Player's Lounge: Cleaning House?

at the Star for Thursdays and Fridays shows. So if you're over in the area, come by and say hello Players. Brought you by Hotels dot Com. So McCray and I get to ride this thing. It's a kool Aid free show, so we don't have to worry about Danny coming in here, coming in here, Danny telling us, just pouring us all that's making us want to drink it. So we're good. Yes,

we are good on that. The Cowboys getting ready for Sunday Night football, and it looks more and more Danny like rookie quarterback Ben d Nucci is going to get the start. Andy Dalton has not practiced, and it's Wednesday, this is installed day and Mike McCarthy's press conference that they said he you know, maybe if Andy Dalton can get something towards the end of the week. But I'm just I just keep going back to looking at the hip. Okay, I'm not a doctor. All I can do is just

go by what I see. It just looks so vicious that I would be surprised if Andy Dalton is there. And then from what they're telling us, the information they're giving us, and we know Mike McCarthy is guarding, it just sounds more and more to me like it's gonna be Ben d Nucci show to run on Sunday. Then yeah, you know, like you said, McCarthy is a little guardss. So we never really know. And sometimes the hit can look worse than it is, or sometimes that hit can

be just as bad as it looks. So it's really up to the doctors and how Andy Dalton feels. But I believe that if he does pass protocol that he still will be out there as long as he practices on Saturday. I mean, with the state that the team is in, I don't see him holding him out if he's available to play, just because he wasn't able to install.

He's a veteran guy, and I think he'll be able to pick up some of the stuff that they put in and Kellen Moore and be able to adjust on the fly if he's able to get in there at the last minute. Well, I look at this game for Andy Dalton, and it's one thing we know Jim Jim Schwartz is gonna do. It's gonna bring pressure. And I was sitting here looking at sack leaders and just checking my notes here. Philadelphia is twenty is number four in the league in sacks with twenty four. So Washington was

getting after the Cowboys and they got six sacks. So Philadelphia is gonna bring this heat. And look, I think whether it's d Nucci or Andy Dalton, the kitchen sink is coming here. Because we also um know that there's gonna be another different offensive line combination, because Mike McCarthy

is expecting Zach Martin backhau. This is this is just a really, really tough matchup for the Cowboys and they simply cannot afford to have any breakdowns and any of the mistakes that they've made in the past offensively or defensively to try and win this football game. I know Phillies two four and one, but their strength goes right against some of the Cowboys weaknesses. Yeah right, and Phillies two four on one, but they they've had some close

losses to some to some pretty good teams. I'm glad that. Yeah, so I'm glad. I'm glad that Zack Martin is coming back. Hopefully he can he can give us a little bit of a little bit of plug. With the leaks that we have on the offensive line, we all know that that that we're getting heated up and if the Nucie is out, there is going to be a show where they are bringing people from the left, the right, the middle trying to confuse this guy and get some interceptions.

So one again, it will be up to Kelly Moore to come up with a game plan that fits the roster that he currently has. Now, I would expect to see a lot of tight end help maybe a tight end playing fullback, a lot of Zeke and Polish stand in the help block just so they can show up this offensive line and give you know, give the news Yard Andy Dalton some time back there so they can make you know, at least at least a ten or

fifteen yard through. I know he won't have that much time back there, but uh, you know, I expect Kelly more to justin be able to help him just a little bit. I don't have that much confidence in the in the office, I mean in the in the running game, just because what I saw last week. Hopefully we can get something going. We tried to focus on the last week, but it just didn't work for us. So maybe that was just the off week and was Zach Barton coming back.

We'll be able to get that thing on the road, but we are really going to need our run game this time. It's going to be challenging. And then, uh, John Clark works for NBC Sports Philadephia. I've known John for for a long time and and he loves to send me tweets and copying me on them. And so he's hit me a tweet about Darius Slayton and his numbers against Amari Cooper, and so he's already he's already claiming that that Slayton's out of this football game here.

And then he posted about how Jalen Raiger, their first round draft pick out of TC, you should be ready to go, and that you'll see him make his debut against his hometown Dallas Cowboys. And of course I can tell you this, Jalen Raiger is a fast guy. Think of Deshaun Jackson when he was young. That's what Jalen Raiger can bring you in terms of an offensive weapon,

a guy who can run past you. So, Philadelphia, the fans are at least with me, the reporters and the folks that they're filling their oats and they're giving me the business. After we finish the players lounge, I've got to go do a interview for NBC Sports Philly, and so I'm going to hear the business once again here. So Philadephiopole just feeling real confident about Sunday Night football as they get ready to host a Dallas count I mean, I mean, why not you just said that They got

to think of it this way. They got Rager, who has speed, which is a problem of any any receiver. Has been a problem for our defense. I see that Alshon Jeffery is possibly going to be ready, which makes it another problem for our defense. Miles Sanders is trying as hardest to get back on there so he can fight to have a career day, which makes that another

problem for our defense. And Carson Wentz is playing better, you know, better than Actually, you don't really have to play that good, you know, to look good against our defense. So Carson Wentz come out there and he plays eighty percent of his potential. We're gonna have some issues. So hopefully, you know, maybe the changes that we're making that will get to uh, you know later in the show will help. Or maybe these guys will figure out a way to keep their eyes right and and prevent the deep ball

from coming and things will change. But I don't have any confidence in that, So I just think it's gonna be a big day for the Philly offense. I'll say this about Miles Sanders. This is a this is a game that if I'm the head coach Doug Peterson, I don't play him. I mean I literally don't, because he's he's all you know, he missed the first game of the year already. I mean, he's dealt with issues. I don't know if he was the first game, but he's missed.

He's missed other games earlier in yere But anyway, he's dealt all off, I should go back, and then during training camp he was dealing with injuries here, so he's dealt with some stuff. You know, all season long. This is not a game I would play my best running back. Because if you're Philadelphia at this point in time, if you just look at this division, you're you should win this thing right now. Okay, based on the injuries that the Cowboys have going on, forty percent of their salary

cap is out, you know this division is theirs. I mean, if you're going to Vegas right now and you're putting some chips on eighteen to win the nfcas it should be Philadelphia. And if I'm head coach Doug Peterson, I'm

trying to save Miles Sanders for other games. And this is where I'll let Boston Scott and some other dudes roll out here, because, as you said, you can, you can win this thing, and if you're getting your receivers back, you want to throw on the Cowboys defense all day long, and running the football is not going to be hard because nobody gives up more yardage than the Dallas Cowboys. They're dead last in the league when it comes to giving up the run. They give up one hundred and

seventy two yards a per game. So we'll see, we'll see. But I tell you I don't expect Sanders to be out there. I really don't because this is one of those all right, go ahead, Well look listen. I'm hopeful because he's my starting running back on my fantasy football team. Also, I'm sure that he can also he also sees the same thing that we see. Like we talked about yesterday, this is the game that you want to play if you want to get on track. I know he had he had a knee injury, so I'm not sure you

know how serious it was. I didn't. I didn't really get to read up on it. But if it's not a hamstring or something, you know, soft tissue injury, I think he'll be out there. And uh and I know you say that that Philly should should win this thing, but I go back to Washington and if ye possibly they don't go for two, I think two weeks ago they could be sitting there with three and five. So I mean I think Washington will we'll be able to

compete with Philly. You know, if they continue to get better, the defense shows up, you know, and they take advantage of some of the weaker games on their schedule. I think that it'll be between Washington and Philly at the end of the season. So I wouldn't I wouldn't speak so fast to say that Philly's gonna wrap us on up. Washington beat Philly to start the season, so they have that in their back pocket. But I just think it's

Philly starts to get some of their reinforcements back. I just think they're a better football team when I look at the games against Pittsburgh and Baltimore which they were down. They were down double digits in these games, and they came back and made these games the contest that went down into the final final two minutes of the game.

So I just I just think overall, they still have enough guys over there who've won a championship, and I just think that they'll end up being a better football team. I just don't. I don't think washing Shington is gonna have enough. But that's just me and this is why we play the games. But but at this point in time, I'm definitely, you know, unlike Bury Church, I'm definitely looking at the Cowboys and saying I don't see them getting it done because they have not been able to fix

the multitude of issues that they have. You know, they have not had a cohesive offensive line. They are jet lasts in turning over the football. They have yet to do that. They've had a turnover every game since the first one against the Rams. There were no turnovers. Since then. It's been nothing but downhill. And now you're talking about having to play start a third different quarterback. I mean, there's so many things going against the Cowboys, and you

can't stop the run, you can't start the pass. Yeah, it's a problem. And I'm gonna stick by what I said about Bill. Bill Parcels used to set. All I can go by is what I see. And until I see the Cowboys beat a team that has a win, because the two teams they beat were win lists, you know, it's gonna be hard to pick them. And this game is going to be at Philadelphia on Sunday Night Football,

and I just think Philadelphia. You know, they're two and four, But I see them starting to get a little bit better. I see them starting to get that way. And they've had as many offensive line issues at the Cowboys. But but I'll say this, Danny and I don't know how many Philly games you've watched this year. They're doing something that the Cowboys are not showing us that they've got. Will you know this team has not shown us the past three games that they've got. Will you know the

Cleveland game, they didn't show it to us. The Giant game, Okay, you came back and you won that, but was a winless Giants team. What we saw against Washington, what we saw against Arizona, you know, we didn't see the kind of will and the kind of guts that you need to win. Everson Griffin, you know, let's just dive into him. They traded Everson Griffin, the defensive end to the Detroit lines for six round draft pick that it's conditional, so

it could move up to a fifth. I don't know what the determining factors are there yet, but that's the message now. Mike McCarthy spun it that they're gonna give some snaps to Dorian's Armstrong. They've now got Randy Gregory back that Randy Gregory needs to play, and I'm fine with it. Honestly, I'm fine with Everson Griffin. In my opinion. This is why I hate about us not being able to be in the locker room this year because of Covid.

I didn't see the buying. I didn't hear the buy in from him about being on this defensive and so this season, in my opinion, is lost. This team is not going to do what we thought it would do, which I said eleven and five and making a deep playoff run. That's not going to happen. So you might as well go ahead and get some picks, because if you are drafting in the top ten in every round, you want as many of these picks as you can possibly get. My pick listen, I can't imagine how Griffin felt.

Right he came here, and he felt the same way that every analyst, every reporter, every commentator felt about the Cowboys, you know, being a contender, having all these pass rushers, having all these weapons on offense, so giving the pass rushers, you know, the time to get back there and rush because you assume that we were going to be up and running gun offense and teams are going to be trailing. And then you get here and it's the exact opposite.

And then on top of that, you probably left a place where you believed in the coaches and you had some relationship with those guys and you're trusting in what they were doing. And then you got here and you're on a young team, and then you get you get some coaching that you're like, you're looking at You're like, I don't know what you guys are teaching. These guys don't hustle. This isn't where I left. What am I

doing here? So, I mean, I can almost understand why the buy in didn't work, especially when you see him talking about, Man, look, this is different. I'm standing up, rushing, I'm trying to learn this stuff, and this is just not what I'm comfortable doing. It just doesn't seem like he liked it from the day that he walked in the building. So I can imagine that he was ready to get up out of here. So, you know, I

understand that. And Mike McCarthy, he scares me when he says what he makes me think when he says, you know, he wants to see some younger guys play. I wonder if that's throughout the whole team, or is it is that just specifically the the line, Because once you hear that throughout the whole team, it sounds like you're scrapped in the season and you're building for the future. Is

that a bad thing? I mean, at this point in time, if we're just going to sit up here and be honest about the type of injuries that you suffered and the kind of holes that you have and the reinforcements that are not exactly coming back, is that a bad thing. Let's take a break and let's dive into that. So Everson Griffin has gone, there's two more pinning moves that we've heard about. Let's dive into that as the Cowboys possibly are trying to look towards twenty twenty one. Let's

do that next right here on the players lines. On the other side, you're listening to the players signs on das Cowboys dot Com Radio. Hey, they're Cowboys fans with Tight Cleaners at home pickup and delivery. Cleaning your clothes has never been more convenient. Simply sign up at your local store, set out your dirty clothes, and one of our Tight Cleaners professional will come directly to your home for a totally contactless experience. Your clean garments will be

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The Professional bull Riders that's what PBR stands for, And if you've never gone to a bull riding show, let me tell you what TV doesn't do it justice. When you see it in person and you see how big these massive animals are and how they get after it, it's a good show. I ended up taking my h I took my daughter last year to the four worstok show on radio. And she never been to watch the bulls. She had what she was little, but this time she actually paid some attention and she was locked in. Bro

I mean, Danny, she was just boo. I mean, you know, her eyes were you know, usually take kids to do events and they're looking here and there and they want to go do this that she was locked in watching those bulls. So is it is a show. So I would definitely say for the fans of bull riding, you want to go. If you've never been and you thought about going, it's definitely worth your time. And these these bull riders are some of the toughest athletes that you

will ever meet. In a bunch of these guys can't get life insurance or health insurance either. Man. It's it's uh, it's challenging the premiums on these guys because of the kind of broken bones they take. It's uh, it's intense, man,

it is totally. Man. I watched the show called Yellowstone where they have a bull ride on there and uh, if that is any any true indication or example of what goes on, you know, for them in their life and their injuries and the stuff that they risk that is absolutely crazy and much respect to them, but I would never I'm from Houston, so I've seen bull riding before, but you know, I had never really focused on it and did any research to see how how how it was,

like what type of effect they had on those guys. And uh, it seems it seems pretty rough. It's good, I'm telling you, man, it's it's and they're you know what I love about them as athletes, They're they're open books. Many they'll let they'll let you come and talk to them and they'll talk backstay. I mean, they're great. So so they do a good job of pulling you in.

I remember Real Sports did a great little xbosame um with Brazilian bull riders and and how good they are and and just you know their challenges and you know, for a lot of these guys, you're trying to get

out of poverty. You're like, this is I mean, you know, because there's gotta be a little danger in you anyway they want to do this, And um, I've always felt that you know, sports like boxing and in sports like you know, bull riding, where you're you're sitting here man, and you're risking you know, you basically, put your livelihood out here, your life out here. Um, there's got to be something in you that's driving you. Man. You know,

m M and boxing man. You know these are you know you never see anybody well from Beverly Hills, California, from from the Hamptons in New York. You know, these are folks that are coming from some tough, tough circumstances. There's some tough arm brands um in these sports man, And don't let it listen, Listeners, don't let new He fool y'all. I'm sure they are open books and they'll

let people come talk to them. But new He is He's a Dallas legend, alright, so they probably won't be giving y'all the same access that Knew He knew He the Great gets, But I'm sure you may be able to get an autograph or something. Look, they're great, man, I'll tell you what I absolutely said. I love them as athletes to cover, they are great. The Cowboys trade

Everson Griffin, so so that was step one. And Tom Palaceero of NFL Network says that your favorite corner Warley, they're Warley, and your favorite tackle don Terry Poe that these two guys will be either traded or released. Mike McCarthy asked today will they be at practice? He said he didn't want to speak about it. Calvin Watkinson the Dallas One News tweeting that Worley and Poe were not at practice. Also, Andy Dalton not at practice today. Safety

Xavier Wood's not at practice today. I would doubt anybody's trading for Warley or Poe. I can't see why anyone would. But you're talking about three players now that are probably going to be gone from the roster by the end of the day. Danny, what message does it sit? Uh, it's it's a message that you know, based on your performance,

you could be next. You know, with the exception of you know guys like uh, you know d law and and Crawford and those guys who have contracted money and they have money tied up in But you young guys, are you guys on those one year deals? You know, if you don't step your play up, then you probably won't be on this team moving forward. Um. So I think it's a good sign. I think it's leaning more

towards what you've said, the players versus the coaches. Which one are they gonna are they are they gonna pick And it seems like so far we're picking up picking the coaches. So if I was, if I'm one of

those players, I'll probably be worried. And that's including my guy Xavier Woods, um, you know, and he's missing practice to they But you know, like we talked about this off the show, I've seen some clips of this guy that that makes me wonder what's really going on with him because usually in your contract year, it's usually your best year and give you know, you give max effort and you stand out on tape, and this is this is kind of kind of the opposite for this guy.

But and then based off last year like he had, I thought he had a good season. Last year. I thought he played hard, thought he made some tackles. I thought he made some plays. He looked like a like a like a good safety that that was coming up. And and this year just it's just a total opposite.

So I think a lot of these guys on the watch list, I'll be one of the first to admit that I was expecting Woods, Jordan Lewis, and cheetah Awoosian to have some really good years because they all want to get paid I mean, this is how professional football works. Your final year, you want to make sure you're balling out so you can get paid. I e. By Ron Jones last year. I E. Amari Cooper last year. You know you want to make it, get Dak Prescott. You know you want to make sure when it's money time

that you were out there. I remember DeMarco Murray and and it was interesting in his career he had dealt with games where he missed time. And you know, his last year even I think he was I don't know if it was a thumb or hand or it was something on. I mean he broke dude, ran out there, he was out there and it was the NFL Offensive Player of the Year, cashed in, got a big deal

of Philadelphia. I mean you know that last year, man, you were out there rolling and to see, um, these three cornerbacks, these three at say defensive back not turn it up. It's been surprising. It's been surprising. Cheeto Woozia is expected to be back this week as they take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday and Night Football. And Cheeto, by the way, I think Cheeto leads the team and

interceptions right with one hadn't playing. Uh, it's listen, listen, Like what we were watching and what we were expecting from these players. I think we were watching the Christoh Shard effect. I think he had a lot to do with how they were playing and how they looked when they were out there. And I think the same thing with Marionetta leaving and how our defensive line looks is the same effect that that they We're seeing Christia shar leaving.

Within this secondary, I think we're seeing a big drop off and uh, we're going to need to do something different. That That's why I was leaning more forward. They should pick the players over the coaches at the end of the season, but you know it's early and then making examples of guys I believe, so we'll see how it really plays out at the end of the season. Jerry Jones said it on his radio show and Danny, I don't know if you heard it, but but it's worth

listening to um. When he spoke on one O five three the fans, he told you he sold on McCarthy and the McCarthy was his kind of guy. He's got his he's got his man, and because of everything they're going through, he thinks McCarthy is the right guy that you want to have in that foxhole. Jerry always talks about the foxhole kind of thing. So to me, he let it be known it's going to be McCarthy. Oh yeah, you're not talking about him though, and it's not going

to be these players. So so I think that to me. And he spoke on the show too about we're going you know, he said we got to stop the run, and he to Don Terry Pope being gone, um and and so off that show. You trade Everson Griffin, Poe's about to go, Warley is about to go here. And I just think that at the end of the year, they're going to look and they're going to take They're going to say goodbye to some players who are already

going to be free agents, like a Tyrone Crawford. But they're gonna go in here and maybe have to take I don't know, one or two guys with a big contract who aren't buying in, okay, And that's that's the tough thing you know right now is who all is and is it buying in? And they'll make some moves,

but they're going to side with the coaches. I don't know if this results of Mike Nolan being back, Yeah, I don't know about that, um, but if he wants to, and I'll say this, if you're sold on Mike McCarthy, and this is where Mike McCarthy has to do that Jason Garrett thing where remember Jason Garrett kept selling Scott Lenahan until he couldn't anymore, but he rode with him

as long as he could. So if you're like, if you're Mike McCarthy, you want to keep riding with Mike Nolan, then you're gonna have to convince Jerry, Hey, we need to convert two A three four. We need to play more of this. We need to get these guys here dot dot dot dot dot. And if they can convince convince Jerry that it's the players and it's these dudes won't buy in, then they got an excellent shot to

have this thing come back. Now. I do think we'll see some defensive assistant get got Like I said, I expect one of these secondary coaches, because that's that's usually the way it happened. Somebody got to die, you know, somebody got to get thrown off the boat. I mean, that's how it happens in professional sports. Somebody gonna go, um, see it was him, you know, listen, it's like it's

likely to happen. What I believe is like the tone I didn't hear Jerry, you know, talk about Mike McCarthy, But I know he's been all in on Mike McCarthy since he got here. And I don't think they will make a one eighty and get rid of them at the end of the year, you know, after one season. But you know, like I love Mike McCarthy versus I'm okay with Mike Nolan. I think that says a lot, uh,

you know, heading into the end of the season. And I don't necessarily think it's about buying n Like so when you say, like when we talk about going from three to four to four three and people, you know, I guess they assume that it's something that's easy for these players to do, especially the interior alignment that was

a totally different game. Like I give you example of Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson, both top five picks when I was at LSU, both coming out of a four three defense, and they both got drafted teams that were running the three four and then you didn't hear about

them anymore because it's not the same defense. It's it's it's very hard to go from being a four three defensive end or three technique in a four to three to playing, uh, you know inside, you know if if you if you're a defensive vent like they did Tyson Jackson, they moved him inside and put an outside line back outside him. He had to learn something totally different and it didn't really paying out for him, you know how we expected him when he was playing at LSU. So

those things are different. That's why you see Everson Griffin and DeMarcus Lawrence. I believe you see some drop off in there because it's a totally different game and uh, maybe they need to go to a coach that that that puts these guys in position, you know, to make

those plays like they did in the past. I really still don't understand why you have DeMarcus Lawrence standing up when you know his his best game has come from when he has his hand in the ground and he's just rushing and and doing games on the defensive line like when Mary Nelly was here. I'll say this could tank in a in a three four standing up as an outside linebacker. Could it help him? Um? Could he?

Could he make the chance? Yes? He can. I watched Greg Ellis do it, and I go back and look at the career of Derrek Thomas, fantastic player out of Alabama, and Derrek Thomas his numbers when he was standing up versus his numbers playing with his hand down. I mean

they were drastically different. Um, the three four defense can definitely. Um, you know if you have pass rushing town which which which you know Lawrence has just in Marcus wear, another guy who went from hand hand down to hand up and you know, extended his career and made him a whole lot better. And even he'll tell you, man, give me the stand up all day long. So I don't think that Tank Lawrence is a guy who cannot adapt to tow it. I think that's a different animal. That's

a different animal. When you talk about when you talk about de Marcus wearing Tank Lawred, de Marcuts wear is built different de Marcus wearing with six five, you know, slim, muscular, you know, he's his explosiveness out of the two point stands. If you've ever watched him at practice or work on his getoffs, totally different than anybody that we have on the team. So him him baking that adjustment to going from hand down to hand up is totally different. I

don't believe. I don't say that that Tak Lawrence can't. But if you're gonna pay a guy one hundred million dollars to be productive in a four to three defense, when you've seen him make all these plays in that, I think it's difficult for you to say, all right, well, now go ahead and do the three four and just act like it's just that easy for him to change,

you know. So, so you either give Mike Nolan another year, you know, to implement the three to four and think that that's gonna change everything, or you bring a guy in who has a defense that fits the players that are already here stay there. Then maybe that's the conversation that you have to have as an organization. Can we can you know, do we continue to can we make this change in three four and make take a better player? Or do we move on? I mean, these are the

questions you have to ask yourself. Um, in my opinion, as I said, I think he can make the change you've got to get and obviously your bigger pieces are going to be upfront. You know, you got to get yourself a legitimate nose tackle and get some bigger guys at the defensive tackle spot so you can allow your linebackers to get there. But it's a conversation that you've got to have if you're going to choose Mike Nolan and give him what he wants, you know, because it's

going clue. It's gonna affect one of your best players. But you got to ask yourself, what do you want to do. These are the tough decisions you have to make as an organization. And and then and then I'll tell I'll tell you this too when when we when we speak and drop off from the D line in

different schemes. Uh, if you watch how we played in the past room with Marionelli's defense running out of fourty three, we probably ran games on seventy percent of the snaps, which is et stunts, uh, loops and and and spikes and all types of stuff that that de Marcus were.

I mean that de Marcus Lawrence was great. That he would he would started in the in the D gap and shoot down to the A gap or you know, they would take advantage and stuff like that, and that's some stuff that I don't think we're seeing as much of now, and I think that is also, you know, hindering his production as well, because you know where he's gonna line up at most of the time, he's gonna line up right there at the left end, and he's

gonna rush over over the right tackle. There is no, no, no complexity to to our rush in our scheme and our games, and I think that's where you're seeing the big drop off as well. Well, look, now this comes back to what McCarthy said and what McCarthy has done. Mike McCarthy sat at press conference and he said many times it's players over scheme, but we're not seeing that on the defensive side of the ball. That's what I said. This is the organizational question that these guys got to

get into a room and figure out. So, hey, Mike nolan's it gonna be your scheme or is it gonna be the players? And if you choose the players, do you have enough of these good players to say we'll scrap our scheme and we'll go with those guys. I thought Bucky was on it was Bucky Brooks or somebody had spoken about how the scheme that they were running before was a Marinelli These were Marionelli type of guys. These were the guys that he wanted who were fitting

into what he wanted to do. That's one reason why T. J. Watt was not drafting Taco Charlton was taken over him because Marinelli wanted guys that fit his scheme. That Jalen Smith is more of a Marinelli guys guy, and Tank Lawrence, So Danny, this may be unpopular, but they got asked themselves. You got two dudes you've given big money to and and jay Lew Smith was about sixty three million dollars deal he signed. Take Lawrence your largest contracted cowboy history

that he signed. Or these guys the guys you want going forward if you decide that Mike Knowling is is going to have his way tough questions. I mean, I mean not not not only those two, I mean Vandersch as well was drafted to play in a four three scheme, you know, and not taking anything away from from how bad these these safeties have been playing, but they were also draft but they were also used to play in

the four three scheme. And and you know the fans would have to go study and see how much different it is. But playing one gap defense versus two gap defense is a whole different world. Like you have to see things different, you have to play them different, you have to read pulling guards different, you have to reforce different, everything is Differently, I think you're seeing a multitude these mistakes, and I think a lot of those are based on

the difference in the scheme. You know, couple with with the effort, which I believe Jerry Jones talked about as well when your owners talking about effort, that that's a big thing. But I think the scheme is this hindering these guys a lot as well. Now, look, look let's just be let's just straight up here, throw it out here. Okay, it's not like these guys in the previous scheme. We're out here self dominating defense. So it's it's switching the

scheme and going finding other guys. Is that, I mean, what's the issue a problem there? You know, it's not like the hot boys sat up here and put some titles up here for the cowboys. Okay, so these are so I'm not opposed to them saying, hey, look we're gonna go ahead and switch this thing and flip it and get the guys we wanted here. We'll think about it this way, though, what what what scheme was de Marcus Lawrence? And when when he got him self paid?

What scheme was was Robert Quinn? And last year when he got him self paid? When you win, you know, huh No, I'm just talking about how they I'm talking about I'm talking about how how they their production, their production as players. We're talking about now lack of production. You said the Hope boys aren't showing up when Jaylen Smith and Lvee where if they're best and you thought that they were the best duo coming up to be the best duo of linebackers. They were in the fourth

three scheme. They like, these guys were productive in that type of scheme, and and and Neui they won more than their winning now. All right, So so if we're comparing what's going on, the defense still look better previously than it did now. But but my point is they

have been productive in that scheme. And this is when they looked like they were all rising stars in a in a in the four three scheme, and and and the way that Marinelli was coaching the defense, coaching the d line, you know, mixing it up, running games and doing all that type of stuff, making it interesting and making the confusing for the offensive line. When they were doing that, they were productive. Albeit they weren't the top,

you know, the top defense in the league. They played better and the players that we were talking about, they were more productive than they are. Now. Okay, my question for you that I want you to answer after the break, then what do you do in twenty twenty? Do you run a scheme that goes back to more four to three that fits these guys? Or do you give Mike Nolan what he wants? I want you know, if you're Danny McCrae, what do you do? I want you to answer that and we'll get it here we're in our

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Stadium dot com for details. You're in the player slash watch you by Hotels dot com. I'm new scrubs longtime Cowboys reporter joined by Dati McCrae um. They played for the Dallas Cowboys, now works for the organization. Um Don Terry Poe, according to Ian Rappaport of NFL Media, has been cut and quarterback Daryl Worley has been cut. Rappaport says they were shopped all day, found no takers, and they moved on. So the Cowboys no longer having those

two players. So we're looking at three players gone in basically less than twenty four hours. Danny mccraig, so Jerry Jones said they were gonna make some changes. They made some changes. I don't know if that's going to result in any anything in a double you against Philadelphia, especially if any Dalton can't go as a starting quarterback and they have to throw out rookie Ben d Nucci. But Jerry, Jerry, Jerry at least lived up to this part of it.

And if you're in the locker room now and you don't have a massive contract you look back on, you may want to be worried. You better, you know, if you have been buying in better buying in now. Listen, let me tell you something for sure, almost for sure, one half of that those deep balls that had been going over our head is gone. Warley had been playing horrible. I really thought that he would, he would have been released a few weeks ago, but I guess they're waiting

for Cheeto to come back. He had been playing playing you know what way below parts. We saw that coming and Pope just was out there just looking like he was uninterested in being being on the field at all. So those two were really easy. Um, I don't think Pope Pope being gone is really going to change that much for us. So I think he was one of those guys at the at the bottom, at the bottom of the defensive tackle Lizabeth. We had three of those guys on there, so we still got some guys that

are underperforming out there. So I don't see that changing much as far as our run defense. When it comes to free agents for the Cowboys and they brought in this off season, it's been very disappointing. Warley Cut. You brought him in, Poe, you brought him in. Cut Gerald McCoy, who was supposed to be starting defensive tackle. He got hurt training camp and then was cut. Then you had how Ha Clinton Dix they brought in supposed to be a starting safety. He never made it. He never made

this a regular season. He was cut. This is a bad run. Okay, it's a bad run for the Cowboys. And the times comes to bringing guys into your football team, I want to stick with this defensive thing, Danny, and I asked you a question before the break here. Other players aren't brought to you by hotels dot Com. Are you going to fit a scheme for the players that you have here running a four three? Are you going to choose Mike Nolan and letting Mike Nolan implement what

he wants next year? Uh? Listen, and this is this is just me my opinion. And I've always well for most of my career college career, all that I played in the four to three, and I've seen things that that guys can get done. You know how you can change the game and allow players to get one on ones and do special things with their talents. And I believe that we should bring in a guy who runs a four three, who runs something similar to Mary Nearly but not the same, has his own little touch on it.

Maybe maybe a few more few more zone blitzers, you know, a little bit more creative with with with how you attack defenses, I mean your offenses. But I would break a four three guy in letting one hundred million dollars man, you know, line up where he wants to and do, and do what he's good and put his hand in the ground. Let Jalen run around out there and the one gap defense give him one. He has one? One uh one? Uh I guess one rule? All right? If you're in the A gap, run through the A gap.

If you got to be gap, you got the be gap. Don't don't you know, get him out of this, you know, confusing stuff because when you have players thinking a lot, that's when they slow down. And I think you're seeing a difference in that one. So I'm all for four three getting Mike Nolan out of here, especially because you can't even get these guys to run full speed for the entire game and hustle and you're standing with Nolan. It sounds like no, no, I know. This is this

is me thinking like the head coach. The head coach, just baty buddy system. You're not on the head coach. You gotta go fire his boy. You gotta fire the guy that gave him his opportunity as an offensive coordinator, which resulted in him getting the opportunity to be a head coach and winning a Super Bowl. You know how these things work. You've been in this league. These dudes ride or die. I mean, if it's one thing, we've seen, nobody cops for coaches like other coaches. So that's gonna

be real interesting for Mike. Now, Jerry Jones and Steven Jones, could he easily make it easy and say, Mike, we're not asking, we're telling. This is what we this is what has to happen. There's not like they ever done it before. All right, they've gotten guys out of here, you know, and yeah, but so they should so so, but Jerry's come out and said, I got my guy. So that's what I'm gonna be very interested to see is is how how much does Mike Nolan get what

he wants? So we'll see, we shall see on that. Um, this is what happens with that so so so so what so, so you you give another year, you've seen how to like you see that it's more than just the scheme. It's it's buying players not understanding what to do. They really saying that the coaches as a whole have no idea what's going on. I don't understand how you need another chance to say, let me get some guys in here that what that believe in me, that the

will will understand better. And you got a whole locker room that's saying that you don't know what's going on. I mean, I don't understand what would be different next year unless you bring in the whole roster of defense is different. Let's say Mike Nolan says, look Aldon Smith, look at what he's done. I'm not able to put in the exact defense where I can take advantage of this guy. And the corners here and dbs, these aren't

the guys that I want. Let me go. Let me go get the guys that I want that I can go do this. Jerry Jones can be persuaded. Okay, we know this. He and Steven can be persuaded. And if they're going to ride with Marthy and McCarthy says, I must have this guy, then this is gonna be a fantastic thing. To me, this is gonna be a fantastic theater to watch in the off season. Who wins this because they gotta fix it. You gotta fix it. And that's why I say to me, it is going to

be one or the other. It is either the players or it's it's your coaches. And if Mike McCarthy says, I gotta have this guy, who are they to tell Mike McCarthy he can't have his guy if he's sold on him, and they say they're sold on him. And Jerry said, hey, there's no guy that can fix this thing like McCarthy. You know, Mike McCarthy remer when he had to make a change up there in Green Bay. Now, it wasn't all him because Ted Thompson had a lot

to do with things, and so did Mark Murphy. But they brought in Don Capers and Caper was able to fix their defense and then it helped them win a Super Bowl. Donc Campers also ran three. So so I'll be interested to see how it goes. Man, I don't listen. I don't get it one. You know, how can Mike Nolan go get his guys that he wants. We're already talking about being and having cap issues and finding ways

to get money. I can't imagine that he just has free agents out there right now that don't cost much that he wants to go get to revamp to his defense. So he's looking at happen to go get some expense some guys that I don't think we have the money to go get two. Are you gonna choose the offensive line or the defense, because right now we need a whole line, and I think a lot of our resources are gonna need to go there. I'm gonna say this, Danny,

I'm gonna say this. I believe we will see some amazing bargains out there this offseason for good players because they're gonna be teams are really they're gonna be in cap hades. The Saints have cap issues next year, Texans have cap issues. I mean there are several teams, man, and you just go over to over thecap dot Com that when you look at what they got going into twenty twenty one, it's a mess. I mean it's truly

a mess. So I think there's gonna be some nice bargains out there, and that's this cap goes down, all teams are gonna have to release really good football players. So maybe making a good argument for Nolan, you're making a good argument for him. Okay, I got you. No, No, it's something I'm saying. Maybe that is where you get McCarthy and Knowlan. You know these two guys, their buddies. They're thinking, again, Hey, this is what we sell Jerry, Jerry, I can get these guys here, you know, plug this

guy here, and we can make it work. I'm just saying they're gonna have a plan. Okay, no man coaches ride with these dudes. And when you got a guy who you owe, I mean, think of it this way. Thinking. You know, Mike Nolan was Doctor Dre and Mike McCarthy was Eminem not even flipped. Mike McCarthy is gonna give He's gonna give doctor Dre a lifeline, man, because he gave him the start. The very things that he has

happened because this dude gave him a shot. I just don't think he's going to a lit him to be blown out because during a pandemic, when he didn't have a full off season to go out there and sell it. Jerry's already telling you and giving you all these different things of why, hey, this has been disappointing, but you couldn't have imagined all the injuries. You couldn't imagine we didn't have time to work with these guys. And you gotta let the coaching staff jail. They're laying all the

groundwork to give them what they want. I mean that in Dandy. Doing this job as long as I have, I've learned to listen to things. And I used to tell people all the time Jason Garrett revealed a lot of stuff. If you listen to what he didn't set. You know what Jason would not say about players would tell me a lot about what he thought about, Like if Jason really liked you, like Zach Martin or Dak Prescott, he would have man just football playing. Guy cares about

the game. And if he didn't say it, like what tacos, what he didn't say, I'll taco Charlton. Always told me what he thought about Taco Charlaton, because you knew Jason Garrett kind of got And so as I hear Jerry talk and I hear Mike McCarthy talk, these guys are laying the groundwork to give themselves a mulligan and to say we didn't get what we really wanted and that opportunity to do what we wanted to do, to implement our system. Let's give it a go. Let's give it

a go. That's what I'm saying. I think they're gonna choose Nolan and McCarthy getting what they want and they're gonna change our players. That's just my opinion turns away in on this tomorrow, Yeah, let them exactly. We'll dive in tomorrow. We're gonna be live out at the Plaza at the Start Friscoe at the Cowboys headquarters. Come on out there if if you bungle on up, we'll be there in person. Um. Hopefully Chris Bean will be out

there too. You know, I want Chris Bean to be out there with us, but I'm gonna feel a lot better it's right there with it. We can just touch and see. Chris being our producers, he handles everything. That's the players lounge for today. He's Danny McRae for or Dallas Cowboys Safety and no long time Cowboys reporter. Will talk tomorrow two thirty pm on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. How about you doing here