January 12, 2024 • 31 mins
Nate and Rhads gear up for the epic clash between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers. Home field advantage, Dak's magic with C.D. Lamb, and the running game's rise steal the spotlight. They dissect the talent showdown and dive into the mind games at play.
It's not just football talk; it's a wild ride of insights, laughs, and Cowboys spirit. Get ready for the playoff fever as they decode the keys to Cowboys success in this gridiron showdown!
#cowboysplayofffever #gridironexcitement #cowboystalk #gridironwisdom #cowboysnation #gridironInsights #wedemboyz #lemmetellyousomethin #dubnetwork
–––––––––––
Be sure to check out our sponsor The Niagara Corporation, the country's leading manufacture of water preserving plumbing products.
www.niagaracorp.com
It's not just football talk; it's a wild ride of insights, laughs, and Cowboys spirit. Get ready for the playoff fever as they decode the keys to Cowboys success in this gridiron showdown!
#cowboysplayofffever #gridironexcitement #cowboystalk #gridironwisdom #cowboysnation #gridironInsights #wedemboyz #lemmetellyousomethin #dubnetwork
–––––––––––
Be sure to check out our sponsor The Niagara Corporation, the country's leading manufacture of water preserving plumbing products.
www.niagaracorp.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
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Niagara. Ohas playoff time, itis time for the Cowboys to make a
(00:53):
long run in the playoffs, andhere to talk about it with me.
John Radigan is your friend Nate Newton, and there are very few people who
have the experience that Nate does inthe playoffs. So he is going to
offer a special edition this week ofWhat Nate. Let me tell you something,
Yes, sir, nobody, nobodycan tell you more about the playoffs
(01:17):
than Nate. I mean, maybeTom Brady could because he was in more,
but there aren't many people out therewho have been in more playoffs than
Nate. Newton was in the nineties. Man, this week is special,
isn't it, Nate? It isvery very special? And you know,
and uh, you know, andI just want to thank Niagara for having
us once again. And you know, see if we get this one flushed
without out any problems, you knowwhat I'm saying. Hope we won't need
(01:42):
a plunge or nothing like that.Yes, sir, but Niagara products,
you don't, I promise you.I used him, okay, never never,
Yeah, okay. So what isthis week like, Nate? You
know, I know in Jimmy's world, you your main coach, Jimmy Johnson.
His world was we want every weekto be the same, right,
(02:04):
because yes, you repeat what you'vedone. Yes? Yes? Is it
hard? Is it hard to makethe first week, in particular of the
playoffs the same as you know,week four of the season. Not when
you have done an almost perfect jobof having home games. The Cowboys have
two home games. If they canwin the first one, then they will
(02:28):
have another one at home. Thatis the key to making things as close
to normal as possible, because nowthe game is at three what thirty Sunday,
So now you go from Sunday toSunday. Now you already have that
routine. You've been through it duringthe regular season. Now, yes,
more fans will more fans, familyand friends, but want tickets and want
(02:52):
to get in on the party.Now all the band but the bandwagon is
gonna get really heavy because you know, at the beginning of the season it
was kind of halfway empty. Thenyou know, towards the end of the
season that start filling up. Sonow all the bandwagoners and all the guys
that say remember me, now they'reon board. But other than that,
(03:13):
it's basically the same. You know, Coach McCarthy has already said that if
all of you girls and guys outthere in the media that want to talk
about Green Bay, go up toWisconsin, because that's about all you're gonna
get from him. He's totally focusedon the Dallas Cowboys and his team will
be foldly, totally focused on whatthe Cowboys has to do to compete to
(03:35):
compete against this Green Bay team.Yeah, which I think is such a
great point, Nate, because whatMcCarthy is saying there basically is, of
course you have to game plan forGreen Bay. Yes, but we're not
worried about Green Bay. Right,we're worried about the Dallas Cowboys. If
we play our game, McCarthy.Mike McCarthy feels if the Cowboys play their
(03:57):
game, then it doesn't matter whatGreen Bay does, right, right,
this is the amazing thing they Ithink what the Green Bay is? What
nine and eight, whatever the recordmay be. The Cowboys are twelve and
five and five. Okay, we'rethe number two seed. I think they're
(04:23):
the number seven seed. We putourselves in a better position than them,
not saying that they're not a goodteam, not saying that they're not a
solid team, but our record andour work that we put in says that
we are a better team. Weearn the right to have a home fill
(04:43):
advantage. Now, what I thinkrecord says, unless you are a hot
team that's on fire. I thinkwhat record says is you have prepared better,
more consistently by game than the teamwith the lesser record. I'm not
saying you have better talent. I'mnot saying you have the best players are
(05:06):
the greatest coaches. I'm just sayingon a more consistent basis against basically the
same competition or the NFL, youprepared game by game A little bit better,
so you got rewarded a better position. The Cowboys are twelve and five
because they'll play some great competition.They've lost some ugly games, they have
(05:28):
won some ugly games, and viceversa pretty games. Same thing. Well,
this is the deal, rad.It is about what you do well,
minimizednim minimizing your weaknesses, and playingto your strengths. Number one and
first and foremost, we are ateam that specializes in playing with a lead.
(05:55):
We scored first, or we areeven with the other teams, we
are better and defensively we are greatbecause that unleashes our defense to do the
things that they do best. Thatis pressure to quarterback, get him off
his spot, sack him, disrupthim. And now we become the turnover
(06:16):
team that we desire. And thatis what this Cowboys team needs to be
concentrating on. How can our offenseget off to a quick and positive start
so that our defense can take overthe game. Because when our defense take
over the game, then all ofa sudden, the turnovers coming in great
(06:36):
numbers. And if Green Bay wantto start and I'm just giving you the
front end up front, I'm givingyou what a coach is telling his team.
But if Green Bay come in hereand slow this thing down and what
we like to say, take theair out of the ball, trying to
control tempo, trying to control timepossession, now we may have some problems
(06:58):
then, because we have proven overtime in the playoffs that we're not a
team that want to deal with anagging running team, a team that just
won't go away. So if GreenBay can be consistent in what they do,
play sound defense and run the ball, that's where our problems rely at.
(07:19):
Yeah, and you know when youlook at that, that taking the
air out of the ball in away, it seemed like that was what
the commanders were trying to do lastweek, Nate, because you know,
at one point when it's ten toseven and they had scored on a you
know, a couple of I meana couple of not fluke plays, but
you know, just plays they kindof fell their way. Flute play.
(07:40):
Yeah, okays, right, theyscore in a couple of fluke plays.
Certainly the block field goals flu sothey score on fluke plays still, right,
it gives them confidence. And there'sa moment there where you could and
across my mind watching the game acrossmy mind. Dang, you know,
Washington might just be able to jumpup and do this thing because they got
(08:03):
confidence now and one drive one drive, and I'm like, oh, no
way, Dallas going to blow thisteam out because of that talent differential.
You could just see it now.It won't be as great this week because
this is another playoff team, Buttheoretically there is a talent differential here too,
Yes, yes, and we dohave that advantage at quarterback. This
(08:30):
even though young, the young fellaJordan Love Well, Jordan Love even though
he's thrown thirty two tds eleven interceptions, he's sixty four percent completion rate.
This guy is poised, He's calm, He's rushed for over two hundred yards.
(08:50):
He's got four tds rushing. Thekid is talented, but he hasn't
played in this pinpoint lais the focusedplayoff They are I repeat, they are
a much better team than the WashingtonCommanders mentally, physically and spiritually. No
(09:13):
one, no one, I repeat, no one but the cheese head,
the Wisconsin loyal They were the onlyones that thought that they would be in
the playoffs, and for the firstfour weeks they didn't even believe it.
So now they are here. Coach, coach, Coach Lafleur, My hat's
off to you because they all thought, all the fans thought, gave you
(09:37):
no credit, but you got yourteam a seventh spot in the playoff and
you were here. I do notand I think these coaches, by what
coach McCarthy said, by what coachDan Quinny said, they know the danger
of this game right here, becauseif this kid can catch on fire,
(10:01):
you don't throw thirty two touchdowns andon eleven interceptions in the season as a
first year player. He's not arookie, but he's a first year starter.
This guy's on fire, man,this guy's doing what he need to
do, and we cannot let himget his confidence up. They will be
like, wow, the second comingof you know, the green Bay Faithful,
(10:24):
because it's you know, Green Bayhas never ever been through a stretch
where they've had terrible, terrible quarterbackslike the Cowboys have. They've always seemed
to have always fallen on that guyand they've been able to give him a
couple of years on the bench andthen he come in and he starts to
shine. This is no exception righthere. This kid, this kid Jordan
(10:46):
Love is nice. Yeah. Sowhat you have here, Nate is the
Cowboys against the youngest team in theNFL. Yes, and I see today
a note where they are the fourthyoungest ever to make the playoffs, and
the other were all from the seventies. Right, They're a very young teams
headed into the playoffs. Now.That can affect you one of two ways,
right, either of two ways.It can be like, wow,
(11:09):
we're so young and dumb, wedon't even know and we go and we're
crazy and we went right where itcan be like only crap, where are
we? Oh my gosh, wedon't know nothing about this? Cowboys have
been here every year. Well whatdo we do? You know, what
do you think? How does itgo? You're right? I mean,
because you got to remember we atthat time when I was playing with one
(11:30):
of the youngest teams ever, whenwe was playing and everybody was like and
not so young in age, butyoung in playoff experience, and everybody was
thought we would fold. But weplayed a little bit better than most people
thought. And that's what scares youabout this Green Bay team. Even though
the Cowboys should have a notch upon them, because we've been in the
(11:54):
last two years of playoffs. Theseguys, you gotta understand. And it's
just a year away from that serialkiller that sits uping on New York.
So uh uh. You know,so Green Bay is not scared of us,
not as a team as a whole. I mean, you know,
(12:15):
you look at Aaron Jones, ajDillon, even Jayden reed that these guys
are not scared of us. Kennyclark on defense, Preston Smith. These
guys know us. They have playedagainst us year in the year. So
the core of their team is notfearful of Dallas. But the head of
(12:37):
that snake, that is who wegot to get to. If we can
get to Jordan Love, it don'tmatter what the rest of them think.
If we can put pressure on him, if a Parson can be Parson,
if DeMarcus Lawrence can come out ofthere with a couple of hits. You
know, I know he's a greatrun defender. But here what I'm what
(12:58):
I'm hoping, and I'll keep repeating, is we have to get a lead.
We have to get a lead.If we get any type lead and
can unleash the pressure of our defenseon these guys, it makes for a
long day for them. But bythe same token, I believe that if
these guys hang in here, thenthe Cowboys have to win this by the
(13:20):
skin of their teeth. Aaron Joneswill be screaming for the ball. Aj
Dillon will be screaming for the ball. They time of possession they average around
about twenty nine point four to threeminutes a game, so it ain't like
they just going out there not controllingthe temple of the game or portions of
(13:41):
the game, because they almost thirtyminutes a game. So when you're around
thirty minutes a game, that meansyou know how to control temple, you
know how to show down, youknow how to speed up. So the
Cowboys I want them and I hopethat they get off to a fast start.
You don't want go into the gamelike we did against the Commanders.
(14:03):
This is a much better team coachcoach wise. These guys a coach very
well. They play hard, asyou can see right here, because no
one expected them to be where they'reat. But these guys play hard,
they coach well. I think theyhave something like forty forty eight sacks forty
forty five sacks human They got fivesacks against their last opponent. They just
(14:26):
unleash their defense on their last opponent. So they got forty five sacks.
And like I said, Kenny Clarkis there is their their nose tackle or
their three technique and he and hecan play, and Preston Pierce can play.
Preston Smith excuse me, Yeah,Preston Pearson could play too. Yeah,
yeah, that guy like to Okaysaying so speaking of guys catching the
(14:50):
ball, and you talked about theirreceivers, one guy who does not have
to scream for the ball anymore isCede Lamb, Right, yeah, scream
like okay, okay, I'm done, I'm done. No, and he
never would. But the point isthis Dak Prescott, the CD Lamb,
you know, combination has become sospecial this season, Nate, It's become
(15:11):
you know, Troy Aikman to MichaelIrvin, I mean it really has.
Yes. The thing is, Ithink they had a plan for CD,
but due to the fact that thesituation how slowly started out of the gates
with Dak trying to get the systemdown, trying to we have consistent offensive
(15:35):
line play. Once they got allof that in place, and it's just
too bad we had to take aloss from the Coggins early in the season
to get things kind of crunk upthe way it was because CD is a
is a great competitor. He's akind of the flying Boyant eighty eight type
(15:56):
guy. He want to be seen, but within the context of a win.
He knows that if he has theball in his hands, it gives
us a chance to win. Andwhat CD has done is he's given us
what every team desires. If youdon't have that a one quarterback, you
(16:19):
have to have a player offensively thatteams have to double coverage, or I
call it dictators. These guys aredictator Ceedee Lamb is a dictator when he
go. When he runs out thereoutside, in the slot, in the
backfield, it's always two guys.Dictators demand two guys. And wherever he's
(16:44):
at, it's like, how canwe bracket and he's in the slot,
we got to put a guy upclose, try to jam him. We
got to have somebody over the top. If he's outside, we got the
corner over there. If it's ashort route, we got the lineback and
falling. If it's a deep right, we got the corner, we got
the safety falling. Always got twoguys on the dictator you know. Now
that freeze up your run game.Our run game has not been where it
(17:07):
needed to be. So we needthat CD Lamb, that dictator that can
call for two guys to have todeal with him. So, uh,
Green Bay does not have that.No, get me wrong. They got
six receivers. They got four receiverswith over five hundred yards you know,
So I'm not saying they don't.But when CD walks out on the field,
(17:32):
they safety in their corner or theirsafety in the outside line and to
say, hey, hey, theygo one of the eighty eights running around
out there. So we got tocover this right here. So that opens
it up for Cook, That opensit up for Ferguson, that opens it
up for Tony Polter. So nowwe got to get a little more creative
on the run. Now, ifwe can become two dimensional, we'll crush
it. Yeah. Thanks, Yeah, I want to get to that run
(17:57):
game in a minute. But theamazing thing about Lamb is the fact that
they have been trying to take himaway. Right, everybody knows he's a
dictator and they've been trying. Theydouble team him almost every week, and
he's still making eleven, twelve,thirteen catches a week. Now, you
know the thing when you become adictator. What he has done this year
(18:18):
is his catch. His average percatch has dropped just a little bit because
now we have to give it toyou sometime at running back. Now we
have to give it to you atslot, quick slant, quick out,
bubble screens, quick screens. Wegot to give it to you any way
we can. Because he's a dictator. He's a playmaker. You know,
(18:38):
you've seen him get the ball fora fifteen yard catch. I would said,
it's a forty yard Touchdow. You'veseen him throw moves on guys.
You know what I'm saying, getfirst downs. I mean, my wife
asked me, you saw CD stretchingthat ball out there. That's unsafe,
I say, sweetheart, I say, stop, you starting to sound like
(19:00):
a normal fan. CD ain't normal. CD ain't normal. If he want
to reach the ball out there,I said, last week he got to
it cost us a It cost afumbling the score. I said, But
you know what, ain't too manypeople said nothing. Great players get to
do great things because they make greatmoves and they earn that right, I
(19:22):
said, I said, when thatdude came close it he pull it back
in. Yeah he did. Isaid, don't worry about CD. We
need to worry about the other dudes. These guys we don't know about trying
to be CD Lamb because everybody ain'tCD Lamb right right. You see that
young guy reach that ball out andMichelle's right now, you're not supposed to
do that, young man. Whatare you doing? What? Let's put
(19:44):
him on the bench, C.D Lamb. Yeah yeah, and see
even yeah, even though I'm madat the coaching staff or not letting Haunter
lympkick run a little bit more.You see what happened with Hunter olymp kick
fumber that ball, right, weain't see no more running? Yeah,
yeah, yeah, no, it'strue. So let's go to that running
game because it showed life last week. Certainly Tony Pollard had a good day,
(20:07):
nice complimentary you know, yards andcarries also from our boy, uhco
So yeah, so so talk tome. Was that just about the fact
that we are talking about Commander's teamthat you know, isn't all that?
Or was that maybe an emergence rightthat we may see continue, because like
(20:30):
you're saying, if you can keepthat defense honest with with the threat of
that run game, No tell himwhat CD Lamb and the rest of those
receivers can do. The thing that'samazing is, as much as you want
to say those two Bama boys justonly had one of the Bamba boys in
the last week. Uh, thething that makes me laugh is we had
(20:52):
two backups, a backup guard,two backup guards. So we ran the
ball. H was it a agreat day against a great team? Now
the Commanders are not great at thismoment. You know, who knows what
next year brings, but that's nextyear. But our guys went in and
executed. They did what they hadto do. We had one hundred plus
(21:15):
yards rushing. We did okay,we had a good average, I think
over four yards to carry. Youdon't worry about who's in the game,
who's not in the game, notwhen you get ready for playoff football.
I told everybody last week and Iminute, I didn't care if you want
about one hundred, I ain't careif you want about one. Get out
(21:36):
of there without an injury. Youknow, we got Gilmore and his shoulders,
so we got basically got out ofup pretty clean. Besides one when
our major guys guildmore. But I'mtelling guys, guys are locked in.
For the last two years, guyshave been not knowing how to handle the
(21:57):
playoffs. Have no rookies, nofirst year guys. These are season veteran,
playoff battle testing guys that need toget over a hump. Brad,
listen to me. You have nobabies. It ain't no young team,
(22:18):
it ain't no this, and ain'tno that. The only thing you have
to worry about, and you don'thave to worry about that for two weeks,
is the boom Bock boys in California. The Boombok Boys. You know
you don't even have to worry aboutthat. You The great thing about the
forty nine ers, now that youhave the second seed, the first The
great thing about the is you canrun through these next two teams. Ever
(22:44):
who it are? Who it is? We know it's Green Bay. It
could be Tample of Philadelphia the nextopponent. But now you're worried about Green
Bay? Are you scared? No? You got to be bringing with confidence.
You got to know that if Igo out there and give myself for
(23:06):
three hours, sixty minutes, whicheverway you want to do it, and
I focus and I concentrate on theseGreen Bay Packers, that everything will take
care of itself. I said atthe beginning of the year, rad I
kept trying to tell everybody when wefirst lost to Philadelphia. You know,
the first thing I did when Icame on to let me tell you something
(23:27):
was let me tell y'all something,Cowboys. Just keep winning. You never
know what will happen. Guess what, you kept winning, Philadelphia fell off
the rock. You are number twoseated because just keep winning and you will
take care whatever has to be takencare of. So I like where you
(23:52):
were going with that, no Baby'sdiscussion, Nate, And what I really
liked having been on this side,right, I like to analyze what I
see after a game almost as muchas what I see during a game.
So what I saw after the gamethis past week when when Dak Prescott came
to the press conference, you know, just wearing a stocking cap in that
(24:14):
cold Washington are right, and everybodyand people asked him, hey, hey,
how come you're not wearing your NFCEast champions hat, and he said,
we got much bigger goal. SoI'm paraphrasing. He said that that
ain't what we're shooting for. Andand that as the leader of that team,
Nate, I love that, right, that's not whatever I mean.
And you don't want to diminish winningyour division because no team has won it
(24:37):
back to back years for a decademore now. Uh so, But that
said, that's not the goal winningthe NFC East right now. You know
you want to be happy for Ronplaying and those guys, you know,
the young you know the guys thatyou know you want to be happy for
Mazi and you know you want tobe happy for those guys. But it's
(24:59):
so I'm on the side of yourhelmet. And there's only four or five
teams in this league, the Yankees, the Cowboys, the Celtics, the
Lakers. Well, you know what, winning your division, winning the first
round playoff series, our first roundgame does not matter, right. You
(25:26):
have to go out and beat GreenBay and you have to act like you've
been there and done that, whichyou have for the last two years.
Your big celebration shit come in thedivisional round when you defeat whoever that is.
As you take steps towards this magnificentgoal of trying to reach a super
(25:52):
Bowl. You either can take thistake the world by storm like my Cowboys
did it are the Kansas City Chiefs. Or you can still step like my
Cowboys did, like and like youknow, a lot of other teams have
to, like the Rams did acouple of years ago. Stare step and
(26:17):
I don't care how you do it, because whether you stare stepping, that's
saying year after year you're very verycompetitive, or you take the world by
storm like Kansas City did with agreat quarterback, that means that once you
take the world by storm, thatyou're still gonna be very competitive. So
either way I can deal with it. But just keep winning. Yeah,
(26:41):
yeah, first round playoffs, Nate. I mean, now, obviously there's
so many memorable playoff games in yourera with the Cowboys. Really most of
the most memorable are with San Francisco, a couple with Green Bay. Do
you even really remember much about ofcourse, back then the playoffs were a
little different. More teams got buystoo, so you had to buy a
(27:03):
lot of years. But do youremember first round games much very often?
Nah? Nah? Just I rememberus trying to get there, you know,
going through Philly, playing the Giants, just trying to get there Detroit.
You know you're trying when you're tryingto get there, you but once
you get in that second year andyou know you going to that division around
(27:23):
and you you you you know youcan win that division around. You know,
it just all runs together. Youhave to get with either Darren Johnston
or Troy Uh. You know,I guess running backs wide receivers remember more
because they have stats. The onlyway I'm gonna remember if we would have
got a lot of sacks, youknow, like the level sack game against
(27:45):
Philly. You know, we weas I was allowed and allowed to glorify
and to go into because you know, emmate can run for two hundred yards,
but they forgot somebody was blocking mitfor them two hundred yards. Us
we kind of think the same wayas off his line of like, man,
he rush for two hundred yards,okay, you know, and it's
(28:06):
like we happed him, but itwas him. It was him. Rut
when they say, oh, whorush for the most yards out but they
don't put me Kevin Gogan into it. They name but they put him it
name up there. So yeah,that's how I go. Yeah. So
here's the last thing we got totalk about with regard to this night.
Is the psychology of this thing?Okay, you mentioned it. The Cowboys
(28:26):
have this experience. They've been inthe playoffs the last couple of years.
However, they've lost in the playoffsthe last couple of years. Now I
realized the lost against the Boombox boys, right, I realized that. But
is there is there a psychological hurdlefor them to overcome where they don't get
like, oh, here we goagain in the playoffs. We know to
(28:48):
stop. Stop. See you didn'teven make the right face. Oh oh
yeah, stop, here we comeagain. Here we come again. We
like Baby's kids. We don't die. We multiply not one, not two,
(29:10):
but three, twelve and five seasons. You reach out and you grab
what is real, what is tangible. Don't worry about what happened in the
past. If it ain't a positive, don't worry about it. Visualize.
Jimmy used to tell us, seeyourself dominating, see yourself doing what you
(29:33):
have to do. Uh uh,You kept playing when everybody counted you out
against Philadelphia. You are the secondseed. We like gifts. Don't tell
Radigan, you tell your boys,all your boys. That's in the media.
Tell Dan Campbell, thank you forbeing so smart. You grab every
(30:02):
positive you can and you take itand you ball it up and you start
rolling it downhill like an avalanche,so it catches Green Bay, then it
catches the next opponent. And thenwhen we get to the boombox boards,
we're not only gonna take that boxoff they shoulder, We're gonna turn it
up a notch. That's how wedo that. That's how we work that.
(30:26):
Come on, now you're talking toNate. Been there, done that?
Come on now, yeah, yeah, okay, all right, so
now let me ask you this.You think, oh mccarthy'll let you give
a pregame speech because that's pretty good. Fired up? Yes, sir,
my mother I got you fired becauseim drinking my coffee. I'm for going
there and flush another one. Fantastic, Nate, I'm doing it. Man.
(30:51):
Let's enjoy this playoff game. We'lltalk soon, my brother, Love
you man to Tom
Get the ultimate experience in cleanliness andcomfort without breaking the bank. When you
transform your bathroom with Niagara from toiletsto bidet's, Niagara has the perfect solution
for any bathroom project. Niagara's awardwinning products not only outperformed the competitors,
they also out designed them. Thanksto innovations like stealth technology, Niagara's environmentally
(00:23):
friendly products can use only half asmuch water as their competitors, conserving water
and saving you money. And there'smore great news for homeowners. You can
now shot for Niagara products on Amazona home depot dot com. Thank you
Niagara. Ohas playoff time, itis time for the Cowboys to make a
(00:53):
long run in the playoffs, andhere to talk about it with me.
John Radigan is your friend Nate Newton, and there are very few people who
have the experience that Nate does inthe playoffs. So he is going to
offer a special edition this week ofWhat Nate. Let me tell you something,
Yes, sir, nobody, nobodycan tell you more about the playoffs
(01:17):
than Nate. I mean, maybeTom Brady could because he was in more,
but there aren't many people out therewho have been in more playoffs than
Nate. Newton was in the nineties. Man, this week is special,
isn't it, Nate? It isvery very special? And you know,
and uh, you know, andI just want to thank Niagara for having
us once again. And you know, see if we get this one flushed
without out any problems, you knowwhat I'm saying. Hope we won't need
(01:42):
a plunge or nothing like that.Yes, sir, but Niagara products,
you don't, I promise you.I used him, okay, never never,
Yeah, okay. So what isthis week like, Nate? You
know, I know in Jimmy's world, you your main coach, Jimmy Johnson.
His world was we want every weekto be the same, right,
(02:04):
because yes, you repeat what you'vedone. Yes? Yes? Is it
hard? Is it hard to makethe first week, in particular of the
playoffs the same as you know,week four of the season. Not when
you have done an almost perfect jobof having home games. The Cowboys have
two home games. If they canwin the first one, then they will
(02:28):
have another one at home. Thatis the key to making things as close
to normal as possible, because nowthe game is at three what thirty Sunday,
So now you go from Sunday toSunday. Now you already have that
routine. You've been through it duringthe regular season. Now, yes,
more fans will more fans, familyand friends, but want tickets and want
(02:52):
to get in on the party.Now all the band but the bandwagon is
gonna get really heavy because you know, at the beginning of the season it
was kind of halfway empty. Thenyou know, towards the end of the
season that start filling up. Sonow all the bandwagoners and all the guys
that say remember me, now they'reon board. But other than that,
(03:13):
it's basically the same. You know, Coach McCarthy has already said that if
all of you girls and guys outthere in the media that want to talk
about Green Bay, go up toWisconsin, because that's about all you're gonna
get from him. He's totally focusedon the Dallas Cowboys and his team will
be foldly, totally focused on whatthe Cowboys has to do to compete to
(03:35):
compete against this Green Bay team.Yeah, which I think is such a
great point, Nate, because whatMcCarthy is saying there basically is, of
course you have to game plan forGreen Bay. Yes, but we're not
worried about Green Bay. Right,we're worried about the Dallas Cowboys. If
we play our game, McCarthy.Mike McCarthy feels if the Cowboys play their
(03:57):
game, then it doesn't matter whatGreen Bay does, right, right,
this is the amazing thing they Ithink what the Green Bay is? What
nine and eight, whatever the recordmay be. The Cowboys are twelve and
five and five. Okay, we'rethe number two seed. I think they're
(04:23):
the number seven seed. We putourselves in a better position than them,
not saying that they're not a goodteam, not saying that they're not a
solid team, but our record andour work that we put in says that
we are a better team. Weearn the right to have a home fill
(04:43):
advantage. Now, what I thinkrecord says, unless you are a hot
team that's on fire. I thinkwhat record says is you have prepared better,
more consistently by game than the teamwith the lesser record. I'm not
saying you have better talent. I'mnot saying you have the best players are
(05:06):
the greatest coaches. I'm just sayingon a more consistent basis against basically the
same competition or the NFL, youprepared game by game A little bit better,
so you got rewarded a better position. The Cowboys are twelve and five
because they'll play some great competition.They've lost some ugly games, they have
(05:28):
won some ugly games, and viceversa pretty games. Same thing. Well,
this is the deal, rad.It is about what you do well,
minimizednim minimizing your weaknesses, and playingto your strengths. Number one and
first and foremost, we are ateam that specializes in playing with a lead.
(05:55):
We scored first, or we areeven with the other teams, we
are better and defensively we are greatbecause that unleashes our defense to do the
things that they do best. Thatis pressure to quarterback, get him off
his spot, sack him, disrupthim. And now we become the turnover
(06:16):
team that we desire. And thatis what this Cowboys team needs to be
concentrating on. How can our offenseget off to a quick and positive start
so that our defense can take overthe game. Because when our defense take
over the game, then all ofa sudden, the turnovers coming in great
(06:36):
numbers. And if Green Bay wantto start and I'm just giving you the
front end up front, I'm givingyou what a coach is telling his team.
But if Green Bay come in hereand slow this thing down and what
we like to say, take theair out of the ball, trying to
control tempo, trying to control timepossession, now we may have some problems
(06:58):
then, because we have proven overtime in the playoffs that we're not a
team that want to deal with anagging running team, a team that just
won't go away. So if GreenBay can be consistent in what they do,
play sound defense and run the ball, that's where our problems rely at.
(07:19):
Yeah, and you know when youlook at that, that taking the
air out of the ball in away, it seemed like that was what
the commanders were trying to do lastweek, Nate, because you know,
at one point when it's ten toseven and they had scored on a you
know, a couple of I meana couple of not fluke plays, but
you know, just plays they kindof fell their way. Flute play.
(07:40):
Yeah, okays, right, theyscore in a couple of fluke plays.
Certainly the block field goals flu sothey score on fluke plays still, right,
it gives them confidence. And there'sa moment there where you could and
across my mind watching the game acrossmy mind. Dang, you know,
Washington might just be able to jumpup and do this thing because they got
(08:03):
confidence now and one drive one drive, and I'm like, oh, no
way, Dallas going to blow thisteam out because of that talent differential.
You could just see it now.It won't be as great this week because
this is another playoff team, Buttheoretically there is a talent differential here too,
Yes, yes, and we dohave that advantage at quarterback. This
(08:30):
even though young, the young fellaJordan Love Well, Jordan Love even though
he's thrown thirty two tds eleven interceptions, he's sixty four percent completion rate.
This guy is poised, He's calm, He's rushed for over two hundred yards.
(08:50):
He's got four tds rushing. Thekid is talented, but he hasn't
played in this pinpoint lais the focusedplayoff They are I repeat, they are
a much better team than the WashingtonCommanders mentally, physically and spiritually. No
(09:13):
one, no one, I repeat, no one but the cheese head,
the Wisconsin loyal They were the onlyones that thought that they would be in
the playoffs, and for the firstfour weeks they didn't even believe it.
So now they are here. Coach, coach, Coach Lafleur, My hat's
off to you because they all thought, all the fans thought, gave you
(09:37):
no credit, but you got yourteam a seventh spot in the playoff and
you were here. I do notand I think these coaches, by what
coach McCarthy said, by what coachDan Quinny said, they know the danger
of this game right here, becauseif this kid can catch on fire,
(10:01):
you don't throw thirty two touchdowns andon eleven interceptions in the season as a
first year player. He's not arookie, but he's a first year starter.
This guy's on fire, man,this guy's doing what he need to
do, and we cannot let himget his confidence up. They will be
like, wow, the second comingof you know, the green Bay Faithful,
(10:24):
because it's you know, Green Bayhas never ever been through a stretch
where they've had terrible, terrible quarterbackslike the Cowboys have. They've always seemed
to have always fallen on that guyand they've been able to give him a
couple of years on the bench andthen he come in and he starts to
shine. This is no exception righthere. This kid, this kid Jordan
(10:46):
Love is nice. Yeah. Sowhat you have here, Nate is the
Cowboys against the youngest team in theNFL. Yes, and I see today
a note where they are the fourthyoungest ever to make the playoffs, and
the other were all from the seventies. Right, They're a very young teams
headed into the playoffs. Now.That can affect you one of two ways,
right, either of two ways.It can be like, wow,
(11:09):
we're so young and dumb, wedon't even know and we go and we're
crazy and we went right where itcan be like only crap, where are
we? Oh my gosh, wedon't know nothing about this? Cowboys have
been here every year. Well whatdo we do? You know, what
do you think? How does itgo? You're right? I mean,
because you got to remember we atthat time when I was playing with one
(11:30):
of the youngest teams ever, whenwe was playing and everybody was like and
not so young in age, butyoung in playoff experience, and everybody was
thought we would fold. But weplayed a little bit better than most people
thought. And that's what scares youabout this Green Bay team. Even though
the Cowboys should have a notch upon them, because we've been in the
(11:54):
last two years of playoffs. Theseguys, you gotta understand. And it's
just a year away from that serialkiller that sits uping on New York.
So uh uh. You know,so Green Bay is not scared of us,
not as a team as a whole. I mean, you know,
(12:15):
you look at Aaron Jones, ajDillon, even Jayden reed that these guys
are not scared of us. Kennyclark on defense, Preston Smith. These
guys know us. They have playedagainst us year in the year. So
the core of their team is notfearful of Dallas. But the head of
(12:37):
that snake, that is who wegot to get to. If we can
get to Jordan Love, it don'tmatter what the rest of them think.
If we can put pressure on him, if a Parson can be Parson,
if DeMarcus Lawrence can come out ofthere with a couple of hits. You
know, I know he's a greatrun defender. But here what I'm what
(12:58):
I'm hoping, and I'll keep repeating, is we have to get a lead.
We have to get a lead.If we get any type lead and
can unleash the pressure of our defenseon these guys, it makes for a
long day for them. But bythe same token, I believe that if
these guys hang in here, thenthe Cowboys have to win this by the
(13:20):
skin of their teeth. Aaron Joneswill be screaming for the ball. Aj
Dillon will be screaming for the ball. They time of possession they average around
about twenty nine point four to threeminutes a game, so it ain't like
they just going out there not controllingthe temple of the game or portions of
(13:41):
the game, because they almost thirtyminutes a game. So when you're around
thirty minutes a game, that meansyou know how to control temple, you
know how to show down, youknow how to speed up. So the
Cowboys I want them and I hopethat they get off to a fast start.
You don't want go into the gamelike we did against the Commanders.
(14:03):
This is a much better team coachcoach wise. These guys a coach very
well. They play hard, asyou can see right here, because no
one expected them to be where they'reat. But these guys play hard,
they coach well. I think theyhave something like forty forty eight sacks forty
forty five sacks human They got fivesacks against their last opponent. They just
(14:26):
unleash their defense on their last opponent. So they got forty five sacks.
And like I said, Kenny Clarkis there is their their nose tackle or
their three technique and he and hecan play, and Preston Pierce can play.
Preston Smith excuse me, Yeah,Preston Pearson could play too. Yeah,
yeah, that guy like to Okaysaying so speaking of guys catching the
(14:50):
ball, and you talked about theirreceivers, one guy who does not have
to scream for the ball anymore isCede Lamb, Right, yeah, scream
like okay, okay, I'm done, I'm done. No, and he
never would. But the point isthis Dak Prescott, the CD Lamb,
you know, combination has become sospecial this season, Nate, It's become
(15:11):
you know, Troy Aikman to MichaelIrvin, I mean it really has.
Yes. The thing is, Ithink they had a plan for CD,
but due to the fact that thesituation how slowly started out of the gates
with Dak trying to get the systemdown, trying to we have consistent offensive
(15:35):
line play. Once they got allof that in place, and it's just
too bad we had to take aloss from the Coggins early in the season
to get things kind of crunk upthe way it was because CD is a
is a great competitor. He's akind of the flying Boyant eighty eight type
(15:56):
guy. He want to be seen, but within the context of a win.
He knows that if he has theball in his hands, it gives
us a chance to win. Andwhat CD has done is he's given us
what every team desires. If youdon't have that a one quarterback, you
(16:19):
have to have a player offensively thatteams have to double coverage, or I
call it dictators. These guys aredictator Ceedee Lamb is a dictator when he
go. When he runs out thereoutside, in the slot, in the
backfield, it's always two guys.Dictators demand two guys. And wherever he's
(16:44):
at, it's like, how canwe bracket and he's in the slot,
we got to put a guy upclose, try to jam him. We
got to have somebody over the top. If he's outside, we got the
corner over there. If it's ashort route, we got the lineback and
falling. If it's a deep right, we got the corner, we got
the safety falling. Always got twoguys on the dictator you know. Now
that freeze up your run game.Our run game has not been where it
(17:07):
needed to be. So we needthat CD Lamb, that dictator that can
call for two guys to have todeal with him. So, uh,
Green Bay does not have that.No, get me wrong. They got
six receivers. They got four receiverswith over five hundred yards you know,
So I'm not saying they don't.But when CD walks out on the field,
(17:32):
they safety in their corner or theirsafety in the outside line and to
say, hey, hey, theygo one of the eighty eights running around
out there. So we got tocover this right here. So that opens
it up for Cook, That opensit up for Ferguson, that opens it
up for Tony Polter. So nowwe got to get a little more creative
on the run. Now, ifwe can become two dimensional, we'll crush
it. Yeah. Thanks, Yeah, I want to get to that run
(17:57):
game in a minute. But theamazing thing about Lamb is the fact that
they have been trying to take himaway. Right, everybody knows he's a
dictator and they've been trying. Theydouble team him almost every week, and
he's still making eleven, twelve,thirteen catches a week. Now, you
know the thing when you become adictator. What he has done this year
(18:18):
is his catch. His average percatch has dropped just a little bit because
now we have to give it toyou sometime at running back. Now we
have to give it to you atslot, quick slant, quick out,
bubble screens, quick screens. Wegot to give it to you any way
we can. Because he's a dictator. He's a playmaker. You know,
(18:38):
you've seen him get the ball fora fifteen yard catch. I would said,
it's a forty yard Touchdow. You'veseen him throw moves on guys.
You know what I'm saying, getfirst downs. I mean, my wife
asked me, you saw CD stretchingthat ball out there. That's unsafe,
I say, sweetheart, I say, stop, you starting to sound like
(19:00):
a normal fan. CD ain't normal. CD ain't normal. If he want
to reach the ball out there,I said, last week he got to
it cost us a It cost afumbling the score. I said, But
you know what, ain't too manypeople said nothing. Great players get to
do great things because they make greatmoves and they earn that right, I
(19:22):
said, I said, when thatdude came close it he pull it back
in. Yeah he did. Isaid, don't worry about CD. We
need to worry about the other dudes. These guys we don't know about trying
to be CD Lamb because everybody ain'tCD Lamb right right. You see that
young guy reach that ball out andMichelle's right now, you're not supposed to
do that, young man. Whatare you doing? What? Let's put
(19:44):
him on the bench, C.D Lamb. Yeah yeah, and see
even yeah, even though I'm madat the coaching staff or not letting Haunter
lympkick run a little bit more.You see what happened with Hunter olymp kick
fumber that ball, right, weain't see no more running? Yeah,
yeah, yeah, no, it'strue. So let's go to that running
game because it showed life last week. Certainly Tony Pollard had a good day,
(20:07):
nice complimentary you know, yards andcarries also from our boy, uhco
So yeah, so so talk tome. Was that just about the fact
that we are talking about Commander's teamthat you know, isn't all that?
Or was that maybe an emergence rightthat we may see continue, because like
(20:30):
you're saying, if you can keepthat defense honest with with the threat of
that run game, No tell himwhat CD Lamb and the rest of those
receivers can do. The thing that'samazing is, as much as you want
to say those two Bama boys justonly had one of the Bamba boys in
the last week. Uh, thething that makes me laugh is we had
(20:52):
two backups, a backup guard,two backup guards. So we ran the
ball. H was it a agreat day against a great team? Now
the Commanders are not great at thismoment. You know, who knows what
next year brings, but that's nextyear. But our guys went in and
executed. They did what they hadto do. We had one hundred plus
(21:15):
yards rushing. We did okay,we had a good average, I think
over four yards to carry. Youdon't worry about who's in the game,
who's not in the game, notwhen you get ready for playoff football.
I told everybody last week and Iminute, I didn't care if you want
about one hundred, I ain't careif you want about one. Get out
(21:36):
of there without an injury. Youknow, we got Gilmore and his shoulders,
so we got basically got out ofup pretty clean. Besides one when
our major guys guildmore. But I'mtelling guys, guys are locked in.
For the last two years, guyshave been not knowing how to handle the
(21:57):
playoffs. Have no rookies, nofirst year guys. These are season veteran,
playoff battle testing guys that need toget over a hump. Brad,
listen to me. You have nobabies. It ain't no young team,
(22:18):
it ain't no this, and ain'tno that. The only thing you have
to worry about, and you don'thave to worry about that for two weeks,
is the boom Bock boys in California. The Boombok Boys. You know
you don't even have to worry aboutthat. You The great thing about the
forty nine ers, now that youhave the second seed, the first The
great thing about the is you canrun through these next two teams. Ever
(22:44):
who it are? Who it is? We know it's Green Bay. It
could be Tample of Philadelphia the nextopponent. But now you're worried about Green
Bay? Are you scared? No? You got to be bringing with confidence.
You got to know that if Igo out there and give myself for
(23:06):
three hours, sixty minutes, whicheverway you want to do it, and
I focus and I concentrate on theseGreen Bay Packers, that everything will take
care of itself. I said atthe beginning of the year, rad I
kept trying to tell everybody when wefirst lost to Philadelphia. You know,
the first thing I did when Icame on to let me tell you something
(23:27):
was let me tell y'all something,Cowboys. Just keep winning. You never
know what will happen. Guess what, you kept winning, Philadelphia fell off
the rock. You are number twoseated because just keep winning and you will
take care whatever has to be takencare of. So I like where you
(23:52):
were going with that, no Baby'sdiscussion, Nate, And what I really
liked having been on this side,right, I like to analyze what I
see after a game almost as muchas what I see during a game.
So what I saw after the gamethis past week when when Dak Prescott came
to the press conference, you know, just wearing a stocking cap in that
(24:14):
cold Washington are right, and everybodyand people asked him, hey, hey,
how come you're not wearing your NFCEast champions hat, and he said,
we got much bigger goal. SoI'm paraphrasing. He said that that
ain't what we're shooting for. Andand that as the leader of that team,
Nate, I love that, right, that's not whatever I mean.
And you don't want to diminish winningyour division because no team has won it
(24:37):
back to back years for a decademore now. Uh so, But that
said, that's not the goal winningthe NFC East right now. You know
you want to be happy for Ronplaying and those guys, you know,
the young you know the guys thatyou know you want to be happy for
Mazi and you know you want tobe happy for those guys. But it's
(24:59):
so I'm on the side of yourhelmet. And there's only four or five
teams in this league, the Yankees, the Cowboys, the Celtics, the
Lakers. Well, you know what, winning your division, winning the first
round playoff series, our first roundgame does not matter, right. You
(25:26):
have to go out and beat GreenBay and you have to act like you've
been there and done that, whichyou have for the last two years.
Your big celebration shit come in thedivisional round when you defeat whoever that is.
As you take steps towards this magnificentgoal of trying to reach a super
(25:52):
Bowl. You either can take thistake the world by storm like my Cowboys
did it are the Kansas City Chiefs. Or you can still step like my
Cowboys did, like and like youknow, a lot of other teams have
to, like the Rams did acouple of years ago. Stare step and
(26:17):
I don't care how you do it, because whether you stare stepping, that's
saying year after year you're very verycompetitive, or you take the world by
storm like Kansas City did with agreat quarterback, that means that once you
take the world by storm, thatyou're still gonna be very competitive. So
either way I can deal with it. But just keep winning. Yeah,
(26:41):
yeah, first round playoffs, Nate. I mean, now, obviously there's
so many memorable playoff games in yourera with the Cowboys. Really most of
the most memorable are with San Francisco, a couple with Green Bay. Do
you even really remember much about ofcourse, back then the playoffs were a
little different. More teams got buystoo, so you had to buy a
(27:03):
lot of years. But do youremember first round games much very often?
Nah? Nah? Just I rememberus trying to get there, you know,
going through Philly, playing the Giants, just trying to get there Detroit.
You know you're trying when you're tryingto get there, you but once
you get in that second year andyou know you going to that division around
(27:23):
and you you you you know youcan win that division around. You know,
it just all runs together. Youhave to get with either Darren Johnston
or Troy Uh. You know,I guess running backs wide receivers remember more
because they have stats. The onlyway I'm gonna remember if we would have
got a lot of sacks, youknow, like the level sack game against
(27:45):
Philly. You know, we weas I was allowed and allowed to glorify
and to go into because you know, emmate can run for two hundred yards,
but they forgot somebody was blocking mitfor them two hundred yards. Us
we kind of think the same wayas off his line of like, man,
he rush for two hundred yards,okay, you know, and it's
(28:06):
like we happed him, but itwas him. It was him. Rut
when they say, oh, whorush for the most yards out but they
don't put me Kevin Gogan into it. They name but they put him it
name up there. So yeah,that's how I go. Yeah. So
here's the last thing we got totalk about with regard to this night.
Is the psychology of this thing?Okay, you mentioned it. The Cowboys
(28:26):
have this experience. They've been inthe playoffs the last couple of years.
However, they've lost in the playoffsthe last couple of years. Now I
realized the lost against the Boombox boys, right, I realized that. But
is there is there a psychological hurdlefor them to overcome where they don't get
like, oh, here we goagain in the playoffs. We know to
(28:48):
stop. Stop. See you didn'teven make the right face. Oh oh
yeah, stop, here we comeagain. Here we come again. We
like Baby's kids. We don't die. We multiply not one, not two,
(29:10):
but three, twelve and five seasons. You reach out and you grab
what is real, what is tangible. Don't worry about what happened in the
past. If it ain't a positive, don't worry about it. Visualize.
Jimmy used to tell us, seeyourself dominating, see yourself doing what you
(29:33):
have to do. Uh uh,You kept playing when everybody counted you out
against Philadelphia. You are the secondseed. We like gifts. Don't tell
Radigan, you tell your boys,all your boys. That's in the media.
Tell Dan Campbell, thank you forbeing so smart. You grab every
(30:02):
positive you can and you take itand you ball it up and you start
rolling it downhill like an avalanche,so it catches Green Bay, then it
catches the next opponent. And thenwhen we get to the boombox boards,
we're not only gonna take that boxoff they shoulder, We're gonna turn it
up a notch. That's how wedo that. That's how we work that.
(30:26):
Come on, now you're talking toNate. Been there, done that?
Come on now, yeah, yeah, okay, all right, so
now let me ask you this.You think, oh mccarthy'll let you give
a pregame speech because that's pretty good. Fired up? Yes, sir,
my mother I got you fired becauseim drinking my coffee. I'm for going
there and flush another one. Fantastic, Nate, I'm doing it. Man.
(30:51):
Let's enjoy this playoff game. We'lltalk soon, my brother, Love
you man to Tom
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