Player's Lounge: Is This A Must Win?

All right, Church, Cowboys face the Atlanta Falcons. This is going to be the Cowboys initial home opener that will be fans in the stands. Here's the question we got to ask right out of the gate. Is this a must win? Because if you lose your O and two, if you win one and one, man, that's that's a tough question. Man. Is it a must win? I mean, it's only the second week of the season, so I mean,

but I'm gonna lean towards yes. And here's why. I mean, I just think this, this defense and this offense they both disappointed in how they performed in Week one. I mean, I think we can all say that they're both disappointed. I think the offense didn't put up as many points or many yards they wanted to. In the defense, they just played pretty much off balance all week one. So I think it's a bounce back game for both of

those growth of those units. But being as it, it's only the weeks two, and if you look at our division, I mean, they haven't fared that well so far. I mean the Eagles lost the Philly loss, and then I don't think anybody trust in Washington long long term, even though they did win Week one. So the division I think is still up for grabs. But for confidence wise and just going forward with momentum, I think this is definitely has to be a bounce back game. It has

to be a momentum shifting type game. Has to be a confidence building type game. I mean, if we go out there and we go up there and lay an egg offensively with all this talent, all the I mean throughout the whole offseason, that's all we heard was we got so many it's talent we got, you know, Dak is the reports of Dak getting mentioned for MVP, and then we got all this talent we added on defense.

So I just think this has to be a must win as far as confidence and momentum momentum building because this this offense has the capabilities of being one of the top five offenses in the National Football League. But we got to start playing late, and I think we gotta get more creative when it comes to play calling. Now. Defensively, we got everything set, I believe in tune, a couple of things here and there just to get that pass

rush going, and we got to stop the run. But offensively, I think we gotta go out there and have a huge game. And I'm gonna lean towards yes, saying that this is a month must win game even though it's only Week two in the National Football League. All right, Church, for me, I want to touch on something that Mike McCarthy said before at today's press conference, which is to go where you want to go, you gotta win your home games. And this is the Cowboys first home game.

Mike McCarthy's pretty good at at and T Stadium. He's won a playoff game, their Divisital playoff game, and he's also won the Super Bowl at this very stadium. So Mike McCarthy has he has some success in this building. But they gotta win because you need to protect the house. I mean, that's as simple as it gets. Very you play for the Cowboys, you know what it's about. Winning at home. There will be some fans, McCarthy said, a

twenty five percent capacity. And coming off this rams game, to me, not only do you have to win it, but next week you gotta go to Seattle. I mean we're talking about a team that if you lose this game, you could be oh and three. If you win this game, you could be one in two. I mean, these are scenarios that are real for the Cowboys. And if you're trying to get where you want to go, you gotta start winning your games at home. And they can talk all day long about cleaning up things, but they need

to leave Sunday with a w in their pockets. I am going to call this a must win from the standpoint of you can't fall behind you know, O and two and maybe go oh and three, And you're right about that. I don't even think about that. They have to go to Seattle next week, and then these are all three NFC opponents that they're facing. If they go down oh and three. It's not just you know, oh and three in the National Football League, it's the NFC.

I mean, this is all playoff. You know, you're trying to position yourself for a playoff and if you go, you know, it ends up being like a tiebreaker or anything like that. You look back at the first three games, those are three NFC, three NFC opponents that you let you know, slip by. So you know what, you've convinced me. You've got me going in the right direction that this has to be a muscle win because Seattle is it's

just not going to get any easier with Seattle. We saw what they were at capable of doing week one, so you don't want to go up there too. And two. So you know what, you convinced me, know, you got me thinking that this is a must win game from McCarthy and the Cowboys they talked so much about. We looked at take We saw some things that we need

to clean up here. Bear you played this game, Tell our audience what goes into that when they talk about, hey, there's some mistakes that we had here, some prestat things we weren't doing correctly of guys not in position. How do they go about that? What's the teaching process and the practices like during a game week to look at last week's take and how you get better off. Well, for going back to my days as you know, as a Cowboy and a jackquar, I mean they're pretty much

the same. As you go off through any any team in the National Football League, especially coming off of a loss, you go in. You got that some teams have Mondays off, some teams have Tuesdays off. But whichever day that you're in the facility, that first day after a game, you're going into film, whether it be good, bad, or indifferent,

you're going into film study. And when I was with the Cowboys, we used to call it Garrett vision because before you broke off to you know, your defensive meetings and your offensive meetings where you watch it as a group. You sat there as a whole team in front of the whole entire team and staff, and were put on There's these ten plays and five of them were good and five of them were bad. And Garrett we called it Garrett vision because he was be the one that

breaks it down. And if you were part of those bad plays, I'm telling you you did not want any parts of that because, I mean, you're pretty much getting embarrassed in front of the whole team. So they're coaching, the head coach, they break it down for you that way, and they pick out the five good, they pick out the five bad, hopefully just to teach their teaching moments. They're trying to get teaching moments to better correct the

mental mistakes that were that were made out there. Now, once you break off and you break off in your offense and defensive meetings, usually you don't break off into your you know, position groups, like everybody pretty much stays the same. So when we were there, and that's when it really got you know, it really got heated. If it was a it was a bad game because the coaches they're calling you out on everything and they have to, I mean everyone, everyone has to be coachable when you

get to this level. So it don't matter if you're DeMarcus Lawrence or if you're you know, CJ. Good went on special teams, you're going to get coached the same. So when they break that film study down, the first thing they do is look at those mental mistakes. I mean, that's the first thing they point out. It's you know, where were you aligned right here? Why didn't you go to this gap or why didn't you stunt to this gap? And whether it be good batter and different, they're gonna

break it down and they're gonna have you right afterwards. Now, once they break it down, they kind of you know, stash it away and they kind of say, you got to forget about it until you know the next or they forget about it and get ready for the next week. So right now they're probably going through that process of you know, breaking down film and all that good stuff, and then on on today's Thursday. So this is Thursday.

This is a practice week, so they're definitely working with a secondary and going over the passing scheme for Atlanta, which is probably extremely intensive because Atlanta has one of the premier passing attacks in the National Football League. So today they're going over as a secondary, going over the passing attack and we'll see what they have in store for Atlanta. All Right, these Bury Church former Dallas Cowboys safety underwey scrugs and you are checking out the players

Lounge brought to you by Hotels dot Com. We are in our SWBC Virtual swc BC More home studios, virtually not in studio yet. One of the things that I look at for the Cowboys in this game that I want to see them do offensively, Barry is go deep. So went back looked at my notes here, and Atlanta gave up four plays of over twenty plus yards to the Seattle Seahawks and the seahawkstion rolling out DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. I think the Cowboys have three better

receivers to go at this Atlanta Falcons defense. And one of the corners for Atlanta is aj Terrell, who was taken before Cede Lambs. So he's a rookie corner out of Clemson. And I'm just thinking, if I'm Kellamore, if I'm Mike McCarthy, if I'm sitting here in the offensive room, and I'm looking at this tape of the Atlanta Falcons, and I'm saying to myself, Okay, look they're gonna give

up some big plays here, Let's attack them. The Falcons are better up front, they're not as good at the back, and to me, that's where I feel like they've got to figure out a way to attack. I don't think they attacked enough of the Rams in terms of going deep. That one play that could have turned the whole game around the Michael Gallant was a deep pass. Why didn't we see more of that when the Cowboys took on the Rams. I want to see some more of that

against the Atlanta Atlanta Falcons. I would love to see more of that as well. I mean, I don't think they attacked the Rams vertically as much as I would have liked, but I mean it was tough when you got you know, Aaron Donald in there breathing down your neck, Michael Brockers, you got Floyd on the outside. I mean, the trenches were pretty much owned by the Rams that last game, so he didn't really have that much time to pretty go back, go through his progressions and let

it rip. So hopefully this week we have a you know, more stable situation at the offensive line, and we're going against some some ballers on the Atlanta side of the ball too. I mean, they got Dante Fowler, who I was a teammate within Jacksonville. They got Attack McKinley and especially Grady Jared on the inside, So I think they the biggest thing with this offense in my opinion, I think they have to establish dominance on the line of scrimmage,

and I think that starts with Ezekiel Elliott. I mean, we love to see them take shots, and we'd love to see them keep this defense off balance. But in my opinion, you to do that, you have to start with the running. You have to own the trenches. If they can get that going, then I think they can take those deep shots down the field to Cde Lamb, to Michael Gallup, to to a Mark Cooper. But I

think but I think it starts in the trenches. And like you said, with A J. Terrell out there at that corner, I think you know he was a first round pick and he was a high pick, but I think we can take advantage of him on the outside. Like you said, they gave up multiple deep passes to the Seattle Seahawks last week, so hopefully we can replicate that that formula to replicate that game plan to go

and go and defeat the Atlanta Falcons. But let me ask you a question here, Nui, do you believe our offensive line has what it takes to pretty much slow down that pass rush of the Atlanta Falcons. They're gonna have to figure that out. I mean, this is this is what you have practice for, and you have to scheme up forward all week long. I think you got to look at some of the things that you didn't

do enough of in the Rams game. And to me, just going back and looking at my notes, I looked at the Rams forty it's just for one hundred and fifty three yards, and they controlled the clock. The Rams had the ball for eleven minutes and sixteen seconds longer. Going over here, look at the Cowboys run game. You look at the numbers and Bury the numbers were pretty good. Twenty seven rushes for one hundred thirty six yards. They averaged five yards to carry. They didn't have the ball

enough to keep it going. So to me, you've got to actually get out here, run the football and your defense because there's a question you would ask before in the preshow meeting, who's got more pressure this week? To me, the Cowboy offense has more pressure because they have to carry the defense. How do you help the defense, it's

by running the football. With Ezekiel Elliot, Bucky Brooks was on the break earlier today on one of our Dallas Cowboys podcasts, and he spoke about how Seattle and beating Atlanta and they controlled that football game pretty much from go. They were using Chris Carson and they were using that screen game to help out there, help them out there. Let me go back here and I see my notes here. Who we talked about was how the swing routes to

Chris Carter early. He said him going, and he thinks that the Cowboys need to go with that with Ezekiel Eli, Chris Carson ended up scoring him. I think we about a thirteen yard touchdown run on a screenplay. We know Ezekiel Ellick can catch the football. You had three catches in the Rams game here. And another thing Bucky talked about, which I believe is on point. He said, you gotta win first down to help your offense, especially your right

tackle steal. So if you're not in third and longs where you can allow a tack McKinley to rush off the edge, if you can control Grady Jared up the middle, if you guys can win first down, then you got an opportunity to do a whole lot of things you

want to do. Because Barry, we saw the Ram game, third downs for them were easy because they were so effective on first downs with the quick passes, and that just sets up a whole different kind of a play calling for Kellen Moore if he's dealing with third in shorts versus third and loans, and that's how you protect your tackle, your right tackle out here. And Grady Jarrett, we know he's going to be able to come up the middle. He's not in or don't Okay, nobody else

in here that fl is. But they've got a better job of securing things up front. Yeah, I think I think that that would be a start in the great direction if they were secure that interior part of that offensive line. I look, we know Zach Martin's gonna do what he does. I mean, he's all pro, he's you know, probably going to go to the Hall of Fame one day. We know he's gonna do his job. We know Tyren Smith is going to do his job on the left side.

I think it just comes down to Joe Looney, Connor Williams and what Brandon Steel's going to be able to do on the outside versus a Dante Fowler or versus attack McKinney on there to pretty much see what his offense is going to be able to do. UM. I would like to see just a little bit more creativity when it came to offensive play calling. UM. I felt like sometimes we were just too stagnant. We would come out in eleven personnel. Here's a slot, here's the two

receivers outside. I mean I want to see some more you know, bunch bunch, bunch situations or stack the receivers, just creative different ways to get Amari Cooper the ball, or to switch up your offenses. You might run the same routes as you ran before, but just have them situated in a different type of formation to catch the defense off guard. I just think we need to get a little bit more creative offensively, which takes on those We could talk about creative things all day long here,

but it comes down to execution. Now you look about that fourth down play and where cd Land didn't go deep enough here they got to some of the things you gotta do is you know, not so much creativities, execute And to me, they've got to keep the football. I mean, if we see, if it's one thing we know and we've seen in the past couple of years, is the offense has to protect the defense. And how do you do that by making sure you are holding onto the football with some long drives here use the

run game. So if they can do that, then I think they could be pretty dug on effective here. I know people talk so much about pre snap motions, and if you heard a minor guard this press conference today, it was all about Hey, pre snap, this, pre snap that Barry you played this game. They can try to disguise things all day long, but if you can't execute the play, who gives a rip of who ran where it looked like it was going to be a direction there?

You gotta go out execute. You can have holding penalties, you can't get bull rushed you. You can't allow a guy like I mean Aaron Donald was wrecking guys at the at the line of scrimmage. Cowboys got to win up front. So so we can talk about moving people all day long, but if Grady Jared is busting Connor Williams, then that's gonna be a problem here. So those things have got to get fixed, and we got to talk more about that. Hey, we have Will McClay join us

on the Players Lounge yesterday, So let's hear from Will McClay. Next. For some of you folks out there to want a whole lot of changes on the offensive line group, we'll do that right here on the Players last brot to you by Hotels dot Com. Next, Hey, they're Cowboys fans with Tight Cleaners at home pickup and delivery. Cleaning your

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former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys. Back in the day. I was a guy who always got the tough yards and that's why I run with John Deer today. In fact, I have a John Dear three zero twenty five E tractor that can handle any yard work I need to do, even the tough yards way out back. So if you have one acre or a thousand, John Deer has the equipment that's just right for you, Visit a John Deer dealer today and run with us. We are the official

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to improve what they're doing. We have to help them out with some of the things we're doing and with It's like riding a bike. The first time you wrote it, you might have scanned your needa first time. Now the second time you got better. The third time you got better. We feel good about the group. No it's not Leo Collins out there and some of the stuff. But these guys are paid to do, you know, to do their jobs and that's what we expect to do. You can't

just switch everything around. It's not fantasy football. You can't take a piece and put it into place and think that everything runs consistently from the beginning. Um, you know, it was like you go into your job, if you've got somebody new working next to you you, you have to figure them out and you still have to do your job. And that's that's where we're at right now, and we

feel better about it. And we have to continue to do things to you know, work to use our strengths to you know, to the positive and overcome some of the negatives by doing some things that way schematically. And that's what all our teams are going to have to do. The teams that are wanting to know, they're gonna have problems next week and then everybody will be talking about them. So it is a marathon, not a sprint, all right.

That's Cowboys Player personnel director Will McClay. He is the man who gets the guys and Will's done a fantastic job here. Look, I know, Cowboy fan, you're frustrated right now because you're seeing the injuries and you worn't happy with the Rams loss. But everybody is talking about trying to make these wholesale changes on the offensive line after one week. That's just not how you do it. Okay.

They've been working at training camp all summer long here, and after one game in which you lose by three points, you don't just scrap the whole thing. Aaron Donald is a two time NFL Defensive Player of the Year for a reason. This week, when the Rams take on the Eagles, I think Cowboy fans are gonna say, you know, maybe they weren't as bad as we thought, because the Eagles gave up eight sacks to Washington last week, and Aaron Donald could be a one man wrecking crew. You're checking

out the players. Last brought to you by Hotels dot Com. I'm NEWI Scrukes, longtime Cowboys reporter, joined by former Cowboy safety Barry Church, who got us Will McClay yesterday, and I just thought Will McClay trying to be the voice of reason here when people talk about we'll move Carter Williams right out to right tackle, take steal out of the game, put Joe Lounian center, and put Conor McGovern center. Like no, no, you can't go make all these changes. Maybe, no,

you can't do it. I mean, and he broke it down. I think what he said was perfect. I mean, I think he broke it down perfectly for all the Monday morning GMS and all the Monday morning quarterbacks out there, because I was one of them. I was one of those people that were like, man, what is going on. We need to move this guy here, We need to put this guy tackle, or we need to be doing this. You just can't do that. I mean, it's just frustrations and if and if you build upon your frustration, you're

just compounding the problem. So we'll put it perfectly, man, you can't. This isn't fantasy football. This isn't where you can just go, let me go pick up from this group over here and put him at tackle and put him at guard and move him from center over here because he's a little bit heavier. You can't do that. I mean, these guys have been practicing at these positions for all of camp, for thirty some days they've been gelling together to become a very strong unit for this team.

So you can't just say, let me move this guy to guard. He can probably play a little bit better over here. I mean, you can't just throw him out there, especially the first game of the season. After that, I mean, you just can't do that. I think will broke it down perfectly for us. This isn't fantasy football teams. This offensive line has to gel together to be able to perform at a high level. And we're getting Lyo Collins back in a couple of weeks, so all is not lost.

And like you said, Nui, Aaron Donald is a premier pass rusher in the NFL. He's probably going to go down in the Hall of Fame. I think when they play Eagles the next week. Like you said, we'll see that. The Cowboys officive line, it struggled, but it wasn't as bad as it looked. Hey. Twelve Cowboys Way brings high rise luxury apartment living within steps of the Dallas Cowboys headquarters at the Star in Frisco, providing luxury amenities, multiple

floor plants, and unparallel conveniences. Twelve Cowboys Way is where the elite Living meets Exclusive Access. Leasing is available now. Book your virtual in person tour at twelve Cowboys Away dot com. So I went back and was checking out Tank Lawrence here and look, Barry, he's got to be better because we could take a hundred and five million dollar contract. People are expecting results. Aaron Donald was a difference maker for the last Angels Rams. That's why they're

paying him the big bucks around here. Tank Lawrence did not show up enough. He didn't leave the team with four quarterback hurries. He was credited with one solo tackle, two assists, so a grand total of three tackles. But that's not you need more from Tank Lawrence, okammy, That's about you need more for him. And he was asked by the media what he could have done better in this game and how can he get better after that

Rams loss. Here's Tank Lawrence yesterday. Always think I can play better, especially coming out the game with the loss. Always try to, you know, critique myself on how I can get better at how can help my team be better. But overall playing the new defense, new schematics of things, and just looking back on the game, I think I played decent. But like I said, I always think I can get better, all right, Church, So so my feeling is Tank Lawrence get he has to be better. I

need more from Tank Lawrence on Sunday. I need Tank Lawrence to be the guy. I mean, we were yucking up having some fun yesterday, joking about playoff pee and Paul George not getting it done. If this is what comes with when you take one hundred and five million dollars, Okay, we have a right to sit up here and say we need production. I'm wearing his Dallas Stars cap here. And you know they paid Jamie Ben a truckload of

money over eighty million bucks, and they came out. Ownership came out and said early in the contract said what are you doing. We need to see a return on our investment. And right now, when you start looking at last year, five sacks for Tank Lawrence. And I know we're just starting to hear, but Tank Lawrence has got to be better. Can't be out here on the first play jumping outsides. He's got to rise to the level of what you expected. And let's be honest here, Barry.

The best defensive player they had on Sunday was a dude who hadn't played in five years in Olden Smith. What does that say about a guy like Tank and other guys who've been with the Cowboys. I mean, you're right, it's he's he's got to step it up. I mean, with great pay like that comes great expectations, and right now he's he's just not fulfilling those expectations. Right now, if you hit the you hit the point right on

the head. I mean last year, he's coming off of him five sack performance after getting that huge, huge, huge, huge bag he got from the Dallas Cowboys. In now this year he's starting He's only one game, I'll give it to him, is only one game, but he's starting off slow. He's just not having that impact that we thought he would have with his other counterparts right there and you and you said it already. Alvin Smith, a

guy who hasn't played in five years now. Granted, when he was playing, he was one of the premier pass rushers in the NFL, but he came off a five year hiatus and he was the best defensive player we had on the Dallas Cowboys. Not the guy that you're paying twenty seven million dollars a year or two. So this is a guy that has to step up if he's seeing these double teams, or if he's if if the offense is starting to get the ball out too quick and not letting him use his pass rush abilities

to get to the quarterback. He has to find another way to affect the game. If that's jumping up, batting down passes, if that's playing great against a run. I mean, he has to do something to negate not being able to get to the quarterback and not being able to make those huge splash plays. He has to find a way to help this defense out, even if it's not creating a pass for us, it's tackling, it's batting passes down, it's doing something creating more opportunities for his other d lineman,

taking up too offensive lineman. It's just something that he has to do to step his game up because right now we're not seeing that or the Cowboys aren't seeing that return investment in there one hundred and twenty seven million dollars man, So he's gonna have to step it up along with the rest of the defense. But he's their main guy. He's their main focal point of the defense. He I mean, he took on that bear, he took on that responsibility when he took that humongous bag the

Cowboys gave him. So he has to step his game up for the Cowboys defense to be successful. You and I love watching inside the NBA with Kenny, Charles and Shack and Ernie. Those guys are good. And one of the things Charles Barkley kept talking about and he's like, hey, your playoff guys, your best players have to be your best players here and Sunday Tank wasn't one of their best players. And to me, that's where I would go

and look at the focus. As you start to go get ready to play the Atlanta Falcons, He's like, hey, Tank, we need ninety to be in the backfield. And yes, I know it was a new defense and Tank reference at and yes I know Jared Golf was out here getting the ball quick, get rid of that ball quickly, But you need ninety to show up. Alden Smith was showing up. And if Alden Smith is showing up like that,

and you could get ninety to show up too. Now, Barry, you're starting to cook with some you cook it with some gas right there. If these two don't ye get there, okay, if you got that and with what Atlanta wants to do. They want to go deep with the ball. Matt Matt Ryan had four on the yards over four yards of passing against Seattle on Sunday. Now, the game was out of hand when a lot of that went down, but

still they were putting the ball in the air. So if they're gonna put the ball in the air and he's taking five step drops, then you gotta see fifty eight Olden Smith and ninety tank lords in the backfield. These guys have got to get home. And this is the time you put the pressure on your best play. You say, look, I need you to get better here.

I need you to step up your game because defensively there I mean, I expect this game to be a high scoring I don't know about you, but I expect both teams to have at least four touchdowns each in this game because they have that those kind of offenses. It's gonna be who, in my opinion, who can figure out how to control the game with the clock and if you can find a way to get the get off on third downs, because very third downs for the

Cowboys against the Ramslers a troaches nine to seventeen. That's a recipe to get beat. That's a recipe to get beat. You got to figure out how to get off the field. And to me, that's these guys doing their job and finding a way to either knock Matt Ryan off his spot or go ahead and put him down with a sack. I mean, I agree it, and it really quick before

we got to take another break. But we can't have two years back to back where our highest paid defensive player, you know, highest paid defensive player that the Cowboys have ever put paid in history. We can't have back to back years where he's outplayed by the opposite defensive end. I mean, last year it was m quinn who basically took over that mantle as the premier pass rusher. This year is starting off so far it's looking like Aldon Smith. So I'm just hoping that Tay can step up his

game because we cannot as a defense. We cannot afford two back to back seasons where our premier pass rusher is only second or third best option to get after the quarterback. And that's just telling it like it is. That's not picking on anybody, that's just that's the expectations. Now. I know a whole lot of people have been want to jump on Jalen Smith, and a lot of people have jumped on Jalen Smith. Let me at least say this and Jalen's defense, We all thought that Laton Vanderush

was the better linebacker up the two. He was the first round pick in this first year making the Pro Bowl um and so he goes out of the game and they switched him back. I mean they took Jalen out of the middle four reason. Okay, they made the switch for a reason. And so that this is true, and and you know, some of the some of the things that you didn't like to see, like that Chicago game, they were I felt like McVeigh was picking on him and they made they were making some plays against Jalen

Smith even though they said he played well. But folks, Jalen is not tank. And also the defensive line has got to be able to hold the point of attack and limit the other team from running the ball. Forty rushes by the Rams was too much. You have to help Jalen out. Jalen Smith is not junior, say out, He's not Laton Vanderesh. He's a good player, he's not a great player. And they got to help him out a little bit. He also has to be better at

diagnosing some plays here. But Jalen's taking a lot of heat. So vander esh is out. He's gonna be gone six weeks. We found out yesterday Sean Lee had sports attorney surgery. So Sean Lee is gonna be out six weeks. So Jalen Smith is gonna be calling the plays for the Cowboys on Sunday. Joe Thomas is gonna go in there. Look, they got warts at the position, and that's why I come back and I say, look, that's where you need the tank Lawrence to go ahead and do his thing here.

They've got to help each other here and the offense, I'll say this until the Cows come home. Offense has got to have the football longer than the defense. Being on the field eleven and a half half minutes is what the Rams have the ball for longer, not hurt. The Cowboy defense can't be out there thirty minutes. Arry They can't win games out at all. They can't. They can't. They've got to help the defense. It's just not a formula for success. I mean, if you're if you're there.

I just don't think having their defense out there that long. This is a defense to me that's that's hungry for splash plays and they need to make those slash plays. And like you said earlier, the best defense in my or not opinion for this Cowboys is the Cowboys offense staying on the field. I mean they if they can, If they can basically just milk that clock and just drain that Atlanta defense and our and our defense only has to stay on the field for a short amount

of time, I think we'll have great success. But really quick, I want to ask you a question is did they move Jalen back to middle or is he playing will even with um LV being out. Hey, man, you can't have Joe Thomas playing the middle. You know they can't. That's why you can't. He's got he's got, Yeah, he has to go back to the middle. He's just it

would be unfair to Joe um And Yeah. Will McClay talked about Luke Gifford and Mike McCarthy said, the other you know, the other linebackers are gonna come in and basically take a lot of those snaps that Joe Thomas was doing all specials and try and help out that way. But Look, you've got warts. And one of the things about coaching, and the best coaches they figure out how do we cover up the warts? And when you talk about that, I look at Bill Belichick, dough The issue's

that a fantais out there so um. But but to protect the linebackers, the d line has got to be better. They can't, you know, up the middle. You've got to be able to solidify, you know, you gotta be able to solidify the run and not let Todd Gurley just run up the middle on you. And they got to force some third downs. Okay, that's one thing they weren't doing. They were losing first down all game along against the Rams, and the Rams had control Berry that entire football game then,

and that just cannot happen. It cannot happen. The Falcons are a good offensive team, but they're bad defensive teams. So the Cowboys have got to take advantage of that. This, I mean truly, this has to be a team victory on Sunday. Offense got to help the defense out. Defense can't make keating mistakes. They got to clean up what they did against the Rams and be ready for this Atlanta defense. Because if you make one mistake here, you know, Julio can burn it. Then when we come back, let's

get in. Let's get into Julio Jones and Trey Bond Digs and what Mike McCarthy had to say about the Rookie Corner from Alabama. You are checking out the players allounce with Barry Church and Newis Scrugs. Danny mccraig got the day off and it is brought to you by Hotels dot Com right here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Hey, they're Cowboys fans with Tight Cleaners at Home pickup and delivery.

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the day off here. Okay, Um, the Falcons bring in three guys who had over one hundred yards of receiving last week. So Julio Jones the the perennial All Pro. Then he got Calvin Ridley, and then they brought in another kid here. Um, and I think he played at LSU. So I hate that Danny's not here is he can go down all day long, but but he had a

hundred Um. Mike McCarthy says, Trayvon Digs, the rookie from Alabama will start for the Dallas Cowboys, and he says it's not any disrespect the Julio, but that's what they're gonna do. Here's Mike McCarthy today. Well, I think that you know, the fact you noted his wide receiver type skills, I mean, his his his ability to make plays on the ball is exceptional. That's something that jumps off to,

uh you know, going back to Alabama. Um, but you know, outside of his obvious uh you know, high skill set

to play the position in the physical measurables. The thing that I'm so impressed with, you know, off his college state and and he's and he's brought it here to Dallas is you know, he has such a patience and calmness to him when he's in coverage and that and that breeds, you know, to me, the confidence that he plays with and the understanding that he plays with not only would expect it of him and how he fits into the coverage scheme, but his his ability to understand

route running, you know, the breaking points of a route, you know, the stem of a route. But he plays with with with with a lot of maturity, uh in his coverage um and and that's that's something I've been impressed with from day one. You don't see him, he doesn't panic out there, which you know when the inexperienced players sometimes gets in a in a tough spot. That's you know, that goes back to that timing and rhythm and being insane that you're always trying to improve on

as a football team. But he's he's a very confident young man. That is Mike McCarthy talking about the rookie Trey Diggs from Alabama. Thanks Christian being for getting that cut from us from the Mike McCarthy press conference today. So, Barry, you played this league as safety. You understand what corners are, what they can do. Give me a grade, And how did you feel about Diggs against the Rams Week one? Well, Diggs against the Rams week one, I mean it wasn't perfect.

I mean he gave up a couple of catches. But what I did love about his game is that he was always right there in coverage. I mean, the receivers weren't wide open, they weren't butt naked free out there just catching anything. Every time the quarterback through at him, it was it was it was a contested catch or

was an incomplete pass. And what I loved about this kid coming out and what made him, in my opinion, a first round pick and a second round steal for the Dallas Cowboys is his ability when the ball is in the air to become that receipt. I mean, you've heard it from him time and time again, is that when that ball's in the air, it's just not all the way, you know, just give it to the receiver. It's it's mine, it's mine as well, it's my property as well, and I have just enough right to it

as anybody else. So and that's what I think we've struggled with as a secondary for these past couple of years. It's just taking the ball away and go and getting the ball at the highest point. And I think that's what he brings to this secondary. He brings that physical nature that being able to press at the line of scrimmage. He's a bigger He's a bigger corner, kind of reminds me of that Byron Jones type build, and he can pretty much get after the bigger receivers in the league.

And then he won't back down from a Julio Jones. So I think he is the perfect candidate for the secondary to kind of throw at Julio. I'm sure he won't travel with him all over the field, but I think if they throw him at Julio, it'll give him a different look. He's bigger than they other corners, and I think he can abode well. Now, will he shut out Julio Jones. I don't think so by any stretch of the imagination, because I just don't think any corner in the NFL can do that right now. But will

he have a good chance. I believe so, and I think McCarthy doing it right by putting him in the starting lineup and seeing what he can do it against the NFL's best. How do they help out TREYE. Diggs Because you don't leave a rookie one on one with a premier talent like Julio Jones. Now you can't. I mean, even if that was Jalen Ramsey out there, I'm sure they're gonna do something to kind of give him help.

And what the Cowboys defense, in my opinion, should do is they should at least shade a safety over there just in the early downs, just to see where they're going, if they're going to attack him, or how they're gonna play Digs out there. But I would have a safety shade over top of him. I would let Diggs be as aggressive as he wants to get in the face of Julio Jones. Go ahead, jam him up at the line of scrimmage, get him off of that rhythm that he and Matt Ryan have, because I think that's your

best opportunity at slowing down this passing attack. You have to get up in his space. You have to jam it met the line of scrimmage. And the reason I say have a safety shaded over there, because Julio he's a big guy and he swats corners around left and right. So if he's able to miss that jam, you at least have a safety over the top to help him and deter the quarterback from just launching a deep throw down the sideline. So to me, they have to shade

a safety over there. They have to let digs become aggressive and pretty much just distruct that whole rhythm that Matt Ryan and Julio Jones has. Now. Will it be a tall task, of course it will, because he's the best receiver in the game in my opinion, But just shade a receiver over there, just give him some help early in the downs and then maybe once or twice trickle in just some single play. But for the most part of the game. I would definitely shade a safety

over top of him. All Right, what's one advantage you think the Cowboys have against the Falcons? And what's one disadvantage you think the Cowboys have going against the Falcons? Well, one advantage I think the Cowboys has. I think it has to do with the offensive line or not the offensive life. Thing has to do with the offense. Period.

They have that bell cow back in the back name Ezekiel Elliott, I think if they're able to win those trenches offensively and get him the ball going early, get him his touches, whether that be out of the backfield as a receiver or running the ball, whichever the way, they can do that to grind this Atlanta defense down, I think they'll have to do so. They have to get him going in the running game early, and I

think they will be able to do that. I mean, this defensive line for the Atlanta Falcons is more known for its pass rushing abilities. Yes, the Seattle Seats didn't do much on the ground, but that's because they had whatever they wanted in the air against Atlanta, So I think for us it'll be the exact opposite. I think Zeke should be able to eat well on this Sunday afternoon, and hopefully we'll be able to get after this Falcons defense. But the disadvantage, I will say, I think it's going

to be just the passing attack overall. The Atlanta Falcons is a better one than the Cowboys, So I think the disadvantage is even though we might shade a safety over there to help Digs out on Julio Jones, what about the rest. I mean, they got Calvin Ridley out there. They got that kid from LSU, like you said, and really we cannot sleep on him. This is one of the better route runners in the NFL. We've seen what

he did to Sealoty the other day. I mean he's making people fall left and right, and there was nobody around him for his touchdown. I mean it was like somebody maybe twenty yards away from him. So this is an extremely dangerous receiving corps and I think that's one advantage that they do have over the Cowboys. But overall, I got a lean towards the Cowboys to get this

victory on Sunday. All right, So one week for Mike McCarthy in his new staff to kind of go ahead and work out the kinks here and understand what it's like. A lot of teams who had coaching staffs already intact had advantages. And you look at the Cleveland Browns. They got to be thirty eight to six by the Baltimore Ravens. And we know the Ravens are a good team, but that's the new staff led by head coach Kevin Stefanski

and just that's not an excuse. But at the same time, we can't act like it's not an advantage because we spoke about that how the new coaches who didn't have all the kind of time that they need the offseason would have some issues in The Cowboys definitely had theirs. Speaking of the Browns, they play Cincinnati tonight. They're going to have that game in Cleveland. Both teams are over one, uh the brown six point favorites. Who do you like and why in this game? Barry Church, I'm gonna I'm gonna.

I'm gonna lean towards Cincinnati on this one. I you know, I like what I saw early from from Joe Burrow. I mean, he had some rookie struggles out there, but it didn't seem like the moment was too big for him. I mean he went out there and I feel like he played to the best of his abilities. So I think um Aj Green and him will get even better as the season progresses. Um I think they have the better running option now, Nick Chubb. You know, I feel like he is one of the better running backs in

the NFL. But I think he's getting his carries eight into by Kareem Hunt. So I mean, I don't think their running attack is as strong as just Joe mix him by himself. Um So that's what I'm gonna lean towards. I'm gonna lean towards Cincinnati. I just think the Cleveland right now is a dumpster fire, and I gotta lean towards Cincinnati on this one. All Right, Cleveland's at home. Cincinnati's gotta show me they can go out and win games on the road. Um So, I'm not gonna tell

I'm gonna take the Bengals. What I want to do and see tonight is how Baker Mayfield responds to a bad first game. He's got to find a way to make some connection with Odell Beckham Jr. He's too good of a weapon to not put up some better numbers in Cleveland with all sorts of help around him. So

can Baker Mayfield see down the football field? Because I'm getting to that point in time where if Baker Mayfield doesn't have a good year, you gotta sit around here starting to ask yourself, is Baker Mayfield really the guy? He was a number one pick in the draft, and right now I'm not seeing Baker Mayfield played to the level of what I think he could do and be for the Cleveland Browns. But I'm gonna go ahead and pick the Browns, all right, I'm gonna pick the brown

I'll say. I'm gonna say the Browns went at home, because when you have two teams that are bad, and to me, the difference in good teams is can you went on the road. I don't know if Cincinnati can do that just yet. I think it would be a close game, these Thursday night games and you played in a barry there turn the turnarounds are tough. The and I know Cincinnati is not far from Cleveland. I used

to live in Cleveland. I've been down to Cincinnati before, so it's not like trying to fly across the country like Seattle, having to go over to go over to Cleveland. But still it's a one less day. You've got to prepare here, and the whole team has an advantage on these Thursday games. You're right, the home team does have the advantage. They don't have to travel, they don't have to spend spend the previous night in the hotel, they

get to relax and all that good stuff. But I tell you this much, Baker, he better do something this game because he's he's about one or two weeks away from people starting to consider a Gardner mits you as a better quarterback option than him. So I mean, he better do something this week. If it ain't if it ain't a win, he gotta put up huge numbers. He has to get Odell involved. I mean, he just has too many weapons out there to be this abysmal in

the offense. So he better get something going on or they're gonna start he's gonna start hearing the chance for putting him on the bench. But we shall see, all right, Church, good stuff. We'll get out of tomorrow. We'll have our picks for the Cowboys and Falcons. We appreciate everybody part of the Players Lounge, brought to you by Hotels dot Com, especially our man Chris Bean, who's producing getting everything done to make sure this show gets out here to you.

I'm nui scrugs. Thank you for checking us out. We'll be back tomorrow right here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.