Player's Lounge: Let The Preparation Begin

to take on the Los Angeles Rams. I am Newi Scrugs, longtime Cowboys reporter, joined by the Boys the crew, Danny McCray and Barry Church. We do it every day at two thirty pm for forty five minutes. We're so happy

you tuned in here. So it's Wednesday, fellas, tell me exactly what you guys would do on your Wednesday because a lot of people, some people understand that, hey, Wednesdays when you install the game plan to So Church, tell everybody exactly what Wednesday's practices are like as you're getting

ready for a game. Well, for the beginning, when I was like, you know, my first couple of years, I'm not gonna lie, used to dread Wednesdays because Wednesdays where your full padded practice, and you knew each and every time you came out there on Wednesday that we're gonna have some type of in a type of boxes called box drill where it's basically the run game and you had your offensive lineman, full back, running back versus the

front seven and the safety in there. So we's always have to fill holes and hit going against Zack Martin all those big dudes. So I personally, I did not like Wednesday's practices, but you did get that game plan in and you got to get your first glimpses of the opposing offense, and the coaches would highlight, you know, their receivers or their threats who they can who can

take off the top of our second day. So uh, you know, Wednesdays were very informative, but as far as practice, and it was extremely physical, and I was not a fan at all. That's a that's that's the life of a starting safety in the NFL. The life, the life, the life of a special team's specialist is a little

different for us. On Wednesday, we always put in punt because you know, you want to see the real looking you want to do it with players of being able to go full speed, So you have to deal with some of those those d linemen and those tackles rushing you on punt team just so you can get to look because that's basically the most important phase of special teams, right and you get the pump block that changes the game. So the most intense part of special teams was on

Wednesday when we cover punt in four pass. It was it was rough because some of those scout team guys are trying to make the team again, so they Jesse Holly record, shout out, Jesse Holly. I thought he's gonna get me cut a couple of times. Man. I was like, bron let up, It's kick off, let up. And he would always says nothing personal, nothing, nothing personal, Man, I'm trying to eat. I was like, I didn't understand that as a as a rookie, but you know, as I

got older, I started to understanding. I didn't like it still, but I definitely understood and I had respect for it. Players Lounge brought to you by Hotels dot Com. We are in the s s WBC Mortgage Virtual Home Studios today, so let's talk about special teams and also dive more into the depth chart here Cowboys releasing their initial one, so Punk returns, they have Tony Pollard there, mccraig. Tony Pollard that he was more of the kickoff guy last year.

Punks is not exactly what he's doing. So what's your take on this? Should we buy this? Yeah? I mean I actually like it. Um. Like I said, when we when when D's first got here and he was playing punt return, they snatched him off there real quickly because he was facing uh you know, injuries more when he

was on special teams. So having Pauler back there, who you don't really see getting that many snaps at running back and giving him an opportunity to make some of those catches and make some of those big plays in the return game is huge. I don't think you'll see him on those safe punt situations to where you just need somebody to catch the ball so your offense and

get back on out on the field. But when you see those situations to where the offense the other offenses backed up and they're punning and you're looking for a big return, you can bet you'll see Tony Pauler out there. I think it's a great decision, all right, So kind of a go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. No no, no no, no no Church, go ahead, go ahead. I was just gonna, you know, reiterate what Danny said, basically that I think it was a smart move. But I'm also kind of

a surprising um. I know, you know, Ceedee Lamb, he's, you know, the first overall pick, and nobody wants him to get injured and all that. But I just figured, you know, hey, this is just another opportunity for him to get the ball in his hands. And we've seen how electric he can be returning punts in college, so I just figured they would get him a crack at returning punts. But I guess they're super invested in him, and you know, they put only poly back there, which

is a very safe option. He's a great um catcher of the ball to the backfield, so returning to punch ship to be natural to him. Maybe they need a replacement form for Murray, right, they got one receiver, so Ceedee Lamb might see see a little bit more playtime on my offense than than we expect. Kick return on the depth chart has Cedric Wilson going there. So last question here on special teams, Danny, what do you want

to see out of John Fossil's unit. What does Danny mccraine need to see Sunday night, it's so far standing. I need to see them be assignment sound and play smart football right as a new coach, as a new system. So I need to see that they picked up the system they're playing together. I want to see tight protection on punt and I want to see smart, smart decisions and the return game that's both on punt and kickoff return right. So you don't have to make the huge play.

Especially teams usually gets noticed when the bad play comes comes alive. So just make sure that you plan sound to take take advantage of opportunities to make big plays when they come, but don't force it. Church. Oh yeah, for me, I'm just I just don't want this special team's unit to be the reason that Cowboys lose a

game or two. I mean, we saw last year what happened at the Minnesota game when you know, Tavon you had about fifteen twenty yards of space to return and you decided to take a fair catch, or when in the Patriots game. I mean, we just there's multiple things that the special teams have done last year to cause this team wins or losses. So I'm just hoping that they just stay the steady curve and just just you know, just be a good overall special teams unit, just not

enough to cost a team a game. They talked so many times about how special teams is one third of the game offense, defense, special teams, and in my opinion, the Cowboys basically lost that almost every dog on week and the National Football League is too tough for you to go into one phase of the football game and not be able to win this thing. And that's why there was changed with John Fossil, and they're also changing up the guys more So, I'm going to be very

interested to see how special teams plays. And that's one reason why I hope Cowboys Vange listening to the show, because Danny McCray and Barry Church played special teams and they understand the importance of it, and special teams is where Danny really made his bread there. CJ. Goodwin's a guy that we had on the show last year, and CJ was one of their better special teams players. Danny, what did you make of the fact that he was

on the cut list. I was very surprised to be honest with y'all, I was I was really about to bring that up. I wasn't sure, you know, what was going on because we had previously talked about this and how the Dallas Cowboys really hadn't value special teams players. There wasn't There haven't been very many guys who had gotten paid to just specifically play special teams. And then you have a guy who was your best special teams player in CJ, and he gets released. So, you know,

to me, it was two things. That Fossil has his own guys that he brought in that he liked, or c J was playing bad, and then when they brought him back. You know, I'm still a little confused about it, because you know, you really need that guy. But it shocked me because because I know he played well last season, so I couldn't imagine, especially without a preseason, what he could do that was so wrong for him to get released like that. All right, let's dive into the starting offense.

On the depth chart, they just put ten starters in. I think they're gonna roll out of eleven dudes on Sunday. So, so what did you think of that They're taking this too far? Bro? They're taking this too far, all right, No no jersey numbers, all right, no scrimmage, you know, and now he's putting ten people on the on the on the chart, you know, to try to confuse you. You know, I'm just confused. Even on the defense, I see that. I think it Warley was the third third team.

He tweets it. He's like something, and he tweets it like, nah, that's not true. So I mean, how far are you gonna take this? You literally only have about three more days of the trickery before everybody sees what you're really doing. And this is over with I so you know, take advantage of it after this week, come on, man, this little see what you got? Please? Hey, I mean they're taking full advantage of this. You know, non guys won't know our scheme. You won't know who's playing good, who's

playing bad. But rookies are inserted into this lineup. So I just think they're taking full advantage of this, this new year, new coaching regime. I mean, the guy that they did plug in as the starters, I mean, they're pretty much who we figured they'd be. We figured that Cameron Irving would step in for like calls since he has been down. You know, Tyren Smith, the guys, Joe Looney, those guys, we all knew that they were going to

be on the offensive line. And I'm sure when they come out an eleventh person there, we'll see CD as that third wide receiver. But it's just funny to me that they're doing all these precautions to make sure they got every type of secret held up until week one. It's hilarious to me. I mean, they're out doing Bill Belichick. Okay, they're out doing so. I look here and I see they got Treyvon Diggs as starting corner. I see everything

ripping his back up here. So so should we even take this serious in your opinion here or they just trying to you know, like you said, they don't have to give away anything, so they're just choosing not to give away anything. I mean, it's very vanilla. But the thing that surprised me and kind of maybe not really want to take this serious is they got our boy, Alden Smith that's starting sam linebacker and a four three steam.

I could see if this was a three four and they had you know, they're outside linebackers are basically rush ends. But here he's lined up in the sam linebacker position, you know, their defensive end or Tyrone Crawford and DeMarcus Lawrence. So I guess they think all this Smith can drop back in coverage a little bit and you know, play a little bit of own maybe some man on the tight ends here and there. But I thought that was

definitely a surprise. I mean, he's mostly known for rushing the quarterback and getting in the backfield and causing havoc. Let me tell you the next thing we're gonna see on the next depth chart is Zek playing safety all right, just just just so they can maximize us a little bit. You know, I'm really I'm really not sure what's going on. But my my real question with what the defense is, and this may be just a little off topic with that one, I want to know how short the leash

is gonna be on darry and Thompson. I want to know how long they're gonna let him play, how many mistakes they're gonna let him make our plays he's gonna be able to kind of make mistakes on before they snatched the car from under him. They to me they have to let him at least make it five to six games so he can gain some confidence, and I hope they let him do that because I don't want to see him have one bad game and get and

get snatched out of there. Yeah, I'm sorry to say about I think I think his his leash is gonna be a really, really a short one. I mean, I think I think what they're gonna go out there with is you know, hey, you gonna trot you out there. They were kind of backed into a corner because how I didn't kind of pan out the way they thought he would. So I gave the DoPT Darien Thompson and give credit to him. He played great or he played well during training camp and kind of earned that spot.

But I think if he gets, you know, beat once or twice here, you'll hear the fans just I told you we should have got Earl Thompson back there. So I didn't think his leash would be really short. But hopefully he can go out there and make a couple of plays um this first week to kind of give him some leeway towards towards the season. All right, let's

let's stay there Church. Since she went there, I showed you guys a picture from I tweeted at your picture of a Brandon Car out there today, it's Brandon Car. In your opinion, do you think he gets called up to the active roster on Sunday? Right now, he's on the practice team. For me, I think eventually he will get brought up to that first or to that active roster.

I think for this week one, he'll kind of just you know, mentor the young guys getting ready to play, and I think go catch up on the playbook for a week one. So I don't really see him going out there and performing and or suiting up for this week one versus the LA Rams. But later on in this year, I could definitely see him injuries or not getting a spot here on his active roster. Yeah, you're

the same here. The only reason and the only reason that I don't see him become an active for this game is because he wasn't on the team previously, So he really has to get into that football shape because he hadn't done anything probably since since they were out of the playoffs football wise, if he was coming from another team, he would be active. But so so we can expect to see him pretty soon on an active roster.

All right, let's stay at the defensive backfield here on the players last, because this is a big question, right, George Lewis did not practice today. He's dealing with an ankle injury. At what point in time, if you're Mike Knowling, do you need to have him out here practicing versus you just sitting here kind of saying, Hey, look, this guy's not gonna play. Go ahead and sit him down. Go ahead, Dye, Matt listening. So so, like Church said,

Wednesday is really the ring game. Practice. Thursday is when you put in, you know a lot of the passing game, and then Fridays in your two minutes. So he would have to get some practice in on Thursday or Friday for me to feel comfortable if I was a coach with him, you know, seeing seeing them, being able to recognize some of the players that are coming on from

the rams. So if he's out there maybe a little bit Thursday, and he's able to do some two minute some short yarders and stuff like that on Friday, some red zone, then I feel comfortable with him being out

there on Sunday. Yeah, Danny's correct on this one. For Wednesdays, as much as the secondary hates Wednesdays, Thursdays is I'm a huge secondary day because, like Danny said, I mean, you got the two minute drill, you got an extra seven on seven period where you go app you go after all the posting team's favorite passing, favorite route concepts, and then as also you've got you know, like I mentioned, two minute seven on seven and then you also got

an extra team period where it's strictly passed. So if he were to go out there on Thursday and get a little run in on the set all sevens or the extra team period, I think that wild bode well for him playing Sunday. But for a second day, I got to feel comfortable going in there with the game plan, and to feel comfortable with how you feel health wise, I think you gotta get out there Thursday just to run around a little bit and see how your body

holds up against competition. All right, let's take a break here. When we come back, want to dive into two topics here. One who needs to have a breakout twenty twenty for the Cowboys? And also who are you most excited to see in week one? We'll do that next on the player's louds. He's Danny McCrae. Verry Church up too, He scrugs, Hey, they're Cowboys fans. With ty Cleaners at home pickup and delivery,

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I'm Jay Novachek, 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 tractor provider of your

Dallas Cowboys. We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping air waves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor and Cream Soda. Is he a new Combone's music to my ears? Okay, doctor music to my ears and mouths new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Delia's Just Dolora is a proud sponsor of the Dallas Cowboys, helping fans see more and do more with our best vision solutions. Our lens technologies reveal

a world more beautiful than you can imagine. For a limited time, to get the slur Next Gen Offer, where you buy the latest generation of Transitions lenses with select Slur lenses, you can choose a second pair of clear lenses for free with qualifying frame purchases. Restrictions apply. Find a participating eyecare professional by visiting slur usa dot com. See more, Do more to the players Loud Players Lounge. On a Wednesday, it is Game Week, I'm excited about it.

You can watch the Dallas Cowboys first game against the Los Angeles Rams in the brand new Sofi State at Inglea, California, all on NBC Sunday Night Football, and I am hyped about it. So let's get into a question and bear you at posed. This year we were talking about new foot topics. You want to come up with this. Who are you most excited to watch Week one for the Cowboys? Go ahead, go church for me. I mean this guy.

He was my first round pick whenever we were doing the mock drafts back in back before April and all that stuff, and that's tavon days. I mean, I'm super excited to see what he can do out there. I always give his intangibles. I mean, he's long, he can jam at the line of scrimmage, he excels at press, man and man all the good stuff. But the most important thing I think about his game is that he can take the ball away. He's not afraid to go up there and challenge receivers to get the ball at

the high point. And he said earlier during his camp that when the ball's in the air, it's it's not you know, made for the offense, it's anybody's ball when it goes in the air, and he thinks he can take it away. So that's what we need in the secondary. We needed someone like that for the past couple of years.

This is a guy who has extremely great ball skills, so hopefully he can bring that talent to the Dallas Cowboys, and if the defensive line is able to play to where we think they can play, I think this guy will have a great breakout year and I'm excited to see what he can he can do for the Dallas Cowboys defense. Here we go, Here we go. Listen, listen, check this out. I'm gonna go unconventionally with this one.

I'm going with the kool aid. I'm excited to see Michael McCarthy on the sideline, and I really I want I want to see you know, right, because NEWI has been hyping it up, I actually have faith that Mike McCarthy will take the Cowboys to whin he leven games this season. I want to see in those tight situations, those ones where NEWI said that j G was kind of you know, the communication wasn't right, where he messed up. I'm excited to see how McCarthy reacts when those situations arise.

When you get into two minute situations, how do you handle your time out, how do you handle your team. I'm excited to see that I really am, because we've been talking about it for a while. I hope he succeeds, but I'm excited to be able to I guess nah, I'm not gonna say that we're talking about let's talking about it on Monday. Let's talk about it on Monday, all right. The guys, I'm gonna go where they're gonna go in the combination right here. I want to see it.

I'm really excited to see what Jalen Smith and Layton vander Esh can do under this new Mike McCarty system. Here. We saw vander Esh hurt last year, but his first year as a rookie, this guy was a difference maker on the football field. And last year Jalen didn't have, in my opinion, as good a year as I think his ability is, even though he ended up making the

Pro Bowl as an alternate. And both of these guys have talked about how they really liked this scheme right now, So I'm really excited to see what can these two linebackers do in this scheme, because if the front is as good as we think they are and these two guys can play and benefit from that, I'm very I'm really looking forward to seeing what these two can do if they're healthy and they find some comfort in this system. Fellas, Yeah,

I agree with you. I mean, like we've seen in his rookie campaign, vander esh was a sideline and sideline guy. I mean he was you know, he was all over the field. I think he let the team and tackles. I mean, he was taking the ball away. And last year he was injury prone a little bit, so hopefully he can bounce back from that. But we need we need Jalen to get a little bit better in coverage. I mean they were abusing him last years. I mean

it was kind of a tough sight to see. So we need him to get those clear out, view them sunglasses or glasses and whatever he got going on, put them things on, and go out there and perform great to where he can. Yes, same here with Jalen the coverage. I really don't expect much more from him. I really just want him in LVE to be great at what

they do, right. I wanted to be great running side the side, sideline and sideline, making plays, making big hits, changing the momentum of the game, but getting their and getting their team hype. Right, every team needs that one or two guys that goes out there and they make that big hit and get everybody hype. I just want to see them do that. What he does in coverage, I wanted to make, you know, make sixty percent of the plays. I don't expect them to be one of

the top covering linecker. Just make the plays when he has the opportunity. Sometimes they'll make plays on him. But be great at what you do, Bess. I want to see Notre Dame Jalen Smith. And I know he was injured and he's still worked his way back, but I'm telling you, fellas if you had watched as many Notre Dame games as I did, he would, in my opinion,

was a top five pick. To watch him play at Order Dame and go sideline and sideline and the way he was getting after folks, I'm telling you it was reminiscent for me of watching Junior say out when he played a see. I mean, this guy was that dominant. So if this defense can unlock some of the potential of Jalen Smith that we saw an Order Dame, then we are talking about a difference making player. And if vander Est can be back what he was his rookie year,

and now you've got experience and he's healthy. These two linebackers can really make a difference in this defense. And once again, if the front is really good like we think, and then you take these two linebackers, now you talk about a front seven that's be able to get after and do some things, then your back end doesn't have to be great. They can make up for some wards there, and that, to me is what I'm looking for and I'm excited to see on Sunday night when the Rams

and the Cowboys face each other. All right, let's get into another question that we talked about in our preciow meeting here. Who is the breakout player of twenty twenty who needs to have a breakout season for the Cowboys. McCrae breakout player, my guy. But Blake Jarwin he's been I feel like he's been held back just a little

bit because he was behind the Hall of Famer. I feel like we've we've watched the change of the tight end with Killer and Kelsey and those type of guys that are built that way, and I think Blake Jarwin he has he has, We have high expectations for him, and I think that he needs to really reach those He got paid, so it's time for him, you know, to take advantage of this. Or were we right that

Jason Winn was holding him back? And will he be able to make those plays that we expected him to make last year if they would have gave him an opportunity. So I need to see him make those type of plays so I can validate my fields on him being

a caliber player like Travis Kelcel, George Kibble. Okay, And for myself, I'm gonna go in the second year, stay in the secondary, and I'm gonna go Xavier Woods on this one, not only for himself, but just to quiet all the fans and out there it is talking about we need earl, we need earl, we need this gat there, we need to draft a super super super safety and all that good stuff. I think we have a good

one there in the back end with Xavier Woods. Now, when he first got in, he's a first attile player. He can play nickel, he can play safety. But I feel like he's gotten better and better each year that he's been with the Cowboys and with this defense. So he's been proven that he can lay the wood a little bit and he could take the ball away. So if he's able to improve on those things, I think

he'll have a good breakout year. He can be that kind of quarterback of the defense back there, so I think he'll end up having a breakout years if he can take the ball away and improve on his tackling a little bit, I think this will be a good year for him. Fellas. I like those choices here. I think Lake Jarwin is you know, if you've got Blake Jarwin and your fantasy team here and you took him in later rounds, I think somebody is gonna be very happy.

He looked really good at training camp of what you've read, and then when I was out there, I mean the guy, the guy looks like the real deal, the player. For me, I'm gonna go to a guy that I was criticized in last year who underperformed all day long, who right now we're hearing good things about. That's Triston Hill, who's going to be a starter in the defensive tackle spot.

Gerald McCoy got hurt early in camp. They've asked Tristan Hill to you know, hey, look, we needs you to go go to the next level, and apparently he has and if Triston Hill can can play next to don Terry Poe and become a difference maker for the Cowboys. He was at first He was their first pick last

year in the second round out of Social Floorida. If Poe, if Poe and Hill can stop the run up front, then the Cowboys are going to have a real good opportunity in my opinion, to have a good defense this year because to me, so much of this game is about the trenches. So for me, it's Tristan Hill, a defensive tackle. The Cowboys need him to have a breakout twenty twenty. How about you? How about that? You are right? I like I like it. You know what they say,

they rush and cover, they work together. So if that, if that d line can get after the quarterback the way, we think, it'll make the Seconday job a lot easier and I think turnovels will come and it'll just be all good for the Cowboys. But like we always say, man, you don't win championships on paper. We gotta see it on the field for this to happen. We talked about this weeks ago. If you do not stop the run, you will not get a chance to make to rush

that passer. So we hope that those those two guys can stop to run on the inside because if not, it'll be a long year for the defense. I'm happy for him. I want to see him this some real game time actually makes a big place. Well, go back to that playoff loss to the right the Cowboys. The last playoff game was that loss at the LA College. Sum I was there, and the Rams just ran it

down the Cowboys. They had two one hundred yard rushers in the game, neither one of them there anymore, but still they went after the Cowboys and just they just went after them. The defensive philosophy has changed here because Mike Nolan wants bigger guys up front. Rod Marion Ellie preferred smaller, quicker guys. So we're bringing beef. The Cowboys

are gonna bring beef up front here. So I just alone, I like to change in the thought of, hey, look we're gonna get bigger up front, so you just can't go pound it on us. And the Ram's offensive line is not the same line that they had two years ago. Even looking at their left tackle Andrew Whitworth, here's a fantastic, I mean fantastic player When you look over his career, but he's thirty eight years old. Now, Okay, they got problems.

And to me, if the Cowboys are going to establish a way to win this football game, it has to be getting after the offensive line with their defensive line. They did that last year. So to me, this game is going to be one for the truly in both trenches if you think about it. Defensively, they got to stop it. And then on the other side, you know, you know, Zach Zack Martins got to get up there

with Aaron Donalds. Slow him down here, Carter Williams, when they get up against Aaron Donalds, they've got to get up here and find a way to slow this guy down here. And and if they can slow down Aaron donald then you're gonna have an ability to win a game. I'm not saying stop him, because he's too great to stop, but if you can just slow him down, if you can keep him a half second off number four, you're gonna have an opportunity to do some things here. I

was just about to say this. The scout report for Dallas and la is the same. They want to get after the officsive line, just like you say that LA's offensive line isn't the same that it was two years ago. Look at ours. We have we have uh Collins out, we have Tyran who's who's been in and out with a bad bag, you know. We have we have Cam getting in there. I think we have Luny in there.

We you know, our line isn't the same either. So I'm sure they're preaching the same thing over there, uh in their locker room and their meetings as they need to get after our officsive line. So I think that'll be an interesting thing to see whose old line holds up the best. And speaking of old line and Cam Irving is going to get to start at right tackle his first game for the Dallas Cowboys. He'll start for Lell Collins who's uninjured. Reserve Connor Williams is coming back

from injury. He'll start at guard. Joe Looney takes over for Travis Frederick who's retired. So the Cowboys bringing in a different offensive line than the line we have been used to seeing last year. I and oh, by the way, Joe Philbin, this is his first line with the Dallas Cowboys is the offensive line coach, so this is his

first group that he gets to roll out there. So there's a lot of things to be tuned into and to be excited about it to me, to be excited about how does this coaching staff get these guys ready to go? Because I think there's a lot of promise with this team. We've all been talking about it, but she actually got to go out there improve it. We need to squeeze in one more break here when we come back. We must talk about Barry Church's old teammate Jalen Ramsey getting paid in full. Let's see what he

does against these Cowboys wide receivers. And oh, by the way, is the Cowboys number one receiver going to play in this game? That's next on the Players Loves brought to you by hotels dot Com. Hey, they're Cowboys fans with type Cleaners at home pickup and delivery. Cleaning your clothes has never been more convenient. Simply sign up at your local store, set out your dirty clothes, and one of our tight cleaners professionals will come directly to your home

for a totally contactless experience. Your clean garments will be returned promptly the next scheduled delivery day, So skip the errand and enjoy life not laundry. Visit ty cleaners dot Com or your local store to sign up for ty Cleaners at home pickup and delivery. Today. We can't wait to see the Cowboys back on the field, and we can't wait to pack eighteen T Stadium to watch them

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around available at your local retailer. And a proud sponsor of the Dallas Cowboys, It's Pettigene meat Taste. The difference to the players loud, all right, baby, we are back players Lounge. It's Wednesday game week. As the Cowboys get

ready to face the Los Angeles Rams. Cowboys three point favorites, three and a half point favorites and certain books here as they get ready to face and the Rams at a new stadium, Sofi Stadium, which is basically Jerry World but bigger, all right, because because so many of these stadiums now based off what Jerry Jones built at and T Stadium in Arlington. I remember going up there to watch the Vikings first game. I was like, man, this

is a smaller Jerry world here and at Lant. A lot of these new stadiums borrowed from what Jerry Jones did. But what Stan Cronky built is this is this is the taj Mahal of the National Football League. And patrolling the sidelines for the Ramsay Day a man who just got a huge deal talking about cornerback Jalen Ramsey here twenty one million years. What the steal is going to average? One hundred and five million dollars over five years, seventy

one point two million guarantee in a contract extension. Church, you played with Jalen Ramsey and Jacksonville. So how do you think Jalen will now operate that he's gotten his money? This has been a contention for him. He's wanted to have it, all players do, but he got taken care of so Bury Church. Your thoughts, man, this guy, I mean he deserves it. I mean this guy, I think top two corner in the National Football League. You know

he's rarely injured and he comes to play. I mean, yeah, he has a mouth on him, and yeah, you know, sometimes he can be not as coachable as you know, some of the better guys when it comes to coaching. But this guy, I mean, he goes on in the football field and he handles his business. I mean, now with all this money, do I think he'll change, not at all. I think he'll be the ill act the same way, which is and you know, kind of an arrogant kind of a you know, hey, this is my

this is my island over here. You're not gonna get anything over here. I think he'll continue to talk that noise and be to Jalen that he is, because that's the guy that got him into the NFL, and that's the guy that you know has been able to play at that sustained level by talking noise and hyping himself up. So I think this was much deserved and I think he'll still remain that same corner. And I think when the Cowboys go, you know, up up to La whoever

is across from him. You know, I'm sorry to say, but I think they're gonna get locked up. Man. I mean, if you watch Jalen Ramsey, and you study his game and his techniques. He excels against the bigger ride receivers, the bigger, faster ride receivers. I mean, if he watched the tape against Toulio Jones when he went down to Atlanta last year, he did a pretty good job on

arguably the best receiver in football. So the thing he struggles with is those short Cole Beasley, quick, jitterbug type receivers. And I don't see the Cowboys trotting any any of those type receivers out and eleven personnel, so I don't know. I gotta give Jalen Ramsey the edge when they match up this week. But you know, congrats want the commence or the contractor was a much deserved man. The dude got paid and he's gonna lock down the Cowboys. Ain't

that something I see? You're still in Jacksonville? Oh for Shure, I got, I got, and just don't make a couple of just still make a couple of Jayla just toold me a couple of listen, I don't listen. I am super happy for Ramsey. I mean I've been watching them since since Florida State, I believe, and he's he's he's great. Now. I don't want to take nothing away from him, but knew he did bring up Nick Satan, So what I'm

gonna do is bring up your David's wife. Shout out to my guy for getting paid as one of the top cornerbacks in the league. He got his bag up there in Buffalo and and I love it. Man. He's a great dude, So I just want to get him some love for that. He's also gonna ball this year, and I think both of these guys will be top corners in the league for the next next five years at least. All right, um so, so Church, you mentioned you think Jayla Ramsey's one of the top two corners.

Who are the top two corners? If it's Ramsey, who else is your opinion? I gotta go with them. Danny's goyn LS shoot out of Buffalo and LS shoot. I mean, this guy, Tevious White, He's he's he's amazing at that corner he has. He's not as big as Ramsey, and I don't believe he's as fast as Ramsey, but he's just he's quicker than Ramsey and he's just as physical even though he's a smaller corner. I mean, this guy,

he's he can go gets run support. He can lock up any any wide receiver in the game right now, even those little short, jittery bug receivers. He can lock those guys up. So I think he was another corner that deserved to get paid, and I'm glad he did get paid. So you think that that it's it's it's white as White and ram White and Ramsey. But I got Ramsey number one. I got Ramsey number one. How bias do I have to be? How biased do I have to be to say it's, uh, it's Patrick Peterson

and Ramsey. Oh hell noah. I'll just listen. You you haven't seen. Listen, no matter how bad Arizona has been, you still hadn't seen Patrick Peter getting out there getting beat like that. Even though he's on the team that hasn't really performed well, he's still been one of the top corners in the league. I think that will be even I think he will escalate his play this season, just based off the fact that they're going to be competitors and they got he's out there with going against

DeAndre Hopkins every week. I think he's gonna be back back to top form this season, him and him to Davis White and Jayla Ramsey will be the top three corners. Oh wow, I think I think Pat he falls into that, you know that Tom Brady kind of people. People are like, people are like, you know, they've seen what he did, he won, he did all this stuff in the past. But and they kind of bringing, oh yeah, he's still the top now. I don't think so, man, I think he fell off a little bit. I still give him

top out. I'm willing. So he fell off, he fell off a little bit, but he top five. Okay, he ain't want to do that. I take that. I take that. I take that. Who do you have? No way? I mean for every look, you guys played the game, so I give your expertise that edge over anything that I'm

gonna set. But if you guys realized you just left off the defensive player of the year last year, who was the co leader in interceptions the National Football League, who's also a Super Bowl champion, that step On Gilmore of the New England Patriots. Yes, yeah, I realized that. But I also chalked something that up to my boy Bill Belichick. You know, he was he was great. I'm still giving him top five. But like I said, I

may be a little biased. I got two LSU guys in my top three, and Jalen Ramsey isn't my top three, so Stephon Gilmore fits at four. I mean, he did the defensive lay of the year, just just just just because, just because you clamp up on Murray Cooper, don't mean my bad bad No, Hey, wait day, don't bring that up. Listen, knew that was last year, all right, We're talking about this year. I also saw Stephan Gilmore before he was playing in New England. He wasn't that. He wasn't the

top corner in the league, all right. He progressed to be a great cornerback this year. I think, like I said, things change in Arizona. They're going to be competitive. They have a top receiver out there to challenge Patrick Peterson every day in practice, and he's gonna go out there and show that he's still a top corner in the league this season. Now. Now, he was in Buffalo before he ended up going into England, and there's a bunch of folks who've been who've left that program in Buffalo

who went on to have some success in other places. Mean, Robert Woods was not a guy we heard a whole lot out of Buffalo, and clearly he was misused there because we see what happened with him and Sean McVay system. Chris Hogan was a guy that we never heard about a Buffalo. He goes into England and he gets used as a part of a Super Bowl championship team. So so for me, when I look at Buffalo, how guys are using I mean, Marshawn Lynch was there. He ends

up leaving Buffalo, goes out to set. Mars Shawn Lynch ends up having having a good cruso. I don't want to sit around here and beat him up because oh what did he do a Buffalo. That's point we got to look at. But that's a two dudes who left Buffalo and be he ain't good play now listen, But there's also a bunch of things that left New England and haven't done anything. Absolutely. But what I'm saying is Buffalo, they weren't relevant, they weren't playing for anything. People are

going to Buffalo. At one point You're like, man, listen, if Buffalo called me, I'm gonna go out there. I know I'm gonna be home at the end of December. That's just how you thought about it. Now now it's different, right, not even going to the playoffs. They're competing for the for the for the division title, so it's different. Like everybody's elevating their play because they have something to play for. I feel like that's gonna be the same thing Arizona. Ain't.

Nobody's been thinking about Arizona for the last four years. It's all been about Seattle. It's been about Seattle for this entire time. Now, now the whole landscape of that division to change, and it's going to be different. Would you like to make a bet? I'm just trying to find a way why everything Peterson, Patrick Peterson, Patrick Peterson, Patrick Peterson performs better than Steph Gilmore this year. I think he is a part of a better defensive union.

He got a bunch of guys in New England. Who's decide they opted out, I mean, have the defense or they left him. So no, I'm not I'm not looking. Let's let's let's just do this man the man covers. Then they got stats for just when when when he's covering somebody's name the man, they have those stats. They can break them out next and stuff like that. I'm already Cooper by the way, we get back to this that Jalen Ramsey. We don't even know if Ramsey will

be covering Amari Cooper. He was in he was working with resistance bands and practice here, so we're not sure exactly if if Cooper is going to be out there week one, and if he is, who knows, maybe they just make him a decoy against Jalen Ramsey. But I'm worried. I'm worried about number nineteen. What's your concern level here, Church, Well, well, I mean it isn't a way game, so I mean we all know what happens in away games when it comes to number nineteen. So I'm a little bit concerned.

I mean, like you said, he hasn't practiced that much. He's you know, and he's We're going into the season opener, so we'll see. Hopefully he can change that you know, away game disappearing act and turn it into a full, you know, a full season of away and home games playing well. But we'll see, he's going against a top poinner in my opinion, and I don't think he'll fare too well if he's locked up against Jalen Ramsey each and every down. Listen, let me tell you, let me

tell you what I'm hoping for. All right, just based off what's been going on in the Cowboys organization for the last couple months. This is all a ploy. He's five. They just don't want him to practice because they don't want LA to know if he's gonna be playing or not. That's that's all this is. So he's I drafted him on my fantasy football team. So my hope is they're

just trying to trick everybody. Mark Cooper's gonna go out there, he's gonna line up, he's gonna be full speed, and he's gonna make some plays on Jalen Ramsey or whoever's covering. That's that's That's the only thing I can get out of this, because if not, I'm confusing. This is honey, million man. He hadn't practice all training camp. As much as you ran down to Mary Cooper last year you

drafted for your fantasy team. I'm confused. Listen, listen, So so you know what happened when you draft at the beginning, You draft at the beginning, and then all those picks go before you get to pick again. They went on a run on receivers. It was so many receivers come out the board. But before I got to pick again, and he was the one that was left that was noticed noticeable, So I picked him up. So why did you just go with George Kindle and get the best

tighten out there? They got no word receivers in San Francisco. Something somebody, somebody, somebody picked George Kinder on the second round. Okay, this is true, right, This is why you lose. This is why you championships. That's why I went championships. I talked the guy in Amary Cooper Darley. I talked him into it. So I was trying to get guys off the board here. But we'll see, we'll see. It's a ploy. He's healthy, all right. So tomorrow night we actually do

have football, all right. The season kicks off the the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs are gonna host the highly paid Deshaun Watson against the highly paid Patrick Mahomes and two highest paid dudes in the game go at it. I'm excited about that. And I'm gonna bring in a I'm gonna bring and I had told you guys just but oh, by the way, gonna bring in Graham Benzinger. Graham Benzinger hosts a show called In Depth.

He does if you remember years ago, he's the guy that the TiO ended up running down uh Dono McNabb and ended up getting himself fired from the Eagles. But Graham did a sit down interview with Dak Prescott came out here um to to prosper and was at Dak's house. He also talked to Dak's brother as well, So I want to get his take on just what he expects from Dak is they get ready to go into this season, and also the off season he had where he lost his brother. So we're gonna get some good stuff from

Graham Benzinger tomorrow. So we'll make sure we get in on that. So to make sure you two then two thirty al right, two thirty um right here on the players Lounge. So fella's time is flying by with these new forty five segment shows versus the hour shows we do. But good stuff here. Uh, clearly you all disrespecting stuff on Gilmore different player. I feel bad for a guy like that. What does he had to do to get some former DBS to give him some credit and Super

Bowl ring all that kind of God's good. He's good than listen. J J. Watt was Defensive Player of the Year at one point, and then you know, the next year he wasn't, So they could also be the same for stuff. For a Gilmore, I'm going with the lguy. I'm J. J. Watt. What was that three four years ago? I mean, yeah, but I'm saying it was it was three or four years ago. And then the next year he wasn't Defensive Player the Year again, So I mean, you know, every year is different. Shout out to shout

out to give him a man, You're great, You're top five. Mccraige. That's cool. I'm gonna let you be wrong on this church. I'll talk to you tomorrow. McRae. We'll do this everybody. Thank you for checking out to play his louds right here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Brought to you by Hotels dot Com. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.