Talkin’ Cowboys: Tough Decisions Ahead

Kyle Youmans, Patrik Walker, Tommy Yarrish & Josh Rodriguez break down the Cowboys’ Week 17 loss to the Eagles, discuss Rico Dowdle’s 1,000 yd season, and if a very important decision needs to be made going into the final game of the season.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The following.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
He is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and
the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
Cowboys. This He's Talking Cowboys.

Speaker 4 (00:13):
Straining live from the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters at the
Star in Chris.

Speaker 5 (00:18):
Joe six second pass, dot TISI, Today, touchdown and now
your hosts Isaiah Standback, Patrick Walker, Josh Rodriguez, and Kyle Yeomans.

Speaker 4 (00:36):
Studies show that the toughest week to show up to
work throughout the calendar year is the week in between
Christmas Day and New Year's Day. That was certainly the
case for the Dallas Cowboys in Philadelphia, as they did
not show up to work in Week seventeen of the
NFL season.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
They fall forty one to seven, not.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
To Jalen Hurts in the top offense in the league,
but instead to a guy named Kenny Pickett and a
guy named Tanner McKee, the second and third string quarterbacks.
Welcome into Talking Cowboys, presented by a Black Rifle Coffee Company,
live from the Star in Frisco, Texas and the s
WBC studios. As we break down, we talk about it
every Friday, win or lose, we will be back.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
To talk about it. This one's tough to talk about. Gentlemen.
Not gonna lie, Patrick Nocy, Walker, Josh.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
Roderiguez, Tommy Yarish. We've got Chris Beam in the back,
Isaiah stand back.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Will rejoin us tomorrow for a Christmas Eve.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
Edition or excuse me, a New Year's Eve edition of
Talking Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Patrick, haven't seen you in a couple of days. Welcome back.

Speaker 6 (01:37):
First off, glad, glad you didn't show off to work
last week.

Speaker 7 (01:41):
Oh but we heard of showed up here. He shut
up in spirit my name, I tell you. The bat
signal popped up in Alabama and.

Speaker 8 (01:52):
I felt it. I felt spidy since was tingling Man?

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Love it?

Speaker 9 (01:56):
Yeah, No, back in the building, Happy to be back.
Mischie guys, Hello a lot. That's why I had to
absolutely call in once the name was mentioned.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I can't wait for training camp for a couple of reasons.

Speaker 9 (02:07):
So yeah, but you know, I was hoping that my
return today would be under better circumstances. Yeah no, no,
it's just not m GB, not great, Bob. So cowboys
fall to the Eagles in spectacularly bad fashion. And like
you said, they didn't fall to Jalen Hurts. They fell
to Kenny Elway and Tanner, Montana. That's basically what they

(02:32):
were made to look like last night. And I mean,
really it began with the implosion of the offense from
the Cowboys. I mean, you do not walk into a
road game, let alone against the Philadelphia Eagles and give
the ball away three times in the first half and

(02:52):
then expect to really have a chance to win their game.
So talk about the two interceptions from Cooper Rush, the
fumbled by Jake Ferguson. The e goes turn around and
get you know, manifest seventeen points out of their first
twenty four points off of those turnovers. Yeah, you were
able to bounce back in your second drive after that
pick six, but ultimately constantly giving the ball away, you could,

(03:13):
and I said this to Tommy, you could kind of
see the defense, Cowboys defense becoming more and more mentally
defeated by the fact that they had to keep going
back onto the field and then unleash the Sa Kwan
Barkley and just pound you into dust from that point forward.

Speaker 8 (03:27):
So yeah, grit season is basically over.

Speaker 4 (03:31):
M HM.

Speaker 9 (03:32):
So that was fun while it lasted. The Eagles won
and the Commanders eked out of winning overtime. So on
to week eighteen, we go and yeah, roses and tombstones.

Speaker 6 (03:43):
That was tough. That was a really tough game.

Speaker 10 (03:46):
You see one starting caliber corner out there and they
just decided to pick on Andrew Bruth.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Oh oh god.

Speaker 8 (03:53):
They Yeah, we were talking about those numbers.

Speaker 6 (03:55):
That was rough to watch.

Speaker 10 (03:57):
But like you said, it did feel like the defense
sort of after the ineptitude of the offense for the
first half.

Speaker 6 (04:04):
It was just like, I'm.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Tired, boss, tired perfectly. See. It was.

Speaker 6 (04:10):
That was tough to watch.

Speaker 10 (04:12):
The air left my body in the second in the
first half, actually just before the first half ended it
it was tough, man, Tommy, Do you.

Speaker 7 (04:20):
Want the Andrew Booth numbers? Yes, we get into that,
let's do it.

Speaker 8 (04:24):
Yeah, I'm looking right at them, but please, by all
means and.

Speaker 7 (04:26):
Monte Smith and Andrew Booth lined up on one another
eight times yesterday. Smith was targeted six times. On those
eight reps. He caught five of those passes. It's not
good for eleven yards and two touchdowns.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
What's that average? Like twenty two to two.

Speaker 7 (04:46):
Something like that. You're better at math than I am, am.

Speaker 9 (04:48):
I yeah, you did because you had to correct somebody
on Twitter who wasn't so good at math when.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, that's a different conversation.

Speaker 8 (04:55):
We'll talk about that, but there's your math.

Speaker 7 (04:58):
Is that the biggest math is that's nine yards less
than his total for the game, which was one hundred
and twenty. So essentially, aside from all that he caught
what was it, one more pass, two more passes for
nine yards Andrew Boothy gets one hundred and eleven and
two touchdowns. That's not great. It's not great. And we
a lot of Yeah, he hadn't moved to ir that

(05:21):
kind of was the writing on the wall. This's gonna
be a really thin cornerback room and they just couldn't
get it done.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
And they mentioned that on the broadcast a couple of times.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
Greg Olsen was like, man, at some point, it was
gonna raar its ugly head again. The revolving door cornerback,
whether it was the Ron Bland early in the year,
Trayvon Diggs, now, whether or not Jordan Lewis was available
for a couple games in the middle.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
Of that stretch. Yeah, they they have had zero.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
Stability at the cornerback spot, and there have been times
where every reserve has been.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
Picked on from the Cowboys cornerback room.

Speaker 4 (05:53):
We've talked about Butler at one point, We've talked about
a Warria at one point, Carson at one point. This time,
it just happened to be Andrew Booth. And give credit
to Devonte Smith. He is a high level, elite caliber receiver,
and the Eagles have two of those.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
That's what makes them so good.

Speaker 4 (06:08):
They've got two elite receivers, whereas Dallas only has the
one to work with. And you saw what that looked
like on Sunday.

Speaker 10 (06:14):
The difficult part is that it's not Jalen Hurts throwing
the ball et either. You know, you had the two
backup quarterbacks, the second and the third string, just like
you said, Patrick, like you alluded to Chust.

Speaker 9 (06:26):
To George Way and turn of Montana, uh, and a
lot of a large part of it was you know,
of course, you go back and look at the numbers,
and you look at the film and if you watch
it in real time, Andrew Booth just got picked on.

Speaker 8 (06:37):
Yeah, it was absolutely.

Speaker 6 (06:39):
Picked on, Like where's twenty five?

Speaker 9 (06:41):
Yeah, absolutely picked on. The Only way that you could
help him in that situation is to get after the quarterback.
Cowboys only had four pressures yesterday four, and three of
them belonged to Michael Parsons.

Speaker 8 (06:53):
Wow. The other belonged to Olso Diggi Zuwa.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
So two of the top ed rushers in football in
the back half of the season only got four pressure
four pressures.

Speaker 9 (07:01):
It's a good offense that offensive line mat when you're
averaging one pressure per quarter and they've already identified the
blinking light in your secondary, you're you're long for the.

Speaker 6 (07:11):
Ride at their toast and you can't stop the run.

Speaker 8 (07:13):
Yeah, and you had.

Speaker 9 (07:14):
Nothing for that, So then it became just keeping the
Cowboys defense off balance. At that point, it's like, Okay, Barkley, Barkley, Barkley,
Oh hey, booth pass.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
For what it's worth.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
I And and this is not to sprinkle sugar on
what was a burnt toast in the in the early
parts of this game, But I was actually impressed with
the way that Dallas fought in the run game.

Speaker 8 (07:35):
Early.

Speaker 4 (07:35):
They weren't getting off the chunk plays, they weren't allowing
Barkley to find it. They were getting them in the backfield.
And it's almost impossible to tackle Barkley for a loss,
but they were close multiple times, and they forced him backwards.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
So that way, he only was limited to one or
two yards per carry.

Speaker 4 (07:50):
I mean even at the end of the day, whenever
he finished with a number, he did thirty one carries,
one hundred.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
And sixty seven yards five point four yards per carry.
Most of that was in the second.

Speaker 7 (08:00):
Correct, one hundred and twenty seven yards in the second
There you go.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
So he was what forty yards in the first half.

Speaker 9 (08:04):
You know why I'm okay with that because the Cowboys
couldn't stop the past correct, So then they changed coverage
style to stop the pass and opened the seat or
the green sea, and.

Speaker 6 (08:16):
Then and then they were record watching.

Speaker 10 (08:17):
On top of that, it's like, oh, we'll give Saquon
the most carriages out of all season.

Speaker 4 (08:21):
Now, Oh, they were trying to get him to two
k because borderline, they get him to two thousand. He's
at two thousand. Now they can sit them if they want.
Or going up against the Giants this week, the Eagles
can possibly have against his former team one hundred and
four yards and put up a I don't know, man, that's.

Speaker 7 (08:39):
A big former team, a chance to break the all
time rushing record.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
It's pretty big.

Speaker 11 (08:44):
Yeah, I understand, I understand the risk, but it's the risk,
and to be fair, I'm also of the mindset of
seventeen and sixteen aren't equal, so that's kind of different
from the ego see seventeen to sixteen.

Speaker 4 (08:55):
Hey, but when you look up single season rushing record,
would say still exceedingly impressive if he were able to
do it.

Speaker 9 (09:03):
So I don't want to take anything away from that
other than to say the facts are the facts, and
if you do it in a fewer amount of games,
then it's more impressive that it's not impressive, it's just more.

Speaker 10 (09:12):
I mean, he's still top ten considering the sixteen game
window right, still top ten.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
Because he was a player all time to hit two
thousand and he did it in sixteen games. So yeah,
it was impressive. And Barkley's a specimen. We've talked about
it all week. We've talked about it twice a year
for every year he's been in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
It's foolish.

Speaker 4 (09:32):
There's a being there's a video circling right now that's.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
Some hard knocks cool man. It's bad. So it keeps
resurfacing every every few weeks.

Speaker 10 (09:40):
Don't blame him, don't blame another kind of silver lining.
This is Saquon Barkley's only good game against the Cowboys,
like really really good in his career against the.

Speaker 9 (09:50):
Cowboys, and that is quite impressive from but I guess
I mean.

Speaker 4 (09:57):
It goes back to the original part of the conversation
of the reason that Saquon had success in the second
half as opposed to the first half was because in
the first half you had guys like Kenny Pickett throwing
ten of fifteen for one hundred and forty three yards
in a touchdown with his quarterback rating at one twenty.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Can't get much worse than that, right, Tanner McKee comes
in and.

Speaker 4 (10:15):
Goes three of four throws for two tuddies and fifty
four yards through the air.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
I really liked Tanner McKee as a as a Day
three prospect out of the draft. I wasn't really high
on Kenny.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
Pickett, and sure enough that didn't turn out very well
for Tanner McKee.

Speaker 8 (10:30):
KYLEE.

Speaker 4 (10:30):
Oowmens guy, not a Kylie Owens guy. But I did
like him out of the draft. I thought he was
a draftable player. Kind of wanted Dallas to take him
in this third like that Day three side of things.
Instead Philadelphia did, and here he is throwing touchdown.

Speaker 9 (10:42):
You know what's wild to watch is when a player,
a player's kryptonite is identified and there's nothing they can
do about it, and it seems like every player has it.
Quarterbacks have it. Right for the longest time, Peyton Mannon's
krypton kite was Tom Brady, Right. So when you talk
with Dak, dakx kryptonite is those folks out in San Francisco, right, sure?

(11:04):
And even I mean Fangio really has Dak's number as well.
Cooper Rush versus the Eagles, the Eagles just flat out
half Cooper Rush's number. Cooper Rush is now all one
three against the Philadelphia Eagles. Tommy and I were talking
about it yesterday in the booth. This is the only
the second multi interception game of Cooper Rush's career as
an NFL started, and the first since twenty twenty two

(11:28):
Week six, when he went up against the Philadelphia Eagles
in Philadelphia and he gave up three interceptions, which, by
the way, in that season he had no interceptions in
any other game. Oh wow, So all three of his
interceptions that season were against the Eagles in Philadelphia. So
he was asked about it yesterday and kind of tongue
in cheek. He was like, I don't know. Maybe it's
the stadium, maybe I don't like the color green, whatever

(11:49):
it might be. The Eagles just have Cooper Rush's number,
and there seems like there's nothing he can do to
gain any kind of leeway. I mean, in those interceptions
that he threw. We've seen Cooper Rush play some solid football.
That's how they got the four and one in the
last five games. But those two interceptions are unforgivable.

Speaker 10 (12:07):
That first one was just this if he even explained.
He was like, Oh, it's an option route. No, that's
that's c J.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Gardner Johnson. It was mixed coverage.

Speaker 12 (12:17):
C J.

Speaker 9 (12:17):
Gardner Johnson. He does a two step drop and he
sits in the zone. He's sitting there waiting for Brandon
Cooks to come on the inside slide if he comes off.
If Cooper Rush comes off of that read and sees
Jake Ferguson absolutely.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
Toasting the line as the window right there.

Speaker 9 (12:31):
Not only does he have a window, Mingo has sleigh
pin to the sideline. So maybe if he blocks that,
then all he has to do, Jake is beat the
single high safety. Best case scenario, you're down to the
fifteen ten yard line. Oh, worst case scenario, you're down
to the fifteen ten yard line. Best case, Jake Ferguson
gets a touchdown.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Then on the interception.

Speaker 9 (12:48):
Triple coverage, Brandon cooks his two safeties and a cornerback
over there.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
Ar.

Speaker 9 (12:54):
Meanwhile, if you go back and look at that set,
you have Jalen Tolbert coming free on the middle fade
on the outside, you dropped that in over into his
own bucket, or Jake Ferguson on a slight curl ten
yards it was a third and six.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Either one of those is the.

Speaker 9 (13:08):
First down, but Jake has yack potential after that triple coverage.
As soon as the ball went in the air, Tommy
and I sat back and was like, oh, because.

Speaker 8 (13:16):
There were three Green Jerseys ready to take that ball.

Speaker 7 (13:19):
I think I think Patrick and I were closer to
that ball than Brandon Cook was. It wasn't along with
the three defensive It looked like a punt.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
It was was it on punt? Yeah? It was third down?
Right third?

Speaker 6 (13:33):
But there were still like thirty one seconds left on
the clocks.

Speaker 7 (13:35):
Oh, I'm not saying it was excusable. No, it basically
was a pun that it just gave the punt up and.

Speaker 9 (13:44):
Jalen Tobert is a first down option right there. Jake
Ferguson is a first down plus yack option right there.
But you decide on Cooks. So two of his interceptions
came forcing the ball to Brandon Cooks, not coming off
of the read. So those were just unforgivable and for
as good, good as really really good as a tight
end as Jake Ferguson is. And we all know I
love me from Jake Ferguson. You got to protect the ball, Michael,

(14:06):
you got to protect the ball. Doubt will how to
fumble too. Yeah, when the Eagles go down, they score,
they take the lead fourteen to seven, you're trying to
answer first play of your next drive. You're tight in
fumbles the ball. Eagles get a field goal off of that,
and then that's for me, that's kind of where it
started to snowball, because the Cowboys never regained composure after that.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Oh, it was the Ferguson fumble is where I wrote it.
Even in my highlight.

Speaker 4 (14:31):
Package that I wrote last night, I said, this was
the point was where pivot point. Yeah, everything started going
downhill for Dallas because even then you go down the field,
you tie it up at fourteen, and then you're you're
still answering the serve at that point from Philadelphia. But
then you fumble there, you give them great territory even
if they don't get the touchdown, and they ended up
going and kicking a field goal instead.

Speaker 8 (14:52):
It was rough.

Speaker 9 (14:53):
And then think about the number of plays that the
Eagles ran on that drive, that scoring drive that took
them fourteen to seven. Defense, they're tired, it's time to
get some water. Let's reset fumble. If you're the defense,
you immediately hit drop. You like, okay, al right, here
we go. And it just went from there.

Speaker 7 (15:12):
Yeah, after that fumble, eleven plays, twenty six yard drive for.

Speaker 8 (15:17):
The Eagles to keep the field goal around them.

Speaker 7 (15:20):
A minute and nineteen seconds later was the Cooper Russian reception.
And I think the real killer was after the pick.
There's thirty six seconds left in the half and the
Eagles go sixty five yards and four plays for a touchdown. Yep,
there's her no.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Big off chunk play over the top to back.

Speaker 7 (15:37):
That's when the game was over. Yeah, that's when it
was over. So that's the first half, right, Yeah, that
was that was the end of the first half.

Speaker 6 (15:44):
So reiterating that's when the game was over the.

Speaker 7 (15:47):
End of the first half, run more real quick is
I know we're going to break here soon, and here
we go.

Speaker 4 (15:54):
You know.

Speaker 7 (15:55):
I typically write three things that'll usually have to happen
for the Cowboys to win. Number one was Cooper Rush
need to beat zone. Eagles and Vic Fangio play zone
at I think the highest level in the NFL or
the highest rate in the NFL. So Cooper Rush against
Zone ten of twenty seventy nine yards an interception. The
second point was regardless of who he plays quarterback, because

(16:17):
we didn't know during the week, get home, no sacks,
four pressures, and the last one was find a way
to limit Saqua and they did in the first half.
Second half, he breaks a record and goes into NFL history.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
Well, yeah, it's almost like you know what you're talking about, Tommy.
Sometimes to win.

Speaker 7 (16:32):
Sometimes sometimes yeah, like all caps.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
Once in a while.

Speaker 4 (16:38):
Just because you brought it up, Pat, I was curious
and I went to look at Cooper Rush's splits from Philadelphia.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
He's nine and two against every other team.

Speaker 4 (16:48):
As a Star Ryptonite except for philadelphia'szero and three kryptonite.
His totals against Philly, oh Man, these are bad. Forty
seven completions on ninety one attempts. That is a that's
just over fifty percent, fifty one percent for the mathematic
nerds out there, three hundred and eighty three yards on
ninety one attempts.

Speaker 8 (17:10):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (17:10):
He has two touchdowns and five interceptions. He doesn't have
a single other team that he's ever faced throughout his
NFL career where he's thrown more than one interception.

Speaker 6 (17:21):
It's not like the Eagles are team that we need
to be often, right.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, pretty often.

Speaker 4 (17:25):
He's played against them three times as a starter, six
times overall, and it hasn't gone well.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
It's just amazing to watch. Dude. Pretty weird. It is
pretty weird.

Speaker 4 (17:34):
All right, Let's take our first break when we come back.
We did have some positive and it was really over
the course of the season that came to ahead and
Rico Dowtell is now a one thousand yard rusher at
the NFL level. We're going to talk about that and
how much weight that holds, and then also what does
it mean for this offseason for the Cowboys going into

(17:54):
the final week of the regular season. Lots to talk
about still when we come back with more talking cowboys
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Speaker 3 (20:08):
To talking cowboys.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
Back here on Talking Cowboys.

Speaker 4 (20:18):
This portion of the show is brought to you by
a Quaker Oats, the official oatmeal sponsor of the Dallas Cowboys.
Quaker Oats trusted since eighteen seventy seven.

Speaker 10 (20:26):
Buy your oats on the Internet using the que Quake
ar code and corner always.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
Forgot it again? That's okay, I didn't forget this morning.
I had some oats, got some oats. I did a
strawberry and cinnamon the salad.

Speaker 6 (20:38):
Yeah, you know it didn't have their roads yesterday.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
Who's that Cooper rights? Oh darn it. He could have maybe. Nah,
he wouldn't have played like that.

Speaker 6 (20:45):
He wouldn't play like that.

Speaker 4 (20:47):
He would have gone for like week. He would have
gone for like three fifty and four tuddies.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
If he would have he had the.

Speaker 14 (20:54):
Wheedies.

Speaker 6 (20:54):
You know what I'm saying, word or not?

Speaker 1 (20:55):
The wheaties.

Speaker 6 (20:56):
What's the one where it's just the big rectangle, you know,
I'm talking about what.

Speaker 7 (21:02):
The shaker are you talking about you just got one singular?

Speaker 11 (21:08):
Yeah, it's just like the box comes a four of
them prison issues.

Speaker 6 (21:13):
And you just you just dunk it in milk and
then just clawed it. What have you not seen this thing?

Speaker 1 (21:19):
No, that sounds like that's.

Speaker 7 (21:21):
What whatever it was, it sounds like that is what
he had for breakfast.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah, that's oh.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
Man had listed one one big single large oats.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
My god, that's what my guy had. It's a goat oat. Yeah,
not the same, all right, it's a.

Speaker 8 (21:41):
Good You can't spell goat without oat.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, that's true. All right. So we mentioned the bad,
and we'll talk a.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
Little bit more about the bad as we go along.
But I do want to give the flowers to Rico Daudell.
One thousand yards on the season, and he did so in.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
How many games?

Speaker 4 (21:58):
Fifteen games because inactive for one and the Cowboys that
played how many games?

Speaker 8 (22:02):
Seventeen sixteen sixteen, they've.

Speaker 4 (22:04):
Played sixteen games in seventeen weeks. But yeah, don't try
and discredit. I saw some people online was.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
Like, oh so a thousand yards in a sixteen game season? Wow,
that's discussing.

Speaker 8 (22:13):
Oh yeah, what is that shredded week?

Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (22:17):
That's that's all my boy uaker oats from the internet.

Speaker 4 (22:23):
Ricco O Daddles had his oats, and that's the thing
is I want to I want to shed light on
how not only is it a thousand yard season at
the NFL level, that's unbelievable in his own right, he's
the first undrafted player in Cowboys history to ever also
a thousand yards in a single season rushing. But he's
done so with really only having the back half of

(22:44):
the season to run the ball effectively, and to run
the ball as a.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
True RB one.

Speaker 9 (22:49):
That's impressive on and that's what I and I'm so
glad that you pointed out the math for those that
are trying to discredit Rico's thousand yards. Oh, a thousand
yard season doesn't matter anymore in a seventeen game NFL season, Well,
when the guy was only active for fifteen games.

Speaker 8 (23:04):
So that's one.

Speaker 9 (23:06):
Number two, Like Hal said, when it was a running
back by committee for.

Speaker 1 (23:11):
A large portion, a large portion. It wasn't until.

Speaker 9 (23:14):
Midway through the season where we heard Mike McCarthy get
on that podium and say that's our lead back, and
up until then it was a mix up. Well, Zeke
started in Cleveland, right, So that tells you number one
how that went. And then it was force feeding Zeke
and they tried to get Duce involved. They gave the
Delvin Cook experiment a chance. Hunter Lipkey got his shots,

(23:35):
and suddenly, now Hunter Lipkey is nowhere to be found.
Now that I think about that, it just popped in
my head, though it is true where to be found.
But nonetheless, the running back by committe approach, that's how
the Cowboys entered training camp, that's how they entered the
regular season. It wasn't until midway through the season that
McCarthy was like, Okay, we get it.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
Rico is our guy.

Speaker 9 (23:52):
And he still went on to get a thousand yards
and again, unbelievable because this is not an expansion franchise
we're talking about. This is a franchise that's been around
since nineteen sixty with endless draft classes and an endless
number of undrafted free agent signed.

Speaker 8 (24:08):
And he's the first to ever do it.

Speaker 9 (24:11):
We'd like to see him do it on a day
where he doesn't add a fumble to the stay.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yeah, he's got a hold onto the ball, hold onto
that ball. We'll get to that.

Speaker 8 (24:18):
But the but the achievement is still the achievement.

Speaker 10 (24:20):
So he didn't necessarily get the the RB one spot
until what week is this? It was November twenty fourth
against Washington in Washington. That's when he had nineteen carries.
Before that, his carries were ten yards or ten carries,
twelve carries, twelve carries, five carries, eleven carries, eight carries,
seven carries, eight carries. Like it's he did not have
the book of the ball when he did the one

(24:41):
game that.

Speaker 6 (24:42):
He did Pittsburgh, that was what carries. That was when
we created the Rico.

Speaker 3 (24:49):
Drop.

Speaker 6 (24:51):
My boy had twenty carries at that game for a seven.

Speaker 10 (24:54):
So obviously he has not had the rock very often,
especially for the majority of the season, and it wasn't
until that long losing streak where they actually really all right,
maybe give it to the reco.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
Well, look at the discrepancy in terms of yardage prior to.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
The bye and after the bye too, And the buye
wasn't midway through the season.

Speaker 4 (25:13):
Of course, I know there's a couple extra games added
on after that, but after the bye week and we'll
actually say we'll say after the San Francisco game, because
that's where he was inactive after that, He's had six
hundred and seventy one of his one thousand yards in
those nine games.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
In the six games prior, he had just two hundred
and forty six yards. So when you feed.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
Ricodowdele and remember those a forty six yards with eighty
seven of those game in that Pittsburgh game that you
won on the back of Rico Dawdle out of those
those back half of the season, it shows.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
When you feed Rico Dawdle, you get some success running
the ball.

Speaker 7 (25:51):
You know, we've talked about just how impressive it is
in general considering how late he started getting the bulk
of the carries, but I think gets all the more
impressive that he's done it with so much movement on
the offense. As true, you don't have a clear cut
left tackle. Left guard's been solid all year. You've had
two different centers. Zach Barton doesn't play, you know, in

(26:15):
these last in these last couple of games where he's
had you know, a big year, he's run over one
hundred yards four times in the last five games. I
mean that, and he always he's like he's like an
offensive lineman's dream running back because every time we talked
to him after a game where he has one hundred
yard day, he's like, oh, yeah, credit to those guys
up front because they make it all happen for me

(26:35):
and they have I mean, you can't argue that because
they've created the lanes for him and he's been able
to hit it and that's slashing running style that Mike
McCarthy's talks so much about about how the Cowboys love
that from Rico Daddle. It's paid off for him and
now he's a thousand yard rusher versus undrafted free agent
for the Cowboys to be a thousand yard rusher. I
think he's the twenty's the twenty second undrafted player in
NFL history to rush for over a thousand yards in

(26:57):
a season. So there is no discredit that accomplishment whatsoever.
And it's nice to see because he has especially wanted
that one thousand yard market. You think about the injuries
that he's gone through in these five seasons in the
NFL and everything that he's had to do to get
to this point. You know, you got to feel good
for the guy because it's a cool accomplishment.

Speaker 10 (27:15):
I think it's a bittersweet in that he achieved that,
where Saquon Barkley also achieved.

Speaker 6 (27:20):
Two thousand yards in the double. That's a good point
double the moment.

Speaker 10 (27:24):
That's bittersweet in that way, also bittersweeten in that he
only has one touchdown, one rushing touchdown to show for it.

Speaker 6 (27:31):
That to me is.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Tough much to Tommy yrs.

Speaker 7 (27:35):
Well, no, no, no, there's two points there because you make
a good point. So Kyle looked the stat up for me.
If Rico doesn't score a touchdown next week, he'll be
the third player in NFL history to rush for over
one thousand yards and have less than two rushing touchdowns.
He's joining pretty good company here, Thomas Jones from the
New York Jets in two thousand and seventy at nineteen.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
Yards and.

Speaker 7 (27:59):
Garrett Hearst from Arizona in nineteen ninety five one thousand
and seventy rushing yards and one touchdown. To your point
on Saquon Barkley, Rico got asked that yesterday and he said, quote,
he's sitting the standard right now and doing what he's
supposed to do when he's had a great season. Think
he's probably about sixty away from the record, So hope
he can do that. That helps everybody out in the

(28:20):
running back world. So definitely a lot of appreciation for
what he's doing.

Speaker 8 (28:24):
Oh wow, I love that, love to see that running
back solidarity.

Speaker 7 (28:28):
And he's right because I think this this season has
showed you that in the last couple of years, where
people who have tried to tell you running backs aren't important,
running backs don't matter to an NFL offense nowadays still do.

Speaker 8 (28:41):
It's all cyclic, Still run the ball, cyclical.

Speaker 9 (28:43):
And now it's cycling back to running backs math yeah again, yeah, cycling.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
I mean, look at what's happening in college.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
I mean, one of the biggest names to look for
right now going into this week is Ashton gent who
could be a Cowboy next year. By the way, Cowboy's
currently picking at twelfth in the NFL right here for
just so you know. But the I mean, that's the
thing is he's he's got a chance to break Barry
Sanders all time rushing record. You've got a chance to
see Saquon Barkley this week break Eric Dickerson's mark. Now,

(29:11):
both of those guys have more games to work with
over the course of their schedule in order to do so,
but it is. It is a pretty good microcosm of Hey,
the running back position is not as devalued as it
may seem to be in the modern day NFL. With
that being said, now the decision will have to come from.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Rico Dowdell moving forward.

Speaker 8 (29:34):
It does, so.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
Let's talk about it. He's hit a thousand yards.

Speaker 4 (29:38):
He's done so with just the one touchdown and a
couple of fumbles along the way. Six fumbles, I believe right,
that's significant. That's a lot of fumbles for an RB one.
So my question to you is what's your confidence level
that he's back next year in a Dallas Cowboys uniform.
Remember he has more yards now than Tony Poller did

(30:00):
last year. And of course he's a little bit younger
than Tony Pollard. Tony Pollard signed his deal with Tennessee
at twenty seven years old, and Rico Dawdle is what
twenty six years old? I believe I'd have to live
he is twenty six, twenty six years So my question
is where are you looking at the value of Rico
Dawdle and where does that lead in the future.

Speaker 10 (30:22):
To just a quick correction, I only see three fumbles
for Rico on the season.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
Three loss fumbles, three lost yas, I think he's actually
put it on the ground. Yeah, okay, okay, is that true?

Speaker 6 (30:31):
Lost fumbles? Is two oh three total?

Speaker 1 (30:34):
Bumbled three times three times lost? Two? Where did I
see six?

Speaker 6 (30:38):
I don't know. Maybe it's I'm looking at ESPN.

Speaker 4 (30:40):
Yeah, maybe it's six total. Okay, I'm going to go
with your number. Yeah, three, So still three fumbles, had
a couple of those in the red zone, which is significant.
You gotta gotta hold on to the ball.

Speaker 6 (30:50):
I think yesterday, to me, it's a no brainer.

Speaker 10 (30:52):
I think you want to see what Rico continues to
do with his offense, especially if the same coaching staff returns.
I think you want to see how Rico builds on this.
But also I'm looking to the Lions here where they
have a David Montgomery and they have a Jamier Gibbs.
I think you are able if you are able to
get a playmaking running back in the draft or free
agency that is a kind of knuckles to your sign

(31:15):
or Sonic to your knuckles right, more of a quick,
great reference playmaker that is able to beat you with
his speed. I mean, you saw Quante Turpin kind of
spell in and do that. I would I would be
down to see more of that as well. But I
think you give him a contract, I think you have
him returned. I think you see how he builds the

(31:36):
top of the performance that he had this year.

Speaker 6 (31:39):
I think you need to see it.

Speaker 9 (31:41):
I one believe the Cowboys will try to keep Rico
Dwell in the building, and I am one hundred percent
in a green so that they should. That being said,
free agency is a two way street, and Rico Dawdle's
leverage as it stands may never be as high again
as it is right now, sure coming off of a

(32:01):
thousand yards season, So that means that he's going to
get suitors. And the question Rico Dawdle will need to
ask himself number one is the money, because because his
leverage may never again be this high, he may never
again get a chance at the size of the bag
that he's going to be offered from whatever team or
teams plural. But also he has to look at the

(32:22):
situation as well. Is the team offering him a deal,
be it the Cowboys or one of the other thirty
one are they offering him the deal as RB one,
Are they offering him the deal as a combo because
I think that Rico Daludo is tired of combos, right,
because the majority of his career in Dallas was spent
trying to earn his way behind Tony Poverd and Ezekiel Elliott.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yes, so then Zeke gets waived.

Speaker 4 (32:46):
And then even when they bring him back, right, they
still give it to Zeke to start in Cleveland, and
then you still see the reluctant side of things to
give him the ball until the second half of the season.

Speaker 8 (32:57):
Like they're just talking.

Speaker 9 (32:58):
And even still you've given him the ball second half
of the season. And Yards is going to love this
point because really pisses him off. When Rico tears off
a big run, you pull him off the field, and
then Zeke comes onto the field. So that's a scenario
where if he's to return to the Cowboys, I'm sure
Rico Dado is looking at it as what's my fit here,

(33:18):
and the same goals for any other team. I think
Rico Dado is looking for two things. One, he wants
to be the definitive RB one and in someone system.
He's tired of playing Robbin and any one of the
other Titan team Titans. Okay, he wants to be Bruce.
But at the same time, what does the money look like?
And you Tony Pollard averaging seven point two five million

(33:40):
dollars a year. Pollard had a better resume, yes, but
as far as the final season before departing, Rico.

Speaker 4 (33:49):
Is having a better season, right Yeah, yeah, So Racho
said the resume and what Pollard did previously. He had
more explosive runs, he had more touchdowns, he had more experience.
But you could also look at it from the running
back position as lower tread on the tires. So he's
a younger player by a small margin whenever he's signing
the second thing.

Speaker 9 (34:07):
And he's put the injury woes behind him for the
most part, So that's no longer a conversation at the moment.
So my point is Rico is going to get offers,
and they probably will be I.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Think it'd be about five to six.

Speaker 9 (34:18):
I was going to say five a year. That's probably
where he ends up landing. I don't know that the
Cowboys will be willing to do five year considering because
they're going to sell you the salary cap pie thing
and they're going to say, well, we got to pay Michael,
so we can't.

Speaker 8 (34:30):
Okay, fine, as long as you bring me genty. We
could talk about the list.

Speaker 4 (34:34):
Okay, there's a guy playing in bois right now. Then
you're talking about it and everybody has their eyes on.

Speaker 9 (34:38):
The Cowboys have that pipeline to say the least, to
boys draft a couple guys.

Speaker 10 (34:43):
And if you're picking at twelve, there's a much greater
chance than if you were to win out these.

Speaker 6 (34:47):
Last two games.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
Obviously, Yes, yeah, because you were at fifteen last week.

Speaker 7 (34:51):
You know why Rica's got a little bit more tread
on the tires because they take him out. And I,
I mean, I have no problem with Zeke coming in
for short air situation because he's the bigger back, he's
the more physical guy. I get that. But when Rico
comes takes off the field after he gains like thirty
yards and they're at the thirty yard line, it's like,

(35:11):
all right, Zeke, why do we just not want to
carry over positive moment? I just don't get it. So
unless he summon himself out, And that's just one of
the things that I don't know if it infuriates me,
because because I seem pretty infuriated, Well, it's just something
I don't understand. I think, calm down it very well.

(35:38):
Maybe something that I don't understand, but that's how it is.
I don't understand it. No, Rico Dawdle has earned every
single bit of the consideration to be a number one
running back really anywhere. I'm fully in agreement with what
Josh said. I think he took exactly what I was
going to say. There is no problem with having two

(36:00):
high end running backs in your offense. Sure you cannot
go wrong with that. The good thing that Rico Dadell
gives you, and we've seen it this year because he
somehow has more receiving touchdowns than he does rushing touchdowns,
is he can catch the ball out of the backfield.
So that's increasingly more and more valuable in today's NFL
is getting the ball out of the backfield, being able
to be that kind of scatback type guy at the

(36:23):
running back position, to be able to do a lot
of different things. And if you've got two of those
guys where you've got a bruiser and you've got a
scat back, then you've got a lot of options on
offense because you can run the football and if your
receivers are covered, if you have a guy like Ceede
Lamb when he comes back next year, and you bring
in a wide receiver two, whether it be in the
draft or in free agency, and that's going to being
so much attention downfield. When you can check down and

(36:45):
get five, seven, ten yards, that's going to help you
out a lot on offense. And I think Rico Daddle
can do that for you. I think he should be
back in Dallas now. Patrick brings up a good point
of is the price tag going to be a little
bit too hot?

Speaker 4 (36:58):
Was that?

Speaker 7 (37:00):
That's where I stand?

Speaker 6 (37:02):
I have a question.

Speaker 10 (37:03):
Yeah, you know, let's say God forbid, Let's say Rico
decides to go to another team, he gets the bag,
which is, you know, great for him, right, Yeah, then
you are not stuck.

Speaker 6 (37:12):
I don't want to say that.

Speaker 10 (37:13):
Then you have duce font a running back that you
have not used to his abilities at all. Do you
trust that the offensive coordinator would give him a chance
to carry any sort of the load next season? And
what kind of running back would you need to supplement

(37:34):
a guy like duce Fon if that is one of
your starting running backs next season.

Speaker 9 (37:39):
Well, to answer your questions, am b A. So if
we're talking the science of the matter, you got to
go by the data in front of you, and the
data in front of me suggests that the Cowboys can't
seem to figure out how to utilize duce Fon to
the full of stuff his abilities right, And they've tried,
not once or twice, but at several times since he's

(38:02):
come into this league to try to get him in
their shoot, horn him in there, and it's just not working.

Speaker 8 (38:08):
There's a disconnect there.

Speaker 9 (38:09):
So I'm not confident that dynamic can be figured out
magically suddenly going into.

Speaker 8 (38:17):
Another It's not like it'll be.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
Your first full off time. But if there were science.

Speaker 9 (38:24):
If they were science, if they were to figure that
out magically, the science doesn't believe that they can. But
to answer your second question, you would need a hammer.
You would need a hammer because, like like Tommy was saying,
if you're going to have a scat back, which is
essentially what duce Von amounts to, you got to have

(38:45):
somebody who can just pound and ground, right, who can
get you those dirty runs in between the A gap
to B gap and takes a lot of that bruising
that Ezekiel Elliott was brought in to take right, So
don't don't So you started that, I saw your face.

Speaker 7 (39:00):
I didn't do anything.

Speaker 8 (39:01):
It's to see you almost.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
Went to Tommy again, another outburst like that, just to see.

Speaker 9 (39:06):
But yeah, so you got to have someone who can
come in and do the dirty work if you're going
to try your best to make Douce that step back.
But just circling back to your first point, nothing indicates
to me that can be figured out.

Speaker 6 (39:18):
Of course, but he is one of the running backs
that is going to be on your roster next year.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
Yeah, he's under contract. Yeah, the one thing. It doesn't
mean that you're going to be aver. He's under contract.

Speaker 9 (39:28):
I think it's more fair to say that you they
probably assuming McCarthy is back, and just let's just assume
nothing change.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
Now we don't know that it will or wuldn't.

Speaker 9 (39:38):
That's fair, that's fair, But for the sake of argument,
assuming nothing changes, you didn't have to assume nothing will change.
When it comes to Duzvon and the Hunter Lipkey equation,
which I say to say, I think Hunter Lipkey would
get the nod before dus Von would get the nod.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
There's there's a chance at that I'd agree with that
there's a chance at that. The the other thing that
it does too.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
If you don't bring back Rico dabtle It Pigeon holds
you in the top one hundred picks one of your
Remember you don't have your fourth round pick right now.
You might get a camp Oh yeah, you traded for
a guy who hasn't played very well.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
Anyways, you don't have your fourth round pick.

Speaker 4 (40:12):
So in your top three rounds you would have to
one good pass and yeah, you would have to end
up taking a running back, plain and simple. If you
don't bring back Dubt you're spending a first, second, or
third round pick on a running back.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
So that's a lot to keep in mind as well.

Speaker 4 (40:26):
Patrick brings up a point, and I want to talk
about it when we come back.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
I want this Cowboys.

Speaker 4 (40:33):
Franchise to make a decision on their head coach, and
I want them to make it this week.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
I'll tell you why.

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(41:00):
the beef stew.

Speaker 3 (41:01):
At and T five G.

Speaker 13 (41:03):
Fast, reliable, secure.

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Speaker 16 (41:41):
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Speaker 3 (42:10):
And we're going to overtime.

Speaker 12 (42:13):
Erica, how much have I spent on concessions?

Speaker 17 (42:15):
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(42:35):
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Speaker 3 (42:42):
To Talking Cowboys.

Speaker 4 (42:52):
Back here on Talking Cowboys. This segment is brought to
you buy in Visline the official Smile of the Dallas Cowboys,
Patrick noci Walker, Josh Rodriguez, Tom, you are as Chris.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
Beam in the back. I'm Kyle Yeoman's glad you're with us,
all right. I said it. I want the Cowboys to
make a decision.

Speaker 6 (43:06):
I'm gonna say I'm gonna say it.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
I'm gonna say it.

Speaker 4 (43:09):
I want the Cowboys to make their decision on their
head coach this week, this week. I don't want them
to make it after the season comes to a close.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
Here's why.

Speaker 4 (43:17):
One point number one out of unnamed amount of points
I'm about to make.

Speaker 1 (43:22):
Point number one.

Speaker 4 (43:24):
If you get blown out by Washington like you did
last week against Philadelphia, does it change anything in your
mindset of the future of this team.

Speaker 8 (43:33):
No.

Speaker 4 (43:33):
No, If you win in a blowout fashion so complete
polar opposites, does it change the future of what you
think about this organization? No, it absolutely does not. You
know now what you're going to do one way or
the other. This Washington game has zero effect on what
your head coach will be in the future, whether you're
deciding to extend him totally fine, cool with it.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
Extend him.

Speaker 4 (43:57):
If you're waiting and you're gonna let him go and
you're gonna move on to a new head coach, that's
totally fine as well.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
Make the decision.

Speaker 4 (44:05):
Do it this week, because then this game can hold weight,
because then you get a look at a whole different
element of your roster without the penalty or without the
pressure of going in and trying to win the game. Specifically,
you get to see guys like Trey Lance, Douce Fawn,
Jonathan Mingo. You get to see guys on the defensive
side of the football that you haven't seen previously, and

(44:27):
you get to do it with either an interim head
coach as Mike Zimmer or interim head coach is Al Harris.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
Or your head coach of the future in Mike McCarthy.

Speaker 4 (44:36):
So either way, make a decision. If you're going to
make a decision postseason. Anyways, you haven't extended him yet.
The report last week was that talks have stalled. Either
get the talks going again and make a decision that
he will be your head coach of the future, or
move on so that way you get to see who
will be in the future.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
A Dallas Cowboy. That's my point.

Speaker 4 (44:58):
It needs to happen this week in my opinion, to
be effective as a front office and as this team
moves forward.

Speaker 9 (45:05):
No notes, I agree, yeah, no notes, because either way,
if you're going to keep him, you need to hit
the ground running as soon as this regular season concludes
with trying to shuffle pieces around and having that conversation
which assistant coaches are going to stay, which assistant coaches
are going to go, who might you replace them with,
and start building that process for twenty twenty five as

(45:25):
quickly as possible. If you're going to part ways with
Mike McCarthy, it gets start as.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
Quickly as possible.

Speaker 9 (45:31):
You need to open up the door to potential interviews
and things like that, especially for teams that may be
entering the playoffs, whatever the case may be. So either
way that cal said, either way, the sooner the better.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
And let me reiterate, I'm not saying fire Mike McCarthy,
that is sound.

Speaker 4 (45:47):
I'm saying make a decision either extend him in destry
or don't.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
Let it drag out into the outlet. And that's the
last thing you want as an organize.

Speaker 9 (45:54):
Because it's also going to negatively impact free agency because
if you let it drag out, and as it drags out,
you don't know if McCarthy's staying, is he going Keep
it in mind that McCarthy's going to get some interest
as well. I know right now coming off of the
Eagles loss, recency bias will tell fans who wants McCarthy,
and Chicago will want McCarthy's.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
That's the situation.

Speaker 9 (46:12):
There will be some teams that want a Super Bowl
winning head coach, so he's going to have that decision
to make. But if you drag this out, then it
becomes more of a fifty to fifty ify thing, and
free agency starts approaching, the new league year starts approaching,
and as your scouts start to do their work on
trying to build their boards for the draft, and you
don't even know who you're really building it for.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
Me. You set it in the last segments. You said it.

Speaker 4 (46:34):
In the last segment, you're like, let's assume that Mike
McCarthy is back even doing any sort of assuming.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
What do they say about assuming? You're making ass out
of you and me? Exactly? Like that's the thing.

Speaker 4 (46:45):
You're assuming everything right now? Stop assuming make a decision,
make a decision.

Speaker 6 (46:50):
I like it and floor it and start Tree Lance,
just do it.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
That could happen too, honestly, just either way, it's art him.

Speaker 6 (46:57):
Why not five million dollars for a season?

Speaker 10 (47:00):
Freaking start him, dude, Like, what are we playing for
at this point?

Speaker 1 (47:03):
Start him well? And that's another reason why I want
them to make a decision.

Speaker 4 (47:06):
I don't want Mike McCarthy having to go into this
final game questioning his future and saying, you know, what
best chance to win games is Cooper Rush and my
futures in the balance.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
I'm gonna start Cooper Rush.

Speaker 4 (47:16):
If you extend him, if you make a decision, if
you decide to move on, you make a decision. Then
either way you can say, Okay, I feel comfortable throwing
out some of these guys and seeing what we have
in the future. Out of the lesser played players, Rico
Daddle has a thousand yard ceed lambs out for the season.
You've got Cooper Rush who just threw two picks and
coming off of one of his worst games of the year.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
Why not listen? Why not? I'm now this pisses me off.
This is your Rico Dada one touchdown? Yeah, the whole.

Speaker 9 (47:46):
Everyone who follows the show, follows me on Twitter, knows
that I have been in evaluation mode for quite a while,
and a large part of my evaluation mode is I
want to see Trey Lance because I want to see
as he if he's worth the conversation at free agency,
as far as potential QB two right for behind Dak
Prescott in twenty twenty five, It's not happened.

Speaker 8 (48:03):
It's not happened. It's not happened.

Speaker 9 (48:04):
You go into the Eagles game, Cooper Rush throws the
ball away twice on unforgivable interceptions. It ultimately helps lead to,
you know, Eagles getting twenty four points.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
You're at the half and.

Speaker 8 (48:15):
You're on the road, and there was no more of.

Speaker 9 (48:18):
A perfect time for you to send Trey Lance in
and maybe invigorate the offense, maybe in shot.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
They didn't do it, and they did not.

Speaker 9 (48:27):
And when I saw Cooper Rush coming back out and
it was not Trey Lance, I officially threw my hands
up and said, you know what, one of those all right, okay, Mike, okay,
f me then okay to that point, now, I'm so
over it because the second half wasn't given to Trey Lance.

(48:47):
I don't even care if they start Trey Lance against
the commanders. Show me, will Grear, just just just put
start Will Grear. So you give me somebody to evaluate.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
I want to. I know, Cooper rush Is.

Speaker 9 (49:01):
I need something to evaluate for twenty twenty five, twenty
twenty four is done.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
It's done, so it's over.

Speaker 9 (49:07):
It's a wrap for need to roll the credits and
bring the curtains to a close.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
Show me that you've already said no. See, I'm not
going to give your train lasts.

Speaker 12 (49:15):
Ok.

Speaker 9 (49:16):
Cool, you will give me give me the guy that
had a heightsman.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
Vote, give me, give me. We'll wantre It was a
badass in college. It's one more than I got.

Speaker 7 (49:26):
Yeah, we don't need to talk about a college days.
I mean, you guys all have good points. I think
human nature, you know, naturally tells us that you you
genuine You get more trying to find the right word
for this honeymoon sugar. When you know what the future
looks like like, it's easier to operate. Like word, it's

(49:49):
easier to operate. It's easier to operate moving towards the future. Yes,
when you have a clear pastic idea of what it
looks like when there's a lot, have a plan and
what's and yeah, when there's alignment in what's going forward.
So what this team needs is alignment. They're not aligned
because your head coach doesn't know if his job is safe.

(50:11):
The rest of the staff doesn't know if their jobs
are safe. Some of these players don't know if their
jobs are safe. You need to get alignment. You can't
deal with the player's portion of it until free agency starts.
You can resign some guys now, Michael Parsons, and but
the biggest stepping stone that you can get to moving
forward there is making a decision on mich McCarthy.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
Yay. So once you've got.

Speaker 7 (50:33):
Alignment, things start to slowly and slowly churn and get better. Yes,
and maybe even it doesn't get better. But once you
once you align, you can at least move towards the
future and try to execute your plan. Whether that plan
is successful or not, that's all just left to be seen.

Speaker 8 (50:48):
Yeah, I just set sail with no destination, no.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
Correct and we made our feelings very heard. Last week.

Speaker 4 (50:55):
We had an extensive conversation on this show about Mike
McCarthy his future respect that you need to show for
the way this team fought down the stretch and the
way that things started this season can be a knock,
just like the playoff success. So one way or the other,
we made our thoughts very very true. That doesn't change
with a forty one to seven loss in Philadelphia, nor

(51:15):
would it change in Washington either. So make a decision
one way or the other. Let's start moving toward twenty
twenty five in the right direction. And that's that's my
one plea. That's my one plea of the year. I
don't ask for.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
Much, but that is that is, but that is what
I'm asking for.

Speaker 9 (51:32):
I ask for a lot, give you will career, ask
for your head to be relevant in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (51:37):
Would be nice. Thanks, That's what I asked for. Man,
it would be nice. All right.

Speaker 4 (51:41):
That's gonna do it for us here on Talking Cowboys.
We will be back for a New Year's Eve edition tomorrow,
a little ring out the twenty twenty four ring in
the new year with by ringing the phone lines.

Speaker 7 (51:55):
How about that?

Speaker 1 (51:56):
Yeah, we'll talking to you. Yeah, yeah, you interrupted my bar.
Its fine, Oh sorry, no it.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
Was sorry for Patrick, No sy Walker, for Josh Rodriguez,
for tommy Rs, Chris Beam in the back of Kyle
Yeomans saying so long from talking Cowboys will see you tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (52:13):
This has been a production of dallascowboys dot Com and
the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.