Cowboys on UPSET ALERT?! 👀 Stephen A. isn’t counting Dallas out in Week 6 | First Take

Cowboys on UPSET ALERT?! 👀 Stephen A. isn’t counting Dallas out in Week 6 | First Take

looking way down the line. Let’s just let’s just focus on Sunday immediate. What’s in front of us? Should the Cowboys be on upset alert uh here, Stephen? A n I don’t think so. Um I I saw Carolina go come back against Miami last week, but that that that’s Miami and that was a 17 to nothing deficit. If that’s the Dallas Cowboys, they putting up 40. Uh, the one thing that we can say about the Cowboys offense is that it’s prolific. Dak Prescott is having an MVP caliber season. I think that he’s one of the top candidates for league MVP honors, which we had to educate DO about yesterday, RC. And I think that, you know, even though CD Lamb has been out with Pickkins and those boys stepping up and handling their business, I think that you can expect to see the Cowboys put up numbers. It’s not to say that it’s not going to be a good game. It’s not to say that Carolina is not going to be able to score on Dallas. I just don’t think that defense is gonna be able to stop Dallas’s offense and that’s why I feel the way that I feel. Yeah. But I think they’re still on upset alert. I know you look at this Dallas Cowboys offense and they are extremely explosive and I think you sort of compartmentalize last week and make that what this entire season has been for this team. That was not a microcosm of who Dallas was. Dallas hasn’t played defense that way the entire season. And did we forget that Caleb Williams almost had a perfect day? That Caleb Williams jersey looked exactly like it looked when he walked off the field as it did when he walked on to the field. And did you not hear Rico Do say they better bring their pads? That dude rushed for over 200 yards last week. And Bryce Young in different occasions, you go back to early on in the season against Arizona with a great comeback there. He continued to fight last week against Miami. This is a team that No, I will say this. You got to get the right Carolina. You got to get the right Bryce Young. But this is a team that’s continued to fight under Dave Canales. A team that played physically last week on offense and found a way to win against Miami. Dallas can’t just walk in there and expect to win because they aren’t that high caliber of a defense at this point. Well, I’ll echo this. Uh, that Quavius, no. Uh, America, that is not his real name. It’s just the swag name that I’ve been able to give him. And I like that Quavius. That Quavius has been playing uh very clean football. Clean football, might I add, looks like protecting the football at all costs. And I will say it publicly if somebody is going to utter it privately and I know Dak will never admit to this. Michael Parsons or the Dallas Cowboys moving along for Micah Parsons is the best thing for his career. CD Lamb being removed from the team for obvious injury purposes was the best thing for Dquavius’s career. Why? because they have eliminated the alpha distractions and given Dak the whole team nothing but the team. So help you lead Dak Quavius. And what has he been doing these last couple of weeks? Leading the team with his voice, no other outside sources, and he’s been delivering the goods. I like that. Now, in regards to this being on upset alert, I think Carolina has the capability, but it’s different when you’re going against different forces that it has nothing to do with actual talent on the football field. When I’m looking at Carolina Panthers, I’m looking at Bryce Young is, hey, bro, it’s time. It’s time. It’s time. When I’m looking at Carolina, the defense has been able to be the only hope of of support that has been consistent. When I’m looking at the Carolina Panthers, I’m looking at a desperation win that can really catapult us in a direction that gives even the hurtful or heartless fans to say, “Okay, I can believe again.” Because when you think about and you hear discussions and you hear the pulse in Carolina, a lot of people are losing hope because they have nothing to hang their hat or their jerseys on these days. Cam, don’t try to bury the lead. Don’t try to hit us with a w and then go to something else. Basically, you just said that Dak is getting to be this Dak because you took alpha males out of the room. To me, that’s diminishing his lead leadership. That’s diminishing what we’ve seen from him in his play. And I know Stephen A is going to jump on here and be like, “Well, Dak doesn’t play well in the playoffs and he hasn’t done this.” But we’re talking about the regular season. We’re talking about the thing that earned him $60 million a year. We’re talking about a dude that finished second in MVP voting two years ago and that was after early on in the season having a terrible game against the San Francisco 49ers and riding that ship. Dak Prescott, I’m just talking about the person is a grown ass man. The way he handles any distractions in Dallas, the way he steps up in front of the mic when he wins, when he loses, if you ask him, he wants CD Lamb there cuz CD Lamb makes him better. But without CD Lamb, he’s found ways to lead because he can. And Michael Parsons ain’t got nothing to do with him. And if he knows anything, he should want Michael Parsons there because at least they could get to the quarterback. I disagree with that. Dak Prescott is winning and playing well on Dak Prescott’s own merits. And we have to start getting him credit, giving him credit for who he has been as a man and a player in this league. We haven’t given Dak Prescott credit in the You haven’t? Yes, I have. Yes, I have. In the regular season. Yes, I say regular season. Yes, I have. Yes, I have. Yes, I have. All right. And by the way, he always says the right thing. All I’ve ever said about his composure and his verbiage during press conferences. I say you really don’t need to talk to him because since he came into the league, the same thing he said then is the same thing said now. If it’s your team, it’s your team. If you because you know you gonna need a defense, you know you’re going to need that brother to get to the quarterback. All right. So, if he’s that valuable to the team, say so. Make sure Jerry says so. When Michael Irvin, the playmaker, came on the show, what did I lament with him about? I said, Joe, man, you know what? Where were you at? You talk about the influence and the connection that you have with Jerry Jones. Where were you at? He said, damn, Stephen A, you right. It might have been my fault. I should I should have seen it. I should have felt it. I should have talked to That’s what he said. So, what I’m saying to you is this. This is exactly my problem when it comes to Dak Prescott. It’s people like you, RC. It’s people like you because you know you you your you pivot to being so so so motivational and so inspirational and you’re touching everybody’s soul in all the right ways. You got everything but a preacher collar on for crying out loud, right? And what you do is you find the positive and you find the silver lining. And I’m saying, yo, you get paid $60 million. $60 million. $60 million a year. Okay? I mean, come on now. At some point in time, I can’t look at you and go like this. Yo, I know you could ball. You far from a scrub. You elite, bro, as a talent. How come I can’t get that in January when I’m getting in in October, November, December? I can’t do that. Yes, I can. Yes, I can. Uh, there was a time 24 hours ago when we were on the same Can I say something? Yes. Okay, I’m go. I would say this is a different deck though. And when I mean the removal of certain players, it’s now on you, Dak, and all on you. And we’ve never had to say that while he’s been the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, and he’s been delivering. Just remember, you guys were in agreement of Orlowski leaving him out of uh his top five. Everybody was caping for C for uh D. We didn’t agree with that. No, you said you guys were in agreement that you should have been there are times where they agree. I’m just saying there’s things won’t get any easier for the Chiefs coming off a tough loss to the Jaguars on Monday Night Football as they host the 4-1 Lions this week. The good news for KC, Patrick Mahomes is 20 and five in his career following a regular season loss. RC, we were asking this question before we headed to Jacksonville for Monday Night Football. Is this a must-win game for Mahomes and the Chiefs? skipping deja vu. This is absolutely a must-win. And you know, I wasn’t in that place last week because I felt like they were then fighting to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl again or be a team that hosted playoff games, but they cannot fall behind anymore. You still have the Buffalo Bills on your schedule, the Broncos, obviously the Chargers. Once again, the Kansas City Chiefs has to go out and prove that they can beat a good opponent as this team is constructed right now. Uh then you know you get relief with Rashid Rice coming back. Um it’s absolutely a must game. You’re absolutely right. I had the pleasure and the honor of of working my first Monday night uh uh countdown game with RC and the crew for Monday Night Countdown a couple of weeks ago when Detroit was in Baltimore. Um you know it was on my bucket list. I loved it. And I saw the Detroit Lions make liars out of all of us because of the way they handled Baltimore. And then I’m looking at Kansas City right now. You had 109 yards off of 13 penalties. 9 yards in penalties over 13 penalties calls against you. You can’t run the football. Plus Patrick Mahomes threw a pick six. Yo man, they got to win this game. They’re just not looking good. 12 and0 and one score games last year, 0 and3 this year. They got to get it together and Detroit ain’t going to give anything to them because Detroit is for real. The worst analogy in all of sports is saying that this is a mustwin. Ryan Clark, you know this better than anybody where every week is a bus as a must win. city. It’s like, hey, turn up or get turned out. Not turned out. By the way, their next five games, well, after the Lions, they have the Raiders, Commanders, Bills, then a by week. Okay. As we the guys put on the hat. [Music]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Ryan Clark and Cam Newton preview the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Carolina Panthers and the Detroit Lions vs. the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 6.

0:00 Are the Cowboys on upset alert?
6:23 Why is Dak playing so well this season?
8:27 Is Sunday a must-win game for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs?
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