Peter Schrager is a Dallas Cowboy and Dak Prescott BELIEVER 👀 | NFL Live

Peter Schrager is a Dallas Cowboy and Dak Prescott BELIEVER 👀 | NFL Live

Welcome back to the NFL live lounge. The most interesting man in the NFL this week is Dak Prescott. Look, having been in the building two weeks ago when Bam Knight, Amari de Marcado, and the Jacobe Brassette led Cardinals had their way with the Cowboys in Dallas, I along with many others was ready to call it quits on another boys season. This one would be over before even Thanksgiving. But then they came out the way they did on Monday, playing as one, electric through the air and awesome in the run game, dominant in the trenches, and as functional and competent in all three phases of the sport as any squad in the league last week. And suddenly, I’m back. I’m a Dallas Cowboys believer. And moreover, I’m a believer in that quarterback. Number four, Dak Prescott has been picked apart, questioned, and criticized over the course of his NFL career. Look, he knows it comes with a territory. Heavy as the crown, right? He’s paid handsomely and he wears the star on the helmet. The QB1 in Dallas, short of maybe playing center fielder for the New York Yankees, is the most glamorous position in sports. But what lies ahead may be Dak’s toughest test yet. a three-game stretch with the season on the line. The defending champion Eagles on Sunday, the bloodthirsty Chiefs 4 days later on national television on Thanksgiving Day, and then a potentially equally desperate Lions team a week after that. A single loss could mean it’s all she wrote for the Cowboys in an absolutely loaded NFC. Three games and three of the league’s best teams on the docket. Can Dallas run the table in those three games? Can Dak find a way? If the Cowboys play like they did versus Arizona two weeks ago, there’s no chance. But if they show up like they did in Las Vegas, well, then we are talking for all the haters, all the message board posters, and all the know-it-all exjocks and blowhard journalists on TV. Dak has a chance to silence them. I mean, us all. We know he’s got what it takes. He’s done it before. But can he throw this team on his back and find a way? I think he can. And it starts at 4:30 Eastern on Sunday against the Eagles. It’s just so good. I’m in. So good. Pick up your ball and get back over here, Peter. I’m in. Every time it gets better. I like the I like the ownership. Oh, and he’s dropping his mic pack, which means it’s a really good one. Do you do that on purpose? Like, is that just the mic? Carol Bernett with the ears. Every every time it’s better. I I love doing it. It’s It’s great. Do you write it yourself? Do I write? Yeah. AI Watson, Ghostriter. I do Who would be able to deliver that with somebody else? Bestselling author, Dan. Yes. Come on, Dan. Dan, you haven’t read. Yeah, Victor Cruz. Amazing. Yeah, many others. I know you. I know your work, sir. They’re so good. I feel like I’m I’m I’m now a believer. I’m not, but I feel like I am now. Are you a believer in Dak or the NFL Live Lounge? Um, uh, both. I am I am in Dak, and I’m not being bombastic. I’m not being hyperbolic. I I love the way they played Monday night. You were both there as well. I I thought they came off that bus a different team from the by-week. We can get heavy on it as to what the Marshon Neland thing did to the team and galvanize and but gosh they were a different squad with the additions on defense and Laura I feel like they’ve got a shot here to really do something special. It just felt like knowing that the defense could be even a little bit better is affecting the offense in a positive way. And remember too the first series of the game offensively you don’t have CD Lam or George Pickins on the field coach’s decision. So, and then they go off, you know, later on in the game. I’m with you. That three-game stretch that we just heard Peter reference starts on Sunday in Philly. J, give us one thing to watch for if Dak is going to keep this team afloat the final seven weeks of the season. We’re going to be looking back at the NFL live lounge and saying Peter was on to something. Who’s lined up across from Quin Mitchell? I think that’s going to be huge in this game because when they met in week one, Quan Mitchell shadowed George Pickkins to start that game off. In the second half, they moved him over to CD Lamb because CD Lamb was the one having a big game. And remember, that game came down to some drops by CD Lamb late in that game and the Cowboys might have been victorious. Quan Mitchell has been unbelievable at the cornerback position this season. No matter who your favorite wide receiver is, when he comes into town, he has been able to shut that guy down. I think it’s going to be paramount in this game for Dak Prescott to see who Quinn Yacht Mitchell is aligned and go the other way. Okay, here’s a question. So I think one of the things ever since, you know, we’ve seen George play a lot better is Dallas is loving getting into putting him by himself and CD away in bunch formations, giving CD space, create confusion. If it’s George by himself, what would you do? Would you put Quan over there? Absolutely. And you would have Jackson would be on the other side because the thing is when you put CD Lamb in a bunch, he’ll be in a slot some now and motion him kick him outside. No doubt. But now you’re getting Cooper Deene involved in that in that situation. I don’t want to put just Adori Jackson by himself because if I’m Dak, I now have to read nothing. If I get 101 backside with George Pickkins and Adori Jackson, I’m going right there. When it’s on Mitchell, I have to figure something out to the strong side. Yeah, I think that’s going to be a challenge. I think that’s something to pay attention to in that game. I’d also say Dallas is as good as anybody marrying their what their run and their run concepts or pass concepts look like. Get a great defense. What what I want to as an offensive person against a great def I just need to play you I get you to play hesitant question what you’re seeing so maybe you’re not as fast downhill I think that’s a good thing that Dallas does and it could help them against a very good defense remember CD Lamb had three drops in week one against the Eagles he’s only had two since Jaylen Carter also missed that game because he spit on a quarterback so no Jaylen Carter no Jaylen Phillips nobody Dean in that game I mean Jaylen Phillips has been taking over ever since they added him too let’s get Adam Shester in here for more on this game Adam, what more can you tell us about Dak facing off against the Eagles? Well, there’s a lot of advantages for both sides, but let’s keep in mind, Laura, that going back to 2017, Dak Prescott at home against divisional foes is 21 and two. Let me repeat that again. 21-2. The last time Dak Prescott lost a home divisional matchup was in 2017, some eight years ago. All right, let’s talk about the Rams. And you really can’t talk about them this season without mentioning their red zone defense. LA top five in touchdowns, points per game, third down percentage. You saw how much the Seahawks struggled in the red zone last week. Had a lot to do with this defense. Dan and Jax, show us how the Rams are getting it done in those high leverage spots. Yeah, it starts with their defensive line. And here’s the challenge. This defensive line forces you on a play-by-play basis to say, can you block us? And they’ll do some things that are a little bit abnormal. Okay, I just want everyone to kind of let let these plays run through because this is a very very good offense and you’re seeing this swarming, suffocating, hunting style of defense. And you’re asking yourself from a play design perspective and a play execution perspective of who can we attack and then how can we go attack them because you’re watching quarterbacks and offense offenses run for their lives. Okay, I want to start with this. Often times we don’t see what we call games or stunts from the defensive line in the red zone. you’re going to get this stunt where this guy goes up and he goes inside and this defender goes out and this guy goes inside. So, the challenge for an offense knowing that that defensive line does that is I can’t get people out into the route concept. What I need is I need a chip there and then a chip there. The problem is if I’m going to commit to the protection that’s five up front, six, seven. I’m only going to get so many people out in the pass coverage. It’s a numbers advantage for you. Exactly. And you started off talking about running the games or the stunts up front. In order to do that, then we have to be able to stop the run in the red zone and put them in situations where we can do that. But when you get less people out in the route for us, look, the field shrinks at this point. Now, it’s bigger horizontally than it is vertically. So now for a defense, when you don’t have that many guys out, look how many defenders we have in this area. Right now, we have five defenders for your three guys that are out and route. And on top of that, look how they match the coverages in their zone. Once they all break out and declare where they’re going, there’s nowhere for Donald to go with the ball. And you have the two-on-one up top. And to your point, when you’re talking about the space, the thing that stands out for me, Jac, is just watch this safety. That safety just immediately drives downhill because he doesn’t have to worry about the ball going over his head. So then you go to the next drive essentially for this Rams offense and you’re sitting there going, “Okay, or excuse me, the the Seahawks offense going, “All right, I don’t want to chip anywhere. I want to get everybody out.” So, what they’re going to do is only chip one side, and I want one people out, two people out, three people out, four people out. And I’m thinking, okay, we’re going to be good. The problem is here comes that defensive line in those one-on-one blocking situations, forcing my quarterback to bail out of that pocket. And we always say rushing coverage go together. So, right now, you’re going to see this play, and as they’re getting going, we’re going to have somebody open because once we chip, now he’s going to be able to release and get open because we’re matching everywhere else in zone. The issue is now he’s open right now, but now Sam Darnold has to run for his life. So that’s making sure that our rush is allowing our coverage to be able to do it because now Kobe Durant in the back, he’s in zone. He’s like, “Well, I have nobody to cover.” We talk about plaster. He now finds Barner, goes to him, there’s nowhere to go with the football. And you continue to say match. I think that’s the problem when you’re trying to scheme up a zone defense in the red zone. A lot of times you’re just trying to flush things to create a small window of space and the ball get out. But when you match it, it screws a little bit with the confidence in the timing of a quarterback. And then that’s when those stunts and games like now you think you have you think you have that advantage. And their guys in defense down there do such a good job of playing through the guy, not looking back at the quarterback. Yeah, they attach so well. It’s it’s a it starts with their defensive line, but I think the way that they can understand concepts in their coverage is huge. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

On NFL Live, the crew discusses what will go down in the Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles matchup. Plus, How are the Los Angeles Rams performing?

0:00 The most interesting man in the NFL: Dak Prescott
2:19 Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles
5:55 Adam Schefter weighs in
6:22 Los Angeles Rams tape breakdown

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