Player's Lounge: Taking it Personal in Seattle?

opportunity leave. His wife gave birth to a beautiful daughter, so he needs to be spending time wilking acclimating himself into the girl club. There, Dan, Danny, we love you, but stay away the rest of the week and will make maybe chat with your on Monday. So Church, you and I running this thing here Seattle this week. No twelfth man. I can't tell you how big that is that there will be no crowd in Seattle because of the COVID nineteen. And how this isn't a possible advantage

for the Cowboys. I say it possible because their first game of the year was against another NFC West opponent in Los Angeles against the Rams. No crowd there. Cowboys lost by three. But you've played there before. You tell our Cowboy fans here how tough that atmosphere is with

their crowd, which they call the twelfth Man. Look, I've played up there multiple times in Seattle, and I'm telling you that twelfth Man, that that crowd noise that comes with that stadium, it's real and it's a real advantage for Seattle. I mean, when you're going in there, they're already a good team to begin with. So when you go into Seattle, you first you pull in, you're coming

through the city. You know, you got Russell Wilson jerseys all over the city, got people, get fans yelling and screaming, So the atmosphere is already hyped up pulling into Seattle. Then you go through the tunnels and you get to the locker room, and when you come out on the field. Their stadium is built kind of like it's very vertical.

So when you come out onto the field, it feels like the fans and everybody, even the people that are way up in the nosebleed seats, it feels like they're just sitting right on top of you and it no matter where you go, you just hear this sound. It's hummed, this vibration, just this kind of electric coming from that stands and that twelfth man. So once Seattle gets it going, and once they start rolling and Russell Wilson's cooking up as he usually does, I mean that that fan base

gets loud, and it gets loud in a hurry. So I say it's an advantage. It's advantage for the for Seattle, but not having fans could be an advantage for Dallas. I mean, when you're going out there, you don't have to worry about that twelfth man screaming all over the place. You can get into your cadence. You can try to get into your hard account and try to gain a few yards by bringing one of them off sides, or you can go through your communication with your receivers or

you're running back and vice versa. The defense can go through their communication with the secondary and the linebackers in the D line when there's not that amazing crowd and know what's going on. So the Cowboys, you know, they got kind of lucky going up to Seattle this time with no fans, and hopefully they can take advantage of it. So Church, give me your top three venues to play in where the crowd was really a factor. Top three venues, I'm gonna have to say in no particular order. Um,

Seattle's definitely up there. I mean I just explained how they how they're kind of on top of you with that, with that vertical stadium. Um, I gotta go with Philly as well. Philly, it's just the nastiness just when you go in there, just fans just saying all types of stuff and just I mean it's it's just a real gritty rivalry. So the so that stadium right there, just the fans just kind of they can overwhelm you if

you're getting beat down by Philly over there. And lastly, I gotta say it's not as big as known as you know, Seattle or Philly. But Tennessee. I mean I played in there a couple of times when I was in Jacksonville, and that was a big rivalry in that AFC South. So the fans from Tennessee get really hyped when when they go against Jacksonville. And when I was there, Unfortunately, you know, Tennessee kind of had a strangle hold on us in that division. So their fans were really hyped

every time we went up there. But those three stadiums to me, I mean, the fans definitely a play a role in the game, all right. So this is a Seattle team that is rolling on offense. We've talked about that. But from a defensive standpoint, Danny, they're not I mean, Dan, Barry, they're not real good. And this is where I would love to get Danny's opinion, because you know, Danny's always that contrarian. You know, he's the contrarian of the show. You know, if we see he comes out and he

got to go say that. So so I'm when the role he's out to you, all right, Barry, So you just give me your thoughts on this. Seattle's defense is allowing a league high five hundred and eighty five yards, all right. They are giving up the most explosive plays in the National Football League with forty seven. They define explosive plays by ten yards or more. The Cowboys lead

the NFL with forty one explosive plays. Now, I would expect Danny to just poop poo on this, But right now, when I see this, when I see these numbers, I say to myself, Okay, you had Matt ryanthrow for four hundred yards on them. Now they were behind, but still they gave it up. And then you had Cam Newton. Cam Newton is not known for four hundred yard days. He had three ninety eight, so he had almost four

hundred yards of passing here. So if I'm the Cowboys offense, despite how dreadful they were against Atlanta in that first quarter, I look at this matchup and say, Okay, we could do something. If we don't shoot ourselves in the foot, they can put up points on this group. Yeah, I mean, like Danny would say, you know, he would poop pooh all over that talk about garbage yards and all different types of stuff. But yeah, I agree with you. I agree with you, knew we I mean, this defense can

be taken advantage of. We're seeing what um Atlanta with the Atlanta Falcons were able to do in that Week one matchup. Granted they were down and you know, Seahawks might have been playing a little pre event there, but they were still getting being up those huge explosive plays. And then to your point last week against Cam Newton, Now this is a guy who's who's never gonna be mistaken for Pat Mahomes when it comes to being able

to throw the ball over the yard. But um, he went out there and I think he threw for what like three hundred and some three forty something like that and a couple of touchdowns, had eight exactly three ninety eight against this Seattle defense, who we all know they're not the legion of Boom, but we didn't think they were going to come into the season like this, and um,

Cam Newton was able to pick him apart. I mean, and it's not like, you know, Cam Newton's out there with Randy Moss, Jerry Bryce and somebody else at the slot. He went out there with I think the Marius Bird, Um, Nikel Harry beat up Julian Edelman, um. And you know, he had a couple of guys that tight in. But he was able to go out there and throw for

almost four hundred yards. So with that, you know, with that skill set and with that group of receivers that he had, and he was able to do that, I can only imagine, you know, the ceiling for Dak Prescott and these boys has got to be high, because, in my opinion, Dak Prescott is a much better thrower of the football than Cam Newton. So, and he has a much better, you know, a much better core of receivers

with you know, was it Michael Gallup? You know Cooper and then you got the young rookie over there, Ceedee Lamb. So I think, like the weapons for Dak Prescott are way better than Cam Newton had, and he was able to do that. So I don't see why this offense

can't produce high, high numbers against this defense. If that offensive line is able to hold up against against Seattle's I, like many many people in the media, you spend so much time covering the team you're covered, you focus on them that you don't really look wide across the league and look at what everyone else has and get that

wide view. So when I started looking at the game notes and looking into the numbers here Church, I'm sitting here myself saying, wait a minute, Okay, this Cowboys offense better than I'm thinking. Also, the Seattle defense, while they're two and oh, they definitely have some wards. Here here's some more Seattle number six point eight yards. The Seattle d is giving up six point eight yards per attempt

on first down. That's twenty seventh in the NFL, and on the flip side, the Cowboy offense is averaging six point six yards on first down seventh in the NFL. We spoke about trying to make sure you gain time of possession, and we talked about running Ezekie Elliott. If the Cowboys can win first down, that's your better opportunity to convert third downs and also move the football to

keep your defense off the field. So knowing that this is a kind of yardage they're giving up on first down, six point eight, Barry, if you're a coordinator, do you attack them more with the run or the past? How do you go about trying to you know, get these yards on first down? To me? And it falls right into the lapse of Ezekiel Elliott. I mean, yeah, they're getting you know, they're giving up all these passing yards. But I still feel like the engine of this offense

is Zeki Elliott. And if they're giving up six point eight yards on first down, I mean, if we're able to get that run going, and even if we're only averaging four four and a half yards to carry, that makes third down so much more manageable and so much

easier to call. I mean, you got when it's third and five or third and four, you're eight, you got your whole playbook in front of you, versus whether it's third and ten and to third to fifteen, you gotta pretty much condense it and say, ah, I won't do We'll play the field position battle. But if they're able to do that, if they're able to get Zeke going and he's averaging four to five yards a pop, I mean,

it's basically pick your poison out there. Do you get do we get hit with Zeke for five on first down? Or do we get hit with CD Gallop, Shoultz, you know, Cooper out there for five. I mean it's it's basically pick your poison. So I feel like we have to develop this run. We have to first down, let them go, set the tone to a we're coming down your throat with Ezekiel Elliott, and then after that we should be able to pick our poison. But to me, it all

starts with the run game. I'm gonna stay with the run game, but I'm going to switch it a little bit more and say, if they're giving up that kind of yardage, what about some screen passes to Zeke. I mean, I'm thinking to myself. All right, yeah, I can run it, but also mixing some I mean, I don't think that Jason Garrett got enough out of Ezekie Elliott the pass game during his tenure. I would love to see them do that. M Seattle did that with Chris Carson, especially

in the Atlanta game, ended up with two touchdowns. But I just think that this is a real good opportunity trying to spread the Seahawks defense out. Okay, spread their defense out, and let's figure out a way get Zeke the ball. And if you're running some basically some wires you know, receiving from running back screens and some bubbles, get this guy out here. And also we know they got some good linebackers and Bobby Wagner and kJ right, but test them. Test these guys. Put Zeke out here

on the wheel route. Let's see if they can sit up here and go with them. I mean, look, kJ right, good, Bobby, Bobby, one of them. You talk about a guy putting together a whole of fame, resume fun, he's phenomenal. Let me test my guy against your guy, because I got a feeling Ezekiel Elliott is gonna be able to win his fair share of battles here. I really would love to see them get Zeke involved in that passing game on first down and also mix in and some runs. But

they got to vary it here. You know, you can't just do the same old things that Seattle deep and self clue and ain't know on that. So that's what I'm thinking that I'm hoping that you see some of that on first downs here for the Cowboys. Yeah, you can't go out there and just basically telegraph everything you're about to do. I think I think you have a good point in there by saying, you know, you you mix up a little bit of a bubble screens, you

mix up a little bit of screens. But Ezekiel Elliott, because that's that's a great formula to have, and I feel like that's what the formula we had back in twenty fourteen when we went against those guys. And also I think that's the formula they had when they won that playoff game. I believe it was twenty seventeen or maybe eighteen, when the Cowboys play Seattle in the wildcard and had won that playoff game. That was a similar

formula they had. They ran the ball well, they were able to get the ball to multiple receivers, and then they had a lateral game as well. They weren't all just throwing shots down the middle of the field in big time vertical passing game. They had some lateral game to them, and it kind of kept that that Seattle defense off balance. It's similar to what the Rams did to us in the first game. I mean they kept

us off balance. They threw they threw bubble screens, they threw you know, quick hitters and three step drops, and it kept us extremely off balance and it didn't let us use our aggressiveness against them. So I agree with you. I think we need to keep them off balance, and I think our best bet is with the run and also trickling some players here and there to keep them off balance. But we got to do whatever we can keep this defense off the field. You spoke about the

playoff game. That was January fifth, twenty nineteen. It was a twenty four card win with Dak Prescott quarterback in the Cowboys against Russell Wilson. Now, the last time the Cowboys played up in Seattle, they lost twenty four to thirteen. That was September twenty third of twenty eighteen, Dallas, four

and five all time Church up here in Seattle. So I'm writing as I'm writing the notes down and I'm saying, oh, Camp, feeling a little bit better than I did coming out of the Atlantic and thinking about Seattle and just thinking, my gosh, you know, here, Seattle's was rust clearly a MVP candidate right now. Maybe this team is better than you know, you know, could be playing with Super Bowl. But I start looking at the defense, I say, they've really got some of the same issues that the Cowboys have.

Their defense is not where it needs to be, and you gotta get that fixed. Bruce Irvin, one of their defensive ends, out for the year, and Vincent Mayo he may not play. He's on the injury list, so it's another win over the d lineman. He's on the injury list, so we'll see exactly where he is right now. The leading sack master on the team is Jamal Adams, the safety. So up front, Seattle's having their own issues. I went

back and started looking at the run numbers here. So when you talk about total defense in rush defense, Seattle is second in the league, but when it comes to pass defense, they're dead last at thirty two, given up four hundred fifteen yards in the air. So I'm feeling better and I think Cowboy fans should feel a little bit better. On the flip side, We're gonna take a break when we come back. Let's look at some of

the defensive issues for the Cowboys with injuries. And Mike McCarthy said something today about the Cowboy defense which surprised me. And a little bit of pushback from Cowboy defenders and what Mike Nolan is doing right now after two games, got a lot to dive into on the players. Laves brought to you by Hotels dot com. Now we scrugs, he's buried church. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radium. Hey, they're Cowboys fans with Type Cleaners at home pickup and delivery.

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the Cowboys game next? WEE can make sure you know before you go, wear a mask, keep distance, and be prepared for cashless transactions. Please be aware of all safe stadium policies prior to arriving at AT and T Stadium. Visit Dallas Cowboys dot com slash safe Stadium for details. You're in the Players Lounge, brought to you by Hotels dot Com unew It Scrukes, longtime Cowboys reporter, joined by former Dallas Cowboys safety Buried Church. We are in our

SWBC Mortgage Virtual Home Studios. Our other running buddy, Danny McCrae, is out. Danny's wife had a beautiful baby this week, so they are enjoying their first child and making all those new adaptions to life, because life will never be the same as you well know Burried Church Girl, Dub Claub as well, the Girl Dad Club as well. It's just it's just different. You know, they're gonna go home and they're bringing someone in. You know, this is bringing

someone in the house. Um, let me ask, did you have a dog when you brought home your your first baby? Did you have a dog? Oh? Yeah, we had a Yeah, we had a chocolate lab named Cocoa when we had brought our kid back. How did the dog? How did Coco adapt to the baby we had brought back? So first we brought back, like I had came back from the hospital with a blanket that our baby was Jordan was was wrapped in and let her smell it and

all that stuff. And then when we came in. She's a real kind of calm, kind of chill dog to begin with, So she just came in, smelled him a couple of times, licked them. There was something like nervous. She chewed on her paws a little bit from the first couple a couple of days, But after that, I mean she just kind of kind of kind of got along with them. And then after a while he started feeding her foods off his plate. You know how babies are when you're eating her all messy, throwing food all

over the place. So she loved them for that. And ever since then, man, they've been best friends. Yeah. I'll always remember we brought our kid home and there our dog Macy, and she's just sniffing the baby, putting the bathroom and became the you know, the the guardian became the guardian. So if my wife was out walking the dog and somebody got near the baby and my wife, that dog with growl. She would growl because you know, she was a girl dog. It was just very protective.

So that that was kind of cool. So, um, I'm happy for the mccraze. So it's a great yeah. Yeah, And uh, we don't want to see him back on the shoulders week church in my boyhood and and and we can handle this business hand. So let's sto. Let's let's jump into the defense here. Um, we give you up the latest on injuries. Uh, Trevon Diggs dealing with the shoulder. Was that the open, open portion of practice? Um? And then we'll find out later on if he went

through full practice. Thank Lawrence. UM, just checking out my notes right here. He was on the field for the open portion. He's dealing with the knee, so we'll see exactly, you know, if he gets a full participant in practice later on to day when the practice report comes out. And then just his ability. So you've got those two things the Cowboys are dealing with. Oh, by the way, Cheeto Wuzier case anybody didn't know, was ruled out of

multiple weeks by Mike McCarthy yesterday. He's dealing with a hamstring. And here's what I found pretty interesting for the Mike McCarthy press conference today Church and that's where Mike says that they needed to simplify the defense, and he said, quote cut the volume back, meaning Mike Nolan's got too much in his defense that these guys are not processing. Two weeks in and they're finally talking about it. And

I give Danny mccraig credit. He said this was the issue a couple of years ago when Rob Ryan came in and tried to put in all these complexities of his defense and it wasn't good. Mike Nolan didn't have OTAs, he didn't have a mini camp, he didn't have a full training camp. To put in his defense. And right now we're seeing dudes think there's too much in the playbook your thoughts. Yeah, I gotta give credit to Danny on this one. Man, he was right the right on

the button with this one. And it was a couple of weeks back. I mean, when you don't have OTAs and when you don't have mini camp and your training camp is abbreviated with no you know, preseason games, it gets kind of hard, especially with a whole new defensive system coming in, with new terminology. We were throwing it back and forth if we didn't know they were gonna

go three four or four to three. You had a couple of guys switching positions out there, So it can be hard, and especially with a defense like Mike Nolan's who is pretty complex with it. So um, I mean, and you gotta you gotta listen to your players. I mean, because those are the guys that are on the field.

So if the players are saying, hey, we need to dial it back a little bit, we need to get the terminology down a little bit so we can get a better understanding, I think that'll pay off dividends, because if you're a defensive player, and you're going out on that field and you're thinking too much. If you're if you're on the field saying, man, do I gotta I got three vertical? Or do I gotta push through the flat on this one? Or man, is it my turn

of bliss? You're gonna play extremely slow out there, and it's been looking that way with this cowboy defense the first couple of weeks. So if they're able to dial it down a little bit, allow your players to play fast without even thinking, just knowing, Bam, I got this, or Bam, I gotta lock this guy up, or I gotta hit this run gap, then it'll allow those players to just use their talents instead of just thinking about it too much and slowing them down. They'll use their talents.

They'll go out there and they'll play a lot faster, and I promise you you'll have a better result if that's the case. So I agree with Jalen and those boys if it's if it's too much the coordinator by knowling in this instance, he gotta listen to his players because they're the ones that are on the field getting the work done. So he got to dial it back. You can't just go out there and have your players thinking way too much because they'll play slow and they'll

play will be affected. Everson Griffin told the media that he's a three point stance guy. We've seen the Cowboys trying to mix in some three four principles versus the

four to three. Lawrence's best years have come with his hand in the dirt, same with Everson Griffin, and so apparently the conversations have been, do you try and just go back to that four to three, do what your guys do best instead of you trying to fit your scheme them, you know them, fit your skin, maybe you figure of what they do because right now you start looking at the stats here, the Cowboys have two sacks and seven quarterback hits and they've got just fourteen quarterback pressures,

which is tied for twentieth in the NFL. They're not where they need to be. And if you can't get to Matt Ryan, but just one time, good luck dealing with Russell Wood, because he's a whole different animal. And they only got to Jared Golf of the Rams one time. And we saw both of those quarterbacks, by the way, use their ability on third downs with their legs to pick them up, So yeah, yeah, there's some issues here man. Oh yeah. I mean, and look, they need to do

whatever they need possible to generate a rush. I don't care if they got to stand on their hands and do backflips to get to the quarterback. Whatever they got to do. They got to figure out some to generate some type of pass for us because we just haven't been seeing it lately. And if it takes going back to what they're comfortable with in the three point stands, which I always thought that was confusing for a defensive

lineman in a stand up position. I mean, if you're in the three four, I can understand that because you're half of the time you're buzzing out to the flat, so you got to kind of be up right. But if you're in the four three and you're a defensive end handing the dirt man, because you're starting off low, your get off is already low and that gives you an advantage over that the offensive lineman. So if they got to do that to get that whatever they need to do to get back to getting that pass for

us going, they have to get it done. If that's three point stands, then let it be three point stands whatever they're comfortable with, to just get after the quarterback. Man, that's the only thing I need this defensive line to do. When you say get after the quarterback. And I'm thinking of your Jacksonville teams that you played one or you

guys ruled the sacks there. When you face someone like Russell Wilson, is it the same type of mentality about sacks or is it more about trying to contain because you know he can such a weapon. How do you view sacks when you face a guy like this, Oh, without a doubt, it's gonna be contained. He's not like a statue back there. He's not a Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or Ben Roethlisberger guys that are just kind of statue guys back there. This guy can move and

he can move the pocket. And if you're going out there thinking, oh I can take this inside release, give up, contain because I'll be able to chase him down. And that's called hero ball and I don't get you beat. So if you're if you're a defensive lineman in this situation, I know I say get after the quarterback, that you

gotta do it smartly. If you're a defensive end, and you have contained get as much pass rush as you can while still keeping that leverage outside because once he gets outside, once he uses that patent it spin out technique that he uses and gets out of the pocket, all bets are offed in. I mean the way this offense works with locket with metcalf, I mean they can go deep shots at I mean, it's just you just can't do it. So you have to kick this guy contained make him play from the pocket. I know he

can do that. He's a good enough quarterback to be able to play from the pocket. But if you can dish that pocket, do not give him run lanes. I think you'll have a better shot at defending Russell Wilson and just getting your hands up. I mean, this guy isn't you know a six five six eight quarterback or six five six six quarterback back there. He's not um, you know Tom bradyer or Matt Ryan back there. He's a he's a shorter guy, he's a he's a breeze

type guy. So if you can get that front push and you can keep containing your front interior part of your defensive line can get that push, make it hard for him to see over. I think you have pretty much you'll have some success against him, but you gotta keep him contained. All right, Let's step back here into the offense. Amari Cooper, who had a hundred yard game against Atlanta, said that going into that game he had

foot issues. He had an issue with it, and he says he's fine, And what he did say was quote wasn't at full speed against Atlanta. So he says he's ready to go full speed against the Seattle Seahawks. And to me, when you look at the fact that Seattle's dead last in passing, if Amari Cooper could get one hundred yard last week and he wasn't ready to go, you gotta you have to feel good if we take him at his word that he's ready to go here.

Because if he is better than he was last week and we saw Ceede Lamb get a hundred, I gotta believe this will be the Michael Gallup breakout game because Seattle can't. I mean, somebody's gonna get some one on one here and this might be that week for Michael Gallup. And if you've got your fantasy team and you've had Gallup there and you've been waiting and waiting, waiting, this might be it, This might be that week for guy.

I'm calling it right now. Michael is the receipt. Michael Gallup is the guy with the big plays this week. He's the guy you're gonna look at and say, okay, okay, I mean, if you're gonna have anybody match Tyler Lockett, because Tyler can you know, he can make some explosive plays in his number four Cowboys past two times he played is really good. It's got to be Gallop in my opinion, take advantage of the one on one matchup because I also believe that Pete Carroll's and Ken Norton

gona dial up some bullets. They're gonna try and get after that with this offensive line. So I think Gallup can be that guy that when they got to cut a couple of hot routes out here look for thirteen Your thoughts, Yeah, I think, you know, for me, Gallup could be that guy because I'm sure Cooper's gonna get a lot of attention. But first let me talk about Cooper.

Hopefully you know it was you know, it was just a foot issue, and he's able to get over that and he's not reverting back to that last year where he was, you know, a missing person for away games. Because we need this guy to show up immensely for this game. So hopefully he doesn't, you know, pull this missing guy routine when he goes to away games. But you could be right about this Gallup situation. Seeing as though Pete Curls gonna dial up a lot of blitzes.

With this patchwork offensive line that we have going on here, this could be a great situation for Gallup, who's great at winning those fifty fifty jump type balls. If we could throw up a couple of those to him and get in I'm sure he won't be going against their top corner who I think I believe it's Shaquill Griffith. He shouldn't be going against him, So he should have a pretty good opportunity against Dumbar over there for those

fifty fifty balls. But for me, I think this is going to be another game where Ceedee Lamb takes that next step. I mean we saw last week where or the first week where he had a couple of catches but they limited they limited his yards after the catch against the Rams, I mean, he was getting tossed around here as soon as he caught the ball. The very next week in Atlanta, you saw a tick in a tick up in that yards after catch Ram and he

was able to make asthmus. He was able to kick some yards after those catch, and I think this third week is a week for CD to do that as well. I mean, you have those two corners on the outside

and on the interior we saw. I mean Jamal Adams he's in on that interior coverage as well, and he's not the best cover safety there is, so when it comes to interior coverage, I think CD Lamb can take advantage of this and I think he'll be able to get a lot of more yards after the catch and hopefully this Cowboys offense can roll up the numbers against the Seattle defense. All right, let me defend Amari Cooper because you go back, let's look at the first game

of the year, road game against the La Rams. Ten catches, eighty one yards. Yeah, I get it. He you know, he had his receptions, but I feel like there was no impact there. I mean it was I feel like it was it was ten maybe ten hitches he caught out there for eight yards if I mean, it was no real impact like we saw against Atlanta when he had that fifty some yard in the middle of the field,

or when he had those big time catches. So my first game, I'll give it to he played a little bit better than he did in years past in away games. But I just need that impact that he has in home games in away games as well. I need him to be that complete receiver. Okay, so last week six catches, one hundred yards, so four less catches, but yeah, twenty one more yards, so so I mean nineteen more yards. So to me, the performances are basically a little even now.

I didn't dive into you know, how many of those balls were moving the sticks, you know, and and I don't know how explosed to the plays were. But I don't feel like Amari Cooper these first two games is a problem. I think they're fun. Is he DK Metcalf? No? No, DK Metcalf is playing really well. He's playing back. But right now, there're not many receivers who are connected with their quarterback like that. But I don't have any issues with him. Look, he's earnings one hundred million dollars. He's

earning his one hundred million dollars. When I look at the other one hundred million dollars guy on the team right now, Tank Lords he's earning his one hundred million dollars. Tank has not had a full sack since Week eight of last year. That's not going Yeah, that's that's full sack. Man. This is not what you paid for when you accept that bag. And this is where Danny's not around here, because Danny always wanted to argue with me about this. When you take the bag, I geed you to put

up the numbers. That's it. That's the name of the game guy, right Tank's not been Aaron Donald asked for the bag. They gave Aaron Donald the bag. And what we see week one, look and look what he did. He was he was throwing Zeke into that, he was throwing Zach Martin all over the place. He was that

guy creating pressure. And like I said a couple of weeks ago, for this defense to be the defense we think it's gonna be, it's gonna have to rely on that front and that defensive line, and we can't have as much as I like what Alden Smith has been doing these first couple of weeks. If this defense wants to be the top Nach defensive can be. We can't have Alden Smith being its premium pass rusher. We can't have that being the top pass rusher. We need the

Marcus Lawrence to twenty one million dollars man. We need just got to generate some pass rush, whether it's you know, quarterback hurries, quarterback hits, you know, splash plays. We need something from him in order for this defense to reach the heights. It needs to. At the end of the day, when you take that kind of money, you just steak. Alden Smith is the mac and cheese. The mac and cheese can't be the overpowered part of the dinner. You want the steak to be the main attraction. And that's

what take Hash to do. Your best players have to show up, and the Cowboys need him to do it. I know he's dealing with a knee injury. I don't even know if he'll play yet. I mean, that's still to be determined. Babe Lofelberg was watching the film. Babe Lotheenberg and the Cowboys Radio Network said the tank was out there on one leg and probably should have been pulled. So I don't know the extent of the knee injury,

and if he's even gonna be there. But if he's not there and you have to go with Everson Griffin and Alden Smith, fine, so be it. But the message of what I'm saying in terms of Tank needing to deliver more, I said it all summer long, and I'm gonna keep saying it because it's fair. And I go back to Mary Cooper. You know you sat out there and you're like, well, nah, man, he's earning his part. He's doing his part, okay, especially when you think about

the offensive line problems. He's doing his part. You take this back. I need you do your part. Ezekiel Ellick all right, came the highest paid runner back in the league last year, has been surpassed. But he's doing his part. So when you want this cash, I need you to perform. Dak Prescott's earn at thirty one point four mila dollars

shoot through two games. Dak Prescott's doing his part. So when we're going down to listen, we're looking at guys, we need to also look at number ninety Tank launch because if the team is going to go where we want it to go, they need him there to do it. Got to take another break here, want to dive into Dak Prescott versus Russell Wilson. How does a guy? How do quarterbacks view matchups even though they're facing the defenses, but how do they view going up against another guy?

I want to get Church's thoughts on this because he was a safety and he dealt against those quarterbacks and dealt with these guys and just their emotional feelings as they go and face the other top players. We'll do that next right here on the players Los brot you by Hotels dot com since eighteen sixty five. Stetson hats are American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Want to show your Texas and team pride too? You

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tickets are on sale now. Get yours at Dallas Cowboys dot com slash tickets. All right, I'm knew, he scrugs, long time Cowboys reporter joined by Barry Church, long time cow former Cowboys safety with the team for a number of years before he got that huge contract going down to Jackson. Because while you can't exactly, you must you get paid while you can. Because I was looking at our friend Byron Jones, who left to become the highest paid quarterback in NFL history of Miami. Think that lasted

about two weeks, two weeks before Darry's flat. But he was hurt yesterday, he got hurt. Yes, I'm not yesterday he got hurt on there in the Dolphins last game and ended up leaving the field. I haven't checked to see what his status is, but to me, when I saw that, I said, man, that's why you go and get what you can now, because in this game, injuries are going to happen. There's a one hundred percent casualty rate in the NFL. Sooner or later you are gonna

get hurt. So you got to take the advantage of these opportunities while you can. And I know Bill Belichick for years has made made his deliving off getting guys to take less paid. But yeah, no to ring that bell for the dollars. Go ring that bell and get your take it and run, take it and run, because we know in the NFL, when the team is done with you, they'll cut you. Oh, without a question, all

day long, they cut you. Man, So without a second thought, you know he'll say, hey, he had ten less, ten less tackles, and he had the year before. He's over the age of thirty. It's time to go. That's why you gotta get your money as soon as you can. I don't care what anybody tells you. Talk about take less so the other team could get more players. Man, Look, the other players ain't paying your rent once you get

out of the league, or air paying your bills. So get all the money you can, get all the duckets you can, and don't look back. All right, Speaking of money, Doc Prescott us got a one year deal, so it's thirty one million dollars on the franchise tag. The Cowboys can't tag him next year, and if they do, to me, the pay will be thirty seven million dollars. He's facing

Russell Wilson on Sunday in Seattle. People don't talk about this enough in my opinion, but when the Cowboys went up against Sam the wild card game, Dak Prescott got his first and only victory as an NFL player against Russ and the Seahawks. It was a twenty four to twenty two game back in January twenty nineteen. So how do you think a quarterback like Dak Prescott weighs the opportunity to go up against Russell Wilson, who a lot of people right now are saying is the MVP of

the league after two weeks. I mean, without a question in my mind, I mean he's gonna treat it like any other player would against the opposing team's position that has the same as is. I mean, he's gonna take it personally. I mean all those matchups you think, you know, Tom Brady versus Peyton Manning, Brett Farr versus Steve Young, you think all those matchups, you know, they didn't really mean anything personally to them, you know, I think otherwise.

I think Dak Prescotts looking at this game like, hey, if I can go out there and I'll perform you know, Russell Wilson, people start clamoring me as you know, hey, maybe I got that MVP NAE coming my way. So for me, personally, I'm always looking at the other safeties. I'm always looking When I had to play against Seattle, let me see what camp. Let me try if if I can outperform Cam Chancellor or Earl Thomas, or if I'm playing against you know, somebody else who has a high,

high price safety. Let me see if he's all that. Let me see if I can outplay him. So I guarantee you quarterback position is no different. They go out there and they compare numbers to each other. They sit there and say, oh, this guy through thirty touchdowns this year and I through thirty one, I must be better. So, I, without a question, think the quarterback position is no different from any other positions. They're always comparing themselves to the

opposing team's position. So I think that takes his press personal and I think he's gonna get after Russell on this one. Players Lelenge brought to you by Hotels dot Com. Let me ask this question your former team that Jaguars are playing tonight on Thursday Night Football against the Miami Dolphins. DJ Chark is out for this football game with a chest injury, killing my fantasy team, So who wins. Look, I'm gonna be honest, man, I think Jacksonville pulls this

one out. After watching their first two games, they Garden missed they got something to him down there. I mean, we all know, you know, early in the season, everybody was saying how they're taking you know, they got rid of a lot of their players, and then they got rid of Fournette, and you know, we're taking to get Trevor Lawrence. But I mean, I gotta give kudos to mince you down there. I mean, he's sitting there saying nah.

He's been saying since the beginning of the season. Like like, no, we're not you know, we're not taking we're not giving anything up. We still believe in this season and we still believe in what we got. And he's been performing well these first two weeks. I mean the first game, I think he only missed one pass. So he's been doing great with what they have down there. They got

a lot of receivers out there. DJ Chart is one of their main ones, but he's out this week, and unfortunately, I mean for you, but fortunately for me, that kind of helps because I have the young rookie from Colorado as his uh as my replacement for him on my fantasy team. But overall, man, yeah, yes, yes, indeedy, So overall, I think the Jaguars pulled one out. Defensively, they're nowhere near what they were years ago, back in twenty seventeen,

but they still can put up a fight. And you know, I wouldn't be surprised if they, you know, railed off a couple and they might end up winning this AFC South, even though everybody looked at them thinking, oh, they're nothing, they're just a tank team. So I got Jacksonville and this one. Plus I don't see anything from Fitz Magic this week, Um maybe two, maybe two, we'll get an appearance, but we'll see. But overall got Jacksonville and this one

not so fast. Okay. I know Ryan Fitzpatrick is skittish. Okay, I know he's skittish, but skittish Thursday night, Yes, I say skittish. First week wasn't good, but last week he was a good fitback play Jackson Booker. This isn't the Steelers, Okay, not the Steelers, you know. So, So I'm just gonna sit here and say I think I'm looking for a close game tonight. And I give a lot of credit to Jay Gruten how he's developed Minshew here, but Chan

Gaily in the offense I thought improved last week. To me, I'm worried about the defensive side of football here for Miami. You know, how can these guys make make it uncomfortable for Minshew? Because the kids played well, He's got confidence here. But I just I think they're out both of their corners. They're out Xavian Howard, I believe and Byron Jones, Oh okay, my bad, go Jad you know, yeah, you'll believe in

that that fits magic. You don't think he's gonna pull some uh, some Harvard you know lessons out there, somebody. I think they'll be able to find you, especially what he was doing with his tight en j ziki last week. I think they'll be able to score. But if you're if you're you have two corners out against against this team, Jay Gruten's going to find a way to get it out there. I really believe Jay Gruten. I don't think Jake Gruten gets enough credit for how he took Kirk Cousins.

Remember now he bench Robert Griffin. Was like, look, this is not the guy. He convinced Daniel Snyder to bench Robert Griffin. They went with Kirk Cousins, and they won some games with Kirk Cousins, and Kirk Cousins got kaid. This was all Gruten's work. It's all Jay Gruten's work. I mean, he's taken some just dudes and been able to play well with him. And I'll tell you another thing that I don't believe people give Jay Gruten enough credit for. He had Sean McVay there. Sean was his

offensive coordinator before he got the Rams job. Jay understands football. He had Andy Dalton in Cincinnati. They were making the playoffs, Andy been a super Bowl. So when it comes to just working with quarterbacks in offensive plays, I think Jake Gruten's good. I think Jay doesn't run the football enough. That's been my problem with Jay. But here in Jacksonville under Doug Marone, we are seeing them running football with

that rookie who they said was a good player. They cut Leonard Fournette, and they're not missing Leonard Fournette at all. So I look at what they've done so far and I say a plus because I thought this Jacksonville team was going to be a straight dog this year. Yeah, you and me both, you know, And that was probably a little bit of me, just hayting. But I thought for sure they were going to be just dogs out there. They're gonna be in the in the Trevor Lawrence justin

fields running for the draft. But like I said, that was probably me just hayting. But this team, like you said, they haven't missed a step without releasing all those players, I mean, and most importantly Fournette they let him go. And that rookie out there, I mean I saw him hurdling people week one. I mean, he looks pretty impressive. So I think they're doing it by kind of a

running backback committee. But it's working so far, and the only thing, the only thing I can think of is can they he has been he's been extremely good and can they maintain it? Though? Can they maintain it throughout sixteen games? We shall see, But right now they got that momentum going and as they say, Minshew, magic is real down there in Jacksonville. Ok. Okay, I come and say this all year long. I think that's asking a bit much, especially if they get into the injury bug

that other people do. But if this is a team that wins seven or eight games, I think they've got to give consideration to keeping Doug Morone because what started off as a foregoing conclusion. If this team is able to do that, and you're doing it here in COVID with all the issues that they've had here, I've got to say, if I'm shot, coun maybe the head coach isn't the issue. Maybe it's the guy who's picking the football players for your team, and oh yeah it called

Well maybe that's the problem here. But yeah, because we got a long team, we got a long win. Yeah, this is true. This is true. Man, All he needs if he if he wins six games this year, I think it'll be a win and I think he'll keep his job, especially with all those players they let go these past a couple of years. I think if he just wins six, he'll be there. And I think Dave Coyle will might might be gone. But we shall see. Like you said, we got a long way to go.

But and throw this out here to let's go look at Matt Patricia with the lines. That thing looks like a pure mess that's happening out there. Adam Gates with the Jets, they don't look like they have. You've at least said, okay, you're Gardner. Minshew's been developed. They got Darnald out there with New York, and Adam Gates, you know, parades himself around as a quarterback guru. I think Darnald's regressed. He doesn't look as good as he did at USC.

So that's without a question now man. That so when I look at what Jacksonville's doing, I gotta tip in my hand and said, you know, guys, so far, so good. Let's see how far it goes here, man, time flies when you're having fun. Church. That's let's get into our predictions for the Seahawks Cowboys game tomorrow. You and I both had the Cowboys winning. You were on point where your point totals. You had him up in the thirties. I had it in the twins. So we'll get our

predictions out there and see where we go. And we'll have to just text Danny and get his prediction. He was long last week picking Atlanta, so we'll at least get Danny's prediction and we'll keep our tally here as we go through this season. Here right now, you and I are both one and one because we had the Cowboys beating the ram So we're one and one, uh Danny O and two? So there we there we go. This has brought to you by Hotels dot Com. He's

buried Church, I'm new skirts. We'll talk to you tomorrow two thirty pm Central Time right here on Dallas Cowboys dot Coy Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.