Playoff Chances, Late Season Optimism, Negotiating with Post-Injury Dak

On today’s episode of the 'Boys and Girl Podcast, Jane and Bobby discuss whether or not the Cowboys can actually make the playoffs in 2020, and what they might do if they get there. Plus, the duo dives into the Dak Prescott contract negotiation. Follow Jane and Bobby on Twitter and subscribe to get all the latest inside information from two of the most connected people in the Cowboys’ community.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
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, Bobby,
I don't know about you, but I am a fan
of watermelons, and apparently the players are too. Yeah, I
think everybody at this point. Uh, I mean, I think
when people sit down here and they listen to this
next episode, they're gonna they're gonna hear a lot of

(00:43):
optimism from you. You you've had a chance to, you know,
let the Christmas spirit get you, and and you're feeling
optimistic and happy and and so now you're believing, see
we do this because last year there was a little
bit of the you were believing on maybe Jason can
get this together, Maybe Jason can hole that, maybe they'll
may And so the optimism usually strikes you around here.
You are full on drinking the watermelon kool aid at

(01:06):
this point, and so I think for you, I just
I need to catch up to you. So you go
ahead and share your thoughts and I'll try and get
in the mood. Well, hope floats right, And yes I
was down on this team, which is uncharacteristic of me.
I mean, I've to your point. I've argued forgive Jason

(01:26):
one more year, and sometimes even I The knock on
me as just a human is I'm not rooted in
reality at all times. And so this year I took
a more pessimistic approach to this team. And why wouldn't
I when I didn't see signs of life. There was
an effort players that all of us and to be fair,

(01:49):
as as much as people say, oh, well, you were
so high on this team, a lot of people were
high on this team at the end of the season.
When you look at what we perceive as talent on
the offensive inside ball, we should go back and play
all the clips from all the national media talking about
the depth on the defensive line, talking about the depth
that they have at wide receiver, talking about another year

(02:11):
we're going to see the one to punch of Tony
Poulter and Ezekiel Elliott. Kellen Moore is such a play caller,
and now you've got a coach with skins on your wall,
and now this team went is the record six and
nine right now, They're still gonna have a winning season, Bobby.
But here's why I'm back in, back in because I
watched a lot of games in the last week and
a half. I went and watched good football and covered

(02:32):
good football teams. But I also saw good football teams
struggling because of injuries to their quarterback. Uh going on
the road and playing an m v P like Aaron
Rodgers the Titans. I expected them to have a tough
go on the road. Keep eating your watermelons, I am.
I'm going to eat those Hatch watermelons. I'm trying to
get in the mood like you. We saw the Browns,

(02:53):
who I didn't expect to lay an egg, But I
also didn't expect that they'd missed half their wide receivers
to a hot tub COVID controversy. So my point is,
there are so many things that can happen to all
of these teams that we have votted as the best
teams in the league right now, and maybe just maybe
all that bad luck that we saw with the Dallas
Cowboys to begin this season and their inability to communicate

(03:16):
and gel, maybe just maybe all of those problems are
setting them up for success. And I say that, Bobby,
because I saw this offense allow the Eagles to Shaun.
I thought when the Eagles came out scoring fourteen points,
more importantly, that bomb from Jalen Hurts to de Shaun Jackson,
I was like, that's it. This team is. It's over.

(03:38):
Put a fork in them. They rally back, allow the
Eagles only to put up three more points in the
game and shut them out of the second half. Takeaways,
let's talk about that. Through the first twelve weeks this season,
only ten and the last four they have eleven takeaways,
the most in the NFL. So what if, Bobby, this
team is now as healthy as they're likely going to get.

(03:59):
They've been through their adversity. It's now a chip on
their shoulder. It's us against the world, something that I
felt was really missing early on. What if they catch
they catch a ride, what if they catch a break.
I'm just saying, nothing is outside the realm of possibility.
In we were talking about its Brown's team with a

(04:21):
winning record this season, Bob Thursday at football they almost
pulled that one off against the Ravens. Anything is possible
this year and I'm back in because the effort and
the enthusiasm and the players finally now playing up to
what we said they were. In last night's game. You

(04:41):
didn't have me when they played SENSEI. It didn't have
me when they played the forty Niners. But then when
I look at the way the forty Niners played against
the Cardinals, and when I look at the way the
Eagles played against the Saints, maybe this Cowboys team isn't
as bad as I thought they were in the last
couple of weeks. I even though I've now munched on

(05:02):
my sower patch watermelons and I've had my watermelon tea.
Uh No, I think I think the most you're doing here.
And look, Washington is winning there in that Dallas needs
to win next week and they need Washington to lose
to be able to get in. Um So Washington is
basically in a position of if they win, they're in
control of their own destiny. They're a mess right now.

(05:23):
The Alex Smith injury and then all the stuff with
Dwayne Haskins who was released on Monday. Uh let the
first round quarterback go first of all, all way in here,
real quick love the move from Ron Rivera you don't
send a better message that locker room about the new
sheriff in town, especially when that was Dan Snyder's guy. Yeah,

(05:43):
then cutting a first round pick, cutting a first round
quarterback and I can't remember if it was him or
uh Manta Sweat that they had traded up for, but
it may have been Haskin. So I mean, but either way,
with somebody who invested a top fifteen pick in and
a guy who coming out of Ohio State, I think
a lot of the lauding that he got and a
lot of the accolades that he got a lot of

(06:03):
was centered around people talking about how he was a leader,
and he was a born leader and he was, you know,
named a captain here in Washington, and it's looked like
anything but so far in Ron Rivera, you know, went
ahead and cut bait. And maybe that's enough. Maybe that
sends enough of a message and motivates guys and and
it helps them. But it also could be looked at
the other way and say they're in disarray and they're
in a little bit of a struggle as they head

(06:24):
into this game with the Eagles. Even if the Cowboys
make the playoffs, I don't care who they're getting in
their wild card matchup. I don't see them beating anybody
that they would play in the playoffs, and so to me,
it would be more just okay, you ended out dropping
yourself a lot further down in the draft in the
name of something, in the name of you know, well, look, Bobby,

(06:48):
you've got it. They're what they're playing for is pride.
But I just when I you know, I wouldn't covered
the Saints game on a Christmas and Alvin Kamara had
those six rushing touchdowns, was was amendous. The Minnesota Vikings
defense is trash this year. I mean from fifth last season, which,
by the way, a lot of people tell you in

(07:09):
Minnesota that George Edwards, who by the way, is here
in Dallas, had a lot to do with their success
last year. Now, look, they've had a lot of injuries
as well. Eric Kendricks obviously guy that they're missing. But
I keep wondering, you've got that type of guy in Dallas,
bought a house here, family here. Why not utilize his
brain a little bit more? How much are you using utilizing?

(07:30):
But I look at that Saints team and they've got
a lot of injuries. We don't know if Michael Thomas
is gonna be a percent when they get him back
in three weeks for that playoff push. We don't know
if they're gonna have Marcus Williams back. That that defense,
the Saints defense, while they played really well against Minnesota,
you're also playing against Kirk Cousins. I don't know. I
think the only team right now that I'm really really

(07:50):
worried about in the NFC would be the Green Bay Packers.
Aaron Rodgers is just on one this year, so I
don't know. Remember a couple of years ago, is two
years ago, we said the Cowboys can't beat the Saints,
and I think they won what ten straight? That was
that it was a late November game, uh, and the
Cowboys shocked. The Cowboys just are the most unpredictable team

(08:11):
as it relates to trying to say how they're going
to come out and perform. So that's why I keep saying,
what if? I guess That's my biggest thing though, is
that even if you want to look at all these
flawed contenders, like who's a flawed contender, they've even beat
I mean even when they've gotten up there Baltimore Ree
Lane and you know Lamar Jackson one day out of
COVID protocol, they destroyed them. And Dallas has gotten you know,

(08:33):
shredded by other teams that that seem to be even
though Washington, with all their flaws and everything like that,
has now beaten you by twenty plus points twice. And
I mean that that that Thanksgiving game was a month ago.
They didn't have Mullen playing, the had C J. Bethard instead.
And obviously San Francisco is the only team that's been
hit by injuries more than Dallas. And so that's that's

(08:55):
why I try to use them, and Washington is my
litmus well. In Washington's beating you by twenty plus two times,
I just have a hard time seeing that they could
beat anybody in there. They may sneak in because they're
the healthiest they've been. This is the healthiest we've seen
this roster and the most cohesive we've seen this offensive line.
Um yeah, and I mean there's there's a lot of

(09:16):
For as much as we ragged on Terence Steele, I
tweeted this like, you've got to give him credit for
he's not a black hole anymore. I'm not gonna say
he's an all pro but I mean, he's been solid
enough that you're not hearing his name every other snap
and you're not you know, seeing just whiffing against whatever
defensive end is up there. He's playing okay, he's stabilized,
and that's a testament to his improvement, which is great.

(09:39):
And then it's also a testament, i think bigger than that,
to the mental strength and the mental toughness to continue
to power through a lot of criticism. That's something that
if you ask people then the Cowboys organization, that was
one of the biggest problems Chaz Green had. Chaz Green,
outside of the injuries there was he had difficulty, you know,

(09:59):
keeping his is morale high. And Terrence Steele apparently has
has not had that same issue. Despite being yanked on
the line of benched, you know, pulled around and and
and having those sort of issues and hearing a lot
of criticism, has managed to kind of stay the course
and steadily improve. And so there's some good things there.
You're finally getting Donovan Wilson on the field, who's been
a bright spot. You're finally starting to separate Randy Gregory

(10:21):
from Doran's Armstrong in terms of the number of snaps
despite Jerry just thinking Dorance Armstrong is Lawrence Taylor two
point oh. When you listen to him give interviews, he's
always gotta mention Doran's Armstrong as a bright spot for
I don't know what, because there's not been a lot
of great from Doran's Armstrong this year. But you're finally
seeing them kind of I think, find the rotation they
know that works for them. Neville Gallamore wasn't getting snaps

(10:41):
early on, and when he was, he was out of position.
Sometimes you've seen him grow and you're seeing him get
the right you know, sort of traction and uh D
Laws playing really well and Randy Gregory's finding his footing,
and you know, while Jalen Smith has not been great,
Jalen Smith has not had the same sort of low
lights that you're seeing as frequently. Again, I don't think
he's had a good season. I don't think he's even
playing super well right now, but he's not been terrible lately. Um,

(11:03):
which that's kind of sad that that's the bar we're
looking at here. But you got Treyvon Diggs back from injury.
Treyvon diggs third interception of the season yesterday all of
them against the Eagles. He's the first cornerback for the
Cowboys to have three interceptions in the season since Brandon
Carr did it eight years ago. So, I mean, there's
some things there to like. But I mean, at the
end of the day, like we're going with this yah,
I you know, but but that's exciting for me. Not

(11:26):
this year. Okay. In journalism school, they say it's the
tell it to the front, So I I did the
tell it to my dad method, and I realized that
perhaps you and I have gotten a little bit out
of touch with our Cowboys fan base, and every time
they come to our podcast, we commensurate with them. This year,
there's a bit of psychology involved. We were working through
the problems and then I thought to myself, they need hope,

(11:49):
they need helpe Bobby. So I want this to be
a more hopeful podcast as it relates to this team.
So staying with that, I'm gonna need it. I'm gonna
need a lot more watermelon to get hopeful. So I
threw watermelon in my smoothie too this morning. Good very sweet,
by the way, because I don't linker in negativity, and

(12:09):
it's been hard for me this year, because it's forced
me to operate in reality. Because is that my fault?
Because j You're you're you're always the optimist. I'm Mr. Pessimism.
So I wonder if I've just rubbed off on you
this year. No, I mean you, I've watched some really
bad football. I mean you and I have been in
the press box, and I remember there was one place
specifically I said Jalen Smith is absolutely confused. He is

(12:32):
he is not being really he is not being proactive
in his assignments. He's being reactive, like how much time
is Jalen Smith actually spending and his playbook? And there'll
be some stuff that I can say at the end
of the season as it relates to some of the
stuff that's gone on behind the scenes. And I think
with that being said, knowing the struggles behind the scenes,

(12:52):
knowing the amount of injuries, knowing where this team's morale was,
to see them galv nice the way they have in
recent weeks, I don't think they're playing for Mike Nolan's job.
I don't think they're necessarily even playing for Mike McCarthy.
I think they're doing it for each other, and I
think they're doing it in the sense that they're tired
of being trash, because that was the biggest argument that

(13:14):
I had when I released my report back in November
was players, which there wasn't a lot of turnover on
this team. The problems, Bobby were the fact that they
brought in more free agents than they had in years past.
Coaching staff stood on the table for some of those
free agents that didn't sit well with some of the veterans.

(13:36):
And again, I'll reveals some more as the season ends
and we see where this whole thing shakes out. But
that was a big deal for this team to overcome.
And what I've noticed in recent weeks is Sean Lee
and has taken on more of a leadership role. And
I thought it was really interesting how Mike McCarthy was
asked about Shawn Lee and this idea of him coaching

(13:58):
down the line. We talked to his agent, Mike McCartney
earlier in the season. He talked about how he expected
Sean to coach at some point more of a college direction.
But I think it's Sean smart and we saw this
with Sean two years ago after Layton's rookie season. There

(14:19):
was he was generating a lot of interest from other teams.
I had one NFC East team say to me, if
he becomes available, I'm going after him. I thought that
was interesting. He's been so loyal. He's loyals the laborator
into this team, and he does everything the right way.
From the story I told you about all the guys
when they fly out to Oxnard, a lot of them
will just meet you in California. He has a place

(14:39):
in Santa Barbara. He flies all the way home to Dallas,
gets on the plane, and then goes all the way back.
He just does things the right way. I wouldn't be
surprised if these guys aren't hanging out with those Shawn Lee,
whether it be in zoo rooms or in any way
that they can, and he's doing a little bit more
behind the scenes, then maybe we know about I don't

(14:59):
know that for sure. I just noticed that. If you've
seen him in the pregame huddles on the sidelines, I
know in years past he was a little bit more
reserved about that leadership role because he felt he was
injured and he shouldn't really have to say. But I
looked even the times we saw him on the set
the headsets when he was injured and how that galvanized

(15:20):
that linebackers group. I'm just saying, it feels like there's
something going on there. Yeah, And I remember one of
the it was like the second day of training camp
when I was out of practice and Shaun Lee was hurt. So,
I mean, he wasn't doing anything, but he was with
the linebacker group and he was out there for the
entire practice just you know, hanging around them kind of

(15:41):
going through like their drills. Like as they're going through
the drills, he's not doing it, but he's kind of
mirroring them off to the side, doing whatever he could physically.
And there was a lot of George Edwards was actually
leading the linebacker drills, which it wasn't the linebacker coach,
Um Scott McCurley, It was not him. It was George Edwards.
And Shawn Lee was right in George edwards hip hoc

(16:04):
at the whole time, and they were kind of chatting.
But it was weird. It was like they were kind
of like, you know, talking through things as equals and
like kind of looking at things and and and and
that's been the case for a long time. Um that
I think anybody here who's on the defensive staff. Remember
Rod Marinelli borderline crying at the end of one season
when he was talking about Shawn Lee and talking about like,
you guys need to appreciate him, you need to know

(16:25):
how special he is. Yeah, and then, um, I remember
I was at a practice a couple of years ago
and Ben Bloom was, you know, going through and coaching him,
and there's one point and he turned to Shawn Lee
and he goes, Sean, what should we do next? What
do you want to do? Should we do that? And
like Sean was all about it and all in And
I think that's the thing. I think a lot of
the coaches have a lot of respect for Sean Lee

(16:46):
and the type of football mind that he is, and
I know the players do. Um. I mentioned here a
couple weeks ago. I've talked to a lot of people
in the league recently, just gauging their ideas and like,
who's the smartest football person you've ever met? There's been
a lot of people. The most common answer I got
with Shaun And that's the thing. And that's players, coaches,
that's personnel people, that's people in Dallas outside of Dallas.
He has a lot of respect and I think a

(17:06):
lot of people naturally think, you know, the way if
you know, if he wants to be a coach, the
way some people look at it, the way people talk
about Peyton Manning. If Peyton Manning wanted to be a coach,
he'd be one of the best. I think people think
of Sean Lee the same way. If he wanted to
do it, if he has that desire, he will be
able to do it, and he'll do it really well well.
And I think Mike McCarthy and him, you know, they're

(17:26):
both from the Pennsylvania, the state of Pennsylvania. I think
they both have a very similar, like this workhorse background.
I think it's been very intriguing. I thought there were
some very telling comments from him. And my whole argument
is you promoted Kellen Moored offensive coordinator after what two seasons? Yeah,
and and and kell whatever. Kellen was another guy people

(17:49):
talked about similarly when he was playing that one day
he'll be a really good coach. So it was the
same sort of discussion surrounding him. And Sean has been
in your organization even longer than Kellen. So I don't
think this would be necessarily a shock for me. If
we see that. I actually think it would be really
when we're you and I are beginning to hear names
float around. Might know, I'd be willing to say right now,

(18:09):
Mike Nolan's not here next year, just the players don't
respect him. I hear he's a lovely guy. Like I said,
this is not a uh a smear campaign as it relates,
So I really don't even know Might No onen that well,
what I do know is and talking to the guys
in the locker room, and talking to guys that deal
with the guys in the locker room, you name it.

(18:31):
It's pretty across the board. Um. As it relates to
maybe Mike Nolan would be great as a as an
assistant coach, the roles reversed. What if what if he
was what if he was the defensive you know consultant
that George Edwards as in George Edwards was calling and

(18:53):
so But I but I'm saying that it's same where
if you're a consultant, like I'm saying that that may
have been a better structure if Mike Nolan's just here
somebody just kind of standing off to the side and
like dropping an input. But he's not necessarily overseeing anything,
Whereas if George Edwards was potentially calling the defense and
overseeing the defense, would he want I'm not I'm not
saying for next year. I'm just I'm just saying, yeah, yeah,

(19:15):
I'm not saying about next year. I don't think you
can do that. That's undermine. I don't think you can
demote somebody and flip them and have it. I think
that'd be bad for all parties involved. I'm just saying
that entering the year, I wonder if Mike McCarthy could
do it over again, if Mike McCarthy would say, if
he wanted those two people on the staff, if he
just reversed their roles and flip them a little bit,
and you're more just kind of floating around the different
position groups and chiming in or talking in meetings and

(19:38):
coming up with ideas. But you're not in charge of anything.
And we'll have George Edwards run the defense. But I mean,
I also know George Edwards does not run the type
of defense that the Cowboys entered the season oneting that
they wanted, the multiple looks and things like that, and
Mike Nolan, for his flaws, has experienced doing it it's
not necessarily great experience. He doesn't have a lot of
high marks on you know, where his defenses have finished

(19:59):
over the year, so but he at least had done
some of that in the past, whereas George Edwards had
been pretty strongly a four three guy most of his career.
And you've got four three talent on this defense, you know.
I mean, I just I keep going back to if
you could do it all over again. We're all guilty
of trying to do too much too soon, especially and

(20:21):
I maybe it's because Mike thought he had that runaway
of a year off and they had a very clear
vision of what this team and the personnel was, and
then you know, COVID happened, and you know, I just
keep going back to, sometimes you've got to abandon the
initial plan in order to just get these guys, you
know too, to just play. I just didn't feel like

(20:44):
they were and I know they were checked out. But
my point in bringing up all of this later, Sunshine,
is that it does feel like these guys uniquely believe
in each other and themselves. Finally, and maybe it's a
smashing of watermelons, maybe it's I don't know about you,
but like sometimes I just can't stay down. You know,

(21:06):
it's like you've got like you just realize, like I've
got to bounce back. Not me. I love wallowing and depression.
It's great. You ever seen inside Out? You ever seen
inside Out the Pixar movie. Oh, they've got all the
little emotions and they can't understand why the one emotion sadness.
They're like, how is like everything that's even happy you
have like a sad take on it? So that that's me.

(21:27):
I left to stay in the negative zone. So that's
why I'm here to balance your sunshine and I and
I think that that's it's important we get back to
our corners as it relates to the because for people
tuning in, this thing has been dark for you this year.
And I apologize, but I Jerry could not physically sell
me on this team or this coaching staff until they

(21:50):
played the Eagles last night, because I truly thought they
were gonna have our time with Miles Sanders Jalen Hurts.
I have no idea why Doug Peterson got away from
the run as quickly as he did. That was a Again,
I think it's the same sort of thing that it's
just puzzling that You've seen a couple of times this
year where it's like, why are teams not running the
ball against Dallas? Do what Cleveland did, do what Baltimore did.
Just can just keep running it, you will get it.

(22:11):
And they were, they were having success running the ball,
and then their d there dB did not do them
any favors. He was the guy that kept covering gallup
and they kept going to last night. Yeah, I'm forgetting
his name. It's a mark, it's it's something, but regardless,
it was his his He's played five games in the

(22:32):
NFL before. I think his first game or something was
the one against Dallas a couple of weeks ago. And
so yeah, I mean he was getting torched. He was
getting torched. And again that's there's some positivity there that
if you want to build on in terms of like,
let's look at the positive things about this team, and
let's look at positive then I think you look at
the receivers are all playing really well. I think that

(22:55):
for and I heard uh our buddies Jeff kvan On
Brian brought us talking about this on one of five
the Fan to day that I think any of the
whispers or questions or some of the things that were
being discussed over the last year about a Mary Cooper.
I think you can put him to bed the fact
that he's about to set career highs almost across the
board without playing with Dak Prescott other than just the

(23:15):
first five games, and I think that Mary Cooper's really
stepped up. And I think it also speaks to he
was really banged up last year and that was a
large problem, I think, and I think that there was
you know, a Mary's a private guy. The Cowboys don't
like openly talking about all the injuries all the time,
and so I'm sure it came down to just nobody
wanted to acknowledge what was holding him back, and so

(23:35):
I think Mary Cooper's silence a lot of questions. Ceedee
Lamb has been great um as a rookie. He's somebody
that I mean, the only thing that's been a problem
with him, and I tweeted during the game, there's been
some focus drops. There have been some weird times where
he's just trying to get up field or he's doing something.
He's had some drop issues at times that weren't there
at Oklahoma really, and so I wonder if he's just
been no, but I wonder, But I mean drops are

(23:56):
generally something that like when you get to the NFL
you have that's a problem you have in college still
and so it's a little weird to see it now.
But I think that's probably there's a little bit of pressing,
Like there's just been this pressure of just we gotta score,
we gotta get it, and I think that's probably part
of it. But Michael Gallup was going to see him,
you know, really step up yesterday after he had kind
of he's been the one who's had the biggest fallback

(24:17):
with dak Out. He's the one that has had has
seen his production cut the most. But I mean, good
stuff there. He was that guy that I think has
gotten better year after year, week after week and who
wants to be great and like you want to talk
about the ultimate team guy. I love how selfless he
is as a player. I wish you don't expect that

(24:38):
from the Like this is the least diva wide receivers
group Dallas has ever had, if we think about it, Yeah,
there's no ego with wide receiver one wide receiver to
wide receiver three. I don't think it's a bad one.
I don't think it's in a bad way, but there
is some there's some ego or there's some there's some

(24:58):
definite cockiness, confidence swagger that Ceedee Lamb has I think
you see that, No, I know, he absolutely, It's been
a pretty nice year for I want. I want that guy.
Guys who stand on islands, I want that. If you're
a defensive end, you're an offensive tackle, you're a wide
receiver or corner, if you are like Mono and Mono
against somebody frequently throughout the entire game, like, I want

(25:21):
you to have that. I don't necessarily want it from
other positions, where I think it can be a little
bit more detrimental to be so like me focused. But
on those positions, I think you want a cocky guy
who you know has full confidence in his abilities you want.
I don't think it's cocky. I think it's more confident
with him. I love that's that's a blurred line a
little bit. I mean, that's a fine line between cocky
and common. I think they're the traits are similar. Sure, yeah,

(25:45):
I think that's fair. Um, but I think that there's
a little bit of the you know, the and by
the way, I know I'm gonna this is probably the
least popular thing I will say all year because I
love the player. I think ceed is great. I really
hope that he decides to retire. The wipe his nose

(26:05):
point for a first down when he gets a big
catch for a first down. That is probably my least
favorite celebration and Cowboys, it's just gross. Swipe isn't bad?
You know, it sounds like the anti Smith. I know
this is supposed to be positive. I'm already turning it
super negative. That's what I do. Know. It's me, but
I just just to wipe the nose. I just don't

(26:26):
like the nose and point. And again it's not like,
oh that's too kind, it's just like it's gross, Like
I don't want to see wipe in your nose and
point for a first down. And so I yet, yeah,
I'm not. I'm just not a big fan of that celebration.
But you know, I think overall the receivers have been
really bright. Dalton Schultz I think has been huge. That's
a guy a lot of people I think thought was
gonna get cut potentially during training camp in depth body absolutely,

(26:48):
Blake Bell has been good, Yeah, which is why. I
also think it's ridiculous that some people are trying to say, well,
go draft Kyle Pits, the tight end from Florida. No,
please don't do that. Um Defense, defense, offensive line. I
think before, I think he's not been a stud or anything.
But I think you're finally seeing what can happen when
Connor Williams is able to be in one spot and
focus on one thing and and stay healthy. And I

(27:10):
think he's been solid. Um. I think you saw some
good things from Tyler be honest um this year, that
he in what he's been asked to do, Tony Pollard
showing some explosiveness, and again you're getting, you know, good
play out of Randy Gregory, de Marcus Lawrence. There there's
positivity to build on. And I think that you bring
up a great point that Tyler, the fact we don't
talk enough about him means he hasn't been a problem. Yeah,

(27:33):
I mean, I mean, I mean that's yeah. When he's
been out there, he's been good. Now Looney obviously Looney
has been back in the line of the last few weeks,
but when he was out there, he was It's funny
when you look at the film too, it's not like
there's a bunch of pancakes or like a bunch of
like you know, highlight reel type blocks. I remember when
Lyle Collins was a rookie, he was always such a
freak athlete and get out there, and he's so strong
that like even when he was blowing assignments every now,

(27:56):
and because he was a rookie, you'd see him like
he was a you know, a Twitter darling because people
would love to play the clips of him, like you know,
blocking three people onto play. You don't get that with Tiler,
be honest, But it's just it's solid. It's it's you know, nice,
solid technique and it gets the job done. And so
I think that there's a lot of positivity there. The
biggest positive heading and next you is just you're gonna

(28:16):
get healthy. You're not going to be this unhealthy again
next year. You're not gonna have this many injuries next year.
But I mean, I do think that there's a couple
of spots where they've decided to make the youth movement
and they've decided to let some guys get out there,
like Donovan Wilson and like we had mentioned about that
and Brandy Gregory and and letting guys really get out
there and play to their full potential. And I think

(28:38):
that there needs to probably be more of that, and
I think that's something that the Cowboys are probably internally
going to be looking at at the end of the year,
is Okay, were are some spots where we're maybe holding
onto guys and that we need to just say, you know,
time's up here well, And I think we started to
see that in with the departure of Tony Romo, which
I think if still, if people had to look back

(28:59):
at it, I'd be interesting to see if if people
would have liked, like if it you can't really say
that how things would have gone any differently with Dak
Prescott and there as a backup in that second year
after the third teen and three run and having Tony
there also if if competition would have been a good thing.
But competition is good, is a good thing for this team,

(29:21):
and if you talk to wide receiver groups over the year,
there was a frustration that des Bryant was always on
the field no matter what other guys weren't getting other opportunities.
Jason Witten, we have not seen any competition at that
tight end position. Even when he came back and I
was told the building was split because they wanted to
finally see Blake Jarwin build on that Giant's performance in

(29:43):
the final week when we were up there three years
ago and we didn't see her two years ago, we
didn't see that because Jason Witten came back. I think
you're finally seeing a coaching staff out of necessity put
guys out there in order to be competitive at certain roles,
and if they perform, we might have a very entertaining
training camp next year as it relates to position battles,

(30:07):
because I always feel like there's been this loyalty to players,
which is what people appreciate about the Cowboys and Jerry Jones.
But I also think that loyalty bites them down the road.
They give guys contracts that probably shouldn't be re upped,
They play guys that are not performing up to the contract,
or quite frankly, father time has gotten in the way.

(30:27):
So this year, I think creating this competitive environment and
actually seeing what you've got, having the young guys play
and perform well only helps your cap Yeah, I mean,
and I wish they would just go ahead and trust
their personnel guys and their scouts who went out there
and drafted Reggie Robinson and Bradley and I you've had
issues in the secondary Bradley and I I don't know

(30:49):
why he can't get on the field. You hear get
that when you when you talk to people behind the scenes,
you hear good things about him. So I can't explain it.
But I mean, I also couldn't explain why there have
been a number of things that have happen them this year.
You couldn't explain why Darryl Worley stayed on the field
as long as he did, or Don Terry Po or
Terrence Steele or other things. So there have been some
areas where they um or not the homegrown guy. Well,

(31:13):
I mean Steele was, and I think that's the thing
the coaching staff, the coaching staff had. I don't know
what the affinity was that Joe Philbin had for Terrence Steele.
That's a Joe Philbin thing, I believe, and that that
kept him in the line up a long time. But yeah,
the other guys, Don Terry Po, that was deference to
veterans and things like that. But even still now, I
don't know why Reggie Robinson can't get on the field,
or Bradley and I can't get on the field. In fact,

(31:34):
I think Bradley and I played one snap against I
think it was Arizona maybe the Giants. One snap and
he came in and got a quarterback hit, and you
hear good things about him, and it's like, you know,
I don't know what the playing Nancy Drew this season.
I swore I would. I swore that was gonna take
a step back, do what most team reporters do, tell
you what happened in the press conferences. Make my life
a little easy. But now I just feel like I've

(31:56):
gotta I gotta go out and get my my magnifying
glass and put on my hat and go Nancy Drew
because I am kind of curious about the Broadley than
I think. There's there's always I always something missing. I
don't know somebody in that organization. So here's the deal,
pulling back the curtain little bit. And I think some
people understand this when they watch UM all or Nothing

(32:16):
a couple of years ago, that you watching the all
or Nothing thing. Jerry and Stephen they sit down in
those meetings with the coaches, uh and they get you know,
everything's just kind of laid out on the table and
there's a lot of discussion and kind of you know,
these staff briefings, and I think usually what you see
or what you hear when Jerry Jones gets on the
radio and he's talking about people, is he's you know,

(32:38):
turning back out things that he's learned in those meetings
or things that they've talked about in those meetings. And
so I don't know who it is. Someone in those
meetings is really talking up Doorance Armstrong and that's why
I believe Jerry keeps saying it. So somebody in there,
somebody on that coaching staff, I don't know who it is.
Could be Mike Nolan, could be Jim tom Sula, could

(32:58):
be Leon Lett, could be who ever. Somebody in that
who is helping with that defensive rotation is really big
on the idea that Dorian's Armstrong is a better player
than Bradley, and I there's that's the reason why he's
got to be out there. That's the only reason. Because
it's an odd thing how frequently Jerry seems to reference
how good Dorin's Armstrong has been when there's not been
a whole lot of outside praise for him, and there's

(33:20):
been a lot of wondering where's Bradley and I. So
I don't know who it is. There's somebody on that
coaching staff is a big fan of Dorin's Armstrong and
that's the only reason I think that Bradley and I
is there now. Reggie Robinson, I don't know the same
sort of thing. Somebody may be a big Darry and
Thompson fan, or somebody may be a big you know, Cheeto,
a woozy a fan. There's somebody there who's got their
guy that they like. That's probably keeping Reggie Robinson from

(33:41):
getting snaps. And so I think it usually comes down
to that and a change with the coaching staff, you know,
because I think we're going to see a lot of
changes on the defensive side of the ball with the
coach and staff. Even if they do somehow getting the playoffs,
I think you're gonna see some of that start getting
corrected and next year you'll see Bradley and I and
Redgy Robinson getting more of a shot. And I don't
think that football is any different than our job in

(34:05):
the media or most people's jobs wherever they might work.
And you're coming to us, talent is subjective, and so
I try to stay in my lane. I'm not a
talent evaluator as it as it released tapes. I'm there
to get you to details and get you the scoops,
and so my lane will be the next couple of
weeks trying to figure out what's to deal with that

(34:25):
one and that. Like I say, it's I swear I
was gonna lay low, but right around the corner. So
I know, hey, new Year, knew you. You get the
chance to to reset and do things over again, just
like the Cowboys defense has decided to do. But I
do think that the biggest positive is the biggest things
I think you can build up when you look at

(34:47):
especially things with yesterday, is you know, Trayvon Diggs get
another interception. That's great. I think they are so excited
about I know internally they're like that staff, the coaching staff,
the front office, everybody. They feel really good at about
that pick. They feel really good about Travia. Yeah, they
that's for all the lumps he's taken, which he's had
some moments where he gets burned, and but they love

(35:07):
his mental makeup, they love his ability. They think that
he's gonna fire. I think he responded to that can't
be easy weekend and week out to it. Draw the
tougher assignments and come up short weekend and week out
and still go out there and give them effort. And
all you have to do is to figure out where
that comes from. Look at his brother, Stefon Diggs and

(35:30):
what he's done with the bills since he left the Vikings.
I mean it's there. I mean it's it's I've heard.
I've heard that that too. That's a big part of
his drive is just the competitiveness of your Stefon Diggs
brother and he's no, I'm Treyvon Diggs. Not that he
has any distaste for his brother. He's very close to
his brother, but a little bit of that little brother
syndrome of like I'm my own man, I can come

(35:51):
and he takes that drip. I heard from somebody not
long ago that he he really internalizes all the stuff
he hears from the coaching staff, not in a bad way.
He like kind of keeps a running list and he
contacts the people that he works out with during the
off season and he's telling him like, Hey, this is
what I'm here, and I'm gonna have to work on
get ready to get a plan together for this stuff.
This is what they're telling me. I'm good on this,

(36:12):
I'm good on that, but you know, let's get this
together for that. So he's very proactive and you know what,
do I need to get better at that? Said? Okay, cool,
I'm gonna make a plan. I'll do what I can now.
But during the off season when I can't be with
the coaching staff and I've got to do things on
my own, let me get with people and start having
them develop plans for me. And then let's have open community.
And so I know they're very high on him, and
they're very high on you know. Yeah, he's going through

(36:33):
his lumps with that guy is gonna be a star,
and so that's really encouraging. I think Randy Gregory playing
as well as he did and hopefully kind of quieting
any sort of lingering questions anybody may have had about
will he be here for the long term anything else.
I think the Cowboys would be really wise as they're
trying to get deals done. I think be wise, with
him having a year left, go ahead and try and

(36:54):
get something done before he potentially goes out there. Again
and plays really well and is needing a big deal
out there and try and get some value now. And
I know Randy has been very appreciative of everything the
Joneses have done to stick by him and everything this
organization has done to fight for him. And so I'm
not saying he's going to go out there and try
and bleed him drying a negotiation, but it would be
good to probably get that done now and then get
that done in the next couple of weeks. The last

(37:15):
couple of years and if you think about at this
time last year, he was working at an Amazon shipping center,
so I think he was delivering your Christmas presents this
time last year. I do think the NFC East as
a division is going to improve next year. I mean,
if you look at it, this division had three brand
new coaches. I think Washington is going to be really
good next year. Washing. I was just about to say it.

(37:36):
Washington is the team that scares me because they have
played despite the drama with their owner, with injuries to
not only their starting quarterback there back at quarterback and
now this Dwayne Haskins fiasco. Um Defensively, they've had injuries. Offensively,
they've had injuries and they still managed to play hard

(37:57):
weekend week out, and they made all of those investments
on the defensive line. You know, the guys like Ryan Carrigan,
Kendall Fuller, Montest Sweat. So I think they're going to
be a threat. But Bobby the other team, if they
could get the offense figured out, Joe Judge and what
he's doing with that Giants defense, especially when I looked
at the record on the Roads, that's a team that
should worry you a little bit too. Their defense, both

(38:20):
those defenses, both those defenses are really strong that the
Giants in Washington have, Washington, especially Washington's I mean, we've
seen it twice this year. They're they hit hard, they're fast,
they they're they're kind of what people seem to be
saying about Dallas back in where it's man. They fly
to the ball, they're they're so good at tackling, and
there's they're really good at that. They get a lot

(38:42):
of pressure. I this wouldn't happen, I don't think. But
you know, they tried to woo Amari Cooper over there
and throw a bunch of money at him. That didn't happen.
But I sit here and I think about, you know,
what if what if they go draft a wide receiver
with their first pig, get another weapon there for Terry mclauren.
There got Antonio Gibson, And then they say, you know,

(39:02):
a year from now, if Dallas has decided to fumble
things with Dak the way we did with Kirk Cousins,
Let's get Dak in here to be our quarterback. Wouldn't
that be fun? Can you have? And I think he'd
love to play for a guy like Ron Rivera. I mean,
before this podcast, Ron Rivera is one of my favorite
coaches in the league. And he's so well liked by
so many people in the media. And you get that

(39:23):
speak about Ron because that's just authentically who he is.
He is. I've got so many stories, offline stories about
him as a person from other people in this business.
The key is he saw to the earth and he
really gets these guys to believe. I told you he
got these guys to believe based on what he did
with his Carolina team that it was just winn and

(39:45):
get in um. And he's a former player, He's he's
one of them. He's been around. He was a player
who kind of like Sean Lee was a player who
then went into coaching pretty quickly or what we anticipate
Shawn Lee might do, and then has stayed around the
coaching ranks for a long time. And oh he's I mean,
he's a football lifer. And I think they're building something
really good there in Washington, and I think the Giants

(40:07):
it's a question how much more do you see Daniel
Jones growing? I think Jason Garrett, for all the criticism
he's gonna think Jason Garrett has done a really good
job limiting his biggest problem Daniel Jones was all the mistakes.
Who was making all the turnovers He's creating. And that's
one thing that Jason Gett has done a really good
job of is getting him to limit his mistakes. They'll
get they'll get sa Kwon back healthy, maybe they add
another receiver weapon to go with Ingram and and you

(40:27):
know they've they've had their issues on offense, like you know,
you lose you're starting left tackle who opted out, you
lose Sae Kwon Barkley to injury early on. So I
mean they're Colombo and you're all, yeah, they're they're playing
with a lot of there there's been a lot of
issues there, but they both have solid futures. I think
I think I take Washington over New York moving forward.
But yeah, Philadelphia is just in trouble because they've got

(40:53):
I mean, Ragor's hopefully going to be good, but I
mean there's still the jury still out on him. You've
got a quarterback problem, and you have you are to
the brim passed it on your salary cap right now.
The Eagles are in a lot of trouble. I think
there's gonna be some blowing up they're gonna have to do,
and I don't know how quickly they're going to come back.
And this is why I think the Cowboys franchise tag

(41:13):
Dak Prescott this year figure out what they've got because
they're looking at what happened with the Eagles. And remember
they kept saying, we don't want to pay Todd Gurley money.
Todd doesn't deserve it. Todd plays the year into that contract,
but then they paid it, they ship him off. He
ends up going to the Falcons. He's not really been
a factor for the Falcons. I was covering them a

(41:35):
couple of weeks ago. They went ahead, they paid Dek
that hasn't worked. I mean, Zeke, that hasn't really worked
out for them. So do they apply the same logic
where we knew we shouldn't have paid we did, and
it bid us. We know we shouldn't pay the quarterback
X amount for four years because you know, I think
they're gonna they're gonna have to come up with more

(41:56):
money up front and the guaranteed if they're gonna want
that five year deal, because that was the sticking point
because they wanted the flexibility of the cap space. But
I just wonder, as ever so many people think that
Carson Wentz thing is helping their situation, Dax, I wonder
if it's going to hurt him. Let me just pulling
back the curtain and showing, you know, behind the scenes

(42:19):
a little bit. Jane knows how worked up I get
at this line of thinking. We were on the phone
on Saturday, chit chatting about the same sort of concept,
and I was so passionate that she actually lost track
on her GPS and went like twenty minutes past her exit,
and so that I was in deep East Texas. I
was like, Bobby, I gotta call you back. I got

(42:40):
her lost because I was I was basically saying, let
me say in the cleanest language possible that I didn't
use necessarily on the phone. If they were to use
that logic and apply it a go, let's apply what
we've learned from Zeke and apply this to our quarterback situation.
This is that would be a signal that this team

(43:01):
is not winning again until a new family takes over ownership.
And I don't know that that would happen anytime soon,
but that that that is that would be one of
the single dumbest personnel moves I think, and I cannot
believe even though they've pussy footed around and they've had
their little cute games that they're playing here a little
bit with this, and they've they've tried to, you know,
win the negotiation so hard on this one. For some reason,

(43:23):
the most important position is the one that really committed
to winning the negotiation on I think that deep down,
even with all those bad red flags, they cannot be
so dense as to do that, And so I can't
believe that they would. I can't. I can't because I've
got to stay positive. As you say, positivity, I need
to stay positive. And the only way I would have

(43:43):
a positive outlook on anything for the next thirty years
with this team, because that's how long it'll be when
Jerry and then Steven's taking it over. The only way
I can have a positive outlook is don't do that,
because if you do that, you I will feel like
you're not gonna win for thirty years. I need my
watermelon drinking while you talk. But I also do feel
like if the argument was we can't overpay our quarterback

(44:07):
because we have all these guys to take care of,
this year has made it even more complicated than ever.
Give me the latest rundown of all of your starters
that ended up on I R and that we have
question marks about what their health is going to look
like next year. Well, I mean Travis Frederick retired, and
then you had Tyron Smith, Zack Martin, Lyle Collins, Blake Jarwin,

(44:28):
Um Zeke has been hurt at times this year. Dak
goes out on the defense. You lost Gerald McCoy early,
you had to cut Don Terry Poe Um, You've had
Alden Smith who's playing never again but has been banged
up a lot of the season. Uh. DeMarcus, Yeah, I agree.
DeMarcus Lawrence, who has been hurt a lot of the season,
was playing hurt early on really bad. Grandy Gregory who

(44:49):
was suspended up until six weeks into the season, Um
Shaun Lee who was hurt through the first six seven
weeks of the season, Laton vanderash who's currently on I R.
So I'll stop you right there. My point is Jalen
smith j question marks as relates to who are your
bona fide at starters that you feel good about their
health and their wealth and age to continue playing for

(45:13):
your team, and how much of that do you have
to identify and free agency and pay how much can
you take care of that? Didn't they learn not to
do free agency though this year? So if you're gonna
go so, you're gonna have to replace them with young
guys anyway. So to me, it's like you're gonna have
to replace them with young cheap players anyway. There's not
a lot of guys. You've pretty much extended everybody who's
extendable over these next There's not like a guy coming

(45:35):
up in the next year, So who you really need
to pay? The only one left is Doc. That's why
I don't understand the argument that they keep trying to
make about like in their face though, Bobby, if they
didn't get this done for him last year and they
get a four year done for him this year, do
you see what I'm saying, Like they would have to
admit that they were wrong last year. Yeah. But I
mean it's that same adage about like, don't keep making

(45:58):
a terrible mistake just because you spend a long time
making it. And I think I agree with that and
so and I know that's why I say, I know
you do. And and that's the thing. I think. There's
so many people fans, analysts, reporters, other coaches, people you
here talking other former gms and stuff who are now
out of the league and talking about things and media
interviews and things like. There's so many. It's what Jerry

(46:20):
saying recently. But my really find he is literally firing
missives at us to prepare us for the possibility that
they franchise Tag him. Do they do that, Well, they're
gonna franchise Tag in terms of just a whole control
it just it's a matter of if they're willing to
get a negotiation, he's going to play on it. If
he plays on it, he's leaving. And that's and I'm
talking about at that point, it wouldn't even be up
to them. I think if they franchise twice, franchise tag

(46:42):
him again, they're okay with him leaving and they're going
to wait and see what they can get in a
dry I think I think you're just franchise. If you
franchise them, it's just because you haven't gotten a deal
done and you're trying to hold power, so that doesn't
get You're going to require Dax's agent, Todd France wouldn't
do it last year to budge on those years because
I don't think. I don't think so aloys doing a
four year deal with it. I think they have to.

(47:02):
And that's the thing because how many how many times
has I told during contract negotiations last year, we don't
do four year deals. We've never done them. We we
never signed, we never signed running backs, and they didn't.
So you didn't do the four year deal. Then it
got contentious with your quarterback. You've realized how much you
need your quarterback. But now you're going to admit that
you should have done the four year and you're gonna

(47:22):
do it this year. You should, You should, you absolutely,
I don't know if they will, and and so that's why,
to me, what leverage do they have? None? Basically they
basically have none. And so I think that what you're
seeing is universally people looking at it. I think DAC
has all the cards, DOCS has all the leverage. I
think we're going to hear more about Andy Dalton and this.

(47:43):
That is my point. They're going to use Andy, That's
my point. I think. I think what you're hearing Jerry,
what you're hearing Jerry talking about that was a devastating
injury in October. It depressed a lot of people on
the team. That was a a tough thing that went down.
I think it would have been viewed in poor taste
in October. If Jerry's talking about you know, well, you
know room, you know, we gotta have I think it
just would have been viewed in poor taste. It wasn't
the time to make that discussion. And so I think

(48:05):
now that it's December and the negotiating window could be
opening up in three weeks again, I think what you're
seeing as Jerry going like, okay, universally everybody says we
have no leverage here. I'm not just gonna get railroaded
and so I've got to do something to create leverage.
That's what I have to believe, because I cannot believe.
I can't believe they are this stupid. I know, I know,

(48:26):
but I can't believe it. I gotta believe there are
enough smart people in that building, and I know there
are smart people in that building. Who are you for
him that will tell them this is the way it is.
I feel like it's got to just be a negotiating
tactic if they let him walk out the door. It
is similar to but shouldn't you at least be smart
enough to bobby though, to at least give yourself the
opportunity fully evaluate whether that ankle is going to be

(48:48):
good to go. It would be irresponsible um to go
ahead and give him that long term deal without seeing
him in a meaningful playing time. I don't know. I
think if you get good word from the doctors, you're fine.
You spent a second round pick based off of what
a doctor told you about Jalen spent and so I
mean to my argument, they've they felt good about what
doctors have told them about guys before, and they've been

(49:09):
willing to do things, and they've got a good medical
team they had. They were the ones who their doctors
looked at it and said that Quad specifically put a
note in Gerald McCoy's contract that says it's avoided if
that Quad pops, and that's exactly what happened. Was the
right one. They knew exactly, And so I think they've
got a doctors that if the doctors are going to
go he's good, then I think that that should be

(49:30):
enough a peace of mind for them that they shouldn't
go risking anything else and and turning this into acute negotiation.
They are in this position because they've tried to turn
it into acute negotiation before, and I think they got
to realize they can't do this again. Okay, well, I
am happy to doll out as much this is on
the Cowboys. They should have gotten this done before Jared
Goff and Carson Wentz and wouldn't be in this position.
They deserve all that, But also you had an agent

(49:53):
who didn't really try in the weeks and months leading
up to this thing. To get this deal done. It's
going to require are both of these sides coming to
meet in the middle and saying, all right, we want
more money up front, we need you to eat that
five year thing that you just keep holding on too,

(50:14):
and give us the four. If the Cowboys can figure
that out, the deal gets done. If we're still harping
on this four year deal, I just don't see them
budging on this. It was like the same conversation though
that ultimately, and that's why this is the tough thing.
And I'm certain this had to be what I don't
know this for a fact, but I'm certain this is
what Todd France had to be telling them. If you

(50:36):
wanted the five year deal, you needed to get it
done and not have these disrespectful offers in the off
season of twenty nineteen because you had him on the
last year of his rookie deal. It could have been
a five. You have put yourself in this position where
the money is so tough. Now that is on you.
And just like when DeMarcus Lawrence told Stephen Jones, he said,
that's your problem. You have to figure that out. My

(50:56):
job is I did my job, and I get I'm
supposed to get the US And I think that's sort
of the same margaments they go, It is your fault
that you're in this position. I'm sorry, but this is
the way it is. You don't get a discount for
making bad cap decisions and for having, you know, disingenuous
negotiations in the summer of two thousand nineteen where you're
dealing out honestly offensive offers for the position. And so

(51:18):
I you're rolling your eyes of me now, but I'm
saying that was honestly. You don't offer no, no, no,
that was not the twenty nineteen. That was not the
nineteen that was That was last. He also didn't come
out and have the year that he had in nineteen.
But I and We've talked about this. There were people
in that building that summer who said, he's going to

(51:41):
take a huge step this year. We've already seen what
John Kitting is done with his mechanics. He's going to
be in We talked about it on your report. I
hear you, but until you see it. But they were
they knew it. They kept talking internally about we know
what this is going to be. Hurt him the most
is we've talked about this before in the show. They
will always see you how you came in that is

(52:02):
applicable to your job, my job, everyone's job. They have
always seen him as the fourth round guy that they
gave the keys to the kingdom. We literally did not
let Tony Romo compete for his job. And you've got
all these endorsement deals in your household name because we
gave you the keys the kingdom. Much like when we
heard Jerry Jones talking about Ezekiel l A, I've earned

(52:24):
the right. I think that was the mentality for the
Cowboys heading into those negotiations in and then En he
got the leverage because he had the year that he had,
and so then you had Todd France playing hardball with
this four year, five year deal. I am curious to see.
I know that Dac has sort of settled down here.

(52:45):
He calls this home. He loves that locker room. And
after you've gone through an injury like that on a
franchise tag, you haven't really sustained an injury like that
ever before, do you think to yourself, job security might
be nice, and you go ahead and you sign the
five year deal with the money up front. I wouldn't
be surprised if we see ourselves getting to that point.

(53:07):
I have a tough time because the whole thing to
me is if he was on the problem with the
five year if you're if you're getting more money up front.
Because that's the thing, though, is that it's if you're
getting money up front, it's it's it's it's so layered
in terms of when the cowboys talking about like we've
offered you know, a top three offered them and let's
it's it's not wormy language, knock away the ego in
the past. Explain to me why you have a problem

(53:30):
with a five year deal more money up front because
and this is the thing that the cowboys, more money guaranteed.
So I'm talking more money guaranteed, and I'm also talking
per year. It's a forty million. I'm giving you more
guaranteed money, but it's a five year deal to give
me some cat flexibility. You're gonna tell me no on
that y because because because the the amount that you

(53:54):
would guarantee extra to get an entire extra year locking
him in at a time when we're looking at five
years from now, after a new TV deal comes down
and the caps skyrockets, you're gonna be looking at fifty
sixty million dollar deals and you're gonna have DAC in
that fifth year for exchanging for oh five extra million
total guaranteed great in order to you know, in five

(54:17):
years be making twenty five million less than the guys
of his caliber, and so I don't I would not
blame him for doing that at all. And it's like
when we talked to David Cant and we had talked
about that offer, he said, well, Cowboys fans giving back
at me. I have no skin in the game. When
I was a guy, if I was his agent, I
would tell him, do not sign that. That is a
bad deal. Maybe I'm applying too much of my own
logic here. I signed a five year dealty NFL Network

(54:40):
after my first season, also for thirty five million annually,
exactly if I'm rich. Uh. My instinct at the time was,
in two years, I'm gonna peak. I want to go
and try and get a job of Fox ESPN, Let's
see what they've got for me. But the idea of
financial security and a job in a business that's so

(55:01):
volatile and you never know what's going to happen. Every
place I've been after two years, there's a programming director
change or news director change, you name it. I leaned
in on this, and two years ago, if I had
gone out in the market, I probably would have gotten
a big deal is after some of these big Cowboys seasons,
but then this COVID thing hit, and I am so
grateful that I signed to the contract that I did

(55:22):
now to sort of get me through. My point bringing
that up is you just don't know what's around the
riverband and it's sort of nice to have some job security,
and so I just wonder, but look at the standard.
There's nobody else in the league asking to or signing
five year deals. Patrick Mahomes is, yeah, he signed it
that ten year deal, but there's also a large financial
commitment there of half a million or half a billion

(55:44):
dollars from the Chiefs. So that's a different deal entire.
But you look at go down the list whenever it's happened,
Deshaun Watson four year extension, Jared Goff four years, Carson
Wentz four years. It is, it's the industry standard. You
are not, but but you are applying. The Cowboys do
do anything the way the thirty one other teams in
this league do. They don't want, they don't want to,

(56:04):
but they have to. You and I get in this
argument about this team, I'm like, you forget who we're
talking about. Now I know, I know they don't want to,
but they ultimately have to. They didn't necessarily want to
handle the DEAs and negotiate. They do if they want
to get him, they That's the way they had to
get Dez. You had to pay Zeke Gurly money to
get him. You did, even though you more of a
team friendly deal. I mean, depending you've got, you're still

(56:25):
gonna have tough time holding you know, for the next
two years. It's tough to get him out. And he's
already looking like he's breaking down. So I mean, I
think that's the things that sure Jerry has said before.
You know, well, I don't look at what other people do,
and you know he said these sorts of things. Okay,
then you just won't get the player. You can negotiate
like that, absolutely, but you won't get the player. That's

(56:46):
that's that's that's how he talks. But he signed Zeke Ultimately,
he signed to Marcus Lawrence, Ultimately, he signed des Brian. Ultimately,
they signed them to these deals that ultimately fall in
line with the rest of the league. That's why I
feel like it's tough talk. But if they decided to
be so principal weeks ago, you got turned off the
lights to turn off the light strategy that honestly didn't
make much sense to me what he said. But but
to me, I think, I think it's he's creating leverage.

(57:08):
I think he knows he's got none heading to this negotiation.
He's trying to do anything he can to salvage something
in the negotiations. But I think, ultimately I have to
get done. And I think that because I have to,
because if that's not the case, and he's really talking
about what he thinks, then that is so terrifying. And
this team is has got a bleaker future than the
Philadelphia Eagles with all their cap Hell, if that's the case,

(57:30):
I told you we were going to be optimistic. Care Bobby,
I know, and then you made me talk about DRK Prescott.
I know, you get so worked at what we're gonna
be talking a lot about this as it relates to
this team, this franchise, UH building this team back to
what they had hoped it would be the season, a
winning record. I still think that right now, as I

(57:52):
look at the NFC East, the Cowboys have a very
good shot of getting into the playoffs. It's realistic, not
be surprised. If they are hosting a wild card game
here Victor next week. They could beat the Giants very,
very easily. And who knows what Washington is going to do,
But I mean, yeah, it's it's possible. I would still
probably in towards I think Washington gets in. But I

(58:15):
do think it's very possible that Dallas ultimately in the playoffs,
which is wild to say. And I hope it doesn't
cause the Cowboys to keep the status quo in a
few areas because they can justify X y Z because oh,
we made the playoffs. They're still serious need of changes. Ultimately,

(58:35):
the windows closing for Jerry Jones, He's been saying it
for years. You're going to have to make very decisive
decisions about this defense and that coaching staff because just
because we've seen them turn the corner on play I
don't believe that it's for the coaching staff at all.
I believe it's these guys are trying to keep their
jobs next year because I think a lot of them
are worried that it's not going to be there for

(58:58):
them next year. And I think there are a couple
of guys that should be worried I do think that
this season has allowed the Cowboys having more honest evaluation
of their personnel. But like I said, we'll have all
of this and more to talk about. We've got obviously
cowboys and giants this weekend. Bobster and I are going
to record another one UH this week before we wrap

(59:18):
up ahead of the New Year. New Year knew us
we're gonna get progressively more optimistic as this week goes on. Bob,
I promise if you're not, I will bring u the energy.
But I think we're gonna be talking a little bit
more about this Washington team for our next episode, because
I think, as Bobby said, they're the one thing standing
in the way of the Cowboys getting to the playoffs.