LIVE: Mick Shots Podcast | 12-12-25 | Dallas Cowboys 2025
Hey, hey, hey. Go cowboys. Go Cowboys. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Come on, kill boys. Go Cowboys. Yeah. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Go cattle boys. Go Cowboys. Yeah, heat. Heat. Heat. Go Cowboys. Go Cowboys. Heat. Heat. Go kill boys. Go Cowboys. The following is a production of DallasCowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys football club. How about the devil? Go Cowboys. 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. Dallas birthday weekend for Mick the whole weekend. Yes. Some people are football players and stuff stuff. Olive football players on the football field and it is time for a fabulous fight song football Friday edition of Mick Shots on a beautiful day for football here inside the SWBC podcast studio and outside on the practice field here at the Star in Frisco. Bill Jones, Everson Walls, Hecma Harrison, Mickey Spagnola. Greetings. Hi, Mickey was Mickey was eyeballing that practice field as he was walking down the Nike Starwalk just a moment ago and we have gonna have the very latest on who is going to be available to play something out there already. Okay. All right. We do know one guy for us right now. Oh, I got everything. Oh, well then let’s do this thing then. We do know one very important guy is going to be available to play on Sunday night. You counting on CD Lamb being out there 88 so out of concussion out of concussion protocol out on the practice field full practice yesterday in fact even before being cleared uh fully cleared. Well, he didn’t get cleared until they actually fully practiced because when he walked off the practice field, everybody wanted to talk to him and he said, “No, I can’t talk yet. I ain’t cleared.” Well, he got cleared. Okay. So, so he doesn’t have to wear the big big balloon on his head anymore. You know what? A lot of them were wearing them. Uh, uh, and he says he’s not wearing it during the game, but not in the game. Oh, no. Do does anyone wear them? Oh, yeah. Yeah. There are players who wear them during the game, but he said CD said it’s what? Uncomfortable. Well, here’s what they don’t like. They’re heavy. Yeah. You would imagine it’s it and it make and guys complained about when they would put those things on that it was almost like a weapon because it was so heavy you can use your head and all of a sudden you’re thinking okay I’m safe right but yeah they think it’s heavy that’s you know I can relate watching my six-year-old grandson play t-ball and he wears a batting helmet and when he runs about around the bait we were like why is he running weird I mean he’s not running like he normally runs because he’s trying to keep that heavy helmet cuz it’s on too big for a thread. So that’s why you wouldn’t wear the big old concussion helmet. You know, all the kids. So funny. All right. So, here we go. We got a lot to talk about over the course of the next 50 minutes or so. Yeah. Where you want to start? Um, so we can on your big legal path. We can clean up the injury stuff. Okay. Yeah. Gayton hasn’t really done anything. So, I can’t imagine that uh he would be ready to go ahead. And that was your call. He hadn’t practiced two days ago. Yeah. He hadn’t practiced in couple weeks. So, yeah, he’s not going to make it. Nate Thomas is going to play there. Uh it’ll be interesting with um Jake Ferguson. He was limited uh and then he went to did not practice yesterday. He was uh working on the cords uh doing rehab work. Uh so we’ll see where that one goes. Uh he Yeah, he did not practice yesterday. So I saw him out there when they were doing some tight end stuff and he had his helmet and looked like he was going to do something today. So that’s a good a good sign. But I would imagine they have to get um Fant ready just in case he shows up on Sunday and can’t go and they got to or Saturday and they got to elevate somebody. So uh but I think he’s that would be Princeton fan. I was going to ask what is his entire name but I Yes. Princeton fan. What is uh what is Ferguson dealing with? Uh it’s a uh calf muscle. Who was that? Ferguson. Okay. And the calf muscles are a pretty big pain, right? Um because once you heard it, it’s hard to it’s hard to rub it out, right? So is there more of a concern that he went from limited on Yes, we’ll see what he is today. Okay. So, it is a red flag when you see that he is DNP the day after being limited. Right. Right. That would indicate that there might have been a setback. No, the idea is to get the guy to Sunday. Okay. Right. Don’t Don’t You’re not playing the game on Thursday, right? So, you give him a break. Oh, we need him. We need him. But it warms my heart that CD Lamb is going to play. Hopefully. We don’t know yet. Oh, he’s in. No, he’s in. He’s in. Okay. So, that I mean that makes me feel that makes me feel a lot better. But Mick, I want to ask about the Minnesota Vikings because a lot of guys for them have cues next to them. It starts with Aaron Jones, Jordan Addison, TJ Hawinson, Christian Derasaw, uh Jackson. So, it’s The only guy that didn’t practice yesterday was Darasaw. Okay. He’s got a knee. Everybody else was limited. That’s big left tackle. Yeah. Yeah. So, and he is a big left tackle. Yes, he is. So, that one uh we’ll keep an eye on today. Uh Hockerson went from did not practice to limited, so he improved. Uh, and a bunch of the guys that were listed as limited went to full like uh, Donov Donovan Jackson, Theo Jackson, and Levi Drake Rodriguez. They all practiced fully yesterday. So did Tyler Chandler and limited was Aaron Jones and Josh Metalus. Mat Matilus. That works. Matelis. Matelis. Uh Darasaw, by the way, did not play two weeks ago and came back last week and he played 51 of their 64 snaps last week. And so he is apparently an aggravation of whatever’s been bothering him. Yeah. And maybe they’re just trying to get him to Sunday also. Yeah. When you talk about personnel, that’s one of the the guys that I’m looking at, boy, cuz if he can’t play, then that increases your chances of shutting down the run, which we’ve been talking about all week, and making them one-dimensional. But it is the matchup with Justin Jefferson who has been struggling and uh I got a quarterback over here. How do you stop a Justin Jefferson who you know can fire you up? Well, what do they say? You can’t you can’t uh stop him. You have to you just hope to contain slow him down and that’s all you need because it seems like they’re kind of short on weapons. It really does on the offensive side. Um, if you want to just be simple, let’s just go ahead and just take him out scheme-wise, you know, let’s just go ahead and double team him if we can. Let’s go ahead and if not just double team, I don’t think we really have a uh a defense like that. But you want to concentrate most of your efforts in the secondary towards Jefferson whenever there’s a passing situation. I think I think their issue more than anything has been the quarterback play because they’ve got Jefferson, they got Jordan, they’ve got TJ Hawinson who was a first round draft pick and eighth pick in the draft when uh he came out. They’ve got a running back and Aaron Jones who can catch the ball out of the back field too along with Jordan Mason, but their quarterback play has been sketchy and but as Hecma was alluding to. Uh the fact they were able to establish the run last year uh last week made it easier on that young quarterback and he had his best game because he was able to play off a play action and throw and only throw 23 passes in a game that they won handily 31 to nothing. If if you want to control Jefferson, put pressure on the quarterback. Yeah. That’s how you stop a wide receiver. And it starts with stopping the run. Stop the wide receiver. Yes. Going to stop start with the run. But even if you let’s say you have a problem, if you know it’s an obvious passing situation, let’s just get some pressure on the quarterback in a consistent manner. And I think that was the one of the biggest issues last week. There was never an obvious passing situation for the Lions because they didn’t stop the run. And so they never got any pressure on golf because you didn’t know whether they’re going to run or pass because you they never got behind the chains. I don’t know if on second and 16. I’m for some reason that down sticks out to me. Why? How how are they still able to pick up a first down? But just agreeing with what you’re saying. Um have are you guys kind of slowing down on your opinion of Kevin O’Connell? Because for a while, man, he was riding the high of young coaches and now at five and eight, he may not be viewed the same as his offensive genius. Well, how’s the quarterback plague compared to last year? Mhm. I mean, everybody around the National Football League needs a quarterback. You watch the game last night versus Atlanta. Atlanta needs a quarterback, right? Bean Robinson, running back that they have, you think he’s pretty good, right? So, I’m just saying I I don’t I don’t think it’s just as simple as that. There are some teams that can play. Sometimes it is just that simple. Plug and play. You can get a you can get a backup that can come in and run and not be a superstar quarterback, especially with the weapons that they have. I’m I’m just talking about him as a coach. Okay. Yeah. But the weapons don’t show up unless the quarterback plays well. Look at Dallas. I mean, let’s look at us. It’s Dak. It’s a totally different thing when you have no quarterback. That’s why I’m so quick to disagree with you because of what we’re living here and what’s happened here when we don’t have a quarterback. And one of the huge things that Dak has is his it’s the mind and the experience and being able to set protections and all that stuff which is so difficult for a rookie quarterback. And JJ McCarthy basically is a rookie quarterback even though it is his second year and he was out all of last year. But that’s where the the that’s where you’re hoping from a Cowboys perspective that the light hasn’t come on based on what happened last week and he had his best performance as a pro. Uh but then then Carson Wentz was their backup. You know, he comes in and Carson Wentz hadn’t been playing, you know, he was with what Kansas City as a backup never gets on the field and you know, we know what what he was before that. So they really weren’t said that the where they messed up was letting Daniel Jones get out of the building uh to go to Indian Indianapolis if they really wanted a veteran quarterback, but they put their money into JJ McCarthy then and that’s who they wanted to go with and so they didn’t have a suitable backup to come in and they are where they are right now. Well, and one of the things that helped them last week, they got three takeaways. Now, I don’t know where the takeaways gave him the off the possession, but when you get three turnovers like that, that helps out. Well, I think a lot of it was the one turn, wasn’t it? The Vikings, by the way, Kevin O’Connell, he elected to take the ball to start the game to I mean, normally he will defer like most coaches do. He said, is that what most coaches do these days? Yeah, we because they want they want they want to double up. But but one of the things that Kevin Oonnell said about it and so it could be changing the philosophy here is now with the new kickoff rules and now you’re getting the ball typically out um you know as we saw Detroit last week his average field position was 41 yardd line. Well, but Minnesota did the same thing on the opening kickoff. They took it out to the 41 yardd line. So it was a relatively short field. They go 59 yards for a touchdown. Washington came back down and they wound up either punting or but they got the Minnesota got the ball on their second possession their own two yard line and they metriculated 98 yards down the field. So now you got a 14- nothing lead and for Washington they’re playing from behind now and with not the talent that they need to have. I’m even with JD metriculating metriculating. You heard that. That’s right. I love it. Coach uh Hank Stram against the Vikings in the Super Bowl before Hard Knocks. I I I can’t believe you even had to struggle for that. I was I was searching my memory, right? It’s really hard to judge their performance versus the commanders. But to your point on Kevin O’Connell, I think a lot of it has to do with who’s he got at quarterback. And really uh and this week is really the first time that I’ve paid attention and listened to Kevin Oonnell’s press conferences, his TV show. Man, what an impressive guy. Really? Oh, did you hear Shottenheimer talking about it this morning? Yeah. Not this morning. I didn’t. Um he talked cuz he was with Jets when they had they brought McConnell in Okonnell uh in from New England and he talked to I think what you’re talking about is him simulating Brady the Patriots and he said that talked about that on Cowboys Huddle you could which you can watch on CBS at 11:30 on Sunday night. He said when they were He said when they were getting ready to play New England that uh Okonnell spent the whole week with the defense. They didn’t even have him with the offense. They had him with the defense and he was explaining to him if you’re going to blitz here now this is what Brady’s going to adjust to. He’s seen every blitz you’re going to throw at him. So now here’s what you have to adjust. He didn’t even go with the offense. And and by the way he was in his second year in the league then. Right. Okonnell played at San Diego State. He was a third round draft pick of the Patriots. Yeah. In ‘ 06. But as Shottenheimer said on his coaches show yesterday, he was a very good quarterback though. And uh and he would say that in front of him. Uh but so then the Jets pick him up the next year and he was on their practice squad. He never got in a game. I maybe he got into two. I think he threw six passes in his career. Maybe it may have been with the Patriots, but at any rate, uh, he was on the practice squad, but he spent all his time in the defensive room and helping the defensive coaches. Mike Pton was their defensive coordinator at the time. Rex Ryan was the head coach, but he he he won’t be much help in their defensive room because they’ve got already got a hell of a defensive coordinator. That’s right. In Florence, right, that’s what we have to deal with. Yeah. But just listen to him talk, man. He was talking about good coaches on one team. Okonnell was talking about uh the passing game today and how it’s changed over the course even of the last five years and I was just blown away. This guy this guy’s got to have a degree in math or geometry or something. Just talking about angles and all this stuff. I mean very impressive guy. That’s usually inherent u with some football players just you know you got to know the angles to be able to play period. I think it’s something that especially secondary wide receivers, running backs, angles are something that’s just inherent to where uh you just utilize it instinctively. It’s nothing you have to think about. So, yeah. What do you what is your feeling about JJ McCarthy as a quarterback when we talk about Okonnell and developing him being a former quarterback and developing this quarterback? You know, I like his makeup. Uh, and aside I am not one that can analyze his, you know, ability to throw a football or anything like that, but as far as his his character, his makeup and and and that sort of thing, I really like it. Uh, you know, he was a he was a guy grew up in Illinois and he went to uh he was an IMG Academy guy and it actually was a teammate of Tyler Bookers at IMG Academy. I believe it was during a COVID year. Then he goes to Michigan and of course wins a national championship there. So he’s got that winner mentality and he’s a fivestar talent as far as you know you go to IMG you get pretty good talent and um but there’s we’ve seen really good talented quarterbacks who can’t make the transition before and part of it is a processing thing but I think he’s got it between the years. Yeah, we’ll find out. 10 interceptions, nine touchdowns. Well, it it hadn’t shown up so far. No, for sure. That’s what that’s what I mean. It’s strong arm, though. I mean, strong arm. And I’m sure this defense knows they’re still going to have to come after him with Justin Jefferson. That’s the thing. That’s what I’m worried about. I am, too. I I know where you’re headed with this. You know, the free releases we saw against um Detroit, the matchup nightmare that ended up being Revel um against their against Williams. So, I’m just wondering how Kevin O’Connell is going to expose matchups in in this game. I mean, we didn’t just get exposed by by Williams. It was also Aman Rob. Who was guarding him? I have no idea. But I mean, Aman Rob, the the coverage was too soft. You couldn’t tell who. Tell who was always three people chasing him. So, um, yeah, our secondary still has some some work to do. Uh, once again, guys, that game there, that was an exception. You played against an exceptional team at away from home. You being at home, some of those things seems to iron themselves out when it comes to the momentum of a ball game. I’m looking forward to us cons continuing with our offensive onslaught, but I still look for our defense to play a whole lot better than they played against Detroit. Um, any chance Diggs plays this week? I don’t know. They don’t answer that question other than his consistency. Everybody talks consistency and that means how they all same answer same facial express shotenheimer um you know and it’s not consistency so much on the field it’s from when he walks in the door in the morning the consistency of meetings and and then the fact that remember now since he hasn’t played now for eight weeks So, the ramp up thing is sort of real. Yeah, it is. Uh, just getting back into playing football now. He’s ramped up one week. This will be the second week. Well, there’s a 44 year old quarterback in Indianapolis. Ain’t that some Ain’t that some Way to go. Way to go, Bill. No ramping up for him. 44 years old. Bill just poked a hole in that arm. I’ve got to see this experiment. I’ve got to see how this pans out. What time do they play? I don’t know, but I’m I’m going to be in on it, brother. You know how many quarterbacks they passed over to do that? That’s something else. That tells you what’s out there, right? Kaepernick’s waiting, man. Kaepernick’s still out there. Cam Newton. Cam Newton. That’s right. He was vocal about it. Cam said something about it. I I don’t I didn’t hear him say, but I heard someone say something about it. I don’t blame him. I mean I mean, we’ve all talked about how Oh, Cam Newton Capon, but those guys, they’re too old now. Okay. Well, here comes Phil. I mean, come on, man. Then you go like, “Wait a minute. They were right. They’re not as crazy as we thought.” As we go to break here, we got much more to get to. Everson Walsh getting a call from an NFL team right now. His phone is ringing and we can continue more mix shots in just a moment. I will not come back. 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 Millet time. Celebrate responsibly. 2025 Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Hey Cowboy fans, if you’re thinking about attending a game this season, visit cowboystravel.com to book your travel package today. Stay at the team hotel, have dinner with a Cowboys legend, and experience the best sports venue in the world, AT&T Stadium. Also, tour the star, get autographs from your favorite players, and talk X’s and O’s with me, Mickey Spagnola, the official travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys will take care of all your travel needs. Visit cowboystravel.com to book your package today. Hey Cowboy fans, Keith Davis here, former Cowboy. Keith Davis into the end zone. You know what separates champions from the rest? Making the right move at the right moment. With Blockchain.com, that’s never been easier. The Cowboys became America’s team by striking bold when it matters most. Now it’s your turn. Invest like your icons with blockchain.com. Visit blockchain.com/cowboys today to get started and learn more. That’s blockchain.com/cowboys. 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. to make shots. The 2026 NFL Pro Bowl vote is open and the roster is up to you now through December 15th. Cast your ballot to send your favorite Dallas Cowboys to the Pro Bowl games in San Francisco. Don’t wait. Go to probowl.comvote today. So if you’re voting other than Aubrey and Dak voting for anybody else on this team, what is a good question? What’s picking stats? Yeah. Well, for GP, are you with me? Yes. CD. CD. CD. I gotta get both of them. Yeah. Any I mean Javvante, he’s got the thousand yards. Yeah, he got thousand yards. He’s on pace for 1300. Yeah, not bad. I guess it doesn’t compare much to other running backs. I don’t know. Uh you got the stats in front of you. Only only because what Barkley’s not doing that well on Besides um Detroit, you don’t really have a bunch of running backs out there just chopping it up like that, right? Yeah. No. Okay. I’m just Anybody on defense? Uh uh Quinnon Williams for four games. Yeah. See, that’s what I’m saying. The pedal on defense is so obvious, man. Yeah. All right. I just throw that out. That’s interesting. No, no defenders. I mean, Bland is, you know, I want to see him do better, but when it’s all said and done, he’s had a decent season. Not as good as last year. Another one on offense who has already been to two Pro Bowls is Tyler Smith. Smith. Yeah. So, and he’s been battling battling through a knee. That knee. So, for sure. So, um, yeah, it’ll be interesting to see what they do with diggs because Jerry gave the same answer this morning that Shottenheimr gave. Everybody turned into robots for. Yeah. But, you know, as I pointed out, they’re running they’re running out of those ability to take guys off the IR to the practice. Okay. So, let’s say Diggs doesn’t play. Does Revel get the full snap count that he has gotten here the last week? I would think so. Yes. No. Kaylin Carson. How’s he doing? How’s Carson doing? He He’s He’s been fine. Okay. Um, you know, I saw them uh they were kind of flipping I thought in the Detroit game with him in the slot or him outside and Bland in the slot with with Revel, right? that that’s kind of the quarterback deal right now. Um so, you know, Jerry said if he’s ready to play like Trayvon Diggs can play, then he’s out there. Yeah. Now, this is definitely the game where you need him. Um we started off talking about double teaming just Justin Jefferson. And do you have the personnel to be able to do it? Do you have the scheme that can withstand it? In some way, I feel like after the last couple of weeks, you almost have to. You can’t just assume that your rookie cornerback can can stay with Justin Jefferson for four quarters unless unless of course it’s all going to come down to the kind of pressure that you present. And you know, we don’t know what kind of uh learning process Rebel is has is capable of. you know, some guys, man, the the light switch turns on and all of a sudden he’s right back to where he was as far as success is concerned in college, you know, and so I’m hoping that like Carson, he starts to realize just how good he is and starts to make more plays. Well, one thing uh to keep in mind on Revel, okay, he uh first two games activated, he had 19 snaps, then 39 snaps, and then it was the Kansas City game, he went up to a full load of 63 snaps. Remember that game Kalin Carson was out with a hamstring, right? And then against Detroit, full load again for Revel 62 snaps and Revel was at 13 snaps. So that the other factor in there why Revel outside of the fact they wanted he was a third round draft pick with all that talent. It was time for him to ramp up to that stage. Uh Carson wasn’t an option either at that point. So now if Carson presumably is healthier, right, they’ve got another option there if they decide that Rebel needs and he’s been not the full load. He’s been limited all week. Carson has. No, Rebel. That’s right. With his Yeah. I mean, the the life of a DB is, you know, either you’re going to man up the next game if you have a bad game, the previous bad game, or not. you know, we’ll you’ll see what kind of u uh fortitude this guy has. You know, is he going to be able to to come through uh and not think about what happened in Detroit? You know, maybe he learned a lot from playing in Detroit. Uh so, you know, you can’t get a better uh receiving core than what you saw last week. Well, the other thing to consider, and we saw it right from the get-go in the Kansas City game where you’ve got Andy Reid, he targeted Rebel first two plays of the game as well. He should and and Kevin Oonnell would likely do the same thing. I was targeting an average of 15 to 17 times a game my rookie year. So, yeah, that’s going to happen. So, what you know, u just more opportunities. What is the one player on this team that can help revel? Quinnon Williams. Quinnon Williams. That’s one is going to have to always be the defensive line. Defensive line. That’s what helped me out. That’s what helped me out. Javvante Williams. If Javvante Williams can keep drives going, you will keep that offense off the field. It will it will help our rookie quarterback. Yeah. Then also Clowney, the healthy Clowny. And sounds like he’s ready to go. I think I think the best thing that we have going for us right now is the Cowboys offense is uh accustomed to being prolific at home and so let’s continue that and keep that will Dak Prescott it might be his best friend because that keeps the pressure on their offense to continue to score and so hopefully they’ll make some mistakes. If if if you keep uh our offense off the field by running the ball and being successful on long drives, that’s it. Then that that’s that’s a problem for your defensive backs because now they have a choice on what they can do uh to you offensively. But if you if you have a a defense that’s cont offense that’s scoring, keeps their offense off the field, then now when they come in, they they’re forcing things like we did a couple of games. They’re forcing things when they shouldn’t force things. And that’s where DBs feast when they’re when you unnecessarily throw things down the field hoping instead of really believing. And remember McCarthy with all their weapons, whatever, he’s completed 56% of his passes. 56. How many games has he played? All but four. So that’d be nine games. Nine. And I think last week, if I looked it up right, it was his best completion percentage. Seven games actually. Seven. I didn’t think it was nine. I thought he missed four. Well, Bros, Max Bromer started one of the games. And then he had to come in and relieve him. Um, CD Lamb and Justin Jefferson. Five, I’m sorry. Five. What? Six. What are you talking about? He’s played He’s only played six games. He’s No, he’s missed six. Oh, he’s missed six. Okay. Yeah, he’s he’s started seven games. So, he missed six. Yeah, they played 13 games. CD Lamb and Justin Jefferson, two wide receivers in a wide receiverheavy 2020 draft. How many wide receivers were taken in the first round of that draft? First one taken was Henry Rugs out of Alabama by the Raiders. We know that story. Jerry Judy was the second one out of Alabama. Then came CD. Okay. CD was the third receiver taken. 17. Is that right? Say what now? 17. Yep. Then uh Jefferson was the fifth receiver taken. Who was the fourth receiver taken? Just before Jefferson, the guy with Denver, Philadelphia took him out of TCU and Watah Hatche High School. Jaylen Ricker. Yeah, that’s right. But how about these? The reason I bring it up, CD and Justin Jefferson, both now what in their sixth year in the league, the numbers for both of them are almost identical in their career. Yeah. Uh CD has 553 catches and Jefferson has 559 catches. CD has uh all told, this is rushing, receiving, and one kickoff return. 44 touchdowns in his career. Jefferson has 43 touchdowns in those touchdowns. So, how about how about this? A lot of touchdowns. How about this one? Lamb and Jefferson are the only two players in NFL history with at least 550 receptions and 7,000 receiving yards in their first six seasons. Wow. The only two. Now, I know the game changed, but still, man. CD’s been out a few both of them. And Justin Jefferson probably envies CD Lamb right now because of his quarterback situation just based off what you guys are saying earlier. He’s really not having a good year at all this year. No, I mean it’s I mean he’s not getting the passes. He’s not getting the It’s hard to judge him off of it because of No, he’s had 100 targets. 109 targets, 64 receptions. All targets are made. That’s right. Where are the passes going? That’s right. Are they down at his feet over his head? And Hawinson, the tight end, the same way. He’s got 46 catches and um like 70 targets. So 60 and Addison has 70 targets and he has 37 catches. All comes back to the quarterback. You know, you guys this week, y’all hadn’t talked a lot about Minnesota’s uh defense or said much about their defensive coordinator. That’s what I want. Brian Flores. Yeah. I’m just wondering. I mean, is this one of those games where you think this offense is just gonna be able to roll over? No. Oh, no. Okay. Matter of fact, I I was thinking last night I wanted to talk about Flores today and and give him his his praise. Give him his flowers. How about the veterans that he has on his defense? I mean, you got they’ve got at least a half dozen. remember uh pardon miss hecma but George Allen George Allen in Washington back in the 70s the over the hill gang the over the hill gang with all the 30year-old players well the Vikings they have at least a half dozen primary players on their defense who are 30 and older at every level of the defense really up front you got Javon Hargrave he’s 32 yeah yep I think so Jonathan Allen 30 Then at linebacker, uh, Van Ginkle is a 30-year-old. Eric Wilson, number 55, is another one who’s plays a lot and has been very productive this year. And then in the secondary, their third corner, Fabian Maro, is over 30. And then there’s the elder statesman of the whole bunch at safety, Harrison Smith, 36 years old, 14th year in the league. Now, number two, the cornerback. What’s What’s He’s young, right? Yeah. You talking about Murphy? I don’t I don’t know if he’s number two. Oh, no. He’s number seven. Number seven’s Byron Murphy. Isaiah Rogers is number two. They gave him hype when he came into the starting lineup. Our Graves 32. Is he? Yeah. They play with I’m I’m telling you, when they what Brian Flores does from a pressure standpoint, it makes me nervous for our offense. When they wear that purple, man, look like they have about 12 people at the line of scrimmage. Um it’s going to be one of those games. because they’re not a lazy team. They don’t do any everything that they do is is full speed, you know. So, that’s where I I question from last week from Detroit what our offensive line did. And if we could withstand that kind of pressure, I mean, they lost eight games and so that that has to count for something. They lost eight games, but defensively I I think they have a really good scheme and that’s why I like uh Brian Flores. Well, they lost eight games obviously because of quarterback turnover and things of that nature. sometimes you’re just a victim uh to your offense. And so that’s what makes me nervous about Flores. This guy is a a competitor. I mean, he’s one of those guys. He does not take uh foolishness lightly at all. And so, he’s one of those guys that he he’s a he’s a hell of a leader on the defensive side. Uh once had a head coaching job if I’m not mistaken in Miami. Very uh demanding coach. 14 years with Bellich in New England. Wow. See? Oh my god. Yeah. That scares me right there. That scares me right there. I mean, you learn a lot from somebody like Bellichic, number one, but number two, you like I say, you don’t suffer fools, you know, and he’s one of those guys. You got older players on this team because he knows that they’re going to do exactly what he wants. Another coach who doesn’t suffer fools, Todd BS. Oh, I was going to bring him up. Did you hear his his postgame last night? Video. I have all of that. He’s not suffering fools on that team. Did you hear that? Oh my goodness. Sounds like there were a lot of fools on that team last night. A lot of beeping, too. Uhhuh. Oh, I missed it. Oh, yeah. Boy, I I got it right here, buddy. I sent that out. And it it sounds like it’s just it’s guys, you know, we have a tendency to blame coaches for everything, but sometimes the players don’t carry out their assignment. And that’s what it sounds like he was very frustrated with is, you know, a player a coach will always fall on the sword, right? Mhm. But when they Not last night, not last night, he is so mad at this team. And I mean, you’re at home against the Falcons with a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. Let him come back. Oh my good. And they, as I turned on the game, they looked tired. Yeah. At home, they looked tired. The the the game didn’t have any pop to it at all. It’s like guys were just laying on each other. They all looked tired in the game last night. And a Thursday game. Thursday game. Well, we’ll see if the Cowboys with four extra days rest between games makes a difference because that played a lot of games in a short period of time. Great point. Yep. Won three over a 12-day period and now they need to win three over a 12-day period again for the second time this season. Mickey, you’ve seen that a lot. You know how hard that is to do. Yeah, man. Yeah. No, it is. You know what? When the Cowboys have had good teams, they have been successful on that Thanksgiving stretch where they got to play three in 12 days. It was a given. Uhhuh. That’s right. And uh now we’re going to see if this is a good team. I guess if they can do it twice in one season. Okay, our picks to click and our picks to win on Sunday night when Mix Shots continues in a moment. 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Fan of the year presented by Captain Morgan for his dedication to this team and spicing up the game. Vote for Tom to be named the ultimate NFL fan of the year at n.com/fanoftheear. Come on, Tom. You got the invite. Thursdays. Boy, come on, Tom. We need to see you. Um, bring some stat you guys would never get. Cameron Dicker is the only NFL player to be born in Hong Kong. Alrighty, guys. Okay. Are we ready? Do you have any other notes you want to throw out before we do our picks? I think I’m good. Okay. I think I’m good. You’re good. Okay. Okay. I’m gonna tell you who I’m gonna pick. You want me to tell you? Come on. You’re going to tell tell the world, Everson, it’s you’re on the clock now. You’ve been bugging me, man. Uhhuh. All right. Look for the Cowboys to win. We’re going to continue our 30 point plus barrage. 38-28. Cowboys win. 38 to 28. 38 to 28. We we will continue our 30 plus barrage. Nate Thomas is my guy. Nate Thomas. Okay. Bounce back for Nate Thomas. Gonna bounce back. He’s going to bounce back. And our running game is gonna take over this entire game. Wait a wait a second. Now you can only take Nate Thomas. You got Nate Thomas? Yeah. All right. Okay. Yeah. I just said, but the result of it is our running game is going to be prolific in this game and your flashlight. All right. I’m my player. My pick to click is Javvante Williams. That’s why I was on you about the running game is because you taking my my thunder under. I didn’t take it. I didn’t see. I’m going Javvante Williams. Thank you. I’m going Javvante Williams. Javvante Williams has 110 yards. Okay. 110 yards, two touchdowns, and my score is 26. Another 10-point verdict. Wait, what? That’s That is ugly. It is, man. That is ugly. I like it. So, you think you think that defense is going to force us into Come on now. All right. So that would be like four field goals for Aubrey. However it gets done and three field goals for the Vikings. That that’s the person that cannot be named. Yeah. But yeah, we’ve by the way we’ve taken Dak Prescott and Brandon Aubrey off off the board the board. So you cannot pick either one of them. Lowhanging fruit is not allowed on mix shots. You ready? Sure. Um my score will be Cowboys 33 Minnesota 17 and my pick to click and he’s going to come out like shot out of a cannon. George Pickkins. I was I thought he was going to say Turpin again. I was waiting. I was waiting on Turpin. And so why betrayal Pickins? Because people picked on Pickins and he’s going to show everybody to shut up. Don’t you know that NBC Sunday night crew is poised? They’re going to have a Pickkins camera. Oh, it might be miked up. Absolutely. Yeah. And they’re point Anything that Pickkins does is getting chronicled. Um Chris Collins was ready to pounce on that. Chris No. Nope. Chris doesn’t pounce. Not going to do it. Chris never pounced. Chris, they’re going to have a replay can camera just for him. Make sure they have every one of them. And that’s why I hope he shows his you know what. Did you ever answer my question? What was it? Where did the uh guys in the in the postgame booth watch the game from? Oh, you forgot. No, I remembered. I just didn’t remember. Let me text my guy. You you keep stalling here and I’m going to text my guy right now. I just think he’s he’s he’s loaded. He’s ready to go. And and and not not because he has to prove everybody wrong. He’s just I just think he’s wired that way. I had one of those games. Okay, let’s go. Right. And and everybody, you know, he’s a competitor. CD I thought CD had a really good comment yesterday when he said that all these people that were negative about him coming here, they just been waiting. They’ve been waiting to pounce and they got a little bit of an opportunity and they took advantage of it. Somebody brought up idiot’s name and uh what you know who I’m talking about. I ain’t using his name and and and he goes in and and you know what what does he know just like that. So I I was glad I I was I wanted George to do his normal uh day answer questions and and and don’t run from it and just don’t answer it. just next question. So, they didn’t ask me. Are you ready, Bill? Well, my guys responded, but I’ve got to specify. Uh, all right. He says he says the uh the Thursday night uh pregame crew. They watch the game from a green room, basically a locker room area, uh, near the field, and then they come out a few minutes before the half. So, on So, is it up the ramp or on TV? Something like that. Yeah, they probably have the choice. They can be on the sideline just watching the game, too. And the whole point, the reason I’m we’re asking it is Everson had posed the question, I think it was you that posed it, where does Richard Sherman watch a game from? Right. Yeah. So, or whoever posed it. Yeah. So, anyway, they’re watching on a big screen TV. Yeah. Not the whole field. Okay. At the mercy of So, I think maybe Vickiy’s the one that asked it. I did. Okay. Cowboys are playing the Vikings on Sunday night and this game is going to come down to the last play of the game. A Hail Mary is Pat. The ball’s going to be at midfield. Cowboys are trailing by four. Can’t get a field goal. Can’t get a Braden Aubrey field goal to tie this game and force overtime. Instead, Dak Prescott going to be a low snap from center. I think a low snap center low snap from center and Dak Prescott is going to heave the football downfield right sideline to number 88 CD Lamb and he is going to cradle the football on his hip and a bottle’s going to be thrown from the stands on the field as and we’re going to think is it the same brand we’re going to think that it’s a yellow flag that is thrown, but that’s right. And then CD will signal on into the end zone and the Cowboys will win by three. It won’t be 1714 like it was 50 years ago this month. Years ago, it will be 2724. You want You want to hear the greatest paragraph ever? CD is the picked click. Gotcha. Greatest paragraph ever. Blackie Blackie shared it from that game. And now another impossible action. Also a last gas pass. A thousand to one roll of the dice that somehow jerked a playoff game from the fire after it had been charred almost beyond recognition. This drama was a mighty Roger Stalach heave that soared 56 yards through a chilled gray afternoon. A wild chance, a desperate act, as if a starving shipwreck sailor might cast with a naked hook just in case some god somewhere wished to show him a miracle. Oh my god, that was dramatic. So, was there was there alcohol in the press box? If it wasn’t with him, a shipwreck sailor, there was plenty pockets. No, I’m sure he wrote this on the plane ride back because back then the Times Herald was an afternoon fan. That that doesn’t mean that he had didn’t have libations. Unbelievable. Hey, by the way, that was my freaking 16th birthday. Was it really on the game? December 28th, 1975. So happy. Okay, happy birthday Everson. And you will see that Hail Mary on Sunday Night Football. You can be sure when the Cowboys play the Vikings here. Never can blame you or say that you’re not an original, Bill, right? They’ll pull that one out. Any uh final word for anybody? I’m good. Okay, we’re all good. Okay. You got an appearance to make this weekend or We do. Okay. 1:15 tomorrow over at the Omni. Everson and I Okay. Okay. Our sports tours at the Omni. At the Omni. Okay. All right. Uh, Cowboys game day 10:30 Sunday morning. That’s right. On CBS. You got game day responsibilities there, Everson? No. Um, I will be at the game, but I’ll be doing some stuff before the game with u uh uh corporation. Have my daughter out there with me and that’s my Instagram. Oh, yeah. Social media. your social media presence has gone up, right? But because of her, man, like I told y’all, she’s on the payroll. Game day experience with Everson Walls. November was the uh American Diabetes Association uh kidney month. I was the ambassador for them. So, I said, man, let’s just keep this thing going. There you go. Well, heck, I got I got a I got a double header this weekend with Kyle Yman’s uh NBA GLeague basketball right across the highway. All right. Yeah. No high school. Yeah. No football. No, man. My That’s It just comes to an abrupt end. WFA. One of those games is on TV this week. It’s a lot. It’s a lot of games. You can get them all on TV. Victory Plus. Victory Plus. Playoffs, bro. I know. From your mouth to God’s ear. I state semifinals in great matchups. Allan, Duncanville, Dodto, South Lake, Carol, Alto, Frisco, Lone Star, and Melissa versus South Oak Cliff. And you got in the Cotton Bowl. You’re at the Cotton Bowl. That’s right. You got South Oak Cliff winning. Okay. You’ve got uh Dunanville. Dunanville over Allen. You got South Lake over Dotto. I do. And what about Al and Lonear? That’s going to be South Lake. Is that good? I got I got Lonear State. I got Lone Star. Lonear. Interesting story on them today. Lonear like they’re in a school district that has 12 high schools. All these other single city high schools usually dominate and this team’s undefeated. Wow. Some to that. Mhm. What are the transfer rules in Frisco ISD? It’s a It’s an open enrollment. Open enrollment. It’s open enrollment. You could go wherever you want to go. The same at South Oak Cliff, right? No, not so much. I thought Dallas ISD switched to that. Yeah. Yeah. It ain’t now. Back in the day, Skyline would have been a magnet school. They could uh they could acquire, you know, if they had open enrollment in DISD and kids could pick and choose what school they wanted to go to. South Oak Cliff’s been doing. No, South Oak Cliff has been doing that because South Oak Cliff is really good. Well, you can do that if you want to go to private school. Yeah. Yeah. No, Bill. All right. All right. Mayor South Lake, I guess. I don’t know. The South Lake Dragons have a very big NIL deal over there. Oh, right. You know, everybody last name matches with a former professional player. It’s all right. I’ve done this whole show. I just realized with no headset on. Yeah, much better. There you go. Okay. Where is it? It’s over here. We’ll shot at you again on Monday at high noon. A victory Monday. Cowboy Nation, I hope your team wins. Go Cowboys. Wonderful. This has been a production of DallasCowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.
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