Player's Lounge: Offense vs Defense

Our boy, Danny mccraige, still having the time. The number forty two, Bury Church here in the building. Church, how are you doing? O man? Good many They put it right, man, the real forty two. All right, I want to hear all this stuff about, you know, forty two going here, forty two going there? The real forty two be Church, man. We here, we here on the Player's Lounge. Man, where else would you rather be? It's Friday, it's a great day outside. It might even hit the links a little

bit later, so it's a good day. It's a good day, hey man. I hope that pollen doesn't get te out there trying to play that golf man. I mean, that's man. You ain't wicked. It's wicked out there, man, so you gotta get some. It might be it might be the worst it's business. I've been in Texas, been here about eleven years now, and this is the worst. Man, this is the worst it's been in a long time for me. It's a challenge, man, It's a challenge for a lot

of people. And it's only gonna get worse. It's the only gonna get worse here, all right, lots of topics to get to. We'll talk about why fans are not excited about the possibility of drafting Patrick's utank Patrick's Rutan at ten could be there, but a lot of people aren't into what. In my opinion, Barry, people have been trained by the Hall of Fame owner to love and concentrate on offense at all times. That's a problem in

my opinion. I go, I go back to Super Bowl twenty seven when they had the triplets, okay, and the triplets being quarterback Troy Aikman, wide receiver Michael We're gonna running back Emmy Smith and those guys were fantastic and Jay Nova checks the tighten and fantastic and the offensive line was fantastic. But people forget the Dallas Cowboys had

the number one defense in the National Football League. Okay, with the number one defense, the Cowboys have won five Super Bowls in their history and they have had a dog gune good defense for every single one of them. First Super Bowl the Cowboys ever won twenty four to three over the Miami Dolphins, who ended up the next season have an undefeated year, and then the next season after that one a Super Bowl and they held them without a touchdown. The Cowboys Super Bowl twelve team the

second championship by Tom Landry. They recorded eight eight turnovers in Super Bowl twelve, very eight and it was broken. It was broken by nine turnovers by Jimmy Johnson's first Super Bowl team that had the number one defensive the league. They had nine against the Buffalo Bills when they be in twenty two to seventeen. So defense has always been a priority, even something that the Cowboys have excelled at. Jimmy Johnson was a defensive football coach. Tom Landry was

a defensive football coach. But for some reason, people have fall in love with offense. And I find it surprising that the Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, according to Chris Wartinson of ESPN, is intrigued by tight end Kyle Pitts of Florida. When you heard that, man, man, I knew this was coming. I knew it was coming, and I gotta think my boy and date Big Nate who who I do the pre and post game shows with Nate Newton, big Dog. He was like, you know, it was part of all

those Super Bowl championship teams. But he told me this when I started doing this about two years ago. He told me, no matter how bad the defense is, how bad, they strong and the fans say, we need defense, we need defensive help, we need to get it, no matter how bad it is. The closer you get to the draft, the less you'll hear about defense and whoever the star offensive player is at the time, you'll hear this Cowboys nations saying we need to grab it, we need to

grab him. Look to me, I understand the intrigue for this guy, I mean, cow Pitts. If what they say about him is correct, he's a once in a generation type player at the tight end wide receiver. I'm gonna just call him an offensive weapon because I don't see him as an every down tight end in line tight end, so I'm gonna call him an offensive weapon. But from what they say, this guy is a mismatched nightmare. He has the long wickets, he has a long arm, so

his catch radius is unbelievable. He can outrun guys at the safety position, nickel position, and definitely linebacker position after we saw what he did in his forty times. So this guy, I can understand the intrigue this guy can be. You know that that Megatron type weapon to your offense,

But for me, we don't have that luxury. We have and we have one of the worst defenses, not even out of the season last year, but in NFL history last year, and all we're gonna do if we don't address this and we keep kicking the can down down the field, we're gonna continue chasing teams. All teams are gonna be able to put up thirty on us, even though we may be able to put up twenty eight a game. We're gonna be chasing teams every single game.

So I understand the intrigue about this guy, But to me, we need so much more help other places that we don't have the luxury of drafting a guy is the best at his position or whatever it may be. Plus we have so many offensive weapons already. I mean, look who we have on the outside. We got Cooper, we got Gala, we got Cdee Lamb, who emerged as one of the better slot receivers in the league after just

his rookie campaign. And at the tight end position alone, we had Dalton Schultz, who was able to have somewhat of a breakout season with the injury of Blake Jarwin. We have him coming back from a torn acl after we paid him twenty four million. So I just don't understand the stockpiling at that position, at tight end position. I don't think he's a guy that's gonna just just take over the league like I mean, I understand he has this unbelievable time, but I don't think he's gonna

take over the league like that. And I just think we need so much more help on the defensive side of the ball that we gotta address it. We can't kick it down the field anymore. We can address it. We can get some help for the offensive line or something like that later on in the draft, But for me, I've got to address this defense. This defense has struggled mighty league, and we need to address we can't kick the We can't kick the can down the field anymore, Newvie.

We just can't. All right, I'm gonna give you some of the counterpoints to what you're saying. That Kyle Pitts outside of the quarterbacks, will probably be the highest rated player offensively or defense on the board. So based on that that you're talking about taking the best potential player in the draft. Oh, by the way, is what was said about Randy Moss. Are you willing? Are you willing to pass on some on a player? So many of those who scout this game said this is the best

guy here. You could potentially get the best guy at ten. Are you willing? I'm I'm willing to pass that up. If we had a average defense, if we even had the middle of the road maybe let's just say seventeen to twentieth ranked defense in the league, I would without a doubt say, you know, we can get cow pits because that defense, even though it's seventeenth or eighteen or seventeenth or twentieth in the league, it can still hold its own a little bit with that type of ranking.

So I would say, you know what, let's go ahead and get Cole Pits. But the defense, we tried it out there last year, it was dead last almost I mean almost a lot of the especially the rushing categories, it was dead last. So you're gonna tell me that bringing in dan Quinn is just gonna make that team go for that that that assembly of assemble of players, you're gonna make them go from dead last in the

league to a middle of the ranked team. I just don't think the acquisition of dan Quinn is that huge to this defense. I still think we need tools for him to be successful as a decordinator, and we got to get those tools in the draft. We weren't we weren't able to go out there in free agency and grab the tools we need for this defense. So to me, we got to get those tools in the draft. And to me, it starts with a number ten with thirteen,

and that's just that's just my opinion on it. I understand Kyle Pitts is just, you know, could be just watching a generational player. But to me, if you can't stop the run and your teams can just pile up points on them to pick your poison against you, Cole, Pitts ain't really gonna do much work for you, all right, So I'm gonna keep on just playing Devil's advocate, giving you the other side. So you're okay, You're okay, passing on from what could be potentially the highest rated player

in the drafted the Cowboys, sitting at ten. This is the Player's Lodge party by hotels dot Com. You are the play You were a safety. You see what this young man, Kyle Pitts is able to do the corners. How would you have been able to guard a guy like this? Would you consider him a guy that when the game plan came out there sitting here talking, he was a sayings like Church, you better worry about Pitts.

Oh yeah, especially in the middle of the field. As a safety, you kind of that's where you kind of look for at the beginning of it. When you're breaking down field, you look at the guys that are gonna threaten the areas that you're in. And Kyle Pitts being that big time or big slot or big tight end, whatever you want to call him, he's gonna threatened the middle of the field. So for me, I personally, if I was a decording, and I'm going to get a

guy that he's a mismatched nightmare like that. I wouldn't just leave one guy on him. I'm not just like, Okay, Nickel, you got him, or linebacker you got him, or safety, you got him. I'm not putting one guy on him. I'm beating him up at the line of scrimmage with one and then I'll have somebody over top trailing him. Now that you know that, that's where we need, you know, corners on the outside to be able to hold their own if you're putting that much emphasis on somebody on

the inside. But yeah, that's that's the type of defense I would put on him. And I would also make him have to prove it first. I mean, we're touting this guy is the next Megatron. He's yet to play a snapp in the National Football League, So for me, I gotta let him. Let him prove it first. But if he's able to do that and his talent is that's what they say there is, then that's how I

would defend him. I beat him up at the line of scrimmage and I would let my d line do work on that quarterback and hopefully he throws up some takeaways, but overall, I got to see him do it first. I got to see him on the field do it first, and then we'll go from there. Okay, So so I'm just just based on what you said. You're talking about

potentially having two guys deal with Pitts. So if you're the Cowboys and you've got Pitts and Barry Church is sitting here having to worry about him and another player, then I've got Ceedee Lamb out in a route. I've got Amari Cooper out and a route. I've got Michael Galla out and a route, and I've got a potential of Ezekiel Ellie coming out of the backfield. How do you defend that? You got, you got, you got all

those things you do. And I've never said not adding him would make this this offense even stronger, even and even have more capabilities out there. My worry is what are you gonna do with your own defense? Zeb Real. We keep talking about this, you know, this offense putting up this look at all these weapons and we get to pass the ball around all these different weapons. But then so does the offense come in again in the face our defense. They can throw the ball all over

the place. They can run the ball over the place because our defense was that poors. So do you want to be in games you know, forty five to forty thirty five to thirty twos. That's the type of games you're gonna want to be in all season because that's the type of route we're going in. We're going in the greatest show on turf type route. And even though that nineteen ninety nine Saint Louis team had the greatest show on turf, they also had a top ten defense to go along with that. So for me, I just

don't see the intrigue and this. I can see that all. Let me take that back. I can see the intrigue and why they want to get him, but I just don't think he can possibly help our team as much as building a defense can, because we already got weapons that are able to put up thirty points a game with the guys you just mentioned. If we add him, yes,

that's a that's a that's an amazing plus. But to our defense, we're doing a disservice to our defense, and we're trotting them out there and they're gonna get exposed each and every day. We have got to we have got to go out there and we have got to put some type of town something with this defense to make it just the middle of the road. That way we get to get the most out of this offense. In my opinion, I mean, do we want the greatest show on Turfy? Well, I know offense sales tickets, but

do we want to win championships? And at the end of the day, I think that's what the defense provides. Bucky Brooks and I had a Twitter I won't say debate, because we've just had different ideas and that's what it was. Different ideas. And then and Bucky has spoken about, Hey, if you're the Cowboys, why not build strength on strength? And just when I asked you, hey, how would you defend the Kyle Pitts, and you talked about using two guys and then I just kind of gave out the

other blueprint. Okay, so now you got Cooper, You've got Ceedee Lamb, You've got Gallup, You've got potential of having a Zeke Ellie come out of backfield or running in the middle. You know that you had these options. Here. I am with you, and I've been with you on

this whole thing about defense. Your defense is true. I don't think people realize how bad it was last year because they were six and ten team, and because Dak Prescott got hurt, and then Mike McCarthy used a lot of the COVID his excuses and the fact that his coaches didn't get to work. There was a lot of excuses throwing out there last year. When we talked about the Cowboys being thirty first, there's only thirty two teams in the league. They were thirty first. When it comes

to the run, second, second to last. The Cowboys gave up one hundred and fifty nine yards a game running the football. I don't think people have a true understanding of how bad that is. That's bad, like nui, How how can how can we get the ball back to our offense with all these weapons and all these superstars when other teams can just ride the clock all the way down running one hundred and fifty some yards per

game against US. I mean, there was so many times last year where we gave up three hundred yards rushing, Like three hundred yards rushing like teams can control the clock, they can do what they want against us to where our offense we might only see, you know, four or five possessions of a game. That's how bad our run defense was, and people don't want to address it. It's to me, it's it's it's mind bottling. It's a head scratcher.

So so let me just also keep running down because because we do a show every week and not everyone catches it. But so I'll just if you've heard it before, I'm sorry, I'm gonna repeat it again. The Cowboys gave a four hundred and seventy three points last year. They gave up thirty four passing touchdowns. Okay, thirty four to thirty four passing touchdowns, and that was the third most

in the National Football League. And this year, just talking about some of the quarterbacks are going to face this year, Mary, they get Tom Brady in Tampa Bay, they get Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes. They get Justin Herbert, the outstanding rookie from the Chargers last year. You've got teams like Minnesota, it's Kirk Cousins, but Kirk Cousins has Adam feeling and he's got Justin Jefferson. These are some of the folks that are on the schedule. They faced Denver next year.

They got two good receivers out there. You've got Washington, which is improving their football team. You've got dudes that you stood up here and say they guys problems. Um, you got Carolina, who's got Robbie Anderson. They've got that that quick kid they didn't take a couple of years ago out of Maryland. DJ what's his name? DJ Moore? You've got You've got dudes that they're gonna have to go ahead and man up against and deal with. The quarterbacks are gonna have to do it. This defense has

got its problems. Um Rick Goslin, Hall of Fame writer had a call him out this week, and I sent it to you in case are folks you didn't check it out. It is open on my Twitter page at newis Scrugs. It's an w Y Scruggs's n E w Y Scruggs. But some of the highlights that Gosselon spoke about, he said, hey, look, the Cowboys get infatuated with offense.

If fans want to talk about the offense, but he says, something you got to know about offense is in high scoring offenses is it does not really lead to championship success. Since two thousand, nineteen offenses Barry have scored five hundred points nineteen. Take a guess how many of the nineteen they won the Super Bowl? Maybe one? Maybe one one the two thousand and nine New Orleans Saints. Peyton Manning's greatest year of football was in twenty thirteen, when he

threw a record fifty five touchdown passes. Denver scored six hundred points. That's the only team in NFL history to score six hundred points in the season. Peyton Manning and the Broncos went to the Super Bowl. I was there. It was at MetLife Stage and Bruno Mars did the halftime show with Sensation. And here was what I remember about the halftime show of that game was the game was over. I mean the game was over. They were getting blowed out. They end up losing that football game

forty three to eight. Okay didn't We lost forty three to eight. And this is with Peyton Manning having the greatest football season he's ever had. I remember doing a radio show for NBC Sports that that week with Bart Scott, and Bart Scott was like, yeah, man, you gotta go. You gotta go to general Man, you gotta go a pet Manning. I was like, part man, give me the d defense, And sure enough the defense went out there and went whooping upside their head. That was Peyton Manning's

greatest You how about Tom Brady's greatest year of football? UM, two thousand and seven? Were you on that? Touchdowns? Oh? No, I wasn't. I wasn't part of that. Okay, okay, they came, they came, They came here and put on a show. Um. But that was five hundred and eighty nine points that that New England team scored that year. They went undefeated in the regular season, went undefeated all the way to

the Super Bowl. And do you remember how many points that New England offense scored in the Super Bowl against the Giants fourteen fourteen, fourteen And and I bring these up to go back to say what you were speaking about here, which is, hey man, guess what these defenses matter? And as many points as you score, we're not seeing it ends late into championship trophies. You I don't even know if you were born. Super Bowl eighteen back in eighty three when Washington went and faced the LA Raiders

and Super Bowl eighteen in Tampa Bay. So that was the year that Washington was coming off their win a Super Bowl seventeen. They had the fun Bunch and they had set then set the record for points in the National Football League, well over five hundred. They go all the way to the Super Bowl that it's heavy frame it against the Raiders and they got obliterated. I want to say it was thirty eight to nine was the final. I mean, they just got trash. And this was also

a Raider team. Washington had been earlier that year at RFK Stadium, so you know it was bad. And I look at what happened with Tampa and Kansas City. You know, Tampa took on Kansas City and Kansas City blew them out in their own stadium earlier in the year. And the Super Bowl, Man, it was, it was a It was a beating by Tampa Bay against camp the City and Kansas City didn't have two offensive starting tackles and showed they got blown out despite all the great offense.

So what you're saying, I'm backing up. And Tony Cassins, the former great Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle part of a couple of Super Bowl teams. Tony tweeted out this week, hey man, Jerry, stop talking about this tight end. You went, you won it with defense. So that's my argument back to the fans and this whole play stuff. Hey man, look, we can go out score these people. That's not the

strategy that wins championships. Now, if you want, you know, a regular season division championship or just a playoff birth, then yeah, go ahead and load up your offenses. I mean, offenses do well in the regular season, like you said, Peyton Manny had the fifty five TV passes, Tom Brady

had the fifty touchdown passes that year. They do all this great stuff, But when it comes down to that butter time, when it comes down to getting things done, if you have a hillacious defense out there, it's gonna win every time. It's gonna win nine times out of ten. I mean, and that's what I think we need to get the philosophy going in this team and this and this defensility to add pieces to this defense. I mean, last time we heard about Jerry being intrigued about a player,

it was Johnny Manziel when he was coming out. Now, I'm glad, I'm glad whoever talked to him. You know that draft night, you know, talked to him out of that decision, and we ended up going with Zack Martin, I believe, which would have been which was way way better deal than Johnny Manziel. But I mean, this intriguing factor, we gotta get away from it, man, we gotta get away from it. And we got a justice defense. Now later on, yeah, you know, later on, you know, maybe

a year or two from now. Dude, we could get back to the offense. But when your defense is this bad, you don't add things of great value in free agency. You gotta address it in the draft. This is the portion of the Dallas Cowboys that I kind of laugh about it. And this comes from a national perspective. We're here all the time. We know what's going on here. So Chris Mortonton, who's a Hall of Fame writer, and I,

while Chris didn't say Jerry told me he's intrigued. Chris has always had a fantastic relationship with him in through the years. I know there's certain media people who have a direct line to Jerry, and Chris Mortonton is one of those guys. So I believe he did get this from the source Jerry about being intrigued by college fits. But Jerry's always been intrigued by certain players. You brought up Johnny Manziel, so I kind of went back on my list of players I know through the years that

he was intrigued up. He loved Willie McGinnis when he was coming out of USC. He loved Willie. He was very intrigued by Willie. Tried to trade up for Willie. I remember having Willie on my Sunday show in LA before he got drafted and ended up going in New England. Willie had said he thought the Cowboys were gonna go get him because because they were just so. Jerry was intrigued, loved Willie mcgunis. Didn't work out there. He was, like

you said, he's intrigued by Johnny Manziel. He wasn't intrigued by Quincy Carter, and he ended up making a second round deal to trading again Quincy Carter when his scouts had him as a fourth rounder and some of them said, don't even do it. He's intrigued by Quincy Carter. He was intrigued by mo Clayboom, and they ended up making that draft aid deal because the Cowboys said, man's a

highest rated guy. We've had since Dion Sanders. So they were sold on Mo Clayborn made that deal, didn't work out that way, And I'll give you another guy, probably the ultimate regret for Jerry of a player he was intrigued by, really wanted, which is Randy Moss. So, yeah, we saw what happened when when Randy came down to the Dallas I think that was that Thanksgiving game. Yeah, he had like three catches for three tubs. I mean it was It was ridiculous. Can I say this about Randy.

Let me say very very hill and I defend Jerry from this standpoint that Jerry wanted him. But at the time, Michael Irvin had his issues and the people were looking at the Cowboys. They didn't like them. Their own fan bases like, man, these these aren't good dudes. We don't like him. They had a really bad perception of the football team that they were entitled. Too many guys are getting in trouble. They didn't like what they saw. They didn't feel like this was my America's team. So that

was one reason why they didn't draft Randy Moss. And Michael Irvin had said years later, I'm the reason that Randy Moss wasn't drafted because the issues I was going through and old by the way, nineteen different teams, not just the guy was but nineteen other teams pass on Randy Moss. Okay, Randy Moss two times. And one of the reasons why I think Randy Moss was so successful is because of where he went. He had a good

relationship with Danny Green, the head coach. Danny Green was able to talk to Randy Moss man to man, father to father. Then when Randy got there in Minnesota, he also was under the wing and tutelage of Chris Carter. Chris Carter's okay, and then another guy who lives around here in the area, Jake Reid, a wide receiver. So when I look at Randy Moss's success, people like to

conveniently forget the infrastructure he went to. And Barrty, you played in this league and you were also in Jacksonville, so you understand that when you go to a team, a culture and infrastructure matters very much to the success of the player, especially if the player has question marks, without a doubt, and especially when you first come into this league as a rookie. If you come into this league as a rookie and and you're on a younger team with not a lot of veteran presence, and guys

are just kind of doing their own thing. It's kind of hard to make it, make yourself last or find a niche in this league because you're trying to learn on the fly as it is, and then when you got other guys doing that as well as kind of like the blind leading the blind. So luckily for me, I was able to come into this team and back then with in two thousand and ten to Cowgood, there

were a veteran leg later team. I mean they had Romo Witting that old offensive line before they got all the young guys in there, like Tyrn Smith and stuff. And on the defensive side of the ball, we had you know, d Ware, Brady James, we had Marcus Spears. We had a lot of veteran presence out there to kind of show us the way. It kind of lead

us in the right direction. And for me, that was huge from my career because it didn't have me, you know, all every free day or every free opportunity, all let me go here, let me go through this, let me go hit the streets like that. No, those guys are saying, no, you need you need to calm down, Let's let's go

look at this, or let's go work on this. And I think a lot of that, you know, a lot of the downfall of the young rookies or busts out there is where they go to a situation where they don't have great leadership, they don't have guys that are had their best interests at hard And you know, hopefully these guys coming out of this rookie draft land in the right situation. But like you said that, that's a huge thing to be able to have a great relationship,

especially coming into the league as a rookie. It's much needed to further your progression as a player. And Randy Moss needed Chris Carter. He didn't need Michael. He didn't need Michael Irvin when you talk about at that time where he was, because this was never about Moss's talent. That's why tell people all the time, Man, you keep going, Jerry should have done, you should have done the town. Nah, you're not looking at the whole picture of what was

going on. You're just looking at the Oh, this talent, we plug him in here, Nah, Man, the organization and where they were going at the time and why they took Greg. They took Greg Ellis because one, they had a defensive need, but also they also needed a dude who had a good reputation, and that was one of the things that worked in Greg's favorite that Greg was a good, clean, wholesome guy. They were looking for that

and they were looking for defensive help. So that's the thing that people, Yeah, it makes me mad because you're not looking at the whole thing of what was. You're looking now in hindsight, because everybody could look in hindsight about why we could all all these teams can look back and say, man, we probably should have taken at Aaron Rodgers and not let him slide all the way down into the twenties. I mean a lot of folks

listening around here to say this now. But at that time, man, there was a reason why nineteen teams passed on this dude two times in Tennessee ended up passing on Randy Moss two times, and they taken Kevin Dyson the wide received from Utah. Randy Moss had some issues and concerns

from people. Man, they had those issues. And Lawrence Phillips was another guy who went the year before, and Lawrence Phillips's off field issues became a deal where it was like, man, when I take him, didn't for Meal came out said, man, we were not drafting Randy Moss because they were part of drawing drafting Lawrence Phillips, and that stuff matters come draft time here, man, And that's why I said, and I wish we would have done it, And we kind of did where we went and kind of got a

veteran free agent presence um in that secondary with with with Demante Kezy back there because I don't really because Neil He's gonna beat the linebackers and so I don't really consider Neil as a part of the secondary right now. But we kind of addressed it with the Kezy getting that veteran presence. But but you know, he really doesn't have enough. He had some experience, but not as I

wish we could have. I wish we could have got one of those more maybe maybe six seven, eight year in the league type veteran safeties who had a plenty, plenty of experience because they could have showed those those young guys because we got a young secondary. If you look at it, we got a super young secondary. We got Wilson, who's well, I think he's in his third year,

but only really second year of kind of playing. And then we got you know, Diggs, who had a good up and down rookie season, but he has potential coming back from an injury. And then we might potentially have another corner in this draft, whether it be Certained Farley or Horned the kid from South Carolina. We might have another guy in this secondary. So we have an extremely

young secondary. And that's why to the point, I wish we would have went in free agency and got kind of a Tayshaun Gibson or got a trade boss or somebody like that who's had miles and miles of experience in this league and can kind of show these guys the ropes and get the most out of their production. But hopefully Kazy can't be that guy for his team. I'll push back on Kaz because I'm gonna stay consistent with what I've said before, even when I was hoping

they would sign him. The benefit he'll bring is that he can at least explain the guys what dan Quinn, the defensive coordinator and Joe with the secondary coach want hey is trying up here do that. And if he can get on the field and line some guys up in the right place here, that's a benefit to me and versus a guy coming in here who's still trying to learn what it is they want. That to me is why you paid for the player and you brought him in here. Is this experience that they got here.

All right, we got to take our first break? Can this be a bounce back here for Ezekiel Elliott? And I'm gonna I want you to think about this question during the break, Church and want you to think about it. And I want to Honor say, do the Cowboys have any blue chip player on their defense? All right? Gonna answer that. On the other side, you're checking out the players lounge right here on hotels dot com or sponsored by Hotels dot com on Dallas Cowboys dot com radio.

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best best race car drivers in the world. They race twenty twenty one race is on five different continents, all right, They're in all these great countries. And they do have a race, a Formula one race in the United States down in Austin at the Circuit of Americas. And when they went and showed that race, there were the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders right there being being a part of it, like, hey, everybody, welcome to the US Grand Prix and how we do

it down here. And they're the world famous Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. So something to check out there. Um, you and I love talking football, but we are we are fans of music and movies and we just got the news at DMX the Rappers fifty years old. His family conferred it he had been hospitalized since April six after suffering a heart attack. Man, man, you hate to see it. Man, you hate to see it, because I meant DMX is that's that's, that's the guy that I grew up on.

I mean, when I was finally able to listen to the to the CDs that had the little uh parental advisory at the bottom level explicit, yeah, explicit, I was finally eight, My parents finally said Okay, you can listen to stuff. Man. DMX was one of the first guys I threw on the track. Man, his music is iconic. I mean it goes all the way back to that ninety nine world. I think it was Woodstock at ninety nine when he performed in front of I'm talking about millions.

If if you haven't seen it, if someone hasn't seen it looking up on YouTube, I think it's a nineteen ninety nine Woodstock DMX performance. He had the whole world singing his anthems. Man, this guy er er rough riders anthem he was. He used and you just hate to see you know what what what what drugs and different type of things can do to you. I mean, he was an icon out there and you just hate to see passing of an icon like this. So definitely condulged

is to hit him and his family. But man, I mean that you hate to see it because this guy. I mean, it's just this is who I grew up on. This is who I grew up on a lot of people grew up on. And like I said, man, you hate to see it. Yeah, Man, it's gonna make a watch of that film Belly that he did. He acting. Oh, but it's sick. You know. He was with the Rough Riders in his first album nineteen ninety eight. Uh, it's hard,

It's dark and dark and hell is hot. Um it was number one man on the on the Billboard two hundred chart. And I just go back to some of those great tunes that he's had, Um, yeah, where the hood at that? That was, you know one of those classic ones you you rocked all the time. Um, I mean everybody knows that. You know, the stop dropped open up shot. I mean, just man, everybody knows it. And then the one who did the cisco you know, um

what these what these blank from? Yes, that was because that was you know, he was named Oh my goodness, man had two story I had two kills, Alicia, I mean had You know, Luis was unique. It was a great storyteller. If you listen to his songs, Yeah, he told stories to pretty much every single one of them. I mean, he was, he was a man. He was. He reminded me of Biggie Smalls in that regardless to

where he was a great storyteller. And I mean it's man, his music is classic, and I'm gonna have to bump me some DMX today, man, but I have to bump me some today. The DMX. You know, here we go again. When you talk about a great storytelling, that's a really great storytelling on that tune. Here we go again. When I when I take my spin classes, I don't necessarily like the music that comes through my comes through the speakers at the gym, so I bring my own headphones.

So I bring my own headphones. The DMX probably gets me through. DNX two is probably get me through about fifteen minutes of class because I'm Abel was just turnings on then, man, and didn't just go and and and it's and he's got you going, man, that's the thing. But fifty years old, Earl Simmons, that's his real name. Earl Simmons has passed away at fifty years old and said, I know this is a football show, but you know guys like Barry, you know, football players love rappers and

rappers love football players. You know that dout thing. It's a thing. And you know that's the dude's my age. Okay, so that's when he's young. Okay when you talk about life, Yeah, you talk about life, fifty years old is extremely young, man. And when you talk about music and sports. I mean

they're anonymous, they're one and the same. I mean, how many how many times do you see guys on the front on the warm up field before a game, they got their headphones on, their jam and because music gets you in that, it gets you adrenaline pump, and it gets you ready for battle to go out there, and nobody, I don't know who was better. I don't know if there was a better artist to get you prepared for battle. The DMX. I mean he definitely was all my rotation

getting ready for the games. I mean, he gets you hype, man, he gets you hype. And it's just man, it's just it's he just feel bad that you know he's gone so early, man, because like you said, fifty fifty years and this life that that's still relatively young. So I mean, you just, man, you just hate to see it. You hate to see it. San Francisco Giants manager Gay Kapler when he was with the Texas Rangers. Uh, What's my Name? Used to be his walk up song, and I just

want to that's probably my best one. You know, it's not game game and then he just gets going, dude, yes, now now you do that now you're going to you know, say you're going to spin class who cycling on a bike because the fun fun? You know, stop talking, you know, it's just look at you go away right the way

he came off. And especially for you being a safety. Okay, you're about to hit somebody, you know, wash you know he's just you hit just you got you gotta be sweating now, dude, you got you know blood, he's now sweat right now. Man. Wow. And that's the impact he had. That's the impact he had on everybody. Man. He got the he just he just got you in and ready for battle. Man, it's man like I said, you hate to see it. He was. He was an icon out

here man. But he won't be forgotten. Man that do made some He made some classic tunes, man classic tunes. So DMX, will you know, Black Twitter is going to have some amazing tributes to him. And look, Dmax has been very public about his drug addiction. Said he even got addicted to crack cocaine at fourteen years old and he battled it and I here he is a passing

away of a drug overdose. And I think all of us can pretty much say we know someone in our lives who's had an addiction and the addictions don't stop. People at times can get some help, but you hope that they can come through. Unfortunately he didn't come through. But I just look here and celebrate what a great rapper he was and the effect the rap game changed. That's that's for me. That's when I start to look at just athletes and entertainment. Did you change the game?

Nobody else was rapping like him the way he can't be. Oh okay me, that was that thing about you. And there's just certain guys that come along and be like, all right, man, that guy's different right there. Uh. The DC was one of my favorite because when the came out and and he was within in wa but then that all right, man, hey, look, Dre's got this one guy right here and it's the DC, and he came

out of a whole different level. Um the one song getting funky, it's just so different, like, oh man, okay, I hadn't heard this, And I don't know if you know about the deal. I don't know if you know about the DC, But do you know what DLC stands for? Barry No, what's the staying for? Dallas O Cliff he's from here, man, I would have never thought that. Yes, the DC has thought he was, you know, a West

Coast guy, right, and yeah, that's something doing. So he he wrote a lot of their music, you know, he helped he and he and Dre they wrote it and and Q they wrote a lot of their music and lyrics. And so he came out and did his own album. And then he got in that car accident. And I tell people all the time, we probably don't ever hear of Snoop Dogg if the DC doesn't get in that accident. Yeah, he like loses voice or something like that. Yeah, that

his tray key. It was definitely it was definitely messed up and just and so you know, Dre kept on making music and so his little brother Warren g is, hey man, you check out my boy Snoop. And and then Snoop becomes, you know, the legend that he is. But I tell people all time, as great as Snoop is, the DC was at that level too. But that's what happens. Man,

were just thinking about it. But when when I bring that all tied back to DMX who's passed away today, which is, hey man, there's these certain guys that come along and you just said, hey man, that guy's different. And it's the same when we look at athletics, like, hey man, that that guy's different right here, and he's and he's pretty special. That's what That's what they're saying about Kyle Pits Right now, let's say different. We're thinking alight,

now we're thinking alt guys. He's different. But but and now this is great because it comes back to the thing I was gonna ask you before. Name me a blue chip football player on the defensive side for the Dallas Cowboys. Blue chips now to me, to me, a blue chipper is a guy that he's he's there every day, down in and down. Now you can count on him. His play doesn't drop off at all, and he's your he's your he's your backbone. To me, for the Cowboys defensively,

I have to look at last year. I mean maybe maybe one just man, and he has to get back to his form. And I think that's what that's what the seclude him from being a blue chipper is. I would say d Law. But last season he was a part of that historically bad defense and he didn't play as great as a lot of us thought. He could play, so I wouldn't. He's the only one I might consider for blue chip. But other than that, I don't see

anybody else. I don't see anybody else because LV he possibly could have could have been in that blue chip situation, but he has injuries, I mean, and who knows what's going to happen going forward with him. So to me, you know, d law maybe, but that's a that's it, that's a maybe for me. And that's the only one I could I could I could think of right now. Okay, they don't have any righty, right now? There are blue chip players scouts, you know, when they start to blue

ship play, they're elite players. The Cowboys you're not have an elite player on their defense. And I went and talked to Chris Landry about it. Chris Landry used to run the scouting combine. He also used to draft for for the Tennessee Titans, and he drafted a George so and he has his own football service, Landry football dot Com. So I asked Chris, because I want to bring this to the show, I said, Chris, um give me your opinion about Tank Lawrence, because that's the closest of anyone

who we could have because I had a debate. I had a debate with my guy, Pat Don'ty over at ABC five, and Pat don't he say, hey, take is a blue chip? I said, the cowbsn't have any blue ship guys. He's just take Lawrence is I said, I don't think he is. So I asked Chris. Chris said, quote, he graded out high red grade and some in the blue area, which is the highest grade level in league personnel. So what he's red which means he's a good football player,

but he's not elite. When I think about you know, God right, when I think about blue chip, you know, Eric Aaron Donald's a blue chip football player. T J. Watt, Yes, you see, you get it. They're elite players, and the Cowbirs are have an elite player. And I take this

back into what we're talking about in the draft. The Cowboys are sitting here at ten, and if things go the way we believe, there'll be a whole lot of offensive guys going, they could have the first shot at a defensive player at ten, which could be Patrick Certain of the University of Alabama, the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year, part of the national champions. Here's a kid who walked onto the campus of the University of Alabama at eighteen and got a starting job in the backfield.

Nick Saban, his whole NFL and his whole defensive philosophy started as a defensive back, played defensive back at Kent State for Don James. That's his deal. He still will coach defensive backs to this day. That's his thing. Okay, that's where you can woo him. So for Certain to come in there as a freshman and start their three straight years, to me, that special. We look at Treyvon Diggs last year and we look at him and we said, you know, there's a future building block for the Cowboys. Yeah,

but we know this. He was the number two corner at Alabama to Certain. So to me, if you can get two good corners and I can get a blue chip player, to me this one, you need a cover corner in this league. You were on that Jacksonville team, You guys had a blue chip corner there. You had Jalen Rams, and you had several blue chip players, but you definitely had one there. There's not a blue defensive player up front. To me, there's not a D lineman or edge guy at ten, there's a blue chip guy,

but you got a defensive back. Then you do got a defensive back. And maybe I'm thinking a tad bitch selfishly because me as a safety, if you know you got those guys at the edge, if you know you got a Ramsey and at the time I had a boy ye on the other side, it makes your job so much easier because you could sit there, you could just say, all right, you got that dude. Even though I'm supposed to help you a little bit, I know you got that dude, lockdown, and it could free you

up to make so many more plays. So that's why I think I have the whole We need to get this guy. We need to get this guy at the corner, because it would make the safety's job that much easier.

So maybe I'm being a little selfish in that regard, But if there was a high ranking defensive lineman, if there was someone along that defensive line in this draft that could be that blue chip prospect, I'd be all four because even though those corners on the outside make a safety's job that much easier, the front seven makes

the whole entire defense that much better. And I would lean that way, But there's not that guy right there, So you you have an opportunity to have a blue chip corner in certain and match him up with another building block, possibil ability and Trey Von Days on the outside.

I think it's a no brainer. I think it's a no brainer because if you have those two out there who can play zone, they can play man, they have the abilities to go out there and guard the number one and guard the number twos and pretty much make them the relevant. If they can do that out there on a every down basis for this Cowboys team, I mean, it'll be night and day. But once again, they gotta put the work on the field to be able to

do that. But to me, you can't pass up on a blue chipper like Certain, a guy that you said, he's a three year starter in Alabama. He's gone against the best talent because, like you said, he was a number one corner, not train one things. He was a number one corner. So he was going against the SEC's best. And we know as a conference the SEC is heads and tails above any other conference in the college football right now, So he's going against the best talent out there.

I think you gotta go ahead and go ahead and get this guy you need to as shore that side of your defense. And I know it seems like a broken record because I've been saying certain since we started talking about the draft. But for me, it's a no brainer. We gotta get this guy to help shore up the back end. Since they don't have any blue chip prospects to shore up our front end. I think we gotta

go certain there. But that's just your boy thinking. Well, I just think if you're trying to talking about winning a Super Bowl and some of the five building blocks that you need. You need a quarterback, You need a left tackle, you need a defensive run stuff and guy, you need it edge guy. Um, you need a corner. You know you need a corner. You need a wide receiver. Um, you know you need These are the kind of things

that you need here. And I think Curtain can help them out in this book here but by Bill Walls called the score takes care of itself. When Bill Walls started his rebuild and they started to win a championship in nineteen eighty one, he decided to go heavy at the quarterback position because the forty nine ers were not they were where they were not where Bill wanted to be. And obviously the guy who was the kingpin was a corner. He took in the top ten and Ronnie a Lot.

And one of the things in reading about this book he spoke about, Ronny says, when you bring a Ronnie a Lot in your organization, you're actually bringing several Ronney Lots aboard because they create others in their own image. And when I think about a guy like Sir Tan coming to a legendary program like Alabama's and starting from

day one, that guy had different traits. Okay, you know because they you think about this now, Alvin Kamara transferred out Alabama because he couldn't get No, they were stacking. Yet they were staged. They had a lot of back there for sure. Right. So so this is a program and it's it's tough to compete here. I mean, mac Jones could end up being the third overall pick in this draft. This guy was sitting behind Jalen Hurts and

two them. Okay, this guy was sitting in the back and they had two other guys who ended up transfer them during that time. The Jalen Hurts. So when I bring this and said, it's tough to play at Alabama and you just don't walk in here to a defensive position that Nick Saban knows left and right and start from day one, become a championship player, become the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, finished second in the in the UM the Defensive Back of the Year award. Kids

from TCU more than one it. But this is to me when I look at this is a guy who's got a resume that says, yeah, I want that, give me some of that, and fans aren't excited. In Church, I'm just trying to understand how could you, How could you not be excited to improve your football team? And no, you ain't gonna fix everything, but at least start. The Chinese got to say, Church, when's the best time to plany a treat ten years ago? When's the next best time?

So start working your defense today? He and I understand. I understand what people aren't excited because, like we said we mentioned earlier, man offense, you know that sales ticket that gets the people excited, that gets people wanting to come see him. When you got a high powered offense, you got the greatest show on to her. That's why cats aren't really really excited about out certain out there because he's a defensive guy. He's a corner, very solid corner.

But that's not the thrill secret that they that they want that they want on this on this Cowboys team. So for me, it's a it's an we gotta get this guy. I mean, I just there's there's no one throwth prospect to me. I mean, unless you want to trade back and kind of get a lot of depth pieces, then that could be an option. But to me, you

gotta go on the defensive side of the ball. And furthermore about him, when you go to Alabama and you're coached up by a guy like Nick Saban, it makes you very coach a bull when you come to the league. And that's a big thing that rookies don't seem to mind when they come into the league. They think they know everything. I mean, they think they always we understand that I just covered three. That's easy. But what are you talking? I could do this and with my eyes closed.

And they go out there and they get exposed. But you rarely see that from Alabama players coming in. They're very culturable and they they they're able to pick up schemes very fast. So for me, this guy's a no brainer. He has all the tools you need. He's smart, he's physical, and he can go out there and make plays. And that's what this defense needs badly, is playmakers out there instead of guys running guys and letting guys run for three hundred yards on us. We need playmakers out there.

And this guy's there at number ten. A couple of folks here, um just just reading some of the comments were against his knew he completely against the offensive player, laugh out loud says that's why I like Horn. He's a total dog. But that's me peace. Another persons has that type of attitude as well. And there to my jac Horn the corner from South Carolina, here's my thing on that. And you can speak to this better than me because you understand this concept even more. Horn to me,

looks like a guy. You put him out there on the eye and let him do his thing. You're not trying to have him sit up here and playing a bunch of zones and thinking just hey man, you know, go over here to your side, take care of the business, which you know will make him a great three or four player. But dan Quinn is playing that that that Seattle defense and they're using a lot of his own. So I don't know if I would draft a guy

like Horn and put him in his zone. You've spoken before about mulclayborne, you and did Danny m craize saying, hey, you guys felt it. Here's a man guy. They trying to start having him play zone and it didn't fit with the skills. Patrick Chutan is a guy that you know, can do a whole lot of things. That's that's the ability of me is he's such a technician and he can do different things, and he can play the run very well. I don't think people are talking about that enough.

You know, jac Horne's a good corner. I'm not saying, but he doesn't play the run the way a guy like Shurtan plays the run. And I think that's going to be important to a guy like Dan Quinn and his king And you just mentioned it earlier. I mean we saw a perfect example of that. And not saying that j. C. Horn can't play his own or anything like that, but when you got a guy that's a shut down corner and mentality, he's like, oh who I got this guy? Got the best guy? I guarantee you

just guy, I won't catch anything. When you got that mentality kind of kind of similar to what Mo Claiborne had when he came in there. He was that Thorpeal War winner LS. You had him go out there and just shut down the main guy. Just go out there and do what you do best. That's play man the man. There wasn't a lot of communicating. There wasn't a lot of oh, I got this guy. If he goes under shallow, let me alert you, and all that other stuff. Where you're a man the man quarter, that's who you got.

And that's what hurt Mo when he came here because we were more of a zone team, especially at cover two zone team, where you just had to get hands on him and you had to see more. You had to see more out there. You weren't just focused on one guy. And that what kind of scares me in with this JC Horn guy is he's a great man

the man guy. He can lock guys up. But if we're in that zone scheme, we're gonna bring that lesion of Boom type defense down here where they were more zone and a lot of communicating, is he gonna be able to do that is he gonna be able to see. Okay, I got a slot receiver right here. I need to play two to one because if that slot goes deep, but this number one, say shallow, I gotta alert my linebacker to get shallow, and I gotta go ahead and

cover this number two. There's a lot of think when you come when you get involved with a primarily zone team. So that's just what I would think about that. I know certain has the pedigree, he has that technique to be able to do both. That's why I leaned towards him. Nothing against JC Horn, but this guy, this guy certa, he could do the best. He's the best of both worlds. And that's why I say you gotta get him. He's what you call the clean player. Yeah, you know, the

tape tells you this is a good football player. He can contribute, and just so many check marks are there. There's no there's not a lot of downside. There's not a lot of gambles here. And I just don't think the Cowboys came back here gambling. This is what you want. A guy who's played at the highest level, who's won a championship, who's been a guy who's been starting since day one, who clearly can play for one of the toughest coaches in all of college football, who understands what

that kind of complex defense is there. So boom, love that guy. Church. You brought up another topic here, and I want to make sure we get to it. Can Ezekiel Elliott have a bounce back season? Go ah? I hope, I hope, and I pray for the sake of this football team that Ezekiel Eliet can bounce back and have some type of form that he used to have. I don't think we'll ever get back to that twenty sixteen Ezekiel Elliott because he was the main focus of the team.

He was the guy that was getting the ball down, in and down. Now he was the engine that kept this offense going over the years, we kind of transition to now Dak is basically the offense and the engine that keeps it going, and Zeke is kind of a just you know, all right, let's run the ball, is keep the defense on this type role. So even though I would love for him to get back to his old form, and I think that would get the most out of this offense and out of this team, we're

able to control the clock through the run game. I just don't see it happening because we have an offensive coordinator and we have an offense with a head coach that is he's very, very dominant when it comes to throwing the ball. When we've seen it the last year. I think, like you mentioned earlier in our group, chet, I think what was it Zeke was sixteenth and Russian

attempts in the National Football League. The cowboy guy as a team a Cowboys a team, okay, but he's not getting the carries that we think a guy that's getting paid whatever he got ninety millions should get. And then you got guys thinking about adding another offensive weapon and Kyle Pitts another guy that's gonna take the ball away from execular Ellen when we already have Ceedee Lamb, Michael

Gallop Cooper, that's gonna spread the ball around. When we add another offensive threat like that, the balls getting spread too thin. And I don't think, well, he'll be able to get the touches necessary for him to be off there and be the best back he can get because I think the running back position, you gotta have that rhythm going. You can't just you know, let me hand it off to you once every couple of downs, and

I want to see you make a big play. You gotta gotta get that rhythm, you gotta get kind of wear that defense down. And with the offense or the offense we have, the passing heavy offense we have, and especially if we add another Kyle Pits to the situation, I just don't see the ball being able to get to execute the Elliot. It'll be spread too thin and he might have an alright season, but it won't be what we're used to or what we were used to back when he was in his first couple of years

in the National Football League. Brother, I'm sitting here in my as WB SEE virtual home studio saying to myself, Yeah, Church, you're right when you when you first came up and had the question, I said to myself immediately, he won't get the chance. He won't get the chance that to bounce back you. And the unfortunate thing for me is fans want to beat up Ezekiel Elliott for his contract now. And here's where I will defend Ezekiel Elliott. They signed

him to be a bell cat running back. Who's why he got ninety million dollars and you know, set the market. Then you hired a football coach who's never done that as a head coach with this football teams in Greenback, they never featured a running back. And all we have to do, if you're a cowboy fan is go back to win. Was Emmett Smith doing the bulk of his damage. It's in the fourth quarter because it was a consistent thing. It's like boxing Ja ja champion, next fam he knockout

puts and that's what it was able to do. It's a continual thing. It's watching, it's watching the greatness of Derrick Henry Tennessee runs the football and so by the time the fourth quarter, all those body blows, all those jabs got you, and there's kid comes to the knockout punch.

Zeque Elli's not going to get that opportunity here. Even though Mike McCarthy at his press conference spoke about, you know, trying to be more balanced, but I'm sorry, how can you be more balanced when you got the dog on owners saying he's intrigued with Kyle Pitts. You're not. You're not intrigued by you're running back. You're intrigued by throwing the ball over the place and getting Dak Prescott um

more weapons. And I just I just think that poor Ezekiel Elliott is not going to ever lead the league in rushing again. I think we could say that Church. I don't see him leading league the league and rushing again. I don't see it because they're not committed to it. Your offensive coordinator is a former quarterback. He wants to throw the ball. You know it's third and one or third and two. They sitting there hit throwing a route to a rookie. You know, they don't believe, they don't

believe in it. Um. He's got to fix his funneling problems for last year too. Almost. I want to make sure I put that out there that he's got to improve. But and I know you thought that he wasn't in shape the way he needed to be and he battled COVID last year. It was definitely a down here for Ezekielli. But when you talk about balance back, I think the first thing has to start. There has to be a commitment to run in the ball, and there's not axa

to running the ball from this head coach. It has to be and I think the biggest wall or the biggest defender. Zeke's gonna have to overcome. It's gonna have to be as offensive coordinator. I mean, like you mentioned, I mean there were so many times last year where we're like, wait, what are you doing? You got a ninety million dollars running back. Fourth and one we're throwing a five yard hitch to Cde Lamb. I mean, it's just it's just head scratching moments like that's where you're like, wait,

what's going on? And I know I joke a lot about him being a fullback and all this other stuff, but there was instances last year where he lined up as a fullback and I'm like, wait, what you're You're using him as a fullback to fake him the ball and then pitch to Tony Pollo somewhere. A look, I don't understand that you got this guy. He's ninety million dollars. He he is one of he I'm not gonna say he is one a top five back because not after last year. But he still has some talent in the

tank to be able to do damage. I just don't think he gets the reps he needs to get to be able to wear down a defense and get get back to those game breaking plays that he was able to do. And like you said, dude, I don't know if we'll ever get back to that moment. But for him, I think he needs as far as his career is gonna, I think he needs a bounce back year this year. But I just I'm not sure how it's gonna happen with all those offensive weapons and spreading the ball. There's

only one ball. There's only one ball out there, and with all these options, somebody's gonna be unhappy. I'm just surprised that it's the ninety million dollars man that's gonna end up being the one left out. You know. That's that's a head scratcher to me. It's going to turn out at the way they're going, Okay, the way they're going, it's going to turn out that you're going to look at the money you spent on Zeka Elliott and say

that was You're not getting the return on investment. That's what's going to happen, and people are gonna want to blame the play, and that's what I'm just kind of cautioning against. For the cowboy fans that are checking us out here on the Players Lounge, brought to you by hotels dot Com. This isn't all on the player. He can't give himself the football. He's not getting the type of work that a Dalvin Cook is getting in Minnesota or or even Derrick Henry in Tennessee. Those coaches are

those head coaches are about running the ball. They're also defensive guys too. They're defense is shocked. The defensive guys are about running the football. And you've got an offensive head coach who's never done it. I mean, he had Brett Farve, he had Aaron Rodgers, he's had Dak Prescott. These guys have been chucking it. It's what they do. And so that ninety million dollars, I don't think Jerry's going to see a full return on that investment. And that's kind of a shame because you and I know

how it goes. It goes back to the play. People get mad at the player with he got this big deal. Look he just got his money and quit, and that's, like you said, that's completely unfair. I mean, there's a lot of examples out there. Hopefully this offensive line will be able to be able to withstand this long season, They'll be able to stay healthy. That should be able

to help him out. But like you said, I mean, they're gonna pile on him just because his contract was so high, and they're gonna expect him to be able to do this and that each and every down. But when you don't get the opportunities and at the end of the year you're only rushing for eight hundred and seven hundred yards, people are gonna dog you out for it. And then they're gonna come around, Oh, he needs to get a paid cut or just that, and the third

needs to happen. It's just the way the game, I guess. And also, and I don't know how you feel, but I feel that Kellen Moore gets away from the run game too quickly. The one time where I felt he didn't get away from the run quickly and they ended up coming back and you saw winning the game was Atlanta.

Now they were down in the game, but he kept running the ball, and that, to me is something I would like to see him as as an offensive play caller improve upon, which, hey, man, down ten doesn't mean you have to give up on the run. Down fourteen does not mean you just have to give up on the run. If you've got a special running back. And I do think Ezekiel it's a special play. Ye don't

just give up on him. They need to start to utilize the special player more in my opinion, because if Ezekiel Elliott is providing you the ability that you know you can hit him in the past game and he can hit up the middle, then you truly can get something more out of your offensive weapons on the outside. And it's and it was a headscrash to me that you would think after Dak went down with his gruesome injury that we would lean we would lean on Ezekiel Elliott to kind of beat that bell cow get us

back in contention. And with Andy Dalton there, I mean we still slaying that thing. We were still throwing that thing all over the yard. And it just goes to show you that, you know, that's what the philosophy is of this offensive coordinator. It's look, I'm here to chuck this ball. I'm here to sling this ball all over the place. This is maddened. This is maddened for him. And hopefully he learned and he'll get back to more of a balanced structure. But I don't see it happen.

I see him still chucking that thing, especially when he gets Dak back. He's look at look at my guys back. Let me show you what he can do. And I can see us throwing the ball forty to fifty times a game. I can see what happening in him. And what I'll be interested to see is will Ezekiel Elliott step up and say something. We saw that happen in Ohio State his last season. They ended up losing the football game and he's basically came out and called out

the coaches. I didn't get the ball enough. He took criticism from Buckeye Nation. But the next game they gave him the ball and you know what they did. Won. And with the bowl game, you know what they did, they won. You know, they got the coaches once again. They I thought themselves, they didn't think they mean at the time Ohio State was fifteen. They weren't giving fifteen the ball. Give fifteen to ball and you can win some games. And that's what they did. Didn't lose another game.

So that, to me, I'm just kind of waiting to see because if you're Ezekiel Ellett, you know too, if you're not getting the ball, then you're not able to put up the numbers. You can't get to the Pro Bowl. You can't. You know, you can't get to where you want to get to if you want to have this really, really legendary career without that ball. So let's see if Ezekiel doesn't get to that point where he says, you're

not feeding zeke. This isn't right. And because the way its contracts set, it's not like you can get rid of them. Pay train. You can't. You can't. Zeke Eli's gonna be here another two three years, two to three years minim because of the way the deal set up. So they've got to find some peace and harmony to

make this thing work. Man. They got to if we want to be the team that we think we can be, if we want to be that team that can win a division, go far in the playoffs, and do that set in the third, we need to be that balanced. I mean we've spoken about the time and time and get on the show. The balanced teams they take it to the next level. The teams that are one dimensional, there's always that opposing team out there that'll figure it out and they'll shut that one thing you do well down.

You have to have a backup plan. And right now, we passed the ball all over the yard and we're not able to run it. The teams once they shut down that pass. We've seen teams kind of just piled on us. So we got to get back to that more balanced approach. And hopefully that's what Kellen Moore and Mike McCarthy are brewing up in the lab, because I'm telling you right now, the one in forty to fifty times a game, they're just gonna get you in a

long deficit. And we're gonna be doing a lot of empty calories and the empty stats, and that's gonna relate to seven and nine because there ain't no more what there's no no, you can't be seventy nine anymore. Seven and was it seven and ten or something like that. So yeah, so I don't I don't see it happening. So we'll see, we'll see what happens. I know seven and ten means we'll be talking about who's gonna be the head coach. Can't get away with let's go six

and ten and seven. Seven, you don't get you're not gonna see year three? Many running back? They no running back after that? Yeah? Right, Hey man, this is this, This hour keeps flying and we've gone a little bit over the hour. So thanks to our producer Chris Bean for handling everything and keeping this going straight. Um all right, hey, we miss our guy Danny mccraig, Daniel before we'll be back here. He's got some pet projects things he's working

on right now. But for Barry Church, number forty two of the Dallas Cowboys' new he Scruggs were checking out the players as we'll talk to you next Friday, eleven thirty central. All right, that's Texas time. Eleven thirty central North Texas time. All right, take care, everybody, do well. The real forty two you heard it. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club