Talkin’ Cowboys: Taken to SKOL

Summary

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Talkin’ Cowboys: Taken to SKOL

Podcast: Talkin' Cowboys
Episode Date: December 15, 2025
Host: Kyle Yeomans
Panel: Patrick “No C” Walker, Josh Rodriguez, Isaiah Stanback
Setting: Live from The Star in Frisco, Texas

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Episode Overview

This episode unpacks the Dallas Cowboys’ demoralizing 34-26 loss to the Minnesota Vikings—a defeat that all but dashed Dallas’ 2025 playoff hopes. The crew confronts the team's collapse in all three phases: offenses stalling, defensive breakdowns, a crisis of culture, and the bleak outlook for the rest of the season.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Playoff Picture & Disappointment (00:53–04:34)

• The Cowboys went from a promising three-game win streak to a disastrous slide: “You needed to win your final four games...now Philly just needs one more win or one more Dallas loss, and the division is theirs.” (Kyle Yeomans, 01:40)
• Playoff odds down to 1%. “You are so freaking cooked. What are we talking about?” (Patrick Walker, 06:13)
• Deep disappointment as the team failed to meet, or even recognize, the challenge from a depleted yet “dangerous” Vikings squad.

2. Game Recap & Execution Failures (04:34–13:15)

• Cowboys started strong: forced a turnover, quick TD on first possession.
• Then the offense “broke”—ineffective red zone trips, and even reliable kicker Brandon Aubrey missed two FGs. But he “accounted for almost 50% of your offense” lately (Patrick, 05:01).
• Defense, particularly the secondary and linebacker corps, repeatedly allowed “get right games” for struggling QBs. “The Dallas Cowboys defense was a get right game for one of the lower tier quarterbacks in the league.” (Josh, 03:36)
• Vikings’ JJ McCarthy “danced into the end zone”—“If I was on that defense, I would’ve been PO’d...But Dallas never actually crossed the goal line again.” (Kyle, 10:43)

Memorable Quote

“JJ McCarthy punked you. That should be danced in your hood.”
—Josh Rodriguez (13:23)

3. Coaching & Game-planning Critique (07:49–12:02)

• The staff was out-coached by Minnesota’s Brian Flores (defense) and Kevin O’Connell (head coach).
• Dallas seemed to copy-paste an old offensive game plan “as if they didn’t know the issues that were evident and being presented by their opponent.” (Isaiah, 07:32)
• Failure to exploit Minnesota’s predictably aggressive, unchanged defense. “Run slants—they’re daring you to...but we didn’t see any strategy.” (Isaiah, 08:53)
• Over-reliance on field goals: “You need to pretend that your kicker sucks...try to score the football on every drive.” (Patrick, 18:07)

4. Culture, Grit, and Identity Crisis (16:33–21:18)

• Cowboys couldn't maintain the aggressive, gritty culture seen in comeback wins against top teams. “Which culture are we looking at?” (Patrick, 16:33)
  • “You were a great aggressive...You go to Detroit, get out physicaled. Here comes Minnesota, and you're just rabidly out-coached…” (Patrick, 16:33)
• Team played for pride rather than results: “Now you are playing for pride. That’s as best as you can do, because your draft pick, 1%...is not good.” (Josh, 03:29)
• “Disappointment can only come about when you have expectations that are unmet.” (Isaiah, 19:43)

5. Offense: Where Did It Go Wrong? (25:38–32:20)

Timestamps:

• Discussion start: 25:38

• Weak positional groups: 32:36

• Offensive tackle play (and offensive line in general) is cited as the biggest failure. “The production is just not there for Dak Prescott right now. He doesn’t have enough time...” (Josh, 26:08)

• Injuries and depth issues—when swing tackle Nate Thomas left, “Dennis came in and struggled...You just don’t see the offensive line clicking on any sort of chemistry at all.” (Patrick & Josh, 26:42–27:19)

• Despite talent at receiver, “Overall, what a terrible game for the offense...he [Schottenheimer] was out-coached.” (Josh, 27:54)

• Praise for individual efforts: “Shout out to Schoon (Luke Schoonmaker)...put the work in. Blocking game has taken his huge step.” (Isaiah, 28:34)

6. Roster Construction and Draft Discussion (30:48–32:36)

• The curse of drafting for need: “When they've been pigeonholed into a position of need is when they've missed on their draft picks.” (Kyle, 30:57)
• It’s likely they’ll have to use another first-round pick on offensive line, which the hosts find disheartening after years of such investments.

7. Most Disappointing Position Groups & Defensive Struggles (32:36–51:05)

• Linebacker unit singled out for failing to meet expectations: “I really liked the group...now I don’t...You’re going to have to upend the room.” (Kyle, 32:47)
• Also flagged:
  • Offensive Line: “Chemistry has just not been there consistently enough throughout the season.” (Josh, 40:54)
  • Defensive Backs: “Expected more out of that unit—at least two solid corners...veteran safeties that can adapt. Neither unit has been great.” (Isaiah, 45:26)
• Discussion of failing to retain leaders like Jordan Lewis (now excelling with Jacksonville): “He was the tone setter...and you said, ‘We’re not going to pay you.’ Bad decision.” (Patrick, 46:58)
• The improvement in run defense (thanks to Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark) has exposed deficiencies in pass defense and secondary play.
• Cowboys have been crushed by NFC North teams (average 37.25 points allowed)—“That’s a good reason [they’re out of playoffs]. Even for this offense, man.” (Kyle & Josh, 40:28–40:39)

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Notable Quotes & Highlights

• On taking the Vikings lightly:
  “I’d argue we took ’em pretty lightly.”
  —Josh Rodriguez (02:59)

• On red zone woes and over-reliance on the kicker:
  “Can’t be getting outscored by your kicker. Oh, man, 1%. You are so freaking cooked.”
  —Patrick Walker (06:13)

• On defensive play and culture:
  “This is a team that’s supposed to be playing for something...and you got punked.”
  —Josh Rodriguez (13:15, 13:23)

• On unmet expectations and disappointment:
  “Disappointment can only come about when you have expectations that are unmet.”
  —Isaiah Stanback (19:43)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• Opening / Playoff Picture: 00:53 – 04:34
• Game Recap & Execution Fails: 04:34 – 13:15
• Coaching Analysis: 07:32 – 12:02
• Red Zone Issues / Kicker Reliance: 18:07 – 19:18
• Culture & Identity Crisis: 16:33 – 21:18
• Offensive Line Problems: 25:38 – 32:20
• Roster & Draft Concerns: 30:48 – 32:36
• Defensive & Positional Group Disappointment: 32:36 – 51:05
• NFC North Defensive Stats Breakdown: 39:23 – 40:39

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Conclusion

This episode was an unflinching autopsy of the Cowboys' lost season, marked by galling defeats, underperformance by key units, and a crisis of identity. The crew rips into failed coaching, poor game-planning, lost locker room leadership, and a front office at risk of perpetuating its own vicious draft cycle. Amid the bleak review, they single out a few glimmers (notably, the emergence of players like Jake Ferguson, Luke Schoonmaker, and continued grit from Javonte Williams). Yet the overriding mood: profound disappointment and urgent calls for organizational introspection.

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For the rest of the week's analysis and reactions, tune in on Wednesday—no Tuesday episode due to community outreach.

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Transcript

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[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.

[Josh Rodriguez]

CD Lamb Touchdown.

[Kyle Yeomans]

It's on.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Jake Ferguson, Prescott Kingston and he bangs it in for the touchdown.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And now your hosts, Isaiah Stand back. Patrick Walker, Josh Rodriguez and Kyle Yeomans. Ah well, Cowboys Nation. We've gotten to the point. We've gotten to the point where after the trade deadline there was some hope. We got to the three game win streak and Dallas saw their playoff hope start to take a little bit of a turn in the right direction. Things were going well, things were happening and then you lost to Detroit and those playoff hopes started to shrink a little bit. Not completely dashed, but pretty dashed at that point in time. And you needed to win your final four games, very doable by the way, to get into the playoffs as long as Philly lost twice. Well, now we've gotten to the point where it's not mathematical but the Philadelphia Eagles magic number to win the NFC east in back to back years for the first time since 2003 and 2004 is now down to one. It takes one more Philly win or one more Cowboys win in order or Cowboys loss rather in order to see the division go to Philadelphia. So with that, we welcome you in to Talking Cowboys presented by Black Rifle Coffee company live from the Star in Frisco, Texas in the SWBC studios alongside Patrick Nosley, Walker, Josh Rodriguez, Isaiah stand back. Chris Beam in the back. I'm Kyle Yeomans. Cowboys lose to the Minnesota Vikings 34 26. The final as Minnesota team that's been beat battered and bruised. But we talked about it over the course of the entire five shows last week. This was not a team to take lightly even if they don't have a quarterback that they feel pretty confident in. But this is a talented team and they showed it and Dallas did not show that they are talented team forever.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

The get right game. Cowboys are forever the get right game. Good grief. Charlie Brown.

[Josh Rodriguez]

I'd argue we took him pretty lightly.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah, I'd argue that.

[Josh Rodriguez]

I'd argue now. It started off Aspects of the team, I think we took pretty lightly, mainly JJ McCarthy and no. But we did allude to the fact that if he needed to get right game, it would be against the Dallas Cowboys defense. And unfortunately that came to fruition yet again. The Dallas Cowboys defense was a get right game for one of the lower tier quarterbacks in the league. And you find yourself now in a position where you are playing for pride. I mean that that's as best as you can do because you're a draft pick. 1% I believe is it's literally 1%, 1% chance to get into the playoffs. And according to multiple sources, that is not good.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

That is not 99% chance.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Check your sources, buddy.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

No.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Is the math mathing, Patrick?

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Math? Unfortunately the math is mathing started off well. That was fun. You know, you got the. On the first offensive drive for the Vikings, you get the, the safety blitz by Donald. Got his hands up in the passing lane. Tip drill. Quinn and Williams. Hey, look what I found, right? Only the second int in Quinn and Williams career. First since 2023. That was fun. Cowboys did something that they hadn't been doing these past few games on their first offensive drive. They made it down to the end zone and they scored the football on the one yard touchdown by Javante Williams. And we were off. We were like, okay, all right, time.

[Josh Rodriguez]

To start a game.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Here we go.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Fast start, huh?

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Unfortunately. No, no. Yeah. Fast start. Slow remainder. Red zone. Well, failed red zone, trip after red zone trip. Even when you sniffed the red zone, you're just outside of it. Failed that. Yeah. Brandon Aubrey missed two field goals. Don't care. You know why I don't care? Because Brandon Aubrey has accounted for in the past two games almost 50% of your offense.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yep.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Your defense over these past two games, like I said, after looking great over a three game span, including against the Chiefs and the Eagles and you know, within four days of each other, ah, fell back apart. And then your offense feels broken.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

That I was, I was mulling that coming into this game, but I was like, no, no, you know Pickens, he'll bounce back. Play calling will get Detroit.

[Kyle Yeomans]

But maybe that was just Detroit.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Maybe that's just maybe tough game. Yeah. Now after seeing this, now, now the offense is broken. That's rough.

[Kyle Yeomans]

So your defense is down.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Yeah. So you're right. So your defense is playing very ungrate. And not the defensive line. Defensive line. Quinn and Kenny. Kenny was murdering guys out there. Oh my goodness. Your secondary, your linebacker core outside of the Marvi on over shown and now your offense looks very not great. Shouts out to Kevonte Turbo for having a bounce back game though. But again, when you're, when your kicker over the past two games, 15 points in Detroit, 12 points would have been what, 18.

[Isaiah Stamback]

18.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

If would have been 18, he made those two, you still would have lost. Yep, by two, all things considered. So, yeah, you can't be getting outscored by your kicker. Oh, man, 1%. You are so freaking cooked. What are we talking about?

[Kyle Yeomans]

Your thoughts, Isaiah?

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Talking about?

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yeah, just frustration mainly. Frustration because at least I can speak to us in this room, right? We break down, we broke down the film. We sat here, we told you. I think we all said that Dallas was going to win. I, I felt that. I felt strongly about Dallas's ability to win the game because I, I knew where the dangers were. And you felt as if Dallas was going to know where the dangers were. And that doesn't necessarily make it much easier to handle. But you just felt. I'm speaking offensively in particular right now. I felt as if the offense would.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Have had a better game plan.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I felt like I was encouraged on the first series when I seen Dax first drop back and I see Javante Williams line up in the A gap to protect and I'm like, oh, they're on it, they're on it. And then that didn't occur. At least I have to go back and continue watching the film. I didn't see much more of that. And it was almost as if they went back to a game plan that wasn't created for their opponent. No. You know what I'm saying. It's almost like they grabbed a game plan that was from another week. It was like, let's run that this week. As if they didn't know the issues that were evident and being presented by their opponent.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Well, it's not like you had a mini buy to prepare.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Right. Time was there, film was there. Like the Minnesota doesn't change week to week. Minnesota is what they are defensively. You know, Brian Flores is Brian Flores. He's a, he's a great defensive coordinator. As I said earlier in the week, when it's gotten report you do, it's easy on his side of the ball. They make it really easy. It's very difficult for you offensively. Right. But you have to make some business decisions. You're either going to squeeze your offensive line and protect the interior or you're going to fan out and somebody's going to be free on the edge. Right. Like it's just one of the choices. And I just felt like Dallas was seemingly caught off guard by this scheme that has never changed. You can go back to all his years of coaching his. It's always been the same type of defense. So you, you would have thought that you would have had something better than what told Kyle said. They're baiting you to run slants. Yeah, run slants. They're daring you to keep running.

[Kyle Yeomans]

They did it early in the game and they didn't do it the rest of the game.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yeah, like they're like, keep trying. Keep trying to run slants. We, we're going to sit in a too high shell. We talked about that. We're going to sit in the A gaps, six guys across the line of scrimmage. We talked about that.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

And they're going to sit in there on the cornerback is going to sit on the inside shade of the shoulder of your receivers and say, I bet you can't get in. In on the interior. Because we know that the open the middle of the field is vulnerable. We talked about that. But yet we didn't see any strategy seemingly for the Dallas Cowboys to conquer that. Early on we saw Javonte Williams stepping the A gap. Early on we saw Jake Ferguson lining up detached right. But there was nothing, seemingly nothing that was down the middle. You knew Dak was going to be challenged for time. You knew that the middle of the field was going to be open. You can't continue to beat your head against the wall with something that is not built to take. To take on what they were presenting. And that's just the offensive side.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah. I remember looking at Barry Church on two separate occasions and with the way that the game was going in the first quarter, telling him, I said, this thing's over. It's like Dallas is about to boat race Minnesota because I did. I thought they were the better team. I thought as long as they got off to a quick start, which I knew was going to be tough. I even said it on 105. 3 the fan on Friday. I said it's going to be a frustrating first half because of the way they're going to read the defense, they're going to get going. And all of those things I thought played a factor early. But I still thought because of the interception and the immediate touchdown to start the game seven nothing bank just like that. I was like, oh man, this is. This is about to be a blowout. I was like Dallas about to take care of business. But they never just got grasp of it. They never just took over because Even after a stop. Then they give it right back. And then Minnesota goes down in scores, right? They score with two minutes left in the first quarter, and it's seven. Seven. Okay, fine, cool. You go down, you score, you go up. 14, 7. And then Minnesota immediately answers. And the second time I said it to him was when JJ McCarthy danced into the end zone.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

He gritted into it, and I'm like.

[Kyle Yeomans]

All right, jj, if you're Josh Allen, you can do that. If you're Joe Burrow, you can do that. But you have more interceptions than you do Pat. Passing touchdowns. Why are you dancing into the end zone? And I thought that would be enough of a disrespect.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

That's what I.

[Kyle Yeomans]

From a defense that has played well since the post buy, with the exception of Detroit. I thought at that point in time, I was like, they're not going to score again. I think I. If I was on that defense, I would have been PO'd. I would have been completely angry at what just happened. Because you're. You're J.J. mcCarthy right now. You don't have the ability to do that yet. You can maybe, if you end up living up to the top 10 hype, sure, do that down the line. But right now, you have 11 interceptions and nine touchdowns. You shouldn't be doing that. Instead of that, Dallas never actually crossed the goal line again on the offensive side. And their defense, though they tried their best on a couple of occasions, couldn't stop the. The. The passing attack and the weapons on the outside that we talked so much about last week. Jordan Addison, Justin Jefferson, they shut down Jefferson. Okay, Fair and even with that being said, he had multiple touchdown grabs that were overthrown to him, and he should have had about 80 more yards. So they did shut him down on the box.

[Isaiah Stamback]

He missed.

[Kyle Yeomans]

They missed opportunity. Oh, my God. Jay McCarthy.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

That's true.

[Kyle Yeomans]

There were two throws that Patrick Nosy Walker could have made from that with no warmup whatsoever.

[Josh Rodriguez]

And it's elbow and all.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah, elbow surgery. I don't care. With all that being said, there were multiple opportunities for you to take charge of that football game, and you didn't. And that takes. That's what's more. More disconcerting to me is because they're trying to build this culture, they're trying to build this team. Even if it doesn't result in playoffs this year, you want them to build in the right direction toward 2026 and 2027, because you have multiple draft picks, you have a young core of guys, and you're probably going to Spend some money to either bring some guys back in free agency or go spend in free agency for the second straight offseason. So you want to build in the right direction. They didn't do that. Instead, I thought they took a massive step back over these last two weeks. They got out physical against Detroit. That's going to happen. It's a coach Campbell led team. Dan Campbell wants to out physical you. That's the whole game plan. But you got beat down and out physical by the Minnesota vikings, who are 5 and 5 and 8 coming into the game. That's unacceptable in my opinion. And that's where I'm more dis disappointed across the board in this football team. I thought you had a chance to win that game. You were the better team and you just didn't do it.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Kyle absolutely cooked just now. Totally in agreement. And it's disappointing because you got punked. Really?

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yeah.

[Josh Rodriguez]

J.J. mcCarthy punked you.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

That's your own check, homie.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Seriously, that should be danced in your hood. The worst of it all. And that's a team playing for nothing. You that you would argue that their fan base is like, you know what? I kind of hope we play tough.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And we're loud in the stadium and I guarantee at home they were chance.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Of skull took over AGNC Stadium.

[Josh Rodriguez]

That is so disappointing in a team versus a team that is playing for their their lives, playing for the future of the season and the team and they have a chance in that moment to put away this game. And then like. But now you're looking at like the Chargers. You're like, how? Come on man, what are we going to. It doesn't sit right with me that you were out coached by this team. I don't think the coaching staff helped you in many ways like Isaiah was alluding to. I don't think that the game plan was great necessarily for the Minnesota Vikings. And a lot of the things that Isaiah brought up on Wednesday and Thursday came to fruition over this week because I mean, you saw a lot of the pressure coming up the middle, which is exactly what Isaiah was talking about. And just over and over again the things that we were alluding to, it just seemed like the defense didn't have a good grasp on how they're going to attack you. When it was clear from just us watching it and you know, these are professional coaches. We're talking about professional players. And my goodness, I mean you look at performances of Kenneth Murray and like, granted we saw Marisley foul on the field. A guy that we've been wanting to See have more of an impact on defense that didn't necessarily have a great game. Kenneth Murray had had a really, really bad game. Your secondary is questionable right now across the board.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yeah.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Granted they were able to shut down Justin Jefferson like you said, but there were just a lot of instances where.

[Isaiah Stamback]

JJ McCarthy, statistically they shut him down.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Was not that guy to. To get him the ball. And a better quarterback would have looked like Tom Brady against you. It was, it would have been really.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Put this out there. Like I know there's gonna be a lot of people that push back said, well, Jefferson had 22 yards receiving. Listen, I'm saying statistically they held him down to Kyle's point. He should have had well over 100 yards receiving.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Absolutely thousand percent.

[Kyle Yeomans]

There were two throws that I remember. One of them would have been a touchdown, another should have been a touchdown. And there's. There, there might have been one more in.

[Josh Rodriguez]

There were chunk plays.

[Kyle Yeomans]

There was two touchdowns that absolutely he could have. He could have had four receptions for a hundred yards and two touchdown.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Yeah, I mean it's. It's exactly what you guys are saying, but specifically what Kyle is saying. And this is why it's so disconcerting and disappointing. Also, Melvin, I know you're having fun, but we still believe in Javante. Javante did what he could.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Vonte was great that second half, man.

[Isaiah Stamback]

He went out the game. I want people to like give credit where credit's doing.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yes.

[Isaiah Stamback]

He gotten put out the game. Yeah. Shoulder could have easily just said, let Malik handle it. No, no, no, no. He looked at the smoke. He wanted to smoke whatever they, whatever they did to him, allow for him to come back.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Gonna be sore today.

[Isaiah Stamback]

He's gonna be hurting today. But he wanted that. He wanted to come back in the game and played through it.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And how much did that offense stall in the second quarter when he wasn't present, when he was not in the game? It was not the same offense.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Still believe in Javante?

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

But what's disconcerting and disappointing about it is which culture. That's the word. Culture. Culture, culture. Which version are we looking at? Okay, so you're down 210 against the Philadelphia Eagles, man, to mount that comeback. That was grit, gumption, Cajonas, marbles. That's all the things highlight of the year. Yes, it was. You were a great aggressive. You were balls to the wall. You were just like, we're going to take it, period. You did it four games later against Patrick Mahomes and at the time the Kansas City Chiefs, they're going to figure out a way to make the playoffs, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You go and you take it from Patrick Mahomes in the Kansas City Chiefs. Okay, all right. Then you go to Detroit, you get out physical. Yeah, you hate that. But okay, Detroit, here comes Minnesota. This is the bounce back game, right? You got to get this back right, man. From the lack of physicality to being just rabidly out coached to the lack of aggressiveness in the red zone and things like this. It's just like, are you, are you waving the white flag? Like at certain points in the game I felt, are you settling for these field goals? Correct me if I'm wrong, Kyle Yeomans, we've had the conversation about you have this weapon at kicker depend on him. What's the danger of that? Is because is you start to rely and you say, well, all I have to do is get across the 50, got three.

[Isaiah Stamback]

We've said that before, right?

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Stop doing that. You need to pretend that your kicker sucks. Even though he's the best kicker in the league. Pretend he sucks. Because if you do that psychologically, you're going to try to score the football on every drive as opposed to, oh, we got across the 50, let's pull it back a little bit and not take some shots and risk. You're not in the position to have that kind of a, of a play calling stretch. You were in a situation where you had to run the table. You needed a bounce back game. You got off to a fast start. Go at him. CDs there. George is there, Jake is there. Javante, when he was in and then he came back, you know, you had your weapons were there. You were getting Kevonte Turpin involved in offense outside of his mistake on special teams that pinned you against your own field end zone. That was the one mistake. Other than that Kevonte Turpin was helping you flip field position with his returns. Why are you getting across the 50 and suddenly just taking your foot off of the accelerator? So credit to, credit to Shotty for absolutely saying the quiet part out loud. Yeah, he called Ryan Flores out, coached him yesterday.

[Josh Rodriguez]

He said it.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

That other guy, Kevin, Kevin o', Connell.

[Isaiah Stamback]

He'S a dude, man.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

He took eber floofs out back.

[Isaiah Stamback]

But we said, but we said this though, right?

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

We beat him to within an inch of his life.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I know we gotta go to break, but like this, everything that we're talking about right now, the reason why we're disappointed, and I talked to my wife about this all the time. Like the word disappointed can only come about when you have expectations that are unmet.

[Uber Eats Announcer]

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[Josh Rodriguez]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Like I can only, I can only be disappointed if I have an expectation that you don't meet.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

So the things we're talking about, we sat here and said, ali, I know I sat here and said this is the third most talented team that you were going to face all season long, that you've had face all season long. Right. Their coaching staff on both sides is absolutely amazing. Officer, coordinator, you know, Kevin. Ok.

[Kyle Yeomans]

They're going to get that thing right. Listen, it's going to be good there.

[Isaiah Stamback]

And we said if McCarthy wakes up and on that game day and decides that he's going to have a good day, you're in a world of trouble. And he had an okay game and.

[Kyle Yeomans]

You were in a world of trouble.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yeah, yeah, he had an okay game. He missed some throws.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah, he did. And he.

[Isaiah Stamback]

They, you still lost. And like, like that's why I'm disappointed. Because they didn't present anything that you didn't expect.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah. I thought this whole game plan was tabbed from the beginning from people outside the building. Why was it not tabbed from people inside the building? You also think about it too of we talked about it early in the season, Week 3 against the Chicago Bears. You've got Matt Eberflus, who of course was a head coach in the NFC north and has familiarity. That should be to his benefit. That should be to his ability to game plan around these teams. But now You've faced all four NFC north teams. You went 0, 3 and 1 against those teams. It's not good and it hasn't been good. You got blown out by the Bears, you got blown out by the Lions, you got handled by the Vikings and you tied the packers and you still gave up 40 points on the guy that was supposed to know what to do on that team. So lots of things to break down. I want to go. Josh. I'll let you choose offense, defense when we come back.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Let's go offense.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Let's go offense. Let's stick on the offensive side of the ball. When we come back, Cowboys lose to the Vikings 34 26. More talking Cowboys right after this, guys.

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Lowe's nose. Sundays are for football. So tackle your home improvement projects by Saturday and earn your Sunday with great deals on LG and Bosch appliances, Select Bounty and Swiffer cleaning products and more. Then once your to do list is done, get ready to kick back, relax and enjoy the game. Shop in store online now and earn your Sunday with help from Lowe's official partner of the NFL.

[Uber Eats Announcer (Alternate)]

Get almost anything you need delivered with Uber Eats.

[Kyle Yeomans]

What do we mean by almost?

[Uber Eats Announcer (Alternate)]

Well, you can't get a well groomed lawn delivered, but you can't get chicken parmesan delivered. A day at the lake? That's a no. A Philly cheesesteak? That's a yes. An afternoon stroll? Sorry, no.

[Kyle Yeomans]

A burrito bowl?

[Uber Eats Announcer (Alternate)]

Happily, yes. What about a day of sunshine? Not happening. A box of fine wines? Yes, that's happening. Delivery on its way.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Okay.

[Uber Eats Announcer (Alternate)]

How about some clear skies? Nope. Well, then how about some French fries? Yep. A little escape?

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

No.

[Uber Eats Announcer (Alternate)]

A delicious bowl of grapes? Yes. Yes, that. How about a freshly cut lawn? Can't help you there. But barbecued prawns? Order it and it's on its way. Get almost. Almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details.

[Isaiah Stamback]

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 Nosley Walker]

We're with you.

[Isaiah Stamback]

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

[Kyle Yeomans]

We're United Cowboys fans. We've got big news. Black Rifle Energy is now available at Texas 711 stores. And for a limited time, you can score two cans for just $6 at participating locations. These cans pack a serious punch. 200 milligrams of caffeine. Veteran crafted flavor and the clean energy you need to power through those long days. So the next time you roll into your neighborhood, 711 here in Texas, grab that two for $6. Black Rifle Energy.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Deal.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And fuel up the American way. Black Rifle, America's coffee.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

How's it going? You see that Cowboys game? Oh, I watched.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Been seeing some good things.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Totally. They have some talent.

[Lowe's Announcer]

Yup.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Some great talent.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

And they got some fight. Hoping this is the year. Me too. Oh, I'm Cody, by the way.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I'm Travis.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Nice to meet you, Travis. Go Cowboys. Go Cowboys.

[AT&T Announcer]

Make a new friend based solely on their shirt choice. What would you like the power to do? Bank of America. The official bank of the Dallas Cowboys. Copyright 2025 bank of America Corporation. At, at and t. We guarantee our network so you can talk college football with your BFF while taking Buster to the vet.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Hey, yeah. I can't believe he ate the whole.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Thing of chicken wings.

[Isaiah Stamback]

And I can't believe we're staging a comeback. Touchdown.

[AT&T Announcer]

Yes, staying connected matters. That's why in the rare event of a network outage, you'll automatically get a bill credit for a full day service. For wireless downtime lasting 60 minutes or more caused by a single incident impacting 10 or more towers must be connected to impacted tower at onset of outage. Restrictions and exclusions apply. Catt.com guarantee for full details.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Back to Talking Cowboys. Back here on Talking Cowboys, presented by Black Rifle Coffee company where your Cowboys gear to a Black Rifle Coffee location on game day. Get 10% off your entire order. Hope you did it yesterday. You do it again this Sunday and then again on Christmas. I don't know if they're open on Christmas. We'll see, but we'll be. Might as well. Yeah, we will be working. We'll be open. That's something to do that day. Man, that game, that's, that's a different conversation. But when the NFL scheduled that game for Christmas, you guarantee. Oh, Cowboys got a new head coach. They got some talent in town. George Pickens is probably going to be pretty good this year. Maybe they'll be contending for the division. Washington's coming off of an NFC title game appearance last year. This is going to be a juggernaut matchup at 1 o' clock on Christmas.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

It's a stinker.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And then now you're like, oh, both teams have been eliminated from playoff contention possibly. And it's Christmas and everybody's at FedEx Field and Miami. All right, let's talk about the offense. When you look at the way that it is stalled on multiple occasions these last couple of weeks, especially against Detroit, especially against the Vikings. Josh, where is your number one area of concern for the offense?

[Josh Rodriguez]

Tackle. Just offensive tackle in general. To me, the production is just not there for Dak Prescott right now. He doesn't have enough time. And maybe looking even at his passer rating, he had, he didn't throw first touchdown yesterday, which is a rare sight for Dak Prescott. But 84 point, 84.8% passer rating. It's just not great for Dak to not have that much time. And granted, we were talking about the pressure that was coming up the middle, but the T weren't helping him either. I mean, of course Nate Thomas goes out. Believe that was a second half, right when he goes out.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Yeah, it was second half. Then it came at Dennis.

[Kyle Yeomans]

You came in and he struggled and.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Got a holding call.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yeah, it wasn't great. But you just don't see the offensive line clicking on Any sort of chemistry at all. I mean, the one thing that they had going for him was a running game which coaching decided to back off of in the second half when Javante Williams was looking like a beast out there after coming back from the injury. And then between the twenties, it's like, all right, let's, let's believe in Javante, but not when we get back into the red zone. I mean, but you showed that in the first quarter. Like the first quarter you saw that you could just run five times in a row. You're going to get that touchdown. To me, it's just a lack of belief in what the running game can do. But overall, I just think the chemistry is not there right now. And I don't know how that works when you have CD Lamb and George Pickens out there. Jake Ferguson, my gosh. I mean just overall, what a terrible game for the offense. And blind Brian Flores is a big part to do with that because they. He was out coached. Brian Schottenheimer was yesterday.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

I mean, I think you're set at wide receiver, especially if you keep Pickens around. And you know how I feel about Flannoy as your WR3.

[Kyle Yeomans]

You like Flannoy A little bit. Oh, okay.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

A little bit. Little bit.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Pretty good player.

[Josh Rodriguez]

He was doing things yesterday for sure.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

He was. I really love the potential on Brevispan Ford. Also shouts out to Brevispan Ford early in that game. There's a particular team, there's a particular block that Brevan Span Ford did to clear a lane for Javante Williams. That was special stuff is what that was.

[Isaiah Stamback]

You got a solid.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Yeah. Jake Ferguson, the way he battled through that calf injury to make some plays for you Scoon with the one handed.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Oh yeah, that was a great.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Okay. Hey, more of that, please.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Shout out to the school. Like, seriously, I, I've been. You guys know I'm a straight shooter. I've been tough on school.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Yeah, I was, I was not like.

[Isaiah Stamback]

We all have been tough on schooling and I respect the heck out of him because he's put the work in and you can see it.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Like his blocking game we talked about.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Blocking game has taken his huge locking.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Game and it's more so it wasn't always. It was never a physical ability. He's a physical specimen.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah, that's what he was out of Michigan. It was will and determination.

[Isaiah Stamback]

It was a will and determination and he has flipped the switch in terms of like willingness to block. And then you've seen what he can do yesterday with the ability to catch well. I think he's going to be a solid tight end.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

More of that.

[Josh Rodriguez]

I think there was more confidence in his game this year that he didn't have in years previous and I don't know if the McCarthy era of coaching necessarily set him up for that. I feel like now he has more of a say in his role in the offense and at least for me, yesterday you saw that glimpse, that catch in the run after catch shake and.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Bake a little bit. Looked a little bit like a moose trying to, you know. You know. But he was out there doing it. So shouts out to him keep that going Scoon. Love to see it. But just by the process of elimination, position to position running back keep Javante Malik Davis is showing some good things. Still want to see what you can have from Jaden Blue. I need to see Phil Moffa maybe add another one late round, undrafted, you know, in April at that position. See how it goes. But process of elimination. I land right where Josh lands. Your offensive interior. Tyler Smith is Tyler Smith. I like Cooper BB Tyler Booker is an animal. Where are the weak spots? Left tackle, right tackle Tyler Guyton. Availability. I said this availability. I don't doubt his potential. The availability makes me nervous. He has to stay on the field for long stretches of time, which is fair. Right? He wasn't available. Nate Thomas goes in. I have concerns about Nate Thomas and then he gets injured. Now you have a chemo denoji. So you have looks like you have a depth issue on top of trying to figure out your tackle left and right side. Right. So yeah, for me it's tackle like you gotta. You gotta figure that out.

[Josh Rodriguez]

And I hate that we might need to go into the draft yet again with another offensive lineman in the first round. Granted you have two I was gonna.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Say at least you got two piece.

[Josh Rodriguez]

You have two picks so at least you can address the defense in some capacity.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Sure.

[Josh Rodriguez]

But I hate that you've invested so much in the offensive line and here we are yet again needing to probably address it again real quickly.

[Kyle Yeomans]

The one thing there too is in the past if you look at the track record for the Cowboys in you could say first or day one, but you could also say day two and day three as well. But when they've been pigeonholed into a position of need is when they've missed on their draft picks. Defensive tackle Mozzie Smith. There's one check the the second round picks where they've had to spend them on tight end and Luke Sku maker. I hate calling him but has he lived up to the second round?

[Josh Rodriguez]

That's the one thing that's knocking him right now is the capital use.

[Kyle Yeomans]

If, if Schoon Maker was a fourth or fourth round pick, you're like, oh dude, this guy's a steal. This is awesome. But it was a second round pick. Same thing with Sam Williams. Same thing with a couple of those other guys where they've been pigeonholed into taking a guy at a certain spot. So even though you do have two first round picks and you just, you, you just went through the math, you don't need a quarterback, you don't need a running back, you don't need a tight end, you don't need interior offensive lineman, you probably don't need a wide receiver. As long as you bring back George Pickens on offense. Where are you going to spend your pick? You're going to spend it in one spot and it would be offensive tackle. The one place you're not pigeonholed is left or right. You can go draft either one of those because if you want to move on from Terence Steele, you can put Tyler Guyton right back at right tackle and draft the left tackle. Or you could keep Tyler Guy in the left tackle, go draft a right tackle. You're not pigeonholed there. But it's getting to the point where you are set in certain positions and I'm worried that when we get to draft day they won't go play best player available with those two first round picks. Instead they're going to try and fill their voids that they have on the roster at the moment.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Where are you guys most disappointed position group wise on this team? Would it be the linebacker?

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Would it be.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yes.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Defensive backs or would it be the offensive line this season?

[Kyle Yeomans]

Mine would be the linebackers because I was disappointed. Yeah. Because I had expectations going in to the year and even saw some things early where I felt, where I felt like this linebacking crew would be fine as to what they were. I really liked the group that they brought in. I liked the moves that they made and now I don't. Yeah, I don't like the moves. I don't think there's a feature there and I don't think there's. There's a lot that you can do in one. I mean you can revamp the whole thing in one off season, but it's not going to just be one move to fix it all. You're going to have to upend the room.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Well, what also is concerning there is, and I agree it is Linebackers. But I think it's both a personnel issue. The acquisition of, like, Kenneth Murray in the off season, at the trade down with Logan Wilson, you're not utilizing him. And then you utilize him. He, you know, he didn't look great. Maybe get him more reps and he could look better. But that goes to the thing I'm about to say. You have to look at the coordinator and the position coach as well, though those two things cannot be divorced in this conversation. When you talk about culture and shady says a lot when you know it's a team of competition, competition, competition. Well, when you see Kenneth Murray time and again struggling the way he has been struggling, why'd it take so long to, you know, decide, well, okay, we're going to go with Logan Wilson. Okay. Well, even before the Logan Wilson trade and before demarvion Overshone was available, still didn't necessarily see that competition thing come to fruition at the linebacker position. Because you had Jack Sanborn who was struggling. Right. So it's like there's certain positions where that was true, more so on defense than on the offensive side of the ball. So for me, you know, we can talk about the struggles of Kenneth Murray and we talk about the struggles of Jack Samboan when he was healthy. Yeah, you can. You can do all of those things. But make sure when you're having that conversation that you also talk about how important it is to understand when it's time to adapt and adjust and look at a guy and say, you know what? I know I brought you in as my guy, but look here, my guy. Right? But look here, my guy. It's not working out right now, so let's move on to something else. And you just. You didn't see that often enough or early enough for the Cowboys.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I want to hear Josh's answer and Isaiah's answer to that question on the other side of the break as we flipped to the defensive side of the ball in the 34 to 26 loss to Minnesota. Plus that stat I gave you earlier.03 and 1 this year against the NFC North. I got a little something extra to sprinkle on top of that. Talk about that stat at all. Yeah, it may not be when we come back right after this with more talking.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Cowboys sprinkles are for winners, CO Lowe's nose.

[Lowe's Announcer]

Sundays are for football. So tackle your home improvement projects by Saturday and earn your Sunday with great deals on LG and Bosch appliances, Select Bounty and Swiffer cleaning products and more. Then once your to do list is done, get ready to kick back, relax and enjoy the game. Shop in store online now and earn your Sunday with help from Lowe's, official partner of the NFL.

[Uber Eats Announcer]

Get almost anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well groomed lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parm delivered. A day at the lake? That's a no. A Philly cheesesteak? That's a yes. An afternoon stroll? Sorry, no. A burrito bowl? Happily, yes. What about a day of sunshine? Not happening. A box of fine wines? Yes, that is happening. Delivery is on its way. Okay, how about some clear skies? Nope. Well then how about some french fries? Yep. A little escape?

[Josh Rodriguez]

No.

[Uber Eats Announcer]

A delicious bowl of grapes? Yes. Yes, that. How about a freshly cut lawn? Can't help you there. But barbecued prawns? Order it and it's on its way. Get almost Almost anything delivered with UberEats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Get almost Almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now.

[AT&T Announcer]

At AT T, we guarantee our network so you can talk college football with your BFF while taking Buster to the vet.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Hey, yeah, I can't believe he ate the whole thing of chicken wings.

[Isaiah Stamback]

And I can't believe we're staging a comeback touchdown.

[AT&T Announcer]

Staying connected matters. That's why in the rare event of a network outage, you'll automatically get a bill credit for a full day's service. For wireless downtime lasting 60 minutes or more caused by single incident impacting 10 or more towers must be connected to impacted tower on set of outage. Restrictions and exclusions apply. See att.com guarantee for full details.

[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 if.

[Dr. Pepper Announcer]

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[Kyle Yeomans]

Cowboys fans, we've got big news. Black Rifle Energy is now available at Texas 711 stores. And for a limited time you can score two cans for just $6 at part participating locations. These cans pack a serious punch, 200 milligrams of caffeine, veteran crafted flavor and the clean energy you need to power through those long days. So the next time you roll into your neighborhood 711 here in Texas, grab that two for six dollar black rifle energy deal and fuel up the American way. Black Rifle Coffee. America's coffee. Back to Talkin Cowboys. Back here on Talking Cowboys, presented by Black Rifle Coffee company alongside Patrick no see Walker, Josh Rodriguez, Isaiah Stamback, Chris Beam in the back. I'm Kyle Yeomans. This segment is brought to you by Invisalign, the official smile of the Dallas Cowboys. Still smiling with our Invisalign even after a 34 loss, brother. Yeah.

[AT&T Announcer]

Oh.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Three and one against the NFC North. Would you like to hear how many points we've allowed in each of those games? It's not good. So 40 points, of course, against the Green Bay packers. You also gave up 31 against the Bears. You gave up a whopping 44 against the Detroit Lions and then 34 against the Minnesota Vikings.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I'm not great at math. Can you add that up?

[Kyle Yeomans]

I'm not that quick, but it's not a lot.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Get you none or.

[Kyle Yeomans]

It is a lot. I mean, that's a lot of points allowed by a defensive coordinator that seemingly should know that seems very that division. Yeah, it's not. I don't like those words.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Kyle. Read those numbers again, please.

[Josh Rodriguez]

I don't like those.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I don't need our scores.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Just.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

So 40.

[Kyle Yeomans]

31. 44.

[Isaiah Stamback]

34.

[Kyle Yeomans]

That is a whopping. Oh, divided by four.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yeah, that's what I just did.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Hold on, give me a second.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Do you like to go equals divided by 149.

[Isaiah Stamback]

37.25.

[Kyle Yeomans]

That was close.37.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I was guessing 30. 37 point average against that division.

[Kyle Yeomans]

It's a tough division. It's a good division.

[Josh Rodriguez]

So you would have to score more than 37 in each of those games.

[Kyle Yeomans]

To have a shot on average. That's a good reason. All right.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Even for this offense, man.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Isaiah asked the question, what part of.

[Isaiah Stamback]

This team are you disappointed have you.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Been Most disappointed in from your expectations to start the year. Josh, I want to hear your answer.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Well, according to your definition of disappointment.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yes.

[Josh Rodriguez]

There has to be an expectation.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Correct.

[Josh Rodriguez]

You have for that position. I liked what you guys said about linebackers. Obviously that's a very disappointing aspect of the team. But as far as my expectations go and how they've performed, it has to be offensive line. The chemistry has just not been there consistently enough throughout the season. Even when you did have Tyler Guyton in there, there were games where he got beat and quite often it's. Yeah, it's not a perfect fix. It's not like the Eagles missing Lane Johnson. It is just been inconsistent from beginning to end this entire season. For me, that is something that, like I said, it's frustrating that yet again, another offseason where you feel like you need to address offensive line when you've had so much stock and value put into that already and now needing to address it again, it's just, it's disheartening.

[Isaiah Stamback]

It's a hard decision for me between offensive line and defensive backs. Linebackers would come in third for me because I didn't have high expectations of that group.

[Kyle Yeomans]

See, I felt that way about D back or the defensive backs.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Well, at least your highest paid defensive players on the field, right?

[Isaiah Stamback]

Oh, yeah. I didn't have high expectations of him though. I say offensive line for the same.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Reasons that he's been healthy, but.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yeah, yeah, he's been healthy. I'll say the offensive line for the same reasons that you did coming into the season. You felt pretty doggone confident about that unit.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Especially as an improvement over the season prior.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Absolutely. You understood that Tyler Guyn needed it that year. Right. And you're trying to give him opportunity to have some growth underneath him. And you're anticipating him coming in and being a solid left tackle for you. You anticipated Terence Steele continue to be Terence Deal. You know, I mean, not necessarily. That's like crazy amazing, you know, but somebody who's. Who's a solid right tackle.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Solid.

[Isaiah Stamback]

That's what I consider him to be. Has grit, has, you know, you can get after it and he's going to keep your quarterback clean. And then your, your two guards, you know what you're going to get out of. At least you knew what you're going to get out of T. Smith. Right. Booker's been a great, a great addition.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I've always had my concerns about Bibi. I like him as a person, I like him as a player, but I don't think he's a dominant center. I just don't. I think he's. I think he's outmatched when you face somebody's more, you know, dominant interior defensive linemen. I just think that he is so. I think that's an aspect of his game that he has to continue to.

[Lowe's Announcer]

Develop.

[Isaiah Stamback]

The defensive back room. Reason why I argue that point is because you expected Jerome Bland to play better than what he's playing.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

You.

[Isaiah Stamback]

You expected Trayvon Diggs to at least be present, even though there's questions. I at least personally had questions revolving around. Yeah, I'll just say I had questions revolving around Trayvon Diggs with the expectation.

[Josh Rodriguez]

That he was going to be on this team.

[Isaiah Stamback]

He's going to be on the field. Yes, he's been. He's been available since his contract extension for 30%. 30% of the games. 90, $97 million contract. I don't count people's money as public. $97 million. And you and I said this on CBS, the pregame show yesterday. It's frustrating from a former player's perspective. I never got to see that kind of money. I never even sniffed that money. However, that is what you fear as a player. When guys get their big contracts, it gives players a bad rap. It gives owners hesitation. This is the example. This is literally why owners are hesitant to give players money. And I hate to say that, but it's the truth. This type of availability, this type of leadership, this type of approach to the game. Just from what I see. Don't know. Just what I see.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Your perspective?

[Isaiah Stamback]

My perspective from my little eyes that wander at training camp and wander around the building and wander on the.com.com. it's disheartening, man. Yeah, it's. It's really disheartening. I expected more out of that unit. I was still questioning who was going to be the third guy. You have a veteran safety unit that far underperformed. Yes, they were being put into positions that weren't necessarily their strong suits, but they're still veteran safeties. You expected them to adapt.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

So I am torn between the O line and the secondary. I would have to lean more towards Earl line because I think that that was a more solid unit. But you coming into this season, you felt like you had two solid corners. Yeah, you do. And you felt like you had two safeties that were veterans that can do whatever was going to, going to be asked of them, of their new defensive coordinator. Neither unit has been great and I.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Know, and I just saw it in the comments. Someone Is like, well, you know, you could have just paid Micah. We're not going down that road. Because if you want to go down.

[Isaiah Stamback]

There, did you see Kenny Clark yesterday?

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Right. And you still like one. I will say, if you want to go down that road, then to Isaiah's point about the defensive backs, then don't get mad at me when I remind you that you should have kept Jordan Lewis.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yep.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Not only was he one of your best corners and one of the best corners in the league leader, he was the tone setter. He was the vocal leader in that room. You removed that. And Daron Bland is not the vocal leader. That's not his bag. That's not what he does. Trayvon Diggs is not a vocal leader. That's not what he does. And then, of course, you know, now see how things have devolved between Trayvon Diggs and the organization going back to the whole, you know, rehab, the contract clause situation. Right. It's not been right since then. It got worse when they traded Michael Way. You had all of this going on in the defensive backs room and you took the most, the stabilizing force, the vocal leader, the physical tone setter, the.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Locker room guy, the gimbal.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

And you said, we're not. We're not going to pay you.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah, yeah.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Bad decision. So all I'm saying is that absolutely plays into one of the biggest reasons this defensive backs room has taken a step, huge step back. The other one, in my opinion, and I'm on record of saying this, so I'll say it again. You should have kept Al Harris in the building. Point blank period. I'm not coming off that hill. Those two things. Yes. Those two guys walking out of this building set you back monumentally the defensive back goal.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I agree. The other thing about the corners in the defensive backs as well, and this is part of the argument that we had going into the trade deadline. Do you want an edge rusher? Do you want a defensive tackle? The moves that they've made to this point, adding Quinn and Williams, adding Kenny Clark, have done exactly what they set out to do. Stop the run and be dominant at the line of scrimmage. They have done that. Even yesterday in a loss, they allowed just 77 yards rushing, 34 yards on 12 carries for Aaron Jones, who's traditionally run all over you.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yep.

[Kyle Yeomans]

So you have improved and become a solid run defense. And even last week against Detroit, they went over 100 yards as a group. But it wasn't just one. One unit that was taking care of business. One thing that I will say is when you have sold out to stop the run, the way that this front office has and the way that this team has, it's going to leave you vulnerable in the secondary and the lack of pass rush. I think, I think the pass rush initially last year hit a lot of the problems in the secondary. I think it hit a lot of the inconsistencies, hit a lot of the discrepancies from your defensive backs and now you're starting to see it hit the limelight because you're not getting the pressure that you normally would on the inside and with that pass rush. So I think a lot of it does go together and the secondary is having to adjust because they have more time to cover and thus they're getting beat. But then there are certain plays where you and I have talked about it in the booth last night where Daron Bland's getting beat off the line of scrimmage, Kaylin Carson's getting beat off the line off the line of scrimmage multiple times where you could win your battle immediately. That's not on the pass rush. But there are other ways that the pass rush has affected things.

[Isaiah Stamback]

What were you going to say?

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Let me say this real quick, Quick, real quick. Before you say someone asked how Jordan Lewis is doing in Jacksonville. I don't know if you're being facetious or not, but let me tell you. Jordan Lewis has allowed just 4.7 yards per target and coverage this season, the second fewest amongst slot cornerbacks with at least 20 targets. He is still one of the best corners in the league and he's on pace to best his interception career. Best interception tally, which was three. He has two. And he still has several more games to go. He was never respected here, so that answers that question. Jordan Lewis is actually doing very well.

[Isaiah Stamback]

They didn't value him the way that that everybody else.

[Kyle Yeomans]

What were you gonna say on that?

[Isaiah Stamback]

No, I was gonna say the round blown thing.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

I'll let John.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I just, I, I, I'm pretty sure when he cuts the film on he's self evaluating, self checking himself, I think he expects more of himself as well. So we're not saying anything that he's not going to hold a standard that he's not going to hold himself to. I believe he is of, of the character that is going to figure it out. Whether it's throughout the remainder of the season or whether it's during the off season. I think he will take accountability for his lack of execution and lack of performance because we expect more because we've seen more and I think that he probably feels that same way about himself. I don't have issues about him bouncing back. It is what it is right now. I see it being better in the future. But in terms of right now, what we're seeing, he. He's not handling his one on ones. He is CB1 right now. He CB1 right now.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

And we're not seeing it. Yeah.

[Josh Rodriguez]

I think what you're saying about stopping the run and the defensive line, to me, that should only make your secondary better. And you saw that when Quinn Williams first came to the Cowboys. You saw that for the first time.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Oh, he's getting pressure.

[Josh Rodriguez]

He's getting pressure. Kenny Clark's looking great and OSA is looking great. To me, the real reason why you're getting killed in the secondary scheme and to me that's a problem that you really need to address. It's bad.

[Kyle Yeomans]

That's going to do it for us here on Talking Cowboys. Appreciate you following up on a on a loss and on a Monday where I know a lot of Cowboys fans are frustrated, but we're here for you. We are here to talk about it. We're going to be back tomorrow and if you want to voice some of your opinions and voice some of your frustrations in a clean, family friendly environment, please do so tomorrow on talking Tuesday, 888-85588.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Not tomorrow.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

We're doing charity work. Oh dang.

[Kyle Yeomans]

You're right.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

We are doing charity work. We're giving back to the community.

[Kyle Yeomans]

So yeah, for your thoughts, guys. Yeah, you're not calling in at all this week because we've got to go serve the community.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

Salvation army tomorrow.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Sorry guys, didn't mean to do that. Yeah, no podcast tomorrow. We will be back on Wednesday. Maybe just to make up for it. I'll take a couple calls that day just to make sure we get a couple of those calls in. But we'll be back on Wednesday, 9am to break it all down for you here on Talking California Cowboys for Patrick Noi 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 tomorrow. Cowboys Nation. No Wednesday. Cowboys Nation. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.

[Patrick Nosley Walker]

How about this? Cowboys.

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[Isaiah Stamback]

No.

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