Mick Shots: It’s Go Time | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Mick Shots: It’s Go Time | Dallas Cowboys 2025

The following is a production of DallasCowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys football club. How about [Music] this is Mick Shots streaming live on dallascowboys.com and the official Dallas Cowboys app. Now here are Bill Jones, Hecma Harrison, Everson Walls, and Mickey Spagnola. All right, no time to dillydally around. Two days before game day in Philadelphia, our Labor Day weekend is over and it’s time to play some football. We’ve had the last Brian Shottenheimimer press conference before the season opener. We finally got a question about the Philadelphia Eagles in a Brian Shottenheimimer press conference. Finally. And here we go. Oh, it’s time. Take on the Eagles on Thursday night. There we go. There it is. Cowboys. Did you get a good answer? That was a good answer from producer Supreme right there. Oh, the question about the Eagles. Yes. I love hearing Shottenheimimer talk about the other team about Fangio. Uhhuh. Yep. And Jeff Stoutland on the same staff with him at Syracuse in 1998. Yeah. 1998. I heard that. Yeah. And wow. You know, ever since fired up for the season, he listened to a Brian shot timer press conference. Don’t use me as the low bar. Okay, let’s stop with this. All right, and we got the Bill Bichc debut out of the way. And let’s just hope the Shottenheimer debut doesn’t go like the Bellich debut. Oh my gosh, they did. They did look cowboy-l like. It started off well. That’s right. It did. Right down the field and scoring. Right. according to script. I was getting phone calls like, “Man, you see Bellich, man, let’s let’s” We start talking on the phone and looking at the game and next thing you know, we’re talking about everything else but the game. And and right away is from that first touchdown, everybody’s already He’s the greatest college. He’s the greatest college right away. High five, baby. Woo! It was grand opening, grand closing. And uh TCU came out, man. I guess they learned something from losing to Colorado the first time around at home. They were not they were not going to have Bill Bichc an introduction like that to college football, man. So, I mean, I think they played great. Also, man, got to say something about Kendall Brow uh the way that he called. I mean, he looked like an offensive guru out there last night uh against Bellich. And I think it’s the first time I’ve ever watched a Bill Bich team, well, defensively. I’m likely, oh my god, when are these guys going to make some adjustments? when you know and and I can only imagine Everson for a coach like Bill Bich the college game has to be moving it slow as is whatever it’s it got to move slow for a guy and it was looking slow motion as his defense was failing. Yes. You know to to watch that and to watch your defenders look as if they’ve never played football before and it wasn’t just the calls or whatever. They were missing tackles. The running back was punking them on every run. He looked like he was breaking every tackle when he came through there. And the North Carolina defenders looked like they had they wanted no part of it. That was pretty obvious. You got to have players. Got to have players and you if you bring in 70 of them. Well, do you think he did that? What did What did you have before? M Brown can tell you. No, that’s the question though. What did he come in and say, “I’m bringing my luggage in his Louis.” Did he do the same? He got rid of some guys. I’m going to be, you know, optimistic about it because of because of his track record, but you assume that this going to get better. Yeah. You know, this is just like, you know, they’re not accustomed to the system. They’re not accusto. How important is a quarterback, too? Oh, yeah. Well, that came out first the first drive. You know, I’m looking at and then it was like he completed his last pass at 7:12 p.m. and it’s 8:45 now. The second pass completed was to a TCU player that ran it back for a touchdown. Is that a real thing? Are we going to start breaking it up times? That’s what they did last night. That’s what they did last night. From 7:20 from from 8:15 to 10:30. This is You know what though? The Cowboys What? Cowboys are going on the road. Game time. This is like real time. Real time. Okay. Cowboys are going on the road to play the defending Super Bowl champs on Thursday night. and they can learn something from the Bill Bich game. For him, it was at home, but you better not turn the football over on Thursday night against Philadelphia. Pick sixes, scooping scores. I mean, that that game can get away from you very quickly. Best quarterback might have been sitting on the bench. Hex Johnson. Yeah. Yeah. The Brad Johnson son who came in. Oh, that was the one that he was a backup that came in. He used to be at&m. He actually knew where to throw the ball. No, the best quarterback was the TCU quarterback. Well, yeah, I meant for North Carolina. Well, you called it, Bill. You said you said, “Ah, TCU is not that bad.” Did you I told a friend on Sun on Saturday that he asked me, he said, “Belich versus TCU. That’ll be a good one.” I said, “TU will roll.” Yeah. TCU’s got a good team. Did you watch his postgame press conference? I did not. It’s on. It was inspirational. Oh, yeah. It was like 15 minutes of being constipated. That’s how he usually does his typical. It was typical. It was the same as in the pros where he didn’t want to answer a question. He’s one one word answers. Was that the same? No, no, it was more than one word answer, but it was the same answer for every question. Well, we got to get back to work. That’s just as bad. You know, we missed a lot of assignments. Uh, yeah, that wasn’t good. We got to be better. And then they asked the next question and it was the same answer. same one. He said it’s on to Charlotte. That’s who they play next. Charlotte. That’s all the time. So now for us, it’s on to Philadelphia. Okay. Yeah. Here we go. We only got so much time. That’s exactly right. Okay. We dillydallyed around already. All right. Um, so what’s on your mind? Let’s go around the horn here as we uh get set for this. And now we’re basically 48 hours away. Man, y’all going to get Let the new guy go first. Quick. Yeah. New guys go first. the tone. You set the tone. I tell you what, the the matchup that I’m looking at right away is Tyler Booker and Jaylen Carter. Um I think for when when coach Brian Shottenheimer took over, he said it, you know, we’ve got to run the ball and I think he said that just because they needed need the balance. But in my experience, man, I know that teams draft to win their division. And I think Jaylen, excuse me, uh Tyler Booker was bought in to the answer to what you have at the different from different teams from Dexter Lawrence to Payne in for the Commanders. You needed a interior offensive lineman like that to be able to shore up this offensive line to go with Tyler Smith, Tyler Gen, and BB and still. But man, this is going to be one of those games that at the line of scrimmage, if you lose the line of scrimmage early, it it I don’t care what skilled players you have, Dak Prescott is going to have a hard time producing points in a game like this with a defense like Phillies. Not only that, you’re talking about the the middle linebackers, the middle linebacker and all linebackers, they’re going to have issues as well on our side. Yeah. If you’re talking about an offensive line, which has its issues, right? injury problems this year. But when you start talking about the consistency as a team, you’re still talking about a team that can they can run it down our throats if we’re not careful. Well, or if they are careful. Even if So, does Kenny Clark make a difference? I think he can. I think he can make a difference if he comes in the way from what I’ve seen and I haven’t had much but but good highlights. They don’t show low lightss when they show highlights. as far as his reputation goes, he should make a difference. He should make a difference. And I’m I’m looking at I look at it like this and we, you know, we’re over the whole Parson’s thing. I’m I’m ready to move forward and just start talking about how where do we like we talked about last week. Where do we go from here? I want to know who’s going to take Parson’s place. I I’m hoping that it can be someone like Dante Fowler who can make a difference. I think he can make a difference with his experience. He played well for us two years ago, played well last year. I think he’s a guy to me that needs to expand his role on this team. And I think this move will help will force him to turn into not just a relief linebacker or just someone comes in on passing downs. I want this guy to be a good starter, a guy that can play against the run and pass because he’s got experience. The X factors Sam Williams. And where was he lining up when he did play in the preseason? Uh he was on the left side left side of the defense. Although he’s played both sides, both sides and been primarily right side earlier. When he got here, his reputation was he needs to learn to play the run. Mhm. Now, unfortunately, he missed all last year when it was time to get out there and show what he’s learned. Uh I think um from what I’ve seen so far, he’s more cognizant about playing the run, setting the edge. Now, can he do it in a real game? And I think he’s the X factor because they don’t know much about Sam Williams. Uh but he has in a year um expanded his physical presence I think. Now can you play the run or all you doing is chasing the quarterback? Mhm. And he’s got to be able to do that and set the edge even in pass rush because the worst thing that happens is Herz breaks out of the pocket and you’ve overrushed inside and he gets outside. Uh so to me he’s the X factor on on on this whole thing. I think that’s extremely important because sometimes we just get so hyped defensive line. I mean, they’re going up the field. All they want to do is I’m going at Jaylen. I’m gonna I’m gonna make a strip sack or whatever. And you end up running past and opening up that lane for someone just like Herz to run through. And at that point, he’s got a clear vision down the field and he can do what he wants. Make him pass the ball. And and and if you got a a bead on him, that’s fine. but make him pass the ball uh over you as opposed to him being by you already and having that clear field. Yeah. And that’s what I flu you you hope he brings in that discip that discipline um from this pass rush guys don’t think about it. Stay in your lane and stay disciplined. And when you come up against a mobile quarterback and man Jaylen Hurst showed you at Alabama. He definitely showed you at the University of Oklahoma that if you overpursue, he’ll just sneak out the back door and he’ll pick it could be third and eight and next thing you know he’s scampering to the sticks for first down. So that’s the pressure that he puts on you and basically designed runs is what every every time. And so what he’s gotten better at looking for that. But what he’s gotten better at is still staying with his receivers. I saw that last season and that growth and maturity from him is that it used to be, hey, if he sees it covered, he don’t wait for it to come open. It’s like, hey, I’m putting my head down and I’m running immediately. And so that’s even more what makes him dangerous because, man, he can still stay in the pocket and deliver the throw. That’s that’s that’s taking a lot of I’m sorry, that’s putting a lot of pressure on your offensive line. Yeah, we need to use that against him. out let make him throw the ball only because it’s the lesser of the evils at this point because if you have him running the ball after you’ve lost containment, this is that uh puts your defense in a whole different situation. If you uh look at what he did throwing the ball, threw for 2900 yards. I started looking at the Cowboys quarterbacks that led each year and you would have had to go back 30 years to find a Cowboys quarterback that threw for fewer yards if had played 15 to 16 games, right? Not the backup comes in or whatever or Dak didn’t finish the season, Romo didn’t finish the season. But when you run as a team for 3500 yards, you don’t have to throw the ball all that much. That’s right. So that makes him even better. Yeah. Right. He only threw 18 touchdown passes last year. Oh, I know. Yeah. But he ran for 14. There you go. You see? Cut the baby in half. How many? But how many of the 14 were one yard run? That’s right. No, there it is. That’s the thing. That’s why you got to win first and second down so it didn’t get down to fourth and one. No doubt. fourth on a foot. Yeah, their formula is well thought out and well executed. So, you have to understand what they’re trying to do as a defense. You have to know what they’re trying to do. Otherwise, you’re falling into the trap every time. Listen, I’m sorry. No, no, I’m just saying. Look, I don’t want to get carried away with the the Jaylen Herds conversation or the AJ Brown or Devonte Smith conversation because it’s Saquon Barkley. it is can the Dallas Cowboys defense stop the run because everything that the Philadelphia Eagles are going to do is going to be predicated on the run. And if they come out and they establish that, I mean, a guy like Devonte Smith that has pretty much victimized you every game that he’s faced the Dallas Cowboys, that that’s that’s going to be open. You know, I guess old school DB. I’ve never seen a wide receiver have such success and who is so tiny. Devonte, he’s so tiny. I mean, if I’m at the line, I’m going to press this guy every time I play him. Really, I’m He is not getting off the field. He is not getting past my pre. This is my thought process. I’m not saying it’s going to be perfect, but this guy’s going to have to show me. First of all, he’s always showed me how tough he is. He’s going to have to show me as an individual, as a player. Are you that tough? Because I’m going to bring it to you. You want to see a tinier one? [Laughter] Devonte, if Cavante is going to get a lot of snaps at wide receiver, there’s a tinier one than Devonte. And they just might hand them the ball. They need to. They need to. Uh the other thing as far as Barkley and them running the ball, okay, the Eagles obviously had one of the best right alongside the Lions, best offensive lines in football last year. And however, they don’t have Mai Beckton at right guard anymore. That’s huge. He’s now with the Chargers. And there’s a big question whether they’ll have Landon Dickerson at left guard this game or the season. For this game, this game uh he’s got a knee injury. He suffered in training camp. And uh he was we got our first practice report of the season yesterday. and DNP from the Philadelphia practice report was Landon Dickerson. They still have Jordan Milada. Yes. So, so they’re tackles with Milada at left tackle, Lane Johnson at right tackle and then Cam Jurgens at center who was a first year starter last year after Jason Kelsey retired and he made the Pro Bowl. Okay. And and he was basically man up. Well, yeah. and he was when they drafted him out of Nebraska, uh he was the understudy to Kelsey and Kelsey played a part and okay, I like that guy from Nebraska. We let’s bring that guy in. And he’s been the part kind of an undersized uh center who can move like Kelsey did. Uh but anyway, you don’t have instead you’re you got Tyler Steam starting at right guard who uh started two games last year and your left guard if Dickerson doesn’t go is Brett Toth. So, who is a former undrafted guy, a longtime backup out of West Point, played at Army. So, and he and Dickerson, he’s got a back. He’s he’s always had he’s always and that’s one of the reasons he was a second round draft pick. He’s he had the back issue coming out of Alabama and he’s uh overcome that to go to three Pro Bowls. So, not much of a problem. And you know, the other thing I I noticed about, this has nothing to do with the matchups, but other than the Cowboys, their first five games are against playoff teams from last year. While the Cowboys have that six game stretch, they got a four out of five game stretch to rightfully so. They’re going to be overlooking the Cowboys, right? Rightfully so. Probably are. Did you see what Milada said after the uh Parson trade? They say, “Thank God. sigh of relief. And then he and then he tried to cover it up and he said, “Well, it was a joke, right?” Meaning sigh of relief. He knows it’s less we have to worry about. And I said, “Oh, okay, big boy. Go check November 3rd. You got to play the Packers. So, don’t be sighing too much.” Well, he don’t have to see him twice. Probably the sigh of relief is I don’t have to deal with this guy two times and have to worry about him beating me like a The trade didn’t come down till after the game. Then he had to play him. That’s a little cocky. He’s talking a little trash, man. Yeah. Who’s going against him? Who’s who’s going against him? Going against who? He’s the left tackle. The left tackle. So you got Dante Fowler out there. Whoever they put there. Sam Williams could be over there. Side relief because Parsons is going, right? Yeah. I thought it just meant because the whole team Oh, no. No. No. I thought it because that’s what I thought he was saying. I’m not saying that. Stop, man. Don’t. You know, here’s another huge factor. I think this is another huge factor where we really don’t know anything about this Dallas defense because they haven’t there’s so many new guys on the defense. Uh I mean, when you look at the blowouts that the Eagles had over the Cowboys last year, there’s probably four guys that on this defense this year that that played against the Eagles last year as far as starters go, right? you know, uh, OSA, I was in and the two safeties and maybe Diggs was was in there and Diggs might have played the first time, but not the not the second time. Bland may have played the second time, but not the first time. I don’t remember, but I mean, four or five guys that even played against the Eagles from this Dallas defense last year. I I’m I’m hoping I wish Nate from Frisco could give me some tips because there’s got to be I don’t remember their scheme being extremely complicated because they were so powerful as individuals and as a team. You’re talking their defense offense and defense. I mean talking about their offensive line. That’s one of the things Shottenheimer has said repeatedly as far as Fangio’s defense. They keep everything’s very simple over there. But the same thing goes for their offense. Well, no. If you’re talking about the offensive line, if if they keep if they’re keeping it simple, then we need to complicate it. That’s how to me. If we can’t whoop them one-on-one, and we will know pretty soon on if we can’t, then we need to have certain things coming. Strategic one one linebacker blitz is coming, you know, bringing down a a bigger guy from safety or whatever. All those things can kind of throw them off, especially on first and second down because once you get to third down, if you’re lucky, then you have a third and three. Yeah. If you’re lucky, you’ve got a third and three. Otherwise, you’re looking at your defense getting pushed around the entire game and that means that your offense is going to come out and have to be more aggressive than they would like to be in order to keep up with their offense. Yeah. The one thing about this offensive line that if you just look at from last year, the continuity that they had, the number of games that this group have played together and now even with the injuries, look, you got enough strong guys around them that through one or two games, they should be able to be okay. Uh, just because of how strong they are in the middle and on the outside. I mean, the Cowboys have to make sure aggressively and I’m when I think about Ibra Flu as a defensive coordinator dialing up blitzes and things like that. He’s going to have to bring that from he can’t just sit back can’t sit back and play coverage. So, I think based off of what you’re saying, whether it’s linebacker, whether it’s cornerback, wherever you bringing it, you have to continuously bring pressure to make this offensive line. That’s going to mean your cornerbacks are going to have to play man-to-man because your safeties are going to be coming down. So, you better be ready. So, who’s gonna be at quarterback? So, that brings us to the to the Cowboys practice. We just signed one. You tell me what’s happening. What about Diggs? Well, he’s out there. He’s practicing now with the starting. Yeah. With the first team, but again, it’s one padded practice since the first week in December. Mhm. So, um, and they’re their offense, they’re going to be running that their base offense is basically three wide, right? So, you’re going to be a nickel. Yeah. Probably the whole time. So, if he’s able to go, he’s on one side. Caier Elim’s on the other side and Bland’s in the slot. Um, now again, if they go two tight ends and you’re not in nickel, can you give Diggs a break and put Bland outside and Elim outside? I just don’t know. Two tight ends. Well, I’m just saying if they go like two tight ends, then they’ve got, you know, Goddard Goddard and Cal Kata started 13 games last year, their second tight end. Now, Goddard missed seven games, but they’re not going with a nickel with the with the No, you better not. That’s what I’m saying. you better have three linebackers, right? And so that’s why I’m saying, yeah, I mean, we’ll see, you know, where they are as far as uh how many times they have two tight ends on the field, and that’s a name that always has a Dallas Goddard, his effect on these games are immense. I wanted to ask you, Mick, you’ve, you know, you’ve been so high up on Trayvon Diggs all through summer and through preseason. Have you seen the progression for him uh as far as working out with Brett Brown to where he is now where he looks better to you or the knee looks better condition and he does now I don’t know that he can go out there and play 60 snaps and and I don’t know that he knows it because he knows he needed more work but since he started working with Brit it’s increased. We we saw an example of that in a viral video from training camp where where Trayvon collapsed in front of fans after a Britt Brown workout, right? And the fans were saying, “Oh, he hurt his knee, you know.” No, he was worn out workout, right? No. Exactly. And And so, uh, and I He’s even taken part in individual drills. He’s doing things that he wasn’t doing last year with him and his highness sitting on the sideline all the time. Who was his highness? Parson. Oh, his highness go from one of the most exciting players to ever come into the league in the last few 20 30 years and he’s his So Vicki, do you think he’s going to need the epidural to play on Sunday against the Lions? His highness. Yeah. How about that? Huh? Now all of a sudden he needs an epidural. Get that mix shot going. Get the mix shot going to you know and you know how he kills me though. You got management will lie their asses off every day of the week against a player. As soon as a player tries to use his own power and use oh hey what call out everybody’s spags. Call them all out. Come on man. Call them out. He’s probably physically not ready to play hadn’t practice. Yeah that’s true. Right. You can go out there without pads on and your helmet and you dillydally around. That’s what it is. Dilly dally. We’ve said that three times. That’s the key words to the show. Right. That’s the title. Dilly dally. Mick shots. The dillydally. I I bet when they’re looking at him, they they probably saw he’s not ready to play a game, right? They Green Bay is licking their chops. They can’t wait to put number one. They don’t give a damn. You mean they don’t care. Let them keep on. What? You know, send us send his blood out there. They are Mickey. Mickey, do you think the Cowboys have a better chance? What? Do you think the Cowboys have a better chance to beat Philadelphia Thursday night without Micah? Better better than had Michael had not been traded. I’m I’m saying in this scenario having not only played 10 plays and we were sitting here two days before the game and Mike is out on the field but we’re not sure what’s going on with him. Do they have a better chance this way than than trading just in this week this little scenario than playing maybe 10 or 15 snaps? Yeah. Or whatever he could play. I don’t know that it’s better. I don’t know how much worse it is if he doesn’t get out there and plays. I don’t think if he stayed I don’t think it’d be better. It can’t it can’t for this game for this game and in the scenario where he hasn’t been with the team on the field. We we defensively we have you know with Clark sorry with Clark Clark is healthy right? He is healthy. Yes. Okay. And let me tell you we have a habit of signing guys who oh he’s got a ramp up. He looks the part right now. I don’t know how he’s going to play. I saw him sitting in his locker and you saw the size of their lockers when they sit down. He takes up the whole cushion. I bet he does. He’s wide. I bet he does. He’s unbelievable. All right, we’re just getting started. Wow, that was a riveting first segment. Dilly dally. Uhhuh. Let me write that down when we come back. Segment number two in just a moment. Miller Lightite, the legendary light beer. The originator, the inventor. If this beer could talk, it would tell stories about that one time, that night, that one guy, that one gal writing a story 50 years long and 50 million friends wide. Because legendary stories start with a light. Here’s to 50 years of Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. 2025 Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Star Sports Tours is the only official fan travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys, offering exclusive game weekend travel packages with pregame sideline access and photo ops with current players, cheerleaders, and cowboy legends. You want to stay at a team hotel, attend the best tailgate party in Texas, tour the Star, and talk X’s and O’s with me, Everson Walls. With Star Sports Tours, you can visit cowboystravel.com to book your travel package today. 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. Place items in the bagging area. Place items in the bagging area. You know what AT&T guarantees? Connectivity you depend on, deals you want, and service you deserve. Or we make it right. Terms and conditions supply. Visit att.com/garanty for details. AT&T connecting changes everything. The National Medal of Honor Museum is now open in Arlington, Texas, just a few blocks from AT&T Stadium. Immersive exhibits and exciting technology allow you to fly a rescue helicopter mission in Vietnam and have conversations with virtual Medal of Honor recipients. Come be inspired by these incredible stories of ordinary Americans who did the extraordinary. Get your tickets at mouseum.org. Cowboys Nation head to Miller Lighthouse at AT&T Stadium for a free watch party presented by 7-Eleven. Watch the Dallas Cowboys kick off the 2025 NFL season against the Eagles in Philadelphia on Thursday, September 4th. Doors open at 6 PM and kickoff is at 7:20. Enjoy a performance by the dcc slurpee samples, $5 miller lights, and more. Claim your free ticket at dallascowboys.com/watchp party. What? Yes, sir. $5 millite. $5. $5. Come on. What you call it? What you got? The Texas long necks. What was those? Uh, Lonear Long Necks. Lonear long neck. They don’t have those anymore. They don’t have them anymore. I think I don’t know. I’m not They weren’t any good back in the day either, but they were But they were 99 cent. So, by the way, and one other thing I I saw that I wrote this down. Yes, sir. Parsons did pass the physical, right? Yeah. But he might get a They say he might get a shot or something. Epidural. Epidural. I saw my wife take one of those. I just pray to God. I never have epidural in my life. Also, you see, did you see how long the needle is? Yeah, that’s what I said. I saw the needle and I said, “Oh, I had to have one and I thought it was like a flu shot. And I saw that needle and go, “Oh, wait a minute. Are we do we really need to do this?” So, he’s got a he it said he had a a sprained uh uh facet facet. It’s the little bone that comes off your vertebrae. It was the thing that Romo had that year when he fractured it, but he passed the physical. Yeah. Is that bad. Well, I mean, if it’s fractured, but if I don’t know how you sprain a bone, fracture a bone, you can fracture it. That’s bad. So, I did find it interesting that that report came out as soon as the video came out. At the same time that the video came out of him practicing with the Packers is when the Adam Sheper report came out about right about that. That was a hell of a pat down. said, “Come on in.” And he had he had come on he had no problem doing his his conditioning here the the previous week, by the way. And I I look I I don’t know if you guys saw this, but his his agent was just on ESPN with with uh Stephen A. Smith. Oh, now he showed up. Now he showed up and and he cleared up. He cleared up a lot. I mean, and the verbal exchange between him and Jerry is going to be something else. and to know that he had George George Pickkins is his one of his clients as well. But man, just so much of the information that we thought as far as the injury was concerned, some of the nuance of back and forth about the black and white of the contract, who’s telling the truth, who’s lying, we will never know. Uh but man, this this whole thing has it just won’t die out. And leading into this first game of the season, it still is picking up steam. Well, and then and then Parson says something about the harsh reality of being traded. It’s like, well, that’s what you asked for. That’s what you as Yeah. What what do you think? And here’s the cool thing. He said I read where he said he checked in that morning with his agent. I’m going to be like, Jerry, I don’t say it right. And and and uh he said he says, “Hold tight. I’m working on something. Well, if you tell me you’re working on Well, what are you working on? You are you working on a trade without asking me if I want to be traded? Because I tell you what, there’s some remorse there. And all I know is he worked out a trade for money that is not really what the money is. Parson’s got to leave Dallas to go to Green Bay. The agent lives in Houston. He ain’t moving. Mhm. Right. So, yeah, you won, but you don’t have to move. So, I just read some between the lines on some things he said up there. I don’t think he was happy about the whole thing. You don’t think so? No. Now, he didn’t want to play on a one-year deal, and I get that. The press conference was disappointing, by the way, in terms of the questions that were asked of Micah. Uhhuh. Because it was all Green Bay reporters, right? And so they’re all looking at it from the Green Bay perspective. And there were no questions asked about Micah’s relationship with Jerry, uh, any bad feelings towards Dallas, any of that stuff. None of it got addressed in a 25minute press conference because it was all about what he’s going to do for the Packers. That was what was disappointing about the press. They don’t have the sharks that we got. They didn’t have the interest that we have. They haven’t lived it, you know. Well, they came out on the the the end. And I mean, they got what they wanted. And that’s what I was saying uh last week is that’s just something no one relied on uh is that their GM is he’s he’s out for blood. You know, his whole thing is we’re going this year. And uh once that opportunity came this way for him to just show, if nothing else, to show the Packer fans that I’m doing this for you. I’m doing this for us. I’m doing this for the organization. And he was ready to spend all that money. Speaking of contracts, Cowboys spent some money on a quarterback on Sunday. Don Bland, a contract extension. Mickey, he did. And it’s an extension. So when everybody sees the numbers, what they failed to do is add what he was supposed to make this year, right? And it’s the same on the Micah one. The Micah contract was a was a extension at $47 million a year. But if you look at the numbers including this year, it’s five years at $42 million a year, not $47 million a year, which is much more in line with what the reportedly the Cowboys were, right? And if you look if you add Bland’s 5.4 4 million that he was going to make this year uh to the total. Then you’re dividing 95.3 million by five uh not four and it comes to about 19 million average of 19 million a year but a whole bunch of that total of 95 million. Uh there’s two roster bonus in the final two years. So, if he doesn’t get to the final two years, there was like 30 or 40 million in those two roster bonuses. So, the key thing for him was he got paid $22 million signing bonus. All right. He was going to make 5.4 million this year. Now, he made 22 million and he only cost 5.8 million against the Cowboys cap because of the signing bonus. So, uh, so what he was going to count against the cap anyway went up like by 400,000,000. Yeah. So, I mean, the Cowboys still have over 40 $40 million left on their cap still. Yeah. Yeah. For this year to do other things, right? And it whatever they want. Tyler Smith, hey, have at it, right? You can resign him, trade one of those future picks and add to the team. So, I I think what I was most interested in are the numbers and how it compared to cornerbacks versus nickelbacks. And to me, but he’s not a Nickelback. No, let me finish. Both. Let me finish. So, I think that it showed me from the contract that they look at him as a cornerback because it the way the way that it ranks with the highest paid corners in the league. He didn’t reset the market. It was a fair tra. It was a fair contract for both the front office and for Don Bland. But it just shows like especially when you look at a guy like Jordan Lewis who is the highest paid nickel corner in the league that the Cowboys respect Don Bland and his acumen and his talent as a quarterback in this league in the way. Should he have gotten paid for both for being able to play the I mean I think it enhances his his profile where you got that vers but he got his money a year ahead of time. Yeah. Got his money a year of time. Also, Mickey, when you you look at second contracts with the Dallas Cowboys in the last 10 years, not a lot of guys have gotten two second contracts. And so, for Deon Bland where he was picked and to be able to get that and cash in the way that he did says a lot about him, his fortitude and his ability, man, and I’m happy for him actually to see a young man advance his career the way that he did. Did you hear what he said? What? He doesn’t like I mean if you just sit there and talk with him he’s great cameras come on it’s about 10word sentences right but I thought the neatest thing he said was he said I was surprised and dumbfounded I got paid like that to do what I do right and that was him not saying oh I should have had more you know and what’s wrong with didn’t move us back. Yeah. Well, nothing. We do hate people that want to get You don’t have to say it all the time. No, man. You don’t have to say it, right? We all want more. You’re the person that loves Michael Irving and all these guys back in the 90s, but then you want humility as well. Sometimes you just got to get out there and say what you what you feel and and speak truth to it. And that’s what he’s doing. He could have spoken up more about maybe getting a little bit more money. It’s okay if he wants to get more money. That’s okay. He’s don’t He’s double duty. He’s double duty. He’s at the corner, then he’s inside on the slot. Sometimes he’s going to have to back up. He’s going to bring on a blitz while you got a safety coming over the top. He’s going to have to be doing a lot of stuff out there. And And he pointed out to me, if I’m in the slot, I got to play the run. That’s right. That’s right. That’s a lot of stuff. Okay. Can I throw a curveball? Yes. Okay. And we we’re going to spend a minute here on this. It deserves a lot more than a minute. Uh because we had a in our last segment, we’re gonna make our picks picks to click, but I want to say something about Leroy Jordan. Yes. Oh yes. Leroy Jordan of course passed away over the weekend and it is a shame that Leroy Jordan’s not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I just We know this. We know this that Cowboy fans, big time Cowboy fans, you know, we go way back. We go way back, man. Those guys that was our heroes. I think I think it get lost. He played 14 years. Mhm. 14 years. If you look at his statistics throughout a 14-year career, including how many years he played, how many games he played, his statistics are better than Dick Buttkus, who played in the same era. But Dick Buttus had every year was getting named to Pro Bowls. And this was back when not everybody made Pro Bowls, you know, they didn’t add to the Pro Bowl teams, and he still was like a four or five time Pro Bowler himself. But when you when for those of us who uh were fans of the Cowboys during that era uh in the 60s and early 70s, Leroy Jordan was the heart and soul of that defense. Well, I was trying to find You got Lee Leroy Jordan, Chuck Howie just made it, right? I’m Bob Lilly. I’m I’m Yeah, I’m talking about guys that have gotten screwed. Yeah. I’m I’m still a Harvey Martin advocate. I’m looking at Mcichels and Hampton and these guys going in for the amount of sacks that they have and for playing in that one Super Bowl and you’re talking about Harvey Martin. Once again, I’m I know I’m switching track here. I’m a bad man, but but you talk about a man that played what? He played in three Super Bowls, one you got to give that man some love, man. He’s from Dallas. He’s playing for his hometown team. And come on. The other thing on Leroy Jordan is it wasn’t until Jerry Jones bought the team that he got into the Ring of Honor got in the first year Jerry in 1989. And he was So I don’t Mickey you and Everson you may have more details on the headbutting between Jordan and Tech Shramm contractwise back in the day everybody. But that hurt that hurt the chances of Leroy getting into the Pro Football Hall of Fame for all those years. And finally Jerry did it right and put him in the Ring of Honor, but by then it was too late for him to get and you know we have a history uh as I’m speaking as a fan. We have a history of not backing our players. I call it cannibalism. That’s what it is cuz we we we eat our own. You know, you’re so mad about a man that’s trying to take care of his family that you’re you’re ruining his entire legacy or you’re trying to talking about Tech Sh. God rest his soul. So, you know, these are the kind of things that the Cowboys do to themselves. And when you’re talking about Philly, when you’re talking about the Raiders, somehow they have the backing of the entire team from the beginning. They don’t wait until they get into a certain level of voting. They they vote for them right away. they push them right away. That’s why you have uh now I’m getting personal. That’s why you have a guy like like uh Allen at a quarterback getting in before myself or even uh Darren Woodson getting in before not getting in before uh uh what’s the guy from uh uh Green Bay, the pack the the Woodson. No, no, no, no, not that. Not that guy. Um God number 36 for the Packers. Butler Butler. Yeah, those kind of guys. So, think about all the defensive players the Cowboys have had, guys in the Hall of Fame. He Leroy Jordan is still second in all time tackles in franchise history behind to only Woodson. There you go. But he’s still second and he hadn’t played since 76. He had 32 interceptions in his career. That’s what I liked about him. He could play at one game he had three. That’s what I liked about Bradley. He could play the pass. I enjoyed that. Yeah, he wasn’t just a head knocker. That showed some intellect. We We got a little glimpse of what Leroy Jordan was like when Shawn Lee was playing linebacker here. They were a lot alike. Yeah. But but Leroy Jordan stayed healthy throughout. Yeah. And he was Yeah. And and and an Alabama legend, too. Well, that’s what I was going to point out. He played for two coaches, Bear Bryant, Tom Landry. That’s it, right? That’s it. He uh won a national championship at Alabama, won a Super Bowl here, played in three of them and two at the time NFL championship games when those games were considered that was the championship of the world, the Super Bowl. Was he playing in the Detroit game where Tom Landry said that’s the best defense? Five nothing. Five nothing. Yes. Oh yeah. Melro Melro had the pick to end the game and Vern Glenquist said, “Listen to this Loud House crowd roar.” It’s one of my favorite moments in Cowboys history. Yeah, that was all right. U and then by the way, also Leroy Jordan was highly successful as a businessman at playing career. Leroy Jordan Lumberyard over by Lovefield. Can I tell real quick? I’ll take you got to be very quick. 30 seconds. when he got his signing motus, part of the deal was he was going to get a new car and he picked out a car. He told me the story and it was a Riviera the first year they made them 69 and text and Gil told him, “Well, that car is a little more expensive than we agreed on. You’re going to have to give us $2,000 back on your sighting bonus.” So Gil drives the car to him because he had to get back to Alabama for his finals exams. And Gil goes, “Oh, I got to be out there. I’ll just drive it to you.” On the way in Mississippi, Gil hits a car. And and I mean a cow on the road. And that’s worse. He hit a cow. He hit a cow. I thought you said a car. And he had to he had to call he had to call Leroy and say, “I got bad news for you.” And Leroy goes, “Well, what is it?” He goes, “I just kind of demolished your car. I hit a cow.” And then the guy that owned the cattle, he wanted to Gil to pay for the cow, right? Yeah. Of course, Gil knew the coach at Mississippi State. They made a phone call and it all got settled. We’re back with more mix in just a moment. Star Sports Tours is the only official fan travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys, offering exclusive game weekend travel packages with pregame sideline access and photo ops with current players, cheerleaders, and Cowboy legends. You want to stay at a team hotel, attend the best tailgate party in Texas, tour the Star, and talk X’s and O’s with me, Everson Walls. With Star Sports Tours, you can visit cowboystravel.com to book your travel package today. The National Medal of Honor Museum is now open in Arlington, Texas, just a few blocks from AT&T Stadium. Immersive exhibits and exciting technology allow you to fly a rescue helicopter mission in Vietnam and have conversations with virtual Medal of Honor recipients. Come be inspired by these incredible stories of ordinary Americans who did the extraordinary. Get your tickets at museum.org. Hey y’all, Matt Pitman here. As the official pitm of the Dallas Cowboys, you know I take cookware seriously, especially when it comes to America’s team. So, when the Cowboys are away, I’m putting my Yeti cast iron skillets to work to make my game day favorites for friends and family. I’m talking chicken fried steak, skillet queso, and peach cobbler. And just like the cowboys are forever, so are these heirloom cast iron skillets. Check out the full line of skillets on yeti.com or at a Yeti store near you. Miller Lightite, the legendary Lightbeer, the originator, the inventor. If this beer could talk, it would tell stories about that one time, that night, that one guy, that one gal writing a story 50 years long and 50 million friends wide. Because legendary stories start with a light. Here’s to 50 years of Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. 2025 Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Fan of the year. Are you a Cowboy super fan? The search is on for the 2025 fan of the year presented by Captain Morgan. Now through September 29th, nominate extraordinary NFL fans, dynamic duos, and game changers. Who repped the Cowboys with pride and who turned every game day into an unforgettable adventure. You should be sent to Super Bowl 60. You could be enter the win at NFL.com/fanoftheear today. All right, we got just enough time to quickly make our picks toclick in Thursday’s game and our picks to win. Let’s do picks to click first. New guy here. What is that? Picks to click. What does that mean? Mean like your guy that is going to play well. Okay. And give us an example. And Maris Le a foul. Linebacker. Maris Le a foul. All right. There you go. Love it. That’s a foul. That’s your guy. That’s my guy. That’s your guy. All right. Very good. What’s the score? What’s the score? Yeah. What you going to What’s the score? Uh score is going to be 3735 Cowboys. 30 3735 Cowboys. 3735 Cowboys. Wow. 3735. Ghost bags. Cavante Turpin. Of course. Right. Yeah. He do to you. For you. For you. Oh, my bad. He’s gonna be like Kelvin Martin in Philadelphia in 1991. How about I like that 30 burger there. You guys have the confidence going. About the cake with me, Mickey. Pink and the Kool-Aid. 30 3028. 3028. Who’s going to win? Oh, I don’t know. Oh, come on, Mick. You got it. Come on, Mick. Come on, Mick. Got remember was 3129 when the Cowboys opened the season on a Thursday night at Tampa Bay and lost uh Eagles. Oh okay. Are you writing these down? I’m writing it down. I got it. Oh, you got it. All right. So, here here I am. Here I am. I got uh mine is Dak. Two touchdowns and I got the Cowboys 27 to 20. Cowboys win 27 to 20. 2720. Okay. All right. Who? And yours is D. You don’t have time to set up. You don’t have time to set up like you usually do. So, come on. Well, I’m going to anyway. My picked to click. Sorry, Chris. Is the rookie right guard Tyler Booker. Yep. Okay. Tyler Booker is It won’t show up on a stat sheet maybe, although it may show up on Jaylen Carter’s stat sheet. Tyler Booker is ready to play. I could tell by his interview this week. Very short answers and all business. All business. That’s right. And I take you back 30 years ago. Oh, here we go. Come on. 1995. Oh, yeah. This is the 30-year anniversary. I’m in his bag right now. Of load left. Load left. It’s going to be load right. It’s going to be behind Tyler Booker. Cowboys lost in that Barry Switzer coached game 20-7 December 10th, 1995. Mhm. This time the Cowboys are going to win. Mhm. 2320. Cowboys win. Not the same score. Huh. Not the same score. 23-20. Got three field goals from Brandon Aubrey to win this game. Last last thing I’m going to point out because I’m tired of hearing it. Talk to me. Everybody keeps talking about the Eagles last year, the two games they beat the Cowboys by a combined score of 75-3. Dak Prescott didn’t play in either one of those games. And Bill, can I take us out? Well, I got one more thing to say. One more thing to say. Okay. Here’s who’s not playing on the Eagles defense this year that played last year on the Eagles defense. CJ Gardner Johnson, Darius Slay, Isaiah Rogers, Avante Maddox, Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham, and Orin Burks. They got a lot of guys who were not primary guys on that Super Bowl winning team last year on this defense. Something that’s not been talked about enough. Are you hoping that Adori Jackson has to start at that other quarterback spot? Sure. Anybody but who they I actually like Adori Jackson. Do you? Ah, I don’t know. But he only has four four picks in his career. We got All right. What we got this year? We got this year’s going to take us home on game. I’m going to take Hey Mick, take your headphones off, Mick. You don’t want to hear this. Take Go ahead. Take them off, Mick. I can hear you way. You sure, Mick? You sure? Go, Cowboy Nation. I hope your team win. There you go. That’s every week. This has been a production of DallasCowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. [Applause] [Music]

No more dilly-dallying around, it’s time to play ball, the guys hitting on stopping the Eagles running game, keeping Jalen Hurts in the pocket, producing pressure without Micah, DaRon Bland’s contract, tribute to Lee Roy Jordan, and as usual picks and picks to click.

#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