LIVE: Talkin’ Cowboys Podcast | 9-02-25 | Dallas Cowboys 2025

[Music] Go cowboys. [Music] [Music] Go Cowboys. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Go Cowboys. [Music] [Music] Go Cowboys. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] heat. Hey. [Music] Go kill boys. [Music] Go Cowboys. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Go cowboys. [Music] [Music] Go. [Music] The following is a production of Dallascowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Goowboy. This is talking cowboys streaming live from the Dallas Cowboys world headquarters at the Star in Fris. [Applause] Touchdown keeps it and he bangs it in for the touchdown. And now your hosts, Isaiah Stanback, Patrick Walker, Josh Rodriguez, and Kyle Yman’s. Ladies and gentlemen of Talking Cowboys Nation, I have an announcement for you. This is the first show of week one of the 2025 season. It also, because it’s a Thursday Night Football game, happens to be the last show before the Philadelphia Eagles matchup on Thursday in week one. So, I hope you’re ready because we have the whole cast and crew ready for you to rock today. We have Patrick Nosy Walker. We have Josh Rodriguez. We have Chris Beam in the back. I’m Kyleman’s. Back in the saddle with a back brace on. That’s right. Is Isaiah Standback in the building because it’s a say it with your chest Tuesday here on Talking Cowboys presented by Black Rifle Coffee Company. Live from the Star in Fris, Texas in the studio. It is time to break it down because it’s regular season time around these parts. Woo. I have a question for you, Kyle. I’m fired up. I have a question for you. What’s that? Is there is there are there any other shows on this platform that break it down like we do? No. Okay. I was just wondering the same way we do. No. No. Definitely not that. Whilst also engaging with the fans the way we do. N with the kind of aura that we deliver. Definitely not. The aura with the eye candy. Oh, this is nobody. Nobody has eye candy that we have. This is all aura. That’s right. This is all aura. I’m ready to get into this because Isaiah 1, it’s great to have you back. We haven’t had you back since since your back surgery, bro. Glad he is. You doing all right? It’s been these three weeks. It’s been a three weeks, bro. Yeah. Uh calling multiple preseason games. Calling H.B.CU Classic games from Canton, Ohio for the NFL Network. Flying from Texas to Cali, from Texas to Ohio to do NFL Network broadcast. And I’m sure you’re just hunky dory. You haven’t had a single lick of pain the whole way. Good thing you didn’t have major surgery, bro. Like, it’s funny. I don’t know what I was thinking. Into your spine or anything, bro. Yeah, the whole back surgery thing was crazy. It was something that was needed. Everybody’s like, “Why’d you do it now?” Because I had to do it at some point. It was either like do it after the season and be miserable the whole offseason or do it during the season and be distracted, you know, by the work, you know. So, um, had to get it done. My whole spinal fusion was necessary because my spine was collapsed. It was displaced, all the things. So, they had to pull my spine back in place, raise it up, put an insert in there, screw it in, went through the front, by the way. Okay. They went through my stomach. Okay. Moved everything out the way. Got to my spine, put the insert in, turn me over, used a robot to put the screws in through my back as well. So, I’m a half inch taller now, boys. Really? Really? Yeah. How about that? Wait, what? Yeah. That was the real surgery. That was the real surgery. It wasn’t a back thing. We need some new combine measurements. Yeah. Yeah. We need new combine measurements. They had me at 6’2 and a half at the combine. I’m officially 6’3. So, officially 6’3, 250 now. Um, that’s that. No. So, no. Um, the first week, the first week sucked. Shout out to my wife Natalie who literally held me down, picked me up, did all the things. I I’ll keep away from some of the stories that we have behind the scenes that she had to deal with, but she was awesome through that first week. That second week got a little bit better. Um then I had to start traveling and that was that. Um being by yourself for almost a week and a half. Do you at least pull the first class on those? They take care of you. Yeah. Yeah. The NFL network takes care of you in that regards. Just making sure cuz coach in that scenario would not have worked and that’s what I would have had. This is Isaiah Standback we’re talking about. He’s not not getting this Kyleman’s one way or the other. One way or the other he’s in first class. No. So that was all good. And then um you know right before I was able to fly out of LA to go to Ohio, something around here happened. Yeah. That you know they did it right before the Friday show on Good Morning Football. So that was awesome. Yeah. Being at the table having to address all that stuff cuz you know everybody So Isaiah how about them Cowboys? So what did they do? The the whole Michael Parsons thing. Obviously I know you guys already covered it but that was that was wild. We want your take. You want my take on it? I first of all I did not believe that the Joneses would pull that move. say I and there was nothing in me that would state that you have a generational player like that and you will actually make the move now. Is it that team or is it the move in general? No, just the move in general to to have a talent like that and to let him go that takes some gusto. That takes some gusto. Regardless of whatever reasonings you may have, that still takes some coonas in order to to to pull that off. It takes a gamble, if you will. It’s a gamble. Okay, speaking of that, it it did if I was thinking about this maybe a day and a half ago, and at the end of that documentary, one of the final I think it was the final episode, there’s a there’s a clip that went viral where Jerry’s talking to Rams ownership and he said, “Oh, I just don’t have the the cojones. I don’t have the guts to make the trade that you guys did with Stafford and golf.” Talking about the Rams Stafford golf trade. And he’s like, I don’t have the the the coonz to do that. And so that went viral. Of course, Cowboys Twitter, Cowboys everything picked it up. And then we see a move like this. I just I don’t know if there’s a direct correlation. There may or may not be, but I I truly believe that if you had any questions as to the impact of Stephen Jones and Will Mcclelay on Mr. to Jerry Jones. I think this probably was the most impactful, polarizing way to describe their influence on on Mr. Jones. People forget they said unanimous. Yes. And I and and the reason why I say that is because you look at Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t They did say they said unanimous. I don’t believe that it was completely unanimous, but I do think that it was heavily weighted in the favor of what they opted to do. I’ll take that. Yeah. But but I believe that their influence in terms of especially Will Mlay and Stephen Jones really just taking not to say that Double J can’t make his own decisions, but I’m just saying that be able to say, “Hey, take the emotion out of it. Let’s take the emotion out of this. Take the fact that this dude is is an absolute beast of a player. Let’s look at it strategically. Let’s look at it with the mentality of we’re trying to build this roster and you can have a handful of very dominant players or you can have a roster of really good players, right? And and when we’re really good across the board, it’s really difficult to stop, right? Because if you have a handful of really good players, now we can game plan that. Now we can focus on that player. Now we can highlight that. But if everybody on your roster is making an impact, then it’s like, dang. And when you, as we get ready to talk about the Eagles, especially their defense, who’s the one person that you circle on their defense that you’re like, oo, you better watch out for this guy. is is really it’s it’s really I mean there’s one guy that does absolute beast right in terms of their D line but you have to respect everybody collective group Carter is the headliner Jaylen Carter is the headliner but like you can’t just focus on Jaylen Carter because somebody else will kill you too. So that’s the approach that I feel like Dallas is really getting to and I think that they’re coming to that maturity, right? I don’t want to say that in a in a uh demoralizing way, right? But like I think they’ve matured over this last year in regards to understanding what it takes to put together a full team. Um, so I I want to give kudos to the front office for making for being willing to make the move with the understanding that it’s going to be painful, but if you turn around and do what you can do with that space, with the with those draft picks, with the players that you acquire, with the player you acquired, then you can actually have a much better team. Quick question for you because we’ve all answered these questions, but fans of the best Cowboys podcast on earth want to hear your take on this. How are you on the compensation package? I think they could have gotten more. There we go. There we go. They could have got more. That’s a complete unanimous. And the reason why is because understanding who you’re trading with when you receive those first round picks, those are low first round picks. Exactly. So that’s why I believe that you could have gotten more. I think you needed another player. One more another starter. One more starter. And I think I would have been okay. Yeah. And I don’t think they would have given that up. Green Bay. I don’t think they would have given that up. And that’s fair. Well, then hang on. Well, then talk to somebody else. Click. Yeah. I I mean, next if it was Yeah, I think there’s a handful of teams that I probably would have called in regards to that. I think one of those to address the areas of your concern. Baltimore probably would have been high on my list in terms of not having to deal with them in your in your in your conference and them having some depth at the defensive line position. That would have also been late first round. Late first rounder. No, no, for sure it would have been late first rounder. In terms of teams that have additional guys to you can utilize. Yes. In terms of the positional need that you have doesn’t strengthen an NFC opponent. Yeah. But I do again I everybody asked what do you think about this? If they use the draft picks, if they use the salary cap space, if they use additional money, then it’s all then then the Cowboys as an organization could be looked at and you can say good job on the trade. And they did that, right? the first the first first they put first step they did was go out there let’s secure Don Bland and I would imagine the next step is going to be Tyler Smith right and then after that then you could use those draft picks and say hey we could either use these draft picks to go acquire somebody else that’s an impact player because it’s hard for a organization to turn down an offer for a first round pick even if it’s a low first round pick if you have a starter on your team maybe they were a former allp pro or pro pro bowler and you say hey I want that guy I’ll give you a first round pick almost every GM is going to be like what’ you say now chat cuz they heard first they heard first round picks, right? So, they’re they’re all ears regardless where it regardless of where it’s at, right? So, I believe especially teams that need to get some depth and that have some some salary cap issues, right? But they want to add some more impact players. So, I think that they are in a really good position. I am intrigued and I’m I’m proud of what they’ve already done, but I’m intrigued as to what else they’re going to do because there are some more holes that they need to fill. This is the whole compensation package debate and it can be ended by one thing and that’s hitting on whatever they do next. And that’s what Patrick said last week. That’s what Josh echoed last week. We talked about this at Nauseium, so I don’t want to harp on Michael Parsons as much anymore because Eagles got your thoughts, but they have hit the first domino. Don Bland, four-year deal, uh, four-year extension. Awesome for him. I love it for Don. I mean, I think all of us across the board have gotten to know Don since he was drafted a couple years back. And he’s one of the salt of the earth guys in that locker room. Just an incredible player, too. What he’s done to work to get to this point, to overcome adversity, to to be who he is now. I love this for him. And I don’t know how you can be critical of this move. It’s a great deal. I don’t know how you can be critical here. It’s great. It’s a great deal. And if you consider like how much he’s guaranteed, 36.3, you have a potential out in 2027. It’s which would essentially be a 36.3 million deal with 13 million in dead cap. Something that you could definitely get over. Um, but you also consider the how many other fifth round picks have been extended like this, you know, like you have to go back to 2020 when you look at George KD who was signed a 5-year extension, $75 million in 2020. And then the most recent uh example was uh Diamador Lenor in last year, fiveyear extension, $92 million. He one of the few Yeah. the next round pick Williams I mean that’s probably the next fifth round pick that gets extended like that and he’s a running back so whatever that number is going to look like exactly the impressive for a fifth rounder though it’s amazing and I I love the the proactiveness we’ve always if if you’re one of the people that are upset with the Micah trade and you’re upset with Don Bland you can maybe tie those two things together because they’re kind of tied together because of the money that you have left over however if you’re one of these people that are upset with how the Micah situation began and the late start to the Micah situation and then you’re mad about Don Bland. Stop it because this is this is avoiding that. I I feel like do you guys get the same sentiment that Dallas fans in general were sub substantially more upset about the Luca trade than they were about Micah? Absolutely. 100%. Luca’s trade was far more jarring. Far more and and surprising, too, because you’ve seen the sort of writing on the wall with Micah divorce that has been kind of a buzz word they’ve used over the last few weeks. I mean, Good Morning Football used it. You know, it’s it’s something that we were sort of alluding to this whole time. And granted, it was still very surprising. Micah was at it or wasn’t what was Luca? It was a player in two first, right? No, it was a 2029 first and two players. And they also sent Max, but it was also to to Josh’s point, it was the the compensation was not even close. Not even. But it was also the shock value out of nowhere in the middle of the night. Sports-wise for for sports historians, especially NFL historians, you’ll recognize this this comp. I equate the Luca trade to the Colts in the Mayflower trucks parting Baltimore in the middle of the night to for that franchise to leave the city. I mean, for it to be what was like 11 11:30 p.m. Central time and all of a sudden a meteor hits the earth and Luca is traded to bring back a bunch of emotions. And then and then on top of that, you look at the compensation and you say, “And that’s it.” So, yeah, this two different when my wife told me cuz we went to sleep early that night. We have kids, you know, like whatever. So, I woke up the next day and my wife my wife was like, “They traded Luca.” And I was like, “Stop it.” No, they didn’t. What are you talking about? And I was, she was like, “No, it’s real. It’s everywhere.” I was like, “Well, then what did we get? Did we get seven first round picks?” Because first round picks in the NBA are not even close to the equivalent of first round picks in the NFL. They’re completely weighed differently. And even with that, the Cowboys got more for Michael Parsons than they than the Mavs got for for Luca. And that was before the lottery and that whole thing. And of course, Cooper flag, whatever. This is not the same. And one is not the same. Let’s move on to the fact that Don Bland is now a Cowboy. He’s locked up for long over your corners. Expire expected to be uh available in week one. You know who else might be expected to be available? Oh yeah, let’s talk about it fellas. There was an injury report. Another first team all pro, no less. Trayvon Diggs$90 million guy. Kind of important. Kind of important. He was a full participant in yesterday’s practice. What’s that word? What they call full full. Not limited. Not limited. 100%. Full hundo. So like hundo. He’s playing like completely. No. We asked him we asked him about it in the locker room and he did say in his words he’s a 75 80%. Basically what that is is he doesn’t want to step over the training staff. He doesn’t want to step over the medical staff. Not showing the cards, right? He still has to be cleared. I mean if you say 75% you just showed Whoa, whoa. Did you say he showed respect to the training staff? Yeah, he did. Whoa. He did. You’re talking about Trayvon Digs. Yeah, absolutely. Wow. Which isn’t the first time cuz last week I believe he did, you know, he showed more respect to Rick Brown and and Jimar and the print staff. So, yeah, I know, right? Narratives. Funny how that works. So, um so yeah, Trayvon or before after Michael Drake. This was before. That was before. Keep sipping. Sipping my tea. Clock it. So, um Trayvon Digs, full participant says 75 to 80% chance he plays against the Eagles. Uh, I I view it as barring a setback over the next day or so. I think Trayvon Digs is on the field. Question is, is he on a pitch count? Is he not? But I think he takes the field. That would be absolutely huge for the Dallas Cowboys. What did we talk about time and again? Which position was in arguably the most dire straits? It was cornerback. You didn’t know if Trayvon would be ready. You didn’t know, you know, what where they would play Don, so forth and so on. So, what do you do? You make sure Dron’s locked in. He’s fully healthy. Unlike last year, he had the fractured foot that came out of nowhere. He’s going to be on the field. Trayvon Diggs well ahead of schedule. Looks like he’s going to be on the field great. Kyrie Elim coming off of a a great training camp. So, your top three guys looking real crisp right now. Real crisp. Crisp. And again, Trayvon Diggs hasn’t played in a while. And and no bigger litmus test than week one against arguably the best of the best of the best. Here it comes. And then flipping to the offensive side of the ball, we had another full participant that is tracking a little bit ahead of schedule. Tyler Gayton, I like that name. Your starting left tackle. I like that guy. As it as it stands, is trending toward taking the field against the Philadelphia Eagles. And I love what Nate Thomas has shown. Um, and I don’t know that we talk about pitch counts. I don’t know that Tyler Gayton will be fully unleashed. Um, but he is taking full participation in team drills. So, it looks like he could be on the field as well and it could be a combo of he and Nate Thomas out there trying to trying to stop u the good news hopefully a tight end too. Well, the good news is is when it comes to the Eagles as we foreshadow the Eagles. When it comes to the Eagles, they’re not the Giants when it comes to the edge rushers. They’re not some of the better edge rush team as far as depth is concerned. Right. Fair. As far right, you you don’t point at the Eagles and and Isaiah makes a good point. There are guys that you’re like, “Okay, Jaylen Carter’s the headliner and there’s like a Zack Bond and okay, those guys can impact games.” But at the edge, there’s no one that you look at and say, “Oh, that’s that dude, right?” Like you will on the interior. So, I’m not saying it’s going to be an easy go for the Cowboys on the edges at all. What I’m saying is this at the edges may not be as as difficult a game as if you go against the It’s not It’s not week one from last year. Exactly. At that at that position. So, yeah. So, you know, we’ll see. Tyler Gayton full participant. Trayvon Diggs full participant. Cowboys trending in the right direction health-wise. Now, unfortunately, Perion Winfrey did mispractice with some back tightness, which now doesn’t matter. However you feel about the mic trade, good, bad, or indifferent, this Kenny Clark edition might have just been became extremely fertuitous. You’re saying because Perion Win, okay, I was like, wait a second. Look at it from a depth standpoint. Yeah. Okay. So, if Perion Winfrey is not on the field and you already have questions about what Mazy Smith can or cannot be, if Kenny Clark is not in the building and Perion Winfrey is not on the field, do I have to finish this comment? Like, how much more concerning could that be? So, what I’m saying is it was already I’m just saying the timing of because we talked about Kenny Clark does upgrade the defensive back. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, him him bad to That’s what I’m saying. Fine. But if he’s not here and Perion Winfrey is unable to go is my point. Now you go from bad to, you know, holy sugar honey beam. I’m not going to finish the statement because I’ve learned that lesson. All right. I want a little QB vision. Oh, we are so bad. Have you done your studying? Is that a real question? We are so back. All right. When we come back here on Talking Cowboys, it’s time to preview the Cowboys offense up against that Philadelphia Eagles defense. Gh, I hate the Eagles. Isaiah breaks it down when we come back right after this. AT&T has a new guarantee because most things in life are not guaranteed. Like getting through selfch checkckout by yourself. Warning, each item must be placed in the bagging area. Not guaranteed. 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We are so excited to have Isaiah back and it’s mostly just because he does film study. It’s time for a little bit of wide 80 wide 80. It’s time for QB Vision with Isaiah Standback. Welcome back, bud. Thanks, bud. I need you to wear the like the the strap the play. Oh, I should I should get that for those that are visual. You’ve got a vocal at home. But to usher us back in officially, you have to have to do the voice, guys. Um well, we’re back. Um week one. No, really excited about this matchup, you guys. Obviously, the Philadelphia Eagles, as much as you might despise them, you got to put some respect on their name. No, they are the defending champions. These guys return arguably fake news. arguably the best defense from last year as the Dallas Cowboys now approach them. They’re not the same defense and Dallas does not have the same offense. So, we can look at last year’s film all we want to. The reality is last year Dak Prescott did not play against the Philadelphia Eagles. No, he did not at all. No, he did not. Um the reality is last year they had a dude in in the middle named Milton Williams. He’s no longer there. Former Latte Bulldog. So, they have some pieces. They don’t have big plays. Slay who wasn’t necessarily big play guy no more. They don’t have a handful of guys. However, this Eagles team returns and those guys that you mentioned are some of the three of the five guys that are not returning for these guys as starters. They had 17 returners of 22. Um when I say that they let’s get to what they want to do. Okay, what they want to do and what they have shown against you in the past is these guys want to be a single high team. They will show two high safeties. And the reason why this is important, listeners, is because that is the first thing that the quarterback identifies when he comes in the line of scrimmage. Where are the safeties? So, if I find my safeties, those guys are back there. They look like they’re playing too high. All right. Now, I work my way down towards the line of scrimmage. When the line of scrimmage, you guys heard, I don’t know if you guys listen to the our.com, Dallas Cowboys.com, a lot of great interviews, but Dak Prescott is on record saying that they don’t show a lot. They don’t do a lot. And that’s very true. These guys play a very simplistic vicio defense. However, they are very selective and effective at what they do. The big fellas up front allow for them to play simplistic. They allow for them to play fast. And when I say the big fellas, let’s talk about it. Jaylen Carter 98. You got to find him. You got to know exactly where he’s at. And you better buckle up your bootstraps and tighten up your belt because he is coming downhill. He’s a big force who not only can stuff the A gaps, but he also can pass rush. He’s a problem. He is the problem on the defense for the Philadelphia Eagles. There’s another dude who necessarily hasn’t played up to the level that I feel he’s capable of playing that. Um, but he’s a house in Jordan Davis that’s going to be playing right next to him. Those two big fellas in the middle are huge. Um, they allow for their linebackers to run and hit and their linebackers are active. Their linebackers are very smart and their linebackers are very physical. Zack Bond is a problem. Nolan Smith, who actually had opportunity to get to know a little bit this offseason by being on GMFB, he might be the one of the most passionate football players that I’ve met. Go dogs. I said it before, Patrick. Really? I wasn’t going to do it. I wasn’t going to do it. Only other Only other player that has given me that feeling in their presence is Demo. Oh, cool. like he’s he’s like that like p like super passionate wants to learn. This is one of our guys. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Um go but those guys and the reason why I say you have to highlight those two guys, you highlight those two linebackers and then you have to obviously go straight to um Cooper Deene. Cooper Dene from to me is like another even though he’s a cover nickel and all that kind of stuff. He likes to insert himself into the into the box um along with Reed Blankership as well. hands, too. Huh? He has hands, too. He has hands, too. But those guys, the reason why I bring those guys up is because that front line doesn’t allow your offensive line to get past them. Y, right? So, if you’re blocking these guys up front, you have five offensive linemen, but two of those guys are taking up your middle three. Now, the defensive ends, your tackles are responsible for those guys. Last time I checked, that’s five on four. Mhm. And if it’s five on four, then who can get up to those three guys at the second level? Nobody. That’s when it’s a problem. Nolan Smith is fast and he is decisive. Zack Bond, we know what he’s able to do. He’s able to force turnovers by being physical. He’s a smart, intellectual guy. So that front seven presents a problem there where I think that they are exposed now in 2025 is in their secondary because these guys want to be a single high team. They’ll show too high but then they’ll rotate their safety down into the box for run support because they want to take away that element of your game. They want to get you passing the ball. They can no longer do that. That’s our assumption before we see our non vanilla version of this offense. The assumption is that they have to now make some business decisions with their secondary. The offensive line has to deal with those guys up front. That’s your own problem. Okay? And you got to figure out how to establish some kind of run game and get up to the second level, combo blocks, all that thing. You have to establish a run game. If you are able to establish a run game now, can they roll? Can they truly roll that safety into the box and do what they want to do with a Vic Fangio defense? Whenever he blitzes, he blitzes off the edge. is not really, ooh, that’s really scary. You know where it’s coming from. The reason why that’s a problem for them potentially is because Dak Prescott is back. He can identify what you’re doing. Jake Ferguson is back and you have to have somebody who can cover him. And if you’re either going to cover him with a safety or you’re going to cover him with one of those high intellectual linebackers that we talked about, do you really want to use one of those linebackers to stick Jake Ferguson or do you want those guys in the box coming downhill? I read those guys be in the box. Okay, so if those guys are in the box, then who’s responsible for Jake Ferguson, right? And if you want to play single high and have a safety playing Jake Ferguson, now you are now forced in a position, last time I checked, to have one guy sticking CD Lamb and one guy sticking George Pickkins. Yep. Business decisions. Mhm. Love it. Business decisions. Those odds. If you are able to keep them honest, keep your receivers out there. You line up CD Lamb on one side, you line up um George Pickins on the other side, you line up um Jake Ferguson, right? And these guys want to stay too high. You have to run the ball. Absolutely. You like it is beyond important that Dallas finds a way to have an a somewhat effective run. I’m not saying that you got to rush for 125, 130 yards. You have to be able to get three yards a pop. which is a tall task when you’re saying that the defensive line is always pushing down. Getting past that first level is going to be tough to begin with, but I think you need to get your guys out in open space, which I think is what when you can lean on a Kavvonte Turpin out in space. I know he’s a receiver now. They’re putting more of an emphasis on him as your third guy, but get him out in space if you can get if you can get them cover. Yeah. Once you’re in 11 personnel, right, and whether that’s Jaylen Tolbert or whether that’s Cavonte Turpin, let’s just say for instance, you put Cavante Turpin out there as your slot receiver. Um, now you’re in a position to get these guys. Again, it goes back to the run. If you can establish a run, now you can do your play action. And if you can do your play action now, Jaylen Carter, right, now Big Baby Davis, all those guys have to do what? They have to run sideline to sideline. That’s not what they want to do. They don’t want to go sideline to sideline. They want to go forward. And if you can get these guys going with a run scheme going linearly right towards the sideline and now they have to respect that and now all of a sudden Dak Prescott boots out. Now you have Jake Ferguson in the flats. You have Cavonte Turpin at the second level. You have CD Lamb or George Pickkins two of the best uh deep ball threat high contested catch guys in the league going out there on deep post and deep go routes. These guys safeties have to give. They have to respect that. So there’s a lot of space in the middle for Ferg and Turp or Ferg and Tolbert to work. That’s what you want to get to. That’s how you can hurt these guys, but it all starts with your ability to run for three or four yards a pop. Yeah. And if you can do that and successfully is ideal. Obviously, you want to run success successfully, but if you can at least establish the threat of it, force them to respect it, a consistency, consistency, then and we talked about this with Dak Prescott in the locker room. It was an off-the cuff, off the record conversation, but Dak was basically saying the same thing. He was like, “Man, um, you would love to see Dak hitting CD and pickings on every play.” He was like, “But we got to establish this run.” Yes. So that we can play off of, guess what, the play action and go from there. Because if you can play off of the play action, I’m going to tell you right now, there’s a reason that Nick Fangio hasn’t named his starting defensive backs just yet. Yep. You cuz it doesn’t matter, sir. Yeah. Cooper Deene. Yep. And good luck, buddy. Who else? Right. Yeah. Quinn Mitchell. He’s not He doesn’t have the stripes uh the stripes on the wall, right? He doesn’t have the skins on the wall. Okay. And he has some coverage issues. And I’m going to tell you, say go dogs. Okay. For as much as we know what Jaylen Carter is and Jordan Davis can be and and Nolan Smith can be. I said this before the draft and I’m going to stand here and say it again. Ringo is toast. Absolute toast. He doesn’t stand a chance. However, there is a chance that he’s going to be one of the starting boundary corners when the Cowboys take the field. I’m taking CD and or George Pickkins against most cornerbacks most of the time against Mitchell and Ringo. If you establish this run, holy crap, the game that and establish and I know people listen when I say establish, I can’t speak for anybody else. When I say establish the run, I need three yards. I need three. Like most people are going to say, “Oh, I need five or six.” No, no, no, Let’s be realistic. If I can get three yards on first down, if I can get three yards on second down, and seven, now you’re third. Third and four, yeah, I’ll take third and four all day long with the weapons that I have at at the receiver and tight end position. Third and four is not bad. It’s not cuz it still gives you several options from the playbook. Everything’s open. You just can’t get behind the line on first down. You cannot and and get yourself in second and long situations. That’s just time and time again what we were faced with with the Mike McCarthy era. And now this offense, what it has going for it is the fact that it’s not like that. It it can be disguised in other ways. What did Brenton Shanheimer say in his very first pre press conference? It’s like, we can do that. Yeah, we can add motion. We can hide things. The biggest thing that the Cowboys have going for them is the freaking uh the glasses with the nose on it. Dude, they’re disguised right now. They had the what do you got going on over here, B? Like, they can do that all day, everybody. That’s why they’ve been vanilla this whole preseason. It’s because of this game right here. I hope so. I I And I hope that’s the plan. I hope that’s the master plan because we kind of felt that way about McCarthy in his first year. That first game was rough, dude. Difference being though, to your point. Tell them. Difference being the league had plenty of years of film on McCarthy as a play caller. How much film do they have on Shanheimer as a play caller? Not much. 23. I was about to say they not much. But to that point, Seattle that they have that Jacksonville, they don’t have that with this setup. You’re right. So my point being there’s there’s not a lot of data. Let Dak Cook, but before you let Dak Cook establish the run, you have to establish the run. cuz Shenheimer did say in one of his first press conferences as head coach, he said kind of tongue and cheek, uh, unfortunately he let Russ cook a little bit more than he would have liked because he kind of bought into the whole the fandom let Russ cook and that whole mantra and he kind of let Russ do a little bit more than I think he’s learned from that and he understands that hey setting up the run establishing the run will free up everything and and Isaiah has said it time and time again on this panel the best Cowboys podcast on earth. Did I mention that? Yeah. Okay, cool. What uh Dak Prescott plays the best when he’s playing off of play action. And there it is. I got a couple stats for you here. This is just cold hard stats. I like So this is this is factual. So if you if you want to disagree with it, then go ahead. But it’s factual. Dak Prescott is 4- one versus the Eagles since 2021. Two-1 when Philly plays Jaylen Herz. So you can’t even throw that out there that he hasn’t played Jaylen Herz. He’s won two of the three games. only starting quarterback with multiple wins versus the Eagles since that 2021 season. The only one. You want to know his stats in those games? Come on with it. 4 in one record, like we said. Tasty. Completion percentage 71%. Delightful. Passing yards per game, 305. Delicious. Passing touchdown to interception ratio. This is where it gets interesting. 16-1. Passer rating 127 and a half. What have we said all off season about this weaponry around Dak Prescott? Oh man. It’s the what? The best it’s been in quite some time. If not ever. Yeah. Ever. Maybe ever. Maybe ever. Still yet to be seen. That’s not factual yet, but we’ll get there. On paper. It’ll get there. On paper. I don’t have any concerns about offense. About the offense. I think the offense will be just fine. passing game will the running game is a little bit of a concern and I say you haven’t seen Javvante Williams I’ve been concerned on that all year I’m not concerned the passing game I’m fine because I but I think the passing game will open up the run game it’s going to vice versa than what we’ve always thought but I think and the chemistry of the offensive line you haven’t necessarily seen that yet at full force there is there’s going to be some learning curve absolutely but I’m not totally worried about the offense however now yeah when we come back I am a little worried about the defense Let’s talk about it when we come back with more talking cowboys right after this. 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Head to your local grocery store and roast yourself some Black Rifle coffee today. Welcome back into Dear Doctor, the show where I answer life’s questions with an ice cold can of Dr. Pepper. Sheila, let’s hear from our next caller. Would you? Dear Doctor, my friend supported me during a tough time. But what’s the right gift that says thanks for being a shoulder to cry on? Okay, this one’s easy. I say give her a delicious Dr. Pepper. Nothing says thanks girl. Better than a one-of-akind soda. Yes, any Dr. Pepper flavor will do. Now, just a reminder that I don’t need to be a real doctor to know that Dr. Pepper is the one you deserve. It’s the official men’s skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black. And right now, Cowboys fans can get 15% off their $75 order. Plus, because every deal needs a playmaker, your order will include a free fivepiece skin care set and free shipping. The Jack Black Playmaker is four of Jack’s favorites in a full-sized intense therapy lip balm. Make a play for the playmaker at getjackblack.com/cowboys with the code cowboys VIP. That’s getjackblack.com/cowboys with the code cowboys VIP. Back to talking cowboys. Back here on Talking Cowboys presented by Black Rifle Coffee Company. Patrick Nosy Walker, Josh Rodriguez, Isaiah Stanback, Chris Beam in the back. Kyle Yman’s Cowboys defense versus Philadelphia. And then we’ve got our pick them just for this game day. We’ll pick the rest of the games on Friday uh when we come back. But what position group will be challenged the most by this Philadelphia offense? Because they can win in a number different number of different ways. The answer is yes. Just all of them. All of them. All of them. Think about it. I mean they I mean it goes without saying Saquon Barkley can do Saquon Barkley things in that offensive line. We’ll see if Landon Dickerson which by the way injury update Landon Dickerson did not practice yesterday so we’ll see if he takes the field. He was kind of a similar timeline of Gayton if I remember correctly where they thought almost quite literally it was it was they thought it was going to be a season ender. He gets carded off during an open practice at Lincoln Financial. People are saying it’s the end of his season and then all of a sudden comes back it’s like four to five weeks. Yeah. So, so there’s a chance he misses the game, but um I mean Saquon Barkley’s going to do his thing with or without Landon Dickerson. Obviously without Landon Dickerson, they take a slight step back, but offensive line still one of the best in the league. Um and then AJ Brown, Devonte Smith, Dallas Goddard. Yeah, those those guys are kind of good at what they do. The secondary is is a big question mark for me. I mean, if you’re looking at Trayvon Digs, who hasn’t necessarily played in a while coming back from injury, and you look at Don Bland, who had a bad off season, he got his extension. So, I mean, he’s he had a a down year, let’s say, last year. Said down year. I mean, he lost almost half the season. Exactly. Um, and then you’re looking at a guy like Kaire who has been for me like the best defensive player you’ve had since OTAAS. Yeah. Just amazing. I don’t see who could argue that. He needs to be that dude on Thursday. embarrassed, but he needs to be that dude that we’ve seen. I put Cir above Maris. But yeah, and speaking of Maris, is he going to spy Jordan uh Jaylen Herz all game? Like, are we going to have a spy for J for Jaylen Herz? That’s a good question. I know Isaiah in the past you’ve said you don’t want to spy Jaylen Herz because they can hurt you in different ways, right? Yeah. last year. Actually, if you go back to the first game of last year, Dallas actually did a pretty good job up front of kind of keeping him contained for the most part, but then he got out right when he when he got out of the pocket if he was able to escape because Demar Van Overton was on his tail in that game. Once he got out, there was nobody responsible for him. So, like his ex his ability to extend drives with his legs and getting out the pocket like that killed Dallas in that first game. It really did. Um, yeah. So, I mean, I I’m not a big fan of of using somebody to spy on him because they have so many other weapons. Whenever you spy, you’re taking that person out away from coverage. But at the same time, if he’s able to escape the pocket some way, if you’re not able to collapse that pocket and not allow him out, if he does get out, then he’ll hurt you. But I will say, I do think Maris is going to impact this game in a major way. Um, I think the linebackers are really going to be featured heavily in the outcome of this game as far as Cowboys linebackers are concerned because Cowboys are still trying to figure out the defensive interior. They need to figure out what the post Micah era looks like as far as rotation on the ends. So, it looks like Dante’s going to get the start, Sam Williams going to get the start opposite Dante Williams. And then, of course, you have Esrau and Nean. Those young guys will come in. Um, and hopefully they can those that fourack, which is a mix of proven ability and Dante and very high ceilings and the the three young guys I just talked about. I’m confident in those guys and they can kind of get off the ends. But that defensive tackle position is Kenny Clark going to hit the ground immediately for the Cowboys. I’m confident in Oso Diggiza and I love what Solomon Thomas has been in training camp. Looks like he under Matt Ibrafluence looks like he’s ready to cook. But that nose tackle position has me a little bit nervous until I see what Kenny Clark looks like in the mix. So that means the linebackers are going to play a huge part. Merist, I think he’s going to eat well. Kenneth Murray, we’ll see what Jack Samborn can do. Um, and Deone Clark, don’t don’t go sleeping on Dean. He has he’s coming off the best off season of his career. One of those things that at least defensive wise that concerns me is Sam Williams starting at uh edge to me, I mean, it’s been a while since we’ve seen Sam Williams play and when he did, he was getting a lot a lot of flags. It was very undisiplined football. He talked about that yesterday. you talked about it yesterday and you hope that the maturing process has has begun and you know it’s set here with him now. I’m concerned that something like that might creep up. I’m concerned it might not be a clean game. I’m concerned of the flags that have sort of alienated the Dallas Cowboys amongst other teams in the NFL over the past few seasons. I mean, for as long as I’ve been watching him, the flags have been an issue. So, it’s it’s concerning there. The start for him is huge. I hope he’s able to capitalize and keep that spot. I think that really quickly on on the penalty point, I find it refreshing that Sam when I was speaking to him yesterday in the locker room that he proactively mentioned penalties on himself. So I asked him, I said, “Hey, you know, it’s been 18 plus months since you’ve taken the field. How hungry?” Just to describe your hungry, how hungry are you? He said, “Very, but I’m being patient because if I allow myself to to get too hungry or to get too anxious about it,” his words, he said, “That’s when Sam starts getting penalties.” He’s very self-aware now more so than he’s ever been in that in that capacity. So, I would like to see it translate into lack of flags, but it the first step is to be aware. And it sounds like he’s very aware of. I’m concerned about the Dline. Mhm. And I may as a whole. As a whole. Okay. I’m not I’m there too. I’m not confident in it in the I think you need one more piece at the in the interior defensive line. You made a huge stride forward obviously by bringing Kenny, but but then that’s a step back at your edge rushers. Your edge I’m not I’m not very confident in the edges in terms of run stopping ability. Oh, okay. I was going to say I think they they’ll get after him just fine. But I don’t think it’ll be the same though. So the reason that’s a pretty ever making that comparison at all. I’m just I’m I am on a wait and see with Sam Williams. I from what I’ve seen from Sam Williams, his pad level is way too high. Um I’m not convinced in his variety and his ability to pass rush. I’m just not. Um I hope I hope, but you know, we we say it all the time, hope is not a strategy. Um but I have not personally seen enough from Sam Williams to feel comfortable and confident that he’s going to make an impact. That’s how I feel with Marshawn Nean. Marshawn Nan to me, Marshon Neland to me is an interior D lineman. That’s just undersized. That’s what he is to me. That’s what he’s been since he’s gotten here. I’ve said it many. Yeah, but he’s an undersized interior D lineman. They could say call him a DN all day long. He’s not a pass rushing DN. Yeah. Um, so you know who he is, though? He is a run stopping DN. Well, that’s what he’s supposed to be. Yeah, that’s what he’s supposed to be. He hasn’t been that. To your point, as far as you’re concerned about the edges being contained, Neland is one of the best of that four pack. And I I I think we’re going to see more three four than we than we expect. I really think that was a huge reason why Kenny Clark was such a huge addition. I think adding him now you have a true nose, right? You have a true nose multiple and now right your your deepest room to me right now is surprisingly linebacker, right? Surp now now after the trade, right? You’re surprisingly linebacker. So now if that’s your deepest room and that’s where you have the most guys that can play, then Kenny Clark knows also Dicki Zua tackle. Um Solomon Thomas tackle and you have two standup ends. You could put you could put Dante Fowler Jr. You could put um you could put Sam Williams or you could put you know whoever on I was going to ask you about that. Do you think he’s going to provide more for you than Sam Williams? Yes. In pass rushing ability. Yes. I think it’s going to take a while for him to get going. He’s going to have his and that’s probably why he’s not starting right. Yeah. He’s going to have to learn, but I think that his ceiling is substantially higher. There’s no shot at Nean. I just think that he’s a more I think he’s more athletic. Let’s just call it what it is. Um that first step is insane. There’s not there’s not one thing that I point so when I look at impact players I look say hey what’s the one thing that I that I feel fully confident that you can go be pretty dominant at no matter who you line up against. Right. And I don’t know what that is for Sam Williams and I don’t know what that is for Marshon Neland. That’s fair because the only one that’s proven in that four pack is Dante Fowler. Yeah. Oh yeah Dante Fowler. Go get quarterback. Yeah. Go get QB. So you know that right? Go get after but like when you go down the line what are the things like Simon Thomas Osa Dazulu? Both of you guys are pretty much the same guy. Go get vertical right holding the fourth. H don’t necessarily know that, but you guys can get in the seams and get vertical and create some some internal pressure. Go all the way across the line and say, “What’s your one thing that you do? What’s how can you impact us tremendously on this game?” I’m not sure that you can circle that for every player on that front seven yet. Yeah. Time to pick. Who do you feel like is going to win week one against the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles? I’m saying it very subdued here because I feel like it’s going to be a tough one either way. We’re going to come back on Friday and the Cowboys are either going to win the Super Bowl or they’re going to be 0 and 17. Can I Can I throw It’s one of the other. Can I throw one more fun fact out there that that we’re not talking about enough? Throw it right there. Facts. All right. This offense has a new play caller. Yep. Kevin Patulo. Okay. I don’t know if that’s how you pronounce it, but Kevin Patulo, however you want to say it. Anyways, this is the sixth this is the sixth play caller in six consecutive years in Jaylen Herz’s ear. Hasn’t been a problem yet though. Not yet. But this dude has never called plays. He’s never called play. So like that that’s a portion of this game that you have to take into consideration because he is going to try to now imitate what he has seen before. Right? He’s either a gonna try to put his own flare on it or he’s b gonna try to imitate what Kell Moore did previously. You have to he has to figure out who he is and what what they are as a offense. I would imagine he’s going to try his best to imitate because you don’t want to mess up that formula that they had. But that’s something to pay attention to as the game goes on as well because if there is some highlevel competition early and they’re not being dominant like they probably assume that they would be, then what does that OC start to do? What does he do? What what bag does he does he go into the Kell Moore bag and say, “Well, Kell Moore would do this.” Or he says, “No, screw this. This is my offense now. This is what we’re doing.” Something to watch. I’ll jump off I’ll jump off the porch with it. Um, man, this this is going to be this going to be a dog fight. I I’m seeing a lot of, you know, the Eagles are going to basically walk the Cowboys out of the state. I don’t feel like that’s going to be the case, especially when you look at u the Cowboys offense and we talk about that versus the secondary um in Philly and yeah, you have some issues with Saquon and AJ and Devonte and Jaylen. Yeah, 100%. Um but I think that this offense just absolutely finds a way to exploit the secondary. I don’t think it’s going to be an explosive game, but I think it’ll have explosive plays for the Cowboys. I think Cowboys finished with 27 points. Um, and I think they win on the leg of Brandon Aubrey. I think 2724 and it goes to the wire. 64 y. Wow. So, you’re picking a Cowboys week one. You don’t put on. Well, and that’s true. But hopefully not cuz if it’s if you’re depending on a 64 yard to win the game, means you didn’t move the ball down the field. It’s easy money, but easier money 40, 30, you know what I mean? So, yeah, I think Brandon Aubry gets you this game at the at the buzzer quickly because we have to go. Yep. I’m going to say uh Dallas 26, Philadelphia 23. Wow. So, you’re picking a win, too. We’re right there. 27 Cowboys 26 23. I see this game almost like what Baltimore was last year. You remember that week three match up against Baltimore? It was not It was at home, but going into it, Dallas was was not playing well. They they had just gotten their doors blown off by by New Orleans and Baltimore was was trying to figure their things out, but they were they were the better team across the board. And I thought they were going to get run out of the gym and they didn’t. They they fought back. It was 2522 was the final. They just fought and fought and fought and they were never really out of it. I think that’s going to be the case this time. I think they’re going to be right there. They need to make one or two big plays, but they just probably won’t get it in week one. I think they fall 3431 on the road. Oh, that’s a lot of points. I do think it’s going to be a lot of points. But again, here we are. I think I think the offense is going to click. Game close game. Yeah, I think the offense is going to click. I think Philadelphia is just going to click a little bit more. Interesting. Um I don’t know who the Cowboys are yet. Fair. I know who the Eagles are. 100% fair. Um I there are a number of players that we have to see who are going to be your impact players specifically on defense. And until we have that answer, I have to give the nod to Philadelphia for that for that reason. I think it’s going to be 2721 um Philly and just because I know who their guys are, we we’re sitting here with question marks over our head in terms of who those guys are for Dallas. Pickings gets at least one touchdown and I think he’s going to be one of the huge determining factors in the Cowboys getting us hopefully so hopefully so. Either way, we’re going to be back on Friday to break it down, win or lose for you here on Talking Cowboys. By the way, our comment of the day, Chopin said, “Did Isaiah get a second opinion on his back to show up today?” I laughed at it. That’s our comment of the day. Hey, that’s going to do it for us here on Talking Cowboys. Patrick Nosy Walker, Josh Rodriguez, Isaiah Stanback, Chris Beam in the back. I’m Kyleman saying so long. We’ll see you on Friday. Go Cowboys. Go kick the Eagles butt. This has been a production of DallasCowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. How about you, Cowboys? [Music]

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