Cowboys Break: Bay Boys

Bryan Broaddus, Derek Eagleton, Ambar Garcia and Nick Harris discuss the Tampa Bay offense and how they have succeeded under Baker Mayfield, Bucky Irving and Mike Evans.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Cowboys Let's go. Are you ready for a break?

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (00:18):
Are you ready for a break?

Speaker 5 (00:19):
Absolutely?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Ready for a break?

Speaker 4 (00:22):
Yeah, and so much for that.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com
right with Ambar Garcia, Brian brought Us, Nick Harris and
Derek Eagleton.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
It is Wednesday, December eighteenth, twenty twenty four, Season twenty,
episode number eighty eight. Welcome to the latest edition of
The Break. We are locking thet WBC mortgage studios at
the Star, presented by LGLG is the world's number one
old TV brand for eleven years in counting. See why
at LG dot com Forward slash O led Evil. How's
everybody doing today?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Excellent?

Speaker 4 (00:58):
Got a good starting, good start today.

Speaker 5 (01:00):
Yeah, we got the media Christmas party today over in
the Media Worker.

Speaker 4 (01:04):
Y'all have a media Christmas part?

Speaker 5 (01:05):
Yeah we do, Yeah, we do. You gotta come up,
come say what's up? What time it's going to be?
Right after locker rooms? Right for we're doing with this show.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
I got a presentation, I got things to do.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Is it like a white elephant? Christmas thing or it's just.

Speaker 5 (01:18):
Like show up, bring whatever, and wear an ugly Christmas sweater.
Mine's in the studio.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
I got you.

Speaker 5 (01:22):
It's not actually this that I think.

Speaker 4 (01:26):
Want assault, but I'm just like what we talk about.

Speaker 5 (01:29):
When I put it on, I was like, this could qualify.
But I do have one in the.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
Podcast actually dressed up as Dave exactly. Yes, that works,
it works, Although I do I do think y'all favorite
each other a little bit with the beer. Well.

Speaker 5 (01:41):
I had gone to a Dodger game with him over
during training camp and it was the first time we
were able to really meet, and it was like third
inning and we were already like understanding why everyone was
linking us together. I was like, you know what, I
see it and.

Speaker 4 (01:53):
It's the first everything like it's it's everything, it really is.
All right, let's let's jump in. I want to start
for we were gonna get to the Bucks today and
talk about their offense versus the Cowboys defense. But before
we get there, I want to talk about DeMarcus Lawrence.
I think we all thought that by maybe as early
as last weekend, maybe at the latest this weekend, he

(02:17):
would be playing again. And it doesn't seem like that's
going to happen. What are you guys hearing about him?
And at this point do you think there's a possibility
he doesn't return this season?

Speaker 5 (02:27):
This is one of those Derek, I really just don't know.
But he is running out of time, like you said,
I mean, after this, he's not gonna go this week.
Mike McCarthy already said it. He's not gonna even touch
the practice field this week. So that really only leaves
two more games where he could potentially return. I mean,
it was a serious injury that he suffered back in
Week four as a list frame injury. It wasn't as
severe as what Jordan Lewis suffered back in twenty twenty two,

(02:49):
but it is a similar injury and it takes a while.
For it's basically when you know, i'd like the top
of your foot where like your bones kind of web out.
If you break like that, that knuckle bone on that web,
that's that's the list Frank, And so it makes it
really difficult to heal because you're basically healing like five
many bones at once, especially given how like how much

(03:12):
it spreads. So for in Jordan Lewis's case, it was
really severe because it spread really really bad on that
on that fracture, DeMarcus Lawrence isn't as bad, but it's
still something that's going to take time to heal. But
as far as timeline goes, I don't really know, because
we were expecting, you know, out of Thanksgiving for him
to potentially start getting back onto the practice field. There
were whispers of that Mike McCarthy had said and Stephen

(03:33):
Jones had said it, and now all of a sudden,
he's kind of just trending towards possibly not playing again
this year.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
I don't want to speculate, but I mean I've tried
to reach out and ask and see hopefully we'll get
an answer on that, because I know, walking to our
responsibilities here, I've seen him on the field, just walking.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
I mean I just walked.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
I just looked out and I recognize him, and he's
working with Britt Brown and he's cutting and he's moving
and he's and I'm kind of in my mind, I'm like, Okay,
this is encouraging him and brit are out there working
really really hard to get back, and you know, you saw, like,
you know, the explosiveness to get off the plant to
turn and I'm like, oh, okay, there must have been
a setback here.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
There must have been something that.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
Happened, because it to me that it just looked so positive,
you know, And that's just me like my days of
watching practice and watching guys work out and thinking like, oh,
that guy doesn't look ready, you know, he's still kind
of limping around, or but man, it was it was
really really kind of encouraging, and I just worry that
maybe something happened that they were going to workout one

(04:36):
day and then you know.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
And it and it does happen.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
I mean, they they they work hard, and then all
of a sudden, you know, it's that day is not
very good. And so I'm I'm just trying to find
that out and hopefully today, by the time we end
this thing, I'll figure that out for you. Because I
didn't I I meant to do that. I meant to
ask and I haven't asked. A couple of people that
I know can maybe help me on that.

Speaker 5 (05:00):
For everybody, do not google image list frank injuries. These
are disgusting. Sorry, I just wanted to make sure that
no one else googles what I'm googling right now. It's terrifying.
I will not be going.

Speaker 6 (05:13):
But I think it's one of those things that, yeah,
you can always speculate a timeline.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
In anything that you go through, and.

Speaker 6 (05:19):
Then as you start approaching that timeline, it may not
look like you're actually ready for it. When you talk
about things like that, it's it. No one can accelerate
certain things in your body to fully heal. And like
you said, Brian, I have watched him training out there
with Britt Brown and everything. He's doing what he's supposed

(05:40):
to do. He's showing up to do the rehab necessary
and everything. So maybe there was something like you mentioned
that happened and occurred there. But it is very concerning
because we're not it's trending towards us not being able
to take another look at him before the season ends.
I mean, are still three love that's crazy, But he's

(06:08):
about to become a free agent. And again, when you
start seeing other guys that have been showing up during
these games, it makes you wonder, way is he does
he have a future here with the Cowboys. I don't know,
And it's crazy to think because I remember when we
had the press conference announcing his big contract with the Cowboys.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
And time just flies by.

Speaker 6 (06:35):
It's insane. But yeah, that's another big name heading to
free agency.

Speaker 4 (06:43):
Well, you know when you when you mentioned it from
that perspective, I actually look at it. I'm like, if
if the Cowboys were in a position where the playoffs
were more realistic, because obviously they still have a one
percent chance, so there's still a chance, but if it
were more realistic, if it were more realistic, I would
probably be like, Okay, got to get him back. You
got to get Hi back as quickly as possible, because

(07:03):
it's not as realistic now people like Kneeland. I kind
of want to see a little bit more of them.
I want to have an opportunity to see more of them.
I know what Marcter.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
Questions, yesterday, here.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
We go, it's yesterday.

Speaker 4 (07:19):
Is you know we've seen all we need to see.
There's nothing he's going to do in three games that's
going to change an opinion in this building about who
he is, what he represents, or whether there should be
a new deal. Those things have already been at least
what you've seen, that part has already been decided. They'll
ultimately have to make a decision on what the money

(07:40):
looks like. How much they want to have him back,
what else they think they have at the position. All
those things will factor in, but none of that will
be about his play. So at this point, you know,
whether he comes back or not, I don't know if
it hurts him, helps him, hurts the Cowboys, helps the Cowboys.
I just think at this point whatever is best for
him just is the right thing to do.

Speaker 5 (07:57):
I mean, if you're looking at it from this isn't
really a bright side just because like a DeMarcus Lawrence
loses out in this scenario. But by him not playing
these final fourteen weeks, his price is going to be
a little bit lower going into going into free agencies.
So you know, if you're looking at it from front
office perspective, maybe that opens the door for the potentiality
of a return.

Speaker 4 (08:18):
But but you don't think other teams are kind of
like we know who he is, or do you think
that they would know who he seared off?

Speaker 2 (08:26):
They would be.

Speaker 4 (08:26):
Geared off by the injury itself and him not coming back.
Is that what you're saying.

Speaker 5 (08:30):
Yeah, I'm just saying, especially at that age, an injury
like that, I'm sure it could give some teams some
pause and potentially could lower his market value, but I
think still at the end of the day, this is
going to be a contract that the Cowboys can't afford. See,
I will think that they knew that, and that's why
that they drafted Marshawn neland last year in the second round, I.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Kind of wanted to in my mind, I was putting
him in the same category as Tyrone Smith.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
But that's not accurate.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
That's not accurate because he's had years where he's played sixteen,
sixteen of sixteen, sixteen of fifteen of sixteen, sixteen of
six ten, fifteen of sixteen, Yeah, the one year.

Speaker 6 (09:02):
He's maybe these he also right, Basically he's played a
lot a lot of time.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, I played a lot of games.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah, but then you have games where he's played then
like in twenty twenty one it was seven of seven,
and then it was seventeen of seventeen, seventeen of seventeen,
four of four, yeah, you know, and then so it's
not like if you're thinking of like Tyron Smith, because
in the past we've always thought about, oh, yeah, it'd
be great to have Tyron you know, Tyron Smith, but
he's always hurt and I can't put Tank in that

(09:32):
category because when he's been healthy, he's been able to
line up and play. That's that you can't say, well,
he's he's had a Tyron Smith like career because of injuries.
He's only had two seasons where well, really twenty sixteen
was you know, a season he lost, but he's he's
been relatively healthy for you throughout well.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
I think the other part to that too is specifically
really you know, talking about Tyron Smith. I think it
was clear watching him play this year at the made
the right decision. I still think Tank has a lot
more football in him. I don't think he's at the
end of his career just yet. This reminds me more
of DeMarcus Ware when DeMarcus Ware left and a team
that knows how to use him. I don't know that

(10:12):
he should be a guy you bring in to be
your every down player, but as a rotational guy that
can get some pass rush, that can help in the
run against the run, I think he is still a
very valuable commodity for teams, and so from that standpoint,
I think he still has more left to tame.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
I agree with I totally agree with Nick. I think
they drafted Neilan to be the guy. I think that's
that's where they were going with that.

Speaker 4 (10:34):
All right, we're going to take our first break when
we come back. We're going to introduce this Tampa Bay
Club and then dive into their offense. Man, a lot
of really scary stuff. If you're on the Cowboys side
of this, things to think about players you'll have to
be aware of. We'll do all that when we come back.
This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.

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Speaker 2 (13:40):
Welcome back.

Speaker 4 (13:40):
Second segment of The Break live from SWBC Mortgage Studios
at the Star. It is time to meet the Bucks.
So here's what we know about them. They are coached
by Todd Bowles, who actually, ironically for those that were
around or remember, he was a former defense back coach
with the with the Cowboys back and try.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
To get me fired.

Speaker 4 (13:58):
I was actually gonna ask you, do you have any
you got any interest Todd Bowles.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yeah, he was a scout with the Packers. Oh yeah,
Todd Bowles was a player at the with the Washington
Commanders and he had a he had a health club
in Alexandria, Virginia, which was very, very very successful. I
mean he that was his first business when he was
a player. After he was playing, and we had the
bright idea to hire him as a scout after when

(14:21):
we were in Green Bay and he was running that
health club and not really scouting, you know, and Ron Wolf,
my boss at the time, said, listen, you can't get
that guy to scout, you're fired and yeah, and I
and I'm like, uh, you know, I'm just not you know,
I'm sitting there kind of like okay. So I'm talking

(14:42):
to him, and I'm honestly I'm pleading with him. I'm like, Todd, seriously,
you got to turn in reports, you got to go
to this school.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
They're going to fire you and me both if you
don't do it.

Speaker 4 (14:52):
It's not just about you.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
And Todd's got the most laid back personality ever.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
Okay, man, all right, I'm like, no, you don't know.
Stand we're gonna get fired. You and I on the street,
and you know, he's probably thinking, I'm going back to
the health club.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Me, I'm a young guy, Like what am I gonna do?

Speaker 10 (15:11):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (15:11):
I made money ball, I got this.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
He hit a couple of schools and you know, and and.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
You know, and he went he he he went from
scouting to getting into coaching. It literally drove him into
another avenue of and then he becomes and then he
becomes a head coach. And I'm like, this guy, what
the health club?

Speaker 2 (15:35):
But that's that's the Todd ball.

Speaker 3 (15:37):
I mean literally, he went from being like working with
us as a scout in Green Bay.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
And I mean it was he just his his demeanor
is just that of it's it's you see him on
the sideline. Oh, he's very very nothing bothers him. He's
just very Okay, man, it's cool. We'll get it done.
Don't worry about it, you know. I'm like, no, no,
you don't understand. We have to turn in reports.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
You have to go to Virginia Tech, you have to
go to Penn State, you have to go to these schools.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
We need those reports. All right, man, don't worry about it.
We'll get it done. I'm like, Okay, then he get done.

Speaker 4 (16:11):
Rock kept his job for another couple of years.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yeah, it was like we had to.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
We scrambled, you know, we scrambled. I was pretty close
to flying to Virginia. And this is really before you
had like you know, you had the way to communicate
today with the cell phones and stuff like that. I mean,
you really couldn't find your scouts all that well. And
I almost went to some schools that he was supposed
to be at just to make sure he was there.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
I almost got on a plane and flew to that
the Atlantic coast area, and.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
Just to see if he was scouting the schools, just
to walk him to the schools. Hey, man, this is
North Carolina. Beautiful place, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
Oh, this is Duke. They're really smart here. Hey we
can go here and watch Tate and write reports, you know.
And I didn't have to do that, but man, that
was it was a nightmare.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
Maybe what he figured is gouting aim for me coaching
I can do.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
He did, and he and Parcells took a liking to him.

Speaker 5 (17:05):
Yeah he did.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
And that's and that's how Todd Bowles got to where
Todd Bowles is.

Speaker 4 (17:10):
He's a good guy too.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
He's a really good guy. If you just like being like, man,
don't worry about it.

Speaker 4 (17:16):
He's very chill.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
He's very chill. He's good. We're good here. Why why
he's so upset? And I'm like, because we're going to
lose our jobs. That's why I'm upset. I can't afford
to lose his job. And he goes, Okay, we'll get
it done.

Speaker 4 (17:28):
Ryan hare on fire. Todd just like if I ran.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
Him right now, he would be he wouldn't remember anything
I just said. I mean, he would be like you
I did that? Yeah, you know, but he here, he
is his coach, man, defensive coordinator, all that stuff. I mean,
but Bill Parcells. Everybody in life needs a sponsor. Bill
Parcells was his sponsor. I got him a gig and
into coaching.

Speaker 4 (17:50):
No doubt, and he has led this team now to
an eight and six record. They are right now first
place in the NFC South. After losing some some parts
as the season is gone along, they've kind of been
able to keep it together. They are currently on a
four game win streak. I mean they won at the
Chargers last week, put up forty points against them, beat
Las Vegas the week before that, and beat a Carolina

(18:12):
team the week before that in overtime, and then beat
the New York Giants the week before that. So they've
had a similar trek over the last four weeks to
what the Cowboys were playing, and they came through it
unscathed and got some wins that they desperately needed in
order to keep hold of that NFC South. If I
had to go around the table and tell me, what
do you think is the thing that most that fans

(18:33):
need to know most about this team? As the Cowboys
prepared to face them, what would you say?

Speaker 5 (18:36):
It's a really good team. Yeah, it's better than an
eight and six record, and I know eight and six
is a good record, but this is a really good team.
You look at these first ten opponents that they faced
in the first ten weeks, only one of them is
not currently in the playoff picture, and it was a
win against New Orleans. They won by twenty four. They're
one of two teams to beat Detroit. They did that
on the road. They're one of two teams to beat Philadelphia.

(18:57):
They did that at home, but it was by seventeen points.
And then since their bye week, you look and you
see New York Carolina Las Vegas Chargers, and they've handled business.
They're the only team to put up more than thirty
points against the Chargers. They put up forty on the
road defense and they have a phenomenal defense. So they've
really started to figure it out with their run game,
with their two headed monster. We'll get to it here

(19:18):
in a bit, but this is a really good team.
It's better than eight and six. This is a really
talented team coming to eighteen.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
Yeah, they've got Mike Evans healthy now and he's been
lighting it up the last four weeks the way he's playing,
and then you know, also to give the tip of
the cap to Baker Mayfield. I mean, you could say
a lot of things about Baker Mayfield, but he finds
a way to make it happen. The line has done
a good job with some of the blocking that they've
had to do. The quarterback gets rid of the ball,

(19:45):
he's going to make plays, and it's it's really an
impressive offense to watch just because of the skill that
they have at the certain positions. Like Bucky Irving has
been just a fourth round pick and you know, here
we go him and White the other running back. They
do a really nice job with the one to two
punch of it. They got a tight end, it's very capable.

(20:07):
A lot of targets with Kate Ott and he's gonna
make plays for you. And they you know, they've got
a rookie center that when we were doing the draft
show that you know, I know that Nick and I
and others were talking about Graham Barton, you know, potentially
the Cowboys draft Graham Barton and would we would be
super happy with that with that pick, you know, and
he went right after Dallas picked matter of fact, to Tampa.

(20:30):
So yeah, it's uh, I think I had that right
that he went. I think he went right after.

Speaker 5 (20:35):
I think when they traded back back.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
That they lost him when they traded back. Yeah, that's okay,
that was the story.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
But yeah, overall though, you know, Mike Evans is finally,
you know, healthy, he's on his pace for another thousand
yard season, even though he's missing games. But they they're
they're offensively, they present a lot of problems for you.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
Let's dive a little deeper into this offense. They are
right now third in total offense in the NFL, the
fourth and point scored. Uh, they are also fourth pass offense.
When you look at that. Baker Mayfield obviously as at
the epicenter of their success. He right now has two
and fifty eight yard per game through the air, thirty
two touchdowns, only fourteen interceptions, a one oh four point

(21:13):
one rating. Really really great season right now for Baker.
That being said, Kansas City, San Francisco, Denver, Detroit all
gave their offense, their passing offense, particularly some issues. They
were not able to put up the kinds of yards
and points that they were able to put up against
some of their other opponents. What do you think they
were able to do or just in general, looking at

(21:34):
his game, where do you think it's best to be
able to disrupt him? How do you best disrupt him?

Speaker 5 (21:38):
I think he does make mistakes and you have to
be able to take advantage of those. You look at
the turnovers that is a little high whenever you compare
it to the rest of the league. When he makes
those stakes, you's got to be able to take advantage
of it. You're looking at this defense and it has
improved in the takeaway category in the last few weeks
on the Cowboys defense, but they got to really be
able to take advantage of these mistakes whenever he does

(21:59):
make them.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
Yeah, I think a lot of it has to do
with Mike Evans not being healthy. I think in some
of those games you're mentioned, and they're a little bit
of a different offense that way without him on the
on the field.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
But to me that when I was watching it, and
I always like to go back and watch how teams
pressure them, Denver really got after his ass, and I mean,
and then they got after him in a way that
that it would encourage if I was Mike Zimmer and
I'm watching the game on the tape, which I'm sure
he did. Denver's got some dynamic rushers and they've got

(22:32):
the ability they The thing that I've noticed with this
guy with Baker, is that if you make their running
backs have to play now, they'll throw the ball.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
These running backs. That's that's going to be an issue.

Speaker 4 (22:44):
Here, the ball going up against Cincinnati. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Yeah, Irving and White, I think between him they might
have missed four passes in eighties. I mean, it's it's
it's incredible the number of passes that their backs get.
The ball is going to go short and it's gonna
get out quick. But what Denver was able to do
was I saw a secondary pressure and I saw like

(23:10):
when teams play wide, and I mean wide, I mean alignment.
When they play wide against them, you can get these
offensive linemen to tilt a little bit and kind of
play over the tops of their feet. You play them
a little bit tighter. They send to be able to
sit down on you. But these these defenses that play
with a little space on the edge and able to attack,

(23:32):
it makes these linemen go a little forward and that
kind of gives their.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
Blockers a problem.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
But Bucky, Irving and and White, the running back when
they've had to play in blitz pickups or they've had
to block and help.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
It's been a problem. It's been a real, real problem.
But this quarterback is not going to let you.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
I mean, I think he's the second fastest in the
league when it comes to getting the ball out.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
He's not.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
But if you can make them hold secondary pressure, linebacker pressure,
make the backs have to play, play a little wider
with your scheme, which Denver did, played a little wider
with their scheme and they attacked those edges, attacked the shoulders.
These linemen were playing on their toes a little bit,
and I think that gave them some problems Philadelphia did.

(24:18):
I know Philadelphia lost.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
The game, but just watching how teams were.

Speaker 3 (24:22):
Able to generate pressure, those were the ways they were
able to do it. And I think not having Mike
Evans and some of those games didn't really help the
buck situation all that well.

Speaker 5 (24:32):
Kind of build on that point, just talking about the
last three games, which have been wins for Sampa Bay.
But looking at these last three games, Baker has thrown
five interceptions, he's fumbled three times, and it's as a
result of him being sacked nine times. The pressure has
been on them.

Speaker 4 (24:47):
So where the weak links is you look at this
offensive line, where are the weak links on this offensive line?

Speaker 3 (24:52):
It was they were not playing with the right tackle.

Speaker 5 (24:56):
I'm looking at left guard.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
You're looking at left guard.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
Yeah, yeah, they I think to me with with Reretterson,
is that who you're thinking is yeah, okay, I Kodeki?

Speaker 2 (25:07):
Is that Luke Kadeki that.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
They he's he when he was out at right tackle
they were playing with justin school. Justin School is a
backup that's given up seven and a half sacks, like
like you watched the Detroit game like it was when
School was in there.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
He was getting worked by Hutchinson. You know.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
So they they've they've had some they've had some problems there.
But I kind of feel like though, because but Kadecki
he's played since he's been back, that hasn't been a
problem at the right tackle. But when they had a
backup in there, that was a big problem. But Bretterson
I think was I think that Bretterson was a little

(25:48):
bit of a liability. But I was just thinking it's
a line that it felt like has played better because
they kind of they they they've not missed a lot
of time. By the way, this is I think there
were the when it comes to the number of snaps
that all these guys that played, I think they're like
the eighth or ninth best in the league for a
number of snaps that they've all played together.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
But when their right tackle was out, that.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
Was huge for them. So I like what Nick's talking about.
I was kind of thinking that the right guard was
a problem, uh with this this group, and then also
it's going to happen, it would be at the guards.
Tristan Wurf's has had some problems too with with some
of the snaps that he's had that I was watching
some of the pressure coming off him, people kind of

(26:32):
getting around him as well. But still a maller, he
is a maller, but but there were a couple of
times where like he like he When I was talking
about these guys leaning and getting he was one of
the one of the.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Guys that was involved in that.

Speaker 5 (26:44):
Him and Jordan my lot of are my favorite left
tackles to watch in the entire NFL, just because of
how athletic they are. They can get after it and
they push guys through, They get out and get out
in space game. He's fun. He's a fun left tackle.

Speaker 4 (26:58):
All right, we're going to take our final break. We
will come. We got more on this Tampa Bay offense
and how they'll match up against Dallas. We'll be back
Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.

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For questions about their money, Dallas Cowboys fans can turn
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Speaker 7 (29:05):
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Speaker 4 (29:44):
So good at that Welcome back by final segment of
the break clap from this WBC Mortgage Studios at the
star Let's Jump Backy in Tampa Bay office versus Dallas defense.
Mike Evans, you mentioned him. He leads Tampa Bay and
receiving yards with seven hundred and forty nine k DOT
and he leads the Tampa band receptions of fifty nine.
By the way, this segment brought to you by blockchain

(30:04):
dot Com, Chris. And so, how does Dallas matchup specifically
with those two players, Mike Evans and Ka Doot.

Speaker 5 (30:12):
Yeah, it's gonna be fascinating cover just because you have
to account for what's coming out of the backfield too.
You're gonna have a lot of resources spread across the
field and a lot of one on one matchups. They
try to isolate guys in one on one coverage and
that's how Mike Evans is able to take advantage of it,
and that's how he was able to take advantage of
it last week. Huge game for him. From a Cowboys perspective,
you would like to have LinkedIn size on a guy

(30:33):
like Mike Evans, but you also look at a guy
like Deron Bland and see how he's been playing over
the last three to four weeks since his return, and
you might just try to trust him to cover Evans
and the opportunities that he has but yeah, travel with
him would I wouldn't mind it. I mean, you have
one healthy corner to play on the outside right now,
Manti ro Warrier. How confident are you that he doesn't

(30:54):
give up, you know, a big play? I think with
the way the cornerback health is right now, and I
am team pro Travel. I think we've determined that over
the over the course of the season. I am team
Pro Travel in this game specifically, just because you only
got one healthy corner on the outside.

Speaker 3 (31:10):
In my eyes, yeah, this to me is I don't
know about starting AO in this game, and I know
they're there.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
I'm here kind of thing.

Speaker 5 (31:19):
Who are you starting?

Speaker 3 (31:20):
I'm playing mcwama when the outside and playing Lewis and
talk about length and you know what I'm doing, and
you know what I'm doing, And if I have to,
I'm gonna mix it up. I'm gonna put Lewis on
the outside and I'm put MCWAMU. Evans plays on the
outside almost seventy percent of the time if you look
at the metrics on that, He's only goes in the
slot roughly thirty percent of the time. If you tell
me I could put Bland and Lewis on Evans. I'll

(31:45):
take my chances. I don't know if I want to
take my chances with Ao playing over there. I'll take
my chances maybe with mcwalmu playing. Because of the length
this guy plays. When you're talking about Evans, you know,
a lot of his stuff is kind of a vertical
game down the field.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
He's going to go high point the ball.

Speaker 3 (32:01):
You've got to be able to match his physicality, and
you've got to match his length. And so I know
putting Lewis on him might be a little bit of
a nightmare. Traveling, I totally I don't have a problem
with the traveling. They'll always tell you that if you travel,
it messes up everybody else. You know, it messes everybody
else then has to adjust if you're traveling guys. And

(32:23):
so I personally said, you know what, after seeing what
happened in the Carolina game the other day, we give
up an eighty something yard pass because you don't communicate things.
What traveling makes sense, and you don't communicate and now
somebody else catches the ball and goes, you know, McMillan
for them, or Shepherd or one of these other guys goes,

(32:44):
you know, Palmer, one of these other guys goes eighty
something yards because you didn't communicate, you know, what you
needed to do. That scares me a little bit, But
I would consider, I would consider just switching Ao.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
It's gonna be switching Lewis and Mkuamu.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
One play slot, one play out, one play the slot,
one play out, you know, just kind of mix it
up in there. Don't don't let him get an idea
of how you're playing. I think you almost have to
treat Kate Otten too to tie it in like a
wide receiver because of his ability to make plays down
the field.

Speaker 5 (33:15):
You mentioned Jalen McMillan. This is a guy that I
think fans should definitely be aware of whenever he's on
the field. Whenever Mike Evans and Chris Godwin went down
midway through the season in October, so they tried to
throw that wide receiver one responsibility on him. He didn't
really answer to it. He's a rookie out of Washington.
When we talked about him a lot in the draft
show last year, he was one of those three receivers
I got drafted out of Washington last year. But he

(33:39):
didn't really answer to that call. He had in those
two games right after Evans and Godwin went down, he
had fifteen targets, he only had seven receptions for fifty
yards and wasn't really able to build They tried to
get him involved in the run game just out in space.
Didn't really quite work. But over these last two games
since Evans has come back and he's been able to
kind of take a step back and really try to

(33:59):
find his own role. He's been great these just these
last two games, he has nine of his twenty two
receptions on the season, one hundred and thirty four of
his two hundred and seventy nine yards, and three of
his four touchdowns. He's he's come alive in this offense.
Baker Mayfield has really started to build a connection with him.
This is the guy you definitely have to keep track
of too, and he's gonna be a guy out of
the slot that Jordan Lewis is gonna have problems with,

(34:21):
or maybe not problems with, but he's gonna be He's
gonna be a legitimate challenge for Jordan Lewis having the slot.

Speaker 6 (34:26):
Yeah, pretty good balance between the passing game and the
running game, Like they have good players from both where
they can if something's not working, they can just go
and use the other one. So it's gonna be And
like you mentioned that game Derek against Cincinnati, I mean,
we saw what a running back can do there touch.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (34:47):
Yeah, and that's one area that you definitely have to
be concerned. But also on the positive side, you have
seen the Cowboys being able to kind of control that
area and improve in the running defense.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
No, absolutely, And if I can circle back on McMillan,
five of you know, he's had forty targets this year,
five of them have been the resulted in interceptions.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
He is the one.

Speaker 3 (35:12):
He's Baker Mayfield has thrown him the ball. He's the
one receiver that has given up like or what given
up or been a part of targets to him. Five
of them have been interceptions out of forty targets. So
it's been a little bit of struggle, but a little
bit of improvement here.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
The last couple of weeks. But to your point, though, if.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
Dallas doesn't deal with if Dallas doesn't deal with Irvin
and White catching the football, this could be a long
day for them because that that that that they're going
to throw the ball to these dudes They're one of
those teams that they like to throw the Baker mayfield
he throws. He throws a lot of short passes. I
mean it's a lot of short passes and then run
a lot of rack for these guys, and they like

(35:54):
to throw the ball to the flat. If Dallas doesn't
play in space and play the flats well enough, they're
gonna get killed. They to get it against Cincinnati with
the receivers catch or it's gonna be the Backs catching
the ball. This is going to This is going to
make their defense. It's not going to be so much vertically,
it's gonna be horizontally how they're gonna have to play
this game because of the way the ball goes short.

Speaker 5 (36:14):
You know, I love me some Bucky Irvin.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
Brian, I know you do. You're right about him, man.

Speaker 5 (36:18):
He's been so much fun to watch. He's a physical
runner despite his stature. He's only five foot nine, but
his field vision. I think walking into the league year
one and seeing what he's been able to do, I
put his field vision top three in the league. It's
it's that good. He just his eyes on the back
of his head. He's really talented, really talented.

Speaker 4 (36:34):
All right, Let's tell a couple of player evaluations. There
were some players on the Cowboys defense and we didn't
get a chance to talk much about in the post
game of their last game, but I want to throw
their names out and you guys tell me what you think,
what you saw from them last week and then obviously
projecting into this. So let's start with Israel mcuama, who
you mentioned that Brian, you said you'd probably play him
more this week at cornerback. What did you see from

(36:55):
him last week?

Speaker 3 (36:57):
I think that with with is He, you're gonna you're
going to get there's some flexibility because he played some
safety too. If you remember Hooker, Hooker had a foot problem.
I thought Hooker got stepped on. When you watch the tape,
you're like, did he gets stepped on? And then they
came back and he had tape on his over his shoes.
So I mean, obviously it's an ankle problem or foot problem,

(37:18):
something that he was dealing with.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
But the thing.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
About is he is I think is he is going
to always be super competitive.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
I think he's going to be He's going to.

Speaker 3 (37:27):
Be aware of what's happening around him and to me,
when I watch him play. There was a time where
I was kind of nervous about putting him out there,
but I'm not anymore. I'm not I used to think, like, gosh,
he's going to do something's crazy and he's not gonna
he's gonna buy, but he's usually generally locked into what's
going on. The link is impressive. The ability to carry

(37:48):
guys is impressive. The ability to go get the football,
and we saw it with the interceptions and stuff like that.
He's had his ability to kind of be at the
right place at the right time. I'm totally okay with him,
you know, being out there and being a part of
this this week because of the weapons that they have,
you know, with Evans and Aughton, and they're going to
have to I would rather have him out there than Ao.

(38:10):
Like I said, start him, let him play, match that
thing up, and then let him go.

Speaker 5 (38:16):
He's played one hundred and twenty three covered snaps. He's
only allowed eight receptions for eighty nine yards on the year. Granted,
he's been he's been kind of managed a lot in
different areas as well, and so those numbers might be
a little bit skewed, but he has been good in
coverage from what I've seen, the link is there. The
strides really make up ground in a in a fast manner.
I like his role mcwamo to start playing a little

(38:37):
bit more as in these next three games.

Speaker 4 (38:39):
Yeah, talk to me about Donovan Lewis.

Speaker 5 (38:42):
Donovan Lewis, I was just curious which one you wanted there.
Donovan Wilson, Hey, I'll take a combination. Yeah, combination. I
think I think with Donovan Wilson you started to see
him kind of find his stride again in the last
few weeks. I will say that because in the beginning
of the season, I'll be honest with you guys, and

(39:02):
I think I even mentioned on the show. I was like,
all right, you might need to look somewhere else and
twenty five and I'm not completely throwing that equation out
of the window either, but I think you're starting to
see Donovan Wilson returned to for him a little bit.
I don't think he ever found his stride last year,
coming off with that calf injury that he suffered in
training camp and it kind of kept him out for
this first couple of weeks. But I think this year,
seeing him with the full camp and then now the

(39:24):
first half of the season, this entire defense was in disarray.
But now that this defense has really started a rebound,
you started to see Donovan Wilson rebound. As the linebackers
in front of him rebound, You're starting to see him rebound.
So I think he's kind of a product of everything
around him. You know, how much do you want that
in your safety department. That's a question you would have
to answer in the offseason. You know a guy that

(39:44):
only thrives when everyone around him is thriving. But on
that same token, you still have to give credit to
him being able to make plays in the run game.
I love the situational blitzing that Mike Zimmer's found with
him as well. But in coverage, I think he's still
a liability.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
Yeah, the coverage part of it.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
They figured out that we're not going to after that
San Francisco game. They're like, listen, we can't put him
in coverage anymore. And so all of a sudden, it's like,
here we are. We're going to adapt you. We're gonna
make you this situational blitzer. We're gonna let you play
around the line of scrimmage a little more. You go
back and watch the tape with Dan Quinn. What was
Donovan Wilson doing pretty well? Playing around the line of scrimmage,
making tackles, being a physical force if the run breaks

(40:21):
through here there making a play. And that's what they've done.
They realized that putting him in coverage is a terrible idea,
and they're playing to his strengths and that's why he's
playing better.

Speaker 4 (40:31):
Did you guys notice? And I didn't see any final
stats on play count play snap counts, but it seemed
to me like they were kind of mixing he and
mcwonmalall early in the game a lot more like he
was off the field with mcameal on. Did you guys
see the same thing or was that just kind of,
you know, a few plays the.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
Thing with Hooker getting hurt, I mean, was.

Speaker 4 (40:53):
Still on the field. It was Hooker and mcamal and
then it would be Hooker and Lewis Lewis Wilson. And
I don't it just I hadn't. I didn't track at
the whole game, and I didn't see any snap counts
after the game. They didn't give us that in our
packet that we got from from from the PR team.
But but I just wondered if if that was a
situation where they were playing mcqualma more and that meant

(41:13):
less snaps for Wilson.

Speaker 5 (41:15):
I mean, Wilson did play his second least snaps of
the season against Carolina, so and technically Isral mcquama played
fifteen snaps at safety, so I had something to look
at for sure. I did notice mcwuama on the field though,
in the first first uh, in the first quarter, and
then you look around you see Ore and you see
Lewis and you're like, okay.

Speaker 4 (41:33):
We're soius.

Speaker 5 (41:34):
So I didn't notice that as well. I guess I
just kind of forgot to circle back on it. Yeah,
that's an interesting point, I think. I think in that sense,
maybe you just put mcuamo on the field in passing
downs and passing situations unless you're using Wilson as a
situational blutzer.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's what it was.

Speaker 4 (41:48):
Yeah, Amani or Owaria, what did you see from last week?

Speaker 2 (41:51):
I'm not, I'm not. I just don't. I'm not going
there anymore.

Speaker 4 (41:57):
You're done.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
It's it's it's tough to identify because of the block
punt thing and all that. I'm just no, I just
feel like that man I could play with. I could
play with Izzy, I could play if Jordan Lewis has
proven to me that he could play on the outside. Again,
I haven't seen that since Michigan. Yeah, you know, and
if you you give me a guy that can carry,
a guy that's gonna be tough guy, it's gonna play
routes inside guy, it's gonna tackle. Give me that guy.

(42:20):
You know, there was something that happened in that game
that that thing didn't get communicated all the way to
the outside and you had a huge bust.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
You can't have that. You can't have that. I don't
know him, Hooker, somebody. They did not get that message
so to me.

Speaker 3 (42:33):
And I know that he's he's had some moments where
but I just it's it's it's it's not.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Worth it to me anymore. It's just not.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
When I know that I have other guys that I
could feel like that, I can think I can lean
on a little bit harder and then they won't they
won't have problems out there.

Speaker 5 (42:50):
The amani Or Warrior Brian brought us apology game coming
on Sunday night.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
You think so, I don't know, Yeah, I'll be happy
I'm wrong.

Speaker 5 (42:59):
That's the it's still for me to identify what exactly
happened on that eighty three yarder, and that's that's it's
something you can't even ask the players either because they're
not gonna throw another guy under the bus. But it's it's, yeah,
but they do know, someone knows they didn't communicate side
that they and that is that was one hundred percent true.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
Situation.

Speaker 5 (43:18):
Was a situation where Hooker was trying to communicate an
oral Warrea wasn't even looking or was a situation where
or Warrier was looking over and Hooker didn't communicate anything.
So it's like it's it's tough to identify what exactly happened,
but you take that play, let's take that play out
of out of the equation. I mean, this secondary played
really well on Sunday, and it's it's if you would
be trying to harp on anybody, I think it would
be a little bit of nitpicking from from uh aside

(43:42):
from that eighty three yarder. Nitpicking aside from the eighty
three yarder. Yeah, I mean you look at the you
look at the secondary and how they performed, even or Warrier.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
Yeah, Okay, but you're okay, You're you're gonna comfortable in
this game having Ao cover Evans.

Speaker 5 (43:56):
No, absolutely not, okay.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
I just want to make sure I wasn't.

Speaker 12 (43:59):
Nick.

Speaker 5 (43:59):
No, no, I think you would be to try to find
any negatives in the Carolina game aside from the eighty
three yarder. Like if if we're taking away the eighty
three yarder, I think it would be.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
I've taken it. I have taken it out.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
I just feel like that I have better better cover
guys without him being able.

Speaker 4 (44:16):
It's less about him and more about the fact they're
just guys that are better.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
I think they're guys that are better. That's just I
agree with you. I agree with all Right, that's a wrapping.
Tomorrow play.

Speaker 4 (44:26):
Tomorrow we will be back. We will talk about the offense,
I'm sorry, the defense for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers versus
the Cowboys offense. It will be our final show of
the week, so we'll also get some picks tomorrow. Till
then for Nick Harris, Brian brought us Ambergarci. I'm Derek
Eilts and this has been The Break live on Dallas
Cowboys dot Com Radio.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
This has been a production of dallascowboys dot Com and
the Dallas Cowboys Football Club