Mick Shots: 12-31-24

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Cowboys.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
This is nick Shots, streaming live on Dallascowboys dot Com.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
And the official Dallas Cowboys at.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Now Here are Bill Jones, Everson Walls, and Mickey Spagnola.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Mercifully, it is the last day of twenty twenty four.
We are looking ahead of twenty twenty five on this
edition of Mixshots, brought to you by Miller Lite, Bill Jones,
Everson Walls and Mickey Spagnola. We're gonna have predictions for
twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Five on this auction of Oh my gag Shots.

Speaker 4 (00:53):
What do you think of that? What's gonna happen in
twenty I.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Don't like those.

Speaker 5 (00:58):
It's gonna start tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yep, the year is going to start tomorrow. There's one prediction.
We're off to a rousing starter.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Jerry said when he was on today, he said something
to the effect that, yeah, let's just get through twenty
twenty four.

Speaker 5 (01:15):
This has not been a good year.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Now we get just twelve hours to.

Speaker 5 (01:18):
Go for many reasons.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Right, all right, So Jerry was on the radio today
and Mickey, you have come with clarity on what's going
to happen. That's right for Sunday when the Cowboys take
on the Washington Commanders of the regular season finale at
noon at a And.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
As Jerry pointed out, I'm not under any unusual time
frame to make a decision on the coaching staff or
to announce it. Who knows he might have made the decision.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
Already, tried.

Speaker 4 (01:50):
Everybody may know what's going on.

Speaker 5 (01:52):
But he does, but he doesn't have to say.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
And he continued to speak out of both sides of
his mind, talking about all the good things that Mike
McCarthy did, but saying that, well, I don't have to
say anything just yet.

Speaker 5 (02:08):
We have to evaluate.

Speaker 4 (02:10):
So you were saying, he talked out of both sides
of his mouth.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
So he said all the good things, did he did
he ever talk out of the other side.

Speaker 5 (02:15):
Of his mouth about bad things? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (02:18):
The injuries, Oh all right, and pointed that out, which
you know, it's it's part of the story this year
that just kind of gets eliminated. Uh, you know, it's
it's one of these deals. And like I like to say,
everybody likes to put something in a big box and

(02:38):
put a bow on top without looking inside the box
to see what you got. And you know, I'm watching
the game last night, and all I kept seeing and
hearing was all the injuries San Francisco had, the injuries
Detroit had.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
I felt sorry for the guy, and I don't.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
See that when they do the Cowboys games. Nope, you
know so what that you lost six Pro bowlers and
one more that didn't go on injured reserve. That's what
I'm saying, Yeah and so, yeah, it's part of the
story of this season that can't be ignored.

Speaker 5 (03:21):
So and he did point that out. What do you
have to have different?

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Well, I got to have my Pro Bowl quarterback on
the field, and I've got to have an offensive line.

Speaker 5 (03:33):
He goes.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
If I made a mistake. I assumed that we could
put young guys in on the offensive line and it
would just take off and be as good as ever.
And he goes, and there were growing pains there. He goes,
I got to have my defensive ends that I lost
all season long, And oh what about the cornerbacks and
the linebackers and so and now the wide receiver, by

(03:57):
the way, and you had the other wide receiver out.

Speaker 4 (04:00):
For four weeks.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
No Cooks was out seven seven games at.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
Least from late September until November, right.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
From the first Giants game to Yeah, and my other
Pro Bowl corner missed the first ten games of the season,
so some of that matters, And I think it has
to go into his evaluation of Mike McCarthy.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
By the way, that was also the toughest stretch of
the season, when Michael Parsons was.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
Out right those four games, and.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
Then leading up to last week's game, when after Micah
had returned, this team was leading the league in sacks
since his return, leading the league in takeaways.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah, and pressures too, by the way.

Speaker 4 (04:45):
And the schedule got easier during this stretch too, right,
And it did.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
But all you gotta do even just look at the
quarterback position alone and see which teams have qualified for
the postseason, which we went through this last week. And
I'll quickly go through it here. Eagles, Commanders, they both
have their quarterbacks. I'm assuming hurts his back whatever, and
he will be Lions, Vikings Packers have their quarterbacks.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
And stop right there. Vikings had a sugar plum Land
in their lap. They had no idea Sam Darnold was.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Going to do what he who used to be Baker
Mayfield's teammate in Carolina, and which gets me to Tampa
Bay has their quarterback, Baker Mayfield, and the Rams clinched
their division and they've got their quarterback, Matthew Stafford.

Speaker 4 (05:33):
And we could do the same process.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
And the AFC as well, where the Bills have their quarterback,
the Ravens, the Steelers, the Bengals are still threatening because because.

Speaker 4 (05:44):
They because they have their quarterback.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
The Texans have their quarterback, are limping to the finish line.

Speaker 4 (05:51):
And oh, by the way, the Chiefs, the Chargers, and
the Broncos all have their starting quarterbacks. So there you go.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
And that's the story of twenty twenty four.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
It might be the story of every season in the NFL.
And got your starting quarterback, you are still have a shot.
Going back to Jeff Hostetler and the Giants Everson where
we saved Jeff.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
Let's there you go.

Speaker 6 (06:15):
We were special. We were special, and we're like Philly,
we don't need.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
And for those that want to point point out that,
you know, these other teams with the Saquon Barkley over
two thousand yards Derrick Henry, but guess what, they had
special quarterbacks to play with them. And that factored into
their effectiveness.

Speaker 6 (06:36):
You've got that guy Cook is running right but off
of there and I'll come and.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
It's definitely because he's playing off.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Of his quarterback, because Josh Allen can run his butt.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
The offensive line has something to do with it, Yes, absolutely,
which gets back to what Jerry apparently said about the
offensive line if he made one mistake, that is I
think pretty lairing HiT's depending on the young guys.

Speaker 5 (07:03):
Just assuming that it was going to be.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
But at some point, when you've got two future Hall
of famers who are in the last part of their career,
Tyron Smith and Zach Martin, You're going to have to
make that transition at some point, right, and this happens
to be the point where that was happening.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
And despite that, they had a running back run for
a thousand yards that had never been given that chance.
And you have to go back to twenty I did
this twenty nineteen last time the Cowboys had somebody rush
for as much as Rico Dado has, because while Pollard

(07:43):
did it, Rico's got like a yard or two more
than he ever had in his thousand yards situations.

Speaker 5 (07:51):
So you have to go back to z.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
Which but having said that, on the other side on Sunday,
they were celebrating running back who.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
By the way, but he had a running quarterback.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
But more importantly than the running quarterback is they have
an offensive line that is right up there with the Lions,
the best in football.

Speaker 6 (08:22):
So the way I always look at it is the
defense always gives them another chance. Soarkley has always had
a defense to give him the ball so he can
run for more yards.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
Who was Dickerson quarterback that year?

Speaker 6 (08:38):
Little shorting uh from from Canada?

Speaker 4 (08:43):
The quarterback, short quarterback.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
You'll come up.

Speaker 6 (08:49):
Okay, I'm gonna do that.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
Short quarterback.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
So it was handed to three Rams. I'm not going
to put the year in or anything. It's just short quarterback.
I misspelled Canada.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
But Rams.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
Let's see if it comes up here list of Rams
starting quarterbacks.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
There it'll be Doug Flutie or something.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
Short quarterback. Let us go back through the list of
the quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
Eighty five.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Most schemes.

Speaker 5 (09:23):
When he set the singles.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Okay, I was going for when I you know, played
in eighty five?

Speaker 5 (09:28):
Yeah, eighty three.

Speaker 4 (09:29):
Okay, well wait a second, we got to get.

Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yeah fair Norm Van Brocklyn was short Eddie LeBaron play
for them. Let me see eighty five.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, eighty three, I was going eighty five.

Speaker 4 (09:46):
We're talking Peter Brock, the short quarterback from Canada. Peter Brock.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
I think that might have been him. Yeah, it was
a weird name.

Speaker 4 (09:56):
Peter Brock. Let me look you up here. That's no,
he's an A but Canada he played football.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
That's where it was.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
Remember he's from He's from the province of Alabama.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
We're going back up to Canada.

Speaker 4 (10:19):
Oh wait, wait, what you know where he played college.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
In Canada?

Speaker 4 (10:25):
They can't think of an Alabama school.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Oh not Jackson.

Speaker 6 (10:32):
Yes, not Jackson You are.

Speaker 5 (10:38):
Champions.

Speaker 4 (10:40):
It all comes back to Jacksonville State. That's the story
of this season.

Speaker 6 (10:46):
That's the story of the month. We pops up every
every day this month.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
They won their bowl games.

Speaker 4 (10:53):
Oh that's funny.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
He was a two time CFL Most Outstanding Player, Peter Brock,
and it was the Rams quarterback in eighty five.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Answer your question, said Chris.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
Yeah, okay, he did in eighty four though, so.

Speaker 4 (11:11):
So that would be Jeff Kemp and Vincent. Four is
when he broke that record.

Speaker 5 (11:16):
I thought it was eighty.

Speaker 4 (11:17):
Who was there Jeff Kemp.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
He ran for eighteen hundred yards in eighty three though,
and of course the Jeff Kemp, the son of Jack Camp.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
Oh yeah, and all those yards were against the Cowboys
two in eighty three if you count the playoff game.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
Half of them.

Speaker 4 (11:35):
Okay, so what were we talking about?

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Nothing? Nothing better than Jacksonville State.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Oh, we were talking about the benefits of having your
starting quarterback on the field playing well for the playoffs.
So so last night didn't change anything, right.

Speaker 4 (11:54):
That meaningless Detroit.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
It was a meaningless game, right, except they knew going
in it was me except maybe the Cowboys won't have
to play San Francisco decks.

Speaker 4 (12:02):
Oh yeah, so there was meeting because there's a third
place schedule.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah there last right now Arizona's ahead of them.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
Yeah, but now the Rams don't have to win in
the season finale.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
So San Francisco wins that.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
San Francisco has to play Arizona.

Speaker 4 (12:18):
Oh okay, they play each other.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Oh they played for the Cowboys.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
I'm sure that's what's on their minds.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
Well, the tie breaker is going to come down to,
like I don't know what tie breaker is going to.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
Be, and we don't, but one way or the other.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
The Cowboys are going to play or San Francisco next season.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
It's a shame that this season.

Speaker 6 (12:44):
I feel very good about our improvement, even though it
was over teams that were kind of martin them, you know,
some teams. The Tampa Bay went to me was the
best win of the season. We really thought that that
had put us at least on a trend upward, which
I still think it's you know, we we can't ignore

(13:06):
our streak that we had. But at the same time,
I'm pretty proud of where we were versus.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Where we ended up. I just have to say that.

Speaker 6 (13:17):
I mean, even though we did lose badly to teams
that were very good doing that stretch, but we won
against teams that were not so good. We won the
games we were supposed to win, and it didn't seem
as if we could do that when we first started
having these calamities.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
Okay, so let's don't put a name on just in
a general sense, if you were the owner slash general
manager of a football team.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
A football team, a football.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
Not this football team, a football team, and what happened
this season, including the injuries and what you just said.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
The third to last.

Speaker 3 (13:52):
Game of the season, probably the best game they played
all year. Coming off all that, how would you handle
things going forward in terms of the coaching staff.

Speaker 6 (14:03):
As far as the coaching staff is concerned, I think
I would keep them intact and simply because you're not
gonna find anyone. First of all, I always talk about
the elephant in the room, and that would be Jerry.
You've got to find coaches that can deal with the
general manager and owner that Jerry is. But at the

(14:24):
same time, you have to realize you're gonna have a
lot of work to do. If you're changing the entire
coaching staff. You got a lot of work you put
in a whole new system. You're gonna have to change
your If we be the whole new staff next year
is not gonna be good because it's going to be
an adjustment period. If we keep this staff and we

(14:44):
continue with the trend that we were on, putting in
some pieces, make sure everyone stays healthy.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
I still don't.

Speaker 6 (14:51):
See us as a super Bowl team, but I see
us as a playoff team that could go deep.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
That's just my opinion.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
And and and and that's the other elephant in the room.
And I heard the question today or maybe it wasn't
to him when it was said, it's like, what do
they have to do to win a super Bowl next year?
I'm going how about playoffs? How about a division title?
How about just winning one first round game? Yeah, it's

(15:20):
not just look at the super Bowl.

Speaker 6 (15:22):
Well that's what That's why we picked the did we
pick a We picked eighteen? We didn't pick the Cowboy
because they only talked to us that way. So the
only way we are seen it's super Bowl up bust
every year. Now, that's the optimism you have from every team,
but everyone believes when Jerry Jones says it, it's just

(15:45):
a difference. It's just a difference.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
So, speaking of making transitions like that, Mike Zimmer talked
about it yesterday and he said one of his regrets
was he didn't do what he wanted to do defensively
from the start because he thought he needed to blend
in on what they had done the year before.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
And when we come back here on mix shots, let's
talk about that and more.

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Speaker 2 (18:24):
Shuts Cowboys Nation.

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Speaker 2 (18:47):
When do they do the Super Bowl? It comes down
the Super Bowl? Is that when we know about I.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
Think correct beforehand because that person gets to go to
free trip to.

Speaker 3 (18:56):
The supers Okay, okay, so they all get to go
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So the Thursday night before the Super Bowl they will
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Speaker 4 (19:11):
At what you're saying, that is correct?

Speaker 2 (19:13):
And then they also get to go to the game.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Didn't the Cowboys all the all the fans of the
year get to go to the game? Guy won it
last year?

Speaker 5 (19:18):
Maybe I forgot.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
The international guy won it? Was an international fan of
the year.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
Was the Cowboy guy that he actually got to do
the pick on the NFL Draft.

Speaker 5 (19:28):
That's right.

Speaker 6 (19:29):
I hate here in the NFL, honest thing, because that's
where we had to go after you found out you
didn't become a Hall of Famer. So they come to
you boom, hey, you didn't make it, bough And so
we went to downstairs in ten minutes and I'm like,
it's gonna be a wow.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
Okay, we got tequila here.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
So as we transitioned to Mike Zimmer before Mickey talks
about what he teased just a moment ago, Mike Zimmer
was asked about Darren Woodson as well, and Darren Woodson
is for the third straight year a finalist.

Speaker 4 (20:01):
For the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It was announced
over the weekend.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
I just wrote eight paragraphs on that, setting up what
Zim had to say.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
So would you like to paraphrase what he had to
say there or would you like to go on to.

Speaker 5 (20:16):
He said it?

Speaker 1 (20:17):
I think the first thing he said it it it
he should have been in a long time ago, basically,
and then talked about all the things he could do.
And my point now is, you know they list him
as a safety. He was a defensive player. He played safety,
he played corner, he played linebacker, and I was I'll

(20:39):
never let him off specialties. Unbelievable every year it's like,
oh yeah, yeah. And then he found himself at least
the outside guy on kickoff.

Speaker 4 (20:49):
Coverage and still like the.

Speaker 5 (20:53):
Cowboys, and.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
He led the Cowboys franchise in career tackles. Think about
the defensive guys in this franchise that are in the
Hall of Fame. He's got more tackles than them all.
So anyway, okay, now my soapbox already.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
Yeah, all right, so now to what And this was
the last availability of the twenty twenty four season for
the coordinators with the media yesterday, and Mike Zimmer was
very good and among the things he talked about was what.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
You were getting to a moment?

Speaker 2 (21:34):
YEAHO.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
And his point was that when he got here, he
didn't think he should have reinvented the wheel and just
bring in everything he wanted to do. He felt like, okay,
this defense was pretty good the last couple of years,
that let's use a little bit of what I want
to do and keep some of the stuff they were
doing sort of.

Speaker 5 (21:54):
I think that was the philosophy.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
If you think about when McCarthy got here with the
offic it was like he didn't change the whole thing
to be his offense. He let Kellen Moore do what
they've been doing that had been successful or what dak knew.
So yeah, he said that, you know, he said, I
didn't come in, I wasn't stubborn, I wasn't a hard head.

(22:19):
I probably wasn't as hard on guys as I should
have been to start, and he goes, and as the
season went along, he goes. I got to congratulate the
players because we made somewhat of a transition and started
doing things I wanted, yes, And so I thought that
that was very revealing on his thoughts on.

Speaker 6 (22:44):
I always thought that, well, I have been thinking that
Michael Parsons has a lot to do with this. We
depend a lot on it, and we criticized him a
lot when the defense is not playing well because he
is out. He's our guy, and there are times when
he was being exposed. I don't know what happened while

(23:04):
he was injured, but it seems as if someone has
given him a different mindset on how to set the edge,
which is one of the plays that have been killing
us all doing. You know, we've never been able to
set the edge and running defense. That has changed as
you see how other teams play it. We were watching

(23:26):
other teams play it well on how they set the edge,
and we were wondering, why can't we do that? Well,
we started doing that, and now our defense is playing better.
And I don't know what they said to Michael during
that time. But to me, he's been the catalyst as
to how we are setting the edge because he's the
one that is playing differently now when it comes to

(23:47):
those particular plays.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
And the other part of it was and I remember
talking to him in the offseason about his plans for Micah,
and his plans were that, yeah, you know, third down.

Speaker 4 (24:02):
Rushing the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
But I'm gonna try to convince him he's gonna play
a little more linebacker. Right well, that was fining good
until Sam Williams went down, and that was finding good
until DeMarcus Lawrence went down, and that was finding good
until Marshawn Neeland went down.

Speaker 5 (24:21):
So u and then he goes down.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
But the idea was to make him a versatile defensive player,
so teams didn't know that he's starting off right there.

Speaker 5 (24:33):
I'm gonna put him at linebacker and you don't know
what he's going to do.

Speaker 6 (24:36):
So right now, he's playing like t J. Watts basically,
that's what he's saying.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
And you don't want that. You want him to play.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
I mean, he's a stand up defensive end.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
You want to be more Fred Wanner and.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
I mean, if you watch event what Philadelphia was doing.
Oh my lord, they had two three guys taking him
on and nobody else took advantage in that game, and
that's what they needed.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
I thought.

Speaker 6 (25:01):
I think the way they're playing defense now, and I
know they had a tough game against Philly, I'm not
going to judge them on the Philly game. I'm gonna
judge them on what I saw in Tampa and leading
up to Tampa, because you know, the Philadelphia game is
what it is. I think our defense is just below

(25:24):
what we were last year, and I think that's a
good thing when you're talking about the transition that they made,
and especially coming off those first say eight games that
we played, to see them improve with the personnel that
they have. I got to give him some love. I
have to give him some love because they have kept
us in games. They are active, and half the time
you don't even know who these guys are. And that's

(25:46):
the good thing about it. He's playing with guys who
don't have nearly the talent. And I'm talking about coach Zimmer.
He's playing guys with not near the talent from the
ones that we lost.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
Speaking of not knowing the guys games, I gotta find it.

Speaker 5 (26:05):
Talk about something. Oh, I think it. I can't even believe.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
So in.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
Two thousand, when the Cowboys played the final game of
the season at Tennessee, Tennessee had a.

Speaker 5 (26:22):
Whole lot to play for.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
The Cowboys were on their way to finishing five and eleven.
And this is a little off track.

Speaker 4 (26:32):
But it may custom that.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
It made me think because the question now this week
is is Trey Lance going to start the final game?

Speaker 5 (26:41):
So it made me think.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Remember I brought up maybe it was yesterday, Reggie Colliers
started the last game eighty six. Well, starting the last
game in two thousand was Anthony Wright because Randall Cuddingham
said he had a strained hamstring. Well, it was cold, game,

(27:03):
didn't mean anything. Troy was already out with a concussion back,
so they started Anthony Wright and went back and I
just looked it up, read my story after the game
that I wrote, and they were playing all these backup
guys because everybody wanted to see the backup guys. And

(27:24):
I said, well, this is what you get when you
play backup guys.

Speaker 5 (27:29):
Right.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
One of the guys in that game, playing defensive tackle
was named Noel Scarlet. Scarlet defensive tackle that was the
only game I think he played all season long, right,
and that was the only game he played in his
NFL career. But that's what it got down to, right,

(27:50):
and replacement players and basically, no, you know what I said,
This was a preseason game in December, and that's what
And it was on Christmas night. Nobody wanted to play.
I'll guarantee you.

Speaker 3 (28:05):
Uh, and Anthony Wright in that game.

Speaker 5 (28:07):
And Anthony Wright, yeah, he's.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
Because he was five out of twenty for thirty five
yards and two interceptions, and I think that four times.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
He had two fumble So they had four turnovers.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
Three carries nine yards and then Tennessee had a great defense.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
Well yeah, they had a they were going to get
the number one seed I think that year in the AFC.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
So yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
Yeah, you want you want to see.

Speaker 5 (28:32):
You Okay, you know now now this game.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
There's a chance they may do it. I got I
had nothing against giving it a shot. But then two
things could take place. One, he plays so poorly that
you might.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
You will go all those sink all the way there.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Right, But what if he plays well, it's a free
agent and somebody else goes, huh, well, maybe I'll pay
him five million dollars to be maybe my backup when
the Cowboys could be thinking, well, maybe you know, I
can sign them for my backup quarterback if he plays well.
But if he plays poorly, well, he's no more than

(29:14):
the third guy.

Speaker 5 (29:15):
Once again, in a game that you.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
Don't have all your receivers out there, maybe what if
Brendon Cooks doesn't play and you got Tolbert Brooks, Turpin
and Flinoy out there.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
Well, if Brandon Cooks doesn't play, then those three receptions
will go to one other.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
Those three.

Speaker 5 (29:41):
And the two inters.

Speaker 3 (29:44):
And that's nothing against Brandon Cooks because I think he's
rte fully cable doing more.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
But that's all he's been here. They knew that's what
they had to cover. I think about having into double
and triple coverage there, absolutely all right, anyway.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
All right, uh, let's get into more of what the
coordinators talked about yesterday. Okay, and then some when mix
shots continues in a moment.

Speaker 8 (30:11):
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Speaker 10 (31:38):
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Speaker 2 (31:41):
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(32:08):
fort Worth, Texas to Mixed Shots.

Speaker 6 (32:15):
The Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, presented by Nationwide,
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(32:37):
your support using the hashtag WPMOY Challenge. Voting ends on
January sixth. Vote for Zach all Right.

Speaker 3 (32:49):
Final segment here on a New Year's Eve edition of
Mixshots and Mickey. You're talking earlier about Rico Dowdell going
over one thousand yards, and he's at what now, one
thousand seven?

Speaker 5 (33:05):
I believe it is what I said.

Speaker 4 (33:08):
I can't remember what you said.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
He did say seven, okay.

Speaker 4 (33:11):
One thousand.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
Now he's you said, he's one short one yard, he's
one thousand. Tony Pollard in two thousand and two, twenty
twenty two had one thousand and seven yards. In twenty
twenty three he had one thousand and five yards, And
so Pollard, I mean, doubtell, is how far away from.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
One yard being more than anybody since zek and twenty?

Speaker 3 (33:41):
Kay?

Speaker 4 (33:41):
So he's at one thousand and six or seven?

Speaker 5 (33:45):
Seven?

Speaker 2 (33:45):
Okay?

Speaker 4 (33:46):
So he's tied with Pollard right now?

Speaker 3 (33:48):
Yes, okay, which led me to look up what Pollard
has done. Of course, the decision the Cowboys had to
make after last season was whether or not to re
sign Tony Pollard in pre agency. He signed with Tennessee
three years, twenty four million dollars. And I just looked
up his numbers for this season, and Tony Pollard is

(34:10):
sitting at he played. He has played in fifteen games,
fifteen starts, one thousand and seventeen yards, very similar to
his numbers here with Dallas on two hundred and thirty
eight carries and five touchdowns.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
And they've both played the same amount of games. Because
I think Rico missed that's.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
Right, he missed one. Yeah, that's right. Mysterious illness.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
So everybody I remember that, Yeah right, everybody with didn't
like the committee? Raise your hand now because you got
a thousand yard Russier And.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
How many yards per carry does Dad'll have?

Speaker 4 (34:48):
Do you have his stats in front of you?

Speaker 5 (34:50):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (34:50):
I just closed it. We never closed a subject here, right,
You know that, bough You know.

Speaker 3 (34:56):
That because out I mean, Pollard is at four point
three yards per tend Now it is apples and oranges
when you compare Tennessee. Does things freak those a certain way?

Speaker 5 (35:08):
In the cow point seven?

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Yeah, yards are carried now he only has one rushing touchdown.

Speaker 5 (35:13):
Pollard has seven. But they paid dearly for it, right.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
Three years, three years, twenty four million is the total value.

Speaker 5 (35:21):
So that average is eight million.

Speaker 4 (35:23):
And eight million a year, and that was the going rate.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
Basically, why did Derrick Henry get nine million a year
something like that in Tennessee?

Speaker 1 (35:29):
And and and you know what, I finally looked up
Saquon and his was in that three year.

Speaker 5 (35:39):
Thirty some whatever.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
But the guarantees they've given him to reduce his cap
charge now the void year and I think the void
years like twenty twenty eight, twenty twenty nine, somewhere in
there is forty some million dollars.

Speaker 4 (35:58):
They're going to pay the piper at some point at
some point.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
Now, Now, if it pays off then and you win,
you say, okay, you know, do like the Rams. So
what we had, you know season the next year, but
we won the Super Bowl. So and they did AJ
Brown's contract the same way too. By the way, Philadelphia,

(36:22):
there's going to be a huge payoff when he's done
for the voided year. So, however, you want to do business,
if it works, as as Parcells said, if it works,
it's right.

Speaker 5 (36:36):
Does it you're wrong?

Speaker 3 (36:37):
And as we've talked about before and as far as
these quarterback contracts, the key thing on the Dak contract
where it has a bigger cap hit for this team
than other teams that have signed quarterbacks in that same
range that those quarterbacks on their second contract. Dak on
his third contract, so you already had had money from

(37:01):
the second contract built into these extended years on Deck's deal,
and so it's counting more against the cap than what
a Jalen hurts in Philadelphia.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
And he's another one at the end of that contract,
it's in the cap hit is astronomical. So they're hoping
they don't get there or he's been that.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
Well, they'll be to a point we do with the
COT they'll be at a point where on his third contract,
they're going to be in the same salary cap situation
the Cowboys are in right.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
Now, because no one's taken less, especially if you play well.
By the way, you know, we went over who the
Cowboys had to play this coming season. I went and
kind of looked everything up and did the records. So
they got to play ten games against teams with winning records,

(37:53):
and nine or ten of those games will be playoff
games against layoff teams this year. But if Arizona ends
up in third place in the in the West, their
strength of schedule will be zero point five four nine

(38:14):
winning percentage.

Speaker 5 (38:16):
That would be the teams they have to.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
Play, which is more than this year. Right now, it's
at five oh eight. So it doesn't get any easier
getting the third place schedule because of the two divisions
they have to play.

Speaker 3 (38:29):
And again, can you remind us NFC North NFC North Okay,
that features.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
Three right play Soda Green Bay.

Speaker 4 (38:37):
Three playoff Bounty Chicago.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
So those those four teams right now are forty two
and twenty one, and then the AFC West Kansas City Chargers, Denver,
which all could be playoff teams, and then the Raiders
and they're thirty seven and twenty seven right now.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
So what you're saying is, in all likely hood, the
winner of the NFC East next year will be a
ten win team, nine ten win team because everyone everyone
has to play the same schedule virtually, right.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (39:15):
And so we know.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
Philadelphia is not winning the NFC East next year, so Dallas,
because no one ever repeats, no One last team, No,
we're talking twenty years, two thousand and four is the
last time we've had.

Speaker 4 (39:32):
A WOW winner in the NFS.

Speaker 5 (39:35):
That's good, it's amazing.

Speaker 3 (39:37):
So all you got to do is get to ten
wins to win the NFC East next year, probably because
of the tough schedule ad and like it's the same
every year.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
And then Philadelphia, what hap these guys, Well you got
to be awfully good to play that schedule, and that's
what happened to them this year too.

Speaker 3 (39:56):
Do you think those teams will be just as good
next year as what they are this year?

Speaker 4 (40:00):
Not all of them. No, they won't be.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
They'll be in That's what injuries catch up with.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
That's what the NFC, I mean, Philadelphia.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
That's why this schedule formula is in existence to even
things out.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
Now Philadelphia's got to play those same of course exactly conferences,
but they got to play the NFC West first place.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
Yeah, which is what the Cowboys had to do this shi,
which is.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
So that's the why am I blanking out for West?
The Rams, right, and then the NFC South, Not big deal, right,
it's Tampa.

Speaker 4 (40:38):
Bay, Tampa Bay.

Speaker 5 (40:39):
Right, Now, Cowboys get New Orleans and then the a
f C.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
Yeah, well we don't do well. Yeah, that's just a pushover.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
Believe you just passed over or beat them forty whatever.
And then they got to play first place in the
a f C East, which is Buffalo, So that's a
tough one. But the other two not that much different
than who you gotta play, especially when you got Detroit, Minnesota,
Green Bay, Kansas City Chargers, and probably Denver, although they've

(41:12):
got to win, and does somebody have to lose for Denver's.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
Denver if Denver wins over Kansas City, which has nothing
to play.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
For Denver's in which is a remarkable job by Sean Payton,
by the way, which, by the way, with a rookie quarterback.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
How about Miami?

Speaker 2 (41:30):
And you know why?

Speaker 6 (41:31):
Defense, Defense, That's why this doesn't scare me.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
Oh we gotta play, dude.

Speaker 6 (41:37):
You put a good defense out there, you got a
chance every time. I don't care what your offense looks like.
I'm not just like my boy said, it's nothing. I've
heard something I've done. I've seen it happen. These guys
good teams. Yes, everybody talks about reputations. Yes, but if

(41:57):
you come up there and you do like Mike Tyson,
hit somebody in the mouth and see where that game play.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
Goes, you know about along the lines to the defense,
Go ahead, Mackey.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
I was going to say, to emphasize this point. In
two thousand and three, when the Cowboys got a wild
card berth somehow, somehow, some way, Bill Parcells first year, Yeah,
Quincy Carter was the quarterback. Yeah, Troy Hambrick was the
running back.

Speaker 5 (42:26):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
And I think one of the leading receivers was Richie
Anderson the fullback. Think about it, I let that sink in.

Speaker 5 (42:39):
The defense.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Third against the run, first against the past number one
defense thanks to Mike Zimmer.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
I was going to say, who is the defensive coordinator
by Zimmer and by which leads me perfectly into what
I was about to say.

Speaker 4 (42:57):
I think one.

Speaker 3 (42:59):
Coach for sure that Jerry Jones would like to bring
back is Mike Simmer.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Yes, and I think it'll come down to did he
enjoy this? Does he want to continue to coach?

Speaker 5 (43:12):
I think you and.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
I don't think he's been through a season like this.

Speaker 5 (43:17):
But I'm hoping I can get through this.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
It was pretty emotional just yesterday Zim as well as
he did and he said they asked him about coming back,
and he said, well, one of the things I did
I did it for my son. Yeah, Adam passed away
two years ago.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
Couple of years of October twenty two reached out to
him and Adam, and then Adam had coached with his dad,
starting in Cincinnati and then with all throughout the time
at Minnesota and had been growing up here. I mean,
Adam was thirty eight years old when he passed away,
and so he grew up here, went to Colinville, heretage,

(43:57):
and he was on the Cowboys sideline or sudden passing.

Speaker 5 (44:02):
And then and.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
Then somebody had to ask a follow up question, well
why did this meet so much to you by your son,
And he got pretty emotional talking about, well, he would
have been here with me.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
Did he make it through?

Speaker 3 (44:17):
Yeah, he did, and he was great talking about it,
And I thought it. I thought it was really We
used it last night on the news because it really
showed people didn't didn't realize what has gone on. And
of course Mike's life going back to his his his
wife fifteen years ago sudden passing when he was an
assistant coach at Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
Uh, And but he was I thought he said it
beautifully about how he needed to get back on.

Speaker 4 (44:46):
The field this season.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
He's been coping with his son's death for two years now.

Speaker 4 (44:52):
And uh, and how.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
He've talked about the season opener in Cleveland, how being
back on the field and just being in that environment
and people even from the other team coming up to him,
staff members saying how great it is to see him back,
and then going through the season, and he talked about
how Adam loved the Cowboys. You know, when Adam was

(45:16):
a kid, Adam was a kid. You know, Zim came before,
and so Adam would have been ten years old then,
and so as a kid, as a teenager, you know,
he was always around, you know, on the sideline that
training camp whatever. Even when the Cowboys were in training
camp in San Antonio, he was in school at Trinity University, hanging.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
Around down there.

Speaker 3 (45:38):
And I thought it was beautiful the way Mike talked
about it, and he got emotional talking about it, and
I thought it was.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
Just kind of finished, just in time, because yeah, he
got and I was right there with him because I
knew Adam, you know, knew his wife, his whole story.
Because after the two thousand and six season, Parcells wasn't
sure if he was coming back, and Mike's contract was up,

(46:13):
and he got an offer to go to Atlanta with
the coach that used to be at Louisville ended.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
Up Bobby Petrino.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
Patrino, and Petrino had offered the job as the defensive
coordinat so he had to decide do I take what
I know or do I stay here and see what
Parcell's going to do, because he might have had a
chance to be the head coach here because he had
gotten interviewed the year before by Nebraska and he didn't

(46:46):
like the way it looked and he turned it down.

Speaker 5 (46:48):
So he goes to Atlanta.

Speaker 1 (46:51):
Patrino, I don't know, four games left in the season,
quit to go to Arkansas. He was weird and unless
his whole staff that he hired there.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
You know, the motorcycle rider.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
Yeah, and so he goes to Cincinnati next and I
think they had to play Atlanta like that season and
somebody asked him about his experience it Atlanta.

Speaker 5 (47:19):
Oh, look it up online.

Speaker 1 (47:21):
He went off on Patrino like you never in whatever
machine you guys have to bleep the words out.

Speaker 5 (47:31):
It would have run out of bleeps. I swear to
he just unloaded.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
Well before we I know, we gotta go.

Speaker 6 (47:38):
But uh, there are times when you get an apology
or you get to release something, let it out.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
Sometimes you feel better.

Speaker 6 (47:48):
Sometimes you feel bad, as much as you might want
to hold it in, and you think you're holding in
for your own sake and.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
Don't want to involve anybody else.

Speaker 6 (47:55):
When you let it out, sometimes it feels good, and
you'd be surprised about how good it. I had a
guy apologize to me one day about something that happened
a long time ago, and man, I told him it
was all good.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
But as I started thinking about it, I felt better.
I felt better.

Speaker 6 (48:12):
Because he apologized, and you let it go, Yes, I did.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
I had already let it go, but the fact that.

Speaker 6 (48:18):
He apologized to me, I had let it go without
him apologizing, but then he apologized, and.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
I was like, nah, man, don't worry about it. And
I didn't realize how good I felt. I did not
realize how good that out there felt. Some sure them
it felt the same way.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
And I think when we resume on Thursday, we can
talk more about the assistant coaches, talking about their unknown
of not knowing where you're going. I thought all of them,
or John Fossil. John Fossil was really good at it
because he grew up in that situation with his dad right.

(48:52):
I think he told me he he'd lived twelve different
places as a kid growing up, dad chasing the coaching
and how how tough it is. You don't get immune
to it, but you kind of know how to deal
with it. And I think all the guys were really
good talking about that.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
Anybody heard anything about al Harris being.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
How somebody should He's always, he's always, he's gonna.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
He's a defensive coordinator and no.

Speaker 3 (49:23):
Matter what happens here, he's getting he'll land, uh safely
somewhere and in a good place. But I would think
he's a good chance he will still be here if
they keep you know.

Speaker 5 (49:34):
That that would be a priority if I was coming.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
And that all the factors into it, I think, the
whole the whole coaching staff, and when when they're all
up to your point from earlier, uh and why you
in a just in a general sense, I feel like
that keeping that continuity is important.

Speaker 6 (49:53):
You know, Uh, you can teach these young no name
guys and no disrespect to them, they just people don't
know them. But if you can teach guys with this
little experience and you get guys who have been here
that realize I got to step up and play better.
Olsa being one of those guys you know, it just
gives you pause, it does. It gives you a little

(50:14):
bit of an optimism.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
But when we come back on Thursday, you're gonna have
to talk about playing for Ernie Startner.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
Oh cool, cool, I'm ready.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
I'm ready, all right, So happy New Year everybody, and
we won't be.

Speaker 4 (50:28):
Here tomorrow, but we will be here on Thursday.

Speaker 5 (50:32):
This season, it's not done yet.

Speaker 4 (50:34):
I Noon twenty twenty five is straight ahead.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Go Cowboys.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
This has been a production of Dallascowboys dot Com and
the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.