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Locked On Cowboys - Daily Podcast On The Dallas Cowboys
COWBOYS SQUAD SHOW: Post-Game reaction after the Cowboys devastating loss to the Vikings.
00:53:44
COWBOYS SQUAD SHOW: Post-Game reaction after the Cowboys devastating 34-26 loss to the Vikings on SNF.
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- [00:02]
Glenn Stretch Smith
It's the Locked On Podcast network your team every day.
- [00:10]
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- [01:14]
Jeff Biggs
I'm Jeff Biggs, host of the Cowboys Squad Show. This was a devastating loss for the Cowboys. Good teams win in December. Unfortunately the Cowboys are 02.
- [01:27]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Glenn Stretch Smith now below 500 I think we can write off these playoff hopes. It's officially oba.
- [01:34]
Locked On Podcast Announcer
How about them Cowboys? It's the Cowboys Squad. Everything Dallas Cowboys every week covering all the big hits and game changing plays from America's team the way only the Locked On Podcast network can get ready and squad up. It's the Cowboys Squad show starting now.
- [01:58]
Jeff Biggs
Yeah, how about them Cowboys? How about the loss tonight? Sunday Night Football no show against the Vikings 34 to 26. The Cowboys managed only three field goals in the second half and the Vikings who took the field tonight, knowing that they were officially eliminated from the playoffs, still found a way to raise their game and give their young quarterback, rookie J.J. mcCarthy the best NFL game thus far of his young career. It's going to be with you though. I know it's late. Thank you for being with us here on the Cowboy Squad show. Today's episode is brought to you by fanduel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL Live bets all season long. That is former Cowboys coach Glenn Stretch Smith. Aisha Morrison will be back with us next weekend. And don't forget this week to tune into the daily Cowboys Podcast with Marcus Mosher and Landon McCool. We'll do our show together with them on Wednesday night. But coach, we unfortunately have to kind of pick this one apart tonight. I'll just start with this. We knew the, the loss against the Lions was really bad. Kind of didn't seem like they were able to raise their level of intensity in that game in Detroit. Thought for sure after the break, knowing that they had to win. I mean, there's no mystery. They know that they had to win. Really disappointed. It felt like we knew the importance of this game. Didn't get that sense of urgency on both sides of the ball from the Cowboys tonight?
- [03:33]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Yeah, no, it was, you know, we. And I was the one who made excuses for him a week ago. I mean, I really did. I said this was a tired football team who had played four games in 17 days and we knew what they had been through and how they'd beaten the last two super bowl teams. And, you know, we're riding that high a little bit. And then, you know, they go to Detroit and don't play a very inspired football game. Get, get the 10 days and come back here on Sunday night. And I'll be honest with you, I mean, didn't. It didn't look like a football team that was playing with the desperation of knowing they needed to win out, to have a chance to get in the playoffs? I didn't get that feeling. I heard a quarterback come out of Detroit say, hey, we're he owned and we're this and we're that. You had 10 days to practice. And I just didn't think it was. I didn't think it was the effort that I was looking for. It certainly wasn't the execution, nor was it the game plan. So I think, you know, if you think about it, Jeff, there's enough blame to go around and obviously we'll do that and go around the table and put the place where we think the blame needs to be placed. But where I sit tonight at 12:20 at night on a Sunday night, I mean, it was. Was not what I expected out of a football team that needed to make a four game push and a four game sweep to get into the playoffs. It didn't happen.
- [05:13]
Jeff Biggs
No, it did not. And as you know, we talk about this a lot. I mean, the whole, the beauty of the NFL season and all of the hard work and all of the, the fighting and the injuries and just trying to stay healthy, the beauty of it is, is that the teams that survive, they get stronger, they get better, they become a playoff team, they become a Championship team. And you know, I thought with, with this roster, with this new culture, with just the start by the offense and all the good things that we were kind of looking forward to improving as the season went on. I mean, I gotta be honest coach, this team looks like to me like they're, they've digressed. They haven't improved. They've taken two steps back.
- [06:07]
Glenn Stretch Smith
No, no, no. In the last two games, I mean your, that your, your assessment is correct. They, they have not, they have not played the style of football that, that we thought they could play after beating back to back super bowl teams. I'm sorry, the super bowl teams from a year ago, the two teams that competed in the super bowl, they beat him on back to back weeks. And that, you know, that wasn't, that, that was something that was refreshing. It was something that was good to look at. It was something that felt like, okay, they played some five down schemes defensively. Hey, they've got that, you hear me all the time talk about which direction the arrow is going. Is the arrow going the right way right now? No, it's not. And you know, there's certain things that I think are a mystery with this team that, that I certainly don't understand. I mean Kaylin Carson just got run by tonight. I mean this run, the go route, he never pedals, never opens his hips. Naylor catches the touchdown out of a trips look again, bad leverage. I'm talking about things that we have talked about week after week that we pull pointed out week after week are still not being addressed. And so at this point, you got a question, okay, what are we doing and where are we at? And then offensively, I mean, we bragged plenty on what they're doing. Offensively, we bragged on a quarterback that's done a lot of good things and he didn't get it done. He said, well, he threw for 300 yards. They didn't throw for a touchdown. They were 2 for 12 on third downs. That's all, that's really all you need to know. 2 for 12 on third downs. We didn't turn the ball over. No. They were 2 for 12 on third down and missed two field goals. What's the difference in turning the ball over twice there? You're giving the ball midfield, missing the field goals. And I'm certainly not coming down on Brandon Aubrey. I'm simply stating the obvious here, which is that you, there's enough blame to go around here. There's enough to circle this wagon and say everybody on here needs to take responsibility for what's going on, because certainly this team has not made the strides or the steps to even remotely show that they're interested in getting in the playoffs. And that's why, with three games left in the season, they won't be.
- [08:26]
Jeff Biggs
To your point, Coach, I think we've been saying for a while now that one thing that this team really needed to do if they were going to make any kind of a run was they would have to get off to better starts.
- [08:39]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Right? Right.
- [08:40]
Jeff Biggs
I mean, this falling behind and, and trying to come back, I don't care how good you are, you know, as a former coach, you just can't live that way. And so getting off to a good start was, you know, I think, topping the list, especially after last week. And, you know, they kind of, you know, the, the first drive they got the interception. On the Vikings first drive, they did the fake field goal, ended up getting the Javante Williams touchdown. I'm thinking, okay, here we go. This is what they needed to do. I, I, hold on. I was going to just say I thought they were going to go off tonight. I, I thought Pickens was gonna, you know, get 200 yards and two touchdowns. I thought every, I thought the whole offense was gonna score over 40. I never imagined they would struggle the way that they did tonight.
- [09:28]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Well, and you make a great point. I mean, they, they knew they needed to start fast. That's why they ran that fake field goal. Right. Ran the field goal team out there. You could tell it was almost rehearsed. Right. Get, you know, he was like, kick, kick it. Well, they run out there and he pitches it over his shoulder. The old Les Miles flip it. And hey, hey, he could have, he could have thrown it. Aubrey could have thrown it for a touchdown. Because the tight end was, I mean, it was perfectly designed. Both options were there. He decided to keep it. Good for him. They go stick it in the end zone and you make a great point. They knew they needed to start fast. The head coach was trying to jump start them into starting fast. And that's why I think that field goal and that's why it turned the way it did. But you know, really after the, you know, the, the, the drive there, and then when they scored again, you're like, okay, maybe this team does want to play with a sense of urgency to go take care of what has been a very, at best, below mediocre Minnesota team. And it, it didn't turn out that way at all.
- [10:40]
Jeff Biggs
No. And, you know, they had the, the second drive, you know, when Malik Davis scored You know, they had a big catch from CD kind of, and he, I mean, he looked great. I mean, he found that, that opening in the defense all night, but very quiet game for George Pickens, who, I said, like I said, I thought he was going to go off. And what really bothered I, I hated the, the Cowboys final drive before halftime. I just, I felt like that I, I couldn't believe my eyes what I was watching. I'm thinking, okay, you're the top or one of the top offenses in the NFL. And what, there was no urgency, there was no rush to try to preserve time. Were just kind of nonchalant, letting all this time burn off the clock. I, I, I couldn't believe it. I, I thought this team was better at finishing off halves. That was one of the things that they were kind of good at earlier in the year, and they just, just kind of threw that away. Good that they got the field goal, but I just, that kind of set the tone. And then, as you know, the good teams, good coaches make adjustments at halftime and they got completely just out coached and outworked both sides of the ball in the second half.
- [11:56]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Well, I'm not, I'm not disagreeing with you at all. I mean, I thought they, I thought they let time run off the clock there. They knew that Minnesota had gotten the football in the first half, so they were going to receive it in the second half. I mean, it would have been great for you to play with a sense of urgency and okay, you didn't get it. You kick the field goal, you come back in the second half, you kick the field goal again to get yourself the lead. But you can't kick field goals in the NFL. And especially when you got a defense is porous and playing as poorly as your defense is playing, you, you, you have to convert in the red zone. And they were not able to do that. And so I, I think you combine not converting in the red zone, the two missed field goals and, and knowing you're going to have to score 35 to win the football game. I don't, I don't hear about the rest of it. That's the facts right now. I mean, you're just, and, and they, you know that they had an opportunity and it was there to do, but they were not able to execute and get it done. I'm like, you too. I thought, you know, give Pickens, they've got to get Pickens more involved with throwing the ball up to him. They got to get him vertical down the field because that's where he's dangerous, is going up for the football. And I was disappointed that they didn't at least, you know, play action, take a shot. Now, I must say this. When Javante Williams went out, it really hurt the team and we can talk about that a little later. But you've got to be able to take some shots and some home runs, especially when you got that guy on your team.
- [13:36]
Jeff Biggs
Yeah, no doubt. I just, I don't get it. Like I said, I thought he was going to, I thought with all of the, the noise and everything after the, the Lions game, I thought they were going to make a deliberate point to really get him going and let him put on a show on Sunday Night Football. And I don't know. I coach, I just, again, this is the time of the year when, when you're supposed to see teams kind of at their best, at least certain, certain phases. Right? I mean, not, not everybody has a good offense, not everybody has a good defense. But with this offense, I think, you know, we've been talking about them all season long and like I said, it didn't. It seems like they're going the wrong way, the Arrows going the wrong way. And they, they should be imposing their will with the talent that they have. And the fact that they didn't score a touchdown in the second half and only scored 26 points at home on a Sunday night, it's just inexcusable. I'm just stunned.
- [14:34]
Glenn Stretch Smith
I agree. I mean, you, you, you, I keep saying this. You certainly blame the head coach. You can blame the defense coordinator. We can bring the quarterback. I mean, there is enough blame to go around, but certainly, I mean, this is a team that did not, and I'll go back to what you said a while ago, I mean, right before the half, you would like to see this team play with a sense of urgency like they played with that first drive when they, when they faked that field goal. I wanted to see that continue and you needed to see that continue to go because guess what? It, they've shown you all year long. I don't give a damn whether it's Arizona or Carolina or whoever. I mean, you're one. Like you're playing some great offense when you played Arizona, who just ran you out of your own stadium. And now a quarterback who hadn't thrown for 250 yards since he was at Michigan comes in your backyard and throws 250 yards. It's, it's, you know, it's, it's frustrating and you know that on the other side of the football this is not some sort of new found technology that they're, that, that they're starting to figure out. They know they haven't been worth the tinker's ass on defense all year. So to, to, to, you know, to play with that complacency without that sense of urgency and quite frankly without what I felt like was some real imagination on side was very frustrating.
- [16:03]
Jeff Biggs
Yeah, I just. Couple good plays and then just seems like the same kind of running plays, the same short passing plays. Like you said, no real designed or deliberate plays to try to get some of your playmakers going. And I think they're, they'll be able to see that themselves when they look at the film. And I thought it was also, unfortunately, coach and I know they're dealing with some injuries, but it was a tough night for the offensive line too. As good as they've been.
- [16:32]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Yeah, I mean, they, you know, you, when you, when you play a Flores defense, which is, you know, an all up scheme, they'll. They'll put them all up there and then guess what, they'll invert and drop guys flying out of there. I mean, it can be very confusing for you. So when you don't have your frontline guys, including your frontline running back, you saw why he's one of the best running backs. And again, we can get to that when you want to talk about the running back side of it, but offensively, that they were not, they were not ready for what Flores showed him tonight and, and it hurt him.
- [17:09]
Jeff Biggs
Yeah. And I, I credit Dak for not being able to, for, for not taking sacks under that duress. Right. He, he's been really good about getting rid of the ball. I just wish that they had more plays to. I mean, he, he can't. If, if you know that's coming and you need to get rid of the ball quickly, then you got to have options available to throw to. I mean, it just can't stand there and wait and hope somebody will get open in 10 seconds. You don't have that time.
- [17:37]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Yeah, you got to run. You got to run quick routes that match.
- [17:40]
Jeff Biggs
Yeah.
- [17:41]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Step drops. That's exactly right.
- [17:43]
Jeff Biggs
Yeah. All right. We will continue talking about the offense, but when we come back, a lot of, A lot of criticism again about the defense and what we've seen. And again, 34 points at home against the Vikings, that's just not, it's been rough. It's. We thought that maybe the defense had kind of turned a corner, at least could keep them in games and let them. Let the offense kind of lead them into the postseason run, but it just has not worked out like that at all. We'll get into that when we return. This is the Cowboys squad show.
- [18:23]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Locked On.
- [18:23]
Locked On Podcast Announcer
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- [19:03]
Jeff Biggs
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- [22:44]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Really, really, really bad. I mean, you heard me say it a lot of times, continuing to play with bad leverage in the secondary. I mean, when Naylor catches the touchdown, there is no leverage played whatsoever in that situation. I, I don't think he is a match for the personnel that the Cowboys have. And am I saying the Cowboys personnel is good? No, not very good on defense. But at the end of the day, you have, you're doing things in the 14th game of the season that should have been ended in the fourth day of OTAs. It's inexcusable. I mean, this is a defensive coordinator who, this year, against the division where he just came out of as a head coach, he went 031 and the one and the one was where he gave up 40 and had to have an offense tie the one game. So this is not, not an answer. And I'm not here to say, hey, I'm. I'm ready for guys to get cut loose. That's not what I, that's not what I'm about. I know how hard the job is, absolutely. But it's not getting done, it's not getting coordinated. The message is not resonating with Your players and then you have, you know, certain players that have absolutely regressed in the system. And so he wanted to bring Murray in. He was a linebacker guy. Uber flu was a linebacker guy. And they, they spent big money on Murray and it has not worked out over shown we know still can play. Leah Fowl, who Zimmer loved, can't seem to get on the field. I don't know what the, I don't know what the disconnect is there. So I, I really believe that there's something wrong with the messenger, with the message and how the message is being received because to continue to make these kind of mistakes, to continue to play as poorly as they're playing, you know, it drives me crazy. I mean, I saw Hawkinson once again just get right through the middle of the defense. Just, I mean nobody. And it was overshone to that side were overshown. I wish he would at least walled him and widened him a little bit. Hell, he just screamed right through the middle of the defense 24 yards and you're like, I mean, how many times have you heard me get on here and say got to get your hands on guys? You got to make them run the hump. You got to get them, you got to get them uncomfortable. And to still allow that to be done is absolutely inexcusable. So yes, there will be. You know, I think you're going to see some changes. I think you'll see significant changes. And I think it's going to start with, you know, who's coaching them. And I think it'll start with the, from a personnel standpoint. And now here we are now with three games to play. I'm, I'm ready to throw the kitchen sink out there. I'm ready to see all of these guys, every one of them, Bell, Carson. I want them all playing and I want them all playing every down. I, I, I know what Trayvon Diggs is. He, he has shown me that he really doesn't want to be here. He's shown you he doesn't want to be here. That's why he didn't show up during the offseason conditioning. So I'm ready to move on from that situation, which I'm sure they will. After a post, I believe June 1 cut, he'll stable about $15 million on the salary cap. But I'm ready to see some of these other guys defensively, especially in the secondary and, and if they can't do it, you got to move on. You, you just gotta, you gotta move on from them. But it is time to let them all play, see what you got and know what you got out there. Because guess what? You're, you're. You're probably going to have two picks, probably one around the 20ish mark and one around the 14 or 15ish mark. You're going to get two players in the top 35 of the NFL draft and you cannot miss, okay? You cannot make a mistake. They got to come in and be day one players for you. But you first, before you get to that point, you got to get to where you're evaluating what you have on your roster and, and get that done.
- [27:36]
Jeff Biggs
You know, I remember coach way, way back, the beginning of the off season and into the, after the super bowl when we started doing these squad shows. I mean, you were, you were in a very respectful way for your unique elite profession of coaching that not many people get to be a part of. But you said, hey, you know, you were a little concerned about how a whole group, a new group of coaches with really no NFL experience, how that would play out. And, and I, and I say that not to be vindictive or to, to try to say, see, we told. But, but I, I just, I go back to, for, for lack of a better analogy. Early in my career, I had a chance, I was blessed to cover the Lakers three peat with Shaq and Kobe. I was, I was with that team every day. And I remember before, former Mavs coach Del Harris was the coach of the Lakers. Great coach, but they felt like they needed a coach that could take the group and get them to the next level and get them to where they, they really ultimately wanted to go. And they hired Phil Jackson. I'm not comparing it. My point is, is that you had a Cowboys team, 20, 23 that went 12 and 5. This is not a, you know, this is not a young, hey, we're gonna build from the, you know, ground up like Jimmy Johnson or anything. Like, I mean, this is, this is a team with, you know, the highest paid quarterback and he got veterans and, you know, they, they need to find a way to, to get, obviously to get the most out of this team. And I just, it, it's kind of, it's kind of showing up right now, is what I'm trying to say. In a long way.
- [29:24]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Yeah, yeah. I've always believed this, that you have to identify what your personnel is and what their strengths are. Excuse me. What, what, what can they do? And I get it. Matt Eber Flush is not a big, you know, man on man guy. He's not a big. He wants to play zone. He wants guys to be discipline and where they're dropping, how they're dropping and how they see the quarterback size, he wants them to read and react to certain route combinations. And I get all that. And there's, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. What I am saying is if you have players, Diggs, Ravel, Bland, who are man to man players, they're not, they're probably not going to adapt the zone coverage very well. And the minute you start trying to shove your square peg in a round hole, it becomes a problem. Now it's a problem. And so I also think that how this was all set up initially was a little bit of a problem. And I say that from. I believe that Jerry has always been comfortable with guys who have been former head coaches, Dan Quinn, Mike Zimmer, now Eber Fluss coming back and saying, okay, let's make them the defensive coordinator. I don't know that that's how it went. I'm assuming that Jerry wanted Shotenheimer to hire Eber Floose because of the familiarity that he had with him. So then you have the familiarity there and then you have Eber Flush who's familiar with Overstreet and one or two of the other guys that coach on that side of the football. And now all of a sudden you have a group that is not meshing with the personnel that you have. And it, they keep showing it over and over and over and over. And so how many times do you need to see that? Now I do believe that, that Brian Schottenheimer is a smart enough coach that he will go take a look at the self scout and you'll take a look and see what they've done and how they did it this year and he'll make an adjustment in that way. And yeah, I was not a big fan of the hire and you know, it hasn't, you know, they haven't made and didn't make a good transition from Mike Zimmer to Matt Eberfluss and it really has hurt this football team.
- [32:14]
Jeff Biggs
Yeah, it has. So I'm trying to think of, you know, some of the things that we can, we can focus on. Like I said, CD look, he was back from the concussion protocol. He had a couple of really big plays where I mean he, to his credit and I always say this, you know, the, the good ones find a way and he, he found a way, he found a way to get open a couple of times again. Why this offense tonight Sputtered the way that they did. It was just combination of the line, had a rough night. Dak was just, he was, he was trying to. But the routes weren't, the play calls were not good and they scored 26 points.
- [33:02]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Yeah, I thought when Williams went down early in the football game with that shoulder and I was wondering why, I don't know if you noticed it in that one. When they were on that first drive, he kind of grabbed for the football down there and he almost fumbled it down there going in. He couldn't raise his inside arm up in order to take the hand off. And I thought, oh, so, you know, and I don't know if it was a stinger. I saw Dr. Cooper over there kind of messing with his head and kind of, you know, trying to push down on him, push down on his shoulders and, and so he was not able to come back in that first half. I thought that hurt the offense because when you get a defense that's got a bunch of move around guys and it's playing all up, playing inverted coverages and doing all the things that Flores does, what you can do is you can gash them with the run, you can get them moving a certain way and you can, you know, down, down and around, run power, run some counter, and you can. And you saw them do that in the second half, they had some big runs. But it hurt him in the first half when he went down. And what really hurt him more than that was missing him from a protection standpoint. He is really, really good from protection standpoint and I've talked about that all year. So if you want to match him inside with a guy in order, he's got enough lead in his ass to go take on a linebacker if in the, in the, in that all up situation which Minnesota was doing, if you want to completely turn the protection one way or the other, he can also go get the end or he can go get the outside linebacker or the nickel guy coming off of that edge. Well, when he went out, you saw him turn the protection one time and Lipke went out there and I mean, he fanned twice. And so you're like, oh, that's not a good situation. And then when Davis was in, he, they, they. He got matched up on a linebacker and got absolutely run back in there. So it was a tough night from a protection standpoint. And I didn't think their routes were really like we said earlier and like you said, were really attacking what they were doing from a coverage standpoint. So again, we've said it you know, they'll look at that film tomorrow and there'll be plenty of blame to go around for everybody on this football team.
- [35:37]
Jeff Biggs
And just one more final follow up on that part of it. And I want to move on, coach, but just, this was just another one of those games where we've talked so much throughout the season about the Cowboys and their offense and how in a perfect scenario we would see the Cowboys offense just completely dominate the game and dictate their will, impose their will on the other team. We've seen it in a couple of games, but for lack of a better term, tonight felt again like another one of those games where the offense was just kind of on their heels again, like just kind of, well, let's try this or maybe why don't we try this. And, and it just, there was no momentum, there was no flow. They didn't, like I said, they didn't score a touchdown in the second half. Obviously those adjustments didn't work and I don't know, I, I don't know who that, I mean, obviously Shoddy's going to take the blame for it as the head coach. But it just, like I said, it all goes back to the same principle, that this team is not getting better or not improving.
- [36:44]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Well, here's what I'm going to say again. When the run game went down, Jeff, when Javante went down, it really hurt this football team because Dax best ability to push the ball down the field is when you can run play action and he can boot and waggle off of those play actions and you can get those deep overs and you can get those throws. When he went down there, there, there was really no threat of the run. And then by the time they brought him back in the second half, the game was, they were chasing, you know, they were playing chase with, with Minnesota. And so Dak is only as successful as his run game can be. If you think you're going to set Dak back there and he's going to be a drop back guy 45 times for you, you've, you've mis. Evaluated what he can do.
- [37:40]
Jeff Biggs
All right, take our next time out. When we come back, I want to talk to you about Dak and George Pickens and something that Chris Collinsworth said during the broadcast tonight that I, I don't, I don't know if many people caught it, but it sure got my attention and I'll share that with you when we come back. This is the Cowboys squad show.
- [38:06]
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- [39:02]
Jeff Biggs
All right, I want to talk to you about our friends at FanDuel and everything that they've got going on. Because as you know, with FanDuel, NFL Sundays move fast and one big play and suddenly everything feels different. That's what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You're not just watching the game. You're reacting to it in real time. Now, with FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. You can be a part of all of it. And live betting is best when the game starts to shift. Maybe you get a receiver that gets hot, you get a defense that tightens up or the momentum flips after a Turnover. Right. Well, FanDuel lets you jump into that moment. So they have live spreads and money lines that adjust instantly. Player props update as guys heat up. And you can also bet next touchdown scores, drive results, totals and more. It really keeps you locked in, no pun intended, locked into every snap, every. Every drive, every possibility. So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL Live bets all season long. FanDuel the game moves fast, and so can you. All right, welcome back to the Cowboy squad show with former Cowboys coach Glenn Stretch Smith. I'm Jeff Biggs. Cowboys fall tonight on Sunday Night football at home to the Vikings, 34 to 26. Just really quickly. I'm not trying to blow this up any more than it needs to be, coach. But as we talked about last week, Richard Sherman critiqued George Pickens and they went back at it and we talked about it on the squad show. But it was just for kind of being lackadaisical and not looking like he was giving it his all trying to get open in that loss to the Lions. That was very interesting during the broadcast tonight. Mike Tirico and Chris Collinsworth brought it up and Collinsworth shared something from a conversation that he had with Dak. And basically, according to Chris Collinsworth, that Dak basically admitted that there, there are times or that they were going back to that game against Detroit. That paraphrasing, I think he, he used the term that George wasn't there or like he, that he felt like George wasn't there and that he was going to focus on CD before he went out. And I, I just, I don't know, I, I, to me that I just thought that was unusually rare to reveal something. I mean, that was, that was on national tv. And basically, you know, I'm not saying that Dax said it in a mean spirited way, but he was basically saying like, yeah, he's, if he's not there, if he's kind of checked out, then I'm gonna have to, to go to somebody else. And that's, that's just disappointing. I mean, I, I agree with something they said on, later on in the broadcast that they believe Pickens can, can really take it to another level if he, you know, has the right situation, the right prompting, whatever, but the fact that it's, it's not in this game tonight was again, just kind of not saying that it's all his fault. They, they got to do a better job of trying to find ways to get him open, but I just thought that was very interesting.
- [42:51]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Yeah, you got to find ways at times when guys take your number one guy out, you got to find ways to scheme him open. Now I don't know if that means you get him in situations where you're motion him around, you get in more, you know, bunch sets, tight sets where you can get some picks for him, you can get some rubs to get him off the football. I'm, I'm not from the school again, you heard me say this to really criticize him, because I do believe that most receivers that I watch in the game, when they come and drive off the football, if they see over the top help, they're not just going to run 100 miles an hour and just run into coverage. That doesn't make any sense. And so he is natural response was to gear it down. Now in that comeback against Detroit, I didn't like that he geared it down in that situation. He didn't think he was going to get the ball. Ball because the read was all the way to the other side. But you know what? I would have in a coaching situation, I would have pulled that out and I would have showed it to him and I would have said, here's a situation that we really want to come to you with the football at certain times in this game, especially minus CD Lamb tonight, I, I didn't get a chance to watch the film, but I'm going to tell you, I thought it was somewhat of the same situation where they were constantly giving the corner to, to Georgia's side. They were constantly giving him over the top help. So defensive coordinators are good enough in the, in the NFL to take certain things away from you. And I don't care what you do, they're going to say, okay, we're not going to let that beat us or we're going to make sure that we don't give up the big plate, the big there. And, and they can do that. And so then the question becomes, well, you know, George is taking the double coverage, so somebody's got to be open. So he. Is he or isn't he doing his job right? I think you, you start skating on real thin ice. In my mind. When you start questioning the guys effort and when you start questioning whether it's important to him, because we've seen that it is important to him now would you like to see some consistency? Absolutely. Is this the time of the year when guys bodies get tired, fatigued? Hell yeah. I mean you can, you know, I mean, for crying out loud, the Seattle Seahawks didn't score a touchdown today. They kicked off all six field goals to win a game. And so why do you think that is? Do you think that's because Sam Darnold's not still playing with the same. Do you think Jackson Smith and Jigba and all the weapons that they have that, I mean. Yeah. That they're, they're, they're tired and they're beat up. And so I just think that this is a situation with George where you want to see him finish strong. And certainly I think it's all about challenging him to do that and putting him in position to do that and then showing him on film when he doesn't do it. Look, look, let me show you. I know you're better than this. And I mean that, that, that's why they call you the coach. You got to coach some of that out of guys. And he has shown you he has enough side that he has enough upside that you want to See that ability come out all the time.
- [46:32]
Jeff Biggs
All right, let's coach. Take a real super quick final time out here and then we'll wrap things up with our final segment coming up next. This is the Cowboys squad show.
- [46:48]
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- [47:59]
Jeff Biggs
Cowboys fall to the Vikings on Sunday Night Football 34 to 26. Three games left to go in the regular season, including the regular season home finale next Sunday against the Chargers, who are now kind of starting to hit their stride. They, they stole a page from the Cowboys beating the Eagles and the Chiefs back to back. So they did that. But they, they to their, you know, they, they've been kind of, yeah, they dealt with a lot of injuries early in the season, but they've really now kind of hit their stride. And more importantly, they've become a really hard hitting, physical team. I mean, they beat the, you know what, out of the Chiefs today. Feel bad for Patrick Mahomes. Feel bad for Micah Parsons. As you. You were just talking about it, coach. It's trying to, trying to stay healthy and make it through the whole season. Is like 80% of it, you know, so, so you're, you're the Cowboys. You, you could be eliminated before you take the field Sunday if the Eagles win on Saturday in their game. What's, what, what's the mindset like? You just, just try to finish strong, just try to win.
- [49:12]
Glenn Stretch Smith
I think you gotta, I think I just take care of yourself. You know, I, I didn't like, I didn't like the mindset of hoping, you know, or just assuming, hey, we're gonna be favored in these four games. The Cowboys were a six and a half point favored in this football game tonight. They got beat by eight. So you could say it's a two touchdown swing and, and that, that's big in football, that's big in gambling, and it's big in pro football. So, so I'm much more inclined to say let's take care of our business. Let's do what we need to do to finish this thing strong. Like I said, let's get to the evaluation stage. I'm for evaluating as many of these players. I've seen Javante Williams, I know Javante Williams can play. I've seen enough of him play. I want to see blue. I want to see, I want to see the, you know, Davis.
- [50:05]
Jeff Biggs
Yeah.
- [50:05]
Glenn Stretch Smith
I want to see these other backs play and I want to be able to see them play in, in, in real games and, and, and see what, see what they can do. And I feel the same way about the defense. So I, I, I'm, I'm for challenging the guys you got on your football team. You got a chance to come out here with a winning record and I, I don't think it's, I certainly didn't think this team was a team at the beginning of the season. I thought they were six or seven win football team. I think I said that on here multiple times. Now. Did they upgrade after losing Micah? Did they upgrade in personnel? Hell yeah, they did. They brought one of the, arguably the best interior defensive linemen in the game in here. Did they get healthy with overshone Rebel? Yeah, but I mean, at the end of the day, you're really about what we all thought they were, which was, you know, about a 500 football team. But you have a chance to go finish better than that and that would be my message to go challenge guys. Let's finish better than that and let's make sure, let's make sure that, you know, we're taking care of one another and we're evaluating where we're at as a football team.
- [51:14]
Jeff Biggs
Yeah, I'M with you. Well, we'll see. And I'm trying to think before we go. Anything, anything positive stick out to you tonight, Anything that you were encouraged by?
- [51:28]
Glenn Stretch Smith
You know, I did see. You know, I really, the thing that, that I think helps with this, with this football team is they, they get that the, the, they come out after the half right there and after kicking that field goal, they went three and out. I, you, you really thought you were going to see something come, you know, come really start making some stops. I like, I still like the interior defensive line a lot. I like osa. I think Solomon Thomas has been a good addition. Obviously I love Quinn and Williams. I mean, I think you have a foundation to build on there and that's what you need to focus on. But at the end of the day, this was, this was not a very good football team by a team that had everything in the world to play for. And that's what bothers me the most, Jeff. That bothers me.
- [52:39]
Jeff Biggs
Yeah, I just, I, yeah, I'm surprised. Like, I. Look, I know, I know you can't, you can't fake things, right? You can't. And you're not going to be, it's just not possible to be at a certain level every single game. Even, even the best teams have kind of off days. And, and I always say, I, I say this every, it's become a joke. But I refer, I call the NFL the no favorites league because it's better to be the underdog. When it seems like when you're the favorite that, that, that just seems to get guys going more than money, more than anything else. It's just like you disrespect them and say that they're not going to win and they, they take that challenge and so, but I, I, like we said, I'm not, not trying to repeat what we said but at the beginning I just, I thought for sure after that loss of Detroit with the 10 day break, I thought they were going to come out crisp, sharp, impose their will. Just let Pickens and Lamb go off some big runs for. I, I thought they were just going to dominate and it was just the complete opposite. They, they really, there was never any time where you felt like they were in control of the game.
- [53:52]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Yeah, I mean you may, you make the right points. That, that's exactly right. I mean, and I, and I felt the same way. And you know who else felt that way? The guys that make the books out in Las Vegas. And oh by the way, they air condition the desert, leave lights on 24 7, 365 and they do because they don't lose. So they know, they know what they're doing too. And guess what? Obviously they didn't have a feel for it. So, you know, it's one of those things for me right now where, you know, I'm going to have to get over the disappointment of thinking this was going to be a 10 win football team and have an opportunity to say, hey, that, that's not what we're at. It's not where the team is. They certainly need to shift gears and think about where they are from an evaluation standpoint. And I'm talking about evaluating everything. I'm talking about coaches, I'm talking about you evaluate everything and then you, you got to figure out how you can get into this draft. Make no, there is no room for error, no room for error in the first three rounds of the draft because if you can't tell by now this football team needs defensive linemen, linebackers, safety, corners, then I don't know what you're looking at. And they, they're not going to have any, any, any room for error. They're going to have to go hit in those top hundred picks because those are guys that are going to have to come in and be day one starters for you on next year's team. You got a good offense, you got a good offensive line that's coming back. You made a good pick. And Booker, I thought you saw some good things in him tonight. He was after their ass boy. And we know what Smith is. Hopefully Guyton comes back and right and they get what they need to get out of Javante, which I think he is definitely worthy of contract and I think George Pickens is worthy of the contract. But you got it. You got to fix the other side of the football and then you've got to get consistency on the offensive side of the football. Football or you, you, you've really wasted a year if you don't get that out of what you're seeing right now.
- [56:01]
Jeff Biggs
All right, well again, regular season home finale next Sunday with the Bolts. I, I hope, you know, I, I, I, I hope they, they play hard the rest of the way because if not, they're going to lose all three games. I mean they're, they're, they're, these games are not locks anymore. They could lose easily all three of them.
- [56:20]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Yeah, you don't want to see the guys start dusting their golf clubs up, making vacation plans and doing all that. You want to go, you want to go finish and I, and I think that's a head coach's job. I think the head coach's job is to keep this thing.
- [56:33]
Jeff Biggs
Yeah.
- [56:33]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Keep this thing going where it needs to be going and challenge his football team in that way.
- [56:39]
Jeff Biggs
All right, Coach, thank you for your input and insight as always. Always great working with you. I wish it would have been after a win tonight, would have made things a little bit different, but it is what it is and got a big week and again, big game. It's going to be a tough game Sunday with the Chargers. They're. They're playing really well right now.
- [56:56]
Glenn Stretch Smith
Yes, they are.
- [56:58]
Jeff Biggs
Have a great week. We'll talk with you and the rest of the crew on Wednesday. We'll be with you after the game next Sunday and again until then, don't forget to check out the daily Locked on Cowboys podcast with Marcus mosier and Landon McCool for the coach Glenn Stretch Smith. Thank you for listening to this edition of the Cowboys Squad Show. Final score of the Vikings over the Cowboys, 34 to 26. This has been the Cowboys Squad Show.
- [57:39]
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- [58:16]
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