Stephen A. expects the Cowboys to take a ‘nosedive’ after Week 11 of the 2025 season 👀 | First Take

Stephen A. expects the Cowboys to take a ‘nosedive’ after Week 11 of the 2025 season 👀 | First Take

back in action and he’ll be shining in prime time. Stephen A, listen to this. The Cowboys, they’ve got six prime time games. So, after their week 10 buy, they enter a tough stretch with short rest. The Cowboys will host the Eagles in week 12, followed by a home match up against the Chiefs on Thanksgiving Day. My goodness. And wrapping up a three-game stretch in 13 days with a visit to the Detroit Lions. Wow, that is a tough second half. Stephen A. Molly, what did Jerry Jones buy Stephen A’s suit today? You’re right. I’m just Wow, I’m just now noticing this. Look like Jerry, you are really repping the star. You are repping the star today on the show. Are you Stephen A. Smith or Stephen Jones Jr. Junior? Bro, yo, I literally came into this studio. I’m talking about the Knicks. I got the Knicks on my mind. And I swear to you, it wasn’t until 30 seconds ago when Ryan Clark looked at me and said, “You have on Cowboy Colors.” I was like, “Oh my god, I didn’t know. I didn’t know. I didn’t know, man. You probably It wasn’t intentional, man. You probably jinxing the Knicks right now dressed up like that.” Cuz what do you always say? What do you always say? See, what can happen? What can go wrong? What can go wrong will go wrong with the Dallas Cowboys? That’s only applicable to the Dallas. What about the nation? It’s only for the Dallas Cowboys because we’re not a delusional, nauseiating, disgusting fan base. So, that doesn’t apply to us. I don’t disagree. Oh, please. Oh, please. We are very much realist. Okay. We haven’t won a night the title since 1973. So, we know we know how often we’ve stunk. We are aware. We don’t sit up there going you know going to win this NBA championship next year, right? We don’t do that. Every time y’all win a playoff game or playoff series, what happened? What happened with your phone? It start on the wall. It start on the wall and then it be like this. Well, that’s what every single time, you know, but notice I haven’t done that to you. But you know, but you know what? But you know what? You know how I know Ryan is true? Cuz I live with a Knicks fan and she is obnoxious. She has been beyond obnoxious. That’s why your wife is so wonderful. You see, now you see what I’m dealing with. She’s Knicks and Cowboys. No, no, no. What about you dealing with you? You You understand what I’m saying? You and your Mr. But I’m not. But see, I’m not flagrant with my with my Lakers, you know, and anything like a habitual loser outside of marriage. Outside outside of marriage and raising beautiful children and being an awesome grandmother, she’s a habitual loser. Yeah. What? You won though. Huh? You won championship. I won. Yeah. Yeah. I won. I got rings. And she don’t have the She She got the most important rings. No, no, no. See, I see. I caught myself. I caught myself. I caught myself to ring the camera. Yeah, that’s right. She got the most important being. See, I caught myself. Molly, don’t do that. Tell me stop being messy. Happy home. Stop messing with a happy home. Stop messing with a happy home. Let’s go. M. Oh my gosh. Is Dallas a legit threat to win the NFC East Darcy? No. Thank you. No. But Dallas is a team that right now when you look at their roster construction will be competing to be in the playoffs. It’s all about the way this team starts the season. Brian Shottimer has said, “Okay, I’m trying to change the culture.” And by changing the culture, I’m going to put Micah Parsons, who is the most talented player on this team, with Dak Prescott, who is the most respected player on this team. Now, what are you going to do with George Pickkins? Where will George Pickkins fit into that locker room? Because we know on the field, he’s going to produce. We know on the field he’s going to get one-on- ones. on the field. He brings something to Dallas that they do not have in that structure, in that skill room, in those skill options until you bring him in. Defensively, how do you shore up the back end? What are you going to do to stop the run? This team has an opportunity to compete, but must we forget Philadelphia in this division, right? The Washington Commanders are in this division. This is going to be a tough division to win, but I do believe the Cowboys have a chance to compete to be a playoff team. I will say this, a lot of this depends on Dak Prescott playing 17 games. When Dak Prescott plays 17 games, you can almost book the Cowboys for a minimum nine wins. Yeah, nine wins. And that’s just, you know, you can give me the the the scur on your face and all that, but when Dak Prescott plays, he usually wins in the regular season. Book him for at minimum nine games. Okay, nine games. Now, they have other factors to worry about. They need to run the ball better. They got to stop the run. But I think the Cowboys are are closer to the Commanders than they are to the Philadelphia Eagles. I think that’s where when we look at the Cowboys, look at them against the Washington Commanders. So, what you’re saying is they’ll be battling for second place within the division. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I say third. I say not second, I say third because So, so, so, so they’re New York Giantish to you. Well, so you so are you saying they’re closer to the Giants than the Commanders? No, what I’m saying is they come into third place in the NFC East. All right. And as a result, I mean, are y’all pulling Are you putting any respect on Dak Prescott’s name? I was getting ready to ask that. Was I was going to next? Because um I want to ask you, RC, I want to make sure I’m clear. You sure you got that right where Dak Prescott’s the most respected cowboy? I mean, do people respect the dude that you know ain’t going to show up after January? I mean, I’m just asking. I’m just You said it. You said it. I’m just taking your words. I’m just taking your words as a fair question. I think it’s a very, very fair question. You’re twisting my words. I’m asking a question. I’m asking a question. Yes. The way that Dak Prescott leads, the way that Dak Prescott approaches his job, the man that he is walking in and out of that stadium every day. Absolutely. He’s the most respected Dallas Cowboy. And you act like Dak Prescott has never produced in his career. This is a guy that finished the second MVP voting two years ago. Fabulous regular season quarterback. I think he’s a fabulous regular season quarterback. That’s what I think of him. I So So, so there’s no team failure in the playoffs. I I think that he’s a fabulous regular season quarterback who does an outstanding job of making sure that he gets paid. I give him credit for that. So he’s Kurt Cousins. So he’s Kurt Cousins. Hold up. Can we lock in on their second half schedule? Cuz Stephen and I, I don’t think you really looked at this. Um I have the schedule right in front of me. Thank you very much. It’s right here. It’s right here, Molly. Oh, look at Right here. Okay. Okay. So, do you have a reaction to the gauntlet? That is the I see I see I see a nose dive taking place after week 11. It’s Monday Night Football and then after that the Eagles, the Chiefs, the Lions, the Vikings, the Chargers, the Commanders. I see the Dallas Cowboys losing at least three or four of those games at least. Okay, that’s why they got to start fast. That’s what Oh, they have to start fast. So, they have to really show up in September. Now, Brian Shenov, did you talk about Brian Shenov and the changing the culture? I mean, that was funny to hear. That was funny to hear. You mean the Brian shot that nobody was thinking about? Nobody wanted that. Jeffrey Joe just punted out of obscurity and gave him the head coach. He was the offensive coordinator. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Really? But who was calling the plays? Who’s calling the play? Michael. There we go. So, anybody even call the plays? I mean, what was he doing? By the way, just educate me because I realize See, I’m brilliant because I know I’m not. I listen to those who are. Y’all played. Y’all won. I did it. I got to ask y’all a question. If you’re an offensive coordinator, but you ain’t calling plays, what exactly is it that you do? So, wait, you help? Well, let me help you guys. Okay. First of all, you help with the you help with the game plan. You help with the game plan. I will say this. I will say this. Okay. Now, when I play with the Jets, Brian Shenhammer was my officer coordinator. We were very we were very successful during that time. Yes, they were. So, yeah. You said the Jets were successful. Two AFC Champions. Two AFC Championship games. He was the officer coordinator. understand that. But I I recall that’s Mark Sanchez. Yeah, Mark Sanchez. Yeah, D. Yeah, that was right. Now Now he has Dak Prescott. Now he has Dak offense. Anything to write home about with Mark Sanchez? They were physical and they could run the ball. Now, now he has Dak Prescottionship game. Now he has Dak Prescott. Now he has Dak Prescott. But also too, you got to remember this, like a guy like Mike McDaniel, right? Mike McDaniel didn’t call plays in San Francisco, but he was the run game coordinator. When you look at what he was able to do offensively in Miami, what about without Well, you need a good quarterback, Stephen H. I’m supposed to I’m supposed to I’m supposed to I’m supposed to run Skyler Thompson out there and win. That’s exactly where I’m going. You understand? But Dak Prescott’s a good quarterback. He’s a damn good quarterback in regular season. He’s a damn good quarterback in the regular season. We’re talking about where they will finish in the NFC East. I can’t I can’t do that conversation. I can’t do anything about the postseason right now. I’m just right now I’m just focused on the regular season. I ve my bad. I’ll get back to the regular season. Okay. So, we just look at it. I mean, just look at it right here. I mean, they do have the Packers week four. You week three, Eagles week one. I see two losses in the first four weeks. I see two two losses first week. That’s what I see. I don’t know if everybody else. That’s what I see. Okay. And then I just I guess I got to look at Commanders in week seven. I mean, that’s a potential at the Broncos. Tough game. At the Broncos week eight. Okay. All right. We we we don’t know about the and then how you hell see this is the Cowboys. How the hell has this happen? You got a Monday night game in week nine, a by-week in g week 10, and then another Monday night game in week 11. What is that? They’re America’s team. They’re America’s team, Steve. America. America’s team. America’s team. Because you know what they know? They know even at that point of the season, if the Cowboys feel to us like they will not be a playoff contender, you going to talk about them on Tuesday morning after that Monday night game? After the Monday night game. But if it was Sunday, I probably would. Yeah. You know, it depends. It depends. I didn’t talk about them a lot last night. We really really did it. I mean, they disappointed me. I was hurt because they stunk early. I want them to be good early and stink later. So, let me ask you a question. Do you think Do you think the Cowboys make the playoffs this year? No. Oh, by the way, did you hear Dan Olowski? I mean, I think they’re going to make this. I think Dan Olowski gave the football take of the year. Did you hear what he said? It’s on national television. He said with the cameras rolling, y’all, I got I got proof. He went like this. Cowboys is great. And then he mentioned eight teams. He said, “Other than those guys, I think they’re great. It’s hilarious.” I mean, I couldn’t get over it. I couldn’t I mean, it was the funniest take of the year. He literally gave you eight teams in the NFC and they said, “Other than those guys.” I mean, the Cowboys are right there. You mean other than the You mean other than the playoff teams? If it was basketball, if it was basketball, they could be in the playin tournament. That’s right. But it’s not. Ain’t no three-pointers in football. Ain’t no dunks in football. You understand? It’s touchdowns. It’s tackles. That’s what it is. You have to say field goals. There we go. Stephen points. Who’s gonna start hotter? Cowboys, Bengals? Because you always have something to say about the Bengals starts. That’s a great question. M. That’s the best question. I got to give it to you. That’s what I mean. Julies, I got to think about that. It’s early in 2025. She got some more. Yeah, she got some more in the arsenal. I’m going to say the Bengals. I’m going to say the Bengals because I’ve been riding them about the fact that I mean listen I personally and I’m dead serious about this. I think there needs to be an investigation into what the hell Zack Tal and his staff are doing in the offseason. Why the hell can’t you win in September? They I mean they literally in the first the first two games I mean over the last six years their record is like 1 and 11. Yeah. All right. To start the season. I’m It’s ridiculous. They don’t show up. It’s like what the hell are you doing in the offseason to prepare for the start of season? It don’t start in October. It starts in September. I think they hear that noise. I think Joe Burrow, I believe in that, brother. You should too. LSU, you should too. Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins. Listen, they kept them. I’m like, yo, they going to start off strong this year. They they’re going to start fast because when you watch the way that this team finished last year, they understand they know what December is about. They know what early January is about. How do we fix September? And and then Woody talked about this on Get Up. Whatever their plan is for training camp, that has to change. We also have to remember you went out and you got Al Golden from Notre Dame, right? Al Golden, who’s been to a Super Bowl as the coach, as an assistant coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. He knows this team. He knows this organization. It’s going to be I talked to a defensive coordinator this offseason at one of the pro days and he told me this. I said, “Who’s the best quarterback you play?” And he said, “Joe Burrow.” He’s like, “Josh and Patrick and Lamar can make nothing out of something, but they’re normally making that nothing out of something because they missed the something.” He said Joe Burrow never misses and I believe he won’t miss in fixing what’s been wrong with this team in the first four weeks. and give him a lot of credit because he came on first take during Super Bowl week and on national television applied pressure to the Cincinnati Bengals organization to resign those guys and they did just that and they did Heat. Heat.

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Ryan Clark and Damien Woody take a look at the Cowboys’ 2025 schedule and debate whether Dallas are a legit threat to win the NFC East this season.

0:00 Worst fan base: Knicks or Cowboys?
3:25 Is Dallas a legit threat to win the NFC East?
5:00 The Cowboys will be battling for 3rd in their division – Stephen A.
7:00 Stephen A.‘s reaction to the Cowboys’ 2025 schedule release
9:20 Where will the Cowboys finish in the NFC East?
11:25 Who’s gonna have a better start to the season: Cowboys or Bengals?
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