'Boys and Girl - Week 1 Rams Preview with NFL Network's Omar Ruiz; Beat Writer Jori Epstein on Dak's Contract Status, Opening Up About Mental Health

On today’s episode of the 'Boys and Girl Podcast, Jane and Bobby preview the Rams game with NFL Network reporter Omar Ruiz. Plus, Jori Epstein from USA Today stops by to discuss Dak Prescott’s contract status entering the 2020 season, and how he recently opened up about his mental health. Follow Jane and Bobby on Twitter and subscribe to get all the latest inside information from two of the most connected people in the Cowboys’ community.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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eight hundred flowers dot com. Slash tune in. Hello, Boys
and Girls, Welcome in to the Boys and Girl Podcast
with Cowboys NFL Network reporter Jane Slater and NFL Network

(00:42):
producer Bobby Bell, a Cowboys community with the inside scoop
on the Dallas Cowboys now coming straight to you from
the lone Star State. Here's Jane and Bobby. All right,
we finally got here. We are talking at Football Cowboys
Brands at Sofi Stadium on Sunday night. This is what

(01:05):
I'm looking forward to and when I've circled on my calendar.
Unfortunate that we have limited travel restrictions right now. At
the NFL Network, and I will not be there, but
that doesn't mean we won't have one of my colleagues,
Omar Ruiz, joining us here in a bit, just to
give us a sense of what fans can expect from
SOFI Stadium and this matchup from the Ramps viewpoint. But also,

(01:26):
I mean, there are some hot takes in sports, and
then there's some absurd ones, and justifiably so one of
those particular takes was a take by Skip Bayliss. We
of course you're here on Fox Sports Radio. He of
course is one of the co host on Undisputed, but

(01:46):
just such an irresponsible take that because Dak admitted in
a sit down interview with Graham Bensinger that he was
struggling with depression as relates to COVID and then the
death of his brother Jace, that he sought help and
that somehow that admission was a competitive disadvantaged for his

(02:06):
team and showed poor leaderships. So we'll dig in with
that with one of my favorite reporters on the beat,
Jerry Epstein with USA Today. Bobby, Yeah, excited to talk
to Jerry, really excited to talk to Omar. I gotta
say we're gonna preview this Rams Cowboys game. It doesn't
feel real yet, you know, this whole time, like leading
up to the season, that's there's been a little I

(02:29):
remember there was a time where it wasn't totally remembering
who the Cowboys were even opening against. Back in July,
I had to ask somebody was like, who did they
open this season? Because there's giants? Yeah, exactly. There's almost
just this disbelief that the season was even going to happen.
And so now that we've got one game under our
belt with the Chiefs and Texans and heading into this
game the Cowboys have against the Rams, it's just a
little surreal. It doesn't feel like we're quite there yet.

(02:51):
But I'm sure once you know, things kick off on
Sunday night, it won't take long for fans to adjust
and be, you know, just as ready to fire off.
There hot takes about fire McCarthy because they ran the ball.
They're like, you know, don't resign Dak because that's one
in completion. Now that'll all return to Twitter on Sunday night.
All Poor Deshaun Watson already got it after his performance

(03:14):
on Thursday. Man, Yeah, that was that was brutal but
I mean, you know, we'll we we have that to
look forward to next year. I guess with Dad if
if contract gets done, which will which I'm sure will,
but we'll have that discussion with Joy as well. I'm
excited to welcome in my Pro Bowl companion, my colleague
at NFL Network who also have its cover the Chargers

(03:34):
and the Rams out there in La It is Omar Ruise.
You can find him on Twitter at Omar d Ruise.
You have had an incredibly busy offseason, not only covering
sort of the ins and outs of Sofi Stadium and
its development. But congratulations. I already love your two daughters,
but you've added a third daughter. You're are the truest

(03:56):
of true girl dads. It's it's an amazing feet Jane.
You know, to go three for three there with the
girls and it is girl dad and it's our daily
lives are fascinating and that I'll take Isabella to the backyard.
We'll do batting practice. She gets excited about hitting home runs.
And then, without skipping a beat, I want to go

(04:17):
put my princess stress on now and then her and
Aviana will play with their Disney castle and they just
go seamlessly so girl dad for life and couldn't be
happier that Libya is, uh, you know, so loved on
by her two big sisters. It's been a it's been
a fun summer, you know, despite you know, all the
limitations that we had not being able to go out
and and you know, go to Disneyland. But if we

(04:39):
can bring a little Disneyland here, it's all good. You
guys are truly the best, and honestly, it's it's been
remarkable to watch you get some of that time because
you are one of our reporters that is typically so
incredibly mobile. I mean, I feel like you're always on
the road. But one of the stadiums that you've obviously
had an opportunity to check out so far as Sofi Stadium,
I mean at and T Stadium when it came to

(05:01):
be what it's almost now ten years or a little
bit over ten years now, was sort of the creme
de la crem And then of course we got the
vikings in that stadium, which is incredibly impressive. How impressive
is so far? It's unbelievable. It's almost surreal when you
look at the stadium, the site lines and you know,
I've been in there three times, maybe the last four

(05:22):
or five weeks, and every different vantage point is better
than the next. Every different luxury suite that we've been
introduced to is cooler than the previous one, which they're
calling bungalows, right, Yeah, bungalows and cabanas they have there.
We also took a trip into the owner's suite where
Stan Cronkie is going to have access to. It's leathered marble.

(05:44):
They call it straight from Italy in the bar and
eating area there, and yeah, so I mean it's cool,
but I think I think as luxurious as some of
it is for you know, the fans that are sitting
in what we used to consider the nosebleed seats, they
have a bandage point that is just as good as

(06:05):
any I've seen from the top of the stadium. So
they really made it accessible and advantageous for all the
fans there, which is really cool. But in talking one
of the designers and architects, they really look at stadium
designs before and after Jerry World, you know, the stadium
in Dallas really set the marker for what stadiums could

(06:27):
be and test the boundaries and limitations for these architects,
and I think Sofi Stadium really is a testament to
that and it's fascinating. Can't wait to see it, not
only with real competition on Sunday, but then when the
fans fill it up eventually what that'll look like too.
Before getting the matchup, I wanted to ask you so
we saw. I was actually texting our boss during the game,

(06:49):
Todd Sperry, and I said, is this the fake fan
noise or is this real fans? Because there were seventeen
seventeen point five thousand fans at the game last and
it sounded pretty good because at the Blue and White
scrimmage game we heard for the first time the fake noise,
which I joked was sort of like a mix between
a babbling brook meets a music fess without the music. Yeah,

(07:11):
it was just it's jarring. Had you heard it yet
at so Far because last night I'm told that was
actually real fan noise, that wasn't the fake fan noise.
So fans, especially Cowboys fans and Rams fans, you haven't
heard the fake fan noise yet? And of course it's
so Far No fans. Yeah, I haven't. I haven't heard it. There,
I know the Rams have been practicing with that steady

(07:33):
decibel level at eighty five, which is about ten decibel
levels more than what's going to be allowed. I think
it'll be in that seventy to seventy five range. And
Sean McVay hates it, you know, most most of the
Rams say it. It's annoying, and that relentless hume is
more annoying. But you know, obviously they're trying to be

(07:54):
respectful to cadence calls and audibles and all of this
and that trying to make it as as real as
possible given the limitations. But you know each team's prepping
for it. And and I too, Jane, I was impressed
with how loud the Chiefs fans were able to be.
I think a real testament to how loud they actually are.
Obviously one of the loudest venues in the NFL when

(08:18):
they have the stadium full, So to be that loud
and make such an impact, at least to the microphones
that were there on the field, that was certainly impressive.
So the Rams will take the field on Sunday with
a brand new highest paid player to this position, with
Jalen Ramsey getting the big deal. I guess that's the
first thing fans have been wandering about and chattering about,

(08:39):
and obviously teams are seemed to be a lot more
secretive this year leading up to the regular season, given
the limited access that is allowed at practice and things
like that across the league. So what's your anticipation. Do
you think Jalen Ramsey is trailing Amari Cooper most the
game or are they just gonna let him play a
certain side. Yeah, I would expect him to line up everywhere.

(09:00):
I think the focus of Brandon Staley, the new defensive
coordinator for the Rams, is to involve Jalen Ramsey as
a playmaker, to sort of transcend that lockdown corner, that
playmaking dB. I think what we've seen over the years
is whenever you have a dominant shutdown corner that takes
away one half of the side that that's exactly what

(09:22):
he does, and then the offense just sort of curtails
their attack to the other side. Well, you're taking, you know,
one of your best players out of the game plan,
and obviously that's by design. So I think what the
Rams want to do is just put Ramsey in a
position to make plays and to not just shut down
one half, but really have him be an aggressive playmaker.
And I think that's a testament to his skill set.

(09:44):
It's also a testament to the trust and the faith
that they have in John Johnson back there at Safety
and the freedom that his knowledge and his leadership not
necessarily household name yet but but for Rams fans, they
certainly know about him and all the impact he made
in that Super Bowl run a couple of seasons ago,
coming off an injury. But I think having the trust

(10:06):
and ability of him will allow them to have Jalen
Ramsey rome, whether it's trailing Amari, whether it's taking one
half of the fuel, I think we'll see Ramsey using
a variety of ways. With that being said, the Cowboys
do you know, obviously one of the least best offenses
last year and that was without a guy like Ceedee
Lamb and the use of Plate Jarwin, which a lot

(10:27):
of people argued should have been on the field more
in the place of Jason Witten. How do you see
them schematically trying to attack this offense? And you know,
we've joked let's pick your poison with the Cowboys, But
when you look at sort of the scouting reports and
just the thoughts on Ceedee Lamb and what he's been
able to do. And of course you've got a guy
like Mike McCarthy who spent a year away from the

(10:48):
game studying a lot of what Sean McVay and that
what he was doing. How do you see them schematically
trying to defend this Cowboys offense. It's a great question.
I think, you know, kind of to Bob point, you
know how secretive they've tried to be. I think they're
going to be aggressive. I think that's one of you know,
Staley's tenants is you know, how aggressive, how attacking he

(11:13):
wants that defense to be as opposed to reactive in nature.
And so I think, you know, the question for the
Rams heading in is you know how much of it
is going to be still Kellen Moore, how much of
it is going to be Mike McCarthy. McVey even you know,
talked about Joe Philbin and his influence in that building

(11:35):
on that offense so um and talking to McVay last week,
he told me, listen, we don't want to overthink it.
You know, obviously we don't have the preseason, we don't
have any sort of indication or clue. It sounds a
lot like an approach you'd hear from a team at
the Super Bowl, and you know, they'd lay out the
game plan that first week, and then they get to

(11:56):
the second week. They they do their practice, they do
their walk throughs, but then they start telling themselves, you
don't want to overthink it because we have been preparing
this for two weeks. Obviously, they've been preparing since the
schedule came out for the Cowboys. They don't want to
overthink it at this point. And I think they're big focus,
aside from the newness of this Cowboys offense, is their
newness within that defense and how they're going to play,

(12:19):
and they want to sort of be focused on for
the first time playing together in that Brandon Staley offense,
to be one focused on what they do well. Let
Aaron Donald, you know, do what he does best and
be disruptive everywhere. Jalen Ramsey in that role that we
talked about, you know just how multifaceted that will be

(12:39):
and communicative with each other with all the different calls
that they're going to have, so um, they're sort of
prepared for everything from the Cowboys standpoint, while focused on
being the best they can be here in their debut
with a new defensive coordinator. The biggest change outside of
obviously you know you've got new defensive coordinator. There no

(13:00):
Dante Fowler anymore. The Cowboys will see John Johnson this time.
They did not see him in the last game last
year where Dallas kind of took us to the Rams
in that one. But the biggest difference from the last
several years will be there's no Todd Gurley in this offense.
There's no Todd Gurley to game plan from Dallas's side.
It's going to be a sort of a three headed monster,
is what it sounds like. Doing the running back by committee.

(13:22):
Malcolm Brown, their second round pick, Cam Akers, and then
Daryl Williams, who they or Darryl Henderson who they took
him the third round in twenty nineteen, who's been dealing
with a hamstring thing this week, but apparently it's been
a full participant. How different do you think the offense
will look with no Todd Gurley? Is it just going
to be there's gonna be a rotation of personnel acting

(13:43):
as if the way they use Todd Gurley or are
they going to change the way they use the running
back now that they don't have him, Well, I would
expect cam Acres to kind of, you know, take that
step here at least early on, given what you mentioned
with Darryl Henderson and kind of nursing that hamstring throughout
training camp. Yeah, I expect him to play on Sunday,
But the fact that he has really been inactive the

(14:04):
last couple of weeks in practice and cam Akers in
his own right has been impressive since they started the
virtual training And I think, you know, one of the
anecdote and talking to RAMS coaches is that when rookies
get into the building and they're in those huge group
meetings in the auditorium or maybe the giant classroom, rookies

(14:26):
might be a little intimidated to express themselves, to ask questions.
They don't want to sound dumb in front of their
veteran teammates. But with the zoom structure in OTAs and
the virtual offseason, maybe that wasn't there. You know, that
that sort of you know, shyness for rookies weren't there.
And cam Akers was one of those players who from

(14:46):
the get was just you know, engaged asking questions. From
a mental standpoint, trying to get as much out of
that virtual off season as he could, and so that
certainly was reflective on how he looked there on the
field once they hit the ground running and gotten too
the physical training camp here during August. So he's been
impressive at every marker, and that's included you know, how

(15:07):
he's played the physicality that they drafted him for. So
all that said, I would expect him to be the
lead dog amongst that running back by committee. And I
know in years past they sort of structured, you know,
they're blocking schemes and everything too Gurley's skill set, but
it might have been a little different than what McVeigh

(15:28):
used to run in Washington. Now, obviously this is year
four for him, and so his offense has evolved anyway,
and I would expect it to evolve once again based
on what these three running backs can do versus what
Todd Gurley brought to the table in his own right.
One last question before we let you go, as comprehensive
as that was, mine has something to do with HBO

(15:49):
and Hard Knocks. One of my favorite series that we
had in Dallas was All or Nothing and sort of
getting the behind the scenes because even as a reporter,
you see a lot and you hear a lot, but
you're not always, you know, behind closed doors. Especially this year,
I felt like while we didn't get those amazing like
off the field storylines, how interesting was it for you

(16:10):
just to see what was going on as it related
to COVID when training camp opened up, and stuff that
we weren't able to see because we're not allowed in
these facilities or at training camp to watch practice. Absolutely fascinating.
It's a really good point. And I think one of
my big takeaways from that Hard Knocks experience in watching
the behind the scenes of Andrew Whitworth and Aaron Donald

(16:32):
and Jalen Ramsey, all these guys that we hear all
the time what great leaders they are, and Sean McVay
always says, your best players are your best people and
all that. To see that on display, even without COVID
and those limitations, we don't really get to see that
behind the scenes tutelage that these veterans offer the younger

(16:53):
players and the time they spent after practice showing them
how to you know, develop their technique and to get
better as players and as people. And we saw Andrew
Whitworth doing that with some of the younger linemen. We
saw Jalen Ramsey doing that with Van Jefferson, who's you know,
kind of gone through the roof here with his expectations
and training camp. So yeah, that was really neat. And

(17:16):
and Aaron Donald I think, you know, they've they've run
out of words to describe him here in LA and
really in the NFL. The other day, Sean McBay says,
every day in practice he does something, says, you know,
totally believe, you know, because you know, he is so
impressive every single day, and you know that leadership that

(17:36):
he showed in Hard Knocks in addition to the all
the physical stuff and the mental side of the game
that he has command of, it's all so impressive. So
but it was a good point, uh, you know that
you brought up with the Hard Knocks and all the
behind the scenes stuff that we don't don't normally have
access to, which was really cool. Well you are impressive,
my friend. So is your wife, asked Louise. But behind

(17:59):
every good man as a very impressive woman. My still
favorite was the fact that we went to Pro Bowl
last year. We had to get on the Mandalorian, which
was the most ethnic ride, and she got to the
park with us at six o'clock in the morning while
she was heavily pregnant. I'm really disappointed that you didn't
go with Coovita as the name for your child. We've

(18:19):
discussed that Vita Quarantina, Covina Quarantina because we're gonna go
with but I just she's such a boss. I mean
she literally we didn't wrap that day until midnight, and
then we still ended up doing TV the next day.
I mean, you guys, the best family, one of the
best colleagues. Thanks for joining the show. Well, we couldn't
have done it without you, Jane kind of pushing us

(18:40):
and you know, making sure we were inspired by Baby Yoda.
And yeah, thanks for telling me that season two Mandalorian
was coming out. I showed the girls your message. They
were so excited to hear that, you know, Baby Yoda
will be back, but then so disappointed. You know, kids,
they don't know what a month and a half you
weight's going to be for that. So I said, right

(19:00):
for Halloween, So we have an extra special you know
Halloween this year with season two a Mandalorian. And how
about the admission before I let you go because we
geek out so much on Star Wars that that the
one was just gonna be a puppet that they didn't
know how much they were going to use and how
much he was going to be making an impact on
the Mandalorian And now he's gonna be a focal point.

(19:21):
How much did I try to find just merch while
I was at It's unbelievable, how you know, sometimes you know,
the best circumstances are out of pure luck, and you know,
you can plan, and they can do marketing and the
testing of all this, but until they actually you know,
put a show out there and put a character out there.
How he just exploded and became maybe the more one

(19:42):
of the more talked about characters in all of pop culture,
you know, this last couple of years and we've seen
him kind of you know in sports, you know, with
being a little mascot for teams and and you know,
for us, we love him, not only you know, uh,
the new generation of Star Wars fans like my d
but even us you have a great appreciation for, you know,

(20:03):
a little baby Yoda. So yeah, it's pretty pretty wild
that he was just going to be a side character.
And now, oh you know he's the star. Nobody puts
my baby in a corner. The most psychonic star wars character.
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(21:51):
are now joined by a superstar reporter, Jerry Epstein with
USA Today. You can find her at Jerry Epstein, a
Universe of Texas alumna and someone who has moved through
the ranks so quick on this Dallas beat by virtue
of you do such a good job of really connecting
with these players, story, your relentless relationships with them, or

(22:13):
something that I've always stood out to me. And you're
one of those on the beat that has this dynamic
relationship with Dak. I get this instant. Dak really trust you.
Have you talked to Dak about some of these comments
that have come out in the wake of his admission
of dealing with depression and the loss of his brother jas. Yeah,
I mean specifically when it relates to Jason, more so

(22:34):
in the group setting that we've all been into. But
I think that his line has pretty much been the same,
and we've just seen Dak everything one at a time.
I mean, it doesn't matter if it's his contract, losing
his moming, his brother, it doesn't matter what goes wrong.
He just owns it. And that was why it was
almost a little bit ironic that someone could say, like, oh,
he's being vulnerable, that's signed weakness, because if you know Dak,

(22:56):
you know that anytime he has adversity, he transforms it
into a strength. Whether it's oh my mom died of cancer, Well,
now I'm going to help find cancer research. I'm trying
to think of all the other example. Oh, I'm biracial
and my parents have this like tricky history, Well why
don't I go help improve trust in law enforcement now?
And it's just like, no matter what it is, he
processes it and then takes it to the next level

(23:16):
to help other people with his adversity. And I think
that's what he's doing here, and I mean it was refreshing.
We're recording this on Friday to see Mike McCarthy and
Jerry Jones support that, because again, I haven't been in
the industry that long, but ten twenty years ago, you're
not seeing this type of honesty and vulnerability owned in
the same way. And one more thing I would add
is when you're like, oh, what are his teammate's going

(23:37):
to think of him? Well, when someone says that, I
think of Michael Gallup, who eighteen months prior to DAK
also lost a brother to suicide. And if you're Michael Gallup,
do you know how much it means to you that
now you know this is how someone can own their pain.
And Michael owned his two So I just thought that
he handled it with grace. But that's no surprise, you
know what. Though, just to add on that jury, I
thought what was fascinating about it is some of us

(23:59):
knew about this early on and chose not to report it.
And I had reached out to him the particular day
that that news had broke, and I could tell he
was not okay, and I had heard he wasn't okay.
We don't typically hear him say he's not okay. I mean,
when we think about what he went through his rookie year,
and the way that people have talked about the nuances

(24:21):
of this contract and what he deserves or doesn't deserves.
I pointed out today on NFL Network, he has such
an amazing ability to just compartmentalize everything. So to hear
him actually say I'm struggling with this, I thought it
was big. And I think more importantly, people didn't really
listen to all everything that he said, as typically we

(24:41):
don't in this age of Twitter and social media. He
talked about how Jase was the primary caregiver of his
mother Peggy, and all of the medication he had to
give her and watching her get sick, and how he
internalized that and probably didn't talk about that enough. And
what I got a sense was Dak realizing how destructive
that can be. And so it just the whole thing.

(25:05):
I just I can't even imagine somebody taking that position. Bobby.
I don't know your thoughts on this, but it almost
feels not that it's look, I get the bag on Skip.
It's been well documented. I couldn't believe how much just
the nightly news anchors went in on Skip last night
on the ten o'clock news I don't know if any

(25:25):
of you guys watched that, and of course we are
on Fox Sports Radio, but it just felt like such
an interesting take that it makes you want her is
was there something in his own personal life that had
Skip go to that place? It just it was an
odd It was an odd take to have that an

(25:45):
opposing defense would weaponize this. It gets a player and
that's why you have a problem with it. Well, and
to basically frame it as not just you know, he
had a problem with the way it was dealt with
or whatever talking about Skip Bayliss's reaction to it, but
to frame it under as if it's a leadership issue
is what was really weird to me because I think
anybody who and this was repeated by a ton of

(26:08):
people on Thursday, that there are so many criticisms that
you can try to level against Dak Prescott, some of
them legitimate, some of them not, some of them up
for debate, but it realistically, the one area where you
can never question is leadership ability. The way guys follow him,
the way guys gravitate towards him, and the way he
can kind of cultivate, you know, everybody's different personalities together

(26:30):
and you know, press forward, and so it just it
was odd on that front, mainly to me. I mean,
it was ignorant in general what he said, But to me,
it was like, you know, this just seems like something
that you're you're trying to frame in a certain way
for whatever talking points you needed, for whatever content you need,
and it's just it's verifiably false the implications that he

(26:53):
derived from it. Yeah, the logic to me is so
asked backwards. That's like saying, because Matthew Stafford and his wife,
remember when Kelly was going through some of her issues,
because they talked about that a posy defense, they're going
to weaponize effect that his wife is dealing with what
was it a brain tumor that she had to that ship.
No one would ever say that. Well, that's why I

(27:14):
asked Dad yesterday. I'm like, I'm like, you're so good
at blocking out the outside noise, but I think we
need to distinguish between that and the voices inside our head.
Because it's not that Dak saying like, oh, someone said
something to me and I'm going to fold now. It's no,
this is real, and mental illness is real. Dak has
dealt with a lot of trauma in his life, and
even though I mean, there's nothing credible about the criticism
that was there, but it's not that Dak is saying, oh,

(27:37):
and I was sad, so now I'm not going to
go help my team. He is actually kind of the
opposite that he loves just rising to the occasion and
being there and in quarantine, there were fewer opportunities to
do that, which led to this. And then there's just
the whole kind of like eerie part that this is
happening a couple of days before Jace shoots himself and
then Dak has his best night of sleep of twenty
twenty and wakes up to his dad and his best

(27:58):
friends in his room telling him like, Jase is dead.
And I mean, I had obviously nowhere near the amount
of interaction with Jase that Dack died, but a few
times I didn't meet him. I mean, he's just it
was such a sweet teddy bear. I remember I was
in hot and in Dak's hometown. He was doing his
camp back there, and I had driven over to the
other part of campus to go in because Dak was
speaking and I'm like having trouble backing out my car,

(28:21):
and all of a sudden, someone comes up to me
and they're like, hey, do you want some help, And
it's Jase directing me backing out my car, and it's
just like those things that like this is his brother's camp.
He doesn't. We didn't know each other that well. But
whether it's that or texting back about like the little
ways they would compete about the stories, or I think
I galli last year I left my note It was
actually funny. I'd like reached, asked them for something, wrote
it in a notebook, and then left it in the

(28:41):
bathroom class absent minded me and like the Dak's brothers
bring it back to me, they're like, oh, I think
you forgot this, and it's just like that to me.
It's those little moments when I'm like, this is who
they are. They're all just so down to earth and
that's why when they show this vulnerability, it's like, no,
we want to confront this because we're not going to
let us stop this, and in order for it to
not stop us, we need to get help. And that's

(29:02):
what Dad did well. And I just what I hated
the most. It sort of broke my heart yesterday when
he said I got the help that I needed, and
I dealt with it. You don't just deal with that stuff,
you know, like you don't deal with the fact, especially
when you know you made a promise to your dying
mother that you guys were going to look out for
each other. And I've got to think that there's you know,

(29:24):
parts of Dak that hate that he wasn't able to
convince him otherwise, or that he didn't have an idea
that that was going on in his head. And I mean,
that's that messes with somebody. And we've all dealt with
moments of depression and second guessing ourselves in isolation and
with COVID, and so I can't even imagine what that's
now like on a whole nother level. It's just I mean,

(29:46):
we could talk about this for hours, but I know, Joy,
you also have a good relationship with Dak. I say
this often. He's worthy of your applause. There are so
many people I say you really should never meet heroes,
they will disappoint you. Dak has literally just impressed me

(30:06):
time and time again, starting from the Tommies, where he
just he's never changed and he literally never attacks people,
goes after them sometimes I wish he would defend himself
a little bit more, But even on this subject yes yesterday,
when he was asked about it didn't go there. And
so it's just I just have such an immense respect
for him, and I think it it says a lot

(30:28):
about the way he's touched other people, the way people
came to his defense, Like there was such a visceral
reaction yesterday as there should have been. Oh when I
saw Kevin Love tweeting like Dak saved lives, Today's like
that got to me because I remember seeing when these
NBA players really started opening up about their mental health
and it was one so powerful, but two, we know

(30:49):
that the NBA and NFL are a little bit different
levels of progressive, and it just not that no players
in the NFL had said something, but it was interesting
whether it would become a culture, and I think we
saw the felt take a step in that direction yesterday.
And it's just like it was simultaneously amazing to see
Dak be a part of it, and yet in the
moment it just felt so normal because he does these

(31:10):
things so often that like I have to step back
and be like, wait, yesterday, not everyone was saying this
or yesterday. All these sportscasters, athletes, this and that weren't
talking to us about I mean, even todd Art trou
on Our Beat tweeted about it how it might have
been Dak's finest day on the beat because he's still
dealing with losing a friend to suicide three years ago
and he's like, you don't get over that, And it
was just like the type of conversations we had yesterday.

(31:33):
It was a whole other level. And it made me
so grateful to cover a player like Dak, because, yeah,
we liked the game of football, but I wasn't like, oh,
May and three days till the game, and we didn't
get a lot about what the receivers are going to
do when they all get out there. No, this is
what we do. We get to use our platform and
it starts so sports not ends there. And it was
amazing to have Dak participate in that movement. You know,

(31:54):
That's the thing that I think is most interesting about
Dak Prescott is that, you know, we talk about what
a leader he is and the way he handles himself
and how he's remained true to himself, but there's a
particular focus within the building for the Cowboys, to make
sure that guys who come here understand what it means
to be a Dallas Cowboy, the optics of being a

(32:15):
Dallas Cowboy, the weight of that star, and things like that.
And that's the thing that I think has always been
most and you've heard Stephen Jones and Cherry Jones and
other people reference this consistently, which is he knows how
to handle himself. The quarterback position on any team has
that kind of pressure on it, but then you you know, extrapolate,
you know, you double triple whatever it, making it the

(32:35):
quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. And he has just been
so uniquely equipped to handling those sort of things that
are not always easy to handle. And it is one
of the things that they always point to when they
talk about keeping him long term, and to that point,
talking about keeping him long terms, shifting just a little
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(33:20):
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(33:42):
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here outside the Perez family home, just waiting for them.
And there they go, almost on time. This morning. Mom

(34:02):
is coming out the front door strong with a double
armed kid carry looks like dad has the bags. Daughter
is bringing up the rear. Oh but the diaper bag
wasn't closed. Diapers and toys are everywhere. Ooh but mom
has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle for the toddler.
And now the eldest daughter, who looks to be about

(34:23):
nine or ten has secured herself in the booster seat.
Dad zips the bag clothes and they're off. Ah, but
looks like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is still
on the roof of the car and there it goes. Ah.
That's a shame that mug was a fam favorite. Don't
sweat the small stuff, just nail the big stuff, like
making sure your kids are buckle correctly in the right

(34:44):
seat for their agent's eyes. Learn more at NHTSA dot
gov slash the Right Seat. Visits NHTSA dot gov slash
the Right Seat, brought to you by NITZA and the
ad Council. You know you do have that good relationship
with Dak. We've all heard the conversations about how the
contract negotiations went and his future here, and Jerry's saying
this week, you know, he's our guy. We want him here.

(35:05):
That's now, that's for the future. What's your best guess
as to why this didn't get done? This off? See?
Why are we still sitting here on the franchise tag.
Is this strictly you think about negotiations and differences in
dollar figures and contract links or is there somebody here
on either side who's a little you know, wants to
slow play this a little bit, isn't exactly ready for

(35:27):
the long term commitment to the other, you bet. I
think it's interesting because I'm certainly no billionaire like the Joneses,
and so I think you got to respect their business
acumen and that Jerry likes to go against the grain,
and maybe that's what he's trying to do here. But
then you hear Dax say, well, it's not that oh,
thirty five, thirty six, whatever it is. It's it's not
so much about the money as it is the respect
factor of I've done everything you've asked of me on

(35:50):
an off field. Okay, has he gotten to a Super Bowl? No?
Have most quarterbacks in the league. No. But he wants
to be paid fair market value to show that the
Joneses respect what he's done. And it is actually funny
in that sit down with Bensinger the time I saw
him get a little chip views when they asked about
Jerry backing Romo in the middle of his rookie year,
and it almost kind of like the way he responded
to it, I felt like was so apt for now

(36:11):
because it's like, Darry respect me and again I think
that I think that's where Dak's coming from. But I
will say no question to me. Do I think that
Dak wants to play for the Cowboys? And I do believe,
although they're not putting their money where their mouth is,
that the Cowboys want back to be their quarterback and
get what they have. But I did start to wonder
a little bit after I didn't get done this year

(36:34):
what was going on. And I know we all know
the status since the franchise tag was implemented in nineteen
ninety three, no quarterback has played on that tag and
then stayed with the team that drafted them. That's your
Dac was born. I mean, like in his lifetime, this
hasn't happened. But then it was funny. I was zooming
with Dak and Zeke this week through one of their
Tostitos commercials, and I asked Dac about the Deshaun contract
and he kind of smiled and was like, I'm not

(36:55):
going to say I'm always right, but I'm confident in
what I'm doing. And then I asked Zeke what would
it be like to play in this offense without Dak?
And Zeke was like, no, no way, like it's not happening.
I'm going to fight for my guy. I mean it
was it was the emotion, like it wasn't so much
the words, but just the way he said it. And
then we go three or four more questions later, and
then Dak is talking about Zeke and how he helps

(37:16):
him on the field and just brings it back to
it like I'm not even asking Dak that question, and
Dad goes and like Zeke said, like like we're in
it for the long haul together, et cetera. And then
you pair that with he's moved to his family to
North Texas. I do think they're going to figure it out,
but I didn't think it would take this long. How
about you guys. I mean, Jory and I have talked
about my read on this thing. There's been some dispute

(37:39):
about that the eleventh hour phone call, but Stephen Jones
is confirmed that publicly that there was this eleventh hour push.
I got the sense that Dak wanted to get a
deal done, and I think you've got to trust the
wisdom of your agent and the guy. That's that's what
he does. What Dak is so good about is staying
in his lane, right, Like I don't feel like he
ever tries to be something he's not. And then this situation,

(38:00):
it was relying on Todd France to do his job.
I think they just played chicken a little bit too
late in the game. And I think ultimately, the way
it was described to me, they just couldn't get the
deal done. I don't think there was a lack of
a desire there. But to be fair, the Cowboys could
have they've never done something before. The best way to

(38:22):
show respect to your players, do something you've never done before.
Give him the four year contract and the forty million
dollars a year. Liked Deshaun Watson, who was a similar resume.
So look, I think egos, oh yeah, involved, not in Dax,
but yeah, that's my point. I think egos got involved here.
And I think what was driving me nuts about the
narrative that was out there was that it was Dak's

(38:44):
ego and Dak wanted the money. I mean, Dak was
just talking. I mean, Dak has told us he wasn't
a hole. He was depressed during all of this, like
he was sports psychologist about stuff that had nothing to
do with that contract. I don't believe he was sitting
there marinating the money. He was worried about other things,
but he allowed his agent to handle these negotiations. And

(39:06):
I do believe that some egos on both sides. Mind
you got involved. The Cowboys are used to you picking
up the phone as we sold it to Marcus Lawrence
and even Rocky Arseno Zeke's agent at the eleventh hour
to get stuff done. Now, when when I stay eleventh hour,
it's for five hours or a day before the deadline,
not what was characterized to me as it was either

(39:27):
it was definitely two hours away from the deadline. I
heard one hour, so I'll leave it at that. So
I think that that is the unfortunate part of it,
because I do believe that I was even until Dak
was advised not to sign the franchise tag because they
wanted a bargaining chip, and Dak was the one that said, Nope,

(39:48):
I want to sign this franchise tag. He wants to
be here. So I think that's what's unfortunate. But I
think it's helped that they've waited a year because now
we're seeing what the Patrick Mahomes contracted and with the
Deshaun Watson contracted, So I mean he stands to make
thirty seven and a half on the franchise tag. Why
wouldn't the Cowboys pay him at least forty million dollars
next year? And here's the curious thing to me is

(40:11):
that we consistently heard going back to last summer when
he became available to be able to negotiate an extension,
rules allowed him to do. So there was the stock
of okay, get it done before wentson goth and then
those got done, and then it was okay, we'll just
get it done before Watson and Mahomes next off season,
and then Watson and Mahomes. Now we're looking at, okay,
get it done next off season early enough that you're
not competing against you know, raining MVP Lamar Jackson's deal,

(40:34):
and who knows how Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield and
Sam Darnold and these guys are going to grow this
year and then you'll be competing against those and this
market just continues to go up, and then you're competing
against a TV deal. My thing is is that when
you look at the big extensions they've done, they have
not really I don't think one one. I don't think
people would say the Cowboys have won a big extension
since Tyrant Smith, which is six years ago. And I

(40:56):
don't know why this is the one at the most
important position. This is the one that they're really trying
to dig in and win. I truly believe if he
had a different agent, it would have gotten done. I
think serious, that's probably part of it. The Cowboy I've
said this before and here the Cowboys I know have
said privately before to people that that is one of
their least favorite agents to deal with. And when I

(41:18):
think at the time, when I think of two things,
One a statu I saw this week with since the
beginning of April twenty nineteen, seven quarterbacks have signed new
deals that average at least thirty two million dollars a year.
And obviously we're seeing thirty two, thirty three, thirty five,
thirty nine, forty five or whatever Mahomes is at, so
it's going up. And then I think about training camp
twenty nineteen and around September twenty nineteen, as we all know,

(41:40):
is when Stephen says that's the closest they were, like
right as that season started, they thought they were going
to get there. And Stephen saying in training camp we're
damn sure not resetting the market. And then what do
you know, they reset the market with Zeke and although
a Maria, I get that, there's not after two years
the max value. They reset the market there, So I
don't know. It's like, on one hand they those guys

(42:02):
but picked up but the agents and all of those situations,
Jury picked up the phone. They had no communication with
Todd France, right, I know this is not very quiet,
like everyone is fascinated by that. I'm like, there was
no communication. So I think you got h for lack
of a better word, a little pe match between the

(42:23):
two and I think they ended up both suffering quite frankly.
But unfortunately the person who suffered the most is Dak.
And you hope that Dak doesn't get injured this year.
Obviously he's got insurance and all of those things. But
if there was ever a player, to your point, Jory,
that deserved to get overpaid, it was that guy, right
I do. I want to put a hypothetical out there
for you guys, and I'm not putting this on Zeke.

(42:45):
This is just his agent being smart. Zeke gets gets
paid two years ahead of time, which if you look
at what happened with Todd Gurley, and you look at
what happened with m Leonard Fournette. He probably would not
have gotten that contract if he'd tried to negotiate this
year or next year, right, Ye, if is there in
any way of possibility that because that happened, that that

(43:09):
hurt the leverage Dak had and would Dak had been
more successful if he'd actually done what Zeke did and
hold out last summer with me. Yeah, I mean squeaky Wheel.
I respect Dak for not doing it well. I mean, yeah,
Squeaky Wheel gets the oil. So yeah, Zeke holds out too.
I'm not having shoulder surgery until you get exactly there.
There are certain aspects off, and maybe that's where Dak

(43:32):
misplayed it a little bit, as we heard consistently Dak
saying that, you know, I believe we're going to get
it done. You know, I believe in my agent and
I believe in the Cowboys that they're going to get
this done. And and you know, this will be a
fair deal for everyone. And now he's talking about you know,
respect and things like that. Yeah, I do too. I
personally feel like he needed to say that sooner because

(43:54):
if you listen to DeMarcus Ware and you listened to
even Ezekiel Elliott, they talked about why they should get
paid more, right as Dak just always respectfully. And this
goes back to even our conversation that we start with.
He never ever comes out and blast people. He and
sometimes I want him to come out in defense of
himself sometimes even right, And so I just that's I

(44:17):
think that's the one thing. I just feel like, if
he'd played a little bit more hardball, and if he
either had a different agent or an agent that picked
up the phone the way that that Canter did, the
way that Rocky Arsenal did, there's a level with the
cowboys where they sort of want you to bend the
knee a little bit. They do, yeah, and and like
I say, in other instances, they end out losing. You know,

(44:40):
they lose with DeMarcus Lawrence, they lose with Ezekiel Elliott,
you know, Jalen Smith as a deal they probably aren't
totally thrilled with at this moment. Maybe that changes if
he you know, turns things around this year. And so
it's just odd that the only the only other time
Cooper's deal, Yeah, the only other time we've ever seen
a team handle their quarterback situation and their franchise quarterback

(45:01):
situation in recent history. The same way was Washington and
that is one of the most dysfunctional franchises in this league.
And there's not a single way I think you'd want
to be compared to Washington after this entire summer. And
yet that's who Dallas operated like. And it's like, man,
that's that's a culture of losing that has taken place
in Washington for so long that it's just it's fascinating

(45:22):
that that's the way, that's the route you take. With
that being said too, though, just to play devil's advocate here,
they offered him thirty four and a half a year
plus one hundred and ten million dollars guaranteed, is what
I was told. That's like right around the Russell Wilson,
Jared Goff And when you look at all the pieces
there that they've got around deck, those are pieces that

(45:43):
guys like Russell Wilson don't have, and guys like Alex
Smith certainly didn't have. I do agree there is this
notion that you can't go to a Super Bowl if
you're overpaying at certain positions. Now I agree that it's
like not my problem the way that DeMarcus Lawrence said
a couple of years ago. I get that logic in
that frustration, but I do understand that this year there

(46:05):
was a number that they could get up to if
they wanted to keep all of these moving parts here.
And I do believe, and I don't think it's a
fair logic, But I look at Amari Cooper and his deal,
and he is literally downtown decorating one of the high
rises with his gatorade spot. Like, there are endorsements that
come to you when you are especially the quarterback of

(46:26):
the Cowboys, but even more importantly the quarterback of a
Super Bowl winning Cowboy. And again, I don't think it's
fair to say we're going to short change you here
to get this done, or you should give a hometown discount.
But I do see some of the sides there. I
just think they both I think Dak hit the nail
on the head the other day. Both sides are going
to have to give a little bit. Sure, And yeah,

(46:46):
I think that just I think that's a exactly where
we're at. But I would also guess that on Todd
France's side, or whoever, would be the negotiator on Dak's side,
which you remember we talked about the deal with David Canter.
David Canter says, well, boys, fans can hit me too.
If I was Dak's agent, I would have told them
go jump in the lake too, and he and he
says that, you know, I think that when it comes

(47:07):
to quarterbacks, those things don't move the needle for them.
Look at sponsorship opportunity because you can point to Aaron
Rodgers and say Aaron Rodgers is on national commercials in
the smallest market in the NFL, and if you are
a star quarterback, you'll get those opportunities regardless. And so
that's why it may be harder for Dallas to sell
a guy like Dak on those But Georgy, go ahead.
I know I interrupted you there, Oh no, you're good. Yeah,
And I mean again, I heard a little bit different numbers,

(47:29):
but as we always know, there's at least three sides
to every set numbers. Where you told Joy, I need
to look back at my notes, but it was not
thirty four and a half a year certainly the whole
and I think we're probably agreeing with that. It's like
five years versus four years, but like I want to say,
it was much closer to like that thirty three goff range.
It wasn't more than goff and it wasn't going to
be for four years for the average the guarantees like that.

(47:54):
That was kind of a sticking point that I heard,
is that which you have Goffin once who got it
done last year and they did it for four years,
which again, if you're the Cowboys, you can say what
there were deals left, but still it's the extension and
the Cowboys could have done in twenty nineteen. So so
my understanding it was a big thing of like, why
are we trying to get golf Wentz averages per year
four years for five years when we want four no

(48:16):
more guarantees when like the market has moved. So again,
I think it's probably somewhere. I also think one point
of nuance that I heard, which has been some time now,
was is this a number that we're talking about that
was on that phone call at the deadline on July fifteenth,
or is this a written offer? And if it was

(48:37):
just a phone call an hour or two before the deadline,
how serious is that? Because like they have to have
a deal done by that three o'clock whatever it was,
July fifteenth deadlines. So I don't know, it's interesting, and
again I think that probably both of them are true
in different ways, and like there's just so much nuance
to this. But that was where I heard the respect
factor came in. I could see that. And I know

(48:59):
Jane and I heard separately because we had discussed this
at the time. I know Jane and I heard separately
about not different things. We heard the same thing from
separate people about the initial thing that Dallas offered up
last summer was inadequate. How much do you think if
that's the same that you heard, how much of do
you think potentially whatever inadequacy there was with the initial

(49:22):
offer may have damaged things to the point that it
wasn't able to all be ironed out over the course
of a year. You know, I think it probably affected
it last year, and again to whatever degree DAK was
going high because they were going low in terms of
the initial numbers. I don't think that's what the spring
was about. I think that they're, like Jane was saying,
there just wasn't a lot of conversation because it wasn't

(49:43):
that they were having these conversations. And again from what
I know, I wasn't there. It's not that I'm hearing.
Oh they talked in April, May and June and they're like, well,
you said this last July and that was disrespectful to
we're gonna do this. I just don't think they were talking.
And then I also think that there's a part of
Dak's camp that says, Okay, if he's going to make
thirty seven seven on the franchise tag last year or
next year, and then on top of that, we've given
all these like franchise tag minutia rules, he can never

(50:05):
be on the first franchise tag again because I guess
the second one has to be one hundred twenty percent
the price of the first one. So no matter what
team he's with, if somehow he's not with the Cowboys,
his earning power goes up forever in the NFL because
he got that he burned off that first franchise tag.
So I think that they were using that as a
factor that if we're trying to get our guy the
money and he's going to be here and it's in
the cowboys best interest to keep him here, we don't

(50:28):
have to it's not zero or thirty one. I mean
that was a factor I was hearing. I just think
the biggest thing is like Kirk Cousins obviously a guy
that mirrored a lot of this. I'm like, he's just
such an outlier how that worked out for him, you know, Like,
I don't know if I would have just like banked
on necessarily all of that. At the end of the day, though,

(50:49):
I would be very very shocked. Barring a complete breakdown
by Dak Prescott this year and problems with him and
his coach, which I would literally bet my life savings
on it, that won't be an issue. I would be
very very shocked if he is not the guy in
Dallas and a deal is reached foot last summer, I

(51:09):
was like, Oh, this deal's getting done. It'll be him,
then Amari Cooper and then Zeke and I couldn't have
been more wrong. So yeah, we all of us. Yeah,
it's that's the thing. We all every step of the
way've gone out. It'll get done before training him, but
I'll get done before the season. Well I'll get done
next So who knows. Yeah, I bet we're maybe we're
all sitting here in twenty twenty two going man that
Bill Belichick, Dak Prescott parent It's just awesome they're in

(51:30):
New England, isn't it. Well? What you say about the
Mike McCarthy partnership, and again personally, my interactions with Aaron
Rodgers have been very positive. But what we hear, I
think he just has a very different demeanor than Dak.
So if you're coaching Aaron Rodgers and then you go
to Dak and you're saying, like, Keim, these guys get along.
Like if you can get along with Aaron Rodgers, I
think you can get along with Dak. And I respect

(51:51):
both of them a lot. I find Mike Mike McCarthy,
he's he's kind of a smart at and I love it,
like I absolutely love the zinges. I like because Stephen
Jones will give you the same sort of demeanor. It
still feels like they're brothers. Like he is more stevens

(52:13):
Ken than even Jerry Jones Junior is Like, those two
remind me so much of each other. Steven Stephen and
McCarthy look a little alike. If you look at like
young Stephen and young McCarthy, there's there's some similarity, which,
by the way, to your point, I do love. I
had messaged somebody on the Green Baby that I know
right after they hired McCarthy, and I was just like, hey,
just curious, what's he like dealing with on the thing end.

(52:34):
The reply back was he's Pittsburgh as Hell And I
said what does that mean? And they said, you'll find out,
and yeah, that's turned out to be a pretty good
descriptor Pittsburgh as Hell. Okay, well we're talking about his zingers.
We can't talk about his fingers without acknowledging what happened
to you in the press? Oh yeah, where he's like,
because I know, and if whoever's listening to this, even
if you're following the Cowboys, you probably could have heard

(52:54):
the press conference and you could see McCarthy, but you
can't see us. And like, straight up, we have this
technology too that has been all functioning for weeks, despite
this being the most valuable franchise in the world. And
then it's like we're trying to figure off these speakers.
So picture like I'm up in the front because they're
like Jewry mumbles. We need to get her close to
the speaker. Jane's in the back, and you come up
and literally when Mike was like, I'm not an expert

(53:17):
on this, but based off the tendencies on seeing I
think you're talking too close to the speaker. I'm like,
he is scouting this like the way we are reporting
now and it's still not working. But I was like
the fact that he said I see that he was
observing the tendencies I could not analytics next to me.
I mean, I was wearing my mask. I'm like removing
my mask. I'm like leaning into the speaker because I'm like, oh,

(53:39):
I'm gonna I'm not gonna have this delay, like we're not.
This isn't gonna And then it's like backed up and
I'm like, sorry, coach, like at the back of the classroom.
I literally he is. I find him wildly entertaining and
he always gives us really interesting, complete answers. They're thoughtful ones,
but I'm always complaining. I was about unless you ask

(53:59):
about it, I don't know these things. They're completely dancing
around things. But here's what I'll say. He's maddening for
us reporters. I've never been more frustrated than when he
removed those jersey numbers and names at the Blue White
scrimmage game. But if you're a Cowboy fan and a player,
you've gotta love the fact that he It's I mean

(54:21):
the fact that I had I'll just put it this way.
I had three Super Bowl winning coaches reach out to
me and say, we didn't know about this rule that
we didn't have to put jersey numbers and names on
the jerseys. And I was like, wait, what the Belichick
had done this in OTAs And then the Ravens complained
about it, and then the Ravens in the league. The

(54:42):
league decided that that was a new rule, and so
you could not have players at practice because that was
when you could, like, if you had a player that
was hurt, you could substitute them. And so it was
a great game play by Bibilichick, but it didn't hold
hold any water. So when I reach out to the
league and I was like, can Mike do this? Like, oh, yeah,
the new rule is until September seven, I was like,
we're already doing a little game, but okay. And then

(55:07):
also on those rules, what about the fact that Okay,
so as reporters, we can no longer watch the whole
practice now like we do in training camps. We get
thirty ish minutes. But they've set it up so the
quarterbacks work inside on their quarterback school. We're outside. And
the day we went to practice, I guess Wednesday, because
Thursday was a little bit different. We were walking back
together because they said practiced access was over and there
had been no sign of Dak Prescott, no sign of

(55:29):
it adults, and then we're like, oh, no quarterbacks, Like
who know, Like what if it was last year and
he was still injured? And then another little tweak like that,
okay last year. Also we were going to practice Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Well,
McCarthy has this whole like sports science situation where its
workload Thursday, recovery and soft tissue something or another Friday,
and then on Saturday you're doing your neurological activation, but

(55:53):
we're not allowed out there Saturday. And again me personally,
I don't work on Saturday's got a little the exact.
But I was trying to another reporter on the beat
and they're like, how does he get away with like
cutting this down from three practices to two no quarterback
And I'm like, I think if you're trying to fight it,
you got to go back to Green dand figure out
where those reporters at practice on Saturday, because a lot
of things this year are we wish we could we

(56:14):
could show you this too, but there's a pandemic going on.
And I'm like, that's the factor, that's how do you know, Like,
that's why you didn't show it just last year, maybe
the year before. Maybe it returns to normal when we
get done with pandemic, but I do. I will say
that every time, like anybody asks like McCarthy about the
status of an injury, it's like vividly reminds me of
like when I ask my son about, like why homework

(56:36):
didn't get turned in, and it's like, what's homework? You know?
I there was a lot of law go to I
didn't hear the question, Yeah, what about when we asked
if he wouldneel during the Anthony's like are we done here?
And granted again, the technology wasn't working in that day.
I'm not saying it could have been a tech factor,
but at some point, if this happens ten times very conveniently,

(56:58):
you got to be skeptical as your report. And he's
a worthy adversary. I look forward, he's he's forced me
to step my game up. I actually love it. Well, then, um,
what was I about to say? Oh, with a Mari's
injury and that Sunday Blue White scrimmage we're at at
and T Stadium, someone asked about a Mari, He's like
going numbers and I literally said, so as it relates

(57:19):
to Mari Cooper's health, do you have any concerns? Like
you probably should have concerns about And he's like, I
have no concerns. And then two days later it's like,
well we get we look at the numbers. He's been
in the league a while. And then if you're a Mari,
you're like it's fine, this is just like who we are.
But I'm like, you can't get away with it. That's

(57:39):
why when we talked to it was the offensive line coach.
I was like, I was like where it was weeks
ago when Cam Irving wasn't in practice and no one
would say anything about his absence. And I was like, Kjoe,
thanks for your time, how's Cam doing? What's his progress?
And why hasn't he been practicing? Just hoping that someone
else would you just asked it directly would answer and
he's like, yeah, I'm not going to come on that.

(58:00):
I'm like, is anyone going to comment on anything in
the year twenty fo. You know, that's the worst part
about losing locker access is the fact that we've lost
Amari Cooper's totally like open explanation of every injury, where
it's like, hey, Mari, what are you dealing with And
He's like, let me show you my bruise. So I
talked to the doctor and they said that the way
the muscles break it like a Mari is always like
great to ask about his injury. So we've kind of

(58:21):
lost that ability this year. I know, I've been trying
to text a couple guys and be like, hey, really
miss being able to locker back to you. Okay most
of them. I had one guy getting back to me
for a little bit, but for the most part it'll
be like completely non competitive things like chess questions and yeah,
there's it's a little bit different than last year. I'll
tell you an undrafted to get your agent in June

(58:44):
whose agent was like, yeah, we were told to stop
talking to reporters and lay a little lower, And I'm like,
I was beginning to wonder if these guys had just
lost my number change numbers, but I can't get players
to get back to me either, And to your point,
innocuous questions, Yeah, I'm not asking them about game plans,

(59:04):
another another player and they're nothing. So again maddening. As
a reporter, I'm leaning in as most of us are,
with workflow and the changes that come with COVID, but
it does make it very, very hard to do your
job if I'm a Cowboys fan. I'm excited though, because
it did feel like there was a whole lot of
information out there as related to this team that people

(59:27):
opposing teams would use against him. Yeah. I miss those
walkops though that we would have with Jason Bara. Yeah,
lots lots of great info there. But again, as Jane said,
everybody adjusting raising their game, and Jory's included in that.
So if you want to go follow jury on Twitter
at Jory Epstein, it's Epstein, not Epstein. I'm clearing things up, frying.

(59:48):
I know, I'm clearing things up for Jorry here, since
everybody seems to be Epstein, but it's Epstein. Yes, ep
STEI n Jory Epstein on Twitter. Give her a follow, Jorry. Thanks?
So all right, So next time we come to you,
we'll be breaking down this game. Will the Cowboys be
O and one or one and oh to start the season, Yeah,
it'll It's one that I feel good about. I think

(01:00:10):
I think they are going to take this one. But again,
as we talked about with Omar and Jory and you
and I have talked so much about, there's so much
uncertainty about what these teams even look like right now
that it's it's really difficult to project much of anything.
But I think from a talent standpoint, this is a
game that you know, Dallas should be in good shape.

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