Cowboys BreakThe following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.
Cowboys Let's go.
Are you ready for a break?
Yes?
Are you ready for a break?
Absolutely? Ready for a break?
Yeah, and so much for that. It's time for The Break on.
Dallas Cowboys dot Com. Were with Mbar Garcia, Brian brought Us, Nick Harris, and Derek Eagleton.
It is Tuesday, September tenth, twenty twenty four, Season twenty, Episode number twenty six.
Welcome to the latest edition of.
The Break, live from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We're presented by LG, the world's number one OLED TV brand for eleven years in counting see why at LG dot Com Forward slash.
O led Evo. Welcome to the show. How's everybody doing today?
Doing well?
Doing well? Ready for a game today? Derek?
Yes, I am ready for a game.
I know you're gonna open this sing up. I just want to make sure you ready. I just I want to get your guys answer.
You make me nervous, man, You really make me nervous when we when we delve into your games and delve into the mind of Brian brought us.
I'm just going to say this. I'm gonna start taking over Tuesdays.
Hey, you know something that actually would be a very good like literally ten minutes ago, so we can do that.
We can know you're dressed up. Everybody's stressed up really nice except me. I'm a bummy radio guy.
You got used to this radio thing.
I tell you what, being on the radio ain't a bad gig. I will say this. So, yeah, we're gonna have take over Tuesdays. How about love that?
That actually makes it really easy. So all have to do is just basically open the show and you.
Have to have it just lets you Let's wind me up and let me go all.
Right real quick, before we get to the bind of Brian brought us, let's let's talk about one injury coming out of the game. Jake Ferguson, Uh, there were I mean, obviously when it happened during the game, I certainly was nervous for him because it didn't look great, didn't look like he could put any pressure on his leg at all, and it looked like he was in a lot of pain. What are we hearing at this point from the standpoint of his injury and how long should we expect him to maybe be out.
Yeah, I'll kind of walk it through with some context. Talking to some people as they were coming off the field, they were fearing the worst with that, with that situation, with that injury. I mean, you look at it. It looked nasty on first watch, but whenever they got back to the locker room, they were able to communicate with Jake, and that initial testing showed that the ACL was intact, all the major ligaments were intact, and it was just then mcl sprain that they were gonna have to work towards and then further imaging and further testing on Monday confirmed that. So, yeah, dodged a big bullet with this one, and Jake Ferguson is gonna be with the rehab group starting tomorrow and then throughout the week, and there's still an opportunity that he plays on Sunday against the Saints. So when you really talk about dodging a bullet, they may have dodged everything here. So but nevertheless, they're gonna work him in slowly if he can't go on, So that'll definitely be a big opportunity for the depth of that room.
Yeah, I asked two questions after that game yesterday or the other day, and I said, I asked about eighty seven, I asked about eighty one, and the negativity was more about eighty one not being Stevens than actually, you know, with Ferguson. So that was encouraging. I think Nick has got everybody up to speed on that. Yeah, they were they were worried about some ligament damage and it didn't happen, and they were happy about that.
So yeah, if you know he's with the rehab group.
I think this is one of those things where if you ask coach McCarthy, he would say, it's probably gonna be a little bit about you know, we'll protect him, but it's about pain management stuff like that. They always like to tell you that when a guy's trying to play on something that maybe needs a game or two off. But I didn't get the vibe that it was something that they were, you know, that's something they're going to work through. But it's sounded like to me that Stevens with the hamstring was something that was a little bit more concerning to them.
Yeah, the question is if they're worried about Stevens, and let's assume for a second that it doesn't work where Ferguson can play this weekend.
You said it.
Challenges that room. My question is, like, does it challenge the rest of the whole offense? Because now you're down probably the two best makes, certainly the two best making tight play making tight ends that you have on the roster, at least from what we've seen.
How does that? How do the Cowboys adjust that?
All right, Nick's gonna love this end.
Oh yeah, wind me up, go ahead, Yeah, I was, I was gonna.
I'm just gonna say they were gonna post somebody off of somebody's practice squad, is what I was.
No the uh uh no, Jason Witten is available for this one game. Uh No, it is.
It's Hunter Lipkey, it's you know, and you watch when they went to the twenty one personnel, the twenty two personnel, you know, with the two backs, two tight ends, and that are multiple tight ends.
Hunter Lipkey was. It was a factor in a good way.
Uh And I feel like, though, as long as you don't have to make him the in line why and when I saw it say in line, I mean next to the tackle, right on the line of scrimmage. You know, if you can move him, put him as a wing, put him as a fullback, motion him out. There are things you can do with Hunter Lipke. Is it Ferguson, No, But the way that he catches the ball and the way he finds space, that's not a bad option to have if you're down. If you're down a couple of players there with Ferguson and Stevens both being out.
I mean, the good thing is that prior to this game and to Jake coming out of the field with the injury, they were already practicing him at the tight end position and getting a good look of him there, so at least that we're prepared for something. Obviously, no one is expecting an injury like that to happen. But that's the good part that he has started gaining the experience doing that and he showed to do a very very good job in that game, So that is exciting and remembering that. Obviously not ideal to have Jake out, but whatever the time may be of him missing, you still have a lot of other offensive weapons that can be utilized and help alleviate the loss of Ferguson.
It's interesting as I watched the game last night, the Monday night game, the forty nine Ers versus the Jets. I was watching. I'm sorry, Kyle Uschek, Yeah, and I was like, there really is no reason why you couldn't see Hunter Lipkey developed man, Yeah, into that that caliber of player. He has those skills, like, he has all those different skills to see from you say, is blocking I think has gotten markedly bad.
It has this last game.
I went back and watched the game, and Yeah, I just kept noticing him on plays where he's getting his block, he's getting in position, he's turning his guys, He's doing exactly what he needs to.
Do, you know.
And I thought that was the weakest part of his game.
And and so he's he definitely could be a guy that they developed into that type of role.
He was a half man blocker at one time. Yeah, you got to remember him coming out of North Dakota State.
He was a running back. He really wasn't a full back or this.
You know, he's bulked up, he's gotten bigger, he's I think special teams just really helped him with his toughness too that he's had, because you watch he could do those things pretty well. But he was a half man blocker. He would go in there almost side ways hitting guys and you have to play square. We always talk about that. But he'll go in there and dig guys out. He's got an idea of how to run his feet, how to get leverage, how to keep pushing on his guy, and say the staint'll tell you use that work.
But he, you know, staying on his block like that.
And I think that there's some The thing with Yuscheck is he plays so well on the move and they figure out running the ball when you know, when they do have McCaffrey and and they're not just finding some guy off the street like they do. You know, that's what he's amazing forty nine ers doing that regard. But you you watch how they use him Hunter Lipkey playing on the move and use Check playing on the move. That's that's for those guys to be able to be that big and to be athletic enough to run and then now all of a sudden, you're on this in space and you're dealing with this, you know, two hundred and forty pound guy in your face and you're now trying to fight that on the edge. Then they got wide receivers block and and now the ball's coming downhill.
And you know that's how that's how you you run the football.
When you have guys like that that have an understanding of how to play space or how to dig guys out, and they're going to play square and that's what Hunter Lipkey is learning how to do.
This is my favorite segment we've ever done. I mean, for me, whenever he was coming out, it was the IQ that really popped off the film for me, catches a ball. Well, he can get downhill and create some running lanes and we've seen him develop and get better with that as time has gone on. And I think the really important thing about Hunter Lookey's young career so far is that fumble in Miami that he had on the goal line, because there was immediate trust put back in him after that. Yes, he didn't touch the ball after that for the rest of the season, but he was still on the field. And then going into preseason, going into the season this year, it's been Mike McCarthy, it's been Jerry Jones, it's been everybody who is important when it comes to making those decisions putting confidence in him and saying he's going to be a bigger part of this offense going forward, And just to remind everybody, I might do it every day this week, but Hunter Lookey is your third leading receiver on the Dallas Cowboys.
So just to give a hey, weird week, weird week, three week observation. But you guys know what, I always like talking about vibes and all of that jazz. But when he's talking to the medium that I've seen him up close, he gives me he has this aura of like if Jason Witten and Sean Lee were to have a baby. Like this is weird, it's a weird analysis, but it's just it's something about the focus and like being just so in the job and what he does and having that talent and that maturity, because I gotta remember he's still a very very young player. So he just gives me that, which is a good thing. I mean, those are two great players.
Business.
Yes, wow, that's a mental image.
Don't have to imagine the process there you talking.
I'm talking about just the bringing together their genetic makeup.
I'm like that, that's.
All, Derek, You know everything.
All right, we're gonna take an early first break.
We need to regroup.
We'll come back.
Brian will Brian will jump into James brows. We've got a lot of different topics. I'm sure we'll hit in during that segment. We'll be back Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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Throw something at it. I will. I'll be really nice to it. Make sure it's right in front of you. Welcome back.
It is the second segment of the Break with Liferom that s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star.
This segment brought to you by Blockchain dot Com.
I just wanted to add.
Take some blockchain too.
If only we had a like VP around here, Vice president.
If only there's only there's only one person on the show of wearing shades.
There's only one person and talking.
There's only one person wearing like a soup right now.
There's only one big size show. All right, Brian, it's your turn.
What you got air bar?
Oh lord, let's go.
Give me the best trade of Jordan Lewis.
Jordan Lewis, give me the best trait?
Okay, I was about I'm just repeating the question for.
I love how competitive he is despite everything that he's had to face since the moment he got here, and not necessarily being the ideal corner type of player with all the trades that what was his name, Chris Richard at the time wanted. Yeah, he still thought through it and he's still here on the team. So with him despite I mean, he has many abilities on the team, but to me, when you talk about him and mention him, the one thing that stands out is just his competitiveness as the player. Everyone's competitive, but he just brings that different fire to it.
Nick Harris, talk to me best trade about Jordan Lewis Toughness.
Yeah, I'm going toughness. It was really apparent for me coming off of that injury that he had going into last season with the List Frank injury and talking to the medical people who talked about how severe that really was and him being able to bounce back from that, and then in the back half of the season last year really turning it up and having a strong finish of the season. He had a great camp and he had a strong start to the year.
On Sunday, boss Man, I.
Will say toughness, but I'll get in a little different direction. I'll say mental toughness. I've seen players around here, and I know we all are aware of one particular tight end where the way that he handled the Cowboys bringing in other tight ends wasn't the best way to handle it, and it it did. I don't think it did him any favors as far as his preparation and him him taking care of what he could take care of.
Jordan is just the opposite.
Every single year the Cowboys go out and draft a cornerback. Every single year, it seems like it happens, whether it's in a later round, early round, they're gonna draft somebody. He never I've never seen him react in a way other than all right, let's compete, and so I love his physical toughness.
I love how he even on the field.
I love how he addresses when he's got to go up against whoever that is on the other side. He doesn't back down. He's ready to go. And so I love his toughness. I love his mental and his physical toughness.
Yeah, I think his his survival, his survival tactics are the best. Like you said, they bring in guys all the time, and we talk about, well they could bump Land in, they could, you know, we get really creative and all that.
Who keeps lining up out there and as an honorable.
How many years is he know?
Eight years? Yeah, isn't that crazy off air conversation?
Yeah, but that that's I think with him, it's it's it's survival.
But in a way that he's you know what, you keep, like you mentioned, you keep bringing.
Guys on and he and you and you find your like these talking points we have in June and it's like, man, you'll Bland and hey, Carson's gonna play outside, Bland's gonna kick inside. Nah at number two keeps lining up, playing inside, covering guys, not tackling when he needs to be in physical when he needs to. I've thrown a lot of dirt on that guy that's been that's been him and still had been a big, big mistake for me in that way.
I'll tell you this too as an honorable mention. His personality is something I think is underrated.
Yeah, uh not.
A lot of fans probably don't know because they don't see him enough. He's a funny guy, and he just he seems like he just gets life. Married guy, you know, he just kind of Yeah, he's humble, he gets life, and that to me is like that's not always. By the way, this is like just a general thing with the population. Everybody in population, not everybody gets life. Yeah, a lot of people live their lives in lots of different ways. But I think he just kind of gets it, and I appreciate that about him. I think he creates the right kind of role model for kids out there who look up the professional athletes.
I like what you're saying there, Nick, talk to me, which of the defensive rooms were you the most impressed.
With from Sunday specifically, Yes, I would have to go with the linebacker room. With the way those guys played. Eric Kendricks bawled out. We're looking up after week one, He's leading the team in tackles, interception, sacks, just about every defensive stat that you could want, a really strong start for him. And then Demarvin overshowing what he was able to do flying to the ball, getting after it. I that speed was on full display, and even when Marrier Slufal came in the game, he was making an impact late in that game. Dumont Clark as well, it's gotta be the linebackers.
Fross Man.
I was gonna say linebacker as well. I think that's the answer, but I'll give you an i'll alternative, A part of a room, the defensive ends. I look at Tank and Micah and what they did in that game. They wrecked that game. They absolutely wrecked that game. And then you can even throw in Neiland.
I saw.
I thought Neiland has some nice plays out there.
Pressure.
Yeah, for his first game in the NFL. So I'd give you that one as a second. But I think the linbackers were best. But I think the defensive really.
He g I'm gonna go with a different one, dbs and the cornerbacks because and guess sure, there was a touchdown that Kayleen Carson allowed, but overall because of expectations and the things that they had going up against them. You can talk about the defensive line, we know the talent that's there. You can talk about the linebackers. We've been seeing what they've done throughout training camp and we know or we had an idea of what to expect. But with the cornerbacks, darn Bland being out then Trevon Diggs coming back from that injury, I think I would give that to them because they played well enough. They handled a job in Kaalen Carson despite that touchdown. It's it was very impressive because he's a rookie, first game, having to be thrown out there like that, I think he handled it pretty well.
That's a great point, because made a lot of great points.
If you if you would have said going into that game, any position had the most question marks.
That's exactly what it was.
The cornerback and the fact that they played as well as they did. That's a great point.
Yeac.
That was when you started dancing down that.
I think we had started taking the smart pill. Yeah, smart via Brian, just for you.
They saw them.
I don't know what's pharmacy susponsor here, but they saw them something very careful.
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I was just thinking, I don't say.
Anything, a really quick stat to piggyback off of your point. Derek number one in the entire NFL and pressure generated in week one, Michael Parsons with nine, number two, DeMarcus Lawrence with eight. Yeah, number ten, Marshawn neland.
Was so amazing.
So the questions we had about Neil and I know I did, and when he was drafted it was can he be a pass rusher? And there were a couple of times there where he was able to win, get home. Maybe the sacks will come. We were thinking, hey, is this a four or five sack guy? You know, maybe they're maybe he'll get on a little bit of a run.
You know, playing can I derail you for just a second, You can always derail me.
So if you guys had to handicap this and say how much of that was just they were just really clicking on all cylinders, or it was that they were playing against some tackles that are just not very good.
They asked me the same question on the fan this morning. I think the answer is probably somewhere in the middle, just because the pass rush unit, I mean they sunk their teeth in like they they saw an opportunity ahead of them. But also having those two tackles to replacement tackles, you saw the struggles there.
Well, if you want to, if you want to really dive in, thank you for the next gen opportunities here. Their three inside guys gave up more pressures than the tackles. So if you look at the numbers, it those those there were those were three starters. Yeah, so you look at yeah, that's good.
Yeah. Yeah.
So if you want to say their offensive line, yes, was it handicapped a little bit? Sure, But those guys we talked about it in the in the are when we broke down the game, and these are the things that when things work out, you're kind of like, oh, thank god. You know that we talked about those inside guys, Hey, there might be some opportunities to attack because we didn't know what the tackle situation was really going to be, but we knew what was going to happen inside there. And the fact that they gave up some pressures I think was I think that's well on the whole defensive line. All right, boss man, something you didn't expect in the game, but you're now looking forward to in future games.
Cooper Bebie and it's I didn't expect him to not be as good in a certain area and what I watched when I when I went back and watched the game, one of the things I noticed was he was having an issue getting the second level what you mentioned, But it didn't seem like he was having an issue from the standpoint of it was overpowering him. It seemed like he was always a tick late exactly, which for me says that's about the speed of the game.
Figure that part out.
So I actually feel very optimistic that that will improve as time goes on.
He'll know the timing.
Of the game to know how quickly do I need to get out and into that second level in order to get to that spot before that guy can get there to actually make the block. And so I feel actually very optimistic, evenough I don't think he played well when it comes to run blocking from standpoint and getting a second level, I think it's it's very fixable.
How about you ag something you didn't expect, but now we're looking forward to in future games.
Well, not to repeat something that I mentioned, yesterday.
They do that.
But I would say the penalties on the offensive line, I mean that's something that I didn't expect it to be as clean as it was, given what we've seen in years prior, given what they were facing up against Tyler Gotten, what he had to deal with Miles Garrett. So yeah, I would say just playing a clean, cleaner game.
Nick, I would say to Marvin Overshown, And the reason I'm saying him specifically, we did not expect him to start on Sunday. Not only did he start, but he played the majority of that game. I only expected about twenty five to thirty snaps from him, and right now, my PFF is just like blowing up in my face. But I would anticipate that he had more than twenty five to thirty snaps in that game, and not only just him being present, but him being active as well, getting after the quarterback, getting after the running lanes, accounting for the flats. He's going to be really important for this defense whenever they go up against mobile quarterbacks. And that was on display against a Sean Watson, and he was the guy that was spying. He was the guy that was attacking Watson whenever he escaped the pocket. That's going to be really important when we're looking up here in twelve days in Lamar Jackson's in town.
Such a great Longhorn weekend, wasn't it.
It was phenomenal.
Your buddy, your buddy, Bryan's helping you here.
Thirty nine thirty nine, Thank you so much.
Yep.
So I was expecting twenty five to thirty yeah, and he ended up with thirty nine.
Five point seven. Playtime yeah on that, so yeah, big time, big time. A G.
How about this one?
Because I'm looking around for I want to make sure you get player you were most happy for in this win, and why h player you were most happy for in this win?
And why.
Player I was most happy for. I mean, there are many ask you the question happy for, but I'll give you one.
You're gonna steal mine already, know, No.
I think I think every answer. I think I would say dak okay, because because we know when the contract happened, I think that the timing of it, it could have gone really badly. You know, the game could have been better, for sure, they could have gotten to the end zone a lot more times, but just in general, him protecting the ball or not giving it up, creating, you know, throwing interceptions or things like that. I think that I was happy that the game turned out the way it did for him, because otherwise the conversation we it would have been a show.
Yeah.
So so I'm just I'm happy that he got his contract, and I'm happy that we're here. Just not talking about that anymore.
Nick Trayvon Diggs. Whenever he was coming out onto the field for pregame warm ups, he had tears in his eyes and it was one that was kind of leaking down his face. He shared a long embrace with Al Harrison pre game. I mean when I say long, it was forty five seconds to a minute thick for him. Do what, I'm glad you.
Like this?
Like this is going pretty long.
I was like, do they pull off as soon as they break contact or the Huggins.
That's a reporter right there.
You try, you try, I try sometimes, but yeah, And to see him get that interception late in the game, it was it was it was cool. I was really happy for him and just the journey that he's gone through over the last year. And I believe it was Mike McCarthy that mentioned it yesterday. Is there's dark days that you experience in that training room by yourself while your entire teammates are out playing, and you know, try to chase the Super Bowl. And he said that, you know that's the battle that Sam Williams is facing right now, and to see Trayvon Diggs have that type of return and not only impacts his own recovery, but he can go to Sam Williams and be like, look like, a year from now, it's gonna be you.
So yeah, Derek.
I'm gonna throw out Zeke Elliott.
And the reason why I throw him out is because I remember back during camp I tweeted one day. I tweeted that Zeke looks like he's a little more spry this year than he was the last time he's with the Cowboys, and I got killed, Like people were just like, oh, he's washed up whatever, And I'm not, by no stretch am I saying that Zeke Elliott is a Pro Bowl type running back. He's not the guy he was when he started in the NFL, which I think was in a phenomenal running back at that point. My point is I think he is. I think he's got some juice in his legs that I didn't necessarily see at the point when the Cowboys let him go, and we saw it on the first play when he just hurdled the guy and kept moving. This is one thing to hurdle a guy, but when you hurdle a guy and you can keep going right, that's really where you see the athleticism, right, and I saw it right there and average four yards to carry. I think if I as I watched, I went back and watched all the runs from the game, and one of the things I noticed was there were several runs and you mentioned yesterday with the o'dowdell didn't really get everything out of the play.
There was even that.
Play with Deuce Vaughan.
I think Deuce could have taken a little different route and there would have been more yards there. One thing I said about Zeke is on the vast majority of the runs I saw where he had the ball, he got everything out of the run that was there. Now you can say if he was faster, maybe he could have turned it into more.
That's fair.
The point is he got everything that was there. So his vision, yeah, his vision, his ability to move the crowd.
Which is what they brought him here for.
Like they brought him here because they wanted him to be able to fall forward, get those extra two or three yards that happened once you get tackled and get everything that's there. And so I think, all things considered, what the dirt that people threw on Zeke two years ago and were still throwing on him as a training camp, I think this game gave at least them room to pause to say, maybe Zeke's a little better than he was at the last point we saw him here.
How long was the hug Zeke and Dak after the touchdown?
Oh? I didn't time that. Oh okay, I can only win half of them.
I got one more question. You want to go to break and come back with it? Or let's go to break, we'll come back. I got one more you know, Actually, let's go and.
Do the question.
Let's question right, go ahead, Okay, I know. I'm good for you for not dividing this sing up.
Yeah, Nick better debut, Mike Zimmer, Eric Kendricks.
Oh man, that's a fun one. I would have to just go with Eric Hendricks. He was all over the place. When I identify who probably had the biggest impact defensively, I look at Michael Parsons, but because of the pressures that he generated on But when I look at that second level, the Browns were not able to get their running game going. And if you do not have Eric Hendricks in that game, that might Jerome Ford probably ends up instead of forty four yards, probably with about seventy. Eric Hendricks was right there filling running lanes, able to make an impact there. Like he was always in the right place at the right time. Not to take anything away from Mike Zimmer, because I think he schemed this game up perfectly.
Boss Man, you said, Zimmer or Kendricks, Zimmer or Kendricks. I would go with Zimmer just because I think all the way around, Kendricks had a great game. But so did it Overshown, So did Micah, so did so did Tank, so did Trayvon. You know, so you start looking at that and when everybody's having a really good game, I think part of that has to be the the what they're doing all just as a unit. And I think a lot of the problems that they were having that Cleveland was having offensively came from the fact that, as we talked about, like this defense is one you can't get a read on them, like they disguise things really well, and they make it really tough on quarterbacks. And I think especially in a first game of the season where teams don't necessarily know how you're going to play them because they don't have the film. They can go back and look at other Mike Zimmer defenses, but they don't know exactly how he's going to use these players.
And so you can buy it all those things.
I think it was a masterfully called game, and I would give it to Mike Zimmer a g.
I don't think it's fair to compare the two because very different jobs between the two, and I think they both excelled at what they had to do. But I will point out Mike Zimmer when this was before the game we got there. He starts walking out to the field and he had the smile, and the smile wasn't like a cocky smile. It wasn't like a clueless la la la la Land type of smile. It was just like, I'm here, let's do this. And it was very cute. And I can use that word because you see this guy that's so tough and so rigid and so straight that you hear about, but he's over here just walking so like it was just such a genuine happy yes.
Yes.
So it just had that feel again of Jesus, and it translated with everything that happened the rest of the game from beginning to end. So I'm just I was very happy for him and the turnout, and I think he's he's doing an excellent job so far.
You know.
I love that for him, just because that's the thing. Brian, one of those guys you're you're a lifer. You're a football lifer. You played college ball, you got into the NFL, you worked there for years.
Now you're covering the NFL like that.
That's your life, Like it's a part of your life. And it's like when that's gone, it just feels, I would guess it feels like there's a void there.
It is.
It is one of the one of the great things is you get to come to work here, you know what, you guys pick me up and stuff with dot Com and the radio side of It's been so I've had two careers, but yeah, you do. And I appreciate ambar mentioning. When you walk on that field, you you sometimes you take for granted, you know you're going to be out there again. And then when they take that away from you, then you're like, God, you miss it. You miss that competitive I'll tell you what I miss about being in Dallas Cowboys dot Com is being on the field with you guys and yelling.
At Giants fans and yelling at the Eagles fans.
They had some good moments and we had you know, it's I'm saying, but that's that competitive side of you. That's like the the the satisfaction of a job well done. And Mike Simber walked off there and Sody Kendricks, you know, walked off that field. Job well done by both the tool.
I have a next gen stat for you via the man Chris Beam of the back. Two point five to nine seconds was the length of the Zeke Jack run. Thanks.
I love that. I love that.
We got the best producer.
Questions, We're gonna take our final break, We'll come back and I'm going to actually talk about h I'm going to run through a list of guys who had their debuts or they were returning players, and how these guys give us their assessment of how those guys performed with back Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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Back to the break.
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Here all right, We're in the final segment of the break Life from that WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star presented by LG.
Here's what I want to do.
I'm going to run down a list of guys who Some of these guys we've talked about, but I really want you guys to focus in on. I'm going to give you a name, and I want you to tell me what was the best thing you liked about them in that game?
And what thing you think maybe they.
Need to improve upon in the in future weeks if there is that thing.
Some things we may say. I don't really necessarily know what I got, but let's just see, all right, let's start off for Eric Kendricks.
Eric Hendricks, So you're giving me one thing that I liked that he didn't, one thing he.
Loved, and one thing you think he could he can improve on going forward.
Okay, one thing that I loved is his command of the defense for sure. I mean just being able to be in communication with those guys at all times pre snap. I challenge viewers to go and watch Eric Kendricks in this game against the Saints, just because I know that he's going to take the same approach. Look at how much he is communicating the guy's pre snap and trying to get guys in the right place, and he takes that upon himself. Obviously, is the on field bridge between the Mike Zimmer system and the personnel that's in place. Eric Kendricks has assumed to be that. But he was doing that and then a little bit more. One thing, I guess hydration, right, he had to come out in the third quarter for a little bit head back to the locker room and grab an IV. So maybe they're a little bit more hyght.
Yeah, Sunday, I'm glad what you did there, because I was going to do the same thing. They had sixty six defensive snaps. He played forty seven of him. I'm like, I'd like for him to play.
All sixty six.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Going forward.
The thing that you have to like about him, though, is it Nick made a great point about the command of the defense, the ability to communicate.
Just how about the ability to get to the ball and tackle and make plays.
You know, he's blitzing on the on his interception, he's blitzing on the play. Parsons does a great job of blitzing and realize the ball is gonna come out quick, and he'll go up and now.
The ball's tipped. What is what does Kendricks do?
He runs and then turns back around and then finds the ball and gets you know, you're blitzing and now locate ball and then get the interception.
It's just that instinct, the awareness, football intelligence. You saw that when everywhere he's been, when you're watching with the Chargers, the way he was playing downhill, getting there making tackles always sees seems to be in the right spot. That's you gotta love that if your linebackers.
But like I said, yeah, the hydration play every snap and that that seems like the one thing he'll have to work on going forward.
Yeah, well, aside from his hair, not that he needs to work on. I'm saying the good things him. Who has better hair Kendricks for sure. You think it looks it looks more moisturized. Yeah, more, he has more hydration.
Hydration.
These are player guests on Thursday, every Thursday.
By the way, he was really good last week.
He's really good last I'll ask him about his hair.
He has a fun interview.
But yes, great hair. But I don't have much to say him needing to improve other than yes, we'd love to have him out there the whole time. But what I love about him is that so he's thirty two years old despite his age, his speed, I mean he's so fast, and his ball awareness everything, he's so aware. He doesn't means a bit my accent here.
We got a beat, yes, a beat, but.
Yeah, no, just his speed despite his age. He just he moves around so well.
All right, Jordan Phillips.
Jordan Phillips, Okay, this is what can I take this one?
Yes, absolutely, Jordan Phillips.
Okay, when I watch him, he got from the Giants, and when we were all together in Oxnard we kind of had shows and talking about Jordan Phillips. The addition what he means. When I watched Buffalo tape, saw a more active player. I know he didn't get a whole lot of snaps in this thing. I mean, let me look at that up. I got thirteen snaps is what it says here on my next Gen stuff. So with that being said, though, when he was with Buffalo, you saw the wide techniques, you saw the three techniques. You saw the up the field guy. You saw the guy destroying blockers. You saw the guy taking on Tyler Smith and having some success and then taking Beyondish and pushing him out of the way.
That's what I want to see with Jordan Philip. I want him to be able to be that guy that I was evaluating on.
Buffalo tape because I think that's the type of player he can be.
So that would be what do you need to work on thing.
I love the size, I love the ability to site when him and Linvo Joseph A standing next or playing next to each other.
That's wide.
You've got some like two win of bagos parked in there, you know, taking it, you know, And so I just I like that look. But I want to see more of that Buffalo Bill guy that was running against Tyron Smith and got a sack. Yeah, that's the guy I want to see.
Yeah. I think the thing that probably benefited this defense the most, and this is probably something that Jordan Phillips, just his presence brought more so than his ability, is Deshaun Watson was a little bit hesitant to throw across the middle of the field with those big arms in front of the ball. Yeah, and so I think that's just more so his presence being there. But I agree with you, Brian, he needs to get up field. I want to see him get up field. You know, in a game like this where you say, you know, the interior pressure was prevalent and this pass rush unit was getting after it. Okay, where's Jordan Phillips Because I want to see him be a part of that too, Because I think generating interior pressure when you look at the guys, when you look at the guys in that room that you would identify as someone who needs to come out. It's OsO number one, and then Jordan Phillips number two. And then we start talking about Mazi and Linval Joseph. But I want those guys to just focus on defending the run. But I would like to see Jordan Phillips get field for me.
Can I double it and pass it on to the next picture. I'm not even gonna lie. I'm not gonna make up anything other than that. I haven't gone back and seen him specifically point and analyze what he did in that game just yet.
Yeah, I will say this.
There was a play Nick and I were actually watching watching it in real time where Jordan Phillips and Linville Joseph were on to fill at the same time.
As early in the game.
And it was a run play, and you see I want to say it was Kendricks, I'm not sure there was a linebacker.
I think it was Kendricks. He just kind of slices around the right corner or a night in right corner.
It's like right.
Outside the tackle and just nice in and makes a tackle. And the beautiful part about it was the reason why he was able to do that is because that middle was just locked up. There was nothing the running back, he couldn't run forward. They're just weren't any options there. And I'm like, that's why they went and got those two guys, the two big bodies in the middle. When they get them to the point where they're playing, and again, let's remember neither one of them really were here for much.
Of training camp at all.
Neither one had really much of a training camp, So this is also kind of acclimating them to the Cowboys way of playing football, but also acclimating them back to football shape. But I think that all the way around, that play was what gave me confidence that when you get into December and you're playing teams that are trying to run.
The ball against you, that you can have a little beef there in the middle.
It forces them into situation when now you're running back. Your linebackers are just running and we know they can run, they're just running in filling gaps, running and filling gaps getting to the ball.
I love that about these two players.
Particularly well, how big he is. That's one of his main attributes. And if we go back to what happened last year and some of the issues that the Dallas defense was having was size. When it came to what they had going on on the field, we were often talking, well, they just need someone bigger, they need more size, and I think that's what they addressed with this guy like him, just putting him in there and just his presence makes a difference.
It's really amazing when you think about it.
We're talking about this off air, the amount of money or the amount of resources the Cowboys did not use this year in free agency, but for everything you talk about what you say, other than running back, arguably every position where you're.
Like, man, cowboy's got to get better here.
Like run defense, beef in the middle, linebackers that can run, get to the ball like they addressed them with basically very little if any money and just kind of filled it all in.
It started at the draft when we were when we were interviewing coaches and Will McLay others that were you know, it started there. The linebacker room had to change. And then before our eyes when we were an ox Nart the defensive tackle room changed. It went from being wow, okay, well you know we're going to try and Mozie and you know, and Rogers and that you know, here we go and and they're like, no, this ain't this ain't gonna work. We need to take opportunities to add and they give them credit for this, and a lot of times I feel like I don't give them enough credit. But their pro department this summer got after it. They're like, well, and the coaches and maybe Mike zimmer another said we have we've got to get better inside. We're not good enough to play this defense the way I want to play it in side, and Will and the pro guys went to work on that, and they and they were they in the last really two weeks of training camp. You know, they took a two week evaluation and then the last two weeks like, no, we got to fix this thing. And they went out and at least for week one it looked like a very apparent that they did the right thing.
Yeah, to the same point, when we were interviewing the scouts on the third day of the draft show, I can't remember which one said it, but somebody had identified the spine of the defense. And when you look at that, you look at the middle, you look at the defensive back point, you look at the defensive tackles position, you look at linebackers. You look at the safeties. Granted, I think they felt comfortable about the safeties, but it was more so those first two levels and addressing those two things. We look up September tenth. I think they've addressed those two things, no doubt.
All Right, we appreciate you guys, Jonas. We're back tomorrow. We'll start getting into our next matchup.
UH Brank often at the Saints offense and which put up a ton of points this last week. In Brian, wi'll tell us whether that was an aberration or not untill they kick Carrius and Brian brought us an AMMI see how Derek Eagleton. This has been the Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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