Deep Blue: The Wall 2.0 | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Deep Blue: The Wall 2.0 | Dallas Cowboys 2025

[Music] Goowboys. [Music] Wow, for a night game. The temperature is in the mid40s. There’s hardly any wind is what the Cowboys and the Giants have to play in tonight. So Babe Laughenberg, the thought occurs that if these Cowboys are who the seven and three record says they are, then they will take care of their business in the last six games. I I I worry. Well, look at Larry Donnell. Look at Odell Beckham. Look at look at Ruben Randall. Uh it’s easy to see why you worry. Back to throw. Looking in the left flat over the middle, wide open for a first down. Le Manning back to throw on third down into the end zone. buck for a touchdown by Beckham. Little play fake. Half roll left. Flip it down the field to Hannah. Caught it for a first down. Throwing on the run. Got a man open at the 26. Snap and hold. The 38 yd kick by Bailey is good. Play fake. Bootleg right. Stops and looks deep down the right side. One for one. Flags everywhere. It’ll be pass interference, but it’s caught. Be thick of a remarkable catch for a touchdown. My goodness. Wow. This kid must be good. You have to be kidding me. That is impossible. That may be the greatest catch I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s in the conversation. Wow. Yeah, it was just an unbelievable play and a lot of people remember that game for Odell’s catch and and rightfully so. It was an amazing play, but I always remind them that we won the game. The Giants have run 70 plays to the Cowboys 45 tonight, but it still comes down to Dallas has a chance. 111 left. Second down and two at the 13 in the Sherwin Williams red zone. New York 28, Dallas 24. Obviously Odell catch got all the hype, but I do remember that play was like 10 11 seconds and Romo dart did it. Second down, a short two. Romo in an empty gun looking left. looking middle. Pumps looking right. And you know, Tony’s looking around, moving around, jumping around, but if you look in front of Tony, it’s just a wall. All we knew was to keep going. And the only way you knew the play was gone was when the ball was passed you. I caught I know I looked back a couple times like, “Bro, throw this ball.” Like we Somebody got to be open by now. No play clock, like block to the whistle, do all this. And you just like you almost brainwash yourself. pumps. Looking right, looking left, standing, standing, standing, standing, standing, throwing it in the end zone. Touchdown. He could have sat back there for 30 seconds and I guarantee you that the three guys that they were blocking wouldn’t have got there. I think Pierre Paul was playing right defensive end on that particular play and you know, Tyron blocked him for 10 seconds. Honestly, look at all of us. We’re not tired and we were continue ready to play for more and and that was the play that allowed us to win the game and it goes back to the linemen. They were going to finish each and every play because that’s just who they were. They’re Hall of Fame players. These are three of my very favorite players. I mean, I I don’t I don’t just like these guys. I love these guys. The Landry shift. You had a lot of adversity to overcome tonight. This is an impressive win for this Dallas football team. Roger takes the snap. Bumps it. Watch. He’s going long. Sweetness make a place for Ev. [Music] But I’m not going to say a word, but I will say one thing right now. How about them cowboy? [Applause] Okay, football fans, welcome to the 2011 NFL draft. you know, as you build the team during that draft, you were looking at the best players available, and there was a couple tackles, there was Castanzo, there was Nate Soldier, and there was Tyron, and those guys were um in the discussion as we were going through the best player at that position. It was neck and neck. Um Hudson stood on the table for him, Hudson Hal, and and that was the start of it because, you know, like I I’ve been coaching forever and not seen anything like that. And he stood on the table and the other guys were really good, but there was something different about Tyron. I thought he had and many others did too. He had the highest character grade in the whole draft and he started that at a tremendous young age. Since I couldn’t play, you know, Pop Warner or youth football or anything like that when I was younger, um it was just work. And so it was working till I find opportunity to play the game. And so even though we didn’t like it as kids, you know, being a janitorial business and things like that, um, you know, instilled into us like, you know, hard work would actually eventually pay pay off. And so the balance was it was a little tough, you know, after school, practice, come home, eat dinner, go to work. The same thing for, you know, we play a game on Friday night and then go to work. And that’s what the theme was. It was play, go to work, and then just rarely had any rest. was was just the time we got the rest was in the car. He represented everything that we wanted to build in our program. There was a real need on the offensive line and when I became the head coach, I had some conversations with Jerry and with Steven. We we agreed that, hey, you know, in order to do this right, we might have to start this rebuild now and it’s going to be drastic. And so we were very strong in our evaluation of offensive linemen, particularly offensive tackles. With the ninth pick in the 2011 NFL draft, the Dallas Cowboys select, Tyan Smith, offensive tackle USC. Tyron, hey, how you doing? Congratulations, man. Thank you. I can’t tell you how excited we are to have you and uh you’re going to have a hell of a future with the Dallas Cowboys. So, I’m proud to play for you. The only thing that was going through my head, I just hope I get picked and um the place I was hoping to get picked was here. And so, I didn’t want to let anybody down and I wanted to, you know, contribute as much as possible to the team. Um it’s a great opportunity and um I’m I feel very blessed to be in this spot right now and um just want to get down to business now. I want to start working again. If you’re trying to build a left tackle, you know, Tyron Smith is the guy you build. I He’s everything you want. His size, his length, his hand size, his uh his quickness. He has every trait that you would want in an offensive lineman playing that position. Tyron Smith is your prototypical left tackle. the punch, the ability to recognize and react, the ability to move your feet, the ability to sit and anchor, and then the ability, you know, you can have all that ability and things be easy, but he worked so hard at everything he did. I came in and um all the mistakes that as a rookie would make and, you know, going different going wrong ways and plays and things like that and running into people. I had my first game where it just wasn’t going like I wanted to and it was against Philly going against Babin and he was just, you know, wanted to spin guys. I never went against a guy like that and I never gave I never gave it that many sacks during the game. I was just just frustrated and next thing you know D put pull me to the side and start working after practice, you know, much as we could and to get me prepared next time he was going to play against them. credits Demarcus Wear with teaching him how to be a football player at this level. Wear showed him his whole rookie year how to watch film, what technique worked against great defensive players, and so he had to prepare differently and he wouldn’t make the same mistake. So even if Dary beat him, it wasn’t going to be the way he beat him the day before. But Tyron, you know, he stepped into the challenge. Yeah, I kind of realized that you can’t muscle everything. getting it’s a technique to this whole game. And I learned real quick going against him on one ones during training camp, you know, first rep, you know, lock him down and feel like I did something. And then you saw the look on his face and know that he’s going to, you know, have something prepared the next rep. Um, he just has certain moves I wasn’t ready for. And throughout the year, he just kind of pull me to the side and we worked a little bit here and there to kind of show me what this league is really about and what I’m going to see going down the line. It just showed like all the work you can put in after practice actually will contribute to the game because next time we did play clean game [Music] and we had drafted Tyron in 2011. and now it’s 2013 and we felt like we needed to get better on defense. So, we thought long and hard about taking a defensive player uh in the first round and and when we got to that pick, you know, we just felt like Travis was the best player for us. Going into the draft, I had a little bit different expectations. It wasn’t the place that I dreamed to be at the time. during one of my workouts. Um, Coach Callahan came and worked me out before and uh, he really grinded me in that workout, turned to my agent and said I would give up being a first round pick as long as I don’t have to go to the Dallas Cowboys. I saw the Cowboys trade down their pick at 18. And it was that was the sure that, you know, they were coming to get me. With the 31st pick in the 2013 NFL draft, the Dallas Cowboys select, Travis Frederick, center, Wisconsin. Wow. Wow. Wow. I have a third round grade on Travis Frederick. A typical Wisconsin offensive lineman. He’s tough. He takes great angles. He’s strong. But I had a third round grade on him. And I think it’s a little bit of a reach at this point. going into the draft, you’re told, “Don’t listen to anything anybody says.” And so, you you learn to ignore it for the most part, but it’s kind of hard to miss in Dallas when you get drafted and all of the draft grades are are low and everybody’s blown up. You know, why would we do that? And there was some some criticism about how fast he ran and some of the measurables in terms of his movement were only okay, but when you watched him play on tape, uh he was he was phenomenal. He was so smart. He loved football. He was passionate about it. He was so strong. So good in the run game. So good in the pass game. We had no doubts about that. Jason was really big on it. The center. The center has to control everything. One of the things we talked about for Tony was he felt most comfortable with a firm middle of the pocket. He could handle the stuff coming off the edges. Travis was extremely smart and he was super strong and uh but that was the number one thing. Jason wanted to firm up the middle and Travis was the answer for that. I did want to prove uh to myself that I belonged here and I deserved that pick that they used and that would have been the case whatever pick that was. Uh you know I wanted to prove my worth and make sure that uh I was worth being here. Make sure you spell your name right. For our room we were excited. Um, we take all the help we can get and we had somebody like Tra come in. They made things a lot easier for us. To the credit of our scouts, I thought they did a great job and uh it was a position we targeted during the draft and obviously we want to improve and upgrade our offensive line when the pick came up and his name was on the board. He was the first guy there uh that uh was left after everybody was was gone in the first round. So, it couldn’t worked out any better than what it did after I got here. The workouts didn’t get any easier. In fact, they got harder. Focus on the details became even more apparent. Tyron will remember we used to sit in the first 5 minutes of our meeting, we would watch film of Nick Mangold and all the different clips of zooming in on his hand because he didn’t wear a glove. And in college, I wore a glove. So, I should not be wearing a glove because Nick Mangle didn’t wear a glove. and we would watch it until the day I finally got sick of it, took the glove off and we never saw those clips again. And every day there’d be something new that that Coach Callahan would be teaching and he would show it first thing in the meetings. You know, all of the rest of the vets have to sit around and it’s clearly on there just for me. So, it’s a little bit embarrassing, but those are lessons that I learned hard while I was there and and appeared hard in the time, but when you look back, those are some of the most important lessons that I probably ever received in the game of football. Spot it. Spot it. Spot. The center and quarterback relationship has to be unique. When I first started, I remember going out into OTAAS for the first year and Tony was out uh he was not practicing for the OTAAS and things like that. And the second team would be out there and I’d be sitting there getting a drink of water and all of a sudden Tony would pop up behind me. Hey, what did you see out there? What happens if this guy comes? Why’d you call that call? and he kept going back into my ear and I thought he was trying to pick on me at the time. But what he was really doing was trying to determine whether or not he could trust me. And so while I thought he was being hard on me at the beginning, he really was working to try and help me understand the way that he saw the game and help me increase my football IQ so that we could all be better. We are underway game two. When we went to Kansas City that first time, I have a lot of very vivid memories, some good and some bad. Uh, I remember walking out on the field before the game and I thought, “This is going to be crazy. It’s going to be so loud. It’s going to be so difficult to be to be a part of, but also how cool is this about to be?” But, you know, that was one of those moments. Uh, I went up against a true nose tackle, big quick guy, and uh, you know, I gave up two sacks that game and it was probably one of the worst games that I I played um, in my career. Snap his back, looks to his right, sacked right up the middle. brutal. But it was a huge learning moment for me. It made me understand how things fit together, how I need to adjust based on who I’m going against, what the scheme is. I can’t just go in and do the same thing over and over. The game doesn’t happen in a static way. The game is played and the elite players in the league are playing the game as it’s played. And you have to learn how to adapt your game during the game, during the play, during his movement of his hand. It all has to happen right at that moment. You can’t assume anything in the in the NFL. For how he did his job, he was probably the most valuable guy on the field for us. And he deserved everything that that came his way and probably deserve a lot more than people don’t realize. Um because without him, we weren’t we weren’t who we were. And it came started everything started with him. Here we go. Third and one. Cowboys five of five on the year. Third and one in straight eye. Third down. Hand off. Tanner coming down the right side and he’s not going to get a first down. I think at that point in time, we were still trying to figure out what our identity was as a line. We were just kind of looking for that next piece. We saw an improvement. We saw that we were headed in the right direction, but we weren’t making the gains that we needed to as quickly as possible. And then Zach arrived. Zack Martin, Notre Dame offensive line. You know, Dallas was not on my radar really at all at all. Met with coach and uh with Mr. Jones, but I didn’t leave there thinking like, oh yeah, they’re they’re going to pick me or they’re interested in me. We probably had eight, nine people grade him and everybody was 1/100th of a point off. And so that, you know, that just shows how we all saw him the same way. How does, how do you see him fitting in, Joe, that group? We loved him on tape. He was a four-year starter at Notre Dame. We loved him in the interview. Just everything about him. And a lot like Tra, a lot like Travis and Tyron, uh, you know, he represented everything that we wanted on our team. And we were all enamored with um Zack Martin. Jerry was was enamored with Johnny Manzel. Look at that move. Touchdown. I mean, that’s a team that I grew up rooting for and grew up watching. And I remember Jerry telling Steven, “You don’t make or whatever saying was picking a guard in the first round.” He thought about the importance of, “Hey, Tony Rom is our quarterback. Let’s think about who’s next at that position.” It’s a really hard position to to get guys who can who can play quarterback for you and and so let’s always be on the lookout uh for that. Yeah, Stephen um he he took the bullet for us um because we all Zach was the guy that was we felt great about but but Jerry was kind of bullheaded on it and Steven approached him was like hey you know everybody’s on this and you know first round pick d we’re going through the whole thing it was still Johnny and and Zack and we were talking about it and the time was running very short and so I whispered put Zack Martin on the card because that’s where we were going and Jerry heard that through all the commotion said I didn’t say put so it was a very uh harrowing however many minutes it took to make that pick. With the 16th pick in the 2014 NFL draft, the Dallas Cowboys select Zack Martin, guard Notre Dame. I’m an Aggie fan, so I was going for Johnny Football. I mean, I think he did a bad mistake by not picking Johnny football. I wish they would have select Johnny Manzel. that all the noise of the Manzel stuff like that didn’t really that didn’t really hit me in any kind of way honestly I was just so happy to be coming down here and um you know obviously you start hearing it when you come down here but again where we headed headed in I really didn’t have anything in my mind at that time other than like I need they picked me this early I need to be able to to be someone they can count on and get going from day one’s everything going well I remember sitting next to Mackenzie Bernado who Zach came in to replace when Zach’s name got called. And uh there was certainly some frustration that happened in there. A wide range of variety of emotions. We all kind of looked at each other was like, “All right, well, let’s go in. We’ll see y’all tomorrow. We’ll see what’s going on.” And we didn’t have a clue cuz at the time it was me at left and Bernardo was at right. So, we really didn’t know what they were drafting for cuz we didn’t think we needed one right then and there. And so there was probably a little bit of a reluctance to take another lineman in the first round, but again, he was a blinking light. Well, I feel like we already had our quarterback. I just feel like we just needed a little extra help on the line. And once Zach got picked, I feel like it was somewhat mixed feelings a little bit here and there, but guys who understood what we needed to get done were were excited and for good reasons that, you know, we got a player like Zack on the team with us. By the time that he left the building, by the time we left the building, everyone’s mindset was already in the right spot. We’re going to bring this guy in. We’re going to bring him along. And I give a lot of credit to those guys that helped everybody in the room and helped us come together and become a better offensive line as a whole. Number one, he bought in right away. You know, sometimes you get first rounders, they kind of come in thinking they’re up here, but he came in, he watched the bets, he fell in line workouts. He didn’t try to like bark back at us and in practice he just gave the effort. The moment never seemed too big for Zach. I got I got a lot of respect for Zach. And so we kind of doubled down on the idea that hey, our offensive line is strong. We made some investments in them. If we add Zack to them, we’re going to be the best line in the league. And that’s what we did. First day of OTAAS, he took Shan Lee out. And I remember the old line, we were like, we were pissed cuz at that time, you know, Sha Lee was like a guy on defense and we were uh like talking amongst each other older guys like rookie coming in causing hurting our bets. We were like, but he’s good though. We were like, he’s good. So God, we we need that on the line. So that’s kind of how it was. Well, it’s funny now because when you get older, as these guys can attest to, like you get a, you know, a rookie that comes in with all the piss and vinegar, ready to roll, you’re like, “All right, relax, dude.” Well, I was that guy. I was that guy as a rookie. Uh, wanted to make a good impression my my first few days out there, obviously, and um, you know, got tangled up with um, at the time. I I knew who Sean was, but I again, I wasn’t like this big Dallas fan, so I didn’t understand the severity of the injury like at the time. And uh you know obviously as years go on I remember the next year he we played Philly like week two and he had like 15 tackles. I was like that was that was a big deal last year that happened. So uh that was a tough start to it. But I I will say in Shawn’s um the greatness of Shawn Lee, he was he was mad that people thought that I I I got him on that play. His feet got tangled up. That’s why he hurt his knee, not because I was running out there. So that made him mad more than anything. So, um, he was good with it. [Music] There are so many great memories about those guys. I I I just have an image of them walking out on the practice field together in Oxnard and and they were all so connected with each other and and they valued the idea of, you know, we’re a unit. We’re together. We do everything together. Tyron text me to go to Vegas like 3 days after I got drafted and I’m like that’s what you do like that guy wants to go to Vegas like I didn’t go because I was like I’m not ready for that yet. But no, so again like from the beginning Tyrron um you know took that role and then I think me and Tra being pretty much the same age. Um we were kind of we were right there going through kind of the same stage as our life and I I think we did click right away and it was for a couple of different reasons. You know for me I got to know Tyrone through our agent. We shared an agent. And so as soon as I came down here, that was the connection. Why don’t you go over to Tyrron’s house? He’s having some people over and yeah, this awkward 21-year-old comes in and it’s like, “Hey, everyone, I’m here.” But Tyrone was always super accepting and helpful uh to let me be a part of that. And then everybody else in the room was amazing when I came in too. Even Phil Costa, the guy that I was replacing, was all he wanted to do was help me. He wanted to help me get better, help our offensive line get better. you know, a Mackenzie Bernardo or Ron Liry, these Doug Free, these guys that um you know, really you could tell um took the time to be like, we’re going to help bring this guy along. It’s not just like he’s out there on his own. It was really a like when you talk about offensive line play, you talk about five is one cohesion like that was like coming to life in that room and and um I definitely was a product of that of that room. in the offseason where we do get did get together for offseason trips whether it’s going fishing or anything like that. Um I think that’s a big point for any other for any team to do well. We had to know each other and know each other on a personal basis so we can’t communicate. I always ended up being the one that had to plan the trips. But it was always it was always a no-brainer for me when I was going to do anything or wanted to do anything whether it was go fishing or go to Vegas or whatever. The first people that I would call were in our offensive line room. If I can trust this guy and hang with him and spend my personal time with him, like when I it’s I’m not going to work every day. I’m going to hang out with my buddies and and and trying to get better at my at my job, but it’s not going to work. We go. All right, Zach. I remember coming in in those early morning workouts in the offse, you know, we’d get in there and it would just be us. Obviously, no one else was around, but we had all organized that we were going to get up and do it, even though some people were less than excited about it. But Iron Mike Weissick would be sitting there waiting for us, you know, oh, here come the slop buckets. And we walk in and and we would grind. Yeah, we will say that is one probably thing of our group that like I think we kind of did an exceptional job at is our offseason late room workouts. That was like kind of the best part of everything. And this wasn’t just to work out like, hey, you guys want to grab a bite to eat or something like that? Ain’t got nothing else to do if you ain’t got kids. Lean to that side. And we love spending time together. And there’s something to be said about shared sacrifice. Like a lot of people in the offseason get out of town. We we were here. We were here the entire offseason training every day together, spending time together. But um I think we all benefited from each other though, man, cuz like I said, we man, we did so much stuff off the field together. And I think that just had a big role in how we played with each other on the field. It wasn’t just a professional relationship and went far beyond that. They wanted to be great individually and great together and they took a lot of pride in that. Let’s go together on three. 1 2 3. The Seattle game like that game to me really sticks out because you know they were the boogeyman. Like they were the they were the defending world champs. They had the best defense, especially going into Seattle. I think we met them. We were on like a little road when I think we met them in 14. I remember it was a big like no one running offense, no one running defense. She’s in trouble. Dumps it. Dunar over the middle 40 45 comes left. You know that was your first year and I got to see who Zach really was. Coming left. They’re mauling him at the line of scrimmage. It was a point in time in the game he was playing on one leg and we all communicated like hey you might need a little extra help and I’m like I’m like he’s still going and he was like yeah I’m like all right man and then you that’s only cuz Gallian wouldn’t take me out of the game. I’m not taking myself back. So that’s on Bill that he didn’t take me out of the game. But you you look at the film you never would have thought and that’s how that’s how his whole career was. You never think he might be banged up here and there but you would never think he’s hurt. hands right back to throw looking left looking middle dancing around pointing to Dez into the edure touchdown by the time we got to that Seattle game we we were rolling and we had the confidence and I tell people all the time that offensive line play you know has skill involved but a lot of it has to do with you believing that you can do it people who have it the hardest are the offensive linemen because it’s so loud all those guys are in pass rush stances they’re getting up the field that’s how they played that was their style of defense and you can’t hear, right? So, you’re using a silent count. So, one of the ways you quiet that down is you come off the ball and you hit them in the mouth and you run the football and and you talk about that offensive line, why they were so good. They were elite elite elite run blockers out behind Smith and Whitney. We needed like a drive at the end of the game to win it. I remember being dog tired on that drive because we weren’t even huddling. And you wonder, you know, just how many more opportunities is Dallas going to get if they don’t keep the ball on this possession. We weren’t even on the same page when we hyped, so it’s a scramble right away. Back to throw. Fourman rush. Romo does his Lini. He avoids Irvin. Now he comes back to his right and points. Throws it down the right sideline. Terrence Williams for first down. Seemed like he was always in the right spot at the right time. And Roma just threw it up and he made a hell of a catch and we we needed. We needed that. I’ll never forget Ron on that last couple plays down there going down the field and you see him just going up to that second level and cutting the guys legs off. Just those images you never forget. Pass the man 35 step on 30. Run the same play every single time. They couldn’t stop it. It was 36 slash 37 slash. We just ran it left and right and they couldn’t stop us. It either be Zack climbing to the second level or me climbing to the second level. You have to believe that you can get there otherwise you’re never going to get there. And it was the same deal as we went through the season. We believed in ourselves more and you could see that the offensive coordinator believed in us. The run game Tony believed in us and it was a it was a powerful feeling. Romo under center. Hand off. Murray coming right into the middle to the 10. Five. Walk the door. Touchdown Murray. We went up there. We won the game running the football late in the game and and you know being a more physical club. And so that game to me that’s kind of the one where it’s like dang that was that was a good win up there. And I think that’s when we realized like, bro, if we really lock in, can’t nobody beat us. [Music] Hi, Taylor. How are you? How are you? Good, thank you. Well, you know, we had we play cards on the plane and I Tra what was the we played the game in between game. Yeah. And Tra would always be our scorekeeper, but he he had to do it pen and paper. And he, you know, everyone’s like, “All right, let’s go next hand.” And Travis’s like, “Well, yeah, can I write the scores down?” So he came up with like an Excel algorithm for the game. So he could just like punch in a number and it would just do it on Excel for us on on the on the flight. I had to be more efficient. I had to keep up. You guys wanted more and more and more. You know, you just got to do it. Quick story. Jason Garrett one offseason gave us notebooks to take notes. And not knowing Garrett was going to take the books up here in 2 weeks just to see who’s been taking notes and to see how well people notes were. And his point of doing it was, you know, the guys who are making mistakes, I’ll be able to go back and say, “Yeah, you didn’t take notes.” Well, his whole study was thrown out the window when the smartest guy on the team, Travis Frederick, doesn’t write anything down. And then sometimes you have guys who are exceptions. And Travis is one of the smartest players I’ve ever coached. And that’s not the way he learned. He didn’t learn by taking a lot of notes. He learned by listening and then somehow he just was able to process it all. So that was his style. I remember plenty of times Roma or Dagger say something and I hear Travis be like, “No, no, no, no. We going to do this right here.” And it’s right every time. We trust him 100% up front. So if Travis was going to override the quarterback, we were going to go with Travis cuz he he you he knew it. Rush four Romo with time over the middle whip. All we knew was to keep going. And the only way you knew the play was gone was when the ball was passed you. But you just keep going and all of a sudden, you know, Tony would show up behind you and then he’d leave again and you just got to find somebody to block because the play’s still run. I mean, that’s like all offensive line. That’s what coaches teach, you know, like no play call like block to the whistle, do all this play action, great block from Zack Martin. A lot of that is lip service um around the football world, but that’s something that I mean we talk about all the time. I just think like the way we did things was the right way and like you just like you almost brainwash yourself that there’s no other way to do it. This is how we’re going to do it. So 45 pancake in our that room. We just did a good really good job of that and we held each other accountable too. But there was like a friendly competition in our room on top of everything else, right? Like we were confident, we were tight, but like damn like Tyrant just played really well last week. Like Tra just did that. Like I I got to step my game up. That’s something that I know brought the best out of me 100%. I don’t think that there were problems with guys not playing well up their standards and we never had to get on anybody. It was more like if I had a bad game, I felt terrible because I wasn’t able to live up to our expectations. If I played bad, like they know that I’m I’m more mad than anyone in the room that I played bad. You knew Tyron would be if he didn’t play well, he’d be even more quiet than he already was. You didn’t want to go near him. You get yourself in trouble. I had to find a way to redeem myself. But um no it was just you know I feel everybody in the room had enough pride to you said hold each other accountable and so um if anything it would be more of hey during the week hey little tips here and there for all of us so we were kind of tell each other here and there it’s remembrance day has turned into New Year’s Eve on the Cowboy sideline there’s the Landry shift again up and down on second down and those guys didn’t know who Tom Landry was or what the Landry shift was. They might have heard his name, but once Callahan explained it, then they couldn’t do it fast enough. You know, our player shifted up and down, you know, and did all these crazy things that nobody else was doing. And we had some great success with it. I all I know is Bill was like big into it. Unless one of you guys like No, he shows he shows a tape of it and then we just brought it into a part of our tradition. It that’s one of those things like he was famous for that. He would just like show you something enough times until you just did it. So he would show it to us and and you know this is this is history and then we did it in the walkthrough. You know the defense was upset with us for for having done it and uh and then we decided to bring it into like everyone it is like everyone it is it is like a nod to the past. No doubt. Look every franchise does not have the tradition of the Dallas Cowboys. People might not like that. Sorry. Live with it. But I when Bill put it in, it was definitely like we’re going to give the middle figure to the other 10. I wasn’t going to say it, but that’s exactly what it was. Yes, that was, hey, uh, we did it and, uh, sorry, but it is cool cuz we still do it. You know, this is not taking shots anyone in the years before we got there. But to kind of bring the the the standard back to the offensive line room, it I take a lot of pride in that for what we created and what we did and the history that we made. Like I said, that that was ours. three line two. [Music] Game number three of this Cowboys preseason here at Century Link Field in Seattle, Washington. The Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks don’t call this a dress rehearsal. Jason Garrett says it’s not a dress rehearsal. For the Cowboys up front, that offensive line with three Pro Bowlers, Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick, and Zack Martin. Tony Romo, the career numbers there. 2016 was building on what we had built in 2014. And the obvious difference was, you know, Tony Roma’s expected to be our quarterback. Under pressure, Romo will go down. All right. You know, we lose him up in up in Seattle. Kell Moore had already gotten hurt and Dak gets thrust into that role. and Dak Prescott much earlier than anyone anticipated is in this football game. But I think you got to look at the perspective of it like we just had a a bad year in 15 with our quarterback going down. Our our franchise quarterback goes down again. So I mean naturally like the thought is like here we go again. Like the difference was you were playing with the older vet and um it was kind of more of we’re for me it was I’m a young guy so it was kind of more no matter how old I got playing with Tony it was just more of I just listen and follow and when dad came in it felt like we’re all kind of kind of on the same page kind of all the same was like your dad out there you know I mean you didn’t want to disappoint your dad he was the older guy like you know Tony Rumble is a quarterback so it’s like but then you know obviously dad comes in and it’s just again a guy that’s more more your age a little bit. Relate a little bit. Yeah. Relate a little bit more too. And so when he came in, it was just it was the energy. It was going kind of all could relate a little bit. And uh you know the games we won, it was just we just had fun. Honestly, I’d liken it to say that when you played with Tony, you you played for Tony and you played with Dak. You got one coming. Boss boss status. I’m a guy that that is one committed to this game and I’m going to sacrifice. I’m not going to ask you to do anything that I wouldn’t do. Um, and those linemen, if you want to watch how to be great, watch those guys. And for me to be able to come in and watch these guys and otaas get their workout during the time and then the whistle blow and watch them get extra and watch them go over and over that I was doing everything that I can to to not let them down and put myself in the best situation. As a young guy coming in, he respected what we were doing and what we were uh, you know, how big of a part of of it that the offensive line and the running game was. Not to say that Tony didn’t respect it because in fact he probably respected even more having been through it and seeing it. But as that older guy, like you said, he was laying out the expectations for us. We weren’t doing it together. You know, we were able to take advantage of a lot of that expertise, but it was just a a different feeling. These two guys, they came in, they were young, and just it couldn’t be stopped. You know, they had their own energy about them. Keeps big hole. I don’t know. They just brought a life back to us that we needed after 15. For the most part, it was just having a blast out there. And we had a confidence of going to each game that we were all on the same page going in that we were going to win. Oh, look at Tyran out in front. Boom. You you’re a race. I don’t care what the team was, we were going to win no matter what. I think when you have two young guys come in and kind of take the whole league by storm, you just you feed off that energy, too. It’s just like an injection of youth into the team and and also like it removed some of the seriousness of it, I guess. I don’t know. it became uh a little bit more whimsical and like it it was it was fun because they didn’t know how serious everything was. It helps that we were winning those years too. You know what I mean? Like if we’re feel seven and eight it’s like maybe it was okay but we were winning. So it’s like man this is great. I’m doing my job and this is all I got to focus on. And you know, if you think about where we were with that line, where we were with that defense, and some of the other guys on our team, it was a really good environment for for for a quarterback to come into, particularly a young one. I I don’t think I can honestly put a value on what they meant for me to start my career here in Dallas. Just amazing what they what those guys were able to do up front and keep me clean. I I still to 9 years later don’t know if there’s been a season that I’ve been touched fewer than I was my rookie year. Now he throws it to the end zone. Jason Rick and a group of guys rallying around a rookie quarterback to win 13 games, you know. So Dak essentially went 13 and two as a rookie and a lot of that had to do with those guys up front, the guys we had on defense and everybody just rallying around each other and having a lot of fun playing football. To put a exclamation point on it is turn on the Pittsburgh game. If you are an NFL fan, this is a big deal. That’s one of my favorite games. As soon as you said it, you can see it. Yeah, it it was an absolutely wild game. The traditional matchup. You’re in a traditional football stadium. It’s a football town and we’re going to have a heck of a football game. That game was a grind over game. You’re in Pittsburgh, which you know that’s a lunchbox city and you’re out there and uh it was it was back and forth. Prescott under center. Play action. Boots to the right. Screen right. Little room 20 yd line. Travis Frederick. He’s out front. The kick out. Seek the sideline and 10 and touchdown. We had good success on offense throughout the game. We couldn’t stop him. Second and 10. Quick throw away. Brown somehow wrestles the ball away to put the Steelers back on top. Delayed blitz up the middle and he goes deep for Dez. left side, caught it. Touchdown. We would score and then we were feeling pretty good. Hey, we maybe have a win and then they go and score. They were just up and down the field. Rothlesburgger was on fire and if you remember, they kept going for two and they kept missing it. For whatever reason, we were stopping them on the two-point conversion. I think they had four of them. Rothberger just flips it and incomplete. But the offense was consistent and as you said, as the game went on, we wanted to run it more. Pitch left to Zeke. try to keep them off the field and we’re running it effectively. It was those three guys, that offensive line paired with Doug and Ron Larry that allowed Zeke just to go and run free and just truly asserted their dominance. Hand off Zeke into the middle, breaking free. Five, walk the dog. Zeke Elliot walked the dog. They did like a fake two-point fake spike and Rodlessberger stands up, throws it in the end zone caught. Cowboys weren’t ready. He faked. He faked the spot here. It’s like, oh man, we got to go through the game. We’re grinding out big long drives. In most situations like that, you going to throw the ball to try to get back into it. But man, they they had so much confidence in us that we were just going to stick to the plan. I mean, even late in the game when you need to score, we’re still handing it off. we ran that that power play, that duo play and just open it up and seeing Zeke kick off like that burn into my mind. Uh the way that that sealed down and opened up, uh that’s when I knew run Zeke up the middle. He’s gone. Zeke’s gone. Goodbye, Zeke. And you don’t do that unless you’ve confident with the guys up front, understanding that they’re going to make those holes and uh they have and you have a connection like we have and did. And yeah, these guys are beasts. The Cowboys are going to steal one in Pittsburgh. And I’ll never forget seeing Zack in that game. There’s an amazing shot of him kind of up in the air, you know, just so excited about it. And that might have been probably my favorite game to win in that environment. Pretty special. And those guys had a lot to do with it. And there’s like something when you go into like a when you go into a hostile environment and you you win a game kind of like that, it’s just like you’re just on top of the world, you know? It was a good plane ride back. Great. [Applause] I think when you just speak of athleticism, Trav and Zack pregame warm-up was their display of athleticism. And I mean, they would be running routes and Zack at Zack at quarterback, Trav at route, quarterback, and then they switch or vice versa. You know, to me it goes back to how much they love playing football. I mean, think about what they’re about to go do for three hours, right? And they would get out there early and they just they they’d play ball like they were kids. Trav liked to um get much more of a sweat before the game before like I just each their own, right? So, he would he would definitely run more routes and I would definitely throw more cuz I didn’t want to get too warm. You had a pretty nasty escape route. I had my Cole Beasley escape route. Absolutely. You get some of those Washington games where they wouldn’t pull the tarp off until later and you cut down on the throwing session. It made me a little nervous going into the game. Yeah. We be in the corner of the end zone, but like honestly it got to a point where it just it like relaxed my mind before the game. Like I wasn’t thinking about it. Like I was thinking about my sales seven I had to hit before the game started. I wasn’t thinking about blocking Fletcher Cox, you know, but like those little things were at least for my mindset before games. That little throwing session was a good just kind of like just getting ready for a game, having fun. We were playing in Atlanta and my arm just got kind of stuck under a dog pile and just kind of just got twisted up the wrong way and the next day I couldn’t move it and I was like he’s like straighten your arm out. I was like I can’t. That’s when we had to figure out how to how can we protect it and so you know brought the John Joy company in and they sized up the elbow brace and it was kind of just felt weird. It’s a smaller knee brace but putting it on the elbow. Next thing you know I’m out there playing with it. I’m like she it doesn’t feel too bad. I’m actually This feels like a weapon. And so I was like, nobody can knock his arm down. I was like, I’m wear this thing forever. But like, yeah, this the elbow thing just never went away. So I was like, I have to wear it. We played New England one year and before the game, you could see the the ref Bichc grabbed the ref. I mean, you can tell he’s pointing over at Tyron, telling the ref something. Belich was trying to get Tyran for them to make him take his el elbow braces off because he was saying it was a weapon or whatever. And Tyran’s like, “I’ve worn it all year. it’s not a problem. And uh he never took it off. No, they were like, “Well, when you put tape over there, but they were trying to they were trying to get it off him all year.” And so, next thing you know, the left arm goes out and I have a bad hyperextension on the left arm to where I can’t straighten it out all the way. And so, next thing you know, I’m out there walking around like this. I can’t even walk right. And so, but at least I was able to still do my job. Um, and so that just became a part of my my routine, part of my equipment going forward. And I guess the big thing for me was kind of like midway through the career um started dealing with back issues. It came out of nowhere and then from then on it was just a you know a battle. Later down later down the career the neck came an issue and that was just leaving me questions like dang what do I do? no one’s going to live up to Tyrron Smith and the way that he plays. And it made us realize like, dang, when Tyran’s not on the field, we’re not as good, right? You know, like you like, you know it, you see it every day on film like, damn, this guy’s unbelievable. But then when he’s not out there, you’re like, oh shoot, you know, we’re not we’re not we’re not as good. It’s a blitz. Prescott is hit and set. Never had a chance. Year two was for sure my my worst year probably of my career so far statistically or whatever but also mentally the way that I was seeing the game and just reflecting back on it is yeah I didn’t throw touchdowns but big part of it is I didn’t have my left tackle and it was a tougher year for me and wasn’t necessarily about the receivers this this and that I think it was missing a guy like Tyron Smith and so I mean that’s that’s credit to him is he misses a game you get sacked nine times [Applause] you’re trying to do everything you can to get that guy back on the field as as as quick as you can. We’re at training camp and and Travis never gets beat and he was always on his feet and and one training camp it just seemed like he was off to a slow start. He’s on the ground twice in today’s practice. I haven’t seen him on the ground once in a year. It just seemed odd. I had some numbness in my feet and so I was like, “Ah, you know, my back’s acting up.” You were like, “Ah, my tape’s too tight.” I’ll do that. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. And uh you know, then it got to the point where I I couldn’t feel my feet and I was hit them on the ground when I got out of bed to make sure I was actually standing up. I was like, “Man, this is maybe I should get this checked out.” I remember Coach Weisik uh had us doing our normal lifts and and he was upset and I was like, “Coach, like I missed. It’s not a big deal. You know, I I wasn’t able to hit my weight.” And he goes, “No, Travis, you guys always hit these weights.” and he, you know, he was very adamant and he knew that there was something wrong and so he was making phone calls behind the scenes to try and push things along and uh and I started to not be able to feel my fingers and then I couldn’t feel the ball when it was hitting Dak’s hand. I didn’t know what was going on and uh it felt like I was running in concrete. And then, you know, about a week into it, we’re like, you know, I think something’s going on here. And obviously, we dug deeper into it and he dug deeper into it and was able to uncover what it was. Um, and so they were doing this test and I probably got poked 100 times and and they finally figured out what was going on. That was just the start. Come to find out, it’s a pretty aggressive disease. I was in the best shape of my life going in. Uh, and the way that it works is it um disconnects your brain from your muscles and so you lose percentage of usage of your muscles. And it was after several weeks there that that that’s when they decided to put me on IR. And I would choose not to go to lunch because you know how far it is from the locker room to the lunch bay. Uh it was too far for me to walk. Like it was too hard. But uh you know I used to have to hand my water bottle to Zach to open up. Uh somebody have to cut my food for me. It was but you know it really gave me a lot of perspective on life because you when you can’t carry your newborn daughter up the stairs and put her in her crib because you’re not you’re not trusted to be able to hold her that long. It really makes you think about it. And uh and so that year I I became really okay with what life would look like after football at in the time the moment like I don’t think people knew how bad it was like they knew what it was called and like it was some nerve stuff but like they like what he how you just described that people didn’t know that I didn’t know the full story until just now and I knew a little bit I knew you were going through it and like nothing we could do do anything to help you but just now I just didn’t know the details until now and then like it’s even more respect for you for being out there with us and struggling. You were struggling out there, not even showing it, going about your day with a smile on your face and just being with us. He did not miss a meeting. He did not miss a game. He did not miss a practice. He was at every single thing that entire year. That might be something. I don’t think we would have got through the year without No. No. I don’t I know Looney would have got through. No, no. Tra had his headset on with us. It was like that extra set of eyes or extra coach that like we could talk to and like if anything was going wrong and he brought smart Travis, he had the answers for us for things that we couldn’t see. Turn, he goes over the top. All you can do is turn and chase it. But if you’re a little more square as you feel him doing that, you can drive up the field with that inside. For me, it was an escape. It was always working out and like that was that was what it was. But, you know, getting to spend that time with you guys let me just be that was normal. You know, being in meetings with you is what I was supposed to be doing. you know, being out of meetings would have been weird. You know, it would have been, you know, unusual. It would have made it worse, I feel like. And so, spending the time with you is what what helped me get through. But anytime you have a head injury or neck injury or something like Travis was going through, you you double down on that concern like, okay, we got to we’re worried about his welfare as a as a person, as a husband, as a father. Football is secondary in this situation. and and that was not an easy time because I think there was a lot of uncertainty for him in determining what this was and what course of action to take going forward. Another beautiful day in Oxnard, California. There are a lot of really nice stories in this Cowboys camp. There’s some human interest stories, but I don’t know how many of them give you the warm fuzzies better than the return of the Cowboys center Travis Frederick. there became a level of pride that I wanted to have and that I had in being able to come back and compete and compete at the highest level and do all of my things at the highest level. I went from the weakest that I’ve probably ever been, maybe even if you include me as a baby, so weak. Um, you know, I was using a broomstick on my bench press and everything. And, uh, the moment that I got a personal record on single leg squat, uh, after having come from not being able to walk, uh, that was the moment that I was like, we’re going to do this again. He started to trend back up. And when he did, he wanted to get back out there and and not just recover from Gileian Beret, but but fully recover and get back to the Travis Frederick, the allp pro bowl offensive lineman that he is. Coming right. know what a block down the field and for him to come back and be Pro Bowl that year um is special and have a great year and then to be able to retire and go out on top um is story button. Third and goal. They’re going to give it to Elliot straight up the middle and he’s in. It was a great year and it gave me closure on football and you these guys know um that that that was the closure that I needed. Um and and at that point I was I was ready to be done. I just don’t know how anybody could do it as well as he did it. And um I don’t know if I’ll be able to do the same thing he you he did in this position. And you have all my respect for everything you’ve been through. It’s it’s insane. I’m still just trying to gather all the details right now. It’s just crazy to me. And but yeah, it’s all love, man. Appreciate you. Appreciate you, man. [Music] 5 days after his 29th birthday, diagnosed with Guillian Bar syndrome 19 months ago. And today, a surprise bombshell announcement from Frederick, he’s retiring from football. Tra made things easier. He knew how to say things simpler to where we all understood it if we had questions about it. And we like you said, we lost that security blank. He was gone. This group right here, they want to talk physicality. Let’s show what physicality is all about. On three. 1 2 3. I feel like over over time um Zach became that that security blade over. You you uh I texted Travis all the time when he left. I’d be like, “Everyone in the building has taken you for granted over the last seven years.” Me, too. just check and then get back north. He did a great job of holding that standard and making sure that these young guys who came in understood what it means to be an offensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys. You know, offensive linemen don’t come out of the game. The time they’re most vocal is is the desire to run the football. I mean, the number of times I heard, you know, Zack Martin from the middle of the field turn and scream at me, “Run, Sam.” Sam was our duo play. Run it. We got these guys on the run. Let’s go. Let’s let it loose and let them have it. Let’s go. 60 game. Let’s take over this stadium. [Applause] Vocals has never been my strong suit. And so um and so like I was lucky enough to continue to stay in my role. You know, Zach talks a lot better than I do and he’s able to speak to our group. And so I was lucky enough to lean on Zach and let him, you know, do this whole thing. That’s just Tyrron when he talks. You know, I’ve said more words in this interview than Tyron said in 14 years, right? Like I would hear him. He would like look at me just be like I like and by me hearing that okay, okay, I need to look out here and then I see it. That was his way of communicating out there. But I understood. I knew exactly what he was saying. It’s just a team thing over the years. We just go and pretty much that’s whatever Tyran says is he’s I kind of I kind of enjoyed the last year being here cuz then I was on a whole old man schedule as we just said like I didn’t practice at all and like cuz most of the time I’m out there practicing I hurt myself cuz I’m going too a little too hard. I know I slow down the only thing that was kind of made exciting for me I get to play next sack. [Applause] [Music] And I was like, just, you know, just be with me, man. We lost our starting right tackle. Now we’re going to move be out. So, we’re getting worse at two positions. And I’m like, Tyron’s about to come back. He play a little right tackle uh early in his career. Like, I know he can do it. When you’ve seen him train, when you’ve seen him run, when you’ve seen that athletic ability, you’re not worried when a guy like that moves to right. You know your right size just as protector. When we were in the locker room after the game and I went up to him and I was like, “Do you think you could still play right tackle?” and he was like, “Yeah, I probably could do it.” Honestly, I don’t know. I just didn’t know I was ever get an opportunity again to play next to Zack. Yeah, it was cool. And so I was like, I just going to take it for what it’s worth and and have fun with this for Tyron to be able to do that and still play at the level that he played, playing against elite defensive ends, not giving up pressures. Honestly, it’s not surprising. I could be wrong. I still could be wrong. Play on those uh that stackers. Yeah, I just turned him back on the 310. He just he went on an unbelievable note here in Dallas. Like probably your best year over the last three or four years there in Dallas. I mean, played played his butt off all year and um you know, I don’t agree with all the decisions and it was tough to see him leave, right? And I think uh I think the team probably realized uh it was tough to see him leave, too. feel and I start kind of thinking more down the line for my kids that I don’t want to be sitting here, you know, dad can’t move or play around cuz dad’s hurt from his job for the long term and I don’t want that for my kids. And so I just think it was the right time and I kind of on the side kind of told Zach and when you done I’m done. I’m I not playing this game without you. Oh yeah. Yeah. [Music] when you spend, you know, so much time with these guys and uh Trav mentioned something about shared sacrifice before. So, you have all these these like core memories and experiences that you’ve had with these guys and then to, you know, for Tyron to leave and that kind of be at least in our offensive line room the end of that group. Um it was definitely different not having those guys around you every day. uh you know some of my greatest football memories are with that group and um like I said I took a lot of pride in the young guys and trying to help them come come along but deep down I pretty much knew this was going to be it. It was my last year on my contract. You know physically I I started not you know really not feeling well. You know all three of us I think that’s kind of what made us special is we all have extremely high expectations of ourselves and you know when we don’t meet those personal standards it it it uh it gets under our skin. I know it did for me when I started feeling that I, you know, I wasn’t really enjoying as much going to the building and doing the things that I love so much to do over all these years. I was just, you know, it’s time to be done. Yeah. I mean, simple as that. He wasn’t healthy as last year. That’s why he retired. If you want to see the standard of something, whether it’s a screen, whether it’s a run away from him, whether it’s a run right at him and he has to pull, whether it’s a pass play, he’s the standard. I mean, the guys had more all pros than he has holding penalties. Hey, we got to believe. They all represented exactly what our players to be all about. Guys who love football, guys who great teammates, guys who want to be great, who are willing to work at option. He keeps big hug. Well, what I always loved is they had a heck of a lot of fun together, too. Talked about Zach finishing time just being a freak or or tracing and understanding his intelligence. three leaders who looked at one another for approval but yet um for accountability and everything that they did and they moved together and that’s really one thing I really appreciate and cherish about that O line just cuz we all wanted to be great and we all knew what it took to be great and we all willing to sacrifice whatever it take so it was it was a great unit great unit there’s an example in what you strive for and you want to strive to make every unit like that offensive line the offensive line is a unique unit and with those guys that were played at such a high level and held each other accountable at such a high level. It’s a different thing. It was unique. I think there’s always going to be that part of me that um obviously that wishes we could have we could have gone all the way and there always be a little blemish on my career just cuz you know that’s why we play and that’s why we do what we do. But um I can say that I’m very proud of what our offensive line did over the course of my career. or we’re pretty damn lucky to have these guys. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music]

Three first-round picks – one unstoppable unit. Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick, and Zack Martin transformed the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive line into a force of dominance. Together, they built The Wall 2.0 and anchored a new era of Dallas Cowboys football.

#DallasCowboys #CowboysNation #NFL

Subscribe to the Dallas Cowboys YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/2L07gMO
For more Cowboys content: https://www.dallascowboys.com/
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dallascowboys/
Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dallascowboys?lang=en
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dallascowboys
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DallasCowboys/
Get the App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dallas-cowboys/id548528027