Player's Lounge: Final Thoughts & Predictions

To quote Jason Garrett, how are we doing, guys? Is Friday, Baby Friday? You know, we know we still got people trying to figure out this this technology that we're working with overhead the Cowboys. But other than that, you know, we were flying high. We're good. We're ready for Sunday. Okay, we were good over here. We're good over here, man and the wise words of Jason Garrett. Man one day at a time, one play at the time. Let's go.

Cowboys are three point favorites against the Rams. And I'm gonna start off with this because this is fresh, Okay, because Cede Lamb is just spoke to the media, and Cedee Lamb says he expects Jalen Ramsey to travel with Amari Cooper throughout the football game. Here, so let's revisit what we spoke about yesterday here that I'm gonna start with two Berry Church. Okay, Dak Prescott avoid throwing Tomari Cooper since Jayla Ramsey, who you you say is one

of the top two corners in italygue on Sunday. Oh, I mean, you know, I say it. A lot of people said he's definitely one of the top two corners in the country, and he's not number two. But back to the point here. If I'm Dak Prescott and we've talked about this yesterday. If I'm Dak Prescott and I'm looking out there and I'm seeing what I got. It's eleven personnel for those who don't know. Eleven personnel. That's three wide receivers, one tight end. And I'm looking over

there and I see twenty traveling with nineteen. Everywhere he goes, even when I'm sending him in motion across the field, anywhere he goes feel boundary. If he's sitting over there with him, I'm licking my chops on the other direction, because like you said, you got Troy Hill over there, who has five total starts. Yes, he has experience at Nickel, but if they have him on the outside, that's a totally different world than a Nickel. So I'm looking my

chops at that. You got Blake Jarwin matched up against a linebacking core. That's kind of hurt right now. So we got to see who they play at the linebacking corps. And then they do have good safeties back there and rub and Johnson, but I don't know if they can hang with the skill set of Blake Jarwin. We'll see what he can do out there. But if I'm Dak Prescott, I'm licking my chops at all these other mismatches that they have out there. And yeah, you know, I'm Amark Cooper.

He might get thrown to him, maybe once or twice, but I'm forced nothing his way with twenty on him. So agree with your church. So you're so, you're not, So you are avoiding him or you're not. I'm just want to make sure I'm clear on which I'm avoiding. I'm avoiding him, I'm avoiding clue. I mean I might give him just so he you know, I might give him one or two shots just you know, so I don't have to hear him complaining about it. But I'm avoiding twenty at all at all. I think I think

this is absolutely crazy. I'm never gonna change my mind on this because one I'm gonna go back to this. You paid the man a hundred million dollars. That's top down, all right. So the ownership paid him and they expect

him to produce results too. You got this guy lining up out there, and you will tell me that he believes that his quarterback has such little confidence in him when he's going to get a top of quarterbacks that he will not get a ball thrown to him for the entire game because Jaylon res is gonna be following him. I think that is total. That is horrible. That's a horrible way to go into the game. And if they do that, then they should think about raiding the Mark

Cooper to somebody else. If you paying it but eight dollars and you're just not gonna throw the ball to him because because you don't believe it he can beat the goddess across from him. That is horrible. Undere million dollars, you should be anybody that's across from you. To me, if you had a confidence for you to do that, I understand where you're coming from to this. But to me, it's more about not you know, in fear of Jalen Ramsey or the matchup with Amari Cooper. It's just what

you have on the other side. It's just to me, it's more bountiful. I mean, you got Gallop, you got Cede Lamb, who who who get to see play a game in the NFL. But I mean the guys college and come back to the side. I think he I think he'll be able to transfer well to the NFL. But you got Gallop over there, you got Cede Lamb, you got Jarring all in mismatches. So if I'm if I'm Dak Prescott, I'm not forcing anything over to Cooper. I just see over here, I got so many mismatches.

Why don't I let them feast for this first game? That's all. But I'm not. I'm not. I'm not saying force it. That's what when we asked avoid enforce. That's two different things. Right If you if you if it's open, right, he's the number one read or something, look at him first and then go on to your second read. If he's not open. I knew he's asking should you avoid him?

Like if he's the one number one read on that and then you see Ramsey following him, don't even go to your number one read, just go to two, three or four. And I think that's I think that's horrible. I think that's horrible. I think that's horrible going into the season, and that's a horrible outlook for Mark Cooper to believe his quarterback and coaching staff would want the quarterback to do that. I think that is just a bad way to start the season. You go ahead, No,

you go ahead. No. I just think I just think I think Danny's wrong because I am of the belief. And Barry you know it because you've seen it with your own two eyes because you played with Jayla Ramps. You know what, Hey, fine, you can run out here, be a decourt. I'm gonna say, hey, you guys have fun trying to beat Michael gall Let me throw Blake Jarman down to see. Let's see how you beat that. Throw Zeke out of some coverage to seem some live

backers could pick up with. I ain't got enough weapons here that I'm gonna sit up here and play chess. You want to move here, fine, I'm going over here. I'm making moves over there because I like the matchups the Cowboys can have with the other players. That I could just sit up here and tell, hey, Coop, guess what give him next week? They give him next week? Yeah, see and and and that sound good from us sitting on the side in the locker room. Let me tell

you something. If that's the way that you are perceived as a player, that is not good for you, and that is not good for the team, no matter what y'all say. If if that happens, and the look is, man, look he got Jayla Ramsey on them, we're not throwing the ball to him. And this is our top guy, all right, We're just not throwing it to him because we don't believe he's gonna be able to get over Ever,

that's a that's a horrible way to look. Nobody saying you shouldn't throw it to Gallop, and you shouldn't try Ceedee Lamb, and you shouldn't try Jarwin. But when Marie Cooper's number is called, you should throw it to him and give him an opportunity to make him play. That's why you pay him no matter who's guarding up. Let's let's go. Let's let's take this a step further. Since we've got we've got three We've got three people here with different issues on this. At least two of us

have the same issue. So give me an expected stat line for a Mari Cooper against the Rams right here on the players line the hotels dot Com, Danny mccraig, give me a stat line for a Mari Cooper that you would say what I expect. So, so listen, I wouldn't go as far to say, because my argument is you should still give him a chance. He should get eight to nine targets. You know he shouldn't. He should

not leave the game. He should not leave targets. He should not leave the game with only being thrown to two times in the season opener. That would be horrible. I'm basing it off how many times Dak Prescott, based on this conversation, how many times Dak Prescott looked into number nineteen's way, how many times Keller Moore called up a play for number nineteen to get going in the football game. So if it's eight to nine targets, I'm all right with that. If he just doesn't produce, he

doesn't produce. But you went to your number one guy and you gave him an opportunity to make plays and he just didn't come up with it, and then you moved on to the next guy. But if you, if you, if you come out of you say Mannaly threw the battle to Mark Cooper twice, I think that is horrible. That's a horrible outlook for the for the season. All right, So he's got eight to nine targets for Cooper? How many? What do you have in terms of targets? What do

you what are you rolling for me? Targets at the very maximum, I'm thinking five to six targets. But I think he'll get I think he'll get I think he'll get about four catches for forty to fifty yards in there, and I think that would be a successful night of going going against going against Ramsey. I think that would be successful. For four catches, he's gonna catch four out of five. He said he's gonna catch four out of five passes and that's all that gonna throw to him.

Good if he gets that, what you said he should get max targets, he should get a five max targets. He's going to end up catching four him for sixty yards and then look, I'm with him all the way. I'm with him all the way on this. I'm telling you right now, Church, you're right. Don't let him move you off this now, stay strong with me in here, Church, stay strong with me. Okay, right, he caught you. We should just say, may I no more than six, No more than six targets? O. Kay? Now that's and that's

gonna be a lot. So the church, we church were right here because it's gonna be a bit first. Okay, so this is crazy, you said, and then all you gotta do and say the word. That's all you gotta do. Mann is gonna catch. He's gonna catch eighty percent of the balls throwing his way, and then that's gonna go the other way and not throw to him anymore. I think that's stats out raises. But if it happens, it happens. I just don't see it. I see eighth the nine targets.

I'm not saying he's gonna catch eight to nine. I say he's gonna get the ball thrown to him eight to nine times. And we're saying he's gonna get the ball five to six times. That's all. That's all. Okay, listen, listen, I'm fine with that. And when we get there on Monday, we'll discussed this. Okay, that's why I wrote it down. I wrote it down. Oh listen, I'll say I'm wrong.

I'll say I'm wrong. The only way he doesn't get that many target but he don't play, or if he get hurt after the first snap, he's getting eight to nine targets. Okay, this is good, This is this is why we do. The players out here. We have disagreements for this game, right and so already right out the game, I've got an ability to hit up and look at

this now. Now, Church, let's also make sure we let all of the Cowboy fans know that this bias and what is coming from Danny McCree on this because Danny McCray has Amari Cooper on his fantasy football team. This is this is very true, all right, Cowboys Nation, Cowboys Nations, let me true. Danny McCray has Amari Cooper on his fantasy and he is vying, he's vuying game from a Mary Cooper. I just don't see it. And this is getting into this argument. It's now we know this. Let

me tell you this. Let me tell you this. I am not banging on the Mark Cooper having a touchdown or a honey yards in this game. I'm specifically talking about targets for me. I believe in fantasy football this is gonna be a rough week for me because Amari Cooper is going against Jalen Ramsey and Leona Fournett just got on a new team, so I already expect it

to be rough. But as far as targets and them throwing confidence that they hunting million dollar man, I believe they are gonna stick to that and give him the opportunity to make plays no matter who's guarding him. That they were sure to be a scared football player if they just automatically went into the game decide that Jalen Ramsey is going to eliminate him from the game. Plant

that is that it's not good, Okay. I want everybody to have our Twitter handles and at social media handles so they can go ahead and follow us throughout the game about this debate that we're having here. All right, Church, tell everybody where they can find you at on social media, on both Instagram and Twitter, It's at Buried Church forty two.

All right, yeah, man, and listen after Almara gets his eighth target, y'all go ahead and tweet met at Danny dmc forty four on Twitter or find me on Instagram at Danny Underscore mccrai forty Just just let I need no tag Newey, tag Church and let them know that they're wrong. All right, all right, you find me on Twitter at Newey Scrugs. It's n e w Y Scruggs.

It's n e w Y Scruggs. So to recap our debate right here, um Church and I believe that because Jalen Ramsey's expected to travel with a Mari Cooper, CD Lamb said this to the media on Friday afternoon that we believe they're probably not going to throw the ball very much to Cooper Price say stay away from So we're saying five to six targets for Maria Cooper. We got Danny who's got a Mario. No, no, no, I'm saying that they're going to get him eight to nine targets. Okay,

So this is our debate right here. Okay, this is our debate, and that's what we're going what why are you trying to change it? Now? I'm not trying to change it. Let me tell you something. You changing it? Church said a max of five. So why did we get five to six? I just I just wanted to make sure that we're on the same page here with this, with the I did said. I said, I said five, I said five at the most six. I did say that. Yeah, this is true. So he followed, I followed what you said.

I said, first of all, no, no, no, no, no, no no, I said that at least. So he's going over eight to nine. All right, he's going over that. He got it, going over about the targets, the least amount of targets he gonna get this game. So tell the fans how many catches and how many yards this man's gonna get this? No, no, I can't. I can't say that because football is zero. Some game. He's gonna win something, he's gonna lose something. I can't predict that.

I can only predict the game plan that they're going in with. And Amari Cooper is going to go to his number one guy. That's how you build confidence in your receivers, and that's how that's how you make that connection. They're going to do that in week one and five and five targets is not gonna get it done. Let me read do realize it's an away game though, right, Okay, Danny says Cooper will have eight to nine targets. We minimum, we Church and I are saying he will have five

to six targets. That's where we're saying that. Okay, all right, you're good. So we're saying six or less. Okay, is that good with you? Danny? We're saying six or less. Yeah, you want to If you want to stretch it out, that's five. If you want to stretch it out, that's fine. Go ahead, get you get yourself an extra, get your extra catch for Lee Wayne, do what you gotta Do's okay, that's fine. This is good. This is good. This is good.

So everybody, you got our you got our Twitter handles and social media handles to go ahead and we go stay on this and follow us. All right. We've got to take a break here, all right, we gotta take a break right here on the Players Lounge, brought to you by Hotels dot com. And when we come back, we want to dive into Dak Prescott and his message for people out there who are are really dealing with depression, anxiety and the ability to say and raise your hand

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See more, do more to the players loud your reaction, uh, I mean obviously tears and tears and tears, but I mean I sat there and tried to gather what had happened, um and wanted to ask why for so many reasons. It was like the sense of all these emotions coming off of my back and wiped up my tears. Probably after crying for thirty minutes with my dad and my h and my best friends who were all came to, you know, to console me and to be there. That

is Dak Prescott. Dak was on The Graham Benzinger Show, and that's that whole full show will air Sunday UM in Dallas foot Worth on NBC five, right after I do my Sunday show. So that's uh, Graham Benzinger with Dak Prescott. Also Tad Prescott brother is also on this show. I've already seen the entire episode and I'm gonna tell you right now that first segment is it's deep, it's emotional. When I finished watching it, I texted Graham, who's a

friend of mine. I said, Wow, Wow, these two kids, and I'm going to call them kids because I'm a lot older than Tad and and Dak, and I just my heart went out to them. And Dak Prescott told the media the day after because those clips came out and the day after Dak had said that that he wanted to be vulnerable and that, you know, he felt that was part of being a leader to say yes, um during the COVID nineteen when his brother passed away, that he went and he was depressed, and he went

and he talked to someone about it. And I just felt there was so much courage from Dak Prescott to come out and say that. Skip Bayliss, who does one of those talk shows where they debate and say crazy stuff, criticized Dak Prescott forward and he got lit up, and his own company, Fox Sports, came out and said to

day disagree with his opinion. So I wanted to give Danny McCrae and by and Bury Church right here on their show The Players Lines the ability to go ahead and say what you had your feelings are about what Bayla said. And also Dak Prescott's message, Danny, go ahead and start. So the start, I think Skip Bayless's lessons was total garbage. And I was really surprised that Shannon didn't step in and you know and kind of go ballistic on him and saying what he said, Um, I

don't want to focus too much on them. I want to say that I think it was real brave for him to come out and you know, let everybody know and use his platform to let everybody know that it's okay to feel down and then it's okay to seek help.

And I speak, I speak from experience with that one from the standpoint of my wife is a therapist, right, so if you ever, if you ever, if you know her or you see her Instagram or Twitter or anything, she posts about mental health maybe ten or fifteen times a day and she gets a lot of feedback from a lot of dms. So people are really going through this and they're starting to feel okay with reaching out

and getting help. And that is helping these people by expressing his story and letting them know that everybody uh is going through this or can go through this, and nobody is exempt. So get help if you need it, reach out and don't don't don't feel bad about feeling that way. Yeah, that's one hundred percent right. And um, as far as Skipp and Shannon show, I mean, I'm a fan of their show, Undisputed, but the comments he made on there, I think were extremely insensitive and just

weren't right at all. So just you know, I had to say that about Skip, but for Dak Prescott, I mean, I felt like he was extremely extremely brave and showed remarkable leadership and putting himself out there for everybody to know that you know he had He's battling through these

things just like everybody else. And the most important thing I think he did through putting itself out there was like that was that he gave strength to you know, little kids or you know boys and girls and grown women and men as well who are dealing with, you know, some type of depression or have gone through similar things that he's gone through, that you don't have to do it by yourself. There's people that you can talk to

to help get your emotions out there. If you feel like you're more if you feel like you don't really you know, I want to express yourself to everybody. You can see a therapist. You don't have to keep this all bottled in within yourself and dealing with it by yourself. And I think that was remarkable for what he did with that, and I hope he opened the light for a lot of people that they don't have to do

this or go through this by themselves. I can't emphasize enough the amount of respect that I have for Dak Prescott and what he's overcoming his life. He grew up in a trailer his mother, single mom. She was white, three black boys, and in the episode, they talked about how there was strife within their family because there were members on his mother's side who did not want to

accept those kids because they were black. And then in that relationship and just how that ended up in some ways working out and in some ways not working out. But she dies while he's in college, and he talked about how Jace, the young brother who took his life, he was there to watch his mom. The other two were gone, so a lot of it came on him. He was a quiet man, he didn't say very much.

So Dak loses his mother, he loses his brother. Now you think about this unit, it's four people growing up together, the mom and the three boys. Two of those are gone, half of them are gone now it is now just Dak and his brother Tad, And he spoke about how he wants to get up to Dallas Footworth with him. I don't know how anybody can go through those situations and not need to talk to someone and I find

it brave. I have chills as I say this, because I have experienced firsthand what happens when someone takes their life, when the police come and knock on your door, it is it's serious and to me, and we're three black men. Many times in our community we try to tell people to be tough and and and we want people to think that, Joe, you just got to work through it.

You know, it's nothing wrong with raising your hand and Danny talk about your wife is a therapist out there, A lot of black men don't want to come and raise their hand and say I need help. Also, when it comes to resources, there are a lot of people out there who are black, especially who don't have them Black and brown, who don't have the money to go get therapy. I'm lucky enough that I work at a job at NBC five in Dallas Fort Worth where they give us access to counseling. We have that as a

free resource. There are a lot of folks who don't. And anybody like Skip Bayliss thinking that COVID nineteen didn't hit people, you don't understand people. Man. This thing this was isolation for a lot of people, and some folks didn't handle it very well, and that and I should say handle very well. It was an adjustment that some

people had a hard time making. And I know this that Dallas Cowboys as an organization, as a locker room, they're taking care of Dak Prescott the same way they took care of Michael Gallim when his brother took us like two years ago. And I felt like we're giving Skip Bayliss a little too much credit and we're maybe not focusing enough on the Cowboys and the family unit that they have. I think Dak Prescott is going to be able to come out of this a better man.

And I think Dak Prescott knows and feels the respect and love he gets. Charlotte Jones when on social media today and spoke about how brave she thought Dak Prescott was. So there, I've set my piece on that. This bothered me, man. That bothered me because we should be better people than this, We should be a better country. And as a person in the media, I'm telling you right now, there's a way we have to do our job. You have a platform, use the platform properly. This is not a proper use

of the platform. And I'm ashamed that that is what was put out there by someone about another human being. We are lucky enough, Okay, we're lucky enough to cover these athletes. This has been a dream of mine and you along the way, Barry. Then you have to make a decision about how you want to go about doing this job. I have decided that I don't want to go about doing my job in a fashion where you cut down people like that. The man was being vulnerable.

We need to be behind him and say, look, thank you very much and thankful Lee. There's enough people out there in the media and on social media and with the Cowboys family who got Dak Prescott's back, because we've got to be better than that, and we have to shut down the people like Skip Bayless and Fox Sports should be ashamed that they didn't spend that man or even yet tell him that he needed to no longer

work there. Troy Eightman years ago when ESPN employeed Skip Bayliss told ESPN, I will no longer do any interviews with you as long as that man works here, and they got rid of him, and I really believe the Cowboy players should all stand up for Dak Prescott and tell Fox Sports we're not coming on, We're not gonna

do any interviews with you. When you want to do your Sunday show and send your reporters here, or Aaron Andrews wants to talk to somebody, Joe Buck and Troy want to talk some No, we're not doing it because you can't treat people like that. What what Skip Bayless did. In my opinion, that was damaging. Man, that's wrong. That's not how you treat people. And you're supposed to be

NFL partner or NFL TV partner. How do you go after one of the biggest names in the sport in that kind of fashion because you want to make some TV ratings. I'm done. I sat my peace, fellas, I'm done. I'm done then I'm yeah, go ahead. It gives no time for me. Man. That was garbage. That's it. I don't even want to mention the guy. So yeah, yeah, y'all can have it. You know, if we keep talking about him, he you know, I'm done with it. Knew it.

That was that was real powerful man. I'm glad you said what you said, and speaking from experience, I think that was big and uh yeah off of that guy. Yeah, that that got nothing to do with this, and like Danny said, KNEWI I was extremely well said, and you could tell it came from the heart and it came from passion man. And and you're right. I mean, there's no there's no place in the media for people who cut down people like that, especially in the type of

circumstances and situations that he was going through. It's just not called for at all, and it is garbage. So I'm glad you called it out the way you did. It was much needed. You guys working and have been in the locker rooms, it was your workplace, and you

guys can speak to this firsthand. There are a lot of guys in there who when we just look at them at the surface, they're they're great athletes, but when you get to know them, you realize they have everyday problems like everyone else, and that what we think is perfect is not. And here's Dak Prescott and his brother Tad saying they thought everything was cool with Jays, their brother,

and it wasn't. And I urge everyone please make sure you tune in on Sunday night if you're in Dallas foot Worth on Channel five and watch this interview that Graham Benzinger does because the pain, the tea. I mean, you see tears from these boys. Man, they lost their brother. It's gonna hit home. It's going to hit home for you. And I just came out of this with a whole lot of respect for Dak Prescott that he sit up there and let everyone know, Hey, man, I wasn't good.

I wasn't good, but I went to see someone and he plans on having a good season. He's out there working. I think he's going to make a difference. You guys know, I always I always joke about Jason Garrett, but I'm gonna tell you a conversation that I had with Jason Wants last year, and he spoke so highly about Dak Prescott in terms of him saying, if Dak didn't play football, if he was at IBM, I would telling to hire him. I mean, his respect level for Dak Prescott as a

human being as a man is off the charts. And you and I, you guys, you and I've been around in that lockero. We've seen a lot of people. This is one of the most impressive guys as I've ever been around. And I'm just talking about football, is talking about as a human being and as a man, and I just felt what happened went out of ounds and it didn't need to happen. There's a way we can all do this job properly, and there's a way we

can do this job. And all, you know, try to call things out, But on that instance, man, that's not what that's not what it needed to be about. This is a good guy. This is a good guy who uses his platforms in the right way. And I just hope that as we get ready for Sunday, I hope that they have a good game. Let's take a break right here. When we come back, let's dive into this contest.

Some of the matchups that we're looking for. There's one matchup in particular that I think for the Cowboys defense, they better look out for this young man because if not, it could be a long day. Let's do that. Next on the Players Lounge, brought to you by Hotels dot Com. Hey, they're Cowboys fans with Tight Cleaners at home pickup and delivery.

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with no fans. Okay, no fans. Let's dive into the top matchups. What are you looking at seeing, Church, I'm gonna start with you first. Heve well for me? My top matchup, it's a it's not it's not your regular matchup. I don't it's not player versus player. But what I'm interested to see. What matchup I'm looking forward to seeing is Mike Nolan the new DC for the Dallas Cowboys versus this Rams offense and Jared Golf and all they

got out there. Now, I know they lost a couple of pieces in you know, Gurley, and they lost Cooks, who can pretty much take off the roof of your secondary. But dude, they do still have some good pieces in cup and they do have Robert Woods out there and back they drafted his his name is escaping me right now. But they drafted a running back high who they're pretty high on. A yeah from Florida State, camp Akers from Florida State, who who can be a nightmare matchup for

all linebackers. But that's for another subject. But Mike Nolan, I'm interested to see what type of multiple schemes like defenses he's gonna bring into this fold. Now I know the camp has been abbreviated, and so I'm not sure if he can put all his defense in there at once or all the moving pieces and moving parts that he wants to put it in there at once. But I want to see how he'll attack Jared Golf and

this offensive line. We know they struggled last season protecting Jared Golf, so I think they're gonna this Dollars defense is going to try to attack them by bringing nickels, bringing corners, bringing their linebackers, and I feel like they're gonna have a multiple look kind of just moving parts all over the place. So I'm interested to see how they attack this this Rams offense. But that'll be my matchup to look forward to this Sunday coming up. Oh yeah, honestly,

I have two so quickly. Uh you know, I think our d line versus the Rams offensive line. I think that's going to be the huge matchup if we can take advantage of them and create the pressure that we all expect that we can create. I think it'll be a you know, a smooth game for us. My other matchup, and not because I picked them to have eight or

nine targets, is Jalen Ramsey versus Mark Cooper. And I say that specifically because as a defensive coordinator, if you are able to eliminate one half of the field with one player, you can do so many other things. On the other side. You can double the slide double, you can double two or three people you know in one play. Right, So if a Mark Cooper allows them to eliminate him with just Jalen Ramsey and they can just focus the rest of the defense on the other side of the field,

it'll be a long bay for our offense. So I'm really interested in seeing that matchup and seeing if Mark Cooper can keep the defensive coordinator honors. All right, I'm looking at Tyler Hickbee, the tight end for the Los Angeles Rams. Had a big game against the Cowboys last year, ended the season five weeks on a run. They finally figured out how to use this tight end and Jared Goff who's going to him very much? So how do the Cowboys cover Tyler Hickbee. I want to see that.

I think that's a matchup piece that Sean McVay is going to be able to utilize. So I want to see how the Cowboys deal with that. And on the flip side, we've gone this whole show talking about his offense, stuff about Matt Ups, and nobody's mentioned Ezekiel Elliott. Mike McCarthy has never had a running back this good? Okay, McCarthy's you never had a running back this good. I want to know what's the past run ratio going to be? Yes, you can run aft your three receivers and then also

have Blake Jarwin there. But to me, Ezekiel Elliott can be as good as Marshall Falk was in his prime in terms of catching the football and running it. I don't think that the Cowboys through the football enough to Ezekiel Elliot. When I look at what Alvin Kamara can do with the football, when I look at what Saquon Barkley can do with the football, Ezekiel Elliot can do those same things. Please go back and watch the tape

of Ohio's tate. I was there Jerry for that National Championship game when they took on Oregon and that kid, I mean, he was so powerful ended up when the MVP in Ohio State won the first ever college football playoff matchup. I want to see if Kellen Moore and Mike McCarthy really unleashed Zeke went it's through passing, through running. I just think he could be the guy. Let's let

Zeke eat in this football game. That to me is what I would say if I were talking to Mike McCarthy and Kellen Moore, and I think that if they do that, everything else they want to do can really manifest itself from making sure that that is the guy. The other flip thing and I kind of want to go back on what you said here Church a little bit. Is the run game. When the Rams were powerful, we talk about the offense in the passing, but it was all about Todd Gurling and then being able to run

the football. If they can run the football against the Cowboys, then the Rams are going to be able to throw the ball down the field. Jared Golf is best in play action passing, but if you can't run, he can't do it. And that's what happened when they came to Jerry World last year. Todd Gurling on the twenty yards. They couldn't run the so Rams can't run, the Cowboys have an opportunity within the game. Let's give a prediction for this contest right here, mccraig, what you got? I

got thirty four to twenty one Cowboys. I think. I think we come out, we start off early, and we forced the Rams to have to throw the ball to try to come back, and we get a lot of pressure, get a couple turn numbers off golf because we know he'd throw them to you in some sacks from d Law. Oh, okay, okay, all right for me, I'm gonna go twenty eight seven Dallas Cowboys. I feel like I knew he hit it

right on the head. I feel like the Cowboys will get that run game going often and early and often, and I feel like that Rams defensive line just won't be able to hold up against it. I think they'll have their way in the run game, and that'll lead to Gallop, CD Lamb and Jarwin having their way in the past game. I'm Mark Cooper might get, you know, a couple of sprinkles here and there, but I think that run game will lead to the opening up of the pass game, and I think eventually the squirrel just

get greater and greater. Cowboys will end up taking this away from the Rams twenty I hear that, right. I'll tell you that Rams offensive line it's not good. I'm telling you it's not good. All right. Vegas has the Cowboys as a three point favorite on the road. I've got a lot closer. In fact, the way I'm calling this game right now is I think the fact that

you got a new defense that you're installing here. Um, I'm gonna say the Rams start the game and better than the Cowboys to have a lead, and that the Cowboys end up winning it as Dak Prescott leads a comeback and Dallas wins twenty eight twenty three. So that is my prediction Sunday Night football. Okay, you think you think Golf and the we're gonna be able to put up a couple of numbers, Yes, I do. I do. Um, Okay,

all right, I think they'll be able to. Well. I mean also I kind of come back to they know the system they're running, and I think that's going to be an advantage. I looked last night and how Deshaun Watson was trying to you know, deal with his targets

a little bit, and he didn't have de Hoop. It was not the same offense that he'd been accustomed to, and I thought there were times where they struggle a little bit versus looking at Kansas City, who was just I mean, who we I mean, these guys were just pumping it in there from from jumping. If it's not for a couple of drop touchdown passes, the score might have been more than it was. Thirty four twenty was the final there. So I'm just thinking it just may

take a little bit. And as you talked about before, Nolan didn't have the whole offseason, so I expect there'd be a little bit of confusion here and the Cowboys just getting used to Mike McCarthy. I said, expected just to be a little bit and I think that on the second half the Cowboys will find themselves and get their footing. But I think it may be a little bit tough. And also it's a new stadium and you guys have played in Statius before me what is it like to go into a place you have never been

before and to try and get yourself acclimated. It's difficult. There's one place that I've never got acclimated to playing and I played there about ten times and I was Philadelphia. I mean, no matter how many times you go into that place, I mean, you'll never get acclimented to those fans. So I mean, maybe LA will bring that same type of hype and me all, they don't have fans. That is true, that is true. Never mind that blew my whole point. Yeah, it's a it's a. It's an empty stadium.

I think there'll be all right. Yeah, it'll be good. They'll be good. It's turf and screens. I think I think they'll be just fine. Let's touch on that. That that game last night, the Thursday night game between the Chiefs and the Houston Texans and Patrick Mahomes with three touchdown passes. Uh boy, the kid from LSU was everything that we spoke about here yesterday. He looked good. Uh. Clyde Edwards a layer, twenty five carries, one hundred and

thirty eight yards. Uh, one touchdown. David Johnson. We talked about David Johnson playing for Houston. He I thought he performed well. Eleven carries, seventy seven yards and a touchdown and he had three receptions for thirty two yards. Because they were behind, they couldn't establish the run very much. But I saw some positives there for for for for Kansas City, that this team could be even more dangerous

and they can run the football. Like your thoughts on last night's game, Church, For me, it was, you know, definitely David Johnson performed better than I thought he would. Um the trade was still was still just crazy to me. I mean because as you can tell Deshaun Watson, he needs that kind of security blanket when it comes to passing the football. But the main thing I've seen from last night's game was the Houston Texans offensive line is

downright garbage. I mean, I feel like every play Deshaun Watson was back there, he was running for his life. And I mean, for them to put that much money invested into him, I know they're scratching her head, like, man, how are we going to keep this kid healthy throughout the season, Because I mean Kansas City sometimes they weren't even blitzing and they were getting after him. So they got to find some type of way to show up that offensive line because that kid was running for his

life all game last night. Yeah, I think that game winner is expected. We knew that the Texas didn't have many weapons. Church, I'm glad you didn't pick up Randall Cob. We know, we know fuller usually in some big yards, but the Texans always find a way to drop the ball man and uh, and you've seen that a few times last night, even from David Johnson. He was the shining light. But they're gonna have a long season because Deshaun Watson cannot do it with the receivers that they

have out there. Reminds me of the Patriots from the previous year, where you're like looking around you like, who's this guy throwing the ball too? Though? Huh when I kept seeing I'm surprised you ain't saying that by Lsuan. I just want tonew It to pass it back to me so we can talk about these these idiots and there doing. Uh they're in the unit. No oh, oh my goodness. All right, go ahead, go ahead right there. But before before the game was played, Houston stayed in

for the national anthem. Kansas City stayed out on the field. All the Kansas City Chiefs players stood for the anthem except for one player. And then and before they had kickoff, that all the players from Houston and Kansas City walked to the middle of the field. They locked arms in unity,

and the Kansas City fans boot for Craig takeover. I think, I think it's nuts, but you know, I'm not surprised, and it doesn't hurt my feelings because as I watched all this stuff go on through the pandemic and I saw, you know, people in the streets and the protesting. The reason that I was so you know, I was so happy at thet what could possibly happen in the futures because I said, man, my generation and the generation after me and the generation after them will be will be

the ones to make the change. When I look at them stands, and the way I see it, that's the old generation. No, you know, you know nothing against you and your generation KNEWI. But it's some people that are still living in the old times. And the new generation is going to be the one to come and change. And those people are out there protesting and starting companies and doing all this other stuff. So let those people sit in the stands, that old generation do what they

want to. They will be the minority soon and the majority will be against racism. So that old. I'm not that. I'm not that on. I'm not that on. That's that's not the democrat. I'm not that demographic. Okay, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever generation is before us, before millennial. Are you a millennial? Well if you're not, I'm counting everybody, but I'm I'm counting everybody before us to be you know, getting phased.

You know, they stuck in those ways, and then you see, you know, the millennials and the gen Z's and all that stuff. Now we're moving on, we're moving on, and we're kind of is getting eliminated piece by piece, and those old people they'll be stuck behind those seventeen thousand. They'll be in the minority soon and they'll be boring and looking like idiots. Why everybody else is you know, trying to trying to correct social injustice and fight racism. Jj Wat said he wasn't He said he wasn't sure

what the booing was about. Jj Let me tell you. It was booing them saying we don't care about unity. Okay, that's what the booing was about. We don't care about it, we don't want to see it. And it was very clear from the fans about how they felt when they booed, and you're I think sometimes when people think they're doing, you know, the right thing, and they think that other people are going to see it that way, they don't. There's some folks out there who are not going to

be convinced. Somebody once told me a man convinced against his willings of the same opinion. Still, there are a whole lot of people out there who think that there's nothing wrong at all. And this is where the players have to keep hammering the message home. Yes, there are things wrong. There are things that need to change. So J J. Watt, you got you gotta, you gotta, you gotta gotta open your eyes a little bit there, Bay, gotta open your eyes a little bit more, because there's

a whole bunch of people that don't want unity. Even though the players came out there and said, you know, let's all stick together, let's let's be a better American and listen, let me say that it stop trying to make these people happy. I listen to them. We wanted to do something, we want to say here, we want to do something to not offend nobody. And I'm like, what the people that you are offending are the people that they're not gonna change their mind. That's the people

that we're fighting against. Stop trying to make them people happy. We don't care about that. Let them boo. Let let them boo at the unity or whatever you're trying to show. This is gonna any racism will make everybody equal. Let them boo, let them be mad, let them people not like y'all, let them not watch the game. Nobody care about that. They will be in the minority. Let's let's

cater to the people that want change, all right. So, so based on what we saw there, and we'll see different UM teams come out UM on Sunday with different, you know, obviously different ways that they want to express themselves. Miami Dolphins already put a video out saying that they're not going to be involved. So what do you expect the Dallas Cowboys to do it? So fight stating where there will be no fans. By the way, there will

be no fans for this football game. So the national anthem is played Bury Church, what are you expecting from these cowboys? From these cowboys, I mean, we've we've heard a lot of talk the whole offseason about you know, they want you know what change to be made, and we need to speak to Jerry about having changed and

being able to protest. So I expect going into so Far Stadium, especially without without there being no fans, I expect there to be some sort of protest from the Dallas Cowboys um, whether it be taking a knee, or whether it be not coming out for the anthem or you know, showing us unity as like as the Chiefs and the Texans did. I expect something to happen. There's been too much talk in the offseason for nothing to happen. So we shall see. But I expect the protest to happen.

You know, I don't know what I expect. I hope we don't go out here and do nothing's super crazy for marketing or something just to you know, to be seen as the people who are doing the doing the most, doing the biggest. Then you know, do the thing that's

gonna make change. Like Colin Kaepernick took a knee for a reason, and then now we're trying to like, you know, change at all, to change the message and make all these other people happy and do this, do what's gonna go gonna make the most difference and whatever that is doing. If that's taking a knee to show that that's that's when you stand that didn't do that. Like, so, I'm

not sure what they gonna do. I don't think we'll see that many needs taken though, because you know, this is the Cowboys and previously, you know people would threatened to get you know, not put on the field because of this. Don Terry Poe has had already come out and said so during training camp he planned to take a knee during the national anthem. Ezekiel Hellet on record saying that he expects some Cowboy players to lead demonstrations, and Dak Prescott said that whatever guys did, they would

do individually. Tyrone Crawford came out and said that the Cowboys are going to come out and do something powerful. So I don't know what will happen here, but I'll be ready for it and we'll obviously have a discussion on Monday to talk about it, and obviously that night on my Sunday show, I'll dive into it and we can touch on that aspect. Now, what about the fact that you're also having two national anthems played, Lift every

voice and sing. Otherwise there was a black national anthem has been played first, followed by the national anthem, So that's going to be very interesting. Are is there any protest during the black national anthem and versus the the

Star Spangled banner? You know what happens there. The Miami Dolphins already said, look, we're not gonna come out because we're not going to put ourselves in a position to have to make any choices at all, and they did not want to be a part of what they felt was the NFL's marketing of how they were trying to put this out there. So, Church, what do you think about that? I think, you know what, I think, you know, the more I think about the Miami way of doing things,

I mean, it sounds like it could work. I mean it's basically them just saying, hey, look, we don't want to do anything with this, you know, NFL marketing, having this black national anthem in front of the you know, the the national anthem that everybody goes by. But I think it could work. I mean, they came up with their idea, they're they're unified in it, and it's showing that, you know, they're protesting this as a unified group. So I believe it could work. Well, yeah, listen, I'm at

what people saying in the locker room. I tell you this in full transparency. I want people to show who they are. So if that's how you feel, come out in protest the black National anthem. I would love to see it. If that's the If that's the way you really feel about it. You know, people are protesting the you know, the other national anthems. So if you feel it, that's strongly about it, and that's how you feel about black people and in the national anthem, come out and

protests the shorts. All right, let's uh, let's let's hit on a couple of topics before we get out of here. Number one, Alden Smith expectations Game one. Mccraig go, I give him a sack, you know, because they're so secretive. I have no idea where he's gonna play, how he's gonna play, so you know, that's kind of up in the air. So I see him getting a couple of

quarterback persons. It maybe a sack, just just because I believe that we'll be up in the game and Jared Golf will be trying to complete a lot of passes to come back. If the if the depth charges is correct, and he's playing sam linebacker out there. Um, in the base coverages, I can expect him to look kind of lost out there. But um, if he you know, if he's off that edge like he usually is, man, I can I can see him. Um, I can see him having a sack or two out there, maybe just just

because of the Rams offensive line being so terrible. So I can see him walking out of the game with a sack or two. And let's end it the way we began talking about the wide receiver position. So who has the bigger night? Mark, Michael Gallip or C. D Lamb Church y'all start with you? Well, y'all know how you know I already feel what's gonna happen with Cooper. No, no, nothing against him. It's just, you know, I feel like Ramsey, you know, just gonna you know, end up getting it,

getting after him a little bit. Sou the bigger night. I'm gonna have to go with the rookie. I think, um, out of all the receivers, I think McVeigh is gonna make the rookie, you know, prove itself out there and say you gotta beat this one along coverage before we put any attention on you, and I think that I'll give him a boost up because I think he's an extremely gifted wide receiver. So I think he'll have the

best night out of all three of them. Listen, and just despite both of y'all, I'm going with nineteen, and I'm gonna tell you why. All right, I'm going I'm going with nineteen because the kool aid that New Year's drinking, I'm gonna start sipping a little bit. And i'm gonna say that McCarthy talked to killing. He said, we have to find a way to get Amari Cooper open and with the ball, just like the Saints do with Michael Thomas.

They put them all over the field, and so when teams run his own, you'll see Michael Thomas in the slot and he'll get away from Jayale Ramsey if he getting locked down like that. So I see to him getting a lot of opportunities, you know, to get open and beat the number one read. So I see him having a big night, albeit probably not against man coverage on Jalen Ramsey. I think they find a way to get them the ball and get them involved. Okay, I'm

going Michael gallup as usual. There is disrespect here for number thirteen. Number thirteen will have the best night of the Cowboys wide receivers. Okay, and that just right there, and that that's it. And by the way, I expected Sequel Ellie to have be best offensive night period. I'm expecting two rushing touchdowns from exeque Ellie and I think he's gonna get about three or four receiving balls in

the air, receiving and do his thing. And you know, pick up Gallup on your fantasy No, he's not, Okay, not this year. Okay, I'm just checking. I had an opportunity to take him and I didn't do it, and I regret that because I should have. I should have done it because Gallant was a part of my fantasy football championship team last year along with Dak Prescott. I was unfortunately did not get the band back together. Let

him walking free agency. Ain't that song? Man? I know I was trying not to be too much of a homer, but I did. I did mess that up. I went another way, and I regretted it. I regret like I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have done I should have just gone ahead and taking a guy that I believe will have a very good third season and have a breakout year. All right, look, everybody, enjoy the game on NBC Sunday Night. Football Week one is finally here.

We're drinking the kool ai. We all say the Cowboys will win this football game, and make sure you check out our bet because McCray says Cooper will have eight to nine targets at least in this football game. Church and I disagree because Ramsey's expected to travel against Cooper, so we're saying he'll have no more than five or six targets. So tweet us during the game about it. I'm at Nui Scrugs at n w Y Scruggs, n

e w Y Scruggs on Twitter. Fellas, tell everybody with you your Twitter handles and the social media handles up Instagram and Twitter. It's Barry Church at Barry Church forty two and Twitter at Danny, Twitter at Danny dmc forty four, Instagram Danny Underscore mc cray forty All right, that is our show. We appreciate everybody tune in this week and thanks in big props to our man, Chris Ban. Chris Ban makes this show happen. We can't do a thing without him. He doesn't get enough credit. He does all

these great podcasts here with the Cowboys. We appreciate you so much. Chris all right, thanks for everybody for watching The Players Lounge, brought to you by Hotels dot Com right here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.