COWBOYS SQUAD SHOW: The Cowboys have a Thanksgiving showdown against the Chiefs.

Summary

Locked On Cowboys – Cowboys Squad Show: Thanksgiving Showdown vs Chiefs

Date: November 26, 2025
Hosts: Marcus Mosher, Landon McCool, Glenn “Stretch” Smith
Guest Host: Jeff Biggs
Podcast: Locked On Cowboys (Locked On Podcast Network)

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Cowboys Squad Show delivers a spirited recap of the Dallas Cowboys’ dramatic 24-21 comeback win over the Philadelphia Eagles, while also looking ahead to the high-stakes Thanksgiving showdown against the Kansas City Chiefs. The hosts—Marcus Mosher, Landon McCool, and former Cowboys coach Glenn “Stretch” Smith—analyze the team’s performance, key turning points, and areas for improvement, before pivoting to preview the Chiefs matchup, its playoff implications, and what the Cowboys must do to keep their postseason hopes alive.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reflecting on the Comeback Win Over Eagles

• Resiliency and Mentality Change (03:52–05:45)
  • Marcus underscores how rare it is for the Cowboys to come back from a large deficit:

    “It’s been a long time since the Cowboys have had a comeback win like that in my lifetime… The Cowboys made every single mistake that you could possibly make in the first 20 minutes... and yet they were able to overcome. That’s just something they haven’t been able to do in the previous 20 years.” (Marcus Moser, 03:52)

  • Landon complements this, highlighting the shift in physicality and execution:

    “When this became like a straight-up street fight… the Cowboys were the more talented of the two teams… dominating at certain parts of the line of scrimmage against some of the Eagles’ best players.” (Landon McCool, 05:45)

• Comprehensive Inventory of Mistakes (07:12–08:08)
  • Marcus lists an exhaustive 1st-half error report, ranging from dropped passes to poor coaching decisions.
  • Stretch and Landon debate the fourth down call at midfield, with Stretch labeling it “reckless silliness” (08:54) and Landon providing context from the analytics perspective.

2. Defensive Turnaround & Game-Changing Moments

• Second-Half Defensive Dominance (14:02–15:32)
  • Eight straight stops; the Eagles didn’t cross the Cowboys’ 40-yard-line after halftime.
  • Marcus stresses the adjustment:

    “They forced Jalen Hurts to have to throw the ball on second and nine and third and eight… they stop the Eagles’ run game and force them into uncomfortable spots.” (Marcus, 14:25)

  • Landon spotlights individual standouts, especially Osa Odighizuwa and the impact of Quinn and Williams:

    “Osa Odighizuwa absolutely was a madman on Sunday… the improvements in different areas of the defense, and obviously the big improvement with Quinn and Williams, have added up.” (Landon, 15:32)

• Play with Attitude (18:11–19:46)
  • Stretch praises the effort:

    “If I can get 22 guys with this attitude right here, then anything is possible… you want those things to be infectious for the rest of your football team.” (Stretch, 18:11)

3. Offensive Challenges: CD Lamb’s Drops & Red Zone Woes

• Receiving Core & Star Power (23:45–26:42)
  • CD Lamb’s drops are discussed candidly (Landon dubs it “lamb drops”), while George Pickens’ talent is praised.
  • Marcus questions Jerry Jones’ future plans but doubts Pickens will leave, citing contract realities.
  • Both hosts question why the red-zone offense is underachieving despite highly drafted linemen and star receivers.
• Running Game as a Solution (25:06–27:34)
  • Landon:

    “They need to commit to being a better red zone running team… If you want to stabilize the scoring.”

  • Marcus and Landon agree the offense sometimes overcomplicates red-zone play calls; calls for simplicity (throwing fades or running behind their top linemen).
  • Stretch again critiques playcalling (“What is the fade ball, about 9%?” 27:34)

4. Dak Prescott’s Record & Offensive Line Updates

• Career Milestone (31:17–33:29)
  • Dak becomes Cowboys’ all-time passing leader—a major, yet under-discussed milestone.
  • Marcus:

    “There’s a chance he makes this record like unbreakable… It’s just so uncommon for a quarterback to play 9-10 years with the same team.” (32:29)

• Injury Updates (33:31–34:40)
  • Tyler Guyton is out; Nate Thomas expected to fill in at left tackle.
  • Hosts are confident in Thomas’ ability, especially given preseason reps.

5. Previewing Cowboys vs Chiefs: Thanksgiving Showdown

• Atmosphere & Stakes (38:38–39:46)
  • This is projected to be the most-watched regular season NFL game ever, with both teams in the playoff hunt.
• Chiefs Analysis & Game Script (40:11–43:53)
  • Kansas City’s offense described as less explosive, more methodical:

    “The Chiefs are not the Chiefs of a couple years ago… Patrick Mahomes is going to go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. He just hasn’t played that way this season.” (Marcus, 41:24)

  • Landon points to a key offensive line injury (Trey Smith) for KC and how it could impact the match-up.
  • Both teams need the win badly; for KC, a loss would be “absolutely devastating for their chances.” (Marcus, 45:25)

6. Playoff Odds, Momentum, and Team Trajectory

• What’s at Stake (45:58–47:36)
  • Cowboys’ playoff chances hover at 9%; a win could nearly double that, but a loss would cut it to 4%.
  • Marcus sees the team’s confidence surging:

    “If you beat these two teams… the confidence level of this franchise is going to be through the roof.” (46:47)

  • Landon: the defense is “already better than I ever expected them to be.”
• Long-Term Outlook (49:54–50:32)
  • If the team finishes strong, they’re set up to be division—and possibly league—contenders next year, given their draft assets.

7. “Odds are Made to Be Defied”: Perspective & Leadership

• Team Mindset and the Underdog Role (54:46–56:09)

  • Jeff reflects on the NFL as the “no favorites league.” Landon and Marcus point out the team’s history of overcoming the odds:

    “They had less than a 3% chance to win that Eagles game at one point.” (Landon, 55:46)
    “Thanksgiving weekend 2023... Cowboys had a 4% chance of winning their division—and lo and behold, they did.” (Marcus, 56:01)

• On CD Lamb’s Struggles and Bounce-Back (57:13–58:47)

  • Landon is not worried long-term:

    “I have a hard time getting concerned about drops long term for big-time receivers... I’ve seen CD bounce back from stuff like this before.” (Landon, 57:35)

  • Stretch calls for better “body language” and leadership:

    “He’s got a C on his chest for a reason, I want to see him be THAT guy.” (Stretch, 58:47)

8. Running Game, Offensive Variety, and Turpin’s Role

• Javonte Williams’ Efficiency and Playcalling Nuances (59:30–61:29)

  • Jeff: “Seems like every time (Williams) runs the ball, it’s six, seven, eight yards.”
  • Landon: Wants more RPOs and more creative usage on early downs to maximize Williams’ impact.

• Kevante Turpin: Big Plays and Big Risks (63:03–64:11)

  • Landon: “It works, but you can’t afford to run these plays if he’s going to be so inconsistent with the football.”
  • Marcus: Suggests scaling back Turpin’s usage and integrating Ryan Flournoy and Jonathan Mingo more.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Cowboys’ Resilience:
  “It felt like the Cowboys had maybe even a much better chance than we have given them credit for.”
  — Landon McCool (05:45)

• On Coaching Decisions:
  “What it is, is it’s reckless silliness.”
  — Glenn Stretch Smith (08:54)

• On Defensive Play:

  “If I can get 22 guys with this attitude right here, then anything is possible... those are kind of things you want to be infectious for the rest of your football team.”
  — Glenn Stretch Smith (18:11)

• On Red Zone Offense:
  “They need to commit to being a better red zone running team if you want to stabilize scoring on this team.”
  — Landon McCool (25:06)

• On the Stakes for KC:
  “A loss to the Cowboys would be absolutely devastating for their chances. So I do think it’s more Kansas City.”
  — Marcus Moser (45:25)

• Cowboys Mindset Moving Forward:
  “Odds are made to be defied.”
  — Landon McCool (55:46)

• Perspective on Short-Term Failures:
  “Most of the great ones are able to get themselves out of these slumps. It happens. I trust that CD Lamb will be able to do it.”
  — Marcus Moser (58:50)

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Important Timestamps

• Comeback Win Reactions: 03:52–07:12
• List of Early Game Mistakes: 07:12–08:08
• Coaching Decisions Debate: 08:08–11:38
• Defensive Turnaround: 14:02–15:32
• Red Zone Offense Discussion: 25:06–27:34
• Dak’s Passing Record: 31:17–33:29
• KC Game Preview: 40:11–43:53
• Playoff Stakes/Outlook: 45:58–47:36
• CD Lamb’s Drops & Leadership: 57:13–58:47
• Kevante Turpin Usage: 63:03–64:11

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Conclusion & Final Thoughts

• Preparation for Chiefs: The consensus is that Dallas must play a complete, disciplined game in all three phases to beat KC on Thanksgiving. The defense is improving, but must remain stout against a Chiefs team that controls tempo.
• Leadership & Confidence: The team’s “underdog” role may suit them as they close out the season. The coaching staff and players are aware of the stakes and areas for improvement, especially in short-yardage and red-zone situations.
• Long-Term View: Even if playoffs don't materialize this year, strong finishes and smart draft picks could set the Cowboys as NFC contenders in 2026.

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"If this defense could just be middle of the road... now we're talking about a defense that has Quinn and Williams, and [they're] playing... like a top five defense."
— Landon McCool (47:36)

“I just believe that this team, it’s in front of them right here. I want to see them continue to ride the wave… and see if you can turn this into something.”
— Glenn Stretch Smith (64:32)

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For more deep dives and Cowboys analysis, listen to Locked On Cowboys daily. Happy Thanksgiving from the Cowboys Squad!

Transcript

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

It's the Locked on podcast network.

[Landon McCool]

Your team every day.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Oh hey.

[Landon McCool]

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[Marcus Moser]

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[Landon McCool]

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[Marcus Moser]

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[Landon McCool]

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[Jeff Biggs]

I'm the worst.

[Landon McCool]

I only got my mom a robe.

[T-Mobile Representative]

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[Landon McCool]

So I have to trade in my old phone, right?

[T-Mobile Representative]

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[Landon McCool]

Incredible.

[T-Mobile Representative]

In fact, wrap up my old phone too for my aunt Rosa.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Forget that.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Aunt Liz will be jealous.

[Landon McCool]

Sounds like my family drama.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Oh, I got it. I'll give it to my abuela. I'll take reindeer paper with. Hey, where are you going?

[Landon McCool]

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[Marcus Moser]

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[Jeff Biggs]

I am Jeff Biggs, host of the Cowboys Squad show. Last week at this time I predicted the Cowboys would beat the Eagles and I'm sure glad they did.

[Marcus Moser]

I'm Marcus Moser and I just want Stretch to stop yelling at me.

[Landon McCool]

McCool and how about them Cowboys?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Glenn Stretch Smith toasting us up to a Texas Ozarka water. You see that?

[Marcus Moser]

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 Cowboy Squad show starting now.

[Jeff Biggs]

It is great to be with you on this Tuesday evening Happy Thanksgiving week. Which of course means it is a short week for the Cowboys. Coming off that huge win over the Eagles. The comeback Cowboys huge win from 21, nothing to win. And now they will try to get ready to make it three in a row when they host Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Welcome to another edition of the Cowboy Squad show. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. As always, we start with a big welcome to the co hosts of the daily Lockdown Cowboys podcast, Marcus mosier and Landon McCool along with former Cowboys coach Glenn Stretch Smith. Coming up on the show, we're going to have the very latest with the Cowboys on and off the field and we'll get you ready for the Thanksgiving Day feast. But Marcus Landon, got to start with the two of you. It was 21 to nothing. 21 nothing. And the Cowboys came back with 24 answered unanswered to win the game. What surprised you the most and what does this win say to the two of you?

[Marcus Moser]

We're gonna break down this game from every angle, Jeff, but I gotta tell you a little story before we we into it. So I was all pumped and jazzed after that Cowboy. It's been a long time since the Cowboys have had a comeback win like that in my lifetime. And I was so excited. I called Stretch after the game. I just. I wanted them to be as happy and as excited as I was. He just yelled at me on the phone the whole time about some of the stupid coaching decisions. So I felt like I didn't even get to enjoy it. So I just wanted to pick on Stretch a little bit for bringing down my mood. No response. He didn't even deny it.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

What the hell's the funny. What is it? Tuesday night at the Improv.

[Landon McCool]

He's waiting for the punchline still, I think.

[Marcus Moser]

Funny how? Yeah, but anyways, Jeff, to get back to the actual game, the stuff that matters. Yeah, it was. It was a crazy game. The Cowboys made every single mistake that you could possibly make in the first 20 minutes of this football game. Dropping passes, lining up off sides, running into the punter, fumbling the ball, throwing interceptions. And yet they were able to overcome. And that's just something they haven't been able to do in the previous 20 years. I think a lot of the knocks on the Cowboys is That they have been a front running team where they get these big leads, they beat up on bad teams and that's how they build these records. But they haven't always been the most resilient team. It felt like that changed a little bit on Sunday afternoon. This is a team that played with a lot of confidence in the second half and honestly, and I'm gonna cut it stretch for this because we were talking about it, they looked like they better team and it does doesn't mean they're going to make the playoffs or be better than the Eagles or achieve more. But coming out of that game, I have a hard time saying definitively that the Eagles are better than the Cowboys right now. And that's something.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, I mean we talked about it on the show pretty regularly. Like you go back and watch that game and the Cowboys were the team of consequence in that game. They were the ones that dug themselves in that 21. And not that the Eagles didn't do anything, but the Eagles didn't, you know, put themselves in the position often to kind of make those plays. It was the Cowboys either making stupid mistakes that, you know, on one key drive they extended it twice to allow the Eagles to continue that drive in order to score the fumbles. The, all the self inflicted wounds like that's what set this the table for the Eagles. And then once the Cowboys kind of just stopped doing that or at least stopped doing it on almost every other play, it felt the, the tie turned immediately and that it was pretty clear that when this became like a straight up street fight between these two teams, especially along the line of scrimmage, which is really surprising that the Cowboys were the more talented of the two teams. It wasn't just a case where they were punching above their weight like they were dominating on at certain points, at certain parts of the line of scrimmage against some of the Eagles best players. So yeah, I think that going back and re watching the game and seeing just the, the way that it happened and not just like holding on to the roller coaster while it was happening, it felt like the Cowboys had maybe even a much better chance than we kind of have given them credit for.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

So Sadie. What? Say it again. What do you guys think the mistakes were in the first half that cost them everything?

[Landon McCool]

There's a, there's a list. There's a huge list.

[Marcus Moser]

I got the list right here, Stretch. You want me to run through it?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Yeah.

[Landon McCool]

Let's hear it. Yes.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Call. Roll. Yeah. Yeah.

[Marcus Moser]

Fourth down drop by Javante Williams in the first drive they Had a, the next drive, they had a drop by CD Lamb on third down, they had a roughing the punter. They had an offsides penalty in third and 10. They had a CD fumble that was actually overturned. They had a Cavante Turpin fumble. They had a 12 that they gave up to Devonte Smith down the field. They had a false start on 1st and 10. They had a tripping call on the 1 yard line. They had a false start by Tyler Guyton on the one yard line. They had a deck interception from the five yard line in the end zone. That's in the first 20 minutes.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Landon, you adding anything to that inventory list?

[Landon McCool]

I, I, I have a feeling you could, you know, make an argument about some of the coaching decisions and, and maybe going forward at midfield on the first drive.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Let's just give them the ball at midfield. Yeah, you know what? We don't have enough to overcome you. You just called inventory. You know, let's just give him the ball at midfield and let's just see, let's just see how big a hole we can dig ourselves out of. Yeah, you know, what the hell?

[Marcus Moser]

I forgot to write that one on there, but that was kind of on there. They had the fourth down.

[Landon McCool]

It was because you said the fourth down play. It was blaming the execution as opposed to the call. Look, I mean, I'm pretty sure that the, that the, the numbers tell you that it was a 50, 50 call, if I remember correctly, with a slight go, wasn't it? Marcus, do you remember looking. It was, it was a go call. I think if I'm not mistaken, by.

[Marcus Moser]

By the fourth, if I say anything about the analytics team, we might get canceled on this podcast.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I mean, it's another, it's another, just take your credit card and I mean, maybe they'll let you do it at the Bellagio. Now just put it on black. Say, hey, you know what? I got, I got $30,000 credit limit here. Give me a, give me a, give me a spin on the old black and let's see if it doesn't come up black. You don't have to pay for it.

[Landon McCool]

How, to hell with it.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Just check out.

[Landon McCool]

Here's, here's what, here's what I'll say. I'm not arguing that it was not a bad call. What I'm, what I'm arguing is that it wasn't an egregious call. Right? Like it, it wasn't out, absolutely outrageously bad call. I think you, I, here's my deal with the whole, you know, analytics department and going forward on fourth down. It's a guide, it's another voice in your ear that you ultimately the coaches should be making the, the ultimate decision here. I think if anything that, that, that, that was another example of Schottenheimer coaching too emotionally. Right. Instead of, instead of coaching logically at times. But yeah, I, I, listen, I, I, I could understand why you're upset about it. I don't think it was such an egregious call but I, I mean again it wasn't a good call because ultimately didn't work.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Yeah, I mean again it, it started really bad position in a game that you had to win. I'm not saying I'm not against this or that or, or, or whatever analyticals. You don't even have your finger on the pulse of the football game. You're, you're three minutes into the football. You don't have any idea what they're going to do, how they're going to attack you. You don't have any idea that, how your defense is going to play. So again it feels like, and again just hell, just throw it out there and gamble. Who cares? We hit it fine. If we don't, guess what, we're gonna pay the bill. No big deal. Let's yuck it up, laugh, everybody have a good time. Haha, he, he. Or we'll do like the rest of the Madden guys. What? I don't like how that happened. Hit the reset button, start the game again. Let's run it back.

[Marcus Moser]

Jeff, this is a preview. This is the, this is the PG version of what I got from Stretch.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Let's all laugh. Like it's funny that you put your football team in that sort of a position as if there wasn't, there wasn't enough adversity with football as it is. It's, it's, it's, what it is is it's reckless silliness.

[Landon McCool]

Look, I mean come on, he was, they weren't on the other their own side of the 50. They were on the 50 yard line. I don't disagree that with ultimately it's not a great call. I, I, I, I just don't think it's that egregious. I just think that it was ah, it's a bad call and then we move on.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Because I'm just saying if you're, if you're, if you're taking inventory of the problems, make sure that that's on your list because that was a problem.

[Landon McCool]

Fair enough. Okay, you converted.

[Marcus Moser]

It's a great call. That's the only thing I'll say if Javante Williams just catches that pass. Everybody's talking about how good of a call it was.

[Jeff Biggs]

So that's the only.

[Landon McCool]

Because I do think there's an argument to be made. You're right, coach. All for your argument's sake. That, that, that you know that you're setting the tone. You're setting a game you need to win in your, and you're giving them the position on the other side of it is that they made it. You're also setting the tone for your football team to impose their will on the other team in a game that you need to win.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

So you had that opportunity when you, when you got, when you got after the fumble punt, you had that opportunity because you, you ran it for six yards. If you're going to impose your will, impose your will.

[Marcus Moser]

Well, I think we could talk the play calling, I think, I mean, so.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Now let's just flip the coin now. What the hell, Whatever. It doesn't matter if his head's failed. Whatever.

[Landon McCool]

I'll just flip it up. This is a game we won, by the way, guys. We've got, we've got less than 48 hours to celebrate this amazing win.

[Marcus Moser]

That's all right. We don't have to, we don't have to talk about the coaching decisions, which were generally pretty good this game. It's fine.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I mean, no question, great half, great second half football, you can't, there's nothing you can take away from great second half of football. I, I, I guess I'm just making the statement that I don't like, I don't like when you don't have your finger of, on the pulse of what your football team is doing. I don't like, I, you know, quite frankly, I don't like it when the doctor comes in and cracks you across the knee with that, with that rubber, you know, with that rubber hammer and you kick. Okay, just okay. Boy, I hit the hot spot there.

[Jeff Biggs]

I would just like to see maybe better plays called if you're going to go for it. It just seems like every time recently when they run one of these plays, it just doesn't, doesn't look good obviously, because they don't convert, but with the talent that they have on their offense, I would just like to see them have some real slam dunk plays that they can assure themselves of moving the chains so hopefully they'll get to that point.

[Landon McCool]

It's a tough, the Eagles are a tough defense. I mean that, there's no way around that for sure.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right. Well, Marcus, I loved the stat that you tweeted out at the end of the game. Eight straight stops for the Cowboys defense. I was raving about that during our show. Shutting out the Eagles the entire second half. I mean, that was awesome. What, what did they do defensively to improve and can they keep it going?

[Marcus Moser]

Well, first of all, I got some other stats that are really good. 8. You mentioned 8 drives that they did not score on. They didn't even cross the Cowboys 40 yard line on the final eight drives of the game. 107 total yards. I mean, they completely stopped them. What did they do to, to change? Well, first of all, they stopped giving Philadelphia the, the ball in advantageous situations and they didn't give him the ball in the 50 yard line. Right. They were actually pitting them back a little bit and that helped as well. Well, I just, that's the truth. The other part of it is they just played better. They weren't lining up off sides. They weren't running into the quarterback. They were just playing it straight up. And one of the things that they did extremely well is they stopped the run on early downs. They forced Jalen Hurts to have to throw the ball on second and nine and third and eight and third and 10. And this is just a team that cannot do that consistently well. And when you put the Eagles into those situations, more often than, than not, they fail or they try these YOLO balls down the sideline. It's just not a way to live on offense. And the Cowboys knew that and that's how they were able to shut down this offense.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, I was, I was laughing when you asked the question because I, I again pictured that Landon Dickerson answering the question about the five man fronts and not, not, not knowing that that was coming. And I was like, man, it's too bad Lando Dickerson didn't tune into this show last week because we talked about it on this show. Yeah, I mean, I think again, I'll also, I got a fun stat too that I, I tweeted out that the, since the Cowboys have had Quinn and Williams last, these last two weeks, they're top 10 in defensive EPA per game. And, and I think it's made all the difference. They've, they, they play these kind of five man fronts. Not only do you have Quinn and Williams there, but it also helps accentuate what Oso Digizua and what Kenny Clark do well, and you're getting better play from those two players. I mean, Oso Digizua absolutely was a madman on on Sunday. So, and then I think you add in the fact that you've got Ezraku playing better football than some of these guys coming back from injury. And, and I, I, I think that the defense was primed in a way to stop an Eagles offense that has sputtered, has had fits and starts, and has not run the football particularly well this season. And that really got exposed in this game and the Cowboys were basically able to stop Saquon Barkley from the, from the start. Even when the Eagles were scoring early in the game, they were throwing the ball. Saquon Barkley never got started. And I think that that's, you know, been a huge part to how the Eagles have stabilized their offense throughout these years. And, and, and, and they don't want to have to get even though they have two fantastic wide receivers on the outside, they don't necessarily love to get into a straight dropout game because of all the reasons that we saw on Sunday. When, when you can contain hurts in the pocket, when you can mush rush him around, he, he, he doesn't always find the receivers that, that, that, that are open. He struggles to throw the ball over the deep middle part of the field and there will be times when he will get lost in the sauce, as the kids say, and, and, and, and lose and lose track of the defensive linemen who get through the mush and then bring him down. That, that fourth down sack that osa, the, the only sack that the Cowboys had, right, that OSA had may have been the major turning point of the game by, by pushing them back and assuring that the Cowboys were going to get a chance to get the ball back. It was a huge, huge play and I think again, it was just a great example of why small improvements in different areas of the, of the defense and then obviously the big improvement with Quinn and Williams have kind of added up to the kind of defense that is specifically good at stopping what the Eagles are trying to do.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, Coach, any thoughts? Can they keep it going?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I mean, you know, you gotta, you gotta a defense that is to, to me, I mean, OSA is cashing in on Quinn and being the guy that's, that's, that's taking the two. So if, if you've got him taking the two, then he, he ought to, his size, his strength, you know, what you saw out of him, he ought to be able to take his guy right back to the quarterback. That's a, I mean that, that, that's a fair point. And obviously they made a, they made a good play. There. I would like. You know, I'm more inclined to say what I really thought was Eliza Clark. I, I would. I would have shown nothing to this team except that play and, and moved on to. To Kansas City. But I would have shown that play and I would have. I would have said, if I can get 22 guys with this attitude right here, then. Then anything is possible. Anything is truly possible. Because for him to get, you know, beat up twice and continue to track the football, get there with bad intentions, never, never, never chopped his feet, ball spits out. I mean, that. That's what you want. Those are kind of things that you want to be infectious for the rest of your football team. So you're asking if it. If it can continue? Well, sure it can. If you. If you've got guys playing with that.

[Landon McCool]

Energy, I'll add in. If you can add. If you can add a second clip, it would be Tyler Booker, absolutely burying Nakobe Dean on a blitz and finishing him all the way to the ground. That's the kind of attitude that this offense has been missing, it feels like, is that ability not only to finish, but finish with physicality and, And. And to not back down from guys like Jalen Carter. And you know this. This week, right? Chris Jones, you're gonna have to deal with him having someone who can counter those sort of physical presences inside. That's why this team has felt less than physical in the playoffs in the last few years. It feels like they weren't strong in the middle the way they needed to be on the offensive and defensive lines. That was what. What really felt good about that win on Sunday is the Cowboys kicked their butt on the offensive and defensive lines, and it was good to watch.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, take our first time out. When we come back, I want to switch it up a little bit and talk about the offense and some of the numbers and some of the things we saw as the Cowboys came back from 21, nothing down to beat the Eagles. With another huge game coming up on Thursday against the Chiefs. This is the Cowboys squad show.

[Marcus Moser]

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[Jeff Biggs]

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[Marcus Moser]

So first of all, it's really good to hear Terry Jones say that because he's never said in the past that a superstar won't be traded in. And then eventually actually that was on August 23rd, which is a week before they traded Michael Parsons. I'm not sure Jerry Jones word means anything here, but I do think they're going to keep George Pickens number one. It's really easy financially to do it. You look at the franchise tag. He's going to be so underpaid. And they can use that franchise tag twice. I know he's not going to want to play on it. They'll figure it out. But as for the offense as a whole, it's still clunky at times. There's times where you just wonder like, how come they can't get into a rhythm. It feels very much like if they get that first, first down, then they're completely fine. But I think the thing that landed for me that I, I can't figure out is why has this red zone offense been so up and down this year? You've got two incredible receivers who can win one on one matchups. You've drafted all these offensive linemen in round one and particularly two guards in round one, so you can run the football. And yet there's so many of these times where it just feels off. How do they get that the red zone offense to be more efficient? Because I'm looking ahead to this Chiefs matchup on Thursday. You might only get two or three red zone trips the entire game. You've got to score touchdowns. How do they get back to being a better red zone offense?

[Landon McCool]

They got to run the ball more. Like, I hate to beat it into the ground, but it just feels like there's times when they're getting into these sequences and look, part of the reason that, that they're not running the ball as much is because there's instances where they're getting into the red zone and there's a penalty and then suddenly they're at, they're in first and goal, but they're at their 10, right? Or they're at their nine or, you know, I just feel like they, they've spent, like you said it, they, they have these guards. They, they've got one of the best, one of the better running backs in the NFL at this point. As far as like creating yards after contact attacked, you need to commit and to be a better red zone running team if you want to stabilize the scoring on this team and if you want to give yourself better opportunities in the red zone too, because if teams just know that you're going to go in there and throw the ball, like, you know, anytime that you're more than three yards away from the, the line from the end zone is part of it.

[Marcus Moser]

Again, maybe I'm, I'm being too simple here, but I feel like they're passing stuff is so complicated is a sense of like think about the, the plays that CD Lamb had, right? The interception that they threw to CD Lamb was with CD having to run all the way across the formation and they had a defensive back trailing him. And then the drop that CD had was the exact same play. I don't want to go back to the Jason Garrett era for offense, but I will say that Jason Garrett's red zone offenses were great because it was either hand the ball off to DeMarco Murray or throw a fade to Dez Bryant. They didn't over complicate it. Maybe the Cowboys should do that with their receivers in this running game.

[Landon McCool]

Maybe that's right. You know, I mean, I don't disagree that, that you know, if you have the talent that you shouldn't have to over complicated things. I mean, look, it's tough because there's so much condensed space in there that, you know, you clearly have to run designed plays and if you're not running a fade to Pickens or, or you know, a post, deep post like in the back of the end zone in line with to, to Ferguson. It's like how do you find a way outside of a slant to kind of get the wide receiver the ball in the end zone if you're not using the run game to create play action situations to give you just enough depth to throw the ball over the linebacker's heads or something? I, I just think they need to find a way to be more efficient running the football and that will create the, the, the, the windows. They need to simplify this offensive. The red zone.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Well, I mean Marcus, since you're such a analytical savant, what, what is, what is the fade ball? About 9%.

[Marcus Moser]

First of all, that sounded very mean. I did not say that. Did not say.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Seriously, what is about fade is about a n. I think I want to say it's, it's a little less than 9%.

[Marcus Moser]

Well, it depends on the receiver. Fortunately for the Cowboys, they have one of the most effective fade ball receivers in the league in George Pickens. He scored a touchdown on a speed out this week. It doesn't have to just be a fade. What I'm saying is why not just use.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

You guys said throw the fighter. Somebody said throw.

[Marcus Moser]

That was. Well, that was me. I, I was saying just use some more of these amnesia. Well, I mean, of course I do. I like to talk out of both sides of my mouth. Stretch. I know you, you know that by now, but I'M saying why not just isolate these receivers and hey, you can throw a back shoulder fade, you can throw a traditional fade, you can run a quick slant. To me that is so much easier and you don't have to worry about 15 other things rather than having to try all these different crossing routes to get, get guys open 3, 4 seconds into a play.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I mean the question is inside the, inside the five or even inside the eight, who do you trust given the football, other two other than Williams. And, and by the time they get it down in there, I mean my gut feeling is he needs a blow. So I mean I, they, they need, they really need another back. I mean that, that really is in my mind.

[Landon McCool]

Steven said it, Steven said they should use Lipkey more down there. You know, like they, they paid him the money to be a big back. I understand that he's a fullback, but they should give him carries and load him up, put a tight end early in the year.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

When they gave it to him earlier last year, I thought it was early this year.

[Landon McCool]

No, I mean, look, I don't, look, I, I think he's, I think he's a guy that they can rely to do. And on top of that too, I, I, I think, you know what they, another thing that they should be doing is taking more shots from the high red zone, right? Like not just eliminate the opportunity to make it more difficult at the, the, the two and one yard line because clearly that's the area. Look, where they need to improve execution is, is from the two going in. That's where they have had problems where you just can't get down to the two yard line and not score. Like you have to find a way to punch that in. And, but where they also need to improve is not getting to the two yard line, it's trying to score from the 18 yard line, right. And taking shots in the end zone and, and just eliminating the whole problem of red zone defense by getting, getting there early. I think that that's, you know, avoiding the whole thing together. It's a lot like avoiding third downs, right. It's just a smarter way to do that if you can.

[Jeff Biggs]

I know obviously they practice the red zone plays during the week when they can, but to your point, I think just having Dak kind of roll out to his right and try to find something, it just doesn't work. They gotta, gotta come up with something better. Like you said Landon, but also efficient too, that they can count on. And that's what I was kind of alluding to earlier is that with all the talent and everything that they have with their offense, it. They should be able to find a way to, to channel that and, and to be able to impose their will and, and get those touchdowns like you said.

[Marcus Moser]

Go ahead, Landon. I'm looking up the George Pickens's fade route percentage. I want to make sure I get it right for Stretch since he called me a savant of analytics. I like. Okay, I'll take that. I'm. Put it in my Twitter, I'm putting it in my Twitter profile that I am an analytic guru. Thank you.

[Landon McCool]

I'm sorry, Jeff, can you give me the question one more time?

[Jeff Biggs]

Well, on a different note, what, what, what does it mean to the two of you? And I'm just saying kind of a big picture takeaway. Dak becoming the Cowboys all time passing leader.

[Landon McCool]

It's crazy. It's crazy that that's, that happened and like, almost no one is talking about it because of the circumstances in which it happened. Right? Because of the, the, the Cowboys comeback and all that stuff. Look, I think that that's mostly a function of the modernizing of, of NFL football and passing becoming more and more, you know, part of the game. I do wonder, I do wonder though, if Dak doesn't hold on to this record for a little while simply because of the fact that we're starting to see a little bit of a kind of tilting back towards running. So maybe there's a cycle back towards running a little bit, which, you know, makes this record a little bit difficult to break. Much like, you know, Emmett's record, right, where it's like he broke the record and then football started kind of to change a little bit after that. So yeah, it's obviously, it's noteworthy because Dak is one of the best quarterbacks in, in the Cowboys history, but I think he and all of our fans and everybody will tell you that it's, it's, it's kind of secondary to playoff wins and super bowl wins, especially in this frame franchise.

[Marcus Moser]

Yeah, I'll also say, I think there's a chance that he makes this record like unbreakable. He's already started 133 games with the Cowboys. He's signed through what, the next three years? I mean, there's a chance he gets another 50 starts for the Cowboys and you're. He just gets to a number that's just unrealistic for any other quarterback to get to because it used to be these quarterbacks in like the 60s, 70s and 80s, they would spend their entire careers with one team. It's pretty rare to see that in the NFL now, I think, I think Dak, I'm pretty sure is the longest tenured quarterback by any team in the league right now. I'm thinking off the top of my head, but it's just so uncommon for a quarterback to play 9, 10 years with the same team. He might make this truly unbreakable.

[Landon McCool]

Ah, that's, I think you're right. I didn't, I don't know that I've ever thought of it like that, but I do think that that is probably the longest, I think.

[Marcus Moser]

2017. So that you'd have to, I mean, I think he's the only other one, which is funny that they're facing off this week against each other.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, that's crazy.

[Jeff Biggs]

That is crazy. Couple of notes from practice today. Tyler Guyton dealing with a high ankle sprain. Not expected to play. If not, Nate Thomas would start in plays of him. What do you guys think of that?

[Landon McCool]

He played great, you know, in the game when he took over. So I'm not, I'm not worried about it necessarily. And I, I think again, he's in a unique situation where he took most of the training camp reps at left tackle for, you know, for this team. So yeah, he certainly, I think looked more comfortable stepping back into left tackle than right tackle. Wouldn't you say, Marcus?

[Marcus Moser]

Yeah, he's just way more comfortable on that left side. I, I, I think there is a drop up between Guyton and Nate Thomas.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Marcus Moser]

I think the issue is what happens on a short week if one of these guys, like heaven forbid, their helmet falls off. They've got to miss a play. Like who goes and plays left tackle or right tackle because you've put a Johnny Cornelius on the inter reserve listener that slides out the left tackle. They're in a tough spot that way, but as long as they're starting five or on the field, feel pretty good about that unit. Yeah.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

And as long as you got, I mean, you had a really good pass protect and running back. He is really, really good. I mean, I think he's, I don't think it gets mentioned enough. I mean, everybody, you know, looks at the stat line and he is a really good running back, but I think he's phenomenal at pass protection. I think he's great at chipping his way out. I think he's got a firm understanding of you're really smart football player and that's what you want. I mean, you want somebody who, who not only understands, you know, where, where Jones may be lining up or whatever the scenario is. Whoever their car, Lapis, I mean, whoever they're, they're. They're going to target here. I mean, he's always going to give some help and chip his way out and he knows when to do it and where to do it. And I think that that's the other thing that really gives this starting offensive line, along with Nate Thomas, I mean, some confidence to know that, you know, hey, if, if my guy, if my dad does, does beat me, hey, I got a chance that he's going to be there to clean this thing up.

[Landon McCool]

If you get a chance and you're watching the all 22, you guys should definitely check out the battle that went on between Nicobi Dean and Williams in. In when. Whenever Nicoby Dean came down, Dean got him one time, but Williams got his revenge for sure. And those are two of the best, one of the best blitzers and one of the best blitz pick uppers in the NFL.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, well said. Well said, Landon. All right, we're going to take time out number two. The Cowboys made history with their comeback. They tied the record, the team record for best comeback with that win. Could we see some more history on Thursday? I'll tell you what that is when we come back with Marcus Landon and the coach. This is the Cowboys squad show.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Oh, hey.

[Landon McCool]

Welcome to gift wrapping.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Whoa.

[Landon McCool]

So is Saldana.

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[Marcus Moser]

Wow.

[Landon McCool]

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[Jeff Biggs]

I'm the worst.

[Landon McCool]

I only got my mom a robe.

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[Landon McCool]

So I have to trade in my old phone, right?

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[Landon McCool]

Incredible.

[T-Mobile Representative]

In fact, wrap up my old phone too for my aunt Rosa.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Forget that.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Aunt Liz will be jealous.

[Landon McCool]

Sounds like my family drama.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Oh, I got it. I'll give it to my abuela. I'll take reindeer paper with. Hey, where are you going?

[Landon McCool]

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[Marcus Moser]

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[Landon McCool]

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[Marcus Moser]

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[Jeff Biggs]

All right, we are back. The Cowboys squad show. And we mentioned the Cowboys 21, nothing down. They came back to beat the Eagles 24 to 21. Kind of weird. That was 24, 21 was the final on Sunday, the season opener. The Eagles won 24, 20, whatever that's worth. But here's the history that we could see on Thursday, guys. The Cowboys Chiefs. Remember we talked about. This is one of the first games we talked about when the schedule came out. This is expected to be the most watched NFL regular season game ever on Thursday. If it goes as they think it will, that's pretty cool.

[Landon McCool]

It's old hat for us at this point, right? Like, it just is a very common thing for the Cowboys.

[Marcus Moser]

Yeah, yeah, I, I gotta shout out my guy, Brian Curtis over on the ringer. He said, your life will not change whether this is the highest rated game in NFL history or not.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

It's.

[Marcus Moser]

It really. What does it really matter? I mean, I know it's cool to talk about, but like it's, it's, you know, it's the same as, you know, being called an analytics guru. You know, you get that in $5 you can buy yourself a cup of coffee.

[Landon McCool]

If you can buy yourself a cup of coffee for $5, you must be living in Pennsylvania.

[Jeff Biggs]

So what do, what do we think of this game? You know, the Chiefs are not the Chiefs of a couple years ago, although, you know, they grinded out their own win, came back in their own way on Sunday to beat the Colts. So they're going to be jacked up for this game.

[Landon McCool]

I, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't the Chiefs of the old Chiefs. Like this coming Sunday. It feels like the machine has started to grind into operation these last few weeks for the Kansas City Chiefs. You know, I, I think the last I looked they were. They had a top five offense in by EPA per. Per snap. You know, they are finding a way to, to kind of get it to going. You know, it's, it's, it's interesting because it does feel like this might be a more defensive heavy unit than we've seen kind of in previous iterations. Right where they are relying a little bit more heavily on Spags, kind of scheming it up and sending the guys that he's got and, and relying on Chris Jones and guys like that to make the plays to give Mahomes opportunities at the end of the game to win these. But I, I think the offense as, you know, especially as Rash, Rasheed Rice came back, you started to see the vision that they had early in the season that didn't quite kind of form. And I think they are very difficult to stop once they get starting. The question is how quickly will they get started on Thursday?

[Marcus Moser]

And here's the sneaky thing about the Chiefs is Patrick Mahomes is going to go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. He just hasn't played that way this season. I, I know that there's been some games he's looked that way and I'm sure he's gonna probably look that way against Dallas and make me eat my own words. But if you look at the tape through the first 12 weeks of the season, he's just missing guys like Xavier. Worthy. Against the Broncos was open for a 75 yard touchdown flat. Missed him. And then against the Colts game and there was times where he's just overthrowing these receivers and throwing behind him. He's just not playing particularly well and this offense just isn't all that explosive. It honestly it reminds me a lot of Philadelphia where the. Yes, you have all this great talent, but it's not translating into a lot of points. That's what's going on with the Chiefs right now and that's why game script is going to be so important for the Cowboys in this one. If you can get Kansas City where they're behind and they're having to throw the ball, that's actually a huge win. But if Kansas City can just grind these games out, limit the number of possessions, lean on their defense, I don't know if the Cowboys can win that style of football game real quick.

[Landon McCool]

Huge injury that everyone should be kind of keeping in mind. They're not going to have Trey Smith on their interior and especially with Quinn and Williams and the way OSA has played these last few weeks, that could potentially be a very big loss for this Kansas City teams because obviously, you know, you get in Mahomes's face early. He's a little bit more athletic than your average quarterback. He can get out to the outside and that's maybe where he could be at his most dangerous. But at the same time, that also also doesn't bode well for their running game, which may put more pressure on Mahomes to have to throw the ball more often, which may cause more issues for them.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

It sounds like Pacheco is coming back. So I mean that's, that's where they're going to, that's where they're going to try to get you. I mean they're going to try to, they're going to try to run the football some. And then the question becomes Ken Dallas continue to play like they played the last few weeks versus the run. And if they can do that and get, we'll say it again, one or two critical stops. But this is a game that the. Is going to have to go in. They're going to have to put some points on the board.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah. And, and like Marcus has pointed out, I'm sure he can give us the numbers. They're not going to get a ton of opportunities. It sounds like one of what Casey has really tried to do is limit opportunities for opposing teams offenses.

[Marcus Moser]

Yeah, I mean we've saw, I think it was last week there was five total possessions in the first half. Like there's just. They, they really grind these games down to a halt. And Kansas City ran 92 plays on offense last week against the Colts. Like the Colts are playing good defense. They only gave up nine points in the first three quarters. It's just that Kansas City can almost like. It's like a boxer. They can lull you to sleep and they're just looking to get to the, the championship rounds and then deliver that knockout punch. And you know, last week it was a big play to Xavier Worthy. You know, I think it was in overtime after it was on third down. That's what they want to do. This is not the Chiefs team that can go out there and score 38 points and win these blowout games. They want to try to speed them up. And that's why if you're Dallas, you want to turn this into a track meet. You want these teams to go up and down the field. You don't want it to be a, you know, 20 to 14 game going into the fourth quarter.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Yeah, I mean, who's this, who's this a more must win for Kansas City or Dallas?

[Landon McCool]

Well, I think it's Kansas City because Kansas City, like, you know, the, the expectations for them to be in the playoffs are much higher than the Cowboys. Right. Like if they don't make the playoffs, the Cowboys eliminate the Chiefs in the playoffs. That's extremely disappointing for this unit. Obviously they've got enough cachet that no one's losing their jobs. But, but I still think it's disappoint more, way more disappointing than the Cowboys losing to a team that was in the super bowl. On four days rest after beating another team that won the Super Bowl.

[Marcus Moser]

There's a chance that Cowboys could like win out and still not make the playoffs because of the way the NFC is where Kansas City, I mean, they can't go six and six that you look. They're not going to win their division. And if you look at the three wild card teams ahead of them, Buffalo Chargers and then the Jaguars, they've already lost to all three of those teams, so they own no tiebreakers. They're already a one game back, which really means they're two games back. A loss to the Cowboys would be absolutely devastating for their chances. So I, I do think it's more Kansas City.

[Jeff Biggs]

Right. And on the flip side, I, I saw these numbers today for the Cowboys. 9% chance right now of making the playoffs. If they win on Sunday, that goes up to 16%. But if they lose, it drops down to 4%. But you know, you kind of look at, look ahead a little bit and you know, if you can find a way to get this one, the Lions aren't, aren't on fire right now next week and then one game at a time. But from what here, here's what it.

[Marcus Moser]

Would really do, right? We could go through the schedule. They play the Lions, they play the Chargers. The Vikings, we could talk about all those. But if you come out of this stretch beating the two teams that were in the super bowl last year, the.

[Landon McCool]

Cowboys are four days rest. On four days rest.

[Marcus Moser]

On four days rest, the Cowboys are going to feel like there's not a single team in the league that they can't hang with. And honestly, that just wasn't the case three weeks ago. Four weeks ago, right after losing to Arizona, after getting killed by Denver. If you beat these two teams, the confidence level of this franchise is going to be through the roof. And again, whether they make the playoffs or not is kind of almost irrelevant. It's just that this team is trending in the right direction and that's all we wanted to see coming out of the bye week.

[Landon McCool]

This defense is already better than I ever expected them to be with the improvements of 20 millions. Like, even as much as Marcus and I were excited about the addition of these guys and the, the bringing back of the, the injuries, they've already exceeded expectations as far as, as far as I'm concerned. So I don't really, I'm not really putting a ceiling on this right now.

[Marcus Moser]

Right.

[Landon McCool]

Like, I don't really know how good this, this group could be and how quickly. I mean, what happens if Overshone just feels incredible next week and. Or after the four days and to start playing even another step better? Because I think he's going to start getting better and then that's going to continue to drive your defense up. So I have no idea where, where like this defense, you know, ultimately is going. I'm, I'm thrilled that it's, it's, it's where it is. But I, but I will just remind everyone that if we go back to the beginning of the season Marcus and I talked about, and this was even when Parsons was here, right? Even when Parsons was here, we talked that if this defense could just be middle of the road, they can do things that, that they can do things that maybe we didn't expect them to do because this offense is so good. Now we're talking about a defense that has Quinn and Williams and Marcus and I have quoted several different stats. You've probably all seen them on, on, you know, social media as well with the Cowboys, with Quinn and Williams, they are playing and it's a small sample size, but like a top five defense. I don't think that that's ultimately where they're going to be. But, but that's where the, the kind of, you know, analytic trend shows you at least how good they've been these last two weeks, you know, against two pretty weak offenses there. This is their first real test against. I mean we've compared the, the Chiefs to the the Eagles for sure. But Patrick Mahomes is a completely different kind of quarterback than what you've seen with this defense. This is going to be an interesting thing to see, especially for a team that likes to throw the ball from run formations which is going to be able to take advantage of what the Cowboys are doing with this five man front. It's going to be interesting to see exactly how this Cowboys defense responds to that.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I mean at the end of the day you're going to have to get a big effort out of Revel. You're going to have to get absolutely. You're going to have to get a lot out of Bland and you know, I think those are the guys in my mind that are really, really going to be challenged when you look at how Rice and Worthy, how explosive they are. So it is. I think it's a good place for the Cowboys to be right now though when you, let's just say they finish at.500. I mean but with the draft picks that they're going to have if they hit with their draft picks, I mean it's a team that arguably is going to come out and be favored to win the division next year and who would have thought that, you know, a month ago.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, I think Marcus and I have talked about that a lot. Is that, you know, right where we are right now. Look at where we're going to be in 2026. If, if the trend continues, if they can finish the season strong and reasonable, they may not make the playoffs but if they can finish the the season winning some of these games that we didn't expect them to win and showing some confidence with the talent that they've got already on the roster. Two first round picks in this upcoming draft. They are setting the table for themselves to be not only a division contender but I think an NFL contender next year.

[Jeff Biggs]

Yeah.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

And then get Pickens sign.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, they do.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I don't know what they do with the running back but yeah, you're right.

[Marcus Moser]

Tasty on the in honor of Pickens here, I'm gonna put it on right now.

[Landon McCool]

Oh, is that what that is? I knew there was something going on.

[Marcus Moser]

Everybody else is wearing their right now.

[Landon McCool]

Yes. Look at that.

[Jeff Biggs]

Nice.

[Landon McCool]

There you go.

[Jeff Biggs]

Well done.

[Marcus Moser]

How's it look coach?

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Great. Made yourself a fashion savant.

[Marcus Moser]

I don't know how Pickens wears it.

[Landon McCool]

But it's something like this he wears it both ways. Sometimes it's down over, like it's framing your face. And sometimes it's truly okay.

[Marcus Moser]

I'm ready. I'm ready to dominate now. This is the best podcasting I'm gonna do all year.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I love it. Good stuff.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, let's take our final time out here. When we come back, some final thoughts. We'll dive into this game a little bit more and we'll let Marcus reassemble squad show.

[Landon McCool]

Oh, hey, welcome to gift wrapping.

[Marcus Moser]

Whoa.

[Landon McCool]

So is Saldana.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Hey, can you wrap these, please?

[Marcus Moser]

Wow.

[Landon McCool]

IPhone 17s.

[T-Mobile Representative]

You splurged at T Mobile. You can get four iPhone 17s on them. The new center stage front camera is amazing for group selfies. It's the perfect gift for everyone.

[Jeff Biggs]

I'm the worst.

[Landon McCool]

I only got my mom a robe.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Well, it's better than socks.

[Landon McCool]

So I have to trade in my old phone, right?

[T-Mobile Representative]

No @t mobile. There's no trade ins needed when you switch. Keep your old phone or give it as a gift.

[Landon McCool]

Incredible.

[T-Mobile Representative]

In fact, wrap up my old phone too, for my aunt Rosa.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Forget that.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Aunt Liz will be jealous.

[Landon McCool]

Sounds like my family drama.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Oh, I got it. I'll give it to my abuela. I'll take reindeer paper with. Hey, where are you going?

[Landon McCool]

To T Mobile. The holidays are better. AT T Mobile get four iPhone 17s on us. No traded needed when you switch plus four lines for just 25 bucks a line. And now T mobile is available in US cellular stores with 24 monthly bill credits and four eligible board inside essentials for well qualified customers.

[Marcus Moser]

Photo Pay + taxes, fees and $35.

[Landon McCool]

Device connection charge credits and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel contact US Finance Agreement 256GB830 required. Visit t mobile.com.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, we are back. The Cowboy Squad show with the two co hosts of the daily Lock on Cowboys podcast, Marcus moer and Landon McCool. Quick plug, what do you guys got coming up? Coming up. And we got the game Thursday.

[Marcus Moser]

So yeah, first of all, any anybody wears that, that stuff is hot. That's. Yeah. But anyways, we've got a busy, busy week of shows. L and I have got a show coming out on Wednesday. We're going to preview this Chiefs matchup and then on Thursday we still will have content for you. We've got the crossover show with Ryan Tracy of Locked on Chiefs. And then after the game on Thanksgiving night, we'll have another show breaking down the the Cowboys Chiefs matchup. So I know it's a holiday week, but we still got plenty of content for you guys.

[Jeff Biggs]

Nice.

[Marcus Moser]

Sorry.

[Landon McCool]

We got you covered. There you go.

[Jeff Biggs]

I love it. I love it. Good stuff. And coach, I, you know, I was thinking about it. I think something you've kind of hit on. And we were talking about the offense and I think in this game, partic in particular, be really nice to see the Cowboys offense get off to a quick start, like really use some electricity and kind of jolt, you know, jolt the Chiefs and kind of set the tone for this game with, with what they, what they can do with their firepower as opposed to falling into another hole. You know, feeling on fourth down, whatever. Nice to see them be. Get off to a good start.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Obviously, I mean, they're going to have to go. If they're going to win this game, they got to go play a complete game. I mean, they're going to have to. They're going to have to play a complete football game. And I think, I think that's all three phases. I think that's everything. They're going to have to play their best football in order. In order to beat Kansas City, because I do think Kansas City realizes they're desperate. I mean, they're going to pull out all the stops, too. They're going to come in here and try to absolutely keep themselves alive in a playoff race. So I think you got to play a complete football game. You got to play a disciplined football game and you can do that. You showed you could do it for a half if you can do that. I think the sky's the limit. That doesn't mean that I think they win the football game, but I do think that they need to play a complete game in order to give themselves a chance to win.

[Jeff Biggs]

Yeah, I was, I was thinking about this. You know, I often refer to the NFL as the no favorites league. Like, it almost seems like you're better to be the underdog as opposed to the favorite. And we've seen, we've seen. How many times have we seen teams that are supposed to win at home and then the other team comes back and wins? So I was, I was remembering that if you remember in John Elway's career before he finally got his super bowl, those Broncos teams were always favored and they would always find a way to lose in the playoffs and then kind of in an underdog role. That was the year that they went on from, from a wild card and beat the pack, I believe, in their first super bowl win. So all I'm saying is, you know, maybe with Dak and this group, they're going to be looked upon as underdogs the rest of the season on the outside looking in. But they can keep growing, getting better week, week at week by week and find a way to, to really come together. You know, they might surprise some people.

[Landon McCool]

I'll say this, look, I mean, we're talking about percentages. 9% is not a very good chance, right? But they had less than a 3% chance to win that Eagles game at a certain point, you know, a point in the third quarter. So, you know, odds are made to be defied.

[Marcus Moser]

And I'll go a step further. During the Thanksgiving weekend in 2023, the Cowboys had a 4% chance of winning their division.

[Landon McCool]

That's right.

[Marcus Moser]

And lo and behold, they did. They, they took care of business the rest of the way. Philadelphia dropped a bunch of games against lesser teams because they had a lot of strife in their locker room. Jeff, there's something like that going on right now with Philadelphia, with AJ Brown and their quarterback and their coach, because I think so.

[Jeff Biggs]

It sure seems that way.

[Marcus Moser]

Yeah.

[Jeff Biggs]

I mean, the, what you see on the field, it, it starts in the heart and kind of ends up with.

[Marcus Moser]

What you see that's you take care of business. And then on Friday afternoon, after all of us have satinated all of our turkey and our pie, we're watching this Eagles team play against the Bears team that has been very opportunistic this year that's playing some really good football. I, I'm just saying there's a chance that we get to Sunday afternoon and we have a whole new outlook on what this NFC east could potentially be going into Christmas.

[Landon McCool]

We get to Monday and we're gonna have, you know, AJ Brown quoting Lao Tzu and his on his Twitter account and it's going to be absolutely glorious. I really look forward to that reality. I hope it happens.

[Jeff Biggs]

Any concerns with you guys about what CD is going through with the drops? I mean, he addressed it, he took it head on today and you know, earlier in the season, after the season opener, he came back the following week and had a monster game against the Giants. So maybe we'll see him kind of go off on Thursday with.

[Marcus Moser]

I'm not concerned.

[Landon McCool]

I, I have a hard time getting concerned about drops in the long time, long term for big time wide receivers just because it's a noisy stat. It happens. I think almost every wide receiver, except for guys who, whose calling card is catching the ball, kind of go through that. Right. I, I, I've seen CD bounce back from stuff like this before and, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna trust that.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I. I mean, I think so too. It's just been very. It's when he's dropped the football is. It's brutal. Very untimely. And that's, I mean, that. That's what everybody is, you know, shaking.

[Landon McCool]

Their head about, is first downs and touchdowns. Coach.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Right. Like, if you can't win, you cannot. And I'm telling you, he has won one of those untimely drops Sunday against Kansas City. You'll get beat. You cannot. It's almost the team. The team's gonna have to play flawless in order to win the football game. And he knows that. I mean, I, you know, I see him having, you know, having. Having a bounce back game, but also want to see him. I want to see a different body language out of him. I want to see more. I mean, he's got to see on his chest for a reason. I want. I want to see him be that guy.

[Landon McCool]

Guy. That's fair.

[Marcus Moser]

I. I just don't worry about drops for, for NFL people that love NFL history. 1985, the 49ers won the Super Bowl. 1986, they were 6 and 5 at one point, and there was a stretch where Jerry Rice dropped. I mean, I'm not joking. You can look this up. It's on Football outsiders. He dropped 10 passes in four games. Everybody thinks of Jerry Rice as having some of the greatest hands of all time. He's the undisputed best receiver in NFL history. And even he had a season where he struggled with drops and he got into his own head. It happens. Most of the great ones are able to get themselves out of these slumps. It happens. I trust that CD Lamb will be able to do it.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Yeah.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, well, I think that. I think getting off to a good start, I think getting some more run plays in there and really getting that going would be nice to see, like, because it seems like with Javante and, And Coach made a great point. I mean, he's been doing a phenomenal job blocking, but, man, it seems like every time he runs the ball, it's six, seven, eight yards. Like, literally, like every time. I know that's not the case, but it just feels that way.

[Marcus Moser]

And I just thought Jeff was dropping a 6, 7 joke on us, and I was like, oh, it's gonna be so proud of him.

[Landon McCool]

But that's all right. I. I thought if. I thought Babe Laufenberg was doing the same thing during the broadcast. Turns out he wasn't.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

Yeah.

[Landon McCool]

No, I mean, I, I don't. I Know, it's, it's, it's one of those things where it feels like they have, they, they talked about at the beginning of the season, they wanted to get better, they wanted to be more efficient running the football. They, they did the work. They did what they needed to do to get better at running the football. They, they drafted a guard in the first round, they went out and got Clayton Adams, they signed Javante Williams and, and, and it's, and they've reaped the benefits from it. It's, it's not like they aren't using it, but it does feel like there are points in the game where you just would like to see them run the ball a little bit more, you know, just because it's, it's, it's because it's been more effective. Now, I will agree with my, my buddy here to my. Well, is it this way? Yeah, it's that way. Yeah, that I would like to see a couple less second down and 10 runs. Right. But I, I think that you also got into second down and 10 because you're throwing the ball in first down and you got an incompletion. So SEC throwing on second down is also sometimes ill advised. I think they need to try to find a way to maybe incorporate a little bit more RPO just to cut on, on early downs to kind of, you know, get into the correct play. And then that will, you know, in turn lead to better designed runs, runs that are taking advantage of box numbers. And, and then the, the back end of that is that you're throwing things like slants to guys like George Pickens who are clearly very good at running the kind of routes.

[Jeff Biggs]

Yeah.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I mean he's gonna, he's gonna blitz the crap out of you. So that, that's the whole thing is you're gonna have to, and he's gonna run blitz you too. So you gotta, you gotta be ready to execute. And, and when you, and he'll give you an opportunity to hit some home runs. And, and to me, that's what, that's what makes Dallas so dangerous is they can hit the home run. So I do believe Spagnolo give you opportunity. He's gonna gamble with you. And, and if you hit some home runs, that, that, that's what you want.

[Landon McCool]

To see too Bolton and tranquil. They're going to come downhill. That's, that's how they want to play their brand of football. Throw the ball behind them, throw the ball over the top of them. This may be a big Ferguson game, you know, maybe not Necessarily for touchdowns, but for. For conversions on getting getting into first down. So look out for that.

[Marcus Moser]

Jeff, do you know what I want to see on Thursday? The game? We're supposed to get 18 inches of snow. I'm really worried that we might not get the. The game here. So that's. That's the biggest thing for me.

[Jeff Biggs]

That's a lot of snow, man.

[Marcus Moser]

That's a lot of snow. Thanksgiving day.

[Landon McCool]

Just. Just FaceTime me, buddy. I'll. I'll hold the. The face without. Well, who knows if that'll even work. I guess at that point.

[Marcus Moser]

Yeah, Stretch is just thinking I'm crazy for living up here. But that's all right. It's good. It's. It feels like football weather. That's. That's what we want.

[Landon McCool]

That's fair.

[Jeff Biggs]

Well said.

[Landon McCool]

Looking.

[Jeff Biggs]

Looking at the. The rest of the running backs. I mean, I thought Malik Davis looked good when he was in. He didn't play that much at all. Wasn't crazy about the Kevante Turpin in the eye, not just because of the fumble, but he's just. He's just too small to be there.

[Landon McCool]

Look, it works like we're all forgetting the times when he lined up and then runs for 10 yards and goes out of bounds. It doesn't get touched like it does work at times. But look, you can't. You can't afford to run these plays if he is going to be so inconsistent. Consistent with the football in the sense he's got to hold on to the football.

[Marcus Moser]

He also needs to just develop as a receiver. I know he had a big play this one, but there's other opportunities where he's jumping in the air when he doesn't need to jump for passes. He's just not running some of the right routes out there. It's clear he's in the wrong spots. Turpin can be a really dynamic playmaker, but I wonder if they need to start scaling back his usage a little bit and use Ryan Flournoy some more. Use Jonathan Mingo who was active for this game and maybe keep Turpin as a reserve in a special teams only player right now.

[Landon McCool]

I'm okay with the gadget stuff, but. But yes, eliminating the receiver stuff and giving those routes to Florida would be a benefit.

[Marcus Moser]

He had a huge drop on that first down on that screenplay. First and 20. They were clearly trying to get a couple more yards and he just flat out dropped the screen. You. You can't have him in the game if you're going to make those kind of mistakes.

[Landon McCool]

But then again, you saw what happened when he catches the ball, right? 48 yards. Didn't even like broke four ankles of the Eagles, I think, including Mukabu, who never recovered. And then, and then, yeah, just getting out of bounds like so there is benefit there. It's a big time risk, first reward. But that's, that's what you deal with with these guys.

[Jeff Biggs]

Coach, final thought from you before we wrap up.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

I mean, I, I just, I just believe that, you know, this, this team, it's, it's in front of them right here. I want to see him continue to ride the wave of what we saw with a dominating performance against the Raiders and dominating half versus the Eagles and see if you can, see if, see if you can ride this wave a little bit to turn this into something.

[Jeff Biggs]

All right, you're here. With that said, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your families and to everybody listening and watching as well. We'll be back after the game with our squad show. Marcus and Landon will have their post game show along with some more content today and tomorrow. So we look forward to that. But hey, happy Thanksgiving. I'm thankful to get to, to work with you guys and to get to share this show with all the fans. Yeah, enjoy. For Marcus Moer, Landon McCool and coach Glenn Stretch Smith, Happy Thanksgiving. This has been the Cowboys squad.

[Marcus Moser]

With stays under $250 a night, VRBO makes it easy to celebrate sweater weather. You could book a cabin stay with leaf views for days. Or a brownstone in a city where festivals are just a walk away. Or a lakeside home with a fire pit for cozy nights with friends. Or if you're not a sweater person, we can call it corduroy weather. More flexible and with stays under $250 a night, you can book a home that suits your exact needs. Book [e-mail] hey NFL fans, I'm Brian.

[Landon McCool]

Peacock and that is Matt Williamson, host of the NFL Six Pack, part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team. Every day NFL six pack brings you the latest NFL news and analysis and breaks down all of the weekly action a six pack of takes daily on the playoff pushed in the 2025 season or if your team's in draft mode. Yeah, we'll hit that too.

[Marcus Moser]

All right here. Every day on the Locked on podcast.

[Landon McCool]

Network, the NFL Six Pack. Subscribe on YouTube or everywhere you get your podcast.

[Glenn Stretch Smith]

It's Glenn Smith, former Cowboys assistant coach and now analyst on the Cowboys squad show. Expand your daily Cowboys obsession with an hour long deep dive. As I team up with the best voices covering your favorite team after every game and every Thursday on Locked On Cowboys Squad up wherever you get your podcast live and on YouTube, part of the Locked On Podcast network.

[Jeff Biggs]

Your team every day.