Player's Lounge: Much Improved?

about it. That's probably what happened. We didn't give him a hard time, you know, we you know, we were okay with mine was not a hard time. I was just like, Dan, can I get in the intro? And I got there? Will you making stuff happen? So yeah, I'm trying. I'm trying. I'm welcome to at the Player's Lounge Friday Edition Post game Edition. I'm Brett Johnson. I'm here with Danny McCray, Barry Church, and new We are both out today, but we have the boss man himself.

My boss is here. Just you know, you're just going to be here reviewing, judging everything that I do. I guess feel it. Well wait, wait, wait, wait, before get before we get too deep into this, I gotta make sure I put this on camera. Okay, because once again I'm here, Barry's not here, and New he's not here. All right. They made sure to make a big moment of it, of the fact that I had been out,

I was on vacation. They held it down while I was gone, Nui wasn't here on a previous show, and then Barry and New we aren't here for this show. So that's on camera, and I want everybody to know that I'm here and I'm wrong, and I'm pretty sure Barry is partying right now here. You are on a flight I saw. I saw New at in Tampa, so I kind of understand maybe why he wasn't in the last two shows. You know, I'm just at the game, but I don't know about you. You were in Tampa, Yeah, okay,

because you're on the show. Yeah yeah. So but I will say this, I did get to fly the charter home last night. They didn't get that out. I'm sure if he would have had that option, he definitely would have taken it. It's okay, man, I got live of you and stuff, but I'm gonna get off. I'm gonna get off. It's okay because I'm here. I love the team that we have here is gonna be an amazing show. So shout out. I worked my first game yesterday and

I didn't travel and I'm really tired. So I congratulations for being here today, Nick, because I don't know how y'all do it. I don't know. I got home at like twelve thirty and I'm like, I'm so tired. What his life? What his life? M the game yesterday? You know, I've always been a fan of Too Short, but yesterday I was not because we lost by two points final score thirty one to twenty nine. Bucks win the game

that headline though, didn't you know? Yeah? Thank yeah, And I was like, you know what that's like, too Short? Like from California. You know, I got to do a little West Coast Best Coast um next game is against West Coast team Los Angeles Chargers at SOFI Stadium. I'm honestly kind of sad that I will not be at that game because I've been seeing so far being built for years, last two years, and I have not gotten

to go in the stadium. Last year they did not have fans in the stands, and I'm really sad about that one. But that is on September nineteenth, so the Cowboys have a little bit of time to kind of work on some things from now till then. Um, but just before we get into depth of more stuff, what was your guys's just first initial thought after watching the game, just your first kind of instinct. Yeah, it was. It was a little tough, just because I had actually thought

the game was going to go that way. I said that we would we would lose by four. We lost about two. You did knew that we're going to come out and throw the ball all over the place. I did not expect us to run the ball as little as we did. I thought that we would try a little bit harder or get Zeke more involved in the passing game. I think he caught two passes, so that was a little difficult. The special teams play was a little shaky, miss some field goals. I've watched kickoff, I

watched punt. You know, we gave up some yardage there. Some of the kickoffs were a little strange. But it's week once. We got some stuff that we can fix. Um, there's a lot of positives coming out of the game. Uh, Dak looked great, offensive line looked way better than I thought they would look. And we went toe to toe with the defensive Super Bowl champions. No moral victories here, but if you're looking for good things to pull out

of this game, there there are a few of them. Nick. Yeah, I just wanted to see them be a better football team, I mean than what we saw last year. And I don't know if they're a good team, you know, a great team, but I do think that they're better than what we saw. And because Tampa is a perfect benchmark to start this off. You know tom Brady's going to be Tom Brady, and he was, and you know that they're a well old oiled machine. They got twenty two

starters back. Everyone's been talking about that, and they came out there, like you said, Danny, then went toe to toe and they didn't win. And that's the next step. That's what you want to be a really good team. You got to take that step. And they weren't there. They left tom Brady too much time and that's what happened.

But if if that, if you play like that, you're going to beat a lot of teams on your schedule in my opinion, Yeah, especially considering we have what the third easiest schedule according to ESPN and NFL, and we don't have another playoff team that we're going to be playing from last season until Week eleven, which will be the Kansas City Chiefs. So hopefully with those stats out, don't buy buying two because the last year was last year.

Teams are totally different coming into a new season. Like you think about the Chargers who were going to play. This is the second year of Herbert and he's going to be we assume he's going to be better than he was last year. They had some things go wrong for them last season, so I expect them to be better. And also, I mean, think about it from the flip side, if someone was talking about the Cowboys the same way.

They didn't make the playoffs, but from what they saw last night, I guarantee you the Giants watching the Eagles are like dang. I mean, they have to be a little bit more worried about it because of what they saw. Well, I'm excited from watching the game yesterday. Obviously sucks that we lost, but I after watching preseason, I had no idea, what was going to happen, you know, with the squad this year, and you know, even just looking at like, okay,

who are they cutting? Who are they keeping? I don't know if this is going to work. You know, we had what six or seven guys make their NFL debut last night played in the game. So I was excited, especially to see what these young guys are going to do. I was not excited about my Chris Godwin and Jordan Lewis matchup that I had thought was going to be great. It started off good but didn't turn out the way.

But we'll talk about that later a little bit. But to go back to your point, you kind of made it a big point of saying you hope the pass and run game is split and Dak doesn't have to do as much, you know typically I think people kind of wanted it to stay around. Maybe he passes for thirty five attempts or whatever, and he passed for fifty eight, which was tying his career high. Zeke, we didn't see

him used a lot. He rushed eleven times for thirty three yards and then caught three passes for nineteen yards. What were your thoughts on that? Why? Do you think that that happened. I mean, listen, this trend has been going on since last year, and Mike McCarthy is not known for, you know, utilizing to run that much in his offense, and I think we're going to continue to see that go the same way. I'm still going to say that we have a ninety million dollars running back

in the backfield. I would like to see him use more. Even if the game dictates that we're not going to be able to run off tack or run up the middle. I think there's still some other career the ways that we can get Zeke the ball um. I don't. I think if you're gonna use him like you use him last night, then Tony Pollard should not be getting full series.

I think that Zeke should still be in the game getting some of those touches that Tony Pollard got because he needs to be feeling like he's involved in the game. And I think last night, you know, besides him being a blocker, he was kind of a non factor. So I don't. I don't think that we can continue to go that way. I think we're gonna need Zeke to carry us through the rest of the season, but you know, I don't really have confidence in seeing seeing that many changes.

I kind of appreciated the fact that that Kellen Moore didn't try to just you know, run the ball, just because we've seen that here before, Like it's not working. But let's just we do what we do big on big and it's like, well, you're not big enough, you know, big enough to go big on big and that happens too many times. And so I like the fact that they went sideline to sideline and they try to you know, stretch it out. Now you know, the run to Zeke at the goal line. I mean, I've said this for

a long time. The tight ends can catch the ball, but they're they're a problem when it comes to blocking, especially on Darwin. Like, yeah, that that play, we saw that in the preseason though we did see a play and he didn't. He just barely got a hand on it. And that's a block in space. It will so not even just you know, somebody on the end of the

line of scrimmage. And this is a safe game in a linebacker, so you know you need to just just chuck them just a little bit, get him off, and then you would think that that Zeke would could do the rest, but I mean, the guy, you gotta give him credit. The guy made a great play, made a great play, and that that I mean, that was a game changing play for them. Being in this building yesterday seeing that play, all the guys in the room were like,

what how do you miss that? Tac Like, how do you not do something there to kind of at least get him a step back to whereas Zeke has a little bit of time to you know, get into that end zone. Um. I thought it was unfortunate, it was sad. I'm never going to be happy with how we usually last night, just just just to be clear, eleven rushes,

two past two catches, never gonna be happy with. That's why I say when Tony Polar got in the game, we went first down, second down, I believe, in the second quarter, and on the third down we ran it. We ran like a draw, didn't get it and we had to punt. And I'm just like this, the flow of that just doesn't make sense. You best, well, just going to throw it all three downs and you're gonna

do it that way, right. I didn't understand that that series. Yeah, you know, I'm like this, And then it's a whole series of Tony Poler. So you got Zeke in here blocking for for six seven downs, you know, picking up these rushers, and then you put Tony Poler in there. He gets a screen pass, he's pitching and doing all type of stuff, and then Zeke is you know, he's blocking. I mean he also ran them from the fullback position. I was like that, I had never seen that one before. Yes,

it's literally confusing that you would. He's slimmer, he's faster, he's quicker, so you assume that he's going to get a screen maybe lining up at the one and catch up, you know, whatever didn't happen. You see Leona Fournette out there catching screens and running too the flat. You've seen the same thing Ronald John, Giovanni, benr And they still got their running backs involved in the game. And I feel like we totally took Zeke out besides him being

used as a blocker. Right, I agree, But I think you know, the Bucks run game yesterday kind of reminded me of that old school Giants team that had like they called him Earthwind and Fire with a mod Bradshaw, Derek Ward, and Brandon Jacobs because you do have like the different sizes and speeds, and they all can do different things. And I want Tony Pollard to do what he does, and I want Zeke to do what he does, and I want to be able to utilize both of them.

I think both of them should be able, you know, to be in the game even at the same time, doing different kind of things. And I don't think that that necessarily is being done. But I like Tony Pollard a lot, and I think he's a great running back. And I know everybody's like, oh, give Zeke the ball, feed Zeke because we're paying him, you know, But I like Tony Pollard a lot, and I liked the way and more kind of honestly confused everybody a little bit.

He had so many different unique play calls and stuff, and I enjoyed watching it. I thought it was just from a fan perspective, it was really fun to watch the game. Even though you know, there were times whe were like what is happening here? Like oh, why did we miss that? And whatever? I thought it was really fun and exciting and it wasn't something so left fill

that you're like, bro, like, don't do that. Because I feel like last season, we took maybe more chances in certain times where we shouldn't have, like you know, going forward on fourth down or whatever, different things like that, And I don't think we did that. I think we played smart still and we were just trying to figure out because we didn't get that in preseason. We did not get those opportunities to kind of play with stuff as much because a lot of the starters weren't playing.

And so I was excited to see all of the stuff that we did yesterday. Yeah, I mean, you're right about the Pollard and Zeke and mix it up. And Kellen Moore did a nice drop. He really did, because because again, like I said, I don't I just don't think he looked at that matchup and said we're not

gonna win this one. Not not right now Zack Martin comes back, it could be, it could be a different story somewhat, But but still think you know, when and I said this on the last show, when you get down in the red zone, you still have to be able to knock them back, and they that is going to be a problem, and I think that they need to. I mean, why why do the Bucks put Vita v a defensive tackle why don't think Cowboys do something like that. You know, if you need some beef in there in

the middle, do something different. And that's one thing I'd like to see them on the red zone. So so so if you go like, I'm going to go back and watch all eleven of Zek's runs because I don't feel like we were getting killed. You can do that in the break well, but I don't feel like we were getting killed in the ring game like that. Like he broke for a thirteen yard run. One of his runs was from fullback. He was falling forward on some of his runs. You're not going to break every single one,

but he was making something happen. I feel like if you give him a little bit a few more opportunities, then you also have the option when you get in the red zone, which is holding us back. Again, you're saying that you think that they kind of just gave up before they even started, like they just went in saying they were not I think it was more like a third and fourth thought to run the ball. I think it was like, oh, yeah, we haven't rented a long time, let's go ahead, and let's go ahead and

get a running. I feel like they did what they had to do. I mean, you could clearly see pass protection was on point. I you know, I was the only one actually on the show on Wednesday that gave Connor McGovern like a little bit. I'm like, you, guys, he should be getting better from last year. He was already getting better towards the end of last year. I get preseason he wasn't the greatest, but I had faith in him, and he, I believe showed up very well.

I think our offensive line as a whole did very well. But our run game, I don't know. Our run protection just was not there for me. I didn't even just watching and just re looking back at like when they would show different angles of the plays and stuff. I didn't see even space to go. I didn't see openings very often. And vitave I had people literally doing the matrix, you know, like he people were all the way back trying to like stop him, and he was just unstoppable

past protection, good run. I just think it was a little stretch to try to do something there. And I don't know if we find if we if we find a team that we can run against, I don't think that we're going to run the ball. We saw this last year as well, when we thought that there were teams that we can that we can out muscle on the offensive line, take advantage of zeeking the run game, and we didn't do it in those games either. So I mean, I'm gonna keep saying that we got the

same offensive coordinator and his coach. The call it's the same, it's not. It's not going to change. It's not going to change. But you know, like I said, at the end of the day, we lost, and if we would have played a little bit more keep away, I think we we would have been okay. But it's a it's a it's a good game. When you say keep away, you mean at the end of the game. I really think that if we shortened the game by establishing the run,

then we have a better chance of winning that game. Well, even at the end of the game, I didn't like on that last drive that that first even though it was in complete pass, that shouldn't have been a pass. It should have been a run right away that first on the first drive, their first play was and you know, Felled attempted to throw it, but it wasn't that back

on their eight yard line. You're talking about like after they got the fumble like or you or you mean once they got past midfield and we're really like in field goal range because I know it's I know it's

it's hard to all these plays. Kind yeah, I don't remember it, but I'm still going to be the one banging on the table to say, hey, run it a little more, especially when you're going up against a team like that and you know your defense is giving it up at that point because Tom Brady hasn't figured out figure out a way. I have you established the run at the beginning, and then you kind of have something in your back pocket to go to and I don't think we had that. And I'm you know, I'm still

sitting on the price tag right. Zeke's making ninety. I know Zeke is great. I've seen him carry us for a lot of years, and I still think that he has that in them, especially when you're in training camp and everybody's saying, hey, he's he's bigger. I mean, he's a slimmer, he's faster, he's quicker. We saw none of what we expected to see from z And yes, we stayed in the game and we passed the fifty eight times and all that I don't think that's a recipe for us to get to the super Bowl. Well, what

do you think about this offensive line? Let's get let's get into that a little bit more. And you know, that's what we were talking about all weeks. Zach Martin, he's not going to be there. He's I thought Connor did great in place of him. Yes, it's you're not replacing Zach Martin. And I would never say something like that, but I do think that he did his job. Obviously, um Connor Williams had a couple penalties, but to me, I feel like, pick your poison, take the penalty instead

of getting your quarterback hurt. And I think that it was he was in that position where it's like, okay, well if I don't do a holding call here, they're getting to my quarterback. So to me, that's I'm fine with both with both of his penalties that were called on him. But what are your guys's thoughts? Nick? On the offensive line yesterday? I thought I thought they protected him, Like I said that, they protected him pretty good there. They didn't even try to just you know, run the

ball behind them. But but McGovern and what it looked like to me that he was doing like a lot of the calls. I mean, I guess that's what happens when he puts his hand out there and then all of a sudden, be out of snaps it, so it looks like he's the one making a lot of the calls. I thought he did a nice job, and they think he possibly could be in their top five as as as their lineman when Zach comes back, and so, you know,

maybe he gets more work at center. Maybe he's a guy that eventually is the center, or you know, Connor Williams is on a one year deal. I'm not one year deal, but this is his last year of his contract, so maybe this is a good opportunity for McGovern to kind of show that he's the future here as as an offensive lineman. But it was a great test, and I thought he did a nice job. Yeah, I thought the offensive line play will They played better than I thought they would. I'm so happy that we held up

on a tackle position. I was worried about Leo with the stinger. I was worried about tiring just a little bit because he was coming off the year head with the surgery and stuff. I think they held up. Will kept that clean for the most partum and listen, Vita Vea is going to be doing that to a lot of great offensive line in the season. So I'm taking nothing away from those guys. They did what they could

the whole to stop him from getting the deck. So I'm actually really really proud of the offensive line too. I mean, yeah, I'm like, yeah, I'm proud of them. I think I think they played well. That throws the ball fifty eight times. He's not getting killed back there, so he's doing a good job. Because we all know who the Russians are opposite of them, and Tampa Bay had some guys and Todd Bows was bringing the pressure,

so I think they did good. I think that we kind of overlooked beyondest a lot because McGovern is the guy that replaced Zack Martin on the fly, and you know he's gonna play as he's not it's gonna be McGovern. But I mean he has eight starts, I mean, be honest, had four going in. There's still a lot of question marks there. So you know, he comes in the game and together the three of them in the middle of the line, I thought held up pretty good. But but again,

they didn't just try to run behind them. They knew that wasn't going to be a favorable matchup. I know, I just don't. I know, we keep going back to this even if it's not favorable. You got, you got? This is why you paid this man this much money because you believe, even in those situations, that he should be able to do something. Because it seems to be like like some people are believing that this is going

to change after this game. Right, So if we if we play a defense who we believe isn't as good against the run, then all of a sudden, Ke's gonna get twenty five thirty carries. And I don't I don't believe that's gonna happen. Well, we could talk about the offensive line, probably the whole show. We could dedicate a show to it. But I want to talk about Michael Parsons, but I will wait till after the break to do

that because I was actually very proud of him. Will be right back in just a minute, Honey, big news, scary? Are you? Okay? Oh? I'm not Gary anymore. I'm Jackie Flash. What see? I want the latest smartphone, but the best deals are only for new customers. So to get a new customer deal. I changed names it Jackie Flash. Okay, but the best smartphone deals at AT AT and tare for everyone, new and existing customers. That's huge. Then guess who's getting

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be the star of any party. You can find us at your local Albertson's or tom Thumb in the Delhi section. If you can't find it, talk to your store manager and tell them Yo kierro, Yo kiero guacomole. It's game day. You know what that means. First, cubob prep steak pepper runnion steak pepper runion. Next, a counterclockwise lap around the rule. Now the lucky grease stained jersey goes on, and lastly,

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you missed a great party. Check out the new Miller Lighthouse, located outside of AT and T Stadium where Dallas Cowboy Game Day traditions are born. Enjoy yard games, Dallas Cowboys, cheerleader's performance, beer gardens and more. For more information, visit att stadium dot com, slash Miller Lighthouse, Miller Lighthouse. Your Tellgate just got jealous? Well, de Law said earlier this week, you guys that he was excited to get back to the way that he knows how to play defense and

the way he likes to play defense. Maybe a little shade thrown there. I don't know. We're not here to talk about that. Oh yeah, we all know we didn't have been at three four man. We want to do. We know what he's best at. Besides that miss on Gronk for that touchdown in the game, I thought he played great. I think the defensive line looked great. Um, that is my opinion. Though I'm a defensive girl. I love defense. What were your thoughts? Just let's talk about

the line first. Let's not get into the secondary because that's a totally different story for me. Yeah, I thought the d line did did Okay? I mean Tampa Bay is not really known for being a great running team. We know that Tom is going to read the defense and get you into whatever whatever he thinks is best at that time. So I didn't really expect Lenar Fournette and Ronald Jones to go crazy. Um, I thought d Law came and brought some some crazy energy last night.

The dude was all over the place force fumble, He's he's tracking guys down from the from the other side of the field. He came to say, hey, man, y'all look at me. Y'all follow me, and I'll show y'all how to play. And I loved it. I loved it. I thought I thought he set the tone on our defense and I thought it was really really good. Um. Another thing is, we know Tom Brady is going to get the ball out of his hands quick, so you know, planning to get a bunch of sacks on that dude.

It's just it's just not good. It's not good. It's not gonna work out for you. So for for the chances that we had and the opportunities that we did to have to make plays, I think we did a really good job, especially compared to last year. Yeah. I don't know who's got the record for quarterback to receiver touchdowns, Like you know, Montana and Rice and Young and Rice and Marino and Clayton but I guarantee you Brady to Gronk is up there and it was that touchdown that

you were talking about with d Law. I mean they the Cowboys tried to be cute, and they were cute her. I mean they did a nice I mean, that was a heck of a play there, because if they were gonna you know, oh, we're gonna confuse you sending the safety and put and then Gronk blocked for a second and then took off, it's just those two guys connecting. I thought it was an amazing play that was absolutely

just them. Yeah, that was something that they hadn't seen time and time again, and it was like, oh yeah, they do this all the time, right, because they trying to get a closer run to the quarterback by hitting the sea gat and it was like as soon as they saw it, it's on. I have to ask this what fan base was the most pissed off last night? Because the Cowboys fan base doesn't seem to be that pissed. You know, they're excited about what could happen. Of course,

the Bucks won the game. Patriots gotta be out there, right, I mean they're like, Gronk, you said you were done, and then like doing this, and then all these back surgeries and all this stuff. You were injured half the time you were here, and now you're just healthy as can be. Washington was maybe up there too. This now listen, this is the players lounge, and I am petty, so

I'm going to go back to this. The most upset fan base are the people who picked Ezekiel Elliott in their fantasy football draft with their their first round pick. I picked them, and then the person who picked Dalvin Cook said, hey, man, I picked them on accident. I really wanted to get Zeke, so we traded one for one. So now I got Dalvin Cook, they got Ezekiel Elliott. But that's the most upset fan base right now. Well, and also the people who one of the guys I

think it was Isaiah had benched Amari Cooper. I'll pass them. I'll pass some of this year. How do you benchmark? I didn't benching my past, and I just didn't. I think it was Isaiah. Somebody yesterday or no, somebody somebody yesterday said that they had benched Amari Cooper for this week. So I think they're pretty upset too, And I can I can throw my story in there too, which can

segue to the secondary because I've benched Antonio Brown. I didn't. Yeah, yeah, but um he made sure Anthony Brown knows a little bit about him, and yeah he was. He was outstanding. And we've been hearing reports from from people in Tampa that like, this guy looks looks God, looks amazing. He looks like back to Pittsburgh for him from three or four or five years ago. And he did. He certainly did.

He's got a great quarterback that knows how to well you think about it, him and Gronk, Right, it's like, so they got in late. You know, Gronk had been retired, he was still trying to catch up. He had been out of the game for a while. Antonio Brown same thing. He had have been out of the game for a while. And now that they are playing, you know, full offseason training camp, and they're looking like the guys who were at their previous teams. It's it's a real, real there's

some trouble out there. So when you say ab once again, Antonio Brown is going to be giving a lot of good cornerbacks problems this season because when he was at his best, nobody could touch him right, Nobody could touch him. So that was just you know, a notice to the rest of the league, like, hey, you better figure out the way to start double teaming me again like y'all used to, or this is gonna this. Hou's gonna look for y'all once when I when I come to town.

Brady's made it. Guys a lot of money that aren't very tall, that are quick, that know how to run routes. I mean, he's done it with Wes Welker, he did it with Amondola. He's done it and that's what he does. And so Antonio Brown was already a star and then now to come in. You know, he's got a perfect match. How up, said are you? If you if you're Mike Evans, because all of a sudden, yeah, number one guy yesterday

he was the third absolutely yesterday ground ground. You know, Oh no, he will he will get his because he's he's a I mean, he's a big, big target and they'll bet miss matches. That's why I think about the same with this cowboy receiver, like it'll piss off Fantasy on. But like you know, it wasn't Gallops game. You know,

he got he got banged Up. I think it'll be fine, But then there'll be another game where he gets one hundred and twenty right and Cooper may not get that, So it's gonna be you know, it'll go back and forth. I think it was a quiet through team catch for Cooper relatively, Yeah, I think it was. It was a

lot of I mean not quiet. It was quiet because what we've grown to know Cooper as in the last two years has been slants, uh, some comebacks, you know, some quick stuff to get the get the chains movement. So when he gets sixteen catches and they're like eight nine yards apiece, then they quietly start racking up right. And then versus some of those other receivers where you see him catching forty and fifty yard bombs. That's not

Cooper's game right now. But what he did for us last night was the Mary Cooper that I say deserves twenty million dollars because he changed, he changed the game, and he's that that guy for Dak Prescott when when he needs one, uh, and not even just in his receptions. There were like two pretty big blocks he did forget

for Gallup that I thought were amazing. I thought, literally, hands down, all around if I'm looking for a guy that I want to pay to be on my offense to you know, actually make the blocks, catch the ball, do whatever I need to do, get in whatever space I need to be in to make this team win, I'm paying Cooper. Like I thought he played great yesterday. He had one hundred and thirty nine yards thirteen receptions,

and I just thought it was amazing. And people don't really talk about his blocks that he had yesterday, and I think if he wasn't catching the ball, he was blocking for somebody. And I really enjoyed what I saw yesterday from him. I think he is going to do his best to try to prove that he is that receiver that he's saying that he is, because we don't really know him to talk about to talk about himself

like that. So I feel like if he was going to put himself in that position to be like, yeah, I'm the best receiver and YadA, da YadA, like I think he really is putting himself in a place like, no, I'm gonna say this and I'm gonna believe it. I'm gonna do my Muhammad Ali, I think I'm the best until you know I'm gonna say I'm the best until I am, and that's what he did. And I thought he looked great yesterday. Not listening, but I'm not going to fall for this. It's week one and and he

came through on a road game. No no, no, no, no, no, dame. This is my guys. This is Barry's thing about the Mark Cooper and away games, and the stats will show that that year. I think if Jason Garrett's last year, that he would He didn't show up for the road games, all right, not all bit. He was going up against like Steph, like guil Moore, some other some really good corners,

but he wasn't showing up. But I've also had a Mark Cooper on my fantasy team and there have been a lot of times where sixteen catching sixteen targets, and then there's been some time when I was like, where is this do that? So he has to be consistent as what he did last night. If he could continue that for the rest of the season, he could be in that conversation for the top receiver in the league. Okay, well we got a little off track talking about offense again.

But the offense did get everybody excited. Let's get back to the secondary because my guy, Jordan Lewis said, if you guys don't remember on the show on Wednesday, I said the matchup that I wanted to look at most was Chris Godwin first, Jordan Lewis. I thought they were both physical guys. Jordan Lewis actually started the game off really well. There was like a really big play at the very beginning of the game. I was like, see,

this is the matchup I'm talking about. And Barry even said it too, He's like, that's that's your matchup, Britt And I was like, see, that's what I'm talking about. And then it kind of went downhill from there. He did end up having you know, that return on the pick for sixty six yards, but I almost feel like that was just the right place, right time kind of thing in that situation. What were your guys thoughts on

the secondary? How did you feel? Are you excited to see these young guys come up now, because you know, we still had some guys that were not able to participate, especially Calvin Joseph, which I do really want to see and I do think he'll end up winning that starting spot for a corner. But what are your thoughts? Nick? I thought Anthony Brown had a rough night. I mean I thought he was exposed a few times, especially on the deep ball. The deep ball wasn't really anything fancy

out of Antonio Brown. He just kind of get a little bit of a stutter and it was gone. But his hand up said I've got him, and he did great throw by Tom to get him there. But I thought Diggs was, you know, was kind of what we've seen in camp. I thought he did a nice job. And Jordan Lewis is a battler. I mean he's not gonna win them all, but I mean he's he's scrappy. The ball finds him, he finds the ball, um and he did. He did a good job. Jayron Curse to

me was a player that really stood out. And I know I felt weird talking about the defensive backs before Danny. Danny actually has done it here on the players lounge. But I just think big physical safety, you know something about that you and Barry both And I thought Jayron Curse did really a nice job. Yeah. I thought the secondary um, you know, for the points that we gave up.

Like I said, I didn't expect us to be great because I knew what we were going up against um, so I think this was a big It was a good test for us. You know. So guys are gonna go in and they're gonna be able to see what they did on film, and they're gonna say, this is what we need to fix. Like I'm gonna I'm gonna continue to say, Anthony Brown had a very tough matchup

last night. He Antonio Brown is poised to be one of the top receivers in the league this year, and Anthony Brown, you know, had the misfortunate of going up against him for the first game of the season. I think that he can play better. I think he will play better. Last night just wasn't his night. Trey Von Dix, I'm liking it. I'm liking it. I like him getting his hands on the ball. I like the way that he's challenging guys. I saw him on the play that

I think a guy when caught and we thought was offensive. PI. He's shutting Mike Evans down. If you see it, Mike Evans running the out route, He's right in front of him, righting on him, like White don't write. So I'm like, I like to see it. I will say this some things that you watch and you think that it's on some of the guys in the secondary. You'll see Michael Parsons out of position a couple of times where he's supposed to be underneath some of those in cutting routes,

and it looks like it's on the cornerback. But he's supposed to have help there. It's not supposed to like Tom Brady's not supposed to be able to throw a bullets supposed to have to go over somebody's hands, and we saw that happen a couple of times. Michael Parsons will learn from that and he will be in the correct position moving forward in the season. So I think it's positive. I think it's positive. I think we can

look up. Like I said, I'm gonna that an Tonio Brown thing is a mix up him and Tom Brady on the same page. Gronk and Tom Brady are. They're gonna do that to a lot of guys. But I think if you're looking for us to battle and not blow coverage just like we did last last season, I think we're all right. I mean, what if if trey Ron Diggs gets that interception at the end of the game, right, Like I mean it would have been an amazing play,

just flying in the picture. Like everything's different about this whole team that they I mean the secondary, Like, well, that would be about five turnovers we tackled last night. Yeah right, we we we broke on the ball. We we I'm gonna say we minimized it. But it wasn't crazy yards at the catch, all right, So they saw the quarterback throw it, they broke on it. They made those tackles. We got some three and outs, Like, we got turnovers. We've been talking about turnovers since I played.

We have now twenty ten, right, so and we came out and we get with three four night, we get four. You know, the last one counts, I mean before halftime counts. But yeah, the ones that I'm really talking about are the ones that we on my fantasy team, Brady. But but as far as us being able to create those type of turnouts, punching the ball out, getting into sceptions, we we did that in Game one against Tom Brady last night. So I think it's on the up and up.

We're not perfect, um, but I think you know, we got a lot of room for growth, and I think dan Quinny get us right. Okay, Well, we got to take another break. When we come back, we will be talking special Teams, Special Teams, Special Teams. Organic pumpkin smoothies are back. Smoothie King with at least thirteen grams of protein each and five options to choose from. It's easy to find a favorite to help you reach your goals, like the new Keto Champ pumpkin papped with a whopping

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I'm Clint Tullison with United aggin Turf. Before you can park yourself in front of the game, park yourself in a John Dear and power through your chores. Our land Run package is a ten twenty five R twenty five horsepower tractor with a loader, rotary cutter and a box blade for two twenty nine a month, and the price you see is the price you'll pay. No surprises, so don't miss another kickoff. Visit United Agginturf dot com. Offer

ins February first, twenty twenty one. Restrictions aplenty see Dealer for details. Now let's get to work to the players. Loan, does your Cowboys fandom go beyond the game? The NFL Fan of the Year Contest, presented by Captain Morgan, is back and we're relaunching the search for one extraordinary Cowboys fan who is a positive influence and inspires others through their love of the game. Nominate yourself or others for

a chance to win a Super Bowl fifties. Oh win Super Bowl of fifty six to Los Angeles and nominate today at Cowboys Dallas Cowboys dot com slash Fan of the Year. Danny, you told me to come with my stuff. I have sweatshirt from what NFC Championship nineteen ninety two? I got my Dallas Cowboys shoes on, Like what what do I gotta do? Like, I know there's no participation trophies here. I'm really trying to win. I got my mask, my lanyard. Are you are you going to nominate me? Now?

One picture my closet of all my Cowboys fan is from nineteen nine too, throwback. Like that's like a real fan if you have something from nineteen and something white from nineteen ninety two, Like I had to make sure it was bleached perfectly. A real fan would be able to tell you who we beat to win the NFC Championship NFC in nineteen ninety two. Are you pointing at me like I don't know the game? Because because I don't know who was it? Was it the forty nine ers? Yeah?

Did you just guess that? I was just thinking, if there was a big win against the nineties, you can get Packers in the divisional round and then they beat them forty Niners. That happened like four or five times. Yeah, they beat the nine Ers thirty to twenty. I might vote Nick to be fair, I think, yeah, I think that went out the window. As soon as you signed the papers to like work here on Wednesday, I was like, can employees win this? Okay? Wow, get other So now

you can stop wearing your Cowboys gear now? Well, yeah, I just I had to work. He suggested that I bring two outfits to work every day, like where Cowboys stuff, and then switch when I'm going on camera. Now I'm not changing if she wants if she wants me to nominate her for Fan of the Year yet, well I can't even wait now anyway, So forget it. I'm not. I'm just going to keep my stuff at home in

the closet cool. I don't like washing a lot of clothes, Okay, I don't have maids and nannies and all of this stuff to do my laundry for me. It's okay, it's okay. You're not getting fan of a year, all right? Special teams? Special teams? Are they going to be able to get

us through this season? Because clearly it seemed like, um most of the blame was put on them for our last yesterday against the Tampa Bay Bucks m four points left on the field, and I honestly would argue more because I even feel like that sixty yard or originally that wasn't a special teams problem, but Dak took that ball of yards sack and then there was a penalty right after that which pushed us back even more, and we ended up at the sixty yard field goal that

of course we did not make as well, but we missed a thirty one yard field goal, we missed an extra point. We lost by two. What are your thoughts? Yeah? Those I mean, I'm not good at math, but I know that's not good. This is what I will say. We are not guaranteed to win the game. And we have those four points, but Tom Brady has to go to score a touchdown different, which is totally different, totally different, GIOE. Bernard for four Yeah all day. I'm not worried if

you keep on throwing that, keep on throwing that. So the defensive calls would have been totally different if we have to keep Tom Brady from scoring to touch. Now, those four points were huge, and we are going to depend on those points the entire season, right, So he's going to have to be comfortable with making kicks consistently like that. That's what you need to do. And this

is bones this guy. So we have to have confidence in him, and your coach has to have confidence in you too, to make sure that he feels good, good with you making those kicks. Oh, I think he's got confidence. I mean, oh yeah, well he's okay. Well, what's happened was their line? Well, he missed an extra point and he's also hit the worst field goal you've ever seen, which is earlier, you know, less the extra point, So let's give him a sixty yard yarder. You know, but

you're absolutely right bred on that. There had first intent on the twenty one yard line and dat got a sack and then depend only on Connor Williams and you're kicking sixty yarder, Like that's three points that probably should have been there. The other field goal as well, the extra point. I mean, now you're looking at seven points. Yeah, it's a different it's a different game. We get it was a forty one yard kickoff return. Ye that that can be fixed. Like those things, they don't really bother

me that much. Is week one. Like I said, a lot of these guys, this is the first time that they're playing as a full special teams unit in this type of situation, so they're still learning it, and I think they got better as the game. Yeah, they got some positives out of it. Brian inger Is I mean, I think he there's a reason why that they really loved him coming out. I mean because he's I mean,

he had a really nice game. I mean that that punt they didn't win the game, but if they would have won it, I think he would point to that play he flipped the field position on them. C J. Goodwin is a beast like her. He can absolutely run. Don't know all the skills that he can do. He can run him and Cedric Wilson did a nice job because that was a moment where you know, they really flipped the field. There a good job with Brian Ingers.

So I think there's some positive things. I mean, the kicker missed, he had to correct himself, he kind of got himself back going again. I feel better about him than I did. You know, now, I asked this on the other show. If he misses the kick the one did to take the lead with a minute twenty four, he misses that kick, is he is? He? Is he gone? Why wouldn't he be? Yeah, I'm not talking about right, I'm not even run right now. I believe so, yeah,

I believe. So that's that's that's two big moments, which means he's been hurt. We could guys for being hurt and missing kicks. So yeah, so yeah, I think so. But I mean that's bones this guy, so he has a little a little bit more leeway than some of other guys would. So I'm not really sure, but yes, the good things. I had CJ as my defensive MVP last season. Yeah, that's how good he played to me last year special teams. But he's you know, but he's

a cornerback. So I just gave him defensive MVP because our defense was not really good, you know, so somebody, somebody had to get it. But I think that's every every game, he's going to be a standout guy. He's he's super fast, he knows where to be, how to get there, he's savvy with getting off some of those gunners. He's always gonna make those plays. Um. So like I said, I'm not mad at coverage. I'm not mad at our point return. I think Ceede Lamb made a very good

play one. I think it's like eleven yards he gets on that on that proNT return. UM. But you know those miss field goals, man, that also counts the special teams, So it's you know that that's what knocks you down a little bit. So we just we just got to make those kicks. And I think because he you know, he did have his I believe he had back surgery during the offseason and so we didn't really see him

most of preseason. He comes in that final preseason game, misses a fifty six yard or then, and then comes into this situation and is missing more and you know, everybody's talking about, Oh, it's just the first game. It's about like when does preseason like in those conversations, because I feel like maybe we should start having starters and guys playing preseason again. I know, the whole Adrian Peterson when he you know, tears his acl and preseason and

everybody's like, no, no starters in preseason anymore. But we can't start keep using the excuse as the first game, Oh, it's the first game, so blah blah blah. No, that's what preseason's for, Like, we need to figure out if this guy is consistent, if he can do this that in the third and get it out of the way before the season starts, because it could, Like I said

last episode, NFC East is always a close division. We either even last year, as terrible as we were, you know, we were four and you know, I think ten at a point in time, and we were still in it to win it, Like we still we literally still came down to the last game to determine if we were going to like win or not. You know. So I think these one game does matter at the end of

the day. It can matter. So like we can't just take this first week one as like, well, it's the first game, Oh, it's against the defending Super Bowl champs, like I don't feel like we can do that. Like, okay, then let's start getting guys back in preseason and start playing at least the final game, at least the first quarter of the final game like they used to do well. I will say this with Gregg. You have a vet.

You have a guy who's familiar with years. I don't, but you have a guy who's familiar with the coach. So just like any quarterback or any veteran running back, the assumption is, you know, we know these guys, We've seen what they could do preseason. A lot of times is when you're trying, especially with losing the game, you're trying to see what these other guys who haven't got NFL experienced, how they're gonna play and if they're gonna make it, gonna be able to make the roster and

help your team. I said, we go back to the old way, you know, where it used to be. The guys that are barely trying to make it play the first couple of games. There's a big cut after that, and then there's another big cut. Like I don't like everybody's staying on the roster pretty much and only cutting like five to ten guys right off the back or you know what I mean throughout and then waiting till the end to do this monster cut of fifteen people. Well you can have to talk to Yeah, I know,

I'm gonna. I got a game we should watch. It's the twenty sixteen preseason game with between the Cowboys and Seahawks because they're starting crunched over and you know, now what happened though, you gotta think about it. Jacksonville lost eat end for from a season and you know, so it's you're taking a risk. I think the risk I think that the zert line thing is you expected to make those kids. He's a vet. You've seen him do

it before, and it didn't happen for him last night. Well, and it didn't happen for him the last Pieceason Gaming played either. Is it just all the injury that you think? Listen, sometimes that happens. We saw this happen to Dan Bailey. Yeah, sometimes I don't, and then he's out there. I don't judge kickers. Maybe best ship, but I don't judge kickers for fifty yard field goals or you know or more. I mean, like if you miss you me, I mean, yeah, but this is a thirty one at action. I know,

but the preseason. You said that about the preseason and then I was like, did it get there? I mean did it? Did it? Look? Okay? It was missed a little bit. I'm okay with that. You gotta make some you can't just miss all of them. But thirty one not even hitting the net? I mean, but that was also Remember that he's probably making these kicks in practice, all right, So they're not just out here watching talking

about practice. Yes, but I'm saying, you gotta got coming off an injury, and you got vets and all this stuff. They're not watching them sit out here and miss thirty one thirty one yard field goals in practice. He's he's nailing them that He's going to the timeline and what are we, like, how many games? And if he continues, if he has another game like this, do we cut him then? How? Like what's the timeline for that? Like?

What would you guys think? It looks like? Nick? You know, like, I know, it's difficult when when this is your guy, it's going to be difficult him and bones are together. So usually when you have somebody pulling for you like that you got a little bit more leeway. No, I'm not. I'm not saying my decision. I'm just I'm just telling you that that's that's how it goes. The Nucie still here, who pulled for That's the way I love guy, Mike McCarthy. Yeah,

that's what I'm saying. I just I've said this before. Why why are we going to have the Rams farm squad? When it comes when it comes to like, why are we the Rams triple A team for their special teams? I mean, think about it. Everywhere. They didn't want the airline, they didn't want McQuaid, they didn't want fossil. So I mean, like, but the cowboys get them and they're like oys put them all together. I mean, you want to Joe d

they want to stop talking. You know. I feel about But I'm just saying, yeah, this whole my guy, my guy, I think that's cool for a while. But I mean, make your kicks. It's real simple, make your kicks. And that was the ugliest. That wasn't just a mess that thing. Oh, I'm not vouching for the guy. I'm just telling you

how it works. He kicked at the South Beach. I think when it's when it losses you, we can't be doing this my guy stuff anymore, you know, like this is this is going to be detrimental to my team, to people's fantasy teams, to whatever you have. But that is our show for today on the Players Lounge. We will be back next week Monday through Friday at twelve thirty pm pm. AM. I'll be here at twelve thirty am. UM. No, thank you guys so much for tuning in. We will

see you guys next time. I'm Britt Johnson. My boss man Nick kind of fire me after this episode. The first years on this has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club