Talkin' Cowboys: Dak Update

Rob Phillips, Mickey's Bagnola, I'm Kyle Yeoman's and gentlemen, we had quite the scare yesterday. I think it's, to say the least amongst cowboys his nation, and it revolved around a certain quarterback, certain name that rhymes was Zach. But it's not Zach. It's actually Dak Prescott. First off, just kind of give us your initial thoughts on what you were thinking during practice yesterday. Of course, Dak Prescott leaving early due to a muscle strain and his right shoulder,

his throwing shoulder. Rob, what did you see and what did you hear after the fact, Well, first off, it's not training camp until Todd Archers across the tennis court with a sport coat on over shorts doing a live shot for ESPN. That's when you know something that's big is going on, and it's not training camp until there's an injury, unfortunately, or something going on with a significant player. It's nice to be out here and get started, but

this is the reality of football. And it was a scary moment because you know you're out there watching practice and Dak just kind of stops throwing during the seven on seven period, didn't do anything the rest of it, and when you're talking to Jim mau or the head athletic trainer, you know there's something going on when one

on ones I'm sorry that was one on ones. When seven on seven and team drills happened, he jogged off the field and eventually went and got an MRI and we got some some updates on that in terms of arm soreness. Turns out the MRI mix says it's a muscle strain in his shoulder on his throwing arm, and they're just gonna be careful with him for the next few days. And Mike McCarthy was on the fan this morning saying, basically it sounded like he's going to do

some form of practice. Micky, Okay, are you sweating? No this trail mix. Something went down my throat and it's trailing me right now, got your water there, right, you're good? Um yeah, short of the Heimlich I think okay, okay, okay, he got on the air. That's it's a no no for that reason. For that reason, it'd be a good visual. Somebody saves me. Right, Um, so I totally lost my train of thought. But he I'll pick it up for you. Can you talk you basically? You basically? Uh. That was

my lead to mix shots. It's like, you know, always something training camp doesn't start until something happens, and something always happens. Right, we had a we had a clean week, and then it's like, okay, the pads came on and training camp starts and you have an injury and yeah, um I was good with the sore arm. I like that. I didn't like when it was up in the shoulder because there's too many strains, because there's too many things

in the shoulder that can go wrong that are serious. Right, the first thing you think of is an ac joint or something like that that it gets sprained. Uh, my first question to somebody was did he get hit And it's like, no, it's it's it's a muscle thing. It's like, oh okay, that's that's good. Um. Now, Dak called it tightness.

It wasn't like it, and he said he developed it the day before it started bothering him and he kind of pushed through it and he thought he could push through it yesterday and it tightened up on him, is what he said. So if if, if you know, Dak decided to shut himself down, then it's got to be something, right.

He doesn't just go in for a hang nail. Uh. Well, to your point Mike McCarthy on the fan this morning, because they asked him like he's probably gonna lie right and say he's okay, he said he does have the communication with Britt and the training staff is really good. He's not gonna he's not gonna fudge it. He knows

how important he is to group. And what Mike said was soundn't like he's gonna maybe do something at practice now now, not throw, but be involved in the run game stuff and be out there take snaps right so and he can run. There's nothing wrong with that, yither. So that was the other thing. That was the other part yesterday where you're like, Okay, it doesn't look like anything's wrong with his ankle, but that's the first thing that goes through your mind, and when he jogs off

the field, you're like, he's good. And we kind of got word from that. But yeah, that was that was probably a really not probably a really stressful moment for Cowboys fans because on top of that, you know, he was supposed to do those car wash interviews mid afternoon out here with local media and it got postponed and it was like, oh, what's going on. He did get an MRI and the news was pretty good all things considered. That's pretty good news. Yeah, it is pretty good news.

And it's it's still considered a minor strain. Yeah, he called it, might call a soft strain. So the first thought, at least, like you said, whenever he did jog off into the locker room, you were thinking, Okay, the ankle's fine, check that box off. The second one, is he I mean, of course he hadn't been hit yet, kind of like how Mick was talking about. He hadn't been in drills where he had even remotely been around taking a hit or had to avoid pressure or do anything really stressful.

So I think the initial thought was probably something with the arm or the upper body at the same time. And so my initial thought went to pitching baseball, because you hear about it all the time, a starting pitcher getting warm, getting ready the bullpen, and then all of a sudden you feel some arm soreness, and then you have to shut it down and go get checked up on and you may get scratched from a start here

and there, and then that's exactly so. And I had never heard about that sort of deal with a quarterback before, and even David Ellman said the same thing later on in the day after we had had a conversation. But that's what scared me about it was that it wasn't a non it wasn't a contact thing. It was more of, like you said, a muscle issue. Is this something that

could linger into the season. I know we're not doctors here by any means, but just based off of what you've seen in the past, I just think he needs to be shut down. And he's talking a day or two. I'm thinking a week or two, and there's no reason for him to do anything until after the Hall of Fame game, right, and maybe not until after the Arizona preseason game. Yeah, my first thought was we won't see

him throw out here until after Oxnard. We got maybe maybe we got five weeks before the first week of preparation for the season openers a long time. So that's a long time and as long as it's just sore, irritated or whatever, that should be enough time for it

to recover. And yeah, but when he was supposed to speak at two o'clock yesterday, right with the TV stations, and then it was two thirty, and then at three o'clock, it was six thirty or six fifteen, and I'm going, uh, something's up right, and that's he wouldn't for an MRI, and the MRI showed soreness, So okay, fine, it's a muscle.

That's a good thing. Somebody had tweeted out a picture of Maler when they were still on the field, going underneath the shoulder pad and doing this, and it's like, oh, I don't like the looks of that, but we'll see how it turns out. But yeah, you to see your starting quarterback because this sore arms have happened in training camp before guys get dead arm. Yeah, Romo used to get it right, right, Yeah, because you're not used to throwing day in and day out as much as they

throw here. And another reason why it's a good thing that they don't have two days and no days off. I guess so from a quarterback standpoint, you gotta watch your pitch count. And even though there's four quarterbacks out there, for a while, there was only three right without Cooper rushed, so everybody's getting more throws. And you know, and he

hadn't been throwing like that consistently. You know, you can do it in the offseason and train, right, But I don't know how many times he throws the ball out here, It's true, but you don't do that in a workout or a rehab session or you know, when OTAs you do it for you know, it's three days and then you got a week off till the next three days, and here it's every day almost so. And I mean again, we don't know how much he throws on his own, but he wasn't doing team stuff in the spring, so

this is more of a workload than he's had. Not that he's being overworked, but he is working back into full practice here in training camp. I saw some speculation on Twitter last night that, oh gosh, maybe you know he'll be back by the Rams practice, And I'm thinking that's not a game. Who cares about that? Yea, the

Rams are coming in, who cares? But we'll see. I think one thing also that Mike said on the fan this morning that's encouraging are is there were certain throws that bother him and there's certain throws that don't bother him at all. And so to me that that is an indication that this is probably something more mild than a grade whatever strain that he's dealing with in his muscle. And he had talked about how it actually bothered him

prior to yesterday. He talked about Tuesday was when it first started flaring up, And of course we saw what happened Tuesday. The defense really got after him and was in the process of kind of starting a little bit of that defensive momentum. They continued that yesterday against the backup quarterbacks. So that leads me into this topic of conversation is are we comfortable right now at backup quarterback? Um?

Are we sure of what's going on with guys like Garrett Gilbert Cooper Rush been the Nucci back there because yesterday did not really uh soothe my nerves by anything. I don't think we ever were comfortable. Okay, I wasn't comfortable in the off season. Um so what were you thinking?

Yet we're talking worked, Well, it's practice. Talking about practice, right, it's practice, and quarterbacks are going to try to throw and make throws because there's no ramification if it gets intercepted, right, and as long as when they're judging that they make the right read. And two of the interceptions were throw ups. Yes, right was fourth and fifteen, they had to score a touchdown. He's under pressure, he just lobs it in the end zone, right, uh,

and there was nobody there. And then Mcamu's was an overthrow. I don't know. He missed the receiver and it was high and it went right to them. Now, the other two were great plays. Parsons and Anthony Anthony Brown. They they were they were cutting across the middle and he saw somebody flash open and they read it and cutting in front. So those were great interceptions. The other two now, big deal, um so, but at least they were catching the ball right, which they play last year was actually

catching the football. That's by my account, in two days. That's nine interceptions and in a couple drops by the way, so good for them. But I think Gilbert explained it pretty well that the defense was doing a really good job of disguising what they were in and they were showing the offense some things that they hadn't seen before where guys were gonna be So Dalton Schultz said the same thing. Yeah, it's a man look maybe pre snap and then they're in zone and that's hey, if you're

a Cowboy fan, you're liking that. Yeah, because that's a defense that's showing all those different disguises like we heard about last year, but in practice maybe it's being executed better well guys that don't have as many buses maybe. And then guys guys like Terrell Basham talking about how simple it is too, how they simplified the defense, and you mentioned last year where the team kind of wanted to see those hybrid looks and wanted to see the man and zone and the disguises and the things of

the sort. And they saw that, but it was more complex, whereas the defense is simplified things down but make you started off by saying you weren't satisfied at the backup quarterback spot, and he talked about the good defense. And I feel like that's the balance that we have to decide on what we're seeing right now. Is it bad offense or good defense? And is it worrisome about what the offense has shown you the last two days. No,

I'm not worried whatsoever. And as a matter of fact, while the defense is bragging, there were two plays the day before that they busted coverages on the right end right. I tried, he didn't. He didn't get my humor. It was like, was that a great move or did they bust the coverage? And he goes the linebackers. I think

he was wide open. No one covered him. And then and then it was a player or two before it was Blake Jarwin wide open down the middle, and I think it was Parsons and Neil were standing there looking at each other like, okay, which one of us was supposed to do that? Somebody was right. So yeah, they had a couple. Even though they're bragging about their no fly zone, they had a couple. That was the first time I saw busted coverages. But again, it's These guys

don't get to work that much in the season. You know, they improve in the off season, so it's good. Now the blessing in disguise is the fact that these guys are gonna get more reps. Right, Gilberer get more reps? Do Nucci will get more reps? I think finally Rush got out there and he took them finally, so they'll get more reps. And that's gonna be either good or bad. Because it's good that you get to practice. It's bad if you could expose why you're considered a backup quarterback.

I always thought that fine, let them, let them fight it out, but keep an eye on the waiver wire the end of August because something's like the other day Blake Bortles came now and didn't get me all excited on the mailbag this morning. But if somebody, but if somebody shows up, that's got some experience, right, These guys have two combined NFL starts. Backup quarterbacks need experience. They don't need to be young guys I'm bringing along. So if somebody gets really what if what if Andy Dalton

gets released by the Bears? Oh right, from a call? Bring them back, right, somebody. They can't keep both fulls in Dalton as a backup quarterback and have three guys if the other guy wins the starting job, the rookie, So there's gonna be somebody released. You got to keep their eye on that. And those guys are competing against them sel and they're competing against the waiver wire. This could almost be a blessing in disguise. Not you know,

you don't want to see dak miss anytime. But if it is indeed minor and that's what we're being told, then he's okay. And again six weeks till the opener, and in the meantime, they're going to get more clarity on their backup quarterback position because Mickey's right, like they're not satisfied with it. They've said there, I mean, the so many words that they're not because they've said, we're

keeping our eyes open. They've brought in quarterbacks to work out in the springtime, two of them, right, Yeah, didn't sign him. And that part of that is money, I mean, I would think because you know, they paid Andy Dalton three to five million bucks last year to be a backup quarterback. I don't know if they have that kind of pocket change this year. So the hope would be Garrett Gilbert balls out and shows gives them a comfort level as the backup quarterback. Now he's gonna have more reps,

more opportunities to do that. If not, or even if he does play pretty well, to Mickey's point, there's always options in early September, whether it's cuts or we've seen them make trades in the past as well to bring in backup quarterbacks quarterback depth. So I would not rule that out at all in the next few weeks. But in the meantime, all three other guys are gonna get a lot of reps and and one way or another,

we're gonna get a feel for where it's at. And you're right, the last couple of days have not been good overall. It's been the defense is dominated for the most part the last two days. And you know Dak was part of that too, Yeah two days ago, Yeah, I completely agree. I think Ben de Nucci, who had a pretty good start to camp, really just did not play well the last two days. Maybe he gets an opportunity running with the twos to finally fix a couple

of his issues. I think over the next couple of days and then what you just talked about it Garret Gilbert going back to the ones, and he even spoke about it yesterday saying, I'm comfortable with those guys. I got thrown into the mix a little bit, yes, or excuse me last year, and when I was thrown into the fire I didn't even know everybody's name at the

same time. And now he's got a chance to turn around and maybe make an impact with the ones with legit meant practice rep with these quarterbacks and the backup quarterbacks. Tell me what you think is more talented the backup defensive line or the backup offensive line because the protection hadn't been good when those guys get in there. Uh, it's it's it's it's it's been problematic, especially when the

pads came on. I would agree. I thought the deep, backup defensive line has more talent than having all those backups on the offensive line, and so that has that'll affect a quarterback. Now these guys will have a chance maybe to get some reps with the first offensive line, which by the way, looks pretty good. Yes they do. And then the other thing that happens in this in this stuff is those guys aren't worrying about the run, right because you're not tackling anybody. All they're doing is

pinning their ears back and going after the quarterback. So you get it gets a little bit skewed on on just how well they're playing, because remember, that's fair if they don't stop the run, that they ain't rushing the quarterback. And they were bad, bad, you know what. I got had another word in there, and I caught myself. That's a good one. That is a good point that I mean, the pads come on, but you know, you're not really getting a full gauge of your run defense until I

guess preseason's saying until you play somebody. Yeah, yeah, because then you're starting you gotta put somebody on the ground. Right right now, you're not putting anybody on the ground. You're just touching up. So Okay, they ran and then you know, and when they're looking at oh that was

four yard gain, right right? Okay, Well, I kind of want to continue this conversation a little bit later on, so let's go ahead and take our first break when we come back kind of along those same lines, is there an unforeseen position battle happening on that offensive line when we talk. When we returned with more talking cowboys here from Oxnart, Honey, big news, Gary? Are you okay? Oh? I'm not Gary anymore. I'm Jettie Flash. What see? I want the latest smartphone, But the best deals are only

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the zero you deserve is finally here. Before there was a draft you get sized up a cowboy by three simple factors, the crease in his hat, the bend of his brim, and his unbending attitude. A man stats and didn't us protect him from what life through at him. It projected a rugged, unstoppable spirit. Stetson hats are still American, made with pride right here in Texis. There's still the unofficial crown of all self respecting cowboys, and Stetson is

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you're cheering in the stands. With or lenses, you can see every exciting play book an appointment at your local or experts and see what esselor can do for you, See more, do more, or as always here on Talking Cowboys Mickey's Bagnola, Rob Phillips, Kyle Yeoman's here from Oxnard, California. Still kind of reeling after the news yesterday, and also a sigh of relief, I believe, of the news yesterday

surrounding Dak Prescott and his shoulder injury. It is a muscle strain in his right shoulder, and at least at the moment, things look like it as minor and it should be only a couple of days or weeks if we're Mickey's Bagnolan, Rob Phillipson here, and I agree with you guys too, by the way, sit him out for a couple of weeks, lead it heel, and then get back to action. But yeah, outside of that, we got a chance to see the offensive line blocking for a

different quarterback. And like you said, the starting offensive line has looked really good. And I wrote this down yesterday in my practice notes, but Connor McGovern taking snaps for Zach Martin at right guard pretty darn good from what I've seen yesterday, and of course what he showed at the end of the year. Mike McCarthy even talked about it yesterday, speaking on how he was the most improved offensive lineman of the season last year. All the way

down the street. I'm not gonna say he's going to display Zach Martin R. I'm not saying Zach Martin, Okay, I'm talking about the other side. It was about Connor Williams, the guy that was the best offensive lineman last year. So you don't agree if Connor Williams and Connor McGovern

got in a bit of a guard battle. I think that Connor Williams played well last year, considering he had a guy on his left side that had started one previous game in his career and was an undrafted free agent night and yeah, yeah, and they've already moved him from tackle, and then at center you got Joe Looney and then be Idish playing for the first time in his NFL career. So I think everybody wants to replace Connor Williams for some reason. I'm not sure why. I

think he's solid. Is he a Pro Bowl or probably not? But I think he's solid, and uh, I think it's good that you have another guard that can come in. I thought the hope was that he could do both. Well. He's not put his hand nuts, so they must not think he can play center in the NFL. That he

is a guard, and you know that's good. But I don't know that there's open competition yet because I haven't seen him take snaps with the first team at left guard in place of Williams unless he's playing center or or they're keeping him at guard, so he can really focus on that competition and left guard, you know, and give him a real chance to win the job. Now I'm you mean it left guard. I'm I'm playing Devil's advocate.

I agree with Mickey. I mean, I think I take crap for this on the normal rotation with Heck and Isaiah, because I said Connor Williams played well last year was his best season as a cowboy off coming off in ACL And now does he get does he get overpowered at times? Yes? Yes? Has he improved in that area over three years, yes he has. He's got a different body type than he did when he came in the league.

He's in the final year of his deal. I don't know if he'll be back, and Connor McGovern could be prepared to slide into that spot in twenty twenty two. But I if I had to guess, I would say he's the left guard, Connor Williams once again, and possibly the backup center. I mean, they're they're taking a look at that, you know, in training camp and see how it goes. But I don't see change in the starting

lineup there, barring injury. I think I'm with you, guys. Ultimately, I have been impressed of what Connor McGovern has shown, and maybe this does kind of allude to the fact that Connor Williams has been chosen as maybe the work in backup center because they feel good about maybe replacing his spot in the starting lineup should something happen to Tyler Biatta scoot over Connor Williams, Connor McGovern goes up to the left guard spot, and then all of a sudden,

you're feeling really good about your backup off of line choices. To your point about Connor mcgovernor, I talked to him at minicamp and, like Mickey said, he's only really working at guard, but he just feels like he's in a better place. If you remember, he missed his entire rookie year with the pectoral deal and still was kind of working through that into the spring summer, going into twenty

twenty one, twenty twenty training camp. So you know, he really got off to a slow start in terms of reps and what they saw from him last year because all the linemen had to play last year. He did show something. I thought he did play well at guard when he was in there, and I think he has shown enough that they get an injury at tackle. Zack Martin's my backup tackle because you feel I'll guarantee you McGovern will play a better guard than any of the

other guys will play it at tackle. You think that's why Ultimately they were like, uh, yeah, Zach okay, because Mike has said he doesn't want to change two spots if he doesn't have to. But but look to last year or what happened best five. Yeah, they got forced to do it because it was so bad. Yeah. Right now, Having said that, Terren Steele's body looks different. He looks like an NFL offensive lineman. Now he's put some weight on the lower half, which was one thing that I

had knocked against him early last year. He came in as an undrafted free agent and he was about as top heavy as a water burger cup that you get in the drive through and then you turn around and he's even down a little bit. So I think between Steele, Nasecki and Josh Ball, those are the three guys I think the competition for that backup spot. Can they keep them all? Yeah? Maybe so as guys to groom and then with McGovern, you know you got a backup guard.

The key thing will be if Connor Williams can show he can be the backup center, because then you don't have to keep another swing guy right. You can just keep one more guy um and you you save spots by doing that. But they cannot do if they don't have confidence in the secy Ball or Steel to be that backup swing tackle. Then the drop of a dime, if something happens one of those tackles, Zach's got to go out. They can't wait like they did last year. They wasted too much time for me. Are there any

reserves about Zack Martin and his health right now? No, I think they're just being smart. I mean that they are rotating those right guard snaps in team because we saw Connor McGovern, we saw Brandon Knight. Even I think with the first team a little bit left left guard, some left guard. Yeah, okay, I thought I saw any might have been. I just know that when they went second team, he'd been the second team left guard. You know,

Zach spoke to it a couple of days ago. Just I mean, as I get older, and he's only thirty, but I mean, you know, he's been in the league. That's a line that's about a long see, that's a long career. So that's funny. He's only thirty, right, but Tyrant Smith, Oh, he's getting old. He's thirty. Yep, thirty, Yes, that's crazy. He turns thirty one, I think in December if I remember correct. So he was twenty when he came in. Yeah, he was a he was a pup that's won when he came in. Yeah, he's thirty, So

thirty one in December. It's eleventh season. Crazy, and it's Zach's eighth. Yeah, And I mean Zach's had some stuff kind of pop up the last couple of years. Not anything super serious, but he had a back in training camp a couple of years ago. He had the calf last year. So yeah, just you know, be smart with

one of the best three players on the team. You know, yeah, and I just kind of wanted to bring that conversation up because, of course, with the revolving door that we had last year at offensive line depth is an issue, and Mickey, you even spoke about it in the last segment. Outside of Connor McGovern, the quote unquote backup offensive line has not been impressive so far. No, they they have struggled.

But you know, look what you're what you're out there with, Uh Josh Ball rookie right, Uh Niseki Now he's old thirty six right, Yeah, I'll say that's old. He may not like that. Uh, You've got Forni act that's moving from guard to center. Um, and then either McGovern and then who's ever at the Brandon Knight at the left guard spot, who's probably fighting to and steals in there. So those guys are fighting. Just make the roster let alone a backup job. So yeah, and it happens all

the time. You know, that's there's not enough offensive linemen in this league to have too deep, right and and and if you look at when they tried to play these alternative leagues, the biggest problem they had is there's not enough offensive linemen. So you the quarterback however, good, bad or otherwise they are, they ain't got no shot because they have no protection when it's time to throw

the football. Um. So, I don't know where all the offensive linemen have gone, but they're I don't know they play defense now or what? Rob Why do we give a pass on some of these rookie offensive linemen but we also have exceptionally high expectations for some of these rookie defensive lineman. Is it because of that reason that it's that much to it that much of an adjustment going from college to pro when stopping pass rushers as opposed to being the pass rushers. That's a great question.

I don't know why we do that. I guess I guess the thing, yeah, everybody does. It's it's college football. It's it's harder to find NFL ready offensive linemen these days. And if that's why it's so hard to find him off the waiver wire, you know, like Brian always used to say, and he was right. You know, if they if you've got a good backup tackle, you know, even if you have good depth, you're keeping him, keeping him

because they're just they're not easy to find. And I do think it's the college game the way the college game has played a fewer pro style offenses, all the spread stuff, and it's just not the same. All they're doing is pass blocking or trying to yeah, and they don't run the football hardly anymore. And then there's this,

and Rob's probably heard me tell this story. So back in the nineties when Joe Brotsky was the offensive line he was the running backs coach, but he had been a big time high school coach in Miami, legendary, and so one day we were talking and was something how it came up about offensive lineman. He goes, all right, Mick, let me explain it to you. I'm in high school. First day of practice, right, We get all these guys to come out, and you don't know what they can

do or whatever. And you look around and it's like, Okay, that guy right there looks like the best athlete. You're my quarterback, the next best athlete, you're my running back, the next best guy by defensive end. After that, can

you catch the ball? You're the wide receiver. You can't catch the ball, you're the cornerback, right, And he says, you go through this whole thing, And then you look around and you go okay, I'll restue you guys, your offensive lineman because you can't do anything right, and they're the least athletic usually because if you're athletic and big, you're on defensive end right, or you're chasing the quarterback

or you're a linebacker. But the rest of you, guys, and if you go to high school games, I mean there's some big old yea, they are right and jersey barely fits. But that medium, that's how you make that's how you make an offensive line, and then you hope maybe they grow into something right. Good point, it's a good point. It's it's the trickle down effect of how athletes are chosen from a younger age, I guess is one way we could look at it at this point.

But we've got a little bit of defensive talk to talk about as well. We're gonna hit how did the defense look yesterday? And is it that much of an exciting prospect is to think, hey, turnovers are going to be here in twenty twenty one as opposed to twenty twenty one. We returned with more talking Cowboys here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. Hi, I'm Clint Tillison with you not at agg in Turf before you can yourself in front of the game, park yourself in a John Dear

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We're entering practice day Numeros six here from the West Coast, and well, practices four and five were highlighted by the defense and it was a response from the defense after really the offense had their way in practices two and three. You counted nine interceptions the last two days, but I think there was five on Tuesday and fourty yesterday. There were more on Tuesday, I believe, so wow, I have to go back and look, but it felt like there

was an interception every two rows yesterday. Mickey's rightful, but there were a couple of spots where it's like, hey, Dnucci, just throw it up there. Yeah, but yeah, I mean the dbs are flying around and Kelvin Joseph's had like three practices and starting stir in. Yeah, no, he's I always kind of felt like once we got out there and he got settled in, like his talent would take over a little bit, because he's a very talented player. And he did miss ten days because of COVID quarantine

in the spring. But he's flying around he said, no fly zone, airplane mode. I mean it's you know, that's a lot of swagger for just getting started in your first camp. But you know what, maybe that's a good thing. You know, maybe that's that's what this defense needs a

little bit. And I think it does speak to while Mickey was right, you know, there's a couple busts there that we've seen it on the defense, the communication seems to be really good, and I think when it's really good, guys are in the right spots, you know, and to go make plays on the ball. And you know, some of the stuff we saw on on Tuesday was red zone work, and it does get tighter and tougher down

there for the offense to cash in. But you know, you cannot be anything but impressed with the way the defense has flown around here. Calvin Joseph have shown and and I thought that was good to be one of his attributes. Speed. He has ketchup speed. Dbs are gonna get beat and I've seen two plays where he's been beaten balls in the air and he catches up and either deflects it or I think it's happened twice. It

happened yesterday for sure, on a crossing pattern. He was beat and the balls in the air and he came in and knocked it out. There was a deep ball the other day where the guy was behind him and the receiver was behind him, and he got back and got his hand up in the air and knocked it down. So I'll be interesting to see if that continues. But Anthony Brown had a really nice interception, so he's not sitting there going okay, I can't hold this starting job, right,

go ahead, rookie gets yours. Oh and he also can play in the slot, which mentioning the slot Jordan Lewis better not miss another day because Maurice Kennedy is gonna wally pip him here pretty soon. He's had two really good days without Jordan Lewis on the field, a pick in each practice, right yep, and impressive ones too. I believe he had a PBu as well on Tuesday along with his interception, a really nice one where he actually

laid out and got a handle the football. But this is kind of the buzzword that's been thrown around all of our podcast Mick SHOT's Talking Cowboys. The break doesn't matter. Competition, yep, And we have been waiting for that, especially in the secondary, for the last couple of years, and now you finally have it with Kelvin Joseph who right now, if you ask pretty much anybody, he's not the starter. He's a second string corner. But why was he the first name

that brought up? Because he's bringing that swagger, he's bringing that competition at confidence that this defense hasn't shown in years. Me, well, I don't know about years. Let's not let last year cloud everything else. That was twenty eighteen maybe the last time. Well, they were the number eleven defense in twenty nineteen. Now I'm not talking about points. I'm talking about yards, sure, because they did give up way too many points. So

all this talk, we've talking about cornerbacks. Right, can they stop the run? Because they couldn't last year. It was gosh awful biggest problem they had by far on the whole team. And so I I gotta see has this been solved? Has it been solved? Um? Right now? We don't. We think it could be, but we haven't seen it. I mean, you can't tell what's going on in practice. If they're stopping the run, pads come on the first day, you're not tackling anybody. They need to start tackling thirty

four and thirty seven. Sorry, Rico Dowd says up, stays up. Yeah, it's not nice. Man. You could go hit forty five too, because I don't think it'll bother him. Goalie. He you think he can make this team? Yeah? Yeah, Can we get a fullback out there? Is that something McCary. I guess McCarthy's valued it in great Q. That guy just roomed the Cowboys that one year, right, Yeah, they might throw him the ball right after he caught four or five of them. Yeah, then they didn't cover him. So

but again, can they stop the run? Twenty five hundred yards rushing last year, second most enfranchise history in history. We're not going to know. We're not going to know for sure until the games started. That's why training camp you gotta put a little bit of a disclaimer on

everything you see. But but no, I mean there there is confidence and activity these last couple of days, especially in the secondary, where you're like, this is this is good, this is really this is really promising looking you know, and and I can't help but think a lot of it has to do with dan Quinn being so hands on in the communication. I think that's that's sorely needed from that position that he's filled, and the competition will just get raised at safety now right with the addition

of Malik Hooker. Um, I'm not sure how soon he'll get in the stuff, but let's see what happens. I don't I don't know. I asked him specifically that yesterday and he wouldn't give me a date. He said, they're just gonna easy, but he's got to ramp up. He hasn't he hasn't done anything. He's coming off in Achilles. Yeah, it ain't easy, no, I can tell you. And you're just trying to get I just wanted to sit up and walk right. And this guy's gonna go out there

and try to play football. And I'm guessing he hadn't really done you know, you can condition, but I bet we don't see him in pads until next week. That makes sense, but there's only what well, maybe the weekend one more practice one day to this weekend Saturday Sunday, so maybe some time in there. But yeah, I don't think they're gonna rush him out there. There's no need to do it, but I think the competition rises, you know, kzy curse. Let's see what you got because everybody back

there is on a one year deal. Donovan Lewis, Donovan did it again? Did it again? You did it yesterday? I told Donovan, I told him, I just promoted him to start in safety. Donovan Lewis that the ticket, right, Yeah, Donovan Wilson and um, I think he's got a spot. But let's see, because I think it's open competition back there. We've been so worried about the safety position. Now we got all these guys, but guess what one year deals, So no one's promised from a financial standpoint. You gotta

prove yourself. And even Kean O'Neill, right, we're just assuming he's he's good. Well, he's got competition. Have you seen anything at linebacker yet? Um? Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, Okay, I've liked Actually, I liked him in coverage yesterday. He followed Zeke all the way down the field and made a pass breakup. I feel like he's kind of been in the right spot, you know, And that's the biggest to me. That's maybe the biggest part of the linebacker position.

Going back last year, you rather him there than Parsons. No, there's a difference between splash plays in training camp and also just kind of watching to see if guys are doing what they're supposed to do, and so sometimes that kind of those lines get blurred in training camp. I'm not saying Parsons hadn't had a good camp. I mean he shows up every day with something. Yeah, um, but I think, yeah, I think Keanu Neal's got a spot

on this team. I don't know how many snaps he's gonna play, and I think maybe as we go on throughout the season, Michael Parkson's plays more and more and more. But I think there's a spot for him. And I'm with Mick on safety, I think I think Donovan Wilson's as a starter, but that other spot could be up

for grabs, especially if Hooker gets going here. I think all three of those guys are fighting for that free safety spot because I think right now the safest bet is to say you're starting safety or strong safety rather is Donovan Wilson, we think, but they've kind of rotated that to free also, but well, he did that last year too, he bounced back and forth. So I think that's the safest bet right now is to say that six is gonna be out there for the most part.

But then you've got three other guys clamoring for the rest of the snaps. And I think we already talked about it on another show. But the fact that Malie Cooker was signed and he was out on the field, it looked like they had raised their competition level. It looked like they had raised it up a little bit. Casey had the really nice interception that was returned for a touchdown. That's true. That was the day that Yeah. So yeah, it's like, oh, hold up here, right, not

so fast, which is back to the competition aspect. Yeah, you have guys here that you you think can come in and win a starting job. And if you think you can win a starting job, you're gonna have that extra cozy another guy is coming off with torn both guys and the year before it was it was Neil, right, Yes, so Neil missed some time last year as well. Yeah, so yeah, look, this is this is gonna be a

that's gonna be a prove it position. And then when you know we haven't talked about the linebackers, but there's some great no competition going on there, you know what. Talk about that on Saturday when we come back on Talking Cowboys. That's the that's the homework assignment for all three. Keep an eye on the line, keep it on the linebackers because whenever we get to Saturday, I want to try and rank all four of them. Want to We did that on the sideline yesterday. Actually really yeah wow,

So I'll save it for Saturday. Okay, okay, we need we need I'll join that conversation. We need some running, like up the middle type stuff, right like they used to do in the old days. They did it alive yesterday, ground on the ground. You know. Jimmy when when they would do that inside run. Yeah, when we were in Austin, Jimmy would let us go on the field and stand behind to watch it, to ramp up the count, to ramp up the competition, right, because those guys are right there,

they're gonna see everything that happens. And boy was there some head knocking going on. It was live, but we got to go on the field to watch it. When they first invited us on, we looked at each other like, does he really want us to go stand there like ten fifteen yards behind the line of scrimmage? And we did. It was great, It was great. Things have changed. Yeah, yeah, we're probably gotta be sixty yards away from him for on the field, probably, yeah, most likely. But yeah, we're

gonna watch the linebackers. We're gonna come back with more of that on Saturday. That's the next time we're back and live. It'll get all all everything kicked off eleven am Central Time back in the Lone Star State, and then we'll be live out here at nine am Pacific Coast time. But for Rob Phillips, Mickey's Bagnola, Kyle Yeoman's Chris Beam in the back saying so long here from Oxnard, California. More Cowboys training camp on the way. Be sure to

stay up today on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. We'll see you Saturday. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.