Player's Lounge: Is This Team Good Enough?

the Cowboys end up losing to Seattle. The best thing I can say about Monday is there's a hockey game to night and the Dallas Stars are trying to keep their Stanley Cup playoff hopes alive in Game six tonight on NBC. But yes, we will spend forty five minutes dissecting this Cowboys lost two. Yeah, we have a little settle Seahawks' news scrugs. This is the player's lounge right here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. Barry Church, former Cowboys safety,

joins me along with Danny mccraige. Cowboys. All right, gentlemen, we've got a we got a thirty eight thirty seven loss, and for me, it's all about the Cowboys secondary. All right, We're having a little bit of a little trouble with a news newies. Um communication thing right there. So we'll get back to Newis. But we brought the point of this troubles in the secondary that we that we were discussing here, and to me, the secondary play was just

god awful out there. I mean, I'm sure Danny you can attest to this, but um, that secondary, I mean, you can't have people running Scott free out there, and that DK metcalf twice was wide open in the back of the secondary. I'm not sure what the coverage was, but the safety seemed to have their eyes in the backfield a lot this game, giving up a lot of huge, huge, big time plays out there that day. They can't they just can't do You can't afford to do that. So Um,

to me, this secondary played god awful. They did show a little bit of fight, you know, towards the end second half they tuned it up a little bit, but we just can't have starts like that. Man. What you think about that played, Danny? Yeah? Man, Um, just as soon as it happened, like for the third time, I sent I sent Neuillar Church the text verssions like what

are these dudes looking at? Like, you know, we came in and we talked about like scheme and being confused and every other excuse in the book, And then we got into the game and I'm looking, I'm like, this has nothing to do with anything except you guys and your technique and having your eyes in the wrong place. You could have saved two or three touchdowns by just having your eyes in the correct place. So to me,

it was it was glaring. It was so glaring that you know, you start wondering, like, what the hell are they doing that practice? That was It was absolutely crazy and how easy these things could have been fixed. But we are still in week three and still having these same mistakes. So the secondary was definitely was definitely a very big issue. Man. So I don't know where we go, you know, well, I guess we can only go up. But if we get up, we'll be home at December. Man.

Be played in December and we'll be going on vacation in January. Yeah, and you talked about it, you can you hit it right on the nail. I mean a lot of these touchdowns. Once they showed the replays we've seen, we see a lot of the secondary players with their eyes in the backfield. I mean, we knew on that goal line one to Tyler Lockett. They were in man to man and when they did the run fack, you saw digs who I'll give him credit. He did fight in the second half, but his eyes were just all

in the back room in the corner. You can't do that as a corner. You gotta let that front seven, that defensive line, those linebackers, you gotta let them handle it. Your job, it's simply to just lock down those receivers and make sure nothing gets over your head. And we've seen a lot of that these first couple of weeks. And what I just can't understand is with Tyler Lockett, He's he's arguably one B to DK metcast one A, but he's already had two touchdowns in the first half,

and that third one he's he's scott free. He's wide open in the back of the end zone, nobody around him. How are you letting a guy with that potential and that success early in this game just go scott free or running for your secondary. I just I just couldn't get it, and I just didn't understand it. I don't know if it's because they're so young, or if it's because the scheme is too difficult, but we got to figure out something because we can't. We can't continue to

survive this season. We'll give it where we're just trying to battle back and we're already giving up fourteen points to begin within the whole. I mean, people kill Garrett for having this team like that last year with the slow starts, and we're motivated to get out there and play early and always had to try to battle back to getting the game. So I think, I mean, we got to figure out something because he's slow starts and he's trying to battle back and race back into the game.

It's just not going to be sustainable for the whole season. He put the might home. I got you here. It's Mike Malgly Okay, there's nobody else. There's nobody else to blame, right, because well, let's see, this is this is what happens. You're going you go into the game, right, and if the first touchdown I believe was it looked like cover four, right, and they ran a two man route. So we had four guys to cover two guys and we don't cover

them right. So that's to me, and I say this from experience when when you're running cover four, what happened sometimes it can get confusion between the corner and the safety when you're running when they have a two man route, but es since you we're supposed to turn into a double team. What happened on that was the odds were in the backfield. You would think that they were running read option, but it was just a regular, regular play fake, so the safety shouldn't even be up in there. So

and then and then the other ones. You know, somebody was on Twitter talking. I was like, hey, man, look, man, the man is not confusing enough for us to be looking like that. If you have a problem to where you're running in and outs and you're trying to, you know, get get these things figured out in these tight formations, and you see this as an issue, you just tell them, hey, we're just going basic, old school man oh man, and

we'll live with the result. Instead, we just sat there and did the same thing and just let them run free and look confused in the secondary, like I said, very much like how we look when Rob Ryan was here, confusing and they've got him out of here. Because the word miscommunication. That that word, by the way, is what we kept seeing and hearing over and over in the Cowboys press conferences. This guy's talking about miscommunication. Miscommunication here,

let me read from from Treybon Diggs. He said, it's really on us, honestly, just communication. There are things we've got to correct in practice, things like that. We're going to get it right. It's just communication. That's it. It's literally it. Xavier Wood says, we just have too We left too many opportunities out there. We just didn't start fast. In the first half. We came out slow. They put up too many points. It was just too big of a deficit for us to come back. And the second

half we played better than you got. Jay Loob Smith saying it's frustrating, but a learning experience what we must do and for real, it's time. It's time that we do what we need to do. I love this from from Tank Lawrence. Tank Lawrence saying, I mean there's a lot of quarterbacks in the league that move around like that. If you let him get outside of the pocket, they become a force. Uh. They're pretty good at it. So hats off to rust in them. They won the game,

but we'll see them again. That's from Tank. Listen, listen, let let me tell you this, let me tell it, let me tell you Russell did not really kill them outside of the pocket and two for digs. That ain't it. It ain't just it ain't just misterimun the case. All right, It's way more than that. It was. It was a big issue, but that ain't it. So let's not act like they can go into practice and say, hey, we fix this man to man covers, you know, the end and out and not let locket free all of a

sudden we be winning the game. That ain't It's it's a lot more to it. So you know, I hope he sees that. I know it's you know, the mind is moving fast when you get that camera in your face. But I know he didn't meet what he said, especially on today after they watched the film. It's a lot more than that, Okay. So I just wanted to touch on a couple of things from the secondary. You guys, tell me if I'm crazy here. The penalties were a couple of things that really stood out to me. And

I go back to one touchdown drive by Seattle. It was a third and ten at the Dallas forty six. Russell Wilson gets sat but then there's a flat and it's Darryl Worley illegal contact. Then it's a second and nine, same drive. Second and nine at the Dallas twenty three, Worley makes an interception, but there's a flat pass interference by Jordan Lewis. Now we've got a first intend at the Dallas fifteen. A PI is called on Brandon Car and then two plays later Seattle scores a touchdown to

make it sixteen and nine. That's eleven place, seventy one yards, and basically the Cowboys from the defensive backfield standpoint just kept giving Seattle first downs with plays there. That was early in the football game. Gentlemen, your thoughts on that, well, look, and uh that that drive in particular. You know what I'm gonna say, I'm okay with that Darryl Worley where it was a legal touching because that was kind of, you know, it was a ticky tacking. He didn't really

you know, push him or anything like that. He kind of just kind of tried to hold his ground. So you know, I can deal with that. And that one in the back of the end zone with b Car he was a little touchy on there, a little holdie. But once again, I mean, that's just going to be a part of the game. He was going to get to tight end bigger body. He tried to muscle him a little bit. That's just a part of the game.

But what I can't live with is the fact with once again we're coming back to these dbs with their eyes in the backfield, particularly Jordan Lewis on that on that holding penalty. You know, he's supposed to reroute him because I believe they were in cover three, so he's supposed to reroute him. But if you can't get your hands on him within five you kind of just got a body rerounte him and let him go around you. But without having your eyes on the receiver, your eyes

are back at the quarterback. You're just reaching and grab him for things. And he reached Grabber's arm held onto it, and we obviously sat there and seeing him obstruct him from getting to the ball. So Daryl Worley can get the interception. But those are things that I just can't

live with. I mean, he's played enough ball now to where he knows that he can't just go off there and reach and grab at that nickel position, especially going against a guy like Lockett who's bettering who's Saddy who can sell all that stuff, So you can't do that. The moral of the story here today is you can't be caught with your eyes in the backfield as a defensive back. And we've seen it killed this team time

and time again. Yes, same here. I think two other three for me was, you know, they really were just part of the game. The illegal contact that happens all the time. Man, it's a dB and is a defensive back coach. That's some stuff you just have to deal with. And then Brandon Card. You know, once they get to the back of the end zone, you're supposed to turn your back to him trying to push him out of bounds. You know, you just go back and forth with a

tight end. So to me, that really wasn't a big issue. That type of stuff like literally happens, you know. And then George Lewis, Yeah, very confusing, right, You don't know if he playing zoner man because you know zone, he got his eyes in the backfield, he gets to a spot, you know, he's fine, But to me, it looked like

he was playing covered three. He was supposed to carry the scene and the dude runs straight up the scene right in his face and he doesn't realize that he's there until he's on his toes because are in the backfield. And I'm just looking at it like like it's so blatant that it doesn't you know, I want to blame it on him, but this is across the entire secondary, besides probably Brandon Carr because he's a VET. So it's something that they have going on with this coaching that

they're not getting across to these guys. So that's why I have to put it on Mike Nolan because it's not just one player. It's essentially the whole defense, included in the linebackers because even when they run play action and you see these guys over running stuff that meaning their eyes a lot of times aren't in the correct play.

So like the entire defense, as far as the linebackers in secondary, they have they have a big issue, you know, and that comes from coaching and I think they've been in training camp long enough and going through these games there in week three and these are elementary problems that we're having and it's getting the killed. So you know, I gotta put this on Nolan. Is Both Plans Lounge brought to you by Hotels dot Com go ahead, Barry. Are we are we done with this the Darien Thompson experiment?

I mean, is this or my guy was getting roasted and toasted you know all games? I mean in missing time. I just I just don't know. I'm gonna ask you, guys, are we done with this Darien Thompson experiment? Do we need to bring in help from the outside. I'll answer it from a Stephen Jones standpoint. He was asked today on one oh five three, the fan of Cowboys radio flagship station, are there any plans to go out and go get some help? And he said no, He said

there's no plans. And I said on Twitter Twitter yesterday, um, Eric Reid needs a jersey and a number and a contract. It's with a contract. So apparently that's not what they want to do. And Steven's talking about guys coming off I R so assuming he saw speaking of Anthony Brown here, and I know Darren Thompson is getting lit up. I get it. But I'll also say this in fairness to him.

Should I be mad at him? Or should I be mad at the people who hired him and put him on out there and keep putting him out Because that to me is the bigger thing. He is who he is. This is another guy who you know, this is the first round draft picks. This dude who's on a done the Giants. I mean, you tend to be taking Giants Giants plays me. It's not all him. I mean, you know, ha ha. Clinton Dix was brought in here and they found out, well, you know, this guy is the guy

who's been bouncing around here. So they haven't addressed as a management team, and this is you know, it's easy for us to jump onto players here, but Church you've been here before. You see, they don't put resources back here. They don't want to pay for anybody. They don't want to draft anybody in the first three rounds. So you basically are getting what you're paying for. You go to Dollar General, you're gonna get a dollar General generic safety.

That's what they have. But I'm not mad at Darien Thompson because he can only do what he can do. Nobody came into training camp thinking that's the guy. This is the guy that's gonna be the guy. And now he's back there as the guy. And Xavier Woods is back there too, and he's getting exposed a little bit. But I'm looking at these safeties, I'm like, man, I don't know if it's all the way I should put it.

Beat them up as much as you ought to beat up management and beat up the coaching staff, because it's your job to cover up the wards. That's what coaching is all about. How do I cover up the wards? And they're not doing it right now. So that's my take on the safeties. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you why I'm not why I'm not putting it on Daria Thompson because if you look at the second there,

you tell me one that's playing well. So so we can sit here and point out to be like, man, he ain't the guy if you gonna replace him, if I'm him, I'm like, if you're gonna replace me, you got to replace everybody that's starting. You got to replace Digs because he's playing. You know, we watched them. He made a hell of a play, but he got beat like like a drum on that play. George lewis out there with his eyes and backfield, we like, we're not

playing well across the board. So I can understand why they say, you know, we're just gonna focus on our guys. Because if that's the case, if you're if you're being you know, if you're management, you're being a fan of

all your players. You got to say none of y'all playing right, So we need to be bringing in free agents for each position and bring the card to be starting because it just it just was agree with that, So you know, I like, I can't blame it on dari and Thompson, Like I blamed it strictly on the coaching because I think he has some talent and I think they all do, but I think they're just not

being coach well enough for them to be successful. And you like when you're odds in the backfield, you gotta hammer that like this is something when you come back to the sideline. You can't do the same thing the next drive, Like we look about the new new in Church. We called time out before that play when Tyler Locke was in the back of the end zone. We called a timeout and we came out and were just as confused as we were before the play started. Before we

called the time out. That doesn't make any sense. We got to look at the formation and then we came back to the sidelin the coach said, hey, this is the formation they lined up in y'all look for this. And then we came out and you see these dudes looking left and right and can't figure out who's supposed to be covering who. It didn't make any sense, and they do you to start branding half touchdowns wide open? It's crazy. Cornerback? Where do you want to start? Where

do you want to start branding car? What position? The dealer's choice? Dealer's choice, man, I'm gonna starting in a corner. That's just because it's natural position if you and you just got to start plugging one hole at the time.

So put him at put him where he's best at, and that's cornerback, where he has the most experience, and then see how that works out, um, because you know, you throw him in that safety and then all of a sudden, you put him at a position where everybody else is confused, so he might be just as confused as the rest of the squad. So put him at corner letting places man and man, see what he got.

That's why you brought him in here. He was still productive at during that last season, so you know, put him in there and just and just start with that all right, Cowboys go down thirty eight thirty one Russell Wilson with five touchdown passes. You are checking out the players. Lowns to do it every Monday through Friday to thirty Central Time. I'm NEWI scrugs, longtime Cowboys reporter. These two guys are former Dallas Cowboys safety's Buried Church and Danny McCrae.

Let's catch a break in here. There's a bunch of topics. We still got to get to the weak link on the offensive line. Let's identify that player. How do they go forward? What's the status ll Collins? I was pretty surprised at what I found out today about Collins possibly returning. Lots to get who right here? Oh on Dallas Cowboys dot Com radio. Hey, they're Cowboys fans with Tight Cleaners at home pickup and delivery. Cleaning your clothes has never

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T Stadium on Sunday, October fourth. Limited number of tickets are on sale now get yours at Dallas Cowboys dot com slash tickets. Now we scrugs with you. Here a law with Barried Church and Danny mc create. Those guys are four Dallas Cowboys safeties. I'm a long time Cowboys reporter. All right. By the way, we all were correct on our pick. We all took Seattle. Um I had the Cowboys losing by five. Church, you had him losing by seven. D MAC you had him losing by three. So Church,

you are nostre damas for the week. It was a seven point defeat for the Cowboys. So apparently you nothing, there's nothing news. It's nothing new man. You got those you got, I mean, there's nothing new man. You know, it's just how it goes. It is all right, this, uh this, This Cowboys offensive line has got issues and it hasn't been a whole to begin the season. And

you've got Lell Collins missing another game here. He was on injured reserve, so that put him out three weeks, but it may be longer because Stephen Jones was on the radio today saying that Collins is not exactly where they want him to be. So fellas you could have Collins missing this game against the Cleveland Browns. Tyrant Smith

missed his second game. And I want to talk about, my opinion, the weakest link on the Cowboys offensive line, and it's not Terrence Steele, who started at right tackle the past two games, that was benched in the Seattle game. And here's why I'm not blaming Terrence Steele. He's an undrafted rookie. Okay, you know that's that's not you putting your best guy out there. They finally put a real

replacement out there tackle. They moved all pro Zack Martin from guard to right tackle, and this guy was good. It reminded me of when Larry Allen got kicked out to tackle and you're just you're sitting there saying, Wow, this guy could be Pro Bowl at tackle. I mean, I'm sitting here and thinking myself, Zack Martin is Ivory

Larry Allen. He was so good yesterday and they may need to go ahead and keep him out there if Collins is not there, if Collins can't play on Sunday against the Browns, then to me, you got to go ahead and make that change a put put Zach Martin out at right tackle, kick Joe Looney in the guard, and have Tyler Beyond the rookie play at center. And to me, that weak link on the offensive line is

Connor Williams. It's just too many times you're watching Cornor Williams get pushed back here and I'm just surprised that a year number three, that Connor is not a better player, especially since they used the second round draft pick on him.

Danny McCree, you go ahead and start, Yeah, you know, but with Connor, I see the same thing you see, and uh, you know, I just have to remember that it is week three, the guys coming off an injury, and he hadn't really had much time to to get back in the field of things, and it's really showing on the field. And uh, you know, so I think you're accurate with the pick, but I think that he might need he might need a little bit more time.

But unfortunately, the way that we've started the season, everything is so so glaring, you know, all the mistakes are or just out there, so you know, it's just so Obviously, if we were three and oh, I think it would be it wouldn't be as big of a deal. But since we are what we are, it is a big deal. So I feel, you know it, But I still think he needs a couple more weeks to, you know, to get back into the groove of things. Yeah, I'm gonna give him a little bit more week or a couple

more weeks just to get his groove. And he is coming off of an injury. But for the most part, this to me, this is kind of just like the secondary I mean, it's kind of like pick your poison. I mean, outside of Zack Martin, all pro I mean, they all kind of had their struggles in these first three games. So for me, I liked what they did by putting Zach Martin out there at the tackle position because he was able to hold that down pretty well.

This is a guy that you know, he could probably be an All Pro at all all five offensive linement positions. So I like what they did right there, and I'm gonna need them to do that next week because they got a guy coming in here by the name of Miles Garrett. And this guy, he's a beach. He's known for getting after quarterbacks. I think he has like three sacks so far this season. But he's a destructive force in the run game and in the past game. So maybe they want to move Zack Martin out there to

tackle just to help Um solidify that pass rush. But for me, the most part is kind of just pick your poison, man. I mean, we we've struggled with this passwork offensive line right now. It's early in the early in the season, but we just need we just need the reinforcements to come in. We need Lyle Collins. But which it doesn't seem like we're going to get him

back anytime soon. Hopefully Tyrn Smith Um they say he's day to day with that neck or that stinger injury, so hopefully he's able to come back and help us out. But we need the reinforcements, bad man. This this uh, this patchwork low funds. The line is just it's you know, it is what it is. It's his undrafted guys, his guys out of position, and they're trying to do their best to get a pass pass protection going. So, um,

we just need the reinforcements in there. But I like Zack Martin at that tackle versus Miles Garrett, so hopefully we can get that next week as well. Good point by you. Miles Garrett is coming to town. Will be his first game at AT and T Stadium as a professional football player. He started Arlington Martin High School and ended up going to Texas A and M before becoming the first player drafted. And what has become a heck of a quarterback class, and it had Patrick Mahomes and

Deshaun Watson. Both of those guys were drafted after Mitchell Trubisky so but got bitched by the Bears yesterday. But people forget that Miles was the first player taken. So yes, the Cowboys have got to figure out how to defend him. Another point of emphasis for me, and obviously we had you saw the offensive line issues, was that Kellen Moore only called fourteen rushes for Ezekiel Elliott in the football game and he had thirty four yards in one touchdown.

To me, this is a problem. This is a defense that we talked about time and time again. They can't stay on the field for thirty minutes, and they were on the field for over thirty two minutes. They've got to try to run the football. Once again, I understand you got offensive line issues, but fifty seven dropbacks by Dak Prescott, it's just not going to win many football games. I think when you start looking at guys who the ball fifty plus times, they're pretty much gonna be on

the losing end of football games. And to me, fourteen rushes is just not enough of an attempt. It's not enough of a try to figure out how to establish the run. Ezekiel Elliott has to touch the football more than fourteen times running the ball in a football game. Danny mccraig, Am I crazy when I say that? Am I wrong when I say that? Let me tell you something. Listen, let me tell you something. Somebody anybody needs to walk

in there with Kellen Moore. Is that with the contracts of the players on offense, and they need to show them to them. They need to show them that they have a very expensive running back. They need to show them that they have a very expensive receiver. And since they pay them this much money, they need to make sure that he gets them involved in the game. How do you not give Zeke the ball for the first

at least the first six snaps of the game. This makes entirely no sense when everybody knows that the strength of the team and what we should be doing against Seattle is trying to run. We come out and trying to do it way too much. This is I don't understand it. I never will. Keller Moore to me should be done. Mike McCarthy should have. I've seen them with his play sheet in his hand, so I'm not sure

how much he was involved in it. But if they don't find a way to fix this, I'm not gonna say McCarty should get fired, but they should find a replacement with Kelly Moore, because he just I tweet I said, hey man, what is the identity of our offense? If one of you can tell me, then then I would happily listen and accept it. But I just I can't see what the identity of our office is. What does the defensive coordinator to come in and say, hey, we have to stop this, this is what the Cowboys want

to do? Because I don't know, So I'll let one of y'all, you know, inform me on what that is. Yeah, I'm just as confused as you are. I always believe that Ezekiel Elliott is the is the engine for this offense and he kind of gets this thing rolling. But it was surprising to me, Like you pointed out, the first six players on the offense, he didn't get a touch at all, and then or they were even pass players. I believe. So. Uh, And we look back last week

into Atlanta. What got them back into that game? What got them rolling again? And that's what they didn't give up on the run game. They kept feeding Ezekiel Elliot and he kept pounded on that defense. I mean, this this go around, like you said, fourteen touches are getting the run. That's just that's just not gonna do it. That's not gonna have him in that rhythm. That's gonna not gonna have him pounding down this defense and opening up the past game. So um, I agree with both

of you on this one. It's confusing which way the offense is going right now. We don't know their identity, but I will tell you this, I don't think they're gonna win a lot of games with fifty seven drop backs with with Dak Prescott and only fourteen rushes for Ezekiel that. I just don't think that's a winning formula. And they got to figure out something soon. If I'm McCarthy, I'm saying, hey, you gotta get this offense going because I'm not going down because you're playing calling. So we'll

see what goes on. But I think you've got to be the engine to this offense. Well one thing, one thing, listen, Keller Moore should go and look at the New Orleans Saints and how they play the game. All Right, they Michael Thomas, he gets a lot of catches. They play, they pay Kamar he gets. If you watch the game last night, you see what the offense that's focused on their highest paid running back looks like. Like this is

what the game should look like. They ran the entire game through Kamar, and they almost pulled it off, like this is what we should be doing. I don't get it should be Coop uh Ezekiel Ellett and Dak Prescott and then everybody else should be you know, getting getting picking up the scraps. But that's what we should be doing, and we just don't seem to be focused on that. I don't understand. Kamar killed last night and Michael Thomas, well he's in the game killed and they and they're

the focal pieces of the offense. Well, what you're talking about as an elite play caller, that's what sean. Sean Payton is an elite play caller, and he called He's called plays for two Super Bowl teams. His Saints team that won, and he ended up calling plays for a Giants team that lost to the Multimore Ravens. Um but I think it was Super thirty five. So that's where Sean is. And then you look at the last two um NFC winners, the guys that the teams that played

the Super Bowl to represent the NFC. Kyle Shanahan with the forty nine ers last year. An elite play caller who, like Sean Payton, will mix the run and the past. The running backs are heavily used. And then before that with the La Rams and Sean McVay. I mean, you saw what he did with Todd Gurley and how they ran the football. In fact, the Cowboys lost to them

that year they went to the Super Bowl. And then the first game of the season this year without Todd Gurley, we saw Sean McVay established the run to them work off the pass. They are teams that run the football here and you guys are on point about Kellen Moore now former general manager Mike Lombardi. I was in Cleveland when Mike Lombardi and Belichick were there with the Cleveland Browns. He has a podcast called the GM Shuffle, and in it he got on Mike McCarthy. He said, Mike, what

are you doing? You've made your bones as a guy who calls plays. Why are you not calling plays? And he jumped on Kellen Moore. He was saying the same thing. He said, Kellen Moore is just calling plays that he's not calling the plays that helped his football team, which is, you and your offense need to control the ball because your defense shouldn't be out there on the field. And he says, Kelling's looking in the bag, like, Okay, let's call this player that's called that play instead of calling

the plays and strategize and help your football team. And at some point in time, Lobarti is saying, basically what you're saying, Danny is snatch that play sheet away. Maybe Jerry Jones really wanted you to let Kelly Moore call plays and give him a shot. But if your football team is going to have an opportunity to play for some meaningful games in January, you may have to jump in there and say, hey, young fella, I'm calling these plays.

You set up stuff during the week, but on game day, I'm gonna call these plays because twenty one simply cannot only have fourteen carries in a football game. Don't don't let him. Don't let him set up none during the week. I don't want to see number wing tea or speed out. He got Tony poll Zeke on fourth and one, Like what line up in the our formation and show up what you're gonna do? And you got da they gonna pitch try. I'm like, bro, this is my bad turk.

But I'm just I'm just upset. No, No, I'm good, Are you good? It just it just doesn't seem like he's playing, you know, the game with with with thinking of moves ahead. It just seems like, like you said, nude, like he's just picking out of the bag saying no, maybe just play of work. Maybe just play of work.

It just doesn't seem like he's setting anything up. Like if you're gonna if you have a catalyst of a back like that in Zekiel Elliott in the backfield, let him run that day, let him pound it, even if it's only three to four yards in a cloud of dust. Each time he's touching it, you're setting something up. I mean, every time you hand the ball off to him, that defense, since he's that good of a runner, the defense are gonna have eyes in the backfield. They're gonna respect that

play action. So for me, it's just a simple fact that he's not thinking, you know, two moves ahead. He's thinking just maybe there's will work, or maybe that'll work. You gotta set something up when you're going against defenses. So I mean, if you if you run it fourteen times in the fourth quarter, they're not gonna respect that play action, and you're just gonna they're gonna be sitting back there waiting for your receivers to come to them. So to me, I just think he needs to set

up more things for this offense. But like you guys said, if I'm Mike McCarthy, I'm snatching that places sheet a satinly. I'm not going down with you on this one, big dog. All right, we've got another. We got to take another break here. Want to get into a Cowboys player who's being called dirty on Monday. Let's dive into his situation. You're checking out the plays louds pride to you by Hotels dot com right here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com

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slash safe Stadium for details. Pete Carroll has a Monday morning radio show he does up in Seattle, and he said he was quote pitch about the play that Tristan Hill made on running back Chris Carson where he gay or Roll tackled him in his leg and Carson had to go out. Um, he's uh, he's not going to he doesn't have an ACL team, but he may end up missing some time here. He's definitely got hurt on

the football play. And then Tristan Hill on the Seattle two point conversion in which Seattle didn't convert, but Hill doesn't head to head hit on Russell Wilson, thus giving the Seahawks another shot at two point conversion. They convert. So Tristan Hill being called dirty all across social media. So Barry Church, what you see from Hill? And is

he dirty? I don't know. Contrary to to most belief about the you know, the Twitter world, they're going out there saying, I just don't think, you know, he's a dirty player. Um, I don't think. I don't think he's that savvy like I don't. I wouldn't give him that you know, that Bill Romanowski type all. He's out there to hurt people. I don't think that the tackle that he did do it was like it was a gator role.

And Danny you can attest to this. You know, every every coach that we've that we've had, and when you have tackling drills, there's two type of tackles they drilled. There's the forum tackle and then there's that gator role tackle, and every single time a coach is talking about that, defensive coaches they always say, come up with a body part, come up with a body part. And if he got to hold on for dear life and roll over to get the guy down, I mean, it's football. You're gonna

do what you gotta do to get him down. And I think he was just going through what the coach is saying. I mean they always say when you do that gator roll, come up with a body part to make sure that guy isn't you know, spun out of that tackle and got off. So I don't think he's on that. You know, that that dirty player that Bill Romanowski that you know, Ron Harrison, the safety back in the days, I don't say. I don't see him as

that type of guy. But um, I just think they were the play with Russell Wilson, I just think that was a stupid play. I just think you know, he got rid of the ball. You know, he just put a little push on him. I just don't think he's doing these things purposefully. So I'm not gonna call him a dirty player. I'm just saying, you know, hey, he was a young dude and he was doing a gator

roll tackle, and that's what the coaches tell you to do. Yeah, I don't know him personally, so I don't know if he's a dirty player or not, but I know that those two players definitely don't make him a dirty player. Uh yeah, when you got when you when you're in the league, you and you got a running back who's known for breaking tackles and getting yard at the contact. What you do is you grab a body part and

then you hold on into the whistle blows. Because we've seen many times guys like Kamar and Zeke you will think they're down and they not, and then all of a sudden you get in the film room and you're like, man, hey, man, I just wasn't trying to hurt you, dude, and then then you cut. So I think he was doing what he had to do, and you know, he was making a play, and Pete Carroll is right for taking up for his player, especially since he did get injured, and

that's just that's just a part of the game. But I don't think it was dirty. And we've seen actually I saw that same gator roll in a couple of games yesterday, and the guy didn't get hurt and there was there was no fuss about it. And to hit on Russell Wilson. We see that each week throughout the league as well, and it's just it's just one of those things that's hard not to do, especially when you're so close to a guy and you got to pull off,

so it happens. I don't think he's dirty. Okay, let's save the best for last year as we end the show special teams. Um, did somebody, can you guys explain to me what Tony Poller was doing out there on the kickoff? No head? D Mac? You got this at the at the one? Uh yeah. D Mac helped me understand. Yeah, what he was about to do was messing up. That's what he was doing. No, listen, this is what he did, you know. And I was just somebody that he dropped

the ball and then he had a little indecision. He was trying to wonder if he could still get it in for a touchback, and that little indecision got us put on the one, you know for safety. Um. You know, he's he's made some to me, some pretty big mistakes out there. Um, And I know I know a lot of it is coaching because previous games where he was taking it out seven yards deep and having us start, you know, on the twenty and the twenty two instead

of being that automatic twenty five. I think those were mistakes. And then he also made a mistake here on kickoff for turn you know, uh, we're putting us on a one yard and casting us to safety. So this, unfortunately, this goes right back to coaching again. These are some things that should be being coached and he should he should know what he should do when he gets centimity situations, and he obviously doesn't, and his special teams minus the onside kick is hurting us. Danny cannot let me ask

this question here. The NFL changed the rules and touch back it starts at the twenty five pretty much. They and Dave Hellman talked about this on own when the Cowboys podcast earlier. It's good. They pretty much don't want you to run the ball back. They want you to just go ahead and all right, boom, they touchback and started the twenty five. They're trying to kind of eliminate

that the play the kickoff play. So so what's Polar doing and considering the fact you're starting at the one, you think you're gonna run twenty five yards against those dudes. I don't get it helped me understand the thinking. Then he's if he catches the he's fine on that one. If you if you catch it on the one and you catch it on the goal, that is perfectly fine. Right.

You take the chance and you go out there and you try to make a play that like the guys that are out there blocking for you are getting paid. This is still a phase of the football game. You can still try to do that. The ones where I'm confused on him, he's six and seven yards deep and then you gotta run thirty yards just to get it to where you would have been if you left an end, which makes no sense. And then you dropped the ball,

which is a mistake. But then don't compound that to putting your team on the one by being indecisive and not picking the ball up and going for a run like get him to the ten, you know, save as much as you can. And he didn't do any one of those things. And like I said, I take that back to coaching. But these are things that he should know, and it just points back to how he's being coached. You know, up there at the four cements who that was ugly because it led to a safety by Seattle.

And then of course you had two extra points missed in the football game, and just there were just too many, too many swings with the Cowboys shooting themselves in the foot here, and it's uh, you know, driving fans crazy. I'm out here drinking his blue juice from Mike McCarthy sitting if he's singing his praises. I mean, I'm talking about how hey man, he's he bringing in his special team's coach Fossil. He's good, it's gonna happen. I'm looking at Special Team like, well, I mean this this we

can had Keith o quinn back for this. I mean just uh yeah, Well it's worse because these we were told they were the answer. We were told the emphasis were going to be here. That's the part that they really just chapters. Heyway, you're supposed to better, right, I mean, how do you miss an extra point? Userline? I mean one of them was blocked, that's not his fault, but but you just missed one. You got some point five million dollars, but you got to make these things and

they're not good enough to overcome their mistakes. And that's so much of watching cowboy football right now and too, Mike McCarthy's not only you making mistakes. You're making mistakes which you're giving away points. And you're just not good enough defensively to give points away to anybody. And that's that that part of it is frustrating here. All right, let's let's let's in talking about Monday that football. Kansas City Baltimore. Two former MVPs get after it. Kansas City

super Bowl champion at Baltimore. Who you got tonight, guys? I got Uh. I got Baltimore. And for the simple fact that I need him in fantasy, man, I need him. I mean I'm going against the guy that I got. He got Tyrick Hill on one side, he got Um. He got the kicker for Baltimore, So I don't need him to kill him that much. I just need him to beat him low. But I'm going with Baltimore. Man. I think they look good so far. They're running it.

The rushing attack looks amazing. Um the guy from Ohio State, j JK. Dobbins, I mean that does real. That dud's a real business. So um Lamar Jackson and that crew. I think there'll be a little bit too much for the Kansas City Chiefs this this uh, this afternoon. But I'm going thirty one, thirty one, twenty one Baltimore, ten point from my homes. Wow, now you know who you're talking to right now, you're talking to No Stredamins man.

Listen to you write that down. I'm going with I'm going with Baltimore as well, specifically because Kansas City has been looking a little off for the last few weeks and I don't see them being able to come back on the team like Baltimore, especially during the regular season, because as we should be doing. They can run the ball, they have good coaches, and they know how to if they get a lead, they know what to do. They

have Lamar Jackson, they got JK. Dobbins, they have Ingram, they have guys back there that can keep the ball away from the homes and I think they'll play that keepaway game and we should watch it and take notes. So I'm taking Baltimore by six twenty thirty three, twenty seven. Okay, okay, twenty twenty one. Um, Kansas City wins. So there you go. I'm gone short and sweet. Um, yeah, I think they'll they'll I just like Holmes, I like what they're doing.

I think they're better football team than they were last year. And and um, they went up to LA and had some issues with the Charge Chargers played him tougher than we thought. But the Charges played everybody pretty tough here, and so I think that I think they get this one. So it'll be, it'll be. It'll be fun to watch this game here, And so hopefully Danny mccraig, are you watching a fantasy game? Am I watching? No? I'm not, Uh Game six, So I missed the NBA this weekend

watching the Stars. Um, and so I'm gonna miss Monday Night football tonight. My fantasy game's already done. I've already won, so I don't need to watch, so I'm gonna be there. But the Stars have to win tonight. If they don't, they end up losing Stanley Cup in six games. So that double overtime game in game five to get it to six. So yeah, I'll be watching the hockey game tonight. Rare is it that we get a Dallas Fort Worth

team playing in a championship round? So it's um, it's pretty cool, So I'm definitely gonna put my put my eyeballs on this and then look Tuesday, we've got a whole lot more work to get into. We'll start thinking about the Cleveland Browns and what Dallas has to do to try and slow down that receiving core. If you're Baker Mayfield, you got to be licking your chops watching video this week of what the Cowboys are doing. So we'll see if they make any additions to this Cowboys secondary.

But a whole lot of work to get through all week long. We do it right here on the Players Lounge at two thirty every day. Follow me on Twitter at NUIs Scrugs. It's n E w Y Scruggs. Fellas, give them your handles at Berry Church forty two and that's both on Instagram and Twitter at Danny dmc forty four on Twitter at Danny unscore mccraig forty on Instagram.

All right, this is the Players Lounge, brought you by Hotels dot Com for Danny Berry and the supreme producer, our guy, Chris Bean, who keeps us all point all the time. This is Players lunebroty by Hotels dot Com on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.