Player's Lounge: Stepping Up in Minnesota

You're in the players Notchboty by hotels dot com. He is Barry Church, former Dallas Cowboys safety number forty two, the Thereso Rocket. Yes, indeed, our other co hosts former Dallas Cowboys. He's Danny McCray. Danny McCray unfortunately got hard up like so many Americans have this weekend with flight delayed. Yeah, so sucks. Sucks. So d MAC can't get in from

from Lay. There are a bunch of people who trying to who are trying to get up from DFW two Minnesota had to be rerouted or their flights were just canceled. P you hate to see it. I know that my photographer, Noah Buller, was supposed to leave it one he got his flight got canceled. He didn't get on a plane until seven. Clarence Hill didn't get on a plane until seven. Some other people had got delayed. I ended up being on a nine o'clock flight with Christie Scales and so ours.

The nine o'clock didn't lead to till ten forty five. So it was yeah, I got in Minnesota one thirteen in the morning. Are you talking about Oh I thought you were talking about like you left at ten forty five in a day, No mine. Mine had a nine pm yeah, yeah, so it was yeah. So there were people a lot more delayed than what we were so in other Cowboy fans in general, So it was a lot for Cowboy fans to get on up there in Minnesota. But more importantly, Cooper Rush was there. Yeah, he was

in there. He was in attendance for sure, and Cooper Rush with an outstanding memory and as an undrafted guy, sure you can relate to the man. There's just some moments that you probably have to be on the field and say look at me, and he's a fellow Matt guy. Yeah, Central Michigan's own nation, right, and to see that happened,

I thought it was a really cool moment for him. Yeah, it was definitely a cool moment for him going out there, and he shocked a lot of people, including myself because I know I picked the Cowboys the wind going into the week, but that was with Dak Prescott behind the helms. We had Cooper rushing here, and I'm thinking to myself, here we go, it's gonna be another Danucci moment out there. What the moment will seemed too big for him, The

lights will be too bright for him out there. But I was extremely impressed on how he handled himself on the field against a Minnesota defense. Out there. He looked cool, calm and collected. And I'm not sure if that has to do with Kelly Moore's play calling, knowing his strengths and weaknesses out there, but the guy executed well. He put the ball where it needed to be. He had one interception out there on a bad It was a bad pass, it was a bad read out there, he

threw it in between two safeties. But I love the resilience that he showed coming back into that game, not afraid to put it up in the air anymore, not afraid to go deep anymore. He went right back at him, and that's what you love about a quarterback. And he, to me, solidified his role as that backup here in Dallas, because if he would have went out there and let's just say he stunk up the joint, we would have

been looking somewhere for trades. You know today, we'd have been like, oh man, we gotta find somewhere, whether it's you know, the guy in Chicago, somebody's got to come down here. But Cooper Rush, he came to play and showed that he belongs in this league. And you know, I got give him a round of applause because I was definitely one of the hardest critics of Cooper Rush talking about Double G, this Double G Dad, so hey, he definitely maybe swallow my words. He went out there

and performed well. I saw a picture of Garrett Gilbert on Twitter. I saw that one. So that was me because the first half I was like, man, Double G wouldn't have been out there like that. Double G wouldn't have did that. But the resilience, it's like Cooper West to coo out there and battle and just go forward.

And I mean he was putting that second half. He put on a display out there, and he was definitely one of the main reasons they brought home a w I was talking to somebody in the press box at halftime, like, all right, man, gotta make a trade. Gotta make a trade, I said, And I said, I said, no said, first off, who are you going to trade for that knows your offense?

Just like that Barry. You've played the league and you understand everybody's schemes not different because everybody schemes out the same. There's a lot of differences. So that was my first thought. You're trying to talk about trading for somebody who you know, they don't know your scheme. The second thing, and I told the person to media box, can we be fair. This is a guy who threw three NFL passes whole career. Okay, I said, there is an adjustment period. This is still

the NFL. I said, give the guy some time. That's all I'm saying, Just give him some time. David Helmet Dallas Cowboys dot com. He tweeted in the first half, sorry folks, this is over. Helmet was like, this is he not gonna happen? At all, and where you give Mike McCarthy, Kellen Moore and the team credit. They made the adjustments at halftime and people were still right there with him. You come out in the second half and boom, there's that seventy four yard touchdown to Cedric Wilson, and

now you're back in the football game. You're right there, it's tied, and you're feeling good. What Cooper Rush did three hundred and twenty five yards in the air on forty attempts for two touchdowns. They put it up that much. They had faith in him. Two minutes, fifty one seconds to go down sixteen thirteen, he takes Dallas down the field. They win the game. This was some serious stones man, and and I look at that for him and I just say, good for you, Idu. I got to meet

his godfather before before the game. He had to rush Jersey on. Yeah. I saw that. I took a picture and tweeted out there. He tried not to give it away. He did. He was proud, but when you're a reporter, you know where, you know where to go with it, and sometimes the lack of answers and he's like, I'm not trying to say anything like okay, so you knew that he was going to to start. I was just

really happy for Russ. What he looked like to me, Barry was that rookie year in his preseason when you saw, hey, man, this guy's got something here. He got That's what I saw. And I talked to him at training camp about hey, how do you get back into being that guy? And I don't know whether it was because he had nothing to lose or he just I don't know, but he looked like that guy. He did he did out there, and what was crazy to me was going into the

week or not going into this game. So probably like Saturday or Sun of AB a little earlier on Sunday, Mike McCarthy was talking about how there's no drawback when it comes to the playbook, like when Cooper Russia is out there, the whole playbook is wide open, and I thought to myself, how you gotta be talking crazy? Just this guy ain't got what it takes to be able

to have full command of this offense. But he was able to go out there and do exactly what Dak Prescott would have done out there at a little bit lesser level. But he was very efficient out there. I mean, he had the one interception, but besides that, he was putting the ball where it needed to be. I mean, outside of that that interception and that CD Lamb dropped past, the guy was super efficient and he had a hell

of a day from from Cooper out there. I mean, because there was a couple of times where it could have been intercepted, but the ball just seemed to bounce our way out there, and those are the type of bounces and the lucky draws that you gotta have when you're trying to make this long run. I mean, not everything is going to be perfect, but the way he was up was able to go out there deal the football around. Amari Cooper having a hell of a day

out there. This is the first time I've seen him show up in an away game since he's been here in Dallas, and he went out there and he did what he had to do. They took advantage of that thin secondary with no Patrick Peterson. Harrison Smith's still the beast, but they kind they kind of shot away from him a little bit, and they could do that because the two corners they had on the edge they just weren't it and they knew that they could take advantage of that.

Kudos to Kelly Moore as well. This guy seem to be in his bag all year, no matter what the situation is. He's attacking these defensive weaknesses Tampa Bay. We saw the secondary. The next go around, we go against the charges, we go to the run game. I mean, this guy is in his bag. He knew what he had coming into the game because Cooper Rush had took the majority of the first team reps doing practice throughout the week, so he knew what he had going into

this game, and he called a masterful game. How do you you put Lia Collins at fullback next to McGovern and then you got the wishbone back there. I mean, some of the stuff he's drawing up, the creativity he has right now is on another level. And I would not be surprised if somebody comes and poaches him next year going into the offseason, because this guy right now, he's coaching at another level, he's playing at another level. I would definitely say at this point in time, Cowboy

fans be prepared to have a new offensive coordinator. Yeah, without a doubt, man, And I wouldn't be surprised if he's not on the shortlist for Minnesota because leaving Minnesota, the amount of people who wanted Mike zimmer On as head coach, Kubiak the offensive coordinator gone, and Kirk Cousins gone were just high. It was just so high. And I was disappointed in Kirk. I was disappointed in Kirt. I mean, I wanted the Cowboys to win. But but

why I fire you. You know, he's been playing some of the best ball of his career so far this season. I mean, thirteen tubs, only two interception. She's taking care of the football. But he just went out there and became a checkdown Charlie. And I don't understand. I mean, maybe it was what dan Quinn's defense is doing to people. I'm not sure. But he went to check down Charlie because there was a couple of examples on those boots. They loved to run boots with Kirk Cousins, and they

ran a lot of them yesterday. But he had the deeper over option available, whether it was feedling, whatever, whether it was justin Jefferson, he had those options open, but he decided to go to the checkdown to the fullback or to the running back who surrounded by defensive players. So I don't know if it was just the rush that Randy Gregory and those boys were providing, or just Kirk Cousins just just reverting back to Washington. Kirk Cousins, but he did not look good yesterday. And I'll tell

you what this did a great job of doing. Hold hold on, all right, go ahead, the defense the next sege all right. They deserved their own, their old slights of the five for what they did. Kirk Cousins is now eight and seventeen in primetime games in his career age of seventeen. The lights are too big. Cooper Rush is one and the oh. He turned out to five or three pass attempts into a one and oh three hundred yard performance out there and lowest primetime win percentage

since two thousand. Kirk Cousins is number one and three twenty, followed by Eli Manning, Carson Palmer, and Jay Cutler minimum twenty five stars. It's gotta be something, you know, in the brand. There got to be something up top of that. Because he was performing well in all his other games,

daytime games, it doesn't matter. He was performing, but when you get to those primetime and those lights, it's got to be something he's seeing all the reporters on the edge or something he's seeing, you know, but she to Foy and au him over there. It's got to be something that he knows everybody's watching it, and he kind of shells up. I don't get it, man, I don't know. He was playing great ball so far this season, so I didn't know that. The Minnesota they called him, they

called PTK. PTK was Primetime Kurt because they just he's gonna just melt down. So they knew going into this it was going to be one of them games. He's the second highest paid quarterback the National Football League, making thirty one million dollars this year. So many, so much guarantee too, yeah, eighty all of it is Gary. Oh, there's no some all eighty four meals Garing. He made

a hell of a deal. He is taking a bag and to see a guy making nine hundred and twenty thousand dollars, sixtieth highest paid quarterback in the game bouncing before that, take the chances to go down the field where Kirk Cousins didn't want at all. I'm telling you the fans where were hot. A guy was doing his podcast in the media box after the game, and he was killing Kirk Cousins. He was just and you know,

people are typing their stories. You hear and you just hear him killing him, and you could not sit up here and say, well, that's unfair. It was legitimate. It's legit because he look at these weapons he has on the outside. He got one of the best duos in the National Football League, Feeling and Jefferson and I know we got you know, days on one side, Brown who played well. But you can't tell me there was no

options to take deep with those guys. I mean, he had plenty of opportunities to stretch the football field and he chose to either check it down or throw it out of bounds. Well, I mean in an intentional ground call that killed the whole team. That probably that probably switched the whole on minute. It killed him on that one. You just I mean, come on, Kurt, what are you

doing out there? I go back into where they went to the NFC Championship game and lost and felt that if they could upgrade from case Keenom and they paid all that money for Kirk Cousins, that has been the biggest sunken costs I've seen in the NFL in the last three and a half four years. I would agree with you, because I mean, they had the one playoff run they be I think they beat the Saints in a while card or something like that. But other than that,

I mean, he's just been that Minneapolis. Yeah, and then it was then they ended up losing the NCY Championship. But they their their premise was, Okay, we're just a quarterback away. They thought they were the Rams. Like they thought they were you know what I mean, we were golf and staffing. You ain't bringing in staff, and this thing has been it's just been a big letdown. And now you've got Mike Zimmer, former Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator.

He's on year eight there. This is not a playoff team. They're three and four football team. It's not. It's not. And I don't think you can sell that fan base on another year of Zimmer and Kirk much the same way you couldn't sell Cowboy fans on year ten eleven of Jason Garrett. They they had their field, they had enough, and then if you look at this defense isn't the same either. You know, Minnesota has been the past couple of years, they've been relying on a very stingy defense

out there. Those guys are getting long in the tooth now. I mean Kendricks, I think he's on year eight, maybe Bars up there, Harrison Smith's already in his tenth year, So they're getting older there. They can't rely on that defense as much. Is I think that windows right there. Yeah, and Green Bay's now running away with the division. So now you're sitting here trying to find yourself in a

wildcard spot. Just start looking around the league and you just say, Okay, it's gonna be hard to get these spots because there's going to be a spot given to the second place team in the NFC when exactly rams A Cardinals are gonna get that. One of those teams is getting it right there. So so it's just gonna be hard. I mean, you're hard to get in. You're just gonna have a tough time trying to figure out

how you can get in there. Now, the Saints are definitely now in a different situation because Sean Payton has confirmed that Jameis Winston has a torn acl Yeah, simmey and ain't it man, I think that's one of those guys like it was a spot duty deal where he came in play performed well. But I just don't think he can do that over to week week week basis. Defenses are going to figure out how they can pick apart Trevor Trevor Simmons. So that but but still Sean's

gonna be creative enough. Let's take some hill. Was he just not? Is he injured or he just wasn't? Oh? They just man, that's something man, I wish I was getting his jacket seven million to be chilling. Ain't that? But there's one more team if Tampa gets the you know, I'm assuming Tampa's gonna win that division. They'll win until the Saints are gonna be right there fighting to get

I would agree to get to. That's why I say for your Minnesota, you're quickly finding yourself in a tough spot in terms of trying to get one of these wild cards. So the division race is pretty much done. You're trying to get a wild card spot. And I haven't looked at their schedule to see who they're playing and how you know who they may be up against it. So that's why I ultimately come back to Mike Zimmer's

in trouble. Yes, he's big. Like you said, if they don't, if they don't come away with a record that's at least over or five hundred, I can't see if them bringing them back. I mean, this is just too much mediocrity, and they put too much stock into this quarterback. I mean, they thought this combo would get them at least, you know, playoff caliber every single year. And after the first year or two, I mean, it's been mediocrity and they don't don't.

Like you said, I don't think the fans are gonna stand for Look the offense, alright, thirty five million dollars, I mean thirty one million dollars. Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins twenty three or thirty five, one hundred and eighty four yards and a touchdown. Okay, that's not that's not gonna cut it. Contrast that to Cooper Rush twenty four or forty three, twenty five, two touchdowns and one interception. So

and by the way, Minnesota won the turnover battle. You won the turnover battle two to nothing, and you simply couldn't go anywhere because you were terrible on third down. They were one for thirteen, one of thirteen by man on thirty. You can't win that way. It's just it's impossible. You go out you win the turnover battle, which is a big statistic on how you know who wins the

game or not. But if you're out there one for thirteen on third down, you're not winning the money down, you're not extending these drives, and you're just giving the Cowboys more and more opportunities to win this game. If that would have been this, it would have been a blowout by halftime, two minutes and fifty one seconds to go, you're one of thirteen on third downs and you have

a lead sixteen thirteen. So so while the Cowboys win the game and go to six and one, if you're if you're a Vikings player, you're really trying to ask you, so, how did we go lose that football game? And that is Those are the kinds of losses where you lose the fans. And that's a good fan base that I tell everybody, Man, if you're gonna go to an opposing game, go up there. Yeah. I like playing in Minnesota. It was like the world was against you, like it was.

It was definitely a good atmosphere of playing. They do a good job. They care about that team. You got the skull chat. Oh oh, I mean it's it's it's definitely a live place. Yes, I mean it's different, man, it's it's a whole different. And to see to see that display and the way the fans were was interesting. If you look at it, like what were they doing offensively?

Like if you look at the Cowboys, what was the play exactly like we got we can spread things out with getting thank you all these different we're getting our playmakers the ball in space, whether it's bubble screens, quick slants, anything like that. Minnesota, they're lining up in twelve personnel play action, Let's see if we get hit him deep. Play action. Let's see if we get him deep. When

the running game wasn't doing that much. The play actions not gonna draw people up, so you're not gonna have these big holes in the in the defense where you can try to pick apart. It was just a bad overall game plan and I don't I don't know where they were thinking with that. You gotta be able to get your playmakers the ball in space. You got two of the best dealing and Jefferson they got a good slot receiver. I forget his name right now, but they're

get a good slot receiver. They got Dalvin Cook out there. Let him do some work one on one, get him in space. I just I just didn't understand the game playing at all from Minnesota. So you sound exactly like a Minnesota Vikings saying yeah, because that's what they were saying last night. They were ticked, they were upset. There's talent here that's not being used. When why, I simply say, I don't know if if Mike Zimmer's going to get an opportunity to come back. Let's take a break here

and dive more into this Cowboys. We talked about them being one of thirteen in terms of holding up the Vikings. There was several guys out there on the field, in my opinion, who you just looked at you had to tip your cap. Obviously, Cooper Rush gets the spotlight because he's the quarterback in the NFL's the quarterback league. But there's some guys all that defense yesterday that you and I got we're gonna talk about next and how great they were for the Cowboys in that twenty to sixteen win.

As the Cowboys have not lost since the opener to Tampa Baby, this is the players by Hotels dot com or Dallas Cowboys dot Com. Radio Honey, Big News Gary? 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 my name to Jackie Flash. Okay, But the best smartphone deals at AT and T for everyone, new and existing customers. That's huge. Then guess who's getting

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Membership started just twenty dollars and include an exclusive fan pack and VIP member experiences. Tis the season. Visit Dallas Cowboys dot com slash United to get yours today. Let me tell you this right now, if you are a Cowboy fan here, they are six and one in November and you're thinking about putting some Cowboy items underneath the Christmas tree, you better do it now, okay, because when the Cowboys are hot, the merchandise flies off the rack.

This is true. I go back to doing a story when Bill Priacas was here with the Cowboys and it was Dak and Zeke's rookie year. They were they sold out of the twenty ones in fours they sold out. Then they were doing the two one four hurts. They were gone and they just couldn't keep Cowboys gear in stock. And the thing I also try to tell people, remember this is an international team. Yeah, it ain't local, without a doubt, it ain't just you know, it's the highest one.

It's high sports franchise, and in this valuable sports franchise in the world. So yesterday, by the way, the players not by whose dot com he is buried, Churches Cows, Cowboys Safety, I'm new we scrugs a long time Cowboys broadcast. Our other partner, Danny McCrae. He's its flight. Its flight got delayed out there in Los Angeles, so he couldn't

get back in time. So we it was Claire Till the Star Telegram, Caval Watson's DATS Morning News and I we we went during the afternoon to the George Floyd Square in Minnesota where George Floyd was was killed, and there were a ton of cowboy fans there. And what was interesting, most of the cowboy fans we met from were from New Jersey taking over New York. They hated rivalry,

they taking over New York. Coming up, we met more cowboy fans that were not from Texas there George Floyd World, and there were it was a truckload of cowboy fans at the George f travels. Would you say it travels as good as the Stellers or Green Bay and on that that fan base he's getting there. I put it up there with the Yankees. Oh you get it up. They were like that. Okay, it's a different it's it's

at the Yankees Lakers level. Where where national treasures internationally? No, yeah, okay, you know if you go to Italy, you'll see somebody wear the Yankees hat. You know, you'll see. That's where the Cowboys are at. And that's what I'm just going back to my original point. Come Christmas time, if you if you don't get it early, you're gonna have a tough time getting it. It's gonna be hard. It's gonna be tough. When the Cowboys get into this kind of role.

It's hard to get tickets to the games. If people want the gear, they want to wear their Cowboys stuff around. Oh, those tickets are gonna sky rocket man. Wait till wait till Arizona comes in town. I mean, a regular seat might cast you seven. Crisis will be marked up one for sure. So Cowboys six and one. I got to dive back into the Cowboys defense. One of thirteen they held Minnesota to on third downs. And we're talking about a trio, okay, a triplet trio of of powerful guys

in terms of what Minnesota has. You know, Adam Feeling, Jefferson, Jefferson Cook. That's a hack of a trio, right, Yeah, they weren't getting off. Micah Parsons the rookie eleven total tackles, ten solos, four tackles for loss. I looked over here the first three, actually the first four leading tacklers for Minnesota, Harrison Smith, Xavier Woods, dance yone was at a good game. Where do they all play in the secondary? That's how

you knew it was getting back. That's how if your safeties are out there totaling a lot of tackles out there, something ain't going right in the front seven. But with our front seven. Let me tell you about Marcat Parsons. Man, that is a full grown man right there. I'm in a Cowboys uniform. He is a full grown man. And when you go out there with the socks that he had on. So those those type of socks not most

cats are wearing because they're just the superregular degulars. You know, it's just the blue halfway up then you know by the ankle it comes in. The White people don't wear those. They're either doing like the long blues or long whites. When you come out there and don't care about your swag like that and that type in uniform, you know that guy means business. It's like back in the day when guys used to come out there with the tape fingers. That guy might not be the best cover guy, but

he's gonna come down and hit you. And that's what Parsons brings to this defense. I mean, if you look at it, he's overwhelming offensive lineman that even think they get to the second level and might have a shot on him, he's either oh laying him or he's just flinging him to the side. And when you see him hit people at the point of attack at that line of scrimmage, they're not falling forward for extra leaky yardage. Those guys are either getting stoned right there or they're

going backwards. This guy, I mean, he just stands out and flashes. Each and every down you'll see an eleven Jersey coming out of nowhere, whether it's chasing down a guy or being there at the point of attack. This guy is making an extremely, extremely big time impact for this defense. And it doesn't matter what position you play, but I'm glad they put him at middle linebacker, because

we've seen these past couple of weeks. If you let him marinate there and let him learn that position and get that position down, pad, he's just gonna get better and better and better. I mean, he's understanding his run fits. He's diagnosing these run fits, and he's beating his blockers to the point of attack. And it's not like he's you know, hammering when he should be spilling the guard or you know, spilling the guard when he should be hammering.

He's hitting everything right, getting it back to his help. And it's just a full grown man out there, and he's making plays as a rookie that you don't see. I mean, even Sean Lee, who was great as a rookie, this guy is just he's looking like a full grown

man out there. And it's just to me, it's extremely impressive because as a safety, you get to see all that in front of you go down and when your safeties are in the back end, being able to just worry about pass coverage if something leaks out maybe here and there, that's when that safety job gets extremely easy. So you got a guy in the middle at the linebacker position that is holding things down and is acting

like a grown man out there, and he's playing. He's playing great right now for the Dallas Cowboys, so very church. I go back to the draft and when we were talking about what the Cowboys should do with the first pick, you and I were both on board taking a corner and taking the kid from Alabama who's in Denver, who will see this week? Patrick's certain the second and Parsons ends up being taken and overwhelmingly, i'd say Cowboy Nation

was lukewarm. Yeah, I would agree with that. And I go back now and I think of where the problem was. You just Michael Parson's linebacker, and he didn't play last year either, So Michael Parson's linebacker, and what should have been said, Michael Parsons. Pressure player. That's what it is, a defensive weapon, pressure player. And we've spoken before on the show and I brought up a junior. Say out, junior, say,

I brought pressure linebacker. But he just brought you a lot of pressure that you had to know where I was. And that's that's And I remember talking Will McClay and we were trying to find a guy and I and I brought up Pat Swilling and he said yes because Pat Swilling number fifty six when he played with the New Orleans Saints was a monster. Ricky Jackson got to the Hall of Fame and got a lot of credit, but Pat Swilling there was lt in a class by himself.

Then you started looking at that next group of dudes. Pat Swilling was right in there in terms of the kind of pressure that he brought. Who had to be aware of Pat Swilling and Micah Parsons to me, is fitting into that. He's not a lineback. That's just too generic terms. Not many linebackers can bring this kind of pressure. As much as Jalen Smith in Layton Banderesh have had first good first contracts with the Colbums, they weren't the

kind of pressure player that Micah Parsons. They're just not many. There's not many gays periods. That's like that right now. I mean, the way this guy's jumping off the tape, it's it's outstanding. And then you go back to last year, we got exposed a lot at that second level when we're talking about running backs come out of the backfield,

covering running backs out of the backfield tight ends. This guy has come here and slowly erased that I mean we go out there and look all those checkdowns, all those guys that were in open space that would make my boy Jalen Smith or Lvee miss and get an extra ten fifteen yards, that's getting erased by this guy. He's one part. I mean, it doesn't matter who the running back he is out there, Dalvin Cook, the other guy, the had He is erasing all that and it's open

field tackling is extremely extremely impressive. Nice game by l Layton Banderash. Yeah, he's playing solid as well. J Ron Curse, give that guy contract, get him here now, because not only is his play on the field outstanding, but he's also a leader and you can see he's vocal on

that sideline getting those boys ready to play. So so Church, help me understand this one here from the standpoint you're j Ron Curse, You're You're on a good defense right now, and this this is trending towards you're going to make the playoffs and witness to be. So this means opportunities

for you in the free agent market. Oh yeah, how much do you look at the bag versus the scheme, because right now this is a scheme that they have utilized Curs' skills highlighting which haven't really didn't happen for him in Detroit, Minnesota, they're happening here. Yeah, So if I'm if I'm curse, definitely a bag is the forefront of my mind because if I mean, I could be wrong about this, but I don't think he's yet to get a super like a super deal as far as

contracts concerned. I mean, he's being basically working on like one one year deals or bat minimum type deals. So the money is definitely going to be at the forefront of your mind. But what I will say is is not always greener on the other side. You may get the bag, you may have that that money to be able to help out your family and all that other stuff. But if you want to longevity and if you want to be able to you know, maybe springboard your career

to something else, there's nothing better than the star. I'm telling you right now, there's nothing better than this organization in the NFL when you're talking about making money outside of football, and they the scheme that you're in the defense is playing extremely well. Now, dan Quinn, he might get you know, poached off his job and he might get a head job opportunity somewhere else. But right now,

his scheme and his system with Curse, it's working. It's working unbelievably because he's manning him up on tight ends. He has the length, he has the size and speed to run with those guys. But he's also great at blitzing, playing in the box versus the run, and he could play deep as well. And with this type of system, they run kind of a three safety rotation, so he's not necessarily always going to be in the deep end where he might get exposed, so he's always a round

the line of scrimmage. They have a big nickel package for him, so they're definitely highlighting his his qualities out there. But I'm assure you that the money is going to be at the front of his mind going into this free agency. But like I said, the grass is not always greener. Make sure you make the right decision. The young man is able to place down the box a little bit. He's a badd It was that big. It's like six four. It's a big dude. Man. He runs it.

He runs well. Daddy was big. Yeah, that's so he comes from come from good style. I had no idea that Pops yeah, the Freak. Yes, oh man, I wanted those dudes athletic as all get out. Yes, yes, no, no, man, that's that's that's I had no idea that was his pop. That's just how old we are. Now. Many guys we saw play their kids was playing with the Freak on Madden like that was that guy? Look, Patrick's certain, you know, yeah, the child's out here playing. So this is this is

as Now, this is crazy. This is where you're at here. So I'll let me pull up here for Curse if I can. Where's Boom one year nine before taxes, that's before jay Ron curse man, So what a quality? Grab him? And I would I would, I would say all those you know, one year guys that they brought in have been such quality. You got Neo coming in here, Kaz Hookers is Compunica or it's out there contributing as well.

So I think all these dealings that goes off to will McClay those boys for friends and so one point one million this year, well the signing motives of one hundred and thirty seven thousand Curse for Curse. He's unrestricted next year. So he's twenty seven years old. He's still young. So so this is what I look here and saying, this is a guy you got it, you've got to bring back. Oh, by the way, another guy that you've got to bring back is Randy Gregory. Oh my gosh.

Talk about a destructive different force maker, difference make Jimmy Johnson's called difference makers. And imagine when we get d law back on the other side, how are you how are you going to block that offensively? You slide it one way. The other guy got a one on one, you slide it to that way. He got a one on one on that side. It's like pick your poison. We're talking about offensively picking your poison defensively if we're able to and that's a big thing I think that

we were able to do last night. We were only eight. We were able to just rush four defensive lineman and get home and get pressure on Kirk Cousins. And that allowed our linebackers, our safeties to be out in courage and help out on need the dynamic duo they had on the outside. But it just goes to show you how much of a freak athlete, in a freak presence Gregory can be out there off of that edge. I mean he was going through double teams like a hot

night through butter. And when we get those guys back Neville Gallimore d law on that outside Brynt Urban, Brynton Urban. I mean it's we're getting we're getting healthy at the right time to make a run here in neuis. These guys might have something special on them. Okay, So let's spend our last ten minutes going back toward the offense. One injury to think about and one player who's going to come back, and how much of a role should

that player have. Barry Church Newy scrugs. This is players Lunch prod you by Hotels dot com, h Dallas Cowboys dot com. Radio organic pumpkin smoothies are back at 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 popped with a whopping twenty three grams of

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abot to you by Hotels dot com. Barry Church from Dallas Cowboys Safety number forty two, the original and Danny mccraig. He is our other co host four Dallas Cowboys free agent safety Danny's flight delayed in Los Angeles, as many flights are being delayed Cowboy fans in Minnesota. I hope you're able to get get on home today. I was listening to some guy who was trying to fly fly standby and he was trying to get home to Atlanta. Said he woudn't get home to Atlanta un till six pm.

You hate to see it. I mean they are got. I mean this airline thing, man, it's got folks flying all over the country and some flights now I'm scared. Nah, I'll just say this. If you're gonna book something, try to get on the first ones you can, because the later ones in the day got a chance to be miss delayed or whatnot. So I got I got up at four forty five. My man to give us up at the before dawn. He was up before we're done.

It was that cold. Minnesota's cold. I know he was cold that morning, but I needed to get on the plane. Wanted to get back here and do the show. Friday man appreciated Cowboys win twenty to sixteen. They are six in one. They face the Denver Broncos on Sunday at Jerry World. Broncos traded Vaughan and Millard today. He's now a member of the Los Angeles Rams. Rams going all in, baby, they got they they're trying to win. I mean they went and got Stafford. Now I got von Miller to

go with. You know, Leonard Floyd and Aaron Donald out there, Jalen Ramsey in the back end. So they're doing all they can to get this this this Super Bowl run accomplish. It'd be a disappointment if they didn't get too far. So more kind of things that do concern the Cowboys. So Denver, that's that's coming up on Sunday, that's a twelve o'clock game at Jerry World. Jameis Winston is out for the season. That's what head coach Sean Payton announced today.

Acl Cowboys face New Orleans in a month. That's gonna be a Thursday night, December second game on NFL Network at seven. Want to get the Superdome. So type of things starting when you when you're making not Super Bowl run, you know, you get a dash of luck here, a couple of injuries here, a trade there. It's starting to work out. We're getting healthy at the right time. I don't know. Movie So Denvers four and four they ended

up winning. Yesterday they ended up pulling it out Bridgewater, Denver, Denver. So the next two games or our home games, it's Denver then Atlanta. I think I see those as two doubs, well even without you know, for if they want to rest for a little bit more. So, yes, does does Dak practice Scott played this weekend? We'll see does Tyrant Smith play this weekend against Denver? The second straight game

where Tyrant went out. We spoke about it on the show that while Collins is not starting, do not think that this is all just settled. So as Smith went out in the game, tying Seki, which surprised me, went to left tackle and there were issues. Yeah, there were definitely issues over there. They worked on him a little, but that's the same thing that happened two weeks ago when he came in New England. When Tid Smith went out a little bit, you know, they start to realize

who he is. That's the week spot they're gonna go at him. So I would not be surprised going forward if us just say next week Tyren Smith has to take out a week you know, ankle injury didn't heal up as good as he thought it would be, so he's gonna miss one more week. I would not be surprised if they slid either Likeell Collins, who's a natural left so that i'd be you know, easier for him on that left side, or Terrence Steel over there and

put Collins on the right side. Either or I think they have a good matchup with those tackles on that outside, because if we know beforehand, if thy Smith would have went down, it would be just like losing Dak Prescott. But oh, here we go. I mean it's gonna happen next. We're just gonna get the floodgates are just gonna open. But with a surprising play of Terren Steel out there, and hopefully, you know, collins conditioning is good and he can go back out there and get those quality reps

this week. I might. I don't see this as that big of an issue as it has been in years past, So depending on how they practice their reps this week, I would have imagine be Terrance still going to left tackle and Colin's it right to prepare if Tyrant Smith doesn't play. When I was doing my broadcast after the game in Minnesota, I was watching guys come out. Smith walked out without a boot, so he was limping, but he walked out and didn't have it have a boot

on or anything. Digs also was dealing with an ankle injury. He was fine, ended up saying that he was he was cool after the game. So that's something to think about. Michael Gallup may be ready to go against Denver this week. What role do you see him havn't because it's not like, like said Wilson, you know, it's not like he's just a gadget guy, like he's just a guy that comes in and does reverses and trick passes or nothing like That's he's elevated his game to the point where he

is a solid number three on this team. I mean, we saw what he was able to do versus that cover two or that two man, split the gate, go up the gut. I love Gallup as a receiver, but I don't know if he has that gas to be able to get into the end zone on that play. Now, it's gonna be interesting to see what they do with this situation, because said Wilson, to me, has played some of the best ball of his young career so far. And it's just not a It hasn't just been gadgets,

all right. This guy's made some spectacular plays. We go back two weeks ago that fourth and fourth he saved the game against the Patriots with an unbelievable catch out there. So this guy can do many things for this Dallas Cowboys offense. And to be honest, I feel like he's a better run after the catch guy than Gallup is. Gallup may have him on the deep ball situation, but other than that, I see these two is very similar, and said Wilson, just being a better run after the

catch type of guy. So to me, I don't, I don't. I wouldn't just throw Gallop in there, like all right, you're you're you're a bona fide guy, said Wilson. You take a seat number four. I would slowly get him in there, like how they didn't know Ah Brown and how they had him in there, you know, on the couple interances. I would slowly get Gallop in there and ingretiate himself and then you know, if he gets it going, then he gets it going. But I wouldn't force things.

I wouldn't force things like they did with the Lyle situation. They didn't force Lyo back in there because ter still was playing some great ball. Same thing with said Wilson. I wouldn't just force it in there to try to throw off the functionary or nothing like that. Gallops a hell of a player. I'm sure he'll get his reps and get his balls thrown to him during the season, But right now, I think you work come in slowly.

Michael Gallop is a guy we all like. Yeah, both guys are going to be free agents, and I've heard some people say, well pay twelve pay Michael Gallop twelve million dollars and some people say, let Cooper go. I definitely wouldn't go with the second one. But if you don't understand what Amari Cooper brings professionally in leadership, then I'm sorry you don't truly understand how locker rooms were

now not at all. There's a lot of substance to what Amari Cooper brings, and you pay the twenty million dollars next year, in my opinion, I would. I think he's definitely worth it. And if you're choosing between Wilson and Gallop, think on your surface, you said out it's a better player. But this isn't so much about the better players as much as you're talking about what fit and money you have. There's there's definitely there's a lot

of contexts that goes into that. There is. And if Gallup is looking for a contract where he wants ten, twelve, thirteen, fourteen million dollars, which is you know, that's fine. I think he'll get that too somewhere, then it's not going to be with it when you can bring said Wilson back for a substantially lower amount of money and the play wouldn't be that much of a drop I mean, I'd say it's more of a you know, Gallup may

have him by maybe a couple of points here. Let's just say Gallups of nine and which I'm not saying he's at nine out of ten receiver, but let's just say he's at nine, and then said Wilson might be you know, seven and a half eight. It's not that far over a drop off. A lot of times it's complimentary. How do you compliment the offense? And then at the same time, where you're talking about a salary cap where issues are definitely there, you have to find a complimentary

salary to go with that. So ultimately it means you let good players go. Yeah, and they look, if you save money on Gallup, you can put that towards a lot of the defensive guys or one year contracts right now and there and the book. A couple of those guys like we mentioned Curse Kaz Hooker, Neil they've been playing well. Randy Gregory. Randy Gregory at the worst, he's gonna get franchise. So you've got so Michael Gallup almost becomes a luxury that you may not be able to

make fit long term. When you're talking about the money. And if you're Michael Gallup, you're not gonna try and sit around here to take a hometown discut. You gotta go get the bag the first deal. You gotta. You gotta gill you can't. You gotta strike byle The iron's hot. He's played good, so he'll deserve a nice pay day. We'll dive more into that. Said Wilson. Three catches eighty

four yards in a touchdown. Congratulations to him. Fantastic job by Mike McCarthy, the head coach, because he continually talks about how you hey, he takes everybody. Yeah, he's right. And you just saw last night in Minnesota another where you see young guys playing. You see where people are asked to come in here and fill some roles and they did it. So, Michael, I love what Mike McCarthy's doing as far as letting his coaches do their job.

I mean, he doesn't seem like and I could be wrong, but he doesn't seem like a coach that's overbearing saying, oh, you know, this is not the way I want my offense run. It's my way or the highway. He seems to let Kelly Moore do his thing, let Dan Quinn do his thing, and he might not get a lot of credit, but if they keep winning the way they are, it's gonna fall to him. Eventually at the end of the day, they'll say you're you know, you're the head coach and it's gonna be your team and you get

the way, lass record and everything else. All right, Barry church Man, good stuff. We'll get back after tomorrow. A big shout out to Will and Alex helping make sure we get on the airs. People are trying to your Dallas Cowboys crews trying to get back who didn't fly on the charter, just finding on American trying to get back here. Good luck and we'll cha have everybody tomorrow. I'm knew we scrugs. Thank you so much for check

out the players lives. We'll do it tomorrow twelve thirty pm Central Time right here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.