‘YOU GONE BE IN TURKS & CAICOS’ 🌴 Cam Newton WARNS Cowboys what’s at stake vs. Vikings | First Take

‘YOU GONE BE IN TURKS & CAICOS’ 🌴 Cam Newton WARNS Cowboys what’s at stake vs. Vikings | First Take

Back to the NFL. CDI Lamb was a full participant in practice yesterday, putting him on track to play after suffering that concussion last week against the Lions. The Cowboys need all hands on deck as they continue to fight for their postseason lives. They most likely have to win out to have a shot and it starts Sunday against the Vikings. So, offensively, the Cowboys rank in the top six in the league in multiple categories, including leading in yards per game. Meanwhile, the Vikings defense ranks in the top half of the league in the same categories and are coming off a shut out against the Commanders last Sunday. So, something’s got to give. Are the Cowboys on upset alert against the Vikings? Cam, why don’t you go first? No, can’t be. If if if you get upseted, you going to be in Waiki. You going to be in uh Turks and Caos, you going to be in Bahama Mamas. You going to be in Jamaica. Jamaica. No. When I’m looking down the list, you got the Vikings, you got the Chargers, you got the Commanders, and you got the Giants. All winnable games. Hey, crash out. George Pickkins, we need you, bro. Hey, CD Lamb, we need you, dog. Hey, Dquavy. Yes, we need you. My bads, my faults will not be needed during this type of game. And we need the Dallas Cowboys to find ways to win. And uh this is a must-win. The Dallas Cowboys are absolutely on upset alert because they need to play at the highest level to win football games. And they showed you that last week. The Dallas Cowboys are a team to me that I pick in this game. I favor in this game. I expect to win this game, but they don’t get to just walk into stadiums and believe that they have ascended to a point where they don’t have to lock in. When you think about what this defense is and the creative ways that Brian Flores can employ simulated pressures and five mans and zero blitzes, Dak Prescott is going to have to be on this game. Javvante Williams is going to have to make plays and George Pickkins has to play at a level that’s different than last week even when doubled. And defensively, you have to get after JJ McCarthy. The Dallas Cowboys are the better team playing this week and they need to walk into the stadium knowing that, but also knowing that they have to prove that. Ain’t no way in hell they on upset alert. They better not lose this game. It shouldn’t even be close. Listen, if you st if you Brian Flores in this defense, you blitz more than anybody in the National Football League. Who’s one of the top quarterbacks against the blitz? It’s Dak Prescott. So, I expect the Dallas Cowboys to score points. Now, let’s get to the defense. JJ McCarthy is supposed to ruin your postseason aspirations and at at Jerry World. It better not happen. It better not happen. Let me tell you something right now. The Eagles could be on their losing streak and Dallas could, you know, obviously you lost too many games early, whatever. We were raving about the Dallas Cowboys when they acquired Quinnon Williams when they got Logan Wilson when you got your man over Sean coming back and all of that. We were raving about them and they won three straight and they looked like a formidable defense. He came back from a 21 to nothing deficit, beat the Philadelphia Eagles, and then obviously they ran into the Detroit Lions and got humbled. But that’s the Detroit Lions. That’s Jamar Gibbs. That’s that’s that’s that’s Derek G. I mean, that’s golf, you know. That’s that’s Jameson Williams and Ron St. Brown and those brothers. That’s who they are. The Vikings. This dude JJ McCarthy is basically a rookie. He didn’t play last year’s rookie season. He’s a rookie. But what about Justin Jefferson? I don’t give a damn. Look, just listen. They lucky Justin Jefferson has a demand to be traded. Well, you just picked you said you take Justin Jefferson in this game yesterday. No, I just finished saying I’m saying to you Justin Jefferson should ask to be traded. He is great. He He should He It’s a crime that he’s been subjected to what he has been subjected to this year. Receiver needs somebody throwing damn football. Hey, that’s his fault. It’s one of the greatest receivers in the game today. Okay. Absolutely. The Dallas Cowboys should rump romp the Minnesota Vikings. It shouldn’t even be close. It shouldn’t even be close. And if it is, I’m just going to look at them and laugh because it’s gonna make me smile. They better not lose this game. I’m tell you right now, you can you can lose to Detroit last week. Ain’t nobody worried about that. Look at Detroit. Okay, they’ve been up and down, but we know who they are. You ain’t got no business losing to JJ McCarthy’s Minnesota Vikings. And I’m not saying JJ McCarthy is not going to be a good player road. Not this year, Stephen A. It’s the NFL. If you don’t if you don’t walk into stadiums prepared to play, prepared to win. That’s right. It could be close. That’s right. And I’m saying there aren’t just blowouts in this league weekly. That’s not the way it works. Stephen A, when you walk into a stadium with a Brian Flores defense, you give yourself a chance. So RC has never come on national television and predicted that somebody going to get run. No. Never. It’s never happened. Are you Are you crazy? You ready? You better think about it. I’m pretty sure you have. No, come on. Every time come on TV dramatic like this team should just blow this team out. This team should just walk. You have never said that. No, that’s not the way it works in the NFL. Talk about how would you know the word dog walk? Excuse me. You would know it because you’ve used it often. High school. Because you used it often. Because you used it often and you know that teams get blown out. Don’t try that with me. You know, they better dog walk a Vikings. Cam, I’m going to point something out to you, though. Uh, the Cowboys have struggled a lot against the NFC North this season. They’ve lost two games to the Bears and to the Lions, and they tied the Green Bay. No, no, no. The Vikings. I know the Vikings sit at the bottom of the division, but it’s still a very competitive division. Still no be the Bears, the Vikings, the Packers. Yeah, Lions. You got the runt in the Vikings that that that out of those teams, they obviously stand out for all the wrong reasons. And it’s because of JJ McCarthy. Man, listen, bro. Look, at the end of the day, if you ask me, should the should the Dallas Cowboys have a tall task versus a Detroit Lions team? Yes. A Green Bay Packers teams? Yes. The Chicago Bears? Yes. Please. But the Minnesota Vikings, come on, bro. Like, let’s just be honest here. Like, I mean, let’s shove all the emotions and the semantics, bro. They’re they’re not supposed to win. And I’m not sitting up here saying that they’re going to get dog walked because in this league, a win is a win. I don’t care if you win by a lot of points or a half a point. You won. The Dallas Cowboys better find a way to win. I agree with that. At all costs this Sunday. You know, if I want to if I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it. Uh, you know, I’ve been through a lot and if it’s not fun, then what am I doing it for? I’m not sure there was a a singular moment or of time. It’s just uh reflection reflection on a lot of things that I’ve done and been through in my career. I think, you know, I’ve been through more than most and um certainly not easy on the the brain or the body. So, um just trying to have fun doing it again. All right. So, that was earlier in the week. Joe Burrow just sounding down and really raising eyebrows about his future in Cincinnati. Well, then his wide receiver Jamar Chase responded to those comments when he was asked about it yesterday. I thought this was a AI. I’m not Did this really happen though? Do you that’s real today? Yeah. Yes. Well, it depends on what you see. I don’t really know nothing about it at the end of the day. You know what I’m saying? That’s something you might have seen something that we’re not. I mean, but like I’ve seen a little bit from the TV walking outside from practice and then like I turned my eyes, but I don’t know nothing about it. At the end of the day, I I see him the same every day. To me, he loves football. You know what I’m saying? But that’s a him question. I can’t answer that for him. Okay. I felt like this was fair from Jamar Chase. Rich Eisen is here with us now on First Take. And so Rich, welcome. You ready to get the hot takeoff? Here we go. I am ready to roll. What do you What do you think about Joe Burrow’s future in Cincinnati? That sounded very Andrew Lucky to me. It sounded like a guy I mean when anybody starts a sentence with if I want to keep doing this, the follow-up question is like, wait, you don’t want to keep doing this? Are there circumstances under which you don’t want to continue to do this anymore? And um and it sounds like a guy who needs a break uh and maybe literally by taking some time off then you know that he’s had all this time away in uh rehabbing a toe injury. But I I’m also thinking it’s a figurative break. He needs a figurative break or a clean break. Is it from football? Is it from the Bengals? I mean these would be all my follow-up questions for for Joe. Yeah. I mean, we obviously talked about it yesterday, and this is a guy who’s been through a ton since being drafted by the Bengals. He’s also had a ton of success individually when he’s on the field. If you know who Joe Burrow is, Joe Burrow is a winner. Joe Burrow is a competitor. And football is too hard to prepare for and to play when you’re relatively healthy as opposed to what he’s been going through with injury after injury, not being protected up front and then playing at these high levels and not even getting chances to be a participant in the playoffs. And that Joe Burrow sounded sad. Yeah. Yeah. That that Joe Burrow sounded trouble. that Joe Burrow sounded reflective of I’ve played this game my entire life for to be able to win, to be able to compete, to be the best I could possibly be. I am individually the best I could possibly be when you protect me, when I’m healthy, but even then, you haven’t built an infrastructure to give me a chance to see team success. It could be a break that he needs. They need a new coach. I said it yesterday. I’m going to say it again today. He ain’t playing for the right man. That’s number one. Number two, the man has been sacked 203 times. Those are sacks. I didn’t bring up the amount of times he’s been hit. Think about that for a second. Think about the fact that Andrew Luck retired being sacked 29 less times in 13 more games than Joe Burrow. take into account what they look like organizationally under Mike Brown, what this team has been in terms of its failure to protect them, insulate them, and you really really have your answer. And then if you remember yesterday on national television, Rich Eisen, I read a quote from Mike Brown in 2015 about the differences he had with Carson Palmer, and it was almost mirroring what’s going on right now. You see what I’m saying? So, I’m looking at it. You got an owner that’s notoriously cheap, even though obviously there’s a flaw to what you can spend in the what you have to spend in the NFL. So, he definitely meets that. But in the same breath, we can’t accuse him of that this time around because the long piece of culpability that Joe Burrow has in all of this is that you did come on national television last year during Super Bowl week right here on this show live from New Orleans and he said they need to resign Jamar Chase, they need to resign T. Higgins, and they need to resign Trey Hendrickson. And the Bengals did all three. You mentioned nothing about that offensive line. You mentioned nothing about protect prioritizing protecting yourself in terms of that offensive line instead of some guys that you know the talents that they are. So I get the level of culpability, but in the end I felt be I feel bad for Joe Burrow because Joe Burrow is one of those dudes that goes out there. This is the third season in his six years he’s been out for a chunk of games. All right, due to injury and lack of protection, even though this latest injury, you could blame it on anything. and he’s looking at a team that can’t do anything without him. Yeah. And he’s saying, “Damn, do something. Help me out. Can I can I make a mistake? Can I can can can a, you know, a a a pursuing defensive lineman jump up and and and intercept the ball? Can I make a mistake and lose a game for us and us still have a chance? I can’t do anything wrong in order for us to win.” And that’s the indictment against the Cincinnati Bengals. I think he knows it. I think he sees it. And I think his frustration has swelled. And that’s what we’re looking at. Yeah. to to Stephen Agles won one football game. That’s not great. Cam Newton, I think there the the frustration that Joe Burrow has kind of let the world in on is to what Stephen A just mentioned. I do have to play perfect in order for us to have a chance to win. Even when I do play perfect, that doesn’t mean that we will win. That’s on one side. But on the other side, I’m saying to myself, Joe Burrow, everything that you have ever asked for publicly, you’ve gotten. You’ve gotten T. Higgins. You’ve gotten Jamar Chase paid handsomely. You’ve been paid handsomely. So, do I want to say Zack Taylor and and and you know, Mike Brown had a had a big part into mismanaging, you know, uh, talent like Joe Boro? Yes. But it’s only but so much that they can respectfully do if they don’t have no money to go find adequate help. So when RC says you have to find protection, you have to find help. Where are we going to get it when we spent all our money at the skill position offensively? That’s how you get into these specific situations. And it is alarming. It is frustrating for a player to have to play elite all the time, every snap, and still come up with a loss. Well, you get it through the draft. That’s where you get it. And you draft better than you have. I mean, Shamar Stewart was one big fat nothing pretty much a big nothing burger from the first round. And they had a a dispute as you know. Yeah, I just dropped that word. Um that that Yes. That that that that there was a contract dispute that was weird to say the least. They was going back to during the spring, during the summer. And in terms of, you know, you mentioned Mike Brown, Stephen A. I mean, we have uh a sound drop on my show that we play every time the Bengals sign a player and it’s the sound of a Velcro wallet ripping open because that’s that’s Mike Brown, you know, that’s his his uh MO despite obviously having paid these two wide receivers and eventually Trey Hendrickson. But the Marvin Lewis is around in Cincinnati longer than what Bengals fans expected or potentially wanted because they don’t the Cincinnati Bengals and Mike Brown do not pay coaches to not work for them. So, I don’t know if they’re going to make that change. I I just think it’s Joe Burrow just being honest at a moment in a press conference where he’s kind of feeling it.

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Ryan Clark and Cam Newton debate whether the Dallas Cowboys are on upset alert against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 15 before Rich Eisen joins the conversation to discuss Joe Burrow’s future with the Cincinnati Bengals.

0:00 Are the Cowboys on upset alert against the Vikings?
6:30 Joe Burrow’s “fun” comments
7:50 Concern level about Joe Burrow’s future with the Bengals

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