether. But I think there was another play in that game that I really showed me, oh that the Washington football team they playing for blood and we out here joking around, and that was when linebacker Cole Holkem came on the blitz and med Ezekiel Elliott in the A gap and it was that's the first time I'd ever seen Zeke actually take like a molly whopping, and that was what it was. And um it was he wasn't trying to get to

the quarterback. It was specifically about punishing Zeke. It was disrespect and we have to return that man. We have got to go to DC and get our leg back because they physically impose their will on us. And so when we talk about them being third or fourth or whatever it is in as far as Russian he is concerned, it's gonna be important for us. And I know there's a lot that's been said about getting to the outside. We see the speed with Tony Pollard and hopefully he's

able to go this week. But I think it's going to be very important that we establish in the trenches line of scrimmage tackle to tackle a running game. It's it's got to be against this front instead of trying to run to the outside, because they are tops in next gen stats and runs that go to the outside, so concentrating on the inside is going to be important.

And also I just feel like Michael Gallup. Michael Gallup can be very impactful in this game because with their cornerbacks being spread all over with CD and also with TheMark Cooper, he's going to have some one on one looks. That stat that you just mentioned about going out outside and running outside the hash marks negative seventy yards on expected against expected. That's third best in the league. I think,

uh for the Washington football team defense. So they want to let you do what we've been talking about wanting to do. We've been wanting to get to the outside and not have to challenge a box straight up that has seven eight men in it. Instead, you wanted to get to the edge. Think again, don't do it because it's not gonna happen against this team. And I know, I know how much confidence level of this game is

one hundred. I know we're not telling you tomorrow, yeah, but I know its confidence is a hundred, said Tostitosa. Tostitos hundo. If we don't, If we don't, the Dallas Cowboys don't run for one hundred? What is what percent is that that confidence dropped to h It doesn't doesn't. So you stay hundred regardless of yards on the gre And the reason why it doesn't is because I think that Washington is foolish enough to continue to try and

blitz and put pressure on DAC. And Dak has succeeded in the short throws and we saw that against the Saints with getting the ball to the outside with CD and those that's where a lot of our big plays came from from Yak. And so with them trying to still present that pressure and they've had success doing it against the best in the league so far, so I

think they're gonna do that. And Dak is number one, number two in the league in QPR on quick throws, and so that's and they suffer with the quick passing. So when you talk about when you talk about the running game, and you've you've alluded to I've heard you allude to this before that sometimes those short passes can double as a run. And so that's why that's why

I don't panic. But if you're run rivera and you know that Dallas is struggling running the ball, and you know that they want to get the ball out quick, do you not adjust and make sure that you press your guys up right. And so it really comes down to how much time does Dak have now to drop back and throw the receivers that could potentially beat their dbs, So do you do you eliminate that? If you're Ron River,

do you eliminate that aspect of the game. And just like we just talked about Dak, that's this, but that's the chess match that's gonna happen between Kelly Moore and run RIVERA and I look forward to it because that's the same thing that that's the way the teams have

been playing us over the last couple of weeks. And that's why you see, that's why you're talking about Dak in those throws in those small windows spaces, and we saw him make a throw like that, and everybody's been talking about for the last week the throw that he made the CD on my hash mark with Latimore on him. So those are throws he's gonna have to continue to make it. He's gonna have to continue to do those things.

He's gonna have to continue to throw guys open. And so like I personally see like guys like James Smith, Smith Williams on the edge being a threat for us. I also, you know they have a guy to hell that Jonathan Allen. He's a big people. But at some point our offensive line. Last you talk about our running game and going into playoffs, how we're gonna have any success is trying to establish the line of scrimmage. This is particularly important for a squad that you're gonna see

two weeks from now. So you got to you got hey, you gotta implement and initiate these guys right now. Jonathan Allen can very easily have a Chris Jones type of games, very easily taking over. So just because Montese Sweat and Chase Younger on that defense line, don't think that that Washington defense, that Washington front seven is not going to

get any extra pressure on. That is a gift. Was Sweat hopefully a prey to He's okay, sure and auto jest, but jeezus, that as a huge, huge, probably a sigh of relief for a matchup standpoint for Cowboys out there. But kind of going back to what Heckman was talking about about blitzing and Washington being very blitz happy. Washington has blitz on thirty two percent of dropbacks this season. That's the fifth most in the NFL, and they've given

up a ninety five passer rating aloud. That's not good thing, which is not very better stop Dak Prescott this year. Just for those wondering on a comparison, Dak Presscott a career high and completion percentage, a career high in yards of per attent, and a career high and passer rating. Oh and an eight touchdown one interception ratio against quick passes or on quick pass So we welcome, welcome the blitz. But I think that's you mentioned the chess match between

Ron River and Kellen Moore. I think that's even to be a more juicy side of it too, because if they back off of the blitz, that's going away from what Washington does. Well, they would have to, but that's kind of the thing is Dallas is inviting that, So Washington's gonna be the first one to give there and to back off from the blitz if they have to. Yeah, they're smart enough to show blitz and back off. They're like, they're smart enough to show cover too, too safety high

and it actually be one safety high. You see a lot of adjustments being made when you look at their cornerbacks. Kendall Fuller, I think, is I guess the one name that I really know and can concentrate on and watching him he's okay, So I mean he's you know, it's not Reever's island, but he's a guy that you can expose on the outside. And they give more yards than any team in the league to the X receiver, the guy on the outside, and so we got some really

good axes. They've got some guys on the outside that can burn them down. And that's why I'm looking for these matchups to see will they expose themselves on the back half if D goes short pump fake and then goes up top on them. So that's when when the chess game. I just think that there's some really big plays that we can make on the outside, and I'm looking to see if we can expose them. I agree, but I think Ron Riveres, we'll see. I believe that Ron Riveres is a lot smarter than what his what

his stats are showing. Well, he's continuing to do that. He they've won four straight for a reason. They started two and sixt like that. Yes he did, so, I mean, we will see, we will see. But I mean these guys, I think I can I foresee, right, if I have a little crystal ball, see you get you get a lottery numbers out of that way. I wish I knew that.

I foresee a lot of stunts. Our office A line has struggled with stunts in terms of Dak, in terms of us talking about him not being um, not being confident and being able to sit in the pocket and he's not stepping up for whatever reason in the pockets and finding those seams where he can actually deliver the

ball with confidence. I foresee a lot of stunts because it's creating a dynamic where it really is like a break in the in the link where these these already office alignment are no longer able to work as one unit um and these guys are now creating these gaps by running these stunts. And I can foresee them blitzing, but blitzing one guy. I don't see them doing six seven,

eight man blitzes. I foresee them doing five men right, four men rushing one linebacker and really dropping everybody else out right and trying to get hands on guys at the line of scrimmage to not allow them to get down the field. That's if I'm run Rivera, That's what I'm doing against Dallas. Because I said the offensive line, they still are not They're not all the way tied in and tapped in yet, right, So they we're seeing issues out there that they're they're having with stunts, So

let's go ahead and stunt them up. Right. I'm gonna send one extra linebacker because I do want to make sure we get some pressure on them. But I don't want to expose myself too much, right, So I want I want to heat them up just a little bit, but I don't I don't want to put my hand on the eye, you know. So if I'm Ron Rivera, that's the approach that I'm taking. There's with all these weapons, there should be nothing that shuts down Dallas. Let's just

get that on the table. But that's the other that's the approach that I would take. No, that's I mean, hell, that's a hell of an approach, especially for an explosive offense that you're trying to slow down. And if you're gonna fool them dropping everybody out like that, obviously, then you're dropping people out in the lanes that Dak is going to be trying to throw into. I think the other side of that is if you do that, I

just turned around and hand the ball to Zeke. Yeah, but that's that's the thing that's what I'm saying as Ron Rivere knows they're struggling with that, and he knows Zeke doesn't have the burst. Zeke's not healthy. Zeke even when he had lanes last week, wasn't toting that thing the way we know Zeke. He was gimpy. He wants to his mind saying go, his body's saying no. Right, so, and then if you know you don't have TP as somebody that can follow that up and be that check back.

Right now, Ron River is like, we have the advantage. Yeah, we know you're wounded. You're a wounded You're wounded right now. Let me ask you this man, it's been a quarterback. And then one problem that I've had with this offense, so just the offensive line coach has been this carousel that they've been doing with all. I don't agree with it.

I want to talk about that in the third segments. Okay, can we go ahead and take our second break, because I would love to have that conversation because the Cowboys are getting all these weapons back, Dak is back, Ezekiel, Ellie, it's healthy, Amari Cooper, Cede Land, Michael Gallub, all of these guys on the field for the same time. But are we still okay with that offensive line. That's the biggest question going into the break. When we come back here on talking Cowboys, I want to use what the

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to Talking Cowboys. Whether you're watching from home or you're cheering in the stands with eelor lens Is, you can see every exciting play book an appointment at your local or experts and see what esselor can do for you. See more, do more on Talking Cowboys. That was good. I like it. And to bring back then you brought it right back. We'll do it. Heckm Harrison, Isaiah standback, Chris Beam, Kyle Yeoman's glad you're with us. Happy to have Rob back tomorrow. But we've got one more segment

here on this Thursday. Gentlemen, let's talk about this offensive line. It's not really the best topic of conversation for the Cowboys this year. Wasn't necessarily last year either, But there's not a ton of confidence up there right now. So Ema, you were asking the question. I want you to go through your question that you were asking a moment ago prior to the break. But ultimately I'm looking at this as why is it a revolving door? Were you kind

of right there with it? No, I am man. That's my biggest question is asking the quarterback in the room if you had a situation where you're having to change out your offensive lineman for you when you're taking the snap and you're getting a snapshot of where everybody is. It's a trust thing for quarterbacks. And if you were having a different guy at the position, like your right tackle is ever changing, you're already dealing with your left

tackle situation and your guard. With that change your mind state from a quarterback position on how you go through your reads knowing that, hey, the guy that I trusted that was here at first, with the guy that I trusted over here, he's not there anymore. With that change your mind state as a quarterback, I would say no

unless that individual was constantly giving up pressures. Now at that individual, if I have to keep my you know, if I have to take my eyes from being downfield to that I'm I'm at the corner of my eye because I need to know that this dude may or may not be giving us some pressure that would change my ability to read read the coverage to be able to step up and diagnose where I need to be

able to diagnose and deliver the rock accurately. But overall, I've had that happened before and know because you have so many other things to be worried about. You know, you're thinking about communicating to the offensive line at that point, I think I would you have to turn up your communication to ensure that everybody's on the same page. Hey, someone fifty five's of Mike, Hey, we were going here, We're going to Liz, Liz, We're going to rip, rip,

whatever it may be. Making sure that those guys understand where they're going, so that you know that you've at least given them the proper directions, you know, and that you can go about your business now if they fail to do what they need to do, you know, you slap them on the bud, give them a little love, and then that's for coach Philbin to take care of,

which we didn't have last week right now. And the only reason I ask that is that you know, I can only equate a think from a defensive standpoint of just knowing where everybody's going to be on the field, and if a guy is in there that I'm not familiar with I haven't played with that, that kind of throws my train of thought off because if I'm going on a blitz through the a gap here and we're stunting together. I know the rhythm in which we do that,

and they may change. For a quarterback, I couldn't even imagine playing quarterback because hell, first of all, you got people coming at you and then you got to look up the field at the same time. But so that's why I asked that question. I think it's changed our offense tremendously by having this revolving door at the at the offensive line position. And that's one of the things that I hope I don't like. I know we're mad

at lael at for the beginning of the season. Yea, I understand, right slap on the risk and maybe you know it's a punishment. I don't know what it is, but at some point we have to agree that Layel is the best option to right tackle. I'm hoping that we all see that we I mean, in the past, based off of what he's done for sure. But let's play a little game right here. Okay, I've got a game for you guys. I need like some game show music. So this is guess the pressure rate? Oh yes, Chris

p all right, Uh, guess the pressure rate. What do you think in terms of in between let's say zero and five percent pressure rate on Lyo Collins right now this season? How much is he given up pressures? Between zero and five percent? Zero and five percent? Yeah, that's I mean, that's where the number is. So I'm trying to say, so, like between zero and five, where do you think he's at? I give him two point seven? Two point seven? Okay, I'm gonna go three three. Okay,

what about Taren Steele? Two two two two? So you think he's better than than Lyle Collins? That clessure? Okay, man, I'm gonna go higher because I already said that. I think. Well, then wait a minute, I couldn't be backing you up here. You could be, But then I think he's better at the door. Don't come me down. I think Leo's been at the run right now than maybe still lives a past. So let me that maybe a problem. So god, I'm

gonna go two. Okay. Lyo Collins is giving up a three point eight pressure rate, three point eight, whereas Terren Steel is at three point five. Come on, So he's been a little bit better this year and that's one more snaps too, because Lyle's plays three hundred and sixty five snaps this year and Lyo Collins played fourteen so consistency wise, Tarren Steele is actually from a statistical standpoint, And I'm not saying the numbers are everything. We know

that on this show. They know that. On the other side of the building, Yeah, numbers are not everything, but the numbers there say that there's a potential. Now I'm gonna go Isaiah stand back on this one man. Statistics out the window. Because you you've seen, you've got you've got a sample size of steel and what he's done, and it's a good problem. We feel good about the future of our tackle position because of Terrence Steele. I just think that Leo Collins going missing him last year

was big. We saw that, but I just believe he's so stronger and if you're gonna establish the run, there are just things that he can do. He can be better in pass protecting at three point eight is ugly. I didn't know that that's ugly, but he's got to get better. And if you're Zach Martin, when when Steal's in there versus Collins in there, who do you feel more confident about Leo Collins? Why because of the because of the past, because of this year. I'm just hey, man,

I'm talk about this year. I'm talking about this year, Garlins. I take this is both for their first years in the league, right, and the only thing you're going off of what they've shown you this year? But come on, no, no, I know, I know, But this is when we start talking about the culture of the team, right. Are we gonna base guys based off Are we gonna judge guys based upon what they've done in the past or what have you done for me lately? I'm gonna I'm definitely

gonna go it's a what have you done for me lately? Business? So I'm still if I'm if I'm Zach Martin, I feel better with Leo Collins. I wonder if I wonder if he's I'm sure this. He's been a part of that conversation, right, He's had to be. Do you think they would include him on that process? For him, I could guarantee you that. I mean, when he steps to the line of screams, you look over he's like, we can't do this or we can't do this. I mean, it's like us coming into the studio and not having

Rob Phillips. I mean, we're still gonna have a fun show. But Rob Phillips, it's not the same. It's not there's a mindset deal with it. It's the same thing with Zach Martin in the way that he has a guy to Let's just say that this offensive line in totality is struggled. Let's go to the Chris Jones game and say, hey, even Zach Martin got some business in the Kansas game.

Do we have to go to the Christians? Oh? No, we got to because we're saying that Jonathan Allen is the smaller size of that man that gave us trouble in the A Gap. We have to return to that. But I think the thing is is that we continue to pile on the running game and ask how can we get this thing re established without giving credence to the fact that we've been having different faces at the

offensive line. That's all I'm saying. And I just think that continuity with Zach Martin and be oddish on the right side, I feel better about that. Yes, he hit me with the high I believe that a little. That's it, all right, That's how we're gonna on the show. That's how we're done. It's like it's like the White's buying your fresh pair of fresh packs of draws. You know what I'm saying, Like they did not, none of we ever gonna get broken on back to the draws draws.

Wasn't that a terrance steal conversation? We were talking about steal? Ain't we fresh pair of draws? You do? You want to have the same fourteen pairs of draws? Or you want to have a fresh rotation or new one's coming new packs? Well, I think the fresh rotations, the fresh rotation. I want the one I want the ones that nights are broken in. We could have said that with shirts. We could have said it draws. Everybody can relate to draws,

especially the fellas. You don't want the fresh drawls. I got this anyways, Next show, where's Tommy John Where we gotta get our sponsorship in here? All right? That's it for us here. I was talking Cowboys for Chris Bean, for heck My Harrison, Isaiah stand back, I'm Kyle Yeoman's join us tomorrow. We've got our pickups. We've got to say it with your chest Friday. We've got a special guest picker on the way. Larna will join us tomorrow.

We'll be back. Thanks for joining us here on Talking Cowboys, See you tomorrow. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.