Talkin’ Cowboys: CeeDee Not Skipping Accountability

Summary

Podcast Summary: Talkin’ Cowboys – "CeeDee Not Skipping Accountability"

Podcast: Talkin' Cowboys
Episode: "CeeDee Not Skipping Accountability"
Date: September 5, 2025
Hosts: Kyle Yeomans, Patrick No Cee Walker, Isaiah Stanback, Bill Jones, Josh Rodriguez
Recording Location: The Star in Frisco, TX

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Overview

In this episode, the Talkin’ Cowboys crew brings a spirited breakdown following the Dallas Cowboys’ narrow 24-20 loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1. The discussion covers key positives and negatives from the game, the team’s evolving identity, accountability—particularly from star receiver CeeDee Lamb—and detailed player and unit analysis. With a blend of candid analysis and locker-room banter, the hosts dissect everything from coaching decisions and rookie performances to the role of preseason snaps in shaking off rust.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Initial Reactions and Moral (But Not Really) Victories

• No Moral Victories, Lots of Encouragement:
  The crew is clear: moral victories aren’t their style, but there's a significant sense of optimism coming out of a strong showing against a very seasoned Eagles squad.

  • Bill Jones (03:06): “You should be highly encouraged as to what you have... seeing exactly what your coverage looks like with Trayvon Diggs coming off an injury.”

• Preseason Rust vs. Reality Check:
  The lack of preseason snaps for starters, especially the offensive line and Dak Prescott, is highlighted as a reason for some early miscues and a slow start in cohesion.

Offense: Bright Spots and Missed Chances

• Dak Prescott’s Performance:
  Dak showed accuracy and command (90% catchable throws), but a lack of touchdowns and a single costly red-zone turnover proved costly.

  • Patrick No Cee Walker (07:05): “Dak was pristine out there.”

• Run Game & O-Line Holding Up:
  Strong performance against a vaunted Eagles defensive line, with particular praise for the push and movement up front.

• CeeDee Lamb’s Duality – Production & Drops:
  Lamb racks up 110 yards (7 catches) but draws scrutiny for four drops, two of which occurred on the final, potentially game-winning drive. His public accountability and leadership are lauded.

  • CeeDee Lamb quote (24:44): “Man, that was terrible. I can’t point fingers at anybody else. I take full accountability and everything else that comes with that.”
  • The panel emphasizes this as a mark of maturity and growth from Lamb’s earlier years.

• Drops, Red Zone, and Turnovers:
  One lost fumble in the red zone and inefficiency (Cowboys not 3/3 in red zone, Eagles were) are pointed to as the difference.

  • Bill Jones (16:44): “The only thing that sticks out to me and like a sore thumb. The Philadelphia Eagles were 3 for 3 in the red zone. If the Dallas Cowboys were 3 for 3, Dallas Cowboys win the game.”

• Preseason Recalibration & Focus:
  A nuanced debate arises over whether Lamb and other players’ errors are about ‘rust’ from missing preseason snaps, overconfidence, or failures in focus and fundamentals under live fire.

  • Patrick No Cee Walker (32:59): “I think he’s smelling himself… starting to feel unstoppable… then the focus starts to wane.”

Defense: Adjustments and Silver Linings

• First-Half Struggles vs. Second-Half Lockdown:
  The defense gives up major rushing yards to Jalen Hurts via broken plays in the first half but clamps down in the second, limiting Philly to just 30 rushing yards and zero offensive touchdowns after halftime.

  • Patrick No Cee Walker (09:19): “120 plus yards on the ground for the Eagles in the first half. Roughly 30 in the second half. Three rushing touchdowns (first half), zero offensive touchdowns allowed in the second.”

• Interior D-Line Standouts:
  Solomon Thomas, Kenny Clark, and Osa Odighizuwa are singled out for physical, disruptive play.

  • Bill Jones (10:07): “The way that Marshawn, Osa, Solomon, and Kenny Clark came off the ball... so encouraging watching on film.”

• Coverage Success vs. Open Questions:
  Philly's big-name receivers are largely taken out of the game—A.J. Brown, Devonta Smith, and Saquon Barkley are all held in check. But the crew points out the secondary was protected via heavy zone coverage; it’s not clear how well man-coverage would have fared.

  • Bill Jones (45:11): “We did not truly have enough body of work in terms of coverage, man to man coverage to really have an understanding of where you’re at with your DBs.”

• Missing Pieces:
  The absence of Micah Parsons is felt, especially in pass rush and contain on Hurts, but the defense shows it can survive without him, thanks in part to new additions like Kenny Clark.

  • Kyle Yeomans (52:55): “There were times where Micah Parsons would have made an impact in this game… But I also think we've now seen that Dallas will survive without him in the full.”

Coaching & Organizational Culture

• Eberflus & Schottenheimer Bring Change:
  Coaches are credited for sticking to their guns—Mozzi Smith’s healthy scratch as a message of accountability, as well as creative and effective game plans, especially early.

  • Patrick No Cee Walker (05:57): “Mozzi Smith was a healthy scratch. You don’t see that under Mike McCarthy.”

• Halftime Adjustments Stand Out:
  Both offensive and defensive adjustments at halftime are seen as meaningful, suggesting new flexibility and attention to in-game problem solving.

Accountability & Leadership

• CeeDee Lamb’s Ownership:
  Throughout the show, the crew expresses admiration for Lamb’s postgame candor and avoids piling on, suggesting his attitude bodes well for future leadership.
  • Patrick No Cee Walker (25:44): “One thing about me is I’m always going to give roses and kudos to a person who can be accountable.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Moral Victories:

  • Bill Jones (04:12): “The Super Bowl champions returned 17 out of 22 starters. And you just went toe to toe with them. And you should have won.”

• On CD’s Drops & Accountability:

  • CeeDee Lamb (24:44): “Man, that was terrible. I can’t point fingers at anybody else. I take full accountability…”

• On Defensive Halftime Adjustments:

  • Patrick No Cee Walker (09:19): “120 plus yards on the ground for the Eagles in the first half. Roughly 30 on the ground in the second half. Three rushing touchdowns in the first half. Zero offensive touchdowns allowed in the second half.”

• On Fumble & Turnover Margin:

  • Bill Jones (18:21): “Turnovers decide games. And that was the only turnover of the entire game.”

• On Coaching Accountability:

  • Patrick No Cee Walker (05:57): “Mozzie Smith was a healthy scratch. You don't see that under Mike McCarthy.”

• On Rust vs. Focus:

  • Bill Jones (28:41): “That was evidence of rust.”

  • Patrick No Cee Walker (32:59): “I think he’s smelling himself… then the focus starts to wane.”

• On Defensive Stand:

  • Kyle Yeomans (44:37): “If you hold A.J. brown to one reception for eight yards and you hold Devonte Smith for three receptions… I think Dallas wins the game.”

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Important Timestamps

• Game Recap & Encouragement: [02:29 – 04:44]
• Defensive Performance & Adjustments: [05:57 – 11:14]
• CD Lamb’s Drops & Accountability: [22:44 – 27:23]
• Red Zone & Turnover Analysis: [16:44 – 18:28]
• Coverage vs. Philly’s WRs: [44:00 – 46:07]
• Linebackers' Role & Defensive Scheme: [47:09 – 49:11]
• Final Thoughts on Coaching, Missing Parsons, and Moving Forward: [50:22 – 53:20]

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Tone and Style

The conversation is upbeat, honest, and detailed, combining technical football insight with genuine fan passion. There’s healthy debate, introspection, and a sense of camaraderie, with a bit of comic relief sprinkled throughout (“Very punny episode,” “If anything, you should have smashed a CD player”).

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

• The Cowboys showed real promise—despite the loss—going toe-to-toe with the NFL’s most intact, reigning champs.
• CeeDee Lamb’s accountability stands out as a leadership milestone; his drops stung, but there’s faith he’ll rebound.
• Positives on both lines and especially the secondary (thanks to coverage schemes) paint a brighter picture than the box score.
• Coaching, culture change, and attention to detail are all trending up.
• Plenty to polish for next week, but the foundation looks strong.

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Stay tuned for more coverage, as the crew shifts their sights to a matchup with the Giants next Sunday.

Transcript

[Nationwide Announcer]

Nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company. They're one of America's largest financial services companies. Like how I'm more than just Peyton Manning. I'm also motivating Manning. When I say insurance, you say financial services. Insurance. Financial services. Insurance. Financial services. Now when I say nationwide, you say is both. Nationwide is both. Nationwide is both. For your insurance and financial needs, Nationwide is on your side.

[Bill Jones]

Nationwide investment services Corporation, Ember Finra, Columbus, Ohio State.

[Kyle Yeomans]

The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This is Talking Cowboys streaming live from the Dallas Cowboys world headquarters at the Star in Frisco CD Lamb.

[Nationwide Announcer]

Patrick has sacked it. Prescott keeps it and he bangs it.

[Bill Jones]

In for the touchdown.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And now your hosts, Isaiah Stanbach, Patrick Walker, Josh Rodriguez and Kyle Yeomans. It's a say it with your chest. Friday edition of Talking Cowboys presented by Black Rifle Coffee Company live from the Star in Frisco, Texas in the SWBC studios. Welcome in, everybody. Cowboys fall in week one. 24:20, the final score against the Philadelphia Eagles. And we've got the whole cast and crew ready to break it down for you.

[Bill Jones]

Ready to rock today.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Today with Patrick no see Walker, Josh Rodriguez, Isaiah stand back. Chris Beam in the back and Kyle Yeomans. Gentlemen, where do we start? Where do we start? There are a lot of different things to break down. We could talk about.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Spit it out.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah, we could talk about that. Talk about Jalen Carter, talk about a couple, couple dropped opportunities, a couple things that slipped right through your fingertips within.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Spitting distance, if you will.

[Rob Gronkowski]

Yeah, all.

[Kyle Yeomans]

All the metaphors, all the puns, all the puns. Cowboys fall had a shot to beat the reigning super bowl champions on the road in week one. It hurts. The fact that they had a shot and they very easily could have won that game with as well as they played that wasn't even had a shot.

[Patrick No See Walker]

They had a shot.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

And it hurts.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And it hurts.

[Bill Jones]

Man.

[Kyle Yeomans]

This is just. We're on a roll here.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Very punny episode.

[Kyle Yeomans]

No, but you had an opportunity late and ultimately just couldn't get it done.

[Bill Jones]

Listen, you guys know everything about talking Cowboys. We don't do moral victories. No, we don't do moral victories. But I can tell you what. Last night, last night, when there is no draw, right? Win or lose, right? Obviously you lost. You were going to find out where your team was. You had. You had no idea what your team was. You literally had no idea. The most of the guys that were playing last night had not touched the field in the. In the preseason. That's just what it is. You know, what you have now in Cowboys nation, again, I'm going to say there are no moral victories, so don't, don't at me. However, you should be highly encouraged.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Absolutely.

[Bill Jones]

You should be highly encouraged as to what you have for what's transpired with this organization over the past week in terms of losing your best defensive player and seeing exactly what your defense looks like now, seeing exactly what your coverage looks like with Trayvon Diggs coming off an injury. You still have other guys that have to come off the injury support to, to make contributions to see what your offense looks like with Brian Schottenheimer and really everybody not even really being utilized last night. You should be encouraged by the running game. You had questions and concerns about who was going to be able to tote the rock and can you be effective on the ground with the ground game. You should be encouraged by your offensive line. How are these guys going to be able to be able to, you know, run block? Can these guys protect? Can they keep Daca? Is Dax hamstring healthy? Can he run? Can he get out the pocket? Um, all these things. There's a lot of questions that I don't want to say fully got answered, but you have a pretty good idea as to where you're at right now. And again, you just played the super bowl champs who returned? Almost everybody. Almost 17 out of 22 starters.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Impressive.

[Bill Jones]

They returned. The Super bowl champions returned 17 out of 22 starters. And you just went toe to toe with them. And you should have won. You should have won. You had your opportunities.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Absolutely right.

[Bill Jones]

So again, no moral victories. But I am encouraged. Right. I had predicted that they were going to lose 27 to 21, I think. Right. Just guys like, I just don't know who they are. I don't know if they're going to be able to get over the edge. Right. This was, this was a good matchup. And I've gotten through the first half of film so far. A lot of things clean up, but all these things that, that you see on film are correctable. But again, we'll get into the details. I'm highly encouraged.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Is it a lot of things that you think would have benefited from a few snaps in the preseason?

[Bill Jones]

Yes, very much so. Very much. I. I said it last night on the post game show.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I was about to say, did you listen to post game last night?

[Bill Jones]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

And that's kind of what I'm leading into that because those are a lot of things and a lot of fans were kind of saying this too, you know, it's. If you don't have Dak playing in the preseason at all, getting snaps, getting familiar, that was the first time we had seen the offensive line play together as one on the field. Thursday night football game one. That's a crazy. That's a tall order, if you will, to serve up for opening day. But the Cowboys went down the field on two drives in a row and scored touchdowns. You have to love that. You have to love what Brian Schottenheimer came in with. Another thing that you said on the pregame show was that your coordinators were prepared. They got your guys prepared. I loved that because it was clear. It was obvious. I don't know that I necessarily loved Matt Eber Fluz's game plan. When you look at the snaps of, like, Ameris Leopale, why he wasn't on the field, why. Why he wasn't spying. Jalen hurts. Especially after the first few drives where they went down and scored touchdowns back to back to back. It's tough, but I think there's a lot to build on.

[Patrick No See Walker]

I tell you what, and speaking to Eber flu really quickly before I get to some of my key takeaways, because a lot, a lot here, but I'll give a summation. But Eber Floose, we talk about culture change. Mozzie Smith was. Was a healthy scratch. You don't see that under Mike McCarthy. Mike McCarthy is still in this building as head coach. Mozzie Smith is not a healthy scratch at any point ever. So I would like to say that Schottenheimer and Eber Flutes are keeping to what they said. They said they want to see more consistency from Mozzie Smith. Those were not empty words.

[Bill Jones]

Nope.

[Patrick No See Walker]

At all.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Compete every day.

[Patrick No See Walker]

So. So kudos to them for that. Now, as far as some of the takeaways from those who did play, love what Isaiah is saying. Love what Josh is saying. And I completely agree. Again, we will say this, and we'll have to say this a million other times because we already know how fans are. There are no moral victories, zero weather. Just as if the Cowboys had won, there would have been negatives to discuss as far as improvements. Yeah, okay. Just like the Cowboys lost this game, there are positives to discuss along with the negatives. Yep, that's called football talk. Okay. There are a lot of positives. Schottenheimer came out, his script was magnificent on that first drive. But then you're thinking to yourself, okay, script looks magnificent. First 12, 15 plays cool. Second drive, mostly unscripted. Still looked magnificent. Oh my. What are we doing here? Are we a lot. There's a lot of pre snap motion here, that snap motion there. These are a lot of condensed offensive sets to make things that much more challenging on the defense for the Eagles. And then you look at Dak. Granted no preseason, but saw stat yesterday, finished the game with 90% catchable throws. 90%. Dak was pristine out there. The run game, to Isaiah's point, we had no idea what this run game would look like or this new look offensive line would look like. Man, I get it. Jalen Carter got removed. But guess what? They still have bodies out there. Like Jordan Davis, for example, shouts out to Javante Williams. He was making the best of every opportunity given to him. In conjunction with the fact that, man, this offensive line was just moving. Moving bodies.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Absolutely.

[Patrick No See Walker]

They were moving bodies forward, sideways. It was a lot of steering going on out there. So run game looks good. Passing game looked great. CD Lamb was virtually unstoppable in the first half. Yeah. You know, he was approaching a hundred yard game at the half. Okay, let's see what else I got here. Defense Eber Fluss struggled with his. His initial game plan. Okay. First half did not look great in run defense. And of course everyone, including us.

[Bill Jones]

I disagree.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Didn't look great.

[Bill Jones]

Yeah.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Because of Jalen Hurts.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Yes.

[Patrick No See Walker]

It wasn't because Saquon was going off doing Saquon.

[Bill Jones]

They bothered.

[Kyle Yeomans]

They bottled him up.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Yes.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I mean it was.

[Patrick No See Walker]

It was because Jalen. Jalen hurts his mobility. But if you go back and look at the film as we do on talking Cowboy, would you notice is that a lot of those runs from Jalen Hurts. None of them were designed.

[Bill Jones]

They were broken plays.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Why would they broken plays? Because the coverage.

[Bill Jones]

Coverage.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Absolutely. Chef Kiss. Okay, so at that point now another positive halftime adjustments. We saw halftime adjustments from the defense.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Absolutely.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Oh, man. 120 plus yards on the ground for the Eagles in the first half. Roughly 30 on the ground in the second half. Three Russian tutties in the first half. Zero offensive touchdowns allowed in the second half. A lot of positives be taken to be taken away from here. Solomon Thomas. Yes, sir.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Played well.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Okay.

[Bill Jones]

Clark.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Kenny Clark, Sir. OSA in the second half.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Three defensive tackles that had a good.

[Nationwide Announcer]

What is going on?

[Bill Jones]

And shout out. Because I was shout out to Marshawn.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Marshawn, listen.

[Bill Jones]

Was not necessarily over the hill for the pass rush, but in terms of.

[Patrick No See Walker]

His had two sex physicality.

[Bill Jones]

The way that Marshawn, osa, Solomon and Kenny Clark came off the ball. That it was so encouraging watching on film like they were firing off the ball. Solomon Thomas is a madman coming off the snap like relentless.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

He doesn't just look the part.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And it was the second moves too. It was the fact that he would get locked up on one side.

[Bill Jones]

Yeah, yeah.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I mean there were so many different options on the film. When you go back and look at it, it's a fun watch.

[Patrick No See Walker]

It really was. And on top of that adds to very exciting. How many times did we see in the past, just recent seasons, the Cowboys with go to go defense just basically find ways to part the Red Sea or get bullied and just pushed into. No, not, not last night against the arguably the best offensive line in the game. It took like for example, one of Jalen Hurts rushing touchdowns was because it was go to goal. Stuffed. Stuffed. And then he goes to.

[Kyle Yeomans]

It wasn't easy, right?

[Patrick No See Walker]

He goes to roll out. He's like, oh, I. I don't have anyone to pass to. Why? Because the coverage is pristine. He roll legs and there you go. So lots of positive takeaways with these negatives.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

One thing that you just brought up, Marshawn Nean, a guy that you've been critical of since, for him to show out like he did yesterday was impressive. But what did you see? What was different from camp, from yesterday?

[Bill Jones]

Violence. You don't. You don't get that violence. And you don't get that violence in camp. You just don't.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

No, no, you don't. You don't.

[Bill Jones]

You're not tackling it. Even when you are thudding up, you're still going three quarters. Let's call it what it is right in training camp and at the line position. You. What are your coaches saying? Stay up, stay up, stay up. You can't go 100% when you're worried about falling, you know, not trying not to fall on the ground. So that's just. Be real. Be real. Be honest about it. The way that he was firing out the ball, even though I would like to see a, A, I would like for him to get a bag of pass rushes when he. Even when he two gaps, he's. He's powerful. And he pushed Lane Johnson back numerous times into the. Into the lap of Jalen Hurts. So those things were very encouraging. Like I said, there's a lot to go through. But you, for fans understand you. You won the number of first downs. You won third down. You won total total yards. You won average game per play. You.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Let me. Let me add.

[Patrick No See Walker]

You won the coaching.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah, let me, Let me add to This a little bit. If you would have told me on Wednesday going into Thursday that Saquon Barkley is held to 3.3 yards.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Cool.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Devonte Smith finishes with three grabs for 16 yards. No touchdowns. Longest was seven yards.

[Patrick No See Walker]

I know where you're going.

[Bill Jones]

A.J. brown.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Did he play one reception?

[Patrick No See Walker]

Oh, he was in the building.

[Bill Jones]

He was there.

[Kyle Yeomans]

He was in the building.

[Bill Jones]

At the end of the game. Yeah.

[Kyle Yeomans]

One reception for eight years. At the end of the game. At the end of the game. If you would have told me all three of those things were true, I don't care what anybody else does. I think Dallas wins the game.

[Bill Jones]

Correct.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And that's part of why this one does hurt the way that it does. And I say hurt with a little emphasis because you talked about third down. That was the problem.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

That was the problem.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Eight of 13 and most of those 13 that didn't end up on the positive side for Philly was late. And that was part of the adjustment. In the 45 seconds that I saw my wife this morning, we talked football because that was really all we had. When we get home at 2am and then turn around and get up here at 8am yeah. And that's not even as bad bad as what Patrick's having to deal with and Chris Beam are having to deal with. But for the 45 seconds, I saw Larina, I said, you know, I think it boils down to I loved Schottenheimer's game plan. I loved Eber flu's adjustments. And that's, that's part of the game. The game plan was there in the first half from the offense. And the game plan wasn't bad for me. Refleuss in the first half. They did good things. Or else Saquon Barkley doesn't get held to 3.3 yards per carry. But the adjustments going into the second half from the defensive side gave the offense every opportunity to win that game in the third or the fourth quarter. And you didn't take advantage of, to.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Your point, Ibrahe's game plan. I actually think in the first half was really good.

[Patrick No See Walker]

It was fun.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

We're talking about like shutting down A.J. brown. We're talking about shutting down Devontae Smith. That's for the whole Barkley for the entire game.

[Bill Jones]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

It was Jalen hurts that hurt you. No pun intended. It was those third down situational things. It was Dante Fowler not having his best game. It was the linebackers not cleaning up.

[Bill Jones]

You know, the second level.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

There was a second level all day because OSA Digi Z was in the backfield on every snap. It was insane.

[Bill Jones]

And the reason why I pointed like. I'm not pointing fingers at anybody. We're just. No, no, we watch film around here, okay? So that's what we do. I'm talking Cowboys. I can't speak to the other shows. You know, we. We.

[Kyle Yeomans]

We watch film.

[Bill Jones]

We watch film and we talk.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Watch that on the way home last night.

[Bill Jones]

There's a lot of things that you can point out as every coach on that staff is going to do. They are going to dissect it for those that are at home. And when you're a professional athlete in the NFL, the coaches come in, they watch the film first. They literally grade every single play. They give you a plus or they give you a minus. When you walk into that meeting room that morning to go over what just took place, you were handed a packet of every play that was had for your offensive or defensive snaps, which are grade for. For that play. Whatever plays you were on, you're graded. Okay? And you go through every single play and you talk what you should have done better, what we could have done better as a unit. We were talking about the defensive line and how they were firing off and how they, for the most part, have relatively good gap discipline. The linebackers, I know it is going to be highlighted in Matty Bruce. That's his position. So please believe he's going to correct this. These guys were not playing as a cohesive unit in the terms of reactionary action. You know what I'm saying? They weren't reacting. They were waiting. There was gaps that were there. That's why Saquon got off and got. Should have been negative 2, negative 3 yards every a couple times. And he was able to make it plus four. Right. Because we were not shooting the gaps. We weren't seeing ball hit ball. There was hesitation there. And I think those are things that you only get by knocking off the rust. Yeah, last night was knocking off the rust. You just wish that it would have happened somewhere in the preseason or training camp. But again, these are all the correctable items. And I'm. I am encouraged by it. When I only thing that sticks out to me and like a sore thumb. The Philadelphia Eagles were 3 for 3 in the red zone. If the Dallas Cowboys were 3 for 3. Dallas Cowboys win the game. I'm not pointing to saying that was the only thing. I obviously was a gazillion things that took place. The fumble killed it. Yeah, the fumble killed it. You were in the red. So first of all, I Should have never got to the Fumble because that was a heck of a blocked up, great call by Scheinheimer. Blocked up by the old line and the receivers should have been a house call, not a house call.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Know who cribs that, right?

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Jaden Blue.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Jane Blue. Cribs that understood.

[Bill Jones]

I mean, it happened.

[Patrick No See Walker]

One of the few coaching. It's not.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I'm not gonna hit.

[Bill Jones]

I'm not.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I'm not gonna Miles, I'm not gonna fall.

[Bill Jones]

Zach Bond made a heck of a play.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Not faulting him for that, what we're saying, because two things can be true at the same time. It was a hell of a play. Blocked up wonderfully. Yeah, he executed it wonderfully. And it's also true that he got dragged down from behind.

[Kyle Yeomans]

But same thing about Kevante Turpin, though. You can throw anybody's name in there.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Yeah, but on that particular player's Turpin.

[Bill Jones]

No, I mean, but you, you can always sub out. You can always.

[Patrick No See Walker]

So that's what I'm saying.

[Bill Jones]

Yeah, but you always look at each player and say, if this player was.

[Patrick No See Walker]

There, blue is faster. And in that particular play, all things being equal, Blue is not getting caught from behind.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

To counteract that, though, you have Zach Bond in the backfield. That is go. I mean, in, out in space. Who cleaned it up. It was aisle seven. I mean, he was clearing up all day, every day. I don't know necessarily that Jaden Blue cribs that the chances are much higher if Jaden Blue is in the game.

[Bill Jones]

Let's listen, listen, listen. We can't go down the line and say on this play, if that's what I'm saying, that player was in there.

[Kyle Yeomans]

That would have been really safe.

[Bill Jones]

We're not going to do that. But yeah, it was a heck of a play by Zach Bond, heck of a play on the offense for the Dallas Cowboys. And fortunately, you didn't score. Okay. You would have liked to have scored.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Absolutely.

[Bill Jones]

And the consequence of that was, unfortunately, ball secured, security wasn't there, you lost the ball. But we can point to that. We can point to the George Pickens, you know what I'm saying? Penalty, which killed you on your ability to score a touchdown on that particular drive. So there was a number of things that took place. We're not pointing fingers, we're just addressing that one stat line. If you were 3 for 3, you win the game.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Well, turnovers decide games. And that was the only turnover of the entire game.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

And drops and.

[Bill Jones]

Yeah, drops.

[Patrick No See Walker]

And your quarterback tried to save you even from that turnover.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I want to talk a little more offense. Let's talk about the drops. Let's talk about the significance of Dak last night and I thought he had some, some ups and some downs, but really it was more ups than downs. Cowboys lose 2420 to the Philadelphia Eagles. Let's talk offense when we come back right after this.

[Nationwide Announcer]

Nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company. They're one of America's largest financial services companies. Like how I'm more than just Peyton Manning. I'm also motivate Manning. When I say insurance, you say financial services. Insurance, financial services. Insurance financial services. Now when I say nationwide, you say is both Nationwide. Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs, Nationwide is on your side.

[Bill Jones]

Nationwide Investment Services Corporation Ember Finra, Columbus.

[Rob Gronkowski]

Ohio this is Rob Gronkowski from Dudes on Dudes. Anyone else feeling hungry? Because Applebee's just cooked up the ultimate option. Play with their new Ultimate Trio deal. You can choose from three of their delicious appetizers and pair them up with three sauces for just 14.99. Craft your perfect trio from over 80,000 different combinations in this flavor packed plate. Built for one or to share. If you're generous, you can stick with the classic pairings like boneless wings and buffalo sauce, mozzarella sticks and marinara, or brew pub pretzels and white cheddar beer cheese. Or you can spice things up and try some unexpected combinations like dipping chicken wonton tacos and their honey Dijon mustard. The choice is yours. The Ultimate Trio is the perfect way to hit all your cravings in one plate and turn appetizers into an entree. It's time to head to your neighborhood Applebee's or order online today. Now that's eating good in the neighborhood.

[Bill Jones]

AT&T has a new guarantee. Because most things in life are not guaranteed. Like getting through self checkout by yourself. Warning. Each item must be placed in the bagging area. Not guaranteed. Place items in the bagging area. Place items in the bagging area. You know what AT&T guarantees connectivity you depend on, deals you want and service you deserve. Or we make it right. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.comguarantee for details. @ and T Connecting changes everything. Every day begins with a promise. A promise to work hard and to build a future. That's why we're here providing the tools, expertise and John Deere equipment you have relied on for generations to help you get the job done right.

[Patrick No See Walker]

We're with you.

[Bill Jones]

That's our promise to you. Because no matter the project or the challenge you're facing. We're with you.

[Patrick No See Walker]

We're united.

[Kyle Yeomans]

If you're looking for fresh American roasted coffee that gives back, you need to head to your local grocery store and pick up a bag of Black Rifle Coffee. That's right, America's coffee is now available in the coffee aisle of a grocery store near you. Black Rifle Coffee Company is veteran founded with a mission to give back to those brave men and women who have served our nation. Every bag, box or can you purchase helps support that mission. Head to your local grocery store and roast yourself some Black Rifle Coffee. Today.

[Bill Jones]

As America's leading business lender, bank of America is on your corner and in your Corner.

[Patrick No See Walker]

With over $9 billion in business loans.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

And more than 140 business specialists right.

[Bill Jones]

Here in North Texas, we help businesses.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Thrive so communities prosper.

[Bill Jones]

What would you like the power to do?

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Learn [e-mail] LOCALBUSINESS bank of America Official bank of FIFA Club World Cup 2025.

[Bill Jones]

Copyright 2025 bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Back to Talkin Cowboys. Back here on Talking Cowboys. This segment of the show is brought to you by Invisalign. The official smile of the Dallas Cowboys. Still smiling today.

[Bill Jones]

Normally they call it I am smiling.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Yeah, there are things to smile about, sure. I'm dead serious.

[Kyle Yeomans]

They call it Black Monday most of the time on on the week after the first game for every NFL team because you're either winning the super bowl or you're going to go 0 and 17. And I think Dallas is about as in the middle as possible on that. And of course, it's not a Monday, it's Black Friday, but it's not Thanksgiving. The when you talk about some of the positives there for the offense and we've kind of hit a couple of these Dak Prescott finishes 21 of 34 passing, didn't have a passing touchdown, 188 through the year. 110 of that went to one guy named CD Lamb. However, even after going seven receptions for 110 yards, a lot of people looking at CD as a microcosm reason. And it's not the only reason, but it's a big reason that the Cowboys didn't come up with this Football's a funny game in it.

[Patrick No See Walker]

It is.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Football's a funny game. He had four drops after putting up 110 yards receiving and being the majority of the offensive attack for the Dallas Cowboys. And at the end of the day, you come up just shy on a couple of really tough catches and it's still not enough to get it done. And he said it himself. He said, I got to catch those balls.

[Bill Jones]

Yeah. Like, let's give credit to the maturity of CD Lamb 100%. Right. Like, think about where he came from.

[Patrick No See Walker]

He's not.

[Kyle Yeomans]

He's a captain.

[Patrick No See Walker]

He's not ducking any.

[Bill Jones]

He's a captain now. Right. I'm the captain now. Right. I was hoping that reference. He has taken so many strides towards leadership. I mean, I'm. I mean, I don't have a personal relationship with him like that, but I'm proud of his development in that particular area, coming from where he was even in the beginning of last year. Go back a year where he was throwing tantrums and things like that. And I think that was kind of his awakening moment to. To see himself in the mirror and be like, oh, I don't like that. Right. He made changes to the point where there's nothing negative that you can say about how he addressed and owned his drops from yesterday.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Not at all.

[Bill Jones]

He owned that to a T. Yeah.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Go watch it on Dallas Cowboys dot com. The whole interview is up.

[Bill Jones]

Listen, no excuses. Hey, look no further than me. I got to catch the ball. All the things, like, I'm not looking anywhere else. I'm looking at the man in the mirror, Michael Jackson style. And that's what I love about how he handled that yesterday. He said, if you don't think that I'm going to come back better than I was tonight, you guys don't know me. Love it, love it. It happens. Everybody's not on their A game every day. He bought out.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

He really did.

[Bill Jones]

He balled out. But there's some balls that he wish he would brought in. It happens. There's. You can talk about the old line. They balled out for the most part. We can point to the number of blocks that you wish you would have done better. Yeah. It would have made a difference. Right.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

And for any fan that says, you know, like he's getting a $34 million, he needs to make every single one of those catches. There were a couple of those catches I thought were pretty tough.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Yes.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

And especially if you consider the secondary bearing down on him in those moments. But for him to outwardly say, those are mine, I need to get those no matter what.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Here's the. Here's the exact quote, and I quote CD Lamb after the game last night. Man, that was terrible. I can't point fingers at anybody else. I take full accountability and everything else that comes with that. As a player, I've prayed for moments that and for the ball to come my way to not come up with it. It stings a little bit. And then he went on to say, as Isaiah was saying, if you don't think that he's going to come back basically and cook, then you got another thing coming. And I'm standing right there with Isaiah. I cannot, and I've said it a million times, one thing about me is I'm always going to give roses and kudos to a person who can be accountable.

[Bill Jones]

Right.

[Patrick No See Walker]

They're not passing the book off. He didn't even deflect. He didn't try to soften the blow. He basically stood right on the track, right on the tracks, looked at the train coming and said, okay, this is me now. Was he the only reason the Cowboys dropped that game? No. I mean, my prediction was The Cowboys win 27, 24, and damn it, they were close. They were right. One score away, all is in your hand. Three minutes to go. Gotta make the catches. And he knows that. I think what, what highlights the drops is the situation in which the drops occurred. Absolutely. And the last drive receiver that dropped the passes. It's kind of a perfect storm of. That's why they pay CD Lamb to make those catches.

[Bill Jones]

Yep.

[Patrick No See Walker]

CD Lamb said it himself. He's prayed for times like that. And in the past, he's come up good for the Cowboys in times like that. In the future, he will come up good for the Cowboys in times like that. Also true though, those drops were brutal. If, if he gets just one of the final two drops, just one, that.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

That first or the second to last drop.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Deep cross jack put it. Bam. And it tipped up.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Perfect spot.

[Kyle Yeomans]

They were both good throws.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

They were both.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Yeah, they were both.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

The last one was a little tough. That would have been.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah. You had to put it there with the safety coming over the top and then.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

But the second to last deck, put it on it.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I. I agree with Patrick entirely. Because the only reason we have that expectation for CD Lamb is because we've seen it in the past. We've seen him make those types of plays in the past. CD knows he can make those types of plays. He's paid to make those types of plays. And at the end of the day, that's going to separate CD Lamb from being a great receiver in this league to being an elite receiver in this league. And I do. I've said it before. I've said it since he was drafted. I think he has everything on the table to be an elite receiver in this league. And he has been at different points throughout his career, he had a chance to become the storyline last night. Imagine if he, like you say, grabs one or two of those four drops that you had on the night. You're talking about a buck 30, 140 yards, possibly a touchdown in there. If things continue going your way. And he's the main reason Dallas wins the game on the road against Philadelphia. That's what's going to come with the territory. You ride the highs, you ride the lows. Just. This just happened to be a low for CD Lamb.

[Bill Jones]

That was evidence of rust.

[Kyle Yeomans]

You think so?

[Bill Jones]

Yes. Because I want you to tell. All right, tell me the last time that he had to make a catch with that kind of. With that kind of coverage, that kind of physicality.

[Patrick No See Walker]

I get that. The only reason.

[Bill Jones]

I'm not making an excuse. I'm not making an excuse.

[Patrick No See Walker]

The only reason. The only reason I disagree with that is if he hadn't been on fire the first half. So if you flip the half, okay.

[Bill Jones]

But think about the catches. I'm seriously. Think about the catches that he made versus the catches that he didn't make. Yeah, right. The last time that he had that level of physicality was last season. Yeah. This is. This is real. I'm not making excuses. I'm just saying this is. This is. This is the truth. This is the reason why some teams play some of their guys in the preseason. Whether, however long that might be is because it allows for guys to kind of get recalibrated. You're not that physical in practice. You're not diving for catches in practice, training camp. You're not.

[Patrick No See Walker]

I have a counterpoint.

[Bill Jones]

It's risk versus reward. Right. Did we see him have to dive? Did he die for anything in training camp? No. Are you see any of those receivers, outside of guys who are trying to make the roster die for anything at training camp? No. So what practice would he have at that. I'm just being real right now. Like, what's the last time somebody was that physical where you had a guy that's on your back and a guy's about to hit you, hit you in your face, and you had to focus on the ball last season, you feel.

[Kyle Yeomans]

The footsteps coming, and that's.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Setting up a practice is not the.

[Bill Jones]

Same because you know that you're safe. It's a safe place. So your eyes.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

It's a safe place.

[Bill Jones]

It's a safe place. In practice it is. You're not worried about getting injured by somebody knocking your head off.

[Nationwide Announcer]

Right.

[Bill Jones]

But now, all of a sudden, I'm thrusted into the game. And again, he's paid to do it. He knows it. Ownership. But again, he needed this one game to recalibrate himself. Say we're back playing football again and there's a real chance that I can get hit. Right? So now my eyes, my focus, everything that's required to keep this guy off my back, catch the ball and make sure that my eyes aren't wandering to the cat that's trying to take my head off. Yeah, right. Those are things that I have not had practice on since last season.

[Kyle Yeomans]

All the separation. Sorry. All the separation and the route running and all of the things that CD Lamb can do well, in practice was fine.

[Bill Jones]

Yeah.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Because when he had a cushion, it was there. But you go back, you look at all four drops. I challenge you, go back and look at all four of them. There was somebody in the vicinity. It was a contested catch. And it wasn't like. It wasn't like he didn't come up with contested catches. He had a couple of those. But when it came to catches and heavy traffic in dangerous situations, the dive, the throw over the middle and the deep crosser, both of those situations were in heavy traffic. And as a receiver, you know you're about to get hit even if you catch the ball. Not saying he's. I'm not saying he's backing down. He had. He had perfect position. He had an opportunity. But, you know, as soon as you grab that ball, you're getting lit up.

[Bill Jones]

And you know what?

[Kyle Yeomans]

It is a little bit different.

[Bill Jones]

And on top of that. And again, I'm not going to go down every dog on drop. Okay. Or whatever. George Pickens forced a pass interference at that, I think the second quarter, somewhere on there in my head, George Pickens makes that catch. Even with the flag call. Yeah. Even with the pass one. In my head, that's a catch for George Piggs. He got his hand. He somehow some way stacked the db, got one hand on it, dropped it. I know. I know that George is watching that film sometime today is like, I gotta make that catch. But when's the last time?

[Isaiah Stanbach]

When's the last time he had to make that catch?

[Bill Jones]

He had to make that physical of a catch. Not in training camp, not in OTAs. It hasn't happened. So, I mean, I'm not giving an excuse, but what I'm saying is be empathetic to the fact that they are do a game to get recalibrated. Now, you wish that they wouldn't have to use a regular season game to get Calibrated but understand that as a human being, as a professional athlete, you have to get recalibrated to the reality and the physicality of your sport. This is why it's risk versus reward for guys in the preseason. Some teams play their guys, some teams don't. Why do some guys play their guys? Because they want that rust, those plays to happen early so that now when the regular season starts, when they're not worried about it, when it counts.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Counterpoint point. Now, now that I've heard your entire explanation, I don't as I don't disagree as much right now as I did before you express so credit to you. That being said, I think we're looking at the angle of rust differently.

[Bill Jones]

Okay.

[Patrick No See Walker]

My purview of rust, if I'm to agree with you that there was those drops were due to rust, I will agree that it was in the focus capacity. That much I'll give to you.

[Bill Jones]

Okay.

[Patrick No See Walker]

But when I hear CD Lamb affirm what I was thinking in my head, what I said out loud in the press box after the third drop and then most certainly the fourth drop, but not necessarily the fourth drop, I really think that he was. He refocused and tried to get that for. That's why he laid out like that and it just didn't happen for him. But after the third drop, I said out loud in the press box and I said something my grandma used to say, my late grandma. I think he's smelling himself. I think he's smelling himself. It's an old Southern saying that basically says, you're getting too, too big for your britches. He had an outstanding training camp. CD Lamb did one of the MVPs of training.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Best player on the field.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Yep. He's torching these guys 76, 80 yards. He's having his way with him. He single back motion out of the backfield on, on third down. You know, I mean like shoddy has him cooking. He's cooking. Deck is cooking. CD Lamb is starting to feel unstoppable. He's starting to feel, okay, this might be a 2000 receiving yard season and then the focus starts to wane. So I agree with you, the focus, Wayne, the question and the argument and we'll put it to Cowboys Nation. Feel free to engage in the chat with it. The argument is, do you feel like the focus because we agree they were focus drops. Do you think it was due to rust or do you think it was due to CD Lamb being too confident that he didn't have to necessarily like looked up. Example one of the Drops. I think it was the second drop. Yeah, it was the second drop. It was going away from the press box. If you look at that play CD and it kind of goes to your point a little bit. He started to turn his head to assess what was coming. Okay. Bring the ball in and then run. You know, it's, that's football law.

[Bill Jones]

When you receiver see the ball. When's the last time he had to worry about getting hit?

[Patrick No See Walker]

Oh, I, I, that's why I'm saying. That's why I said I don't fully disagree.

[Bill Jones]

Yeah. So when I say the word rust, I mean, it's just a calibration. Maybe I should use the word calibration. He doesn't have to worry about that.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Rusty. It was just. No, just a timing element.

[Patrick No See Walker]

And that's what I mean.

[Bill Jones]

You don't go off the way it's calibrating. I'm recalibrating, bro. Like, I forgot dog on it. That's right. I'm about to get dog on a hit. Naturally, for that.02 seconds, my eyes went away from the ball because I'm like, oh, it's been a minute.

[Patrick No See Walker]

So that's.

[Bill Jones]

It is a focus drop. But again, I have to get recalibrated that I'm about to get DOG on hit. And guess what? That's a part of the game. Dang it. I wish I didn't happen. And that's on the diving catch, right?

[Patrick No See Walker]

Yeah.

[Bill Jones]

I died for the ball. I haven't done for the ball in freaking six months. Okay. Last time I dove for the ball, I tucked my elbows. This time, my elbows were out. Dang it. All right. That's something that's easily correctable. I'll tuck my elbows next time. Next time I get the cradle. That. That's a catch. I sure wish that didn't happen in the game, though. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, those are the things that I'm talking about in terms of, like, recalibrated himself. And that's why after the game, when you interview CD Lamb, he says, please believe I'm going to come back stronger. Why? Because those are all things that are correctable. I already know how to correct those things. I just wish that they didn't happen in the game.

[Patrick No See Walker]

But you also know what he said? He said, God has a weird way of humbling you.

[Bill Jones]

He did.

[Patrick No See Walker]

And that was the answer to the question of did he feel a little overconfident after the first half that he was having? And his answer was, God has a strange way of humbling you. So that was him saying that maybe he did get overconfident and he felt confident enough that he can do that he can ditch the fundamentals at any given time.

[Bill Jones]

I agree.

[Patrick No See Walker]

And now you're saying, here's the ball coming. It's a dot from Dak and let me get back. Your hands are here and you're like, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, not so fast, my friend. See the ball in and then make the play.

[Bill Jones]

And this applies to all across the board. I know we're talking about cd, but this was a calibration for a lot of guys. Jack Sanborn, C ball, hit ball. There was too much hesitation. Fowler freaking keep your leverage working on your passwords, I think. I don't know if they were being told the two gap in the first half and not really, you know, work on one. One shoulder of the offensive tackles, but they were two gapping a lot. They weren't. It wasn't much pass rush going on. Malik Hooker, wrap up right. Like there's. There's. We could point to a lot of different across the whole board for guys that have not been playing in the preseason. This was their calibration. You just wish it didn't happen in the first game. But again, be encouraged. Be encouraged. You just face arguably. And there's no reason to say anything different until these other teams start playing the best team in football. They're returning champions from last year, returned 17 starters and added players. Yeah, be encouraged. You wish you would have won the game. You had opportunities to win the game. There's things that you could point out in the film that you could say, had we made these plays, had we done these things better, we win the game. And guess what? Philly's saying the same thing. Had we had Jalen Carter, we would have won by more. Had we done these things, we would have won by more. Like everybody's gonna do that. But be encouraged with you have now Cowboys Nation. You have an idea of what your team is. You have an idea of how impactful you are without Micah Parsons. You have an idea of what your running game looks like. You have an idea about a lot of things. Now, this is week one. The thought process is we can only get better from here. That's the thought process. Now we have to sit and wait.

[Patrick No See Walker]

They are who we thought they were.

[Bill Jones]

If I've let him off the hook.

[Kyle Yeomans]

If I've learned one thing in this segment all the way through is that Isaiah is trying to talk about starters in his preseason broadcasts next year. And he's just trying to push Brian Schottenheimer to put the starters in so he and Bill Jones can talk about them against the Falcons next year in preseason Week two. That's what it is. All right, when we come back, I want to flip to the defensive side of the football. Mattie Eberfluss made the adjustments late. What happened with the contain? Jalen hurts early and how can you take steps forward? Plus, are the Cowboys good in coverage? Was the secondary good yesterday? When we come back with more talking Cowboys right after this.

[Nationwide Announcer]

Nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company. They're one of America's largest financial services companies. Like how I'm more than just Peyton Manning. I'm also motivating Manning. When I say insurance, you say financial services. Insurance financial services. Insurance financial services. Now when I say nationwide, you say is both Nationwide. Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs, Nationwide is on your side.

[Bill Jones]

Nationwide Investment Services Corporation Ember Finra Columbus.

[Rob Gronkowski]

Ohio this is Rob Gronkowski from Dudes on Dudes. Anyone else feeling hungry? Because Applebee's just cooked up the ultimate option. Play with their new Ultimate Trio deal. You can choose from three of their delicious appetizers and pair them up with three sauces for just 14.99. Craft your perfect trio from over 80,000 different combinations in this flavor packed plate. Built for one or to share if you're generous. You can stick with the classic pairings like boneless wings and buffalo sauce, mozzarella sticks and marinara, or brew pub pretzels and white cheddar beer cheese. Or you can spice things up and try some unexpected combinations like dipping chicken wonton tacos and their honey Dijon mustard. The choice is yours. The Ultimate Trio is the perfect way to hit all your cravings in one plate and turn appetizers into an entree. It's time to head to your neighborhood Applebee's or order online today. Now that's eating good in the neighborhood.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

I'm Ron Bergen.

[Bill Jones]

AT T has a new guarantee because most things in life are not guaranteed. Like getting through self checkout by yourself. Warning. Each item must be placed in the bagging area. Not guaranteed. Place items in the bagging area. Place items in the bagging area. You know what AT&T guarantees connectivity you depend on, deals you want and service you deserve or we make it right. Firms and conditions.

[Nationwide Announcer]

Conditions of life.

[Bill Jones]

Visit att.com guaranty for details. AT&T connecting changes everything if you're looking.

[Kyle Yeomans]

For fresh American roasted coffee that gives back, you need to head to your local grocery store and pick up a bag of Black Rifle coffee. That's right, America's coffee is now available in the coffee aisle of a grocery store near you. Black Rifle Coffee Company is veteran founded with a mission to give back to those brave men and women who have served our nation. Every bag, box or can you purchase helps support that mission. Head to your local grocery store and roast yourself some Black Rifle coffee today.

[Bill Jones]

Welcome back into Dear doctor the show where I answer life's questions with an ice cold can of Dr. Pepper. Sheila, let's hear from our next caller. Would you Dear doctor My friend supported me during a tough time, but what's the right gift that says thanks for.

[Nationwide Announcer]

Being a shoulder to cry on?

[Bill Jones]

Okay, this one's easy. I say give her a delicious Dr. Pepper. Nothing says thanks girl better than a one of a kind soda. Yes, any Dr. Pepper flavor will do. Now just a reminder that I don't need to be a real doctor to know that Dr. Pepper is the one you deserve.

[Kyle Yeomans]

It's the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys Jack Black. And right now, Cowboys fans can get 15% off their $75 order. Plus because every deal needs a playmaker. Your order will include a free five piece skin care set and free shipping. The Jack Black playmaker is four of Jack's favorites in a full sized intense therapy lip balm. Make a play for the [e-mail] Cowboys with the code Cowboys VIP that's getjackblack.com Cowboys with the Code Cowboys VIP. Back to talking Cowboys. Back here on Talking Cowboys presented by Black Rifle Coffee company. Our comment of the day. There are a bunch of good ones today. You guys have been super active in the comment section.

[Bill Jones]

Love it.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Zion Childress in the comment section.

[Kyle Yeomans]

There is literally a Zion Childress here. I'm giving it to Adam just because it kind of made me chuckle a second ago. He said I smashed another TV into pieces last night.

[Bill Jones]

Oh, hopefully it was an old TV.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Old TV? Yeah. Don't smash TVs. Don't do that. That's what people dress up as Cowboys fans that aren't actually Cowboys fans and then throw things at TVs to like go viral.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

If anything, you should have smashed a CD player, you know what I'm saying?

[Bill Jones]

With the anti skips.

[Patrick No See Walker]

That's rough.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Like a Walkman or something.

[Patrick No See Walker]

That's rough.

[Kyle Yeomans]

It's good.

[Bill Jones]

Did you have anti skip?

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Oh yeah. Did you absolutely have money for all the jogging idea?

[Bill Jones]

You have money talking to bro. I used to Have a rubber band, wrap that thing around and then tuck it into my pants and then cinch up my. My, my. My pants and tighten it up so that that thing didn't move. Yep, that's it for. For all the non anti skip people.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

I had the.

[Bill Jones]

The.

[Patrick No See Walker]

So that kept you from dropping this.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

I had the cassette and like a worst fanny pack situation.

[Bill Jones]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

With my turtleneck with a big chain. I like Dwayne the Rock look like the rock in the 90s.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I like it. We've talked offense, we've talked a little bit of the defense. I want to continue with the second man.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Question mark. Who put the question mark in the teleprompter? You know, Kyle will read whatever's on.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Whatever's on the teleprompter. I liked the coverage yesterday.

[Bill Jones]

A lot of zone.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Yeah.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Bill Jones]

Tons of pretty much.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I thought they did a really nice job.

[Bill Jones]

Primarily all his own. They did a.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And I was very. On this show specifically, I've been very critical of the secondary and how without Trayvon Diggs, luckily, he's even partially back in the fold. Without Trayvon Diggs, I don't know what the secondary is going to look like. And I said that all offseason long. I feel much better about the secondary just seeing what they had out there. Was it perfect? No. But again, if you hold A.J. brown to one reception for eight yards and you hold Devonte Smith for three receptions. Even Dallas Goddard had seven catches, but he only went for 44 yards. They limited the passing game entirely in that match.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Even. Even the deep throw the dots in the big. The chunk play, the biggest play of the game for the Philadelphia Eagles. That was good coverage. Elam was right there on his hip. That was just.

[Bill Jones]

Just.

[Kyle Yeomans]

It was a damn good.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Yeah, that was just hurt scene that the defender was on the outside hip and the safety had already shaded so he threw to the inside hip.

[Bill Jones]

And I still think the jury's out. I'm just being honest.

[Kyle Yeomans]

That's for anything.

[Bill Jones]

No, no, no, no. I'm saying we did not truly have enough body of work in terms of coverage, man to man coverage to really have an understanding of where you're at with your db. And I think they were being protected by Eberflu in that regard.

[Patrick No See Walker]

But they agree.

[Bill Jones]

There's nothing wrong with that.

[Kyle Yeomans]

That's fine. There's nothing wrong with it as long as it's schemed up and they're able.

[Bill Jones]

And that's what it was. It was.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I don. If it's man zone high, one high. I Don't care.

[Bill Jones]

Guys played zones very well yesterday. I don't know yet. The ability of our DBs to play Manto man for a majority of the game right now, I don't know. We don't have enough on film to state that. So that's why I say coverage wise and, and scheme wise. It was great for whatever Philly was presenting. Right. Eber Flutes had those guys dialed up. Whatever, whatever routes they were running, there was somebody in that zone making sure that they were taking it away. I don't know in terms of ability to cover yet. And I think with Daron Bland just coming back with Trayvon Diggs, you know, been on a kind of a pitch count, I don't think that Ibrahe wanted to expose them to that. And also maybe Philadelphia's concepts didn't, you know, were better defended in his own. I don't know. I don't know what it was. Right. But either way, they did a heck of a job with coverage.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Their concepts didn't warrant man to man in the game today. The con. It warranted a spy on the quarterback. That's kind of going to be my gripe.

[Bill Jones]

You don't get all game long, you don't get both.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Yeah, you got to get totally understandable, totally understandable. But you, if, if, if you're not putting your most athletic linebacker out there the entire game, I don't know what you're doing. Because Jack Sandmore did not have a great game. Murray did not have a great point. He's getting stiff armed by Saquon bar.

[Bill Jones]

One time I saw out there, Leah, I don't remember what the route was. I wonder if it was. I think it was a running back. They tried to shake him up and he literally was like shadow boxing with this dude. Like the dude made a move, Leopard made a move. His footwork was just like, like a mirror image. I would have liked to see him more, but again, I'm not sure how he fit into the scheme that was executed yesterday. I. If you had to make a choice, right, in terms of playing Leopold, man, you're right here to, to scheme him up to, to shadow, right. You know, Jalen Hurts versus have the coverage that you had last night. I'm taking what we saw like in.

[Patrick No See Walker]

The coverage because what I would rather.

[Bill Jones]

It limited the big place.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Right. Because what I would rather do is I. I hate that Jalen Hurts was able to extend plays. I shouldn't have to say that, but let me say it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. However, if this is the pick your poison scenario, and it very much is a pick your poison scenario, would you rather have Jalen Hurts have the strong ground game that he had in the first half or A.J. brown and Devonte Smith combined for 200 yards and three receiving touchdowns? Like I would rather the latter not be a thing. That being said also to Isaiah's point, something else to look at positively now that because they were forced into his own coverage wisely so because of the concepts that are run by the Eagles and you know they're passing attack, you know that up against the best receivers in the league in zone, this, this personnel can get the job done. Okay. That's with Trayvon Diggs only playing 43% of the snaps. Okay. So now when they're forced to go into a man coverage and Trayvon Diggs now is more time removed from playing and the rust being knocked off now you're looking at the three pack, you're looking at Elam and, and Diggs and Bland on the field at the same time. You didn't often see that last night. Trayvon Diggs didn't even technically start the game. Yeah. Last night. So as he gets that rust knocked off now, you know, can we go zone against team that has two. Right. That has two arguably elite receivers. Yes. And you can do it with one of your guys, your all pro record setting cornerback playing less than half the snaps. He's going to play more than this going forward. So man, zone, to Kyle's point, with a question mark, the coverage was secondary. The secondary was good.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

And if you're going to have that though, if you're going to have zone, you're going to need a cleanup crew on the second level. And I just don't think the linebackers were that. And we had talked about how well the linebackers were playing up until throughout the preseason, throughout camp and then in week one, it just wasn't there.

[Bill Jones]

Well, they were tasked with playing zone. Right. So you have linebackers, you know, you got two. A lot of times it was two linebackers, Right. It was Sam Born and Murray playing in space and they're covering so much ground where they're responsible for A.J. brown was running a lot of whip routes and short underneath routes. Dotson was running across the middle of the field. So you had these guys that were literally covering receivers. Right, right. Because the zone defense demanded that they guard that area. Right. So yeah, there was elements that you wish were different, but again, you're in a situation where you had to say, hey, we either got to do this and limit. Limit, you know, the big plays or we got to do this and we're subject to big plays with, you know, with guys who necessarily haven't played a lot lately. We have a responsibility to make sure Trayvon was healthy coming out of the game. They had a responsibility to make sure that Daron Bland was able to. To do what he needed to do and build his confidence. So. So I understand, and I am perfectly fine. I am perfectly fine with the scheme that was brought to the game by Matt Eberfluj yesterday. You just would love to see them restricted the rushing lanes a little bit more. You'd like to see them get a little bit better pass rush. These are all things that are correctable. But in terms of what their responsibilities were defensively outside of that front D line, those guys did a heck of a job.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Yes.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

One thing. One thing. And I want to do this probably for the last time. I want to bring it up.

[Bill Jones]

Out.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Oh.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

But this was brought up a lot yesterday. It's like Dallas really missed a guy like Micah Parsons.

[Kyle Yeomans]

It's true.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

It's true. It's no doubt. There's no doubt about it.

[Patrick No See Walker]

You didn't have a guy like De Morvion overshone.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

You didn't have a guy like Kenny Clark out there. You did not have a guy.

[Bill Jones]

Huge impact.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

So if you would have had Michael Parsons, you wouldn't.

[Bill Jones]

Mozzie Saquon would have had more yards.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Saquon would have had a lot more yards. You have had a way bigger issue in the running game.

[Patrick No See Walker]

So he got redirected a lot.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

People are forgetting that fact is that the run defense would not have been. And they weren't terrific yesterday. Granted, they did hold saquon barker to 50 yards. You did not have Kenny Clark before Micah Parson.

[Patrick No See Walker]

I will honestly say Parson parcel the game. They were not terrific in the first half. They were pretty freaking terrific in the second.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

They cleaned it up.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Now and adjustments. Like we said, quick.

[Patrick No See Walker]

And I'm gonna lob it right back to Kyle. You could have had. If the defensive front would have been able to maintain or. Yeah. Keep contained on Jalen Hurts and shore up that the rushing lanes. You could have had three or four coverage sex last night. They almost got home on them twice. In particular. Trayvon Diggs's blitz. He had just missed on it. And they couldn't clean up on the back end.

[Bill Jones]

Jalen hurts. His first touchdown was coverage.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Yeah.

[Bill Jones]

One reason why he was able to get out the pockets because Fowler went inside. Everybody Else was covered up and like that one guy went outside of the scheme and allowed for Jalen hurts.

[Patrick No See Walker]

If your, if your coverage plays, if your secondary plays this well, 7:15 out of 17 regular season games, keep in mind you're not going to go against every week or every other week a quarterback with the mobility and the talent that Jaylen Herz has. Sure. Okay. Playoffs. Right. So if you're get there first layoffs.

[Bill Jones]

I'm just saying first.

[Patrick No See Walker]

That's why I said 15 or 17. I ain't in January.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Yeah.

[Patrick No See Walker]

If you're. If you're secondary, your coverage can play like this for the majority of the season. You will win a lot more games than you will lose because your defensive line will get home a lot more times than they don't get home. Because a lot of these quarterbacks, they have some mobility, but they don't have Jalen hurts. This type of mobility. They don't have the what's my guy, Josh Allen. They don't have his mobility. They don't have Lamar Jackson's mobility. You're going to have just traditional pocket passers who will see a Sam Williams collapsing down and they'll see, you know, Marisley Afoul being sent after you. They'll see Dante Fowler coming and they'll blink. And once they blink, they're down. Yeah. And that's it.

[Kyle Yeomans]

There were times where Micah Parsons would have made an impact in this game one way or the other. They missed him at times. But I also think we've now seen that Dallas will survive without him in the full.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Kenny Clark played.

[Kyle Yeomans]

There were a lot of things that went well for Dallas and that was his first game. He's only been here a week.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Amazing.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And he played to that standard. Like I said last week, he gets off the plane as your best interior defensive lineman. Maybe not named OSA Digi Zooa because he was great.

[Patrick No See Walker]

Oh, Sally's.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Sally's Solomon was great. There's a lot of positives to talk about it. However, we've got to move on to next week. The Giants on. Bring on the Giants Sunday. Bring them all a little bit of a long week here. Cowboys fall 24 20. We'll have to stew on it for a little bit. Have a great weekend, everybody. Everybody stay safe.

[Isaiah Stanbach]

Get some sleep.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Get some sleep. Patrick especially, please go to sleep. Beam, whenever you get back, go to sleep. I know you've got kids to worry about, but school. We appreciate you all tuning in, joining us. We'll be back Monday, 9am Central. Time to continue breaking it down. Here on Talking Cowboys for Patrick no. C Walker. Josh Rodriguez. Isaiah, Stand back. Chris Beam in the back. I'm Kyle Yeoman saying so long from Talking Cowboys. We'll see you on Monday. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.

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[Bill Jones]

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