Cowboys Break: Feeling ‘Soar’

Bryan Broaddus, Derek Eagleton, and Ambar Garcia recap the Cowboys’ disappointing loss to the hated Philadelphia Eagles and set their sights on closing out the season this Sunday.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
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? Yes?

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Are you ready for a break?

Speaker 4 (00:19):
Absolutely?

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Ready for a break?

Speaker 5 (00:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (00:22):
And so much for that.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com were.

Speaker 6 (00:29):
On with Mbar Garcia, Brian brought us, Nick Harris and
Derek Eagleton.

Speaker 5 (00:38):
It is Monday, December thirtieth, twenty twenty four, Season twenty,
episode number ninety four. Welcome to the latest edition of
The Break. We are live from the s WBC Mortgage
Studios at the Start, presented by LG.

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LG is the world's.

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Number one OLED TV brand for eleven years in counting
See why at LG dot com Ford slash O led Evil.
All right, today, we've got to talk about that game yesterday.
It was It was a bad one for the Cowboys,
about as bad as it's been all season. They lose
forty one to seven after what seemed to be a
pretty what's the right word encouraging first quarter. In the

(01:14):
first quarter, it seemed like they were actually playing pretty
decent football, and then it seemed like the wheels just
fell off.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
This game flipped when Calcaterra caught the thirty four yard pass.
We could talk about the third and one miss down
the field. Yeah, but I think the Calcaterra play kind
of woke Kellen Moore up, woke pick it up, woke
the Eagles offense up a little bit. They you know,
they had been struggling. Dallas had played pretty well on
the run defense. Uh you know, really hadn't getten gashed

(01:43):
with Barkley. They really Kellen Moore, did you have favor
the first series of the game, he went three straight
passes with the backup quarterback and I'm like, God, I
love you Kellen Moore, you know, and yeah, not really. Yeah,
but the Calcaterra play, I.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
Mean, no way this No.

Speaker 5 (01:59):
I guess what I mean by that is that was
the thing that in Dallas, I think both people were
upset about, was that he would get into these rhythms
where he just like get away from the thing that worked.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
They know, they had a running game. He was just
throwing the ball.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
There were there were a couple of things in that game.
Like I say, the Calcutara play was big because it
just opened things up for him. They're like, oh, okay,
we could throw the ball down the field. The second
thing was they figured out that listen, we're going to
get a match up with with Bland on Brown and
Booth is going to cover Smith. And once they figured

(02:31):
that out, then that was all bets were off. And
then there were a couple of different plays where they
could have helped. They could have helped Booth. I for
the life of me, I don't know why Mike Zimber
did this. I mean, there was the touchdown that that
Smith had, the first touchdown where it was to me,
like he's dropping he's dropping. Uh, he's dropping Hooker into

(02:55):
into like a deep look. But he's favored him to
the side of Brown. Who's who's got Bland the guy
on the other Side's guy needs to help. It isn't Bland.
You put Bland over there for a reason. Why is
Hooker opening to Brown side and then have to spin
his hips and try and get back. And Hooker's not

(03:16):
a fast guy. He's just not He's just not gonna
play with a lot of range. And so to me,
those are the things where we always talk about. Coaches
say this, players say this. Got to put these players
in position to make plays. You didn't. You didn't on
a couple of different occasions you didn't do that. And
the Calcatara catch was a great play. I mean it's

(03:39):
a great catch, but yeah, there were plenty of plays
in that game where you just had to say, okay,
you weren't good enough, and it happened quite a bit.
Started a game member said the turnovers, ag go ahead.

Speaker 7 (03:55):
I mean we've seen it before.

Speaker 8 (03:58):
Were like and we talked about it a couple of
weeks ago, where it comes down to turnovers and who
wins the turnover battle and that typically the one who
gets the most typically wins the game, and that was
unfortunate in McCarthy. He mentioned it after the game in
the press conference. He talked about how he thought they

(04:18):
had a good game plan, but it was difficult to
execute some of the things that they had planned for
when you couldn't just get there and when you're turning
over the ball that many times, it's just gonna put
you in a hole where you can't.

Speaker 7 (04:31):
Get out of.

Speaker 8 (04:32):
So that's essentially what happened. You weren't able to protect
the ball. And two of those came because of Cooper
Rush and him throwing two interceptions and then the two
other ones just were not necessarily his fault. So it's
just I don't really know what to say other than that,

(04:53):
I will say back to what you mentioned earlier, I
was impressed of their ability to have been able to
come back after that first interception and be able to score.
That's something that we typically don't see them being capable
of doing. Just picking themselves back up in that way
so quickly, typically takes maybe until the second half, but

(05:15):
this time they were able to come back right away.

Speaker 7 (05:17):
And I'm with you. I thought, Okay, it might be.

Speaker 8 (05:19):
A competitive game here, and it might stay close, and
even if we lose, at least we saw that competitiveness.
And it didn't happen that way. Quickly started declining. The
game got completely away from them, and you just there's nothing,
There's nothing you could They weren't able to do anything.
And that's the that's the most unfortunate part of it,
is that, honestly, I expected them to go into that

(05:43):
game losing because of how FEELI is playing currently, despite everything,
even with jailing hurts out, you thought, Okay, this is
gonna be competitive.

Speaker 7 (05:52):
But that's the part where they.

Speaker 8 (05:54):
They lacked is just not able to keep up, prevent
mistakes and be able to put on a good show.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, were you either? What do you happen to be
in the locker room? When Turpin talked after the game,
we were there. Did you hear what he said? Sad use
of the of and I and I and sides of
the athletic This was one of his quotes that actually
had a thread that did this, and I'm just gonna
read I'm quoting here. It's from Turpin on playing without

(06:24):
ceed Lamb in this game, and I was wondering if
I could get your thoughts on this real quick. He said, Man,
I just feel like at the end of the day,
with CD gone, we weren't really calling no pass place.
We were just running the ball, throwing checkdowns. That's the
plan in the receiver room. I thought we were going
to go out there and show people it ain't all
about c D. At the end of the day, we weren't.
We wasn't getting down no downfield routes being called. We

(06:47):
just had to see what we could do.

Speaker 5 (06:49):
I heard that, and to be honest with that kind
of blew it off a little bit, because, Yeah, first
of all, I don't think it's accurate I was actually
charting a number of downfield throws and shit, and they
had quite.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
A you especially, that's what, as a matter.

Speaker 5 (07:03):
Of fact, a third and one, which we'll get to
the moment when they decided to go downfield Domingo. But
I heard he said, I just honestly I didn't. I
didn't think it was accurate. I thought they threw the
ball downfield more. Now, he may have been looking for
a specific plays. He may have been even been looking
more for more specific plays for him. In that way,
I could understand maybe what he's saying because the downfield
throws weren't necessarily for him. But that being said, I

(07:26):
thought they went down field more. I don't think it
was all just checked out.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
I thought they went down more this field this time
against Philly than they did the previous agreed, Yeah, And
so I was just curious, I go, did he accurately
does that? So that's accurately what he said?

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Well, yeah, that's what I heard him say.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (07:41):
Okay, Well, I think sometimes coming off a game and
having to speak that quickly with you having been able
to go back and watch film just yet, you're answering
based on what you lift yourself. The game, Well, you fell,
how often did they target me? How often did my
hands touch the ball? So it feels in that perspective.

(08:02):
So I don't I mean, I don't fall him for
saying what introduced I don't think.

Speaker 5 (08:07):
I don't think he has the perspective that we do.
Like I was charting the game, he wasn't charting the game.
He was out there playing. Yeah, so he he only
has his perspective of what happened with him on specific plays.
So I just, you know, I think he may have
just you know, he may have been looking at something
differently than what we were looking at.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
I was just wondering. I was just wondering because I
didn't feel that way either. I felt now the first
time around they played sure, I totally agree with him
that time. Like watching the tape this morning, I didn't
get the feeling that was the case.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
No, I agree with you.

Speaker 5 (08:36):
I agree with you on that mentioning Cooper Rush, he
went fifteen to twenty eight fifty four percent completion, not
very good, one hundred and forty seven yards.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
I gotta see it with my eyes again.

Speaker 5 (08:48):
You knowsceptions of fifty quarterback rating.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
What happened.

Speaker 5 (08:52):
Let's go back to the two interceptions. What do you
think happened there, Brian, when you when you look those
two interceptions.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
Well, like I went back and I just say I
typed out my notes and stuff like that. So let
me get let me get to the pick six. Okay,
this is where this is where it to me, it
appears to be man coverage ye with the free safety
in the middle of the field, So they call it
man free is what they play man underneath free safety
in the middle of the field and try and navigate that.

(09:18):
I think with Gardner Johnson and Bond the linebacker, I
think they're doubling Ferguson on this play. I think they're
they've they've they're gonna play man and they've determined they're
gonna double one guy. And like we talked about that
leading up with no ceedee lamb, what could potentially happen
Take that guy away, take this guy. So I think

(09:40):
they're trying to take away Ferguson on this one, and
I think that rush is likely feels like he's gonna
have a window to throw this when Ferguson breaks inside
because they're running the slant behind behind that, So he's
probably thinking that Okay, if Ferguson goes inside and they're
doubling him, they're both going with and I'll have that window.

(10:02):
And but when Ferguson breaks inside, Carter Johnson just he
didn't even react. He's looking. You could see on film
he's looking at Cooper Rush the whole entire time. There
was nothing that took him away from There was nothing
for him. Now. I think he was just being a
football player because he's staring down the quarterback the ball,

(10:23):
his man's going inside. He knows he's covered there with
his with the route with the linebacker Bond going inside,
and Rush is thinking he's going to go with him,
and he didn't go with him. And I think that's
where Rush got fooled there. And Cooks really didn't have
I mean, it wasn't a clean route to get inside
with anyway, But Garter Johnson there was no reason for
him to move, especially when Cooper Rush was staring down

(10:44):
the area and he knew guy going away, he's not
throwing to him. Guy behind him, Yep, here's comes the ball.
And that's I think what happened on that first on
that pick six right there.

Speaker 5 (10:53):
It just seemed like he just he basically just didn't move.
He thought he was going and he didn't go with
the first guy and he sat in that spot and
there you go.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
Oh, okay, the second interception Cooks. The officials missed a
bad The officials missed the play here because Cooks gets grabbed. Literally,
I mean you could see Mitchell grab his jersey like
he's by it, but he has to grab him and
it slows Cooks down. It kind of makes Cooks have
to turn and he really he can't get up the field.
His momentum stop. Now the ball's already gone, and if

(11:23):
he doesn't pull his jersey, there's gonna be a chance
because I don't think that Gardner Johnson playing in the
middle of the field was going to get to the ball.
I mean, if Cooks could have run, it could have
been you know, wouldn't been held. I think there was
a chance that you probably could have made that play.
But when he got held, it slowed him down. It
slowed down his momentum and he could but the official
to that side, the back judge to that side, missed

(11:46):
a blatant holding call in that in that situation because
the protection was outstanding. And then but that was just
a really really really bad miss by the official right there,
because because Cooks got held on the play.

Speaker 5 (12:00):
Yeah, and it's that's that's unfortunate, but you know it
happened to me.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
It happens.

Speaker 5 (12:05):
Those kind of things happen. Let's go ahead and take
our first break. When we come back. I want to
see how much you guys think CD was missed yesterday.
Obviously he's missed. You can't have a game where you
don't miss your star player. But how much did that
affect maybe some of the things that were happening in
that game, and goes back to maybe what Turpin was saying,
how much did it did it affect them not having
him in the game. We'll talk about that when we
come back.

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Speaker 5 (15:17):
It is the second segment of the break. We are
lyve from that s WBC Mortgage Studios at the star
presented by this segment is presented by blockchain dot Com.
All right, let's talk about the offense a little deeper.
The question I had for you guys was how much
and in what ways did you see that they really
missed CD yesterday in that game?

Speaker 8 (15:37):
Well, to me, prior to him not even being on
the field, he was about the only thing that the
offense has as far as and this is taking now
the time where now you're starting to build up that
running game and including Rico Doll in there, but operational

(15:59):
wise in the passing game, it just.

Speaker 7 (16:04):
This game was a clear show of.

Speaker 8 (16:07):
You have to have ceedy lamb to be able to
operate correctly. And that's taken into account how well that
first quarter.

Speaker 7 (16:17):
Went for the Cowboys.

Speaker 8 (16:18):
But I think that the opposing team, they're able to
adjust quickly and start targeting you how they need to
target you. So to me, when you look at the
mistakes that happen, you have your guy, your boy.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
Which one?

Speaker 7 (16:35):
What do you mean which one? Boy? I'm just saying.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
He kind of looked over at me.

Speaker 5 (16:44):
You had the fumble, just kind of like I could see,
I could feel her glare.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
Do you want to be honest with you? That was
Cooper Rush's fault? It was, Yeah, looked at it.

Speaker 7 (16:52):
What it looks like he.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
Had two routes. He threw the ball. He should never
thrown the ball inside he had he had churping downfield
eighteen yards wide open.

Speaker 5 (17:00):
And that's probably what was talking about right there, That's
probably what he was talking abou.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
Me Tobert, Okay, Tolbert, Tolbert was opened.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
So he threw the ball. He threw the ball. He
threw the ball to Ferguson with three eagle defenders inside
on him. There was nobody. There was nobody within. I
mean Tolbert was standing. The play to me was designed,
I felt like was designed to go to the outside
to Tolbert, and he didn't throw the route, and Tolbert
ran the out. He was standing eighteen yards away, eighteen

(17:32):
yards away with nobody around him, and Rush moves to
his right and throws the ball back inside. And what's
happened now is there's three eagle defenders that are right
on Ferguson.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
So he turns.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
As soon as he turns, that's Cooper Rush man. I mean,
he's like the route, the route, the route down the field,
the route down the field should have been, the ball
should have gone to And that's and that's what happens
when you get a guy that gets locked in which
you miss him out having lambing again big plays. You

(18:03):
missed the threat of having jet sweeps run after catch
ball down the field. You know you miss us. But
if you got a quarterback that's not even gonna throw balls.
But like I can understand, Tolbert could have had a
really big day yesterday catching footballs and Cooper Rush. You know,
when you watch the play that that play, that that

(18:24):
Ferguson fumbles, you're going, what are you doing?

Speaker 5 (18:26):
Bro?

Speaker 8 (18:27):
So how many of those types of plays do you
feel like they're they're where like that happened where.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Probably three Okay, well you just you're they're designed to
go somewhere, They're designed to go somewhere, and he throws
somewhere else, he'll check it down trying to he he
threw the hardest ball you could throw to Ferguson. He
made the hardest decision you can make, Like, the most
difficult throw was the Ferguson. The easiest throw he could

(18:56):
have made was to Tolbert. That's why that's why you
lose foot.

Speaker 8 (19:00):
Well, I think looking back at one of the previous
game against Tampa, I think that game it went to show.
It goes to show like the connection that Cooper Rush
was finally being able to build with Ceed Lamb. I
mean he was going to him play after play, and

(19:20):
he had a very successful game in that aspect and
therefore was able so to find other targets as well.
But then in this game you go back to and
in this what is it undecisive indecisive quarterback where he
he's not fully aware of his reads or like incapable

(19:41):
of like really reading the field, And what's happened, and
you should be able to do that. And this wasn't
a game where he didn't have the protection. He was
protected pretty well. I thought the offensive line did a
very decent job.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (19:53):
Absolutely, So it goes back to maybe you take this
element that you now found some sort of comfort in,
it's taken out and now you're back into having to
figure out, okay, shoot, like who's gonna be my reliable
guy here? And he wasn't able to do that. But
we've seen that all these weeks where Cooper Rush he

(20:15):
does throw a ball like an invisible person or something
like no one's there, what are you doing here? And
I'm sure we'll talk about the Mingo one or Mingo
like that guy.

Speaker 5 (20:28):
It's rare he gets a good a good ball. I
think yesterday he got one ball that was catchable.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
In mind, twelve yards the sidelines was the one he
had that actually was a good route and a good
good play. I mean they had it was it was
first and fifteen and he was able to kind of
get where he needed to be and and and made
and made a nice reception. But yeah, I mean that's
that you're playing with Cooper Rush capable at some moments.

(20:52):
But I think, you know, decision making or how about awareness,
you know, because when we're break, I'm gonna show you
this play and you tell me how if I'm wrong
about about about how open Tolbert was on the play
and where he should have gone with the ball. Yeah,
I mean, because that he he makes decisions like that.

(21:13):
And and you know it's to me also the third
and one, that ball, the third and one that goes
down the field of Mingo, that's going to Mingo all
the way. I mean, And even though and I put
this in my notes too, because I I when I
was when I was watching the play, I'm thinking like, okay,
what else, what else could it do? Okay, the deep
shot Tomingo. The ball was going to Mingo all the way,

(21:33):
is what I said. He's got three options underneath three
He's got.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Us on the third and one, third and one.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, third and one. He's got three options underneath that
he could have gone to just to keep the sticks going,
just to keep the ball moving down the field. You know.
And this is why sometimes I hate shotgun football. I
tweeted it out, got murdered by people. You know, Oh
it's you know, yeah, you're right. There were options. He
that the play was designed. It was a it was
a it was a stutter go for Mingo to try

(22:02):
and they're gonna take a shot. If you do that
on third and one and don't get it, you're telling
me you're going for it on fourth down. Right. He punted, right,
He punted on his side of the field. You know,
you're telling me, right then and there, you take that
deep shot on a stutter go. And actually they were
doing it to both sides. He could have thrown it.
He could have thrown the cooks on the other side,
or he could have thrown to a Mingo, which he did,

(22:25):
but he also could have thrown to Fergus underneath, got
the first down inside, he could have checked the ball
down to Elliott, who nobody was covering him. He could
have checked it down to him, got a first down,
didn't do it ball with The play was called. It
was double stutter go, and he took the Mingo route.
And you know, and that's McCarthy the post. I think

(22:46):
you guys were probably working in the locker room. Maybe
you didn't hear his conversation. Maybe you're scrambling to get
on the bus. He says, well, the wind could have
been a fact. Okay, there's a couple of things that
are taught here. If the ball goes the sidelines, you
teach quarterback to throw it to the sideline so only
his guy can get it, or it's going to be
out of bounds the Cooper rush do that maybe, or

(23:10):
the way that because Mingo never looked to the outside right, everything,
he was looking inside the whole way. And he and
he's one, he is one on the outside. If the
ball is inside, Garth Johnson's not going to get there,
it's going to be a huge.

Speaker 5 (23:25):
Play in the game, like two yards separation. I mean
he had some separation.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
He has some serious separation there. So McCarthy's like, well,
you know, because Clari Till asked him about it, and
the wind could have been a factor and all that.
But I was kind of hearing that they were pissed.
They were pissed, the coaches. I mean, they were pissed
at the way that the ball was thrown. So I mean,
like I said, we asked her, you asked me earlier.
What other could you know? Get the first down? Just

(23:49):
get the first down, if you know. But but the
play was called, they pour the ex the play doesn't
get executed. Now I'm thinking, well, jeez, he's going to
go for them fourth.

Speaker 8 (23:58):
My thing is you haven't shown to be able to
make anything work with Mingo so far, for whatever the reason,
whether the pass is thrown bad or whatever. But he
hasn't been a reliable target, even though at times he's
well positioned and everything is just maybe the ball is
not thrown well or whatever. So in a situation like that,
it just makes me be like, Okay, then why why

(24:22):
is that your option? You know, rather than go to
everybody else that you mentioned that seem to be open.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
But no City Lamb. That's no City Lamb right there.

Speaker 5 (24:31):
I had no problem with any of that sequence until
they don't convert the third and one.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
They get to fourth and one and they punt, and
they punt, because my thought is like, why'd you do that?
Why'd you do it right?

Speaker 2 (24:44):
Why would you call a double movie?

Speaker 5 (24:46):
Because I said it's nick right when they did it,
I was like, well, of course they're going foo on
fourth down.

Speaker 3 (24:49):
That's why they do that.

Speaker 5 (24:50):
You take a shot on third because, by the way,
they've been running well in third and short, so maybe
they thought, okay, we can catch him right here. They're
going to load up and try to stop the run
here on third and one, so let's try to get
him Downfiel.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
It actually worked. The receiver was open. You just missed
the throw.

Speaker 5 (25:03):
Fine, you're gonna go for it on fourth down. But
to not go for it, No, go not go for
it on fourth down. It almost said to me like
that wasn't a well fed out thirty down and one.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
No, because there's how you understand. You're taking a you're
taking a chance right to maybe hit a home run, right,
but you got a plan like I'm gonna go for
it if I don't either way exactly.

Speaker 5 (25:22):
And I just thought that was the part that I
just didn't understand why you would do one and not
do the other.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
Or if you're not gonna go for it.

Speaker 5 (25:28):
Then take the easy just move the chaine and we
keep the drive going.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
Keeck the ball, keep the downs going, keep the key.
You know that's the problem I have. You, Like you say,
if you're gonna have a plan, have a plan, I
don't think I think he had a plan until it
was incomplete, and then his plan became okay, punt, Yeah,
that that became his plan. Which then that in that case,
you just killed yourself with an opportunity rights exactly right.

Speaker 5 (25:52):
I just thought it was it just it's almost like
you know when you're when you're in these games, you
have to be planning a few plays ahead. You don't
call a play in isolation. The plays are to set
up other plays or to advance other plays that you're
gonna call later. Let's let's go ahead and take our
final break. We're gonna come back. I do want to
talk a little bit about Rico Dondell. He surpasses the
one thousand rushing yard march mark for the season. We'll

(26:15):
talk about that when we come back this Dallas Cowboys
dot Com radio.

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Speaker 9 (28:17):
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Welcome back.

Speaker 5 (28:55):
Final segment of the break Live from the SWBC Mortgage
studios at the star Let's Talk Rico Dowdle. He was
twenty three of twenty three carries for one hundred and
forty yard yesterday, a four point five average. He did
have the one fumble, but he surpassed the one thousand
rushing yard mark for the season. I don't want to
beat a dead horse, but did.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
They just wait too long to get him his thing?
Like you look at it now and you're like, yeah,
they had opportunity.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
They're a different offense with him.

Speaker 5 (29:24):
They had had an opportunity to do this earlier in
the season and they just didn't.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
They didn't and and uh, it's unfortunate. And I'm really
looking forward to the autopsy at the end of this thing.
I kind of have an idea how the patient died,
but but there could be some other complications, other than
that's why I got to do That's why you do it. Like, well,
we thought he died of a heart attack, but no,

(29:48):
he actually died of he was actually poison Yeah he was,
Yeah he was, Yeah he was, he was, he was
he was murdered, right, But no, this is this is
where you know you this offense said, let's be honest.
The offensive line wasn't good enough initially. Facts, you're talking
your daughter again. There, my son says the same thing.

(30:11):
Half dad, facts, my dad like my son. My son
had a really interesting conversation. I hadn't hand with the
dinner the night. He was telling me about if you
hire a coach, what you need. He says, what you
want to do is hire a head coach that had
the worst joggers. The joggers, those those those pants, those

(30:32):
short pants. And he says, on defense, you want to
have an old, krusty veteran guy that you know how
you see, that's how you do, that's what you's the
coaching staff. He goes, offense, you want the guy the
coach that wears the joggers. On defense, you want the
old krusty veteran guy. That's so I was just thinking.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
Okay, yeah, not bad as analysis.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
No, no, And Jesse Holly actually texted me and said,
he goes, Man, I should I think the same thing.
Give me these coaches that were those jogger pants, they're
the ones are calling all the really good plays. Yeah,
you know, but anyway, uh yeah, I think what we
do the autopsy is our coach doesn't wear joggers, you know.
And and that's and that's the thing about it is
that we we you know, we talk about this. But

(31:16):
the offensive line wasn't good enough. The right guard wasn't
good enough. He was really banged up. The right tackle
was struggling the point of attack blockers. It took schoon
Maker to almost be inactive every week before he got
the message like, bro, you got a block, you got
to block a little bit here, you know. And so
you know, Hoppan went in there. You know, they bass
went in there, they went they had different combinations. They

(31:38):
started playing Chuma doga tackle. You know, they got up
a little bit better combinations there. But I kind of
felt like that that, yeah, it was late, a little
late to the party there. You know, we're late to
the party. We didn't show up with anything in our hands,
you know, not even a bag of ice. You know,
we were just we were real late to the party
here when it came came to all this.

Speaker 8 (32:00):
I'm just thinking of our tailgating food talk referring back,
you're like him, bring even a.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
Bag of ice? Yeah, you empty handed? Yeah, you show
up to a party six pc just for yourself. Yeah
that's another one. There's another one. Don't you show up
if it's like a tailgate, you show up with just
six pack? You can go to the drink eight yeah, yeah, exact. No,
you put the you'rs in there and you're drinking everybody
else's spirit. You're leaving the bad beer. Yeah yeah, yeah.

(32:29):
But no Rico Daddle. You know he had the twenty
three attempts. Ten of those were successful runs against that defense.
You know that was you know, so, I mean, real
good against four and a half yards of carry.

Speaker 8 (32:40):
Yeah, and congratulations to him and why he was able
to accomplish this season. I wish it would have happened sooner.
And it's also one of those things that it sucks
that it happened in this game too, because you see
who the other running back is and you see what
they just celebrated on the sideline for and Don where

(33:00):
everybody congratulated him. Yeah, and stopped the game a little
bit there. I'm like, I told Nick, I'm like, if
fre Co hits his mark, are we stopping the game
to congress?

Speaker 2 (33:12):
I'll tell you what.

Speaker 8 (33:13):
And that's not a I'm not trying to talk crap.
It's great for him in his situation, but it's just
it sucks when it happened in a game like that.
And the other running back that you're facing.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
Double Philodel. If you ran the ball like Dallas did
the first six weeks of the season, yeah, Gain will
have an average one point three h Kenny Pickett at
two point three for the Davis price. You know, they
had some bad rushing numbers. Take Barkley out of it.
It's like you you've crushed him on the in the
running game, but you know Barkley, he's It took him

(33:46):
thirty one carries to get one hundred and sixty seven yards.
I mean it's five yards.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
And really a lot of it happened the second half.
Second first half. It wasn't They weren't really getting week now.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
No, I mean Dallas did a pretty good job with
the run stuff. So they had four of them, you know,
but half his runs were successful. Thirty one said six
sixteen successful runs. That's four more yards of carry.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
What did they struggle most?

Speaker 5 (34:09):
Though, if you look at how they were stopping the
run as particularly in the second half, where were they
having struggle.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
They were getting that the pinning poll stuff, the old
the old Arizona car.

Speaker 3 (34:17):
We go all the way back to there.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
Yeah, it's like, you know, it's like all of a sudden,
it's down down and two guys around and now now
blockers are fighting. They struggled inside with the linebackers. You know,
they got guys that got hooked and the down guys
got blocked, the edges got hooked. Yeah, it was they
they started to kind of figure out. Initially it was
like they were trying to kind of run the ball

(34:40):
inside and Dallas was doing a pretty good job. But
then the ball bounced. There was that there was a
there was a run that one of his first long
runs I had. I think it went for twenty two
or three yards. This is this shows you how poor Booth.
I mean, he had a chance to come up fill
in the hole and he hesitates, and as soon as
he hesitated, Barkley bounce. Yep. I mean it's like Lewis

(35:02):
did a great job of keeping his outside shoulder free
and squeezing the play, and he squeezed it. If he
would have squeezed it to say Donovan Wilson, it's a
game to two. He squeezed it. To Booth, it's a
gain of twenty two. Yep, that's the problem.

Speaker 5 (35:17):
You know. We had a question from Roderick doth It.
He says, why is Booth still playing cornerback?

Speaker 2 (35:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (35:23):
And I mean we talked about, but we talked about
in the last week. We talked about going into this game,
would you go with mcuamu more than more than him
because he's a bigger, longer guy.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
They didn't choose to do that.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
I you know, you can only work with what you have.
And last time they listened to me, Derek was two
thousand and five, you know, And so that's you know,
I bring it up. I would have I would have gambled.
I would have gambled on maybe interchanging Izzy and changing

(35:54):
Lewis from inside to outside. Okay, if you're committed to
taking Brown out of the game with Bland, now let's
deal with the other two. And they didn't even have
They didn't even have Dallas Goddard in this game, so
you didn't really have to worry about that.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
And Jordan would have battled with Smith.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
He would Jordan, Jordan would have battled with Smith, and
you would have felt better. You would have felt better,
like if Jordan Lewis is getting beat by Smith, you're like,
just a better man today, just a better man cap
But you can't, you know. And it got to the end,
and what do they do? And I said it on
our halftime showing me and Walchuck, I said, Mike Zimmer's
proven one thing. He is not going to let Booth

(36:31):
continue out there and can get continue to get beat
And eventually they did. They took him out, and they
put pride in, you know, and there's like Wolchick looked
at me and goes, who's pride, And I said, well,
he got called up today.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
You know, and he's like, and they got kicked out
of the game.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
And they got kicked out of the game. So give
him some credit for being a little feisty about it,
no doubt question.

Speaker 8 (36:51):
So last week we were talking about, Okay, let's see
what happens in the last two weeks of the season
as far as preparation, and that's where it comes down to,
you know, because they showed up even though they were eliminated.
They played Tampa with a really good game plan and
went in there played really well. Now looking back, and

(37:12):
I'm I was happy that we were off on Wednesday,
don't get me wrong, but that was all about it.
But looking at the changes because because this is something
that typically doesn't happen on the side of football, they
gave the players that they completely off and they kind
of did a switch around.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
They didn't get an extra day off.

Speaker 5 (37:31):
Basically they take a normal day off on Tuesdays moved
to Wednesday, so they practiced on Tuesday, off on Wednesday
back to practice.

Speaker 8 (37:37):
So technically, but I'm saying they did, but maybe that's
how the story comes well too, you know, but they
were able to adjusts. Yeah, But my point is, aside
from you missing ceed Lamb, I'm looking at preparation, even
with making it switch like that, which again I was

(37:59):
very high before and all for it, but sometimes when
you switch schedules around or whatever, I'm just on a
question as far as preparation.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
They would not have switched things around. I still think
it the same reason. But here's why.

Speaker 5 (38:14):
It's for the same reason that you're pointing to, which
is I think and I thought Nick's article did a
really good job of laying this out yesterday.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
It's it's as though, like it is human nature.

Speaker 5 (38:25):
When they went into that Tampa game, they practice all
week with the anticipation that the play, well, we have
a chance, and so we're going for we're giving it all.
We got that fell flat. They've played the game great,
but this is one of those where you lose during
the week individual and and and that's not even if
that if their days would have been the same last week,

(38:46):
I still think it's hard for me to believe that
on Christmas Day, even if you go to practice, are
you going to have a Chris practice? Are you really
there or is your mind really back at home with
your little kid you just left opening Christmas presents with
right your family's in town. You're not with your family?
Is your head really in it? When you finish practice,

(39:09):
are you gonna stick around and watch some film or
do that extra stuff that you would do if you were.

Speaker 3 (39:13):
Playing for something. Maybe not.

Speaker 5 (39:15):
And again this is not pointing to anyone necessarily as
much as it's just saying in general, the natural tendency
for people is that this time of the year you
slow down a little.

Speaker 8 (39:27):
Bit because even and I allmit it, like Eve and
I, I was walking around the building with my.

Speaker 7 (39:33):
Eyes half closed. It's what happens.

Speaker 5 (39:36):
And then and then on top of that, and I
think this may have been even more of a of
a problem, not a problem, but something that probably affected
them is when they shut CD down.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
I think it's mentally.

Speaker 5 (39:48):
It becomes a mental thing that yeah, we're waving the
white flag. And they did. You guys all agreed this
was what they needed to do with CD. But you
combine that with this time of the year and all
the distractions that happen around the holidays, and you got
eliminated from the playoffs last week, and then CDs out
and you're looking around like who's left because Dak's gone,

(40:09):
thanks gone, all.

Speaker 3 (40:10):
These players you're missing. I just think this was just
a culmination of all those things, and this is this part.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
This was the final straw. As they say, Yeah, when
CD was put on injured reserve, that's when you know
and and listen, you're around the holidays, You're right, you're
around the families. I mean, we've seen this done both
ways since we've been here. We've seen coaches that give
them the morning off practice in the afternoon. We've seen
coaches that have practiced in the morning, given them the

(40:35):
act you try. I mean, you were holidays. That's part
of what you do. It's part of what you sign
up for. We all do that, and I think I
think not so much the Christmas. I think the Eagles
are a good football team. Don't get me wrong. I
think they're very well coached. When it comes to Kellen
Moore and and uh and and Vic Fangio and what
they do. They've got a really good roster. That was

(40:56):
gonna be a hard game to win. I didn't think
they were going to win it. And I know we
didn't predict this score, but I didn't. I wasn't if
I had to, I wasn't. I mean I said Philadelphia
twenty six, Dallas thirteen on the pregame show. I didn't
think they were going to win this football game. But
you know what it really I think when they when
they saw CD go out, they looked at each other

(41:16):
and said, what more can happen to us this year?
What more, the one element do we have that's a
legitimate all pro type player now we have you know now,
and that's and I think that's what got this team.
I think there you also get into like survival mode too.
You do not want to get hurt these last couple

(41:36):
And it's not that they didn't try or they quit
or anything like that. They just you just don't want
to get hurt in week seventeen. You just don't because
that turns into well, now I might miss the season
or you know. But you know, they they played really
well the first quarter. I mean to answer that pick
six back with a touchdown. They gave you hope that like, okay,

(41:58):
there's still some some fighting here and all that, but
they just when they started giving up plays and the
team's looking at it and they're like, damn, we're playing
with seven different corners now and boos out there and
we're getting beat in it. It's frustrating.

Speaker 5 (42:13):
But you know that that also plays into like my
thought of what happened is as the game started steamrolling,
it almost felt like you could feel just the here's
where we are, like, yeah, two weeks don't have any
we don't have any way to fight back and and
it almost felt like that versus this, Oh, we can
still do this.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
I think at the end of the game you kind
of have some hope and then and they may.

Speaker 5 (42:34):
Have had some hope, and then when it started to
fall apart, it just you know, I just.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
You knew Barkley was going to get the ball and
you couldn't stop it, you know. To be honest with you,
I'm surprised they took him out. I'm surprised they didn't
try and just in the four just keep running him
and get that thing to where it was.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
Like, I mean to see what they do this next week.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
Yeah, he's got to get one hundred yards by half.
It's really what he's got to do, you know, against
the Giants. And boy, that's what a night Giant fans,
what a night that owner in New York. I would
go to the game. I would the game.

Speaker 7 (43:09):
But speaking of did you, did you guys see on
social medium where Jerry was sitting?

Speaker 2 (43:14):
Yeah, they got they got after him.

Speaker 8 (43:16):
I didn't see it, but like where he was sitting
the sweet It's so weird because it's out in the open.
Basically you have the fans riding your face, like literally
riding your face and everybody's just booing and yelling, and
like Jerry's just sitting there looking straight and all these
fans are literally right.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
Ye mean yeah, we have the press boxes and so uncomfortable. Yeah,
and Jerry keeps the windows open on that thing. Yeah,
So I mean that's tough. That's a tough way.

Speaker 7 (43:45):
I just thought it was very aware for an owner
to be sitting this.

Speaker 2 (43:49):
We can't have something to play for to be the
sixth seed. It'll be interesting to see how they you know,
I was thinking if they had things wrapped up, how
would Mike play us. Mike seems to be much like
an honor guy, play it on the end. Like sometimes
you get these teams that like will mail it in
at the end, at the very end, and it'll be
like a preseason game. I kind of think that if Mike,

(44:10):
I think Mike would continue to play this with the try,
with trying to win, just to make sure the integrity
of the game. How many times have you been in
a situation, well, so and so has to win and
they're like, no, waiting, hell, they're gonna win, They're not
gonna try today. I think Mike's the opposite of that
I think Mike is going to try and win. I'll
be interested to see if he play, if he starts,
if he starts Trey Lance though.

Speaker 5 (44:31):
Yeah, the interesting thing is will Washington play.

Speaker 7 (44:36):
Start Lance at this point if.

Speaker 5 (44:39):
You want to just I think it's clear in my opinion,
I just think it's clear that they just don't have
much faith in him.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
No, that's that's probably right.

Speaker 5 (44:47):
I mean, because if they did, there's been every reason
for them to get him more involved in the game.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
They just have it. So the only thing I'm left
to believe is that they just.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
Don't commanders have something to play for, because they could
be the sixth seed. If they win, they're the sixth seed.
If they lose in Green Bay wins, they could be
the seventh seed. And now you then they'll go to Philly.
If you're the sixth seed, you go to play the Rams.
The Rams have been struggling to score some points here
of a late So who who do you want? And
besides that, with everything being crazy the way it is,

(45:19):
if you're the sixth seed and all of a sudden
it falls funny where all the top teams that are
you know, they lose games, you want to be in
the best position to host a game. Didn't the Rams
do that one year when they went to the Super Bowl? Yeah,
you know, everything fell apart next to you know, they're
on the Rams on the road, and then they get
to host the NFC Championship game.

Speaker 5 (45:36):
There's a weather part to that too, having to go
to Philly. Yeah, you don't know what you're going to
get weather. That's a great point versus having to go
to la Well, you know it's going to be seventy
two degrees and dry you're inside.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
Yeah, you know that Washington has a reason to play
this week. They really really do. Yeh, whether they want
to go to Philly or go to the Rams.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
Yeh. All right, I appreciate you, guys. Jones. We'll be
back tomorrow. We'll start moving forward.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
People want to dress, by the way, well.

Speaker 5 (46:02):
We have a lot of we have a lot of
a lot of questions I'm sure Brian will have for
us Tomorrow. We might do a whole show of Brian's
brain and what kind of questions he can come up
with us, just.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
You and I and Tommy tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
Right, we're doing We're doing a lot of people have
decided they're leaving US. So it's gonna I.

Speaker 7 (46:16):
Was replaced like this, it's.

Speaker 5 (46:18):
Gonna be a whole different but but definitely looking back tomorrow.
So then for Brian Brad Stambergarci, I'm Derek Eagleton. This
has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
This has been a production of Dallascowboys dot Com and
the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.