On today’s episode of the 'Boys and Girl Podcast, Jane and Bobby talk about the Cowboys’ quarterback competition. Will it be Cooper Rush or Garrett Gilbert? Plus, NFL Network’s Aditi Kinkhabwala stops by to preview the Steelers' side of things ahead of Sunday’s game. 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
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, boys and girls, Welcome in to the Boys and
Girl Podcast with Cowboys, NFL Network reporter Jane Slater and
NFL Network producer Bobby Bell. Cowboys Community with the inside
scoop on the Dallas Cowboys now coming straight to you
(00:22):
from the Lone Star State. Here's Jane and Bobby. Well
plot twist Bobby. When we last recorded this podcast, we
caught word that Andy Balton ended up on the COVID list,
and like a lot of people, we assumed they'd be
going back to the news. Instead, they've decided to have
(00:42):
a Cooper Rush. Yes, that was the backup quarterback for
the Cowboys the last three seasons. Of course he was
on the practice squad. Then was Dak Prescott's backup for
two They cut him in favor of Andy. Bring him back,
and then we're also going to put Garrett and Gilbert
in the mix. I mean, this is the year you
wanted those all of cameras inside the building because you
(01:05):
couldn't write up these storylines. This has been a pretty
insane year. So this will be if Mike McCarthy is
to be believed. I mean, he could always pull a
fast one on us. And then it's the New ch
on Sunday just to screw with us. That would kind
of be up, you know, the alley of some of
the things McCarthy's done this year. Um, but I would
say that, you know, if if it is Cooper Rush
(01:26):
or Garrett Gilbert, four quarterbacks in five games. I went
through and looked through the team's history. They've started four
quarterbacks in the season a few times. I can't find
four and five. That's uh that that I've never seen
happen before. And uh, as was astuteley pointed out by
Jorry Epstein of USA today, not just you know, four
(01:46):
and five games, but two redheads in those four quarterbacks,
and you know that that's that's well, no, in this
current season with Dalton and then potentially Rush, if Cooper
Rush starts, you you've you're not gonna find kind of
another section where you've had two redhead quarterbacks starting among
four like that. So it's a rarity all the way around. Um,
(02:08):
but I will say that listening to them talk to
the media yesterday, I was impressed with Garrett Gilbert and
he struck me as a good high i Q guy.
But my feeling on this, my sense on this is
it's going to be Cooper Rush, and it's just because
of the familiarity he has with some of these guys.
I never figured out what happened with Cooper Rush because
there were moments in the preseason. What was it. I
(02:29):
think it was his first year. In the preseason, I
was like, that's a pretty good backup quarterback. Then they
brought in Mike White, remember, and it was like this
battle at camp between Cooper Rush and Mike White, and
they were both just terrible. And I remember us talking
last year when Dak Prescott had the shoulder in the
arms situation, Well, gosh, they to put Cooper Rush in
(02:50):
the game. They're in trouble. And then they brought him
back this year. If you were looking for experience, you know,
McCallen was still out there. Josh, he's been around the forever.
It wasn't Josh Josh. It was Josh, who's been in
this as long as I've worked in TV, A kid,
you not. I worked in Tyler, Texas. The mccllen brothers
(03:11):
are from Jacksonville, Texas. They had been in the league
one year longer, so they've been in this since two
thousand and three. But there was McCallen brother, who, by
the way, used to play for the Cowboys out there.
If you were looking for experience, remember when he played
with the Jets. He was actually a serviceable quarterback. So
the fact that you go, I don't know if this
has to do with the money. I mean, when they
(03:32):
talk about six of their cap isn't playing this year,
and you know they're saving money for next year. I
don't know if McCallen would have cost him more. I
got to think that McAllen would have wanted to stay
in the state of Texas, which did. He went to Houston,
but but but closer to Dallas. I know, we've always
heard Dallas has always been a wish of his that
he'd like to play here, and so she played here. Briefly.
(03:52):
It was Luke. It was not Josh. I don't think. Yeah,
I'm pretty sure it was Luke. Now I'm gonna have
to double check on the fly. You're making me doubt myself,
but I'm pretty sure it was Luke. I ever doubt
the rain man. It feels like I I remember the
time we're talking about, which it's I think it was
like two weeks where Luke McCown was here and uh
let's see here. Yeah, that was seen. Luke McCown was here,
was not Josh. Josh has never ended up here and
(04:13):
that's always frustrated me because Josh is such a never
try to stump the rain man. Josh is such a
that's a guy I think they could use here as
they're trying to finish out the season with just a
lot of effort and stuff. Is because he is a
blue collar, throwback, hard worker type of guy. And uh,
I remember he called Marchez. You know what. Mark's got
(04:36):
a podcast right now. He is a pretty successful podcast
that he does where he interviews you know, former teammates
and stuff. And so I think I think I think
Mark's comfortable for Jack Prescott. Success is rookie season. That
was Romo the Tony was over his shoulder. Okay, sorry,
I gotta stop. I gotta stop being sarcastic. It's hard
to be. It's hard not to be sarcastic given where
(04:57):
things have gone with this season so far. It's it's
just Sto'm telling you right now. If there weren't all
these injuries, if they still had an offensive line, and
if this team was had a seven and no record,
Roma would come out of the booth for this, not
for this one percent. Believe, man, he's had He's had
to pull out of golf events because of injuries the
last year or two. So I don't I don't know
(05:19):
that he could if he thought that he could get
a Super Bowl and he had a health on his side.
I believe that Tony would come out of the booth.
But isn't that the problem. He's never had health on
his side. I think given the current state what quarterback
part of this right now? That wasn't me being sarcastic there.
(05:40):
That was genuine, Like when you look at he was
breaking down the last few years. He had injuries the
last four or five years he was in the league,
and it was it was costing a big time. That's
how Doc even was able to get in there. If
I would never I mean it wouldn't even. I would
literally be like talked to the hand if he came
to me and wanted to come back and play this year.
I mean we both know that's never gonna happen. Like
I'm literally being tongue in cheap So Cowboys fans don't
(06:03):
don't even try quote tweeting this or saying that I
said anything. I'm just saying I mean, with all the
plot twists and the storyline I've had this year, it's
a Netflix series we could use because I've watched all
of them. At this point, there's nothing left on Netflix
for me to watch. No, I'm pretty tapped out myself. Um,
and it's it's rough. It came at a time where
(06:24):
I spent most of Quarantine just running through program and
I was like, because then when sports comes back at
all time, I'm just perfect and then I'll have sports
to watch. And now the sports are so bad that
I don't even really have sports to watch. And so
I played it wrong. I should have spaced out some
of those Netflix series and uh, speaking of those, the
Queen's Gambit has made me appreciate A. Mari Cooper and
(06:45):
w c A so much more. See what I did there,
because I'm about to segue into che I see I
see what you did? See what I did there. I've
never understood the game of chess, and these guys are,
you know, like they are so into it and it's
so fascinating. Go watch The Queen's Ganbit. This is your
bonus feature of the podcast today. You're welcome. It's amazing
(07:07):
the fluidity of her moves just on the chessboard. She
says that she picked that up from being a ballerina.
The way she like she kicks the pond and she
puts it is there's some dramatic editing, but it makes
you really appreciate the brain of a Marii Cooper and
Cheeto because it is such a cerebral game. And that
brings me to Cheeto. He did get some work out
(07:27):
on the field this week. They've been kind of slow
playing him. He got a little bit of work in
the week before. So no, Bobby, is this the week
that you bring Cheeto back? Or I kind of feel like,
give everybody the bye week, get him healthy, and then
bring him back after that, because then they've got Minnieapples,
they've got Minnesota. I mean, if you're genuinely committed to
the idea of we're still in this and we can
(07:49):
fight and we can do this and that, then yeah,
you bring him back. I think that they know better,
and I think that that's just you know, trying to
keep the troops encouraged and and that's just the type
of language that they're using. I think they know they're
out of this regardless of what you know. Steven and
Mike McCarthy another saying, I think they know the situation
right now. But yeah, if you believed that, then yeah,
(08:10):
you'd want to just say, well, man, we need cheetah.
This is a big game, and when we can't fall
further behind in the standings, and and you know there's
so many weapons here on Pittsburgh side, so we need
some help slowing them down. And uh, you know we
we can't just rely on six string cornerbacks to stop
Chase Claypool. Um. And so uh yeah that was the case.
(08:30):
But do you think you're gonna be in the stands?
Remember with Cleveland there were a lot fans. Um, yeah,
I mean Steelers travel really well. Um, and I don't
know that there's a ton of my my my guess
is my guess is it is minimum half Pittsburgh fans
on Sunday because I think there's just such disinterest from
the Cowboys fans right now. Um. I mean that was
(08:52):
the thing that um there was they had that issue
a lot that opposing fans were uh making up the
majority of I remember after three eight and eight seasons,
there wasn't a lot of hope heading into and then
Dallas of course turned it around and had a great
season and made it to the NFC Divisional Round. UM.
But in that season opener before there was a lot
(09:14):
of hope. That was half forty Niner fans that day,
and that was that was a big deal. It's gonna
be eighty degrees on Sunday on November eight in Dallas, Texas.
Eighty degrees. My prediction. People are not watching this game,
not Cowboys fans. But that's the thing. If you're if
your Pittsburgh team is rolling through town, then yeah, I
think you're gonna see low ratings relative to what they
(09:37):
normally get UM and that's been the case a lot
this season, and I honestly think that's that's gonna be
a big driver for Jerry. I think is that I
think I I'm certain Jerry sees where the TV ratings
are at relative to previous years, and and not just
for the rest of the league, but for them, like
just locally in Dallas, the local Dallas ratings are not
(09:59):
where they need to be. I still think that there
is this whole uh you know, it's like shoots and ladders.
I feel like Mike McCarthy is going to get the
shoot out of this because it's COVID. It's because of
the injuries. Oh yeah, yeah, No, I don't know. I
love this talk that he's a one and done coach.
This is not going to be like the Cardinals where
we saw them. Oh what was what he was? Yeah?
(10:22):
I don't think we're gonna see a world situation here
in Dallas. Not going to happen. Um. I mean I
could state the obvious. They have time there who's their GM,
But um, Jerry is not. Jerry made this higher. Jerry
is going to ride with Mike McCarthy. I think he
feels like they speak the same love languages. Um, their
(10:44):
menu of love is very similar. Um. I just he's
back next year. I look, I think Mike's going to
turn this thing around. But I think he's going to
have to make some changes to his coaching staff. I
thought with de Marcus Lawrence said this week was really
interesting talking about how this defense was not a plug
(11:04):
and play defense. In other words, guys needed to buy
into the scheme, they needed to study it, they needed
to execute it. I thought that was telling that here
we are. What is this week eight? What is this
week nine, Week nine that we're still hearing that. Yeah, well,
especially after I mean we talked to Layton Vanderesh in
the off season. He said he thought that the virtual
(11:26):
off season and the virtual install was going great and
that they were that they were really well prepared and
that they felt good about everything that they were learning
and so well, I mean, hold up, fun fact, Mike
Nolan uh was one of Laton's biggest supporters when the
Saints were interested in him. And so it was my
understanding that maybe Layton told us this or I was
(11:48):
told this, uh when he went to New Orleans. Mike
Nolan was the guy that was there for his visit,
so they already had a buy in of sorts. Um,
Layton was already a fan of Mike Nolan before he
got and late Layton is a my impression of Layton
vander Esh just having you know, seen him here in
(12:09):
the locker room and during the practice week and seeing
him on the field for three years now. Um, Layton
is very much a a believer in cowboy culture and
buying in and you know, and like he was he
was the most aggressive when you're when your report had
come out. He was the most aggressive speaking out against
(12:30):
anonymous sources within the locker room. Didn't dispute necessarily the report,
but just how it was handled. He was the one
who directly came out and said, you're a coward if
you are the one who did that. And so it's
like shot clones, I mean Sean the saying. And I
got to tell you when I was out of practice
on uh No, I didn't get kicked out, not yet. Um,
(12:50):
Sean Lee looked like a dude on a mission. I mean, yes,
he's off on the cords, but he's attacking those accords
like he's an opposing like offense, like he is there.
I literally might take away. My impression, like my internal
monologue at that point was if only this team had
fifty to Shawn Lee's. I mean, the way he attacks
(13:14):
just rehab is fascinating to me. And you just you
don't see that. I will say this, The guy seemed
a lot lighter in practice, Like I actually saw them
dancing the music and there seemed to be some like
the guys were vibing like we just hadn't No, it's
it's been we don't get to see a lot. But
(13:34):
the portions that I've seen this year like so flat.
So it's just it's it's it's not there's not the
same energy out of practice as there has been in
the past. Now now that maybe that's you know, there's
more than one way to skin act. I'm not saying
that's not a way that could work for some teams
and things like that. I just think given this team
and this culture, that that was something we talked about
(13:58):
you and I early on when we were watching practice
and how it was going, was like, it's like, you know,
that's that doesn't feel like it fits this culture of
players like this, you know, business only, you know, everything
is very serious type of practice routine and practice regiment,
and you know they've always been, you know, Friday's the
(14:18):
Friday practice was always lighthearted under Jason Garrett. They would
play the Friday music, which was always like, you know
it's they'd play like Friday themed, like looking forward to
the weekend type of music, and they would do the
little game where they'd have the coaches jump in on
the on side kick recoveries, and that was always the
Henry Schroka, the pro scout for the Cowboys, who's gosh,
(14:42):
I think he's like seventy three. Now, Uh, Henry would
be out there leading, jumping Jack's and you know, going
all out when he's like jumping around leading everybody. And
it was always Friday was always a relaxed, fun atmosphere,
and there was always music playing at all the practices
during the weekend. So it is just it's different how
there's nothing. And I wonder if the Saturday practice thing
(15:04):
is hard on their but which we don't see. Saturday
is a practice. Saturday is Jason Garrett's Friday. And we
used to see Jason Garrett's Friday, but we do not
see the Saturday practice, so we don't know how that
one runs. Uh curious, like, you know, is there something
I don't know? I think all of us are still
sort of looking for answers. I think even internally the
(15:26):
guys are still looking for answers. But I think what
you're seeing now is guys saying we've got to get
on board. They're going to ship this out, not this year,
but I think next year. And Mike McCarthy's been saying
as much. You know, he's looking. It's the evaluation process
right now, the effort, the buy in, the attitude he
wants to see the energy. He wants to see all
of those things. Um. I did think another thing that
(15:49):
DeMarcus Lawrence, you know, I asked him specifically about how
do you jell with COVID, you know, like the team
dinners and stuff, and he said that that's been hard
to do, Like because of COVID, they haven't been able
their team dinners now. I don't know if other teams
do that. In other words, come to my house and um,
you know, we'll order in. I don't know if they have,
(16:10):
Like you know, during COVID, we had happy hours like
with me and my friends zooming at home, trying to
spend some time in the locker room. I do think
that I remember we talked into a couple of weeks
ago about making the perfect souflay. All the ingredients you've
got to have, like the temperature has got to be
just right for it to rise, and you want it
(16:32):
to look like that picture on Pinterest, and it doesn't.
I think that that is all the stuff that has
gone into this sou fla. This year. Something was off.
They just didn't cook that oven, that that oven wasn't
hot enough well, And I know that I know that
there are certain players. I don't know about the entire
position groups, but I know there are certain players that
outside the facility there face timing, you know, in the
(16:55):
evening and talking about you know, they're they're trying to
connect with each other. It's just it's it's the same
challenge that everybody's running into right now about staying you know,
connected to your friends or family during this time and
keeping those relationships alive, and um, they're I mean, they're
running into those same sort of bonding issues. And that's
the thing where chemistry and bonding and relationships that's such
(17:18):
a big thing for football teams where if it's not there,
I mean, you can have all the talent in the
world and it'll it's not gonna come together for you.
I mean, I think that was the thing that everybody
felt like was the issue last year, was that they
had a talented football team, but that they just there
was a disconnect there. There was a a chemistry issue there,
(17:39):
and so I mean that can bring down really talented teams.
You look at basketball. One of the most famous examples
of the one of the original super teams that was
built when the Lakers went out and got Karl Malone
and Gary Payton to play with Kobe and Shack and
then they get beat by a bunch of essentially at
(17:59):
the time, how people viewed them role players with the
Pistons got thumped by them in the NBA Finals because
it was here's a team versus a collection of individuals.
And I think that's that's a bigger challenge during the
COVID era than uh it even normally is is getting
these guys to be a team. As Christo Shard told us,
it's about a tribe. It's about creating a tribe and
(18:20):
and uh, you know, creating a group of guys that
you know exist for one another and and look to
push for each other and not just for themselves. And
that's a challenge. I'm glad you're part of my tribe.
Thank you. You haven't pushed me out since I I
dogged Taylor Swift on Twitter. I was half joking about
(18:40):
sub many applications, only half jokes and U NFL Network producer.
I didn't want to get into this her. I mean,
her music is just here. One of the worst songs
I've ever heard in my life is that Look what
You Made Me Do? That is maybe the worst song
I've ever heard in my last song. But style is
her absolute favorite. The guitar is my absolute favorite. The
guitar riff. Uh. I mean there's actually so many. I
(19:03):
can't even begin to go down to my list of
favorite songs. I know, I know, I I just I've
never I've been the anti Taylor music taste. That's one
where we split pretty hard, really like to goad me
on that. And I just I wasn't going to be
trifled with that day, Bobby, I know, I know it.
That was that we have my one thing this year. Okay,
that's I I knew. I counted on you, uh, Dan
(19:25):
Turner and David Hellman jumping in my mentions and Helman didn't,
but you and Dan did and came in and corrected
me on that. Uh. And I know you guys have
a lot of tea swift from political music. Oh you know, like,
but I was I was ready to throw throw hands.
As related to the Taylor Swift stuff, well, I mean,
she's just you know whatever. I just think it's yeah,
(19:45):
we we don't have to dive all the way into
it because I would rant and I don't. I don't
want to set off the Swifties. It's like there's three
things you're not allowed to talk about in public politics. Um.
And then criticism, no criticism, not even religion, criticism of
Taylor s often Beyonce Knowles. If you do those two things,
then you're just getting lit up on social media. But um,
(20:07):
we talked about Cheeto transitioning back, we talked about Cheeto.
To other injuries on the report, Ezekiel Elliott has a
hamstring Alton Smith has a knee injury. They're both limited
all week. It doesn't sound like they're gonna miss the
game though. Um. In fact, I think they're both gonna
be a full go. Um. They But I mean again,
that's two of your big contributors again who didn't get
(20:28):
a full week of practice. Um. And you know the
guy you apparently would rely on with backup quarterbacks in there,
and you know, reserve quarterbacks, and there is not getting
the normal practice reps with these quarterbacks. So it is
gonna be I think tougher. Um. And I mean that
creates a whole another line of issues, the fact that
(20:49):
they didn't get their full practice weekend. They didn't go
on Thursday, which is in terms of what the big
team periods, which is their padded practice, which is their
big prep day. Um. And and Aldon Smith is even
here to be on the active sport because, as uh
Mike Garafolo reported, um, the Cowboys had turned down a
trade offer right before the deadline from the Seahawks to
(21:09):
get Alton Smith. So the Cowboys opt not to move
Aldon Smith. Um. And I've seen a lot of people
interpreting that this means, oh, Alton's here for the long
run and h you know, they want him here and
they want extension. I don't think that's what that is.
I think what that is is just the Cowboys looking
and go, um, we didn't get blown away by an
offer that was so much more than the potential comp
(21:29):
pick if he signs a way that we're willing to
give up a guy who's still a solid rotation player
for us. So I don't know if you I don't
know if you view it differently, but I don't. I
still don't think I think Alton Smith is a Randall
Cobb or Robert Quinn situation. I think he's just here
and uh, you know, show that you revived your career,
that you did all the things mutually beneficial. Yeah, it's
(21:52):
like it's like, can't buy me love? Just you know,
be together for the yeah, be be together for a
little bit. Let me have the big break up in
front of every about to get my popularity. That's that's
the same sort of thing to me. Joining us now
is a d D King Kabwala. She is a reporter
for the NFL Network, covering several teams, but most notably
a most relevant right now, the Pittsburgh Steelers. You can
(22:14):
follow her on Twitter. And I'm not going to look
down at my note to guarantee spelling because I want
to flex a little bit. It's A K I N
K h A b w A L A add How
you doing? I am deliriously happy that you just got
that completely right. And what's the what's the worst, like
most butchered pronunciation you've gotten. It's usually the first name.
(22:36):
It's usually adida And it's like, wait a minute, there's
an eye at the end. How when does an I
ever sound like an A? But it said if people
just want to make it adida. So it's like, who
ever did anyone ever try to frusture you into taking
your husband Matt's last name? Um no, because it's actually
worse than mine. What is Matt's last name? We're Guinness.
(22:56):
I don't remember. Yeah, I remember my my John at
the time. She was like, wait, what's Matt's last name?
And I said, we're Guinness, and she goes, you couldn't
marry a Fox or a Harris or a Smith, like
something that would make morse. But the best part of
this story is that my brother is married to a
doctor and uh. Mona and my brother started dating when
(23:19):
they were eighteen years old. Seventeen eighteen years old freshman
year of college, and Mona wan all through college and
med school and part of residency before they got married.
And my brother was adamant, you need to take my name,
and she was like, well, I just did all of
this under my old name. And he was like, no, no, no,
You've got to take your name. And then I got
married after my brother and I said, so what do
y'all think I should do. My sister in law was like,
(23:43):
my brother said, you should totally keep your maiden name
because you did everything under your maiden name. Oh yeah,
it's funny. It's funny how that works. I remember I
was some A lot of people usually think my last
name is fake belt. I get that. I I get
that a lot. I'm a rose working because I've I've
done political stuff before. And I was working a show
and I, uh, the guests this politician had called in
(24:06):
and uh, I guess the prepper had told him Bobby
Belt will answer the phone. So when I answered it,
I said, you know studio and he goes, is this
Bobby And I said yes, And he goes, is this
Bobby Belt? And I said yeah, And he said, great
f and name. He's like, he's like, he's like, thank
your parents every day. Is that's your real name? That
doesn't sound like a real name. That's a great name.
Don't mess with that one. I said, like days later
(24:27):
to me, sounds like a great name too. Is that well,
it's the name that you bring that up? Because two
years ago we'll quickly digress here and then we'll get
into Steelers Cowboys. Two years ago, my aunts, my dad
has six siblings for UH, sister still alive, thought it'd
be really fun for Christmas to do the DNA UH
(24:48):
and DNA and me like twenty three and me my
dad swabs along with my aunts, not thinking anything of it.
We're just gonna find out like our grandmother always told
us that we were American Indians, so like we were
a quarter Cherokee, which none of us really bought into that,
And so the test comes back, you're not the father,
(25:11):
My dad is not a Slater. And so for like
the last two years, my poor father at six eight
years old, finds out that we're not slater. So everyone
used to ask me, is your name made up? And
in good faith? Now I can't say his real name.
But literally last week my mom said, at three o'clock
in the morning, she was logged on because you know,
(25:31):
you know, at a certain age it starts to bother you.
Even though he didn't know his dad, his dad died.
His father died when he was three. He's matching now.
But the sad thing about this is it looks like
his father passed away like last year. So now we're
trying to get in touch with what we think is
his half sister that's still alive. But he obviously don't
(25:55):
want to say his name on here and shook off
his family because I would imagine it's wait, wait, but
your grandma is not alive, Like you found out this
information and you couldn't go to your grandmother and he
went to never saying anything to it's like the greatest mystery.
But she went through what number in bruth word during
he's the baby, so he was like six years behind
(26:17):
the rest of them. Um So as a married that
can attest like, you know, that would be sort of
the time when you're like, all right, yeah, you know,
I don't think she thought science would ever catch up
with her. But then so my sister and I of
course have gone back and forth like do we let
this his living wife? No, because they've been married pretty
(26:43):
long time, so there would have been cheating involved, and
he's got a completely separate family. Uh, but it's just
it's the whole thing's bizarre. I mean, I didn't do
it because I just don't want my DNA and the database.
But uh, you know, I love that you say that, Jane,
because Matt did it a few years go, like Amazon
Prime was having its fame, and Matt is a classic
(27:04):
American mutt, you know he is. He's basically Russian, but
he's four different Eastern European countries whatever, So he wants
to look himself up and he kept trying to pressure
me to do this, and I was like I know
what I am. I am Indian. It's okay, Like I'm
good with that. And then Matt finds out that he's
point oh five percent Ashkenazi Jewish. So I love everybody
(27:28):
jewshe I'm like this Catholic kid, I'm Jewish. Why does
anything come out like I don't? I think, alright, but
I just want to feel like we belong. But yeah,
so I don't know what my what my last name is,
and we think we know what it is now and
it's a pretty cool last name. Like I said, I'm
not trying to have the Internet try to check down
this family before he might you change it, like if
(27:51):
you find out that's here like me, that's later. So legit,
it's just my sister and I. Again, one more side note,
my poor father's like having this like really tough day
when he finds out that it's, you know, not slater.
My sister and I, being the snarky kids that we are,
our immediate response was like, so wait, we're not slaters.
(28:11):
We think our last name is like the coolest last
name ever. And that was like our spotswear father, So confirmed,
Jane is an absolute a whole. That's that's the uh
and that was the I mean, Jane, even now we're
talking about Rashaan Slater, the Northwestern tackle who's coming out
in the draft next year, and that was Jane's first
response was great last name. She She's She's just she
(28:33):
loves that name. It was as jarring to lose them,
like there could be people on the planet and Jane
could claim them as like, oh yeah, we're cousins. Oh yeah,
Like we've got this thing going. I am never meeting
an NFL player named Kinka Balla. We well, maybe one day.
I think my daughter's got a better chance of being
an NFL linebacker than my son. I think. I think
(28:55):
I think both my daughters have better chances of being
NFL players than my son too. So we're we're in
the same boat there. You've got tough daughters, Yeah, yes
I do. And uh We're we're working on the boy
right now. Uh Now, speaking of great American family last names, UH,
wat's a pretty good one for the NFL. And uh.
Of course Cowboys fans UH were heartbroken when t J.
(29:18):
Watt was not the selection INEN and instead it was
Taco Charlton, who is now on his third team. I
believe UH and so I know that early on there
was some people who felt like t J. Watts a
tweener and and now he's kind of like come into
his own as like, you know, one of the most
dominant defensive players in the NFL. Um how big? How
(29:40):
much has t J Watt gotten to this point where
he's just like, you know, a game record that like
teams have to plan around and have to focus on.
Um just you know, kind of as Cowboys fans wallow
and misery, they can feel a little bit worse about
losing t J. Watt. Brad Sham, actually the voice of
the Cowboys, tweeted yesterday that he's never been more heartbro
can hearing them call somebody else's name than when they
(30:02):
didn't call t J. Watt underraft night? And you know,
this is such a beauty as in the eye of
the beholder thing, because I still remember when t J.
Watt was taken how many people were ling this is
not a first round pick, this is not a first
round pick. And my having to sit here and say,
if the guy is perfect for what you do and
what you want to do and what you want to be,
then he is perfect at wherever you choose him. You know,
(30:23):
maybe he's not a first round pick for another team,
but for the Pittsburgh Steelers this was gold. And considering
what the Pittsburgh Steelers have done in the first round
the last I don't know, seven eight years, this is
probably one of their best first round picks. So t J.
It's interesting because I love where. I know we're supposed
to be impartial and unbiased and not supposed to have
(30:44):
favorites and the whole spield, but I love t J. Watt.
Having said that, this Steelers defense is all about the
puzzle pieces and how everything fits and so not that
t J isn't totally dynamic, not that t J isn't
one of the most brilliant years on the field whose
mind makes up for anything else that is possibly missing,
(31:04):
meaning that if his body is a little bit less
naturally than what Bud Dupres is, t J Watt makes
up for it because he's the smartest guy on the field.
T J has this unbelievable leadership quality. He clearly loves
the game of football. It's infectious. He's the one that
gets everybody motivated and going despite how young he is.
But part of t J's magic is that on the
(31:27):
other side of that line is bud Dupree. Part of
bud Dupree and t J's magic is that in the
middle of the Steelers defensive front is Kim Haywards, stephanto It,
who was just the a f C Player of the Week,
and Tyson alla Ulla, who you guys won't see this weekend,
but he's been playing a tremendous who's been doing a
tremendous job and playing tremendously well in the middle. So
(31:49):
the Steelers are getting a ton of push from the
middle of their defensive front and that just makes everybody
on the outside, makes those outside linebackers look all the
better and again, and it's I mean, if you look
at the Steelers defense, it's littered with first round picks
and again, puzzle pieces. You know, not that these guys
aren't individually great, but I will use Levyan Bell as
(32:11):
sort of the example here. And I know it's the
other side of the ball, but Levian Bell was the
best running back in football. A lot of that was
because he played behind an unbelievable offensive line, because Antonio
Brown was outside in demanding defenses is coverage, and because
Ben Roethlisberger and ostensible future Hall of Famer was his quarterback,
Levian Bell Leaves and more. I'm not saying that that's
(32:34):
who TJ would be, or that's who Bud would be,
or that's who Cam Heyward would be or any of that,
but all of these pieces together is what makes this
defense difficult. I mean, who do you pay attention to?
Righte Like, if you slide a line, if you slide
your offensive line, if you slide your line towards t J,
well then Bud is going to recaboc. If you slide
your line towards Bud, t J is going to rehab recaboc.
(32:55):
If you don't pay attention in the middle, well, the
pocket is going to completely collapse. And oh boy, doesn't
man or if Garrett Gilbert is starting or Cooper Rushi
is starting, you're gonna end up with somebody playing quarterback.
Camp talked about this that well, we talked about this yesterday.
Seventy four quarterback hits, a league leading seventy four quarterback hits.
How concerned should whoever gets the nod at the starting
(33:18):
quarterback position this weekend be? When you talk about this defense.
You've obviously had your eyeballs on this team a lot
more than we have this year. What stands out about
their past rush they hit and they hit really really hard.
You know, Jane, when you and I were talking earlier
in the week, and uh the discussion was around Benda Nucci.
And if you actually look at it, Bend Nucci has
(33:40):
more experience, as you said, than Garret Gilbert or Cooper Rush.
But if you really believe in ben da Nucci, maybe
you don't want him to die, which sounds really really blaze,
But like, the Steelers hit really, really really hard, and
I don't know that this Cowboy's offensive line gives you
all this uh confidence right now that they're protecting whoever
(34:03):
is back there. And so maybe just for the sake
of confidence, maybe for the sense of your mental psyche,
maybe for keeping your body whole and its and this
is a Steelers defense that is really really ticked off
right now after what the Ravens did to them last week.
Well and and with that being said, there is a
little I think everybody kind of feels like Dallas has
(34:24):
a talent deficit going up against whoever they're going against
right now. And uh so the biggest hope seems to be,
uh for Cowboys fans, Let's find somebody who's more dysfunctional
than us, And so that doesn't feel like Pittsburgh and
it doesn't feel like they'd have a shot this week
given that. But there was a little bit of the
drama last week during the Ravens game where Keith Butler
and uh T J. Watt we're kind of seen getting
(34:47):
into it with each other. So is there any hope
for Cowboys fans that there's some discontent on defense or
is that just I just actually I was talking to
Keith Butler this morning, which is part of why I
message Shane and said, can we push this back just
a little bit. Uh, it's just two incredibly competitive guys
and they and both of them have sat there and
said we were talking football, and uh, you really believe
(35:08):
it when they say it. And it has to do with,
you know, things not going right on the field and
a player thinks that something should be fit differently, and
a coach will sit here and say, well, okay, but
you've got to take care of X before we think
about why. And no, I think that that just speaks
to the competitiveness of both of these guys. The Steelers
defensive coordinator Keith Butler. He was an NFL linebacker for
(35:31):
uh ten years eleven year or something like that, so
you know he's been there and they've done that. This
is t J is really probably one of his favorite players. Also,
even though he's not supposed to say that, maybe they
should both get extra COVID testing since they were spitting
in each other's faces for like a good five minutes,
like we should think about that maybe, but no, there's
no cary ever for that. I will say, if you
(35:53):
do want to look for something mildly interesting, it's at
the Steelers offensive coordinator Randy Fekner. In the last few years.
He has been Ben Roethlisberger's quarterback coach for well over
a decade. He's been the offensive coordinator since Todd Haley left.
As you both know, Todd Haley has roots with the
Cowboys UM and Ben has been for a long time
(36:15):
drawing plays up in the dirt. You know, he's running
the offense. And so this past week Ben was talking
about how against the Ravens in the second half was
basically playground football, where he's saying, you know, run five
yards and make a rite at the tree or go
to the curb and cut in, and when Mike Tomlin
was asked about it, he said, ad lipping might be
(36:35):
a stretch, And then the next day Ben said, no, no, no, no,
we were just making it up on the fly. And
it's such a credit to my players that and to
my teammates that they're so mentally tough that we could
just do that on the field and improvise. And then
the next day Randy Feaking or the offensive coordinator says, no, no,
you know, drawing it up in the dirt might be
a stretch. So it's a little I think the headline
(36:57):
there is that part of what makes us to are
so good is that even when things aren't working, they
have a veteran enough quarterback and a cohesive enough group
that they can just improvise and do things like that.
But if you're looking for what's a little curious, why
don't they give Bend the credit for doing that? Yeah,
it's interesting, Okay, So Paula Trayvon Diggs get his two
(37:21):
takeaways last week. The poor rookie has been getting some
of the harder assignments each week, sort of a true
like baptism by fire for him. In the secondary, who
do you see him traveling with this week. What's who
is Diggs gonna mostly be focused on as it relates
to one of the the biggest weapons that the Steelers
have an offense see And this is one of those Jane,
(37:42):
where I would come to you and say, what do
you think is the best matchup? Because this is what
has been working so well for the Steelers is that
they've been able to pick out what is the biggest
mismatch and that's because they have so many guys in
their receiving corps who really truly can do dynamic things
with the ball. Deonte Johnson is a young, quick tip,
(38:05):
quick twitch. He's the guy that I think of as
Antonio Brown's air apparent if he can stay healthy, He's
the one that really truly is the most dynamic. But
then James Washington downfield, you throw up at ball, He's
coming down with it of the time. He's about as
tough as you can get. Juju. He's like Hind's word, juju.
Smith Schuster is as tough as you can get when
(38:26):
it comes to press man coverage, and whether he's in
the slot or outside, he's scored of got a deceiving
speed to him. And then Chase Claypool, the young rookie receiver.
I mean, he's like Plexico Bars. He's this big, tall target,
but he's also got speed. He's not afraid to go
across the middle. I mean we've seen him take these
little crossing routes where a linebacker is matched up on
(38:48):
him and go all the way to the end zone.
So you tell me when you look at these guys,
when you see big tall Chase Claypool, you see big
tough James Washington, you see Jujuice Smith Schuster, who's also
a big body. And then you see Deante Johnson. He's
kind of this little twitchy guy with amazing speed. Who
are you putting him on? And just know that whoever
you put him on, Ben's probably finding somebody else. There
(39:11):
are also two tight end theories. I think that, and
not only that, this run defense is so bad this year,
so bad. I know you said James Conner has just
he's no Levy on Bell, but I'm just telling you
right now he's going to have a day. I will
say this, when the Steelers are committed to running the ball,
James Conner does indeed run the ball, and he is
(39:33):
He's running angry, Jane. When we were talking about, you know,
talking to people, talking to some Steelers, James is a
He really is a wonderful young man. He just has
not been in the mood to do these, you know,
zoom press conferences, which, to be perfectly honest, I don't
really love doing zoom press conferences either. But I think
(39:54):
part of not being in the mood is that he
is sick of hearing that he is injury prone. He
is sick of here that he is not in every
down back. He is sick of hearing that he is
not the guy. And the Steelers went and they drafted
another young running back this year. His name is Anthony McFarland.
He came out of Maryland. They're using him a little
bit here and there. He's also a real dynamic talent.
(40:15):
But again, you know, I say this about the Browns,
Jervis Landry, who Jane, I know you know him really
well too. Jarvis plays angry, and that's not a bad thing.
So if James Conner is playing angry right now, it's
not a bad thing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. No. And
I think that, in fact, that's something that Cowboys fans
have felt like was lacking from this team is that
(40:37):
there's not enough people here playing angry and playing emotionally
invested in what's going on here. I guess the biggest
question because like you lay it out there there, there's
a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball.
They've they've got an incredible pass rush. Um. I guess
the question is is fourteen and a half point spread enough?
Should it be more like twenty one or I mean,
(40:59):
I feel like to in the over is probably the
right call. I mean, I hope this is okay because
we're a podcast. I'm gonna take you through my bathroom
right now. Sorry, my daughter has been screaming at the
Levens for a really long time. Well, the truth in
matter is is that the Steelers have been on the
road for this will be their third trade road game,
and they've had, um, you know, the Cleveland Browns was
(41:20):
a very significant matchup there says, oh, this is for
the division, and the Browns were four and one, and
this was the first time they were coming to Pittsburgh
since Myles Garrett took his helmet to Not the first
time they were coming to Pittsburgh, but the first time
they'd see Myles Garrett since Myles Garrett took his helmet
to Mason Rudolph and blah blah blah. So that was
a big game. Then it was the Tennessee Titans, and
the Titans were undefeated and the Steelers were undefeated, and
(41:43):
the Titans messed up their whole bi schedule and that
was a big game. And then last week was the Ravens,
who are their absolute rival, and it was for the
a f C North in the two best records in football,
and that was a big game. So if you look
at teams, well, if you look at past Mike Tomlin teams,
like every year they have kind of a loss that
(42:04):
they're not supposed to have, you know, like look at
how many times they've gone out to Oakland and Oakland
has been what like three and thirteen and they lose anyway.
So it's easy to sort of sit here and say, Okay,
this is a game that could be a letdown game.
This could be a game where that look at them,
no no chance, no chance, no, I mean it's a
I like, my my prediction is Ben Roethlisberger doesn't take
(42:26):
a snap in the second half of the Game's funny
because That's something that's been talked about a lot that
Mike Tomlin doesn't necessarily take him out just to take
him out, like why not take him out? But but
that's I'm not saying that I expect the Steelers to
let down. I think they're incredibly focused. I think that
they love being us against the world, and right now
they're very angry that this Titans COVID situation has affected
(42:49):
them in this way and that you know, they don't
get a buy when they're supposed to get a buy,
and you know, I think all of that is working
in their favor. I'm just saying, like you're asking, why
is it two plus touchdown lead not a wide enough large? Well,
maybe it's that you know, could be there there, there's
I I just I feel like I feel like three
hundred rushing yards, Ben throws six touchdowns in the first half.
(43:10):
I mean, it's just this, this is gonna be a
tough one and this is about as uh, you know,
lacking in dramatic flare as a Cowboys Steelers game has
in a long time. But if you want to keep
up with the Steelers and then find out everything about
this opponent, just how bad they're probably going to be
down the Cowboys. You can follow a dity on Twitter.
It's a King Kawalla and again that is a and
(43:33):
then King of balla is k I n k h
A b w A l A. Well, Bobby, Uh, Jerry
loves a good comeback story. I don't know if that
chapter of the book is happening against the Steelers, but
we will talk about this in Digestice on Monday. And
then a bye week can't come soon enough for the
(43:53):
team or myself, Bobby, I need a little break from
the season. What about you? Yeah, I I need a
I need a reset, just like I think the Cowboys
need a reset. And it'll be good. They'll be able
to go into the bye week, get some health back,
hopefully get some time to decompress. Uh, there's been a
lot of it. Seems like every week there's some more
drama that they're having to filter through. And it'll probably
(44:15):
nice to just take a week and and not have
to do zoom calls with the media and not have
to be out at you know, practice and and grinding it.
It'll be a good mini vacation. Hopefully they can come
back and show some better effort when they return from
the bye week, and I think we saw a little
bit better effort against Philadelphia. Hopefully that continues against Pittsburgh. UM,
(44:36):
but I think that's exactly where you're at for the
rest of the season. What you're evaluating the rest of
the season is who shows effort, who shows fight, Who
shows promise that we can potentially bring back on this
roster next year, and hashtag thoughts and prayers to whoever
is under center.
Hello, boys and girls, Welcome in to the Boys and
Girl Podcast with Cowboys, NFL Network reporter Jane Slater and
NFL Network producer Bobby Bell. Cowboys Community with the inside
scoop on the Dallas Cowboys now coming straight to you
(00:22):
from the Lone Star State. Here's Jane and Bobby. Well
plot twist Bobby. When we last recorded this podcast, we
caught word that Andy Balton ended up on the COVID list,
and like a lot of people, we assumed they'd be
going back to the news. Instead, they've decided to have
(00:42):
a Cooper Rush. Yes, that was the backup quarterback for
the Cowboys the last three seasons. Of course he was
on the practice squad. Then was Dak Prescott's backup for
two They cut him in favor of Andy. Bring him back,
and then we're also going to put Garrett and Gilbert
in the mix. I mean, this is the year you
wanted those all of cameras inside the building because you
(01:05):
couldn't write up these storylines. This has been a pretty
insane year. So this will be if Mike McCarthy is
to be believed. I mean, he could always pull a
fast one on us. And then it's the New ch
on Sunday just to screw with us. That would kind
of be up, you know, the alley of some of
the things McCarthy's done this year. Um, but I would
say that, you know, if if it is Cooper Rush
(01:26):
or Garrett Gilbert, four quarterbacks in five games. I went
through and looked through the team's history. They've started four
quarterbacks in the season a few times. I can't find
four and five. That's uh that that I've never seen
happen before. And uh, as was astuteley pointed out by
Jorry Epstein of USA today, not just you know, four
(01:46):
and five games, but two redheads in those four quarterbacks,
and you know that that's that's well, no, in this
current season with Dalton and then potentially Rush, if Cooper
Rush starts, you you've you're not gonna find kind of
another section where you've had two redhead quarterbacks starting among
four like that. So it's a rarity all the way around. Um,
(02:08):
but I will say that listening to them talk to
the media yesterday, I was impressed with Garrett Gilbert and
he struck me as a good high i Q guy.
But my feeling on this, my sense on this is
it's going to be Cooper Rush, and it's just because
of the familiarity he has with some of these guys.
I never figured out what happened with Cooper Rush because
there were moments in the preseason. What was it. I
(02:29):
think it was his first year. In the preseason, I
was like, that's a pretty good backup quarterback. Then they
brought in Mike White, remember, and it was like this
battle at camp between Cooper Rush and Mike White, and
they were both just terrible. And I remember us talking
last year when Dak Prescott had the shoulder in the
arms situation, Well, gosh, they to put Cooper Rush in
(02:50):
the game. They're in trouble. And then they brought him
back this year. If you were looking for experience, you know,
McCallen was still out there. Josh, he's been around the forever.
It wasn't Josh Josh. It was Josh, who's been in
this as long as I've worked in TV, A kid,
you not. I worked in Tyler, Texas. The mccllen brothers
(03:11):
are from Jacksonville, Texas. They had been in the league
one year longer, so they've been in this since two
thousand and three. But there was McCallen brother, who, by
the way, used to play for the Cowboys out there.
If you were looking for experience, remember when he played
with the Jets. He was actually a serviceable quarterback. So
the fact that you go, I don't know if this
has to do with the money. I mean, when they
(03:32):
talk about six of their cap isn't playing this year,
and you know they're saving money for next year. I
don't know if McCallen would have cost him more. I
got to think that McAllen would have wanted to stay
in the state of Texas, which did. He went to Houston,
but but but closer to Dallas. I know, we've always
heard Dallas has always been a wish of his that
he'd like to play here, and so she played here. Briefly.
(03:52):
It was Luke. It was not Josh. I don't think. Yeah,
I'm pretty sure it was Luke. Now I'm gonna have
to double check on the fly. You're making me doubt myself,
but I'm pretty sure it was Luke. I ever doubt
the rain man. It feels like I I remember the
time we're talking about, which it's I think it was
like two weeks where Luke McCown was here and uh
let's see here. Yeah, that was seen. Luke McCown was here,
was not Josh. Josh has never ended up here and
(04:13):
that's always frustrated me because Josh is such a never
try to stump the rain man. Josh is such a
that's a guy I think they could use here as
they're trying to finish out the season with just a
lot of effort and stuff. Is because he is a
blue collar, throwback, hard worker type of guy. And uh,
I remember he called Marchez. You know what. Mark's got
(04:36):
a podcast right now. He is a pretty successful podcast
that he does where he interviews you know, former teammates
and stuff. And so I think I think I think
Mark's comfortable for Jack Prescott. Success is rookie season. That
was Romo the Tony was over his shoulder. Okay, sorry,
I gotta stop. I gotta stop being sarcastic. It's hard
to be. It's hard not to be sarcastic given where
(04:57):
things have gone with this season so far. It's it's
just Sto'm telling you right now. If there weren't all
these injuries, if they still had an offensive line, and
if this team was had a seven and no record,
Roma would come out of the booth for this, not
for this one percent. Believe, man, he's had He's had
to pull out of golf events because of injuries the
last year or two. So I don't I don't know
(05:19):
that he could if he thought that he could get
a Super Bowl and he had a health on his side.
I believe that Tony would come out of the booth.
But isn't that the problem. He's never had health on
his side. I think given the current state what quarterback
part of this right now? That wasn't me being sarcastic there.
(05:40):
That was genuine, Like when you look at he was
breaking down the last few years. He had injuries the
last four or five years he was in the league,
and it was it was costing a big time. That's
how Doc even was able to get in there. If
I would never I mean it wouldn't even. I would
literally be like talked to the hand if he came
to me and wanted to come back and play this year.
I mean we both know that's never gonna happen. Like
I'm literally being tongue in cheap So Cowboys fans don't
(06:03):
don't even try quote tweeting this or saying that I
said anything. I'm just saying I mean, with all the
plot twists and the storyline I've had this year, it's
a Netflix series we could use because I've watched all
of them. At this point, there's nothing left on Netflix
for me to watch. No, I'm pretty tapped out myself. Um,
and it's it's rough. It came at a time where
(06:24):
I spent most of Quarantine just running through program and
I was like, because then when sports comes back at
all time, I'm just perfect and then I'll have sports
to watch. And now the sports are so bad that
I don't even really have sports to watch. And so
I played it wrong. I should have spaced out some
of those Netflix series and uh, speaking of those, the
Queen's Gambit has made me appreciate A. Mari Cooper and
(06:45):
w c A so much more. See what I did there,
because I'm about to segue into che I see I
see what you did? See what I did there. I've
never understood the game of chess, and these guys are,
you know, like they are so into it and it's
so fascinating. Go watch The Queen's Ganbit. This is your
bonus feature of the podcast today. You're welcome. It's amazing
(07:07):
the fluidity of her moves just on the chessboard. She
says that she picked that up from being a ballerina.
The way she like she kicks the pond and she
puts it is there's some dramatic editing, but it makes
you really appreciate the brain of a Marii Cooper and
Cheeto because it is such a cerebral game. And that
brings me to Cheeto. He did get some work out
(07:27):
on the field this week. They've been kind of slow
playing him. He got a little bit of work in
the week before. So no, Bobby, is this the week
that you bring Cheeto back? Or I kind of feel like,
give everybody the bye week, get him healthy, and then
bring him back after that, because then they've got Minnieapples,
they've got Minnesota. I mean, if you're genuinely committed to
the idea of we're still in this and we can
(07:49):
fight and we can do this and that, then yeah,
you bring him back. I think that they know better,
and I think that that's just you know, trying to
keep the troops encouraged and and that's just the type
of language that they're using. I think they know they're
out of this regardless of what you know. Steven and
Mike McCarthy another saying, I think they know the situation
right now. But yeah, if you believed that, then yeah,
(08:10):
you'd want to just say, well, man, we need cheetah.
This is a big game, and when we can't fall
further behind in the standings, and and you know there's
so many weapons here on Pittsburgh side, so we need
some help slowing them down. And uh, you know we
we can't just rely on six string cornerbacks to stop
Chase Claypool. Um. And so uh yeah that was the case.
(08:30):
But do you think you're gonna be in the stands?
Remember with Cleveland there were a lot fans. Um, yeah,
I mean Steelers travel really well. Um, and I don't
know that there's a ton of my my my guess
is my guess is it is minimum half Pittsburgh fans
on Sunday because I think there's just such disinterest from
the Cowboys fans right now. Um. I mean that was
(08:52):
the thing that um there was they had that issue
a lot that opposing fans were uh making up the
majority of I remember after three eight and eight seasons,
there wasn't a lot of hope heading into and then
Dallas of course turned it around and had a great
season and made it to the NFC Divisional Round. UM.
But in that season opener before there was a lot
(09:14):
of hope. That was half forty Niner fans that day,
and that was that was a big deal. It's gonna
be eighty degrees on Sunday on November eight in Dallas, Texas.
Eighty degrees. My prediction. People are not watching this game,
not Cowboys fans. But that's the thing. If you're if
your Pittsburgh team is rolling through town, then yeah, I
think you're gonna see low ratings relative to what they
(09:37):
normally get UM and that's been the case a lot
this season, and I honestly think that's that's gonna be
a big driver for Jerry. I think is that I
think I I'm certain Jerry sees where the TV ratings
are at relative to previous years, and and not just
for the rest of the league, but for them, like
just locally in Dallas, the local Dallas ratings are not
(09:59):
where they need to be. I still think that there
is this whole uh you know, it's like shoots and ladders.
I feel like Mike McCarthy is going to get the
shoot out of this because it's COVID. It's because of
the injuries. Oh yeah, yeah, No, I don't know. I
love this talk that he's a one and done coach.
This is not going to be like the Cardinals where
we saw them. Oh what was what he was? Yeah?
(10:22):
I don't think we're gonna see a world situation here
in Dallas. Not going to happen. Um. I mean I
could state the obvious. They have time there who's their GM,
But um, Jerry is not. Jerry made this higher. Jerry
is going to ride with Mike McCarthy. I think he
feels like they speak the same love languages. Um, their
(10:44):
menu of love is very similar. Um. I just he's
back next year. I look, I think Mike's going to
turn this thing around. But I think he's going to
have to make some changes to his coaching staff. I
thought with de Marcus Lawrence said this week was really
interesting talking about how this defense was not a plug
(11:04):
and play defense. In other words, guys needed to buy
into the scheme, they needed to study it, they needed
to execute it. I thought that was telling that here
we are. What is this week eight? What is this
week nine, Week nine that we're still hearing that. Yeah, well,
especially after I mean we talked to Layton Vanderesh in
the off season. He said he thought that the virtual
(11:26):
off season and the virtual install was going great and
that they were that they were really well prepared and
that they felt good about everything that they were learning
and so well, I mean, hold up, fun fact, Mike
Nolan uh was one of Laton's biggest supporters when the
Saints were interested in him. And so it was my
understanding that maybe Layton told us this or I was
(11:48):
told this, uh when he went to New Orleans. Mike
Nolan was the guy that was there for his visit,
so they already had a buy in of sorts. Um,
Layton was already a fan of Mike Nolan before he
got and late Layton is a my impression of Layton
vander Esh just having you know, seen him here in
(12:09):
the locker room and during the practice week and seeing
him on the field for three years now. Um, Layton
is very much a a believer in cowboy culture and
buying in and you know, and like he was he
was the most aggressive when you're when your report had
come out. He was the most aggressive speaking out against
(12:30):
anonymous sources within the locker room. Didn't dispute necessarily the report,
but just how it was handled. He was the one
who directly came out and said, you're a coward if
you are the one who did that. And so it's
like shot clones, I mean Sean the saying. And I
got to tell you when I was out of practice
on uh No, I didn't get kicked out, not yet. Um,
(12:50):
Sean Lee looked like a dude on a mission. I mean, yes,
he's off on the cords, but he's attacking those accords
like he's an opposing like offense, like he is there.
I literally might take away. My impression, like my internal
monologue at that point was if only this team had
fifty to Shawn Lee's. I mean, the way he attacks
(13:14):
just rehab is fascinating to me. And you just you
don't see that. I will say this, The guy seemed
a lot lighter in practice, Like I actually saw them
dancing the music and there seemed to be some like
the guys were vibing like we just hadn't No, it's
it's been we don't get to see a lot. But
(13:34):
the portions that I've seen this year like so flat.
So it's just it's it's it's not there's not the
same energy out of practice as there has been in
the past. Now now that maybe that's you know, there's
more than one way to skin act. I'm not saying
that's not a way that could work for some teams
and things like that. I just think given this team
and this culture, that that was something we talked about
(13:58):
you and I early on when we were watching practice
and how it was going, was like, it's like, you know,
that's that doesn't feel like it fits this culture of
players like this, you know, business only, you know, everything
is very serious type of practice routine and practice regiment,
and you know they've always been, you know, Friday's the
(14:18):
Friday practice was always lighthearted under Jason Garrett. They would
play the Friday music, which was always like, you know
it's they'd play like Friday themed, like looking forward to
the weekend type of music, and they would do the
little game where they'd have the coaches jump in on
the on side kick recoveries, and that was always the
Henry Schroka, the pro scout for the Cowboys, who's gosh,
(14:42):
I think he's like seventy three. Now, Uh, Henry would
be out there leading, jumping Jack's and you know, going
all out when he's like jumping around leading everybody. And
it was always Friday was always a relaxed, fun atmosphere,
and there was always music playing at all the practices
during the weekend. So it is just it's different how
there's nothing. And I wonder if the Saturday practice thing
(15:04):
is hard on their but which we don't see. Saturday
is a practice. Saturday is Jason Garrett's Friday. And we
used to see Jason Garrett's Friday, but we do not
see the Saturday practice, so we don't know how that
one runs. Uh curious, like, you know, is there something
I don't know? I think all of us are still
sort of looking for answers. I think even internally the
(15:26):
guys are still looking for answers. But I think what
you're seeing now is guys saying we've got to get
on board. They're going to ship this out, not this year,
but I think next year. And Mike McCarthy's been saying
as much. You know, he's looking. It's the evaluation process
right now, the effort, the buy in, the attitude he
wants to see the energy. He wants to see all
of those things. Um. I did think another thing that
(15:49):
DeMarcus Lawrence, you know, I asked him specifically about how
do you jell with COVID, you know, like the team
dinners and stuff, and he said that that's been hard
to do, Like because of COVID, they haven't been able
their team dinners now. I don't know if other teams
do that. In other words, come to my house and um,
you know, we'll order in. I don't know if they have,
(16:10):
Like you know, during COVID, we had happy hours like
with me and my friends zooming at home, trying to
spend some time in the locker room. I do think
that I remember we talked into a couple of weeks
ago about making the perfect souflay. All the ingredients you've
got to have, like the temperature has got to be
just right for it to rise, and you want it
(16:32):
to look like that picture on Pinterest, and it doesn't.
I think that that is all the stuff that has
gone into this sou fla. This year. Something was off.
They just didn't cook that oven, that that oven wasn't
hot enough well, And I know that I know that
there are certain players. I don't know about the entire
position groups, but I know there are certain players that
outside the facility there face timing, you know, in the
(16:55):
evening and talking about you know, they're they're trying to
connect with each other. It's just it's it's the same
challenge that everybody's running into right now about staying you know,
connected to your friends or family during this time and
keeping those relationships alive, and um, they're I mean, they're
running into those same sort of bonding issues. And that's
the thing where chemistry and bonding and relationships that's such
(17:18):
a big thing for football teams where if it's not there,
I mean, you can have all the talent in the
world and it'll it's not gonna come together for you.
I mean, I think that was the thing that everybody
felt like was the issue last year, was that they
had a talented football team, but that they just there
was a disconnect there. There was a a chemistry issue there,
(17:39):
and so I mean that can bring down really talented teams.
You look at basketball. One of the most famous examples
of the one of the original super teams that was
built when the Lakers went out and got Karl Malone
and Gary Payton to play with Kobe and Shack and
then they get beat by a bunch of essentially at
(17:59):
the time, how people viewed them role players with the
Pistons got thumped by them in the NBA Finals because
it was here's a team versus a collection of individuals.
And I think that's that's a bigger challenge during the
COVID era than uh it even normally is is getting
these guys to be a team. As Christo Shard told us,
it's about a tribe. It's about creating a tribe and
(18:20):
and uh, you know, creating a group of guys that
you know exist for one another and and look to
push for each other and not just for themselves. And
that's a challenge. I'm glad you're part of my tribe.
Thank you. You haven't pushed me out since I I
dogged Taylor Swift on Twitter. I was half joking about
(18:40):
sub many applications, only half jokes and U NFL Network producer.
I didn't want to get into this her. I mean,
her music is just here. One of the worst songs
I've ever heard in my life is that Look what
You Made Me Do? That is maybe the worst song
I've ever heard in my last song. But style is
her absolute favorite. The guitar is my absolute favorite. The
guitar riff. Uh. I mean there's actually so many. I
(19:03):
can't even begin to go down to my list of
favorite songs. I know, I know, I I just I've
never I've been the anti Taylor music taste. That's one
where we split pretty hard, really like to goad me
on that. And I just I wasn't going to be
trifled with that day, Bobby, I know, I know it.
That was that we have my one thing this year. Okay,
that's I I knew. I counted on you, uh, Dan
(19:25):
Turner and David Hellman jumping in my mentions and Helman didn't,
but you and Dan did and came in and corrected
me on that. Uh. And I know you guys have
a lot of tea swift from political music. Oh you know, like,
but I was I was ready to throw throw hands.
As related to the Taylor Swift stuff, well, I mean,
she's just you know whatever. I just think it's yeah,
(19:45):
we we don't have to dive all the way into
it because I would rant and I don't. I don't
want to set off the Swifties. It's like there's three
things you're not allowed to talk about in public politics. Um.
And then criticism, no criticism, not even religion, criticism of
Taylor s often Beyonce Knowles. If you do those two things,
then you're just getting lit up on social media. But um,
(20:07):
we talked about Cheeto transitioning back, we talked about Cheeto.
To other injuries on the report, Ezekiel Elliott has a
hamstring Alton Smith has a knee injury. They're both limited
all week. It doesn't sound like they're gonna miss the
game though. Um. In fact, I think they're both gonna
be a full go. Um. They But I mean again,
that's two of your big contributors again who didn't get
(20:28):
a full week of practice. Um. And you know the
guy you apparently would rely on with backup quarterbacks in there,
and you know, reserve quarterbacks, and there is not getting
the normal practice reps with these quarterbacks. So it is
gonna be I think tougher. Um. And I mean that
creates a whole another line of issues, the fact that
(20:49):
they didn't get their full practice weekend. They didn't go
on Thursday, which is in terms of what the big
team periods, which is their padded practice, which is their
big prep day. Um. And and Aldon Smith is even
here to be on the active sport because, as uh
Mike Garafolo reported, um, the Cowboys had turned down a
trade offer right before the deadline from the Seahawks to
(21:09):
get Alton Smith. So the Cowboys opt not to move
Aldon Smith. Um. And I've seen a lot of people
interpreting that this means, oh, Alton's here for the long
run and h you know, they want him here and
they want extension. I don't think that's what that is.
I think what that is is just the Cowboys looking
and go, um, we didn't get blown away by an
offer that was so much more than the potential comp
(21:29):
pick if he signs a way that we're willing to
give up a guy who's still a solid rotation player
for us. So I don't know if you I don't
know if you view it differently, but I don't. I
still don't think I think Alton Smith is a Randall
Cobb or Robert Quinn situation. I think he's just here
and uh, you know, show that you revived your career,
that you did all the things mutually beneficial. Yeah, it's
(21:52):
like it's like, can't buy me love? Just you know,
be together for the yeah, be be together for a
little bit. Let me have the big break up in
front of every about to get my popularity. That's that's
the same sort of thing to me. Joining us now
is a d D King Kabwala. She is a reporter
for the NFL Network, covering several teams, but most notably
a most relevant right now, the Pittsburgh Steelers. You can
(22:14):
follow her on Twitter. And I'm not going to look
down at my note to guarantee spelling because I want
to flex a little bit. It's A K I N
K h A b w A L A add How
you doing? I am deliriously happy that you just got
that completely right. And what's the what's the worst, like
most butchered pronunciation you've gotten. It's usually the first name.
(22:36):
It's usually adida And it's like, wait a minute, there's
an eye at the end. How when does an I
ever sound like an A? But it said if people
just want to make it adida. So it's like, who
ever did anyone ever try to frusture you into taking
your husband Matt's last name? Um no, because it's actually
worse than mine. What is Matt's last name? We're Guinness.
(22:56):
I don't remember. Yeah, I remember my my John at
the time. She was like, wait, what's Matt's last name?
And I said, we're Guinness, and she goes, you couldn't
marry a Fox or a Harris or a Smith, like
something that would make morse. But the best part of
this story is that my brother is married to a
doctor and uh. Mona and my brother started dating when
(23:19):
they were eighteen years old. Seventeen eighteen years old freshman
year of college, and Mona wan all through college and
med school and part of residency before they got married.
And my brother was adamant, you need to take my name,
and she was like, well, I just did all of
this under my old name. And he was like, no, no, no,
You've got to take your name. And then I got
married after my brother and I said, so what do
y'all think I should do. My sister in law was like,
(23:43):
my brother said, you should totally keep your maiden name
because you did everything under your maiden name. Oh yeah,
it's funny. It's funny how that works. I remember I
was some A lot of people usually think my last
name is fake belt. I get that. I I get
that a lot. I'm a rose working because I've I've
done political stuff before. And I was working a show
and I, uh, the guests this politician had called in
(24:06):
and uh, I guess the prepper had told him Bobby
Belt will answer the phone. So when I answered it,
I said, you know studio and he goes, is this
Bobby And I said yes, And he goes, is this
Bobby Belt? And I said yeah, And he said, great
f and name. He's like, he's like, he's like, thank
your parents every day. Is that's your real name? That
doesn't sound like a real name. That's a great name.
Don't mess with that one. I said, like days later
(24:27):
to me, sounds like a great name too. Is that well,
it's the name that you bring that up? Because two
years ago we'll quickly digress here and then we'll get
into Steelers Cowboys. Two years ago, my aunts, my dad
has six siblings for UH, sister still alive, thought it'd
be really fun for Christmas to do the DNA UH
(24:48):
and DNA and me like twenty three and me my
dad swabs along with my aunts, not thinking anything of it.
We're just gonna find out like our grandmother always told
us that we were American Indians, so like we were
a quarter Cherokee, which none of us really bought into that,
And so the test comes back, you're not the father,
(25:11):
My dad is not a Slater. And so for like
the last two years, my poor father at six eight
years old, finds out that we're not slater. So everyone
used to ask me, is your name made up? And
in good faith? Now I can't say his real name.
But literally last week my mom said, at three o'clock
in the morning, she was logged on because you know,
(25:31):
you know, at a certain age it starts to bother you.
Even though he didn't know his dad, his dad died.
His father died when he was three. He's matching now.
But the sad thing about this is it looks like
his father passed away like last year. So now we're
trying to get in touch with what we think is
his half sister that's still alive. But he obviously don't
(25:55):
want to say his name on here and shook off
his family because I would imagine it's wait, wait, but
your grandma is not alive, Like you found out this
information and you couldn't go to your grandmother and he
went to never saying anything to it's like the greatest mystery.
But she went through what number in bruth word during
he's the baby, so he was like six years behind
(26:17):
the rest of them. Um So as a married that
can attest like, you know, that would be sort of
the time when you're like, all right, yeah, you know,
I don't think she thought science would ever catch up
with her. But then so my sister and I of
course have gone back and forth like do we let
this his living wife? No, because they've been married pretty
(26:43):
long time, so there would have been cheating involved, and
he's got a completely separate family. Uh, but it's just
it's the whole thing's bizarre. I mean, I didn't do
it because I just don't want my DNA and the database.
But uh, you know, I love that you say that, Jane,
because Matt did it a few years go, like Amazon
Prime was having its fame, and Matt is a classic
(27:04):
American mutt, you know he is. He's basically Russian, but
he's four different Eastern European countries whatever, So he wants
to look himself up and he kept trying to pressure
me to do this, and I was like I know
what I am. I am Indian. It's okay, Like I'm
good with that. And then Matt finds out that he's
point oh five percent Ashkenazi Jewish. So I love everybody
(27:28):
jewshe I'm like this Catholic kid, I'm Jewish. Why does
anything come out like I don't? I think, alright, but
I just want to feel like we belong. But yeah,
so I don't know what my what my last name is,
and we think we know what it is now and
it's a pretty cool last name. Like I said, I'm
not trying to have the Internet try to check down
this family before he might you change it, like if
(27:51):
you find out that's here like me, that's later. So legit,
it's just my sister and I. Again, one more side note,
my poor father's like having this like really tough day
when he finds out that it's, you know, not slater.
My sister and I, being the snarky kids that we are,
our immediate response was like, so wait, we're not slaters.
(28:11):
We think our last name is like the coolest last
name ever. And that was like our spotswear father, So confirmed,
Jane is an absolute a whole. That's that's the uh
and that was the I mean, Jane, even now we're
talking about Rashaan Slater, the Northwestern tackle who's coming out
in the draft next year, and that was Jane's first
response was great last name. She She's She's just she
(28:33):
loves that name. It was as jarring to lose them,
like there could be people on the planet and Jane
could claim them as like, oh yeah, we're cousins. Oh yeah,
Like we've got this thing going. I am never meeting
an NFL player named Kinka Balla. We well, maybe one day.
I think my daughter's got a better chance of being
an NFL linebacker than my son. I think. I think
(28:55):
I think both my daughters have better chances of being
NFL players than my son too. So we're we're in
the same boat there. You've got tough daughters, Yeah, yes
I do. And uh We're we're working on the boy
right now. Uh Now, speaking of great American family last names, UH,
wat's a pretty good one for the NFL. And uh.
Of course Cowboys fans UH were heartbroken when t J.
(29:18):
Watt was not the selection INEN and instead it was
Taco Charlton, who is now on his third team. I
believe UH and so I know that early on there
was some people who felt like t J. Watts a
tweener and and now he's kind of like come into
his own as like, you know, one of the most
dominant defensive players in the NFL. Um how big? How
(29:40):
much has t J Watt gotten to this point where
he's just like, you know, a game record that like
teams have to plan around and have to focus on.
Um just you know, kind of as Cowboys fans wallow
and misery, they can feel a little bit worse about
losing t J. Watt. Brad Sham, actually the voice of
the Cowboys, tweeted yesterday that he's never been more heartbro
can hearing them call somebody else's name than when they
(30:02):
didn't call t J. Watt underraft night? And you know,
this is such a beauty as in the eye of
the beholder thing, because I still remember when t J.
Watt was taken how many people were ling this is
not a first round pick, this is not a first
round pick. And my having to sit here and say,
if the guy is perfect for what you do and
what you want to do and what you want to be,
then he is perfect at wherever you choose him. You know,
(30:23):
maybe he's not a first round pick for another team,
but for the Pittsburgh Steelers this was gold. And considering
what the Pittsburgh Steelers have done in the first round
the last I don't know, seven eight years, this is
probably one of their best first round picks. So t J.
It's interesting because I love where. I know we're supposed
to be impartial and unbiased and not supposed to have
(30:44):
favorites and the whole spield, but I love t J. Watt.
Having said that, this Steelers defense is all about the
puzzle pieces and how everything fits and so not that
t J isn't totally dynamic, not that t J isn't
one of the most brilliant years on the field whose
mind makes up for anything else that is possibly missing,
(31:04):
meaning that if his body is a little bit less
naturally than what Bud Dupres is, t J Watt makes
up for it because he's the smartest guy on the field.
T J has this unbelievable leadership quality. He clearly loves
the game of football. It's infectious. He's the one that
gets everybody motivated and going despite how young he is.
But part of t J's magic is that on the
(31:27):
other side of that line is bud Dupree. Part of
bud Dupree and t J's magic is that in the
middle of the Steelers defensive front is Kim Haywards, stephanto It,
who was just the a f C Player of the Week,
and Tyson alla Ulla, who you guys won't see this weekend,
but he's been playing a tremendous who's been doing a
tremendous job and playing tremendously well in the middle. So
(31:49):
the Steelers are getting a ton of push from the
middle of their defensive front and that just makes everybody
on the outside, makes those outside linebackers look all the
better and again, and it's I mean, if you look
at the Steelers defense, it's littered with first round picks
and again, puzzle pieces. You know, not that these guys
aren't individually great, but I will use Levyan Bell as
(32:11):
sort of the example here. And I know it's the
other side of the ball, but Levian Bell was the
best running back in football. A lot of that was
because he played behind an unbelievable offensive line, because Antonio
Brown was outside in demanding defenses is coverage, and because
Ben Roethlisberger and ostensible future Hall of Famer was his quarterback,
Levian Bell Leaves and more. I'm not saying that that's
(32:34):
who TJ would be, or that's who Bud would be,
or that's who Cam Heyward would be or any of that,
but all of these pieces together is what makes this
defense difficult. I mean, who do you pay attention to?
Righte Like, if you slide a line, if you slide
your offensive line, if you slide your line towards t J,
well then Bud is going to recaboc. If you slide
your line towards Bud, t J is going to rehab recaboc.
(32:55):
If you don't pay attention in the middle, well, the
pocket is going to completely collapse. And oh boy, doesn't
man or if Garrett Gilbert is starting or Cooper Rushi
is starting, you're gonna end up with somebody playing quarterback.
Camp talked about this that well, we talked about this yesterday.
Seventy four quarterback hits, a league leading seventy four quarterback hits.
How concerned should whoever gets the nod at the starting
(33:18):
quarterback position this weekend be? When you talk about this defense.
You've obviously had your eyeballs on this team a lot
more than we have this year. What stands out about
their past rush they hit and they hit really really hard.
You know, Jane, when you and I were talking earlier
in the week, and uh the discussion was around Benda Nucci.
And if you actually look at it, Bend Nucci has
(33:40):
more experience, as you said, than Garret Gilbert or Cooper Rush.
But if you really believe in ben da Nucci, maybe
you don't want him to die, which sounds really really blaze,
But like, the Steelers hit really, really really hard, and
I don't know that this Cowboy's offensive line gives you
all this uh confidence right now that they're protecting whoever
(34:03):
is back there. And so maybe just for the sake
of confidence, maybe for the sense of your mental psyche,
maybe for keeping your body whole and its and this
is a Steelers defense that is really really ticked off
right now after what the Ravens did to them last week.
Well and and with that being said, there is a
little I think everybody kind of feels like Dallas has
(34:24):
a talent deficit going up against whoever they're going against
right now. And uh so the biggest hope seems to be,
uh for Cowboys fans, Let's find somebody who's more dysfunctional
than us, And so that doesn't feel like Pittsburgh and
it doesn't feel like they'd have a shot this week
given that. But there was a little bit of the
drama last week during the Ravens game where Keith Butler
and uh T J. Watt we're kind of seen getting
(34:47):
into it with each other. So is there any hope
for Cowboys fans that there's some discontent on defense or
is that just I just actually I was talking to
Keith Butler this morning, which is part of why I
message Shane and said, can we push this back just
a little bit. Uh, it's just two incredibly competitive guys
and they and both of them have sat there and
said we were talking football, and uh, you really believe
(35:08):
it when they say it. And it has to do with,
you know, things not going right on the field and
a player thinks that something should be fit differently, and
a coach will sit here and say, well, okay, but
you've got to take care of X before we think
about why. And no, I think that that just speaks
to the competitiveness of both of these guys. The Steelers
defensive coordinator Keith Butler. He was an NFL linebacker for
(35:31):
uh ten years eleven year or something like that, so
you know he's been there and they've done that. This
is t J is really probably one of his favorite players. Also,
even though he's not supposed to say that, maybe they
should both get extra COVID testing since they were spitting
in each other's faces for like a good five minutes,
like we should think about that maybe, but no, there's
no cary ever for that. I will say, if you
(35:53):
do want to look for something mildly interesting, it's at
the Steelers offensive coordinator Randy Fekner. In the last few years.
He has been Ben Roethlisberger's quarterback coach for well over
a decade. He's been the offensive coordinator since Todd Haley left.
As you both know, Todd Haley has roots with the
Cowboys UM and Ben has been for a long time
(36:15):
drawing plays up in the dirt. You know, he's running
the offense. And so this past week Ben was talking
about how against the Ravens in the second half was
basically playground football, where he's saying, you know, run five
yards and make a rite at the tree or go
to the curb and cut in, and when Mike Tomlin
was asked about it, he said, ad lipping might be
(36:35):
a stretch, And then the next day Ben said, no, no, no, no,
we were just making it up on the fly. And
it's such a credit to my players that and to
my teammates that they're so mentally tough that we could
just do that on the field and improvise. And then
the next day Randy Feaking or the offensive coordinator says, no, no,
you know, drawing it up in the dirt might be
a stretch. So it's a little I think the headline
(36:57):
there is that part of what makes us to are
so good is that even when things aren't working, they
have a veteran enough quarterback and a cohesive enough group
that they can just improvise and do things like that.
But if you're looking for what's a little curious, why
don't they give Bend the credit for doing that? Yeah,
it's interesting, Okay, So Paula Trayvon Diggs get his two
(37:21):
takeaways last week. The poor rookie has been getting some
of the harder assignments each week, sort of a true
like baptism by fire for him. In the secondary, who
do you see him traveling with this week. What's who
is Diggs gonna mostly be focused on as it relates
to one of the the biggest weapons that the Steelers
have an offense see And this is one of those Jane,
(37:42):
where I would come to you and say, what do
you think is the best matchup? Because this is what
has been working so well for the Steelers is that
they've been able to pick out what is the biggest
mismatch and that's because they have so many guys in
their receiving corps who really truly can do dynamic things
with the ball. Deonte Johnson is a young, quick tip,
(38:05):
quick twitch. He's the guy that I think of as
Antonio Brown's air apparent if he can stay healthy, He's
the one that really truly is the most dynamic. But
then James Washington downfield, you throw up at ball, He's
coming down with it of the time. He's about as
tough as you can get. Juju. He's like Hind's word, juju.
Smith Schuster is as tough as you can get when
(38:26):
it comes to press man coverage, and whether he's in
the slot or outside, he's scored of got a deceiving
speed to him. And then Chase Claypool, the young rookie receiver.
I mean, he's like Plexico Bars. He's this big, tall target,
but he's also got speed. He's not afraid to go
across the middle. I mean we've seen him take these
little crossing routes where a linebacker is matched up on
(38:48):
him and go all the way to the end zone.
So you tell me when you look at these guys,
when you see big tall Chase Claypool, you see big
tough James Washington, you see Jujuice Smith Schuster, who's also
a big body. And then you see Deante Johnson. He's
kind of this little twitchy guy with amazing speed. Who
are you putting him on? And just know that whoever
you put him on, Ben's probably finding somebody else. There
(39:11):
are also two tight end theories. I think that, and
not only that, this run defense is so bad this year,
so bad. I know you said James Conner has just
he's no Levy on Bell, but I'm just telling you
right now he's going to have a day. I will
say this, when the Steelers are committed to running the ball,
James Conner does indeed run the ball, and he is
(39:33):
He's running angry, Jane. When we were talking about, you know,
talking to people, talking to some Steelers, James is a
He really is a wonderful young man. He just has
not been in the mood to do these, you know,
zoom press conferences, which, to be perfectly honest, I don't
really love doing zoom press conferences either. But I think
(39:54):
part of not being in the mood is that he
is sick of hearing that he is injury prone. He
is sick of here that he is not in every
down back. He is sick of hearing that he is
not the guy. And the Steelers went and they drafted
another young running back this year. His name is Anthony McFarland.
He came out of Maryland. They're using him a little
bit here and there. He's also a real dynamic talent.
(40:15):
But again, you know, I say this about the Browns,
Jervis Landry, who Jane, I know you know him really
well too. Jarvis plays angry, and that's not a bad thing.
So if James Conner is playing angry right now, it's
not a bad thing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. No. And
I think that, in fact, that's something that Cowboys fans
have felt like was lacking from this team is that
(40:37):
there's not enough people here playing angry and playing emotionally
invested in what's going on here. I guess the biggest
question because like you lay it out there there, there's
a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball.
They've they've got an incredible pass rush. Um. I guess
the question is is fourteen and a half point spread enough?
Should it be more like twenty one or I mean,
(40:59):
I feel like to in the over is probably the
right call. I mean, I hope this is okay because
we're a podcast. I'm gonna take you through my bathroom
right now. Sorry, my daughter has been screaming at the
Levens for a really long time. Well, the truth in
matter is is that the Steelers have been on the
road for this will be their third trade road game,
and they've had, um, you know, the Cleveland Browns was
(41:20):
a very significant matchup there says, oh, this is for
the division, and the Browns were four and one, and
this was the first time they were coming to Pittsburgh
since Myles Garrett took his helmet to Not the first
time they were coming to Pittsburgh, but the first time
they'd see Myles Garrett since Myles Garrett took his helmet
to Mason Rudolph and blah blah blah. So that was
a big game. Then it was the Tennessee Titans, and
the Titans were undefeated and the Steelers were undefeated, and
(41:43):
the Titans messed up their whole bi schedule and that
was a big game. And then last week was the Ravens,
who are their absolute rival, and it was for the
a f C North in the two best records in football,
and that was a big game. So if you look
at teams, well, if you look at past Mike Tomlin teams,
like every year they have kind of a loss that
(42:04):
they're not supposed to have, you know, like look at
how many times they've gone out to Oakland and Oakland
has been what like three and thirteen and they lose anyway.
So it's easy to sort of sit here and say, Okay,
this is a game that could be a letdown game.
This could be a game where that look at them,
no no chance, no chance, no, I mean it's a
I like, my my prediction is Ben Roethlisberger doesn't take
(42:26):
a snap in the second half of the Game's funny
because That's something that's been talked about a lot that
Mike Tomlin doesn't necessarily take him out just to take
him out, like why not take him out? But but
that's I'm not saying that I expect the Steelers to
let down. I think they're incredibly focused. I think that
they love being us against the world, and right now
they're very angry that this Titans COVID situation has affected
(42:49):
them in this way and that you know, they don't
get a buy when they're supposed to get a buy,
and you know, I think all of that is working
in their favor. I'm just saying, like you're asking, why
is it two plus touchdown lead not a wide enough large? Well,
maybe it's that you know, could be there there, there's
I I just I feel like I feel like three
hundred rushing yards, Ben throws six touchdowns in the first half.
(43:10):
I mean, it's just this, this is gonna be a
tough one and this is about as uh, you know,
lacking in dramatic flare as a Cowboys Steelers game has
in a long time. But if you want to keep
up with the Steelers and then find out everything about
this opponent, just how bad they're probably going to be
down the Cowboys. You can follow a dity on Twitter.
It's a King Kawalla and again that is a and
(43:33):
then King of balla is k I n k h
A b w A l A. Well, Bobby, Uh, Jerry
loves a good comeback story. I don't know if that
chapter of the book is happening against the Steelers, but
we will talk about this in Digestice on Monday. And
then a bye week can't come soon enough for the
(43:53):
team or myself, Bobby, I need a little break from
the season. What about you? Yeah, I I need a
I need a reset, just like I think the Cowboys
need a reset. And it'll be good. They'll be able
to go into the bye week, get some health back,
hopefully get some time to decompress. Uh, there's been a
lot of it. Seems like every week there's some more
drama that they're having to filter through. And it'll probably
(44:15):
nice to just take a week and and not have
to do zoom calls with the media and not have
to be out at you know, practice and and grinding it.
It'll be a good mini vacation. Hopefully they can come
back and show some better effort when they return from
the bye week, and I think we saw a little
bit better effort against Philadelphia. Hopefully that continues against Pittsburgh. UM,
(44:36):
but I think that's exactly where you're at for the
rest of the season. What you're evaluating the rest of
the season is who shows effort, who shows fight, Who
shows promise that we can potentially bring back on this
roster next year, and hashtag thoughts and prayers to whoever
is under center.
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