COWBOYS SQUAD SHOW: The Cowboys have a must-win on the road against the Jets.

Summary

Locked On Cowboys: Squad Show – Must-Win Road Test vs. Jets (October 2, 2025)

Episode Overview

This episode of the Locked On Cowboys "Squad Show" zeroes in on the Dallas Cowboys' urgent Week 5 matchup against the New York Jets. With a recent tie against the Green Bay Packers still stinging, host Jeff Biggs is joined by Marcus Mosher, Landon McCool, and Coach Glenn "Stretch" Smith to dig into the state of the team—especially the embattled defense, key injuries, potential trade moves, front office tales, and the implications of a must-win road trip. Throughout, the show maintains its trademark blend of analysis, wit, and fan frustration, providing in-depth perspective for any Cowboys fan.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defensive Struggles Steal the Spotlight

• The Woes Continue
  • Despite the Cowboys’ explosive 40-point outing against Green Bay, panelists agree defensive issues are front and center.
  • Marcus Mosher (03:23): “You can't be giving up 40 points in two of the last three games... you can’t have Dak Prescott play like an MVP candidate every single game... he’s not going to be able to overcome how bad this defense is.”
  • Landon McCool (04:06): “Ultimately, results matter. You put up 40 points and end up in a tie.”
• Scheme vs. Personnel
  • Stretch Smith criticizes talent evaluation and coaching: trying to force players into roles that don't fit their strengths.
  • Stretch (05:15): “It’s a mis-evaluation at every angle... you have to evaluate what you have and put those guys in a position to be successful. That’s not being done.”

Notable Quote

• Landon McCool (07:05): “This isn’t a situation where you don’t have corners who can play man coverage – you clearly have guys who prefer it. But the coaches don’t feel comfortable.”

Timestamps:

• [03:23-06:27] – Post-Packers, defense discussion
• [07:05-10:42] – Scheme debate: man vs. zone coverage

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2. The Tie Game—NFL Policy & Fan Frustration

• The crew debates the value of NFL ties and whether overtime rules should change.
  • Marcus Mosher (11:17): “Cowboys are one missed 53-yard field goal from being 0-2-2. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the NFL adjust [OT rules]. Maybe just move from 10 to 12 minutes.”
  • Landon McCool (14:18): “Am I the only person who will sit here and defend a tie? Because I’ll do it.”
  • Stretch (14:23): “They played 70 minutes of football… both teams were playing the same way. It should have ended in a tie. They got exactly what they deserved.”
  • Landon (15:11): “It was basically two unstoppable forces on offense and two incapable forces on defense. So yeah, I’m totally okay with the tie.”

Timestamps:

• [10:42-15:57] – Overtime rules, the philosophy of ties, and emotional responses

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3. Jerry Jones’ Comments: Help On the Way?

• “Help on the way” – But what is it?
  • Landon (18:22): Interprets Jerry’s “help” as primarily referring to injured players returning, not a blockbuster trade.
  • Marcus (19:27): “I don’t think it’s going to be Max Crosby or Trey Hendrickson... more likely a smaller move, like a safety or depth corner.”
  • Stretch (20:00): Expresses distrust in the team’s evaluation process for defensive talent: “Who [does] Jerry listen to if they do make a trade for a linebacker? I’ve seen enough of the linebacker coach’s evaluation…”

Timestamps:

• [17:55-21:18] – Jerry’s statements about improving the defense

Notable Story:

• Marcus Mosher tells the 2017 "War Room Phone" story (21:25): “I called and Stephen Jones answered, and I told him who to draft in 2017… I said, ‘take that T.J. Watt guy from Wisconsin.’ They took Taco instead.”

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4. Contracts & Priorities: George Pickens and Javonte Williams

• George Pickens Discussion
  • Marcus (24:12): “Show me a full season of [Pickens] being on his best behavior before giving him $25 million guaranteed.”
• Running Back Debate: To Pay or Not to Pay Javonte Williams?
  • Stretch (25:07): “I think the priority needs to be sign running back... get Javonte Williams under [contract]."
  • Marcus (25:19): Pushes back, preferring not to spend big on RBs: “You've had success last couple years not paying a running back. Why not?”
  • Landon (26:27): Sides with Marcus, stating Williams’ value may skyrocket and it’s unlikely to get a mid-season bargain.

Timestamps:

• [24:12-32:39] – Roster investment, contract philosophy

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5. Personnel & Injury Updates

• Marcus (45:50): “This was not a good injury report. No Tyler Booker this week, no Cooper Bibi. Turpin is out; on defense, Malik Hooker is in a boot... you’re going to be down five or six starters.”
• Landon (46:45): “This is a winnable game – you gotta win the winnable games. You’ve lost your margin for error.”

Timestamps:

• [45:21-48:55] – Injury rundown and implications

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6. Looking Ahead: The Jets Matchup

• Landon (48:13): “Justin Fields is a mixture between Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts as a runner… you don’t want to play man coverage against him. He’s a terrible passer but an electric runner.”
• Marcus (48:55): "Put Justin Fields in obvious passing downs – that’s how you win."

Timestamps:

• [48:13-49:15] – Jets preview

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7. State of the Defense: Is There Hope?

• Coach Stretch (56:25): "You gotta get [defensive ranking] in the high 20s... in one or two defensive categories, give yourself a chance. Maybe red zone or third down, but nothing points to that right now."
• Marcus (58:53): “Can [DC Matt Eberflus] fix this? He can only fix it to a certain level – talent matters, and it just isn’t very good.”
• Landon (59:28): “Feels like a position coach problem… information isn’t getting disseminated down to the players.”

Timestamps:

• [55:05-61:16] – Assessment of defensive coaching, accountability, and structural issues

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8. Final Thoughts: Must-Win Against the Jets

• Landon (53:33): “At this point... you have no margin of error. When you’re playing an inferior team, even on the road, you have to find a way to win these games.”
• Coach Stretch (55:10): “Right now with this football team, you have to take it from a week to week standpoint. You got an offense that’s playing really, really well; you have a defense that can’t be any worse.”

Timestamps:

• [53:33-55:54] – Framing the Jets game as a “must-win”

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Defensive Identity:
  Stretch Smith (05:15): “You’re trying to square peg your round hole with guys that don’t fit what you do.”
• On Overtime Ties:
  Landon McCool (15:11): “A tie was the most appropriate ending to that game… two unstoppable forces on offense and two incapable forces on defense.”
• On Contracts:
  Marcus Mosher (25:19): “Isn’t [the cheap deal for Javonte Williams] an indication of why you shouldn’t spend big money on running backs?”
• On the Jets Matchup:
  Landon McCool (48:13): “Justin Fields is somehow a mixture between Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts as a runner.”
• Final Defensive Reality:
  Stretch Smith (57:49): “This defense is a damn mule that is broke down.”

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Important Timestamps

| Segment | Time | |-----------------------------------------------|-----------| | Packers game/defensive discussion | 03:23–10:42 | | Overtime/ties debate | 10:42–15:57 | | Jerry Jones "help on the way"/trade talk | 17:55–21:18 | | Marcus' 2017 war room draft call story | 21:25–22:31 | | Pickens/Javonte Williams contract debate | 24:12–32:39 | | Injury landscape | 45:21–48:55 | | Jets preview | 48:13–49:15 | | State of the defense | 55:05–61:16 | | Framing Week 5 as a must-win | 53:33–55:54 |

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The Episode’s Takeaways, in Summary

• Defense remains the Cowboys’ Achilles heel, with evaluation and coaching issues called out repeatedly. Fixing it midseason appears unlikely without significant personnel recovery or changes.
• Despite a lethal offense, the team's margin for error is gone. Accumulating wins against “beatable” teams is crucial to keep playoff hopes alive.
• Injuries are piling up, adding urgency to the Jets game.
• Roster management and contract priorities are hot topics, especially about skill players like Javonte Williams, where philosophical splits remain.
• There’s little faith in big-splash trades; most help will come internally.
• Overtime rules and tie games split the room, but all agree the defense has to “play better and coach better”—immediately.

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This rich, spirited episode combines hard analysis with authentic Cowboys energy—a must-read for any fan needing the inside scoop heading into a pivotal Week 5.

Transcript

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

It's the Locked on podcast network.

[Landon McCool]

Your team every day.

[Marcus Mosher]

It's the Smucker's Uncrustables podcast with your host. Uncrustables. Okay, today's guest is rough around the edges.

[Landon McCool]

Please welcome crust. Thanks for having me.

[Marcus Mosher]

Today's topic, he's round with soft pillowy bread.

[Landon McCool]

Hey.

[Marcus Mosher]

Filled with delicious PB and J. Are you talking about yourself and and.

[Landon McCool]

You can take them anywhere.

[Marcus Mosher]

Why'd you invite and we are out of time. Are you really cutting me off? Uncrustables are the best part of the sandwich. Sorry, crust.

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[Marcus Mosher]

Prices and participation may vary.

[Jeff Biggs]

Welcome to the Cowboy Squad show. I am Jeff Bigs and can we maybe talk about the offense just a little bit tonight?

[Marcus Mosher]

I'm Marcus Moser and I'd love to see the Cowboys get a single stop at some point this season.

[Landon McCool]

I'm Lana McCool. I just got back from the dentist and I'd rather go back to the dentist than watch the Cowboys defense film.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

It's going Stretch Smith. I'm still foul about a tie.

[Locked On Podcast Network Announcer]

How about them Cowboys? It's the Cowboy 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.

[Jeff Biggs]

Well, with that said, we are fit to be tied. Wait, don't say that. As we get ready for a must win week five on the road against the jets for the Cowboys. Welcome to another edition of the Cowboys squad show. This episode is brought to you tonight by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just $5 and if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to bet in bonus bets to use across the apps. As always, we start with a big welcome to the co hosts of the daily Lockdown Cowboys podcast. That would be Marcus moser and Landon McCool. Good evening gentlemen. Great to be with you again. And as always, the coach Glenn Stretch Smith. And coming up on the show tonight, the very latest with the Cowboys. Some injury notes from practice today, even some more trade rumors, but got to start with YouTube. Marcus and landed. We haven't spoken since Sunday night, the big Sunday night game. We spent a lot of time talking about the defense on the show. Sunday night, right after the game, I want to get your thoughts. I mean, the offense dropped 40 on a top five packers offense, and yet we were still and, and understandably so focused on the defensive woes. Where did you guys weigh in?

[Marcus Mosher]

I mean, the offense did its job. Now, I think they performed as well as you could expect. It almost wasn't enough. It's just for this team to be competitive at all this year. We're focusing on the defense because you can't be giving up 40 points in two of the last three games. Right, right. That's, that's why we're spending so much of our attention. Jerry Jones thought the defense played better in the second half. They gave up points on every single drive. I, I know what he was saying, like fundamentally they were better. But if this thing doesn't get figured out soon, like you can't have Dak Prescott play like an MVP candidate every single game because eventually that's going to come back to bite you if, you know, if he has even a B plus game, he's not going to be able to overcome how bad this defense is.

[Landon McCool]

Is. Yeah, I don't think, I don't think Jerry was spinning too tall a tail when he said that he felt like the Cowboys defense played better. I, I do think it played better than it did against the Bears, but I think ultimately there's a point where results matter and, and you know, you put up 40 points and, and you ended up in a tie. So yeah, I, I think, you know, there's clearly some improvement being happened, happening on the defensive side. It's certainly not nearly enough or are happening nearly fast enough. And, and the question really becomes like, how much better can it get this year? How much better can it get this season without a major move in the personnel department or in the personnel of the defense, rather.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Go ahead, Jeff. You, you, you, you. Didn't you hear me say enough Sunday night? You want me to carry on?

[Marcus Mosher]

You still. Never mind. Go ahead, John.

[Jeff Biggs]

Well, with, with that said, coach sleeping on it and having a couple days to kind of process it, where do, where do we go from here?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I mean, guys, this is a MIS evaluation in my mind at every angle. A MIS evaluation on talent, a MIS evaluation on who's being put on the field. A MIS evaluation maybe schematically in what you are expecting certain players to do. I like Donovan Wilson. I think he's a hell of a football player, but also know what he is. He's a box safety. He's not a half field player. I like Diggs Diggs, a man to man cover guy. Bland is a man to man cover guy. And you're trying to pin these guys. You're, you're wanting to square peg your round hole with guys that don't fit what you do. And to me that's why they call you a coach. I can teach anybody one specific thing to go do and they can go do it. You have to evaluate what you have and then you have to put those guys in a position to be successful. And right now that's not being done.

[Marcus Mosher]

And you wonder like how much better or worse could this get, right? Like we heard Trayvon Diggs talk today about wanting to play more man coverage and it doesn't sound like that's in the cards at all. And maybe, maybe that's just not going to be the, the case. Now. I do think this week against Justin Fields, you're probably better off to play zone because you don't want to turn your back to Fields Fields overall then you're gonna have to play some man coverage, at least some against some of these better offenses that you're going to face in the second half of the year. I think we would like to see more signs of improvement. I just really haven't got much of that yet.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, I don't disagree with any of that. I mean I think that the obviously the Mica situation and the timing of that certainly hurt. Hurt the defensive coordinator certainly is, is going to make the scheme look terrible because it's a scheme that relies heavily on being able to rush four and if you don't have that kind of alpha dog to, to draw attention away and kind of provide for the other pass rushers in. You basically don't have anyone who can function as a top end defensive end. You know, it's hard to, to consistently get away with, with, you know, only rushing forward and getting after the quarterback. They're just too good nowadays. And, and you know, it's, it is an interesting thing with the man and zone coverage stuff, right. Because it does feel like this isn't a situation where you don't have corners who can, who can play man coverage. I think you do. Clearly you have two guys who prefer to play man coverage, but they, the coaches don't feel comfortable with these guys playing as much man coverage. I wonder if the rates start to go up a little bit more now that Bland is back and playing and, and I guess, you know, we'll see if dig starts again next next week. Obviously next week, like Marcus said, is, is not the week to Start playing a bunch of man coverage against Justin Fields. He's so terrible against zone coverage that frankly, all your deficiencies may kind of work to your advantage this week specifically. But beyond that, like, it, it's probably time to start leaning in more to what the, the coaching, what the players do well and what the players are good at, especially in the defensive secondary where, you know, clearly they're struggling to execute what you're, the, the play calls that you're making.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I just have a hard time with that. I, I mean, I'm not disagreeing with what you're saying. I have a hard time with that being the explanation. You've been through training camp. That's all training camp. You've seen these guys play. Now in games, I understand the concept. You can't play man coverage if you can't get to the, if you can't get to the quarterback quickly. I understand that time component with that particular side of it. But the problem is, okay, let's just say that we're going to play zone. Then you know what, Play it like, you know what?

[Landon McCool]

Play it well.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Play it with second level guys getting where they're supposed to get. Play it with leverage. Play it understanding what to do. And when you're not doing any of that, then, then this is the result of, of, of what's happening, which is you're giving up 40 and you're having the owner come out and say, well, you know, boy, we were in the right zones. I mean, we, we, we, we did the right thing. We.

[Landon McCool]

To tip late.

[Marcus Mosher]

I can't believe they, they gave up 40 and it almost wasn't enough to win the game. But you're right, like, they're just, they're playing a lot of zone and they're not doing it well. I, I have my guesses as to who are the players that are most frequently messing up some of the coverages, but I think those, those guys are going to be playing a bunch of snaps over the next couple of months, so it's kind of irrelevant. So, yeah, I think they just, they got to play better and they've got to coach better. I wish I had more detailed analysis than that, but it's the truth. At some point, these guys just got to play better and the coach has got to coach better.

[Jeff Biggs]

I like it. I like it. Well, where do you guys stand? We, we talked about this as well. I think everybody kind of universally was not happy with a tie. Right. I saw a note before we started tonight that two of the three games that the Cowboys have played have been the highest watched games so far this season. So the fact that the Packer game ended in a tie, do you think that will be enough maybe to get the NFL to think, yeah, maybe we should revisit the whole tie game? Tsunami, you're the number one sport.

[Marcus Mosher]

You know what's crazy, Jeff, is The Cowboys are one missed 53 yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey away from being 022 right now, which would be kind of, kind of hilarious. But, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if we see the NFL adjust it. I honestly, I think.

[Landon McCool]

Why, why are we doing this again?

[Marcus Mosher]

Here's, here's. I think the easiest way to adjust it, just move the overtime from 10 minutes to 12 minutes because I think that would almost guarantee you get three possessions rather than just two. I bet you that's the decision that they ultimately make. Or maybe they just give it a full quarter and make it 15 minutes.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I mean, they could still be playing football. You think you make either one of those teams that have gotten a stop? Well, we're three days out of this thing. How much more did you need to see for them to show you? And you're a dad. You got kids and I know you're a hell of a dad.

[Marcus Mosher]

Thank you.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

How much more do they need to show you? Hey, pops, we ain't got it. We don't have any answers. We don't know what to do.

[Marcus Mosher]

I don't know. But us east coast dads are really struggling on, on Sunday night after watching football all day starting at 9:30 in the morning.

[Landon McCool]

And that's why they're not gonna, you just, you just nailed it. That's why they're not gonna ever, you know, or they shouldn't change these, these rules is because ultimately, you know, it's. The problem was that these, these games were four hours long, you know, and four and a half hours long. And, and you know, whether we like it or not, they're playing to the TV audience. So.

[Jeff Biggs]

TV show.

[Landon McCool]

I don't, I don't think that they're, I don't think that they're going to make any major adjustments. Yeah, I would, I wouldn't be shocked. You're not wrong. Adding two minutes makes, I mean, it makes some sense, I guess.

[Marcus Mosher]

Even though probably because think about it. In this game, if you had two more minutes, right, the Cowboys are probably getting, you know, not probably. They are getting the ball back with a chance to win the game on a Brandon Aubrey field goal. And that's probably all you would need to settle A lot of these games.

[Jeff Biggs]

Will they never copy the college rule? Because that would be cop. The college rule.

[Landon McCool]

College rules is so much worse. It's like, I don't. I. Yeah, well, I think there's two.

[Marcus Mosher]

Reasons why they won't do that. Number one, and Jerry Jones mentioned it. They don't want four and a half hour games. I mean, there's been a lot of times I go out on the golf course, you know, play nine holes, play the back nine, get something to eat, and the game is still started or still playing the one that I. It started when I was at my house. The other thing is, I don't think they want to mess with some of the records and the touchdown records. And you see this in college, like, you get these six, seven overtime games, and all of a sudden it's not all that uncommon for a guy to score six touchdowns. I think they don't want to mess with that part of it as well.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, Okay.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I mean, was that. Was that pinball machine that you, you saw the other night, that wasn't enough scoring? You want to give it to him on the 25?

[Jeff Biggs]

No, I just don't like a tie. I just think. I think you're the number one sport in the country. You should have a way to. To have a team win a game. I just.

[Marcus Mosher]

Can we do it like hockey? You just take one player off the field and go 10 on 10.

[Landon McCool]

Am I the only person who will sit here and defend a tie? Because I'll do it.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I think they played. They played 70 minutes of football and, okay, you can, you can call it a heavyweight match or a damn pilla fight. Both teams were playing the same way. It should have ended in a tie. D. Exactly what they deserve.

[Landon McCool]

That's exactly right.

[Jeff Biggs]

Great, Herm.

[Landon McCool]

I feel you play to win the game, but you didn't. But you didn't win the game. That's. That's that. You know what? If you were. If you're gonna win the game, you would have won it in the third quarter, you would have won it in the fourth quarter, you would have won it on the second drive when you had a. A fourth down. You didn't win the game. Neither team win the game. The other team, the other team almost lost the game by not even getting a kickoff.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

So, like, you mean one defensive stop, one defensive style in the second half and in overtime?

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, both teams. That's the problem. Right? Like, we would never finish this game. Listen, I. I understand that people don't like it. They call it like kissing their sister or whatever. But a tie was the most appropriate ending to that game. Like they, they, it was basically two unstoppable forces on offense and two, you know, incapable forces on defense. So yeah, I'm totally okay with the tie, to be honest, because especially if you're a Cowboys fan. Give me a break. You were seven point dogs at home. Like, take your tie and be happy that Green Bay is walking out of your stadium dissatisfied with the result for the first time in eight years or whatever it's been. So I, I take the tie and be glad with it, folks.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, on that note, you guys mentioned Marcus. You mentioned Jerry Jones. He had a lot more to say during that interview. A couple of things I want to run by you guys. We'll do that coming up. Also, more rumors and some injury updates as well. Great to be with you on this Wednesday night. We are just getting started. This is the Cowboys squad show. All right, I want to talk to you about FanDuel because this NFL season and the NFL season is here and fanduel has an offer you do not want to miss right now. New customers can bet just $5 and get 300 in bonus bets if you win. That's right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks and if it hits, you'll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Now whether you're a casual fan or a love diving into the stats, FanDuel makes the game day experience so much better. So what are you waiting for? Visit FanDuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started.

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[Jeff Biggs]

All right, we are back. Cowboy squad show Marcus Mosher, Landon McCool and the coach, Glenn Stretch Smith. All right, a couple of things from Jerry Jones during that interview. Number one, speaking of the defense, he says help is on the way for the defensive side of the ball. So what does that mean to you? Does that mean better coaching? Does that mean injuries? Does that mean trades? What do you think?

[Landon McCool]

It would be funny if he meant better coaching, wouldn't it?

[Marcus Mosher]

We're bringing in Mike Zimmer.

[Landon McCool]

We're getting better guys. Don't worry. We got help on the way. I already called him up. Yeah, I mean, I think I. Look, Marcus and I actually talked about this specific quote. I think it was yesterday's show. And, and to me, I think in the context of what he was talking about in that moment, I think he was talking about players coming off of injury. This specifically, I do think it's not outside the realm of possibility of them potentially trading one of these picks for a defensive player who could help. But I think mostly what he's referring to when he said that was you've got Ravel and some of these other folks coming off of these lists, obviously Kaylin Carson this week. It's mostly you're looking at Kaylin Carson because no one else got put on the 21 day open opening for practice. But I think that's who he was referring to as far as health is immediately on the way. I, I wouldn't be shocked that they did make a trade. I just don't know that that's what he was talking about in that cop.

[Jeff Biggs]

Okay.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah, I don't, I don't think it's going to be Max Crosby or Trey Hendrickson. I wouldn't be shocked if they trade for, you know, another corner or maybe they go out and get a safety that can help stabilize something. But you're talking about like trades we've seen them do in the past, like flipping a late round pick for a Jonathan Hankins or trading for a Michael Bennett, stuff like that. Right. But no, I don't think it's anything big. And honestly, I think what he meant is Kaylin Carson, demarvi and Overstone. We'll see about Savon Ravel, those type of names.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Yeah, I agree with that. I don't think. I, I don't think this is going to be some sort of a knee jerk. You know, let's go get. Like you said, Hendrickson, let's go see what if the Raiders are ready to move on, if they, if they've given up on what, what they're doing with, with, you know, their season. And would they trade Max Crosby? I, I don't, I don't see that happening. I do. I, I do see that they could be working the phones a little bit, seeing if they could maybe target one or two guys specifically that they like. The problem I have is I don't trust the evaluation of any of it. I mean, who do you think Jerry's going to listen to on, let's say, if they do go make a trade for a linebacker? I've seen enough of the linebacker coach with what he's put in there. I've seen enough of his evaluation, and I don't want. I don't want to hear any more from him like, the doors closed. So I need to hear more about maybe from the pro personnel side as to what their feelings are on certain guys, but how they manage the playing time of what they put on the field tells me all I need to know from an evaluation standpoint.

[Marcus Mosher]

I mean, I could just call them like I did before. Do you want me just to do that?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Yeah.

[Marcus Mosher]

Tell you this story? I don't think I'm going to tell you a story.

[Landon McCool]

Oh, let's do the story. Are we going to finally tell the story publicly?

[Marcus Mosher]

So go ahead. 2017, the Dallas Cowboys, before the draft, they posted a picture of, like, their telephones that they have in the war room. Okay. And when they tweeted out the picture, they accidentally left the phone number on one of the phones. So, of course, being me, I called and Stephen Jones answered, and I told him who to draft in 2017. He obviously didn't listen to me, but I still got the number if you want me to go ahead and call them.

[Landon McCool]

That was a wild day on Twitter. All of us were in a group together talking about it, and it was. It was.

[Marcus Mosher]

I don't think Stephen appreciated me as the draft was going on, calling him.

[Landon McCool]

But while the draft is going on, Marcus calls into the draft room. Who was it? What'd you tell him?

[Marcus Mosher]

T.J. watt.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah.

[Marcus Mosher]

I said, hey, take that T.J. watt guy from Wisconsin. I think he's gonna be pretty good. They took Taco instead.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Whatever.

[Jeff Biggs]

Did he say anything else?

[Marcus Mosher]

No, I don't think he was very happy.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

And then who did they pick?

[Marcus Mosher]

Taco.

[Landon McCool]

Oh, my God.

[Jeff Biggs]

Ouch.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I should have immediately sent the jet after you and your family and moved you to listen.

[Marcus Mosher]

I'm still waiting.

[Landon McCool]

It's probably because they. They thought that it was some sort of op, you know, that. That. That Marcus was like, you know, psychological warfare against the Joneses. They were gonna pick DJ Watt. But then some mysterious voice called them right before they were about to put pick it, told them to pick DJ Watt. They didn't blame it.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Now they're gonna blame you, Marcus.

[Landon McCool]

They already are. Look, they're in the chat right now. Steven. Steven says I Blame Marcus now. And you're right, Steven, It's Marcus.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I promise you, I. I know what it's like to take those arrows, buddy. Shoot low. The sheriff's on a Shetlands all. I'll tell you.

[Jeff Biggs]

That'S outstanding. I'm glad you shared that, Marcus. That's. That's tremendous.

[Marcus Mosher]

One of my many wild encounters with the Cowboys.

[Jeff Biggs]

But, yeah, please feel free to mix them in. That's great.

[Landon McCool]

We need that.

[Marcus Mosher]

I got one from this week. I don't think I can share, but go ahead.

[Landon McCool]

No, we're not gonna talk about that today. No, no, no, we're good.

[Jeff Biggs]

Okay. All right. So. So Jerry also spoke out about George Pickens, who I thought looked great. I think, you know, so many highlights from the offense from Sunday night, but Pickens specifically, Jerry talked about, hey, you know, we've got structure now in our cap that will allow us to do things I didn't think we. We could do. We have. We might have some room to do some things. We're talking about. We got it. So I think that was code for since we did the Micah deal, we can. We have more money to spend right now. Right?

[Marcus Mosher]

Kind of. Here's what I will say about Pickens. I think what we've seen through the first month of the season has been really encouraging. And this is what we talked about last week, that this was a big opportunity with. For Pickens with CD Lamb out, and he passed the first test. But I mean, at least for me, I've. I've been pretty adamant that I want to see the entire season with Pickens, to see how it goes all, you know, through the adversity, through the highs and the lows. Show me a full season of him being on this best behavior before I give you $25 million a year guaranteed or whatever the number is. Right. Like, he has not been a particularly reliable person in Georgia and Pittsburgh. Now it's been really good in Dallas so far. I want to see that continue for a couple more months before they give him that money.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I think the priority needs to be signed running back. If that's. If that's. That's a direction you're going to go. You need to. You need to get Javante Williams under.

[Marcus Mosher]

Are you being serious right now?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

As a heart attack.

[Marcus Mosher]

But isn't there. Okay, hold on one second.

[Landon McCool]

Step out of frame real quick.

[Marcus Mosher]

The fact that you found Javante Williams for one year. There you go.

[Landon McCool]

He's out for one year.

[Marcus Mosher]

Three million. Isn't that like a good indication of why you shouldn't spend big money on running back. Like you've had success the last couple years not paying a running back. Why not?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

What is big money?

[Marcus Mosher]

Well, I mean, I wouldn't pay him anything more than 3 or 4 million a year.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

And you're saying he won't take that?

[Marcus Mosher]

Well, I mean if he wants to take that again, that's fine. But I wonder, I wonder if he's going to want more money if he puts together a 1200 yard season.

[Landon McCool]

And I mean if he, if I'm him, I'm not signing a three year, $12 million deal. Right. Not like after what he's done, like, I feel like somebody would probably pay him more.

[Marcus Mosher]

Somebody will probably.

[Landon McCool]

Or at least I could convince myself that somebody would if I was devonte Williams. Right?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Yeah, I mean I, I, I got, I, I don't know what the, I don't know what the number is and I don't believe they do either. But I, but my, my, my point is, from a, from a pick up the phone and call the agent standpoint, are you telling me that what you've seen is not deserving of a running back who can flat get it done right now?

[Landon McCool]

Well, let's, first of all, let me just chime in here that you're talking to the guy who doesn't believe in paying running backs, period at this, I mean not, not period. But like, you know, mostly I, I think the Marcus specifically is, you know, famous for, for, for not wanting to pay running backs big money, which, you know, has, he makes solid points in some of this. And I think the Javante Williams situation currently is a pretty big data point in his favorite, to be honest. Right. Like we, they picked Javante Williams up off the, the trash heap at this point and, and they're, and he's, I can't remember the numbers off top of my head.

[Marcus Mosher]

The fifth second in success rate among running backs, like second in yards per carry. I love what Javante is doing. Just let me be clear. Like, I think he's, he's a really good fit in the system. He's running hard. But I just don't know if you want to give a running back, you know, at his age with, you know, the wear and tear on his body, a big contract. You're right though, Stretch. If he wants to come back for 3 or 4 million on a one year deal, that's fine.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

You're not hearing me. I'm not talking about, I'm not talking about Zeke money.

[Marcus Mosher]

That's not what I'm, no, of course of course not.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I'm talking about from a priority standpoint. And, and, and just we have certain guys that we want to keep on this football team. And, and, and, and, and you, and you roll your eyes at the fact that the back isn't fighting his ass off with this football team. I, I'll tell you what I'll do. Go match up how many times he's made a mental mistake in pass protection.

[Landon McCool]

It's true.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

You seen him cut one of these guys buck ass free to kill your quarterback.

[Marcus Mosher]

He's not.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

So from a priority standpoint, now tell me where you're at. Well, you got, you got a quarterback, you got a defense who can't stop Rudy Poo Jack nothing. You did pay. So you better make sure that at least you're comfortable with who you're putting in there at running back.

[Landon McCool]

Oh, we're happy that we paid the quarterback. Now I'll just say this, that I, I think, I think that.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Oh, now, now we got a guy wanting to turn the damn lights off in the studio. He's clapping. Slapper.

[Landon McCool]

Look, I, I think, I think priority is is the proper word, and I think that's the issue here too, is that you don't need to sign Javonte Williams right now. Like, that's the thing is. Is whether we like it or not. And, and none of us, like, Listen, none of us.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

So what do you want?

[Landon McCool]

Let me finish, coach.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Okay.

[Landon McCool]

None of, none of these folks are, none of us are arguing that Javonte Williams has played fantastic.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

No, I'm not arguing either. I'm saying personnel department to do stand over scratching their ass. I mean, you got to come up with some work to do. We got to find some players and we got to get the players we got under contract.

[Landon McCool]

If he wants to take a low ball offer in the mid, in the middle of the season, then absolutely at any point he can come and take this low ball offer if he wants. But I mean, honestly, I, I don't. I just can't imagine a situation where the Cowboys would want to offer him the kind of contract that would make Javante Williams sign a contract in the middle of what looks to be a very successful season when he could easily make more money by just playing out the regular rest of the season and seeing what the, the free agent market looks like.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Yeah, you. One minute you want Jerry to be proactive, the next minute you're kicking his ass because he waits to the end.

[Landon McCool]

I'm just saying that I don't think it's. It's viable. I just don't think, it's not that I don't think he should, it's just that any deal that he would offer that Javante Williams would take four games into the regular season in which he looks to be coming back pretty hardcore, I have to imagine would be more than they should be paying for a running back. If, if he's willing to take a ridiculous low ball offer, you know, hey, more power to us, like let's pop the champagne and, and sign him to a long term deal. But in order to sign somebody in the middle of a, of a very good season in which it looks like he's about to earn himself a lot of money, you have to overpay or at least pay him amount of money that makes him comfortable with taking himself off the free agent market. And that amount of money that it would require I think is more than I would like to pay for a running back.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I'm just saying I don't want to assume that. That's just my posture. I think you've got, I think you've got guys in a pro personnel department that need to be grading guys around the league that need to be prioritizing what you need, that need to prioritize how and what you sign and how you move forward. And yeah, this guy's playing at his ass off, you know, on a one year, three million dollar deal. I don't know what he'll take and I don't, and I don't think anybody else knows. So you know what, if that's the case, I'm going to be proactive and say hey, what, what, what can we, what can we offer you to get this deal done? Because guess what, I'm about production and I'm about what he's done from a production standpoint.

[Landon McCool]

100%. Like look, Steve, Stephen White said four years, $20 million, I'd be okay with that. $5 million. I mean how much of it's guaranteed? Obviously that matters but like you know, if we're talking about that, I just don't know that he would take a deal like that right now. So I, I don't know.

[Marcus Mosher]

Good talk guys. I like that. I like talking about.

[Landon McCool]

No, you, you hated it.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I mean you got, you got the best looking girl in the SK to assume she won't skate with you when it's a couple skate guys choice or are you going to stand over there and eat a damn picture.

[Landon McCool]

But there's a lot, there's a lot of girls out there skating.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I'm not real sure. And I really like this song, but I, I don't know.

[Marcus Mosher]

I don't ever worry about that stretch. It'll all work out.

[Landon McCool]

I hate to take the analogy too far, but, but part of the reason that she looks so good, good skating, is because the, the, the wheels are right on her skates. You know, we could talk about the run game and whether it's running back or, or system and offensive line driven, but I do think that Jamal, that Javante Williams deserves a, a contract extension. I just think that signing him right now is, is, is not likely because I feel like the numbers are probably pretty far off. But if they're not and they're. He's willing to take a cheaper deal, I'm not, I'm certainly not going to get mad at them.

[Marcus Mosher]

The other thing is if you wait a little bit till next year's draft, those other, those other running backs are going to start looking pretty darn good too. So I think you'll be okay.

[Jeff Biggs]

And will Jaden Blue ever play? We, will we ever see him play this season?

[Landon McCool]

This week? Maybe this week?

[Marcus Mosher]

Yes. Sanders looks very happy. I think he's gonna play.

[Landon McCool]

I mean especially with, especially with Turpin potentially being down and Sanders hurt. Like it feels like this is the.

[Marcus Mosher]

Week and if it's not, we're in.

[Landon McCool]

Big trouble then man, he's not playing this year. I don't know.

[Jeff Biggs]

Like, seriously, one final thing. What did you make of the final kind of a little back and forth between Jerry and Micah Parsons and be, be completely honest. Did you feel just a little bit better about the trade with the way that Sunday night went down with Micah's performance? Be honest.

[Marcus Mosher]

Go ahead.

[Landon McCool]

I think that to me it just like Micah Parsons had an incredible game and, and ultimately like the Cowboys still scored 40 points on them. Right. So, and I think that, so that's where we are right now is that like it doesn't make me feel better about the trade because the Cowboys still have a serious pass rusher issue and solving that pass rusher issue is going to be incredibly difficult. But I think it does go a little bit further into proving the point that especially for defensive players and coach, we could have a whole other conversation about quarterbacks. But especially for defensive players, there is a point when which you pay them a certain amount of money and you know, if you get the situation right, I, I think that that money could be better spent on two or three mid level players than just one relying on one elite player. So I, I think that there's Something to that. But no, I, I still would rather have Michael Parsons right now if you're offering them to me.

[Marcus Mosher]

Okay, Coach, go ahead.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

No, I'm. I'm tired of talking right now.

[Landon McCool]

Okay.

[Marcus Mosher]

I, I, oh, man. I, I gotta make sure I don't get myself in trouble.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah.

[Marcus Mosher]

I thought. I thought Jerry Jones cutting promos before the game was really weird. I thought Micah's answers after of the game were really weird about Jerry not calling him before the trade. It would have been really nice if Micah could have finished his football career here and played with the Cowboys this year, but I think the further that we get removed from this, maybe this was the best for all parties involved.

[Landon McCool]

Let me, Let me. Can I ask you a question real quick, Marcus? Sure. Is it your impression, just based on what. On public comments that we've heard from. From both folks, it feels like both Jerry and Micah are sad about this.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yes.

[Landon McCool]

Like, it feels like it feels. They both.

[Marcus Mosher]

I think both team. Yeah. I think both sides wish it didn't go the way that it went. And I think whether it's right now or five years down the road, I think they'll regret the decision they made. Now Micah wins the super bowl or the Cowboys win the super bowl, maybe they won't. But this shouldn't have gotten to the point that it got to. That's all I'm gonna say.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, I think that's where I am, too, is that, to me, both sides feel like they're hurt, like their feelings were hurt. And I know that no one wants to talk about feelings in a football show, but I think these were two human beings that had a relationship and then feel slighted by the other person quite a bit. And now that the fallout is done and now that the games happen and it ended in this kind of, you know, no one win situation, I think both sides just walked away feeling. Both sides being Jerry and Micah walked away feeling sad about the situation. All right.

[Jeff Biggs]

Still tired, Coach, you still done?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

No. I mean, I think you guys make great points. I mean, they're, you know, I think Jerry, at the end of the day, if he's honest, he didn't want to make that trade. And I think Micah, at the end of the day, he didn't want to be traded, but you know what? He asked to be traded.

[Landon McCool]

Yes.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

He let an agent coach him in to being isolated in, you know, as close to Siberia and this lower 48 as you can get. So that. That. See, he got. He got his wish.

[Landon McCool]

Can I point out Stephen White's comment real quick. That's what I keep coming back to Stephen as well. Is that, was it worth it for Micah, right? Like, was, was, was the, like losing the opportunity to play in Dallas where he wanted to play worth it for one less year or a couple extra million dollars? I think that's what Mike is going to be questioning himself and it'll be interesting to see if like that has an effect on his managements, you know, for the rest of this group.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, when we come back, we have some injury updates and we want to kind of turn the page and look ahead to Sunday against the Jets. We'll do that when we come back. Also, a couple other comments, people jumping in that I want to read as well. We'll do that when we return. Great to be with you on this Wednesday. This is the Cowboys squad show.

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[Jeff Biggs]

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[Landon McCool]

What?

[Marcus Mosher]

The brother of Stefan Diggs has an attitude problem. You would have shocked me.

[Landon McCool]

I think he's just weird, you know, I, I, I mean, I hate to be like that. I, I, I, I like Diggs, you know, but I think he's, I think he's just odd. His brother is certainly very. And so I, I think he's just a different dude. I, I think he's extremely competitive, I'll tell you that much. Like, I just remember, you know, in training camp, watching him constantly in Dax face and, like, really just trying to challenge him. And so I, I, I think there's just something to him that's just off a little bit and not in a dangerous or bad way, but he's just a different cat.

[Marcus Mosher]

Right.

[Landon McCool]

Like, that's different dude. Yeah.

[Marcus Mosher]

I don't think Nick Saban puts up with him at Alabama. If he's a problem, he's not a problem, just different.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Yeah. Let me ask you this. I mean, he played in probably the most sound defensive scheme that you could play in collegiately. I mean, he understood everything. Everything was, went over every week. There was no stone unturned in a Nick Saban defense. And now things are different. And guys, a lot of times can't hide their body language if they don't like something that's being taught, if they don't like a technique or they don't agree with a certain thing, it's, it's hard to stay away from, you know, what is a, a different body language. And I think that's what you're getting out of that young.

[Landon McCool]

Well, can I, can I also just say real quick that I think he had some right to be upset with the Cowboys with the way that they handled this, his recovery situation, to be honest. And he hasn't, you know, held it against them necessarily. I, I think if anything, he's acted pretty appropriately about it. Even the benching situation, you know, he's, I think, handled well, and it sounds like he's gonna start again this week. So I think there's some issues going on with Trayvon Diggs. I don't think he's playing his best football all the time, but I, I don't think he's like a bad egg.

[Marcus Mosher]

Well, can I, I also want to say I thought he was their best defensive player on Sunday against Green Bay. Like, I thought he played really well, now the tackling stuff is. Whatever. You're not gonna. He's never gonna be a strong tackler.

[Landon McCool]

You know, because sometimes he's. He made a really big tackle behind a lot of scrimmage in overtime.

[Marcus Mosher]

And that's why I don't think people should be too hard on. I mean, he read that play perfectly. If he doesn't, that might be a touchdown. And we're not talking about a tie in this game. So I think. Trayvon, it's always got to be hard for somebody who was an all pro player earlier in their career who suffered some injuries. He's clearly not playing to that level, and he's playing on a defense that's been much, much worse than he's been used to playing in his life, whether that's at Alabama or early in his career in Dallas. I think it's. It's probably difficult for him right now, and he's figuring it all out.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

They traded his position, too, and he makes the only. He has the only interception in the game. If Eber Flush is not trying to play. CFL rules.

[Marcus Mosher]

Forgot he had an interception. Yeah, he had a very nice, nice play.

[Jeff Biggs]

Nice. And one more motivational maxi says, what happened to Hunter Lipked? Right. Remember, we heard he was going to have a really big role and they were going to run? I mean, could we see that happen maybe later in the season, you know, once they get.

[Landon McCool]

Well, I. What do people think a really big role for Hunter Lipkey looks like? Because to me, like, it's probably. I mean, certainly hasn't gotten the targets that I thought that he was gonna get. I thought he'd get, like, maybe one or two more than we've all been seeing. But. But, like, I. I always think it was gonna be a, you know, emergency running back, fullback, special teams role for Hunter Lipton. Right. Like, in a guy that, you know, maybe catches some passes.

[Marcus Mosher]

I. I just. I think people are shocked to see that he's got no receptions to carries to the first month of the season, and he's primarily being used as, like, a lead blocker. And unfortunately, that's, like, just not the best part of his game. Like, he's better when he has the ball in his hands. And I think when the Cowboys paid, I mean, I think people were expecting, hey, he's going to be a guy that gets three or four touches every single week. That hasn't been the case so far.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I think they thought that until they, you know, until they found out that they've got a good running back.

[Marcus Mosher]

I mean, we don't want to.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

There's not enough touches to go around.

[Landon McCool]

I agree, Coach. I think that's. That's probably more the culture.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Oh, there we go.

[Landon McCool]

Is that a guy. He's a guy that. That played well and that they just wanted to give more touches and that those touches would have normally gone to Lip. Keys that they just given them to Williams instead, which I'm, you know, as Max, as Maxi points out, Lip is my guy. I'm still okay with Williams getting Lipke's touches.

[Jeff Biggs]

Yeah, well said.

[Landon McCool]

All right.

[Jeff Biggs]

You hit on the injuries a little bit. Sounds like things are positive. Big picture with CD Lamb and Tyler Booker. I know a lot of guys were out of practice today, but that really doesn't mean anything as far as this weekend. But what are you guys hearing? What are you. Are you encouraged about where they're at on the injury front?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

No.

[Landon McCool]

Honestly, yeah. This was not a good injury report that they got on Monday.

[Marcus Mosher]

I. I could do my best to update it. I mean, Brian Schottenheimer even led his press conference saying, we're beat up. And that's generally not a good sign when your head coach says that. But no Tyler Booker this week, no Cooper Bibi. He's on ir. We'll see about Booker, you know, in a couple weeks. It does seem like he's probably gonna avoid ir. Cavante Turpin, who's. Honestly, he's played a big role with CD Lamb out, he's going to miss this game with a foot injury. The Cowboys don't think it's in a situation where he needs to go on ir, but he's probably going to miss a couple games, according to Nick Harris. And then on defense, Malik Hooker was wearing a boot. He's not expected to play this week. Wanye Thomas is going to get his snaps. I mean, you're going to be down five or six starters in this game. We'll see about Miles Sanders. You've got to win this game. Like, we're going to talk about that in a little bit. But I know you're beat up. I know you're going to play on the road, find a way to win.

[Landon McCool]

This is a winnable game. You gotta win the winnable games. Especially now. You've lost your margin of error early. And if you want to get serious and be serious about this season, you got to find a way to win this game and the next game. And then if you do, then you can actually start to make plans about going more all in this year. Right. And, like, start talking about Trades and, and seeing what you could do to kind of improve the defense to the point where you hope that you could make a playoff run. Right. But it's, it all starts with, you know, eating the low hanging fruit. And this is, even though this is not a very disciplined or talented overall team right now, the jets, they are desperate and that is a difficult thing to do to play, especially when you're on the road.

[Jeff Biggs]

Yeah.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

And coming off, coming off the high that they came off of offensively expecting to challenge those guys, to have to go do it again, I, you know, it to me that's a, that's going to be a weekly challenge because I do think the jets can run the football and I think obviously Fields can extend plays and if you, if you're not disciplined and you're not where you're supposed to be, it's, it's pro football and you, and you can look bad. And if they go up there and, and don't put out a good outing, it won't have a good outcome.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, I mean, Justin Fields is a guy who is, you know, somehow a mixture between Lamar Jackson and Jalen hurts as a runner. I mean, and the numbers back it up. He's very, very efficient when he scrambles with the football, which is again going back to why we were talking earlier. You don't want to play man coverage against him. It's a terrible idea because he is not that he's just going to beat you with the, with his arm, but when he does beat you with his arm, it's for long touchdowns. And when he doesn't, it's, it's either an incompletion or like a 35 yard run. And I don't like those odds. So keep eyes on this guy and keep him in the pocket and try to find a way to make him scramble. Not scramble run, but scramble. Because he's under pressure and he doesn't know what to do real quick.

[Marcus Mosher]

The, the bad news is you're right, he can run, I think even better than Jalen hurts. But the good news is he's passes us about as well as Jalen hurts. So that's how you're going to win this one, right, is they don't have the weapons of the offensive line that Philadelphia has. Make him get into these 3rd and 11, 3rd and 12 situations where you've got to throw the football. That's how you win.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, we will talk about that more a little bit when we come back. We'll have our final segment and final thoughts show has flown by. Great to be with you on this Wednesday. Getting ready for Week 5 and the Cowboys and the Jets. This is the Cowboys Squad show.

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[Landon McCool]

Today.

[Jeff Biggs]

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[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah, we've got a squad show with Locked on Jets that will come out on Thursday morning so make sure you guys are on the lookout for that. If you think I'm a depressing Cowboy fan, wait for that episode. Pretty fun. And then on Friday, Landon and I are going to preview this jets game. We'll talk about our favorite matchups where the Cowboys need to be nervous in this one so make sure you guys are on the lookout for that.

[Landon McCool]

Oh also guys, if you are a local in Dallas and you get wfaa, I am still doing hits Every Friday morning on the midday show. I'm sorry, on wfa. So make sure you guys check us out there too.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right. And Coach, you're on, on post game, right?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Well, yeah, I do, I do the, I do the Joe Tran sports special Sunday nights Monday, then the Monday call in show. Yeah. On wfai.

[Jeff Biggs]

Beautiful. Okay, there we go. I love that. Very nice.

[Landon McCool]

It was great. Love Joe Trahan. He's, he's, he's really good friend of the show.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yep.

[Landon McCool]

Yep.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, so I, I mean, I think we agree. I mean, kidding aside, and it's cliche, but I mean really to your point, Landon, what you said earlier, I mean this is. And you too, Marcus. I mean, and coach, I know you say one game at a time, but this game right here, this is one that they have to win. Can't mess around. Can't. Can't let the jets who are desperate, get, get life and get emotion. And, and because this is going to be, I want to say their super bowl, but I mean this is going to be probably one of their bigger games because of where they're at and who they're playing and they're at home.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah. And I mean like, look, I mean, I think Marcus and I talked about this after the Bears game, right? Like if you want to get this season back on track for, for doing anything this year, the Cowboys needed to steal that packers game and they only half stolen. Right. They avoided the loss, but they didn't get the win. And it, you know, the, the playoff results will, will reflect that when we get to the end of the year, it'll either be a lifesaver or a killer. We'll, we'll find out. Right. But at this point you've, because you didn't actually steal the win from the packers, you have no margin of error in a lot of this. You know, I think as the season has gone on, you look at the rest of the year and maybe the schedule doesn't look quite as daunting as it did like in the beginning part of the year, but it still is, it's still going to be incredibly tough. So you have to find a way and that's why, you know, we're, it's tough to call a Week 5 game a must win, especially in a non conference game with the team that's, you know, probably a 500 team at best. But, but you just have no margin for error and you need to stack wins where you can get them. And like we said before, when you, when you're playing an inferior team, even if it's on the road. You have to find a way to win these games because you're not necessarily going to just have a bunch of guaranteed wins when this team enters the November and December part of the schedule.

[Marcus Mosher]

Go ahead, coach, I'm looking something up, but I want to get some numbers for you. But go, go ahead.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

No, I think that at the end of the day right now with this football team, you kind of have to take it from a week to week standpoint. You, I mean, I don't want to even think about looking down the road. You got an offense that's playing really, really well. You have a defense that can't be any worse maybe than they can be. And so, I don't know, does that mean the football team's in the middle of the road? Does that mean, excuse me, there are 500 football team? I just think you got to try to go see if you can structurally get a win this week and then see if you can do some better things defensively that point the arrow the right direction.

[Landon McCool]

Marcus, real quick, let me ask coach a question real quick because Coach, we talked about this on the show. Real quick. We're looking at the Cowboys being a top three offense right now and they are basically 32nd in defense. Where do you think they need to be on defense ranking in order to, to make the playoffs? Where would you say with keeping in mind that they've got a top three offense, where, where do you think you need to get that defense up to, in order to, to be, make some noise in the playoffs?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I mean, you gotta, you gotta get in the high 20s, you just gotta get somewhere where you can in one or two defensive categories, give yourself a chance. It isn't going to be turnovers, I don't think, because you're not gonna, you don't have the pressure to create a turnover.

[Landon McCool]

But maybe red zone or something like.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

You know that you got it, you got it, you've got to, you got to be sound somewhere. Whether that's red zone, getting off the field on third down conversions, I mean, and right now nothing, I mean, I hate to say that, but I mean, literally nothing points to that at all. When I look at guys who play the wrong leverage in the simplest of situations, there is no possible way I can look at this and say, man, I got some help coming here. Because if you don't understand, I mean, like again, like when Dobbs caught the second touchdown, I mean, I've looked at that play 10 times. He's plus three from the bottom of the numbers. Where do you think he's going to run the route if he's plus three from the bottom of the numbers? I mean, hello. He jogs inside for a touchdown. And so, I mean. I mean, there's so many things that have to be corrected.

[Landon McCool]

I. I don't know that they can.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I just don't know that there's. There's some sort of quick. I mean, this. This defense is a damn mule that is broke down.

[Marcus Mosher]

One of the reasons why it's very important that they win this game is according to our friends at FanDuel, they are only favored in one other game this year, and that's next week against Carolina. You have to win these games, and again, those lines can change. Injuries will move them. If the Cowboys win the next two, you'll probably be favored in other games as the season goes on, but you've got to take care of business in the games that you're favored to win before you start pulling off some upsets.

[Jeff Biggs]

Well, back to the defense. Do you think Matt Eber Floose is that. That he's kind of. He's seeing what we're seeing. And I don't mean that to sound stupid. Obviously he is, but I mean, as far as improving and working with the players that you have. I mean, I guess what I'm trying to say in a roundabout way. Can. Can he fix it? Can he? Can he?

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah. Well, I. Yes and no. Like, he can only. I think he can only fix it to a certain level. Like your. Your talent matters. And unfortunately, the talent's just not very good on this defense. And that's what happens when you remove a Micah Parsons. But there's no reason they should be this bad on defense. There are other defenses across the league that have a poor talent and they're still figuring it out. So can if. Can Eber flu get this defense back to a respectable unit that's playing, you know, maybe above their heads a little bit? Yes. Will he. That's what we're going to watch and find out.

[Landon McCool]

This feels like a position coach problem in a lot of ways, right? Like, I mean, information is not getting disseminated down to the players. You know, Eber Flutes has been a very, very, you know, tolerable, good defensive coordinator at two different other locations. He didn't have, like, this level of disaster even early on with Indianapolis or even the Bears, honestly. And I. I can't believe that the talent. Well, I mean, that's not fair. I think maybe the talent might be that significantly Worse than it was a certain early on for those two stops when you account for, for the fact that Michael Parsons is not here. So, I mean, I think the answer is like, it's probably not something that is going to be easily solved this year unless you're willing to change the scheme and move on from this defensive coordinator and have your, what, fifth new defensive coordinator in five years, which is also part of the problem.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah, there's nobody on the roster that's even like a natural guy to come in and replace him. Right. It's not like you have last year where you had like a Paul Gunther or you had an Al Harris. Right. Like, it's probably going to be Aaron White Cotton if you do that. And what's the point at that point? You know, what's, what's the point?

[Landon McCool]

And maybe that is pointing to exactly the problem that I'm discussing. Right. Maybe they need to figure out their position coaches a little bit better next.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I don't, I mean, I don't think you're going to see a, a, a coordinator change because you're just, I mean, there's, there's, there's not any real good options. Not like you can call up Rex Ryan and have him come, you know, save the day, put his defense in.

[Marcus Mosher]

He'd like to, I'm sure he'd like to come try.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Well, I'm sure he would, but I'm saying it's not realistic. So. No, it's not a good idea. This is a, a guy who did a pretty decent job in Indianapolis that got him a head coaching job in Chicago. I would think that he's, he, he can at least start, even restart to make some things happen. And as I'm saying that it's so hard to say that because in, in, in week five of the season or week four of the season, you don't, you don't know what leverage to play in a, in a, in a red zone situation. I, you know, I, it's, it's, it's frustrating to talk about and it's even more frustrating to try to flip on and watch because if you thought it was, if you thought it was bad Sunday night, go, go, go, go sit down and try to watch it again. And it, it is, I mean, it's enough to make you just, you know, you know, just, just, just take the remote and say, I've had enough of this.

[Landon McCool]

Like I said, Coach, my, you know, my mouth is still sore from the dentist office, but I'll go gladly get back in that chair as Long as they're not showing that Cowboys defensive tape.

[Marcus Mosher]

On the D. Coach, does that sound like me on Monday talking to you about it when I was sitting at the dentist as well?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Yeah. Hey, I've got to go too. I've got to go. I've got to go get a crown fixed. So I guess, you know, we'll, I guess we'll hit the trifecta here.

[Marcus Mosher]

We'll all be moaning watching this tape.

[Landon McCool]

That's right.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, guys, well, on that note, we will count down and get closer to Sunday. In the meantime, we have a couple days left for the daily Locked on Cowboys podcast. We with Marcus and Landon and then coach and I and Aisha will be back with you after the game on Sunday. And again, Landon will be doing his TV stuff as well. So guys, appreciate it very much and we'll see, we'll see, we'll see what happens on Sunday against the Jets.

[Landon McCool]

Let's go.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, four Marcus Moer, Landon McCool and the coach, Glenn Stretch Smith. Thank you for being with us. This has been the Cowboys squad.

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[Marcus Mosher]

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