Are the Cowboys a sleeper team, Spags praises Burrow & is Kelce still the Chiefs’ top weapon | SPEAK

Are the Cowboys a sleeper team, Spags praises Burrow & is Kelce still the Chiefs’ top weapon | SPEAK

Paul, do you believe the Cowboys could be the surprise team this year in 2025? Well, I want to believe based on a healthy Dak Prescott knowing that he’s a top 10 quarterback TJ and adding George Pickkins, I would like to think so, but when I look at the schedule and I look at their defense, which was one of the worst scoring defenses in all of football a year ago, wasn’t allowed, didn’t have a run stoppage, didn’t could just everybody ran all over them. And you know, so we’re asking, are they going to be able to outscore opponents? Then I look at their schedule. When you look at the last eight weeks of the season, they’re playing six, one, two, three, four, five, six playoff teams out of the last eight games of their season. I just don’t see them being a s surprise team. But I will tell you who will be my surprise team coming up. People better watch out for those New England Patriots. That’ll be my my surprise team as you’re all Boston, huh? No, no, but you know, Rabbo, they were four and 13 last year. They got some key additions. Stefon Diggs, M. Hollands. Uh, of course, I already mentioned Mike Vrabo, Josh McDaniels, Terry Terrell Williams. This is a team that that is going to fly under the radar and I guarantee they’re going to be they’re not going to be a team you’re going to go to to New England and say this is an easy win and you going to be all out the night before the game. You going to get your rest before you have to see the Patriots. But Dallas, it’s tough right now. It looks like look, you start off at Philly, you may get New York, then you at Chicago, then you get This is just a tough schedule. It’s one of the toughest schedules in all of football. I don’t see them shocking anybody because as you all know when you wear that star your helmet everybody comes to play when you when you’re that logo. So man they’ll be lucky to finish third in the division to be honest looking at their schedule. Their schedule is tough when you break it all the way down cuz Philly I’m assuming Philly going to win that game in Philadelphia. Yeah. You know you got the uh Giants Chicago I don’t know they should be better. Green Bay obviously I like the Jets. Carolina, Washington. I like Denver. I like Arizona. I could care less about them. They get that buy. And like you said, they start, you start the Raiders. I know a lot of people are thinking the Raiders are gonna be uh dogs in the NFL, but they got to go to Las Vegas. To Las Vegas could be something. Then obviously Philly, Kansas City, Detroit, Minnesota, the Chargers, and Washington. Doesn’t look promising for the Dallas Cowboys. It’s got to be one of the toughest schedules in all of all of football. I mean, it’s just there’s there’s really no I can say easy games. I’m not even giving them New York because New York understands that this is a rival and they’re going to be up to playing both times. Yeah, TJ. Um, so I got to know. I think it’s the Jets for me. And yes, because of Yeah, because because no one is giving the Jets a real opportunity, a chance to make any noise, given the Buffalo is in the division in Miami, let alone the conference. When you start talking Baltimore and Pittsburgh’s and Cincinnati, then you switch over to Kansas City and you look at the Denvers and you look at the Chargers, nobody’s giving them a shot at all. I am though. I mean, the win total with them is uh for me is above seven and a half and I think they’ll exceed that expectations. Um, you know, but I don’t think that the Cowboys on the other hand, they’ll probably exceed that by like maybe two, nine and a half games, I would say, cuz it’s seven and a half. That’s the expectations. I figured nine. I don’t think they make the playoffs. Um, they’re underdogs to start the season against the Eagle. I mean, uh, against the Eagles. So, by seven and the Eagles kind of is they’re better team. They got bit. They just a better team. Receivers are probably even. Jaylen Herz is a little bit better than me right now than Dak Prescott. Uh they obviously the running back, the offensive line. I mean, they going to go up against it against Philadelphia. I think they win nine games. That’s what I think they I think they win a lot. That’s a lot. The the Cowboys, this the thing. You have a new head coach and we we all know this. When you have a new head coach in week one, things aren’t going to go as smoothly as you think they would. And so they they gonna have some hiccups just just from the head coach’s perspective. That’s right there. But what we not talking about is their best player may not even play this game. If they don’t sign Michael Parsons to a deal, is he going to play? Is he going to risk going out there without a new contract? And so we got to talk about that. If they if they going they don’t have number 11. True. They’re getting blown out. The Eagles are on a mission now. the Cowboys. The last time Dak Prescott was hurt in 22, he came back in 2023, second MVP. He was a top four quarterback. Now, if he can play at that level, they’ll always have a chance. And he’ll make up for Micah Parsons not being there on the defensive side of the ball, but Dak is going to have to play better than he’s ever played. And And can he do that? I don’t know. with a new system, with a head coach that is an offensive guy that pretty much got looked over his entire career and many felt he was just handed this job. Like, was he the most qualified person for the job? Many will say no, he was just handed the job. So, will the Cowboys be the surprise team? I’m going say absolutely not. Um, I’m going to go with the Atlanta Falcons as being the surprise team for me. the the skilled guys they have with Mooney, Drake London, Bean Robinson. Pennock’s going to be in his second year. Kyle Pittz now coming back um off the injury a year removed from that. So he he’s going to be a lot better. So I surprised team will be the Atlanta Falcons. You know, Atlanta got a new DC. Um I I don’t know. I I’m not I know we like Michael Penn, but the sample size that I got from him a year ago wasn’t didn’t didn’t come away with Glenn. I know I said a lot, man. I done see this boy on the field, man, in person, man. But, you know, but you know, I can throw to you right now and I’m going look, they going to want to sign me. Absolutely. No chance. If we out there, if we out there in t-shirts and shorts and you running routes and I’m throwing to you, it’s going to look good. Now, you put TJ on one side. wide on one side and Miles Garrett on another and they running at me. That’s probably not a good thing. Pull up to the work. Pull up to the workout. T-shirts and shorts. We I want to see you in I want to see you in t-shirt and shorts next week. You know, we all look good in t-shirts and shorts. I’m just saying. I’m talking the accuracy though. Like we can t-shirt and short. I just seen some NFL quarterbacks accurate when they ain’t coming at you. No, they not. We all accurate when they not coming at you. But when you got them dudes with them full beards and them them car seats and them trucks and they mad with them big old three they got families to feed. Come on man, you already know it’s different in the in the small sample size that I look do I think Michael Pennix can turn out to be something special. Yes. But I didn’t see enough last year. This is his rookie year coming up. Not last year. This will be his rookie year in essence. So I just need to I need to see more game. I can’t. Three games, four games, they don’t do it for me. I need to see him play 17 games in a season. Same way I needed to see Brock Perie play 17 game, a full season before I said, “Okay, he he’s here to stay.” Now, back to the Cowboys. If Dak can play how he did in 2023, the schedule don’t matter. Yeah, dude. Not not if that can play that way. The schedule’s not going to matter because when you in that zone, you feel like I’mma lead my team to victory. You had a weapons. This probably outside of Amari Cooper and CD Lamb, this the best receiving court Dak has had and it may be the best because CD Lamb was young and so he has the weapons. I’m just concerned myself is with the play calling. That’s what concerns me is the play calling. Coaching in the NFL matters so much more than any sport. You got to call the right play at the right time. Like, and the best coaches, that’s what they do. T, what’s the difference? If Dak looks like he did two years ago, right? What’s the difference between the Cowboys coming up than the Cincinnati Bengals of last year? If that looks like an MVP player, I would I would say it’s no difference because as long as your defense is one of the worst defenses and you you bear witness to this. The Cowboys can stop the run. They weren’t bad against the pass. They couldn’t stop the run. They weren’t bad against the pass. No, they weren’t bad against the pass. They still were a bad defense. The Bengals are bad stopping the run. The pass. And the pass. Yeah. They didn’t create turnovers. They didn’t do anything remotely close to those sort of things. When Dak Prescott was cooking, that defense would turn the ball over. Bland was getting interceptions left and right. I mean, you know, Diggs was playing at a high level. It just was a different situation. All pro level. Yeah, that’s So, so when you look at it, that’s the difference between Cincinnati and Dallas. Dak Prescott, if he can play well and that defense can stop the run, they got an opportunity, a chance. It was recently revealed on Netflix quarterbacks that Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnola told Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burl that he was the best quarterback in the league after Patrick Mahomes. But I’m not so sure that being called second best is actually a compliment cuz I don’t want somebody coming up to me and said, “Oh man, you the second best wide receiver behind TJ Hushman in the National Football League.” But but how would Mahomes feel if he said that? If he came up to Barl and said, “Man, you’re the best.” And that got leaked and everybody was talking about that in the media. But you you don’t need to even say that. You can say you can say if you spags, you can come up to him and say, “Man, you you’re a hard quarterback to game.” That’s why it means so much that he said what he said. No, he Okay. As a coach, yeah, I might that’s poking at him a little bit, but I’m I think Spags, but coaches do that. Yeah, I think Spags though the second best. It was a compliment, but on on the flip side, he had to let him know that you not there yet. Yeah, but you But but but so you bet. He’s better than Josh Allen. So now you got to see Josh Allen in week four I think it is that they say I think Josh Allen tripping off of that because you know coaches say stuff like that all the time. No, you going to trip on it? No. No, you going to trip. You just ain’t going to trip on it publicly. You going to see it. You might have it folded up in your pocket in your wallet. You might put it in your little cubby hole in your locker and you may never say nothing to the public about it, but you you’ll go back to that cubby and read it and say, “Okay, I got something for Spags and his defense.” Do you think he is the second best TJ? Not a lie told. Yes, I do. And I truly believe that. And why wouldn’t Spags believe that Joe Burrow has a winning record against him? Josh Allen doesn’t. Lamar Jackson doesn’t either. Now, they do. No, no, no. In the regular season, he does. Okay. Okay. Like in the regular season, four and four and one, right? In the playoffs, he’s 0 and four. So, technically, he’s four and five going against the Chiefs. when Spags comes out and tells Burrow that that’s an appreciation that that’s an appreciation and that that right there is a great list by the way. Um but that’s an appreciation of the work that Joe Bors put in and that’s just Spags letting you know like outside of our guy you you the guy that I take next. I want you outside of He can’t say oh you the best in the league cuz Mahomes going to hear that M I’m not in the league no more. So, he has to say that. But if I’m Joe Burrow, I take that as a compliment. Um, the work that I’ve put in, even if you ain’t going to say it, you see it, but it’s been acknowledged. If you’re not going to say it, it’s you’re acknowledging uh that you think I’m a hell of a player. I already believe I’m a hell of a player, but that acknowledgement, I appreciate it. Yeah, I I guess you could see looking at that way. I just, you know, I don’t need you giving me that compliment as a Coach, if if you say good game, hey Ke, you’re you’re the best besides our guy and the other guy was Jerry Rice. Why would you It don’t matter who. It could be Jerry Rice, Michael, Chris Carter, Marvin, Tio, Kelvin Johnson, all combined in one. I don’t need that compliment. That’s all I’m saying. I don’t need you telling me that I’m the second. But how would you take that? I probably just walk away from you. But you not going to take it as if he’s trying to sun you. No, you ain’t going to take it as that. You going to take it as a compliment? I guess it would be the delivery really for me. It would be the delivery. That’s how he said it. How he delivered it to me. And he didn’t say second though. He said outside of our guy, you’re the best. If my guy is clearly number one with championships and MVPs and you have no championship and you have no MVP, it’s known that he’s the number one guy. You take it as a backhanded compliment, right? Yeah, that’s what I So you take that as a backhanded compliment? It really is. So would you rather would you say Paul it really is it is it is comp backhanded compliment. So would would if you’re spagzo would you rather give a backhanded compliment or piss your quarterback off. I would not give a compliment at all other than your hard quarterback the game plan against have a nice day. That’s what I that’s the way I saw it. I don’t look at it as a compliment. I look at it as an appreciation for Joe Burrow’s game. That’s how I look at it. And that and that may be the case. Speaking of the Kansas City Chiefs, Travis Kelce has been Patrick Mahomes favorite target throughout his entire NFL career. At 35 years old, Kelsey is clearly out of his prime to most people, but Chiefs GM Brett Vch says that Kelsey can still play at an elite at elite level when he needs to. So, uh, TJ, can Kelsey still be an elite tight end in the National Football League, especially for Kansas City when he needs to? He could have been the elite tight end. Can he be their number one option? No. But you just said it leading up to this. He needs to be the number one option when he needs to be the number one option. If we need a play made, I need Travis Kelce to be the number one option cuz Momes has that comfort with him. I don’t need you to be the number one option of every play of every game throughout the season. And as you know this key, the majority of the plays that are drawn up is going to the number one option. We’re looking to get him the ball based on this coverage and this is why we’re calling the play. That’s going to have to be Rasheed Rice. But when they need a play to be made 80 90% of the time, Kelsey needs to be the number one option. And I believe he can be that. You just can’t be that for the entirety of the season, the entirety of every passing play that’s being called. And so if Kelsey can be at his best when his best is needed, yes, he can be that number one option. I have no doubt in my mind that when the game is on the line, Mahomes is looking for 87. Yeah, this reminds me, Keith, you know, the more and more I looked at this, it reminds me when I was in Washington playing for the Wizards, I wasn’t no longer the number one option, but when it came down to it, when they needed that bucket, and that’s what he has to be, just like you said. That’s exactly what you said because they can’t rely on him to be the the the Travis Kelce of three or four years ago to just the dominant tight end you’re looking for and wearing him down at that age. I mean, we saw him. Think about it. He came into the offseason said, “I I got to lose 20 pounds. I I was I was I wasn’t slow. I was sluggish. I was We didn’t have the same chemistry.” And I noticed that this year, but when y’all need it, I’mma be there. And that’s that’s it reminds similar to the Lakers situation with LeBron. They don’t need him to be the number one option now. So, as the older you get, you don’t have to be that guy every night, but you know that you can go back in time on certain nights and deliver. And that’s what Kelsey is for them. You know, I think they need him pretty much all the time, but in certain times, they need him on the field all the time to be that cardboard cutout, to be the the guy that people can try to pay attention to and get everybody else open. Um, but y’all right, they need him when it matters most. You need it you need your start guy when it matters most. You know, if if it’s the first quarter, the second quarter, and he’s not really doing nothing, the third quarter, he starts to heat up, then the fourth quarter, he takes over, that’s really all that matters. As both of you know, when y’all played, you know, you may have slow, you know, first, second, third quarter might be slow. But come the fourth quarter when it counts the most, you going to go get somebody. And that’s that happened. You know, obviously in in my career, I’ve been in that situation where, you know, double, triple, whatever the case may be. I may not be getting the necessary targets, but I always will remind the defense, I’m going to get you eventually. It may not happen, but I’m going to get you. While you sitting over there laughing and high-fiving and jumping around, I’m going to come back to bite you at some point in time throughout this game. So, that is the way it goes. But I think I think pressure need No, you don’t. Now, will Rasheed Rice coming off the knee injury, can he be that guy? Well, you bring but if he can’t be that guy, will Momes want to lean on Kelsey a bit too much or can he find another receiver that can be that guy? Whether it’s Hollywood, Brown, uh, whomever it is, because coming up, and I’ve never had any injury, but they always say that first year off, you got to kind of find your way. And so, if Rashi Rice can’t be if he can’t be that guy, who will it be? where they rely on Kelsey a bit too much. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey, hey.

Keyshawn Johnson, Paul Pierce, and T.J. Houshmandzadeh list their sleeper teams heading into the 2025 NFL season and discuss whether the Dallas Cowboys deserve that label. The panel also reacts to Steve Spagnuolo saying Joe Burrow should be ranked right behind Patrick Mahomes as the No. 2 quarterback in the league. Then, the crew debates whether Travis Kelce should still be considered the No. 1 weapon in the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense moving forward.

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Are the Cowboys a sleeper team, Spags praises Burrow & is Kelce still the Chiefs’ top weapon | SPEAK
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